An Phoblacht December 2010

Join today and follow @An_Phoblacht

40 PAGES – STILL ONLY €2/£2

anphoblacht Sraith Nua Iml 33 Uimhir 28

December/Nollaig 2010

PRICE €2/£2

10 & 11

18 & 19

INTERVIEW WITH

THE CRIMINALISATION JULIA OF POVERTY CARNEY’S

SINN FÉIN PRESIDENT

GERRY ADAMS

In the lexicon of the New Right, ‘making work pay’ is code for cutting benefits

24

ROYAL ENGAGEMENT

Historic by-election win for Sinn Féin

A Vote for Change CONSENSUS FOR CUTS REJECTED 1.30pm Saturday December 4th Parnell Square, Dublin SPEAKER: GERRY ADAMS

2

| December/Nollaig 2010

www.anphoblacht.com

IN PICTURES

Sue Quinlivan, Martin McGuinness, Michelle Gildernew, Maurice Quinlivan and Rose Conway-Walsh at the London Friends of Sinn Féin 2nd Annual Dinner at the Crown Moran Hotel, Cricklewood

Róisín and Pearse Doherty cast their votes in the Donegal South-West by-election

Remembering the Hunger Strikes: The new mural is unveiled on Belfast’s Falls Road

At the official opening of St Cecilia’s College in Derry

Gerry Adams with Mike Mac Domhnaill in Limerick at the launch of Mike’s new book of bilingual poetry, ‘Mac Baintrí/Widow’s Son’

Joe McManus, President of the United Irish Counties Association of New York, with Sinn Féin Senator Pearse Doherty and Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

South Antrim election campaign launch: Mitchel McLaughlin MLA, Councillor Henry Cushinan, Martin McGuinness MP MLA, Councillor Anne Marie Logue, Noel Maguire and Councillor Anthony Brad

Pat Sheehan, who is replacing Gerry Adams as MLA for west Belfast, is profiled on Page 16

MORE ‘IN PICTURES’ – SEE PAGE 38 – NATIONWIDE PROTESTS AGAINST THE IMF SELL-OUT AND THE CUTS

anphoblacht www.anphoblacht.com |

December/Nollaig 2010 | editor@anphoblacht.com

Editorial Eagarfhocal

3

anphoblacht

WHAT’S INSIDE… 5 ‘The National Ruin Plan’

7 New campaign gains momentum for ‘Uniting Ireland’

12 Former Hunger Striker Raymond McCartney on the 1980 Hunger Strike

14 & 15 Gerry Adams’s bid to be a TD in Louth

20 & 21 Sinn Féin in Cuba – The Bobby Sands Sierra Maestra Trek

22 2016: A new Proclamation for a new generation?

25 Martin McGuinness pays tribute to Scotland supporters

Leadership in a time of crisis THE election of Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty as TD for Donegal South-West and the massive rally in Dublin on Saturday, November 28th, show in the clearest terms that people have rejected the Fianna Fáil/Green Party Government, its four-year plan and its proposed austerity Budget.

They have also rejected IMF interference in Ireland.

The Government now has no mandate for the damaging policies it is seeking to inflict on the Irish people. It should suspend the Budget and call a general election now.

The Donegal South-West by-election result was an endorsement of Sinn Féin’s argument that there is a better way.

It was a vote for a fair economic policy based on tax reform, ending waste and stimulating the economy to create jobs.

It was a rejection of the ‘Consensus for Cuts’ amongst all the Establishment parties – Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour.

It was also a vote for the democratic goal of a united Ireland which growing numbers of people know makes sense politically, economically and socially.

The Fianna Fáil-led Government has shown a total lack of leadership in its handling of the economic and financial crisis. It has abdicated its responsibilities, surrendered authority to the IMF and EU and struck a truly terrible ‘bail-out’ deal to save the banks while inflicting real pain on ordinary people.

The Green Party’s call for a general election in the New Year – after the Budget – was a shameful ‘cut and run’ exercise which seeks to deny the people an immediate general election while helping Fianna Fáil impose savage Budget cuts and put the state in the hands of the IMF.

Ireland now needs new politics and real leadership and a better way forward. That is what Sinn Féin offers.

This is the backdrop to the decision of Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams to seek the nomination for the Louth constituency in the general election.

The people of Donegal South-West have spoken loud and clear. They have made the choice for a better way.

The people throughout the rest of the 26 Counties must now be given the chance to have their say.

As An Phoblacht goes to print yet again in turbulent times for this island’s future, we are reminded that December is also the 30th anniversary of the ending of the 1980 Hunger Strike by men in the H-Blocks and women in Armagh Jail. The double-dealing and bad faith of the British Government in relation to that strike resulted in the subsequent 1981 Hunger Strike led by Bobby Sands.

It is worth recalling one of the most famous quotes of Bobby Sands: “Everyone, republican or otherwise, has their own particular part to play. No part is too great or too small; no one is too old or too young to do something.”

The men in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh and the women in Armagh Jail showed leadership.

Republicans, in resisting the Orange state and British repression – while the Southern political establishment stood idly by – have shown leadership.

In building and sustaining the Peace Process and opening up a peaceful route to Irish unity and independence, republicans have shown leadership.

Let every Sinn Féin activist and supporter now show leadership.

Let us help empower people.

Let’s take back our country.

E-MAIL LETTERS are now being published directly on the An Phoblacht website where possible and appropriate. If you’re writing to An Phoblacht, keeping your letters short and to the point increases their chances of publication.

31 Kilmichael Commemoration – ‘Fundamental change is needed in Irish society’

32 Fintan O’Toole’s technical tangle

33 Turas sa Phailistín

34 Dublin’s St Teresa’s Gardens – Demolition now!

Student fees fight

36 & 37 Green politics, republicanism and the Cancún climate summit AN PHOBLACHT is published monthly by Sinn Féin. The views in An Phoblacht are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sinn Féin.

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

AN PHOBLACHT www.anphoblacht.com Kevin Barry House 44 Parnell Square, Dublin 1, Ireland Telephone 8726100 Email editor@anphoblacht.com

4

| December/Nollaig 2010

Government ‘acting unconstitutionally’ on IMF deal THE Fianna Fáil and Green Party Government is acting unconstitutionally in not putting the IMF/EU international loan agreement to a vote of the Dáil, Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghin Ó Caoláin said at a press conference in Dublin to welcome Sinn Féin’s new TD to the team.

The Sinn Féin Dáil leader said that the admission earlier in the day by Justice Minister Dermot Ahern that the Government was ‘bounced’ into the application to the IMF reveals a Cabinet in disarray.

Deputy Ó Caoláin said: “Under Article 29 of the Constitution there is an obligation on the Government to place before the Dáil all international agreements. The Constitution specifically refers to treaties that involve a charge on the public.

“If the Fianna Fail/Green Government persists in refusing to put the IMF/EU international loan agreement before a vote of the Dáil they will be acting unconstitutionally. The Constitution is very clear.”

Answering questions from the media, Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald said the party has taken legal advice on the constitutionality of the Government’s actions and is keeping the situation under review but it should not be up to Sinn Féin or anyone else to take the Government to court again.

The Government, she said, should call a general election or, at the very least, put the IMF/EU agreement before the Dáil.

www.anphoblacht.com PEARSE DOHERTY, TEACHTA DÁLA | ‘I HAVE A MANDATE TO OPPOSE ANTI-PEOPLE BUDGET’

Sinn Féin’s newest TD enters the Dáil SINN FÉIN’S newest TD, Pearse Doherty, took his seat in the Dáil on Tuesday 30th November, just a few days after his election by the people of Donegal South-West.

And he started his Dáil term by repeating Sinn Féin’s call for minis-

5 Pearse arrives at Leinster House people during the by-election campaign. Many were in real hardship, struggling to make ends meet. They are living in real fear of

‘PEOPLE ARE LIVING IN REAL FEAR

‘THIS GOVERNMENT HAS NO MANDATE

of this Government’s cuts agenda, an agenda it must be said that is broadly shared by Fine Gael and Labour’

to impose the terrible deal it has negotiated with the IMF and EU’ Gerry Adams MP

Pearse Doherty TD ters’ salaries to be cut by 40% and TDs’ pay by 20%.

At a press conference in Buswell’s Hotel before he walked across the road and through the gates of Leinster House, Pearse Doherty TD thanked the people of Donegal South-West “for putting their faith in me to represent them in the Dáil. It is a huge honour.”

Gerry Adams “I have been given a very clear mandate to oppose the savage anti-people Budget that this Government is planning, to oppose cuts to public services and social welfare and to oppose IMF interference in Ireland.

“I met an incredible number of

this Government’s cuts agenda, an agenda it must be said that is broadly shared by Fine Gael and Labour.

“The problems faced by these people are still there today. Dealing with those problems and those fears, defending the livelihoods of ordinary working families and cre-

ating a viable future for our young people to live and work in their own country – that is the challenge which faces us now and that will be my focus in the Dáil.”

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said: “The people of Donegal South West have clearly endorsed Sinn Féin’s proposals for a better, fairer way forward. They have signalled that the Government must go.

“This Government has no mandate to impose the terrible deal it has negotiated with the IMF and EU. “Any new government should refuse to honour the terms of the IMF/EU deal and Sinn Féin will seek a mandate in the general election to renegotiate it.

“We will try and bring about a general election as soon as possible.

“This Government must go.”

CROSS-BORDER CORRIDOR INITIATIVE | FORUM AND ACTION PLAN TO ADDRESS PROBLEMS

‘BRIDGING THE BORDER, RECONNECTING COMMUNITIES’ LAUNCHED IN MONAGHAN NEWLY-ELECTED Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty joined Gerry Adams MP and Cavan/Monaghan TD Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin in Monaghan Town on Monday night, November 29th, to launch ‘Bridging the Border, Reconnecting Communities’, a major Sinn Féin initiative aimed at resolving problems associated with the border.

The inititiave is part of the new Uniting Ireland campaign (see Page 7).

‘Bridging the Border’ is being rolled out by 10 Sinn Féin mayors and chairs of local authorities along the border corridor.

This Sinn Féin-led initiative will collate views from a wide spectrum of public and community opinion on the many disadvantages of the border.

The public engagements will be led by Sinn Féin’s mayors and chairs within each council area and will contribute to the compilation and public launch of a report looking to address these problems.

Three hundred people turned out even on an icy, wintry Monday night to hear Gerry Adams say: “There is no better time than at present with the economic realities as they are that we tackle the issues of repetition and duplication of services within this island.

“Along the border corridor, many communities are separated and isolated from

TEN Sinn Féin local authority leaders will provide the focus for ‘Bridging the Border, Reconnecting Communities’ in its engagement with people on the ground:-

4 JACKIE CROWE

(Mayor of Monaghan Council)

4 MICHAELA BOYLE

(Chair of Strabane District Council)

4 STEPHEN HUGGETT

(Chair of Fermanagh District Council)

4 DECLAN MCALEER

(Chair of Omagh District Council)

4 PÁDRAIG MAC LOCHLAINN

(Mayor of Buncrana District Council)

4 MARY DOYLE

(Vice-Chair of Armagh District Council)

5 The border corridor ‘mayors and chairs’ with Cavan/Monaghan TD Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin and Gerry Adams their natural hinterlands and this leads to economic and social hardships along that corridor.

“Sinn Féin intends to help reconnect these communities to lessen the impact of these hardships. Our mayors and chairs will begin the task of liaising with their local

stakeholders to identify problems that can be addressed.

“It is in everyone’s interest that we get the maximum input from all stakeholders so I would appeal with them to engage and work with us in resolving some of these problems.”

4 MICHELLE O’NEILL

(Mayor of Dungannon District Council)

4 CORA HARVEY

(Mayor of Donegal County Council)

4 JOHN MCNAMEE

(Chair of Cookstown District Council)

4 MICK MURPHY

(Chair of Newry and Mourne District Council)

www.anphoblacht.com

December/Nollaig 2010 |

5

FOUR-YEAR PLAN – THE MAIN POINTS Entry point for income tax to fall to €15,300 - from €18,300 - by 2014 Standard VAT rate to rise from 21% to 23% in 2014

Students’ registration fee to rise from €1,500 to €2,000, while Minimum wage to simultaneously be reduced by €1 to reducing student €7.65 an hour support

Domestic water charges to be introduced by 2014 Reduction of social welfare spending of €2.8billion targeted

Cut in public service staff by 24,750 Introduction of a site value tax in 2012

‘THE NATIONAL RUIN PLAN 2011- 2014’ g

BY KATHRYN REILLY

THE deflationary policies of the past three Budgets didn’t work.

They lengthened and deepened the recession which, in turn, defeated deficit-reduction efforts.

Why should we expect future deflationary policies to result in anything substantially different?

The publication by the Fianna Fáil/Green Party Government of their ‘National Recovery Plan’ is a foundation for an economic depression in the 26-County state containing a litany of measures that will shrink the economy.

FOUR-YEAR PLAN FROM A TWO-MONTH GOVERNMENT Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin has said the Fianna Fáil/Green Party Government has no right to impose its four-year plan and that there should be an immediate General Election.

Deputy Ó Caoláin said: “It is a travesty of democracy that a four-year plan should be framed by the most reviled native government in our history - a government whose life is now measured in weeks.”

SERVICING BANKS, NOT THE ECONOMY The Government are discussing selling off valuable state assets to service debt over the coming years while they are busy acquiring defunct banks. This is a blatant insult to the Irish people whose incomes will be mortgaged to pay the loan back.

It defies all logic to claim that adding to our debt will seduce markets back to Irish sovereign bonds. Reacting to the publication, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Finance Arthur Morgan said: “Even solely dealing with our structural deficit, this plan is in the main a list of deflationary actions that will deepen and lengthen the recession.

“The real issue is that we are about to embark on an insane course of borrowing to fund a failed banking policy.

and it blatantly ignored the series of stealth taxes that currently exist and that they intend to introduce.

CUTS BY STEALTH

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin “We cannot afford this banking policy, we cannot afford this loan.

Most importantly, we cannot afford this government.”

However, the publication of the four-year plan is irrelevant and does not represent the current economic situation unfolding in the state. The EU and the IMF are in the process of negotiating an €85billion ‘bail-out’ package the Ireland, mainly to try and plug the black hole that is the Irish banking sector. In light of this, the Government’s plan is not worth the paper its written on as the EU and the IMF will be dictating Ireland’s budget strategy for years to come.

Indeed, it is not the full picture of budgetary outlook for the next four years. This is the plan before the EU/IMF loan has been taken on board and before we begin to fathom the debt servicing costs of that.

It doesn’t even cover the terms and conditions attached to the loan.

The Government’s four-year plan will pale in comparison to what the apostles of austerity in the IMF will bring.

PAY MORE, WORK LONGER, GET LESS The Government have repeated claims in the media that it is simply not sustainable that 45% of the population fall outside the taxation system. In this vein, the Government took the ‘hard decision’ to reduce the entry rate to income tax to €15,300. What does this mean for the ordinary worker?

Well, coupled with the slashing of the minimum wage by €1 an hour, this means that people struggling to survive on the minimum wage will now be paying tax.

The Government took this disproportionate measure as a means to ‘broaden’ the tax base - it did not make it fairer or more equitable

In 2011 we will enter into a fourth year of a domestic recession - with all the components still going south: consumer spending, Government consumption and investment.

And what are the Government proposing to do?

Cripple the economy further.

A property tax by any other name is still a property tax. Simple as. The Government announced the introduction of a ‘household’ charge of €100 in 2012.

The introduction to increase VAT not only penalises people, reducing their spending power, but it will also do untold damage to already struggling businesses.

People will cross the border once more and add to the difficulties of businesses along the border. In their budgetary outlook published at the start of the month, the Government acknowledged that consumer prices would increase next year.

The conscious decision to increase VAT is another covert way for the Government to squeeze pennies from an already beaten group of people who, post-Budget, will be forced into critical decisions

such as feeding their families or paying their mortgages.

THE EMIGRATION INITIATIVE The ESRI said that 120,000 people would emigrate by the end of 2011; the Government themselves based their budgetary outlook on the premise that at least 100,000 people would emigrate in the years up to 2014.

The people of this state have lamented that we could not realise the potential of a ‘smart economy’ if we were exporting our skilled, educated young people.

Sinn Féin has said that emigration was an active policy of Government. But, in efforts to countenance this, Messrs Cowen, Lenihan and Gormley have announced that they are replacing the student registration fee with a flat higher education student contribution of €2,000. The rationale seems to be: we will no longer be exporting an educated workforce because people won’t be able to afford to go to college!

Those that can afford to go to college after these cuts to incomes and education are implemented are likely to remain in the country because, chances are, they are ‘connected’ and they will find a highpaid job in one quango or another.

A BETTER WAY The arguments for an investment-based growth strategy remain valid.

We know that the irrational approach taken to date - that you can deflate your way out of a recession - has proven a failure.

The Government’s plan is redundant.

The real issue is that we are about to embark on an insane course of borrowing to fund a failed banking policy.

We cannot afford this banking policy.

We cannot afford this loan.

Most importantly, we cannot afford this Government.

6

| December/Nollaig 2010

www.anphoblacht.com

THE ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL CRISIS | WE DIDN’T ALL PARTY LIKE BRIAN LENIHAN

Sinn Féin warned about Government’s ‘boom and bust’ policies years ago nce BRIAN LENIHAN, Fianna Fáil Fina thou Minister, has enraged countless inter an in sands of people with his claim proTime e Prim view with RTÉ TV’s all gramme: “Let’s be fair about this - we partied.”

This is part of the Establishment narrathe tive that we are all really to blame for ridwas economic crisis because everyone one ing high on the Celtic Tiger and no of ers dang the t abou issued any warnings of jaws the in s head omic putting our econ the beast.

The Financial Regulator might not Did have warned us. Fine Gael didn’t. n Bria n, Aher Labour? Fianna Fáil, Bertie all of t mos – and Lenihan (pictured right) – Brian Cowen certainly didn’t.

An Phoblacht and Sinn Féin did.

We aren’t crowing, “We told you so!” ne The financial crisis is nothing for anyo to be a smart Alec about.

We’re simply pointing out that, while alled Sinn Féin was being derided by so-c ”, rate illite y icall nom “eco experts for being t. we got it righ And here’s one piece of evidence to

. prove it, from An Phoblacht back in 2006 ypart was Fáil na Fian e whil ten It was writ golf ing in the tent at the Galway Races, on the with e courses and all over the plac prop the rs, developers and the speculato the all and ers bank erty magnates, the wildother ‘experts’ who have gotten it so ly wrong.

It makes sobering reading. It’s a pity ’t that Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan didn If .

Féin Sinn to read An Phoblacht or listen n to they had, we might not have to liste ‘We that y toda ’ erts ‘exp the mantra of the are.’ are where we

An Phoblacht, November 9th 2006

LESSONS FROM THE 1920s FOR THE TIGER g

BY CAOILFHIONN NÍ DHONNABHÁIN

THERE are more than a few similarities between the Celtic Tiger and the United States of the ‘Roaring Twenties’. And I’m not talking about the Charleston, the Flapper or prohibition.

The US experienced an exceptional economic boom during the 1920s with many features that bear a striking similarity to the economic boom of Celtic Tiger Ireland.

Governments elected on manifestos of ‘prosperity and order’ pursued laissez faire economic policies, tax cuts and deregulation. A booming economy was accompanied by an explosion in consumerism...

Trade union membership had fallen drastically across the country. Lifestyles changed.

Aspirations soared for those benefiting from the boom. People thought that the boom would last forever.

Optimism and abundant credit led to a huge wave of investment in the stock market resulting in artificially high stock prices. When the economy showed signs of slowing and share prices plummeted, it caused an extensive domino effect.

As the record levels of consumer spending were funded by credit, people deeply in debt

4 (Top right) Former Fianna Fáil leader and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern with Mary Hanafin, Mary Coughlan and Brian Cowen taking a walk in the park; Mary Harney and Bertie Ahern at the Galway Races in between gambling with our future

THE MAJORITY OF ECONOMIC COMMENTATORS and media pundits speak as if the present Irish economic boom will never end

when a price deflation occurred were in serious trouble. As investments lost their face value and the loans on them went bad, financial institutions collapsed, creating a monetary crisis. This caused massive withdrawals of bank deposits, leading some banks to collapse, confirming investors’ fears and resulting in more withdrawals.

The majority of economic commentators and media pundits speak as if the present Irish economic boom will never end. They seem to forget that capitalism is characterised by cycles of boom and recession. Abundant credit and government incentives have led to unprecedented investment in property - over-priced property.

The danger is - and the lesson from the economic boom of the 1920s which set the stage for the great depression that dominated the 1930’s that a decline in the property market could result in a domino effect that would precipitate a recession.

We have record levels of household indebtedness, over-valued property, an economy overdependent on construction and a government over-dependent on revenue from construction and consumerism.

We have optimism, heightened aspirations and rampant consumerism. But be warned - it can all change very quickly.

Our economic prosperity has not been used to the benefit of the people as a whole nor is it built on solid foundations. The difference between a slight downturn and a more significant recession rests on the ability of our economy to absorb economic pressures.

As it stands we are peculiarly exposed to the factors which could precipitate a dramatic economic slowdown - changes in the US property market, a global economic recessions, and rising interest rates.

What could be done to curb our exposure to such an eventuality?

Implement strategies to reduce dependence on foreign direct investment and to curb the reliance of the economy on construction.

Introduce tax changes to reduce investor-led demand in the housing market. Implement polices which ensure a sustainable tax base so that the Exchequer is not at the mercy of fluctuations in consumer spending.

So the lesson is - it doesn’t have to end in a crash - but it could.

www.anphoblacht.com

December/Nollaig 2010 |

7

UNITING IRELAND CAMPAIGN | www.unitingireland.ie.

WE, as people who share the island of Ireland, affirm, in common with the Irish Diaspora and friends of Ireland everywhere, our commitment to live in peace and harmony with one another.

We welcome the progress made in the past decade and a half in building and developing the Peace Process into a Political Process which has seen power shared for the first time between unionists, nationalists, republicans and others.

The referendum on the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 in the 26 Counties inserted in the Irish Constitution the affirmation that it is “the firm will of the Irish nation, in harmony and friendship, to unite all the people who share the territory of the island of Ireland”.

We endorse the Good Friday Agreement and the St Andrew’s Agreement and we urge the development of their full potential.

Uniting 1reland

GAINING MOMENTUM FOR UNITING IRELAND THE Uniting Ireland campaign - an initiative arisisng from this year’s Sinn Féin Ard Fheis - is gaining momentum.

As An Phoblacht goes to print, the campaign will have held its first major event, a rally in Monaghan Town on November 29th to mark 90 years of partition.

This will be followed by the launch of ‘Bridging the Border -Reconnecting Communities’ by Sinn Féin mayors and chairs across 11 border counties and a national conference in Dublin in 2011.

Debates will be held in Queen’s University on December 8th and other colleges in the New Year.

Sinn Féin has appointed Lucilita Bhreatnach, a former General Secretary of the party, to the position of Uniting Ireland Co-ordinator as part of a national task force driving the campaign forward.

At the Ard Fheis, a mission statement on Irish unity was unanimously adopted by delegates. This statement lays out the path forward to achieving Irish unity through a variety of ways such as promoting the benefits of unity among the Irish people, actively seeking the support of the unionist community, as well as maximising the support that exists abroad in places such as the United States, Canada and Britain.

‘IT IS CLEAR THAT PARTITION IS A FAILED ENTITY

that created two failed economies and that now is the time for change’ LUCILITA BHREATNACH UNITING IRELAND CO-ORDINATOR The ‘Irish Unity Pledge’ is winning the backing of figures from across the political spectrum in both the provincial and national legislatures. Similar efforts are underway in the United States and Britain, led by Rita O’Hare and Seán Oliver respectively.

Lucilita says: “We are attempting to raise consciousness about our vision of a new Ireland.

“It is clear that partition is a failed entity that created two failed economies and that now is the time for change.”

It is the long-term development of this initiative that will lay the groundwork for national unity, though.

For party activists and supporters, Lucilita sees the current economic and political situation as the perfect time for people to be reinforcing our belief that a united Ireland is the only lasting solution.

“We need to convince people of the economic benefits. This island cannot support two economies. It is madness that an island of this size has two agriculture departments, or two health departments with all their ancillary services.

“Our activists need to be communicating the message that there is an alternative and how it can be achieved.

“To those who say a united Ireland cannot be achieved, I say why not?

“When you consider what has already been achieved over the last 20 years, I think anything is possible.”

The campaign has made brochures available to party members that can be used as a lobbying document for use in every area. Leaflets are available which are aimed at young people and the colleges (a Red C poll this summer indicated that the biggest group in favour of a united Ireland are the under-25s). A crucial element of the campaign is achieving a broad range of support from outside republican circles.

Sinn Féin has already launched a discussion paper, ‘Green Paper for Irish Unity’, which is available on the Sinn Féin website (www.sinnfein.ie). Sinn Féin has been pressing for a Green Paper on Irish Unity to be published by successive Irish governments.

“Many organisations already work on an all-Ireland basis, “Lucilita says, “ but have to deal with separate government bodies for the likes of funding which again makes no sense.”

Persuading unionists of the benefits of a united Ireland presents a challenge but it is one that has to be embraced if our vision is to mean anything. According to Lucilita, there is a need for pragmatic argument here.

“In a unified country, unionism would make up approximately 20% of the population and this would give them far greater influence politically, economically and socially than they currently enjoy with Westminster.

“Business people in that community already see the economic benefits. If you want to grow your business the most obvious place is on the island you live on.

“Farmers are the same. There is already an all-

5 Lucilita Bhreatnach, Uniting Ireland Co-ordinator

6 Lucilita Bhreatnach (second from right) with the Sinn Féin negotiating team at 10 Downing Street in 1997

Ireland aspect to the agricultural industry with Sinn Féin’s Michelle Gildernew as minister and everybody sees the advantage to this. We have already seen situations such as Fermanagh and Monaghan councils passing cross-border motions on practical issues. In the end of the day, people make practical decisions.”

Lucilita urged MPs and TDs, MLAs and councillors to be on the look-out for opportunities to highlight the issue of uniting Ireland through motions before city or

‘THE BUILD-UP TO THE CENTENARY OF THE 1916 EASTER RISING

is a chance for all republicans to avail of the opportunity to open up the debate on where we want to be as a people’ LUCILITA BHREATNACH UNITING IRELAND CO-ORDINATOR town councils or other bodies. (See box for the preamble to the mission statement which can be used as a basis for any council motion.)

“The build-up to the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising is a chance for all republicans to avail of the opportunity to open up the debate on where we want to be as a people.

“The Good Friday Agreement still has to be fully implemented. Voting rights for all citizens of the island and for emigrants have yet to be established.”

With the Presidential election due to be held next year - and constitutionally it cannot be postponed now would be the time to push for voting rights for those in the Six Counties and abroad (see the article on this on Page 27).

“James Connolly, the Declaration of Independence and the Democratic Programme are as relevant today as they were then,” says Lucilita. “This is our opportunity to develop the momentum around uniting Ireland and our vision for the future.”

8

| December/Nollaig 2010

www.anphoblacht.com DONEGAL SOUTH-WEST BY-ELECTION | THE RESULTS

Sinn Féin win signals potential of coming general election g

was Fianna Fáil’s Mary Coughlan.

The Tánaiste complained in media interviews that Pearse had an advantage because of the publicity surrounding the court case that led to the by-election, that he was photographed alongside Gerry Adams and that, because he had run and “failed” in 2002 and in 2007, his face was known to the voters.

Coughlan did not want to acknowledge that Pearse has been a local councillor from 2004 to 2007 and that Sinn Féin have been on the ground campaigning on local and national issues and that this is the key to last weekend’s victory. No reporter I heard reminded the Tánaiste the publicity from the court case wouldn’t have happened in the first place if her party had allowed the by-election to go ahead in a reasonable time.

An interesting factor in the build-up to the vote was the relative accuracy of the Red C con-

BY ROBBIE SMYTH

“WE asked people to stand up for Donegal. We asked people to stand up for Ireland. We asked them to vote against the cuts coming down in the budget, the bail-out from the IMF, and the four year plan.” This was new Sinn Féin TD for Donegal South-West Pearse Doherty speaking before entering the count centre on Friday, November 27th, for what was a moment of seismic change in the Irish political landscape.

Doherty polled 39.85% of firstpreferences and took the seat on the fourth count after winning a significant amount of transfers from the Labour Party and Independent candidate Thomas Pringle.

Interviewed just after the final announcement of his victory by count returning officer Geraldine O’Connor, Doherty said: “This was the election this government never wanted to happen and maybe the result will tell you why.”

The result was indeed a significant shift in the political environment, not just in the North-West but across the 26 Counties.

The growth in the Sinn Féin vote was momentous but it has to

THE RESULT SHOWS THE IMPACT OF sustained political work by Sinn Féin at a community level be viewed in the context of the performance of other parties and the complexities of by-election politics.

Looking first at the other Opposition parties, the table accompanying the article shows that Fine Gael have actually moved backwards for the third consecutive election in this constituency and the Kenny policy of agreeing to the flawed austerity deal has clearly no resonance with floating voters.

It would seem that the decline in the Fine Gael vote was partially matched by an increase in the Labour Party poll but hardly the socalled ‘Gilmore Gale’ predicted by some commentators. And it must have hit hard that some Fine Gael voters have possibly turned to Sinn Féin!

One of the first uses of the ‘Gilmore Gale’ term in the Establishment media was by the Irish Independent’s Fionnan Sheehan in June 2009, writing about the Labour Party’s performance in the EU and local elections.

5Winner alright: Pearse tops the poll

Sinn Féin

Fianna Fáil

Fine Gael

Labour

Year 2002 2007 2010

10.75% 21.23% 39.85%

42.08% 50.52% 21.33%

25.42% 23% 18.66%

3.03% 2.79% 9.78%

Red C

40%

19%

16%

15%

There was no gale and what are promoted as the two core Leinster House Opposition parties merely traded votes in this poll.

The Fianna Fáil vote collapsed from the 50.52% won in 2007 and The Sinn Féin vote grew for the third consecutive election by 18.62% of the poll. The party did not run here in 1997.

The result shows the impact of sustained political work at a community level. Sinn Féin has

increased its local representation in the 1999, 2004 and 2009 local elections and the campaign to win this seat began the day after the 2007 count. It is the result of a growing groundswell for the party.

Donegal South-West has had an interesting history of by-elections following the death of Fianna Fáil TDs. Sitting Fianna Fáil TD Joseph Brennan died in July 1980, with the by-election held four months later in November, electing

5Sinn Féin TDs and activists protest at Government Buildings

Clement Coughlan who held the seat in the subsequent three elections of 1981 to 1982.

Clement died in February 1983 and his brother, Cathal, was elected a TD in May again four months later. Cathal died in June 1986 with his daughter elected in the February 1987 general election.

The double-standard of quick by-elections at times when it suited Fianna Fáil is in stark contrast to last weekend’s poll. Most disingenuous

THE DOUBLE-STANDARD OF QUICK BY-ELECTIONS at times when it suited Fianna Fáil is in stark contrast to this poll. Most disingenuous was Fianna Fáil’s Mary Coughlan stituency poll conducted for bookmakers Paddy Power between November 12th and 16th. All of the results were within the margin of error (which was plus or minus 4.4% in this poll) except for the Labour vote.

Red C had put Labour at 15% while they actually trailed in at 9.78%. In the 2009 local and EU elections, Red C had put Labour at 18% when they actually polled 13.9% in the EU race and 14.7% in the local elections, with a plus or minus 3% margin of error.

A TNS/mrbi poll for The Irish Times put Labour on 23% and this poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2%.

So, once again we still have unwarranted media hype surrounding the Labour Party. It was exposed in the Donegal SouthWest election result, as was the failure of Fine Gael to move off its base vote share.

Last word on this goes to Shaun Connolly in The Irish Examiner on Saturday, November 27th: “I carry the spirit of Michael Collins here with me,” loser Fine Gael candidate Barry O’Neill declared, and he was right - but only in the sense that he’d just been assassinated by an audacious Sinn Féin ambush.”

www.anphoblacht.com

December/Nollaig 2010 |

9

DONEGAL SOUTH-WEST BY-ELECTION | MIGHTY WORK COUNTS

Anois ar theacht an tSamraidh g

which has tied itself to Fine Gael. It’s a disastrous position for a party which professes to care for disadvantaged people and those who will be most cruelly affected by Fine Gael’s economic policy.

Some are dismissing Pearse’s election as a protest vote. It is not that. It is against the Government. It is against the Fianna Fáil and

BY GERRY ADAMS MP At the count centre in Stranorlar

SENATOR Pearse Doherty is about to be declared the new Teachta Dála for Donegal South-West.

Everybody here knows that.

But before it becomes a reality the votes have to be counted. The place is buzzing.

Over a hundred members of the media some say as many as 153 - including many international media, are in attendance.

This day has been a long time coming for some of the old-timers. For decades they have been tramping up and down the highways and byways of this constituency arguing for republican politics and a united Ireland.

Last time round, in 2007, Pearse hit the crossbar. So too did Pádraig Mac Lochlainn in the adjoining Donegal constituency. The two of them narrowly missed out winning seats.

But a by-election is a different creature.

It’s even harder to win.

I never doubted that we would be successful. There’s a great team here. There wouldn’t be a by-election at all if Pearse and Sinn Féin hadn’t gone to the High Court.

Pearse is a wonderful candidate. But arguably all of the candidates are fine representatives for their parties. So the people

PEARSE’S ELECTION IS NOT JUST A PROTEST VOTE against the Government’s four-year plan and against those parties like Fine Gael and Labour who have bought into this timeframe – it’s also a vote for genuine republican values and policies

5 High five: Gerry Adams gets a celebratory welcome from young Colm Doherty as his parents Pearse and Róisín wait for the final countdown

OVER A HUNDRED MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA – some say as many as 153 – including many international media, are in attendance didn’t have to vote for Pearse. They had a choice and they chose wisely.

They voted in their thousands for Pearse Doherty and Sinn Féin.

The count centre is loud with the northern lilt of Donegal Irish. Local people slip easily from Béarla to Gaeilge.

Martin McGuinness is here. Later he heads off to London for a Sinn Féin fundraiser. So was Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin. And Mary Lou MacDonald.

The Sinn Féin Mayor of Donegal Councillor Cora Harvey and Gráinne Mhic

5 Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness MP, Donegal Mayor Cora Harvey, Councillor Pádraig Mac Lochlainn on the campaign trail Géidigh, the Sinn Féin representative on Údarás na Gaeltachta, is here also. And other Donegal councillors, including Councillor Marie Therese Gallagher. There was also Gerry McIvor and his formidable team of Sinn Féin election workers scattered across the county. And Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and

Pat Doherty, the MP for West Tyrone. And me. And your man.

The counting proceeds slowly.

Rumours of an announcement whirl around like leaves in the wind.

Tánaiste Mary Coughlan TD concedes defeat on behalf of the Government in midafternoon. But we all hang in, waiting for the formal and official result.

The message from the election is clear.

It’s time for the Government to go.

It’s time also for the those who consider themselves to be the next government to review their position, particularly Labour

IT’S TIME FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO GO. It’s time also for the those who consider themselves to be the next government to review their position, particularly Labour which has tied itself to Fine Gael

Read Gerry Adams’s regular blog at http://leargas.blogspot.com

Green Party four-year plan and against those parties like Fine Gael and Labour who have bought into this timeframe.

But it’s also a vote for genuine republican values. For Sinn Fein’s sensible proposals to stimulate the economy by creating jobs not ending them. It’s a vote for a republic in which people are sovereign and have their rights and entitlements upheld by society and the state.

Pearse’s wife Roísín is here. Their three boys come in for a wee while Padraig and Colm give cheerful thumbs up and chant “Pearse Doherty uimhir a h’aon!” Ronan is too young to understand what is happening.

Or maybe not. He lies comfortably in his mammy’s arms.

Pearse’s parents, Miceál and Grainne, are here also. They are as proud as punch. And for very good reason.

To while away the time your man starts singing ‘Óró, Sé do Bheatha ‘Bhaile’. Before he gets beyond the chorus a hundred and fifty republican voices raise the roof with ‘Anois ar theacht an tsamhraidh’.

And then Pearse is announced as the TD for Donegal South-West and the place erupts with cheering and clapping and loud whistles.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn tries to hoist Pearse on his shoulders - Pádraig’s not Pearse’s.

Roísín is crying. So is your man. “He ain’t heavy,” Pádraig whispers to me, “he’s my brother.”

And so he is. He is also the people’s TD. Mighty work!

Sinn Féin Abú!

10

| December/Nollaig 2010

www.anphoblacht.com

INTERVIEW | SINN FÉIN PRESIDENT GERRY ADAMS MP

The struggle for change is all about small battles and clear objectives IT WAS the Sunday just after the Donegal SouthWest by-election when Gerry Adams completed the interview he’d started two days previously, on the day of the count. An Phoblacht had to give way to other pressing engagements in Gerry’s hectic schedule. He took up the interview with JOHN HEDGES early on Sunday afternoon, before the details of the IMF sell-out were being revealed.

You’re just back from the election count in Donegal South-West where Pearse Doherty was elected as the new TD for Sinn Féin. It’s a good result.

First of all, one has to appreciate the outstanding work done by Pearse and our team across County Donegal from back quite a long time.

Pearse did make a stand when he took the Government to the High Court over blocking the well-overdue by-election. There would have been no by-election if it had been left to Fianna Fáil, the Green Party, Fine Gael or Labour.

It was Pearse who took the Government on and people have applauded that across the con-

THOSE WHO REFUSED THEN TO REDISTRIBUTE THE WEALTH of the Celtic Tiger years are now quite happy to redistribute the debt stituency, and that was clear on all the canvasses I was on.

Pearse is going to be a brilliant addition to our Leinster House team, the only effective Opposition party in Leinster House that is determined to oppose the IMF and the Fianna Fáil/Green Party Budget.

Pearse’s election is obviously muchneeded in Donegal by people who had been denied by Fianna Fáil their right to full parliamentary representation but what does it mean for people around the rest of the country?

Pearse’s victory is an overwhelming rejection of the Government’s four-year plan and its proposed Budget.

We asked the electorate to stand up for Donegal; we asked them to stand up for Ireland; and they have done this.

What the Government should do now is postpone the Budget and call an immediate general election.

You putting your name forward for the Sinn Féin Dáil general election nomina-

tion in Louth has been described by more than one media commentator as the biggest political gamble in your life, leaving a safe seat in West Belfast. Isn’t that more so given the dire straits the 26-County economy is in, the IMF’s arrival, a harsh Budget looming and the state in huge crisis?

Well, struggle is all about taking risks and taking chances. If you feel it’s the right thing to do you do it.

My motivation is to try as part of a team to argue for a better way because I firmly believe there is a better way. It’s also to make a stand and hopefully in that way to encourage others to make a stand also.

We need genuine republican politics based on core republican values and that is what this is about.

And if you were to get elected to Leinster House, how would that change the political landscape.

Struggle is made and struggle succeeds by virtue of a whole series of small battles accumulating in a critical mass of support coalescing around clear objectives. I certainly have no pretensions about my own influence in any of this – and it’s obviously for the people of Louth at the convention and then in the election to decide if I’m elected or not but it is clear that the crisis is not just economic, although that is at the core of it, but it is social and political.

We have a republic in name only.

There are scores of thousands of people out there who share Sinn Féin’s vision and who do vote for the party right across the island but there are lots of other people out there who have a similar vision, who want a real republic, who want a united Ireland, who want citizens’ rights, who want decency and accountability and fairness and a society which is based upon entitlements and rights.

We need to win them to Sinn Féin. We need to get them to vote for Sinn Féin. We need to get them to join Sinn Féin.

Sovereignty is invested in citizens, invested in people, that’s the core of Pearse’s ‘Sovereign People’. That is the essence of what republicanism is about. So we have to keep that debate alive, challenge opponents who do not believe in these values – who are not for community, who are not for citizens’ rights - and make alliances with those who do.

If I am elected, I would like to think I could

SINN FÉIN HAS PUT FORWARD commonsense, practical proposals to stimulate the economy because you cannot cut your way out of a recession

make a positive contribution to that necessary dimension of our struggle.

What do you say about claims by commentators that Sinn Feín doesn’t have a grasp of economic issues?

Let’s recall that those who challenged Sinn Féin on our knowledge of the economy are, by and large, the same people who created the total economic mess that the state is in at this time and the social, political and financial consequences for families. So I don’t take that from them.

You’re always careful not to say ‘I told you so’ but Sinn Féin, in Leinster House and on other platforms, at the height of the Celtic Tiger era, was arguing for the economy to serve the people and

I DON’T DOUBT THAT there are many sincere people in the Labour Party but they won’t defend the disadvantaged or advance equality by going into government with Fine Gael for the wealth to be distributed so there could be sustainable jobs and proper public services Those who refused then to redistribute the wealth are now quite happy to redistribute the debt.

The dreadful obscenity is that the Government, in giving a dig-out to its friends, is prepared to saddle every man, woman and child with massive debt which will be carried for generations – if they get away with it.

Sinn Féin hasn’t bought into the Consensus for Cuts. We have put forward a longer timeframe to reduce the deficit but we have also put forward commonsense, practical proposals to stimulate the economy because you cannot cut your way out of a recession. You need to grow your economy.

Is the media rightin saying that the only alternative government is a Fine Gael-led coalition propped up by Labour?

The two parties who are presenting themselves as the next government were rejected by the electorate of Donegal South-West.

The significance of the Donegal by-election is

www.anphoblacht.com

that people had a choice of five or six candidates and they chose Pearse and Sinn Féin.

The Labour Party needs to review its position.

Its little adventures with Fine Gael in the past have not served citizens well and have not served well those communities and groups who Labour - like Sinn Féin - would be expected to defend, particularly communities described as disadvantaged.

I don’t doubt that there are many sincere people in the Labour Party but they won’t defend the

SINN FÉIN WOULDN’T BE RUSHING INTO GOVERNMENT unless a Programme for Government supports citizens’ rights and a united Ireland, supports the Peace Process but – particularly at this time – has a mandate to reverse what the current Fianna Fáil/Green Party Government is doing

disadvantaged or advance equality by going into government with Fine Gael.

So I think Labour should reconsider their position. Eamon Gilmore can’t be railing against Government cuts and then committing himself to implementing them if he gets into power.

But people want this Government out.

Sinn Féin is standing in the next election as an independent party.

I appreciate that the next government formed will be a coalition but I and Sinn Féin wouldn’t be rushing into government unless a Programme for Government supports citizens’ rights and a united Ireland, supports the Peace Process but – particularly at this time – has a mandate to reverse what

December/Nollaig |

the current Fianna Fáil/Green Party Government is doing.

Our platform will be to get the IMF out of our affairs, to stimulate the economy and opposition to cuts.

People are also disillusioned because in the four-year-plan there are no proposals dealing with the bankers, there’s no stimulus package, there’s no effort to take on those who are the wealthiest but they’re ready to take money off of those who are the most disadvantaged right down to the minimum wage.

Any new government should refuse to honour the terms of the IMF/EU deal and Sinn Féin will seek a mandate in the general election to renegotiate it.

We would only consider going into government with a Programme for Government that covered those proposals.

People thought ICTU’s Dublin march was a good thing but left it thinking, ‘What now?’

What is needed now is a strategy that is coherent and practical and that people can identify with and have a sense of empowerment from and ownership of.

Going on a big march is good because it shows how people feel, it generates solidarity but it has to be part of a wider, coherent strategy.

Making a stand is a start but there has to be a follow-through.

The elections are clearly going to be a big focus. Pearse Doherty and the other Sinn Féin TDs will be going back into Leinster House this week and our single focus will be to bring about a general election. That is our clear intention.

The Government needs to cancel the Budget, cancel the four-year-plan, have all the parties put forward their propositions and call a general election to let people decide what they think is the best way forward. That way, at least, a new government will have a mandate People should join Sinn Féin. We should be actively recruiting.

We had hundreds of people working to help elect Pearse. We need more, all over Ireland, in every county.

We have a general election coming up in the South in the New Year, Assembly and local government elections in the North in May, possibly by-elections in between so we need people who want something done to bring about genuine change to join Sinn Féin. Elections can be important and part of a wider movement for change: look at the United States in the 1960s and South Africa and the North more recently.

How do you see the Budget crisis in the Six Counties and the way it’s playing out?

Gregory Campbell

As we speak, there is a small group from the

11

Louth Sinn Féin TD Arthur Morgan Executive representing the parties on the Executive meeting to agree a Budget. I would be fairly confident that we would be able to reach an agreement. But it has to be on the basis of facing down the Tories and their cuts, protecting the disadvantaged, defending and enhancing public and frontline services, creating and sustaining jobs and empowering citizens.

Sinn Féin is the only party to have put out our programme of proposals publicly and argue for fiscal powers and this has certainly struck a chord, even with unionist voters, whatever their elected representatives may say.

You’ll obviously miss being an MP and MLA for West Belfast but won’t your presence be missed there as leader of Sinn Féin?

We have a very good team of MLAs and backroom staff in our offices, local councils and the Assembly so there will still be an active, cam-

WE NEED TO WIN PEOPLE WHO SHARE OUR VISION TO SINN FÉIN. We need to get them to vote for Sinn Féin. We need to get them to join Sinn Féin paigning organisation in the communities we represent,.

I must say I will miss Gregory Campbell of the DUP. Gregory for me was always the best way to judge what was going to happen. I used to use him as my little gauge of what was likely to happen because when Gregory said there would be no power sharing, there would be no Sinn Féin in government, there would be no transfer of policing and justice powers, there’d be no Justice Minister in our lifetime... well, we have seen those things come to pass. So Gregory’s recent pronouncement on there not going to be an Acht an Gaeilge gives me even further hope.

That aside, if I am elected for Louth, I’m only going down the road and Sinn Féin is an allIreland party (the only all-Ireland party).

I shall be working in Louth as a TD with the support of Arthur Morgan, Tomás Sharkey and all the team there, but I’ll still be in Belfast and Dublin to do work involving the Peace Process and in the Dáil with Caoimhghín, Pearse, Martin, Aengus and others on other national issues.

Sinn Féin is an activist, campaigning, allIreland party. That’s not going to change.

We want more people to join Sinn Féin to change the way things are now.

12

| December/Nollaig 2010

www.anphoblacht.com

THE 1980 H-BLOCKS HUNGER-STRIKE | SINN FÉIN MLA AND HUNGER STRIKER RAYMOND McCARTNEY LOOKS BACK

British response to 1980 Hunger Strike made the 1981 Hunger Strike a certainty g

BY PEADAR WHELAN

RAYMOND McCARTNEY from Derry City was one of the seven republican prisoners to embark on hunger strike in 1980.

At that point, October 1980, the prison protest in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh had been in progress since 1976, which meant that some prisoners had been engaged in protest for as many as four years.

Those fours years were characterised by intense brutality and a commonplace inhumanity as the prison authorities tried to break the will of the protesters.

McCartney was arrested in his native Derry City in 1977 and spent two years on remand in Crumlin Road Prison before he was sentenced to life in January 1979 and transferred to H-Block 5.

The Derryman was at this point no stranger to prison as he had been arrested in 1972 but was acquitted of possessing weapons. In October 1973, he found himself interned in Long Kesh where he spent the next 18 months of his life.

When I caught up with him this week he was racing off on Assembly business. “No rest for the wicked,” he laughed.

Recounting his experiences when he first arrived in H5 in January 1979 he recalled the “welcoming

RAYMOND McCARTNEY WAS ARRESTED IN HIS NATIVE DERRY CITY in 1977 and spent two years on remand in Crumlin Road Prison before he was sentenced to life in January 1979 and transferred to H-Block 5 strip-search and how the Screws tried to intimidate me” as a way of asserting their authority.

“I had a real sense of trepidation going into the Block but when I got on to the wing I immediately picked up on this sense of intense, vibrant comradeship.”

That night, when the Screws left the wing, McCartney spent hours at the door of his cell shouting out all the ‘sceal’ he had, recounting everything he read in papers or picked up in the news, from local stories, to world affairs and, of course, the world of sport.

Within days, McCartney was to experience his first wing move.

To keep on top of the ‘No Wash’ protest the prison authorities moved the Blanketmen every couple of days and sent in teams to steam clean the excrement-covered cells.

These moves were an opportunity for Screws to indulge their anti-republican bigotry.

“The mirror search was a big part of the move,” explains McCartney. “It entailed the Screws spreadeagling us over a mirror and kicking our legs out so we’d be crouched down and they would then examine our anuses.

“Nothing prepared you for that experience.”

As time went on, McCartney and his comrades would discuss the protest and ask what the next step would be.

5 Raymond in the H-Blocks, 1980 And at that point it was apparent that that next step would be a hunger strike.

“Even during the protest we were very interested in education and learning more about Irish history so the prisoners in the Cages sent us down lectures.

What struck us about the lectures about Irish history was that prison struggle was a constant and nearly every issue was resolved when the prisoners resorted to hunger strike.

“So unless the British had a major change of heart it was probably inevitable that the H-Blocks protest would end in a fast.”

1980 saw senior Catholic clergymen Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich and Bishop of Derry Edward Daly engage in a prolonged negotiation with the British Government in an attempt to resolve the protest.

When their efforts came to nothing the prisoners’ discussion turned to a hunger strike.

“The first part of the debate was to decide if it was the right political thing to do and how it would fit in strategically and tactically with our struggle.

“Would it enhance or detract from it?

“After we accepted that hunger strike was the only option left open to us, the next step was to find volunteers.

“When I volunteered I did so on the basis that I had the capabilities to see the hunger strike through.

This was also after receiving a ‘comm’ [clandestine communication between prisoners and the republican leadership outside Long Kesh] that outlined the severe physical and psychological pressures I would

5 A new Hunger Strike mural being finished on Belfast’s Falls Road

meet in the course of the fast.

“I’ve always thought of how I made that decision and how my family were not part of the discussion.

“So at one level going on hunger strike for what you believe in and for your comrades is a very selfless act; at another level it can be very selfish as it excludes your family.”

After 38 days the seven Hunger Strikers were moved to the prison hospital where they were kept under close medical care as the men were clearly deteriorating.

As the men deteriorated, with the fast moving into its 50th day, efforts to resolve it intensified. Mediators

‘THE FIRST PART OF THE DEBATE WAS TO DECIDE if it was the right political thing to do and how it would fit in strategically and tactically with our struggle’ RAYMOND McCARTNEY

6 Hunger Strike protest, 1980

were meeting the prisoners’ O/C, Brendan ‘The Dark’ Hughes more often.

For McCartney, the hope that an agreement would be reached was tempered by his distrust of the British.

“On December 18th, British Secretary of State Humphrey Atkins signalled he would make a major statement. We were also told that the British would issue a document that held the potential for a solution to the protest and an end to the Hunger Strike.

“When I was unlocked from my cell at 5.50pm, I was heading over to Leo Green, and ‘The Dark’ approached us and said: ‘The Hunger Strike is over.’”

The Dark said he was satisfied with the document.

And with Seán McKenna on the point of death, McCartney believes The Dark made the right decision to call off the Hunger Strike.

“It was clear, almost immediately, that the prison administration and the NIO were determined to thwart the possibility of an agreement and were rowing back from the initial positive response to our decision to end the Hunger Strike.

“In the end, they refused to move and made the 1981 Hunger Strike a certainty - and are singularly responsible for the deaths of our ten friends and comrades.”

www.anphoblacht.com

December/Nollaig 2010 |

13

Tá eileafant sa seomra - an tEuro nach bhfuil cead a phlé g

A straight-up challenge to the stultified politics in this state

LE MÁIRTÍN Mac EOIN

Á na meáin, idir clóite is craolta, plúdaithe le seachtainí anuas le plé faoin géarchéim eacnamaíochta is airgeadais. Baineann an chuid is mó de le freagathacht Fhianna Fáil as an ngéarchéim, agus tá sé sin tuillte.

Ach tá eileafant sa seomra nach bhfuil cead a lua: sé sin freagarthacht na hEorpa as an bhfadb.

Tá sé soiléir gur thug na bainc an iomad ar iasacht do lucht tóigeála, ag ceannach talún ar phraghsanna ró-árd is ag díol tithe ar phraghsanna ri-ró-ard.

Ach cé thug an t-airgead dona bainc? Taobh thiar den mheargántacht dhúchasach, bhí meargántacht na mbanc Gearmáineacha. Mar is iad a thug airgead go fialmhar dona bainc Éireannacha, gan rialú is gan cúram ceart. Rinne siad sin toisc go raibh airgead go flúirseach acu.

Ag an am céanna bhí rialtas na Gearmáine ag iarraidh spreagadh a thabhairt do infheistíocht i dtionscail tairgthe, agus choinnigh an rialtas na rátaí úis íseal le cabhrú leó. Agus bhain siad leas as an Euro le freastal ar a gcuid riachtanaisí féin.

D’oir an polasaí sin don Ghearmáin. Ach níor oir sé don tír seo. Bhí airgead flúirseach anseo freisin, mar gheall ar na bainc Ghearmáineacha agus chuaigh praghsanna - is pragh-

T

Angela Merkel

T

Sinn Féin protest at the Dáil over IMF sell-out

HE political establishment have a real talent for getting things wrong.

Take the issue of sovereignty.

In successive debates on EU treaties the ‘enlightened’ politicians comprehensively dismissed the value of managing our own affairs as a backward notion.

They have their answer now.

The EU and IMF are in town to pick over the carcass of Ireland’s ‘Celtic Tiger’. The political establishment are directly responsible for our economic convulsion; they have comprehensively failed to defend the interests of citizens.

A toxic blend of cronyism, cosy consensus and brazen self-interest have been the hallmarks of politics in this state.

The economy is broken, politics is broken and without radical action and change there is a danger that people’s spirit will be broken too. This is the political backdrop to Gerry Adams’ decision to stand for election in the Louth constituency.

Sinn Féin has argued for a radically different approach to the economic crisis than the other political parties.

• We don’t accept that the taxpayers should carry the can for bondholders who took a punt on Anglo Irish Bank. Their gamble failed and they must face the consequences of that failure.

• We don’t accept that sucking billions out of an already depressed economy is the way to recovery.

Rushing to meet the arbitrary EU budgetary deadline of 2014 is foolish and dangerous.

• We don’t accept the policy of sitting on our hands

in the hope of an international upturn to bring jobs.

Investment and stimulus is an urgent priority and can be achieved with funds from the National Pension Reserve Fund.

• We will not accept cutbacks for those on low and middle incomes while the wealthy are taxed very lightly.

Sinn Féin has produced a detailed, costed alternative to the smash and grab cutback agenda of the other parties. We have called on people to demand and work for a new economic and political direction.

In this time of crisis, Gerry Adams could not credibly call on others to step forward, to play their part in creating a new way forward, if he was not prepared to do so himself. It is a measure of the man that he is prepared to put his money where his mouth is. Gerry has been around politics, North and South, for a long time. He leads a national party with elected representatives in 31 of the 32 counties of Ireland. His record in the complex, high-stakes Peace Process reflects his calibre as a leader.

Without doubt he has a valuable contribution to make if the people of Louth elect him to the Dáil. It is no surprise that the political old guard and those who crave power at any cost don’t want Gerry about the place.

It will take courage and creativity to meet the challenges of changing Ireland. In rebuilding our economy, providing for our people and repairing our international reputation the ‘business as usual’ politics won’t cut it.

Sinn Féin represents a straight-up challenge to the stultified politics in this state.

We have a plan and a vision for our country.

Gerry Adams is up for the challenge and at the next election he will lead a team of candidates who are up for it too.

sanna tithe ach go hairithe - in airde dá bhárr. Theastaigh rátaí úis a bheith ard againn le brú a chur ar phraghsanna, ach bhí rátaí isle againn mar gheall ar an nGearmáin.

Agus ba chuma le Banc Cheannas na hEorpa riachtanaisí na hÉireann. Bhí muid, agus támuid, ró-bheag. Ach toisc go rabhamar san Euro, bhí orainn glacadh le rialacha a leag an Ghearmáin is an Eoraip síos.

Chiallaigh sé sin go raibh praghsanna tithe níos airde ná mar ba ghá dóibh a bheith, agus ciallaíonn sé sin anois go bhfuil fiacha nios mó ar dhaoine a cheannaigh tithe ná mar ba chóir a bheith.

Sé sin tá an Euro taobh thiar de chuid mhaith dena deacrachtaí atá orainn, agus is chun teacht i gcabhair ar an Euro a tháinig an IMF anseo is chun teacht i gcabhair ar an Euro a chaithfeas cáinfhaisnéis ghéar a bhrú ar íosaicme na tíre.

Ach ní luaitear an tEuro riamh insan bplé nuachtáin, telefíse nó raidió. Níl cead aon cháineadh beag nó mór a dhéanamh ar rud ar bith a bhaineann leis an Eoraip.

Ach má támuid dáiríre faoi thiocht amach as an bhfaopach ina bhfuilimid, caithfidh tuiscint ar dtúis céard is cúis leis an bhfaopach.

Agus pointe eile, a bhaineann leis go díreach.

Go hiondúil nuair a bhíonn deacrachtaí den chineál seo ann, déantar dí-luacháil ar an airgeadra. Ach arís ní féidir linne é sin a dhéanamh mar ní linne an tEuro, is leis an Eoraip é, sé sin leis an nGearmáin.

Ach cén fáth go nglacfadh an tír seo fiacha móra nua nuair is chun leas tíortha é an tEuro a chosaint nios mó ná mar is é ár leasna é.

Ach sin é atá ag tarlúint. Nior tháinig an IMF anseo chun cabhrú linne, nó le beatha a chur ar ais in eacnamaíocht na tíre, ach chun cinntiú nach dteipfeadh ar an Euro is nach dteipfeadh ar na bainc Ghearmáineacha.

Nílimid linn fein maidir leis seo. Tá muintir na Gréige sa riocht chéanna.

Ach an ndéanfaidh muide an troid chéanna is atá dha déanamh acu sa nGréig?

14

| December/Nollaig 2010

www.anphoblacht.com

EDENTUBBER COMMEMORATION | DRAMATIC ANNOUNCEMENT

GERRY ADAMS DECLARES FOR LOUTH GERRY ADAMS announced his decision to put his name forward for the Sinn Féin nomination for the Louth constituency at the next general election as part of his address at the Edentubber Commemoration in County Louth on November 14th.

This is what Gerry said in a dramatic initiative by Sinn Féin as an all-Ireland party facing up to the challenges of the political and economic crisis facing our country.

Ireland is at a crossroads. This state is in the midst of a deep economic and social crisis. This government is probably the most unpopular in the history of the state. It is now implementing bad, deeply damaging policies. It has no mandate whatsoever for this.

There is a better way. Together we can rebuild Ireland.

People need to make a stand against what is happening. We need a better way forward for our country and its people.

All this imposes a huge responsibility on those of us in positions of political leadership. In the past I have asked people to step forward and to show leadership.

I have asked people to make a stand.

I believe that it is my duty at this critical time to step forward and do what I have asked of others.

As leader of Sinn Féin, I want to be part of the necessary fightback against bad economic policies in both parts of this island and for a fair, decent and united society for all the people of Ireland.

As a representative of west Belfast, I should be able to do this in the Dáil, but the Irish Government refuses to allow this, despite a commitment during the Good Friday Agreement negotiations and subsequently by the then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern that he would introduce measures to allow speaking rights for MPs from the North.

So, as leader of the only all-Ireland party with an all-island mandate, I have a choice

honoured to have represented the people of west Belfast in the Assembly. I will remain as MP until the next Leinster House election.

This is a significant initiative by the Sinn Féin leadership. It is a measure of our determination to provide a real alternative to the consensus for cuts being pushed by the other parties.

Ireland needs political change. We need change in the Dáil.

We need more voices that will stand up against the consensus for cuts – more voices that will stand up for ordinary people.

We need new politics.

We need a political realignment.

A change of government without a change in policies will be worthless.

A Fine Gael-led government, propped up by the Labour Party, is not a real alternative.

IN THIS TIME OF CRISIS IN OUR COUNTRY, I am making a stand with this initiative — a stand for a better, fairer, united Ireland. I believe that things can be turned around. That there is a better way Fine Gael and Labour offer nothing that is substantially different from the current government.

They are part of the Consensus for Cuts.

Sinn Féin is the only effective opposition in the Dáil.

We forced this government to hold the Donegal South-West by-election. We have shifted the debate on the economy by rejecting the consensus for cuts, and producing a costed, viable economic programme that can protect the vulnerable and low-income and middle-income earners while stimulating the economy and creating jobs.

This is a small island. The problems

facedby citizens throughout the country are the same.

We have a republic only in name.

Sinn Féin is a republican party. We believe that a republic must first and foremost be about the welfare of the community. This includes access to a decent public health service and the protection of vulnerable people such as the old, the sick and those with disabilities.

It also includes at this time of crisis those who are economically vulnerable — including low-income and middle-income earners, a group that is growing in number by the day because of the bad policies pursued by this Government.

As the leader of Sinn Féin, in this time of crisis in our country, I am making a stand with this initiative — a stand for a better, fairer, united Ireland. I believe that things can be turned around. That there is a better way.

Look at the progress that has been made in the North. The Peace Process has shown

what is possible. The North has been transformed for the better. Sinn Féin has led that transformation. We have demonstrated what is possible when people work together in the common good, in the national interest, and for the benefit of all.

Our focus at this time is on tackling the mistakes of this Government and providing a real alternative to the ‘Fianna Fáil lite’ policies of Fine Gael and Labour.

Whether it is charting a way out of conflict or striving to rebuild the economy, Sinn Féin is about improving the quality of people’s lives.

This must be the guide for the reconstruction of Ireland in the years ahead.

I intend to lead from the front.

The people of Ireland face enormous challenges at this time. But we are no mean people and I am confident that with clear

OUR FOCUS AT THIS TIME is on tackling the mistakes of this Government and providing a real alternative to the ‘Fianna Fáil lite’ policies of Fine Gael and Labour

AS LEADER OF SINN FÉIN, I want to be part of the necessary fightback against bad economic policies in both parts of this island and for a fair, decent and united society for all the people of Ireland to make whether to stay in west Belfast, a place that I love, or to seek a mandate in another constituency in the South. West Belfast is my home. It is where Colette and our family are and where I live.

But, after thoughtful consideration, and with the support of colleagues, I have decided to put my name forward for the Louth constituency. If elected for this constituency I will work and stay here and travel home when possible.

This means that I will be stepping down as an MLA for west Belfast. My replacement will be chosen this week. I am proud and

5 Gerry Adams at Edentubber

5 Over 3,500 attended the Louth commemoration

headed leadership and sound economic policies we can rebuild the economy and return prosperity.

I want to pay tribute to Arthur Morgan who, for the past eight years has been a firstclass representative for the people of Louth and an outstanding member of Sinn Féin’s Dáil team.

I first met Arthur in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh where he was incarcerated for his republican beliefs.

I want to pay tribute to Marian. Without her Arthur could not have played the role that he has done over the years.

He will continue to play an important role in Sinn Féin. His experience and talent will be available to this party in Louth and nationally in the time ahead.

www.anphoblacht.com

December/Nollaig 2010 |

15

GERRY ADAMS’S DÁIL ELECTION MOVE | THE VIEW IN WEST BELFAST

Showing political leadership g

BY SAM BAKER Chairperson, West Belfast Sinn Féin

O

N behalf of West Belfast Sinn Féin I would like to pay tribute to the work Gerry Adams has done in representing this constituency.

The enormous contribution that Gerry has made towards advancing the rights of the west Belfast community - and advancing Irish republicanism - over more than four decades of political activism is difficult to put into words.

His announcement that he will be seeking Sinn Féin’s nomination to contest the Louth seat in the general election is an act of true leadership in a period of unprecedented economic crisis. It is also a demonstration of Gerry’s commitment to advancing the republican project across the island.

It is such leadership that has characterised Gerry’s decades of political activism. We all know that he has been to the fore in developing the Peace Process and building Sinn Féin into a powerful political force nationally, to the point where we have topped the poll in the last two elections in the Six Counties.

But Sinn Féin are not content to build the political strength of the Republican Movement for the sake of it - what matters is what we do with the political strength we have achieved.

The extent of the economic, social and political crisis in the South is becoming starker each day and its impact will be felt for many years. The Fianna Fáil/Green Party Government’s moral bankruptcy, greed and arrogance is breath-taking. Its policies are condemning this and future generations of Irish people to poverty, unemployment, emigration and debt.

The British Tory-led Government is embarking on similar slash-and-burn policies that will have a negative impact in the North.

Sinn Féin is actively campaigning for an alternative approach based on stimulus measures rather than cuts to public services, and for control of the economy to be devolved from London to the Assembly.

Campaigning against the cuts is our number one priority across the island.

Despite the unprecedented crisis in the South, Labour and Fine Gael have signed up to the Fianna Fáil/Green coalition’s consensus for cuts. An alternative economic strategy is absolutely vital and Sinn Féin are the only ones providing it.

Senator Pearse Doherty has effectively challenged the Irish Government in forcing the long-overdue byelection in Donegal South-West.

5Gerry became president of Sinn Féin and was first elected as MP for West Belfast in 1983 became party president and was first elected MP for West Belfast, Alex Maskey entered Belfast City Council as the sole Sinn Féin representative.

Today, Sinn Féin in west Belfast have an MP, six MLAs and 13 councillors campaigning daily for the rights of the community in the Executive, Assembly and Belfast and Lisburn City Councils. We have built up a first-class constituency service across the west.

West Belfast Sinn Féin will seek to turn this development into an opportunity to enhance public representation for the local community. We will have two public representatives for the price of losing Gerry Adams: former Hunger Striker Pat Sheehan will be a full-time Assembly member co-opted in the place of Gerry Adams. The other activist will contest the byelection and, if elected, become the full-time MP for west Belfast. When the time comes, we will select the Sinn Féin candidate for that by-election.

In the meantime, Gerry Adams is committed to continuing as a powerful advocate for West Belfast as the MP for this constituency and as President of Sinn Féin. The MP’s office will naturally continue to be based in west Belfast and function as part of the constituency-wide service provided by Sinn Féin, which is unrivalled by other parties.

Gerry will be sorely missed as a west Belfast repre-

5Gerry is committed to continuing as a powerful advocate for West Belfast

G

ERRY’S MOVE to seek the party’s nomination to contest the Louth Dáil seat can help energise and promote the Sinn Féin alternative and should be supported by all republicans and progressives across Ireland.

In the longer term, I think this move will be regarded as a definitive one in terms of Sinn Féin’s approach to developing the all-Ireland agenda and an all-Ireland party.

In west Belfast, under the leadership of Gerry Adams, Sinn Féin has experienced strong growth and taken great strides forward. In 1983, when Gerry

3The year Gerry became MP, Alex Maskey entered Belfast City Council as the sole Sinn Féin representative

sentative. He will continue to play a leading role in campaigns for truth and justice for the Ballymurphy and Springhill Massacre victims, on suicide prevention and strategic economic investment projects.

As the President of Sinn Féin, Gerry will naturally continue to play a leading role in the political life of west Belfast, which has the strongest concentration of republicans anywhere on this island. If he is elected to the Dáil, Gerry will be a voice for the people of west Belfast and the nationalist community of the Six Counties in Leinster House.

West Belfast can take pride in the fact that this community is making a huge investment in putting the national question centre-stage. Through the actions of Gerry Adams, the part of northern nationalists in the life and future of this country is now to the fore. In making this move to give political leadership in another part of our country which is only 45 minutes away, the President of Sinn Féin will show partition to be a farce and injustice.

If we are serious about transforming the economic and political destiny of the Irish people, brave steps need to be taken by each and every one of us.

We need to pull together and plan ahead. The people of west Belfast have much more to offer the future of the Irish nation.

We’re on the road to a new Irish Republic and there’s no turning back.

16

| December/Nollaig 2010

www.anphoblacht.com

Pat Sheehan, the H-Blocks Hunger Striker who takes over from Gerry Adams as MLA

Joe Austin

‘Still Imprisoned Project’ – working with republican ex-prisoners g

BY PEADAR WHELAN

“THE ‘Still Imprisoned Project’ is carrying out really important work and catering for the needs of republican former prisoners and their families,” Joe Austin has told An Phoblacht.

Austin, a founding member of the ‘Still Imprisoned Project’ (SIP) was speaking to An Phoblacht after a conference in Belfast which outlined the breadth of work that is carried out by the project’s volunteers.

“The project has three tiers,” Austin explains. “We have a confidential helpline staffed by our outreach team on a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week basis, with a guaranteed response time of 1 hour.

“The criteria for the outreach team is two-fold.

“Firstly, that they must have a history of alcohol, drug or gambling abuse themselves, and they must be addiction free for at least one year.”

“Secondly, they must be republicans. This is because we are still dealing with the legacy of the past and the negative experiences that republicans have of the state and its agencies overlaps into this area of work we are in. Republicans still distrust state agencies.”

Eibhlin Glenholmes, who is the SIP Project Co-ordinator, also spoke to An Phoblacht about the project.

She explained that the next tier is that of the “professionals”.

“We have a network of people, psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors and other mental health workers who will respond to a request to see someone within eight hours after the referral from the outreach team.

“Compare this to the health service waiting list that means someone in stress will only be seen after a six-week wait.”

The third tier is another innovative creation of the Project, the ‘Befrienders’ or ‘Comrade Circle’ whereby ordinary men and women help by breaking down the barriers, real or imaginary, which isolate people in recovery.

“Their role,” says Austin, “is to ease the loneliness and the guilt which people on the road to recovery face.”

“Again,” Eibhlin Glenholmes re-emphasises, “because of the experience that republicans have of the state agencies, and the deep mistrust that many republican former political prisoners still hold of any statutory body, it is of vital importance that the people we are trying to help feel confident that they are not being judged, nor labelled.

“Many of these people made extraordinary sacrifices for their community when we needed them. It is only right that their community stands by them when they need us.”

Both Eibhlin Glenholmes and Joe Austin agree that one of the main obstacles the Still Imprisoned Project had to overcome was the difficulty in persuading former political prisoners to recognise that it isn’t a weakness nor a failure to seek and receive help for psychiatric illnesses.

“People go to their doctor to be treated for physical illnesses,” Joe Austin says, “so why not recognise that psychiatric illnesses need to be healed and that people can seek help and get it.”

• To contact the Still Imprisoned Project call the 24-hour helpline 0759 8875 152 or call Tar Anall 028 90 323 631.

5 Pat Sheehan is congratulated by Gerry Adams at the selection convention PAT SHEEHAN, a 52-year-old Gaeilgeoir, is a republican former Hunger Striker from the Falls Road in west Belfast. He is the widower of Sinn Féin activist Siobhan O’Hanlon, who passed away from cancer in 2006. Pat is the father of their 11-year-old son.

In 1978, when Pat was 19, he was sentenced to 15 years in jail for IRA activity and entered the HBlocks in Long Kesh. He participated in the 1980 Hunger Strike for political status by republican prisoners in the H-Blocks and Armagh women’s jail and was on hunger strike for five days before the protest ended.

Pat was 23 years old when he became the seventeenth H-Block prisoner to join the second Hunger Strike on August 10th 1981. When the fast ended in October that year, Pat had gone 55 days without food.

In 1987, he was released but was again imprisoned for IRA activity in 1989, this time being sentenced to 24 years in jail. Pat was released from prison in 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

During his second period in jail Pat received a degree in Philosophy and Politics with First Class Honours. He became active in Sinn Féin in west Belfast and has worked on a variety of projects. He worked for the Belfast Sinn Féin Recruitment Department from 2006 to 2008.

Pat is currently the head of Sinn

Féin’s Middle East Desk in the party’s International Affairs Committee. He has travelled to the Middle East on a number of occasions to outline the lessons of the

PAT WAS 23 YEARS OLD when he became the seventeenth H-Block prisoner to join the second Hunger Strike on August 10th 1981. When the fast ended in October that year, Pat had gone 55 days without food

Irish Peace Process and engage in discussions on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

The Sheehan family has a long tradition of involvement with the GAA and has been involved with St Gall’s GAC since its foundation 100 years ago.

Pat himself remains an active member of St Gall’s GAC – the current All-Ireland football champions.

During his sporting career, he played football for Antrim. He captained the county to an Ulster vocational school championship title and has club championship medals in football and hurling.

Pat now works for the republican ex-prisoners’ organisation, Coiste na n-Iarchími, as Legacy Co-ordinator. His work involves dealing with legacy issues such as campaigning for justice for victims of torture in jail. He is also involved in projects providing support for ex-prisoners who are suffering from emotional and/or health problems as a result of their imprisonment.

He sits on the Board of Healing Through Remembrance, a forum for exploring truth recovery processes.

Pat is the Sinn Féin national coordinator of the 1980/81 Commemoration Committee which is organising commemorations around the country this year and next to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1980 and 1981 Hunger Strikes.

www.anphoblacht.com

December/Nollaig 2010 |

17

LE EOGHAN Mac CORMAIC

Scrabble as Gaeilge AGUS rudaí i bhfad níos tromchúisí ná caitheamh aimsire ar intinn daoine na laethanta seo is dócha go bhfuil mé ag dul sa seans libh ag scríobh faoi fhiontar úr i saol na Gaeilge le cúpla seachtain anuas: Scrabble as Gaeilge.

Is é Glór na nGael atá i ndiaidh an chluiche atá aitheanta go hidirnáisiúnta a fhoilsiú don chéad uair i nGaeilge mar chuid dá straitéis um normalú an teanga. Anuraidh d’éirigh le Glór na nGael ‘Junior Scrabble’ a fhoilsiú agus bhí (agus tá i gcónaí) éileamh mór ar an chluiche ag tuistí agus naíonraí ar fud na tíre. Cluiche míreanna mearaí móide cluichí litriú simplí a bhí ann agus tugadh moladh dó mar nach raibh áiseanna mar é, le branda so-aitheanta leis ar fáil ag an am.

Ar ndóigh bhí daoine ag fiosrú an mbeadh Scrabble as Gaeilge do dhaoine fásta, idir foghlaimeoirí agus daoine le cumas na Gaeilge riamh ag teacht. B’fhada muid ag fanacht agus b’fhéidir go raibh spreagadh

chun gníomh ann dúinn nuair a foilsíodh leagan Scrabble na Breatnaise timpeall 5 bhliain ó shin. Idir an dhá linn bhí teaghlaigh agus cairde ag cur Scrabble Béarla in oiriúint do chluichí Gaeilge tríd roinnt de na tíleanna a athrú agus rialacha a chruthú ‘sa bhaile’.

Bliain ó shin thug Glór na nGael faoin

togra agus rinneadh anailís ar mhinicíocht na litreacha i dtéacsanna samplacha éagsúla.

Imríodh cluichí le foirne litreacha éagsúla, cuid ina raibh consain agus séimhiú cónasctha, cuid ina raibh úrú agus túslitreacha ceangailte agus ar ndóigh bhí plé fada ann faoi cheist na gutaí le agus gan síneadh fada.

Faoi dheireadh aontaíodh ar fhoireann litreacha agus scóranna cuithe ag dul le gach litir agus aontaíodh conradh le húinéirí an bhranda, Tinderbox Games agus cuireadh roinnt boscaí den chluiche ar fáil le triall a bhaint astu. Don taifead staire, bhuaigh mo mhac Malachaí an chéad chluiche riamh ar bhord chuí Scrabble as Gaeilge nuair a shleamhnaigh sé BÓ isteach ar chearnóg sa chúinne ina raibh Luach Focail Faoi Thrí leis agus a ghnóthaigh 64 phointe dó. Ach beidh lá eile ag an Paorach agus buafaidh mé mo choróin ar ais uaidh go luath.

Tá Scrabble as Gaeilge, agus Junior Scrabble ar fáil (ar €20 agus €18 postas san áireamh) ón suíomh www.udar.ie, nó is féidir iad a fháil ó thimirí Ghlór na nGael agus costas an phostais a shábháil.

Bronntanas maith don Nollaig agus bígí cinnte de go mbainfidh sibh na huaireanta spóirt agus spraoi as.

BY BARRY McELDUFF MLA THE very day that the IMF, European Central Bank and European Commission officials descended on Dublin was the day that the National Library of Ireland launched its exhibition ‘Alice Milligan and the Irish Cultural Revival’.

I travelled by train from Newry and was pleased to witness the new bilingual emphasis at Newry Railway Station, thanks to Conor Murphy, the Sinn Féin Regional Development Minister in the North.

On the journey down, some people shared with me their enthusiasm for Gerry’s imminent arrival in the Dáil. That made me think that perhaps the vox-pops and commentary in both the print and broadcast media may be off the mark.

The taxi driver in Dublin couldn’t wait for this political development because some party leader needs to put it up to those who “sold out the Free State’s 95year-old sovereignty in 95 minutes”.

Definitions of sovereignty are contestable but he still had a point. ===========

ANYWAY, back to Alice Milligan.

Did you know, Taoiseach, that Alice was brought up in Mountfield, just six miles from me in County Tyrone. She was a personal friend of my grandfather’s.

Alice came from the Protestant tradition and became a republican and a poet/playwright of considerable renown who put culture and the arts at the very centre of the civic society and the Republic that she wanted to create.

She counted among her friends WB

5 With Dr Catherine Morris, who has researched and written extensively on the life of Alice Milligan, at the exhibition launch at the National Library of Ireland in Dublin Yeats, Standish O’Grady, Arthur Griffith and John O’Leary. Someone said that the radius of her friendship was an index of her greatness, adding up to a roll call of modern Irish history.

Thomas McDonagh described her as the greatest living poet of his generation.

I bet you didn’t know, Brian, that Alice is buried in Drumragh Old Church Graveyard, a mile outside Omagh. All credit to the Sinn Fein members from Mid-Tyrone who maintain her grave and

hold a commemoration there every Easter Saturday evening. I told this to Dr Catherine Morris who guest curated her exhibition.

Many think that Alice has been written out of Irish history because she was a woman who came from the North. She was accredited with wonderful fresh thinking which she often outlined in ‘The Shan Van Vocht’. If you get a chance, Taoiseach, nip down the street from Leinster House to the National Library

where this exhibition runs until the end of February.

As I spotted Fianna Fáil ministers being driven in ministerial Mercedes through the back gates of Leinster House on my way to the exhibition for their meetings with the IMF and the rest of them, I wondered what Alice Milligan would have made of it all.

Just on a historical note, Alice was born in 1866 and died in 1953. I think we should remember her, don’t you, Brian?

18

| December/Nollaig 2010

www.anphoblacht.com

THE ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL CRISIS | THE CRIMINALISATION OF POVERTY

Are there no prisons?

Are there no workhouses? g

do so. Isn’t “enlightened self-interest” the core of Adam Smith’s discourse ‘The Wealth of Nations’ so beloved of Thatcherite economists?

But the New Right has no intention of doing any such thing.

Duncan Smith isn’t acting as a champion for the unemployed but gang master for the sweatshop employer. Coercing the jobless into working for their benefits or taking poorly-paid work will do nothing to tackle poverty and it is pure hypocrisy to pretend otherwise.

The majority of children living in poverty live in working households. The majority of adults living in poverty live in working households. They are poor because they are poorly paid.

Poverty is not a ‘lifestyle choice’ but a consequence of the difficulties faced by ordinary people in challenging job losses and defending wage levels.

Duncan Smith isn’t a champion for the ordinary taxpayer either. His welfare proposals have nothing to do with addressing the financial deficit.

BY LAURA FRIEL

NORTH AND SOUTH, jobless and waged, the ordinary people of Ireland are under attack.

In the North. Britain’s Tory-led coalition is attempting to lower wage levels by criminalising unemployment.

Meanwhile, the South is facing wholesale pauperisation as the bankrupt Fianna Fáil administration capitulates to international pressure and cuts wages and social provision.

And as we approach Christmas and an uncertain financial New Year, many of the season’s traditional fables hold uncanny significance. Take ‘A Christmas Carol’ and the scene where Scrooge, a wealthy businessman, declines an invitation to contribute towards provision for the poor.

“Are there no prisons? And the union workhouses, are they still in operation?”

More than 150 years since it was penned, this fictional response still resonates as the most damning indictment of the criminalisation of poverty ever written.

To be ‘radical’ in Charles Dickens’s day was to join in the call for state intervention on behalf of the poor, sick and elderly. Today

PEOPLE DON’T REFUSE WORK because they’re too lazy to get out of bed in the morning. They refuse jobs because the pay offered is too low and the conditions unacceptable

IN THE LEXICON OF THE NEW RIGHT, ‘making work pay’ is code for cutting benefits and imposing sanctions that will reduce families to out-of-work destitution as a means of making ordinary people accept greater in-work poverty in the hands of Tory toffs and their coalition cheerleaders, ‘radical’ is simply a euphemism to confirm the ascendency of the New Right.

Last month, British Secretary for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith announced the “biggest shake up” of welfare entitlement since the 1940s. Describing the changes as “radical”, he said he is determined to tackle “the culture of welfare dependency by making work pay”.

Making work pay is an honourable objective, one which would make any trade unionist or seeker of social justice proud. But we’re talking about a former leader of a party that is vehemently opposed to the minimum wage, let alone the aspiration of a ‘living wage’. (No one is foolish enough to claim the current minimum wage actually provides an adequate living.)

In the lexicon of the New Right, “making work pay” is code for cutting benefits and imposing sanctions that will reduce families to out-of-work destitution as a means of making ordinary people accept greater inwork poverty.

This is not just a welfare cutting exercise.

This is also a wage cutting exercise and no amount of crocodile tears about the plight of those “abandoned” to welfare dependency is going to hide that.

The British Government plans to cut welfare by reducing payments and restrict-

5 Scrooge eventually saw the error of his ways – will Cowen, Cameron & Co? ing entitlement. Under the new system, claimants must undertake unpaid work if required, accept any job offered regardless of pay and conditions or risk the loss of all benefit entitlement for up to three years.

Families with ‘too many children’ may be penalised and the detrimental impact on children will not be a consideration when benefit is withdrawn.

The sick and disabled also face cuts and withdrawal of their benefit if they are reassessed as fit to work.

Ironically, Duncan Smith has been acclaimed as some sort of champion of the poor.

The introduction of a single, universal benefit will ‘free’ applicants from an “absurdly complex system in which claimants are presently mired,” claimed the British Daily Telegraph.

But at its core, it is “nothing less than an attempt to restore the work ethic to a nation in which the culture of worklessness is spreading like a lethal virus”,

4 It is estimated that Google avoided paying $3.1bn over the last three years by availing of the ‘Irish arrangement’

For those already ‘infected’, the New Right has the answer: fear and coercion. In the words of Duncan Smith: “The message will go across, play ball or it will be difficult.”

Duncan Smith claims his objective is to alleviate poverty. It is a lie.

People aren’t claiming benefit because they lack the necessary ‘work ethic’. They’re jobless because there are too few jobs.

People don’t refuse work because they’re too lazy to get out of bed in the morning, they refuse jobs because the pay offered is too low and the conditions unacceptable.

Duncan Smith isn’t stupid. He knows low-paid work will not reduce poverty but he argues that “work is bigger than the idea of earning money”. Perhaps someone should tell that to the bankers and the rest of the over-paid and bonus-driven financial elite.

Defending ordinary people’s right to a living wage and a safe working environment would enable people to move into employment because it was in their best interest to

In fact, his proposals will cost a great deal of money but what the hell - at least those work-shy, scrounging, skiving and conniving lead- swingers will be made to sweep the streets for no wage at all.

But - regardless of the media and their fairy stories of claimants housed in luxury accommodation, breeding like rabbits and living like lords - it’s isn’t the unemployed, sick or disabled who are living the high life by ripping-off the ordinary taxpayer.

The simple truth is ordinary taxpayers could pay less if the highest earners were made to pay their share. According to the British Treasury’s own figures, the annual loss of revenue due to tax fraud is £40billion a year. Independent estimates put the figure closer to £70billion. But the New Right has no interest in tackling the tax evasion of the really rich.

Tory Treasury Minister David Gauke recently signed an agreement with Switzerland which will allow thousands of wealthy British tax evaders to keep an estimated £125billion currently owed to the Exchequer as well as retaining their secret accounts in Zurich and Geneva.

According to an online ‘pay-your-tax’ petition, British Chancellor George Osborne is currently using a legal loophole to avoid paying £1.6million in tax. Other members of

THE SIMPLE TRUTH IS ORDINARY TAXPAYERS COULD PAY LESS if the highest earners were made to pay their share

www.anphoblacht.com

December/Nollaig 2010 |

5 Iain Duncan Smith isn’t acting as a champion for the unemployed but gang master for the sweatshop employer the British Government are also avoiding tax.

Meanwhile, in the South of Ireland, rather than engaging in real economic development, successive administrations have used tax avoidance as a source of easy revenue.

Instead of investing in real jobs for real people, the state facilitated, for a modest fee, tax avoidance by some of the world’s largest businesses.

Many simply opened an office in Dublin as a base from which to file their tax returns or as a stepping stone to shifting money to jurisdictions where they would pay no tax at all.

It is estimated that Google avoided paying $3.1billion over the last three years by availing of the ‘Irish arrangement’. No wonder wealthy Britons, most notably George Osborne, labelled Ireland “a shining example”.

Osborne’s ‘generous’ offer of lending £7billion to “a friend in need” appeared less of a gift after it emerged that the British Exchequer was borrowing money at 1% and lending it to Ireland at 5%.

The ink was barely dry on Brian Cowen’s formal request for international intervention before IMF regulators called for cuts in benefit payments and a reduction in the level of the minimum wage.

In a formal position paper, the IMF urged

“a gradual decrease of benefits over time of unemployment and stricter job search requirements”. It went on to call for a review of the minimum wage “to make it consistent with the general fall in wages”.

Fianna Fáil complied, cutting the minimum wage by 10%, slashing social welfare by €2.8billion and throwing 25,000 public sector workers out of work.

The ordinary people of Ireland, North or South, had no hand in the making of the current fiscal crisis. The responsibility lies with reckless bankers, their business cronies and the politicians who refused to regulate them.

Ordinary people aren’t being targeted because they are to blame but because they are the least able to defend themselves.

5James Stewart sums it up in ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’: “Just remember this, Mr Potter, that this rabble you’re talking about, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community”

BÍ LE SHINN FÉIN/ JOIN SINN FÉIN

19

5 Brian Cowen: Making the public pay for the bankers’ crises Bankers still have their bonuses, Big Business its tax loopholes.

Ireland isn’t being targeted because they owe the most or work the least but because, as a peripheral member of the EU with a legacy of colonial under-development, it is less able to defend itself. As the current crisis in the financial markets plays itself out, Ireland is at risk of becoming the workhouse of Europe.

Along with ‘A Christmas Carol’ another festive favourite will be viewed this year with knowing irony.

‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ has all the elements: private property pitched against social housing, individual greed set against mutual aid. There’s even a banking crisis.

In a famous scene, the selfless George Bailey berates Mr Potter, a pernicious property developer, for describing working people as feckless rabble.

“Just remember this, Mr Potter, that this rabble you’re talking about, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community,” declares the Hollywood hero.

On screen, with a little angelic guidance, the collective power of ordinary people prevails. In life, too, the collective power of ordinary people can also prevail.

Seol d'ainm, seoladh agus uimhir guthán chuig / Send you name, address and phone number to: 44 Cearnóg Parnell, Baile Átha Cliath 1 / 44 Parnell Square, Dublin 1.

Bí le Téacs / Join by Text: Seol an focal JOIN ansin d'ainm agus seoladh chuig / Text the word JOIN followed by your name and address to: 51500 (26 Chondae / 26 counties) 60060 (6 Chondae / 6 counties)

Ainm / Name: ...........................................................................................................................................................

Ar Líne / Join online: www.sinnfein.ie/join-sinn-fein

Fón/R.phost / Tel/Email: ................................................................................................................................

Seoladh / Address:

.............................................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................................................................................................

20

| December/Nollaig 2010

www.anphoblacht.com

THE BOBBY SANDS SIERRA MAESTRA TREK | SINN FÉIN SOLIDARITY IN CUBA A DELEGATION of Sinn Féin activists travelled to Cuba in October/November for the inaugural ‘Bobby Sands Sierra Maestra Trek’. It is hoped that this will become an annual event during which Irish republicans will get the opportunity to travel to Cuba, meet with activists and other citizens across Cuba, and learn from and exchange views and experiences with them.

Those taking part in the trek had to fund the trip themselves, and in the months leading up to their departure, to their credit, they managed through collective effort to reach their target.

The following is a personal account from one of those who took part, Dale Moore of Derry Sinn Féin.

OUCHING down on a balmy Cuban autumn evening we weren’t sure what to expect but we were full of anticipation. We all knew it would be an experience of a lifetime.

As our host, Yobel, greeted us at the airport with a large smile, we began a political and social education that would live with us forever.

It is impossible to put all of our experiences into one article but I will attempt to relate the highlights of the trip.

After an evening meal and an early night we emerged from the hotel into bright sunshine the next morning to begin a walking tour of old Havana. As we wandered from historic square through narrow streets we could see history in every corner, square and street of the old city.

In a remarkable coincidence we met with some of the families of the Cuban Five who were out for the birthday of Antonio Guerrero and we joined them in their celebrations. We exchanged solidarity greetings and accompanied them to a restaurant where we got the opportunity to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ down the phone to Antonio. This is a campaign we can help and must get behind.

The next day we met with an old friend of Sinn Féin, the former Ambassador to Ireland, Noelle Carrillo.

Noelle explained at length the reforms that were being implemented to improve the lives of the Cuban people.

We travelled to meet ICAP, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Relations, and then walked the short

In the footsteps of revolutionary heroes

T

THE DIRECTOR OF THE CHE GUEVARA MONUMENT accepted ten stones, one each from the graves of our Hunger Strikers, and promised that they would be laid within the site and treated with reverence as these men also inspire revolutionaries across the world distance to the Hunger Strike Memorial where, after a small ceremony including the local Cuban people who maintain the monument, a wreath was laid in memory of the sacrifice of Irish Hunger Strikers.

After visiting the many historical sites of Havana we then flew south to Santiago de Cuba for another series of meetings, which included the Cuban Youth Movement.

We paid a visit to the famous Moncada Barracks, the scene of the first attempted uprising led by Fidel Castro. This national monument is also now used as a school and we were delighted to be able to meet with the children who sang their National Anthem to us with such pride as it was the actual day marking the creation of the Cuban anthem.

We then moved west into Bayamo and had a wonderful time meeting with veterans of the rev-

5 Che with Fidel

olution, including people who had fought in the Sierra Maestra alongside Che and Fidel. This was a humbling experience for us all as these old men told us how they were still part and felt part of the continuing revolution.

One of the internationally unsung heroes of the Cuban revolution is Celia Sanchez and it was fitting that we visited her house and also met the Federation of Cuban Women in her province. Like many Irish female revolutionaries, she is a role model and inspiration to all of us. Fidel fought

5 Castro and the Cuban revolutionaries in the Sierra Maestra mountains 6 January 4th 1959: Celia Sanchez pictured in front of Fidel as he waves in celebration entering Cienfuegos after the victory over the Cuban dictator Batista

hard to ensure equality for women during the revolution and this can be seen with the amount of women involved at the highest level of Cuban politics (a lesson we can all certainly learn from).

That evening was the highlight of the trip for many of us as we went into a neighbourhood to meet the Committee for the Defence of the Revolution. The entire neighbourhood turned out to greet us and while they don’t have a lot they put on a spread that could have graced any banquet.

After a few formalities we mingled with the locals and ended up having an open-air party where we danced and sang the night away and, believe it or not, there was not an alcoholic drink in sight!

WE MET VETERANS WHO HAD FOUGHT IN THE SIERRA MAESTRA alongside Che and Fidel... old men now who told us how they were still part and felt part of the continuing revolution The next morning it was up and away to do some serious hiking across the Sierra Maestra to the camp that sheltered the revolutionaries at the beginning of the revolution.

First we saw where it all began at the landing site of the ‘Granma’. One historian wrote of the Granma: “In November 1956, 82 Cuban rebels piled onto the small yacht Granma and set sail for Cuba to touch off the Cuban Revolution.

“The yacht, designed for only 12 passengers and supposedly with a maximum capacity of 25, also had to carry fuel for a week as well as food and weapons for the soldiers.

“Miraculously, the Granma made it to Cuba on December 2nd and the Cuban rebels (including Fidel and Raul Castro, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos) disembarked to start the revolution.”

It was then onto the mountain range for the climb.

The natural beauty of the area masked the hard work of climbing the mountain in the heat but it was worth it to see the camp. It was very easy to be transported back in time and imagine ‘companeros’ living their lives here.

www.anphoblacht.com

December/Nollaig 2010 |

At the Hunger Strike Memorial in Havana

The historic Moncada Barracks

With veterans who had fought in the Sierra Maestra alongside Che and Fidel, still part of the continuing revolution

Meeting families of the Cuba Five

Coming off the mountain we met local farmers who were willing to share their produce with us and their organic bananas and oranges were soon devoured with enthusiasm.

From where Che lived and fought for freedom we then travelled to where he lies in peace in Santa Clara. The impressive memorial stands tribute to a man who not only inspired the Cuban people but revolutionaries across the globe. It was therefore

THE FAMOUS MONCADA BARRACKS, the scene of the first attempted uprising led

by Fidel Castro, is a national monument and is also now used as a school fitting that the Director of the monument accepted ten stones, one each from the graves of our Hunger Strikers, and promised that they would be laid within the site and treated with reverence as these men also inspire revolutionaries across the world. It is good to see that people who have died unselfishly are now united in death with the com-

mon theme of sacrifice for humanity.

Visiting the tomb where Che and his comrades rest one can reflect in the silence and glow of the eternal flame how important the sacrifice of the patriot dead has been in advancing people’s revolutions. With our own personal thoughts we left to view Che’s belongings in the museum situated next door.

After visiting several other sites - including the armoured train site, the attack that signalled victory in the revolution - we ended our political tour and headed for Varadero for a few days’ rest.

This gave us the opportunity to reflect on the trip and the lessons of the Cuban revolution.

The Cuban nation is relatively young and emerging from being squeezed between two super-powers but is now developing as a nation on its own right, self-sufficient and confident of improving the lives of its people.

The people may not be wealthy but they are extremely rich in terms of their culture, politics and history. They are a generous people who are willing to share not only their experiences but also their meagre possessions.

Their politics flow from the bottom up and

21

equality is ingrained in their political philosophy.

The right to education and health and the welfare of the people top their agenda.

Their ability to organise and resolve problems as a collective means that the nation grows together.

When James Connolly said, “Rise with your class, not out of it,” he could have been speaking about Cuba.

WHEN JAMES CONNOLLY SAID, ‘Rise with your class, not out of it,’ he could have been speaking about Cuba The biggest lesson we learned was that unless your revolution embraces humanity and the betterment of all the people you have wasted your time.

I am sure that if I return to Cuba in ten years’ time that the lives of the local people will have been improved immensely but that the principles of the revolution will still be firmly in place, directing that improvement.

Hasta la victoria siempre!

22

| December/Nollaig 2010

www.anphoblacht.com

BOOK REVIEW | 2016: A New Proclamation for a New Generation, by Gerard O’Neill

LOOKING AT THE PROCLAMATION g

WORLD BY STORM ‘World by Storm’ is the moderator for the left-wing blog Cedar Lounge Revolution http://cedarlounge.wordpress.com

T

HE title of this book in a way encapsulates what is an accessible, thoughtful and often interesting read which positions the Proclamation within a broader historical narrative and attempts to rework it - or offer new elements for consideration of it - for the contemporary period. However, it also sums up some of the problematic aspects for those of us who regard ourselves as Left republicans.

In form it takes the reader through different passages of the 1916 Proclamation and counterposes them with suggestions for a new text. The hook is clever and there is a continual impulse to skip to the concluding section where the documents are laid out side by side. But to do so will result in a degree of disappointment for many. The new text is arguably less specific than the original - albeit with some modish twists.

“Gallant allies in Europe” is reworked as “by our fellow citizens in the European Union”.

Given the provenance of the author perhaps this should be no surprise. O’Neill is a founder of Amárach Research, a market research agency whose findings are scattered throughout the text, and avowedly a Euro-enthusiast and a strong believer in economic liberalism. This results in some genuinely odd moments, as for

‘Crucially, one does not quite sense fully from this work what 1916 or Pearse and Connolly represented’

THERE IS A CONTINUAL IMPULSE to skip to the concluding section where the documents are laid out side by side example where (page 52) O’Neill appears to implicitly argue that the ‘freedom’ sought in 1916 is perhaps equivalent to ‘economic freedoms’ in this century.

Crucially, one does not quite sense fully from this work what 1916 or Pearse and Connolly represented, or more importantly saw themselves as representing.

The author is himself originally from the North but in the text there appears to be a certain detachment from what the reality of competing national identities actually means in political and cultural terms and although there is a reasonably good discussion of sovereignty in the 21st century the conclusions seem to tilt towards subsidiarity within the context of the EU. At best, the book appears to park the issue of partition and implicitly trust to a convergence through economic processes alone. This may be a neat inversion of the arguments of those who have sought a unity of the working class as the prerequisite for progress but in a period of economic dislocation it appears optimistic - at best.

There is also, given the disastrous economic events of the past decade, a curious optimism as to the efficacy of the market although he makes a clever attempt to reposition cronyism as being in the context of a state that has historically been pro-business (or sectors of same) rather than pro-market. This though begs the question why other states with even more emphasis on economically liberal approaches such as the United States and Britain have fared particularly poorly in the current crisis, whereas more social democratically inclined states have weathered the storm somewhat better.

We pledge, through the lives we lead, to warrant the faith put in us by past generations and to ensure Ireland’s esteem among the free nations of the world.

One further problem is that as he engages with issue after issue (for example the importance of educational opportunity, which he rightly considers key to a successful societal approach), the detail begins to dry up. He’s strongly in favour but how that might tangibly be implemented is never discussed. **** **** **** In terms of specific suggestions this is perhaps where the difficulties implicit in such an exercise become more apparent. To take as a representative example: Ours is a fortunate generation of Irish people, one of only a few to have lived in a free and sovereign nation. Through the labour and vision of past generations, we now enjoy the rights that they asserted.

Mindful of this inheritance, and also of the responsibility that every generation has to protect and pass on our freedom to the next generation, we hereby proudly re-proclaim the Irish Republic as a sovereign independent state.

It is possible to argue that jettisoning the reference to “Irish people have asserted their right to national freedom and sovereignty; six times during the last three hundred years they have asserted it in arms” removes power from the Proclamation. And does the excision of the word “welfare”, obviously not meant in the more contemporary usage but still a powerfully evocative term, improve upon the original?

There are some interesting points. O’Neill rightly notes the use of the phrase “The

THERE APPEARS TO BE a certain detachment from what the reality of competing national identities actually means in political and cultural terms Republic... declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation...’, a formula that echoes the United States Declaration of Independence.

O’Neill also proposes the following: Ireland has led the world in its demands for equal rights for all men and women in the cause of its freedom. We can be proud of our achievements in enabling

www.anphoblacht.com

December/Nollaig 2010 |

23

CHRISTMAS PRESENTS WITH A MESSAGE g

Irishwomen and Irishmen to play their part in a flourishing Republic.

wrote it originally. In that respect, perhaps this is a book republicans of all shades should read.

And yet one wonders about the historical accuracy of such a statement.

Moreover there is the question of how other areas are dealt with. There is nothing concerning the problems that we face either on this island or globally.

There is no mention of partition in the reworked document.

Climate change is ignored.

While he gives some time in the book to the issue of changing social relationships, particularly those enabled by the internet, there is no sense of that reflected in the document.

It is important to note that the Proclamation has no official standing, that, at best, rather like

• 2016 A New Proclamation for a New Generation, by Gerard O’Neill (Mercier Press).

Price €13.49.

THIS BOOK MAY BE much closer to the way the meaning of 1916 will be presented and represented at its centennial anniversary by Official Ireland and how the Proclamation will be appropriated, in parts far removed from those who wrote it originally the Democratic Programme of the First Dáil, it is a foundation document but one with essentially rhetorical power.

The text of the original is far from nebulous and there is a strong argument that it could and should be transposed into the Constitution, or perhaps a reworked Constitution, but to rework the Proclamation seems in some ways diversionary. The original, bar a number of very specific elements, remains coherent and consistent enough to stand on its own terms. And that raises the question as to whether there truly is a necessity to refashion it for the 21st century.

One might argue that the fundamental work is necessary on the Constitution, particularly as regards facilitating and enabling future structures on the island as a whole.

All that said, as a means of working through where we have come from and where we may be going, this book presents us with a sense of direction that might otherwise be lacking.

Indeed, in some ways this book may, for better and for worse, be much closer to the way the meaning of 1916 will be presented and represented at its centennial anniversary by Official Ireland and how the Proclamation will be appropriated, in parts far removed from those who

BY JOHN HEDGES

BUYING a present that’s different or means something can be the toughest part of Christmas for some and this year people are particularly hard-pressed to find value.

Look no further than the Dublin City Centre Sinn Féin Bookshop & Coffee Shop at 58 Parnell Square at the top of O’Connell Street.

If you’re up shopping in Dublin, drop in to enjoy the terrific full menu of coffees, teas, paninis, wraps, soups with a chat with the hospitable and knowledgeable staff about politics, economics, the state of the nation or the price of the pint And there’s a huge range of presents and gifts for all budgets.

One that everyone can afford annually and still drives the Daily Telegraph mad is the fullcolour Republican Resistance Calendar, priced just €5.

The top-selling item flying off the

shelves at €40 is the GAA-style shirt in the Dublin colours emblazoned on the front with a Dublin City crest and crossed rifles with an eye-catching graphic on the back of the 1916 Rising leaders under the legend “Dublin City 16 – The City That Fought An Empire”.

You can score with one of the decorative hurley sticks displaying various emblems and inscriptions are a novel idea at just €20.

For those chilly times ahead, the shops also stocks waterproof jackets.

Get ahead and get a baseball cap with a republican crest for €10.

The IMF and Fianna Fáil may be planning to take the shirt off your back but for those happy days when the sun might shine again, pick up polo shirts and T-shirts (€15) celebrating resistance and struggle in Ireland and internationally.

A new line in showing international solidarity with Palestine is the extra virgin olive oil made in Hebron, providing you with a quality product for €15 and giving real solidarity and an income to Palestinians trying to earn a living in their day to day struggle.

You can fly the flag at home and overseas with Tricolours at €10 and flags of other progressive countries as well as provincial flags and the Starry Plough available at €12 apiece.

Statuettes of IRA Volunteers and historical figures make striking presents or there are framed or unframed copies of four variations of the 1916 Proclamation.

There’s a range of five different Christmas cards, including the GPO, Bobby Ballagh’s ‘Legacy’ to remember the H-Block Hunger Strikers and ‘Revolutionary Greetings’ from Che Guevara to pick from.

The music CDs and books there are too numerous to mention. Some books that I picked up (and paid for!) were Meda Ryan’s Michael Collins and the Women Who Spied for Ireland (€12.99) and Renegades: Irish republican Women 1900-1922 (€19.99), by Ann Matthews (that’s two female comrades’ present problems unexpectedly solved for sure for me and which I can be sure will be appreciated).

Others on my to-get list are The Munster Republic: The Civil War in North Cork, by Michael Harrington (€16.99), and for a hill-walking buddy Tales of the Wicklow Hills: 200 Years of History, Myth, Legend and Local Stories (€10).

And if you’re looking for a particular book (like Donal Donnelly’s Prisoner 1082: Escape from Crumlin Road, Europe’s Alcatraz), just phone 01 814 8542 and if it can be got it will be got it it’s not in store already.

Most of these items are also on sale in the Belfast shop as well (see advertisement).

• Or order online at http://www.sinn feinbookshop.com/catalog/index.php where you can see the whole range available.

24

| December/Nollaig 2010

www.anphoblacht.com

Unemployed English Girl to Wed Soldier from Welfare Family UTEN MORGEN, meine freunde. Wie geht es lhnen heute? Yes, indeed, it’s time for us all to learn German.

And I’d like to say I, for one, welcome our new overlords from Brussels and the IMF. Admittedly, I spent the weekend going through the Phoblacht archive carefully removing any articles that could be seen as being critical of the EU. Some of the stuff around the Lisbon referendum was perhaps a little over the top. But I know now that the EU is our friend, and if I’m not to end up in some sort of politically correct re-education centre, it’s time to mend my ways.

SOMEONE else mending his ways a little bit is Willie O’Dea. Since being diispatched from Cabinet by one Maurice Quinlivan, he’s scratching a living writing columns for the Sunday Independent.

Though he prefers to think of “the freedom I gained by being involuntarily released from the bindings of office”.

Truly enormous levels of self-delusion here.

Anyway, the article is headlined, “It’s hard to admit it, but Fianna Fáil’s strategy has gone wrong,” which is true, if a little obvious and still falling short of the grovelling apology we deserve.

But what we have seen in these last few days is an end, for a generation, of any trust people might have in Fianna Fáil on the economy. It’s like Black Wednesday in England in 1992 when the Tories had to pull their currency out of the European exchange rate mechanism.

They still haven’t quite recovered their reputation, however ill-deserved, for being able to manage an economy almost 20 years on.

It’ll take a similar length of time for Fianna Fáil to recover from this. Granted, it might be a little shorter because no one can think of Enda Kenny as Taoiseach and not want to curl into a little ball, but for the first time since they became the ‘natural party of government’ in the 1930s, the economic illiterates in Fianna Fáil are exposed for what they are.

RETURNING to Germans, William Windsor Saxe-Coburg Gotha has finally gotten engaged to Kate Middleton after stringing her along for a good eight years. Classy boy. Or as an English online newspaper put it, “Unemployed English Girl to Wed Soldier from Welfare Family”, which has the dual benefit of hilarity and honesty.

The Irish Independent, which devoted a mind-bog-

gling eight pages to the engagement took a slightly more forelock-tugging line, and after a while it just got to be a little too much seeing allegedly hardened hacks going goo-goo over an English royal wedding.

The flatmate Roisín takes a different tack on this, though. While on an intellectual level she’s no fan of the English royal fami-

ly, conscious as a Cork woman that they are our racial inferiors, another part of her took one look at Middleton in her dress, holding the arm of ‘Big Willie’ (as she is alleged to call her fiancee) with Diana Spencer’s ring on her finger and wished she too could be a princess.

THE IRISH INDEPENDENT DEVOTED A FORELOCK-TUGGING, mind-boggling eight pages to the English royal engagement I blame the fairy stories some parents read to us as kids. We’re told about handsome princes and beautiful princesses and we want to be that way.

Where are the republican fairy stories?

Why don’t we hear about Hansel and Gretel meeting Thomas Paine and, after a brisk overview of the evils of hereditary power and wealth, they go on a culling spree with a guillotine?

Instead of being the heroes, we need fairy tales that mark royals of whatever nationality as the villains, put down by all right-thinking people and baked in ovens like witches.

Still, while as republicans we wish nothing but pain, heartache and misery for anyone inbred enough to continue to believe in the concepts of royalty and monarchy, on a personal human level, I hope Kate and William will be very happy together.

And that when MI5 kill her they’ll make it painless.

FINALLY, I had a bit of a brainwave over the last couple of months.

Like any normal person I’m seized by a murderous rage whenever I see a Poppy but modern Irish society frowns on slapping Poppy wearers in the face and tearing them from their jacket. At the same time, giving them a dirty look or ignoring them doesn’t feel like enough of a response.

So I popped in to see Sinn Féin’s fund-raising experts with a suggestion. Next year, we launch the ‘Sinn Féin Poppy Appeal’. The idea is simple. You keep track of the amount of Poppies you see, not counting ones on the telly, X Factor hopefuls or ostentatiously worn by unionist politicians. I’m talking average punters in the street wearing Poppies.

Then, once Poppy season is over, you pay a fiver for each one you saw to your local Sinn Féin cumann.

So this year I saw five poppies and my cumann gets €25. In the North it might be a bit more of an expensive proposition, so maybe just a quid there.

It’s a nice way to hit back against British cultural imperialism... and it has the added benefit that you start to avoid places where Poppy wearers might be about.

www.anphoblacht.com

December/Nollaig 2010 |

25

5 Members of the Garngad Cumann of Cairde na hÉireann, who hosted the talk by Martin McGuinness

Martin McGuinness pays tribute to Scotland supporters g

BY MICHAEL ‘DIXIE’ DICKSON

ON SATURDAY 13th November, Martin McGuinness flew into Glasgow Airport to a completely different kind of welcome that Gerry Adams received on his arrival in Glasgow back in 1995. Back then, Gerry, was greeted at the airport by a baying crowd of Scottish loyalists. This time, the only people who reacted were one or two among the plane-load of Rangers fans who had to share the flight with Martin and his team.

The purpose of the visit was twofold. The first was to give a talk as guest speaker and take a question and answer open forum with Cairde na hÉireann, the growing republican support network in Scotland. The second was to host the 2nd Cairde na hÉireann Dinner Dance later that evening.

The talk was held in St Roche’s Hall in the Garngad. The turn-out was amazing for a Saturday afternoon. The hall was packed with around 200 people eager to hear the republican message direct from a leadership figure.

Joining Martin for the two-hour event was Glasgow-born Pat Doherty MP, Seán Oliver and Franny McAdam, Cairde National Organiser in Scotland.

Martin’s talk covered every aspect of the struggle and went down a storm. Then came the questions from the floor. There was no shortage a people looking to ask Martin his views on subjects as diverse as his views on socalled ‘dissidents’, MI5, and the economy in the 26 Counties and the Six Counties.

Later that evening, Friends of Sinn Féin Scotland held their 2nd Annual Dinner Dance in Glasgow. Even in this tough economic climate, every ticket was sold with 200 proud republicans taking their seats for the dinner dance.

After a superb meal, Cairde Scotland National Organiser Franny McAdam introduced Gerry Duddy from the Bloody Sunday families and Irene Connolly from the Ballymurphy Massacre families. Both thanked Cairde for all their hard work in publicing their campaigns by holding marches to highlight the issues and bringing family members over to give talks.

Martin McGuinness joined in thanking Cairde for all the work and support they do for Sinn Féin and that their efforts are recognised by the leadership of Sinn Féin. Then it was time to honour three young members of Cairde for all the time and effort they put into keeping their republican flute bands on the road. The honourees were Lloyd Ingram from the Volunteer Seán McIlvenna RFB; Alan Casey from the Volunteer Martin ‘Doco’ Doherty RFB; and Liz Taylor from the Coatbridge RFB. Finally, Gerry Keating was given a special presentation by Martin McGuinness of a ‘Spirit of Freedom’ glassware piece for all his work over many a year to spread the republican message in Scotland.

Special thanks have to go to Franny, Tommy and all the members of Cairde not just for making Saturday a huge success but for all the hard work they put in to spreading and promoting the republican message every day of the year by holding marches, talks, exhibitions and functions throughout the year.

Also thanks to Danny Doherty for all the tremendous organisation of the dinner dance.

Already plans are afoot to make next year’s event even bigger.

26

| December/Nollaig 2010

www.anphoblacht.com

The reality of Irish emigration to the USA g

BY JOSEPH McMANUS President of the United Irish Counties Association of New York

MANY people, especially young people, are looking at emigrating in desperation at the scale of the economic crisis and the slash and burn policies that ARE also slashing their job and quality of life opportunities. An Phoblacht encourages people to stay and fight. This article highlights issues affecting Irish immigrants in the United States IN THE 1980s, during the last major downturn in the Irish economy, we witnessed a new wave of immigration to the United States. These ‘New Irish’, as they became known, were undocumented and faced far different problems than their predecessors.

NUMBERS AND GREEN CARDS The Economic and Social Research Institute in its April 2010 report, Recovery Scenarios for Ireland, warned that 200,000 people may be forced to emigrate between now and 2015 if unemployment is not addressed. Assuming no speedy recovery in growth, this might even be an underestimation.

According to the 2009 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, published by the Department of Homeland Security, in the 1840s, there were 656,145 Irish nationals granted legal permanent resident (green card) status. In the 1990s, largely due to the success of the Morrison visas, there were 65,384.

In the last decade, from 2000 to 2009, Green Cards distributed to Irish nationals totalled 29,282.

Last year, for example, only 1,708 Irish immigrants could wave brand new Green Cards. This compares to the combined total for Norway and Sweden (not highmigration countries, you would have thought) who polled 1,726 Green Cards between them.

When you also compare that to the estimated tens of thousands of Irish living in the shadows – undocumented, with no health insurance, no access to welfare assistance, no drivers’ licences, no credit facilities, no real identities and no way home (or if they come home, no way back) – you can understand the scale of the problem. Worse, you can see how those numbers can easily multiply.

What we need to ensure is that the undocumented problem does not become a critical mass and lead to a crisis.

We need to make sure, insofar as we can, that when our young people make the decision to try their luck abroad, they do not rush headlong into the immigration trap that has ensnared so many of their older brothers, sisters and cousins.

Responding to their needs. a new organisation called the Irish Immigration Reform Movement (IIRM) was founded at a meeting of the County Cork Association in May 1987. The long-standing United Irish Counties Association immediately offered its assistance by putting its offices at the disposal of the IIRM. The efforts of the IIRM resulted in the passage of the Immigration Act of 1990, giving 48,000 visas to the Irish. These visas became known as the ‘Morrison Visas’, named after Congressman Bruce Morrison of Connecticut.

Today, I am firmly of the opinion that the services, organisation and good will of the UICA, and likeminded organisations will again be called upon to assist yet another wave of Irish immigrants and to help them navigate even more perilous pathways to a safer and more certain future. There is already ample evidence of this.

To give you a sense of both the obstacles, and the opportunities, for Irish immigrants, I would like to address some of the commonly-held myths relating to US immigration.

MYTH: The post 9/11 anti-immigrant backlash did not affect Irish immigrants as much as other immigrants.

FACT: All immigrants, regardless of their country of origin, have felt some of the negative effects of the anti-immigrant sentiment since 9/11.

This has not been the effect of new laws, but rather an increase in enforcement of existing laws from 1996, the last time there was a comprehensive change in immigration legislation. These measures include an increase in detection and deportation; enforcement of bars for immigrants who overstay their visas; and refusal of drivers’ licences to undocumented immigrants.

MYTH: If an Irish immigrant is caught and detained, they can offer to purchase a flight home immediately.

FACT: There are an increasing number of Irish nationals who are being detained and deported after being held in detention from anywhere between two to six weeks, with no right to bail or to a judicial hearing.

5 Ethnic groups rally for immigrant rights in Chicago

4 4 4 4 4

H-1B for intending emigrants who have a college degree Visas for artists and athletes Investor visas Family sponsorship (US citizen spouse, children, parents, siblings) Employer Green Card sponsorship.

MYTH: It is impossible to get good information about what visa options are available.

FACT: The Emigrant Advice Centre in Dublin and the various Irish Immigration Centres throughout the US offer advice. They can provide assistance with employment, accommodation, visas and social services. Other organisations, such as Fáilte 32, help long-term visa holders find employment.

MYTH: Irish immigrants in the US are doing really well.

FACT: While many Irish immigrants are doing well there also those who, for a variety of reasons, are not making it.

Many Irish people have difficulty negotiating the complex system in the US. Undocumented immigrants especially are often afraid to seek assistance for problems such as: 4 Substance abuse 4 Domestic violence 4 Mental illness/depression 4 Homelessness 4 Arrests/convictions/immigration problems 4 Serious health problems and disability 4 Death of a family member 4 Divorce or separation 4 Child abuse/neglect.

MYTH: You can enter the United States from Canada undetected.

FACT: There is a significant increase in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) personnel within 100 miles of the border. Most importantly, immigrants who have been deported and return to the US face five years’ imprisonment for re-entry without inspection.

MYTH: There are still ways for people who have overstayed their visas to travel in and out of the US FACT: With increased efficiency, the introduction of machine-readable passports, biometrics and the introduction of the ESTA and USVISIT electronic systems, this is not a real possibility, and the penalties for providing fraudulent information can be severe.

MYTH: There are no visas available to Irish people who want to travel to the US. FACT: There are still plenty of options for Irish nationals who wish to emigrate to the US, either permanently or temporarily for work or training, such as:4 The Diversity Visa lottery (which runs from October to November) 4 The 20,000 Irish Work Training J-1 visas for graduates and students

WHAT CAN BE DONE There are a number of initiatives we would call on people to support.

(1) Broaden the reach and scope of the IWT J-1 visa; (2) Keep up the financial support for the immigration centres, who provide sterling professional advice to thousands of Irish immigrants, and who have been in the trenches for many years, through good times and bad; (3) Support the DREAM act; (4) Continue to lobby your friends in Congress for comprehensive immigration reform.

Realise, by doing these things, you are not butting into another country’s internal affairs – you are simply asking for our young to experience and benefit from the open traditions of a country that Irish nationals helped build from revolutionary times to the present.

www.anphoblacht.com

December/Nollaig 2010 |

27

DEMOCRACY DENIED Widen the franchise to all Irish citizens g

BY CAOIMHGHÍN Ó CAOLÁIN TD

SINN FÉIN Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin has said that Irish citizens living abroad, as well as Irish citizens in the Six Counties, should be given the right to vote in 26-County elections. Ó Caoláin was addressing a Sinn Féin public meeting on November 4th in the London Irish Centre. The meeting was addressed by Professor Mary Hickman of London Metropolitan University and Mal Rogers, editor of the Irish Post newspaper.

This article is an edited version of what Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said.

WILL Ireland live up to its claimed respect for its world-wide Diaspora, including the Irish in Britain, and grant its citizens living abroad the right to vote in Irish elections? This is a timely question.

Ireland is in the depths of a very serious economic crisis. That crisis was made; it was not an accident of nature. A national conversation is beginning in Ireland about what kind of island, what kind of society and what kind of economy our people will create at the other side of the crisis.

We in Sinn Féin have a clear vision of the New Republic we want to build. It would be a united and peaceful Ireland, an Ireland of equals and an Ireland that cherishes the Diaspora and accords to all its citizens the full rights of citizenship, including the right to vote.

Let it be said at the outset that there is little or no prospect of the present Government in Dublin granting such voting rights.

But this Government is on its last legs. Therefore now is a very timely moment to advance the debate on the extension of the franchise.

On October 13th I raised this issue in the Dáil with Taoiseach Brian Cowen. I asked him if any consideration was being given to widening the electoral franchise to Irish citizens living outside the jurisdiction of the 26 Counties.

The Taoiseach stated that he was not aware of any such proposal and he went on: “I am saying the onus is on those who propose it to come forward with some case for consideration. It is not for me to build their case.”

The case has, of course, been made many times and over many years. But I welcome this invitation from the Taoiseach to make the case and to build the case.

That is our purpose here and in the campaign which will hopefully emerge from this meeting.

The Taoiseach himself has sought to recruit well-known and

talented members of the Irish Diaspora to assist in Ireland’s economic recovery. Surely it would add more meaning and substance to that effort if he recognised that Irish citizens living abroad should have a voice in national democracy.

This is especially important for the Irish in Britain.

I want to pay tribute to the Irish in London and in Britain generally for the constructive role they have played.

The election for the next President of Ireland takes place next year. In recent years, the President has become possibly the most tangible connection to the Diaspora, through the regular visits to Irish communities across this country made by President Mary McAleese and her predecessor, Mary Robinson. On taking office, Mary Robinson lit a candle in the window of Áras an Uachtaráin in the Phoenix Park, as a reminder for all those passing to remember the Irish Diaspora who had been scattered across the world.

Now that the election is in sight, we in Sinn Féin believe that the time is right to bring the call for a Diaspora role in the election back to the fore.

Sinn Féin will use its good offices in the Oireachtas to make sure that that call is heard. n

The renewed Programme for Government, agreed in October 2009 makes a commitment to establish an Independent Electoral Commission. Among the tasks of that commission, according to the Government Programme, is to “make recommendations on the feasibil-

5 In recent years, the President has become possibly the most tangible connection to the Diaspora

5 President Mary Robinson lit a candle in the window of Áras an Uachtaráin to remember the Irish Diaspora scattered across the world

n

ity of extending the franchise for Presidential elections to the Irish abroad”.

We will be seeking a meeting with the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to press for

n

this commitment to be fulfilled.

We will be campaigning energetically for voting rights in Presidential elections for citizens in the Six Counties also.

THE TAOISEACH HIMSELF HAS SOUGHT TO RECRUIT WELLKNOWN AND TALENTED MEMBERS OF THE IRISH DIASPORA to assist in Ireland’s economic recovery. Surely it would add more meaning and substance to that effort if he recognised that Irish citizens living abroad should have a voice in national democracy

In Britain, we would like to see people from the Irish community coming together to raise the issue and to actively campaign on it.

You can be sure that Sinn Féin will be as supportive as we can to help.

We are not seeking to monopolise this issue as a party. Other parties in Ireland should be welcomed on board this campaign.

Between us, we must ensure that this issue is on the agenda for everyone who goes forward as a candidate in the Presidential election. The more of us who work collectively together on this, the better the chance of finally righting what we regard as an historic wrong, including to yourselves, as Irish people living outside the island.

The Irish at home and abroad are both proud of our past and looking to the future.

Here in London, 90 years ago last week, the Irish community lined the streets in their tens of thousands to say farewell to the martyred Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney, who died on hunger strike in Brixton Prison. His dignity and determination won the admiration of people in Britain and much sympathy and support here for Irish independence.

The free Irish nation for which Mac Swiney and so many others sacrificed so much includes the Irish living outside the island of Ireland.

As we look to the future we need to build on that spirit of freedom, build a truly new Ireland, a New Republic which embraces all our citizens and all of our Diaspora.

28

| December/Nollaig 2010

www.anphoblacht.com

REMEMBERING THE PAST |

BY MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA

The Government of Ireland Act 1920 THE Government of Ireland Bill, which laid the basis for partition, was introduced in the House of Commons in December 1919.

It was rejected by all sides in Ireland and the pro-unionist Irish Times commented: “The Bill had not a single friend in either hemisphere, outside Downing Street.”

Not a single Irish member of any party voted for it. With the establishment in Ireland of Dáil Éireann after an overwhelming vote for Sinn Féin and full independence the Bill seemed doomed at birth. Yet it was the law that would shape the destiny of Ireland for decades.

While the Government of Ireland Bill was passing through

‘THERE IS NO USE in our undertaking a government which we know would be a failure if we were saddled with these three counties [Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan]’ UNIONIST LEADER

EDWARD CARSON Westminster in 1920, the Black and Tan War was escalating and in the north-east of the country the forces of unionism were preparing to establish the state provided for them in the Bill. The Ulster Volunteer Force was reorganised and by October had 30,000 members. Unionist leaders Edward Carson and James Craig pushed for the establishment of a Special Constabulary, later to become the notorious ‘B Specials’. Their request was granted and the UVF was armed and uniformed by the British Crown.

With the British Government diligently preparing the legal ground for partition, unionist forces set about preparing the political conditions in the Six Counties that they would rule.

Between June 1920 and June 1922, 428 people were killed in conflict there; 8750 Catholics were driven from their jobs; 23,000 Catholics were driven from their homes.

The unionists had already recognised that they would not have a sufficient majority to control the historic province of Ulster with its nine counties. Carson spelt it our crudely in the House of Commons on May 18th 1920: “We should like to have the very largest area possible, naturally.

That is a system of land grabbing

Kevin Barry that prevails in all countries for widening the jurisdiction of the various governments that are set up; but there is no use in our undertaking a government which we know would be a failure if we were saddled with these three counties [Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan].”

In the same debate, British Prime Minister Lloyd George frankly admitted that if the Irish people were asked what form of government they wanted they would choose an Irish Republic “by an emphatic majority”.

Lloyd George and his government were determined that they would never have that.

Throughout the rest of 1920, they waged war on nationalist Ireland in order, in the words of The Times newspaper, “to scourge the Irish into obedience, leaving as sole

alternative to resistance, the acceptance of the present Bill”.

That was in November 1920, the bloodiest month of the Anglo-Irish War. In that month, 18-year-old IRA Volunteer Kevin Barry was hanged; in India, Corporal James Daly of the Connaught Rangers was executed for leading a mutiny in that regiment in protest against British atrocities in Ireland; 14 British Intelligence officers were executed by the IRA in Dublin; 13 people were shot dead by the Black and Tans at Croke Park; two IRA officers, Dick McKee and Peadar Clancy, and a civilian, Conor Clune, were tortured and shot dead in the guardroom of Dublin Castle; at Kilmichael in Cork the IRA inflicted the worst military defeat on the British thus far in the Tan War.

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER LLOYD GEORGE frankly admitted that if the Irish people were asked what form of government they wanted they would choose an Irish Republic ‘by an emphatic majority’ British atrocities continued into December, notably the burning of Cork city centre.

It was against this background that the Government of Ireland Bill passed its third reading in the House of Commons on November 11th 1920 and became law at the end of December. Irish republicans of course totally rejected it and labelled it ‘The Partition Act’.

With his Partition Act now law, Lloyd George tightened his

Edward Carson

Lloyd George

repressive regime in Ireland.

When he failed to defeat the IRA, negotiations became unavoidable. Lloyd George’s task was to sell the Government of Ireland Act to both unionists and nationalists with as little modification as possible.

To do this he had to assure unionists that there would be no change in the size of their ‘Northern Ireland’ state.

He had to persuade nationalists that in return for staying in the British Empire they would be able to reduce the size of the Northern state to a size that made it unworkable and made Irish unity inevitable.

Lloyd George managed to do both.

Lloyd Geroge wrote a letter to Arthur Griffith during the Treaty negotiations in 1921 stating that if the unionists refused to allow a Boundary Commission to delimit the area of the Northern state “he [Lloyd George] would fight, summon parliament, appeal to it against Ulster, dissolve, or pass and act establishing an all-Ireland parliament”.

But Lloyd George’s colleagues

in Government had already told the unionists that the boundary of the Six-County state would definitely not be changed. After the Treaty they were assured again that the Boundary Commission would be a dead letter.

A major factor in the ability of Griffith and Michael Collins to ‘sell’

ARISING FROM THE Good Friday Agreement, the Northern Ireland Act 1998 repealed the Government of Ireland Act 1920 the Treaty was Article 12, providing for the Boundary Commission which, they asserted, would make the Northern state unworkable and end partition. But when the Boundary Commission was finally established, in 1925, it ended in disaster, proposing minimal changes, breaking up in disarray and leading to a humiliating agreement with Britain by the Free State Government which cemented the partition boundary.

The Government of Ireland Act remained the legislative basis for partition and British jurisdiction in the Six Counties until the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.

Arising from that Agreement, the Northern Ireland Act 1998 repealed the Government of Ireland Act 1920. In the House of Commons, Peter Robinson responded to the new Act: “It is very clear that, far from the Bill’s leaving Northern Ireland as an integral part of the United Kingdom, it introduces a transitional state. The Bill moves Northern Ireland from its full and rightful place within the United Kingdom out on a limb; it is being pushed towards an all-Ireland state.”

• The Government of Ireland Act became law on December 23rd 1920, 90 years ago this month.

www.anphoblacht.com

December/Nollaig 2010 |

29

I nDíl Chuimhne “Life springs from death and from the graves of patriot men and women spring living nations.” – Pádraig Mac Piarais 1 December 1975: Volunteer Laura CRAWFORD, Cumann na mBan, Belfast; Volunteer Paul FOX, Belfast Brigade, 2nd Battalion.

2 December 1984: Volunteer Antoine Mac GIOLLA BHRIGHDE, County Derry Brigade; Volunteer Ciaran FLEMING, Derry Brigade.

3 December1973: Volunteer Joe WALKER, Derry Brigade.

4 December 1972: Fian Bernard FOX, Fian Seán HUGHES, Fianna Éireann.

4 December 1983: Volunteer Brian CAMPBELL, Tyrone Brigade, Volunteer Colm McGIRR, Tyrone Brigade.

5 December 1975: Volunteer Terry BRADY, North Armagh Brigade.

6 December 1975: Volunteer James LOCHRIE, Volunteer Seán CAMPBELL, South Armagh Brigade.

6 December 1984: Volunteer Danny DOHERTY, Volunteer

Willie FLEMING, Derry Brigade.

7 December 1974 Volunteer Ethel LYNCH, Volunteer John McDAID, Derry Brigade.

7 December 1987: Volunteer Peter RODDEN, North Antrim Brigade.

8 December 1971: Volunteer Tony NOLAN, Belfast Brigade, 3rd Battalion.

10 December 1975: Volunteer David KENNEDY, North Armagh Brigade.

15 December 1972: Volunteer Louis LEONARD, South Fermanagh Brigade.

15 December 1973: Volunteer Jim McGINN, Tyrone Brigade.

17 December 1971: Volunteer Charles AGNEW, North Armagh Brigade.

17 December 1984: Volunteer Seán McIlVENNA, North Armagh Brigade.

18 December 1971: Volunteer James SHERIDAN, Volunteer John BATESON, Volunteer Martin LEE, County Derry Brigade.

21 December 1971 Volunteer Gerald McDADE, Belfast Brigade, 3rd Battalion.

21 December 1974 Volunteer Brian FOX, England.

24 December 1973 Volunteer Brendan QUINN, Newry Brigade.

24 December 1973 Volunteer Edward GRANT, Newry Brigade.

24 December 1982 Volunteer Phil O’DONNELL, Derry Brigade.

27 December 1971 Volunteer Jack McCABE, GHQ Staff.

27 Dec. 1972 Volunteer Eugene DEVLIN, Tyrone Brigade.

29 December 1972 Volunteer James McDAID, Derry Brigade.

30 Dec. 1990 Volunteer Ferghal CARAHER, South Armagh Brigade.

30 Dec 1991 Volunteer Damien BROLLY, Donegal Brigade.

ALWAYS REMEMBERED BY THE REPUBLICAN MOVEMENT CUMBERTON, Paul ‘Bubbles’. 5th Anniversary, In proud and fond memory of Paul ‘Bubbles’ Cumberton. Always remembered, by the Steenson Family.

CUMBERTON, Paul ‘Bubbles’. 5th Anniversary, In proud memory of ‘Bubbles’.

Always fondly remembered by the staff of An Phoblacht.

JOHNSTON, Jerry. 30th November 1998.

Always remembered and greatly missed by your friends and comrades in the Sinn Féin Siopa and office, Monaghan Town.

JOHNSTON, Jerry. In memory of a friend and comrade. From Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD JOHNSTON, Jerry. Always remembered by the O’Hanlon/McMahon/Lynagh Sinn Féin Cumann, Monaghan Town JOHNSTON, Jerry. Remembered always by County Monaghan Sinn Féin Comhairle Ceantair JORDAN, Pearse. In proud and loving memory of my friend and comrade Volunteer Pearse Jordan 2nd Battalion, Belfast Brigade, Óglaigh na hÉireann, killed on active service on 25th November 1992. “A young man was shot on the Falls Road today. The bulletin came through to hide the truth away; four different stories to cover the lies. Cold-blooded murder caused Pearse Jordan to die. As you travelled the Falls Road early that night, the cops they were watching they had you in sight. They rammed your car from every side, as you staggered away you were shot and you died.”

Murdered by the RUC, covered up by the PSNI. Pearse you are always in my thoughts, mate. Patrick Mul. JOYCE, Margaret. In proud and loving memory of Margaret Joyce, An Clochán, Conamara, whose 10th anniversary occurs at this time.

Cara dílis do gluaiseacht na poblachta.

Suaimhneas síorrai da h-anam. Always remembered by her family and friends.

LOUGHRAN, Gerry ‘The Crow’. In loving memory of Gerry who died on 2nd November 2004. Time and years slip away but our love and memories will always stay. Remembered always by your loving wife Eilish, daughter Kelly, son Seán, daughter-in-law Seána and grandchildren Sarah and Liam. Mary, Queen of the Gael, pray for him.

LOUGHRAN, Gerry ‘The Crow’. In loving memory of our brother, Gerry, who died on 2nd November 2004. Those we love don’t go away; they walk beside us every day. Always remembered by his sisters Dympna Trainor, Monaghan; Ann Cunningham, Dungannon; and his brother Hugh Loughran, Dungannon. Mary, Queen of Ireland, pray for him.

LOUGHRAN, Gerry. 2nd November 2004.

Always remembered and greatly missed by your friends and comrades in the Sinn Féin Siopa and office Monaghan Town.

LOUGHRAN, Gerry. 2nd November. In memory of a dear friend and comrade. From Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD LOUGHRAN, Gerry. In proud and loving

memory of our friend and colleague who we will always remember and miss. From your Monaghan Town Councillor colleagues Pádraigín, Seán, Donal, Paul and Malachy.

LOUGHRAN, Gerry (6th Ann). Always remembered and never forgotten by the O’Hanlon/McMahon/Lynagh Sinn Féin Cumann, Monaghan Town LOUGHRAN, Gerry (6th Ann). Remembered always by County Monaghan Sinn Féin Comhairle Ceantair McCANN, Noel Peter. In proud and loving memory of Volunteer Noel Peter McCann, who left us 10 years ago this 10th November. So long ago, yet seems like yesterday. Always in our thoughts, minds and mostly, our hearts.

Forever cherished by friends in Clonmel, and friends and relatives in the US, especially by his still-grieving partner, Barbara.

McDADE, Gerard. In proud and loving memory of Volunteer Gerard McDade, 3rd Battalion, Belfast Brigade, Óglaigh na hÉireann,who was killed by crown forces on 21st December 1971.

“Life springs from death and from the graves of patriot men and women spring living nations” - PH Pearse. Always remembered by Kitty McGettigan and family.

McDADE, James. In proud and loving memory of Volunteer James mcDade, killed on active service in England on 14th November 1974. St Jude, pray for him. Always remembered by Eilish McGettigan and family, Shannon, County Clare.

Comhbrón DEVLIN. Deepest sympathy is extended to the family of lifelong republican Jim Devlin who died on

MURPHY, James. In proud and loving memory of Volunteer James Murphy who died on 26th November 2007. Always remembered by the Republican Movement, Munster; Cuige Mumhan; Republican Movement, Cork; and Sinn Féin Chorcaí.

MURPHY, James. In proud and loving memory of Volunteer James Murphy who died on 26th November 2007. Always remembered by Tom Hanlon, republican prisoner, Portlaoise Jail.

MURPHY, James. In proud and loving memory of Volunteer James Murphy who died on 26th November 2007. Always remembered by friends and comrades Mick, Kieran, Paul and Tony.

MURPHY, James. In proud and loving memory of Volunteer James Murphy who died on 26th November 2007. Always remembered by his loving family, parents Jimmy and Sandy; sister Áine, Conor and Conor Óg; brother Pearse and Michelle; sister Roisín and Andy.

O’SULLIVAN, Timmy. In proud and loving memory of Timmy O’Sullivan (Passage West, County Cork) whose first anniversary occurs around this time. Always remembered by the Lee Walker CSC Lochee, Dundee, Scotland; and by Sinn Féin Chorcaí.

TRACY, Seán. In memory of the late Seán Tracy, The Heath, Portlaoise, killed in a work accident in 1998. Always remembered by his friend and comrade, Councillor Noel Harrington.

Imeachtaí the 27th October 2009. Formally resident in Clonmellan and Oldcastle, Jim was buried in his native Dregish,

Co. Tyrone. Suaimhneas síoraí a chara. From Paddy Devlin and family, Castlederg.

Events

ANTRIM COMMEMORATION NIGHT & EXHIBITION

Beannachtaí agus Buíochas CHRISTMAS GREETINGS to Tom Hanlon, Portlaoise Jail. From Don and Maura Bullman and family.

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS to Tom Hanlon, Portlaoise Jail. From Micheál Hennessy, Jim O’Donovan and Joe O’Mahony, Cork.

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS to Tom Hanlon, republican prisoner,

Portlaoise Jail. From Sinn Féin Chorcaí and Mick Nugent

DUBLIN SINN FÉIN Finance Department and the Dublin ODU would like to thank everybody who attended the recent 2nd Annual Dublin Volunteers Dinner Dance. The

event was a huge success and a great night for our honouree Pamela Kane.

We would like to extend a míle buíochas to Cáral Ní Chuilín MLA, Mary McCardle, Mark Dawson, Ross Carmody, Micheál Mac Donncha and the Palestinian Ambassador to Ireland, Dr Hikmat Ajjuri, for their attendance and active support for the night.

Diarmuid O’Neill Commemoration took place in Timoleague, County Cork, not

County Wexford. Apologies to the family, friends, comrades and organizers.

*****************

Andersonstown Martyrs Commemoration Committee presents ‘The Four Martyrs Commemoration Night & Exhibition’ in Andersonstown Social Club on Saturday 4th December. Doors open 8pm.

CORK FUNDRAISER In aid of An Cumann Cabhrach (Republican Dependants’ Fund. Featuring Spirit of Freedom, Friday 17th December 9pm at the Deanrock Bar, Togher, Cork City. Táille €10. Tickets from Sinn Féin Office, 136 Barrack Street. Tel 021 4311 389.

APOLOGY A photo caption in a previous edition should have said that the Volunteer

THE DEADLINE for notices for the JANUARY edition of An Phoblacht is 5pm on MONDAY 17th JANUARY 2011.

In order to be included notices must be received BEFORE THE DEADLINE by: EMAIL: notices@anphoblacht.com POST: An Phoblacht, 58 Parnell Square, Dublin 1. DUBLIN OFFICE ONLY. THERE IS NO CHARGE for I nDíl Chuimhne, Comhbhrón etc.

WATERFORD COMMEMORATION The McGrath/O’Brien Cumann, Port Lairge, will commemorate the 90th Anniversary of the Pickardstown Ambush (Tramore, County Waterford) on 9th January 2011. Prominent speaker. Carrick-on-Suir RFB. Assemble at petrol station on the right side of Tramore Road as you enter the town.

March at 12 noon to the monument.

30

| December/Nollaig 2010

www.anphoblacht.com

WEST TYRONE SINN FÉIN DINNER DANCE | FOUR LIFELONG REPUBLICAN ACTIVISTS HONOURED

Advancing the struggle still R

EPUBLICANS from throughout west Tyrone and Donegal gathered in the Mellon Country Hotel in November for the annual West Tyrone Sinn Féin Dinner Dance.

During the evening presentations were made to four lifelong republican activists: James Mc Elduff (Loughmacrory), Tommy McNamee (Glenelly/Omagh), Patsy McGarvey (Aghyaran/Derg) and Seán Harte (Canada and formerly Loughmacrory).

The main address for the evening was given by Kerry North TD Martin Ferris.

The tribute to veteran republican and former Sinn Féin Councillor James McElduff was compiled and read by his niece, the vice-chair of Omagh District Council, Ann Marie Fitzgerald.

JAMES McELDUFF “James and his family, particularly his late wife Cissie, have suffered and sacrificed a lot as a result of their commitment to the struggle for Irish freedom.

“On two occasions, James was interned and was subjected to relentless harassment and intimidation by the British Army and RUC down through the years. Despite this, he remained true to his republican beliefs and, when Sinn Féin decided to contest local government elections in 1985, James stood as a candidate and was part of the first Sinn Féin team on Omagh District Council. James showed courage and leadership and his actions paved the way for the republicans of this generation to follow.”

TOMMY McNAMEE The second honouree was lifelong republican and former Councillor Tommy McNamee.

Unfortunately, Tommy was in hospital and unable to attend the event but a presentation was accepted on his behalf by his son, Emmett. The tribute to Tommy was read by his good friend and party colleague, Claire McGill MLA. Claire spoke of Tommy’s “commitment and dedication to representing people during very difficult times”. On at least two occasions Tommy narrowly escaped death at the hands of loyalist gunmen. However, this never deterred him and, along with close colleagues like Councillors Ivan Barr and Charlie McHugh, Tommy continued to give exemplary leadership and constituency service to the people of the Glenelly valley.

5 The four honourees: James McElduff, Patsy McGarvey, Emmet McNamee on behalf of Tommy McNamee and Seán Harte with Martin Ferris TD and local elected representatives

PATSY McGARVEY The third honouree was veteran republican Patsy McGarvey. The tribute to Patsy was penned and read by Councillor Ruairí McHugh, whose family are close friends and neighbours of Patsy’s.

During the tribute, Ruairí noted that Patsy has been a lifelong republican and member of Sinn Féin.

“During the conflict, he lost many great friends but, despite the hardship, Patsy always remained focused on the path towards peace and justice.

Patsy was not only an influential figure in West Tyrone but also in Donegal and Dublin, where he lived and worked for many years on building sites with his close friend and former Sinn Féin Councillor Cathal Quinn, who died suddenly in 2007.

“Patsy has also worked tirelessly for charities such as Cuan Mhuire, which supports people with alcohol dependency. He is a man with a deep social conscious, always willing to help those in need.”

SEÁN HARTE The final honouree was Seán Harte, originally

5 West Tyrone Sinn Féin members Helena Slane and Councillor Ann Marie Fitzgerald with Martin Ferris TD

from Loughmacrory but resident in Toronto, Canada.

The tribute to Seán was compiled and read by the Chair of Omagh District Council, Councillor Declan McAleer, who said: “This is an emotive night for the Harte family as it coincides with the first anniversary of the death of their mother, Winnie. Seán emigrated to Canada on October 8th 1974 on the eighth birthday of his younger brother, Martin. Tragically, Martin, along with another brother, Gerard, was shot dead by the SAS at Drumnakilly on August 30th 1988, while his sister, Kathleen, passed away last year.

“Despite being away from these shores, Seán never forgot his roots and has always played a leading role in political and cultural circles among the Irish community in Canada. He has engaged in extensive political lobbying with Friends of Sinn Féin and down through the years of conflict assisted countless Irish people fleeing persecution from the British Government.

“Seán continues to play a leading role with the GAA in Canada and at one stage was the President of the Canadian GAA Board. His commitment to Irish political and cultural affairs, combined with the huge sacrifice made by the wider Harte family, makes Seán a worthy recipient of this presentation”.

The formal part of the evening concluded with a rousing speech given by Kerry North TD Martin Ferris.

Martin Ferris paid tribute to the huge contribution and sacrifice that Tyrone has made during the long years of conflict. He also paid tribute to the organisation and huge growth in support for Sinn Féin in the county.

“This includes 30 councillors, seven MLAs, three MPs and the chair of each of the four councils in Tyrone this year. This is huge political strength and Tyrone is leading the way in terms of advancing the struggle towards Irish reunification.”

www.anphoblacht.com

November/Samhain 2010 |

SEAN SABHAT COMMEMORATION

Bedford Row, Limerick City 2.45pm Sunday 2nd January 2011

31

SPEAKER:

Martin Ferris TD

KILMICHAEL COMMEMORATION, COUNTY CORK | MARTIN McGUINNESS MP

‘FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE IS NEEDED IN IRISH SOCIETY’ KILMICHAEL, in west County Cork, is legendary. On Sunday, November 28th, another legend in Irish republican history, Martin McGuinness, was the main speaker on the actual anniversary of the famous Kilmichael Ambush of 90 years ago when 36 IRA Volunteers dealt a heavy blow to a mighty British Empire.

And, as always in Irish history, there is a lesson in the resistance of the men of Kilmichael to wrong-doing and injustice that has a resonance today.

Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness made this the theme of his address.

THE IRA freedom fighters who gathered at Kilmichael were not motivated by personal gain. They were not in awe of the great and the good.

What sustained them that cold, wet, silent night was the same thing that sustained Bobby Sands 60 years later in a prison cell when he wrote: It lights the dark of this prison cell, It thunders forth its might, It is ‘the undauntable thought’, my friend, That thought that says ‘I’m right! ‘ All my adult life I have taken inspiration from the self-sacrifice and dedication of the Volunteers who fought here, at Crossbarry and in many other places during the Tan War. Every time someone tells me, ‘No more progress can be made,’ or, ‘We have to accept our lot,’ I look back to the selfless courage of those who went before. And I resolve to carry on.

All through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, IRA Volunteers continued to wage armed struggle to achieve a united Ireland. Their efforts brought about the Irish Peace Process and negotiations.

The IRA said itself in 2005 that the best way to achieve Irish unity in present-day Ireland was through political and democratic programmes and to work with others to build increased popular support towards that end.

The foundation documents of modern Irish republicanism upon which our vision is based are timeless. The Easter Proclamation and Democratic Programme of the First Dail affirm the core values of Irish republicanism

of sovereignty, equality, citizenship and democracy.

These values are not abstract. They are practical political objectives.

They are also a guide to political action but, more, they set out a template for the type of Ireland our citizens deserve.

Never before in the history of this state has the relevance of these political values been more urgent or immediate.

The imposition of partition prevented the strategic economic, industrial and infrastructural development of our country. It was a denial of national democracy. And it institutionalised discrimination and inequality against nationalists in the Six Counties.

Today our country, North and South, is in the grip of a deep economic recession and financial crisis.

The British Tory Government is trying to force a savage programme of cutbacks into the North’s economy. Sinn Féin will oppose these cuts and stand up for communities, as we always have done.

In this state, half a million citizens are unemployed and emigration has returned to the levels of the 1980s.

Homes belonging to ordinary people, small businesses and farms, family incomes, the minimum wage and welfare benefits

‘NEVER BEFORE IN THE HISTORY OF THIS STATE has the relevance of the values in the Easter Proclamation and the Democratic Programme been more urgent or immediate’ MARTIN McGUINNESS

5 Martin McGuinness MP receives a framed print of ‘Charlie Hurley’s Burial’ from Courtmacsherry-based artist Deirdre Keohane are all threatened by the crisis and Government Budget here in the South.

The economy has been driven into rack and ruin because it was allowed to, primarily to serve the interests of greedy developers and bankers.

And, yes, it could have been different.

There is wealth in the Northern and Southern economies.

But that wealth has not been used to address the crisis with strategies to stabilise our economies and chart a path back to recovery.

Many believe it is a national travesty that the economy of this state has been pawned to appease foreign banks and that the country’s wealth is to be paid as financial compensation to the European economic elite.

That’s not the Ireland that the leaders of 1916 fought for; it is not the Ireland that the Volunteers of Kilmichael fought for; and it is not the Ireland that generations of modernday republicans have struggled to achieve.

It is not our people who should be losing their jobs and paying the price.

Let the Golden Circle, the fat cats and gombeen men take the pain instead.

What has happened in this state is anathema to republicanism. It is a corruption of the Proclamation and Democratic Programme.

Sinn Féin believes this crisis can be stabilised and that we can get back to recovery

5 Martin McGuinness at the Kilmichael Monument with Con Callaghan

and growth. We need to focus upon job creation and job creation programmes.

Change can happen.

The Irish republic is not the property of the political establishment. It belongs to the people of Ireland and I have faith in the people of Ireland.

Genuine republican leadership and a coherent political strategy are now needed.

That is what Sinn Féin is about. We are playing our part, in standing up and deliver-

‘IT IS A NATIONAL TRAVESTY that the economy of this state has been pawned to appease foreign banks and that the country’s wealth is to be paid as financial compensation to the European economic elite’ MARTIN McGUINNESS ing. That is why Gerry Adams gave up a safe seat in west Belfast to run in County Louth in the next general election.

That’s why the people of Donegal South-West elected Pearse Doherty as their Sinn Féin TD on Friday.

We all need to stand up and be counted.

As citizens we need to be as bold and audacious today in asserting our right to equality and decent standards of living, as this Rebel County was during the Tan War. Fundamental change is needed in Irish society, not more of the same, and not more ‘old wine in new bottles’.

We are now back to Connolly and the reconquest of Ireland’s economic sovereignty and political democracy for the benefit of our people.

Let us create the momentum to unite our country and together build a national, sovereign and democratic republic.

An Irish republic of the people, by the people, for the people.

Yes, there is indeed a better way.

And it will be found in a national republic which preserves and defends its sovereignty and cherishes all the children and citizens of the nation equally.

Ar aghaidh linn le cheile i dtreo na Poblachta.

32

| December/Nollaig 2010

www.anphoblacht.com

ANOTHER VIEW

BY EOIN Ó BROIN

Fintan O’Toole’s technical tangle INTAN O’TOOLE is an intelligent and thought-provoking commentator.

His new book, Enough Is Enough, offers 50 proposals for political and social reform. Many offer sensible and credible solutions to the failures of our current system and are remarkably similar to Sinn Féin’s current policy agenda. Others, while not to the tastes of this writer, are nonetheless valuable contributions to the ongoing debate about how to build a better Ireland.

However, his proposals for how to deal with the current political and economic crisis are completely off the wall.

Speaking on RTÉ’s The Frontline (Monday, November 22nd) and writing in the following day’s Irish Times, he argued that the Government should stand down, and be replaced by a “short-term technical administration’ to be followed by a referendum on ‘two alternative plans’ on the state’s future.

The proposals, despite Fintan’s good intentions, are illogical, contradictory and deeply undemocratic.

His ‘technical administration’ would be “led by people of integrity and competence” and although not granted any political power would negotiate on our behalf, presumably with the European

Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.

These people would not be elected and would have no negotiating mandate but would be tasked with producing an agreement on the future of the economy.

By any standards the appointment of a caretaker administration is a deeply undemocratic idea.

Who would appoint them and against what criteria?

On what basis would they negotiate, with whom and to what end?

Is Fintan really suggesting that Michael Sommers of the National Treasury Management Agency and Mary Robinson should negotiate the future economic and social development of the state with the EU and IMF? In addition to being undemocratic, the ‘technical administration’ idea also clashes with Fintan’s referendum idea.

On The Frontline he suggested that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael should draft a proposal on the future political and economic development of the state while the Labour Party and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions should draft an alternative plan and that both be put to the people in a referendum. This, he argued, would restore popular sovereignty.

Now just how a referendum on these two

DOES LABOUR NOT SUPPORT the Government’s four-year deficit reduction plan? And have they not ruled out reversing any aspect of the Government’s €6billion austerity Budget?

packages would sit with the outcome of the international negotiations conducted by the unelected ‘technical administration’ is not quite clear.

And why Labour is assumed to be sufficiently different from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to form an opposing side in any referendum is also unclear. After all, does Labour not support the Government’s four-year deficit reduction plan?

And have they not ruled out reversing any aspect of the Government’s €6billion austerity Budget?

Lest the reader think I am being unkind, I must admit that Fintan is right about a number of things: the current Government no longer has a mandate to govern; radical social, economic and political reform are required to get us out of the mess created by Fianna Fáil and the Green Party; and, crucially, popular sovereignty must be restored.

Rather than come up with badly-thought-out schemes for saving the country, Fintan should join the call for an immediate general election, carefully read the policy positions and preBudget submissions of all the political parties, and publicly support the party whose positions most closely reflect his own.

The only problem is that if he took this course of action he would have no other choice than to vote for Sinn Féin. Now that would be a real sign of change!

ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE – VULNERABLE GROUPS TO PAY THE PRICE FOR FINANCIAL CRISIS

ANOTHER EUROPE IS POSSIBLE

SPEAKING during the European Parliament debate on the conclusions of European Council and the results of the Van Rompuy-led Task Force on Economic Governance, GUE/NGL President Lothar Bisky welcomed the permanent crisis mechanism to maintain financial stability in the euro area but criticised the economic governance plan as “leaving a lot to be desired”.

Not only does it try to impose the strongest possible control over the budgets to avoid longterm deficits, he said, but recommends a cautious recovery from the crisis through a radical reduction in public spending. “This is not only absurd, it is totally counter-productive.”

No lessons have been learned from the experience of the Stability and Growth Pact, which has clearly not worked, he said, adding that heavily indebted countries cannot be expected to pay fines. This approach “will only destroy the solidarity between the countries of the European Union”.

President Bisky does not want to see “ordinary people paying for the crisis through wage reductions, social dumping, cuts in the educa-

Lothar Bisky

Bairbre de Brún

tion sector and increasing unemployment”, he said, adding: “What we need is a social and just Europe based on solidarity. Politics must take primacy over economics.”

Irish GUE/NGL MEP Bairbre de Brún said: “With the IMF, European Central Bank and the Commission coming in with very tough conditions, it is clear that billions of euro worth of cuts will be brought in in Ireland.

“Jobs will be lost, there will be significant reductions in services and income taxes being raised for the lowest earners,” said.

She said the poor, the sick, pensioners and vulnerable groups will bear the brunt of these austerity cuts.

“This is not help coming from Europe therefore we will strongly oppose it.”

Instead of seeking a mandate to implement these cuts, MEP de Brún said, the Irish Government will not have an election until the Budget is passed.

“There was another path and they chose not to take it. They chose to act for the good of their friends in the banks and not for the good of the Irish people.”

THIS IS FUNDED BY THE EUROPEAN UNITED LEFT/NORDIC GREEN LEFT (GUE/NGL)

www.anphoblacht.com

December/Nollaig 2010 |

33

Turas sa Phailistín g

LE TOMÁS Mac RODÁIN

SEO scéal gairid ó Éireannach óg atá ina chónaí sa Phalaistín le sé seachtain anuas. Tomás Mac Rodáin s ainm dó agus is as Fear Manach é. “Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil mé beannaithe!” a deir sé.

SHOCRAIGH mé teacht anseo go dtí an Bruach Thiar i ndiaidh dom cuid mhór léitheoireachta a dhéanamh faoi na heachtraí sa tír seo agus an stair ag baint leis.

Is cothrom a rá go fosta go raibh suim phearsanta agam sa choimhlint i gcomhthéasc ár gcoimhlint féin a raibh againn le hocht gcéad bliain agus coimhlint nach bhfuil an caibidil deireanach críochnaithe againn go fóill.

Tá mé ag obair go deonach (níos fearr é a mhíniú mar sin ná bheith ag rá gur óglach mé anseo!) i gcathair i dTuaisceart an Bhruach Thiar, Nablus, le heagraíocht darb ainm ‘Project Hope.’ Is eagraíocht ar léith í Project Hope sa dóigh ‘s nach bhfuil sé bainteach leis an ‘Rialtas’ áitiúil Údarás Náisiúnta na Palaistíne.

Tá sé deacair cur síos a dhéanamh ar an eagraíocht seo mar go ndéantar an méid sin sárobair sin a n-imríonn tionchar dearfach ar shaol na daoine sa chathair seo ach déanfaidh mé iarracht anseo. Is ranganna teanga is mó a chuirtear ar fáil ag PH don phobal i Nablus, i measc iad siúd, Béarla agus Francais is mó.

Chomh maith le ranganna teanga, déantar ranganna spóirt, ranganna ceoil, ranganna ealaíona, ranganna ríomhaire, grianghrafadóireacht agus dráma. Is mór an tionchar a bhíonn ag na tionscnaimh seo ar shaol na daoine anseo (páistí don chuid is mó).

Tugtar spreagadh is dóchas dóibh i dtimpeallacht nach mbíonn leithéid de ann go minic.

Is dócha go saraíonn fáilte na Palaistíne fáilte cáiliúil na hÉireann.

Ní chuirfeá locht orthu dá mbeadh muintir na háite doicheallach roimh eachtrannaigh tar éis an fuglaint uilig a thaithigh siad i rith na mblianta, ach is é an mhalairt atá fíor. Tá na Palaistínigh dochreidte flaithiúil cairdiúil. Tugadh neart cuireadh dul fá chóinne béilte i dtíthe s’acu dom agus beidh cairde agam go deo i ndiaidh an turais seo.

Má tá rud amháin tugtha faoi deara agam faoi na Palaistínigh, is é sin spiorad agus resilience s’acu.

D’fhulaing siad go millteanach (i rith an Darna Intifada, maraíodh níos mó ná míle duine i Nablus amháin idir 2000-2007) agus tá go fóill, tá na mílte duine i bpríosúin Israeli agus bíonn saol deacair crua acu lá i ndiadh lae faoi forghabháil.

Is beag gearán a dhéanann siad faoi afách. Téann siad ar aghaidh leis an saol agus is mar phobal le chéile a dhéanann siad seo.

Bhris ‘na cainteanna síochána’ a bhí ag dul ar aghaidh síos le déanaí mar nach bhfuil Benjamin

Netanyahu nó a rialtas den bharúil go dtéann lonnaíocht ar thalamh Phalaistíneach i bhfeidhm ar an síocháin.

Níor bhuail mé le duine amháin anseo a raibh dóchas acu i dtaca leis na gcainteanna seo nó fiú go raibh an ceart ag an PA bheith i lár na gcainteanna sa chéad dul síos.

Is cinnte go gcaithfidh (agus i dtaithí s’agam sa Bhruach Thiar anseo, aontaíonn bunús na daoine leis seo) muintir na Palaistíne teacht le chéile agus a deacrachtaí féin a chur ar thaobh amháin sula dtosaíonn siad ag plé réitigh le rialtas na hIsrael agus na Meiriceánaigh.

Ciallaíonn sé seo go gcaithfidh Fatah agus Hamas foghlaim maireachtáil le chéile ar leas na gnáthdaoine ar na sráideanna. Tá siad ag feidhmniú mar a ba mhaith leis na hIsraeligh agus a gcairde is fearr, na Meireácanaigh má bhíonn siad scartha agus i gcogadh in éadan a gcéile.

Cé nach dtaitníonn le duine ar

bith eile (taobh amuigh den Phalaistín) gur bhain Hamas an toghchán deireanach anseo, tá sé in am gur ghlac siad leis seo - labhair na daoine agus is ionnadaithe iad Hamas den phobal.

Tá cuid mhór daoine den bharúil nach bhfuil suim ag Hamas i síocháin ach níl a fhios acu gur ofráil siad (go rúnda ar ndóigh) sos comhraic triocha bliain le hIsrael ar na línte 1967.

Ní chomhlíonann an ofráil seo ach dlí idirnáisiúnta a n-aithníonn tíortha ar fud an domhain, ach is léir don dall nach fiú an pháipear a scríobhtear an dlí idirnáisiúnta seo.

Sa chuid seo den domhan, ní ach focail é, ní bhíonn sé i láthair nó ní chuirtear é i bhfeidhm.

Cibé ar bith, ní turas pholaitíochta é seo dom agus tuigim nach bhfuil go leor eolais agam faoi na heachtraí anseo ach amháin léargas beag. Is scéal casta cúrsaí anseo agus cuireann sé fadhbanna sa bhaile i gcomhthéasc.

I measc na gníomhaíochtaí eile a rinne muid anseo, bhí an seans againn cuidiú le fomhar na n-ológ.

Ba thaithí iontach é seo, ba thaispeantás de spiorad an phobail a luaigh mé, tagann an pobal le chéile le cuidiú leis an fomhair atá chomh tábhachtach do na

Palaistínigh. Cé nach obair furasta é (go háirithe faoin ghrian, gan trocáire), bíonn craic ag baint leis chomh maith.

Bíonn muintir na háite ag iarraidh go mbíonn idirnáisiúntaigh i láthair mar go ndéantar ionsaithe orthu go minic ag na lonnaitheoirí Israeli. Ní leor é go goideann siad a dtalamh ach déanann siad ionsaithe orthu agus iad ag obair.

Bhí 35 ionsaí ag lonnaitheoirí ar Phalaistínigh i rith an séasúir seo i mbliana amháin. De ghnáth, leagann siad na crainn nó cuirtear ar tine iad agus cosnaíonn airm Israelí na daoine seo.

Le dlaoi mhullaigh a chur ar an scéal seo, is cinnte gur taithí iontach é an turas seo go pearsanta.

Cé go mbíonn a fhios ag daoine faoi cad é atá ag dul ar aghaidh anseo, musclaítear súile an duine le turas anseo.

Beidh áit speisialta ag muintir na Palaistíne i gcroí s’agam as seo amach agus ba mhaith liom seasamh in aontacht leo leis na éagóracha a thaithíonn siad a chríochnú. Má tá suim ag éinne sa mhéid a luaigh mé anseo nó i gcúis na Palaistíne, bí i dteagmháil liom ar tom_ntb@hotmail.com.

Beirigí bua - An Phalaistín agus Éire!

34

| December/Nollaig 2010

www.anphoblacht.com

ST TERESA’S GARDENS, DUBLIN | SINN FÉIN BACKS COMMUNITY 100%

GOVERNMENT NEGLECT CAUSES CALL FOR DEMOLITION AND REGENERATION g

BY ROSS CARMODY

DURING the so-called Celtic Tiger era many areas around the state remained untouched by the newfound prosperity, none more so than St Teresa’s Gardens in Dublin’s south inner city.

What was a proud community for over 50 years, has been the victim of such official neglect that 44% of the residents there believe that the one thing that would improve their lives would be moving out.

This is one of the stark findings a recent survey carried out by the St Teresa’s Gardens Regeneration Board has revealed.

5 Sinn Féin’s Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD and Councillor Críona Ní Dhálaigh with local residents meeting Michael Finneran, Minister for Housing and Local Services The board, made up of community groups, local residents, councillors and officials from

eration as the only long-term viable solution.

“This estate was completely ignored during the Celtic Tiger era.

“Around 180 homes lie empty, there has been a massive increase in anti-social behaviour and a lot of the remaining residents feel there is no future here. Morale in the community is ebbing as the community structure breaks down.” She says.

“When regeneration was offered under the Public Private Partnership scheme the residents

Some of the findings include:• 52% reported a problem with damp in at least one room with over 40% sleeping in damp bedrooms; • 32% reported sewage coming up through bathroom and kitchen plug-holes; • Rats were reported in 9 out of the 14 blocks on the estate; • 475 internal maintenance problems were reported by the 134 households surveyed.

Students’ fight against fees continues FORTY THOUSAND students, including large numbers of Sinn Féin and Ógra activists, took to the streets on Wednesday, November 3rd, in a national mobilisation by the Union of Students in Ireland to highlight the proposed increase in registration fees.

Buoyed by the news of Pearse Doherty’s success in his court case, republican students from UCC, CIT, NUIG, DCU, Athlone IT, NUI Maynooth and elsewhere added their numbers to the rally.

Following the main protest a number of students occupied the ground floor of the Department of Finance, accompanied by a protest. They were then forcibly removed by the Garda Riot Squad. In subsequent scuffles, gardaí used excessive force on protesters, resulting in numerous injuries.

Curiously, USI president Gary Redmond thought it of more

Dublin City Council - has been working to find an alternative ever since the recent collapse of the Public Private Partnership proposal to regenerate the area.

As part of the campaign to highlight the need for immediate action they carried out a survey of 134 households on the estate (out of a total of 180 currently occupied) and the results clearly show an area in drastic need of Government action.

THE ESTATE IS

Local Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh and Sinn Fein Councillor Críona Ní Dhálaigh have been

WHAT WAS A PROUD COMMUNITY

importance to condemn the legitimate peaceful protest at the Department of Finance, and ignored the ugly conduct of the gardaí, adding insult to injury for those who had been assaulted.

An Ógra spokesperson said later: “These comments show either naivety on behalf of the USI president or a detachment from the suffering and anger of many students. I call on Redmond to revoke his comments and condemn the gardaí for their excessive use of force or else answer to the student body for his actions.

“It is completely unacceptable that the Government is planning on raising registration fees. Such an increase would put third-level education beyond the reach of many low-income families.”

If you’re aged 16 to 29 and want to join Ógra Shinn Féin, email ograsf@hotmail.com

for over 50 years has been the victim of such official neglect that 44% of the residents there believe that the one thing that would improve their lives would be moving out working closely with the residents on this issue and have been pushing hard to raise the issue on a national level.

They believe, as do the overwhelming majority of the residents, that the only credible solution is the complete demolition and redevelopment of the area. According to Councillor Ní Dhálaigh: “This is no longer a council issue. The conditions in St Teresa’s Gardens are a national disgrace.

The residents see demolition as the only solution. Sinn Féin backs them 100%.”

However, as with most issues when dealing with this government, the Sinn Féin representatives have been faced with official indifference to the plight of the residents.

One year ago, on November

25th 2009, Aengus Ó Snodaigh wrote to Green Party Environment Minister John Gormley asking him, as Minister with special responsibility for Social Housing, to visit the complex to see for himself the conditions the residents are living in.

To the time of writing, the minister has not seen fit to direct his taxpayer-paid-for Mercedes in the direction of the estate, a mere two miles from his comfortable office in Leinster House.

Currently the future of the estate lies in the hands of the Housing Task Force, a group of engineers, architects, and council officials but, interestingly, no residents or public representatives.

The task force was appointed by Dublin City Council to look at all options for the estate before asking Government for the necessary funds.

They are currently looking at three options:1) Regeneration; 2) Refurbishment of the existing homes; 3) Or a mixture of the two.

Councillor Ní Dhálaigh sees regen-

a mere two miles from the comfortable office in Leinster House of Green Party Environment Minister John Gormley, Minister with special responsibility for Social Housing believed that it would include parks, a community centre, everything that was needed to revitalise the area. As it now stands, these amenities are off the table. Should the task force choose an option such as refurbishment this will merely be a partial yet costly solution.

“In the meantime, the Council must act to deal with the worst of the problems, especially the rat infestation. The council is still the landlord and cannot duck its responsibilities.”

When asked about the Government’s willingness to provide the necessary funds for regeneration, Councillor Críona Ní Dhálaigh replies: “If they had a conscience they would find the funding.”

That remains to be seen from a government that has spent billions bailing out the very same developers who reneged on the PPS regeneration schemes.

While the Fianna Fáil and Green Party Government ministers are absorbed in their own party political interests, the tenants of St Teresa’s are still left waiting.

www.anphoblacht.com

December/Nollaig 2010 |

35

PADDY McCARTHY COMMEMORATION

FRANCIS RAFFERTY IRA Volunteer who took the war to England g

BY PAT MAGEE

MY dear friend and comrade Francis (Frankie Fuzz) Rafferty died from prostate cancer on Wednesday, November 24th, aged 58.

I first met Frankie in 1976. He wasn’t long released from internment. I hadn’t known him in Long Kesh but knew of his reputation as a good Explosives Officer. The IRA had recently ended its ceasefire and we were back to war. Frankie threw all his energy and considerable skills into the new campaign in Belfast.

By the end of the 1970s he was on the run, based in Cork, then later in Ballymun, Dublin, both from where he continued to do whatever he could to further the armed struggle.

The culmination was his arrest, with five others, on active service in England in July 1996.

He was subsequently convicted, after a trial lasting 56 days, of conspiracy to cause explosions at national grid electricity sub-stations, for which he was sentenced to 35 years. He was eventually released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

We’ve met on occasions since. The last time was in August, when he told me about the cancer. Frankie always had a calm and calming disposition. He was grounded and bravely facing whatever future that fate had left him, expressing concern only

5 Duhallow Martyrs Sinn Féin Cumann held a 90th anniversary commemoration of Volunteer Paddy McCarthy in Millstreet, County Cork, on Sunday 31st October. Guest speaker was Bandon Sinn Féin Councillor Rachel McCarthy

BLOODY SUNDAY 1920 REMEMBERED

that he would have enough time left for his family’s needs.

He never in all the years wavered in his belief that what we did at war had to be done. He remained an Irish republican of conviction, committed to the political path.

Frankie died in Tallaght, Dublin, and was buried at Bohernabreena Cemetery on Saturday, November 27th.

My condolences to his wife Caroline, their children, and to his wider family circles.

5 Comoradh 90u Domnach na Fola held in Croke Park on Sunday 21st November to remember the 14 people murdered by British Crown Forces during the Dublin v Tipperary Football Challenge in Aid of Prisoners’ Dependants Francis (Frankie Fuzz) Rafferty

Adams’ shock at death of publisher Steve MacDonogh GERRY ADAMS has expressed his shock and sorrow at the the death of Steve MacDonogh, writer, poet and publisher. Mr MacDonogh died in November after a short illness.

Gerry Adams said: “Steve’s death came as a terrible shock. My thoughts are with his family, particularly Meryem and their baby Lilya, his mother Barbara, sister Deirdre, and brother Terry, and the extended MacDonogh family.

“Steve was a well-loved and very decent Irishman. He ran a hugely successful, pioneering and progressive publishing business, Brandon from Daingean, County Kerry. I want to extend my condolences to Maíre and all who work at Brandon.

“Steve was deeply committed to free speech and against censorship.

He campaigned in support of Salman Rushdie on the one hand and against the secrecy of the British state on the other.

“He breached the repressive ethic on this island at the time when he first published my writing in the early 1980s.

“I have learned a lot from him in the years since then and he has

published 12 of my books. Brandon authors include Alice Taylor, whose To School Through the Fields sold more than any other book in Ireland.

“Steve also published Neil Jordan, Ken Breun, and many other authors who went on to win international recognition.

“He relaunched Walter Mackin, Patrick McGill and JB Keane.

“He was a fine writer himself and a very good poet. He had just fin-

ished a book on US President Barack Obama’s Irish roots.

“Like President Obama, Steve’s roots were in the south-east and the Church of Ireland and his latest book is a well-researched examination of the Protestant exodus to, and influence in, the USA. “Steve was a lover of Irish music and culture, a keen photographer and a champion of the unique community and culture of the Dingle peninsula. He was an enthusiastic mummer. Steve cared deeply for the west of Ireland and made a link between that community and west Belfast. He was a friend of Féile an Phobail.

“He was a friend of the people of Morocco, particularly the Berber people and was returning from there when he became ill.

“His contribution to Ireland, the arts, and to the world of publishing and free speech was immense and he will be sadly missed. I hope it is some comfort to his family that their grief and loss is being shared by many throughout Ireland and globally.

“Go ndéana Dia trócaire ar a anan dílis.”

Palestine: St Mary’s students focus on ‘Occupation 101’ AN INSIGHT into the brutality and devastation caused by the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip was seen by students at St Mary’s University College on the Falls Road in Belfast when Sinn Féin students showed the highly controversial film, ‘Occupation 101’, based on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

Dr Peter Collins, a history lecturer from St Mary’s and from the Friends of Palestine Group, spoke briefly before the film. Dr Collins highlighted the importance of the campaigns for justice for the Palestinian people and also highlighted the importance of raising public awareness about the human rights abuses in the occupied territories.

Another member of the Friends of Palestine group also spoke of the boycott of Israeli goods and urged students to take part in this.

Speaking after the event, Orla McNamara from St Mary’s Sinn Féin said: “We are thrilled to see so many people here today who have showed an interest in the film and who have left today more aware of the violations of international law and the historical causes of the injustices to the Palestinians.

“We in Sinn Féin have consistently raised the principles and lessons that republicans have learned from the Irish experience in relation to other struggles for national self-determination around the world and while no two conflicts are the same there are nonetheless broad principles which can be helpful in all conflict resolution processes.

“The international community must exert the utmost pressure on Israel to abide by the countless UN resolutions it is currently violating, and to international law and standards of human rights.”

36

| December/Nollaig 2010

www.anphoblacht.com

OPINION | GREEN POLITICS FOR IRELAND AND THE WORLD

Republicans must champion a green recovery g

BY EMMA CLANCY

AGAINST the backdrop of a profound economic crisis, the IMF/EU attack in the 26 Counties and the Tory-led attack in the Six Counties, defending the basic rights and living standards of the people of Ireland is the highest priority of all republicans, socialists and progressives.

Behind the scenes of the economic crisis, another global crisis is deepening - we are rapidly losing a safe climate. 2010 has been the hottest year on record.

The Global Humanitarian Fund estimated in May last year that climate change is already killing 300,000 people each year in the global south. Oxfam has warned that climate-related hunger “may be the defining human tragedy of this century”.

The planet has already warmed by 0.75°C on preindustrial levels and the most up-to-date peerreviewed climate science tells us that we must limit warming to no more than 1.5°C in order to prevent catastrophic, runaway climate change.

In September last year, a team of 130 climate scientists at the Met Office in London concluded that the planet would warm by a deadly 4°C by the middle of this century if carbon emissions were not immediately cut by at least 3% per year.

In a world 4°C warmer millions of people would become climate refugees due to rising sea levels. The higher temperatures would also weaken or interrupt the annual Asian monsoon, an irreplaceable water source for billions of people, the scientists said.

Despite the Kyoto Protocol, which was never ratified by the US, carbon emissions reached an all-time high last year. With little hope for progress on a new global climate treaty at Cancún, the onus is on the people of the world to voice the demand for urgent action to cap emissions and to pressure their governments to make the necessary steps to immediately make the transition to sustainable economies.

Sinn Féin has played a vital role in the European Parliament in campaigning for a strong and just global climate treaty that adopts targets based on science.

We have particularly championed the cause of developing countries in demanding they be provided with adequate finance for adapting their economies to develop in a sustainable way and to cope with the impact of climate change.

Sinn Féin already has the most advanced climate policy of any of the major parties in Ireland. In local councils and in government in the North, we have taken many green initiatives, including investing in sustainable transport and agriculture, at the same time as addressing regional inequality in infrastructure.

Likewise, the party has endorsed the Green New Deal proposals, and the economic recovery plans we have brought forward, North and South, contain several positive proposals on developing the green economy.

There is more we can do.

As we have shown leadership across the island in outlining a path of socially-just economic recovery through stimulus instead of austerity, we need to show leadership on developing a sustainable society powered by green energy.

DELAYING ACTION It’s difficult in the current circumstances to think

occurred as a result of the recession, not climate policy.

There are serious limitations and loopholes in the draft Climate Change Bill and the carbon tax is aimed at raising revenue for the Government from ordinary people, not at punishing polluters or reducing emissions.

beyond the immediate economic calamity brought about by the Fianna Fáil/Green Party government.

But around the world many governments are using the recession to justify delaying the necessary actions to cut carbon - when in fact it provides the ideal opportunity to stimulate a recovery in the shortterm through creating jobs by investing in new green industries, energy efficiency, sustainable transport and carbon-neutral farming.

Then there are other countries that have embarked on ambitious plans to become carbonneutral such as the small island state of the Maldives - threatened by rising sea levels - which has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2020. Norway, Iceland, New Zealand, Costa Rica and others aim to become carbon-neutral in the coming decades.

The Scottish Parliament passed a strong Climate Change Bill last year which pledges to cut emissions by 42% by 2020 and by at least 80% by 2050.

In Ireland, where we have the potential to source all of our electricity and most of our energy from indigenous renewable sources - wind, wave and tidal - and export renewable energy to our neighbours, the problem is, of course, the Government’s lack of political will.

The 26-County state is still behind on its Kyoto target, despite a recent drop in emissions - which

PUBLIC INVESTMENT The Green New Deal groups, North and South, have produced a series of proposals combining public investment, incentives and market mechanisms aimed at bringing about a green recovery.

Many of the proposals are valuable and should be campaigned for. For example, one proposal is the retro-fitting of the entire housing stock in the North, 90% of which falls short when it comes to energy efficiency. It is estimated that this would create 24,000 new jobs, slash the rate of fuel poverty in households in the Six Counties (now at 40%) and reduce emissions.

Public investment in renewable energy, sustainable forms of transport and energy efficiency should be centre-stage in Ireland’s recovery plan. It should be the political theme that underpins Sinn Féin’s alternative economic strategy.

We should consult with others - climate scientists, the Green New Deal signatories, trade unions, universities, other parties and stakeholders - to formulate an all-Ireland plan of specific, costed green stimulus measures that can create jobs and cut emissions.

GREEN FUTURE Sinn Féin can lead the way in campaigning for strong Climate Change Bills in the Assembly and Leinster House that enforce emission reductions of at least 3% per year.

We need to reiterate that the laws of the physical world cannot be negotiated with, stalled or tricked.

The reduction target for 2020 is critical and Ireland should aim to reduce emissions by at least 40% by that stage and by 90-95% by 2050.

Major debates are taking place, the outcome of which will have profound implications and which republicans should also intervene in. The most significant of these is around the merits, or lack thereof, of carbon trading - which has utterly failed to reduce emissions but is vigorously promoted as a solution by the fossil fuel lobby.

We should also engage further with the climate justice movement that is growing around the world and which is supported by the governments of Bolivia, Venezuela and Ecuador.

If Ireland is to become a leader in sustainability, we will have to lead the way. Together with Irish unity and equality, the Republican Movement needs to adopt sustainability as a central tenet.

www.anphoblacht.com

December/Nollaig 2010 |

37

COP 16 | CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES OF THE UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Rich versus poor at Cancún climate summit g

BY EMMA CLANCY

THE Cop16 UN climate summit is happening in Cancún, Mexico, with little of the fanfare that accompanied last year’s Copenhagen summit.

At Copenhagen, high hopes of achieving a strong and binding global climate treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, due to expire in 2012, were dashed by big polluting countries, particularly the US, that blocked a new treaty.

The Cop15 summit failed to come close to achieving an ambitious, legally-binding global treaty on reducing carbon emissions and actually represented a step backward from progress that had been made in previous climate discussions.

RECRIMINATIONS Political leaders of the powerful industrialised countries have blamed the Copenhagen summit’s failure on developing countries and emerging large economies such as China, claiming they refused to ‘play their part’.

But in reality what happened at Copenhagen was that the rich countries, led by the US, tried to force the poor into agreeing to abandon the Kyoto Protocol’s key principles - that targets must be legally binding, that rich countries have a greater responsibility to cut emissions, and that developing countries must be provided with adequate finance for adaptation and mitigation.

While the top climate scientists believe that industrialised countries must make cuts of 40% by 2020 and 80% to 95% by 2050, the US pledged to cut its emissions by just 4% by 2020. This is onetenth of what is required to achieve a safe climate.

The end result of Cop15 was a ‘lowest common denominator’ announcement, the Copenhagen Accord, which was not legally binding, did not actually set any targets, and was merely ‘taken note of’ by the conference because it was rightly unacceptable to several countries.

The Accord makes reference to provision of US$10billion each

Lumumba Di Aping year from 2010 to 2012 in immediate aid to developing countries but there is no clarity as to who will contribute what from the industrialised countries.

The spokesperson for the G77 group of 130 developing countries, Lumumba Di Aping, said: “$10billion will not buy the coffins to bury us with.”

He pointed out at the conference that $1.3trillion -1.3 TRILLION - had been spent on the global bail-out of the financial sector.

LOSING SAFE CLIMATE So what has happened since Cop15?

Well, the worst flooding in Pakistan’s history submerged more than one-fifth of the country in July and August, killing thousands of people and

leaving 20 million homeless.

Monsoon rains caused flooding and deadly landslides in China in August, as drought and wildfires raged through Russia.

The human cost of climate change is mounting, with 10 million people now affected by hunger as a result of a severe drought in western Africa.

And the Arctic Sea ice is in a “death spiral” that it will not recover from, according to climate scientists.

Global temperature records have been smashed repeatedly this year. Seventeen countries have reported record-high temperatures so far in 2010. The first half of 2010 was the hottest sixmonth period on record in the hottest year on record in the hottest decade on record.

BATTLE LINES DRAWN Positions have hardened in the lead-up to Cancún and countries have once again largely lined up into two camps - rich and poor.

The US and other rich countries are trying to manage public expectations of what can be achieved and pushing for the Kyoto principle of ‘common but differentiated obligations’ between developed and developing countries to be scrapped.

G77 countries, and especially the ALBA grouping in Latin America, are rejecting the US-led push to bin Kyoto. They want to

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales

see a globally-binding treaty agreed that sets legally enforceable targets based on science.

The bloc of developing countries want such a treaty to adopt a target of limiting warming to no more than 1.5°C - as opposed to the 2°C target proposed in the UN IPPC (Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change) report in 2007, which they say has been superseded by scientific evidence showing this is not a safe climate target.

Emissions must peak by 2015 and then be rapidly reduced if catastrophic climate change is to be avoided. But Copenhagen represented a step back from Kyoto. If Cancún is a step back from Copenhagen, international confidence in the UN process, already faltering, will be further undermined.

More than 100,000 climate activists from around the world converged on Copenhagen city during the summit in the biggest ever climate demonstration in Europe. A counter-conference of

50,000 climate activists Klimaforum gathered in Copenhagen and formulated real solutions to the challenge based on renewable energy, sustainable transport and food production.

Then Bolivia’s President Evo Morales hosted a ‘People’s Summit’ of 35,000 climate activists in Cochabamba in April, supported by other ALBA nations.

The developing alliance between the poor countries, progressive forces in the industrialised states, and the growing global climate justice movement is up against hugely powerful governments and business interests who are determined to prioritise short-term profit over the survival of the planet.

As the rich countries and fossil fuel lobby try to define ‘success’ at Cancún as ‘building trust’ and finding vague agreement on peripheral issues - and as we can see a safe climate rapidly disappearing around us - the emerging climate movement needs to be heard.

MEP reports on ‘Prospects for Cancún and beyond’ SINN FÉIN MEP Bairbre de Brún is in Cancún as part of the European Parliament’s official delegation to the summit, which is being held from November 29th to December 10th.

Sinn Féin and its partners in the European United Left (GUE/NGL) have campaigned strongly within the EU for a strong, legally-binding global cli-

mate treaty that is based on science; that recognises the differing obligations between developing and industrialised countries; and that provides adequate levels of assistance to developing countries for adaptation and mitigation.

Speaking at a public meeting on the climate summit in Belfast along with representatives from

Friends of the Earth and Stop Climate Chaos before departing for the conference, the Irish MEP told An Phoblacht: “I will work with environmental NGOs and local communities to keep up the pressure for an ambitious climate deal that really counts for the world’s poor.

“I look forward to discussing with you the steps that we need

to take now in the Assembly, in the EU and in the wider international community.

“The global economic crisis cannot and must not be used as an excuse for inaction or for denying climate justice. On the contrary, developing a low-carbon economy is our most promising path out of the present crisis.”

Bairbre de Brún

38

| December/Nollaig 2010

www.anphoblacht.com

IN PICTURES

Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh tries to stop a garda batoning Sinn Féin protesters against the Government’s IMF sell-out after they marched through unlocked gates at Government Buildings

Belfast against the Tory cuts, Falls Road

Economist Tom O'Connor addresses the anti-IMF protest in Cork

Ógra Shinn Féin occupy Cork City offices of Fianna Fáil

Protest at Government Buildings as the IMF sell-out is signed

Wexford Sinn Féin protest against Government cutbacks and the IMF sell-out

Derry Sinn Féin say ‘No to Tory cuts’ during a visit by Minister Owen Paterson

www.anphoblacht.com

December/Nollaig 2010 |

39

Bankers cleaning up while cleaners pay the price

I

WAS in work at half-seven on Monday morning. The first person I met was a Polish woman who comes in at some ungodly hour to clean the place from where the great and good will issue their decrees on behalf of the IMF and the bondholders.

Last week, they decided, in the ‘national interest’ of course, that this woman and the other cleaners ought to sacrifice €40 a week in order to pay the gambling debts of their loser friends.

I am fecking angry over what is going on.

We all perhaps grow somewhat cynical and world weary as we grow older. It is part of life and perhaps even a necessary defence mechanism. I know that if I still invested as much emotional capital in the Dubs, for example, as I did when I was younger that I would be a candidate for a mental health sectioning order. (Perhaps I am anyway.)

In the middle of this potential disaster, this national treachery, I can recall exactly what brought me to where I am today.

I feel just as I did during the Hunger Strikes and as an apprentice welder when we went on strike to have the right to join a trade union. This was at a time, incidentally, when the Blueshirts and Labour were taking something like a third of my paltry wages in tax and PRSI! A time when the ‘elite’ were hiding their money in overseas bank accounts.

Now that self-same elite through its compulsive losing gambling streak has lost everything.

A Government that was sneering at anyone who had the temerity to suggest using some of the National Pension Reserve Fund as a part of a stimulus package to promote growth and jobs has now decided, or been told, to put the whole lot of it into the incinerator that is the Irish banking debt.

Another thing that you acquire over the years is a certain amount of resilience. You learn to cope with the good and the bad and most of us muddle through. Now I am worried.

More than a game MATT TREACY What sort of horrors potentially are going to form the backdrop to Ciara’s teenage years?

What awful catastrophe potentially faces the Irish people?

For, make no mistake, what has happened over the past while - and indeed each new day seems to bring more revelations that you would have been

I AM FECKING ANGRY OVER WHAT IS GOING ON. I feel just as I did during the Hunger Strikes and as an apprentice welder when we went on strike to have the right to join a trade union laughed at had you attempted to fictionalise them – has brought this state and potentially the whole island to the brink of an abyss.

Not too many political parties can claim to have this as their legacy. Fianna Fáil, if they survive, will. Of course, they could also drag the rest of us down with them.

So no sport today, my chums. But, as it says on the tin, it is seriously more than a game.

ALIVE AND KICKING GOALS IN IRELAND A TEAM of more than 20 young Aboriginal Australian footballers recently visited Belfast as part of a tour around Ireland.

The Broome Saints, an Aussie Rules team from rural Western Australia, are part of ‘Alive and Kicking Goals!’, a youth suicide prevention project based on peer education.

The group completed a two-week tour around Ireland and had meetings with a range of different organisations including suicide prevention and awareness groups and the GAA In Belfast, the group did a Black Taxi tour of an Ceathrú Gaeltachta and then met with a delegation from Sinn Féin, including west Belfast MLA Jennifer McCann, Councillors Charlene O’Hara and Caoimhín Mac Giolla Mhín, and leading Irish-language activist Séanna Walsh.

The group explained that youth suicide is a major problem in indigenous communities in Australia, many of which suffer from a lack of government investment, a

healthcare crisis and the legacy of racial discrimination.

Project co-ordinator Joe Tighe, who works in Broome but is originally from County Meath, said: “This project is aimed at bridging the enormous gap between the Australian statutory health agencies and indigenous communities in the Kimberley desert by training young people within the community to be peer educators on suicide prevention.

“Alive and Kicking Goals encompasses community development, youth health,

sport and music, and a big highlight of the project is this trip to Ireland – which has been great fun and educational for all the guys.”

The Sinn Féin delegation discussed the experience of suicide prevention work in west Belfast, the movement to revive the Irish language, and the development of the Peace Process and power-sharing Executive.

Twinbrook Councillor Charlene O’Hara, who is also the chair of the Colin Drug and Alcohol Forum, told the visiting group:

“There is a lot in common in our experiences, in terms of suicide having a disproportionate effect on our communities, which are economically deprived and affected by the legacy of discrimination. There is also the further challenge of overcoming the barriers between the statutory agencies and local communities.

“The Broome project is very worthwhile and provides a valuable model for others to learn from, using the principles of peer education and sport to help in the fight against youth suicide.”

anphoblacht 40

December/Nollaig 2010

Using Pension Fund to bail out banks is ‘act of treachery’ called for the bondSINN FÉIN TD Martin Ferris has to be told that they will holders who possess Irish debt commitment of the the d not be paid. He also describe bank bail-out as the to d Fun rve Rese National Pension an act of treachery. y, the Sinn Féin In an interview with Radio Kerr asked what Sinn was ts Righ ’ kers Wor on spokesperson imposed by the ns ditio Féin’s response was to the con the bail-out osed opp has Féin IMF. Ferris said Sinn to the IMF osed ely opp from the start and was complet being brought in.

Féin and others had He pointed out that when Sinn the pension fund of e previously suggested using som te growth and crea to e kag as part of a stimulus pac that would be that told n bee had they employment, rve! rese irresponsible and a waste of the Fáil have commitDeputy Ferris said: “Now Fianna it has effectively been ted it to the bail-out where as all the rest of the bilthrown in the same black hole lions.” ld not be part of He emphasised that Sinn Féin wou ng the IMF deal enti lem imp to any coalition committed e agreed on by Fianna and the sort of austerity packag our.

Lab Fáil, the Greens, Fine Gael and

August 2011

February 2011 anphoblacht out Thursday 27th January AVAILABLE FROM:

Sinn Féin Bookshop, 58 Parnell Square, Dublin 1. www.sinnfeinbookshop.com Tel: (+353 1) 8148542 Email: sales@sinnfeinbookshop.com

The 2011 calendar contains images from the Hunger Strike period, as Thatcher’s attempts to criminalise and break the republican struggle. Here we salute the courage and sacrifice of the ten men who died and the selfless actions of their comrades on protest in Long Kesh and Armagh Women’s prison continues to inspire us today. We continue their struggle.

PRICE €5

+ POSTAGE AND PACKAGING BULK RATES ON REQUEST

29/07/2010

17:07

Page 1

August

March 2011

Lúansa

Sunday

Monday

1

On 7th May 1995, republicans on the Stewartstown Road in Belfast hold posters of the 1981 Hunger Strikers.

(Below) Gerry Adams addresses tens of thousands of people at the Hunger Strike Rally in Casement Park in Belfast in 2001.

Tuesday

2

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

3

4

5

6

Márta

Sunday

Monday

Saturday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

1

2

3

4

5

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

20 27

28

29

30

31

Luan

Máirt

Céadaoin

Déardaoin

9

10

11

12

13

15

16

17

18

19

21

22

23

24

28

29

30

31

Domhnach

Luan

Máirt

Céadaoin

Aoine

Page 1

8

14

Déardaoin

17:00

7

8

26

29/07/2010

6

7

25

March

Sathairn

1990. Pat was a addresses a rally in Belfast in Young part in the 1981 Hunger Strike, Pat ‘Beág’ McGeown, who took He died in October 1996. (Below) and elected to Belfast City Council.

– Bobby Sands member of the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle will be the laughter of our children” Belfast, in 2000. “Our revenge people on Beechmount Avenue,

Domhnach

Aoine

Sathairn