UP THE FALLS!!!

Since the Westminster election this blog and my good friend Fra McCann have spent some time meeting with many of the local community groups in the Lower Falls.

The amount of work that is carried out in this area by a wide range of organisations and agencies is quite extraordinary.

Some of it is aimed at helping the elderly, some at lone parents, and some at providing facilities and resources for young people.

The Falls Youth Providers represents 10 different groups who have come together to co-ordinate their efforts and to ensure that scare resources are spread more evenly across the community.

They do a remarkable job under difficult circumstances and you cannot but be impressed by their dedication and commitment to young people.

They want to create a safe and secure environment for all the people of the Falls, but especially the young people.

The challenges and difficulties facing young people today are enormous.

Poverty, drugs, alcohol, physical and mental abuse, bullying, unemployment, inadequate training and education programmes to meet specific needs, peer pressure and much, much more create a wide range of problems.

Despite this the overwhelming majority of our youth are decent, hard working, conscientious young people who act responsibly and who are a credit to their families and to our communities.

There are some who are not.

But they are the exception not the rule and our task is to reach out to them and to be inclusive of them.

It is also true that across Belfast there are insufficient resources available for youth provision.

In addition funding and resources are not always targeted at those in most need. There are a range of different bodies, voluntary and statutory and community, all working with young people but not always working together in an integrated fashion to an integrated strategy.

Frequently they are forced to compete against each other for the very limited resources available for youth provision.

And very few young people have ever been consulted about what sort of services they would like.

The Falls Youth Providers structure is one example of what can be achieved when good people with the right instincts and who really want to help young people, come together and co-operate.

This needs to happen more frequently and in more districts.

But to achieve that there is an urgent need for additional financial support for youth services not just in Belfast but also right across the north.

In a time of economic crisis and demands by a conservative government in London for cuts, this is going to be very hard and a major battle lies ahead.

But for July and August the focus of the Falls Youth Providers is on producing a summer scheme that will be inclusive, open to all young people and be as exciting and engaging as they can make it.

There is a wide variety of programmes available, including trips to Newcastle; Carnfunnock Park, outside Larne; the Museum; the Zoo; the parks; and there will be swimming and football and face painting and art and BBQ’s and on August 8th Féile an Phobail will be holding its ‘It’s a Knockout’ competition in the Dunville Park and up to 30 local teams will be competing.

There will also be a week of intense activity in Grosvenor Recreation Centre for young boys and girls interested in Gaelic games. In a remarkable initiative 3 local GAA clubs – Dwyers, MacDermotts, Davitts will unite with the support of the Ulster Council’s development project in west Belfast.

All in all a packed summer programme.



This blog had the honour of launching this programme at the Falls Providers Youth Awards in Belfast City Hall earlier this week. This is the sixth year of this unique initiative.

The Awards celebrate the achievements of young people from the Falls across a wide range of categories, from leadership, sport, training, citizenship, participation, health and well being, culture and education.

The organisers deserve our thanks. They do wonderful work. So does everyone from all quarters of the Youth section
From our schools and sporting organisations, parents and grandparents, the voluntary and community sector who bring out the best of the Falls. It is they – the people of the Falls, and in particular the young people who make it such a good place.

Luke's Good

Raising the Flag for the environment

Tuesday was a beautiful day. Clear blue skies and a warm sun. I arrived at St. Luke’s Primary school in Twinbrook at 10 am as arranged and the teachers had already arranged for scores of children to be sitting on the grass. There were also some of the school teachers and representatives from local community groups.

I was there to raise a flag – or hoist - as I was told by the Deputy Principal Mr. Shannon. In this case a flag demonstrating the schools commitment to a positive environmental agenda, and its success in winning the Eco- Bronze award.

St. Luke’s has taken up environmental issues in a big way. The teachers and children are committed to improving their school and local environment. And as part of this St. Luke’s became involved in an innovative and unique project called the Eco Schools Award scheme.

This was created after the 1992 Rio Earth Summit on the environment. At that time issues like climate change and pollution were really beginning to make a big public impact. The Eco Schools project rewards and accredits schools that have made a commitment to continuously improving their environmental performance.

It is also a learning resource, raising awareness among children of environmental issues through activities that link to curriculum subjects.

The Eco-Schools programme in the north addresses a range of issues, including Biodiversity; Litter; Waste, Energy; Healthy Living and School Grounds.



Claire Robinson is the headmistress and she and Kevin Shannon the deputy Principal are very enthusiastic about the Eco-schools scheme.



The pupils are equally enthusiastic and together the Pupil’s Council, the pupils and the teachers identified a whole series of ways in which they could make a positive difference to the school environment, as well as making it a safer place for those who use it.

And the ideas seem so simple. Recycling old and used exercise books and paper. Switching off lights, computers and other equipment when not being used. Providing more bins in the playground to reduce litter. Having a ‘healthy break’ policy for the whole school. And composing and displaying a ‘school eco guide’.

As a result of all this St. Luke’s won the Eco-Bronze Award. And it is well deserved.

This blog commended all the pupils for their trojan efforts and told them how the day before a ‘bag lady’ had visited Parliament Buildings to raise awareness around society’s over use of plastic bags. I explained how plastic bags don’t decompose and can stay in the ground for centuries. I asked them to try to not use plastic bags and if out shopping with their parents to ask them to use an environmentally friendly bag.





Then a few of the pupils to join me and raised the flag.

After the formal part of the event was over I met some more of the teachers and also some of the school staff who help make St. Luke’s a successful and enjoyable learning experience for the children.

We walked over to look at the new ‘outdoor learning environment’ which was created as part of the Eco-Schools project and which the children were very involved in designing. This is essentially a garden with bird boxes and bird baths and a place for growing vegetables and herbs and flowers.



It was obvious that the teachers and the children thoroughly enjoyed the Eco experience. The teachers were full of praise for the pupils and told me stories of groups of children cleaning up local litter, clearing away glass, and on one occasion returning to the school with a toilet cistern that someone had just thrown out.

On another occasion when the school was holding a religious service in the adjacent St. Luke’s chapel, one young girl arrived with an armful of empty cider bottles that she had found on her way there. Such dedication!

The Eco Schools Project has obviously caught the imagination of pupils and teachers and those local community groups like the Housing Executive that have helped the school win this award.

This year it was the Eco-School Bronze Award. Next year they are aiming for the Silver Award.

THE LAST OF THE SUMMER WHINE.

Bluebells on the Mountain


‘The good weather puts everybody in good form’ your man remarked.

We were sitting in the Hatchet Field. Belfast sprawled below us. Its narrow terraced - peace wall bisected ¬- streets, new apartment blocks, church spires, old mills stretched before us, until yellow cranes dominating, it dipped its feet into the Lough. In the distance the coast of Scotland shimmered in the clear warmth of a fine June day.

Your man was master of all he surveyed.

‘Thon’s our house’ he said pointing down at the Murph.

I ignored him. The mountain slope was loud with bird song. All around us a carpet of late bluebells almost on their last legs, gave way to verdant green young bracken and other ground cover which had replaced the scorched stubble of recent gorse fires. The mountain had healed itself from the hurt inflicted on it by morons.

‘When I was a wee lad we used to pick blue bells and bring them home to my Ma,’ your man continued.

‘So did I. She used to put them in a milk bottle on the scullery window’ I replied.

‘You mean the kitchen’ your man corrected me.

‘No…. I mean the scullery’ I said. ‘And there is a place up behind us where we used to get wild strawberries.’

‘Why do you say scullery instead of kitchen?’ your man went on.
‘I don’t say scullery instead of kitchen’ I responded with great patience.

‘In our house these days we have a kitchen. In those days we had a scullery. I don’t call our kitchen the scullery do I?’

Your man didn’t answer.

‘Well do I?’ I repeated.

‘Nawh you don’t’ he eventually conceded.

‘Well if I don’t call our kitchen the scullery I’m not going to call our scullery the kitchen. I call it a scullery because it was a scullery!’

‘You don’t need to take the needle’ your man retorted. ’youse Falls uns always cry poverty. I was only reminiscing about the bluebells. You knew my ma kept the ones I got her in a vase in the kitchen but you just wanted to get in your wee bit about the milk bottle and the scullery. You’ll be telling me next about the cold water tap and the toilet in the yard’.

‘Well.. why shudnt I?’ I was hurt by his sharpness. ‘ Thems the way things were’.

‘Well they’re not like that any more.’

‘They are for some people’.

‘But not for us! This week is a good week.’ Your man raised himself up on his elbows. ‘Luk’ he continued, ‘when you were here as a wee lad collecting wild flowers for your mammy did you think you wud do all the things and see all the things you’ve seen’

‘No’ I conceded, sitting up from where I sprawled beside him.
‘You’ve been walking these hills for over fifty years now. On and off?’

‘Yup’ I agreed, reluctantly.

‘Well you know you’re not going to get another fifty years’.

‘I don’t know about that’ I said. ‘I have a death wish to die in my 114th year.’

‘Your bum’s a plum’ he scoffed. ‘and you know it. The point is you’re lucky to be able to sit here on this fine day and look down on all this.’

He waved expansively at the vista which surrounded us.

‘The point is to appreciate it all. There is no use whinging and whining all the time.’

‘Luk’ I turned to him ‘I’m the one that always appreciates it all. You’re usually the caster upper, the contrary one, the dark cloud. And now you’re starting to get on my wick. You get on your soap box just because I used the word scullery’.



I was really exacerbated.

‘And because my Ma put bluebells in a milk bottle. It’s because of things like that that I really do appreciate how things have improved.’

‘Okay’ your man smiled ‘Were you or were you not going to go on and tell me about getting up early to go for pillowcases of bread down in Kennedys Bakery in Beechmount? Were you or were you not going to go to recall the big snow of 1963 and how you cut out bits of oilcloth to use as insoles in your shoes because they had holes in them. Were you or were you not going to retell how youse had coats on your bed instead of quilts in your house? And… ‘ he concluded ‘ were you or were you not going to tell how big boys from Westrock stole your snake belt?’

‘I was not’ I protested.

‘Well chance wud be a fine thing’ he suggested with a sigh. ‘The point is to live in the moment. Listen to the birds. Breathe the air. Stop gurning. Live in the moment. And appreciate it. You were all set to launch into the five sorrowful mysteries. All set to ruin this lovely day’.

I turned away in frustration.

‘Wud you ever give my head peace? How cud anyone enjoy the day with you givin off about everything. You’re like an oul doll.’

‘That’s sexist’ your man shot back.

‘Lets go home’ I said.

‘Aye’ he replied. ‘you’re a pain in the ass. Can’t even have a discussion without you taking the needle. It’s well seen you’re kitchen house reared.’

‘No I’m not! And you know it.’

The good weather really does put everyone in good form. We tramped off together arguing furiously just as we did when we were only ten years old. The more things change …….. Meanwhile the birdsong continued unabated. The flora and the fauna ignored us. The mountains were silent witness to our bickering.

And Belfast basking below us, paid no heed.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil – No difference!

It was like a script out of Monty Python. Fine Gael and Labour propose a vote of no confidence in Brian Cowan and then Fine Gael decides to embark on an internal civil war over its own leader Enda Kenny.

The government was laughing all the way to the bank! Or in this case two banking reports into the south’s banking crisis which last week confirmed the key role that Irish government policy played in creating the conditions for the meltdown of the banking system and the catastrophic impact that the global economic crisis has had on the 26 county’s economy.

So, instead of the Taoiseach under pressure and being forced to seriously consider an election which would allow the public to finally have a say in the government’s mismanagement of the economy, Cowan was off the hook courtesy of an internal attempt to heave Enda Kenny out.

And while Enda has survived this round the questions and concerns over his leadership will not have gone away – you know.

Meanwhile the Dublin government has largely avoided at this time having to face up to the two reports into banking which were published by Patrick Honahan, who is the Governor of the Central Bank and international banking experts Klaus Regling and Max Watson, run up to September 2008.

Both reports are heavily critical of the Coalition Government’s economic policy, the financial regulation system, and the lending policies of Irish banks. They also lash out at the credit rating agencies though they don’t deal with these in much detail – suggesting instead that the banking inquiry investigate the matter further.

The banking inquiry will start over the summer, run for six months, and be defined by these reports and an Oireachtas Committee’s suggestions for terms of reference.

Among the major problems identified by Central Bank Governor Patrick Honohan are:

The Government’s domestic macroeconomic imbalances contributed hugely to the crisis
• Bad lending choices and falling property values meant that at least two banks - Anglo Irish and Nationwide - were always going to go bust
• Irish financial regulation was characterised by excessive ‘deference’ to the banks and ‘timid’ responses when problems were found

The Regling/Watson report looks at the background to the whole problem and finds that:
• Government economic policies increased the dangers of a crash in both the property and banking sectors – causing a recession that was deeper and longer than necessary and elsewhere
• By the middle of the decade the financial and property boom in Ireland presented features in which ‘financial stability analysis’ should have ‘sounded alarm bells loudly’

In his response the Taoiseach said he took full responsibility for the decisions which are being blamed for much of the current mess.

But then he sought to claim that the reports vindicated the approach taken by the government to tackle the crisis!

Not true. Sinn Féin had been warning for years about the disastrous consequences of the economic policies being pursued by the government and of the cosy relationship between Fianna Fáil, developers and bankers.

In statement after statement Sinn Féin called for; stronger regulation; caps on remuneration; an end to property inflation; fair tax policy based on stable direct taxation; corporate law to be improved; a tax on speculative trading; and counter-cyclical budget policies.

Sinn Féin stood alone in our warnings among the political parties. Fine Gael and Labour also wanted to feed the bubble – they wanted to lower direct taxes and abolish stamp duty in 2007, all of which would have added fuel to the fire.

That same year at the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis this blog had warned:
“This is the era of the Celtic Tiger. But it is also the era of the rip-off, of stealth taxes, gombeenism, corruption, strokes and scams…

For ten years there have been unprecedented revenue surplus available to the government here. In the last five years alone there has been an exchequer surplus of almost €40 billion.

The government has the ability and the resources, if they so chose, to deal effectively with poverty and inequality. They chose not to do so.”

The fact is that Brian Cowen and Fianna Fail-led governments recklessly managed the economy. They created the current financial crisis.

And they haven’t learned from these mistakes. The Government is still pursuing bad policies. Its approach is to cut, cut. Intelligent economists say this is deflating the economy.

Fine Gael and Labour haven’t learned either. They agree with Government policy, they just have a different set of cuts.

It is clear that citizens are fed up with the domination of the two big parties and are demanding change. People are increasingly aware that Fine Gael is no different to Fianna Fáil.

And the Labour Party still appears intent on putting Fine Gael into government, even after this weeks debacle around Kenny!

The reality is that a Fine Gael/Labour coalition will not address the deep-rooted inequalities at the heart of Irish society or tackle the vested interests that have caused so much hardship to so many ordinary people.

Fine Gael is genetically incapable of doing this. Why would Labour give them a leg up?

The Long Road to the Truth

Martina Anderson, Mise and Pearse Doherty at start of Commemorative March in Derry


By 2.30pm the crowd at Free Derry corner had swollen and spread towards the Bloody Sunday memorial. The Bogside nestled below the city walls basking in warm summer sunshine. Stewards shepherded members of the Bloody Sunday families and other victims of state killings, like the Ballymurphy families, to the front of the mass of people. Eleven people - ten men, including a local priest and a mother of eight children - were killed in Ballymurphy in west Belfast by the parachute regiment in the 36 hours following the introduction of internment in August 1971, six months before Bloody Sunday in Derry.

There was a good natured sense of expectation as thousands of people fell in behind the families. The names of the 14 victims were read aloud. There was a minute’s silence.



Then we set off for the Guild Hall, the destination of the original civil rights march thirty eight years ago. As we passed Pilots Row Community Centre someone started to sing ‘We Shall Overcome’ and I was swept back over forty years ago.

‘We shall all be free.
We shall all be free.
We shall all be free.
Some day.
And deep in my heart
I do believe
That we shall
Overcome
One day'

In the Guild Hall Square the crowds cheered loudly as family members ensconced inside the city chambers reading the Saville Report, waved copies of the report from the stained glass windows and gave thumbs up signals.

We knew then, even before listening to the British PM speaking from the Parliament in London and relayed live on a big screen, that the families felt vindicated. Today was their day. Today was a day for those killed and injured. Today was a day for those who campaigned for almost forty years for truth and justice.



Jubilant Relatives

And when they trooped out of the Guild Hall they were greeted with a rapturous welcome. Tony Doherty whose father was killed by the Paras put the families feelings well.

‘The victims of Bloody Sunday have been vindicated. The Parachute Regiment has been disgraced. Widgery’s great lie has been laid bare. The truth has been brought home at last.

It can now be proclaimed to the world that the dead and the wounded of Bloody Sunday, civil rights marchers, were innocent one and all …..

The Parachute Regiment are the front line assassins for Britain’s political and military elite. The report of the Saville Tribunal confirms this……..

…… democracy itself … needs know what happened here on January 30th 1972. The British people need to know. The Irish people need to know. The world needs to know.

Just as the civil rights movement of 40 years ago was part of something huge happening all over the world, so the repression that came upon us was the same as is suffered by ordinary people everywhere who dare to stand up against injustice.

Sharpville. Grozny. Tiananmen Square. Darfur. Fallujah. Gaza. Let our truth stand as their truth too’

Representatives of all the families spoke. One by one they declared their relative, their brother, their father, their uncle, “innocent!!!”

Their remarks were interrupted by loud applause. People cried and cheered. And cheered and cried. Clenched fists stabbed the air. Not the clenched fists of young radicals. These were elderly Derry grannies and grandas. Elderly widows. Middle aged siblings.

‘We shall all be free’
We shall all be free.
One day’.

Today was their day. There was an air of celebration. Of achievement. Of pride. Of release.



Tearing up Widgery

At the end one of the women relatives tore up a copy of the Widgery Report and flung it to the wind. Widgery was part of the British state’s cover-up of what had happened. A lie it stuck to for decades. I picked up some of the pieces afterwards and placed them in my copy of Saville, a keepsake of a remarkable day.

On the way home some one had placed hundreds of little name plaques along the grass verge at the side of the road outside Dungiven. The names were of hundreds of citizens killed by the British army and other state forces here during the conflict, including the 11 from Ballymurphy.

Mr Cameron should know they and their families continue to be denied truth. His apology for Bloody Sunday was right. But he said that “Bloody Sunday is not the defining story of the service the British Army gave in Northern Ireland from 1969-2007.”

That is wrong.

Bloody Sunday is the defining story of the British Army in Ireland.



Britain's crosses of shame



Torn Widgery document

Seando Moore

This morning before I travel to Derry for the publication of the Saville report into the events of Bloody Sunday in 1972 I will attend the funeral of my good friend Seando Moore.

I have known Seando for a very long time. He was a deeply committed republican activist who joined the struggle in the early 1970s when he was 17.

Seando, who was known as 'The Child' by his comrades, was interned on the prison ship Maidstone before being moved to Long Kesh where he spent five years.

After his release he returned to the struggle and was subsequently captured in 1977.

He was sentenced to 15 years in prison and went on the blanket protest.

He was a courageous and remarkable man with a great sense of humour which helped get him, and those around him, through the worst of times. This was clearly evident during the many years he battled cancer.

After his release from prison he became an indispensable part of Sinn Féin. He worked hard on community issues in the Beechmount area where he lived. And he travelled the length and breadth of Ireland and beyond speaking about his experiences in the H Blocks and of his comrades who died on hunger strike.

He organised exhibitions and speaking tours, especially for the 10th 20th and 25th anniversaries of the Hunger Strikes.

Seando’s loss for his family is immense, but he will also be greatly missed and remembered by the thousands of people his life touched over four decades of republican activism.

On behalf of republicans everywhere I want to extend my sincerest condolences to Patricia, to Sean, Francine, Patricia Anne and James.

Ar dhéis Dé go raibh a anam.

On the eve of Saville

It is the eve of the publication of the Saville report into Bloody Sunday. For the families it must be a hugely stressful time.

Almost 40 years of campaigning, including 12 years of the Saville Inquiry and waiting for its deliberations, would have taxed the energy and patience and emotions of any group of families. But throughout all of those years the families of the 14 men killed by the British parachute regiment, and the others wounded, have been an inspiration and example of fortitude and courage to us all.

Tomorrow I will travel to Derry to avail of the opportunity to read the report before its publication at 3.30pm. It is by all accounts 5,000 pages long with a 60 page executive summary.

There has been speculation in some sections of the media about what it will contain and a range of comments by unionist and conservative politicians expressing horror at the length of time it has taken to produce the report; at the cost of Saville, and stating that there should be no more inquiries. None spoke about those killed, or their families and their right to truth.

This blog will wait until after the report is published to comment on it.

However, it is important to set Bloody Sunday in its proper context as one part of the British state’s strategy to bolster the Unionist government at that time, and the subsequent political and military policies that successive British governments pursued in the following decades.

Everything a British government does, every decision it takes or policy it introduces, is in the context of its national interest. That is as true today as it was in 1972. The British Army is one branch of the British system. It is inextricably linked into MI5 and MI6 and all the intelligence agencies that make up its ‘security’ services.

In 1970 the British Army embarked in the north on a strategic political and military approach lifted directly from its experience of over 50 colonial wars in the previous 25 years. Many of its senior and junior officers had gained this on the streets of Cyprus and Aden, in the Kenyan countryside and in the jungles of Malaya.

The tactics used there were integrated into the north. This included the use of torture of detainees; the recruitment of agents and informers; the creation of ‘counter-gangs’ through the establishment of unionist paramilitary groups like the UDA; additional new repressive laws; manipulation of the media; discrimination in economic planning and investment; and shoot-to-kill actions by British forces.

Internment in August 1971 was introduced to placate unionist demands for an offensive against nationalists. The Paras shot dead 11 citizens in the Ballymurphy area and scores more were killed or injured across the north in actions by the British Army.

A few months later the same regiment was in Derry as General Ford’s ‘shock troops’ against civil rights marchers. The military decisions and actions that day replicated so many similar actions in other British colonies.

So too was the institutionalised structured collusion which saw British security agencies directly and indirectly arm, train, and provide information to unionist death squads in the running of a sectarian terror campaign over several decades which led to the sectarian killing of hundreds of citizens.

The British government’s approach to all of this has been governed by its over-riding desire to cover-up and conceal the actions of its forces. It has done this through its influence within sections of the media; by blocking inquests; protecting members of its own forces from investigation or charges; and by opposing inquiries or erecting obstacles to those which have been established.

Consequently, it refused to co-operate with the Irish government Commission of Inquiry into the Dublin, Monaghan and Dundalk bomb attacks in 1974. It has opposed the publication of the Sampson, Stalker and various Stevens reports. It did a deal with Brian Nelson – a British agent – to avoid the extent of its involvement in sectarian murder and the importation of arms for unionist death squads, becoming widely known. It has refused to hold an inquiry into the murder of human rights lawyer Pat Finucane for the same reason.

The decision by Tony Blair to hold the Bloody Sunday inquiry was a courageous decision which was clearly taken by him as part of the evolving peace process and the negotiations that were then taking place in early 1998 prior to the Good Friday Agreement.

But the length of time it took to get to this point and the enormous cost are down directly to the machinations of the British Ministry of Defence and others within the British system who worked hard to subvert and prevent the Inquiry from getting to the whole truth.

They sought to do this in a number of ways, including failing to provide essential materials and destroying other material.

This includes British Army photographs and the identity of the photographers, the contemporaneous film footage from army helicopter, destruction of the rifles fired, relevant contemporary documents such as the armoury register, and internal reports.

The relatives, and lawyers acting for them, challenged this given that contemporaneous material that was of benefit to the soldiers’ case was available.

29 rifles were identified as belonging to the Parachute Regiment at the Widgery Tribunal and of being responsible for all shootings. All of these were accounted for by 29th September 1999. However, almost two years after the Saville Inquiry was announced all but three were subsequently destroyed.

The lawyers acting for the families also sought relevant documentary material. Much attention was paid to documents for the relevant forensic evidence concerning the rifles, their examination and testing, armoury registers to ascertain which rifles were assigned to whom, ammunition registers to detail how much was in possession of whom. The lawyers also sought intelligence reports, signal instructions, training documents, standing orders records, disciplinary procedures, etc and none of this was made available.

Whatever the conclusions of the Saville Inquiry it is clear that a concerted and planned attempt was made by elements of the British system to frustrate the Inquiry.

These same elements will continue to seek to prevent further inquiries or the creation of any serious effort – for example an Independent International Truth Commission - to get to the truth of British actions during several decades of war.

A Day in London

London was warm and clammy. Michelle Gildernew and this blog flew there early on Wednesday morning. After the usual torturous journey through its crowded streets we joined Martin McGuinness for a meeting with the new British Secretary of State Owen Patterson in W2, one of the meeting rooms just off Westminster Hall in Westminster.

Martin was there from the previous day when he and Peter Robinson had taken part in a meeting with David Cameron and Nick Clegg, as well as the First Minister of Scotland and Wales. The focus of their meeting was the expected budget cuts. They didn’t get the clarity from the British government that had been predicted. Apparently the new coalition government is still working out the details of its imminent budget.

Before the meeting Martin’s exasperation was clear when he said; “Cutting frontline services is not a necessity – it is a political decision being taken by a British cabinet full of millionaires.”

In the meeting Martin made clear our determination to try and protect frontline services and ensure that the public sector is not sacrificed.

But ultimately the north’s budget is a block grant which comes from London. The Barnett formula, which determines this grant does not accurately reflect social need in the north; nor does it take account of decades of under funding of public services or the lack of investment in jobs that is a legacy of direct rule from London. The north is also emerging out of decades of conflict.

None of this is reflected in the British government’s plans. That means the battle against the cuts must be all the more vigorous.

All of this is an argument for fiscal powers being transferred to the Assembly and Executive from Westminster so that we can manage and shape our economic strategy for recovery more effectively and tailor it more efficiently to our needs.

We raised this vital matter in our first meeting of the day which was with Owen Patterson and spoke to him about the suggestion he made during the election campaign of lowering Corporation Tax as well as the possibility of devolving more real powers on finance from Westminster.

Patterson made a major mistake when he joined in an effort some months ago to secure a form of unionist unity and when that failed he then engaged in discussions with the Ulster Unionists, the DUP and Orange Order to agree unionist unity candidates in local constituencies. In the case of Fermanagh South Tyrone that saw a Tory candidate trying to unseat Michelle and losing by those famous four votes.

Now that he is in Government the British Secretary of State cannot afford any more mistakes like this. He needs to be on a speedy learning curve.

Our conversation ranged over matters still outstanding from the Good Friday and St Andrews Agreements, including the very important issue of a Bill of Rights.

We were told that the Coalition British government would ‘not resile’ from the agreements that had been made and which both the Tories and Lib Dems had supported in opposition. But he then told us that they were of the view that there wasn’t really a commitment within it to a Bill of Rights for the north. The Conservative manifesto position was for UK Bill of Rights with some sections dealing specifically with the six counties.

We disagreed and argued strongly for the Good Friday Agreement’s commitment to be adhered to. But Mr Patterson seems poised to set this to one side.

This is clearly going to be an issue of contention between us. The fact is that the Good Friday Agreement specifically states, under ‘Rights, Safeguards and Equality of Opportunity’, that there will be a Bill of Rights for the north. You can’t say you will stand by the Agreement and then break a fundamental commitment contained within it.

I raised with Owen Patterson our core objective of a united Ireland – which he said he was opposed to. But he accepted that if we succeeded in winning majority support for this in the north that the British Coalition government would honour the commitment of the Good Friday Agreement and legislate for it.

We also discussed the imminent publication of the Saville Report. This blog told the British delegation that it is unacceptable that the British government will receive advance sight of the Saville Report 24 hours before publication and well in advance of families bereaved by the events of that day.

This blog also reminded Owen Patterson that he had agreed to meet the families of the 11 Ballymurphy victims of an earlier shoot-to-kill action by the same Paras who carried out Bloody Sunday. He again agreed to do the meeting as soon as it could be arranged.

A significant part of the 80 minute meeting was spent discussing our concerns about the infiltration and manipulation of so-called dissident groups by the British security agencies and the manner in which some elements of these forces appeared to be using agents to try and subvert the peace process. We drew attention to a number of contemporary examples of this. And we have agreed to meet again on this.

After the meeting with Patterson the Sinn Féin group held a briefing with a number of British MP’s, many of them new and some from the coalition partners. It was a good session held under the watchful eye of a painting of former Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson in a room named after him.

And then it was over to the office of the acting Leader of the Opposition. Harriet Harman is deputy Leader of the Labour Party and until they elect a new leader sometime in September she is the boss. She was accompanied by Shaun Woodward the former British Secretary of State and Paul Goggins another former Direct Rule Minister.

It was an interesting meeting not least for the insights it gave into the process of transition from the Labour government to the Tory/Lib Dem coalition. The role of Labour in opposition is still important but the future direction of Labour policy on this and on many other matters will be determined by whoever emerges as its new leader.

Aisling Bursary Initiative

Last Friday I attended the launch of this years Aisling Bursary initiative in the Culturlann in west Belfast. The Bursaries are a collaboration between the west Belfast Partnership Board, the Belfast Media Group, and local businesses.

Money is raised and is then distributed to local people who want to participate in education programmes or who need help in meeting the costs of training and upskilling.

It is an amazing initiative which at its core recognizes the importance of education and of personal empowerment, and acknowledges talent and effort.

The amounts of money are not huge. £1000 for a full bursary £500 for a part time course but in difficult financial times it can make a difference.

The bursaries are especially about helping those who face significant barriers, including family circumstances – they may be a carer for example – or have a disability or just not have the money to undertake a course they want to do.

This is the 11th year the Bursaries. Since they were first launched in 2000 over 400 west Belfast people have benefited from its grants. And over £360,000 has been paid out. This is a lot of money to come voluntarily from a community that is itself disadvantaged. It is a measure of how rooted the local businesses who contribute to the bursaries are in the west Belfast community.

This year a number of Bursaries have been set aside for St. Mary’s University College and the University of Ulster. And there will be a particular focus on trying to raise sponsorship for 5 bursaries that will be specifically targeted at the Shankill area.

Geraldine McAteer who is the Chief Executive of the west Belfast Partnership Board and Terence Brannigan who is the Chair of the CBI in the north, both spoke at the Culturlann event of the particular problems facing parents and young people on the Shankill.

Geraldine referred to statistics she had sourced which showed that of the 2160 west Belfast students enrolled in Higher Education institutions in the north and Britain, only 165 are from the Shankill, Glencairn and Highfield wards. Only 20 were from the Shankill ward.

In recent times as part of a strategy to secure additional resources for the Shankill and Falls I have met with the principals of pre-school and primary schools on the Shankill. They related the many difficulties faced by families and children on the Shankill, especially the high proportion of children with speech therapy problems.

The principals explained that children were not being read to or being taught nursery rhymes at home they way they once were and that this is affecting their speech, as well as having an adverse affect on their reading and learning skills.

They also referred to the poor diet that many have and in particular the impact too much sugar is having on their teeth and consequently also on their speech.

So, as Terence Brannigan acknowledged, the five bursaries that the organisers are seeking to set aside for Shankill are only a first step. In terms of the Shankill ward it would amount to a 25% increase but next year it will hopefully be more grants to more students and the year after that more again.

This new initiative within the bursaries is a mark of the positive style of the west Belfast community and the fact that it looks beyond sectarianism and division.

In Irish we say mol an óige agus tiochfaidh sí – praise the young and they will blossom. That’s the goal.

This is about education as a doorway, a route, out of poverty. It is about personally enriching and empowering individuals but it also helps and inspires the community.

None of this would be possible without the efforts of those who had the vision – the Aisling – to take the idea of a bursary and to turn it into a practical and effective way to help people.

But neither would it be possible without the generosity and vision of many local businesses and sponsors.

Freedom Flotilla: Remembering Bobby Sands

In the early hours of Saturday morning the Rachel Corrie was hijacked by Israeli forces. Its detention by the Israeli government brings to an end this particular phase in the international effort to break the illegal siege of Gaza.

The Flotilla was an heroic effort to highlight the imprisonment of one and a half million people by the Israeli state and the humanitarian crisis that the siege has created.

All of those involved in planning, assisting, procuring supplies, raising funding and taking part in the Flotilla are to be commended for their courageous actions.

The Irish contribution to the Freedom Flotilla was significant. People and organisations responded very positively and provided the aid that filled the holds of the Rachel Corrie.

And Irish public opinion, with the exception of some unionists, was clearly in support of the humanitarian aid workers and appalled by the violent response of the Israeli government.

But the campaign to end the illegal siege of Gaza, to end the illegal construction of settlements on Palestinian land, secure the demolition of the illegal separation wall and to achieve freedom and justice for the Palestinian people, will continue in the time ahead.

The Israeli government’s attack on the flotilla and the killing and wounding of aid workers has brought a new level of condemnation but the real challenge is to mobilise international opinion and political pressure so that the situation for Palestinians improves.

A report published a few weeks ago by the United Nations ‘Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs occupied Palestinian territory’ gives an insight into the extent of the hardships imposed on the Palestinian people of the west Band and Gaza strip by the Israeli government.

The report reveals that the situation in the Gaza strip ‘presents severe impediments to humanitarian operations.’ According to the UN the restrictions imposed by Israel in June 2007 have either prevented progress on planned humanitarian projects or created significant delays.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East – UNWRA – reported that 24 construction and infrastructure projects have been blocked. This includes 12,000 Palestinian homes destroyed or damaged by the Israeli assault last year and 100 schools. It also includes health facilities and sewage infrastructure.

A critical side affect of the Israeli government’s restrictions is the additional financial costs it imposes on the humanitarian community and the way in which its ability to respond to urgent humanitarian issues is severely limited.

So, there is a lot of solidarity work to be done in the time ahead.



Remembering Bobby Sands

Many thanks to Joan Mateer for her diligent research work. Joan’s family originally hailed from Ardoyne before moving to Rathcoole. Joan attended Stella Maris Secondary School in Rathcoole – the same school as Bobby Sands.

Thanks to her and to stellamarissecondary.com this blog is pleased to post a photograph of a young Bobby Sands. The Stella Maris website contains details of 26 past pupils who died during the conflict.

This ‘Death Toll among Past Pupils’ is a sad reminder of the human cost of the conflict. The person who compiled this poignant record is to be commended. He or she tells how: “Twenty six past pupils whose names are known were killed during the ‘troubles’. Of these, twenty four were boys and two girls. Most were in their late teens or early twenties. One, John Rolston, was murdered within two days of leaving school. Three were killed by the Provisional IRA, another three accidentally when handling explosives, nineteen including the two girls by loyalist paramilitaries and one, Bobby Sands, died in prison on hunger strike shortly after he had been elected M.P. for Fermanagh and South Tyrone. Eight families who had one or other parent killed in those years also sent children to the school.

Of all those who lost their lives Bobby Sands is the best known. He attended Stella Maris from 1965 to 1969. Coming from a very supportive and close knit family he was well regarded by both staff and pupils and a pleasure to teach. He was keen on sport and was a member of the local Star of the Sea youth club, where together with several of his Protestant friends he played on the club team. Shortly after he left school he was intimidated from his workplace and the family from their home in Rathcoole; the remainder of the story is well known.

The first deaths of past pupils occurred in 1972 and continued to 1994. Sharon McKenna was murdered in January 1993, the year the school closed. Most of those killed would have been known and many related to pupils within the school. Reports of shootings quickly spread and despite taking precautions that the children would not hear them some did reach the school.

As word spread a silence descended on the classrooms and children dreaded a knock on the classroom door and a pupil being asked to accompany a senior teacher to the office where family members were waiting to break the terrible news. There was no easy way of doing this and the sympathy of all those in the school went out to the family who had lost a loved one.”




And finally …..

Last week this blog met with the Taoiseach as detailed in this space.

What I neglected to report was that your man and me went from Government Building to O2 to enjoy a wonderful Willie Nelson concert. A good time was had by all, including 77 year old Willie Nelson, a troubadour par excellence.

Meeting An Taoiseach

Outside Government Buildings

Last Thursday a Sinn Féin Delegation led by this blog and including Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, Party Vice President Mary Lou McDonald, Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew and Dáil Group Leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD met the Taoiseach Brian Cowen at Government Buildings.

The focus of our conversation was the recent Westminster election and its implications; the imminent publication of the Bloody Sunday report; the need to ensure that the new British Coalition Government honours its obligations under the Good Friday and St Andrew’s Agreements; and the opportunity to develop the all-Ireland economy as part of the fightback against the current economic recession, and the Israeli attack on the aid convoy to the Gaza strip and the events surrounding the MV Rachel Corrie.

The Sinn Fein delegation made very clear our view that summoning the Israeli Ambassador to talks is not enough.

A clear message must be sent to the Israeli government that its constant breaches of international law must end. Consequently we argued very strongly that the Israeli Ambassador should be expelled.

This blog was not impressed by some news reports that Israeli might ease its blockade if international inspectors were able to examine any boats destined for Gaza to ensure they contain no weapons.

The fact is that much of what is currently on the Rachel Corrie, including cement and school equipment, pencils, and footballs is not allowed into Gaza under Israel’s illegal blockade. If boats are now to be diverted to Ashdod in southern Israel or to a port in Egypt what guarantee is there that these much needed humanitarian supplies will be allowed through?

So, today all eyes are on the 1200 tonne Rachel Corrie and its 15 passengers as they slowly sail toward Gaza.

This afternoon there was a debate in the Assembly which called on Israel to conform with international human rights norms, condemns the actions by Israel, accepts that nations have the right to defend themselves but also have a responsibility to respect and comply with international law; and called on the Israel government to ensure that “humanitarian efforts in Gaza are facilitated, that an immediate end to the blockade is effected and that the MV Rachel Corrie is given safe passage to Gaza.”

The debate was lively as unionists found various reasons to object to the motion. Under a procedure available in the Assembly rules unionist MLAs introduced a ‘motion of concern’ which means that whatever is passed is not binding. What it does mean is that the vote on the motion can not be taken for 24 hours or in this case until Monday morning.

By then we will know what has happened to the Rachel Corrie.

Tomorrow there will be a rally at Belfast City hall and no doubt elsewhere as well.

By then the fate of the Rachel Corrie will almost certainly be known.

One potentially positive development to come out of all this is the welcome news that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is to send a high-level delegation of Fatah and PLO officials to the Gaza Strip in the next few days.

Ending the divisions among the many Palestinian organisations, but in particular Fatah and Hamas, would significantly lift Palestinian morale and help increase international pressure on Israel.

President Abbas has also decided to honour all of those who took part in the flotilla by presenting them with Palestinian citizenship.

On a completely different note former DUP leader Ian Paisley and his wife Eileen were also in Dublin yesterday. They met An Taoiseach Brian Cowan, attended sessions of the Dáil and Seanad, had lunch with President McAleese in Áras an Uachtaráin, and visited the National Library and Glasnevin Cemetery.

The Paisley’s witnessed some rowdy scenes in the Dáil. Next week the Dáil was supposed to be in recess. However, the government then decided to take the bad look off TDs taking a week off by arranging for what one pundit described as a ‘makey-up working week consisting of a day and a half of waffle’.

There will be no order of business, no question time, no adjournment debates and no votes. They will apparently pass the time by reading out statements!

Opposition TDs, including the Shinners, got up and gave out to the government side for what is clearly a charade.

With Ian and Eileen looking on amused from the public gallery Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin suggested that having just watched the scenes in the Dáil that Ian might be saying to himself: “Why have I missed such craic down here in the past? I would have no objection if he went back and said, ‘the craic down there is mighty, we should go look again’.”

Israeli Aggression Must be Challenged

At Belfast City Hall Rally Monday night

Regular readers will recall this blog’s meeting with Caoimhe Butterly of Free Gaza Movement. On May 17th I dedicated that blog to the story of the MV Rachel Corrie and the Flotilla to the Gaza Strip. I’m glad I did.

But I never imagined what would happen to it. I was on my way to an early morning event in Tir Éoghan when the car radio broadcast the awful news of the death and destruction visited upon the mercy mission by the Israeli government.

There is no justification for the military actions of the Israeli government against the humanitarian flotilla. The Gaza Freedom Flotilla is a humanitarian mission carrying 10,000 tonnes of aid to the besieged Gaza Strip.

For four years the Israeli government has illegally imprisoned over one and a half million men, women, and children in the most horrendous of conditions.

These people have been denied many of the basic necessities of life, including the essential construction equipment and materials that would allow Gazans to rebuild their shattered infrastructure.

Last year’s devastating assault by the Israeli Army on the Gaza strip caused enormous damage. 1400 people were killed and many more grievously wounded. 3,500 homes were destroyed. 28,000 homes damaged. 800 industries were damaged or destroyed. 10 schools were destroyed and 204 were damaged. 57 kilometers of roads were destroyed.

In April 2009 I visited the Gaza Strip. I saw for myself the conditions there. I spoke to UN officials, as well as representatives of political and community organisations and aid groups.

No amount of PR words by the Israeli government can take away from the humanitarian crisis which its actions are directly responsible for.

The flotilla organisers had repeatedly declared their peaceful intent. In the full glare of the international media the flotilla was engaged in bringing in humanitarian supplies. I believe it is this which the Israeli government resented most because it exposed the lie that they were allowing sufficient aid into the region.

The images of armed commandos dropping from helicopters onto unarmed ships and then opening fire and killing aid workers engaged in a humanitarian effort, has again exposed the aggressive and intransigence attitude of the Israeli government.

The decision to storm the ships is par for the course for a government that feels itself immune from international law and sanction.

It also breaks international law by the blockade and siege of Gaza.

It breaks international law in building a separation wall that scars the landscape of Palestine and which denies Palestinian families access to each other, to jobs, to their land and to water.

It breaks international law in occupying Palestinian land.

It breaks international law by building illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land.

It breaks international law by expelling families from their homes.

It has done all of this for many years and with little adequate response from the international community.



Derry Guild Hall Protest

That has to change. In this instance the response of the international community must be firm and resolute. It must go beyond anger and calls for an investigation into what happened in the early hours of Monday morning.

This Israeli action must be condemned by all governments and political leaders who believe in democracy, peace, security and the standing of
international law.

I welcome the fact that the Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin moved quickly to summon the Israeli ambassador.

But he needs to go beyond this> he needs to ensure that the Rachel Corrie which lagged behind the flotilla because of engine trouble and thus escaped the IDF attack, is allowed to sail uninhibited into Gaza to unload is cargo of aid, especially the cement.

The Israeli government has attempted to spin the story that the aid from the humanitarian ships should be docked in Israel and that the Israeli government would then deliver it to Gaza. The fact is that much of the humanitarian cargo aboard the Rachel Corrie and the other ships, including the cement, are prohibited under the Israeli blockade and would not reach those in need in Gaza. That is why the flotilla was put together in the first place.

The Irish government also needs to use its influence to persuade the EU to discontinue its preferential trade agreement with Israel.

As evidence of the outrage felt by citizens the Irish government should also expel the Israeli Ambassador.

It is also vital that the Palestinian organisations now agree a government of national unity. Differences should be set aside in the national interest of the Palestinian people and a joint political position agreed between Fatah, Hamas and the many other political groups.