An Phoblacht, Issue 4 - 2019 edition

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ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4

One Island

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No Border REJECT BREXIT

TIME  FORUNITY IRISH UNITY

VOTE SINN FÉIN

MICHELLE O'NEILL ON ‘THE BREXIT ELECTION’ GERRY ADAMS REMEMBERS LIAM McPARLAND

For 50 YEARS anphoblacht has been the voice of REPUBLICAN IRELAND. You can be part of the next phase of this history.

‘WE HAVE BIG IDEAS’ NOW IS THE OPPORTUNITY TO PROVE WE CAN DELIVER!

SOLD OUT

EXCLUSIVE

Interview with new Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald

One year on...

An Phoblacht looks at the life and legacy of Martin McGuinness

THE STORY IN PICTURES

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Social EU?... Repealing the 8th Paul Mason writes about the challenges facing the EU post Brexit - 6

Louise O’Reilly on the need for a grassroots campaign to win the referendum - 9

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MAKE NO MISTAKE, IRISH UNITY IS UPON US - 25

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CENTENARY OF THE FIRST DÁIL ÉIREANN

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August | September 2018 Lúnasa | Meán Fómhair

WHAT NEXT FOR RIGHTS AND EQUALITY? Sinn Féin Vice President Michelle O’Neill writes for An Phoblacht

48 YEARS OF GAZA IS AN ACTIVISM OPEN AIR PRISON We remember Joe Reilly

Issue Number 2 – 2019 – Uimhir Eisiúna 2

Sinn Féin MEP Martina Anderson on Palestine

REMEMBERING THE 1981 HUNGER STRIKES

Raymond McCartney reflects on the past and future challenges

Issue Number 3 – 2019 – Uimhir Eisiúna 3

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Published by Sinn Féin, 44 Parnell Square, Dublin 1. Printed by Masterphoto, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.

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Mary Lou McDonald

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ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4

One Island

UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

#Yes4Unity

#Time4Unity

#Tá32

No Border MICHELLE O'NEILL ON ‘THE BREXIT ELECTION’

REJECT BREXIT

TIME  FORUNITY IRISH UNITY

VOTE SINN FÉIN

GERRY ADAMS REMEMBERS LIAM McPARLAND

AN PHOBLACHT Editor: Robbie Smyth 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.

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

Telephone: (+353 1) 872 6 100.

Email: editor@anphoblacht.com www.anphoblacht.com PRODUCTION: MARK DAWSON

CONTRIBUTORS

Niall Monaghan

Michelle O’Neill MLA Joe McVeigh

Oisín McCann

Seán Mac Brádaigh Pearse Doherty TD Robbie Smyth

Aoife Ní Chorráin

Louise O’Reilly TD Callum Smyth

Martina Anderson MLA Maurice Quinlivan TD Eva Ní Mhealláin

THE BREXIT ELECTION

Sinn Féin vice President Michelle O’Neill writes on how the party’s approach to the election is part of the campaign for a referendum on Irish unity

Farmers gate protests - The 2019 lockout

3

One island

8

Niall Monaghan examines the deeper and still unresolved issues underlying this year’s farm gate protests.

To mark the decades of resistance to the border in Ireland An Phoblacht has a collection of views from both sides of the border and an extensive gallery of images of border busters through the decades.

Border communities

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The border busters

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Brexit and the border

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8th August 1976

28

Sinn Féin’s alternative budget

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Aontacht na hÉireann

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Men’s health challenges

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Walls can come down

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Catalan Jail sentences

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Putting Irish enterprise first

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An Timpeallacht

48

The world’s largest prison

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Joe McVeigh gives a personal view from Fermanagh on why communities will never accept a hard border.

Oisín McCann takes us through the decades of border busters, the communities who refused to accept Partition From Leitrim Seán Mac Brádaigh on the determination to resist the Conservative/DUP Brexit agenda.

A unique look through the lens of Gérard Harlay and an exclusive extract from Gerry Adams’s book on Maire Drumm.

Pearse Doherty takes apart the failures in the Fine Gael budget explaining the Sinn Fein alternative.

Aoife Ní Chorráin ag maíomh go bhfuil cás na haontachta inchreidte agus réalaíoch i ndiaidh bhagairt an Bhreatimeachta.

Gambling addiction, cancer and mental health issues are just some of the health challenges facing men today according to Louise O’Reilly.

Callum Smyth looks backs at the history of Belfast’s Peace walls and asks what needs to be done to take these barriers down.

Sinn Féin MEP Martina Anderson analyses the recent 100-year sentences handed down to the leaders of Catalan’s independence movement.

Maurice Quinlavan makes the case for a new dynamic enterprise agency to drive Irish job creation Eva Ní Mhealláin ag plé ceist na timpeallachta agus na dúshláin atá romhainn sa todhchaí mar gheall ar athruithe san aeráid.

Robbie Smyth interviews historian and writer Ilan Pappe on his latest book on the key historical aspects of the conflict in Israel and Palestine.

53

Postcards from a New Republic

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Remembering Liam McParland

55

Mícheál Mac Donncha

Sinéad Ní Bhroin imagines a new way of measuring the economy and a future without homelessness

Gerry Adams TD

‘A quiet, thoughtful and a committed republican’.

Gerry Adams writes about Liam McParland, the first volunteer to die in the most recent phase of the struggle.

Sinéad Ní Bhroin

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

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People need solutions, not stagnation. I can see the challenges facing voters across Ireland.

The problems facing Ireland in 2019 need real world solutions, in health, housing and public services to ensure that nobody is left behind, or allowed to fall through the cracks. People don’t need more of the same. They don’t need status quo politics, spin or empty rhetoric

SINN FÉIN VICE PRESIDENT

Michelle O’Neill MLA

Public Housing is the answer

Mícheál Mac Donncha reviews Eoin Ó Broin’s key book on how to resolve Ireland’s housing crisis

SEE PAGE

1

EDITORIAL

anphoblacht EAGARFHOCAL

The real alternative

A

vision of a positive future or the politics of fear and division, this is the choice facing Six-County voters in the December 12th elections. “This is a once in a generation election, the stakes are very high”, was the message

from Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald, as she announced that the party ROBBIE SMYTH editor@anphoblacht.com

would contest 15 of the 18 Westminster constituencies. “People have a fundamental choice to make, to vote for a positive, inclusive future or turn their backs on that”.

Across the Westminster constituencies Sinn Féin activists and political representatives from local councillors, MLAS and the party’s seven MPs are campaigning door-to-door, meeting-to-meeting, to make the case for supporting Sinn Féin. In many cases Sinn Féin supporters from across the island will join them in this election.

It shows once again that Sinn Féin throughout Ireland are the key political dynamic and the only real alternative to the Conservative/DUP alliance in the North

Sinn Féin throughout Ireland are the key political dynamic and the only real alternative to the Conservative/DUP alliance in the North and the failing Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil coalition in the 26 Counties

and the failing Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil coalition in the 26 Counties.

This edition of An Phoblacht has key themes that emphasise the depth and power of the Sinn Féin alternative and the message that there can be no going to back to a hard border, direct rule, or a DUP fuelled agenda that goes against the democratic wishes of the people of the North and their economic and social interests.

We have pieces from Pearse Doherty, Louise O’Reilly and Maurice Quinlivan that detail Sinn Féin’s alternative policy proposals on the Budget, male mental health and the need for a new indigenous enterprise agency in Ireland.

The main feature of this edition of An Phoblacht is marking the struggle to open Ireland’s illegal border. There are contributions from both sides of the Partition divide and a synopsis of the different phases of campaigns and actions to break open the border.

There are a range of images from the archives that cover border protests from the 1930s to the present day. They capture not just the British presence fortifying the border but more importantly the work of people from cross-border communities mobilising to rebuild border crossings.

Finally, we have a series of never seen before images from French photographer Gérard Harlay. They document a march and demonstration in support of political status for Republican prisoners on August 8th 1976.

The continuity across the magazine and other editions this year, reminds us again that it is time for unity. It is also time to reject the Tory /DUP alliance and most critically – it is time to reject Brexit. 

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ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

The 2019

lockout NIALL MONAGHAN, looks at the economic and political forces behind the farmers gate protests across Ireland this year and makes the case for why this is the left´s battle The chaotic scenes we have witnessed outside meat factory gates this year are the outworking of a process that began decades ago, a process which threatens the very existence of rural Ireland. The politics of the situation are clear and it would be a grave mistake if the left failed to see the importance of this battle as part of our war against the scourge that is neoliberalism.

What is taking place is the last stand of a group of workers squeezed to breaking point by a small cartel of factory owners. As the largest left wing party on the island, it is imperative that Sinn Féin represents the vanguard of the response. Fine Gael and the EU have already bowed to the interests of multinational corporations, consciously accelerating a decline in Irish agriculture, rural communities and the environment.

Allowing this to continue any longer means driving more workers off the land, and eroding the bedrock on which our nation is built.

THE MARKET IS BROKEN The meat processing sector in Ireland is highly concentrated and three dominant companies use their position to control prices. The erosion of competition from the sector through mergers, has rendered farmers no longer free sole traders, but piece rate workers dependent on powerful conglomerates. Price increases are consistently rejected and industrial action has been met with court injunctions and intimidation. Make no mistake, when a farmer is barred from entering a factory, the factory owner is locking them out of their place of work. In this case, factories have also locked out the factory processing staff, in an attempt to drive public opinion against what they perceive as farmer ungratefulness.

For the last number of years, factory bosses have walked the line of paying just enough to keep the farmers from all out rebellion.

Disgracefully, this does not even cover the cost of production for the farmer. These corporate giants rely on taxpayer money to bail the farmers out of the hole in which they are left, when all their bills are paid.

Essentially, EU Common Agricultural Policy funds are being used to subside factories paying farmers unsustainably low prices. This is the same system used by Walmart in the USA, which operates on the basis

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

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that the state should pay a portion of their workers’ wages in the form of food stamps or other subsidies, allowing Walmart to undercut the competition.

Farmers receive approximately 20% of the supermarket shelf price for their labour, with the factories and supermarkets devouring the rest. In terms of value representing labour time, a farmer maintains an animal for years, compared to a factory or supermarket, which holds the produce for days or hours. This unjust division of the profits pushes farmers into the trap of seeking economies of scale, and in the process killing the small family farm model of which Ireland has built its green agricultural reputation around the world.

EU Common Agricultural Policy funds are been used to subside factories paying farmers unsustainably low prices Generally, when we think of expansion it means land concentration but in agriculture a different model, supported by the factories has been chosen. It means abandoning green pastures and cramming massive numbers of cows into small grassless spaces, to be quickly fattened on diets that damage their health. This type of agriculture is called ‘feedlots’ and they now make up 18% of the weekly kill in Ireland according to Department of Agriculture figures for 2018. Many of these are owned by the factories and are tactically used to dampen prices when supply decreases, a situation which would have traditionally caused prices to rise for farmers.

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The distortion of the Irish beef market exists within a broader European context of trade liberalisation and a will to withdraw direct support to farmers. Political thought in the European Commission holds that free trade is fair trade. Fair for who is the question? The liberalisation of agricultural produce access in exchange for car and pharmaceutical markets has not paid dividen for our farmers.

The Irish Government´s failure to take a stand against trade deals, which lead to the oversaturation of beef in the EU market, illustrates an ignorance to what is an EU cheap food policy. Why produce here what can be sourced in the developing world for half the price? Marx would describe this as corporate interests lowering the cost of the basic commodities workers need to survive, thereby allowing the payment of lower wages without mass rebellion.

The system of low prices and EU subsidisation of multinationals may have been able to continue if its development was not being paralleled by a consistent reduction of the agricultural budget at EU level. An increasing proportion of EU politicians reject EU financial intervention in the agricultural market, but instead of tackling the factory bosses to normalise market conditions they have chosen to slash subsidies to farmers.

CAP INEQUALITY EU figures show that the CAP budget has fallen in almost every review since 1985, the latest cut is forecast at a further 15%. Of these funds the division is highly unequal. It has been a fact for some time that 80% of the funds go to 20% of farmers. Small farmers receive meagre sums and undertake substantial commitments to the environment to be eligible. Inequality is built in, as it operates on a system known as historic entitlements. This means that farmers who were more productive 20 years ago still receive higher payments based on that

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

activity, as opposed to what they are doing now. Bizarrely, entitlements to payments can also be bought and sold. This could be described as the commodification of recycled value in the form of labour time.

SINN FÉIN’S FIGHT FOR EQUALITY Sinn Féin is fighting to reform the sector on the two fronts. Firstly, Sinn Féin believes the only way to reverse payment inequality is to abolish the system of historic entitlement and replace it with an equal per hectare payment across the country, adding an extra supplement to help sustain small to medium farms. The total EU payment any one farm could receive would be capped at €60,000 and the savings generated fed back centrally to boost the overall payments of all farmers.

Secondly, the powerful factories and supermarkets must be challenged to return profitability to production for the farmer. This involves legislating against unfair trading practices, such as below cost selling and offers being made far below an agreed cost of production.

The market share of the big three factories must also be reduced, and the state should facilitate greater collective bargaining. A tough stance at home must be matched in Europe by a rejection of cuts to CAP and the Mercosur trade deal, which could flood the market with 99,000 tonnes of cheap beef.

A sectoral reform of this magnitude would restore profitability for farmers, halting the endless need for intensification and allowing a reduction in per hectare animal stocking levels. The knock on effect from this is a reduction in livestock emissions, improved health of our pastures and restored biodiversity. The benefits are not just environmental; ensuring the survival of the network of family farms guarantees a future for rural communities. This is a demonstration of what a left vision offers, an internal congruence between just standards anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

of living and environmental restoration, in contrast to the current system’s need for increased extraction of resources and exploitation of the worker.

Unfortunately, for some, the relevance for the left of the farmers struggle has been diluted because they are land owners. This interpretation must be re-examined. In reality, many farmers are land

Many farmers are land custodians who often only make enough to survive, and refuse to sell the near unprofitable land due to a sense of duty to the generations that farmed it before them custodians who often only make enough to survive, and refuse to sell the near unprofitable land due to a sense of duty to the generations that farmed it before them.

The profiteers of the sector are those large factory and supermarket bosses who extract the lion’s share of value from the farmers labour, enabled by an EU that rejects regulatory protections. For us to abandon this fight is to ensure taht right wing populism, with its archetypes of sponging immigrants and climate conspiracy leftists, finds a new home in rural Ireland among the disaffected. Let this not be a prime example of the triumph of the right being a result of the failure of the left.  Niall Monaghan is an adviser to Sinn Féin MEP Matt Carthy

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VOTE FOR OUR FUTURE

BY MICHELLE O’NEILL On December 12th, voters have an opportunity to reject Brexit and to stand up for Irish unity. I believe that in Sinn Féin we have the principled politics, we have the strong candidates, and we have the teams of dedicated activists to make our case strongly across the North.

When asked about the coming election I have emphasised repeatedly that this election is about our future. It is a welcome opportunity for the people of the North to have their say on the looming disaster of Brexit.

It is an opportunity for voters across the North’s 18 constituencies to reject the DUP and the Tories, to reject Brexit and the Westminster chaos and its destructive influence on the north of Ireland. Westminster has no answers and no solutions. The debacle in recent weeks of a stalled inward looking British parliament demonstrates the proof that this body should have no say over the future of Ireland. The Brexit farce in Westminster has shown that this institution cannot, has not, and will never act in the interests of the people of the North.

Sinn Féin has strong candidates who work tirelessly on behalf of their constituents, and we stand ready to fight this election. I have been across the North in the weeks since the election was called. In area after area I have met with Sinn Féin activists and supporters in large numbers ready to brave the dark and cold of winter nights to bring the Sinn Féin message to the doorsteps.

On social media you can see the vast tide of opinion in support of Sinn Féin and our principled stand in this election. It is a stand where we have stood back to let an anti-Brexit vote coalesce around the most viable candidates such as Naomi Long in East Belfast and Clare

6

Hanna in South Belfast. Both of whom have a credible positive inclusive stance on the future.

Sinn Féin has successfully made the case to the Irish government and Europe that the north’s special circumstances needed to be recognised to protect our economy against the Brexit catastrophe, to avoid any hardening of the border and to protect the Good Friday Agreement.

The DUP have ignored the democratic wishes of the people of the North, of business, of farmers, of retailers.

The people of the North did not consent to Brexit.

In Sinn Féin we believe that there is no good Brexit for Ireland. The EU is not perfect and our MEPs have been working with the party and like-minded progressive allies in the EU to make the case for a better Europe, an EU with more open democratic and accountable institutions.

There are some key constituencies in this election such as North Belfast where John Finucane has an opportunity to unseat Nigel Dodds, one of the architects

I have been across the North in the weeks since the election was called. In area after area I have met with Sinn Féin activists and supporters in large numbers ready to brave the dark and cold of winter nights to bring the Sinn Féin message to the doorsteps of the Conservative Party’s Brexit policies and stance towards the North. North Belfast voted Remain in the 2016 referendum.

In 2019 we can make North Belfast a Remain constituency again. The four constituencies of Belfast could combine in a rousing Remain vote. Wouldn’t that send an important message to Europe?

Across the North, it is important to build the Sinn Féin vote, to build an anti-Brexit vote. This can happen by ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

canvassing, postering and leafleting. It can also happen through the conversations we have at work and socially.

Brexit is dominating not just our news feeds but our day to day lives. We have an opportunity to get people thinking and talking about why Brexit is bad for the North, bad for Ireland, and then ask what next, what are the steps to a better Ireland?

The election and Sinn Féin’s approach to it must also be seen in the context of our campaign for a referendum on Irish unity. I have said repeatedly that there is a clear movement among Irish citizens towards a united Ireland.

I believe it was moving there even before Brexit, but Brexit has become a catalyst for voters to reconsider the relationships on the island and hope for a better more equal inclusive Ireland.

Look at the German example. It is 30 years since the Berlin wall came down. Germany was moving towards a referendum on unity within a year. It is important, I think, to understand that events overtook the country, and events are overtaking the political establishments in Westminster and Dublin.

In Ireland, the issue of a united Ireland is at the heart of any political debate on Brexit and what happens after the elections in Wesminster and the 26-Counties.

The Irish Government has an opportunity now to start planning for a debate on unity. If they do not want to fall into the same trap as the British Government has in terms of Brexit, then now is the time to plan and have that conversation.

In early November over 1,000 public figures representing a cross section of civic society across Ireland signed an open letter to Leo Varadkar

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

emphasising “deep concerns about the negative repercussions which Brexit will have for our country, the Good Friday Agreement and the peace process”.

They make the case that “a clear majority of people in Ireland, both in this state and the North, want to remain in the European Union”. They have asked the Taoiseach to establish an all island Citizens Assembly and this I believe is a progressive step.

There is also a coming Dáil election and I attended the Galway West election convention. A generation is being left behind by the politics of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Families are being ripped off by rogue insurers and rack-renting landlords. The government treats hardearned taxpayers’ money with contempt while Micheál Martin continues to facilitate weak government through the confidence and supply arrangement.

People need solutions, not stagnation. I can see the challenges facing voters across Ireland. The problems facing Ireland in 2019 need real world solutions, in health, housing and public services to ensure that nobody is left behind, or allowed to fall through the cracks. People don’t need more of the same. They don’t need status quo politics, spin or empty rhetoric.

Sinn Féin is on the frontline campaigning and providing effective, progressive policy solutions north and south Voter’s interests in this election are best served by voting Sinn Féin for a different future, by sending a clear message to the British Government that we want control of our own future through a referendum on Irish unity. 

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ONE ISLAND

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ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

NO BORDER

In the years since the British Government of Ireland Act 1920 and

unionist hegemony and over 50 years of gerrymandered

the 1921 Anglo Irish Treaty which established the Free State, Irish

elections.

Republicans have resisted the Partition of Ireland. It has been done

The border is a symbol of shame for successive Dublin

by force of arms, by political campaigns and at times through the

Governments who until the Peace Process remained blind to the

sheer will of ordinary people with shovels rebuilding the border

increasingly desperate plight of nationalists abandoned in the

crossings destroyed by the British army.

northern state. This is the stark reality of the border. It was proof

In the three years since the 2016 Brexit referendum, the border communities of Ireland have been abandoned in a political limbo by the Tory administrations led by Theresa May and now Boris Johnson.

Border Communities have been the victims of British

that any hope for civil rights and equality of treatment ended here for hundreds of thousands of Irish citizens.

In this edition of An Phoblacht we remember the border busters in all their variations. These include the IRA actions on July 28th 1937 to coincide with the visit of George V to Belfast, where 30 customs

aggression in Ireland beginning with the deployment of British

posts were bombed and burned. The IRA border campaign from

Troops to patrol the new border in 1922 aided by a 30,000 strong

1956 to 1962 which included a series of attacks on border posts,

Ulster Special Constabulary mobilised by the newly installed

while there were in 1971 and 1972 a succession of spontaneous

Unionist Government in Belfast.

protests to the British army policy of cratering border roads. We

The democratic wishes of the majority of people in Ireland

also remember the border busters of the early 1990s and the

and subsequently of the divided border communities has been

stark reality of a militarised border in Ireland in an extended photo

repeatedly ignored.

montage. JOE McVEIGH writes from the Northern side outlining

The 1921 Treaty contained the promise of a Boundary

the impact of the uncertainties created by Brexit and subsequent

Commission with the commitment that ‘boundaries would be

British government policies and tactics. SEÁN MAC BRÁDAIGH

redrawn in in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants’. This

contributes from Leitrim and remembers the border busters.

never happened. The only boundaries redrawn were those of

OISÍN McCANN offers a view from Dublin and together with

electoral constituencies in the Orange State that would guarantee

Joe McVeigh makes the case for a border poll.

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

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Evening Herald 1891-curre

ner 1841-current | Thursday, July 29,

1937 | None | 7

https://archive.irishnewsarch | Thursday, Independent Irishive.com/O live/APA1905-current /INA.Edu/Print.Page....

July 29, 1937 | None | 9

https://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA.Edu/Print.Page....

MAKING HEADLINES – Newspaper articles about IRA actions on July 28th 1937 to coincide with the visit of George V to Belfast

30/10/2019, 16:19

1 of 1

Custom Post Killeen, on the Dublin-Belfast road wrecked in April 1958 1 of 1

30/10/2019, 16:24

Poster calling for Day of Action in March 1971. (right) The Border Busters reopening cratered roads 10

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Aghalane Bridge on the Fermanagh-Cavan border blown up by loyalists in January 1973

30/10/2019, 16:18

Donegal-Tyrone border first cratered in 1973 later blown up by British Army

British Army block an ‘unoffical’ border road anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

Border Busters in the late 70s 11

Lackey Bridge, Monaghan 1980

Farmer Eddie Connolly’s slurry pit is blocked off by the ‘border’

Bollards and cratered road at Mulraney, near Clones February 1984

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Road dug up by British Army in 1989 ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

The Implications of Brexit for Border Communities

BY JOE McVEIGH Since the first days of Partition in 1922-23, life along the artificial border in Ireland has always been precarious. Partition was intended to pacify the Unionist population who opposed Home Rule, often with the slogan that ‘Home Rule is Rome Rule’. It was important for the British Tory party to maintain a strategic base in this part of Ireland and, of course, the northern shipbuilding and linen industries brought economic benefits for the British exchequer. That was then.

In the years immediately after Partition, customs posts mostly of corrugated iron, were built at many crossings to monitor cross border traffic and impose tariffs on goods.

Roads that did not have a customs post were called ‘Unapproved’. If you were caught smuggling on any of these roads you would face a severe punishment in the courts.

The nefarious activities of customs officials were part of local folklore. In the North they were known locally as ‘the water rats.’ The escapades of smugglers were also part of local folklore when I was growing up on the Fermanagh-Donegal border in the 1950’s. Local cattle-dealers, including many of my relatives, had many ‘run-ins’ with the officials, often losing cattle and finding themselves in court - if caught.

Customs posts were seen by republicans as symbolic of Britain’s continuous occupation of Ireland. In the 1950s they became targets for the IRA and some were blown up. It was

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

common to see B-men and RUC men patrolling border roads to protect these customs sheds. They too became targets.

When Ireland and Britain joined the EEC in 1972, the Customs became redundant and the huts were locked up.

Some which had been blown up were left there as reminders.

However, as the long war intensified, the border became more militarised and British army checkpoints became targets for the IRA. Those British checkpoints remained until the Belfast Agreement of 1998. They were then dismantled as were many heavily fortified police stations along the border. The almost

Once again the fortunes of the people of Ireland and especially the border communities have been considered irrelevant in London 300 blocked roads were re-opened. This all happened fairly quickly. Life returned to some kind of normality.

People living along the border enjoyed their new sense of freedom to travel without fear of hindrance or delay. Cross border trade was slowly built up and brought much needed jobs and money to local border communities. Building contractors and builders suppliers were back in business -travelling back and forth on a daily basis. The number of cross border workers increased yearly.

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Annamartin Checkpoint, Fermanagh, December 1990

Military checkpoint on the Southern side

Aughnacloy Checkpoint after the killing of Aidan McAnespie, 1988

The road this man cycled 24 hours earlier is blocked again by the British Army 14

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• Militarised British Army checkpoint in the 1980s

People from Fermanagh travelled south to Monaghan and Cavan. People from Dundalk travelled north to Newry. It was all becoming so normal that we were beginning to take it for granted and had almost forgotten what it used be like. That is, until Brexit!

Since the Brexit vote in June 2016 up until the present, people in the border communities, have lived with great uncertainty about the future. Hoping that the worst might not happen, hoping that the majority vote to ‘Remain’ in the Six Counties might be respected by the British if they were seriously concerned about protecting the Good Friday Agreement. Border Communities made up of concerned local people, organised in Border Communities Against

Brexit (BCAB), to highlight the anxieties of local people and to put pressure on people of influence in Europe, the USA and Dublin. People here dread a return to the ‘bad ole days’.

The psychological impact on people living along the border cannot be ignored.

The Dublin government has stressed the importance of the Good Friday Agreement for the continuation of peace on the island and for the economic well-being of the whole island.

Brussels too was concerned to protect the Agreement and to ensure that the whole island of Ireland continued to prosper as a member of the Customs union.

The Backstop was introduced as a guarantee in any future deal between the EU and the British to protect the Good

• Border Communities have lived with great uncertainty about the future since the Brexit vote

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Mass Rally at Lackey Bridge, March 1991

Lackey Bridge, July 1993

Greagh, Tyrone-Monaghan border

Dooard, Leitrim, September 1994

Joe McVeigh at a border road opening at Aughwanny, Leitrim, May 1991 16

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• The DUP insist on leaving the EU on the same terms as the rest of the UK - though a majority in the north voted Remain

• British Prime minister, Boris Johnson

Friday Agreement and to protect free movement and free trade on the island as an integral part of that agreement.

The DUP and the right wing Tories were having none of it.

Their only concern was to strengthen their relationship with the Union irrespective of the consequences for Ireland or the Good Friday Agreement. Their hard-line stance has not pleased all Unionists especially those farmers who trade in the

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south and those businesses which rely on cross border trade.

British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, who succeeded Theresa May, initially dismissed the Backstop. He insisted that Britain would leave the EU -deal or no deal -on October 31st. Johnson’s subsequent strategies, including negotiating a possible deal with the Irish Government and the EU, seem ultimately focussed on leading him and his party to winning a forthcoming General Election. The British Labour Party appear to be equally divided about how to take the country forward and what to do about Ireland.

A no deal Brexit would have a huge impact on border communities but will also have a detrimental effect on the whole island. We have had twenty years of freedom and it has been a good experience. Peace in Ireland has been hard won. I had never envisaged a return to those bad old days - but I was afraid they could return as a result of the Tory government’s unwillingness to agree to a deal which included a guarantee of freedom of travel and free trade on the island of Ireland.

The DUP still insist on the Six Counties leaving the EU on the same terms as the rest of the UK –even though a majority in the north, including at least 15 per cent of unionists, voted Remain.

Once again the fortunes of the people of Ireland and especially the border communities have been considered irrelevant in London. But all is not lost! The Good Friday Agreement, an internationally binding Agreement, includes a requirement to hold a Border referendum. This must now be a priority for the Dublin government - if it is serious in preserving the integrity of the Good Friday Agreement. Border communities will be looking more and more to Dublin and demanding that the government there do the right thing and honour their commitments.  Joe McVeigh is Assistant Priest in Enniskillen parish, Human Rights Activist and a member of Border Communities Against Brexit (BCAB)

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British Army close Lenamore Road, Derry, February 1990

Lackey Bridge, June 1992

Part of the ‘Day of Action’ September 1994

Lenamore Road, September 1994

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REMEMBERING

BORDER BUSTERS 25 YEARS ON

Britain’s border in Ireland became a reality in 1921 with the Partitioning of Ireland. The South of Ireland would see some degree of independence, the North would remain condemned to British rule.

In 1956, the IRA launched a border campaign called ‘Operation Harvest’. This was the first major initiative from the IRA in over a decade to target British rule in Ireland by way of guerrilla warfare against British forces. The core strategy was to take direct action against British occupation and target its personnel and infrastructure along the border region.

The IRA ceased its border campaign in 1962. At that time, little would anyone have known that the presence of Britain’s border in

BY OISÍN McCANN Ireland would come to erupt just seven years later.

As the conflict broke out again, the British Government took fortification of the border to new levels, blowing up bridges, erecting concrete blocks and barricades along the border to literally cement Partition. This was all done in an effort to suppress the growing support for the Republican Movement and to disconnect nationalist communities north and south.

Regions along the border such as South Armagh and Fermanagh were dogged by British bases and surveillance towers, and listening posts. This created an unnatural

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fear and friction within the nationalist communities in those areas.

This British infrastructures became targets for routine ambushes by the IRA and frequent community protests.

The 1989 collapse of the Berlin Wall and subsequent reunification of Germany led many to hope that Britain’s border in Ireland might fall also in the not too distant future. .

August 1994 saw the historic IRA ceasefire, which paved the way for the Good Friday Agreement bringing hopes of a more peaceful future and a step towards Britain’s withdrawal from the Six Counties of Ireland.

In the wake of the ceasefire, Irish citizens and local communities both North and South began intensifying their efforts to dismantle Britain’s ‘hard’ border in Ireland.

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THE BORDER BUSTERS AND DEMILITARISE NOW CAMPAIGNS

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• The funeral of Aidan McAnespie passes the border post at Aughnacloy where Aidan was killed in February 1988

Actions were co-ordinated by Sinn Féin, community activists and border action committees to dismantle the physical manifestation of colonialism that had been persistent for generations before.

Roads from Donegal to Derry, Tyrone to Monaghan, began to reopen as the Irish people with hands and diggers piece by piece regained control of their regions.

Among those breaking down these barriers was Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness.

Speaking at the time, the Derry native said “it is the people’s right to remove the borders the British military have placed on our roads” and that the IRA ceasefire “changed everything.”

Brick by brick, road by road, the physical manifestation of the border began to fade.

As the conflict broke out again, the British Government took fortification of the border to new levels, blowing up bridges, erecting concrete blocks and barricades

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While its physical characteristics did not completely disappear until July 2007, its presence was not easily forgotten as people remember the murder of Aidan McAnespie at the border post at Aughnacloy in February 1988.

Today in 2019 through Britain’s Brexit plan the complex legacy of the border continues, as the North faces the prospect of a ‘hard border’ appearing in the same communities that fought so gallantly against them.

As the eyes of the world are watching, the Good Friday Agreement protects these communities, there will be no return of the dark old days of a hard border or the status quo. Today, the only option to permanently bury the borders of Ireland is through a referendum on Irish Unity. 

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BRITISH MILLITARY WERE COMMON PLACE ON THE BORDER

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• Lackey Bridge, January 1991

BREXIT AND THE BORDER

NO GOING BACK!

BY SEÁN Mac BRÁDAIGH At times in recent weeks, it has been a nightmare scenario facing communities on both sides of the border in Ireland. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been wavering between inflicting a no-deal Brexit on the North of Ireland and imposing a hard border on the island of Ireland or just dragging the region out of the EU against the wishes of its inhabitants.

A crash out Brexit, threatened major economic, social and political upheaval in Ireland, but this would impact nowhere more acutely than for those who live in the Border counties of Donegal, Derry, Leitrim, Fermanagh, Cavan, Monaghan, Tyrone, Armagh, Down and Louth.

Farmers, food producers, manufacturers, workers, students and local communities could all suffer, while border infrastructure will re-open wounds from the conflict these communities have worked hard to consign to the past.

These formidable communities, which have faced so much hardship and suffering in the past are determined to resist a Tory administration seemingly hell bent on re-imposing a hard border.

For the past three years, Border Communities against Brexit (BCAB) have sought to raise awareness at a national and European level on the effects that Brexit will have on communities in the border region.

One huge area of concern is that of the freedom of

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HARRASSMENT AND INTIMIDATION OF BORDER BUSTERS

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movement of Irish people across what, since the Good Friday Agreement, has become an invisible border.

THE REALITY OF A HARD BORDER Since the early 1970s, the British military systematically destroyed roads and bridges between communities north and south of the border in Ireland. For towns like Clones in Co. Monaghan, five of eight roads into the town were closed or featured a permanent checkpoint.

This had dire social and economic effects. Two thirds of the business in the Clones hinterland came from Fermanagh, so road closures wreaked economic havoc. Communities and parishes were divided.

People who needed to go through the town to get to work were harassed and abused by the British military and RUC. Farmers had to take long detours to parts of their own farms because of the road closures.

THE BORDER BUSTERS Campaigns to re-open the roads were conducted over the years by border communities. The most sustained and intense of these occurred in 1989 and 1990. This involved local people digging, shovelling, re-building and major practical support from local farmers, digger drivers, business people and community leaders.

Despite the huge numbers involved, the effort

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Ordinary men, women and children spent their Sundays removing concrete barriers or filling in craters to re-open roads just to go to work or church or do their shopping and expense required, and attacks by British forces, including the firing of plastic bullets, little media attention was focussed on the campaign conducted by those dubbed the ‘Border Busters’.

BREACHING BRITAIN’S ‘BERLIN WALL’ Ironically, the ‘Border Busters’ were working at a period when ‘the removal of borders’ across Europe was a major political issue. At the same time that the world was hailing the people of a divided Germany for tearing down the Berlin Wall, the British Government was doing its damnedest to make sure that its Partition

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An Phoblacht/Republican News, 22 September 1994

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of Ireland was maintained through a network of spyposts and concrete blockades across border roads.

Irish Border Communities however, showed the same tireless spirit in chipping away at ‘Britain’s Berlin Wall’.

A BATTLE OF WILLS Local people living along the border in Counties of Monaghan, Tyrone, Derry, Donegal, Armagh, Fermanagh, Cavan and Leitrim engaged in a battle of wills with those seeking to impose a hard border between historic communities.

Ordinary men, women and children spent their Sundays removing concrete barriers or filling in craters to re-open roads just to go to work or church or do their shopping. They were supported by others from right across the island of Ireland who travelled regularly to assist local communities in keeping the border roads open.

SUPPORT FROM BEYOND THE BORDER With an indifferent national media, the Border Busters themselves raised awareness throughout Ireland around the reality of life in border communities.

Politicians locally and nationally were briefed and lobbied. Gradually, the campaign garnered support from the public from throughout the Six and 26 Counties.

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Special action days were organised for road openings with buses of supporters coming to assist from Dublin, Belfast and further afield. The campaign was marked by an atmosphere of huge community solidarity. In the early 1990s, a successful ‘Rock the Border’ concert at Lackey, featured the then popular groups The Hot House Flowers and The Big Geraniums.

NO GOING BACK With the British Government now vacillating between a no-deal Brexit and negotiating again with the Irish Government and EU, the border communities are mobilising once again.

A recent public meeting and exhibition in Clones witnessed a defiant message that local people, on either side of the border will not tolerate or acquiesce in the imposition of any hard border or the destruction once again of their roads. Further public events are planned for other counties along the border.

Border communities are seeking the support of everyone throughout the island of Ireland, the EU and across the world for their position. Their message is ‘We are not going back!’  Seán Mac Brádaigh is a Sinn Féin communications adviser for Midlands North West

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8th AUGUST 1976:

‘My comrades ghosts walk behind me, A Rebel I came - I’m still the same, On the cold winds of night you will find me’ Bobby Sands

from ‘Back Home in Derry’

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‘We must take no steps backwards. Our steps must be onward for if we don’t the martyrs that died for you, for me, for this country will haunt us for eternity.’

Máire Drumm

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8th AUGUST 1976:

MÁIRE DRUMM AND BOBBY SANDS On an August afternoon in Belfast, a poignant moment in the lives of two republican martyrs is captured by French photographer Gérard Harlay. On the far left of the picture is Bobby Sands, in the colour party for a demonstration in support of political status for Republican prisoners. To his right walking behind the tricolour is Sinn Féin Vice President Maire Drumm. The full photo is on the preceding pages.

Sands had been released from prison in April. He would be rearrested in October, and after a spell in solitary confinement in Crumlin Road Gaol would find himself leading the republican prisoners on the dirty protest in the H Blocks. Maire Drumm was assassinated weeks later on October 28th.

It was also in August 1976 that the Gordon Lightfoot song Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald was released. Sands would use the Lightfoot tune for his song Back Home in Derry written when he was imprisoned in Long Kesh.

Looking into the picture, and thinking on the vast number of marches, funeral processions, demonstrations and at times battles on the Falls Road, it seems apt to remember the last lines of Back Home in

“I have been politically arrested. My trial will be politically controlled and the decision will not rest with you. It will rest with your political overlords.

You already know the sentence which will be passed. Long live the Republic.”

Derry. Sands declares that, “My comrades ghosts walk behind me, A Rebel I came – I’m still the same, On the cold winds of night you will find me”.

“Máire Drumm Visionary: A Rebel Heart” is the title of the fourth book in a series written by Sinn Féin TD and former party president Gerry Adams, which remembers “great men and women”, that he “came to know, or know of along life’s journey”. Below we print an edited excerpt from the Maire Drumm book that gives a background to the August 8th rally at which Drumm spoke and the events that transpired afterwards.

❝

On 8 August 1976 Máire led a huge demonstration in support of Political Status. The marchers walked from Andersonstown to Dunville Park.

The following day Máire was arrested out of her home under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The Daily Mirror headlined screamed: “Housewife of hate seized”.

She was taken to Townhall Street RUC

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GER

S

AD RY AM

Léargas N

4

SI N N F É I

UIMHIR

MÁIRE DRUMM

Máire Drumm

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GER

– A VISIONARY: A REBEL HEART

AD RY AM

Léargas N

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SI N N F É I

AD RY AM

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Published by Republican Merchandising Ltd, Trading as: The Sinn Féin Bookshop 58 Parrnell Square, Dublin 1. 00 353 1 8726100 www.sinnFéinbookshop.com sales@sinnFéinbookshop.com

GER

UIMHIR

Léargas SI N N F É I

N

A Visionary: A Rebel Heart

MÁIRE DRUMM

A VISIONARY: A REBEL HEART is now available in the

© Gérard Harlay barracks in the centre of Belfast where she was questioned about the speech she had given at the Dunville Park rally – at which it was claimed she threatened the destruction of Belfast “stone by stone” in defence of the political prisoners. Rees signed an extension order to allow her to be held for an additional five days.

On 16 August Máire was remanded in custody after being charged with taking part in an illegal demonstration on 8 August. She refused to recognise the court and ignored the magistrate, choosing instead to wave to her family in the court. Máire took the opportunity to complain about the conditions of solitary confinement that she had been held in for seven days. She told the court: “I have had seven days of solitary confinement under the most horrible conditions and I suggest the Red Cross go in and investigate the cells people are being detained in.”

Máire refused bail and said: “I have been politically arrested. My trial will be politically

Sinn Féin Bookshop and online at

www.sinnféinbookshop.com

© Gérard Harlay

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❝

© Gérard Harlay

controlled and the decision will not rest with you. It will rest with your political overlords.

You already know the sentence which will be passed. Long live the Republic.”

Máire was back in Armagh Women’s Prison.

Young Máire was there also. They were held in different wings. Occasionally they were allowed visits together and at night they could be heard shouting across to each other.

Several weeks later Máire was released after the Director of Public Prosecutions dropped the charge of taking part in an illegal procession against her. It had been pointed out that a recent march organised by the Peace People was also illegal and therefore its organisers would also have to be arrested if the charge against Máire was proceeded with.

The British Secretary of State Merlyn Rees was furious. Speaking on the BBC he said: “If you ask me personally whether I want Máire Drumm locked up I can give you a firm ‘Yes’.” 

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BY PEARSE DOHERTY

Sinn Féin’s alternatives to budget

failures

REDUCE CHILDCARE COSTS BY €100 PER MONTH TWO FREE GP VISITS PER YEAR FOR EVERY ADULT

A RENT FREEZE FOR THREE YEARS

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‘Not in the interests of the country’ was the reason Leo Varadkar gave for not calling an early election in late October. It is a compelling standard for judging the coalition government held in power for more than three years by a benevolent Fianna Fáil party and independents who are also hesitant in putting themselves before the people.

There are a range of examples of lapsed standards by this coalition government. They range from the failure to effectively tackle the housing and health crises, or the inability to halt vulture fund sell offs by the financial institutions bailed out by the taxes levied on Irish citizens. When you add in the rising homeless figures, the cost overruns across government projects, including the new National Children’s Hospital, you have a clearer picture of the real national interests not being met by Fine Gael in power.

Varadkar’s government failures in recent months were compounded by Paschal Donohue’s budget. It should have given workers and families a break. It didn’t. With political will and the right ideas, this budget could have put money back in people’s pockets and improved their access to public services.

It could have begun to broaden our horizons, making sure that work pays and delivers security and the chance to plan for the future. It could have begun to build a fair tax system, making sure that those who benefit most from our economy pay their fair share – the banks, multinationals and international property investors who have enjoyed a free ride for far too long.

The budget failed to deliver on these modest demands.

It was a budget short on ideas, policies and solutions.

Fine Gael’s budget lacked ambition, direction, and most importantly, it lacked hope.

Sinn Féin would have tackled the rip-off costs faced by countless families – sky-high insurance premiums, extortionate rents, eye-watering childcare and back to school costs. Citizens continue to pay rather than the bankers, the insurance companies, and the vested interests that this Government and their partners in Fianna Fáil have never and will never stand up to.

Since the economic crash a decade ago, the Irish people have carried the weight of a recovery that has been enjoyed by some, but not by all. This Government has failed to turn a growing economy into real returns for those who have

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This government have introduced child homelessness as a permanent feature of our society

built it and for those it should serve. The banks, multinationals and international property investors have enjoyed a free ride for far too long.

This government have introduced child homelessness as a permanent feature of our society. They have laid out the red carpet to cuckoo funds and speculators that have bought up our cities, pushed up prices and left young people and families locked out of the property market and locked in to an unaffordable rental system.

In 2016 Fine Gael promised to abolish the Universal Social Charge. A promise they have broken. Last year the Taoiseach promised to deliver a 2.3 billion euro tax cut for workers paying the higher rate in every Budget over the next five years. The budget broke this promise.

Fine Gael has made wasting taxpayers’ money official Government policy. We have a National Broadband Plan that will

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see taxpayers subsidize a private consortium to the tune of 3 billion euros, for infrastructure that the State will never own.

We have a National Children’s Hospital that has seen costs escalate by more than €450 million. We have found out in October that the Department of Health requires a €350 million bailout next month just to break even.

Brexit was always going to have an impact on this Budget. But it shouldn’t be used as an excuse for failure. Out-patient waiting lists are at their highest since records began, with over 569,000 patients waiting for a hospital appointment. That was not caused

by Brexit. Over 10,000 citizens are homeless and average rents have increased by 20% since Varadkar took office. That wasn’t caused by Brexit.

This budget could have given workers and families a break had the right choices been made.

It is a decade since taxpayers bailed out the banks to the tune of €67 billion. The Government pumped billions into AIB, Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB, Anglo and Irish Nationwide.

It was done at great social and financial cost. That bill stands at €42 billion.

The Government refused to tackle the inequality in our society and to ensure that those most able to shoulder the burden pay their fair share - the banks, international investors and super rich.

Instead the Government have chosen to distil their entire climate action plan into a regressive tax on households. The increase in carbon tax is no panacea to the climate crisis. It is a box ticking exercise.

Sinn Féin have shown how revenue can be raised through progressive taxation, closing loopholes and making sure that those who can pay do pay their fair share. We have once again put forward effective, radical and realistic alternatives.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’s answer to the climate crisis is a tax that will hit low-income households and the most vulnerable in our society hardest, without offering alternatives or

adequate respite.

The social welfare package announced by government is less than one third of the size of the package proposed

by Sinn Féin. The Fine Gael measures fail to give families, lone parents, carers and people with disabilities the break they badly need.

In our alternative budget Sinn Féin advocated a €5 increase to all weekly rates and €9 on disability payments, in order to begin to recognise the additional costs to which disability gives rise.

Every day our attention is drawn to housing. Renters handing a third of their pay packet to their landlord.

Families and couples struggling to find a home they can afford. Homeless figures reaching more disturbing levels.

Rents that continue to rise with no sign of letting up.

Over 10,000 people were recorded homeless at the end of August for the seventh month in a row, nearly 4,000 of them children. The number of child homeless has increased by 365 percent during five years of economic growth.

The budget had no additional targets for social housing, with build and acquisition targets unchanged. And no affordable homes to be delivered in 2020. Sinn Féin have

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Sinn Féin would have would have tackled the rip-off costs faced by countless families – sky-high insurance premiums, extortionate rents, eye-watering childcare and back to school costs

a vision for housing that has at its centre the right to a home. It is a vision backed up by solutions. These include holding a referendum to enshrine the right to housing in our constitution.

Sinn Féin would introduce an emergency three-year rent freeze and provide a refundable tax credit worth one month’s rent for all renters not in receipt of HAP or RAS. This measure alone would put one month’s rent back in tenants’ pockets next year, giving them a break and the breathing space to save and plan for the future.

This Government has built homes at a glacial pace, with a Rebuilding Ireland Programme that has failed on all counts. Sinn Féin have provided for large scale investment in public housing in our alternative proposals. We would double capital investment in public housing, increasing the output of social and affordable homes in 2020, delivering an additional 8,700 housing units.

Once again we have had a do-nothing budget from a do-nothing Government. This was not the budget Sinn Féin would have delivered. Sinn Féin would have brought forward real and deliverable solutions, putting citizens, not vested interests, at the centre of our economy, at the top of our priorities.

They are the values we must abide by; stepping up and providing where there are failings, rectifying wrongs where they’ve been made and taking charge where the State has abdicated its responsibility. Fine Gael has failed to deliver on these values. Sinn Féin will continue to lead the way. The full Sinn Féin budget proposals can be found at the www.sinnféin.ie website.  Pearse Doherty is a Sinn Féin TD for Donegal and the party spokesperson on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform

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Bagairt an aontaithe… do roinnt daoine LE AOIFE NÍ CHORRÁIN Ag seasamh ag an tábla; teach tábhairne Matt Molloy i gCathair na Mart, Contae Mhaigh Eo. Mí Iúil 2019 atá ann, agus bhí Ard Mhacha díreach i ndiaidh an chluiche a chailleadh in aghaidh na foirne baile an lá céanna sin, creid é nó ná creid. In ainneoin sin, bhí an chraic gnaíúil, cairdiúil, agus measúil – mar atá sé i gcónaí i dtaca leis an CLG. Cluiche iontach a bhí ann, agus bhí lucht leanta Mhaigh Eo fíormholtach faoinár bhfoireann agus fúinn féin, na ‘Nordies’, i ndiaidh dúinn taisteal chomh fada sin chun ár dtacaíocht a thaispeáint. De réir mar a bhí muid ag léim ó chomhrá go comhrá, thosaigh mé ag caint le cailín as Béal an Átha. Ba chosúil go raibh go leor i bpáirt againn; leantóirí CLG, Gaeilgeoirí, bhí sí sna fichidí cosúil liom féin, srl. Bhí muid ag caint ar feadh thart ar 20 bomaite, agus d’aontaigh mé leis an mhéid a bhí le rá aici le linn an ama sin. Ansin, dúirt sí rud liom ar bhealach chomh soineanta agus maslach sin gur baineadh siar asam leis an fhreagairt instinneach, mothúchánach a bhí agam. Ní raibh rún aici múisiam a chur orm, ach, cibé, luaigh sí an Breatimeacht. Anois, ní rud aisteach é sin nuair a chuirtear polaitíocht chomhaimseartha san áireamh; tá an plé ina chuid lárnach de gach gné den saol.

Bhain an rud a dúirt sí ina dhiaidh sin, áfach, freanga asam.

“Nach iontach é cé chomh maith ‘is atá Rialtas na hÉireann ag cosaint cearta saoránach sa Tuaisceart?”

Den chéad uair le fada, níor fágadh focal agam. Tá an oiread sin freagraí ann a d’fhéadfainn a thabhairt don cheist sin, ach bhí a fhios agam go hinstinneach go mbeadh ionadh ar an chailín deas seo, nach raibh dochar ar bith i gceist aici, faoi cibé freagra a roghnóinn; gan a bheith ag súil le mo chuid feirge. Chun an ciúnas a bhriseadh, d’fhreagair mé “bhuel, bímis ionraic, níl siad ach thart ar chéad bliain ródhéanach!”

Ní raibh an freagra sin, fiú, in ann a chur in iúl an rud a raibh fonn orm é a rá ag an bhomaite sin. Ar dhóigh éigin, nuair a thugann mo chairde Aontachtaithe tuairimí dom ar chúrsaí polaitiúla, glacaim lena gcuid pointí agus déanaim iarracht gan éirí tógtha. Coinním mo chuid mothúcháin faoi chois, agus bíonn malairt tuairimí siar agus aniar go measúil. Tá sé mar an gcéanna le duine ar bith ón Bhreatain; tá mo chuid mothúcháin mar a bheadh balla nach féidir dul fríd. Bíodh sin mar atá, nuair a dhéanann Saorstátaire iarracht a mbarúlacha faoi pholaitíocht an Tuaiscirt a chur in iúl dom, bím ar m’fhaichill agus tá soghontacht ann nach bhfuil ann i gcás ar bith eile le duine ar bith eile. Cén fáth? Tá a fhios agam go mothaíonn poblachtaigh thuaisceartacha eile an dóigh seo fosta, mar gur labhair mé le go leor a shíleann go bhfuil níos mó de thráchtaireacht shóisialta ná rabhcán ceoil i gceist le ‘Take it Down from the Mast’.

Cuireann sé gruaim orm, áfach. An méid sin uaireanta a d’fhág mé comhráite le duine ón sé chontae fichead ag smaoineamh

‘ní thuigeann tú in aon chor, an dtuigeann?’, nó fearg orm go dtuigeann cuid acu cinnte, ach, rud a chuirfeadh imní ort, nach léir gur miste leo.

I ndiaidh dom anailís a dhéanamh ar cén fáth a bhfuil an mothú seo ann, tháinig mé ar na conclúidí seo a leanas: Tá an chuma ar an scéal gur fágadh fuar pobal na hÉireann ar réaltachtaí na sochaí ó thuaidh mar gheall ar na hiarsmaí síceolaíocha de Chogadh na gCarad agus críochdheighilt na tíre.

Chreid siad, go mícheart, gur leor Airtigeal 2 agus 3 a bheith ann (chomh fada le Comhaontú Aoine an Cheasta) chun iad a shaoradh ón mhilleán den díchuimhne iomlán a bhí déanta tar éis 1921. An toradh? Sochaí theas ina bhfuil slua mór daoine tar éis glacadh leis an chaipitleachas, agus áit a mbraitear gur domhan eile ar fad é an Tuaisceart. Dhá phríomhphairtí pholaitíochta ann a dhéanann iarracht a chur ina luí ar an phobal gurb iadsan na fíor-phoblachtaigh, ach gan duine amháin acu ag seasamh iarrthóra sna sé chontae. Poblachtaigh, más fíor dóibh féin é.

Tá an córas polaitiúil ó dheas ag teacht salach air féin maidir leis an Tuaisceart, mar atá déanta mar is gnáth. Ar thaobh amháin, ag maíomh a dtacaíocht do chosaint Náisiúnaithe ó thuaidh, ach ag an am chéanna gan faic a dhéanamh aige chun ár gcearta a chosaint.

Tugann sé seo muid chuig an Bhreatimeacht arís.

Thug na trí bliana seo caite léargas dúinn ar a lán rudaí, go háirithe pléascadh chófra Phandóra maidir le scéal na hÉireann. Cé go bhfuil impleachtaí aige seo do rialtas na Breataine, tá rialtas na hÉireann ag iarraidh a chur ina luí orainn go bhfuil a fhios acu an freagra air.

Feictear domsa gur éirigh leo a chur i gcéill do mhuintir an Deiscirt go bhfuil na rudaí atá ar intinn acu onórach agus fíor; mar sin féin, tá na ‘cúlfhiacla curtha go maith againn’ anseo sa Tuaisceart. In amanna, tá údar maith lenár soiniciúlacht. Seo é!

Maidir le ‘Fianna Gael’, níl iontu ach focal mór agus droch-chur leis agus iad ag caint faoin chontúirt go mbeidh teorainn chrua in Éirinn arís. Tá gach uile chuma ar an scéal go bhfuil siad géarghlórach ina gcosaint ar ár gceart gan teorainn a bheith curtha i bhfeidhm. Ní dhéanann a sheasamh láidir i leith na ceiste seo ciall, áfach, nuair a chreideann Varadkar nach bhfuil aon ghá le reifreann chun tuairimí daonlathacha a chinneadh maidir le fadhb na teorann. Tá grúpaí cosúil le #Think32, eacnamaithe agus lucht acadúil ag iarraidh ar rialtas na hÉireann féachaint ar na pobalbhreitheanna is deireanaí agus plean a chur i bhfeidhm le haghaidh díospóireacht oscailte ar aontacht na tíre nuair a thiocfar an t-am. Tugadh neamhaird air seo agus leanann an neamhaird sin ar aghaidh. Nuair a rinneadh stocaireacht ar Rúnaí Stáit na Breataine chun pobalbhreith teorann a cheadú (agus na coinníollacha a bhainfeadh léi fós le cinneadh),

Tá 32

34

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

Party

26 Counties 6 Counties

Fine Gael

49

Sinn Féin

21

Fianna Fáil

44

DUP

49 27

7

AAA-PBP

6

Independent Alliance

6

48 44

28

Labour

Total

31 7

1

7 6

UUP

10

10

Alliance

8

8

Independents 4 Change

4

SDLP

4 12

12

Social Democrats

3

Green Party

2

2

4

Independents

19

2

19

Ceann Comhairle

1

TOTAL

158

3

1 90

248

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

2 3 K N THI

tá rialtas na hÉireann fós ciúin ar an ábhar.

Ní chuireann siad brú ar bith ar mhaithe leis an daonlathas, ina ionad sin, tá sé socraithe acu nach é an t-am ceart é. Masla amach is amach is ea é sin maidir le saoránaigh ó thuaidh ar mian leo a gceart daonlathach a fheidhmiú, nuair atá a gcearta á séanadh orthu arís ‘is arís eile. B’éigean d’Emma DeSouza, mar shampla amháin, an troid a ghlacadh chuig cúirteanna na Breataine chun aitheantas a fháil ar rud a creideadh a réitíodh ag Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta; déshaoránacht do gach aon duine anseo. Tá an rialtas sásta go leor ligint do dhaoine aonair bheith ag troid ar son ár gcuid ceart agus a bpúdar a choinneáil tirim.

Is róléir anois é nach bhfuil fonn ar bith ar Fhine Gael nó ar Fhianna Fáil bheith ag obair i dtreo Éire Aontaithe. Mar sin de, an bhfuil muid uilig sáinnithe mar gheall ar an phragmatachas leithleach atá le feiceáil ag an dá pháirtí pholaitíochta seo?

Rinne Peter Donaghy meastacháin uimhriúil le haghaidh ailt do Slugger O Toole (Eanáir 2018) agus é ag tabhairt hipitéise ar cad a bheadh i gceist le Dáil 32 contae bunaithe ar uimhreacha vótála ag an am. Féach anseo ar mhiondealú uimhreacha TD. Is iad na daoine ar is mó a mbímid ag brath orthu, chun pleananna agus brú a chur i bhfeidhm, is iad na daoine is mó a chaillfidh amach má tharlaíonn sé. Is ansin atá an chruacheist.

“Nach iontach é cé chomh maith ‘is atá Rialtas na hÉireann ag cosaint cearta saoránach sa Tuaisceart?”

Is ábhar iontais é go bhfuil duine ar bith ann den tuairim sin! 

#

Aoife Ní Chorráin – Is Gaeilgeoir í a d’fhreastal ar Choláiste Chaitríona in Ard Mhacha. Is as an Lorgáin di.

Faoi láthair, tá sí ag déanamh staidéir ar an Ghaeilge in Ollscoil na Ríona agus tá súil aici bheith ina múinteoir bunscoile.

35

Sinn Féin advocates:

↗

 An education and awareness campaign on cancers which have a h young men  Targeted screening for younger men that have strong risk factors colorectal condition  Investment in R&D for new methods of cancer detection  Rollout of HPV vaccine to boys  Increasing awareness of the health benefits of leading a healthy lif

O YOUNG MEN’S HEALTH NEEDS FORGOTTEN Problem drinking and alcoholism

Although alcohol consumption has dropped in this State in recent years th of alcohol consumption, and alcohol related harm.

Alcohol causes over 1,000 deaths a year in Ireland, or 3 deaths a day. One men aged 15-39 in Ireland is due to alcohol.

Drinking alcohol is perfectly fine in moderation and is often the preferred socialise, however, problem drinking does cause significant harm to the in friends and loved ones.

In recent years there have been many improvements across the health services north and south. However, despite the changes and advances in health care, young men’s health needs have oftentimes been forgotten.

Many mornings I have opened newspapers or listened to radio and television reports about the health difficulties facing young men, such as increased rates of testicular and colorectal cancer, mental health difficulties, gambling problems, as well as steroid and performance enhancing drug addiction, to name but a few.

The scale of the health care difficulties is extremely broad and in many instances’ health services do not respond adequately to the specific needs of young men. This presents an acute problem in that we only hear about

36

BY LOUISE

these health issues after something tragic has happened. We need the health services, Problem drinking, andpoliticians, alcoholismpolicy-makers, can also result and in thesociety neglect to of responsi recognise the health needs of young men and school/college as wellmake as damaging physicalservice and mental health to as links bet sure our health is responsive them. as well as suicide are well established.

For instance, in recent years problem gambling has become huge across Ireland.

It is important that young men are made aware of the signs of problem dr The 26 Counties has the highest per capita in thefor world andtothe they or someone elseonline needsgambling help. It islosses also tough people seek help, s third highest gambling losses overall; while the north has approximately four times the number of problem gamblers that England has. A significant number of those with a problem gambling habit are young men.

We know these problems, and the general public knows these problems, but policymakers and the health service have O’REILLY been slow to respond. Instead of tackling the ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

issue head on there has been apathy.

The solutions are there, many stakeholders have proposed them, sporting organisations have proposed them, and Sinn Féin has proposed them. Measures such as targeted investment in the number of addiction counsellors, including counsellors with expertise in gambling addiction, problem gambling awareness campaigns, modern legislation to deal with advances, particularly in online gambling would really help.

The recent incidence of steroid and performed enhancing drug addiction (PEDs) among young men is further evidence of an area where politicians and the health service are failing. In recent years the use of anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs has increased amongst young men across Ireland.

Muscle dysmorphia and the promotion of almost unachievable body figures through the media and social media can be a trigger for men to start taking steroids and PEDs. Muscle dysmorphia, often referred to as bigorexia, has become more common in recent years.

Steroid abuse is incredibly dangerous and can cause serious, and sometimes fatal, health damage. The side effects of steroid use and abuse can be particularly damaging,

he 26 Counties has the highest per capita online gambling losses in the world and the third highest gambling losses overall; while the north has approximately four times the number of problem gamblers that England has.

A significant number of those with a problem gambling habit are young men

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

such as hypertension, violent outbursts and psychological and mental health impacts, liver damage, gynecomastia, and compromised reproductive functions. However, as with problem gambling, policymakers, and the health services have been slow to respond to these particular issues.

It is crucial that young men take care of their health and take a stake in their physical and mental wellbeing. However, in order to do that they have to be informed and educated about what is best for their health and the health services need to have the necessary services in place to respond to their needs.

To achieve that the health services, north and south, need to implement dedicated young men’s health strategies which are responsive to the health needs of young men and make sure our health service delivers for them.

Sinn Féin have a dedicated young men’s health policy which we would implement in government. It is now time that other pollical parties and our health services follow suit and show that young men’s health matters.  Louise O’Reilly is a Sinn Féin TD for Dublin Fingal and is the party’s Leinster House Health spokesperson.

37

A BELFAST WITHOUT ‘PEACE’ WALLS IS POSSIBLE Interfaces, or so called ‘Peace Lines’, were first erected in the North of Ireland by the British Army in 1969, following a spike in attacks by loyalists against nationalist communities in Belfast.

Divisions were born out of a lack of equality and rights for Catholics and Nationalists. The physical barriers were designed to be a temporary solution, but fifty years on – they remain.

As the conflict became more volatile and intense, the building of walls and barriers became a lot more common and complex across the north.

One of the most notorious interfaces in Belfast during the conflict was between the Republican Falls Road and the Loyalist Shankill Road.

The British Army were deployed to the area in mid-August due to increased conflict. This led to the erection of makeshift barricades by residents across the city.

Following calls for removal of the barricades by some public representatives, discussions led to replacement ad hoc barriers, known as knife rests, being put in place.

In the intervening period the Unionist government were aware of a forthcoming report which would be highly critical of them and the RUC. The Cameron Report was to be published in mid-September, and on September 9th a decision was made to install more formal structures along the dividing line between the Falls and Shankill Road areas, in an attempt to minimise any violence.

Following this decision, Unionist Prime Minister James Chichester Clarke said in a press conference: “The army will erect and man a firm peace line to be sited between the Divis Street area and Shankill Road on a line determined by a representative body from the City Hall. In

38

DETERMINATION IS KEY TO THE BREAKDOWN OF BARRIERS

BY CALLUM SMYTH conjunction with this action, barricades will be removed in all areas of Belfast, both Protestant and Catholic.”

The construction of the barbed wire barriers roughly followed along the course of the River Farset from Divis Street to the Springfield Road, with the start and end points being located at the various flashpoints from recent disturbances. Crowds from both sides of the interface jeered

Loyalists from the Shankill could target and throw petrol bombs over the ‘peace line’ at ease, burning out nationalist homes in the process. This was done while the British Army looked on at the soldiers involved in the construction, singing “Go home you bums, go home you bums,” to the tune of Auld Lang Syne.

It didn’t take long for the faults in the British Army barriers to appear.

Loyalists from the Shankill could target and throw petrol bombs over the ‘peace line’ at ease, burning out nationalist homes in the process. This was done while the British Army looked on. This led to the installation

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

• Short Strand nationalist homes often targeted

of ‘concertina-type’ barriers, which were made of fifteen feet high sheets of metal.

In more recent times, the wall which separates the Nationalist Short Stand from the surrounding East Belfast Unionist communities, became a flash point for sectarian violence. In 2002, the area saw widespread attacks on the Short Strand, when Loyalists used vulnerable lower spots along the wall to launch missiles including petrol bombs, to target nationalist people and their homes.

The interfaces were built for purpose and protection, but at the same time, they have attracted as much trouble as they have prevented. To this day, people still fear a return to the violence of the past and see the walls as protection.

When the levels of violence began to die down in the North, gates were installed along some walls to allow a free flow of people from one area to another. A further step forward came in February 2016 when the

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

wall on Belfast’s Crumlin Road was demolished following an agreement from those on both sides of the community.

In an ideal world, we would not have walls separating communities.

To achieve this goal, we must continue to build relationships and trust between the people who live in walls’ shadows. The dismantling of these walls will be harder than erecting them, but I believe we are now in a fundamentally different and better place.

It will take determination from people in both sides of the divide to work on the difficult issues at hand, but as we continue to progress the political situation in the north, I believe the day where we see a breakdown of divisions will come.

Ultimately, the decision is in the hands of the people who live on both sides of the barriers, and we must be determined to continue to make the progress and gains to build a better future, creating a situation where people feel comfortable to remove those walls.

39

THE

CRIMINALISATION

OF

CATALAN

INDEPENDENCE

BY MARTINA ANDERSON Spain’s Supreme Court on Monday, October 14, sentenced nine Catalan leaders to between 9 and 13 years in prison for their role in the Catalan independence referendum in 2017. A hundred years combined prison time for daring to give the Catalan people the right to democratically determine their own future. This has sparked a broad public backlash with many seeing this as just the latest step in the Spanish state’s agenda to criminalise Catalan nationalism.

I visited Barcelona during the 2017 referendum and saw first-hand the severe police crackdown on the democratic movement that saw 900 people injured on the day of the vote.

Now, as hundreds of thousands turn out to oppose the October 14th verdict, the Spanish state is again using police violence to brutally suppress dissent.

The people have every right to protest the Spanish state’s attempts to criminalise the Catalan independence movement.

Spain has repeatedly blocked all peaceful and democratic avenues to self-determination, pushing people towards alternative forms of protest.

40

The Constitutional Court of Spain deliberated for only one day after the Catalan Parliament passed the bill on holding the referendum before declaring it constitutionally illegal. In 2014, the same Court also blocked a non-binding referendum, despite the Spanish constitution explicitly allowing for consultative referenda.

The Catalan leaders have already been in prison for two years.

The trumped up charges of rebellion brought against them by Spain’s public prosecutor allows the state to keep them interned without trial. I have visited the political prisoners and see firsthand the suffering they endure. My heart still feels the ache of walking out of the prison where Dolors Bassa, the Minister for Employment, Social Welfare and Family, was being held in isolation.

The independence of the Spanish judiciary has been repeatedly called into question: in 2010, 1,500 Spanish judges condemned the ongoing political interference in the judiciary, while the European Court of Justice has ruled that the Basque leader Arnaldo Otegi was denied a fair trial by the Spanish courts.

Even the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has urged Spain to release a number of the Catalan

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

•The twelve leaders accused at the Spanish Supreme Court in Madrid

The Catalan leaders have already been in prison for two years. The trumped-up charges of rebellion brought against them by Spain’s public prosecutor allows the state to keep them interned without trial leaders in this very trial and to investigate their “arbitrary” detention and the violation of their rights.

As expected, the nine Catalan leaders have now received politically motivated sentences by the Supreme Court. In a clear message to the people of Catalonia, this sentencing coincided with the anniversary of the execution of Lluís Companys, the president of Catalonia during its brief independence in the 1930s. Lluís Companys was executed by firing squad by the fascist Franco regime in 1940. 79 years later, authoritarian forces in the establishment have sentenced these nine Catalan leaders for peaceful democratic attempts to further Catalan selfdetermination.

The Spanish government and media continue to attempt to deny them their rightful status, but make no mistake - the Catalan leaders are political prisoners.

As the Spanish state further criminalises the movement, the police have been given more and more power to brutalise and

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

41

• Catalan MEP Jordi Solé and Martina Anderson MEP

• Martina with jailed speaker of the Parliament Carma Forcadell • Martina at one of the polling stations closed by Spanish police

The Spanish government and media continue to attempt to deny them their rightful status, but make no mistake - the Catalan leaders are political prisoners intimidate all those who want the right to self-determination or even to challenge the authoritarian actions of the state.

On Friday October 18, a general strike brought over half a million people onto the streets of Barcelona. The Spanish state responded with excessive force, using water cannons in Barcelona for the first time, carrying out violent stop-andsearches and beatings on anyone they suspect of supporting independence, and firing tear gas indiscriminately into crowds.

According to media observatory group, Mèdia.cat, 58 journalists were injured in police violence in the five days after the sentencing, and several journalists were arrested. Videos have emerged that appear to show Spanish police coordinating with the fascist gangs who have also attacked protesters.

At least four protestors have been blinded by rubber bullets (illegal under Catalan law), one lost a testicle, and many others have been left in critical condition after being beaten and teargassed by police in riot gear. Some 600 people have been injured, and over 200 arrested.

The message from the Spanish establishment has been crystal clear. Territorial integrity takes complete precedence over democracy, the rule-of-law, and fundamental human rights.

If this violence were taking place in Latin America or the Middle East, the outpourings of condemnation would be everywhere. Instead, all we hear from the leaders of the EU is a deafening silence.

Now, the Spanish government is refusing to even engage in talks until the Catalan leaders condemn the violence of

42

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

• Spain is trying to extradite Carles Puigdemont, the former President of Catalonia

• MEPs at poster for imprisoned former vice-president of the Catalan Government, Oriol Junqueras

protestors. This is a cynical attempt to force Catalan political leaders to criminalise and delegitimise their movement in order to enter political dialogue.

What we are seeing is systematic criminalisation of the Catalan independence movement in order to justify the ongoing use of state violence, and - eventually - the banning of Catalan pro-independence organisations (similar to what the Spanish state did in the Basque country).

Despite this violence, the people are not giving up their right to self-determination and dignity. We must use our international solidarity to help them win their rights back, and choose their own future without fear of violence or persecution. 

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

Martina Anderson is a Sinn Féin MEP representing the Six Counties and is a member of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with Palestine.

43

The case for a new indigenous enterprise agency

BY MAURICE QUINLIVAN Since the implementation of the First Programme for Economic Expansion in 1958, Irish industrial strategy has focused heavily on foreign direct investment and growing the state’s export markets.

This strategy moved our economic model away from a dependence on agriculture and a heavy reliance on the British market.

The Industrial Development Agency has attracted thousands of multinationals to Ireland since its establishment. This success can be seen in the IDA’s results for 2018, which saw 229,057 people employed in the multinational sector, the highest number ever recorded.

Enterprise Ireland, the state’s other key jobs agency, has also

44

performed very well. This is the state body responsible for the development and growth of Irish companies exporting to world markets. 215,207 people are now employed by Enterprise Ireland client companies, also the highest in the history of this agency.

It’s clear these two pillars of the Irish industrial strategy have been very effective. However, the scale of this success, and in particular the multinational strategy, has brought with it new risks.

The Irish state’s economy is now particularly exposed to any change in global markets and in the international political climate.

The Irish economy is also heavily reliant on a small number of multinational corporations for a significant portion of the state’s tax take.

In fact, 45% of the total corporation tax take in 2018 came from just 10 companies, while foreign owned multinationals paid 77% of 2018’s €10.4 billion corporation tax receipts last year.

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

❝

• Limerick City TD for Sinn Féin, Maurice Quinlivan is party spokesperson on Jobs, Worker’s Rights & Pay Equality

This over-reliance on a small number of corporations leaves our public finances very vulnerable, and a sudden change in the international economic or political environment could see these companies re-evaluate their operations here and potentially relocate to other parts of the world, having a major impact on jobs and the state’s tax take.

The focus of state support on the growth of the multinational sector and on export-only businesses, has resulted in a vacuum of supports for indigenous Irish businesses.

Local Enterprise Offices currently support small businesses with grants and assist entrepreneurs with starting their business; however, the scale and ambition of this agency needs to be increased.

With this in mind, Sinn Féin are proposing to establish a new Irish Enterprise Agency, which would be focused on scaling existing Irish businesses, and provide a strong agency for non-export focused startup and established companies.

We believe developing our indigenous businesses supports, in addition to growing the worker’s cooperatives sectors by establishing a Cooperative Development Unit, will benefit Irish businesses and workers and it will provide two new pillars in our industrial strategy, anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

Last year 254,929 SMEs were operating in the south of Ireland, employing some 984,762 people and contributing €82.6 billion to the economy providing a more balanced, stable economic model going forward.

The European Commission has highlighted the state’s over-reliance on multinational companies, noting “Ireland’s economic outlook is subject to significant uncertainties related, inter alia, to changes in the international taxation and trade environment. A large degree 45

of unpredictability remains linked to the activities of multinationals, which could drive headline growth either up or down”.

According to the National Competitiveness Council Economic Concentration Bulletin 2018, “CSO data shows that the top five exporters accounted for almost one-third of all goods exports in 2016”.

Turning to the state’s tax situation, the risks associated with such a focus and reliance on foreign multinationals is clear.

According to the Revenue Commissioner’s Annual Report for 2018 dd

Net Corporation Tax (CT) receipts in 2018 were valued at €10.4 billion;

dd

CT accounted for 19% of total net receipts in 2018; and ten multinationals pay almost 1 in every 10 euros in total tax collected by the state;

dd

The largest 100 companies account for over 70% of net corporation tax;

dd

Net receipts from the 10 largest payers were 45% of CT receipts in 2018, up from 39% in 2017;

dd

Foreign owned multinationals are responsible for 77% of Irish corporation tax take.

These figures show that the state’s corporation tax take remains highly concentrated in just a handful of companies.

In addition, the fact that over three-quarters of CT originates from foreign owned multinationals is of major concern, as these companies are traditionally more mobile than indigenous businesses, and can move or scale back their operations here suddenly, depending on where the best incentives become available internationally. €4.68 billion was paid in corporation tax by just 10 companies last year. This means in 2018, tax income from just 10 companies

essentially funded the Departments of Finance, Defence, Taoiseach, Foreign Affairs and Trade, Rural and Community Affairs, Culture Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Communications, Climate Action and Environment, combined. This is not sustainable.

This data shows the urgent need to rebalance Ireland’s industrial strategy, to support & grow indigenous Irish businesses, that can lead to a more stable, reliable source of corporation tax.

Last year 254,929 SMEs were operating in the 26 Counties, employing some 984,762 people and contributing €82.6 billion to the economy.

As the engine of the Irish economy, we believe SMEs need a strong state agency advocating for them and providing support to sustain and grow our indigenous enterprise sector.

IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland already give significant support to FDI companies and exporters, but we want an equally successful agency that will help our micro and small businesses in our towns and villages too.

A new Irish Enterprise Agency could incorporate the existing 31 individual Local Enterprise Offices located nationwide, would see a decentralised national headquarters established. This head office would initially be provided with 100 additional staff and would coordinate activities across the 31 regional offices, ensuring the same business supports are available in every county. All existing LEO staff would be retained, and existing office locations would remain.

This new organisation would provide the government with advice and guidance on what SMEs, retailers and other enterprises want to help them grow their businesses. This agency would ensure the uptake of state supports and assistance being provided is of an equal standard and quality across the state.

An increase in personnel for this new organisation around the country would also include 100 mobile business advisors who would travel to businesses and provide advice on business plans, grants, investment and strategies, on site.

This is in recognition of the reality that many business owners and

• We are now particularly exposed to changes in global markets and international political climate 46

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

❝

Sinn Féin are proposing to establish a new Irish Enterprise Agency, which would be focused on scaling existing Irish businesses, and provide a strong agency for non-export focused start-up and established companies entrepreneurs do not have the resources to take time off to visit the LEO premises to get advice. This important change would see the assistance and expertise being brought directly to them.

This agency would work in close cooperation with the CoOperative Development Unit, which would be re-established under proposals included in Sinn Féin’s Worker’s Co-operative Policy, to increase the number of co-ops in Ireland.

Developing and extending the rights of workers in indigenous businesses would also be a key focus of the new agency.

In addition to helping business owners grow their enterprise, business advisors would guide and help owners to improve pay and conditions for their staff.

Good relations between management and employees, low staff turnover and positive employee morale are key to building a successful company.

A company would be expected to show all employees have good pay and fair working conditions, including no gender pay gap existing, to be eligible for any state financial support from this new agency.

While Sinn Féin is supportive of maintaining foreign direct investment and export led growth as pillars of our industrial strategy, it is imperative we grow our indigenous and co-operative sectors to provide balance to our economy and to our public finances.

Regional Ireland cannot be left behind any longer when it comes to having high quality jobs, and this new organisation could deliver locations in rural Ireland for indigenous companies and create remote working spaces to allow employees work from their own communities if they wish.

With workers’ rights at the fore of the new agency, the IEA can work with companies to help them deliver excellent pay and conditions for their workers, in addition to business support and finance.

We believe by transforming the current Local Enterprise Structure into a larger, more ambitious state agency, the Irish Enterprise Agency, could deliver strong benefits to indigenous businesses, workers and to the state.  Maurice Quinlivan is a Sinn Féin TD for Limerick City and the party spokesperson on Jobs, Worker’s Rights & Pay Equality

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

47

Le déanaí, líonadh sráideanna ar fud an domhain le daoine óga ag tabhairt agóide fúthu fá dtaobh dár dtimpeallacht agus dár dtodhchaí. Agóid darbh ainm ‘Fridays for Future’ a bhí ann atá an-bhainteach leis na hagóidí ‘Extinction Rebellion’ a bhí ag tarlú achan áit san Eoraip agus i Meircéa fosta. Ar aon le seo, bhí an ‘Climate Action Summit’ curtha i láthair ag na Náisiúin Aontaithe (NA) arís do 2019, le Greta Thunberg an gníomhaí timpeallachta de 16 bliain d’aois mar cheann de na urlabhraí is cumhachtaí acu uilig. Cad chuige atá daoine óga ag tabhairt fúthu agóidí mar seo, áfach agus cad chuige anois agus chan 50 bliain ó shin? Cad chuige a bhfuil siad ag tabhairt faoi deara rudaí suntasacha agus scanrúla ar nós deireadh an domhain, nó díothú an chine daonna agus na billiúin speiceas eile atá ina gconaí anseo, a deir tú? Agus cén fáth atá Greta Thunberg mar ghuth binn, láidir ár nglúin féin agus gur grá le seanfhir ón éite dheis í a cháineadh?

Is iad na ceisteanna seo atá de rún agam a phlé anseo libh.

B’fhéidir mar is eol daoibh, ach ní gné nua den saol é téamh domhanda nó athrú aeráide in aon chor. Tá sé chomh sean sin go bhfuil sé ar shiollabas na meánscoile, agus tá a fhios againn uilig cé chomh

LE EVA NÍ MHEALLÁIN fada a thógann sé dóibh sin a athrú… Ach tá sé níos sine fós, bhí an chéad taighde d’éifeacht an CO2 san atmaisféar ar theocht an domhain, taighde darb ainm ‘On the Influence of Carbonic Acid in the Air upon the Temperature of the Earth’, déanta sa bhliain 1896, níos mó na 100 bliain ó shin. Ní dhearna ach an eolaíocht tábhacht na héifeachta sin a chur ina luí orainn le blianta beaga anuas. Cé go raibh imní ag fás i measc lucht na heolaíochta agus na clíomeolaíochta ó thús na 1950í, is follasach amach agus is amach gur fhíor-rud agus rud práinneach é an meath gasta atá ag teacht ar an timpeallacht.

Mar a dúirt George Monbiot ar an BBC, ach sé mhí ó shin, go bhfuil muid “bursting through all the environmental boundaries…” bíodh iad teorainn aeráide nó éiceolaíoch mar atá an scéal.

Sa bhliain 2015, tháinig ionadaithe ó 196 tír go Paras fá choinne ‘Climate Summit’ an NA na bliana sin agus síníodh Comhaontú Parais. Gheall na 196 tíortha, cé gur thit Meiriceá amach ón chomhaontú, de theocht an domhain a laghdú leis an mhéid astaíochtaí

gás ceaptha teasa a dhéanann siad a chinneadh, a phleanáil agus a thuairisciú go rialta leis an téamh domhanda a mhaolú. Is rud iontach agus suntasach é le polaiteoirí ó achan cearn den domhain a fheicáil ag déanamh iarrachta, ag teacht le chéile agus cruthú staire mar sin. Is léir, áfach, cé gur maoithneachas deas é sin, ní leor an 2°c de laghdú a bhí cinnithe acu agus gur rud measartha práinneach é an tús d’olldhíothú agus titim na n-éiceachóras.

Dúirt Greta Thunberg í féin, “all you talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth”, agus is é seo an cinéal teachtaireacht atá dáimh ag daoine óga leis, sa lá atá inniu ann? Dár liom féin, mhuscail an óige i mbliana ó thaobh na timpeallachta de, cosúil leis na mílte eile de ghrúpaí agóide óige ar feadh na céadta – nós atá slán linn féin le NICRA agus a leithéidí. Tuigtear dóibh siúd atá ag fás aníos nach leor é muinín amháin a bheith agat sa rialtas, nó i nádúr daonna go fiú, caithfidh muid ár smacht féin a chur ar an chasadh seo i stair agus í a mhunlú sa treo ceart. Sin an fáth go bhfeictear laoch agus morphearsa i nGreta Thunberg, i measc na hóige ach go háirithe, shiúl sí amach ón scoil sa tSualainn mar mhothaigh sí narbh

An

48

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

fiú an t-oideachas a bhí sise ag fáil ar scoil agus an pláinéad ag fáil báis lena linn agus gan suim ná haire ag an rialtas air.

Ní chóir go bhfuil ar Greta beag sin a dhéanamh, nó ár smaointí a chur i bhfírinne, ach b’fhearr liom sin ná go mbeadh sí ar scoil ag foghlaim fá dtaobh d’athrú aeráide agus gan rud ar bith a dhéanamh faoi cosúil liomsa ar chomhaois léi. Má bhéinn féin i m’sheanfhear ón eite dheas, bhéinn féin eaglach roimh Greta Thunberg fosta mar ní ach guth amháin ise i measc na milliúin atá i mbun briseadh slabhra an aineolais faoi láthair.

Is iad na guthanna láidreacha seo atá de dhíth orainn agus an pointe claochlaithe do chliseadh iomlán na timpeallachta ag druidim linn, tá súil agam nach bhfuil sé ró-mhall go fóill ach an oiread.

Nach mbeifeá féin ag iarraidh sabháilteacht do mhuintir féin, a sláinte, a dtodhchaí a chinntiú agus an deis agat?  Eva Ní Mhealláin - Is mac léinn in Ollscoil na hÉireann Gaillimhe i mbliain na céime de BA sa Ghaeilge agus sa Fhraincis í Eva Ní Mhealláin. Is scríobhneoir, file agus gníomhaí óg í as deisceart Ard Mhacha ó dhúchas.

Timpeallacht

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

49

FEATURE

anphoblacht GNÉ-ALT

The Bureaucracy

BY ROBBIE SMYTH

The quiet of a hotel TV room where I interviewed Israeli author and academic Ilan Pappe was in contrast to packed ballroom of Dublin’s Wynn’s Hotel where he spoke later that Saturday afternoon. The seats were full as people lined the walls standing two deep in places, even into the corridor outside the city centre venue.

Ilan Pappe was speaking at the launch of the paperback edition of The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Occupied Territories. Earlier that day Pappe discussed his book along with his hopes and concerns for plight of the Palestinian people.

Pappe has been living in Britain for 13 years. He is a Professor of History at the University of Exeter and Director of the College’s European Centre for Palestine Studies. Pappe explained that it was “the first ever academic centre for Palestine studies”, and “I felt that I could make a difference through that kind of institute”.

I asked Ilan about the label “new historians”. It is a term used to characterise Pappe and other academics who began in the 1980s to produce work, based on archival research, which challenged the orthodoxies of how the Israeli state was founded in 1948, and how it legitimised its development since. Pappe describes the work as “Using the archive to debunk some of Israel’s foundational myths”.

‘New Historians’, is not a term Pappe uses, though the label has stuck. He says “We stumbled onto it in many ways”. It was he says a “new history compared to the old Israeli history”. It was concerned with “new revelations or substantiating some of the major claims made by Palestinians about 1948”.

Pappe said, “At the time it was important. Israeli historians, using Israeli material, saying to the nation, whatever they told you about ‘48, there is a lot of fabrication and lies about it. Whatever the Palestinians claim happened to them, there is a lot of truth in it”.

Pappe elaborated on the importance of positive national foundational myths and histories.

He said, “We have to be careful.

We should not take a lofty approach to nationalism. For many people it liberated them. For many people it is a sacred point of reference.”

“There is no denial that nationalism is a modern construct and there is no denial that whoever are the fathers and mothers of the nation, they concoct a story”.

Pappe believes that, “What is important is that the story defines a nation”. He argues that, “Academics

50

have a tough mission. They have to decide if they will challenge these stories. When you challenge it you get into trouble, especially when there is a conflict going on.”

“Every national myth is a mixture of facts and fiction. The important thing is not its validity. The important thing is what you do with the story. If in the name of the narrative I, kill you, dispossess you or abuse you, then there is a problem with the story. If the story allows me to feel more connected to other people or a place, and doesn’t come at the expense of anyone else, that’s a very good narrative. If the story allows me liberate myself from oppression, colonisation or occupation, it is an important story.”

“If the Palestinians tell the story of being colonised, or ethnically cleansed, or constantly being the victim, and in 2019 they look around, the reality confirms that these are not fairy tales.”

Pappe believes that his academic work “has strengthened the universalist human side of me. It enabled me to understand my own accountability and responsibility”. However. he has lost friends and

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

FEATURE

anphoblacht

of Evil

GNÉ-ALT

family. “People stop talking to you. People regard you from their point of view genuinely as a traitor. You pay a price”.

Talking about Israeli society, Pappe believes it has become “more nationalist, more religious, more fanatical”.

Pappe wrote The Biggest Prison on Earth because he “felt the whole peace process discussion since 1967 in the West lacks the historical origins of the ’67 occupation and is naively sometimes based on a wrong understanding of the Israeli ideology and strategy”.

“Therefore, I thought if I could reconstruct historically, the origins of the Israeli decision to occupy the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the mid 1960s and explain the strategy early on in the occupation, and how it does it affect the peace process and how does it explain the failure

At the time it was important. Israeli historians, using Israeli material, saying to the nation, whatever they told you about ‘48, there is a lot of fabrication and lies about it.

Whatever the Palestinians claim happened to them, there is a lot of truth in it of the peace process. I thought that if you can do it in one book maybe it can explain why we are where we are, and why there is an urgent need to look for an alternative.”

To understand the Israeli policy between 1964 and 1968, Pappe was “lucky the Israelis released some cabinet meetings, quite a lot of people wrote memoirs, more honestly than the first round of memoirs. For the period after 1970, human rights organisations were so good in recording and documenting everything, you really didn’t need much of any official documentation”.

Pappe explained that, “the original title was the Bureaucracy of Evil”. He describes this as “a mechanism that Israel is using. It is an important part of the story. I think the two models of prisons that Israel is building, especially the open model, and selling it as if it is a peace solution, it is a fulfilment of their aspiration”.

“You can go to a pub in Ramallah, and you might have a nice car. This is not what life is only all about. You are lacking something that even the poorest person in Dublin has. You are lacking the freedom of your own movement. That is a prison. You are in a prison. You may be in dire straits in

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

London or Dublin but you are not in a prison. Israel has a physical presence of 600 checkpoints, to make sure you remember how limited your movement is.”

I asked Pappe about the academic boycott. He said, “I fully understand it is not easy. We all want freedom of expression.

A boycott between academics is not a natural thing. People should consider it as having a tough conversation with Israeli academics. It is a dialogue, it is not a punishment. It is saying how do you expect us to be part of your institution in any way or form when you are complicit in what we know is going on on the ground.”

So what should people who are concerned about Palestine do? An intriguing answer was that “People who are interested in Palestine should be VIPs”.

“V for visit if they can. It is not easy. If you are branded as a pro Palestinian person you might not be allowed in. But if you can, go. It is very important for people there to know they are not forgotten. The human contact is very important. The other reason is what you see there in five minutes no good article could convey to you.”

“The ‘I’ is inform. There is so much reductionism,

51

FEATURE

anphoblacht GNÉ-ALT fabrication and distortion in the mainstream media. With the internet you can get a lot of good information, you can also get a lot of false information. It is very important to find the venues in the media to educate people about what goes on.”

“A great example is that I am sure many people here and in the West identify with the Chinese youngsters who are demonstrating in Hong Kong. What they have suffered so far does not even come close to what the Palestinian demonstrators, every week, on Friday on the Gaza border are suffering from. And yet nobody reports the Gaza protests

You can go to a pub in Ramallah, and you might have a nice car. This is not what life is only all about. You are lacking something that even the poorest person in Dublin has.

You are lacking the freedom of your own movement. That is a prison. You are in a prison anymore. Yet the media reports every minute of what is going on in Hong Kong.”

“The ‘P’ is for Protest. There are so many ways to protest.

The most active protest is the boycott.”

I asked Pappe what he thought was next for Palestine and Israel. He said firstly, “The final word on the American position has not been said. And America is a key factor. They are sustaining Israel as a military power, protecting Israel in the diplomatic arena.”

“Regionally the whole story of the Arab Spring has not

• Ilan Pappe speaking at Wynn’s Hotel

ended yet. As historians we know that revolutions and counter revolutions seem to be lost, but then they come back.

I think this is an ongoing process. I don’t think it is over yet.”

Finally, Pappe emphasised the need to “Protect the memory of the 1948 movement”. He said, “I mean because 1948, (when Israel declared independence unilaterally, and expelled 711,000 Palestinians), was such a huge crime, and was denied, and still is denied. If it is not remembered properly you don’t understand why Israel is doing the same thing it did in 1948 today in Gaza, in the West Bank and inside Israel. It is kind of an historical chapter, we are still in it. If we deny its origins, we deny the reality as it is.”

The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Occupied Territories is published by One World Publications price €18.19. 

• Fatin Al Tamimi, Chairperson of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign

52

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

BOOK REVIEW

anphoblacht LÉIRMHEAS

Home - why public housing is the answer

By Eoin Ó Broin TD.

Published by Merrion Press.

Home is where the struggle is

BY MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA I recently attended two briefings on the same day by housing officials of Dublin City Council. The first was on a planning application by a private developer for nearly 2,000 residential units in Clongriffin. The second was on the plan for O’Devaney Gardens, a site owned by Dublin City Council. The first plan was being fasttracked under special legislation that bypasses Councils and allows private developers to get swift decisions on their applications. The second plan was another chapter in the tortuous saga of what was once a Council flats complex, a saga that in itself encapsulates the failed housing policies of successive Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil governments since the 1990s.

• Mícheál Mac Donncha and Eoin

tape at every opportunity, is caused by the right-wing ideology of the Fine Gael government, supported by Fianna Fáil, that refuses to fund our Councils to provide the homes so desperately needed.

Despite all their bluster about addressing the housing crisis, they always revert to type because they are a government that primarily represents the big landlord and property speculator interests in this country.

In this excellent book Eoin Ó Broin TD, Sinn Féin Housing spokesperson, sets out clearly and logically the case for public housing and supports his case with irrefutable facts and figures. He traces the history of housing policy in the 26 Counties, the State’s central role in providing housing, the retreat from that policy and the need for the State again to take the central role.

I have to say I admire Eoin’s patience. Since 2016 he has and Professor of Social Policy in UCD • Eoin Ó Broin with Tony Fahey, May in E Lynn Boylan at the launch of HOM

ting

Ó Broin at a Raise the Roof mee

O’Devaney Gardens was first earmarked for major regeneration under a public-private partnership until the deal collapsed. The residents and potential residents were abandoned for years. Then four years ago the site was included in the Fine Gael government’s ‘Housing Land Initiative’. In its original form this would have seen only 10 per cent social housing on this public land. We in Sinn Féin, with others on the City Council, pushed for 30 per cent social and 20 per cent affordable, the remaining 50 per cent was required to be private because the Government would not fund the Council to develop the whole site itself. When the funding details of the plan were finally revealed in September 2019 it was clear that the affordable element was not affordable at all and we withdrew support.

This mess, where private greed is facilitated at every turn, and where public housing is delayed and blocked and smothered in red anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

been making this case, week in week out, and has produced policy papers, legislation, budget proposals and now this book. The solutions to the housing crisis are before our eyes, you can read them in this book and in other progressive plans produced by trade unions, housing bodies and others. Yet under this FF-FG regime the crisis persists.

The best contribution the book will make will be to show that the housing crisis can be solved and good quality homes can be provided for all our people; it is being done now in some other countries, it was even done here in the past to a great extent. So this book should be read and used by activists in our housing campaigns and as an aid in the effort, once and for all, to oust the FF-FG dominance of politics and to begin to eradicate the misery for which that political paralysis has been responsible.  Mícheál Mac Donncha is a Dublin City Sinn Féin councillor 53

the New Republic’ The ‘Postcards from t, British designer, artis series is a hat tip to ’s cialist William Morris entrepreneur and So m series of articles fro News from Nowhere e Commonweal, the 1890 published in th t cialist League and se newspaper of the So ere Morris’s socialist, in a distant future wh r has been secured. Ou and romantic, utopia ir are Willa Ní Chuairteo story’s protagonists ur mpanied by their fo and Lucy Byrne acco o wh , Banba and Alroy children James, Afric d endure the equity an together enjoy and re’s New Republic. exigency of the futu family visit To check in with the

POSTCARDS FROM A

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NEW REPUBLIC

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progress. Sinn Féin was one of the first European political parties to call for the adoption of the GDP alternative as the climate crisis deepened globally. Now in government they have led the charge both at home and within the European Union for its adoption across the developed world.

Next week Ireland will formally ratify the GPI Convention in tandem with all EU member states bar England. A Tory government is in place and despite the decades of progress since Britain rejoined the EU the progressive influences of Scotland and Wales have been sorely missed since the both countries secured independence.

Whilst Lucy fields calls and emails at the kitchen table Willa is stomping around the house roaring at some poor unfortunate at the other end of her mobile phone.

She’s Editor of Dublin’s oldest monthly magazine; ‘The Voice’ and it goes to print next week. Ongoing power shortages have really disrupted production over the last year or so. They nearly missed last month print deadline and she’s determined to have everything ready to go a RY HISTO couple of days early just in case.

S ES LESSN E M Slumping down at O H IN the kitchen table Willa D IRELAN puts her head on Lucy’s shoulder and teases, “What’s the effing point of being married to a Minister if I’ve to keep worrying about the magazine’s power supply?”

“Sadly love, I’m not the Minister for miracles” Lucy says sympathetically as she pours her

It’s one of those rare week day afternoons when Lucy and Willa are both at home. It’s recess week for the shared Parliament so Lucy has taken a couple of days off to catch up on things at home. That was the plan anyway! Her phone hasn’t stopped, and she’s been on the laptop for most of the morning.

Lucy is the Minister for Economic Sustainability. It’s the monthly Belfast sitting of the shared Parliament next week. One of the outcomes from Irish unity is that the Dáil sits one week in four in a beautifully repurposed Belfast City Hall.

It’s going to be a big week for Lucy and her cabinet colleague Mary Ní Bhaoigheallain. Mary is Minister for Climate Action and she’s also Lucy’s best friend. The two first met in college but really got to know each other when working on the OECD’s Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) project.

GPI was under development for years across the developed world, but Lucy and Mary along with a small number of activists and academics played a central role in popularising the new international measurement of economic

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tormented wife a cup of tea. The landline rings and it’s the school. They’ve sent their youngest Alroy home early. Just as the headmistress starts to explain what’s happened Alroy lands into the kitchen in a terrible state.

The poor young child is sobbing his heart out. “What on earth has happened” Lucy asks as Willa scoops Alroy up in her arms cuddling him close. Alroy is inconsolable so they just let him cry it out. Eventually it all tumbles out.

“There was a boy like me eating his dinner off the street,” he gulps. “It was just so unfair.

I don’t understand how that happened.” Lucy and Willa looked at each other confused.

“Where did you see that?” “It was in a book in school. One of the older kids left their history book behind and we were looking at it during lunchbreak. There was a picture of a little boy eating his dinner on a piece of cardboard on a street in Dublin. The book said there used to be thousands and thousands of children with no home and their Mammies had nowhere to cook them their dinner. Did that really happen Ma, really?”

Lucy pops Alroy up on her lap. He’s always been the most sensitive of the four kids. “It did happen son,” Lucy tells him, “a long time ago. Hundreds of families were homeless and then thousands, then tens of thousands.

After that the government stopped counting and shipped them all to compounds in remote areas around the country.” “But how did people let that happen Ma?” “Well” Lucy says with a sigh, “mostly because it wasn’t happening to their families. It all changed after the Great struggle though. Finally, people realised that an injustice to that little boy and his family was an injustice to us all.”

Alroy looks earnestly at Lucy and says, “I’m never ever going to let that happen to anybody Ma and you better not either.” “Not on my watch son, not on my watch.” 

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

g n i r e b m e m e R

Liam McParland

BY GERRY ADAMS

On October 19th 1969 I was returning to Belfast from a visit with John Joe McGirl in County Leitrim when the car I was travelling in crashed on the MI as we were approaching Belfast. I was asleep when the accident occurred. Liam McParland, who had swapped seats with me, was fatally injured and died several weeks later on 6 November.

The late Mickey O Neill was driving. Seán Wallace was the other passenger. Liam was an IRA Volunteer. He was the first to be killed in the most recent phase of the long struggle for Irish freedom. He was also the first to be buried in the County Antrim plot in Milltown Cemetery.

Liam, who was known as ‘Bulmer’ was born on 9 August 1926 in Omar Street off the Falls Road. He was the second eldest in a family of 13 and had six brothers and six sisters.

He went to St. Finian’s School on the Falls Road, just beside where the Sevastopol St Sinn Féin office is.

Like most of his generation he left school at 14. Liam became an apprentice cabinet maker and eventually a well-known French polisher. The McParlands were a republican family and from an early age Liam was very involved in republican politics. He joined the Fianna, became fluent in the Irish language and enjoyed Gaelic sports, music and dance. He then joined the Irish Republican Army.

When the 1950’s IRA campaign began Liam was one of hundreds in Belfast who were arrested and interned in Crumlin Road prison. While in the Crum Liam learned to play the tin whistle and made handicrafts. He also organised Irish language classes and the occasional escape attempt.

In August 1957 an RUC Sergeant Arthur Ovens was killed in a bomb explosion near Coalisland, County Tyrone. Two 21 year old republicans Kevin Mallon and Patrick Talbot were arrested. Both were badly tortured and signed statements admitting involvement in the attack. They were remanded to Crumlin Road prison.

With the hanging of Tom Williams in 1942 still relatively fresh in their memories the Republican prisoners were afraid that the two would be hanged. So they began digging a tunnel to get Mallon and Talbot out of the prison. By the 12 March 1958 work on the tunnel was going well. It was in a cell at the bottom of an air shaft. However a prison officer discovered Liam and a comrade busily working away down the tunnel and locked the cell door to prevent them from getting out while he went to get help. Another republican

My abiding memory of Liam is of a quiet thoughtful man, a Gaelgeoir, a committed republican

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

prisoner realising what was happening forced the cell door open using a bar torn from the tier railings on the wing. More republicans piled into the cell, blocking the prison officers, and extracted Liam and his friend from the tunnel.

That night the RUC and prison officers wrecked the wing and many of the prisoners were savagely beaten. Visits, letters and parcels to the political prisoners were stopped.

Five days later, on St. Patrick’s Day Máire Drumm – whose husband Jimmy was an internee - and several dozen wives and mothers, with prams, arrived to protest outside the main gate of the prison.

When the front gate of the prison was opened to allow a prison governor to drive in to the prison the women, led by Máire, stormed the gate. The publicity, which this courageous action successfully generated, forced the prison system to resume letters, parcels and visits.

55

• Gerry Adams making a presentation to Liam’s family at the 40th anniversary of his death in November 2009.

On his release in 1961 from internment Liam made his way home. But by this time, while he was in the Crum, Mrs McParland had moved to Ballymurphy so the story is often told by his surviving siblings of how Liam walked slowly up Ballymurphy Road rapping on doors asking if the McParlands lived there.

I met Liam in 1968 or early ‘69. Ballymurphy was my home district. I was reorganising Sinn Féin. After the pogroms there was a large influx of members.

There was also a flood of refugees into the ‘Murph.

There was a huge communal effort to take care of them alongside the defence of the district.

My abiding memory of Liam is of a quiet thoughtful man, a Gaeilgeoir, a committed republican.

Someone who enjoyed a bit of craic. Seamus Drumm remembers him as a close personal family friend to his mother Máire and father Jimmy. The McParlands and the Drumms often socialised together in the Casement Park social club and Liam, who enjoyed fishing, would take a young Seamus on fishing adventures to Glenavy.

Liam was also a close friend to Proinsias Mac Airt one of the leading Belfast republican leaders of his generation. Proinsias was a committed Gaeilgeoir and a fine seán nos singer with a great range of traditional songs in Irish and English.

The two, both bachelors, would often be found together in Kelly’s Cellars in Belfast discussing with other republicans the dramatic events and changes that were taking place in the North and within republicanism in the late 1960’s. The 1969 pogroms when the RUC and unionist mobs burned out

56

hundreds of Catholic families in Belfast was a turning point.

Joe Cahill, in his book, ‘A Life in the IRA’ recalled the chaos of August 1969. He met Liam in the Divis Street area. He said: “Liam McParland had been appointed by the IRA to look after the area that night. I met him in Divis Street. He had been interned with me in the 1950s. I asked him what was happening and he said, ‘I don’t know, but this is what I have been given,’ and showed me an anti-personnel grenade. He said that shortly after it was given to him, he discovered it was unarmed and contained no explosive, no fuse, nothing.

I can remember the anger in that man’s eyes and in his voice. He had been searching for a member of Belfast Battalion staff – any member. He said: ‘I can’t find these people, I don’t know where they have gone.’”

In the months that followed, this anger and frustration at the then leadership of the IRA led in December to the split between what came to be for time called the ‘Officials’ and the ‘Provisionals’.

When Liam McParland died on 6 November 1969 hundreds attended his wake. Men and woman from the 1940s and 50’s and 60’s crowded into his home to offer their sympathies to Mrs McParland and to regale her with stories of her son’s time in prison. A few weeks after his funeral comrades went to his graveside in Milltown Cemetry and fired three volleys in honour of a brave and faithful republican.

Liam died fifty years ago. Go ndeanfaidh Dia trocaire air. 

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

ANOTHER EUROPE IS POSSIBLE |TREO EILE DON EORAIP FUNDED BY THE EUROPEAN UNITED LEFT/NORDIC GREEN LEFT (GUE/NGL) Grúpa Cónasctha den Chlé Aontaithe Eorpach • den Chlé Ghlas Nordach

GRÚPA PARLAIMINTEACH EORPACH

www.guengl.eu

GEU/NGL visit Ireland

Brexit, a GUE/NGL visit to Ireland, EU search and rescue operations, CAP funding and James McClean’s Republic of Ireland soccer jersey were just some of the stand out events for the two Sinn Féin MEPS who are part of the GUE/NGL group in the European Parliament.

GUE/NGL VISIT A delegation of GUE/NGL MEPs were led on a visit to Derry by Northern Ireland MEP Martina Anderson and Sinn Féin’s Foyle MP Elisha McCallion. The group also participated in a public panel discussion in the Guildhall Derry on November 1st.

Speaking before the meeting Anderson said, “Irish unity offers a better future for us all. So join the conversation”. This was important because, “Whilst the EU/British Brexit Deal avoids ‘no deal’, it’s still Brexit.

Brexit will harm us all in any form”. Anderson also emphasised that, “This Brexit deal still takes us out of the EU against our democratically expressed will. We, after all, voted to remain”.

• The writing’s on the wall for Brexit. Irish MEP Martina Anderson at the EU Parliament

“This will see Irish Farmers lose €97 million in payments and will impact severally on the rural communities that depend on them. Every farm family will be affected and every rural community will pay the price”.

SEARCH AND RESCUE MOTION In October, Anderson and Midlands North West MEP Matt Carthy were some of the few Irish MEPS who supported a non-binding parliament search and rescue resolution.

The motion called on EU states to, “enhance proactive search and rescue operations by providing sufficient vessels and equipment specifically dedicated to search and rescue operations and personnel, along the routes where they can make an effective contribution to the preservation of lives”. Fine Gael MEPs were among those who voted against the rescue motion. The resolution was lost by just two votes.

CAP CUTS EU Commission proposals to cut the 2021 CAP funding to Irish farmers by €97 million were criticised by Matt Carthy in October. Carthy, who is a member of the European Parliament’s Agriculture & Rural Development committee, has called on the Irish Government to reject this move and to clarify that it will not support any EU long term budget proposal that includes a reduced provision for the Common Agriculture Policy.

Carthy described the EU Commission proposals as “unacceptable”.

He said, “The Commission is attempting to use the transition period to clear the ground for long term cuts to direct payments and rural development schemes”.

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

WEARING THE GREEN Finally, Martina Anderson set a new precedent for Irish MEPs when she spoke in the parliament wearing James McClean’s Irish soccer jersey and holding her Irish passport during a debate about Irish and EU citizenship.

Anderson said, “My Irish passport says that it is the entitlement and birth right of everyone born on the island of Ireland to be part of the Irish nation. Whilst the backstop is essential to prevent a hardening of the border Partitioning Ireland, to protect the all-Ireland economy and North-South cooperation it takes us out of the EU against our will, we in the North of Ireland voted to remain.

“It is important this parliament recognises as stated in the resolution the legitimacy of whatever choice is freely exercised by the majority of the people in the North of Ireland to our right to change its status, to our right to self-determination,” she added.

“As recognised in the Good Friday Agreement in British and Irish law, the European Council statement stated that in the event of Irish reunification all 32 counties would remain in the EU”.

“The French president Macron stated that the solution to the Brexit problem is Irish reunification, Lord Ashcroft’s opinion poll shows a majority in favour of Irish reunification, the Good Friday Agreement provides a peaceful, democratic pathway back into the EU for the people of the North of Ireland and that should be respected by all.

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Martin Savage was the first IRA Volunteer to die in action against British forces since the establishment of Dáil Éireann in January 1919 and its banning by Lord French the following September.

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The annual Pat Finucane lecture St Mary’s College of Education, Falls Road, 10 February 2019

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‘An advocate for human rights’ by Gerry Adams TD ‘A Community Reflects’ by John Finucane Katherine Finucane on ‘The family’s fight for justice’ with an ‘Introduction’ by Joe Austin

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The Michael J. Murphy Winter School 2018 Friday 16th November, Tí Chulainn, Mullaghbane, County Armagh

John Joe McGirl 30th Anniversary Commemoration, Ballinamore Community Centre, December 2018

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