Léargas

  There will be constitutional change Edwin Poots has been elected as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party. I want to wish him well. It’s going to be an interesting time as he faces up to the challenges of leadership in these changing times. I remember when we were negotiating, just before I stood down as Uachtarán Shinn Féin, that in the course of those efforts Edwin was very constructive and positive and I came to like him. We got to know each other better. This is what happens when you are locked away for long periods in negotiations with each other. More recently Edwin led the charge to get rid of Arlene Foster and now he will face exactly the same challenges that confronted her. It’s all about positive societal change. Change is coming, including on constitutional matters. Edwin must know by now that the best way to deal with the change is to manage it with others. Standing aside may slow progress down but that will only serve to deepen difficulties and will ultimat...

My Podcast is now available at: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/l%C3%A9argas-a-podcast-by-gerry-adams/id1507242875 Innocent This week the long running campaign for truth and justice by the families of the 10 people killed by the Parachute Regiment in Ballymurphy during internment in August 1971 was vindicated with the judgement in the Inquest finding s . I sat in Corpus Christi chapel , close to where it all happened and where John McKerr was killed, with relatives of those murdered and other local people   as the Coron e rs ’ verdict was live streamed to us. ‘ All the deceased are entirely innocent.’ Mrs Justice Keegan told us at the end. Her concluding remarks were greeted with a standing ovation and throughout the proceedings as she gave her conclusions in each of the cases applause from other family members in the courthouse and in other venues rippled back to Corpus Christi to be added to by us. I was honoured to be there. I was also in Ballymurphy at the tim...

The Reality of Partition 100 years ago today the Government of Ireland Act 1920 became law and Ireland was partitioned. What did partition mean for nationalist families trapped at that time in a state that didn’t want them? Recently I published the latest of my series of Léargas books. It tells the story of Kathleen Thompson (born Kathleen McCready) who was born in 1943. Kathleen was a fine singer and musician. Her rendition of Four Green Fields and its symbolism of “ one of them's in bondage ” continues to resonate today 50 years after the LP was released. When I came Kathleen’s story I was very mindful that she and her siblings were part of a generation that was born into the Northern State in the years after partition. They were hard times, especially for Catholic families living in Belfast and in a Unionist dominated state. Upper Library Street, where she was born, was part of a Catholic enclave called Carrick Hill which is situated at the bottom of the Shankill Road. I...

  ANC supports Unity Referendum and a United Ireland. Irish Republicans have long enjoyed fraternal relations with the African National Congress. For much of the last three decades there have been ongoing solidarity links between Sinn Féin and the ANC. During the years of armed struggle, according to ANC leader and Government Minister, the late Kadar Asmal, the IRA assisted MK, the ANC’ s army. MK was founded by Nelson Mandela and others in December 1961. In the 1990s as our own peace strategy evolved Sinn Féin and the IRA called its 1994 cessation Sinn Fein leaders, including myself and Martin McGuinness, Rita O’Hare and others travelled to South Africa. After the Good Friday Agreement was achieved in 1998 ANC leaders, including the current President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa travelled to Ireland to speak to the republican grassroots and went into the prisons where they met Republican POWs.  Recently the Sinn Fein leadership held a series of bilateral meetings wit...