Léargas

  I feel an adventure coming on The internet and social media have revolutionised how we communicate. Not just politically but personally too. I have friends who spend hours on their Facebook accounts keeping in touch with family and friends – some of whom they may not have seen in years. Or who may just be in another room.   Skype and Facetime too are now a common part of our language. Five years ago they weren’t as popular as they are now. Some probably didn’t exist. For my part, apart from emails and my blog my engagement with social media was limited. All of that began to change when I agreed to stand for Louth and East Meath. That was just before Christmas in December 2010. It was a big step made easier by the warm welcome I received. When shortly afterwards I was elected as a TD, Shaun Tracey from our Leinster House press office   opened a twitter account in my name. It sat there for two years unused. In February 2013 Shaun and RG decided it was ...

  Sinn Féin will be fighting two major elections on the island this year. An assembly election in the north, and a general election in the south.   Elections are funny things. Not funny ha ha. But funny peculiar and in some ways predictable. Of course, the outcome isn’t always predictable – that’s in the gift of the electorate - but the language and actions of some of the participants can be.   Enda Kenny is still holding off on setting a date for the general election. The reasons are many. It is thought by some he is waiting until after the party conferences are concluded. The Fine Gael party conference is this weekend. The Labour Party conference is the week after.   The last few months have been full of government announcements proclaiming to all and sundry what a great job the coalition parties are doing. And there have been the usual glut of election promises. Last week the Taoiseach and some of his ministers did a presser at which they ...

  L ast Friday, and with only 48 hours notice, Louth County Council began a process to evict 23 Traveller families from a halting site at Woodland Park in Dundalk. Those evicted included at least 22 children, some of them babies only days old, and two pregnant women. This was a shameful action. A large force of An Garda Síochána were present, including members of the Armed Response Unit. I have no complaints about the Garda although I do believe the numbers involved were excessive and that the response was inappropriate. The distress and trauma for the families as a result of this decision by the Executive of Louth County Council and especially for the children was unreasonable and unnecessary. It was also the coldest weekend of the winter. The decision to evict was taken without consultation with councillors. I raised this issue with Louth Chief Executive in November and visited the Woodland Park site in December. During Christmas week I made representations about con...

Isn’t it funny that women get their hair done. Men get their hair cut. I hate getting my hair cut. But I wouldn’t mind getting my hair done. The problem is that no matter what you tell them most barbers seem afflicted with a desire to cut as much hair as possible. When you wear glasses as I do you have to remove them for the shearing session. So things are a bit of a blur until the process is concluded and then what can you say? Nothing, except, that’s grand. I’ve known many barbers. Some of them talk incessantly. About everything. Especially politics. I hate that. RG hates that also. He confided in me one time that as well as being short sight he’s becoming slightly deaf. So not only cannot he not see what’s happening to his head he can’t hear what he’s being interrogated about. Although I don’t think he’ll have to worry about the barbers for too long! The worst barbers I ever met were in Long Kesh. I think some of them did it as a joke. Or as a protest agains...

Next Thursday – January 7 th 2016 – Sinn Féin will begin our commemorative year of events to mark the centenary of the 1916 Rising. The first of these will take place in the Mansion House where the first democratically elected Irish parliament, Dáil Éireann, met and pledged it’s allegiance to the Republic proclaimed in Easter 1916. The Mansion House event will be a celebration of the lives and dedication and struggle of the men and women of 1916 and of subsequent generations. It will encompass music and theatre and speeches and will set the context for that historic period and its implications for today. We are on the eve of a momentous year. This time a hundred years ago, republican men and women in all parts of this island and beyond were planning the overthrow of the British Empire in Ireland. It was a huge undertaking. The British Empire was at the height of its political and economic power. It was the biggest empire the world had ever seen. It’s colonies stretched ...