0:00:03 > 0:00:07Flashing Images. What is it like to go from statesmen are back to book
0:00:07 > 0:00:16the man? From basking in the image of peacemaker north of the border
0:00:16 > 0:00:20to been vilified? As far as I am concerned, Martin McGuinness is a
0:00:20 > 0:00:27terrorist who has stop using his gun. Martin McGuinness has taken a
0:00:27 > 0:00:31battering in his campaign to be president of the republic. Go home,
0:00:31 > 0:00:38Martin. This is Chinatown, the Irish Republic. You do not
0:00:38 > 0:00:42understand it. Tonight, we look back on Martin McGuinness's
0:00:42 > 0:00:48campaign for the presidency of the republic. Was it a mistake or a
0:00:48 > 0:00:58masterstroke? I get a warm reception whenever I go. Feeding
0:00:58 > 0:01:18
0:01:18 > 0:01:23the polls are wrong? I certainly South Lebanon. Irish troops had
0:01:23 > 0:01:28been here on and off for 23 years trying to keep a fragile peace
0:01:28 > 0:01:36between hostile factions. They have lost 47 soldiers here in that time
0:01:36 > 0:01:42and to date, there President is coming to say thanks. It is Mary
0:01:42 > 0:01:51McAleese's last foreign trip as President of the Republic. In two
0:01:51 > 0:01:59days' time, the Poles will open. Whoever wins will have a tough act
0:01:59 > 0:02:09to follow. -- polls. Mary McAleese set out to build bridges and in her
0:02:09 > 0:02:13
0:02:13 > 0:02:1814 year ten year at is what she has done. She stood with the Queen at a
0:02:18 > 0:02:22memorial service in a Flanders there to honour Irishmen who died
0:02:22 > 0:02:29in the world wars. Men who had until then effectively been written
0:02:29 > 0:02:37out of Irish history. In her second term she and her husband began a
0:02:37 > 0:02:43close and fruitful engagement with a northern loyalists. -- nor the
0:02:43 > 0:02:50loyalists. An impressive record, but her defining moment came
0:02:50 > 0:02:57towards their end of her presidency. One of my most memorable times was
0:02:57 > 0:03:02the visit of the Queen and the well family. A very happy and healing
0:03:02 > 0:03:06time. History shifted into a different kind of Mode, a mode of
0:03:06 > 0:03:13partnership that set a different scene for the future. I was happy
0:03:13 > 0:03:17about that. The Queen's visit was proof that Ireland had changed
0:03:17 > 0:03:27during Mary McAleese's 10 years. But the presidency has changed as
0:03:27 > 0:03:31
0:03:31 > 0:03:39well. Part of of Mary McAleese's presidency shows that it is a
0:03:40 > 0:03:43position of will power were. The question for her successor is how
0:03:43 > 0:03:53do you follow that? Several weeks ago Sinn Fein took the view that
0:03:53 > 0:03:53
0:03:53 > 0:03:56one of their number had what it takes to try. Martin McGuinness was
0:03:56 > 0:03:59persuaded to run for President of the Republic. The Bogside, Derry. A
0:03:59 > 0:04:01send off rally for Martin McGuinness in his Irish
0:04:01 > 0:04:05Presidential campaign. Plenty of marches have set off from here over
0:04:05 > 0:04:08the decades. But none has aspired to end in Aras an Uachtarain, the
0:04:08 > 0:04:15seat of the President of the Republic of Ireland. To some here,
0:04:15 > 0:04:25it's all come out of the blue. was as surprised as anybody else
0:04:25 > 0:04:26
0:04:26 > 0:04:33when the announcement was made. I did not think it was part of what
0:04:33 > 0:04:39they wanted to do. He had been to the White House, Downing Street, he
0:04:39 > 0:04:46has been everywhere. He is personable on the doorsteps and
0:04:46 > 0:04:53they did not have anyone to match that. But why run a tall? Perhaps
0:04:53 > 0:04:58because Sinn Fein want to become a voice North and South of the border.
0:04:58 > 0:05:08Here at the GPO in Dublin you can still see the bullet holes on the
0:05:08 > 0:05:16
0:05:16 > 0:05:24walls from the uprisings. If Martin McGuinness wins, he will be
0:05:24 > 0:05:34addressing a public from outside this building. It is a winner-win
0:05:34 > 0:05:40
0:05:40 > 0:05:49election. -- win-win. I think the campaign is about Irish unity and
0:05:49 > 0:05:54identifying new grounds and moving on to new ground, particularly
0:05:54 > 0:06:04throughout the island. It seems to be going down well. I am deeply
0:06:04 > 0:06:07
0:06:07 > 0:06:15honoured that such a huge crowd has come to send me off on my journey
0:06:15 > 0:06:25around Ireland's 32 counties. Martin McGuinness will be trying to
0:06:25 > 0:06:30
0:06:30 > 0:06:36keep sell himself as a statesman. - - sell himself. These people are
0:06:36 > 0:06:42traitors. Martin McGuinness will argue that like Mary McAleese he
0:06:42 > 0:06:48has the capacity to move history on. But from the outset of his campaign
0:06:48 > 0:06:53it is history that is the problem. These days getting to Dublin is
0:06:53 > 0:07:00quick and easy, unless you are planning to be president. For
0:07:00 > 0:07:10Martin McGuinness the road so far has been a rocky one. In a radio
0:07:10 > 0:07:20debate early in the campaign the tone was set. This man says he is
0:07:20 > 0:07:20
0:07:20 > 0:07:27not a member of the IRA. That is not true. Who is the true Martin
0:07:27 > 0:07:32McGuinness? Tell the people! It is 10 days into the presidential
0:07:32 > 0:07:37campaign and I am on my way to one of the live television debate. At
0:07:37 > 0:07:41this early stage in the race it seems to be game on for Martin
0:07:41 > 0:07:47McGuinness and Sinn Fein. He is second in the polls with the
0:07:47 > 0:07:52potential for his support to grow. At this point in time, things are
0:07:52 > 0:07:57unpredictable. Nobody knows where the electric lights, so you get the
0:07:57 > 0:08:03sense a good performance here tonight for a slip up could make or
0:08:03 > 0:08:06break Martin McGuinness's chances, and the chances of other candidates.
0:08:06 > 0:08:12That is how unpredictable it is. But one thing is certain in the
0:08:12 > 0:08:17debate tonight, there are bound to be questions about Martin
0:08:17 > 0:08:22McGuinness's IRA past. He says he left the 1974, but Ho's Vincent
0:08:22 > 0:08:26Brown is not buying it and he makes it clear. Can I refer you to a few
0:08:27 > 0:08:30books that have made the point. This book here by Patrick Bishop
0:08:30 > 0:08:40and Eamonn Mallie which is sympathetic to you in some regards.
0:08:40 > 0:08:41
0:08:41 > 0:08:49They say you were a member of the IRA in all that time. This book
0:08:49 > 0:08:54says you are a member of the IRA. The biography of you, it goes into
0:08:54 > 0:08:58it some considerable detail about your membership of the IRA. I am
0:08:58 > 0:09:02not finished. All these people say you were in that irate in this
0:09:03 > 0:09:09period. Had come will be wrong? because some people jump to
0:09:09 > 0:09:15conclusions. Quite a few of those authors you have identified are
0:09:15 > 0:09:22completely hostile to Sinn Fein. Martin McGuinness's IRA past has
0:09:22 > 0:09:29dominated his campaign. One person in the DUP made a joke to me. He
0:09:29 > 0:09:36said that Martin is coming down here and it will be like Mother
0:09:36 > 0:09:41Teresa coming. Can you understand why people are interested in your
0:09:41 > 0:09:45past? Well, as far as I am concerned, there had been agendas
0:09:45 > 0:09:55in the cause of this campaign. There are a minority of people who
0:09:55 > 0:09:55
0:09:55 > 0:10:03are critics and they are focusing on issues that I have no
0:10:03 > 0:10:08responsibility for at all. As the officer commanding the Derry part
0:10:08 > 0:10:14of the IRA, can you say the bombing. In the near future in a response to
0:10:14 > 0:10:21public demand? We always take into consideration up the feelings of
0:10:21 > 0:10:25the people of Derry. So what was Martin McGuinness responsible for
0:10:25 > 0:10:28during the Troubles? His exact relationship with the IRA has been
0:10:28 > 0:10:31a source of controversy throughout the conflict.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34Martin McGuinness served two prison sentences for IRA membership, both
0:10:34 > 0:10:39in the Republic of Ireland. In the Special Criminal Court in Dublin in
0:10:39 > 0:10:431973, he announced: "I am a member of Oglaigh na Heireann and I am
0:10:43 > 0:10:53very very proud of it." A decade later in an interview with the BBC
0:10:53 > 0:11:00he seemed to want to put clear blue water between himself and the IRA.
0:11:00 > 0:11:06Whoever said I was a member of the IRA? Are you saying that? You have
0:11:06 > 0:11:08been named as a member. I never said that.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12Then in 2003, Martin McGuinness told the Saville Inquiry into
0:11:12 > 0:11:15Bloody Sunday that he was in the IRA, but that his IRA career had
0:11:15 > 0:11:24ended in the early 1970s. After 1974, he says, he was a politician.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28Many find that claim to be implausible. Most observers and
0:11:28 > 0:11:34commentators are Claire in their view that Mr McGuinness's
0:11:34 > 0:11:39involvement in the IRA did not end in 1974. He held every major
0:11:39 > 0:11:44position. He was Chief of Staff, head of Northern Command. I spoke
0:11:44 > 0:11:46to arms suppliers who met him aboard. A everyone knows he was the
0:11:46 > 0:11:51senior member of the IRA or otherwise the British would not
0:11:51 > 0:11:57have been speaking to him in the 1990s and up until he was in the
0:11:57 > 0:12:02Assembly. You said you left the IRA in the early 70s, how comes you had
0:12:02 > 0:12:08so much influence on that organisation if you were not in it?
0:12:08 > 0:12:14Well, because I have never hidden the fact I was in their IRA in the
0:12:14 > 0:12:19early 1970s. I think I have credibility within republicanism. I
0:12:19 > 0:12:29have never distance myself on the IRA and was always at the forefront
0:12:29 > 0:12:32during the course of the conflict of Republican politics. So, having
0:12:33 > 0:12:40given contradictory statements in the past about his relationship to
0:12:40 > 0:12:47the IRA, how credible is it that he left the organisation in 1974? I
0:12:47 > 0:12:57went to visit Dennis Bradley he was instrumental in setting up a link
0:12:57 > 0:13:03
0:13:03 > 0:13:07between the IRA and British 1970s rather than an activist of
0:13:07 > 0:13:13Martin McGuinness became asked that are just in the late 1970s rather
0:13:13 > 0:13:15than an activist. He became the chief negotiator and all of that.
0:13:15 > 0:13:21But Denis Bradley believes there may be another reason why Martin
0:13:21 > 0:13:28McGuinness appears ready to deny parts of his past. There's a real
0:13:28 > 0:13:33difficulty which is that if he talks about being in the IRA after
0:13:33 > 0:13:401974 he is in a situation which is subject to arrest. He has to keep
0:13:40 > 0:13:44saying, I wasn't there even after what he already admitted to the
0:13:44 > 0:13:46Saville tribunal. It's the kind of ambiguity that the peace process in
0:13:46 > 0:13:56Northern Ireland has come to accommodate. But the political
0:13:56 > 0:13:59establishment in the Republic doesn't seem so forgiving. In
0:13:59 > 0:14:04Northern Ireland, people from across the political divide seem to
0:14:04 > 0:14:08have come to terms with the idea of Martin McGuinness is Deputy First -
0:14:08 > 0:14:12- Deputy First Minister. They may not accept his past but they are
0:14:12 > 0:14:14mostly willing to live with it. Eoghan Harris is a former Workers'
0:14:14 > 0:14:22party activist, newspaper columnist, and a longstanding critic of Sinn
0:14:22 > 0:14:25Fein and Martin McGuinness. In many ways, he feels hard done by and it
0:14:25 > 0:14:33is causing Northern nationalists to feel as if they are unwanted in the
0:14:34 > 0:14:37Republic. It is not that. It is just that we feel we just do not
0:14:37 > 0:14:41have to do business with Martin McGuinness because of his history.
0:14:41 > 0:14:48Because we do not have to do business with them, we do not want
0:14:48 > 0:14:51to. I say to him, go home, Martin. This is Chinatowns. The Irish
0:14:51 > 0:14:54Republic, you do not understand it. Throughout the campaign, opinions
0:14:54 > 0:14:57like that have been writ large across sections of the southern
0:14:57 > 0:15:02press. And in some places North of the border, they've caused
0:15:02 > 0:15:07resentment. A lot of people in Northern Ireland were angry with
0:15:07 > 0:15:14the reaction of the South. There is a strange paradox in Irish north-
0:15:15 > 0:15:17south relationships. We love each other and take each other. -- hate
0:15:17 > 0:15:19each other. Writer and broadcaster Eamon Dunphy believes that
0:15:19 > 0:15:29McGuinness is the victim of an orchestrated campaign to discredit
0:15:29 > 0:15:29
0:15:29 > 0:15:36him. The establishment went into the defence because of the reaction.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39The prospect of having a Sinn Fein president has a little
0:15:39 > 0:15:44uncomfortable for the Irish establishment. They don't want
0:15:44 > 0:15:48Martin McGuinness there. In the north, people seem willing to
0:15:48 > 0:15:54accept your past. In the south, that doesn't seem to be the case.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58Is that right? No. On the ground around the country, I am getting a
0:15:58 > 0:16:04phenomenal reaction. Do you think the polls are wrong, you will do
0:16:04 > 0:16:07better than the suggest? I would better than the suggest? I would
0:16:07 > 0:16:11think so. It is quite clear to anyone who studies the reaction to
0:16:11 > 0:16:16my involvement in the election, not just from the establishment parties
0:16:16 > 0:16:19but some elements within the media who have a vested interest. Martin
0:16:19 > 0:16:22McGuinness isn't the first candidate from North of the border
0:16:22 > 0:16:25to have had his background scrutinised in this way. In 1997,
0:16:25 > 0:16:31Mary McAleese's campaign for presidency came under a barrage of
0:16:31 > 0:16:34criticism after leaked documents suggested her support for Sinn Fein.
0:16:34 > 0:16:43For a time it looked as if the revelations might threaten her
0:16:43 > 0:16:49campaign. In the end she was forced to make her position clear. Did she
0:16:49 > 0:16:53ever vote for Sinn Fein? I have never done that. A lot has changed
0:16:53 > 0:16:58here in 14 years. When she was a candidate, she had to make clear
0:16:58 > 0:17:02that she had never even voted for Sinn Fein. Now, a man who has been
0:17:02 > 0:17:04in prison for IRA membership is running to be her successor. But
0:17:04 > 0:17:07the key difference between Mary McAleese and Martin McGuinness was
0:17:07 > 0:17:11that she was able to quickly and credibly distance herself from
0:17:11 > 0:17:19Republican violence. A distinction that, for the victims of that
0:17:19 > 0:17:24violence, makes all the difference in the world. I want justice for my
0:17:24 > 0:17:27father. I believe that you know the names of the killers of my father.
0:17:27 > 0:17:29The McGuinness campaign has been affected by the voices of people
0:17:29 > 0:17:32whose relatives were murdered by the IRA. Journalists persisting
0:17:32 > 0:17:35with questions about the past can be brushed off to an extent, but
0:17:35 > 0:17:43when voters stop you in the street, as happened in Athlone two weeks
0:17:43 > 0:17:48ago, it's a different matter. have given an honest account of it
0:17:48 > 0:17:51and my sympathy is with you and your family. I would like to say
0:17:51 > 0:17:58that before there is any reconciliation, there has to be
0:17:58 > 0:18:02truth. Absolutely. The bodies were produced by the relations and the
0:18:02 > 0:18:11Irish public is sector its stomach of the parade of dead soldiers and
0:18:11 > 0:18:17Dada. -- garda. There's no doubt that for some, Martin McGuinness's
0:18:17 > 0:18:19run for President has re-opened old wounds. My dad was a boxing coach.
0:18:19 > 0:18:24Austin Stack's father, Brian, was a prison officer in Portlaoise Jail.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27In 1983 when off duty, he was shot in the back of the head by the IRA.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30He survived, but with horrendous injuries. After he was discharged
0:18:30 > 0:18:40from hospital, his wife and three young sons did their best to care
0:18:40 > 0:18:41
0:18:41 > 0:18:46for him at home. He looks like a completely different man. Paralysed
0:18:46 > 0:18:51from the neck down and badly brain- damaged. Brian Stack died 18 months
0:18:51 > 0:18:55later from the injuries he sustained in the shooting. We did
0:18:55 > 0:18:58try to get on with life but this was difficult for us. I have no
0:18:58 > 0:19:02problem with him running for election but I have a duty to tell
0:19:02 > 0:19:08him how this affected my family. I am prepared to move on and have
0:19:08 > 0:19:14offered him my forgiveness but he has not offered needed dignity of
0:19:14 > 0:19:19saying sorry for what is organisation but to my father.
0:19:19 > 0:19:24Martin McGuinness says he was a peacemaker, but he was instrumental
0:19:24 > 0:19:29in stopping the kind of murders that your family suffered. I would
0:19:29 > 0:19:32suggest he was not a peacemaker at all. I would suggest John Hume and
0:19:32 > 0:19:37David Trimble and the peacemakers. They were the people who gave up so
0:19:37 > 0:19:42much to bring Martin McGuinness and his organisation and from the cold.
0:19:42 > 0:19:52As far as I am concerned, Martin McGuinness is just a terrace to a
0:19:52 > 0:19:55stop using his gun. -- terrorist. Martin McGuinness has condemned the
0:19:55 > 0:19:58murder of Brian Stack, and denied any knowledge of who might have
0:19:58 > 0:20:03carried it out. But it remains the case that some victims of IRA
0:20:03 > 0:20:07violence find his campaign for the Presidency hard to accept. What do
0:20:07 > 0:20:11you say to those who have lost people through IRA violence that
0:20:11 > 0:20:15believe that you are running for President is Cas are insensitive?
0:20:15 > 0:20:20Some people will find it very difficult and will find it -- be
0:20:20 > 0:20:24unable to support me. I fully respect their views. There are
0:20:24 > 0:20:28others who do support me and have been victims and their conflict and
0:20:28 > 0:20:32people within the Unionist community who have gone on radio
0:20:32 > 0:20:35and the North saying that they are supportive of my right to be
0:20:35 > 0:20:38involved in this election. They wish me well. Martin McGuinness's
0:20:38 > 0:20:45supporters point out that most voters are willing to look beyond
0:20:45 > 0:20:48his IRA past when considering him as a candidate. Martin McGuinness
0:20:48 > 0:20:51claimed he left the IRA in the early Seventies. People were
0:20:51 > 0:21:01worried that he is someone who is saying something that is simply
0:21:01 > 0:21:02
0:21:02 > 0:21:09untrue? Crass in my view. -- only the political class in my view. I
0:21:09 > 0:21:15do not believe he left the IRA. I don't care when he left. What I
0:21:15 > 0:21:21care about is what became of the IRA. It no longer exists. He had to
0:21:21 > 0:21:26stay around to be influential. Sheriff Street area of North Inner
0:21:26 > 0:21:35City Dublin. Paddy Keogh is a former championship boxer who's
0:21:35 > 0:21:43been training young fighters in this gym for 40 years. Box, Box!
0:21:43 > 0:21:49Martin McGuinness visited the club whilst on the campaign trail.
0:21:49 > 0:21:58was lovely for him to come into the club. I would love to see him get
0:21:58 > 0:22:04in. Of course I'll vote for him. Why? I think he is an honest man
0:22:04 > 0:22:13and I think he could unify Ireland. There is a lot of controversy about
0:22:13 > 0:22:19his IRA past. Lots of people would not know about it. I would not
0:22:19 > 0:22:23think they would think that way. The political climate for Sinn Fein
0:22:23 > 0:22:29and Martin McGuinness in the south could hardly be more favourable.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32The economy has turned upside down and because of that, so has the
0:22:32 > 0:22:36political status quo. 14% unemployment. At least a further
0:22:36 > 0:22:403.6 billion euros in budget cuts to be announced in December. For the
0:22:40 > 0:22:44former governing party, Fianna Fail, the bubble has burst. But Sinn Fein
0:22:44 > 0:22:47is on the up. Poll research suggests that support for the party
0:22:47 > 0:22:53is growing in the South amongst young people, amongst men, and in
0:22:53 > 0:23:03more economically disadvantaged areas. In other words, in places
0:23:03 > 0:23:13just like this. Is it fair to say there's a lot of anger with the
0:23:13 > 0:23:15
0:23:15 > 0:23:19traditional politics, with Fianna Fail and traditional parties here?
0:23:19 > 0:23:23There is an anti-establishment anger. People are losing jobs and
0:23:23 > 0:23:28feared that if they lose their jobs, they will lose their homes. There
0:23:28 > 0:23:30is an anger out there that Sinn Fein has successfully tapped into.
0:23:30 > 0:23:32That anti-establishment tactic continued in last night's final
0:23:32 > 0:23:34presidential TV debate, when Martin McGuinness went on the offensive,
0:23:34 > 0:23:40attacking frontrunner Sean Gallagher for his alleged
0:23:40 > 0:23:43involvement with Fianna Fail fundraising. Today, Sean Gallagher
0:23:43 > 0:23:49said that it amounted to a Sinn Fein attempt at political
0:23:49 > 0:23:53assassination, and disputed the facts of the allegation. But
0:23:53 > 0:23:56McGuinness seemed to land a blow, and he'll be hoping it helps.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59Before last night's debate, the polls suggested McGuinness was
0:23:59 > 0:24:09ahead of David Norris, Mary Davis, Dana and his fiercest critic Gay
0:24:09 > 0:24:10
0:24:10 > 0:24:20Mitchell. But he was significantly behind Sean Gallagher and Michael D
0:24:20 > 0:24:23
0:24:23 > 0:24:27Higgins. He says it'll be different on the day. I do not actually think
0:24:27 > 0:24:32the polls are reflecting the level of support that is there for me. It
0:24:32 > 0:24:35will be a better as a surprise come 27th October. On the face of it,
0:24:35 > 0:24:39Martin McGuinness's claim that he is well received on the streets
0:24:39 > 0:24:42seemed to stand up on the day we joined him at one campaign stop in
0:24:42 > 0:24:52County Wicklow. There were plenty of well wishers. Voters we spoke to
0:24:52 > 0:24:52
0:24:52 > 0:24:56were divided, but on the whole the view of him seemed positive. Martin
0:24:56 > 0:25:02McGuinness seems to me my front runner. He seems to be trying to
0:25:02 > 0:25:06get jobs and he has done a lot of good for the North of Ireland.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09not a member of Sinn Fein but they will be voting by him. I do not
0:25:09 > 0:25:15agree with him going for the President of Ireland and hopefully
0:25:15 > 0:25:20he will not get anywhere. In the current climate, there is a strong
0:25:20 > 0:25:25possibility he may succeed. I do not know whether that is a good
0:25:25 > 0:25:28thing are not. But it now appears it would take a huge political
0:25:28 > 0:25:38upset for Martin McGuinness to be elected. Nonetheless, for Sinn Fein,
0:25:38 > 0:25:38
0:25:38 > 0:25:42he may not need to win for the party to chalk it up as a success.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46We have opened up the idea that that some stage, before too long,
0:25:46 > 0:25:50Sinn Fein could hold the high office for which he is campaigning.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54That is a break through and it is the idea that instead of just being
0:25:54 > 0:25:59a marginal party, they could be a party that holds one of the more
0:25:59 > 0:26:02prominent high offices in the south. That has now become credible.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04week at Hillsborough castle, Mary McAleese made her final visit to
0:26:04 > 0:26:08Northern Ireland as President of the Republic. In her speech, she
0:26:08 > 0:26:16reflected on how far Ireland, north and south, has come in the last 14
0:26:16 > 0:26:20years. Now we know where we're going, the means of transport and
0:26:20 > 0:26:30evident. They are a quality, a mutual respect, partnership,
0:26:30 > 0:26:37
0:26:37 > 0:26:40dialogue. Their destination is very obvious - peaceful stop -- piece ft
0:26:40 > 0:26:43-- peace. Ireland has changed utterly during the tenure of
0:26:43 > 0:26:45President McAleese. And in that time, it seems Martin McGuinness
0:26:45 > 0:26:48has changed too throughout this campaign he has taken positions
0:26:48 > 0:26:51that Republicans once would have found unthinkable. He has said that
0:26:51 > 0:26:54today, the legitimate army of Ireland is the Irish Defence Forces,
0:26:54 > 0:26:57not the IRA. He has said he would meet British royalty something that
0:26:57 > 0:27:04was perhaps inevitable after the success of the Queen's visit this
0:27:04 > 0:27:09year. Perhaps most significantly for Republicans, he has even
0:27:09 > 0:27:12accepted some IRA killings as murder. He may have been speaking
0:27:12 > 0:27:22in a personal capacity on all of these points, but coming from
0:27:22 > 0:27:26
0:27:26 > 0:27:36I think those are things that Sinn Fein will be unable to roll back
0:27:36 > 0:27:40
0:27:40 > 0:27:44from. If Martin McGuinness does not win on Thursday the big question
0:27:44 > 0:27:51will be whether he has been damaged by this campaign. Whether there is
0:27:51 > 0:27:55a sense in which he will be coming back north to his job as Deputy
0:27:55 > 0:28:03First Minister with his tail between his legs. So far at least
0:28:03 > 0:28:09the Unionist politicians have made little of McGuiness's campaign.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13Unionism, people give it is nothing to do with us. But they are
0:28:13 > 0:28:19learning with - man within nationalism that there are
0:28:19 > 0:28:27different views and attitudes. think the DUP, it is not in their
0:28:27 > 0:28:33interests to reopen these issues. They are in government with Sinn
0:28:33 > 0:28:41Fein. At within republicanism at the campaign is likely to be sold
0:28:41 > 0:28:49as another success for step in a Sinn Fein's success in the south. -
0:28:49 > 0:28:55- successful. Or people think he will be coming back with his tail
0:28:55 > 0:29:02between his legs if he fails? plunged into this campaign and has
0:29:02 > 0:29:05raised the profile of Sinn Fein to levels that it has never been to.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08So the likelihood is that Martin McGuinness will return to his job
0:29:08 > 0:29:11as Deputy First Minister next week, and his Presidential campaign will
0:29:11 > 0:29:16be chalked up to experience. He has discovered, perhaps to his surprise,
0:29:16 > 0:29:19there are some in the south who just cant see beyond his past.
0:29:19 > 0:29:29Perhaps it's another irony of the peace process that it's his former
0:29:29 > 0:29:31
0:29:31 > 0:29:37enemies north of the border who can. I had been at pains to stress that
0:29:37 > 0:29:43I draw comparisons between some of my critics and the relationship I
0:29:43 > 0:29:46have with Ian Paisley and Peter Robinson, for example. I think