Today sees the publication of British and Irish government papers that are being released under the 30 year rule. There are hundreds of documents. Some are minutes of meetings involving the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Others are reports of briefings of unionist politicians by the NIO. Some are letters written by former Taoisigh Charlie Haughey and Garret Fitzgerald and assessments of the political situation at different times in the course of that momentous year.
This blog has read some but not all of the papers. Academics, historians and journalists will be poring over the detail of these for months to come and trying to fit the story they tell into what is already known. They deserve the closest scrutiny.
There is of course the important health warning. These are government documents, written in their time with the bias of those political systems. So care is needed.
The H Block/Armagh prison protest and the hunger strikes were watershed events in recent Irish history. Ten prisoners died. Over 50 other people were killed during the summer of 1981, including young children killed by plastic bullets. The events of that year had a profound impact on subsequent developments.
However, it is very clear from an initial examination of the papers that the British government in 1981 had adopted a fixed, intransigent and at crucial points a duplicitous approach to finding a settlement. It consistently refused to deal with the substance of the prison protests and was prepared to allow prisoners to die.
The NIO played a particularly obstructive role aided by the then Secretary of State Humphrey Atkins and his junior Minister Michael Alison. Both were very much influenced by the attitude of Unionist political leaders.
One event which has already been the focus of some media comment is a claim by the Pope’s envoy Fr. John Magee that in a meeting with Bobby Sands that Bobby had offered to suspend the hunger strike for five days.
I have never heard this claim before. Moreover Bobby was very clear in his approach to the hunger strike. The prisoners had agreed procedures among themselves to ensure there would be no repeat of the events of the previous December when the first hunger strike ended.
The prisoners wanted Brendan McFarlane OC of the prisoners in the H Blocks and someone from outside to be part of any discussions about any British government proposals. This was to protect the hunger strikers and the protest. Several days before Magee’s visit Bobby had refused to meet two members of the European Commission of Human Rights without Brendan McFarlane being present.
Bobby viewed Magee’s visit as pastoral. In none of his subsequent conversations with either Jim Gibney or messages to Brendan did he mention making any offer to Magee.
For him to have made such an offer and not mention it would have been totally out of character because Bobby diligently reported any developments. In my view he certainly would have mentioned such an important proposal.
However, whatever the veracity of the Magee claim the British response is clear.
According to the record of the discussions between Atkins and Fr. Magee, which were held at 12.30 p.m. in Stormont Castle on April 29th – 7 days before Bobby died – Atkins told Magee: “that there could be no negotiation: that was what Sands was trying to initiate. The Government had no intention of conceding political status … To concede that would be wrong – and would also provoke a violent reaction within the Province which would threaten innocent lives. Father Magee said he thought that the prisoners would not be inflexible: they wanted evidence of goodwill because promises had been made to them at the end of the last hunger strike and had not been kept. The SoS emphasised to Father Magee that no promises had been made at the end of the last hunger strike. That fact was well known to Sands … At the end of the meeting the SoS explained, and Father Magee accepted, that the SoS could not see Father Magee again because to do so would risk creating the impression that some form of negotiation was going on. There was no question of negotiation and the SoS would not to continue to make that quite clear.”
The other aspect of this period that will be of interest to many is the detail provided by the British of their engagement with and abuse of the ‘back-channel’.
This was a line of communication between a Derry based contact – Brendan Duddy - and a British intelligence agent Michael Oatley who had direct access to Downing Street.
There are transcripts of 8 telephone calls over the weekend of July 4 to 6th between the British agent and the Derry ‘back-channel’ who was given the code-name ‘Soon’. This was just before the death of Joe McDonnell.
The papers raise serious questions about the relationship between London and ‘Soon’.
For example, according to the British papers ‘Soon’ had an agreed code word with them. The paper says: ‘At the outset Soon indicated by a prearranged code that he was accompanied by a representative of the Provisionals. He had previously suggested that in this situation we should adopt a hard line…’
It is also stated in respect of another call that: ‘Soon reported that a great deal of confusion has arisen in Provisional circles … Soon then described the circumstances of the issue of the Prisoners’ statement of 4 July. He said that the statement had been issued independently by the prisoners in the Maze and the timing came as a surprise to senior Provisionals outside … Unfortunately, the timing of the release of the statement had caught the Provisionals unaware.’
This was not true. The statement had in fact been issued by prisoners through the Sinn Féin POW department and the Republican Press Centre. I chaired the Sinn Féin committee responsible for handling the prison struggle, contacts with the prisoners, with the British and anyone else. We had seen this statement before it was issued and ‘Soon’ would have known this.
A report of another call claims that: ‘Soon began by restating the Provisionals disorganised position.’ Not true.
According to the Brits he also tells them that, in respect of the end of the December 1980 hunger strike: ‘the Provisionals believed that HMG had been sincere in trying to implement their side of the agreement. The breakdown had occurred because some of the prisoners had been harassed by some of the prison officers …’
Not true.
While the prison administration and prison officers worked hard to prevent the prisoners positively working through the December paper from the British, at no time then or since did anyone in the Sinn Féin leadership believe that the British government was ‘sincere’ in implementing that agreement.
The British also reported that according to ‘Call No 7, 2300-2400, 5 July’: ‘Soon had been called into an angry and hostile meeting of the Provisionals almost verging on a complete breakdown. .. At this point Soon indicated that a considerable number of Provisionals had arrived. ..’
Not true.
The line of communication was very straight forward, although cumbersome. The prisoners communicated with the Committee I chaired on the outside. I then dealt with Martin McGuinness who met ‘Soon’ in Derry. No one else was involved in the meetings with the back-channel.
These and other inconsistencies raised in these records only confirm this blog in my view that in negotiations ‘facilitators’ or ‘intermediaries’ can unintentionally or deliberately create problems by not relying messages accurately.
Finally, among the many matters raised in these papers one in particular stands out. It has been claimed by some that an offer was made by the British and relayed to Brendan McFarlane by Danny Morrison in a visit to the prison on Sunday July 5th.
It is claimed that this ‘offer’ was the substance of the five demands and that it was blocked by outside because the leadership wanted more prisoners to die for political advantage.
This lie has caused great hurt to the families of the hunger strikers who subsequently died and to those of us who were involved in the efforts to save them.
These transcripts reveal that no offer was made to the prisoners on 5th July and that at the time of Danny Morrison’s visit to the prisoners on that day the British government had not formulated its position: ‘Soon then indicated that McGuinness had just arrived. He said that time was of the essence and asked what the current HMG position was. We explained it was important before drafting any documents for consideration by Ministers that we should possess the Provisionals view. Soon then undertook clear views on their position. Which would be relayed to us later after discussions in the light of Morrison’s visit’.
Another myth busted.
The hunger strike and its repercussions on individuals, families and the political life of this island were far reaching. The papers that have been released provide another insight to a tumultuous period. Next week this blog will return to the papers and identify other interesting aspects of developments 30 years ago.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Thursday, December 29, 2011
2012. Here we come!
Christy Moore is on the CD player. He is away from the island on his Honda 50. The rain is pelting down outside. The wind is whooooshing through the trees out the back. I have sliced the last of Teds ham and made a stew of sorts in a big pot with spuds, garlic, onions, tomatoes, organo, parsnips and carrots. And Teds ham. With meat balls. In the kitchen. And a splash of red wine.
Luisne is beside me, in deep conversation with Peppa Pig, courtesy of the internet. Christy doesn’t seem to mind. Neither do I. We are cosy here. Thanks be to God. I used to have a Honda 50 but that’s another story.
Christmas was nice. This blog was well looked after. So was the rest of the clann. We are very lucky. I am glad to get the rest. I haven’t seen your man for a wee while. Since before Christmas. Since he left me in Dublin.
The next day I went to Drogheda. I wandered along West Street. There is a man who sells organic vegetables from a stall there on Fridays. West Street has a street market on Fridays. I be there every third Friday. Or at least I was there every third Friday in 2011. Or every third Friday since the General Election. The other Fridays I was in Dundalk or East Meath. Doing constituency work.
So on Fridays I also shop for vegetables. Not always at the street market in Drogheda. Sometimes I got to a lovely wee Green Grocers in Dundalk. They sell very nice Florance Cakes there. As well as vegetables. When I was a wee lad my granny used to send me to McErleans Home Bakery on the Andytown Road just below Saint Agnes Chapel to get her a Florence Cake – spelt with an e instead of the a of Dundalk. So I like Florence Cakes whatever way they are spelt.
Other times when I know I’m going be in Dublin on the Saturday I go to Moore Street. I like Moore Street.
But I especially like the organic vegetables that I get in West Street. Especially the fresh dates. And the figs. The Friday before Christmas I noticed that the man selling the organic vegetables had mistletoe on his stall. He was talking to me at the time about what was going on in Iran. I only figured out afterwards that he was so up to date with all the sceal from those parts because that’s where his dates come from.
That’s when I noticed that the mistletoe wasn’t hanging up. I mentioned this to your man when we spoke on the phone.
‘I suppose he is just being careful’ he said.
‘What do you mean?’ I wondered.
‘I mean if he had his mistletoe hanging up some people might think that was an invitation’.
‘An invitation?’
‘To kiss!’ he exclaimed.
‘I know that’ I said, still not getting his point.
‘Well’ he explained slowly ‘ If his dates come from Iran he wouldn’t want to be jeopardising that by kissing anyone else!’
‘Ho Ho Ho’ I retorted. ‘ see you in 2012!’
‘2012!’ he exclaimed. ‘2012 here we come!’
Luisne is beside me, in deep conversation with Peppa Pig, courtesy of the internet. Christy doesn’t seem to mind. Neither do I. We are cosy here. Thanks be to God. I used to have a Honda 50 but that’s another story.
Christmas was nice. This blog was well looked after. So was the rest of the clann. We are very lucky. I am glad to get the rest. I haven’t seen your man for a wee while. Since before Christmas. Since he left me in Dublin.
The next day I went to Drogheda. I wandered along West Street. There is a man who sells organic vegetables from a stall there on Fridays. West Street has a street market on Fridays. I be there every third Friday. Or at least I was there every third Friday in 2011. Or every third Friday since the General Election. The other Fridays I was in Dundalk or East Meath. Doing constituency work.
So on Fridays I also shop for vegetables. Not always at the street market in Drogheda. Sometimes I got to a lovely wee Green Grocers in Dundalk. They sell very nice Florance Cakes there. As well as vegetables. When I was a wee lad my granny used to send me to McErleans Home Bakery on the Andytown Road just below Saint Agnes Chapel to get her a Florence Cake – spelt with an e instead of the a of Dundalk. So I like Florence Cakes whatever way they are spelt.
Other times when I know I’m going be in Dublin on the Saturday I go to Moore Street. I like Moore Street.
But I especially like the organic vegetables that I get in West Street. Especially the fresh dates. And the figs. The Friday before Christmas I noticed that the man selling the organic vegetables had mistletoe on his stall. He was talking to me at the time about what was going on in Iran. I only figured out afterwards that he was so up to date with all the sceal from those parts because that’s where his dates come from.
That’s when I noticed that the mistletoe wasn’t hanging up. I mentioned this to your man when we spoke on the phone.
‘I suppose he is just being careful’ he said.
‘What do you mean?’ I wondered.
‘I mean if he had his mistletoe hanging up some people might think that was an invitation’.
‘An invitation?’
‘To kiss!’ he exclaimed.
‘I know that’ I said, still not getting his point.
‘Well’ he explained slowly ‘ If his dates come from Iran he wouldn’t want to be jeopardising that by kissing anyone else!’
‘Ho Ho Ho’ I retorted. ‘ see you in 2012!’
‘2012!’ he exclaimed. ‘2012 here we come!’
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Nollaig Shona Daoibhse
The New Year will be as bright as we chose to make it
It is amazing the difference a year makes. 12 months ago this blog was the MP for west Belfast. Bar one brief interlude in the 90’s I was humbled and privileged to represent the people of that historic constituency as MP since 1983.
I was and still am very attached to west Belfast. It is where I grew up. It’s where I went to school. It’s where as a young boy I played with my friends in the lanes and parks and streets and had wonderful adventures on the Black Mountain. It was where I first witnessed the brutality of sectarianism and the injustice of the northern state. It’s where I discovered republican politics. It’s where my family live.
During the 70’s as a republican activist on the run this blog relied on the generosity of many families. I experienced for myself many times the solidarity of the west Belfast community.
It was the same with my experience of elections. My first foray into electoralism was in the 1982 Assembly elections. It was the year after the hunger strike and Bobby Sands and then Owen Carron’s successes in Fermanagh South Tyrone. Sinn Féin was dismissed by the pundits as ‘no-hopers’ who would barely register a vote. But the sound nationalist and republican people of west Belfast and Tyrone and South Armagh and Derry and Fermanagh and elsewhere gave the Brits, and others, another in a long list of electoral shocks.
This blog was an abstentionist MP. I refused to sit in the British Parliament or swear an oath of allegiance to the English Queen. In my view the British have no right to be in our country or to exercise any jurisdiction over it. The people of west Belfast had no difficulty understanding this. But I was an active absentionist. Absent from the British Parliament, but active representing the electorate of west Belfast.
Until last December. Then after almost 30 continuous years of being a west Belfast representative, this blog went south. A Sinn Féin selection convention in Dundalk, just before Christmas 2010, selected me to stand for Louth.
I have described this move as a ‘wrench’ but in truth that description doesn’t really do it justice. The move out of west Belfast and into Louth and the Dáil has been an exhausting, exhilarating, and exciting process.
I miss west Belfast but I am thoroughly enjoying County Louth. The people are just as sound and the Shinners just as committed as those in Belfast. The challenges and the issues as they impact on people’s daily lives are the same.
It’s about unemployment and housing and suicide prevention and a proper health service and education and a safer environment. But it’s in a different political context.
In the north Sinn Féin and the DUP are trying to win fiscal powers from the British state. The Irish government is in the process of handing these same powers away to bureaucrats in the EU.
In the power sharing system in the north Sinn Fein has developed innovative economic initiatives to minimise some of the worst affects of the economic recession and of British Tory cuts.
In the south the Irish Labour party is supporting the conservative Fine Gael party in implementing a Thatcherite strategy that is stripping away essential public services and inflicting huge damage on the social fabric of society.
For Sinn Féin it is a relentless battle criticising and challenging bad government policy while promoting sound practical republican solutions.
A year of elections and ten months as the real voice of opposition in the Dáil means that Sinn Féin has emerged stronger and more vibrant and more popular than ever.
However, it is important that we do not lose sight of what all of this hard work is about achieving. Irish republicans are about equality and inclusiveness and citizenship and sovereignty. We are about the historic work of uniting Ireland and uniting the people of Ireland.
We follow proudly in the tradition of James Connolly and Padraig Pearse, and Anne Devlin and Wolfe Tone, and Countess Markievicz and Bobby Sands and Mairead Farrell and many more.
That is a huge agenda of change for the future. It’s about building a new Republic for the 21st century that takes the 1916 Proclamation as its template but seeks to shape it for a new century and new conditions.
This blog, despite the dire economic circumstances north and south, is very optimistic about this new future. If I have learned anything in my years of activism it is that the Irish people have the wit and intelligence to see beyond the current problems and intelligently chart a way through it.
Wishing his readers ‘A Happy New Year’ James Connolly, writing in the Workers Republic on January 1st 1916, and addressing the ‘rebels in heart’ wrote: ‘...let us remind them that opportunities are for those who seize them, and that the coming year may be as bright as we choose to make it.’
So, dear readers wherever you are in the world enjoy Christmas and the New Year – nollaig shona daoibhse agus áthbhliain faoi mháise daoibh. And remember that the New Year is a new year of struggle. An opportunity to build on the progress we have made in recent years and to continue to build political strength and to take real and tangible steps toward Irish unity. It will be as bright as we chose to make it
It is amazing the difference a year makes. 12 months ago this blog was the MP for west Belfast. Bar one brief interlude in the 90’s I was humbled and privileged to represent the people of that historic constituency as MP since 1983.
I was and still am very attached to west Belfast. It is where I grew up. It’s where I went to school. It’s where as a young boy I played with my friends in the lanes and parks and streets and had wonderful adventures on the Black Mountain. It was where I first witnessed the brutality of sectarianism and the injustice of the northern state. It’s where I discovered republican politics. It’s where my family live.
During the 70’s as a republican activist on the run this blog relied on the generosity of many families. I experienced for myself many times the solidarity of the west Belfast community.
It was the same with my experience of elections. My first foray into electoralism was in the 1982 Assembly elections. It was the year after the hunger strike and Bobby Sands and then Owen Carron’s successes in Fermanagh South Tyrone. Sinn Féin was dismissed by the pundits as ‘no-hopers’ who would barely register a vote. But the sound nationalist and republican people of west Belfast and Tyrone and South Armagh and Derry and Fermanagh and elsewhere gave the Brits, and others, another in a long list of electoral shocks.
This blog was an abstentionist MP. I refused to sit in the British Parliament or swear an oath of allegiance to the English Queen. In my view the British have no right to be in our country or to exercise any jurisdiction over it. The people of west Belfast had no difficulty understanding this. But I was an active absentionist. Absent from the British Parliament, but active representing the electorate of west Belfast.
Until last December. Then after almost 30 continuous years of being a west Belfast representative, this blog went south. A Sinn Féin selection convention in Dundalk, just before Christmas 2010, selected me to stand for Louth.
I have described this move as a ‘wrench’ but in truth that description doesn’t really do it justice. The move out of west Belfast and into Louth and the Dáil has been an exhausting, exhilarating, and exciting process.
I miss west Belfast but I am thoroughly enjoying County Louth. The people are just as sound and the Shinners just as committed as those in Belfast. The challenges and the issues as they impact on people’s daily lives are the same.
It’s about unemployment and housing and suicide prevention and a proper health service and education and a safer environment. But it’s in a different political context.
In the north Sinn Féin and the DUP are trying to win fiscal powers from the British state. The Irish government is in the process of handing these same powers away to bureaucrats in the EU.
In the power sharing system in the north Sinn Fein has developed innovative economic initiatives to minimise some of the worst affects of the economic recession and of British Tory cuts.
In the south the Irish Labour party is supporting the conservative Fine Gael party in implementing a Thatcherite strategy that is stripping away essential public services and inflicting huge damage on the social fabric of society.
For Sinn Féin it is a relentless battle criticising and challenging bad government policy while promoting sound practical republican solutions.
A year of elections and ten months as the real voice of opposition in the Dáil means that Sinn Féin has emerged stronger and more vibrant and more popular than ever.
However, it is important that we do not lose sight of what all of this hard work is about achieving. Irish republicans are about equality and inclusiveness and citizenship and sovereignty. We are about the historic work of uniting Ireland and uniting the people of Ireland.
We follow proudly in the tradition of James Connolly and Padraig Pearse, and Anne Devlin and Wolfe Tone, and Countess Markievicz and Bobby Sands and Mairead Farrell and many more.
That is a huge agenda of change for the future. It’s about building a new Republic for the 21st century that takes the 1916 Proclamation as its template but seeks to shape it for a new century and new conditions.
This blog, despite the dire economic circumstances north and south, is very optimistic about this new future. If I have learned anything in my years of activism it is that the Irish people have the wit and intelligence to see beyond the current problems and intelligently chart a way through it.
Wishing his readers ‘A Happy New Year’ James Connolly, writing in the Workers Republic on January 1st 1916, and addressing the ‘rebels in heart’ wrote: ‘...let us remind them that opportunities are for those who seize them, and that the coming year may be as bright as we choose to make it.’
So, dear readers wherever you are in the world enjoy Christmas and the New Year – nollaig shona daoibhse agus áthbhliain faoi mháise daoibh. And remember that the New Year is a new year of struggle. An opportunity to build on the progress we have made in recent years and to continue to build political strength and to take real and tangible steps toward Irish unity. It will be as bright as we chose to make it
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Defending the Lowest Class
It’s the last week before the Dáil breaks for Christmas and the New Year. All across this state there are families reeling from the damaging impact of the scrooge-like budget that was delivered by the Irish government last week. Hard choices are being made by parents between presents and food and heat and the mortgage.
James Connolly in 1915 in the Workers Republic said:
“In the long run the freedom of a nation is measured by the freedom of its lowest class; every upward step of that class to the possibility of possessing higher things raises the standard of the nation in the scale of civilization.”
On this basis the Irish Labour Party has abandoned its claim to Connolly’s socialist roots. To its shame the Irish Labour Party has bought into and is helping the conservative Fine Gael party to implement a budget that is severely hurting the low paid, the vulnerable in this society and the lowest class.
The outcome of the budget means that lone parents; teachers; the disabled and carers; the unemployed; the elderly; and children are all significantly worse off. The number of children deprived of very basic essentials has risen from 23.5% two years ago to 30.2%. It is a fact that every measure of poverty and inequality is rising.
Homeless support groups like Focus Ireland and the Simon Community in this part of the island report a significant increase in the demand for their services. In particular they have seen an increase in demand for support from people who have become homeless as a direct result of financial and emotional hardship arising from the recession.
There are 5000 homeless while around 200 citizens sleep rough. A TD can stand on the plinth outside the Dáil here and see the grim reality of homelessness in Dublin, where night after night - from summertime to the depths of freezing winter - people are forced to sleep rough.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg of the housing crisis. Over 100,000 families are on local authority housing waiting lists and there are over 90,000 people claiming rent supplement, an emergency benefit for those unable to meet the cost of rent in the private sector.
The government has cut homeless budgets in the HSE and in the Department of Environment. Housing budgets to local authorities have also been slashed by a staggering 26%. Personal contributions to rent and mortgage interest supplement have been increased and once again the Government is planning to reduce maximum rent thresholds.
And all of this at a time when hundreds of thousands of housing units – houses and apartments - across the state lie empty. Most now owned by NAMA.
The government appears so indifferent to this crisis that the Taoiseach has thus far refused to appoint a new Minister for Housing to take charge of this deteriorating situation.
The last Minister Labour TD Willie Penrose resigned from the Cabinet and lost the party whip after opposing a decision by the government to close an Army barracks in Mullingar. He is one of three Labour TDs – Tommy Broughan and Patrick Nulty being the others – who have jumped from the Labour ship over disagreements on the budget and bank guarantee.
The housing crisis is only one part of the tale. Five years ago there were 1,281 excess winter deaths. Most were elderly and vulnerable citizens. This year there will be more.
In September the government cut the weekly fuel allowance; it also cut the household benefits package fuel allowances and last week’s budget cut the fuel allowance by the equivalent of €120.
And then there has been the disgraceful treatment of the five women in St. Brendan’s Hospital in Grangegorman. The five, who are long term patients, have been forced to move into a ‘lock-up’ secure unit with six other patients because the facility does not have sufficient nurses and Christmas holidays mean that there is a staff shortage. They will be there for five weeks.
The five women are being moved from a ward in which they have already erected a Christmas tree and decorations.
The decision has caused distress to their relatives and to these vulnerable women.
The treatment of the five is a shocking indictment of government policy and of our mental health service. Mental health provision is the Cinderella of our health service. These women should be cherished not victimised.
All these injustices are examples of a government making political choices and deciding that instead of making those who can afford to pay more, pay more, it is penalizing the vulnerable and disadvantaged, as well as low and middle income earners. The social consequence is that for many families these policy decisions will leave many homes colder and poorer this Christmas.
James Connolly in 1915 in the Workers Republic said:
“In the long run the freedom of a nation is measured by the freedom of its lowest class; every upward step of that class to the possibility of possessing higher things raises the standard of the nation in the scale of civilization.”
On this basis the Irish Labour Party has abandoned its claim to Connolly’s socialist roots. To its shame the Irish Labour Party has bought into and is helping the conservative Fine Gael party to implement a budget that is severely hurting the low paid, the vulnerable in this society and the lowest class.
The outcome of the budget means that lone parents; teachers; the disabled and carers; the unemployed; the elderly; and children are all significantly worse off. The number of children deprived of very basic essentials has risen from 23.5% two years ago to 30.2%. It is a fact that every measure of poverty and inequality is rising.
Homeless support groups like Focus Ireland and the Simon Community in this part of the island report a significant increase in the demand for their services. In particular they have seen an increase in demand for support from people who have become homeless as a direct result of financial and emotional hardship arising from the recession.
There are 5000 homeless while around 200 citizens sleep rough. A TD can stand on the plinth outside the Dáil here and see the grim reality of homelessness in Dublin, where night after night - from summertime to the depths of freezing winter - people are forced to sleep rough.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg of the housing crisis. Over 100,000 families are on local authority housing waiting lists and there are over 90,000 people claiming rent supplement, an emergency benefit for those unable to meet the cost of rent in the private sector.
The government has cut homeless budgets in the HSE and in the Department of Environment. Housing budgets to local authorities have also been slashed by a staggering 26%. Personal contributions to rent and mortgage interest supplement have been increased and once again the Government is planning to reduce maximum rent thresholds.
And all of this at a time when hundreds of thousands of housing units – houses and apartments - across the state lie empty. Most now owned by NAMA.
The government appears so indifferent to this crisis that the Taoiseach has thus far refused to appoint a new Minister for Housing to take charge of this deteriorating situation.
The last Minister Labour TD Willie Penrose resigned from the Cabinet and lost the party whip after opposing a decision by the government to close an Army barracks in Mullingar. He is one of three Labour TDs – Tommy Broughan and Patrick Nulty being the others – who have jumped from the Labour ship over disagreements on the budget and bank guarantee.
The housing crisis is only one part of the tale. Five years ago there were 1,281 excess winter deaths. Most were elderly and vulnerable citizens. This year there will be more.
In September the government cut the weekly fuel allowance; it also cut the household benefits package fuel allowances and last week’s budget cut the fuel allowance by the equivalent of €120.
And then there has been the disgraceful treatment of the five women in St. Brendan’s Hospital in Grangegorman. The five, who are long term patients, have been forced to move into a ‘lock-up’ secure unit with six other patients because the facility does not have sufficient nurses and Christmas holidays mean that there is a staff shortage. They will be there for five weeks.
The five women are being moved from a ward in which they have already erected a Christmas tree and decorations.
The decision has caused distress to their relatives and to these vulnerable women.
The treatment of the five is a shocking indictment of government policy and of our mental health service. Mental health provision is the Cinderella of our health service. These women should be cherished not victimised.
All these injustices are examples of a government making political choices and deciding that instead of making those who can afford to pay more, pay more, it is penalizing the vulnerable and disadvantaged, as well as low and middle income earners. The social consequence is that for many families these policy decisions will leave many homes colder and poorer this Christmas.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Bridge over troubled water
Carlingford Lough
Carlingford Lough with Narrow Water Keep in the foreground
Carlingford Lough is a glacial fjord or sea inlet on the East Coast. It lies sandwiched between the Mourne Mountains to the North and the Cooley mountains in the South and is linked in the west through the Clanrye River and Newry canal into south Armagh and beyond.
Both the Mournes and Slieve Gullion in south Armagh are designated areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. This blog has spent a lot of time over the years in the Cooley’s walking the roads and lanes and hills. The people too are tremendous. Friendly and helpful, proud and independent. I am very gratified to represent the Cooley’s which are part of the Louth constituency.
Carlingford Lough gets its name from the Vikings. It is a tourist’s dream bursting with geological wonders and historical sites from the Neolithic times.
In the mid 9th century two Viking fleets fought a two day battle against each other with the Danish Vikings beating the Norwegian Vikings and then plundering nearby Monasteries.
Newry is, according to folklore built on the site where St. Patrick planted a yew tree. It has existed since the 12th century.
The Cooley’s are linked to the legend of Setanta who left home at the age of 10 to travel to Eamhain Macha (near Armagh) to join the Red Branch Knights of Ulster. As he made his way across the Cooley mountains he would strike his sliothar (ball)with his caman (hurley stick)and then chase after it catching it before it hit the ground. The Poc Fada is now an annual game of stamina and skill played across the Cooley’s.
Eventually Cú Chulainn reached Eamhain Macha. He slayed the hound of Cullan, the Kings blacksmith, and earned himself the name by which he is best remembered - Cú Chulainn – the Hound of Cullan. He is one of the central figures in the Táin Bó Cúailnge: The Cattle Raid of Cooley in which Queen Meabh of Connacht invades Ulster to steal the Brown Bull and is opposed by Cú Chulainn. This is an epic tale of a war in which the teenage Ulster hero Cú Chulainn saves the day by challenging Meabh’s champions to a succession of single combats. He does this to give the heroes of Ulster time to awaken from a curse. Meabh’s Gap in the Cooley’s marks one famous battle site.
There are numerous other sites of historical interest, including King John’s Castle in Carlingford, scattered around Carlingford lough.
Narrow Water Castle
Narrow Water Castle on the northern shore of the lough is one of the finest. It is one of the best examples of a tower house in Ireland. While there has been a keep here since the 13th century the current tower was built in the mid 16th century to defend Newry from attack by sea.
Partition brought its own difficulties for the region drawing a border through the Lough and between Counties Down and Armagh on one side and Louth and Monaghan on the other. The economic impact on the region was profound. Newry and Dundalk on either side of the border were cut off from their natural economic hinterlands and suffered grievously as a result.
In an effort to reverse this and enhance the tourist and economic infrastructure of the region it was proposed some years ago that a bridge should be constructed across the lough at Narrow Water where the distance between the South Down and Louth sides is very short.
Sinn Féin has been to the fore in campaigning for the bridge and a significant amount of planning, including an economic appraisal and Environmental Impact Assessment, has already taken place.
However back in July the Narrow Water Bridge project received a body blow and the local community was deeply disappointed, when the news broke that the Fine Gael and Labour Government was withdrawing funding for the cross border road project.
But that wasn’t the end of the story. Since the summer Newry and Mourne District Council and Louth County Council have submitted a proposal to the Special EU Programmes Body (SEPUB) of the INTERREG programme. INTERREG has over €20 million available which must be spent by 2015.
In recent days my office has also discussed the possibility of this EU funding being made available for the construction of the bridge. There have also been a range of other meetings involving Caitriona Ruane MLA in South Down, Conor Murphy MP in Newry and Armagh, and party representatives, like Councillor Jim Loughran in the Cooley area and Councillor Tomas Sharkey, who have been active on this for some time.
This blog has also asked for an early meeting with Leo Varadkar the Minister for Transport in the Irish government. It was his decision in July which pulled the plug at that time on the Narrow Water Bridge project.
The possible involvement of INTERREG means that the possibility exists for this cross border project to go ahead and to be cost neutral for Irish taxpayers, as INTERREG would cover all costs.
There is a limited three year period for the bridge to be taken from the planning stage to the completion stage. So a lot of work has to be done in a relatively short time.
The reality is that at a time of economic crisis and recession the Narrow Water Bridge project can create jobs and bring financial investment and economic growth to this region. If properly developed it would allow for the fullest economic exploitation of the historic, cultural and natural beauty of the Louth/South Down/and South Armagh areas.
All pics taken by Paula. The landscape shots were photographed from Flagstaff Point.
Carlingford Town with King John's Castle
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
A Scrooge budget for Christmas
The budget has dominated the news in the south for the last weeks. A series of leaks from Ministers had raised heightened fears around likely budget measures by the government.
These fears were entirely justified for those on the receiving end of a series of swingeing cuts and stealth taxes. There is no disguising what has been a savage Budget which leaves struggling families and working people to carry the can for the greed, incompetence and corruption of others.
In his broadcast on Sunday evening the Taoiseach talked about fairness and said, “You are not responsible for the crisis”, and then proceeded to make ordinary citizens pay for the greed and corruption of the political elite, the bankers and the developers.
As this government has protected the wages and pensions of those at the top of the political system so too has it shielded bankers. Twenty two of the top fifty Anglo Irish Bank executives are still in place and nineteen of them are earning over €175,000 per year.
During his Sunday night broadcast the Taoiseach mentioned jobs 15 times and spoke frequently of the need to create work. “Work provides focus. Work gives us independence. Work gives our families hope”. He said.
And then he introduced measures that will costs jobs. The €750 million cuts to the capital budget will mean between seven and nine thousand less jobs. The government is also committed to cutting 6,000 public service jobs. The money taken out of the pocket of low and middle income families is money taken out of the economy –out of the local shops – and this will also cost jobs.
The government has already accepted in its medium term fiscal report published at the start of November that there will still be 390,000 people on the dole in 2015. And it would be much worse but for immigration which since the start of the year has seen 54,000 of our mainly young people leave for foreign shores.
Today there are 444,000 people on the live register. That is 15,000 more than when Fine Gael and Labour won the election. It is an indictment of their policies and a reflection of their failure.
The budget will have a devastating effect on some of the most vulnerable in this society.
• The government has introduced a cut of 20% in the fuel allowance.
• They have cut child benefits: despite the pre-election promises the cuts in child benefit will cost a four child family €432 in 2012 and €768 in 2013.
• They have introduced punitive measures targeting those in part time employment at a time when there are 444,000 people on the dole.
• They have also introduced cuts to disability allowance and mental health provision and payments to lone parents have been cut.
• Community nursing homes are to be closed and there will be a €100 household charge from next January.
• At the same time as introducing this scrooge-like Christmas budget the Taoiseach sought and secured a €35,000 a year pay rise for a political crony – a former press officer for Fine Gael who has now been appointed as a special adviser to Minister Richard Bruton.
The government choose to go after children, the disabled, lone parents, widows, carers.
The media spin for Labour party spokespersons in particular was that the budget would protect social welfare payments and it would not cut the basic unemployment rate.
But the truth was different. The cut in the Fuel Allowance from 32 weeks to 26 weeks is an attack on older people. More of them will now experience fuel poverty – in other words colder homes for more months of the year. Child benefit – a red line issue for Labour during the election campaign – was cut; disability benefits for the under 18s were abolished; lone parents were targeted; widow and widowers pensions were attacked; the back to education allowance was cut; and the cut in rent supplement will hurt people on low incomes.
Community Employment schemes and community projects which frequently provide the safety net for vulnerable citizens – our young and sick and elderly –will be severely damaged.
The government also deceived citizens over the actual size of the cuts being introduced. It claimed for example, that social welfare cuts were €475 million. But that is just for 2012.
• In a full year social welfare is cut by €811 million.
• Health is cut by a total of €797 million.
• Education by €316 million.
What sort of society will there be next year after these cuts have wrought their damage and the government introduces another 2 billion plus of cuts?
And all the while that Fine Gael and Labour are cutting and slashing at those who can least afford it they have handed €20.7bn, of taxpayers money over to the banks, including €3.1bn to Anglo Irish Bank. It will pay another €3.1 billion to Anglo Irish in three months time.
As Pearse Doherty said in the Dáil, “No wealthy person ever died from having to pay more taxes?”
And he’s right. 5,000 citizens die prematurely every year because of inequality in areas like health. Up to 2,000 people die each winter due to cold related illnesses.
In light of this budget with its cuts and stealth taxes how many more this winter?
This budget is the same old story from this conservative government and despite the Taoiseach’s claims, the fact is that those at the top have not made sacrifices.
The choices this government took – and Labour should be ashamed – was to demand that our young and elderly, citizens with special needs, our carers, our sick, lone parents, women, citizens on low and middle incomes and the unemployed pay for the greed of the golden circles, the political elites, the developers and bankers.
Sinn Féin firmly believes that Irish people have the intelligence, the will and the ability to build a real republic, to reorganise our affairs and to create a fair society based on equality.
• That requires a fairer tax system that targets wealth and lifts the burden of the least well off.
• It requires real investment in health and education services.
• It demands a job stimulus package which will get people back to work, and increase state revenue. That’s the way to reduce the social welfare bill.
• It means the end to bailouts for bad banks and bondholders.
• It means the elimination of wasteful public spending.
• And the end to excessive pay and pensions in the public sector.
The Irish people cannot afford to subsidise rock and roll life styles for former Taoisigh or special advisers when Special Needs Assistants are being cut.
The 90th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty which partitioned Ireland is a reminder that decisions can have far reaching and negative consequences.
Sinn Féin believes that economic recovery is possible based on a strategy of fair taxes, investment in jobs, debt restructuring, growing the all-Ireland economy and protecting public services and those on low and middle incomes.
The Irish people deserve better. We deserved a better, fairer budget. There is an alternative. It is based on equality and fairness.
These fears were entirely justified for those on the receiving end of a series of swingeing cuts and stealth taxes. There is no disguising what has been a savage Budget which leaves struggling families and working people to carry the can for the greed, incompetence and corruption of others.
In his broadcast on Sunday evening the Taoiseach talked about fairness and said, “You are not responsible for the crisis”, and then proceeded to make ordinary citizens pay for the greed and corruption of the political elite, the bankers and the developers.
As this government has protected the wages and pensions of those at the top of the political system so too has it shielded bankers. Twenty two of the top fifty Anglo Irish Bank executives are still in place and nineteen of them are earning over €175,000 per year.
During his Sunday night broadcast the Taoiseach mentioned jobs 15 times and spoke frequently of the need to create work. “Work provides focus. Work gives us independence. Work gives our families hope”. He said.
And then he introduced measures that will costs jobs. The €750 million cuts to the capital budget will mean between seven and nine thousand less jobs. The government is also committed to cutting 6,000 public service jobs. The money taken out of the pocket of low and middle income families is money taken out of the economy –out of the local shops – and this will also cost jobs.
The government has already accepted in its medium term fiscal report published at the start of November that there will still be 390,000 people on the dole in 2015. And it would be much worse but for immigration which since the start of the year has seen 54,000 of our mainly young people leave for foreign shores.
Today there are 444,000 people on the live register. That is 15,000 more than when Fine Gael and Labour won the election. It is an indictment of their policies and a reflection of their failure.
The budget will have a devastating effect on some of the most vulnerable in this society.
• The government has introduced a cut of 20% in the fuel allowance.
• They have cut child benefits: despite the pre-election promises the cuts in child benefit will cost a four child family €432 in 2012 and €768 in 2013.
• They have introduced punitive measures targeting those in part time employment at a time when there are 444,000 people on the dole.
• They have also introduced cuts to disability allowance and mental health provision and payments to lone parents have been cut.
• Community nursing homes are to be closed and there will be a €100 household charge from next January.
• At the same time as introducing this scrooge-like Christmas budget the Taoiseach sought and secured a €35,000 a year pay rise for a political crony – a former press officer for Fine Gael who has now been appointed as a special adviser to Minister Richard Bruton.
The government choose to go after children, the disabled, lone parents, widows, carers.
The media spin for Labour party spokespersons in particular was that the budget would protect social welfare payments and it would not cut the basic unemployment rate.
But the truth was different. The cut in the Fuel Allowance from 32 weeks to 26 weeks is an attack on older people. More of them will now experience fuel poverty – in other words colder homes for more months of the year. Child benefit – a red line issue for Labour during the election campaign – was cut; disability benefits for the under 18s were abolished; lone parents were targeted; widow and widowers pensions were attacked; the back to education allowance was cut; and the cut in rent supplement will hurt people on low incomes.
Community Employment schemes and community projects which frequently provide the safety net for vulnerable citizens – our young and sick and elderly –will be severely damaged.
The government also deceived citizens over the actual size of the cuts being introduced. It claimed for example, that social welfare cuts were €475 million. But that is just for 2012.
• In a full year social welfare is cut by €811 million.
• Health is cut by a total of €797 million.
• Education by €316 million.
What sort of society will there be next year after these cuts have wrought their damage and the government introduces another 2 billion plus of cuts?
And all the while that Fine Gael and Labour are cutting and slashing at those who can least afford it they have handed €20.7bn, of taxpayers money over to the banks, including €3.1bn to Anglo Irish Bank. It will pay another €3.1 billion to Anglo Irish in three months time.
As Pearse Doherty said in the Dáil, “No wealthy person ever died from having to pay more taxes?”
And he’s right. 5,000 citizens die prematurely every year because of inequality in areas like health. Up to 2,000 people die each winter due to cold related illnesses.
In light of this budget with its cuts and stealth taxes how many more this winter?
This budget is the same old story from this conservative government and despite the Taoiseach’s claims, the fact is that those at the top have not made sacrifices.
The choices this government took – and Labour should be ashamed – was to demand that our young and elderly, citizens with special needs, our carers, our sick, lone parents, women, citizens on low and middle incomes and the unemployed pay for the greed of the golden circles, the political elites, the developers and bankers.
Sinn Féin firmly believes that Irish people have the intelligence, the will and the ability to build a real republic, to reorganise our affairs and to create a fair society based on equality.
• That requires a fairer tax system that targets wealth and lifts the burden of the least well off.
• It requires real investment in health and education services.
• It demands a job stimulus package which will get people back to work, and increase state revenue. That’s the way to reduce the social welfare bill.
• It means the end to bailouts for bad banks and bondholders.
• It means the elimination of wasteful public spending.
• And the end to excessive pay and pensions in the public sector.
The Irish people cannot afford to subsidise rock and roll life styles for former Taoisigh or special advisers when Special Needs Assistants are being cut.
The 90th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty which partitioned Ireland is a reminder that decisions can have far reaching and negative consequences.
Sinn Féin believes that economic recovery is possible based on a strategy of fair taxes, investment in jobs, debt restructuring, growing the all-Ireland economy and protecting public services and those on low and middle incomes.
The Irish people deserve better. We deserved a better, fairer budget. There is an alternative. It is based on equality and fairness.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
The Minister who farted a mouse
Last week public sector workers in the north went on strike for one day against an effort by the British Tory Government to force them to pay more in pension contributions and to cut pensions.
Sinn Féin supported this action and these workers. There are also many other people without jobs or pension provision who are being attacked by the Tories.
And not just in the north. In the south we have our own little Tory government which is also inflicting inequality on citizens. This will be most evident next week when on Monday and Tuesday, our home grown Tories in Fine Gael and Labour will produce their first budget in government.
Government statements and a series of planned Ministerial leaks have already given us a good sense of its shape. In addition, to the embarrassment of the government the detail on a two per cent VAT rise was passed to the German Parliament two weeks ago. German Parliamentarians had the opportunity to scrutinise this proposed increase to be announced in the budget before the Dáil!
On Monday the budget to cut €2.2 billion from public services will be outlined. The following day it will be the new taxes to be introduced to raise €1.6 billion. The amount of hardship this will cause to families struggling to pay bills is significant.
The stupidity of this economic strategy will be evident next month when the government hands €1.2 billion of tax payers money over to unguaranteed bondholders in Anglo Irish bank. A move it is neither legally nor morally nor ethically obliged to do.
But the flaw at the heart of government policy was evident last week, even before the budget is unveiled, in its failure to tackle the issue of highflying pensions for former government Ministers, civil servants and judges.
On Tuesday this blog challenged the Taoiseach on this issue in the Dáil. Did you know that over 30 former ministers are paid more than €100,000 a year in pensions? But in addition they receive these pensions before they reach pension age and while they are still employed.
Former Taoiseach Brian Cowen receives €151,061; the former Minister for Health Mary Harney, gets €129,805; former Fine Gael leader Alan Dukes, receives somewhere in the region of €150,000 as chairman of state-owned Anglo Irish Bank (now the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation) and draws down a ministerial pension of €94,467.
The former Labour Party leader Dick Spring has a pension of €121,108. He receives this at the same time as a basic salary of €27,375 he gets from the partly state owned AIB on which he serves as a public interest director. He also gets €3,000 for every committee meeting he attends.
Talk about the boys looking after the boys!!!!!
I was therefore surprised when the Taoiseach responded saying that the government was also concerned by all of this and that Minister Howlin was going to come into the Dáil and announce changes.
However my surprise soon turned to disgust when I saw the half hearted measures the Government were prepared to take. The measures announced by the Minister served only to add insult to injury. Yet the same Minister will announce savage cuts to public services on Monday.
The cuts announced by the Labour minister were tokenistic. The measures will mean that former Minister Ray Burke, imprisoned for corruption, will lose €1 a day from his pension of €104,000 while former Taoisigh Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen will still retain pensions of €147,000 a year.
In effect it was all a piece of political sleight of hand – a piece of media spin to give the appearance of responding to public outrage without actually doing very much. Speaking in the Dáil I described it in slightly more colourful language. I said to the Taoiseach: “Yesterday you promised an elephant and Minister Howlin farted and produced a mouse. It’s a disgrace.”
It beggars belief how a Government which claims it has no money for job creation, for hospitals, for children with special needs, for carers, for students, still has plenty of money to protect these political elites.
Given their election promises many citizens will be disappointed at the Fine Gael position but it is particularly shocking that this is being done by a Government which includes the Labour party.
The Labour party seems to have lost its way in Government. Labour TD’s were elected on a platform of political change, an end to cronyism and made firm commitments to the electorate that they would protect child benefit and oppose increases to student fees.
They have fully endorsed the failed policies of their predecessors in Government. Given the amount of policy U turns since the election I often wonder what the purpose of Labour remaining in this Government is. Considering the Budget that TD’s will be asked to vote on next week maybe some other Labour TD’s will ask themselves the same question.
Sinn Féin supported this action and these workers. There are also many other people without jobs or pension provision who are being attacked by the Tories.
And not just in the north. In the south we have our own little Tory government which is also inflicting inequality on citizens. This will be most evident next week when on Monday and Tuesday, our home grown Tories in Fine Gael and Labour will produce their first budget in government.
Government statements and a series of planned Ministerial leaks have already given us a good sense of its shape. In addition, to the embarrassment of the government the detail on a two per cent VAT rise was passed to the German Parliament two weeks ago. German Parliamentarians had the opportunity to scrutinise this proposed increase to be announced in the budget before the Dáil!
On Monday the budget to cut €2.2 billion from public services will be outlined. The following day it will be the new taxes to be introduced to raise €1.6 billion. The amount of hardship this will cause to families struggling to pay bills is significant.
The stupidity of this economic strategy will be evident next month when the government hands €1.2 billion of tax payers money over to unguaranteed bondholders in Anglo Irish bank. A move it is neither legally nor morally nor ethically obliged to do.
But the flaw at the heart of government policy was evident last week, even before the budget is unveiled, in its failure to tackle the issue of highflying pensions for former government Ministers, civil servants and judges.
On Tuesday this blog challenged the Taoiseach on this issue in the Dáil. Did you know that over 30 former ministers are paid more than €100,000 a year in pensions? But in addition they receive these pensions before they reach pension age and while they are still employed.
Former Taoiseach Brian Cowen receives €151,061; the former Minister for Health Mary Harney, gets €129,805; former Fine Gael leader Alan Dukes, receives somewhere in the region of €150,000 as chairman of state-owned Anglo Irish Bank (now the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation) and draws down a ministerial pension of €94,467.
The former Labour Party leader Dick Spring has a pension of €121,108. He receives this at the same time as a basic salary of €27,375 he gets from the partly state owned AIB on which he serves as a public interest director. He also gets €3,000 for every committee meeting he attends.
Talk about the boys looking after the boys!!!!!
I was therefore surprised when the Taoiseach responded saying that the government was also concerned by all of this and that Minister Howlin was going to come into the Dáil and announce changes.
However my surprise soon turned to disgust when I saw the half hearted measures the Government were prepared to take. The measures announced by the Minister served only to add insult to injury. Yet the same Minister will announce savage cuts to public services on Monday.
The cuts announced by the Labour minister were tokenistic. The measures will mean that former Minister Ray Burke, imprisoned for corruption, will lose €1 a day from his pension of €104,000 while former Taoisigh Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen will still retain pensions of €147,000 a year.
In effect it was all a piece of political sleight of hand – a piece of media spin to give the appearance of responding to public outrage without actually doing very much. Speaking in the Dáil I described it in slightly more colourful language. I said to the Taoiseach: “Yesterday you promised an elephant and Minister Howlin farted and produced a mouse. It’s a disgrace.”
It beggars belief how a Government which claims it has no money for job creation, for hospitals, for children with special needs, for carers, for students, still has plenty of money to protect these political elites.
Given their election promises many citizens will be disappointed at the Fine Gael position but it is particularly shocking that this is being done by a Government which includes the Labour party.
The Labour party seems to have lost its way in Government. Labour TD’s were elected on a platform of political change, an end to cronyism and made firm commitments to the electorate that they would protect child benefit and oppose increases to student fees.
They have fully endorsed the failed policies of their predecessors in Government. Given the amount of policy U turns since the election I often wonder what the purpose of Labour remaining in this Government is. Considering the Budget that TD’s will be asked to vote on next week maybe some other Labour TD’s will ask themselves the same question.
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