Poc ar an Cnoc – Poc Fada returns to Stormont

Following last year’s hugely successful Féile an Phobail, ‘Poc ar an Cnoc’ – Puck on the Hill - on the Stormont estate, this year’s event will take place on Saturday 6th August 2011, as part of a series of GAA focused events during the Festival programme.

The Poc Fada has been a part of Féile an Phobail for many years and was held either in the Falls park or on the Black mountain. However, in November 2009 a tree was planted in the grounds of Parliament Buildings at Stormont to mark 125 years of An Cumann Luthchleas Gael. The tree was planted in the shadow of the statue to Unionist leader Edward Carson.

Subsequently, this blog offered to host the Poc Fada at Stormont and proposed that we name a competition after Edward Carson, who as a student at Trinity College in Dublin was a member of their hurley team.

Last year, the Captain of Trinity Martin Phelan and four team colleagues came up from Dublin to participate in the first ever Poc Fada at Stormont.

The concept of the Poc Fada (long puck) is rooted in the legend of Setanta or Cuchulainn, hero of the Ulster Cycles, who as a boy set out for the palace of the High King of Ireland at Emain Macha. Along the way he would hit his sliothar – ball – with his hurl and run ahead and catch it before it hit the ground.

50 years ago Fr. Pól Mac Sheáin and the Naomh Moninne club in the Cooley’s used this story as the basis for the first Poc Fada – long puck. Since then the competition has grown in prestige and status as an all-Ireland event. It is an annual competition testing the skills of Ireland’s best hurlers and camogie players.

The Poc ar an Chnoc brings the Poc Fada to Stormont.

Up for grabs are the senior men’s and women’s trophies; an open longest poc competition; the Edward Carson trophy for the celebrity competition and there will be an U10 Hurling blitz.

On Tuesday this year’s event was formally launched at a press event at Parliament Buildings. Regrettably, due to other commitments this blog was unable to be there but I will be at Stormont for the event itself on August 6th.

Great names of hurling taking part this year already include Damian Maguire (Carrickmore), Micko Herron and Paul O'Connell from Antrim, Ruairi Convery and Brian Gilligan, as well as last year’s winner Graham Clarke who will be returning to defend his title as the first ever winner of the Edward Carson Cup.

The Camogs will be taking part again and there will be the popular U-10 blitz. The BBC's Mark Sidebottom, the Mayor of Belfast Niall Ó Donnghaile and yours truly will be taking part in the Celebrity Poc Fada.

Somalia - A failure of politics

Imagine walking from Belfast to Dublin or from Derry to Cork!

Imagine doing it in your bare feet.

Imagine walking in the scorching heat and with no water and food.

Imagine carrying your children and being forced to leave some of them lying dead at the side of the road because you haven’t the strength to dig a hole to bury them.

Imagine a landscape blasted by heat, with sparse vegetation and the rotting remains of cattle and other animals dead of thirst. A harsh and unforgiving countryside.
Imagine that those around you are empty eyed and gaunt, with swollen and extended stomachs.

This is the reality of life and death for hundreds of thousands of men, woman and children. It is the immediate future for millions more. It is Somalia.

Famine is a terrible word. It conjures up frightening images and for many in Ireland a folk memory of the Great Hunger of the 1840’s.

The Horn of Africa today, like much of Africa, is still conflicted by the brutal legacy of colonisation. It is also caught up in the post 9-11 international conflict with Islamist groups linked to al-Qaeda.

Climate change may be playing its part but it is the decisions of past colonial governments; and the policies being pursued by the international community, and local indigenous governments, including a Somali government whose remit extends only a few kilometres beyond Mogadishu, which have created this crisis. Ultimately it is a failure of politics.

No one will be surprised that the area worst affected correlate to those which suffer entrenched deprivation and poverty and where there has been an absence of investment in infrastructure – health programmes – agricultural training – education for children and jobs.

Somalia, northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia are experiencing their worst drought in 60 years. This has had a disastrous impact on the largely pastoral and farming communities living in the affected area.

10 million people are affected by the famine. That is almost twice the population of this island. It’s the first time in almost 20 years that the word famine has been used to describe the conditions in Somalia.

Everyday hungry, thirsty, tired and emaciated figures make their way in slow processions through a blistered, dying landscape toward hastily erected refugee camps. Dadaab in Kenya has almost 400,000 people crammed within its increasing boundaries. That’s more people than live in the city of Belfast totally dependent on international aid.

The 4,000 people living in a refugee camp called ‘Safety’ on the outskirts of the Somali capital Mogadishu, have built their homes out of plastic sheets wood and branches. People sleep on the ground.

The horror stories now being reported by the media tell the desperate story of people on the edge of disaster. One report recorded the experience of Amina who had walked 50 kilometres with her one and a half year old son on her back only to discover when she arrived at ‘Safety’ that he was dead.

The UN defines famine as:
• More than 30% of children suffering from acute malnutrition
• Two adults or four children dying of hunger each day for every group of 10,000 people
• The population must have less than 2100 calories of food each day.

In the famine affected areas of Bakool and Lower Shabelle the reality is already far worse than this.

Aid is needed immediately. But the Norwegian attacks, which left over 90 dead and the death of Amy Winehouse have again pushed this issue off the media agenda. This reduces the political momentum for the urgent intervention that is essential to save lives.

The situation is complicated by the fact that the Islamist rebel group, al-Shabaab, which controls much of the area affected, has denied lifting a ban on some of the aid organisations and has rejected any suggestion that there is a famine in the region.

The UN Food Agency is holding crisis talks on the issue in Rome and there have been pledges of money for famine aid, but thus far it is insufficient to meet the immediate needs of those millions at risk and it is inadequate in building the necessary infrastructure to minimise the threat of famine in the future.

More needs done and quickly.

For now there are a multitude of international aid organisations working in the region. Among them are Irish organisations like Concern and Goal and Trocaire. If you can donate check out their websites and do so.

Kenny is not listening

Tomorrow state leaders from across the Eurozone will be meeting in Brussels to try and fix the crisis in the Eurozone economies. It’s a big ask!

The agenda is already clear. Much of the focus will be on Greece. The leaders need to agree measures to ensure the sustainability of Greek public finances; the role of private sector involvement; whether it is possible to put more flexibility into the European Financial Stability Facility; to take measures to mend the outstanding faults in the banking sector; and to agree measures to ensure there is liquidity – money - within the banking systems.

The Irish government has set as its priority a reduction in the interest rate being paid on the loans it has taken out as a result of the EU/IMF/ECB (European Union – International Monetary Fund – European Central Bank) bailout.

The stated goal by Fine Gael at the time of the election earlier this year was to reduce the interest on the total bailout of the loan by 1%.

This, it was claimed, would save the Irish taxpayer some €400 million per year.

However, the Minister for Finance then moved the goalposts. According to Minister Noonan the government’s goal now is an 0.6% reduction on any further drawdown of EU money. This would save taxpayers in the region of €150 million a year.

There is no sign at this time that even this significantly reduced demand in the interest rate reduction will be achieved, but even if it were the small amount involved would have to be set against the excessive profits our so-called partners in Europe are making at our expense; the tens of billions being pumped into banks to pay for their mistakes; and the hardship our citizens are enduring as a result.

But the real issue in all of this is, and the issue which should be the priority for the government going into Thursday’s summit, is the fact that our partners in Europe have imposed an excessive 3% handling charge on the loans they have made to the Irish government.

This means that our European partners – at least they claim to be our partners – are making a massive €9 billion profit. This is a cautious estimate based on a full draw down over seven and a half years and may increase if the cost of borrowing at EU level increases as predicted by some economists.

Last week the Department of Finance confirmed that the IMF is also going to make a significant profit on its loans to the state. This is estimated to be € 4.6 billion. Again this figure is based on the full amount being drawn down.

What this all means is that when added together the EU, European member states, and the IMF will make more than €13.6 billion profit from loans extended to the Irish government under the EU/IMF austerity programme.

This is money that ordinary citizens will have to pay for years to come through new stealth taxes and deep cuts to public services.

This is the issue that the Irish government should be placing on the agenda on Thursday in Brussels. This is the big issue. The unsustainability of the mountain of debt which this government, and the last, have heaped on citizens.

I used the opportunity to raise this matter during a Dáil debate on Wednesday but Enda Kenny was not for listening. His position is fixed. Other options, other choices, are not for him.

And there are other choices to be made.

The truth is that you can’t resolve a debt crisis by taking on more debt.

The Irish government should end payments to Unguaranteed Senior Bond holders. There is no legal obligation to make the payments and many other governments and those in the markets are surprised the Irish government is still paying out.

The implication of this short sighted position is that in early November €703 million will be paid over to unguaranteed senior bondholders in Anglo-Irish Bank – a bank that is dead – that doesn’t exist now.

This huge sum of money mirrors almost exactly the amount of money taken out of the Health budget in last Decembers budget.

The social consequences of this and of government policy is to be found in closed A&E units; in the almost half a million unemployed; in the decisions our elderly citizens are being forced to take between paying bills and buying food.

It is reflected in the downgrading of services in Hospitals, in the loss of SNA’s in schools and in the cuts to fuel and household benefits.

It is to be found in the Universal Social charge and in increasing energy and food prices.

The Irish government faces a huge negotiation and seems ill-prepared and out of its depth.

There is a lot of noise coming out of Europe which suggests that EU leaders are finally coming to realise that something radical needs to be done to avoid calamity.

But with the larger states thus far placing self-interest above the interests of their neighbours, and the Irish government dug in on a ruinous strategy, Thursday’s Brussels summit promises to be the most important for Ireland in recent history.

A litany of Abuse of Children and Trust

It’s difficult to know where to begin. Last week’s Cloyne report makes grim reading. It provides a horrendous and detailed account of clerical abuse and Catholic hierarchy failure and cover-up in the Diocese of Cloyne in County Cork.

It is the fourth major report in the last decade in the south of Ireland into child abuse by clerics.

The Murphy report investigated the handling of allegations of clerical sex abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese and was published in November 2009. It concluded that four successive archbishops had handled the allegations with ‘denial, arrogance and cover-up’ and that they did not report what they knew of these allegations to the Gardaí.

The structures and rules of the Church allowed for the cover-up of abuse.

Murphy also concluded that many auxiliary bishops in the Dublin Diocese were also aware of the accusations yet priests were assigned to parishes without any examination of sex abuse issues.

It detailed cases involving over 300 children.

The Ryan report was published in May 2009 and presented a damning account of life and abuse for thousands of children who were victims of abuse in industrial schools, orphanages, institutions for children with disabilities, reformatories, and ordinary day schools. Its investigations went back as far as 1914 but most of work was focussed on the four decades from the 1930s to 70s.

The conclusions were devastating for church and state alike. The Ryan report painted a picture of many thousands of children enduring years of sexual and physical abuse in over 200 institutions run by religious orders over decades. Hundreds of priests and nuns and brothers and lay people were involved.

Ryan criticised the Department of Education. It had failed in its ‘statutory duty of inspection.’

And as in the Murphy report, the Ryan report described how too often the agencies of the state, whether Gardaí or the Department of Education, too often deferred to the religious institutions preferring to believe their accounts or not being prepared to investigate allegations because clerics were involved.

The Ferns report was published in 2005. It reported into how allegations of clerical sex abuse against children had been handled by the Church and State authorities in the Diocese of Ferns between 1962 and 2002.

Once again the Catholic hierarchy was roundly criticised for the manner in which it had dealt with allegations during that four decade period. In one telling comment Bishop Brendan Comiskey was accused of having ‘failed to recognise the paramount need to protect children, as a matter of urgency, from potential abusers.’

And now there is the Cloyne report. It investigated allegations of child sex abuse in the Cloyne Diocese from 1996 to 2009. Once again the hierarchy, including its most senior figures, come in for serious criticism. Their response to allegations of abuse is described variously as ‘inadequate’, inappropriate’, ‘ineffective.’ It stands accused of telling lies and Bishop Magee was accused of taking ‘little or no interest in the management of clerical sexual abuse cases until 2009’. This was 13 years after the Church had put in place guidelines and 15 years after the Fr. Brendan Smyth case.

The Cloyne report examines the handling of allegations against 19 clergy and describes how none of the priests were moved as a result of the accusations. A number were retired. And in one instance a priest who brought complaints to Bishop Magee was discouraged from taking the issue any further.

The media last week carried accounts of victims and of the behaviour and treatment of alleged clerical abusers. It made for distressing and depressing reading.
The response of the Church Hierarchy through Cardinal Seán Brady to the Cloyne’s report was to apologise once again for the exposure of more abuse of children by clerics.

An additional aspect that has caused concern has been the attitude of the Vatican to the whole issue of clerical abuse and its lack of support for the efforts of those within the Irish Church who have sought to put in place effective measures to deal with this problem. The Cloyne Report found that the Vatican ‘gave individual Irish bishops the freedom to ignore the procedures which they had agreed and gave comfort and support to those who, like Monsignor O’Callaghan, dissented from the stated official Irish Church policy’.

Monsignor O’Callaghan was responsible for implementing child protection measures in the Diocese of Cloyne and ‘did not approve of the procedures’ set out by the Church and consequently ‘stymied’ their implementation.

There is talk of the Irish government closing its embassy to the Vatican in protest. There have also been demands that the Papal Nuncio, the Vatican ambassador to Dublin, should be expelled.

The government has responded quickly and there is talk of strong new legislation forcing the disclosure of information on child sexual abuse; as well as the placing of the child protection code ‘Children First’ on a statutory basis; and a ‘vetting bureau’ to vet applicants who wish to work with children.

This sounds impressive but already social workers are expressing concern at the implementation of all of this at a time when budgets for all government departments are under pressure and when there are plans for more cutbacks later this year in the budget.

The government’s seriousness on confronting this hugely difficult issue will be determined by its willingness to put the necessary money into ensuring that any new measures can function effectively. It will also be judged on how it responds to abuse in the Magdalene laundries and Bethany Home.

As for the Catholic Church I suspect that most citizens are exasperated with the endless apologies and failures by bishops and archbishops and Cardinals to face up to this issue honestly. Too often they have been revealed to have been more concerned about scandal and its impact on the Catholic Church than with the needs and concerns and interests of victims. The subsequent damage to the Church has been all the greater because of this.

There is a grievous lack of leadership. But more importantly the Church hierarchy have completely failed to live up to the teachings of Jesus.

Finally, there is a commitment from the Executive at Stormont for an inquiry into historic cases of abuse. But as we have seen in the Cloyne’s report these issues are also current. This blog believes that an inquiry into clerical abuse should be conducted across this island. If ever an issue transcends partition it is the issue of child abuse.

Too Soon – Too Young: Seán Ó Riada

Féile na Laoch, /Festival of heroes, Cúl Aodha Sunday July 31st

Seán Ó Riada was born almost 80 years ago on August 1st 1931. He is one of the great pioneers of traditional Irish music. In 1959 he scored the music for the film Mise Éire and succeeded in producing one of the most iconic pieces of Irish music of modern times.

In 1961 he formed Ceoltóirí Chualann and for the remainder of the decade, and with the support of some mighty musicians, he singlehandedly took Irish traditional music into a new era. Ó Riada is equally famed for his choral music and, as part of the féile, Cór Chúil Aodha, the choir he formed in the village, will perform one of his masses.

He did great work for Ireland, for our language and for our people.

Sean died at the age of 40, too soon and too young.

I have listened to his music all my adult life so I was greatly honoured to be asked to launch Féile na Laoch when I was down west Cork recently. The festival will be held over the August bank holiday, beginning on July 31st.

The official launch was great event and I was delighted to meet up with Sean’s son Peadar and others from Cuil Aodha. They are doing great work.

Peadar and the organisers putting together a magnificent weekend encompassing pop and traditional Irish music, opera, poetry, drama and dance.

Great names such as Christy Moore and Glen Hansard will be joined by opera soprano Cara O’Sullivan, sean nós singer Josie Sheáin Jeaic Mac Donncha and jazz guitarist Louis Stewart.

I am hugely impressed with the focal point of the festival with music taking place throughout the night and the stage, on the banks of the Sullane River, rotating from sunset to sunrise as performances continue and culminating with a massed orchestra performing Ó Riada’s Mise Éire.

It is a fitting way to remember a man who did so much to promote Irish arts, music, culture and the Irish way of life, a man who is widely believed to be the most influential figure in the revival of traditional Irish music from the 1960’s onwards.

I wish you all a great Féile. I am sure it will be hugely successful and very enjoyable and uplifting and I will be encouraging people from throughout Ireland and abroad to travel here to Ballyvourney for the August Bank Holiday weekend for what promises to be a magical Irish festival.

Adh mór libh.



With Peadar Ó Riada

OUTCOMERS






This blog gets to go to all sorts of places for all kinds of events. On Friday it was Dundalk for a series of engagements and a few events. The town was busy. Traders have a hard time with the big out of town multiples eating into the retail business. Escalating rates and other charges make life difficult for small local shop keepers. Recession! Recession!

Recession is the order of the day.

But on Friday Dundalk was bustling. Especially in Eno’s opposite the Cathedral. I was there as a guest of Dundalk Outcomers. They, and this blog and other public representatives, were celebrating Dundalk Pride. The event at Eno’s is part of a celebration of the towns gay citizens. Other events include a table quiz, a film and panel discussion. Today, Saturday, is Pride Day.

Pride Day is a fun day out for everyone with an outdoor café, funfair stalls, a travelling circus troupe and magic show, free workshops, music and holistic therapy treatments. The venue is Dundalk Outcomers Centre and Courtyard at 8 Roden Place. So if you get to read this blog on time dander along for a bit of fun or if you are a real party person then the Pride Party in the Radius Club is the place to be tonight.

So who are the Dundalk Outcomers?

They are a support group for gay, lesbian and bi-sexual people from Louth and the border counties. They run a drop in centre at 8 Roden Place. It is a safe and relaxed place for people to make social contact, meet for a chat or get advice. The centre is run by volunteer members of the Dundalk Outcomers Group.

Bernadine is the co-ordinator. She is also funny, engaging and a brilliant advocate for our gay, lesbian and bi-sexual friends. Bernadine also promotes Lesbian and Gay health information and training. She spoke wonderfully well at the event at Eno’s.

So did Billy. Billy is the chairperson of Dundalk Outcomers. John is the youth worker.

If you check out the Dundalk Outcomers website you will see the range of services on offer. Or email info@outcomers.org. Bernadine can be contacted at Bernadine@outcomers.org and John at youth@outcomers.org.

They do great work and this blog thanks them all for that. I hope they have a great Pride.

As your man says all the time politics has to be about empowerment. Equality is the essence of republicanism. And equality is for everyone. That includes our gay, lesbian and bi sexual citizens.

British journalism and psyops

Sunday was the last day of the News of the World. It was the biggest selling Sunday newspaper in Britain. It thought it made the rules. And for much of its 168 years it did.

It was a paper which specialised in sex, politics, drugs and celebrity scandals. And it didn’t care who it hurt in seeking to sell papers.

As part of the Murdoch media empire it was ruthless and merciless in pursuit of the exposé.

But last week it became of the latest victim of that same exposé culture it had dominated for generations.

The accusations being levelled against it are straightforward.

It hacked phones for stories - to sell more papers - to make more money. But the British public’s appetite for sensational stories of political corruption, the sexual indiscretions of celebrities and the exposure of sporting cheats, drew the line at listening in on the traumatic personal calls of bereaved British military families and terror and murder victims. There are also allegations that tens of thousands of pounds were spent on bribing police officers.

According to the Chief Executive of News International worse is to come.

The British government rushed to limit the damage. So, two enquiries have been ordered by the British Prime Minister, who is himself mired in the controversy because he hired Andrew Coulson, the former boss of News of the World, when some of this was going on.

This blog has watched this story unfold with interest in recent days. It has dominated much of the news reporting in Ireland and was given a new twist when Murdoch closed News of the World.

But there is another part of the story. It is to be found in the arrogance and hypocrisy and jingoism of significant elements of the British media establishment.

The exposure of News of the World, which is largely down to the dogged determination of a small number of journalists, is now being extolled as an example of the British media getting it right! They are busy clapping themselves on the back claiming this is an example of the high standards of British journalism in the pursuit of truth and justice.

There are many in Ireland who would strongly disagree. Whatever the truth about the events at the News of the World British the record of the Britisdh media in Ireland was disgraceful and shameful.

With a few honourable exceptions most of the British media set aside the laudable objectives of truth and justice and willingly bought into the British state’s version of events in Ireland and in doing so undoubtedly contributed to the duration of the conflict.

Britain’s counter insurgency specialist in the early 70’s was Brigadier Frank Kitson. He brought to the north of Ireland his experience of counter-insurgency actions in a host of former British colonies from Kenya to Cyprus. Kitson argued that to win against a guerrilla enemy which had the support of its community, or at least a significant proportion of that community, one needed to reshape the government, the judiciary, the law, the police and the media, as well as government policy.

According to Kitson: “The law should be used as just another weapon in the government’s arsenal, in which case it becomes little more than a propaganda cover for the disposal of unwanted members of the public.”

This needs a compliant media and an effective disinformation programme. In a British Ministry of Defence documents in 1974 entitled, ‘An introduction to Psychological Operations’, it states:
“Psychological Operations (Psyops) is an all-embracing term defined by NATO as ‘planned Psychological activities in peace and war directed toward the enemy, friendly and neutral; audiences, in order to create attitudes and behaviour favourable to the achievement of political and military objectives …”

Media coverage of the conflict was an integral part of Pysops and black propaganda. It was also expensive. In 1989-90 the British government spent £7.238 million through its ‘Northern Ireland Information Service’ for a population of 1.5 million as against £1.1 million in Scotland by the equivalent office for a population of 5 million. And this did not take into account the money spent by the British Army or the RUC.

The fantasy stories; the lies; the willingness to carry as fact British Army and RUC accounts of events; and the refusal to investigate illegal actions by British state forces, are all legendary.

Scores of programmes were banned. The internal rules within newspapers and broadcasting companies for covering Ireland and the political bias of these ensured a large degree of self-censorship. And for a time after October 1988 this took on the form of formal censorship. It was about criminalising a whole community.

No British or Irish broadcaster, no mainstream British or Irish newspaper was exempt from this – and for some it has become a way of life which continues.

The Murdoch ‘Sun’, which it is speculated will soon publish a Sunday edition to replace the News of the World, carried a typical piece of psyops as far back as 1971. Under the title ‘Front Line Kids’ it was claimed that ‘IRA leaders here are sending their shock troops to war – their own children. Bomb throwing eight year olds are in the front line. They steal out at dusk to play games with death, trained to hate and kill. And the children at war chant obscenities to nursery rhyme tunes as the bullets fly.”

But much of psyops was given over to presenting the conflict as sectarian and excusing the killing of civilians by British forces or their loyalist allies. Collusion was generally ignored.

Depending on the target audience Republicans were accused of being either ‘criminals’ or ‘godfathers’ – or Marxists trying to create a communist dictatorship in Ireland.

And the underlying racism of much that appeared about the Irish was evident in stories like that produced by the Daily Express in October 1976 which claimed that Irish people in Britain were leading a £200 million social security swindle and that millions were finding their way to the IRA.



It was a reminder of the attitude of British newspapers of the 19th century. Mostly famously expressed in the Punch cartoons of the period which depicted the Irish as ape like, with low foreheads and Neanderthal features.

So, from one perspective the behaviour of the News of the World has been aberrant but from another, in particular the experience of Irish republicans and nationalists, the News of the World is a perfect example of how British journalism functions.

It’s not about truth. It’s not about justice. It’s about selling papers, making a profit and backing the status quo.

Back to School

This year sees the second of Sinn Féin’s summer schools. For those who don’t know there are many of these across the state during the summer months. They are organised by a wide range of groups and cover topics as diverse as literature, music, culture, politics, writing and much more. Most last a weekend.

This blog has spoken at several over the years. But last year Sinn Fein held its first such school in west Cork and this year we have returned for a second time.

'Scoil Shamhraidh na Saoirse’ is taking place in Baile Bhuirne in West Cork. The summer school has a wide range of speakers on politics, the economy, sports, language and arts. The partys website www.sinnfein.ie is carrying regular updates throughout the weekend.

Among the topics being covered is the 1981 hunger strike which took place 30 years ago this year. Danny Morrison, Leo Green and Sean Kelleher are addressing that issue. This morning there was a informed and very discussion on the ‘need for a new Revival’. The main contributors to that were the north’s Minister of Culture Carál Ní Chuilín, Robert Ballagh, Jimmy Barry Murphy and Adrian Breathnach and beginning soon after my keynote speech will be a debate on ‘Dealing with the debt crisis – Progressive Alternatives’. Contributors to this include Pearse Doherty TD – Sinn Fein Finance spokesperson, Huginn Freyr Thorsteinsson - Political Advisor to the Finance Minister of Iceland, Yanis Varoufackis - Professor of Economics University of Athens, Tom McDonnell – Policy Analyst TASC, Mary Smithwick - Assistant News Editor and Political Editor for the Evening Echo and Jack O’Connor - General President of SIPTU.

Frankie Gallagher (loyalist politician and chief spokesman for the UDA linked Ulster Political Research Group) also this morning on the issue of loyalism.



Getting my notes ready

I used my remarks to speak on the need for a new Republic for the 21st century which is relevant for today and which reflects the views and opinions citizens across this island.

Sinn Féin’s goal is a new republic for the 21st century that encompasses all the people of this island. Already there are many, including business leaders and some unionists in the north, who understand the economic value of building the all-Ireland economy.

In my view Ireland can be changed. But citizens need to be clear about the kind of new Ireland we want to create. That needs a national debate. If we are to renew and revitalise and construct a new Ireland – a new Republic – it has to be relevant for citizens today.

It must reflect the views and opinions of all our citizens; whether they are urban or rural; nationalist or unionist or republican or none; of all or no religion; young or old; disabled or from our new immigrants, and it needs to reach out to the diaspora.

In respect of unionists it is important that we engage with them in seeking to create a new republic. It must be one in which they are comfortable.
The construction of a new national democracy on the island of Ireland must involve reconciliation between orange and green.

Nationalists and republicans must reach out to unionists and engage with them on the type of Ireland we want to create. Our responsibility is to ensure that unionists are comfortable and feel secure in a new Ireland. It has to be their Ireland also.

So it must be a shared Ireland, an integrated Ireland, an Ireland in which unionists have equal ownership. That means republicans seeking to understand what unionists mean by Britishness.

It means being prepared to seriously examine forms of institutional and constitutional arrangements and structures which may be different from those normally advanced by republicans.

It means seeking to convince unionists that in a new Republic they would be citizens, not mere subjects, and entitled to rights not concessions.

Key to this is building an equal society, one in which equality is at its core. The fact is that equality makes sense. Inequality costs society more. The elimination of inequality is not only possible, it is critically important, not least because it allows for the full mobilisation of the available creative human resources.

For example, a person who cannot walk is not unequal because he or she uses a wheelchair, but because most buildings (including workplaces and schools) and transportation are designed in a way that excludes people who use wheelchairs.

It takes only a few adjustments to allow for universal access.

This principle applies more broadly. We are not inherently unequal. It is exclusive social and other structures that make us unequal. We can choose, either to perpetuate and reinforce these structures, or to change them to make them more inclusive. Just as inequality is socially constructed, it can also be dismantled.

As a consequence, building an equal society is possible because it is a matter of public choice.

Finally, we need to appreciate that Ireland today is a country in transition. There have been many positive developments in both states on the island. A lot of the old certainties have gone. A lot of the old conservative influences have been weakened.

A lot of unfinished business still has to be completed, but progress has been made.

If is also a fact that Ireland is still partitioned and there is poverty and unemployment, and there are profound issues which need to be resolved between unionism and the rest of us.

But no one should minimise how much our society has changed, particularly in this last forty years or so.

Sinn Féin’s goal is an Ireland built on positive change, on equality, on partnership. An Ireland where the wealth is invested creatively and more fairly and where our children wake up in homes that are warm.

An Ireland in which our schools are properly resourced and where no one waits for a hospital bed, a home or a job.

The resources exist to build this republic – the new Ireland. What is needed is political will and vision. We are inviting others to join us in this historic endeavour.

Heroin addiction – ‘like ground hog day’

There is a similarity in problems faced by communities north and south. The constituency of Louth and East Meath shares many of the same characteristics of west Belfast – high unemployment; poor housing provision; poverty; lack of investment by government; community safety issues and much more.

There are differences also. The most obvious being the fact that Louth and East Meath has an electorate of over 100,000 – some 40,000 more than west Belfast and big parts of it are rural.

Among the community safety issues are those caused by drug and alcohol misuse.

A few weeks ago this blog and local Sinn Féin Councillor Paddy McQuillan visited the Louth Community Drug and Alcohol Team in Drogheda.

We met the staff, members of the North East Regional Drug Task Force, and a group of addicts who are on methadone to control their heroin addiction.

I was very impressed by the commitment and professionalism of the staff who provide a first class service with inadequate resources, and who are struggling to meet the needs of a growing number of drug and alcohol addicts.

Drug and alcohol misuse has taken up to 8 lives in the Drogheda area in recent years.

We met a group of former heroin users, one of whom was a woman. They were very honest about the dreadful impact the drug has had on them and their families, and the connection between heroin and drug addiction and crime.

One former user described the experience as like ground hog day – chasing the money –chasing the dealers - and chasing the drug. And when that cycle is complete they begin the process all over again.

The Drug and Alcohol Team in Drogheda has only been in place since last April. I have no doubt from my conversation with the former heroin users that the centre has been a life line for them.

The project consists of a co-ordinator, one project worker, one CE support staff member and one counsellor who provides 6 sessions a week. According to statistics for 2010 from the Health Research Board, 76 individuals presented for treatment at the centre.

Of these 60% had heroin addiction; 28% had issues with alcohol; 17% with cannabis and 7% for cocaine. 71% of the above have been identified as early school leavers and 60% use more than one drug. 33% are injecting drug users and 8% began injecting under the age of 19.

There obviously are policing and other issues around the availability of illegal drugs. And these statistics only scratch the surface of the problem.

The reality is that many individuals who initially presented with one problem actually have more than one. Some were addicted to up to four substances. And those I talked with spoke of many more users in the area who have not sought help.

The Louth Community Drug and Alcohol Team work hard to provide a service which helps those affected by drug and alcohol misuse. However, the biggest gap in current services lies in the absence of a second level 2 methadone prescribing GP.

Currently there is only one and consequently the waiting list for methadone treatment in Louth stands at eighteen months which discourages individuals to go on the list. In Dublin the waiting time for treatment is within 10 days.

Even if an addict manages to get on the list they are expected to maintain their drug using lifestyle in order to qualify for treatment. It also means that the current system is encouraging ongoing heartache, illness, further family breakdown, crime and in some cases overdose, which can lead to death.

I secured an adjournment debate in the Dáil on Tuesday night and spoke on this issue pointing out the immediate and beneficial affect an additional level 2 GP would have.
The Minister, Roisin Shortall in her contribution acknowledged that the Health Service Executive has now “identified two potential level 2 GPs who are available to commence in the Drogheda area. An additional level 1 GP has also been identified and the HSE is awaiting return of a signed contract from the person concerned.”

This was good news.

The Community Drug and Alcohol Team also needs a dedicated project worker who can provide the essential family support that is part of dealing with drug misuse in the community. But on this issue the Ministers response was less helpful. She said: “Unfortunately, there is no funding available to support an additional family support worker”.

The Louth Community Drug and Alcohol Team in Drogheda provides a critical health and community service. So, this issue is not going away and I told the Minister this after the debate.

We have no money she told me. ‘Yes, we have’, I told her, ‘But your government is giving it away to unguaranteed bondholders in toxic banks.’

And so it is with €10 million this week alone.

In the meantime the work of groups like the Louth Community Drug and Alcohol Team continues. Without their dedication many more lives would be lost or destroyed by the scourge of drugs and alcohol. So well done to you and all those others like you who provide this essential service.

Irish Flotilla Activists Defiant

The war of words around the humanitarian aid flotilla trying to bring much needed supplies to Gaza took on a more sinister turn when two of the ships, one in a Greek port and the second, the Irish MV Saoirse, were the target last week of what appears to have been sabotage.

Israeli spokespersons have been ratcheting up the threatening language against the flotilla. Despite having no evidence to support their accusations Israeli newspapers have claimed that the aid convoy is carrying a cargo of chemicals and is planning to use violence.

The Israeli Maariv newspaper used a photo of one of the flotilla and beside it the headline, “Coming to kill.”

One Israeli blogger wrote: “The objective of the ‘Ships of Fools’ has nothing to do with helping the people of Gaza, or promoting peace. Its purpose is to delegitimize Israel and kill Jews.”

And a government Minister claimed that the Israeli Army had information that “participants in the flotilla to Gaza plan on attacking IDF soldiers with lethal force are accurate”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added to the spin: "Israel has the full right to operate against efforts to smuggle missiles, rockets and other weapons to Hamas's terror enclave."

It was in the midst of all of this negative propaganda that the two aid boats were damaged.



Evidence that Propeller shaft had bent

At a press conference in Belfast on their return some of those who were on the MV Saoirse explained that the indent in the propeller shaft was sufficient to bend the shaft and leave them adrift at sea. There was also the real danger that it might have sheared off while under stress and that the propeller could have holed and sank the boat.

The activists remain defiant and refuse to be intimidated.

In the meantime Israel has been exercising enormous political pressure on other countries in the region to prevent the flotilla from sailing from their ports.

This blog has written to the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs seeking a full investigation into the situation surrounding the MV Saoirse and urging him to raise this matter with the Israeli authorities. I have also asked him to seek from the Turkish authorities a full and thorough investigation into what occurred.

The Irish government has a responsibility to protect Irish citizens abroad and must demand answers from the Israeli government on this matter.

I want to commend the courage and dedication of the crew and international observers who were due to sail on the MV Saoirse.

Despite the Israeli assault last year on the previous flotilla in which 9 aid workers were killed and the threats from official Israeli sources, they have refused to be intimidated and are committed to highlighting the illegal and inhumane siege by Israel of Gaza.