An Phoblacht September 2013

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A UNITED IRELAND

IS IT TRUE WE CAN’T AFFORD IT?

anphoblacht

Sraith Nua Iml 36 Uimhir 9

September/Meán Fómhair 2013

PRICE €2/£2

'Being a pregnant, unwed woman was almost a crime' CHURCH-RUN HOMES PROFITED FROM

STOLEN BABIES The Great Escape

H-BLOCKS SEPTEMBER 1983

GAA: Tackling the question

JACKIE CLARKE COLLECTION

TREASURE TROVE OF HISTORY

Photo: DTL

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2 September / Meán Fómhair 2013

anphoblacht

www.anphoblacht.com

IN PICTURES

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WHAT’S INSIDE 5 ‘Huge element of closure’ to family of Portlaoise prison officer killed in 1980s 6&7 Budget 2014: Don’t be fooled by Fianna Fáil, Soldiers of Austerity 8&9 National Hunger Strike Commemoration – Reigniting ‘The Flame of Freedom’ 12 Brú Buiséid le Trevor Ó Clochartaigh 13 Zero-Hour Contracts – Thousands on call 24/7 18 & 19 Ireland’s Fishing Industry – Fish and Polemics 20

5 Belfast Sinn Féin chairperson Bobby Storey chats to Sinn Féin representative Mary McConville at the unveiling of a new mural of Nelson Mandela in Belfast

Mollie Carroll – Flying the flag for Irish freedom 22 & 23

Report from Palestine – Teaching on the frontline 24 John Joe McGirl remembered 25 Martina Anderson – Irish fishing industry must be supported by the EU 26 & 27 Behind Enemy Lines: Upcoming book on the Fenians’ bombing campaign in Victorian Britain 28 Jack Crowe Memorial Walk and Cairde v Cancer 31 Robbie Smyth: Sky’s the limit for Irish soccer

5 Performers at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Guildhall Square in Derry. (below) Tura Arutura performs some traditional Sean Nós dancing. Originally from Zimbabwe, Tura now lives in County Down, he came to Belfast in 1993 and immersed himself in Irish culture and language

AN PHOBLACHT SELLERS WANTED

5 Seán Crowe TD meets Rula Al-Saffar, president of the Bahrain Nursing Society who was imprisoned for treating the wounded during the Bahrain uprising, Tara O'Grady who is one of the founders of the Bahrain Rehabilitation Anti-Violence Organisation (BRAVO) and Jalila al-Salman, Vice President of the Bahraini Teachers Association (BTA) who spent six months in prison for her role in the Bahraini Uprising

5 Members of the Mairéad Farrell Republican Youth Committee take part in the Volunteer Kieran Doherty 32nd anniversary white-line picket in Belfast

An Phoblacht is looking for more sellers at events around the country.

Generous commission for sellers or Sinn Féin cumainn.

Contact your local Sinn Féin organiser or email: sales@anphoblacht.com

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September / Meán Fómhair 2013 3

Former senator Pearse Doherty tells An Phoblacht why the Seanad needs to go

Equality, not elitism

BY MARK MOLONEY AS An Phoblacht goes to print, Sinn Féin is making final preparations for the launch of its campaign calling for a ‘Yes’ vote to abolish the Seanad. Finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty TD – himself a former senator – will lead the campaing under the slogan “Equality, not elitism – abolish the Seanad.”

During the Seanad debate in the Dáil chamber, Sinn Féin repeatedly called for the Seanad to be put before the Constitutional Convention for discussion. That did not happen and now the public has been left with the decision between keeping the upper house as it currently stands, or abolishing it.

Sinn Féin’s manifesto in 2011 clearly stated the party supports “abolition of the Seanad in its current form”.

“We’ve been very clear that we believe the Seanad in its current form has no role in modern Ireland and I was clear about this when I myself was a member of the Seanad,” Pearse tells An Phoblacht. “It is an elitist, apartheid system that belongs in a different era.”

‘In the last two-anda-half years, the Seanad has supported the Government on every single occasion, from the introduction of the Property Tax to cuts to disability benefits. The Seanad also backed the disgraceful Promissory Note deal which has cost the taxpayer €30billion’

He notes how – with its inbuilt Government majority – the Seanad has acted as a rubber stamp for Fine Gael and Labour’s attacks on working people: “In the last two-and-a-half years, the Seanad has supported the Government on every single occasion, from the introduction of the Property Tax to cuts to disability benefits. The Seanad also backed the disgraceful Promissory Note deal which has cost the taxpayer €30billion.”

The undemocratic nature of the upper house, with only a tiny percentage of the population being able to vote in Seanad elections, has long been criticised, yet nothing has been done about it by Fine Gael, Labour or Fianna Fáil in power.

“The right to vote in these elections is based on educational achievement,” Pearse says. “It is elitist. Only citizens who have graduated from a select number of universities, along

with city and county councillors, have a right to vote. That is wrong.”

He also hits out at the blatant cronyism of the institution. This was rife under Bertie Ahern’s government of which current Fianna Fáil leader Mícheál Martin was a high-ranking member at the Cabinet table.

The most notorious examples included short-term appointments to fill vacancies between Dáil and Seanad elections. These temporary appointments granted a month’s wages, unrestricted life-long access to Leinster House (including the members’ bar and restaurants), and free parking. In 2007, current Fianna Fáil General Secretary Seán Dorgan was appointed to one of these coveted positions, as were other close friends of then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

Pearse also blasts the hypocritical position taken by Fianna Fáil, who have announced they will be opposing the referendum on the

Sinn Féin wants REAL reform SINN FÉIN believes that real political reform of the Oireachtas is needed.

The party says membership of the Dáil could be made more diverse by the introduction of a partial list system in elections.

Sinn Féin also says votes for Irish citizens living in the North and the Diaspora in Presidential elections is important, noting that this is permitted in most other modern democracies.

And Sinn Féin wants to see speaking and consulative rights for Northern MPs and MLAs in the Dáil, coupled with a change in the Constitution to allow MPs to automatically become Dáil members.

Pearse Doherty TD basis that they want to see the Seanad ‘reformed’. This rhetoric rings hollow to Pearse, who bridles at Fianna Fáil’s posturing.

“Since the 1970s there have been 12 reports on the proposed reform of the Seanad,” Pearse points out. “Not one has been implemented.

During the 14 years of Fianna Fáil government up to 2011, when Mícheál Martin was in Cabinet, his party did nothing to reform the upper house.”

Urging people to turn out and have their say in the referendum, Pearse says: “On 4 October, people should vote to end elitism by voting ‘Yes’ to abolish the Seanad.”

‘Since the 1970s there have been 12 reports on the proposed reform of the Seanad. Not one has been implemented.

During the 14 years of Fianna Fáil government up to 2011, when Mícheál Martin was in Cabinet, his party did nothing to reform the upper house’

SENATOR

SENATOR

SENATOR

SENATOR

IVOR CALLELY

EOGHAN HARRIS

SEÁN DORGAN

MARC MacSHARRY

Expenses scandal

Rewarded for using his media position to big up Ahern

The weekend senator

Demanded recall of Seanad but went on holiday

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anphoblacht Eagarfhocal

anphoblacht Editorial CONTACT

Unionist leadership RECENT EVENTS on the streets of Belfast have been bad for politics and for the job of peace building and reconciliation on this island.

Those behind the violence are fundamentally opposed to the concept of equality and a shared society.

Sinn Féin has never faltered in condemning those, from whatever quarter, who use violence to undermine the Peace Process. It is time that unionist leaders were equally clear and equally forthright.

The challenge for unionist political leaders in 2013 is the same one they have faced for decades — how to respond to the demand for change in the North.

Incredibly, some within political unionism still believe in the slogan of ‘not an inch’ but fail to recognise that playing hostage to Orange extremists is the political road to nowhere.

There are clearly others within unionism who actually understand the import of the Good Friday Agreement and of the need to reach compromises, agreements and accommodations so as to build a truly shared society.

This year, as before, Derry City saw the Apprentice Boys parade without nationalist opposition because there is dialogue. The same city played host this August to Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, held north of the Border for the first time ever and attracting 430,000 people in what was a huge success for the city and the Fleadh.

Just a tiny number of loyal order parades in the North — out of many hundreds each summer — are contentious because the organisers, unlike the Apprentice Boys in Derry, will not talk to their nationalist neighbours who are directly affected by the parades.

Republicans have been very clear that we uphold and will defend the right of unionists to express their British identity. They need also to acknowledge the Irish identity of their nationalist neighbours and their right to see societal and institutional expression of that identity.

The upcoming talks to be chaired by former US envoy Richard Haass can succeed if approached in the right spirit. Sinn Féin wants to achieve a durable and sensible agreement on parades, flags and emblems and on dealing with the legacy of the past.

The DUP decision to sabotage the agreement reached on the future of the Maze/Long Kesh site is both politically and economically foolish. More seriously, it encourages those within unionism who mistakenly believe that they can turn back the clock to a time before the Good Friday Agreement.

The Orange state is gone. Most sensible people, North and South, nationalist and unionist, know this and welcome it. These are the people who unionist leaders should be listening to rather than a violent minority opposed to peace, equality or a shared society.

NEWS newsdesk@anphoblacht.com NOTICES notices@anphoblacht.com PHOTOS photos@anphoblacht.com HAVE YOU SUBSCRIBED TO AN PHOBLACHT ONLINE? SUBSCRIBE ONLINE to get your An Phoblacht delivered direct to your mobile device or computer for just €10 per 12 issues and access to An Phoblacht’s historic archives You also get IRIS the republican magazine FREE

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

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

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

AN PHOBLACHT www.anphoblacht.com

Vote ‘Yes’ to equality FOR IRISH CITIZENS who are unemployed, in debt and trying to find the money to send their children to school or college, the Seanad referendum is probably the last thing on their mind. But the referendum is important because the Seanad represents a blatant inequality at the heart of our political system.

The Seanad has primarily promoted political

cronies and allies rather than ideas or visions.

There can be no place in a real republic that is based on equality for an elected office to which only a tiny percentage of the population have the right to vote.

There is no defence that can be made of the Seanad in its current form. It needs to be abolished.

Vote YES on October 4th.

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

Community rallies behind young republican’s family

YOUTH COMMITTEE ACTIVIST DIES IN SPAIN HUNDREDS of people from across Belfast have come together in a show of community solidarity with the family of young Ryan Brady, who died in tragic circumstances while on holiday in Spain at the end of August.

A founding member of the Mairéad Farrell Republican Youth Committee, 18-year-old Ryan was found unconscious by police in a public park in Magaluf on 24 August. Officers tried to revive him but Ryan died before paramedics arrived.

In a spontaneous show of support

BY PEADAR WHELAN for the Brady family, on Monday 26 August, a massive street collection to help raise the £9,000 needed to bring Ryan’s body home was organised by members of the Mairéad Farrell Youth Committee, Sinn Féin, the Ballymurphy ex-prisoners’ group, community groups and activists across Belfast and with the input from hundreds of local people.

Ryan was an incredibly active member of the Mairéad Farrell group and was on the streets supporting many republican causes and raising awareness of issues such as the Ballymurphy Massacre. He marched against the G8 summit held in Fermanagh this year and was seen on pickets and protests supporting the oppressed people of Palestine.

Anyone wishing to donate money to help Ryan’s family should contact Sinn Féin Councillor Stephen Corr through any Belfast Sinn Féin office.

5 Ryan with Annie Cahill

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Son of Portlaoise prison officer shot in 1983 tells media . . .

IN PICTURES

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Meeting with ex-IRA figure ‘brought a huge element of closure’ THE family of Portlaoise Chief Prison Officer Brian Stack – shot in 1983 and who died the following year – said a meeting by sons Austin and Oliver Stack with a former senior IRA representative in August about what had happened and why “brought a huge element of closure for us”, Austin said.

The encounter came after what was described as “several productive meetings” since May between Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD and the Stack family.

Gerry Adams said after the Stack family held a press briefing on 9 August about the meeting that “dealing with the human consequences of conflict in terms acceptable to victims and their families is very difficult [but] a challenge which republicans will not shy away from”.

In the face-to-face meeting with Brian Stack’s sons, the ex-IRA figure acknowledged that IRA Volunteers did shoot the Chief Prison Officer at a time of high tension and institutional brutality towards republican prisoners in Portlaoise but it was an action not approved by the IRA leadership. The person who gave the order was subsequently disciplined, it was said.

The statement given to Brian Stack’s sons by the ex-IRA figure said: “I want to acknowledge that the IRA was responsible for the death of your father.

“I regret that it has taken so long to clarify this matter for you.

“This was a secret guerrilla army.

It kept no records of its military operations.

“During the 30 years of war, activists were killed, many thousands were imprisoned and leaderships at all levels were constantly changing.

“Reliable information is therefore not readily available and sometimes not available at all.

“The IRA did have rules and regulations, including a rule which prohibited any military action against Irish state forces. Regrettably, at times these rules were breached.

“Between the 1970s and 1980s there were prison struggles in Britain, the North and South. The prisoners resisted these harsh regimes.

“Prison officers were killed by the IRA in the North. These killings were sanctioned by the IRA leadership

5 Austin and Oliver Stack but none was sanctioned in the South and none was asked for in the case of your father.

“In Portlaoise, a brutal prison regime saw prisoners and their families suffer greatly.

“This is the context in which IRA Volunteers shot your father.

“This action was not authorised by the IRA leadership and for this reason the IRA denied any involvement.

“Some years later, when the Army Council discovered that its Volunteers had shot Prison Officer Brian Stack, the Volunteer responsible for the instruction was disciplined.

‘Dealing with the human consequences of conflict in terms acceptable to victims and their families is very difficult but a challenge which republicans will not shy away from’ GERRY ADAMS

“Those who carried out the attack were IRA Volunteers acting under orders.

“The IRA was responsible for your father’s death.

“This operation should not have taken place.

“While the IRA can no longer comment on this matter, let me express my sorrow for the pain and hurt your family suffered.”

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD said in a statement after the Stack family had spoken to the media about the meeting: “At the beginning of May I met Austin and Oliver Stack whose father, Prison Officer Brian Stack, was shot in March 1983 and died the following year.

“They asked for my assistance in seeking answers and closure to questions they have surrounding the killing of their father. I told them I would try to help.

“Since then I have been working with Austin and Oliver to establish whether the IRA was involved in their father’s death.

“Recently I accompanied Austin and Oliver to a meeting with a former IRA leader who had enquired into the events of March 1983.

“The substance of this is contained in the family statement and confirms that the IRA was responsible for what occurred.

“I want to pay tribute to the Stack family – to Sheila Stack and her sons, Austin, Kieran and Oliver.

“On behalf of Sinn Féin, I extend my regret at the killing of Brian.

“I hope that these recent developments will help them achieve the closure they have sought for 30 years.”

The Sinn Féin leader added: “Addressing complex and painful legacy issues is an enormous challenge.

“Dealing with the human consequences of conflict in terms acceptable to victims and their families is very difficult, especially in the absence of a process which provides for the voluntary participation of witnesses.

“Nonetheless, it is a challenge which republicans will not shy away from.

“This generation of republican activists who lived through and survived the war have a duty and a responsibility to do our best to help victims and families.”

5 Sinn Féin’s Mickey Brady MLA and Martina Anderson MEP meet Paddie Blaney, Director of the All-Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care in Newry

5 Jim Larkin's granddaughter Stella McConnon at the opening of the 1913 Lockout exhibition at the National Library of Ireland

5 Visitors to the Hunger Strike Exhibition in Monaghan – see pages 8 & 9 and www.anphoblacht.com

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BUDGET 2014 Don’t be fooled

by Fianna Fáil, Soldiers of Austerity IT’S A QUIET August and you’re sitting on the news desk at The Irish Times thinking how to fill tomorrow’s paper. A call comes in. It’s Michael McGrath from Fianna Fáil – their acceptable face, the one who wasn’t on the frontbench when they were garroting the state. He has a story. Fianna Fáil are now anti-austerity and want the Government to back off in this year’s Budget.

DO YOU: a Start slapping your hand against your knee, spring tears from your eyes and fall off your chair laughing, then say ‘Good one, who’s this – Mickey from Sports?’ b Say, ‘How dare you, how effin’ dare you – my son and daughter have emigrated, I can’t afford to pay my mother’s nursing home bills, the bank wants to repossess my house, and I think I’m about to lose my job here; c Offer Michael McGrath an inside opinion piece and start writing your front page – ‘FF calls for lower adjustment in Budget 2014’?

Well, we all now how that one went.

JOANNE SPAIN SINN FÉIN SENIOR ECONOMIC ADVISOR

TELL ME I’m not the only person in the country who picked up ‘The Paper of Record’ that day and used a string of swear words unprintable by any standard?

We in Sinn Féin are currently in the middle of our Alternative Budget drafting. Every year, we produce the most detailed, costed Budget alternative produced by any organisation on the island. We set a target – we show how it can be met by tax increases, savings in public spending and also how money can be raised to alleviate poverty and stimulate the economy, measure by costed measure.

We have opposed the Government’s deficit adjustment strategy every year since 2008.

Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour all agreed in 2009 that the deficit should be back at 3% of GDP by 2012/2013.

They moved it out to 2014.

The Troika moved it out to 2015.

The Budgets have tried to do everything too fast, full of the wrong measures and lacking in a complementary stimulus strategy. Sinn Féin always produced an alternative – at times matching the adjustment of the year, but with entirely different measures.

I know for a fact that Sinn Féin’s document is the most detailed document produced. Part of my job is reading all the other submissions.

From lists of demands to vague proposals that ‘have the potential to raise billions’, the majority of ‘alternative budgets’ that go to the Department of Finance are extremely poor.

Last year, Fianna Fáil had a go at an alternative budget. Now, to be fair, they had the Civil Service and various vested interest groups writing their budgets for 14 years, so last year was only their second attempt at doing it on their own. After it was printed, we put 10 of their costings into the Department of Finance – four of them were correct; some of them were just made up. €100million from a tax on high salt and sugar products? Even the lobby groups themselves didn’t put such an outlandish figure on paper.

Their cigarettes proposal allegedly came from the Irish heart and cancer foundations and Fianna Fáil claimed it would raise €100million. The foundations are advocating a .62cent increase in the price of smokes this year, saying it would bring in between €41million and €60million.

5 Fianna Fáil was the party that cut Child Benefit, introduced the USC and cut disability and carers’ payments Fianna Fáil’s budget was so full of holes a bus could drive through it.

And here lieth the reason . . .

Fianna Fáil has been out calling for an easing of austerity in this year’s budget. Has it anything to do with accepting the €28billion in taxes and cuts that have been inflicted on the Irish people since 2008 have taken their toll?

Is this Fianna Fáil, the party that started the attacks on Child Benefit, introduced the USC, cut disability and carers’ payments, and tried to cut the old age pension, realising that people and the economy can take no more?

Is it heck.

This is Michael McGrath sitting down with his abacus, chewing the end of his pencil and realizing — if we don’t want to annoy any potential voters and yet still produce something that looks vaguely like a budget submis-

TAXATION

Every year, Sinn Féin produces the most detailed, costed Budget alternative produced by any organisation on the island

5 Sinn Féin launches its pre-Budget submission in Dublin last year

5 A third income band and tax rate for high-income earners must be introduced

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September / Meán Fómhair 2013 7

MORTGAGE DISTRESS

5 180,000 householders are in mortgage distress

PROPERTY TAX

5 Michael McGrath’s Budget preparation Parliamentary Questions don’t add up to even €2billion, let alone the Government’s target of €3.1billion sion – I need the adjustment to be less.

I’ve seen his Budget preparation Parliamentary Questions. They don’t add up to even €2billion, let alone the Government’s target of €3.1billion.

Aside from some minor tinkering, one of his bigger proposals to bring in a few million is a tax on Lotto wins. Ah, Michael – you thought

We put 10 of Fianna Fáil’s costings last year into the Department of Finance – four of them were correct; some of them were just madeup trying to cut the pension brought strife? Wait until you tell them your taking some of their Winning Streak money.

Lest anyone be under the illusion that Fianna Fáil’s new-found call to the Government to desist from austerity springs from anything other than electioneering, pon-

der this — in Government, do you think Fianna Fáil would do anything other than what the current Government is doing in its budget submissions?

What has Fianna Fáil actually committed to reversing of the austerity measures they supposedly oppose?

A key commitment in Sinn Féin’s Budget submission this year will be to reverse the Property Tax. We opposed it, so we will find the €500million to abolish it.

Fianna Fáil sort of opposed it. They jumped up and down a bit anyway. They won’t be reversing it. At least not until the economy’s books are ‘in a better place’, and they’re trying to get back into government on a platform of abolishing everything that people don’t like, a la Jack Lynch in the 1970s.

Sinn Féin does not believe the Government should make a €3.1billion adjustment this year. The economy is on its knees. We are back in recession. 300,000 people have emigrated in the last four years. There are 420,000 people on the live register and almost 180,000 householders in mortgage distress. Businesses are still closing daily. One in ten children are living in consistent poverty. The harsh deficit adjustments year after year have lengthened and deepened a crisis that should have been fixed by now.

This has to be the budget that halts the hardship. A budget of more frontline cuts, of

5 A key commitment in Sinn Féin’s Budget submission this year will be to axe the Property Tax

water charges and other unfair taxes will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Scratch that. The camel’s back was broken a couple of years ago. This would be taking away its wheelchair.

In Government, do you think Fianna Fáil would do anything other than what the current Government is doing in its budget submissions?

That’s not to say there aren’t measures that could and should still be taken. Throughout the last five years some sections of society have been insulated from austerity. Politicians, for example – yep, they’re the ones who make the Budget decisions. They’ve had some minor cuts. Let’s face it, when you’re on €100,000 a year plus expenses, you probably don’t notice the odd aesthetic pay cut.

There are a range of tax measures which should still be introduced.

To have come through the last five years with only two tax bands and rates is remarkable. A third band and rate for high-income earners must be introduced. The costly tax relief regime, particularly for private pensions, must be dealt with. The state can barely pay public pensions yet it is still propping up an industry that lost a lot of people’s pensions during the crisis.

Nearly every representative body of people in the real economy is calling for this year’s adjustment to be less – from ourselves, to the unions, to IBEC, the Irish Business and Employers’ Confederation.

We are all doing it because it is necessary and a concerted pressure mounted on the Government just might pay off.

Fianna Fáil has added its voice to the call because it’s a party of career-driven cute hoors who would say and do anything to get their greedy, grasping claws back into power.

It’s our job to make sure the Irish people don’t get fooled by them.

5 Sinn Féin says it will identify €500million in savings to scrap the unfair Property Tax

EMIGRATION

5 300,000 people have emigrated in four years

JOBS CRISIS

5 420,000 people are on the live register

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8 September / Meán Fómhair 2013

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NATIONAL HUNGER STRIKE COMMEMORATION, COUNTY MONAGHAN

REIGNITING THE FLAME OF FREEDOM

BY MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA WHO SAYS the uncensored news of An Phoblacht is no longer needed?

In August, one of the largest political demonstrations of the year took place in the town of Monaghan. Thousands of people from all over Ireland and abroad gathered to reaffirm their demand for Irish unity and equality and to pay tribute to the 22 Irish republicans who died on hunger strike in the 20th century. The event was completely ignored by RTÉ and most of the ‘national’ media.

It seems that when summer schools feature ‘the great and the good’ regurgitating the conservative political commentary that proliferates throughout the year, then they are guaranteed media coverage. But even the alleged news shortage of ‘the silly season’ cannot induce the arbiters of current affairs to

You see, the spirit of freedom isn’t just a desire to be free, it also means acting on that desire, often in a courageous and selfless manner PAT SHEEHAN cover events such as those in Monaghan on the weekend of 2 to 4 August.

I was privileged to take part on the Friday night when the commemorative weekend began with a talk and dramatic re-enactment marking the centenary of the Great Lockout of 1913, and a launch of the book Lockout 1913 – Austerity 2013. The inimitable Jer O’Leary, actor, trade unionist and lifelong socialist republican, gave a reading from James Connolly and his famous portrayal of Jim Larkin, concluding with the exhortation: “The great are not great. The great only appear great because we are on our knees.

Let us arise!”

In my own contribution I stressed James Connolly’s links with County Monaghan, where his parents came from. The first use of the hunger strike for political purposes dates from the 1912-1913 period. In 1912, women protesting for the right to vote were force-fed in Mountjoy Prison. In the following year, Connolly himself and republican feminist Hanna Sheehy Skeffington were on hunger strike in Mountjoy after their arrest during the

Lockout and were released after a week.

After recalling the story of the Lockout I pointed out that it has left a legacy of resistance to injustice that endures to this day. We need that fighting spirit to resist the policy of austerity that has brought deeper recession, mass unemployment and emigration. 1913 showed that, with unity and solidarity, ordinary people can bring about huge change.

The spirit of freedom was the theme of the Feargal O’Hanlon Memorial Lecture on the Saturday night, delivered by former Hunger Striker now West Belfast MLA Pat Sheehan.

Again, the Monaghan link was strong. Hunger striker Kieran Doherty was elected as TD for Cavan/Monaghan in June 1981 and when he died he was replaced on the fast by Pat Sheehan.

Pat Sheehan said that it was the spirit of freedom and comradeship that sustained him in his time in prison both as a Blanket Man and Hunger Striker and later in a second term in the 1980s. He recalled an occasion in Crumlin Road Jail when he read an article by former Dublin Government Minister Conor Cruise O’Brien: “In his article, which was written in 1989, he said there was no prospect of Nelson Mandela being released from prison any time soon and that the apartheid regime would be there for another 20 years at least. The Cruiser could not have been more wrong.

Mandela was released in 1990 and was President of the new South Africa by 1994.

“So how did this supposed intellectual get it so wrong? Quite simply, he hadn’t factored in the spirit of freedom of the South African people and other freedom-loving people throughout the world. You see, the spirit of freedom isn’t just a desire to be free; it also means acting on that desire, often in a courageous and selfless manner.

“There is a message in that for all of us not

5 Senator Kathryn Reilly lights ‘The Flame of Freedom’ and gives a clenched fist salute

to pay much heed to the so-called experts, in particular the ones who tell us we will never see a united Ireland. They just don’t understand the concept of the spirit of freedom.”

That spirit was on display the next day in bright sunshine in Monaghan town as up to

8,000 people gathered for the National Hunger Strike Commemoration. The families of the ten hunger strikers of 1981 were all represented as well as many relatives of hunger strikers from preceding decades. Along the

The so-called experts, in particular the ones who tell us we will never see a united Ireland, they just don’t understand the concept of the spirit of freedom PAT SHEEHAN

5 Passing ‘The Flame of Freedom’ from 1798 to 1916

route, all 22 hunger strike martyrs, from Thomas Ashe in 1917 to Mickey Devine in 1981, were portrayed.

The route of the parade was an imaginative journey through the Irish struggle for freedom. Outside the 18th century Market House,

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September / Meán Fómhair 2013 9

5 Volunteer Kieran Doherty’s election campaign is recalled at the National Hunger Strike Commemoration

5 A history of republicans in struggle

5 Sinn Féin TD Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin leading the march through Monaghan Town

Irish pikemen of 1798 confronted English redcoats. 1916 Volunteers stood guard while the Proclamation was read on Market Street. On the North Road, ‘Operation Harvest 1956’ was revisited with freedom fighters stationed in a vehicle used during the period. A replica of a British Army checkpoint with armed British

with the Hunger Strikers and their families in 1981. We stood shoulder to shoulder with the Republican Movement leadership when they proposed and developed a new strategy to move our struggle forward, a strategy based on peaceful and political activism.

“But, my dear friends and comrades, as Irish republican activists our task is not only to

The greatest enemy of change is apathy

As Irish republican activists our task is not only to remember history but to make it

CAOIMHGHÍN Ó CAOLÁIN soldiers and young people resisting them brought us back to 1969.

Especially poignant were the re-enactments of the 1981 period with Kieran Doherty election leaflets handed out, a H-Block cell reproduced and a line of ten empty prison hospital beds recalling the agonising months of that tragic year.

The climax of the colourful event was the lighting of ‘The Flame of Freedom’, a large sculpture made by former political prisoners in an intergenerational project co-ordinated

by Fáilte Cluain Eois. This ceremony took place in Church Square where the huge crowd gathered for the rally.

The main address was given by Sinn Féin Cavan/Monaghan TD Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin.

His conclusion summed up the spirit of the day:

CAOIMHGHÍN Ó CAOLÁIN

5 Thousands of republicans took part in the National Hungerstrike Commemoration in County Monaghan “The greatest enemy of change is apathy.

Many people in Ireland are apathetic, they see little hope of change. But there is no shortage of inspiration in Irish history. There is no shortage of motivation in the political and social and economic injustice we see around us.

“Today we marched through the pages of our history. We stood shoulder to shoulder

with the pikemen in 1798. We stood shoulder to shoulder with the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army in 1916. We stood shoulder to shoulder with the Irish Republican Army Volunteers through Operation Harvest. We stood shoulder to shoulder with the risen people in 1969 in the north of our country and through all the years of the resistance that followed. We stood shoulder to shoulder

remember history but to make it. So let us make history by ending the partition of Ireland. Let us make history by reuniting our people and building a New Republic. Let us make history by fulfilling the promise of the Proclamation and truly cherishing all the children of the nation equally.

“Today we have symbolically rekindled ‘The Flame of Freedom’. Let us rekindle that flame, that spirit within our hearts and go forward from this place united in our purpose. Let us go from here, together, determined to achieve our republican goals.

“Ar aghaidh linn le chéile chun saoirse mhuintir na hÉireann.”

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A united Ireland – Is it true that we can’t afford it?

‘A ‘A unitary unitary state state would would promote promote administrative administrative and and economic economic efficiency efficiency in in the the island island by by ending ending duplication duplication and and separate separate planning planning and and investment investment programmes programmes and and by by facilitating facilitating integrated integrated promotion promotion of of investment, investment, exports exports and and tourism. tourism.

‘Natural ‘Natural resources, resources, oil, oil, gas gas and and minerals minerals will will be be developed developed for for the the benefit benefit of of all all the the people people of of Ireland Ireland and and could could make make aa significant significant contribution contribution to to securing securing the the economic economic basis basis of of the the state’ state’ THE THE NEW NEW IRELAND IRELAND FORUM, FORUM, 1984 1984

A SINGLE ISLAND ECONOMY MAKES SENSE test of time for all our people and failed to redress the industrial decline in the North.

Let those who believe in the case for partition make the case for its continuation. This must be free of misinformation.

It has been claimed that the deficit of the North is £10billion per year and the South could not afford the North.

This position is unsubstantiated.

This figure promoted by unionism includes costs that are solely associated with the administration of the British state, including England, Scotland and Wales.

These costs are estimated through a paper exercise undertaken by Whitehall civil servants and includes contributions to the Ministry of Defence budget, maintenance of the Northern Ireland Office, Bank of England debt and muse-

IT’S OFTEN SAID (and often glibly without contradiction by commentators or any real analysis), ‘We just cannot afford a united Ireland.’

Really?

Sinn Féin’s electoral rise in the early 1980s, with Gerry Adams becoming MP for West Belfast in 1983, has been described by historian Eamon Phoenix as “a shattering blow” to British Prime Minister Thatcher even after her trumphant return to power with a renewed mandate after the Falklands/Malvinas War. In response, the New Ireland Forum was established between 1983 and 1984 to bring together Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and the SDLP (and exclude Sinn Féin!) with the aim of developing options of constitutional change.

These options included Irish unity, confederation, and joint authority for the North.

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher unceremniously dismissed the proposals one by

Would our economy and our people be more prosperous in a single planned economy or with the continuation of partition? one at her press conference in 1984 that has become known as her “Out, out, out” speech.

Thatcher’s arrogance of the day was matched only by Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald’s impotence as he sat beside her like a scolded child.

Despite Thatcher’s rejection, the simple economic facts remain – and a single planned economy and public services on the island makes more sense than two disparate states.

Thatcher was a footnote in history and out of power when the Good Friday Agreement was struck and endorsed by the people of Ireland, North and South.

The Good Friday Agreement removed the British Government veto on constitutional change. No British Prime Minster could dismiss out of hand the issue of Irish unity. The agreement provided for a Border poll to be conducted North and South to determine the constitutional position and with Britain bound by the agreement to legislate for any change arising from a Border poll.

5 The New Ireland Forum The Good Friday Agreement provides a peaceful and democratic path to deliver an agreed and united Ireland.

The challenge for republicans – and everyone in favour of Irish unity – is to promote the case for reunification and to build agreement on a united Ireland.

The starting point for the economics of Irish unity is the simple question: would our economy and our people be more prosperous in a sin-

gle planned economy or with the continuation of partition?

While it may be claimed that the partition benefited the North and Britain with its large industrial bases, the past 40 years have marked the industrial decline of both Britain and the Six Counties. The shipyard, the mills and the manufacturing base have gone. The North is significantly more deprived than comparable regions in Britain. It is clear that partition has failed the

5 British Finance Minister George Osborne is holding onto alot of the figures

The £10billion per year deficit promoted by unionism includes costs solely associated with the administration of the British state, including England, Scotland and Wales ums and railway lines that operate solely in Britain.

The figures also exclude many types of taxes and revenue such as tax on the profits of British multinationals in the North who generate £6billion in profit from the North each year. At present no one can claim to have a definitive picture of the deficit in the North but we can be sure that the real figure is at least half of that quoted by unionism. It is time for the British Government to open the books and allow for a full examination of costs and taxes raised to allow for a full discussion on the economics of Irish unity.

At the time of the New Ireland Forum, German reunification was seen as an aspiration. The Cold War was continuing. Interestingly, throughout this period the West German Government continued to plan and build for unity. Within six years of the New Ireland Forum, Germany had been reunited. Despite the major economic challenge of unity, with aid from Europe and the

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5 The joint North/South ‘Project Kelvin’ data connection should provide greater opportunity to Derry

5 Irish unity would be an economic game changer and have the power to readdress economic weaknesses global community, after a period of significant restructuring the unified German economy returned to growth.

So the economics of Irish unity is not a simple exercise in adding together the sums of economies.

Irish unity would be an economic game changer. It would have the potential to readdress economic weaknesses, enhance public services, regain economic sovereignty and promote economic growth for the benefit of all our people.

At present, both the North and South are struggling to find efficiencies in public services.

Yet along the Border we have disjointed back-toback provision. On a national level we have dis-

The economics of Irish unity is not a simple exercise in adding together the sums of economies connected policies, programmes and ‘centres of excellence’.

Heath provides examples of where a better service can be developed by an all-Ireland approach. The new joint cancer centre in Derry will provide services for patients from throughout the north-west. No longer will patients from Donegal or Derry have to travel to Belfast or Dublin for treatments.

The same is happening with proposals to have one centre for paediatric heart surgery locate in Dublin. This will support the development and retention of skills and mean that children and parents in Belfast will not have to travel to Britain for life-saving surgery.

The design and delivery of public services on an all-Ireland basis makes sense and will deliver efficient and effective services.

The benefits of unity would also accrue within the economy not only through savings but by replacing the competition and rivalry between the two states for investment and trade with cooperation. With regard to trade, a unitary state

would create a level playing field for trade not dependent on the whim of currency exchanges or taxation differences on the one small island.

The economy of a united and agreed Ireland would still be a member of the EU and have access to the British market which, along with the United States, would make up our largest trading partners.

It would also allow for a single ‘Brand Ireland’ to be promoted free from the confusion and the wasteful duplication brought on by having different state bodies promoting Irish produce and products. They are being marketed against and competing with each other but can anyone tell the difference in quality and taste between beef raised in Louth and Armagh?

The same duplication, cost and confusion is also found in the seeking of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment).

5 The taxpayer in the North got stuck with John DeLorean’s bill and no lasting employment Infamously, John DeLorean pitted the North against the South in the 1980s to get the best deal. In the end, the taxpayer in the North got the bill and no lasting employment. The same happens today with development agencies IDA and INI competing to attract investment, separately offering more costly incentives and tax breaks. Yet these same companies treat the island as a single labour market and draw employees from across the island.

There are examples in which joint working and co-operation has delivered significant gains for all our people and businesses.

The all-Ireland body, Intertrade Ireland, has worked hard to tackle barriers to trade and promote joint working. Co-operation within thirdlevel research and development is high due to joint working of EU programmes such as the 7th Framework and the new approach being adopt-

5 At the time of the New Ireland Forum, German reunification was seen as an aspiration

ed by the Science Foundation for Ireland.

The landing of the joint North/South ‘Project Kelvin’ data connection at Derry should provide greater opportunity to a region that has long been neglected but the potential of this internet access should be promoted jointly for the benefits of all the people in the north-west.

For all of the benefits of co-operation, the Border remains and it costs business. It is a challenge at times to even make a call or connect to the internet along the Border without being hit by excessive roaming charges Co-operation alone will not realise the full economic potential across the island.

If we are to address the current economic crisis, North and South, we need a bold long-term

It is time for the British Government to open the books and allow for a full examination of costs and taxes raised to allow for a full discussion on the economics of Irish unity vision with a plan for all the people on this island.

We need to build the resilience and sustainability of our national economy The economic potential identified by the New Ireland Forum in 1984 still remains but the British Government veto is gone.

We now have the ability to address the economic weaknesses caused and perpetuated by partition. We need to remove the barriers to allIreland economic growth and to develop efficient and effective public services across the island.

We need to promote the case for Irish unity, for economic sovereignty and prosperity for all our people.

Partition never made economic sense and it never will.

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Le Trevor

Ó Clochartaigh

Athrú sa gclár ama don chaináisnéis le brú breise a chuir ar an gComhrialtas

Brú Buiséid lachtaí forbartha pobail i mbaol, laghdú ar líon na ngárdaí agus na stáisiúin ina n-oibríonn siad, tá na ciorruithe i gcúrsaí sláinte ag cur as níos mó do sheirbhísí sna pobail tuaithe agus is dócha go bhfeicfidh muid a thuilleadh de seo i mbuiséad 2014.

Tá seirbhísí tacaíochta pobail do dhaoine óga, daoine le míchumas, riachtanais speisialta agus sainghrúpaí go leor eile gearrtha go feirc le blianta beaga chomh maith. Is ar éigin Dé atá siad ag coinneáil ag imeacht ar chor ar bith. Tá cuid mhaith díobh ag rá go mbeidh orthu deireadh a chur lena gcuid seirbhísí má thagann tuilleadh gearradh sa mbuiséad seo.

Cloiseann muid cuid mhaith bladair ón Rialtas seo maidir le spriocanna atá le bual-

NÍ BHÍODH na díospóireachtaí buiséid ag tosú roimhe seo go dtí aimsir na Samhna, ach de bharr súil níos géire a bheith dhá choinneáil ag an Aontas Eorpach ar chaiteachas na mballstáit tá an bhuiséad tarraingthe chun cinn agus beidh sé againn i mbliana i lár mí Dheireadh Fómhair.

Níl aon dabht ach go mbeidh brú breise ar an gComhrialtas i mbliana de bharr na billiúin eile a bheith le tógáil as caiteachas Rialtais agus gur beag fuíollach atá fágtha acu le ciorruithe a dhéanamh. Tá amhras ann gurb iad siúd is lú atá in acmhainn íoc a iompróidh formhór an ualach — arís.

Seo an tríú buiséad ag an gComhrialtas seo.

Is beag tionchar atá le feiceáil ag Páirti an Lucht Oibre ar a gcuid céilí leapain i bhFine Gael. Tá baill parlaiminte an Lucht Oibre ag titim de réir a chéile ar cheisteanna éagsúla, ach d’fhan a bhformhór dílis is iad ag súil go dtiocfaidh borradh ar an eacnamaíocht le go mbeadh seans éigin acu teacht slan as an bhfaopach polaitiúil.

Ach, insíonn na figiúirí loma a scéala féin — 420,000 daoine ar an gclár beo — sin in ainneoin 300,000 duine a bheith tar éis dul ar imirce le cheithre bliana. Tá paiste as gach deichniúr ag maireachtáil i mbochtaineacht leanúnach agus fós féin tá an Rialtas chun €3.1billiúin eile a bhaint as buiséad na bliana seo.

Chonaic muid i rith an tSamhraidh cuid mhaith den tsean-chleasaíocht Rialtais maidir le cé na réimsi a d’fhéadfaí ciorruithe a chuir i bhfeidhm iontu — pinsin seanóirí, liuntas leanaí is araile. Is léir nach bhfuil náire ar bith ar Joan Burton maidir leis na cluichí bolscaireachta atá sí sásta a imirt agus í i mbun na roinne sin. An imní atá orm ná cé na ciorruithe atá sí sásta a chuir i bhfeidhm orthu siúd is mó atá ag fulaingt de bharr na gearchéime agus iad is lú b’fhéidir a bhfuil seans acu teacht as. Chonaic muid an chaoi ar dhírigh sí ar thuismitheoirí aonair agus daoine óga roimhe seo.

Cá dtitfidh tua Ruairí Quinn? Meastar go mbeidh suas le €46m de chiorruithe le déanamh aige siúd. Tá amhras ann go mbeidh ardú ar an gcoibhneas múinteora-dalta, rud a thiocfadh sa mullach go mór ar na scoileanna beaga má chuirtear é sa bhreis ar chiorruithe a rinneadh orthu i mbuiséid roimhe seo. Agus ní dócha go ndéanfaidh sé rudaí tada níos éasca do mhicléinn ó chúlraí míbhuntáistiúla chun deis a thabhairt dóibh freastal ar oideachas tríú leibhéal.

Maidir le cúrsaí tuaithe, tá ciorruithe beartaithe ar chursaí iompair, tá na comh-

Tuigeann an Rialtas an chostas ar gach rud, ach ní thuigeann siad an luach ar thada

5 Tugann agóideoirí carta dearg don Rialtas de bharr a gcuid polasaithe déine

adh ó thaobh an ‘troika’ de, ach le bheith fírinneach, tuigeann siad an chostas ar gach rud ach ní thuigeann siad an luach ar thada.

Beidh Sinn Féin ag cur malairt buiséad os comhair an phobail arís i mbliana, luath go leor roimh an gcáináisnéis le léiriú gur féidir na spriocanna atá leagtha síos a bhaint amach, gan an oiread dochar a dhéanamh agus le deimhniú gurb iad na daoine in Éirinn is mó atá in acmhainn a iompróidh an ualach is mó.

Ach, chomh maith le sin, beidh béim i bfhad níos mó ar bhorradh dáiríre a chuir faoin eacnamaíocht, le h-infheistíocht caipitil is araile a dhéanamh chun daoine a chuir ar ais ag obair, chun deis caiteachais a thabhairt don gcosmhuintir, rud a thacóidh le gnóluchtaí beaga atá ar a gcuid glúine faoi láthair freisin.

Níl aon amhras orm go mbeidh tuilleadh baill ag tréigeann páirtí an Lucht Oibre aimsir na cáináisnéise mar gheall ar an olc atá orthu nach bhfuil go leor dhá dhéanamh le gnáthdhaoine a chosaint. Is í an cheist atá ann ná cé mhéid díobh a imeoidh agus an mbeidh dothain acu ann le dochar a dhéanamh don gComhrialtas le go mbeidh athrú treo againn ó thaobh eacnamaíochta agus polaitíochta de.

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ZERO-HOUR CONTRACTS

Thousands of workers on call 24/7 with no guarantee of work or pay

BY MARK MOLONEY THOUSANDS of low-paid Irish employees are on call seven days a week with no guarantee of work and can have their shifts cancelled at a moment’s notice with minimal compensation.

Fast-food restaurant giants McDonald’s and Domino’s Pizza have admitted they are among a number of outlets who employ the majority of their non-managerial staff — the people who serve you at the counter or clean up after you — on what are known as ‘zerohour contracts’. In McDonald’s it’s 9 out of 10 people. Burger King are also using the contracts north of the Border but have not confirmed if they are in use in the South.

The news follows uproar in Britain where up to 180,000 employees are said to be used and abused in this way. In the Irish state these contracts are also legal but with some protections that do not exist in Britain or the Six Counties.

In the 26 Counties, zero-hour employees are required to be available for work for an agreed number of hours per week or when

The power of employers to use offers of work as a tool to reward or reprimand their staff can cultivate a climate of fear.

This also makes it difficult for any employees to take a case required. Under Irish law, if the employee gets no work in a certain week, then they should be compensated by either 25% of the possible available hours or for 15 hours, whichever is less. If the employee got some work, they should be compensated to bring them up to 25% of the possible available hours.

A major factor is that casual employees are not entitled to the compensation as they are not covered under the Organisation of Working Time Act. This leaves the system open to abuse as there is no strict definition of what a casual employee actually is.

In the North, employees have even less protection as they are not entitled to any compensation if no work is offerred.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) Legal and Social Affairs Officer, Esther Lynch, told An Phoblacht: “A bad idea spreads very quickly.”

Esther says the uncertainty as to whether employees will have any work in a particular week makes it difficult for staff to organise their lives, partcularly if they have a family or children.

“The employee could get a text message saying ‘You’re working tomorrow’ and then the person might think they have a whole day’s work but then find out they didn’t. If the employer says ‘Jump’ you have to reply ‘How

5 Burger King, McDonald’s and Domino’s Pizza have all admitted to using controversial zero-hour contracts in Ireland high?’ No matter what task or what time, the employer has them over a barrel.”

All the power is held by the management.

“For workers with children it’s very difficult to organise childcare at such short notice,” Esther points out. “It’s hard to have two jobs as you don’t know when you are working. It makes it very difficult to apply for another job because you don’t know if you are going to be able to turn up for the interview or not. You can be sure the type of employer who employs you on that kind of contract isn’t interested in helping you find other work. So there’s a lot of unfairness.”

She says the power of employers to use offers of work as a tool to reward or reprimand their staff can cultivate a climate of fear. This also makes it difficult for any employees to take a case.

“What employee in that circumstance is

going to put their head above the parapet?

Those who join a trade union find themselves without hours.”

The employer won’t dismiss them because

The number of people employed on zero-hour contracts has increased since the removal of the Joint Labour Committees then they would find themselves with a complaint but the employer is not breaking any law by reducing the number of hours offered.

Esther says many often assume that it is just

5 Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) Legal and Social Affairs Officer, Esther Lynch

5 Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton should publish the report into JLC reform students and young people on these contracts. That’s not the case.

“A lot of people take these kind of contracts in the hope that they’re made permanent. And that will be held out as a carrot. It won’t be explicitly said but people will know that the only ones who get full-time work will be those who go along with this type of contract.”

Esther adds that it is time for Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton TD to publish the report on the reform of the Joint Labour Committees (JLCs) which he has been sitting on since receiving it from the Labour Court in April.

The number of people employed on zerohour contracts has increased since the removal of the JLCs. When they are back up and running they may be able to offer guidance on the position of casual workers.

“It’s another one of these circumstances where you have rights in theory but not in practice,” says Esther. “During the boom times people could say ‘If you don’t treat me right I’m gonna leave.’ The crisis means people can’t walk into another job. So it’s only now that people are realising just how flimsy the protections are, particularly if you don’t have a union.”

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A treasure trove of Irish political and social history

PHOTO: JACKIE CLARKE COLLECTION

THE JACKIE CLARKE COLLECTION, BALLINA, COUNTY MAYO

5 Jackie Clarke began collecting in the 1940s

THE IRISH NATION will forever owe a debt of gratitude to Jackie Clarke.

A Ballina-based fish merchant and lifelong member of Sinn Féin, Jackie amassed one of the most significant private collections of Irish political history in existence.

The huge and all-embracing historical archive is a treasure trove of Irish history packed with artefacts, photographs, books, pamphlets and posters assiduously collected in the days of scrapbooks, long before the Internet, the World Wide Web, computers and social media.

Long-time friend and republican comrade Michael Fleming in Ballina recalled to An Phoblacht that Jackie was one of the first people in Mayo to have a cine camera as a dedicated recorder of Irish history. He was a collector who searched high and low for historical memorabilia, scouring the bookshops that used to line the Liffey in Dublin in the 1940s, only 20 years since the Civil War, Michael points out.

The entire collection of more than one hundred thousand items — from the United Irishmen to the 1990s — is a testament to Jackie’s commitment to Ireland’s social and political history and his solid commitment to the Republican Movement and Sinn Féin down the decades.

It is a must-see in Mayo.

OVER THE YEARS, a number of extraordinary private republican archives have come into being; generally due to the dedication of small groups of individuals. The Republican Museum at Conway Mill in Belfast is the bestknown and a fixture on the more informative tours in the city featuring ‘The Troubles’. The importance of the Jackie Clarke Collection in Ballina, County Mayo, is only now being realised.

Located in the west of the country, close to the resting place of two IRA ‘Long War’ hunger strikers, the rare foresight, energy and personal political commitment of its creator opened to the public in April.

Quite simply, Clarke, a Ballina-based fish merchant, amassed one of the most significant private collections of Irish political history in existence. With in excess of 100,000 items, it is also one of the largest. His inspiration is indicated by the major themes of the extensive holdings: local, regional and national political history. Ireland’s republican heritage from the United Irishmen to the 1990s is fore-grounded, reflecting his lifelong membership of Sinn Féin in which he featured prominently across the west of Ireland and far beyond.

Clarke was involved in the arrangements to inter Michael Gaughan in the Republican Plot in Leigue Cemetery in June 1974 following his sudden death from forcefeeding in Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight. Gaughan’s shocking fate when seeking political status led to the abandonment of the practice in England and contributed to the repatriation of four IRA hunger strikers to Ireland, including Gerry Kelly, now a Sinn Féin MLA in the Assembly.

Another Mayo IRA Volunteer, Frank Stagg, died on hunger strike in England in February 1976, prompting preparations to bring his body from Dublin Airport to Leigue Cemetery.

The seizure of his coffin by state authorities in Shannon rendered this impossible and he was buried instead under concrete during a funeral his mother could not attend. A resolution of this impasse was promised in August 1977 when Clarke chaired a major Ballina hunger strike commemoration. This duly occurred in November 1977 when Stagg was reburied beside Gaughan as per his legally-notified wishes. Clarke would not have endeared himself to right-wing elements for his stance on one of the most controversial episodes of the conflict in the jurisdiction.

Clarke had a discerning eye for acquiring

Many of the most significant artefacts and manuscripts pertain to the history of the Republican Movement

BY DR RUÁN O’DONNELL items of great rarity and fragility and purchased or otherwise gathered much documentation rejected or ignored by national institutions. Constraints of finance no doubt

Jackie Clarke Collection Ballina Public Library Pearse Street, Ballina County Mayo + 353 89 455 1896 clarkecollection@mayococo.ie www.clarkecollection.ie stayed the hand of state institutions at times, although the censorious political climate of the 1970s and 1980s may have encouraged caution. There is no equivalent of the Linen

Hall Library’s ‘Troubles’ archive in the national capital despite the obvious attraction of Ireland’s past to international tourists, academics and local citizens. If Clarke had also demurred it must be assumed that very little of the material he secured would reemerge from the scattered private sector.

Fortunately, the basis for optimism is now justified.

The National Library of Ireland’s acquisition of the Seán O’Mahony Papers has improved the general situation vis a vis state ownership of republican-themed documentation, although Clarke’s contains additional material which must remain in Mayo under the terms of the exceptionally generous bequest.

Commitment to the future of the region evidently informed this critical stipulation and work is now advanced on bringing it into the public domain.

While it remains unclear exactly what can be viewed and under what circumstances, the long-term survival of the collection is at least now assured.

Mayo County Council has made a significant investment in procuring the premises of a decommissioned bank, which has been renovated to accommodate visitors. Fittingly, the new location is down the street from the famed Salmon Smokery where the Clarkes attend to their family business in the former home of the priceless collection. A combination of permanent and temporary displays is

5 One of Jackie Clarke's scrapbooks on display at the collection in Ballina

‘The Long War’, including the 1981 Hunger Strike, is very well surveyed in the Jackie Clarke Collection

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5 The collection includes many unionist documents and artefacts 5 The collection includes thousands of digitised newspapers

5 A slide showing anti-H-Block posters at the Jackie Clarke Collection currently envisaged for the benefit of casual visitors and the potential for innovative formats remains encouraging.

The material in Ballina falls into several categories which would typically be held in different specialist repositories and museums.

This presents logistical and presentational challenges for custodians.

There are great quantities of manuscripts, maps, ephemera, illustrations, newspapers, correspondence, pamphlets, posters, magazines, books and volumes of cuttings dating from the 1940s.

A major constituent, the unique film archive, is separately housed in the Irish Film Institute in Dublin.

A cursory examination of the scope of the collection in Ballina reveals its national importance.

Sinéad McCoole, who has published on Ireland’s 20th century revolutionary period, has spent years organising the trove for viewing.

Certain characteristics have now emerged. Clarke prioritised information pertaining to the locality and few, if any, county libraries, can lay claim to a comparable original resource in this respect. The dire period of ‘An Ghorta Mór’ (‘The Great Hunger’), which devastated Mayo more than most counties, is well covered and in a manner that permits detailed analysis of once obscure and grim events. He expanded from regional to national focus and encompassing documentation from the Elizabethan plantations. Earlier

Clarke purchased the cockade worn by Wolfe Tone when disembarked by his British captors in Buncrana, County Donegal, on 3 November 1798 and a letter written

by Tone

5 Videos Jackie made of republican events are projected on to the walls of one room

5 Jackie Clarke's son John and comrade Michael Fleming speak to An Phoblacht at the fish shop which Jackie founded in Ballina in 1945

5 Councillor Gerry Murray speaks to An Phoblacht in Charlestown about Jackie Clarke

and some anomalous later items are also included, perhaps owing to fortuitous availability more than conscious inclusion in a defined collection.

The core of the collection pertains to the 1800s and 1900s, reflecting Clarke’s passionate interest in the development of Irish republicanism. Among the numerous newspaper runs is an almost complete set of An Phoblacht (the organ of the Republican Movement) from the 1920s into the 1980s. The suppression and confiscation of certain editions probably accounts for the occasional missing dates. Many of the numerous posters, proclamations and handbills are probably not merely rare but unique. While the 1916 and 1917 Proclamations are obviously extremely valuable, the fact that they were so many years prior to Clarke’s death eliminates a motive of financial investment. Clearly, the intrinsic social, cultural and political merits of such pieces were his paramount concern and Mayo and the country as a whole are now enriched in consequence.

Many of the most significant artefacts and manuscripts pertain to the history of the

5 An old poster advertises An Phoblacht

Republican Movement. Among the most notable is a letter written by Wolfe Tone in 1798, the year of the Great Rebellion. Clarke also purchased the cockade worn by Tone when disembarked by his British captors in Buncrana, County Donegal, on 3 November 1798. Tone had just taken part in a fierce sea battle on the French Navy’s Hoche, refusing the chance to escape to the Continent on a swift vessel. The collection also contains an autograph book bearing the signatures of numerous members of the First Dáil (January 1919).

Items on the IRA and Sinn Féin cover the bulk of the 20th century and it transpires that his personal curiosity had deepened in the 1940s when the IRA waged the ‘S-Plan’ bombing campaign in England and a sporadic insurgency in the Six Counties. ‘The Long War’, including the 1981 Hunger Strike, is very well surveyed in the Jackie Clarke Collection, a national treasure and living proof that ‘The West’s Awake’.

The dire period of ‘An Ghorta Mór’ (‘The Great Hunger’), which devastated Mayo more than most counties, is well covered and in a manner that permits detailed analysis of once obscure and grim events

• An Phoblacht would like to thank Mayo Sinn Féin Councillor Gerry Murray, Michael Fleming, and Sinéad McCoole and Anne Marie Forbes of the Jackie Clarke Collection in Ballina for their time and help.

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Joanne Spain tells her own heart-breaking story in one of the great scandals left in the history of Catholic Church-run, state-supported institutions – the mother and baby homes

STOLEN BABIES The next campaign for justice

BY JOANNE SPAIN TYPE ‘mother and baby homes’ into Google and what will appear is a litany of tragedy: Mothers seeking children; children seeking mothers; adoptee connect; search and reunion. All pages listing story after story of desperate people trying to find some truth about where they came from or where their children ended up.

One of the great scandals left in the history of Catholic Church-run, state-supported institutions is the mother and baby homes. Most people reading this will be aware of what they were but many people, especially under a certain age, aren’t.

Up to a certain point in the not-too-distant past, being a pregnant, unwed woman was almost a crime.

It wasn’t a solely Irish phenomenon. Secret homes for single women to have their babies existed in Britain, in Australia, in America, in Spain – in most of the world, in fact.

A lot of people in Ireland believe pregnant women were sent to Magdalene Laundries to have their babies. In some cases, pregnant women might have

Up to a certain point in the not-too-distant past, being a pregnant, unwed woman was almost a crime ended up in a Laundry and many women often ended up there after, but the majority of unmarried mothers were sent, or went, to mother and baby homes.

It’s difficult to put a number on how many women passed through these homes. Records are not publicly disclosed. This is part of the reason so many adopted people who want to know their birth parents are completely in the dark. They are reliant on either the religious institutions or the state to provide them with knowledge that should be theirs by right and it is either not forthcoming or painfully slow to acquire.

But we know that the numbers run into thousands upon thousands.

So what were the mother and baby homes?

They were places the women usually entered about six weeks before their due dates (or earlier if they were trying to keep the pregnancy secret), had their babies and stayed in for at least six weeks after but often longer. The homes were run mostly by nuns.

They were not some benign entity. Heavily pregnant women had to work right up to giving birth. The work was usually hard manual labour. They were

often denied pain relief in childbirth. The Light in the Window, by June Goulding, lists arduous, humiliating labour tasks for women who were treated like pariahs by wider society. No doubt not every woman experienced unkindness and no doubt not every nun acted with cruelty but there are enough stories to know that the mother and baby homes were not good places.

The most sinister aspect of these homes was forced adoption. Very few women, if any, who entered the homes left with their babies.

Society did not look kindly on single mothers and did not help them. And for the Catholic Church, babies were a cash cow.

Up to 1952, adoption in Ireland was technically illegal and not facilitated by the state. Placing ‘unwanted’ babies with non-birth families was the domain of the Church. But after 1952, the Church continued to carry out ‘illegal’ adoptions. Mike Millotte’s book Banished Babies alleges that 254 babies were adopted illegally to the United States from St Patrick’s Mother and Baby home on the Navan Road in Dublin between 1940 and 1970. The babies were sold.

The stories behind the adoptions are heartbreaking. Stories of women, breastfeeding, who woke in the night to feed their children and found the cot empty. Mothers were forced to dress their babies to be handed over to their new parents. Babies were ripped from women’s arms as soon as they were born. It sounds like a horror movie but it’s very real and it happened here.

Many of the parents who received adopted children, especially in the United States, were incredibly

Mary Lou McDonald TD

Former Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard

confused by the experience. Excited and happy to be adopting, some were handed toddlers deeply traumatised at the enforced separation from their birth mothers. Yet the adoptive parents were told by the nuns that the children were orphaned or abandoned since birth.

Even of the women who allegedly wanted to give up their babies, we have to ask, how many actually genuinely wanted to and how many felt they had no choice? How would a single mother in 1950s Ireland have raised a child without the father’s or family support and with nothing coming from the state? It wasn’t like now, where adoption is a long thought-out process, generally arrived at after options (and there are options) are considered.

My father was adopted in 1955. I know my father was deeply disturbed by the fact of his being adopted. He never knew about mother and baby homes and held the view that adoption was something a woman chose to do. My mother says that it was my

The majority of unmarried mothers – thousands upon thousands – were sent, or went, to mother and baby homes birth that triggered something in him – he looked at me and was filled with anger, confusion and sadness at how any mother could give up her child, at why he’d been given up. He lived a short, tragic life and died horrifically when he was 44. He died in 1995, before the stories of mother and baby homes, Magdalene Laundries and industrial schools began to be uttered aloud.

When I had my own children, I became filled with the desire to know what his story was. Had he been in a mother and baby home?

It took a long time and much pain-staking research to find anything out, and I was ahead of most people – I had his birth mother’s name.

It transpired my father had been born in 1951 in St Patrick’s on the Navan Road to a young woman from Leitrim. She had come up to Dublin to work in a hospital. Her story was tragic in itself.

The youngest of 11 children in a poor family, her father had died in a farm accident before she was born. Her mother died a few years later and she was sent to the nuns. Institutionalised for the best part of

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5 Joanne and her father

September / Meán Fómhair 2013 17

5 Joanne’s father Raymond Corcoran was adopted from a mother and baby home in 1955

5 Joanne with her daughter Isobel for the women who were incarcerated in Magdalene Laundries.

Earlier this year, Sinn Féin TD Mary Lou McDonald worked alongside the former residents of the Bethany Home in Dublin to try to establish justice for them. The Bethany Home was both a mother and baby home and an orphanage but, because it was for Protestants, it was left out of the original redress scheme for industrial schools.

The Government has denied the Bethany Home victims justice, by way of either a proper apology or redress.

There’s been no apology for Catholic mother and baby homes in this state. The Government no doubt fears financial redress might be required. For many

Women who woke in the night to breastfeed their children found the cot empty

her life, she ended up single, pregnant and in a mother and baby home.

But she defied the odds, for a little while at least.

After my father was born, she stayed with him until he was 18 months old, at which point she left St Pat’s and

For the Catholic Church, babies were a cash cow – babies were sold got a job. The records show she visited him every day and at the end of 1953 she took him out. At the end of 1954 – impoverished, alone and unable to cope – she brought my dad back to the orphanage and allowed him to be placed for adoption.

5 There’s been no apology for Catholic mother and baby homes in Ireland

She saw him until he was adopted in late 1955, aged 4. All he ever remembered was being given a snow globe by a lady and told it was very important he keep the small gift.

My grandmother defied society’s and the nuns’ expectations for as long as she could. There’s no imagining as to how horrendous it must have been to hand over a 4-year-old for adoption, for both her and my dad. Can you imagine his confusion when he was told this was his new mammy and daddy?

Earlier this year, the then Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, apologised to the women who’d been forced through the mother and baby home system there. The adoption rate for single mothers in Australia in the 1960s was 60%; in Ireland it’s believed to have been higher than 80%.

The last number of years has seen the mounting and successful conclusion to the campaign for justice

people, all that’s wanted is an apology and a right to information that may help reconnect them with a lost family or at least let them know the truth before it’s too late.

I’ve traced a lot of my birth grandmother’s history and talked to some Leitrim locals about her family before the 1950s. I don’t know what happened to her after that. I don’t know where she is, or if she’s alive.

She doesn’t know her son died. She doesn’t know she has two grandchildren, myself and my sister, or three great grandchildren, my children.

What I do know is that another man went to the village asking about the same woman, who was his mother, several years ago. The evidence points to this being my dad’s brother. My dad was an only child. His adoptive parents are dead. Yet, I might have a whole family out there looking for me as I’m looking for them.

The Health Service Executive won’t tell me if I have and the Catholic Church certainly won’t.

This is the legacy of the mother and baby homes and it is shameful.

Mary Lou McDonald told me that someone had once said “adoption is the only trauma in a person’s life they are supposed to be grateful for”.

As a society, we need to address the wounds of historical forced adoptions and give the birth mothers the truth and adopted people their rights. This will only happen when we lift the lid on the history of the mother and baby homes.

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» IRELAND’S FISHING INDUSTRY BY

ROBERT ALLEN

www.anphoblacht.com

Fish Polemics AND

A FISHY STORY has amused the media these past weeks.

It is fishy because it should be about fish.

Instead it is about the truth, the damned truth and statistics. It is also about the slant media put on current affairs.

The truth is no longer absolute, it is the truth we desire, not the truth that exists.

Ireland’s elite media has been a tool of industry since the 1970s. Despite concern by journalists like Vincent Browne about media manipulation, a newspaper of standing can do more damage in the public domain than the left-libertarian media with its advocacy stance and limited exposure.

Who to believe?

Those opposed to salmon farms insist the truth about the impact of sea lice on wild salmon stocks is out there and is damning.

Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), the Marine Institute, the aquaculture industry and The Irish Times insist that the statistical truth is still being debated.

Such a stance always benefits developers because it can be argued there is no absolute truth and it becomes a game of risk.

BIM — an agency under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, headed by Simon Coveney — wants to establish three giant salmon farms along the Atlantic shore. Opposition is fierce.

When the agency was established under the 1952 Sea Fisheries Act it was granted wide-ranging powers “conducive to the development of the sea-fishing industry or to the interests or convenience of sea-fishermen”. Its critics claim aquaculture should not be one of them because it is not fishing: it is farming at sea and detrimental to fishers.

Donal Maguire, Aquaculture Development Manager at BIM, does not see a contradiction.

BIM’s mission extends to all types of seafood: “There is a tsunami of demand for fish and the only way to supply this demand is through fish farming. Farmed Atlantic salmon, Irish farmed salmon, can fulfil this demand and create jobs and wealth.”

BIM has been promoting aquaculture since the 1970s when Dr Tony Meany experimented with a salmon farm in Little Killary in Connemara. Unlike the Norwegians and Scottish, who managed to establish the industry, Irish fish farming ran into difficulties.

Parasites destroyed 95% of salmon smolt in the hatcheries. Bathing the fish in a brine bath solved this particular problem. But the real problem lay at sea where escaping lice from

salmon farms were taken up by wild salmon and sea trout. Anglers accused the aquaculture industry over the collapse of sea trout during the rod licence dispute in the early 1980s.

This contentious opposition resulted in a European Court of Justice ruling in December 2007 when Ireland was told it was in breach of the Birds and Habitats directives. The state had to prove there was no significant impact from aquaculture on protected areas and species.

The BIM application for a ‘super fish farm’ off Galway Bay is the consequence. “The major players were avoiding Ireland because of the difficulty of getting an aquaculture licence,” said Maguire. “With our difficult history, it was decided to use our technical expertise and start an advance factory with the state making the investment, then seek tenders from qualified operators to operate it, putting in place conditions for processing near the source.”

Maguire accepts the challenges from angling, conservation and environmental

groups, and he acknowledges the concerns from anglers, but he also believes there is a lot of noise and no substance to many of the arguments.

“We are not going to put anything out that we can’t stand over. Their sport is not threatened by this but it is difficult for them to see that. Salmon angling is only a fraction of the total and I’m expecting there will be no impact on wild salmon stocks.”

Aquaculture or politics?

In a way this issue is not about aquaculture. It is about politics, specifically the politics of government. Ministers of state are elected to make informed decisions and bureaucrats are mandated to implement them. Instead, a crazy political scenario has evolved.

For the indigenous groups opposed to the salmon farms the real issue is obvious. To readers of The Irish Times and other elite media it is being presented as the politics of conflict, one belief system against another,

one ideology against another, one political paradigm against another, one set of statistics against another. The truth is simpler.

Inland Fisheries Ireland are a division in the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, headed by Fergus O’Dowd.

They take conservation very seriously.

Harvest of wild salmon is only allowed on fisheries with a surplus of fish over a specified conservation limit. This year, 58 rivers are open for salmon (and sea trout), 33 are open for catch and release, and 59 are closed.

Careful management has reversed the decline in salmon stocks. Recent reports indicate that salmon returning to Irish waters are in very good condition and range in size from one to twelve kilos with an average weight of around 2.7kg. Suzanne Campion, Head of Business Development at IFI, is adamant that “survival at sea remains the greatest threat to [wild] salmon today”.

IFI support sustainable aquaculture but it is their role to conserve and protect wild salmon and sea trout and, if necessary, prosecute anyone, including state agencies, who transgress-

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5 The fear is that Ireland will go down in history as the nation that wiped out all the wild salmon in Europe

5 A 1% escape of farm salmon from the Galway farm would devastate wild salmon already affected by sea lice

es. Their submission to the environmental impact statement for BIM’s Galway farm effectively said ‘start smaller, be prudent, and look at all the science’.

The real fear is that Ireland will go down in history as the nation that wiped out all the wild salmon in Europe if these giant farms are built and the worst scenarios occur. A 1% escape of farm salmon from the Galway farm would devastate wild salmon already affected by sea lice. A precautionary approach and a sustainable policy would allay that fear.

The aquaculture industry appears to share that belief. In August, 15 companies who farm salmon launched the Global Salmon Initiative.

This will focus on biosecurity (the impact of sea lice), sourcing sustainable feed and meeting industry standards. Marine Harvest, who are expected to tender for the Galway farm, are among the 15.

Within days of each other in July, BIM and IFI published reports.

BIM announced a five-year strategy to deliver 1,200 jobs and €1billion seafood sales in the aquaculture industry. BIM Chair Kieran Calnan said farmed salmon was the key growth area: “Sustainable fish farming, when regulated and managed correctly, provides valuable employment, investment and revenue.”

IFI announced that angling was worth €750million to the economy and supported 10,000 existing jobs in peripheral coastal and rural areas. Fergus O’Dowd said the protection

of this resource was essential. Dr Ciarán Byrne, CEO of IFI, said: “Clearly, fish stocks and fish habitat must be conserved, protected and developed. Angling businesses must be given every opportunity to win business and secure and grow the jobs within the sector. IFI is committed to these goals and together with our stakeholders and the support of government, state agencies and a new angling marketing and development plan we will achieve them.”

Internecine issues Following these reports and the ongoing controversy about sea lice, the internecine issues between BIM and IFI have come into the open, not least because the elite media has highlighted the potential conflict. Certain media find it amusing to drive a wedge between the two agencies when ultimately all that will do is confuse the issue until someone sits everyone down and plots a happy political compromise.

No one is holding their breath because no quarter is being given.

Fisher Kieran O’Shea, Chair of Save Bantry Bay, said it was a nonsense to suggest that BIM’s strategy is sustainable environmentally or economically.

“The detriment to the environment caused by salmon farming is well known, and putting small locally-owned businesses at risk to ben-

5 Aquaculture Development Manager Donal Maguire efit a single multinational is ludicrous. Remote communities that rely on inshore fishing and tourism could be destroyed. I am a third-generation fisherman, currently awaiting a decision on a proposed salmon farm that would certainly affect my business. It is not just my living at risk but my heritage.”

This is the risk the Government is being asked to take. Twenty years ago, the people of the West besieged their bishops, demanding something be done to prevent the collapse of their communities. ‘Saving the West’ shamed the politicians into action. One of the consequences of that campaign has been the knock-on effect to local economies of putting salmon and trout back in cleaner rivers.

Alan Molloy of ‘No Salmon Farms At Sea’ said IFI need investment to develop and market their sector.

“In their aspiration to generate a billion and 1,200 jobs, BIM are trying to predict the future, whereas the jobs created by angling are an historical fact, jobs that could be jeopardised by irresponsible aquacultural development.”

Strategies Both sides believe that people with personal agendas are driving these issues. Those who

fund the international opposition certainly have agendas. The people who work in BIM and IFI would not be human if they did not plot survival strategies. If agendas do exist, the Government must make a rational decision.

The opposition to Irish aquaculture want the farms placed further out at sea or put in closed containment systems on land. They favour one state department with control over all fishing and the licensing role being given to an autonomous agency.

BIM insist that the technology doesn’t exist to grow large volumes of fish in salt water on land and it is too dangerous to place farms in the turbulent Atlantic. The Galway farm, if built, will be located to the leeward side of the Arans, where temperature, water exchange and shelter are perfect for fish farming and not perfect for wild salmon.

Ultimately, the Government must take the available information about the intricacies of aquaculture and angling, and work out a political strategy that will benefit both local industry and corporate industry, and deliver jobs, profits and revenue in equal measure.

This has now become the task of people who are not paid to deliver economic and political solutions. ‘No Salmon Farms at Sea’ are in Brussels to lobby informed MEPs and the Commission. Europe’s salmon rivers are protected by EU legislation. They plan to press this and other salient points. And they might have found a loophole. When they return they will look at contesting the next round of elections while preparing a legal case, which will likely challenge BIM’s Galway EIS and other issues.

Donal Maguire is unmoved by these actions.

“We are not going to displace one economy activity with another. Long-term jobs will be created. Marine Harvest Ireland have been employing people for 35 years. The Marine Institute did ten years’ research and this conviction about sea lice, whether from farms or naturally occurring, is not supported by the research.”

These truths are disputed except one, elegantly put by Galway’s Walter Macken in his Brown Lord of the Mountain novel, ironically centred on salmon poaching in Connemara.

“You cannot hide real events and call them by another name, because men are not fools.”

No one involved is amused by this fishy story. Each believes truth will out.

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1920: Washington women’s ingenuity riles Britain’s Ambassador and the White House

Mollie Carroll FLYING THE FLAG FOR FREEDOM

BY MARK MOLONEY EASTER 1920: Groups of IrishAmerican women take to the streets of US cities in support of Irish freedom and to commemorate the Easter Rising of 1916. A novel protest at the British Embassy in Washington led by Mollie Carroll would become a world first and make front-page news across the globe.

On 3 April 1920, the Milwaukee Journal reported: “Vivacious Ireland, in the guise of a dozen pretty Irish-American women, Friday stormed imperturbable England in the heart of Washington when the women, carrying placards that told of Ireland’s

The Secretary to the US President told the British they would take ‘effective measures’ in future to prevent the demonstrations

wrongs, picketed the sidewalks in front of the British Embassy.”

US police officers whose “appearance and brogue” led the reporter to believe they were “sympathetically inclined” looked on from across the street as the women marched outside and attempted to gain entry to the building while carrying banners condemning Britain’s reign of terror in Ireland.

One of the women, Kathleen Sheehan, “succeeded in pressing some Sinn Féin literature on a bewildered footman at the back door of the embassy, having been repulsed at the front portal”.

Two Connecticut women opposed to Irish independence attacked one of the picketers and destroyed her placard at the front gate before they were arrested. The Journal reports that “embassy staff

5 Protesters picket the British Embassy in Washington during Easter Week 1920

5 Democratic Party Governor Albert Cabell Ritchie is believed to have provided the plane invited Miss Mollie Carroll, the prettiest of the pickets, in for a cup of tea”.

The Secretary to the US President informed the British that they regretted the protest at the embassy and would take “effective measures” in future to prevent the demonstrations. Mollie Carroll, a stage actress and singer based in New York, was defiant: “The thought of arrest makes no difference in our plans, and if soldiers come it will be an easy matter to

climb the fence into extra-territorial territory and force England to recognise us at least.

“Our primary objective in coming to Washington now is in the hope of getting some action from the United States Government that will prevent a massacre in Ireland.”

The women continued their pickets on 4 April, Good Friday, to “call attention that Ireland was being crucified”. The next day, police informed the protesters that they had 15 minutes to leave. The women refused to do so and Mollie and another woman, Mary Walker, were arrested and taken to a local police station although released shortly afterwards. Coupled with the statements by the US Government, it was

5 Mollie Carroll’s sensational protest action made the front page of many US newspapers

announced the pickets would cease – but Mollie Carroll had a trick up her sleeve, one that would sensationally grab the headlines.

Flying magazine reported: “Picketing the British Embassy by aeroplane was the newest strategy adopted this afternoon by the women who have been conducting a spectacular propaganda campaign in Washington for the last five days for the cause of Irish freedom.”

It is believed that the plane used by Carroll was provided and financed by Democratic Party Governor Albert Cabell Ritchie, who had been a longtime supporter of the establishment of an independent Irish republic.

The flight was a dramatic feat, not least because it occurred at a time

when civic aviation was in its infancy and the general public were not yet ready to put their confidence in its safety.

Flight magazine said Carroll resorted to using the plane to drop

Mollie Carroll had a trick up her sleeve, one that would sensationally grab the headlines leaflets after “it became apparent that the police intended to make arrests as rapidly as the women appeared on the ground about the embassy”. After obtaining the aircraft in Maryland, Mollie flew over the British Embassy, the US State Department and Capitol Hill, dropping literature “in the interest of the Irish cause”.

Her actions made the front pages of many newspapers, including The Washington Herald, which ran with the headline “Picketer scatters Irish protests from airplane” and told how Mollie “outwitted the police who had been instructed to prevent further ‘insulting’ of attachés of the British Embassy”.

Following the flight, the women resumed their pickets with several of them later arrested.

Patsy Peril of Limerick City, who provided An Phoblacht with much of the information on Mollie, says with the anniversary of the Easter Rising approaching, it is time Mollie Carroll and her compatriots are recognised and given their proper place in history.

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September / Meán Fómhair 2013 21

“We perceived the escape as a military operation from beginning to end. It could not have been achieved in any other way, and the Active Service Unit – as Volunteers of the Irish Republican Army – were under strict orders throughout from an operations officer whose judgement was crucial and whose every order had to be obeyed.”

5 The food lorry used by IRA prisoners in the Long Kesh escape

The Great Escape from the H-Blocks TWO YEARS after the epic 1981 HBlock Hunger Strike in which ten young republicans died, there was another epic event at Long Kesh that dealt a huge blow to the Thatcher regime in Ireland. This was the escape of 38 IRA prisoners from HBlock 7 on Sunday 25 September 1983.

At 2:15pm that day, three prisoners, carrying concealed pistols fitted with silencers and which had been smuggled into the prison, moved into the central administration area of H-Block 7 on the pretext of cleaning out a store. They were joined by four others who took up key positions covering prison officers (or ‘Screws’, as the prisoners called them) stationed beside alarm buttons. Brendan ‘Bik’ McFarlane (IRA Officer Commanding in the HBlocks during the Hunger Strike) was allowed through two locked grilles on cleaning duties; his job was to arrest the prison officer there.

When a signal was given, the IRA prisoners overpowered and arrested all the Screws, whose uniforms were then donned by a number of the prisoners. Complete control of HBlock 7 was gained when ‘Bik’ McFarlane, with two prisoners dressed as Screws, arrested the officer on duty at the front gate enclosure. When the food lorry arrived, 37 prisoners climbed into the back while the 38th lay on the floor of the cab, covering the driver with a gun.

The food lorry was then driven through a series of security gates in

BY MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA

where others were coming on and off duty; the escapers could not control them all and the alarm was raised.

Now unable to use the lorry, the prisoners made a dash for freedom across the fields, some of them commandeering vehicles. Of the 38 prisoners who broke out, 19 were recaptured but 19 got clean away.

In an interview in An Phoblacht/Republican News at the time, the IRA described the escape: “We perceived the escape as a military operation from beginning to end. It could not have been achieved in any other way, and the Active Service Unit – as Volunteers of the Irish Republican Army – were under strict orders throughout from an operations officer whose judgement was crucial and whose every order had to be obeyed.”

A number of the 19 escapers later died on active service with the IRA while others were extradited back to prison in the Six Counties. The escape remains one of the most significant IRA operations of the entire conflict. Thatcher described it as “the gravest in our prison history”. Lord Colville, a senior British judicial figure, had to admit: “One cannot fail to admire the competence of an organisation which enables the prisoners of war to bring to fruition an escape plan which, apart from last-minute calamities, was largely successful.”

The H-Block escape took place 30 years ago this month.

Remembering

full view of prison guards and British Army watchtowers. (The use of the food lorry led to the most memorable wall slogan celebrating the escape: “Open up the Long Kesh gate – Meals on wheels for 38!”)

The lorry arrived at a first ‘tally hut’, where the plan was to take control, arrest all the Screws, leave prisoners in charge and drive the lorry on to the front gate ‘tally hut’ and then out of the prison to freedom. However, there was a larger number of Screws than anticipated at the first hut,

the

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Belfast teacher and Sinn Féin Councillor David Bell on his time in the education frontline

LEARNING TEACHING PALESTINE FROM

IN

THE cause of the people of Palestine is dear to the heart of teacher and Belfast Sinn Féin Councillor DAVID BELL. As well as campaigning at home in Ireland, David has been working on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank. He recently spent a month living and working in Fawwar Refugee camp, just outside of Hebron, with several other volunteers from Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales for the London-based charity, UNIPAL (Universities’ Trust for Educational Exchange with Palestinians).

UNIPAL provides English-language teaching in

Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon while giving teachers direct knowledge and understanding of the situation and daily lives of refugees in exchange.

The people of Gaza are still struggling to recover from the Israeli military onslaught and air raids of last November while the West’s favourite friend in the Middle East maintains a stranglehold on their economy and basic services through an illegal blockade.

David told An Phoblacht something of his experiences.

WAS TEACHING English to the children in the morning from 8:30am to 12noon in the United Nations school and in the afternoon I was teaching university students in Hebron City. I also taught classes in drama and art.

5 Israeli troops arrest a child near the Fawwar Refugee camp just outside Hebron City

I felt a wide range of emotions throughout my stay.

It was amazing and so encouraging to see how the people were not down in spirits despite their circumstances. The children’s eagerness to learn, their love of life and the hospitality of the people there was an amazing thing to see and experience.

The living conditions, however – poverty, discrimination from the occupying forces, and the heartbreak of those who have lost loved ones through the conflict – were at times soul destroying.

Through teaching in the schools and university I encountered pupils with so much talent and ability. There was no shortage of artistic flair, ambition or want of an education.

I was privileged to be allowed to paint a mural in the boys’ school with the students.

Unfortunately, given the circumstances of occupation, many of these children and students will not have the same opportunities as young people in other places do.

Our group’s own living conditions were the same as those of the refugees in the camp. We

One in three Palestinians living in the West Bank are refugees with the figure being higher than seven out of ten in the Gaza Strip had the basics, such as a mattress on the floor to sleep on, a fridge, a few chairs and a hole in the ground for a toilet, and a shower.

These are the conditions people are forced to live in topped off with water shortages and power cuts on a regular basis.

The Israeli military (IDF – Israeli Defence

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Forces) and Israeli settlers live in close proximity to the refugees. Around one in three Palestinians living in the West Bank are refugees with the figure being higher than seven out of ten in the Gaza Strip.

There are confrontations between the IDF, settlers and Palestinians on a regular basis due to continued Israeli raids in areas that are supposed to be under the control of the Palestinian Authority. As a result, while we were in the region, three Palestinians lost their lives.

NE YOUNG MAN who lived in the town of Dura, next to our camp, was shot dead. As a result, the community in our camp, where much of the young man’s family live, was devastated.

The young man engaged in stone throwing after the IDF raided his family home.

The soldiers then opened fire with live ammunition, justifying this act of brutality and murder as a ‘crowd control’ measure. Actions like this happen on a regular basis and are rarely reported on by the Western media.

The effect that ‘the Wall’ (the infamous ‘Separation Wall’ or ‘Apartheid Wall’) the Israelis have constructed is also clear to see.

We visited Bethlehem where we saw firsthand the division created.

A Palestinian ambulance driver told us of how on a number of emergency calls it took them over an hour to reach a destination to treat someone when previously it had only taken five to ten minutes.

This is also as a result of the numerous IDF checkpoints where, on more than one occasion, soldiers took over a half an hour to search the ambulance. Lives have been lost because of these reckless and callous actions.

On another occasion we spoke to a Palestinian ex-prisoner who spent 17 years interned in an Israeli prison. He was arrested solely on ‘suspicion’ and never charged. We here in Ireland know what actions such as

We spoke to a Palestinian ex-prisoner who spent 17 years interned in an Israeli prison – he was arrested solely on ‘suspicion’ and never charged internment cause and this is unfortunately still happening in Palestine on a huge scale. Many political prisoners are now on hunger strike, being force fed and abused by their captors.

As an activist I believe I have a responsibility to highlight such injustices to the world and to my community when they happen. The world needs to open its eyes if we are to make a positive change in Palestine and to make equality a reality.

These are just a few of the injustices I witnessed in Palestine in both Gaza and the West Bank. It was when the international community took action that the apartheid regime in South Africa was broken. This is what needs to happen in Palestine and it needs to happen sooner rather than later.

“Be the change that you want to see in the world” – Ghandi

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25th anniversary commemoration of IRA and Sinn Féin leader

John Joe McGirl

A MUCH-LOVED FIGURE WHO CONTINUES TO INSPIRE JOINT First Minister Martin McGuinness told the annual John Joe McGirl commemoration in Ballinamore, County Leitrim, on Sunday 18 August – the 25th anniversary that John Joe “was, and remains for republicans, not just here in Leitrim, or the Border, but across our country, an inspirational leader”.

5 John Joe McGirl was an inspirational leader to republicans across Ireland

Attended by over 400 people, the commemoration ceremony was preceded by a parade through the town led by the Mountain Road pipe band from Fermanagh.

Ballinamore native John Joe McGirl, who died in 1988, was a senior and influential republican leader over many decades.

A leading figure in the IRA, he participated in the 1956-62 Border Campaign and was elected TD for the Sligo/Leitrim constituency while in jail as a political prisoner.

Sunday evening’s proceedings at the John Joe McGirl monument were chaired by Maureen Martin.

Sinn Fein Councillor Martin Kenny read the Proclamation and a wreath was laid on behalf of the McGirl family.

In the course of his address, Martin McGuinness said that John Joe MgGirl “was, and remains for republicans, not just here in Leitrim, or the Border, but across our country, an inspirational leader. Twenty-five years on from the time we laid John Joe to rest, he continues to inspire.”

McGuinness used his address to address the current political situation in the North, branding the recent decision by the Democratic Unionist Party to abandon plans for a major peace centre at the site of the former Long Kesh prison camp as “a mistake”.

He challenged political unionism to stop “continually feeding the insatiable appetite of those who see life through a red, white and blue prism” and he warned that ‘history is littered with unionist leaders who made this mistake”.

On the upcoming talks to try to resolve issues around parades in the North, to be

History is littered with unionist leaders who made the mistake of seeing life ‘through a red, white and blue prism’, Martin McGuinness said chaired by former US Envoy Richard Haas, Martin McGuinness said he is optimistic that progress can be made if they are approached in the right spirit and he challenged unionism to accept those with an Irish identity and culture as equal to those of a British outlook.

VOLUNTEER

New constituency office opened in Dundalk CHARLIE McGLADE COMMEMORATION

John Joe McGirl, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and Charlie McGlade confront gardaí while showing their support for Irish republican POWs

Saturday 14 September Assemble 3pm at Dolphin Road Green, Drimnagh, Dublin 12 Starts with tug of war for the Charlie McGlade Memorial Cup and then proceed to Errigal Road Field MAIN SPEAKER:

Daithí Doolan

Organised by Charlie McGlade Sinn Féin Cumann, Drimnagh, Dublin

THE new Sinn Féin party office at 1 Crowe Street, in the centre of Dundalk, is now open for business.

Sinn Féin has been looking for a new site for Teachta Adams’s Dundalk office for some time and eventually acquired the building several months ago. Since then, a hard-working team of party activists have been sorting out plumbing and heating, telephone and internet connections, erecting partitions for new rooms, putting in new floors and decorating.

The Sinn Féin office in Williamson Place provided an excellent constituency service over many years for Arthur Morgan and the party’s growing team of Dundalk and county councillors but the decision was taken to find a more central location for a new office.

The new office at Crowe Street provides significantly more space for party work and is an excellent location for Teachta Adams’s constituency office and advice service.

From 9:30am to 3:30pm Monday to Friday, Olive Sharkey and the Sinn

5 Eileen Kenna, wife of Councillor Seán Kenna RIP, formally opened the office Féin team will be available to deal with constituents’ concerns.

Speaking at the opening of the office, Teachta Adams said: “I want to commend all of those who have helped prepare this new office. At a time of great austerity and

with households facing increasing difficulties, the Sinn Féin team of Louth councillors, our Dáil team, advice workers and party activists are focused on providing first-class representation and an excellent constituency service.”

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Irish fishing industry must be supported by the EU

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September / Meán Fómhair 2013 25

topics which were discussed at length. We are very proud of our hospitality industry and the wide range of seafood options on offer in local restaurants therefore it is imperative that we ensure that the Irish fishing industry remains vibrant and sustainable. When we defend our fishing industry we are not just protecting fishermen and their families — we are also protecting jobs and product source for our hospitality industry.

Urgent action is required to tackle the growing poverty experienced by our fishing communities throughout the island.

Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill recently announced a range of measures worth some £740,000 to help the fishing industry adapt to the new challenges that will flow from the reformed Common Fisheries Policy.

She additionally announced a package in the

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

DURING a visit to South Down in the past few weeks I heard first-hand the concerns of our fishing community. It is important that our traditional fishing industry is protected from further decline.

In my meeting with the fishermen’s representatives in Ardglass, I was pleased to have the opportunity to discuss how best I could assist them in their efforts to increase quotas and make the industry more sustainable in the longer term to protect jobs and family incomes.

The rising cost of fuel, an ageing fishing fleet, quotas and the number of days allowed at sea – as well as the conservation of stocks – were all

Urgent action is required to tackle the growing poverty experienced by our fishing communities throughout the island

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

Another Europe is possible

5 Martina Anderson MEP meets with fishermen in Ardglass to discuss quotas, sustainability and job protection region of £500,000 to address immediate needs and help the industry with the cash problems that are inhibiting some vessels from getting to sea.

Our fishing communities are really struggling at present.

We must tackle the underlying issues in order to ensure that the long-term cycle of multi-generational problems are addressed now. Fishermen have raised a number of issues with me during my visit and I have committed to assisting them as best I can in Europe. Minister Michelle O’Neill is playing her part; Europe needs to step up to the mark and match her efforts in protecting the livelihoods of fishing communities.

Discussions with the EU Parliament will take place in the autumn to reach an agreement on the funding instrument by the end of the year. Under

the current EU Fisheries Fund, the allocation distributed followed a cohesion approach which took into account the GDP of each member state. The Commission wants to move from a regional development approach to a sectoral approach.

December 2013 will see negotiation for the 2014 Fishing Quota determined and Minister Michelle O’Neill will again be putting up a strong fight for the fishing industry in the North. Whilst there has been progress made regarding discards so that fishermen will not be penalised for accidental catch, the big issue for quotas is that they are too low, making it extremely difficult to make a decent living income. That is one of the issues which Minister O’Neill will be concentrating on in her discussions with EU Commissioner Maria Damanaki.

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

2013 Sinn Féin National Draw Sinn Féin National Finance Committee 2013 Private Members Draw Coiste Náisiúnta Airgeadais Shinn Féin 2013 Crannchur príobháideach na mball

Total prize fund of over | Duais-chiste thar

€/£25,000 First prize | Céad Duais €/£15,000

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

National Finance Committee, First floor, 58 Parnell Square, Dublin 1.

Coiste Airgeadais Náisiúnta, Céad Urlár 58 Cearnóg Parnell, BÁC 1.

Available from: www.sinnfeinbookshop.com

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‘We want a band of men to pioneer the way. Sometimes to skirmish, sometimes to act as a forlorn hope, sometimes to give martyrs and confessors. Always acting, always showing that we will still have amongst us brave men ready to do or dare all that brave men ever did or dare for the salvation of a fallen land’ PATRICK FORD ON THE PLAN TO ESTABLISH FENIAN BOMB TEAMS TO TARGET BRITAIN

DR SHANE KENNA speaks to An Phoblacht’s MARK MOLONEY about his forthcoming book on how the Fenians brought a new form of warfare to the streets of 1880s Britain

BEHIND ENEMY LINES

The Fenians’ bombing campaign in Victorian Britain

5 The damage to Scotland Yard police headquarters after it was blasted in a Fenian bomb attack and (below) The Rising Sun Pub damaged in Fenian attack in 1884

DR SHANE KENNA holds a masters and doctorate in Irish History from Trinity College Dublin. He has also worked in some of Ireland’s most historically important buildings, including Kilmainham Jail museums and archive, Dublin Castle and Castletown House. I met him in August before he headed off for a much-needed break from research and writing.

When I meet him he is still deliberating with his publisher on what front cover to use for his upcoming book: War in the Shadows: The Irish-American Fenians who bombed Victorian Britain. The publication already has people talking.

From 1881 to 1885, the Irish Republican Brotherhood – commonly referred to as ‘the Fenians’ – orchestrated a concentrated bombing campaign against Britain. The campaign was designed to show there was still those in Ireland willing to fight for an Irish republic following the unsuccesful attempt at an uprising in 1867. A letter written in 1876 to the Irish World newspaper spoke of keeping the flame alive and calling for the establishment of a

Dr Kenna describes the ‘Fenian Dynamite Campaign’ as the first modern urban bombing campaign in the world fund to support a revolutionary group to head over to England and conduct a war of attrition against English cities. The idea was that this campaign would niggle away and keep Britain distracted while ‘heavier work’ was underway for a rebellion in Ireland.

Shane describes the ‘Fenian Dynamite Campaign’ as the first modern urban bombing campaign in the world.

“It’s a grossly underwritten piece of Irish history,” says Shane. “Generally when you think of the Fenians you don’t think that in the

1880s they led a dynamite campaign against Britain. You don’t think that they had an assassination committee in Dublin called ‘The Invincibles’.” His point that the Invincibles were actually part of the Irish republican Brotherhood rather than a splinter group tweaks my interest. Anything I had read on them claimed they were a sort of breakaway faction.

“The Invincibles are the most misunderstood organisation in Irish history,” he tells me.

“People say the Invincibles were an offshoot of the Fenians — they weren’t. Others say they were a dissident group — they weren’t. They were all Fenians. They were an assassination committee established within the Fenians to make history: to assassinate obnoxious individuals from Britain’s Dublin Castle administration. In many respects it was a forerunner to the strategy Michael Collins had in the 1920s: a guerrilla strategy that you make Dublin Castle completely unworkable as an institution by taking out their leading figures until it comes to a point where the Castle government can no longer function.”

Shane goes on to speak about their most famous attack, the Phoenix Park assassinations.

On 6 May 1882, British Chief Secretary for Ireland Lord Frederick Cavendish and Permanent Under-Secretary at the Irish Office

‘People say the Invincibles were an offshoot of the Fenians – they weren’t. They were an assassination committee established within the Fenians’ Thomas Henry Burke were killed with surgical knives on their way to the residence of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at the Vice-Regal Lodge (now Áras an Uachtaráin).

A previously unknown group called the Irish National Invincibles claimed responsibility.

The incident is widely known as ‘The Phoenix Park Murders’.

“I would never go so far as to call them murders,” says Shane. “There was a political reason for it.”

He points out how, at the time, the Protection of Public Property Act essentially banned public protest, curfews were imposed in many areas and creating a campaigning political movement was impossible.

The day before the Phoenix Park incident was ‘The Ballina Massacre’, when several young boys were shot dead by the Royal Irish Constabulary for celebrating the release of nationalist political leader Charles Stewart Parnell from jail.

“That incident has been written out of history. That in itself was murder.”

The thinking among the Fenians was that one could respond to tyranny by any means necessary.

“Does that justify what the Invincibles did?’

Shanes asks. “I don’t know, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call them murderers.”

He points out that describing the event as a tragedy would be more apt, as seven more people would lose their lives as a result. Five

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5 An illustration depicts the Invincibles’ assassination of senior members of the British administration in the Phoenix Park, Dublin 5 Attack on the House of Commons in January 1885

5 A New York newspaper reports on Fenian bomb attacks in London on 31 January 1885

5 British agents hatched a bogus plot to assassinate Queen Victoria during Jubilee celebrations in June 1887 alleged members of the Invincibles would be hanged and buried in Kilmainham Jail. Their bodies are still somewhere in the grounds.

One of the group who informed on the others would be shot for his treason, while the man who shot him would also face the gallows.

As well as organising a recent conference on the group, Shane has contacted the Office of Public Works (OPW) to look at the possibility of exhuming the bodies of the five

‘Most people often mistakenly think it was the Russians who developed what in modern times is called ‘terrorism’ but it was the Irish’ Invincibles buried in Kilmainham Jail and reinterring them in Glasnevin. He has also spoken to the families of the men, who have agreed in principle to the idea.

“As part of this decade of commemorations I would like to see those men buried in Glasnevin Cemetery. Whether you like them or not, I think we can all agree that after 130 years they’ve done their time. Their sentence was that they were to remain in Kilmainham Jail as long as that building was a prison. It’s a tourist attraction now, so they really shouldn’t be in there anymore.”

While assassinations were the preferred

method in Ireland, a new revolutionary type of campaign was being launched in England: “Most people often mistakenly think it was the Russians who developed what in modern times is called ‘terrorism’ but it was the Irish,” the TCD scholar says. “The Fenians’ was the first campaign of sustained bombing attacks. They disguised their bombs in bags and would set up front operations. They also used clockwork devices, which was revolutionary. For the first time it gave the bomber time to disappear and have a viable alibi — that was never done until the Irish came on the scene.”

Shane describes Thomas Clarke, the mastermind behind the 1916 Rising, as a man who “cut his teeth in Irish

republican politics”. While living in Dungannon he opened fire on the RIC during a ‘Ladies Day’ parade and fled to America where he was trained in the use of dynamite. Clarke’s subsequent involvement in a bomb team that planned to destroy London’s famous Big Ben clock tower and the House of Commons is an oftneglected piece of history. He was arrested in possession of two bags of nitro-glycerine explosive and imprisoned in England for 15 years in what Shane describes as “some of the harshest conditions imaginable”.

Clarke would later write of his experiences in ‘Glimpses of an Irish Felon’s Prison Life’. After his release he continued his revolutionary activities and was one of the military leaders of

‘Would successive Irish governments really want to put Tom Clarke’s history as a bomber in history books?’

DR SHANE KENNA is also writing the biography of Thomas McDonagh for the acclaimed 16 Lives series and is working on Fenians in the Frame: A Photgraphic History of Ireland’s Revolutionary Underground 1858 to 1927. Both are due for release next year.

republican forces during 1916.

“Would successive Irish governments really want to put that in history books?” asks Shane referring to Clarke’s history as a bomber. “They wouldn’t because it doesn’t fit in with the narrative of the state.”

He notes the great parallels between the Fenians and the campaign by the IRA in England between the early 1970s and 1990s.

In 1885, Fenians launched a simultaneous bombing against the Tower of London and the House of Commons; in 1974, the IRA did the exact same thing.

The Fenians’ campaign resulted in the establishment of Britain’s first-ever Permanent Secret Service based in Dublin Castle called the Assistant Under-Secretary for Police and Crime. Their job was to infiltrate and undermine subversive groups.

“What’s coming through in the research is a noticebale awareness that wherever you find an individual that’s the most militant, the most bloodthirsty within the group, he’s often the spy.”

In 1887, British Intelligence even hatched a bogus plot to assassinate Queen Victoria during her Golden Jubilee as a way of undermin-

In 1885, Fenians launched a simultaneous bombing against the Tower of London and the House of Commons; in 1974, the IRA did the exact same thing ing the Home Rule campaign and the Irish Parliamentary Party (shades of the alleged IRA plan to kill Princess Diana in 1984?). “Black ops and dirty ops is the great story of the Fenian dynamite campaign; it’s a plot within a plot within a counter-consipracy,” Shane says.

A recurring question is the issue of morality and the use of spies.

“How far can you let an agent go?” asks Shane, “The idea is you have to commit acts that would be repugnant to your own views.

So how far is a handler willing to let things go?

You must remember that, in the 1880s, Britain was a remarkably liberal state. Fenianism is a challenge to that. You have a police response to Fenianism and then you have a dirty war undercover response.” The similarities with the situation in the North of Ireland are startling.

War in the Shadows: The IrishAmerican Fenians who Bombed Victorian Britain is due for release in late September or early October 2013.

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IN PICTURES

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photos@anphoblacht.com

Jack Crowe Memorial Challenge steps up again

5 ‘In the Belly of the Beast’ event at Féile an Phobail – 1970s Britain, anti-Irish feelings are whipped up by the media and used by the establishment to attack the Irish community. Mary Pearson, Troops Out Movement (above), Di Parkin, Labour Women for Ireland, Sue O’Halloran, Sinn Féin Britain (below) and Ann Rossiter, Women and Ireland, spoke of their experiences and how they coped with raids and harassment by British police and hostility by people whose view of Ireland were framed by a hostile anti-Irish media. Their stories told of great courage, committment and defiance against the odds

THE second annual Jack Crowe Memorial Dublin Mountains Challenge took place on Saturday 17 August starting in Bohernabreena and finishing at the Blue Light pub in Barnacullia.

Despite early rain showers a group of nearly 50 people arrived to take part in the event once again this year with some new faces and many returning for the second time.

As well as being in memory of Dublin republican Jack Crowe, this year’s walk also remembered Dundrum Sinn Féin member Geoff Keegan, who passed away suddenly in July.

The organisers were honoured when Geoff’s family agreed to a proposal to name stage three of the

Once again there was a good turn out from Jack Crowe’s family with Sinn Féin TD Seán Crowe making presentations to the winners on the day.

Local Sinn Féin representative Chris Curran, one of the event’s main organisers, addressed the participants at the finish line.

During the course of his address, Chris commented on the growing strength of Sinn Féin in the local area and predicted that the party would make the breakthrough in next year’s local elections by taking seats for the first time on Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, fruits of the work that Jack Crowe and Geoff Keegan played important parts in.

Cairde v Cancer raise thousands for charities CAIRDE NA hÉIREANN in Scotland have raised more than £7,000 for various cancer charities over the past two years as part of the organisation’s impressive programme of activities.

Last year, Cairde donated £2,800 raised in a sponsored walk and run to the Pink Ladies Breast Cancer Support Group in Derry in the name of Volunteer Paul Kinsella, who died from leukaemia. A further £1,600 went to the Tommy Burns Skin Cancer Trust.

So far this year, Cairde have donated £1,066 to Marie Curie Cancer Care and £1,066 to the children’s hospice in the North in the name of Volunteer Brian Keenan, who died from cancer. This was achieved through a sponsored hill walk, sponsored run and a function in Plains.

A further £800 has gone to Maggie’s Cancer Centre in Glasgow, where a Cairde activist has a relative receiving support. The family held a function in The Squirrel Bar with Cairde bands doing their bit to help.

In two years, this is a total of £7,332 raised for cancer charities.

The work continues with further events being organised.

• To get involved or donate to future ventures drop Cairde a line at info@cairdenaheireann.info.

5 Wreaths are laid to remember IRA Volunteers Dan McAnallen and Patsy Quinn on their 40th anniversary in Pomeroy, County Tyrone

walk after him. Geoff was one of the walk’s organisers and was planning on doing the walk with his comrades from Dundrum this year.

As it turns out, the Dundrum team were this year’s winners, taking home the Jack Crowe Cup and the win was dedicated to Geoff by the team captain, Aodhagán Mac Coitir.

Geoff’s father, George Keegan, himself a Sinn Féin former candidate in the Dundrum constituency, accepted a medal on behalf of his son in what was a very poignant and emotional moment.

The fastest person across the line this year was Darren O’Rourke from Meath with a sensational time of just 2 hours 20 minutes.

5 Martina Anderson with Cairde members raising funds for a breast cancer support group

FACEBOOK PAGE

CairdeAgainstCancer

5 Cairde has raised thousands for charities through sponsored walks, runs and functions

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I nDíl Chuimhne

All notices and obituaries should be sent to notices@anphoblacht.com by Friday 13 September 2013

1 September 1973: Volunteer Anne Marie PETTICREW, Cumann na mBan, Belfast.

4 September 1970: Volunteer Michael KANE, Belfast Brigade, 3rd Battalion.

9 September 1973: Volunteer Francis DODDS, Long Kesh.

9 September 1985: Volunteer Raymond McLAUGHLIN, Donegal Brigade.

12 September 1989: Volunteer Seamus TWOMEY, GHQ Staff.

14 September 1986: Volunteer Jim McKERNAN, Belfast Brigade, 1st Battalion.

16 September 1991: Bernard O’HAGAN, Sinn Féin.

17 September 1972: Volunteer Michael QUIGLEY, Derry Brigade.

20 September 1972: Fian Joseph McCOMISKEY, Fianna Éireann.

22 September 1973: Volunteer James

“LIFE SPRINGS FROM DEATH AND FROM THE GRAVES OF PATRIOT MEN AND WOMEN SPRING LIVING NATIONS.” Pádraig Mac Piarais

BRYSON, Belfast Brigade, 2nd Battalion.

23 September 1996: Volunteer Diarmuid O’NEILL, England.

29 September 1972: Volunteer Jimmy QUIGLEY, Belfast Brigade, 2nd Battalion.

Always remembered by the Republican Movement CONNOLLY, Benny. In our thoughts and prayers and always remembered

by Declan Mullen and all his other

republican friends in Cabra, Dublin.

McGLADE, Charlie. In memory of Vol Charlie McGlade, who died on 17 September 1982. “A lifetime of dedication and commitment to the cause of Irish freedom.” Always remembered by the Vol Charlie McGlade Sinn Féin Cumann, Drimnagh, Dublin.

MORROW, Anthony ‘Dodger’. In proud and loving memory of Anthony on his first anniversary. Le grá o Mary. xxx MORROW, Anthony ‘Dodger’. In proud

and loving memory of Anthony, who died on 29 August 2012. Ó do phaistí Caoilbhfiona, Bláthnaid, Niamh, Oisín agus Aoibheann MORROW, Anthony ‘Dodger’: In proud and loving memory of Anthony, always remembered by his brother Eoin, Frances and family.

MORROW, Anthony ‘Dodger’. In proud and loving memory of Anthony ‘Dodger’ Morrow. Always remembered

by Jimmy and Val. MORROW, Anthony ‘Dodger’. In proud

» 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.

Comhbhrón McKEE. Deepest sympathy to Mike McKee and family on the passing of his brother Stephen. From all in Clare Sinn Féin, the McGettigan and Austin families.

» 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

Kevin ‘The Tailor’ MacCann Tyrone KEVIN ‘THE TAILOR’ MacCANN was a wellknown musician, farmer and republican activist in the Trillick area of County Tyrone.

Kevin died on 27 July, a few hours short of his 92nd birthday. Kevin was was born in July 1921, the youngest child of Paul and Catherine Mac Cann (née McGurren), and named after Kevin Barry.

Kevin was interned in Crumlin Road Prison, Belfast, in the 1950s and was a committed and active republican for most of his life. In recent years, Kevin was happy to act as a polling agent for Sinn Féin candidates such as Peter Kelly in local elections. He saw this as a natural continuation of the struggle in the 1950s when he led training camps in the Wicklow Mountains.

In more recent times, people sensed that Kevin was very involved but no one ever knew his business. Kevin’s comrades have said that many Volunteers trusted him with their lives and that he was always steady and reliable. This was the serious side to Kevin, you might say, because Kevin was

famous as a prankster with, at times, an outrageous sense of humour. Kevin was a very intelligent man and won a scholarship to attend further education at the age of 14.

For many years, Kevin was a professional musician with the Moonlight Dance Band, particularly expert on the 5-row button accordion and the electric bass guitar. He enjoyed bantering with Kerry legends like Joe Keohane who then came to Tyrone in the 1980s in support of the Hunger Strikers.

In his later years, Comhaltas Ceoltóiri Éireann presented Kevin with an award in recognition of a lifetime’s “service and dedication to the promotion of Ireland’s native culture”.

Kevin played Gaelic football for Trillick and for Tyrone minors and was regarded as a tricky corner forward in his day.

It was very poignant to hear the air of Kevin Barry being played in St McCartan’s Chapel, Trillick, as Kevin’s remains were carried out for his final journey. At his graveside, local Sinn Féin MLA Barry McElduff gave a fitting oration.

Seán Ó Ceallacháin Cork SEÁN Ó CEALLACHÁIN died on Thursday 27 June. Born on 1 May 1933, he was a lifelong Irish republican who bore the pain of his relatively short but serious illness with fortitude, a trait shown by him throughout his life.

Seán’s family was steeped in the republican tradition. His father, five brothers and two sisters played a prominent and active part in the fight for Irish freedom.

Luke, his father, was imprisoned on Spike Island during the Civil War. Seán’s mother and her sister were active members of Cumann na mBan. At the funeral home, Pat O’Brien of the famous Glen Rovers Hurling Club paid Seán a great tribute and reminded all of his part in winning the Cork County Minor hurling championships in 1950 and 1951. What might Seán have expected to win in the following years and in the company

of the great Christy Ring had he not been languishing in Crumlin Road Prison in Belfast?

Piper Norman O’Rourke led the cortege to the grave. Tom Mitchell, a fellow Omagh raider and prisoner in ‘The Crum’, recalled Seán’s hurling and road bowling prowess.

Tom reserved his special praise for Seán’s part in the Omagh raid in October 1954 and recalled the example he gave to all prisoners.

On his release, Seán took over as O/C of Cork No 1 Brigade IRA, immersed himself in the Gaelic language and cultural activities and took up hurling again with his new local team at Mayfield. In the early 1960s he left to take up a position in Navan and eventually married.

Seán was married to Elmáire Ó Sulleabháin, Bantry. They had three children, Brían, Aoife and Cormac. They can be proud of him.

and loving memory of Anthony ‘Dodger’ Morrow. Always remembered

by Rita and Griff.

MORROW, Anthony ‘Dodger’. In proud and loving memory of our friend and comrade Anthony ‘Dodger’ Morrow, whose anniversary occurs at this time.

Remembered by the Gerry Halpenny, Worthington, Watters Sinn Féin Cumann, Dundalk.

O’NEILL, Diarmuid. In memory of Vol Diarmuid O’Neill (17th anniversary).

Murdered by the London Metropolitan Police. Always remembered by friends and comrades in the West London Republican Support Group, Hammersmith.

TREANOR, Tommy. In memory of Tommy Treanor (17th anniversary).

Always remembered by comrades in the West London Republican Support Group, Hammersmith.

Imeachtaí » Charlie McGlade Commemoration Volunteer Charlie McGlade Commemoration.

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

Thomas Ashe Wreath-Laying Ceremony Saturday 21 September at 2pm. Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin. Guest speaker. All are welcome

5 Mid-Ulster MP Francie Molloy with Cathal Boylan MLA at the annual Tyrone Volunteers’ Day, in Castlederg on Sunday 11 August – see www.anphoblacht.com

5 More than 150 republicans turned out in Perth, Western Austrailia, for the 32nd anniversary of the 1981 Hunger Strike commemoration and concert

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BETWEEN THE POSTS

30 September / Meán Fómhair 2013

THE

www.anphoblacht.com

BY CIARÁN KEARNEY

TACKLING THE CORE QUESTION QUESTIONS are asked of us all in life. Everyone has to answer. With the gaze of more than 83,000 spectators fixed upon you, millions more viewing on TV, the answer you give is not easily going to be forgotten.

Every player in Croke Park this September knows this.

Difficult questions have been asked of Gaelic games this year. The answers may not have been popular but who could have missed the ensuing debate? Ignited by a foul against Monaghan’s Conor McManus; fuelled by the impassioned response of Joe Brolly; and climaxing in wall-to-wall news comment about rules in Gaelic games.

One newspaper headline stands out: “Difficult to tackle issue of cynicism under current rules of the game.”

The headline referred to remarks

by Tony Scullion, former Derry defender and member of the Football Review Committee: “Any player that wouldn’t take a yellow card for their team is not playing as a team member. It’s as simple as that.”

Most prescient about this view is that it appeared in The Irish Times on Saturday 3 August. That evening, McManus was pulled to the ground.

It was the accelerant for an inferno of opinion.

Enough has been written about what Seán Cavanagh did and what Joe Brolly said. Here’s my brief epilogue.

I know Joe Brolly and his family.

They are Gaels of the greatest integrity. The passion, service and sincerity Joe has brought to Gaelic games and in his other endeavours in life is unimpeachable and indisputable. I don’t know Seán Cavanagh, except through his superb playing career. At half-time against Monaghan, he was compared to Jack O’Shea — he can’t then be recast as ‘Jack the Ripper’. In fact, Seán’s midfield style is one I’ve commended to my nephews in Tyrone and my own Antrim offspring. He ought to be a role model for others.

But when a 13-year-old dual player from Ardoyne asks his father “What’s a cynical foul?” it’s time to think. That’s why the remarks of Tony Scullion, and the many county players who have commented since then count. Many have condoned intentional fouling. Tacitly, the phys-

5 The question is whether the games we play are part of what we are; or we are part of the games we play ical contact, even assault, necessary to bring down your opponent is being legitimised. Where then does this end?

As the rain blew sideways through An Ghaeltacht one afternoon in August, my family and I visited the public library in Dungloe while on

THERE IS MORE TO CHANGE IN GAELIC GAMES THAN THE RULES

holidays. I found a copy of a doctoral thesis, ‘Towards a philosophy for legislation in Gaelic games’, by Dr Joe Lennon. He wrote that players are moulded by their games: they don’t just play them. Games form an intrinsic part of the socialisation and enculteration of people. No more so

5 Nelson Mandela shakes hands with Springboks skipper Francois Pienaar at the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa

than in efforts by Michael Cusack and the founding members of Cumann Luthchleas Gael to define and distinguish Gaelic football and hurling: “They were designed to serve national ideals as much, if not more than, to provide competitions and the opportunities to be winners.”

Much attention is given to how Gaelic games are played and the adequacy of existing rules. That is not the core question. The question is whether the games we play are part of what we are; or we are part of the games we play. Gaelic coaches now receive training and accreditation with follow-up workshops. But there is a gaping hole concerning the ethics, ethos and intrinsic values of Gaelic games. As for players, training regimes focus on physical attributes and aptitudes, but what about attitudes and beliefs?

Recently, another good Gael, Jarlath Burns, reflectively wrote that change in Gaelic games needs to happen: “If I had my way, the sin bin would have been kept.” I agree with Jarlath. There’s a lot men can and should learn from women’s Gaelic football, which still has a ‘sin-bin’.

Other ideas are worthy of consideration by those who write the rules, including the penalty try/goal which is used in rugby and the significance of the captain in marshalling the discipline of players within the sport.

But there is more to change than amending rules.

It would be good to think that those who take to the field in Croke Park could and would be able to sing our national anthem. It would be nice to hear the chorus in the crowd continue to the very end of the song. How much would it say for our games if the team which is defeated gave a guard of honour to the victors on the day. Unthinkable?

When Antrim prevailed against Offaly in the All-Ireland hurling semi-final in 1989, Offaly’s hurlers provided a guard of honour in Croke Park at the final whistle.

The rules may define the games but the games must be more than the rules, especially our national games.

In the film Invictus, Nelson Mandela meets Springboks captain Francois Pienaar before the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa to say: “This country is hungry for greatness.” So is ours.

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September / Meán Fómhair 2013 31

TIME TO GIVE IRISH SOCCER THE RUGBY TREATMENT?

Sky’s the limit for Irish soccer HAVE YOU given any thought to the British and Irish Lions in recent weeks? I didn’t think so. The media hype is over; the Sky Sports advertising drive has moved to the English Premiership; the Lions replica kit is now (thankfully) on the discount rail.

Has the Airtricity league or the Danske Bank Premiership in the Six Counties been battling for you attention on TV? I didn’t think so either. We have to make way for unending speculation on the Suarez/Rooney/Bale transfers and the hyping of other overpriced show ponies.

The UEFA transfer window is closing as premiership clubs spend tens of millions of

Isn’t it interesting that a sport which pays players an average of £30,000 a week still won’t pay ball boys, mascots and other workers the minimum wage?

pounds in the race to secure Champions League football or just survive in the cash machine of TV rights and advertising sponsorship that the Premiership has become.

Across Europe, similar scenarios are played out between top clubs. In the United States, the NBA (National Basketball Association) and NFL (National Football League) pre-season are parallel worlds to the English Premiership with multi-million-dollar bids and deals to secure the right combination of players to seal a play-off spot and, maybe in the case of the NFL, a Super Bowl appearance. (Yes, it is

BY ROBBIE SMYTH weird they call it a world championship. Go, Patriots!)

In late July, Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire owner of the New York Nets basketball team, brought two new players into his team, moving their total annual payroll to over $100million. His player spend last year was $330million. The signing of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett triggered an $83million tax bill designed by the NBA to curb high-spending owners trying to buy success, driving up wages and transfer prices in the process. Any of this sound familiar, Chelsea, Manchester City?

The sports we watch, the teams we support, is it because of advertising, hype and sheer ease of settling in for a Sky Super Sunday that drives our interest? The impact of TV, tie-in advertising, sponsorship of teams, competitions, stadia and even training kits warps our sporting interests.

In 2012, the following three years of English Premiership TV rights were auctioned to Sky and BT for £3billion, a 71% increase on the previous deal. So get ready for more couch time.

Isn’t it interesting that a sport which pays players an average of £30,000 a week (according to Deloitte & Touche) still won’t pay ball boys, mascots and other workers the

5 The sports we watch, the teams we support, is it because of advertising, hype and sheer ease of settling in for a Sky Super Sunday that drives our interest? minimum wage? In late August, British tax authorities wrote to all the Premiership clubs, warning them about low wages and using unpaid interns.

Low wages is the norm in the English Premiership’s chronically-ill Irish soccer cousin, where the FAI (26 Counties) and IFA (Six Counties) clubs struggle on the brink of bankruptcy, with low attendances and debts

One possibility is to follow the initiative of rugby and create your own league franchise as they have with Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Italian clubs in the Rabo Pro 12

that either frustrate club development or are barely serviceable.

In the 26 Counties, the Airtricity League clubs collectively made a small profit in 2012 and this is a positive move from a collective debt of €6.7million in 2007. But with the investment in soccer focused on the Champions’ League, English Premiership, Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A, Germany’s Bundesliga, and France’s Ligue 1, there is a case to be made for abandoning professional

soccer in the likes of Ireland, Scotland and Wales and returning to totally amateur leagues.

The other possibility is to follow the initiative of rugby and create your own league franchise as they have with Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Italian clubs in the Rabo Pro 12.

There are only four professional rugby teams on the island and so the money end of the sport is highly profitable for the provinces and the Irish Rugby Football Union. There are 24 teams across the two soccer premierships in Ireland.

Another model of successful amateur sports, organised on an all-Ireland basis, is found in the GAA. Last year’s county hurling and football championship matches had average attendances of 16,000 people – an attendance level professional soccer teams in Ireland never reach. The GAA has no parasitic international relations siphoning resources and interest away from its domestic competitions. There is also the ‘little’ issue of being based on local communities and having a small whiff of democracy in its decision making.

More than 180,000 people play soccer in the 26 Counties and 25,000 in the Six Counties, according to the FAI and IFA websites. Isn’t it time to switch off Sky, go to the park and watch people, young, old, male and female play?

Soccer is everywhere, not just on the Sky Box.

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anphoblacht OCTOBER ISSUE OUT. . . Thursday 25th September 2013 32

FIANNA GAEL

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil veterans propose merger of two big conservative parties

Shortly afterwards, Labour (perhaps feeling a little left out of the spotlight) decided to get in on the action. Labour Chief Whip Emmet Stagg TD departed from the usual Labour line of recent times when he said he can “foresee Sinn Féin and the Labour Party joining together in some form”.

The response from Sinn Féin was swift.

Finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty TD noted how it was Emmet Stagg in his capacity as Chief Whip who made sure Labour TDs voted in favour of harsh austerity policies, cutbacks to public services and the unfair Property Tax. “If Emmet Stagg or anyone else in the

BY MARK MOLONEY

IT’S ALMOST TIME for the annual Budget in the 26 Counties, that time of year where Fine Gael will tell us that they are being ‘fair’ as they hack away at public services, while Fianna Fáil scream with faux outrage at any cutbacks or new taxes introduced, as if they wouldn’t do the exact same thing back in power.

But now the Fianna Fáil former deputy leader, Mary O’Rourke has a simple solution to ending the phoney war which has been play-

Does it make any sense to have Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil ‘tussling for power where, for so long, the width of a sheet of tissue paper scarcely separated their policies’, asks Bill O’Herlihy ing out since the foundation of the state. She suggests it’s time that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael bury the Civil War hatchet and go into coalition with each other come the next general election.

This same line was echoed by veteran RTÉ

5 Broadcaster and Fine Gael strategist Bill O’Herlihy

5 Former Deputy Leader of Fianna Fáil Mary O’Rourke

broadcaster and Fine Gael strategist Bill O’Herlihy during his keynote speech to the annual Beál na mBláth commemoration in Cork on 25 August, saying that such a coaliton would somehow benefit the people of Ireland.

O’Herlihy hit the nail on the head when he asked: “Does it make any sense to have the major political parties tussling for power where, for so long, the width of a sheet of tissue paper scarcely separated their policies?”

Sinn Féin Education spokesperson Jonathan O’Brien TD said such a merger “would put a stop to the carry-on in the Dáil where they pretend to disagree with each other” but the Cork North-Central TD cautioned that it would be “a disaster” for working people to see such a party in government.

“They are both parties which favour protecting the banks and big business and imposing vicious austerity policies on working people.”

Labour Chief Whip Emmet Stagg TD departed from the usual Labour line of recent times when he said he can ‘foresee Sinn Féin and the Labour Party joining together in some form’ Labour Party is really seeking a new form of politics and a stronger Left in Ireland then the first thing they need to do is to pull out of the Coalition with Fine Gael,” Pearse Doherty said.

“Then the possibility of co-operation among parties of the Left can be looked at realistically.”