Léargas

  WIN This year’s Sinn Féin Ard Fheis last weekend was full of enthusiasm and passion with great speeches covering every issue imaginable and the delegates voting through policy motions that will help shape Sinn Féin politics in the time ahead. The speeches, particularly from Michelle O’Neill and other national leaders demonstrated the strength and relevance of the party across our island.  In her Presidential Address Mary Lou skilfully critiqued the many failures of the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael government while presenting Sinn Féin as the alternative government, with policies and a leadership that can deliver real solutions and a better life for all citizens. An underlining theme that ran throughout the Ard Fheis was the issue of Irish Unity and on that Mary Lou confidently asserted our ability to “ unify Ireland.”  She said   that , “We need a mature, respectful conversation about constitutional change.”  But she added , “Be in no doubt – Unity refe...

Moore St Demolition Gets Green Light The battle to save the iconic 1916 Moore Street Battlefield site has been ongoing for over 20 years. During that time there have been a series of plans by developers, appeals against those plans, court cases, protests and sit-ins. Last week, in an appalling decision An Bord Pleanála (ABP) – the Planning Authority in the Irish State – ruled on the remaining appeals and published its recommendations on the future development of the site. In its decision An Bord Pleanála dismissed all the appeals against UK developer Hammerson’s plans made by the Moore St. Preservation Trust and the Relatives of the Signatories of the 1916 Proclamation. Despite accepting that the Hammerson plan contravenes the Dublin City Development Plan, An Bord Pleanála backed the Hammerson plan which will see much of the Battlefield site demolished to make way for a mixed retail, office, hotel and residential scheme. The Battlefield site runs west from O’Connell Stree...

Casement Must Be Built Now. British government policy toward Ireland has long been dictated by Britain’s strategic self-interests. From the conquest of Ireland nine centuries ago to partition the needs of the people of Ireland have played no meaningful part in the decision making processes of a British state that focusses primarily on the interests of England and the English economy. Consequently, Labour and Tory governments have each ensured that funding from Westminster has never been adequate to deal with the many social and economic demands of society here. The North – denied our right to our own fiscal powers - is a partitioned backwater that has consistently been at the bottom of London’s agenda. This was highlighted again in recent days by the British Labour government’s decisions to deny funding for Casement Park for the 2028 Euros, its rejection of the Coroner’s request for a public inquiry into the killing of GAA official Sean Brown, and the pause in hundreds of millions in f...

The Far Right and Social Media There has been a significant increase in recent times in far right racist, islamophobic and hate attacks on social media. The purpose of these has been to promote a climate of fear through a range of conspiracy theories from climate change, to migration and asylum seekers, to direct interference in elections. Sinn Féin and Friends of Sinn Féin (FoSF) in the USA have become a particular target for these social media accounts. The most consistent themes are that ‘Ireland is full’, ‘Sinn Féin are traitors’, ‘Sinn Féin favours immigrants over the Irish’, and a wide variety of islamophobic and racist comments. Global Witness – a group monitoring social media – and Greg O’Loughlin who is Executive Director for Friends of Sinn Féin (FoSF) in the USA have each concluded that much of this material has its origins in the United States. It most often takes the form of ‘bots’ i.e. an algorithm or a computer 'program' that is created to respond automati...

Champion Palestinian Self-determination In less than five weeks the genocidal war by the Israel government against the Palestinian people will enter his second year. Having ruthlessly and cruelly waged war against the Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip for 11 months Israel’s war machine has now shifted to a full blown pogrom against the Palestinian people in the occupied territory of the west Bank. Violence from the Israeli military, and from settlers eager to steal Palestinian land and water, had already seen over 600 Palestinians killed in the west Bank since last October. Six hostages died also executed, it appears, in Gaza hours before Israeli forces reached them. All this must be brought to an end. That means dialogue.  Last week Israeli forces embarked on a significant escalation of their actions in that part of the Occupied Territories. Under the title ‘Summer Camps’ they commenced a major offensive against the civilian population.  Entire districts have been seale...