An Phoblacht August 2013

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National Hungerstrike Commemoration

t rs to n es Fi e ld i nti tim he Cou be 26 e th

Michael Gaughan • Frank Stagg • Bobby Sands • Francis Hughes • Raymond McCreesh • Patsy O'Hara • Joe McDonnell • Martin Hurson • Kevin Lynch • Kieran Doherty • Thomas McElwee • Michael Devine

MONAGHAN TOWN Sunday 4th August – Assemble at 2.30pm on Broad Street

Sunday 4th August – Assemble at 2.30pm on Broad Street

anphoblacht

Sraith Nua Iml 36 Uimhir 8

August/Lúnasa 2013

• Lockout’s legacy of struggle • New ICTU President John Douglas • ‘Our revolution’ – James Connolly’s great grandson talks to An Phoblacht » IRA movies » HET & Cover-Ups » Seanad » Gusty Spence & Political Loyalism » Brian Rowan ‘Good to Talk’ » Salmon Fishing

PRICE €2/£2

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IN PICTURES

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WHAT’S INSIDE 4 TREVOR Ó CLOCHARTAIGH

Laethanta Deiridh an tSeanaid?

8 THE HUNGER STRIKERS

Young men who gave so much 9 Scéal TG4 leiriú eile de neamhshuim an rialtais 13 JAMES CONNOLLY

On the Eve of the Dublin Lockout 14 IMF insider blows the cover on failure of austerity 15 Labour votes against equality measures to appease Fine Gael 16 & 17

5 A new mural in Turf Lodge highlights the decision by the SDLP not to oppose a bill by the anti-Peace Process TUV party to discriminate against former POWs in employment

NEW ICTU PRESIDENT JOHN DOUGLAS TELLS AN PHOBLACHT:

‘Trade unions must roll up their sleeves and get active’ 18 & 19 FIGHTING TALK IN WEST CORK

At the 4th annual Sinn Féin Summer School: Eamon Dunphy, unionist leader Basil McCrea, GAA star Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, and the inspirational Joanne O’Riordan spark debate 24 Killer Robots – It’s not science fiction 22 & 23

5 A re-enactment marks the 99th anniversary of the Howth Gun-Running when weapons for the Irish Volunteers were landed aboard the Asgard on 26 July 1914

5 Demonstrators gather outside Leinster House to call on the Government to reverse cuts to Special Needs education

BRIAN ROWAN ON THE

‘Better Good Friday Agreement’ conference 26 & 27 Ireland’s fhsing industry – The Salmon of Knowledge 28 Sinn Féin MP calls for unity among republicans 29 6,000 in Coatbridge call for Loughinisland justice 30 BETWEEN THE POSTS

GAA: The hunger games 31 The IRA at the movies – Republicans on film and TV

5 A banker laughs off demands that he be jailed during a ‘Jail the Bankers’ protest outside the Central Bank in Dublin following the Anglo Tapes controversy

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August / Lúnasa 2013 3

‘Outside elements’ blamed for drunken sectarian rampage of Suffolk estate. This attack was wrong, it shouldn’t have happened and they wholeheartedly have our support.”

Gerry McConville, from the Falls Community Council, said: “I have been speaking to residents from a small Catholic estate beside Suffolk who initially were on the scene and saw this crowd

A SECTARIAN ATTACK on Protestant homes and cars by a mob of up to 100 drunken youths in a Friday night rampage has been denounced across the political spectrum, including by nationalist neighbours, Sinn Féin and local community leaders.

The PSNI is treating the attack — the Blacks Road/Lenadoon area of Suffolk, west Belfast, around 10pm on 29 July — as a hate crime.

The attack followed a house party in the Brooke area that had got out control when some of the people there (including many not invited but attracted by a Facebok posting) spilled out onto the street. Fights broke out and later there were attacks on cars and homes in the nearby Ringford Park, a small Protestant neighbourhood.

Nationalist residents tried to halt the mob but were overwhelmed by the sheer weight of numbers.

Matt Garrett, a local Sinn Féin councillor, said the attacks were not representative of people actually living in the area, something acknowledged later by UDA leader Jackie McDonald after a meeting at Woodbourne PSNI station attended by residents, community leaders and the Sinn Féin Mayor of Belfast, Mairtín Ó Muilleoir.

“Clearly the people who came into the area on Friday night did so with the intent to cause mayhem and havoc throughout this entire community,” Matt Garrett said.

“We want to lend our support to the people

5 Property and homes damaged in a sectarian attack by a mob of drunken youths in west Belfast

‘Clearly the people who came into the area on Friday night did so with the intent to cause mayhem and havoc throughout this entire community’ MATT GARRETT SINN FÉIN COUNCILLOR coming up and tried very hard to stop the crowd going up the Blacks Road.

Unfortunately, they were just overwhelmed with sheer numbers.”

Both Matt Garrett and Sinn Féin joint First Martin McGuinness have urged anyone with any information about the attack to bring it immediately to the police.

Martin McGuinness said on Twitter: “The sectarian attacks in the Suffolk area were a disgrace. Information on the bigots responsible should be passed to police #domorethancondemn.”

Solidarity with John Downey A NUMBER of developments took place in the case of John Downey since publication of the last print edition of An Phoblacht, including a motion by Donegal County Council, lobbying

by Sinn Féin elected representatives, and solidarity events held by friends and supporters around the country.

John, a popular Donegal Sinn Féin member and long-time supporter of the Peace Process, was arrested at the end of May and charged in connection with an IRA bomb attack on the British Army near Hyde Park Barracks in London in 1982.

He was visited in Belmarsh Prison in England on 27 June by Sinn Féin MP Pat Doherty, who reported that John was in relative good spirits, given the circumstances.

The day previously, a question on John’s arrest was tabled in the Dáil by Sinn Féin TD Seán Crowe to Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore. It has also been raised by Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams and a number of other Sinn Féin representatives around the country.

Meanwhile, grassroots activists and friends of John have been keen to show their solidarity with John and his family at various events.

The South Armagh community came together in July in Tí Chulainn to hear Donegal TD Pearse Doherty explain the situation and the impact on John’s family and community.

As part of the fund-raising event, members of Dublin Sinn Féin Republican Youth donated a bodhrán signed by the 14 Sinn Féin TDs. The previous month, the Donegal Daily

JOHN JOE McGIRL

25th ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATION

8pm Saturday 17th August Ballinamore, Leitrim ASSEMBLE AT The Square for parade to The Monument MAIN SPEAKER

5 Bodhrán winner Malachy Duncan with Pearse Doherty, Sinn Féin councillors and Dublin youth activists reported that 500 republicans from across the county packed into a John Downey Defence Fund fund-raiser in Termon along with Sinn Féin representatives from Donegal, Derry, Tyrone, Monaghan, Belfast and Mayo.

Sinn Féin Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn said he was extremely proud of the republican community in Donegal after the huge success of the event. He said: “The presence of an MEP, an MP, an MLA,

TDs and many councillors shows the political support that the campaign for John’s release has received. Their presence adds to the political support that was demonstrated in Donegal County Council recently after crossparty support for a motion calling for his release was passed.

“We now need to continue this campaign, defend the Peace Process and have John Downey returned home to his family.”

MARTIN McGUINNESS

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anphoblacht Editorial CONTACT

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A way forward for the Orange Order THE Orange Order’s determination to continue its weekly protests over Parades Commission restrictions on its events in north Belfast is disappointing. It is hard to see what it hopes to achieve without a more rounded and conciliatory approach to resolving the contentious issue of marches and parades close to nationalist and interface areas.

The stalemate in Belfast is being exploited by elements opposed to the Peace Process to stoke tensions that then manifest in violence there and elsewhere.

Attacks on Protestant and unionist communities and places of worship are the antithesis of republicanism and repugnant to what the H-Block Hunger Strikers and

countless thousands of republican activists have given their lives for.

This is not what republicanism stands for; its mirror image should not be what unionism stands for.

Despite the Orange Order’s stance, Sinn Féin maintains that, with courageous and imaginative leadership on all sides, we can find a way out of this impasse with constructive dialogue.

Accommodation has been achieved on the basis of equality and respect in other places (most notably in Derry City between local people and the Apprentice Boys), so why not in Belfast and with the loyal orders there?

Republicans are still willing to talk – are unionists?

Abolish the Seanad – Reform the Dáil SINN FÉIN is supporting a ‘Yes’ vote for the abolition of the Seanad in the referendum on 4 October.

The Seanad is elitist.

There is no universal suffrage.

Only certain people have the privilege of electing senators; the overwhelming majority of citizens are barred from voting who sits in the Seanad to legislate on laws affecting their lives. The Taoiseach appoints 11 senators – the ‘chosen few’.

The Seanad is accountable to nobody.

The Seanad rubber-stamps Government policy — the Government has an inbuilt majority, so instead of holding Fine Gael and Labour to account, the Seanad rubber-stamps their policies.

The Seanad has supported the Government on every single occasion (including the introduction of the Property Tax, cuts to disability payments and the promissory note

deal which is costing the tax payer Ř30billion) in the past three years.

Fianna Fáil is leading the campaign for keeping the Seanad by calling for reform. Where was the reform over the 14 years of governments led by Fianna Fáil and Mícheál Martin, when it had the power to change the Seanad?

Since the late 1970s, there have been 12 successive reports produced proposing reform of the Seanad – not one has been implemented.

What is needed is real Dáil reform to ensure greater parliamentary oversight and accountability (including a new Dáil Committee to scrutinise the Department of An Taoiseach and the Economic Management Council), and representation in the Dáil for Irish citizens in the Six Counties and overseas.

On 4 October, vote ‘Yes’ to abolish the Seanad and campaign for Dáil reform.

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www.anphoblacht.com AN PHOBLACHT is published monthly by Sinn Féin.

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

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

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

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Draw will take place on Saturday 19 October 2013 Tarraingeofar an Crannchur ar an Satharn 19 Deireadh Fómhair 2013

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August / Lúnasa 2013 5

IN PICTURES

Le Trevor

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Ó Clochartaigh

An mbeidh deireadh leis an Teach Uachtarach faoi cheann cúpla mí?

Laethanta Deiridh an tSeanaid?

5 Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams sits alongside 750 delegates in the Radisson Hotel, Sligo, on 14 July at the EU Convention to select a candidate for the 2014 EU elections in the new north-west constituency of the 26 Counties. (Below) Director of Elections Brian Tumilty announces result of the selection convention to candidates Matt Carthy (successful candidate), Rose Conway Walsh, Kathryn Reilly and Martin Kenny

BHÍ rud éigin ósréalaíoch ag baint leis an choicíos deireadh sa tSeanad roimh sos an tSamhraidh.

‘Stoirm Fhoirfe’ a bhí ann ar bhealach, agus muid ar bord an Titanic b’fhéidir!

Bhí clampar ann de bharr go raibh muid ag plé dhá bhille a bhí an-chonspoideach ina mbealai féin. Bhí an Bille um Cosaint na Beatha le Linn Toircheas i mbéal an phobail le scaitheamh roimhe sin sa Dáil agus bhí an bille eile maidir le reifreann a ghairm faoi thodhchaí an tSeanaid ag cur Seanadóirí go leor le báiní ag an am chéanna.

Ba truamhéileach an rud é gurb é geaitsaíocht agus galamasaíocht roinnt Seanadóirí glóracha a bhain na cinnlínte amach san meáin. Tuigeann muid ar fad gur beag suim atá ag an gnáth dhuine in imeachtaí an tSeanaid, ach is mor an trua gurb é an príomh léargas a bheidh acu ar an obair a dhéantar ann ná iompar mire David Norris agus caint náireach leithéidí Jim Walsh agus Brian Ó Domhnaill maidir le cúrsaí ginmhillte.

Chuir Sinn Féin cás láidir chun cinn le linn na díospóireachta maidir le leasú an tSeanaid, le go

Is uirlís í an tSeanaid lenar bpolaitíocht a fhorbairt agus muna mbíonn sí ann, caithfidh muid sin a dhéanamh ar bhealach ar bith eile gur féidir linn mbeadh sé ionadaíoch ar phobal uile na hÉíreann, seachas a bheith comhdhéanta d’aicmí áirithe den sochaí agus ciorcail órga agus polaitiochta na tíre. Ach, ní raibh an Rialtas ag éisteacht.

Ceist amháin a bheidh le cur ar an bpobal anois ag tús mí Dheireadh Fómhair, sin ar chóir an Seanad a choinneáil díreach mar atá, nó fáil réidh leis? Tá Ard Chomhairle Sinn Féin tar éis machnamh a dhéanamh ar an gceist agus nochtófar seasamh an pháirti go luath ach is deacair dúinn troid ar son teach atá chomh éagcothrom ó thaobh ionadaíochta de agus nach bhfuil ról sonrach aige maidir le scrúdú reachtaíochta.

Is beag suim a bheidh sa bhfeachtas measaim. Sílim go mbeidh líon na vótóirí an-íseal. Beidh reifreann eile ar an lá ceanna is cósúil chomh maith, nach bhfuil aird ar bith tugtha fós air, sin le Cúirt Nua Achomharc a bhunú chun cuid den bhrú a bhaint de chóras na gcúirteanna agus tacú le brostú ar achomharc ar chásanna ó na cúirteanna cuarda agus ón ardchúirt agus gan an chúirt uachtarach amháin a bheith freagrach as seo.

Rinne an díospóireacht faoin mBille um Cosaint na Beatha dochar d’Fhianna Fáil, sa Seanad ach go háirithe.

Bhí binibeacht le brath i gcuid mhaith den chaint ó na Seanadóirí is coimeadaí acu. Ní raibh ach triúr acu a bhí ar son na reachtaíochta – Ned O’Sullivan, Mary White

agus Averil Power. Cé gur chuir a gceannaire sa Seanad Dara O’Brien uisce slán idir é féin agus ráitis ó Walsh ach go h-áirithe, vótáil seisean i gcoinne na reachtaíochta chomh maith. Léiriú eile ar chomh scaipthe is a bhíodar ar an gceist seo agus a laghad measa a bhí ann do sheasamh Mícheál Martin.

Ach, tá siad aontaithe maidir leis an Seanad. Tá siad i gcoinne fáil réidh leis. Gan dabht tá, nach é Dev a leag amach é mar atá sé. Sin é an fáth a bhfuil sé chomh neamhionadaíoch is atá. Agus in ainneoin aon tuarascáil déag éagsúil a rinne moltaí chun athchóiriú a dhéanamh ar an Teach Uachtarach, ní dhearna Fianna Fáil, ná Fine Gael agus an Lucht Oibre nuair a bhíodar i Rialtas tada chun an leasú a theastaigh a chuir i bhfeidhm.

D’oir sé dóibh an status quo a choinneáil – ‘jabanna do na cáirde’ a roinnt amach. Níor theastaigh uathu go mbeadh aon ról dáiríre ag Seanad Éireann a thabharfadh dúshlán an ‘Establishment’ ná aon Rialtas a bhí i mbun cumhachta. Bhí neart caint acu, ach is beag gníomh a bhí mar thoradh air.

Cé gur vótáil an Lucht Oibre ar son an reifrinn ‘chun deis a thabhairt don phobal a dtuairim a nochtadh’, deir a gceannaire sa tSeanad, Ivana Bacik, go mbeidh siadsan ag stocaireacht chun é a choinneáil. Scoilt mar sin idir pháirtithe an Rialtais ar an gceist is cosúil.

Beidh maithe agus móruaisle ag labhairt ar son an tSeanad a choinneáil chomh maith. Ach, don gnath dhuine atá ag dul i ngleic le deacrachtaí dífhostaíochta, imirce, sláinte is araile, is beag suim a chuirfidh siad sa gceist. Ó mo thaobh féin di, fad is atá sé ann, úsaidfidh mé mo ról sa Seanad le h-áird a tharraingt ar cheisteanna cothromaíochta, tuaithe, teanga agus pobail – agus chun polasaithe Sinn Féin a chur chun cinn. Seasfaidh mé ar son muintir na Gaillimhe agus an Iarthar chomh maith agus atá mé in ann. Sin an dúshlán atá againn mar ionadaithe poiblí. Is uirlís í an tSeanaid lenar bpolaitíocht a fhorbairt agus muna mbíonn sí ann, caithfidh muid sin a dhéanamh ar bhealach ar bith eile gur féidir linn.

5 Martina Anderson MEP at an open day at republican ex-prisoner centre Clones Fáilte

5 Scotland’s Cairde na hÉireann has raised more than £7,000 for several charities in a series of ‘Cairde v Cancer’ events, including this sponsored Highlands Hillwalk at Ben Vrackie in memory of Volunteer Brian Keenan

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Colluding in state cover-ups

BY PEADAR WHELAN & JOHN HEDGES THE ‘revelation’ by a police watchdog investigation that the Historical Enquiries Team – set up in 2005 to re-examine 3,260 killings in the conflict – probed cases involving the British Army with “less rigour” and with casual disregard to normal practices is confirmation by a British state agency of what nationalists have known down the decades since the 1960s.

University of Ulster academic Dr Patricia Lundy had two years’ of unprecedented access to the HET. Her 2008 report, Truth, Justice and Dealing with the Legacy of the Past in Northern Ireland, also exposed the role of “intelligence gatekeepers”.

She concluded that Special Branch and other intelligence agents were acting as barriers to disclosure, denying access to information to hundreds of families seeking the truth in relation to other conflict-related, state and state-sponsored killings.

The HET rejected Dr Lundy’s findings out of hand.

Speaking at the time, Relatives for Justice spokesperson Mark Thompson called for the HET to be scrapped.

“RFJ has always maintained that the HET’s process is not independent because it is accountable to the PSNI Chief Constable.

“Senior officers running the HET spent several years under both Hugh Orde and John Stevens investigating collusion and the findings of that report never saw the light of day.”

London Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens investigated collusion between the crown forces and loyalist paramilitaries over a number of periods: from 1989, 1993 and 1999, pro-

‘Initiatives were more to do with the management, control and the suppression of truth than of truth recovery’

She thinks it has implications for lots of different cases, not just the British Army cases, because: “We’ve heard the structural problems: there’s no oversight, there’s no complaints procedure and really it seemed to me that it was a bit of a law unto itself.”

In theory, the HET was under the direct control of and answerable to the PSNI Chief Constable. The HMIC found “the only accountability structure is

HET HISTORICAL ENQUIRIES TEAM

4 Successive British Governments knew it was corrupt 4 Successive British Secretaries of State knew it was corrupt 4 Successive PSNI Chief Constables knew it was corrupt 4 University of Ulster researcher Dr Patricia Lundy – after two years of unprecedented access to the HET – told them it was corrupt

5 Former PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde

5 Former Metropolitan Police Commissioner John Stevens Ireland Historical Enquiries Team by police watchdog Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabularies (HMIC) finally vindicated her and her research, Dr Lundy said.

She added: “I think the HET as an organisation itself is irretrievable at this point.”

The management of intelligence handled in the main by ex-RUC members and PSNI officers working for HET that underscores the HET’s reliance on rather than independence from the PSNI

the reporting line from the Director of the HET to the Chief Constable” but noted “there was no public reporting mechanism and as a result no public scrutiny”.

The lack of consistency within the HET was also criticised by the HMIC. No “standard format for recording policy decisions” was in place.

Individual Senior Investigation Officers (SIOs) “adopted their own approach to the recording of the progress of their enquiries and the decisions taken. As a result, many such decisions are not recorded at all.”

It is in the management of intelligence handled in the main by ex-RUC members and PSNI officers working for HET who manage information from C3, the PSNI’s intelligence branch, that underscores the HET’s reliance on rather than independence from the PSNI. 15 of the 17 HET staff dealing with intelligence were former RUC or PSNI personnel.

It would also seem that the lack of accountability relating to decisions made by individual SIOs allowed for abuses of process that meant “state

RELATIVES FOR JUSTICE

ducing reports known as Stevens One, Stevens Two and Stevens Three.

Britain’s ‘top cop’ found that British Military Intelligence in the North of Ireland helped to prolong the conflict.

Stevens said informants and agents “were allowed to operate without effective control and to participate in terrorist crimes”.

Stevens Three found that members of the RUC and British Army colluded with the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) to murder Catholics.

Mark Thompson continued: “We need a constructive debate in the community about finding a truth recovery process that’s completely independent and in which people can engage with confidence. The HET doesn’t meet those requirements so it needs to go. Don’t re-jig it or try to fix it — just scrap it.”

The Relatives for Justice concluded: “Previous initiatives were more to do with the management, control and the suppression of truth than of truth recovery.”

Yet the HET carried on with its biased investigations into conflict-related deaths unchallenged and unhindered, effectively perverting the course of justice, as it conducted inquiries into state agency killings less rigorously than other cases.

The release on Wednesday 3 July of The Inspection of the Police Service of Northern

5 Bereaved families in the Relatives for Justice office on Glen Road speak to the media following the publication of the HMIC report on the Historical Enquiries Team

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5 University of Ulster academic Dr Patricia Lundy

5 Relatives for Justice spokesperson Mark Thompson

5 British soldiers and RUC personnel were not held to account by the Historical Enquiries Team actors”, British soldiers and RUC personnel, were not held to account by the HET. In reality, members of the British Army or RUC were treated as witnesses rather than suspects by HET investigators and given advanced knowledge of the questioning prior to being interviewed. That anyone being interviewed as part of a police investigation into a murder would get such vital advance knowledge is breath-taking.

The HMIC said: “This approach to state involvement cases is illegal and untenable as it is inconsistent with the UK’s obligations under Article 2 of the European Court of

15 of the 17 HET staff dealing with intelligence were former RUC or PSNI personnel Human Rights that upholds the right to life of citizens.”

Key British Army witnesses – or possible suspects – were interviewed by telephone because they claimed they were too ill to be interviewed in person.

THE North’s Policing Board said in a public statement on 4 July that it has no confidence in the Historical Enquiries Team after the damning report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary.

The HMIC, it said, had uncovered “very serious organisational, governance and oversight issues” It said the HET was illegally investigating deaths involving British Army soldiers with less rigour than cases with no state involvement.

“It is the view of the board that all military case reviews by the HET are suspended.”

Exactly a year earlier, on 4 July 2012, Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly (left) said the report from the University of Ulster into the HET confirmed what the party had said from the outset about the lack of independence in the HET investigations.

The Sinn Féin Policing spokesperson and member of the Policing Board said: “The crucial part in this report by Dr Lundy is that she does not believe the HET is independent, that interviews with British soldiers were not impartial, effective or transparent.

That the HET is investigating the deaths of

One case related to the case of an 11-year-old boy killed by a British Army rubber bullet.

Dr Lundy was told that when the HET informed a solicitor that a British former soldier was too ill to be questioned. “His ill-health was all too plain to see and to attempt to interview him would have been ludicrous,” the solicitor was told.

HMIC has since found out that the soldier concerned was actually spoken to by the HET by telephone, “in which case it is unclear how the HET’s staff were able to ‘see’ his state of health”.

This also raised the crucial question for the HMIC of how was the HET able to confirm they were talking to the right person?

people at the hands of the British Army differently from other killings is unacceptable “Sinn Féin supports people’s right to engage with the HET and accepts that some families have come away from the HET process with a degree of comfort.

“Any deaths during the conflict need to be investigated with the same vigour regardless of who carried out the killing or the standing of the person killed. Sinn Féin is calling for an independent assessment of how HET investigations have been and are being carried out.”

On 4 July 2013, Sinn Féin MLA Pat Sheehan returned to the issue at the meeting of the Policing Board, saying: “Sinn Féin has always insisted that the HET is not independent. It does not command widespread public confidence and is not compliant with the international human rights obligations which bind the British Government.

“The HMIC report confirms there must be an alternative to the HET; it has acted unlawfully.

“Following the report many people will feel that the HET is irretrievably damaged. Some of those representing families bereaved by

state violence have already made that position clear.

“The police cannot investigate the police and to suggest that as a remedy to this scandal is a step backwards and nonsensical. We need to find an effective and credible alternative which is inclusive of all citizens in our society.

“Sinn Féin is advocating that all cases with the HET are suspended. What has been suffered by bereaved families must be openly and urgently investigated, including the questioning of police officers or civilian staff in the HET or PSNI who may have perverted the course of justice. Sinn Féin is now requesting a meeting with the Police Ombudsman to discuss how this investigation can begin.

“The Policing Board has agreed to convene a working group to oversee the outworking of the HMIC report. Sinn Féin will be asking that group to include Professor Patricia Lundy, the Public Prosecutions Service, the Police Ombudsman, the Victims Commissioner, Criminal Justice Inspection and, above all, the human rights community and bereaved families to formulate all the available ways forward.”

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THE HUNGER STRIKERS – YOUNG MEN WHO GAVE SO MUCH

The revolution has always been in the hands of the young

H-Block Martyrs IRA Volunteer

BOBBY SANDS (aged 27, born Belfast)

9/3/1954 – 5/5/1981 (after 66 days) IRA Volunteer

FRANCIS HUGHES (aged 25, born Derry)

28/2/1956 – 12/5/1981 after 59 days) IRA Volunteer

RAYMOND McCREESH (aged 24, born Armagh)

25/2/1957 – 21/5/1981 (after 61 days) INLA Volunteer

PATSY O’HARA (aged 24, born Derry)

11/7/1957 – 21/5/1981 (after 61 days) IRA Volunteer

JOE McDONNELL (aged 29, born Belfast)

14/9/1951 – 8/7/1981 (after 61 days) IRA Volunteer

MARTIN HURSON (aged 24, born Tyrone)

13/9/1956 – 13/7/1981 (after 46 days) INLA Volunteer

KEVIN LYNCH (aged 25, born Derry)

25/5/1956 – 1/8/1981 (after 71 days)

BY DALE MOORE

IRA Volunteer

KIERAN DOHERTY

SINN FÉIN PRESS OFFICER A FEW WEEKS AGO at a press meeting, when I mentioned that we would need to factor into local areas that the National Hunger Strike Commemoration would be held in Monaghan on 4 August, I was asked by a comrade: “What was it like during the Hunger Strikes?”

I realised that, out of the half dozen or so people in the room, I was the only one that was old enough to have lived through the Hunger Strikes.

I also realised that the other people in the room covered the spectrum of ages of the ten men who died in Long

The other people in the room covered the spectrum of ages of the ten men who died in Long Kesh in 1981 – not one had reached their 30th birthday Kesh in 1981 — not one had reached their 30th birthday.

I looked at the youthful faces and wondered how people of similar ages had the courage to embark on strategy that would lead them to death, and would also defeat the British Government’s policy of criminalisation and eventually lead to the defeat of their imperialist policies in Ireland.

“It was a sad time,” was all I could muster in reply for although we commemorate the 32nd anniversary this year it is still like yesterday in many people’s minds, such was the magnitude of the event. I don’t think anyone

(aged 25, born Belfast)

5 Young people protest against the H-Blocks in 1981 could recall all the emotions of that period in one answer.

There were the highs of the resolution of the first Hunger Strike (in 1980) before anyone died was to be replaced by despair and anger as the British reneged on the deal. Then came the pride — overladen by nervous anticipation — in the determination of the prisoners in fighting back by announcing the second Hunger Strike, then the elation at the election of Bobby Sands as an MP and Kieran Doherty and Paddy Agnew as TDs, only to be replaced by helplessness as the Irish Government and others abandoned Irish citizens to the vindictiveness of Margaret Thatcher followed by the sorrow as our prisoners died one by one.

The ten men are now longer dead than they were alive but their spirits

live on today and will forever in the psyche of the Irish nation.

Today we are in a better place than 1981, where republicans still stand proud of our history, where we sit as

16/10/1955 – 2/8/1981 (after 73 days) IRA Volunteer

THOMAS McELWEE (aged 23, born Derry)

30/11/1957 – 8/8/1981 (after 62 days) INLA Volunteer

You don’t need to have a rifle in your hand to be a revolutionary and the ten Hunger Strikers proved that equals in Europe, the Seanad, Dáil, Assembly and local government throughout Ireland.

We have never been stronger or as confident of victory as we work

5 An original banner from the Anti H-Block campaign is carried on a tenth anniversary commemoration of the 1981 Hunger Strike

MICKEY DEVINE (aged 27, born Derry)

26/5/1954 – 20/8/1981 (after 60 days) toward the New Ireland that the people on this island deserve.

Our movement now has many people within its ranks who were not born or who were too young to remember the Hunger Strikes but the spirit of Bobby Sands, Francis Hughes, Ray McCreesh, Patsy O’Hara, Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, Kevin Lynch, Kieran Doherty, Tom McElwee and Mickey Devine continues to guide them in developing the politics that will deliver that New Ireland.

The republican revolution has come through many stages since Wolfe Tone and the United Irishmen and Irishwomen raised the standard of equality as a guiding principle for delivering freedom for everyone on this island, and as I look at the young people in the party today there is a sense of pride knowing that this generation will finish the job.

A well-educated, articulate generation, free from the scars of sectarian domination, repression and war are taking up leadership positions across the island and doing a great job.

Sometimes when people ask about the Hunger Strikes they want to hear stories of resistance as opposed to revolution as ‘the smell of cordite’ is always good for holding an audience’s attention.

But you don’t need to have a rifle in your hand to be a revolutionary

and the ten Hunger Strikers proved that.

They are the inspiration to the many young people involved in Sinn Féin who are proving their revolutionary credentials throughout Ireland by championing the rights of minorities, opposing austerity and standing strong for their communities.

The Hunger Strikers were all young men, leaders and an inspiration so it is

The Hunger Strikers’ spirits live on today and will forever in the psyche of the Irish nation important that we allow the young people in the party the space to be leaders, to inspire and take our revolution to the next step without smothering their enthusiasm.

When republicans gather in Monaghan Town and pay our respects to the H-Block martyrs and all those other brave republicans who died on hunger strike or in other ways in the struggle for Irish freedom, we also recognise the strength of our youth in bringing about monumental change.

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What’s the history of this place?

Where is the National Monument?

THE GPO garrison evacuated to Moore Street at the end of Easter Week 1916 and it was here the final dramatic events of the Rising took place. Moore Street and the area behind it, including Moore Lane (by Conway’s pub) and O’Rahilly Parade, have been described as “the lanes of history”.

14 to 17 Moore Street, including the yards and walls and outbuildings behind them, are a designated National Monument. It was in 16 Moore Street, around the bed of the gravelywounded James Connolly, that the last meeting of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic took place and the final decision to surrender was made.

What does the developer want to do?

Chartered Land want to build a giant shopping mall, demolishing most of Moore Street, leaving a truncated National Monument and obliterating “the lanes of history”.

Why is the Heritage Minister involved?

Because 14 to 17 is a National Monument, any works on or adjacent to it require consent from Heritage Minister Jimmy Deenihan.

Heritage Minister’s decision part preserves historic 1916 site

See following pages for Mark Moloney’s interview with James Connolly’s great grandson: ‘The Battle for Moore Street’

ON 16 July, TDs were finally allowed by developers to tour the National Monument at Moore Street, having previously been refused entry by developer Chartered Land on a number of occasions.

5 Pádraig Pearse (right) surrenders to British General Lowe and his staff officer, Major de CourcyWheeler (near camera). The figure partly screened off by Pearse is Nurse Elizabeth O’Farrell

Sinn Féin TDs Gerry Adams, Mary Lou McDonald and Sandra McLellan, Labour’s Joe Costello TD and Emer Costello MEP, and Independent TD Maureen O’Sullivan all visited the site. They were shocked and disappointed by the state of decay and dereliction they saw.

That afternoon, Heritage Minister Jimmy Deenihan gave his decision on the future of the historic buildings. Consent was given to

some parts of the plan by the commercial developers — who want to build a giant shopping mall on the site — while other parts were refused.

The decision has both positive and negative elements.

It is positive that the National Monument at 14 to 17 Moore Street must be preserved in full and works such as the underground car park berneath it will not be allowed.

It is negative in that demolition of 13, 18 and 19 Moore Street is being allowed.

The campaign goes on to ensure the restoration of the National Monument and preservation and restoration of the Moore Street area and “the lanes of history” as a battlefield site and historic quarter.

EOIN Ó MURCHÚ

Scéal TG4 leiriú eile de neamhshuim an rialtais NÍL aon argóint faoi ach sé TG4 an bealach telefíse is fearr in Éirinn. Cé go bhfuil buiséad an stáisiún srianta go mor, tá saibhreas cláchacha dhá gcur amach aige a chuireann náire ar RTÉ, UTV, TV3 is ar oile.

Ach ní hamháin go bhfuil éacht déanta cheana féin ag an stáisiún ach tá pleananna fiúntacha aige le cur leis sin agus tuilleadh cláracha den scoth a dhéanamh.

Le deireannas tá plean straitéise don chúig bhliain seo chugainn curtha faoi bhráid údarás Craolacháin na hÉireann ina lorg an

stáisiún maoiniú breise.

Tá sé cruthaithe acu go mbainfear leas fiúntach as aon mhaoiniú breise, ach tá an rialtas ag diúltú glan aon airgead breise a chur ar fail.

Dúirt an tAire Pat Rabbitte go bhfuil sé den tuairim go ndéanann an stáisiún jab maith agus nach bhfuil sé i gceist aige an t-airgead a fhaigheann siad a laghdú, ach go gcaithfidh said pleanail don todhchaí ag an leibhéal maoinithe atá ann faoi láthair.

Tá an t-aire ag brath ar thuairisc de chuid na gcuntasóirí Crowe Horwarth a deir go

mbeadh an Ř11.5m a d’iarr an stáisiún róchostasach.

Ag an am céanna tá Crowe Horwarth den tuairim go bhfuil cás maith ann sciar den airgead poiblí a chaitheamh le stáisiúin tráchtála.

Agus molann Crowe Horwarth gur chóir go rachadh TG4 níos gaire do RTÉ, le costaisí a laghdú.

Thar aon rud eile léiríonn an moladh seo nach bhfuil tuiscint dá laghad ag Crowe Horwarth ar shaol na Gaeilge, mar níl spéis dá laghad ag RTÉ sa teanga nó iontú siúd a

labhraíonn í. A chruthúnas sin ná go bhfuil cláracha Gaeilge nach mór díbrithe amach ó sceidil RTÉ, and na cláracha sin le fáil ar Raidió na Gaeltachta is TG4 amháin.

Ní hé Pat Rabbitte is measa (i gcomparaid mar shampla le Ruairí Quinn), ach leiríonn an scéal seo nach bhfuil aon spéis ag an rialtas nó ag an Labour Party sa nGaeilge.

Ach sí an cheist mhor í ná céard a dhéanfaidh lucht labhartha na Gaeilge faoi?

Fanacht ciúin is umhal ag lorg deirce go foighdeach? Nó an mbainfidh muid bhótaí óna páirtithe sin nach mbacann linn?

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JAMES CONNOLLY HERON – GREAT GRANDSON OF JAMES CONNOLLY – and asked for his belongings but they only managed to get a watch and a pocket book.

So there wasn’t much left.”

Jim says many people have an image of

BY MARK MOLONEY

There is amazement amongst relatives of the 1916 founders of the Republic at the lack of interest by much of the media and Establishment politicians to the campaign to save Moore Street’s history

I MEET Jim Connolly Heron – the great grandson of James Connolly – and Save Moore Street campaign spokesperson Patrick Cooney in Leinster House. Just four days earlier they were due to visit the National Monument on Moore Street alongside TDs Gerry Adams, Mícheál Martin, Joe Costello and Maureen O’Sullivan to see for themselves the awful condition the terrace is in. At the last minute, developer Chartered Land refused permission for them to visit, declaring the presence of Jim and Patrick was unacceptable. It was the third time that leaders of political parties have been denied access.

Jim says it’s an extraordinary situation “where a golden circle developer, funded by the state and paid €200,000 per year can dictate to public representatives whether or not they can enter a designated National

5 We don’t present our history – only tiny plaques mark some of the most significant sites of the 1916 Rising

James Connolly as a dour type of character but those who knew him say he had a great sense of humour. “There was a very human side to him which often isn’t recognised.”

Jim’s message to people who are not

THE BATTLE FOR

Monument that he has allowed fall into decay and dilapidation”.

As a founder of the ‘Save Moore Street Campaign’, Jim has dedicated countless hours trying to protect the historical street – where the last meeting of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic was held — with the ultimate aim of transforming it into a historical revolutionary quarter. It’s something which has received great support from the public and most politicians. Yet the future of the birthplace of the Irish Republic remains uncertain. The developer who owns the site wants to demolish much of the street and stick a six-storey shopping mall in its place.

I start by asking Jim what he thinks of his grandfather’s legacy.

“Well, it’s unfulfilled,” the revolutionary leader’s descendant replies. “He saw himself as the disturber of the political peace and if he was around today I’m sure he would be still engaging in that sort of activity. It’s ironic that, a century after his death, the issues he dealt with in his lifetime have come back to haunt us – unemployment, emigration and others. So he’s still relevant today.”

Growing up, Jim says he was conscious of having such a figure in the family.

“His picture was on the wall and his books were around but I discovered James Connolly myself.”

Jim points out that, in his schooldays, the Easter Rising was not taught in the classroom so it was up to him to learn about his repub-

5 Jim gives Martin McGuinness a walking tour of Moore Street during the 2011 Presidential Election campaign lican socialist great-grandfather. In the home, Jim has a medal which was presented to his great grandfather by the Independent Labour Party following the 1913 Lockout. A quote inscribed on it reads: “A felon’s cap is the noblest crown an Irish head can wear.”

Jim also tells me that he has a lock of his

grandfather’s hair which was cut off the night before his execution.

He also has the letter of proposal he sent to his then-girlfriend, Lillie.

“After the executions, Lillie went in to meet [British Army commander] General Maxwell – it must have been a very difficult meeting –

already involved in trying so save Moore Street is that they need to look at what could be lost.

The buildings in Moore Street were the last headquarters of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic and the spot where the last Council of War was held. It was from here that Pádraig Pearse issued surrender orders to prevent the further loss of civilian life.

“Bulldozers are going to move in before our very eyes and obliterate a large section of the capital city which includes an area of such historical importance,” says Jim. There is amazement amongst relatives of the 1916 founders of the Republic at the lack of interest by much of the media and Establishment politicians to the campaign.

“It doesn’t seem to embarrass anybody that relatives have to campaign to protect a monument designated in memory of our forebears. To me it seems there is no sense of sacrifice passed on through generations. The relatives of the 1916 leaders today inherit that sacrifice. There is a duty on our part to act to preserve and protect something designated in honour of our relatives. The fact the state can sit by and watch this is deeply insulting. I know relatives who cannot stand in Moore Street because the condition of the buildings upsets them so much. Would this happen in any other country?”

It’s a question I’ve often heard asked by tourists and visitors in the bookshops and coffee shops near the offices of An Phoblacht at the top of Moore Street. After taking the walking tours which cover the buildings and lanes

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ON THE TRAGIC STATE OF THE BIRTHPLACE OF THE IRISH REPUBLIC of the northside of Dublin City centre, most are shocked that nothing has been done to preserve or restore such an important part of Ireland’s history.

“I wasn’t too happy with the tours when they started,” admits Jim. “I was embarrassed bringing anybody down there. I thought it was shameful. But I have to say that was a breakthrough. The walk has a visible effect on those who take it – it moves them.”

For many, it appears as if the state is ashamed of its history, he says. Instead of the Easter Rising being presented to the world as a momentous event in Irish and world history – when a small nation stood up against the might of the most powerful empire on the planet and inspired others worldwide – it is hidden away with only a handful of tiny plaques marking some of the most important locations.

“We don’t present our revolution,” says Jim. “It’s as if it didn’t happen.”

Jim recalls when Martin McGuinness took the tour of Moore Street during his Presidential campaign.

“He put it very well when he described it as a national treasure.”

well-paid public servants. What have they done?”

Other questions surrounding the contract for the land and backroom deals between the

‘It’s the great contrast between those prepared to sacrifice their lives for their country and those prepared to sacrifice their country for their lifestyle. The golden generation versus the golden circle’

5 Moore Street campaigners Paddy Cooney and Jim Connolly Heron want the area to become a cultural quarter

developers and Dublin City Council officials have also been raised in a TG4 inestigative documentary.

So what does the future have in store for Moore Street?

MOORE STREET Jim tells me: “The state’s behaviour on the issue of Moore Street is a microcosm of what’s been happening during the Celtic Tiger years and since the collapse of the economy. We have a golden circle developer, we have Anglo Irish Bank

‘I know relatives who cannot stand in Moore Street because the condition of the buildings upsets them so much. Would this happen in any other country?’

directly involved [it was the developer’s bank], city management, secrecy and contracts signed behind closed doors, the failure of those responsible for the heritage and history of the city to carry out their duty – everything is encapsulated in the campaign to save Moore Street.”

Jim finds it astonishing that a NAMA developer would have control of a National Monument designated in honour of those who gave their lives for Irish freedom.

“It’s the great contrast between those prepared to sacrifice their lives for their country and those prepared to sacrifice their country

5 Structural engineer Arthur Broderick points out damage to the National Monument on Moore Sreet to Sinn Féin TDs Mary Lou McDonald, Sandra McLellan and Gerry Adams and Labour Party Minister Joe Costello for their lifestyle. The golden generation versus the golden circle.”

Patrick highlights how the National Monuments Service took over responsibility for monitoring Moore Street in 2007. Their headquarters is in the Custom House, just a ten-minute walk from Moore Street. When the

campaign group gained entry to Moore Street six years later, the buildings were in a state of near-collapse. “You have to ask yourself, what were the National Monuments staff doing?

The closest National Monument to their headquarters has fallen into a state of decay and dereliction before their very eyes. These are

“We want it to become a real 1916 historical and cultural quarter. A Temple Bar without the pub saturation, if you like,” Patrick smiles, “a living quarter that presents the street as one of immense historical importance. In any other country in the world it would be cherished and presented properly. It wouldn’t be handed over to a developer to create a shopping centre.”

The Moore Street Campaign wants to take the Anne Frank House approach, presenting the buildings as they were at the time of Easter Week 1916. If the developer gets his way, up to two thirds of the monument will be lost and 30 feet from the rear of the historic buildings will be a seven-storey car park. Jim says there is no public support for sticking a shopping centre on the site and asks incredulously why Fine Gael Heritage Minister Jimmy Deenihan is even contemplating the idea.

He also points out that if there is evidence that a National Monument has fallen into neglect, the Heritage Minister must act. Exclusive photos from inside the buildings published in An Phoblacht in March showed the awful state of disrepair and neglect the terrace has been allowed to fall into. Even developers Chartered Land describes them as “derelict”.

The great grandson of James Connolly describes it another way: “It’s a national disgrace what’s going on.”

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE SAVE MOORE STREET CAMPAIGN

www.facebook.com/ savemoorestreetdublin

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BY MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA e

f

The Lockout’s legacy of struggle is needed now CENTENARY SPECIAL — 1913 AUGUST 2013

AUGUST marks the centenary of the Great Lockout of 1913, when bosses in Dublin locked thousands of workers out of their jobs because the workers refused to sign a pledge not to join the Irish Transport & General Workers’ Union.

In the article opposite, James Connolly asked how the challenge of the bosses would be met.

“Will we crawl back into our slums?” he asked.

The organised workers of Dublin did indeed answer ‘No!’ (as Connolly predicted) and they entered a life or death struggle. On the very evening of the day that article appeared, two workers were beaten to death with batons by the Dublin Metropolitan Police and the next day the DMP attacked hundreds of workers as they defied the British Government ban on Jim Larkin’s mass meeting in O’Connell Street. It was Ireland’s first ‘Bloody Sunday’ of the 20th century.

Months of conflict followed. There were violent clashes on picket lines, riots and running battles between locked-out workers, police and strikebreakers. Armed forces of the British crown guarded strike-breaking operations. The DMP even attacked people in their tenement homes, smashing their meagre furniture as well as their heads.

Ranged on the side of the bosses

were the British authorities in Dublin Castle, the DMP, the Royal Irish Constabulary, the British Army, the ‘constitutional nationalists’ of John Redmond’s Irish Party, and the Catholic Church Hierarchy. The bosses’ leader was William Martin Murphy, wealthy capitalist owner of the

Ranged on the side of the bosses were the British authorities: the police, the British Army, and the Catholic Church Hierarchy tramway company, Independent Newspapers, the Imperial Hotel and other businesses.

Radical nationalists and republicans like PH Pearse, Tom Clarke, Thomas Ashe, Éamonn Ceannt , Thomas MacDonagh and Joseph Plunkett supported the workers. And the workers found natural allies in militant republican feminists whose campaign for the right to vote was at its height.

Constance Markievicz worked to feed the hungry in Liberty Hall. Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, who had been on hunger strike the year before for women’s rights, was on hunger strike again with Connolly for workers’ rights in 1913.

The struggle closed in seeming defeat at the start of 1914. But the chief aim of the bosses – to break the ITGWU – had failed. The union, and trade unionism generally, flourished in the years after the 1916 Rising.

And, of course, the stream of struggle and resistance released by the Lockout flowed into the forces that made the 1916 Rising. The Irish Citizen Army, founded as a defence force in October 1913, was moulded by James Connolly into an armed vanguard of workers pledged to fight for a socialist Irish Republic.

Still today there are those who claim to be socialists but who deny Connolly’s lifelong teaching that Irish freedom and workers’ liberation are inextricably linked. Writing in the July/August issue of History Ireland, journalist and historian of the Lockout, Pádraig Yeates wonders if Irish workers “would have been better off fighting for socialism within the United Kingdom”!

The legacy of the Lockout for today is the fighting spirit of the Dublin workers led by Larkin and the principles and ideas of Connolly. That legacy of struggle is needed now more than ever to cut through apathy, individualism, greed and confusion; to build resistance against austerity and partition; and to propel a forward movement towards a New Republic.

5 Constance Markievicz helped to feed the hungry at Liberty Hall in 1913

5 Augustine Birrell was an English politician and Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1913

5 Jim Larkin (fourth from right seated) and James Connolly (right seated) at a Fiery Cross meeting in 1913

5 The employers’ proclamation

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“

Shall we, who have been carving out for our children a brighter future, a cleaner city, a freer life, consent to betray them instead into the grasp of the blood-suckers from whom we have dreamt of escaping? No, no, and yet again no! Let them declare their lock-out; it will only hasten the day when the working class will lock-out the capitalist class for good and all.

“

BY JAMES CONNOLLY

The Dublin Lockout – On the eve This article was published in The Irish Worker, newspaper of the Irish Transport & General Workers’ Union, on 30 August 1913, at the start of the Great Lockout.

PERHAPS before this issue of The Irish Worker is in the hands of its readers the issues now at stake in Dublin will be brought to a final determination.

All the capitalist newspapers of Friday last join in urging, or giving favourable publicity to, the views of others urging the employers of Dublin to join in a general lockout of the members of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union. It is as well. Possibly some such act is necessary in order to make that portion of the working class which still halts undecided to understand dearly what it is that lies behind the tyrannical and brow-beating attitude of the proprietors of the Dublin tramway system.

The fault of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union!

What is it? Let us tell it in plain language. Its fault is this: that it found the labourers of Ireland on their knees and has striven to raise them to the erect position of manhood; it found them with all the vices of slavery in their souls, and it strove to eradicate these vices and replace them with some of the virtues of free men; it found them with no other weapons of defence than the arts of the liar, the lickspittle, and the toady, and it combined them and taught them to abhor those arts and rely proudly on the defensive power of combination; it, in short, found a class in whom seven centuries of social outlawry had added fresh degradations upon the burden it bore as the members of a nation suffering from the cumulative effects of seven centuries of national bondage, and out of this class, the degraded slaves of slaves more degraded still – for what degradation is more abysmal than that of those who prostitute their manhood on the altar of profit-mongering? – out of this class of slaves the labourers of Dublin, the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union has created an army of intelligent self-reliant men, abhorring the old arts of the

5 Workers demonstrate at Loopline Bridge just outside of Liberty Hall in 1913

toady, the lickspittle, and the crawler and trusting alone to the disciplined use of their power to labour or to withdraw their labour to assert and maintain their right as men.

THE MASTER CLASS, KINGS AND LORDS To put it in other words, but words as pregnant with truth and meaning: the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union found that before its advent the working class of Dublin had been taught by all the educational agencies of the country, by all the social influences of their masters, that this world was created for the special benefit of the various sections of the master class, that kings and lords and capitalists were of value; that even flunkeys, toadies, lickspittle and poodle dogs had an honoured place in the scheme of the universe, but that there was neither honour, credit, nor consideration to the man or woman who toils to maintain them all.

Against all this, the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union has taught that they who toil are the only ones that do matter, that all others are but beggars upon the

bounty of those who work with hand or brain, and that this superiority of social value can at any time be realised, be translated into actual fact, by the combination of the labouring class.

PREACHING, ORGANISING AND FIGHTING Preaching, organising and fighting upon this basis, the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union has done what?

If the value of a city is to be found in the development of self-respect and high conception of social responsibilities among a people, then the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union found Dublin the poorest city in these countries by reason of its lack of these qualities. And by imbuing the workers with them, it has made Dublin the richest city in Europe today, rich by all that counts for greatness in the history of nations.

It is then upon this working class so enslaved, this working class so led and so enriched with moral purposes and high aims that the employers propose to make general war. Shall we shrink from it; cower before their onset? A thousand times ‘No!’.

Shall we crawl back into our slums, abase our hearts, bow our knees, and crawl once more to lick the hand that would smite us? Shall we, who have been carving out for our children a brighter future, a cleaner city, a freer life, consent to betray them instead into the grasp of the blood-suckers from whom we have dreamt of escaping? No, no, and yet again no!

Let them declare their lockout; it will only hasten the day when the working class will lock out the capitalist class for good and all.

If for taking the side of the tram men we are threatened with suffering, why we have suffered before.

But let them understand well that once they start that ball rolling no capitalist power on earth can prevent it continuing to roll, that every day will add to the impetus it will give to the working class purpose, to the thousands it will bring to the working class ranks and every added suffering inflicted upon the workers will be a fresh obstacle in the way of moderation when the day of final settlement arrives.

Yes, indeed, if it is going to be a wedding, let it be a wedding; and if it is going to be a wake, let it be a wake – we are ready for either.

5 Dublin’s poor wait for food from a relief ship

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IMF insider blows the cover on failure of austerity

BY EOIN Ó MURCHÚ THE IMF’s former Chief of Mission to Ireland, Ashoka Mody, certainly put the cat among the pigeons when he stridently criticised the EU-imposed policy of austerity, suggested that there should be no more ‘fiscal adjustment’ for three years, and argued that the alternative to austerity and poverty was growth and development.

There is, the ex-insider at the IMF said, “not one historical instance” where austerity policies have led to an exit from heavy debt burden.

While there is much evidence that his views are commonplace within the IMF, they caused consternation in Germany and the EU, and the IMF was constrained to disown its former

There is no basis for Labour’s claims that it will be all alright in a year or two and that there’ll be jam tomorrow.

The fact is that the austerity programme, while crippling the majority of Irish people, is helping Europe’s rich (especially the banking sector based in Germany) to smooth over the cracks at the expense of the Irish, the Greeks, the Portuguese, Spanish and so on.

Economist David McWilliams also last month underscored Mody’s central point that austerity had never anywhere been a solution for a debt crisis. He argued that, without ‘monetary easing’, austerity can only be harmful by suppressing demand on the back of suppressed demand.

And what is ‘monetary easing’

then? Basically, it means printing more money to be spent on goods and services for which otherwise there would be no demand.

But there are two problems with this.

Firstly, in an open economy like that of Ireland, extra money can too easily be frittered away on imported luxuries, this benefiting someone else’s economy. To get the benefit then the state must take a lead in actively creating employment, especially in capital projects like schools and so on.

Ironically, that WAS Labour’s policy during the election campaign but abandoned once the lure of office became apparent.

The second problem, however, is that we don’t have a currency which

The IMF insider said there’s ‘not one historical instance’ where austerity policies have led to an exit from heavy debt burden colleague, claiming that the reduction in borrowing costs and the steps Ireland has taken to fund itself on the markets highlights the credibility of the programme.

The EU complaint, of course, is that while the IMF is critical of austerity it is not willing to finance the alternative.

But biggest laugh of the month came when Labour leader Eamon Gilmore responded to the first reports of Mody’s comments by claiming that Labour too is against austerity and HAD ALWAYS (yes, that’s what he said) been in favour of growth as the way out of the crisis.

And he went on to claim that Labour was pursuing a policy to boost the economy and put growth back.

Imagine Gilmore’s confusion when the IMF rowed back on Mody and Labour was forced to accept that, notwithstanding earlier comments, austerity was indeed unavoidable as a policy.

And Finance Minister Michael Noonan pointedly rubbed it in when he declared that the Irish Government would not be ending its austerity policy, despite savings made after reform of debt deals.

The problem is that glaring through all the spin is the fact that the economy is not growing, that unemployment is appallingly high and that emigration is at tragic levels.

5 International Monetary Fund former Chief of Mission Ashoka Mody urges Irish Government to put an end to austerity by holding out against further fiscal adjustments we can quantitatively ease, to beg a phrase. It’s the EU (and Germany) that control our currency, the euro, and so long as we remain tied to it we remain tied to the catastrophe that we are embroiled in.

What we need to do then is put an end to austerity by holding out against further fiscal adjustments (as

There is no basis for Labour’s claims that it will be all alright in a year or two and that there’ll be jam tomorrow

Economist David McWilliams

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore

Mody has urged) and re-establish our own currency whose exchange rate we can set at a level reflective of our weakened economic situation stimulating domestic growth and exports.

We could also reduce the burden of foreign debt by converting exist-

ing euro debts to ‘Punt Nua’ debts on a one-for-one basis and let devaluation (including outsider attacks on the currency) lower the debt internationally.

Strangely, this is broadly similar to the policy adopted by the Icelandic people when they rejected in a referendum the idea of paying off the foreign bankers whom they preferred to let swim until their own economy recovered.

And recover it did. Iceland, for some time, has been back in growth, can access international finance at affordable rates, has lowered unemployment and is a good place for business and work.

The only thing stopping us enjoying the same success is the subservience of the dominant political parties to the EU and the imposed policies of austerity.

Alas, for all Gilmore’s fine words, Labour is as committed as the rest to turning the austerity screw even tighter on working people in the next Budget.

Iceland, for some time, has been back in growth, can access international finance at affordable rates, has lowered unemployment and is a good place for business and work

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Labour Party TDs vote against their own party policy to appease Fine Gael

‘We can’t afford equality’

BY MARK MOLONEY LABOUR PARTY TDs have been forced to vote against their own policies on equality to appease their masters in Fine Gael during Private Members’ Business in the Dáil.

Labour and Fine Gael TDs rejected the Equality Status Amendment Bill tabled by Sinn Féin Justice and Equality spokesperson Pádraig Mac Lochlainn aimed at protecting the most vulnerable groups in society from devastating austerity policies.

The Sinn Féin Bill wanted to introduce six new anti-discriminatory categories to existing legislation:(1) Trade union membership; (2) Socio-economic background; (3) Irish-language speakers; (4) Rural dwellers; (5) Former political prisoners released before the Good Friday Agreement; (6) Former political prisoners released under the Good Friday Agreement.

These six categories would have joined the existing nine protected groups of gender, civil status, family status, age, race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and membership of the Traveller community.

The Bill would have resulted in mandatory equality impact assessments on public bodies introducing measures that impact on these categories and required equality proofing of annual Government budgets.

The main argument given by many on the Government side of the chamber (including

‘How could a Minister for Equality oppose the concept that equality should be a cornerstone of economic and fiscal policy?’

5 Labour TDs Kathleen Lynch, Seán Sherlock and Ciarán Lynch were forced to argue in the Dáil against their own party policy on equality levels by Minister Lynch’s argument.

“I was horrified by her contribution to the debate. How could a Minister for Equality oppose the concept that equality should be a cornerstone of economic and fiscal policy?

And after Labour members supported five motions in favour of equality budgeting and impact assessments at the most recent Labour convention?”

Louise says the Equality Minister’s claim that it is too expensive to carry out impact assessments is shocking.

“How on earth can it be seen as reasonable to carry out certain cuts without ensuring that an analysis shows this won’t lead to hungry children or senior citizens dying of cold?”

On the second night of the debate, Labour

Junior Minister Seán Sherlock showed his contempt for the Dáil Opposition by reading out THE SAME SPEECH as Kathleen Lynch had read the previous evening.

Labour Cork South Central TD Ciarán Lynch made one of the most bizarre arguments of the debate by saying “equality is a subjective concept” and claimed the Bill was an attempt to embarrass the Government.

This prompted Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty to respond: “I ask the Labour deputies of 2013 to imagine what it would be like if they transposed themselves back to nearly 100 years ago, if one of their leaders was in place of the great labour leader, James Connolly, when they sat down to discuss what would be in the Proclamation

LOUISE BAYLISS of the Equality Budgeting campaign Labour Junior Minister for Equality Kathleen Lynch) was effectively that the Government cannot afford equality – “the reality is that resources are limited”, the Equality Minister told the Dáil.

In response, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn said, “If that is the best the Minister can do, there is no doubt she has lost her soul,” pointing to the fact that she had been forced to stand in the Dáil chamber and argue against her own party’s policy Louise Bayliss of the Spark (single parent) and Equality Budgeting campaigns told An Phoblacht the Bill was a very important piece of legislation which would have required that “there is due regard given to ensuring austerity measures don’t widen the inequality chasm”.

Louise says she is disappointed on many

5 Louise Bayliss of the Equality Budgeting Campiagn says the contribution to the debate by Minister of State for Equality Kathleen Lynch was ‘shocking’

of the Irish Republic, and if when James Connolly put forward the notion that all children of the nation would be treated equally, the Labour Party of today said: ‘Ah now, equal-

Labour rank and file members supported five motions in favour of equality budgeting and impact assessments at the most recent Labour convention ity is a subjective concept, James, we can’t have that in the Proclamation.’ That is the message they are sending out here today.”

Rounding up the debate, Sinn Féin’s Jonathan O’Brien TD said: “If this Bill does not meet the Government’s standards and is to be rejected here, then that is unfortunate. The challenge, however, is for the Government to bring forward its own legislation to ensure that budgets are fairly analysed and an impact analysis is done.”

He noted that if that type of legislation had been in place initially, Minister Ruairí Quinn would not have had to reverse a decision on resource teachers or reverse the DEIS decision, and the Health Minister would not have had to reverse disability cuts because they would never have been made in the first place.

“If it had been done in the first place, all those sectors in society, including the parents concerned and people with disabilities, would not have had to camp outside the gates of Leinster House to get what is rightfully due to them.”

The Labour TDs took the Fine Gael line over their own grassroots and the bill was rejected by 89 votes to 46.

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New President of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions

JOHN DOUGLAS talks to Daithí Doolan

5 John Douglas leaves Government Buildings after pay talks

‘TRADE UNIONS MUST ROLL UP THEIR SLEEVES AND GET ACTIVE’ MEETING John Douglas in his General Secretary’s office at the Mandate trade union HQ in Parnell Square is an education in history itself.

The building was the first one to be built in Parnell Square. Its walls are decorated with posters of Nelson Mandela, Palestine and previous Irish trade union leaders who were executed by the British Army during Ireland’s struggle for independence.

Mandate is a campaigning union, representing workers in service industries, including bar work and shopfloor retail staff. Their conditions and livelihoods are some of the most uncertain, unpredictable and precarious.

They were low-paid going into the Celtic Tiger era and they were lower paid coming out of it.

It is this base that keeps John’s politics focused on improving the conditions of the most marginalised workers on this island.

John is originally from Bray in County Wicklow.

He has spent his whole adult life in trade union-

5 John and Mandate’s Sandra Browne launch a campaign to respect retail workers ahead of the Christmas rush

5 John with Arthur Morgan TD at the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis in Dublin in 2009

‘Trade unions must become political otherwise they collude with austerity’ ism. Finishing college in 1979, he became a junior trade union official in the now defunct Bar Workers’ Union. His parents were both trade union activists.

“I grew up in a trade union house, a republican house to be honest,” John says.

His father, a shop steward in the Workers’ Union of Ireland, was a republican activist in Bray.

His mother was a shop steward in the Solas factory where they worked, eventually met and got married.

John is the newly-elected President of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and he is anxious to see more change in the trade union movement.

He sees the role of trade unions to be much more than ‘an insurance policy’ for workers. He believes passionately that unions need to organise in the workplace and also organise politically.

“Trade unionism is the thin red line,” John says with passion. “Capitalism needs a counter balance. Without a trade union movement the free market would grind us down to the lowest common denominator. We already see that with the austerity policies being imposed on workers right across Ireland.”

But he also understands that decades of social partnership make it difficult organising now. He sees the big challenge for him as President of ICTU to be “activism and mobilisa-

tion on the industrial front but also on the political front”.

For John, it is now time for the membership to take over the unions.

John has never been afraid of linking both struggles: industrial and political. He sees them as complementary. While many in the trade union leadership try and shy away from the ‘political’, it is refreshing to hear someone say that unions need to “take a leap from the shopfloor to the political floor”. In other words, there is no point in trade unions being simply reduced to a clientelist, self-serving organisation. The trade union movement must challenge government and the parties in that government. This can only be done by organising in the workplace but also in our communities, he says.

“Trade unions must roll up their sleeves and get active. They must become political otherwise they collude with austerity.”

One clear example of this is the recent financial emergency legislation, which John brands as “an abhorrence to free collective bargaining and an abhorrence to democracy”. This legislation, introduced by Labour Party Minister Brendan Howlin, gives draconian powers to the state when imposing pay deals on workers. It gives the Government more powers to unilaterally cut pay, increase working hours and freeze pay increments of workers not signed up to the Haddington Road deal.

The new ICTU President fears that the legislation, while currently focusing solely on the public sector, will creep into the private sector.

According to John, though, there are signs of hope.

He cites the recent debates and defeat of Croke Park 2 and the Haddington Road Agreement as being examples where the membership were centrally involved in the debates and the outcomes.

Each union had intense debates and, whether you agreed with the outcome or not, the members made the decision to support or reject the Haddignton Road Agreement. He also points to his own union, Mandate, who in the last year won pay increases for many of their members.

According to John, this was because of “our members taking control and saying we will fight for pay increases. The membership were the driving force to succeed.”

I put it to John that there is a credibility problem with the leadership of trade unions. On one hand the leadership are sabre rattling about government austerity while earning very high wages and not taking a strong enough stand.

They are seen by many ordinary workers as part of the problem.

“Mistakes have been made but there has been

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5 John says that a broad left alliance, including progressive left-wing parties and left-wing Independents, is needed to break the conservative axis of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil

Unions need to align themselves to progressive parties, communities and the community sector, John Douglas says

an orchestrated campaign to demonise the trade union movement.”

This campaign is fuelled by forces, he says, “who see the trade union movement as the only defence line against what they want to do and that is to deregulate everything, privatise everything and to rebuild their financial castles again”.

Two unions, Unite and SIPTU, are officially affiliated to the Labour Party. This has led to a muted response, particularly by SIPTU, to many of the worst aspects of austerity, many people believe. Workers, their families and communities are frustrated by trade unions who are so closely associated with the Labour Party, a party in government enforcing an austerity agenda.

John believes that trade unions should be independent of any one party but should work closely with progressive political parties, including Sinn Féin.

John reckons unions need to “reclaim their own space in conjunction with political parties”.

“Trade unions should support political parties who espouse the same values as the trade union movement. We are going nowhere without a political wing.”

To do this trade unions need to align themselves to progressive parties, communities and

the community sector, the ICTU President says.

John believes this will happen but the emergence of left wing progressive politics has been slow in Ireland because of our history. Like many post-colonial states, ‘Civil War politics’ has dominated the political landscape. John is optimistic that that is now changing. He supports the evolvement of Sinn Féin as “a progressive leftwing party with the ethos and values that are working class”.

In order to break the conservative axis between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, an alternative needs to be created – “A broad left alliance including progressive left-wing parties and leftwing Independents,” he proposes.

That possibility was there following the last general election in 2011 but the Labour Party jumped into the bed made by Fine Gael, I say.

“Yes,” John replies, “and now, unfortunately, the level of influence Labour were able to exert on the inside has been minimal.”

Looking to the future for a left-wing alliance, John maintains we have no alternative.

“There is no future in the cannibalisation of the vote on the Left. We need to target the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael supporters, cogently saying to them it is not in your best interest to vote for these parties.”

If these parties are not seriously challenged, Douglas predicts, Ireland will continue to be dominated “by the merry-go-round of right-wing conservative, Christian Democratic parties ruling in the interest of their own class”.

Mandate was previously known as the Irish Distributive & Administrative Union. IDATU became a household name in 1984 when 12

‘Trade unions should support political parties who espouse the same values as the trade union movement’ Dunnes Stores workers refused to handle produce from South Africa, then under apartheid rule with Nelson Mandela and many more imprisoned and their people brutally oppressed.

The strike lasted more than two years but it highlighted the issue of sanctions and the stand by young Irish trade unionists made worldwide headlines.

Challenging oppression at home in Ireland has been a thornier subject for the trade unions, particularly in the Six Counties.

“Trade unions had a tightrope to walk on. A lot of our members in Northern Ireland are of different persuasions, different political beliefs, different traditions, and in order not to alienate particular sections of our membership a middle ground was taken.

“Sometimes a more black and white stand should have been taken,” he admits.

“Going forward, the only way we can unite the working class in Ireland is to become relevant.

We have more in common together than divides us.

“We have a vested interest in uniting the working class, both North and South and regardless of those traditions, to fight for justice, decent jobs and decent wages.”

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4th Annual Sinn Féin Summer School – Fighting talk in west Cork

We all have the power to make a change

BY JOHN HEDGES THIS YEAR’S Sinn Féin Summer School in the picturesque west Cork village of Baile Mhuirne (enjoying glorious sunshine at the end of June before the July heatwave) lived up to its now-established reputation as one of the most stimulating and open forums on social and political issues.

Straight-talking speakers ranged from controversial soccer pundit and Irish Daily Star columnist Eamon Dunphy to former Ulster Unionist Party MLA and now leader of the new pro-Union NI21 party, Basil McCrea, GAA star Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, and the inspirational Joanne O’Riordan, the 2012 Young Person of the Year and disability rights activist.

Pearse Doherty TD kicked off proceedings on the Friday evening of 28 June before Eamon Dunphy started the weekend by revisiting some

‘How was it possible that, in 1916, men and women could take on one the biggest empires of the world and yet the people of Ireland today can’t?’

JOANNE O’RIORDAN YOUNG PERSON OF THE YEAR of the themes in his An Phoblacht interview in May that came as a shock to many.

Eamon chronicled his transition from being pro-nationalist during the civil rights era and the Bloody Sunday massacre by British Army paratroopers to becoming in later years a rabidly anti-republican columnist with the Sunday Independent until emerging as a firm and outspoken supporter of Sinn Féin today. It’s a Road to Damascus that has caused much comment amongst republicans and opponents alike that Dunphy laughed loudly about throughout his Q&A with his audience.

“After my interview in An Phoblacht,” he joked, “Sinn Féin had a wave of resignations.”

Explaining his journey as starting with the Peace Process, he said that Sinn Féin public representatives such as Pearse Doherty, Mary Lou McDonald, Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams “have integrity and really represent their constituents”. He looks forward to Sinn Féin being in government and he urged Sinn Féin to “make alliances, bring left-wing politics to Ireland”.

Joanne O’Riordan, from Millstreet in Cork, was born with a rare medical condition and she has no limbs.

Having addressed a United Nations conference in New York last year, a Sinn Féin Summer

School didn’t daunt the teenager who mesmerised everyone at the Friday evening session with a speech that was funny as well as a moving call to action.

“I am only one of seven people in the world living with this rare physical form, Total Amelia, and I can safely say it does not make me different; It simply makes me unique,” Joanne told a rapt audience for ‘Disability and Identity’.

She said that special needs assistants and supports are crucial for many people and Government cuts are “a disgrace . . . it is disgusting that they are targetting the most vulnerable”.

Inarguably, the fascinating young woman whose Twitter handle is @NolimbsNolimits added: “Limbless or otherwise, I know that I have something to offer to my society.”

She asked people to remember that the men and women of 1916 did not have the technology or resources we take for granted today yet still they took on the might of the British Empire.

“Some of the great heroes fought and died for this country. They had no wireless, no Internet access, no iPods and iPads, but what they did have was a grit and a determination to achieve something better for our people.

“How was it possible that, in 1916, men and women who were far less educated than us, that had little to no means of mass communication, could take on one the biggest empires of the world and yet the people of Ireland today can’t?”

Speaking on ‘Culture, language and identity’, GAA idol and heart-throb Seán Óg Ó hAilpín was another star turn at the Sinn Féin Summer School.

The Cork hurling and football legend was born a bit of a way from the banks of the Lee — on the tiny volcanic island of Rotuma (population 2,000), 465 kilometres north of Fiji, a former British colony in the South Pacific Ocean.

Turning in yet another bravura performance, this son of the South Pacific was passionate in telling what makes him the character he is, how proud he is of his Rotuman and Fermanagh roots as a Cork man who speaks the Irish language!

A regular visitor to the Six Counties, he spoke of how the love of Irish of the H-Blocks Hunger Strikers had a powerful impact on him. He encouraged everyone to use whatever Irish they have and not to be put off for fear of getting it wrong.

“Our language is our right, we have a duty to keep it alive,” he said before being mobbed by autograph hunters and fans wanting their photos taken with him.

The Saturday opened a frank and open debate between NI21 leader Basil McCrea MLA and Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald TD on the theme ‘Is it time for a Border poll on Irish unity as provided for in the Good Friday Agreement?’

Basil, who once stood for the leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party, left the UUP in

5 Mary Lou McDonald and Pearse Doherty share a laugh at the Sinn Féin Summer School

5 Basil McCrea responds to a member of the audience about the use of language and terminology during a political discussion on Irish unity and whether or not the time is right for a Border poll

5 Roy Greenslade asks questions from the floor on the issue of Irish unity at the Sinn Féin Summer School

5 Órla Kelly, director of Early Childhood Creativity, shares her views at the Summer School

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5 Young Person of the Year, Joanne O'Riordan, speaks about cuts to disability provisions and the Government's broken promises

5 John O'Dowd delivers the closing address to the Sinn Féin Summer School

February with South Down MLA John McCaliister over the decision of by leader Mike Nesbitt to support a unionist unity candidate in the Mid-Ulster by-election to try and take the seat off of Sinn Féin.

McCrea and McCallister launched their new pro-Union NI21 party at the start of June so it was something of a political coup for the summer school organisers to have the new unionist party leader for its headline debate.

‘Liberal’ NI21 may be in some of its social thinking but it is still unionist and Basil McCrea threw down the gauntlet to republicans arguing for a reunited Ireland.

He said that republicans have a huge job to do to convince unionists that a united Ireland is a good idea, especially given the mess the economy is in in the 26 Counties.

In reply, Mary Lou McDonald offered an equallly robust republican view on the Border poll and

Dublin and author gave his take on ‘Irish historical films made during the 1910s’ in an expert insight into how motion pictures influenced thinking at the turn of the 20th century, showing some fascinating archive footage and explaining its rationale.

Media Guardian columnist Roy Greenslade is a regular commentator on RTÉ’s Drivetime and Newstalk on the Leveson judicial public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press after the News International phone hacking scandal. A former editor of the Daily Mirror and author of several books — including a history of British newspapers and Press Gang: How Newspapers Make Profits from Propaganda — he was the key speaker on the topic ‘Media ownership – does it matter?’

Sinn Féin Assembly Education Minister John O’Dowd MLA closed the very successful and enjoyable weekend with a comprehensive

‘Our language is our right, we have a duty to keep it alive’

‘I would love the bankers of this country to wake up one day and realise what they have done’

SEÁN ÓG Ó HAILPÍN

5 Seán Óg Ó hAilpín and Sinn Féin’s DJ O'Driscoll listen on as Joanne O'Riordan speaks

GAA STAR

JOANNE O’RIORDAN

both contributions can be seen on YouTube at www.youtube.com/sinnfeinireland.

The first-hand account of Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire from Cork, a former national organiser for Sinn Féin Republican Youth, who — in between humorous anecdotes — brought a lump to the throat as he spoke of his own experiences of the pain of emigration and it effect on his generation, his friends and family.

Donnchadh was speaking on the panel ‘Emigration – 90 years of complacency?’ with speakers Dr Piarais Mac Einrí from University College Cork and Marie-Claire McAleer, Senior Research and Policy Officer with the National Youth Council of Ireland, with Diarmuid O’Donovan, administrator with the Cork County GAA Board, Evening Echo columnist and Raidió na Gaeltachta contributor.

Orla Kelly from Early Childhood Creativity also gave a presentation on ‘Why creativity in education matters’.

Movie historian Professor Kevin Rockett of the School of Drama, Film & Music at Trinity College

review of the wide range of contributions, including his own update on what Sinn Féin is doing in the Assembly to try and protect frontline services, defend special needs education and deliver a forward-looking schools programme while resisting cuts imposed by the Tory-led government at Westminster.

People left the Mills Inn on the Saturday evening with the sun still shining and in animated converstaion to be carried on late into the night. Perhaps they had these words of Joanne O’Riordan in mind: “I would love the Taoiseach of this country to live the life I lead. I would love the bankers of this country to wake up one day and realise what they have done has not only destroyed our country but it has resulted in many vulnerable people becoming more and more isolated and dependent.

“I am asking people to start challenging this.

“Just like Kevin Barry, the Hunger Strikers and many more besides them, we all have the power to make a change.”

5 Eamon Dunphy says he looks forward to Sinn Féin being in government in the 26 Counties

5 Marie-Claire McAleer of the National Youth Council of Ireland speaks on the experiences of young Irish emigrants abroad

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EOIN Ó BROIN Three-quarters of the fall in unemployment since Fine Gael and Labour took office is down to people leaving the labour force, not getting jobs

TACKLING UNEMPLOYMENT classified as under-employed has increased by 29,400 – a 23% increase since Fine Gael and Labour took office.

There has also been an increase in the number of people in long-term unemployment since the start of 2011.

The situation for young people is even more troubling.

Again, the number of young people officially unemployed has fallen since the Government took office, by 11,000. But the number of under25s in employment during the same period has also fallen, by a hefty 24,100.

All of these young people have left the labour force, which has shrunk by 35,100, which means

THE Fine Gael/Labour Government are claiming that they are making progress in tackling the unemployment crisis. Jobs are being created, they say; the live register is falling; the number of people in employment is increasing.

Surely this is good news? Should we not be commending Fine Gael and Labour for their efforts?

Every three months, the Central Statistics Office publishes the Quarterly National Household Survey. This detailed report provides us with the headline employment and unemployment figures.

Unfortunately, most of the media don’t report beyond the headline figures. If they did, the gen-

If the mainstream media reported beyond the CSO headline figures on unemployment, the public would have a much better picture of what’s really happening on the jobs front eral public would have a much better picture of what’s really happening on the jobs front.

So what does the latest survey (published in May) tell us?

In the Government’s favour it shows that, since Fine Gael and Labour took office, the number of people officially unemployed has fallen by 15,600.

It also shows that the number of people in employment has increased, though only by a paltry 3,800.

So what has happened to the other 11,800 who are no longer unemployed? Some will have gone into education or training. Others have emigrated.

So three quarters of the fall in unemployment since Fine Gael and Labour took office is down to people leaving the labour force, not getting jobs.

The report also highlights a very worrying trend in the jobs market.

While the total number of people in employment has increased, the number in full-time employment has fallen by 10,700. At the same time, the number of people in part-time employment has increased by 14,400.

So the net increase in jobs is an increase in part-time jobs.

More worryingly, the survey also tells us that the number of people in part-time employment

10,700 Fall in full-time employment

There has been an increase in the number of people in longterm unemployment since the start of 2011 that again education and training or emigration explain the fall in youth joblessness.

So what does the CSO Quarterly National Household Survey tell us about the Government’s record in tackling the unemployment crisis?

It tells us very clearly that the Government is failing.

The reason why there are less people unemployed is because there are more people emigrating or going into training and education.

It also tells us that the single biggest change in the labour market is a dramatic increase in lowpaid, part-time work.

The Government claims that tackling the jobs crisis is their number one priority. The Action Plan for Jobs 2012 promised to get 100,000 more people to work by 2016.

The Government in mid-July announced its latest initiative to reduce long-term unemployment by 20,000 in the next 12 months and 75,000 by 2015.

Tackling the unemployment crisis means getting people back to work. Unless the Government starts to invest in job creation then the only way these targets will be met is by people leaving the labour force.

If the jobs crisis really is the Government’s number one priority then Budget 2014 will include a major jobs investment package. It will also reverse the damaging austerity policies that are keeping the domestic economy in recession.

Unfortunately, the chances of either of these things happening is about as likely as the Government meeting its jobs targets.

5 So what happened to the 11,800 people who are no longer unemployed?

5 The number of young people in employment has fallen by 24,100

29,400 In part-time employment classified as under-employed

Fall in under-25s in employment

Labour force has shrunk by

24,100

35,100

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Sinn Féin negotiator MITCHEL McLAUGHLIN looks at Tony Novosel’s new book on ‘The Frustrated Promise of Political Loyalism’

Gusty Spence and loyalism’s political challenges TONY NOVOSEL makes a convincing argument that loyalists had created peace and reconciliation proposals during the mid-1970s through to the mid-1980s period.

The author demonstrates this through substantial research of Sunday News articles (although most other newspapers refused to publicise this), additional articles carried in UVF magazine Combat, pamphlets and election manifesto material that a leadership group within loyalism (inspired by Gusty Spence whilst he was in Long Kesh) were developing radical new proposals.

These ideas were ahead of the prevailing political opinions (and expectations) of that period but, significantly, elements of these proposals were directly relevant in the negotiations which produced the Good Friday Agreement.

For perhaps understandable reasons, some observers (including republicans) might be surprised to learn that these arguments emerged from a process of discussion and analysis by figures within the UVF and Red Hand Commando. Subsequent leadership coups and a reversion to sectarian attacks would unfortunately demonstrate that Gusty Spence, Billy Mitchell, Ken Gibson and others did not carry these arguments within their own organisations and the wider unionist community. Nor did they foresee the cynical hostility of mainstream unionist political leaders who responded with open antagonism to the proposals, especially the potential for dialogue that was presented.

Interestingly, the author also cites the recognition of these senior loyalists that the British Government (especially its intelligence services) had actually made significant and at times deadly interventions to ensure that such forward thinking did not take root and flourish within the unionist community.

All of this speaks volumes about the risks for peace that these loyalists had willingly undertaken.

The author also expresses criticism about a lack of response from Sinn Féin at that time, although Dáithí Ó Conaill had described them as “interesting”.

But the question remains: did republicans miss an important opportunity to engage and develop discussion?

POTENTIAL In my view, republicans should have more fully explored the potential

BY MITCHEL McLAUGHLIN for engagement and I believe that we are suffering from a deficit of mutual understanding even now, some 15 years after the Good Friday Agreement.

Whilst it would not be credible to argue that republicans could accept an ‘internal’ solution as proposed in these loyalist papers, the author nevertheless demonstrates that loyalists had published a series of proposals for radical reform of the North (including responsibility sharing) which had they been recognised as a basis for an

open-ended dialogue could well have accelerated the more inclusive process that eventually emerged.

Did the loyalist proposals address all of the options, including the constitutional aspirations of all sections of our shared (but conflicted) community? Did they believe that an internal solution underpinned by voluntary ‘responsibility-sharing’ would be sufficient for republicans and nationalists, who were clearly articulating the principle of national self-determination?

Did loyalists approach these issues in 1974 from a perspective that republicanism would be defeated by the combined forces of the British state and their ‘allies’ in the North?

Did their proposals represent an acknowledgement of the abuses of unionist misrule?

These questions remain fundamental, even if politics and circumstances have been transformed since the Good Friday Agreement.

FORMER COMBATANTS Other issues referenced in the book are equally vital.

For example, the curious and contradictory relationship between the broad unionist community and the various loyalist factions, especially when the latter had sought an electoral mandate which would at least

5 Loyalist leader Gusty Spence put forward radical new proposals in the 1970s and 1980s have bestowed some negotiating muscle to their proposals. Despite 50 years of failure, the unionist electorate were not about to abandon the Ulster Unionist Party or the DUP. Given that political reality, how could loyalist leaders (no matter how sincere) expect Sinn Féin to believe that mainstream unionist parties and the unionist electorate would be remotely interested in a peace dialogue?

Nor did those loyalist leaders address how the British (not to mention the Irish Government) were going

to be brought to the negotiating table in the 1970s, especially during the socalled ‘Ulsterisation’, ‘militarisation’ and ‘criminalisation’ period.

‘Northern Ireland’s Lost Opportunity’ adds considerably to a wider appreciation of aspects of loyalist thinking as a positive element within unionist grassroots. It details the disillusionment with ‘big house’ unionism, the nascent cross-community and working-class interaction (including secret talks with republicans), and the recognition that the British Government was prepared to sabotage attempts to build workingclass solidarity.

DENIAL AND RETREAT

5 Loyalist paramilitaries on the march in the 1970s

TONY NOVOSEL

is a senior lecturer in History at the University of Pittsburgh. Northern Ireland’s Lost Opportunity: The Frustrated Promise of Political Loyalism (Pluto, 2013).

The book furthermore affirms that mainstream unionism (post the Good Friday Agreement) remains in denial and retreat from the concepts of equality and parity of esteem; and the ‘dark side’ of the British Government are still plying their trade in our country.

This presents a challenge for new thinking and leadership and, despite many remaining problems, the interaction and co-operation between former combatants at interface flashpoints and the developing openness to engage in ‘Uncomfortable Conversations’ is the modern-day equivalence of the pioneering work of Gusty Spence, Gibson, Mitchell and others.

Who else but former combatants would create a sustainable dialogue about dealing with the past, reconciliation or indeed the dismantling of the obscene monuments to divided society, the so-called ‘peace walls’?

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22 August / Lúnasa 2013 ON the 15th anniversary in May of the Good Frday Agreement referendum, republican exprisoners hosted a crosscommunity conference in the Linen Hall Library in Belfast.

Organised by Coiste na nÍarchimí (the umbrella organisation for republican exprisoner self-help groups throughout Ireland), the conference, A Better Friday Agreement, was aimed at assessing the political developments that have occurred since 1998, essentially asking if the Agreement has delivered on its promise.

Speaking to An Phoblacht for the August edition, Séanna Walsh, of Coiste said that there is

“a need to take stock of where we are, compared to where we were in 1998, and see what needs to be happen in the future”, adding:

“We need to list our problems, name them, and then find ways of resolving them together.”

In an attempt to make the conference as inclusive as possible, political representatives from across the politcal spectrum were invited, as was a wide section of opinion from the community sector. Unfortunately, the main unionist parties failed to show up.

Another missed opportunity for the voice of unionism to be heard.

One of those who did take up the invitation was journalist and commentator Brian Rowan.

Writing afterwards for fellow journalist Eamon Mallie’s website, Rowan wrote positively about the conference and the input from those who spoke, including John Steele, former Director of Prisons when the Good Friday Agreement was signed.

In the follow-ups from the conference, Séanna Walsh suggested that An Phoblacht publishes Brian Rowan’s article to try and maintain momentum in the process of political dialogue.

Brian Rowan’s article is reprinted here with his permission and that of eamonnmallie.com

www.anphoblacht.com

BRIAN ROWAN THERE IS NO GOOD REASON NOT TO TALK, TO STAY AWAY FROM EVENTS LIKE THIS, AND JOHN STEELE PROVED THAT YOU CAN STEP INSIDE A ROOM WITHOUT HAVING TO COMPROMISE ON YOUR POSITION

To be seen and heard

Why it’s always good to talk JOHN STEELE didn’t say a lot at the Better Friday Agreement conference, but he said enough to make his point.

In his opening remarks he emphasised the word ‘former’ in his titles – former Controller of Prisons and former Director of Security Policy in the NIO. He retired in 1998, in the year that is remembered for the political agreement on Good Friday and for another key moment in the journey this place and its people are taking away from war and towards peace.

As the man in charge of the jails he admitted walking the wings of the Maze in a kind of quick step – no hanging around – and on Friday he was telling part of his story to an audience that included loyalists and republicans who had been held in that prison.

In his description of the prisoners he used the word ‘terrorist’, making clear he wouldn’t use the term ‘political’.

As he spoke, I scribbled some of his comments into my notebook, including the following: “Excuse me using the word terrorist. That’s what I’m used to.”

He had more to say, including that he believed his time in the Prison Service to be the most important in his career.

Steele was invited to Friday’s conference by Séanna Walsh, one of the longest-serving IRA prisoners who now works for the project Coiste na nÍarchimí.

The idea was to look back on the Good Friday Agreement at what has worked but also to think ahead to the next steps.

Steele accepted the invitation; others didn’t, including the Ulster Unionist Party, the DUP and Alliance.

There is no good reason not to talk, to stay away from events like this, and Steele proved that you can step inside a room without having to compromise on your position.

He didn’t alter his words or thinking but told it as he wanted to tell it, and he was heard without heckles or interruption.

The listening audience accepted that this was his take on things – his version of events.

Steele recalled talking to prisoners, described the importance of Home Leave (most importantly that loyalists and republicans returned to the jails) and also the signifi-

The former Controller of Prisons and former Director of Security Policy in the NIO didn’t alter his words or thinking but told it as he wanted to tell it, and he was heard without heckles or interruption

Jackie McDonald, still smarting from the flag vote at the City Hall, urged republicans in their decision making to think about the other community and told them there had to be ‘Orange slices in the Green cake’

cance of a BBC television documentary Enemies Within (made by Peter Taylor) that showed “the regime wasn’t a problem”.

I asked him about the release of prisoners as part of the Good Friday Agreement and he said this was “essential”.

The only debate at the time was about “all out now or over a period” and Steele knew the former would do serious damage to the referendum vote.

So the argument for phased releases prevailed.

On Friday, John Steele said what he had to say and then left, leaving others to think about his comments and also the power and influence of civil servants. “[British Prime Minister] Tony Blair was thinking about immediate release,” 1981 IRA Hunger Striker Laurence McKeown told me, “and I think John seemed to imply that it was through his efforts that he dissuaded Tony Blair from that.

“So, I think what it really flagged up was that role of civil servants – the non-elected, nonrepresentative people who have a massive say,” McKeown said.

The speakers on Friday stretched across a wide frame – loyalists Jackie McDonald and William ‘Plum’ Smith, Conall McDevitt of the SDLP, Sinn Féin MLA Alex Maskey, the commentator Roy Garland, Dr Avila Kilmurray (who was a member of the Women’s Coalition at the time of the agreement and is now Director of the Community Foundation), Martin Mansergh (who had a key Dublin role in the developing Peace Process), and republicans Kevin Mulgrew and Féilim Ó hAdhmaill. Ó hAdhmaill joked about the charismatic qualities of his speaking when in one jail discussion at the time of the agreement he argued against the deal but was on the wrong side of a 48 to 2 vote.

What also needs to be said is that the loyalists who spoke on Friday didn’t tailor their thoughts to suit the occasion or to be popular.

McDonald, still smarting from the flag vote at the City Hall, urged republicans in their decision making to think about the other community and told them there had to be “Orange slices in the Green cake”.

Smith commented: “As a loyalist I’m more confident now than I

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August / Lúnasa 2013 23

5 Unionist commentator Roy Garland with the PUP’s William ‘Plum’ Smith

‘All parties have to play their role in this. No one has an escape route’ ALEX MASKEY Sinn Féin MLA

5 Rev Harold Good with Colin Halliday of the UPRG

5 Former Director of Prisons in the North, John Steele, with Cóiste’s Michael Culbert

5 Kevin Mulgrew and Alex Maskey MLA

5 Former Fianna Fáil adviser to Bertie Ahern, Martin Mansergh; Director of the Community Foundation, Avila Kilmurray; former Director of Prisons for the North, John Steele; and former POW Kevin Mulgrew speak during the first session sion about the good and the bad since 1998 and what still needs to happen.

Avila Kilmurray summed up the period since the agreement in the words: “Much done, still much to do.”

Of course she is right and, in their contributions, Stormont MLAs Alex Maskey and Conall McDevitt pointed towards the next steps.

McDevitt described an urgent need to agree what is meant by reconciliation, spoke of truth and accountability and, using the recent Cardiff talks as an example, described the importance of independent mediation in helping with difficult conversations.

Maskey talked about flags, parades and the past and how everyone had to play a part in

‘We need to list our problems, name them, and then find ways of resolving them together’

ABOUT

BRIAN ROWAN

SÉANNA WALSH former IRA prisoner

ever was that Northern Ireland will remain in the United Kingdom.”

Before Friday’s conference, Séanna Walsh had told me that it was time to “list our problems, name them, and then together find ways to resolve them”.

He was setting the context for an event that was a kind of stock-taking exercise – a discus-

trying to answer the most difficult of questions.

“All parties have to play their role in this. No one has an escape route,” he said.

From the floor, Michael Culbert, a former IRA prisoner and Director of Coiste na nÍarchimí, raised the thorny issues of the Historical Enquiries Team, arrests and prosecutions.

It was a big comment coming at the very end of the conference and it was left hanging but, I suppose, the real question is, would there have been an agreement in 1998 if loyalists and republicans knew what was still around the corner?

Fifteen years on, there is much still to be discussed, and it is always good to talk in whatever room and with whoever is in it.

5 The SDLP’s Conal McDevitt, journalist Brian Rowan and former IRA POW Laurence McKeown

Brian Rowan is a journalist, author and broadcaster. Four times he has been a category winner in the ‘Northern Ireland Journalist of the Year’ awards. He was BBC Security Editor in Belfast and now contributes regularly to the Belfast Telegraph and UTV. Rowan has reported on the major pre-cessation and then Peace Process events. He is the author of four books.

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BELFAST-BORN ROBOTICS EXPERT PROFESSOR NOEL SHARKEY IS A SPOKESPERSON FOR THE ‘CAMPAIGN TO STOP KILLER ROBOTS’

KILLER ROBOTS IT’S NOT SCENCE FICTION

BY MARK MOLONEY IT’S A SCARY THOUGHT straight from a sci-fi blockbuster but, in the near future, killing machines with absolutely no human input could be let loose to engage and kill at will.

At this very moment, the USA, China, Israel, Russia and Britain are pouring millions into research projects aimed at developing fully autonomous military robots.

Human rights groups are calling for a treaty to ban such weapons before they become a reality.

Belfast-born robotics expert Professor Noel Sharkey is a leading expert on artificial intelligence and a spokesperson for the ‘Campaign to Stop Killer Robots’.

The campaign wants a pre-emptive ban on lethal autonomous robots: “These things are not science fiction. They are well into development,” Noel says,. “In America they are already training more drone pilots than real aircraft pilots, looking for young men who are very good at computer games. They are looking at swarms of robots, with perhaps one person watching what they do.”

Already, states have begun testing robotic weapons.

While they have not yet been deployed operationally, a United Nations Human Rights report notes that military

Professor Sharkey notes that it is still impossible for robots to distinguish between humans and vehicles, never mind combatants and civilians

documents show the US, Britain, Israel and South Korea have development programmes at various stages of autonomy.

Both Britain and the USA have developed and tested intercontinental fighter jets which, once activated, can seek out and destroy targets at will with absolutely no human input.

The US has also been testing an unmanned seventonne autonomous combat vehicle nicknamed ‘The Crusher’, designed to provide fire support to troops on the battlefield and act as a robotic sentry guard.

Other programmes, such as a submarine which will roam the oceans destroying ‘enemy vessels’, are in the pipeline US activist Jody Williams, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for her work at the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, has said: “I find it personally terrifying to consider that people are trying to research, develop and produce weapons that on their own can kill human beings with no human being involved in the process other than programming the machine and letting it go. I think that crosses a moral and ethical boundary that should not be crossed.”

The use of fully autonomous weapons creates a huge legal, ethical and moral grey area.

At a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in May of this year, Special Rapporteur Professor Christof Heyns said: “The possible introduction of LARs [lethal autonomous robots] raises far-reaching concerns about the protection of life during war and peace. If this is done, machines and not humans will take the decision on who lives or dies.”

If a completely unmanned robotic weapon is let

IN DEVELOPMENT

4 The Crusher

Unmanned fully-autonomous ground combat vehicle An unmanned vehicle designed to provide combat support, perform sentry duty and carry supplies

4 Submarine Hunter

Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) Unmanned submarine designed to hunt and destroy enemy vessels

4 X-47B (USA) and Taranis (Britain)

5 Professor Noel Sharkey helps launch the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots

‘In America they are already training more drone pilots than real aircraft pilots, looking for young men who are very good at computer games’ Professor Noel Sharkey

‘Machines and not humans will take the decision on who lives or dies’ UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur Professor Christof Heyns

loose on the battlefield, devoid of human emotion, judgement and common sense, how can it decide who is or is not a combatant?

Is it possible for combatants to surrender to a robot?

Can it adhere to the rules of war and, ultimately, if the robot commits war crimes with no human input, who is to be held responsible?

There has been such concern at international level that a UN report into the matter states that if it is not possible to identify who is responsible for the actions of an autonomous weapon then “its use should be considered unethical and unlawful as an abhorrent weapon”.

Professor Sharkey also notes that it is still impossible for robots to distinguish between humans and vehicles, never mind combatants and civilians.

Steve Goose, Executive Director of the Arms Division at Human Rights Watch, says it will be civilians who will pay the ultimate price in the future: “It is essential to stop the development of killer robots before they show up in national arsenals. As countries become more invested in this technology, it will become harder to persuade them to give it up. Action is needed now, before killer robots cross the line from science fiction to feasibility.”

FIND MORE INFORMATION VISIT:

www.stopkillerrobots.org

Unmanned fully and/or semi-autonomous combat aircraft Intercontinental combat aircraft which select and destroy their targets

5 USA, China, Israel, Britain and Russia are pouring millions into researching autonomous weapons

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Cost of the EU Multi-Annual Financial Framework

www.anphoblacht.com

A REDUCED EU budget will have a devastating effect on the North of Ireland. A 6% reduction for 2014 represents the first time the EU budget has been cut in 56 years.

The direct effect of this will see the Cohesion Funds cut by ¤7billion and agriculture and fish eries slashed by ¤1billion. The budget, to be given legal framework in September, has the Westminster Government agreeing the biggest reduction of any member state – 22% in real terms for rural development.

This ill-conceived determination by the Westminster Government to achieve cuts in the EU Budget at all costs – supported by UUP and DUP MEPs – will have a demoralising impact on rural areas which rely on Rural Development Funding (RDF) to modernise and plan for the future. Funding for the PEACE Programmes will also be reduced from ¤225million to ¤150million, undermining a lot of good work which has been done through previous PEACE funding.

Under this formula, in the current round of funding the 26 Counties will receive Pillar 2 monies representing ¤423 per capita. In compar ison, residents in the North will receive ¤35 per capita – less than 10% of our southern counterparts as a result of the British Government agreeing a 22% allocation cut to satisfy its austerity agenda.

In CAP reform negotiations in particular, the

VOLUNTEER

CHARLIE McGLADE

Sinn Féin focus at all times was to secure three key elements – well-funded programmes, flexibility and simplification.

The CAP Budget is approximately 40% of the EU expenditure. The pressure to reduce it came

The cuts will not impact until AFTER the 2014 European elections from British Tories supported by the UUP and DUP in Westminster and Brussels. Throughout the negotiations I engaged with like-minded colleagues in opposition to proposed cuts. I also hosted and facilitated various delegations of

August / Lúnasa 2013 25

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

local stakeholders representing farming, rural, business and SME sectors by introducing them to decision-makers at the EU Parliament and Commission.

All of these delegations shared a common purpose in seeking fairness in budget allocations.

An area which most objective observers would agree is unfair when it comes to CAP and Rural Development Funding (RDF), for instance, is that priority is not given to small farmers and rural community projects rather than large commercial farming operations. Unfortunately, this was not entirely successful but we have opened this area up to scrutiny and will continue to fight for change in future allocations.

Using the same allocation formula as the EU, this reduced budget will result in £26million being cut from the Single Farm Payment and £160million from RDF, possibly resulting in our farmers struggling to remain in farming.

If Scotland succeeds in pursuing a larger allocation from Whitehall this could put further pressure on our claims. But in a blatant manipulation of available funding to protect their sitting MEPs and those who supported the cuts, such as the unionist members, EU governments (including the Irish Government) will frontload budget allocations so that the cuts will not impact until AFTER the 2014 European elections.

IN PICTURES

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

Another Europe is possible

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

photos@anphoblacht.com

COMMEMORATION

Saturday 14 September

5 A lone piper leads the Volunteer Patrick Cannon commemoration into Balgriffin Cemetery

Assemble 3pm at Dolphin Road Green, Drimnagh, Dublin 12 Starts with tug of war for the Charlie McGlade Memorial Cup and then proceed to Errigal Road Field MAIN SPEAKER:

Daithí Doolan Organised by Charlie McGlade Cumann, Drimnagh, Dublin

5 Francie Brolly and Martin McGuinness at Celtic Park for the Derry v Cavan All-Ireland GAA Round 3 qualifier. Unfortunately for the Derry men, Cavan came out on top after extra time

5Anglo Tapes: Protesters outside Leinster House call for the arrest of Anglo Irish bankers

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» IRELAND’S FISHING INDUSTRY

Salmon OF Knowledge

THE

BY

ROBERT ALLEN SALMON the size of a bull-calf, magic apples, flaming pigs, plentiful fowl, succulent beef, bone-sucking mutton, juicy fruit, mouth-watering grapes, ever-lasting bread and water and wine. Wondrous food epitomised the ancient voyages of Máel Dúin, Bran, Snédgus and Mac Riagla, and Saint Brendan.

Seeking the “innumerable wonders of the ocean” was a timeless tradition of the peoples who populated the Atlantic fringe. It was more than an allegorical quest to islands of plenty and fruitful lands beyond the horizon. This was an affirmation of sea prowess, an ability to catch, barter and trade, and bring home the plentiful fruits of faraway shores and seas.

However, unlike Portugal and Spain, Denmark and Iceland, Belgium and France, Germany and the Netherlands — whose ports became laden with exotic fish and fruit and vegetables — Ireland did not evolve its indigenous food culture during 800 years of subjugation.

To Spain came peppers, potatoes and tomatoes; to Holland came spices and fruit; to western Europe came deep-sea fish of all shapes and sizes; to Iceland came the knowledge of the sea’s bounty and to all came stews and soups flavoured with the ingredients of the New World and the vast Atlantic Ocean. Modern recipes and preserving techniques in these Atlantic countries are defined by activities established hundreds of years ago.

Ireland, despite being a maritime country, lost its ability to fish, learn and trade effectively from its own waters by the 1700s. Salmon became a symbol of oppression with the people denied their own heritage. The consequence was a long dark age that has finally been consigned to history. Ireland is a food nation once again.

The enigmatic wild salmon is the hero of this story of regeneration.

Beef, lamb, pork and chicken, dairy produce, breads, cakes and patisseries, countless vegetables and the humble apple all play huge parts but the salmon, no longer as large as a bull-calf, has the lead role.

Thirty years ago, when a recession worse

5 Damien O'Brien of the ‘No Salmon Farms At Sea’ campaign, out fishing on the Laune River than the 1930s scattered the young, coastal tourist pubs began to introduce a dish many associated with America. It was called seafood chowder and came in a large bowl with slices of brown soda bread. A variation of mussels, shrimp, prawns, clams, scallops, cod, white fish, smoked haddock and smoked salmon were added to a fish stock containing onions, carrots and garlic, reduced with white wine and finished with a roux of butter, flour and milk, or with cream.

It was a quick and simple dish to prepare. The stock was always unique to the individual chef and cook. The fish and vegetables were always seasonal. Although shellfish, particularly mussels, were preferred in most pubs and restaurants, smoked fish gave the dish an unforgettable flavour. Fresh ingredients were the secret to any chowder maker’s success.

This was an Irish fish soup that was modern, and popular, and always evolving with thousands of variations. It went by the name of chowder but it had nothing to do with the American tradition, which used salt pork, potatoes and hard biscuits/crackers (and later tomatoes in place of milk) in the recipe, usually over-cooked the fish and hardly evolved over several hundred years.

American chowder originated in Newfoundland, gradually making its way south, where it became popular in New England and New York. American historians trace its origins

to the Bretons and their method of cooking fish and vegetables in large cauldrons but admit that Basque and Irish fishermen were also known to frequent the seas around Newfoundland and trade with the native communities. Ideas on how to make good fish stew made easy conversation.

The mythical hero voyages were replicated by nameless fishers who brought back fish now recognisable for their ugliness. The widemouthed sharp-toothed monkfish must have looked like a fiercesome creature to ancient mariners. These days it is a fleshly creamy white item without a smile on many a menu. It has even found its way into Irish seafood chowder.

Shellfish allergies mean more pubs and restaurants are putting cod, haddock, hake and monkfish into the chowder mix. Smoked fish chowder is arguably more popular than the shellfish and white fish varieties but salmon is now an essential ingredient in most Irish chowders. And smoked salmon is being used as a garnish as well as an ingredient.

Once mythical, once expensive, once rare, salmon is now ubiquitous in Irish cuisine as the fish of choice for chefs and diners, not least those who love a good seafood chowder with chunky pieces of perfectly cooked fish.

Chefs who approach the task of producing a popular chowder must think they need to eat the salmon of knowledge to find the awardwinning combination of ingredients. For the

past two years, Frank Walsh, head chef of The West Bar in Westport, has wooed hundreds of chowder lovers to win the National Chowder Championship in the All-Ireland Chowder Cook-Off.

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5 Anglers contributed €555million to the economy in 2012

5 A sea trout caught on the Kylemore River infested with sea lice

His recipe relies on fresh local fish, which is probably why he wasn’t able to persuade the Americans to give him top spot in ‘The Great Chowder Cook-Off’ in Newport, Rhode Island, in the US in June. But the fact that Irish chefs are able to compete internationally with a product that is a quintessential aspect of Ireland’s new status as a food nation should not be dismissed.

The number, quality and size of wild salmon this summer is down to the work done over recent years to clean up estuaries, lakes and rivers and the result of strict conservation management, which has arrested the decline of 20 years ago when stocks were dangerously low and the Atlantic salmon became a protected species under the EU habitats directive.

Commercial fishing of salmon at sea was suspended in 2007. There are various issues about the Erne, Lee, Liffey and Shannon rivers, but this year 62 out of 151 salmon rivers had sustainable populations, an increase from 43 in the mid2000s. The days of large catches are over. Wild salmon stocks remain under pressure.

Irish farmed salmon, once the minnow against Norwegian and Scottish varieties, is becoming a challenger but there is organised opposition from angling and environmental groups. Plans to introduce farmed salmon on a grand scale along the west coast are also being seen as a threat to migratory wild salmon.

Damien O’Brien of the ‘No Salmon Farms at Sea’ group said sea lice were a real danger, an

argument that has been constantly rejected by the aquaculture industry despite evidence to the contrary, a recent report revealing that over one in three north Atlantic salmon died from parasite infection. Although the industry is required to maintain low sea lice levels, any infestation would have a devastating effect on small populations in small river systems.

“Ireland will go down in history as the nation that wiped out all the wild salmon in Europe if these salmon farms are allowed to go ahead,” said O’Brien.

This has placed Fergus O’Dowd, the junior minister responsible for natural resources, in a difficult position. He must be seen to protect angling with its €555million annual spin-off and support the development of aquaculture, which is projected to contribute to €650million export sales with Irish farmed salmon the key growth area*.

The story of salmon is an allegory similar to the pagan and Christian stories. The plentiful islands of Máel Dúin have come home but without wild salmon they would be the shadow of a myth.

Survival at sea remains the greatest challenge to salmon today.

ANGLING STUDY: http://www.fisheriesireland.ie/AnglingInformation/socio-economic-survey-ofrecreational-anglers.html

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General Liam Lynch Commemoration, County Tipperary

Fógraí Bháis

5 The Carrick-on-Suir Republican Flute Band lead the General Liam Lynch commemoration in Tipperary

Sinn Féin MP calls for unity among republicans

THE Derry village of Kilrea came to a standstill on 11 July as hundreds of local people and Sinn Féin party activists attended the funeral of local republican activist Christopher O’Neill (22) in St Mary’s Church. Christopher and his close friend Declan McKenna died in a tragic road accident on 6 July just outside the village.

Christopher, a mechanic by trade, had joined Sinn Féin aged 16 and was also a member of the Dunloy Fallen Comrades Republican Flute Band.

At the time of his death he was chairperson of the McGinn/Rodden/Donaghy/Cassidy Sinn Féin Cumann in Kilrea. He had previously stood for the party in the 2011 local elections for Coleraine Borough Council, coming very close to taking a seat. Christopher was the grandson of Sinn Féin Councillor John Davey, who was shot dead by the UVF colluding with British state forces in February 1989.

One of Christopher’s friends and comrades, Seán Bateson of Sinn Féin Republican Youth, described ‘Chrissy’ as “an exceptionally kind, generous, down-to-earth and warm-hearted lad who had all the time of the day to sit and chat away to everyone regardless of who they were.” He said it was these qualities which had made him such a capable and talented young activist.

BY KEVIN BRUNNICK THE Sinn Féin MP for Mid Ulster, Francie Molloy, called for unity among republicans at the 90th anniversary commemoration of General Liam Lynch on Sunday 21 July in the Knockmealdowns near Goatenbridge.

A crowd of over 200 made its way up the 5km dusty mountain track leading from Goatenbridge to the 50foot-high round tower monument that marks the place where Lynch was mortally wounded in the last days of the Civil War on 10 April 1923 by Free State forces.

He was Chief of Staff of the IRA at the time although he was only 29 years old.

Veteran republican Marcus Fogarty explained that the monument to Lynch was erected in 1935 by republicans with donations from all over Ireland and beyond.

Liam Lynch did all in his power to prevent civil war and disunity in the Republican Army and argued on many occasions for no attacks on Free State forces. Lynch did not want civil war but he was committed and determined to protect the Republic which they all had fought for, so many died for, and to which he had sworn an oath of allegiance..

Francie Molloy MP urged unity among all republicans. Addressing those in the crowd who were not members of Sinn Féin, he said: “It is important now we bring together the republican family that was so divided in the past to achieve this aim.

“We must learn from the past and be wiser for the future. The British have always occupied Ireland or part of it by force or the threat of force. They have always been able to divide and conquer. They have always been able to find willing allies in this country,” he said.

“Republicans are proud of our past, we are proud of where we came from and those who paid the supreme sacrifice in the cause of freedom.

“We have an opportunity to build a real democracy and Ireland of equal opportunity to cherish all of the children of our nation.

Christopher O’Neill

Kilrea, Derry

Also speaking at Christopher’s funeral, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD said he was very sad but very honoured to be asked to say a few words. He described Christopher as a republican through conviction.

“While he was conscious of his grandfather’s enormous contribution to Irish republicanism and of the circumstances of his death, Christopher’s republicanism also came from his own deep understanding of the damaging effects of partition and British Government involvement on this island.

“Christopher understood that the republican struggle for freedom and justice and the reunification of Ireland is the best means to secure a lasting peace between the people who live on this island and between these islands.

“I am very certain that John Davey, who helped lay the foundations of a strong republican party in this area, would be enormously proud of Christopher. He would be equally proud of the achievements of local republican activists.

“This struggle has been blessed by having so many brave and courageous people involved with it. Christopher was one of these.

He played his part.”

5 Francie Molloy called for republican unity to build the nation Liam Lynch dreamt of Bobby Sands said our victory will be the laughter of our children. We must bring the republican family back together we must work to build the nation that Liam Lynch could only dream of. We have it within our grasp.

“Republicanism is stronger today than ever before: we are in government in the North and we are the main opposition in the South.

“We need unity now, like we never did before. We need unity to bring about the united, democratic republic that will see Ireland as an island of equals moving forward together towards the republic of which Liam Lynch dreamed.”

5 6,000 march through Coatbridge to show their support for the justice campaign by the Loughinisland families

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August / Lúnasa 29

I nDíl Chuimhne 1 August 1981: Volunteer Kevin LYNCH (INLA), Long Kesh 2 August 1981: Volunteer Kieran DOHERTY, Long Kesh 3 August 1972: Volunteer Robert McCRUDDEN, Belfast Brigade, 2nd Battalion 3 August 1974: Volunteer Martin SKILLEN, Belfast Brigade, 2nd Battalion 4 August 1985: Volunteer Tony CAMPBELL, Belfast Brigade, 2nd Battalion 6 August 1985: Volunteer Charles ENGLISH, Derry Brigade 8 August 1981: Volunteer Thomas McELWEE, Long Kesh 8 August 1984: Volunteer Brendan WATTERS, Newry Brigade 8 August 1996: Volunteer Malachy WATTERS, South Armagh Brigade 9 August 1970: Volunteer Jimmy STEELE, Belfast Brigade, 2nd Battalion 9 August 1971: Volunteer Patrick McADOREY, Belfast Brigade, 3rd Battalion 9 August 1972: Volunteer Colm MURTAGH, Newry Brigade 9 August 1977: Fian Paul McWILLIAMS, Fianna Éireann 9 August 1986: Volunteer Patrick

All notices and obituaries should be sent to notices@anphoblacht.com by Friday 16 August 2013

“LIFE SPRINGS FROM DEATH AND FROM THE GRAVES OF PATRIOT MEN AND WOMEN SPRING LIVING NATIONS.” Pádraig Mac Piarais O’HAGAN, Derry Brigade 10 August 1976: Volunteer Danny LENNON, Belfast Brigade, 1st Battalion 11 August 1971: Volunteer Séamus SIMPSON, Belfast Brigade, 2nd Battalion 11 August 1972: Volunteer Anne PARKER, Cumann na mBan, Belfast 11 August 1972: Volunteer Michael CLARKE, Belfast Brigade, 2nd Battalion 11 August 1973: Volunteers Gerard McGLYNN and Seamus HARVEY, Tyrone Brigade 12 August 1991: Pádraig Ó SEANACHÁIN, Sinn Féin 12 August 1996: Volunteer Jimmy ROE, Belfast Brigade, 1st Battalion 14 August 1974: Volunteer Paul MAGORRIAN, South Down Command 15 August 1969: Fian Gerald McAULEY, Fianna Éireann

16 August 1973: Volunteers Daniel McANALLEN and Patrick QUINN, Tyrone Brigade 16 August 1991: Tommy DONAGHY, Sinn Féin 18 August 1971: Volunteer Eamonn LAFFERTY, Derry Brigade 19 August 1971: Volunteer James O’HAGAN, Derry Brigade 20 August 1981 Volunteer Mickey DEVINE (INLA), Long Kesh 22 August 1972: Volunteers Noel MADDEN, Oliver ROWNTREE and Patrick HUGHES, Newry Brigade 25 August 1982: Volunteer Eamonn BRADLEY, Derry Brigade 26 August 1972: Volunteers James CARLIN and Martin CURRAN, South Down Brigade 27 August 1974: Volunteer Patrick McKEOWN, Newry Brigade 29 August 1975: Fian James TEMPLETON, Fianna Éireann 30 August 1973: Volunteer Francis

HALL, Belfast Brigade, 1st Battalion 30 August 1988: Volunteers Brian MULLIN, Gerard HARTE and Martin HARTE, Tyrone Brigade 31 August 1973: Volunteer Patrick MULVENNA, Belfast Brigade Always remembered by the Republican Movement CLARKE, Mícheál; PARKER, Ann. In proud and loving memory of Volunteers Mícheál Clarke and Ann Parker, killed on active service on 11 August 1972. Always remembered by Eilish McGettigan and family, Shannon, County Clare.

DEMPSEY, John. In proud and loving memory of Fian John Dempsey, who died on active service on 8 July 1981.

Mary, Queen of the Gael, pray for him.

Proudly remembered by the McDonnell family circle.

HARVEY, Seamus; McGLYNN, Gerard. In proud and loving memory

Imeachtaí »

Comhbhrón CULLEN. Sincere sympathies are extended to Lorraine and all the Cullen family on the death of their mother Mary.

From all at Cabra Sinn Féin, Dublin.

KEEGAN. Deepest sympathy to George

of Volunteers Seamus Harvey and Gerard McGlynn, Tyrone Brigade, killed on active service on 11 August 1973. Remembered with pride on this 40th anniversary and always. From the Harvey, McGlynn, Connolly, McHugh Sinn Féin Cumann, Castlederg.

McDONNELL, Joseph. In proud and loving memory of Volunteer Joe McDonnell, who died on hunger strike in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh on 8 July 1981. Precious memories of our brother Volunteer Joe McDonnell. Just a prayer from those who loved you, lots of memories fond and true, in our hearts you will live forever because we thought the world of you. St Pio, pray for him. Sorely missed, love today, tomorrow and forever by your sisters Eilish and Maura. Brothers Hugo, Patsy, Paul and Frankie; sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews and large family circle. Ó SEANACHÁIN, Pádraig.

Remembering Pádraig Ó Seanacháin, Sinn Féin, murdered by a pro-British death squad on 12 August 1991. In proud and loving memory from friends and comrades in the Harvey, McGlynn, Connolly, McHugh Sinn Féin Cumann, Castlederg.

and Phyllis Keegan and all the Keegan Family on the sad and sudden loss of their son Geoff, a lifelong republican and friend. From Ian, Catherine McBride and family.

O’NEILL/McKENNA. Deepest sympathy to the families and friends of Christopher O’Neill and Declan McKenna on their tragic loss. From the McCusker/McMullan/ O’Hagan Sinn Féin Cumann, Swatragh.

Buíochas COLLINS. The family of the late Marlene Collins, 72 Oaklands, Newry, offer sincere thanks to everyone who sympathised with us in our loss by calling to the wake, sending cards and attending the funeral. We are grateful to undertaker Pat McGennity and his colleagues for their kind and dignified approach. Special thanks to the Republican Movement, the guard of honour, stewards, piper, uileann piper and Conor Murphy MP for his warm graveside oration. Thanks also to Pat and Deborah Treanor for providing the shuttle service from Monkshill to the Warrenpoint Road. Thanks to Newry Sinn Féin for their attention to detail.

Our thanks go to the medical and community team who

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.

supported Marlene during her illness. Special thanks to Drs O’Reilly, Reynolds and McKinley, the home carers, district nursing team, COPD nurses, community occupational therapy and the out of hours doctor service. Thanks must also go to McKeever’s Chemist on the Bridge. Thanks also to Peter McAnulty of The Jammin’ Factory for the PA system at the house.

Sincere thanks go to Our Lady’s Grammar School for their support in Monkshill. Also to Ballyholland INF and a special thank you to Anna and Helen. You are all in our thoughts. Go raibh mile maith agaibh go léir. From the Collins family, Newry and Manchester.

Laois republicans memorial unveiling Sinn Féin will unveil a memorial to all deceased Laois republicans at The Heath, Portlaoise, on Sunday 18 August. Assemble 1:30 pm at The Heath Church and parade to the new memorial located at Jim Hyland’s house. Speakers are Martin Ferris TD and Brian Stanley TD. Refreshments afterwards at the nearby Rock Inn. All members of the public are welcome to attend.

Charlie McGlade commemoration

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

Volunteer Charlie McGlade Commemoration.

Saturday 14 September. Assemble 3pm at Dolphin Road Green, Drimnagh, for tug of war for the Charlie McGlade Memorial Cup and then proceed to Errigal Road Field. Main speaker: Daithí Doolan. Organised by Volunteer Charlie McGlade Cumann, Drimnagh, Dublin.

6,000 in Coatbridge call for Loughinisland justice

BY SEÁN McAVOY A CROWD of an estimated 6,000 people paraded through the Scottish town of Coatbridge on Saturday 13 July to support the ongoing campaign for justice for the families of the 1994 Loughinisland massacre.

Six Catholic men were killed by a UVF death squad as they watched Ireland play Italy in the soccer World Cup on 18 June 1994 in the Heights bar in the small County Down village of Loughinisland. Families have been consistently critical of major failings in the investigation.

The huge July event was organised by the local Cairde na hÉireann Margaret Skinnider Cumann and supported by Cairde cumainn from all over Scotland and England. Adding to the vibrancy and pageantry were Scotland’s seven republican flute bands and the Liverpool Irish Patriots RFB as well as the O’Neill & Allsopp RFB from Belfast’s New Lodge.

Cairde National Organiser Franny McAdam said in his introduction to a speaker from the Loughinisland families: “As republicans we should always be planning for the future but should also never forget the past. We call on the British Government to tell the truth about the Loughinisland massacre and the RUC’s role in the cover-up that followed.”

Clare Rogan, on behalf of the families, reiterated the campaign’s demands: Acknowledgement of the failings of the original investigation by the Chief Constable, British Secretary of State and Department of Justice; A fresh independent investigation; That the investigation has the full co-operation of the police and intelligence agencies; That the investigation has oversight by judicial, legal and human rights experts ensuring state and police co-operation.

The weekend of events concluded on Sunday with a number of initiatives, including a public forum on Loughinisland and collusion where relatives answered questions from people keen to become more aware and involved.

5 Clare Rogan speaks on behalf of the families of those killed in the Loughinisland massacre

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BETWEEN THE POSTS

30 August / Lúnasa 2013

THE

www.anphoblacht.com

BY CIARÁN KEARNEY

THE HUNGER GAMES

EVERY CREASE in our car is encrusted with sand from the beaches of Donegal. But the wind will have blown it back from Belfast to Bunbeg before we see another summer like this.

It’s reminiscent of 1995 in more ways than one. Back then, as now, Ireland was gripped in a summer heatwave. Sport fans melted in the terraces as provincial championships paved the way to finals in Croke Park. But there was more to 1995 than that. Writing recently, hurling legend Nicky English said: “This has been the best hurling championship for many years. It reminds me of ‘95 and the emergence of Clare. That was a year that any one of a number of counties could have won. This year is the same.”

I still remember the Clare team of that era and the visceral passion of their players and management.

Anthony Daly, Ollie Baker, Davy Fitzgerald and their mentor Ger Loughnane. They achieved something everyone but them said was impossible.

Nicky English was writing about Limerick’s victory over Cork in this year’s Munster hurling final. Limerick’s success came 17 years after their last provincial title. Players like Richie McCarthy proved that their betterknown cousins in the Rebel County were not the only ones who had the head and heart to hurl it to the end.

The final whistle heralded an orgy of celebration in the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick City. The pain of past defeats was trampled underfoot as thousands invaded the pitch. One word in the post-match commentary stuck out — HUNGER. Limerick had the greater hunger to win.

5 Leinster Hurling Champions 1961 – the last Dublin team to win the the Bob O’Keeffe Trophy Days beforehand, Dublin hurlers were all the talk. Dublin were always grouped alongside Offaly and Antrim as developing counties with hopes for the future. At juvenile and even senior level in the 1980s and ‘90s, an affinity was always felt between the hurlers in these counties. But of the trio, only Dublin made the investment in hurling to turn promise into progress. All of this over more than a decade and at a time when the Dublin football team was also clawing its way back to the top. Hard, brave choices were made (like Conal Keaney, who forsook a first team place on the football panel to opt for hurling instead).

When the boys in blue stepped out in Croke Park for the 2013 Leinster

Hurling Final, they had already proven their mettle against the current allIreland champions, Kilkenny. They met a Galway team who were last year’s victors. The character of Dublin’s conquest left no one in any doubt about

earned respect and a place in the Connacht final, against a superior Mayo team. But it was back among the hills and valleys of Donegal that the next earthquake would be felt.

In the Ulster football final, Monaghan fearlessly and clinically vanquished the reigning allIreland champions. Donegal followed Armagh and Tyrone before who returned with Sam Maguire only to fail the following year to get out of their own province. Regrettably, Donegal coauthored their own defeat.

In the first round of the championship, the young Tyrone goalie had to face a three-man Donegal screen every time he went to take a free kick. The tactic worked — the kicker missed. It typified the meticulous attention to

THIS YEAR IS REMINISCENT OF 1995 IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE how much it meant to win the Bob O’Keeffe Trophy for the first time in more than half a century. To add poignancy to history, Jimmy Grey, captain of the last Dublin team to win, helped to make the presentation. The watchword again was hunger.

Honourable mention must be made of London’s valiant footballers who

detail brought by Donegal manager Jim McGuinness. Against Monaghan, this tactic was not evident. The lacklustre performance of key players like Colm McFadden was exemplified when he aimlessly jabbed a boot at a passing ball, rather than stoop and scoop to regain the loose leather.

More clues to the match outcome emerged in interviews. Both Martin McHugh and manager Jim McGuinness highlighted that Monaghan had measurably more hunger. Monaghan captain Eoin Lennon espoused another credo: hard work. “I have it written on my arm here — hard work,” he told a reporter.

Lennon did on the pitch what he wrote on his arm. But Donegal was uncomfortable in its own skin. That’s what’s so surprising.

As an articulate, affable, successful manager Jim McGuinness has become a focus for media and other interests.

When he went to watch Celtic and Cliftonville in a Champions League qualifier days before the Ulster final, his presence was noted. His professional soccer career is growing and mention made of a role for him in the next Ryder Cup golf team. Geographically and metaphorically, he finds himself between two places. Anyone would.

Parallel missions; dual mandates; different masters. The stuff of potential strife.

Sporting legend Vince Lombardi once said: “It is essential to understand that battles are primarily won in the hearts of men.”

The sumptuous sands of Donegal are shifting. With the season not yet over, a time of reckoning has now arrived.

5 The Gaelic Players’ Association hosted a Community Camp to help break down obstacles to sport in society. The camp is aimed at children who otherwise would not get a chance to attend a sports camp

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August / Lúnasa 2013 31

BOOKS

The IRA at the movies

5 Jaye Davidson and Stephen Rea in ‘The Crying Game’

5 John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara in ‘The Quiet Man’

5 ‘In the Name of the Father’: Pete Postlethwaite and Daniel Day-Lewis

THIS is a strange book because its central ambition – to analyse the underlying meanings and messages of the films it features – is compromised by the need to explain the complex context that has informed all the plots.

Clearly the author, Mark Connelly, felt this necessary because he was writing in the United States for an American audience. For those of us who know the history so well, and have also lived through so much of it, these passages not only get in the way but are sometimes overly simplistic.

More significantly still, they inhibit the detailed deconstructions of the movies, far too many of which lacked genuine insights.

In spite of all that, I found the book a compelling read because the simple idea behind it – to acknowledge and record the remarkable number of films and TV series made about the IRA (in its various manifestations) – makes it a terrific work of reference.

It is a fact that the IRA has appeared in more than 80 movies, giving it a greater screen presence than any of the other anticolonialist liberation movements across the world. Similarly, the portrayal of its members is unique.

The IRA has appeared in more than 80 movies, giving it a greater screen presence than any of the other anti-colonialist liberation movements across the world ‘The IRA man’ is almost as recognisable a film character as the American cowboy.

Connelly writes: “Whether portrayed as a heroic patriot, ruthless terrorist, corrupt gangster, or troubled outcast, the Irish rebel has emerged as a universally recognised cinematic archetype.”

Therefore, the stated aim of his “history versus Hollywood” analysis is to show how and why the IRA and its Volunteers have been subject to such varying depictions.

In so doing he explores the work of major directors such as John Ford, David Lean, Neil Jordan, Jim Sheridan and John Frankenheimer, who have cast so many stars (including Victor McLagen, James Cagney, Anthony Hopkins, James Mason and Brad Pitt) in IRA roles.

Among the major films he highlights are Ford’s The Informer, Lean’s Ryan’s Daughter, Jordan’s The Crying Game, Sheridan’s In the Name of the Father and Frankenheimer’s Ronin. I need to declare an interest here because

The IRA on Film and Television

By Mark Connelly McFarland & Company, North Carolina, USA Price £46.95

organisation with global tentacles; second, the IRA anti-hero is a rogue breakaway operative (implying two other characteristics – criminality and psychopathy).

Connelly teases out these misrepresentations at several points but fails to make enough of them. In company with antirepublican British press coverage, these movie myths have tended to reinforce a wholly negative, and inaccurate, view of the IRA. One of the best chapters analyses films that have linked the IRA to the Nazis, such as I See a Dark Stranger and The Eagle Has Landed. Arguably the worst of the

5 John Frankenheimer’s ‘Ronin’, starring Robert De Niro

‘The IRA man’ is almost as recognisable a film character as the American cowboy

REVIEWED BY ROY GREENSLADE my step-daughter, Natascha McElhone, who starred alongside Robert de Niro in Ronin, is pictured in the book (though it omits to mention she played Brad Pitt’s ultimately treacherous girlfriend in The Devil’s Own).

Ronin is interesting because, like other films that Connelly mentions, it contains two elements that tend, irritatingly, to recur in violent thrillers. First, the innuendo that the IRA (even if not mentioned by name) is a sinister gangland

ROY GREENSLADE is Professor of Journalism at City University London and writes a daily blog on the media at the Guardian newspaper.

genre was The Gentle Gunman, in which an IRA Volunteer is seen planting a bomb on a London tube station during the 1940-41 German blitz.

In more recent times, as Connelly rightly states, a string of US-made films have featured “the IRA conducting highly improbable operations in the United States” (think Patriot Games, Blown Away and The Outsider).

Just as significant has been the way in which the IRA has been tainted in mainstream movie plots that have little or nothing to do with the struggle.

They have also occurred in muted, but memorable, fashion in films such as The Quiet Man. And the IRA turns up as a dark, Mafialike presence in a whole raft of films, including The Long Good Friday (set in London), John Boorman’s The General and, even more improbably, A Fistful of Dynamite (set in Mexico).

Connelly’s agenda or, just possibly, his lack of knowledge is revealed in his conclusion.

He appears to be upset by the filmic portrayal of the IRA “battling police and soldiers in war-torn streets patrolled by armoured vehicles and barricaded with sandbagged checkpoints, creating a Battle of Algiers illusion”. Does he really think it wasn’t like that?

But he also touches on a topic I have raised in the past. In few films, if any, do unionists appear. There has been no exploration by filmmakers of the history of a planted people or the reality of workingclass life among people who proclaim themselves to be loyalists.

The mythologising of republicanism is, to an extent, paralleled by the marginalisation of unionism. Then again, as this book reminds us, we should always remind ourselves that films should never be confused with facts.

5 1952 Ealing production ’The Gentle Gunman’

5 Sarah Miles starred in David Lean’s ‘Ryan's Daughter’

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anphoblacht SEPTEMBER ISSUE OUT. . . Thursday 29th August 2013 32

Vote ‘Yes’ to abolish the Seanad

4

October

Matters (which happens to have a large number of Ógra Fianna Fáil members as leaders) have claimed Sinn Féin’s support for abolition was made by “Belfast bosses”.

All have failed to mention (they ignored or didn’t know the fact) that the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis voted to support abolition of the Seanad

BY MARK MOLONEY SINN FÉIN is supporting the abolition of the Seanad and is calling for a ‘Yes’ vote in the referendum on 4 October.

‘Most of the population have no say in who gets elected to the Seanad’

Fine Gael, Labour and the Socialist Party will also be advocating a Yes vote; Fianna Fáil and the Green Party have stated their opposition to the abolition of the elitist institution.

Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty, the party’s Seanad referendum campaign spokesper-

With no option for reform, the choice is now between keeping an elitist and undemocratic institution or abolishing it son, has described the failure of the Fine Gael/Labour Government to refer the issue of Senead reform to the Constitutional Convention as a fundamental mistake.

With no option for reform, the choice is

Pearse Doherty describes the Seanad in its curent form as ‘an affront to democracy’ now between keeping an elitist and undemocratic institution or abolishing it “In this scenario Sinn Féin believes that it should be abolished,” says Pearse Doherty.

“The Seanad is out of touch. It has 60 members, 43 of whom are elected by county and city councillors, TDs and senators; six are

elected by graduates of NUI colleges and Trinity College Dublin; and 11 are appointed by the Taoiseach. It is accountable to nobody.

More than 99% of the population have no say in who gets elected to the Seanad.”

Irish Times columnist (and failed Fianna Fáil election candidate) Noel Whelan and Youth

in its current form. It was a decision endorsed by the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle on foot of a recommendation by the 26-County Directorate.

Fianna Fáil’s sudden support for reform of the Seanad has come as a surprise to many given that their 14 years in government (1997 to 2011, and leader Mícheál Martin as a senior minister) did not produce one single reform.

Instead, Fianna Fáil used it as a vehicle to reward their political cronies.

Speaking on Morning Ireland after Sinn Féin announced its support for a ‘Yes’ vote, Pearse Doherty described the Seanad in its current form as “an affront to democracy. It has no place in modern Ireland and it should be abolished.”