An Phoblacht, December 2015

‘A Fresh Start’ – Agreement reached at Stormont

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December / Nollaig 2015

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TV historian & IRA member

Éamonn Mac Thomáis THREE SHOUTS ON A HILL

THREE SHOUTS ON A HILL Éamonn Mac Thomáis

Éamonn Mac Thomáis

THREE SHOUTS ON A HILL is a short collection of essays by the celebrated writer,TV personality and acclaimed historian Éamonn Mac Thomáis, a staunch republican whose involvement in the Republican Movement spanned four decades.

Born in Dublin into a staunchly republican and, as he described it himself, Larkinite family, A fervently republican in the Connolly tradition, Éamonn joined the Irish Republican Army as a young man and was an active republican throughout his life.

It was while he was a political prisoner in Portlaoise in 1974 that Éamonn’s first book, Me Jewel and Darlin’ Dublin, was published by O’Brien Press. Éamonn continued his association with the republican family following his release and played a role in the campaign in support of the H-Blocks Hunger Strikers in Long Kesh in 1980 and 1981.

Three Shouts on a Hill is a series Éamonn had written for An Phoblacht/Republican News in an era of state censorship, combining his wealth of knowledge of Irish and republican history with commentary on contemporary events almost a decade before the advent of the World Wide Web and when wordsmiths such as Éamonn earned their reputation through dedication, painstaking research in countless books and journals, and sheer hard work.

Three Shouts on a Hill is a window into Ireland’s history at a turbulent and tragic time.

Sinn Féin Centenaries Commemoration Committee | Coiste Comóradh Céad Bliain.

Designed and produced by An Phoblacht. www.anphoblacht.com

Collusion cover-up continues Three Shouts on a Hill cover spread.indd 1

5 The Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974, one of many cases of British state collusion with unionists in the murder of Irish citizens

THREE SHOUTS ON A HILL 27/10/2015 13:20

Christmas

1915

EVE OF THE RISING

2 December / Nollaig 2015

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A FRESH START

The Stormont House Agreement & Implementation Plan

BY MICHAEL McMONAGLE THE CRISIS in the political institutions was created by Tory austerity and their failure to honour commitments made in the Good Friday Agreement and other agreements, including full disclosure on the legacy of the past.

Tory austerity cuts have taken hundreds of millions of pounds out of public services since 2010 and they also launched an ideologically-driven assault on the safeguards of the welfare state.

In July of this year, British Chancellor George Osborne announced that another £1.4billion would be removed from the Executive’s budget over the next four years.

He also announced cuts to tax credits for working families and those on low incomes. These changes will take another £1.1billion out of the local economy.

While tax credits are not within 5 Stormont – It was not possible to reach an agreement on dealing with the legacy of the past the remit of the Executive, Sinn Féin cannot discriminate between supporting those on in-work and out-ofwork benefits.

A package of measures has now been negotiated in the Stormont House Agreement & Implementation Plan to

A package of measures has now been negotiated in the Stormont House Agreement & Implementation Plan to provide support to those who will be most affected by the Tory cuts agenda and to invest in public services and the economy provide support to those who will be most affected by the Tory cuts agenda and to invest in public services and the economy.

As a result of the negotiations we have secured approximately an extra 5 Martin McGuinness and Peter Robinson speak to the media at the end of the negotiations £615million in new money and between Eileen Evason) to bring forward a report £2.5million for the North-West Gateway Parties which are entitled to ministerial £525million and £650million in flexi- on how this package of funding will Initiative. positions in the Executive but choose bilities, allowing this money to be used be used.

This agreement also deals with insti- not to take them up will be recognised to grow our economy.

This additional money will be used tutional reform and makes provision as an official opposition.

This agreement also provides for the over a four-year period with a review for the number of MLAs to be reduced It was not possible, however, to reach establishment of a fund of £585million at the end of the third year. to five members per constituency at an agreement on dealing with the to provide support to people who will Funding for a number of key infra- the 2021 Assembly elections. legacy of the past. lose out on benefits and tax credits. structural projects was also agreed The number of departments will In the Stormont House AgreeA panel will be appointed (headed during the negotiations with £75million also be reduced from 12 to 9 in time ment, the two governments and up by leading benefits expert Professor for the A5 upgrade project and for next year’s Assembly elections. the parties agreed to mechanisms

5 British Chancellor George Osborne to provide full disclosure for victims of the conflict.

The British Government has failed to honour that agreement and has sought to put in place a veto on the information to be disclosed to families under the bogus guise of national security.

These documents relates to events which happened 30 to 40 years ago; it is a nonsense to suggest that this infor-

Sinn Féin will continue to press the British and Irish governments for full implementation on outstanding issues from the Good Friday Agreement and other agreements mation should be subject to national security.

It is not acceptable to families of victims and is not compatible with the Stormont House Agreement.

They continue to cover up the action of the state’s agents, army, police and political establishment by using a national security veto. That is unacceptable.

Sinn Féin will continue to press the British and Irish governments for full implementation on outstanding issues from the Good Friday Agreement and other agreements.

These include the establishment of full inquiries into the murder of Pat Finucane and the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, Acht na Gaeilge, and the creation of a Bill of Rights in the North.

December / Nollaig 2015

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3

5 Britain has consistently refused to sign up to any agreement which would involve revealing the truth about atrocities carried out by state forces or in collusion with unionist death squads

Britain fails to honour its commitments on truth and justice

5 The Sinn Féin negotiating team at the start of the talks process

BY MICHAEL McMONAGLE DESPITE PROGRESS being made on a range of issues in the ‘Fresh Start’ agreement at Stormont, the British Government continues to fail to honour its agreements on addressing the legacy of the past.

Throughout the ten weeks of negotiations which led to the agreement, British Secretary of State Theresa Villiers and the British Government repeatedly used ‘national security’ as an excuse to deny relatives of those killed and injured in the conflict access to truth and justice.

The British Government repeatedly used ‘national security’ as an excuse to deny relatives of those killed and injured in the conflict access to truth and justice The Sinn Féin negotiating team repeatedly challenged Villiers and her government on its responsibilities on legacy issues, including commitments made in previous agreements.

The Irish Government failed to confront the British over their failures to deal with the past, including its refusal to hand over files on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and to hold full inquiries into the Ballymurphy massacre and the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.

5 British Government's Theresa Villiers and Irish Government's Charlie Flanagan Human rights organisations and groups representing victims also called on both governments to honour their commitments to victims.

As a result of the failure of the British Government to meet its responsibilities on the past, it was not possible to reach agreement on legacy issues in the resulting agreement.

The failure of the British Government is rooted in its dogged refusal to honour its commitment to full disclosure of information to victims – a commitment made in the Stormont House Agreement last year.

The British Government continues to cite ‘national security’ as a reason for placing a veto on what information should be released to families of victims.

In doing so they seek to curtail and control the information, covering up the role of their armed forces, MI5 and MI6, and state agents in murders.

Some of the documents involved relate to incidents which happened four decades ago and could not possible present any threat to national security in the present day.

Highlighting the ridiculousness of the British Government’s arguments, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD said: “What conceivable national security concerns can exist for events, many of which occurred 30 and 40 years ago? What national security interests are now being served by a British Government refusing to unlock the files to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings or the actions of the Force Reconnaissance Unit, or the role of Brian Nelson and other agents?”

Some of the material the British Government is now trying to restrict access to appeared in the public domain at the time and is available in newspaper archives such as that held in the Linen Hall Library and Public Records Office.

Sinn Féin could not agree to a proposal put forward by Theresa Villiers that would allow the British Government a veto on information as it did not meet the needs of victims and went against the principles of the Stormont House Agreement.

During the negotiations, the British Government claimed that releasing information on the past would not only risk ‘national security’ but could also place place lives at risk.

However, under Article Two of the European Convention of Human Rights, no information could be released which would identify and endanger an individual.

The British Government’s refusal to agree to release information ignores the fact that in the Stormont House Agreement it was agreed that all mechanisms relating to disclosure must be Article Two compliant.

The Irish Government also failed in its responsibilities by not challenging the British Government over its refusal to adequately address the past.

Gerry Adams said: “The Irish Government has not asserted its role as a co-equal guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement and other agreements. It has played the part of a junior partner and has acquiesced to British demands, especially around the issue of legacy. Their role should have been to hold the British Government to account. They have failed to do this.”

Despite the fact that he British government would live up to its responsibilities on the past, Sinn Féin continued to campaign for the needs of victims after a dead was reached.

Deputy First Minister and Sinn Féin Chief Negotiator Martin McGuinness met Theresa Villiers following the agreement to continue to

The Irish Government failed to confront the British over their failures to deal with the past, including the Dublin and Monaghan bombings press for full disclosure and pressed her to meet with representatives of victims groups.

“I asked Theresa Villiers to meet with victims’ groups face to face because it is for the British Government to explain why they are determined to withhold this information,” he said.

“She also needs to hear the concerns of victims’ groups directly.

“I welcome the fact that she agreed to meet with the groups and I believe those engagements need to take place as soon as possible if we are to resolve this issue.”

4 December / Nollaig 2015

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anphoblacht Editorial

WHAT'S INSIDE 8&9

Britain blocks scrutiny of its ‘Dirty War’ in Ireland 15

Free Arnaldo Otegi and Basque prisoners campaign Irish launch 21

Níl na comhairli saor ó olc ach an oiread 23

anphoblacht Eagarfhocal

anphoblacht

‘A Fresh Start’

THE RECENT CRISIS in the North has been created by Tory policy, the electoral competition within unionism, and the failure of the Irish Government to stand up for the rights of Irish citizens and the previous agreements.

The Conservative Party Government in Westminster has slashed funding to public services, to those most in need and to supports for working families. The Irish Government looked on from the sidelines as the Tories imposed in the North the same austerity policies that Labour and Fine Gael have championed in the South.

The leadership of the Tory party are ‘Thatcher’s Children’, born of privilege, millionaires detached from the reality of daily life.

These are the people Sinn Féin was facing down.

These are the people that Fine Gael and Labour share a common policy of cuts with.

After over three months of intense and difficult negotiations between the parties and the two governments, an agreement has been reached.

Working political institutions in the North are the first line of defence against the austerity agenda of the Tory Government.

In the face of continued Tory cuts, Sinn Féin negotiated a package of measures, including an extra half a billion pounds in new money and a further similar amount in additional flexibilities to invest in public services and the economy. None of this would have been delivered by any other party.

Contact

Layout and production: Mark Dawson production@anphoblacht.com

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The Tories refused to sign up to truth and justice clauses that would have exposed the British Government’s cover-up of their Dirty War in Ireland.

Critics have every right to put this agreement under the microscope. The critics also have a responsibility to make clear their alternative and how that would have worked.

Would they have collapsed the Assembly and just handed to the Tories all the powers over welfare, public services and policing – lock, stock and barrel? To the Tory party that wants to introduce water charges and prescriptions charges and increase student fees?

The price of the Union is austerity. Working institutions are the first line of defence. The way to end Tory policies in Ireland is for a Sinn Féin-led government in Dublin and ending partition.

AN PHOBLACHT is published monthly by Sinn Féin. The views in An Phoblacht are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sinn Féin. We welcome articles, opinions and photographs from new contributors but contact the Editor first.

An Phoblacht, Kevin Barry House, 44 Parnell Square, Dublin 1, Ireland Telephone: (+353 1) 872 6 100. Email: editor@anphoblacht.com

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Trade unions meet Sinn Féin during talks

BY DECLAN KEARNEY Egyptian hunger striker Mohamed Soltan talks to An Phoblacht 26 & 27

Uncomfortable Conversations

Eibhlin Glenholmes and Fiona McCausland SUBSCRIBE ONLINE To get your An Phoblacht delivered direct to your mobile device or computer for just €10 per 12 issues and access to the historic The Irish Volunteer newspaper posted online weekly and An Phoblacht’s/IRIS the republican magazine archives

THE Sinn Féin leadership has invested significant effort in recent years in building relationships with all sections of civic society in the North, and particularly with the regional trades union movement.

During the Stormont talks process, and as the final phase of intensive negotiations occurred, the negotiations team kept in regular contact with the leadership of the NI Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and representatives of the main unions based in the North.

Against the backdrop of the ongoing austerity crisis in the Six Counties, and the election of a majority Conservative British Government in May, the local labour movement has consistently expressed deep concern about the implications for public services, job losses and 5 A Sinn Féin delegation led by Declan Kearney and including MLAs Jennifer increased inequality.

McCann, Conor Murphy and Alex Maskey met key trade union officials The persistent refusal of both the British and Irish governments to economic, financial and other issues Exit Scheme for the viability of the recognise the special circumstances which were under negotiation, and public service have been specific of the Six Counties has increased what might emerge. Corporation Tax concerns.

On Friday 20 November, a party trades union concerns about the and implications of the Voluntary

delegation led by myself and including MLAs Jennifer McCann, Conor Murphy and Alex Maskey met key trade union officials from North and South in Dundalk for a comprehensive discussion on the Stormont Agreement Implementation Plan.

The party representatives explained that the extra half billion pounds in new money and other flexibilities will be invested in public services and the local economy.

Corporation Tax was discussed in detail. The role of Eileen Evason’s independent panel in bringing forward recommendations on how the dedicated fund for vulnerable and working families will be maximised was also addressed.

Sinn Féin reiterated its opposition to the privatisation of services and deregulation. The party representatives set out our determination to use the political institutions as a bulwark against austerity, to protect public services and jobs, and to attract further investment and grow the economy.

The Sinn Féin delegation agreed with the trade union leaders that we will continue working together to oppose austerity, North and South.

December / Nollaig 2015

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5

Le Trevor Ó Clochartaigh Féílire Comóradh 100 Bliain na Gaillimhe seolta

Súil Siar – Súil chun cinn MÁ TÁ FÉIRÍN uait don Nollaig do dhuine éigin gar dhuit dhéanfá rud níos measa ná féilire Chomóradh 100 Bliain na Gaillimhe a cheannacht dóibh. Bronntannas luachmhar ó thaobh na staire di a léiríonn grianghraif le pearsain Gaillimheacha a raibh baint acu le gluaiseacht na Poblachta ag tús an chéid seo caite. Ach, an tábhacht bhreise a bhaineann leis do ghnáth phobal na h-áite ná go mba iad a gcuid daoine muinteartha féin, a gcomharsain agus a gcairde a bhí páirteach sa streachailt in aghaidh forlámhas na Breataine agus go mba leosan an Éirí Amach i ndáiríre.

go h-idirnáisiúnta.

Tá dúshlan romhainn cinntiú go gcuirfidh an dream óg spéis sa méid atá ag tarlú sa bpobal thimpeall orthu. Caithfidh siad tuiscint go bhfuil na deacrachtai a fheiceann siad ina gceantair féin – easpa tithíochta, daoine gan dídean, rátaí ard féinmharaithe, ganntann seirbhísí agus deiseanna don aos-óg agus eile bainteach go dlúth le cinntí polaitiúla ag gach leibhéal agus le polasaithe rialtais.

Bhí gaolta leo féin – a sin seanmhuintir in amanna, nó daoine eile ón bpobal a bhfuil gaolta leo beo go fóill sa gceantar – ag eagrú le ruaig a chur ar Ghallaibh

Tá borradh faoi imeachtai chomórtha ar fud na tíre anois agus muid ag teannadh le 1916.

Níl ort ach féachaint ar lion na gcuairteanna atá dhá thabhairt ag baill na bhFórsaí Cosanta ar scoileanna chun brataigh agus cóipeanna d’Fhorógra na Poblachta a bhronnadh orthu.

Bhí mé i láthair ag ceann de na h-ócáidí seo ag Scoil Náisiúnta Mhic Dara ar an gCeathrú Rua agus bhí bís ar na gasúir ag an ócáid agus aird dá réir tarraingthe ar thábhacht an bhrait, Amhrán na bhFiann agus teachtaireacht an Fhorógra. Ní fhéadfadh sé seo ach maitheas a dhéanamh agus suim daltaí a mhúscailt ina gcuid staire.

Tá scoileanna sa gceantar i mbun tionscnaimh chomórtha agus taighde iad féin freisin.

Tá staidéar dhá dhéanamh ar na pearsain áitiúla a bhí bainteach le gluaiseacht na Poblachta, Éirí Amach 1916, Cogadh na Saoirse agus mar sin di.

Tá siad ag fáil amach nach iad na mórphearsaí amháin a luaitear le h-eachtraí an GPO sna leabhra scoile an t-aon dream a bhí a bhí rannpháirteach sna h-iarrachtaí. Bhí gaolta leo

IN PICTURES

féin – a sin seanmhuintir in amanna, nó daoine eile ón bpobal a bhfuil gaolta leo beo go fóill sa gceantar – ag eagrú le ruaig a chur ar Ghallaibh!

Tá siad ag foghlaim faoi eachtraí a tharla sa gceantar s’acusan. Creachanna, ionramháil, ionsaithe, dúnmharaithe agus eile. Tá sé seo ar fad ag cur craiceann nua ar an stair dhóibh.

Tá sé ag lasadh lóchrann spéise i nglúin nua d’ógánaigh na tíre agus iad fiosrach faoinar thit amach ina gceantar féin agus cén fáth.

Tugann seo deis iontach dúinne mar Phoblachtánaithe breith ar an bhfuinneamh nua

seo chun an ghlúin óg seo a chur ag smaoineamh ar luachanna Fhorógra na Poblachta agus ar an bhfís a bhí ag ceannairí na gluaiseachta ag an am sin. Agus níl an jab críochnaithe fós.

Tá éagcothromaíocht forleathan in Éirinn go fóill. Tá leatrom i gcúrsaí oideachais, sláinte, san eacnamaíocht agus cuid mhaith eile. Níltear ag caitheamh le chuile dhuine ar an mbealach céanna agus is fúinne agus faoi na glúnta atá romhainn atá sé sin a chur ina cheart. An bhealach is fearr chun sin a dhéanamh ná tríd an pholaitíocht – go h-áitiúil, go náisiúnta agus

Is iad gnáth chosmhuintir na tíre a throid ar son saoirse. Léiríonn na sloinnte a fheictear ar Fhéilire na Gaillimhe úd – Donnellan, Breathnach Whelan, Mullen, Folan, Maguire is araile – gur gnath cosmhuintir na Gaillimhe a bhí i gceist chomh maith.

Agus is iad gnáth chosmhuintir na tíre a athróidh an dreach pholaitiúil in Éirinn sna blianta beaga atá romhainn. I chuile bhaile beag agus mór, ar fud an oileán. Caithfidh muidne an ceannasaíocht a thabhairt dóibh leis an bhfís Poblachtach, uile Éireann a fhíoradh.

• Is féidir cóip d’fhéílire Comóradh 100 na Gaillimhe a fháil ach glaoch ar 091 567 921 nó ríomhphost a chur chuig sfrosshouse@gmail. com. Luach €10.

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5 Workers stage a two-hour stoppage at Irish Life headquaters in Dublin, the first in a series of protests in 5 Hundreds take to the streets of Dublin to show their solidarity with the people of France after 130 light of the company's plans to impose unilateral changes to pay structures without agreement people were killed in Paris in gun and bomb attacks carried out by the so-called 'Islamic State' group

6 December / Nollaig 2015

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The ongoing Q& A Dessie Ellis TD Sinn Féin Housing housing crisis Spokesperson WITH

MARK MOLONEY

What is your reaction to Environment Minister Alan Kelly’s move to limit rent increases to once every two years?

It’s certainly going to help but it is far from what is required.

The Government had been on about introducing rent certainty and that would have meant some sort of indexed-linked system for rent controls.

The problem with this two-year extension is that anybody new coming in will be starting at a different rate. There is no rent certainty in reality. We welcome that the Private Residential Tenancies Board will get more powers but landlords are already getting paid extravagantly, in my opinion.

In the last few years, rents have gone through the roof and the average monthly rent now in Dublin is €1,380. That’s way over the top; it needs to be dealt with and it’s not happening.

Fine Gael TD Tom Barry says he has to sell his ten rental properties because

of this measure. What do you make of that?

There’s no doubt that these people have a vested interest. It’s just an example of the Fine Gael mentality and we wouldn’t really expect anything else from them.

The bout that took place between Alan Kelly and Fine Gael Finance Minister Michael Noonan tells you that, ideologically, Fine Gael are opposed to

‘interference’ in the market but the reality is that rent certainty is used in other countries.

I think we should move to a system – similar to in Berlin – where rents are calculated by property size. There are some inner city apartments in Dublin that are 29 square metres and charging up to €900. That is scandalous.

There has been a lot of criticism from the Government parties accusing local councils of failing to live up

Ideologically, Fine Gael are opposed to ‘interference’ in the market but the reality is that rent certainty is used in other countries to their commitments on tackling homelessness and building social housing. Is that justified?

For many years, local authorities have been starved of Government funding. In spite of what Fine Gael and Labour are saying, from 2008 there was over €1.2billion cut in the housing budget. Fianna

5 Constantly focusing on private market leasing is simply not good enough

Fáil started it and this Government are continuing it.

That means we ended up with a large number of voids (vacant social housing) across the state because there wasn’t money there to refurbish them.

Long-term voids can cost €30,000 to bring up to standard. But it makes more sense to to start with them first before you start buying prefabs. I’m not saying we shouldn’t look at modular housing but it should only be a last and temporary resort and families need to be quickly moved on to proper homes.

In the longer term, what is seriously needed is a thought-out social housing building policy to be put in place – and one that we can stand over. This Government has completely avoided the issue.

Constantly focusing on leasing arrangements in

the private market is simply not good enough.

On local councils there have been a number of incidents where councillors of Government parties have tried to stop social housing in their wards.

Is this a case of Government saying one thing but doing the opposite on local councils?

It’s not surprising that you often see Fine Gael – and sometimes Fianna Fáil – attempting to block social housing on local authorities. We need to stand up to this. Even in working-class areas you will get some opposition to modular housing but we all have a duty to ensure homeless people are provided with adequate housing.

What would be the first step Sinn Féin would take in Government to deal with the housing and homelessness crisis?

We have laid out a plan to build 100,000 social housing units by 2030. We need an absolute minimum of 7,000 on an annual basis. So we would look towards the idea of setting-up a housing agency with responsibility for building and developing housing.

That would be a very important step.

Not only would it deliver social housing but it would have the added benefit of a significant boost in employment.

December / Nollaig 2015

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7

Some Labour TDs make positive noises but fail to show for vote

Government blocks Sinn Féin motion on Travellers’ rights

BY MARK MOLONEY FINE GAEL AND LABOUR blocked a Dáil motion in November aimed at addressing the discrimination and marginalisation of Travellers in Irish society as well as recognising Irish Travellers as a distinct ethnic group. Travellers are recognised as an ethnic minority in the Six Counties and in Britain.

The Dáil motion – drafted in consultation with Traveller support groups – was tabled by Sinn Féin in the wake of the Carrickmines fire tragedy in October in which ten members of the Travelling community died. Members of the Traveller community were also in the Visitors’ Gallery in the Dáil on both nights as the motion was debated.

Moving the motion, Sligo/North Leitrim TD Michael Colreavy hit out at the attitude of Government and some

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

Sinn Féin TD Michael Colreavy called Fine Gael and Labour ‘pathetic and cowardly’, accusing them of pandering to prejudice local authorities to Travellers and that local authorities had sent back money that had been granted to them by the Government to house Travellers.

He described the Government’s counter-motion, which gave no commitments, as “pathetic and cowardly”. He accused Fine Gael and Labour of “pandering to prejudice”.

Sinn Féin’s Health spokesperson, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD, outlined the serious inequalities which exist between the settled and Traveller communities, describing them as “utterly damning”.

Cork East TD Sandra McLellan hit out at what she described as a “double standard” being applied to Travellers where they are all tarred with the one brush for actions of a minority within their community.

Donegal TD Pearse Doherty commended county colleague Pádraig Mac Lochlainn for his long work on behalf of the Traveller community: “Despite the fact that it might not be very popular in some areas, he has never shirked his responsibilities to confront the racist views that are held by a minority.”

The prominent Sinn Féin Finance spokesperson said it is time politicians start doing what is right and

not just pander to populism for the sake of votes.

Dublin South-West TD Seán Crowe criticised Labour for targeting Travellers’ teacher support services and also gave some insight into the anti-Traveller rhetoric which is whipped-up around election time: “For the past number of elections, a leaflet has gone around an estate in my constituency stating that ‘Seán Crowe voted in favour of Traveller accommodation’,” he explained. “It pops up at every election despite there never having been any problems from the Travellers in that accommodation.

Nevertheless, this unsigned letter gets 5 A child lights a candle at a vigil for those who died in the Carrickmines fire sent out.” by criminality and by disrespect for the popular. We know that talk of TravelMany TDs raised the concern settled community. So it’s a two-way ler rights tonight is not popular. That expressed by the UN Committee on street. This is not about hugs and kisses,” is because for decades there has not the Elimination of Racial Discrimina- he said. been the necessary leadership.” tion at the state’s persistent refusal to “When we first talked about women’s During the debate, a number of regard Travellers as an ethnic minority. rights – the right of women to take Labour TDs delivered speeches which Fine Gael Cork East TD Tom Barry were commended by Sinn Féin for their caused uproar in the chamber for his honesty. However, when it came to the speech when he claimed “the word crunch, the Labour TDs did not show ‘racism’ is used far too frequently; it up in the chamber to vote. stifles discussion”. He said that “thorny While Traveller rights groups were issues” surrounding the Traveller disappointed with the result, they community need to be addressed thanked Sinn Féin for bringing the and went on to speak about “Travelmotion before parliament. ler feuding, anti-social behaviour” and “The defeat of the Sinn Féin motion people being “genuinely afraid and terriwas not unexpected but it was importfied” by “elements within the Traveller ant and symbolic that the Dáil would community”. have a debate on Traveller issues,” said Describing Barry’s speech as “shockPavee Point Director Martin Collins. ing”, Sinn Féin’s Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, “Debates like this will make the Dáil the first TD from a Traveller background, much more meaningful and relevant acknowledged that there are issues seats in parliament, the right of women to the Travelling community.” within the Traveller community which to go out and work and to receive The Sinn Féin motion received the need to be tackled head-on: equal pay – those ideas were unpop- support of Fianna Fáil, smaller left-wing “I’m not in denial that there have ular when they were first raised,” he parties and most Independents but was been some in the Travelling commu- noted. “When we talked about rights defeated by Fine Gael and Labour by nity that have let down their people for lesbian and gay citizens, it was not a margin of 18 votes.

Cork East TD Sandra McLellan hit out at double standards, where Travellers are all tarred with the one brush for actions of a minority within their community

Sandra McLellan

Michael Colreavy TD

5 Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald TD joins a Pavee Point picket calling for the establishment of a Traveller agency

8 December / Nollaig 2015

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ROBERT McCLENAGHAN

“

Britain does not want to deal with its past

Britain cries ‘national security’ to hide the truth about its ‘Dirty War’

The Ticking Clock Dilemma I WAS WITH other family members in west Belfast to hear about the current situation with the Stormont House Agreement and how families who lost loved ones during the conflict are yet again abused by the British state. Britain does not want to deal with its past.

The British Government are using what they call “national security issues”to allow them to hold on to documents and files which they think are too important to give to families of those murdered or injured during the conflict.

And it does not matter to them if your son, daughter, father, mother, was IRA, UDA, UVF, UDR/British Army, RUC, INLA, IPLO, Ulster Resistance, or civilian – Protestant, Catholic or Dissenter.

Every single family is being refused the truth because of British “national security interests”.

When we talk about legacy issues, dealing with the past or national security we lose sight of the human beings we are actually talking about. The victims are faceless and nameless. They have no family and left nobody behind that mourns for them every day. They do not exist.

This brings me to my own personal case, which I would like to share with you as it has been on my mind recently.

I call it “The Ticking Clock Dilemma”.

On the one hand we have the British Government steadfastly refusing to tell the truth about its involvement in the conflict here for fear it may reveal terrible, dark crimes committed in its name by the British Army, the RUC, the UDR and MI5 as well as its gangs of agents recruited to wage war as a counter to the IRA campaign.

On the other hand of The Ticking Clock Dilemma is my Dad, Sam. Sam is 86 years of age and I love him to bits. On 4 December 1971, my Dad’s step-father, Philip Garry, was murdered along with 14 other innocent men women and children in McGurk’s Bar in the New Lodge area of north Belfast. He was having a quiet pint when the bomb exploded. My grandfather was 73 years of age at the time of his death. 73.

Within 12 hours of the murders in McGurk’s Bar, the RUC made up the story that my grandfather was a bomber, an IRA man who along with the others blew themselves up as part of an IRA “own goal”.

I was 12 at the time; I am 56 now.

We have been waiting for nearly 44 years for the authorities to tell the truth.

The Ticking Clock Dilemma for my Dad is this.

On Friday 24 October, the Chief Heart Consultant in the Royal Victoria Hospital told Sam that he has only one artery to his heart left working and it is being kept open by a small metal tube called a stent. The rest of his arteries have all collapsed and cannot be repaired.

They sent him home from hospital, saying there was nothing more medically could be done for him and it was now in God’s hands how much longer he had left to live. I cried when he told me as now I know my Dad is living on borrowed time.

My Dad, along with other McGurk’s Bar families, have taken former PSNI Chief Constable Matt Bagott and the present Chief Constable to court to overturn a report by the failed and discredited Historical Enquiries Team which was sanctioned by the PSNI. The HET’s report lied and said that the RUC did nothing wrong in December 1971 when they blamed the IRA for the atrocity and not the real culprits, the UVF. This is despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary discovered and presented by our campaign to the police from the state’s own files.

The Relatives for Justice website estimates that 365 people were murdered by the British state and a further 1,100 were murdered on top of that by the UVF, UDA and Ulster Resistance as a result of a policy of collusion with the British state.

The McGurk’s Bar case is one of the first cases of the British state using counter-gangs to try and defeat the IRA and to deter the nationalist community from supporting the IRA. The control of the narrative in the aftermath which presented the bombing as an “own goal” was a classic psychological operation. It is a psychological operation which continues to this day.

The McGurk’s Bar fell into a timeline. It did not explode in a vacuum.

“

4 15 people died when unionists bombed McGurk's bar in Belfast in December 1971

365 people where murdered by the British state and a further 1,100 were murdered on top of that by the UVF, UDA and Ulster Resistance as a result of a policy of collusion with the British state

The British want to see the clock tick longer and further into the future. My Dad, Sam, does not have the luxury of time. Something has to give – either my Dad’s heart or the British state.

The blockages in my Dad’s heart can be compared to the blockages put in the way of the truth. We all must do our best to unblock them. Sam needs it before it is too late. Thousands of other family members need it too.

December / Nollaig 2015

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9

British Military Intelligence agent Brian Nelson’s handwritten journal exposes British Army plan to bomb South and murder Sinn Féin leaders

Westminster cover-up prevents proper scrutiny of its ‘Dirty War’

BY PEADAR WHELAN IT IS IRONIC that the revelations involving such an important British agent as Brian Nelson should come in a Sunday newspaper the weekend that the British Government conclusively reneged on the commitments arrived at during last year’s Stormont House talks when the architecture for the disclosure of information for the families of people killed in the conflict was agreed.

Pulling the shutters down on legacy issues and truth recovery by claiming ‘national security’ concerns and the right to censor information before giving it to the families of the dead means that the British Government will decide what will be revealed and what will likely never see the light of day.

The British Government’s actions are a cover-up that prevents proper scrutiny of its ‘Dirty War’.

5 Top British Army agent Brian Nelson selected who and what would be targets for UDA death squads

BRITISH MILITARY INTELLIGENCE chiefs controlling notorious Ulster Defence Association/Ulster Freedom Fighters agent Brian Nelson encouraged him to carry out bombing raids in the 26 Counties and sanctioned the assassination of at least eight people in the North with members of all branches of the crown’s state forces – British Army, Ulster Defence Regiment and Royal Ulster Constabulary – all involved in targeting people for murder.

Details of Nelson’s activities as a UDA intelligence officer operating under the control of the British Army’s secretive and elite counter-insurgency Force Research Unit (FRU) were revealed on

Gerry Adams TD

Brian Nelson was a UDA intelligence officer operating under the direct control of the British Army’s secretive and elite counterinsurgency Force Research Unit 15 November in a Sunday newspaper reporting access to Nelson’s own handwritten journals.

Nelson’s dossier is said to contain details of meetings with his handlers – senior and powerful British Army officers – when he outlined plans to kill leading Sinn Féin figures, including Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Alex Maskey. His controllers’ only concern was for Nelson’s personal security as they didn’t want his usefulness compromised.

Both Adams and Maskey were shot in separate attacks carried out by UDA death squads. In a further attack on Maskey’s home, in June 1993, Sinn Féin

Martin McGuinness MLA

activist Alan Lundy was shot dead as he carried out security repairs.

Detailing the genesis of the plot to carry out an economic sabotage bombing campaign in the South, the dossier maintains that after a routine debriefing with one of his handlers (codenamed “Mags”), in which he discussed bugging Sinn Féin offices, “the Boss” came along and suggested to Nelson that the UDA should think about an economic campaign across the Border.

The Whiddy Island oil terminal in Cork was mooted as a possible target.

The rationale for the campaign, according to Nelson’s diary, was that “it would put an enormous strain upon an already troubled economy and would cause the Éire Government to have a rethink on their extradition policy”.

Reacting to the disclosure that Nelson was encouraged by British Army special operations officers to bomb economic targets in the South, Sinn Féin’s Justice spokesperson Pádraig Mac Lochlainn TD challenged to Taoiseach Enda Kenny to demand “full disclosure” from the British Government.

“The revelations exposing a British Military Intelligence plan for a bombing campaign in the South points up the necessity for the Dublin Government to hold the British Government to account.”

In Belfast, Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly MLA demanded to know why not one of the 25 people (including senior

Alan Lundy

Jack Kielty

Intelligence personnel named in files sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions by former London Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens) has been prosecuted.

Stevens investigated the Pat Finucane

assassination by the UDA and collusion between the British Army and RUC with Nelson. He sent files to the DPP in 2003 yet, says Gerry Kelly, “12 years later, despite mounting evidence of collusion between Military Intelligence and unionist death squads, there has been no progress made in prosecuting those at the heart of this”.

As well as Pat Finucane, a number of other nationalists were killed by the UDA operating on Nelson’s intelligence, including County Down businessman Jack Kielty, father of comedian and TV presenter Patrick Kielty. The agent’s diary says that the UDA killers, one of

Twelve years after former London Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens sent 25 names (including senior Intelligence personnel) to the Director of Public Prosecutions, not one has been prosecuted whom was Ken Barrett (also one of the gunmen involved in the Finucane shooting) admitted that Kielty was “innocent”. It is believed that Kielty was shot dead because he refused to hand over cash to UDA racketeers.

The family of IRA Volunteer Martin ‘Doco’ Doherty, shot dead by the UVF in 1994 as he prevented a bomb attack on a packed Widow Scallan’s pub in Dublin, is suing the PSNI Chief Constable over collusion between loyalists and the RUC. Alex Maskey MLA

The family say the Police Ombudsman in the North identified collusion between the UVF and RUC Special Branch and the attack could have been prevented if the RUC had passed on information it had to the Garda.

10 December / Nollaig 2015

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It was while he was a political prisoner in Portlaoise in 1974 that Éamonn’s first book, Me Jewel and Darlin’ Dublin, was published by O’Brien Press. Éamonn continued his association with the republican family following his release and played a role in the campaign in support of the H-Blocks Hunger Strikers in Long Kesh in 1980 and 1981.

Three Shouts on a Hill is a series Éamonn had written for An Phoblacht/Republican News in an era of state censorship, combining his wealth of knowledge of Irish and republican history with commentary on contemporary events almost a decade before the advent of the World Wide Web and when wordsmiths such as Éamonn earned their reputation through dedication, painstaking research in countless books and journals, and sheer hard work.

Three Shouts on a Hill is a window into Ireland’s history at a turbulent and tragic time.

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THREE SHOUTS ON A HILL

THREE SHOUTS ON A HILL is a collection of essays by the celebrated writer, TV personality and acclaimed historian Éamonn Mac Thomáis. Éamonn’s involvement in the Republican Movement spanned four decades, including periods as Editor of An Phoblacht and as a republican prisoner charged with membership of the IRA. Three Shouts on a Hill is a series

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Keyser’s Hill Published 5th September 1981

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I LOVE EVERY STREET and corner in rebel Cork.

Over the years I have got to know a little more about its people, its history, traditions and customs.

I am nearly as well known on the Coal Quay, Curry’s Rock, Blarney Street and Keyser’s Hill as I am in Moore Street and the Liberties. I love to walk along the Coal Quay, chatting up the dealers.

“Come ’ere, boy,” said the big fat dealer. “Are you from Dublin?”

“I am, missus,” I said.

‘Well, boy,” said she, “isn’t this your lucky day?

I’ve a pair of blackthorn gentleman’s shoes that I know will fit you like a glove. They’re bran’ new – I got them from the factory last night. I always gets me stuff direct from the makers.”

I put on the blackthorn gentleman’s shoes and they did fit me like a glove. The big fat dealer smiled. “I know the size of every man’s foot,” said she, “by looking at the size of his hands.

The shoes is a giveaway at £10.”

“Eight,” said I. “Nine,” said she. “Seven,” said I. “Eight,” said she. “Six,” said I. “Look,” said she, “this could go on all night.

Give us a fiver.”

I gave her a fiver and she gave me back a pound note for ‘hansel’. But she had thrown a trout to catch a salmon.

Before I tore myself away she had sold me four tins of pears, six books, an umbrella, a pair of ear-rings, a necklace and a Mickey Mouse watch. I put my foot down when she wanted her sister to pierce my ears.

“The ear-rings will go lovely with your hearing aid,” she said. “Sure all the young men now wear ear-rings. Ah, go on, boy, you have lovely ears.”

Other voices of ‘Come ’ere, boy’ followed me down along the Coal Quay as I chatted, laughed, and sang Molly Malone with the dealers and people of Cork’s historic marsh.

One dealer made the sign of the cross when I mentioned the names of ‘Duckie in the Wardrobe’ and Andy Gaw. “Lovely people, sir,” she said. “All gone now.”

And her eyes grew sad.

5 Sinn Féin TDs Aengus Ó Snodaigh and Gerry Adams with Éamonn Mac Thomáis and Derek Warfield of the Wolfe Tones in May 2002

Terence MacSwiney

SWANS

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I made my way down to Lavitt’s Quay and raised my hat to ‘Old Klondyke’, the great street character of days gone by. I saw a few street characters looking at the white swans swimming up the north channel of the River Lee. They all

Tomás Mac Curtain

bid me the time of day.

“I’d love to be a swan,” said one character, “with a lovely long neck and white feathers.”

The swan turned her head to look at her family who were tailing behind.

“Did you see that?” he said. “She must have heard me.”

He bid me good day and I watched him walk along the Lee’s banks, talking to the swans. A lady in Blarney Street told me that some of the old street characters end their lives in the River Lee and that whenever she crosses the river she always says a prayer for their souls.

Maybe they feel like swans when they hit the water? Wouldn’t it be nice to know that, in their last moments, instead of torment and utter confusion, their minds are full of lovely visions and they see themselves as graceful swans gliding up the River Lee? Old men and women turning into the Children of Lir in Cork’s lovely Lee. The Marsh is a little republic in itself. So are Blackpool, the Lough, Sunday’s Well, Turner’s Cross and good old Montenotte.

Up beyond St Luke’s I passed the swanky houses of Montenotte and got into the footprints of Robert Emmet, Sarah Curran and the Penrose family, who took in Sarah after her father had thrown her out because of her connection with Robert Emmet.

I waited around Lovers’ Lane until darkness fell, not for romantic reasons but to look down on the lights of Cork City.

11

December / Nollaig 2015

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5 1974: Garda Special Branch escorts An Phoblacht Editor Éamonn from 44 Parnell Square in Dublin to an eventual prison sentence for IRA membership 5 Éamonn speaks at the 1962 unveiling of a memorial to 1916 Rising veteran Nurse Elizabeth O'Farrell

more than life, Every man clings to it with every ounce of strength of his being. To willingly surrender it is acknowledged as the greatest sacrifice any man can make.

“Not only to die but to choose a death which is slow and agonising further serves to illustrate the depths of courage and sincerity amongst the men in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh. What it takes to willingly undergo this ordeal, willingly undergo suffering, none of us can possibly imagine.

“As each day passes, the death shadow of the shroud descends ominously on each of these brave Irishmen as it has done oft times before . . .

“H-Block is a festering sore on the face of Ireland. It, and those responsible for it, must be smashed. We here are helpless. All we have to give is our lives. We simply ask you to do your share and prevent tragedy.” and tragic time.

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What a sight the lights are. City of Cork – city of MacCurtain, city of MacSwiney, city of Tom Barry, rebel city of the Shears brothers – if only your stones could speak, what stories they would tell.

THREE SHOUTS ON A HILL

5 Éamonn inspects a colour party in Portlaoise Prison

of essays by the THREE SHOUTS ON A HILL is a short collection Éamonn Mac celebrated writer, TV personality and acclaimed historian in the Republican Thomáis, a staunch republican whose involvement Movement spanned four decades. as he described Born in Dublin into a staunchly republican and, the Connolly in republican fervently A family, it himself, Larkinite as a young man tradition, Éamonn joined the Irish Republican Army and was an active republican throughout his life. in 1974 that It was while he was a political prisoner in Portlaoise was published by Éamonn’s first book, Me Jewel and Darlin’ Dublin, O’Brien Press. republican family Éamonn continued his association with the in support of following his release and played a role in the campaign 1980 and 1981. the H-Blocks Hunger Strikers in Long Kesh in written for An Three Shouts on a Hill is a series Éamonn had combining his Phoblacht/Republican News in an era of state censorship, with commentary wealth of knowledge of Irish and republican history the advent of the on contemporary events almost a decade before as Éamonn earned World Wide Web and when wordsmiths such research in countless their reputation through dedication, painstaking work. hard sheer and books and journals, at a turbulent Three Shouts on a Hill is a window into Ireland’s history

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MAYORS At the turn of every street corner in Cork City there is a plaque, stone, house or wall, each with its own historic story. Mary MacSwiney’s school, Dillon’s Cross, Old King Street, from where the murder gang set out to murder MacCurtain. The street now bears the name of the martyred Lord Mayor, MacCurtain.

I sat in the hallway of the City Hall. On my left-hand side was Seamus Murphy’s bronze bust of MacSwiney; on my right-hand side was its double with the face of MacCurtain. I sat in silence with the two Lord Mayors, tracing in my mind their short lives to the altar of sacrifice for Ireland.

When my spiritual communion was over, I walked out of City Hall with MacSwiney’s words ringing in my ears: “Oh, Cathal, the pain of Easter Week is over now.”

I walked around to the old South Gate by Sully’s Quay, across Cove Street to Tower Street, Quaker Road, and the Red Abbey.

Everywhere was history and everywhere were friends. “Good day, sir.” “God bless, sir.” “Nice night, sir.” “Very historic, sir.” The ‘sir’ in Cork is like the ‘mister’ and ‘missus’ in Dublin. A sign of respect, a sign of good manners, a sign of friendliness.

The children were fishing and sailing paper boats amid the swans and ducks in the lough. I waited awhile and then moved on across the College Road to the Western Road and Victoria Cross.

I popped down to the County Hall to say a few words to the two ‘Dubs’ looking up at Ireland’s tallest building. Despite all my ballyragging they refused to come home. Nor would they turn their backs to get a fine view of Sunday’s Well and the red and white northside of Cork.

FIRST My first shout on Keyser’s Hill is for H-Blocks hunger striker Mickey Devine.

It is a shout and a salute to one of Ireland’s bravest sons. Oh, England, if you only had men like Mickey Devine, the cream of Irish manhood, an unpaid soldier of freedom, a man born a socialist republican in the hell-hole of Derry’s Springtown Camp.

I remember Hugh McAteer taking me on a tour of Springtown Camp in the early 1950s. We could

5 First Shout – to Mickey Devine

SECOND

5 Second Shout – to Owen Carron's election win

My second shout on Keyser’s Hill is a shout of joy for Owen Carron and his election victory in Fermanagh & South Tyrone.

Read the election result, England. Read it and weep.

The old flag is raised once again with more votes for the prisoners’ man than Mrs Thatcher ever saw. I salute you, Owen, and I salute your election victory speech and your handling of the pro-Brit, anti-Irish TV interviewer.

THIRD

5 Third Shout – to John Kelly 'Do your job!' not see into the Nissen huts as the smoke from the fires went everywhere but up the chimney.

The poverty, the neglect, the barefooted children, the broken men and women. It was one of the worst sights I ever saw in my life, and this is where Mickey Devine was born.

The words you wrote, Mickey, about the other hunger strikers are now your own obituary. No pen could describe it better than yours, Mickey, when, before joining the hunger strike, you wrote: “There is nothing that any human being values

My third shout on Keyser’s Hill is to John Kelly, the Free State minister.

A few plain words, Mr Kelly. How do you honour the flag you bear?

One part of it is orange: what have you done for the North since you entered the Dáil? What has your party done for the North since they sold it out in 1922?

One part of it is green: what have you done for the people of the South since you entered the Dáil?

Your last speech claimed that the people were looking for too much state help. What in the name of God were you elected for – to sit in the Dáil and draw your big fat salary and eat big dinners at Chamber of Commerce functions and open cow parlours?

A dustbinman is paid to empty dustbins, a roadsweeper is paid to sweep roads; you are paid, Mr Kelly, to work for the people of Ireland.

The men in the H-Blocks are the unpaid soldiers of freedom.

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12 December / Nollaig 2015

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SINS OF THE FATHER

DR CONOR McCABE Banking Inquiry debacle, an absence of evidence

Author of Sins of the Father: Tracing the Decisions that Shaped the Irish Economy

IT SEEMS such an obvious point but if you are going to set up an inquiry you should at least ensure it can actually view the evidence. Yet this is what the Fine Gael/ Labour Government has failed to do with the issue of Siteserv and IBRC.

5 Denis O’Brien's company bought Siteserv

SiteServ owed IBRC €150million. It was sold in 2012 for €45million to Millington, an Isle of Man registered company that was owned by Denis O’Brien.

IBRC agreed to write down the debt by just over €100million, while the company’s shareholders received a €5million pay-out from the sale – incredible given that the company was effectively bust.

SiteServ, via its subsidiary Sierra GMC, would later emerge as one of the contractors for the installation of water meters.

This was just one of around 39 sales had been identified by the judge in charge of the inquiry as having potentially led to losses of €10million or more for the Irish taxpayer.

The period leading up to the establishment of the inquiry saw the Government stumble from poor decision to poor decision.

First there was the unprecedented legal position in which most of the state’s media were afraid to report what Catherine Murphy said in the Dáil.

Then Finance Minister Noonan initially put KPMG in charge of the investigation. This was dropped after public anger forced the hand of the minister and the Taoiseach.

We saw a blundering Taoiseach throwing out suggestions that were never practical or even legal – for example, asking the Comptroller & Auditor General to investigate these matters.

Finally, we got to an inquiry, the terms of reference for which fell short of what was necessary to win public support or the support of Sinn Féin.

On 10 June 2015, Gerry Adams asked Minister Richard Bruton to confirm that the judge would be able to view all the relevant files. Bruton replied that the judge would have full access and that

Who’s driving the pro-fracking train in Ireland?

THE headlong rush towards hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) in Ireland seems to have a momentum of its own even though the vast majority of TDs and ministers I have spoken with in Leinster House feel that fracking should never and will never be allowed on this small, beautiful island.

Given this cross-party and Independent consensus against fracking, it is difficult to understand why the Fine Gael/Labour Government continues to fund and support a deeply flawed Environmental Protection Agency research programme – a project being led by a company called CDM Smith with close connections to fracking energy companies.

Sinn Féin has called for the EPA research programme to be scrapped due to the involvement of CDM Smith.

This is a company that has previously been involved with advising oil and gas companies on fracking; now the Irish Government is funding it to carry out a study into fracking through the EPA. There is a clear conflict of interest

BY MICHAEL COLREAVY TD

COMMUNICATIONS, ENERGY & NATURAL RESOURCES

involved in this study. How can we have confidence of the results of the study unless we can guarantee its independence? Queen’s University Belfast have already withdrawn from the study due to such reasons.

The Government has stated that no

extraction licences will be issued until the EPA-led research programme has concluded. Many people fear there are hidden forces pushing a pro-fracking agenda and that attempts will be made to persuade the public that fracking can be safely carried out if it is ‘properly regulated’.

The investigation being paid for by the public could well be used by fracking companies to force the Government’s hand, especially under new rules touted as part of the TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) international trade agreement.

The question has to be asked and answered: Who is driving the pro-fracking train in Ireland, and does not political accountability demand that this train is stopped now and fracking banned completely in Ireland?

We call on the Irish Government to call for a clear ban on fracking immediately and to develop a strategy to ensure a green energy future for the benefit of all our citizens, not the fracking Ponzi-scheme companies.

2nd edition available now conormccabeis@gmail.com

5 Taoiseach Enda Kenny – Blundering

the terms of reference would fully accommodate the issues raised by Pearse Doherty TD. We now know that this is not the case, that an inquiry the Government never wanted is floundering at the most basic of hurdles – i.e. actually seeing the evidence it needs to see in order to make its report.

The inquiry debacle is in line with the Government’s refusal to deal properly with issues of major concern that happened under its watch. It is for the Government to prove to the people that the inquiry mess was by accident, not by design.

December / Nollaig 2015

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An Ghaeilge – ó thuaidh ó dheas – Cé a dhéanfaidh a meas?

Cearta, comhoibriú, agus feachtasaíocht

LE ROSIE McCORLEY

CTR

agus 5 An Seandóir Trevor Ó Clochartaigh ag comrádaithe i ndiaidh imeacht Shinn Féin Oireachtas na Samhna

TÁ SCÉAL mór á dhéanamh de staid reatha na nGaeltachtaí le tamall fada anuas. Tá tuairisc i ndiaidh tuairisce á cur os ár gcomhair nach bhfuiltear ag éirí le Straitéis 20 Bliain an rialtais ó dheas. Ní rún ar bith é ach an oiread nach bhfuil na páirtithe aontachtacha toilteanach glacadh le hAcht na Gaeilge sa chomhtionol, ó thuaidh. Cé gur aontaíodh Acht Ní ionann a bhfuil scríofa thuas agus cailleadh na troda, ar ndóigh. Mar sin féin, caithfear an cheist a chur - cad é an chéad chéim eile don Ghaeilge?

Is é ar bhonn na ceiste sin a reachtáil Sinn Féin sraith de chruinnithe agus de phléanna ar na mallaibh.

Ag cruinniú a reachtáil an páirtí i gCarn Tóchair i gContae Dhoire, le ceanneagrais agus le grúpaí Gaeilge, ag an phlé painéil ‘Ról an Stáit agus Ról an Phobail’, ar imeall na féile móire ag Oireachtas na Samhna, agus ag Slógadh Shinn Féin ar an Iúr ag deireadh mhí na Samhna – ba díol suntais é

Tá gá le comhoibriú ina measc earnáil na Gaeilge agus le feachtasaíocht as a measc siúd atá ag iarraidh cás níos fearr a chruthú ar son na Gaeilge go raibh gné leanúnach coitianta le cloisint ag gach aon díospóireacht – tá gá le comhoibriú ina measc earnáil na Gaeilge agus le feachtasaíocht pobail as a measc siúd atá ag iarraidh cás níos fearr a dhéanamh ar son na Gaeilge.

Ní deireadh, ach tús an scéil cearta dlíthiúla agus Acht na Gaeilge ó thuaidh agus reachtaíocht cheart i leith Bhille na dTeangacha Oifigiúla ó dheas. Bíodh sin mar atá, bunchlocha sochaí is ea cearta agus comhionannas. Bunchlocha a chaithfidh an rialtas a chinntiú, chun freastal ar riachtanais a saoránach féin.

Ní cearta iad cearta nach bhfuil luach agus

13

SLOGADH 2015

5 Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh, Linda Ervine from east Belfast, Dr Pádraig Ó Tiarnaigh of Conradh na Gaeilge, Dr Malachy O Neill of the University of Ulster, and West Belfast MLA Rosie McCorley, who chaired the morning panel discussion

The fight for the language goes on

BY PEADAR WHELAN

5 An Fhoireann Uile-Oileánda ag bualadh lena chéile i dTeach Laighin: An Comhairleoir Niall Ó Donnaighle, Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD, An tAire Carál Ní Chuilín, Marcas Mac Ruairí, Mary McArd le, Rosie McCorley CTR, Rosie Ní Laoghaire, An Seandóir Trevor Ó Clochartaigh, An Comhairleo ir Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire agus Cathal Ó hÓisín CTR

seasmhacht ag gabháil leo. Níl ceart reachtúil ar bith ag an Ghael ó thuaidh, agus ní ach cearta in áit na leathphingine atá aige/aici ó dheas. Cad é atá i ndán don teanga agus don saoránach má bhíonn rialtas, nach bhfuil suim acu i riachtanas saoránach, i gcumhacht arís agus arís eile?

Tá ceachtanna le foghlaim againn ónár dtaithí ó thuaidh agus ó dheas. Caithfidh na Gaeil a nglór a ardú agus ár dtuairimí a thaispeáint ar dhóigh chruthaitheach, dhearfach ach láidir. Tá na Gaeil fós Dearg le Fearg.

SINN FÉIN’S commitment to the revival of the Irish language was demonstrated at the party’s Slogadh 2015, held in Gaeláras Mhic Ardghail, Newry, on Saturday 21 November.

Dozens of activists from across the country travelled to the County Down venue for a day of debate, ranganna and discussions.

The main address, delivered by Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD, challenged party activists and language activists “to move beyond talk” to ensure the “Gaelicisation” of the party and to work with all language enthusiasts for the promotion of Irish.

“The growth and development of the language 5 Johnny McGibbon, Sinn Féin's Irish Language is a vital conversation but it must go beyond talk Development Officer to activism,” urged Adams before reminding his audience of the enthusiasm of the thousands area. Despite the attempts by unionist politiof Gaeilgeoirí who came on to the streets of cians to denigrate the language, Linda’s efforts Belfast under the banner of ‘Fearg le Dearg’ to to hold classes and teach Irish in the East Belfast demand the implementation of Acht na Gaeilge Mission is growing.

Lurgan man Johnny McGibbon, Sinn Féin’s in the North.

Among the speakers in the morning panel Irish Language Development Officer, told An discussion was Linda Ervine, who has broken Phoblacht he was “more than delighted” with the new ground with her Irish language project turnout and that many who are not Sinn Féin based in the unionist Lower Newtonards Road activists took the time to attend the Slogadh.

• Beidh An Phoblacht ag foilsiú sraithe d’altanna sa bhliain úr a rachaidh i ngleic leis na téamaí tromchúiseacha seo a bhaineann le ról an stáit agus ról an phobail. Más maith leat alt a chumadh I leith dul chun cinn na teanga nó i dtaca le Ról an Stáit agus Ról an Phobail, bí i dteagmháil le Johnny gaeilge@sinnfein.ie nó @SinnFeinGaeilge Twitter/Facebook

5 Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD addresses the Sinn Féin Slogadh

14 December / Nollaig 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

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5 The book gives a feeling of a breathless rush through recent history but lacks historical perspective

‘Power Play – The Rise of Modern Sinn Féin’

By Deaglán de Bréadún. Published by Merrion Press.

The Curate’s Egg

28/05/2014

12:38

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1997

anphoblacht SPECIAL 40 PAGE ELECTIONS

Sraith Nua Iml 37 Uimhir 6

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June / Meitheamh 2014

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LARGEST PARTY IN IRELAND

POWER PLAY is bit like the Chinese meal of cliché – there’s a lot of different ingredients, you eat it quickly but, soon after, you feel that your meal hasn’t satisfied your appetite. The author has chosen to tell a fascinating story but, unfortunately, this book lacks both the depth and the analysis to meet its claims that it is a “definitive account” and “deeply insightful”.

That said, the author is generally balanced and more objective than most at his level, and of his vintage, in the ‘mainstream’ Irish media.

At the time of writing we are going through another wave of Establishment political and media hysteria in the wake of the ridiculous MI5 co-authored report that was seized upon to try to damage Sinn Féin in advance of the Dáil general election in the coming months. The book went to press just before the report came out, though some of the issues are touched on in the epilogue. Otherwise, the book is very current and clearly aimed at readers looking anew at Sinn Féin as an election looms.

The very currency of the book gives the feeling of a breathless rush through recent history. This is not an approach that helps the reader to truly understand the rise of Sinn Féin. There is a lack of historical perspective, especially about the politics and ideology that make the party what it is. The evolution of traditional republicanism is covered in just one chapter focusing on abstentionism. And even this is incomplete. The author features the speeches of Martin McGuinness and Ruairi Ó Brádaigh at the 1986 Ard Fheis which dropped abstentionism, but not that of Gerry Adams which was, in the long run, far more significant and signalled a sea-change in republican politics.

For a book published on the eve of the 1916 centenary one would have thought the legacy of Pearse, Connolly and the Proclamation for Sinn Féin would warrant a mention. Readers looking for an insight into

‘SEISMIC SHIFT’ GERRY ADAMS

‘‘ Stunning results see all-Ireland team of 4 MEPs, surge of councillors, by-election breakthroughs

Wolfe Tone Commemoration Bodenstown, Sunday 15 June Assemble Sallins at 2.15pm Speaker: Gerry Adams

Other omissions are the work and impact of the Sinn Féin ministers in the Executive in the Six Counties and the important groundwork laid by the party in the Dáil between from 1997 and the 2011 election when 14 TDs were elected. Curiously, the party’s Dáil leader in that period, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, is not among the author’s interviewees. The interviews are generally good, though, and provide insights.

The author is very much a journalist and is perhaps a little too conscious of the judgement of fellow journalists. Does this explain the very odd decision to have Bertie Ahern launch the book? If he does a book on Fianna Fáil, will Gerry Adams launch it?

To conclude as I began, with a culinary analogy, the book is like the curate’s egg – good in parts but far from the hearty meal required.

the party’s policies and their development in recent years will be disappointed.

The author seems fixated on the possible coalition options after the general election and has developed a theory that a coalition involving Sinn Féin, as part of a Left bloc larger than Fianna Fáil, might coalesce with Fianna Fáil. He misses the point that the new element in Irish politics is not only a stronger Sinn Féin but also a new fluidity and the potential of the unprecedented social movement represented by Right2Water/ Right2Change.

2004

5 Power Play aims to chronicle and explain the rise of Sinn Féin in recent years, with a particular focus on the South

2011

2015

December / Nollaig 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

15

Irish Appeal for Release of Arnaldo Otegi and Basque Political Prisoners launched at Dáil

BY JOHN HEDGES THE Irish Appeal for the Release of Arnaldo Otegi and Basque Political Prisoners was formally launched at the Dáil in Dublin on Thursday 19 November on behalf of a number of Irish parliamentarians, trade unionists, religious figures sports personalities and celebrities in music and the arts.

The event was hosted by Members of Parliament Maureen O’Sullivan, Finian McGrath and Gerry Adams. Lord John Alderdice, former leader of the Alliance Party, has also endorsed the appeal and present at the launch were Thomas Pringle (Independent) and Paul Murphy (Socialist Party) and Sinn Féin TDs Sandra McLellan and Michael Colreavy.

(Ongoing Dáil debates prevented other members attending.)

The Irish appeal follows the signing earlier this year of the ‘International Declaration to Free Arnaldo Otegi and Bring All Basque Political Prisoners Home’. This was signed by Gerry Adams, Desmond Tutu, Harold Good, Mairead Maguire, Ken Livingstone, Leila Khaled and Tariq Ali among a host of worldwide peace process activists.

Other prominent signatories include former President of Uruguay, Pepe Mujica (imprisoned for 13 years) and former President of Honduras Manuel Zelaya, ousted in the 2009 military coup that was denounced by the United Nations. Also signing is South Africa anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, who spent almost 30 years in prison alongside Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela before going on to launch the Release Mandela Campaign and becoming President Mandela’s Parliamentary Counsellor in democratic South Africa.

Launched in the European Parliament on 24 March by the Basque Friendship Group in the European Parliament, the declaration calls for: » Release of Basque leader Arnaldo Otegi; » Ending of Spanish Government dispersal policy used against Basque prisoners; » Release of seriously-ill prisoners; » Ending of incarceration of people belonging to political organisations and ongoing legal processes against them.

In October of 2011, ETA responded to a call from the Aiete International Peace Conference by declaring a definitive end to its 50 years of armed activity, and opening a process of dialogue. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu called Arnaldo Otegi, former spokesperson of Batasuna and now Secretary General of the political party Sortu, “the leader of the peace process”. Otegi was the prime mover pressing the independence movement to embrace argument and the power of word as

SIGNATORIES OF THE IRISH APPEAL Sports personalities 5 The Irish launch in Leinster House of the Campaign to Free Arnaldo Otegi and bring Basque political prisoners home

the only means to resolve all conflict.

Regrettably, the Spanish Government responded to Otegi’s efforts by arresting him in October 2009. He was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for membership of the political party Batasuna, which had been banned by the Spanish Government. Since then, despite the end of ETA’s armed activity – including their demonstrated commitment to disarmament, dialogue and reconciliation, and reflecting recognition of the suffering of all victims – there is still an absence of any positive response from the Spanish State.

Arnaldo Otegi, whose case has been raised to the European Court of Human Rights, is being held in a Spanish prison far away from his family and friends.

The same goes for some 500 other Basque prisoners related to this conflict.

They are deliberately dispersed, often in solitary confinement, and all are in prisons long distances from the Basque Country. It is a policy that brings and added punishment to their families, forced to travel long distances to visit their loved ones.

At the launch of the Irish appeal, chaired by Pablo Vicente and Maureen O’Sullivan TD, artist and social activist Robert Ballagh compared Spain’s dispersal policy to that of Britain’s punitive prison practice of ‘ghosting’ Irish political prisoners during the conflict, moving prisoners as far away from visiting relatives as possible.

Independent TD Finian McGrath, famous Basque musician Fermin Muguruza, and Gerry Adams all spoke of the importance of people in Ireland and across the globe mobilising to

support the Basque peace process in the face of the incomprehensible intransigence of the Spanish state.

In Leinster House at the launch of the Irish appeal, Basque Senator Urko Aiartza, who is also a lawyer, told An Phoblacht that the involvement of the Irish public and politicians was important in trying to encourage Spain, a member of the EU, to embrace the peace process.

Just before the launch, Senator Aiartza gave a briefing to the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs on the situation in the Basque Country.

“TDs and senators are very interested in what is happening and many agree there must be a shift, a change in policy by the Spanish Government. There are elections in Spain in December so let’s hope there is a change in attitude.”

• Jimmy Barry-Murphy • Peter Canavan • Terence (Sambo) McNaughton • Aisling Reilly • Trevor Hogan • Lynne Cantwell • Michael Conroy • Paul (Dudey) McCloskey

Artists • Robert Ballagh • Danny Devenny • Marty Lyons

Musicians • Frances Black • Damien Dempsey • Bréag • Gráinne Holland • Derek Warfield • Barry Kerr • Eoghan Quigg

Writers, journalists and academics • Tim Pat Coogan • Dr Laurence McKeown • Tom McGurk • Jude Collins • Dr Féilim Ó hAdhmail

Religious leaders • Reverend Harold Good • Rev Bill Shaw • Fr Gerry Reynolds • Fr Des Wilson

Trade unionists and other well-known activists • Patricia McKeown • John Douglas • Tommy McKearney • James Connolly Heron • Mairead Maguire

16 December / Nollaig 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

‘The intensity of the oral hearings was such that a number of former prisoners were on the verge of a breakdown as they relived their experiences’ Séanna Walsh, former O/C, republican POWs, Long Kesh

H-Blocks/Armagh torture under international scrutiny

“What we are seeing – and this is being reinforced with the breakthrough achieved when the ‘Hooded Men’ succeeded in bringing their case back to the European Court – is that the ill-treatment of those imprisoned and on protest was systematic.”

BY PEADAR WHELAN THE SYSTEMATIC ABUSE of republican prisoners in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh and Armagh women’s prison between 1976 and 1981 is the subject of an international tribunal being driven by prisoners’ advocacy group Coiste na n-Iarchimí.

In a series of local tribunals held in venues across the North, solicitors from Belfast-based human rights law firm Ó Muirigh Solicitors took statements from former protesting prisoners.

In their endeavour to get as wide a geographical spread as possible, testimonies were collected from 75 Blanket and No Wash protesters in Belfast, Derry City, Gulladuff in south Derry, and in the Newry/south Armagh area.

Up to 10 women who were imprisoned in Armagh women’s jail also made statements,

The treatment of the protesting prisoners in Long Kesh, Armagh women’s prison and Crumlin Road Jail was unique in that it was protracted, systematic and sanctioned from the top of the British Government describing their treatment by the prison authorities as they protested for the right to be treated as political prisoners.

These statements would form a central part of the hearings for the panel of jurors headed by former Canadian Solicitor General Warren Allmand.

Sitting with Allmand (also a former Member of Parliament and Cabinet minister in Canada) were Richard Harvey QC (who represented the family of one of the Bloody Sunday dead, James Wray) and Doctor John Burton (who practised family medicine in south Derry for 23 years). Burton has, since 2004, been involved in issues relating to human rights and civil rights in the North.

During their hearings, the panel heard oral testimonies from 34 republican Blanket protesters. Evidence from two loyalist Blanket protesters was also presented to the tribunal.

A practising psychiatrist with many years of experience in dealing with people suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and

•••

5 Séanna Walsh, Dr John Burton, Warren Allmand and Pádraig Ó Muirigh

trauma gave evidence. Two former Long Kesh prison governors also appeared and addressed the jurors.

The pair, who have been dealing with Coiste through its Legacy Programme, agreed to give their evidence anonymously and their testimonies confirmed (if it needed to be confirmed) that the prison system in the North was heavily politicised by the British Government.

Another whose evidence was highly significant was criminologist Phil Scraton.

Scraton is currently Professor of Criminology in the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice, School of Law, at Queen’s University, Belfast. He’s also Director of the Childhood, Transition and Social Justice Initiative. His research includes the investigation of and inquiry into controversial deaths, particularly deaths in custody; the marginalisation and criminalisation of children and young people; the politics of imprisonment; analysis of disasters and their impact on the bereaved and survivors. His testimony focused on the British Government’s tactics relating to prison protests.

Séanna Walsh, Coiste’s legacy worker who is central to the project, spoke to An Phoblacht and explained the significance of the tribunal and what Coiste intends to do with the findings.

He’s keen to point out that, with the volume of information, evidence and testimony involved, it is “more than likely the findings will not be complete until Easter 2016”.

Walsh says the final report will obviously be launched in Belfast and Dublin but he hopes it will also be launched in Brussels and London.

“We would like to bring it to New York as well because we are determined to use the findings of the tribunal to break through the blanket of disinformation that the British threw over the treatment of prisoners in the prisons during the protest years and which still holds sway to this day.

Sitting in Coiste na n-Iarcmimí’s Belfast office, Séanna Walsh explains that the treatment of the protesting prisoners in Long Kesh, Armagh women’s prison and in Crumlin Road Jail “was unique in that it was protracted, systematic and sanctioned from the top of the British Government”.

He acknowledges that certainly there have been plenty of instances throughout the history of the conflict when the prison authorities have brutalised republican POWs. “There is plenty of evidence of this in the 26 Counties, in England, and even in the North

One of the prison governors giving evidence to the inquiry said that, by withdrawing political status, the British Government brought conflict into the prisons itself. Even when prisoners had status they were brutalised, most notably when Long Kesh was burned in 1974.”

The politics of the prison struggle between 1976 and 1981 meant that the treatment of the protesting prisoners was systematic, sustained and politically motivated as it was being used to break the protesters’ will to resist, Séanna says.

“The politics of the situation were summed up by one of the governors who gave evidence to our inquiry. His contention was that by withdrawing political status the British Government brought conflict into the prisons.”

The governor maintained that this was a deliberate act on the part of the then Labour Government as they rolled out the criminalisation policy as they tried to shift the ground on which the struggle was being fought from a ‘guerrilla war’ to a criminal conspiracy.

“And in a practical shift of emphasis,” explains Walsh, “the prison warders joined the ranks of the RUC and the British Army as they joined the fight to crush republican resistance.

December / Nollaig 2015

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5 Labour Government's Roy Mason

5 The treatment of republican POWs was systematic, sustained and politically-motivated as it aimed to break the prisoners' will to resist

5 British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

“Looking back on what was happening,” says Walsh as he lists the methods deployed to break the prisoners, “you had physical assaults when they used batons and boots, they drenched people with hoses, doused prisoners with highly toxic disinfectant, and they used the food as a weapon too.

“Then they deployed the table search, which was refined into the mirror search, which amounted to sexual assault.

“And all this was being inflicted on prisoners who were locked up 24 hours a day with no physical or mental stimulation as they were denied exercise and refused books or newspapers.

carried out the search then forced his fingers into the prisoner’s mouth.

A 1977 NIO document advocates a tougher stance as ‘softening up’ wasn’t an option because that would ‘show concern’ “This was all with the objective of breaking the Blanket men and the women in Armagh, breaking them psychologically by whatever means necessary and what underpinned it was how the system set out to demonise and dehumanise naked prisoners.

“The British Government, through the NIO and down to the prison authorities, operated a ‘light touch’ discipline and control policy and gave the Screws free rein to do what they wanted and this led to casual and gratuitous violence.”

••• Ó Muirigh Solicitors have found documents which demonstrate that the NIO was concerned to censure or pressure anyone who might expose what was happening.

Two members of the Board of Visitors (a supposedly independent oversight body) who showed sympathy towards the protesting prisoners in Long Kesh were written to as their comments “had an adverse effect on morale” of the prison warders. This was brought to the attention of British Secretary of State Roy Mason. Both men were “written to”. Having drawn the attention

5 The brutal treatment of prisoners caused public outrage, North and South

of trouble. It is expected that they will refuse to work, refuse to wear prison clothing and refuse to associate with others of their own persuasion.

“These problems will have to be solved by the prison staff by resolute adherence to the standing orders and agreed policies.”

As the protest grew in 1977, an NIO document from a Mr Concannon advocates a tougher stance as “softening up” wasn’t an option as that would “show concern”.

In 1979, after almost a year of the ‘No Wash’ protest, the notorious ‘mirror search’ was introduced.

It replaced the ‘table search’, when prisoners

would be tipped up like a wheel barrow on a table and a Screw would carry out an anal search.

The mirror search was carried when the naked prisoner was forced to straddle a mirror set in foam. A Screw, on either side of the prisoner, would twist his arms to force him to bend while a screw behind would kick him behind the knees. causing him to collapse over the mirror.

This exposed the prisoner’s anus and allowed the ‘searcher’ to carry out a finger search, on occasion inserting his finger into the prisoner’s anus.

At least one prisoner recounted that after going through the anal search the prison offcer who

••• Documents uncovered by solicitors and researchers working for Ó Muirigh Solicitors support the claims that the violence meted out to the protesting prisoners in the H-Blocks and in Armagh was sanctioned at the highest level.

In one document from 1975 titled Contingency Plan to Accommodate Changes in Prison Population it is clear that the British Government and the NIO were intent on confrontation and were planning for it.

The document says: “It is expected that the newly-convicted ‘non special category’ prisoners [those denied political status] housed in the H-Blocks will be a source

5 Former protesting prisoners gave statements on the situation in the prisons to a series of local tribunals held across the North. The findings will be launched in Belfast, Dublin and further afield

Documents uncovered support claims that the violence meted out to the protesting prisoners in the H-Blocks and in Armagh was sanctioned at the highest level of a bullying Cabinet minister and the state’s security apparatus, both retreated, saying their comments were “misunderstood”.

The case of outspoken Armagh chaplain and human rights campaigner Fr Raymond Murray is even more blatant. In October 1978, two NIO officials discussed approaching the Catholic Church Hierarchy and asking them if Fr Murray “is the most suitable priest” for the job.

As with the cases of ‘The Hooded Men’ torture victims, Britain was able to sideline those who argued that their treatment was torture but, with dogged perseverance, the men subjected to that brutal regime forced the European Court of Human Rights re-examine its findings.

It’s hoped that the independent tribunal examining the prison protests of 1976 to 1981 will expose the regime that operated in those years as being a one built on a ruthlessly-implemented system of violence, brutality, humiliation and degradation of prisoners – torture.

18 December / Nollaig 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

We live in a dysfunctional society that must be replaced

BY EOIN Ó MURCHÚ THE IRISH PEOPLE are rightly angry about the collapse of the economy – brought about by Fianna Fáil’s blind belief that the market would come right in the end – and by the unnecessary austerity imposed on the working people by Fine Gael and Labour so that the Europe and the banks could be bailed out There is as well a bewilderment as to how things could have gone so badly wrong, when (whatever our difficulties in the past) successive generations could see some improvement in their living conditions over the previous ones.

No more. The crisis has been seized upon by the bosses and their political representatives in Government to weaken workers’ protections, bringing in zero-hour contracts, non-secured short-term contracts, reduced pay, and other erosions of rights.

We are now at the mercy of the market with a vengeance.

This, of course, is the ideology that underpins the European Union, and is clearly written in the Nice and Lisbon treaties which the Irish people first rejected and were then bullied into accepting in the reruns.

We are now about to celebrate the centenary of the Rising. That declaration of the Republic meant to the Irish people the opportunity to discard the exploitation and waste which had gone before it. Unfortunately, the revolution was betrayed by the Treaty and, as Liam Mellows, warned, England still ruled us through her banks, financiers and capitalist industrialists.

The history of the 26-County state since the Treaty has been one of a confused struggle to seek a way out of domination by Britain and to use whatever statehood we had achieved to build some way forward for the Irish people.

Fianna Fáil, in the 1930s, did introduce much of what might be termed a social democratic agenda, with housing programmes, state-led industrialisation and so on. But it was always cautious, always afraid to tackle privilege straight on, and, in the end, became subsumed by the very privileged classes that had suborned the fight for freedom.

There was, throughout these decades, an underlying belief that the state should and could intervene to nudge (they didn’t have the courage to change) the system. That belief was based on the idea that the state existed to serve Irish society.

For many of the ruling ideologues today, the very idea of society is fanciful – the infamous Margaret Thatcher going so far as to deny that there was any such thing, only the economy.

But everything we do is linked to and depends on the work of others.

The police who guard the houses of the rich enable them to enjoy their wealth. The nurses and doctors who staff our hospitals ensure people have the health to create wealth, and society steps in to protect the disabled from the disadvantage of disability, to ensure that we can all live with a modicum of decency and security.

But the facts are now staring us in the face that the state has failed. It is, of course, the expression of the power

The revolution of 1916 was betrayed by the Treaty and, as Liam Mellows, warned, England still ruled us through her banks, financiers and capitalist industrialists of the propertied classes but is now clearly unable to provide the basic needs of the majority of people.

In leaner times, we could begin the building of municipal housing estates, we could expand our schools and hospitals; but now, in slavery to the market, we cannot provide people with housing: they are left to the mercy of landlords who will rent properties at prices that soar ever higher and higher.

Our crises in the hospitals, in the schools, in employment rights, and

5 Ireland's embrace of free market structures have impoverished thousands

in getting a job are all evidence of a society and system that is not working.

It is a dysfunctional society.

And the reason is stark as well.

Instead of moving on from the defeat of the Tan War we have now surrendered to new masters in Europe, people whose free market strictures have impoverished thousands.

Relationships break up under stress.

There is hopelessness where there should be expectation. Our country remains divided and our national independence is a joke.

The way forward lies in getting back to the inspiration of 1916, to 5 Margaret Thatcher said there was no such thing as society rebuilding a genuinely independent of themselves as a class will not happen political parties and social movements Republic that will put the interests of overnight. It will involve an effort to together. unite all the forces for socially progresthe people first.

Sinn Féin is no political Pope, sitting Working to increase the strength of sive change together, rejecting sectarian on a chair of infallibility, but it is a vital, the working class and their awareness exclusiveness and uniting trade unions, central part of the Irish people’s fight back against austerity and national humiliation.

To deny that is effectively to cast your lot in with those who have imposed austerity, because by rejecting united action you are ensuring that the reactionaries cannot be defeated.

Sinn Féin is no political Pope, sitting on a chair of infallibility, but it is a vital, central part of the Irish people’s fight back against austerity and national humiliation

December / Nollaig 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

19

FATAH REPRESENTATIVE MEETS SINN FÉIN IN BELFAST AND DUBLIN

MLAs and TDs hear call for international conference on Palestine

BY JOHN HEDGES

THE Fatah International Relations Committee representative to Ireland and Britain spent two days in Ireland in mid-November, holding extensive talks with Sinn Féin in Belfast and Dublin before meeting the Irish Labour Party in Dublin.

On Wednesday 11 November, Dr Fady Abusidu met Sinn Féin deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and Pat Sheehan MLA with others at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, and Belfast City Mayor Arder Carson (also Sinn Féin) at City Hall before addressing a packed public meeting at the Felons’ Club in west Belfast.

The following day he travelled to Dublin, where he briefed Gerry Adams and other Sinn Féin TDs on the ongoing violence in Palestine under Israeli occupation.

At a Dáil briefing for the Sinn Féin Oireachtas team, TDs and senators, Fady spoke to An Phoblacht.

Saying that it was “always a pleasure to be in Ireland and meet our brothers and sisters in Sinn Féin”, he said that the discussions with deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness the previous day were very positive.

“We count greatly on your support,” the Palestinian spokesperson said and expressed his admiration for the efforts

IN PICTURES

on Sinn Féin MEPs, particularly Martina Anderson, Chairperson of the European Parlaiment’s Delegation for Relations with Palestine.

The purpose of Fady’s visit to Ireland was to brief political figures about the state of the peace process in Palestine, and increased repression of the Palestinian people by the Israeli Army and daily attacks by Zionist “terrorist

5 Gerry Adams with Dr Fady Abusidu in Leinster House

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin TD Seán Crowe (Foreign Affairs) has welcomed the EU’s new rules for for clearly labelling goods coming from businesses and farms based in illegal settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem,

Increased repression by the Israeli Army and daily attacks by Zionist ‘terrorist groups’ from the illegal settlements are fomenting a violent backlash by young Palestinians groups” from the illegal settlements that are fomenting a violent backlash by young Palestinians.

He said that the attitude of the Israeli regime to the peace process is very negative and not promising at all.

“The route to peace is becoming very, very difficult,” he said at the Dáil.

“Therefore we believe that the way forward is through establishing an international conference or forum similar to the one that achieved the Iranian nuclear agreement.”

‘We believe that the way forward is through establishing an international conference’ 5 Armed Israeli settlers stand with Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank

At such a forum, the Fatah representative said, guarantees can be presented by the international community and agreements would not be dependent on balances of power but subject to international law.

The “two states vision” of the international community would be reflected in the forum “in guarantees that will provide assurances and hope for the

Palestinian people and the Israeli people that peace is possible”.

In the interim, he said, the aim is to secure the protection of the Palestinian people and to ask the United Nations and all international organisations to suspend Israel “to try and compel Israel to respect its responsibilities under international law and to bring the issue to an international peace conference”.

and the Golan Heights as ‘settlement’ origin but he reiterated his often-repeated call for a total ban on settlement products.

“Israeli settlements are built on stolen land and the illegality of these settlements means that all products should be banned from European markets.

Israel’s favourable trade status should also be removed while they continue to violate international and human rights law with their illegal occupation.”

photos@anphoblacht.com

5 Revolution 1916 launch – flags of the various organisations who participated 5 EU Palestine committee chairperson Martina Anderson MEP in the jersey of Chilean soc- in the 1916 Rising are hoisted over the Ambassador Theatre in Dublin and (right) cer club Deportivo Palestino – home to the largest Palestinian diaspora outside Middle East 11-year-old Brian Kiernan, from the Finglas Historical Society, helps raise the flags

20 December / Nollaig 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

COUNTDOWN TO THE 1916 RISING

‘Ghosts’

By P. H. Pearse

BETWEEN DECEMBER 1915 and the end of March 1916, four very significant political essays were written and published by Pádraig Pearse, Director of Organisation of the Irish Volunteers, member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood’s Military Council and future President of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic.

In these pamphlets Pearse examined

the Irish definition of freedom, mainly through the writings of Wolfe Tone, Thomas Davis, James Fintan Lalor and John Mitchel. But Pearse also set out his own ideas, which are enduring to this day. The first essay, ‘Ghosts’, was signed “P. H. Pearse, St Enda’s College, Rathfarnham, Christmas Day, 1915”. One hundred years on, we carry here some key extracts.

Claim to freedom

inner thing which was its soul. They recognised that the Irish life was the thing that mattered, and that, the Irish life dead, the Irish nation was dead. But they recognised that freedom was the essential condition of a vigorous Irish life. And for freedom they raised their ranns; for freedom they stood in battle through five bloody centuries.

To the Irish mind for more than a thousand years, freedom has had but one definition. It has meant not a limited freedom, a freedom conditioned by the interests of another nation, a freedom compatible with the suzerain authority of a foreign parliament, but absolute freedom, the sovereign control of Irish destinies.

It has meant not the freedom of a class but the freedom of a people.

It has meant not the freedom of a geographical fragment of Ireland but the freedom of all Ireland, of every sod of Ireland.

Failure of ‘constitutional’ politicians

Parnell

BY MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA

The men who have led Ireland for twenty-five years have done evil, and they are bankrupt. They are bankrupt in policy, bankrupt in credit, bankrupt now even in words. They have nothing to propose to Ireland, no way of wisdom, no counsel of courage. When they speak they speak only untruth and blasphemy. Their utterances are no longer the utterances of men. They are the mumblings and gibbering of lost souls.

freedom. A chance phrase of Keating’s might almost stand as a definition. He spoke of Ireland as “domhan beag innti féin”, a little world in herself.

It was characteristic of Irish-speaking men that when they thought of the Irish nation they thought less of its outer forms and pomps than of the

Wolfe Tone If Tone said “Break the connection with England”, and if I say “Maintain the connection with England”, I may be preaching a saner (as I am certainly preaching a safer) gospel than his, but I am obviously not preaching the same gospel.

FOR

Of Parnell it may be said with absolute truth that he never surrendered the national position. His successors have surrendered it. They have written on his monument in Dublin those noble words of his that no man has a right to fix the boundary of the march of a nation; and then they have accepted the Home Rule act as a ‘final settlement’ between Ireland and England.

John Redmond – British recruiting sergeant The man who, in return for the promise of a thing that is not merely less than separation, but which denies separation and proclaims the Union perpetual, the man who in return for this declares peace between Ireland and England and sacrifices to England as a peace-holocaust the blood of fifty thousand Irishmen, is guilty of so immense an infidelity, so immense a crime against the Irish nation, that one can only say of him that it were better for that man (as it were certainly better for his country) that he had not been born.

Irish literature

Nationality The Irish mind is the clearest mind that has ever applied itself to the consideration of nationality and of national

5 Pearse examined the Irish definition of freedom in his writings

5 Tone wanted to break the connection

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The student of Irish affairs who does not know Irish literature is ignorant of the awful intensity of the Irish desire for separation as he is ignorant of one of the chief forces which make separation inevitable.

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5 Parnell said no man has the right to fix the boundary to the march of a nation

December / Nollaig 2015

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21

Níl na comhairli saor ó olc ach an oiread TÁ COMORADH le déanamh ag an stát ar 1916, ach go drogallach e don chuid is mó.

Tá faitíos ar lucht rialaithe na tire gur b é na poblachtánaigh amháin a dhéanfadh comoradh dá bhfanfadh an stát ar leataoibh, cé gur léir go mb’fhearr leó i bhfad móradh a dhéanamh orthu siúd a fuair bás ar son na himpireacht ná orthu siúd a throid ina haghaidh.

Ach tá comóradh le bheith ann mar sin fhéin.

Céard tá le comóradh, ámh?

Bhí gluaiseacht na Gaeilge go laidir i lár na gluaiseacht le dúshlán a thabhairt don impireacht Bhreataineach. Go deimhin bhí ról chómh lárnach sin ag Conradh na Gaeilge san Éirí Amach nach féidir é a shamhailt gan lucht na Gaeilge.

Agus le cinntiú go ndéanfar i gceart é (mar dhea) tá aire gan Gaeilge agus aire stáit ar bheagán ghaeilge freagarthach as an gcomóradh oifigiúil.

Nach náire é. Nach masla é.

Caoga bliain ó shoin bhí comóradh eile ar 1916, agus thainig scata gaeilgeóirí le chéile le ceist a chur faoin gcomóradh. Comóradh na n-ocastóirí a thug Máirtín Ó Cadhain agus Misneach ar an gcomóradh oifigiúil.

Inniu tá an scéal níos measa, seacht n-uair.

Rinneadh cur i gcéill tá caoga bliain ó shoin faoin nGaeilge, ach anois níl aon aird dhá tabhairt uirthi.

EOIN Ó MURCHÚ

Mar shampla, tá clár foilsithe ag amharclann na Mainistreach agus sraith drámaí le cur ar an stáitse acu a bhaineann leis an Eirí Amach.

Rinneadh gearan laidir faoin gclár seo ar an údar nach raibh aon dráma scríofa ag bean ar

an liosta. Gan dabht ar bith tá údar maith leis an ngearán seo, mar ta se scannallach ról na mban i lorg na saoirse a fhágail as.

Ach tá sé chómh scannallach céanna nach bhfuil aon drama Ghaeilge ar an liosta; agus

níos scannallaigh nach raibh aon ghearán faoi sin sna meáin mhóra.

Thosaigh forógra na Poblachta le éileamh ar Fhír agus Mná (agus Mná) na hÉireann, agus is masla don Éirí Amach dearmad glan a dhéanamh dá ról siúd. Amhail nach cuid den naisiún úr iad na mná.

Agus bhí áit lárnach ag athbheóchain na Gaeilge in eagraíocht an Eirí Amach.

Má fhágtar ar lár é ní léirítear ach dímheasdo laochra na staire.

Catalan Parliament votes for countdown to independence ON 9 NOVEMBER, the Catalan Parliament voted to support a pro-independence proposal outlining a road map towards independence.

The proposal was presented by the cross-party ‘Junts Pel Sí’ (‘Together for Yes’) and the CUP party (Candidatura d’Unitat Popular/Popular Unity Candidacy).

The 62 MPs who make up ‘Junts Pel Sï’ and the 10 CUP MPs – representing 72 of the 135 seats in the Catalan Parliament – voted in favour of this historic proposal in an extraordinary plenary session.

The proposal itself is not a declaration of independence but rather creates the mechanisms to establish an independent state.

The declaration also contains a countdown schedule to commence the 'disconnection process' from Spain and a pronouncement that Catalonia will be formally established as an independent state in 2017

The declaration also contains a countdown schedule to commence the “disconnection process” from Spain and a pronouncement that Catalonia will be formally established as an independent state in 2017.

The Spanish Government has stubbornly refused to negotiate with the Catalan Government.

The Spanish Government responded to the Catalan resolution by appealing to the Madrid-based Constitutional Court, which has agreed to hear the case and thus legally suspended the process. This comes ahead of a Spanish general election on 20 December.

The declaration passed in the Catalan Parliament, however, states that the Constitutional Court is “devoid

5 Leader of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, Oriol Junqueras

of legitimacy” due to its continual opposition to Catalan self-determination and it specifically vows to ignore its rulings.

As the leader of Esquerra Republicana

de Catalyna (Republican Left of Catalonia), Oriol Junqueras said: “The will of the Catalan people cannot be suspended. We are committed to continue with our democratic mandate.”

22 December / Nollaig 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

THE 20th Friends of Sinn Féin (USA) fund-raising dinner was attended by 700 people in New York in November where the guests of honour were TDs Mary Lou McDonald and Gerry Adams, who was on a speaking tour that included Canada.

Gerry Adams said that it is a testament to the commitment and hard work of the Friends of Sinn Féin (FOSF) committee that this dinner is now an annual feature on the Irish-American calendar and is such a success.

The audience covered the wide spectrum of Irish-America, from longstanding friends of Irish freedom who have risen to the heights of leadership in their communities, trade unions and business to new, young emigrants forced by austerity to seek work away from home.

Money raised at the event is used to help finance FOSF’s lobbying and education programmes, including speaking tours and briefings by Sinn Féin elected representatives from Irealnd with politicians, campaign groups and opinion formers across the United States.

With the 1916 centenary on the horizon, the Easter Rising was foremost in people’s minds and Friends of Sinn Féin and Sinn Féin’s representative in the US, Rita O’Hare, provided guests with an acclaimed booklet, America and the 1916 Rising, an account of Irish America’s role in the planning and resourcing of the rebellion, accompanied by a pamphlet, Timeline 1916, which traces the significant dates in the years leading up to April 1916.

The programme for the evening was 5 Gerry at the Famine Memorial in Ireland Park, Toronto

FREE

5 Gerry Adams at the 20th Friends of Sinn Féin (USA) fund-raising dinner

opened by Friends of Sinn Féin USA President Jim Cullen who introduced Mary Lou McDonald and FOSF founder member Fay Devlin from Tyrone who welcomed Gerry Adams to the podium.

Smilingly taking a swipe at critiAMERICA cism from Fine Gael and Labour TDs 1916 RISING complaining about Gerry and Mary Lou A story of passion and loyalty, commitment being absent from the Dáil bravery (theandsame Dr Ruan O’Donnell parties whose TDs missed important votes even when they were in Dublin), Gerry Adams said in a stage aside to Mary Lou: “Just so you know, the Irish Labour Party and the Fine Gael party have been Production by An Phoblacht complaining, Mary Lou, about you and I being here.

“And these are the parties that have to the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste: Mary sent more than half a million Irish people Lou and I are coming back. We’ll see scattered throughout the world, not you in the Dáil and we’ll hold you to least here in the United States, because account for all the things you haven’t of their disastrous economic policies. done despite all your promises in the “So I would just like to send a word last election to do so.”

AMERICA

AND THE

Design and layout by Mark Dawson

America and the 1916 Rising cover4.indd 1

COMPETITION

FIVE DVDs of the famous Sinn Féin O’Donovan Rossa Funeral Re-enactment to be won.

Five winners will be drawn from the correct answers to the following question:

Who gave the historic oration at the funeral of O’Donovan Rossa at Glasnevin Cemetery?

ODR100DVD

24/03/2015 13:37

5 Gerry presents Calgary’s Alex O’Donnell with the Rita Adams Saoirse na hÉireann Award for service to the Irish republican cause in Canada

O’Donovan Rossa DVD

Email your answers (with your address) to

1916 RISING

A ND THE

Gerry Adams visits Friends of Sinn Féin in US and Canada

competition@anphoblacht.com by 12 noon, Monday 14 December

December / Nollaig 2015

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23

‘I’m living proof that diplomatic pressure works’ Freed Egyptian hunger striker

MOHAMED SOLTAN talks to

MARK MOLONEY in Brussels

5 Mohamed Soltan speaks to reporters in Brussels as part of a delegation calling for the release of Irish teenager Ibrahim Halawa

“I’M LIVING PROOF that diplomatic pressure works,” says Mohamed Soltan. The 27-year-old US citizen was released from an Egyptian prison on 31 May after spending almost two years as a political prisoner and enduring a 400-day hunger strike.

During his hunger strike he almost died nine times due to hyperglycemic seizures, diabetic comas and pulmonary embolisms. Doctors kept him alive with intravenous injections of fluids and sugar.

Born in Egypt in 1988, Mohamed’s family moved to the United States in the mid-1990s. In 2012, after graduating from Ohio State University, he moved back to Egypt and began working for a petrol company. His family were supporters of President Mohamed Morsi and his father served in the new administration. After the overthrow of the democratically-elected government by the Egyptian military, he took part in the huge demonstrations in Cairo against the coup.

In many ways his story mirrors that of Irish teenager Ibrahim Halawa – with one crucial difference. In Mohamed’s case, the US Government came down hard on the Egyptians for the release of their citizen due to a

During his hunger strike he almost died nine times due to hyperglycemic seizures, diabetic comas and pulmonary embolisms widespread publicity campaign and public outcry. The Irish Government has played mute.

Mohamed was initially arrested in a raid on his family home in Cairo. The arrest came shortly after he was shot in the arm while speaking to a news team as police cleared a protest camp at al-Adawiya Square. As he is bilingual, he frequently helped foreign journalists with their reports. He underwent an operation in which two metal pins and a plate had been inserted in his arm to help heal a shattered bone: “They came to my father’s home looking for him. But because he wasn’t there they arrested me and three journalists I was speaking to at the time. They kidnapped us for two days and put us in a building they called ‘The Fridge’ while they cooked up an arrest warrant.”

Under Egyptian law, after 15 days of being held without

charge, a person must be released or their detention extended. Mohamed was there almost 20 days and told the authorities he must now be released. “The response

5 A leaked photo shows Mohamed Soltan after suffering a seizure while on hunger strike

6 Hanaa Soltan speaks of the campaign she organised for her brother Mohamed's (right) release

from the prosecutor was: ‘This is my country and we can do whatever the hell we want. We can bend whatever rules we want to bend.’”

Mohamed would eventually be charged with being part of an anti-Government conspiracy, alongside the three journalists. His father, Salah, was arrested a short time later and is currently on Death Row. “In the first prison, when we arrived we were made run between two lines of guards who beat us with batons, belts and chains,” says Mohamed.

“Then they took us into a large reception room where we were made strip to our underwear. I was still wearing my sling and was beaten on my broken arm for

two straight hours. The result was the pins moved so that, every time I moved my shoulder, one of the pins ripped through the deltoid muscle. There was complete medical neglect.”

He says he pleaded with the US Embassy to force the authorities to provide medical assistance but it was ignored. Eventually a fellow inmate who was a medical doctor carried out an impromptu medical procedure: “Without anasthesia he opened up my arm with a bathroom pliers and removed the rods while other prisoners held me down.”

Mohamed said the absolute chaos within the Egyptian military regime, and the inability for anybody to seek a fair trial, forced him to make a stand.

“There was simply no way to deal with the Egyptian state in a rational way. That’s what drove me to start a hunger strike.”

Constant physical and psychological torture played a huge role in his decision.

“There was enforced sleep deprivation and I was placed in solitary confinement. Some guards would come and talk to me about suicide. Then at night they would pass me razor blades under the door and start telling me ‘End your misery and ours!’ and start telling me where I should cut. It was systematic psychological torture and I am still only recovering from it.”

As pressure built up outside for his release thanks to a prominent publicity campaign by his sister, Hanaa, authorities moved his father to the same prison.

“They would start doing similar things to him and then tell me about it. It was torture by proxy,” says Mohamed.

He says the campaign for his release forced the Egyptian regime to act.

“The only thing that works with a regime like the one in Egypt is pressure. If pressure isn’t exerted then they do not act. This is what I went through under US Embassy supervision, so I can only imagine what Ibrhim Halawa and the 40,000 other political prisoners are going through,” he says.

“We’re talking about an Irish citizen [Ibrahaim Halawa] who is in conditions which no human being should face.

Me being here today is proof that something can be done. When civil society, NGOs and media put enough pressure on Government officials to act, it worked.

Australian journalist Peter Greste is out too because of that kind of pressure.”

24 December / Nollaig 2015

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Funded by the European United Left/ Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) Aontas Clé na hEorpa/Na Glasaigh Chlé Nordacha Crúpa Paliminta – Parlaimimt na h Eorpa

International progress made on legal highs in China talks

POSITIVE PROGRESS in international co-operation in the regulation of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) – known as “legal highs” – has been reported by MEP Martina Anderson during her recent visit to China.

The Irish MEP took part in a four-day visit to China as part of a delegation by the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee.

On her return she said: “As part of the delegation’s trip to China, we met with the Narcotics Control Bureau of China’s Ministry of Public Security. Together with other European representatives, I raised the concern that an increasing number of so-called legal highs are being manufactured in China and then distributed in Europe.

“When referring to Europe, it is easy for some to switch off and to forget that Ireland is included in that. However, families trying to cope with the loss of a loved one due to these substances

IN BRIEF

‘Poverty – A Gender Perspective’

‘POVERTY – A Gender Perspective’ is a European Parliament report being authored

by Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan in the coming months.

She will present the opinion to the Employment and Social Affairs Committee on 22 December.

She said: “Since the global financial crisis hit, the gender poverty gap in the EU has widened.

Women are bearing the brunt of austerity measures such as cuts to health and education services, as well as specific services for women such as domestic violence shelters.”

In addition to looking at the impact of cuts to public services and will examine the reasons why women are at a higher risk of poverty.

These factors include the gender pay and pension gaps, the large proportion of women in precarious work, and the fact that women are often forced to leave the workforce due to the high cost of childcare.

“Most importantly,” Lynn Boylan said, “I will put forward policy solutions that can meaningfully address the higher rate of poverty among women.”

will not forget. The families and communities trying to deal with the scourge of legal-highs will not forget.

“All over Ireland, people are struggling with drug dealing, use and addiction and the problem is only getting worse. It’s dreadful to think that 22% of young people in Ireland aged between 15 and 24 have sampled these fatal so-called legal highs.”

The MEP for the North of Ireland said that the delegation had had a “positive meeting” with the leadership of the national Narcotics Control Bureau.

“They informed us that a breakthrough was made in the fight to combat the manufacture of NPS last month when a new regulation called the ‘Administrative Measures on Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Scheduled without Medical Use’ took effect.

“We have a lot more to do in Ireland, in Europe and internationally to achieve this, but important progress is being made.”

5 Martina Anderson MEP with Chen Xufu and Shan Yehua of China's Narcotics Control Foundation

Draghi refusal to accept ECB failures ‘frustrating’

MATT CARTHY MEP recently questioned European Central Bank President Mario Draghi at the Economic & Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament on its role in the Oireachtas Banking Inquiry in Ireland.

Speaking after the exchange, Matt Carthy said: “It was extremely frustrating that issues raised with Mr Draghi regarding the ECB’s interference in the Irish democratic decision-making process were either dismissed or went unanswered.

“Unsurprisingly, my request to Mr Draghi to apologise for the destructive and illegal actions of the ECB and for the contempt that the ECB has shown to the democratically-appointed Oireachtas Banking Inquiry and to the Irish people was unheeded.”

“The dialogue in its entirety was a farcical substitute for ECB’s refusal to formally engage with Oireachtas Banking Inquiry.”

Matt Carthy complained that Mario Draghi didn’t adequately respond to any substantive question put by Irish MEPs. “He refused to accept any responsibility on the part of the ECB for the banking crisis or the failure to burn bondholders.

“This isn’t accountability and it is not good enough for the Irish people who represent 1% of the EU population but who have been saddled with 42% of the costs of a European banking crisis.”

5 Matt Carthy MEP with Irish Farmers' Association representatives from Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan, Roscommon, Monaghan, Louth and the IFA representative in Brussels

IN BRIEF New budget needed for SME and youth jobs A NEW EU BUDGET is needed, particularly in terms of youth unemployment, support for SMEs and the creation of quality employment, Sinn Féin MEP Liadh Ní Riada has said.

The Irish MEP said that member states and the European Commission must assume their responsibilities.

“We need solidarity to support the creation of sustainable, decent and quality employment, and to back our SMEs.” For the past two years the member states committed to boost the support for the creation of employment, in particular for youth, she said. “€6billion was agreed in the Youth Employment Initiative for 2014-2015 but

€3billion was already being drained from the European Social Fund.

“Here we are coming to the end of 2015.

Unemployment, in particular amongst young people, is far from being over, with incredible youth unemployment in Ireland.

“However, the EU Council is now saying that there are more urgent priorities so they decided to freeze any and all future allocation of new resources for further action in tackling youth unemployment during 2016.

“We do not need more empty promises and declarations. The EU and national governments must assume duly, timely and fully their responsibilities.”

December / Nollaig 2015

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25

Another Europe is possible Treo eile don Eoraip REPORT BY JEMMA DOLAN Liadh Ní Riada

Matt Carthy 5 Liadh Ní Riada MEP addresses a packed fisheries conference and (right) with Councillors John Brady and Johnny Mythen

Long past time that our fishing industry was given attention it deserves SPEAKING at the international conference on fisheries that she hosted in Waterford, MEP Liadh Ní Riada emphasised the necessity for a specific focus on developing and investing in the Irish fishing industry and uniting fishermen.

“Our fishing industry is only a shadow of its potential,” she said in an opening address to an audience from fishing families and the industry. “This is primarily because governments have ceded any semblance of real sovereignty over our own waters, combined with a lack of investment, a lack of vision and the urban-focused approach the Government has taken with regards to economic development and diversification.

“Hundreds of family businesses who have been in fishing for generations have disappeared and so many of our young

people are reluctant to pursue a career in fishing,” she said.

“The EU and the Irish Government justifies these facts by declaring that the Common Fisheries Policy’s main aim is to protect all of Europe’s seafood industry and the environment – but what about protecting Ireland’s fishermen?”

Liadh said that Sinn Féin believe that, with the political will, a solid vision, and co-operation throughout the sector, “together with a truly unified and organised Irish fishing industry”, the Irish fishing industry can be a source of economic growth nationally that can effectively lobby the government and the EU. “Irish fisheries, despite its significant growth potential, is among the most underdeveloped of our natural industries, especially compared to agriculture.

IN BRIEF Brexit implications on Westminster agenda MEETINGS with representatives from the British Government, the Opposition and the Scottish National Party were part of a two-day visit to London by Martina Anderson as part of a delegation from the European Parliament to discuss a possible British withdrawal from the EU (“Brexit”).

The 11 MEPs in London were from the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the European Parliament.

“A potential Brexit raises several issues

pertinent to Ireland, North and South,” Martina pointed out.

“Issues including the Peace Process, human rights protections, agriculture, jobs, infrastructure and energy, cross-Border trade and travel would be directly affected by a Brexit.

“I raised these issues during the meetings in London and Sinn Féin will continue to ensure that the Irish dimension is considered during the Brexit debate.”

IN BRIEF All-Ireland food label

A DELEGATION to the European Parliament on the theme of establishing an all-Ireland food label has been hosted by Midlands North West MEP Matt Carthy, who is a member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development.

Thirty-five delegates travelled from all across Ireland to Brussels to discuss the implications and effects of new EU countryof-origin labelling requirements on the Irish agriculture industry.

Matt Carthy said the group included

representatives from the Irish Farmers’ Association, Irish Sheep & Cattle Association, Ulster Farmers’ Union, Irish Natural & Hill Farmers’ Association, Belfast Hill Farmers, and the North’s Agricultural Producers’ Association.

“Everyone took full advantage of the opportunity to relay their concerns to policy makers to ensure that the voices of the Irish agricultural industry are heard and laying out some positive ideas for a way forward,” Matt said.

Martina Anderson

Ibrahim Halawa case is not a political football

A PUBLIC HEARING at the European Parliament hosted by Lynn Boylan MEP on the case of Ibrahim Halawa, the Dublin teenager jailed without trial in Egypt for more than two years by the military government that seized power in a 2013 coup d’état, has heard calls yet again for more determined action from the Irish Government and European institutions.

Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan said the Irish Government does not need to be reminded of who Ibrahim is, or how inhumane his case is. The purpose of the hearing, she said, was to bring around the table voices of experience and to hear from those who have successfully secured freedom for their relatives or clients.

“I am appealing to the Irish Government to take on board their advice and to reconsider their approach to Ibrahim’s case,” Lynn said.

Mohamed Soltan, who went on hunger strike following his arrest by Egyptian security forces, described the horrific experiences he endured and spoke of not only the physical implications but the mental implications

Lynn Boylan

5 The Halawa family with Lynn Boylan MEP and South Dublin Mayor Sarah Holland

that he is left with, from having impromptu surgery carried out on his arm with bathroom scalpels to having a corpse in his cell for 24 hours. (See Mark Moloney’s interview on Page 23.)

“This is not a political football – this is literally a matter of Ibrahim’s life.

“Mohamed Soltan is living proof that intervention from government has positive results and I will continue to pursue this case until we get Ibrahim home.”

are MEPs and members of the GUE/NGL Group in the European Parliament

26 December / Nollaig 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

UNCOMFORTABLE CONVERSATIONS

Understanding the causes of the conflict EIBHLIN GLENHOLMES A member of the Sinn Féin Group on Legacy Matters, Eibhlin writes on the need for unionists to acknowledge the republican conflict experience and on the lack of reciprocation as the missing element in the Uncomfortable Conversations initiative understanding the causes of the conflict.

IN MARCH 2012, Sinn Féin launched Uncomfortable Conversations, an initiative by the party aimed at creating a strategic framework to share the republican experience of the conflict while also seeking to reach out to loyalism and unionism, to civil society, the trade unions and the PSNI, and (as importantly) to engage internally with those who do not subscribe to the republican peace strategy.

Like many republicans, I have early memories of sectarian conflict, growing up as I did in the small Ballymacarret community of east Belfast. I recall the many dark days as the Northern state sought to silence the campaign for civil rights, inclusion and parity of citizenship; the 1969 pogroms; the excessive use of state force; the deployment of the British Army, internment without charge or trial, and a prejudiced and morally bankrupt judiciary. These all combined to bring state conflict and violence to my family, to my community and to myself. That’s my life experience and that of so many of my generation.

Let me be clear – both the Orange and British states were the aggressors.

It was they who created, and sustained, by fear and coercion, their policies and practices of exclusion and discrimination against the Catholic minority population. It was their practices that created the conditions of conflict.

As I have said before – we didn’t go to war; war came to us.

In the dead of night it came to my door and to the doors of my neighbours. It came with an English, Scottish or Welsh accent. It came with an SLR rifle in its hands or it came with a Belfast accent and a balaclava and a handgun. Either way, it came.

I say this as I want unionists to understand the impact of living in a state in which republicans were excluded.

I want them to understand why I, and so many others, resisted. I want them hear that I am extremely proud of and eternally grateful to those Irish republicans who fought this oppression, exclusion, injustice and state-sponsored murder of my compatriots. I want them to hear that it is hurtful as they seek to dismiss the loss and pain of those killed from within the republican family.

I also want them to hear that I want the same rights, opportunities and prosperity for them and their community that I want for my own. I also want to listen to and engage with their concerns, their hopes and aspirations as we seek to map out a better future.

5The British Ambassador takes part in the Uncomfortable Conversations launch in Dublin where he was a key speaker

5 Exclusion and discrimination against the Catholic minority population created the conditions of conflict I want to hear from them why there is a reluctance to examine the root causes – the genesis and aftermath of the conflict the daily court battles by families bereaved through state killings, the use of state agents, the insurmountable evidence around the practice and policy of collusion, shoot to kill and torture. I want to discuss with then the fundamental questions about the British conflict policy in Ireland.

I want them to understand, acknowledge and appreciate the republican commitment to the Peace Process and building a better future. If there is a true commitment to never revisiting the past then let’s forensically examine why the conflict happened in the first place.

I also want to ask the question why there is no reconciliation strategy or outreach from within

I recall the many dark days as the Northern state sought to silence the campaign for civil rights, inclusion and parity of citizenship

unionism to republicans, particularly in the space of the Uncomfortable Conversations forum where those new understandings, new relationships and new possibilities can be forged. Such conversations are the bedrock for building a better future.

The historic and pragmatic compromise at the core of the Good Friday Agreement process created political processes through which all political aspirations can be democratically pursued.

There is a small number of militarist factions who reject Sinn Féin’s peace strategy while offering no alternative political programmes, strategy or viable way forward.

Yet their existence alone serves as a reminder as to why they too must be invited to engage and participate in the Uncomfortable Conversations initiative.

This is the time for brave engagements and to be heard. This is the time to show humility. This is the time to acknowledge the pain, hurt and loss that flowed from the conflict.

Uncomfortable as it will be, we all must learn together from the collective mistakes of the past. This means extending the invitation and seeking out the unheard voices. It means being brave and appreciating the transformative potential of the space Uncomfortable Conversation offers everyone to define the new understandings and build new relationships that will underpin the peace.

5The Northern state sought to silence the campaign for civil rights through the use of force

The Orange and British states were the aggressors – we didn’t go to war; war came to us

December / Nollaig 2015

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27

UNCOMFORTABLE CONVERSATIONS

Equality and human rights are for everyone FIONA McCAUSLAND Fiona was born into the unionist community. She is a human rights activist, having worked closely with the Committee on the Administration of Justice, the Human Rights Consortium, the NI Anti-Poverty Network, and the Social Economy Agency.

AS I WRITE THIS, a gay couple who had been married in England began legal proceedings to have their marriage recognised in Northern Ireland.

The Belfast High Court heard that they believed their union had been “devalued, demeaned and undermined” because it is not legally recognised in this region of the United Kingdom.

Amnesty International said it was ironic that a mechanism established to ensure the rights of minorities in Northern Ireland had been used by the Democratic Unionist Party to deny a fundamental right to the LGBT minority in the province.

Equality and human rights were at the heart of the 1998 Belfast Agreement. How else could two parties in government of diametrically opposing views work together to progress the country without a framework based on international rights?

The opposition to the right to marriage of same-sex couples is not the only issue which requires to be addressed in Northern Ireland relevant to rights and equality. The lack of an anti-poverty strategy, the difficulties around the gender, race and sexual orientation strategies, persistent inequalities between communities and the reluctance to introduce a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland demonstrates how far we still have to go.

Equality and human rights are for everyone.

There has been a little progress made here but has this resulted in a more peaceful and equal society for all or are only certain sections of the community benefitting? Is there, for example, a form of equality for what are termed “community leaders” that results in the actual communities having no input relevant to the needs of their areas and realising that they are no better off after over two decades of the signing of the Belfast Agreement. The progress made regarding human rights and policing do not appear to extend to everyone in the community.

Is there any room in our society for those with an alternative voice or who have opinions which are unpopular, or do those views and opinions have to be made to appear subversive by the state. All democratic societies should be able to tolerate dissident voices as this can serve as a check on the excesses of unfair government legislation and policies. In Northern Ireland, raising a dissenting voice can result in the harassment of those who hold alternative or unpopular views and this can result in tensions within communities.

Again, all democratic societies demand fair and equal policing but does this exist in Northern Ireland? For

5 The DUP has virulently opposed marriage equality in the North

The opposition to the right to marriage of samesex couples is not the only issue which requires to be addressed relevant to rights and equality

example, can women and children violated by state agents expect protection? The recent inquiry by the all-party group at Stormont found that women in some communities had been “intimidated and rendered voiceless”. Through fear they could not speak out within their communities and could expect no support.

The arrival of General Kitson at the beginning of the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’ laid the foundation for a region controlled by state security organisations who exploited the conflict to such an extent that it has left a legacy of collusion and fear throughout the most vulnerable of communities.

This legacy continues to affect the democratic development of Northern Ireland and sustains division and fuels sectarianism and racism.

An imperfect Peace Process emerged from the 1998 Belfast Agreement which has resulted in a succession of political crises which continue and this constant political infighting has hindered progress on rights and equality. It seems that equality and human rights has been undermined in the name of the Peace Process. The undefined terms “good relations” and “national security” are also used as an excuse not to implement rights and equality.

The recession and austerity take priority in Westminster and the Assembly. Rights and equality have taken a back seat. The Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland has been put on the back burner and for some in the corridors of power it appears to be a step too far.

I maintain that for the future of this country it is essential that the equality and human rights agenda

5 British Army's Brigadier Frank Kitson

becomes a line in the sand. It is only thus that a stable government can be achieved. There must be a fulfilment of equality and human rights entitlements. Those entitlements must be enjoyed by everyone – ourselves, our families, our communities and those that oppose us.

The human rights and equality agenda is not a bargaining chip. It is central to democracy and real peace.

Editor’s Note: Guest writers in the Uncomfortable Conversations series use their own terminology and do not always reflect the house style of An Phoblacht.

To see more go to – www.anphoblacht.com/uncomfortable-conversations

28 December / Nollaig 2015

www.anphoblacht.com BOOK REVIEW

EASTER RISING CENTENARY

19 16

20 16

CALENDAR EASTER RISING CENTENARY Céad Bliain Éirí Amach na Cásca

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» Packed with facts about 1916

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» Biographies of leading men and women of the Rising

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Triumph of the prisoners' spirit

Their Prisons, Our Stories Fáilte Cluain Eois Price: €14.99

REVIEW BY

MICHAEL MANNION THIS is an important work, an historical document of national significance, providing first-hand accounts of the lives of political prisoners jailed during the 30-year struggle.

Although it documents the experiences of republicans from just three counties, it is representative of the hardships endured by thousands of men and women from across the island.

The volume has been compiled by Fáilte Cluain Eois and is based on an extensive series of interviews with former prisoners and their families from three counties straddling the Border – Fermanagh, Cavan and Monaghan.

The interviews cover the period from the very beginnings of the Civil Rights struggle to the eventual releases under the Good Friday Agreement. Every location where political prisoners were held is considered.

The book starts with the holding of Civil Rights protesters in Crumlin Road Jail, and then moves on to Ballykelly, in County Derry, where the infamous “hooded men” interrogations were held in Shackleton Barracks. The narrative then moves to the prison ship Maidstone and the Cages of Long Kesh, which metamorphosed into the H-Blocks following the burning of the original prison huts.

The Blanket Protest is recalled in detail, as are the two Hunger-Strikes and their aftermath. These first-hand reminiscences describe the intensity and raw emotional power of this phase of the struggle in a way that a mere recitation of the facts cannot convey.

Armagh Jail is then examined, with poignant accounts of prison births and babies being raised in jail, as well as the more familiar harrowing litanies of strip searches and brutality.

Like Long Kesh, Magilligan grew from a former army camp in County Derry.

Magilligan’s struggle mirrored that in

IN PICTURES

Long Kesh, with Blanket and Dirty Protests as well as the construction of H-Blocks but it was overshadowed by Long Kesh and never really received the level of notoriety it deserved.

The account then moves south of the Border to examine Mountjoy and Portlaoise. The observations note that, in some cases, the brutality of the prison officers was often greater than that exhibited by their counterparts in the North and many of the Northern men were surprised at the level of anti-republican feeling they encountered from staff in Southern prisons.

Finally, the plight of prisoners in English jails is examined. Some accounts describe certain prisons as having staff who were mostly former members of the Parachute Regiment or other regiments and who openly wore badges of the neo-Nazi National Front on their prison officer uniforms. The level of brutality encountered in these English jails on a regular basis appears to have been of a greater magnitude than that found in Irish prisons on either side of the border.

The overwhelming message of this book is not one of highlighting the suffering undergone by prisoners – and the hardships endured by their families, let’s not forget – but rather it is a message showing the triumph of the indomitable human spirit above overwhelming adversity. As Bobby Sands put it: “The thought that says ‘I’m right’.”

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5 The 'Lived Lives' exhibition at Pavee Point Traveller & Roma Centre: Artist Seamus McGuinness with his haunting textile work reflecting the tragedy of suicide in Ireland and (right) Travellers' rights activist and actor John Connors speaks at the event

www.sinnfeinbookshop.com Sinn Féin Bookshop 58 Parnell Square, Dublin 1, D01 DV74.

Phone (00 353 1) 814 8542 Email: sales@sinnfeinbookshop.com

5 Sinn Féin MLAs and activists join health workers' unions at Stormont rally

December / Nollaig 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

I nDíl Chuimhne 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 Ciarán 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, Volunteer Colm McGIRR, Tyrone Brigade.

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

6 December 1975: Volunteer

All notices and obituaries should be sent to notices@anphoblacht.com by Monday 4 January 2016

Life springs from death and from the graves of patriot men and women spring living nations PÁDRAIG PEARSE 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 December 1972: Volunteer Eugene

Comhbhrón FINLAY. Deepest sympathy to our good friend and comrade Pádraig and family on the passing of his mother Sarah.

From everyone at An Phoblacht.

McNEILL. West London Republican

29

Support Group extends deepest sympathy to the McNeill family (London and Toomebridge) on the death of their mother Eileen.

STEENSON. The staff of An Phoblacht

DEVLIN, Tyrone Brigade.

29 December 1972: Volunteer James McDAID, Derry Brigade.

30 December 1990: Volunteer Ferghal CARAHER, South Armagh Brigade.

30 December 1991: Volunteer Damien BROLLY, Donegal Brigade.

Always remembered by the Republican Movement McCANN, Noel Peter. In proud and loving memory of Noel Peter McCann, who went to his reward 15 years ago. So much missed, so very much loved by all his friends in Clonmel, his friends and relatives in the US, and especially his devoted partner, Barbara.

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

extend deepest sympathy to our comrade and former colleague Pádraig Steenson, his family and the friends of lifelong republican Marion Steenson, who passed away on 18 November.

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

Edentubber Martyrs Commemoration 2015

FÓGRAÍ BHÁIS

5 Una with Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams

Una Sloan South Dublin THE death has occurred of Una Sloan (née Kane) of Ballyboden, Dublin, a committed republican activist and a former Sinn Féin candidate who passed away at a tragically young age at St Vincent’s Hospital on 16 November.

A sister-in-law of Seán Crowe TD, Una’s husband was former Portlaoise POW Eugene Sloan. She was also the mother of Conor and Eugene.

It was in July of this year that doctors had given her about two months to live. She battled on longer with her bright, good humour.

Seán Crowe described her as “stylish, immaculate and fashionably dressed, a beautiful, formidable and determined woman”, someone who cared about her friends and neighbours, about her community, about her country.

A dedicated Irish republican, Una was involved in all aspects of the freedom struggle, being an active member at different times of Cumann na mBan, Óglaigh na hÉireann, An Cumann Cabhrach and Sinn Féin.

“A comrade described her as someone you could always rely on,

no matter what the task. She brought a determination, energy, commitment selflessness and a confidence well beyond her years.”

Seán Crowe told of how Una stood as a local election election candidate for Sinn Féin back in June 1999 (narrowly missing a council seat) and working as his PA in the office in St Dominic’s in Tallaght for five years, carrying out “life-changing” work.

“Thirteen-plus years later, people still talk and ask about her,” the Dublin South-West TD said.

She was very much part of the community in Whitechurch and active down the years in various committees, including the building of the community centre.

A large part of Una’s and the family’s lives was spent on visits to Eugene, a republican prisoner in Portlaoise who served two long sentences. Throughout that period she was hugely supportive and proud of him and his comrades.

“I have a copy of An Phoblacht at home that shows the two of them in a loving embrace outside Portlaoise

Prison following Eugene’s release after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.”

Describing how Una faced her final days, Seán Crowe added with unbridled affection: “We all had some perfect days in the company of Una. “We have a choice of how we remember Una. “I will remember her for her sense of fun, her huge energy and, most of all, for the love of life that was Una Sloan.”

30 December / Nollaig 2015

IN PICTURES

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'Islamic State' attacks on France exploited by Fine Gael leader

5 Sinn Féin Belfast City Mayor Arder Carson holds a reception to congrtulate the double-winning Cliftonville Ladies FC

Mali used to sabotage Irish neutrality

BY MARK MOLONEY

5 Conor Murphy MLA with his son Oisín, who kicked the winning point for Shane O'Neill's Under-21s team to win the Armagh GAA intermediate county title

FINE GAEL AND LABOUR continued their policy of eroding Irish neutrality as Taoiseach Enda Kenny announced that he was willing to deploy extra Irish troops to Mali in order to ‘freeup’ French forces following the horrific gun and bomb attacks by the so-called Islamic State in Paris which killed 130 people on 13 November.

Following on from their allowing US warplanes and munitions through Shannon Airport and Irish airspace, the Fine Gael/Labour Government is now looking to indirectly aid France in carrying out military actions in the Middle East.

Enda Kenny made the announcement after France invoked the Lisbon Treaty’s ‘mutual defence clause’ which

Mali is a former French colony where French forces are propping up a regime which seized power in a 2012 coup

5 Irish soccer legend Johnny Giles at the launch of 'Dalymount Park – The Home of Irish Football' by Colin White, a tribute to 115 years of Dalyer, with dedicated Bohemian FC fan and Dalymount regular Sinn Féin Councillor Larry O'Toole

requires EU member states to come to the aid of a fellow member state that has been attacked.

Irish Government plans to deploy additional troops to Mali – a former French colony where French forces are propping up a regime which seized power in a 2012 coup – have been opposed by Sinn Féin and other parties and Independents on the Left. Most of the French forces in the region are there

as part of a French military intervention force while others are taking part in a UN-mandated mission.

Mali has been gripped by civil war since 2012 following an uprising by ethnic Tuaregs demanding independence for the north of the country known as Azawad. A subsequent coup by hardline Mali Army officers caused chaos, with much of the north of the country falling to the Tuaregs. Al Qaedaaligned militant groups such as Ansar Dine exploited this turmoil to seize some towns and villages.

As recently as 2013, the office of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide at the United Nations said it was “deeply disturbed about serious allegations of human rights violations by the Malian Army” and warned that such incidents “could constitute atrocity crimes”.

Mary Lou McDonald TD said Sinn Féin would oppose any attempt to deploy more Irish forces to Mali to bolster the ten already there. The decision to deploy any more than 12 Irish Defence Forces soldiers requires Dáil approval.

Speaking on RTÉ TV’s The Week in Politics, Mary Lou noted that the Malian regime has been implicated in horrific human rights abuses and said Ireland should not be forced into military alliances: “Being neutral isn’t about sitting on your hands and doing nothing,” she said. “It’s about recognising Ireland’s past and our experience of having been colonised and what we can bring to the table – diplomatically and politically. Not tagging along as a bit-player with the big boys.”

Sinn Féin Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan told the AGM of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) on 21 November that the deployment of Irish troops to

release French forces would indirectly involve Ireland in conflict.

“Irish neutrality is being systematically eroded by current and previous governments. Irish participation and financial support for the European Defence Agency, our involvement in the Rapid Reaction Force and the continued use of Shannon Airport

by US warplanes involved in several

Fine Gael/Labour are now looking to indirectly aid France in carrying out military actions in the Middle East conflicts combine to show that Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fáil have, at best, a flippant attitude to neutrality,” she said.

Jim Roche of the Irish Anti-War Movement said he is “very worried” by the news and is also of the view that it would undermine Irish neutrality. He said that if the deployment goes ahead: “Our troops will effectively be helping France to bomb groups in Syria and create more terror and refugees.”

Lynn Boylan went on to praise the work of Irish peacekeepers serving on UN missions and, in recent months, the work of the Irish Naval Service in rescuing thousands of refugees in the Mediterranean: “This is the type of work our Defence Forces should be doing. They should not be involved, directly or indirectly, in conflict or in the facilitation of conflict.”

Christmas 2015 something in common with Christmas 1915

www.anphoblacht.com

December / Nollaig 2015

31

ROBBIE SMY TH

CORRUPTION IN SPORT, unending foreign wars, endless advertisements, and all the Abbey plays written by men. The media issues in 1915 and 2015 have a lot in common.

The missing element from the December 1915 coverage is substantial mention of the growing Irish Volunteer movement.

Police reports throughout late 1915 reflect the depth of this absent aspect of the news media coverage of the time. On 29 November, the police reports that “this body of Irish Volunteers numbers 10,000 strong, with control of 1,500 rifles, possibly more, thoroughly disloyal and hostile to the British Government”.

A report on 14 December reports that the Volunteers had gained “1,300 new members during the month” and “a party of 800 held military manoeuvres at Artane”. On 18 December, the Under Secretary to the Chief Secretary (one of the British Government’s highest-ranking officials in Ireland) wrote that “the active Irish Volunteer numbers had increased to 13,500” and “each group of these is a centre of revolutionary propaganda”.

Irish newspapers, 1915 and 2015 Ireland in the national media of December 1915 is a different country from the revolutionary hotbed portrayed in police reports.

Support for the British Government and its hungry imperialist ambitions reflected in the position of the national Irish newspapers at the time jars with the growing number of supplements being printed in Irish papers in 2015.

The Irish Independent has had three 1916 supplements in recent weeks. As An Phoblacht goes to print, the latest Irish Times instalment has been published, called “Dragons Stirring — Ireland six months before the Rising”.

There are no dragons in the Irish newspapers at Christmas 1915.

First World War All across the pages of the Irish Independent, Examiner, Times and Freeman’s Journal the greatest amount of coverage is given over to

5 A cartoon in The Kerryman from Christmas 1915 on John Redmond's visit to Flanders 5 Support for the British Government's imperialist ambitions are reflected in the main national Irish newspapers of 1915

the First World War. The class bias of the time is shown by dividing war dead into “officers” and “rank and file”.

There’s a stream of reports on the travel plans of wealthy aristocrats such as “the Earl of Bective and his brother Lord William Taylor” who have “joined the Marchioness of Headfort at Headfort House Kells for Christmas”. All very jolly.

The Indo on Christmas Eve reports the views of a Fr Vaughan, who recently had “visited the Front” and claimed: “No man who is an impartial student of history would dare to deny that both on land and sea the Celtic race is serving the British Empire with a gallantry, dash and daring that falls nothing short of heroism. You would think that Paddy was born to fight.” All very jolly also unless you’re one of the ‘poor bloody infantry’ maimed or slaughtered in Flanders’ fields serving the Empire.

(Fr Vaughan, of course, was born to a higher calling safe at home again.)

The Christmas Eve papers do give some flavours of a different Ireland, though.

While the Irish Examiner reports on the forming of a Fermoy committee for British Army recruitment (alongside a report of a meeting of the Blarney Total Abstinence Athletic Society!), the Freeman’s Journal tells of a meeting in Castlemahon of the United Irish League (motto: “The Land for the People”). The papers that the nationalist UIL “now had a number of physical force men declaring they were organising to defend Ireland”.

And many papers have negative comments on Irish Parliamentary Party leader John Redmond.

One common story across papers is the Football League suspensions on 23 December of Manchester United and Liverpool players for their involvement in a match fixing scam the previous April when United had won 2-0. Subsequently, seven players were banned for life.

The people’s press On the same day, James Connolly writes in The Workers’ Republic that, on 21 December 1796, “a French fleet entered Bantry Bay” but General Emmanuel de Grouchy decided not to land and then a storm forced the French fleet to disperse.

Connolly ends with the declaration: “Christmas week 1796, Christmas week 1915 — still hesitating.”

Connolly’s Workers’ Republic was one of many

alternative publications giving a different view of Irish political life.

The Irish Volunteer (copies of which are currently being carried on An Phoblacht’s website) is another alongside Forward, The Irish Citizen, Eye Opener, Searchlight, and Century.

It is sadly notable that, in the 1916 Rising, three editors of these magazines were executed by British Army Captain Bowen-Colthurst: Thomas Dickson (Eye Opener), Patrick MacIntyre (Searchlight) and Francis Sheehy Skeffington (Irish Citizen).

Among the other writers executed in the aftermath of the Rising was Pádraig Pearse, who went to the firing squad owing the Irish Times 18 pounds and 10 shillings.

Unpaid advertisements for his St Enda’s school that were published in the paper are an apt epitaph for Pearse’s relationship and that of Irish republicanism with the Times. The paper opposed the republican movement that Pearse was part of but were still willing to sell him advertising space.

• This article was completed using the Irish Newspaper Archive, the Irish Times Archive, the National Library of Ireland database, Volume Two of James Connolly’s Collected Works, The 1916 Rebellion Handbook, and the letters of Pádraig Pearse.

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5 Gerry Adams speaks to the media on the IBRC scandal during the Global Economic Forum at Dublin Castle – see page 12

5 U2 backdrop calling for truth and reconcilliation for the Dublin and 5 The Sinn Féin Slogadh was held in Gaeláras Mhic Ardghail, Newry. Gerry Adams holds the ink-well used by Pádraig Pearse when he Monaghan bombings victims' families during a 3 Arena gig in Dublin stayed in the Cooley Mountains around 1906 – see page 13

5 Veterans for Peace: Irish, British and US former military personnel lay a white poppy wreath at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin as part of a Veterans for Peace event on Armistice Day to remember everyone – civilians and combatants – killed in conflict