An Phoblacht, Issue 2 - 2023

phoblacht

Time to make politics work for all

"I feel privileged to have known Rita as a mentor, a comrade and most of all as a friend" – Michael

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

EDITOR: ROBBIE SMYTH

An Phoblacht, Kevin Barry House, 44 Parnell Square, Dublin 1, Ireland.

anphoblacht contents clár

UIMHIR EISIÚNA 2 - 2023 - ISSUE NUMBER 2

TELEPHONE:

(+353 1) 872 6 100.

EMAIL: editor@anphoblacht.com

PRODUCTION: MARK DAWSON RUAIRÍ DOYLE MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA

www.anphoblacht.com CONTRIBUTORS

May 2023 marked 75 years since the ethnic cleansing and mass displacement of Palestinians, known as the Nakba. Palestinian Ambassador to Ireland Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid marks the anniversary explaining how “our children and our grandchildren will never give up on our right of return”.

coalition government double speak on Irish neutrality arguing that “we should be proud of our military neutrality, and resist attempts by some to recast it as a weakness or a failing”.

Eoghan Ó Finn writes on Sinn Féin’s commitment to normalise and encourage the use of Irish in the public sphere.

Scríobhann Eoghan Ó Finn ar thiomantas

Shinn Féin úsáid na Gaeilge a normalú agus a spreagadh sa saol poiblí

ROBBIE SMYTH editor@anphoblacht.com

British and Irish Governments must act

It is often the case that the news media latch onto a word or a phrase, and it becomes repeated across TV, radio, online, and in print. It is frequently an attempt to describe complex social and political events with a term that implies that journalists and the organisations they belong to can impart the core understanding of a specific moment in time.

‘Low-key’ was the term floating across the news media in the run up to the 18 May local elections, and this phrase was repeated across many news reports. The reality was very different. The result reaffirmed Sinn Féin as the largest party in the Six Counties. And at the count centres and in the news rooms, the media began to grasp the scale of another stunning Sinn Féin electoral performance.

A slow growing groundswell of change is happening across Ireland; it is part of a wider trend of how Irish political and social life is being reshaped. Do the news media understand the scale of this?

As Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald said in Belfast at the election counts, “All of this happens at a time of great change right across the island. Sinn Féin is very proud to be part of that change”, and that, “We will value that mandate given to us by the people, and we remain committed to working with others to deliver for all”.

This was echoed by Sinn Féin Vice President Michelle O’Neill. Speaking live on the BBC she said, “We fought a positive campaign from start to finish. We said to them that we would work for everyone in society.”

This edition of An Phoblacht captures the actual spirit of the election campaign with reports from MLAs Caoimhe Archibald and Jemma Dolan, along with Dublin City Councillor Daithí Doolan on what it was like on the ground across the North.

It also reports from the four People’s Assemblies that have been held so far as part of Sinn Féin’s Commission on the Future of Ireland and signals the others that will be held in 2023 as the Irish Government still refuses to move on establishing a Citizen’s Assembly on a United Ireland.

Michelle O’Neill also stressed the need for “the British and Irish Governments to get together and focus their efforts on the immediate restoration of the Executive and Assembly”. And there is nothing low-key about the effort needed here to deliver the political institutions and progress that voters in the North clearly want.

Once again, the voters have spoken. The British and Irish Governments must act. 

A slow growing groundswell of change is happening across Ireland; it is part of a wider trend of how Irish political and social life is being reshaped

SINN FÉIN IS LEADING CHANGE ACROSS IRELAND

“A monumental result for Sinn Féin’s positive and progressive platform”, was how Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald framed May’s local election success. The party repeated last year’s Assembly election performance and were once again the largest party in the Six Counties.

The result was created by thousands of activists across the island giving up free time in the long winter months before sunny May to knock on

doors, leaflet, poster, and discuss the core political issues with voters, putting out the Sinn Féin position day after day, week after week.

With contributions on what it was like on the ground during the canvas from MLAs Jemma Dolan and Caoimhe Archibald, as well as Dublin City councillor Daithí Doolan, An Phoblacht gives a unique insight into a historic election result for Sinn Féin. 

SINN FÉIN IS LEADING HISTORIC CHANGE

With 144 councillors elected, Sinn Féin has made breakthroughs in areas right across the North. Here is a list of those elected across ten councils.

It ranges from Black Mountain in Belfast where Sinn

Antrim and Newtownabbey

j AIRPORT

Anne Marie Logue

Maighréad Ní Chonghaile

j ANTRIM

Lucille O’Hagan

j DUNSILLY

Henry Cushinan

Annie O’Lone

j GLENGORMLEY

Eamonn McLaughlin

Rosie Kinnear

Michael Goodman

j MACEDON

Taylor McGrann

Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon

j ARMAGH

Fergal Donnelly

Ashley Mallon

Sarah Duffy

John Óg O’Kane

j BANBRIDGE

Chris McCartan

Kevin Savage

j CRAIGAVON

Jude Mallon

Catherine Nelson

j CUSHER

Bróna Haughey

j LURGAN

Keith Haughian

Liam Mackle

Mary O’Down

Sorchá McGeown

j PORTADOWN

Paul Duffy

Clare McConville-Walker

Belfast City Council

j BALMORAL

Geraldine McAteer

j BLACK MOUNTAIN

Ciaran Beattie

Áine McCabe

Arder Carson

Michael Donnelly

Ronan McLaughlin

Róis-Máire Donnelly

j BOTANIC

John Gormley

j CASTLE

Conor Maskey

Brónach Anglin

j COLLIN

Joe Duffy

Caoimhín McCann

Matt Garrett

Séanna Walsh

Clíodhna Nic Bhranair

j COURT

Tina Black

Claire Canavan

j OLD PARK

Nichola Bradley

JJ Magee

Ryan Murphy

Tómas Ó Néill

j TITANIC

Pádraig Donnelly

Causeway Coast and Glens

j BALLYMONEY

Ciarán McQuillan

Leanne Peacock

j BANN

Seán Bateson

Ciarán Archibald

j BENBRADAGH

Seán McGlinchey

Dermot Nicholl

Kathleen McGurk

j COLERAINE

Niamh Archibald

j GLENS

Cara McShane

Oliver McMullan

Maighréad Watson

j LIMAVADY

Brenda Chivers

Derry City and Strabane

j BALLYARNETT

Sandra Duffy

John McGowan

Patrick Murphy

j DERG

Ruairí McHugh

Antaine Ó Fearghail

Caroline Devine

j FAUGHAN

Alex Duffy

Seán Fleming

j FOYLESIDE

Conor Heaney

Grace Ui Niallais

Féin again won six out of seven seats, to Ballymena and Coleraine where Bréanainn Lyness and Niamh Archibald became the first Sinn Féin councillors ever elected in those towns.

Mid and East Antrim

j BALLYMENA

Bréanainn Lyness

j BANNSIDE

Ian Friary

j BRAID

Archie Rae

j COAST ROAD

James McKeown

Mid Ulster

j CARNTOGHER

Seán McPeake

Brian McGuigan

j MOOR

Patricia Logue

Aisling Hutton

Emma McGinley

j SPERRIN

Paul Boggs

Fergal Leonard

Brian Harte

j WATERSIDE

Caitlin Deeney

Christopher Jackson

Fermanagh and Omagh

j ENNISKILLEN

Tommy Maguire

Dermot Browne

j ERNE EAST

Sheamus Greene

Noeleen Hayes

Thomas O’Reilly

j ERNE NORTH

Debbie Coyle

John Feely

j ERNE WEST

Anthony Feely

Elaine Brough

Declan McArdle

j MID TYRONE

Roisin Gallagher

Anne-Marie Fitzgerald

Padraigin Kelly

Patrick Withers

j OMAGH

Barry McElduff

Catherine Kelly

Marty McColgan

j WEST TYRONE

Glen Campbell

Ann-Marie Donnelly

Colette McNulty

Stephen McCann

Lisburn and Castlereagh

j CASTLEREAGH SOUTH

Ryan Carlin

Daniel Bassett

j KILLULTAGH

Gary McCleave

j LISBURN NORTH

Paul Burke

Córa Corry

Paddy Kelly

j CLOGHER VALLEY

Gael Gildernew

Eugene McConnell

j COOKSTOWN

Cathal Mallaghan

John Fitzgerald McNamee

Gavin Bell

j DUNGANNON

Dominic Molloy

Deirdre Varson

j MAGHERAFELT

Darren Oliver Totten

Seán Clarke

j MOYOLA

Donal McPeake

Jolene Groogan

Ian Milne

j TORRENT

Eimear Carney

Niall McAleer

Nuala McAlernon

Newry, Mourne and Down

j CROTLIEVE

Selina Murphy

Kate Murphy

Mickey Ruane

j DOWNPATRICK

Oonagh Hanlon

Philip Campbell

j MOURNES

Willie Clarke

Leeanne McEvoy

Michael Rice

j NEWRY

Valerie Harte

Cathal King

Geraldine Kearns

Aidan Mathers

j SLIEVE CROOB

Jim Brennan

Roisin Howell

Siobhán O’Hare

j SLIEVE GULLION

Aoife Finnegan

Mickey Larkin

Oonagh Magennis

Declan Murphy

Aine Quinn

• Getting the vote out in Belfast

THE VOTERS HAVE SPOKEN

 Sinn Féin’s record vote growth across every council area

BY ROBBIE SMYTH

The largest amount of first preferences at 30.7%, the largest number of councillors at 144, an increase of 39 seats on 2019. A 7.7% increase in vote share since the last local elections. These were just some of the firsts achieved by Sinn Féin in the 2023 local elections.

Sinn Féin is also the largest party in six of the eleven council areas. Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald said that the party was committed to power sharing in the councils where the

be allocated on proportionality and the D’Hondt system. The Sinn Féin president said this should be the approach adopted by every one of the eleven councils.

The party also took seats for the first time in Ballymena, Coleraine, and Lisburn. In Derry and Strabane, Sinn Féin gained seats in every District Electoral Area (DEA), with all

of the 18 party candidates elected to the Derry and Strabane council.

Speaking in Belfast as the election results came in, Mary Lou McDonald said: “We went into this campaign with a very positive message of wanting to make politics work for all, and focused

“The result has been a monumental result for Sinn Féin’s positive and progressive platform, to restore government, to invest in the health service, to support people through the cost of living crisis”

Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald

• Sinn Féin Vice President Michelle O’Neill and re-elected Sandra Duffy, Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council

2023 Election change since 2019

on what it is Sinn Féin has to offer workers and their families. And we asked people to vote for Sinn Féin candidates who will work hard in local councils every day on the issues that matter to them, and to send a clear signal to support positive leadership, and of course to get the Assembly and Executive back up and running working together to deliver for everyone.

“Thursday was the people’s day and they have now spoken loud and clear. The result has been a monumental result for Sinn

Féin’s positive and progressive platform, to restore government, to invest in the health service, to support people through the cost of living crisis, and to deliver first class council services.”

McDonald also said that, “All of this happens at a time of great change right across the island. Sinn Féin is very proud to be part of that change. We now have a huge mandate at local

WHERE THE SINN FÉÉIN GAINS WERE MADE

“I am not accepting the autumn as a timeframe for the restoration of the Executive. I will work night and day. I will work with others to try and restore the Executive”

Sinn Féin Vice President Michelle O’Neill

• When the Doors Flew Open!!! Successful Sinn Féin candidates in Belfast’s Black Mountain ward celebrate the party's poll topping results in the West Belfast constituency where they succeeded in electing six out of six candidates, in a remarkable example of vote management and organisation. (Left to Right) Róis Máire Donnelly, Ronan McLaughlin and Ciaran Beattie coming through. Michael Donnelly is behind Ronan

government level and in the Assembly. And we know that with that mandate comes a huge responsibility. We will respect that mandate. We will value that mandate given to us by the people, and we remain committed to working with others to deliver for all”.

Speaking on the BBC, Sinn Féin Vice President Michelle O’Neill said:

“We fought a positive campaign from start to finish. We said to them that we would work for everyone in society. We said that we were committed to restoring the executive. We said that we were committed to working with others. We said that we were for civility and maturity in politics. We said we are for inclusiveness. And the public endorsed that message. The public want progressive positive leadership. They want us to tell them what we are for. They want us to tell them what we are going to do. That’s what we did in this election and that is what the public have endorsed.”

“What I want to say to the electorate at home is that I am not

CAUSEWAY COAST AND GLENS

SHARE % INCREASE

30.8% +8.6% SEATS INCREASE 12 +3

DERRY AND STRABANE

FERMANAGH AND OMAGH

SHARE % INCREASE

39% +10.9% SEATS INCREASE 18 +7

SHARE % INCREASE

49.2% +12.4% SEATS INCREASE 21 +6

LISBURN AND CASTLEREAGH

40 30 50 10

SHARE % INCREASE 11% +5.6% SEATS INCREASE 4 +2

• Belfast City Hall

• Manifesto Launch: Candidates from Newry, Armagh and Slieve Gullion

• New councillors in Derry City and Strabane

giving up. I am not accepting the autumn as a timeframe for the restoration of the Executive. I will work night and day. I will work with others to try and restore the Executive.”

Speaking later after the final results had been declared, Michelle O’Neill also said, “Historic change is happening, and Sinn Féin is leading that change right across Ireland.

“These results are a positive endorsement of Sinn Féin’s message that workers, families and communities need to be supported, and that the blocking of a new Assembly by one party

“We want to work together with others. To build a better future for everyone, protect public services, attract investment, create jobs for our young people, and deliver the change people here demand and rightfully deserve.

“The onus is now on the British and Irish Governments to get together and focus their efforts on the immediate restoration of the Executive and Assembly. We expect to see an early meeting of the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference.

“The boycott of the Assembly cannot go on and an Executive must be formed. It is time to make politics work for all right across this island.” The record poll confirmed again that the party is the largest in the Six Counties and across the island. The six councils where Sinn Féin won the most seats were Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon; Belfast; Derry and Strabane; Fermanagh and Omagh; Mid Ulster; and Newry, Mourne and Down.

Sinn Féin is the second largest party in two councils. They are Antrim and Newtownabbey and the Causeway Coast and Glens councils.

The results show how far Sinn Féin has come over the last 40 years. In June 1983 when Alex Maskey won a Belfast City Council seat for the party in a by-election, unionist councillors attempted to disrupt Maskey’s maiden speech and Sinn Féin’s participation in council business.

The UUP and DUP ‘Smash Sinn Féin’ campaign failed. The years since have shown the long-term success of the Sinn Féin strategies of demanding equality of treatment and promising progressive inclusion. 

• Alex Maskey after winning a Belfast City Council seat for Sinn Féin in a June 1983 by-election

“The onus is now on the British and Irish Governments to get together and focus their efforts on the immediate restoration of the Executive and Assembly”

Sinn Féin Vice President Michelle O’Neill

Fermanagh

Mid Tyrone, West Tyrone and Omagh Town

• Elaine Brough, Anthony Feely and Declan McArdle elected to represent Erne West

• All change on Antrim and Newtownabbey as Sinn Féin become second largest party

• Four Sinn Féin Councillors elected in Mid Tyrone

• Historic three seats won in Omagh Town

• Áine Murphy MLA, Pearse Doherty TD and Jemma Dolan MLA with the newly elected Councillors for Erne West

Lisburn and Castlereagh

NEWRY, MOURNE AND DOWN

STRABANE - SPERRIN and DERG

• Lisburn and Castlereagh: John Finucane, Councillor Ryan Carlin, Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald, Councillors Daniel Bassett, Paul Burke, Gary McCleave and Sinn Féin Vice President Michelle O’Neill

• Sinn Féin take 3 in Slieve Croob

• Mick Murphy congratulates Councillor Selina Murphy

• Six of six for Sinn Féin in Strabane

JEMMA DOLAN

The power of democracy in snow and rain

In the realm of politics, an election campaign stands as a testament to the power of democracy and is a journey that ignites passions and sparks debates.

This campaign was no different to any other, it was a marathon and not a sprint. For councillors seeking reelection, they stood on their track record of hard work and delivery. New candidates had a different challenge. Nevertheless, both had to kick off officially somewhere and, for most, that was in December 2022 with selection conventions.

In my area of Fermanagh and Omagh – the DEAs of Enniskillen, Erne North, and Erne West – I had experience mixed with fresh faces in equal measure. Working on the campaigns of Tommy Maguire, Anthony Feely, Debbie Coyle, and John Feely who are all stalwarts at this stage and firsttime candidates, but long-time activists, in Dermot Browne, Andrea McManus, Elaine Brough, and Declan McArdle.

December 2022 to May 2023 might seem like a long time, but with the volume of work that had to be done, we were not left idle. And let’s not mention the amount of times a registration drive or a canvass had to be cut short because it was snowing or raining!

With enthusiasm and determination, we set out to capture the hearts, minds, and votes of the electorate. With a focus on grassroots engagement, the feedback from most was that our door-to-door canvassing efforts are unique to us. Although challenging, it is our way to connect with the people we aim

to represent and it is their chance to engage with us and their potential councillor. And nothing beats the feeling of a friendly smile as a door opens or the chance to set the record straight, after a fiery debate!

Although this was a local election campaign, and therefore was expected to have been focused on council issues, the main subject was the consequences of the lack of a functioning

Assembly, such as the cuts to education, the state of our health service, and the dire road conditions.

Our election campaign embodied passion, hope, inclusivity, progressive change, and accountability. In this historic election, we painted a picture of a brighter future, where every individual is valued, every voice is heard, and where delivery is the aim of the game. 

Jemma Dolan is a Sinn Féin MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone

• Tommy Maguire

• Anthony Feely

• Debbie Coyle •

• Dermot Browne

• Andrea McManus

• Elaine Brough

• Declan McArdle

Since last December’s selection conventions, the Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA and the constituency team have been knocking doors and campaigning for the May local elections

With enthusiasm and determination, we set out to capture the hearts, minds, and votes of the electorate

Dublin City councillor

WHAT HAPPENED IN BELFAST MIGHT JUST FOLLOW IN DUBLIN

DAITHÍ DOOLAN was one of hundreds of Sinn Féin activists who travelled North to canvas in advance of last week’s Six County local elections. Here, he puts a context on the many weekends Sinn Féin members gave up to help the election work across the border.

So, the local elections in the North are over. The votes have been counted. Sinn Féin are officially the largest party in local government. This comes hot on the heels of a hugely successful Assembly election last year where Sinn Féin came out on top, making history with Michelle O’Neill becoming the First Minister designate.

Making history is part of what we do. Republican activists are well used to the mantra, “This is the most important election ever”, which replaced the previous mantra, “Victory is around the corner”.

I have been involved in elections since 1992. In that general election, Sinn Féin came out with 1.6% of first preference votes. I have had many roles in many elections. From Director of Elections for Dublin, Director of Election in by-elections, Director of Elections here in Dublin South Central, and even a candidate once or twice.

The best, most enjoyable elections are the ones where someone else is running the show. Heading to Belfast is a bit of a bus driver’s holiday for me. The secret is to book your lift and head off bright and early. This allows for good company and a coffee break somewhere on the border. The chats, catching up, the jokes and funny stories are always good.

This year was no different. The journeys up are good craic. Catching up with friends and getting to know new comrades. For some, it was their first time ever up there. For the newer members, they had yet to even canvass down here in Dublin. But they were

getting the best of experience on the streets of Belfast.

What struck me during this year’s local elections was the huge turnout of activists from Dublin. Upwards of 60 to 70 people on Saturdays would travel in cars and buses to their twinned areas of Belfast and Derry. These numbers were matched on electionday when we travelled back up to help with ‘getting the vote out’.

An operation whereby dozens of activists from Dublin go in to neighbourhoods leafleting with sample ballot papers and knock on doors encouraging voters to come out and vote Sinn Féin. This is where the real magic happens.

The previous weeks and months, even years of hard work reaches fruition. The feedback from local activists and on the doorsteps was that people were tuned in and ready to vote. But this did not tally with media reports North and South. Journalists were telling us from their cosy television studios that this election was flat, the public were not interested, the electorate had

During that campaign, we were attacked by loyalists while we were out canvassing. Our mini bus had all its windows smashed

• Working for everyone, the Dublin canvas team ready to knock doors

• Councillor Daithí Doolan with Ógra Shinn Féin member Saul Sweeney

WORKING

LOCAL COUNCIL

switched off. Someone was telling porkies. And the result proved it was not the public.

Dublin has been twinned with South Belfast for several elections. I travelled to Ormeau Road election headquarters for the first time in 2003.

With every passing election, we have canvassed further and further from the Lower Ormeau Road. And this election was no different.

A highly organised, confident local organisation had us leafleting in leafy suburbs where young families, originally from the Lower Ormeau Road area, were now living. We were greeted with welcomes and commitments to vote Sinn Féin in these new housing estates.

This was a huge change from 20 years ago, when Alex Maskey stood back in 2003 and won our first seat in South Belfast. During that campaign, we were attacked by loyalists while we were out canvassing. Our mini bus had all its windows smashed. The drive home that night was very chilly indeed.

This local election was well organised and focused. Each time we arrived in the Ormeau Road office, we were welcomed and immediately set to work. There was an air of confidence that was palpable. Second and third seats being targeted. New seats in their sights. The ground work had been done. A very successful registration drive married with a very clear, understandable political message, ‘Sinn Féin – Working for All’. This summed up what we wanted the election to be about. Promoting the politics of inclusion and equality. And the message was resonating with the public.

The high point of every day trip was the pizza. There are always boxes of Ormeau’s finest pizza waiting for the teams when they return from a day’s canvassing or leafleting. Stories exchanged. Old tales recounted. Tall tales embellished over hot, cheesy pizza.

Elections are about votes, turnouts, winning and losing. But they

are also about the friendships and connections made that will last long after the election results. Some of our comrades from Dublin had been up every weekend for four or five weeks. They had skin in the game. They got to know the candidates. They were now personally invested in this election. They had their favourites and they wanted them to win. They would return week after week to make sure of it.

With every journey back to Dublin, we brought something new back with us. A story, an experience on the door, some learning we can apply back home. Running multiple candidates, vote manage-

ment, messaging, and dividing up election areas are all major learning curves for us here in Dublin.

Heading to Belfast for this election was a bit like heading in to the future for us in Dublin. We now realise if we are to make the opinion polls a reality and tap into the good will out there, we will need to be running multiple candidates in local wards in next year’s council elections. This is a huge challenge for us. But now we have seen just exactly how that can be done. What happened in Belfast this week might just happen in Dublin next June. 

Daithí Doolan is a Dublin Sinn Féin Councillor for Ballyfermot-Drimnagh.

Elections are about votes, turnouts, winning, and losing. But they are also about the friendships and connections made that will last long after the election results

• Election day canvas card

• Part of the Dublin Sinn Féin canvas team find time to show support for Palestine in South Belfast

• The work done, Dublin Sinn Féin activists on the way home from Belfast

CLEAR AND LOUD FRUSTRATION ON THE DOORSTEPS

East Derry MLA CAOIMHE ARCHIBALD was on the campaign trail in East Derry and reports back on the message from the doorsteps and communities across the constituency.

The election on 18 May produced another historic result for Sinn Féin. And while the scale of the outcome might have been beyond what we dared to hope for out loud, it was no surprise to those of us who have been knocking on doors for weeks before the election that we did so well.

I knocked doors across my constituency of East Derry from Portstewart to Park, Feeny to Kilrea and everywhere in between and the response was the same.

It was clear from early on in the campaign that while this was a local government election to elect councillors who represent their communities on everything from leisure services to street cleaning, from economic development to planning, people wanted to talk big picture politics.

This election was fought against the backdrop of the DUP’s refusal to enter the Executive and Assembly since last May’s Assembly election and the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

Side by side, there were almost daily an nouncements of cuts to public services as a result of the austerity budget imposed by a British Tory government, which doesn’t have a single elected representative on this island.

It became crystal clear to us that there was clear and loud frustration at the one party blocking government.

There was also an acknowledgement on the doors of Sinn Féin being committed to working with other parties to get the Exec utive back up and running to help people with the cost of living and begin to fix our health service.

In particular, there was a strong praise of how Michelle O’Neill has embodied her election promise as being a ‘First Minister for all’ for the past year.

Sinn Féin’s positive message that this was an opportunity to send a clear signal to get the Assembly up and running and work for all resonated strongly and people came out to vote in big numbers.

The people elected a record number of 144 Sinn Féin councillors, an increase of 39 seats, with notable breakthroughs for the first time in the history of the state in Lisburn, Ballymena, and by my sister Niamh Archibald in Coleraine.

Sinn Féin is now the largest party in local government in the North, just a year on from becoming the largest party in the Assembly.

With that success comes a huge responsibility and I’m confident our

councillors, with the rest of the Sinn Féin team across the island, will now work hard every day to deliver for all our people. 

Caoimhe Archibald is a Sinn Féin MLA for East Derry

There were almost daily announcements of cuts to public services as a result of the austerity budget imposed by a British Tory government, which doesn’t have a single elected representative on this island

BREAKTHROUGH: Caoimhe's sister Niamh Archibald was elected in Coleraine

The patchwork Coalition is tattered after three years

BY MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA

It is hard to believe it is only three years since Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, and the Green Party cobbled together their Coalition government in June 2020.

So much has happened in the intervening period that it is easy to forget how long it took to put that patchwork together - from the election in February to government formation in June. But many voters will need no reminder that their vote for change was thwarted as Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil conspired and combined to keep Sinn Féin out of government.

To their eternal shame, the Green Party made that political ready-up possible and kept the two conservative parties in power. Two parties whose record on dealing with the climate emergency has been piecemeal.

The new Government was formed as the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country and, to an extent, the emergency masked the disjointed and incoherent nature of the Coalition. There was a broad consensus across the political spectrum to back the public health measures needed to fight the pandemic. It was only after it subsided that the patchwork nature of the government became much clearer.

There was a forlorn effort by Fianna Fáil in particular to present this Government, with its ‘rotating’ Taoisigh, as something

new and shiny, just as they had tried to present their ‘confidence and supply’ support for the previous Fine Gael-led government as ‘new politics’. Of course in both cases, it was the same old parties doing the same old things they had done for decades.

In that context, there is a bitter irony in Leo Varadkar’s comments that Sinn Féin is “politics for slow learners”. How long has it taken Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to learn that to solve a housing crisis you need to build

gh O’Brien to answer the simple question, “Where will they go?”

The answer for many thousands will be either into homelessness or into a market that continues to fleece renters. A Daft.ie rent report in May showed rents continuing to rise across the state. Average new rents increased by almost 12% in the previous 12 months. Some 24 counties saw double digit rent inflation, most in the high teens. Four counties, Mayo, Longford, Roscommon, and Cavan, had rent increases of 20% or more.

houses? By their efforts so far, it looks like they still have not learned.

It was only determined pressure from Sinn Féin and others that forced the Coalition to introduce the no-fault eviction ban. But Fine Gael in particular never wanted it and they ensured that it was not extended for the rest of 2023, despite the growing toll of tenants in the private rented sector facing notices to quit. And despite the failure of Fianna Fáil Housing Minister Darra-

The average new rent across the state is €1,750, while in Dublin City the average new rent is €2,302. As Sinn Féin Housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin TD said, “Despite the falling private rental stock and rising private rents, Government’s cost rent al delivery is appalling ly low. Just 684 cost rental homes were de livered last year. Gov ernment must accept that its cost rental tar gets are too low. They must also accept that the price of these cost rental units is too high.

• Sinn Féin Housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin

Average new rents increased by almost 12% in the previous 12 months. Some 24 counties saw double digit rent inflation

“They must dramatically increase and accelerate the delivery of these much-needed cost rental homes and ensure that they are genuinely affordable to working people.”

As in housing, so in healthcare. The Coalition’s record is lamentable. Data released by the HSE to Sinn Féin Health spokesperson Cullinane TD shows that there were more than 85,000 Hospital appointments and procedures cancelled in the first four months of the year. There were more than 24,000 appointments cancelled in April, the worst month so far, which is nearly 70% more than were cancelled in April 2022.

David Cullinane said, “This government has not made the necessary investments in hospital care or in community care. There is a deficit of 1,000 acute inpatient beds in hospitals, and there are now more than 6,000 people waiting for home support. There are hundreds of delayed discharges every year because of the lack of community recovery beds and home support.

“The health service is not delivering the right care in the right place at the right time. We are seeing this across primary care now, with longer waiting times for GPs and dentistry, which will lead to worse health outcomes. Waiting times are rising across the board. All of this dysfunction is leading to more emergency presentations which is leading to more cancellations. It is a vicious cycle which has not been broken.

“The only solution is a multi-annual plan to expand hospital capacity – across diagnostics, beds, theatre capacity, and staffing – and to deliver a step-change in primary and community care to shift some of the burden out of hospitals.”

The Coalition had hoped that the ‘rotation’ of Taoisigh at the end of 2022, with Leo Varadkar replacing Mícheál Martin, would

be hailed as momentous and historic, 100 years after the Civil War. But given the reality of the housing, health, and cost of living crises, there was no such ‘buzz’ around the event. In fact, mention of the Civil War just reminded people how long these par-

ties have been in Government and how acutely real political change is needed.

Mícheál Martin now has the unique distinction of being the Fianna Fáil leader who has kept three Fine Gael Taoisigh in office - Enda Kenny once and Leo Varadkar twice. It is little wonder that Martin will not trust citizens to have a say on key issues. He refuses to set up a Citizens’ Assembly on Irish Unity, despite growing support for that call across Ireland and among the diaspora.

Similarly, in his efforts to undermine independent Irish foreign policy and military neutrality, Martin has set up a hand-picked forum chaired by a ‘dame’ of the British Empire to look at these core issues, rather than a Citizens Assembly.

Martin, Varadkar, and their Green ally Eamon Ryan have good reason to be nervous about the verdict of citizens. That is why they will likely hold together their tattered patchwork Coalition until the bitter end and hold off a general election as long as possible. But the grass is getting longer, and the voters are waiting in it. 

Mícheál Mac Donncha is a Dublin City Sinn Féin councillor

“There is a deficit of 1,000 acute inpatient beds in hospitals, and there are now more than 6,000 people waiting for home support”

Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane

• Despite growing support, Mícheál Martin refuses to set up a Citizens Assembly on Irish Unity

THE PEOPLE’S VOICE IS PARAMOUNT IN SHAPING OUR SHARED FUTURE

Everyone who calls this island home should have the opportunity to help shape our shared future. Whether you are a South Armagh/North Louth republican like me, a Tiger’s Bay loyalist, a unionist from Drum in County Monaghan or somebody who hasn’t quite made up their mind on what the best constitutional arrangement might be for your family.

What we can all agree on is that we want the best possible life experience for ourselves and our families, and to our descendants, we want to bequeath an inclusive, progressive society in which everyone has the chance to prosper.

Our children’s children deserve to live free from sectarianism, free from violence and the threat of violence, and full of the promise and opportunity that flows from a functioning economy that serves the population and a government that prioritises and cares for its citizens.

Republicans believe that the only way in which we can craft this type of society for all of the people of our island is by getting rid of Partition and uniting our people in a new national democracy.

This transition from Partition to unity and building the new, shared and equitable Ireland takes planning, preparation, and foresight.

Sinn Féin has called on the Irish government to establish a forum, a Citizens’ Assembly, which would enable and facilitate ordinary citizens to contribute to the discussion that is underway at present.

The potential of reunification is momentous for the people of Ireland and it will affect everyone on the island, so grassroots communities should be involved from the very outset and not consulted in a tokenistic way at the end of the process.

The Citizens’ Assembly on Irish Unity must be supported, resourced, and maintained by the Irish Government as part of its planning and preparation for the constitutional change which is coming.

Failure to prepare in advance of a unity referendum is a major dereliction of duty by the Irish Government and it would be a great disservice to the people of Ireland to schedule a referendum without the public being adequately informed about the proposition they are voting on.

There is now an unstoppable momentum towards Irish Unity. In the recent local government election in the North, candidates representing parties supportive of Irish Unity were elected in greater numbers than those representing parties with no stated constitutional preference or parties supportive of maintaining the Union with Britain.

This result is the latest in a series of elections across the island which demonstrate the weakening hold on power of the old, conservative parties and the rise of alternative voices seeking to work for radical change to the status quo.

The 2022 Assembly election for the first time returned Sinn Féin as the largest party in the North and the 2020 General Election in the South did the same. The local government election results are a further indication of the transformation of the political landscape.

Our constitutional future has been centre stage since the Brexit vote of 2016 and there is currently more academic research and discussion on the potential benefits of Irish Unity than ever before.

Sinn Féin’s Commission on a United Ireland has held four public people’s assemblies. EMMA McARDLE reviews the progress so far and considers the planning, preparation and foresight needed in building the new, shared and equitable Ireland.

What we can all agree on is that we want the best possible life experience for ourselves and our families, and to our descendants, we want to bequeath an inclusive, progressive society

Pearse Doherty TD addressing the Donegal People’s Assembly

This is logical. Demographic and electoral trends point one way only. But the momentum is deeper than an abacus calculation of weekly net income post-reunification. There is a growing understanding and appreciation among the people of Ireland that aspiring to selfgovernance is a legitimate and worthy political position.

Among the younger generations, there is a renewed awareness that British rule over part of the country does not serve us well, and a growing confidence that the current constitutional arrangement can and will be revised.

The Irish government is currently a bystander in the conversation, content to look at opportunities for allisland collaboration, content to talk about perspectives and experiences rather than strongly advocate for reunification.

Has any Irish Government offered a sincere welcome to citizens in the North? What impression does the current Irish government make when it denies the rights of citizens of the North to vote for their President, when it refuses northern MPs speaking rights in the ‘national’ parliament, when it refused to assign to the North its extra allocation of two European Parliament seats following Brexit?

Has any Taoiseach asked a British Prime Minister to relinquish their control over the Six Counties? Imagine what could happen if the Irish Government was a protagonist in the campaign for unity.

Would there be a Department of Reunification akin to the Ministry of Intra-German Relations established by the West German government in 1949, 40 years before the Berlin Wall

was breached. The South Korean government too established its Ministry of Unification in 1969 and, closer to home, the newly elected Scottish First Minister has created a Junior Minister for Independence in his government.

Sinn Féin is not a bystander in the national conversation. We want a new, shared independent Ireland.

We have also made a commitment to facilitate a grassroots conversation and consultation on the future through the Commission on the Future of Ireland, which the party established in 2021.

Since then, the Commission has held four People’s Assemblies under the theme of ‘Have Your Say’. These events, which took place in Belfast, Derry, Donegal, and Louth have been attended by hundreds of people and watched on YouTube by thousands.

They provide an opportunity for people within these areas to come along and contribute on the night or simply listen to the conversation.

Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive towards this major initiative and there is a huge public appetite for this type of conversational event.

After the summer break, the Commission will host further People’s Assemblies in Waterford and Galway and, in the coming weeks, sectoral events have been planned with a Belfast Women’s Assembly scheduled for Tuesday 27 June and a Dublin Youth Assembly which will take place on Wednesday 28 June.

In addition, there is an ongoing call for people or groups to give us their thoughts through written contributions which can be made via the Sinn Féin website or by emailing:  commission@sinnfein.ie

When the unity referendum is held, it will be the people’s day. Let’s begin the process of including all of our citizens in the conversation at the earliest opportunity. 

Emma McArdle is a Campaign and Policy Manager on Sinn Féin’s Uniting Ireland project.

The potential of reunification is momentous for the people of Ireland and it will affect everyone on the island, so grassroots communities should be involved from the very outset

Our children still envision a free Palestine

Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Ireland, marks the 75th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, explaining how the Palestinian people’s “struggle for freedom and self-determination will continue” and that “our children and our grandchildren will never give up on our right of return”.

The year 2023 marks 75 years since the ethnic cleansing and mass displacement of Palestinians, known as the Nakba. Seventy five years since their civil and national rights were overwritten, since peoples’ livelihoods and properties were destroyed, since innocent lives were stolen, since families were separated and land was partitioned and taken.

What is a Nakba? It is the Arabic word for catastrophe. Nakba reflects the mass expulsion and forcible displacement of the Palestinians from historic Palestine by Zionist militias, creating the Palestinian refugee problem which is ongoing to this current day.

Before the Nakba, Palestine was under the British Mandate. In 1916, the Sykes-Picot Agreement was laid out by the French and British powers, dividing the former territories of the Ottoman Empire between them. Britain received Jordan, Iraq, and Palestine. This agreement was, and still is, a large part of the cause of the problems across the Arab world, as it was set in place with only Western colonial interests in mind.

In 1917, during the first World War, the Balfour Declaration was put in place, empowering Britain to call for a Jewish home in Palestine, giving a large boost to the Zionist movement. This led to the migration of the Jewish people from Europe in the 1920s and 30s. In 1922, the British Mandate for Palestine was approved by the League of Nations Council, without the consent of the Palestinians. This is one of the many examples of how the voice of the Palestinian people was taken from them as it is in the present day.

During the Mandate, from 1922 to 1947, large-scale Jewish immigration, mainly from Eastern Europe, took place, the

numbers swelling in the 1930s during the Nazi regime. Arab demands for independence and resistance to immigration led to a rebellion in 1936.

In 1947, following the turmoil of the Second World War, Britain handed over responsibility for Palestine to the UN and terminated its mandate to Palestine. The UN General Assembly set up a Special Committee on Palestine, which decided that the partition of Palestine was necessary. Resolution 181 was put in place, calling for 56.47% of

Palestine to be allocated to a Jewish state, 42.88% to the Arabs, whilst Jerusalem and Bethlehem were placed on a corpus separatum, administered by the UN directly. Outrage followed; a Jewish state had been allocated the majority of the land, despite Jews accounting for no more than one third of the population, whose immigration to Palestine was hugely facilitated through the British Mandate. The Jewish state, now known as Israel, was declared on 14 May 1948.

Around two thirds of the Palestinian refugees remained in historic Palestine, in areas still under Arab rule like the Gaza Strip and the West Bank

What followed was the most traumatic catastrophe that has ever befallen the Palestinians.

On the 15 May 1948, a war involving the neighbouring Arab countries broke out. This led Israel to occupying 78% of historical Palestine, illegally expanding beyond the borders outlined by the UN’s Resolution 181. Some 800,000 Palestinians were forcibly exiled after 531 Palestinian villages were destroyed and erased from the map, leaving the Palestinian people with no choice but to flee. Zionist gangs perpetrated 70 bloody massacres against the Palestinians, such as the massacres in the villages of Deir Yassin, Tantoura, and Dawayma.

The war of 1948 was a result of the Jewish forces, which were significantly larger and much more well-armed than any Arab troops, taking over half of the Arab state. The Palestinians who were not able to escape outside of the Israeli borders remained inside and were granted a secondclass Israeli citizenship.

They were not, and are still not, treated like Jewish Israeli citizens. They were placed under military rule until 1966, had up to 70% of their land seized, and required permits to leave their villages. Around two thirds of the Palestinian refugees remained in historic Palestine, in areas still under Arab rule like the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The rest of the Palestinians fled to neighbouring Arab countries, like Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq.

• Nakba was the mass expulsion and forcible displacement of the Palestinians from historic Palestine by Zionist militias in 1948

Now, 75 years later, we are still experiencing the violations and oppression by the occupation on a daily basis. The Palestinians who were forcibly exiled following the Nakba spent decades of their civil and national rights being ignored, violated, and trampled on. Their lives and livelihoods sacrificed, their land stolen, and their properties destroyed. The Palestinians endured oppression, home demolition and displacement, imprisonment and torture, while witnessing countless attempts to partition their homeland, divide their people, destroy their lives, and colonize their land. Seventy five years later, our narrative must and will prevail.

Despite the sacrifice and the suffering, we do not seek pity. What we seek is support, resistance to apartheid, and for our voices to be heard. We continue to tell our stories so our history is not forgotten. With family members older than the State of Israel, we hear accounts of grandparents who still hold the key to the home that they were displaced from, a home which was likely destroyed, with their land stolen and a new home built and lived in by illegal settlers. We hear stories of our parents travelling from city to city by foot, losing family members on the journey.

And yet, our suffering has not once silenced us. We use our cause to inspire art, music, poetry, food, and documentaries. Our aim to educate our children to the highest standard has not once been dampened. Our children are ambassadors, engineers, doctors, and lawyers, each defending and protecting the Palestinian name in their own way. Thousands of martyrs sacrificed for defending their nation, defending their UN mandated right to freedom, all of

whom would do it again if they had the choice.

So how do we commemorate the Nakba? We continue telling our stories. We continue to fight for our freedom. We continue to call upon lawmakers and representatives of the free nations to support our struggle for freedom.

We come together to rise to the challenges that our cause faces, to stand up for our land and our holy places, and to focus on confronting the illegal occupation and getting rid of the apartheid the Palestinians face. Seventy five years on, the Palestinians’ resilience has never been dampened, and it will continue strong until Palestine is free, with Jerusalem as its capital, with the Palestinian flag flying high.

I recall our late President Yasser Arafat saying at the UNGA in 1974, “I come to you bearing an olive branch in one hand and a freedom fighter gun in the other. Do NOT let the olive branch fall from my hand.”

Our right of return is due. My grandparents thought it would only last a week – it has now been 75 years. They are gone, but us, our parents, and our children and our grandchildren will never give up on our right of return. Our struggle for freedom and self-determination will continue so we can achieve our free State of Palestine, with the 1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its eternal capital. 

Despite the sacrifice and the suffering, we do not seek pity. What we seek is support, resistance to apartheid, and for our voices to be heard

DEATH OF PALESTINIAN HUNGER STRIKER KHADER ADNAN

Following the death of Palestinian Hunger Striker Khader Adnan, Sinn Féin Middle East spokesperson Pat Sheehan MLA has highlighted the inhumanity of “Israel’s cruel administrative detention programme”. Sheehan said that, “Israel needs to stop its mass detention and degrading treatment of Palestinians and abide by international human rights law in ending its vindictive prisons policy”.

Sheehan also expressed his condolences to Khader Adnan’s family. He said Adnan’s death was “another life lost as a result of Israel’s inhumane prison policies” and he said it “was time for the international community to act”.

Khader Adnan had been on hunger strike for 87 days in protest to his detention without charge before his death on 2 May 2023. Sheehan said, “For too long, the international community has watched from afar as countless Palestinians fall victim to Israel’s callous policies of systematic oppression and persecution.

“The latest death of Hunger Striker, Khader Adnan, is yet another life lost to the tragedy of Israel’s inhumane prison policies. Khader Adnan’s death has brought international attention to the treatment of Palestinian prisoners and Israel’s cruel administrative detention programme.

“Approximately 5,000 Palestinian prisoners are estimated to be in Israeli jails at present, including around 1,000 being held in administrative detention. The treatment of Palestinian prisoners is clear for the world to see, but the time for accountability and the international community to act has long passed.

“Words without action will enable the continued daily harassment, settler and state violence, annexation of Palestinian lands and persecution to continue; all of which have been reported by such organisations as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch as ‘crimes against humanity

and constituting a system of apartheid’.

“To Khader’s family, I express my sincere condolences for the loss of their beloved husband and father, reiterating their calls for calm in response to his death.”

Sinn Féin MP For Mid-Ulster Francie Molloy, also marking Adnan’s death, said, “They have nothing in their whole imperial arsenal that can break the spirit of one Palestinian who doesn’t want to be broken”.

Chris Hazzard, Sinn Féin MP for South Down tweeted that, “The death on hunger strike of Khader Adnan is a loss felt deeply by the entire Palestinian nation and solidarity movement throughout the world”. 

• Pat Sheehan MLA

• Francie Molloy

• Chris Hazzard

Ireland’s neutrality has had a heightened media focus this year, as Irish society grapples with the impact of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and the coalition government continues to undermine both the state’s defence capabilities and the ‘triple lock’ mechanism for sanctioning peacekeeping missions. MATT CARTHY outlines the Sinn Féin position.

MILITARY NEUTRALITY CRUCIAL TO IRELAND’S INTERNATIONAL ROLES

During a debate on his proposed Consultative Forum on Security and Defence issues on 18 May, Tánaiste Micheál Martin told the Dáil that there was “no hidden agenda nor prejudged outcome” for the hearings which will take place this month.

Those who took the Fianna Fáil leader at his word will have been surprised to read in the following Sunday’s Business Post that “the three government party leaders have reached a consensus that Ireland’s ‘triple lock’ mechanism for peace-keeping missions needs to go”.

That, and subsequent government commentary, reaffirms the

suspicion that the government’s proposed forum is less about public discussion than it is an attempt to reshape public opinion. Government does not intend to provide a role for the Opposition in the Tánaiste’s proposed so-called Consultative Forum. This is an important point because decisions on Foreign Policy are different to other areas. When one government sign up to international agreements, for example, a successor government cannot always simply change position without damaging our international reputation.

Therefore, government cannot simply exclude Opposition from

• Matt Carthy, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Foreign Affairs & Defence

important information and discussions that could have an impact for generations to come.

Sinn Féin’s vision is for Ireland to play a constructive role in the wider world, committed to diplomacy, humanitarianism, peace building, and cooperation with other states on global challenges including poverty, world hunger, climate change, conflict resolution and migration.

An independent foreign policy and military neutrality are crucial to allow Ireland to play that important role in the wider world. We should be proud of our military neutrality, and resist attempts by some to recast it as a weakness or a failing.

The legacy of Irish neutrality has been our contribution to making the world a better and a safer place and is one which we should be proud of.

Sinn Féin welcome renewed discourse on foreign, security, and defence policies. In the past, Irish governments have made

It was Ireland’s position as a neutral and our unique experience of colonialism that allowed us to earn a reputation as one of the pre-eminent contributors to peacekeeping in the globe.

It has been a positive force for good, allowing this small country to play a bigger role in the world than many others with much greater wealth and much bigger military machines.

That is the legacy of those who first defined neutrality. Our objective must be to build on that legacy for generations to come. That is why, in any public discussion, we will vociferously advocate for neutrality.

The illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine has changed the world. In that context, it is incumbent upon us to reflect upon our responsibility to safeguard our country and our citizens, to reflect on how we uphold the principles of democracy and the rule of law, and contribute positively to the world beyond our borders through humanitarian and development aid, peacekeeping, and acting as facilitators of peace where conflict does exist.

For my part, I remain as convinced as to the imperative of Irish neutrality, to Irish participation in UN peacekeeping missions, and as proud as before of Irelands humanitarian record.

For their part, the truth is that over the past two decades, at least, successive governments have undermined Irish neutrality.

Firstly, governments have moved us away from having an independent foreign policy. So it is that the rightfully strong rhetoric and actions regarding Ukraine – being as they are in tune with those of larger Western states – are not matched in other areas where they are equally deserving, such as Palestine.

important, often crucial decisions, with little engagement with the Irish public and often even minimal Oireachtas debate.

The starting point to any such discourse must be a recognition that military neutrality has served this state well and it is incumbent on those of us on the left who value neutrality to then articulate the positive and constructive role that neutrality can help Ireland play internationally.

It is arguable that no government has clearly articulated Irish neutrality since the time of Frank Aiken, whose work defined Irish foreign and defence policy for generations.

• Successive governments have underinvested in our Defence Forces and we are unable to monitor, never mind defend, our own airspace or seas

Secondly, successive governments have overseen the systemic underinvestment in our Defence Forces. We are unable to monitor, never mind defend, our own airspace or seas, and are unable to secure ourselves against modern threats, while numbers within the Defence Forces have reached critically low levels.

Thirdly, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments have used membership of NATO’s Partnership for Peace and PESCO as mechanisms to further undermine neutrality.

These actions impact on each other. When Irish Ministers sign us up to international missions, even those with UN mandates, they often do so at the cost of Irish defence, such as when there will be periods this summer when there will be only a single navy vessel operating in Irish waters.

Sometimes contradictory government responses to media

Sinn Féin's vision is for Ireland to play a constructive role in the wider world, committed to diplomacy, humanitarianism, peace building, and cooperation with other states on global challenges

• We have a proud tradition of participation in UN peacekeeping missions and in supporting conflict resolution across the globe

reports of a secret deal with the British government to have the RAF secure our airspace again starkly points to an ongoing policy of signing up to international military missions while ignoring the incapacity to address domestic needs.

Sinn Féin understands the obligations of government in respect of agreements made with international partners. That is why I have said that, in government, we will not withdraw Irish forces from pre-committed operations and exercises.

But, in terms of future decisions, we will take a different approach than the current government, one which will have the unequivocal starting point that we are a neutral and independent state, with the objective of building upon our proud tradition of participation in UN peacekeeping missions and in supporting conflict resolution across the globe.

The alternative trajectory is one that would place Irish Defence Forces personnel under the command of an EU military structure whose deployment could occur without the approval of the Dáil, government or UN mandate as required by the ‘triple lock’.

That has been the ambition of some within the EU for some time and is the natural outworking of the stated position of those within Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil who want to undo our traditional military neutrality.

It is the ongoing failure of government parties to accept the premise that Irish neutrality has served us well that has led to much cynicism about the proposed Consultative Forum on International Security, which minimises the input of the public and opposition parties. Those contributing will be appointed by government, and their contributions will lead to a report authored the forum’s chair, also appointed by government.

Many, myself included, fear that the forum is a blatant attempt to undermine neutrality. Should government wish to establish a consultative mechanism for debate, outside of a referendum, the appropriate format would be a Citizen’s Assembly.

Regardless, Sinn Féin will engage with the forum and outline our clear positions on Irish international security policy, including measures to ensure public inclusion in debate, enhanced Oireachtas oversight of any further proposed military entanglements, and the rebuilding of our Defence Forces.

What those who misconstrue our commitment to neutrality

as isolationism miss is that it has been our neutrality and our independent foreign policy that led President Biden recently to recognise Ireland’s “moral authority” around the world.

That moral authority is something worth cherishing because it is the legacy of people such as Aiken and former Minister Seán MacBride, International Chair of Amnesty International, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights.

Those of that generation will have recalled that famous banner hanging from Liberty Hall that ‘We serve neither King nor Kaiser, but Ireland’.

And it is with that ethos, Ireland as an independent state, operating an independent foreign policy as endorsed and

respected by the international community, that we can advance the Irish legacy of delivering humanitarian aid, build on the renowned reputation of our peacekeepers and make a stand for the Palestinian people and others repressed through occupation and apartheid.

This is the vision of neutrality that Sinn Féin will bring to every debate, and one I am proud to champion.

Sinn Féin want Ireland to be a voice against oppression, poverty, and war. To be the international champion for peace and disarmament and multilateralism.

We want Ireland to use our history to ensure that this planet has a better future.

Matt Carthy is a Sinn Féin TD for Cavan Monaghan and party spokesperson on Foreign Affairs & Defence

Sinn Féin want Ireland to be a voice against oppression, poverty, and war. To be the international champion for peace and disarmament and multilateralism

A MENTOR IN MOMENTOUS TIMES

BY MICHAEL NOLAN

I got to know Rita shortly after I joined Sinn Féin in the late 1980s. I think I was 19, having just returned from a year in London. Rita was editor of An Phoblacht/Republican News (AP/RN) at the time, but I knew her as a member of Dún Laoghaire Sinn Féin. We would often travel together to cumann meetings in Mountown in the back of Kevin Fitzpatrick’s milk van!

When we’d get stopped by the Special Branch coming or going from these meetings, Rita would take great delight in teasing the Branch men in front of new

members like myself. It had the desired effect - their authority, their power - dismissed in an instant by this little five-foot, fiery redhead. She was tough as nails. But she had a way about her that made you feel welcomed and valued from the very start.

Rita invited myself and a couple of other young activists from Dún Laoghaire into AP/RN to help out in putting together some booklets. From there, I went to help in Ard Oifig. And it was shortly after that that Danny Morrison, Sinn Féin’s then Director of Publicity, was arrested after

I feel privileged to have known Rita as a mentor, a comrade and most of all as a friend ❜❜

being set up by a British agent. And it was this event that changed everything and led to Rita, as I used to accuse her, ‘stealing my youth’.

Rita was appointed Sinn Féin’s new Director of Publicity. She left her post as Editor in AP/RN and moved from 58 to 44 Parnell Square. She asked if I’d join her in the Publicity Department. I was delighted to be asked, although not entirely sure what the role would entail, especially given that Sinn Féin was still operating under Section 31 censorship and we had just one elected representative in Dublin City!

Rita wasn’t a techie person, and by technology back then I mean an Amstrad computer with a monochrome monitor, floppy disk, and the computing power of a lightbulb. She left that to me. No, Rita liked her pencil and paper. Writing and editing in longhand on A4 notepads. The margins would become populated subconsciously with her doodles - mostly little cartoon faces of women, girls, and flowers - as she’d speak to somebody on the phone.

Rita taught me, or at least tried her best to teach me, how to write a statement. She was horrified by my butchering of the English language. It was to remain

a running joke between us right up until the end. My incorrect use of the word ‘done’ when I should have used ‘did’ drove her mad. A week before she passed away, she was still correcting me. “Did, Michael, Did! For fucks sake!”

Our time together in the press office in Dublin with Ursula Quinn, Olive Sloan, and Dawn Doyle coincided with the burgeoning Peace Process and all that entailed. They were momentous times. A conflict raging. Assassinations. Bombings. Protests. Pickets. Censorship. But in the background things were happening. Secret talks. Ideas exchanged. A pathway to peace emerging. And Rita was central to it.

As the Peace Process started gathering pace, one of the hurdles that had to be overcome was censorship. The role Section 31 had in this State in prolonging the conflict should not be underestimated. The mindset it created for a section of the establishment is still with us today. Back in early 1994, we had a good inkling that Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act would be allowed to lapse by the then Minister for Communications, Michael D. Higgins, when it came up for renewal.

A few weeks out, Rita asked me to contact RTÉ and find out what they had planned to mark this landmark occasion. I came back and told her that they expressed no interest in the issue and had no plans at that stage to mark it. She was incredulous - the national broadcaster had no plan to mark the ending of political censorship! She said, “Fuck’em”.

And that’s how independent radio station 98FM became the station that broadcast the first historic interview with Gerry Adams as soon as Section 31 lapsed.

Rita was a natural at developing and nurturing relationships with both Dublin and US officials. She bonded well with many. Others, Rita had a more prickly relationship with. Although small in stature, she carried herself with an air of authority that none of them could dismiss.

On the night the first IRA ceasefire broke down, she asked me to drive her to a meeting

They were momentous times. A conflict raging. Assassinations. Bombings. Protests. Pickets. Censorship. But in the background things were happening. Secret talks. Ideas exchanged. A pathway to peace emerging. And Rita was central to it.

• Former US President Barack Obama, Rita and Gerry Adams

• 1988 — An Phoblacht/Republican News editors Rita and Danny Morrison

at Government Buildings in Dublin. She had been asked by a senior, panicked official to meet secretly at a corner on Merrion Square. Rita was having none of it. She said, “He can go and shite if he thinks I’m going to be skulking around some darkened street corner. If he shows up tell him, I’ve gone in to Government Buildings.” He did and I did.

Rita could be fierce and forthright and she didn’t suffer fools. Rita could be great fun as well. Like many who have grown up and lived through conflict, that humour would often be reflected through a dark lens.

We both learned to drive around the same time. It became a necessity for Rita as she was required to travel around the country. She encouraged me to learn to drive at the same time as she used to say to me playfully, “Why have a dog and bark yourself?” During some of our road trips, Rita used to take great delight in picking up postcards from obscure little towns and villages and send meaningless anonymous messages to a comrade, then in a high security prison in England. We would wonder how many hours British security personnel would spend trying to decipher them.

Family was everything to Rita. Her Da and Ma, Billy

During some of our road trips Rita used to take great delight in picking up postcards from obscure little towns and villages and send meaningless anonymous messages to a comrade

• 1994 — Rita (back right) watches events, as during the historic meeting between Gerry Adams, Albert Reynolds and John Hume in Government Buildings in Dublin

• 1995 Dublin Forum, Rita O'Hare and Pat Doherty

and Maureen, meant the world to her. She idolised Billy. It’s where her left-wing politics came from and her love of books, poetry, birds and her deep suspicion of religion. “God’s a cod”, she would regularly quote Billy as saying.

Terry, Frances, Rory, and Ciaran, her children, and all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren would always feature in conversations. She thrived in the role of subversive grandparent. And Brendan of course, “My wee Brendan,” as she would say, her soulmate, her partner and husband - a constant in her life for so many years. But it wasn’t just her own family. Rita was genuinely interested in you and yours. She’d want to know how the kids were and what mischief they were getting up to. Rita loved mischievous kids.

Rita worked non-stop for the Republic right up until the very end. My last meeting was on the Monday before she passed. And although confined to bed, and surrounded by her family, Rita was still keeping up to date with events on the news. We chatted about her book. Rita talked about some phone calls she still needed to make. We smiled as we recollected a few of our shared stories. When I said goodbye, I think we both knew it was our final goodbye.

I feel privileged to have known Rita as a mentor, a comrade and most of all as a friend. I’m grateful for the welcome herself and Brendan gave me to their home for over 30 years and I’ll cherish many, many great memories. She truly was a legend in her own lifetime. I’m glad she stole my youth.

Mick Nolan was a Sinn Féin press officer and Head of Social Media. He is now a full time carer and part-time content creator

• Rita O'Hare, speaking to the media from the window of 58 Parnell Square during a raid by Special Branch

• 1999 - Rita and Gerry Adams, Sinn Féin Ard Fheis at the RDS

Ár Seacht nDícheall don Ghaeilge

don

Aengus Ó Snodaigh sets out ambitious seven point policy for promoting Irish in the public sphere

LE EOGHAN Ó FINN

The number seven has historically held special significance for Gaels le cuimhne na seacht sinsear (since time immemorial, or literally “in the memory of our seven ancestors”). It is our intensifying adjective par excellence.

If you have enough of something, you have your dóthain, but if you have more than enough, it’s your seacht ndóthain (seven enoughs). Dying (bás) is bad enough, but being in agony is suffering seacht mbás (seven deaths). Ever since Fionn Mac Cumhaill commanded warriors in seacht gcatha na Féinne, the number seven has added significance to mythical moments in our history, be it Seachtar Laoch na Cásca (the seven signatories of the Proclamation) and the 1916 generation attempting to upend 700 years of foreign rule, or indeed more recently in Ireland’s legendary and as yet unequalled tally of seven Eurovision wins.

If you try hard, you do your dícheall, but if you try your absolute best, it’s your seacht ndícheall (seven efforts).

It’s no wonder then that when Sinn Féin spokesperson for Gaeilge, Gaeltacht, Arts and Culture Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD committed the party to trying its very best for our national language if given the opportunity to govern, the policy setting out seven key areas for

Tá tábhacht ag baint leis an uimhir seacht i measc na nGael le cuimhne na seacht sinsear. Ár n-aidiacht treisithe par excellence atá ann. Má tá do dhóthain agat, sin rud amháin, ach má tá do sheacht ndóthain agat, sin scéal eile! Tá an bás sách dona, ach má tá pian uafásach ar fad agat, tugtar “seacht mbás” ar sin. Ó thug Fionn Mac Cumhaill faoi cheannaireacht seacht gcatha na Féinne fadó, tá seacht ag tabhairt brí as gnách do mórimeachtaí miostasacha na staire dúinn, más Seachtar Laoch a Cásca atá i gceist agus glúin 1916 ag triáil deireadh a chur le 700 bliain den riail gallda, nó fiú sa chliú agus sa cháil bainte amach ag Éire sa ré seo agus seacht mbua gan sárú bainte amach aici i gComórtas na hEoraifíse.

Má dhéanann tú iarracht mhaith, is do dhícheall atá i gceist, ach má dhéanann tú gach iarracht atá i do chumas, do sheacht ndícheall atá ann.

Ní haon ionadh é mar sin nuair a d’fhógair urlabhraí Gaeilge, Gaeltachta, Ealaíon agus Cultúir Shinn Féin, Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD, tiomantas an pháirtí a lándhícheall a dhéanamh don teanga náisiúnta dá dtabharfar deis dóibh sa rialtas, gur b’shin atá mar theideal ar an bpolasaí nua a leagann amach seacht príomhghnéithe le feabhsú: seoladh “Ár Seacht nDícheall don Ghaeilge” mar chuid

“Déanfaidh muid Ár Seácht nDícheall

Ghaeilge”

improvement is called just that: ‘Ár Seacht nDícheall don Ghaeilge’, launched during Seachtain na Gaeilge, aims to normalise and encourage use of Irish in the public sphere.

Speaking at the launch in Leinster House, to a room packed with party supporters, language activists, and media, Ó Snodaigh explained that Sinn Féin would implement international best practice from bilingual countries like Wales and Canada to build an environment that supports learners to engage with Irish in practical contexts outside school and empowers passive speakers (38% of the population in the 26 Counties) to become active users of Irish in their everyday life.

Step 1 would mean enshrining the right to speak Irish in law for the first time, protecting workers and members of the public alike from being stopped speaking Irish.

Steps 2, 3, 4, and 5 propose to increase the visibility of Irish in commercial life, specifically with bilingual product packaging and instore information. To encourage use of Irish, not only would ATMs and ticket machines be required to have an Irish language option, Irish should be the default home screen language, making Irish optout rather than opt-in. Ad space in public places would be expected to be at least 50% in Irish.

Steps 6 and 7 simply aim to revive what was a common practice in some quarters of Government following the establishment of the Free State – to use Irish names only for state branding (think Bord na Móna, RTÉ, Taoiseach, An Garda Síochána) and for place names (like Port Laoise, Cóbh, Dún Laoghaire).

These seven pillars are rooted in decolonising the State of the “English first” mentality that has persisted since British rule and building a sense of national self-respect. By preparing businesses with a run-in period and supports for translation, and ensuring only new packaging, signage or machines are affected, Sinn Féin would hope to deliver these changes over the course of a first term in Government with minimal cost for both the State and businesses.

Even while in opposition and with institutions down in the North, the fruits of Sinn Féin’s leadership in recent years, often as a lone political voice standing up for the advancement of the rights of Irish speakers, are clear for all to see.

Sinn Féin demanded an Irish Language Act in the Six Counties; this is now law. Hundreds of Sinn Féin amendments on the Official Languages Act in the 26 Counties shamed Government into adopting significant improvements in the provision of state services to Irish speakers. A Sinn Féin Bill to

de Sheachtain na Gaeilge, agus normalú agus spreagadh úsáid na Gaeilge i mbéal an phobail mar aidhm aige.

Ag labhairt ag seoladh i dTeach Laighean os comhair seomra lán le tacaitheoirí an pháirtí, gníomhairí teanga agus lucht na meán, mhínigh an Teachta Ó Snodaigh go gcuirfeadh Sinn Féin dea-chleachtais idirnáisiúnta ó thíortha dátheangacha ar nós an Bhreatain Bheag agus Ceanada i bhfeidhm chun timpeallacht a thógáil a thacódh le foghlaimeoirí dul i dtaithí leis an nGaeilge i gcomhthéacsanna praiticiúla lasmuigh den seomra ranga agus a chumhachtódh cainteoirí éigníomhacha (38% den daonra ó dheas) bheith gníomhach ag úsáid Gaeilge mar chuid den ghnáthshaol laethúil.

Céim a 1 ná an ceart a aithint sa dlí don chéad uair Gaeilge a labhairt, ag tabhairt cosaint do oibritheoirí agus baill den phobail i gcoitinne ó aon duine cur isteach orthu Gaeilge a labhairt.

I gcás Céimeanna a 2, 3, 4 agus 5, séard atá i gceist ná feiceálacht na Gaeilge sa saol tráchtála a chur chun cinn, go sonrach trí phacáistiú dhátheangach a chur ar tháirgí agus le heolas sa siopa. Chun úsáid na Gaeilge a spreagadh, ní hamháin go mbeadh dualgas ar UMBanna nó meaisín ticéad rogha Gaeilge a bheith orthu, ach ba chóir go mbeadh an Ghaeilge mar theanga uathoibreach baile an mheaisín, ionas go mbeadh Gaeilge ‘opt-out’ seachas ‘opt-in’. Bheadh súil ann go mbeadh ar a laghad 50% de spás fógraíochta in áiteanna poiblí á n-úsáid trí Ghaeilge.

Níl i gceist le Céimeanna a 6 agus a 7 ach seanchleachtas comónta a bhí ann i roinnt éarnáil den Rialtas tar éis gur bunaíodh an Saorstát ar ais i bhfeidhm – sé sin ainmneacha Gaeilge amháin a úsáid i gcás brandáil an Stáit (ar nós Bord na Móna, RTÉ, An Taoiseach agus An Garda Síochána), agus do logainmneacha (ar nós Port Laoise, Cóbh, Dún Laoghaire).

Tá an seacht bunchlocha seo fréamhaithe sa sprioc an Stát a dhíchoilíniú den mheon “Béarla chun tosaigh” atá fós i bhfeidhm ó riail Shasana, agus féinmheas náisiúnta de saghas a chruthú. Trí gnónna a ullmhú le tréimhse roimh-ré agus le tacaíochtaí don aistriúcháin, agus ag cinntiú nach mbeadh feidhm ag na hathruithe ach ar phacáistiú, comharthaíocht agus meaisín nua amháin, tá súil ag Sinn Féin go bhféadfar iad a chur i bhfeidhm thar céad téarma i Rialtas le beagáin costas don Stát agus do ghnónna i gcoitinne.

Fiú sa bhfreasúra, agus leis na hinstitiúidí fós thíos ó thuaidh, féadfar torthaí cheannaireacht Shinn Féin leis na blianta beaga anuas a shonrú go soiléir agus iad go minic ina aonair ag seasamh suas do cur chun cinn na gcearta Gaeilgeoirí.

D’éiligh Sinn Féin Acht Gaeilge sna 6 Contae; tá sé sa dlí anois. Náirigh Sinn Féin an Rialtais trí na céadta leasuithe a chur ar Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla sna 26 Contae, agus ghéill siad do feabhsaithe suntasacha ar sholáthar seirbhísí stáit do Ghaeilgeoirí dá bharr. Chuir Bille Shinn Féin chun toghcháin

These seven pillars are rooted in decolonising the State of the “English first” mentality that has persisted since British rule, and building a sense of national self-respect

Tá an seacht bunchlocha seo fréamhaithe sa sprioc an Stát a dhíchoilíniú den mheon “Béarla chun tosaigh” atá fós i bhfeidhm ó riail Shasana, agus féinmheas náisiúnta de saghas a chruthú

A Sinn Féin Bill to restore democratic elections for Údarás na Gaeltachta forced Government to publish its own Bill to that effect

restore democratic elections for Údarás na Gaeltachta forced Government to publish its own Bill to that effect, now before the Oireachtas Gaeltacht Committee which Aengus Ó Snodaigh chairs. Sinn Féin gave voice to the concerns from parents that the proposed new T1/T2 curriculum for Irish would discriminate against Irish medium and Gaeltacht schools; Minister Norma Foley has since scrapped the proposals.

That Sinn Féin is able to enact such effective change from the opposition benches surely bodes well for the future impact on the Irish language of a Sinn Féin Government. Implemented in tandem with the Gaeltacht Planning and Housing Policy the party launched last year, and the ambition set out in its submission on the Policy for Irish Medium Education outside the Gaeltacht (which proposed working towards 50% of primary school pupils attending Irish medium schools by 2050), Sinn Féin’s Seacht nDícheall have the potential to be a game-changer in how the language is used nationwide.

I’m sure the readership of An Phoblacht will join me in wishing the party ár seacht mbeannacht with their efforts! 

Eoghan Ó Finn is a Sinn Féin Parliamentary Assistant working on Gaeilge, Gaeltacht, Arts and Culture

daonlathacha a thabhairt ar ais d’Údarás na Gaeltachta brú ar an Rialtas a Bhille féin a fhoilsiú ina leith, rud atá os comhair Comhchoiste Gaeltachta an Oireachtais faoi Chathaoirleacht an Snodaigh féin. D’ardaigh Sinn Féin imní na dtuismitheoirí go ndéanfadh curaclam T1/T2 nua a bhí molta leithcheal ar scoileanna lánGhaeilge agus Gaeltachta; tá an tAire Norma Foley tar éis na moltaí sin a chaitheamh in aer.

Dea-chomhartha atá ann do thionchar Rialtas Shinn Féin ar an nGaeilge amach anseo más féidir leo an oiread sin athrú a dhéanamh ó bhinsí an fhreasúra. Curtha i bhfeidhm in éindí leis an bPolasaí Pleanála agus Tithíochta Gaeltachta a d’fhoilsigh an pháirtí anuraidh, agus leis an uailmhian leagtha amach ina aighneacht ar an bPolasaí don Oideachas lánGhaeilge lasmuigh den Ghaeltacht (rud a mhol obair i dtreo 50% de dhaltaí bunscoile a bheith ag freastal ar scoileanna lánGhaeilge faoi 2050), d’fhéadfadh Seacht nDícheall Sinn Féin difear as cuimse a dhéanamh don slí a n-úsáidtear an teanga fud fad na tíre.

Táim cinnte go dtacóidh lucht léitheorachta na Poblachta liom ag guí ár seacht mbeannacht orthu sna hiarrachtaí seo go léir! 

Tá Eoghan Ó Finn ina Chúntóir Parlaiminte ag obair ar pholasaithe Gaeilge, Gaeltachta, Ealaíon agus Cultúir

Chuir Bille Shinn Féin chun toghcháin daonlathacha a thabhairt ar ais d’Údarás na Gaeltachta brú ar an Rialtas a Bhille féin a fhoilsiú ina leith

MARTINA ANDERSON

Sinn Féin representative in Europe

HUMAN RIGHTS COMPROMISED BY BREXIT

Human rights are an essential part of any functioning democracy, and most people rightly expect them to be embedded in the North of Ireland 25 years after the Good Friday Agreement (GFA). Sadly, the opposite is the case.

The British Government’s departure from the European Union has had far-reaching implications for human rights, as demonstrated by three European reports detailing how the situation in the North of Ireland has worsened significantly.

The first report emerged a few months ago from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). PACE was concerned about the implications of Brexit on Irish and EU citizens in the Six Counties and appointed a Rapporteur, former Greek Foreign Affairs Minister George Katrougalos, to go to Ireland and report back his findings to the Assembly.

After engaging with individuals, civic society organizations, and human right advocates, Katrougalos warned that Brexit had resulted in a significant threat to the common human rights space on the island of Ireland. His report stated that “Brexit has already led to a diminution of the rights of Irish and EU citizens in Northern Ireland and threatens to do so to an even greater extent in the future”. This is a worrying assessment and highlights the extent to which human rights in the North have been compromised since Brexit.

A few weeks later, there was a second fact-finding mission by members of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement, including the Protocol. The report’s author, former SIPTU General President Jack O’Connor, reported back to the EESC that both the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and Equality Commission had found that a number of measures taken by the British Government had

potentially breached the rights protections set out in the Protocol.

In addition, the report found that the British government had failed to live up to its commitment in Article 2(2) of the Protocol “to continue to facilitate the work of the human rights and equality commissions established under the GFA”. The report highlighted concerns regarding “the financial autonomy of the NIHRC and thus whether it can discharge its core statutory functions”.

This is a significant blow to the North of Ireland’s human rights framework. The report goes on to state that “the loss of UN accreditation for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission is deeply concerning and undermines the region’s ability to effectively protect and promote

human rights”. This is a damning indictment of the current situation and highlights the extent to which human rights have been eroded.

Shortly after that, a third report was published by a delegation from the European Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights and the International Association of Democratic Lawyers on the ‘Crisis in the Human Rights Framework of the Good Friday Agreement’.

This February 2023 report identified several concerns regarding human rights breaches in the North. These included the lack of effective human rights protections, the erosion of the rule of law, and the increasing use of emergency powers. The report concludes that “the human rights situation in Northern Ireland is deteriorating rapidly, and urgent action is needed to address the crisis”.

The evidence from these three reports is a stark warning about the extent to which human rights in the North have been deteriorating.

The reaction from the British establishment to all three reports has been unsurprising, yet frustrating. Once again, despite the evidence, the British Government disregarded human rights violations and tried to sweep all three reports under the carpet.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) debated the report, which was passed by its members, despite attempts by British members to stop it being debated. The EESC Report which was endorsed and subsequently sent to the European Commission, the European Parliament, and European Council.

The Report by European, international, and South African Lawyers is perhaps the most damning. They travelled to Ireland for one-toone meetings as well as carrying on online in-

“Brexit has already led to a diminution of the rights of Irish and EU citizens in NI and threatens to do so to an even greater extent in the future.”

George Katrougalos

(former Greek government minister)

terviews with the Migrant Centre, the Human Rights Consortium, Relatives for Justice, the Pat Finucane Centre, the WAVE Trauma Centre, Committee on the Administration of Justice, the Equality Coalition, the Human Rights Committee of the Law Society, and academics from the Transitional Justice Institute.

After hearing and reviewing the evidence, the delegation stated, “There is an attempt by the present UK Government to unilaterally dismantle the human rights framework of the GFA, which is the foundation for peace in the region”.

The reaction from the British Government to these reports has been one of denial and deflection. They have attempted to downplay the severity of the situation and have refused to take responsibility for their actions. This is not surprising as the British Government has a long history of authorising, and then turning a blind eye to, human rights violations in the north of Ireland.

Both the Irish Government and Sinn Féin have called on the British Government to be accountable and to address the violations.

The Good Friday Agreement, which was a hard won peace agreement, includes strong human rights protections for all communities on the island of Ireland. It is a politically and legally binding international agreement with a promise for a better rights-based society predicated on justice, Section 75 equality legislation, a Bill of Rights, and an All-Ireland Charter of Rights.

Ultimately, the demand for social justice, equality, and human rights is closely tied to the struggle for Irish unity. Now, 25 years af-

European Economic and

ter the Good Friday Agreement, European, US, and South African human rights lawyers said, “When the Delegation compares the Human Rights Act (HRA) 1998 to its constitutionally aligned and entrenched equivalent in Ireland, the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003, this suggests that ultimately human rights in Northern Ireland would be better protected in a reunified Ireland”.

Post-Brexit, the British Government, a co-guarantor of the GFA, went on a full-frontal hostile attack on rights. Human rights in the North of Ireland have fallen through the floorboards since Brexit and the parachute of the EU, which provided protection, is no longer available to catch us.

These deeply concerning trends, aligned with a British Government offering nothing more than further transgressions of rights and entitlements if we stick with the status quo, have propelled a constitutional conversation about a progressive future based on equality, human rights, and constitutional change.

Giving the toxicity of the post-Brexit environment, the growing constitutional conversation in Ireland is being heard with interest across Europe.

These three damning international reports, steeped in a pool of evidence showing the extent of the human rights abuse that is being inflicted on people in the north of Ireland, must be understood and highlighted.

It is incumbent on Irish Republicans to continue to stand up for the human rights of all communities on the island of Ireland and to demonstrate with our actions and evidence-based analysis how social justice and a rights-based society will be the hallmarks of the new, united and progressive Ireland.

As Sinn Féin representative to Europe, I am deeply concerned about the diminution of human rights in the North of Ireland since Brexit, and I have been bringing evidence of our dwindling human rights protection to European Parliamentarians, foundations, and organisations across continental Europe.

Europeans are taking a greater political interest in the changing political landscape in Ireland, and many are rightly questioning why the Irish Government is not doing more to protect the human rights of all Irish citizens living on the island of Ireland.

International report finds that human rights in the north of Ireland would: 'be better protected in a reunified Ireland'

• The report ‘Crisis in the Human Rights Framework of the Good Friday Agreement’ was debated Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, despite attempts by British members to stop it

“The loss of UN accreditation for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission is deeply concerning and undermines the region’s ability to effectively protect and promote human rights.”

Social Committee

We must stand with the Kurdish people in their struggle

Nestled at the southern tip of the Bosphorus Strait on the Marmara Sea, Istanbul’s Kadiköy district attracts the artsy, eclectic Istanbullus to the Asian side of the ancient city, as tree-lined streets, galleries, and lively markets are thronged with people enjoying the world-class cuisine amidst busy social interactions.

Meandering through the streets, your senses come alive like never before; the vibrant mountains of spices, the husks of dried fruits hanging from market stalls, the rattling of the fishmonger’s cart on the cobbles, the sweet smell of almonds roasting at the side of the street, and the proliferation of political pamphlets, posters, and murals.

Kadiköy is unmistakably progressive; socially, culturally, and politically. Home to a large Kurdish population, it moves to a much

international community to help lift it off our backs!”

For many years now, the Turkish state has descended into an authoritarian dictatorship with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan responsible for a sustained attack on political parties, civil society, journalists, and progressive political movements.

Whilst the full force of this state apparatus has been most apparent by Erdoğan’s repressive criminalisation of the Kurdish people and their democratic struggle for freedom, following the 2016 attempted coup, Erdoğan has extended his war on the Kurds to all oppositional groups - including the wider Left /Green political parties; women, LGBT, academics, and lawyers.

The Turkish President has utilised a hybrid form of ‘lawfare’ where the judiciary and the penal system have been weaponised to silence political and social opponents.

more radical rhythm than the traditional Sultanahmet centre of Istanbul.

We were here to meet with Hasan Afshari, a Kurdish political prisoner who had served more than 30 years in Turkish prisons and been on hunger strike in the 1980s and 1990s.

Having told us of the great admiration amongst Kurdish political prisoners for the IRA and how Bobby Sands’ prison diary was shared amongst his comrades, Hasan poured us a glass of mint tea, sat deep into his wing-backed chair, and began sharing his own, personal story of resistance.

It was harrowing, barbaric, and it was frightening. His English was broken, but, through our interpreter, his message was crystal clear: “Political life in Türkiye is dangerously heavy. We need the

In the aftermath of the attempted coup, Erdoğan arrested, detained, and eventually sacked 6,000 judges and prosecutors, before appointing 16,000 new prosecutors loyal to the President’s office.

Faced with this emerging opposition, the Turkish state began implementing a suite of measures as Erdoğan sought to institutionalise a totalitarian ideology at the very heart of Türkiye’s democratic institutions.

Peaceful protestors were attacked; political and social movements censored, attacked, imprisoned, their assets frozen; prisoners isolated, tortured, and left to rot.

Fundamental democratic rights have been eradicated; human rights violated; citizens dehumanised; civic space for discussion, demonstration, and social activity has been eradicated; the social contract – eviscerated.

Consequently, Turkish society is more polarised today than ever before - a deep, dangerous silence about the draconian, and often brutal policies of the state has left many unable to speak out, with women in particular suffering the fierce consequences.

In 2022, more than 340 women were murdered by men; many of the attackers went unpunished.

When Covid-19 forced the Turkish administration to release some prisoners as a precaution given the overcrowded nature of the jails, it was the rapists, murderers, and sex offenders that Erdogan set free as academics, lawyers, civil rights protestors were left to languish.

Female prisoners are also forbidden basic hygiene and sanitary products in many Turkish prisons. More than 5000 women are now imprisoned with their child - and the authorities regularly target the child as a means of intimidating the woman.

CHRIS HAZZARD visited Istanbul earlier this year as a participant in a human rights delegation to observe the current conditions of the Turkish state and investigate the impact of the political situation. He offers his thoughts on Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent electoral victory.

• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's win will bring more oppression, persecution, and state terror

Erdoğan has extended his war on the Kurds to all oppositional groups - including the wider Left /Green political parties, women, LGBT, academics, and lawyers

• The human rights delegation receive first hand accounts of the political situation in Türkiye

Erdoğan, backed by various fundamentalist influences, has “waged war on women’s rights”. There has been a significant regression to the traditional policies of a “woman’s place is at home” and Türkiye’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention has been the most obvious illustration of this worrying trend.

Erdoğan has also continued to target trade unions, and workers more generally. He has attempted to ban a number of general strikes and has publicly stated that he wants to smash the unions and all leftwing groups.

This year, facing his toughest electoral challenge to date in what was arguably the most important election in Türkiye’s post-Ottoman history, Erdoğan inevitably launched widespread repression to undermine a free and fair electoral process.

Journalists were intimidated and harassed. Human Rights organisations were obstructed. Lawyers were arrested and framed as ‘terrorist sympathisers’. Entire political parties such as the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) were criminalised.

In the eastern city of Van, the entire municipal council was replaced by state-appointed trustees without investigation or justification. The

region, the Labour & Freedom Alliance, and more specifically the Green Left Party which aims to democratise Türkiye based on the freedom of the Kurds, easily won the election. In the rest of the country, the totalitarian, colonialist People’s Alliance came in first.

As a result, Erdoğan’s People’s Alliance won the majority in the parliament after the 14 May election. The next parliamentary term will be dominated yet again by the authoritarian presidential systemwith Erdoğan and the People’s Alliance ruling the Kurds as well as the rest of Türkiye. Heavy oppression, persecution, and state terror will increase.

Turkish Minister of the Interior repeatedly boasted on the campaign trail that he was replacing democratically elected mayors all across the Kurdish regions at Erdoğan’s direction.

With the Kurdish regions mobilising in huge numbers in an attempt to oust Erdoğan, the President had more than 140 people from Yeşil Sol Parti (Green Left) and the HDP arbitrarily detained in dawn raids throughout Türkiye.

Days later in the Kurdish stronghold of Hakkari, Turkish police stormed dozens of homes and detained more than 30 people.

Back in Kadiköy, young Kurdish workers listening to Kurdish music on the steps of their factory after their shift were attacked by the police wielding tear gas and firing shots into the air. Again, more than a dozen were detained.

Throughout the campaign, the progressive forces of the HDP & Yeşil Sol Parti reiterated that the election was not a choice between Erdoğan and his opponent, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, but an opportunity for democracy, for change, for transformation.

The political map illustrates three diverging political tendencies in Türkiye. Along the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts and in the largest cities, the Nation Alliance, which promotes a European democratisation of Türkiye, received the most votes. In the Kurdistan

As the 28 May Presidential run-off demonstrated, there is no serious ideological differences between the Nation Alliance and the People’s Alliance, for the vast majority of people life will return to normal. However, for the Kurdish people, for the Green Left and the HDP, it is quite simply a matter of life and death.

The Kurdish people and their democratic institutions, supported by Kurdish diaspora and the wider international community, must organise and join forces in order to develop the struggle for freedom and democracy against Erdoğan’s emerging dictatorship.

It is obvious also that the effects of Erdoğan’s victory will not be limited to North Kurdistan. Even before the elections, the Iraqi army, following increased pressure from Erdoğan, besieged the Maxmur Refugee Camp, one of the most important centres of Kurdish patriotism. It is highly likely that attacks on Bashur and Rojava Kurdistan will now escalate as Erdoğan will look to intensify pressure on both the Iraqi and Syrian administrations.

Just as we stand with the Palestinian people against the barbaric actions of the Israeli state, we too must stand with the Kurdish people in their struggle against genocide.

To Hasan, Kadiköy, and the peoples of Kurdistan we say: Solidarity in your historic resistance for humanity, for democracy, and for freedom! Bijî Kurdistan: Jin, Jiyan, Azadî! 

Chris Hazard is the Sinn Féin MP for South Down.

Erdoğan, backed by various fundamentalist influences, has “waged war on women’s rights”

• Chris Hazard with Tamar Doğan, a human rights lawyer who was illegally imprisoned

• Chris Hazard being interviewed on a human rights fact finding mission in Türkiye

• At the Bosphorus Straits on the Marmara Sea

Every GAA player dreams of playing in Páirc an Chrócaigh on All-Ireland Final Day. Boys and girls. Men and women. And the dream can very much become a reality. Not if you’re a junior ladies club player. This dream has not become a reality. Yet.

LAURA CARROLL , 2022 All-Ireland Club Final winner with Salthill Knocknacarra, takes us through the bizarre twists and turns of her teams’ journey to an All-Ireland Final.

'WE WOULD PLAY AN ALL-IRELAND FINAL ANYWHERE'

The 2021 GAA season saw the camogie club finals hosted in Croke Park for the first time, for just the senior and intermediate teams though. The 2022 season saw the ladies football club finals hosted in Croke Park for the first time, again for just the senior and intermediate teams though.

The men’s football and hurling club finals have been hosted in Croke Park for many years; senior, intermediate, and junior. Why is it perceived that the junior ladies’ finalists don’t deserve their day out in Croke Park too? We put in just as much effort and commitment as the other finalists. What’s the difference between the junior men and women? Beats me.

In a previous edition of An Phoblacht, I wrote about my Gaelic football team, Salthill Knocknacarra, winning the county final and reaching the Connacht Final and still being in the shadows of our male counterparts who competed in the county senior football final. Lo and behold, we prevailed from that Connacht final and kept winning. All the way to the All-Ireland Final. And then the inequalities between the men and women were amplified.

cation at 1pm? Put it on at any time, even 9am, you can guarantee we’d have been delighted to just get the opportunity to grace the Croke Park pitches. But no, they scheduled our game for the following day, on a random pitch in County Limerick. Not even the Limerick Gaelic Grounds.

We got on with it. We’ll play an All-Ireland Final anywhere, we thought. It was great to watch the senior and intermediate teams showcase their skills, live on TG4 and with lots of media coverage. The ladies’ game is progressing at least. But as the day went on, the weather was getting colder. We were set to play in Kilmallock the next day, with a 1pm throw in. We had a team meeting on Saturday and it was half-mentioned that our game could move to the University of Limerick – a 4G all-weather pitch. The pitch inspection in Kilmallock was due to take place Sunday morning at 11.30am. With us scheduled to arrive to the pitch at the same time, we pushed for a decision to be made the night before to save us travelling past UL to have to come right back up the N20. Espe-

“Why is it perceived that the junior ladies’ finalists don’t deserve their day out in Croke Park too? We put in just as much effort and commitment as the other finalists. What’s the difference between the junior men and women? Beats me”

As alluded to above, this year was the first time ever that the ladies’ football club finals would be played at GAA HQ. Media launches were held in Croke Park where each of the six captains from the senior, intermediate, and junior finalists were brought up to promote the finals.

It was a great occasion to get to Croke Park, but a slap in the face for the junior captains who enjoyed the day but would not be gracing the field there for the final. Instead, the junior finalists of Salthill Knocknacarra, Galway and Cork’s Naomh Abán were scheduled to play their final in Kilmallock, Limerick. Stuff of dreams, right?

The senior and intermediate finals were played in Croke Park on Saturday 10 December, at 3pm and 5pm (under lights). You might ask why the junior final couldn’t have been played the same day and lo-

• The 'Home' of Gaelic Games, Croke Park

cially if the weather was as bad as it was threatening. We were planning how many layers we would be wearing, and to bring both studs and mouldies (boots more suited to all-weather pitches) just in case of a last-minute change.

That evening, bags were packed, food was prepared, and everyone’s head set on the next day. We were pumped after some motivating speeches from our management team and captains earlier that day. We were due to get on the road at 9am the next morning. We were expecting a text from our manager about location so when his name popped up on my phone at 9.30pm, I barely glanced (I was powering through trying to finish an assignment before the big final day!) Next thing, loads of messages are popping up. Loads of “WTF”s and “Is this true?” messages coming through. Gosh I better read our manager’s messages - are we going to Croke Park or something!?

No. “It’s just been confirmed that tomorrow’s match is OFF”. Less than 12 hours before we were supposed to get on the road. What a farce. It was a yellow weather warning in the west of the country. But interestingly, there was now an orange weather warning in Dublin –where the LGFA would be travelling from after the other finals. Granted, the roads were bad Sunday morning. We would have had the motorway all the way to UL, but Naomh Abán coming from West Cork, would have had treacherous roads – it was the right decision in hindsight.

But if they had just played us in Croke Park that Saturday, it would have gone ahead. Moreover, the men’s Munster junior and intermediate football finals went ahead in

some stage or another. Yes, here we were wondering if our All-Ireland Final would get permanently cancelled. There was only one weekend before Christmas, then the next two weeks are Christmas and New Years, and you could rule out the next weekend or two in January to give both teams some time to train after Christmas.

We waited and waited for an announcement from the LGFA of a location and date. The date came first – Saturday 17 December. Okay,

Mallow, a mere 30-minute drive from Kilmallock, on the same day and at the same throw in time as us.

We held a team meeting Sunday morning. What days suit people for a rescheduling? What days don’t? Are people going on holidays? Hopefully nobody gets injured in the meantime. Hopefully the match even goes ahead at

• Salthill Knocknacarra Junior Ladies team, LGFA 2022 All-Ireland Club Champions

“The junior finalists of Salthill Knocknacarra, Galway and Cork’s Naomh Abán were scheduled to play their final in Kilmallock, Limerick. Stuff of dreams, right?”

• Dressing room facilities for the All-Ireland finalists in Fethard

lowing Monday, another girl going to London on the Wednesday before, but she cancelled this trip. Another girl had a family wedding on Sunday. Another girl not going to a swimming gala anymore.

Many Christmas parties, weddings, and end of exam celebrations not attended or attended soberly. Even an all-expenses-paid-for holiday abandoned without a second thought. All of these sacrifices, and more, made without a flinch. The weather though, it wasn’t improving through the week. What we did know for certain again was that it wouldn’t be played in Croke Park with the camogie finals (senior and intermediate only) set for that day and the Men’s club senior hurling semi-final (!!) scheduled for the Sunday.

While the country gave out about the GAA scheduling the All-Ireland hurling semi-final on the same day as the FIFA World Cup final, we were just hoping that our final wouldn’t get postponed again.

Cahir was the decided location. 2hr 10min journey for us. 1hr

captains, I take no heed of this. Next thing, in comes our managers. “The pitch is frozen girls, it’s unplayable and unsafe”. Here we go again. Pitch inspection at 12.20pm, throw in at 1pm. After us travelling hours and supporters still on their way.

There is an all-weather pitch 30 minutes out the road in Fethard, and they are checking if this is available. Naomh Abán have agreed to play it here, it’s up to us now. Well, we sure as hell weren’t going home to Galway without having played the final still. As per the above, if it didn’t happen today, when would it happen and who would we be missing?

We agreed to it. Right, boots off, back on the bus, call our parents, siblings, friends to warn them of the change of venue and change of throw in to 2pm. Or is it 2.30pm according to social media? Or is it 2.15pm according to a social media edited post? Who knows, we’ll just get to Fethard.

On departing Cahir, we were told that apparently Fethard’s changing rooms were even worse. Surely not?

Well by jeepers they were right. We were handed a brand-new set of jerseys specially commissioned by the LGFA for the final, in a construction container. We couldn’t even all fit into the container. The walk to it was even worse. The bus couldn’t drive the whole way to the pitch due to a low-lying bridge, so we walked 10 minutes up the road with all of the heavy gear. We walked through dirt and mud and ended up on a construction site with a glorious 4G pitch in the middle. All players, management, spectators and officials shared 4 portaloos (3 female, 1 male). Some players even reverted to urinating in the field behind the containers as the players didn’t exactly have time to queue up and wait.

Onto the pitch we went for our warm-ups, not as a team but one-

• We walked 10 minutes up the road with all of the heavy gear. We walked through dirt and mud

30min journey for Naomh Abán. Similar to Kilmallock’s pitch, Cahir wasn’t Tipperary’s main GAA pitch. Not exactly a curtain-raiser location.

Anyway, we’ll play an All-Ireland Final anywhere. Great that we have a date. Great that we have a location. Our training sessions were set, and it was time to focus on our goal again. Let’s hope the weather improves. The weather was forecasted for a balmy six degrees though on Saturday, a scorcher! So, we were hopeful of a thawed out pitch by the 1pm throw in.

Friday evening, I was half expecting a message saying the game was cancelled. Thankfully, nothing came, so the bags were packed again, food prepped, and focus-mode turned on once again on Friday evening in anticipation of our 8am departure.

On the road we went on Saturday, stopping 30 minutes outside of Cahir in a Limerick hotel to get some breakfast and have a stretch. Timed to perfection. Our management team wanted to keep us in this warm hotel for as long as possible so as not to be in a cold Cahir dressing room for too long before the match. We arrived in Cahir around 12pm as planned. Now the fun starts. There was nowhere for our bus to park. So, he pulls in at the entrance to the pitch and we all get out of the bus on the main road and grabbed our bags from the luggage department, also facing the main road.

We walk in and the grass is looking long. There won’t be any bouncing of the ball on that pitch, that’s for sure. I have a quick scan of the pitch – no dugouts for our substitutes. I look in the distance at the supporters’ stand – well it’s a hill of dirt with a roof over it, not a seat to be seen. Anyway, we’ll play an All-Ireland Final anywhere.

We get into the dressing room – it’s one of those classic country club dressing rooms – old, cold, and a single toilet that has seen better days. We’re getting into the zone, getting our boots on, reading the match programmes. There’s some whispering amongst the two

“The men’s Munster junior and intermediate football finals went ahead in Mallow, a mere 30-minute drive from Kilmallock, on the same day and at the same throw in time as us”

by-one as we individually exited the portaloos. We were still unsure of the throw in time. It was supposed to be a whole occasion, with the players due to parade around the whole pitch behind a brass band and the National Anthem sung proudly to the tricolour. Of all of this, we only got the singer. She had to sing without a microphone and having watched back our match a few weeks later, it became apparent that the audience watching online could not even hear this.

Anyways, the teams lined out on the pitch and down to the goals I went. After the organisational issues of the past seven days, we finally had an opportunity to compete on the playing field. Honestly, it wasn’t until that ball was thrown in did I believe we’d have played the match.

We score the first point and that’s when I notice there’s no scoreboard, despite me seeing a van driving through the construction site marked ‘scoreboard’ earlier. There must not have been a place to set it up.

Throughout the match, both sets of players would revert to asking the referee and umpires the score. Other than this, the match played out well. Fair refereeing decisions, good quality pitch, and the daylight lasted. And thankfully, we got the win. All-Ireland Champions, the week before Christmas, in Fethard Co. Tipperary – the stuff of dreams, right?

Homecoming to Salthill Knocknacarra, I couldn’t help but imagine how the two communities would have shown up were we the men’s team after winning an All-Ireland title. We were grateful of the 100-200 people that showed up to our clubhouse on our arrival back home and our hotel sponsors that provided us with a three-course meal. Celebrations continued into the next few days and the odd person would question what we were celebrating – “County champs or something is it?”. “No, we won the All-Ireland yesterday, did you know?” – “No, not at all”. In our local pubs, these were the conversations that went on. Disappointing, but not surprising.

At the end of the day, we said we’d be happy with a win anywhere, and winning an All-Ireland alongside girls you’ve grown up with, girls you’ve lost several finals with over the last number of years, and girls who have made massive sacrifices to get to this point made it all worthwhile.

We’ll play an All-Ireland Final anywhere, but would a men’s team have the same mentality? They don’t know any different, do they? Would a men’s team have put up with this treatment? We pay the same membership fees, make the same sacrifices, give the same commitment as the men. And we are still fighting for equality. The GAA are calling for the LGFA and Camogie Association to be under one umbrella so why are they being so stubborn? Why are they slowing down the fight for gender equality? The sooner the LGFA is under the GAA umbrella, the better. 

Laura Carroll is a Dublin based tax advisor currently playing soccer for St Patrick’s CYFC in the EWFL, and Gaelic football for Salthill Knocknacarra.

“We get into the dressing room – it’s one of those classic country club dressing rooms – old, cold, and a single toilet that has seen better days”

“Would a men’s team have put up with this treatment? We pay the same membership fees, make the same sacrifices, give the same commitment as the men. And we are still fighting for equality”

• The last steps to an All-Ireland Final

Lions in slumber

THE UNITED IRISHMEN AND REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND

On the 225th anniversary of the 1798 rebellion JOE DWYER delves into an overlooked part of early Irish republican history – that of republicans in Britain and the allies they found there.

In Madden’s ‘The United Irishmen: Their Lives and Times’, it is said that the Belfast-born United Irishman, William Putnam McCabe recruited many ‘disciples’ in England, and that “he was not wholly unconnected with the disturbances that prevailed in London in 1800; the desperate project of Colonel Despard in 1802; and the attempt at rebellion by the Wastons and Thistlewood, long afterwards”.

Even without further detail, the allusion towards United Irish cooperation with English radicals is a tantalising prospect.

However, by tracing key personalities and events, it is possible to piece together an intricate tapestry of reformers, rebels, and republicans – Putnam McCabe among them – who conspired to foment revolution on both sides of the Irish Sea.

THE LONDON CORRESPONDING SOCIETY

In the wake of the American and French revolutions, reform societies proliferated across Europe. Coffeehouses and taverns became bastions of radical fervour, and nowhere was this truer than in London, the very heart of the British Empire.

The London Corresponding Society (LCS), founded in 1792, was rapidly gaining support through its popular campaign for electoral and parliamentary reforms. But, as

France had demonstrated, cries for reform can rapidly become cries for revolution. Accordingly, the British authorities moved against the budding LCS in May 1794.

Leading LCS members, John Thelwall and Thomas Hardy, were arrested for high treason, alongside the radical writer John Horne Tooke. The three trials, popularly known as the ‘Treason Trials’, would pro-

vide an early propaganda victory for the LCS.

The State’s case was ably dismantled by defence counsel. Indeed, Tooke even called upon the Prime Minister himself, Pitt the Younger, as a character witness. In an embarrassment for the government, Pitt conceded from the witness stand that he too had once advocated for parliamentary reform. The three were cleared of all charges and LCS membership ballooned.

THE BROTHERS, THE COLONEL, AND THE PRIEST

This new momentum coincided with

the emergence of a younger, increasingly more radical, LCS leadership. The Dublin-born brothers, Benjamin and John Binns, were among this new crop.

The Binns were both sworn United Irishmen and soon began steering the LCS beyond pleas for mere reform and towards outright calls for rebellion. As John Binns later reflected, “the wishes and hopes of many of its influential members carried them to the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of a republic”.

A fellow United Irishman rising in the LCS ranks was Colonel Edward Despard. A member of the landed-class, Despard had fought with distinction in the Britain Army and even served alongside a then little-known Horatio Nelson.

However, Despard’s refusal to recognise racial distinctions in law, while serving as superintendent of the Bay of Honduras, terminated his military career early. Returning to London, the young Colonel was invariably drawn into the orbit of the London-based United Irishmen and LCS.

Government officials would later estimate that as many as fifteen-thousand United Irishmen and Defenders might have been sentenced into the Royal Navy between 1793 and 1796

• ‘Treason Trials’ - John Horne Tooke called upon the Prime Minister as a character witness, LCS members were cleared of all charges in an early propaganda victory

In June 1797, Father James Coigly, a United Irish organiser from Armagh, arrived in the English capital. With preparations for an Irish uprising already underway back home, the potential for diversionary unrest in England was appealing.

The charismatic, 6ft tall priest cemented formal co-operation between the United Irishmen and LCS militants. Government spies were soon furnishing reports of LCS meetings in the cellar of Holborn’s Furnival’s Inn, addressed by Father Coigly, Colonel Despard, the Binns brothers, and Valentine Lawless, the official United Irish representative to London.

Over the summer, Father Coigly embarked on a tour of the north-west of England, enlisting textile workers in Yorkshire and Lancashire as sworn ‘United Englishmen’. Meanwhile, John Binns toured the south-east, addressing reform rallies on behalf of the LCS.

As later events shall demonstrate, it is notable that Binns stopped in places like Portsmouth, near Spithead, and Chatham, near the Nore.

THE FLOATING REPUBLIC

During this period, conditions within the Royal Navy were notoriously brutal. Pay was poor and rations were scarce. As recruitment dwindled, lawbreakers were increasingly sentenced to serve the Crown-at-sea, as an alternative to imprisonment. Indeed, government officials would later estimate that as many as fifteen thousand United Irishmen and Defenders might have been sentenced into the Royal Navy between 1793 and 1796.

In April 1797, the Navy was rocked by a series of mutinies. Beginning at Spithead before spreading to Plymouth. Red flags were flown from masts and mutineer councils were elected.

Before the Spithead situation could be resolved, the naval fleet at the Nore also mutinied. However, when the Nore’s socalled ‘Floating Republic’ sailed up the River Thames, the river’s marking buoys were deliberately removed by the authorities, and the mutinous fleet soon found itself stranded.

The United Irishmen leader, Theobald Wolfe Tone, moored at Texel, lamented the defeat of the mutineers, recording, “The English navy was paralysed by the mutinies at Portsmouth, Plymouth, and the Nore; the sea was open and nothing to prevent both the Dutch and French fleets to put to sea”.

In a subsequent government inquiry, it was suggested that United Irish networks had been operating on some of the muti-

nous vessels. Robert Lee, who was hanged for his part in the Plymouth mutiny, was found to be the brother of well-known United Irishman Edmund Lee.

THE MARGATE FIVE

Despite the naval mutinies, most English radicals still eschewed outright revolution. William Putnam McCabe, now the United Irishmen’s emissary to Britain, undoubtedly spoke for many when he branded John Thelwall “a damned cautious fellow”.

Despite this, United Irish activity in London persisted. Under Colonel Despard’s supervision, the militants within the LCS now reconstituted themselves as ‘United Britons’.

As Marianne Elliott notes, between 1796 and 1798, the United Irishmen had successfully “annexed an existing democratic network and republicanized it to an extent which the militants in the London Corresponding Society could never have achieved alone”.

In January 1798, the LCS issued a statement denouncing British rule in Ireland. The following month, a United Irish delegation left London for Paris to appeal to the French Directory for military assistance. The leading United Irishman Arthur O’Connor was chosen to head this clandestine mission. Accompanied by John Binns, Father Coigly, and John Allen, a Dublin-based United Irishman.

However, O’Connor insisted on bringing a large quantity of luggage and his servant, Jeremiah O’Leary, on the escapade. The mountain of trunks, accompanying military accoutrements, and Irish accents soon

• United Irishmen leader, Theobald Wolfe Tone statue, outside St Stephen's Green, Dublin

• Colonel Edward Despard

caught the attention of the authorities.

In the early hours of 28 February 1798, the five men were arrested at the King’s Head, Margate and charged with high treason.

At trial, O’Connor, Binns, Allen, and O’Leary were found not guilty. But Father Coigly, who was apprehended with an appeal from the ‘Secret Committee of England to the French Directory’ in his coat pocket, was found guilty.

The rebel priest was hanged on 7 June 1798. On hearing the news, Wolfe Tone pledged, “If ever I reach Ireland and that we establish our liberty, I will be the first to propose a monument to his memory…”

THE ENGLISH BASTILLE

The Margate arrests rocked the nascent republican movement in England. Many fearful conspirators now turned informer.

On 12 March 1798, Colonel Despard was picked-up in his Soho lodgings. The Times later sensationally reported how the Colonel was arrested in bed with “a black woman”, failing to mention that the woman was Catherine Despard, his wife.

While their interracial marriage was unique for the time, the Colonel’s high social-status and past military prestige had arguably, up until this point, shielded the pair from spiteful public commentary and scandal. Now a confirmed rebel however, there was no such consideration afforded.

With habeas corpus suspended, the Colonel was dispatched to Coldbath Fields Prison, widely known as ‘the English Bastille’. He was put in a cold cell, without light, and placed on a bread and water diet.

Fearing for his health, Catherine launched a public campaign to have him relocated. She enlisted the support of Sir Francis Burdett, a radical Member of Parliament, in this endeavour. Burdett’s advocacy generated an international cause célèbre and Colonel Despard’s incarceration became the focus of a three-week debate in the House of Commons. As a consequence of Catherine’s efforts, the Colonel was eventually moved to better conditions.

THE DESPARD PLOT

In March 1801, Despard and his fellow political prisoners were released. In no time, the government was again began receiving reports of United Irish activity in the English capital.

According to informants, Despard now headed a secret committee overseeing cooperation between United Irishmen and what remained of the United Britons/United Englishmen. In the summer of 1802, William Putnam McCabe was spotted in London, in the company of a resurfaced Colonel Despard.

The Colonel enlisted William Dowdall, a veteran United Irishman, to travel to Dublin to ascertain what appetite there was for an-

other Irish uprising, following the defeat of 1798. His investigation neatly aligned with Robert Emmet’s own designs for rebellion.

Despard proposed a wave of attacks against high-profile targets in London, to coincide with any Irish uprising. The Tower of London, the Bank of England, and London’s armouries would all be seized. If successful, the King would be killed, and mail-coaches would be prevented from leaving the capital.

Unbeknownst to the Colonel however, his inner circle was already infiltrated by government spies. On 16 November, Bow Street Runners burst into a secret meeting in Lambeth’s Oakley Arms and forty conspirators were rounded-up.

Despite a heartfelt character reference from the now widely celebrated Admiral Horatio Nelson, the Colonel was found guilty of high treason and sentenced to death.

Alongside six co-defendants, Despard was hanged on 21 February 1803. In July, Emmet launched his abortive rising in Dublin. In his Proclamation, Emmet specifically noted that his plans had not been deterred by ‘the failure of a similar attempt in England’.

THE SPENCEANS AND SPA FIELDS

Towards the end of the decade, reform rallies had almost become a national pastime. Sir Francis Burdett, who had vociferously protested against Despard’s imprisonment, was a leading light of this renewed cam-

paign for reform, alongside the celebrated public speaker, Henry Hunt.

A new radical society, the Spencean Philanthropist Society, had also entered the frame. The Spenceans followed the teachings of the English pamphleteer Thomas Spence. They were led by Doctor James Watson, his son Jem Watson, and Arthur Thistlewood.

A government spy would later caution that Thistlewood, like Despard before him, could pass for “quite the gentleman in manners and appearance”. In 1814, Arthur Thistlewood visited Paris and met with the now exiled William Putnam McCabe.

In 1816, the Spenceans persuaded Henry Hunt to address a mass meeting in Spa Fields, north London. On 15 November, thousands flocked to Spa Fields to hear ‘the Orator’ Hunt speak. A petition addressed to the Prince Regent calling for reform was passed by acclamation.

Another follow-up public meeting, ostensibly to hear the Regent’s reply, was agreed for 2 December. However, Thistlewood

and the Watsons had different intentions for this next gathering. Over the following weeks, spymasters received whispers of a planned assault on the Tower of London.

On 2 December, just as Jem Watson concluded a rabble-rousing address, rallying those assembled to march en masse on the Tower, the celebrated, but notoriously vain, Henry Hunt arrived on the field, conspicuously late.

Out of the thousands present, only a few hundred broke away to follow the young Watson. With most remaining behind to hear to the delayed Hunt speak.

Watson’s rag-tag followers proceeded through the streets of London, raiding gunsmiths and brandishing weapons. But, when faced with armed cavalrymen waiting for them at the Tower, the mob dissipated.

Jem Watson fled the country but his father, Doctor Watson, was subsequently ar-

‘If ever I reach Ireland and that we establish our liberty, I will be the first to propose a monument to his memory’

Wolfe Tone on Father James Coigly

• Robert Emmet statue, St Stephen's Green Park, Dublin

rested and charged for the ‘Spa Fields Riots’.

Although the older Watson was eventually acquitted, the ‘Spencean plot’, as outlined at trial, echoed ‘Despard’s plot’ from fourteen years previously; including the seizure of the Tower of London, an attack on the Bank of England, and the raiding of local arms depots.

Curiously, William Putnam McCabe had travelled to London in secret during this period and was said to be present at Spa Fields that same day.

CONSPIRACY ON CATO STREET

Reeling from the failure of Spa Fields, Arthur Thistlewood began devising another trigger-point for rebellion in London. He

increasingly became consumed with the idea of assassinating leading Tory Viscount Castlereagh.

Castlereagh was already widely detested in his native Ireland for his suppression of the 1798 rebellion. He was also despised among English radicals for his defence of the yeomanry following the ‘Peterloo Massacre’ of August 1819.

As a government informer later reported, Thistlewood became convinced that, “The death of Lord Castlereagh would rouse the Irish and the whole country would be in confusion...” Thistlewood hoped to enlist the Irish in London to his cause, particularly a conclave of tenement houses in Gee’s Court just off Oxford Street.

However, on 6 April 1820, Thistlewood’s hopes were dashed. A secret meeting of his conspirators above a stable on Cato Street was ransacked by Bow Street Runners.

The ‘Cato Street conspirators’ were tried and found guilty of high treason. Five men were sentenced to death; Arthur Thistlewood, Richard Tidd, James Ings, John Thomas Brunt, and William Davidson.

Tidd was a veteran of the ‘Despard plot’ and, just before the hayloft was raided, Thistlewood had warned those gathered, “If we drop the thing now, it will turn out another Despard’s Job”.

During their trial, successive prosecution

witnesses testified that, alongside targeted assassination, the conspiracy also intended a co-ordinated attack on the Tower of London, Bank of England, and London’s arms depots.

This evidence caused unease for the authorities. Such testimony clearly mirrored the trials of both Doctor Watson and Colonel Despard from years before. A pattern of prosecution witnesses retelling the same tale, from one trial to the next, could be characterised as paid informers parroting a tried and tested formula.

However, it is equally true that sometimes informers do tell the truth. Arguably, this was the real cause for establishment discomfort.

It remains possible that Cato Street, like Spa Fields before it, and the Despard Plot before that, all flowed from the same United Irish initiative to rouse revolution in England. As R.R. Madden might term it, perhaps they were ‘not wholly unconnected’. ‘Rise like Lions after slumber, In unvanquishable number Shake your chains to earth like dew Which in sleep had fallen on you–Ye are many–they are few.’ Lines taken from The Masque of Anarchy, Percy Bysshe Shelley which was written in response to the 1819 Peterloo Massacre. 

Joe Dwyer is the Sinn Féin political organiser for Britain

• Caricature of Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, (centre) with a whip, a reminder of his regime in Ireland

• The Peterloo Massacre

LEABHAR BOOK REVIEW

THE LEGALISED LAWLESSNESS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE

BY MÍCHEÁL MAC DONNCHA

In the days before the coronation of Charles III, indigenous leaders and other representatives from 12 Commonwealth countries, former British colonies, issued a joint call on the new monarch to formally apologise for British imperial crimes and to make reparations by redistributing the wealth of the British crown and returning artefacts and human remains to their rightful owners.

Whatever the personal opinion of Charles III may be, there is not the slightest chance that the current British government will permit any such dramatic break from the imperial past. For this is the same government that is pushing forward with legislation designed to shield members of the British crown forces from accountability for their actions in their Irish war. The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill follows in the long tradition of what Caroline Elkins describes in this book as the British Empire’s ‘legalised lawlessness’. While posing as the liberal guardians of law and justice, British imperialists have used laws to facilitate the commission of crimes, to cover them up, to protect the perpetrators and, very often, to destroy the evidence.

Let no-one think that this latest history of the British Empire has no contemporary relevance. On the contrary, it is bang up to date. As Elkins makes clear, the promoters of Brexit harked back to the Empire, holding out the prospect of a revival in a new form, with the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office openly talking of ‘Empire 2.0’ and Theresa May romancing about ‘Global Britain’.

The real Global Britain of Empire days was of course built on piracy, slavery, genocide, exploitation and, crucially, racism. To justify their inhuman treatment and ruthless economic exploitation of conquered peoples, the British imperialists had to regard them as sub-human or lesser humans, at best children, at worst savages. The British were not alone in this, but their empire was by far the largest and they, above all, clothed their iron fist in a velvet glove, posing as God-fearing, law-abiding benefactors of the lesser races in what Elkins calls ‘liberal imperialism’.

The book is a magnificent achievement based on a mountain of research (86 pages of notes!) and a detailed, yet panoramic view across the many countries, territories and populations that made up the British Empire. It follows the thread of ‘legalised lawlessness’ around the globe and links Ireland, India, Palestine, Malaya, Kenya, Aden, Cyprus, and more. It focuses on the 20th century as the Empire was, apparently, at its height immediately after the First

World War and as it fought numerous counter-insurgency wars, was revived again after the Second World War, before its terminal decline.

Of the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries, Elkins writes, “Ireland and the men who enforced Britain’s rule of law were no exceptions to what their counterparts had been doing in the empire for years”. And what they would continue to do for decades. A particular strength of this book is how it follows the British military officers and administrators from one part of the Empire to the next. After their reign of terror in Ireland, many Black and Tan and Auxiliaries, led by their supremo General Henry Tudor, went to do the same in British-occupied Palestine. One of them, Douglas Duff, wrote:

“Mentally I suppose we were still living in the great days of Empire… To us, all non-Europeans were ‘wogs’, and Western non-Britons only slightly more worthy.”

The disastrous British ‘mandate’ in Palestine prepared the ground for Zionism and the Israeli apartheid of today, though they came into conflict with the Jews as well as the Arabs. But it was the Arabs who were most ruthlessly suppressed during the Arab revolt of the 1930s. One of the leading British terrorists was the RAF’s Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris whose speciality was dropping bombs on Arab villages, a foretaste of his mass killing of civilians in German cities a few years later. The social life of British officers in Jerusalem is described by Elkins:

“When British security forces weren’t wiping out Arab rebels and repressing civil ians – or recovering from local hazards like sand fly fever, malaria and typhoid – social life and leisure were top pri orities... Heavy drinking was a favourite pastime, sometimes followed with

“We, the undersigned, call on the British Monarch, King Charles III, on the date of his coronation being May 6, 2023, to acknowledge the horrific impacts on and legacy of genocide and colonisation of the Indigenous and enslaved peoples”

Letter from Indigenous leaders in 12 countries

“The United Kingdom is one of the few countries in the European Union that does not need to bury its 20th century history”

Liam Fox MP, former Conservative Defence Minister

LÉÉIRMHEAS LEABHAR BOOK REVIEW

a good dust-up in a local souk or café, where Arabs were beaten and killed for sport.”

But if British terror in Ireland was replicated elsewhere in the Empire, so was Irish resistance; for example, Elkins mentions the influence of Terence MacSwiney’s death on hunger strike in 1920 and Dan Breen’s book ‘My Fight for Irish Freedom’ (1924) on India’s revolutionaries.

Along with British terror went the piety and hypocrisy of ‘liberal imperialism’ and the myth of the ‘civilising mission’ of the British. Lionel Curtis was a key architect of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921 and a lifelong propagandist for the Empire which he longed to reshape in federal form so it could survive. He once wrote:

“If Christ came back to earth, where, in the present day, would he find that his precepts were best being practised? The British Commonwealth.”

The book is excellent on the economic and monetary exploitation of the Empire, rubbishing the claim that it was more of a burden on Britain than anything else. In this regard and in others, the record of the post-war Labour government is shameful. Yes, it set up the NHS, but it also continued oppression and exploitation across the Empire. Its Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin was described as “an old fashioned imperialist, keener to expand than to contract the Empire”.

The catastrophic partition of India, the last act of the British Raj, with millions dying, is so well described by Elkins that it is worth quoting:

“The Raj’s divide and rule policies produced a chemical-like reaction, shattering long-standing traditions of co-existence and interacting with local personalities who had their own ambitions, passions, and allegiances. It was another liberal experiment in empire gone horribly wrong, and on a scale so epic that once history’s chain of contingent events combusted, no-one could contain it.”

Divide and rule had also been the tactic in Palestine, shattering age-old co-existence. Of the Empire’s role, a former British Palestine policeman wrote, “The whole of the troubles in the Middle East which have affected the world since 1948 can be laid fairly and squarely at Britain’s door.”

After the defeat of fascism in 1945, there was the potential for a new era of national self-determination and the freedom of formerly oppressed peoples. But the USA’s pursuit of global domination and the Cold War dashed that hope. As Elkins says, “Anti-Communism trumped anti-imperialism, and the United States threw its weight behind bolstering its allies, which included Britain and France…” This was ominous for millions of people in Africa and Asia who were to suffer many more years of British and French colonialism, with US backing.

The book deals devastatingly with the network of killers and torturers, those who did the dirty work and those who covered up for them in colonial capitals and in the heartland in London at the end of Empire in the ‘50s and ‘60s. This was seen in concentration camps, torture centres, and forced move-

“To us, all nonEuropeans were ‘wogs’, and Western non-Britons only slightly more worthy”

Douglas

Duff, ex-RIC and British Palestine Police

• Munster Fusiliers regiment of the British Army in South Africa c. 1900, features on the cover of this essential read

• War propaganda poster from 1917 portraying the British Empire as the figure of Justice

LÉÉIRMHEAS LEABHAR BOOK REVIEW

ments of populations into military controlled villages in Malaya and Kenya and on a smaller scale in Aden and Cyprus. Elkins the historian made history herself when her first book ‘Britain’s Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya’ exposed the knowledge and responsibility of British governments for the horrendous ordeal of the people of Kenya, leading to landmark legal actions that brought imperial crimes right back to their source in London courtrooms.

It is in Kenya that the British policy of destroying the evidence and protecting the guilty is best documented. As they prepared to withdraw, the British set up Operation Legacy, a system to select official records for retention or destruction. Masses of them were sent to England and many were ‘re-discovered’ during the Kenyan legal actions 2011-2015, leading to the full exposure of the British regime.

One of the key British Army officers in Kenya was Frank Kitson who had also operated in Malaya, Cyprus, Oman, and Aden. He came to Ireland in the early ‘70s and, as a general, promoted counter-insurgency methods, including the use of loyalist paramilitaries as ‘counter-gangs’. Thus began a decades long campaign of terror and collusion, the

Published Bodley Head, London

story of which continues to unravel and which is far from yet fully told.

A cohort of Kitson in the North was MI5 agent Jack Morton, a veteran of India, Malaya and Aden and he gave a stunning insight into the imperial mindset:

“It dawned upon me, and became deeply ingrained, that the British were the rulers of India and that the Indians were a sort of immature, backward and needy people whom it was the natural British function to govern and administer. It was inspiring to realise that I was born into this splendid heritage and that to be British was to be a superior sort of person.”

Is such thinking extinct? Far from it. Elkins quotes Tony Blair’s foreign policy advisor Robert Cooper, a cheerleader for the Iraq war and champion of the neo-liberal world order. Referring to today’s ‘superiors’, the US and European elites, Cooper wrote, “Among ourselves, we keep the law but when we are operating in the jungle, we must use the laws of the jungle.”

This book is absolutely essential reading. 

Mícheál Mac Donncha is a Dublin City Sinn Féin councillor

“The whole of the troubles in the Middle East which have affected the world since 1948 can be laid fairly and squarely at Britain’s door”

Former British Palestine police member

“The Indians were a sort of immature, backward and needy people whom it was the natural British function to govern”

Jack Morton, MI5 agent

• Caroline Elkins first book exposed the horrendous ordeal of the people of Kenya, leading to landmark legal actions that brought imperial crimes to London courtrooms

• Frank Kitson

of Kerry

Telling the horrific brutality and murderous campaign against republicans carried out during the Civil War by the authorities of the British-founded state.

ONLY

POSTAGE

Dorothy Macardle’s tense, restrained and true story of how men and women, boys and girls, fought for the freedom and honour of Ireland and of how, despite almost incredible torture and brutality, they refused to admit defeat.

THE JANGLE OF THE KEYS

A STORY OF COURAGEOUS REPUBLICAN WOMEN

Margaret Buckley’s story of the hundreds of women Republican prisoners locked up by the Free State in 1922 and 1923.

Margaret Buckley was a Republican activist, prisoner of war, trade unionist and President of Sinn Féin 1937-1950, the first Irish woman to lead a political party.

MARGARET BUCKLEY

GERRY ADAMS ELECTED IN WEST BELFAST 1983

The British government, still stunned by the strong showing of Sinn Féin in the October 1982 Assembly elections, were further shaken when Gerry Adams resoundingly won the West Belfast seat in the Westminster election of 9 June 1983. Addressing thousands of Republicans later that month at

the annual Wolfe Tone commemoration in Bodenstown, Gerry Adams said, “We need a living political ideology, based firmly on republican principles and always open to refinement, reappraisal, and self-criticism. We need to make our politics the politics of ordinary people.”