Léargas

January 31st 10 This Blog is on its way to Derry for the 38th Bloody Sunday march. I usually try to post a Blog on Friday or Saturday and again on a Monday or a Tuesday. A week in Hillsborough wrapped in negotiaitons means I missed my Friday/Saturday slot. I’ll post a Blog on Monday about all of that. I also missed a celebration of 40 years of the Rosgoill Gaeltacht on the Shaws Road in west Belfast which was founded in 1969, and of Bunscoil Phobail Feirste which was set up in 1971, as the first ever Gaelscoil in the north of Ireland. I was very disappointed not to be present in Parliament Buildings for this. I have long admired the determination and dedication of those who overcame enormous challenges to create the Rosgoill Gaeltacht and Bunscoil Phobail Feirste. We owe them a great debt of gratitude. Although I was not present l am including in this Blog the remarks that I had intended to make to those attending the event. A dhaoine uaisle, ba mhaith liom fáilte mhór a chur romhaibh ...

25 Jan 10 This Blog will present one programme on Jesus in a new series on Channel 4 entitled The Bible: A History. The series started on Sunday evening. When I was asked to present the programme I was very intrigued. The issues involved have interested me for a very long time. But I am hyper busy with my political duties and with family issues which are very much now in the public arena. Despite all of this the programme is now almost finished and the Jesus programme is due for broadcast in early March. I am a Catholic. An Irish Catholic. And despite all the let-downs and scandals that the Church, or at least a section of the Church, has been embroiled in, I remain a member. When I was asked to do the programme the director Dan Reed appealed to me not to research or study the issues involved. He wanted me to learn on the job. I took that advice. My task was to discover the real Jesus – Jesus the man; the historical Jesus. We know only about one year of his life. Was it possible to lo...

Blog January 21st 10 Apparently the DUP were sitting up at Stormont Castle on Thursday waiting for the Shinners to come and talk to them. Strange. This Blog had told Peter Robinson late the evening before that that phase of our discussions was over. I told him there would be a Sinn Féin national officer board meeting on Thursday and a report from Martin McGuinness on the negotiations would be discussed. The failure of the DUP thus far to come up to the plate during the current round of negotiations shouldn’t come as any great surprise. The DUP are looking over their shoulder at Jim Allister and then there are the ‘secret’ talks between the UUs and the DUP and talk of electoral pacts. That’s their own business and nothing to get too excited about. Except to note they told us they couldn’t do any business on the Sabbath – the very day they were busy on unionist unity business. But lest we forget the DUP was born out of the anti civil rights politics of the late 60s and the firebrand unio...

January 19th 2010 Everything is relative. That has long been the view of this Blog. The problems afflicting the political process here pale to insignificance when set in the context of what is happening in other parts of the world. That is not to say that we should not sort out our problems. Of course not. They need dealt with urgently and efficiently. But others have bigger problems. And we need to think of them also. There are the people in the makeshift cities of multi-coloured blankets and sheets and bits of cloth which string as far as the eye can see. There are the people who stand about in their thousands dazed and confused. Others are desperately scrabbling at mounds of debris with their bare hands in a desperate race against time to find those who might still be buried beneath the rubble. While others stand behind barred gates with hands outstretched desperately hoping for something, anything, that will keep them and their families alive. To watch it on our television screens ...

January 17th 10 Prior to the weekend the Sunday Tribune sent a series of questions to me relating to my brother Liam Adams. The paper did not publish the full response it was given but produced an edited version. I think it only fair that readers have a chance to read the full piece. Gerry Adams Response to Sunday Tribune For the last few weeks the Sunday Tribune has been accusing me of not answering questions, of ‘dodging and weaving’ and avoiding the issues which were being raised. These assertions were made by Suzanne Breen in various media outlets. What Suzanne Breen failed to say was that neither she nor the Sunday Tribune had asked me any questions. Neither did they ask me for an interview and no attempts were made to contact me. Neither Suzanne Breen nor any other Sunday Tribune journalist bothered to turn up at any of the press events I hosted. It was only when Sinn Féin briefed some journalists that our national Chairperson Declan Kearney was compiling a report of my broth...

January 15th 10 It has been a busy, surprising, eventful week in the political process. Peter Robinson has gone – temporarily – from the Office of OFMDFM. He has availed of the rule that allows a Minister to take time off from his or her duties to attend to personal matters. Consequently, we now have a new First Minister, Arlene Foster – temporarily. This Blog wishes her well. The Robinsons must have the space and the privacy in which to deal with their personal and family matters. At the same time there is an urgent need to resolve those outstanding issues that have brought the process to crisis. So, the Shinners and the DUP have been talking to each other and to the other parties. These discussions are ongoing and everyone knows the issues, especially the need for a date on the transfer of Powers on Policing and Justice. This Blog is convinced that it is the will of the people that an agreement to resolve all of these matters is reached. With political will it can be done. Other big ...

Jan 12th 10 Just before Christmas this Blog noted that I might deal with ‘some of the events in the life of my clan and in my own life … at some other time.’ In recent weeks some elements of the media have been critical of my handling of the issues arising from the allegations of sexual abuse against my brother Liam by his daughter Áine. Some have alleged cover-ups by me and by Sinn Féin. Some political opponents have also very cynically sought to exploit this personal family trauma in a most offensive way. Some have tried to compare my family’s efforts to deal with the trauma of child abuse, including the ordeal of discovering that our father was an abuser, with other issues in the political process at this time. This is disgraceful and deeply upsetting to our family. There was no cover-up. No evasion. The fact is that it was one of my family members who, when we first became aware of the allegations, accompanied Áine and her mother to the Social Services. A complaint was also made b...

January 8th 10 In the midst of all our local political controversy and ongoing revelations a jubilant John Hurson rang this Blog yesterday (Thursday) morning to confirm that the ‘Viva Palestina Convoy’ had finally reached Gaza with its urgently needed medical and humanitarian aid for the 1.5 million inhabitants of that besieged region. John is a Tyrone man and one of many international aid workers and activists, including some from Ireland, who have devoted much of their time in recent years to helping the Palestinian people in the Gaza strip and west Bank. Somewhat hoarse from the celebrations he reported that ‘517 people last night broke the siege’. The convoy had been on the road since early December when it left London . It travelled through Europe, Turkey , Syria , Jordan and then back to Syria . Over 40 nations are represented in the convoy. When the ‘Viva Palestina Convoy’ finally reached the Egyptian-Gaza border around December 24th there was a stand-off with Egyptian aut...

January 7th 10 The media and much of what passes as public discourse in this part of the world has been dominated since Wednesday by the trials and tribulations of Iris and Peter Robinson. This Blog was aware of the gale of rumours and speculation which surrounded this couple in recent times. Some of these stories were bizarre. When I heard that Iris Robinson had resigned from public office and when I read her statement on this and about the depression which afflicted her, I was very sorry for her and for her husband and family. Nothing that has emerged since then has caused me to change my mind. Of course, I did not agree with Iris on lots of issues, particularly her remarks on the gay community. And her style was brash and over the top at times. But I also did some quiet work with her on health issues and particularly on the mental health and suicide prevention strategies. As with some other DUP representatives, I found when we engaged quietly and privately we could find common cause...

The custom, this Blog is told by one who knows, is that as soon after the stroke of midnight as possible you open the back door to let the old year out. Then you open the front door to let the New Year in. 2010? Who knows what the next twelve months will bring? There will be evocative anniversaries, elections, and wars and peace processes and famine and strife. There will be outrages and upsets. Mostly the worst side of all this will be borne by the poor, the disadvantaged and the deprived. But nobody really knows what will occur outside of these set pieces to shock, outrage, enrage, surprise, uplift and delight us. Still, it is good to be contemplating another year. Soon the days will lengthened. They have already started. Each day’s light ‘growing longer by a roosters step.’ And Spring will soon gladden our hearts. New Years resolutions? This Blog has resolved not to make any. I am still working on last years. 2009? 2009 is when Anna Colette came into our lives. A very good day in ...