Martin Mc Guinness. A Reflection. Friday the 21 March was the eighth anniversary of the death of our friend and leader Martin McGuinness. Like many others, I am sure, I was perplexed as it dawned on me that eight years had passed since we lost him. In my head I thought it was five or six years ago. But as we people of a certain age should now know time waits for no one. I remember as if it was yesterday dashing to the hospital. Even though we were anticipating his death there was nonetheless a numbness, a shock to be told that Martin was gone. Of course the love of his life Bernie, and their children and grandchildren and his siblings were the ones most effected but yet in their grief they knew that Martin mattered to a lot of people, particularly from his other family. His republican family. And they let us grieve with them. Grief is the price we pay for love. There are layers of feelings, unpredictable and unique to each of us personally as we adjust to the absence of ...
Defend Neutrality If truth be told the long standing claim of neutrality by the southern Irish state is not all its made out to be. It is a fact that successive Irish governments have turned a blind eye to American war planes using Shannon as a stopping off point for attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as carrying munitions to Israel for its genocidal war against the people of Palestine. US planes carrying political prisoners to interrogation and detention sites, where they were tortured, stopped at Shannon to refuel. A breach of international law. The government did nothing. In recent months a significant and increasing number of articles have been published in the mainstream Dublin based media claiming that neutrality was fine in the past but is not fit for purpose in the world today. It is ‘morally degenerate’ wrote one writer. Getting rid of neutrality would make the Irish state appear more ‘grown-up’ said another. The language has become increasingly belligere...