議会の to 大統領? Not until ツバメ McGuinness apologises for his アイルランド共和国軍 past

By IAN BIRRELL FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY
Updated: 17:40 BST, 24 October 2011

He's revelling in comparisons to Nelson Mandela and 事業／計画（する）s himself as an anti-設立 hero. But as ツバメ McGuiness runs for Ireland's 大統領／総裁などの地位 this week, he STILL won't apologise for his アイルランド共和国軍 past - even when 直面するd by his 犠牲者s.

As the hotel ballroom filled up and the mood of excitement grew, a three-piece 禁止（する）d played 伝統的な Irish music. A large 審査する showed （映画の）フィート数 of the 星／主役にする of the show in his さまざまな 役割s as family man, peacemaker and international 政治家.

He entered the room to raucous 激しく揺する music, shaking 手渡すs with 元気づける and whooping 支持者s as he made his way slowly to the 行う／開催する／段階. One? 年輩の woman in a red dress standing on her 議長，司会を務める nearly fell over, such was her 決意 to reach the 手渡す of her hero.

There were songs, then speeches to introduce the 広大な／多数の／重要な man from 地元の 著名なs and 国家の sports 星／主役にするs.?

New image: ツバメ McGuinness on the 大統領の （選挙などの）運動をする 追跡する

An 経済学者 引用するd ツバメ Luther King, then compared their idol with Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 大統領，／社長 who dragged the U.S. out of 不景気 in the Thirties. ‘Roosevelt was a visionary, and I have no 疑問 ツバメ McGuinness will be a visionary too,’ he 雷鳴d. ‘This is more than a （選挙などの）運動をする, this is a call to 武器.’

Next （機の）カム ビデオ 裏書，是認s for the man あられ／賞賛するd as ‘Ireland’s next 大統領’. Fionnula Flanagan, the Emmy-winning actress, 布告するd McGuinness ‘a? brilliant man who had proven himself in the ざん壕s,’ going on to 噴出する: ‘He’s so 高度に regarded here in the U.S..’

A doddery U.S. businessmen said he was ‘the type of man American? businessmen admire’ ― except, one 推定するs, when blowing up their 資産s in earlier days. And a waffling white South African 共産主義者 made the first of what were to be many? nauseous comparisons of the one-time 議会の with Nelson Mandela.

Welcome to the ツバメ McGuinness Roadshow, which I caught in Cork on his 追求（する），探索（する） to proceed from 議会の to 大統領，／社長. The curly-haired former アイルランド共和国軍 指揮官 is 捜し出すing a unique ３倍になる 栄冠を与える since his 変形 into a 政治家，政治屋: Member of 議会 in London, 副 First 大臣 in Belfast and now the ultimate prize as 長，率いる of 明言する／公表する in Dublin.

McGuinness planned to sweep 負かす／撃墜する from Derry into Aras an Uachtarain ― the 大統領’s 公式の／役人 Dublin 住居 ― by 現在のing himself as the anti-設立 saviour of a nation brought to its 膝s by かもしれない the world’s most incompetent 銀行業者s, even at a time of such 猛烈な／残忍な 競争 for the 肩書を与える.

That was then: A young ツバメ McGuinness as an アイルランド共和国軍 leader in 1972

As a northerner, he cannot 投票（する） for himself in Thursday’s 選挙. But he was speaking up for the voiceless, he said, all those ordinary Irish men and women whose 未来s were sold 負かす／撃墜する the river by a cosy cabal of venal 政治家，政治屋s and greedy businessmen.

Things are not going to 計画（する）, however. にもかかわらず the impressive Sinn Fein machine, so much slicker than its amateurish 競争相手s, he has been buffeted by an 予期しない （激しい）反発 from a nation that believes McGuinness must 自白する past misdeeds and questions if he is fit to serve as 指揮官-in-長，指導者 of its 武装した 軍隊s.

He has been savaged in the マスコミ, 直面するd on the （選挙などの）運動をする 追跡する by families of 犠牲者s of アイルランド共和国軍 殺し屋集団s and even, to his obvious fury, asked in one electrifying moment in a TV 審議 how he squared his カトリック教徒 約束 with 関与 ‘in the 殺人s of so many people’.

Not that he answered the question. He told his 質問者 it was a disgraceful comment, 嵐／襲撃するing into her dressing room to 直面する her afterwards, then using the 出来事/事件 to help portray himself as the man who 脅すs the Dublin 設立.

The former butcher’s boy, thought by 安全 services to have been linked to some of the worst アイルランド共和国軍 残虐（行為）s, was in more 同情的な 領土 in the historic 共和国の／共和党の 中心地域 of Cork for the 決起大会／結集させる in 前線 of 500 熱烈な 支持者s.

In his folksy style, he told a sweetened 見解／翻訳／版 of his life story: of his mother who had to carry an 身元 card, of his 静かな father joining 抗議するs ‘beaten off the streets’ by police, of the friend who introduced him to his wife 存在 発射 dead by the British.

Ambition: The former アイルランド共和国軍 指揮官 is 捜し出すing a unique ３倍になる 栄冠を与える: Member of 議会 in London, 副 First 大臣 in Belfast and now the ultimate prize as 長，率いる of 明言する／公表する in Dublin

‘And they wondered why I joined the アイルランド共和国軍,’ he said to rapturous 賞賛.

‘I could have decided not to join the アイルランド共和国軍. I could have sat in my house and ignored what was going on in my streets. But I would have been ashamed not to have joined the アイルランド共和国軍. I 絶対 believe we were 権利 to do it.’

So it went on, a saccharine tale of a civil 権利s hero standing up to British torturers and 凶漢s in uniform.

Cheap gags: McGuiness won laughs with a jibe at his 大統領の 競争相手 Dana Scallon (above), the former Eurovision singer

Three times he repeated his catchphrase ‘and they wondered why I joined the アイルランド共和国軍’, the 元気づけるs louder each time. He even won laughs with a jibe at his 大統領の 競争相手 Dana Scallon, the former Eurovision singer who あられ／賞賛するs from his hometown, for not joining the terror ギャング（団）.

Then it was 急速な／放蕩な-今後 to his time as a peacemaker, with anecdotes about his friend Nelson Mandela and of dropping in to 負かす／撃墜するing Street to 輪郭（を描く） the successful peace-過程 戦略 to Tony Blair, before 結論するing with a 猛烈な／残忍な attack on the fat cats who betrayed the good people of Ireland.

No について言及する, of course, of how the アイルランド共和国軍 under his 命令（する） blew apart innocent children, maimed members of its own community and needed peace 会談 only because it was stuck in a 下水管 of its own making.

But he is as formidable a political 操作者 as he was a terror chieftain.

誓約（する）s to draw the 普通の／平均（する） 行う rather than the £220,000 公式の／役人 salary and to open the 大統領’s home to the homeless on Christmas Day play 井戸／弁護士席 in a land that has 苦しむd the worst level of 職業 losses in Europe ― the 失業率 stands at 14.5 per cent ― and where living 基準s have fallen by one-fifth in three years.

After the speech, he was 襲う by fans wanting their photos taken with him. In best showbiz tradition, the 61-year-old grandfather with such steely blue 注目する，もくろむs and a steel-grey 控訴 chatted, 提起する／ポーズをとるd for pictures and 調印するd autographs late into the evening.

Inside the hall were many Sinn Fein hardliners, who happily told me they thought it had been 合法的 to 殺人 British 兵士s ‘占領するing’ Ulster. ‘Where I drew the line was when the アイルランド共和国軍 started bom bing London ― I have more 親族s there then in this country,’ said one 会議 労働者 with astonishing hypocrisy.

An eclectic bunch! The 大統領の 希望に満ちたs: Gay Mitchell, David Norris, Mary Davis, Sean Gallagher, ツバメ McGuinness, Dana Rosemary Scallon & Michael D Higgins.

But there were also curious new 新採用するs, such as Colin Higgins, 45, a thoughtful 建設業者 and developer who 雇うd ten people at the 高さ of the にわか景気. Half have since emigrated to Australia ― like so many other young Irish ― and he is sitting on manageable 負債s of の近くに to half-a-million euros, which leaves him in a better 状況／情勢 than many since the 崩壊（する） of the Celtic Tiger.

‘There was such greed,’ he said. ‘Ireland changed. People stopped waving in the streets, the spirit of community broke 負かす／撃墜する, even the 運動ing became more 積極的な. McGuinness is the one person who stands up for ordinary people.’

So what about his time as a テロリスト? ‘A lot of people have pasts. I think he is like Mandela, I really do.’

Others 同意しない. And not just Gay Mitchell, his crushingly-dull 競争相手 from the 判決，裁定 罰金 Gael party, who told McGuinness during another 大統領の 審議: ‘I’ve met Nelson Mandela myself ― and you’re no Nelson Mandela, ツバメ.’

The （選挙などの）運動をする to 後継する Mary McAleese in a 大部分は 儀式の 地位，任命する has been farcical and v oters seem unimpressed by the choices.
Dana Scallon’s （選挙などの）運動をする has become a 国家の joke, with the ultra-保守的な former MEP 絶えず waving a copy of the EU 憲法, becoming embroiled in bizarre old stories of child 乱用 within her family and 非難するing a car tyre blow-out this week on ‘破壊行為’ by her enemies.

'Crushingly-dull': Gay Mitchell from the 判決，裁定 罰金 Gael party, who told McGuinness during a 大統領の 審議: 'I've met Nelson Mandela myself - and you're no Nelson Mandela, ツバメ.'

Then there is David Norris, the first 率直に-gay person elected to public office in Ireland. The 早期に favourite, his （選挙などの）運動をする 衝突，墜落d after 詳細（に述べる）s 現れるd of a letter on 議会の paper 捜し出すing 温和／情状酌量 for a former partner 罪人／有罪を宣告するd of the 強姦 of a teenage boy, made worse by an interview from 2002 in which he appeared to 容赦する pederasty.

Scarcely more popular is the ‘Quango Queen’, Mary Davis.

The two 前線-走者s と一緒に McGuinness are Sean Gallagher, a 星／主役にする of Ireland’s 見解／翻訳／版 of Dragons’ Den and Michael D. Higgins, an 年輩の poet and 労働 退役軍人. But watching this diminutive pink-長，率いるd pensioner limp into a 会合, it is 平易な to see why he fails to create much excitement.

Yet while the （選挙などの）運動をする has been comedic, there has been one fascinating 面: the way it has uncorked 深い 反対／詐欺 cerns over the アイルランド共和国軍 瓶／封じ込めるd up for so long in the 共和国 the テロリストs （人命などを）奪う，主張するd to be fighting to join.

大統領の 希望に満ちた Sean Gallagher is the 星／主役にする of Ireland's Dragon's Den. But will Ireland 支援する him?

McGuinness seems surprised by this. He told me after his Cork 決起大会／結集させる that while the north had made big strides along the road to peace, he was 狼狽d to discover such outdated 態度s lurking south of the 国境. ‘But I’m not naive. I knew I would be a 脅し to the 設立.’

Some attacks have been 予報する-able, such as 警告s from political 競争相手s that foreign 投資 would be jeopardised by a ‘テロリスト’ in the 大統領の palace. And 必然的に 上級の 人物／姿／数字s in the 軍隊s have 示すd 逮捕 over the idea of a former アイルランド共和国軍 長，指導者 as their titular 長，率いる.

He has been 繰り返して （刑事）被告 of lying over his （人命などを）奪う，主張する to have left the アイルランド共和国軍 in 1974; the presenter of yet another 大統領の 審議 even stacked 12 調書をとる／予約するs in 前線 of the 候補者, all 論争ing his 見解／翻訳／版 of events.

Fintan O’道具, one of Ireland’s best-known commentators, asked whether the nation 手配中の，お尋ね者 a 長，率いる of 明言する／公表する liable for 逮捕（する） over war 罪，犯罪s. ‘Let’s put it on the 記録，記録的な／記録する again,’ he wrote. ‘The アイルランド共和国軍 killed 644 非軍事のs, by far the largest 部類 of its 犠牲者s. By contrast, and 否定するing its self-image as defender of the カトリック教徒 community, it killed just 28 現体制支持者／忠臣 paramiltaries.’

恐れるs have been 発言する／表明するd over the 知恵 of 手渡すing Sinn Fein the 宣伝 クーデター of the 大統領／総裁などの地位 during the centenary of the 1916 復活祭 反乱, while McGuinness has been 軍隊d to say he would welcome the Queen in Ireland. His party ボイコット（する）d her visit earlier this year.

Most woundingly, McGuinness has been 非難するd by several families of 犠牲者s of アイルランド共和国軍 terror. David Kelly, son of a 殺害された Irish 兵士, 直面するd him during canvassing in a shopping centre, 持つ／拘留するing up a picture of his late father and 需要・要求するing the 指名するs of the 殺害者s.

The family of 発射 police officer Frank 手渡す said McGuinness had ‘血 on his 手渡すs’. Then a walkabout in Limerick was cancelled last week after Anne McCabe, the 未亡人 of another dead officer, said McGuinness held secret 会合s with one of her husband’s 殺し屋s すぐに after his 殺人 15 years ago.

恐れるs have been 発言する／表明するd over the 知恵 of 手渡すing Sinn Fein the 宣伝 クーデター of the 大統領／総裁などの地位 during the centenary of the 1916 復活祭 反乱

Watching the （選挙などの）運動をする with horror just a few miles 負かす／撃墜する the road from McGuinness’s own home is Lowry Mathers, a 63-year-old 酪農場 農業者 in Donagheady. He apologised for choking up as he told me how his wife Joanne was 発射 in the neck 30 years ago as she collected 国勢（人口）調査 forms.

He learned only recently she did not die すぐに, the 殺し屋 ― who has never been i dentified ― 狙撃 her a second time as she lay bleeding in a doorway.

‘It’s painful to watch this 選挙,’ said Mathers, 解任するing how their 幼児 son used to run to the door hoping his mother was returning home after her 殺人. ‘It’s an 絶対の 不名誉. Whatever he says, ツバメ McGuinness was in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the アイルランド共和国軍 in Londonderry at that time. If anyone knows who 殺人d Joanne, ツバメ McGuinness knows.’

最終的に, the 敵意 McGuinness has 誘発するd may even help his party

If the 投票s are 権利, the revulsion in ‘Middle Ireland’ over such 残虐（行為）s will stop the former アイルランド共和国軍 長，指導者 winning the 大統領／総裁などの地位. At the start of the （選挙などの）運動をする he was 3-1 second favourite, but the 半端物s have lengthened to 20-1.

But he may still 勝利，勝つ Sinn Fein’s biggest 株 of the 投票（する） in the 共和国, building on its success in February’s 議会の 選挙 when it nearly ３倍になるd its number of MPs.

最終的に, the 敵意 McGuinness has 誘発するd may even help his party. The long war it now fights is to 追い出す Fianna Fail ― broken and discredited by the banking スキャンダルs after 支配するing Irish politics for the best part of a century ― as the main 共和国の／共和党の party in Ireland, just as it 取って代わるd the 尊敬（する）・点d Social Democratic and 労働 Party north of the 国境.

Next time, it will be that bit harder for critics to 直面する him and his party over their 血-stained past. As one commentator in Dublin put it to me: ‘ツバメ is taking a 弾丸 for th e boys.’