Léargas

In 1921 when the British partitioned Ireland they retained control of the six north east counties. This gave them an influence over the entire island. It also provided their unionist allies with what they thought would be a permanent in built majority. At that time Belfast and its hinterland was the economic power house of this island. Just over £21 million was generated by the Irish economy. Of this £19 million came from the North. The territory was a net contributor to the Empire and British economy. It was financially worth holding on to. In the years after direct rule was imposed in 1972 there has been a focus on the so-called British subvention. This is the additional money – beyond that raised in taxes in the north – that unionists and the British claim is needed to run the six counties. The figure of £10 billion is usually peddled in this context. Some advance this as a reason why Irish Unity is impossible. How could the southern economy financially accommodate the norther...

Words have power. They can enrage, motivate, depress, uplift. They can change peoples’ minds - persuade them to adopt new positions, policies, attitudes. Words can exploit and encourage the best and the worst in people. Create revolutions. Defend totalitarianism and oppression. A single word can convey a whole wealth of meaning. Think of ‘Brexit’. One word – six letters – a word that didn’t exist a decade ago and which today has come to symbolise the fears and the hopes of millions - depending on which side of the argument you fall. The Tories know the value of words. When the British Parliament passed the Benn Act preventing the Johnson government from moving ahead with a no-deal Brexit it was immediately dubbed the “surrender” law. Unionism too knows the value of loaded words. When Johnson finally closed a withdrawal deal with the European Union his erstwhile allies in the DUP labelled it the “Betrayal Act.” Next month, on 6 December, a unionist rally – “Stop the Betrayal Act” ...

I met Dickie Glenholmes over fifty years ago. He has been in my life ever since. Sometimes we didn’t see each other for ages. Apart from anything else sometimes we would be in jail. Different jails. At the same time.  But we would keep in touch. We were also some times in the same jail. At the same time. For example in the half hut. Cage 6. Long Kesh. He and I shared the same bunk bed for a while. Dickie was in the top bunk. Then when he was transferred to another cage I moved into Ted’s bottom bunk.  I always like the bottom bunk. The half hut of Cage 6 was a bit mad. Or at least the comrades in it were a bit mad.  Dickie was about fifteen years older than the rest of us. Years later in another prison when I was about fifteen years older than most of my prison mates I realised what we younger inmates had put him through in Cage 6. Mad cap escapes. Eccentric resistance to British Army raids. Practical jokes. Nutty adventures. Endless playing o...

HOMILY AT FUNERAL OF FR DES WILSON   (November 9, 2019) JOE MCVEIGH A phobal Dé agus a chairde go léir. Tá muid bronach inniú. Tá ár gcara Des imithe ar shlí na Fírinne. It’s a fitting way to describe the death of our friend – a man whose whole life was committed to the Truth-speaking the truth and writing the truth. The Indian poet, Rabin-dranath Tagore once wrote: “Death is not putting out the light/It is only extinguishing the lamp/Because the Day has come.” For Des the Day has come -at last - the Day of Freedom from the limitations and pains of this life. And while we will miss him terribly, we thank God that the Day has come for Des so that he will have no more suffering. The last few years have been difficult for him. He often said to us that he would like to go. In fact, he told us one time –about a year or so ago, that he went to the Novena in Clonard to pray that God would take him and when he came out of the monastery he fell and broke his hip. He rem...

I want to commend this week’s initiative by Ireland’s Future. It is an important contribution to the ongoing debate around Brexit, the issue of rights, the need to defend the Good Friday Agreement, and the imperative of planning for Irish unity. Planning for the future is the dominant theme in their letter to An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar which was published in Monday’s Irish News and Irish Times. “Discussion about the reunification of Ireland has moved centre stage. Many citizens are already involved in formal and informal discussions about this. We believe that a new conversation is now required about our shared future on the island of Ireland. The government needs to plan for this... “It is the responsibility of the Government to ensure that the democratic wishes and rights of Irish citizens are respected and protected, regardless of where they live on the island ... Let’s have a discussion on how this can be achieved... We would urge you to start this process, based on the visi...