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Irish government acted as junior partner in negotiation

January 14, 2015, 3:34 pm
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Sinn Féin’s objectives throughout the recent negotiations, which led to the Stormont House Agreement were very clear. These were to agree a comprehensive deal to protect the most vulnerable in society, to safeguard the rights and entitlements of citizens, to deliver on outstanding agreements, to grow the economy and to enhance the working of the institutions.
It wasn’t an easy negotiation. The ability of the five Executive parties to defend front-line public services, including health and education, to defend the poor, people with disabilities, the elderly and disadvantaged, and to create jobs, was being significantly undermined by British Tory demands for welfare cuts, as well as by the £1.5 billion cut to the block grant since 2011.This Austerity policy is similar to Dublin’s and was actively endorsed by the Taoiseach and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Sinn Féin was steadfast in our opposition to this agenda.

The British government’s failure to honour its commitments made in the Good Friday and other agreements, such as an inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane was another important factor in why the political process was in such a mess.
There is little incentive for political unionism to move forward in a consistent and progressive way if a British government is not giving clear and unambiguous leadership and implementing commitments.

The British government’s refusal to back the Haass proposals to deal with the vexed issues of identity, parading and the legacy of past had succeeded only in emboldening unionist hostility to the power sharing institutions.

The position of the Irish government on all of this was especially frustrating; driven I believe by a short-sighted selfish electoral political agenda. They took on the role of junior partner and allowed the British government to set the agenda and the pace of negotiations and sat passively as the British tried to dictate the outcome.
By the time the Taoiseach and British Prime Minister arrived in Belfast on December 11th there was no great optimism that progress could be achieved. Their departure 24 hours later led many to believe that the negotiations were over and that the political institutions were at real risk of collapsing. This intervention amounted to little more than a charade.

It was not a serious endeavour. The presentation of a deeply flawed joint paper by the Irish and British governments and the approach of both during those talks was amateurish and ham fisted. It effectively sought to nationalise austerity with Irish government support for the British Tory efforts to hurt the most vulnerable in the north.
The Irish government’s preparedness to sign up for a joint government paper that failed to mention Acht na Gaeilge and talked only of ‘language strategies’ was equally disgraceful.

It also acquiesced to the British government’s use of ‘national security’ to deny information to victims and to the British demand to end the right of families of victims to an inquest in the coroners’ courts.
Nor was there any guarantee that the Dublin and Monaghan bombings would be considered under the proposed new ‘civil Inquisitorial’ process under the new Historical Investigations Unit.

So, on December 12th David Cameron returned to London and the Taoiseach to Dublin leaving the process in a worse state than when they came.
Despite the negative approach of the two governments the Sinn Féin leadership remained determined to find solutions. A consensus was reached, at the initiative of Martin McGuinness and under the leadership of Martin and Peter Robinson, among the Executive parties to push for a real and meaningful negotiation.

Six days later and following lengthy discussions, many of them into the wee hours of the morning, and at least one all-night session, an Agreement was achieved.
The total value of the British government’s revised financial proposals amount to almost £2 billion –double what was originally offered.

This includes £650 million of new and additional funding, including up to £500 million over 10 years of new capital to support shared and integrated education.

Crucially, there will be no reductions in welfare payments under the control of the Executive. The new welfare protections are unique to the north and are in sharp contrast to the austerity-driven welfare system being rolled out in Britain. Anti-poverty measures will be retained.
The Irish government also made financial commitments, including €25 million annually for the A5 project; as well as some additional funding for reconciliation and for EU Peace and Interreg programmes.

I welcome these and the renewed commitment by the government to the Narrow Water and the Ulster Canal projects.
On the wider political issues significant progress was achieved:

The effort to close off access to inquests to the families of victims of the conflict failed.
The two governments will endorse the respect for and recognition of the Irish language consistent with the Council of Europe Charter on Regional or Minority Languages.

Work will commence on considering whether the devolution additional fiscal powers needed to grow the economy can be progressed.
A detailed proposal on a Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition was agreed, including its make-up and remit.

Legislation on parades will be prepared with proper regard for fundamental rights protected by the European Convention on Human Rights.

The agreement, like all previous agreements, is only as good as the determination on the part of the participants to implement it.
I would urge the Irish government to accept that the success and stability of the peace and political process in the north and the all-island institutions are bigger and more important than any short-sighted selfish electoral political agenda.

The peace process is the most important political project on this island at this time. It needs to be nurtured and protected and enhanced. Notwithstanding the other political priorities of the moment it must remain at the top of the government’s agenda.
As we approach the centenary of the 1916 Rising and later of the Tan War there is an historic opportunity to resolve the real ‘national question’; end the partition of this island; end sectarianism, and create a new republic. These should be the goals of all progressive political forces on this island.
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Taoiseach sees north as foreign country

February 1, 2015, 4:57 am
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The Stormont House Agreement was for Sinn Féin a defensive negotiation. It was about defending what had been gained previously and was being diluted as a result of the ongoing process. In large measure the outcome, while not comprehensive was positive.

However, following on from that agreement, one aspect of the negotiation that bears closer scrutiny is the role of the Fine Gael/Labour coalition government.

It is important to recall that for much of the twentieth century successive Irish government’s, mainly led by Fianna Fáil, ignored what as happening in the north. So too did successive British governments. The result was the civil rights movement of the 1960s, a violent response by the Unionst government and loyalist mobs, and the militarisation by the British of the north.

Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s former Chief of Staff for much of the peace process, recently acknowledged the contribution British government inattention made to the failure of politics and the emergence of conflict in the north in an interview with the magazine Civil Service World.

Powell says; “In the 1960s and for decades before, the British government paid absolutely no attention to what was happening in Northern Ireland,” he says: Catholic complainants were referred back to the Protestant authorities in Stormont. “We just pushed it to one side. If we’d been sensible, we would have insisted on fair [access to] housing – which was what caused the civil rights movement – and on fair employment laws, and we would have insisted on power sharing rather than allowing unionist gerrymandering to squeeze the Catholics out altogether.”

Since both coalition governments in London and Dublin came to power they have repeated this mistake. They ignored a deteriorating situation which had reached the point of crisis.

In addition, as so often in the past, the Fine Gael/Labour government was acting as a junior partner to the British.

20 years ago another coalition government led by Fine Gael had just recently come into power in Dublin. It was led by John Bruton. The period that followed was particularly difficult. In the view of many republicans Bruton fractured the effort to build a consensus approach to the peace process. He often took up positions identical to the British and occasionally, he was even more British than the British! At one point he refused to meet Sinn Féin and urged the electorate, north and south, not to vote for us. Little wonder the late Albert Reynolds referred to him as ‘johnny unionist’.


Evidence for this is clear in any comparison of the first paper the Irish and British governments presented to the Executive parties on December 11 and the final paper agreed on December 23rd.

The first paper sought to nationalise austerity, with the Irish Government supporting British Tory efforts to hurt the most vulnerable citizens in the North. The Irish Government also acquiesced to the British Government's use of "national security" to deny information to victims and to the British demand to end the rights of families of victims to an inquest in the Coroner's Court. If this proposal had been accepted - it was rejected forthrightly by Sinn Féin - this would have left victim's families, including the Ballymurphy families - whom the Taoiseach has met and who have campaigned for decades for the right to Article 2-compliant inquests - with no access to the crucial inquest system.

It was only after Enda Kenny and Joan Burton had left and Martin McGuinness I had warned the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Charlie Flanagan, and Minister of State, Sean Sherlock that the government’s proposals were not sustainable, that progress was made.

In a deliberate effort to try and damage Sinn Féin in the south the Taoiseach has since then sought to create the illusion that there was a difference in approach and substance between myself and Martin McGuinness. He described my approach to the negotiations as ‘outrageous’ and claimed that Martin McGuinness was prepared to accept a lesser deal than I was.

While I could take that assertion as a back-handed compliment, I do not do so because it is totally untruthful. Martin McGuinness, who is as committed to all these issues as I am, described the Taoiseach's remark as "stupid".

Why therefore would a Taoiseach say such a thing? If he put any thought into his remark, it was obviously to distract attention from the Government's refusal to develop any strategy for engagement with the British as a co-equal guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement and other agreements.

But perhaps the greatest problem is that the Taoiseach, and others in his Cabinet, view the North as a foreign country. Rather than facing across the Border and extending a hand of friendship to all the people of the North, he faces away and turns his back on people here.

Instead of developing a coherent strategy to fully implement the Good Friday Agreement and other agreements, as it is obliged to do, the Irish government submissively follows the lead of the British. If it has a strategy it is to use the north in a futile attempt to attack Sinn Féin. This is evident most clearly in the Dáil where the north is generally only raised by other parties to score political points against Sinn Féin.

Consequently, the most outrageous claims are often made and repeated as if true. This is particularly the case with the Labour Party which is under serious electoral pressure at this time. For example, it has been claimed that the agreement will result in mass redundancies in the public sector. While this may have been the intention of the initial proposals put forward by the Governments, there will be no compulsory redundancies.

Sinn Féin wants to reconfigure the economy in the north so that it serves all of the people. This also requires co-operation across the border. A single island economy makes economic sense. Sinn Féin is pro-enterprise but we are also pro-worker and pro-trade union.

The Stormont House Agreement provides for a voluntary redundancy scheme for public sector workers who wish to avail of it. The scale of the take-up will be driven by public sector workers and balanced with the need to maintain public services. Sinn Féin will not repeat the mistakes of the Fine Gael and Labour Government by allowing a scheme to undermine public services in pursuit of savings. Any scheme will be agreed in consultation with the trade unions and Executive Ministers.

The peace process is the most important political project on this island at this time. It needs to be nurtured, protected and enhanced. It should be at the top of the Government's agenda alongside other priorities. It isn’t. For my part I will continue to urge the Labour and Fine Gael Government to accept that the success and stability of the peace and political process in the north and the all-Ireland institutions are bigger and more important than any shortsighted, selfish electoral political agenda.

 
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Asylum seekers treated shamefully

February 5, 2015, 11:17 am
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The United Nations estimates that there are currently over 50 million people around the world who are displaced persons. In 2013 there were 16.7 million refugees worldwide. 50% of refugees are under 18 years old.

The escalating conflict in Syria has displaced an estimated five million persons. Like the Irish who fled the great hunger in the 1840s and died in their thousands in the coffin ships crossing the Atlantic, thousands of Syrian and north African people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea for Europe.

Some refugees have made it as far as the south of Ireland. In November 1999, a decision by the Fianna Fáil government established a system “to deal with matters relating to the dispersal of asylum seekers throughout the country and preparation of plans for a system of direct provision of housing, health needs etc.“

Direct provision centres have been described as “a holding pen where people are kept for efficient deportation” and conditions have been consistently criticised by human rights and civil society agencies and some politicians.

When I raised this issue with the Taoiseach in the Dáil last week he confirmed that a working group is looking at all of the issues and will report in March. It couldn’t come soon enough for those trapped in this horrendous process. But of course the key to progress is what the government does with the report. It needs to move beyond the rhetoric of concern. It needs to introduce legislation that urgently addresses the many concerns about direct provision centres that have been consistently raised, including ending the secrecy that often surrounds them.

A first step would be to extend the Ombudsman’s remit to the Direct Provision Centres and include the administration of the centres within the Freedom of Information rules.

The Direct Provision system was originally intended to accommodate asylum seekers for six months. Today almost half of the 4,324 people living in the system have been there for five years. Twenty five per cent have been there for more than six years and at least one person has been there for 14 years. 61 asylum seekers have died in direct provision since 2002. This is unacceptable.

Residents in these centres are not allowed to work. They get 19 euro per week from the state. Conditions in the centres are also unacceptable. They are overcrowded with families often sharing one room. Basic essentials like soap, toilet rolls and other items are rationed. There are limited recreational or living areas and the stress on those in the centres, especially from the fear of deportation is a constant worry.

To the government’s shame around one third (1529) of those in the 34 DP centres are children. This creates its own difficulties. In the last five years the social services have been alerted to over 1500 child protection or welfare concerns. Sixteen children under five have died in Direct Provision Centres. This is a disgrace.

Asylum seekers come from all across the world. They come from war torn societies or states where their lives are at risk. They come in search of a new life in the same way that Irish people have travelled over the centuries throughout the world. They arrived in this state only to be treated in a most deplorable way.

Sinn Féin has long campaigned in support for those thousands of Irish citizens who are living and working in the USA and who have no legal status. This campaign has also been supported by the Taoiseach and all of the parties in the Dáil.

It’s only fair that we treat people who come to our country the way we want our people to be treated when they travel to other states.

The direct provision centres and system is a blight on the reputation of the Irish state. It reflects an attitude which in previous years created the dreadful Magdalen laundries and the industrial schools. It should be dismantled and a new, more humane and transparent and accountable system, based on internationally accepted protocols, should be put in place which provides dignity for those who are fleeing torture and hardship and want to build a new life in a new place.
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Reclaiming the Vision of 1916: Sinn Féin's Programme for 2016

February 12, 2015, 7:36 am
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Bobby Ballagh and mise
 

Wynn’s Hotel in Lower Abbey Street in the centre of Dublin played a pivotal role in the formation of two of the key groups that shaped the 1916 Easter Rising; Oglaigh na hÉireann – the Irish Volunteers, and the Cumann na mBán.

On November 11th 1913 a small group of republican activists met at Wynn’s Hotel. Present were Bulmer Hobson, Eoin Mac Neill, Padraig Mac Piarais, Sean Mac Diarmada, W.J. Ryan, Eamonn Ceannt, The O'Rahilly, and several more. It was agreed to hold a public recruiting meeting for a body called the Irish Volunteers whose aim was ‘to secure and maintain the common rights and liberties of Irish men’.

Three of those in attendance; Pádraig Mac Piarais, Sean Mac Diarmada, and Eamonn Ceannt were among the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation. They were subsequently executed by the British.

Two weeks after that first inaugural meeting - on November 25th- over seven thousand joined the Volunteers at a meeting in the Rotunda Rink in the grounds of the Rotunda Hospital. On the same night a special section set aside for women was also full.

On April 2nd 1914 the first official meeting of the Cumann na mBán took place in Wynn’s Hotel.



Relatives of 1916 leaders

Last Friday morning Wynn’s Hotel was crowded for the launch of Sinn Féin National Launch 1916 Commemorative Events. Mary Lou MacDonald chaired the event; Martin McGuinness spoke about the importance of 1916, and in particular about the National Monument in Moore Street where the 1916 Leaders met for the last time and which the government has failed to protect or develop properly. James Connolly Heron, the great grandson of James Connolly also spoke. So did I.

The centenary programme is first class. It is our intention to launch it in Belfast in the near future.

The programme includes a re-enactment of the funeral of veteran Fenian Jeremiah O Donovan Rossa on August 1st this year.

Under the title ‘Revolution 1916’ a visitor exhibition will run for 33 weeks in the Ambassador Theatre (part of the Rotunda complex) in O Connell Street commencing on February 27th 2016. This will feature a day-by-day account and legacy of the 1916 Rising through different mediums and artefacts.

Outside the GPO on March 8th 2016 a rally will be held to celebrate the role of women in the Revolutionary period.

A parade of the Irish Citizen Army will take place from Liberty Hall to St. Stephen’s Green with a special emphasis on the Diaspora.

Nationwide Easter Commemoration Parades will take place. Dawn Vigils
will be held outside Kilmainham Gaol on the dates our leaders were executed and in Cork on 9th May and Pentonville on August 3rd 2016.

Over April 24th – 29th 2016 (the actual dates of the Rising) a light show will use the portico of the GPO to depict the story of the Rising.

On Sunday 24th 2016 the Citizens’ Initiative will be holding a national march and rally to ‘Reclaim the Vision of 2016’.

In Belfast there will be events to mark the life of James Connolly and on May 15th 2016 at Arbour Hill there will be an oration and ceremony.

I have no doubt other events local and national will be organised between now and next year.


Tim Pat Coogan and Martin McGuinness

This programme is Sinn Féin’s contribution to the centenary celebration of the 1916 Rising – a seminal event which shaped the history of this island for the following 100 years. Other organisations and individuals will also organise and hold their own events.

There has been widespread criticism of the government’s failure to produce a programme of any substance and public reaction to its promotional video – Ireland Inspires 2016 – was so angry that it had to be withdrawn. The 80 second promotional video failed to mention the Rising or the Proclamation or the executed leaders. It did however include images of David Cameron, Queen Elizabeth, Bono, and Bob Geldof.

In stark contrast the video presented at Friday mornings launch of our centenary programme of events is an excellent production which captures the essence of the period and its impact.

This shambolic approach by the Irish government is an accurate reflection of the Fine Gael and Labours leadership’s attitude to 1916, and in particular the Proclamation. Little wonder they don’t want to celebrate the Proclamation.

They don’t believe in it. They are embarrassed by its content.

The government’s failure to protect and properly develop the National Monument in Moore Street, as well as the laneways of history – those adjacent streets and lanes where the men and women of 1916 valiantly fought the British Army – has been shameful.

The Easter Rising saw an alliance of organisations come together, including the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Citizen Army, Sinn Féin, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the woman's movement, and Irish language activists.

They rose up against British rule in Ireland and declared a Republic. For Ireland and for the British Empire this was a point from which all changed utterly. It was a hugely courageous act. A few hundreds of Irish men and women taking on the might of what was then the largest empire in history, and the foremost global power.

For the British the Easter Rising, and struggle for self-determination and sovereignty, set an example that was to be imitated successfully in the following decades in its countless colonies around the globe.

The British hoped by the speed and scale of the executions that followed that they could extinguish the flame of freedom. They were wrong. At his court martial Pádraig Pearse got it exactly right:

'Believe that we, too, love freedom and desire it. To us it is more desirable than anything in the world. If you strike us down now, we shall rise again to renew the fight. You cannot conquer Ireland. You cannot extinguish the Irish passion for freedom.'

That is absolutely true.

The revolutionary period was followed by a counter revolution. The counter revolutionaries won. Partition and small minded narrow, mean and conservative states were forced upon us. But though the counter revolutionaries won they did not defeat us.

So the centenary celebration of the Easter Rising is a time to build. It is a time to rededicate ourselves to the achievement of the politics of Wolfe Tone, of Padraig Pearse and James Connolly, of Maire Drumm and Mairead Farrell, and of Bobby Sands.

The Proclamation summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom. We are those children. I invite you to join in that great historic enterprise.
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Irish government fails to break the connection between sport and alcohol sponsorship

February 15, 2015, 7:06 am
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Two weeks ago the Fine Gael and Labour government published a new bill to regulate the marketing and advertising of alcohol. The Public Health (Alcohol) Bill was also supposed to tackle the important issue of alcohol sponsorship of sporting events.

While many of the elements contained in the Bill are important and welcome the government was rightly criticized for failing to tackle the key issue of drinks sponsorship of sporting events. Instead of clear legislation to end drink sponsorship of sport we got waffle.

The Dáil was told that the question of sports sponsorship and the associated marketing and advertising of alcohol will be dealt with in a way that does not allow for the deliberate targeting of children.

While the problem of drink linked to children is a matter of concern it is a fact that the greatest number of citizens affected by drink sponsorship of sports are adolescents, young men and women, and older citizens.

A report three weeks from University College Cork on hazardous alcohol consumption involving students – not children - concluded that we need a ban on alcohol sponsorship of sports events. The lead researcher of the study warned that ‘without support at the highest levels for evidence based policy attempts to tackle Ireland’s hazardous relationship with alcohol may prove futile.’

The human and financial cost of alcohol abuse within society is also well established. It has long been recognised that sponsorship of sport by alcohol companies encourages a culture of alcohol misuse. Consequently, there is widespread public support for the proposition that the government should break the connection between alcohol and sport sponsorship.

Professor Joe Barry of Alcohol Action Ireland has said that: “Comprehensive studies have shown that children and young people are not only exposed to a large amount of alcohol advertising through sports sponsorship, but that their behaviour and beliefs are influenced by these positive messages about alcohol and its use, increasing the likelihood that they will start to drink and drink more if already using alcohol.

Simply put, alcohol sponsorship of sport works in terms of increasing sales and, as a result, alcohol consumption. If it didn’t, the alcohol industry simply would not be spending so much money on it.”

The reality is that the linking of a healthy activity, such as a sport, with an unhealthy product, such as alcohol, diminishes the concern that some may have that alcohol is unhealthy and unacceptable.

Some 60,000 teenagers start drinking every year. These young people are most at risk. They are susceptible to the belief – encouraged by alcohol advertising – that drinking alcohol is sophisticated and acceptable.

Sport is hugely important in the lives of citizens. Many take part but most participate through attending GAA matches; or soccer; or rugby; or the many other sports activities that take place every week. Sport is hugely important in providing for a healthy lifestyle but it also plays a significant role in encouraging values like fairness and teamwork. This is undermined and devalued through sports connections with alcohol – just as it was when tobacco companies used to sponsor sporting events.

The misuse of alcohol leads to domestic violence, abuse, premature deaths, road crashes and deaths and injuries, rapes and suicides. A recent report from the Health Research Board   said that the role of alcohol in accidental deaths is not fully appreciated. It found that for the years 2008-2009 there were 388 deaths, not including suicide, due to alcohol poisoning and deaths due to trauma, eg drowning, falls, road accidents.

The connection between alcohol use and suicide has been highlighted in numerous reports, both Irish and international. One study of people from three counties who died as a result of suicide found that more than half had alcohol in their blood; those aged less than 30 were more likely to have had alcohol in their blood at the time of death.

All of us know individuals or families blighted by the effect of alcoholism. The human cost to each is huge – the financial cost to the state in terms of our health service - is enormous.

Two weeks ago Leo Varadkar the Minister for Health published his 25 'health priorities'.One of these is to reduce alcohol consumption. However the failure of the government to ban the sponsorship of sporting events by alcohol companies, undermines much of the good that may come out of the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill or the related Sale of Alcohol Bill.

The government’s failure to step up to the mark and ban alcohol sponsorship of sporting events is a disgraceful response to a very serious issue. It is a decision that flies in the face of all of the available medical evidence and smacks of a government acquiescing to pressure from the drinks industry. It also ignores clear evidence that the drinks industry deliberately exploits sport to promote alcohol.

A study of 6,600 adolescents in four European countries, published in December 2012 by Amphora, an initiative of the European Commission, found that ‘Alcohol-branded sport sponsorship influences alcohol consumption among adolescents. Exposure to sport sponsoring can predict future drinking’.

Recently, Mick Loftus a former GAA President pointed out that; “Sponsorship of sport creates this culture that you cannot enjoy life without a drink, which is wrong and leads to problems like binge drinking. As a doctor and a former coroner, I know first-hand the damage alcohol does. Eighty-eight people a month die in this country due to alcohol related reasons. If that number of people were dying any other way they would be taking all sorts of action to try and stop it, but instead they are promoting it. If money comes before people, then it’s a sad day.”

The government has abdicated its responsibility to protect our young people and to tackle the serious problem of alcohol misuse.

Moreover it appears to have done it because, as the Minister for Health said last week, the sports organisations need the €30 million that such deals bring in.

It would appear that the Cabinet chose to ignore all of the available medical advice, scrapped the proposal to break the connection between sport and alcohol, and all to save money.

The government’s lack of action on this also raises the spectre for many citizens that the alcohol companies lobby of government was successful and that the drinks industry is exercising an undue and disproportionate influence on government to prevent any ban from going ahead.

Of course, this isn’t the end of the matter. It is possible to amend the Bill in the Dáil. But given its overwhelming majority and its obvious refusal to deal with the issue of drinks sponsorship and alcohol in writing the Bill it is unlikely that the government will agree to any substantial amendment on this issue.
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The Ard Fheis and Derry; and opposing welfare cuts

March 14, 2015, 8:36 am
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Preparing to give Ard Fheis Speech
The streets of Derry were alive with different accents from all parts of the island of Ireland last weekend. There were the Derry wans, the Belfast ones, Kerry, Cork, Belfast and a myriad of other drawls, twangs and brogues. There were even voices from Canada, the USA, Palestine, South Africa, Cuba, and Greece and a few I didn’t recognise. Probably Inisnagaire.

The Ard Fheis was in town, and the people of Derry were delighted to have us. And we were delighted to be there.

All agreed that it was one of the best Ard Fheiseanna ever. The Millennium Forum was packed from early on Friday evening before the Ard Fheis formally opened. There was a buzz about the place which got louder and more enthusiastic as the weekend proceeded.

There was an energy, an excitement and passion around the debates and contributions from young and old alike. The breadth of issues covered was evidence of a political party that was ebullient and confident and determined.

In the midst of it all Martin McGuinness quietly travelled back and forth between Derry and Belfast trying to engage with the DUP around a worsening crisis on welfare protections that had been agreed at Stormont House at Christmas.

By chance Sinn Féin had discovered that the DUP were intent on reneging on a key element of the Stormont House Agreement that specific categories of citizens on welfare now and in the future would be protected.

As we continued with our behind the scenes efforts to talk to the DUP Martin and I made it clear in our respective speeches to the Ard Fheis that the system of welfare protections were a red line issue. That we intended to keep to our commitments and to keep other parties to theirs also.

On Monday the final stage of the Welfare Bill was due to be taken in the Assembly. In the absence of any engagement with the DUP – who were refusing to meet Martin – our new Ard Chomhairle, which had only been elected the previous day, was brought together early on Sunday morning.

We discussed the developing situation. We set it against our strategic goals entering the Stormont House negotiations; one of which was to protect the most vulnerable in our society; the disabled, the sick, the elderly and the young. We knew at the time that this was going to be very difficult given the one and a half billion that the British Tory government had already stripped from the block grant. But we were determined to try.

In the course of 11 days of lengthy negotiations much of the focus was on welfare protections. Financial projections were provided by the DUP controlled Finance Department and Department of Social Development. Eventually an agreement was reached which guaranteed benefit protections for current and future applicants in respect of benefits under the control of the Executive.

Famously George Mitchell, who chaired the Good Friday negotiations, had told us at the end of that process that that was the easy bit over. The hardest bit would be ensuring its implementation.

He was right. That has been our experience with the Good Friday Agreement and subsequent agreements. There are key elements of the GFA that have still not been implemented, including a Bill of Rights and the establishment of a Civic Forum. The British and Irish governments have reneged on these.

At Weston Park the British government agreed to establish a full inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane. The British government has reneged on this also. And at St. Andrew’s in 2006 there was a commitment by the British to legislate for the Irish language through an Acht na Gaeilge. This has been reneged on also.

Mindful of all of this Martin McGuinness and others in our negotiating team have engaged positively with the Party Leaders’ group to ensure the full implementation of the Stormont House Agreement. We had no reason to believe that there was any problem.

On the contrary in a speech on January 12thto the Assembly the DUPs Minister for Social Protection Mervyn Storey said; “I think we need to build on the achievements of the Stormont House Agreement… I have given an undertaking to the Assembly in relation to the information that we will bring to the Assembly in terms of the guidance notes and how the Bill (Welfare Rights) will be subject to a paper that, I trust, I will be able to bring to the Executive shortly, so that we can progress the issue in a way that is efficient and effective, and so no one in Northern Ireland is adversely affected as a result …”

So when the incoming Ard Chomhairle met on Sunday morning they were faced with a difficult unfolding scenario. It was clear that the DUP was intent on reneging on the commitments to protect the most vulnerable. They wanted the Welfare Bill to go through the Assembly on Monday afternoon. Subsequently, it appears that it was their intention to provide only partial protection to current recipients of benefit and no protection whatsoever for future claimants.

This is not what was agreed in the Stormont House negotiations and is totally unacceptable.

If the DUP want to strip benefits from children with disabilities, from adults with severe disabilities, the long-term sick; or push children further into poverty, then it is for them to explain and justify that.

Until the DUP Minister for DSD produces a scheme which reflects what was agreed at Christmas Sinn Féin will not support the Welfare Bill.

Neither is the effort of the DUP to con the other parties, but especially Sinn Féin, on Welfare protections helpful to the overall project. If you seek in a peace process to fool and dupe your political partners then you subvert the entire basis on which such a process must exist.

Sinn Féin wants to resolve this crisis. But it must be done in terms that are acceptable and which protect the most vulnerable and is in keeping with what was agreed at Christmas. We are very mindful that our opposition to the Welfare Bill could have wider implications for the political institutions and the Stormont House Agreement but there can be no resiling on this issue.




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St. Paddy’s Day in Washington

March 27, 2015, 4:38 am
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John Fitzpatrick; Hillary Clinton; mise and Niall O Dowd

It’s hard to imagine but my first St. Patrick’s Day Speakers lunch in Washington DC was exactly 20 years ago. It was also my first meeting with President Bill Clinton.  The St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in March 1995 also unexpectedly reinforced the sense of power and influence of Irish America. Having failed to stop me getting a visa to visit the USA the British Embassy in Washington in early 1995 went into overdrive to try to blunt Sinn Féin’s engagement with Irish America and with the Clinton Administration.

The Embassy lobbied to prevent me getting another visa; they lobbied to stop me getting an invitation to the Speaker’s Lunch. They lobbied to prevent the White House inviting me to the President’s St. Patrick’s Day event. They lobbied against Sinn Fein getting the right to fund raise. They lobbied Congressional and Senate members not to meet me.
The British Secretary of State Patrick Mayhew left Washington convinced that the British would have their way. But he had failed to take proper account of the many political and business leaders who were now solidly behind the peace process. Congressman Ben Gilman and three other co-chairs of the Ad Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs, Peter King, Tom Manton and Richard Neal – Republicans and Democrats – sent a letter to President Clinton supporting my visa. Ted Kennedy phoned President Clinton and other Irish Americans rowed in behind.
The President agreed to Americans having the right to fundraise for Sinn Fein and I was invited to the Speakers lunch and the White House St. Patrick’s Day event. The British were furious. Clinton sent a letter to John Major explaining why he had done what he had done. But from March 11th and for five days the British Prime Minister refused to take a telephone call from the President of the United States.
The Speaker’s lunch is normally a very formal though relaxed affair. The Speaker of the Congress in 1995 was Newt Gingrich. He welcomed the President and the Taoiseach. Lunch was served and then the President and Taoiseach said a few words. There was a harpist in the corner playing music.
This Speakers lunch was for some of those present a more exciting event than normal. It was obvious that everyone in the room was waiting to see how the President, who I had not met before, would respond. I had expected to meet the President once the media were ushered out. But there appeared to be some problems.
So after a while I asked Peter King to tell someone in authority that I was going home. There was a flurry of activity and I was introduced to the President. Many of those present applauded. Clinton told me the British government was beating up on him and I remarked; ‘Now you know Mr. President what we have to put up with!’
Irish America had succeeded once again in using its influence effectively and positively. Under President Clinton U.S. policy toward Ireland changed to become inclusive, and based on dialogue. In the years that followed Republican Presidents followed this approach.
Last week, two decades later that approach hit a glitch. The State Department decided to ‘postpone’ a meeting it said it was due to have with me. It was all a bit odd. No meeting had been agreed. Rita O Hare was still talking to State department officials to see if and when it might happen.
It began late on the Sunday evening, a few hours after landing in New York. Richard was contacted by the BBC in Belfast to tell him that they had been informed that the meeting was cancelled. I usually do meetings with the State Department when I am in DC and they attract no media interest at all. But now the media spin was that this was a deliberate snub and was the State Department expressing its displeasure at Sinn Féin’s refusal to vote through the welfare Bill in the Assembly.
The handling of this whole affair by the State Department was bizarre. It served no purpose other than to distract attention from the main issue; the full implementation of the Stormont House Agreement. Publicly I said so and I added that it was no skin off my nose not to meet the State Department.
Irish American politicians and leaders I met subsequently could not understand the logic of the position and were angered by the State Department decision.
Within 24 hours the State Department reversed its briefing to the media. A meeting was arranged. It was a courteous affair. I told the State Department officials that their decision and the manner in which it was made known to Sinn Féin, and to the media, was not the way business should be done and was not helpful.
Despite this we had a useful meeting. I briefed them on the current negotiations to resolve the issues around the Stormont House Agreement and told them I remain hopeful that that can be achieved.
If there is a lesson out of this it is the continuing importance and influence of Irish America. Without that there may well have been no peace process at that time.

Meeting Congressional leaders on the Hill

And as if to bookend this account of our visit to the USA on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day I attended an event in New York which saw Hillary Clinton inducted into the Irish America Hall of Fame.  Her speech focused on the Irish peace process and she identified a key component of any such process, ‘everyone needs to feel the benefits of peace.’


Finally, at our meetings with congressional leaders and the state department I also reminded them of the outstanding issues arising from other agreements, including the British government’s failure to honour its commitment to hold an inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane and the need for a Bill of Rights. The plight of the 50,000 undocumented Irish was also high on our agenda and I expressed our support for “a waiver policy, removing the current obstacle of the three and ten-year bar for undocumented Irish citizens in the USA”.

Having lunch with Bill Flynn and Mary Lou McDonald


Book signing in New York with Elizabeth Billups
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The People’s Pact

April 3, 2015, 7:28 am
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Last Monday was the day 34 years ago when nominations closed for the historic Fermanagh South Tyrone by-election. Bobby Sands was at that point 30 days on hunger strike. He had been joined by Francie Hughes and Raymond McCreesh and Patsy O Hara.  The by-election had been caused by the death of Independent MP Frank Maguire. Harry West was the single unionist candidate. Frank’s brother Noel submitted his nomination papers. The SDLP were internally divided over whether Austin Currie should run for them.

On that particular Monday myself and Jim Gibney, and Owen Carron, who was Bobby’s election agent, were sitting in a parked car in the convent grounds across from the electoral office at 40 Northland Row in Dungannon. We had decided that we wouldn’t split the nationalist vote but if Noel Maguire withdrew his nomination then we would withdraw Bobby’s. I was keeping in touch with Francie Molloy who was in contact with republicans in Lisnaskea. We knew Noel had left around 3 pm. At 3.55pm – five minutes before the deadline for withdrawing nomination papers - Noel Maguire arrived from Lisnaskea, entered the electoral office and withdrew his papers.

Speaking to journalists afterward Noel explained that he was withdrawing from the by-election and was throwing his endorsement behind Bobby Sands.

Bobby’s election victory and the subsequent electoral success of Ciaran Doherty in Cavan Monaghan and Kevin Agnew in Louth changed politics on the island of Ireland. The hunger strike elections accelerated the electoral strategy of Sinn Féin and in the south it sounded the death knell of single party governments. From that point on coalition government has been the order of the day.

Coincidently Monday was also the day when the British Prime Minister went off to Buckingham Palace to tell the British monarch that he was formally calling the British general election for May 7th.

Between now and May 7th the airwaves will be full of debate, speculation, political interviews, polemic, false promise, nonsense and party political broadcasts. Acres of newsprint will be devoted to what the political parties, and the scores of candidates in the north have to say on the constitutional issue, as well as on the bread and butter issues of the day.

An added sense of excitement – at least for the political anoraks – has been introduced with the opinion polls in Britain currently predicting a tight race between the Labour and Conservative parties. The role of the smaller parties has come in for scrutiny. Particularly the role of the Scottish National Party. They currently have six MPs but since the failed referendum for independence the SNP has gone from strength to strength. Party membership has rocketed and the pollsters are suggesting that its party strength at Westminster could jump by somewhere between 40 and 50 seats.

If they succeed in this they should reflect carefully on the experience of the Irish Parliamentary Party in the 19th and early 20thcenturies who propped up Westminster parties with nothing to show for it in the end on the key issue of independence and sovereignty.

Meanwhile the DUP has been expending a huge amount of energy seeking to convince the unionist electorate that they will be the kingmakers in the new Parliament. Their party election broadcast concentrated almost exclusively on that single theme. 

The DUP and the Ulster Unionist Party have also entered into an electoral pact. North Belfast, which now has a nationalist majority, could be won by Gerry Kelly. East Belfast voted Alliance in the last election under embarrassing and difficult circumstances for Peter Robinson. The DUP want to reverse that. Newry and Armagh is a secure nationalist/republican seat but the UUP had to be given something in this largely one sided electoral pact. Perhaps their best chance is in Fermanagh South Tyrone which was held five years ago by Michelle Gildnernew with one vote. You can’t get much closer than that.

In this election the problem for working class unionists; for those who are unemployed or sick or disabled or elderly; and those on low and middle incomes; is that in policy and philosophy the DUP and Ulster Unionist Parties are even more conservative than the Tories. If given the opportunity both unionist parties will support a Tory government that is already committed to stripping £12 billion from the welfare system over the next five years and imposing more draconian austerity policies.

The impact on household income, on jobs, on public services will be disastrous. Their support for an EU referendum could see the British leave the European Union. Will the north be forced to leave also?

The situation is little better with a Labour government. It is committed to sticking with the Tory cuts agenda.

So any parties, which contemplate endorsing or supporting a cabinet of millionaires who are behind budget cuts, cuts to public services and cuts to social protections are ignoring the needs of the people in favour of narrow self interest. Claims that they can influence or moderate the economic policies of the next British government toward the north are empty rhetoric and PR spin.

Sinn Féin has signed a Peoples Pact. It is a solemn pledge to promote national reconciliation and equality; to stop the Tory cuts and defend the most vulnerable; and to encourage progressive politics.

Our commitment to the rights of citizens; our determination to stand up to sectarianism and racism and homophobia is the only alternative to the austerity politics of London and Dublin.

Sinn Féin has a credible track record on all of this. Republicans have demonstrated repeatedly over the last 20 years that in direct negotiations with the British we have secured more advances for citizens than any other party.

Sinn Féin is totally committed to defending core public services, including health, education and the welfare system. As an Irish republican party we will resolutely fight for policies that are based on equality, inclusion. We will work hard to protect and safeguard our children with disabilities, adults with severe disabilities and the long term sick.

All of this presents a huge challenge. To succeed we need to secure the largest vote possible. In 35 days the people will have their say.
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St. Colmcilles – A Remarkable GAA Club

April 7, 2015, 5:52 pm
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Eimear Ferguson is a Sinn Féin Councillor on Meath County Council. She represents East Meath which is part of the Louth constituency. Her father, Dessie, is a former inter county Gaelic footballer with Dublin. He played his club football with St Vincents. He won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship with Dublin in 1958 and 1963. He moved to Meath and began playing with Gaeil Colmcille winning senior titles with them in 1966 and 1968. So the GAA is in Eimear’s blood.

A few weeks ago she and I and MEP Matt Carthy visited St. Colmcilles GAA club in East Meath. It was my second visit. It’s an amazing place. St. Colmcilles run many voluntary and community based activities, including mental health projects and it has opened up its sporting facilities for local citizens. The club members provide essential and positive support for hundreds of citizens.

St. Colmcilles is a leading proponent of the GAAs Health Club Initiative which seeks to connect the GAA with communities through health and wellbeing projects. The GAA initiative is a partnership effort involving Healthy Ireland, the Health Service Executive and the National Office for Suicide Prevention. It is funded by the HSE and in February it received a three year – one million euro – investment from Irish Life.

The project is rooted in the volunteer spirit of the GAA. It is about health promotion. It involves a wide range of specific initiatives including mental health, health screening, bullying, diet and nutrition, inclusion and community outreach, drug and alcohol awareness, life skill and personal development, anti-smoking, facilities development and engagement with older community members.

The focus is not only on helping GAA members and their families but is about reaching into the wider community and making available the skills within the GAA that can help citizens. It’s about plugging some of the gaps that occur in the existing community and family supports provided by state agencies.

The Healthy Club project commenced in March 2013. 18 clubs initially took part in the two year pilot phase. It is intended to roll it out across the state. The success of the Healthy Club Project is evident in the decision to select it to participate in a European wide research venture aimed at promoting its implementation as part of the Sports Club for Health (SCforH) programme in EU members states.

Early evaluations of its activities have been very positive.

St. Colmcilles is a first class model of a project which provides advice and support for neighbours.

Even before the Health Clubs project was launched in 2013 the East Meath Club was already involved in its own home grown extensive community outreach programme around mental health. Its ‘How are you feeling today’ programme which has been running for several years, has proven very successful.

Over 100 local people packed into the single storey club house for the first public meeting in 2012 and the project has grown in strength since then. More than 250 citizens, many of whom have no connection to the Club, are now involved in its various programmes, all of which are free but which cost the club over €20,000 to run each year.

The St. Colmcilles initiative is a remarkable example of how a community based organisation like the GAA can strengthen its roots into the community while opening up its facilities and encouraging the development of mental health, youth and other important initiatives. All of these make a significant contribution to society and in some instances are lifesaving.”

The GAA is an outstanding organisation of very dedicated men and women, boys and girls. It exists in every part of this island. Because of our diaspora it is also strong in many other countries. I have watched GAA matches in Chicago and San Francisco and met GAA activists in different parts Europe.

GAA players are role models for our children and as an organisation it contributes significantly to the well being of our citizens and of our society.

The GAA and clubs like St. Colmcilles are making a real and positive difference in peoples’ lives. They contribute freely of their time and talent and they deserve our thanks, our solidarity, our support and our encouragement to continue to do what they do.

 
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Irish Times: Anti-Sinn Féin Polemics

April 9, 2015, 8:07 am
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April 9th 2015:
Below is the text of a letter which I have been trying to get the Irish Times to carry for the last two weeks. It has refused. 
A chara,
The Irish Times has set out its clear opposition to Sinn Féin in advance of the next General Election.
Last week the paper published three editorials in the space of seven days questioning Sinn Féin's political bona fides and fitness for Government.
In addition Political Editor Stephen Collins (Sinn Féin casts a dark shadow over Irish democracy, The Irish Times, 14th March) made a highly charged, direct appeal to the entire political establishment to unite against Sinn Féin.
Fintan O'Toole accused us of putting party interests first; of lying and of being incapable of understanding the concepts of accountability, openness and honesty.
Each of these extraordinary anti-Sinn Féin polemics has been based on erroneous information and spurious claims.
On March 7th, the editorial made the outrageous, unsubstantiated and entirely false claim that a portion of Sinn Féin's income was derived from illegal sources. There was no attempt to back up this slanderous accusation with any evidence.
On March 11th another editorial claimed, completely erroneously, that Sinn Féin had “plunged the political process” in the North into crisis. The facts contradict this. The crisis was sparked by the DUP resiling from a key part of the Stormont House Agreement providing social protections for citizens. However this is now history. The effort must be to fully implement the Stormont House Agreement. That is Sinn Féin’s focus.
Then, on March 14th the paper claimed that Sinn Féin had refused to cooperate fully with law enforcement agencies in relation to the serious issue of sexual abuse. Not true. Sinn Féin and I have co-operated fully with An Garda Síochána in relation to these matters. 
That the attacks on Sinn Féin will intensify as the election draws closer will be no surprise. But as the so-called ‘paper of record’ the Irish Times’ should not resort to misreporting, misleading comment or false accusations.
Is Mise,
Gerry Adams TD,
Teach Laighean,
Baile Átha Cliath 2.
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2016 – A time for Renewal

April 14, 2015, 4:20 am
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There are countless dates in Ireland’s long struggle for freedom that deserve commemoration and celebration but none resonate more deeply in the Irish psyche than the Easter Rising of 1916.

One reason for this is the astonishing bravery of the women and men who participated in it and the astonishing steadfastness and resolve of the leaders who faced death with great courage and were executed following it. Another is the Proclamation of the Republic and of the great principles of sovereignty, of freedom and equality, and of civil and religious liberty that it sets out in clear and impassioned language.

However, none of this would have occurred but for the coming together of Irish separatists, republicans, socialists, nationalists, suffragettes, and Irish language activists who coalesced in a great revolutionary effort to liberate Ireland and establish a democratic and egalitarian republic on this island.

It was a transformative moment in Irish history.  

It is these principles and ideals that have inspired and motivated subsequent generations of Irish republicans. And it is these which successive Irish governments sought to erase from the story of Easter 1916. The commemorative Programme unveiled by the Irish government last November was widely criticised as short term, shambolic and superficial. Public anger at its promotional video – Ireland Inspires 2016 – was so stinging that it was withdrawn. The video failed to mention the Rising or the Proclamation or the executed leaders. It did however include images of David Cameron, Queen Elizabeth, Bono, and Bob Geldof.

The new programme launched at the end of last month is a much better effort but it still contains gaps. The government approach has been to strip away any politics and context to the rising. To reduce it to a tragedy in which death and injury was inflicted equally on all sides, and so all sides must be equally remembered.

This is a shallow and wholly self-serving approach to our history. Devoid of context or politics the Rising is portrayed by some as a moment in history that should be kept in a little glass case and studied; or in the view of those in the Redmondite wing of Fine Gael an unnecessary moment of madness. 

Without a doubt war is brutal. It visits death and injury on all sides. Terrible things are done. We have seen that in our own time during three decades of war. The grief of a mother and father, brother and sister, or son and daughter is not diminished by the circumstance of that loss. The grief experienced by the family of an RUC officer, British soldier, IRA Volunteer or civilian is no different in these times from that of those who died in the GPO or  the streets of Dublin and elsewhere in 1916. All have the right to be respected and remembered.

However it is wrong for the state commemoration of 1916 to be reduced to solely to an act of remembrance for a collection of individuals.

While each is a story of individual courage and loss, those involved in the Rising were more than a collection of individuals.  They shared an abhorrence of colonialism and imperialism and believed that Ireland’s future must be in the hands of those of us who live on this island. Their view of the world in which they lived was shaped by their experience of the British Empire and the world war.

Those who took part in the Rising gave their lives and liberty, to deliver the republic enshrined in the proclamation. A republic built on the principles of equality and sovereignty, of human rights and civil liberties, and of unity and nationhood.  Principles that remain a challenge to successive governments in this state.

It is these principles that the Irish government has a problem with. For Fine Gael and Labour it is easier to deal with the notion of individual loss and sacrifice, than to promote the ideas of the proclamation.

So the government does not address the inequality, division and lack of sovereignty, that drove a generation of republicans onto the streets of Dublin. Heaven forbid that the north is mentioned or that the continued failure that is partition is debated.

The memory and ownership of 1916 does not belong exclusively to Sinn Féin or any other party or to the government. Nor can it be limited to the 26 counties. The south is not the nation. Nor should the commemoration of the rising be limited to a lecture, an exhibition or a parade. It belongs to all the people that share this island and the Irish nation spread across the globe.

While the commemoration must be an opportunity for remembrance, it is also be an opportunity for national renewal, for building a new republic. When it has come and gone there should be more left behind that a memory of a good day out.

That is why Sinn Féin developed a programme of events to mark 1916. We are seeking to encourage communities to engage with their heritage and to rise to the challenge of delivering a republic for citizens.

The most fitting tribute to the loss of this and past generations including republicans, British and civilians is to deliver the republic promised on the steps of the GPO. A 32 county republic in which citizens have equality and rights and the sovereignty of the nation is protected.  

This generation has the opportunity and ability to deliver such a republic without the sacrifice of previous generations. The democratic and egalitarian principles contained in the Proclamation are as urgently required in the Ireland of 2015, as they were 99 years ago.

Austerity – whether imposed by a British Tory government or a Fine Gael/Labour government - are anathema to the ideals of the Proclamation.

The year ahead is a time for renewal and planning, a year for promoting the republican ideals of democracy and equality. It is a time for focussing on delivering a genuine republic for the people of this island. This includes securing, in the time ahead, a referendum on Irish Unity so that each and every one of us, working together, can build a new, dynamic country.

Ireland today needs another Rising – a peaceful rising to take control of the ideals of the Proclamation and to put them into practice.

100 years ago in 1915 James Connolly wrote in the foreword to his pamphlet ‘The Reconquest of Ireland’; “The conquest of Ireland had meant the social and political servitude of the Irish masses, and therefore the re-conquest of Ireland must mean the social as well as the political independence from servitude of every man, woman and child in Ireland.”

Our goal must be the reconquest of Ireland by all the people of this island.

 
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Vote Yes for Marriage Equality

April 19, 2015, 6:08 am
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Dublin Launch of Referendums Campaign
Two years ago this week the 100 members of the Constitutional Convention, meeting in the Grand Hotel in Malahide in north Dublin, delivered a decisive vote of 79% in favour of amending the Irish constitution to provide for marriage equality. The three Sinn Féin delegates voted in favour of amending the Constitution to include a positive obligation on the State to give effect to a guarantee of marriage equality and to the equal rights of the children of these marriages. It was described by advocacy groups as ‘an historic step’ and it was.
But like all such historic steps toward ending discrimination in all its forms and building real equality into society, there has to be a next step and a next step. In January the government finally published the wording for the referendum on same-sex marriage.

In just five weeks’ time two referenda will be held. One is to reduce the eligibility age for a candidate for the Presidential elections. The second is on marriage equality. This referendum vote will decide whether the proposed new wording should be added to the constitution: ‘Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex.’

Launch of Yes campaign in Louth
Early opinion polls indicated that there was an overwhelming majority for a Yes vote. Last December the polls indicated as many as 80% of voters would cast a Yes vote. More recent trends have suggested a small decline in that. An Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll at the end of March had the Yes side remaining relatively strong at 74%. However campaigners on both sides are very conscious of the volatility of the electorate and the inaccuracy on occasion of polls.

In 2013 opinion polls indicated that the Yes side in the referendum to scrap the Seanad would comfortably win with 62% of the vote.  On referendum day however the proposal to abolish the Seanad took only 48% of the vote losing by four per cent to the No campaign.

So there can be no room for complacency in advance of May 22nd. Sinn Féin is for a Yes vote. I would appeal to everyone to vote Yes and I would especially urge Yes voters to become active campaigners for a Yes vote.

Many of us will have a member of our family or extended family who is gay. All of us, whatever age we are or wherever we live or work, know someone who is gay. They are our family, our friends, our workmates and our neighbours. They are of all ages and from all walks of life. They want what we want – the right to live their lives as full and contributing citizens and to share in the love of a family of their own.

This month there has been a lot of focus on the Easter Rising. Sinn Féin, the Irish government and many other individuals and organisations have commemorated that historic event and have been setting out their plans for next year’s centenary celebrations.

At the heart of the Easter Rising is the Proclamation of the Republic. It is the founding document of modern Irish Republicanism and for me it is the starting point for my approach to issues of human rights, injustice and inequality.

The Proclamation declares that: ‘The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally …’

And there you have it. Irish republicans are for equal rights and equal opportunities for all; we are resolved to pursue the happiness of everyone in the nation; and to cherish all the children of the nation equally. It does not say unless you are gay or bisexual or transgender. It doesn’t say unless you are black or a traveller or a woman or a Catholic or a Protestant. There are no exceptions. It doesn’t say whether you are disabled or sick or old. It says ALL its citizens.

The Proclamation wants all of the children of the island of Ireland to be cherished equally and to be happy.

Irish republicans want a society which is inclusive and which respects our diversity. Nothing less can be tolerated in a modern, progressive and inclusive society. A lot of progress has been made on this in recent years. But much more is needed, including tackling the worsening problem of race crime.

On May 22ndthere is an opportunity to take another historic step forward. I would urge everyone to vote Yes. I would also appeal again for everyone to join the campaign for a Yes Vote. If you feel you can’t become part of any of the formal campaigns being organised then become part of the informal campaign.

Talk to your friends, to your workmates, to your family and neighbours and ask them to vote Yes. Text them. Facebook them. Use Twitter. Let’s get the biggest vote possible and ensure that on May 22nd the marriage equality referendum is passed.

 
 
Dublin Launch of Marriage Equality Yes campaign

Canvassing in Dundalk
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Rambling On Rathlin

April 23, 2015, 2:53 pm
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A view from Rathlin
 


 
Rathlin Island, off the coast of County Antrim, is our most northern off shore island. I was there at the weekend. The journey over in the ferry from Ballycastle was sublime. It teed up our expectation and anticipation of a wonderful day to come on one of Ireland’s last inhabited islands. The sky was clear, the sea was relatively calm, though still a bit bumpy in parts for those with shaky sea-legs, and the view was breath-taking. 

We were greeted as we stepped ashore by the friendly faces and good natured banter of islanders and visitors alike. We were all there to take part in the Rise Foundations Rathlin Ramble to help raise money for a wonderful charity. The Foundation was established in 2009 by the singer and activist, Frances Black. The Black family have deep roots on Rathlin. Their father was an islander. 

 
Santana, Frances agus Mise
Rise stands for ‘Recovery In a Safe Environment’ and its mission is to support families who are impacted by a loved one's addictive behaviour through awareness, education and therapy.  They are dedicated to working towards helping family members to free themselves from the stress, anxiety and worry of having a loved one with addictive behaviour.

Rise helps family members understand the nature of addiction and how it impacts on relationships. In this way it hopes to aid families as they work to recover from the effects of the addiction and to support and strengthen families through a very difficult period in their lives. 

Two years before the charity was established Frances contacted me and outlined her hopes of establishing an organisation that would help families faced with addiction. Part of her vision for what became ‘Rise’ was the opening of an addiction, education and awareness centre for families on Rathlin Island. 

I thought it was a great idea and asked Conor Murphy, who was then the Minister for Regional Development to see what help and advice he could provide for the project. Conor quickly moved to ensure that part of this engagement with Rathlin would explore opportunities to reverse the years of underinvestment and neglect endured by the islanders.

Eventually out of this emerged a new government policy toward Rathlin. But equally importantly for the Rise Foundation the Commissioner of Irish Lights agreed to let the Foundation lease two houses at Rathlin’s remote East Lighthouse. Both are in need of work and Saturday’s ramble around Rathlin is one of the fundraising efforts created by Frances Black and her dedicated team at Rise.

The ramble covered 7 miles (11.2 km). Rathlin has spectacular scenery and a long history that takes it back to the Neolithic period. It currently has a population of 120 hardy souls. Locals claim that Rathlin was probably the first of our islands to become inhabited. Standing on the north cliffs you get an amazing view of the islands of Scotland and the Mull of Kintyre. 

Rathlin has a long association with mythical and historical figures from the Tuatha de Danaan to St. Columba. It is also said in the Annals of Ulster that Rathlin experienced the first Viking raid on the island of Ireland. However, one of the best stories told is of the Scottish King Robert the Bruce who hid in a cave – imaginatively named Bruce’s cave - on Rathlin after his defeat by English forces in 1306. Bruce was deeply depressed at his defeat but in his despondency he watched a spider valiantly try seven times before succeeding to bridge a gap between rocks.

English soldiers searching for Robert did not search the cave. When they saw the spider's web they concluded that he could not be in the cave without breaking the web. For his part Robert concluded that If the spider did not give up then he should persevere also and off he went and retook his throne.

The Saturday of the Rise Ramble was a beautiful day but in bad weather the treacherous tides and the high cliffs of the island have seen their share of boating tragedies. There have been many Ship wrecks. As a consequence Rathlin had three lighthouses, one of which is the East Lighthouse where the Rise Foundation is hoping to establish their centre.

 
Our task on Saturday was less formidable than that of Robert the Bruce but nonetheless very challenging. Our walk along Rathlin’s narrow roads and the stunning views gave us plenty of time to look at the local fauna and admire the many varieties of wildlife that inhabit Rathlin. There is an amazing diversity of birds, from peregrines, and skylarks to lapwings. Along the cliff faces battered by the wild Atlantic there is a huge seabird colony of puffins and others, like guillemots and razorbills birds. They gather in their thousands in the summer months to breed. The uniqueness of this small island is reflected in its recognition as a Special Area of Conservation and the existence of a RSPB nature reserve.

 Rathlin also has a great song and music tradition, influenced by the Scots Gaelic heritage. It is a special place. When we arrived back to Bruce's Kitchen for soup and sandwiches a music session was in full swing. Four fiddlers and a box player jigged and reeled us all into The Drawing Of The Raffle organised by the formidable Cathy Farrelly, I didn't win anything. But RISE raised over 7000 euros. Well done to everyone involved. 

Later that night there was a ceili. And a sing song. Unfortunately I had to leave before this.  But the voyage back to the mainland was shortened by more lively ceol as some of the musicians travelled back with us. 

 So, well done Frances Black and the Rise Foundation. Thanks for all your work and thanks for a great day out. For more information on Rise check out www.therisefoundation.ie.

 




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A scandal at the heart of government

April 30, 2015, 3:12 am
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Following the economic crash eight years ago two toxic banks in the 26 counties – Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide - were amalgamated into the state owned Irish Bank Resolution Company set up for that purpose. The then Fianna Fáil government handed it the responsibility of managing a range of loans that were in serious trouble. Redeeming them if possible or where necessary selling then on and getting the best price possible for the taxpayer.

On the 18 April 2012, Sinn Féin’s Finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty received a reply from Minister for Finance Michael Noonan to a question he had asked several weeks earlier about a deal just undertaken by IBRC concerning loans to a company called Siteserv.

Siteserv had borrowed €150 million from Anglo Irish Bank. The company was broke and appeared set to close. The deal, agreed by IBRC involved the acquisition of Siteserv by Millington, a company owned by businessman Denis O Brien, for€45.42 million euros. Seventy per cent of the money it owed IBRC was written off. The tax payers lost €105 million on the deal.

There was another sting in the tail. Shareholders, including chief executives at the company, received €4.96 million. For a company that was busted.

The taxpayer took a hit of over €100 million, and the shareholders walked away with millions.

So Pearse asked the Minister what exactly was going on. And Minister Noonan responded with one of those gloriously obnoxious lines that could only be thought up by a Fine Gael, Labour or Fianna Fáil minister: “Notwithstanding the State’s ownership of the bank, IBRC operates at an arm’s length capacity from the State in relation to commercial issues.”

Basically – ‘even though we own the bank, we don’t take any interest in what is going on’.

And that’s the line the Irish Government has been running with since Freedom of Information requests by independent TD Catherine Murphy brought a renewed focus onto the Siteserv deal. Political anger and media interest has now put the spotlight on a host of other deals involving IBRC and the writing off of hundreds of millions in taxpayers' money.

In respect of Siteserv we now know that as well as shareholders getting a sweetener of €5 million to ensure the deal went ahead, the same legal advisers acted for both the purchaser and seller.

We also know that Denis O'Brien’s company was not the highest bidder but yet emerged as the successful bidder. We know the Minister for Finance was briefed by Department of Finance officials on serious concerns over this transaction and briefed equally on broader concerns over other transactions and the modus operandi of IBRC.

The Minister claimed that IBRC reviewed the Siteserv sale. Mr. Noonan – a former leader of Fine Gael – sat down with Alan Dukes the Chairman of IBRC and also a former leader of Fine Gael and Fine Gael Minister for Finance- and accepted his verbal assurances that IBRC was behaving properly. The concerns of Departmental officials were ignored.

The Siteserv deal is not the only one that saw debt written down. More than €64 million was written off for Blue Ocean Associates before being purchased by a consortium, also involving, as it happens, Denis O'Brien. There was an almost 50% write-down of €300 million in debts in the purchase of Topaz. Mr. O'Brien is also involved in this.

The Sunday Times ran this story on its front page on Sunday April 19thbut two days later when challenged on it in the Dáil the Taoiseach said he had not read the reports. He then appeared to pluck out of the air a suggestion that the Comptroller and Auditor General could look at the circumstances surrounding the deal to determine whether the taxpayer had got value for money.

This was the government trying to kick the issue to touch. Last week in the Dáil during Leaders I asked the Taoiseach three questions. The first was why the Minister for Finance failed to ask the IBRC chairman, Alan Dukes, to conduct a full and independent review of the sale as recommended by Department of Finance officials. The second was what were the other large transactions conducted by IBRC? The third was for him to establish an independent Commission of Investigation of these matters. The Taoiseach failed to answer these questions.

As it happens it quickly emerged that the Comptroller and Auditor does not have the authority to investigate Siteserv. The Taoiseach is bound to have known this – so a different approach was needed.

Desperate to avoid a Commission of Investigation the Minister for Finance then announced that the special liquidators, who helped close IBRC down, would be asked to review all transactions at IBRC over €10 million. The liquidators are also from KPMG, one of the four big world auditors, and we know that when the Siteserv deal was being done, the sales process was overseen by KPMG and stockbrokers Davy.

Alan Dukes was not amused and held a press conference at which he said that the Department of Finance was kept abreast of the sales process at all stages. He also said that the IRBC board never had a review of the Siteserv transaction. This contradicts Minister Noonan's claim that there was a review.

Last Sunday new Freedom of Information reports revealed that share activity in Siteserv significantly increased in the month before it was sold off by IBRC and that the share register, which contained the details of those who bought the shares, was given to the liquidator in July 2012.

The following day, and in an obvious attempt to defuse public concern about the involvement of  KPMG and to avoid having to establish a Commission of Investigation, the government announced the appointment of a retired High Court Judge Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O' Neill to oversee ‘any actual or perceived conflicts of interests.’

Murkier and murkier. The twists and turns of this story have stayed in the media headlines now for two weeks and there seems to be little prospect of the story going away.

Of course, there is a much wider political issue here centring on Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fáil’s refusal to ever accept accountability for events that happen on their watch.

It’s also all about the relationship between the parties and big business and their compliant attitude to the elites – the Golden Cicrle – in contrast for example to struggling households and working families.

But IBRC was not the only government owned agency handling massive debts arising from the economic crash. NAMA took over much of the debt arising from the collapse of the construction industry and is handling billions in taxpayers' money. Minister Noonan has ordered NAMA to wind up faster than its 2020 remit demands – meaning NAMA is rushing sales processes and there is a lack of transparency there too. Last year, it sold off it’s entire loan book for the north at a €400 million discount - €400 million the Irish taxpayer will never see again.

Irish taxpayers’ assets are being disposed of by NAMA at a rate of hundreds of millions every month – and we don’t know if we’re getting full value for money.

We do need an inquiry into what happened in IBRC- during its operation and its liquidation. And that inquiry should include NAMA. The public good and taxpayers interests require that all transactions, including the acquisition of assets by NAMA be subjected to thorough independent scrutiny in a Commission of Investigation.
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Bricfeasta na hAoine - my own 'grá' for our native language

May 3, 2015, 3:49 am
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Inné bhí mé ag caint ag Bricfeasta na hAoine, ócáid eagrithe ag Glór na nGael. Bhí slua maith de Ghaeilgeoirí ann. Daoine le Gaeilge ag teacht le chéile ar son phroinn na maidine san ArdChathair.

At Bricfeasta na hAoine in Dublin  I spoke as a guest of Glór na nGael. I spoke of my own 'grá' for our native language.

Tá mé thar a bheith sásta a bheith libh anseo go moch ar maidin. Tá sé chomh maith go bhfuil an oiread seo daoine a bhfuil suim acu i ndul chun cinn na Gaeilge anseo linn inniu.

Go raibh míle maith agaibh as cuireadh a thabhairt dom bheith in bhur measc.

Tréaslaím an obair iontach atá idir lámha ag Glór na nGael. Táim den tuairim go gcaithfear an Ghaeilge a scaoileadh saor ón seomra ranga agus beocht a thabhairt di in achan gné den tsaol.

Beatha teanga í a labhairt. Tugann Glór na nGael go leor dieseanna do dhaoine an Ghaeilge a labhairt i níos mó áiteanna.

Chuir mé féin suim sa teanga nuair a bhí me ag freastal ar bhunscoil Naomh Finian De La Salle ar Bhóthar na bhFál.

Ach nuair a chuaigh mé go dtí Scoil na mBráithre Críostaí chuir mé tús le gaol leis an teanga a mhaireann go dtí an lá atá inniu ann.

Cuid mhór de sin ná an Bráthair Beusang a d’eagraigh turasanna chuig an Ghaeltacht i dTír Chonanaill.

An chéad deis eile a bhí agam mo chuid eolais ar an Ghaeilge a leathnú ná sa phríosún.

Chruthaigh na cimí polaitiúla, go háirithe sna cásanna sa Cheis Fhada, pobail bheaga Gaeilge – botháin Gaeltachta – áit a raibh an teanga beo gach lá.

Agus mar gheall ar an stádas polaitiúil a bhí againn bhí cead leabhair Ghaeilge a bheith againn.

Sin an áit ar fhoghliam Bobby Sands a chuid Gaeilge.

Bhí Prionsias Mac Airt, seanPhoblachtánach, amhránaí ar an sean-nós mar mhúinteoir aige.

Múinteior eile as Luimneach a bhí ag múineadh ná Coireal Mac Curtain.

Ansin, nuair a scaoileadh saor na cimí, lean siad ar aghaidh ag obair ar a gcuid Gaeilge sa phobal.

Bhí pobal Gaeilge láidir ann i mBéal Feirste roimhe sin le Gaeltacht Bhóthar Seoighe agus Cumann Chluain Aird.

Níos déanaí nuair a tháinig na Blocanna H in áit na gcásanna, agus nuiar a bhí an Ghaeilge mar ghnátheanga laethúil, bhí tionchar ollmhór aige seo ar dhaoine óga ó na ceantair náisiúnach agus lucht oibre sa tuaisceart.

Ag an tráth sin fosta, cuireadh lasair síos i measc an phobail mar gheall ar na stailceanna ocrais.

Nuiar a scaoileadh saor na daoine sin a bhí sna blocanna, thóg siad na scileanna sin amach chuig an phobal. Chuir said ranganna ar siúl i bpubanna, clubanna, ionaid phobail agus i dtithe.

Inniu i m’áit dhúchais in iarthar Bhéal Feirste thig liom dul isteach chuig mo shiopa lóganta agus an nuachtán a cheannacht trí mheán na Gaeilge.

Thig liom dul chuig an bhairbeoir aitiúil agus bearradh gruaige a fháil le comhrá fada as Gaeilge.

Thig liom dul chuig an chaifé lóganta agus cupán caifé a ordú trí mheán na Gaeilge.

Tá pobal Gaeilge atá beomhar ar Bhóthar na bhFál agus tá Ceathrú Gaeltachta againn.

Tá naíonraí, Gaelscoileanna agus Meánscoil Feirste ann.

Tá na mílte páiste dulta agus ag dul faoi láthair trí oideachas le Gaeilge.

Ó mo cheantar féin, Baile Uí Mhurchú fuair dhá mhíle páiste oideachas trí mheán na Gaeilge le déanaí.

Tá seo uilig an-tábhachtach.

Nuair a chuirtear teanga faoi chois boilg éilíonn an pobal cearta teanga,

Céad bliain ó shin chuidigh athbheochan na Gaeilge, an cheoil, na litríochta agus na drámaíochta dúchais, borradh a chur faoi dhaoine saoirse na tíre a bhaint amach agus ar ndóiche lean sin ar aghaidh go dtí Éirí Amach 1916.

I 1987 i Soweto san Aifric Theas nuair a bhí mic léinn ag iarraidh oideachais ina dteanga dhúchais féin chuir said tús le rud an-tábhachtach.

Bhí an Stát in aghaidh athrú agus d’éirigh na mic léinn amach.

Rugadh spiorad iontu. Sheas siad an fód.

Cosúil le cóilíneachtaí eile bhí an teanga agus an cultúr faoi ionsaí go rialta in Éirinn.

I ndiaidh na gcéadta bliain de chólínteacht tá a rian láidir fágtha linn in Éirinn.

Rinne Séan Mac Giolla Bhríde, iar-cheannaire an IRA, buaiteoir Duais Nobel agus Lenin na Síochána, cur síos air mar ‘intinn an sclábhaí’

Bhí an dearcadh nó an mheoin sin chomh láidir in Éirinn gur nós leis na húdair agus na filí, tagairt a dhéanamh d’Éirinn le tagairtí casta.

Léirigh siad Éire mar Kathleen Ní Houlihan.

Mar atá a fhios agaibh go maith bhí fáth leis seo.

Má bhí duine ag lorg post bhí an Béarla de dheol orthu.

Go háirithe iad siúd a bhí ag dul ar imirce chuig na Stáit Aontaithe, An Asráil nó Sasana.

Bhí dlí na Breataine an-dian orthu siúd a bhí ag maireachtáil trí mheán na Gaeilge.

Tá sin fós ag tarlú sa tuaisceart mar a bhfuil cosc iomlán ar an Ghaeilge a úsáid sna Cúirteanna.

Ach bhí an scéal mar an gcéanna in Albain agus sa Bhreatain Bheag go dtí gur tháinig an féinriail.

Mar sin is iad an DUP agus an UUP atá in aghaidh Acht na Gaeilge. Ar an lámh eile bhí páirt láidir ag go leor Protastún in athbheochan na Gaeilge cosúil le Robert Shipbuoy McAdam agus féach an obair atá ar siúl san ionad Skainos ar Bhóthar Bhaile Nua na hArda inniu mar shampla.

Maidir leis na Gaelscoileanna a tháinig chun cinn le tríocha bliain, dhiúltaigh Rialtas na Breataine aon airgeadas a chur ar fáil daofa.

Níor chuir sin stop leis na Gaelscoileanna, agus níor chuir sé stop leis na Gaelscoileanna sa Stát seo ach oiread.

Smaoiním ar na daoine a tháinig ón Ghaeltacht chun na cathrach chun freastal ar phobal Gaeilge nua seo agus an nath a bhí ag Máirtín Ó Díreáin “An Charraig agus an Chathair”

Tháinig an pobal le chéile, cheannaigh said sean-bhotháin déanta as adhmaid, agus d’oscail said scoileanna nach raibh go leor áiseanna acu ach a raibh grá láidir don teanga iontu.

Cuireann Sinn Féin an-bhéim ar an oideachas, sin an fáth go bhfuil an aireacht sin againn ó tháinig an Feidhmeannas ar an saol.

Faoin scéim roinnt-chumhachta chinntigh na hAirí oideachais John O’Dowd, Caitríona Ruane agus Martin McGuinness go mbeadh airgead ann don GhaelOideachas agus go rachadh sé ó neart go neart.

Mar sin, i mo bharúil féin, ceann de na dúshláin is mó atá roimh phobal na hÉireann ná díchóilíniú.

Mar a dúirt Máirtín Ó Cadhain ‘Is í an Ghaeilge Athghabháil na hÉireann agus is í athghabháil na hÉireann slánú na Gaeilge’

Sin é an fáth go bhfuil gá ann le hAcht Gaeilge ó Thuaidh a thugann cosaint do chearta saoránaigh an Ghaeilge a úsáid.

D’fhoilsigh an tAire Caral Ní Chuilin dréachtAcht na Gaeilge le comhairliúchán ar siúl anois.

Chuir Caral tús leis an fheachtas 'Líofa', a bhfuil ag éirí go breá leis, agus An Club Leabhar fosta.

Agus sa Stát seo sin an fáth go gcaithfimid deireadh a chur leis an ghearradh siar a bhaineann leis an teanga, níos mó airgid a thabhairt ar ais do Foras na Gaeilge agus airgead ceart a chur ar fail chun Scéim Fiche Bliain a chur i gcrích.

Nuair a bhí mé ag siúl chuig an áit seo ar maidin tháinig gliondar croí orm nuair a chonaic mé go leor pósataer ag tacú le 'TÁ' sa reifreann atá le teacht. Dhá rud a bhí iontach faoi sin.

An chéad rud ná go raibh Gaeilge ar na póstaeir ó go leor páirtithe, ní amháin Sinn Féin. Is linn ar fad an Ghaeilge.

Ní bhaineann sí le haon ghrúpa, aon chine nó aon chreideamh amháin.

Tá sí uilíoch.

Clúdaíonn an dátheangachas gach duine.

Agus ní bhaineann an Ghaeilge le Sinn Féin nó le poblachtánaigh amháin.

An dara rud ná an focal comhionannas a bheith chun tosaigh ar na póstaeir.

Is breá liom na focail a thosaíonn le ‘comh’ Comhoibriú, comhpáirtíocht, agus ar ndóigh comhionannas.

Sin bunús an phoblachtánachais. Comhionannas.

Ba cheart go mbeidh deis ag gach duine saol a chaitheamh le compáird agus sonas.

Tá cearta tábhachtach fosta.

Ba chóir an ceart a bheith againn ár dteanga dhúchais in achan gné den tsaol.

Léigh mé altanna le polaiteoirí eile a shíleann gur masla daofa agus don teanga é nuair a labhraím as Gaeilge sa Dáil.

Caitheann said anuas ar an chanúint is agamsa agus go mbímse ag plé rudaí tábhachtacha as Gaeilge.

Sin an barúil atá acu.

An rud a chuireann isteach orm ná go bhfuil daoine sa Dáil a bhfuil an teanga acu, ach seachas í a úsáid, baineann siad spoc as daoine nach bhfuil an teanga acu.

Nó i gcás an Taoiseach agus An Teachta Mick Wallace is bealach é chun ceist thábhachtach a chur ar leataobh.

Creidim nach bhfuil bealach níos fear ann chun deireadh a chur le meath na Gaeilge ná chun í a úsáid sna hinstitiúdí is airde sa tír.

Tá Teachtaí sa Dáil atá i bhfad níos líofa ná mé féin ach nach labhraíonn smid Gaeilge sa Dáil.

Cad chuige seo?

Ar an ábhar seo creidim nach bhfuil áit ar bith nach féidir an Ghaeilge a úsáid ann.

Ba cheart go mbeadh an Dáil oscailte agus tacúil do dhaoine atá ag iarraidh an teanga a úsáid gach lá.

Le sampla maith leanfaidh na daoine eile.

Mar fhocal scor, maidir le hÉirí Amach 1916 agus an céad bliain.

Níos luaithe labhair mé faoin nasc sin idir an teanga, an cultúr agus an ceol le comhthéacs an Éirí Amach a chruthú.

Tá sé an-tábhachtach agus muid réidh le céiliúradh a dhéanamh ar an céad bliain, go mbeidh an Ghaeilge ina cuid lárnach de na himeachtaí sin.

Arís míle buíochas as cuireadh a thabhairt dom. Tugann sé ardú meanmar dom nuair a fheicim daoine anseo le Gaeilge agus chomh gníomhach. Leanaigí ar aghaidh leis an obair thábhachtach seo.

Translation

I am delighted to be here with you early this morning.

It is great to see so many people active in the Irish language.

Thank you very much for inviting me to be here with you this morning.

I want to praise the work undertaken by Glór na nGael.

I am strongly of the opinion that Irish must be liberated from the classroom and inserted into every aspect of life.

The life of a language is in its speaking.

Glór na nGael gives people the opportunity to speak Irish in more and more settings.

My own interest in the language began when I started primary school at St. Finian’s De La Salle School on the Falls Road.

 However it was St. Mary’s Grammar School run by the Christian Brothers which really bonded me to the language.

A big part of that was Brother Beausang who helped organise our summer breaks to the Donegal Gaeltacht.

My next real opportunity to extend my limited knowledge of the language was in prison. 

Political prisoners, particularly in the cages of Long Kesh, created Irish language communities in prison – Gaeltacht huts – where we lived and breathed the language each day.

And because we had political status we were permitted Irish language text books.

It was there that Bobby Sands learned Irish.

He was taught by, amongst others, Prionsias Mac Airt, a veteran republican, a sean-nós singer and a man from Limerick, Coireal Mac Curtain.

Subsequently, many of these prisoners and others who had been interned continued with their work on the language when they were released.

Later when the cages were replaced by the H Blocks and when the Irish language became the daily language of most of the protesting prisoners at that time, this had a huge impact on the consciousness, particularly of young working-class nationalists.

A spark was lit in the community during the Hunger Strikes.

When prisoners were released from the Blocks, many of them brought the language skills and teaching methods they had learned back into their communities conducting classes in pubs, clubs, community centres and homes.

In my own native West Belfast I can go into my local shop and buy my newspaper using Irish.

I can go to my local barber and get my hair cut and have a long conversation with my barber using Irish.

I can go to my local café and buy my coffee through the medium of the Irish language.

We have a thriving Irish language community n Belfast and on the Falls there is Ceathrú na Gaeltachta.

There are Irish medium nurseries, primary schools and a Meánscoil Féirste.

Thousands of our children have and are going through education using Irish as their first language.

All of this s very important.

Culture and language are catalysts for change and development.

Often the effect is a dynamic.

The suppression of language leads to the demand for language rights.

Just over 100 years ago the revival of the Irish language and of native music and culture, of literature and theatre helped spur the national and republican struggle for independence and laid the foundations for Easter 1916.

In the context of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, the simple assertion of the right to be taught through their native tongue by students in Soweto in 1976 was a key moment.

The state resisted change and the students rebelled.

A renewed spirit of resistance was born.

In Ireland, as in other colonies, culture and language have been a frequent target.

Hundreds of years of colonialism have left an indelible impression on Irish society.

Human rights campaigner Sean MacBride, once an IRA commander, later a winner of both the Nobel and the Lenin Peace Prize, described the problem as being ‘a slave mentality’.

British imperialism and colonialism has been so pervasive in Ireland over such  a long time that in the past artists and writers gave expression to their Irishness only in veiled references.

Ireland was disguised as Kathleen Ní Houlihan.

Of course, as you may well know, there was a sound historical reason for this.

If you wanted a job you needed English.

Especially if you wanted to go to the USA, Australia or England.

British law severely penalised those giving outward expression to Irishness, including our language.

That remains a real issue in the north where, for example the use of Irish in the courts is specifically outlawed.

It was likewise in Wales and Scotland until they asserted devolution.

Therefore it is the DUP and the UUP who are against an Irish Language Act in the north. On the other hand, there were many Protestants active in the language revival, like Robert Shipbuoy McAdam and the  wonderful work being done by Linda Ervine at the Skainos Centre on the Newtonards Road.         

Irish language schools, of which many have grown up over the last 30 years, were refused public funding under British direct rule.

That did not stop the formation of gaelscoileanna.

I often think of those that left the Gaeltacht to come to the cities to nurture these new Irish language communities. The phrase coined by Máirtín Ó Direáin sums up that period "An Charraig agus an Chathair"

Families and local communities worked hard to raise funds, buy second hand wooden huts, and open schools that were short on resources but in which there was a strong love for the language.

Recognising the importance of education Sinn Féin has held the education department in the Executive since it was established.

Under power-sharing, Education Ministers John O Dowd, Caitríona Ruane and Martin McGuinness have ensured funding is provided and Irish medium education grows from strength to strength.

So, one of the greatest challenges we face today is the decolonisation.

As Máirtín Ó Cadhain rallied: ‘Is í an Ghaeilge Athghabháil na hÉireann agus is í athghabháil na hÉireann slánú na Gaeilge’

That is why an Irish language Act is needed in the north that protects the rights of Irish speakers. Caral Ní Chuilin has published  a draft Irish Language Act.

Caral initaited a great scheme called 'Líofa' which is flourishing, and a scheme for Irish language books.

And it is why in this state we need an end to cuts affecting the language, a restoration of funding for Foras na Gaeilge and finance for the implementation of the 20 year strategy for the Irish language.

When I was walking here this morning I was uplifted when I saw many posters that were supporting a YES vote written in Irish.

Two things about that I found fantastic.

Firstly, there were signs in Irish from most of the parties, not just Sinn Féin.

We all own the Irish language.

It is not confined exclusively to any religious, ethnic or racial group.

It is inclusive.

And developing bilingualism includes everyone.

Nor does the Irish language belong solely to Sinn Féin or Irish republicans.

The second thing that uplifted me is that the word Comhionannas is to the fore on all the posters.

I like words that begin with comh ; comhoibriú cooperation, comhpháirtíochtsolidarity.

And of course Comhionannas.

That is what is at the heart of Republicanism.

Equality of condition for all citizens.

Rights are also at the heart of Republicanism.

We should have the right to speak one’s native language in all facets of our lives.

I have read articles by other politicians who seem to think that my using the Irish language in the Dáil is an affront to them and to the language.

They make fun of my Ulster dialect and Belfast accent and are critical of the fact that I try to discuss ‘important’ matters through the medium of Irish

That’s their opinion.

What I find frustrating is that so many of those in the Dáil have the language and instead of using it they poke fun at those who try.

Or as in the recent case of the Taoiseach and Mick Wallace it becomes a means of dismissing the concerns of a Teachta Dála on an important issue.

I believe there is no better way to show commitment to the reversal of language decline than using the language in public in some of the highest institutions.

Thre are Teachtaí in the Dáil far more proficient in the Irish language than I am, yet they don't utter a word as Gaeilge in the Dáil.

Why not?

To this end I believe it is important to show that there is no forum unsuitable for using Irish.

The Dáil, more that any other institution should be openly and enthusiastically encouraging the use of the Irish language every day.

If we set the example then others might follow.

Finally, a word about the centenary celebrations for 1916.

Earlier I remarked on the importance of the language and culture and music and literature in creating the context for the Rising.

It is very important that as we plan to celebrate the centenary that this aspect of that period in our history is given expression.

That may be something you have already discussed in this group.

So, congratulations for liberating an Ghaeilge and bringing it to the breakfast table. I commend the work of Glór na nGael for providing practical and living examples of  how the very essence of Irishness can be part of our lives.
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Managing change will define us

May 11, 2015, 3:38 pm
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Well the Westminster election is over and the shape of the next British government is now known.  We also know the strengths of the parties in the north.

For the political anorak it’s an early Christmas present. The election opens up months, even years of debate and analysis. For most citizens its importance will be in who delivers jobs and housing; peace and prosperity; and how we answer critical questions around the future of the Health Service, and the threat to other public services.  In the immediate term the big question will be whether the Stormont House Agreement can finally be made to work.

These are significant challenges, especially given the very different ideological positions the parties hold. And all of this will be made more problematic given that we are only 12 months away from an Assembly election.

However, there is another underlying and formidable challenge which must also be addressed. How do we break down the sectarian barriers that have bedevilled society in this part of the island since the plantation? How do we build an inclusive community?

Some progress has been made in recent years. But sectarianism remains the greatest obstacle to political stability and equality for citizens. And how could it be otherwise.

The plantation of Ulster introduced a new dynamic into Irish society. Unlike other colonies, where colour and race where the distinctive features between the colonists and natives, in Ireland, and especially in the north, it was religion. Protestants were loyal to the union. Catholics wanted independence.

The partition of the island almost 100 years ago exasperated this problem. The northern state was forged out of a sectarian headcount. Two thirds of the population was protestant and loyal to the union; and one third was Catholic and excluded and discriminated against. Neither section where well served by partition.

In the decades since then that broad political characterization of society in this part of the island has not changed. And election results for the different parties up to now have reflected this.

But under the surface change has been and is taking place. 

Last week ‘The Detail’ –an investigative news and analysis website which produces in-depth reporting on issues of public interest - published several days of articles and statistics about the north. They looked at demographics, orange marches, the Irish language and much more. It is a must read for anyone interested in developments in this part of the island.

Its focus was the future and the need for political leaders to realise that however hard some may try to avoid change that they can’t. It is happening every single day. Whether you are a unionist or a nationalist, a republican or loyalist, or none of these, political and societal transformation is taking place.

The census results in December 2012 reflect this. For the first time since partition the protestant population is less than half of the north’s population. It stands at 48%. The Catholic population is identified as 45%.

But as The Detail reveals, “census data asking people to state a current religion or religious belief, showed that an increased portion fell outside the two main blocs. A total of 17% did not state a religion or indicated they had no religion”.

The erosion of previously established certainties was further highlighted when the census figures looked at the issue of ‘national identity’. Only 40% (39.89%) of citizens in the north stated that they had a British only identity. A quarter (25.26%) stated that they had an Irish only identity and just over a fifth (20.94%) had a northern Irish only identity. That’s a long way from 1920 when some two thirds of people were unionist and British. It also reflects a growth in the number of citizens who increasingly see themselves as Irish.

The figures also reveal that 11% of the population was born outside of the north. Sectarian violence has always been a major problem but in recent years racist, homophobic and hate crime have also been on the increase.

The response of the institutions in the north has, for many reasons, been inadequate in dealing with this problem. Much more is needed to provide tough measures to defend and promote the equal rights of all citizens, including the introduction of a Bill of Rights.

In the same year as the census figures were published ‘The Detail’ released figures from the annual school census which showed that significant demographic change was taking place. In the 1,070 schools in the north 51% of the 311,559 schoolchildren were Catholic, 37% Protestant and 12 'other', which includes other Christian, non-Christian and no religion/religion unknown.

The demographic and societal changes that are taking place in the north, as well as in the rest of the island, and even across the sea to Scotland and England and Wales, mean that Irish republicans and nationalists must look afresh at how we engage with our unionist neighbours and the increasing numbers of citizens in the six counties who define themselves as northern Irish, as well as those who have consciously set themselves outside the traditional definitions of Catholic and Protestant.

For a republican party, rooted in secularism; committed to equality for every citizen; and eager to achieve a united Ireland, this is a unique and exciting opportunity. There is an onus on us who want maximum change to persuade others of its desirability.

In part it means that we must demonstrate in a tangible way our objective of building a fair and inclusive, multi-cultural and pluralist society. A society which celebrates the diversity of all our people regardless of religious persuasion, cultural identity, political affiliation, ethnic origin, or sexual orientation. For example, in those Councils where Sinn Féin is the largest party we must prove by our policies and our actions that we are serious about protecting and defending the rights of citizens. In the Assembly and Executive too our words and actions must match our republican rhetoric.

Republicans have long recognised and stated publicly that change is inevitable. It is how we manage that change that will define all of us.
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James Connolly Commemoration: Government being dishonest on economic choices

May 12, 2015, 7:55 am
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The life and death of James Connolly is a story of heroism in the struggle against injustice and inequality.
 
Connolly was born in 1868 into a poor family in an Irish ghetto in Edinburgh. 

He was a self-educated man whose contribution to Ireland and to Irish labour is unequalled. 

Connolly first came to Ireland as a member of the British Army. Aged 14, he forged documents to enlist to escape poverty and was posted to Cork, Dublin and later the Curragh in Kildare.

Here in Dublin Connolly met Lillie Reynolds and they married in 1890. 

First and foremost Connolly was a workers' leader. In 1911 he was appointed Belfast organiser of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union.

He organised the workers of Belfast, and especially the linen slaves - those thousands of young women who worked in hellish conditions in the Mills which were the backbone of Belfast’s economy. 

In the years before the 1916 Rising, Connolly was central to a wave of strikes across Ireland designed to improve working conditions and wages.

The Great Lockout of 1913, here in the city of Dublin, is still recalled as one of the greatest battles between Labour and workers anywhere. 

This was an epic struggle in which the Dublin bosses and owner of the Irish Independent newspaper, William Martin Murphy, set out to crush the workers and their organisations. 

Eventually the Dublin workers were starved back to work. But Connolly remained defiant and continued to organise and mobilize.

Out of the Lockout emerged the Irish Citizen Army. Its task was to defend workers against the brutal attacks of police and hired thugs of the employers.

Connolly saw the Citizen Army not only as a defence force, but as a revolutionary army, dedicated to the overthrow of capitalism and imperialism. 

When Connolly entered into an alliance with the IRB to participate in the 1916 Easter Rising, during the 1916 Rising he was the Commandant General of the Dublin Division of the Army of the Irish Republic – and the man whom Pearse described as ‘the guiding brain of our resistance’. 

Connolly died fighting to establish a republic on this island in which the people were sovereign and citizens would be ensured their fundamental rights. 

He was one of signatories of the 1916 Proclamation which guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens.

It contains a commitment to cherish all the children of the nation equally. Sadly, real equality does not exist in this society.

Partition created two conservative states, administered by two elites who entrenched their own power and privilege to the detriment of ordinary citizens.

While the North became a one-party Orange State, the South has been run since Partition by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, often with the support of the Labour Party.

The result has been the perpetuation of inequality and conservatism and the continued division of Ireland.

Following the calamity of the economic crash under the last Fianna Fáil-led Government, a Fine Gael/Labour coalition assumed office with a huge mandate for political change.

But as citizens have learned to their cost, nothing has changed.

According to the most recent CSO figures the top 10% own over half of the wealth while the poorest 20% own more than they own. 

According to the ESRI, only the top 40% of households actually benefited from the last Budget with the greatest benefits going to the top 10%.

Fine Gael and Labour’s four Budgets have been the most unfair and unequal since the economic crash. 

There has been a huge growth in social inequality.

A third of our children now live in consistent poverty. 

Over 1,000 children are homeless in this city.

Low and middle-income earners have been severely penalised by Fine Gael and Labour.

The abolition of the PRSI ceiling, increase in VAT, the introduction of a Family Home Tax and Water Charge have significantly increased the tax bill of ordinary workers.

The abject failure to do anything practical to alleviate the plight of those in mortgage distress or those struggling with spiralling rents has further increased financial pressure on ordinary families.

These are the same damaging policies agreed by Fianna Fáil with the Troika in 2010 and implemented by Fine Gael and Labour since 2011.

These policies have already led to massive emigration and an increase in low-paid and insecure jobs.

They have accelerated the crises in our health, education and community services.

But there is a better, fairer way. 

Sinn Féin advocates a reform of the tax system to ease the burden on low and middle-income earners while also increasing revenue to invest in a fair and just recovery.

In Government Sinn Féin would do this by:

● Abolishing the Property Tax and Water Charges;

● Reforming the USC to ease the burden on lower earners;

● Ensuring high-earners pay their fair share of income tax;

● Increasing employer’s PRSI to address the deficit in the Social Insurance Fund;

● Introducing a wealth tax to generate funds for investment in job creation.

Sinn Féin passionately believes that the economy must serve society, not the other way around. We would introduce measures to support and promote small and medium enterprises.

We believe that citizens are entitled to secure jobs with decent pay and conditions, adequate housing and quality public services.

Fine Gael and Labour are perpetuating a lie that it is possible to reduce the overall tax take while increasing investment in frontline services.

This approach means that high-earners will be the winners while those on low and middle incomes and citizens most dependent on public services will lose out yet again.

Sinn Féin’s economic alternative offers a route to a fair recovery. Our politics are about empowering citizens on the basis of equality. 

Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Labour Party seek to limit the possibilities of political engagement. 

Unlike Connolly, they have no over-arching vision of a better society which politics and democracy can bring about. 

It was James Connolly who coined the phrase ‘We serve neither King nor Kaiser but Ireland.’  

Such clear sighted comment has no place in today’s Labour leadership. 

They capitulated to the elites of the EU, to the Troika, to the bankers and the golden circles and forced working people to bear the burden for this indulgence. 

It is appropriate on Connolly's anniversary that we welcome the 'Policy Principles for a Progressive Irish Government' published on May Day by the unions affiliated to the Right to Water Campaign.

These Principles are very much in line with the rights advocated by Sinn Féin for many years.

We welcome this initiative and look forward to engaging in the debate in the weeks ahead. 

But debate is not enough. We need to see tangible progress to make change happen. 

Citizens desperately need, for the first time ever in this State, a Government that is not led by Fine Gael nor by Fianna Fáil.

More than that, they need a progressive Government that will pursue real and viable alternative policies based on equality not austerity, rights not privilege and that will govern in the interests of the people and not the elites.

We need to show that those policies are workable and can yield actual results that will make a difference in the lives of people.

Like Connolly, we need to be both practical and visionary.

James Connolly declared that ‘the cause of labour is the cause of Ireland and the cause of Ireland is the cause of labour’.

For Connolly, socialism and national self-determination were two sides of the same coin.

In the recent Westminster elections Sinn Féin was confronted by a reactionary alliance of Tories, unionists and the Orange Order determined to halt political and social progress.

The newly re-elected Tory Government in London is wedded to austerity and this presents severe challenges for society and citizens in the North.

These include the threat of more destructive cuts to the North's budget and to the social welfare system as well as a referendum that could remove the North from the EU with obvious negative effects for all the people of this island.

It is now clearer than ever that austerity is the price of the Union.

Sinn Féin's immediate focus is to work with others to confront these challenges.

We are seeking to develop an All-Ireland alternative to the reactionary politics that has long dominated both states.

Austerity must be actively opposed no matter if it's from a Tory Government in London or a Fine Gael/Labour Party government in Dublin.

The Marriage Equality referendum on 22nd May is another opportunity to advance the cause of equality in Ireland.

Sinn Féin has been running a strong, positive campaign for a 'Yes' vote.

Every vote will count. So, I would also appeal again for everyone to join the campaign for a Yes Vote.

Kathleen Funchion, a young mother and trade unionist, is also contesting the Carlow/Kilkenny by-election under Sinn Féin's banner of equality, social justice and Irish unity.

Kathleen is in the by-election to win and such a result would be a huge boost for the cause of a fair recovery.

Sinn Féin is seeking to build an unstoppable momentum for positive political change across this island.

I am mindful also that today, the anniversary of Connolly’s execution, is also the anniversary of the death on hunger strike of Francis Hughes in the H Blocks of Long Kesh in 1981. 

Those of us who were privileged to know Francie or who campaigned during that awful summer on behalf of the H Block prisoners and the Armagh women are very mindful of their sacrifices. 

We are also mindful that Francie, like James Connolly was about the future.  

So my friends let us continue to work to build a better future based on fairness, equality and peoples’ rights.

That will be the only fitting monument to James Connolly.

A real republic.

Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.





 
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The next battlefield

May 15, 2015, 6:09 am
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There are lots of lessons to be learned from the Westminster election by all of the parties. The party number crunchers, as well as the political pundits, a host of academics and media columnists, like oracles of old, will closely scrutinise the entrails for sight of the future.

Whose vote went up or down? What are the trends? How did this party perform against that one and against past performances? The statisticians will run it all through their computers to divine future outcomes.

The short hand is pretty straight forward. The Unionist parties agreed an electoral pact against Sinn Féin and the Alliance Party and it worked in two constituencies – East Belfast and Fermanagh South Tyrone.


Despite the Sinn Féin vote rising marginally across the north, and Michelle Gildernew’s campaign attracting the highest vote of any Sinn Féin candidate, the combined unionist vote secured the Fermanagh South Tyrone seat for the Ulster Unionist Party. In the early hours of last Friday morning when the count was declared in Omagh leisure centre Tom Elliot thanked the DUP, the UUP, UKIP, the TUV and the loyal orders for his win. That was his strength.

In the context of a split nationalist vote, courtesy of the SDLP, and with a majority of one in the 2010 election, the republican ability to hold Fermanagh South Tyrone was always going to be a challenge.

Sinn Féin locally put in a huge effort. Comrades travelled from far and near to lend their hand to the campaign. Michelle fought a diligent and disciplined campaign but on the day Sinn Féin was piped at the post.

The result is a disappointment but it is temporary. As someone who once had a similar experience I am confident that Michelle and Sinn Féin will bounce back.

One early trend evident in the results is the inexorable decline of the SDLP. The nationalist vote overall dropped slightly. This was entirely down to the SDLP. For the first time in a Westminster election its vote fell below 100,000. In 2001 the SDLP took out almost 170,000 votes. In 2005 that had declined to 125,000 and last week it stood at 99,809.

The Sinn Féin vote came in at 176,232, just over 4,000 votes up on the 2010 Westminster election. But there can be no complacency in that result for the party. No sets of elections are the same. Westminster elections are different from European elections or Assembly or local elections.

 
Prior to the election the party set itself a number of goals, including; retaining the five seats we then held; consolidating the party vote across the north; as part of a two election strategy build the party organisation in preparation for next year’s Assembly election; and take the lead in opposing the austerity policies and future plans of the government in London. We are able to tick the boxes in all but one of these.

Sinn Féin ran a positive, forward looking campaign. Our party platform was based on the progressive politics of Irish unity and equality for all citizens.


Much was made by our political opponents of abstentionism. All made exaggerated claims about what they would achieve in the Westminster Parliament. They were all to be ‘kingmakers’ but in the end they are little more than the court jesters. None of it was real. Even a cursory glance back at the role of smaller parties propping up the bigger parties in government at Westminster should have warned that all fared badly. Nothing of substance or long term was ever won. The bigger parties survived. The smaller parties were electorally punished.

Unionists should have been especially mindful of this but in their eagerness to spin relevance to the electorate they ignored their past treatment at the hands of Harold Wilson, Jim Callaghan, Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair and even David Cameron. All of these British Prime Ministers placed British self-interest and those of their own parties above the needs and interests of unionists. And time after time Unionists politicians whined about ‘betrayal’

The real politick is that substantial political change, whether in Scotland or on the island of Ireland will only occur within those places and not at Westminster.

The Liberal Democrats paid the price of keeping David Cameron in power for five years. They failed to learn the lesson of coalition politics in the south where the smaller coalition partners almost always lost votes and seats in general elections while the larger party did well.


 
The outcome of last week’s Westminster election presents enormous dangers to Ireland, north and south. During its first five years in office The Tories under Cameron largely disconnected from the peace process and the political institutions. And when they did engage it was almost entirely in a negative way creating significant difficulties for the Executive and cutting huge amounts of funding from the block grant.



As part of its election manifesto the Conservative party pledged to cut another €30 billion with €12 billion of this impacting on welfare, including child benefit. Cameron has also pledged that by 2017, he will hold a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union. The stark reality of this is could be to take the north out of the European Union.

In effect the attitude of English voters will dictate the future relationship of the north with the EU. This will affect the entire island.

So, what happens next?

When all of the parties act together it is clear that we can deliver real change.

That means that all of the parties in the Executive and Assembly need to urgently develop a common approach to address the challenges presented by the new Tory government, especially their attacks on public services and jobs.

Martin McGuinness has taken the first step. He has called on all of the Assembly parties to unite against austerity and to seek the additional powers from London to grow the economy. This will be the battlefield for the next term of British Tory rule.

Finally, a word of thanks to all of our candidates and their families, and to our party activists who worked tirelessly throughout this campaign. I would also like to thank the tens of thousands who came out to support Sinn Féin and entrust us with the mandate to oppose austerity, and build an inclusive, equal and united Ireland.

Finally - finally –there are two referendum votes in the south on May 22nd and a key by-election in Carlow Kilkenny on the same day. A general election will take place to Leinster House sometime in less than a year and possibly sooner. And in exactly one year there will be Assembly elections.

Republicans have a busy and hugely important year ahead of us.
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Tiochfaidh ár ngrá - Vótáil Tá

May 20, 2015, 4:39 am
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There are no certainties in politics or when it comes to ‘the vote.’ Constitutional decisions are not taken on the basis of opinion polls. The only poll that counts is the one in which citizens exercise their democratic mandate at the poll. Opinion polls may suggest that the marriage equality referendum will be passed on Friday but only the people have the power to make that decision.
As we saw recently in Britain opinion polls can be wrong. The British Labour Party was badly mauled, neither of the north’s unionist parties emerged as ‘kingmakers’, and the Tories were returned with a clear and workable majority. None of the polls forecast those outcomes. So, not for the first time the peoples’ wishes confounded the pollsters predictions.

If you have a vote in the two referendums in the 26 counties – on marriage equality and the lowering of the age for candidate in Presidential elections – then I am asking that you vote YES.
If you don’t have a vote but know someone who does pick up the phone, send an email, or text or direct message them. Of the two referendums the marriage equality vote has become a litmus test for the humanity and tolerance; the understanding and compassion of society in that part of the island. It has sparked one of the most important debates in recent generations. in politics or when it comes to It has now about more than the right of a man or a woman to marry someone of the same sex.

It will in a very real and fundamental way be a profound judgement on the spirt and intent of the citizens of the south of Ireland.
As an Irish republican my starting point is the Proclamation. This document, which is frequently described as the ‘mission statement’ of modern Irish republicanism, is quite definitive. It declares its resolve to ‘pursue the happiness and the prosperity of the whole nation and all its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally.’

We are those children. All of us. Without exception. We are all the children of the nation.
But the debate has gone beyond even this concept, this principal. It is about more than equality. It’s about happiness and inclusivity and acceptance. For too long our gay brothers and sisters have been forced by outdated law and prejudice to live a lie or to stay in the shadows.

Now as we have debated the issue of marriage equality the conversation has widened beyond the legal to the personal; beyond the constitutional to the human and emotional. I have listened to gay citizens talk openly and honestly and publicly about their lives and loves; their worries and hopes in a way I never have before. As a consequence this debate has taken on a new dynamic and imperative. It has become more than just a debate about marriage equality – it’s about the right of every single citizen to be comfortable and happy in their skin and for their difference to be embraced and loved.

Many of us are lucky to have found our soul mate. That very special person who shares our lives with us in good times and bad. Others are still searching. Why should the right to love be subject to chauvinism and bigotry and bad law?
Why can’t a gay person fall in love, marry, have a family, be loved, and enjoy intimacy and happiness. Is their love somehow different from the love of heterosexual couples? Are their emotions and feelings somehow different? And why can’t the love of a gay couple be recognised and valued and accepted in the same way as that of a heterosexual couple?

Marriage, if it is to mean anything, must be about love. It’s about two people committing to each other in a very special way. No one should be barred from that experience and that commitment.
All of us know citizens who are gay. They are loved members of our family; they work with us in our jobs; they are our neighbours, our friends and our comrades. They deserve the same rights and protections under the law as everyone else.

They should also have the same rights to the rituals and legal and constitutional protections of our society that provide community and family solidarity and belonging.
It’s easy to be a begrudger. To insist that only your way of thinking and of behaviour is the right way. To insist that society should stick with the rules and regulations that are part of our past. But humanity is thankfully not like that. If it was we would still be living in the stone age; or only the rich and powerful would have the vote; or women would still be chattels not citizens; and the laws which govern and shape our lives would never change and society would stagnate.

Fortunately, there are always courageous people, brave people, who will make a stand against injustice. Brave citizens will endure public humiliation, imprisonment and worse to advance fairness and equality and justice.
I have had the honour to meet many courageous people in the course of this referendum. Good people who don’t want to discriminate or hurt anyone. There is an opportunity on Friday May 22nd to help transform society in one part of this island and help reshape it across the whole island. Padraig Pearse in The Sovereign People says: “The end of freedom is human happiness”. This Friday we have a huge opportunity to make an awful lot of people happy, and wouldn’t that be a great thing to do on Friday. Caith do vóta, agus vótáil tá.

 

 
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Reaching Out

May 21, 2015, 6:03 am
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A few years ago I visited NUI Galway to address the students on the peace process. The hall was packed and for reasons I still don’t quite understand there were very few chairs put out for the hundreds of students who turned up. Most sat on the floor and the craic was great.
I was back there again on Tuesday. The heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, was in Ireland with his wife Camilla for a four day visit. At the weekend the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle met and discussed the party’s approach. On her recent visits to Ireland the British Queen Elizabeth had made clear her desire to be part of a process of reconciliation and healing. The meeting between Martin McGuinness and Queen Elizabeth in Belfast and then subsequently during a state visit by President Michael D, were widely acknowledged as historic and a boost to reconciliation efforts.
It was in this context, of peace building, that I raised the possibility of Sinn Féin leaders meeting with Charles during his visit.  I believed that such a meeting could be very helpful as we seek to heal the hurt of decades of conflict. Following several conversations it was agreed. On Tuesday morning Senator Trevor O Clochartaigh and I arrived at NUI Galway.
We were to be joined later by Martin McGuinness for a private meeting when the formal NUIG business was over. By the time Trevor and I arrived most of the guests were already assembled. They included school children from Connemara. At Trevor’s prompting they gave us a rousing rendition of Peigín Ligir Móir. I was delighted especially to meet Colm Seoighe a wonderful young guitarist and his fellow students and singers and their teachers. Colm’s guitar is autographed by Christy Moore.
‘Ride On ‘ dúirt mé leis.
In the meantime it rained. Then the sun shone warmly. Then it rained again. Luckily the meeting with Charles was indoors. We were introduced at the reception by Gearoid O Conluain on behalf of NUIG and shook hands.
I welcomed him in Irish and English. “Cead Mile Fáilte. Tá mé sasta go bhfuil tú arais agus tú ag dul go Mullach Mór”
“Welcome. It’s good that you are back and going to Mullach Mór”.
We spoke briefly before I introduced him to Trevor.

Later Trevor joined Martin and me for a private meeting with Charles. This engagement lasted about 20 minutes or so upstairs in an office. It was a cordial and relaxed discussion. Despite some of the difficult issues we each spoke of it was a positive conversation. We acknowledged that he and his family had been hurt and suffered great loss at Mullaghmore by the actions of Irish republicans. Martin and I said we were very conscious of this and of the sad loss of the Maxwell family whose son Paul was also killed.

We spoke also of the hurt inflicted on our friends and neighbours and on our own communities in Derry and Ballymurphy and Springhill by the actions of the Parachute Regiment and other British regiments. In 1971 and 1972 in Ballymurphy and Springhill sixteen local citizens, including three children, a mother of eight, two Catholic priests and ten unarmed men were killed by the Paras.

I also told him of the campaign by victims of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings to get the British Government to hand over its files about these events – believed to involve its agents - to Irish authorities.

He shared his own memories of the conflict starting in the 60s. It is obvious that he wants to play a positive role in making conflict a thing of the past. That is the Sinn Fein view also.

Thankfully the conflict is now over. Tuesday’s meeting is part of the necessary process which must now address in a more substantial way than ever before the issue of reconciliation and healing. That must mean that all victims and survivors of the conflict, who are still seeking justice and truth are given the strongest support.

Whether they were bereaved by the IRA, or by the myriad British state agencies, or through state sponsored collusion, the victims and their families and communities deserve justice. In this context it is crucial that the process of healing and of reconciliation is enhanced and strengthened.

Tuesday’s meeting in itself is a significant symbolic and practical step forward in the process of healing and reconciliation. But for substantial progress to be made the Governments and the political parties will have to build on this opportunity.
Reconciliation is an enormous challenge for all of us. It is a personal process of dialogue, engagement, and compromise. It’s about healing the past and building a new, better and fairer future based on equality.

There is now a peaceful way to end partition and the union. All who want a United Ireland have a duty to embrace this and to make friends with our neighbours.

The participation of myself and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and Seanadóir Trevor O Clochartaigh and other Sinn Féin leaders in the visit by Prince Charles is a measure of our commitment to resolving outstanding legacy issues and to be part of an inclusive healing and reconciliation process and a new political dispensation between the people of this island.

I have no doubt that some people will be upset at the Galway meeting. That is their right if they are victims or survivors. Others may be upset because of their politics or because they have a narrow view of the past and no real strategy for the future. That also is their right.
But our resolve and responsibility is to ensure that no else suffers as a result of conflict; that no other family is bereaved; that the experience of war and of loss and injury is never repeated.This means all of us working together. That requires generosity and respect from all and for all.
We are all living in a time of transition for the people of the island of Ireland and between Ireland and Britain.  I don’t have a lot in common with a member of the British royal family. But we are of the same age. We have some interests in common. These also were touched upon in our conversation. We have both been bereaved in conflict. This week’s engagements are part of the process of building relationships, breaking down barriers to understanding and creating the space – as Seamus Heaney defined it – ‘in which hope can grow.'

There are many challenges facing the political Institutions established by the Good Friday Agreement and by the popular will of the people of the island of Ireland. These challenges, which are multiple and immediate, must be overcome.

Leaders have a responsibility to lead. That is what we are trying to do. As we face into the future let all our steps be forward steps.


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