Léargas

Politics can be a funny old game. You never know from one day to the next what might turn up. But some days are even more wacky than most. Last Wednesday was one such day. The previous Thursday, after An Taoiseach announced that the election would be on March 11th, this blog set down at a desk in the new Sinn Féin campaign office in Dundalk and scribbled a short handwritten note to the speaker of the British Parliament. ‘A chara, I hereby resign as MP for the constituency of west Belfast. Go raibh maith agat. Gerry Adams. This was in keeping with this blogs commitment to the people of Louth and East Meath that when the election was called I would resign the west Belfast seat as a demonstration of my resolve to give that constituency 100%. No safety net. That was that. Wednesday started early. Meetings and more meetings and a plan for later in the day to visit a Pharmaceutical Conference in the Institute of Technology in Dundalk. And then David Cameron stood up in the British House of ...

Your man reckons these are exciting – ‘dramatic times’ – in the politics of our small island. Especially in the south. Flann O Brien couldn’t have written the script. The political and economic crisis has been variously described as a ‘circus’, a ‘comedy of errors’, ‘a farce’ and some other things that this blog could not post. The Fianna Fáil/Green Party Government has been a disaster for the Irish people. And however much they may now try to distance themselves each and every Fianna Fáil Minister and TD went along with what Fianna Fáil did in government. Politics is a rough trade. I’m sure Brian Cowen’s family are feeling sore and on a personal level I empathise with them and with the hundreds of thousands of other families who have been impoverished and traumatised by this bad government. The budget which the Coalition government introduced in December and which Fine and Labour have said they will implement, this month stripped over a million people, or a quarter of the state’s popu...

Last Monday was a bright brittle morning, full of promise, watery winter sunshine and frosty fields. In Ballymcilroy, above Ballygawley in the county of Tír Éoghan a huge crowd was gathering. Further up the road a large sad funeral cortege made its slow heartbroken way towards us. This is Michaela Harte’s homeland. It is where she grew up. Where she went to school. The chapel is where she and John Mc Areavey were married two short weeks ago. Now they were back. For Michaela’s funeral mass. No words can describe the sadness of it all. Or the quiet grace and dignity with which the Harte and Mc Areavy clanns carried themselves. Michaela’s mother Marian, and her sons, Michaela’s husband John, her father Mickey surrounded by neighbours and friends and John’s family. Together, yet alone, in a human sea – an emotional ocean - of support. As far as the eye could see crowds stretched on every side. Tír Éoghan’s Gaelic athletes stewarded the crowds and shepherded the visitors. Iconic sporting f...

Padraig and Pearse were there. At the Radisson Hotel in Letterkenny on Sunday for the selection convention for Donegal North East. Pearse Doherty has already made history by winning the by-election in Donegal South West before Christmas. The selection convention for North East chose Padraig MacLochlainn as the party’s standard bearer. It was standing room only in the packed out conference room. The mood in the hall matching the public mood – it is time to send this bad government packing and to return two Sinn Féin TDs for Donegal! The craic was mighty and it is clear that Padraig is hugely popular with the party activists. The same cannot be said for Brian Cowen within his own party or with the public. This blog is always mindful not to pay too much attention to opinion polls – but there is a consistency in the antipathy toward the government parties, and in particular Fianna Fáil for some time now. The question of who leads Fianna Fail is a matter for Fianna Fail but the question ...

Councillor Paddy Wright Regular readers will know that earlier this week this blog attended the funeral of Sinn Féin Councillor Paddy Wright in Athy. A friend of his Frank Corr wrote a wonderful appreciation of Paddy which he emailed to me a few days ago. This blog would like to share it with you. Paddy Wright An Appreciation In the early hours of Friday the 7th of January Paddy Wright, Urban Councillor for thirty one years, Kildare County Councillor for five, and Sinn Fein activist for over 50 years, died suddenly at the age of 72. The town of Athy chilled with disbelief as word of Paddy Wrights death seeped into its early morning consciousness. Paddy Wright dead! Those words somehow felt counterintuitive. Had not everybody just seen him only yesterday or the day before in his usual vigorous fettle, bursting with bonhomie? They probably did. Paddy was as much a part of the fabric of Athy as its Town Hall, Squares or the Barrow River that flows through it. The rolling gait – the ...

The statement by ETA on Monday that it is committed to ‘a permanent and general ceasefire which will be verifiable by the international community’ has the potential to propel the efforts for peace in that region significantly forward. But it will require political will by all of the main political players, in particular the Spanish government, if the opportunity that now exists is to be grasped. This week’s statement is the latest in what has been a difficult process to create the right political conditions for meaningful negotiations and a new beginning in the relationship between the Basque country and the Spanish state. Along with others in the international community Sinn Féin has been involved in ongoing conversations with Basque representatives. These have taken place in Ireland and Europe. Many in the Basque country have taken a close interest in the peace process in Ireland. They hope to learn from the Irish experience in an effort to advance their own peace process. The collap...

On Christmas Eve 1980 this blogs good friend and comrade, former blanket man Fra also known as ‘cuddles’ McCann, returned home after being deported from the USA. Fra had just spent a gruelling four and a half months campaigning in the USA in support of the republican prisons on protest in the H Blocks and Armagh prisons. He had been denied a visa to enter the USA but like other ex-prisoners and republican activists who travelled to the states at that time, he entered the country illegally during the summer. With the help of Noraid activists he travelled back and forth across the USA, from the east coast to the west coast and all places in between, talking to Irish American organisations, politicians, councils, trade unions and any media willing to listen. He did hundreds of meetings and interviews. Fra’s courage and tenacity was uniquely recognised when he was awarded a ‘citation for bravery’ by the Massachusetts State legislature. It was the first of six states that year to support t...

For those of us who write, the tradition at this time of the year is to write about the old year that has passed. Analyse it; dissect it; and generally focus on the events and issues that captured the public or the writer’s attention. 2010 had lots of those in Ireland. The agreement between Sinn Féin and the DUP on the transfer of powers on policing and justice; the Saville report into the Bloody Sunday massacre; the Orange marching season; the Westminster election and the count in Fermanagh South Tyrone that became a recount, that became another recount, until Michelle triumphed by four votes! Never was there a better example of how every vote counts! And there were the international stories too. The Israeli attack on the Freedom flotilla and the ongoing siege of Gaza were brutal reminders of the unrelenting conflict in that region. But for many the big story was the deteriorating state of the economy in the south and the mess the Fianna Fáil/Green Party coalition is making of trying ...

‘So what are you going to do for the New Year? ‘Me?’ ‘Yes you. Who else is here?’ ‘Why are you asking that. Nobody else is here. You know that. That’s typical of you. Who else is here? Why do you jump in like that before I have even a chance to answer? ’ ‘You don’t need to be so cranky. I asked you a simple question. You as usual didn’t give a straight answer. Me you said! That’s why I asked you who else is here. Because you asked me’. ‘I didn’t ask you anything. You are the one asking all the questions.’ ‘I don’t mean you asked me’. ‘Well that’s what you said.’ ‘I know rightly what I said. Listen to what I mean. You answered my question by saying ‘me’. That’s why I asked you who else is here’. ‘ What is it you want to know anyway?’ ‘What are you going to do for the New Year?’ ‘What do you mean?’ ‘I mean are you making any New Year resolutions?’ ‘I haven’t given it much thought. And another thing ....I’m not being cranky.’ ‘Oh yes you are. Very cranky indeed.’ ‘Why do you want to know...