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2 April / Aibreán 2016
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DAVID CULLINANE TD
Sinn Féin is not afraid to compromise (as we have shown in the North) but we will not act as a crutch to parties who have perpetuated partition and widened inequality in society
DÁIL MACHINATIONS – FORMING A GOVERNMENT
Sinn Féin is hungry for change but not thirsty for power THE DÁIL GENERAL ELECTION saw gains for those on the left of the Labour Party. The Right2Water movement brought tens of thousands onto the streets and politicised many. The economic crash of 2008/2009 raised the political consciousness of the people with the Establishment parties’ vote dropping as a consequence. The Right2Water movement was supported by six trade unions, a community pillar and a number of left-leaning political parties and Independents. An attempt to organise these distinct groupings under an agreed political platform met with limited success. The Right2Change platform failed to persuade some of those involved in the Right2Water movement such as the Anti-Austerity Alliance, the Social Democrats and a number of left-leaning Independent TDs to sign up. This was for different reasons, depending on the grouping or individual, and this needs further analysis. Sinn Féin needs to be part of building on this work. It is quite obvious that Sinn Féin will lead the Opposition. We do not have the numbers or the mandate to enter Government at this time. It
5 Sinn Féin's newly-elected 23-strong Dåil team at Leinster House
Labour deputy leader Alan Kelly described power as a drug – he entirely misses the point is interesting to watch the main Establishment parties of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael desperately trying to control both the Government and the Opposition without the authority to do so. A minority Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael Government will be short-lived and is designed to allow Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael the pretence of being both in Government and Opposition at the same time. In reality, the only long-term option for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael is to share Government with each other or Opposition with each other.
5 The Right2Change movement brought tens of thousands onto the streets
Sinn Féin is different from the Establishment parties. We are hungry for change but not thirsty for power. Alan Kelly described power as a drug. He entirely misses the point. Entering Government must be about serving the interests of citizens and changing politics and society for
the better. Any coalition Government involves compromise. Sinn Féin is not afraid to compromise (as we have shown in the North) but we will not act as a crutch to parties who have perpetuated partition and widened inequality in society. To engage in such a betrayal would
be to follow in the footsteps of Labour and that is a path we are not for walking. We do, however, want to be in Government. Sinn Féin is ready, willing and able to serve in Government. We need to continue to work with others and build a strong platform for a progressive bloc that will assist in forming a progressive Government. We need to fully commit to a process of engagement and looking outwards. In short, it must become a core political priority. We need to continue supporting the Right2Change platform and encourage new voices, including within the trade union movement, the community sector, NGOs and campaigning groups to take part. Facing outwards and building alliances is time consuming and difficult work. But it is vital in laying the foundations for a progressive Government with Sinn Féin in the leadership. The option of taking a short-cut to Government and at some point propping up Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael as a minority party is fraught with danger and a path disastrously travelled by others. We need to be focused, strategic and diligent in building relationships and paving the way for a future progressive Government.
April / Aibreán 2016
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1916 Easter Rising commemoration at Stormont The 1916 Proclamation was read in front of a 50-year-old copy of the famous document which was produced for the 50th anniversary of the Rising in 1966. Mid Ulster MLA and Sinn Féin Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill was the main speaker at the commemoration. She reflected on the historic significance of holding the event at Stormont. “As republicans, we are very mindful of the fact that we are in the midst of a number of important centenaries, including the signing of the Ulster Covenant, the Battle of the Somme, the Tan War and partition. “Marking them in an inclusive and mature manner can contribute to reconciliation and to creating a society that is respectful of different traditions,” she said. The senior Sinn Féin Assembly minister also said the fact that TDs from across Ireland attended the event was an indication of the growth of Sinn Féin. “Today the only viable route forward to our objective of a united Ireland is to build republicanism as a popular, progressive political force across this island. “That is the project Sinn Féin has embarked on and that is the project Sinn Féin is delivering on.”
BY MICHAEL McMONAGLE HISTORY WAS MADE at Stormont on Wednesday 23 March when Sinn Féin held a commemoration to mark the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising in the building’s Long Gallery. The venue was once regarded as a bastion of unionist misrule and domination. The 1916 commemoration was also the first time since Sinn Féin’s success in the recent Dáil general election that the party’s elected representatives from across Ireland came together. Many of the 23 newly-elected TDs travelled to Belfast for the historic event to mark the 100th anniversary of the Rising alongside their MLA colleagues. The TDs passed statues of Carson and Craigavon as they made their way into the commemoration to remember the heroes of Easter Week and Ireland’s patriot dead. Alongside the Sinn Féin representatives from across Ireland, relatives of veterans of 1916 also attended the commemoration.
5 The commemoration ends with the singing of Amhrán na bhFiann
1916 memorial wall including British forces ‘inappropriate and insulting’, say Rising relatives BY MARK MOLONEY A MEMORIAL WALL unveiled in Glasnevin Cemetery to mark the 1916 Rising that lists British crown forces who died crushing the rebellion alongside Irish freedom fighters and civilian fatalities has been criticised as inappropriate by the 1916 Relatives’ Association, Sinn Féin and other organisations. Officially called the ‘1916 Necrology Wall’, the monument lists the names of all those who died during the Easter Rising in chronological order. On the 12 May panel, a British soldier listed between executed leaders James Connolly and Seán Mac Diarmada was a member of the British Army’s South Staffordshire Regiment. The Staffordshires were responsible for the North King Street Massacre in which 15 Dublin men and boys were rounded up,
summarily executed and buried in the yards and cellars of their homes. The 1916 Relatives’ Association described the monument as “inappropriate and insulting”. Meanwhile, the citizens’ commemorative group Reclaim the Vision of 1916 President Robert Ballagh criticised the monument as “bizarre”, saying: “The leaders of 1916 went out in a spirit of idealism and self-sacrifice to make Ireland free and independent. How can that selfless contribution be made equal with the paid British Army forces sent in to quell the rebellion? No other country entertains such senseless and ahistorical treatment of their national heroes.” When the memorial was unveiled a number of factual errors were spotted. The Irish-language term for the Easter Rising, “Éirí Amach na Cásca”, was misspelled with the fada over the first
5 Heritage Minister Heather Humphreys and Taoiseach Enda Kenny at the unveiling of the memorial wall in Glasnevin Cemetery
“i” instead of the “E”, something Conradh na Gaeilge said demonstrates a “laziness towards the Irish language”. Meanwhile, historian Donal Fallon also noted how 26-year-old Irish Volunteer Andrew Cunningham is incorrectly listed as a civilian: “This is a mistake that goes beyond a fada,” said Donal. “Andrew Cunningham was from Pigeon House Road in Ringsend. A member of the Irish Volunteers from the time of the inception of the nationalist organisation, he was a
silk weaver by trade. Cunningham was shot on the Ringsend Road on 1 May, which is after the surrender of Pádraig Pearse and the rebel forces but sporadic shooting remained a problem in parts of Dublin.” He left behind a wife and two young children. In the run-up to the unveiling, and in an attempt to quell criticism, Glasnevin Trust Chairperson John Green falsely claimed on RTÉ Radio that the plan had cross-party support. This is dismissed by Sinn Féin’s Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD.
5 Volunteer Andrew Cunningham
“This is not the case,” he told An Phoblacht, “Sinn Féin did not agree to this proposal as we believe it is totally inappropriate for a memorial wall to list indiscriminately together Irish freedom fighters and members of the British crown forces.” Meanwhile, Reclaim the Vision of 1916 called on Glasnevin Trust to suspend the plan to add to this wall in the coming years “to avoid the spectacle of Black and Tan names being inscribed next to those of Pearse and Connolly”.
4 April / Aibreán 2016
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anphoblacht Editorial INSPIRED BY 1916
WE ARE living in historic times. The centenary year of the 1916 Rising. The highest number of Sinn Féin TDs returned to the Dáil in recent years. A strong team of Sinn Féin MLAs in the Assembly seeking a renewed mandate to not just defend the most vulnerable against the Tories at Westminster and at Stormont but to build a better future for all our communities. And this year is also the 35th anniversary of the H-Blocks Hunger Strike in Long Kesh – the crucible of a traumatic personal and political period in modern Irish history that resonated across the globe and will have ramifications for centuries to come. Much has been hard fought for and much has been hard won but this is not 1916, 1968 or 1981. This generation of republicans must work to deliver the Republic base on the vision of the Proclamation, for our people now and for generations to come. With polls North and South to end partition and the Union provided for in binding inter-governmental and inter-party agreements, we now have a peaceful and democratic pathway to Irish reunification. We need to build support for unity and highlight the continued failure of partition. We must assert the right of people in the North to end the link with Britain, to end Tory austerity economics, and to oppose an exit from the EU that will affect the entire island of Ireland.
Contact
Layout and production: Mark Dawson production@anphoblacht.com
NEWS editor@anphoblacht.com NOTICES notices@anphoblacht.com PHOTOS photos@anphoblacht.com NAMA jewel thieves go free 12
The EU is by no means perfect but the place for Ireland is as a single united member state leading the process of political, economic and social change. Sinn Féin will seek a No vote in the upcoming Brexit referendum. We will continue to work within the EU to build a social, just and prosperous Europe that respects national sovereignty. We are now the main Opposition in the Dáil to the conservative and failed Establishment parties of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Labour. We are the leaders of progressive republican politics across Ireland. And we will be in Government, in the South as well as the North. It is not a case of if this will happen but when will it happen. This is an exciting time to be part of the republican family. Hundreds of thousands of people have voted for Sinn Féin across the 32 Counties. We have made huge advances and we are growing but we must grow stronger. We want power not for its trappings or for the sake of it but because holding the levers of power is one of the ways to make effective change in society. The Assembly elections on May 5th provide another opportunity to increase the strength built up over many years of struggle. We must continue to do all that we can in pursuit of our political objective of creating a nation where the vision of the Proclamation is the living experience of every Irish man, woman and child throughout Ireland.
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 contact the Editor first. An Phoblacht, Kevin Barry House, 44 Parnell Square, Dublin 1, Ireland Telephone: (+353 1) 872 6 100. Email: editor@anphoblacht.com
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Freed Basque Peace Process leader Arnaldo Otegi to speak in Dublin
Sinn Féin Ard Fheis 2016 – Join the Rising
Cad is Sim Teanga ann? 13 – 18
THE 2016 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis in Dublin during the Easter Rising Centenary Year – just weeks after the party’s most successful Dáil election ever and only a fortnight before new elections for the Assembly as Stormont – will be one of the party’s most important gatherings in the current political climate. What gives it added poignancy is that the Ard Fheis on Friday and Saturday 22/23 April takes place on the eve of the actual 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising – 24 April. The Ard Fheis at the Convention Centre Dublin on the River Liffey
5 Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams speaking at the 2015 Ard Fheis in Derry
Honouring the 1916 Centenary 20 & 21
Uncomfortable Conversations Former British Army officer Kingsley Donaldson and republican ex-prisoner Conor Murphy MLA SUBSCRIBE ONLINE To get your An Phoblacht delivered direct to your mobile device or computer for just €10 per 12 issues and access to the historic The Irish Volunteer newspaper posted online weekly and An Phoblacht’s/IRIS the republican magazine archives
Ard Fheis 22/23 April CONVENTION CENTRE DUBLIN will see upwards of 2,000 delegates, visitors and special guests pass through the doors along with up to 30 governments from around the world, including official Government representatives from Palestine, South Africa and Cuba. A particular highlight will be a special appearance by Basque leader Arnaldo Otegi from EH Bildu, released 5 Basque leader Arnaldo Otegi at the from a Spanish prison on 1 March 2007 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis
this year after serving more than six years on political charges. Podemos from Spain will be officially represented at the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis. Also from mainland Europe attending is the President of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left European Parliamentary Group of which Sinn Féin’s four MEPs are members, Gabriele Zimmer, and the Deputy Secretary General of the European Parliament GUE/NGL, Sannaleena Lepola. There will be a significant attendance from England, Scotland and Wales, among them British Labour Party Shadow Secretary of State Vernon Coaker, Billy Hayes (former General Secretary of the Communication Workers’ Union), and
representatives of the Irish community in Britain and solidarity groups. From Australia, there will be a delegation of up to 40 people including political activists, trade unionists, Cairde Sinn Féin Australia, Brehon Law Society and several figures from the Shadow Cabinet in New South Wales. The overall theme of the Ard Fheis will be A United Ireland – Delivering on the ideals of 1916, a sovereign, independent and united Irish Republic based on equality and social justice.
SEE THE AN PHOBLACHT WEBSITE FOR UPDATES IN THE RUN-UP TO THE ARD FHEIS
April / Aibreán 2016
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Le Trevor Ó Clochartaigh Laochra dearmadta tugtha chun cuimhne ag na comórthaí
Réalta an Phoblachtánachais OIDEACHAS ann féin é dul thar sáile i gcomhair comórthaí na Cásca. Bhí de phribhléíd agamsa dul go San Franciscoi mbliana agus fad is a bhí mé ann d’fhoghlaim mé faoi bheirt laoch poblachtánach a bhféadfaí ‘Blockbuster’ den chéad scoth a dhéanamh as na scéalta a bhaineann leo, ach muintir Hollywood a fháil ar bord! Ní minic a chríochnaíonn fear a bhí bainteach le grúpa poblachtánaithe a bhriseadh amach as príosún suas ina cheannaire gárdaí é féin. Ach, is mar sin a tharla le Thomas Desmond. Agus, ní ba spéisiúla fós b’fhéidir ná go raibh beirt ‘Sherriff’ reatha i láthair go h-oifigiúil ag comóradh San Francisco i mbliana le h-aitheantas a thabhairt do Desmond ag an ócáid. Rugadh Thomas Desmond i gCóbh, Co. Chorcaí in 1838. Chuaigh sé go Meiriceá in 1854 agus gan é ach sé bliana déag. Throid sé sa gCogadh Cathardha ar son na haontachtaithe agus as sin go San Francisco leis, áit ar déanadh leas Sirriam (Deputy Sherriff) dó. Bhí Desmond gniomhach go polaitiúil le pobal na hÉireann ariamh. In 1865 agus 1867 gabhadh agus cuireadh na céadta de Bhráíthre na bhFiníní i bpríosún. Cuireadh ós cionn trí scór acu chuig príosún Fremantle san Astráil. Ligeadh a bhformhór amach in 1871, seachas seisear a bhí mar bhaill d’airm na Breataine ag an am ar gabhadh iad agus cinneadh gur tréas a bhí déanta acu. Bhí Desmond ar dhuine den dream cróga a chuaigh ar an mbád an ‘Catalpa’ chun an seisear a shaoradh as Príosun Fremantle agus iad a thabhairt ar ais go Nua Eabhrach, rud a rinne siad in ainneoin iarrachtai forsaí na Breataine iad a chloí.
IN PICTURES
plean aige iad uilig a thabhairt chuig saoil nua i Meiriceá agus ní nach ionadh, ní bóthar réidh ná aistear dhíreach a thug go Santa Clara iad! Tugann an scéal iad tríd Quebec iad agus ansin síos ó dheas tríd an bhféarthalamh nach raibh cosán ar bith tríothu, tríd an ngainmhleach, trasna aibhneacha gan droichid agus thar sléibhte sneachtúla an Sierra Nevada ina gcuid vaigíni capaill. Is iomaí duine eile a bhásaigh i mbun
Is léir mar sin go raibh tionchar nach beag ag poblachtánaithe na hÉireann ar fud na cruinne agus tábhacht dá réir ag baint lena scéalta
5 Thomas Desmond a raibh baint aige le scéal cáiliúil an ‘Catalpa’ Scéal eachtraíochta chomh suimiúil céanna atá ag Martin Murphy. Fear de bhunadh Loch Garman a bhí ar dhuine den chéad dream ón Eoraip a chur futhú i gCalifornia agua atá curtha i reilig Santa Clara ansin. Throid Murphy san Éirí Amach i 1798 agus gan é ach ina leaid óg. Ba léir dó nach raibh mórán gnaithe aige fanacht in Éireann de bharr forlámhas na Breataine ansin agus bhailligh sé a chlann ar fad le chéile agus dúirt leo go raibh
an chineál aistear céanna. Go deimhin, b’iad na Máirtínigh agus an dream a bhí leo, an chéad dream Meiriceánach ariamh ar éirigh leo a gcuid beithigh, capaill agus vaigíní a thabhairt thar na sléibhte contúirteacha úd. I mí na Samhna 1844 a osclaíodh an ‘California Trail’ a bhí tógtha acu agus lean na mílte ceannródaí eile Martin Murphy & a chlann anonn ina dhiaidh sin, áit a bhfuil bóthar iarann agus an mótarbhealach ‘US Interstate 80’ ag dul sa lá atá inniu ann. D’éirigh fíor-mhaith le Murphy agus sliocht a sleachta ina dhiaidh sin. Tuairiscítear go raibh suas le deich míle duine ag comóradh leathchéad bliain a bpósta ag Martin Óg agus a bhean Bridget ar an bhfeirm ollmhór a bhí acu. An cóisir is mó a facthas i gCalifornia ariamh dúradh. Thug
5 Ag an uaigh i Santa Clara le duine de shliocht Martin Murphy, Carol Stephenson
siad cuireadh oscailte do phobal California agus chur siad traenacha agus caranna capaill ar fáil le daoine a thabhairt ann. Lucht feirme, gnó agus oideachais a bhí iontu. Bhí baint acu le bunú Ollscoil Santa Clara agus Scoil Notre Dame ansin, le h-oideachas a chur ar chailíní. Bhí cáil na flaithiúlachta orthu chomh maith leis an rachmasacht. Is léir mar sin go raibh tionchar nach beag ag poblachtánaithe na hÉireann ar fud na cruinne agus tábhacht dá réir ag baint lena scéalta, agus leis an dream seo a thabhairt chun cuimhne agus a chomóradh chomh maith leis na laochra cróga uile a throid ar son saoirse na hÉireann. Tá ardmholadh ag dul dár gcomrádaí as Aontraim, Ciarán Scally agus a chomrádaithe i Ridirí na Craoibhe Deirge i San Francisco, atá ag cinntiú na ligfear na laochra poblachtánacha seo i ndearmad go ceann tamaill eile ar aon chuma.
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5 Over 5,000 people take part in Derry's 1916 centenary commemoration in what was one of the biggest 5 The annual Drumboe Martyrs Commemoration on Easter Sunday saw its largest turnout in many years Easter Rising parades ever to be held in the city
6 April / Aibreán 2016
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Unprecedented delivery by Sinn Féin in Assembly THE LAST FIVE YEARS of the Assembly at Stormont have been characterised by intense periods of headline-grabbing negotiations and less-publicised rates of unprecedented delivery. The tone for the mandate of the Assembly was set with the election of a British government made up of the Tories and Liberal Democrats wedded to austerity. The reelection of of an undiluted Tory Government in 2015 copperfastened the Westminster cuts agenda. In contrast, Sinn Féin remained constant in its opposition to the British Government’s austerity agenda.
While other parties accepted the British Government’s mantra of austerity, Sinn Féin secured a unique package of protections worth more than £500million to help protect those most in need Sinn Féin took a principled and determined stand to support the most vulnerable in society in opposing Tory austerity. While other parties accepted the British Government’s mantra of austerity, Sinn Féin fought to protect those most in need. In a series of negotiations with the British and Irish governments, the Sinn Féin negotiating team, led by Martin McGuinness and Conor Murphy, directly challenged the austerity agenda which punishes those least-well-off. As a result, Sinn Féin secured a unique package of protections worth more than £500million to help protect those most in need.
Although the mainstream media coverage of the last Assembly mandate portrayed it as one of continual political chaos and arguments between parties, Sinn Féin managed to achieve a significant amount, with more than 80% of the Programme for Government commitments delivered.
SINCE 2011, THE EXECUTIVE HAS: » Created 40,000 jobs; » Spent more than £90million a week delivering health and social care services; » Employed 930 more nurses, 460 more allied health professionals and 240 more medical and dental consultants; » Kept rates bills linked to inflation; » Retained free prescriptions; » Protected free domiciliary care; » Prevented hikes to student fees; » Stopped the Bedroom Tax; » Provided free travel to pensioners. Significantly, the Executive also stopped the introduction of water charges, ensuring that domestic users do not have to pay for water. Sinn Féin ministers were at the heart of delivering this progressive change. Education Minister John O’Dowd invested hugely in the North’s education system over the
last five years, delivering significant improvements. More than £1.2billion was invested in new school buildings and upgrading classroom facilities. Educational attainment also continued to improve under Minister O’Dowd, particularly among young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, with 58% of children receiving free school meals now getting 5 GCSEs at grades A* – C, compared to 31% previously. The Sinn Féin Education Minister also expanded the criteria to ensure more pupils are entitled to free school meals and school uniform grants. More pre-school places were provided and additional resources provided from breakfast and homework clubs in schools. The Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA), which helps young people to stay in education, was also saved from abolition by Minister O’Dowd. The Irish-medium education sector also saw major improvements with the opening of several new bunscoileanna, a new building for Belfast’s Coláiste Feirste and the opening of Gaelcholáiste Dhoire in Dungiven. Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill delivered a record amount of investment in rural communities since 2011, transforming rural communities across the North. The Mid Ulster MLA delivered the largest-ever Rural Development Programme (RDP) worth more than £500million which has led to the creation of over 1,000 jobs throughout rural areas. The minister also led the first decentralisation of a government department, moving hundreds of jobs into rural areas. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development headquarters is moving to a former British Army barracks site in Ballykelly while fishery and forestry offices were also decentralised. She also successfully negotiated reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy in 2014, resulting a fairer distribution to farm payments, ensuring that hill farmers get equal treatment.
5 Sinn Féin representatives attend the North/ South Ministerial Council in Armagh. Pictured are Culture Minister Carál Ní Chuilín, Sinn Féin MEP Martina Anderson, Education Minister John O’Dowd and Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill
Michelle O’Neill also fought for the rights of the North’s fishing fleet, increasing quotas and safeguarding the interests of the industry by progressing the European Marine Fisheries Fund. Farmers were also helped to develop the agriculture sector with £250million investment in the Farm Business Improvement Scheme.
Significantly, the Executive stopped the introduction of water charges, ensuring that domestic users do not have to pay for water Significant improvements in rural broadband provision was also rolled out alongside £10million investment in rural tourism. Culture Minister Carál Ní Chuilín delivered major investment to the arts and sporting sectors in the North, as well as continuing to support the development of the Irish-language community. More than £130million has been invested in sports facilities with major stadium redevelopments for rugby, soccer and the GAA. The North Belfast MLA was the main financial backer for the successful City of Culture celebrations in Derry in 2013, investing £12.6million
April / Aibreán 2016
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Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill delivered a record amount of investment in rural communities since 2011with a Rural Development Programme worth over £500million and more than 1,000 jobs
5 Derry's successful City of Culture celebrations in 2013
during the years and a further £7million for legacy projects across the north-west. She also successfully used departmental funding to bring sporting and cultural events into disadvantaged communities. As part of Sinn Féin’s commitment to the Irish language, the Culture Minister launched the Líofa
Education Minister John O’Dowd invested hugely in the North’s education system over the last five years, delivering significant improvements initiative to promote fluency and which now has more than 18,000 members. The Culture Minister also protected libraries threatened with cuts as a result of the Tory austerity agenda. Key infrastructural projects were also progressed during the last Assembly mandate with funding secured for the A6 road upgrade between Derry and Belfast and the A5 between Derry and Dublin. Funding was also secured, with Irish Government input, for the new radiotherapy centre at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry which will cater for
5 Sinn Féin's Mitchel McLaughlin became the first republican elected as Assembly Speaker in 2015
patients from both sides of the Border. There were significant initiatives aimed at developing and promoting reconciliation during the last Assembly mandate. Recognising the importance of the decade of centenaries, Martin McGuinness attended a commemoration for the centenary of the First World War at Stormont hosted by Assembly speaker Mitchel McLaughlin. Sinn Féin also made history by holding an Easter Rising commemoration in Stormont’s Long Gallery for the first time. The event was attended by Sinn Féin representatives from across Ireland, including many of the 23 newlyelected TDs. Despite these advances, the British Government reneged on its commitments on the dealing with the legacy of the past. In the face of the repeated attempts of Secretary of State Theresa Villiers’s Tory government to cover up the actions of its armed forces, agents and their proxies in unionist death squads, Sinn Féin did secure agreement on mechanisms to deal with the past. The British Government, however, has yet to fulfil its commitments. The Irish Government also failed to live up to its commitments as part of the Good Friday and subsequent agreements. Together with effectively acting as an understudy to the British Government during successive negotiations, they also failed to challenge the British Government on
its record on dealing with the past, including the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. Personalities also changed during the course of the mandate with some famous faces leaving the political scene. The retirement of Peter Robinson and his replacement with Arlene Foster, both as DUP leader and First Minister brought a new face to the very top of the DUP. At times throughout his leadership Peter Robinson had a fraught relationship with some within the DUP Assembly party and MP group at Westminster and his position as leader was called into question on several occasions. One significant indication of change at Stormont occurred when Mitchel McLaughlin was elected as Speaker of the Assembly, becoming the first republican to hold the position. The veteran republican, who stepped down from the Assembly this year, was widely respected by all parties at Stormont for his fairness and impartiality when chairing debates in the chamber. During his time as Speaker he also rolled out a series of initiatives aimed at making Stormont more accessible to the public. In particular, in a keynote address to mark St Patrick’s Day in 2015 he said that Parliament Buildings needed to be more reflective of nationalist and republican traditions. As a result, the building was lit up green for the first time to mark St Patrick’s Day. He also pioneered a series of events to mark International Women’s Day which led to the creation of the first Women’s Caucus at the Assembly with Sinn Féin MLA. Sinn Féin has made advances but to make further strides to defend and enhance the living standards of people across all communities, from all backgrounds and ages, and across the island, the party is seeking a strong mandate for lasting change in the Assembly elections on 5 May.
8 April / Aibreán 2016
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Sinn Féin backs Independent nominee as a voice for the Diaspora
Pádraig Mac Lochlainn
Niall Ó Donnghaile
Trevor Ó Clochartaigh
Rose Conway-Walsh
Fintan Warfield
Máire Devine
Paul Gavan
SEVEN STAND FOR SEANAD BY MARK MOLONEY SINN FÉIN has announced that it is standing seven candidates in the Seanad elections as the party aims to increase its current three seats in the 60-seat Upper House. The party’s seven candidates will stand across the five vocational panels, from which 43 senators are elected. The rest of the Seanad is elected by two university constituencies, which have six seats, while 11 seats are reserved for Senators nominated by the Taoiseach. Sinn Féin’s nominees include former Donegal TD and Justice spokesperson Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, who narrowly missed out on retain- 5 Rose Conway-Walsh at the launch of 'A New Deal for the West' plan ing his seat in the Dáil following major constituency changes. He will stand for the Industrial and Commercial Panel. The Buncrana candidate previously served as the Donegal spokesperson for the Irish National Organisation for
The Seanad will be a platform to put forward Sinn Féin’s policies, including protecting our most vulnerable citizens, introducing a fair tax system and investing in high-quality public services with a priority of solving the crises in our health and housing services
5 Niall Ó Donnghaile welcomes Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D. Higgins to Belfast on his first engagement in Ireland's second city
the Unemployed and served on the board of InterTrade Ireland. Former Mayor of Belfast Niall Ó Donnghaile, who hails from the small nationalist enclave of Short Strand in east Belfast, will stand for the party on the Administrative Panel. Ó Donnghaile became the youngest-ever Mayor of Belfast in 2011 at the age of 25. A fluent Irish speaker, 5 Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh and Pearse Niall is well-known as a spokesperson for the Doherty TD at the 2015 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis tiny Short Strand community, an area which has been frequently targeted in co-ordinated SINN FÉIN HAS also nominated US-based attacks by unionist gangs. The party is standing two candidates for the Ciarán Staunton as an Independent candidate for the Industrial and CommerAgriculture Panel. Joining incumbent Connecial Panel. Sinn Féin says the Mayoman, mara–based Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh who has lived in the United States (party spokesperson on the Gaeltacht, Rural since the 1980s, will be a “voice for the Affairs and the Diaspora) is Mayo Councillor Diaspora”. He is a co-founder of the Irish Rose Conway-Walsh. An Irish representative to the EU Committee of the Regions and Lobby for Immigration Reform in the USA whose goal is resolving the status with over 20 years’ experience in leading community projects in Mayo, Rose put in of the estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish in the country. an extremely strong showing in the general
5 Pádraig Mac Lochlainn speaking on Sinn Féin's LGBT policy
5 Fintan Warfield performs at the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Irish Volunteers in the Rotunda
election in what is considered a traditional Fine Gael stronghold and home county of the outgoing Taoiseach. Former Mayor of South Dublin and well-known traditional musician Fintan Warfield will stand for Sinn Féin on the Culture and Education Panel. In 2014, Fintan, aged just 22, became the youngest Mayor of a local authority in Ireland. He is also the chairperson of the Civic Theatre in Tallaght. The party will also stand two candidates on the Labour Panel. Dublin-based Councillor Máire Devine, who has over a decade of experience as a branch secretary for the Psychiatric Nurses’
Association, and SIPTU trade union organiser Paul Gavan from Limerick. Speaking at Leinster House, Sinn Féin Party Whip Aengus Ó Snoódaigh said he is delighted with such high-calibre candidates: “We will use the Seanad as a platform to put forward Sinn Féin’s policies, including protecting
Sinn Féin will also campaign for real Seanad reform, including the introduction of universal voting rights for future Seanad elections our most vulnerable citizens, introducing a fair tax system and investing in high-quality public services with a priority of solving the crises in our health and housing services.” He said Sinn Féin will also campaign for real Seanad reform, including the introduction of universal voting rights for future Seanad elections. “Our candidates are all Sinn Féin activists in their own communities, they are highly capable and they will make great senators,” he said.
April / Aibreán 2016
www.anphoblacht.com
9
INTERNATIONAL EXPERT STUDY LAUNCHED IN DUBLIN SAYS
United Ireland
economically beneficial to North and South SIGNIFICANT long-term improvement in the economies of both the North of Ireland and the South would result from unification, a major international economic study has found. Launched in Dublin and in Belfast on 22/23 March, the study – entitled Modeling Irish Unification – was carried out by political science and economics researchers who had carried out similar examinations of German and Korean unification models. The report presents the first comprehensive economic models simulating the political and economic integration of the two states in Ireland. Three unification scenarios were presented, with the most aggressive estimating a €35.6billion boost in an all-island GDP in the first eight years of unification. It found that there would be long-term improvement in the Northern economy as a result of the removal of currency, trade and tax barriers which currently impede economic growth. At the same time, the South would benefit from barrier-free access to the Northern market. By modelling three separate unification scenarios, the researchers showed
a long-term improvement of GDP per capita in the North of 4% to 7.5% while the South would see a boost of 0.7% to 1.2%. The study is particularly timely given current debates over Irish economic growth and Westminster’s continued participation in the European Union. The research was led by Dr Kurt Hubner (Professor of Political Science),
German reunification part of political science and economics in ‘important, timely examination of the economics of Irish unification’ Jean Monnet (Chair for European Integration and Global Political Economy and Director of the Institute for European Studies at the University of British Columbia in Canada).
5 Pearse Doherty TD, Dr Kurt Hubner, Mary Lou McDonald TD and Megan Fearon MLA at the launch of the report
Dr Hubner directed the research through his firm KLC – Consulting for Tomorrow, an economic and political relations consulting firm based in Vancouver. The economic model was developed by Dr Renger Herman van Nieuwkoop, Director and Founder of ModelWorks and Professor of Economics at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. “Our modelling exercise points to strong positive unification effects driven by successful currency devaluation and a policy-dependent industrial turnaround,” said Dr Hubner. “While these effects occur in a static global economic environment, under ideal political conditions they underline the potential of political and economic unification when it is supported by smart economic policy.” In the executive summary, Professor Steven Raphael of the University of California at Berkeley writes: “Political and economic unification of the North and South would likely result in a sizeable boost in economic 5 Dr Renger Herman van Nieuwkoop
output and incomes in the North and a smaller boost in the [South of Ireland].” Marcus Noland, Executive Vice-President and Director of Studies at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, provided comment on the study, writing: “Modeling Irish Unification is an important, timely examination of the economics of Irish unification, applying state-of-the-art modelling techniques to the issue at hand. The modelling work illustrates a variety of channels which are likely to be at play in the Irish case and concludes that Irish unification would be economically beneficial to both parts of the island, especially for smaller, poorer, Northern Ireland.” Michael Burke, economic consultant and former Senior International Economist at Citibank in London, discussed the global impact of a unified Ireland, saying:
“The issue of the benefits of a unified Irish economy are unfortunately largely overlooked. This paper goes some way
‘The issue of the benefits of a unified Irish economy are unfortunately largely overlooked’ to correcting that and will help develop discussion in this neglected area.” The study was commissioned by KRB, a San Francisco Bay area–based non-profit social welfare organisation that promotes social welfare and conflict resolution through education.
THE FULL REPORT CAN BE READ AT
5 Reporters, TDs and economic experts attend the 'Modeling Irish Unifcation' launch at the Westbury Hotel in Dublin
www.prcg.com/modeling-irish-unification/report.pdf
10 April / Aibreán 2016
www.anphoblacht.com
Missed opportunity to democratise housing development in Ireland
Acting Finance Minister Michael Noonan
NAMA jewel thieves go free ‘VULTURES’ AND ‘PEOPLE’ are the two words you won’t find on the website of the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA). Yet, as NAMA enters the final years of operations, these are the key terms many are using to describe its impacts. The vultures are circling, and the last group considered in the agency’s operations are the Irish people. Set up in 2009, NAMA was the supposed solution to sort out the multibillion euro property loans pulling Irish banks into a chasm of unmanageable debt. The Irish Government and the taxpayer would take over the loans through this new agency. The business of NAMA was simple. Five banks had lent €74.4billion in 15,000 loans to 800 debtors. NAMA would sell off whatever assets there were behind these debts, whether it was ghost estates, hotels, development land or unfinished offices. NAMA got a head-start when it took over these loans because 57% of the value was written off. So, on their balance sheet, the loans are only worth €31.8billion. Two thirds of the NAMA properties were in the 26 Counties, 6.2% were in the Six Counties, 20.7% in Britain, and other assets were in the USA plus Germany and other EU states. In the intervening years, NAMA has been busy with sales. It gives names to particular schemes. We had Project Arch, Project Arrow, and the controversial €1.24billion Project Eagle property portfolio in the North. The last two NAMA portfolios are called Project Emerald and Ruby. After this, all the jewels will be gone. Regarding Project Eagle, it is still unclear why
development land in Dublin was owned by just 21 developers. What Bertie Ahern didn’t admit to at the time was that his and other governments had allowed this clique of private developers – whose only motive is short-term, quick gains – to dictate housing policy in Ireland. The inception of NAMA presented an opportunity to reverse this trend. With the stroke of a pen, prime real estate and development land all over Ireland was now effectively under the control of the Irish Govern-
ROBBIE SMY TH
Fine Gael Finance Minister Michael Noonan did not halt the sale when his office learned of the questionable fees being paid as part of the deal or why he did not allow NAMA officials to present themselves to the Northern Assembly Finance Committee who were investigating the property sale to US company Cerberus.
Acting Environment Minister Alan Kelly
The vultures are circling, and the last group considered in NAMA’s operations are the Irish people
Of the 800 debtors, the majority of the debt was held by just 50 individual property developers. This disclosure echoes a claim made by Bertie Ahern in the last decade that the potential
ment. Yet the years of NAMA’s operations have coincided with an absence of a Government housing strategy. As NAMA went to work selling properties, homelessness increased. The number of homeless families increased by 93% in 2015, according to Department of Environment figures. Rents have increased by 32% since their lowest point in 2011, according to accommodation website DAFT.ie. Central Statistics Office house price figures show increases of 6.6% in 2015 and 16.3% in 2014. The Government’s solution to the housing crisis was Labour deputy leader Alan
800
6,635
€32.7billion €150million
HOUSING POLICY
Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern
Kelly’s cut in the minimum two-bedroom apartment size to 45 square metres (484 square feet).
DOUBLE STANDARDS ON LOANS The biggest debtor bank was Anglo Irish, who had €34.4billion in loans transferred to NAMA who took them on for €13.4billion, the
NAMA Factsheet
€74.4billion Total amount of loans taken over by NAMA
Number of debtors
Number of NAMA properties available for social housing
15,000
€42.6billion
332
Number of loans taken over by NAMA
NAMA’s initial write-off
Number of unfinished housing estates taken over by NAMA
NAMA sales to end of 2015
NAMA’s investment in social housing
April / Aibreán 2016
www.anphoblacht.com
11
Of the
800 debtors...
Tithíocht stáit an t-aon leigheas ar an bhfadhb! MÁS MALL is mithid mar sin fhéin go n-aithnítear anois go bhfuil géarchéim tithíochta againn sa stát seo. Ar ndóigh níl aon réiteach ar an bhfadhb seo ag páirtithe na Bunaíochta – Fine Gael/Labour nó Fianna Fáil; ach ar a laghad ar bith tá díospóireacht ann faoin bhfadhb is faoina leigheasanna a d’fhéadfadh a chur i bhféidhm.
the majority of the debt was held by just
50 individual property developers
This disclosure echoes a claim made by Bertie Ahern in the last decade that the potential development land in Dublin was owned by just
21 developers
largest percentage writedown of all the banks. AIB’s loans were €20.5billion, Bank of Ireland €9.9billion, Irish Nationwide Building Society €8.7billion, and EBS €0.9 billion. Loans less than €20million were left on the individual banks’ balance sheets. Here is a critical inequality in how debts were treated in the Irish economy after the 2008 economic collapse. Massive portfolio and speculators property loans were effectively halved while the thousands of families and small businesses in debt had no write-offs. What this second group of homeowners and small businesses found waiting was a hostile banking sector aggressively following up on debt collection, threatening repossession and sale of properties. These problems were aggravated by negative equity and unemployment of the borrowers. They were unable to pay their mortgages and the loans they borrowed to
buy homes were now greater than the houses’ sale value. From its inception, NAMA was an accounting exercise where the agency only had to now sell off its property portfolio at a profit – which it is on course to do, buoyed in Britain by a property speculation bubble and in Ireland by a growing economy. NAMA had ownership of just under 20,000 completed dwellings, 6,635 of which have been made available to the National Housing Agency. Two thousand have been transferred so far. On paper, this is positive but it is only a small part of the total NAMA business. The €150million invested by NAMA in social housing is less than half of 1% of its total property sales to date. For now, the vultures will circle the remaining NAMA assets and for homelessness, house prices and rents it is still the same old cycle of missed opportunities to solve Ireland’s housing crisis.
Ach is trua ach nach fiú mórán an chaint a dhéantar faoi, mar ta na polaiteóirí aitheanta – ó pháirtithe is neamhspleách – aontaithe go gcaithfidh an réiteach a aimsiú sa margadh saor. Agus seo muid ag caint faoi soláthar a mhéadú. Ach cén soláthar atá i gceist, ach tithe a chur ar fáil le ceannach nó le tógáil ar cíos, na rialacha a bhaineann le morgáistí a mhaolú nó polasaithe iasachta níos oscailte a bheith ag na bainc. Ach níl aon réiteach taobh istigh den mhargadh. Tóigeann tógálaithe príobháideacha tithe nó árasáin ar mhaithe le brabach a dhéanamh. Tugann na bainc airgead ar iasacht ar mhaithe le brabach a dhéanamh. Sea, tá fiacha móra ar dhaoine, agus caithfidh cabhrú le daoine atá sa riocht sin. Caithfidh gan dabht srian a chur le cíosa. Ach ag deire thiar caithfidh an stát tithe cónaithe a thógail é fein,faoi mar a rinneadh sa
EOIN Ó MURCHÚ
ceathrachaí, sna caogaidí, sna seascaidí agus sna seachtóidí – go dtí gur chonacthas go raibh brabach le déanamh as riachtanaisí daoine. Agus nuair a thosaigh an eacnamaíocht dhul i bhfeabhas cuireadh stop le tithe sóisialta a thógail go díreach ag na húdaráis áitiúla. Ach sin é go díreach an t-aon leigheas ar an ngéarchéim seo – ach e a dheanamh níos fearr námar a rinneadh roimhe. Sé sin pleanáil chuimsitheach a dhéanamh le tithe, siopaí, ionaid scithe, fóillíochta is cultúrdha, scoileanna is áiseanna spóirt is taistil a thógail le chéile. Agus más gá eastáit nua a thógail taobh amuigh dena cathracha mar atá nach féidir seirbhísí taistil ard-luasa ar phraghsanna srianta a chur in éineacht leó? Is ar an mbonn sin cuid mhaith a tóigeadh an baile nua ag Baile Ádhaimh in iarthhar Bhaile Átha Cliath. Má tá an toil ann is féidir é a dhéanamh arís is i ngach áit. Ach sin í an fhadhb. Ní bheadh aon bhrabach le déanamh as a leithéid, is ar mhaithe le brabach a chosaint tá Fine Gael/Labour is Fianna Fáil ann. Nach mór mar sin fáil réidh leó beirt?
12 April / Aibreán 2016
www.anphoblacht.com
Sa 5ú cuid dár sraith ‘Ról an Stáit agus Ról an Phobail’, scríobhann An Comhairleoir Maria O’Kane, ar comhairleoir de chuid Shinn Féin i gContae na Mí í, faoi dhualgais an rialtais áitiúil.
Cad is Scéim Teanga ann?
huaireanta oscailte, ba chóir Gaeilge a chloisteáil agus ní Béarla amháin. Is é an sprioc atá i gceist leis an Scéim Teanga ó thaobh na gComhairlí de ná go mbeidh seirbhísí poiblí ar fáil ar bhonn níos fairsinge trí Ghaeilge agus go mbeidh caighdeán níos airde ag baint leo. Ba chóir go bhféadfaí freastal ar na custaiméirí ar mian leo a gcuid gnó a dhéanamh as Gaeilge. Is de réir a chéile a thógtar na caisleáin, mar sin, glacaim leis nach foláir go dtabharfar tréim-
Molaim daoibh a bhfuil an Ghaeilge ar na mbéalaibh agaibh go rialta dul i dteagmháil le do Rialtas áitiúil trí mheán na Gaeilge
Leis an gComhairleoir
MARIA O’KANE Ó CUIREADH Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla i bhfeidhm sa bhliain 2003, tá iachaill ar gach eagraíocht phoiblí Scéim Teanga a chur le chéile agus a shocrú leis an Roinn Ealaíon, Oidhreachta agus Gaeltachta i gcomhoibriú leis an gCoimisinéir Teanga. Beartas iontach gan amhras, ach conas atá ag éirí le cur i bhfeidhm na scéimeanna iúd? An ceapa páipéir amháin iad nó an bhfuil beart de réir briathar mar dlúthchuid den choincheap? An bhfuil tú sásta leis an scéim reatha i do chontae-sa? An raibh a fhios agat go raibh scéim ann fiú? Is iad na príomhdhualgais atá le lámhsheáil ag eagraíochtaí poiblí (ar nós Comhairlí Contae agus Cathrach) na tíre ná: (i) a chinntiú gur i nGaeilge a fheagraítear comhfhreagras atá i nGaeilge sa chéad dul síos (ii) a chinntiú, nuair atá cáipéisí áirithe - bileoga eolais, mar shamplaá soláthar don phobal, gur i nGaeilge nó go dátheangach atá an chumarsáid sin. (iii) go foilsítear doiciméid, ar nós tuarascáil bhliantúil, go comhuaineach i nGaeilge agus i mBéarla. I dteannta na ndualgas thuas, tá freagrachtaí
hse ama chun na spriocanna a bhaint amach. Tá na scéimeanna ar an bhfód thart ar 10 mbliana anois, afách, agus ceapaim gur cheart iniúchadh a dhéanamh orthu ag an bpointe seo. Molaim daoibh a bhfuil an Ghaeilge ar na mbéalaibh agaibh go rialta dul i dteagmháil le do Rialtas áitiúil trí mheán na Gaeilge - ní fiú an scéim gan tairbhe agus leasa a bhaint as. Beatha teanga í a labhairt agus cleachtadh a dhéanann máistreacht, go háirithe do na baill foirne ar dheireadh an líne teileafóin nó ar an taobh eile don deasc uait. i gceist i réimsí áirithe eile ar nós comharthaíochta, páipéarachais agus fógairtí taifeadta béil. Cuirim i gcás; is gá d’aon chomhartha nua, a chuireann Comhairle Contae/Cathrach in airde sa stát, a bheith i nGaeilge; nó i Gaeilge
agus i mBéarla. Is gá go mbeadh an Ghaeilge chomh feiceálach, sofheicthe agus inléite leis an mBéarla ar chlúdaigh litreach agus ar nóta-pháipéar na Comhairle. Má chuirtear glaoch ar an gComhairle lasmuigh de na
Bainigí úsáid as na seirbhísí agus éilígí iad muna bhfuil siad i bhfeidhm mar ba cheart. Beidh na seirbhísí ar fáil duit agus níos tábhachtaí arís, b’fhéidir, beidh siad ar fáil amach anseo don phobal ar fad.
April / Aibreán 2016
www.anphoblacht.com
5 Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD and Colm Moore arrive on Moore Street shortly after the High Court ruling
Dublin High Court rules in favour of Save Moore Street campaign
Moore Street victory
BY MARK MOLONEY THERE WERE CHEERS and handshakes all around Court 11 at the High Court in Dublin on 18 March as Justice Max Barrett announced a victory for the Save Moore Street campaign to halt ongoing demolition and remove a banner erected on the site by the Heritage Department without planning permission. Relatives of the 1916 freedom fighters were in the court to hear the result as were representatives from Sinn Féin, People Before Profit and trade union officials. The court action was taken by Colm Moore on behalf of the campaigners. The 399-page ruling agreed with a wealth of evidence from historians and experts that the buildings and streets surrounding 16 Moore Street are of huge historical significance and should be protected. Justice Barrett had visited Moore Street himself to see the site, saying of 16 Moore Street: “To think that Connolly once lay wounded in the far corner, with other members of the Provisional Government, all of them signatories to the Proclamation, gathered around him for a council of war, sends a chill down the spine.” As a result, the court ruled that not only do numbers 14 to 17 constitute a National Monument but also 10 Moore Street; a portion of 13 Moore Street comprising a surviving party wall with 12; and 18, 20 and 21 Moore Street; all of the streets and street alignments of O’Rahilly Parade; the length of Moore Lane from Parnell Street to Henry Place; the entire ‘L’ of Henry Place; and Moore Street from the junction with Henry Place to the junction with O’Rahily Parade, O’Brien’s water works; the old O’Brien’s bottling stores; the
one-time O’Brien’s stables and the so-called ‘White House’. Speaking to An Phoblacht after the ruling, James Connolly Heron, great grandson of James Connolly, said: “This is the culmination of a decadelong campaign where citizens of Dublin came together to protect and preserve the very birthplace of the Republic. They stood together in principle over a decade against great odds. It’s an amazing day for us and a lot of work remains to be done.” He said the ruling vindicated the stance taken by the Save Moore Street campaign when they met with Govern-
‘To think that Connolly once lay wounded in the far corner, with other members of the Provisional Government, all of them signatories to the Proclamation, gathered around him for a council of war, sends a chill down the spine’ High Court Judge Max Barrett
ment ministers and TDs throughout the years. “There isn’t anybody who supports building a shopping centre on the Moore Street Battlefield site,” he said. Activist Colm Moore, who took the High Court action, thanked his legal team, the Save Moore Street campaign, the 1916 Relatives’ Association, Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil and Independent politicians.
“Today is a victory in a case that the 1916 relatives should never had have to put forward. It’s shocking that on the 100th anniversary the relatives of the very people who led to the establishment of this state had to bring the now-defunct Fine Gael/Labour Government to court to honour the people of 1916 and save the final headquarters of the Provisional Government,” he said. Proinsias Ó Rathaille, grandson of The O’Rahilly, who was killed during the rebels’ charge down Moore Street and after whom O’Rahilly Parade is named, echoed Colm’s view. He said it would go down in history as one of the most important days of the centenary. “This is not just a victory for us but for the people of Ireland and a victory for future generations and the Irish Diaspora. I am over the moon and I feel justice has been done.” Directly after the court ruling, the relatives arrived on Moore Street to scenes of jubilation as activists and members of the public cheered and chanted “Save Moore Street” as they made their way towards Number 16, the last headquarters of the Provisional Government. Speaking to An Phoblacht on Moore Street, Sinn Féin’s Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD said: “It took tremendous courage for Colm and his legal team to take a case against the state. We now have a victory. It’s now up to the state to come up with a new plan to build a fitting, respectful museum to the battlefield site of 1916 – that means Moore Street and its environs – as it was the last headquarters of the 1916 leaders.” Activists have called on Acting Heritage Minister Heather Humphreys to introduce a preservation order for the entire Moore Street National Monument area as designated in the High Court ruling.
13
14 April / Aibreán 2016
www.anphoblacht.com
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD addresses Belfast Easter Rising Centenary Commemoration
Divisions must be healed to realise vision of 1916
5 Greeting Constance Markievicz
BY JOHN HEDGES THE hurts and divisions of the past must be healed if we are to realise the vision of the 1916 Proclamation, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD told the Belfast Easter Rising Centenary Commemoration, one of the most imaginative, colourful, vibrant and heartfelt events in a series paying tribute to the ideals of the men and women of one hundred years ago. Speaking Milltown Cemetery, Gerry Adams said. “The Peace Process and the Good Friday Agreement marked a historic shift in politics on this island. “For the first time, the roots of conflict were addressed and a democratic route to Irish unity opened up. “But there is much yet to be done. Hurts must be healed, divisions ended and the scourge of sectarianism must be tackled. “There is more to be done right across Ireland. While there have been improvements since it
‘The Proclamation is a freedom charter for all the people of this island which guarantees religious and civil liberty and promotes equal rights and opportunities for all citizens’ was first established, the southern state is not the Republic proclaimed in 1916. “Current efforts by the Dublin Establishment to pretend that it is are an insult to the men and women of 1916.” Turning to those critics who say that honouring the 1916 leaders might retrospectively justify violence, Gerry Adams responded: “But they say nothing critical of John Redmond and Edward Carson’s role in sending tens of thousands of young men to fight Germans, Austrians and Turks – with whom they and Ireland had no quarrel. Thirty-eight million people were killed in that imperial adventure. “Were John Redmond and Edward Carson not ‘men of violence’?” Carson certainly was an imperialist – a big house unionist with little concern for the social or economic needs of working class unionists or the rest of us.” Gerry Adams said that the 1916 Proclamation remains the mission statement for Irish republicans today. “It is a freedom charter for all the people of this island which guarantees religious and civil liberty and promotes equal rights and opportunities for all citizens. “The Proclamation is also a declaration of social and economic intent for a rights-based society in which the people are sovereign. “Agus Bliain an Chéid linn, déanann fórmhór na ndaoine in Éirinn agus thar lear, comóradh
5 Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams addresses the huge crowd in Milltown
go bródúil ar Éirí Amch Naoi Déag a Sé Déag agus ar Fhorógra na Poblachta. “These are the principles on which Sinn Féin stands today.” Applauding the commemoration events, particularly the community-based, inclusive initiatives which encouraged public participation, Gerry Adams said that when the centenary has come and gone there should be more left behind than a memory of a good day out. “The year ahead is a time for renewal and planning,” he said. “A year for promoting the republican ideals of democracy and equality.” He said that Sinn Féin took further strides forward with the Dáil general election electing 23 Sinn Féin TDs to Leinster House. “We expect to double our representation in the Seanad. We hope they will include Niall Ó Donnghaile, a good east Belfast republican. “And in May there will be Assembly elections. “With each election, the Sinn Féin vote grows and the number of elected representatives increases. “But it’s what we do with this political strength that is really important. “Sinn Féin is now the main opposition party in the Dáil. “In the Assembly, Sinn Fein has been the driving force behind the progressive measures that have blocked water charges, protected free prescriptions, defended welfare payments and promoted the Irish language. “Despite the Irish and British Governments’
negativity, Sinn Féin has delivered the Fresh Start deal which protects core public services, particularly in health and education and the most vulnerable in our society.” The Sinn Féin leader said that a united Ireland means the unity of the people of this island, including those who see themselves as British. “That is why Irish Governments must pursue every avenue to promote all-Ireland co-operation and to build relationships between all our people,” the former MP for West Belfast and now TD for Louth said. “This must include genuine efforts to outreach to the unionists on the basis of equality. “The Assembly elections will be on May 5th – the anniversary of Bobby Sands’s death after 66 days on hunger strike. “We want to emerge with a stronger mandate that will allow us to continue with our work to deliver a future of equals, in a society of equals for all our citizens.”
5 Young Fian and Cumann na gCailíní on parade
5 A tearful relative of Volunteer James Burns
‘The Proclamation is also a declaration of social and economic intent for a rightsbased society in which the people are sovereign’
5 The national flag at the Republican Plot in Milltown Cemetery
5 The Belfast Easter parade led by Irish Wolfhound Tara makes its way along the Falls Road
5 A young boy pays tribute at the Republican Plot
April / Aibreán 2016
www.anphoblacht.com
15
Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald TD addresses Dublin Easter Rising Centenary Commemoration
5 The march en route to Glasnevin
Noble ideas of Proclamation yet to be achieved 5 Dessie Ellis TD and Mary Lou McDonald TD with re-enactors on their way to Glasnevin Cemetery
5 The executed leaders are remembered
THE COURAGE of those involved in the 1916 Rising brought hope to all oppressed people across the world, Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald TD told the crowd at the 1916 Centenary Commemoration in Glasnevin on Easter Sunday but she lamented the fact that “the noble ideals of the Proclamation have yet to be achieved”.
5 Volunteers on the march
5 Children remember the 1916 Volunteers
Earlier that day, in a contemporary illustration of that very point, Mary Lou pledged Sinn Féin’s support for a protest against homelessness taking place at the same time as the 1916 Centenary commemorations. The protest had been organised by Erica Fleming, a young working mother living in a hotel room with her nine-year-old daughter and who recently featured in an RTÉ TV documentary, My Homeless Family. Deputy McDonald said the Republic that the men and women of 1916 fought and died for did not envision mothers bringing their children up in hotel rooms due to a lack of housing. Deputy McDonald said: “I think it is only right and fitting that this protest takes place on Easter Sunday morning, 100 years after the 1916 Rising, not least because it shows what many of us already know – that the Republic proclaimed in 1916 remains to be achieved, that the cause of the men and women of 1916 remains unfinished business. “So let all those who commemorate the rising this weekend and throughout this centenary year commit to the ideals of those heroes, to the full implementation of the Proclamation and to bringing an end to the housing crisis and the scandal of mothers raising their children in hotel rooms. “That is Sinn Féin’s commitment and it should be the commitment of all those who genuinely believe in the Republic that was proclaimed one hundred years ago.” Speaking later at the 1916 Plot in Glasnevin Cemetery, the Dublin Central TD said: “I am proud to stand here before you today, on
this the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Rising. The actions that took place in Dublin over those six turbulent days by an outnumbered but determined group of rebels battling the forces of a empire, shone as a beacon of hope to all oppressed people across the world. “That this little country – amongst all the great countries of the British Empire – had the nerve, the guts and the audacity to take on the greatest empire the world had ever seen remains a testament to the courage of our people. “The Rising became a catalyst for other freedom struggles across the world, inspiring
The Republic that the men and women of 1916 fought and died for did not envision mothers bringing their children up in hotel rooms due to a lack of housing other oppressed peoples who laboured under the shackles of the British Empire, encouraging them too to break free of their chains of slavery and not just dream of liberty but achieve it.” She said that Sinn Féin is a republican party and makes no apology for it. “Sinn Féin proudly remains the only all-Ireland republican party on the island of Ireland. We want an end the partition imposed on our country by Britain, created not with our consent nor by the democratic will of the people but by the threat of ‘immediate and terrible war’. “Britain left us with a dysfunctional, gerrymandered statelet in the North and a reactionary
state in the South that set aside the dream of the Republic. “The noble ideals of the Proclamation which guarantee religious and civil liberty, which champion equal rights and equal opportunities for all of its citizens – irrespective of creed or colour or gender – and will cherish all the children of the nation equally, enshrine Sinn Féin’s core values.” She said that in this centenary year, she wished she could say that these ideals, for which the women and men of 1916 fought for, have been achieved – that Ireland is now a better place. “I wish I could tell you that we now have the Republic dreamed of by Connolly, Pearse, Markievicz and Lynn. Sadly, I cannot, nor can anyone, make these claims. “Sinn Féin stands against the old politics and against those parties that delivered crisis, austerity and inequality. We will not prop up a Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil government. We will not support a government of the parties that created and sustained the crisis. The policies of these parties are the problem and these parties will not be the solution. “You came out in your tens of thousands and voted for Sinn Féin, and I promise that Sinn Féin will always stand with the people. We oppose austerity in the North and we will continue to oppose austerity in the South. We demand a fair recovery for all.”
16 April / Aibreán 2016
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Lost Leaders March from Kilmainham Gaol to Arbour Hill
5 An actor portraying Pádraig Pearse reads the Proclamation
5 Crowds gather at Kilmainham Gaol for the Lost Leaders March
5 The Irish Volunteer Cavalry gets ready
5 Easter lilies and wreaths are laid at the graveside of 14 of the executed leaders in Arbour Hill
THOUSANDS HONOUR LEADERS IN DUBLIN BY MARK MOLONEY THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE from across Ireland and further afield gathered outside Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin on Good Friday to remember the executed leaders of 1916 with a march to their final resting place at Arbour Hill. In the immediate aftermath of the Rising, 14 of the leaders who had fought in Dublin were executed in Kilmainham Gaol by British firing squads and their bodies buried in a pit of quicklime in nearby Arbour Hill Prison. The site, separated from the nearby military cemetery by a prison wall, was chosen to prevent it becoming a shrine to the freedom fighters. The state removed the wall between the military cemetery and the prison yard to create the 1916 Plot. The other executed leaders, Thomas Kent and Roger Casement (who were killed in Victoria Barracks in Cork and Pentonville Prison in England) were eventually reinterred in Castlelyons, Cork, and Glasnevin, Dublin, respectively. Onboard the Luas tram on Good Friday morning, en route to Suir Road near Kilmainham, one carriage packed with families carrying flags and wearing Easter lilies, spontaneously burst into a rendition of the rebel ballad The Merry Ploughboy – much to the delight of the tourists onboard. The sun was splitting the stones as bands, re-enactors and members of the public gathered on the plaza opposite Kilmainham Gaol in anticipation of the event. Dublin’s Rising Phoenix Republican Flute Band and the Sword of Light Pipe Band from New York kept the growing crowds entertained as the march got ready to depart. In comparison to the state commemorations, most of which were invite-only or ticketed for those wanting to observe the main part of the events, the Lost Leaders March was a public and
1916
inclusive event in which anybody could take part rather than just look on as a spectator. And citizens were certainly enthusiastic. A huge effort was made to get into the spirit of the march by dressing in authentic early 1900s style with flat caps, shawls, blouses and collarless-shirts everywhere to be seen. And even one or two antique baby carriages! By the time the march moved off from Kilmainham, led by the Irish Volunteer Cavalry, there were several thousand people on the street, including relatives of those who had fought in 1916. Along
Unlike the state-organised events, the Lost Leaders March was a public and inclusive occasion, encouraging people to get involved Kilmainham Lane, local residents and customers in businesses came out to applaud the bands and re-enactors. The Lost Leaders March had a strong focus on the contribution of Ireland’s emigrant community to the cause of Irish freedom. Irish communities in the United States and Canada in particular played a vital role in not only funding the fight for freedom but also in popularising the struggle for independence and acting as a counter-balance to the influence of the overwhelmingly pro-British press in Britain, Ireland and America. Large numbers of Irish-American and Irish-Canadian activists were present in Dublin on Good Friday. Among them were representatives and activists from Friends of Sinn Féin USA and Canada, the US and Canadian trade union movements, Irish Northern Aid and the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
The festival atmosphere was in large part thanks to the US and Irish bands taking part, including the O’Neill/Allsop Memorial Flute Band, who won the Joe Cahill Trophy at the annual Bodenstown Commemoration in 2015 for Best Band. The colourful Edward V. Larkin Memorial Flute Band from Rockland County, New York, who are linked to the Ancient Order of Hibernians, were another favourite. Their supporters were keen to point out that during the 1916 Rising a unit of the AOH-linked Hibernian Rifles fought under the command of the Irish Citizen Army in the GPO. Upon reaching Arbour Hill, thousands surrounded the graveside of the 1916 leaders to listen to music and speeches. Wreaths were laid by Sinn Féin, the LiUna trade union (the Laborers’ International Union of North America, representing more than half a million workers in the US and Canada) and various other international organisations while children also laid lilies on the graves. The Cabra Historical Society put on another fantastic performance as they donned full Volunteer uniform and delivered a stirring rendition of rebel marching tune Óró sé do bheatha abhaile at the graveside of the leaders. Mary Lou McDonald TD chaired proceedings and Megan Fearon MLA read the Roll of Honour of those buried in Arbour Hill. There was also a special presentation made to Colm Moore, whose successful High Court action against the state resulted in a timely victory for the Save Moore Street campaign. The main speech was given by Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD, who hit out at a recent campaign to rehabilitate the British Army’s recruiting officer in Ireland, John Redmond, and attempts to denigrate those who instead believed Ireland should fight for its own freedom. In a particularly strident and well-received speech, Adams told Arbour Hill: “Connolly described Redmondism as ‘a
5 Republican Jim Monaghan takes part
5 Deirdre Ní Muineacháin, Martin McGuinness MLA and Councillor Íde Cussen at the Lost Leaders March
5 A young boy carries a flag depicting the seven signatories
April / Aibreán 2016
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17
5 Belfast's O'Neill/Allsopp Memorial Flute Band on parade
5 Several thousand people took part in the commemoration on Good Friday
5 The Sword of Light Pipe Band from New York lead the march
5 Mary Lou McDonald TD and Gerry Adams TD at Arbour Hill's 1916 Plot
5 The Cabra Historical Society provides a guard of honour
5 Dublin's Rising Phoenix Republican Flute Band
5 Portraits of Ireland's rebel women
5 Members of the North Dublin 1916 Comrades group
5 Volunteers pay tribute to Ireland's patriot dead
5 Councillor Sorcha Nic Cormaic and family in the 1916 spirit
5 Huge crowds surround the 1916 Plot at Arbour Hill carefully-staged pantomime to fool nationalist Ireland’ and that, in return, Redmond’s party would ‘send forth more thousands of Irish men and boys to manure with their corpses the soil of a foreign country’. “Isn’t it strange then that those, so worried that honouring the 1916 leaders would retrospectively justify violence, say nothing about Redmond’s role in sending tens of thousands of Irish to fight Germans, Austrians and Turks with whom Ireland had no quarrel? Was John Redmond not a ‘man of violence’?” Adams asked the crowd, to huge applause and cheers. Keeping with the theme of historical revisionism and the apologetic attitudes towards British
On the Luas tram on the way to Kilmainham Gaol, people delighted tourists by spontaneously singing ‘We’re all off to Dublin in the Green’ imperialism that have become so commonplace in the Irish media, he said: “I suspect that behind the latest Redmondite crusade is a fear not of violence but of the 1916 Proclamation which enshrines principles of equality and Irish sovereignty that still challenge the privileged in our society.” He described the battle between the relatives of those who fought in the 1916 Easter Rising and the state (in defence of the interests of a property developer) in the High Court to save the national monument at Moore Street as “a metaphor of our times”:
5 Pageantry and respect at Arbour Hill
5 The executed leaders are remembered “It is not a surprise therefore that the recent proposal for a 1916 banner erected by the Dublin City Council in Dublin’s College Green – which doesn’t feature any of the 1916 leaders! – came from the Department of the Taoiseach. “The banner is in line with the Government’s initial video released to promote the 1916 celebrations that did not include any reference to the men and women who fought in the Rising.” Adams paid tribute “to all of those who, in every decade since 1916, stood by Ireland and stood by
The Lost Leaders March had a strong focus on the contribution of Ireland’s emigrant community to the cause of Irish freedom the Republic” and said 2016 presents an historic opportunity to look realistically towards ending partition, sectarianism and division in Ireland: “We have an opportunity to see how we can make the united, independent Ireland envisaged in 1916 a reality. These should be the goals of all progressive political forces on this island. “A united Ireland means the unity of the people of this island, including those who see themselves as British. That is why Irish governments must pursue every avenue to promote all-Ireland co-operation and to build relationships between all our people.” Gerry Adams said genuine efforts to reach out to unionists must be made and that partitionist thinking by policy makers must be challenged. “As we stand here today by the graves of our Lost Leaders, let us be clear – a united Ireland and a real Republic is the only fitting monument to their memory.”
18 April / Aibreán 2016
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Our history columnist Mícheál Mac Donncha reflects on the 1916 Centenary events
The Rising then and now FOR THE PAST FEW WEEKS, Dublin City centre has been a sight to behold with imagery of 1916 everywhere. Proclamations, flags, portraits of the executed leaders, scenes of the Rising, hang from and in countless buildings. To those who remember the 75th anniversary in 1991, the contrast is striking. On Easter Sunday I travelled into Dublin City centre with a group of 1916 Rising uniformed ‘re-enactors’, mainly from my own area of Kilbarrack/ Donaghmede. The North Dublin 1916 Comrades group was only formed a few weeks before Easter. In that short time they assembled fine uniforms for men and women, replica rifles and had practised drill. This is just one group of many around the country as people enthusiastically embraced the celebrations of the Rising. As our group travelled by train into Connolly Station they were repeatedly asked for photographs and it took us 20 minutes to get through the station itself! Walking down Talbot Street the group was singing Oró ‘Sé do Bheatha a Bhaile to applause from bystanders before we joined the thousands of people who assembled for the main Dublin Sinn Féin Easter commemoration parade to the 1916 Plot in Glasnevin Cemetery. One of the group is Darren Griffin. Darren’s great-grandfather was George Geoghegan of the Irish Citizen Army, who died at City Hall during the Rising and is buried in that plot with 15 other Volunteers. Darren laid a wreath on behalf of the relatives. On Monday, I joined the commemoration in Dún Laoghaire and it was uplifting on the parade to see so many homes along the route displaying the Proclamation and the Tricolour. It was a fitting close to a weekend which began in bright sunshine on Friday as many thousands joined the Lost Leaders
BY MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA
Remembering the Past
claiming that the current state is the Republic sought by the men and women of 1916. But the failure of the state and of successive Governments on so many levels is so obvious that this effort cannot succeed. It is up to genuine republicans now to continue to point out that partition,
5 Darren Griffin (left), whose great-grandfather George Geoghegan of the Irish Citizen Army was killed at City Hall, laid a wreath at the 1916 Plot in Glasnevin, together with Nicola King and Seán Crowe TD
March from Kilmainham Gaol to Arbour Hill. The numbers who came out for all the events, including the main state parade through the city, were massive. In 1991, the scene could not have been more different. The Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrats government all but ignored the 75th anniversary, apart from a ‘drive-by’ wreath-laying at the GPO.
FOR
The current caretaker Fine Gael/ Labour Government was set to make a complete hash of the centenary, as seen with their now infamous initial promotional video which basically ignored the actual Rising itself in favour of modern-day celebrities. Hugely negative reaction forced them to change tack and go for a full-scale commemoration.
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The widespread public enthusiasm and participation this Easter 2016 shows that successive governments in the 26 Counties tried but failed to quell the sense of pride in our heritage of republicanism, resistance to oppression and commitment to a genuine Republic. Like its predecessor in 1966, the Government has tried to channel this into a purely 26-County sentiment,
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EASTER 2016 has seen the completion of the excellent O’Brien Press 16 Lives series. The final two volumes are two contrasting figures – the best known and least-known of the executed leaders, Patrick Pearse and Thomas Kent. Ruán O’Donnell’s biography of Pearse concentrates on his leading role in the preparation for the Rising and in Easter Week itself. It makes a good companion volume to Patrick Pearse – the Making of a Revolutionary by Joost Auhusteijn
(Palgrave Macmillan 2010), which has more on his earlier life and his political formation. Meda Ryan has done a superb piece of work on the life of Thomas Kent. This executed leader provides a remarkable link between the Irish in America among whom he worked, the Land War in Cork in which his family was deeply involved, and the Irish Volunteers. Kent’s life and talents and significant contribution deserve to be much more widely known.
The widespread public enthusiasm and participation this Easter 2016 shows that successive governments in the 26 Counties tried but failed to quell the sense of pride in our heritage of republicanism, resistance to oppression and commitment to a genuine Republic gross social and economic inequality, and the marginalisation of the Irish language are totally incompatible with the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and the sacrifice of the men and women of 1916. And in the years to come there are many other anniversaries which can be milestones on the journey to the true Republic.
April / Aibreán 2016
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19
The
Left needs to build a united front for the future BY EOIN Ó MURCHÚ
5 Left leaders Gerry Adams, Richard Boyd Barrett and Paul Murphy
WHILE the official political process stagnated into a phony war, with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael getting involved in “negotiations” with Independents and minor parties that everyone knows can’t produce a government, the important task is to try and build a genuine alternative to the exploitative system that has caused (and continues to cause) so much misery. This task – the parameters of which have been set out in the Right2Change principles – is one that fills the Establishment with dread, so it is one that is studiously ignored in the mainstream media. The road ahead, however, is not an easy one. The Left continues to be plagued by petty careerism and an elevation of differences with other Left forces from which only the Right can benefit. The venom with which the Socialist Party, operating under the banner of the Anti-Austerity Alliance, has concentrated so much of its fire against Sinn Féin has
The Left continues to be plagued by petty careerism and an elevation of differences with other Left forces from which only the Right can benefit disgusted many activists. But it would be a mistake to reply in kind. The many genuine activists who have been mobilised by this group need to be won over to the idea of co-operating against the austerity parties, whatever strategic differences may exist, and despite whatever reservations individual parties might have about each other. The alternative is to sit on the fence on the moral high ground while the forces of reaction regroup themselves. And whatever criticisms might validly be made of the Socialist Party’s style of work, they at least back the ideas contained if the Right2Change programme, even if they disagree on co-operation. An even more direct challenge needs to be made to
6 The Social Democrats don't endorse Right2Change
the Social Democrats and the Left Independents who have refused to endorse Right2Change at all. While the Social Democrats have, for the moment, rejected supporting either a Fine Gael or a Fianna Fáil minority government, they act as if they believe they could do a better deal than Labour in the same circumstances. This is a fundamental fallacy: it is not individuals or fringe parties that will make the difference but the extent to which working people can be organised to take action and demand change themselves. And what of the Labour Party? Deservedly, it suffered a catastrophic defeat, but not catastrophic enough. Seven seats gives them speaking rights in the Dáil and there is no sign that the party will learn anything fundamental from its rejection by the voters. It is no help that the TDs who did survive include Joan Burton, Alan Kelly and Brendan Howlin because these were at the forefront in pushing and upholding the disastrous right-wing turn that has almost destroyed the party. We need now, as much as we ever needed it, a united front of the labour, republican and community movements to create sufficient strength to replace the current system.
Right2Change has to be taken especially into the trade union movement, not to defeat late entrants but to win them over. SIPTU remains a key area of struggle, for the grip of right-wing politics over the Labour Party and its influence in the labour movement cannot be broken without SIPTU joining the forces for change. Political parties and independents have to learn how to act in unison with the most progressive elements of the trade union movement, and the disparate community bodies need to find their space in the united front too.
The alternative to cooperation – whatever our differences – is to sit on the fence on the moral high ground while the forces of reaction regroup themselves But politically, there is no escaping a fundamental point: that is that the struggle for social emancipation goes hand in hand, as it did in James Connolly’s day, with the struggle for real national freedom, for sovereignty of the Irish people over all of Ireland. Republicanism is primarily about sharing the potential of our country, but it also involves carrying though a struggle for reunification and for making a reality of the Irish-language revival that has been treated with so much pretence by the Establishment parties. It is through debate that the differences on these issues can be overcome and that we can clarify what they mean; and that debate is best organised by activists not primarily involved in party politics. Why? Because at the moment there is too much suspicion between parties. Of course, the leading party of the Left – and, it goes without saying, the leading party of Irish republicanism – is Sinn Féin, but being the biggest party puts an even greater duty upon Sinn Féin to be sensitive to other parties and to play a real part in letting a united front develop. I have no doubt that Sinn Féin will take on this role, but can the other forces – political, trade union, community and cultural – be mobilised to play their part?
20 April / Aibreán 2016
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UNCOMFORTABLE CONVERSATIONS
Lest we forget: Embracing the opportunity presented by a shared history
KINGSLEY DONALDSON
Director, Causeway Institute for Peace-building and Conflict Resolution International and former British Army officer
THE YEARS between 1912 and 1923 saw major transformation in Ireland. The evolution and militarisation of the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Irish Volunteers, the First World War, the Easter Rising, the War of Independence, the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the subsequent Civil War all still resonate to great extent today in the politics of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It was both a violent and fascinating period in Irish history. The centenaries of these momentous events in our shared history offer an opportunity to look with fresh eyes and engage with our past in a more open and creative manner. The fear amongst republicans of finding that ‘Granda fought for the Brits in France’ or in a unionist family that ‘Great Aunt Lizzie nursed the rebels in the GPO’ need not prevent us from looking anew at these events and seeking areas of mutual understanding. Joe Austin, writing in this column last month, remarked: “2016 presents all traditions on this island with the opportunity to engage in a new conversation.” He is right. The challenge for all of us is how to turn such noble sentiment into real actions that have meaning and impact. How to find the will and the way? The Northern Ireland First World War Centenary Committee, chaired by Jeffrey Donaldson MP, is seeking to do just that. It seeks to ensure that Northern Ireland properly reflects on the events of the First World War focused around the twin themes of “Remembrance and Reconciliation”. This is a group that welcomes uncomfortable conversations about how to encourage people of all faiths, backgrounds and beliefs to engage in increasing their understanding about Ireland and the First World War.
4 Graves of the McKelvey family in Milltown Cemetery, Belfast. (Top picture) A father who served with the British Army is buried under a military headstone while (bottom picture) his son, an IRA lieutenant-general, executed by Free State forces in 1922 is also buried there
As we approach the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, from July to November 2016, we will remember not only the valiant unparalleled actions of the 36th (Ulster) Division at Thiepval on 1 July but also the heroic service and sacrifice of the 16th (Irish) Division at Guillemont and Ginchy on 3 and 9 September. Today, in Northern Ireland, the service of the 36th Division, made up in great part from the Ulster Volunteer Force, forms a key element in the Protestant unionist narrative. Conversely, the 16th Irish Division, drawn from the Irish Volunteers, which had within its ranks Catholic nationalists from across Ulster, is almost unknown and unspoken of. Much credit is due to the 6th Connaught Rangers Research Project and historians Richard Grayson and Philip Orr who have helped to raise awareness of these men and their stories. Over the course of the past three years I have spoken with a number of senior republican and nationalist figures about the First World War. They have related stories of family members who served in the British Army in the First World War. Many went on to fight with the IRA; some fought against the IRA; others simply returned home and carried on with their lives. All served their country, Ireland, and should not be forgotten. The story of the McKelvey family is a case in point. A father who served with the British Army and is buried under a military headstone in Milltown, and his son, an IRA lieutenant-general, executed by the Free State forces in 1922 also buried in Milltown, is but one example of the uncomfortable and challenging legacy of those times. Thanks to the innovative work of Tom Hartley, the stories of soldiers buried and remembered in Milltown and Belfast City cemeteries are now more widely known. First Minister Arlene Foster recently stated: “If I allow the scars of the past to determine what
The First World War Centenary Committee welcomes uncomfortable conversations about how to encourage people of all faiths, backgrounds and beliefs to engage in increasing their understanding about Ireland and the First World War
Some republicans had family members who served in the British Army in the First World War. Many went on to fight with the IRA; some fought against the IRA; others simply returned home. All served their country – Ireland happens in the future then we’re not going to move Northern Ireland forward.” Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said in response: “People like myself, Arlene Foster and all politicians have a huge role to play by giving positive leadership in the work of reconciliation and coming to terms with the past.” So, the opportunity is there for republicans and nationalists, unionists and loyalists, to ‘leave the trenches’ and journey into ‘no-man’s land’, to this place of shared history. In June 1917, at the Battle of Messines, the men of the 16th and 36th Divisions fought alongside one another. Perhaps it is here, a century later, in Flanders fields, where the poppies blow between the crosses row on row, that we can take those first steps.
KINGSLEY DONALDSON is the Director of the Causeway Institute for Peace-building and Conflict Resolution International and Secretary of the Northern Ireland First World War Centenary Committee. He retired from the British Army in 2015 after a career of more than 25 years of service.
April / Aibreán 2016
www.anphoblacht.com
21
UNCOMFORTABLE CONV ERSATIONS
Experience and challenges
CONOR MURPHY MLA
Sinn Féin MLA for Newry & Armagh. A republican ex-prisoner, Conor is a key member of Sinn Féin's negotiating team
ADVANCING RECONCILIATION is not just about healing wounds or addressing hurt and division but also about ensuring that the conditions that created and sustained the conflict in Ireland are never to be repeated. Republicans have accepted that the continuing human loss and pain of conflict is, for many, too great a barrier for progressing reconciliation. That experience is also found in the wider nationalist and republican community where the immunity enjoyed by British state agencies and the prevention of access to truth and justice continue to be open sores. Demonstrating a commitment to reaching out and affording equal respect to all identities is an important part of the reconciliation journey, whether they be large public gestures in the full glare of the media or small private initiatives which have real and lasting positive impacts on those involved. The decision by Sinn Féin leaders to publicly meet members of the British royal family on their recent visits to Ireland was neither easy nor comfortable for republicans but was an important milestone on the road to addressing the legacy of the past and creating optimism and ambition for a better future. In a similar vein, Sinn Féin members have also participated in remembrance events for those killed in World War One and World War Two. We shouldn’t allow the begrudging reaction of some unionist leaders to such initiatives to deter us from showing leadership on these matters; they have been genuinely warmly welcomed across all communities in Ireland and internationally and recognised for being a significant contribution to peace building. Republicans at grassroots level have been involved for many years in a multitude of initiatives engaging in dialogue with members of the unionist community and former combatants (both loyalist and British state forces) in an attempt to mend historic hurts and division. It can be genuinely challenging to be confronted with deep mistrust and, on occasions, the anguish of personal loss. There are also multiple and competing narratives on the origins, causes and consequences of conflict on which there may never be agreement. But not only is this work necessary it can also be rewarding as new and better understandings are
5 Meetings between Irish republicans and members of the British royal family were key milestones on the road to addressing the legacy of conflict
forged and even friendships are formed. On my first occasion at a cross-community dialogue in Newry in the late 1990s I was paired with an elderly Protestant gentleman who had been what people in the farming community call ‘a Ministry man’ who visited farms to test cattle. It emerged through our conversation this included visiting our family farm. He knew who I was politically but when I explained my family background he looked at me aghast and exclaimed: “But your father was a decent man!” We still agree to disagree on some political issues but I have been invited and welcomed to his place of worship on a number of occasions since then and I greatly value the friendship of this very Christian man. Similar friendships were formed with people from other Protestant churches and the loyal orders which continue to this day and have helped reduce tensions around parading and improve community cohesion in the area. In south Armagh, the republican ex-prisoner network has led in a programme of dialogue and exchange with
An elderly Protestant ‘Ministry man’ who had visited our family farm to test cattle exclaimed to me: ‘But your father was a decent man!’
5 South Armagh was long associated with intense armed conflict
In south Armagh, the republican ex-prisoner network has led in a programme of dialogue and exchange with loyalist groups former British Army personnel who served in the area loyalist groups as well as facilitating visits from former British Army personnel who served in the area as part of a 30-year-long oppressive military presence. Some of those who have visited have simply wanted assurance that they could go to sites, without interference, where they were traumatised through their engagement in armed conflict or witnessed the loss of friends and colleagues. This has been agreed without reservation. Others want to meet with what they respectfully regarded as a formidable enemy. We recently had the pilot of a helicopter shot down by the IRA in Crossmaglen express support for the Peace Process. A better future has been the common denominator in all of these discussions. International students of conflict resolution annually come to south Armagh to examine how an area for so long associated with intense conflict has embraced the Peace Process and embarked on a journey of reconciliation. This is not simply an academic exercise as many of them who come from societies hoping to emerge from long and bitter struggle themselves. Our own international travels to assist in conflict resolution across many countries have always confirmed that the Irish experience of moving beyond conflict, even with all its well-documented failings, inspires a great deal of hope in war-torn regions across the world. There remain huge challenges in dealing with the legacy of partition and political conflict as we try to create an inclusive and agreed future. This centenary year of the 1916 Easter Rising should afford us all the opportunity to promote the vision of an equal, secular and progressive society contained within the Proclamation. That vision, however, faces two significant obstacles of hurt and mistrust. There is no short-cut past the ‘Uncomfortable Conversations’ necessary for reconciliation.
To see more go to – www.anphoblacht.com/uncomfortable-conversations
22 April / Aibreán 2016
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COLLUSION
ColluSion in Cappagh killingS
AT THE HEART OF
State SponSored murder at Boyle’S Bar, Cappagh, Sunday 3rd marCh 1991
CAPPAGH KILLINGS BY PEADAR WHELAN THE LONG-HELD BELIEF among nationalists living in the east Tyrone area that the locally-recruited Ulster Defence Regiment of the British Army was involved in killings claimed by unionist death squads has been reinforced by the findings of the recentlypublished report, Collusion in Cappagh Killings. The report, which documents the Ulster Volunteer Force killings of four men at Boyle’s Bar in the small Tyrone village in 1991, was released at the beginning of March by campaign group Relatives for Justice. The human rights organisation revealed in their findings that, 10 months after the attack in which Dwayne O’Donnell, John Quinn, Malcolm Nugent and Thomas Armstrong were shot dead, “four UDR soldiers based in Cookstown were arrested and questioned in relation to the murders”. According to the RFJ, this information came to light during a briefing when members of the now-defunct Historical Enquiries Team met
Relatives for Justice revealed that four Ulster Defence Regiment soldiers based in Cookstown were arrested and questioned in relation to the murders by the unionist death squad with family members of the four deceased and representatives of RFJ. Until the HET revealed this information, none of the families was aware of this specific UDR link. The RFJ report also quotes local reports that claim the four were flown to Scotland in 1991 where they were “debriefed”. On their return to Ireland the quartet were “given a financial package and told to resign” from the UDR. Local people also maintain that these four UDR figures were given SAS training and are convinced they were involved in other killings such as those of republican activists Seán Anderson and Tommy Casey. What concerned people more was the fact that in the weeks before the gun attack on Boyle’s Bar, UDR patrols (accompanied by the RUC) entered the bar frequently and asked customers to identify themselves. On one occasion just prior to the shootings, a joint UDR/RUC patrol drew a plan of the bar. Given that many loyalist attacks were preceded
T h e u n T o l d s T o r i e s o f r e l aT i v e s , v i c T i m s a n d s u r v i v o r s
5 Dwayne O’Donnell, John Quinn, Malcolm Nugent and Thomas Armstrong were killed in the attack
by British Army or UDR and RUC members drawing plans of houses and specifically noting any ‘security’ on the premises, this acton caused considerable unease among the customers. The killings in Cappagh took place on March 1991 when a unionist gang drove into the car park of the village’s only pub. Armed with assault rifles, the gang were preparing for their attack on the bar when another car – containing Malachy Rafferty, John Quinn, Malcolm Nugent and Dwayne O’Donnell – entered the car park. The gunmen immediately turned their attention to the new arrivals, directing a hail of gunfire at the car’s occupants. Quinn, the 22-year-old driver, and Nugent were shot dead in the car while O’Donnell managed
On their return to Ireland from debriefing in Scotland, the four were given a financial package and told to resign from the Ulster Defence Regiment
5 Boyle's Bar in Cappagh was the target of the unionist death squad
Weapons connected to 18 killings THE history of the weapons used in the Boyle’s Bar attack has been investigated by Relatives for Justice and they have connected them to 18 killings and three attempted killings in the east Tyrone/north Armagh area. The VZ58P Czechoslovakian assault rifles (similar to the AK 47) and the ammunition used in them were part of the consignment of weapons brought into Ireland by British Army Intelligence agent Brian Nelson. Both weapons used were recovered after separate arms finds in Coagh, County Tyrone,
in January 1992 and in Kilmore, north Armagh, in 1993. The RFJ believes the RUC deliberately covered up the links to many of these 18 killings and the weapons used to protect the killers. Speaking at the launch of the report, Mike Richie of RFJ stated: “There is a real nexus of collusion that underlies this case and it needs to be unpicked if the families are going to have confidence in the justice system.”
to escape the car but was found dead behind a nearby wall. Rafferty believes that in trying to escape O’Donnell distracted the gun gang and, in effect, saved his life. After killing Nugent, the killers fired into the bar through an open toilet window and it was then that Thomas Armstrong was killed. The significance of this is that the man who fired into the bar was a tall man, fitting the description of one of the four-member UDR squad mentioned earlier as having been questioned about the attack. Secondly, the fact the attackers seemed sure that they could hit drinkers in the bar area by firing through the window and this knowledge could only, according to local people, have been gleaned from having prior knowledge of the layout of the building. Their suspicions fall heavily on the UDR and RUC personnel who drew the outline of the premises weeks earlier. That Quinn, Nugent and O’Donnell were IRA Volunteers has been used by the UVF to claim that they had “brought the war to the Provo heartland” of Cappagh. It is, however, almost certain that the assailants intended to target the bar regardless of who was there but that the dead men coincidentally happened on the ambush as it was being prepared, disturbed the gunmen and were cut down.
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5 The fight for 5 is on – Gerry Adams, Mary Lou McDonald, Jennifer McCann, Fra McCann, Rosie McCorley, Martin McGuinness, Pat Sheehan and Alex Maskey at the launch in west Belfast's Cultúrlann centre
Sinn Féin delivers for West Belfast DURING the years of conflict, the community in development and promotion of the Irish language in West Belfast bore the brunt of oppression and West Belfast, supporting the area’s growing Gaelteacht discrimination by the British state and its forces. quarter. Funding has been secured for a new building for West Belfast has also become a byword for determination, resilience and commitment to republicanism – as evidenced by the fact that five of the area’s six Assembly seats are held by Sinn Féin. The area, which was discriminated against for decades, has been transformed in recent years and Sinn Féin has been at the heart of that. Hundreds of millions of pounds of Executive funding have been targeted towards West Belfast, improving public services, upgrading facilities and strengthening communities.
local Irish-language radio station Raidió Fáilte, as well as for local Gaelscoileanna. The area also boasts one of the largest community festivals in Europe, Féile an Phobail, which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year and is supported by funding from Culture Minister Carál Ní Chuilín. £15million has been spent on the new Brook Activity Centre, providing state-of-the-art services to the local community while an additional £2.5million has been invested in Colin Forest Park. The community and voluntary sector has been the backbone of life in West Belfast in recent years and Sinn Féin has safeguarded funding for community organisations in the area.
West Belfast has been transformed and Sinn Féin has been at the heart of that Physically, the changes to the area are apparent with several new buildings and flagship regeneration projects. Unemployment in the area has been cut dramatically from 19% to 9% as the Executive has attracted investment and spent money on job-creation initiatives. More than £40million has been spent improving the the leisure, sports and recreation facilities in the area, including the building of a new leisure centre at Andersonstown. Culture, Arts & Leisure Minister Carál Ní Chuilín has also secured £60million which has been ringfenced for the development of a world-class GAA stadium at Casement Park. Millions have also been spent on improving schools across West Belfast with many new schools built by Sinn Féin education ministers in recent years, including at Coláiste Feirste and Scoil na Fuiseoige. Educational attainment has also improved in the constituency and the campaign to keep St Mary’s teacher training college open (which was driven by Sinn Féin) was successful. Almost £20million has been invested to support the
Given the fact that the Royal Victoria Hospital is in the heart of West Belfast, Tory attacks on the health service have been a major concern in the area and Sinn Féin has been at the heart of the campaign to ensure public health workers receive a living wage. While significant challenges still remain in the area as a result of decades of underinvestment and discrimination, the actions of Sinn Féin in standing against punitive Tory austerity policies mean that those most in need in West Belfast have been protected from the worst impact of the cuts. In May’s Assembly elections, Sinn Féin’s five current West Belfast MLAs – Jennifer McCann, Rosie McCorley, Fra McCann, Pat Sheehan, and Alex Maskey – are all standing on their record of delivery and seeking re-election. Speaking at the launch in the Cultúrlann on the Falls Road of the Assembly election campaign to re-elect five Sinn Féin MLAs, Gerry Adams TD called on voters to continue to support Sinn Féin to ensure continued delivery. “West Belfast has been in the vanguard of this struggle in the North,” the former MP for West Belfast said. “We look again to you to provide the leadership and the inspiration to move forward in this crucial election.”
5 The campaign to keep St Mary’s teacher training college open (which was driven by Sinn Féin) was successful
Martin McGuinness also praised the five Sinn Féin candidates in West Belfast for the work they have done in transforming the constituency. “West Belfast is a unique area. Time and again it has returned the largest team of republican representatives of any constituency in Ireland.
Unemployment has been cut dramatically from 19% to 9% as the Executive has attracted investment and spent money on job-creation initiatives “The team of candidates standing in West Belfast is unique too. “Their politics and commitment to their community was forged in the white heat of the prison struggles and in their opposition to decades of inequality, discrimination, underinvestment and neglect by the British Government and a one-party unionist state. “They have played key roles in transforming politics in the North and in the transformation of West Belfast.”
24 April / Aibreán 2016
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Another Europe is possible Treo eile don Eoraip
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
European Parliament mission dominated by jihadist attacks in Brussels
ON TUESDAY 23 MARCH, as more than a hundred Irish people from all corners of the island were en route to the European Parliament to join the four Sinn Féin MEPs in a celebration of the Easter Rising, the jihadist Daesh (also calling itself the Islamic State) launched a number of attacks on Brussels Zaventum Airport and Malbeek metro station. Consequently, the city of Brussels, including the European Parliament and Commission went into lockdown for the second time in four months (the first time being after the Paris attacks in November 2015). Heightened security measures in the EU institutions were put into operation immediately, the majority of public transport networks were cancelled and the terror alert level was raised to the highest level in the European capital. The attacks claimed the lives of 32 victims, critically injured 62 and wounded an estimated 316. The Sinn Féin team in the European Parliament
had spent months organising what would have been the first-ever celebration of the Easter Rising in Europe and had a series of events arranged. Although all involved were disappointed at the cancellation of these events, the main worry was for the delegation of over 100 people, which included relatives of the 1916 Volunteers, relatives of Volunteers who lost their lives during the conflict, musicians, artists and other interested individuals and groups. Their flight, however, was diverted safely to Amsterdam Airport and a flight back to Dublin was arranged immediately. Alternative arrangements for those travelling via Paris from Belfast were also made. Matt Carthy MEP was in the European Parliament (along with Liadh Ni Riada MEP, Lynn Boylan MEP and several staff members on the day of the attacks). The Midlands North West MEP said: “The explosions in Brussels Airport and the subsequent explosions in the Schuman and
5 Flowers for the victims – Chalk drawings read 'Brussels is beautiful', 'Stop violence', 'Stop war', 'Unity', and 'Humanity' at a memorial in Place de la Bourse in Brussels following the ISIS attacks
Malbeek metro stations are shocking and must be condemned.” Sinn Féin MLA Martin McGuinness added: “The attacks on people at the airport and metro stations in Brussels are deplorable and I condemn them unreservedly. My thoughts, as with everyone in Ireland at this time, will be with those killed or injured.” The Sunday following the Brussels attacks, 65 people were killed in suicide bombings
in Lahore, Pakistan, less publicised in the Western media. The reporting has been limited in the mainstream media, the Pakistan flag will not be emblazed on landmarks across the world, and it will not be trending on social media. Nonetheless, these lives are just as important as the lives lost in Paris, the lives lost in Brussels, and the lives lost every day in the Middle East and Asia, and particularly Palestine, Iraq and Syria.
First delegation of Irish-language students to European Parliament
ENGLISH SCHOLAR Nora K. Chadwick has written that Ireland possesses in the Irish language “a greater wealth of carefully preserved oral tradition from the earliest period of our era than any other people in Europe north of the Alps”. Embracing this, at the beginning of March, Liadh Ní Riada MEP hosted the first delegation of Gaelscoil students to the European Parliament. Even though learning Irish is required in all schools across the nation, only 1.8% speak Irish daily and only 40.6% say they have the ability to speak the language. In the Irish Constitution, the Irish language is given the status of the first and official language
The students got the opportunity to step into the shoes of a Member of the European Parliament and were randomly placed into each of the eight political groupings in the Parliament of the nation. In 2007 it was made the 23rd official language of the European Union, yet the 16 randomly-selected students from Gaelscoileanna in Kilkenny, Kerry, Cork and Limerick were the first to use the Irish-language facilities in the European Parliamentarium. The students got the opportunity to step into the shoes of a Member of the European Parliament and were randomly placed into each of
the eight political groupings in the Parliament. Issues such as water solidarity and microchipping were debated; the students took part in press conferences and negotiated with each other to build the future they envisage for Europe – all as Gaeilge. It is vitally important that the ability to speak Irish is encouraged, supported and rewarded. In 2003, the Irish Government passed the Official Languages Act, which promotes the use of Irish for official matters of the state. In 2010, the Government produced the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language. Yet they fail to introduce an Irish Language Act, which is one of the outstanding clauses of the Good Friday Agreement and they fail to support the Gaeltacht areas. They are paying lip service to one of our most prized cultural components. Liadh Ní Riada MEP, a member of the Education and Culture Committee in the European Parliament, said: “Seachtain na Gaeilge is the opportunity to celebrate our language and the contribution it has towards our culture and identity. Therefore it was a perfect opportunity to invite the students and their teachers over. “It is vital that our young people are supported and encouraged throughout their education but in particular with their command of languages. “An Ireland without the Irish language wouldn’t be the same place. Since my election to the European Parliament in May 2014, I have made every effort to promote, protect and end the derogation faced by the Irish language.”
April / Aibreán 2016
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www.guengl.eu BY JEMMA DOLAN IN BRUSSELS
Human Rights Act legal opinion commissioned by GUE/NGL and Sinn Féin LAW FIRMS KRW LAW LLP of Belfast and Doughty Street Chambers of London were commissioned by the GUE/NGL group in the European Parliament and Sinn Féin to provide expert advice on the potential effects of repeal of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) by the British Government. In the report, published recently, it is concluded that the current proposals for repeal of the HRA could breach the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. In line with Brexit, the second initiative of the British Government that would have a potentially devastating effect on the North of Ireland is the planned repeal of the 1998 Human Rights Act. The 1998 Human Rights Act gives effect to the European Convention on Human Rights and gives citizens access to the enforcing court, the European Court of Human Rights. The European Convention on Human Rights ensures that citizens have right to life protections, are protected from torture, slavery and forced labour, have the right to a fair trial, are not punished without due process of law, and their family and private life are protected as is freedom of thought, conscience and religion. The Human Rights Act is also interwoven completely in the fabric of the Good Friday Agreement. The accountability mechanisms secured during those negotiations are underpinned by the Human Rights Act. The current British Conservative Party Government led by David Cameron has repeatedly called for the repeal of the Human Rights Act to prevent the Convention on Human Rights and its implementing court (the European Court of Human Rights) from having an effect on British law. This forms part of an ideological drive from this hawkish Tory government to dilute human rights provision for its citizens and the citizens of the North of Ireland. Sinn Féin believes the Human Rights Act, the convention and the Court of Human Rights are valuable and essential for the North of Ireland. The European Convention on Human Rights
5 British Prime Minister David Cameron
should be a base through which the provision of rights cannot fall. The Tories want to chip away at that base. The repeal of the Human Rights Act would have massive ramifications for society in the North of Ireland. The Act provides protections for every sector of society including; persons with disabilities, journalists, victims of state violence, linguistic and cultural minorities, as well as providing avenues for recourse to conflict-related human rights violations. The Good Friday Agreement states that the British Government “will complete incorporation into the North’s law of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), with direct access to the courts, and remedies for breach of the Convention”. Therefore, removing access for citizens to the European Court of Human Rights amounts to a breach in the Good Friday Agreement. Not only does the Human Rights Act underpin the Good Friday Agreement, it also provides an avenue to hold the British Government to account under its Article 2 obligations (the right to life)
under the Convention via the European Court. In 2015, applications for over 1,500 cases concerning Britain were brought to the European Court of Human Rights, mostly by individuals. This is a vital institution for state accountability. The fact that British Prime Minister David Cameron and Justice Minister Michael Gove, have both recently made public statements in opposition to the operation of European justice institutions in Britain shows the contempt with which they hold the Human Rights Act. Sinn Féin totally opposes the repealing or dilution of the Human Rights Act and in order to inform our debate, Sinn Féin – via our colleagues in our European Parliamentary group, GUE/ NGL – have commissioned legal advice on the repeal of the 1998 Act for Ireland, the devolved institutions and Europe in general. The authors, Doughty Street Chambers and Kevin Winters Law, have produced a comprehensive document that outlines in clear and concise terms the potential effect the repeal would have for the North of Ireland. Touching on the Good Friday Agreement, the report states: “Repeal of the Human Rights Act and its replacement with some limited form of protection for human rights risks not only breaching the Good Friday Agreement in a technical sense but infringing its spirit and leading to a loss of faith in the British Government’s commitment to the Peace Process, of which human rights were a core feature.” Gavin Booth from Kevin Winters Law LLP adds: “The introduction of the Human Rights Act 1998 has impacted every area of law, and places obligations on all institutions of the state. The courts here, as public authorities, must protect the rights outlined in the Convention across all areas of law. “We believe that all attempts to dilute human rights provision should be resisted and we hope the publication of this legal advice will go some way to inform and enhance that resistance.”
Martina Anderson
Liadh Ní Riada
Lynn Boylan
SUPPORT FOR THE WOMEN’S FREEDOM FLOTILLA
Matt Carthy 5 MEPs from the GUE/NGL group in the European Parliament show their support for the Women’s Flotilla for Gaza at the European Parliament
are MEPs and members of the GUE/NGL Group in the European Parliament
26 April / Aibreán 2016
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SMART CITIZENS LIVERPOOL
ROBERT ALLEN WHEN LIVERPOOL and former Borussia Dortmund manager Jürgen Klopp said confidence is “a little flower that is easily crushed” he was really talking about irony – the kind of irony that produces events that are magnificent in the moment, and are gone in an instant. These days it seems we need these kinds of distractions, magnificent moments that light up our lives, give meaning to our existence and substance to our pitiful futures. Liverpool and Dortmund are amazing cities – some might even say they are smart cities full of vibrant people – who make stories of their lives into legendary events that sadly are like little flowers – one moment they are there, next they are gone. Daffodils are resilient flowers of the narcissus genus. Every year, as the natural seasons of winter and spring merge into each other, they sprout up from their perennial bulbs in marginal soil. Municipal authorities like them because they are low maintenance, because they provide colour and because they give the impression that they care about green issues. Dortmund is one of several cities who have signed up to the EU’s smart city programme. It has a grand desire to be seen as a narcissistic city, pretty as a picture with a synergistic scenario to its energy, food, traffic, transport and waste issues. Given the German predilection for greening cities, towns and villages with sustainable solutions, there is every chance it will succeed. Because
Liverpool and Dortmund are amazing cities – some might even say they are smart cities full of vibrant people . . . Dublin and Derry also want to be smart cities
DORTMUND
Dortmund has smart citizens. Dublin and Derry also want to be smart cities, but it remains to be seen whether the people with the expertise and knowledge to become smart citizens will be allowed to participate in the processes that will bring them to the level the EU requires. Derry, being a smaller city, has a greater potential than Dublin to become an EU model for the perfect smart city. This is largely because it has a high number of green spaces, land that can be remediated and a topography suitable for energy recovery, flood defence, urban mobility and water retention. There are areas of the city that can be rebuilt and renewed as integrated infrastructures and systems, particularly with public transport. Dublin, contrarily, would need to be rebuilt to meet all the EU’s requirements but the potential is not with concrete and steel, it is with the people who inhabit its cramped urban spaces.
Citizen emancipation and participation offer Dublin its best chance of becoming a partial smart and sustainable city Citizen emancipation and participation offer Dublin its best chance of becoming a partial smart and sustainable city but while sustainable food systems are practical projects, waste solutions will remain impractical until an integrated waste management system is adopted and realised. A functioning integrated public transport system will always be hampered by traffic issues and will only be resolved when non-essential traffic is removed and freight is carried into the heart of the city by smart transport. Pilot projects that encourage the construction of energy-efficient buildings and paperweight waste systems for “maximum recycling and energy recovery” will only cover the cracks. Much more is needed. Energy saving will reduce a city’s carbon footprint (a good thing) but it will not solve the more pressing ecological, environmental and social issues that every city faces today – not tomorrow. Think of each city as that little flower about to be crushed by stupidity. The irony is that the EU’s initiatives for smart
April / Aibreán 2016
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DERRY
Derry, being a smaller city, has a greater potential than Dublin to become an EU model for the perfect smart city DUBLIN cities and sustainable food security might be too late, and the responses by governments and institutions might be too pitiful to make a difference. Critics of the EU’s research funding are quick to point out that research projects on their own will always remain works in progress and will carry no meaningful value until they are supported by private and public financing. The solution to the problem rests with the concepts of smart and sustainable. A perfect smart and sustainable city will create wealth with its integrated systems because everything from energy to waste will be recovered, recycled and reused. Nothing will be lost, including labour and the economy will benefit because of the synergy created by closed systems. Unfortunately, these ideas need smart minds to make them work, and the will of the state to fund the ideas that result in the smart systems the EU is demanding. And no one doubts that this whole idea is a logistical conundrum for those tasked to make it work. Max Horkheimer was a social philosopher who espoused the idea of collective emancipation rooted in education and knowledge. Born in Stuttgart, he argued that society will not function properly until emancipated individuals take responsibility for their home, work and social environments, and show ecological and social empathy. “The fully developed individual is the consummation of a fully developed society. The emancipation of the individual is not an emancipation from society but the deliverance of society from atomisation.” The social ecologist Murray Bookchin was very concerned about our cities and did not see much hope for the future of those who are required to live in them. Cities, he argued, “have changed from ethical arenas . . . into immense overbearing anonymous marketplaces”. They have lost, he wrote in From Urbanization to Cities: Toward A New Politics of Citizenship,
EU’s position and its criteria for smart cities and smart citizens. The talk from Brussels is all about citizen focus, knowledge sharing, integrated infrastructures and planning, sustainable food systems and sustainable urban mobility. The EU’s bureaucrats and politicians want indicators and metrics, models and standards, and they want demographic change. On paper this sounds good. In reality it is a problem. These initiatives are research driven,
5 Social philosopher Max Horkheimer
“their form as distinctive cultural and physical entities, as humanely scaled and manageable political entities”. “What we must clearly do in an era of commodification, rivalry, anomie and egoism is to consciously create a public sphere that will inculcate the values of humanism, cooperation, community and public service in the everyday practice of civic life.” In modern Ireland there is no evidence that we are doing any of this, or even coming close to achieving a sensibility that nurtures these ideas in those who empathise with Horkheimer’s radicalised society or with Bookchin’s eco-society. “Capitalism’s grow or die imperative stands radically at odds with ecology’s imperative of interdependence and limit,” he argued, stating a fact that has no part in Irish economic thinking and political planning. This is our little flower waiting to be crushed. Without an interdependent environment it will not survive. Now think of the city as that flower, and think of the irony. Think also about the
Energy saving will reduce a city’s carbon footprint (a good thing) but it will not solve the more pressing ecological, environmental and social issues that every city faces today – not tomorrow with the emphasis on innovation and technology solutions. Scant attention is paid to eco-social solutions or to holistic thinking, planning and execution. The EU also wants environmental and social sciences solutions, but this is another problem. Because universities have specialised in business-driven innovation and technology, environmental and social sciences have been inadequately served by specialists with a genuine knowledge of eco-social sustainable practice. Six universities across continental Europe are engaged in a masters programme for students interested in becoming sustainable food system specialists. It starts in September and so far is not attracting the students. This is only one indication that the expertise does not exist to implement
the systems that all cities will need if they are to become smart and sustainable. Specialisation is the problem. There are very few people with practical knowledge who can take the holistic perspective that is required to solve today’s eco-social issues. Despite six decades of warnings about climate change, food security and social imbalance, governments have been reluctant to address the issues that are now becoming very grave. By introducing smart city and sustainable food system programmes into their funding, the EU have taken an action that will benefit those cities with citizens who understand what must be done. For those who don’t understand, the future will be bleak. Like confidence, like irony, like a flower – here today, gone tomorrow.
Fearless Fermanagh and www.sinnfeinbookshop.com Roger Casement in Germany 58 Parnell Square, Dublin 1. Tel: (00 353 1) 814 8542
SPECIAL 1916 CENTENARY EDITION
Ideal for selling at your Centenary events • Introduction by Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams • Full chronology of events • 1916 Ceannairí | Biographies of the leading men and women who took part in the rising • Seven Days, Seven Men, Seven Hills | By Éamonn Mac Thomáis, republican activist, writer and historian • Women in struggle | by Máire Comerford, a lifelong republican who witnessed central events in 1916-23 • Map and description of the main battles and major events • The Rising outside Dublin • Stop press! Censorship and the media reaction to Easter 1916 • Roger Casement | 1916 rebel and a national hero on the Faroe Islands
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EASTER RISING
19 16 Éirí Amach na Cásca
‘We went out to break the connection between this country and the British Empire and to establish an Irish Republic JAMES CONNOLLY Easter supplement.indd 1
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• Internationalists in the Easter Rising | Scandinavian rebels in the GPO and Kiwi squaddies in Trinity College
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Doing My Bit For Ireland By Margaret Skinnider MARGARET, the only female Volunteer wounded during the Easter week, tells the account of her active role prior to and after the 1916 Rising, including the inside story from the republican garrison in the College of Surgeons on St Stephen’s Green.
Lockout 1913 – Austerity 2013 CHARTING events through those dreadful months in 1913 – you will be transported back in time in the pages of this book. Collated and edited by Dublin historian Mícheál Mac Donncha with articles by TDs Gerry Adams and Mary Lou McDonald, amongst others.
The History of the Irish Citizen Army By R. M. Fox THIS VITAL historical account brings to life the rise from 1913 of the The Irish Citizen Army – in whose ranks women fought alongside the men as full members – was to the fore in the 1916 Easter Rising and the subsequent war against the might of the British Empire before taking the republican side during the Civil War of 1922-1923.
The Rotunda: Birthplace of the Irish Volunteers – Óglaigh na hÉireann By Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD THE ROTUNDA,within sight of the GPO, and being the birthplace of the Irish Volunteers, a rebel military force from which was to emerge the Irish Republican Army. Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD, looks at the centrality of the Rotunda in Irish history.
THREE SHOUTS ON A HILL Éamonn Mac Thomáis
Three Shouts on a Hill By Éamonn Mac Thomáis A short collection of essays by Éamonn Mac Thomáis, a fervent republican in the Connolly tradition. In this series written for An Phoblacht/Republican News in an era of state censorship, Three Shouts on a Hill is a window into Ireland’s history at a turbulent and tragic time.
mmemoration Committee | Coiste Comóradh Céad Bliain. oduced by An Phoblacht. www.anphoblacht.com
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Éamonn Mac Thomáis
inued his association with the republican family ease and played a role in the campaign in support of unger Strikers in Long Kesh in 1980 and 1981. n a Hill is a series Éamonn had written for An ican News in an era of state censorship, combining his edge of Irish and republican history with commentary y events almost a decade before the advent of the Web and when wordsmiths such as Éamonn earned through dedication, painstaking research in countless als, and sheer hard work. a Hill is a window into Ireland’s history at a turbulent
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CENTENARIES SERIES EXCLUSIVE TO
THREE SHOUTS ON A HILL
UTS ON A HILL is a short collection of essays by the , TV personality and acclaimed historian Éamonn Mac nch republican whose involvement in the Republican ned four decades. in into a staunchly republican and, as he described nite family, A fervently republican in the Connolly nn joined the Irish Republican Army as a young man e republican throughout his life. he was a political prisoner in Portlaoise in 1974 that ook, Me Jewel and Darlin’ Dublin, was published by
28 April / Aibreán 2016
27/10/2015 13:20
One Bold Deed of Open Treason – The Berlin Diary of Roger Casement Merrion Press Edited By Angus Mitchell
THIS ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING book is an analysis of Roger Casement’s diaries covering the period 1914 to 1916, whilst travelling in America and Germany to consolidate support for the Irish cause. Mention of Roger Casement’s name and the word “diaries” in the same sentence usually causes people to think of the infamous “Black Diaries”, alleged by the British authorities to have been written by Casement detailing homosexual encounters. Their authenticity has always been hotly contested, with the balance of probabilities pointing to the fact that Casement was indeed gay but that the diaries were forged, or at least embroidered to undermine the growing calls for clemency. This volume is not concerned with that controversy, with some 25 lines out of 270 pages concerned with it. This volume details Casement’s soul searching as he considers the chances of success for the Rising at Easter, which he felt was doomed to failure but which he was nonetheless obligated to participate in. His detestation of the British Establishment, along with all the trappings of imperialism are clearly conveyed but so too is his growing frustration and despondency over the Prussian mindset which dominated the German high command and Foreign Office. The political intrigues and the growing realisation that the German military considered Ireland to be merely a distraction which might provide a convenient diversion from England’s concentration on the Western Front took a growing toll on his health. There is a 13-month gap in the diaries during which Casement’s disenchantment is consolidated. Initially positive towards German methods and motives, by the time his writing resumes, he has
become cynical and condemnatory. His failure to recruit an Irish Brigade made up of Irish prisoners of war from the ranks of the British Army he believed was due to German incompetence and lack of understanding of the Irish situation. Casement’s wit and humanity shine through in his writing. In one passage
Casement’s wit and humanity shine through in his writing he describes what he believes to be the naiveté of the American public in unquestioningly absorbing British propaganda of German atrocities: “I suppose there is no people in the world so gullible as the Americans. That is doubtless why they invented poker.” This is a superb book on a maligned and often marginalised figure in Irish history. Now is the time to once again recognise his importance and restore him to his rightful place in the 1916 pantheon.
Fearless But Few: Fermanagh and the Easter Rising
Ancient Order of Hibernians to back a Protestant Volunteer as a Sinn Féin election candidate! This is obviously a book of particular interest to those with a Fermanagh connection but it is also relevant to a wider readership as it tells the
Fermanagh 1916 Centenary Association
SOME people’s eyes may be beginning to glaze over at the prospect of yet another book on 1916 this slim little volume offers genuinely novel and fascinating insights into the people and events of the Easter Rising, providing a thoroughly engrossing view of some of the Fermanagh men who took part in the rebellion against the mighty British Empire. It is evident from the outset that this book has been a labour of love for the Fermanagh 1916 Centenary Association, shining a light on the lives of the Fermanagh participants in the Rising. As the title of the book acknowledges, their numbers were few but their significance in carrying on a tradition that dated back to the United Irishmen is of signal importance. The book traces the lives and participation of ten men – two Protestants and eight Catholics. Eight were members of the Irish Volunteers, one Citizen Army, and one Hibernian Rifles (which he had founded).
The book traces the lives and participation of ten men – two Protestants and eight Catholics
The book highlights the fact that Fermanagh in the early 1900s was not as divided along sectarian fault lines as one might assume, and that the tradition of radical Protestant republicanism still lingered. Indeed, the most blatantly sectarian act described in the book concerns the failure of the
story of “ordinary people who held down ordinary jobs . . . and who lived in extraordinary times and did extraordinary things. It is important a hundred years on that we remember them.” The ultimate tragedy is that none of these Volunteers was able to live in their home county after partition. • The book is available from local Fermanagh outlets or online from 1916fermanagh.blogspot.com priced £10/€13.
April / Aibreán 2016
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I nDíl Chuimhne 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, 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.
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All notices and obituaries should be sent to notices@anphoblacht.com by Friday 22 April 2016
Life springs from death and from the graves of patriot men and women spring living nations PÁDRAIG PEARSE 8 April 1996: Volunteer Eugene MARTIN, South Armagh Brigade. 9 April 1974: Volunteer Daniel BURKE, Belfast Brigade, 1st Battalion. 10 April 1991: Volunteer Colum MARKS, South Down Command. 12 April 1973: Volunteer Edward O’RAWE, Belfast Brigade, 2nd Battalion. 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. 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. CASEY, Gerard. In proud and loving
» 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.
memory of Volunteer Gerard Casey, murdered on 4 April 1989. We can’t have old days back when we were all together, but secret tears and loving thoughts will be with me forever. From your loving wife Una. xxx CASEY, Gerard. In proud and loving memory of Volunteer Gerard Casey, murdered on 4 April 1989. Your life was a blessing, your memory a treasure, you were loved beyond words and missed beyond measure. Always loved by daughter Geraldine, partner Gary and grandson Cillian. xxx CASEY, Gerard. In proud and loving memory of Volunteer Gerard Casey, murdered on 4 April 1989. Every day,
in some small way, memories of you come our way. Though absent, you are always near, still loved, missed and always dear. From son Paul, Noeleen and grandchildren Orla, Erin and Odhran. xxx CASEY, Gerard. In proud and loving memory of Volunteer Gerard Casey, murdered on 4 April 1989. You always tried to do your best, your heart was true and tender, you simply lived for those you loved, and those you loved remember. From daughter Tara and grandchildren Gerard and Katie. xxx CASEY, Gerard. In proud and loving memory of Volunteer Gerard Casey, murdered on 4 April 1989. Your presence we miss, your memory we treasure, loving you always, forgetting you never. From son Kevin, Linda and Conor. xxx
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IN PICTURES
photos@anphoblacht.com
5 Belfast National Graves Association hosts an Easter Rising presentation for the families of our patriot dead – Joe Austin and Brendan 'Bik' McFarlane of the NGA with Belfast Sinn Féin Chairperson Sam Baker
5 Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh spoke at the Easter Sunday Commemoration at Sheriff Tom Desmond's (Catalpa Rescue) graveside in Colma, California
5 Big numbers at the Easter Rising Commemoration in Carrick-on-Suir, Tipperary
5 Easter Commemoration at graveside of Vounteer 5 A colour party leads the commemorative parade Timothy Megarry at Aughanshinan Abbey, on Easter Monday in Golden Village, Tipperary Letterkenny, in County Donegal
5 The heroes of 1916 are remembered in Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin
5 Newly-elected Sinn Féin TD John Brady addresses the Wicklow Easter Rising Commemoration on Easter Monday
5 Sinn Féin's Kerry TD Martin Ferris lays a wreath at the grave of Fanny Parnell in Cambridge, Massachusetts
30 April / Aibreán 2016
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FÉILE AN PHOBAIL will celebrate its 30th year in 2017. To mark the festival’s extraordinary journey, a project based at Queen’s University Belfast has embarked on an ambitious journey of its own – to chart the history of the festival in a book, an online archive and an exhibition that will open later this year. The project is funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council and is part of a collaboration between festival organisers and academics at Queen’s. Professor Margaret Topping, who leads the academic team, says that part of the project’s ambition is to provide west Belfast communities with a key role in writing the history of the festival, “which is so central too to the story of the Peace Process and the enormous changes that have happened in the city over the past three decades”, she adds. “With the community’s help, we aim to produce an exhibition, a book and an online Féile History Archive. What’s more, any photos, memora-
depicted in the media and by politicians. “Part of what has emerged from Féile is the translation of west Belfast in a global context. Féile has been formative to so many artistic talents
It showcases the talent, generosity, genius and creativity of the local community and has allowed it to reach out to other communities in Ireland and worldwide Flowers of the Féile: The festival has been of huge importance in showcasing local talent
and has allowed people from the community to tell their stories – through plays, poetry, music, art – not only on a local stage but elsewhere, particularly in America.
Queen’s University project charts
Féile’s 30-year journey
bilia and items of interest that are scanned and uploaded to our site can be tagged and described by anyone who wants to log on and help us out. We want the community’s version of history.
‘In terms of how we understand festivals and the role of grassroots culture in post-colonial conflicts worldwide, Féile is an important project’ Their participation – and an ethos of knowledge exchange – are core to this project.” Dr Michael Pierse, who lectures in Irish Literature at Queen’s, is co-investigator on the team. His work centres on representations of workingclass life in 20th century Ireland, and Pierse argues: “Féile is extraordinary, in terms of its capacity to have developed one of the most important, dynamic and significant festivals on these islands with (initially, anyhow) very little funding and within a context of conflict where the west Belfast community was continually demonised
Brush Shiels, who recently turned 70, performing at Féile. Brush performed at the first Féile in 1988
in the media and subject to some of the worst violence and everyday oppression experienced during that conflict. “The community’s capacity to respond to that situation with this inventive, resourceful, ná-habair-é-dean-é grassroots cultural initiative is a story that needs to be told. “Féile went on to become an important example of what can be achieved – not only in terms of the festival’s immediate success, but also regarding its wider implications for Irish society and the
Peace Process – by a committed, resilient and empowered community. “In terms of how we understand festivals and the role of grassroots culture in post-colonial conflicts worldwide, this is an important project.” Dr Fearghal Mac Ionnrachtaigh, another of the academics on the project, has written extensively on the development of the Irish-language movement in the North. Fearghal emphasises the importance of Féile in terms of challenging how nationalist and republican west Belfast was
“It has also brought so many talented artists, academics, documentary makers, music groups and artists into the area during the conflict and at key stages of the Peace Process that followed. “It showcases the talent, generosity, genius and creativity of the local community and has allowed it to reach out to other communities in Ireland and worldwide.” The project has held a number of events so far and researchers have been collecting material for the online archive, some of which can be viewed at www.feilebelfasthistory.com. They have also been conducting interviews with key participants and say that these accounts will be at the heart of the book that follows. “You can also view our tweets through the Féile Twitter page and we’ll be collecting lots more material in the months ahead,” says Margaret Topping. “Nothing is too large or small – we’re interested in posters, memorabilia, photographs, items of interest and, of course, the many memories people have of the festival over the years. “We intend to publish our book on the festival for the 30th anniversary, so we would urge the public to help us tell the story and do it in a way that is both authentic and scholarly.” For more information see the website or contact m.pierse@qub.ac.uk
April / Aibreán 2016
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IN PICTURES
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photos@anphoblacht.com
5 Mary Nelis addresses a commemoration at Macalla na mBan in the Roddy McCorley Club, Belfast
5 Flags are lowered at the Garden of Remembrance in Ardoyne, Belfast
5 Declan Kearney at the South Antrim Commemoration
5 Guns N' Primroses at Kilmuckridge, Wexford
5 Remembering 1916 at Eyre Square, Galway
5 Ireland's freedom fighters are honoured in Armagh
5 A recently painted mural at South Link, Andersonstown, Belfast
5 Sinn Féin's Councillor Paul Hayes, Councillor Rachel McCarthy and Donnchadh Ó Seadhgha of the Kilmichael-Crossbarry Commemorative Committee at the 95th anniversary commemoration of the Crossbarry Ambush 5 Reflecting on the sacrifice – New Lodge Road, Belfast
5 Irish Citizen Army March passes Liberty Hall and Custom House
anphoblacht 32
IN PICTURES
photos@anphoblacht.com
5 Sinn Féin Councillor Paul Donnelly meets with Tyrrelstown residents after it emerged over 200 families renting in the Cruise Park area could be evicted PHOTO: AIDAN McFAUL
5 Sinn Féin Assembly Arts & Culture Minister Carál Ní Chuilín with James Connolly Heron (great-grandson of James Connolly) at the unveiling of a statue to Irish Citizen Army leader James Connolly on Belfast's Falls Road
5 A white-line picket on the Falls Road, Belfast, close to the 5 Two of the other 'Three Amigos', actors and comedians Marty famous Bobby Sands mural, marks the 35th anniversary of Short and Steve Martin, receive their 1916 Centenary Bonds in the beginning of the 1981 Hunger Strike Las Vegas
1916 Centenary Dinner Le Chéile
Celebrate The Rising Saturday 23 April 2016 9.00 pm The Convention Centre Dublin, Spencer Dock, Dublin 1.
Le Chéile Honourees 2016
5 Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD takes part in the discussion panel 5 Eibhlín Glenholmes and Jennifer McCann unveil a quilt 'A Celebration of Easter 1916' at the Rich Mix in London. in honour of the many women who took part in the 1916 Pádraig Yeates, Therese Moriarty, Dr Ruan O'Donnell and Rising made by the Tar Anall Over 50s group Robert Ballagh spoke at the event
Lucy Hall & Mick Hall (posthumous) – Cúige Laighean Stan Corrigan – Cúige Uladh Marie Quinlivan – Cúige Mumhan Mary McGing – Cúige Chonnacht
Tickets are priced €75 , which includes a four-course dinner, live band and DJ till late.
Presentations will be made by Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD.
Tickets are available from your local area organiser, on line @ https://www.sinnfein.ie/supporters/dinnertickets or email: briandowling@sinnfein.ie
5 Sinn Féin TDs, MLAs and Leinster House staff in west Belfast for the launch of the party's Assembly election campaign