Léargas

This evening and for the next three days the Dáil will hear statements from all parties and independents on the Mahon Tribunal which was published last week. This evening I had to speak for Sinn Féin in our first contribution. The 'Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters and Payments' was established almost 15 years ago in November 1997 and since then it has heard evidence from over 400 witnesses. It was the longest running public inquiry and produced four interim reports. This is my contribution: Bhí an fiosrúchán seo dírithe ar chaimiléireacht a bhí ceaptha a bheith ag dul ar aghaidh maidir leis an bpróiseas pleanála, sa chás mar shampla is go raibh íocaíochtaí á ndéanamh le polaiteoirí. The Tribunals conclusions and its criticism of the political elite in this state are damning. ‘Corruption in Irish political life was both endemic and systemic. It affected every level of government, from some holders of top ministerial offices to some local councillors ...

Briefing Congressional leaders It was Joe Crawley who reminded me. Then the funny thing was nearly everyone else said more or less the same thing as we bumped into them on the way to the White House. ‘It’s hard to imagine that its seventeen years since you first came to the USA’. Joe said. We were at a well attended briefing with Congress members on Capitol Hill. Myself, Richard, Rita O Hare and Jim Cullen. Joe is a Congress member for New York. Regular readers of this blog will be familiar with Rita, our Representative in the USA and with Richard. Jim Cullen is the new recently appointed President of the Friends of Sinn Féin in the USA. He has big shoes to fill. The last and first person to hold that post was Larry Downes. Larry did a brilliant job setting up Friends of Sinn Féin and leading it in the States until recently. This blog thanks and commends him for his commitment, dedication and friendship. Jim Cullen will bring his own special qualities to this vitally important work. We...

The role of British forces in countless actions overseas after world war two were generally presented publicly by it as ‘policing actions’. The enemy was often presented as criminal or a terrorist or a communist and black propaganda served up by a largely compliant British media presented them as sub-human, subversive, cruel, ruthless and brutal. In truth these military operations were desperate attempts by a dying imperial power to hang on to colonies which were demanding independence. By the time of Operation Banner in 1969, the British Army name for its military involvement in the north of Ireland, the British Empire was part of history. It had fought and lost in countless political and military actions in Africa, the Middle East, India and South East Asia. This colonial experience of war and politics was a fundamental part of the British military psyche. It generated several theoretical books on the role of counter-insurgency techniques with the most widely read, and the most influ...

The public gallery was abnormally packed for a Thursday morning in the Dáil. It’s not unusual to have groups of young people from schools visiting to watch proceedings but almost all of those present this morning were elderly women. Another large group of women were in an adjacent room where they were watching proceedings on tv. These are the survivors of a barbaric medical practice called symphysiotomy. I had never heard of symphysiotomy and pubiotomy until just over a year ago when this blog made the shift to Louth. It was brought to my attention by two very brave women Olivia Kearney and Catherine Naughton. Women of great grace and courage. Since then I have met other victims and survivors, including the advocacy groups. They are all remarkable people. Last night a group of survivors, Matilda Behan, Ellen Moore, Helen Kennealy, and Anne Ward who spoke on behalf of her mother Mary MacDonogh’s, gave witness and harrowing testimony to the hurt and trauma of symphysiotomy. Their account...

If you want to know who is taking the real decisions about the economy of the Irish state then you need look no further than EU Commissioner Olli Rehn. Since Fianna Fáil crashed the economy and Fine Gael and Labour won last years election they have repeatedly asserted that there can be no deviation from the bailout conditions set down by the EU, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. At the same time in an effort to tackle Europe’s worsening economic recession and satisfy the ‘markets’ the EU has embarked on a series of measures which have mostly failed. The most recent, the European Fiscal Compact Treaty or more accurately the austerity treaty, is about imposing stringent fiscal control by the EU over state governments. The Irish government was reluctantly forced to call a referendum on this austerity treaty because of its implications for the Irish constitution. Thus far the argument from the government has been that the treaty is necessary to impose what success...

Anyone attending fixtures in Casement Park over the years will have noticed a tall dark haired woman steward amongst the cohort of mainly middle aged men who look after everything from collecting admission money, marshalling the crowds, minding the players and match officials and looking out for everyones’ safety. They – volunteers all - do a great job in foul and fair weather, for big fixtures as well as tiny little ones. The tall dark haired woman is Nuala Vallely. She died last week. Suddenly. She was forty one years of age. Nuala collapsed at work in the Upper Springfield Development Trust last Tuesday. Her family and friends, the people of West Belfast, her workmates and especially Belfast Gaels are in deep shock at the suddenness of Nuala’s death. She was a very active member of Gort Na Mona GAC and a founder member of Gort’s camogie team. She also had a longstanding grá for Saint Agnes. This blog agrees entirely with the sentiments of the statement from Gort na Mona which d...

Gulladuff is a small picturesque village in south County Derry. It’s home to an impressive Republican Garden of Remembrance, Lavey GAC grounds and one of the best Sinn Féin centres in Ireland. I travelled there this morning for the Annual General Meeting of the party’s Cuige organisation. Scores of party activists came to discuss recent developments and strategise on party plans for the next year. It was a very good meeting on the back of what has been a good year for the party. Since the Cuige last met the party has fought a general election in the south, as well as Seanad, Assembly, Local Government and Presidential elections and the Dublin West by-election. Most political parties would fell stressed after fighting one election! But the Sinn Féin organisation rose to the challenge and by any standards we have had a good year electorally. And now we’re preparing for the referendum contest on the European austerity treaty. We are also moving into the second phase of a new approach to ...

In Vita Cortex Factory This blog travelled to Cork to meet with workers from the Vita Cortex company early on Thursday morning. Thirty two workers were paid off just before Christmas. They have occupied the factory since then. Eighty four days in all. Some of the workers showed me around. It’s an old plant. Cold and drafty and very basic but for some of the workers it was their livelihood for 40 years. The owner Jack Ronan and the management committed to paying a redundancy package of 2.9 weeks, that is, two weeks statutory and 0.9 gratis per year of employment. Other Vita Cortex workers in Navan in 2007 and Dublin in 2008 and workers laid off in Cork previously were paid this amount. But not this group of workers. The owner claims he can’t afford it. The workers don’t believe him. Neither do I. The workers sit-in has attracted widespread support in Cork, across the island and from overseas. There have been efforts to resolve the dispute, including with the Labour Relations Commission...

Seo muid ag caint tré ghaeilge inniu agus fáiltíom roimh an t-am atá againn ins an Dáil agus molaim an Teachta Dála, Aengus Ó Snodaigh de bharr an rún seo a mholadh mar chuid de Sheachtain na Gaeilge. Bhí an chuid is mó d’imeachtaí den Chéad Dáil tré mheán na Gaeilge agus ba chóir dúinn leanúint le seo mar ábhar nádúrtha agus rialta. Buíochas ar son iad siúd a d’oibrigh in amannta deacra agus teaghlaigh a chur an Ghaeilge chun cinn. Molaim Raidio na Gaeltachta, TG4, Raidio Fáilte agus Raidió na Life ina measc. Beatha teanga í a labhairt. Caitear seod nuair atá muid ag iarraidh an seod sin a thaispeáint ach caithfear an seod sin a chaomhnú mar sheod chultúrtha agus é a chaitheamh go bródúil. Dúirt mise: “Mar is eol don Aire, is ábhar suim faoi leithe í an Ghaeilge agam. Beatha teanga í a labhairt agus cuireann sé an-sásaimh orm an borradh atá tagtha i líon na Gaeilgeoirí sa tír, cuid mhaith dó sin de dheascadh gluaiseacht na gaeilscoileanna, na naoinraí agus tuismitheoirí dílis. Cuire...

This blog is coming to you today from Castlebar in Mayo. We travelled over yesterday evening. It was a long journey from Dublin. Once off the motorway we travelled through one deserted small town and village after another. At a time when rural Ireland is under attack Sinn Féin has decided that it’s time for a fightback. But it can’t be a fightback dictated by people in Dublin or Belfast. It must have its roots firmly in rural Ireland. So that’s what we have decided to do – to go into rural Ireland and speak to those most affected by the policies of austerity which are stripping local communities of essential services – of schools, of guidance counsellors, hospitals, post-offices and Garda stations. The government is also adding new stealth taxes like the Universal Social Charge, the Household Charge, VAT increases, motor tax increases and septic tank charges. Businesses, shops and pubs in rural towns and villages are closing. Small indigenous businesses, including small farmers, with n...