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Defend the GPO
The Dublin GPO and the streets and laneways around it are
forever linked with the Easter Rising of 1916. This is a Battlefield site of
major historic and international significance which successive Irish
governments have failed to develop properly. Successive promises of investment
and planning in Moore St have come to nothing. Succesive governments have
reduced the National Monument to four houses leaving the rest of the historic
area to be destroyed by a London based developer.
In keeping with this shameful approach the Irish government
last week published a 10-year plan which will see the General Post Office (GPO)
become a mixed-use development. The spin from Government is that the GPO will
become a flagship project, including retail and office components with a
Designated Activity Company being established. The reality, as we have seen
with the Moore St. plan, is that time and time again governments have
turned their face against the preservation of our revolutionary past in favour
of shopping centres and commercial developments. Private developers are given
carte blanche to maximise profit at the expense of our cultural and historical
heritage.
Uachtarán Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald TD described it well
when she said the government’s proposal as “another shameful betrayal of
Ireland’s proud revolutionary history.”
At the weekend Mary Lou and Pearse Doherty TD launched
a public petition to “Save the GPO”. The petition calls for the development of
a 1916 Cultural Quarter in the area around the GPO, O’Connell Street and Moore
Street and the implementation of the Moore Street Preservation Trust
plan. Mary Lou said: “It is incredible that they want to turn one of the
most iconic sites of Ireland’s struggle for freedom into shops and office
space. This is the building outside which Pádraig Pearse in Easter 1916 read
the Proclamatio of the Irish Republic. These streets in this area are the
physical environs of one of the seminal chapters in Ireland’s long fight for
independence.”
In the course of my travels I have visited many places of
historic importance to the people of South Africa, of the USA, of France and
elsewhere. Can you
imagine the demolition of Robben island prison where Nelson Mandela and the
political prisoners resisted the apartheid regime? Or Independence Hall in
Philadelphia where the Declaration of Independence and the United States
Constitution were debated and adopted. Or the Tower of London? Of course not.
Other states and other people take pride in their history.
The
importance of the site of the last battle of the 1916 Rising was underlined
by the High Court in Dublin in 2016 which described Moore Street as
unique. The Court described Moore Street as “the place to which the men
and women of the GPO fled, where battle was done and surrender was negotiated,
and a site where workers, civilian and combatant, lived and died in what was,
to a large extent, a workers’ rising.”
In any other city in the world we would see visionary,
ambitious plans to develop the site, preserving our history with a national
museum, arts and culture, education, tourism and homes to make it a living,
breathing area.
So, join the battle to Save the GPO and Moore St. Sign up to
the petition and support the campaign of the Moore St. Preservation Trust for a
modern historical quarter – shaped around the GPO, Moore Street Battlefield
site and O’Connell Street. The link is: https://outreach.sinnfein.ie/save-the-gpo/
Kneecap Abú
Well done to Kneecap and those other performers at
Glastonbury who stood up to the British political and media establishment and
courageously spoke out against the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip and the
west Bank. Well done also to the tens of thousands who applauded and cheered as
Mo chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí, demanded ceasefires, an end to the
mass murder of Palestinian people and stood up to the censorship of the British
Broadcasting Corporation.
The British political and media establishment, in particular
the BBC, like to promote an image to the world of being progressive,
anti-racist, truthful and democratic. The experience of Ireland and of many
states that were once British colonies, is the opposite. British rule has
always been bad for Ireland. Perfidious Albion’s intrusion into our affairs has
been a part of our historical and cultural narrative for almost 900 years.
Censorship and racism and the demonisation of those who
confront British strategic interests have been a constant from the ape like
caricatures of the Irish in the 19th century to the control of
the media as part of the state’s counter-insurgency strategies during the
recent years of conflict.
So too with the hypocrisy of the Starmers
government. He provides material and economic, military and political support
to Netanyahu’s fascist government. And he has the audacity to pick again on
KneeCap and others after the success if their Glastonbury guy at the
weekend.
Formal and informal political censorship often creates a
climate of fear in which many good people turn away from the truth.
Fortunately, there are always those who will dare to speak out. People like
the late Mary Holland who interviewed me in April 1990 when the voices of
Sinn Féin activists were banned. Mary so perfectly lip-synched my words using
Oscar winning actor Stephen Rea that the British demanded that lip-synching
itself be banned. Or Helen from Wales, a vegan chef and yoga teacher, who
on Saturday live streamed Kneecap’s set on Tik Tok while the BBC banned them.
Or those who use their social media platforms to expose the lies, inhumanity
and excesses of states, even at the risk of their own lives.
Censorship is the enemy of truth. It reinforces the
conditions for division and conflict. It is an obstacle to dialogue. Dialogue
is essential for understanding and agreement and reconciliation.
Féile an Phobail – A festival extravaganza
This week I was given a copy of the minutes of a meeting
held on the 22nd June 1902 in the Catholic Boys Hall on the
Falls Road to establish a league for junior hurlers. The venue was the Catholic
Boys Hall. So far I have three locations for this hall. One is off Dunlewey
Street not far from the Sinn Féin office and the Bobby Sands mural. The other
is in Cavendish Square and the last one is up one of the Rock Streets. My guess
is that all these venues were used at different times. The Clubs involved in
the 1902 meeting were Michael Dwyer; Geraldines; Éire Óg; Sarsfield; Brian Boru;
Oissin; Fianna Éireann; and Red Branch. Bulmer Hobson was elected
Chairman of the League. Hobson was a well-known republican figure. Two years
after this meeting he was sworn into the Irish Republican Brotherhood and along
with Countess
Constance Markievicz, he founded Na Fianna Éireann in Belfast in 1909.
The minute records that following his election Bulmer Hobson
gave a “neat little speech bringing before their minds the necessity of
forming such a league and that it will bind them closer together and be a means
of spreading the game and doing a little towards the revival of this old Irish
sport.”
One hundred and twenty-three years Hobson’s vision of a
revival “of this old Irish sport” means that An Chumann Lúthchleas Gael (CLG)
in Belfast will play a prominent role during this year’s Féile an Phobail. Its
presence permeates the programme for 2025 which was launched last week. Once
again Féile has surpassed itself with over 600 events at over 50 venues. These
will cover everything from the visual arts, culture, discussions and
debates, exhibitions, tours, films, ceol and sports.
On Monday 28 July Naomh Eoin CLG will host an event
organised by Gaels le Chéile. Jane Adams, one of its founding members will
provide an update on the work of the campaign. It will be followed by a
conversation with sports journalist Brendan Crossan and Tyrone football legend
Peter Canavan.
On Thursday 31 July in the Ulster Museum the influential
role of the GAA will be evoked through objects: medals passed down from
generation to generation. Siobhan Doyle who wrote A History of the GAA in 100
Objects will be on hand to talk about the exhibition.
On 2 August there will be the annual Joe Cahill Gaelic U12.
On the same day at Corrigan Park there will be two
friendship matches between Ireland and Scotland using composite Shinty &
Hurling/Camogie rules.
In his book Lost Gaels, Peadar Thompson provides a
comprehensive account of the lives of ninety-two of the estimated 150
women, men and children who had connections to the GAA and who were killed
during the years of conflict. His talk will be on 4 August in St. Mary’s
University College.
On Saturday the 9 August at 9am the famous Féile an Phobail
Poc Fada will take place n the Divis and Black Mountain. I retired recently as
the undefeated Féile Póc Fada champion beating Brian McFaul in the
process.
Also on that same day a half pace social hurling
festival will take place on Rossa and Sarsfield’s pitches with 16 teams from
all over Ireland playing in a blitz. And the Naomh Gall Siobhan O’Hanlon Gaelic
for Mothers and Others blitz will also take place in De La Salle Park,
Milltown. The blitz is named in honour of our friend and founding member of
Féile – Siobhán O’Hanlon.
Those who gathered in June 1902 would be pleased.
Check the Féile clár. If you haven’t got a hard copy then
you can access it at https://feilebelfast.com
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