A Good Start To 2025.
On Saturday last leading trade
union activists from across the island of Ireland came together in Newry for a
packed Ireland’s Future event in the Thomas Davis Hub. It was a wet winter
morning and i was pleasantly uplifted by the turn out.
The panel included ICTU assistant
general secretary Gerry Murphy, Unison regional general secretary Patricia
McKeown, Phil Ni Sheaghdha, general secretary of the Nurses and Midwives
Organisation, Katie Morgan of FORSA, Greg Ennis of SIPTU and Gerry McCormack of
the ICTU. It was a lively and informative debate which pointed to a much better
future for workers in a united Ireland.
Ireland’s Future is for holding
the referendums by 2030 and Saturday’s public sectoral meeting is part of a
consultation for what it believes is the ‘crucial five-year period’ ahead of
us.
Niall Murphy, who is the
secretary of Ireland’s Future explained that it seeks “to continue to inform,
educate and stimulate the conversation on constitutional change in the years
preceding a referendum. The pace of change has quickened and we are firmly of a
belief that a referendum will take place around the year 2030, therefore it is
incumbent upon the political administrations in Dublin, Belfast and London to
prepare, and it is also imperative that civil society, including the trade
union movement, recognises the constitutional space we are now entering.”
This month will also see further
meetings in the USA organised by Friends of Sinn Féin modelled on the work of
the party’s Commission on the Future of Ireland. Following two very successful
events late last year in Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio two more public events
are planned before the end of this month. The first will take place in
Washington on 27 January and the second in Rockland County, New York on 30
January. North Belfast MP John Finucane will address both meetings.
In addition, the Commission also
has plans well advanced for a series of sectoral and People’s Assembly events
in Ireland in the first six months of this year.
A few weeks ago Uachtarán Shinn
Féin Mary Lou McDonald announced that Conor Murphy is one of six Sinn Féin
candidates the party is running in the elections to Seanad Éireann. Conor has
been at the forefront of republican politics for decades as a Councillor, an
MP, MLA and Minister. He is an experienced activist and a vocal and determined
united Irelander and has been a key negotiator for the party from the time of
the Good Friday Agreement. If elected Conor will use his place in the Seanad to
promote the all-Ireland economy and agenda as well as being a strong voice for
the North in that institution.
Finally, the Financial Times ran
a recent story claiming that a united Ireland could cost the South between
an initial €2.5bn to €20bn a year for two decades. The €20 billion claim first
made last summer has been firmly rejected by most economists and in response
former Executive Finance Minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir took the paper to task.
Máirtín reminded the FT that the
‘block grant’ “contains expenditure for the UK debt, UK museums, the
colonial holdover that is the Northern Ireland Office, UK defence, military
material and much more. And then of course, here in the ‘wee North’ we do pay
taxes: VAT, corporation tax, income tax, capital gains tax, duties etc. to HMG
– all of which should be netted off the block grant.
That being the case, a
transfer from Dublin of €20 billion each year for the next two decades would
make us one the wealthiest regions in these islands.
Moving the North of Ireland
from its status as a poor cousin of Great Britain to a vibrant economy, via
reunification and readmission to the EU, adds up. |No doubt there will be an
initial cost to Dublin (to whom our taxes would flow) but the benefits would be
incalculable.”
Well done Máirtín for this
nail-on-the-head rebuttal to this daft analysis.
Let the Music Keep Your Spirits High
I am not a big watcher of television. When I
have my way – which is usually when everyone else is out – the TV goes on only
when there is something I want to watch. Other times it is a constant
background noise. An intrusion. Like white noise.
Sometimes I just like the silence. Or some
good music.
Alexia and I have become friends. I like to
listen to music when I’m writing. So Radio Na Gaeltachta, Radio Fáilte, Lyric,
Radio Ulster and RTE Radio1 are my broadcasters of choice. I also have tons of
tunes on my phone. And an IPod loaded up with thousands of songs from Seamus
Drumm who has the most expansive reservoir of ceol of anyone I know. My
ambition is to listen to all Seamie’s collection before I die. Listening to
music on these various devices wraps me in a melodious comfort blanket of
uplifting sounds. Sometimes I will even join in.
If I’m not working, if I’m relaxing with a book
or chilling out then I find that playing LPs is a different listening
experience. I also have cassette tapes from long ago. And hundreds of CDs. When
I play my LPS, CDs or LPs then that is a session dedicated to the tunes I
select. It is different from music in the background while I do other things.
Playing LPS is a particular pleasure.
Selecting the album. Placing it on the turntable. Setting down the needle on
the record. The initial sizzle and scratch of needle on vinyl. And then the
glorious melodious vocals of your chosen singer or the rich instrumental
from your selected musician or musicians. Nothing beats it. Except a live
session or a concert. But that’s another story.
I started to put down a list of my favourite
performers. But I scrapped that after I got to twenty. It depends on my mood.
But one thing is for sure. A world without music or without the creative folk
who provide it is not worth contemplating. Which is why we sing even quietly to
ourselves. Or collectively at special times of mourning or celebration. And why
I listen to music so much.
My tastes are very wide ranging but I find I
usually come back to ceol I have grown up with. That includes popular as well
as folk and rock music. I am also very conscious that we Irish are blessed with
a vibrant living music tradition. There is a special connection, a comforting
acoustic from singing, playing or listening to music which is hundreds of years
old. We are very lucky.
So whatever you are doing take time to sing a
song or to listen to someone else doing so. Let good tunes take you out of
yourself. Let the music carry you away. Let it keep your spirits high.
Sanctions Must be applied
The Irish government has formally
joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel. The South African
government took its case to the ICJ in December 23. In its historic Advisory
Opinion issued last July the Court established that the occupation of Palestine
is illegal and that states are under an obligation not to engage in trade which
entrenches the occupation.
Confirmation that the Irish
government has now joined the South African case is welcome. The government
should go further and insist on a full oral hearing before the International
Court. It must also move urgently to enact the Occupied Territories Bill which
Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have frustrated for over five years. There is also a
need for sanctions to be imposed.
This becomes even more urgent in
light of last week’s report from The Lancet medical journal which believes that
the number of Palestinian dead is significantly higher than current official
estimates.
The delaying tactics of the
government parties has to end. Every effort must now be made to quickly enact
the Occupied Territories Bill and to introduce strong sanctions against
Israel. The genocide has been going on for 16 month. A ceasefire is needed now.