An Phoblacht - Issue 4 - 2021 by An Phoblacht

50th ANNIVERSARY OF DERRY’S BLOODY SUNDAY

THE LONG ROAD TO JUSTICE FOR THE BLOODY SUNDAY VICTIMS �bloodysunday50.com

RECASTING THE CONQUEST The Treaty - 100 years on

anphoblacht

www.anphoblacht.com

€5.00 / £4.00

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 – UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4

� Transforming Ireland for the many, not the few �

PEARSE DOHERTY on Coalition Budget failures and the radical alternative policies that Sinn Féin will bring into government

March 2018 Márta anphoblacht

€5.00 / £4.00

anphoblacht

www.anphoblacht.com

‘WE HAVE BIG IDEAS’

August | September 2018 Lúnasa | Meán Fómhair

ESS

WHAT NEXT FOR RIGHTS AND EQUALITY?

EXCLUSIVE

Interview with new Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald

An Phoblacht looks at the life and legacy of Martin McGuinness

THE STORY IN PICTURES

€5.00 / £4.00 05

ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1

1919-2019

NOW IS THE OPPORTUNITY TO PROVE WE CAN DELIVER!

One year on...

anphoblacht

www.anphoblacht.com

CENTENARY OF THE FIRST DÁIL ÉIREANN

SOLD OUT

FRIEND

€5.00 / £4.00

ievicz 1927 ark

March 2018 Márta

anphoblacht

Issue Number 1 – 2019 – Uimhir Eisiúna 1

August | September 2018 Lúnasa | Meán Fómhair

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

48 YEARS OF GAZA IS AN ACTIVISM OPEN AIR PRISON

MAKE NO MISTAKE, IRISH UNITY IS UPON US - 25

Standing up for ‘Liberty Equality and Justice’

Issue Number 2 – 2019 – Uimhir Eisiúna 2 06

#Yes4Unity

#Time4Unity

#Yes4Unity

#Tá3 2

#Time4Unity

#Tá3 2

Sinn Féin Vice President Michelle O’Neill writes for An Phoblacht

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

stance M Con

March 2018 Márta

We remember Joe Reilly

Sinn Féin MEP Martina Anderson on Palestine

REMEMBERING THE 1981 HUNGER STRIKES

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1

Raymond McCartney reflects on the past and future challenges AP Issue 2 - 2019 front 3 pages.indd 1

10/04/2019 15:50

17/05/2018 09:39

Issue Number 3 – 2019 – Uimhir Eisiúna 3

Issue Number 4 – 2019 – Uimhir Eisiúna 4

anphoblacht

www.anphoblacht.com

Issue Number 1 – 2020 – Uimhir Eisiúna 1 €5.00 / £4.00

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4

ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2020 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1

#Yes4Unity

#Time4Unity

#Tá32

No Border VOTE SINN FÉIN

For over 50 years anphoblacht has been the voice of republican Ireland. You can be part of the next phase of this history.

MAKE SURE YOU

MICHELLE O'NEILL ON ‘THE BREXIT ELECTION’

REJECT BREXIT

TIME  FORUNITY IRISH UNITY

GERRY ADAMS REMEMBERS LIAM McPARLAND

The peop ple's choice Gerry Adams on the

anphoblacht

www.anphoblacht.com

€5.00 / £4.00

ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2020 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3

THE ROAD TO SINN FÉIN GOVERNMENT STARTS HERE

Jim Gibney remembers

1970 SPLITS DICKIE GLENHOLMES

Issue Number 3 – 2020 – Uimhir Eisiúna 3

Issue Number 4 – 2020 – Uimhir Eisiúna 4

anphoblacht

www.anphoblacht.com

anphoblacht

www.anphoblacht.com

€5.00 / £4.00

ISSUE NUMBER 2 – 2020 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 2

WE CAN HAVE A BETTER, FAIRER, UNITED IRELAND Covid-19 emergency has strengthened demand for change THE

Potential of

BATTLE OF ST MATTHEWS

CONNAUGHT RANGERS MUTINY REMEMBERED

post Covid Ireland

Issue Number 1 – 2021 – Uimhir Eisiúna 1

€5.00 / £4.00

50 ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2020 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4

YEA

An Phoblacht drumm2.jpg

UNCERNSSOOF NE RED

18aug79.jpg

SOLD OUT An Phoblacht 1982.jpg

17-Dec-1981-AP-RN.jpg

29nov84.jpg

Leading the Opposition to the Chaotic Coalition ion IRELAND 1920 inA nat turmoil

Remembering Bobby Storey

DON’T MISS OUT GO TO

� www.sinnféinbookshop.com OR CONTACT YOUR LOCAL anphoblacht SELLER 2

€5.00 / £4.00

50 YEARS OF UNCENSORED NEWS

One Island

BACK IN STOCK

anphoblacht

www.anphoblacht.com

Issue Number 2 – 2020 – Uimhir Eisiúna 2

6nov86.jpg

13-may-2004.pdf

17-june-2004.pdf

Mandela-freed.jpg

18jun87.jpg

29apr93.jpg

3apr2003.jpg

24feb2005.jpg

ap28:07:2005.pdf

An Phoblacht 1983a.jpg

27-nov-2003.pdf

ap30:03:2006.pdf

Dec-2012-AP.pdf

Apr-2017-AP.pdf

Issue Number 3 – 2021 – Uimhir Eisiúna 3

Issue Number 2 – 2021 – Uimhir Eisiúna 2

anphoblacht

www.anphoblacht.com

€5.00 / £4.00

ISSUE NUMBER 2 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 2

anphoblacht

www.anphoblacht.com

BRITANNIA WAIVES THE RULES INTERNMENT 1971

crisis

ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2021 – UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3

British Government proposes to shut down investigations into 'conflict era' killings

DANNY DEVENNY’S THE

'Holding OPERATION SESSION DEMETRIUS COMRADES, ISSUE inNUMBER 4 –Israel 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA REMEMBERED 4  anphoblacht COMMUNITY AGUS CEOL accountable' Palestine AMBASSADOR WAHBA ABDALMAJID writes for 'An Phoblacht'

€5.00 / £4.00

50th ANNIVERSARY OF DERRY’S BLOODY SUNDAY

THE LONG ROAD TO JUSTICE FOR THE BLOODY SUNDAY VICTIMS

anphoblacht

RECASTING THE CONQUEST The Treaty - 100 years on

anphoblacht

www.anphoblacht.com

€5.00 / £4.00

contents clár

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 – UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4

� Transforming Ireland for the many, not the few �

PEARSE DOHERTY on Coalition Budget failures and the radical alternative policies that Sinn Féin will bring into government

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

UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

'H-Block' album re-released

‘Songs that give us hope, move us to tears, validate us, vindicate us’ Laurence McKeown was at the Christy Moore concert relaunching his H-Block album

Mary Lou Ard Fheis speech

CONTRIBUTORS

Caoimhe Archibald

Jim Gibney

Luke Callinan Aled Roberts Eoghan Finn

Mairéad Farrell

Laurence McKeown

12 14 18 20

Martina Anderson

Mitchel McLaughlin

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn Seán Mac Brádaigh Barry Finnegan Rachel Coyle

Mícheál Mac Donncha Ciarán Quinn

Roy Greenslade

Sinéad Ní Bhroin

Jim Gibney, a veteran of many Sinn Féin Ard Fheiseanna, was inspired by Mary Lou McDonald’s presidential speech. Jim picks out his key takeaways of a transformational moment for Sinn Féin

The Linguicidal state

􀊩 Gerry Adams | The Centenary of Partition

􀊩 Alex Kane | Where now for Unionism

􀊩 Margaret Urwin | Britannia waives the rules - covering up collusion

􀊩 ICTU President Gerry Murphy | The Future of Work

􀊩 Kevin Scannell | Mionteangacha agus an Teicneolaíocht Nua

􀊩 Basem Naim | The Anguish of Gaza

􀊩 Brian Feeney | Unionism in Crisis

Our podcasts are available across a range of platforms including Spotify and iTunes

􀊩 Sinéad Mercier| Ag Caomhnú ár gComhshaoil: Cur Chuige Iar-Shaormhargadh

An Phoblacht’s podcast series is a significant addition to our online presence. Rachel Coyle writes on how the idea for a republican left podcast came about.

PRODUCTION: MARK DAWSON RUAIRÍ DOYLE MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA

Robbie Smyth

An Phoblacht Podcast

Eoghan Finn reports on the Coalition Government’s attempts to deny equal status of Irish with English

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

􀊩 Dawn Foster | Disunited Kingdom, is the UK breaking up?

􀊩 Danny Morrison | Life in the Orange state 3

EDITORIAL

anphoblacht EAGARFHOCAL

ROBBIE SMYTH editor@anphoblacht.com

There are some great examples in Sinn Féin of increased use and integration of Irish into daily party work and An Phoblacht could do more

We must stand up for our language

f there is a theme to this issue of An Phoblacht, it is about when governments fail and the power of simple, honest people-driven activism takes over. We have articles that touch on a range of government failures; whether it the looming implications of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) being negotiated by the EU with Canada, the British Government response to Bloody Sunday, and the long campaign by relatives of the victims for justice. We have articles about the 1921 Anglo Irish Treaty, the resulting nightmare and tragedy of Partition, and the government failures in how this anniversary was marked in 2021. Pádraig Mac Lochlainn writes movingly on the Mica crisis and the government inaction here shamed by the commitment and action of the Mica redress campaigners. Our interview with Pearse Doherty outlines in stark detail other failures of this Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Green Party government, and its immediate predecessors who condemned a generation of Irish people to years of unneeded austerity from 2009 on. This current Coalition is drowning in failures of its own making on the economy, housing, healthcare, education, and the environment. Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald aptly characterised the Coalition’s response to the renewed Covid crisis as “dithering, delaying and indecision”. As we edited and considered the articles for this issue, Eoghan Finn’s piece on Irish language rights stood out. It was in stark contrast to Aled Roberts’ article on how the Welsh National Assembly has taken positive steps to standardise institutional access to and use of Welsh. Roberts wrote how, “The basic principle of the standards is to ensure that the Welsh language is treated no less favourably than the English language and to facilitate and promote it”. What a difference between Wales and Ireland. Finn writes how in the 26 Counties “we now face the farcical situation of the government going to court to block any requirement to treat Irish on an equal footing with English”. So how do we respond here? Positive activism is the key. And that means in An Phoblacht. There are some great examples in Sinn Féin of increased use and integration of Irish into daily party work and An Phoblacht could do more and needs to take an activist role here too. We will commit to have more articles as Gaeilge in every issue and on the website too. We want to facilitate readers who have something to say in Irish to consider An Phoblacht as a platform. Maybe the time has come for an editorial as Gaeilge too. No matter what, we must stand up for our language. ⬢

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

THE ROADMAP FOR GOVERNMENT

Three years as a senator, and nearly 12 as a TD for Donegal going head to head with three different Finance Ministers has honed Pearse Doherty’s economic policy skills leaving him ready for Sinn Féin in government. An Phoblacht’s ROBBIE SMYTH sat down with Pearse to talk Budgets, radical policies, and being a messenger for the people. Getting a sit down with Pearse is not easy. His diary is packed with not just Dáil speaking or committee work, he and the Sinn Féin team are fine tuning the package of policies and initiatives that will form the party’s platform for government.

The Budget

So straight off, we asked Pearse about the recent Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Green Party Budget presented by

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe. Pearse told us: “One of the things he completely missed was the issue of renters. He didn’t give any reprieve to renters out there. We know there is about 300,000 private renters. This was initially a problem that was felt in Dublin, Cork, maybe Galway and some of the other cities. Now, Roscommon has a 20% increase in terms of rent in the last year. In Donegal, it is 18%. These were areas that had low rents, they also had low disposable incomes.

�

This now very much a state-wide problem. That is a big gap in the budget”. The “clear alternative”, according to Pearse is, “giving a rebate, a refund to renters, by putting a month’s rent back into their pockets. We developed this policy by looking at what happens in rental policy down through the years”. A tax credit will “never work unless you have a rent freeze at the same time” said Pearse. “This ensures that rents can’t go up and the payback isn’t

We have an ambitious programme which is about investing in childcare over a three year period, that will cut the fees for parents by two thirds and will bring those working in the sector up to adequate wages

�

absorbed by landlords. It gives those benefits to the tenant”. Pearse believes that the second failure in Paschal Donohoe’s budget was capital investment. “Let’s just take the housing crisis” begins Pearse, “which is obviously more than renters. It is social housing, affordable housing, being able to have that ambition to own a home if you are in your twenties or thirties”. This is an ambition “which has been snatched away from a lot of people at this stage”. “Capital spending needed to be ramped up in this Budget. We know in Sinn Féin that it takes a good long time to bring some of these investments on stream. But unless you make the money available now, you are not going to have the houses in two or three years’ time”. The coalition are engaged in a sleight of hand, according to Pearse, by arguing that the that the housing crisis is like the pandemic, an externally driven

crisis. We must remember “it is a manmade policy”. Pearse pointed to his experience in the Seanad when Sinn Féin opposed the then government policy “to stop building social housing, to rent long term from landlords, and knock down ghost estates”. At the time Pearse argued that “those three policies would lead to a housing crisis, mass evictions and housing prices would be back in 10 years’ time to where they were at the Celtic Tiger peak”. Pearse stressed, “That’s what happens when you decide not to build social housing, when you reduce the stock level, when demographics are growing and house prices rebound after a crash globally”. Pearse then turned to the issue of reforming the childcare system, which he believes is “one of the most transformative things we could do and we could do it quite easily”. “To me, childcare is the policy that is like the introduction of second level education in the 1960s. Our vision for affordable and accessible childcare is the normal in many European countries. We can move. We have the lowest investment in childcare in the developed world, and as a direct consequence of that, we have the highest levels of fees in Europe in childcare”. “We have an ambitious programme which is about investing in childcare over a three-year period, that will cut the fees for parents by two thirds, and will bring those working in the sector up to adequate wages. In the first year, everyone would move to a rate above the living wage”. “That’s an important policy tool that not only to support parents and those working in the sector, but is really, really important for the economy and to allow participation in the workforce into the future”. Finally on the Budget, Pearse turned to Social Welfare payments which he believes need to be increased. “Working age payment rates needed to be increased by €10. They would help payment rates stay ahead of inflation. That would give people a real lift. It didn’t happen. The increases were below the inflation rate of the last two years”.

Sinn Féin in government

The interview turned to what actions would a Sinn

• CAPITAL SPENDING -Unless you make the money available now you are not going to have the houses in two or threeyears’ time

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

• ALTERNATIVE BUDGET 2022 - Sinn Féin's Mairéad Farrell TD, Mary Lou McDonald TD and Pearse Doherty TD at the launched of 'A Budget for Change'

Féin Finance Minister take in his first weeks of office. First off, Pearse said that given the crisis in housing, "we would bring forward supplementary estimates to increase the investment that was required in housing”, and “we would also move on the renters’ part of it”, meaning a rent freeze and tax rebates. Sinn Féin would also deal immediately “with the insurance rip off in an appropriate manner. There are a number of pieces of legislation we could get passed”. “A year into government, we would have convinced the public that Sinn Féin are very much a different political party and that what we said in opposition, we have delivered and while everything cannot be delivered overnight, we would have set about transforming society”. “We would have made a multiannual pledge in relation to healthcare that can deal with not only the trolley crisis or the pressures on the health service in the here and now, but actually that transformative programme that we need to move away from a two tier to a single tier public health system. We have the road map for that”. Pearse’s checklist for the first year of Sinn Féin in government included ensuring “there was a redistribution of wealth by closing down those sweetheart deals made by previous governments, those cuckoo and vulture funds”. On taxation, Pearse that Sinn Féin would ensure “there were solidarity taxes applicable to those on the highest incomes to pay for many of the things that we want, to provide not just for the few but for the many”.

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

Summing up, Pearse said, “Providing access to affordable childcare is a benefit for everybody. Providing a proper healthcare system benefits

�

We argued that austerity was not the thing to do when we had a fiscal crash. Austerity policies implemented by the government of that time deepened and lengthened the recession everyone, whether you are rich or poor, and investing in the likes of third level education is also one of our priorities”.

�

A fighting opposition

When it comes to speaking in the Dáil debate, Pearse says, “I prefer committees. It is only in committees that you can get a proper debate” and. “You can get a lot of changes done in committees”. Specifically, Pearse highlighted, “The work we did on the tracker mortgage scandal was instrumental in that. We grilled all the bankers and helped expose that, and offering that platform to the public was a game changer

• Pascal ’Donoghue

�

• Michael Noonan

in that campaign”. Sinn Féin always “gets more scrutiny because we offer an alternative to the status quo. “Sinn Féin argued that bondholders should be the first to take a hit”. And that, “We shouldn’t be paying out subordinate bonds and unguaranteed bonds. That didn’t happen, the cheques were written by Irish Finance Ministers and paid for by the Irish tax payer”. “Those who supported the status quo including elements of the media would try and ridicule that position. It is now the legal position across every country in the EU”. “You are going to get that challenge from the establishment when you set out an alternative”, said

Do you want to continue to hope and pray that the private sector resolves the issues in healthcare and housing or in childcare, or do you want to see the state getting involved to make sure that it has your back

�

Pearse, who added that, “We were proven correct in terms of austerity. We argued that austerity was not the thing to do when we had a fiscal crash. Austerity policies implemented by the government of that time deepened and lengthened the recession. That policy is not being followed now”. “Our credibility on these issues is clear for everyone to see. Nobody is challenging our figures any more. People know that the team that works with us on our budgets and manifestos are very, very thorough”. “The debate needs to be about the policy options. We are getting a real debate now about the type of options we want as a society. So, do you want to continue to hope and pray that the private sector resolves the issues in healthcare and housing or in childcare, or do you want to see the state getting involved to make sure that it has your back, to make sure that you can afford a house, that you can afford to send you child to

• Brian Lenihan

childcare, that you can get that bed and that operation if you fall sick. So, it’s that type of debate that is happening now. It’s more ideological and that’s one that’s welcome”.

All-Ireland finance initiatives

Here, Pearse highlighted the issue of cross-border workers, where if they work one day at home across the border from their designated workplace, they lose tax relief. “That’s not the way the world works anymore. After the pandemic, there will be more people at home working. It goes against the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement”, said Pearse, who believes that, “This is one issue with the proper heads around the right table that you could resolve this with an all-Ireland approach”. “From an island point of view as Finance Minister, we would be looking very much at our competitiveness in the global economy. And that means the type of investment we need in infrastructure, the type of investment we need in the regions. There is no point having a strong Donegal if you have a weak Strabane or Derry or vice versa. Also, the investment we need in education has to be all Ireland. Those will be the foundations for us in the future”.

Environmental issues

Focusing on the environmental taxes being implemented by the government, Pearse said, “We are very clear that taxes that encourage behavioural change work. That’s why we have argued for and supported those type of taxes in the past, like the sugar tax”. “Carbon taxes could work if the alternatives were there, available and affordable to people. You can’t just jack up the price of heating your home and expect that a householder is going to be able to find that €20,000 under their mattress to do air to water heating overnight or change their whole plumbing system. And that’s the reality of where we are at”. “I have said, with regards to the carbon tax, what the government are doing at the minute is a con job. We got a parliamentary question answered by the Minister for Finance just yesterday which confirmed that the €9.5 billion they expect to take in carbon taxes over the next 10 years is based on no reduction in carbon. So, it’s clear they are not expecting behavioural change. They are banking on this €9.5 billion that we all continue to consume the same amount of carbon”. “What we really need to do is instead of coming out

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

• 2010 ELECTION - Pearse has spent nearly 12 years as a TD and three as a senator: "I have been doing responses to the budget since 2010 ... it prepares you for the job we hope we will have in the future, leading the government, leading the change"

with the big stick, we need to come out with the carrot, we need to provide the incentive”. “We believe it’s the wrong debate to be having. Climate change is a huge challenge for us buts it’s a huge opportunity for us as well. It’s an opportunity to get things right to make sure we have the right infrastructure, the right type of planning, the right supports for communities and decent jobs in this transition”.

12 years as a TD

Pearse has spent nearly 12 years as a TD and three as a Senator before that. “I have been doing responses to the budget since 2010, and have been opposite a number of Finance Ministers, including Michael Noonan and the late Brian Lenihan”. “It prepares you for the job we hope we will have in the future, leading the government, leading the change and to have a Sinn Féin Finance Minister there”. “My core message to people is that, you will have a Finance Minister that will always provide an ear for the ordinary people, as opposed to those vested interests who always have too often a say at the highest places in the corridors of power. That’s not the right way. We have seen that exposed this week with the investment road show”. I asked Pearse about what it means to be a TD and he took a focus from the Irish name of Dáil members saying that, “First and foremost, you are a messenger of the people”. Being a TD for Pearse means that, “It comes back to being grounded in your own community, rooted in your own community, and to be relevant to your own community. If you lose that, you shouldn’t be in politics

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

anymore. That’s we first and foremost supposed to do. We are supposed to serve the people”. Finally, I asked Pearse about the Mica redress campaign. “The Mica campaigners have brought the whole county together, the whole country together. We need to remember their homes are falling apart”. “I think they are being tortured. This should have been over a long time ago. Government is refusing to

�

You will have a Finance Minister that will always provide an ear for the ordinary people, as opposed to those vested interests who always have too often a say at the highest places in the corridors of power do the right thing”. Focusing on the role of Paschal Donohoe, Pearse said, “He hasn’t phoned them, he hasn’t written to them, he hasn’t spoken with them about the banks or insurance companies making a contribution, yet we understand that he is one of the blocks in Cabinet to a proper redress scheme that would meet the needs of those families”. “We have the Minister standing up saying he sympathises with these families, but he won’t meet them. He will go to London to meet the vulture funds. Actions speak louder than words”. ⬢

�

JUST TRANSITION BY CAOIMHE ARCHIBALD COP26 took place in Glasgow from 1 to 12 November. A COP or ‘Conference of Parties’ takes place annually, involving all states that are party to the ‘United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’. COP26 is the 26th such summit. The purpose of a COP is to review the implementation of the Convention, including the Paris Agreement which aims to keep global temperatures to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial temperatures by the end of this century. A further purpose of a COP is to take decisions necessary to promote the effective implementation of the Convention. It is beyond question that we are in the midst of a climate crisis brought about by rising greenhouse gases as a result of human activity. The past six years have been the warmest on record since 1880 and global greenhouse gas emissions hit a new record high last year. In advance of COP26, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its sixth assessment report which was described as a ‘code red for humanity’. It detailed that temperatures globally will exceed 1.5 degrees over the next 20 years and 2 degrees before the end of the century.

The planning to meet our decarbonisation targets must be done with communities not to them Starkly, the report stated that “unless rapid and deep reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions occur in the coming decades, achieving the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement will be beyond reach”. This is the context within which COP26 took place. In advance of COP26, goals were set out for the conference. Countries were asked to come forward with ambitious targets to reduce emissions by 2030 with a view to reaching net zero by the middle of the century. This would include accelerating the phasing out of coal, curtail deforestation, speeding up the switch to electric vehicles, and encourage investment in renewables. The conference would encourage countries to put in place measures to protect communities and natural habitats. And importantly, COP26 would seek to mobilise finance, with developed countries making good on their promise to mobilise at 10

• Climate Action march in Dublin, to coincide with the COP26 Conference

Sinn Féin is very clear that climate action must be delivered on the basis of social justice

least $100 billion in climate finance per year by 2020. The climate crisis is global; it will affect all countries and all communities, but some, often poorer countries, are already feeling the impact to a much greater extent and

they need the support of more developed states. The climate crisis does not recognise borders which is why action needs to be global, with ambitious local commitments to contribute to global targets and plans to achieve them. It is unacceptable that the Six Counties remains the only part of these islands without its own climate legislation, lagging behind other European countries. A bit like London buses, there are currently two bills proceeding through the Assembly in • Sinn Féin MLA Philip McGuigan MLA attended COP26 in Glasgow

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

COMMISSION NEEDED • Global gas prices have soared to record levels and are hitting people in their bills

the North; one of which is co-signed by my colleague Philip McGuigan MLA. The other has belatedly been brought forward by the DUP’s Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Minister; it lacks ambition without even having a commitment to meet net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This is not good enough to meet the Paris goal of limiting global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees. Sinn Féin is very clear that climate action must be delivered on the basis of social justice. We must have a ‘just transition’ to net zero and ensure that those who are least able to afford it are not left behind and do not foot the bill including unfair taxes levied

on fossil fuels without the ability to switch away. Sinn Féin has also been consistent and clear that the planning to meet our decarbonisation targets must be done with communities not to them. All parts of our society: civic, business, agriculture, academia; have a stake in the process and need to be involved in shaping the strategies and plans, and setting targets. That is why we have called for a ‘Just Transition Commission’ in the North to accompany the new climate legislation. The Just Transition Commission would bring together representatives of all those groups, to have informed discussion and

debate, and set out plans for how we achieve the goal of net zero and limit global warming. It is vital that action is taken now, without it our country will be unrecognisable within the space of a couple of decades and likely irreversibly so. This year, COP26 also took place in the context of an energy cost crisis; the causes of which are largely geopolitical and outside the control of government North and South. However, this cost crisis highlights the failures of a capitalist system where global demand drives up prices, hitting those least able to afford it hardest, while big corporations make huge profits. Over recent months, global gas prices have soared to record levels and this is now hitting people in their gas and electricity bills, with prices having been raised for households North and South on numerous occasions. Many families this winter will be facing the very real prospect of choosing between heating their homes and putting food on their tables. Furthermore, these price hikes also hit business and will result in increased costs

Workers and families need to be supported to deal with the cost of living crisis being passed onto customers for goods they buy in the shops. These price hikes highlight the need in the slightly longer term to accelerate the move away from fossil fuels and invest in renewable energy. However, workers and families also need to be supported to deal with the cost of living crisis in the short term. We need to see direct financial intervention to support struggling families and we need to see action by government to reduce the burden One such action would be to cut VAT on energy bills and we have called on both the Dublin government and British government to do this. Other options on the table should include windfall taxes on generators who are making profits from the increased costs – this measure has been applied in other European states. We need to help families across the island to get through this winter, and support businesses protect jobs and livelihoods. ⬢ Caoimhe Archibald is a Sinn Féin MLA for East Derry and Chairperson of the Assembly Economy Committee

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

A GOVERNMENT FOR THE PEOPLE

JIM GIBNEY reads Mary Lou McDonald’s Ard Fheis speech and discusses the new reality that Irish political culture is being radically changed and that Sinn Féin is in the lead of that radicalisation. In my lifetime of activism, I never thought I would see the day that a speech from a Sinn Féin president, the very popular and irrepressible Mary Lou McDonald in this instance, would contain the following words – ‘It is time now for a government for you and your family, that puts workers and families first. Sinn Féin will deliver that government for the people. We want to lead that government for the people. I want to lead as Taoiseach if you give us that chance. And ‘If (in the North) Sinn Féin emerges as the largest party, we will nominate Michelle O’Neill as First Minister’. Wow what a turn of events that would be; Taoiseach Mary Lou and First Minister Michelle. ‘Lead as Taoiseach’ ‘First Minister’ – an unreachable dream, a few short years ago. But now a real possibility that depends on the will of the electorate. And that is a turn of events that for republi-

�

We want to lead that government for the people. I want to lead as Taoiseach if you give us that chance MARY LOU McDONALD

�

cans, especially of my generation, belongs in the realm of political dreams. The changes that I have seen, from 1994 when the IRA called its ceasefire, have been, on occasions, earth moving – the ceasefire itself; the meeting between Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, John Hume, and Gerry Adams and the famous handshake on the steps of Government Buildings; the ceasefires by loyalists; the release 12

of the political prisoners; the demilitarisation of the SIx Counties and a new police service; Sinn Féin in government in the North with unionists; President Bill Clinton on the Falls Road, shaking hands with Gerry Adams; a high-powered delegation from the African National Congress in Belfast offering their experience to help consolidate peace; Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams leading a Sinn Féin delegation through the door of 10 Downing Street for the first time; and the spectacular Dáil election breakthrough by Sinn Féin in the February 2020 election when the party took 37 seats. These developments and others represent huge changes for all the people of Ireland and Britain. And they are of particular significance to republican activists and to those who have struggled long and endured much to bring about unity and independence. I would dearly love to add ‘Taoiseach Mary Lou Mc Donald’ and ‘First Minister Michelle O’Neill’ to that list. Such an outcome would be a huge step forward to the goal of a new and independent Ireland. The only obstacle to a united Ireland, the denial of a free vote, and other contrived impediments, including a unionist veto, have been removed as a result of the Good Friday Agreement. Mary Lou’s speech has been crafted and grounded in the new reality that the political culture on this island is being radically changed and that Sinn Féin is in the lead of that radicalisation through its uniting Ireland campaign and its promise to deliver a programme of change which empowers workers and families. Mary Lou’s speech is ambitious and not just for Sinn Féin; it is important because the party, more than any other party, has the dynamism and energy to deliver the change that Irish society needs. However, it is mainly ambitious for the people of Ireland. Ambitious to end the artificial division of Partition which has insidiISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

• CHANGES – The famous handshake on the steps of Government Buildings and Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams leading delegation through the door of 10 Downing Street

ously separated nationalists and unionists on a basis of political aspiration and corroded all areas of human relationships – political and personal. Ambitious for ‘shop workers, cleaners, bus drivers, truck drivers, carers SNAs, teachers’, the frontline who protected us and saved lives during the worst period of the pandemic. Ambitious to protect buildings associated with the nation’s struggle for independence and to see Moore Street become a national museum for the heroes of the 1916 Rising. Ambitious to bring truth and justice to the families who lost loved ones in the conflict and oppose the British government’s amnesty for its killers. Ambitious for the people of Palestine and Cuba, reaffirming our years of solidarity. Ambitious too for a political system which places people and their needs at the centre of government and decision making and delivers change to the families for example affected by the Mica and Pyrite housing scandal. That ends the housing crisis and rip-

�

From the Easter Rising to Armagh Gaol, and the H-Blocks of Long Kesh, republicans have led heroically, selflessly in pursuit of the dream for freedom MARY LOU McDONALD

�

off rents; ends overcrowding and record waiting lists; ends the crushing cost of living. This is a ‘can do’ speech that firmly rejects the notion that ‘change is impossible’ and believes that all change is possible. Change that can ‘unite our country’. Change that can ‘fix housing and healthcare’ and build a resilient economy in which business and workers rocked by Covid can recover. Change that can place, for the first time, two republican women in the position of Taoiseach and First Minister with a mandate that puts families first and not the ‘property developers and profiteers’. The speech links change to people power – ‘Every big step in Irish life has been made by ordinary people seizing the day’. And it does so in a moral framework where ‘fairness, equality, kindness and community’ meets ‘a generation brimming with talent, ambition, and big ideas.’ Ordinary people first ‘define change’ then drive it home. From the ‘Easter Rising to Armagh Gaol, and the H-Blocks of Long Kesh, republicans have led heroically, selflessly in pursuit of anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

• FUTURE – Taoiseach Mary Lou and First Minister Michelle

the dream for freedom’…from marriage equality to repeal of the Eighth, people have organised, agitated, persevered and won.’ And in the North, Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey has set an example of what is achievable in power by delivering ‘the biggest transformational housing plan in a generation’. Mary Lou’s speech, packed with ‘big ideas’ provides solutions for the problems facing the people of Ireland and the world – none more so than the climate crisis and makes it clear that a combination of state and popular action is needed to ‘make people’s lives better’ and protect the earth. In the last few sentences, the speech captures the desire for change and the mood of the agents for change – the people – ‘This is the time. Our time. There is no limit to what we can achieve.’ ⬢ Jim Gibney is a Republican activist, former political prisoner, and parliamentary adviser to Senator Niall Ó Donnghaile 13

Ard Fheis ar leith do Bhliain ar leith LE LUKE CALLINAN

Ba í Ard Fheis Shinn Féin 2021 an chéad seans a bhí ag an gcuid is mó againn castáil le comrádaithe dár gcuid ó cheann ceann na tíre. Murab ionann agus Ard Fheiseanna eile, bhí de dheis agamsa gach duine a tháinig chomh fada leis an Helix, nach mór, a fheiceáil ó tharla mé ag freastal ar an doras tosaigh ó mhaidin mar chuid d’fhoireann an pháirtí. Is cinnte gur thaitnigh sé liom i bhfad ní b’fhearr ná na seacht n-uaire a chaith mé ag coinneáil súil ar dhoras éigeandála taobh thiar den TF i gCaisleán an Bharraigh lár mhí Aibreáin i 2012, an lá

Cruthú dearfa a bhí san Ard Fheis go bhfuil mianach na réabhlóide polaitiúla i Sinn Féin ón dream is óige do na gníomhaithe sin atá ag treabhadh an ghoirt le blianta fada. Is maith ann é, mar níl aon amhras ach go dtabharfaidh muid faoi chuid de na dúshláin is mó ariamh sna blianta beaga atá amach romhainn

céanna ar bhain mé 21 bhliain d’aois amach. Duine ná deoraí a casadh orm an lá sin nó gurbh éigean dom an doras a oscailt leis na príomhchainteoirí a scaoileadh amach ag an deireadh ar fad. Ní gan chúis a thugtar “streachailt” ar an bhfeachtas ar son saoirse na hÉireann. Ócáid ní ba lú ná mar is gnách a bhí in Ard Fheis na bliana seo, ár ndóigh, ach ní hionann sin agus a rá nach raibh an sprid chéanna le sonrú ar an ócáid. Bhí toscairí i láthair ó chumainn, ó chomhairlí ceantair agus ó chúigí fud fad na hÉireann. Ní raibh aon easpa cainteoirí, ná baol air. Is cúis mhisnigh dom i gcónaí an meascán d’óg agus aosta a bhíonn sásta dul suas ar an ardán chun píosa cainte a dhéanamh ar son nó in aghaidh rúin. Duine a thugann tacaíocht d’Fhine Gael a dúirt liom an deireadh seachtaine céanna go bhfuil an binse tosaigh is fearr ag Sinn Féin d’aon pháirtí eile ó dheas maidir le cumas agus éirim pholaitiúil; tá an bua céanna ag an bhfoireann chumasach atá againn ó thuaidh. Mar a dúirt Mary Lou McDonald TD “is cumhachtach an mhaise é an t-inspreagadh sin lenár sochaí féin a fheabhsú.” Ba stuama an clár a cuireadh ós comhair toscairí i mBÁC, na rúin ag dul i ngleic le téamaí éagsúla ó chúrsaí tuaithe agus talmhaíochta, an ghéarchéim san earnáil sláinte, tithíocht

• Uachtarán Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald 14

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

• Ambasadóir na Palaistíne an Dr. Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid

ar phraghas réasúnta agus ag cosaint an chomhshaoil go costaisí maireachtála, an Breatimeacht, an córas coiriúil agus an t-ábhar mór atá i mbéal an uile dhuine, Éire Aontaithe. Is breá gur fhéad Ambasadóir na Palaistíne an Dr. Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid bheith inár dteannta chomh maith le hAmbasadóir Chúba Hugo Ramos Milanes. Dhá thír iad sin atá faoi léigear ag fórsaí láidre coilíneacha agus an fhad is atá leatrom is cos ar bolg sa saol, tá sé de dhualgas ag poblachtánaigh seasamh leis an té atá thíos, mar a sheas pobail agus tíortha eile linn féin in am an ghátair. I ndiaidh a chuid cainte dúirt Ambasadóir Chúba, agus tocht ina ghlór: “Is gearr go dtiocfaidh deireadh le mo ghairm thaidhleoireachta. Mairfidh mo bhráithreachas le hÉirinn go deo.” Is treise tacaíocht an phobail in Éirinn don ghluaiseacht phoblachtánach anois ná ag aon uair eile ó chríochdheighilt na tíre. Cruthú dearfa a bhí san Ard Fheis go bhfuil mianach na réabhlóide polaitiúla i Sinn Féin ón dream is óige do na gníomhaithe sin atá ag treabhadh an ghoirt le blianta fada. Is maith ann é, mar níl aon amhras ach go dtabharfaidh muid faoi chuid de na dúshláin is mó ariamh sna blianta beaga atá amach romhainn. Sílim gur fearr a chuir Uachtarán Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald focla air ina hóráid mhisniúil i ndeireadh na hoíche nuair a dúirt sí: “Níos mó ná aon ní eile, té mé bródúil as na daoine a ndéanann muid ionadaíocht ar a son – cosmhuintir na hÉireann, an lucht oibre agus teaghlaigh, an dream sin lena seasfaidh muid i gcónaí. Ní fheallfaidh muid oraibh go deo.” ⬢ Luke Callinan, Riarthóir Réigiúnach, Cúige an Iarthair is na nOileán Sinn Féin

An fhad is atá leatrom is cos ar bolg sa saol, tá sé de dhualgas ag poblachtánaigh seasamh leis an té atá thíos, mar a sheas pobail agus tíortha eile linn féin in am an ghátair anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

• Le hAmbasadóir Chúba Hugo Ramos Milanes

Wales shows the way on language standards Welsh Language Commissioner ALED ROBERTS explains how a model of language standards transformed the consistency and quality of how public institutions provide Welsh language services. A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of giving evidence to the Dáil. Evidence which will hopefully benefit the Irish government as it introduces new language legislation to protect the rights of Irish speakers to use the language. The session was an opportunity for me to share information, evidence, and views on how things work this side of the Irish Sea. Most of what I had to say focused on the model of language standards introduced in Wales in 2011, and implemented by organisations since 2016. Before the introduction of Welsh language standards, public organisations in Wales operated a system similar to that in Ireland, the ‘language schemes’. Organisations themselves were responsible for drafting these schemes and for deciding what they were committed to do in Welsh. This, of course, led to a situation where the availability and quality of Welsh language services was inconsistent from organisation to organisation and where people’s experiences varied greatly depending on which part of the country they lived. Introducing the model of language standards completely changed this picture. It is now the government, not the organisations, responsible for drafting the duties. The Senedd approves standards regulations, and once it has given its consent, it is my role as Commissioner to set and enforce the duties on organisations. The basic principle of the standards is to ensure that the Welsh language is treated no less favourably than the English language and to facilitate and promote it. At the outset, it was easier for organisations in areas where there is a high density of Welsh speakers to comply with the duties, because a high proportion of their staff could speak the language and much of the work already took place through the medium of Welsh naturally. However, over the past five years, as organisations put arrangements in place, significant changes have been seen in the availability and quality of Welsh language 16

The basic principle of the standards is to ensure that the Welsh language is treated no less favourably than the English language and to facilitate and promote it

services in areas where there is a smaller percentage of Welsh speakers. Take my home county of Wrexham as an example - set in the northeast of Wales, bordering with England. According to the 2011 Census results, some 13% of Wrexham’s population speak Welsh, a figure which is lower than the national average of around 20%, and significantly lower than in some counties in the west where up to 65% of people speak Welsh. Historically, very few people in this area would have expected to be able to receive services in Welsh. There were also very few opportunities for young people leaving

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

An opinion poll of Welsh speakers published in September this year shows that 82% agreed that they are usually able to deal with public organisations in Welsh

agreed that the Welsh language services of public organisations are improving. As organisations think differently and innovatively about how to comply with the standards, the aim is to see behaviour change among service users, and that they will regain confidence in the language and increasingly begin to use it in different aspects of their lives. Not everything is plain sailing of course and failures do happen. These

the Welsh-medium schools to use the language in the workplace if they stayed in the area. There has been a real shift since the introduction of standards. Over the past five years, Welsh language services are available much more consistently than they were in the past. You don’t have to wait longer for a Welsh language service and Welsh has become a valuable skill for pursuing a career in a range of organisations – from the county council to the health service, for example. This is a common pattern across Wales and annual survey data supports this finding. An opinion poll of Welsh speakers published in September this year shows that 82% agreed that they are usually able to deal with public organisations in Welsh if they wish to do so and that 70% • Welsh Language Commissioner Aled Roberts

can be failures that I or my team of staff encounter when we are monitoring how organisations perform or failures that are brought to my attention through complaints by the public. I receive complaints about compliance with Welsh language schemes too, but it’s a poor process from a citizen’s perspective. Under the standards process, an individual has the right to complain directly to me from the outset and to have his or her complaint considered. Under the language schemes system, the Welsh Language Commissioner can conduct investigations and make recommendations for improvement. With standards, the Commissioner has legal powers and a range of sanctions to enforce compliance. A little over ten years ago, when politicians, lawyers, civil servants, and academics in Wales were debating the proposed Welsh language legislation, the standard setting and enforcement model being presented was unprecedented. No other country in the world had gone down this route of language standards, so we had to find our own way. There have been some bumps in the road, but evidence proves that the new system is now taking root and that the experiences of Welsh speakers are improving. It is a pleasure to be able to share some of the lessons we have learned with other countries. I understand that the model proposed in Ireland is somewhat different to our own but can only hope that the position of Irish is strengthened to the same extent. Go n-éirí leat! ⬢ Aled Roberts is the Welsh Language Commissioner and a former member of the National Assembly for Wales.

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

The Irish Government fights for English-only language policy, even as EU set to make Irish fully official in January 2022

The shame of our linguicidal state BY EOGHAN FINN It is almost unheard of for a senior member of the judiciary to intervene in public debate. Judges today tend to value the independence of their role and steer clear of anything that could be considered political. You would think, therefore, that when a respected senior judge of the Court of Appeal like Úna Ní Raifeartaigh thought it necessary to publicly suggest the courts system is causing harm to the very soul of the nation by treating Irish speakers unequally – going so far as to invoke the term ‘linguicide’ – that civil society, the media, and government would take this very seriously indeed. Sadly, though covered by Irish language sites like Tuairisc.ie in February 2020 and raised repeatedly by Sinn Féin’s Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD during the Dáil debate on the Official Languages (Amendment) Bill earlier this year, Breitheamh Ní Raifeartaigh’s words were widely ignored. This was partly due to timing – Covid-19 arrived to dominate news that month and ever since – but it was also due to sheer apathy. In the 26 County state, we have come to expect Irish speakers being treated worse than English speakers. Judge Ní Raifeartaigh referred in a judgement to the ‘surprising intolerance’ Irish speakers face, but the harsh reality is that it does not come as a surprise at all – the colonial mentality has been so ingrained in us about the inadequacy of our own language and culture, despite its legal or constitutional status, that we assume it is natural to force English on everyone, and tend to treat those who refuse to comply as cranks out for trouble. Even in Gaeltacht areas, where the state 18

• Úna Ní Raifeartaigh

has the definitive aim of preserving Irish as the spoken language of the community since independence, successive neoliberal governments have gutted essential services of Irish-speaking personnel. These services

We assume it is natural to force English on everyone and tend to treat those who refuse to comply as cranks out for trouble include Gardaí and speech and language therapists for children. The mantra is that if you want something, you must switch to English to get it and the results can be seen in the decline of daily Irish speakers in the

Gaeltacht which experts warn could lead to Irish dying off as the spoken language in even the strongest Gaeltacht communities this decade. Far from being a ‘natural’ language shift, this is the result of deliberate state policy that has survived with only minor alterations since British rule: to impose English as the only option for interacting with the state and eradicate nonconformity. When the state joined what is now the European Union, for example, it was our government that sought a reduced status for Irish, not due to reluctance or pushback to our language from any other member state, but simply because our government prioritised English. It took years of street

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

• Aengus O Snodaigh

• EU legislation will be in the library of the Houses of the Oireachtas in Irish and English, while bills and acts produced by the Dublin government will only be available mostly in English

• Liadh Ní Riada

demonstrations and campaigning by grassroots activists, including a language strike in the European Parliament by thenSinn Féin MEP Liadh Ní Riada in 2015, to go from there to where we are now. Irish is an official language of the European Union and will be treated equally to all other 23 official languages as of January 2022. This means more job opportunities and rights in the EU institutions for Irish speakers, but it also means that before even being debated or agreed, proposed legislation drafted by the European Commission will be deposited in the library of the Houses of the Oireachtas in Irish as well as English from January. Next to them on the shelves, bills and acts produced by the government in Dublin will only be available for the most part in English. Despite court rulings that acts must be provided in Irish and English after enactment, the Oireachtas translation services face a massive backlog of legislation yet to be translated. It is not even possible for TDs to propose bills or table amendments in Irish aside from exceptional bilingual bills; the general

rule is that it must be in English. As if this is not an embarrassing enough indictment of how the state treats what its constitution refers to as its ‘first official and national language’, we now face the farcical situation of the government going to court to block any requirement to treat Irish on an equal footing with English.

When the state joined what is now the European Union, it was our government that sought a reduced status for Irish Both the courts system and the European Union have come to serve as useful tools for Irish speakers seeking to secure their rights. A recent High Court decision found that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine was in breach of an EU directive by requiring animal medicinal products to be labelled in English only. This was a landmark case in that it was the first heard before the Court of Justice of the European Union in Irish, which provided the opinion upon which the High Court decision was based.

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

Rather than accept the decision and afford Irish equal respect, the Dublin government has appealed the ruling, against outcry from Conradh na Gaeilge, partly in an effort to delay accepting the verdict until changes to EU law give them more leeway to continue to impose English-language-only requirements on labelling, as is also the case for products in shops more generally. This latest example of the 26 County government fighting for the right to treat Irish as subpar to English comes despite pledging publicly to be committed to its promotion. We saw Gaeltacht Minister of State Jack Chambers embarrassed into adopting a host of Sinn Féin amendments to protect Irish-speakers’ rights and provide adequate services as Gaeilge in the Gaeltacht after 25 hours of Dáil Committee debate earlier this year, but yet again we see evasive wording that could see nothing change until it is too late, if at all. In the meantime, we can rely on Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and the Greens to accompany their béalghrá for their language with legal challenges aimed at continuing to deny equal treatment to Irish speakers and to keep the linguicide going. ⬢ Eoghan Finn is a Sinn Féin Parliamentary Assistant working on Gaeilge, Gaeltacht, Arts & Culture policy 19

Reforming the fiscal rules: a radical shift or short shrift? BY MAIRÉAD FARRELL

The EU Commission has relaunched its review of the Eurozone’s fiscal rules. Announced with something of a whisper, expect a lot of raised voices in the coming months. The rules were thankfully suspended at Covid’s onset and won’t return until 2023. For the uninitiated, the rules place limitations on each member state's debt and budget deficit levels. As such, they have a significant impact on economic performance. Two of the principal requirements are that annual budget deficits remain below 3% of GDP and the total debt to GDP ratio of state be below 60%. Their suspension allowed states to undertake the necessary emergency spending needed to address the pandemic. While the EU has created a €750 billion spending fund, the coalition government had diverted an extra €32 billion in spending by July 2021 to mitigate the impacts of Covid, measures that would not have been possible if the Eurozone fiscal routines had not been suspended. As long as the Eurozone spending rules have been with us, almost 30 years now, so too have been calls for reform. It’s speculated the EU Commission will propose their simplification, greater incentives for productive investment, and changes to debt to GDP ratios. Submissions from member states are being sought and it’s essential we have our say. As the IMF pointed out, we’re facing a future of considerable uncertainty. Uncertainty for our low corporate tax model, corporate tax revenues, and

environmental performance. If we are to achieve economic growth that’s sustainable, inclusive, and leads to shared prosperity, we will increasingly have to ‘grow our own’ when it comes to stimulating new businesses and developing new economic initiatives. There is an exceptional opportunity for an entirely new entrepreneurial approach in Ireland with visionary and strategic public investments distributed across all the economy, the aim of which is to drive domestic innovation. It would mean synergy between the state and private sector, with local communities rural and urban. We should set no boundary on what could be possible whether it is a more radical all island broadband infrastructure or a fully developed electricity infrastructure that can deal with all types of renewable energy. However, the rules as currently constituted will act as a barrier to that, straitjacketing not only our national efforts to achieve a Just Transition with a Green New Deal, but also with wider European efforts. Below I make the case for reform, outlining what kind of reformation is required and why our government needs to become actively involved in the reform process.

The Fiscal Rules – A brief history

First, let’s understand the concept of fiscal rules. They’re self-imposed constraints governments place on fiscal policy by establishing numerical limits for public finances, such as

• EU Commission President Jacques Delors published ‘Report on economic and monetary union in the European Community’ in 1989 20

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

• There is an exceptional opportunity for a radical all island broadband infrastructure or a fully developed electricity infrastructure that can deal with all types of renewable energy

budget balance, expenditures, and public debt. The purpose is to marry short-term spending with the longer-term sustainability of public finances. This approach gained popularity in the 1980s as countries shifted economic policy from the post-war Keynesianism toward the monetarism of Milton Friedman, which found disciples in Thatcher and Reagan. According to economist Bill Mitchell, "The rationale of controlling government debt and budget deficits were consistent with the rising neo-liberal orthodoxy". Under this framework, independent monetary policy was responsible for delivering price stability, with fiscal policy to be more limited. New Zealand was a first mover passing its Public Finance Act (1989), the same year that then EU Commission President Jacques Delors published the ‘Report on economic and monetary union in the European Community’. Interestingly, New Zealand is again a first mover, recently reforming its rules on the basis that "arbitrary debt and spending targets are not appropriate and have limited the Government’s scope for change". Between 1990-2015, countries with national or supranational rules jumped from 5 to 96. It’s worth pointing out that two of the main Eurozone requirements, budget deficits below 3% and a debt ratio below 60%, were selected arbitrarily, weren’t grounded by any serious empirical research, and lacked any solid theoretical foundation. What I mean here is there was nothing to demonstrate that 3% deficits were more sustainable than 4%. It depends on the circumstances which they arise and how the spending anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

is deployed. The 3% rule implies deficits above this size are problematic, but sometimes deficits in excess of 3% are part of the solution, like when the economy is in the midst of a pandemic. In the 26 Counties last year, the budget deficit was €18.8 billion, 5% of GDP, and is expected to be €21.5 billion in 2021, all pandemic related. The targets were also justified on the basis that they would help to prevent debt externalities, a situation where one nation’s debt troubles or likelihood to default could have spill over effects for its neighbours. But they came into existence at a time of historically high interest rates, which have been in decline ever since. This new world of low and negative rates lowers default risk. However, it presents a new problem. With monetary policy having lost its stimulatory ability, we’re left with a new externality – a demand externality. This can only be addressed fiscally.

Rules made to be broken?

Rules built around debt and deficit ceilings won’t necessarily be a good proxy for debt sustainability. Sustainability doesn’t just depend on present debt/deficits, but on future things like interest rates, primary balances, and growth. The future is radically uncertain and, whilst we expect interest rates to remain low, debt serviceable and favourable towards investment, the fact is we don’t know what the future holds. Regarding the primary balance a country can achieve, multiple factors are at play; its tax base, the composition of its government, the business cycle, demographics. This doesn’t mean we should try to add more provisions, because the sheer 21

• Head of the European Stability Mechanism, Klaus Regling, said that countries can ‘comfortably live with’ higher debt

amount of different possible contingencies renders this too difficult. The EU Commission has made various attempts to tweak the rules since their establishment. But it has merely served to add increasing layers of complexity and opacity. One former IMF chief economist compared their evolution to the Cathedral of Seville, a byzantine like structure integrating successively complicated layers. Moreover, compliance has been poor. One study found that ‘the share of countries with a debt ratio greater than 60% increased from 35% in 1999 to 75% in 2015’. Given the large level of additional pandemic spending, they’ll need to be modified otherwise there’ll be an automatic return to austerity. Thankfully, the Commission gets this and comments by certain top Eurocrats indicate an upward revision of debt levels is on the cards. For example, Klaus Regling, the head of the European Stability Mechanism, said that countries can ‘comfortably live with’ higher debt. But is this enough?

Towards a reformation?

Since introduced, there have been calls for the rules to be rejigged or outright rejected. Precluding abolitionist calls, reformist proposals included exempting public investment, cyclically adjusting the 3% ceiling, shifting from a deficit ceiling to a public debt ceiling, etc. For now, let’s recognise the pro-cyclicality of fiscal rules. In other words, they do the opposite of what’s intended. Prior to 2008, this meant member states didn’t push to reduce debt, but, after the onset of the financial crisis, they rushed to cut debt and spending when they should have done the opposite. Fiscal rules should be counter-cyclical and yet, despite the various amendments made over the years, the outcomes have been mainly pro-cyclical. That’s why the Commission acted so swiftly to have them suspended. Any reforms must account for the environmental crisis. We should aim to introduce some form of ‘golden rule’ which revises the current investment clause. This revision could 22

create the kind of flexibility that would exempt ‘green’ public investment from debt/deficit considerations. Currently, there’s an investment clause which provides scope for exempting investment that has ‘positive, direct and verifiable long-term effects on growth and on the sustainability of public finances’. But restrictive conditionality means only two EU countries, Italy and Finland, ever qualified. Naturally, some would argue this would be abused, but checks and balances could be used. The maximum amount of green investment states could exempt could be limited to the size of their ‘green investment gap’. This could be funded through ‘green bonds’ whose size is determined by this gap, and reviewed annually.

Conclusion

Once negotiations begin, dividing lines in the EU between Northern (surplus) and Southern (deficit) countries will emerge. The former favouring a stricter fiscal stance, the latter a more growth orientated approach. Irish governments often sought to associate themselves with the former. However, the coming international tax changes will see our GDP fall in the future, meaning our interests will lie with Southern countries. Our overinflated GDP previously made this debt/GDP ratio manageable. But if GDP falls, our debt rises as a proportion of it, hampering our ability to spend at a time when we need it to expand. More importantly, minor reforms won’t help us combat an existential climate crisis. We have a narrow window of opportunity to implement a paradigm shift in debt and spending across the EU. But in order to influence the debate the Irish government needs to get on the pitch. Unfortunately, they’re not even at the grounds yet, they haven’t togged out, and they’re seemingly unaware that the match just kicked off. Come on lads, it’s all to play for. ⬢ Mairéad Farrell TD is Sinn Féin Spokesperson for Public Expenditure and Reform

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

H-BLOCK ALBUM RELAUNCH BY LAURENCE McKEOWN I had the pleasure of being invited to say a few words at the relaunch of the album, H-Block, held on Friday 15 October at the Felons Club, Falls Road, Belfast. It was a very special evening. An intimate gathering. An occasion to meet again with former friends and comrades, male and female ex-prisoners, relatives of some of those who died on hunger strike. And to once again hear Christy Moore play was extra special. As I said to him backstage after the performance, “Your voice is as strong and as powerful as ever, your politics as clear as before, and your music as melodic as ever.” Ireland is known as a land of storytellers and often it has been through poetry, verse, and song that the story has been told; the battles fought, the persecutions endured, and the plight of our people revealed. The fact that many such songs were passed down orally down through the centuries and have endured to this very day is an indication of their worth and how we value them. They are songs that give us hope, move us to tears, validate us, vindicate us. Likewise, the songs, the music, and the spoken word on this album are as powerful today as they were when first recorded in 1979 when word of the protests in the H-Blocks and Armagh Gaol was only just beginning to reach a wider audience. Once again, it was the artists, the singers, the song-writers, the musicians, the actors who were the storytellers. We wrote letters to them from our prison cells, calling upon them for support and, as always down through history, they rallied to our call. That was no mean feat. In the midst of one of the anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

• Laurence McKeown at the relaunch of the 'H-Block' album; (left) Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald shares a laugh with singer/ song writer Christy Moore

most aggressive military, political, and media onslaughts against republicans at that time, those artists dared to put their heads above the parapet. When censorship under Section 31 in the South and the media broadcasting ban in the North prevented republicans from speaking out on our behalf, it was the artists who stepped forward. Through their music and verse, they reminded others, some of whom were quick to forget their own recent past or who 23

us to tears, e v o m , e p o h s u e iv g They are songs that us, vindicate us validate

• Laurence McKeown and Bik McFarlane back in the H-Blocks, May 2007; (right) Laurence said: ‘To once again hear Christy Moore play was extra special’

were engaged in rewriting that past, that what was happening in the prisons in the North was the same struggle as always. The ‘unfinished business’, the legacy of the Partition of our country. We who experienced the prison protests are indebted to those artists, and to the many others, who stood firmly with us. Their actions at the time were not going to endear them to the ‘great and the good’, win them any favours, assist them in their careers; but then the role of the artist is never to pay homage to those who lord over us or attempt to tell us what is best for us. Their role is to be the soul of the people, to ‘speak to the community’, to speak truth to power. As Nina Simone once said, “An artist’s duty … is to reflect the times.” One song on the album that completely encapsulates for me our prison protest in the most succinct manner possible is Francie Brolly’s, ‘I’ll wear no convict’s uniform nor meekly serve my time’. Francie wrote it in 1976 right at the start of our protest. The artist totally in tune with the moment and what was happening around him. “Does Britain need a thousand years Of protest, riots, death and tears? Or will this last decade of fears Of eighty decades spell An end to Ireland’s agony New hope for human dignity And will the last obscenity Be this grim H-Block cell. But I’ll wear no convict’s uniform Nor meekly serve my time That Britain might brand Ireland’s fight Eight hundred years of crime.” The other song on the album that says so much about that time 24

and which was written by Christy Moore following a visit he had with Bik McFarlane in the H-Blocks, is, ’90 miles to Dublin town’. “Though its ninety miles from Dublin it seems so far away There's more attention to our plight in the USA Now you’ve heard the story of this living hell Remember ninety miles away I’m in my H-Block cell.” As with Francie Brolly’s song, Christy’s lyrics captured what was clearly there to be seen – if one chose to look. The H-Blocks and Armagh Gaol were only 90 miles from Dublin town – much closer to Dublin than many major cities in the south; Cork, Limerick, Galway. But partition, Section 31, an internalised postcolonial mindset and selective amnesia, coupled with vested political interests and ambitions, meant that our protest was ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

better known about in the USA than it was 90 miles down the road from us. By referring to those two songs and singers on the album, I don’t wish in any way to take away from the many others who contributed to it. I think a special thanks to actor Stephen Rea in particular is warranted. A Protestant from East Belfast who was not afraid to voice his support for us by reading prisoners’ poetry on the album. We’re in a much different place now than those dark days of 1979. Sinn Féin is the largest party on the island and republicanism is much stronger, more diverse and inclusive than it has ever been. The H-Blocks and Armagh jail have long since closed, remaining only as a testament to the folly of British rule in Ireland. To the artists of our land, a huge thank you. When we were in need, you stood with us. You gave us hope, moved us to tears, validated us, vindicated us. Let your song and verse forever play on. Other contributors to the album: Dan Dowd, Noel Hill, Mick Hanly, Donal Lunny, Tony Linane, Matt Molloy, Declan Sinnott, and Brian Ua Baoill. ⬢ Laurence McKeown is a writer, playwright, and former political prisoner • ‘I’ll wear no convict’s uniform nor meekly serve my time’, a song that completely encapsulate the prison protest, here been sung by its writer, Francie Brolly at a National Hunger Strike commemoration in Dungiven, Co. Derry; (below) Stephen Rea, wasn’t affraid to show his support by reading prisoners’ poetry on the album

tests, ro p n o s ri p e th d e c n e We, who experi thers, o y n a m e th to d n a , e artists are indebted to thos h us who stood firmly wit

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

EUROPEAN VOICES FOR UNITY WILL BE HEARD

MARTINA ANDERSON outlines the ambitious scale of work in her new appointment as Sinn Féin’s Representative to Europe. Brexit has caused an earthquake at the heart of the British establishment and the aftershocks are felt across continental Europe and beyond as people witness the “UK” potentially breaking up from inside out. The Tories’ pursuit of narrow English sovereignty is as evident in Europe as it is as toxic and it has poisoned intergovernmental relations not only between Whitehall, Holyrood, and Cardiff, but also between London, Ireland, and the wider continental Europe. A few weeks ago, I took on the role of Sinn Féin’s Representative to Europe. This is a strategic and political project which I will work on with energy and determination. Uachtarán Sinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald sees this moment as a time for big thinking and credible action nationally and internationally to secure a unity referendum. As a member of Sinn Féin’s National Officer Board, I am tasked with promoting Irish reunification across 44 countries in continental Europe. Countries now exposed to Brexit Britain behaving like a rogue state refusing to implement another international agreement – “Perfidious Albion” – a country that cannot be trusted and never keeps its word. My aim will be to secure engagements with government ministers, political parties, ambassadors, think tanks, trade unions, employers’ groups, civic society organisations, universities and editorial boards across Europe to raise awareness of the real possibility of constitutional change in Ireland and the important role that Europe can play to support and assist the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, which includes the unity provision. I will work to mainstream understanding about the political situation in Ireland among the sectors of European and civic opinion. The Sinn Féin message will be clear; the Partition of Ireland is not only a problem in Ireland or between Ireland and Britain, Brexit has made it a European problem too.

The Partition of Ireland is not only a problem in Ireland or between Ireland and Britain, but Brexit has made it a European problem too

• Uachtarán Sinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald

Europe is watching with interest the changing political landscape in Ireland and it is hearing the conversation about potential constitutional change and Irish reunification. We must capitalise the growing interest of Sinn Féin potentially being in government across Ireland. The real possibility of Sinn Féin securing the positions of Taoiseach and First Minister has started to capture the attention of European governments and their officials who will see Irish reunification being a central plank of Sinn Féin’s engagements with them; government to government, party to party, official to official. As Sinn Féin Representative to Europe, I will engage with as many influential Europeans as possible and establish networks for Irish Unity, Irish Unity champions across Europe, initially, but not exclusively, in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Portugal. In each country, there are the Irish diaspora and supporters interested in initiatives like the campaigns #Diaspora4Unity. This is the moment for European voices for Irish unity to be heard, for big thinking to give expression to the guaranteed democratic pathway back into the EU for the Six Counties via the Good Friday Agreement unity referendum.

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

• German reunification in 1990

• Sinn Féin’s Representative to Europe Martina Anderson

Our right to self-determination, the case of Irish reunification has been expressly agreed by the British and Irish Government in the Good Friday Agreement. In 1990, the European Council made a statement on the potential reunification of Germany which facilitated German reunification. In 2017, the European Council made a similar statement on Irish reunification, known as the 'German Clause' which stated if Ireland is united through the Good Friday Agreement unity process, “the entire territory of such a united Ireland would thus be part of the EU”. That crucial 2017 EU Council Statement on Irish reunification needs to be built upon. Progressive European solidarity and support for Irish Unity is the bright and brilliant vision of tomorrow’s hopeful future for every person in Ireland. It is that foresight which has inspired Uachtarán Sinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald to advance this project. It is a vision that thrives in the connections of communities across Europe who strive and work for peace and justice, every day in every way. It is those connections which I will work to cultivate, and I ask for your assistance to establish

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

and to firm up such connections. Many of you will likely know someone in Europe from political or civil society – or even a family member who would want to play their part in advancing Irish reunification. Inform them about this project and give them my contact details. I go forward in this new role with the confidence instilled in me by Irish republican poet, freedom fighter, and hunger striker Bobby Sands. His words will echo throughout Europe “everyone has a part to play, no part is great or too small, no one is too young or too old to do something”. Even from afar, the diaspora and supporter can play their part. It is that confidence that lives in international support which warms the heart of countries, of people of all ages, of cultures and genders, who strive for justice, equality, and human rights that will advance European support for Irish reunification. As Sinn Féin Representative to Europe, I will convene a European Committee which adopts knowledge-driven strategies for reunification and you can rest assure that I will drive these forward with energy and determination across Europe. There is no doubt that I have taken on a formidable project that will take time and dedication to deliver: A challenging task; Yes. A daunting one; Perhaps. But then it always seems impossible until it’s done. ⬢

The real possibility of Sinn Féin securing the positions of Taoiseach and First Minister has started to capture the attention of European governments and their officials

A SLOW-MOTION EARTHQUAKE

We need 100% redress for our families with crumbling homes. Sinn Féin TD PÁDRAIG Mac LOCHLAINN writes on the personal experiences of those directly affected by the ongoing Mica and Pyrite scandal

Thousands of families from the west of Ireland have had their lives torn asunder by the mica and pyrite scandal. Their homes are crumbling around them. This is a national disaster. It is an earthquake happening in slow motion. The human toll of this ordeal has been heartbreaking. This has led to unbearable mental distress for families. I know families and people who have been close to emotional breakdown. These people are close to financial ruin. They say that their very lives have crumbled around them with their homes. For them, the dream has turned into a living nightmare. I live in Buncrana, the epicentre of this disaster in north Donegal. This scandal has left deep scars on our community. It is agonising to see neighbours, friends, and family suffer in this way. The trail of devastation winds its way through communities that share the sor-

• MICA AND PYRITE – Thousands of families homes are crumbling around them

Their very lives have crumbled around them with their homes. For them, the dream has turned into a living nightmare

‘Defects – Living with the legacy of the Celtic Tiger’ demonstrated that the devastation of the mica and pyrite scandals for thousands of families, as well as that caused by the many construction defects in other homes across the State, is the outworking of the repeated and wilful failure of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments to strengthen our building control laws and regulations or to enforce the limited regulations that were in place. Often

row and anger of their families, friends, and neighbours. These communities range from my own in north Donegal, down through counties Sligo, Mayo and on to Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary. The cause of this crisis is beyond dispute. In June 2017, the ‘Independent Expert Panel on Concrete Blocks’ established by the government found that the cause of the crumbling homes in Donegal and Mayo was the “excessive amount of deleterious materials (muscovite mica and pyrite) in the constituent aggregate used to manufacture the concrete blocks”. The State had introduced regulations as far back as the 1940s limiting the amount of the destructive minerals, muscovite mica and pyrite, in the manufacture of concrete blocks but the State failed to enforce these regulations. This infamous practice of self-regulation in the building industry reached a crescendo during the Celtic Tiger building boom. Eoin Ó Broin’s recently published book,

• Paddy Diver started blocking companies who had supplied him with defective concrete blocks and soon large numbers of other affected families joined him

because of the close relationship between key figures in those parties with the building and construction industry. Following many years of campaigning by the affected families in Donegal and Mayo, the last government finally agreed to introduce the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme. Unlike the Pyrite Remediation Scheme that over 2,000 families in Dublin and North

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

• A people’s revolution erupted in Donegal, the revolution spread to Mayo and down the West of Ireland

Leinster have availed of, the grant scheme available to the families in Donegal and Mayo only covers 90% of the cost of repairing or rebuilding their homes. The cost of rent while having to leave the family home during the

The grant scheme available to the families in Donegal and Mayo only covers 90% of the cost of repairing or rebuilding their homes. The cost of rent while having to leave the family home during the works is not covered nor is the replacement of windows and kitchens works is not covered nor is the replacement of windows and kitchens. There is a financial limit to what each family can apply for and the clear understanding that financial supports would be forthcoming from the banks, has amounted to nothing. It is now estimated that the real costs for a family in Donegal and Mayo who must demolish and rebuild their home will be significantly more than what is envisaged in the current scheme. For some it will mean a second mortgage and eventual homelessness for the many who can’t afford to pay these huge sums. After their years of patient campaigning, the limitations and the injustice of the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme has been the final straw. Earlier this year, a people’s revolution erupted in Donegal, sparked by the actions of one of the affected homeowners, Paddy Diver. Paddy starting blocking deliveries to private and public building projects from the company who had supplied him with defec-

tive concrete blocks and soon large numbers of other affected families joined him. Very quickly, their anger turned on the government and their so called 90% grant scheme and the total absence of any support from the banks. The clarion call became “100% Redress, No Less”. Soon, the revolution spread to Mayo and down the West of Ireland. Twice this year, the families have taken their campaign to the centre of power in Dublin. On 15 June, thousands marched from the National Convention Centre to Government Buildings and on 8 October, the number of protestors doubled to tens of thousands marching from the Garden of Remembrance to Custom House. On the day of the 15 June protest, the Dáil unanimously passed a motion instructing the Government to provide 100% redress. Five months on and still the government has not acted. Still, the nightmare continues. Speaking on radio recently, 12 year old MacKenzie McDaid spoke about how living in a Mica affected home is impacting her. She said: “I worry when I go to sleep that the roof is

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

going to fall on top of me. I was sleeping in my bedroom and I heard a big bang and a big pile of plaster had fallen off the wall.” “There are 15 out of 16 in my class who have mica and know that they have mica. We would be very worried and we kind of comfort each other by talking to each other about it.” These are absolutely heart-breaking words to hear come out of the mouth of a 12 year old child. This needs to be brought to an end. Our families with crumbling homes have found their strength after all the years of despair. They have told their stories with courage and dignity. And they have won the hearts and minds of our people across the country. They have done nothing wrong. They are the victims of the scandal and the corruption of light touch regulation, self-regulation, and no regulation. The government must do what is right and what is just. They must finally deliver 100% Redress. ⬢ Pádraig Mac Lochlainn is a Sinn Féin TD for Donegal. 29

MITCHEL McLAUGHLIN tracks the development of the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign and also highlights some of the key events on the road to that tragic day on 30 January 1972 He shows how the seeds of Bloody Sunday were created in three key events: the introduction of internment on 9 and 10 August 1971; the Ballymurphy Massacre by the 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment a day later; and the Civil Rights march to Magilligan Internment Camp on 22 January 1972.

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

50th ANNIVERSARY OF DERRY’S BLOODY SUNDAY

The long road to justice for the Bloody Sunday victims

Operation Demetrius was a British Army action in the Six Counties on 9 and 10 August 1971. It involved mass arrests and internment of people suspected of being Republicans. This draconian response to modest civil rights demands was proposed by the Unionist government and supported by the British cabinet. Armed soldiers launched dawn raids and arrested 342 men in the initial sweep, sparking four days of violence in which 20 civilians, two IRA members, and two British soldiers were killed. All of those arrested were Irish republicans and nationalists. Loyalist paramilitaries were very actively conducting acts of sectarian violence, directed against Catholics and Irish nationalists. Collusion, always a constant issue in the North, meant that no loyalists were included in the sweep.

Ballymurphy massacre, 11 August 1971

In Ballymurphy, 10 civilians were shot and died between the

By teatime on that Sunday afternoon, three women would be widowed, 19 children would lose a father, 20 parents would lose a son, 99 siblings would lose a brother. A week later, another child would be born, never to see his father

�bloodysunday50.com anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

evening of 9 August and the morning of 11 August, while another died later of heart failure. Members of the Parachute Regiment claimed that they were shot at by Republicans as they entered the Ballymurphy area and returned fire. The British Army press officer, Mike Jackson, later to become head of the British Army, includes a false account of these shootings in his autobiography, stating that those killed in the shootings were Republican gunmen.

Finally, on the 11 May 2021, a coroner’s inquest declared that the 10 civilians were innocent, and the use of lethal force by the British Army was “not justified”. The circumstances of the 11th death were not part of the inquest, since Paddy McCarthy died from a heart attack, after being subjected to a ‘mock execution’ by paratroopers.

Magilligan Internment Camp, 22 January 1972

A Civil Rights march was organised to the internment camp at Magilligan Prison. Up to 1,500 people, mainly from Derry, took part in the march. The perimeter fence of the internment camp was being patrolled by the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment. Less than six months previously, this regiment had murdered eleven civilians in the ‘Ballymurphy Massacre’. As the marchers approached the camp, the ‘Paras’ fired rubber bullets, then baton charged the crowd. According to Derry doctor Raymond McClean, who was on the march: “… the soldiers charged forward with batons waving, smashing into everyone in sight. The crowd broke in panic, and we started running back across the sand, through water, sand, seaweed and whatever came in the way.” The marchers retreated back to the safety of their buses, battered, bruised and shocked in their first encounter with the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment.

Bloody Sunday, 30 January, Derry

NICRA had called on people to come to Derry to protest against internment without trial, and on that bright, crisp wintry afternoon, 15,000 people gathered in Creggan to march to support that call. The 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment, responsible for the Ballymurphy Massacre and the attack on the peaceful marchers at Magilligan, had been drafted into the city. These preparations went largely unnoticed by the marchers, aware that the IRA had given assurances that they would stay away from the march. The marchers’ expectations of a peaceful day was evidenced by the large numbers of women and children who took part. As the march approached the army barricades at the bottom of William Street, the lorry leading the parade and the bulk of the marchers turned towards Free Derry Corner. A group of several hundred, mostly young people, continued along William Street and came to Barrier 14, which was blocking the road into the city centre. What followed was the standard Derry riot; stones and bottles against rubber bullets, CS gas, and water cannon. This was an almost daily occurrence in Derry at the time, and as the platform speakers prepared to start the meeting, the stone-throwing eventually petered out.

Patrick ('Paddy') Doherty (31)

Gerald Donaghey (17)

John ('Jackie') Duddy (17)

Hugh Gilmour (17)

Michael Kelly (17)

Michael McDaid (20)

Kevin McElhinney (17)

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

The BSJC campaigned relentlessly for the truth to be told about the events of Bloody Sunday

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, just another ordinary day, with an ordinary march and an ordinary riot, just another day in Free Derry. But that day was anything but ordinary. Soldiers of 1 Para opened fire with live rounds and in less than half an hour, in an area not much larger than a football field, British Army soldiers had killed 13 unarmed men and wounded two women and 16 men, one of whom would later die of his injuries. All but the first two casualties had been shot in a devastating assault which lasted less than 10 minutes. On 30 January 1972, Derry and the world awakened to a new day just like so many others but for many families in

Bernard (‘Barney’) McGuigan (41)

Gerald McKinney (35)

William (‘Willie’) McKinney (26)

William Nash (19)

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

Derry that day would change their lives forever. By teatime on that Sunday afternoon, thtree women would be widowed, 19 children would lose a father, 20 parents would lose a son, 99 siblings would lose a brother. A week later, another child would be born, never to see his father and, a few months later, another woman would lose a husband to the tragic events of that day. General Ford, Commander of the British Army in the North, went on television almost as soon as the shooting stopped. He claimed that his soldiers had only fired four shots and that if there were any more than four bodies, they must have been shot dead by the IRA. Captain Michael Jackson, then adjutant of 1 Para, later to become General Sir Michael Jackson, the most senior officer in the British Army, prepared a list of shots fired by the Paras, in which he claimed each shot was aimed at a clearly identified gunman or nail bomber and that four of the dead were on the British Army’s ‘wanted list’. This was the version that went to the media around the world, courtesy of the British Information Service. Jackson had been present in Ballymurphy and had provided an identical explanation of the murderous assault on civilians in West Belfast. As in Belfast, the voices from Derry trying to speak the truth were drowned out by British propaganda. On 1 February, British Prime Minister Edward Heath announced that a public inquiry into the events of the day would he held, to be chaired by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Widgery. The Bloody Sunday funerals on 2 February were massive events, attended by political, civic, and religious representatives from around the world. The Widgery Tribunal opened on 21 February, closed in March after just 17 days of hearings, and exonerated the killers. Widgery decided not to sit in Derry and set up shop in the County Hall in Coleraine. The Tribunal heard evidence from 114 witnesses, of whom only 30 were Derry civilians despite the fact that hundreds of witnesses had given statements to NICRA. Widgery accepted the doctored statements provided by the Paras and concluded: "There would have been no deaths in Londonderry on 30 January if those who organised the illegal march had not thereby created a highly dangerous situation in which a clash between demonstrators and the security forces was almost inevitable".

Protest Marches to Justice Campaigns

In 1987 after reviewing the years of protest since 1972, a small group of relatives, Sinn Féin members, and campaigners came together to form the Bloody Sunday Initia-

James (‘Jim’) Wray (22)

John Young (17)

John Johnston (59)

tive in an attempt to reopen the subject of Bloody Sunday in the wider public consciousness, outside of its traditional republican support base, and to place it in the context of wider human rights issues. Key to this discussion was agreement that the families should provide the leadership with ongoing support from Sinn Féin. The Bloody Sunday Weekend Committee was established to take on responsibility for the annual commemoration. As part of a major series of events to mark the 20th anniversary of Bloody Sunday – under the theme of One World, One Struggle – a meeting was organised in Pilots Row to which members of the Bloody Sunday families and others were invited to discuss the way forward. Out of that meeting, the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign (BSJC) was born. The BSJC had three demands: 1. That the British Government should publicly and unambiguously acknowledge that all those killed or injured were totally innocent. 2. That the British Government publicly repudiate the Widgery Report in its entirety. 3. That those responsible for the Bloody Sunday murders and attempted murders be prosecuted. For the next six years, the BSJC campaigned relentlessly for the truth to be told about the events of Bloody Sunday. A seemingly hopeless campaign at times; it had its high points as hitherto secret documents came to light exposing the British Government and Army’s intentions on Bloody Sunday and afterwards and the wider media began to take an interest in the story. Slowly, support for the campaign began to grow well beyond its Derry base. By the latter part of the 1990s, the campaign was beginning to gather an unstoppable momentum. On the 25th anniversary, 40,000 people marched in support of the BSJC. In the same year, the publication of Eyewitness Bloody Sunday by Don Mullan placed the original witness statements taken by NICRA and NCCL back in the public domain.

The Bloody Sunday Trust (BST) was set up to aid the families’ campaign and it commissioned Professor Dermot Walsh to write ‘The Bloody Sunday Tribunal of Inquiry: A Resounding Defeat for Truth, Justice and the Rule of Law’, an unanswerable destruction of Widgery and the soldiers’ evidence which again showed the Widgery Tribunal up for the farce that it was. The Irish Government came on board and in the summer of 1997 presented their own analysis of Widgery and the new evidence that had come to light to the newly elected Labour Government in Britain.

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

The BSJC campaigned relentlessly for the truth to be told about the events of Bloody Sunday On 29 January 1998, British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced the setting up of a new inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday. It was an unprecedented move – never before in British legal history had a second inquiry been set up into any event. The inquiry, under the chairmanship of Law Lord Mark Saville, held its first hearing in the Guildhall in Derry in April 1998. It heard its last witness at the same venue in January 2005 and was the longest and most expensive inquiry in British legal history. On 15 June 2010, the report was finally released. The thousands of people gathered in Guildhall Square that day to support the families listened as one by one each victim was declared innocent. They heard the British Prime Minister apologise for Bloody Sunday and describe the events of that day as “unjustified and unjustifiable.” The family members and their supporters, the years of campaigning finally vindicated, left the Guildhall knowing that they had achieved most of what they had set out to do; the Widgery Report was in the bin, their loved ones innocent in the eyes of the world. ⬢ Mitchel McLaughlin is a former Sinn Féin MLA and National Chairperson and Assembly Speaker.

�bloodysunday50.com

• For the family members and their supporters, the years of campaigning were finally vindicated in 2010 anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

e w n o i s i v i To end d n o i t i t r a P d n e must BY SEÁN Mac BRÁDAIGH

It’s been a bad time for some newspaper columnists and broadcasters. Recent months witnessed an ill-judged pile-on by a group of Dublin-based commentators against President Michael D Higgins in the wake of his decision to decline an invitation to a church service in Armagh marking Partition and the establishment of the 'Northern Ireland' state. The episode served to confirm the utter detachment of a coterie of self-appointed ‘opinion formers’ from the views of the vast majority of people and highlighted the collapse of a political narrative some of them have propagated for decades. From their privileged media platforms, a small group of loud voices sought to portray the decision of Michael D Higgins as “controversial” or “divisive”. This, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, including the fact that opinion polls showed more than 80% of people in agreement with the President. So it was that we were treated to hack-

• Simon Coveney and Jack Chambers

From their privileged media platforms, a small group of loud voices sought to portray the decision of Michael D Higgins as “controversial” or “divisive” neyed tropes about “two tribes”, “narrow nationalism”, and how it was time we all showed “maturity” and “sophistication” when it came to Partition. Yawn! They ridiculed any idea that the Armagh event - to be followed by others, including a state reception at Hillsborough Castle and the illumination of historic buildings in Britain and the Six Counties to celebrate Partition - could actually cause offence to many. Not once did they question the idea of holding a church service around the forced division of Ireland and all that followed, or whether the attempt to sanitise a conten36

• President Michael D Higgins

tious proposal by seeking to involve the President merely exacerbated things. No. They ploughed on as each day passed, deluded about their own moral superiority and encouraged by the groupthink which has made much Irish media commentary a hermetically sealed echo chamber. That such sermonising was delivered in the main by middle class, Dublin-based columnists and radio presenters, well cush-

ioned from Partition’s worst consequences, to an audience which included those who experienced the harsh reality, was utterly lost on them. Their obsession with the President’s decision was in stark contrast to their silence on the British government’s proposals to deal with the legacy of conflict which have alienated victims from all communities in the North, further highlighting their utter lack of

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

• Britain’s Queen Elizabeth

• Joe Brolly

• Shaykh Umar al-Qadri

sincerity on the issue of reconciliation. There was also a pungent whiff of self-loathing in the air with some contending that any view of British imperialism as historically malign, unjust, and exploitative is an exclusively Irish nationalist opinion. Perhaps they should ask the peoples of Africa, the Middle East, or even the United States. Commentators leading the charge against Higgins included some with a long established hostility to the North and northerners and who never fully accepted the implications of the Peace Process or the Good Friday Agreement. Time may have moved on for everyone else, but these ‘Japanese soldiers’ are still fighting a pointless rear-guard action in the columns of newspapers with ever-declining circulation figures. What motivates them is the collapse of the political consensus which supported their narrative for so long. A consensus sustained by successive Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil governments, echoed by many in the SDLP and reinforced by the Catholic Church hierarchy. But Ireland has changed. The old power structures have crumbled. And their hogwash, well, it no longer washes. As the goal of finally ending Partition comes into clearer view, perhaps they realise that the acres of newsprint they gorged on denouncing republicanism looks, in hindsight, like so much wasted effort. It’s got to hurt. The first blow to their narrative on the President’s decision not to go to Armagh was when Britain’s Queen Elizabeth said she wouldn’t be attending either for “health reasons”. Many concluded that she backed out of what had become an overtly political and controversial occasion. The second was when GAA pundit and columnist Joe Brolly, in a column in the Sunday Independent northern edition of all places, detailed the reality of Partition and why the Armagh event had been misguided. Brolly is from Derry which should lend some authenticity to his views but he was rounded on by some of his Southern colleagues, with one describing him as “mad”.

In the end, the Irish Government was represented in Armagh by Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney and Chief Whip Jack Chambers. In case anyone was in any doubt as to whether this was a ‘celebration’, Boris Johnson attended, sporting a Union Jack face mask. The point was driven home by unionist representatives in interviews after the event when they emphasised its celebratory nature. Another blow to the narrative of the anti-Higgins brigade came the following day when Shaykh Umar al-Qadri, a Dublin based Sunni Islamic scholar, pointed to the insular pomposity of the clerics who organised the event. He received a huge and positive response on social media when he said: “Like our President, I wouldn’t have attended a service to commemorate Partition and division anyway, but the fact I nor any

bad joke. To call those offended by the occasion “sectarian” is Orwellian. Partition was the most sectarian event to happen on this island, and to end sectarianism and division, we must end Partition. There is nothing to celebrate in the Partition of Ireland and the apartheid state it created in the North. Partition did not just negatively affect the North. It had a huge, negative impact on the whole island. What developed in the 26 Counties was a narrow, confessional state scarred by economic stagnation, repeated waves of emigration and social conservatism. While major social progress has been made in recent years, much more remains to be done. The undoing of Partition and its effects are central to the building of a truly modern, progressive, inclusive, open and forward looking society. Huge political progress has been made on this island in recent years. The Peace Process and the Good Friday Agreement marked a historic shift in the political landscape. For the first time, the roots of conflict were addressed and a peaceful and democratic route to Irish unity opened up. Remembering the past is important in understanding how to build a better future. However, seeking to ignore the central role of British imperialism in the history of Ireland and the reality that Partition was a deep and damaging injustice is folly. It is to ignore the historic memory of the Irish people and the lived reality of so many in the North, to exonerate injustice, and to undermine genuine attempts to build a political future based on genuine mutual understanding and respect. We must all overcome the injustices of history and its legacy but sensitivity and respect must be at the core of official remembrance. Distorting the historical record merely heaps further injustice upon injustice. We cannot build a better future if we seek to misrepresent the past. The President was right. And so was Sinn Féin. ⬢

Partition did not just negatively affect the North. It had a huge, negative impact on the whole island other non-Christian leaders received an invite to yesterday’s service suggests to me it was very much looking back, and not forward to a new Ireland.” The President’s decision, and that of Sinn Féin, to decline invitations was both logical and politically honest. Partition was imposed against the wishes of the majority of Ireland’s people. The creation of the Northern state was facilitated by violent, sectarian pogroms against Catholics in the North who were then forced to endure decades of discrimination in housing and employment, the denial of their Irish identity, and a one-party state and vicious state repression, including murder, of those who sought redress. To think that nationalists or republicans, of any hue, need time to reflect on that is a

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

CETA: Is this how the republic dies?

BARRY FINNEGAN unravels the intricacies and implications of the EU’s proposed Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada and its Investor Court System that could cost the Irish taxpayer tens of billions of euro. The Investor Court System (ICS) is the European Commission’s rebranded version of a private legal system designed to empower foreign companies to sue governments for corporate rights which they have been granted under the terms of an international trade and investment-protection agreement. CETA is one such agreement. This corporate legal system, known more commonly as Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), has been in use since 1957 in around 2,400 ‘trade’ agreements. Under ISDS/ICS, the foreign company does not challenge a government’s right to regulate in the public interest, it simply sues for all the ‘lost’ future unearned profit they must forgo when a host government’s laws, regulations or licencing decisions reduce their ‘legitimate expectation’ of future profit.

Only 15 of the 27 member states’ parliaments have voted for CETA’s ICS so far and it is being argued over in a protracted constitutional case in Germany The EU Council of Ministers and the European Parliament have already voted to approve the adoption of the parts of this EU-Canada deal - the Comprehensive Economic & Trade Agreement (CETA) - which covers trade and tariffs, and these parts have been in law since September 21st, 2017. What the EU could not do is to take the final decision to approve CETA’s proposed investment-protection mechanism called the ICS, the Investor Court System. In a case lost by the European Commission, the Court of the Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that EU member states have the final say over this aspect of political life. To subject the whole EU to this private legal system, all 27 member states must approve it; in Ireland, that means a vote in the Dáil. Under the ICS of the CETA deal, countries can regulate, yes, but it is the prohibitive and unmanageable cost of regulation in the public interest that is one of the primary anti-democratic problems with CETA. 38

• Sinn Féin Senator Lynn Boylan’s case against the government over CETA is to be heard, possibly early next year

The British Government has cut and pasted the text of CETA into the new Canada-UK Trade Continuity Agreement (Canada-UK TCA). There is an agreed three year window within which to renegotiate the text after which time the CETA and its ICS will apply. This has implications, for example, for the citizens of the Sperrin Mountains in County Tyrone. Community groups are campaigning to save the water table from the toxic waste they predict will come from a proposed gold mine planned by the Canadian-based mining company Dalradian Resources who have acquired 120,000 hectares of land in the area. Sinn Féin councillors have tabled motions opposing the scheme. One of the key problems here should the ICS of the Canada-UK TCA be adopted, is that if there was ban on gold mining resulting from the proposed Planning Appeals Commission public inquiry, Dalradian would be able to sue the UK at the ICS for their future ‘unearned profit’ lost because they had a ‘legitimate expectation’ to mine for gold. Similarly, if the Dublin government distorted the ‘housing market’ with a meaningful rent cap and brought property prices down through the provision of tens of ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

• Community groups in Tyrone are campaigning to save the water table from the toxic waste they predict will come from a proposed gold mine in Sperrin Mountains that is planned by the Canadian-based mining company Dalradian Resources

thousands of not-for-profit houses annually, then the likes of Canadian-owned Ires Reit with €1.5 billion worth of rental property in the country could sue for all the ‘lost’ profit they might miss out on into the future. Legal academics and judges all over the world reject ISDS. For example, the European Association of Judges says it “does not see the necessity for such a court system” and concludes “The European Union and its member states have a well-functioning judicial system which is capable of protecting the rights of an investor in all areas of law. It should be central to an international treaty on trade and investment, to apply this system to investors as the central body to safeguards its rights.” In some sign of democratic hope, the trend globally is to exclude ISDS/ICS from trade deals. There is no ICS in the Brexit trade deal nor in the 2020 EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. Canada chose to be not subject to ISDS in the recently renegotiated NAFTA, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The mechanism has also been excluded from the largest ever free trade agreement, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership signed by 15 Asian countries last year. Some cosmetic reforms were made in this rebranded ISDS in CETA. Chief among these are that the CETA Joint Committee will publish a list of the names of arbitrators who will be on the panel hearing ICS cases. The Commission’s proposal is currently to pay these panellists an annual ‘retainer’ of €24,000 a year while they are not hearing cases and €3,000 a day when they are hearing cases as arbitrators - for as long as a case lasts. Resistance among citizens is strong and sustained. In 2016, 455 European and Canadian civil society groups called for the rejection of CETA. In 2017, a coalition of 17 Irish farming, environmental, and global justice groups, trade unions, and small business organisations called on MEPs to oppose CETA. In February this year, unions and NGOs including the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Union of Students in Ireland signed a statement, as did the National Women’s Council of Ireland, Oxfam, and Trócaire, along with the environmental groups Extinction Rebellion and Friends of the Earth calling for Dáil rejection of the investor court system proposed in CETA. It stated: “ISDS is a legacy of the colonial era when Western powers sought to protect their investments in the newly decolonising countries. Many of the ISDS cases taken in recent years have been for amounts running to anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

billions of euro. With regard to the climate crisis, it is worth noting that of the 10 largest payouts in ISDS, all but one were above 1 billion euro. Seven of those were fossil fuel companies and two were mining companies. So, corporations operating in environmentally sensitive sectors are the ones that are using the system, and getting the largest pay-outs.” Not only are ISDS-specialising law firms urging companies to take cases against governments due to Covid-19 restrictions interfering in their profits, but among the countries currently being sued for billions via ISDS from other international agreements as a result of banning oil and gas exploration or putting a moratorium on fracking, are the Netherlands, France, Canada and Italy. Only 15 of the 27 member states’ parliaments have voted for CETA’s ICS so far and it is being argued over in a protracted constitutional case in Germany. Green Party

We wait for Sinn Féin Senator Lynn Boylan’s case against the government over CETA to heard, possibly early next year TD Patrick Costello’s argument to the High Court that ICS ratification needed a referendum was rejected. And we wait for Sinn Féin Senator Lynn Boylan’s case against the government over CETA to be heard, possibly early next year. Whether Costello will appeal to the Supreme Court remains to be seen. Despite its many democratic failings, it’s not-legallybinding workers’ rights and sustainability chapters, the trade and tariffs aspects of the CETA deal are up and running. The Dáil has the power to, and must, reject this out-dated, colonial-era, unnecessary legal blockade to progressive legislation to house our people, regulate corporate behaviour in the public interest, and phase out oil and gas use. ⬢ Barry Finnegan, lecturer at Griffith College, is doing a PhD at Queens University Belfast entitled, ‘Embedded Neoliberalism, EU Trade & Investment Policy in the Anthropocene - An Ecosocialist Critique’. He is also an activist with Comhlámh’s Trade Justice Group.

The politics behind An Phoblacht’s podcast series BY RACHEL COYLE Back in 2016, Lynn Boylan commissioned a study into the high level of concentration in the Irish media. The report was damning and concluded that the 26 Counties has one of the most concentrated media markets of any democracy with RTÉ and private business owner Denis O’Brien identified as the two dominant actors. Five years on from that study, the concentration continues, albeit with a few online competitors such as the TheJournal. ie, joe.ie, and Village that do challenge the establishment’s narrative with their circulation and reach. Denis O’Brien has sold his media holdings, but there is still concentration of ownership across media platforms. The new publications mentioned above, though slightly more politically diverse rarely contextualise their reporting. They report what has happened and much less why it has happened, especially from a left-wing perspective. They only seek to present and “moderate” debate as a neutral actor and so fail to provide space for a uniquely left wing analysis that would appeal to a large section of the anti-establishment left leaning electorate. Many people get their information through social media and are less trusting of traditional news platforms. The growing number of social media scandals, whistleblowers, and inquiries prove that voters get much of their political

• Denis O’Brien

information from YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. We have to ask what Irish commentary or analysis they are receiving when we know that algorithms are designed toward clickbait far right materials? The role of An Phoblacht as an alternative left-wing media

There was a clear gap in the availability of a left republican podcast 40

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

• PODCAST GUESTS: (clockwise fro top left) Danny Morrison, Brian Feeney, Alex Kane, Margaret Urwin, Gerry Murphy and the late Dawn Foster

platform to challenge the hegemony in Irish commentary cannot be overstated. Podcasts are certainly a popular platform for left leaning people, particularly younger people with 30% of 17-25 year olds listening to podcasts every week. There are a range of podcast productions available that do provide an unambiguous left wing analysis but there was a clear gap in the availability of a left republican podcast. Our editorial team are always keen to expand our reach and produce content to appeal to wider audiences. Our magazine has grown from strength to strength with contributions from a diverse network of commentators and analysts. However, written media has its limitations; word count and layout can often restrict the nuance that many of themes we address require. This was the backdrop to our early conversations about the newly released An Phoblacht podcast series. We wanted to get into conversation with some of our writers and contributors and get their views on current affairs and political developments. We also wanted to create space for political debate as Gaeilge, with every third episode in Irish. It was fitting to invite Danny Morrison onto the podcast as our first guest. We were able to talk at length about how he became editor of An Phoblacht all those years ago, listen to his personal and political transitions over his many years of involvement in the republican movement, and get his views on the big debate on constitutional change. Danny is a natural

story teller and it was a real privilege. This story telling ability seems to have been contagious with entertaining and often hard-hitting views from people like Brian Feeney and Alex Kane. We had the honour of hosting the last known interview of the late Dawn Foster where she talked about the future of the so-called 'United Kingdom'. We had a thought provoking conversation with trade union leader and sitting ICTU President Gerry Murphy about the future of work and the post pandemic landscape. We heard the powerful story of Margaret Urwin and the families fighting for truth about the conflict. Gerry Adams spoke of a century of Partition and the road to Irish Unity. New releases addressing Community Wealth building, the centenary of Partition, American interference in Cuba over the summer, and updates from our comrades in Palestine can be expected in the coming weeks. The editorial board of An Phoblacht hopes that this podcast can be an arena for political discussion and debate for Sinn Féin’s growing support base. We want our podcasts to be interactive and welcome feedback, comments and queries. Feel free to get in touch at anphoblactpodcast@gmail.com or @ anphoblacht on twitter. Our podcasts are available across a range of platforms including Spotify and iTunes. ⬢ Rachel Coyle is a Sinn Féin regional administrator and member of An Phoblacht’s editorial board

An Phoblacht hopes that this podcast can be an arena for political discussion and debate for Sinn Féin’s growing support base anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

THE TREATY - 100 YEARS ON

RECASTING THE

CONQUEST BY MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA

Recast (verb)

If you recast something, you change it by organising it in a different way.

(COLLINS DICTIONARY)

James Connolly called for the reconquest of Ireland by the Irish people. A mighty effort was made to achieve political reconquest between 1916 and 1921 but, 100 years ago, the British government, through a combination of force and fraud, managed to maintain its grip on Ireland and to recast the conquest. In Ireland today, the debate on the Treaty of 1921 focuses primarily on the Irish protagonists, with relatively little attention paid to the British government side. The perpetual De Valera versus Collins argument predominates. This obscures the fundamental issues involved – Irish Republic versus British Empire, Irish Unity versus Partition, and the cohesion of a political movement versus the personalities and prestige of leaders. And underlying all were economic forces exercising a decisive influence. The global context needs to be addressed. Britain had emerged victorious from the First World War, but at enormous cost in human life and finances. She was still at the head of her Empire; indeed, she had gained more territory. But subject peoples in India and Egypt and elsewhere were beginning to rise up against British rule. In Britain itself the labour movement was growing and becoming more militant and many looked to the Bolshevik victory in Russia for inspiration. At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, the British and French sealed their victory. The United States by its entry to the war on their side in 1917 had saved them from defeat by Germany and US President Woodrow Wilson came to Paris in a blaze of glory with his rhetoric of democracy and self-determination for nations. The British and French adopted the rhetoric too - so long as the nations in question were not those subject to their empires. The map of Europe was redrawn with the

THE TREATY – SOME KEY QUOTES

“I … do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I do not and shall not yield a voluntary support to any pretended Government, authority or power within Ireland hostile and inimical thereto, and I further swear (or affirm) that to the best of my knowledge and ability I will support and defend the Irish Republic and the 42

Government of the Irish Republic, which is Dáil Éireann, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and I will bear true allegiance to the same, and that I take this obligation freely and without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, so help me God.” – Oath taken by all TDs and IRA Volunteers 1919-1921. ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

• The Irish delegation (from left) Arthur Griffith, Eamonn Duggan, Erskine Childers, Michael Collins, George Gavan Duffy, Robert Barton and John Chartres

break-up of the defeated Austro-Hungarian Empire and the emergence of new states. Germany was punished, storing up fuel for a future conflagration. And the British and French kept their empires, their ruling classes remaining in place for the time being at least. In Britain, the Welsh Liberal politician David Lloyd George was the predominant war leader. As Prime Minister, he headed a war coalition of Tory Unionists and Liberals loyal to himself, other Liberals and the growing Labour Party remaining outside. This coalition won the 1918 General Election in Britain - the same election which swept Sinn Féin to victory in Ireland. The First Dáil Éireann sent envoys to the Paris Peace Conference seeking recognition of Ireland’s right to selfdetermination. But like envoys from India, Egypt, IndoChina (Viet Nam), and others, they were kept outside the door as the empires shared out the spoils of victory. 1919 ended with the Treaty of Versailles in place and Lloyd George and his government could now give more attention to Ireland. But they had no intention of recognising Dáil Éireann. Intent on consolidating the Empire, the British government would not countenance the Irish Republic on its doorstep as a dangerous example to other subject peoples. There was a powerful connection between the Tory Unionists in the government and the Ulster Unionists. Together, before the war, they had resisted Home Rule for Ireland, and even threatened civil war in Ireland and Britain if Ulster was to be included under a Home Rule parliament. Out of that confrontation came the concept of the Partition of Ireland, both it and Home Rule being postponed by the war. The British establishment had been divided over Home Rule but whether they were pro- or anti-, or

whatever their position on Partition or, later, on talking to Sinn Féin, they were all imperialists and their priority was to keep Ireland within the British Empire. To that end, the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries were unleashed on the Irish people in 1920. For the same aim, the Government of Ireland Act of that year was passed, partitioning the country and setting up the Unionist regime in the Six Counties. And it was for the same reason again - to keep Ireland in the Empire - that the decision was made in 1921 to open negotiations with Sinn Féin. The Irish negotiators were sent as representatives of the Irish Republic. The Dáil and Cabinet which sent them knew that the British would not concede recognition of the Republic. But the mandate of the negotiators was to secure the substance of Irish independence and unity, with the flexibility to provide guarantees for the Unionist minority and for British security. The British government’s insistence on inclusion in the Empire and allegiance to the crown was to be countered with the idea of ‘external association’, with Ireland associated by treaty with the British Empire while remaining independent. The North-East could maintain a regional parliament under Dáil Éireann. In the course of the negotiations, Lloyd George succeeded in out-negotiating the Irish side. It is well stated by Seán Cronin: “The Irish delegation had two non-negotiable demands: national unity and independence. They lost both as point by point their case was whittled away through the diplomatic finesse of the British negotiators and their defences collapsed.” (‘Ireland since the Treaty’, Irish Freedom Press 1971). How did it come about that the Irish were broken down in this way and ended up signing a Treaty that

THE TREATY – SOME KEY QUOTES

“I … do solemnly swear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the Irish Free State as by law established and that I will be faithful to H.M. King George V, his heirs and successors by law, in virtue of the anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

common citizenship of Ireland with Great Britain and her adherence to and membership of the group of nations forming the British commonwealth of Nations.” – Oath in the Treaty signed 6 December 1921. 43

• Some of the delegates on their way into Downing Street; (left) the seating plan during negotiations

caused such division and strife? There are a number of reasons.

Existing divisions on the Irish side

There were both political and personal differences. The leader of the delegation Arthur Griffith was not a Republican and was prepared to go further in compromise than his colleagues. His inflated sense of personal honour was exploited by Lloyd George. At a key moment, he extracted from Griffith a commitment to accept the crown and Empire in return for ‘essential unity’ which was nothing more than the Boundary Commission. Griffith had a fierce personal animosity towards Erskine Childers, the secretary of the Irish delegation,

who had tried to ensure that they kept strictly to their instructions. Childers did not have a vote on the delegation, but his views were largely shared by delegates Robert Barton and George Gavan Duffy who did. This division was exploited by the British from early on. The rift between Defence Minister Cathal Brugha and Finance Minister and IRA leader Michael Collins was already wide before the delegation was selected. In the Cabinet, Brugha and Austin Stack were the strongest opponents of any compromise that undermined the Republic. The delegation was given an extremely difficult task of steering the talks towards De Valera’s concept of ‘external association’, a scheme not fully worked out. This was made

• The Irish delegation returning from London after the Treaty was signed on 6 December 1921

THE TREATY – SOME KEY QUOTES

“Sinn Féin demanded an independent, sovereign Republic for the whole of Ireland, including Ulster. We insisted upon allegiance to the Crown, partnership in the 44

Empire, facilities and securities for the Navy, and complete option for Ulster. Every one of these conditions is embodied in the Treaty.” – Winston Churchill. ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

even more difficult by the controversial absence from the negotiations of De Valera himself, an issue that had gone to a vote of the Cabinet with Dev using his casting vote.

Powers and instructions

The delegates were ‘plenipotentiaries’ with full powers to negotiate and conclude a treaty or treaties. But their agreed instructions were to refer all major issues and any final treaty or treaties back to the Cabinet in Dublin before signing. When the crisis came, the delegation failed to refer the Treaty back before signing. To this day, the failure to do so seems incomprehensible and the only plausible explanation seems to be a combination of the divisions among

• Eamon de Valera

• Cathal Brugha

the Irish negotiators and the threats made by Lloyd George and F.E. Smith.

The Boundary Commission

The Boundary Commission was crucial in persuading Collins in particular to accept the Treaty. Lloyd George had whittled down the delegation’s opposition to Partition. The Boundary Commission was first introduced by the British in the guise of a tactical manoeuvre to help pressurise the Unionist government

• Austin Stack

THE TREATY – SOME KEY QUOTES

“My idea is the Workers’ Republic for which Connolly died. And I say that that is one of the things that England wishes to prevent. She would sooner give us Home Rule than a democratic Republic. It is the capitalists’

interests in England and Ireland that are pushing this Treaty to block the march of the working people in England and Ireland.” – Constance Markievicz, Dáil speech against the Treaty.

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

of James Craig to agree to come under an all-Ireland parliament or else see their Six-County territory reduced. Lloyd George dramatically threatened to resign if Craig did not agree. This impressed Griffith who, in return, gave his personal commitment to accept the crown and empire. But it was a bluff by Lloyd George that the Irish side failed to call. And then he sprung the trap, held Griffith to his commitment, and the only thing the Irish had to show for it was the Boundary Commission, now inserted as the main article in the Treaty relating to Partition. Both Collins and Griffith seem to have believed genuinely that the Commission would result in Craig losing Counties Tyrone and Fermanagh and parts of Counties Armagh, Derry and Down, rendering ‘Northern Ireland’ unviable and leading to Irish unity. But this view of the Commission was never agreed by the Cabinet in Dublin and was one of the principal reasons why the Treaty should have been referred back.

British threats of war

The British threat to resume and escalate their war in Ireland hung over the negotiations from the beginning. Tory Minister F.E. Smith, on 19 August said that if negotiations broke down, the British would be “committed to hostilities on a scale never hitherto undertaken by this country against Ireland”. De Valera said repeatedly that the Irish people must be prepared for the possibility of a resumption of war if the negotiations broke down. But it was at the negotiations in those final hours on 5 and 6 December 1921 that Lloyd George deployed the threat of war most effectively. He said that each of the Irish delegates, if they refused to sign, would be personally responsible for war and it would be immediate and terrible. Perhaps the greatest single failing of the delegation was that they succumbed to this threat. They allowed it to prevent them referring the final draft back to Dublin

as Lloyd George pressed them to sign or face disaster. The British certainly had the resources to resume war but whether it was politically possible for them to do so after negotiating for months was highly doubtful, a fact which the Irish delegation seemed to have considered little if at all. The Treaty was signed and the delegates returned to Dublin where the Cabinet, Dáil Éireann, and the IRA were soon deeply divided. But there was nothing inevitable about the Civil War that broke out in June 1922. For that, other forces within Ireland and the intervention of the British government again were crucial. The Treaty had the backing of the wealthy and privileged in the 26 Counties, including the Catholic hierarchy. Big business interests backed it, as reflected in the editorial stand of all but a handful of newspapers, both national and local. These forces pushed powerfully on the Free State leaders. And the British government was determined that their recasting of the conquest would not fail. They stopped Collins from producing a Free State constitution that would be an advance from the Treaty. They thwarted his efforts to assist nationalists in the Six Counties. They deplored peace efforts with the antiTreaty IRA. They drew Collins and Griffith ever closer and pressed them relentlessly, until they succumbed, to attack the anti-Treaty IRA in the Four Courts. The recasting of the conquest was seen most sharply in the Six Counties where nationalists were now trapped in the new Orange state. There would be more pogroms, mass imprisonment, gerrymandering, and corruption, beginning 50 years of one-party Unionist rule. The Boundary Commission was to prove a fraud, eventually yielding absolutely nothing and entrenching the Orange state behind an unaltered and hardened border in 1925. And it is this last and most poisonous and persistent legacy of the Treaty that remains to be abolished today. ⬢

THE TREATY – SOME KEY QUOTES

“It would be taking too hopeful a view of the future to imagine the last peril of the British Empire had passed. There are still dangers lurking in the mists Whence will they come? From what quarter? Who knows? But when 46

they do come, I feel glad to know that Ireland will be here by our side, and the old motto that ‘England’s danger is Ireland’s opportunity' have a new meaning…” – Lloyd George, House of Commons speech for the Treaty. ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

Grúpa Cónasctha den Chlé Aontaithe Eorpach • den Chlé Ghlas Nordach

GRÚPA PARLAIMINTEACH EORPACH

www.guengl.eu TREO EILE DON EORAIP ANOTHER EUROPE IS POSSIBLE

FUNDED BY THE EUROPEAN UNITED LEFT/NORDIC GREEN LEFT (GUE/NGL)

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

Britain cannot ignore the US on Ireland BY CIARÁN QUINN “Ireland owes Britain nothing”. The truth that made a video go viral. It was an answer from playwright and critic Bonnie Greer to a BBC Question Time discussion on Brexit. That was October 2019, the threat of a hard border and no-deal Brexit was in the air. To the British Government, Ireland was irrelevant in the promised land of Brexit. Ms Greer reminded the audience that her home town Chicago dyed the river green on St. Patrick’s Day. “The US is Irish”, she said. It was clear the US would support Ireland and the peace agreements over Brexit. The ‘special relationship’ between the US and Britain was a fiction from the days of Thatcher and Reagan. A cover for a shared political agenda. The elevation of Anglo-American relations was a British delusion. Without an empire, they believed they had an equal seat at the table. It was never a relationship of equals. Brexit was to bring back Global Britain. The hollow rhetoric was of a return to the days of an empire long lost. Free from Brussels, Britain would build new trading relationships with their special friend the US. It would be the quickest and easiest trade deal ever. High on their own rhetoric, the British government ignored the concerns of the US Congress and Irish America. Speaker Pelosi led a congressional delegation to Ireland and Britain. They visited the border and met with business and community leaders. In London, they met with the Brexiteers and schooled them in the American political system. It was not in the gift of the President to strike a trade deal; that was the responsibility of Congress and a vital step in the process was the powerful Ways and Means Committee. No support from that committee meant no trade deal. The Chair of the Ways and Means Committee is Massachusetts Congressman Rep. Richard Neal, also the co-chair of the Congressional Friends of Ireland and longstanding supporter of peace and progress in Ireland.

A resolution was introduced in the House of Representatives co-signed by Rep. Tom Suozzi (Dem) and Rep. Peter King (Rep) calling for the full implementation of outstanding agreements, including Stormont House, and ensuring that there would be no US-British Trade Deal if the Good Friday Agreement was undermined or a hard border imposed due to Brexit.

Brexit was to bring back Global Britain. The hollow rhetoric of a return to the days of an empire long lost The resolution was passed unanimously in an incredibly divided house. A subsequent resolution was passed in the US Senate again with unanimous bipartisan support. The resolution was pushed by Senator Menendez, the chair of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As the British Government moved ahead with its plans to close down investigations into the past, Congress members sent a letter to Boris Johnson outlining their concerns Then along came President Biden. He had been Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when they held a hearing into the killing of Pat Finucane and was a member of the Friends of Ireland Caucus. The G7 meeting in Cornwall was on the stage for the opening act of Global Britain. Boris Johnston with home advantage would be front and centre of world leaders. In the week before the meeting, the US Administration issued a demarche to the British government. • Boris Johnston

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

• DOUBLED DOWN - Joe Biden speaking in Dublin Castle, June 2016

A demarche is a diplomatic device usually reserved for nations in dispute. A statement was read by the most senior US official in Britain outlining the objections to the British Governments handling of Brexit and threats to the Irish Protocol. There was no right to reply. It was a diplomatic dressing down. President Biden doubled down on the issue at the G7 calling for no unilateral actions, agreements to be

The connection between the US and Ireland will endure; we are bound by generations of shared history and family. The US are partners in our peace process implemented, and for the issues to be resolved with the agreed mechanisms. Act Two of Global Britain was to be the annual UN meeting in New York. In a press event with the US President in the White House, Boris Johnson, in an unplanned intervention, called for questions. President Biden was asked about Brexit and reminded the press and the British Prime Minister of the bipartisan US position; the Agreements must be protected and implemented or there would be no trade agreement. Boris was left to explain on the plane home that he really didn’t ever think a trade deal was possible. Global Britain was fighting with the EU, threatening

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

agreements in Ireland, and friendless in the US. Bonnie Greer was proven right. But why does the US take such a strong position on the Agreements and Ireland? After all, a trade deal would suit US corporate interests. Trade deals always benefit the larger economy, and would be especially tantalising for the US now, given the bang of the desperation from the British Government. The truth is in the second part of Bonnie’s answer the relationship between Ireland and the US. It is not so much about an Irish American vote. It is something less tangible, but more enduring. Irish America places its interest in America to the fore, but not at the cost of inflicting damage on Ireland. There is a pride and connectedness with Ireland and the Irish component of their identity. It is not just an issue for Irish America; our peace process and agreements are a viewed as an American foreign policy success story. Administrations since 1998 have acted to protect the Agreements and assert the primacy of politics over conflict. Refusing to honour agreements fundamentally undermines the political process. While the Venn diagram of Sinn Féin and US foreign policy may be two circles that never meet, on the issue of our peace agreements we are on the same page. The connection between the US and Ireland will endure; we are bound by generations of shared history and family. The US are partners in our peace process and act as guarantors of our agreements. ⬢ Ciarán Quinn is the Sinn Féin Representative for North America

Your specialist bookshop stocks AVAILABLE FROM a wide range of gifts, books, music, movies, clothing, flags, badges, etc. relating to Ireland's struggle for freedom

SINN FÉIN BOOKSHOP  58 Parnell Square, Dublin 1.  00353 87 2301882

NOW OPEN Saturdays For Christmas

Go to � www.sinnfeinbookshop.com 50

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

News media business BY ROY GREENSLADE Finley Peter Dunne, the son of two Irish immigrants to the United States, was responsible for one of the most famous aphorisms about journalism. It comforts the afflicted, he wrote in 1902, and afflicts the comfortable. I’ve lost count of the times I have heard fellow hacks repeat that line as justification for what they do. Or, to be more accurate, what they are supposed to do. For there is a wide gap between promise and performance. Plenty of people, perhaps a majority – and probably an overwhelming number of republicans – would say it’s a chasm.

In their view, journalists are guilty of afflicting the afflicted while comforting those who deserve no comfort, such as politicians, corporate business moguls, faceless bureaucrats, and the wealthy elite. They scorn the claim that journalists are holding the powerful to account, arguing that they are instead responsible for building and maintaining a narrative which justifies an unacceptable status quo. I’m not about to disagree with that viewpoint having argued it so often myself. I particularly recall doing so in the pages of An Phoblacht in the 1980s when

media coverage of our struggle was consistently negative, embroidered with distortions, and laced with lies. Journalists were, if not our enemies, then certainly not our friends. And friendship hasn’t exactly blossomed since. But it’s wrong, wholly wrong, to damn all journalism and all journalists. Perspective, as ever, is all. In certain places, at certain times, journalism has had a revolutionary impact. It has helped to bring about political change, saved lives, highlighted iniquity, overturned injustice, ridiculed the powerful and, on occasion, brought them down.

is failing audiences

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

�

It’s wrong, wholly wrong, to damn all journalism and all journalists

�

In so doing, journalists have risked their skins and sometimes have sacrificed their lives. Their heroism, their truth-telling, their contribution to democracy, should not be disregarded because others elsewhere – and, yes, too many others – have brought journalism into disrepute. The good ones, when allowed to be good, merit our support. Consider the two investigative journalists who have been awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize; Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia. Both defied the authorities in their countries to reveal corruption, abuses of power, and human rights violations. Both have been forthright defenders of the freedom of speech. Ressa has been hounded by trumped-up, politically motivated legal actions aimed at gagging her. Muratov has been persistently threatened and harassed. Given that six of his paper’s journalists have been murdered, these were no idle threats. Closer to home, let’s salute the late Robert Fisk, who died last year. He was willing to put his body on the line countless times in order to reveal truths about the Middle East that would have remained hidden had he not, in the words of his former wife, Lara Marlowe, “delved farther, deeper, and more tenaciously into every story than did his rivals.” But Fisk could not have informed us of massacres, cover-ups and various imperialist duplicities without having an editor willing to print his articles. For 30 years, a succession of editors at The [English] Independent did just that, providing him with a platform. He knew he was fortunate, having resigned from his previous paper, The [English] Times because it refused to publish his revelation that the United States was responsible for shooting down an Iranian passenger plane in 1988. That is a key point. Brave journalists need brave publishers and there are very few of them in the developed world because media has been corporatized and, in so doing, has become part of the political and economic system it affects to be monitoring. Its owners, managers, shareholders and editors do not want to disrupt a system that benefits private ownership. Staff journalists, however much they may be committed to telling the truth, cannot publish anything which does not suit their bosses’ requirements. The Times’s censorship of Fisk’s work was far from an isolated instance. One of the most notorious examples was the Sunday Times’s refusal to carry an article by two of its reporters, Murray Sayle and Derek Humphrey, about Bloody Sunday. Four days after the killing of those 13 innocents in Derry in January 1972, the journalists handed 52

• Nobel Peace Prize winners; Maria Ressa (Philippines) and Dmitry Muratov (Russia) who defied the authorities to reveal corruption, abuses of power, and human rights violations

• Robert Fisk, who died last year, was willing to put his body on the line countless times in order to reveal truths about the Middle East

in a report which contained evidence that the shootings were the result of a planned operation by the British Parashoot Regiment. Their paper’s editor, Harry Evans, refused to publish it. Sayle resigned in protest. Humphrey, who five years’ earlier had been one of my journalism tutors, was more pliant by accepting the right of his editor to act as

�

Journalism has had a revolutionary impact. It has helped to bring about political change, saved lives, highlighted iniquity, overturned injustice, ridiculed the powerful and, on occasion, brought them down

�

censor. Some 26 years after the event, the Sayle-Humphrey report finally surfaced in public in 1998 as we reported at the time (www.anphoblacht.com/contents/3490). Another example, also involving the Sunday Times, under a different editor, Andrew Neil, followed the murder in 1988 of the three IRA volunteers in Gibraltar. In company with Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government, he was outraged by a TV programme, Death on the Rock, which claimed – on the basis of interviews with eyewitnesses – that the government’s account of the killings was false. He ordered an investigation designed to undermine the television documentary. However, his reporting team could not fault the television version of events and filed copy largely supporting it. One of Neil’s loyal lieutenants simply ignored their reports by concocting a piece which attacked the programme instead. Three reporters protested at the reversal of their findings. They did not resign but one of them, having quit for a different reason, later went public to tell how her Gibraltar copy had been distorted to fit the paper’s agenda.

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

�

Media has been corporatized and, in so doing, has become part of the political and economic system it affects to be monitoring

• The ‘Sunday Times’ editor Andrew Neil (left) was outraged by TV programme, ‘Death on the Rock’ calling out the British Government’s false account of the killings of IRA Volunteers Mairéad Farrell, Daniel McCann and Seán Savage (below)

�

And there’s another key point; “agenda”. It does not emerge from the sky, of course. News agendas are set by the owners and managers of big media as a consequence of their economic interests. Anything which disturbs, or appears to disturb, their business interests is therefore forbidden. Individual journalists working within the constraints of corporate media simply do not have the power to decide what gets published and broadcast in their name. As for lone journalists who work outside mainstream media, they are marginalised and demonised, a process we republicans know all too well. And please don’t be fooled by those who put their faith in social media which, according to its advocates, has supplanted “old” media. In truth, it remains a reactive force. Instead of setting the agenda, it merely responds to the one set daily by the political elite in combination with big media. Despite the huffing and puffing by newspaper proprietors and their compliant editors about the “power” of social media, they have yet to cede their control and influence. This reality, about journalists lacking power, was brilliantly encapsulated by the American satirist H.L. Mencken when he wrote: “Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.” In other words, journalism is not in the hands of journalists. Among the first people in Ireland to recognise this fact were the nationalists of the 19th century who were frustrated by the fail-

ure of Irish newspapers to report their views accurately and fairly. So, they founded their own titles. Similarly, in the early 20th century, An Phoblacht was launched to ensure our message, and our actions, were not misrepresented by an antagonistic press. The problem we face in this century is of a media wholly compromised by the profit motive. The British press’s overwhelming pro-Brexit stance was a case in point. Its owners disliked the way the European Union sought to regulate business. No space was given to those journalists who took the opposite point of view. Lust for profit has also displaced news to use – information – in favour of news to amuse - entertainment. This journalistic fracture means that we are obliged to put up with the trivial and prurient in order to get an occasional, grudging glimpse of the significant and serious. Journalists know all this, of course, and have come to terms with it. Some shrug their shoulders and take the money. Some walk away – too many have left the trade in recent years. Some do strive to live up to Dunne’s aphorism by working as best they can within the constraints and there are occasions when their stories, their analyses, their commentaries, do make waves.

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

�

News agendas are set by the owners and managers of big media as a consequence of their economic interests. Anything which disturbs, or appears to disturb, their business interests is therefore forbidden

�

Before we condemn all journalists, we need to appreciate that there are some practitioners of the trade who are worth cultivating. There are still Fisks and Sayles around. Condemn the media proprietors, not the men and women who work for them and who, if they had genuine press freedom, could be of real service to our society. ⬢ Roy Greenslade is an Honorary Visiting Professor at City, University of London. 53

New Republic’ The ‘Postcards from the itish designer, artist, series is a hat tip to Br cialist William Morris’s entrepreneur, and So series of articles from ‘News from Nowhere’ Commonweal, the 1890 published in the t in cialist League and se newspaper of the So Morris’s socialist, and a distant future where ry’s been secured. Our sto romantic, utopia has cy Ní Chuairteoir and Lu protagonists are Willa by their four children Byrne accompanied r and Alroy who togethe James, Afric, Banba, of equity and exigency enjoy and endure the blic. the future’s New Repu family, visit To check in with the

POSTCARDS FROM A

BY SINÉAD NÍ BHROIN

NEW REPUBLIC

mtheNewRepublic

 fb.me/Postcardsfro

Willa and Lucy are having a late dinner in the village. No kids, just the two of them. Willa feels Lucy hasn’t been herself lately and is a little worried. She’s hoping a nice feed and a bottle of wine might be just what her wife needs to relax and chat about what’s on her mind. Their wine is barely poured before Lucy blurts out, “I’m thinking about not running in the next election.” Willa puts down her glass, stunned. Lucy is a government minister and has been an elected representative for nearly twelve years. Far from being at the end of her political career, Lucy and her closest colleagues are viewed by the party and electorate alike as the leading lights of the current government. Willa sets down her glass, instinctively puts her hand on her wife’s arm leans in and with a worried look asks simply, “What’s going on?”. Lucy lifts Willa’s hand kisses it and smiles. “Don’t worry love. I’m not cracking up”. Willa takes a big swig of her perfectly chilled Albariño before leaning in over the table to quietly exclaim, “I knew something was going on with you over the last few weeks! I had put it down to the biodiversity crisis talks at first and then last month’s floods. To be honest, I thought that there was something going on between us that I hadn’t copped on to. You know what I’m like!”. Lucy squeezes Willa’s hand and refills her glass. “I’m so sorry Wil, I should have talked to you sooner. I suppose I just needed to get things clear in my own

head first. When I was in Brussels for the EU Council Ministers meeting last month, I met up with Henry from the OECD Genuine Progress Indicator project myself and Mary worked on before we were elected. You know he’s the Commissioner now for Public Services and Social Rights. Well anyway, we met up to discuss my concerns about the re-emergence of charities in Britain and a couple of the Eastern bloc member states.” Willa nods, “yeah, you’ve been worried about this since the Tories got back into government”. Lucy is now horsing into her dinner and is bobbing her head up and down. “Exactly. To be honest, Britain’s public services have never fully recovered from the aftermath of Brexit, and they’ve never fully adjusted their tax system to the Equality Principle despite signing up to it on re-joining the EU. They’ve started to reintroduce sneaky tax loopholes for corporates and cut funding for health and disability services. “It’s a tough one to swallow. We fought hard to retain taxation as a sovereign function but securing unanimous support for the Equality Principle has meant securing the tax base needed to deliver universal public services across the Union. It changed everything. Without it we’ll be back to waiting lists and unmet need. People don’t remember what it was like. “Ireland led the way after unification and the rest of Europe slowly began to shift. With the corporates and multinationals paying their fair share of tax the public system absorbed the staff,

services and infrastructure of the charity sector.” Willa crosses her arms on the table, “But I still don’t get what this has to do with you not running in the next election. We know the Tories have never fully let go of the concept of the deserving and the undeserving poor, and there is still the odd Evan Dusk type CEO who would happily spend a billion euro on a trip to the moon but wrings his hands at having to cough up his corporation tax, but sure they’d never get away with it now.” “That’s the thing love” Lucy says through a mouthful of mussels. “Henry and the Commission share my fear that re-emergence of charities, albeit it in very small numbers is a warning sign that the Equality Principle is being undermined. There are worrying murmurs from multinationals that could, if left unchecked undo everything won from the Great Struggle. So, the short of it is the Commission plans to establish a European Office of Equality Enforcement and they’ve asked me to head it up.” By now, Willa is half cut having drunk most of the wine and eaten hardly any of her dinner. “Jesus Lucy, that’s huge” she says slurring a little. Lucy looks over at the waiter, signalling for the bill. She knows she’s knocked Willa for six, and she’s not even told her the toughest part. She’ll have to keep that for morning. ⬢

ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht

FÉILIRE POBLACHTÁNACH

IRA patrol on Grafton Street, Dublin, June 1922

REPUBLICAN

RESISTANCE

CALENDAR

€6

COMMEMORATION | CELEBRATION | COMMITMENT  COMÓRADH | CÉILIÚRADH | DÚTHRACHT Dáil vote on the Treaty

The motion to approve the ‘Articles of Agreement’, the Treaty signed in London the previous December, passed in Dáil Éireann by just seven votes (64 to 57) on 7 January 1922.

“To my mind the Republic does exist. It is a living, tangible thing, something for which men gave their lives, for which men were hanged, for which men are in jail, for which the people suffered, and for which men are still prepared to give their lives.” Liam Mellows, speech against the Treaty, 4 January 1922.

On Sunday 30 January 1972 in Derry the British Army’s Parachute Regiment shot dead 13 civilians and wounded many more, one of whom died later, at an antiinternment march attended by thousands of people.

BLOODY SUNDAY The British government immediately began an international campaign of lies and cover-up to shield its political and military leaders from their responsibility for the Bloody Sunday deaths.

Massive national and international reaction to Bloody Sunday The Bloody Sunday massacre by the British Army caused outrage across Ireland and around the world. In the days that followed there were mass demonstrations and strikes in many places. Workers and students left their jobs and colleges to join parades and vigils. Solidarity with the Irish people was expressed in many centres abroad. In Dublin there were marches by tens of thousands of people, culminating on 2 February, a national day of mourning, when a vast crowd converged on the British Embassy in Merrion Square. It was repeatedly attacked and eventually set on fire and completely gutted. In its statement on Bloody Sunday the IRA said:

• Scenes outside the British Embassy, Merrion Square, Dublin at mass protests following Bloody Sunday

“The cornerstone of all colonial power rests on force… British rule in North-East Ulster rests on the bayonet and has continually done so since the partition of Ireland 50 years ago.”

The 2022 Republican Resistance Calendar marks + POSTAGE & the 50th anniversary of PACKAGING Bloody Sunday in Derry and the Centenary of the Irish Civil War. In the tragic year 1922 the British government's Partition of Ireland was consolidated with the formal establishment of the 'Free State' in the 26 Counties and 'Northern Ireland' in the Six Counties. Republicans opposed this outworking of the Treaty signed in London the previous December which sharply divided the Dáil and the IRA. British pressure on the Free State led to the attack on the IRA in the Four Courts and the outbreak of the Civil War. 50 years later in 1972 the price of the disaster of Partition was paid on the streets of Derry as the occupying British Army murdered Irish civilians at a Civil Rights demonstration against internment without trial

Go to � www.sinnfeinbookshop.com anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 4

56 anpho blacht

* John Johnson was shot twice on 30 January 1972. He died on ISSUE NUMBER – 2021 - UIMHIRthe EISIÚNA 4  anphoblacht 16 June4 1972 becoming 14th fatality from Bloody Sunday

An Phoblacht - Issue 4 - 2021

Articles inside

Roy Greenslade

Ciarán Quinn

Mícheál Mac Donncha

Barry Finnegan

Mitchel McLaughlin

Rachel Coyle

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

Seán Mac Brádaigh

Martina Anderson

Luke Callinan

Mairéad Farrell

Laurence McKeown

Jim Gibney

Robbie Smyth

Caoimhe Archibald

Aled Roberts

Eoghan Finn