British are undermining the Good Friday Agreement - Adams

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams speaking this evening during the party’s PMB on the Good Friday Agreement warned that the British government is “seriously undermining the work of the Executive and of the political institutions”.

Teachta Adams cautioned that the “Executive’s ability to demonstrate that peace can deliver real economic change is being damaged by the British government’s significant cuts” to social welfare, the block grant and the investment package announced at St. Andrew’s 7 years ago.

The Sinn Féin leader described the Good Friday Agreement as “a defining moment in recent Irish history” which for the first time since partition “brought peace, stability and hope, and the opportunity for a better future for the people of this island”.

Full text of his remarks:

The Good Friday Agreement was a defining moment in recent Irish history.

 

Comhréiteach stairiúil a bhí ann - a compromise between conflicting political positions following decades of conflict, the roots of which are to be found in the British government’s involvement in our country.

For the first time since partition the Agreement brought peace, stability and hope, and the opportunity for a better future for the people of this island.

It most directly affected the north but it has also positively impacted on this part of the island and on the diaspora.

It ushered in 15 years of relative peace.

Seasann próiseas síochana na hÉireann mar shampla do áiteanna eile ina bhfuil troid.

George Mitchel, who did such a remarkable job of charting a difficult course through the negotiations, correctly anticipated that agreeing the deal was the easy bit.

The hard part was going to be implementing it. And he was right.

The twists and turns from April 10^th 1998 to May 2013 have been many.

At times the process has collapsed.

At other times it looked as if securocrats and the naysayers and begrudgers were going to succeed and the whole process was going to unravel.

But with patience and perseverance difficult issues, including those of weapons and of policing were overcome.

Along the way the UUP was replaced by the DUP as the largest unionist party.

Few imagined Sinn Féin and the DUP ever reaching agreement on the institutions.

But that’s what happened and Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness demonstrated enormous courage and vision to make power sharing work.

Two years ago an inclusive democratically elected local government, with all-island interlocking implementation bodies and a Council of Ministers, successfully completed a full term of office.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that everything is working smoothly.

Making peace is a process, not an event.

But unlike previous efforts, which were largely imposed by the British, with the support of successive Irish governments, and which excluded sections of political opinion, the negotiations that created the Good Friday Agreement were genuinely inclusive.

The Agreement also addressed the broad range of issues that had been previously ignored.

 

It deals with constitutional issues, political matters, and institutional issues.

It put in place a mechanism to hold a border poll to address the issue of partition and to achieve democratically and peacefully Irish unity.

It also set up political structures that provide for the sharing of power while including checks and balances to prevent a recurrence of past political abuses.

The underlying ethos of the Agreement is equality.

Agus cuireadh bearta i bhfeidhm chun comhionannas a bhaint amach. 

This is reflected in the fact that the word ‘equality’ is mentioned 21 times in the Good Friday Agreement.

 

It is not mentioned at all, for example, in the Sunningdale Agreement.

 

Since then there have been further negotiations, mostly notably at Weston Park and St. Andrews and at Hillsborough Castle. 

Regrettably, once the political institutions were stabilised and the hard issues of policing and weapons dealt with the government here took its eye off the issue.

The British Tory/Lib Dem government has also not honoured commitments as it should have.

 

Consequently, there are a number of outstanding issues arising from the Good Friday Agreement, including a Bill of Rights for the north; an all-island Charter of Rights; the establishment of the North South Consultative Forum; and the introduction of an Acht na Gaeilge (Irish language Act).

The British government has also failed to act on its Weston Park commitment to hold an independent inquiry into the killing of human rights lawyer Pat Finucane.

At the same time the securocrats continue to abuse human rights, most clearly in the continued detention of Marian Price and Martin Corey.

Both governments have also failed to address the need for a victim centred truth and reconciliation process.

But the greatest threat to the Agreement at this time comes from the British government.

The decisions taken by Mr. Cameron and his colleagues are seriously undermining the Good Friday Agreement and the political institutions.

At the centre of this is a failure to support a society moving out of decades of conflict.

 

Citizens and communities need hope and economic investment.

Citizens whose lives have been blighted by war or by generational sectarianism and division need to see that peace can change their lives and those of their children.

That is why all of the parties agreed to a significant peace dividend and investment of £18 billion at St Andrews.

One of the first actions of the current British government was to renege on this commitment.

This decision removed from the Executive the ability to deliver a major capital investment programme which would have had the dual effect of providing much needed employment in the construction industry while bringing our roads, hospitals and schools up to the necessary standard.

 The next action of the British government was to cut the Block Grant by £4 billion.

Within the fiscal constraints of the Executive the parties managed to raise some additional revenue and tried to offset the worst effects of the cut to the block grant.

 But this approach was clearly stretching their finances to the limit.

The British government has also refused to devolve powers on Corporation Tax.

 

Now the Tory/Lib Dem government, in pursuit of austerity, is seeking to impose £1 billion of welfare cuts that will take millions out of the local economy and hurt disadvantaged and vulnerable families.

This is unacceptable and Martin McGuinness recently told the British Prime Minister this very directly.

Last week Martin and Peter Robinson also met the British Secretary of State Teresa Villiers to discuss an economic package for the Executive.

It was another bad meeting.

Ní féidir le seo leanúint ar aghaidh.

The British government is seriously undermining the work of the Executive and of the political institutions.

People need reassurance that peace will bring a real and positive change in their lives.

The Executive has achieved much, including £8 billion of investment and the creation of thousands of jobs through inward investment.

Today Allstate announced that it will create 650 jobs in the north. That’s good work by the Executive.

But the Executive’s ability to demonstrate that peace can deliver real economic change is being seriously damaged by the British government’s significant cuts.

It must be challenged on this.

The Irish government is an co-equal guarantor with the British government in the Good Friday Agreement and subsequent agreements.

 

The government needs to urgently intervene and challenge this foolish and short-sighted approach by the British government.

It needs a strategy to keep London to its obligations under the Good Friday Agreement and to remove the threat to the Executive and institutions created by its cuts agenda.

 

 

 

Force feeding in Guantánamo Bay

Last Sunday was the 32^nd anniversary of the death on hunger strike of Bobby Sands. The death of Bobby and his nine comrades, and of many others outside the prison radicalised a whole new generation. The 1981 hunger strike was a watershed in recent Irish history. Two other Irish republicans died on hunger strike in English prisons; Michael Gaughan in 1974 and Frank Stagg in 1976.

Hunger strike has long been a weapon in the arsenal of political prisoners fighting for improved conditions or release from illegal detention. It was used by republican political prisoners almost 100 years ago before and during the Tan War and Civil War. In more recent time ANC prisoners in South Africa marked Bobby’s death in 1981 and used hunger strike during their struggle with the prison regime. Palestinian, Basque and Kurdish prisoners have similarly used the hunger strike weapon and now some 100 detainees are on hunger strike in Guantánamo Bay. Reports state that four have been hospitalised and 23 are being force-fed.

Michael Gaughan

As I read about this development I was reminded of the experience of republican comrades in the 1970’s in jails in England who were forced fed. Michael Gaughan died on hunger strike in Parkhurst prison in England in June 1974 after 64 days without food. He was 24. Michael Gaughan had been force fed for almost six weeks and it later emerged that a tube, which was forced down his throat, had punctured his lung and led to pneumonia and his death.

Michael wasn’t the only one to be force fed. Frank Stagg, who died in February 1976, Gerry Kelly, Hugh Feeney, Dolores and Marian Price were also forced fed for over 200 days. The experience was horrific.

 

Gerry Kelly

 

At that time I wrote about this based on first hand accounts from Gerry and Hugh who had been repatriated to Long Kesh. I was trying to highlight the trauma that Frank Stagg would face. I am sure that the conditions of force feeding will not have changed much since then. 

“He will face at least one and maybe two ’feedings’ daily. Force-feeding is always brutal. No matter how often it occurs, the victim does not get used to it. If the ‘feedings’ are not at regular times each day, and usually they are not, then he spends his entire day trying to prepare himself emotionally, trying to restock his determination to fight.

A team of screws are the first to appear. They come into the cell with varying expressions on their faces, ranging from snarls through impassive indifference, to sheepish, apologetic smiles. Frank will either be ‘fed’ in his cell or dragged outside into another one where he will be held in a bed or on a chair. Usually six or eight screws are involved. They swoop in a planned manner, holding and pressing down on arms and legs. Frank will struggle as best he can even though he knows it is useless. One grabs him by the hair and forces his head back and when he is finally pinned down the doctor and his assistant arrive.

 

Frank Stagg

 

Various methods will be employed to open Frank’s mouth: his nose will be covered to cut off air, or a screw or doctor will bunch his fists and bore his knuckles into the joints on each side of the jaws. A ‘Ryle’s tube’ will be used. This is a very long, thin tube which is pushed through the nose. It is supposedly for nasal feeding but in force-feeding it is simply a weapon used to force open the jaws. It rubs against the membrane at the back of the nose and, if not coated in lubricant (it seldom is), it causes a searing pain, akin to a red-hot needle being pushed into one’s head. If Frank cries out, a wooden clamp will immediately be pushed between his teeth. If this fails to work the doctor will use a large pair of forceps to cut into the gums, the ensuing pain again forcing the jaws open sufficiently for the clamp to be pressed in. Sometimes a metal clamp, rather like a ‘bulldog’ clip, is used. It is shoved between the teeth and a bolt is turned, opening a spring and forcing the jaws apart.

When Frank’s jaws are finally prised open, a wooden bit, rather like a horse’s bit, is forced into his mouth. It ‘sits’ across his mouth with a screw holding each end, and there is a hole in the centre of it through which the feeding tube passes. A flat piece of wood is used to press the tongue down and then a three-foot-long rubber tube, coated in liquid paraffin, is shoved in and down his throat. A funnel is placed on the open end and some water poured in. If the water bubbles they know the tube is in Frank’s lungs. If so, the tube is removed and the process starts again. Michael Gaughan was murdered in this way. When the tube is eventually fixed properly, it is pushed down into Frank’s stomach.

There are different widths of tube, and obviously the wider they are the more painful the torture. Doctors usually use the widest as it gets the food down quicker and they don’t have to delay overlong. Frank will feel his stomach filling up and stretching, an experience he has undergone before. Automatically he will vomit, the disgorged food being caught in a kidney-dish. If the doctor in charge is especially sadistic, the vomit will be forced back down his throat again (as happened to Gerry Kelly).

When the tube is being removed it tears at the back of the throat, more so than before because the liquid paraffin will have worn off on the way down. The last few inches will be ghastly. Frank will get violent pains in his chest. He will choke and at this point he will be sicker than before, as the tube coming out triggers off more retching (Marian Price passed out at this stage once).

 

This then is force-feeding. Last week the UN Commission for Human Rights stated that this force-feeding is ethically and legally unjustifiable. The use of force-feeding should end and Guantánamo Bay should be closed.

 

 

Government must preserve Moore Street 1916 Site

 

Moore Street today

 

During Order of business today in the Dáil I raised with the Taoiseach the issue of the National Monument at Moore Street and called on the government to directly intervene to save the Moore Street National Monument by removing it from the ownership of Chartered Land.

In his reply the Taoiseach said that Minister Deenihan will be bringing a memo to the government shortly dealing with this issue.

I reminded the Taoiseach that in their Programme for Government Fine Gael and Labour committed to develop a cultural plan for future commemorative events such as the Centenary of the Easter Rising in 2016.

This morning (Wednesday) government and opposition leaders, and relatives of the 1916 leaders, attended a commemorative event in Arbour Hill cemetery to remember the men and women who proclaimed a Republic in 1916.

The last headquarters of that republic, the National Monument in Moore Street stands in a perilous state of decay and in urgent need of remedial work.

Under the Monument Preservation Order No. 1 2007 the Minister is obliged to intervene when a national monument is in danger of falling into decay through neglect.

I specifically asked the Taoiseach to have Heritage Minister Deenihan intervene to remove the National Monument from the ownership of Chartered Land and to act to preserve the Moore Street battlefield site in its entirety.

Note to Reader:

The developer Chartered Land owns 14-17 Moore Street as well as most of what is the battlefield site - that side of Moore Street, the lanes and buildings behind it and part of Upper O’Connell Street. Their plan is to build a giant shopping centre, demolishing most of Moore Street on either side of Numbers 14 to 17, which would be dominated and overlooked by high buildings.

 

 

Recently Dublin City Council’s Moore Street Advisory Committee was given access to the National Monument at 14 to 17 Moore Street, which was the last headquarters of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic at Easter 1916. Sinn Féin Councillor Mícheál Mac Donncha described the buildings as in a poor state of repair.

 

 

Remembering Bobby and his comrades

Today marks the anniversary of the death of my friend and comrade Bobby Sands on the sixty sixth day of hunger strike.

I don’t remember the first time I met Bobby. I had been interned in Long Kesh and was sentenced for trying to escape and found myself in Cage 11, in another part of the camp which held sentenced political prisoners. Bobby was already one of those in the Cage.

The cages were literally that - a large space surrounded by a high wire fence in which there were four Nissan huts, a study hut and a toilet shower hut.

In the sentenced end of Long Kesh these each held around 80 prisoners. In Cage 11 one of the Nissan huts was also a Gaeltacht for those wanting to learn the Irish language and that’s were Bobby was.

I remember him as a keen sportsman who played soccer or gaelic football whenever he got the chance. He had long hair, a good sense of humour and liked music. He was very good on the guitar. I remember sitting in the study hut writing while he would be practicing on his guitar. His party piece was the classic by Kris Kristofferson, ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ and later when he went to the H Blocks Bobby wrote songs including ‘McIlhatton’ and ‘Back home in Derry’.

I got to know him better as we started to hold political debates and lectures. Bobby was a very intelligent, committed republican. He was well read and enjoyed political discussions and made up his own mind on the political situation. That is evident both from his return to the IRA on his release but also his engagement with local community politics when he went to live in Twinbrook.

The 1980 and 1981 hunger strikes were a measure of last resort by the prisoners. It was a selfless act by ordinary men and women seeking to improve the conditions of their comrades. It was also a political act in defiance of a British government that was seeking to criminalise the prisoners and the struggle for Irish freedom and independence.

The account of that period has often been told.

Of Kieran Nugent refusing to wearing the prison uniform and saying they would have to nail it to his back.

Of the hundreds of prisoners in the H Blocks – naked, beaten, starved, denied proper medical care or toilet facilities, forced frequently to run the gauntlet of riot clad screws or subjected to the brutality of the mirror search.

Of the women in Armagh – isolated and beaten and strip searched who were also denied adequate medical and toilet facilities.

Of the families who organised and campaigned through the Relatives Action Committees and then through the National Smash H-Block Campaign.

And of the tens of thousands who marched and protested in support of the prisoners.

The hunger strike changed the political landscape in Ireland.

The political gains that have been made by Sinn Féin since then owe much to the men and women political prisoners and to the sacrifice, resolve and perseverance of the hunger strikers and their families.

For his part Bobby was also a writer. His stories and poems reflect his politics and the terrible conditions in which he lived. They also provide an insight into a spirit that refused to be broken and could soar above the H Blocks.

For me one of his best and most important works is the Rhythm of Time. I include it below in memory of Bobby and his nine comrades who died with him on the 1981 hunger strike.

We remember them all: Bobby Sands; Francis Hughes; Raymond McCreesh; Patsy O Hara; Joe McDonnell; Martin Hurson; Kevin Lynch; Kieran Doherty; Thomas McElwee and Mickey Devine. And neither do we forget Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg.

The Rhythm Of Time

There’s an inner thing in every man,

Do you know this thing my friend?

It has withstood the blows of a million years,

And will do so to the end.

It was born when time did not exist,

And it grew up out of life,

It cut down evil’s strangling vines,

Like a slashing searing knife.

It lit fires when fires were not,

And burnt the mind of man,

Tempering leadened hearts to steel,

From the time that time began.

It wept by the waters of Babylon,

And when all men were a loss,

It screeched in writhing agony,

And it hung bleeding from the Cross.

It died in Rome by lion and sword,

And in defiant cruel array,

When the deathly word was ‘Spartacus’

Along the Appian Way.

It marched with Wat the Tyler’s poor,

And frightened lord and king,

And it was emblazoned in their deathly stare,

As e’er a living thing.

It smiled in holy innocence,

Before conquistadors of old,

So meek and tame and unaware,

Of the deathly power of gold.

It burst forth through pitiful Paris streets,

And stormed the old Bastille,

And marched upon the serpent’s head,

And crushed it ‘neath its heel.

It died in blood on Buffalo Plains,

And starved by moons of rain,

Its heart was buried in Wounded Knee,

But it will come to rise again.

It screamed aloud by Kerry lakes,

As it was knelt upon the ground,

And it died in great defiance,

As they coldly shot it down.

It is found in every light of hope,

It knows no bounds nor space

It has risen in red and black and white,

It is there in every race.

It lies in the hearts of heroes dead,

It screams in tyrants’ eyes,

It has reached the peak of mountains high,

It comes searing ‘cross the skies.

It lights the dark of this prison cell,

It thunders forth its might,

It is ‘the undauntable thought’, my friend,

That thought that says ‘I’m right!’

Helping victims and their families

 

Late on Monday night I travelled out to the RTE studios in Dublin to do a Prime Time interview on the issue of victims of republican actions.  The program makers say their interest was sparked by my remarks in the Dáil in January following the killing of Garda Adrian Donohoe.

 

On that occasion I apologised to the family of Garda Jerry McCabe who was killed by the IRA in June 1996. I also apologised to the families of other members of the State forces who were killed by republicans in the course of the conflict. I said: “I am very sorry for the pain and loss inflicted on these families. No words of mine can remove that hurt and dreadful deeds cannot be undone. However, I restate that the resolve of Sinn Féin and the majority of Irish people is to ensure there will never, ever be a recurrence of conflict.”

 

The war is over but the legacy of partition, of decades of discrimination, injustice and of conflict, means that there are many unresolved issues still facing society on this island. One of the most important is how we address this issue of victims.

 

Over three and a half thousand people were killed and many thousands more injured by combatant groups on all sides. Families were bereaved and years later continue to struggle with the pain and loss. Many also want truth. Who killed their loved one? Why?

 

This is certainly true of the three families who were interviewed for Prime Time. Garda Michael Clerkin was killed in October 1976; Garda Inspector Sam Donegan was killed by a bomb on the Cavan/Fermanagh border in June 1972, and Chief Prison Officer Brian Stack was shot 1983. He later died from his injuries. The film report carried at the beginning of Prime Time was a powerful reminder of the trauma that bereaved families live each day.

 

Over many years I have met other families in this same situation. Their stories are equally harrowing. Some were victims of the IRA. Others were killed as a result of collusion between British state forces and loyalist death squads, or by the British Army and RUC and the UDR. The grief and trauma suffered by all of these families is the same. This experience has convinced me that there can be no hierarchy of victims. All victims must be treated on the basis of equality.

 

In these three cases the IRA never accepted responsibility. In each case there is the possibility that other republican groups might have been responsible. It is certainly true that some Gardaí were killed by the INLA, Saor Éire and other smaller armed groups and it is possible that criminals might have been involved in one of these deaths.

 

The truth is that I don’t know. I have no personal information in respect of any of these three deaths. If the IRA was responsible or if individual or other republicans were involved then I have no hesitation in apologising to these families also. And I said so and did so on Prime Time.

 

But this doesn’t bring these families any closer to knowing with certainty who was responsible or why. Like hundreds, perhaps thousands of other families, they seek closure. Most do not want revenge. They don’t want anyone going to prison. But they do want to know what happened.

 

How do we achieve this for victims? There are two examples of how this can be done. One is the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday. It provided for former combatants from the IRA, the Official IRA and the British Army to give testimony.

 

More recently there is the Smithwick Tribunal which is examining the circumstances surround the killing of two RUC officers in March 1989. In that instance I met at his request with Justice Smithwick who asked if I could help. I explained to him that in 2005 the IRA put its weapons beyond use and stood down its structures. The IRA had left the stage. However, after some effort three former IRA volunteers did give evidence to the Tribunal.

 

This was a significant and unprecedented development. For the first time former members of the IRA gave evidence to an inquiry into an IRA action. Clearly this would not have been possible but for the Tribunal creating the context to allow it.

 

I met with Justice Smithwick because I sincerely believe that there is a responsibility on republicans to assist bereaved families if and when they can, though this may not be possible in all cases.

 

These examples show that with political will it would be possible for the two governments to help bring about  a truth and reconciliation process that can secure the participation of former combatants and provide the answers that families seek.

 

Sinn Féin has put forward a specific proposal for the governments to invite a reputable independent international body to establish such a commission. It would be independent of both states and the combatant groups, of the political parties, and civil society and economic interests and it should have the remit to inquire into the extent and pattern of past violations as well as their causes and consequences.

 

Events and actions in the Irish state have to be clearly part of this. After the Tan War and the dreadful Civil War that followed there was no such process. There was no attempt to locate the scores of remains of those killed and disappeared. There was no effort to heal wounds. Victims were not looked after. On the contrary the divisions of that period shaped the decades that have followed and contributed to corruption that became a part of the political system.

 

This lesson must be learned. A truth process must look at all actions, including those that occurred in the Irish state. This means a truth process addressing the fact that republicans were killed in this part of the island, including Tom Smith, Hugh Hehir, John Francis Green and Councillor Eddie Fullerton.

 

It has to address the experience of political prisoners in the jails; the role of the Heavy Gang and the fact that innocents were imprisoned; collusion between elements of the Irish establishment and the British system; and that that there were there were bombs in Dublin and Monaghan and Dundalk involving collusion between British state forces and loyalists.

 

There were other killings too by armed groups like the Official IRA and INLA. These include Larry White of Cork killed by the OIRA in June 1975 and Seamus Costello in October 1977.

 

Other may have a different vision for a truth process. That’s fine. But whatever sort of truth process is created it cannot be about putting people back into the prisons. The Good Friday Agreement, which the two governments and the political parties signed up to and which the people voted for in referendums, drew a line in the sand. It opened up a democratic and peaceful way to achieve political objectives and by so doing removed the reason for armed actions.  It released all political prisoners. This was a necessary part of making the peace process work. Without it there would have been no Good Friday Agreement. Many of these former prisoners are champions of the peace process.

 

Filling the prisons again for actions that occurred, in some instances over 40 years ago, would be counter-productive. It would play into the hands of those small and unrepresentative groups who want to undermine the peace process and return society on this island back to conflict. We cannot allow that to happen.

 

As a republican leader I have a duty and responsibility to do my best to help victims and their families. That is why I did the Prime Time interview.

 

Regrettably, instead of an intelligent focussed examination of how victims can be helped by republicans and others and scrutinising in a robust way the proposition we are developing, the programme reverted to type.

 

Miriam missed an opportunity to do a potentially ground breaking interview.

 

Sadly it seems to me that the bereaved families who featured in the Prime Time programme will have taken little succour from it.

 

Despite this I will not be deterred. My generation of republican activists who lived through and survived the war have a responsibility to try and bring the families of victims of the war, irrespective of who was responsible, to a better place.

 

The Jackie Clarke Collection

 

The Jackie Clarke Museum in Ballina

 

This last week or so has been a traumatic time for my family. On-going court proceedings prevent me from commenting on this though it may be something I will return to again. For now let me tell you about a remarkable man.

Occasionally, in my political travels around Ireland I would arrive in Mayo and Ballina where I would meet Jackie Clarke. He was a local Sinn Féin Councillor, a life-long republican activist and well known across the county and beyond. He was also a fish merchant and ran a smokery. Jackie would enthusiastically show me some new book or pamphlet that he had recently acquired. But none of us had the slightest inkling of the depth and extent of his passion for all things Irish or his determination to record centuries of republican resistance to British rule through publications of the period.

It was only after his death in 2000 that the magnitude and historical importance of Jackie Clarke’s collection came to light. 

100,000 items, including a Proclamation; eviction notices from the late 19^th century when another Mayo man, Michael Davitt led the tenant farmers in their battle with the Landlords; a cockade that was attached to Wolfe Tone’s hat when he was captured; photographs; old maps; letters from many significant leaders in Irish history, including Michael Collins, Michael Davitt and O Donovan Rossa, as well as posters, leaflets and other materials from the hunger strikes of the 1980s.

Jackie chronicled armed resistance from 1798 until the 1990’s. He gathered material from every phase of the republican struggle over 200 years. There are also exceptional documents going back a further 200 years to the 16th century.

Jackie’s personal commitment to Irish republicanism began at a very young age. He lived in Dublin for a time and became a close friend of 1916 veteran republican Joe Clarke who founded the Irish Book Bureau in Dublin and was in the 1970s a Vice President of Sinn Féin. While living there Jackie would regularly visit many of the other bookshops that then existed along the quays looking for books and pamphlets and other republican items that might catch his eye. Jackie maintained his connection to Joe after he returned to Mayo.

 

According to his family Jackie joined the I.R.A in 1944 at the age of 17. He was a dedicated republican activist all his life and a Sinn Féin Councillor on Ballina Urban District Councillor for over 20 years.

On June 3^rd 1974 IRA Volunteer and Mayo republican Michael Gaughan died on hunger strike in Parkhurst prison in England after 64 days without food. He was 24. Michael Gaughan had been force fed for almost six weeks and it later emerged that a tube, which was forced down his throat, had punctured his lung and led to pneumonia and his death.

Five days later his remains arrived in Dublin where thousands of people attended the lying in state. From there it made its slow respectful way across the island to Ballina where Jackie Clarke was responsible for the complex funeral arrangements. He did Michael Gaughan proud.

Two years later on February 12^th 1976 another Mayo man Frank Stagg, also died on hunger strike after 62 days on hunger strike in Wakefield prison. He was aged 33.

When Frank Stagg’s remains were on their way back to Ireland the Fine Gael/Labour Coalition government ordered that the plane be diverted from Dublin to Shannon airport. They were determined that there would be no repeat of the outpouring of public sympathy for a republican hunger striker seen two years earlier at Michael Gaughan’s funeral.

The body was hijacked and taken by helicopter directly to the cemetery in Ballina. There amid huge security Frank Stagg was buried in a private plot near to the republican plot. His grave was covered in concrete to prevent his remains from being reinterred and a 24 hour guard was put in place by the state.

Jackie Clarke was the main organiser of the public commemoration that took place the day after the state buried Frank Stagg. Despite a huge Garda presence a volley of shots was fired and Joe Cahill gave an oration in which he pledged that Frank Stagg’s body would lie in the republican plot. Shortly afterward Jackie was arrested and charged with IRA membership but was subsequently acquitted.

Undeterred by the round-the-clock guard and the several feet of concrete Jackie Clarke and his Mayo comrades patiently planned and organised and in November Frank Stagg’s remains were removed and he was reburied beside Michael Gaughan.

Throughout the war years Jackie and his shop were under constant surveillance by the Special Branch. It was raided on numerous occasions.  Despite the harassment and the censorship of Section 31 that was directed towards Jackie and his fellow Republicans in Mayo, he not only managed to be elected as a Sinn Fein councillor but in 1976, the year he was charged with IRA membership, Jackie was elected Mayor of Ballina.

Jackie was an extraordinary human being. He made a significant contribution to Irish republicanism. In his amazing collection he has left an extraordinary legacy to Mayo and to the Nation.

By virtue of Jackie Clarke’s diligence and generosity the people of Mayo and the Irish Nation have an exceptional record of centuries of struggle for freedom and justice.

The Jackie Clarke Collection is located in the former Provincial Bank building on Pearse Street, Ballina. Built in 1881, it was used as a bank until 1977. It was designed by the Victorian architect Thomas Manly Deane, who also designed the National Museum and Government Buildings, Dublin. The building, which was acquired by Mayo County Council in 2008, has been completely renovated and refurbished. It now hosts a world-class exhibition centre that has been specially designed for the Jackie Clarke Collection.

If you are interested in the history of the Irish people’s struggle for freedom and of the central role played by Irish republicanism in this then make a point of visiting Ballina and the Jackie Clarke collection. I intend to.

The Innocents of Boston and Iraq

I have visited Boston many times over the years. It’s a beautiful city and full of Irish and Irish Americans. Despite its sprawling size and population, and unlike New York and Los Angeles, it has the feel of a town where community is important and everyone knows everyone else. It’s also a comfortable place to go for a walk.

The first time I visited Boston was in September 1994. It was several weeks after the first IRA cessation. It was the start of a gruelling three week journey across the USA which would eventually take us to Washington DC for meetings with senior White House and government officials. I was given a rousing welcome at Logan airport where I was met by Senator Ted Kennedy and other Irish American activists.

I have been back often. Three years ago I was there for the St. Patrick’s Day celebration which traditionally goes on all week – they don’t do things by half!

Kevin Fagin from Dublin – Fago to all who know him – and Senator Steve Toland chaperoned us around, including to a remarkable early breakfast event hosted by Senator Jack Hart in South Boston. There were hundreds of Irish Americans, including Congress members, state legislators, city council members, the Boston police and fire service, trade unionists and community activists. They were all in fine voice and enjoyed an amazing singalong that went on for hours.

Every Irish song you can think of from ‘McNamara’s Band’ to ‘If You’re Irish Come Into the Parlour’, to ‘The Fields Of Athenry’ and ‘The Boys Of The Old Brigade’, were all belted out with great gusto. And in between one after another of the politicians would get up and slag off their opponents with wit and irony. It was a truly weird but wonderful experience.

Rita O Hare and I walked later that day in the St. Patrick’s Day event along with tens of thousands of Irish Americans whose enthusiasm was undiminished by the torrential rain that poured down from a grey leaden sky and the gale force winds that threatened to sweep Rita off her feet.

On another occasion Friends of Sinn Féin hired a large boat for a fundraising event and it was packed full of Bostonians eating, drinking and eventually listening to me speak about the peace process and the role of Irish America.

On Monday evening when the news broke about the bomb attacks in Boston and of the deaths and scores of injured, these were the people I immediately thought of. Good people, sound people, who have been hugely supportive of the people of Ireland over generations. Many of them first generation residents. Some from west Belfast.

Rita tried to ring Shannon who lives in Boston and has been a very close friend and activist for many years. She couldn’t get through as the phone lines were down. Eventually Shannon picked up on some of the texts that had been sent and emailed Rita back to confirm that she and her family were ok. Her niece, Courtney had been running in the marathon and was only seconds from the finish line when the explosion occurred. They were all shocked but safe and well.

Thus far no one knows who was responsible for the attacks or what lies behind this appalling incident. But for the people of Boston it is a day they will long remember.

Given the connections between Ireland and Boston there was and is a widespread and understandable feeling of shock and horror at events there. This is especially true in the north which has witnessed many similar days. Consequently, there is an acute of sense of solidarity with the people of Boston.

But Boston wasn’t the only place to suffer the horror of bomb attacks. On the same day, and in advance of elections to be held there on Saturday, there was a series of devastating bomb attacks across Iraq. Over 50 people were killed and countless more injured. More than 30 bombs, eight of them in Baghdad, detonated during the morning rush hour and caused chaos. Other bomb attacks have occured there this week.

Like the bomb attacks in Boston no one knows who was responsible although the attacks in Iraq are clearly linked to the elections and efforts to destabilise the country.

What is certain is that a lot of innocent people were killed and injured. To the families of all of those who were killed and injured I want to extend my condolences and solidarity.