Léargas

Last week the Finucane family buried their mother Kathleen. She died without the closure on the murder of her son, human rights lawyer Pat Finucane that had been promised by the British and Irish governments at Weston Park in 2001. That commitment was reneged on by the British government. It is not their only broken commitment. 15 years after the Good Friday Agreement there is no Bill of Rights for the north; there is no Acht na Gaeilge; and there is no north-south consultative forum. There is opposition to change from within elements of the British system – from those don’t like the peace process and the fact that they failed to defeat Irish republicanism. The growing strength of Sinn Féin across the island is their worst nightmare. There is also opposition to change from within political unionism. The northern state was built on discrimination, sectarianism and segregation in order to maintain unionist domination. For nationalists the north was an apartheid state. But it has als...

  Earlier this year I met four year old Billy Cairns from Dundalk. Like all children of his age he is friendly and smart. And he is hugely courageous. Billy is also profoundly deaf. I mention Billy because his was the first Cochlear Implant case I raised in the Dáil and on Thursday we raised his case again and others during the party’s private members business. This is an opportunity we get once each three weeks to raise an issue of importance, have the Dáil debate it and if necessary vote on it. Occasionally some PMB’s are so clear cut that all of the parties support them. But on Thursday, and to its shame the Fine Gael and Labour government opposed the Sinn Féin motion which called on the government to provide the money necessary to provide bilateral cochlear implants for children who are deaf. The mothers and fathers of the children are an amazing group. They are committed, dedicated, imaginative, unstinting, and tireless in their determination to get the very be...

Tomorrow – Tuesday - the Fine Gael and Labour government will publish its third budget. They were elected to undo the damage of Fianna Fáil but have chosen instead to implement Fianna Fáil policies. This will be the seventh austerity budget by those three parties which collectively will have stripped €30 billion out of the economy. In the days leading to the budget the Simon Community released the latest details of homelessness which is spiralling to new levels. As well as an increase in the numbers of homeless it reports that government cuts to the budgets of homeless services and charities are causing huge difficulties. The Central Statistics Office in its most recent survey on Income and Living Conditions recorded that the numbers in the ‘at risk poverty rate’ had increased from 14.7 per cent in 2010 to 16 percent in 2011. Another report in recent days revealed that 1800 patients, including some with life threatening conditions, are waiting on cardiac treatment for up t...

Dundalk Presser   This blog was in Louth today launching Sinn Fein's alternative budget submission. It was first to Drogheda and then on to Dundalk. Afterward I issued a statement arising from questions I was asked by the journalists about the recent court case. Speaking in Dundalk today in answer to questions about the Liam Adams case, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD said: "For me this always been a family matter. "It was quite rightly brought to the RUC and Social Services in 1987. "So accusations of cover-up are patently cynical and untrue. "As well as the allegations raised by Áine my family have also had to cope with the revelation that our father was an abuser. "All of this has been hugely testing and challenging for me and for my clann. Only those who have had to go through this can appreciate the trauma it has caused. "I am a public figure and subject to scrutiny and that is fair enough – but the despicable manner in which th...