Léargas

I have written to the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste calling on them to use the good offices of the Presidency of the EU to publicly raise the details contained in a report by the EU Heads of Mission in Jerusalem and Ramallah. The content of the report has only emerged in recent days although the report itself was handed over to EU governments in January. The report makes grim reading and is a scathing indictment of the Israeli government’s flouting of international law and its violation of the rights of Palestinian citizens living in East Jerusalem and the occupied territories. The report finds that the Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the west bank are ‘the biggest single threat to the two state solution.’ The EU report accuses the Israeli government of implementing a settlement policy that is ‘systematic, deliberate and provocative’. It concludes that Israel is pursuing a deliberate policy of seeking to drive Palestinians out of East Jerusalem through restrictive zoning...

On Monday evening the Fine Gael and Labour government announced that it was scrapping the Mobility Allowance Scheme and the Motorised Transport Grant Scheme . There was no prior notice given to the various disability groups, which the government claims to be regularly meeting, or to the Dáil. The Ombudsman described it as a ‘bolt out of the blue.’ The two schemes have been in operation for some years and it has been known for at least 13 years that they have been operating illegally under the Equal Status Act. They discriminate against a sizeable number of citizens who have been denied access to them. The Ombudsman raised the Mobility Allowance Scheme with the Department of Health in February 2009 and pointed out that the upper age limit applied by the scheme was illegal. The Department would have known this from as long ago as 2000 when the Equal Status Act was enacted. Last October the Ombudsman told the Dáil and Seanad that the two schemes were “ operating on the basis of ...

Reimagining Ireland 25 years ago next week Mairead Farrell, Dan McCann and Sean Savage died on the streets of Gibraltar. They were three extraordinary republicans. In their short lives they repeatedly demonstrated courage; resilience in the face of brutality, imprisonment and hunger strike; compassion; loyalty and a fierce commitment to building a different society on this island – a better Ireland – than that in which they had grown up. Their deaths at Gibraltar were a huge blow to their families. They were robbed of three warm, loving, and compassionate human beings. A father, a daughter, a sister, a brother, a son, a husband. For those of us who knew them we lost three good friends who still had much to offer the republican struggle, their communities and Ireland. Mairead, Dan and Sean were shaped by the political conditions into which they were born but also by the republicanism they espoused. They were all well read, articulate and politically very well informed. They h...

  Brother Beau agus mise   Last night I came face to face – sort of – with a very old friend. Brother Thomas Finbar Beausang – or wee Beau, as he was endearingly called by those of us he taught in St. Mary’s grammar school in Barrack Street and then on the Glen Road, was a renowned Irish language activist. His bust now proudly adorns the entrance to Gael Arás Mhic Ardghail, an Irish language cultural centre in Newry. Gael Áras Mhic Ardghail is the culmination of a huge amount of work by the Newry branch of Conradh na Gaeilge, in co-operation with Newry and Mourne Council; An Ciste Infheistíocha Gaeilge and many others. I was there to say a few words at the formal opening, in part because of the role Sinn Féin played in securing a £20 million package of funding for the Irish language from the British government at Hillsborough Castle in 2010. £8 million of this has gone to An Ciste Infheistíocha Gaeilge. The Ciste provides capital funding for Irish l...

Last week the Irish Central Bank held a conference on ‘How to fix distressed property markets’. In this state this issue is of huge importance because of the numbers of citizens in mortgage arrears. Despite the fact that the state has borrowed €67 billion and used €64 billion of this to recapitalise the banks there has been little evidence of the banks themselves seeking to address the mortgage arrears issue in a compassionate yet effective fashion. They have refused to engage credibly with distressed borrowers. And have stuck their heads in the sand over the obvious need for debt forgiveness for those borrowers who clearly cannot repay their debt. As the Irish Times acknowledged last week, ‘Debt forgiveness is inevitable. It is an unavoidable part of any major debt resolution process.’ Last October Fiona Muldoon, the Head of Banking Regulation at the Irish Central Bank was scathing in her criticism of the bankers and their failure to address the issue of mortgage distress. ...

This evening the Dáil has been debating the  McAleese report on the Magdalene Laundries. In my contribution to the debate I praised the Magdalene women: “Despite their experiences all those I have met have remained feisty, and strong and resilient and good humoured and some of them have relentlessly campaigned for justice over many years. They are more than victims and survivors they have become campaigners and role models for others in this state and beyond who seek justice and equality and freedom. The Magdalene women are an inspiration and this Dáil and the people of this island owes theme a debt of gratitude for their endeavours on behalf of each other and of all those who were victims of abuse.” I also  acknowledged and thanked the Taoiseach for his “fulsome and comprehensive apology on behalf of the state to the Magdalene women and to commend your remarks.” T he full text of my remarks:   “Taoiseach I want to welcome the survivors of th...