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CENTENARY OF THE FIRST DÁIL ÉIREANN
1919-2019
Standing up for ‘Liberty Equality and Justice’
anphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1
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THE LINKED STRUGGLE these protests were one of the sparks of the civil rights movement in Ireland. The first protest was in a Woolworth’s in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was here, on February 1st 1960, that Ezell A. Blair, Franklin E. McCain, Joseph A. McNeil, and David L. Richmond staged the first sit-in. The original
Greensboro counter is now in the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Joining Gerry Adams at the Nashville Woolworth’s counter was Judge Richard Dinkins, Kings Holland and Earnest Patton. Holland and Patton participated in the original Nashville Woolworth’s sit-ins in February 1960.
PHOTO: DAN HELLER
Former Sinn Féin President and TD for Louth, Gerry Adams was in Nashville last month and visited one of the historic Woolworth’s counters where sit-ins, inspired by Martin Luther King, were part of the actions that fuelled the civil rights movement challenging racial inequality throughout the southern United States. It was
Richard Dinkins
Kings Holland
Ernest Patton
Judge Richard Dinkins completed law school at Vanderbilt University in 1977, practising for 26 years before becoming a judge in 2003. In his professional practice Dinkins was a champion of civil rights and desegregation cases. In 2017, he was awarded the John C Tune Public Service Award, the highest honour presented by the Nashville Bar Association. In 2018 Dinkins was awarded the Francis S Guess Bridge to Equality Award.
Kings Holland took part in the original sit-ins and was part of the first Nashville integrated class after the Brown v Board of Education decision. In a 2017 interview Holland described his motivation for the protests. He said that, “The philosophy itself was very appealing to me because it was a method in which everyone had an opportunity to interact and understand and to benefit from the movement.”
Patton was also one of the original Nashville sit-in activists and a member of The Freedom Riders. This group of intergenerational and interracial men and women took part in protests on buses and trains to challenge segregation in the interstate transportation system. Patton was arrested, and held at Mississippi State Penitentiary. Ernest was also expelled from Tennessee State University. Today, Patton is a community leader, speaking around the country, on his role in the American Black freedom struggle.
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ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
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anphoblacht
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anphoblacht
ievicz 1927 ark ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1
CENTENARY OF THE FIRST DÁIL ÉIREANN
contents clár
1919-2019
Standing up for ‘Liberty Equality and Justice’
UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1
ACTIVE ABSTENTIONISM A STEP TOWARDS UNITY
Gerry Adams outlines the case for active abstentionism, energetically representing citizens, working to empower communities to effectively fight for their rights
anphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1
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.
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A critical year for voting rights MEP Martina Anderson makes the case for allowing Irish citizens north of the border vote in EU elections post Brexit, while Callum Smyth marks our diaries for the coming referendum on extending presidential election voting rights
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The next challenges for Sinn Féin Amy Ward marks out some challenges for Sinn Fein in the aftermath of the 8th Amendment campaign.
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The McGuinness Principles Peter Kissel National President of the Irish American Unity Conference outlines the growing support of the McGuinness Principles in the USA
An Phoblacht, Kevin Barry House, 44 Parnell Square, Dublin 1, Ireland.
Glasgow’s Living Rent Campaign
Telephone: (+353 1) 872 6 100. Email: editor@anphoblacht.com
Mícheál Mac Donncha takes us back to January 21st 1919, that fateful day after which here was no going back
www.anphoblacht.com
Seán Baillie shows how a union of renters have the potential and power to change and improve society
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Remembering the First Dáil 15
Soloheadbeg 1919 Aengus Ó Snodaigh gives an account of the IRA attack carried out on the same day of the First Dáil that was to have a profound effect on the course of Irish history
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Tá Acht Gaeilge fiúntach de dhíth CONTRIBUTORS
Scríobhann Pádraig Ó Tiarnaigh ar an riachtanas le hAcht Gaeilge fiúntach ó thuaidh
Gerry Adams
Rise of the Right
Martina Anderson Callum Smyth Amy Ward
Peter Kissel
Duroyan Fertl writes on a strategy to combat the growth of neo-fascist and far right movements
Cyril Benoit reports from the France on the unexpected and unprecedented social explosion that is the “gilets jaunes” movement
Aengus Ó Snodaigh
Cian MacMahon revisits the Democratic Programme, assessing the legacy and lessons of this vital declaration Ireland today
Duroyan Fertl Cyril Benoit Rita O’Hare
Cian McMahon
Mitchel McLaughlin
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Time for unity Rita O’Hare gives an opinion on how ‘the great prize, the reunification of Ireland is now within reach’
Pádraig Ó Tiarnaigh
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Our eyes are open
Seán Baillie
Micheál Mac Donnacha
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SEE PAGE
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The nationalist electorate made a choice. They voted for the active abstentionism of Sinn Féin and against the pointless participation of the SDLP at Westminster. The nationalist/ republican people of the North conclusively turned their back on Westminster
The Democratic Programme 100 years on 41
Postcards from a New Republic Sinead Ni Bhroin imagines a unified Ireland with a ‘shared parliament’ based in Belfast and Dublin!
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Sinn Féin Gerry Adams TD
Caledon and the Civil Rights movement Callum Smyth interviews Francie Molloy MP on the Caledon squat that triggered the Northern Ireland Civil Rights movement
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Civil rights issues are still relevant Mitchel McLaughlin takes us back to Derry, October 5th 1968, charting the progress made since then and the challenges ahead
anphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1
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EDITORIAL
anphoblacht EAGARTHÓIREACHT
The lessons of history
T
his edition of An Phoblacht is published to coincide with the centenary of the first Dail in 1919. Included are the documents agreed on that first day. These are the Democratic Programme, the Declaration of Independence
and the Message to the Free Nations of the World. There is a compelling resonance
ROBBIE SMYTH
editor@anphoblacht.com
and relevance in the contents of these documents. I urge you to read these title deeds of the republic that has still not been achieved, and reflect on what political activism or volunteering you can partake in during this centenary year. This is our biggest ever magazine and there is a common theme from the history of the first Dail through to the Yellow Vest protests in France and the rise of right wing parties in Europe and beyond. This edition is about rights and the political struggle for them, whether it's language, voting, housing, and economic or equality issues in our homes, schools
This edition is about rights and the political struggle for them, whether it's language, voting, housing, and economic or equality issues in our homes, schools and workplaces
and workplaces. There are a series of historical pieces in this issue. Mícheál Mac Donncha vividly captures the atmosphere of the First Dáil, while Aengus Ó Snodaigh cuts through what is becoming an establishment media attempt to downplay the origins of the War of Independence, with a forensic report of the Soloheadbeg ambush. There are two pieces on the origins of the 1968 Civil Rights Movement in the North while we also show the links between this and the struggle for American black freedom in the United States. When you link this into the other international pieces published here you can clearly see the importance of an global dimension in the political activism of Irish republicans. There is not only a better Ireland to be won, but a better world too. For me, there are two key takeaways from this edition. First is the importance of understanding our history, both in Ireland and internationally, and the relevance of this for the politics of the present. Second is the power of simple activism whether it is for women’s rights, a working language and equality act in the North or the right to housing. Seán Baillie of Living Rent in Glasgow has a convincing piece on how campaigning on the streets of Glasgow has created an effective tenants organisation. So, if there is one New Year resolution worth keeping it could be to get involved in the struggles that confront the peoples of the free and not free nations of the world and see can we move even one step closer to the commitments made in the First Dáil.
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ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
ACTIVE ABSTENTIONISM IS A STEP TOWARDS IRISH UNITY In the crisis around Brexit one constant theme to emerge has been the demand from our political opponents that Sinn Féin abandon our abstentionist approach to the British Parliament. This is despite the reality that the numbers game at Westminster clearly means that the votes of the seven Sinn Féin MPs would have no impact on the outcome of any Brexit vote. However, this hasn’t stopped Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and the SDLP lining up to demand that Sinn Féin MPs should break our pledge to the electorate, take the Oath of Allegiance to the English Queen, and support a British Conservative government that is in serious breach of its commitments under the Good Friday Agreement. A Tory government which – through its confidence and supply agreement - bolsters the DUP’s antidemocratic policies which collapsed the power sharing government at Stormont. The reality is of course that none of these parties are really concerned about abstentionism. This is all tactical. It’s part of the game playing by political opponents who hope to damage outstanding with the electorate and to see off the challenge they increasingly realise Sinn Féin poses to their narrow conservative policies – north and south.
GERRY ADAMS
outlines the case for active abstentionism and addresses the cynicism of those whose real objective is to attack and undermine Sinn Féin.
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If Sinn Féin MPs did what they demand, and stand their principles on their head, dishonouring their commitments to the electorate, taking our seats, these parties would be among the first to claim that Sinn Féin can’t be trusted to keep its word. So, let’s deal with the realpolitik. The Westminster elections in 2017 produced a historic result for Sinn Féin. We achieved our largest vote ever of 238,915 or 29.1%, and won seven seats – an increase of three. As the results emerged the Dublin establishment parties cynically turned their attention to attacking our abstentionist approach to Westminster. It was as if they were hearing about this for the first time. The reality is that in the seven weeks of the campaign the SDLP, which had the leaders and members of all of the southern establishment parties campaigning for it, used every opportunity to raise the issue of abstentionism. Sinn Féin’s refusal to take seats in Westminster became a key issue for the SDLP as it tried to claim that its presence in the British House of Commons had made a difference. It obviously thought that abstentionism would be a negative for Sinn Féin in the election. Every broadcast interview by a Sinn Féin candidate saw this issue exhaustively examined as some 3
elements of the media rowed in behind the SDLP position. The first problem for the SDLP was in its failure to produce anything of substance to bolster its claim of making a difference sitting in the British Parliament. The widely shared social media video imagery of the three SDLP MPs affirming allegiance to the English Queen and her successors also had its effect. On June 8th the nationalist/republican voters saw through this nonsense. They chose to support Sinn Féin. Our vote increased in every constituency. The nationalist electorate made a choice. They voted for the active abstentionism of Sinn Féin and against the pointless participation of the SDLP at Westminster. The nationalist/ republican people of the North conclusively turned their back on Westminster. One SDLP representative even went so far as to evoke the names of Daniel O’Connell, Charles Stewart Parnell and Michael Davitt as examples of successful participation in Westminster. The reality is that all of these leaders failed to achieve their primary political objectives. O’Connell failed to secure the Repeal of the Union and Parnell failed to achieve Home Rule. Michael Davitt was so exasperated with the British system that when he withdrew from the British Parliament in October 1899 he declared: "I have for years tried to appeal to the sense of justice in this House of Commons on behalf of Ireland. I leave, convinced that no just cause, no cause of right, will ever find support from this House of Commons unless it is backed up by force." This was 17 years before the 1916 Rising. Two years after the Rising and following the 1918 election, the Sinn Féin MPs abstained from Westminster and established the First Dáil. This was not just about the taking of an oath of allegiance to an English Queen. That was certainly part of the equation. But the key issue was and is one of sovereignty. To take seats in Westminster requires that a successful Irish republican MP accepts that the British state has the right to sovereignty over Ireland or a part of the island. It also means that their first political act as an MP is to take the oath which states:“I … swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors, according to Law. So help me God.” Let me be very clear. I am an Irish republican. I believe in the sovereignty of the Irish people. I am against monarchies and elites of all kinds. As the MP for west Belfast I was very proud to represent all of the people of west Belfast for decades. Those who voted for me in election after election saw no disadvantage in my being an active abstentionist. Paul Maskey increased that vote taking over twenty4
“Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour should end their abstentionist policy in respect of the North, come off the side-lines and onto the pitch, and allow their parties to stand candidates”
seven thousand votes. Active abstentionism is about energetically representing citizens. It’s about working with those citizens as equals and empowering communities to effectively fight for their rights, whether they be cultural rights, economic, national or political rights. Sinn Féin has an unparalleled reputation for effective constituency representation. We have also been diligently and steadily building an all-Ireland movement for equality and unity. Our MPs attend the Good Friday Agreement Committee in the Dáil. They join 27 Sinn Féin TDs and Seanadóirí and twenty seven MLAs. They will be actively backed by our all-Ireland team of MEPs who are showing great leadership, particularly and importantly on the issue of Brexit and the need for designated special status for the North. The building of this all-Ireland movement and strong representation by Sinn Féin across the island, including in councils, will continue in the time ahead, beyond the distractions of temporary alliances between the DUP and the English Tories. In the late 1990s we discovered that abstentionist MPs could avail of facilities at Westminster to represent their constituents. This was to accommodate English republicans or others who were against the Oath. We sought a mandate for active abstentionism and were given the use of offices and other resources in Westminster. We have utilised these since then to fulfil our mandate despite efforts by some to deny us and our voters these entitlements. After the 1997 Westminster election, in
• Those who voted for Gerry Adams in election after election saw no disadvantage in him being an active abstentionist
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• Is Micheál Martin telling us if his party stands candidates in the North, and they are successful, they will take the Oath to the English Queen?
"I have for years tried to appeal to the sense of justice in this House of Commons on behalf of Ireland. I leave, convinced that no just cause, no cause of right, will ever find support from this House of Commons unless it is backed up by force." which Martin McGuinness and I were elected for Mid Ulster and west Belfast, the Speaker of the British Parliament, Betty Boothroyd, banned us from the facilities unless we took the Oath of Allegiance. That was overturned five years later, although periodically Conservative and Unionist MPs still raise the issue. Sinn Féin MPs contrary to some inaccurate reporting do not receive a Westminster salary. Sinn Féin fundamentally differs from the Dublin establishment parties on many issues. This includes our commitment to Irish national self-determination; to the unity and sovereignty of this island and the ending of partition. Their demand that Sinn Féin MPs should take the Oath of Allegiance and accept British sovereignty has nothing to do with what is good for the people of the North, or for those who voted for us on the basis of our abstentionist position; it is about trying to do what the SDLP failed to do – present Sinn Féin as a party that refuses anphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1
to represent its electorate. Fianna Fáil especially has a short memory. Its founding leaders stood on a platform of abolishing the British oath to the Dáil. The war cry was ‘Dismiss the Imperialists – Abolish the Oath – Vote for the Fianna Fáil candidates – One Allegiance Only.’ Is Micheál Martin now telling us that if his party ever stands candidates in the North, and they are successful, that they will take the Oath to the English Queen? What kind of Irish leader of a party which claims to be ‘The Republican Party’ would ask Irish men and women to ignore their electoral mandate; swear loyalty to the English Queen, or legitimise the British Parliament's role in Ireland? Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour should end their abstentionist policy in respect of the North, come off the side-lines and onto the pitch, and allow their parties to stand candidates in northern elections and seek a mandate from the people. Next May 24th will give them all a chance to catch up on progressive public opinion.
MICHAEL DAVITT On that date southern voters will get to vote to allow others living outside the state a vote in future Presidential elections. Sinn Féin will campaign and welcome such a development. In the meantime those MPs who want to, should have speaking rights in the Dáil, without voting rights, as former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern promised over 20 years ago. The Southern parties should also, as they are constitutionally obliged, plan for a new shared Ireland. They could do this by the Oireachtas or the Government convening an all-island and diaspora wide consultation process, including consultative conventions to discuss how a shared Ireland can be built in an inclusive way. In keeping with the Good Friday Agreement this involves a referendum on Irish unity. The Taoiseach has a duty to plan for this now. GERRY ADAMS is a Sinn Féin TD for Louth. 5
VOTING RIGHTS KEY IN 2019
2019 is set to be a critical year for voting rights in Ireland. There will be a referendum on the extension of voting rights in Irish presidential elections to all Irish citizens, North, South and the diaspora spread around the world. At the same time Six-County voters, tens of thousands of whom are Irish citizens, are set to lose their right to vote in EU
Brexit’s threat to civil rights Varadkar must come through on promises to Northern citizens BY MARTINA ANDERSON Brexit represents one of the greatest threats to our democratic rights in the north since the Civil Rights movement began five decades ago. The outworking of the disastrous Tory Brexit agenda will see people in the north lose their right to vote in European Parliamentary elections and, as a result, will lose their voice in Europe. After Brexit, Irish citizens in the north will still remain EU citizens but with one important difference; unlike EU citizens from other parts of the Ireland, we will have lost our democratic right to stand in and vote in European elections. This disenfranchisement of people in the north is unacceptable and should be regarded as such by everyone who believes in democracy. But we don't have to lose our voice. There is another way. The additional seats could be allocated to the north to ensure that Irish citizens retain this basic democratic right regardless of where we are on the island. With Britain leaving the EU, the seats currently held by British MEPs are being redistributed by the EU and Ireland is set to get two of these seats. There are currently three EU constituencies in the 26 Counties,
parliamentary elections as the disastrous Tory Brexit fiasco stumbles from crisis to crisis. Northern MEP MARTINA ANDERSON makes the case for keeping Irish citizens across the border enfranchised, while fellow Derry native CALLUM SMYTH flags up the importance of the Voting Rights Referendum
Dublin, Ireland South and Midlands North West. Adding two additional seats to three constituencies does not go so the Irish government launched a Constituency Commission on the EU parliamentary boundaries to garner views on the issue. In our submission to the Commission, Sinn Féin made the case that the two additional seats should be elected by Irish citizens from the north. This is not just the view of Sinn Féin. Others, including senior figures from within Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have also indicated their support for the proposal. And it is also a position which has been proved by experts to be workable and achievable. Our group in the European Parliament, GUE/NGL, commissioned an independent legal opinion which was authored by barrister Mark Bassett which proved conclusively there is no legal or constitutional barrier to the additional seats being allocated to the north.
“The right to citizenship was not intended to be a placebo or a token acknowledgement. It cannot be limited to an entry in the census form or the receipt of a passport. Citizenship is a community of equals. It is the right to have rights” Voting Rights for All Report The Voting Rights for All report, which I launched alongside our party President, Mary Lou McDonald and my MEP colleague, Liadh Ní Riada, clearly sets out how and why the seats could be allocated to the north. The EU has also made it clear that it would have no objection to the Irish government creating a new constituency and extending the franchise to Irish citizens in the north. In fact, external voting is allowed by the EU and is common in most EU member states. In the north, EU citizens have already been able to cast their vote in elections in their own member states in popup polling stations created for the purpose.
Focus needed on Presidential voting rights referendum On May 24th of this year there will be a referendum in the 26 Counties which seeks to give Irish citizens in the north and abroad the right to vote in Irish Presidential elections. We need to ensure that 2018 was last time that Irish citizens in the north were denied the right to elect the President of Ireland. As an Irish citizen from Derry, I believe that I should be afforded the right to have a say in who represents me and my country, considering I am as Irish as anyone born in 6
BY CALLUM SMYTH Dublin, Cork or Kerry. Irish citizens in the north and those who in live in the diaspora should and must have a say in the life of the nation. There has to be a significant and priority focus on the referendum vote, and with just
under five months to go, it is vital that the electorate are educated and informed on the importance of this vote. If the referendum was to pass, it would give northern unionists the opportunity to vote for an Irish President – if they choose to – which would be a positive and progressive way of engagement. It is also a natural extension of the Good Friday Agreement. Passing this referendum would enhance the role of the President as the representative of all the citizens of Ireland
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For example, the Chinese Welfare Association offices in Belfast were used for Polish elections in 2010 and the Latvian Consulate in Newry was used for Latvian elections and in London over 100,000 French people voted in polling stations there in the French elections. The report also proves that extending the franchise for EU elections to the north is in line with the spirit of the Irish constitution. "The right to citizenship was not intended to be a placebo or a token acknowledgement. It cannot be limited to an entry in the census form or the receipt of a passport. Citizenship is a community of equals. It is the right to have rights. The most basic element of citizenship is participation," the report states. It goes even further and argues that citizenship without voting rights would be against the values of the constitution. "Citizenship of Ireland and of the European Union without effective representation must be considered democratically suspect. It is surely anathema to any concept of republican democracy to leave fellow citizens without a voice in the decisions that affect them," the report argues. That clearly puts an onus and a responsibility on the Irish government to act and act quickly to ensure the rights of citizens in the north are not taken away. While it is the British government who will take away the rights of people in the north to vote in EU elections, it is the Irish government which has the power to do something about it. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar gave an assurance to the people of the north when he said that Irish citizens in the
and would be seen as a modernising measure in the context of Irish citizenship. Extending Presidential voting rights to citizens in the north and the Irish diaspora is
north would never again be left behind by an Irish government. If those words are to mean anything then the Taoiseach should now take this opportunity to prove he is serious about protecting our rights by allocating these two additional seats for the north. Otherwise it is mere empty rhetoric. This independent legal report clearly calls on the Irish government to act to allocate these additional seats to the north in line with the constitution and the publicly expressed position of the government. "The 2019 European Parliament election provides and important opportunity for Ireland to reinforce the connection between all citizens on the island on the basis of equal standing. The extension of the franchise and the creation of a new constituency in the north would demonstrate the democratic values of the State and the EU are taken seriously," the report states. The legal advice makes it clear there is no legal or constitutional barrier to the Irish government acting to ensure the democratic rights of all Irish citizens are upheld. The only barrier that remains is the political will of the Irish government. This offers the Taoiseach and his government a chance to demonstrate it is serious about protecting the rights of all Irish citizens. 50 years on from the civil rights movement when a community took to the streets to demand its democratic rights, and a century since the only universal suffrage all Ireland election, the Irish Government cannot stand by and watch while those democratic rights are forcibly taken off us.
an important step in ensuring equality for all Irish citizens and this would make the office of Uachtarán truly representative of the people. It would be a positive advance to a grant
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full, participatory and equal citizenship to Irish citizens in the north and overseas with the right to vote in Presidential elections - a most basic entitlement. 7
n i é F n n i S In 2019 n o s u c o f must s e t i s l a i c o s e l g g u r t s f o
BY AMY WARD
The overwhelming vote for Repeal of the Eighth Amendment represented a watershed moment for Irish society and has to be understood as the product of sustained and determined struggle by thousands of predominantly working-class women over the past 35 years, with the support of allies in the progressive trade union movement, in communities and on the political left. To build on this momentum there are other sites of struggle that need to be focused on by Sinn Féin and the broad left. They are religious control of the education system; the question of unpaid and reproductive labour undertaken predominantly by women; and keeping the issue of universal childcare on the political agenda throughout Ireland. Sinn Féin President, Mary Lou McDonald was a persuasive contributor to the repeal side, indicating a significant modernisation of the party, one which, I believe, like many other working class movements, has socially conservative roots. While some were critical of her uncompromising confrontation of the party’s conservative elements, it would appear that the majority
Sinn Féin’s participation in the Alliance For Choice #TrustWomen campaign after the last Ard Fheis was a historical moment for Irish women’s rights and marked a possibility for profound change were glad that Sinn Féin had finally nailed its colours to the mast. Sinn Féin’s participation in the Alliance For Choice #TrustWomen campaign after the last Ard Fheis was a historical moment for Irish women’s rights and marked a possibility for profound change. Having decisively broken the moral authority of the Catholic Church, stemmed the tide of attacks on women’s rights and invigorated an entire generation of young people across the island, many involved with the Repeal campaign are now keen to push on. Already the Tories are coming under intense pressure to extend the 1967 Abortion Act to the North in the face of DUP opposition, while the accompanying campaign for marriage equality, too, raises the unfulfilled demand of ‘British rights for British citizens’ first articulated in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. The Irish government must increase its efforts to ensure the British 8
• Mary Lou McDonald was a persuasive contributor to the repeal side government fulfils its obligations and demonstrate that it fully supports a rights-based society in the north. In the South, the next phase for the Repeal movement is securing proper legislative provisions for abortion. Others are turning their attention to the Church’s grip on education, which is an anathema to the fundamental republican principle of Church and State separation and, as we know, has caused untold damage to the lives of Irish citizens. There is much work to be done, but it is clear that working-class Irish people are becoming increasingly politicised, organised and active in their communities and are seeking a more representative and inclusive education system at primary and second levels. Another issue that is both pertinent to the current moment and neglected as a potential site of struggle for the left is that of unpaid and reproductive labour; this is the unpaid cleaning, cooking and childcare work, the repetitive domestic chores, that are not counted in the economic data of GDP and national wealth but are fundamental to Irish capitalist survival and accumulation. Irish women are still constrained by legislation and cultural norms established by the Church, state, and economic and political elites to engage primarily in the gendered tasks of cooking, cleaning and caring without due recognition that such tasks themselves constitute important forms of labour. Despite significant advances, the social, economic and cultural dynamics that reinforce gendered and class roles persist. One ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
• Many involved with the Repeal campaign are now keen to push on manifestation of this is the fact that, according to the 2018 OECD national time use surveys, Irish women carry out more than 70 percent of unpaid household work. The majority of these women are from working-class backgrounds, and unable to afford the costs of childcare and other domestic supports. This figure compares unfavourably with other small open economies and peer countries in northern Europe, where high quality state-sponsored childcare provision, state support for those with caring responsibilities and different social norms are among the factors enabling more balanced gender participation in the labour market. Recent OECD figures show that only Italy and Portugal had a higher rate of unpaid labour. This situation has been exacerbated through austerity, with the decimation of key public services, the removal of income supports for lone parents and carers, and the increasingly low-wage and precarious nature of employment in Ireland. And while the 26 Counties was previously home to a half-arsed welfare state, with a special role reserved for the Church and charities, we are seeing the increasing privatisation of social reproduction from welfare and pensions to social care and children’s services. Moving forward, there is a definite need to investigate and better understand the value of unpaid and reproductive labour in Ireland. A ground-breaking study published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in 2014 shows that total unpaid work in the UK had a value of £1.01 trillion, equivalent to 56 percent of GDP. The study shows that
women put in more than double the proportion of paid work when it comes to cooking, childcare and housework, while also revealing that people on lower incomes tended to carry out more unpaid work than other income brackets. We need a full picture of the nature of unpaid and socially reproductive labour in Ireland and its role in sustaining Irish capitalism and perpetuating inequality. We need to consider how we might advance policy solutions that compensate unpaid labour, ensure that capital begins to shoulder the cost for social reproduction and ultimately have a transformative impact on Irish society. A useful starting point might be for Sinn Féin to initiate a national, cross-border conversation around a universal public childcare system. This is already party policy and as it has been advocated in the past by Unite, Right2Change, Indepedents4Change, among others, and most recently endorsed by the ICTU Women’s Conference in March of this year, is sure to garner support from the broad left. Such a campaign has the potential to unite trade unions and communities, the low paid and the unemployed, migrant and
According to the 2018 OECD national time use surveys, Irish women carry out more than 70 percent of unpaid household work ‘homegrown’ workers, all in pursuit of an objective that will reduce the burden of unpaid labour, reduce gender and class inequalities, remove a significant barrier to employment and contribute to the common good. These are steps that would improve people’s lives while beginning to address the basis and logic of Irish capitalism itself, as such they would build on and seek to honour the considerable achievements of the Repeal movement. Rights-based campaigns of recent years have laid the ground for national conversations around issues such as treatment of women, marginalisation, housing and income inequalities. The success of the Repeal movement needs to become a catalyst for productive rage, prompting introspection and politicisation thereby strengthening a re-energised political movement and giving new impetus to its key demands.
oductive the left is that of unpaid and repr • A potential site of struggle for k wor care child , cooking and labour; this is the unpaid cleaning
anphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1
AMY WARD is a political activist, trade union member, socialist republican, researcher and writer. 9
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ions iousofgen recent our erat the legacy and pain caused by Prev the hurt cultural of the various ethnic communities, all of which are part of the a every at ggle d for ict, the British Government confl stru in will, ehas, Government hav British wealth of the island of Ireland… the reach aand orts to appropriate turn, blocked and frustrated all effwhere But in Northern Ireland, the Irish language, Ulster-Scots and the
in Commission will, . In 2008, the the British Government recommendations of Ireland… put forward island of theto mandated wealth and the recognition where appropriate recommending language, government UK Irish to the to the in relation made proposals particular language; British the promote Successive to rights. action economic resolute and take it: social of so desire range people of a broad where and writing in . recommendations speech act oninthese the language rmatively affiof thetouse have failed and encourage governments facilitate government British …” demand within the appropriate from there is opposition where cant signifilife private with Now,and public
United Ireland. But the our generation has . governments have failed to affirmatively act on these recommendations nity to government Britishortu t opp besthe Now, with significant opposition from within
made proposals to the UK government recommending the recognition of a broad range of social and economic rights. Successive British
achieve it.”
Martin McGuinness
United Ireland. our generation has in best opportunity to
particular in relation to the Irish language,
writing facilitate and encourage the use of the language in speech and waited have Many victims of the conflict in the North and their families public and private life where there is appropriate demand …” their to them and decades to learn the full truth about what happened Agreement Andrews St. the of terms the Eight years later, under loved ones. Funding must be Act to of 2006, the British Government committed to introduce an provided for proper inquests Scots give the Irish language official status equal to that accorded the to move forward. The full and Gaelic and Welsh languages. They failed to honor this obligation, story of collusion and coverthe Democratic Unionist Party explicitly repudiated it. Subsequent ups must be told, and those a were study language Irish defund to government in moves DUP responsible for human rights as major contributing factor to the resignation of Martin McGuinness abuses must be brought to that Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister in 2017, when he cited justice. of the party’s lack of “respect” for the rights and cultural traditions
achieve it.”
Martin McGuinness
a DUP moves in government to defund Irish language study were as major contributing factor to the resignation of Martin McGuinness that Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister in 2017, when he cited of the party’s lack of “respect” for the rights and cultural traditions
Irish nationalist community in the North.
Irish nationalist community in the North.
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2
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SUPPORT FOR
McGUINNESS PRINCIPLES
CONTINUES TO GROW BY PETER KISSEL April 2018 saw the launch of the McGuinness Principles in Washington and New York. The principles of Equality, Respect, Truth and Self Determination were formulated as a collaborative initiative by several Irish-American organizations including the Brehon Law Society, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and the Irish American Unity Conference. The aim of the McGuinness Principles is to secure
I support the
fulfillment of the fundamental commitments of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement (GFA). The Principles highlight key unmet legal obligations of not just the Good Friday Agreement but also the St Andrews, Stormont House, and Fresh Start agreements. Critically the principles encompass the thrust and tone of the work undertaken by the late Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.
EQUALITY, the first principle, calls for the enactment of a Bill of Rights for the North of Ireland, as provided by the GFA. The British Government has failed to meet this obligation for 20 years. The need is ever more
The McGuinness Principles were launched simultaneously in New York and Washington DC on April 18, 2018 to mark the 20th anniversary of the GFA. The project grew out of a series of discussions among representatives of Brehon Law, AOH, and IAUC addressing ways to both mark the twentieth anniversary of the GFA, and call attention to those critical aspects of the agreement which have not been met by the signatories, particularly the United Kingdom. This effort resulted in some 15 American organisations endorsing the principles immediately upon their launch, as well as endorsement by several members of Congress, led by US Senate Minority Leader
McGuinness Principles
I support the
s s e n n i u G c M Principles
Charles Schumer. Other lawmakers welcoming the project included Representatives Richie Neal (D-MA), Peter King (R-NY), Dan Kildee (D-ILL), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Brendan Boyle (D-PA), John Lewis (D-GA), and Joe Kennedy (D-MA).
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languages
McGuinness - Martin solution” it: take resolute action to promote the language; so desire where people the
rights Agreement human St. Andrews European the terms of of jurisdiction thethe under to accept years later, continuing toEight to it Act, an Act Human Rights to introduce to scrap the committed determination and aGovernment 2006, the British of conventions, in the the Scots accordedcitizens of Ireland’s to that the rights that equal official status more important language even the Irish becomes give issues.and obligation, thisrights human to honor to critical They failed when it comes languages. protected beWelsh and North Gaelic Subsequent it. repudiated explicitly Party the Democratic Unionist
to continuing to accept the jurisdiction of European human rights Act, it conventions, and a determination to scrap the Human Rights in the becomes even more important that the rights of Ireland’s citizens issues. rights human critical to North be protected when it comes
Martin McGuinness
EQUALITY TRUTH RESPECT ON SELF-DETERMINATI
of The terms of the Good Friday Agreement called for the adoption the Good of respect, years after importance Twenty rmed “the of Ireland. in the Northaffi Friday Agreement of Rights Good a Bill The the in including voters the diversity, of 70% linguistic than to by more ed relation was ratifiin and tolerance Friday Agreement understanding is still no the languages there and in the Republic peopleUlster-Scots language, of the Irish 94% the and Ireland, of Ireland Northern in North was cultural the of Commission are part Rights of which allHuman Ireland communities, The Northern ethnic Rights. various theof of Bill
mandated to put forward recommendations
McGuinness Principles
McGuinness we stande comprehensiv aeve Martin -in with is dealt“I Unless itcommunity” beli Irish language process. and healing ofthre ld manner then the essential process sho the on of respect, importance “the rmed affi Agreement Friday The Good reconciliation cannot gain momentum” diversity, nge.including to linguistic t cha understanding and tolerance in relation grea of “Instead of working constructively to address
Irish language community” - Martin McGuinness
of The terms of the Good Friday Agreement called for the adoption a Bill of Rights in the North of Ireland. Twenty years after the Good
achieve it.”
one failed totally remains of the past…have Governments the legacy with British “Successive “Dealing rights of the peace of ourthe to protect challenges obligations… outstanding key their meet the ofto
failed totallyand an in the North British Bill of Rights…have t of aGovernments “Successive establishmen rights of the theMcGuinness to protect - Martin obligations… of Rights” meet theirCharter toall-Ireland
all-Ireland Charter of Rights” - Martin McGuinness
United Ireland. But the our generation has best opportunity to
VICTIMS OF THE Y EQUALITY JUSTICE FOR FULL STATUTOR EQUAL : E: FAMILIES LANGUAG AND THEIR FOR THE IRISH CONFLICT
OF A BILL OF RIGHTS: Y EQUALITY ENACTMENT THE STATUTOR FULL THE IRISH LANGUAGE: FOR “We have pressed consistently for the
THE ENACTMENT OF A BILL OF RIGHTS:
“I believe we stand on the threshold of great change. Previous generations have struggled for a
RESPECT 3 2 TRUTH
EQUALITY RESPECT
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EQUALITY
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ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
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2 4 RESPECT SELF-DETERMINATION
TRUTH Y 1 3 EQUALIT
A REFERENDUM Y EQUALITY MUST BE STATUTOR THERE FULL E: TO AFFIRM LANGUAG UNITY IRISH IRISH THE ON FOR ION: ERMINAT SELF-DET IRISH “Successive British Governments‌have totally failed
THE RIGHTS: BILL OF OF OF AVICTIMS NTFOR JUSTICE ENACTME EQUAL THE CONFLICT AND THEIR FAMILIES: “We have pressed consistently for the onean past of thein North and theremains legacy of Rights a Bill “Dealing with t ofthe establishmen peace of our McGuinness challenges - Martin outstanding of Rights� of the keyCharter all-Ireland process. Unless it is dealt with in a comprehensive
Irish to provide the rights of democratic imperative to protect the is aobligations‌ “There their to meet border poll on Irish in aMcGuinness Martin the right to -vote with citizens communityâ€? language Irish unity to end partition and retain a role in the EU.â€?
called for the adoption of The terms of the Good Friday Agreement manner then the essential process of healing and a Bill of Rights in the North of Ireland. Twenty years after the Good
rmed “the importance of respect, The Good Friday Agreement affi “A border poll on Irish unity is part of the process diversity, including understanding and tolerance in relation to linguistic on of building a modern and dynamic New Republic languages in Northern Ireland, the Irish language, Ulster-Scots and the peaceful achieved by this island – an agreed Ireland cultural of the various ethnic communities, all of which are part of the and democratic means.â€? - Martin McGuinness in wealth of the island of Ireland‌ the British Government will, relation to the Irish language, where appropriate and particular in Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, the British language; the promote to action resolute it: take where people so desire people Government committed to formally “recognize that it is for the the use of the language in speech and writing in facilitate and encourage of Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts respectively private life where there is appropriate demand ‌â€? public and and without external impediment to exercise their right of selfunder the terms of the St. Andrews Agreement Eight years later, for determination on the basis of consent‌â€? Provisions were included Government committed to introduce an Act toby the of 2006, the British referenda on Irish unity, whose results would be given effect Scots the accorded that to equal status cial offi language Irish give the on to governmental parties to the Agreement. The Agreement went languages. They failed to honor this obligation, and Gaelic and Welsh commit that the signatory parties (including the British Government) Unionist Party explicitly repudiated it. Subsequent save the Democratic should not “make any change in the status of Northern Ireland in government to defund Irish language study were a DUP moves with the consent of a majority of its peopleâ€?. factor to the resignation of Martin McGuinness as major contributing Despite the fact that Brexit clearly represents a “change in Deputy First Minister in 2017, when he cited that of the Northern Ireland’s statusâ€? of Northern Ireland, and despite the fact that the people of the party’s lack of “respectâ€? for the rights and cultural traditions
reconciliation cannot gain momentum� in the Friday Agreement was ratified by more than 70% of the voters “Instead of working constructively to address
still no North of Ireland and 94% of the people in the Republic there is the hurt and pain caused by the legacy of our recent was Bill of Rights. The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission
has, at every
conflict, the British Government mandated to put forward recommendations. In 2008, the Commission a to reach all efforts the frustrated and blocked recognition turn, recommending UK government to the proposals made McGuinness
social and economic rights. Successive British a broad range-ofMartin ofsolution� . governments have failed to affirmatively act on these recommendations waited Many victims of the conflict in the North and their families have Now, with significant opposition from within the British government to them and their decades to learn the full truth about what happened to continuing to accept the jurisdiction of European human rights loved ones. Funding must be Act, it conventions, and a determination to scrap the Human Rights provided for proper inquests in the becomes even more important that the rights of Ireland’s citizens to move forward. The full issues. rights human North be protected when it comes to critical story of collusion and coverups must be told, and those responsible for human rights abuses must be brought to justice.
TRUTH North voted by a large majority to reject Brexit and remain inside
Late last year Irish American organizations began talking about how they could help
the
FOR VICTIMS OF THE EQUAL Union, the British government is determined to impose this EuropeanJUSTICE AND THEIR FAMILIES: CONFLICT very significant change (having potentially profound consequences south, against Ireland of of the people onthe one for Ireland), remains pastand thenorth legacy with “Dealing
secure the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and support efforts
to advance Irish unity. They looked to previous examples of successful campaigns,
their
expressed wishes.
democratically key outstanding challenges of our peace of the If the Good Friday Agreement’s commitments to selfprocess. Unless it is dealt with in a comprehensive must British Government determination are to have any meaning, the manner then the essential process of healing and
the Sullivan and McBride Principles campaigns. As a result, they agreed to
launch a campaign around the McGuinness
allow the Irish people the opportunity to determine their future.
reconciliation cannot gain momentum� “Instead of working constructively to address the hurt and pain caused by the legacy of our recent
Principles.
These four core principles – equality,
respect, truth and self-determination - seek to address the current difficulties in the
conflict, the British Government has, at every turn, blocked and frustrated all efforts to reach a
political process by defending human rights, conflict and supporting equality for the Irish language, the victims of the Irish unity. their families, and endorsing the demand for a referendum on
solution� - Martin McGuinness
In summary the campaign seeks:
waited Many victims of the conflict in the North and their families have and their decades to learn the full truth about what happened to them
¡ ¡
loved ones. Funding must be
¡
provided for proper inquests
¡
story of collusion and cover-
A referendum on Irish unity in keeping with the Good
T
M
Friday Agreement.
attracted In the few months that the campaign has been running it has the significant political support If you want to know more about
ups must be told, and those responsible for human rights
McGuinness Principles log on to:
abuses must be brought to
www.mcguinnessprinciples.com
justice.
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Full statutory equality for the Irish Language. Funding for legacy inquests as part of the process of healing and reconciliation.
to move forward. The full
Irish nationalist community in the North.
2 4
A Bill of Rights.
6
New York, New York 10170. Paid for by Friends of Sinn Fein, Inc 420 Lexington Avenue, S. 300 Washington D.C. Under the Foreign Agents Friends of Sinn FĂŠin is registered with the Department of Justice, statement are on ďŹ le and available Registration Act as an agent of Sinn FĂŠin. This material and the registration imply approval by the U.S. Government for inspection at the Department of Justice. Registration does not
5
iples.com mcguinnIessp supprinc ort the
McGuinness Principles
I support the
McGuinness Principles
Government will introduce an Irish Language Act�. The UK’s refusal to do so is the principal reason why the Stormont Executive is not functioning.
Support th
TRUTH encompasses the right of victims of the conflict and their families to know the truth about what happened to their loved ones. It envisions full funding of legacy inquests, which the British Government also signed up to in the Stormont House Agreement and the Fresh Start Agreement. The whole truth of State collusion and cover-ups of murders and other atrocities must be told.
McGuinness e
Principles
urgent at the present time, with Brexiteers having targeted for elimination the four pillars of rights protections: the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights, the 1998 Human Rights Act, and even the Good Friday Agreement itself.
Supports th
SELF-DETERMINATION emphasizes the obligation of the UK to hold a referendum on Irish Unity, as provided for in the GFA. This Principle also recognizes that the UK’s Brexit approach violates its commitment to not “make any change in the status of Northern Ireland save with the consent of a majority of its peopleâ€?. 56% of the people in the North voted to remain in the EU, yet are being dragged out of the EU against their express will. The American effort to ensure widespread acceptance of the Martin McGuinness Principles continues to grow. The principles have been endorsed by numerous Irish American organizations, US elected officials, labour unions, politicians of both major parties, non-aligned groups, and individuals. Its American sponsors are determined to see that this initiative forces fulfillment of the signatories’ GFA obligations. ď ?
McGuinness e
Principles
# McGuinnessPrincip TacaĂm les #McGuinnes leis na sPrinciples #M RESPECT demands full statutory equivalence for the Irish Language. In the GFA, the British Government committed to “take resolute actionâ€? to promote the Irish Language, and the 2006 St Andrews Agreement expressly provides that “the
anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1
PETER KISSEL is National President of the IAUC and was involved in the development of the McGuinness Principles.
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WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD STREET BY STREET THE ORIGINS OF GLASGOW’S LIVING RENT CAMPAIGN BY SEÁN BAILLIE
One hundred years ago, the cities of Dublin and Glasgow were at the heart of a globalising industrial world with some of the worst living conditions for its working classes. From 1913 to 1922 the two cities witnessed massive social unrest, mass labour disputes, revolutionary uprisings and some of finest examples of working-class self organisation. As Connolly was leading the Irish Citizen Army through the streets of Dublin, defending their right to industrial action and union membership, Mary Barbour was in 1915 marching her army of women through the streets of Glasgow. Barbour’s action united the city, forcing their husbands to down tools and strike. Eventually the British Government implemented the Rent Restriction Act, which capped all rents at pre1914 levels for the duration of the war. While completely different events, the actions taken by both the people of Dublin and Glasgow at this time would go on to have a profound impact on the politics of both cities. Even today, many of us continue to fight for those same rights as the generations that went before us. Shortly after the Scottish Independence referendum, a movement was launched in Scotland called the Living Rent campaign. The campaign was primarily set up to protect and advance the rights of a growing number of people stuck in increasingly unaffordable private rented accommodation. The hard work of the campaign resulted in some significant improvements for private renters. The Private Tenancies Act 2016 approved by the Scottish Parliament and implemented in late 2017, 12
affords those renting privately in Scotland increased protections. These range from an end to fixed term tenancies and rolling month-to-month contracts, to no-fault evictions (there are now 18 possible grounds for ending a tenancy, each of which must be proven by the landlord), and the ability for every Local Authority in Scotland to apply for an effective rent cap. This caps rent in line with inflation in any area that rent is proven to be rising at a pace deemed detrimental to the local community. Despite the improvements won by the campaign, there was a need and desire to continue fighting. Not only to protect these achievements ,but with an eye on the future and the crucial role housing and housing conditions play in our society. The number of publicly owned council homes in the UK has fallen by 69% since 1980, much of this is to do with the right-to-buy scheme introduced during the Thatcher era. Over 40% of homes sold under the scheme are now rented out at an inflated price in the private rented sector. Of the 4.4 million homes sold only a fraction of the money raised has been invested in replacement housing stock, Glasgow is in an even more peculiar situation having sold off its entire public housing stock to write off over £900 million in debt. Against this backdrop and with average rents in Glasgow reaching record highs, massive increases in homelessness and widespread social displacement from our inner cities the decision was taken to relaunch Living Rent as a Tenants Union with a renewed organising strategy to unite communities and neighbourhoods around housing. ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
• Pictures from Living Rent Twitter feed
Our belief is that while we are a union of renters organising around housing we have the potential and power to change and improve society more generally. A study before our launch event in Glasgow showed that there were approximately 350,000 renters in the city, which is a huge constituency. If we can get even 5% of that number working together there’s no limit on what could be achieved. anphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1
Before the official launch in Glasgow we set out to prove to ourselves and to the city that there was a need for a tenants union, and that ordinary people when organised could achieve great things. In less than two months, we won back thousands of pounds in stolen security deposits, forced extensive repairing works to be carried out in over a dozen uninhabitable properties, and prevented the illegal eviction of a young mother in the south of the city. What became immediately apparent was the complete lack of housing regulation enforcement within the city. As a union, our members were often acting as the council’s enforcement wing ensuring repairs were being carried out, standards met and the 13
law adhered to. In less than three months, we were able to host an official launch event in the aptly named Mary Barbour suite at the Pearce Institute. Our membership had exploded from a few dozen to well over 100 activists from across the city. We had the eyes and ears of the new SNP administration and our campaign for a rent cap across the city using the new powers led to a council commitment to commission a feasibility study reporting back within a month. Since then our members have achieved some remarkable feats, from winning massive rent reductions of 26% in some areas of the city to the smaller victories, such as winning back the £20 admin fee, which was illegally levied on our members when we initiated actions on housing issues. Our power to influence and change can sometimes surprise, for some it is far disproportionate to our size for others its vindication of the strategy and hard work put in by a fantastic group of volunteer members. For me the true beauty of what we are building is in the people who are building it, we have neighbourhoods and communities uniting around a common issue, rediscovering hope and drive again. In a city deliberately run down and de populated, where the only answer has been to further isolate the poor by 14
moving them further from the city centre, in housing schemes where we are told no-one is interested in politics, in streets and communities torn apart by sectarian violence, drink and drug abuse. In these forgotten streets, we've seen hundreds of working class women march on their landlords and leave ten foot taller with every demand won. I have seen fanatics from rival football clubs unite and focus on something worth fighting for. We have had students fight for rent reductions in some of the roughest schemes in the city, and members from those schemes in the city defend our student members from eviction. 100 years on from James Connolly and Mary Barbour, people are beginning to stir again. The hard work and use of old tactics such as back court meetings, neighbourhood defence teams and direct action are providing that same sense of ownership and agency over our own lives as they did a century ago. We are building up that self confidence and experience of challenging institutional and economic power. We know we can not only defeat the housing crisis, we could change the world, block by block, street by street. SEÁN BAILLIE is an Organiser, for Living Rent based in Glasgow. ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
CENTENARY OF THE FIRST DÁIL ÉIREANN
The future so full of hope
Crowds thronged Dublin’s Dawson Street that Tuesday in January 1919. At the Mansion House, official residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin, the Round Room was crowded all day. In the morning a reception was held for former prisoners of war. However they were not, as you might expect, Irish Republicans. They were members of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Regiment of the British Army who had been in prisoner of war camps in Germany. In an amazing scene, the Fusiliers filed out of the Round Room onto Dawson Street, where
BY MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA many hundreds, if not thousands, of Sinn Féin members and supporters were waiting for a new era in Irish history to begin. There was no animosity shown as the old was replaced by the new. In fact, it is probably safe to say that many of those soldiers had voted for Sinn Féin in the General Election of December 1918, just as
anphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1
many former soldiers in the British Army would go on to join the Irish Republican Army and fight the in the struggle for freedom. The man who made the Round Room available to both the Fusiliers and to Dáil Éireann was the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Lawrence O’Neill. In April 1918, he had hosted the conference at which the leaders of Sinn Féin, the Irish Party, and the trade union movement initiated a national movement against the British threat of Conscription, a movement so widespread 15
and successful, including a one-day General Strike, that the British government never attempted to introduce Conscription. The fact that O’Neill had a son in the British Royal Army Medical Corps did not stop him playing a leading role in the campaign nor in facilitating Sinn Féin in its preparations for the General Election and for the convening of Dáil Éireann. To add to the historic irony, the Round Room, which on this day was decorated with a single large Tricolour, was originally built as a ballroom for the 1821 visit to Dublin of King George IV. Now, on 21 January 1919 it hosted the inaugural meeting of Dáil Éireann, many of whose elected members were experiencing the prison hospitality of that monarch’s successor George V. Two weeks earlier on Sunday 5 January, all over Ireland public meetings were held by Sinn Féin demanding the release of those prisoners. The air was electric, the energy and enthusiasm of those present in the Round Room and those following events from near and far, seemed boundless. They were predominantly young people. Frank Gallagher wrote: “Looking through that hall that day, I saw young Ireland as I had seen it at the first Ard Fheis of the new Sinn Féin. There were, again, a few grey heads and some white ones, but the gathering itself was of the young men and women who had brought this day to pass.” The starting time was set for 3.30pm: “At the stroke of the hour the great doors at the back of the hall opened, and then there swept over that audience a passion of demonstration. Standing, each thronged side faced the centre aisle, and as to their cheering the Deputies came slowly up the passage, tall Volunteers who acted that day as stewards stood to attention.” (Frank Gallagher, ‘The Four Glorious Years’.) One of those young people present in the
• In the 1918 General Election Sinn Féin won an overwhelming victory
“We did see Cathal Brugha presiding and we repeated the words of the Declaration after him, and felt we had burnt our boats now. There was no going back”
Declaration of Independence
Whereas the Irish people is by right a free people: And Whereas for seven hundred years the Irish people has never ceased to repudiate and has repeatedly protested in arms against foreign usurpation: And Whereas English rule in this country is, and always has been, based upon force and fraud and maintained by military occupation against the declared will of the people: And Whereas the Irish Republic was proclaimed in Dublin on Easter Monday, 1916, by the Irish Republican Army acting on behalf of the Irish people: And Whereas the Irish people is resolved to secure and maintain its complete independence in order to promote the common weal, to reestablish justice, to provide for future defence, to insure peace at home and goodwill with all nations and to constitute a national polity based upon the people’s will with equal right and equal opportunity for every citizen: And Whereas at the threshold of a new era in history the Irish electorate has in the General Election of December, 1918, seized the first occasion to declare by an overwhelming majority its firm allegiance to the Irish Republic: Now, therefore, we, the elected Representatives of the ancient Irish 16
MÁIRE COMERFORD
Round Room was a member of Cumann na mBan from Wexford, Máire Comerford. In her book ‘The First Dáil’, published in 1969, she describes the scene: “People waiting asked one another ‘Did you ever think you and I would live to see this day?’ I was with a Wexford contingent. Never was the past so near, or the present so brave, or the future so full of hope. We filed into the Round Room and pressed around until every inch of standing room was full. I don’t believe I even saw the seating arrangements that first day, the crowd was so great. “We did see Cathal Brugha presiding and we repeated the words of the Declaration after him, and felt we had burnt our boats now. There was no going back.” The Declaration of Independence to
people in National Parliament assembled, do, in the name of the Irish nation, ratify the establishment of the Irish Republic and pledge ourselves and our people to make this declaration effective by every means at our command: We ordain that the elected Representatives of the Irish people alone have power to make laws binding on the people of Ireland, and that the Irish Parliament is the only Parliament to which that people will give its allegiance: We solemnly declare foreign government in Ireland to be an invasion of our national right which we will never tolerate, and we demand the evacuation of our country by the English Garrison We claim for our national independence the recognition and support of every free nation in the world, and we proclaim that independence to be a condition precedent to international peace hereafter: In the name of the Irish people we humbly commit our destiny to Almighty God who gave our fathers the courage and determination to persevere through long centuries of a ruthless tyranny, and strong in the justice of the cause which they have handed down to us, we ask His divine blessing on this the last stage of the struggle we have pledged ourselves to carry through to Freedom. ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
FIRST DÁIL, 21 JANUARY 1919, THOSE ABLE TO ATTEND: D. Mulcahy, Con. Collins, P. Shahahan. R. Barton, E. Duggan, P. Beasley, Dr. J. Ryan, Dr. Crowley, J. Bourke S. J. Swiney, Kevin O’Higgins, D. Buckley, J. Ward, P. J. Molony, R. Sweetman J. Doherty, John Hayes, J. J. Kelly, Count Plunkett, Cathal Brugha, J. T. O’Kelly, P. O’Malley, J.J. Walsh, Ald. Thos. Kelly
which Máire Comerford refers was indeed unequivocal. Following on from the 1917 Constitution of the new Sinn Féin and the movement’s manifesto for the 1918 General Election, the Declaration ratified the establishment of the Irish Republic “proclaimed in Dublin on Easter Monday, 1916, by the Irish Republican Army, acting on behalf of the Irish people”. The Declaration said that the Irish Parliament “is the only Parliament to which the people
will give its allegiance” and demanded “the evacuation of our country by the English Garrison”. No such open challenge had ever before been thrown down to British rule in Ireland and it was a challenge based on the first truly democratic electoral mandate in Irish history, obtained by Sinn Féin in its landslide victory in the 1918 General Election. That was the first election in which women – albeit those over 30 - had
Faisnéis Neamhspleádhchuis
De bhrigh gur dual do mhuinntir na hÉireann bheith n-a saor náisiún: Agus de bhrigh nár staon muintir na hÉireann riamh le seacht gcéad bliadhain ó dhiúltadh d’annsmacht Gall agus ó chur ina choinnibh go minic le neart airm. Agus de bhrígh ná fuil de bhunadhas agus ná raibh riamh de bhunadhas le dlighe Shasana san tír seo acht foiréigean agus calaois, agus ná fuil de thaca leis ach sealbh lucht airm i n-aimhdheóin dearbhthola muinntire na hÉireann. Agus de bhrigh go ndeárna Saor-Arm na hÉireann Saorstát Éireann d’fhorfhógairt i mBaile Átha Cliath Seachtmhain na Cásca 1916 ar son muinntire na hÉireann. Agus de bhrigh go bhfuil muinntir na hireann lán-cheeaptha ar neamhspléadhchus iomlán do bhaint amach agus do chosaint dóibh fhéin d’fhonn leas an phobuil do chur chun cinn, an ceart d’athchur ar a bhonnaibh, an tsíothcháin in Éirinn agus caradas le náisiúnaibh eile do chur i n-áirithe dhóibh féin agus féineachus náisiúanta do cheapadh go mbeidh toil na ndaoine mar bhunudhas leis agus cothrom cirt is caoitheamhlachta dá bhárr ag gach duine i nÉirinn. Agus de bhrigh go ndeárna muinntir na hÉireann, agus sinn i mbéal ré nuadha de stair an domhain, feidhm a bhaint as an Olltoghadh, Mí na Modlag, 1918, chun a dhearbhughadh de bhreis adhbhalmhóir gur toil leó bheith díleas do Shaorstát Éireann. Ar an adhbhar son deinimídne .i. na teachtaí atá toghtha ag muinntir na hÉireann agus sinn i nDáil Chomhairle i dteannta a chéile, bunughadh Saorstáit d’áthanphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1
the vote and all men could vote without property qualification. Sinn Féin had won an overwhelming victory, taking 73 of the 105 seats in Ireland. Unionists won 26 and the Irish Parliamentary Party six (down from 80). The majority vote for Sinn Féin was 70 per cent: 24 of the 32 Counties returned only Sinn Féin TDs. Of Dublin’s 11 TDs, all but one were Sinn Féin. The myth of ninecounty Ulster being Unionist was exposed. Unionists polled a majority in Antrim,
dheimhniughadh i n-ainm náisiún na hÉireann agus sinn féin do chur fá gheasaibh an deimhniughadh so do chur i bhfeidhm ar gach slighe ar ár gcumas. Órduighmíd ná fuil de chomhacht ag éinne ach amháin ag na Teachtaíbh toghtha ag muinntir na hÉireann dlighthe dhéanamh gur dual do mhuinntir na hÉireann géilleadh dhóibh, agus ná fuil de pháirliment ann go mbeidh an náisiún umhal do ach amháin Dáil Éireann. Dearbhuighmíd ná fuilingeóchaimíd go bráth an cumhangcas atá dá dhéanamh ag an annsmacht Ghallda ar ár gceart náisiúnta agus éilighmíd ar chamthaí na Sasanach imtheacht ar fad as ár dtír. Ilighimíd ar gach saornáisiún ar domhan neamhspleádhchus na hÉireann d’admháil agus fógraimíd gurab éigean ár neamhspleádhchus chun síothcháin a chur i n-áirithe do’n domhan. I n-ainm muinntire na hÉireann cuirimíd ár gcinneamhaint fé chomairce Dhia an UileChomhacht do chuir misneach agus buan-tseasamhacht n-ár sinnsear chun leanamhaint leó go treun les na céadta bliadhain gcoinnibh tíoránachta gan truagh gan taise: agus de bhrigh gur móide an neart an ceart a bheith againn san troid d’fhágadar mar oighreacht againn, aithchuingimiíd ar Dhia A bheannacht do bhronnadh orainn i gcóir an treasa deiridh den chomhrac go bfhuilmid fé gheasaibh leanmhaint do go dtí go mbainfeam amach an tsaoirse. 17
Armagh, Derry and Down, but there were nationalist majorities in Cavan, Donegal, Fermanagh, Monaghan and Tyrone. The will of the Irish people was crystal clear. The question was how would the British government respond to that mandate as expressed in the Mansion House on that momentous day? The British government was a war-time Coalition led by Prime Minister Lloyd George and including Liberals and members of the Conservative and Unionist Party who were vehemently opposed to any form of Irish self-government , and were in league with Unionists in Ireland. Lloyd George
“Never was the past so near, or the present so brave, or the future so full of hope” MÁIRE COMERFORD
exploited the British Empire’s victory over Germany and, in Britain, the election was to be remembered as the ‘Khaki Election’, as officers and men in uniform featured so prominently as candidates and election workers. The mood of jingoism was high, but tinged with trauma and a thirst for revenge following the appalling slaughter of the war which escalated from August 1914 to its close on 11 November 1918. There was no mood in Britain, least of all among the Establishment, to recognise the democratic wishes of the ‘ungrateful’ Irish. The British Establishment felt triumphant
Message to the Free Nations of the World To Nations of the World! Greeting. The Nation of Ireland having proclaimed her national independence, calls through her elected representatives in Parliament, assembled in the Irish Capital on January 21st, 1919, upon every free nation to support the Irish Republic by recognising Ireland’s national status and her right to its vindication at the Peace Congress. Nationally, the race, the language, the customs and traditions of Ireland are radically distinct from the English. Ireland is one of the most ancient nations in Europe; and she has preserved her national integrity, vigorous and intact, through seven centuries of foreign oppression; she has never relinquished her national rights, and through the long era of English usurpation she has in every generation defiantly proclaimed her inalienable right of nationhood down to her last glorious report to arms in 1916. Internationally, Ireland is the gateway of the Atlantic. Ireland is the last outpost of Europe towards the West: Ireland is the point upon which great sea routes between East and West converge: her independence is demanded by the Freedom of the Seas: her great harbours are empty and idle solely because English policy is determined to retain Ireland as a barren bulwark for English aggrandisement, and the unique geographical position of this island, far from being a benefit and safeguard to Europe and America, is subjected to the purposes of English policy of world domination. 18
Ireland today reasserts her historic nationhood the more confidently before the new world emerging from the War. Because she believes in freedom and justice as the fundamental principles of international law, because she believes in a frank co-operation between the people for equal rights against the vested privileges of ancient tyrannies, because the permanent peace of Europe can never be secured by perpetuating military domination for the profit of empire but only by establishing the control of government in every land upon the basis of the free will of a free people, and the existing state of war, between Ireland and England, can never be ended until Ireland is definitely evacuated by the armed forces of England. For these among other reasons, Ireland - resolutely and irrevocably determined at the dawn of the promised era of selfdetermination and liberty that she will suffer foreign dominion no longer - calls upon every free nation to uphold her national claim to complete independence as an Irish Republic against the arrogant pretensions of England founded in fraud and sustained only by an overwhelming military occupation, and demands to be confronted publicly with England at the Congress of the Nations, in order that the civilised world, having judged between English wrong and Irish right, may guarantee to Ireland its permanent support for the maintenance of her national independence. ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
Scéal o Dháil Éireann chum Saor-Náisiúin an Domhain Do Náisiúnaibh an Domhain: Beatha agus Sláinte. Tá Náisiún na hÉireann tar éis a saoirse do fhorfhógairt, tá a teachtaí toghtha tar éis teacht i ndáil chómhairle i bpríomhchathair na tíre an t-aonmhadh lá fichead de mhí Eanair, 1919. Tríotha súd, chum Saorstát Éireann do chothughadh, iarrann sí ar gach náisiún dílis náisiúntacht Éireann féin do admháil agus a bheith de bhuaidh aici an náisiúntacht soin do dheimhniughadh i láthair Comhdhála na Síothchána. I gcúrsáibh náisiúntachta, tá deighilt ó bhonn idir Éire agus Sacsa i dtaoibh cineadh is teangan, béas is nós is seanchus. Náisiún de na náisiúnaibh is ársa ‘san Eóraip uile is eadh Éire, agus na tréithe is dual di táid slán iomshlán aici fós i n-aindeoin an fhóiréigin Ghallda atá ag brughadh uirthe le seacht gcéad bliadhain. Níor scaoil sí riamh uaithe na buadha is dúthchas di, agus níor leig sí riamh do ré dul thairste gan an náisiúntacht is dual di féin an leithligh do dhearbhadh go dána ó Ghabháltas Gall i leith go dtí an tráth is déadhnaighe dár ghlac sí claidheamh go cródha i mbliadhain a 1916. I gcúrsaíbh eadarnáisiúntachta, is í Éire geata na Fairrge Móire; is í Éire daingean deiridh na hEórpa á’n Iarthar; ionad is eadh í mar a dhruideann raona tráchtála le chéile ó Oirthear agus Iarthar: is éigean di bheith neamhspleádhach i gcómhair Saoirse na Fairrge; is éigean a cuanta bheith ar oscailt i gcómhair gach uile náisiún i n-ionad a mbeith fé smacht Shacsan féin amháin. Táid na cuanta úd follamh díomhaoin le fada de bhrígh gurab é meón Shacsan agus lucht treórtha a loingis Éire do choimeád mar sciath chosanta i gcómhair móruighthe Shacsan agus a hImpreachta. Dá réir sin, i n-ionad buntáiste agus cosaint do theacht don Eóraip agus do Aimeirce de bharr dealuighthe an oileáin seo is anphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1
amhla bhaintear feidhm aisti chum an domhan mór do choimeád fé chomhacht Shacsan ar leithligh. Tá Éire ag aithdhearbhadh don domhan nuadh so atá ag á scaoileadh féin ón gcogadh go mbaineann náisiúntacht ársa léi, agus is móide a dóchas go ngéillfear dá scéal de bhrigh go gcreideann sí gur Saoirse agus ceart atá mar bhun ar Dlighe na Náisiún, gur cóir do phobalaibh cuidiughadh le chéile, ós árd, ar son an Chirt is i gcoinnibh gach buadha dá dtéigheann go dlúth leis an tíoránacht; gur deimhin nach de bharr buansmacht arm ar mhaithe le impreacht a bhuanóchar an tsíothcháin ‘san Eóraip acht de bharr smacht riaghaltais a cheapfar i ngach tír le saorthoil saerchine; agus gur deimhin fós ná cuirfear deireadh choidhche leis an síorchogadh so idir Éire agus Sacsa chum go nglanfaidh lucht airm Shacsan as talamh na hÉireann go bráth na breithe. Dá mbrígh so uile, agus de bhrígh, mór-mhór, gur “Sinn Féin Sinn Féin” soiscéal an tsaoghail indiu is go bhfuil réim na Saoirse láimh linn do réir gach geallamhna, tá ceaptha go daintean diongbhálta ag irinn gan géilleadh choidhche do smacht eachtrannach. Ar an adhbhar soin iarrann sí ar gach náisiún dílis cuidiughadh léi san éileamh atá curtha aici roimpe, ‘sé sin Saoirse i n-iomshlán agus Saorstát Gaedhlach. Níl ceart ná cóir ag Riaghaltas Shacsan i nÉirinn, ní raibh de bhun riamh le smacht Sacsan i nÉirinn ach calaois, ní féidir a bhuanughadh ná a choimeád ar siubhal féin, gan arm uathbhásach. Dá dheascaibh sin is mian le hÉirinn seasamh i láthair Sacsan ag Comhdháil na Náisiún i dtreo go bhfeicfidh an saoghal an scéal atá eadartha, go ndéanfaidh an domhan mór breitheamhnas ar an éagcóir atá ar siubhal ag Sacsaibh agus an ceart atá ag dul do Éirinn is go ngeallfar do mhuinntir na hÉireann pé congnamh a theastóchaidh uatha chum a saoirse do bhuanughadh do dheoin Dé. 19
and more a world power now than ever, with its main European rival, Imperial Germany, gone down in defeat, along with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Turkish Empire. To counter-balance British imperialism, Dáil Éireann pointed to US President Woodrow Wilson’s rhetorical commitment to the self-determination of nations, supposedly the basis on which the United States entered the war on the side of Britain and France in 1917. In its Message to the Free Nations, read in Irish, English and French on 21 January, the Dáil referred to Ireland’s strategic position, a key reason for England holding on to the country: “Internationally, Ireland is the gateway of the Atlantic. Ireland is the last outpost of Europe towards the West: Ireland is the point on which great trade routes between East and West converge: her independence is demanded by the freedom of the seas: her great harbours must be open to all nations instead of being the monopoly of England.” However the British ensured that the nations they held in subjection – including Ireland, India and Palestine, to name but three – would have no hearing at the Peace Conference then convening in Paris, a key demand of Sinn Féin. Britain and France had already agreed on the carve-up of the Middle East between them, with a Zionist homeland guaranteed in Palestine, and oil flowing to the West, leading to a century of disaster for the people of that region that continues to this day. Seen from the perspective of January 1919, however, it seemed that Imperialism may be ending altogether and that working people were coming into their democratic inheritance. The popular uprising of soldiers, sailors and workers in Germany
Democratic Programme
• Máire Comerford
We declare in the words of the Irish Republican Proclamation the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies to be indefeasible, and in the language of our first President. Pádraíg Mac Piarais, we declare that the Nation’s sovereignty extends not only to all men and women of the Nation, but to all its material possessions, the Nation’s soil and all its resources, all the wealth and all the wealth-producing processes within the Nation, and with him we reaffirm that all right to private property must be subordinated to the public right and welfare. We declare that we desire our country to be ruled in accordance with the principles of Liberty, Equality, and Justice for all, which alone can secure permanence of Government in the willing adhesion of the people. We affirm the duty of every man and woman to give allegiance and service to the commonwealth, and declare it is the duty of the Nation to assure that every citizen shall have opportunity to spend his or her strength and faculties in the service of the people. In return for willing service, we, in the name of the Republic, declare the right of every citizen to an adequate share of the produce of the Nation’s labour. It shall be the first duty of the Government of the Republic to make provision for the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of the children, to secure that no child shall suffer hunger or cold from lack of food, clothing, or shelter, but that all shall be provided with the means and facilities requisite for their proper education and training as Citizens of a Free and Gaelic Ireland. The Irish Republic fully realises the necessity of abolishing the present odious, degrading and 20
had ended the war and toppled the Kaiser and looked set to emulate the victory of socialism in Russia under the Bolsheviks in October 1917. Working-class militancy was on the rise all over Europe. Ireland was no exception, as the General Strike against Conscription had shown. Yet, the country was still predominantly rural and agricultural. Against this background the Democratic Programme adopted by Dáil Éireann, the third declaration of 21 January, can be seen as radical and progressive and relevant up to our own time. Máire Comerford wrote that “nobody survived the 1916 Rising to take part in Dáil Éireann who had had any important part in creating the literature of the insurrection, or who understood its motives in depth”. In this, no doubt, she had in mind principally James Connolly and PH Pearse. However, if they did not survive to participate in the Dáil, their ideas certainly formed the basis of its Democratic Programme. Pearse’s last major piece of writing before the Rising was his essay ‘The Sovereign People’, which was undoubtedly influenced by Connolly’s socialism. The Democratic Programme stated: “In the language of our first President, Pádraig Mac Piarais, we declare that the Nation’s sovereignty extends not only to all men and women of the Nation, but to all its material possessions, the Nation’s soil and all its resources, all the wealth and all the wealth-producing processes within the Nation, and with him we reaffirm that all right to private property must be subordinated to the public right and welfare.” The Programme described the “first duty of the Republic” as ensuring that all citizens were provided with the necessities of life.
foreign Poor Law System, substituting therefor a sympathetic native scheme for the care of the Nation’s aged and infirm, who shall not be regarded as a burden, but rather entitled to the Nation’s gratitude and consideration. Likewise it shall be the duty of the Republic to take such measures as will safeguard the health of the people and ensure the physical as well as the moral well-being of the Nation. It shall be our duty to promote the development of the Nation’s resources, to increase the productivity of its soil, to exploit its mineral deposits, peat bogs, and fisheries, its waterways and harbours, in the interests and for the benefit of the Irish people. It shall be the duty of the Republic to adopt all measures necessary for the recreation and invigoration of our Industries, and to ensure their being developed on the most beneficial and progressive co-operative and industrial lines. With the adoption of an extensive Irish Consular Service, trade with foreign Nations shall be revived on terms of mutual advantage and goodwill, and while undertaking the organisation of the Nation’s trade, import and export, it shall be the duty of the Republic to prevent the shipment from Ireland of food and other necessaries until the wants of the Irish people are fully satisfied and the future provided for. It shall also devolve upon the National Government to seek co-operation of the Governments of other countries in determining a standard of Social and Industrial Legislation with a view to a general and lasting improvement in the conditions under which the working classes live and labour. ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
Clár Oibre Poblacánaighe
Dearbhuighimíd, i mbriathraibh for-fhógra Saorstáit Éireann go bhfuil sé de cheart ag muinntir na hÉireann sealbh na hÉireann do bheith aca agus cinneamhain an náisiúin do bheith fé n-a riar, agus nách féidir an ceart san do bhaint díobh; agus fébh mar dubhairt ár gceud Uachtarán Pádraig Mac Piarais, dearbhuighimíd gur ceart go mbeadh, ní amháin fir agus mná na hÉireann, acht adhbhar maoine na hÉireann fé riaradh an náisiúin, idir talamh agus gustal na hÉireann, gach sadhas maoine agus gach gléas chun maoin do sholáthairt dá bhfuil san tír; agus athfhógraimíd an rud d’fhógair an Piarsach gur dual go mbéadh tosach ag ceart an phobuil chun leasa an phobuil ar cheart an duine chun seilbhe fé leith. Dearbhuighmíd gur mian linn an ceart, an tsaoirse agus cothrom do chách a bheith mar bhuntacaí riaghlughadh na tíre, agus ná fuil d’urradhas le buanughadh Riaghaltais ná saorthoiliughadh na ndaoine chuige ach é. Dearbhuighimíd go bhfuil sé de dhualgas ar gach fear agus gach mnaoi bheith umhal, díleas, freagarthach agus freastalach don Phobalacht; agus go bhfuil sé de dhualgas ar an náisiún feuchaint chuige go mbeidh caoi ag gach duine san tír ar a cheart agus a acfuinn féin do chur i bhfeidhm ar mhaithe le leas an phobuil. Mar chúiteamh ar fhreagra is freastal na ndaoine, dearbhuighimíd i n-ainm an tSaorstáit, gur dual do gach duine a cion féin de thoradh saothair an náisiúin a bheith aige. Isé an príomhchúram a bheidh ar Riaghaltas an tSaorstáit ná gleusa soláthar chun leas corpordha, leas spioradálta agus leas inntleachta na leanbhaí do chur i n-áirithe dhóibh; feuchaint chuige ná béidh an t-ocras ná an fuacht ag goilleamhaint ar éin leanbh de cheal bídh, eudaigh ná dín tighe; acht go bhfaghaidh siad gach cóir agus gleus is gádh dhóibh chun teagaisc agus taithighe ceart do thabhairt dóibh i gcóir na hoibre a bheidh le deunamh aca mar chomhaltaí den tSaorstát Gaedhealach. Is follus do Shaorstát Éireann nach foláir an dlighe gránna iasachta a bhainnean le Tighthe anphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1
na mBocht i nÉirinn agus gach a ngabhann leis de chéimsíos is de náire, do chur ar ceal, agus plean éifeachtach éigin do cheapadh a bheidh oireamhnach don tír chun aire cheart do thabhairt do sheandaoinibh agus do lagaibh an náisiúin, daoine a thuilleann freastal agus buidheachas ón náisiún i n-ionad tarcuisne agus neamhshuime. Na theannta son, beidh sé de chúram ar an Saorstát gach gleus is áis dár ghádh a chur i bhfeidhm chun sláinte an phobuil agus leas corpordha an náisiúin, agus leas anama an náisiúin dá bhárr do chur i n-áirithe dhóibh. Beidh sé de dhualgas orainn cabhrughadh le meudughadh gustail an náisiúin, an talamh a dheunamh níos torthamhla agus níos iontsaothruighthe; mianach na hÉireann, a portaigh mhóna, a cuid iascaigh, a bealaigh uisce, agus a cuanta do chur chun críche i ceart chun tairbhe muinntire na hÉireann. Beidh sé de dhualgas ar an Saorstát gach níd is gádh do dheunamh chun ár ndéantúsa d’aithbheóchaint is do neartughadh agus feuchaint chuige go saothróchfar iad do réir “comhar oibre” ar an gcuma is feárr ‘s is oireamhnaighe ‘s is mó raghaidh i dtairbhe do chách. Cuirfar feadhmannaigh ó Éirinn go tíortha thar lear d’fhonn ceannuidheacht agus tráchtáil do chur chun cinn idir Éire agus na tíortha úd, a raghaidh i leas don tír seo agus dosna tíortha eile. Nuair a thabharfaidh an Saorstát fé thráchtáil an náisiúin, idir díoluidheacht agus ceannuidheacht, do riarad, beidh sé de dhualgas ar an Saorstát gan biadh ná earraí eile go bhfuil gádh leó do leigint thar lear ó Éirinn go mbiedeh a leórdhóthain fachta ag muinntir na hÉireann, agus a sáith i dtaisce aca i gcóir an ama le teacht. Beidh sé de chúram ar Riaghaltas an Náisiúin, leis, a iarraidh ar Riaghaltaisí tíortha eile cabhrughadh agus comhoibriughadh ar chomh-chéim leó chun dlighthe i dtaobh gnáthshaoghail agus gnáth-oibre an phobuil do cheapadh a chuirfidh feabhas mór ar an gcórughadh saoghail is saothair a bhíonn le fághail ag lucht oibre. 21
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ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
• Rita O’Hare and Máire Comerford
Its final and rarely quoted paragraph was internationalist in outlook: “It shall also devolve upon the National Government to seek co-operation of the Governments of other countries in determining a standard of Social and Industrial Legislation with a view to a general and lasting improvement in the conditions under which the working classes live and labour.” What happened to the declarations of the First Dáil in the months and years that followed is beyond the scope of this article. The hope of a new era of freedom and equality was not fulfilled, the united 32-County Republic was not achieved, the Democratic Programme was not implemented. But for countless numbers of republicans the hope and the commitment never died. For many, that commitment led to early graves as British and later Free State repression was met with republican resistance. For many others, it lasted all their lives. One of those for whom the flame lit on
The hope of a new era of freedom and equality was not fulfilled, the united 32-County Republic was not achieved, the Democratic Programme was not implemented
anphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1
21 January 1919 never went out was Máire Comerford. In every decade after 1919, up until her death in 1982, she worked for the Republic. She supported the republican prisoners in the H-Block of Long Kesh and Armagh Jail during the 1981 Hunger Strike. In a last conversation with Belfast republican Rita O’Hare, she said: “I’m going to die soon but I have some work to do first.” Writing Máire Comerford’s obituary in An Phoblacht in December 1982, Rita O’Hare re-echoed the call that Máire heard that never to be forgotten day in the Mansion House: “Máire’s work will not be complete until we build the Republic she spent her life working for, the socialist Republic, where all the children of the nation will be cherished equally.”
Mícheál Mac Donncha's book
'The Mansion House and the Irish Revolution'
is due to be published in early 2019
23
Carlow _____________________________________ James Lennon Cavan East _________________________________ Arthur Griffith** Cavan West ________________________________ Paul Galligan Clare East __________________________________ Éamon de Valera*** Clare West _________________________________ Brian O’Higgins Cork City ___________________________________ Liam de Róiste Cork City ___________________________________ James J. Walsh* Cork East __________________________________ David Kent Cork Mid ___________________________________ Terence MacSwiney Cork North ________________________________ Patrick O’Keeffe Cork North East ___________________________ Thomas Hunter Cork South ________________________________ Michael Collins Cork South East ___________________________ Diarmuid Lynch Cork West _________________________________ Seán Hayes* Derry City _________________________________ Eoin MacNeill***** Donegal North ____________________________ Joseph O’Doherty * Donegal South ____________________________ Peter Ward* Donegal West _____________________________ Joseph Sweeney * Dublin Clontarf ___________________________ Richard Mulcahy * Dublin College Green ____________________ Seán T. O’Kelly * Dublin Harbour ___________________________ Philip Shanahan* Dublin North ______________________________ Frank Lawless Dublin Pembroke _________________________ Desmond FitzGerald Dublin South ______________________________ George Gavan Duffy * Dublin St. James’s ________________________ Joseph McGrath Dublin St. Michan’s ______________________ Michael Staines* Dublin St. Patrick’s _______________________ Constance Markievicz Dublin St. Stephen’s Green ______________ Thomas Kelly * Fermanagh South ________________________ Seán O’Mahony Galway Connemara ______________________ Pádraic Ó Máille* Galway East _______________________________ Liam Mellows**** Galway North _____________________________ Bryan Cusack Galway South _____________________________ Frank Fahy Kerry East _________________________________ Piaras Béaslaí* Kerry North _______________________________ James Crowley Kerry South _______________________________ Fionán Lynch Kerry West ________________________________ Austin Stack Kildare North _____________________________ Domhnall Ua Buachalla* Kildare South _____________________________ Art O’Connor Kilkenny North ___________________________ W. T. Cosgrave Kilkenny South ___________________________ James O’Mara King’s County _____________________________ Patrick McCartan Leitrim _____________________________________ James Dolan Limerick City ______________________________ Michael Colivet Limerick East ______________________________ Richard Hayes Limerick West _____________________________ Con Collins* Longford ___________________________________ Joseph McGuinness Louth _______________________________________ John J. O’Kelly Mayo East _________________________________ Éamon de Valera*** Mayo North _______________________________ John Crowley * Mayo South _______________________________ William Sears Mayo West ________________________________ Joseph MacBride Meath North ______________________________ Liam Mellows**** Meath South ______________________________ Eamonn Duggan* Monaghan North _________________________ Ernest Blythe Monaghan South _________________________ Seán MacEntee National University of Ireland ____________ Eoin MacNeill***** Queen’s County __________________________ Kevin O’Higgins* Roscommon North _______________________ George Noble Plunkett Roscommon South _______________________ Harry Boland Sligo North ________________________________ J. J. Clancy Sligo South ________________________________ Alexander McCabe Tipperary East ____________________________ Pierce McCan• Tipperary Mid _____________________________ Séamus Burke* Tipperary North ___________________________ Joseph MacDonagh Tipperary South __________________________ P. J. Moloney * Tyrone North West _______________________ Arthur Griffith** Waterford County ________________________ Cathal Brugha* Westmeath ________________________________ Laurence Ginnell Wexford North ____________________________ Roger Sweetman* Wexford South ____________________________ James Ryan* Wicklow East ______________________________ Seán Etchingham Wicklow West _____________________________ Robert Barton*
MEETING OF THE MEMBERS OF THE
Sinn Féin won 73 of 105 constituencies but 4 TDs were elected for 2 constituencies, so there were 69 persons elected for Sinn Féin in total. *Denotes members who attended the opening session of the First Dáil on 21
January 1919.
**Arthur Griffith was elected for two constituencies; Cavan East and Tyrone
North West.
***Éamon de Valera was elected for two constituencies; Clare East and Mayo
East.
**** Liam Mellows was elected for two constituencies; Galway East and Meath
North.
*****Eoin MacNeill was elected for two constituencies; Derry City and NU of
Ireland. • Died in prison on 6 March 1919
24
ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
1st DÁIL ÉIREANN ON 21 JANUARY 1919, IN MANSION HOUSE IN DUBLIN
anphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1
25
The importance of
Soloheadbeg
1919
‘Flashpoints, ‘most contentious’, must be ‘handled with care’ – these are just some of the establishment media warnings about the next phase of Ireland’s centenary commemorations. Specifically these health warnings above deal with the Soloheadbeg ambush launched by the IRA in January 1919. AENGUS Ó SNODAIGH gives an informed background to the Soloheadbeg attack, dispelling much of the revisionist commentary emerging about the War of Independence. On the very day that Ireland was asserting its right to govern itself in the Mansion House, Dublin, 100 years ago, an IRA attack, though unconnected, was to have as profound an effect on the course of Irish history. The events of that day in Soloheadbeg, near Limerick Junction, County Tipperary, were not the first IRA attack on crown forces since 1916 or even the first to result in crown force casualties. Since 1916 a secret war was being waged throughout Ireland. A reading of the pamphlet 'Two years of English Atrocities in Ireland 1917-18' confirms this. Listing killings by the RIC; the baton and bayonet charges against public meetings by British soldiers and police, and the 'official' number of civilian casualties; raids and seizures; suppression of newspapers; and the introduction of repressive legislation in the period, the pamphlet also gives a invaluable list of the hundreds arrested, charged and imprisoned for "political offences". Sometimes it lists the 'crime' for which they were convicted, including giving their name in Irish, singing seditious songs, travelling without a permit or smuggling weapons and explosives. During these years seven people were shot or bayoneted to death by soldiers or the police, six including Thomas Ashe died in prison or owing to broken health shortly after release from jail. I have found only one crown forces’ casualty in the period, that of a District Inspector Mills who died from blows of a hurley when he 26
ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
led a charge against an anti-conscription march in Dublin on 14 June 1918. It becomes obvious that during the two years prior to 1919 both the IRA and the state were gearing up to a major conflict. The IRA was recruiting, training and arming its Volunteers. Sinn Féin and the other organisations engaged in challenging English rule in Ireland were upping the ante through their electioneering, the anti-conscription campaign, the blatant defiance to English rule, using the Irish language, singing national songs, breaking curfews, organising public meetings and dances to promote republicanism and to exert the right to free speech and assembly. South Tipperary was no different from anywhere else in Ireland. During 1917 and 1918 Volunteers were openly drilling and parading in uniform and when in March 1918 two prominent Volunteers were charged with illegal drilling 200 Volunteers were mobilised to descend on the courthouse in Tipperary. "The district inspector sent for military reinforcements, who were surrounded, before the Volunteers entered the court and made a laughing stock of the proceedings." When information filtered through to the Brigade prior to December 1918 of explosives being transported in their area they began their preparations. Lar Breen, a brother of Dan, was sent to work in a local quarry to gather intelligence. He confirmed that a delivery was expected around 16 January but the exact date and route couldn’t be confirmed. The Volunteers had to lie in wait for a few days before word came that the convoy was on its way. Those involved on the day of the operation were four officers of the 3rd Tipperary Brigade IRA; Seán Treacy, Dan Breen, Seán Hogan (then only 17) and Séamus Robinson. They were joined by five other Volunteers: Tadhg Crowe, Mick McCormack, Paddy O’Dwyer anphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1
(Hollyford), Michael Ryan (Donohill) and Seán O’Meara (Tipperary) the latter two being cycle scouts. Robinson, who participated in the 1916 Rising, was the organiser and Treacy, a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood since 1911, was the logistics expert. In their planning for the ambush Treacy and the others were unsure of the size of the police contingent which would be guarding the gelignite and made preparations for various contingencies, including a guard of up to 12 RIC men. Tadhg Crowe was to guard the policemen when they were captured while Paddy Dwyer was the lookout who was to follow the convoy from Tipperary town. On the eventful day Dwyer saw the explosives, 160 pounds of gelignite, being loaded on a cart and heading off with a guard of two policemen. He cycled ahead and watched as they took the long route to the Soloheadbeg quarry. He took the short route and informed the anxious Volunteers of the convoy’s size and movements. The horse was being led by two workmen Edward Godfrey and Patrick Flynn, while the two policemen, Constables Patrick MacDonnell and James O’Connell, walked behind with their rifles slung over their shoulders. As they passed Cranitch’s Field near the quarry the policemen were called on to surrender by masked men. When they took up firing positions Seán Treacy, followed by Breen and Robinson, opened fire. Leaving the two RIC men dead on the road the IRA hurried the horse and cart out of the area, burying the sticks of gelignite in a hide close by. Two sticks were dropped at other locations to throw the crown forces off the scent. The Volunteers went on the run. GHQ were anxious that those involved would go to the USA until the situation calmed down, but the Volunteers refused. Sean Treacy said “any fool can shoot a peeler and 27
• Séamus Robinson, Seán Treacy, Dan Breen, Michael Brennan and Seán Hogan (inset). 'Wanted Poster' issued for Dan Breen
run away to America’’. Instead, he asked that a proclamation directing all British troops to leave Ireland be issued. Condemnation for the killings was swift and from every quarter, including local republicans. Breen states: “The people had voted for a Republic; now they seemed to abandon us who tried to bring that Republic nearer, for we had taken them at their word. Our former friends shunned us. They preferred the drawing-room as a battleground.” Dáil Éireann said nothing, though some Sinn Féin leaders publicly disapproved of going down the path of armed insurrection once more. It wasn’t until April 1921 that Dáil Éireann, at Erskine Childers’ bidding, formally declared hostilities against Britain. Tipperary was declared a 'special military area' and all fairs and markets were banned. Military reinforcements were rushed to the area and a major hunt was on for the IRA men. A reward of £1,000 initially offered was increased to £10,000, but to no avail. The men involved remained on the run and they all saw regular action in the subsequent war, some making the supreme sacrifice for Ireland’s freedom. As with other ambushes of the time the sole purpose of the ambush in Soloheadbeg was the capture of explosives. An order curtailing military style operations from the IRA GHQ meant no major operation occurred for a few months after Soloheadbeg. The official newspaper of the Volunteers, An tÓglach took a different line stating ten days after Soloheadbeg that Volunteers could use "all legitimate methods of warfare against the soldiers and policemen of the English usurper, and to slay them if necessary to overcome their resistance". The ambush at Soloheadbeg, County Tipperary, took place on 21 January 1919. AENGUS Ó SNODAIGH is a Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South Central. 28
ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
‘Tá Acht Gaeilge fiúntach de dhíth’ anphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1
2019. Bliain úr. Ré úr. Ach maireann go fóill mórdhúshláin pholaitiúla ó thuaidh. Níor chóir go mbeadh an Ghaeilge ina measc. Is ceist í An Ghaeilge ó thuaidh a réitíodh roimhe seo. “Nár tháinig siad ar chomhaontú maidir le hAcht Gaeilge sna sé chontae blianta ó shin”, a dúirt duine muinteartha liom le linn na Nollag. “Tháinig”, ar mise, “ach mar a insíonn stair na háite seo go maith dúinn, ní fiú faic iad comhaontaithe múna gcuirtear i bhfeidhm in am iad, mar is cuí agus mar is ceart”. 2019. Tá dhá bhliain anois imithe leis an ghaoth ó chuir Paul Givan MLA deireadh la sparánachtaí Líofa. “Buile maraithe na muice” mar a cuireadh síos air ag an am, agus daoine ag amharc ar £50,000 a baineadh ó scéim Ghaeltachta Líofa, i mórchomhthéacs an £500,000,000 a bhí i mbéal na ndaoine sa tseachtain ché´anna agus ceist an RHI ag teacht chun solais, nó chun teasa. Mar a tuairiscíodh ag an am, déanfaidh staraithe agus lucht na hanailíse an dá mhéid airgid sin, an dóigh ar caitheadh leo, nó nár
29
caitheadh leo, a mheas ar feadh na mblianta fada atá le teacht. Cinneadh siombalach a bhí ann a spreag pobal na Gaeilge i mbun gnímh ar bhealach nach bhfacthas roimhe sin i mo thuairim. Tá dhá bhliain imithe fosta ó chuir Paul Givan na sparánachtaí Líofa ar ais. Léiriú a bhí sa chinneadh sin go raibh imní air roimh chumhacht an phobail; nó gur thuig sé gur chuir sé a chos sa chlábar. Mhúscail sé fathach. Fathach a bhí ar tí éirí amach roimhe sin agus sraith leanúnach ionsaithe feicthe againn i gcoinne na Gaeilge agus an chuma ar an scéal go raibh stádas na Gaeilge ag titim in áit bheith ag fás ar bhonn oifigiúil ó thuaidh. Agus ó shin amach tá infreastruchtúr gnímh tógtha agus buanaithe ag An Dream Dearg; feachtas neamhspleách, pobal-bhunaithe atá ábalta daoine a cheangail le chéile, spásanna as an nua a chruthú don fheachtasaíocht agus glúin úr de cheannairí cumasacha teanga a thabhairt chun tosaigh.
Ré Úr Comhionannais
2019. Tá 20 bliain anois imithe ó gealladh “ré úr comhionannais” dúinn i gComhaontú Aoine an Chéasta; ó gealladh go ndéanfaí “gníomh diongbháilte” don Ghaeilge agus do phobal a labhartha. Ní hionann “gníomh diongbháilte” dár liom agus polasaithe leatromacha i gcoinne comharthaíochta Gaeilge i gComhairlí ó thuaidh; ní hionann “gníomh diongbháilte” dár liom agus Gaelscoileanna go fóill ann nach bhfuil lóistín sásúil acu; ní hionann “gníomh diongbháilte” dár liom nuair nár cuireadh i bhfeidhm riamh Straitéis chun an Ghaeilge a fhorbairt agus a chosaint, a aontaíodh agus a bhí mar chuid den Chlár Rialtais in 2011 (go háirithe agus breithiúnas stairiúil i gcoinne an Fheidhmeannais san Ard-Chúirt i Márta 2017 ar an cheist
30
Ní mór go mbeadh an reachtaíocht bunaithe ar riachtanais an phobail, ar an dea-chleachtas idirnáisiúnta agus ar choimitmintí a tugadh roimhe seo
ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
seo); ní hionann “gníomh diongbháilte” dár liom agus eagrais thurasóireachta a dhiúltaíonn an Ghaeilge a chur san áireamh ar ábhar turasóireachta sna hionaid atá acu (Clochán an Aifir, mar shampla maith de seo). Agus cad é an leithscéal a thugtar dúinn go minic ag lucht séanta ár gceart? “Níl aon reachtaíocht ann a insíonn dúinn nó a thugann treoir dúinn an Ghaeilge a chlúdach. Dá mbeadh a leithéid de reachtaíocht ar fáil, d’fheadfadh muid an polasaí sin a athrú”…
Cuir i bhfeidhm commitmintí
2019. Tá muid anois ag teacht ar 13 bliain ó gealladh Acht Gaeilge mar chuid de Chomhaontú Chill Rìmhinn in 2006. Tá an tAcht a gealladh ag an am sin le comhlíonadh agus le cur i bhfeidhm go fóill. Tá an tAcht sin aontaithe, nó tá an chuma a bheadh ar an Acht sin aontaithe, is é sin go mbeadh sé bunaithe ar eispéiris agus ar thaithí na Breataine Bige agus na sé chontae is fiche. Ní mór dúinn cloí le bun-eilimintí na nAchtanna sin, na láidreachtaí a leanúint agus foghlaim ó na láigí a bhí ann roimhe seo. Glactar leis go forleathan ag saineolaithe reachtaíochta teanga go bhfuil ceithre chloch choirnéil ann ar a dtógtar an reachtaíocht féin agus is fríd an ceithre bhunchloch seo a chuirtear an chuid eile den fheoil ar na cnámha: Stádas Oifigiúil: go mbeadh an Ghaeilge aitheanta mar theanga oifigiúil anseo. Gan seo níl maitheas ar bith sa rud. Munar féidir linn an Ghaeilge, ár dteanga dúchais, a lua mar theanga
anphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1
oifigiúil anseo, cad é faoin spéir atá ag dul ar aghaidh? Feiceálacht agus Comharthaíocht: Tá sé aitheanta ar fud na cruinne gur gá mionteangacha a léiriú in áiteanna poiblí chun an teanga sin a normalú agus tuilleadh feasachta a dhéanamh go nádúrtha. Tá an chuid seo barr-thábhachtach don phobal agus an t-éileamh seo anois ag teacht in uachtar mar scrúdú litmis ar aon Acht Gaeilge a thiocfas chun tosaigh. Má tá cosc go fóill ar an teanga in áiteanna poiblí is Acht amú a bheas againn. Tá sé tábhachtach, i ndiaidh an cur agus cúiteamh a thit amach le dhá bhliain anuas, go mbeidh Acht Gaeilge ‘le feiceáil’. Coimisinéir Teanga: Feidhmíonn an duine agus an oifig seo mar idirghabhálaí idir an phobal, na páirtithe, lucht déanta polasaithe agus an stát. Duine agus oifig neamhspleách, a dhéanfas cinntithe agus socruithe go cothrom, bunaithe ar dheáchleachtas agus a scaoileann saor ceist na Gaeilge ó chlaontacht pholaitiúil. Seirbhísí don Phobal: “Níor mhaith liom ach a bheith beo, i mo rogha teanga féin, i mo thír féin, agus tá dualgas ar an stát an rogha saoil sin a éascú”. Seirbhísí tacaíochta oideachais. Bunsheirbhísí sna Comhairlí áitiúla. A bheith ábalta ceadúnas tiomána a fháil trí Ghaeilge. Gaeilge a chur ar mo theastas breithe agus eile… Tá deis aonuaire againn anseo rud éigin fiúntach fadtéarmach a bhaint amach. Ná caillimis an deis sin. Ná glacfar le sop in áit na scuaibe. Mo chomhairle: munar Acht fiúntach é, ní fiú é. Is gníomhaí teanga é AN DOCHTÚIR PÁDRAIG Ó TIARNAIGH i mór-fheachtas #AchtAnois An Dream Dearg le dhá bhliain anuas. Is Feidhmeannach Cumarsáide é le Conradh na Gaeilge fosta.
31
Portugal shows the way in overcoming neoliberalism and far right parties
Left parties must stand Neo-fascist and far right movements are movements as “terrorists”. growing in Europe, and internationally. This paints a dark picture, with a Large, often violent, neo-fascist common thread running through it - the demonstrations are commonplace in centre left’s failure to defend ordinary some countries. In Europe, parties of the people from economic crisis and rising far right are part of government in Italy, inequality. In fact, most parties of the Poland, Hungary and Austria, and are centre left have long since adopted a waiting in the wings elsewhere. neoliberal outlook, or are tarnished with In 2017, more than 16 million people corruption and scandal. voted for far-right parties in Germany Frustrated, many have looked and France. The National Front’s Marine elsewhere for an alternative to austerity. Le Pen won over 10 million votes in the When people turned to the radical left in 2017 presidential election. The far-right Greece, the centre joined with Brussels Alternative for Germany (AfD) became the and the IMF to impose undemocratic first far right party to enter the German economic straightjackets and financially parliament since World War II. Austria’s waterboard Syriza into submission. Freedom Party - founded by former The response to the far right has been Nazis - is in coalition government, and similar - supporting harmful economic Poland’s Law and Justice government has policies, undermining democratic values, subverted the courts, while encouraging and inadvertently reinforcing the far white supremacists onto the streets. right’s message that it is an alternative to In Italy, deputy Prime Minister Mateo austerity and technocratic control. This Salvini’s extremist Lega party (formerly message is an illusion, however - if liberal Legal Nord), overshadows its larger and authoritarian forces agree on one coalition partners, while Hungary’s Fidesz thing, it is that money takes precedence government vilifies its critics as agents over people, and democracy only counts of the (Jewish) billionaire George Soros when it brings the desired result. and treats refugees as “a Muslim invasion Unsurprisingly, many parties of the force”. centre left have imploded. The French Violent Spanish state suppression of Socialist Party - squeezed between the Catalan independence referendum, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s radical left and the and the wave of fascist violence that centrist populism of President Macron, has followed, has exposed the lie that fallen below 10% support. The German Francoism truly went away. In November, SPD - locked into a “grand coalition” with the neo-Francoist Vox party won 11% of the centre right CDU - has collapsed the vote - and the balance of power - in to under 15%, and in Greece, Pasok is the Andalusian state elections. so shrunken and splintered that it has Further afield, US President Donald become a by-word for the phenomenon Trump has fanned dangerous levels itself. of intolerance since his election, the A key exception is Portugal, where the Ukrainian government is integrating centre-left Socialist Party governs through neo-Nazi units into its military, and a confidence and supply arrangement Jair Bolsonaro - once a former fringe with the radical Left Bloc and Communist character - has been elected president Party. The Socialist Party was forced of Brazil. During his election to forsake its austerity policies and campaign, Bolsonaro threatened implement the left’s demands - restore to kill thousands of left wing wages and pensions, halt privatisations, activists - to “finish the job” the create jobs and cut bills. As a result, generals had left undone. Attacks the populist right has found this barren on women, minorities and the ground to plough. indigenous have increased While Portugal is still far from full since his victory. He has also recovery, and a return to business as declared his intention to usual could undo the good work, the classify Brazil’s massive social past three years in Portugal show what is
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Faced with a growing wave of despair, we need a politics of hope - hope for an Ireland of equals, within a truly social Europe that is close to its citizens, that acts in their interests
ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
with the people
possible when governments put people first. The Spanish centre left PSOE government, relying on the critical support of the radical left Unidos Podemos, is now using the Portugal example to shore up support, by significantly increasing the minimum wage. In France, however, popular anger has boiled over. The “Yellow Vests” protesters, many of whom had illusions in Macron, have lost patience with a system that continues to work for the few, not the many. Despite polling over 20%, the far right has so far failed to hijack the movement - and has been chased out of some protests. But the Yellow Vests - who have 72% support across France - are a popular rebellion, not simply a left wing movement. If the left fails to hear their demands, or to show leadership, the far right is still waiting to take advantage. Like Portugal too, France has already seen results, with Macron apparently ready to make some concessions on pensions and taxes in the face of the protests. Perhaps if there is a lesson, it
anphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1
BY DUROYAN FERTL
is that if we are to reverse the rise of the far right, the left must stand alongside ordinary people, and present an alternative to the destructive neoliberal policies that have brought us here. This means mobilising both at the ballot box, and on the streets, to protect our services and infrastructure, to combat the creeping militarisation and undemocratic economic control in the EU, and to defend the humanity of those seeking sanctuary from adversity abroad. We must go on the front foot, developing networks for change, inspiring people to action, and putting forward policies meeting the needs of the majority who are not benefiting from the “recovery”. Faced with a growing wave of despair, we need a politics of hope - hope for an Ireland of equals, within a truly social Europe that is close to its citizens, that acts in their interests, and that respects the democratic principle of national self-determination. DUROYAN FERTL is a Sinn Féin political adviser in the European Parliament.
33
‘Our eyes are open and we won’t kneel down’ The yellow vest movement explained 34
ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
The highly heterogeneous character of the
BY CYRIL BENOIT
movement is both a strength and a danger. Its social diversity and blurred discourse has allowed it to grow and agglomerate the
After the blue shirt of its football team this summer, it is now because of the ‘yellow
discontent of many sectors of society. Despite the 'violence' of the protests and
vests’ of its people that France is at the
the media discourse aimed at de-legitimising
centre of media attention in the world. The
it, the 'gilets jaunes' still have the support of
“gilets jaunes” movement has come as a
around 70% of the French population. On the
largely unexpected and unprecedented social
other hand, we should not ignore the racist,
explosion, that has forced President Emmanuel
islamophobic and anti-migrants actions that
Macron to back down for the first time since
have been carried out on some occasions, or
taking office in 2017.
the fact that the extreme-right is actively trying
Born on social media after the
to infiltrate and drive the movement.
announcement by the government of an
For progressives forces in France, and
increase in fuel taxes, it rapidly spread to the
especially communists, this poses a great
whole country, gathering together people
responsibility. At every level, we are actively
from the working classes (blue-collar and
supporting the mobilisations, explaining the
employees) and middle strata (small shopkeepers, artisans).
real causes of the situation in the country and promoting our proposals for a
Highly suspicious, or even hostile to political parties and unions, and without national leaders or organisation, the “gilets jaunes”, many of whom had never participated in collective actions before, conducted a
different social, economic and
This explosion comes in the midst of a social blitzkrieg lead by Macron, relentlessly attacking the historic conquests of the French people and working class
wide array of actions, from blocking roundabouts in small villages to occupying the Champs Elysées in Paris. This explosion comes in the midst of a
political system. The focus on tax hikes is giving way to one of fiscal and social injustices. The watchword of the reinstatement of the 'solidarity tax on wealth' is now central, and the calls for an increase in salaries and
pensions and the end of fiscal gifts for the wealthiest are gaining ground. Alliances and convergences are also
social blitzkrieg lead by Macron, relentlessly
developing, broadening the social base of the
attacking the historic conquests of the French
movement and steering to this progressive
people and working class. Public housing,
direction, from university students protesting
hospitals, transportation have been de-funded
against the increase of fees for international
in order to prepare for their privatisation.
learners, to participants at the climate walks
Labour laws have been weakened,
joining their green vests to the yellow ones, to
wages frozen and tax cuts granted to big
unions calling for a national day of action on
businesses, with no effect on unemployment
Friday 14th December.
but a deepening of precariousness and a
The most significant sector to have joined
deterioration of working conditions. While
the struggle are high-school students. There
the wealthiest households benefited from the
also, the wave of the 'gilets jaunes' has
removal of the “solidarity tax on fortune” (ISF),
crystallised the discontent and revivified
pensioners saw an increase in their taxes.
the movement against the establishment of
The neoliberal offensive is not new.
selection for the entry to public universities
Between 2008 and 2016, French households suffered from a €440 cut in disposable income.
and the lack of funding. Across France, hundreds of schools have
Macron has added insult to injury, repeatedly
been blocked by the students. In universities,
declaring he would “give nothing to the lazy”,
general assemblies are multiplying and in early
calling his opponents “refractory Gauls”, or
December a spontaneous protest gathered
distinguishing between “those who succeed
10,000 students in Paris.
and those who are nothing”.
anphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1
The only answer of the government
35
has been contempt and
six-month suspension of the
repression. On Saturday • Leo Varadkar with French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron
8th alone, 1,723 people were arrested and 624 injured according to official numbers. Armoured vehicles took position in the streets
raise in taxes, the government
After announcing a six-month suspension of the raise in taxes, the government has been forced to withdraw it
of Paris. In Bordeaux, a
popular pressure. But it means no rest for the
against tax rises, but against decades of humiliations, marginalisation and social injustices. Much remains to be done, as Macron and
at them. In Mantes-la-Jolie, the images of a
the rest of the right will try to divert the anger
group of teenagers detained on their knees
towards "excessive public spending leading to
with their hands on their heads have shocked
excessive taxes". But our eyes are open and
the world.
we won't kneel down.
As days go by, it becomes clearer and clearer that Emmanuel Macron, his government and his MPs are deeply disconnected from the daily life of the French people. After announcing a
36
vowed never to yield to
now the movement is not just
grenade thrown by the
head injuries after the police shot rubber balls
against a power that had
have continued, because
because of an explosive
Gonesse, high school students received severe
it. This is a crucial victory
government and protests
young man lost his hand
police. In Orléans, Grenoble, Garges-lès-
has been forced to withdraw
CYRIL BENOIT is the coordinator for international relations at the Mouvement Jeunes Communistes de France (Young Communists of France).
ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
TIME FOR AN EQUAL AND JUST IRELAND BY RITA O'HARE It is now almost a century since Britain partitioned Ireland. From the outset, violent repression of dissent and widespread discrimination defined the six counties that Unionists called Northern Ireland. But, in the 1960s, small groups of courageous people, inspired by the civil rights movement in the United States, started to campaign for equality in public housing and employment and for an end to gerrymandering in local government. They asked for nothing other than basic rights enjoyed by people in England, Scotland, and Wales. The Unionist Stormont regime responded with violence, battering them off the streets. There, in the crack of RUC batons on the streets of Derry, the great lie was exposed – Unionists professed an attachment to Britain, but they could not countenance the rights accorded to everybody in Britain being extended to Nationalists in their Orange state.
OUT OF CONFLICT The events set in train by the repression of the civil rights movement are well known. The British Government backed the Unionists. And in doing so it precipitated over a quarter
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‘The Republican cause remains the same and with Sinn Féin stronger than at any time since 1921, the great prize – the reunification of Ireland – is now within reach’ century of conflict that only started to end in 1994, when the Irish Republican Army called a ceasefire. That transformative ceasefire did not come out of thin air. It was the result of work, over many years, by Gerry Adams and others in the Sinn Féin leadership. The dialogue between Gerry Adams and John Hume was critical in the development of a peaceful progress to Irish reunification. But powerful figures in London and Dublin resisted this push for peace. However, among those who believed that we had the capacity to break the deadlock were our friends in North America. They included leaders in business and finance, the labour movement and politics. A vital element were the Irish Americans who lobbied their public representatives and
37
engaged their attention. In doing so, they brought pressure to bear on the British and Irish governments to establish an inclusive talks process that, in 1998, resulted in the Good Friday Agreement. The Peace Process has delivered. The RUC is gone. The British Army is off our streets. Slowly, the economies of North and South, severed and still stunted by partition, are being re-integrated. We have had over two decades of peace. The Republican cause remains the same and with Sinn Féin stronger than at any time since 1921, the great prize – the reunification of Ireland – is now within reach.
CHANGE IS AT HAND Ireland has changed since partition. The last census taken in the North, in 2011, showed that 64 per cent of those aged over 90 were Protestant and 25 per cent were Catholic; 9 per cent had no declared religion. There, among the very old, is the demographic of the North around the time of partition. Conversely, the same census returned 31 per cent of children born in the North in 2008-11 as Protestant compared to 44 per cent Catholic; 23 per cent had no declared religion.
Reflecting on these data in the Unionist Belfast Telegraph, well-known economist David McWilliams observed that ‘in one (admittedly long) lifetime, the Catholic population in the youngest cohort has nearly doubled, while the Protestant cohort has more than halved.’ For McWilliams, the numbers meant one thing: ‘we seem to be en route to a united Ireland.’ Of course religious profession does not translate to a political position. Still, election results confirm Unionism to be losing its majority. In Spring 2017, elections for the 90-seat Assembly returned only 40 Unionists – nationalists took 39 seats (27 Sinn Féin; 12 SDLP); the Alliance Party, Greens and People before Profit had 11 seats between them. The total number of votes cast for the Democratic Unionist Party (225,413), the largest pro-Union party, was only 1,168 votes greater than the number secured by Sinn Féin (224,245). Measured by nothing other than its proponents’ intention – the creation of ‘a Protestant state for a Protestant people’ – partition is a manifest failure. And there are other measures of its failure. McWilliams focused on the economy. When the border was first drawn, he noted, over 80 per cent of Ireland’s industrial output came from the area around Belfast. Now, the South’s industrial
• The dialogue between Gerry Adams and John Hume was critical in the development of a peaceful progress which resulted in the Good Friday Agreement Census in the North, in 2011 - those aged over 90
and bar charts compare values in a single . For example, you can compare the number cts sold by each salesperson.
RELIGON
%
Protestant
64
Catholic
24
Census Children born in the North in 2008-11
Column and bar charts compare values in a single category. For example, you can compare the number of products sold by each salesperson.
RELIGON
%
Protestant
31
Catholic
44
IRELAND CHANGES SINCE PARTITION No declared religion
No declared religion
9
23
LAST CENSUS IN THE NORTH – 2011
THOSE AGED OVER 90
CHILDREN BORN IN 2008-2011
PROTESTANT
PROTESTANT
CATHOLIC
CATHOLIC
NO DECLARED RELIGION
NO DECLARED RELIGION
38
ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
• A recent study shows a reunified Irish economy would be some €35 billion larger than two separate economies, North and South
output is ten times greater than that of the North – exports from the South are €89bn per annum (£77.85bn), fifteen times greater than the €6bn (£5.25bn) exported from the Six Counties. One recent study, in 2015, by Kurt Huebner of the University of British Columbia, calculated that, within eight years, a reunified Irish economy would be some €35 billion larger than two separate economies, North and South. Of course, the disaster that is partition was never simply economic. Lives lost, rights denied, grief, and despair are not best measured in numbers. The price of partition has been too high. A United Ireland has always been the best framework for peace and prosperity.
‘Unionists must involve themselves with others, not least Republicans, in imagining the shape and form that Irish reunification takes’
leave the European Union; the majority of people in the North voted to remain in it. The British Government of Theresa May, dependent for its survival on Democratic Unionist Party MPs, insisted that the North too must leave with England, Scotland, UNITY IN OUR TIME and Wales. It repudiated the core principle of the Good In voting for the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, the Election results – Spring 2017 Friday Agreement – that there would be no change incast the people of Ireland, North and South, affirmed that they alone Total votes mpare values from a single PARTY SEATS constitutional status of the North without a simple majority would determine their future constitutional arrangements. Pie and donut charts compare values from a single u can compare the number PARTY SEATS 40 Unionists of people, North and South, approving it. And in refusing to category. example, youtocan compare the number In June 2016, a majority in the United For Kingdom voted salesperson. Values are the whole. To highlight a pie drag it away from the center.
Nationalists Others
of products sold39by each salesperson. Values are shown as a percentage of the whole. To highlight a pie 11 wedge or donut segment, drag it away from the center.
LATEST ELECTION RESULTS
DUP, Ulster Unionists, Unionists Traditional Unionist Voice and independent unionist Nationalists Sinn Féin (27) and SDLP (12) 39 NATIONALISTS SEATS Alliance Party, Greens and 11 OTHERS SEATS Others People before Profit
225,413
Sinn Féin
224,245
LAST ELECTION IN THE NORTH – SPRING 2017 90-SEAT ASSEMBLY
40 UNIONISTS SEATS
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DUP
TOTAL VOTES CAST
DUP
DUP DEMOCRATIC UNIONIST PARTY
SINN FÉIN
SinnOnlyFéin 225,413 1,168 votes between 224,245 parties 39
countenance some form of special status for the North, the British Government displayed arrogant indifference to the consequences for employment and education, social services, and, above all, peace in Ireland. The Brexit Crisis has laid bare the injustice of partition: as long as it suits the short-term interests of London, a minority – a minority in Ireland and, in this instance, a minority even in the North – can prevail over a majority. But the writing is on the wall. In summer 2018 former Democratic Unionist Party leader Peter Robinson, speaking in Glenties, County Donegal, argued that Unionists should prepare for a United Ireland. He would accept, he said, the results of a border poll in favour of reunification: ‘As soon as that decision is taken every democrat will have to accept such a decision.’ And he predicted that the wider Unionist community would accept it, and look to the protections that the Good Friday Agreement guarantees to all. Given the collapse of Unionists’ majority in the North, the challenge for their current leaders is simple – Unionists must involve themselves with others, not least Republicans, in imagining the shape and form that Irish reunification takes. In 2018 Deirdre Hargey became the sixth Sinn Féin councillor to serve as Mayor of Belfast – tellingly, all six Republican mayors have served since 2002. Speaking at her
‘Irish reunification is not about bolting the North onto the South. Rather, it is about creating an Ireland greater than the sum of all its parts – one defined by equality and inclusion’ installation, party president Mary Lou McDonald reiterated the Republican position – Irish reunification is not about bolting the North onto the South. Rather, it is about creating an Ireland greater than the sum of all its parts – one defined by equality and inclusion, where sectarian division and segregation have no place, where all cultures are accorded respect, and where all our children enjoy the peace and prosperity necessary for achieving their full potential. Column, stacked column, and area charts compare
RITA O’HARE is categories. Sinn Féin’s representative in data from multiple For example, you can 6 compare the annual sales of three products. The x-axis the United North shows States. years and the y-axis shows quantities.
Exports
PARTY
EXPORT
6
89
89
South
OTHER MEASURES OF PARTITION'S FAILURE ECONOMY
WHEN BORDER WAS FIRST DRAWN:
80%
Over of Ireland’s industrial output came from the area around Belfast
NOW: The South’s industrial output is
ten times greater than that of the North
40
EXPORTS
South
€89bn PER ANNUM
(£77.85bn)
Six Counties
€6bn
PER ANNUM
(£5.25bn)
ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht North
South
THE
DEMOCRATIC PROGRAMME
A CENTURY ON 100 years on from the ratification of the 1919 Democratic Programme, policy analyst CIAN McMAHON assesses how much progress has been made in delivering on the key principles agreed by the First Dáil.
O
n the centenary of the First Dáil sitting in January 1919, it is worth revisiting the economic and social agenda agreed upon by the elected representatives of the Irish people. How are we to assess the legacy of this declaration of intent in the Ireland of 2019, and what lessons can we draw for the future? The Democratic Programme of the Irish Republic asserted the right of the people of Ireland to the common ownership and democratic control of ‘all the wealth and all the wealth-producing processes within the
It is not good news. Progressive forces and grass roots activists in Ireland must redouble their efforts to make the vision of the Democratic Programme relevant in the 21st Century.
Compared to other wealthy societies, Ireland’s income distribution, before taxes and transfers are taken into account, is one of the most unequal
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Nation’. This spoke to the labour movement’s vision of a ‘Co-operative Commonwealth’, where the economy would serve society, and not the other way around. Citing Patrick Pearse’s developed thinking in The Sovereign People (1916), a political pamphlet influenced by the socialist republican ideas of James Connolly, the Programme boldly stated ‘that all right to private property must be subordinated to the public right and welfare’. Only then could a sovereign people fulfil the republican ideals and ‘principles of Liberty, Equality, and Justice for all, which alone can secure 41
permanence of Government in the willing adhesion of the people’. A democratic and free Ireland would therefore ensure ‘the right of every citizen to an adequate share of the produce of the Nation’s labour’. From each according to their ability, to each according to their need. Does this sound like the Ireland of the twenty-first century, where the top 10 percent of the wealth distribution – the country’s richest households – owns more than 50 percent of the country’s wealth? An important determinant of such economic inequality in Ireland today is the distribution of national income. Compared to other wealthy societies, Ireland’s income distribution, before taxes and transfers are taken into account, is one of the most unequal. The high incidence of low pay at one extreme, and of high pay at the other, reflects the weak bargaining position of many Irish workers relative to their bosses and managers. While it is true that redistribution via the state’s tax and transfer system makes Ireland’s income distribution look more typical of our European peers, this is only part of the story. Economic inequality ultimately reflects unequal access to material resources – the goods and services needed for an adequate standard of living.
U
nequal bargaining power in the economic sphere of the Irish workplace finds its counterpart in the political sphere of parliamentary arithmetic. This helps to explain why, since independence and partition, Ireland has never been governed by a majority left-wing administration. Partition itself has produced a carnival of economic, political, and cultural reaction. A Government representative of working class communities not only makes it easier for workers to organise for better pay and conditions through their trade unions, but also increase their ‘social wage’ – that is, the provision of public goods and services. A given disposable income goes much further in a country where basic necessities such as housing, healthcare, childcare, transport etc. are provided publicly on the basis of need, not ability to pay, or, alternatively, are at least heavily subsidised. Standard measures of income inequality mask the unequal distribution of resources resulting from the high cost of living in countries like Ireland, where such necessities are primarily provided privately through “the market” (ie landlords and capitalists, whose primary motive is the extraction of rent and profit). Where trade unions and workers’ parties have organised to win power in the workplace and parliament, as in many continental and Nordic European countries, better wages and conditions have been achieved at work. This has allowed state spending to focus on simultaneously
42
• Where trade unions and workers’ parties have organised to win power economic inequality has reduced and the living standards of the masses have increased
What of the thousands of children currently accessing emergency accommodation either side of the border, many expected to carry out their homework from the confines of a hotel room?
increasing the social wage, rather than subsidising the low pay of unscrupulous employers. It has also meant employers paying their fair share of taxation through increased social insurance contributions. The combined result has been to reduce economic inequality and increase the living standards of the masses. ‘It shall be the first duty of the Government of the Republic to make provision for the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of the children, to secure that no child shall suffer hunger or cold from lack of food, clothing, or shelter, but that all shall be provided with the means and facilities requisite for their proper education and training as Citizens of a Free and Gaelic Ireland’. But what of the thousands of children currently accessing emergency accommodation either side of the border, many expected to carry out their homework from the confines of a hotel room? And what of the hundreds of thousands of children besides, currently living in poverty across the island? 'Likewise it shall be the duty of the Republic to take such measures as will safeguard the health of the people and ensure the physical as well as the moral wellbeing of the Nation.' Yet a million people, North and South, currently languish on waiting lists for healthcare. This is the result of an apartheid, two-tier health system in the South, where those who can afford to pay are able to jump the queue, often receiving private healthcare within public facilities; and the underfunding and creeping Tory privatisation of the NHS in the North.
A
s for the stewardship of ‘the Nation’s [natural] resources in the interests and for the benefit of the Irish people’ and future generations, the picture is, if anything, even more bleak. Already one of the highest per capita carbon emitters in
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Europe, Ireland has recently been bestowed with the title of the worst performer in the EU regarding climate action. As ever, the public right and welfare have been subordinated to the pecuniary interests and motives of large industrial and agricultural capitalists. ‘It shall be the duty of the Republic to adopt all measures necessary for the recreation and invigoration of our Industries, and to ensure they are being developed on the most beneficial and progressive cooperative and industrial lines’. This will be news to the 500 or so rural Bord na Móna workers who fear being thrown on the scrap heap without a just employment transition, as peat production is gradually phased out. And it will certainly come as news to the trade union reps and worker directors across the state sector, who have witnessed the demise of any semblance of enterprise partnership with senior management. Such is the logic of a wider privatisation agenda that has decimated the state sector, as exemplified by the Eircom fiasco, which has left over half a million homes in the South without broadband. ‘It shall also devolve upon the National Government to seek co-operation of the Governments of other countries in determining a standard of Social and Industrial Legislation with a view to a general and lasting improvement in the conditions under which the working classes live and labour.' It bears repeating here that Ireland is one of the only countries in Europe without collective bargaining legislation that adequately obliges employers to recognise and negotiate with independent trade unions. And while grassroots activism over many decades has achieved some major victories in advancing social equality – samesex marriage and the repeal of the Eight Amendment, for instance – these rights are still denied to Irish people in the North. Much remains to be done besides.
• In Ireland, the public right and welfare have been put below the interests and motives of large industrial and agricultural capitalists
The remnants of Holy Catholic Ireland are still manifest in the various forms of sexism, racism, and anti-LGBT discrimination that blight the Irish psyche. Take the prevalence of anti-traveller, anti-immigrant, homophobic, and transphobic sentiment, or the conditions faced by refugees in what are mostly privately-run and state-subsidised Direct Provision centres.
P A million people, North and South, currently languish on waiting lists for healthcare
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rogressives must step up their efforts in combatting all forms of discrimination in Irish society, including the gender pay gap in Irish workplaces. We must demand equal pay for equal work, equal representation at work and in politics, and legislation to do away with exploitative zero and low hours contracts. Combined with campaigns for adequate collective bargaining legislation and constitutional rights to housing and water, we can begin to live up to the promise of the Democratic Programme. The lessons of the last century are surely that the oppressors of a risen people are not only foreign imperialists, but those Irish rackrenting landlords and capitalist profiteers who have undermined the aspirations of the Republic at every turn, and who have stunted the development of our peoples. In truth, the only national interest worth fighting for is that of the Irish working class – the mass of ordinary workers and their families, whether native born or non-native born. The Socialist Republic depends on it. CIAN McMAHON is a PhD candidate and part-time lecturer at NUI Galway, studying worker cooperative development, and a former Policy Analyst with the think-tank for Action on Social Change (TASC). 43
e New Republic’ The ‘Postcards from th itish designer, artist, series is a hat tip to Br list William Morris’s entrepreneur and Socia series of articles from News from Nowhere Commonweal, the 1890 published in the list League and set newspaper of the Socia e Morris’s socialist, in a distant future wher r has been secured. Ou and romantic, utopia e Willa Ní Chuairteoir story’s protagonists ar panied by their four and Lucy Byrne accom Banba and Alroy who children James, Afric, dure the equity and together enjoy and en ’s New Republic.’ exigency of the future ily are up to inTo find out what the fam to: between editions go mtheNewRepublic fb.me/Postcardsfro
Poor tortured Willa is in her study desperately trying to steal a couple of hours away from the kids. Her wife Lucy is stuck in Belfast for a debate in the shared Parliament, one of the outcomes of Irish unity. Ireland’s national representatives spend one week in four of a Dáil term in a beautifully repurposed Belfast City Hall. The rest are in Dáil Eireann. Stormont, the former home of the north’s Assembly in the final decades of partition, is now the European headquarters for the United Nations Human Rights Council. Belfast Dáil week always falls on production week, and that drives Willa bonkers. Willa is the Editor of Dublin’s oldest monthly magazine. She loves The Voice, and has given her entire professional life to it. It was first published in 1971 by four friends in their twenties who felt totally out of step with conservative Ireland. Senator Mary Robinson had just tried to introduce legislation to lift the ban on contraception but couldn’t even get the draft Bill on the floor of the Seanad. Hard to imagine, right? The friends knew Mary well and wanted to give her a Voice, so they did just that. It started off as The Peoples Voice, a smart quarterly jam-packed with a counterculture rooted in the sexual, civil and political rights politics that defined the era. Over time the magazine has reinvented itself ten times over. Now it’s a funky intelligent read rooted in rights, a champion of climate change action with an array of alternative voices and a great dash of culture. It’s Willa to the bones. 44
POSTCARDS FROM A
BY SINÉAD NÍ BHROIN
NEW REPUBLIC
A high pitch squeal shatters Willa’s visualisation for the front cover. Mother of all that is good in world she mumbles to herself, I am literally going to strangle that young one. Their eldest Afric is a messer who gets a great kick out of tormenting her siblings. Lucy stomps into the sitting room ready to read the riot act, stops in her tracks and breaks out laughing. Her angelic seven year son Alroy is festooned in a traditional suffragette sash
and is reluctantly holding a small decorative ‘Votes for Women’ placard on one side and a picture of abstentionist MP Countess Markievicz on the other. 'I suppose this is your handiwork Willa' says to Banba, their bookish take on the world 12 year old who is now standing behind her elder sister looking a little sheepish. 'Ah Ma, it’s for Unity Day, and you haven’t even seen the best bit!' With a swoop Banba grabs a veg crate from behind her and plonks Alroy on it, placard and all. 'Go on,' she urges him, 'show Ma what we practiced.' 'I’m Countess Markyvit,' he says with his chest puffed out, 'and I’m the first woman elected AND,' he says with great emphasis, 'the FIRST woman Minister of the FIRST Dáil.' He has the cutest lisp that lingers on an s. Alroy then looks quizzically over at Willa, 'were there really no women allowed in the Dáil in the old days,' he asks. 'Son', she replies, 'once upon a time there wasn’t even the Dáil. That’s why Unity Day is such an important day for the country. It marks women’s suffrage, the First Dáil and the Irish Unity Declaration.' Willa looks over at Banba who is every ‘lick’ of Lucy, gives her a big wink and says, 'we did all of that Alroy, the great people of this island in all our hues.' Afric, who has been sending photos of her poor unfortunate brother to the world and its mother looks up from her mobile and asks, 'any chance one of these great people of Ireland cooking the dinner.'???
ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
INTERVIEW
• PICKET: Outside Caledon Courthouse during the trial of the ‘Caledon Squatters’ in 1968 – Francie Molloy, Mary Teresa Goodfellow, Joe Campbell and Geraldine Gildernew
The Caledon squat that triggered the Civil Rights movement An Phoblacht interviews Civil Rights Veteran FRANCIE MOLLOY
Fifty years ago, republicans came together in the Tyrone village of Caledon, to make a stand against the unionist-dominated Dungannon council. Their aim was to abolish the discriminatory housing polices against Catholics practiced by the council. An informal agreement had been reached between local priest Fr Michael McGirr and unionist politician William Scott that 15 houses built by the council would be allocated to an equal number of Protestant and Catholic families. However, the council decided that just one of these houses would be allocated to a Catholic family, while the other 14 homes would be allocated to Protestant families. Naturally this sparked outrage in the area
BY CALLUM SMYTH and Catholic families decided to take action. At this point, they had no idea that their actions would lead to the start of the now famous civil rights movement. Fran and Mary Goodfellow, with their children, made the brave decision to squat in an empty house in the Kinnard Park area of the village. They had no other choice. The policies of Dungannon council meant that they, along with other Catholic families, had nowhere else to go.
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Over the weeks and months that followed, the families were met with outpourings of support and respect for their actions. After eight months in the house they were charged with squatting, but the judge allowed them to stay in the house for up to six months. This decision was in the hope that the council would come to their senses and allocate homes on the basis of need rather than religion. Six months later in June 1968, the RUC barged through the door of the house that the Goodfellows had been occupying. The Goodfellows, along with Mary’s mother Anne and sister-in-law Geraldine – whose daughter, Michelle, is now MP for Fermanagh/South Tyrone – were dragged from the house 45
INTERVIEW with their children, in front of crowds of supporters and the gathered media. In the immediate aftermath of this, it emerged that the house next door had been allocated to a 19-year-old single girl named Emily Beattie. This led Mary’s brother, Patsy Gildernew, to squat in the house in protest alongside two others, Austin Currie MP and local farmer Joe Campbell. After a matter of hours they were ejected from the house and subsequently charged with breaking and entering the house and squatting. Republicans including a 17-year-old Francie Molloy organised a picket outside Caledon Courthouse on the day of the case, against the charging of the squatters. Franice Molloy, currently the Sinn Féin MP for Mid-Ulster, said that there was quite a resistance from local unionists to the picket. Reflecting back on the events 50 years ago Mr Molloy said: “The interesting thing about the picket was that all of the people who were there and were visible were all members of ‘Republican Clubs’. In relation to Caledon and in the run up to it, there was an ongoing debate as to whether republicans were actually involved in the civil rights movement. At that stage, ‘Republican Clubs’ came about because Sinn Féin had been banned and the name was changed to accommodate that. “I was involved in a particular Republican Club and it was the Gildernew family who
• EVICTION: After the eviction from Kinnard Park in 1968 were organising the picket in Caledon outside the courthouse.” The Mid-Ulster MP described how the republican movement had found it difficult to get people out onto the streets due to previous failed campaigns. He said: “One of the interesting things at the time was trying to find a way of mobilising the nationalist community. The 1956 border campaign had failed and in the aftermath of that there was a view republicans were at a low ebb. The mass movement of people was discussed at meetings a few years before Caledon, back in 1966. “But housing was a big issue, and people were keen to get out and make their voices heard. The key factors of the housing crisis were that; if you didn’t have a house then you were more likely to emigrate, if you couldn’t get a job you would be likely to emigrate and if you didn’t have a home - then you didn’t get
been involved to see what could be the next stage. “There was no evident indication that Caledon would be the trigger to the Civil Rights campaign, but after Caledon the proposal was made that we would do a Civil Rights march from Coalisland to Dungannon. “This march was organised mainly because it was going from one principal town to another. Dungannon council had denied the homes to Catholics in Caledon, and Coalisland was a big nationalist area where there were a lot of people on housing waiting lists. We knew that there was a good possibility that we would get a big response to our campaign here. “My role on that day in August was as a steward and when we got to the hospital roundabout, the RUC had cordoned off Thomas Street. The stewards had formed a line across Thomas Street prior to the RUC cordon, in a bid to stop any confrontation with them.”
“The key factors of the housing crisis were that; if you didn’t have a house then you were more likely to emigrate, if you couldn’t get a job you would be likely to emigrate and if you didn’t have a home - then you didn’t get a vote”
• Franice Molloy, Sinn Féin MP for Mid-Ulster
46
a vote. This meant that we didn’t have a chance to make a change in anything politically – so those 3 factors were very much how unionists maintained their majority." After Caledon, republicans sat down with people such as the Austin Currie and others who had
This march was attended by around 1,000 people, and among them were the Derry Action Housing Committee. They were determined to make Derry the location of the next march and that happened on 5th October 1968. And from here, the Civil Rights cause became a national and international issue.
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Civil rights issues are still relevant and resonating
‘There are still in this society those who still want to deny rights and equality’ In 1968 Mitchel McLaughlin was on the historic Duke Street, Civil Rights march, that was attacked by the RUC. The intervening years saw Mitchel become a Sinn Féin activist, elected representative and national chairperson. Derry - 5th October 1968 In the late sixties, outraged by the injustice and sectarianism of the Unionist Government in Stormont, a group of activists from differing political perspectives, came together to form the Civil Rights movement (NICRA). This was an early example of ‘broadanphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1
front’ politics in Ireland and was inspired by the courage and determination of the black civil rights movement in the USA, in particular by the commitment to non-violent activism. The main issues were the allocation of public housing, a 'one man, one vote' electoral system, fair employment practices, the repeal of the infamous 'Special Powers Act' and the restructuring of the RUC. 47
The political context of that period was characterised by a Unionist regime which had ruled continuously since the foundation of the Six-County statelet. The Orange Order and other loyal institutions exercised considerable control over the appointment of Ministers and policies such as the Special Powers Act, gerrymandering of Local Authority districts and pernicious social and economic discrimination. It is interesting to note that the IRA had maintained a ceasefire from 1962, despite sectarian murders and bombings by the UVF which were directed against pubs, schools and installations North and South in Ireland. NICRA took to the streets to campaign for rights and to protest against inequality, and the first march took place in August 1968 from Coalisland to Dungannon. That march was blocked on the outskirts of Dungannon by the RUC because a small group of Ian Paisley’s ‘Ulster Protestant Volunteers’ had occupied the intended meeting point. The marchers having registered a protest that a
still Marching
48
legal march had been frustrated by the illegal actions of a much smaller group, held an impromptu meeting and dispersed peacefully. Derry 5th October was subsequently agreed by NICRA as the location of the next march. The chosen assembly point was Duke Street and the short route was intended to end with a rally in the city centre. When the Apprentice Boys, declared that they would hold a parade on the same route, on the same day in Derry, the Stormont government announced a ban on all marches, later clarified by unionist Home Affairs Minister William Craig to exclude marches by institutions (ie Loyal institutions). History has recorded what happened when NICRA decided to go ahead and the RUC armed with batons and water cannon, blocked and then attacked the Civil Rights march. As a consequence, marches, sit-down protests, housing agitation etc, sprang up throughout the North, involving more and more people, routinely counter protested by loyalists who organised their own mobilisations, usually on the proposed route of the Civil Rights events. When Terence O’Neill announced that limited reforms would be introduced to address some of NICRA’s concerns, the immediate cry from Unionism was 'O’Neill must go'. And of course, O’Neill did go! It can be tempting to consider these were events in our turbulent history - something to be commemorated and remembered but not really all that relevant in the here and now. But that would be a mistake. These issues are still very much part of who we are and where we have come from. Still relevant and still resonating.
Thousands lined the streets to mark the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights march in Derry
ISSUE NUMBER 1 – 2019 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 anphoblacht
The most blatant excesses of State violence, discrimination and sectarianism have now been outlawed, but the conditions which compelled the Civil Rights campaign are all around us. In very tangible ways, we are still dealing with the legacy of discriminatory policies that were deployed over generations by the Unionist government and which the Civil Rights movement emerged to fight. The deliberate discrimination against Nationalists, in employment, housing, and infrastructure, has taken generations to repair and remains an unfinished work to this day. Furthermore, Unionism’s violent response to the just and reasonable demands of the Civil Rights campaign sparked a war which was to last for decades. Peaceful marchers, demanding an end to the discriminatory and sectarian practices that underpinned the northern state – were ruthlessly and viciously beaten at Duke Street, Burntollet, Magilligan Strand and many other places. In mid-August 1969, Loyalist mobs, supported and encouraged by the RUC and the sectarian B Specials unleashed a pogrom against Belfast nationalists that saw many houses on Bombay Street, Hooker Street, Kashmir Road and Cupar Street burnt to the ground. All of the available evidence shows that the state had no intention of accommodating the democratic rights and aspirations of the wider community and that fact has confounded those who genuinely believed that a non-violent campaign could or would prevail. As far as the Stormont regime was concerned this was a unionist state for a unionist people and would remain so and they would crack as many nationalist skulls as need be to reinforce that point. Thankfully, the Orange state is now gone and since the Good
anphoblacht UIMHIR EISIÚNA 1 - 2019 - ISSUE NUMBER 1
Friday Agreement, we now have the opportunity of a peaceful and democratic resolution. The changes since 1968 are remarkable and the smashing of the Unionist monolithic Government and their dominance of policing and the judiciary are all testimony to the courage and strategic vision of those stood up to be counted. The RUC, the B-Specials and their successor, the UDR, are gone never to return. We have made massive progress in terms of Civil Rights. This is a very different place than it was in 1968. But, my deep concern when I look back at that period in our history is that there are still in this society those who still want to deny rights and equality. Citizens today in the north still face attacks on their electoral and civil rights, alongside the continued denial of rights to LGBTQ couples, women, Irish language speakers, and bereaved families seeking a coroner’s inquest. Whether it is language rights, marriage equality, women’s health, or the rights of victims this discrimination is simply untenable in 2018. Rights are also under threat by a right-wing Tory Brexit and there are unwelcome echoes of gerrymandering and the hollowing out of democracy by the recent Boundary Commission proposals. So, there are still big challenges ahead, but as in 1968, there are those who will continue to stand up in defence of civil rights for all. MITCHEL MCLAUGHLIN is an honorary Professor in Peace Studies at Queen's University Belfast. He was Speaker of the Northern Assembly, an MLA for Foyle and then South Antrim and Sinn Féin’s National Chairperson.
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