An Phoblacht, June 2015

DANNY MORRISON

MARRIAGE EQUALITY

Big 'YES' in the South Time for the North

The Armalite and the Writing Paper

CARLOW/KILKENNY BY-ELECTION

SINN FÉIN THE BIG STORY

anphoblacht Sraith Nua Iml 38 Uimhir 6

Price €2 / £2

June / Meitheamh 2015

WESTMINSTER CUTS CLASH

'We need to stand up for the people who elect us' MARTIN McGUINNESS

Tories provoke crisis WOLFE TONE WEEKEND FESTIVAL | BODENSTOWN SUNDAY

WOLFE TONE COMMEMORATION 21st June, assemble Sallins at 2.15pm • Speaker: Mary Lou McDonald

SEE PAGE 19

2 June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

Meeting Prince Charles, promoting peace and reconciliation THE IMAGE of the historic handshake that flashed worldwide obscured the importance of two private meetings the future head of state had with leaders of Sinn Féin when they met Prince Charles in Ireland last month.

The Guardian newspaper editorial on the meeting characterised the handshake between Gerry Adams and Prince Charles as a “brave act of reconciliation”. It went on to describe the engagement as “both brave and constructive”.

And it was constructive.

In his Léargas blog, Gerry Adams reveals that while it was a “cordial and

The Guardian newspaper editorial characterised the handshake between Gerry Adams and Prince Charles as a ‘brave act of reconciliation’ relaxed discussion” in Galway and “despite some of the difficult issues we each spoke of, it was a positive conversation”.

The Sinn Féin trio meeting Prince Charles (Gerry Adams, deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh) acknowledged that he and his family had been hurt and had suffered a great loss because of the actions of Irish republicans when the IRA assassinated his great uncle, Lord Mountbatten, at Mullaghmore, County Sligo, in 1979. They also said they were very conscious of the sad loss of the Maxwell family, whose son Paul was also killed.

But they also spoke with Prince Charles – Colonel-in-Chief of the Parachute Regiment – of the hurt inflicted “on our friends and neighbours

and on our own communities” in Derry and Ballymurphy and Springhill by the actions of the Parachute Regiment and other British regiments. In 1971 and 1972, in Ballymurphy and Springhill, 16 local citizens – including three children, a mother of eight, two Catholic priests and ten unarmed men – were shot dead by the Parachute Regiment.

Prince Charles, Colonel-in-Chief of the Parachute Regiment, listened to this.

Gerry Adams also told him of the campaign by victims of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings to get the British Government to hand over its files about these events – believed to involve its agents – to Irish authorities.

Some people – including relatives of victims of the British state – found this meeting difficult. Sinn Féin recognised this and insisted that people – particularly families of victims – had the right to be critical.

5 Gerry Adams TD speaks to the media just before meeting Prince Charles

In a private meeting, Gerry Adams told Prince Charles – Colonel-in-Chief of the Parachute Regiment – of the hurt inflicted on people in Ireland by his regiment and British state forces

Speaking after the visit, Sinn Féin National Chairperson Declan Kearney said: “These latest initiatives happened not just because of the Sinn Féin leadership’s total commitment to reconciliation and healing but also because the British royal family and key sections of the British state had the independent foresight to recognise another very important opportunity to make positive, forward momentum “Queen Elizabeth has already made her own very influential contribution.

The decision of Prince Charles to meet with Sinn Féin, repeat her words from 2011 – and, importantly, offer his own words on regrets, resentment and the attribution of blame – indicate the British royals are committed to assisting the development of an authentic reconciliation and healing process.

“That sends a clear message to those who are hostile against the need for acknowledgement of all loss, promoting reconciliation between all sides, and the need for a healing process to benefit all sections of this community, and further afield.

“There is a bigger picture.

“Notwithstanding the very real, immediate and deep difficulties besetting the political process, reconciliation and healing have to be embraced as the only way forward. Sectional state and political interests should not be allowed to stop that happening.

“Progressive voices must be heard and more initiatives are required at all levels of society.

“Substantive and historic events have occurred this week to assist us all in 5 West Belfast MP Paul Maskey joins the Ballymurphy Massacre families to demonstrate Sinn Féin's ongoing support for their moving forward. They should not be long campaign for truth and justice squandered – they should be built upon.”

AER LINGUS SALE A BAD DEAL FOR IRELAND

BY MARK MOLONEY AS AN PHOBLACHT goes to print, it looks certain that the state’s 25% share in Aer Lingus is to be sold off by Fine Gael and Labour for €335million to the International Airlines Group (IAG).

Fianna Fáil had sold off 75% of the airline in 2006.

It is reported the sale was finally agreed after a number of Labour Party deputies (who had previously expressed opposition to the move) performed a

U-turn and backed the privatisation plan.

There were angry exchanges in the Dáil on Wednesday 27 May as the Government refused to answer questions on details of the sale. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has expressed serious concern over the move.

The news is causing particular concern for jobs and also Ireland’s transport connectivity. Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe says the deal includes a seven-year guarantee that flights between Dublin and Heathrow will be maintained.

Sinn Féin Transport spokesperson

‘IAG have no interest in Ireland and the Government have failed to stand up for the interests of the country, instead looking to make a quick profit as an election looms’ Dessie Ellis TD

Dessie Ellis TD, whose constituency of Dublin North-West includes thousands of constituents who work or have jobs dependent on nearby Dublin Airport, said short-term commitments to IAG were of no use to Ireland: “IAG have no interest in Ireland and the Government have failed to stand up for the interests of the country, instead looking to make a quick profit as an election looms.”

Dessie Ellis said commitments by IAG to retain jobs ring hollow when the buying of Iberian Airlines by IAG resulted in thousands of job losses.

June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

3

Fianna Fáil take seat but vote stagnant, Fine Gael and Labour in freefall

Sinn Féin big winners in Carlow/Kilkenny by-election

2007: 2,568 | 3.8% 2011: 7,033 | 9.5% 2015: 10,806 | 16.2%

BY MARK MOLONEY SINN FÉIN’S Kathleen Funchion has set herself up nicely to take a seat in the next Dáil general election as Sinn Féin’s first-preference vote jumped from 9.5% to 16.2% in what is considered one of the most conservative constituencies in the state and which, until 2009, never had a Sinn Féin councillor since 2003.

The Carlow/Kilkenny by-election was for months (and right up to election week) mooted as a straight fight between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in the ‘national’ media but, as An Phoblacht predicted, Kathleen Funchion – a young mother of two and SIPTU official – held her own against the big party heavyweights and was in the shake-up, finishing third. The Irish Independent, which was one of the worst offenders in dismissing the Sinn Féin challenge while talking up the Renua candidate’s chances, finally coneded that Sinn Féin’s Kathleen Funchion had “put in a strong performance and surprised many”.

The growth of Sinn Féin in this area was highlighted by the party’s extremely strong showing in a number of constituencies. The republican party topped the poll on almost 22% in the Carlow Ward, which encompasses Carlow town and the north of the county.

The party also laid waste to the constant bleating from the mainstream media about ‘not being transfer friendly’, with significant transfers from the Green Party, smaller left-wing and independent candidates, allowing Kathleen to close the gap on Blueshirt David Fitzgerald – an issue which noticeably agitated Fine Gael tally people who at one point conceded that they could be pushed into third place.

With news that former Fianna Fáil TD Bobby Aylward (who in 2011 received a tidy lump sum payment of €99,000 after losing his seat) took 27.8% of the vote and the seat, Fianna Fáil immediately despatched spokespersons across national media platforms, pushing their press office line that the victory marked “a comeback for Fianna Fáil”. But seasoned observers looking at the cold, hard numbers were quick to note that the party’s

Sinn Féin Carlow/Kilkenny Growth

Howlin arrived in the count centre early in the morning, his Labour candidate was polling well in his home area of south Carlow; elsewhere, however, the party took a significant blow, taking just 1.2% in west Kilkenny. Sitting Labour TD Anne Phelan was visibly worried by the result – and did not hang around the count centre for long.

Further back in the field, the first outing by far-right, anti-immigration party Identity Ireland didn’t go well, with voters rejecting the party who were eliminated on the first count.

5 Sinn Féin's Kathleen Funchion arrives at the count centre with sons Finn and Emmet

share of the vote was actually down from the 2011 general election – and this represented the worst Fianna Fáil result in this constituency since 1927. In comparison, in 2007, the party took 47.7%.

New right-wing contenders Renua Ireland appeared to cause much more damage to Fine Gael than Fianna Fáil and significantly ate into their vote, which dropped a whopping 18% since 2011. Coming in fourth, Renua pushed Labour into fifth position. They also attracted the lion’s share of the media attention at the count centre, with journalists and photographers swarming around their candidate, Patrick McKee, and party leader Lucinda Creighton.

The by-election was an unmitigated disaster for the Labour Party, who saw their vote cut in half and pushed into fifth place, staying just ahead of the Greens. In 2011, their candidate, Anne Phelan, topped the poll in this constituency.

As Labour Public Expenditure Minister Brendan 5 Fianna Fáil's Bobby Aylward took the seat

5 Gerry Adams TD and Kathleen Funchion discuss the result at the count centre in Cillín Hill

Sinn Féin’s firstpreference vote jumped from 9.5% to 16.2%, putting the party seriously in contention for a Dáil seat come the general election Speaking at the count centre in Cillín Hill, Kathleen Funchion told An Phoblacht she was “delighted with the result” for Sinn Féin: “It just goes to show that people recognise the hard work we do on the ground in the area.

There is a real growing support for an alternative to the mainstream parties in this constituency.”

Arriving at the count centre, party leader Gerry Adams TD said: “We can’t take it for granted but if that vote comes out again then the least we will have done is carve out the potential for a seat.”

5 Much of the media attention was on Renua candidate Patrick McKee

4 June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

anphoblacht Editorial

WHAT'S INSIDE 6&7

Spotlight on Britain's undercover war in Ireland

13

Tuarascáil Cháinteach Eisithe ag an gCoimisinéar Teanga – Ach Céard a dhéanfaidh lucht na Gaeilge faoi?

14

Building an Alternative

anphoblacht Eagarfhocal

anphoblacht

Taking a stand against Tory cuts THE unionist and Establishment media have been singing from the same hymn sheet – that the crisis at Stormont is the fault of Sinn Féin (and the SDLP) because they 'cannot take the tough decisions'. On the contrary, the easiest thing would have been to roll over and follow the diktats of the Tory millionaire Cabinet in London to slash the social supports of the most vulnerable in our communities – unionist as well as nationalist.

This is a time when the Executive parties need to stand together to defend our public services particularly in health, education and welfare.

Siobhán O'Donoghue of Uplift on the importance of people-powered campaigns

Contact

Layout and production: Mark Dawson production@anphoblacht.com

NEWS newsdesk@anphoblacht.com NOTICES notices@anphoblacht.com PHOTOS photos@anphoblacht.com

18 & 19

Renua

We need to stand up for the people who elect us rather than acting in the interests of a Tory elite.

Sinn Féin fought last month's Westminster election on a platform of:» Protections for the most vulnerable » A workable Budget » Powers to grow the economy and create employment.

All the parties could and should unite around these aims and stand up for our people, our public services and our economy.

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

www.anphoblacht.com

Tory welfare cuts Bill blocked by Sinn Féin and SDLP Who's behind Ireland's newest political party?

26 Kurds fight for freedom against genocidal ISIS

27

The murder of Gerard 'Jock' Davison

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 Welfare Reform Bill being pushed through Stormont by the Democratic Unionist Party – supported by the Ulster Unionist Party, Alliance and other unionists – was blocked by a Petition of Concern tabled by Sinn Féin and the SDLP late on Tuesday night, 26 May, as An Phoblacht was going to print. The future of the Assembly and the Executive is uncertain.

MLAs voted 58-39 in favour of the Bill but the Petition of Concern takes precedence. A Petition of Concern insists that there must be “cross-community” support for a motion. This means that 60% of all members present must back the Bill and this must include at least 40% of nationalists and 40% of unionists.

Sinn Féin deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness told the Assembly before the vote: “The immediate difficulties we are facing into have been triggered by the DUP’s decision to bring forward a Welfare Bill to the Assembly which does not implement the protections agreed at Stormont House for children with disabilities, adults with severe disabilities, the long-term sick and large families.

“It appears that the DUP is responding to pressure and demands

'The crisis has been created by the austerity cuts agenda of a Tory administration in London' MARTIN McGUINNESS

from the Tories in London. In my view, that is a major tactical error.”

He said the crisis is not of the making of the parties in the Executive.

“The crisis has been created by the austerity cuts agenda of a Tory administration in London which is attempting to decimate our public services and punish the most vulnerable people in society.

“Sinn Féin stood in the recent elections against Tory austerity and for social justice and equality. Our approach was mandated by over 176,000 voters, almost 25% of the popular vote.

“In contrast, the Tories received only 9,000 votes in the North, just over 1% of the vote.

“This is a party which doesn’t have

a single Assembly or local council seat. They have no democratic mandate for their austerity policies in the North of Ireland.

“Yet they have already taken £1.5billion from the Executive's block grant. And Prime Minister Cameron’s Cabinet of Tory millionaires have announced plans for further eye-watering cuts of £25billion to our public services and to welfare protections for people with disabilities, the long-term sick and large families.”

It has always been his view, he said, that the outstanding issues in the Welfare Bill can be resolved “but this requires political will, particularly on the part of the unionist parties” to protect the most vulnerable,

including in unionist communities.

“Make no mistake about it – the biggest threat to our political institutions remains the ongoing Tory austerity agenda of cuts to our public services and the welfare state.

“We need an immediate negotiation with the British Government for a budget which protects our public services and for fiscal powers that give us control over our economy.

“We are not alone in this battle against austerity. The Scottish Executive has already requested a tripartite meeting of the representatives of the Scottish, Welsh and local Assemblies.

“We should be taking up this offer and developing a common position within the Executive and with the Scottish and Welsh Assemblies in opposition to Tory austerity.”

Martin McGuinness ended by saying: “There is still time for the parties and the British Government to change tack and deliver a new budget that delivers for our public services, our economy and our people.

“If a choice has to be made to stand side by side with the Tories or stand up for the people here for our economy and public services, I know what side Sinn Féin will be on.”

June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

5

Le Trevor Ó Clochartaigh Cruinniú stairiúil idir Gerry Adams agus an Prionsa Seárlas

Céim eile chun cinn don athmhuintearas GLACADH CÉIM stairiúil eile chun cinn don athmhuintearas sna h-oileáin seo nuair a chas Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness agus an Prionsa Seárlas ar a chéile i nGaillimh le déanaí. Bhí sé d’onóir agam a bheith i láthair don chruinniú príobháideach seo, agus b’fhacthas dom go raibh mé ag feiceáil an stair dhá scríobh ós comhair mo shúile.

Níl aon dabht go bhfuil daoine áirithe ann nach mbeadh sásta go dtarlódh a leithéad de chruinniú ar chor ar bith, ó chuile thaobh den choimhlint. Bhí gach a raibh i láthair airdeallach faoi sin. Tá íospartaigh poblachtacha ó Bhaile Uí Mhurchú, Springhill agus daoine ar maraíodh daoine muinteartha agus cairde leo ag Domhnach na Fola agus in aiteanna eile, atá fós ag fulaingtagus ag lorg na córa . Maraíodh daoine muinteartha leis an teaghlach ríoga agus pobal na Breataine agus aontachtóirí freisin – rud nach ndéanfaidh siadsan dearmad riamh dó ach an oiread.

Ach, cé gur aithníodh an méid seo ag an gcruinniú, níl aon dabht ach gur ag féachaint chun cinn a bhí gach a raibh i láthair.

Is cruinniú dearfach, omósach, síochánta a bhí ann. Tuigeadh an tábhacht siombalach a bhain leis go maith, go raibh Ceannaire Reisimint Paraisiút airm na Breataine agus ceannaire an ghluaiseacht Poblachtach ag croitheadh lámha le chéile beagnach leathchéad bliain ó thús na coimhlinte is déanaí. Ach, tuigeadh an tábhacht chomh maith le proiséas na síochána, le teachtaireacht a thabhairt gur féidir agus gur gá bogadh ar aghaidh agus go bhfuil baol fós ann don phroiséas síochána muna nglacfar ceannaireacht chróga lena dhaingniú agus a neartú.

Níl aon dabht go mba céim mhór chun cinn

An rud mór eile a bhain mise as an gcruinniú seo ná an daonnacht a bhaineann linn ar fad.

Bhí mé ag féachaint ar thriúr de mhór phearsaí polaitíochta ár linne ós mo chomhair amach, ach bhí an aeráíd neamhfhoirmeálta agus dóchasach. Roinneadh scéalta faoi chursaí cultúrtha agus teanga, cúrsaí caitheamh aimsire, dúlra agus eile. Rud a thug an díospóireacht ar ais

Sílim go dtugann seo teachtaireacht soiléir do pholaiteoirí eile anseo agus sa Bhreatain go gcaithfidh siadsan ról níos gníomhaí agus níos dearfaí a ghlacadh ina leith seo a bhí i gcuairt na Banríona ar Éireann. Ar an mbealach a léirigh sí ómós sa nGáirdín Chuimhneachán agus an óráid a thug sí i gCaisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath. Tá sé soiléir anois go bhfuil dúshlán roimh an Phrionsa a sampla siúd a leanúint agus dar liom, taispeánann an tábhacht a chuir sé le cruinniú dá leithéad seo a reáchtáil le Ceannaireacht Shinn Féin agus é ar chuairt sna fiche sé chontae don chéad uair, go bhfuil sé meáite ar sin a dhéanamh. Ó thaobh Adams agus McGuinness di, tá sé tábhachtach go n-aithnítear an ról lárnach a

IN PICTURES

5 Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness meets a family from south Armagh at the Balmoral Show

d’imir agus a imríonn siad le síochán buan a bhaint amach ar an oileán seo. Thóg siad céim eile ar an aistear sin leis an gcruinniú seo.

Sílim go dtugann seo teachtaireacht soiléir do pholaiteoirí eile anseo agus sa Bhreatain go gcaithfidh siadsan ról níos gníomhaí agus níos dearfaí a ghlacadh ina leith seo chomh maith. Seachas a bheith ag déanamh beag is fiú den ócáid seo, ba chirte dóibh a bheith ag moladh na rannpháirtithe as a gcrógacht agus a gcuid misnigh agus ag déanamh beart dá réir iad féin.

chuig an bhunphoinnte, gur daoine daonna muid ar fad. Níl aon duine againn gan locht, ach tá cuid mhaith comónta eadrainn. Níl aon duine ag lorg coimhlint. Níl aon duine i gcoinne na síochána. Tá muid ag lorg an rud is fearr dá gclanna, cairde agus pobail.

Is léir domsa go dteastaíonn ó gach a raibh i láthair i nGaillimh go mbeadh todhchaí síochánta, sona ag pobal na n-oileáin seo ar fad. Agus, go bhfuil muid ar fad tiománta leis an tsíochán seo a dhaingniú do na glúnta atá romhainn. Chuige sin áfach, beidh gá tuilleadh céimeanna cróga a thógáil ag chuile leibhéal amach anseo chomh maith. Ach, caithfidh muid sin a dhéanamh.

photos@anphoblacht.com

5 A mural by artist Joe Caslin in support of marriage equality, featuring two gay women on the side of a castle, pictured in the afternoon sun outside the east Galway rural village of Craughwell

6 June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

RUC Special Branch unit tampered with evidence and investigations into 60 killings carried out by state agents

Spotlight on Britain's

The available evidence suggests agents of the state devised and operated a policy of extrajudicial execution, the essential feature of which was that loyalist terrorist organisations were infiltrated, resourced and manipulated in order to murder individuals identified by the state and their agents as suitable for assassination Finucane family barrister Barry McDonald QC

UNDERCOVER WAR

'BALANCE' TIPS OVER INCONVENIENT TRUTH

AN PHOBLACHT has been told that BBC bosses insisted that the Spotlight programme broadcast on Tuesday 12 May that highlighted the existence of a secretive forensics unit controlled by Special Branch and which effectively stymied the investigations into multiple killings by unionist gunman Billy Wright's UVF death squad had to be 'balanced'.

While the bulk of the attacks covered in the programme were carried out by Wright's killer gangs, a large part of the programme focused on the killing of two Royal Ulster Constabulary members by the IRA. Programme-makers uncovered evidence that RUC Special Branch handed two handguns back to an agent they were running who returned them Billy Wright to an IRA arms dump.

The weapons were subsequently used to shoot dead the two RUC men, Gary Meyer and John Beckett, in Belfast city centre.

While acknowledging the tragedy for the families of the two men, our source maintains that the programme, by seeking to 'balance' it by showing the RUC Special Branch as the proverbial 'bad apples' using agents on both sides, thus reinforcing the British narrative of the conflict as a sectarian war.

It therefore sidestepped the inconvenient truth that unionist death squads were operating as an integral part of the British military and counter-insurgency strategy and were being run systematically by Special Branch and British Military Intelligence – all commanded from and accountable to Whitehall and Downing Street.

A

SECRET RUC Special Branch forensics unit is being investigated by the Police Ombudsman's office amid growing calls for the British Government to come clean on its use of unionist killer gangs in the North.

The BBC Spotlight investigative programme broadcast on Tuesday 12 May revealed that the Police Ombudsman's office is investigating the role of Weapons and Explosives Research Centre (WERC) unit and accusations that it tampered with evidence and hampered investigations into some 60 killings. The WERC was run by the RUC Special Branch.

Paul Holmes, Director of the Police Ombudsman's Historic Investigations Unit, told Spotlight it currently has “four complex criminal investigations” ongoing.

“In each of those investigations,” he told the BBC, “we are examining issues around the activities of WERC and weapons that were used to kill over 60 people.”

Of particular interest are the assassinations of 18 people in the areas of mid-Ulster, south Derry and east Tyrone carried out by the Ulster Volunteer Force then under the control of notorious sectarian killer Billy Wright.

While the BBC reported that the activities of Special Branch and WERC were being investigated by the Police Ombudsman, the existence of the unit and allegations involving the tampering with evidence emerged in late 2013 during the inquest into the death of Dungannon pensioner Roseann Mallon in May 1994.

Reports say that weapons were handed over to WERC personnel, who were not properly qualified in forensic science, before they went to the North's forensic laboratory for examination.

While in the hands of WERC operatives, the weapons were tampered with so that inaccurate findings were produced.

On finding out that “incorrect forensic evidence concerning the weapon and ammunition used in the murder [of Roseann Mallon] had been given”, Mike Ritchie of the Relatives for Justice victims support NGO said, Judge Weir adjourned the inquest.

The original ballistics tests on the weapon used to kill Roseann Mallon (a VZ 58, the Czech version of an AK47 assault rifle, part of a consignment brought into Ireland by top British Army agent Brian Nelson) produced by WERC indicated the gun was not linked to any other attacks. It later emerged that the rifle had in fact been used in multiple killings in the east Tyrone area.

Barry McDonald, counsel for the Mallon family, said in court: “Special Branch may have tampered with the weapon used to murder Roseann Mallon before it was examined by forensic experts.

“An abrasive material, possibly sandpaper, was used to distort the firing pin of the Czech-bought assault rifle which has also been linked to eight other loyalist shootings through analysis of bullet casings.

Jonathan Greer, from the North's Forensic Laboratory, examined the gun in 2013 and acknowledged that this may have been a deliberate attempt to hinder the identification process.

“It looked as if somebody had taken the firing pin and

5 The use of unionist killer gangs was a central plank of British Government policy

The former British Army corporal who headed up the Weapons and Explosives Research Centre team run by RUC Special Branch had no formal academic qualifications.

Prior to his employment as a forensic operative, he drove a crane in Harland & Wolff shipyard

abraded it . . . with sandpaper,” said Greer. “It could have been part of a cleaning regime or possibly to make it look like it came from a different weapon.”

His analysis of the evidence was confirmed by an independent expert commissioned by the Mallon family to also assess the material.

A

CCORDING TO Relatives for Justice, WERC, was established in 1981 even though it and its predecessor, the Data Reference Centre, “had been in operation since 1971”. But it wasn't until 2006 that WERC was referred to in court documents.

In 1994, WERC operated alongside the NI Forensic Science Laboratory (NIFSL) but its RUC-controlled personnel examined weaponry before it was handed over to the civilian forensic scientists for analysis.

It is also worth noting that, in 2009, WERC was moved under the management structure of C6 Scientific Support (a branch of the Crime Operations Department of the PSNI) and changed its name to the Centre for Information on Firearms and Explosives (CIFEx) – clearly another case of the old guard from the days of the RUC retaining positions of influence within the PSNI. The Mallon inquest also heard that WERC operatives were not qualified.

Two WERC employees who gave evidence, David Bradley and “C”, admitted that they didn't keep records or working notes to demonstrate how they arrived at their findings.

It was Bradley, a former British Army corporal, who

June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

examined the weapon recovered near Loughgall which was used to kill Charles and Teresa Fox near The Moy, County Tyrone, in 1992 and failed to find any matches from the bullets and bullet casings found at the scenes of various attacks during the time it was in the hands of the unionist killers.

It was subsequently established, in 2013, that the weapon had a long history of use in several killings:

7

5 Victims: Roseann Mallon, Pat Finucane and Patrick Heenan, were killed in attacks by unionist gangs in collusion with British state forces

November 1988

PHELIM McNALLY November 1989

LIAM RYAN AND MICHAEL DEVLIN October 1990

TOMMY CASEY November 1990

MALACHY McIVOR March 1991

JOHN QUINN, DWAYNE O'DONNELL, MALCOLM NUGENT AND TOMMY ARMSTRONG May 1994

U

CHARLES AND TERESA FOX ROSEANN MALLON

NBELIEVABLY, Bradley who headed up the WERC team, based at Seapark in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, had no formal academic qualifications. Prior to his employment as a forensic operative, he drove a crane in Harland & Wolff shipyard.

Justifying his credentials, he told the court: “I did not have any professional qualifications. I had four years' experience in the Forensic Science Firearms Laboratory and by that stage [1993/4] almost 18 years' experience in microscopy.”

The revelations concerning the WERC operation come as pressure is mounting on the British Government over its deployment of unionist killer gangs as a central plank of its military strategy in the North, especially the role of British Army counter-insurgency guru General Frank Kitson.

Kitson and the British Ministry of Defence were cited in a writ issued in April this year when the family of

The WERC revelations come as pressure is mounting on British Government over its deployment of unionist killer gangs as a central plank of its military strategy in the North, especially the role of British Army counterinsurgency guru General Frank Kitson

5 UVF/LVF leader Billy Wright with DUP MP Willie McCrea. Inset: British Army agent Brian Nelson

Patrick Heenan, killed in a UDA attack in 1973, travelled to London to open legal proceedings against the man who was head of British military operations in the North in the early 1970s.

Relatives for Justice, who are supporting the family, say that Kitson established the “policy framework and enabling architecture of pseudo gangs and counter-gangs involved in countless sectarian murders and political assassinations involving agents recruited and deployed” by the state.

One such group, the Military Reaction Force (MRF), was a covert British Army unit responsible for numerous killings of nationalists, mostly in Belfast.

Slain solicitor Pat Finucane's wife, Geraldine, and his family are seeking a judicial review of British Prime Minister David Cameron's decision to authorise the de Silva review rather than hold the independent investigation the British Government signed up to in the 2006 St Andrew's Agreement.

The Finucane family barrister, Barry McDonald QC, told the hearing on Monday 11 May: “The available evidence suggests agents of the state devised and operated a policy of extra-judicial execution, the essential feature of which was that loyalist terrorist organisations were infiltrated, resourced and

manipulated in order to murder individuals identified by the state and their agents as suitable for assassination.”

McDonald also drew attention to correspondence between senior civil servants and David Cameron prior to his decision to order the de Silva review in which an adviser to the British Prime Minister described Finucane as “another republican lawyer”.

Speaking to An Phoblacht TV, John Finucane, Pat Finucane's son, rebutted the British narrative that the system “broke down” in the killing of his father and others. He said “the system was working perfectly well – it was designed to target, kill and provide propaganda” to cover up the British agenda.

To quote General Frank Kitson himself advocating how government, the law, the judiciary and the media had to be moulded to defeat 'the enemy': “Everything done by a government and its agents in combating insurgency must be legitimate. But this does not mean that the Government must work within exactly the same set of laws during an emergency as existed beforehand.

“The law should be used as just another weapon in the Government’s arsenal, in which case it becomes little more than a propaganda cover for the disposal of unwanted members of the public.”

8 June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

Right2Water campaign outlines core principles for a progressive Irish government

Platform for Renewal wants your input

BY MARK MOLONEY & JOHN HEDGES DRAFT ‘Policy Principles for a Progressive Irish Government’ were launched on May Day by the trade unions, political parties and NGOs involved in the Right2Water (R2W) campaign to begin a discussion about “what type of society we want to live in”.

The initial discussion paper (which can be read at right2water.ie under “Submissions” as well as union websites) says: “For too long now the people of Ireland have served the needs of the economy instead of the economy serving the needs of the people.

“We want to develop this discussion further and so we are seeking your input.

“On Saturday 13 June, the Right2Water unions will host a second conference to determine a policy platform ahead of the next general election.

“Go to www.right2water.ie and let us know what your priorities are for the future of our country. You can also email right2waterirl@gmail.com “Alternatively, send your submission to: Right2Water, O’Lehane House, 9 Cavendish Row, Dublin 1.”

The document was welcomed by many across the Left, including Sinn Féin who described it as an “exciting initiative”.

It includes core principles in a number

of areas which would be addressed by an incoming Left government as a matter of urgency. The first topic is a call for the enshrining of the right to water as a human right in the Constitution and an end to the installation of water meters. The document also calls for the scrapping of Irish Water plc and its replacedment by a single national water and sanitation board.

A proposed Decent Work Act would be enacted to eliminate precarious

‘On Saturday 13 June, the Right2Water unions will host a second conference to determine a policy platform ahead of the next general election.

Let us know what your priorities are for the future of our country’ employment, the right to collective bargaining introduced, and a gradual move towards the bringing in a Living Wage.

The Platform for Renewal also says that Ireland’s social protection system is in need of reform to bring it into line with European norms by introducing pay-related benefits and stronger family supports in areas such as childcare.

On the issue of housing, the

document says the right of people to decent housing and the obligation of the state to provide that housing should be enshrined in the Constitution It says ending homelessness should be the very first priority followed by the clearing of social housing waiting lists.

The issue of extortionate rental prices must also be tackled by the introduction of rent-controls in the short term.

On the issue of health, the document argues for a universal healthcare system free at the point of entry which provides the highest possible standard of care to all citizens.

The issue of education is another area which R2W believes needs a massive shake-up. Classroom overcrowding needs to be tackled by moves to reduce the ratio of students to teachers from one of the highest in the EU to one of the lowest. Special Needs Assistants should be restored and increased on the basis that this should be seen as an investment in the futures of our most vulnerable schoolchildren.

R2W wants a progressive Irish government to deal with democratic reform with various proposals ranging from the ability of citizens to recall TDs, relaxing of the whip system, strengthening of committees and local and regional Government and breathalysing TDs and senators before all votes in the Oireachtas!

• The five trade unions affiliated to Right2Water are Unite, Mandate, CPSU, CWU and OPATSI.

June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

9

RESOUNDING

YES

TO MARRIAGE EQUALITY

BY MARK MOLONEY THOUSANDS of ‘Yes’ campaigners cheered, hugged and danced in the courtyard of Dublin Castle before bursting into a stirring rendition of Amhrán na bhFiann as the official announcement came through that citizens throughout the 26-County state had given an emphatic thumbs up to extending equal marriage rights to same-sex couples.

The event was a macrocosm of emotional scenes in count centres across the state earlier in the day as tallies made it clear that the ‘Yes’ campaign was sweeping the board and the ‘No’ side conceded defeat shortly after ballot boxes opened.

In a statement thanking voters, the Yes Equality campaign said: “To those who voted ‘Yes’, you have done something that should make you forever proud.

Do not forget this moment, this moment when you were your best self, when you chose to make your mark for an Ireland that could be a better

5 Early tallies showed a clear 'Yes' victory

5 On the campaign trail

5 Gerry Adams TD campaigners

‘Do not forget this moment, when you chose to make your mark for an Ireland that could be a better and fairer place’

with Yes

PRESIDENTIAL AGE REDUCTION REJECTED

Yes Equality campaign

and fairer place. And to those who did not yet vote with us, we hope that, as lesbian and gay couples marry, you will see that we seek only to add to the happiness and the security of the diverse Irish national family.”

The vote was the focus of media attention worldwide in what was mooted as a historic moment for global LGBT rights. The Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, praised the result. Speaking in Ireland as he received the Tipperary International Peace Prize, he said:

celebrates

“This is truly an historic moment. The result sends an important message to the world; all people are entitled to enjoy their human rights and human dignity, no matter who they are or whom they love.”

The National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) said the high turnout from young voters played a vital part in the victory. NYCI Director Mary Cunningham said: “It was heartening to see the high turnout, and to see a new generation of young voters make a decisive difference in an historic referendum.

It represents a victory not only for the ‘Yes’ side but also for Irish society, Irish democracy, and the young people of Ireland.”

Amnesty International NI Director Patrick Corrigan said the resounding ‘Yes’ “shows how a once socially-conservative country can transform itself into a beacon of equality”.

He went on to describe the North as “the last bastion of discrimination against gay people in these islands” and said the laws in the North are “a badge of shame to be worn by those politicians who oppose equal treatment for the LGBT community”.

While Sinn Féin has supported and pushed for the introduction of marriage equality in the North, unionist parties have continually opposed the move. The SDLP – who welcomed the result in the South – and the Alliance Party have sat on the fence on the issue and repeatedly abstained from votes in council chambers and the Assembly.

“The SDLP and Alliance Party need to get their acts together,” Patrick Corrigan added.

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams TD described the result as “a good day for equality and Ireland” and thanked all those who had campaigned in favour of the proposal.

“Irish people have demonstrated that we are a decent, tolerant and compassionate people,” he said.

He added that Sinn Féin will continue to campaign for the introduction of marriage equality in the North.

5 Celebrations in Dublin Castle as the official result is announced

The second referendum, proposing that the age of eligibility for candidates wishing to run for President be lowered from 35 to 21, was rejected by a large majority of voters – 73.1% opposed the move.

The NYCI expressed disappointment at the outcome, noting that the result was due, in part, to a failure on the Fine Gael/Labour Government to explain or promote the issue.

Sinn Féin’s Pádraig Mac Lochlainn TD, whose party had supported the referendum, described the proposal as “essentially a box-ticking exercise” and said there were much more pressing issues which the Government could have dealt with: “This was a referendum brought about by a government that failed to deal with bigger constitutional issues. Extending voting rights to over-16s, the Diaspora or Irish citizens in the North would have had a greater impact on our democracy.”

10 June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

Tory victory but not a landslide

BY JAYNE FISHER IN LONDON

THE general election result in England, Scotland and Wales (and the slim Tory majority which caught most by surprise) was the product of two factors.

First, it was a clear tactical success for David Cameron, who ensured that his coalition allies, the Liberal Democrats, bore the vast brunt of the losses as a result of the unpopularity of the Government.

As John Ross points out in the Socialist Economic Bulletin: “The unpopularity of Coalition policies was shown in a dramatic 15% fall in the share of the vote for its parties . . . but the Tories ensured Liberal Democrats suffered 100% of the loss.”

The Tories are now returned to power but on their lowest share of the popular vote ever. This is not a landslide, nor an endorsement of Tory politics. And, despite the Tory triumphalism, the underlying trend in British politics remains a decline in support for British Conservatism. The Tory net gain of 0.8 is within this overall context.

But the second crucial factor was the inability of Labour to capitalise on this rejection of austerity, with a huge collapse in Scotland and an overall increase of just 1.5%. Assertions by rightwing commentators and those on the Labour right-wing that Labour was ‘too left-wing’ and must move to the Right are, as Diane Abbott MP

points out, the exact opposite of what is needed.

She argues that anyone who thought Labour’s campaign was ‘too left-wing’ simply weren’t paying attention.

In reality, conceding ground to the Tories over cuts and sticking to Tory spending limits, alongside regressive anti-immigration positions, clearly lost Labour support and failed to mobilise voters who wanted a clear alternative to austerity.

In Scotland, this lesson could not have been more explicit, where voters chose the Scottish National Party in droves and Nicola Sturgeon’s championing of the anti-austerity message saw a

The Tories are in power but on their lowest share of popular vote ever historic landslide result for the party. The popular support she gained in England, after the televised leaders’ debates, reinforced this argument.

Similarly, the Green Party saw their vote increase, and Labour did far better in areas like London, where its message was more to the Left.

It is evident that Labour has to win both middle-income as well as working-class votes and those of the poorest in society, but its policies in this election and those advocated by the rightwing (including a failure to put forward an alternative to austerity) did not do this.

Labour lost because the majority of voters

did not believe that their living standards would be improved and defended. As Labour MP Jon Trickett points out in a recent New Statesman piece, many of the working-class voters who failed to be mobilised by Labour just did not vote and they need to be won back, alongside middle-income voters.

In London and other cities where Labour candidates stood on a more progressive platform (many removing the disastrous anti-immigration pledges), the party did far better. Far from being the ‘metropolititan elite’, this vote represents lowerand middle-income people, and the diverse range of support that is Labour’s core vote.

In areas where Labour failed to fully stand up to the myths perpetrated by the right-wing (such as immigration), it only served to see the UKIP vote increase. The lessons here are clear, as writer Seumas Milne points out in his election analysis – any return to Blairite policies, which actually lost Labour millions of votes, would be disastrous.

As a result of these factors, and despite the clear opposition to austerity, there is now the prospect of five years of Tory rule with an intensification of attacks. Conservative Party leader David Cameron has now put together a Cabinet described by some as more Thatcherite than anything Margaret Thatcher could have dreamed of – moves to cut spending back to 1930s levels, further attacks on trade union rights to weaken people’s ability to resist, deepening of privatisation, and a referendum on Europe which is

IN PICTURES

bound up with a reactionary agenda on race and immigration.

For the North of Ireland this means a sharpening of the already devastating cuts planned. Even the so-called ‘protected’ areas are really code for spending freezes, which mean de-facto cuts.

The months and years ahead are going to see a very sharp fight around these issues, in both

There are those in the Labour Left, SNP, Plaid Cymru, Greens, and trade unions and social movements who want to take up the fight against austerity Ireland and Britain. On a positive note, the results in Scotland, London and other places show that there are those who do want to take up the fight against austerity – in the Labour Left, the SNP, the Welsh nationalist Plaid Cymru, the Greens, and in the trade unions and social movements and mobilisations.

Advancing a clear economic alternative to austerity, defending equality and opposing racism, and building those alliances to do this will be crucial in the time ahead.

photos@anphoblacht.com

Gerry Adams speaks at a wreath laying to mark the execution of James Connolly in Dublin

Paul Maskey MP, republican former prisoner Séanna Walsh and former MEP Bairbre de Brún take part in a white-line picket marking the 34th anniversary of the death on hunger strike of IRA Volunteer Bobby Sands MP

June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

11

Unionist, pro-austerity parties win Westminster election THE UNIONIST PACT between the Democratic Unionist Party and the Ulster Unionist Party dictated the outcome of the 2015 Westminster election in the Six Counties. In the face of this conservative consensus, Sinn Féin battled to keep the focus on the Tory cuts imposed from Westminster.

After the election triumph of the Conservative Party in England and Wales, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said: “The newly re-elected Tory Government in London is wedded to austerity and this presents severe challenges for society and citizens in 5 Pat Doherty took West Tyrone with a huge majority the North.

“These include the threat of more destructive cuts to the North’s budget and to the social welfare system as well as a referendum that could remove the North from the EU against the wishes and the interests of citizens here.

“It is now clearer than ever that austerity is the price of the Union.”

He acknowledged that the loss of the Fermanagh & South Tyrone seat to the unionist pact was a disappointment and he paid tribute to 5 DUP Finance Minister Simon Hamilton speaks with newly-elected East Belfast MP Michelle Gildernew for her service to Sinn Gavin Robinson, who regained the seat for the DUP from the Alliance Party 5 Sinn Féin achieved its higher-ever vote in four constituencies Féin and to the people of Fermanagh & South Tyrone. He also said that Sinn Féin ran “a positive, forward-looking” campaign.

Sinn Féin candidates consolidated or built new bases from which to contest Assembly seats in 2016.

“Our 18 candidates across the North represented the progressive politics of Irish unity and equality for all citizens. I want to thank each of them and their families.”

Gerry Adams said the unionist pact was held together by “an opposition to change, opposition to equality and in support of a union that is imposing austerity”. The SDLP refused a Sinn Féin request to consider a counter-balancing agreement to meet the challenge of the unionist right of centre bloc.

Despite the pact – very actively or tacitly supported by the Orange Order and the hardline Traditional Unionist Voice, among others – Sinn Féin held four of its five seats – West Belfast (Paul Maskey), Mid Ulster (Francie Molloy), West Tyrone (Pat Doherty), and Newry & Armagh 5 Councillor Niall Ó Donnghaile, Gerry Kelly MLA, Gerry Adams TD and Mary Lou McDonald TD 'photo- 5 Sinn Féin Director of Publicity Ciarán Quinn (Mickey Brady). with commentator Danny Morrison bombing' a Paul Maskey MP interview with 'An Phoblacht TV' The unionist pact covered four of the 18 constituencies: Fermanagh & South Tyrone, by just four votes in 2010) and recovering the Alex Attwood on 3,475 was pushed into third Féin while former SDLP leader Mark Durkan East Belfast, North Belfast, and Newry & Armagh. East Belfast seat embarrassingly lost to Alliance place by People Before Profit’s Gerry Carroll held the seat with 17,725.

by DUP leader Peter Robinson five years ago. on 6,798.

Mid Ulster – Sinn Féin sitting MP Francie Molloy THE FINAL RESULTS FROM THE In North Belfast, the pact saw DUP deputy North Belfast – pact candidate and DUP leader was returned with almost half the vote at 19,935.

18 CONSTITUENCIES WERE:leader and Orangeman Nigel Dodds hold off a deputy leader Nigel Dodds increased his vote Newry & Armagh – New Sinn Féin candidate DUP = 8 (no change) vigorous challenge from Sinn Féin MLA Gerry to 19,096 votes while Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly Mickey Brady took up the candidacy from sitting UUP = 2 (up 2) Kelly. In Newry & Armagh, Sinn Féin MLA Mickey secured 13,770.

MP Conor Murphy and held off the challenge Sinn Féin = 4 (down 1) Brady (replacing Conor Murphy) seeing off UUP Fermanagh & South Tyrone – The priority from unionist pact and UUP candidate Danny SDLP = 3 (no change) pact candidate Danny Kennedy. target of the unionist pact was achieved with Kennedy, with 20,488 votes to 16,312.

Alliance = 0 (down 1) UUP candidate and ex-leader, Orangeman and West Tyrone – Sitting Sinn Féin MP Pat Doherty Independent Unionist = 1 (no change) former Ulster Defence Regiment soldier Tom was returned with 16,805 votes to his nearest CONSTITUENCY OVERVIEW Elliott getting 23,608 against Michelle Gildernew’s rival, DUP candidate Tom Buchanan on 6,747.

Sinn Féin received its highest-ever vote in West Belfast – Sinn Féin sitting MP Paul Maskey 23,078 (the SDLP candidate took 2,732).

Fermanagh & South Tyrone, North Belfast, South easily topped the poll with 19,163 but the SDLP’s Foyle – Gearóid Ó hEára polled 11,679 for Sinn Sinn Féin candidates also ran strong campaigns Belfast and Upper Bann. in South Belfast ( Máirtín Ó Muilleoir), East The vote percentage differences for the DUP, Belfast (Níall Ó Donnghaile), Upper Bann UUP, Independent Unionist and Sinn Féin were (Catherine Seeley), South Down (Chris all with one per cent difference on 2010 but Hazzard), North Antrim (Daithí McKay), Alliance were up 2.3% and the SDLP down 2.6%.

South Antrim (Declan Kearney), East Derry The higher unionist turnout affected compari(Caoimhe Archibald), East Antrim (Oliver sons with previous elections.

McMullan), Lagan Valley (Jacqui McGeough), The pact achieved its aim of taking the Strangford (Sheila Bailie), North Down Fermanagh & Tyrone seat from Sinn Féin (won (Therese McCartney).

Gerry Adams said the unionist pact was held together by ‘an opposition to change, opposition to equality and in support of a union that is imposing austerity’

12 June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

5 Polls allow newspapers to report an election campaign as a race rather than focus on the issues

It was the polls ‘wot won it’ WHO REALLY WON the British election?

Who will win the coming Leinster House vote? It is the same victor in not just these polls but the marriage equality referendum in Ireland too. The news media are the clear winners.

With their opinion polls in one hand and a dictionary of hype and cliché in the other they take increased readers, listeners, viewers, page clicks and the higher advertising spend that these audiences bring. All the news media have to do is report on the election campaigns as a game, a race.

Take for example the now inescapable leaders’ debates. It is high drama for viewers but low-cost TV for the news media. They don’t pay scriptwriters or actors’ fees. It all happens in a TV studio and generates big audiences.

It’s summed up in a prescient 1980 US election study article by Anthony Broh who pronounced: “The race, not the winner, is the story.”

There were two massive problems with the Westminster election coverage: inaccurate reporting of polls and 5 Elections in Ireland are about a lot more than who comes first a reliance on reporting the first-pastThe Telegraph judged that “Miliband 2011 election the paper published 28 the-post elections as a game, a gladiaflops”, while the Times and Independent polls. Sinn Féin was mentioned in one torial contest.

After the first leaders’ debate, the focussed on the Scottish National Party, headline, in March 2005.

In the Sunday Business Post during Guardian newspaper had a “snap Guard- Greens and UKIP as performing better. ian ICM poll”. The question here was not The Sun’s headline was “Oops, I just the same period there are 57 opinion who you would vote for but “Who won lost my election” along with a picture of Miliband stumbling slightly as he left the contest?”

The Guardian front page and website the stage and the strapline “Miliband ranked the previous evening’s perform- blows his chance on TV”.

This is nonsense reporting. From ers with the headline “Labour buoyed as Miliband edges Cameron in snap poll”. an Irish perspective, with an election, For the record, 25% of voters thought looming we need to speak out on the Miliband had won, compared to 24% bad and inaccurate reporting because for Cameron. With a plus or minus 3% it is at times worse here.

In Ireland, for Sinn Féin one problem margin of error, the correct interpretation would be to say that there was no clear has been getting included in ‘the race’ winner. Inside the Guardian they had no in the first place. The party is often polls published, Sinn Féin gets just the fewer than five journalists offering views excluded from being even considered one front-page headline. Yes, it was of the debate while Michael White gave part of the ‘the game’. For example, in March 2005, in the weeks after the killing The Irish Times between 2005 and the of Robert McCartney and as Sinn Féin marks out of ten for each leader.

In Irish media coverage of the polls, for Sinn Féin one problem has been getting included in ‘the race’ in the first place

BY ROBBIE SMYTH

moved towards a special conference on policing.

It is not only Sinn Féin who are excluded. The Greens, the Socialist Party, United Left Alliance and even the (now defunct) Progressive Democrats were excluded.

In 2007, all of the race media coverage is about Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour, with no mention of Sinn Féin. The Greens and the PDs are only included as part of possible coalition formations. Newsflash – not one paper or news media outlet accurately predicted the eventual Fianna Fáil/Green coalition.

In the 2009 EU and local elections, all of the ‘horse race’ poll coverage in Irish newspapers focuses on places one to three. There is, bizarrely, no fourth

place in this election. Yes, it was Sinn Féin who came in fourth.

In 2011, Sinn Féin did get mentioned three times in terms of being in an election race compared to 38 for Fine Gael, 15 for Fianna Fáil and eight for the Labour Party. Is this really an accurate reflection of the 2011 election campaign?

In the last two years the Sinn Féin poll mentions and headlines have increased but how accurate are they?

Take the Sunday Business Post Red C polls. In January, Sinn Féin at 20% is down 4% from 24% in December 2014 and no headline mentions. In February, Sinn Féin is at 21%, and again there is no headline mention. In March, a 17% Sinn Féin poll figure is presented as a “slump” on the front page. By April, Sinn Féin is back at 22% and the headline “Sinn Féin surges”.

All of the results were within the margin of error – there is no real change in support. Sinn Féin has record levels of support and the Irish news media are really bad at reporting this.

What we can do is for Sinn Féin supporters to use their tweets, Facebook posts and other social media to highlight these inaccuracies when and where they happen and call out the Establishment media on their bad reporting.

Elections in Ireland are about a lot more than who comes first.

June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

13

Tuarascáil Cháinteach Eisithe ag an gCoimisinéar Teanga – Ach Céard a dhéanfaidh lucht na Gaeilge faoi?

LE EOIN Ó MURCHÚ IS BEAG plé a rinneadh faoi Tuarascáil an Choimisinéar Teanga a foilsíodh an mhí seo caite. Sea, chlúdaigh na meáin Ghaeilge an scéal ach ní fhaca mé oiread is focal amháin faoi sna meáin Bhéarla.

Ar ndóigh bhí an Coimisinéar Rónán Ó Dómhnaill an-cháinteach faoin easpa reachtaíocht atá curtha taobh thiar de obair an Choimisiúin – agus an ceart ar fad aige. Sea, bliain i ndiaidh bliana tuairiscítear na gearáin chéanna, agus bliain i ndiaidh bliana feicimid úadaráis 3 Leo Varadkar

áitiúla is comhlachtai stáit eile ag iarraidh a gcuid dualgaisí i leith na teangan a sheachaint.

Ach léiríonn an easpa plé faoin tuarascail sna meáin Bhéarla nach bhfuil Bunaíocht an stáit ag tabhairt aon aird ar an teanga nó ar na polasaithe atá riachtanach le dul chun cinn a dheanamh.

Cinnte tá an scéal níos measa i bhfad ó thuaidh den Teorainn, mar tá na páirtithe Aontachtóirí ag cur go nimhneach in aghaidh aon aitheantas a thabhairt don teanga, fiú ma tá Aontachtóirí ann – agus tá – a labhrann an teanga is a chuireann duil inaq spreagadh.

Ach mar adúirt Mairtín Ó Cadhain, “ag deire thiar is marfaí neamhshuim ná namhadas ar bith” Ní bhacann Bunaíocht an Stait ó dheas le cur i gcoinne na Gaeilge. Just ní dhéanann siad tada faoi.

Fagtar gaelscolaíocht ag deire na scuaine nuair a bhíonn acmhainní dhá ndáileadh amach,

foirginti is áiseanna eile. Ní dhéantar aon iarracht an Ghaeilge a dhéanamh sofheicthe go poiblí, agus tá plean Leo Varadkar le comharthai bhóthair dátheangacha a chruthú curtha i bhfolach.

Tá daoine díograiseacha, ó thaobh na Gaeilge dhe, i ngach aon pháirtí Dála. Ach ní fiú tada iad a bheith ann mura mbeadh siad sásta seasamh go deimhnitheach ar son na teanga agus cearta a chinntiú dá lucht labhartha.

Támuid anois ag ullmhú le haghaidh olltoghcháin sa bhFómhar nó go luath san aithbhliain.

Agus tá an tsean-cheist le cur arís: an bhfanfaidh lucht na Gaeilge inár dtost, nó an mbaileódh muid ár neart agus brú polaitiúil a chur ar na páirtithe ar fad fírinne a dheanamh dá bhfocla breátha faoin nGaeilge tré eilithe aontaithe eagraithe a dhéanmh leis na páirtithe go léir?

Is féidir leis an gCoimisinéar labhairt amach; ach is féidir linne rud éicínt a dhéanamh faoi.

Banking inquiry to hear politicians

BY CAROL QUINLAN THE Oireachtas banking inquiry is now fully into its main investigation. It has been hearing evidence from senior bankers and over the next couple of months we’ll finally get to hear from the politicians themselves, including Brian Cowen and Charlie McCreevy.

To date, the focus of the inquiry has been on the night of the bank guarantee and this is because it is still unclear as to what actually happened that night. Witness by witness, though, we are getting closer to finding out and coming to a conclusion regarding

To grow quickly and leapfrog each other, Irish banks got involved in widely speculative land and commercial property ventures what was by far the biggest, and most disastrous, decision taken by any Irish Government since partition.

The guarantee is not the full story, however.

From 1990 to 2007 we saw the development of national government policy – under Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour, regardless of the coalition make-up – which prioritised commercial and residential property speculation over genuine and cohesive social development.

This was coupled with a loosening of financial regulation and the promotion of the 26 Counties as a de facto tax haven.

From 2002 to 2007, Irish banks started to compete with each other for the same small pool of developers.

In order to grow quickly and leapfrog each other, Irish banks got involved in widely speculative land and commercial

5 The banking inquiry is getting closer to the full facts surrounding what happened on the night of the bank guarantee

5 In the next few weeks, former Taoiseach Brian Cowen will give evidence

5 Former Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy will be quizzed

property ventures, using international wholesale funding to do so.

The shaky foundations of wholefunded growth was exposed by the 2007-2008 credit crunch. Irish banks couldn’t get access to international

sometime) but who pays for the resolution. And in the South of Ireland, those who paid were the ordinary citizens while those who partied walked away from their obligations. And each day of the bank inquiry, this becomes ever

loans to pay off their earlier loans and this came to a head in September 2008 Since then, the real struggle in the crisis has been not so much over its resolution (all crises come to an end

more clear – that the ones who partied were not people taking out mortgages but the 29 developers with debts of €32billion between them who dumped those debts onto our shoulders and used the Government to do so.

14 June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

SIOBHÁN O’DONOGHUE Director of Uplift, social justice campaigning organisation

People-powered campaigning FOR MANY IN IRELAND, the ability to effect change seems to be an ever-decreasing possibility. Corporate power is rising and trust in political parties and the traditional structures of democracy are in decline.

Representative democracy is failing the majority and more and more people feel disempowered and distanced from decision makers.

who value their role as custodians of nature, low-paid workers who are busy just trying to survive, public sector workers who want to be in solidarity with other workers, employers who believe in equality and fair taxation.

The digital revolution is helping change the rules of the game – and there’s no going back

Inequality at every level has deepened in recent years. Current and future generations have been saddled with an enormous national debt that has resulted in grinding austerity, a hollowing out of essential public services, increased poverty.

A deregulated and broken economy has led to unprecedented levels of unemployment, emigration and ‘in work’ poverty.

The impact of climate change and environmental destruction is at crisis point.

Transparency and accountability are sadly lacking at every level of society, reinforcing cynicism and disillusionment.

The world is changing. The way citizens engage with politics is also changing, and democracy needs to change with it. Formal politics is out

There’s been a surge in political and social activism.

Leadership is everywhere – workplaces, in the community and beyond of touch with ordinary people. In parallel, there’s been a surge in political and social activism – from community gardens to festivals, national rallies and campaigns to a surge in online debate.

Leadership is everywhere – the schoolyard, workplaces, within families, in the community and beyond.

We can no longer ignore the desire for change.

The digital revolution is helping change the rules of the game – and there’s no going back.

Under the old rules, a closed system dominated by political and economic insiders made the decisions, relatively immune from public scrutiny.

Under the new rules, vast numbers of people are able to take co-ordinated action to influence decision-making. Information transparency and rapid online communication means we can know when it’s time to act. When decision-makers understand that people can be easily mobilised again and again, it makes it harder to ignore the people’s voice.

There’s no shortage of creative and enthusiastic people who care about the direction Irish society is going in and who want to be part of shaping our future.

Uplift formed in 2014 to provide a campaigning platform that connects with people who

5 Uplift members come from all walks of life, across generations and every part of Ireland

share progressive values in real and immediate ways to take co-ordinated action. Social justice, equality and sustainability are our bedrock values and political independence is what defines us.

Uplift uses digital technology to support online and offline campaigning. Since launching at the end of 2014 we have built a campaigning community of close to 10,000 members. The common denominator across the community is that we share progressive values.

The Uplift approach is to build unity and community by taking co-ordinated action on selected campaigns.

Campaigns are selected on the basis of member preference and interest, urgency and timeliness, and relevance to promoting progressive values.

We find moveable targets and take co-ordinated action to apply people-powered action.

Campaigns often start by engaging members and potential members using accessible ‘low bar’ actions such as signing a petition. As the campaign gets stronger and a community of people become more engaged and involved, the tactics and actions become more ambitious – i.e. direct contact with decision-makers Uplift members come from every walk of life, generation and every part of Ireland. Typical members are busy, interested in the world but don’t usually define themselves as politically active. They are grandparents worried about their grandchildren’s futures, young people who feel politics has nothing to offer them, farmers

Uplift members have started to define their vision for a progressive Ireland. This conversation is in the early stages and will continue over the coming year. The views of members are varied and wide ranging but can be all captured under the following headings » Trust in decision makers » Democratic participation » Economy for the common good » Our planet protected » A secure home » An adequate income for everyone » Care is valued » Decent work for everyone » Quality publicly-owned public services » Equality for women » An empowering education system » Decent healthcare » Eradication of poverty and inequality » Flourishing local communities Democracy is the solution to achieving justice and equality – not government! And for democracy to work it needs to extend into all aspects of people’s lives. It is an active process, exercised in many ways. The past year has shown that when people have an opportunity to take action on something they care deeply about they will take the opportunity. Sustaining this energy and people powered is a challenge the subject of much debate.

Whatever happens next, what’s clear is that there has been a vacuum in Irish civil and political structures. What’s also clear is that this vacuum will not be filled by one overarching new structure but by a range of mechanisms. Uplift hopes to make a contribution to building a politically independent, people-powered campaigning community. It will take time and to be successful must be member-driven and defined.

• UPLIFT is completely independent and not aligned to any political or corporate interests.

June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

15

THE WAY FORWARD FOR PARADES AND PEACE IN ‘THE MARCHING SEASON’

5 Political unionism and loyalism attempted to combine to undermine the Parades Commission

HERE COMES SUMMER

BY SEÁN MURRAY WITH THE DAWN of the spring, as we leave another winter behind us, society normally looks forward to the emergence of summer with its long nights and (hopefully) sunny days. In a number of areas across the North afflicted by contentious parades, however, the prospect of another summer evokes a sense of dread as local communities experience the annual rise in tension associated with the advent of another parading season.

The small number of contentious parades held so far this year have passed without major incident. So what are the prospects for another relatively peaceful summer similar to last year?

Last July, we witnessed a walk-out from the party leaders’ meetings by Peter Robinson’s Democratic Unionist Party and Mike Nesbitt’s Ulster Unionist Party as news of the Parades Commission determination filtered out ensuring no return parade through Ardoyne on the Twelfth.

Subsequently, at a press conference incorporating the full spectrum of unionists/loyalist opinion, the concept of a “graduated response” was outlined. In essence, political unionism and loyalism would combine to undermine the Parades Commission while pressuring the NIO to reverse the decision. Neither the concept nor the pact lasted long as no obvious strategy came into play and internal bickering led to the pact imploding. In the worlds of one prominent loyalist: “We were sold a pup.”

One positive consequence of this development was that it led to a relatively peaceful summer. Loyalist violence would have undermined any attempt to influence the NIO and key Tory supporters.

Last autumn, in response to unionist pressure, British

Secretary of State Theresa Villiers launched a one-sided initiative in the form of a mediation panel with a remit to mediate an agreed accommodation. It received an immediate rebuke from local residents in Ardoyne, Sinn Féin and the SDLP and was finally buried at the conclusion of the Stormont House Agreement last December.

In March, the Orange Order commissioned an ‘independent review’, inviting the Francis Hutcheson Institute to produce a report by early June, clearly designed to influence this year’s decision on the Ardoyne parade.

The impartial credentials of the institute itself were tarnished when it emerged its ‘Director of Communications’ and ‘Political Consultant’ was Lord Laird of Artigarvan. The Ulster Unionist peer and former Stormont MP is a staunch defender of loyalist bands and loyal order parades.

From a nationalist residents’ perspective, such ‘initiatives’ are clearly designed to undermine the Parades Commission. This body has a statutory remit to adjudicate on all contentious parades and related protests.

Its decision-making process is established within the framework of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In addition, the Public Procession (NI) Act 1998 which established the Parades Commission also obliges it to have regard to certain criteria for adjudication (e.g. disruption to the life of the community, public order and the impact on community relationships, etc).

4 The Francis Hutcheson Institute's ‘Director of Communications’ and ‘Political Consultant’ was the unionist Lord Laird of Artigarvan

Clearly, the best way to achieve resolutions – as evidenced in Derry City, Crumlin and Maghera – is for parade organisers and local residents to engage in direct and meaningful talks to resolve disputes

During the Stormont House talks on parades last December, three key issues emerged: 1. Code of conduct for participants 2. Criteria for adjudication 3. Role and accountability of parade/protest organisers.

The unionist position was: 1. Self-regulation 2. A reduced set of criteria 3. A refusal to recognise the clear responsibilities of the parade/protest organisers.

By contrast, Sinn Féin, the SDLP and Alliance argued for a robust code of conduct to shape behaviour, a strong

set of criteria and a legal responsibility to be placed on organisers to ensure compliance with determinations and, in its absence, legal culpability.

So, at a political level, a gulf exists between positions.

But this can be narrowed if political unionism grasps the nettle and acknowledges that it is in all our interests to remove contention from parades. The consequences would reverberate across society in a positive and progressive manner.

As outlined in the Stormont House Agreement, a range of options will be presented to the parties this month on how the key issues outlined above could be addressed in legislation.

Irrespective of closing the gap in political positioning around parading, what is required is a change in the mind-set by the loyal orders and bands. This requires a recognition that parading disputes reflect competing interests and rights. No right to parade is absolute, despite a recent DUP promise to legislate for such a position.

Clearly, the best way to achieve resolutions – as evidenced in Derry City, Crumlin and Maghera – is for parade organisers and local residents to engage in direct and meaningful talks to resolve disputes. Surely we can reach a scenario where both the loyal orders and nationalist residents recognise and respect each other’s positions, devoid of supremacism and sectarianism.

16 June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

Novelist, ex-POW and former Editor of An Phoblacht talks to us about his first novel republished, ‘leaner and pacier’

A F O Y R O T S A , T S A F L E B DANNY MORRISON'S WEST

Y T I N U M M CO E L G G U R T IN S

D

BY JOHN HEDGES

ANNY MORRISON always wanted to be a novelist, from when he was around 15 or 16 growing up in Belfast.

Being interned got in the way. He became embroiled in the struggle against the gerrymandered unionist statelet and the props which held up the Stormont unionist regime, the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the British Army.

“I wanted to be a writer and then the Troubles came along,” Danny smiles ruefully talking to An Phoblacht in Dublin.

Danny’s desire to tell stories was overwhelmed by the real-life story of the conflict in the Six Counties. Now he is an accomplished and critically-acclaimed author of several novels. But it took a while coming.

Two years after he was released from Long Kesh, at the age of 22, he became Editor of Republican News, which was later to merge with An Phoblacht. A few years after that, he was Sinn Féin National Director of Publicity, a post he held for 11 years. “Whatever putative talent I had for writing and speaking,” Danny recalls, “was poured into the Republican Movement.”

Amidst all this, he was elected to the Assembly for Mid-Ulster in 1982. Danny lost out on the Mid-Ulster Westminster seat at the general election in June 1983 by 78 votes to the Democratic Unionist Party’s William McCrea. (He also stood twice in the European elections, in 1984 and 1989.)

In 1986, he had begun secretly writing West Belfast.

“I was too embarrassed to tell people I was writing a novel,” he says, thinking that some might ask ‘Who does he think he is?’. “The only people I told were my then wife, Sandra, and Gerry Adams, both of whom were very supportive, especially Gerry who had just published Cage 11, based on stories he had sent out to me when I was Editor of Republican News.

He had risen to prominence as possibly the most articulate, engaging and down-to-earth republican spokespersons in the 1980s. He became the spokesperson for the H-Block prisoners and the Hunger Strikers on the outside.

A gifted communicator of the republican message, he became even more famous for his call to the 1981 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis: “Who here really believes we can win the war through the ballot box? But will anyone here object if, with a ballot paper in this hand and an Armalite in the other, we take power in Ireland?”

He smiles at memories of that moment because, in exploring the way the struggle was progressing and the military stalemate

between a well-armed IRA and the British Army (who had admitted in secret documents it could not defeat the IRA), he became one of the early advocates of the Peace Process and remains one of its staunchest defenders.

ARRESTED Danny was arrested in January 1990 in connection with the abduction of Sandy Lynch, an IRA informer, and sentenced to eight years.

It was just three weeks after West Belfast was first published so he had no chance to discuss it and get feedback, good or bad, and use that to develop his style. Needless to say, a promotional tour was no longer an option.

In prison. Danny complemented his fiction writing by penning a column (‘Radio Times’) for An Phoblacht from prison. He was freed on appeal after serving five years.

“When I came out of prison, the IRA cessation had been called and I was ready to get stuck

in again.” Gerry Adams urged him to take time out to get his life back together after more than five years away.

“I came out divorced, a grandfather, no home.

So I got myself a rented house and my youngest son came to live with me. I had started The Wrong Man in prison so, during that year I had off, I finished it and I became very much tempted by the fact that I was now middleaged, the cessation was on and if I was going to become a writer I’d probably only get one opportunity to do it.

“I remember the day when Gerry contacted me and said ‘Right, let’s talk about what you’re going to do now’.” Danny winces as he remembers that moment. “I had a heavy heart. We were sitting on a sofa in the outside yard of Conway Mill and I said, I didn’t think I could go back full-time and I really wanted to write.

“I felt immensely guilty because my brother was still in jail doing 27 years, Pat Sheehan (who I shared cells with) was still in jail, everybody that I had been in jail with was still there.

June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

5 Danny Morrison and Sinn Féin leaders at the funeral procession for Hunger Striker and IRA Volunteer Bobby Sands MP on 7 May 1981 in Belfast

“I felt guilty because there were still people continuing on with the struggle and here’s Danny suddenly deciding he’s going to become a writer.

“And Gerry fully supported me, which I was very grateful for.”

Danny is also grateful for the advice of novelist and screenwriter Ronan Bennet (a Booker Prize nominee whose films and TV work includes The Hamburg Cell, Public Enemies and Top Boy) during long walks over Black Mountain.

Dermot Healy, Tim O’Grady and former Irish Examiner Books Editor Tina Neylon have been influential in his development as a writer too, he insists on noting.

AN INCREDIBLE STORY West Belfast is a tale of the nationalist community and how the political events between 1963 and 1973 affected its people. It centres on the O’Neill family, whose son John’s involvement in the IRA leads to his arrest on the day internment is introduced, 9 August 1971. It’s also a love story.

And West Belfast is a milestone on Danny’s journey as a writer. He freely acknowledges the first edition’s shortcomings and its “flowery language”.

When his publisher encouraged him to republish to mark 25 years, Danny says: “I realised I could make it a lot leaner and increase the pace but it’s the same plot, the same characters, the same denouement but I feel the writing is much sharper.”

“You have to understand that, back then, I didn’t know how to write a novel. It was written in the early hours of the morning, scribbled in the back of a car on any paper that was to hand, snatches of dialogue jotted down on an envelope when they came to me, all over a two-and-a-half-year period, in between the struggle on the streets, arrests, funerals, press conferences, elections.”

When it was first released, West Belfast was “pretty much savaged” by critics, Danny recalls.

“I think Fintan O’Toole in The Irish Times said the book was about ‘the sexuality of violence’ whereas I would argue there is a pacifist strain running through the book and one of regret, including in the sniper scene, which is often quoted, as well as the diaries of young Jimmy O’Neill who is observing the disagreements and arguments within a household where his older

brother is in the IRA and their mother is worried sick about her son getting killed.

“West Belfast was a reflection, a distillation of many things I had observed. The realism in it comes from what I experienced or the eyewitness evidence of people who I'd interviewed from all walks of life.

“I witnessed the pogroms, the Falls Road Curfew, the introduction of internment, and the firing by the RUC of live rounds from Springfield Road Barracks at a protest in August 1969 aimed at keeping the RUC in Belfast too busy to send reinforcements to Derry to relieve colleagues exhausted by ‘The Battle of the Bogside’.”

Amazon describes West Belfast as “significant for its honest portrayal of a conflict which has been written on extensively by outsiders but rarely by the people involved . . . This is perhaps

WEST BELFAST is published by Elsinor Verlag.

Danny Morrison will be doing a reading and a Q&A session during Bodenstown Weekend. He is available to speak at other events.

Enquiries to danny@dannymorrison.com

17

5 Danny stood in the European elections of 1984 and 1989

the first time that a modern Irish republican has attempted to show in novel form what his community has gone through under British oppression."

Danny’s launches include a Q&A where he takes questions because he thinks it’s very important for people (especially young people) to understand about the conflict, why and how it occurred “and, not least, how to avoid conflict”.

“There is an immense narrative about what the people came through, what the prisoners came through, “My motivation in writing West Belfast was that I wanted to explain how a small community, isolated, under partition, had the boot on its neck and how it could be moved from campaigning for and supporting civil rights then, when they were denied, many moved into supporting an

armed struggle which last ten times longer than the Tan War. It’s an incredible story.”

REVISITING ‘WEST BELFAST’ An Phoblacht columnist and ex-prisoner Peadar Whelan recalls that when he read the original West Belfast, in 1989, he was in Long Kesh.

“West Belfast, the place, seemed like a million miles away but the themes of the novel impacted on me because of their universality.

“For most republicans of this generation, the struggle we became involved in was thrust on us by the political conditions we were confronted by.

“The novel’s alternative narrative to the pro-British and unionist heavy explanation of the conflict rang true.

“We had just come through the Hunger Strikes and the attempt by Britain to criminalise the struggle, so we were acutely aware of the high political stakes involved.

“Danny’s novel came in the wake of the 1988 Gibraltar killings and the subsequent deaths in Milltown Cemetery and the ‘Two Corporals’ in Andersonstown.

“Our community was being demonised and the story of the O’Neill family was making it clear that people from the nationalist community were, to a large extent, ‘playing the hand they were dealt’.

“And as the West Belfast Festival/Féile an Phobail came out of the events of March 1988, it is fair to say that West Belfast mirrored the thinking behind the Féile which was about a community putting its best foot forward and fighting back to dispel its demonisation by the Establishment and mainstream media.

“For all that, the novel suffered at the hands of critics whose objective was to fuel the fires of criminalisation.

“With its republishing, which was launched in St Mary’s University, I had the chance to revisit the novel and a text that is much improved.

“It also refreshed my memory from the first reading of the novel and reminded me that people in Belfast, Derry, Newry, Strabane, south Armagh and Tyrone were sucked into the maelstrom of unionist and RUC pogroms and took the only option they saw at that time.

“Danny Morrison’s book explores how ordinary people deal with extraordinary events and survive them. It is about a community in struggle.”

18 June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

RENUA Ireland: Staunchly pro-business, hysterically anti-socialist

Meetthe Creightons

BY MARK MOLONEY IRELAND’S NEWEST POLITICAL PARTY made a splash in the Carlow/Kilkenny by-election finishing ahead of Labour. Headed-up by former Fine Gael Minister of State and darling of the media and the leafy south Dublin suburbs, Lucinda Creighton, it has acted as a rallying point for a cohort of disgruntled Establishment figures wanting to take up where the Progressive Democrats left off.

Formed from a schism within Fine Gael following the passing of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill, Renua Ireland has been synonymous with Lucinda Creighton, once the rising star of Fine Gael and hotly tipped as a future leader of the party. Positioning itself as ‘pro-business’ and making no secret of the fact that it wants to lay off swathes of public sector workers and will not reverse pay cuts, it is expected to eat into the Fine Gael vote in some areas.

But apart from Lucinda, what exactly do we know about the others who are pulling the strings inside Ireland’s newest political party?

EDDIE HOBBS

Vulture Capitalist in Family Tradition When you are proud of your family’s “tenacity” at making wealth by exporting butter and cheese out of the country while all those around you starve to death in a famine, you probably aren’t going to be the biggest leftie going. Meet Renua Party President Eddie Hobbs, a man with vulture capitalism in his blood ever since his grandfather had a top job exporting food from Cork during An Gorta Mór.

Hobbs is known to many from his various ‘pop finance’ shows on RTÉ television, where he cultivated an image as a plain-speaking man of the people and consumer champion when it came to monetary matters. Earlier this year he was forced to defend himself over financial advice he gave during the boom when he encouraged people to invest in the property market and take out second mortgages. “I wasn’t pimping property . . . people read my books and [warnings of risk] are all there, and if they use that information and they make those decisions – I’m not responsible for those decisions, adults are, right?” he told news website TheJournal.ie Since the bust he has been beavering away at the Sunday Independent, berating the Government and Opposition and carving out a an almost libertarian niche.

Meanwhile, an investment firm he set up has been raking in money on the backs of people losing their homes in Detroit in the United States. The city, which filed for banktruptcy, has seen thousands of foreclosures and distressed property sales as tenants are evicted from their homes. Hobbs’s agents have been buying them up and in 2014 alone recorded a €1.2million gain from these investments. Classy.

JOHN DRENNAN

Meet Renua Party President Eddie Hobbs, a man with vulture capitalism in his blood ever since his grandfather had a top job exporting food from Cork during the Famine

interests of the citizens rather than the embedded state”.

Quite how he plans to do this as part of a right-wing, anti-public services, rump party is anybody’s guess.

A noted anti-republican and Left-bashing scribbler, Drennan’s columns and Twitter account are full of “hilarious” witticisms and sneering – such as continually referring to Sinn Féin TD Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin as “Slieveen Ó Caoláin”.

When Sinn Féin took five seats in the Dáil, Drennan said the party was “simply too irrelevant to even merit a couple of paragraphs of vulgar abuse” but this soon changed when the party notched up 14 seats.

Will Drennan’s Viz-style venom and ill-thought-out metaphors pepper Renua’s press releases or will he have to wind his neck in?

JONATHAN IRWIN Insufferable ‘old Blueshirt’ hack A ‘political correspondent’ who was unable to predict a result in one of the most obvious constituencies in the state during the 2011 Dáil general election, Drennan was appointed in May as Renua's “Director of Communications and Political Strategy”.

In 2011 he famously (wishfully?) claimed that Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams was “struggling to avoid a humiliating defeat in the constituency of Louth”. His prediction was hugely at odds with bookies, opinion polls and the general public who were certain Adams would storm home – which he did, topping the poll and elected on the first count with one of the largest individual votes in the state. Don’t expect Mr Drennan to have any strategic role in the party’s election department.

After years of sycophantic fawning over those in power, Drennan has flip-flopped and now wants to “build a new politics where government will serve the

Charity Boss with Reds Under the Bed This wealthy old Etonian, former horse stud owner,

June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

bloodstock trader and Ryanair marketing director from Buckinghamshire in England built a media profile as head of the Jack and Jill Foundation children’s charity.

Irwin makes a cool €80,000 plus expenses from his role as CEO of the Jack and Jill Foundation – on whose board Eddie Hobbs coincidentally sits. A long-time detractor of progressive parties, he is a big fan of the British Army and was criticised in 2012 when he brought over a British military band to play a charity fundraiser in the K Club in Kildare.

He claims there “is a real fear in the country of Sinn Féin” and that the rise in support for the party and other left-wing groups is leaving people terrified that Ireland will become “a communist country”!

His Twitter account (which up until recently shamelessly used the charity’s name to promote his rightwing political views) is full of Grade A idiocy, including tweets in which he suggests that, under a Sinn Féin Government, “English immigrants to Ireland like myself will have [the] same rights as Nazis’ granted to Jewish citizens in Germany” before turning full-circle saying he is “truly scared to read in [the] Indo that Sinn Féin aim to be dominant party in next Government. Sure didn’t settle here 55 years ago to be ruled by Commies.”

One can understand his fretfullness, the (albeit unlikely) establishment of a functioning communist society in Ireland would negate the need for charities and wealthy, highly-paid CEOs who own stud farms.

TERENCE FLANAGAN

19

Wolfe Tone Weekend Festival NOW IN ITS THIRD YEAR

Wolfe Tone – The Exhibition Opening Saturday 20 June at 4pm The Lock Restaurant, Sallins Guest speakers: Mary Lou McDonald and Danny Morrison

An afternoon of historical talks, readings and cultural events featuring the life and times of Theobald Wolfe Tone and the 1798 Rebellion.

The exhibition will have a French influence and look at the bonds that were forged between France and Ireland in 1798, Tone’s contribution to Irish culture today and how is name is linked to sport and organisations.

The exhibition will be followed by ballad sessions and Irish music reflecting the life of Wolfe Tone.

Traditional Irish Music Saturday 20 June & Sunday 21 June

The finest local and national talent will be present to celebrate and enjoy the festival, with trad, ballad, live music and acoustic

sessions at Flanagan’s Mill in Sallins.

Starting at 7pm on Saturday and finishing at 11:30pm on Sunday, the festival will feature Theobald over six live bands Wolfe Tone and well known traditional republican singers including; the Warfield family, associated with the legendary Wolfe Tones; Catalpa; Rob Strong; The Cahills; Gary Lawlor and Johnny Peters

Family Fair The festival will welcome families to the village of Sallins for a fun and entertaining day out. Experience all the fun of the fair with carousels, bouncy castles, rides and attractions. There will also be a selection of stalls and food outlets present on the day.

Baile Bhuirne, County Cork, Friday & Saturday, 26 & 27 June

Sinn Féin Summer School 2015 THE Annual Sinn Féin Summer School goes from strength to strength and this year again features thought-provoking, outspoken figures. The 2015 line-up includes Guardian columnist and TV commentator Owen Jones, author of The Establishment’ and ‘Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class; artist Jim Fitzpatrick, best known for his iconic images of Che Guevara and his Celtic mythology scenes; John Brewer, Professor of Post-Conflict Studies of Queen’s University Belfast; UCD lecturer Julien Mercille, author

Hammer of the Water Protesters Elected as a Fine Gael TD for Dublin North-East, Flanagan was expelled from the party alongside Creighton after opposing the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill.

The backbencher is known for not being the sharpest knife in the drawer with one of his earlier memorable moments in Fine Gael being caught plagiarising a speech from a Labour TD and passing it off as his own.

He was frequently a target of protests by residents from the Priory Hall scandal, being booed offstage on more than one occasion during rallies in support of those made homeless.

He then showed what he’s made of by using a parliamentary question to ask whether a local water meter protester (whose name and address he forwarded to the Social Protection Minister) would have his dole cut because he was protesting against Government policy instead of “actvively seeking employment”.

His debut as a Renua spokesperson on RTÉ’s Drivetime radio show made for the most cringe-inducing interview of the year as he was unable to answer any questions on the party’s policies, mumbled and then went very quiet. Mercifully, the RTÉ presenter cut short the interview after it became clear he had temporarily lost the ability to speak or think.

It’s the sort of sensitivity and sympathy that Renua is likely to receive across much of the mainstream media for what could be Ireland’s answer to UKIP.

Guardian columnist Owen Jones and ‘Che’ artist Jim Fitzpatrick among many thoughtprovoking speakers of The Political Economy and Media Coverage of the European Economic Crisis: The Case of Ireland; and former Dublin All-Ireland winning footballer and transplant surgeon Dr David Hickey, who has been a long-time advocate for a better public health system.

Taking place in Baile Bhuirne, County Cork, on Friday & Saturday, 26 & 27 June, Sinn Féin leadership figures such as Gerry Adams TD, Mary Lou McDonald TD and Pearse Doherty TD will join the diverse range of speakers.

The Summer School will kick off with a discussion with Owen Jones and Julien Mercille on the question of ‘Have the Citizens

of Europe had Enough of Neo-liberalism?’

This is in the context of the growth of the Left in Europe and the changing political landscape in Ireland.

Saturday morning will feature ‘Understanding and Overcoming Sectarianism in Ireland’, looking with Professor John Brewer of Queen’s University at its roots and causes but also at what needs to be done to eliminate sectarianism as part of building a better Ireland.

On Saturday afternoon, a panel of speakers will discuss ‘Solidarity and Interdependence: Why We Must Defend the Public Health System’.

Always popular with the Summer School audience, the arts section this year includes artist Jim Fitzpatrick, who will speak about the relationship between arts and politics today and his own long career, which has ranged from designing the covers of a Thin Lizzy album, to book illustrations and political posters such as his world-renowned Che portrait.

» Further details on speakers will be confirmed in the coming weeks. » For updates on Twitter follow @SFSummerSchool

20 June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

5 In total, almost 500,000 lives were lost in the Gallipoli campaign

Gallipoli, the British Cabinet and the road to the Rising

BY MÍCHEÁL MAC DONNCHA RECENT COMMEMORATIONS have largely ignored the important political implications for Ireland of Britain’s failed campaign in the Dardanelles and Gallipoli. Yet this military disaster had consequences which further undermined the Home Rule party of John Redmond and helped pave the way for the 1916 Rising.

The ramshackle Ottoman Empire was based in Turkey with its capital in Constantinople (now Istanbul). It nominally ruled most of the Middle East but its empire was crumbling. Since 1882 the British Empire had controlled Egypt, formerly ruled by Constantinople.

The British had seized Egypt in order to control the Suez Canal, a vital strategic link to their vast empire in India.

When the Ottoman Empire joined the war on Germany’s side it was vulner-

The British and French got together to plan the carve-up of the Middle East able to attack from the much stronger empires of Russia, Britain and France. It soon became very clear in the Middle East that this war was far from a fight “for the freedom of small nations”. The British and French governments got together to plan the carve-up of the entire region. This culminated in the Sykes/Picot Agreement, signed in May 1916 (which divided the Middle East between British and French zones) and the Balfour Declaration (which guaranteed a Zionist homeland in Palestine,

John Redmond

Unionist leader Edward Carson

Prime Minister H. H. Asquith

with disastrous consequences that are still felt in the war-torn region today).

Britain’s First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, planned a naval attack through the Dardenelles to capture Constantinople, knock Turkey out of the war and grab her empire. The naval attack began on 19 February 1915 but it was a failure as the British and French had underestimated the strength of the Turkish defences. A plan to land troops on the Gallipoli peninsula was hastily improvised and carried out on 25 April but met with fierce resistance.

The British and their allies never had much more than a beach-head and the campaign dragged on for months, costing tens of thousands of lives on both sides, many of them Irish serving in the British Army but taking the heaviest toll on the defending Turks.

The failure of the naval attack and then the Gallipoli landings caused a

crisis for the British Cabinet in May 1915.

The Liberal Government under Prime Minister H. H. Asquith had brought the British Empire into the war. It had placed Home Rule for Ireland “on the statute book” but suspended it for the duration of the war. The opposition Conservative and Unionist Party had fought Home Rule to the extent of threatening civil war in Ireland and England. Now that opposition, led by Andrew Bonar Law, demanded places in the British Cabinet.

On 25 May 1915, to shore up the Government, Asquith formed a new Cabinet, bringing on board the Conservative and Unionist Party. The Cabinet now included Unionist leader Edward Carson, who was made Attorney General of England, the British Government’s chief law officer.

Asquith offered John Redmond a token place in the Cabinet but Redmond refused, knowing that taking office

FOR

JUST €10

would further undermine his position among Irish nationalists. Redmond told Asquith that appointing Carson “will mean installed in power the leader of the Ulster revolters who, the other day, was threatening hostilities to the forces of the Crown and the decision of Parliament” and “will most certainly enormously increase the difficulties of my friends and myself”. But Redmond’s appeal was in vain.

‘We are now under a Unionist/Liberal coalition, and a Unionist/Liberal coalition means for Ireland a Unionist government, nothing else’ 'THE IRISH VOLUNTEER' In Ireland, the Irish Volunteer newspaper declared: “The ‘Home Rule Government’ has come to an end and Home Rule has not come to a beginning. We are now under a Unionist/Liberal coalition, and a Unionist/Liberal coalition means for Ireland a Unionist government, nothing else.”

In the Workers’ Republic on 19 June, James Connolly wrote: “Home Rule is on the statute book, but the chief figure in the new Cabinet is the man who organised 50,000 armed men to resist by force its passage from the position of an Act to that of a fact...

Seán Mac Diarmada

Carson organised an army to fight the forces of the Crown but now he is one of the men who will direct the armed forces of the Crown to whatever end he and his may desire.”

With Carson now as Attorney General, the pursuit of nationalists and republicans under the Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) was to be stepped up. On 9 June, Seán Mac Diarmada was sentenced to four months’ hard labour in Mountjoy for a speech in Tuam where he urged resistance to British Army recruiting and said: “England’s difficulty is Ireland’s opportunity.”

Mac Diarmada was a key member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood’s Military Council, the formation of which dates from this period. He would emerge from prison more determined than ever to bring about the Rising which was made a far more likely event following the developments of 100 years ago in May and June 1915.

YOU CAN SUBSCRIBE TO

www.anphoblacht.com

and get exclusive access to a series by Mícheál Mac Donncha chronicling the road to the 1916 Rising as seen through the pages of 'An tÓglach – the Irish Volunteer' from 24 April 1915 to 22 April 1916

June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

21

Could there be a silver lining to the Tory cloud of an EU referendum?

‘British renegotiation is also an opportunity for Irish democracy’ THE Conservative Party victory in Britain and the certainty now that there will be a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union has thrown the Irish Establishment into total turmoil.

But any renegotiation also gives Ireland possibilities to change aspects of the EU that do not suit us and restore powers to Irish sovereignty that will help us end austerity and grow our economy.

Instead, media commentators are wavering between blind terror that we will be forced to choose between Britain or Brussels, and a despairing assertion that it will be alright on the night and that Cameron will convince voters to stay in.

There is next to no analysis of what exactly will be raised by the British side during the negotiations on the reforms they want to see in the European Union – even though Cameron has asserted that the reforms he wants will need a new treaty.

EU defenders, including the influential Financial Times, are arguing instead of a new treaty that an exemption protocol could be provided for Britain, as happened in the case of Denmark when the Danish people rejected the Maastricht Treaty in 1992.

But all this presupposes clarity about Britain’s demands and that sufficient concessions can be given to Britain to enable Cameron to make a case for staying in.

The British demands can be boiled down to two key issues.

Firstly, pandering to the anti-immigrant racism that is inherent in British (English) politics, they want to severely restrict future immigration even from EU countries, thus ending the free movement of labour which is a core principle of the EU. There is no possibility of the British getting this, as Eastern European member states will veto any proposals on those lines, though they

EOIN Ó MURCHÚ those of all the peripheral states and should, of course, be part of the programme of a genuinely socialist movement in Britain itself.

Neither the Irish Government nor the Fianna Fáil opposition has the backbone to look for such changes. They are too concerned to parade themselves as the “best boys in class” and win the applause of their European masters to bother about the needs of working people in Ireland.

Of course, Britain has no right to decide whether any part of Ireland should stay in or leave the

What we need now is a serious debate on what changes can realistically be made now to the EU that will strengthen national sovereignty and how to achieve those changes

might accept limitations on welfare access until a certain period of insured work was achieved.

At the same time, worries about immigration are not exclusively racist, though that is a big factor in Britain. Workers everywhere get concerned when cheap labour is brought in to undercut their wages. In this context, racism can only be avoided by ensuring that wage standards are protected by law and that immigrant workers must be paid the standard union rate.

The second set of British demands, however, concern how the EU functions. Britain complains about too much red tape – often a cover for Conservative dislike of social regulation.

IN PICTURES

5 Sinn Féin MEPs call for an end to migrant deaths in the Mediterranean – Martina Anderson and Lynn Boylan at a protest in Strasbourg calling for increased funding to search and rescue programmes

But the restoration of various powers to national parliaments could include the right of a member state to directly undertake job creation through state industries.

This is currently illegal under EU law but the winning back of such powers is a vital step if any future Irish government is to have the opportunity to end austerity and grow the economy at good standards of living instead of leaving us reduced to providing profits for foreign bankers.

Moves away from the ‘ever-closer union’ that is a key principle of the European project are not just in the wish-list of British Conservatives; they are in the vital interests of the Irish people and

European Union (just as England has no right to decide that question for Scotland).

But an independent Ireland is only independent if we have sovereign powers ourselves to develop our economy, strengthen our society and re-Gaelicise our culture and outlook.

What we need now is a serious debate on what changes can realistically be made now to the EU that will strengthen national sovereignty and how to achieve those changes.

This debate needs to take place especially in the trades union movement, but not as a knee-jerk response to the perceived and actual backwardness of British Conservatism but as an active intervention to use this opportunity to turn back the tide of EU centralisation and win back the nation that successive Free State governments have sold.

photos@anphoblacht.com

5 Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, Maeve McLaughlin MLA and Raymond McCartney MLA with pupils from St Patrick's PS, Pennyburn, taking their seats in the Assembly

22 June / Meitheamh 2015

ROBERT ALLEN

www.anphoblacht.com

Seán Tyrrell’s unique voice and lyrics make him stand apart from other artists

SEÁN TYRRELL is unique among Irish singers, refusing to sing the same old songs, always looking for songs that transcend the ordinary – an artist with a flawless repertoire.

Brian Eno, the man behind Roxy Music’s idiosyncratic Seventies sound and many of the soundtracks of the past 40 years, has a faith that is not religious. It might be described as a ‘one world faith’, the kind science fiction writers describe when their protagonists arrive at an alien planet and find themselves confronting a single empathic consciousness.

One world, one mind, one sensibility!

The story in song has traditionally been set in the form of a ballad: Black Velvet Band, Follow Me Up to Carlow, Rising of the Moon, Whiskey in

n a M e r e Every wh

the Jar. It is why they remain with us, especially if the theme is popular, but when the song is both idiomatic and idiosyncratic a whole new world is revealed.

Seán Tyrrell, the Galway town son of a taxi driver who went to America to find his muse and then discovered it in the land of poetry and other lyrical landscapes, has always known instinctively what Brian Eno knows, what those sensitive souls understand when they hear music of a particularly kind.

Like Eno, Tyrrell is unique. His sound, his voice, his lyrics, his music are unique to him and make him stand apart from other artists.

And, like Eno, Tyrrell is an acquired taste. But there is always more to their music than first impressions, especially when the layers are like an onion. As they peel off they reveal an inner core that tastes sublime.

That taste has the sweetness of a pomegranate and the bitterness of a lemon when Tyrrell interprets the work of John Boyle O’Reilly, a “good man” from Drogheda whose works have enriched the world.

Tyrrell’s 2009 Message of Peace album is a tribute to O’Reilly, featuring the lyrics and words of the 19th century Fenian poet and singer who was thrust out into the world and didn’t like what he saw.

The songs feature the work of several other lyricists including John Frazier (Song for the Twelfth of July), Phil Gaston (Game Over), Francis

Ledwidge (Dead Kings and The Lament for Thomas McDonagh), John Lennon (Working-Class Hero), Charles Weaver (Bad Luck to the Marching), Little John Nee (Wee Moroccan) and Bobby Sands (The Woman Cried).

Actor Donal O’Kelly said: “We travel and Seán is our guide. We see new things, we see old things anew. We discover, we peer, we walk on in, his voice around us, and his voice is true.”

He bought a four-string forcing banjo and some finger picks. Jack Geary told him he was playing it all wrong. “I often wonder if he had left me alone what sort of style I would have developed,” says Tyrrell, who determined to develop his own style.

When Geary announced that he was going to America, Tyrrell went with him. They took jobs as ‘bartenders’ at Mullins' Mountain Spring Hotel in the Catskills and when the one-man band (a hillbilly from West Virginia) took a break,

Comber to the Catskills Seán Tyrrell’s journey began when he encountered the folk music of Jack Geary, Seánín Conroy and John Henry Higgins during his time in University College Galway in the Sixties.

“I had always been fascinated by two buskers, tinkers, the Dunnes brothers, who used to come to Galway, they used to busk at the Galway races.

I was fascinated by the banjo player and I thought I want one of them,” he recalls.

“I asked my dad and he didn’t want to buy it because of my failed attempts with the guitar, but once I got the banjo in my hand I was in the deep end. I used to play night, noon and morning, driving people crazy for those first couple of years.”

Tyrrell and his friends had got a residency in The Enda Hotel, Dominic Street and gradually he began to pick up the musical influences of other players, like Donal Standún from Spiddal.

Then he got a job teaching in Belfast and met Bobby Davey from Comber.

they jumped at the chance to perform. They auditioned for The John Barleycorn, a club that served food and music, in New York City. Then he found himself performing solo in San Francisco, returning to the east coast, to New Hampshire, where Apples in Winter, a band he thought might go places, was short-lived.

Tyrrell returned to Ireland, working for the university in the Burren, where in Lisdoonvarna he was “apprenticed to magician Miclin Conlon” and fell in with some great musical companions.

He provided the lyrical soundtrack for Galway City throughout the Eighties when he played gigs in Monroe’s and the Roisín Dubh.

His journey continued, and eventually, in 1990, he released a collection of ballads, poems and songs under the title Cry of a Dreamer, singing the words of O’Reilly, David Callinan, Johnny Mulhern, Louis McNiece and John Frazier.

And when the album And the Story Goes with Dubliners Kevin Glackin and Ronan Browne was released in 2011 the journey had swung back to the starting point, enclosing several generations of genuine Irish session music. He was now the magician, and his life’s work was out of this world.

Poems to music

John Boyle O’Reilly

When his personal life changed in the late Eighties, and allowed him to play five or six nights a week, the process of setting poems to music came naturally again.

Tyrrell had come across Time You Old Gypsyman, by English poet Ralph Hodgson, in the Seventies. It was the first poem he set to music.

June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

“Taking down a thousand years of Irish poetry, when I began to come out to play professionally again, I was looking for a repertoire of songs. I was fed up of hearing the same ones over and over again and restarted the process,” he says, explaining the method behind the selection of songs for Cry of the Dreamer.

“I don’t know if it was Louis McNiece’s poem to bagpipe music or John Boyle O’Reilly’s Message of Peace that caught my attention first. I kept looking and I couldn’t believe my eyes at what I was finding.”

He found Charles Lever’s Bad Luck to the Marching, an amazing anti-war song from the mid-19th century.

“Because of my interest, people send me books from all over the planet. I was sent two rare books on Lever and I found out that he was a songwriter.

“So all I am doing is bringing back into the tradition what were once songs and this is my question: why were they forgotten? I am perplexed why these songs were left behind and became part of the poetry tradition.”

As good as anything Bob Dylan did During a trip to Cobh he came across John Frazier’s Song for the Twelfth of July in an obscure book. He set it to music, a slow lament for his children who had returned to America with their mother, and recorded it for Cry of a Dreamer.

“To me it is a symbol, the daffodil, orange head/ green stalk, one can’t survive without the other,” he says, recalling how he had set it to music with the tune for his children and then discovered that it had been originally coupled with The Boyne Water, an old march, and astounded that it included snatches of the music that would become known as The Sash and the National Anthem.

“Of all the songs, that would be the closest to my heart because of my time in Belfast. It is an incredible image. Frazier was a cabinet maker from Birr in County Offaly and wanted to write a song for peace.”

Cry of the Dreamer contains a remarkable set of songs which Tyrrell believes should be universally known.

“David Callinan and Johnny Mulhern are among the greatest songwriters I’ve come across in modern times. Callinan’s House of Delight, Fortune for the Finder and November Rain are as good as anything that Bob Dylan did lyrically and melodically, up there with anybody’s, as Johnny’s are.

23

“I started to find such amazing lyrics,” he says of the reason why he did not develop his own lyrical skills, which are evident in The Black Hole, a song he wrote in response to the desperate social conditions in Ireland of the Eighties, and eventually recorded for his last studio album, Walker of the Snow.

He says he got lazy because other songwriters gave him ‘incredible songs’.

At the close of the millennium he put more of these incredible songs on his second album, The Orchard, and found that those who liked what he was doing were outside his homeland, whose natives were slow to appreciate his work.

“I ask people to think when they listen to my music,” he says, acknowledging the sorry scenario that exists with the mainstream Irish media, who want to play it safe and make sure that their listeners and readers never make connections.

“What astounds me is that this material I have been so lucky to find and to record is being missed. And it is not just me. There are loads of musicians and artists out there, who are ignored.

Without airplay.”

And this lack of exposure baffles him because his music, especially the songs on Cry of the Dreamer and The Orchard, convey messages of belonging and hope and love and peace, all the elements that are the essence of traditional music, not least the title tracks.

Cry of a Dreamer is a passionate paean that makes the listener realise that dissent has always been with us. O’Reilly was sentenced for sedition and transported to Australia only to escape and arrive in America where he continued to act and speak for the dispossessed.

I am sick of the showy seaming Of a life that is half a lie Of the faces that are lined with scheming In the throng that hurries by From the sleepless thoughts endeavour I would go where the children play For a dreamer he lives forever And a thinker dies in a day Seán Tyrrell is the everywhere man you need to hear because his genius, like Eno’s, is rarely seen these days.

When he sings Phil Gaston’s The Lights of Little Christmas, a song about emigration and returning, the hope is heartbreaking. “Each little light that I pass by says right here’s your promised land!”

Seán Tyrrell is at the Galway Bay Pubs Irish Festival, Ocean Shores, Washington, in October 2015 and has a tour of the USA and Canada scheduled for March and April 2016.

24 June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

www.guengl.eu

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

No military response to Mediterranean refugee crisis THE European Union’s response to the crisis of refugee deaths in the Mediterranean has been slammed by Martina Anderson, MEP for the North of Ireland and member of the Human Rights Committee in the European Parliament.

Following the drowning deaths of more of 800 asylum seekers in the Mediterranean Sea on 18-19 April, an emergency EU summit in Brussels outlined plans for a response. This

Martina Anderson MEP

‘Military action will not solve the humanitarian crisis’ included military action against Libya, where many of the refugee boats depart from.

Martina Anderson said that the goal of the EU’s response must be on saving lives within a humanitarian framework instead of one based on border security. Most refugee deaths take place on the high seas, outside of the EU Triton patrol programme’s operational area. While Triton can rescue stranded migrants, its main purpose is to prevent people from reaching Europe.

5 GUE/NGL take part in a protest calling for more resources to save the lives of refugees in the Mediterranean

EU Foreign Ministers met again on 18 May to discuss a ‘package’ including a sea and air mission that could, in its later phases, destroy vessels – including by taking military action against Libya, where many of the boats depart from. The response may be launched by 25 June.

Martina Anderson said: “Military action will not solve the

humanitarian crisis where untold numbers of people, desperate to find a new life, are dying in the Mediterranean.

“Instead of attempting to impose further military action which would further destabilise the region, the international community, and the European Union in particular, must step up its efforts to provide humanitarian aid to the

survivors of these modern-day coffin ships and prevent further deaths.”

She added that not only would military action exacerbate the conditions that force refugees to flee their home countries in the first place – war, poverty and hunger – but they would directly target some of the most vulnerable people in the world for further repression.

Scaling down investor-state mechanism won’t save TTIP IN RESPONSE to the massive public opposition to the EU entering the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement with the US, European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström presented a proposal on 6 May to water down the investor-state dispute mechanism (ISDS) included in the agreement.

Malmström’s paper outlines proposals to “institutionalise” the ISDS system by establishing a fixed list of arbitrators and creating a bilateral appeal mechanism modelled on the World Trade Organisation’s Appellate Body.

MEP for the Midlands North West Matt Carthy dismissed the paper, saying the illegitimacy of ISDS arbitration (in which three corporate lawyers decide whether elected governments should be forced to pay companies compensation for decisions made in the public interest) cannot be overcome by this superficial proposal.

Almost immediately, the US Under-Secretary for International Trade, Stefan Selig, flatly rejected Malmström’s proposal and insisted that the US wants to retain the ISDS system unchanged.

The people do not want ISDS to be reconfigured – they want it dropped

Matt Carthy MEP

Matt Carthy said: “ISDS fundamentally threatens sovereignty and democracy – it gives the powerful and elite of the corporate world access to legal remedies not available to citizens or their governments.

“The views of the people of Europe with

respect to ISDS could not be clearer – 97% of all respondents in the largest-ever public consultation held by the European Commission have stated their complete opposition to the inclusion of an ISDS in TTIP. “Instead of listening to the express wishes of the people and, more importantly, giving effect to those wishes, the Commissioner has instead proceeded to tinker around the edges of ISDS in a dogged effort to push this trade agreement through the European Parliament.

“The European Commission has failed to understand the very clear and simple message that they have been given by the people – the people do not want ISDS to be reconfigured, they want it dropped.”

“The Irish Government must also realise that there is no advantage to be gained from supporting an ISDS mechanism.”

June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

25

Another Europe is possible Treo eile don Eoraip

Right2Water discussed at conference in Greece DUBLIN MEP Lynn Boylan was one of the keynote speakers at an international water movement conference, ‘Water is a Common Good’, held in Thessaloniki, Greece, on 16-17 May. Lynn was speaking in her capacity as the lead author on the European Citizens’ Initiative Right2Water report to be voted on in the European Parliament in the coming months.

Thessaloniki was the chosen venue for the conference to mark the one-year anniversary of the city’s referendum on the plans of the previous Greek Government to privatise water.

“Thessaloniki is to the fore of the struggle against the privatisation of water services,” Lynn Boylan said. “When the privatisation of water services was forced upon

the region by the Troika there was broad resistance and a subsequent campaign successfully organised a popular referendum against water privatisation, which was emphatically passed.

“It has been a year since the referendum and this conference focused on water as a common good and how to properly manage this resource, as well as hearing accounts of international experiences of water movements.”

Lynn said the threat of privatisation of water services will be the next challenge facing Right2Water supporters.

“Thessaloniki is an example of a region that successfully resisted privatisation and there is a lot to learn from them.”

The SYRIZA President of the national

Lynn Boylan MEP

Greek Parliament, Zoi Konstantopoulou, pledged her support to ensure Greece becomes the first country to recognise and protect the human right to water.

Discussing the impact of her Right2Water report, Lynn Boylan said: “In my report, I draw attention to the fact that water provision is a natural monopoly which does not lend itself to market competition and where there has been privatisation of water ownership we have seen massive profits accumulated but little reinvestment into water infrastructure.”

The Dublin MEP has presented her report to the Environmental, Public Health and Food Safety Committee in the European Parliament, where it will be discussed and debated before proceeding to the plenary.

Liadh Ní Riada

Matt Carthy

Step forward for Irish fishing communities in EU IRELAND’S FISHING COMMUNITIES will benefit from a productive meeting held between Ireland South MEP Liadh Ní Riada and the European Commissioner for Fisheries, Karmenu Vella, on 20 May. Liadh, Ireland’s only member of the Fisheries Committee in the European Parliament, requested the meeting to discuss the negative state of Irish fisheries, the existential threats to the livelihoods of

Martina Anderson

Liadh Ní Riada MEP

“We welcome this breakthrough.

A Single Boat Payment will go far in alleviating the hardship many Irish fishermen face” native fishermen and women, and their marginalisation by the government and the EU. She outlined her proposal for a ‘Single Boat Payment’ scheme to be funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.

“It is unacceptable that Irish fishermen operating in Irish waters are at a massive disadvantage in comparison to

Lynn Boylan

5 The Fisheries Commissioner has commended Liadh’s proposal and agreed it will help many hard-pressed fishermen

other European fishermen both in terms of fishing opportunities and control and enforcement, especially within our own fisheries,” Liadh Ní Riada said.

“The situation has reached a crisis point.

Unless we can come up with solutions, our fishermen will continue to suffer and decline.”

The Fisheries Commissioner has commended Liadh’s proposal and agreed

that such a scheme will be beneficial to many hard-pressed fishermen and women and that it will be strongly considered by the European Commission.

Liadh said: “We have continuously highlighted the need for an introduction of a Single Boat Payment Scheme.

“What is relevant to this issue is the Single Farm Payment which has helped lift

the burden for many of the most vulnerable farmers in our agricultural industry. It is clearly logical to apply such a scheme to the fishing sector in the form of a Single Boat Payment system. There is no reason why this cannot be funded through the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.”

“We welcome this breakthrough. A Single Boat Payment will go far in alleviating the hardship many Irish fishermen face.”

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

26 June / Meitheamh 2015

IN PICTURES

www.anphoblacht.com

photos@anphoblacht.com

5 Former Dunnes Stores strikers attend the unveiling of a plaque honouring their famous three year strike in opposition to handling goods from apartheid South Africain in the 1980s 4 Deputy Mayor of Dublin Larry O'Toole unveils the plaque outside Dunnes on Henry Street, Dublin

5 The 21st anniversary commemoration for IRA Volunteer Martin 'Doco' Doherty, who died foiling a unionist bomb attack on The Widow Scallan's bar in Dublin

5 Kurdish resistance fighters of the YPG and YPJ at a training camp in Rojava

Kurdish fight for freedom against ISIS

THE KURDISH PEOPLE have long faced oppression. Their language, culture and way of life has been repressed by a variety governments and regimes.

The Kurdish struggle for self-determination is taking place in modern-day Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq.

Iraqi Kurdistan or southern Kurdistan is the autonomous region in northern Iraq. Tensions between the region and the central government in Baghdad over power-sharing, oil revenues, oil production, and territorial control are ongoing. The region operates largely outside the control of Baghdad and its leaders have hinted at tabling an independence referendum soon. They also face continued attacks from the genocidal ISIS. ISIS (or Da’eesh in Arabic), is a fundamentalist Sunni Salafist armed group

The Kurds heroically fought off the genocidal ISIS and their attempts to wipe out Kobani that is intent on eliminating religious and ethnic minorities in the region. The Kurdish people have had to directly face their brutality, particularly in the majority Kurdish areas in northern Syria or Rojava.

Kurdish groups have largely stayed outside of the umbrella of opposition groups attempting to overthrow the Syrian Government. This was primarily down to Turkey’s funding and active support of many of these Syrian opposition groups and the Kurds’ ingrained and understandable mistrust of the Turkish state.

The People’s Protection Units (or YPG in Kurdish) have liberated Kurdish majority areas in northern Syrian and protected (to various degrees of success)

BY SEÁN CROWE

SINN FÉIN DÁIL SPOKESPERSON ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS

the civilian population from fundamentalist jihadi groups. They heroically fought off ISIS and their onslaught on Kobani. They are also building a unique project in the three cantons of Rojava which declared their own autonomy at the beginning of 2014.

In a region blighted by war, oppression and destruction, the fledgling democratic project in Rojava offers real hope for the Kurdish people and other minorities.

In Rojava, many Christian, Yezidi, Arab, Turkmen, Chechen, and Armenian refugees have received sanctuary.

Many were saved by the YPG fighting off jihadi death squads whose intention was to slaughter or enslave these minorities. Collectively, many of these groups now live, work, and fight alongside each other.

Real advances in women’s rights are also taking place. The YPG has female units, called the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ). Polygamy has been outlawed. Women are treated equally to men in the eyes of a court.

Significantly, the membership of every institution and organisation in Rojava must be at least 40% female, including the Parliament and Government.

They fight the savagery of ISIS but they are also fighting for a new future, a revolutionary future where everyone is treated with equality and respect. It is no utopia but it is a revolutionary project.

Sinn Féin is acutely aware of the plight of the Kurdish people and other minorities in the region as they battle ISIS. I have continually raised the plight of minorities in the region with the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs. We want to see Ireland actively supporting the efforts of Rojava representatives to get their own independent voice at the Syrian peace talks and negotiations

and not to be just lumped into the ‘general opposition’.

Crucially, we want to see the Irish Government send humanitarian aid directly to Rojava and Iraqi Kurdistan, which have been overwhelmed with refugees. Unfortunately, a lot of this aid that is sent via Damascus, Baghdad or through Turkey and never actually reaches the Kurdish people.

We are on record for criticising the Turkish Government over their shameful refusal to allow Kurdish fighters to

Sinn Féin supports Abdullah Öcalan’s calls for an inclusive peace process between the Turkish state and the PKK, and we support calls for his release from prison resupply their front lines with weaponry and fighters during the Kobani siege while ISIS levelled Kobani with their heavy weapons as Turkish tanks sat on the border.

Sinn Féin supports Abdullah Öcalan’s calls for an inclusive peace process between the Turkish state and the PKK, and we support calls for his release from prison.

I have recently met three groups of prominent Turkish figures who visited Ireland to learn about our own peace process. They included leading MPs, academics, journalists, civic society activists, and feminist groups. I have encouraged them to engage in a process to safeguard the rights of the Kurdish people and to seize the historic opening for peace that Öcalan has created.

June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

27

BOOK REVIEWS BY MICHAEL MANNION

An uncritical state A Formative Decade: Ireland in the 1920s

Edited by Mel Farrell, Ciara Meehan & Jason Knirck | Irish Academic Press | Price: €22.45

MUCH has been written on the first two decades of the 20th century in Ireland, including the Gaelic Revival forming a groundswell of nationalist sentiment, which in turn paved the way for the Easter Rising and eventually the Tan War. Most historical analysis would consider the Civil War and then sort of drift, perhaps noting the rise of Fianna Fáil, and possibly the assassination of Kevin O’Higgins. This book seeks to rectify that deficit by commissioning eminent historians to produce a series of articles and monographs on different aspects of Irish life in the 1920s.

It is the editors’ contention that the 1920s were the most important in establishing the form and direction that would become the template of modern Ireland.

The book is divided into ten standalone monographs, each representing a different aspect of 1920s Ireland, ranging from Harnessed in the Service of the Nation: Party Politics and the Promotion of the Shannon Hydroelectric Scheme 1924-1932 to A Regime of Squandermania: The Irish Farmers’ Party and Parliamentary Democracy, 1922-1927.

Other chapters deal with the consolidation of the Northern state in the 1920s and the impact of the centenary celebrations of 1929 and 1932 on the religious atmosphere in Ireland.

This isn’t exactly light bedtime reading. It is first and foremost an intensely academic work primarily aimed at scholars but not without interest to the general reader. The book’s main fault, from an admittedly partisan republican viewpoint, is a seemingly uncritical view of the actions of the Free State founding fathers. The subtext seems to be, yes, they may have done bad things but they had to be done to preserve law and order from the anarchic chaos that would inevitably follow a socialist republican agenda in government.

Having said that, this is a superbly-researched book which provides a cogent analysis just begging to be rebutted by historians with a more republican perspective.

5 The morning after James Connolly was shot: His wife Lillie poses with her youngest child, Fiona

Maud Gonne married to John MacBride

Agnes Hickey married to Michael Mallin

Kathleen Daly married to Tom Clarke

Lillie Reynolds married to James Connolly

'Áine' Brennan married to Eamon Ceannt

Wed to the revolution Easter Widows: Seven Irish Women Who Lived in the Shadow of the 1916 Rising

By Sinéad McCoole | Doubleday Ireland | Price: €27.99

5 Great Days? Worker food inspection at the Shannon Hydro-Electric Plant in 1928

5 W. T. Cosgrave visiting a recently-opened sugar beet processing factory, 1926

EASTER WIDOWS examines in detail the lives of the seven women widowed by the executions in Kilmainham. The women’s lives and backgrounds prior to their meeting their respective spouses are examined in depth in order to paint a full picture of the women as people in their own right, and not merely one-dimensional characters of interest only because of whom they happen to be married to.

The women themselves are a diverse bunch, ranging from Anglo-Irish aristocrats to domestic servants, but they found common ground in their support of their husbands’ participation in the Rising.

Their various meetings with their future partners, romance and courtship are all fully detailed from exhaustive research of both public and private papers, as well as numerous interviews with surviving family members.

The author’s dedication to this project over a prolonged period of 20 years has ensured that personal reminiscences that might otherwise have gone

unrecorded have now been preserved for future generations of historians.

The book deals with: Maud Gonne, who had a turbulent marriage to John MacBride; Agnes Hickey, who married Michael Mallin; Kathleen Daly, who married Tom Clarke; Lillie Reynolds, who married James Connolly; Frances (Áine) Brennan, who married Eamon Ceannt; and

Muriel Gifford Grace Gifford married to Thomas married to MacDonagh Joseph Plunkett

The sisters Muriel and Grace Gifford, who married Thomas MacDonagh and Joseph Plunkett respectively.

The author does not appear to endorse the orthodox view of the tragically romantic, star-crossed lovers immortalised in the song Grace. Instead, she speculates that Joseph was on the rebound from a previous doomed infatuation and that Grace was under the mistaken impression that Joseph would inherit the Plunketts’ considerable wealth.

The book displays a combination of masterly scholarship with a fluid and eminently readable style, but there is one jarring note that really should not have made it through the editing process.

In describing the police baton charges in O’Connell Street (actually Sackville Street) during the 1913 Dublin Lockout, the author asserts that 50 people were killed, and 300 injured.

She’s right about the injuries but only two people died. This is an error that should not appear in such a fine book as it must call into question the veracity of other statements contained in the volume. Nonetheless, this remains an excellent book and the poignancy of the women’s stories will resonate with anyone who has any degree of romance in their soul.

28 June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

5 Jock Davison was a respected pillar of the Markets community

Reaction to ‘Jock’ Davison killing highlights hierarchy of victims

BY PEADAR WHELAN IF REPUBLICANS ever needed confirmation that there is a hierarchy of victims in the North, then the killing of community activist Gerard ‘Jock’ Davison in Belfast on Tuesday morning 5 May would have given them that confirmation.

In the hours immediately after he was shot dead by a criminal gunman in the Markets area of south Belfast, as he went to work in the Markets Development Association, the media set about assassinating his character and reputation, effectively saying ‘If anyone deserved to be gunned down in the street then Jock Davison deserved what he got.’

In an angry response to what they called “revulsion at the insensitive and disgraceful media coverage” of the shooting, more than 60 community organisations (including GAA clubs, Irish-language groups and various human rights organisations) took out a full-page advertisement in The Irish News on Saturday 9 May – the day of Jock Davison’s funeral – in which they lambasted “the ugly narrative that has emerged from some quarters following his murder”.

They continued: “Some have sought to dehumanise and depersonalise the real Jock [through] a barrage of speculative innuendo, including unsubstantiated and baseless allegations that has sought to criminalise his past and negate his present.”

Much of this coverage labelled the dead man an IRA leader and “feared gunman”, with the media turning to its lexicon of clichés as it set out a context that could only justify his death.

Allegations that he ordered the killing of Robert McCartney in a Belfast bar in 2005 were aired across the BBC and RTÉ. The fact that this allegation was never part of the evidence offered in the subsequent legal proceedings connected to the murder of Robert McCartney was completely ignored. The phrase ‘repeat a lie often enough

5 Gerard ‘Jock’ Davison 5 Hundreds turn out for a vigil in memory of Jock Davison

and it becomes accepted as fact’ springs to mind.

The BBC was more interested in talking about the McCartney case than it was in reporting on the killing of Jock Davison.

The Irish News also set out to vilify Davison with a supplementary article about his uncle, Brendan ‘Ruby’ Davison, who was shot dead by a UVF death squad in 1988.

In line with the type of lazy journalism we have come to expect from some quarters, the article offered up inaccurate information to make the story fit.

More than 60 community organisations took out a fullpage advertisement in 'The Irish News' on the day of Jock Davison’s funeral in which they lambasted ‘the ugly narrative that has emerged from some quarters following his murder’

5 Jock's funeral took almost two hours to wind its way through the Markets area of Belfast

Another newspaper reported that Jock was in prison, on explosives charges, in the mid-1970s – as he was born in 1967, that means he was eight!

In contrast to the vilification heaped on Davison by the media, his funeral cortège took almost two hours to wind its way through the narrow streets of the Markets to the local memorial garden where a short ceremony was held in his honour. A former POW and friend of Jock, Patrick Fearon, delivered the oration.

As the remains left the wake house, friends of Jock, including a number of ex-POWs, formed a guard of honour while the Tricolour was placed on his coffin.

As a republican activist in the aftermath of the 1981 Hunger Strikes, Jock was imprisoned in Hydebank Prison and on release returned to active service.

During his years as an activist through the 1980s and 1990s, Jock earned the respect of those who knew him.

It was this same determination that Jock Davison brought to his work in the Markets community over the last ten years.

According to the statement signed by the community groups and printed in the media, Jock “took on the highly challenging organising role in a working-class community that suffers disproportionately from historic neglect and socio-economic marginalisation”.

That is how those who knew him will choose to remember Jock.

June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

I nDíl Chuimhne

All notices and obituaries should be sent to notices@anphoblacht.com by Friday 15 May 2015

3 June 1974: Volunteer Michael GAUGHAN (Parkhurst Prison), England.

3 June 1991: Volunteer Tony DORIS, Volunteer Lawrence McNALLY, Volunteer Pete RYAN, Tyrone Brigade.

4 June 1975: Volunteer Francis JORDAN, South Armagh Brigade.

4 June 1978: Volunteer Henry HEANEY, Long Kesh.

4 June 1991: Volunteer Danny McCAULEY, Tyrone Brigade.

5 June 1975: Volunteer Seán McKENNA, Monaghan Brigade.

5 June 1976: Colm MULGREW, Sinn Féin.

7 June 1987: Volunteer Margaret McARDLE, Belfast Brigade, 1st Battalion.

7 June 1990: Volunteer Seán BATESON, Long Kesh.

9 June 1979: Volunteer Peadar McELVANNA, South Armagh Brigade.

9 June 1983: Volunteer Dan TURLEY, Belfast Brigade, 1st Battalion.

10 June 1978: Volunteer Denis HEANEY, Derry Brigade.

11 June 1972: Fian Joseph CAMPBELL, Fianna Éireann.

11 June 1997: Volunteer Patrick KELLY, Laois.

Comhbhrón BYRNE; QUIRKE. The members of the Fr Murphy/Keegan/Parle Sinn Féin Cumann, Enniscorthy, County Wexford, extend deepest sympathy to Larry and Betty Byrne and family

29

on the death of Robert. We also send our condolences to James Quirke and his brother and sister on the death of their beloved mother, Mary.

Life springs from death and from the graves of patriot men and women spring living nations Pádraig Pearse 12 June 1993: Volunteer Michael MOTLEY, Laois.

21 June 1978: Volunteer Denis BROWN, Volunteer Jackie MAILEY, Volunteer Jim MULVENNA, Belfast Brigade, 3rd Battalion.

24 June 1974: Volunteers Gerard CRAIG, Volunteer David RUSSELL, Derry Brigade.

25 June 1973: Volunteers Patrick CARTY, Volunteer Seán LOUGHRAN, Tyrone Brigade; Volunteer Dermot CROWLEY, Cork Brigade.

Always remembered by the Republican Movement.

CLARKE, Terry. In memory of Volunteer Terry Clarke who died on 13 June 2000. From the Terry Clarke Sinn Féin Cumann, Clondalkin, Dublin GRAY, Kevin. In proud and loving

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

FÓGRAÍ BHÁIS

Joe McKenny County Down & Dublin REPUBLICANS, political ex-prisoners and Sinn Féin activists from across Ireland joined with the family and friends of Joe McKenny in Artane in Dublin on Friday morning to bid farewell to the lifelong republican and former IRA Volunteer who served 14 years as a POW in both Long Kesh and England.

A guard of honour which included republican former prisoners – many of whom served time with Joe in England – accompanied his remains at Fingal Cemetery after a funeral service at Our Lady of Mercy Church in Artane.

Originally from the town of Dromara, County Down, Joe was born in 1927 and grew up in a family steeped in republican tradition.

Both his mother Mary and father James were Volunteers in the local battalion of the Irish Republican Army.

Joe joined the IRA in the 1950s after witnessing first-hand the sectarian repression of the one-party northern state where Catholics and nationalists were treated as second-class citizens.

One of his enduring memories from childhood was encountering unionist neighbours on the street at night who harassed him while brandishing weapons as part of the notorious sectarian ‘B-Specials’ militia.

Suffering from illness, Joe was unable to join the IRA’s Operation Harvest of 1956 to 1962, but the frenetic events of the Civil Rights campaign and the repression of the Orange state in the late 1960s and early 1970s propelled him into full-time republican activism.

After meeting IRA Chief of Staff Seán Mac Stíofáin, Joe set about organising the IRA in the mid-Down area. Arrested in 1972, he spent three years in Long Kesh after being convicted of possession of firearms. When released he moved to Dublin and immediately reported back to the IRA there.

In 1986, while travelling in the North he was arrested again. He was flown to Paddington Green police station in England where police offered him a ‘deal’ to reveal details of IRA supply lines into Britain.

Joe dismissed the offer and was charged with providing materials to IRA units based in Britain. The evidence relied on a single piece of paper found alongside a timing-device which the British claimed was written by

Joe. Sentencing him to 16 years in prison, the judge described him as “extremely dangerous and dedicated”.

Joe remained in an English prison until the Peace Process in December 1996 when he was transferred to Portlaoise prison, and finally released in January 1997 – aged 70.

Speaking to An Phoblacht following his release on his time in prison, Joe said: “I was determined to come out alive. If you don’t have that attitude you go under. You either lie down or do something about it. I did something about it. I’m dammed if I’d let them beat me”, he said.

Joe continued: “I did my time one day at a time. I don’t regret one minute of what I have done with my life. I’d do it all again. Only I’d like to think I’d be more productive, more effective.

“I might not see a united Ireland in my life time but I’m glad I tried to bring it about. I support the Peace Process. It is undoubtedly the way ahead. Now is the time for politics.”

memory of our friend and comrade Kevin Gray, whose anniversary occurs at this time. Never forgotten by the Halpenny/Worthington/Watters Sinn Féin Cumann, Dundalk.

JORDAN, Francis. In proud and loving memory of Volunteer Francis Jordan, South Armagh Brigade, executed by British forces on 4 June 1975 in action in pursuit of Irish freedom. “Give us the future, we’ve had enough of your past.

Give us back our country to live in, to grow in, to love.” Always remembered by the Francis Jordan Sinn Féin Cumann, Jonesboro.

LONDON

Walking Tour

Irish Political, Historical And Social Walking Tour of Central London with Peter Middleton. Sunday 12 noon, 14th June. Meeting outside the Great Northern Hotel, King’s Cross Station, Pancras Road, London N1C 4TB. Please bring comfortable walking shoes. The walking tour should last approximately three hours and will end up in Trafalgar Square area. This event is free though donations to the London Easter 1916 Centenary Committee at the end would be appreciated. Contact: London Easter 1916 Centenary committee, Box 6191. London WC1N 3XX. Tel 07956919871. Email: Londoneaster1916cc@gmail.com

KILDARE

Wolfe Tone Weekend Festival

Including exhibitions, tradtional Irish music, family fair, stalls and food stands in Sallins, County Kildare on 20 and 21 June. The main Wolfe Tone Commemoration takes place on Sunday 21 June, assemble Sallins at 2.15pm. For full festival details: See page 19

CORK

Sinn Féin Summer School 2015

Baile Bhuirne, County Cork, Friday & Saturday, 26 & 27 June. See page 19 for details

DUBLIN

Centenary re-enactment of O'Donovan Rossa funeral and 'Fenian weekend'

5 The funeral of Joe McKenny leaving Our Lady of Mercy Church in Artane

Events on 1st August and over weekend to mark famous call to arms for the 1916 Rising. See Page 31

30 June / Meitheamh 2015

BETWEEN THE POSTS

www.anphoblacht.com

BY CIARÁN KEARNEY

SPORT FOR ALL

SPORTING ASSOCIATIONS have not taken a position on the marriage referendum in Ireland. However, even after the votes have been cast and counted, the time has come for sport on this island to take a stance on equality.

Earlier this year, inter-county referee David Gough planned to wear a rainbow armband at Croke Park whilst officiating at a National League match between Tyrone and Dublin. Gough’s personal gesture to highlight homophobia and the struggle for equality in sport (as well as his support for a ‘Yes’ vote) was vetoed by the GAA. Although the rainbow symbol is identified around the world with the

5 Donal Óg Cusack

Many highlighted the contrast between the GAA ban on referee David Gough wearing a rainbow armband at Croke Park and allowing the black armbands frequently worn by players as a mark of respect

LGBT community, the GAA branded the gesture as a ‘political act’. Following that episode, many highlighted the contrast between the ban imposed on David Gough and the black armbands frequently worn by players as a mark of respect. When a governing body assumes the authority to decide that something personal is actually political, a potentially dangerous precedent is being set.

Homophobia and prejudice still abounds in sport.

Recently, the results of a largescale research study called Out on

It is a responsibility of sport and sporting bodies in Ireland to be aggressively and proactively antidiscrimination the Fields were published. The study was overseen by a panel of university professors in the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Ireland. In total, 9,500 gay, lesbian, bisexual and straight people were interviewed.

The findings revealed that the United States was the most intolerant society of all those surveyed towards gay and lesbian athletes. According to the study, 70% of gay and straight Americans view homophobia as prevalent in sport. For those gay and lesbian athletes and players interviewed in America, 60% believe that they are “not accepted at all” or “only a little” in sport.

The study also revealed more about the experience of gay and lesbian sportspeople in Ireland.

Of those surveyed, 83% of gay men and 89% of lesbians said that they were subject to verbal threats of harm. The majority of those surveyed expressed the view that homophobia is more common in sport than in the rest of Irish society. It was also said by 82% of those surveyed that someone who is openly gay would not be safe spectating in a stand at a sporting event.

Among the recommendations to emerge from the Out on the Fields research study is a call

for PE teachers to receive training in spotting homophobia. Another recommendation suggests a programme of education to encourage straight sportsmen and women to support any of their peers struggling with their own sexuality within the sporting environment.

Part of the difficulty, however, is the sporting environment itself.

Social scientists have described sport as a social institution “which in its dominant forms was created by men for men”. More significantly, sport espouses and embeds culturally-defined values of masculinity such as toughness, aggression and competitiveness. Some may

argue that’s par for the course. Yet implicit in this is the gendering of sport in ways which have far-reaching social implications. Many overt examples exist of this process. How often now do we hear commentators or coaches talk about the need for players and teams to ‘man-up’? Whilst this may be dismissed as innocent and without intent, language is a valuable and powerful instrument of social influence. That is why verbal homophobic abuse in sport should be viewed as a weapon of harm and punished accordingly.

The positive value of role models in

sport cannot be underestimated. The fact that some of those role models such as Donal Óg Cusack and Diarmuid Connolly have openly come out as gay is a positive contribution to long-term change. Outside sport, other significant contributions have been made to the change agenda.

Remarks by former President of Ireland Mary McAleese in calling for a ‘Yes’ vote in the marriage equality referendum and talking about her son who is gay will hopefully help to reduce social stigma.

The ethos and environment within which sport is promoted must be predicated on equality and genuine inclusivity. That is not political. It is a responsibility of sport and sporting bodies in Ireland to be aggressively and proactively anti-discrimination.

Only then can it be said with sincerity that all the children of the nation are cherished equally.

June / Meitheamh 2015

www.anphoblacht.com

31

Great grandsons of O’Donovan Rossa guests of honour at famous funeral to be re-enacted on Saturday 1 August

PUBLIC URGED TO GET INVOLVED IN CENTENARY COMMEMORATION

THE O’Donovan Rossa funeral on 1 August 1915 is widely recognised as the call to arms for the subsequent 1916 Rising. This public spectacle of strength and organisation by the Irish Volunteers and other groups brought over 100,000 onto the streets of Dublin to watch the funeral cortege pass by on its way to Glasnevin.

On 1 August 2015, Sinn Féin will re-enact this momentous occasion with a full funeral cortege procession from City Hall to Glasnevin, where an Irish Volunteers tribute and the famous Pearse graveside oration will take place at O’Donovan Rossa’s final resting place.

A series of ancillary events including lectures, exhibitions, song and book launches will take part around the main event turning the August 2015 bank holiday weekend in Dublin into a ‘Fenian weekend’.

Bartle D’Arcy, National Programme Co-ordinator of the Sinn Feín Centenaries Commemorations Committee, says: “This event marks the beginning of our 2016 programme and we want to provide a memorable occasion as a fitting tribute to the original.

“Using a period horse-drawn hearse with Irish Volunteers outriders, uniformed marching guard of honour, pipe bands and guests of honour – the

great grandsons of O’Donovan Rossa himself – we also want to appeal to members of the public to join us in period dress for the procession.”

Assembling at City Hall square at 1pm on Saturday 1 August this year, the funeral cortege will move down Dame Street, through College Green, up O’Connell Street and around Parnell Square on the way to Glasnevin. It will arrive just after 3pm when the graveside tribute will take place.

The Cabra Historical Society and Claíomh re-enactors are practising drilling for the event and may be seen around the city leading up to the August Bank Holiday weekend.

“Come along and play your part in history this 1 August,” Bartle D’Arcy says, encouraging people to take part.

Period dress can consist of straw boater, flat cap, ‘granddad shirt’ and jacket for the men and bonnets and long dresses for the women.

‘Come along and play your part in history this 1 August’

For groups interested in taking part in this historical event, contact:

1916@sinnfein.ie

For our full 2016 programme, go to:

www.sinnfein.ie/1916

5 The funeral leaves City Hall, makes its way up Parnell Square East, and Pádraig Pearse delivers the now famous funeral oration at Glasnevin

5 The Fenian Brotherhood – O'Donovan Rossa's great grandsons Rossa Williams Cole and Williams Rossa Cole with Sinn Féin National 1916 Co-ordinator Bartle D'Arcy (centre) in Dublin discussing plans for the re-enactment of the famous funeral cortege

anphoblacht

www.sinnfein.ie/nationaldraw

NATIONAL DRAW 2015 CRANNCHUR NÁISIÚNTA

in

TOTA paid

R OVEhased

IZEyFtheUticND OF R P L currenc ket is pu

NEXT ISSUE OUT – Thursday 25th June 2015

rc

the

€/£30,000

32

IN PICTURES

photos@anphoblacht.com

Du

ar

Íocfar duaiseanna san airgeadra ina gceannaítear ticéid

a is

-c h is t e t h

Now with

MORE CHANCES MORE PRIZES 5 Despite the heavy and persistent downpour, drummers beat out a 'No to Austerity' message at the annual May Day parade in Belfast which saw thousands of trades unionists, workers and their supporters take to the streets of Belfast to mark International Workers' Day

INCREASED PRIZE POOL First Prize Céad Duais

€/£15,000

5 Mayor of Dublin Christy Burke lays a wreath at the memorial to those who died in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974 on Talbot Street , Dublin, on the 41st anniversary of the massacre carried out by unionist gangs in collusion with British state forces

+ 57 other top cash prizes Draw will take place on Saturday 17 October 2015 Crannchur ar an Satharn 17 Deireadh Fómhair 2015

Tickets available from: SINN FÉIN

5 Paul Maskey MP unveils a new mural at Rockmount Street, off the Falls Road, in memory of the H-Block Hunger Strikers and Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg, who died in English prisons

NATIONAL FINANCE COMMITTEE, 44 PARNELL SQUARE, DUBLIN 1

or

+ 353 1 87 26 100/932 nationaldraw@sinnfein.ie

TÁILLE TICKETS | OR

0 1 £ 0 1 €

5 Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD with Martin Ferris TD, South Dublin Mayor Fintan Warfield, and Dublin City Councillors Janice Boylan and Denise Mitchell campaigning for a 'Yes' vote in the Marriage Equality referendum