Léargas

Earlier this year I met four year old Billy Cairns from Dundalk. Like all children of his age he is friendly and smart. And he is hugely courageous. Billy is also profoundly deaf.

I mention Billy because his was the first Cochlear Implant case I raised in the Dáil and on Thursday we raised his case again and others during the party’s private members business. This is an opportunity we get once each three weeks to raise an issue of importance, have the Dáil debate it and if necessary vote on it.

Occasionally some PMB’s are so clear cut that all of the parties support them. But on Thursday, and to its shame the Fine Gael and Labour government opposed the Sinn Féin motion which called on the government to provide the money necessary to provide bilateral cochlear implants for children who are deaf.

The mothers and fathers of the children are an amazing group. They are committed, dedicated, imaginative, unstinting, and tireless in their determination to get the very best for their children. They will travel anywhere, meet anyone, and present a compelling account of their experience and of their hopes and demands for their children.

Their Happy New Ear group is a first class example of an effective lobby group and its web site is clever and informative. I logged on again the night before the debate and listened to Emili Sandé sing her evocative ‘Read all about it’ in which there is the line, ‘You’ve spent a life time stuck in silence,’and watched as children and parents tell their story. It is a clever, inventive, and moving video which packs an emotional wallop.

All of us in the Dáil, and from all parties and none, who have met the children and their parents have been moved and motivated by their courage and example.

For me this is an issue of fundamental rights and I said so during the debate but sometimes the least said the more effective the message. Jonathan O Brien our TD from Cork got to his feet praised the parents and children and then asked for everyone to remain silent in the Dáil chamber for several minutes so that we could all get a sense of what the children suffer.

The mothers who were sitting in the public gallery were visibly moved by his gesture. Sadly the same cannot be said of the government parties.

Medical science has provided a means by which many of deaf children can hear. It means providing a device called a cochlear implant - a surgically implanted electronic device - that provides a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf. The operation is difficult and especially so for children who may have to undergo several procedures requiring a general anaesthetic.

The Department of Health’s policy for the last 17 years has dictated that a patient should only receive one cochlear implant. That means that the children who go through this operation have hearing in only one ear. This is despite the fact that International best practice dictates that children receive bilateral implants, that is implants in both ears. It is a fact that children who only hear through one ear face serious hurdles as they grow. There are better Educational outcomes if a child can hear with both ears.

It allows them to determine where sounds are coming from, vital in a noisy environment like a classroom, or the playground, or in the street or the shopping centre or indeed the Dáil chamber. Similarly their confidence and sense of security is reinforced if they can hear their mother or father call them. Fundamentally it gives these children the ability to communicate with others - to make friends with other children.

Young Billy went through an operation last April to replace his faulty implant. Before that operation I raised his case in Leaders Questions. I sent word to the Taoiseach in advance so that he wouldn’t be bounced on this important issue. He was sympathetic and promised to raise the cochlear implant issue with the Minister for Health James Reilly.

I also suggested that when Billy was getting his faulty implant fixed that the second implant could be fitted. Again the Taoiseach was sympathetic. I also spoke to the Taoiseach privately and in detail on at least two occasions. I also spoke to Dr. Reilly.

I then wrote to the two of them and briefed them fully on the general issue of these profoundly deaf children’s needs and right to have bilateral implants. I followed this up with both Ministers but despite the sympathy and positive responses Billy went on to have his operation but no second implant.

The operation would have cost €18,000. This would have been taxpayers money well spent but it was refused by the government. I cannot help but compare their stinginess in Billy’s case with their generosity with public monies when it comes to giving a digout to their cronies in the banking and financial elites.

When Bill had his operation he could say only one word. NO. Billy now has 16 words and has discovered the magic of music. But the fault in the implant and the lack of a second means that he was unable to begin school in September and it will now be next September before he begins. He will also need a Special Needs Assistant and ongoing speech and language therapy.

Had Billy had a second cochlear implant his development would by now have been more advanced. When Billy’s implant failed he was plunged back into a world of silence. Imagine the trauma for any child of being forced back into silence for 6 weeks.

Noting recommendations made by the National Audiology Review Group is not the same as implementing those recommendations.

The government parties voted through an amendment to our motion which was in effect a fudge. The Minister praised the families. But there was no indication that the business plan from Beaumont hospital on the provision of bilateral cochlear implants will be resourced.

The government’s motion contained no action plan and no commitment to introduce the bilateral cochlear implant programme. Nor is there a commitment to include this programme in the 2014 HSE estimates process.

The reality is that the children and their parents are in a race against time to ensure that the children have the operation before they are too old for it to be effective. Unless these implants are connected in the early years of a child’s life that by the age of seven or eight the operation will be ineffective as the nerves will have died off.

After that children born and raised in silence may never speak; something which will adversely impact on the rest of their lives.

These young citizens have already faced a great deal of adversity in their short lives. They deserve the same rights and opportunities as every other child and every other citizen in this state. They have the right to hear; the right to be heard and to have a voice.

Last week the Finucane family buried their mother Kathleen. She died without the closure on the murder of her son, human rights lawyer Pat Finucane that had been promised by the British and Irish governments at Weston Park in 2001.

That commitment was reneged on by the British government. It is not their only broken commitment. 15 years after the Good Friday Agreement there is no Bill of Rights for the north; there is no Acht na Gaeilge; and there is no north-south consultative forum. There is opposition to change from within elements of the British system – from those don’t like the peace process and the fact that they failed to defeat Irish republicanism. The growing strength of Sinn Féin across the island is their worst nightmare.

There is also opposition to change from within political unionism. The northern state was built on discrimination, sectarianism and segregation in order to maintain unionist domination. For nationalists the north was an apartheid state. But it has also been bad for unionists locking them into a political cul-de-sac in which working class loyalist communities face huge problems of poverty, disadvantage and criminality.

Recently in parts of Belfast we have seen the most naked sectarian elements of unionism stirred up for short term political purpose. There has been months of organised sectarian violence on the streets of Belfast as the Orange Card has been played again.

The Orange Order in alliance with the UVF and the PUP has been deliberately stoking up tensions. The DUP and UUP leaderships have allowed these organisations to set a violent sectarian agenda. And unionist leaders have failed to stand up to this at the time when decisive positive leadership may have made a real difference.

In stark contrast when so-called dissidents killed PSNI officers and British soldiers Martin McGuinness stood shoulder to shoulder with Peter Robinson and the Chief Constable to condemn those actions in assertive, clear and robust language. There was no equivocation by Martin. No delay. He showed leadership.

That’s what is missing from within political unionism. Positive leadership to build the political process; to take a stand against illegal marches, sectarianism and violence, and the provocative actions of the Orange Order in Belfast.

I retain the hope that such a leadership will develop. In this spirit I very much welcomed Peter Robinson’s remarks last Thursday night at a Co-Operation Ireland dinner, organised to acknowledge the efforts of the GAA to forge better community relations.

Peter Robinson expressed the need for respect. I agree with him completely. The GAA has indeed played a very significant role in encouraging better community relations. One thing that most sportspeople have for their rivals is respect. Politicians could learn a lot from that ethos.

Notwithstanding the expertise and standing of Richard Haass and Megan O Sullivan they would be the first to acknowledge that the only people who can resolve these issues are the people who live in the communities affected and their leaders.

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The first question to be asked therefore is: what is acceptable behaviour?

Is it acceptable that there can be public displays and in some cases saturation of public thoroughfares, of flags or emblems of illegal organisations responsible for killing hundreds of people, mostly because they were Catholic?

Is it acceptable that places of worship are targeted? That there are regular incitements to hatred?

Is it acceptable that the union flag is used in an offensive way? I would certainly wholeheartedly condemn the use of the Irish national flag if it is used in any disrespectful or offensive way.

Is it acceptable that young people are actively encouraged to hate their neighbours on the basis of their religion?

Is it acceptable that there should be a tolerance of gangs engaged in criminality because they masquerade as either loyalist or republican?

I believe it is not. I believe that it is contrary to the wishes of the vast majority of people. I also believe it is unlawful. Citizens of Dublin or London or New York would not have to endure that which is foisted on the citizens of Belfast and other places, and defended or tolerated by some political leaders.

Sinn Féin holds out the hand of friendship to unionists, including the Orange, and former unionist paramilitaries. We do so on the basis of equality and partnership.

Solutions are needed to resolve these difficult issues of symbols, marches and the past. But this will only be done if leaders lead.

Collusion: Getting rid of unwanted members of the public

Lethal Allies by Anne Cadwallader

The use of collusion by the British state in the north of Ireland is a well-established fact. The historical connection between unionist paramilitarism, the RUC and B Specials made it easy for the British. The northern state was born out of partition and the use and threat of violence by unionist political leaders. Many of those who founded the RUC and the various armed Special Police Groups, including the B Specials, which existed then were former members of the UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force) – an armed paramilitary organisation.

When the British Army came back onto the streets of Derry and Belfast in 1969 many of its officers and soldiers were fresh from the killing fields of Aden and Oman and some had served in Kenya and Cyprus and Malaya during the years of conflict in those places in the 1950s and early 60’s.

They brought with them the techniques of torture; of counter-gangs; of propaganda, and media and political manipulation that they had used there. Foremost among its advocates was Frank Kitson. He argued that to win against a guerrilla enemy which had the support of its community or at the very least a significant proportion of its community, the government, the law, the judiciary and the media all had to be reshaped and moulded to suit the aim of defeating the enemy.

Kitson wrote: ‘The fundamental concept is the working of the triumvirate, civil, military and police, as a joint and integrated organisation from the highest to the lowest level of policy making, planning and administration.’

Kitson rationalised the use of death squads and the corruption of justice: ‘Everything done by a government and its agents in combating insurgency must be legitimate. But this does not mean that the government must work within exactly the same set of laws during an emergency as existed beforehand. The law should be used as just another weapon in the government’s arsenal, in which case it becomes little more than a propaganda cover for the disposal of unwanted members of the public.’

What did all of this mean in practice? In the early years of the ‘troubles’ it meant the British Army forging a new unionist paramilitary organisation – the Ulster Defence Association – out of many small neighbourhood groups. It meant watching columns of masked UDA men in their thousands parade in paramilitary uniform through the streets of Belfast escorted by the RUC and British Army. It meant an increase in sectarian killings.

The purpose of this was to frighten the nationalist community into rejecting the IRA; to drag that organisation into a sectarian war; and to make it easier for the British to present the conflict internationally as ‘mindless sectarian criminality’. It also allowed for the state to dispose of ‘unwanted members of the public.’

The history of those early years is writ large the use of spies and spooks and counter gangs by the British through organisations like the Military Reaction Force and the RUC Special Branch. Later additional forces like the Force Research Unit and the Special Air Service and others were brought to play by the Brits.

Successive British government’s rejected the accusation of collusion. With some honourable exceptions most media acquiesced to this. Unionists politicians then and today still deny its existence despite the abundance of evidence.

In 2006 an Independent International Panel on Collusion into Sectarian Killings produced a detailed 109-page report. It followed a careful examination of 25 cases of unionist paramilitary violence between 1972 and 1977 in which 76 people were killed. The Panel found that in 24 cases involving 74 killings there was evidence of collusion involving the RUC and Ulster Defence Regiment.

Launching the report Douglas Cassel, a human rights professor from the American University of Notre Dame, said he had been shocked at the extent of state collusion in the killings the team had investigated.

The following year the then Police Ombudsman Nuala O Loan published a report detailing how the RUC Special Branch knowingly colluded with a “serial killer” – Mark Haddock – providing him with cover, protecting him from prosecution and paying him at least £80,000 for his services as an agent. Special Branch agents operated outside the law and Special Branch officers covered up their crimes.

The investigation directly linked Haddock with the murders of ten people and cites credible evidence to link him with further murders, shootings, beatings and bomb attacks as well as a catalogue of other crimes including drug dealing, extortion, intimidation and criminal damage.

Throughout it all, Haddock enjoyed the full support of his Special Branch handlers who not only continued to pay him but also increased his wages. The report found a ‘pattern of work by certain officers within Special Branch designed to ensure that Informant 1 and his associates were protected from the law’.

And then there is the case of human rights lawyer Pat Finucane about which I have written many times before. The British are so concerned by the potential of this one case to expose the lie that collusion was not an instrument of institutional and official government policy that they reneged on a commitment at Weston Park in 2001 to hold an enquiry.

But the issue of collusion will not disappear. It has left behind too many victims, their families and questions unanswered. And now truth has a new champion with the publication of ‘Lethal Allies – British collusion in Ireland’ by Anne Cadwallader.

Anne who is a case worker with the Pat Finucane Centre has spent three years researching the deaths of 120 citizens who were killed between 1972 and 1978. ‘Lethal Allies’ chronicles the extent of collusion between unionist paramilitaries and the RUC and UDR in that six year period in the 1970’s and it provides a significant new body of information and evidence about the extent of collusion at that time.

It contains significant new evidence relating to 120 sectarian killings, including the Dublin and Monaghan bombs which claimed 33 lives, that occurred during a relatively short period in the 1970s. The reports from the Historical Enquiries Team, which have never been seen before, provide a significant insight into the role of the RUC and UDR in sectarian killings.

The Pat Finucane centre has also added substantial new evidence through its careful research in the files available in the British national archives in Kew Gardens in London and elsewhere and extensive interviews with victim’s families have also produced new information.

The book makes difficult reading. Page after page records the death of a loved one and the brutal circumstances in which their lives were taken. But page after page also reports the depth of RUC and UDR direct and indirect involvement in most of these deaths.

There are many cases that stand out. But the bomb attack on the Rock Bar, Granemore, in mid Armagh, provides one of the clearest examples of collusion at work. Late on June 5 1976 three men wearing masks pulled up in a car outside of it. They shot one man and seriously wounded one man Michael McGrath who was standing outside. They placed a bomb outside and fired indiscriminately into the building. Only the detonator exploded and no one else was injured.

All of those involved in this attack were serving members of the RUC. ‘Lethal Allies’ methodically strips away the connections in this and in case after case and reveals the extent of RUC and UDR involvement all of these murders.

But it goes further than that it also exposes the degree to which the institutions of the state, including the DPP and the judiciary colluded in the covering up and shielding of those involved in these actions. When the three RUC officers were eventually arrested and brought to court, along with several others, the serious charge of attempted murder relating to the Rock Bar attack were dropped.

Michael McGrath was not called as a witness nor were any of the other people in the Rock Bar. Two of the three were given suspended sentences and the third, Constable William McCaughey, who had been convicted several weeks earlier of the sectarian murder of William Strathearn, was sentenced to seven years to run concurrently with his conviction for the killing of Strathearn.

The Lord Chief Justice Lowry tellingly remarked: ‘All of the accused have admitted their offences and all of them have acted wrongly or emotionally under the same powerful motives, in one case the mortal danger of their service and in the other the feeling that more than ordinary police work was needed and justified to rid the land of the pestilence which has been in existence.’

In the days since the book has been published a succession of unionist politicians and former RUC officers have denied, denied, denied. There is no surprise in this. Anne Cadwallader records in her book that when Harvard historian Caroline Elkins reported on events in Kenya the British first denied that any abuses had taken place then ‘when presented with the evidence, blamed the beatings, hangings, torture and forced removals on “bad apples”.’

‘Duplicity at its finest,’ she called it.

That phrase of ‘bad apples’ and others like ‘renegade officers’ have been used often in the past. It was trotted out to excuse the torture of detainees in Castlereagh and Gough Barracks and Strand Road in the late 1970s. It is being used again in recent days. Once more it is about trying to distance the British political system from any complicity in what occurred. However, the extent of collusion and its cover-up; the fact that British politicians knew of its existence and did nothing to prevent it and the refusal to hold the Pat Finucane enquiry are all evidence of collusion.

This is perhaps best summed up by Anne Cadwallader in her conclusion. She writes, “The inescapable fact, established beyond doubt by these events, is that successive British governments and their law enforcement agencies entered into a collusive counter-insurgency campaign with loyalist paramilitaries. It was thoroughly unethical – and it failed dismally. It was also illegal under international law.”

In October 2011 the then British Secretary of State Owen Patterson stood in the British Parliament and admitted that the British State colluded with Loyalist gunmen in Pat’s murder.

On the same day David Cameron told the Finucane family that there would be no inquiry into Pat Finucane’s death just a review of the papers.

Patterson’s words were part of a damage limitation exercise. The British hoped it would silence the Finucane family. It didn’t work. Moreover a British Minister, on behalf of the British Prime Minister, was admitting that his predecessors had participated in a criminal action.

The British government should move immediately to establish the inquiry into the Pat Finucane killing which it signed up for at Weston Park and has reneged on. And it should engage positively in the debate around truth, legacy and reconciliation matters which thus far it has obstructed and frustrated.

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Friday - November 8^th was the anniversary of the 1987 Enniskillen bomb attack in which 11 people were killed in an IRA bomb attack. Just before I left Belfast to travel to the USA I was interviewed for a documentary on the Ballymurphy Massacre in August 1971 in which 11 people were killed by the British Parachute Regiment.

Last week also saw the broadcasting of the Disappeared and details emerged of British Army tapes which may have filmed the sectarian killing by the UVF of 76 year old Roseanne Mallon in county Tyrone in May 1994. The inquest into Roseanne Mallon’s death is one of 29 which have been deliberately delayed for decades.

There were also the anniversaries of the Shankill Bomb and the Greysteel Massacre and other killings. The Pat Finucane Centre’s case worker Anne Cadwallader published her book, ‘Lethal Allies: British State Collusion in Ireland’ which details the involvement of British state forces operating in collusion in the murder of approximately 120 citizens in the 1970s. And there are many more families who have lost loved ones in other violent actions seeking truth.

The pain, the suffering and the tragedies from decades of conflict are, for many, as real today as they were, when they first occurred. Each occasion of anniversary evokes painful memories. And each such occasion is a reminder of the need to address the past as part of the work of building a peaceful future.

Almost 4000 people died and countless others were injured in a war that was vicious and brutal.

Over the years I have attended many wakes and funerals of family members, friends and neighbours. I have met many victims, including victims of the IRA, and among them the families of those secretly buried by that organisation. Their story is one of the great tragedies of the conflict. What happened was wrong and unjustifiable. The IRA acknowledged this and apologised.

The grief of all of the victims of the conflict must be respected and acknowledged and all of us in political leadership have a responsibility to do all that we can to ensure that no future generation suffers the pain of war.

Regrettably, there are some in the political system and in sections of the media who see the issue of the past as an opportunity to attack Sinn Féin or more particularly me. An example of this occurred in the Dáil last Tuesday. A Fianna Fail TD Brendan Smith, speaking on the issue of those secretly buried by the IRA, that: “The IRA still refuse to accept responsibility for the murders and legitimate questions are not answered by Gerry Adams and others.”

None of this is true. The Fianna Fail leader Micheál Martin knows this. He was a senior member of the government which established the Commission for the Location of Victims Remains at my request.

As a republican leader I have never shirked my responsibility on this issue. It was following representations by me that the IRA established a special unit in the autumn of 1997 to ascertain the whereabouts of the graves of a number of people executed and buried by it in the 1970’s. I have met the families of those affected by this. I have worked with the Commission and I will continue to do so. It has done tremendous work.

I participated in the programme to raise awareness and assist the search for the remaining bodies. That has been my focus for many years and I intend to honour the commitment I gave to the families to continue with my efforts.

The special forensics team, working to the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains, was established as a result of a proposal from Father Alec Reid and myself.

The forensic science consultant Geoff Knupfer, who leads the forensic team for the Commission, acknowledged several years ago the co-operation they received from the IRA. He said: "In a spirit of co-operation and reconciliation they [the IRA] are trying to help in every way they can. I am absolutely convinced that they are doing everything they can to assist. The support we have had from them has been absolutely 100 per cent from day one."

As a result of the work of the last 12 years nine bodies have been recovered and the sites of four of the six remaining bodies have been identified. The failure thus far to find the remaining bodies is not due to any lack of resolve or cooperation by me or other republicans.

Ranting about me is easy for those who rely on gossip, smear, their own imagination and the accusations of political enemies, but it will not help the families. Nor will resolving this injustice and recovering the bodies be assisted by political point scoring, felon setting or snide ill-informed newspaper articles. What is needed is information.

I therefore appeal again for anyone with any information, including anyone who was previously in touch with the Commission to contact them again on the basis of absolute confidentiality, in order to assist the Commission in reassessing the information available to it.

Any information passed to the Commission cannot be used in a court of law or transmitted to any other agency and those passing on this information have absolute immunity in relation to this information.

Unfortunately the issue of the past, and of truth and reconciliation has not made the progress it should have since the Good Friday Agreement was achieved.

Sinn Féin has proposed an independent international based process to deal with the past including all these issues. The fact is that none of the participants to the conflict can be responsible for creating such a process. However, thus far the British government refuses to agree on any mechanism that can deal with this issue and the Irish government and others have made no real effort to establish a viable truth recovery process. This is not acceptable.

The past cannot be an obstacle to dealing with the present or a pretext for refusing to build a new future of equality, fairness and prosperity for everyone. And while republicans recognise the complexity and difficulties which confront us all in dealing with this issue we are in no way daunted by it. Nor should anyone be.

It is necessary that in coming to the issue of truth and reconciliation that we all recognise that there are many different narratives to this story. We live in a divided and largely segregated society with different, and, in some instances, contradictory and opposite political allegiances. Little wonder that there are different perspectives on the causes of the conflict, what happened and who was responsible.

The role and actions of all combatant organisations must be fully considered, including government, state agencies and the legal and judicial system.

And paramount in all of this must be the views of the victims and survivors. Their voices must be heard and respected, not simply the loudest voices, not simply those on any particular side or those on no side. All victims must be treated on an equal basis. The views of the many thousand victims and survivors who have remained silent must also be heard.

So despite the personalised attacks on me Sinn Fein will not be deflected from campaigning for a truth and reconciliation process that can bring closure for families bereaved by the cruelty of war.

Last Friday I attended an event in New York to celebrate the hard work, diligence and activism of 100 Irish American trade union activists. It was a very special occasion. It was held in the Sheraton Hotel on seventh avenue where the night before almost 800 people took part in the annual Friends of Sinn Féin annual fundraising dinner.

The Labour event was also a celebration of the centenary of the Dublin Lockout of 1913 which many trade union leaders in the USA acknowledge was a pivotal moment in the development of the world-wide trade union movement.

The Dublin Lockout involved about 20,000 workers who went on strike for recognition; better conditions and pay. It was a long and bitter battle against tyrannical bosses.

One result of the Lockout was the founding 100 years ago this month of the Irish Citizen Army to defend workers and promote workers rights. Three years later in seeking to advance those goals the Citizen Army played a key role in the Easter Rising against British Imperialism.

The lockout also saw women trade unionists take a leading role in defense of workers. Women like Louie Bennett who formed the Irish Women’s Reform League and Delia Larkin who founded the Irish Women Workers’ Union.

Workers in Ireland were not alone in battling for better conditions and wages. 100 years ago all around the world workers were coming together in trade unions and workers collectives.

The same year of the Dublin Lockout, the USA experienced its first general strike when 50,000 silk workers in Patterson, New Jersey struck for five months in order to win shorter working hours and better conditions. And while the starving workers returned to work without winning all their demands, their protests continued until in 1919 when they finally secured an eight-hour day.

Many Irish workers who fled hunger and poverty, injustice and political repression came to play a vital role in the trade union movement in the United States. Among these was the inspirational figure of James Connolly. He spent 7 years of his life in the USA where he helped establish and organise the Independent Workers of the World. Connolly also understood the importance of freedom from Britain and its linkage to the rights and freedoms and future prosperity of workers.

We are proud of James Connolly. We are proud of his record in defense of American Labour. We are also proud of the role James Connolly played in the fight for Irish freedom. In 1914 Connolly wrote that the damage the partition of Ireland would bring, especially in respect of workers rights would be ‘disastrous’. He warned that: “All hopes of uniting the workers, irrespective of religion or old political battle cries will be shattered.”

The history of the last 100 years is evidence of the truth of Connolly’s words. Partition created two conservative states in Ireland. It stunted the economic, social and political potential of this island. It divided worker against worker north and south, and strengthened sectarian divisions within the north. It is that legacy that this generation of Irish republicans is determined to resolve.

Significant progress has been made since the Good Friday Agreement was achieved 15 years ago. But more needs to be done. The Good Friday Agreement cannot become a mechanism for managing division. It has to be an accord which sign posts a journey to equality, fairness and prosperity.

In my conversations with American trade union leaders it was clear that we and they share our opposition to the policies of austerity.

In the north and despite having no mandate, the British government has imposed cuts which have seriously undermined the Executive’s ability to provide an economic and peace dividend.

In the south the determination of Fine Gael and Labour to stick to austerity is causing enormous difficulties for families. Some 415,000 people or 14% are on the live register while 300,000, mainly young people, have emigrated in the last four years. 1700 are fleeing the state every week. They have gone to Canada and Australia and to the USA.

It is a shameful indictment of successive Irish governments that citizens have no expectation that a young person can be born, grow up, live, work, prosper and grow old in the land of their birth.

It is also an indictment of successive Irish governments and of the leadership of the Labour movement that 100 years after the lockout the Irish state is only one of three EU member states in which workers have no legislated right to workplace representation –no right to negotiate the terms and conditions of their employment.

Workers have no right to have their union recognised by their employer and have no right to collective bargaining. And while the slum conditions of 100 years ago may not be the conditions of today it is a fact that the gap between the rich and the poor is greater now than then. Inequality is as grave an issue today as it was 100 years ago.

Austerity condemns one in ten children to consistent poverty with 47% of households living on less than €100 a month after bills.

It is a truism that there are employers who do not believe in wasting a good recession. For right wing elites a recession is an opportunity to drive down wages; sack workers; hire others at cheaper rates; cut overtime payments; demand longer hours for less, and ignore the trade unions.

If there is to be a lasting legacy out of the 1913 Dublin Lockout it must be the right of workers to choose their own representatives and have them bargain collectively on their behalf. That means increasing pressure on the government to legislate for this.

It also means building alliances on social and economic matters with others in Ireland and abroad, who share our opposition to austerity.

It means getting back to activism; to organising, to campaigning, to recruiting, to agitating for the rights of workers, including unemployed workers, the poor and demonstrating across all employment sectors.

The vast majority of people want a society that is based on values of social justice, fairness, equality and decency. I firmly believe that this can be achieved if we work together.

Yesterday the Minister for Finance Michael Noonan told the Finance Committee in the Dáil that the issue of a decision on whether or not the state needed a precautionary credit line following its exit from the bailout was not on the agenda of today’s meeting of Eurozone finance ministers in Brussels.

This morning an emergency Cabinet meeting was called and the Dáil was given less than an hour to respond to an unspecified statement from the government. Was it going for ‘backstop’, a post-bailout credit line, or was it not? The media was well briefed. The government spin doctors had done their work and had the line before the Taoiseach stood up in the Dáil and told members.

It was all good political theatre. The government constructed a dramatic announcement for its decision to set aside the option of a post bailout credit line. Its PR spin is obvious. It’s all about the government patting itself on the back and claiming that it has regained economic sovereignty and brought an end to the rule of the Troika.

But the truth is much different. It was bounced on the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste by their master in Europe. The government has no strategic plan, stumbles from crisis to crisis and has no long term vision – except that is to impose more austerity policies on a financially exhausted and exasperated citizenry.

The truth is that while the Troika may be leaving, the Troika mind-set remains. The government has over its two and a half years in office slavishly followed the policies of the last Fianna Fáil government and has embraced austerity. It has even gone as far as introducing austerity measures that were not recommended by the Troika.

It has taxed and cut the most vulnerable in Irish society, unbidden by its European masters. It has very specifically and unfairly targeted young unemployed citizens, the elderly, working mothers and those in need of medical cards.

These citizens are being made to carry the can for the economic collapse and the recklessness of bankers, developers and politicians. That is patently unfair.

In the government’s October’s 2014 budget older citizens have been particularly hard hit with cuts to the telephone allowance; the loss of the bereavement grant; the withdrawal of medical cards and cuts to the invalidity pension. That is unfair.

As a result of this and last year’s budget, older citizens will have lost €22.60 per month in the telephone allowance. That is particularly mean-spirited.

The Budget also saw Maternity Benefit cut for the second year in a row. This will adversely affect 90% of women in receipt of Maternity Benefit. Cutting Maternity Benefit is contrary to the interests of women, of children and indeed of Irish society. It is also unfair.

What is equally unfair is the fact that Fine Gael and Labour, just like Fianna Fáil before them, have embraced forced emigration as a policy choice. Already there are 1,700 people emigrating from this state every week. The vast majority of these are young, educated citizens, unable to get suitable employment.

This morning’s announcement makes no positive difference to them or their families and the government’s determination to pursue austerity coupled with its inadequate Youth Guarantee Scheme means that more of our young people will continue to leave for the hope of jobs abroad.

Next year, whether the Troika is here or not, the government will take €2 billion more from the economy in water charges, taxes and more cuts to health, education and other vital services.

On top of that, citizens in this state still subject to the terms of the fiscal treaty, which this government and Fianna Fail pushed the people to support.

For many more years, the Irish people will be forced to carry an unsustainable debt burden, inflicted on us because of the austerity policy Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fail embraced to bail out the banks.

The reality is that the government has secured nothing to relieve citizens of this odious debt.

17 months ago the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste were proclaiming their achievements at the June 2012 Euro summit. They claimed it was a game changer a seismic shift. Having pumped €65 billion of taxpayers money into bad and toxic banks it was claimed that theEuropean Stability Mechanism would reduce banking debt, separate banking debt from sovereign debt and that it would be retrospective and we would get some of our money back.

None of this has happened.

If we are to begin to regain our economic sovereignty, it will not be under this government. Nor will not be under Fianna Fáil.

This government should go. The only way to rebuild the economy is to make deficit adjustments that are fair and growth friendly. The economy must be stimulated and jobs created if recovery is to be sustainable. The banking debt is a noose around the neck of the people. It must be restructured and reduced.

We are leaving the bailout programme but we cannot get away from the legacy and the damage caused by austerity. Our public services are decimated and families across the state are in poverty. The government and especially the Labour party should be ashamed of this.

US diplomats Richard Haass and Meghan O Sullivan are currently conducting intensive and inclusive negotiations to deal with outstanding aspects of the Good Friday and other Agreements. These include the legacy issues arising from the conflict.

Everyone who has an interest in building the peace knows that the past cannot be allowed to be an obstacle to building the future. So, there needs to be a measured and inclusive debate on all of the issues involved.

Today the north’s Attorney General John Larkin has put forward his ideas on dealing with one aspect the legacy of the past - the issue of prosecutions. He has expressed a view that there should be no prosecutions, inquests or inquiries for incidents before the Good Friday Agreement.

Mr. Larkin has also said that the current position favours non-state forces. That is not the case. The British government is in breach of international agreements and commitments in respect of the Pat Finucane Inquiry and the Dublin and Monaghan bombs. And to all intents and purposes there is an amnesty for the British state forces and their allies. While over the years thousands of republicans and innocent nationalists have served very lengthy prison sentences.

I have not had the chance to read the Attorney General’s full remarks on this issue. But I think it is a good thing that the Haass talks have encouraged people - he has had several hundred submissions – to express their opinions, including victims.

Our wider society needs to have this debate. We need a sensitive, measured, reasoned and intelligent debate on these issues which recognises that any mechanism put in place must be victim centred and that it has to be done on the basis of equality.

The conflict is over but the legacy of conflict remains with us. The pain, suffering and the tragedies from decades of conflict are, for many, as real today as they were when they first occurred.

Sinn Féin believes that if legacy issues are located in the framework of conflict resolution and of the broader peace process then these matters will be addressed in way which will heal divisions, consolidate the peace and become guarantors for the future. Truth recovery and acknowledgement are critical to dealing with the past and can become a powerful dynamic in the quest for reconciliation.

Sinn Féin has proposed that an international, independent truth recovery process underpinned in legislation should be established. Others have different ideas of how this issue should be dealt with and that is fair enough, but we need to take this opportunity to move the process forward in a way that looks after the victims but also builds the future for the survivors.

It is necessary that in coming to the issue of truth and reconciliation that we all recognise that there are many different narratives to this story. All of these narratives have their own truth. There is no single voice for victims. Some want truth. Some want judicial processes.

There are also different perspectives on the causes of the conflict, what happened and who was responsible.

I am an Irish republican. British government involvement in Irish affairs and the partition of this country are in my view at the core of the problem but I recognise that others, for example, the unionists have a different view and their own sense of truth, Fine Gael may have its own analysis. Or Fianna Fáil and others including the British government. We need to set all of these narratives side by side and respect them all.

How do we encourage such a debate? The starting point must be a recognition by the Irish government that this is a crucial matter and that as a co-equal partner with the British government it has a responsibility to look after everyone on this island including our unionist neighbours.

In this context I am looking to the government to encourage a joined-up inclusive, thoughtful discussion aimed at unshackling us from the past. We need a process that can ensure that the past is never repeated and which is aimed at forging a more hopeful future for the people who have survived the conflict and for our children and grandchildren.

In this respect I am very conscious of the upcoming state visit by the President to Britain. It is important that these seismic changes can be measured by people not just in the palaces but also in the laneways and hillsides across this island.

Finally in our submission to the Haass talks Sinn Féin submitted a paper ‘Addressing Legacy Issues – Building a Common Future’. We have also made submissions on Flags and emblems and on parades. All of these are available at www.sinnfein.ie

The BBC Panorama programme on the Military Reaction Force shines a light on the one aspect of Britain’s dirty war in Ireland. The existence of the MRF has been known for over 30 years but John Ware’s documentary usefully provides new information on a secret British Army unit that operated with impunity in the early 70s.

The use of counter-gangs, like the MRF and the Force Reconnaissance Unit (FRU) and others; of agents and informers; and of specialist military units is as old as war itself. The British military establishment has long made use of these tactical tools. I am quite confident it is passing that experience on to its current crop of young officers in Sandhurst.

As used by successive British governments in Ireland this involved reshaping the judiciary, the law, the police and the media to suit the political and military objectives of the generals and the politicians. According to Frank Kitson the British Army’s foremost proponent of counter-insurgency tactics: ‘Everything done by a government and its agents in combating insurgency must be legitimate. But this does not mean that the government must work within exactly the same set of laws during an emergency as existed before hand. The law should be used as just another weapon in the government’s arsenal, in which case it becomes little more than a propaganda cover for the disposal of unwanted members of the public.’

That was the job of the MRF. To kill unwanted members of the public. If unarmed republicans or civilians were killed that was acceptable.

In every major conflict in the 20^th century and in the colonial struggles for independence – in Algeria and Vietnam, in Kenya and Mozambique, in Aden and Cyprus – the same strategies were employed. The court case taken by Kenyans who were imprisoned and tortured by the British Army in Kenya and which was covered extensively in the Guardian provides one example outside of Ireland of these practices at work.

It is a sad fact that the conflict in Ireland has left thousands of families bereaved and hurting. In the last month there have been anniversaries to mark the Enniskillen bomb, the Greysteel Massacre, the Shankill bomb and other similar events. There has also been the recent publication of ‘Lethal Allies’. Through a detailed examination of the facts this book connects British state forces with 120 deaths of civilians in a five year period in the 1970s. And it reveals the way in which the political and judicial system covered up these actions.

This is what happens when politicians surrender their power to the generals. When diplomacy ends and war takes over and generals and their armies do what they have been trained to do, which is defeat the enemy.

I am an Irish republican. British government involvement in Irish affairs and the partition of my country are in my view at the core of the problem but I recognise that others, for example, the unionists, have a different view and their own sense of truth. There will be those in the British system who also have a different analysis. There are many differing narratives. Different perspectives on the causes of the conflict, what happened and who was responsible. All of these narratives have their own truth. There is no single voice for victims. Some want truth. Some want judicial processes. We need to set all of these narratives side by side and respect them all.

The war is over. But the legacy of conflict remains with us. The pain from decades of conflict is, for many, as real today as it was when a loved one was killed.

US diplomats Richard Haass and Meghan O Sullivan are currently conducting intensive negotiations to deal with outstanding aspects of the Good Friday and other Agreements. These include the legacy issues. Everyone who has an interest in peace knows that the past cannot be allowed to be an obstacle to building the future. So, there needs to be a measured and inclusive debate on all of the issues involved.

Sinn Féin has proposed that an international, independent truth recovery process underpinned in legislation should be established. Others have different ideas of how this issue should be dealt with and that is fair enough, but we need to take this opportunity to move the process forward in a way that listens to, respects and treats all victims on the basis of equality, and also builds the future for the survivors.

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Clonard is a place of pilgrimage. They came in their thousands this week to say a final goodbye to a good priest, a close friend, a gentle and kind hearted man, and as courageous and humble a human being as you could ever hope to meet.

Fr. Alec Reid died in his sleep in the early hours of last Friday morning. I had been with him the previous Thursday and he was in good form. Talkative, funny and enjoying his hospital tea in St. Vincent’s in Dublin. But his condition deteriorated. I was phoned on Thursday night and told that he only had days. I arranged to travel down on Friday to visit him but shortly after 9am on Friday morning we got word that he had quietly passed in his sleep.

I was deeply shocked and saddened at his death. For forty years I have known him as a good friend to me and my family, and a selfless and unstinting worker in the search for justice and peace. In the midst of hard times Fr. Reid was always there offering comfort and solidarity and advice.

He was one of the good guys. His death is a huge loss to all the people of Ireland, to his fellow priests in the Redemptorist community and to his family, especially his sisters Margaret and Maura, his Aunt Ita, his wider family circle and his many friends.

I first met Fr. Alec in the Cages of Long Kesh, where I was interned, in the mid 1970s. He and Father Des Wilson were pioneers of peace making in those difficult times. Both men were deeply committed to living the gospel message and to making it relevant to the particular circumstances in which they ministered. They developed dialogue with loyalists and facilitated meetings between us and some prominent people from loyalist paramilitarism. Both were tenacious peacemakers.

I met him again on Easter Sunday after my release in 1976, when at my request he and Fr. Des – who thankfully is still with us - intervened to negotiate an end to the inter-republican feuds in Belfast. Theysucceeded in establishing an arbitration and mediation process between the different republican organisations.

Fr. Alec had more freedom than most priests because he belonged to an order – the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, popularly known as the Redemptorists – which fully supported the work he was doing. The Redemptorist mission is to ‘preach the values and the blessings of the Christian Gospel to people everywhere but particularly to the poor, the marginalised and the downtrodden’.

The Sagart was ordained in 1957and was appointed to Clonard Monastery several years later. From 1969 and throughout the intervening years of conflict Fr. Reid was constantly involved in a number of special peace-making ministries. The objective of these was to give comfort and support to the people living at the coal-face of the violence; helping prisoners and their families; and promoting understanding and reconciliation between the people of Belfast. He was also Chaplain to and worked closely with the Traveller community in Belfast.

Another Clonard ministry was to foster dialogue and friendship between the separated Christians of Belfast, an enterprise he took especially to heart, working tirelessly to move the conflict off the streets and onto the conference table.

Fr. Alec was also a friend of the prisoners and part of the line of communication between them and the British Government during the first Hunger Strike in 1980. He actively encouraged initiatives in support of the H Block blanketmen and the Armagh women. It was Fr. Reid who suggested that we meet with Cardinal O Fiaich on the prison issue and it was Fr. Reid who persuaded the Cardinal to visit the republican political prisoners on the blanket protest in July 1978.

Afterward the Cardinal, then Archbishop, O Fiaich, condemned the conditions under which the prisoners were being held, and said: “Having spent the whole of Sunday in the prison, I was shocked at the inhuman conditions prevailing in H-Blocks 3,4 and 5 where over 300 prisoners were incarcerated. One would hardly allow an animal to remain in such conditions, let alone a human being. The nearest approach to it that I have seen was the spectacle of hundreds of homeless people living in sewer pipes in the slums of Calcutta.”

The Cardinal informed the then British Secretary of State, Humphrey Atkins, of these meetings and tried to mediate a resolution of the prison protest. It failed. The British were determined to break the prisoners.

Fr. Reid was devastated by the commencement of the first hunger strike. He had lobbied ferociously for an end to the dispute. The stress of trying and failing to get a resolution of this issue took its toll and he took seriously ill. I used to visit Fr. Alex in Drogheda hospital. On one occasion Colette and I found him in a very distressed state as the health of the hunger strikers deteriorated. Paradoxically, while the plight of the prisoners and their families and the ongoing conflict continued to wear him down, he took great comfort from the messages of support that the blanket men had smuggled out to him.

Some of his friends arranged to send him to Rome where the Redemptorist main headquarters is. Fr. Alec enjoyed Rome; he delighted in wandering through the city and eventually finding his way back to the Redemptorist House at nightfall. One day, on May 13th 1981, 8 days after Bobby Sands died on Hunger Strike, Fr. Alec was in St. Peter's square, reflecting on events in Ireland, the hunger strike and how different this was to Belfast with its daily bombing attacks and intermittent gun battles. As he tried to get closer to where the Holy Father, John Paul II’s procession was passing an armed man dashed forward close to the Sagart and shot the Pope.

The Sagart, in a state of some understandable shock and concern for the Pope’s well being, made the mistake of recounting his experiences to friends back home. It was a story that was to be told and retold with suitable irreverence in typical black Belfast style for years after that.

It wasn’t until July of the following year that the Sagart was allowed to return to Ireland but on condition that he didn't come north. His superiors were afraid that his fragile health could be undermined if he was allowed to become re-involved in his previous activities.

When he eventually did we resumed our conversations about the conflict, its causes and how it might be ended. It was obvious that dialogue was the necessary first step. In the early 1980s we tried to commence a process of engagement with the Catholic Hierarchy, the SDLP, and the Irish and British governments. They were all rebuffed. The breakthrough came after Fr. Reid wrote a letter to John Hume on May 19 1986. John phoned the monastery the next day and he arrived at Clonard on May 21^st.

Towards the end of 1987 we decided that John and I would begin party-to-party meetings. The Sagart formally wrote to both of us as ‘an interested third party’inviting Sinn Féin and the SDLP to ‘explore whether there could be agreement on an overall nationalist strategy for justice and peace.’ He presented us with a paper entitled ‘A concrete proposal for an overall political strategy to establish justice and peace in Ireland.’

I brought the invitation to our Ard Chomhairle. It responded positively and John and I met on Monday January 11^th 1988 for several hours. For the first time our meeting was publicised and there was an immediate and generally hostile response from the governments, the other political parties and sections of the media. Jump forward 25 years and it is the same sections of the media and in many cases the same journalists who are still busy peddling their anti-Sinn Féin agenda.

Fr. Reid never allowed any of it to distract him. He was tenacious in his pursuit of peace. He wrote copious letters to political leaders here and in Britain and engaged in countless meetings with politicians and government’s seeking to persuade them to start the process of talking. He saw good in everyone and lived the gospel message. His was the gospel of the streets.

He was there during the first hunger strike and became ill as a consequence of the stress. He was there during the battle of the funerals including the funerals of the IRA volunteers killed at Gibraltar. He was in Milltown Cemetery when the mourners were attacked. Three were killed and over 60 wounded. Several days later he administered the last rites to the two British soldiers killed at the subsequent funeral of one of the victims Caoimhin MacBradaigh.

Fr. Reid also helped broker talks between Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil and subsequently the Irish government and Sinn Féin. In 1999, at my request, he became involved in the ongoing efforts to locate the remains of those who had been killed and secretly buried by the IRA and others. After several years it became apparent that our initial hope that all of the remains would be located quickly was naive. He and I discussed this and consequently we put to the governments a proposal that experts in the recovery of remains, using high-tech equipment and archaeological methods should be employed.

Later in 2005 he was an independent witness, along with Rev Harold Good, to the IRA putting its arms beyond use and during this time he was also involved in trying to develop a peace process in the Basque country.

Today we brought him to his last resting place in the Redemptorist plot in Milltown cemetery. Earlier hundreds of his religious colleagues, political and community leaders and the people of west Belfast attended his funeral mass in Clonard.

The Sagart lived a full life. His contribution to peace in Ireland is immeasurable. There would not be a peace process at this time without his diligent doggedness and his refusal to give up. He remained through all these turbulent times a good and simple priest. He was forthright, funny and totally dedicated to upholding the dignity of human beings. He was an active proponent of equality, particularly of a woman’s right to equality.

He was also a proud Tipperary man and a hurling enthusiast. His last words to me were “Up Tipp”.

Go ndeanfaid Dia trocaire ar a n’anam dilse.

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The decision by the government to appoint Judge Yvonne Murphy who will assist in finding closure for women who have been left traumatised, and physically and mentally scarred by the barbaric practice of symphysiotomy, is long overdue.

The decision to provide a relatively short time frame of eight weeks for Judge Murphy to submit her report to the Minister for Health is useful provided the government doesn’t then delay in announcing what it intends to do.

I am concerned that the terms of reference are not clear and as we know in these situations the devil is in the detail.

The decision of the government to oppose the lifting of the Statue of Limitations to allow victims to take their cases to court – if that is their wish – is unacceptable. The victims of symphysiotomy should have the opportunity to choose which course of action is right for them and it is unfair of the government to prevent this.

I am also troubled by the Minister’s continued refusal to publish the Walsh Report until after the government has decided what to do. In the interests of openness and to allow all of the women affected to decide on the best course of action for them it is necessary that the Walsh report is published.

The use of symphysiotomy, the inconsistent and minimal application of known standards of care; the inadequate supervision of the clinicians who used the practice; the lack of attention patient’s rights; and the failure of successive government’s over many years to deal with this issue properly and to provide for those women on whom it was used, goes to the heart of the quality of healthcare in this state.

Below is a PQ - Parliamentary Question that I submitted to the Minister for Health and his response on this issue.

QUESTION NO: 207

DÁIL QUESTION addressed to the Minister for Health (Dr. James Reilly)
by Deputy Gerry Adams
for WRITTEN ANSWER on 27/11/2013

* To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Questions in which he said that he expected to bring forward proposals on symphysiotomy to the Government, when these proposals will be brought forward; if the Government have decided how best to proceed in relation to this issue; when he will release the name of the judge he will appoint to meet with the women concerned to facilitate decisions on how best to bring closure to the issue; and the length of time he expects the mediation process to take.

Gerry Adams T.D.

Details Supplied: PQ's 444, 472, 476 & 486

REPLY.
I received the approval of the Government yesterday to appoint Judge Yvonne Murphy to assist in finding closure for women who have been affected by a symphysiotomy procedure. The Judge will work with key parties; including representatives of the women, the State Claims Agency and insurance companies in proposing a just outcome. Judge Murphy's work will take around eight weeks, at which time she will submit her independent report to me. I will then revert to Government with detailed proposals so that a decision can be taken as early as possible in the New Year. At that stage Prof Oonagh Walsh's Report will be published.

The Terms of Reference for the work of Judge Yvonne Murphy are:

1. To examine all relevant reports and information relating to symphysiotomy.

2. To meet women who have undergone surgical symphysiotomy procedures to assess what, in their opinion, would bring closure for them.

3. To assess, in conjunction with the State Claims Agency (SCA)and other relevant bodies, the relative liabilities of insurers, indemnifiers and/or other parties in relation to cases pending, or which may arise linked to surgical symphysiotomy procedures.

4. To meet insurers, indemnifiers and/or other parties in relation to such liabilities and to explore and negotiate a quantum representing a fair contribution towards a fund which would form part of an ex-gratia scheme to which Government would also contribute in order to establish an ex-gratia scheme and put closure on the issue for the women involved.

5. To assess the merits and cost to the State of proceeding with an ex-gratia scheme relative to allowing the court process to proceed.

6. To report to the Minister within a period of 8 working weeks on the outcome of these deliberations, with recommendations on the next steps.

I met representatives of the women yesterday with Judge Murphy to assure everyone that she will consult with all relevant parties in an environment where there are no preconceived ideas of what her conclusions might be. In this way her work will be truly independent.

My priority continues to be to ensure that the women who have had this procedure have their health needs comprehensively and professionally met. In this regard, the HSE provides a range of services to women who may be experiencing any adverse effects as a result of undergoing this procedure. These services include the provision of medical cards for the women, the availability of independent clinical advice and the organisation of individual pathways of care and the arrangement of appropriate follow-up. All these services are available on request by the women from the HSE nominated Symphysiotomy Liaison Officers.

Eight years after it was established the report of the Smithwick Tribunal was finally published on Tuesday evening.

I want to commend Justice Smithwick for his hard work of many years. I am very mindful that at the heart of the Smithwick Inquiry there are two bereaved families and I hope the report helps bring some measure of closure for them.

I also want to commend the Irish government for fulfilling its obligation under the Weston Park Agreement. The onus is now on the British government to move speedily to holding the promised inquiry into the murder of human rights lawyer Pat Finucane.

The Smithwick Tribunal was established as a result of an agreement in the negotiations in Weston Park in 2001 between the British and Irish governments.

Canadian Judge Peter Cory was asked to look at the killing of Pat Finucane; Robert Hamill; Rosemary Nelson; Billy Wright; Judge Gibson and his wife; and RUC Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and RUC Superintendent Robert Buchanan.

Cory worked diligently and in 2003 he handed his reports over to the two governments. The Canadian Judge concluded that there was no basis for an inquiry into the deaths of the Gibsons. He proposed that there was a basis for inquiries into all of the others, including the killing of the two RUC officers.

The Irish government published Cory’s recommendations in December 2003 and announced that it would set up an inquiry, but the British stalled until April 2004 before publishing his reports to them.

Ten years later of the six cases investigated by Judge Cory only the Pat Finucane Inquiry has yet to commence. It is clear that the British government is deeply worried by the enormous political implications of the Finucane case which is known to involve substantial institutional collusion between British state forces and the UDA.

This concern was evident in the introduction by the British government in June 2005 of the Inquiries Act 2005. This legislation deliberately limits the scope of the inquiries proposed by Cory who criticised the British move saying it "...would make a meaningful inquiry impossible."

In June 2006 I met with Justice Smithwick at his request. He asked if I could help. I explained to him that in 2005 the IRA put its weapons beyond use and stood down its structures. The IRA had left the stage. However, after some effort three former IRA volunteers agreed to give evidence to the Tribunal.

A process was put in place to facilitate this. When this was achieved Sinn Féin stepped back and the process moved forward. This was a significant and unprecedented development. For the first time former members of the IRA gave evidence to an inquiry into an IRA action. Clearly this would not have been possible if the Tribunal had not created the context to allow it.

The decision by three former members of the IRA to voluntarily give evidence to the Smithwick Tribunal was an important development. This was the first time former members of the IRA have ever given evidence to an inquiry into an IRA action. The engagement between the three former volunteers and Smithwick is historically unparalleled.

Justice Smithwick accepts much of the evidence given by the former IRA volunteers, for example describing their witness account as a ‘valuable resource for the Tribunal.’ At other points in his report he acknowledges that their evidence in respect of the movement of the RUC car is ‘fully consistent’ with information logged in the journal of RUC Superintendent Bob Buchanan.

Justice Smithwick’s conclusion is contradictory. On the one hand he concludes that the Tribunal ‘has not uncovered direct evidence of collusion’.

But then, in a clear contradiction of this and on the basis of circumstantial and untested intelligence Justice Smithwick then goes on to saythat ‘on balance of probability’ some form of collusion occurred.

What Justice Smithwick defines as collusion is very different in form and scale from the collusion that occurred in the north. During 30 years of war the British state was responsible for structured, institutionalised and co-ordinated state run collusion and unionist death squads which led to the deaths of hundreds of citizens, including those killed in the Dublin and Monaghan and Dundalk bomb attacks.

The British government arrogantly disregards the unanimous all-party Oireachtas motion calling on it to provide vital information about these bomb attacks. The Pat Finucane Inquiry is now the only inquiry agreed to at Weston Park that has not been held. The British government is in clear breach of its commitments.

The Irish government now needs to assertively lobby the British government, including at an international level, to honour its commitment and to set up the promised public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane.

Sinn Féin supported these inquires on the basis that families had the right to full disclosure of all relevant information. Sinn Féin believes that there needs to be an effective truth process for dealing with all legacy issues.

We have repeatedly called on the British and Irish governments to invite in a reputable and independent international body to establish an Independent International Truth Commission which would be independent of any state, combatant groups, political parties, civil society and economic interests and would have a remit to inquire into the extent and pattern of the conflict as well as their causes and consequences.

I helped to facilitate the engagement between the former IRA volunteers and the Smithwick Tribunal because I believe there is a responsibility to assist families bereaved in the conflict, though this may not be possible in all cases.

Republicans are very conscious of the hurt and suffering which has been caused through conflict in our country. Sinn Féin has repeatedly called on the British and Irish governments to invite in a reputable and independent international body to establish an Independent International Truth Commission which would be independent of any state, combatant groups, political parties, civil society and economic interests.

It should have a remit to inquire into the extent and pattern of past violations as well as their causes and consequences and would be dependent on the full co-operation of all the relevant parties.

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD commenting on criticisms of his remarks on the Smithwick report said:

“I am very conscious that at the heart of this issue are two bereaved families. I did not need reminded of this by any of my political opponents and I am concerned, as I was during the Newstalk interview, not to say anything which detracts from that or which causes any further hurt. That was never my intention.

What I said reflects what is recorded by Justice Smithwick.

So those who attack me are at odds with what is contained in the Smithwick report.

It is nonsense to suggest that I was blaming the two RUC officers for their own deaths. Everyone knows the IRA was responsible. That was never in question.

There is also no question but that the Smithwick report records serious concerns about the security arrangements for RUC officers travelling to Dundalk through South Armagh. These include the fact that information about possible IRA attacks on RUC officers crossing the border was passed to Garda Headquarters and passed by it to the RUC.

It is a fact that RUC Officer Bob Buchanan was crossing the border on average 10 times each month and on most occasions he travelled in his own car which was ‘readily identifiable.’

In his report Justice Smithwick records, and I quote, ‘there was a general view that the RUC crossing the border were targets’ and ‘they (referring to RUC members) were all warned in relation to that.’

The Smithwick report records a senior Garda officer “discussing security with Superintendent Buchanan and asking him “was he happy with coming up without an escort? If you want an escort, we’ll give you an escort. He said he was all right, and that was it.”

And there are other examples of concern about the visits across the border by the RUC officers.

Clearly, the decision to continue to travel as frequently as they did across the border, without escort, left the RUC officers open to the real possibility of attack.

None of this distracts from the tragedy and loss of life.

Sinn Féin supported the establishment of the Smithwick Inquiry. I co-operated with the inquiry and met Justice Smithwick and his team and number of times.

I have concerns about the Tribunal’s conclusions given that it accepts that it found no direct evidence of collusion and then went on to claim without supporting evidence that ‘on the balance of probabilities’ there was collusion.

Sinn Féin supports the recommendations the Tribunal makes with regard to changes in policing and developing full all Ireland co-operation on policing and justice.

There is also a need to deal with the outstanding issues of Weston Park. The Finucane Family are entitled to the same support and levels of disclosure as the Breen and Buchanan Families.

A few weeks ago in the Dáil I asked the Taoiseach to facilitate a reasoned and rationale debate on the past. I made the point that the past must not be allowed to become an obstacle to building the peace and a harmonious and fair future for all our citizens.

Yesterday’s contrived outburst by the Fianna Fáil leader and the pompous remarks by the Justice Minister and others illustrate the importance of such a debate. Why are they not open to discussing the proposal put by Sinn Féin for a comprehensive, victim centred, truth recovery process under the tutelage of an independent international agency?

Could it be that partitionism and revisionism allied with party political self-interest has primacy over more important matters?

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I want to extend to the family of President Mandela, to President Zuma and to the people of South Africa, my sincere and heartfelt condolences at the death of Madiba on my own behalf and that of Sinn Féin.

The world is in mourning. We have lost our greatest statesman. Madiba was a leader who by his courage demonstrated that it is possible to reconcile differences. By his example he showed us that it is possible to build peace out of conflict; a better and more equal future based on fairness, and unity out of division.

In the hard years when the western powers were against him, when he was vilified as a terrorist and a criminal, he kept the faith. He showed perseverance and vision. There are lessons in all of this for us but particularly for the people of the island of Ireland as we continue the necessary and challenging task of building the peace.

I first saw Nelson Mandela when he visited Dublin in 1990. That was the day the Irish soccer team returned home. When Madiba appeared a section of the crowd began to chant 'Ooh ahh Paul Mc Grath's Da'. The craic was ninety. In 1995 myself, and several other activists travelled to South Africa at the invitation of the ANC to speak to senior figures from that party who had been centrally involved in the process of negotiations. That was when I met Madiba for the first time.

It was almost a year after the IRA cessation and just over a year since the first post apartheid election which returned Madiba as President of a Free South Africa. Myself, and several colleagues travelled there at the invitation of the ANC to speak to senior figures from that party who had been centrally involved in the process of negotiations.

The ANC also arranged meetings with representatives from the National Party, General Constand Viljoen leader of the Freedom Front Party and Dr. Niel Barnard the head of the Apartheid regime’s National Intelligence Service.

In developing the Sinn Fein peace strategy toward the end of the 1980s and into the early 1990s Irish Republicans had recognised the importance of the international community as an ally for making progress in a peace process and as a source of inspiration and information for our own endeavours.

While much of our focus was on Irish-America, which had the greatest concentration of the Irish diaspora, Irish Republicans had always had a close affinity with the struggle in South Africa. In my youth one of my first demonstrations was in Dublin against apartheid and the visit of the Springbok Rugby team. I was a long time supporter of the Anti-apartheid movement. The purpose of our trip in 1995 was to learn the lessons of South Africa’s approach to conflict resolution, and to brief people on the difficulties in our process.

Walter Sisulu, Cyril Ramaphosa, Thabo Mbeki, Cheryl Carolus and many others in the leadership of the ANC made us very welcome. However, for all of our group the highlight of our many meetings was with Madiba. He was self-effacing in his humour, totally relaxed and very focused.

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As ever the British government, and sections of the British media, had made much about whether or not there would be a handshake, would there be a photograph and so on. The Major government had lobbied hard for Mandela not to meet me. His response was simply put as we shook hands in his office: “Ah, comrade Gerry, I’ll not wash my hand for a week.” Madiba thanked me for the solidarity that Irish republicans had extended to the ANC and the anti-apartheid struggle over many years.

It was my privilege to meet Madiba many times after that; in South Africa, in Ireland and Britain. He was funny, engaging and modest and hugely supportive of the Irish peace process. Along with his comrades in the ANC he was very helpful and he had a depth of understanding of the twists and turns of our process.

He was very loyal to those, including Irish republicans who had helped the ANC in difficult times. His outreach to Sinn Féin in the '90's was resisted stridently by the British Government and criticised by sections of the media.

In 2001, on the 20^th anniversary of the hunger strike, I travelled to South Africa to unveil a monument to the hunger strikers, in the yard in Robben island prison where Madiba spent much of this time imprisoned. As part of that visit Madiba and I met again and spent several hours talking about the Irish peace process and the changing face of South Africa.

In 2003 he visited Dublin to open the Special Olympics at Croke Park. Martin McGuinness and I met him privately for discussions. Despite his age and increased physical frailty his mind was as sharp as a razor; conversant with the twists and turns of our process as well as the affairs of his own continent or the injustice of the war in Iraq.

Madiba was a very remarkable human being. At our first meeting his commitment to the Irish peace process was obvious. Nelson Mandela remains one of my heroes and in my view the greatest political leader of our time. ‘Se mo laoch. Mo Ghile Mear.’

Madiba will continue to inspire and encourage oppressed peoples everywhere. His legacy will live on.

In the words he used to salute his friend and comrade Walter Sisulu.

Hamba Kahle, Madiba. Qhawe la ma Qhawe!

(Go well, Rest in Peace, Madiba Hero among heroes.)

‘For to be free is not merely to cast off ones chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others’. Madiba

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Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD speaking in the Dáil this evening on the death of Nelson ‘Madiba’ Mandela said: “Madiba was a leader who by his courage demonstrated that it is possible to reconcile differences.

By his example he showed us that it is possible to build peace out of conflict; something we try to do in our own island; and that a better and more equal future based on fairness is possible, and that unity can be forged out of division.”

The Sinn Féin leader who will be travelling to South Africa tomorrow for the funeral of Madiba reminded the Dáil of the close relationship between Irish republicans and the ANC. He said: “In jail for those decades, on Robben Island, Madiba maintained his international perspective.

In his cell, in common with all political prisoners, he was allowed as a privilege a calendar on which he marked significant events.

On the 5^th May 1981 a simple single line is written: ‘IRA martyr Bobby Sands dies.’

A tribute, hand written, on a paper calendar on a cell wall in South Africa which recognises the bond of those who struggle for justice.

His note on that prison wall is recognition of the courage and self-sacrifice of the 10 republican hunger strikers of our time.

Walter Sisulu later told me that all of the ANC prisoners marked and commemorated each of the hunger strikers who died, including Kieran Doherty TD.”

The full text of Mr. Adams speech:

“Ba mhaith liom mo chombhrón a thabhairt do chlann an iar-Uachtarán Mandela, Uachtarán Zuma, daoine ón Aifric Theas, agus pobal na hAfraice in Éirinn.

Taoiseach, Nelson Mandela ‘Madiba’ was truly remarkable.

He was a Freedom Fighter, a political prisoner, a negotiator, a healer, a peacemaker, a father, a grandfather and a husband.

He was a friend to those engaged in the struggle for justice across the globe.

He believed in Ubuntu (we are all interconnected and a person cannot exist separate from society; we all have responsibilities to each other).

He was a friend to the people of Ireland and many people here were his friends, particularly the heroic Dunness Store strikers who took a stand when those in power did not.

The injustice of apartheid was an obscenity – an obscenity to humanity – and in terms of our own experience Vorster – an apartheid Minister in South Africa once said famously that he would swap all of the apartheid laws for one clause of the infamous Special Powers Act in the north.

The ANC was banned, censored and political actions were quashed.

In the 1950’s and early 60’s ANC activists debated how best to challenge the state.

Speaking of that period, Mandela said, ‘We have always believed in non-violence as a tactic; where conditions demanded that we should use non-violence we would do so; where the conditions demanded that we should depart from non-violence we would do so.’

He came to the opinion that the ANC "had no alternative to armed and violent resistance.” His words not mine.

In 1961 along with Walter Sisulu and Joe Slovo, Madiba co-founded and became Chairman of the armed organisation Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), known as MK.

MK engaged in military actions against the South African regime through the period of his imprisonment and following his release.

And in jail for those decades, on Robben Island, Madiba maintained his international perspective.

In his cell, in common with all political prisoners, he was allowed as a privilege a calendar on which he marked significant events.

On the 5^th May 1981 a simple single line is written: ‘IRA martyr Bobby Sands dies.’

A tribute, hand written, on a paper calendar on a cell wall in South Africa which recognises the bond of those who struggle for justice.

His note on that prison wall is a recognition of the courage and self-sacrifice of the 10 republican hunger strikers of our time.

Walter Sisulu later told me that all of the ANC prisoners marked and commemorated each of the hunger strikers who died, including Kieran Doherty TD.

Today the world is in mourning.

The people of South Africa have lost their leader, their father and humanity has lost our greatest statesman.

Madiba was a leader who by his courage demonstrated that it is possible to reconcile differences.

In the hard years when the western powers were against him, when he was vilified as a terrorist; when he was denounced as a criminal, he kept the faith.

He showed perseverance and vision.

There are lessons in all of this for us but particularly for the people of the island of Ireland, of all persuasions, as we continue the necessary and challenging task of building the peace.

I first saw Nelson Mandela when he visited Dublin in 1990.

hat was the day the Irish soccer team returned home. And when Madiba appeared a section of the crowd began to chant 'Ooh ahh Paul Mc Grath's Da'.

So, the good humour of Ireland shone through.

In 1995 myself, and several other Sinn Féin activists travelled to South Africa at the invitation of the ANC to speak to senior figures who had been centrally involved in the process of negotiations.

That was when I met Madiba for the first time.

One of the first demonstrations I ever attended was in Dublin against apartheid and the visit of the Springbok Rugby team. And I have been a long-time supporter of the Anti-apartheid movement.

So I was delighted to be meeting with one of my heroes.

During the conflict there was a close working relationship between Irish republicans and the ANC.

And the late Kader Asmal who did tremendous work in the leadership of the Irish anti-apartheid movement, along with his wife Louise, and who was not a supporter of the IRA in his book mentions mentioned by Minister Burton, tells how the IRA provided practical training and advice and assistance with military operations to MK.

Kader says that the famous attack of May 31^st 1980 on Sasal Oil Refinery near J’Burg was carried out with the assistance of the Irish Republican Army.

Walter Sisulu, Cyril Ramaphosa, Thabo Mbeki, Ronnie Kasrils and many others who were in the leadership of the ANC were pleased to remember the long commitment, as was Madiba himself, of Irish republicans to their cause.

And of course for our group the highlight of the very intense process of meetings was with Madiba.

He was self-effacing, he was modest, he was totally relaxed and he was very focused.

He was also very tough, stubborn, determined and committed as he needed to be to survive apartheid; to survive over two and a half decades in prison with hard labour.

He was immovable on core principles, on core values, on core issues but pragmatic on tactics and other matters.

It is also interesting that the British government at the time lobbied hard for Madiba not to meet me.

And when it was clear that the ANC was determined and Madiba was determined that the visit should go ahead the British lobbied for no handshake or photograph.

He ignored them.

So, I along with other Sinn Féin representatives have been privileged and deeply honoured to meet Madiba many times after that; in South Africa, here in Ireland and Britain.

Ba pribhiléid mór é dom gur bhuail mé leis cúpla uair.

He was always hugely supportive of the Irish peace process.

On several occasions senior ANC and former MK activists visited Ireland and went into the prisons and talked to republican prisoners about the peace process.

He had an enormous depth of understanding of the twists and turns of our process.

And he knew there was an onus on governments, as well as those involved in struggle, to resolve issues.

I believe as all thinking people believe that there is an onus “to create the necessary environment for peaceful solutions.”

Despite his age and even when I last met with him, despite his increased physical frailty his mind was as sharp as a razor; conversant with world affairs and with the affairs of his own continent, with for example the injustice of the war in Iraq or Afghanistan.

He was a very remarkable human being.

I mo thuairim ba é Nelson Mandela ceann de na ceannairí is fearr a raibh riamh ann. 'Sé mo laoch. Mo Ghile Mear.

All of us remember the very special occasion of the Special Olympics that were held here in 2003.

It was such a marvellous, wonderful historic event and we met afterwards and Madiba was taken by all of the young athletes that he had met in the course of that great event as he was about issues to do with the north, and the need for governments to move on the necessary business of building peace.

He will continue to inspire. He will continue in death as he did while alive to encourage oppressed peoples everywhere.

And in that way his legacy will live on.

You don’t have to be a Nelson Mandela, you don’t have to be a Madiba, we only have to do the small things we can do to make things better for those who suffer from injustice, for those who are deprived, for those who don’t have freedom.

If we all did that in a small way then those heroes like he would not have to do the big things that they have had to do.

Walter Sisulu was a wonderful man. A life long conspirator, political prisoner, and comrade to Nelson Mandela and when he died – any of you have the time you should read Mandela’s farewell – and I repeat just one line of it for this occasion.

Go well, Rest in Peace, Madiba Hero among heroes.

Ar dheis dé go raibh a anam dílis.

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The Downing Street Declaration was 20 years old last Sunday. The first draft of this document was written two years earlier by John Hume as part of secret talks between us aimed at developing a strategy that would provide an alternative to armed struggle.
Sinn Féin’s objective was to get agreement between the Irish government, ourselves and John Hume on the text of a joint declaration and the mechanisms to give effect to this, and to put in place a broad consensus on the Irish nationalist side, including Irish America, to pursue a policy towards peace and justice and to engage with the unionists on this in order to build a peace process.

At that same time alongside the Hume/Adams Talks, Sinn Féin was involved in secret negotiations with John Major’s government, secret negotiations with the IRA, secret negotiations through Fr. Reid with the Irish government, and we were involved in outreach to Irish America and subsequently with the White House. It was a very busy time but progress was lamentably slow.

John gave our draft to Charlie Haughey. The Irish government then produced an unacceptable version which was essentially a rehash of the British and Irish governments position.

At the same time the Irish political and media establishment was engaged in a ferocious campaign of vilification of Sinn Féin – what has changed you ask – which saw Sinn Féin denied the use of the Mansion House and other public buildings for our Ard Fheis.

In January 1993 Albert Reynolds became Taoiseach and introduced a new dynamic into the negotiations. Notwithstanding the shortcomings of this process Mr. Reynolds was by far the best of the Taoisigh to deal with the north.

Charlie Haughey who preceded him had refused to open up talks between his government and Sinn Féin. The delegation which eventually met Sinn Féin was representing Fianna Fáil and not the Irish government, and although that was an important and positive development, there was no real progress made on Mr. Haughey’s watch in terms of an inclusive all-party negotiating process.

Both British and Irish systems had – and still have - one thing in common. They were cautious and wedded to old policies. The Dublin system was also, and remains partitionist, and limited therefore in its thinking and policy development. There were exceptions among the senior civil servants but most of them had spent years dealing with the SDLP and despite Sinn Féin significant mandate they weren’t minded to upset that relationship.

Albert Reynolds had a different style. He brought a directness in how he addressed the potential for progress. Of course he had, as did all Taoisigh, to deal with his own system. The same is true also of British Prime Ministers. Tony Blair has publicly recalled that he was only able to do what he did in 1997 and 1998 because he was a new Prime Minister and it was the heady days of a new government. So too with Mr. Reynolds.

Albert had many contacts in the north from his business activities, including the dance hall business. He had an appreciation of the potential and of course he would have been briefed by his predecessor so he opened his door to Fr. Reid. His coalition partner Dick Spring was much more conservative in his approach. Some of his interventions were unhelpful.

In April 93 the story broke that John Hume and I had been talking and we issued our first joint statement. In it we asserted that the most pressing issue facing us and the people of Ireland was lasting peace and we agreed that a process of national reconciliation was needed.

The result of this was a further barrage of media condemnation, particularly of John. It was vicious. I was regularly subjected to media vilification by that point but for the first time John was the target of a torrent of abuse led by the Independent group of newspapers. Many of the same journalists and columnists have maintained this approach in the following two decades.

The British government, led by John Major, said no to Hume- Adams. The two governments then engaged in a series of rewrites of it.

In November the secret talks between Sinn Féin and the British government became public. At first the British tried to deny it but eventually they were forced to come clean.

The Dublin based papers intensified their attacks on Hume-Adams. John was particularly targeted again. It was almost as if the southern political and media establishment saw him as a traitor to their conservatism. The Sunday Independent in one edition ran 7 separate articles attacking him – some in the most vitriolic and offensive language. After the Shankill bombing and the Greysteel massacre the media onslaught continued. John collapsed and was rushed to hospital. Despite, or, maybe because of, the ferocity of the media attacks nationalist support for Hume-Adams grew.

The British continued to favour inter-party talks without Sinn Féin but Albert Reynolds now indicated his backing for a joint declaration.

The Downing Street Declaration was published on Wednesday 15^thDecember with a great deal of spin.

But within hours of it being launched public statements by Reynolds and Major indicated that real differences existed between both governments, not only on the actual meaning of significant and substantial parts of the Declaration, but on its stated objectives.

There was an obvious need for clarification from the governments of what this declaration meant in reality. But John Major rejected my request for clarification declaring that the Declaration was non-negotiable.

In a letter to him I asked that he authorise direct talks with Sinn Fein only in the context of clarification – not negotiation. I spelt out the three main areas of concern for republicans around the Downing Street Declaration. These were: textual matters in the Declaration itself, conflicting interpretations of the Declaration and the processes envisaged by it.

Major didn’t reply. I wrote again in April 1994. A letter from Roderic Lyne, John Major’s private secretary told me to read the Declaration.

Mr. Reynolds then suggested to us that he would seek clarification on our behalf. Martin McGuinness held a series of meetings with Martin Mansergh who was representing the Taoiseach. And the Sagart – Fr. Alec - was constantly on the road between Belfast and Dublin. When clarification eventually came, with the British under pressure responding to 20 questions we had submitted, it supported Sinn Féin’s view that the Downing Street Declaration was in many ways an ad hoc and not so well drafted response to Hume Adams.

The flaws in the drafting were not the fault of the drafters. They were evidence of the different types of pressure on the two governments. So while the declaration was a significant development that was all it was.

Like the Sunningdale Agreement in 1973, and the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985, the Downing Street Declaration was intended by the British government and some in the Irish government to be the end of the matter. The line in the sand. And like those agreements before it, it was neither.

Had Sinn Féin accepted the Downing Street Declaration it is arguable that there would never have been a Good Friday Agreement. Bertie Ahern and all involved deserve credit for this accord. But Albert Reynolds was the Taoiseach who welcomed John Hume and me into Government Buildings on September 6^th1994.

His wife Kathleen and their family also welcomed me into their home and we enjoyed copious cups of tea during the ups and downs of that time. His was a relatively short term as Taoiseach but Mr. Reynolds ended exclusion, formal censorship and brought the Irish government in from the cold.

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Madiba's Guard of Honour

The green rolling grasslands of Qunu were coming alive in the early morning dawn light as we climbed down off the bus last Sunday morning. It had been a three-and-a half-hour journey from the airport at East London, in the Eastern Cape, along dark and twisting roads. Qunu is Madiba’s home and it is where he chose to be buried.

As the sun slowly lifted itself above the hills, its light revealed a landscape similar to others I have seen in the west of Ireland. A big blue sky and distant homes scattered across hills. It was here that Madiba was born and had grown up. And it was to Qunu he returned. He was home with his clann after nine days of national mourning in South Africa.

Richard McAuley and I had arrived in Pretoria on Thursday. Irish republicans have a long association with the ANC going back many decades. We supported each other in struggle and in our respective efforts to achieve peace. Nelson Mandela and others in the ANC leadership were and are hugely supportive of the endeavours of Irish republicans.

It was right and proper that Sinn Féin should be represented at his funeral but it was equally important that we participated as comrades in struggle honouring a comrade for whom we have the greatest admiration and respect.

Lying in state

The day after we arrived, the ANC brought us to Union Buildings in Pretoria where Madiba was lying in state. Richard and I had been here before several times, meeting Thabo Mbeki in 1995 when he was Deputy President of South Africa and later when Thabo was President. Union Buildings are impressive. It sits on the highest hill in Pretoria looking down on the city. It is the official seat of government and is where the President’s office is located. This month it celebrated its 100 birthday and it was declared on Monday, the day after Madiba’s funeral, as a national heritage site.

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Union Buildings

Between the two wings of the building is a 9,000-seat Greek-style amphitheatre which is used for national ceremonies. Nineteen years ago it was here that Madiba was inaugurated as South Africa’s first democratically-elected President. It was fitting therefore that it was here that a special protective cover was erected within which his body rested and through which two rivers of citizens passed by on either side for three days.

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Part of the queue to Union Buildings

The queues of ordinary South Africans stretched for miles, winding their way down the hill and through the streets of the city. They began arriving at 4am each morning and waited patiently in burning heat to pay their respects to their leader. One estimate put the number of people who quietly, sombrely, respectively passed by Madiba during those three days at over one hundred thousand.

We met our ANC comrades at Oliver Tambo Building and were taken directly to the front steps of Union Buildings. We joined in with one of the steadily-moving queues of citizens. Fr Barney McAleer, a Tyrone man who has been in South Africa for almost 50 years, accompanied us.

There were four military with rifles pointed down standing at each corner of the coffin. The only sound to be heard was the shuffling of feet as we all solemnly moved forward. One behind the other, we approached his remains. The top of the coffin was opened and under a glass cover could be seen Madiba.

It was an emotional moment, a deeply sad moment. Many of those passing by were crying quietly to themselves. And then we were passed.

It was at this place in 1994, as he took on the mantle of President of a free and democratic South Africa, that Madiba said:

“We understand it still that there is no easy road to freedom. We know it well that none of us acting alone can achieve success. We must therefore act together as a united people, for national reconciliation, for nation building, for the birth of a new world.

“Let there be justice for all.

“Let there be peace for all.

“Let there be work, bread, water, and salt for all…

“Let us as a Rainbow Nation keep this in focus and move forward.”

The ‘send-off ceremony’

For eight days the South African Government was responsible for the state funeral of their President. But on Saturday, as they prepared to fly him south to Qunu, Madiba’s ‘send-off ceremony’ from Pretoria was given over to his comrades in the ANC and to the veterans of Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), or MK, the military arm of the ANC, which Madiba founded on 16 December 1961.

The programme began at 5:30am. Robert McBride, a former MK activist and political prisoner, who has been to Ireland many times, drove us to the South African Air Force Base at Waterkloof. A huge air force hangar had been transformed into an auditorium.

Two thousand specially-invited ANC and former MK activists, and international guests from liberation and solidarity movements, were present in solidarity with the family, to give an ANC farewell to their former Commander and President.

A space was left in front of a stage for the coffin to sit. As we awaited Madiba’s arrival it was an opportunity to mix and reconnect to comrades we hadn’t seen for a while. Occasionally, groups of ANC activists, many of them elderly women dressed in traditional clothes, would toyi-toyi their way back and forward across the front of the hall, chanting and singing songs of Madiba and of resistance to apartheid. It was a joyous celebration of the life of their leader, of the man they called ‘Tata’, which in Xhosa means ‘father’ and is a term widely used during the 10 days of mourning by political and church leaders, political activists, ordinary citizens and by the media. Madiba was a father to them all.

When his remains arrived at 7am, the South African national flag was removed and replaced by the flag of the ANC. Groups of activists – veterans in the main of the ANC and MK – took turns to provide a guard of honour around the coffin. We were greatly honoured when asked to participate in this. Richard and I took our assigned places and stood silently, paying our private respects to a great leader on behalf of Irish republicans everywhere.

Several hours later, after messages of support from the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party and others, a stirring speech by President Jacob Zuma and much music and song and poetry, the ANC flag was removed, folded and given to the Mandela family. Madiba was then taken from the hall and flown south to his home in Qunu.

Madiba goes home

A few hours after that we took a flight to East London where we met some of the other 4,000 guests invited to attend the funeral. A convoy of buses left the airport around 1am on Sunday morning for the long journey to Qunu. It was impossible to see anything of the countryside. The night was dark and there were few lights along the road except those of our buses.

Sunday was the last day of official mourning. Ten long days for South Africa and ten long days for a grieving family sharing their husband, father and grandfather with the rest of the world.

Qunu is an isolated part of the Eastern Cape. For days it had rained and officials were worried that more rain could prove difficult for the funeral arrangements. But as it turned out there was no rain. The day was clear and the sky clear. It was a hot summer’s day when Madiba left his family home for the last time on the journey to the huge Marquee that had been erected to hold his funeral ceremony in.

Walking into this huge space was akin to entering a cathedral. The South African Government had succeeded in creating a beautiful space in which Madiba’s life could be celebrated. The ceiling was high, the air cool, and the colours of the huge lights changed in the course of the ceremony from blue to gold. The centrepiece of the stage was a portrait of Madiba behind 95 candles to mark each of his 95 years.

On one side musicians provided music and on the other a choir occasionally raised their voices in song and filled the auditorium with vibrancy and emotion. The event was hosted by Cyril Ramaphosa, who has close associations with the Irish Peace Process. Other contributors included President of Malawi Joyce Banda and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who recalled Madiba’s first visits there seeking support for training camps for MK and Kenneth Kaunda, the former President of Zambia.

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Former President Kenneth Kaunda

They all spoke movingly of Mandela’s contribution to South Africa, to Africa and to the world. They recalled his many qualities and talents. But all stressed the importance of his legacy and the need to live up to the ideals of peace and reconciliation that he exemplified.

The most moving speech of those delivered was by his close friend and fellow Robben Island prisoner Ahmed Kathrada, who spent 26 years in prison. Frail and obviously distressed, Kathrada described how he and Madiba called each other ‘Madala’ or ‘Elder’. He said:

“Madala, your abundant reserves of love, simplicity, honesty, service, humility, care, courage, foresight, patience, tolerance, equality and justice continually served as a source of enormous strength to many millions of people in South Africa and the world.

“You symbolise today, and always will, qualities of collective leadership, reconciliation, unity and forgiveness. You strove daily to build a united, non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa.”

But at the end his voice broke with emotion as he said:

“When Walter [Sisulu] died, I lost a father and now I have lost a brother. My life is in a void and I don't know who to turn to.”

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Ahmed Kathrada

The graveside

At the end of the ceremony, Madiba’s remains were taken outside the marquee and placed again on the gun carriage. Most of the 4,000 guests stayed and watched the graveside funeral on the huge video screens above the stage but we were invited to the graveside to watch and mourn as Madiba’s remains were placed in the earth. The language might be different and hymns unfamiliar but as family members placed a flower in the grave and took some dirt to drop in on the coffin the similarities with our own experience in Ireland were obvious.

Madiba’s grave is on top of the hillside in which a small garden has been built. It has a magnificent view of Qunu and of the hills where Madiba played as a boy.

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When it was over, Richard and I slowly made our way down the hillside and the bus back to East London.

Madiba is gone. But his words are all around us. The legacy of hope and courage and forgiveness and of reconciliation is one we must aspire each day to achieve. In our several conversations about the Irish Peace Process, Madiba understood at once the complexities but also the only direction we could go to avoid decades more of conflict. He supported the Peace Process in Ireland unequivocally and on the basis of equality and inclusivity. He knew that we all had to be part of solving the problems.

Richard Haass and Meghan O’Sullivan will shortly produce their proposals for moving forward on the difficult issues of flags and emblems and the past. In the days ahead as we seek to find solutions we need to remember the words of Nelson ‘Madiba’ Mandela:

“No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” ―Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

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Left to Right: Basque Senator Urko Aiartza, Mise agus Robert McBride

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In the South African Airforce Hangar

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The stage before which Madiba's body lay for his 'send-off'

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Meeting old friends - Cyril Ramaphosa

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Many people will be disappointed that the all-party talks broke up without agreement for Christmas. Sinn Féin shares that disappointment.

However, it is our view that progress was made and that agreement is possible when the talks recommence.

I want to thank Dr. Richard Haass, Meghan O Sullivan, Charlie Landow and their team, and our colleagues in all five parties represented in the talks.

The Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle met on December 23rd at my request and authorised our negotiating team to conclude an agreement with the other parties to be considered by a subsequent meeting of the Ard Chomhairle. That remains our firm intention. For this reason we welcome the return of Richard Haass and Meghan O'Sullivan.

Our delegation told the last plenary in the early hours of Christmas Eve that we believed there was the basis for an agreement on the mechanisms proposed to deal with the three issues under consideration.

We would like to see some of these strengthened and have made a number of suggestions on how this can be achieved.

Parades; Select Commemorations; and related protests:

Sinn Féin has always highlighted the imperative of direct meaningful dialogue as the best means of resolving the few remaining parading disputes.

In the absence of dialogue or a failure to reach agreement there is an obvious requirement for a robust regulatory body.

Our negotiating team believes the proposals contained in this paper go a long way in terms of satisfying this.

Flags and emblems:

We are disappointed that a comprehensive agreement on the flags issue has not been reached so far.

Our disappointment will be shared by many who want agreement on the flying of flags on public buildings and the unofficial flying of flags in public spaces.

This is about equality and parity of esteem.

Republicans and nationalists must respect all identities and cultures, including the right of people to identify themselves, and to be accepted as British.

The same respect must be accorded to Irishness, including the right of citizens to use their own language.

A comprehensive agreement is long overdue and that must be our focus but in the absence of a comprehensive agreement the new proposed Commission will provide space for that discussion to take place.

It will allow the opportunity for everyone to bring forward ideas and plans which will see parity of esteem delivered to both British and Irish identities. This would include an Irish Language Act — a modest step which threatens no-one. All of this needs to be done in a sensible and non-confrontational way.

Contending with the Past:

Over a decade ago Sinn Féin proposed the establishment of an Independent International Truth Commission. In our view that remains the best option.

However that approach has not found political agreement in these talks.

But there is acceptance that the status quo is not an option.

A basis for compromise has been proposed.

Closure for victims and survivors is the real benchmark against which this proposition will in time be judged.

This would certainly be our hope.

There is already a widespread acceptance that there isn’t one narrative of our past.

I would not expect unionists or the British Government to embrace the republican narrative and therefore I do not think others should expect republicans to agree to their positions.

We should however accept that all of us have sincerely held views based on the reality of our different experiences and the narratives arising from this.

In conclusion let me say that it would be a matter of grave disappointment for all of those who are dependent on these discussions to build hope and a peaceful future based on equality, if the parties do not find a way to resolve these issues. Failure is not an option.

As the New Year approaches there is a duty and responsibility on all the parties to these negotiations, despite the challenges, to find a way forward.

With a fair wind the proposals under consideration can do this and I would appeal to everyone to overcome any difficulties which may remain.

That is what the greater majority of our people expect.

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Leo Wilson

Leo Wilson died today. On behalf of Sinn Féin I want to extend my condolences to Leo’s wife Maureen, to his sons and daughter Fiona, Cormac, Paul, Gearoid, and Padraic and the entire Wilson clann.

Ba mhaith liom mo chomhbhrón a dhéanamh leis an gclann ar fad I Leo Wilson.

I have known Leo for a very long time. At 91 Leo was a republican activist for most of his adult life. In October 1964, when Sinn Féin was a banned organisation under the Special Powers Act, Leo was one of 12 republican candidates who stood in the general election. He polled a very credible almost 4,000 votes in the South Antrim constituency.

He was active in the civil rights movement and following the pogroms of 1969, the introduction of new repressive laws and the introduction of internment, he and a small number of dedicated human rights workers, including Clara Reilly and Fr. Brian Brady and others, established the Association for Legal Justice and worked tirelessly day and night providing legal advice to families of citizens detained by the British forces.

His door was always open to those in need. The ALJ also played a key role in exposing the torture and brutality of the British Army and RUC toward detainees.

Leo was a spirited and sprightly soul and an enthusiastic Irish language speaker. He loved Ceilí dancing and often acted as Fear an Tí – calling out the dances. He was one of those who over many elections signed my nomination papers for west Belfast. In his early 70’s Leo graduated with a degree in political science and it was his understanding of the importance of access to books that saw him four years ago in the High Court in Belfast, at the age of 87, in defence of library facilities in west Belfast.

Leo was also an active member of the Belfast National Graves Association and last year he unveiled the new County Antrim Memorial in Milltown Cemetery.

The stories about Leo’s activism are many. He touched the lives of a huge number of republican activists providing advice, help and even a roof over their heads when they were in trouble.

He will be sadly missed by all of us who have the privilege and honour to know him. To Maureen and to his sons and daughter Fiona, Cormac, Paul, Gearoid, and Padraic and the entire Wilson clan, let me again extend my sincerest condolences.

Go ndeanfaidh dia trocaire ar a n’anam dílis.

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Yesterday I gave the oration at the graveside of Leo Wilson in Milltown Cemetery. Leo died at the weekend at the age of 91. Hundreds of people attended his funeral.

In my oration I said:

“Leo Wilson was a small man with a great heart and a big vision. He was a family man, a community activist, a lover of music, of flowers, language, sport, talking and dancing. He was a proud republican who loved Ireland. But the love of his life was Maureen.

Leo met Maureen in the 1940s on a bus to Lurgan to support Antrim in a GAA final. Leo was much older than Maureen – he was born on December 3^rd 1922 – four days before the Irish Free State came into existence, and was the oldest of a family of 9, reared in Balkan Street on the Falls.

It was a time of great poverty, division, and hardship, especially for nationalists living in Belfast city.

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As a young man Leo immersed himself in Conrad na Gaeilge and the Ard Scoil. Around this time he joined the Army. He was of that generation that gave us Tom Williams, Madge McConville, Joe Cahill and Rocky Burns.

Leo had a great love for Irish history, language and culture. He spent months in the Ranafast Gaeltacht and developed a passion for Céilí dancing. I remember him in the 1960s as a Fear an Tí talking us through the 16 hand reel, the Siege of Ennis, An Caípín Cul Ard and the Walls of Limerick.

He and Maureen were married in 1950 and went on the rear Gearoid, Cormac, Pól, Padraic and Fiona. Ba maith liom mo bhron a thabairt daoibhse, your 10 grandchildren and great grand children and the wider Wilson clann including brothers Billy and Paul and sisters Anne and Mary.

In 1964 when Sinn Féin was banned under the infamous Special Powers Act, Leo was one of 12 republicans who stood as independent Republicans in the general election. He took a remarkable 4,000 votes in South Antrim at a time of widespread oppression by the old unionist regime and the state police – the RUC and its auxiliaries – the B Specials.

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Leo understood the need to make republicanism relevant in the daily lives of citizens. He saw republicanism as a means for building a decent fair society based on citizen’s rights. He knew the value of reaching out to unionists, despite the challenges this presents. He also was about building empowered communities. Leo helped found the Andersonstown Credit Union.

He and Moscow Jack Brady formed a branch of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union. He was a founding member of the Roddy McCorley Society and was involved in the civil rights campaign, and in 1969 when the orange pogroms took place, Leo was part of the Citizens Defence Committees that sprang up at that time.

Later as the conflict intensified he joined with Ann and Dessie Murray and Clara Reilly and Frs. Faul and Murray, and Fr. Brian Brady and other great people to form the Association for Legal Justice. For years the ALJ worked tirelessly to help the families of citizens detained by British forces. The ALJ also exposed the torture and brutality of the British Army and RUC during internment.

Later Leo served on the National Smash H-Block Armagh Committee to secure the demands of the Fir Pluid (Blanketmen) in the H Blocks and the women in Armagh prison.

Maureen was active at that time in the Relatives Action Committee in the late 70s and early 80s. During this time the Wilson household suffered house raids, arrests, imprisonment and ongoing harassment by the British Crown Forces and like many other republican families, for the record, we should note that the Wilsons won that battle.

Leo and Maureen also enthusiastically supported the building of Sinn Féin as a radical and competent and principled political party. Leo signed my nomination papers each time I stood in west Belfast and he also was one of Paul Maskey’s nominators. He strongly supported Sinn Féin peace strategy.

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During the negotiations our negotiating team used to meet in houses all across the city. As those who know him will agree Martin McGuinness loves his food and in Leo and Maureen’s they always made great egg and onion sandwiches. So whenever arrangements for a meeting were being made the Wilson’s home was always referred to as the ‘egg and onion.’

In his 70’s Leo graduated with a degree in political science. He loved learning and books and at the age of 87 he was in the high court in Belfast in defence of library facilities in west Belfast and he and I went to meetings of the Library Board where he articulated the right of citizens to accessible library services.

Leo passed many of his values on to his family. He was a man of faith – and proud of those who gave their lives in the cause of Irish freedom. An active member of the Belfast National Graves Committee last Easter he unveiled the refurbished County Antrim memorial.

Leo is one of the latest of our veterans, heroes from Andersonstown, who we have buried recently. Great people all. People like Mrs Maskey and Mrs Finucane. We are proud of them all. We are proud of Leo and though we are sad at his passing we celebrate his long and useful and happy life.

A last word to the grandchildren. Be proud of your daideo. He was one of the good guys and mind your granny. As Leo would say she was one of the great guys.

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The Good Friday Agreement marked a historic shift in politics on the island of Ireland and put in place a firm foundation from which it is possible to continue building the peace process. For the first time since partition, almost 100 years ago, there is an international agreement involving the Irish and British governments, as well as nationalist, republican and unionist parties on a way forward. This includes power sharing political institutions which have the support of the overwhelming majority of citizens.

The GFA tackles constitutional issues, political and institutional matters, policing, weapons, justice and equality, and more. Subsequent agreements at St. Andrews and Hillsborough built on this progress.

However, not all aspects of the Good Friday Agreement have been implemented and outstanding issues like flags and emblems; the legacy of the past; parades; equality and the status of the Irish language, as well as culture and identity issues have continued to bedevil the process.

This time last year Belfast witnessed rioting as loyalists attacked the PSNI, the nationalist Short Strand area; and held illegal demonstrations demanding the right to fly the Union flag whenever and wherever they wanted. This issue and protests over orange parades have placed a significant strain at times on the political institutions.

For that reason and because all of these difficult issues are not going to go away the First and Deputy First Ministers – Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness – invited U.S. diplomats Richard Haass and Meghan O Sullivan to come to the north and to chair an All Party Group to ‘consider and make recommendations on matters including parades and protests; flags, symbols, emblems and related matters; and the Past’.

Just before Christmas the negotiations entered an intense phase. The Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle met on December 23rd and authorised our talk’s team to conclude an agreement with the other parties to be considered by a subsequent meeting of the Ard Chomhairle. In the last plenary session, in the early hours of Christmas Eve morning, the Sinn Féin negotiators told the other delegates that ‘we believe there is the basis for an agreement on the mechanisms proposed to deal with the three issues under consideration.’

But despite a succession of amended draft proposals from the two US Diplomats the talks failed to reach agreement. There was a real sense of public disappointment at that outcome, which Sinn Féin shared. Progress had been made and the Sinn Féin negotiating team believed that agreement could be reached.

Unionists indicated that they had serious problems with important parts of the proposals.

However, Richard Haass and Meghan O Sullivan agreed to return for one last push between Christmas and New Year. The negotiations recommenced only to conclude after 5 am on December 31^st without agreement. By that stage we had reached the seventh draft of the Haass proposals. Some in the media interpreted this as an abject failure. It wasn’t. The process has not concluded.

The Haass proposals have now to be brought to each of the five party leaderships by their negotiating teams. It is up to those leaderships to decide whether the proposals offer another step forward and what should happen next.

In my view significant progress was made and in particular on two of the three issues – Parades, Select Commemorations and Protests; and Contending with the Past and the proposals produced by Dr Haass and Meghan O Sullivan do provide the basis for an agreement.

Of course, like every negotiation the document that has been produced is a compromise position. Sinn Féin would like to have seen some aspects strengthened and improved further. However agreement on everything was not possible. This is particularly the case on the Flags issue. Like others we have little confidence that the proposed Commission on Identity, Culture and Tradition will resolve these issues. We nevertheless welcome the potential of this process for further mainstreaming parity of esteem and equality.

I was also disappointed that issues like Acht Na Gaeilge and the development at Maze/Long Kesh which were part of previous agreements, were not advanced. They remain to be resolved in the time ahead. These issues are not going away. Much more work is required on parity of esteem, equality and respect for all cultures and identities.

Sinn Féin has consistently advocated direct meaningful dialogue as the best means of resolving the few remaining parading disputes. In the absence of dialogue or a failure to reach agreement over contentious parades there is an obvious requirement for a robust regulatory body. The proposals contained in the Haass paper meet that demand.

And over a decade ago Sinn Féin proposed the establishment of an Independent International Truth Commission. In our view that remains the best option. But a basis for compromise on this issue has been proposed. That is what the majority of our people want. Closure for victims and survivors is the real benchmark against which this proposition will in time be judged.

It is a fact that the issues of parades, flags and emblems and the legacy of the past cannot be ignored. They are too important. There is an onus on the Irish and British governments and all of the parties to maintain the momentum that was created in recent weeks and to build on the progress achieved.

To this end I called for all of the parties not to fudge their response to the Haass proposals. I called for clear statements of support. Regrettably the Ulster Unionist Party and the DUP have decided not to support the proposals. The difference between these two parties is purely tactical. The DUP said more work needed to be done to the proposals and called for an all-party working group to be established while the Ulster Unionist Party has rejected the Haass proposals as neither ‘viable or acceptable’. Two slightly different ways of Ulster Saying No! With Peter Robinson taking a slightly more nuanced position than Michael Nesbitt. Beagandifir.

Irish Republicans have stretched ourselves in the negotiations and we are up for the challenge the Haass proposals contain. The Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle of the Party will meet this Saturday to review the outcome of the talks process, and agree our response.

This is a time for political leaders to lead. Unionist leaders are failing their constituents and ignoring the clear desire by the vast majority of citizens who want to see agreement on these outstanding issues.

The Haass paper can aid this project. I would urge anyone interested in the future to access it online, and read and consider the proposals it contains.

a life time stuck in silence

acceptable behaviour?

Lethal Allies by Anne Cadwallader

The past cannot be an obstacle to the future

Demanding the right to collective bargaining

The Troika may be leaving but the mind-set remains

Unshackling the Past

The MRF - taking out unwanted members of the public

The Sagart

Government decision on Symphysiotomy overdue

The Smithwick Inquiry Report

What I said reflects what is recorded by Justice Smithwick

Comrade Madiba - Nelson Mandela

Nelson ‘Madiba’ Mandela – Freedom Fighter

The Downing Street Declaration -

Saying goodbye to Comrade Madiba

Haass Talks: Agreement is Possible

Death of Leo Wilson

Leo Wilson - Saying slan to one of the good guys

Ulster Says NO to Haass!!