Irish America - Is Féidir Linn – Yes, we can

President Obama’s visit was even shorter than anticipated. The President touched down at 9.30 am last Monday morning and by 9.30 pm Airforce One was taking off from Dublin airport enroute to London.

A 24 hour visit became half that due to fears that dust and ash from the erupting Grimsvotn volcano in Iceland might ground all aircraft as happened last year, and delay the President’s departure to Britain.

After first meeting President McAleese and then Taoiseach Enda Kenny, President Obama and his wife Michelle flew to Moneygall in County Offaly where an estimated 3,000 people lined its one main street.

The Obama’s were given a tumultuous welcome. For most of the morning it had rained and as they arrived the sun came out.

The President met his distant relatives and spent a considerable amount of time meeting and greeting local people, signing bits of paper, shaking hands, and then into Ollie Hayes pub for a pint of Guinness.

Moneygall is like many small towns and villages across Ireland. It was from there in 1850 that President Obama’s great, great, great, grandfather, Falmouth Kearney, a shoemaker, emigrated to the USA.

This was in the immediate aftermath of An Gorta Mór – the Great Hunger - just three years after Black 47 when hundreds of thousands died. This was a time when within a decade an estimated 2 million citizens fled Ireland as a result of starvation or eviction or hardship.

Later in Dublin, in front of a capacity crowd in College Green the US President referred to this period in Irish history and the impact it had on the USA: “ But standing there in Moneygall, I couldn’t help but think how heartbreaking it must have been for that great-great-great grandfather of mine, and so many others, to part. To watch Donegal coasts and Dingle cliffs recede. To leave behind all they knew in hopes that something better lay over the horizon.”

Falmouth Kearney was one among millions. Today their descendents occupy pivotal positions in society in the USA. In both political parties, the Democrats and Republicans you will find Irish Americans in leadership; in the Boardrooms, in the news media and the entertainment business; in fact in every strata of US society there are Irish Americans.

President Obama is now one of these and around him is a group of Irish Americans including Vice President Joe Biden; his Chief of Staff Bill Daley; his National security Adviser Tom Donilon and many more. I have met Vice President Biden and Bill Daley. They are enormously proud of their Irish roots and of the contribution Irish America has made to the peace process in Ireland.

This contribution was evident on Monday when we were all reminded by President Obama that he was not the first US President to address thousands in College Green. It was there in December 1995 that President Bill Clinton received a huge welcome from an enthusiastic Dublin crowd. His reception was in large part due to the positive contribution he made at a critical point in the peace process.

And that’s an important lesson for Irish America as we seek to move forward toward our goal of uniting Ireland. 16 years ago the strength of Irish America brought a US President to Ireland to help inject much needed momentum into a peace process that was faltering.

That strength is still evidenced in the decision of President Obama to make his lightning visit earlier this week.

And as Sinn Féin increases our efforts to right the historic wrong of partition and unite the people of this island we will need Irish America to use that strength again.

Irish Language Debate in the Dáil

Thursday saw a debate in the Dáil, initiated by Sinn Féin, on the 20 year strategy for the Irish language.
There are aspects of Fine Gael policy that are totally contrary to the proposals contained in the 20 year strategy. For example they want to make Irish an optional subject for the leaving certificate, they want to end the 'Irish Speaker’s Scheme' and change the rules in relation to the establishment of new Gaelscoileanna which will make it much more difficult for Gaelscoileanna to become established in the future.
These proposals fly in the face of everything contained in the 20 Year Strategy.
Unless the Government adopts a radically different attitude its policies will have a serious detrimental affect on the Irish language.
In my contribution to the debate I said:
“Cuirim fáilte roimh an díospóireacht seo. Tá sé tábhachtach go bhfuil sé ag dul ar aghaidh. Tá súil agam go mbeidh i bhfad níos mó plé anseo faoin Ghaeilge agus i bhfad níos mó gnó eile déanta trí Ghaeilge amach anseo. Sin an fís a bhí ag na daoine a bhunaigh an pharlaimint seo.
Tá súil agam go mbeidh an díospóireacht ina spreagadh do Ghaeilgeoirí, do fhoghlaimeoirí agus do dhaoine amuigh ansin atá báúil don Ghaeilge, thuaidh agus theas.
Ag tús an phróiséas síochána agus i rith na cainteanna roimh Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta chuir Sinn Féin ceist na Gaeilge sa Tuaisceart, agus ar an oileán ar fad, ar an chlár. As sin tháinig aitheantas don Ghaeilge, agus Foras na Gaeilge, agus don chéad uair tacaíocht don Ghaeilge ins na Sé chondae. Tháinig feabhas mór ar stadas ár dteanga náisiúnta sna Sé Chontae ó shin.
Ní aithníonn an Ghaeilge aon teorann ar an oileán seo. Is teanga uile-Éireann í má ta muid chun í a athshlanú is ar bhonn uile-Éireann a dheantar é. Tá tábhachtach le Foras agus le tacaíocht leanúnach ón dá thaobh den teorann chun cuidiú lena chuid oibre.
Is linne uilig an teanga, pé creideamh ná dearcadh polaitiúil atá againn.
Caithfidh muid seo a chur ina luí ar Rialtas na Breataine agus go háirithe ar ár gcairde, na hAondactóirí. Tá gá le fís s’againne faoin Ghaeilge a mhíniú dóibh agus a leiriú nach bagairt dóibh forbairt na Gaeilge agus an cultúr Gaelaigh.
Ta muid ag iarraidh pobal na Gaeilge a thogail ins an Tuaisceart, pobal a bhfuil cainteoirí ann, scoilteacha lán-Ghaeilge, áiteacha sóisialta, clubanna óige, féidireachtaí gairme, mean cumarsáide agus dlithe chun na cearta sin a chosaint sna cúirteanna.
Tá Sinn Féin ag déanamh ár ndicheall sa Roinn Oideachais ó thuaidh chun an Ghaeloideachais a fhorbairt. Thiug Caitriona Ruane deontais do chlubanna óige Ghaeilge fríd an Tuaisceart. Leanfaidh muid ar aghaidh leis an obair sin.
Fuair Sinn Féin airgead ó Rialtas na Breataine i rith cainteanna Hillsborough i ndiaidh troid mór ‘s ag cuir a lan bru, fá choinne an Ciste Craoltóireachta agus fuair muid airgead chun Ciste Infheistíochta a bhunaigh a chuideodh le forbairt gréasán Cultúrlanna.
Tá Gaeilgeoirí ó thuaidh ag iarraidh Gaeltachtaí uirbeacha a chruthú agus an timpeallacht thart orainn a Ghaelú. Shin ceist. Bh’feidir ta nios mo daoine ag caint Gaeilge i Bheal Feirste achan la na in Bhaile Atha Cliath. Níl fhios agam. Taobh amuigh do Uachtaran Obama
Banrion na Shasana.
Faoi stiúradh Conor Murphy mar Áire Timpeallachta tá busanna ag gabháil suas Bóthar na bhFál le comharthaí Gaeilge orthu.
Tá gá leis na hiarrachtaí seo bheith á forbairt ar bhonn uile-Éireann agus comh-oibriú idir na hinstitiúdaí ar an dá chuid den oileán seo chun tuilleadh éifeacht bheith leis an obair seo.
Beidh Sinn Féin an sasta a bheith ag obair leis Áire Jimmy Dennihan. Go n’eirigh an t’adh leis. Agus leis Carál Ní Chuilín, Áire nua sns Thuaisceart fosta.Tá Acht na Gaeilge againn ó dheas. Caithfidh muid sin a úsáid agus a fhorbairt. Tá Acht a dhíth ó thuaidh.
Mar shampla, a penal law, The Administration of Justice (Language) Act Ireland of 1737 decrees that all proceedings within courts of justice (mar dhea) there shall be within the English language.
Tá an Ghaeilge mí-dleathach sna cuirteanna ó Thuaidh. Tá gá le deireadh a chur leis an dlí seo anois.
Agus mar a dúirt mé tá Acht na Gaeilge a dhíth ansin.
Acht atá bunaithe ar na Bunphrionsapail seo a leanas-
• Cearta Gaeilgeoirí ag croí an Achta
• Achmhainní oiriúnacha leis an Acht a chur i bhfeidhm
• Coimisinéir na Gaeilge leis an Acht a mhaoirsiú.
Ní cheart go mbeadh eagla chóiche ar duine ar bith roimh an Ghaeilge.
Is linne uilig an saibreas agus an dúchas atá taobh istigh den teanga Gaeilge agus is ansin a bfhaighfidh muid croí agus anam na tire seo.

A Champion for Human Rights

Rosemary Nelson was a human rights lawyer. She stood up for what she believed in and she sought to use the law – even one as corrupted as that of the north during the years of conflict – as a means of defending citizens from abuse and discrimination and as a way of achieving justice.

Rosemary was killed in a car bomb attack by a unionist death squad on March 15th 1999.

The family believe, and the nationalist people of Lurgan and Portadown believe, that she was the victim of collusion. They are right.

Collusion took many forms in the north. Often it was formal and institutionalised. Sometimes it was informal, sectarian and the response of an individual or group of individuals within one or more of the British state’s security system – the RUC; RUC Special Branch; the Ulster Defence Regiment; British Military Intelligence; the Force Reconnaissance Unit; the Security Services and others.

Sometimes it was a British Minister – for example, Tory Minister Douglas Hogg - standing up in the British Parliament and accusing lawyers of working for the IRA and creating a context in which lawyers could be murdered. The first to die Pat Finucane was murdered within weeks of Hogg’s remarks.

Sometimes it was the provision by British intelligence agencies, directly through agents, of thousands of intelligence files, including names, addresses, car registrations and movements.

Sometimes individual members of the RUC and UDR participated in sectarian attacks. Scores of UDR soldiers were convicted over the years of involvement in sectarian murders; of providing British intelligence information for unionist death squads; and of stealing weapons for use in killing Catholics.

Sometimes those involved where members of the British Forces and killed under orders.

Sometimes it involved British Forces providing the weapons to carry out murder.

Sometimes it was the turning of a blind eye to actions which led to murder.

Sometimes it was creating a belief that all Catholics were the enemy.

Sometimes it was creating a climate in which an individual or a specific group of people were targeted by unionist death squads, as happened with Sinn Féin members, including family members.

Judge Peter Cory was asked by the British and Irish governments to carry out an investigation into six cases where it was alleged collusion might have occurred and to recommend whether inquiries were necessary.

He began by asking: “How should collusion be defined? Synonyms that are frequently given for the verb to collude include: to conspire; to connive; to collaborate; to plot; and to scheme. The verb connive is defined as to deliberately ignore; to overlook; to disregard; to pass over; to take no notice of; to turn a blind eye; to wink; to excuse; to condone; to look the other way; to let something ride; see for example the Oxford Compact Thesaurus Second Edition, 2001.

4.29 Similarly the Webster dictionary defines the verb collude in this way: to connive with another: conspire, plot.

4.30 It defines the verb connive

1. to pretend ignorance or unawareness of something one ought morally, or officially or legally to oppose; to fail to take action against a known wrongdoing or misbehaviour – usually used with connive at the violation of a law.

2. (a) to be indulgent, tolerant or secretly in favour or sympathy;”
By this measure and by the report of the Inquiry, Rosemary Nelson was a victim of Collusion.

The Nelson Inquiry itself admits that it could not “exclude the possibility of a rogue member or members of the RUC or army in some way assisting the murders to target Rosemary Nelson".

In addition the report admits also that Rosemary Nelson was the victim of serious and repeated threats and that the RUC "negligently failed to intervene to prevent their officers from uttering abuse and threats to defence solicitors, including Rosemary Nelson".

The report states that RUC members "publicly abused and assaulted Rosemary Nelson... having the effect of legitimising her as a target"; it acknowledges that members of the RUC Special Branch resented Mrs Nelson and were prepared to say so; and it added that there was "some leakage of intelligence which we believe found its way outside the RUC". This, the report states, "increased the danger to Rosemary Nelson's life”.

The report accuses the RUC of failing to properly analyse or evaluate intelligence information relating to Mrs Nelson; of not warning her and of not offering her advice on personal protection.

The report also accuses the NIO of not demanding answers from the RUC concerning Mrs Nelson and of ignoring concerns expressed to it about the danger she was in from other human rights agencies.

The Inquiry report says: "The combined effect of these omissions by the RUC and NIO was that the state failed to take reasonable and proportionate steps to safeguard the life of Rosemary Nelson”.

Peter Cory in defining Collusion also said that “members of the public must have confidence in the actions of government agencies whether they be the Northern Ireland Office (NIO), the Secretary of State or the police force. There cannot be public confidence in any government agency that is guilty of collusion or connivance with regard to serious crimes. Because of the necessity for public confidence in government agencies the definition of collusion must be reasonably broad when it is applied to such agencies.”

The reality is that Rosemary Nelson, like so many hundreds of others was a victim of collusion. The RUC not only failed to act to prevent threats to her life but contributed to these and created a context in which she became a target for loyalists.

The actions of the RUC, its Special Branch and the NIO directly contributed to the murder of Rosemary Nelson. That is collusion.

The inquiry reveals a pattern of behaviour that all of these agencies connived in her death. That is collusion.

Moreover, knowing that she was at serious risk the state and its security agencies, did nothing to prevent attack or help Mrs Nelson protect herself. That is collusion.

Comhdáil

On Saturday last Sinn Féin Gaelgeoiri had a conference on the Irish language in Dublin.

It was a busy day for republicans in the capital. Former blanket men were involved in a debate at the Irish Film Institute about the legacy of the 1981 hunger strikes, there was a commemoration at Glasnevin for Martin Doco Doherty, an IRA Volunteer who was killed by a unionist death squad when he intervened as they were set to attack oeople at the Widow Scanlon’s pub.And there was the Comhdáil.

And a very good Comhdáil it was too. This is what I said:

“Ar dtús ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil le Rósaí, le Gearóid is leis na daoine eile a chuir an chomhdháil seo le chéile agus na cainteoirí uilig a ghlac páirt anseo inniu.

Tá cúpla ócáid tábhachtach eile ar siúl anseo i mBaile Átha Cliath inniu. Tá comóradh amuigh ag Reilg Glas Naíonn do Martin ‘Doco’ Doherty, óglach a maraíodh agus é ag cosaint cairde is comrádaithe ar 21 Bealtaine 1994. D’éag Raymond agus Patsy 30 bliain ó shin ar an Stailc Ocrais agus tá ócáid mhór ar siúl trasna na habhann san Ionad Scannánaíochta faoin Stailc Ocrais.

Ach tá dhá dúshlán mhóra romhainn i Sinn Féin faoi láthair:
obair taobh istigh den pháirtí – gaelú Sinn Féin
obair taobh amuigh den pháirtí le gaeilgeoirí agus thar cheann gaeilgeoirí

Ar dtús ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh Pheadar Tóibín, roimh Sheán Ó Loingsigh agus roimh Chathal Ó hÓisín na feisirí nuathofa againn, agus tá Trevor anois ina sheanadóir nua againn - gaeilgeoirí breá ábalta iad uilig agus comhghairdeas dóibh.

Ansin tá na seanfhonduirí ann – Críona, Tomás, mé féin, Bairbre, Caitríona is Gráinne. Lena chois seo, tá go leor gaeilgeoirí cumasacha eile sa pháirtí gan sain-ordú ar bith.

Tá croífhoireann iontach againn ach caithfear i gcónaí barrchumas a bhaint amach. Sin dúshlán mór atá romhainn.

Thaitin an díospóireacht sin liom inniu, tógadh a lán pointí maithe agus tá go leor ábhar machnaimh ansin dúinn. Ach caithfidh muid bheith réadúil agus cúramach faoin slí ina bhfuil muid ag leanúint leis na moltaí chun an páirtí a ghaelú.

Mar shampla, bunaíodh cúpla cumann Gaeilge i mBéal Feirste is i mBaile Átha Cliath ach níl siad ag teacht le chéile nó ag feidhmiú mar is ceart.

Rinne Bairbre agus cúpla duine eile ansin pointí faoi fhreagairt guthán in oifigí Sinn Féin agus gach duine ag úsáid cibé Gaeilge atá acu go háirithe leis an Ard Fheis ag teacht go Béal Feirste i mbliana, aontaím leo.

Caithfear obair le chéile leis an chun an chothromaíocht inár gcur chuige a aimsiú. Caithfidh an Ghaeilge bheith i gcroílár obair s’againn i Sinn Féin. Caithfear í a phríomhshruthú. Mar sin de, tá struchtúr de dhíth orainn.



Ar an taobh eile, tá sárobair déanta againn; i gcaibidle Chromghlinne, fuair muid £8 milliúin don Chiste Infheistíochta Gaeilge. Tá Cáral agus John Mór mar airí againn anois agus tá mo bhuíochas agus bualadh bos mór tuillte ag Caitríona as an ualach a d’iompair sí – tá 4 daoine againn ar an Fhoras, foireann láidir leis an obair a dhéanamh.

Ní féidir linn leanúint ar aghaidh gan polasaí, gan straitéis, gan clár, gan struchtúr. Ghlac muid céim mhaith inniu leis an chomhdháil seo agus dréachtpholasaí scríofa.

Beidh céim eile le glacadh againn leis an Ard Fheis nuair a bheidh díospóireacht teasaí ansin, is dócha.

Tá a fhios ag daoine anseo go raibh muid ag tógáil Sinn Féin le tamall in achan chearn den tír. Tá sé de rún againn anois stiúrthóireachtaí a tharraingt le chéile, ceann acu ó thuaidh, ceann eile ó dheas seo agus mar aidhm againn nasc láidir a thógáil idir na hInstitiúidí agus an páirtí ar thalamh.

Caithfidh an Ghaeilge bheith mar chloch lárnach sna hathruithe sin. Tá mé a rá sin mar Uachtarán ar Shinn Féin agus mar bhall ceannaireachta.

Tá mé ag brú cúpla rud atá an-tábhachtach go deo – taobh leis na gnáthchúramaí a bhíonn orm – agus tá an Ghaeilge ina gceartlár siúd.

Mar sin, beidh an dualgas ormsa agus ar Oifig an Uachtaráin chun obair libh chun cearta Gaeilge a fháil agus an obair seo a chur chun cinn.

Ár mbuíochas daoibh a tháinig le chéile anseo inniu.

Bhí díospóireacht fhiúntach againn. Bhí cruinniú an-mhaith againn agus tá an-obair romhainn. Leanaigí ar aghaidh.

Building a better future

The peace process has created the space in which the possibility of a different kind of relationship between the people of this island, and between Ireland and Britain has been made possible.

That relationship is still evolving. Nationalists and unionists in the north are engaged in a unique power sharing and partnership mode of governance – and all-Ireland political structures are established and beginning to work well.

But our country and our people are still divided. The British still claim jurisdiction over the north, even though this is now in a conditional way, and there remain many legacy and justice issues that are unresolved.

For all these reasons Sinn Féin set out our concerns about the visit of the English Queen at this time.
Nonetheless, mindful that the people of this island are on a journey out of conflict, and that unionists have a close affinity with the British Monarchy, Irish republicans have sought to be constructive in how we responded to this event.
I have also expressed my hope that some good will come from it.

The political reality in Britain of course is that the legal and constitutional powers of the Queen rest with the British Prime Minister of the day. It is David Cameron who personally exercises all of the Crown Prerogatives and does so without recourse to the British Parliament.

This includes approving Queen Elizabeth’s speeches.

Many people who I have spoken to, particularly people from the North, are disappointed that she did not apologise for Britain’s role in Irish affairs in her remarks on Wednesday. This disappointment is understandable given the huge hype around the visit, the difficulties surrounding it and the expectations raised by it.

For my part I believe that the expression by the Queen of England of sincere sympathy for those who have suffered as a result of the conflict is genuine, and I welcome that. Many victims and victims’ families will expect her Government to now act on that as quickly as possible and to deal with legacy issues, particularly those involving British state forces and collusion in a forthright manner.

As we have said many times, Sinn Féin wants to see a real, new and profoundly better relationship between the peoples of Ireland and Britain, one built on equality and respect.

There were a number of important symbolic gestures during this visit. The laying of a wreath in the Garden of Remembrance at the memorial to the men and women who died for Irish freedom was one of these, not least because many of the heroes remembered there were executed by British crown forces. The laying of the wreath was a recognition that they fought in a just cause.

The Irish Government and the other political parties in this state know that their sacrifices were not for a partitioned Ireland or a 26 County Republic, though they rarely admit it.

Interestingly during the recent General election the Fine Gael party did say that, “In any Republic the people are supposed to be supreme. Judged by that standard Ireland today is a Republic in name only”. They need to act on this and all the parties here need to act on the imperative of the Proclamation of the Republic.

For her part President Mary McAleese and her husband Martin have shown an ability to reach out to others. That has been a mark of her office.

I welcome the President’s acknowledgement that ‘inevitably where there are colonisers and the colonised, the past is a repository of sources of bitter division. The harsh facts cannot be altered nor grief erased.

I also agree with her assertion ‘that with time and generosity, interpretations and perspectives can soften and open up space for new accommodations’.

This will not happen of its own accord.

It will require ongoing work and a committed focus in the time ahead, particularly by the Irish Government.

Building healthy, friendly ’normalised’ relations with our nearest neighbour is in everyone’s interest. The peace process creates a democratic, inclusive way to do this.

All of us have come some way – the process has delivered. This week’s events are evidence of that but there is still a journey to be completed.

As the President remarked ‘this may still be a work in progress’ as well as ‘a work of progress, of partnership and friendship’ … ‘an important sign – among a growing number of signs’ of the fresh start envisaged in the Good Friday Agreement.

The challenge is to ensure that this is built upon and that reconciliation gestures, though important in themselves, do not become substitutes for real political action and positive change.

In practice that means there is an outstanding need for the Irish and British governments to honour their obligations and guarantee full implementation of all the terms of both the Good Friday and St Andrews Agreements.

The Irish Government and the British Government have spoken a lot in recent days about new beginnings and that is welcome. However, the British Government has thus far steadfastly refused to release files on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, and on other attacks which have involved their agents in this state.

Mr Cameron needs to act on this issue on the terms outlined by the families of victims of these attacks.

So the Royal visit will be judged by the actions that spring from it, particularly how Mr Cameron responds to the very modest and legitimate demand that we work together to find ways of dealing with the past.

This is an opportune time for Irish Government to plan for the future in partnership with our unionist friends for a new Ireland, for genuine national reconciliation and healing across this island and for Irish Unity. This means having a real, inclusive national conversation about the future of our island including the need to bring all of our traditions together and building a better future for all the people of this island. This, along with building the peace, is the work of practical patriotism. It is work for us all to be getting on with.

Sinn Féin is working with our unionist partners in the North and every day we are seeking to explore possibilities for the future based upon equality, respect and tolerance. Like all democrats we seek an end to partition and the reunification of our people and our island.

So this week’s visit by the Queen of England to this part of Ireland has to be seen as part of a journey.

It is a page in a book – not the end of that book.

We need to continue that journey and to write the next chapter of that book.

Note to Readers

Sinn Féin will be holding two conferences in June on the theme of ‘Uniting Ireland’.

The conferences are titled: Towards a New Republic – I dtreo an Poblacht Nua.

They first will be held in Dublin on Saturday June 18th in the Rotunda Pillar Room Complex, Parnell Square, Dublin 1 beginning at 10am.

The second conference will be on Saturday June 25th in Cork City Council Concert Hall beginning at 7.30pm.

Details are available at www.unitingireland.ie

It is for the people of Ireland to determine our future

The unparalleled security arrangements that have been put in place in Dublin to accommodate the visit of the Queen of England, forced the organisers of the An Gorta Mór Commemorative Famine Walk on Sunday, to change their arrangements.

Originally the walk was to commence at the Garden of Remembrance. However that’s now closed off as part of the massive security precautions that have put in place around the city.

Sundays ‘Famine Walk’ started from the bottom of O'Connell Street and finished at the Famine Memorial on the Quays.

An Gorta Mór (the Great Hunger) had a profound impact on Irish society. While its cause was the failure of the potato crop it was the political decisions taken by the British colonial authorities which exacerbated the human misery.

As food left Ireland for export and thousands were thrown off their land by a landlord class eager to evict families, the human and economic impact was significant. In the five years between 1845 and 1850, approximately 1.5 million Irish men, women and children died of starvation or related diseases. In the following decades millions more fled Ireland.

An Gorta Mór, like Britain’s colonial occupation, shaped Irish society in the 19th and 20th and now the 21st century. It is long past the time that the relationship between our two islands and peoples was placed on an equal footing.

The visit by the Queen of England has brought a renewed focus to this unequal relationship.

This blog wants to see a real and profoundly new and better relationship between the peoples of Ireland and Britain — one built on equality and mutual respect. Sinn Féin has been to the forefront in working to bring this about and we will continue to do so. Sinn Féin is for a new relationship.

As I wrote in a previous publication I have nothing against the Queen of England being the Queen of England. That is a matter for the people of England. But it is not the way I want Irish society to be organised.

I am a republican. I believe that the people are sovereign and not subjects. I am against monarchies.

I am also Irish. And while I am conscious of the sense of affinity which unionists have with the English monarch, I am offended at having to live in a partitioned Ireland with the Queen of England ruling over a part of us.

I believe the visit of the English Queen is troubling for many Irish citizens, particularly victims of British rule and those with legacy issues in this state and in the North.

It is for precisely this reason that we in Sinn Féin oppose this visit and believe that it is premature and insensitive. This is why the party is holding alternative events in Dublin and across the state during the visit.

I am for a new relationship between the people of Ireland and between the people of Ireland and Britain based on equality and mutual respect.

I hope this visit will hasten that day but much will depend on what the British monarch says. As an Irish citizen who was detained without charge or trial a number of times on a British prison ship, in a prison camp and a H Block, as well as a more conventional prison, at ‘Her Majesty’s Pleasure’, I hope so.

So too will many of the families of victims in the conflict, including victims of British terrorism and collusion. This includes families of those killed in the Dublin Monaghan bombs whose anniversary takes place on the first day of the visit.

British interference in Irish affairs has come at a huge cost to the Irish people.

It has been marked by invasion, occupation, subjugation, famine and cycles of Irish resistance and British repression.

The impact of this, including partition and its consequences, are still being felt to this day.

Irish republicans too have caused much hurt to people in Britain. I regret this.

The full normalisation of relationships between Ireland and Britain is important.

This will require the ending of partition and the emergence of a New Ireland.

The Peace Process, which Sinn Féin has contributed significantly to, has transformed the political landscape in Ireland and resulted in a peaceful political dispensation based on an historic accord between Irish nationalism and unionism.

The Good Friday Agreement is the foundation upon which new relationships between unionists and nationalists and between Ireland and Britain can be forged. It has fundamentally altered the political landscape, levelled the political playing field, removing the despicable Government of Ireland Act and opening up a peaceful, democratic route to a united Ireland.

And because nationalists and unionists are governing the north decisions affecting the lives of people there are being increasingly made in Ireland and not in Britain.

Republicans want to continue and to accelerate this process.

The united Ireland that republicans seek to build encompasses all the people of this island, including unionists. It will be a pluralist, egalitarian society in which citizens rights are protected and in which everyone will be treated equally. Sinn Féin wants a New Republic. That of course is a matter for the people of this island to decide.

But no matter how we shape our society, the new Ireland must embrace our islands diversity in its fullest sense. This includes English and Scottish influences, the sense of Britishness felt by many unionists, as well as indigenous and traditional Irish culture and the cultures of people who have come to Ireland in recent times.

Ireland and England are not strangers to each other. We should build on what we have in common while at the same time respecting each other’s sovereignty and independence.

Maybe the events of this week will assist that process. This blog hopes so.

Election results mean further gains

The Assembly and Local Council election campaign was generally reported by the media as ‘low key’.

Some commentators even got a bit carried away with themselves almost suggesting that the lower than usual turnout somehow devalued the democratic mandate of those who have just been elected!

But the Assembly and local government counts and the results they produced, turned out to have some of the excitement which the campaign itself lacked.

The outburst by the UUP leader Tom Elliot in Omagh count centre on Saturday caught the headlines. Tom was having a bad day. From a confident pose just a few weeks ago in which he was predicting gains for his party the results emerging from count centres across the north were of the UUP losing votes and seats.

It wasn’t meltdown. But his election last year as party leader had been met with jubilation by party activists. After David Trimble and Reg Empey’s leadership terms a lot of the UUP faithful had put their hope and trust in this former UDR soldier to reverse the failing fortunes of the party.

From a traditional Ulster Unionist perspective he has all the right credentials. He is a Past County Grand Master of the Orange Order within Fermanagh and Assistant Secretary to the Grand Lodge of Ireland. He is also a member of the Royal Black Preceptory. And he spent 18 years of his life in the Ulster Defence Regiment – which was eventually disbanded by the British because of its record of sectarianism and involvement in collusion with unionist death squads – and in the Royal Irish Regiment.

And yet here he was falling at the first electoral hurdle of his leadership. Worse the DUP Shinners were doing well. Oliver McMullan’s win for Sinn Féin in East Antrim meant that the UUP were left with 16 seats.

The sight of the Irish national flag- the Tricolour - in the Omagh count centre clearly annoyed Tom Elliot. His description of it as the flag of a ‘foreign nation’ drew some derision from the Sinn Féin election workers and candidates, but it was his retort describing them as ‘the scum of Sinn Féin’ which earned Elliot widespread criticism.

Tom should withdraw the remark and put it behind him, and get on with rebuilding his party. That would be the sensible thing to do - thus far he doesn’t appear to be inclined to do this.

The results from the Local Government election have continued this downward drift for the UUP.

The SDLP have also had their set backs. Two Assembly seats down, several more under serious threat and a significant drop in the vote. And this trend has continued in the local council results where they ended up down 14 seats

For Sinn Féin the Assembly and Local government elections in the north are our third in three months. In the South we fought a general election and emerged with a significantly enhanced Dail team of 14 TDs. In the Seanad election last month three republican Seanadoiri were elected.

And now the Assembly and local government elections have seen us make further gains. We have consolidated Sinn Féin’s vote across the north and there is clear space for continued growth. The party took 29 seats in the Assembly – up one – with an increased share of the vote and 138 seats in local councils – up 12 seats.

All these seats are important. But the wins in Fermanagh South Tyrone are particularly sweet. On the 30th anniversary of Bobby Sands death Sinn Féin took all three nationalist seats in the constituency he had represented briefly as an MP. I am sure many republicans remembering the hunger strike period took some satisfaction from this result. This blog certainly does.

All in all it was a good election for Sinn Féin. There are now 29 republicaan MLAs, 14 TDs, 3 Senators, in addition to our MPs and an MEP and hundreds of councillors across this island.

This week Sinn Féin is going back into the Assembly and into local councils in the north with a renewed and a larger mandate than ever before.

I want to thank all of our Assembly candidates and those who contested the local government elections. I want to also thank their families, and our election workers who made this success possible.

The only purpose for Sinn Féin in standing in any election is to win support for our republican objectives which include improving the quality of life of citizens, building peace and prosperity, creating jobs and defending public services and achieving Irish reunification.

There are massive challenges ahead north and south – in the economy; in confronting the EU/IMF bailout; in minimising the damage of the Tory cuts package; in plans to attack those on welfare - we will be about protecting our public services and those most vulnerable in this society.

But the first job of work to be done in the Assembly is to agree which party takes what department and who the Ministers will be. That process is already in train.

Remembering Bobby

The Hunger Strike Memorial in Glasnevin

Saturday morning this blog spent a short time at the west Belfast count in the Kings Hall in south Belfast. As anyone watching the media coverage of the Assembly count will know the process of validating and counting and transferring preferences was unbelievably slow.

One BBC journalist I was speaking to joked that Scotland would have independence before the count was completed in the north. I will return to the issue of the elections in my next blog.

From Belfast it was down to Tallanstown in County Louth. It’s a small, beautiful, sleepy village which has a monument to Vere Foster who founded the Irish National Teachers Organisation and in the nineteenth century promoted the provision of education, helped establish schools and provided funds for thousands to flee Ireland as a result of the great hunger. Foster’s family were from the locality.

Tallanstown has won the 2010 Tidy Towns competition and President Mary McAleese was there to congratulate residents and join in the celebrations. There were hundreds of local people in attendance as the President praised the efforts of all of those who had worked very hard over many years to achieve this award. Well done indeed.

From there we drove to Dublin where Mary Lou McDonald was opening her new constituency office at 139 North Strand for Dublin Central. She told me that the building was in a very bad state of disrepair but that the local organisation had rallied round and spent the last 6 weeks plastering, fixing ceilings, rewiring and painting the office. It looks well now. Comhghairdeas.



And then it was on to Parnell Square. Dublin Sinn Fein had organised a march from the Garden of Remembrance to the Hunger Strike monument in Glasnevin Cemetery to mark the 30th anniversary of the death on May 5th of Bobby Sands.

It was a balmy day which occasionally threatened rain. There was a good turn out of Dubs and the hundreds who took part were in fine form as the news of the election results from the north were texted to mobile phones from count centres there.





Glasnevin is a remarkable place. The hunger strike memorial is dedicated to all of those who died on hunger strike in prison beginning with Thomas Ashe in 1917. Ashe’s grave lies just a few feet away. At the time of his arrest in September 1917 Ashe was President of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and had been Officer Commanding Dublin's Second Battalion during the 1916 Easter Rising.

Like Bobby Sands and his comrades Thomas Ashe, Austen Stack and others rejected British efforts to criminalise them and embarked on a hunger strike on September 20 in Mountjoy prison. Five days later Ashe died after being brutally force fed.
The death of Thomas Ashe and the subsequent funeral procession became a rallying call to the Republic. His body lay in state in Dublin's City Hall before a funeral procession of over 30,000 marched here, to Glasnevin Cemetery, on 30 September 1917.

94 years later Irish republicans were again gathered about his grave to commemorate and celebrate the lives of another generation of republican activists who died on hunger strike.

All around the small platform from which the ceremony was conducted, lie the graves of other Irish iconic historic figures. Men and women who fought and died in pursuit of Irish freedom.

Among them is O'Donovan Rossa at whose graveside on 1 August 1915 Pádraig Pearse gave perhaps his most famous speech which ended with: "They think that they have pacified Ireland. They think that they have purchased half of us and intimidated the other half. They think that they have foreseen everything, think that they have provided against everything; but, the fools, the fools, the fools! — They have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace."



Mary Lou chaired the proceedings. Nicola King from Mayo, by way of Dublin, laid a wreath at the hunger strike memorial; Colm Ó Mordha laid a wreath at Thomas Ashe’s grave; Noeleen Reilly read the Roll of Honour; Mary Mullen sang 'The Year '81', written by Mícheál Mac Donncha; and Desi Ellis gave a very fine rendition of Bobby’s The Rhythm of Time.

In my remarks I reminded everyone present of those others, who with Bobby, had died on hunger strike in 1981 and earlier in this phase of struggle:
Francie Hughes, Raymond McCreesh, Patsy O Hara, Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, Kevin Lynch, Kieran Doherty, Tom McElwee and Michael Devine, and also of Frank Stagg and Michael Gaughan, who died on hunger strike in English prisons.

It was a poignant day. A day full of memories for those of us who knew Bobby and the other hunger strikers. And when the news came through that Sinn Féin had won three of the six seats in Fermanagh South Tyrone on Bobby’s anniversary I found that an especially emotional moment.

Palestinian Agreement a major achievement

In the week which witnessed the killing of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan and continued conflict in Syria and Libya, the agreement between the Palestinian groups has not received the attention it deserves.

After decades of conflict in the Middle East and countless abortive efforts to put in place a real peace process, there is understandable cynicism about the potential for any initiative to significantly change the political dynamic in that region.

However, the emergence of major movements for democratic change in the Arab states, and especially in Egypt, is doing just that.

This is the new context in which an agreement to reconcile the opposing positions of the Palestinian factions has just been achieved.

The unity accord between Hamas and Fatah goes beyond those two organisations. For the first time all 13 Palestinian factions have signed up to an agreed process behind an agreed strategy to achieve Palestinian statehood.

This is an important development. Too often in the past internal divisions among the Palestinians have been exploited by Israel and others to thwart Palestinian efforts to advance their political objectives. Now for the first time all of the Palestinian groups have come together and agreed a way forward.

This includes creating an interim government to run the west Bank and Gaza and Presidential and Parliamentary elections within the next year.

The Palestinian agreement also plans to ask the United Nations in September to recognise a Palestinian state in the west Bank and Gaza.

Significantly the agreement to end the four year rift between Hamas and Fatah came after lengthy negotiations and against a background of street demonstrations by Palestinians calling for political unity. It is also important to note that the deal was brokered in Cairo by the new administration there.

For the last 30 years the Egyptian regime, first under Sadat and then Mubarak, has worked closely with Israel. It is widely accepted that Mubarak was always less than supportive of efforts to achieve an end to the divisions between Fatah and Hamas and the other Palestinian groups.

However, the overthrow of Mubarak now means that there is in Egypt an administration which has openly criticised the previous policy of co-operating with Israel and is less hostile of Hamas.

In addition other Arab states, have already indicated their support for Palestinian reconciliation.

The Palestinian agreement therefore creates a unique opportunity for a real negotiation involving Palestinian and Israeli representatives to achieve a viable peace settlement.

It will not be without its difficulties and all sides must be prepared to take major risks if progress is to be achieved.

The initial response of the Israeli government has been disappointing. Instead of thinking long term and strategically it has knee jerked and is responding tactically. The Israeli government has condemned the Palestinian Agreement, frozen €60 million in tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority, and wants the EU to freeze €288 million in aid which it provides to the Palestinians annually.

At a time when Arab and Palestinian demonstrations are for democracy, accountable government, and progress, the Israel government wants to punish the Palestinian people who are already among the most impoverished in the Arab world!

This approach by the Netanyahu government reflects a position that is mired in the past and seeks to prevent real progress.

The Israeli government needs to come to terms with the fact that the political dynamic in the wider Middle East and Arab world is changing. The agreement between Fatah and Hamas reflects this.

I have visited the West Bank, Israel and the Gaza strip on two occasions in recent years. During those visit I met with senior representatives of the Palestinian Authority and of Hamas. I have also spoken to Israeli representatives. Sinn Féin representatives have regularly visited the region.

I do not underestimate the challenges which the Palestinian Agreement presents for all sides.

Nor do I underestimate the difficulties in seeking to reach a political settlement. The issues that have to be resolved are considerable; a viable Palestinian state; Israeli occupation of Palestinian land; an end to the siege of Gaza; the settlements; water rights; refugees; prisoners; the Separation wall and Jerusalem.

Dialogue, involving substantive and inclusive negotiations, including Hamas, is the key to making progress. Dialogue and negotiations between equals is essential.

I believe that agreement is possible. Most citizens living in Israel, and the West Bank and Gaza already know its broad outline.

Thus far making real progress toward it has been frustrated by divisions among Palestinians and a lack of positive leadership from within Israel.

The Palestinian Agreement opens up the possibility that the log jam might now be broken. Achieving this will require courageous political leadership, and a willingness to make compromises on all sides.

Every Vote Matters

A cartoon by the late Brian 'Cormac' Moore urging people to Vote for Bobby Sands

The weather has been tremendous. Bright, warm sunshine. Blue skies. The countryside a riot of vivid colours. Good weather makes all the difference when you are on the campaign trail. It puts everyone in great form. Canvassers and canvassed alike.

Thursday, May 5th, is Bobby Sands 30th anniversary and polling day. The co-incidence of the Assembly poll, the local government election, the AV referendum, and Bobby’s anniversary is not lost on republican activists.

The Fermanagh South Tyrone by-election in April 1981, when Bobby famously won that seat, has been acknowledged as one of those pivotal moments in recent Irish history.

In the last few days this blog has been in north Antrim, and north and West Belfast campaigning with local candidates. And on Monday I was in Belcoo, and Derrylin, and other parts of Fermanagh South Tyrone. As we drove through the towns and villages of that famous constituency I was constantly reminded of the election campaign of 81.

Apart from filling election envelopes as a teenager in 1964, the Bobby Sands election was my first real election campaign. And like many others I was learning as I went along. But we were all buoyed up by the spirit of defiance and the heroism of the hunger strikers.

That was a remarkable time. And it set the scene for much that was to follow. 30 years later the legacy of the hunger strike and the sacrifice of the hunger strikers, and of three decades of successful political activism and growth, is evident in the political strength of Sinn Féin.

Today, tomorrow and on Thursday, and after months of hard work on the campaign trail, republicans across the north’s constituencies will be putting in one final hard push to ensure that we consolidate our vote and build for the future.

There will be some who will argue that voting is a waste of time or who will just not bother to vote. They are wrong.

Voting is your opportunity to make a difference – to be part of bringing in real and better change.



Vote Bobby Sands

Elites have always sought to deny citizens the right to determine their own destiny. There was a time when most people didn’t have the vote. When monarchies and aristocracies decided how people lived and died. Sometimes the excuse was that someone was too poor; or too uneducated; or a woman; or of a different colour. But the goal was always the same. Restrict access to political power and influence so that a minority can benefit.

The leaders of 1916 understood the importance of promoting and defending the rights of citizens. The Proclamation addresses itself to Irish men and Irish women and promotes universal suffrage at a time women didn’t have the vote.

The Unionist regime following partition understood this. For that reason property qualifications were part of local electoral law and tens of thousands of citizens, mainly Catholic, were denied the right to a vote. Along with the gerrymandering of electoral boundaries this ensured unionist majorities on Councils in towns where nationalists were in the majority. That‘s why the demand for one person one vote was so threatening to unionism and why it was violently opposed by the state and its paramilitary forces.

Denying the vote was part of the strategy of those, particularly in the deep south of the USA, who wanted to hold on to power and who rejected the civil rights demands of the 1960s. It was also central to the apartheid regime in South Africa. And in Arab states today citizens are dying in pursuit of the right to vote and to democratic structures of government.

Voting is a human right it is also a responsibility.

In recent years Sinn Féin has succeeded in bringing about fundamental change in the north. In local government and in the Assembly, in the Executive and through our MPs and MEP Sinn Féin has succeeded in delivering real improvements in peoples’ daily lives through the policies our activists implement and the decisions they take. Elections and electoral success have made a difference.

In the recent Dáil and Seanad elections also Sinn Féin made important gains.

But there is much more to be done. Not least in terms of achieving a United Ireland. And to do this and to continue to deliver for citizens Sinn Féin needs more votes to build even greater political strength.

95 years ago today the executions of the 1916 leaders commenced. The first to die were Padraig Pearse, Tom Clarke and Thomas MacDonagh.

Their goal, like ours today was and is to build a new Ireland; a shared Ireland; an Ireland in which the rights of citizens are paramount.

The 1916 Proclamation, they wrote and died for, is a powerful expression of the shape of that new Ireland.

“The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally”.

This Thursday every citizen with a vote can contribute to bringing that day a significant step closer by voting for Sinn Féin candidates for local Councils and for the Assembly.





New Mural on Whiterock Road