Léargas

  Standing at the crossroads Sinn Féin, but especially, the party in Belfast pulled out all of the stops at the weekend to ensure that the Ard Fheis was a huge success. The ICC Waterfront Hall was buzzing with republican voices from across our island and beyond talking about the big issues confronting all of us nationally and internationally. The number of young people attending and taking part in the debates was particularly encouraging. There were 167 Motions on the clár for discussion. They ranged across the cost of living crisis, housing, Irish unity, education, health, the climate crisis and our environment, rural Ireland, justice and human rights, and the fraught international situation. The overriding theme of the Ard Fheis was the imperative of building a new Ireland. Of planning for unity. Of engaging with and persuading those who have a different perspective, that Irish unity is in the social, economic and political interests of everyone. Unity was central to almost every...

  Ard Fheis 2026 in Belfast This weekend the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis will be held in the ICC Waterfront Hall in Belfast. Like hundreds more I will be there as the party debates policy, including how we can advance our core objective of Irish Unity. Apart from my years in prison I have been a regular visitor to Ard Fheiseanna since the late 1960s. Then Sinn Féin was a small banned organisation under the Special Powers Act. Today Michelle O’Neill is First Minister in the North and Mary Lou McDonald is the leader of the opposition in Dublin, with an ambition to be in government. We have TDs, Seanadóirí, MLAs, MEPs, MPs and hundreds of Councillors. And we have developed far sighted and thoughtful policies to benefit working families, tackle injustice and inequality, assist our communities and crucially achieve a united Ireland. As the ultimate decision making body of the party the Ard Fheis took critical decisions on fighting elections, North and South; supporting the hunger strikers; endi...

  Irish government and the Fuel Debacle The blockade of fuel depots, motorways, towns and Dublin City centre was entirely avoidable if the FFFG government had taken the growing crisis around the cost of living and increasing fuel and energy bills seriously months ago. Instead Micheál Martin and Co. stuck their heads in the sand and ignored the mounting anger. Following days of public demonstrations, the government was forced into producing another half a billion-euro for a range of measures aimed at mitigating the impact of high fuel costs. Over six months ago Sinn Féin brought forward a private members’ motion in the Dáil proposing a range of measures to tackle the cost of living crisis and the impact of rising energy costs. Households in the South were confronted by higher than average household bills as the numbers of families in energy arrears approached half a million. Electricity prices are the highest in Europe and gas prices are the 5th highest. Many energy suppliers had a...