An Phoblacht April 2014

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anphoblacht

Sraith Nua Iml 37 Uimhir 4

April / Aibreán 2014

PRICE €2/£2

EASTER

1916

'We are out for economic as well as political liberty' JAMES CONNOLLY

Honour Ireland’s patriot dead – Wear an Easter Lily Caith Lile na Cásca – Tabhair ómós do laochra na hÉireann

Téigh chun do chumhneachán Cásca áitiúl | Attend your local Easter commemoration

Alexis Tsipras ANTI-AUSTERITY LEADER TALKS TO AN PHOBLACHT

OF SYRIZA GREEK COALITION OF THE RADICAL LEFT

MARTINA ANDERSON MEP making a difference

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anphoblacht

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IN PICTURES

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WHAT’S INSIDE 7 Sinn Féin/An Phoblacht YouTube hits 2million mark 8 Sinn Féin opposing privatisation of Belfast services 9 In Pictures – International Women’s Day 2014 10 & 11 Martina Anderson – An MEP making a difference on the ground

5 The California Irish Cultural Society organised a very successful Hunger Strikers Commemoration Event in O'Reilly's Irish Pub, San Francisco

5 Sinn Féin Councillors Eoin Ó Broin and Cathal King, EU candidate Lynn Boylan, Councillor Mícheál Mac Donncha and local candidate Paul Donnelly show their support for the proposal of a directly-elected Mayor of Dublin

12 & 13 Cumann na mBan veteran Marion Steenson talks to Trevor Ó Clochartaigh 14 Economist Morgan Kelly sets the cat among the pigeons 15 Easter commemorations 2014 16 & 17 Republican Roll of Honour 2014 18 Republican Roll of Remembrance 20 Remembering the Past: The founding of Cumann na mBan 100 years ago 21 Eoin Ó Murchú: Bí ar an airdeall faoi ról an AE san Úcráín 24 Book Reviews: The Citizen Army at war; and the trials of the 1916 leaders 25 Voting rights for Irish citizens in the North and the diaspora

26 & 27 Ireland’s unique and traditional foods and the battle for EU recognition, by Robert Allen

5 Longford County Council Sinn Féin candidate Barbara Smyth before taking part in ‘The People's Debate with Vincent Browne’ on TV3

5 Sinn Féin Councillors Liz Kimmins and Dáire Hughes with Róisín Marks, mother of IRA Volunteer Colum Marks (centre), at the Newry Easter Lily Launch

5 Sinn Féin Dublin EU candidate Lynn Boylan and local candidate Noeleen Reilly with Sabina Coyne, actress and wife of President Michael D Higgins, at the International Women’s Day ‘My Soap Box’ event. See page 8

5 Sinn Féin EU candidate for the Midlands North West 5 Sinn Féin runners and supporters at Connolly House in Belfast before bringing the leg of Rith 2014 from Connolly constituency Matt Carthy cuts turf in Monivea, Galway House to Kennedy Way as part of Seachtain na Gaeilge

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April / Aibreán 2014 3

Fresh Garda scandal rocks Irish Government Revelation that police station phone calls were bugged by Garda

Shatter should walk the plank

BY MARK MOLONEY THE SHOCK REVELATION that the Garda have been illegally recording phone calls at Garda stations for more than 30 years – coming on the same day as the sudden resignation of Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan (25 March) – has ramped up the pressure on Justice Minister Alan Shatter to also “walk the plank”, Sinn Féin TD Pádraig Mac Lochlainn said.

The recording of phone calls at Garda stations has such huge ramifications for the judicial process andconvictions that the Taoiseach personally briefed Gerry Adams and other party leaders before announcing to the Dáil that he has instituted a commission of inquiry into the practice.

Justice Minister Shatter was to make a statement to the Dáil as An Phoblacht went to press.

The Garda Commissioner chose to resign rather than apologise to the two Garda whistleblowers whose actions in exposing widespread malpractice within An Garda Síochána he described as “disgusting” when he appeared before the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee.

Fine Gael Transport Minister Leo Varadkar ramped up the public pressure on the Garda Commissioner (and Labour) by adding his voice to calls for an apology – eight weeks later Announcing his resignation, Callinan said he felt “recent developments were proving to be a distraction from the important work that is carried out by An Garda Síochána on a daily basis”.

Garda Sergeant Maurice McCabe and retired Garda John Wilson helped to expose the mishandling of cases and thousands of incidents where penalty points notices and fines were ‘fixed’ and cancelled on the Garda computer system.

On 23 January, while being quizzed by the Public Accounts Committee, the Commissioner (who was appointed to his positon by Fianna Fáil) described the actions of the two Garda whistleblowers as “disgusting”.

While Sinn Féin and Independent TDs had long called for the Garda Commissioner to withdraw the

remark and apologise or resign, he finally walked after Fine Gael Transport Minister Leo Varadkar – eight weeks later! – ramped up the public pressure on him by adding his voice to calls for an apology. The Labour Party then came out to play catch-up, with no fewer than five of their Cabinet ministers also belatedly calling for an apology.

Sinn Féin Justice Spokesperon Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, who chairs the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions, welcomed the Commissioner’s resignation, calling it “the right decision”.

Criticising the Commissioner for his attempts to downplay and dismiss reports of widespread malpractice within the police service, he added: “Worse, he repeatedly sought to discredit the credibility of the two whistleblowers which culminated in

Garda Sergeant Maurice McCabe

Retired Garda John Wilson

Justice spokesperson Pádraig Mac LochlainnTD

If Martin Callinan has to go because his position is untenable then the very man who defended him up until this point, Justice Minister Shatter, should go as well GERRY ADAMS

TD

the outrageous ‘disgusting’ comment at the Public Accounts Committee.”

Now the spotlight is firmly on Justice Minister Alan Shatter, who has come in for widespread criticism over his handling of the scandals.

In October, Shatter wrongly claimed that whistleblowers had not co-operated with the internal Garda inquiry into the penalty points issue.

Some claimed he misled the Dáil although there were claims he was given wrong information. Despite that, he refused to set the Dáil record straight, withdraw that allegation or apologise to the two whistleblowers.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn told Jonathan Healy on Newstalk radio on Tuesday 25 March immediately after the Garda Commissioner’s resignation that the Justice Minister too “should walk the plank.

Speaking on the Today with Seán O’Rourke show on RTÉ Radio following the Commissioner’s resignation, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD said: “The culture that Martin Callinan came to represent in the end was to attack the whistleblowers. The lead on that was given by the Minister for Justice who attacked them on a number of occasions and set the tone, right back to when he attacked Mick Wallace TD, who raised the issue in the first instance.

“If Martin Callinan has to go because his position is untenable then the very man who defended him up until this point, Justice Minister Shatter, should go as well.”

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anphoblacht Eagarfhocal

anphoblacht Editorial

An Irish Republic worthy of the name EASTER will see thousands of Irish republicans once again honour the memory of all those who gave their lives for Irish freedom by rededicating themselves to the continuing struggle for national, social and economic freedom.

Our objective is still an Irish Republic worthy of the name, the ideals and the sacrifice encapsulated in the Proclamation read by Pádraig Mac Piarais at the GPO in Dublin in Easter Week 1916.

Sinn Féin continues the struggle for national, social and economic freedom.

Sinn Féin has the will and the vision to make real changes in society.

The Proclamation of the heroes of the Easter Rising declared: “The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities of 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, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government, which have divided a minority in the past.”

Sinn Féin remains committed to making the basic tenets of the Easter Proclamation a reality, unlike the leaderships of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour who pay lip service while prosecuting policies of austerity on the many while they govern and wheel and deal in the interests of the few.

Partition and Tory ideology at Westminster blights the development of Ireland and impedes the development of an all-Ireland republic. Even the Alliance Party’s European elections candidate has said in the past fortnight that a united Ireland would be “better placed economically, socially and politically”.

And the conservative consensus that epitomises the leaderships of Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fáil is not one that reflects the aspirations of the men and women of 1916 nor serves the people of Ireland today.

Sinn Féin are the inheritors of a proud tradition, a tradition of resistance and rebellion.

While the methods and means may change, our goals remain the same.

The elections in May – where every voter in Ireland, North and South, has the chance to vote Sinn Féin – offers republicans an opportunity to significantly advance the cause of an Irish Republic.

Elections have always provided a platform for advancing the republican cause. In the 1918 general election, Sinn Féin swept to success; the 1981 H-Block elections saw the election of protesting prisoners Bobby Sands MP, Kieran Doherty TD and Paddy Agnew TD; there followed the elections that saw Gerry Adams voted in as MP for West Belfast; Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin in 1997 become the first Sinn Féin TD elected since 1957 and laid the foundations that saw 14 Sinn Féin TDs elected in 2011; and there have been the successive local council, Assembly and Westminster poll battles that saw Sinn Féin rise to become the largest nationalist party in the North.

Now republicans have the chance to follow in all these footsteps by delivering the best Sinn Féin election performance possible.

Politics is not a spectator sport for those who want to change society. Let’s go out and make that change.

BY MARGARET SKINNIDER CUMANN NA mBAN AND IRISH CITIZEN ARMY VOLUNTEER

First-hand account of Margaret’s active role prior to and after the 1916 Rising, including her inside story from the Republican garrison in the College of Surgeons on St Stephen's Green.

Margaret, who was the only female Volunteer wounded during the Rising, played a very active role for years after in the struggle for Irish freedom.

This book has Margaret's original text with photographs to compliment her narrative and a comprehensive introduction by historian Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD

Price €9.99 Plus p+p From: Sinn Féin Bookshop, 58 Parnell Square, Dublin 1.

Tel: (+353 1) 814 8542 Email: sales@sinnfeinbookshop.com

CONTACT

NEWS newsdesk@anphoblacht.com NOTICES notices@anphoblacht.com PHOTOS photos@anphoblacht.com HAVE YOU SUBSCRIBED TO AN PHOBLACHT ONLINE? SUBSCRIBE ONLINE to get your An Phoblacht delivered direct to your mobile device or computer for just €10 per 12 issues and access to An Phoblacht’s historic archives You also get IRIS the republican magazine FREE

www.anphoblacht.com

Thomas McGeary 30th anniversary THE family of Armagh man Thomas McGeary plan to mark the 30th anniversary of his death.

Thomas, from Collegeland in Armagh, was killed when a booby-trap bomb exploded under his car on the morning of 29 April 1984.

A member of the McGeary family, speaking to An Phoblacht, explained that after his killing “a group calling itself the Irish Freedom Fighters issued a statement

claiming responsibility for his death. To add to the enormous grief of our family the killers spuriously claimed Thomas was a ‘collaborator’.”

Republicans and the local community believe that this story was an attempt to excuse the brutal murder.

On the day of the killing, the Irish Republican Army issued a statement stating: “The IRA, contrary to uninformed

media speculation, was not involved in the bomb attack today in which a businessman was killed.”

That statement was carried in An Phoblacht on 3 May 1984.

Thomas McGeary was a married man and the father of seven children. He was a farmer and had family business interests on both sides of the Border, providing employment for people living in those areas.

AN PHOBLACHT is published monthly by Sinn Féin.

The views in An Phoblacht are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sinn Féin.

We welcome articles, opinions and photographs from new contributors but please contact the Editor first.

AN PHOBLACHT www.anphoblacht.com Kevin Barry House 44 Parnell Square, Dublin 1, Ireland Telephone: (+353 1) 872 6 100 Email: editor@anphoblacht.com Layout: production@anphoblacht.com – Mark Dawson

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BATTLE LINES BEING DRAWN BY LOYALISTS FOR MAY ELECTIONS

High Noon for unionism

BY PEADAR WHELAN

5 Unionists hurled abuse at participants of an Irish-language event on St Patrick’s Day

ON ST PATRICK’S DAY, Belfast Mayor Máirtín Ó Muilleoir held a reception for Irish-language enthusiasts in City Hall.

As Gaeilgeoirí arrived in family groups, or in knots of teenagers out for a bit of craic, unionist flag protesters who had gathered outside Belfast’s civic building hurled abuse at them.

The unionists at one point tried to storm the building but were thwarted by security guards.

An Irish News photographer was followed by ‘fleggers’ and assaulted on Royal Avenue.

Clearly these thugs came to the front of the City Hall in an attempt to frighten and intimidate nationalists celebrating their culture.

The irony (that the ‘flag protesters’ purporting to defend their culture find expression in assaults on Irish-language enthusiasts) will be lost on these bullies.

But this dichotomy goes to the heart of unionist politics. Indeed, it is the unionist dilemma.

It was summed up very crudely in an interview that the leader of the UVF-aligned Progressive Unionist Party, Billy Hutchinson, gave to the unionist News Letter daily newspaper on Wednesday 19 March.

Hutchinson has served a life sentence for the 1974 killing of two Catholics, Edward Morgan and Michael Loughran. He told the unionist daily that his actions helped prevent a united Ireland. He implied that the two building workers were in the IRA. The PUP leader said he had “no regrets in terms of my past because I contributed to preventing a united Ireland”.

It hasn’t gone unnoticed that on the day Hutchinson was drumming up political support for his party it was being reported that a senior UVF figure from east Belfast, David

5 Masked loyalists drove military vehicles up to police lines in Twaddell on 18 March

5 PUP leader Billy Hutchinson attempted to justify his sectarian murder of two young Catholic men in October 1974 McConnell, was convicted at Belfast Crown Court of possessing drugs with intent to supply. The conviction was related to a PSNI raid on a drugs factory in east Belfast. The

It will be interesting to see who blinks first 5 East Belfast UUP MLA Michael Copeland wrote a reference for a UVF drug dealer senior loyalist had a previous drugs conviction dating back to 2000.

East Belfast Ulster Unionist MLA Michael Copeland was one of a number of people who wrote a reference for McConnell. Copeland was at the centre of controversy last month when he signed McConnell into Stormont for a private meeting.

Needless to say, this laissez faire attitude that unionist politicians adopt when it comes to the activities of loyalist paramilitaries has permeated the unionist street politics of the past 16 months or so, since the decision by Belfast City Council to reduce the flying of the British flag on City Hall.

The PUP has, by and large, become the mouthpiece for the ‘fleggers’ while in the background the UVF has been supplying the muscle. The dogs in the street, as Martin McGuinness has said on many occasions, know this yet sen-

ior figures in both the main unionist parties ignore the violent reality of the so-called flag protests and stand with them or justify their thuggery.

This ‘pan-unionist coalition’ has solidified around the laughably named Twaddell Civil Rights Camp.

This was set up just yards from the Ardoyne interface in the days after the rioting that erupted when the PSNI blocked last year’s Twelfth passing through Ardoyne.

Since last July, nightly protests have been held as well as marches.

And on top of the cost of policing these protests (said to be £50,000 a day) there is the underlying sectarian intimidation and disruption as the area is sealed off.

Ardoyne residents have reported many instances of sectarian abuse directed at them from the camp.

An Phoblacht has been told by reliable sources that unionist residents from the Woodvale and Twadell area have dubbed it ‘Camp

Poison’, given the negativity associated with it.

Masked loyalists drove military vehicles up to police lines as part of their nightly protest on Tuesday 18 March. Members of the crowd were heard chanting and encouraging the drivers to ram the PSNI lines.

Senior DUP politicians including North Belfast MLA and Stormont Social Development Minister Nelson McCausland the area’s MP Nigel Dodds and William Humprey publicly support the charade that is the Twaddell camp.

This support sees them share platforms with members of the UDA and UVF as well as senior Orange Order figures who call for the protest to be “upscaled”.

It will be interesting to see who blinks first in the High Noon standoff as the DUP and PUP fight for the loyalist vote in the May elections.

The Twaddell coalition will count for nothing then.

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ANOTHER

VIEW

EOIN Ó BROIN

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Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour election ploys

Desperate to change the subject

WHAT do you do when you are losing an argument? Do you admit you are wrong?

Do you concede the point? Not if you’re in Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or Labour you don’t.

When confronted with the litany of broken promises and bad decisions the stock response of Government TDs and their Fianna Fail predecessors is to try and change the subject.

Last October, I was on The Late Debate RTÉ Radio show with Labour TD John Lyons. We were talking about the Government’s decision to cut Job Seeker’s Allowance to the under-25s by 40% – a decision which John supported.

When Fianna Fáil first cut JSA for the under21s in 2010, Labour strongly opposed it, saying that it would force young people to emigrate.

And they were right.

So how did John react when confronted with this uncomfortable fact? Did he hold his hands up and admit that Labour in government was

When Fianna Fáil cut Job Seeker’s Allowance for the under-21s in 2010, respond to the ever-desperate attempts by RULE NUMBER 2 Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour to deflect Promote Sinn Féin’s strong record in Labour strongly attention away from their own broken promthe Assembly ises and bad decisions. opposed it; Of course our opponents will keep trying to last October, change the terms of the debate. Don’t be defensive and don’t be evasive. Our record is one we RULE NUMBER 1 they supported it should be proud of.

Don’t let them change the subject doing exactly what Fianna Fáil did before them?

Did he accept that Labour in opposition and Labour in office were two very different things?

Oh, no.

John tried to change the subject. He informed the listeners that, in the North, job seeker’s payments to the under-25s had already been cut.

Unable to defend his own U-turn he tried to undermine Sinn Féin’s right to criticise on the grounds that, in the North, Sinn Féin are implementing the very same austerity policies that Fine Gael and Labour support down south.

Unfortunately for John, the truth is very different.

On his particular point the cuts to social welfare rates were made in Westminster, not in the Assembly – and Sinn Féin opposed the cuts. But why let the facts get in the way when you are so desperate to change the subject?

As election day approaches, we can expect to hear a lot more of this, particularly from Labour candidates keen to limit the damage of their party’s shocking performance in government.

You will also see Fianna Fail join this chorus when challenged with their own record in office.

So for those of you out on the campaign trail here is my handy guide on how to

When they throw the predictable ‘Sure, Sinn Féin in the North...’ line, get in there quick. Use the line, ‘You know someone is losing an argument when they try to change the subject.’

Keep the conversation focused on their broken promises and the impact of their austerity measures on hard-pressed families.

» We blocked water charges; » We blocked attempts to increase student fees; » We kept the regional rate in line with inflation; » We increased expenditure in education;

» We created a social hardship fund to off-set the worst impact of the Tory welfare cuts; » We are continuing to oppose the poverty-creating Welfare Reform Bill.

And we are doing all of this with a £4billion Tory cut in the block grant and without tax-raising powers to compensate, not to mention the very difficult work of keeping the Peace Process on track.

RULE NUMBER 3

Welcome our opponents’ interest in the North, no matter how belated and poorly informed Sinn Féin’s growing strength in the South is forcing Southern parties into Northern politics. That is a good thing. Of course, their knowledge is pretty poor, so don’t be shy in pointing this out.

Poor old John Lyons didn’t even know that social welfare rates are set in Westminster.

Others don’t understand that the Assembly doesn’t have tax-raising powers.

But now that they are interested, let’s get them on board with the campaign to transfer more powers to the Assembly, all the better to oppose austerity and make better decisions.

Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour are mistaken if they think that Sinn Féin’s Achilles Heel in this election is our record in the Assembly. The very opposite is the case.

5 Sinn Féin are opposed to cuts, North and South

So bring on the debate and let’s expose them both for running scared of their own record of broken promises and bad decisions in the South and their ignorance and disinterest in the North.

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April / Aibreán 2014 7

SINN FÉIN/AN PHOBLACHT

YOUTUBE HITS TWO MILLION MARK

BY MARK MOLONEY SINN FÉIN’S YouTube account (which features news reports, interviews and other videos provided by An Phoblacht) has passed two million views – more than the combined total of all the major Irish political parties, North and South.

Social media will be a key platform in the all-Ireland European and local elections in May. As smartphones and tablets have become commonplace, more and more people are informing their political opinions with what they see online.

Michael Nolan of Sinn Féin’s multimedia department told An Phoblacht: “Just three years ago, only a small number of people were accessing content on their mobile devices.

Now that figure is over 40% and growing rapidly.

“This has meant that we have to consider what content will play best on mobile devices and this has led

SOCIAL MEDIA’S KEY ROLE IN ELECTION BATTLES to Sinn Féin becoming the first Irish political party to create a fully responsive website capable of being viewed equally on mobile devices and PCs without loss of content or quality.”

Over the course of March, almost 75,000 people a week were seeing posts from ‘Sinn Féin Ireland’ on Facebook while over 21,000 people follow Sinn Féin on Twitter. Sinn

Féin remains the largest Irish party across the three platforms – YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

“We are delighted with the figures so far across all our social media platforms but can see that there is massive room to expand and improve,” said Michael Nolan.

“Although we have the most subscribers and followers of any political party in Ireland we feel we are only barely scratching the surface when it comes to engagement with the wider public.”

The level playing field of the web also makes it easier for parties that are normally sidelined or ignored by the mainstream media to get their message out.

“Social networks will play a key role in our upcoming election campaigns, North and South, and we will be encouraging our online supporters to play a greater role in spreading our political message,” Michael Nolan said. “Share, share and share again is the message we will be pushing between now and the elections in May.”

USING SMARTPHONES FOR CAMPAIGN VIDEO Always record video using your phone in the horizontal position never vertical. (Think of the shape of your TV.)

HORIZONTAL

#10 Twitter toppers WHICH IRISH POLITICANS HAVE THE MOST FOLLOWERS ON TWITTER? Gerry Adams (SF)

Follow the ‘rule of thirds’ when filming. (You will create a far more interesting shot if you position your subject using the rule of thirds.

So essentially in an interview situation your main subject will be to the left or right of centre. For scenery or cityscapes you will be using the horizontal lines to position your horizon line.)

On the screen, tap on the main subject of the shot to ensure it is properly focused.

When panning camera (moving across a subject or moving from one subject to another), do it in a

17,300

Gerry Kelly (SF)

44,300 David Norris (Ind)

33,600

16,300

Shane Ross (Ind)

Peter Robinson (DUP)

Martin McGuinness (SF)

Pearse Doherty (SF)

26,400

13,300

Luke Ming Flanagan (Ind)

Simon Coveney (FG)

27,100

17,400

15,100

13,300

MOST modern smartphones can now record high-quality video and audio for uploading to social media networks like Youtube and Vimeo.

Here are a FEW TIPS for making the best use of them.

CAMERA

slow and deliberate movement, pausing for a few seconds at start and finish of shot.

Use your phone’s video editing software to crop the video to the actual length of piece that you want to use. Try to keep your entire video under 3 minutes.

If your phone has two cameras, use the primary camera, which is usually located on the back of the phone. Give the lens a wipe with a soft dry cloth (or your T-shirt) before recording.

Hold the camera as steady as possible (use a tripod if possible).

Get close to the main subject, especially if you are depending on the built-in microphone for recording audio.

Enda Kenny (FG)

Upload it to your YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook or Twitter platform, ensuring that you give the video a suitable and understandable title as well as a brief explanation of its content.

Use phone in horizontal position when filming

RULE OF THIRDS

Always use camera on back of phone

FOCUS

If you believe your video is newsworthy for use by An Phoblacht then you should use a free large file transfer website like Wetransfer.com to send us a copy of the original recording.

DO NOT SEND AS AN EMAIL ATTACHMENT as the

Use the rule of thirds keeps your main subject at the interesting lines of the grid

quality of the video will be reduced.

Please include in message your name and a contact number as well as a brief description of what is happening in the video, who is involved and when and where it was filmed.

Tap on screen to focus on main subject

Search “International Justice Day for Cleaners” on YouTube for a sample video report filmed on iPhone

Send to: editor@anphoblacht.com with the tag VIDEO in subject line and brief (four or five words) title.

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COUNCILLOR

JIM McVEIGH

We believe dedicated public servants, with the maximum democratic oversight, are best placed to manage public services

SINN FÉIN LEADER ON BELFAST CITY COUNCIL

BEL FAST SINN FÉIN MAKING IT

A CITY

HALL FOR ALL OVER the past year, Sinn Féin in Belfast City Council have been pushing the Council to invest £105million in new leisure facilities across Belfast.

In west Belfast, this means that the Council stands ready to build a brand new £19million facility in Andersonstown and a brand new £10million facility in Twinbrook.

We have pushed for this investment because we believe our communities deserve top-class leisure facilities. We have also been keen to do whatever we can to boost our construction industry and to provide much-needed jobs. That is why we have also insisted that all of these large capital projects must have strong social clauses attached, ensuring that local people – particularly our long-term unemployed – have access to apprenticeships and the opportunity to work and learn a trade.

We believe that Belfast City Council should provide top-class public services, but we also believe that public facilities should be managed by the Council. That is why Sinn Féin has consistently opposed privatisation or indeed the establishment of a not-for-profit Trust to manage our facilities. We believe dedicated public servants, with the maximum democratic oversight, are best placed to manage public services.

On Friday 21 February, at our Strategic Policy and Resources Committee meeting, Sinn Féin was the only party to vote against the establishment of a not-for-profit trust that will in the future manage our facilities. Every other party voted in favour of such a proposal.

We have consistently opposed the introduction of such a management model because we share the concerns of our hard-working staff and the trade unions that such an arm’s-length structure could lead in the future to a loss of democratic control and might undermine the public influence over future decisions in relation to our leisure services.

Despite these concerns we have made sure that this substantial investment will secure the jobs of our staff, create new jobs and, most importantly, deliver first-class facilities for the communities we represent.

There is no question of job losses – quite the contrary. This investment will secure the long-

Sinn Féin has consistently opposed privatisation or the establishment of a not-for-profit trust to manage our facilities

We have also supported the introduction of a living wage within Belfast City Council

4 Jim McVeigh and other Sinn Féin members take part in a trade union protest at Belfast City Hall

term future of jobs within our leisure facilities.

At a time of economic crisis, this £105million investment right across Belfast, on top of our £150million investment already announced early last year, will provide a much-needed shot in the arm for our economy.

In addition, we have also supported the introduction of a living wage within Belfast City Council. We believe the Council should give leadership and adopt a policy of paying the living wage to our employees. Thankfully, most of our 2,600 employees already receive above the living wage, but for those that do not, it is time that the Council gave an example to other employers right across the city.

Belfast Council now has an exemplary record of investment in communities and active support for the most deprived and marginalised in this city. This significant investment will go

where it is needed most and will go a long way in assisting the battle against poor health and health inequalities.

Last year we were the first council in Ireland and Britain to pass a motion in support of marriage equality. In August of last year we lit the City Hall up the colours of the rainbow in support of Gay Pride, as well as green on St Patrick’s Day and orange on the Twelfth.

We introduced the Irish language into the City Hall, and in 2016 the city will host a civic dinner to remember the Easter Rising of 1916.

We have shown the way by investing £255million in our city economy in a way that is fair and equitable. Few would have believed that these changes were possible.

Sinn Féin has helped make Belfast City Hall a symbol of a better Belfast, a more equal, inclusive and tolerant place – a City Hall for all.

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International Women’s Day 2014

5 Women activists from across the generations with a contingent from ex-prisoners’ group Tar Anall’s ‘Over-50s Women’ take part in the International Women’s Day and Cumann na mBan celebration event in Stormont. The author of ‘Unmanageable Revolutionaries: Women and Irish Nationalism’, Margaret Ward, was the main speaker

5 Sinn Féin’s Dublin EU candidate Lynn Boylan speaks at the ‘My Soap Box’ event at the GPO in Dublin

5 Flowers for Magdalenes event Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin. (Clockwise from top left) Mary Lou McDonald TD and Magdalene Laundries survivor Martina Keogh; children at a Magdalene Laundries gravestone; and flowers are placed on Magdalene Laundries graves

5 An equality protest on International Women's Day outside the Central Bank in Dublin

5 International Women’s Day is marked in the Memorial Garden at the Roddy McCorley Club, Belfast, with a highlysuccessful day of events by republican women from the Macha group to mark and celebrate the role of women in the Irish struggle. Former Armagh POW Bridie McMahon recites a speech of Máire Drumm, Vice-President of Sinn Féin, assassinated by loyalist gunmen in a Belfast hospital in 1976

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MARTINA ANDERSON

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is one of the most recognisable female republican activists in Ireland – and internationally – and rightly so, given her impressive CV. Martina has held many high profile roles within

Sinn Féin since being released from a British prison in 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

Her roles have included All-Ireland Co-ordinator, Unionist Outreach Co-ordinator, MLA for Foyle, Junior Minister in OFMdFM, and now a sitting MEP. The extensive travelling and workload between Ireland and the European Parliament

institutions in Brussels and Strasbourg takes a grueling toll on active MEPs’ schedules, so An Phoblacht considered itself lucky for DALE MOORE to get the opportunity to speak to Martina about herself and her past roles, her current roles and how she views May’s European elections.

An MEP making a difference How did you get involved in politics?

I was born in the Bogside. My father – a Derry Protestant who converted to Catholicism when he married my mother, Betty McCaul – was opposed to the gerrymandered administration he knew would deny his young family fair employment opportunities.

It was my mother though who was more vocal, active and militant. I am very proud of that, given the fact that in those days women weren’t supposed to be political yet she made her mark, not only on the family but on the entire community. I have obviously taken my political activism from them.

They raised our family in the Lecky Road and latterly in Lisfannon Park, in a house where I still live.

Bloody Sunday, even though I was young at the time, made a big impression on me and others in my family. My brother Peter had joined the Republican Movement and found himself imprisoned; by the time I was in my teens I had also joined the IRA. Would you get involved in a different way looking back at the time you spent in jail?

The circumstances at the time dictated the decisions people took and – at that time – I don’t think there was an alternative that would have delivered the outcomes needed to bring about equality for republicans/nationalists.

Someone once wrote on Derry Walls during the 1980s, “God made the Catholics and the Armalite made us equal”. While that is a crude statement of the time, I and many others could

Sinn Féin is the only party standing European Parliament candidates on an all-Ireland basis:

Lynn Boylan (Dublin), Liadh Ní Riada (South), Martina Anderson MEP (Six Counties) and Matt Carthy (Midlands-North-West) understand the sentiments and I believe that the armed struggle was necessary. However, things have thankfully moved on and we now have a peace process where equality has become the watchword in which I judge the political progress which is being made.

Obviously I would change going to jail, especially in Britain, and the trials and tribulations

that that brought for my comrades, my family and myself.

The prison authorities showed intense hostility towards me and Ella O’Dwyer, who was captured with me. We were strip-searched, isolated, shared a jail with hundreds of cockroaches, and denied basic rights, like visits being cancelled at the last minute.

Despite the violations and humiliations I was always conscious of protecting my mother from the worst realities of life for an Irish republican prisoner in a British jail.

I also threw myself into education, studying around the clock so by the time of my release I had obtained a First Class Honours Degree.

The British attempted to defeat the republican struggle through the prisons but what they actually did was create a highly-motivated and educated activist base that has brought us to where we are today. I also met all sorts of people from different backgrounds or experiences, which in turn gave me experience in dealing with people in my subsequent role in political life.

Whoever christened prison ‘the University of Life’ wasn’t far off the mark, so although it was tough I came away from it a stronger person.

Had you any second thoughts about immersing yourself back into political struggle after your release?

None at all – although if someone had told me

back then I would be a Member of the European Parliament I would have told them that they were mad!

I had just wanted to remain active and play a role in the party.

I was released at a time of massive political change and election upon election came at us at such a speed I never had time for a breath . . . but it was great as we were going in the right direction.

I found myself every quickly on the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle, All-Ireland Co-ordinator and then Unionist Outreach officer for the party.

These were important roles that allowed me not only to meet people from across Ireland in the unionist community (many of whom remain friends today) but also to see that the unionist tradition has suffered from the same economic and social problems that nationalists have faced.

As a republican the ultimate goal remains the creation of a unitary state based upon equality so taking on the role of All-Ireland Co-ordinator was a job I really relished.

I helped develop the Sinn Féin programme of work, which was informed by a number of documents that I had overseen, including their development and adoption.

These included Rights for All, Integration Towards Reunification, Green Paper on Irish Unity, an all-Ireland spatial strategy, and expanding the role of implementation bodies. This work

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April / Aibreán 2014 11

5 Martina at the 2013 Derry Volunteers commemoration

5 Bairbre de Brún, Martina Anderson, Gráinne Mhic Geidigh and Mary Lou McDonald at 2010 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis

5 Martina Anderson takes her seat in the European Parliament

5 Martina addresses a Bloody Sunday commemoration continues as we have seen with the ‘Uniting Ireland’ campaign, which has been a great success I was then asked to stand for the Assembly election in 2007 and the rest, as they say, is history.

Was it daunting, standing for election and taking on an elected role?

Of course I was nervous not only standing for election but also the fact I was replacing Mitchel McLaughlin, one of the stalwarts of our struggle, made it even more of a challenge.

Going into Stormont was not only an eyeopener but also a major learning curve in how we can bring about change through the democratic process.

The Sinn Féin team hit the floor running, proving to the electorate we could improve their lives – and we were rewarded with an increased mandate during the last election.

What was your favourite political role?

Working with Martin McGuinness was a gift as he is so energetic, forward-thinking and passionate about making the Peace Process and republican project work yet always made time to pass on his knowledge. It was through this experience that I developed the confidence to take on the position as MEP. As Junior Minister I was centrally involved in driving the historical institutional abuse inquiry and co-chaired the EU Barosso task force.

5 Martina in 2008 with her comrade Ella O’Dwyer who was captured with her The Office of the First and deputy First Minister also dealt with issues like equality and the eradication of poverty, something that I campaign on day and daily.

Your role in Europe – do you feel you can make a difference?

When the party asked me to put my name forward to take on the role of MEP I was honoured but again apprehensive in that I was following Bairbre de Brún, who pioneered our European operation and made a major impact in making it relevant to people on the ground.

The scale of the European Parliament is staggering, especially coming from an Assembly of 108 representatives to one of 751. This term, Ireland will have 14 MEPs (3 from the North and 11 from the South), so achieving even one more seat will be a major boost for the party.

It is impossible to cover every topic in Europe so it is crucial that we make alliances so that we have influence across the board. Sinn Féin has teamed up with GUE/NGL in a partnership that has served both of us well. [The European United Left/Nordic Green Left is a group of 35 MEPs from 13 member states and 18 political parties.]

I did not realise just how much of a difference an MEP can make and the impact it can have in creating a better society for everyone.

As tobacco kills millions each year, I am proud that I was centrally involved in making legislation that will control the sale of tobacco, including removing chocolate and strawberry flavour

5 Martina with Alex Maskey and her husband Paul Kavanagh

cigarettes from the market and having images on packs and pouches.

The aim is to stop children starting to smoke and therefore protect their health but this example is only a small part of the work we have done over the past five years.

European law now accounts for the majority of standards and laws that affect our society. It is also a major funder of projects in our communities and is essential to our fishing and farming industries.

One of the outlining principles of Sinn Féin’s strategy in Europe is making it accessible to as many people and different sectors as possible.

During my term I have visited every constituency in the North several times, from meeting farmers in rural Ireland and hosting seminars in city centres to taking part in campaigns and protests.

Companies, charities, campaigning groups and local government have traditionally been slow to access the many funding streams in Europe, therefore losing out on millions of pounds that could have been invested in our communities. One of my intentions was to make it easier for people to see what funding was available and how to successfully apply for it. I have held several seminars across the North, bringing together European officials, business people and statutory agencies to allow people to better access to these funds.

Agriculture is always on top of the European agenda and I have recently held three meetings

across the North. In Ballymena, over 200 local farmers turned out to listen. In the Sperrins we had to get an overflow room due to the turn-out and the Clogher Valley centre was filled to the brim. We discussed the Common Agriculture Policy, Single Farm Payments and the needs of the local farming industry and how we could influence European policy.

It is also important that people are brought to the heart of the European Parliament to have their point heard and ensure that they realise that, like all parliaments, it is there to serve the people. I am committed to bringing people to Europe and Europe to them.

I have taken many groups to mainland Europe – from victims and survivors, sports associations, health groups to young people looking to explore educational and employment opportunities. This helps dispel the perception that the European Parliament is just a red tape bureaucratic talking shop and it allows our community to see the importance of electing strong representatives.

How do you relax?

Although I have a hectic schedule, the main chance I get to relax is when I sleep!

My husband Paul is my rock and greatest support and we try to get away for a holiday once a year where we can switch off and spend some time together. It is also good to open the door of my home in the Bogside and see my mum after a long week in Europe.

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A GREAT FEMALE REPUBLICAN INSPIRED BY HER MOTHER’S DEDICATION TO THE STRUGGLE

MARION STEENSON Laoch imeasc na mBan

BY TREVOR Ó CLOCHARTAIGH MARION STEENSON (neé Murphy) is a formidable woman. She had to be. As a youthful 87-year-old, the most striking thing about meeting her is the clarity with which she recalls her upbringing in a republican household steeped in history and the fearless way in which she still espouses her beliefs without fear or favour.

Ní h-aon ribín réidh í Marion. Laoch imeasc laochra sa ghluaiseacht poblachtánach – a bhfuil tuairimí láidre fós aici faoin streachailt leanúnach.

When we meet in the home near Fairview Park in Dublin which she has lived in all her life, Marion tells me that she is proud of being a republican. “I was born into it. It was a great life.

I never changed my principles for anybody.”

It was inevitable that Marion would become involved with republicanism. She talks particularly about the influence her mother had on her.

“My mammy was in Cumann na mBan, the Citizen Army and the Red Cross corps and she worked with Nurse O’Farrell in the ProCathedral. She was an amazing woman. She was only 17.”

Marion’s mother, Martha Kelly, was active in the Irish Citizen Army in the GPO. Her father was Captain Michael Murphy, who fought in Bolands Mill, in 1916. Both are listed as taking an active part during Easter week 1916 and they are reported to have met in Kilmainham Jail while being held as prisoners.

On release they married and moved into the house which Marion still occupies. They both died relatively young, leaving 16 children (eight boys and eight girls) behind, of whom Marion raised the younger.

Marion recollects those early days and particularly the formative influence her mother had on her.

“There was always politics here. The [Irish

Republican] Army used to use our front room at night. She never spoke of anything else. It was always politics. We were on our own here (in North Strand). But we had lovely neighbours.

Actually, this was real Church of Ireland because a lot of the houses down there, artisan dwellings, they built them for the Church of Ireland.

“Everything was culture,” Marion continues.

“Coiste na bPáistí for the youngsters. Get them ready for the Gaeltachts. I was wreath bearer in Clann na nGael and I danced for commemorations. Used to dance in ‘Bulfin’ for the craobh.”

Míníonn si dom go raibh dlúthbhaint ag an am sin idir an dream a bhí gníomhach sa ghluaiseacht agus an dream a bhí gníomhach ó thaobh na Gaeilge de.

“It was the same people in both. We were all just connected. I was out of school at 14. We used to go to Irish classes. My parents didn’t speak Irish. We used to go to the ceilis. Outside I always spoke Irish. We’d go out to the mountains with friends on a Sunday and it would be all Irish.

I did my fáinne exam with Máirtín Ó Cadhain. He was a lovely man.”

During this time Marion was also becoming immersed in the Republican Movement and the activities that would shape her future life and political philosophy.

“When I was young, Clann na nGael was the first thing. They were the girl scouts. When we were in Clann you went to anything that was on – Irish on a Monday night, something else on a Thursday. That’s the way we were brought up.

Some of my sisters were in Cailíní when they were young and you could go into Cumann na

5 Marion's sister Anna poses for a photo with two members of Fianna Éireann at Bodenstown

5 Marion Steenson at the GPO in Dublin with a wreath taking part in the 2008 Dublin North Inner City Folklore Project to commemorate the forgotten women of Easter 1916 mBan afterwards but they didn’t. I was in Cumann na mBan. You didn’t do that much really because that was after the 1940s and it was banned. They brought out internment then.”

She explained to me what role Cumann na mBan played at that time.

“I was involved up to the time I was married really. We had a meeting every week. We used to do collections for the internees and then we used to get food parcels ready for them to send down, somebody went down every Saturday.

And we’d have concerts and different things for them. We were very well supported locally.”

Marion met her husband, Leo Steenson, another dedicated republican, at a public meeting. A Belfast man, Leo was involved in the IRA campaign of the 1950s and eventually settled in Dublin, where he met Marion through her brothers.

She talks about her husband and the effect the republican struggle had on the family.

“Leo was involved and when you have a family you had to look after them. There were no babysitters then. I had five children: four boys and a girl. That changed the whole thing. I didn’t know much [about Leo’s prominent role in the IRA]. It’s only when he died that some of the fellas would tell you how he was involved.

“I still went to anything I could. We used to go up with Cumann Carad, to Joe Cahill’s father.

They had a little shop on the Falls Road and [Leo] used to go up on a Saturday morning and have breakfast there.

“My youngest brother was in Belfast in the ‘56 campaign. He was last to be released and another one was interned here. After all that Mammy

‘You’ll be coming to see me in jail because I wouldn’t pay my Property Tax’ Cumann na mBan veteran Marion Steenson, aged 87 done and they were jailing us, the Special Branch gave her an awful time.”

State forces were a constant shadow over the Steenson household also, but Marion recalls with great humour that she and her family always got the better of them.

“They raided the house regular alright. I was in hospital with the second one, Pádraic, and a sister of mine was here and they came to raid. It was a false alarm but they shovelled all the coal out of the back. There was nothing there and

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Marion’s mother, Martha Kelly, was active in the Irish Citizen Army in the GPO when they wanted her to put it back she wouldn’t and they were looking for soap to wash their hands she wouldn’t give it, saying: ‘I didn’t send for you and ask you to do that.’”

The house was always a safe haven for republicans and they would outfox the authorities in helping out comrades in need throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

I ask Marion what she thinks of the current crop of Sinn Féin representatives and the move away from the armed struggle towards democratic politics.

“You are better in it trying to do something than outside. I must say I like Mary Lou McDonald a lot. She speaks very well.”

The Cumann na mBan veteran still aspires to a united Ireland but isn’t sure that the unionist rump will ever be ready to agree to equality.

“And while we have that [Fine Gael/Labour] Government we still have the element of the Blueshirts about the place. Enda Kenny says we’re closer to Britain now than we ever were.

And sure they have given everything away. Look at the ESB, the fishing, the farmers, the turf. I think they’ve sold us out, to be honest with you.

“I asked [Labour Party minister and local TD]

Joe Costello the other day, how could the Labour Party go with the conservative party, Fine Gael. Two different policies. Do you know what he said to me? That Clann na Poblachta went with Fianna Fáil.

“Another thing I go mad about is Seán Kelly.

He brought the GAA down. And he walked out and joined Fine Gael – two different policies.

And there”s another thing with Cumann Lúthchleas Gael, they seem to have lost an awful lot. They never use ‘Cumann Lúthchleas Gael’.

And the way they stand for Amhrán na bhFiann, they’re a disgrace. I mean, whoever taught them to stand with their arms around each other?”

Croke Park was also the catalyst for a former Taoiseach being reprimanded by Marion.

“Bertie Ahern was going around here for the election at the time the English queen was coming or the rugby match with England was on. He

5 A family photo shows members of Cumann na mBan on parade

‘I was born into republicanism.

It was a great life.

I never changed my principles for anybody’ shook my hand and I said I’m going to watch you tomorrow to see if you’re going to stand for God Save the Queen and he said to me, ‘Well what do you want me to do?’

“I said ‘I don’t care what you do’ but I showed him that photograph of Bloody Sunday in Croke Park and said ‘Croke Park wasn’t built for that.’”

The influence of Marion’s mother is ever-pres-

ent, even as she explains why she still fights against unfair policies being imposed by this Fine Gael/Labour Government.

“She was an amazing woman. She was only 17 and that’s why you’ll be coming to see me in jail.

I wouldn’t pay my Property Tax. So I got a letter a month ago saying I had to have it paid by March, and all the things they can do. They can dock it out of my pension and I’m waiting to see if they do because they have no right to – it’s illegal. I’m still battling.”

Agus níl aon dabht orm go bhfanfaidh Marion ag troid ar son a cuid prionsabail poblachtánacha fad agus is féidir léi. Eiseamláir iontach is ea í do phoblachtánaithe an lae inniú agus sampla iontach do na mná, ach go h-áirithe i mbliain seo comórtha céad bliain ar bhunú Chumann na mBan. Go mairfidh Marion céad agus ós a chionn!

5 Marion Steenson shows Trevor Ó Clochartaigh medals awarded to her parents for their part in the Easter Rising and Tan War

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UCD economist who got it right before crash warns about ‘clean-up’ of Irish banks fall-out

Morgan Kelly sets the cat among the pigeons

BY EOIN Ó MURCHÚ THE UCD economist Morgan Kelly has certainly put the cat among the pigeons with his warning that a new European Central Bank ‘clean-up’ of Irish banks (a new stress test which is on the way) could force large numbers of small business throughout the state to collapse, with the loss of thousands of jobs.

Morgan Kelly was the man who predicted most accurately the scale of the economic collapse in the 2008-2011 period, and his debunking of Fianna Fáil’s theory of a soft landing was warmly applauded by the Fine Gael dominated media.

But that was Fianna Fáil’s time. Now Fine Gael is in government with its Labour Party supporters and the Government is trying to pretend that we have turned the corner, that

5 The Government’s policies may guarantee Ruairí Quinn and Eamon Gilmore a good pension but will condemn the rest of us to penury

Morgan Kelly was the man who predicted most accurately the scale of the economic collapse in 2008-2011 job growth is back and sustainable, that austerity has worked, and all is fine with the world.

Kelly was elevated almost to sainthood because of his savage criticisms of Fianna Fáil’s disastrous mistakes, but while the media couldn’t ignore his comments completely, the story was made a one-day wonder. There is no follow-up on his argument and no deeper analysis and discussion of what he had to say, just a plaintive whine from Labour’s Joan Burton that she hoped he was “erring on the pessimistic side”.

What Kelly has drawn attention to is the heavy burden of debt that plagues Irish small businesses (the engine of any future real growth in our economy) along with the massive levels of personal debt.

Mark Fielding, spokesperson of the small business association ISME, has tried to dismiss the argument by claiming “there is no reason for European Central Bank boss Mario

5 ‘Tying ourselves to the ECB is a suicidal strategy’ Draghi to enforce such rigorous action – we have been the best boys in class so far. It would not be in their best interest,” he said.

He also claimed that, of the €57billion in debts held by SMEs, €32billion was in property that was not core to the business. This begs the question of how this debt is to be repaid, if at all.

And if it can’t be repaid, the banks must make provision for further heavy losses.

Or is Fielding and the ISME arguing that the stress test will be a fraud and that the European Central Bank are not serious because we have been “the best boys in class”?

This level of self-delusion is frightening, but it does remind us that the state has poured billions into making sure that the banks could

meet their debts to German and European banks while it has done nothing to guarantee working capital for Irish business, let alone expansion capital.

For Fielding, the €25billion non-property debt being carried by SMEs is okay and no problem, but the same question arises who is to pay this debt and how.

On top of this, we have the huge levels of personal debt carried by individuals. Despite all the fine talk from the Government, nothing substantial has been done here. As Sinn Féin Finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty has said, the number of mortgages more than 90 days in arrears is now twice what is was two years ago.

Where is the progress in this area? Where is the corner being turned?

The fact is that Government policy remains completely committed to making sure that the European banking system survives no matter what the cost to the Irish people.

We should, of course, never have poured the billions into the black hole of the banks. A new state banking system should have been established instead and the old banks allowed to fail, just as happened in Iceland.

For half the amount of money that we have given the Germans and other foreign bankers we could have rebuilt an economy on jobs with decent wages for Irish people.

Much has been wasted (too much), but it is not too late to start anew.

We should take the lessons of Morgan Kelly’s warning and recognise that tying ourselves to the European Central Bank is a suicidal strategy.

We need to break with the European

5 Sinn Féin Finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty Central Bank, use existing wealth to equalise debt and provide the space for productive investment in jobs.

For the role of the state is not just to create a climate that helps investment: the state has a crucial role in direct job provision, especially in building new infrastructure, social housing for the thousands on the waiting lists and new schools and health centres so desperately needed throughout the country.

But you won’t get that from any of the mainstream parties, or from Labour while it is tied to Fine Gael. That policy may guarantee Eamon Gilmore and Ruairí Quinn a good pension but it will condemn the rest of us to penury.

No, we need change, and we must vote for change. NOW.

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ARMAGH • SATURDAY 19 APRIL 10:30am Maghery, Wreath Laying Ceremony 12:30pm Portadown, Local Speaker 3:00pm Lislea, Wreath Laying Ceremony 5:00pm Killeen, Wreath Laying Ceremony 6:00pm Jonesboro, Wreath Laying Ceremony 6:30pm Dromintee, Wreath Laying Ceremony 7:00pm Mullaghban, Wreath Laying Ceremony • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 09:45am Crossmaglen, Speaker: Barry McElduff 10:00am Keady, Wreath Laying Ceremony 10:30am Camlough, Speaker: Roisín Mulgrew 10:45am Tullysaran, Wreath Laying Ceremony 12 noon Derrymacash, Local Speaker 2:00pm Ballymacnab, Local Speaker 2:30pm Lurgan, Speaker: Chris Hazzard 4:30pm Cullyhanna, Speaker: Michelle Gildernew • MONDAY 21 APRIL 11:00am Blackwatertown, Wreath Laying Ceremony 2:00pm Armagh City, Speaker: Carál Ní Chuilín 5:00pm Belleek, Wreath Laying Ceremony

April / Aibreán 2014 15

Honour Ireland’s patriot dead Wear an Easter Lily Caith Lile na Cásca Tabhair ómós do laochra na hÉireann

2014

EASTER

Attend your local Easter commemoration Téigh chun do chumhneachán Cásca áitiúl

COMMEMORATIONS

LONGFORD • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 2:00pm Longford Town, Speaker: Martin Kenny

LOUTH • SATURDAY 19 APRIL 11:00am Quay Street, Dundalk, Wreath Laying Ceremony 2:00pm Knockbridge, Wreath Laying Ceremony • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 12 noon St Peter’s Church, Drogheda, Speaker: Cathal Boylan 2:30pm Market Square, Dundalk, Speaker: Francie Molloy

MAYO • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 10:00am Achill Island, Speaker: Wreath Laying Ceremony 3:00pm Kilkelly, Speaker: Pearse Doherty

MEATH • SATURDAY 19 APRIL 4:00pm Oldcastle, Main Commemoration, Speaker: Peadar Tóibín • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 12 noon Ardbraccen, Speaker: Joe Reilly 12 noon Ashbourne, Speaker: Darren O’Rourke 12 noon Ballinlough, Speaker: Conor Ferguson 12 noon Drumree, Speaker: Maria O’Kane 12 noon Longwood, Speaker: Ken Foley 12 noon Navan, Speaker: Sinead Burke 12 noon Slane, Speaker: Eimear Ferguson

BELFAST • FRIDAY 18 APRIL 1:00pm Ormeau Road, Fian Jim Templeton Memorial, Wreath Laying Ceremony • SATURDAY 19 APRIL 2:30pm Whitewell, Speaker: Carál Ní Chuilín 5:00pm Short Strand, An Tine Beo, Speaker: Niall Ó Donnghaile 5:00pm South Link Memorial Gardens, Andersonstown, Speaker: Emma Groves 6:30pm Colin, Twinbrook Memorial, Speaker: Bill Groves • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 10:30am Memorial Garden, Market Area, Wreath Laying Ceremony 11:00am Carrick Hill, Speaker: JJ Magee 12:15pm Clonard Martyrs Memorial Garden, Wreath Laying Ceremony 1:00pm Beechmont Avenue, Main Commemoration, Speaker: Martina Anderson • MONDAY 21 APRIL 12 noon Newington, Wreath Laying Ceremony 1:00pm New Lodge, Speaker: Jennifer McCann • TUESDAY 22 APRIL 1:00pm Ardoyne, Speaker: Gerry Kelly 3:30pm New Barnsley, Wreath Laying Ceremony

MONAGHAN • SATURDAY 19 APRIL 7:30pm Inniskeen, Wreath Laying Ceremony • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 3:30pm Monaghan Town, Speaker: Martin McGuinness • MONDAY 21 APRIL 12 noon Scotshouse, Speaker: Daithí McKay 3:00pm Clones, Speaker: Daithí McKay

OFFALY • SATURDAY 19 APRIL 3:00pm Cadamstowen, Birr, Wreath Laying Ceremony • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 2:00pm Edenderry, Speaker: Dessie Ellis

ROSCOMMON • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 3:00pm Castlerea, Speaker: Michael Colreavey

SLIGO

CAVAN

• SUNDAY 20 APRIL 3:00pm Sligo Town, Speaker: Rose Conway Walsh

• SUNDAY 20 APRIL 2:30pm Kiltoughter, Speaker: Phil Flanagan

TIPPERARY

CARLOW/KILKENNY

• SUNDAY 20 APRIL 2:30pm Fethard, Local Speaker 3:00pm Nenagh, Speaker: Seamus Morris

• SATURDAY 19 APRIL 12 noon Mooncoin, Speaker: Caitríona Ruane 3:00pm Kilkenny Town, Speaker: Caitríona Ruane

TYRONE

CLARE • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 3:00pm Clonlohan Cemetery, Speaker: Mike McKee

CORK • SATURDAY 19 APRIL 8:00pm Bantry, Wreath Laying Ceremony • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 11:00am Macroom, Wreath Laying Ceremony 11:00am Youghal, Speaker: Liadh Ní Riada 11:30am Clonakilty, Speaker: Paul Hayes 12:30pm Bandon, Speaker: Martin Ferris 2:00pm Cork City, Speaker: Martin Ferris

DERRY & ANTRIM • SATURDAY 19 APRIL WREATH LAYING CEREMONIES 4:00pm Glenariff; 5pm Glenravel; 5:45pm Cargin, 6:30pm Moneyglass; 7:15pm Park Village • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 12:15pm Dungiven, Local Speaker 2:00pm Westland Street, Derry City, Speaker: Mary Lou McDonald 2:30pm The Loup, Speaker: Pat Sheehan WREATH LAYING CEREMONIES 10:00am Rasharkin; 10:30am Maghera; 10:45am Coolcalm; 10:45am Newbridge; 11:40am Lavey; 11:45am Bellaghy; 11:45am Dunloy; 12:30pm Loughgiel; 12:30pm Kilrea, 1:00pm Shantallow, Racecourse Road; 1:00pm Waterside, Rose Court; 1:30pm Creggan, Central Drive; 1:30pm Bogside, Lecky Road; 1:30pm Brandywell: • MONDAY 21 APRIL 2:30pm Swatragh, Speaker: Paul Maskey

DONEGAL • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 10:00am Donegal Town, Clar, Wreath Laying Ceremony 11:00am Letterkenny, Speaker: Gerry McMonagle

11:30am Glencolmcille, Speaker: Noel Jordan 12 noon Drumoghill, Speaker: Gerry McMonagle 12 noon Castlefinn, Speaker: Gary Doherty 12 noon Buncrana, Speaker: Matt Carthy 12:15pm Gweedore, Speaker: John Sheamais Ó Fearraigh 3:00pm Drumboe, Main Commemoration, Speaker: Matt Carthy 6:00pm Drumkeen, Wreath Laying Ceremony • MONDAY 21 APRIL 12:30pm Carrigart, Speaker: Mick Quinn 3:00pm Pettigo, Speaker: Matt Carthy 3:00pm Fanad, Speaker: Mick Quinn

DOWN • SATURDAY 19 APRIL 7:00pm Downpatrick, Wreath Laying Ceremony • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 12:15 pm Patrick Street, Newry City, Speaker: Gerry Kelly 3:15pm Down Road Car Park, Newcastle, Wreath Laying Ceremony 4:00pm Lower Square, Castlewellan, Speaker: Michelle O’Neill

DUBLIN • FRIDAY 18 APRIL 1:00pm Arbour Hill, Speaker: Lynn Boylan • SATURDAY 19 APRIL 12:00am Ballyfermot, Local Speaker 1:00pm South East Inner City, Speaker: Chris Andrews 2:00pm Crumlin, Local Speaker • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 11:00am Glasnevin Cemetery, Wreath Laying Ceremony 2:30pm Main Commemoration: Garden of Remembrance, Speaker: Gerry Adams • MONDAY 21 APRIL 2:00pm Deans Grange, Dún Laoghaire, Speaker: Megan Fearon

FERMANAGH • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 3:30pm Donagh, Speaker: Rosie McCorley

• SATURDAY 19 APRIL 1:00pm Ardboe, Speaker Alex Maskey 3:00pm Coalisland, Speaker: Raymond McCartney • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 4:00pm Carrickmore, Speaker: Seán Murray For other Tyrone commemorations visit www:tyronecommemorations.com

GALWAY • SATURDAY 19 APRIL 3:00pm Erye Square, Galway City Speaker: Aengus Ó Snodaigh 6:00pm Oranmore, Wreath Laying Ceremony • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 2:00pm Ballinasloe, Speaker: Thomas Sharkey 1:00pm Ros Muc, Speaker: Aengus Ó Snodaigh • MONDAY 21 APRIL 2:30pm Ard Béar Cemetery, Cliften, Wreath Laying Ceremony 3:00pm Cliften, Conamara, Speaker: Aengus Ó Snodaigh 5:00pm Tullycross, Speaker: Aengus Ó Snodaigh

KERRY • SUNDAY 21 APRIL 12:30pm Tralee, Main Commemoration, Speaker: Pa Daly

KILDARE • SATURDAY 19 APRIL 2:00pm Newbridge, Speaker: Eoin Ó Broin

LAOIS • MONDAY 21 APRIL 12 noon Mountmellick, Speaker: Jonathan O’Brien

LEITRIM • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 3:00pm Drumsna, Speaker: Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

LIMERICK • SATURDAY 19 APRIL 3:00pm Athea Village, Speaker: Séamus Browne • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 11:45am Limerick City, Local Speaker

WATERFORD • SATURDAY 19 APRIL 3:00pm Waterford City, Speaker: John Hearne • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 12 noon Portlaw, Speaker: Declan Clune 3:00pm Waterford County, Speaker: Liadh Ní Riada

WESTMEATH • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 11:00am Athlone: Wreath Laying Ceremony 12 noon Commagh: Wreath Laying Ceremony • MONDAY 21 APRIL 12 noon Drumraney, Speaker: Trevor Ó Clochartaigh 3:00pm Fore, Speaker: Una D’Arcy

WEXFORD • SATURDAY 19 APRIL 12:30pm Riverchapel, Speaker: Seán Etchingham 6:00pm Ballymore, Speaker: Joe Whitty • SUNDAY 20 APRIL 2:30pm Wexford Town, Speaker: Sandra McLellan • MONDAY 21 APRIL 11:00am Murrintown, Local Speaker 2:30pm Enniscorthy, Speaker: Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

WICKLOW • MONDAY 21 APRIL 11:30am Bray, Speaker: Megan Fearon

ALL TIMES AND VENUES CORRECT AT TIME OF GOING TO PRESS

Please check www.anphoblacht.com, local and social media for any changes to this list

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1969 Liosta Laochra na Poblachta R ANTRIM

Vol Phelim Grant Vol Charles McCann Vol Henry Hogan Vol Declan Martin Vol Peter Rodden Vol Gerard Casey

February 5th, 1972 February 5th, 1972 February 21st, 1984 February 21st, 1984 December 7th, 1987 April 4th, 1989

BELFAST BRIGADE 1st Battalion Vol Tony Henderson Vol Terence McDermott Vol Martin Forsythe Vol Tony Jordan Vol John Finucane Vol Francis Hall Vol Daniel Burke Vol Gerard Fennell Vol John Rooney Vol Seán McDermott Vol Thomas Kane Vol Danny Lennon Vol Brendan O’Callaghan Vol Dan Turley Vol Tom McGill Vol Jim McKernan Vol Margaret McArdle Vol Kevin McCracken Vol Caoimhín Mac Brádaigh Vol Patricia Black Vol Frankie Ryan Vol Pearse Jordan Vol John O’Rawe Vol Jimmy Roe 2nd Battalion Vol Liam McParland Vol Jimmy Steele Vol Peter Blake Vol Tom McGoldrick Vol Charles Hughes Vol Séamus Simpson Vol Danny O’Neill Vol Albert Kavanagh Vol Gerard Crossan Vol Tony Lewis Vol Seán Johnston Vol Tom McCann Vol Patrick Campbell Vol Robert McCrudden Vol Michael Clarke Vol Jimmy Quigley Vol Daniel McAreavey Vol Patrick Maguire Vol John Donaghy Vol Joseph McKinney Vol Stan Carberry Vol Francis Liggett Vol Edward O’Rawe Vol Joseph McKenna Vol Patrick Mulvenna Vol James Bryson Vol Martin Skillen Vol John Kelly Vol John Stone Vol Paul Fox Vol Seán Bailey Vol James McGrillen Vol Paul Marlowe Vol Tommy Tolan Vol Billy Carson Vol Kevin Delaney Vol Terence O’Neill Vol Liam Hannaway Vol James Burns Vol Tony Campbell Vol Brian Dempsey Vol Finbarr McKenna Vol Proinsias Mac Airt Vol Harry Burns 3rd Battalion Vol Michael Kane

April 4th, 1971 October 2nd, 1971 October 24th, 1971 June 28th, 1972 June 28th, 1972 August 30th, 1973 April 9th , 1974 November 8th, 1974 November 15th, 1974 April 5th, 1976 July 6th, 1976 August 10th, 1976 April 23rd, 1977 June 9th, 1983 February 28th, 1986 September 14th, 1986 June 7th, 1987 March 14th, 1988 March 16th, 1988 November 15th, 1991 November 15th, 1991 November 25th, 1992 April 4th, 1994 August 12th, 1996 November 6th, 1969 August 9th, 1970 October 27th, 1970 October 27th, 1970 March 8th, 1971 August 11th, 1971 January 7th, 1972 March 4th, 1972 March 9th, 1972 March 9th, 1972 March 9th, 1972 March 9th, 1972 March 25th, 1972 August 3rd, 1972 August 11th, 1972 September 29th, 1972 October 6th, 1972 October 10th, 1972 October 10th, 1972 October 10th, 1972 November 13th, 1972 January 18th, 1973 April 12th, 1973 May 16th, 1973 August 31st, 1973 September 22nd, 1973 August 3rd, 1974 January 21st, 1975 January 21st, 1975 December 1st, 1975 February 13th, 1976 February 15th, 1976 October 16th, 1976 July 27th, 1977 April 25th, 1979 January 17th, 1980 July 1st, 1980 February 2nd, 1981 February 23rd, 1981 August 4th, 1985 June 25th, 1986 May 2nd, 1987 January 8th, 1992 February 3rd, 1999 September 4th, 1970

Vol James Saunders Vol Billy Reid Vol Patrick McAdorey Vol Tony Nolan Vol Gerald McDade Vol Joseph Cunningham Vol Gerard Bell Vol Gerard Steele Vol Robert Dorrian Vol Joseph Magee Vol Samuel Hughes Vol Charles McCrystal Vol John McErlean Vol Edward McDonnell Vol Jackie McIlhone Vol Joseph Fitzsimmons Vol Martin Engelen Vol Louis Scullion Vol James Reid Vol Joseph Downey Vol Séamus Cassidy Vol James Sloan Vol Tony Campbell Vol James McCann Vol Patrick McCabe Vol Brian Smyth Vol Seán McKee Vol Frederick Leonard Vol Séamus McCusker Vol Martin McDonagh Vol Frank Fitzsimmons Vol Joseph Surgenor Vol Trevor McKibbin Vol Jackie McMahon Vol Jackie Mailey Vol Denis Brown Vol Jim Mulvenna Vol Laurence Montgomery Vol Frankie Donnelly Vol Martin McKenna Vol Laurence Marley Vol Brendan Davison Vol Thomas Begley

February 6th, 1971 May 15th, 1971 August 9th, 1971 December 8th, 1971 December 21st, 1971 February 10th, 1972 February 21st, 1972 February 21st, 1972 February 21st, 1972 February 21st, 1972 April 7th, 1972 April 7th, 1972 April 7th, 1972 May 28th, 1972 May 28th, 1972 May 28th, 1972 May 28th, 1972 July 14th, 1972 July 15th, 1972 July 21st, 1972 July 28th, 1972 February 3rd, 1973 February 4th, 1973 February 4th, 1973 March 27th, 1973 April 17th, 1973 May 18th, 1973 May 7th, 1974 October 31st, 1975 January 13th, 1976 October 16th, 1976 October 16th, 1976 April 17th, 1977 January 18th, 1978 June 21st, 1978 June 21st, 1978 June 21st, 1978 January 5th, 1979 January 5th, 1979 October 23rd, 1979 April 2nd, 1987 July 25th, 1988 October 23rd, 1993

CLARE

Vol Hugh Hehir

May 6th, 1988

CORK

Vol Tony Ahern Vol Dermot Crowley

May 10th, 1973 June 25th, 1973

CUMANN NA mBAN Belfast Vol Dorothy Maguire Vol Maura Meehan Vol Anne Parker Vol Anne Marie Petticrew Vol Bridie Dolan Vol Laura Crawford Vol Rosemary Bleakley Downpartick Vol Vivien Fitzsimmons Newcastle Vol Pauline Kane Portadown Vol Julie Dougan

October 23rd, 1971 October 23rd, 1971 August 11th, 1972 September 1st, 1973 February 9th, 1975 December 1st, 1975 January 13th, 1976 February 10th, 1973 July 21st, 1973 July 8th, 1972

DERRY BRIGADE

Vol Thomas McCool Vol Thomas Carlin Vol Joseph Coyle Vol Eamonn Lafferty Vol James O’Hagan Vol Colm Keenan Vol Eugene McGillan Vol John Starrs Vol Séamus Bradley Vol Michael Quigley Vol John Brady Vol James Carr Vol James McDaid Vol Joe Walker

June 27th, 1970 June 27th, 1970 June 27th, 1970 August 18th, 1971 August 19th, 1971 March 14th, 1972 March 14th, 1972 May 13th, 1972 July 31st, 1972 September17th, 1972 November 28th, 1972 November 28th, 1972 December 29th, 1972 December 3rd, 1973

Cumann na mBan

(clockwise from top left)

Vol Dorothy Maguire Vol Maura Meehan Vol Anne Parker Vol Anne Marie Petticrew Vol Bridie Dolan Vol Laura Crawford Vol Rosemary Bleakley Vol Vivien Fitzsimmons Vol Pauline Kane Vol Julie Dougan

Caith Lile na Cásca Tabhair ómós do laochra na hÉireann Honour Ireland’s patriot dead Wear an Easter Lily

Vol Gerard Craig Vol David Russell Vol Michael Meenan Vol John McDaid Vol Ethel Lynch Vol Jim Gallagher Vol Brian Coyle Vol Denis Heaney Vol Pat Harkin Vol Patrick Duffy Vol George McBrearty Vol Charles Maguire Vol Eamonn Bradley Vol Phil O’Donnell Vol Richard Quigley Vol Ciarán Fleming Vol Danny Doherty Vol Willie Fleming Vol Charles English Vol Tony Gough Vol Philip McFadden Vol Patrick O’Hagan Vol Gerard Logue Vol Paddy Deery Vol Eddie McSheffrey

June 24th, 1974 June 24th, 1974 October 30th, 1974 December 7th, 1974 December 7th, 1974 May 17th, 1976 June 30th, 1976 June 10th, 1978 October 2nd, 1978 November 24th, 1978 May 28th, 1981 May 28th, 1981 August 25th, 1982 December 24th, 1982 April 21st, 1984 December 2nd, 1984 December 6th, 1984 December 6th, 1984 August 6th, 1985 February 22nd, 1986 May 31st, 1986 August 9th, 1986 March 22nd, 1987 October 28th, 1987 October 28th, 1987

COUNTY DERRY

Vol Martin Lee Vol John Bateson Vol James Sheridan Vol Danny McMullan Vol Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde Vol Francis Bradley Vol James Kelly

December 18th, 1971 December 18th, 1971 December 18th, 1971 February 7th, 1982 December 2nd, 1984 Feb 18th, 1986 March 25th, 1993

DONEGAL

Vol Peter McElcar Vol Raymond McLaughlin Vol Damien Brolly

July 17th, 1976 September 9th, 1985 Dec 30th, 1991

DUBLIN

Vol Patrick Cannon Vol Colm Daltun Vol Mick Timothy Vol Christy Harford Vol Martin Doherty

July 17th, 1976 January 15th, 1983 January 26th, 1985 May 5th , 1992 May 21st, 1994

Téigh chun do chumhneachán Cásca áitiúl

At

úl

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Republican Roll of Honour 2014 Vol Teddy Campbell Vol Patrick Teer Vol Hugh Coney Vol James Moyne Vol Henry Heaney Vol Seán Bateson Vol Pól Kinsella

May 3rd, 1974 July 2nd, 1974 November 6th, 1974 January 13th, 1975 June 4th, 1978 June 7th, 1990 December 13th, 1994

H-BLOCK MARTYRS

Vol Bobby Sands Vol Francis Hughes Vol Raymond McCreesh Vol Patsy O’Hara (INLA) Vol Joe McDonnell Vol Martin Hurson Vol Kevin Lynch (INLA) Vol Kieran Doherty Vol Thomas McElwee Vol Mickey Devine (INLA)

May 5th, 1981 May 12th, 1981 May 21st, 1981 May 21st, 1981 July 8th, 1981 July 13th, 1981 August 1st, 1981 August 2nd, 1981 August 8th, 1981 August 20th, 1981

MONAGHAN

Vol Seán McKenna Vol Peadar Mohan

June 5th, 1975 February 1st, 1981

NEWRY

ENGLAND

Vol Michael Gaughan (Parkhurst Prison) June 3rd, 1974 Vol James McDade November 14th, 1974 Vol Brian Fox December 21st, 1974 Vol Francis Stagg (Wakefield Prison) February 12th, 1976 Vol Edward O’Brien February 18th , 1996 Vol Diarmuid O’Neill September 23rd , 1996

FIANNA ÉIREANN

Fian Gerald McAuley Fian Michael Sloan Fian Eamon McCormick Fian Gerry Donaghy Fian David McAuley Fian Seán O’Riordan Fian Michael Magee Fian Joseph Campbell Fian John Dougal Fian Tobias Molloy Fian Joseph McComiskey Fian Bernard Fox Fian Seán Hughes Fian Michael Marley Fian Robert Allsopp Fian James Templeton Fian Kevin McAuley Fian James O’Neill Fian Paul McWilliams Fian John Dempsey

August 15th, 1969 January 11th, 1972 January 16th, 1972 January 30th, 1972 February 19th, 1972 March 23rd, 1972 May 13th, 1972 June 11th, 1972 July 9th, 1972 July 16th, 1972 September 20th, 1972 December 4th, 1972 December 4th, 1972 November 24th, 1973 March 23rd, 1975 August 29th, 1975 November 6th, 1975 February 12th, 1976 August 9th, 1977 July 8th, 1981

Fuair siad bás ar son saoirse na hÉireann They died for Irish freedom

GHQ STAFF

Vol Jack McCabe Vol Thomas O’Donnell Vol Mairéad Farrell Vol Dan McCann Vol Seán Savage Vol Séamus Twomey

December 27th, 1971 May 17th, 1973 March 6th, 1988 March 6th, 1988 March 6th, 1988 September 12th , 1989 June 12th, 1993 June 11th, 1997

LIMERICK

Vol Patrick Sheehy

January 2nd, 1991

LONG KESH

Vol Francis Dodds

Attend your local Easter commemoration September 9th, 1973

August 9th, 1972 August 22nd, 1972 August 22nd, 1972 August 22nd, 1972 December 24th, 1973 December 24th, 1973 August 27th, 1974 October 18th, 1974 April 1st, 1980 August 8th, 1984

NORTH ARMAGH

Vol Michael Crossey Vol Charles Agnew Vol John Francis Green Vol Terry Brady Vol David Kennedy Vol Seán Burns Vol Gervase McKerr Vol Eugene Toman Vol Eddie Dynes Vol Seán McIlvenna

November 22nd, 1971 December 17th, 1971 January 10th, 1975 December 5th, 1975 December 10th, 1975 November 11th, 1982 November 11th, 1982 November 11th, 1982 March 1st, 1983 December 17th, 1984

PORTLAOISE

Vol Tom Smith Vol Brendan Seery

March 17th, 1975 February 19th, 1992

SLIGO

Vol Kevin Coen Vol Joseph MacManus

January 20th, 1975 February 5th, 1992

SOUTH ARMAGH

Vol Michael McVerry Vol Seán Boyle Vol Francis Jordan Vol Seán Campbell Vol James Lochrie Vol Peter Cleary Vol Séamus Harvey Vol Peadar McElvanna Vol Brendan Burns Vol Brendan Moley Vol Fergal Caraher Vol Eugene Martin Vol Malachy Watters Vol Keith Rogers

November 15th, 1973 February 1st, 1975 June 4th, 1975 December 6th, 1975 December 6th, 1975 April 15th, 1976 January 16th, 1977 June 9th, 1979 February 29th, 1988 February 29th, 1988 December 30th, 1990 April 8th, 1996 August 8th, 1996 March 12th, 2003

SOUTH FERMANAGH Vol Louis Leonard Vol Séamus McElwain

SOUTH DOWN

LAOIS

Vol Michael Motley Vol Patrick Kelly

Vol Colm Murtagh Vol Patrick Hughes Vol Oliver Rowntree Vol Noel Madden Vol Brendan Quinn Vol Edward Grant Vol Patrick McKeown Vol Michael Hughes Vol Robert Carr Vol Brendan Watters

December 15th, 1972 April 26th, 1986

Vol Peter McNulty January 26th, 1972 Vol James Carlin August 26th, 1972 Vol Martin Curran August 26th, 1972 Vol Leo O’Hanlon February 10th, 1973 Vol Francis Rice May 18th, 1973 Vol Alphonsus Cunningham July 21st, 1973 Vol Paul Magorrian August 14th, 1974 April 10th, 1991 Vol Colum Marks

see www.anphoblacht.com

TYRONE

Vol Denis Quinn Vol Hugh Heron Vol John Patrick Mullan Vol Eugene Devlin Vol Kevin Kilpatrick Vol Seán Loughran Vol Patrick Carty Vol Gerard McGlynn Vol Séamus Harvey Vol Daniel McAnallen Vol Patrick Quinn Vol Desmond Morgan Vol Jim McGinn Vol Patrick McDonald Vol Kevin Murray Vol Eugene Martin Vol Seán McKearney Vol Neil Lafferty Vol Paul Duffy Vol Brian Campbell Vol Colm McGirr Vol William Price Vol Charlie Breslin Vol David Devine Vol Michael Devine Vol Declan Arthurs Vol Séamus Donnelly Vol Tony Gormley Vol Eugene Kelly Vol Paddy Kelly Vol Jim Lynagh Vol Pádraig McKearney Vol Gerard O’Callaghan Vol Séamus Woods Vol Brian Mullin Vol Gerard Harte Vol Martin Harte Vol James Joseph Connolly Vol Liam Ryan Vol Dessie Grew Vol Martin McCaughey Vol Noel Wilkinson Vol John Quinn Vol Malcolm Nugent Vol Dwayne O’Donnell Vol Tony Doris Vol Lawrence McNally Vol Pete Ryan Vol Danny McCauley Vol Seán O’Farrell Vol Kevin Barry O’Donnell Vol Patrick Vincent Vol Peter Clancy

July 3rd, 1972 October 16th , 1972 October 16th, 1972 December 27th, 1972 May 13th, 1973 June 25th, 1973 June 25th, 1973 August 11th, 1973 August 11th, 1973 August 16th, 1973 August 16th, 1973 November 26th, 1973 December 15th, 1973 March 15th, 1974 March 15th, 1974 May 13th, 1974 May 13th, 1974 April 26th, 1975 February 26th, 1978 December 4th, 1983 December 4th, 1983 July 13th, 1984 February 23rd, 1985 February 23rd, 1985 February 23rd, 1985 May 8th, 1987 May 8th, 1987 May 8th, 1987 May 8th, 1987 May 8th, 1987 May 8th, 1987 May 8th, 1987 May 8th, 1987 July 7th, 1988 August 30th, 1988 August 30th, 1988 August 30th, 1988 February 6th, 1989 November 29th, 1989 October 9th, 1990 October 9th, 1990 March 3rd, 1991 March 3rd, 1991 March 3rd, 1991 March 3rd, 1991 June 3rd, 1991 June 3rd, 1991 June 3rd, 1991 June 4th, 1991 February 16th, 1992 February 16th, 1992 February 16th, 1992 February 16th, 1992

SINN FÉIN

Jim Murphy Paul Best Colm Mulgrew Derek Highstead Noel Jenkinson (Leicester Prison) Maire Drumm Seán Ó Conaill (Parkhurst Prison) Peter Corrigan Jeff McKenna Paddy Brady John Davey Tommy Casey Sam Marshall Eddie Fullerton Pádraig O Seanacháin Tommy Donaghy Bernard O’Hagan Pat McBride Paddy Loughran Danny Cassidy Sheena Campbell Malachy Carey Peter Gallagher Alan Lundy Pat McGeown

April 24th, 1974 February 18th, 1976 June 5th, 1976 July 16th, 1976 October 9th, 1976 October 28th, 1976 October 1st, 1977 October 25th, 1982 November 8th, 1982 November 16th, 1984 February 14th, 1989 October 26th, 1990 March 7th, 1990 May 24th, 1991 August 12th, 1991 August 16th, 1991 September 16th, 1991 February 4th, 1992 February 4th, 1992 April 2nd, 1992 October 16th, 1992 Dec 12th, 1992 March 24th, 1993 May 1st , 1993 October 1st, 1996

An Phoblacht, compiled 26 March 2014

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Fuair siad bás ar son Saoirse na hÉireann – They died for Irish Freedom

• Vol. Jim O’Hanlon, Belfast • Vol. Terry Toolan, Belfast • Vol. Jackie Mooney, Belfast • Vol. Michael Neil, Belfast • Vol. John Joe Martin, Leitrim • Vol. Colm Mulvihill, Leitrim • Cathy McGartland, Belfast (Cumann na gCailíní) • Vol. Gerry McKiernan, South Armagh • Vol. Paddy Mulligan, Lisnaskea • Vol. Jimmy Connolly, Fermanagh • Vol. Stevie Scullion, Belfast • Vol. Jackie McCartan, Belfast • Vol. James E McKenna, Roslea • Vol. Charlie McGlade, Dublin • Vol. Joe Buckley, Dublin • Vol. John Joe McGirl, Leitrim • Vol. Bridie O’Neill, Belfast • Vol. Liam McDonagh, Belfast • Vol. Tim McGarry, Donegal • Vol. Liam Mullholland, Belfast • Vol. Francie McGirl, Leitrim • Vol. Packie Duffy, Monaghan • Vol. Tim Daly, Monaghan • Vol. Damien McFadden, Donegal • Vol. Mick Sheehan, Dublin • Vol. Bob Smith, Dublin • Vol. Paddy McManus, Belfast • Vol. Rita McGlynn, Dublin • Vol. Mick Murray, Dublin • Vol. Terry Clarke, Belfast • Vol. Seán Rehill, Leitrim

• Vol. Gary Toner, South Armagh • Vol. Patrick Rooney, Roslea • Vol. Tom Cahill, Belfast • Vol. JB O’Hagan, Lurgan • Vol. Jimmy Drumm, Belfast • Vol. Barney McFadden, Derry • Vol. Paddy O’Hagan, Tyrone • Vol. Johnny Copeland, Belfast • Vol. Danny O’Hagan, Belfast • Vol. Barney McKenna, Belfast • Vol. Seán Campbell, Tyrone • Vol. Anne McCoy, Toome • Fian Neil McCrory, Belfast • Vol. Eddie Brophy, Belfast • Vol. Seán O’Neill, Belfast • Vol. Kathleen Thompson, Belfast • Vol. Kathleen Carmichael, Belfast • Vol. Con McHugh, Belfast • Vol. Paddy Mullan, Derry • Vol. Jim Friel, Derry • Vol. Harry McCartney, Armagh • Vol. Joe Cahill, Belfast • Vol. Marie Wright, Belfast • Vol. Hugh Duffy, Derry • Vol. Liam Casey, South Derry • Vol. Raymond Wilkinson, Belfast • Alfie Hannaway, Belfast • Tony Curry, Belfast • Mary Hughes, Belfast, Sinn Féin • Joe Ennis, Cavan, Sinn Féin • Jackie Callaghan, Belfast, Sinn Féin • John Huddleston, Belfast, Sinn Féin

• Pat O’Hare, Belfast, Sinn Féin • Margaret McKenna, South Derry, Sinn Féin • Gerry Loughran, Monaghan, Sinn Féin • Harry Crawford, Belfast • Mary McGreevy, Belfast • Geraldine McMahon, Belfast • Paddy Shanahan, Dublin • Gerry Campbell, Belfast • Gonne Carmichael, Belfast • David Thompson, Belfast, Sinn Féin • Joe McGilloway, Derry, Sinn Féin • Matt Devlin, Tyrone, Sinn Féin • Brendan Dorris, Tyrone, Sinn Féin • Vol. Daithí Forde, Wexford • Vol. Kevin Fallon, Leitrim • Philip McDonald, Monaghan • Vol. Francie Caraher, South Armagh • Vol. Kevin Caherty, South Armagh • Brian Campbell, Newry • Vol. Siobhán O’Hanlon, Belfast • Vol. Eileen Hickey, Belfast • Vol. Billy Reid, Belfast • Vol. Robert Murphy, Belfast • Vol. Gerald Fearon, South Armagh • Vol. Liam Farrelly, South Armagh • Vol. Jackie McGrane, Dundalk • Vol. Eamonn McCann, Lurgan • Vol. Eugene McMahon, Fermanagh • Vol. Cathal Quinn, Tyrone • Patsy McMahon, Tyrone, Sinn Féin • Barney McAleer, Tyrone, Sinn Féin • Michael Ferguson, Belfast, Sinn Féin

• Mary McGuigan, Ardoyne • Sally Kearney, Turf Lodge • Geordie Shannon, Turf Lodge • Vol. Martin Meehan, Belfast • Vol. Owen McCaughey, Tyrone • Vol. Mickey McAnespie, Tyrone • Benny Connolly, Dublin • Brian O’Gorman, Dublin • Jim Hyland, Laois • Vol. Brian Keenan, Belfast • Vol. Eugene Cosgrove, Fermanagh • Vol. Joan Foster, Fermanagh • Vol. Pat Lynch, South Armagh • Marie Moore, Belfast, Sinn Féin • PJ Branley, Donegal, Sinn Féin • Dessie McNulty, Donegal, Sinn Féin • Éamon MacThomáis, Dublin • Robert Sloan, Dublin • Ivan Barr, Strabane, Sinn Féin • Charlie McHugh, Castlederg, Sinn Féin • Eddie Keenan, Belfast • Michael Mulrine, Donegal • Seamus Flynn, Belfast, Sinn Féin • Vol. Marshall Mooney, Belfast • Frank Kelly, Dublin • Eugene O’Neill, Donegal • Vol. Peter Hamilton, Belfast • Vol. Patrick Markey, Belfast • Vol. Robert McMahon, Belfast • Vol. Declan McCloskey, Belfast An Phoblacht, April / Aibrean 2014 www.anphoblacht.com,

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www.anphoblacht.com

April / Aibreán 2014 19

A wealth of 1916 info at your fingertips A MINE of information about Ireland’s revolutionary period began to be opened this year with the first tranche of military pension archives of 1916 participants going online.

When finally completed, the Military Service Pension Collection will see 300,000 files relating to nearly 80,000 individuals and the organisations they belonged to being accessible free of charge online.

The collection relates to claims by those Volunteers who took part in the 1916 Rising, the Tan War and the Civil War who applied for a pension.

Originally active service for the Free State was required to qualify under the scheme introduced by the Cumann na nGaedhael Government to compensate Free State soldiers

who were being demobbed in 1924.

As such, this initial pension series ruled out those who fought on the republican side and it wasn’t till 1934, after Fianna Fáil came to power, that they could apply.

Many republicans never made a claim for a pension or a medal and their actions/activities are not recorded, though on occasion they are mentioned by their comrades in their accounts.

The online collection covers those involved at all levels of the Irish Volunteers, the IRA, the Free State Army, Cumann na mBan, the Irish Citizen Army, Fianna Éireann and the Hibernian Rifles in Ireland and abroad.

The beauty for a family member or a local historian delving into these

IN PICTURES

BY AENGUS Ó SNODAIGH TD

files is that they are all searchable and can be cross-referenced with a mass of local information about actions carried out and characters who were involved or helped out.

Whether the application was successful or not, they reflect a huge level of organisation in the IRA during the Tan War and how they adapted quickly as the war developed. There was intense scrutiny of all pension claims by the board of assessors and this is reflected in the files, with applicants asked to prove “active service”. Only 18,000 pensions were awarded out of the 80,000 applications. By clicking on military service pensions collection at www.militaryarchives.ie/collections you can gain access to a remarkable insight into the person-

alities of the revolutionary period and the organisations they belonged to.

BUREAU OF MILITARY HISTORY ARCHIVE Some records are among the 1,700 or so witness statements taken between 1947-1957 as part of a state effort “to assemble and coordinate material to form the basis for the compilation of the history of the movement for independence from the formation of the Irish Volunteers on 25th November 1913, to the 11th July 1921”. Those records – and about 400 photographs and 2,500 documents of the period – can be accessed at www.bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie

photos@anphoblacht.com

5 Galway East local government election candidate Mairéad Farell canvasses the Ballybane area with her election team

5 Local election candidate David Bell and EU candidate Martina Anderson MEP in Lagmore

5 EU Midlands North West candidate Matt Carthy, Michael Colreavy TD, Brian Stanley TD and Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh launch Sinn Féin's Wind Turbine Regulation Bill to address the concerns of communities living in the vicinity of proposed wind farms

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20 April / Aibreán 2014

www.anphoblacht.com

‘Cumann na mBan are not the camp followers of the Volunteers – we are their allies’ MARY COLUM

BY

BY MÍCHEÁL MÍCHEÁL Mac Mac DONNCHA DONNCHA

CENTENARY OF

Cumann na mBan THE founding of Cumann na mBan in 1914 was an important step both in the assertion of women’s role in Irish politics and in the radicalisation of Irish nationalist politics itself.

While the place in the Irish Volunteer movement originally envisaged for women by most of the men was far from equality, the establishment of Cumann na mBan put in place an organisation that was to become increasingly militant.

In 1900, Maud Gonne MacBride had established Iníní na hÉireann (Daughters of Ireland) as a separatist group for Irish women. Sinn Féin, from its founding in 1905, admitted women equally with men. The Irish Women’s Franchise League was founded in 1908 and campaigned for votes for women while also calling for Irish independence.

The Irish Women Workers’ Union was formed in 1911 and played a key role in the struggle at the time of the Great Lockout of 1913. And the Irish Citizen Army admitted women equally, including Constance Markievicz.

A large number of women attended the founding meeting of Óglaigh na hÉireann/Irish Volunteers in the Rotunda in November 1913, with a separate space reserved for them. Eoin Mac Neill told the meeting that there would be work for the women to do in the new movement. Soon after this, an informal meeting was held in Harcourt Street by, among others, Constance Markievicz and Maud Gonne with a view to organising women. One idea was to establish a Red Cross-type organisation but this was dropped when the Red Cross in Geneva stated that it would not accept affiliation from a country without a standing army of its own and it did not regard the Irish Volunteers as such an army.

Those who eventually came together to form the new women’s organisation came from “all shades of nationalist thought”, in the words of one of the founders, Jenny Wyse

Markievicz advised women to wear strong boots and ‘buy a revolver’

Power. A range of views on feminism was also represented, with some being more radical than others.

It was in Wynn’s Hotel in Dublin’s Abbey Street that the inaugural meeting of Cumann na mBan was

held on 2 April 1914. The chairperson was Agnes O’Farrelly and those in attendance included Markievicz, Winifred Carney, Kathleen Clarke, Louise Gavan Duffy, Nancy O’Rahilly

and Jenny Wyse Power. Markievicz was elected first President of Cumann na mBan. The organisation’s aims were set out as advancing the cause of Irish liberty and helping to arm the Irish Volunteers.

The new organisation set about organising fund-raising events for the ‘Defence of Ireland Fund’, which was to provide arms and equipment for the Volunteers. From the start, many women in Cumann na mBan were opposed to the subsidiary role allotted to them by the men.

Feminist and republican Hanna Sheehy Skeffington said some of the women at the Wynn’s Hotel meeting “thought deep thoughts on the nature of men who cannot buy a rifle unless a woman collects the money – woman, the ministering angel of the ambulance class, who provides the pyjamas and the lint, but who sinks below the human the moment she asks for a vote!”

Some women were happy with a secondary role, with one writing in The Irish Volunteer that they could form ambulance corps, learn first aid and “do all the embroidery required”. But most women wanted to claim their proper place in the movement. Mary Colum wrote in the IRB newspaper, Irish Freedom, that Cumann na mBan members were not “the auxiliaries or the handmaidens or the camp followers of the Volunteers – we are their allies”.

Markievicz advised women to wear strong boots and “buy a revolver”.

Cumann na mBan grew from strength to strength during 1914, with 60 branches established by October.

That month, the organisation issued a statement denouncing John Redmond, who had urged the Irish Volunteers to join the British Army to fight Germany. Cumann na mBan said that “to urge or encour-

emembering R the

5 Rose McNamara in full Cumann na mBan uniform

Past

age Irish Volunteers to join the British Army cannot, under any circumstances, be regarded as consistent with the work we have set ourselves to do”. Cumann na mBan’s adherence to the purpose of the Volunteers and their opposition to Redmond was reaffirmed at their first Convention in November 1914.

The women of Cumann na mBan played key roles in the 1916 Rising and the Black and Tan War. The organisation opposed the Treaty and many members were imprisoned during the Civil War. In the following decades, Cumann na mBan continued to be at the forefront of the struggle for Irish freedom.

• Cumann na mBan was founded on 2 April 1914, 100 years ago this month.

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IN PICTURES

photos@anphoblacht.com

5 A mural highlighting the use of CR gas by the British Army against prisoners in Long Kesh in 1974 has been painted on West Belfast’s renowned political landmark, The International Wall

‘Oppression Breeds Resistance – Resistance Breeds Freedom’ mural on the Falls Road in Belfast is updated to show support with 79-year-old peace activist Margaretta D'Arcy. Margaretta was released from Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison on 22 March

EOIN Ó MURCHÚ

Bí ar an airdeall faoi ról an AE san Úcráín IN AINEOIN RTÉ agus tionchar na meán cumarsáide, tá móramh mhuintir na hÉireann fós ina náisiúntóirí, go háirithe ó dheas.

Ní chuirtear an náisiúntóireacht sin i bhféidhm an oiread, go háirithe i dtaobh na hEorpa, agus go hionduil bíonn muintir na hÉireann fábharach do náisiúntóirí i dtíortha eile, nó do dhaoine a cheapann siad gur náisiúntóirí iad.

Léiríonn cás na hÚcráíne an scéal sin.

Creideann a lán go bhfuil na Rúisigh mícheart is impiriúlach sa seasamh atá glactha acu i dtaobh ghéarchéim na hÚcráíne, ach a mhalairt i ndáiríre atá fíor mar tá an scéal i bhfad níos casta na sin.

Ar dtúís eascraíonn an Rúis, an Úcráín (agus an Bhéalrúis) as an bhfoinse chéanna – na treabhanna Orshláibheacha a bunaigh a gcéad stát i gCíbh, príomhchathair na hÚcraine inniu.

Scrios an Mathshlua órga (Mongoil, Tátair is Túrcaigh) an stát sin agus chuaigh croí na nOrshlábhach soir go Moscó. Chuaigh na ceadta thart sula bhfuair na Rúisigh an lámh in uachtar ar na Tátair is fuair forlamhas ar an Úcráín.

Ciallaíonn Úcráín an an limistéar ar an teorainn agus ba láthair troda ar feadh na gcéadta

é. Sa deire fuair an Rúis ceannas ar an gcuid is mó den tír, go háirithe an deisceart agus an toirthear (agus an reiligiún ceartchreidmheach acu) agus fuair an Ostair seilbh ar an Iarthar, ar an nGailíc (agus leagan Slábhach den reiligiún Caitliceach acu).

Níor tháinig an t-iarthar ar ais go dtí an Úcráín go dtí gur thit an Pholainn roimh ionradh na Naziach.

D’fhás náisiúntóireacht frith-Rúiseach agus frith-Ghiúdach san iarthar agus chabhraigh na heagraíochtaí sinlies na Nazis – go príomhdha Stepan Bandera a bhfuil a híomhá le feiceáil go fairsing anois ag na páirtithe den eite dheis.

Ach sna toghcháin dheiridh fuair uachtarán agus páirtithe atá níos cóngaraí don Rúis móramh dena bhótaí. Nior thaitn sé sin leis na páirtithe atá fábharach don Aontas Eorpach ach sin é an daonlathas.

Sna ciréibeanna i gCíbh le deireannas athainig eagraíochtaí faististeacha, ar nós Svoboda agus Pravy Sektor, amach go foiréigeanta ar na sráideanna. Cuireadh an t-uachtaran ar a choimeád agus bunaíodh ‘rialtas’ nua gan toghchán, rialtas neamhdhlisteanach faoi thuiscint ar bith.

Ní hé gur duine deas é Yanukovich ach is e an t-uachtaran dlisteanach é.

Iarracht atá ar siúl ag NATO deighilt na hÚcráíne a úsáid le bagairt ar an Rúis

Níl an Rúis sásta ligint do NATO teacht suas lena cuid teorainneacha, agus tá siad ag gabhail seilbh arís ar an gCrim, ceantar a bhfuil móramh Rúiseach ann le trí chéad bhliain, agus is léir go bhfuil tacaíocht an phobail áitiúil acu dó seo.

Iarracht atá ar siúl ag NATO deighilt na hÚcráíne a úsáid le bagairt ar an Rúis.

Ní cóir duinn ligint dár gcómhbháidh le náisiúntóireacht go dtacódh muid le ‘rialtas’ a bhfuil seisear ann a mhaíonn go hoscailte gur Nazis iad.

Arís tá RTÉ ag iarraidh dallamullóg a chur orainn ar mhaithe le comhcheilg an Aontais Eorpaigh.

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Leader of Greek anti-austerity Syriza (‘Coalition of the Radical Left’), ALEXIS TSIPRAS talks to EOIN Ó BROIN

How is the situation now in Greece? After six long hard years of austerity what is the mood among the people?

Right now Greece is in a depression. This is a word with a lot of meanings.

At the level of the economy it is a very tough recession, like the recession in the United States in the 1930s.

It is a depression.

At the psychological level it means that people are deeply disappointed and are trying to find a solution. If somebody is 50 years old and has lost his job and he cannot find a new job and he is unemployed it is very difficult for him to have hope.

That’s why I think that after the big shock in the first years of the crisis (with the Troika Memorandum and the big antiausterity demonstrations) people are now waiting for the day that we will have real political change in Greece.

‘The majority of the people are counting on Syriza to win the next election to change the situation’ After the disappointment after the 2012 elections, a lot of people now believe that a solution will only come with a change of government. That is why there are not so many demonstrations on the streets. This is something that I don’t know is good or bad.

The majority of the people are counting on Syriza to win the next election to change the situation.

There was a lot of interest across Europe before the 2012 Greek parliamentary elections. People thought that Syriza may form the next Government. If you had have won that election, what would you have done in Government?

First of all, I think that we would stop the austerity measures. Stop the catastrophe.

Our position was and still is that we would take the decision in the parliament to replace the Troika Memorandum with a national plan of reconstruction.

We would then go to negotiate hard with our partners in the EU.

Radical Realistic

and

ALEXIS TSIPRAS is the leader of Syriza and widely tipped to be the next head of government in Greece.

He is also the European Left Party’s candidate in the election for the next president of the European Commission.

He visited Dublin for two days in March to meet political parties, trade unions and activists.

‘The debt crisis is not a Greek problem, or an Irish one – it is a European problem. Therefore we need a European solution’

So our position is very clear. We will replace the Troika Memorandum with a realistic plan based on growth. We would have public investment for growth and public security and then we would renegotiate the loan agreement with our partners to secure a significant cancellation of the debt, not only for Greece but for the entire periphery.

We believe that there is a need for a European debt summit like the summit of London in 1953 which cancelled 60% of Germany’s Second World War debt, with a growth clause and a moratorium on debt repayments.

The debt crisis is not a Greek problem, or an Irish one – it is a European problem. Therefore we need a European solution.

It is very clear for us that if we were the Government in 2012 or if we form the next Government we will stop austerity. This is not something we have to negotiate with our partners in Europe because it is not negotiable to try to stop the humanitarian crisis in Greece. It is not acceptable for any European country to have youth unemployment at 60% or official unemployment at 30%.

We have to renegotiate the debt crisis and find a viable win-win solution that saves the Eurozone but with social cohesion and dignity.

You are the Left Party’s candidate for the European Commission President. What is your platform in this election?

The programme of my candidacy is based on three key points.

The first is anti-austerity. I am the anti-austerity candidate. Austerity is a bad medicine and is worse for the patient that the illness itself. So we have to stop giving the patient this bad medicine.

The second point is democracy. We need to regain democracy in Europe. We need to deepen democracy in the EU institutions but also to give authority to national parliaments and to the European parliament at the same time.

The third point is solidarity. We want a Europe of solidarity and not the neo-liberal Europe.

These are the three basic points of my campaign. We also have a lot of ideas for the reconstruction of the productive base in the European Union in a more environmental and ecological direction. We want to support movements that protect human rights.

The last few years have seen a significant change in Greek politics, the most important of which has been the growth of Syriza. How have you managed that dramatic growth in the party, the organisation

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5 Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams TD, Seán Crowe TD, EU candidate Lynn Boylan and Pearse Doherty TD meet with Greek anti-austerity leader Alexis Tsipras at the Irish Parliament in Dublin

5 Sinn Féin Beaumont/Donaghmede representative Denise Mitchell (left) explains some of the problems ordinary people and working-class communities in Ireland are facing due to EU austerity policies

5 Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras speaks to An Phoblacht

5 Sinn Féin Councillor Larry O'Toole and Alexis Tsipras on the ground in Darndale In Greece after the dictatorship [the Greek military junta of 1967-74, also known as ‘The Regime of the Colonels’], the Left usually had about 10% of the vote but never enough support to form a government. But we have changed this. In the past, people voted PASOK or New Democracy because they wanted to vote for parties that govern. Now the Left is not only seen as a polit-

‘We have become realistic. But we don’t want to lose our radicalism’

and the support? How have you managed the expectations and the tensions that this growth must have created.

Sometimes it’s more difficult to manage growth than it is to manage decline. Syriza is a very interesting model because we are a coalition with a lot of tendencies and we all co-operate

‘This basic idea of unity and that we are not only here to protest but also to govern has done a lot to convince people to support us’

under the idea of unity and common action.

This idea was very attractive, especially to the people of the Left, because although Greece has a strong Left tradition we also have a history of splits and divisions.

Syriza’s proposal for common action was very attractive to left-wing people because they want

the Left to play a central role in the political system rather than to be on the sidelines.

The combination of this basic idea of unity with the idea we declared before the election of 2012 – that we are not only here to protest but also to govern – has done a lot to convince people to support us.

ical force that stands with the people but could be able to make things happen in Government.

Syriza is now not only a party of the Left. It’s like the story of David and Goliath. We are the force that is trying to stand up to the powerful interests in the European Union. This has given Syriza a new dimension.

Of course we have a lot of tendencies and a lot of ideas. We also have a problem because we have 40,000 activists and two million voters. Our growth has meant that we have changed. We have become realistic. But we don’t want to lose our radicalism. If we lose our radicalism we will have lost our soul. We don’t want to lose our soul.

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BOOK REVIEWS BY MICHAEL MANNION

The definitive history of the Irish Citizen Army and the trials after Easter Week 1916 The History of the Irish Citizen Army

By RM Fox Republican Publications THIS TIMELY REPRINT by Sinn Féin of a volume first published 70 years ago is regarded as being the definitive history of the Irish Citizen Army.

The book was originally written in 1943, when most of the former membership were still alive. This has resulted in a significantly anecdotal style of writing to supplement the bare chronological history of events.

The formation of the Citizen Army in 1913 as a response to Royal Irish Constabulary and Dublin Metropolitan Police brutality during the strike and lockout is covered in detail. James Larkin’s quote of “whenever one of your men is shot, shoot two of theirs” is cited as the catalyst for its establishment following the police riots on

Easter Rising 1916: The Trials

By Seán Enright Irish Academic Press SEÁN ENRIGHT is an Irish-trained barrister who now practices in England as a circuit court judge. This book is his forensic analysis of the aftermath of the Easter Rising, covering in detail the trials, executions and deportations that ensued.

The book has two main elements.

Firstly there are the actual transcripts of the trials themselves; the majority of which were only released into the public domain in 2002.

In addition, diligent research work

Sackville Street.

The book catalogues the changes brought about by Captain Jack White and the initial friction between himself and James Connolly; and how, under Connolly’s leadership, it evolved from being a purely defensive militia to become an insurgent force.

Personal and inter-group rivalries were not entirely absent from the nascent organisation. Seán O’Casey was bitterly opposed to the Irish Volunteer movement and tried to force Constance Markievicz to abandon either her role with the Irish Citizen Army or with Cumann na mBan. When Markievicz refused to relinquish either role, and was subsequently endorsed by a vote of confidence, O’Casey promptly left the Citizen Army.

The early frictions with the Irish Volunteers stemmed from a perception that they were a diversion from the primary struggle for social justice.

These antagonisms were gradually

by the author has unearthed a further 16 transcripts, including the trials of Harry Boland and Desmond Fitzgerald, which had previously been thought lost.

Secondly, there is a detailed analysis of the structure of the trials, covering their dubious legality, composition and form. There is also a fascinating insight into the political and military imperatives that shaped the format that the trials would take.

The actual trials themselves seem to have been formulaic, almost ritualistic affairs with a procession of repetitive stock charges, identifications and (mostly) convictions. Most trials lasted less than 20 minutes, with the accused not knowing the rules under which the trials were held. The accused were not allowed

forgotten as the shared objective of establishing the Republic assumed prominence.

The activities of Connolly, Mallin, Markievicz and the rest of the Citizen Army over the Easter Rising are, of course, chronicled in detail.

What is, perhaps, of more note is the detailing of how the Irish Citizen Army fared in the subsequent years, and how many people assume that, following Easter Week, the Volunteers and Citizen Army merged to form what became known as the IRA. I’m sure most people do not realise that the ICA fought as a distinct unit under its own banners and command structure throughout the Black and Tan War and against the pro-Treaty forces during the Civil War. This is a uniquely important book, written in a very readable style, and recording the history of one of the two most important Irish republican organisations of the early 20th century.

to give evidence on their own behalf, and they were not allowed to be legally represented. The farcical nature of the trials is reinforced to the modern reader when one considers that the president of one of the two standing courts martial was the unfortunately named Brigadier General Blackadder.

It was deemed essential that the trials be held in secret in order not to damage the recruitment drive prior to the Somme offensive. Additionally, there was a political awareness of the risk of inciting resurgent nationalism by public debate on the trials. This consideration, of course, was made redundant by the outrage over the executions.

The author explains the differences between ‘Summary Field General

Courts Martial’ and ‘General Courts Martial’ in a way that is both intelligible and interesting to the non-legal reader, and explains why the former was adopted (probably illegally) to remove legal safeguards and protections that the accused would otherwise have enjoyed.

Enright also makes a striking comparison with the military tribunals established by the USA to try Guantanamo suspects and states that the tendency of governments to depart from due process in times of crisis must be resisted “as it is adherence to the rule of law that underpins democracy”.

All in all, a very interesting, wellresearched and well-written book that casts an informative light on an often overlooked element of Easter Week.

NOW ONLINE EVERY WEEK over the next two years, An Phoblacht is making all the editions of The Irish Volunteer – the newspaper of the Irish Volunteer movement – available online exactly 100 years after they were first published The Irish Volunteer – tOglác na hÉireann was first published on 7 February 1914 and every week until 22 April ‘The Irish Volunteer – 1916, just days before the Easter Rising.

Acting as the official newspaper of the Irish Volunteers it tOglác na hÉireann’ was outlined the political views of the leadership and reported on first published on 7 the and important events, such as the Howth Gun Running of February 1914 and every 1914. week until 22 April 1916 . .

Included in its pages alongside political opinions and news reports are various advertisements for such items as revolvers, just days before the Easter bandoliers and military uniforms from stockists across Ireland.

Rising You can now read these fascinating insights into Irish revolutionary history with an online subscription to An Phoblacht for just €10 per year. This includes a digital copy of each new edition of the paper and Iris magazine, access to our digitised historic archives as well as copies of The Irish Volunteer.

ONLY

€10 Fascinating insights into

Irish revolutionary history for you to read online SIGN UP IT’S EASY GO TO

www.anphoblacht.com

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Bill of Rights: Now more than ever

www.anphoblacht.com

AT A TIME when the unionist parties have determined to unpick the Good Friday Agreement and the British Government only too willing to renege on its commitments, all republicans must redouble our efforts to achieve full delivery on the outstanding core components – in particular a Bill of Rights for the North.

Simply put, there can be no real, tangible progress without one.

Routine and systematic violations of fundamental civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights were the touchstones for the conflict. A great many of these violations were committed by people acting on behalf of the state in pursuit of official policy, or by individuals over whom the state had authority and ultimate responsibility. To this day there are ongoing state failures and institutional resistance to upholding human rights and equality guarantees, and providing effective remedies for violations.

This continues to the detriment of all sections of our society, creating particularly acute problems for the most deprived and vulnerable.

When certain conflicts of rights arise, there is still no common framework for independent and impartial resolution of competing claims.

Unquestionably, this contributed to the current crisis in the Peace Process.

We need an inclusive way forward and a Bill of Rights has the potential to deliver.

A robust Bill of Rights containing permanent legal safeguards can act as insurance against a repeat of past wrongs, help halt the wrongs

BY MARTINA ANDERSON MEP A robust Bill of Rights containing permanent legal safeguards can act as insurance against a repeat of past wrongs, help halt the wrongs of the present, and prevent new wrongs in the future

of the present, and prevent new wrongs in the future.

It can provide all citizens with a practical tool they can use to hold the public authorities to account, both for their actions and for their failures to act, to challenge and (over time) to end discrimination, inequality and other human rights abuses.

That is why we still need a Bill of Rights for the North – now more than ever.

Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, the British Government committed to legislate for this. More than 15 years have elapsed without delivery. This constitutes a clear breach of the British Government’s obligations.

During the recent Haass/O’Sullivan talks, our negotiating team insisted that the Bill of Rights be treated as a cornerstone of the solution to the current impasse. While the resulting recommendations do not constitute a resolution of this issue, they do provide a constructive basis for progress.

Pro-Agreement representatives elected to Westminster and the Assembly must now increase the pressure on the British Government, those in the Oireachtas must challenge the Irish Government to actively stand up for the Bill of Rights, and during the next term the incoming team of MEPs must turn their firm attention to enlisting European support.

• Martina Anderson led the Sinn Féin delegation to the Bill of Rights Forum and is now as an MEP pursuing EU level support for delivery of a Bill of Rights for the North of Ireland.

April / Aibreán 2014 25

This is funded by the European United Left/ Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL)

Aontas Clé na hEorpa/Na Glasaigh Chlé Nordacha Crúpa Paliminta – Parlaimimt na h Eorpa

Another Europe is possible

Martina Anderson MEP is a member of the GUE/NGL Group in the European Parliament

Sinn Féin launches policy and Bill for voting rights for North and diaspora

Real representation for Irish citizens worldwide

BY MARK MOLONEY AS MILLIONS of people of Irish descent across the world celebrated St Patrick’s Day on 17 March, Sinn Féin launched its ‘Moving Forward Together’ policy document which aims to improve the relationship between the state and Irish citizens living overseas.

5 Gerry Adams TD and Dublin EU candidate Lynn Boylan launch Sinn Féin’s Irish Diaspora proposals

KEY PROPOSALS: • Extend the right to vote in Presidential elections to Irish citizens living and working outside the state.

• Extend the right to vote in Dáil and Presidential elections to all adults of voting age and legally resident in the country for at least five years.

• Introduce appropriate diaspora representation in the Dáil by way of reserved constituency, with voting rights subject to a valid passport and regular registration requirement.

• Reform of the Seanad and provide diaspora representation.

• Appoint a Minister of State for Diaspora Overseas.

• Establish a Government task force on emigration.

• Provide permanent provision for diaspora representation on the Council of State.

Launching the proposals in Dublin, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD said the proposal allowing citizens living outside the state to vote in Presidential elections is not unusual: “The European Commission has said it is a denial of rights for citizens not to have the right to vote in those kind of elections.”

Gerry Adams also said it was important to ensure those living in the North have a vote in the Presidential election, pointing out that President Mary McAleese would not have been able to vote had she remained living in Ardoyne in Belfast.

As well as the policy document, Sinn Féin has also brought a Bill before the Dáil which would provide voting rights for Irish citizens living outside of the state — a key recommendation of the Constitutional Convention.

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Talking food jobs, food quality and food symbols

Blaa, blaa, blaa

BY ROBERT ALLEN ARMAGH Bramley apples, Clare Island salmon, Connemara hill lamb, Imokilly cheese, Lough Neagh eels, Timoleague brown pudding, and the Waterford blaa.

These are the fortunate recipients of the EU symbol of food quality, no mean feat when the bureaucrats don’t make it easy for farmers, fishers and foodies to get their products recognised for what they are – geographically unique, locally specialised and rooted in traditional production techniques.

Then there is the marketplace. Whether farmers’ market, specialised shop or giant supermarket, the selling isn’t a simple task.

Lidl and Tesco boast about their loyalty to Irish produce, their commitment to Irish producers yet they are rigorously selective about the products they take.

Deal or no deal is only part of the problem.

Everyone in County Waterford sells blaas except Lidl and Aldi.

“Dunnes take our lamb but Tesco won’t touch it,” says Paddy Rock of the Connemara Hill Lamb company.

Imokilly Regata cheese is not sold in the supermarkets because the competition for space on the cheese shelves is too tight, say Dairygold, who place other cheese products on the shelves.

Timoleague brown pudding is no longer produced, while the makers of the nearby Ballyvourney pudding are struggling to find markets outside County Cork, never mind a protected geographical indication symbol (see EU Food Symbols).

All this shouldn’t happen to products with EU status when billions of euros and specialist local jobs are at stake.

And it doesn’t.

Food products originating in specific locations are sold throughout Europe, with EU-registered agricultural products and foodstuffs representing annual sales of €15billion in EU countries, Italian products alone reaping €6billion sales worldwide.

Irish products by comparison claim a mere €29million.

This begs a question, several in fact.

Has the Irish food revolution of the midnoughties met its own Bastille?

Have the aristocrats of the global food industry reclaimed the streets, especially those Irish streets where the hotels and supermarkets reside?

Has the slow food movement ground to a halt in Ireland?

Are small Irish producers being ignored?

‘FARM TO FORK’ Let’s go back to the last years of the 20th century. It was a time of diseases and dioxins, of genetic modification, disbelief at the extent of pesticide and poison use amidst green-ish protests, revolts and schemes.

Confidence in European food was at its lowest ebb and, while consumers sought assurances

5 The Waterford blaa was awarded the Protected Geographical Indication status by the European Commission in November 2013 about food quality and safety, importers sought cheaper produce from the far-flung regions of the southern hemisphere.

The price of European food continued to rise, peaking at a two-fifths increase in 2007. Industry took the blame as health and welfare concerns about chicken and pork production intensified.

The high amount of grain being fed to animals became an issue.

Europe, it appeared, lived on manufactured meat, many people eating an average of 100g of chicken a day.

Diabetes affected one in ten of Europe’s populations.

Organic farming took off in Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland, and failed to make an impact elsewhere in Europe.

The Russians surprised everyone with the number of urban and suburban growers (65% in Moscow, 50% in St Petersburg), while London had a mere 14% (relatively high compared to other European cities).

And the food industry, the governments of

EU Food Symbols

PDO

Protected Designation of Origin, where the product must be produced, processed and prepared in the geographical area and where the quality or characteristics are essentially due to that area

PGI

Protected Geographical Indication, where the product must be produced or processed or prepared in the geographical area and where a specific quality reputation or other characteristics are attributable to that area

TSG

Traditional Speciality Guaranteed, where the product must be traditional, 30 years/handed down through generations, or established by custom

Europe and the bureaucrats of Brussels sought to supply assurances about the quality and safety of food.

Burcu Tuncer, author of ‘From Farm to Fork’, bemoaned the initatives. “Among all the efforts for assuring food quality, it has become difficult for the consumers to understand who is assuring what.”

Branding and labeling did not impress him.

“The European market still lacks a single instrument to help the consumers to make a judgement. A higher level of instrument is needed.”

The vision, he said, should look at a sustainable food supply, “a broader sharing of responsibilities among the actors along the food supply chain”.

His own recommendations included:• Short food supply chains; • Quality systems that stressed environmental and social impacts; • Marketing strategies that conveyed performance; • Measurements that monitored performance; • Tracking quality along the food supply chain; and • Best available techniques.

It all sounded utopian.

In Ireland, utopia was a hippy dream and small definitely wasn’t beautiful.

Small artisan bakeries found it hard competing with par-baked bread. The blaa bakers of Waterford decided they had to do something to save their businesses.

From ten blaa bakeries making 18,000 blaas a day, they were down to three making 11,000.

They targeted the farmers’ markets and got involved with Good Food Ireland at their showcase events, such as the Dublin Horse Show, the Derby at the Curragh, the Tall Ships Race.

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FOR CONSUMERS

The consumer has a guarantee on the origin, quality and authenticity of the product, by controls on production site and on the market. Geographical Indications prevent the standardisation of food and offers a wider choice to consumers Then M&D Bakery won a European taste award and got put on Slow Food’s arc of taste.

The blaas were being noticed.

UNIQUE PRODUCT

Over in the Maam valley, west of the Corrib, Martin Joe Kerrigan surveys the hills.

It is the lambing season and the Connemara blackface sheep are doing what they have done for countless generations, going back to the 1850s when the hardy breed was first brought in from Scotland.

“A number of hill farmers were aware that they had a unique product,” says Martin Joe Kerrigan, a sheep farmer in Glentrague. “Factories and marts were putting the hill lambs through into the mainstream lamb supply so the hill farmers agreed to set up as a group with the view to marketing the hill lamb on its own merits.

“One of our members was aware that Europe had a mechanism for local produce protection so the decision was taken by the group to pursue European protection.”

In February 2007, after five years’ effort that involved form-filling, botanical and historical research and necessary correspondence, Connemara Hill Lamb Ltd proved their point and deserved their reward — the coveted protected geographical indication symbol!

“Our aim is to ensure a farming presence on the hills of Connemara for generations to come,” says Martin Joe Kerrigan. “Our lamb is slower to mature, which results in a leaner carcass with a deep red colour. It has a unique taste due to the breed and its diet of natural grasses, herbs and heathers.”

Born from late March, the young lambs are suckled by the ewe on the hills then, weighing around 10kg, are slaughtered at the Martin Jennings abattoir in Ballinrobe.

The lamb goes on sale from mid-June to January and is available from Connemara Hill Lamb in Corr na Móna, in Dunnes Stores, and from The Market Butcher online at www.themarketbutcher.eu and in their shop at Unit 11, Block G, Greenogue Business Park, Rathcoole, County Dublin.

DAY OF THE BLAA

Spicy minced Connemara lamb and springy Waterford blaa – now there’s an idea.

The blaa bakers knew their bread was distinctive.

In Waterford it was a breakfast bread, often eaten plain. Every bakery had their own style, dark or light, crispy or soft. The blaa was generally covered with flour and this gave it a specialised look.

In 2010, the blaa bakers were called up to the Guinness Store in Dublin. Not long after, visitors to the Store ate mini blaas with pulled pork, beef burgers marinaded in Guinness served in a blaa.

The time of the blaa, the only indigenous Irish bread, was coming.

FOOD UTOPIA

Food Harvest 2020 is that utopia.

Bord Bia, Bord Iascaigh Mhara and Teagasc are working together to educate producers; and the Department of Agriculture, which handles geographical indication registration prior to EU approval, is currently meeting with a variety of producers in different sectors.

5 Food – The benefits of getting it right are immense

An official with the Food Industry Development Division in the Department of Agriculture says producers need to see a market value in the EU geographical indications “that goes beyond the value of other local products and will be maintained if a number of producers decide to make the product”.

The benefits of getting it right are immense.

Roger Waite, spokesperson for the EU’s Agriculture and Rural Development, identifies those benefits.

For producers: “First of all, geographical indications are an intellectual property tool allowing protection against misuses and the name is not reserved to one single owner but can be used by all producers respecting the specification. So it is an open system. And it is a marketing tool that allows them to differentiate on the market, allowing often a better price and higher margin.”

For consumers: “The consumer has a guarantee on the origin, quality and authenticity of the product, by controls on production site and on the market. GIs [Geographical Indications] prevent the standardisation of food and offers a wider choice to consumers.”

For society: “GIs encourage the preservation of biodiversity (local plant varieties, animal breeds), local savoir-faire and tradition, landscapes and positive impacts on tourism.”

This is only a glimpse into the world envisioned by those who saw a purpose in establishing an instrument that would provide safe, sustainable food and protect local jobs and food traditions.

“As an important part of our culture,” says Roger Waite, “GIs contribute to social cohesion and rural development. They allow maintenance of economic activities in rural and remote areas that would otherwise have disappeared in that region.”

The official in the Food Industry Development Division insists there is growing enthusiasm among consumers for high-quality food with a clear local identity. “Consumers want to know how food is produced and they want to support local producers. However, the added value of a PDO/PGI label may not be realised without investment in a campaign of increasing public awareness and understanding of the products.”

There are those who will argue that this awareness must also apply to buyers employed by corporate supermarket chains, and to the consultants who make up menus for corporate hotel chains.

Cheesemonger Kevin Sheridan, who chairs the Taste Council (a voluntary group of people from the ‘small’ food business sector), believes a paradigm shift needs to happen before the rudimentary elements of Food Harvest 2020 can be realised.

The Taste Council’s mission (to empower and enable the Irish speciality food sector at a strategic level to maximise its current and potential contribution to Ireland’s food and agri economy, society, culture and environment) has never been more relevant than it is now.

Last November, the Waterford blaa was registered in the EU’s official journal. After a four-year campaign, the blaa bakers had their PGI. Food Harvest 2010 remains to be seen.

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28 April / Aibreán 2014

www.anphoblacht.com

‘Say what you believe’ Tony Benn RIP (1925 - 2014)

TONY BENN’S stature as an orator, a political leader, a polemicist, an intellectual and incisive prolific writer is unquestioned – except in the political party he represented for 50 years in the British Parliament.

Benn spent just over 50 years in the House of Commons. Along the way, he renounced his hereditary peerage, the privileged private education that prepared him for ministerial posts, and finally the political party to which he had dedicated so much of his adult life.

Tony Benn actively opposed British involvement in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as Britain’s NATO membership. In his diaries of the time Benn describes Blair as “a little puppet” and “just the voice of President Bush”.

Benn failed to win the leadership of the Labour Party in 1976 or the deputy leader’s post in 1981. In the 1980s, Benn became a vocal advocate of a united Ireland, supporting also the end of the British monarchy. In the 1990s he was an active supporter of the Peace Process in Ireland.

My own personal introduction to Benn came courtesy of BBC Radio 4 who serialised

BY ROBBIE SMYTH his diaries in their Book at Bedtime! His description of the 1976 IMF bail-out and the dying months of Labour in power in 1978 and 1979 is a must-read for any aspiring politico.

The absence of a commentary on the crisis in Ireland at that time, and Benn’s role at Cabinet, detracted significantly from the diaries. He publicly admitted his regrets in later years for not forcing Ireland onto the Cabinet agenda at the time.

In the early 1990s, with the Peace Process inching towards an IRA cessation, I was dispatched by then An Phoblacht editor, Mícheál Mac Donncha, to interview Benn.

Tony Benn spoke up passionately for the idea of a united Ireland

What I encountered was the most polite, genial man, endlessly drinking tea, relighting his pipe and laughing a lot – an awful lot. In our interview (which he also recorded as he did in all media interviews after being misquoted or misrepresented so many tmes), and afterwards at the public meeting where he spoke, Benn unwrapped an egalitarian vision of what the world could be, how Ireland, Britain, Europe and beyond could live without empire, without the indulgences of exploitative, profiteering private sector companies but with and for the people. The interview and address that evening was mesmerising.

Reacting to Benn’s death, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD described him as “a true friend of the Irish people”, adding: “As a principled politician and activist, he spoke up passionately for the idea of a united Ireland. Tony was a champion of the downtrodden and the voiceless in Britain, in Ireland and throughout the world.”

Benn is quoted frequently for stating “Say what you believe; believe what you say.”

There is no better challenge for our political leaders today.

5 Tony Benn in west Belfast, October 1998

Fógraí Bháis

Shane Mac Thomáis Dublin Glasnevin Cemetery historian and former An Phoblacht columnist and Sinn Féin activist Shane Mac Thomáis died suddenly on Thursday 20 March.

Shane’s father, Éamonn, another noted historian as well as a broadcaster and author and IRA activist, was Editor of An Phoblacht in 1972 and 1974.

THE first time I met Shane I have to confess I did not really take to him. I thought he was a bit of a smart ass. He had a way of provoking you, questioning your pretensions, I suppose. Until you realised that he had none of his own.

My family and Shane’s had history before that. His da, Éamonn, was my uncle’s O/C in Dublin Brigade IRA in the 1950s and 1960s. So once we had established that, we were fine.

I don’t think I ever met him that I did not come away without knowing something that I hadn’t known before.

He was a mine of information on Dublin and its proud history: from the heroes that everyone knows, to unknown men and women who fell not only during our great heroic moments like 1916 and the Lockout, but also firefighters who died saving their fellow citizens from blazing tenements. Women and men of the city whose graves Shane kept and was proud to show to visitors to Glasnevin.

Glasnevin: where the Fenians sleep, as do thousands of anonymous Dubs

who fought the good fight and fell unbeknownst other than to their kith and kin. Men and women who will never have stamps dedicated to them.

I think Shane’s greatest pride was that he had a part in remembering those people.

In the last few months he had taken to using a photograph of Albert Camus on Facebook. There was certainly a resemblance although I would not give Camus much of a chance if there was to be a contest that rested on words and charm!

Shane probably had a difficult life. I always think of him as smiling and taking the surreal view of life and its strangeness and its difficulties. He was able to burst other people’s bubbles and challenge their notions of themselves. Perhaps he was too hard on himself in the end.

Perhaps Shane did not realise how much he was appreciated. He was a keeper of the flame of the history of the people of Dublin and of Ireland. And a generous sharer of his knowledge of that history as many people have recounted since his sad passing. And while he could appreciate the stories and journeys of the many who slept under his watch in Glasnevin, including Michael Collins, he was a Dublin republican by birth and inclination.

He will sleep where the Fenians sleep.

BY MATT TREACY

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I nDíl Chuimhne

All notices and obituaries should be sent to notices@anphoblacht.com by Friday 11 April 2014

1 April 1980: Volunteer Robert CARR, Newry Brigade.

2 April 1987: Volunteer Laurence MARLEY, Belfast Brigade, 3rd Battalion.

2 April 1992: Danny CASSIDY, Sinn Féin.

4 April 1971: Volunteer Tony HENDERSON, Belfast Brigade, 1st Battalion.

4 April 1989: Volunteer Gerard CASEY, North Antrim Brigade.

4 April 1994 Volunteer John O’RAWE,

“LIFE SPRINGS FROM DEATH AND FROM THE GRAVES OF PATRIOT MEN AND WOMEN SPRING LIVING NATIONS.”

Belfast Brigade, 1st Battalion.

5 April 1976: Volunteer Seán McDERMOTT, Belfast Brigade, 1st Battalion.

7 April 1972: Volunteer Samuel HUGHES, Volunteer Charles McCRYSTAL, Volunteer John McERLEAN, Belfast Brigade, 3rd Battalion.

8 April 1996: Volunteer Eugene MARTIN, South Armagh Brigade.

9 April 1974: Volunteer Daniel BURKE, Belfast Brigade, 1st Battalion.

PÁDRAIG Mac PIARAIS 10 April 1991: Volunteer Colum MARKS, South Down Command.

12 April 1973: Volunteer Edward O’RAWE, Belfast Brigade, 2nd Battalion.

Fógraí Bháis

Seán Cumiskey Meath THE DEATH has occurred of Meath republican Seán Cumiskey, a friend of the late Sinn Féin Councillor Eddie Fullerton in Birmingham in the 1970s and one of the six men who in 1977 defied state forces to fulfill IRA Volunteer Frank Stagg’s dying wish to be buried in the Republican Plot in his local cemetery in Mayo.

A native of Athboy, Seán was born in 1935. He and his siblings had to emigrate to England to find work. In Birmingham, he met his wife-to-be, Lydia, from his home area of Athboy, and they married in 1964. Seán and Lydia went on to have four children: Johnny, Laura, Kevin and Sinead.

With the outbreak of war in the Six Counties in the 1970s, it wasn’t easy being a republican in England. One of Seán’s and Lydia’s great friends in Birmingham in that era was the late Eddie Fullerton, who was shot dead by a unionist death squad in his native Donegal on 25 May 1991.

Returning home to Ireland with their family in 1975, Seán and

IN PICTURES

Lydia continued with their involvement in Sinn Féin and the republican struggle locally.

Seán and Lydia caused RTÉ

great distress in the 1980s when they broke the state broadcasting ban on members of Sinn Féin.

Lydia went on Gay Byrne’s flagship radio show to talk about the effects of emigration on families, provoking Establishment anger and focusing media attention on the breach by a Sinn Féin member and the inequity of censorship.

Lydia was even denied the token appearance fee.

Sinn Féin Councillor Joe Reilly said at Seán’s funeral on 6 March that Seán’s strength of character was his quietness.

“He was highly respected within the republican family. He went about his republican business in his own quiet way. Today we say goodbye to Seán. We remember his strength, courage and dedication to the republican struggle.

“To Lydia, Johnny, Kevin, Sinead and Laura, to Seán’s siblings and their families, we offer our deepest sympathy and support.”

15 April 1976: Volunteer Peter CLEARY, South Armagh Brigade.

17 April 1973: Volunteer Brian SMYTH, Belfast Brigade, 3rd Battalion.

17 April 1977: Volunteer Trevor McKIBBIN, Belfast Brigade, 3rd Battalion.

21 April 1984: Volunteer Richard QUIGLEY, Derry Brigade.

23 April 1977: Volunteer Brendan O’CALLAGHAN, Belfast Brigade, 1st Battalion.

» Notices All notices should be sent to: notices@anphoblacht.com at least 14 days in advance of publication date. There is no charge for I nDíl Chuimhne, Comhbhrón etc.

24 April 1974: Jim MURPHY, Sinn Féin.

25 April 1979: Volunteer Billy CARSON, Belfast Brigade, 2nd Battalion.

26 April 1975 Volunteer Noel LAFFERTY, Tyrone Brigade.

26 April 1986 Volunteer Séamus McELWAIN, South Fermanagh Brigade.

Always remembered by the Republican Movement.

» Imeachtaí There is a charge of €10 for inserts printed in our Imeachtaí/Events column. You can also get a small or large box advert. Contact: sales@anphoblacht.com for details.

Imeachtaí » Cumann na mBan – 100th Anniversary Celebration 7.00pm Wednesday 2nd April 2014, Wynn’s Hotel, Abbey St, Dublin. First showing of Cumann na mBan exhibition. Launch of a book on Cumann na mBan member Margaret Skinnider by Aengus Ó Snodaigh. Dramatic reenactment of constitution and first meeting of Cumann na mBan. Main speaker Liz Gillis, author and historian. Dublin Sinn Féin EU candidate Lynn Boylan. Organised by Sinn Féin. All welcome contact Noeleen on 087 633 6233 for more details.

photos@anphoblacht.com

5 Janice Boylan, Sinn Féín candidate for North Inner City Dublin, with John Delaney, Chief Executive of the Football Association of Ireland, and Tony Martin, Chair of the Athletic Union League, at a presentation night by the local 5 A protest by the Mairéad Farrell Republican Youth Committee attracted nearly a 100 young Gaels in Andersonstown, Belfast. The demonstration was to show their disgust at the PSNI harassment of young hurlers. See page 31 O’Devaney/Dunard Football Club

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BETWEEN THE POSTS

30 April / Aibreán 2014

THE

www.anphoblacht.com

BY CIARÁN KEARNEY

SPRINGTIME MEANS SHOWTIME AN EARTHQUAKE which started in Derry was being felt in Dublin over the St Patrick’s Day weekend.

Fortunately, the seismic event was man-made.

Manager Brian McIver and his Oakleaf team gave an impassioned exhibition in Gaelic football to the home crowd in Celtic Park. In the process, the Derrymen taught the All-Ireland champions a lesson in Round 5 of the National Football League. It also helped to silence those sporting pundits who still pretend Ireland comprises 26 counties.

However, it wasn’t all bad news for the boys in blue on St Patrick’s weekend.

Their cousins with the camán took on the mighty hurlers of Kilkenny. It was a rematch of the showdown which between the Dubs and the Cats last year which was one of the highlights of the 2013 championship. On this occasion, Kilkenny stepped onto the field as Division One leaders while Dublin are struggling against relegation.

And with backs to the wall, the Dubs finally triumphed in a tough, unrelenting contest. It also reaffirmed that hurling in Áth Cliath is in top flight.

It wasn’t only Kilkenny who found themselves on a slippery slope.

The winter Olympics and Paralympics ended with a young woman from the North of Ireland winning a gold medal. Kelly Gallagher may not yet be a household name but this woman, whose parents hail from Donegal, is a par-

brought to a sudden and sometimes crippling end. The ramifications can reach far into other parts of the life of a sportsperson.

There are risks in sport which few talk about or foresee. In the course of his career, O’Driscoll has surely glimpsed some of these in the lives of teammates or friends.

Players are told to take their chances. This emphasis on chance is important. High-performing

Slippery slopes and farewells in France

5 Paralympian Kelly Gallagher tially-blind downhill skier. The significance of her achievement is not reflected in anyway by the media coverage of the event. Instead, underlying inequalities concerning the role of women and Paralympians in the sporting life of our country were reinforced once more by media disinterest. But for a partially-blind woman from Ireland to attain an Olympic gold medal by skiing downhill at speeds of up to 100km is truly historic.

Someone else who felt the hand of history on his shoulder was Brian O’Driscoll. The Irish rugby legend enjoyed the perfect send-off from the international game as Ireland won the 6 Nations Championship tournament in a bustling, bruising battle against France. Hailed by many as the greatest-ever Irish rugby player, O’Driscoll was name-

5 Brian O’Driscoll enjoyed the perfect send-off from the international game checked by American President Barack Obama in his St Patrick’s Day news conference. The current Ireland coach, Joe Schmidt, could not speak highly enough of his number 13: “He is the Prince and deserves what he has earned.”

After the finale in Paris, O’Driscoll told the media scrum gathered to hear him: “The emotions are starting to kick in now. It feels great to be a two-time 6 Nations winner.”

However, there was also a hint that O’Driscoll knew it could all have turned out very differently: “Not many players get to finish their career on their own terms.” This is very true.

The reality for many young sportspeople is that the onset of injury or other life events may inhibit their development and potential for a career. In a matter of seconds, their involvement in sport can be

sports people grow aware of the complex interaction of circumstance and surroundings, of preparation and performance. They come to understand that the next match, the next race, the next round could be their last. They learn (or at least the best ones do) that the tighter you hold on the more quickly you lose control and miss the moment.

In many ways, sport is like a metaphor for life. Sport is a journey towards an end, but the end in itself is really the journey. Spring 2014 marks an end to this stage of the journey for Brian O’Driscoll. For others, the journey has just begun.

5 Martina Anderson MEP, Dublin EU candidate Lynn Boylan, Councillors Patricia Logue and Barney O'Hagan with joint First Minister Martin McGuinness MLA before the Derry v Dublin football league match at Celtic Park

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Young hurlers harassed by PSNI

Clash of the Sash

5 Members of the Mairéad Farrell Youth Republican Committee standing up for hurling

BY PEADAR WHELAN

5 Pat Sheehan addresses the crowd as his daughter Banba (front with hurl) and Eilish McCabe (in wheelchair) show their support

BY SÍLE DARRAGH A MAGNIFICENT new painting to celebrate and commemorate the role of republican women throughout Irish history has been unveiled at City Hall in Belfast.

Part of the commemorations of the centenary of Cumann na mBan, ‘The Women’s Mural’ was unveiled by Belfast Sinn Féin’s longest-serving woman councillor, Janice Austin, and ex-internee Liz McKee (Maskey), the first woman internee, before a unique collection of women who came together in the Sinn Féin office in Belfast City Hall.

‘The Women’s Mural’ – by renowned Belfast artist Danny Devenny – reflects, in great detail, the myriad roles republican women have played throughout Irish history: from suffragettes to Cumann na mBan, prisoners, prison visitors, Volunteers, protesters, and homemakers.

It is dedicated to all women, young and old, activists and supporters, in the past and in the present.

The gathering in City Hall, representative of many of the unnamed, unsung women of Ireland, reflected the backgrounds in the painting. They came from the four corners of Belfast and the majority had participated in different ways in the past four decades of republican struggle as far back as 1970.

This was an opportunity for them to reflect and remember what they and others had endured and their pride at having played a part in the struggle was very apparent.

The Committee of Macha’s Legacy ex-prisoners’ group would like to thank Danny for this tremendous piece of art, to those who attended the launch, and to the many, many courageous unnamed women who were there through all the hard times.

“IF A TEENAGER was walking along the Newtownards Road with a hockey stick, would the PSNI fine them £85? I don’t think so,” snapped Sinn Féin MLA Pat Sheehan.

The Belfast MLA was reacting to the news that the PSNI fined 20-year-old west Belfast man Thomas Thibodeau on a charge of ‘disorderly behaviour’ for hurling with a friend in a south Belfast street on 12 March.

This is the latest in a series of recent incidents where PSNI members have stopped and threatened young hurlers with arrest and prosecution.

In an earlier incident, a 14-year-old girl from the Ballymurphy area was stopped on 26 February by a PSNI patrol.

According to the schoolgirl’s mother, the police tried to take her hurl from her.

“They said it was a weapon and told her she could only carry it if she had a hurling ball or helmet. My daughter showed them her sliotar so they let her go,” said the mother, who didn’t want to be named.

Also in February Domhnall Ó Moraín, a member of the Mairéad Farrell Republican Youth Committee, was stopped in the Finaghy area of Belfast.

The young man was threatened with prosecution and a criminal record.

The PSNI then claimed this would lead to him being expelled from college and reportedly told him he would ‘never leave the country again’.

Speaking to An Phoblacht, Pat Sheehan described the PSNI actions as “a throwback to a time and an attitude that treated all things Irish as alien”.

Meanwhile, speaking before a meeting between the PSNI and a Sinn Féin delegation lead by west Belfast MP Paul Maskey, Eoin McShane, Chair of the Mairéad Farrell Republican Youth Committee, said he knew of at least eight incidents where the PSNI had harassed young hurlers.

“We want young people to come forward and report these incidents,” Eoin said. “This behaviour is an attack on our culture and it is out of step with what we want for our young people.”

TRIBUTE UNVEILED IN BELFAST CITY HALL

‘THE WOMEN’S MURAL’ THE PLAQUE ON THE PAINTING READS: Dedicated to the spirit and courage of republican women O high beats the heart of our Mother, The day she had longed for is nigh, When the sunlight of joy and of freedom, Shall glow in the eastern sky; And none shall be honoured more proudly, That morning by chieftain and clan, Than the daughters who served in her danger, The soldiers of Cumann na mBan

5 The launch of the mural in Belfast City Hall and (right) renowned Belfast artist Danny Devenny

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JAMES CONNOLLY

PÁDRAIG PEARSE

SEÁN Mac DIARMADA

THOMAS CLARKE

THOMAS MacDONAGH

EAMONN CEANNT

JOSEPH PLUNKETT

1868 – 1916

1879 – 1916

1884 – 1916

1857 – 1916

1878 – 1916

1881 – 1916

1887 – 1916

IRISHMEN AND IRISHWOMEN: In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom.

Having organised and trained her manhood through her secret revolutionary organisation, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and through her open military organisations, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army, having patiently perfected her discipline, having resolutely waited for the right moment to reveal itself, she now seizes that moment, and supported by her exiled children in America and by gallant allies in Europe, but relying in the first on her own strength, she strikes in full confidence of victory.

We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible. The long usurpation of that right by a foreign people and government has not extinguished the right, nor can it ever be extinguished except by the destruction of the Irish people. In every generation the Irish people have asserted their right to national freedom and sovereignty; six times during the past three hundred years they have asserted it in arms.

Standing on that fundamental right and again asserting it in arms in the face of the world, we hereby proclaim the Irish Republic as a Sovereign Independent State, and we pledge our lives and the lives of our comrades in arms to the cause of its freedom, of its welfare, and of its exaltation among the nations.

The Irish Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman. 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 of the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien Government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past.

Until our arms have brought the opportune moment for the establishment of a permanent National Government, representative of the whole people of Ireland and elected by the suffrages of all her men and women, the Provisional Government, hereby constituted, will administer the civil and military affairs of the Republic in trust for the people.

We place the cause of the Irish Republic under the protection of the Most High God, Whose blessing we invoke upon our arms, and we pray that no one who serves that cause will dishonour it by cowardice, inhumanity, or rapine. In this supreme hour the Irish nation must, by its valour and discipline, and by the readiness of its children to sacrifice themselves for the common good, prove itself worthy of the august destiny to which it is called.

Signed on behalf of the Provisional Government,

THOMAS J. CLARKE SEAN Mac DIARMADA THOMAS MacDONAGH P. H. PEARSE EAMONN CEANNT JAMES CONNOLLY JOSEPH PLUNKETT

Poblacht na hÉireann

The Provisional Government

Irish Republic of the

to the people of Ireland

Poblacht na hÉireann

Rialtas Sealadach

Phoblacht nadohÉireann mhuintir na hÉireann

An Phoblacht, www.anphoblacht.com, April / Aibrean 2014

A FHEARA AGUS A MHNÁ NA hÉIREANN : In ainm Dé agus in ainm na nglún a chuaigh romhainn agus óna bhfuair sí seanoideas na náisiúntachta, tá Éire, trínne, ag gairm a clainne faoina bratach agus ag bualadh buille ar son a saoirse.

Tar éis di a fir a eagrú agus a oiliúint ina heagraíocht rúnda réabhlóideach, Bráithreachas Phoblacht na hÉireann, agus ina heagraíochtaí míleata poiblí, Óglaigh na hÉireann agus Arm Cathartha na hÉireann, agus tar éis di a riailbhéas a thabhairt go foighneach chun foirfeachta agus feitheamh go buanseasmhach leis an bhfaill chun gnímh, tá sí ag glacadh na faille sin anois, agus, le cabhair óna clainn ar deoraíocht i Meiriceá agus ó chomh-ghuaillithe calma san Eoraip, ach, thar gach ní, le muinín as a neart dílis féin, tá sí ag bualadh buille i ndóchas iomlán go mbéarfaidh sí bua.

Dearbhaímid gur ceart ceannasach dochlóite ceart mhuintir na hÉireann chun seilbh na hÉireann, agus chun dála na hÉireann a stiúradh gan chosc gan cheataí. Níor cuireadh an ceart sin ar ceal leis an bhforghabháil a rinne pobal eachtrannach agus a rialtas air le cian d’aimsir ná ní féidir go brách a chur ar ceal ach trí dhíothú mhuintir na hÉireann. Níl aon ghlúin dá dtáinig nár dhearbhaigh pobal na hÉireann a gceart chun saoirse agus ceannas a náisiúin; sé huaire le trí chéad bliain anuas dhearbhaíodar faoi airm é. Ag seasamh dúinn ar an gceart bunaidh sin agus á dhearbhú arís faoi airm os comhair an tsaoil, fógraímid leis seo Poblacht na hÉireann ina Stát Ceannasach Neamhspleách agus cuirimid ár nanam féin agus anam ár gcomrádaithe comhraic i ngeall lena saoirse agus lena leas, agus lena móradh i measc na náisiún.

Dlíonn Poblacht na hÉireann, agus éilíonn sí leis seo, géillsine ó mhuintir uile na hÉireann, idir fhir agus mhná. Ráthaíonn an phoblacht saoirse creidimh agus saoirse shibhialta, comhchearta agus comhdheiseanna, dá saoránaigh uile, agus dearbhaíonn sí gurb é a rún séan agus sonas a lorg don náisiún uile agus do gach roinn di, le comhchúram do chlainn uile an náisiúin, agus le neamhairt ar an easaontas a cothaíodh d’aontoisc eatarthu ag rialtas eachtrannach agus lér deighleadh mionlucht ón tromlach san am atá imithe.

Go dtí go dtabharfaidh feidhm ár n-arm an t-ionú dúinn BuanRialtas Náisiúnta a bhunú ó theachtaí do phobal uile na hÉireann arna dtoghadh le vótaí a cuid fear agus ban, déanfaidh an Rialtas Sealadach, a bhunaítear leis seo, cúrsaí sibhialta agus míleata na Poblachta a riaradh thar ceann an phobail.

Cuirimid cúis Phoblacht na hÉireann faoi choimirce Dhia Mór na nUile-chumhacht agus impímid A bheannacht ar ár n-airm; iarraimid gan aon duine a bheas ag fónamh sa chúis sin do tharraingt easonóra uirthi le mílaochas, le mídhaonnacht ná le slad. San uair oirbheartach seo is é dualgas náisiún na hÉireann a chruthú, lena misneach agus lena dea-iompar agus le toil a clainne á dtoirbhirt féin ar son na maitheasa poiblí, go dtuilleann sí an réim ró-uasal is dán di.

Arna shíniú thar ceann an Rialtais Shealadaigh,

TOMÁS Ó CLÉIRIGH SEÁN Mac DIARMADA TOMÁS Mac DONNCHADHA PÁDRAIG MAC PIARAIS ÉAMONN CEANNT SÉAMUS Ó CONGHAILE IÓSEPH Ó PLUINGCÉAD