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Any threat to Good Friday Agreement will be opposed
Last Thursday’s visit to London for a meeting with the British Prime Minister Theresa May was my first without Martin McGuinness. I was very mindful of that as Mary Lou, RG and I boarded the Aer Lingus...
View ArticleThere can be no return to the status quo
The anti-equality approach of the DUP, supported by the British government, has seen the shutters effectively pulled down on this round of talks. This constitutes a monumental failure by Theresa May...
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GAA thriving in the USA
The Great Hunger memorial at Rockland GACRita O Hare says she doesn't understand sports. "A load of balls" says she in a dismissive tone when the subject comes up. So, she didn't really show any...
View ArticleThe challenge facing Fianna Fáil
20 years ago this month the IRA declared its second cessation. As a result of that historic initiative all-party negotiations commenced in September 1997. After eight months of difficult negotiations...
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Restoration of Institutions must be on sustainable basis
Congressman Richard Neal, Gerry Adams and Fiachra and Emmett McGuinnessFor the second time this month I am in the United States of America. And not for the first time I am writing my weekly column on...
View ArticleCollusion and the abuse of power
On Monday of this week the families and friends of Fran O’Toole, Tony Geraghty and Brian McCoy remembered their loved ones who were killed when members of the Glenanne Gang attacked the Miami Showband...
View ArticleThe View From A High Stool.
The pub was empty. Except for me and the bartender. In this particular pub the bartender was a bean an tígh. She was a wise woman. She served me my pint with a cordial, indulgent and native generosity...
View ArticleFéile an Phobail - Thirty Years a Growing
Thirty Years A GrowingI didn't get to any Féile events this year. That's a first. Truth is I was too tired. Martin's death. Two elections. Two USA trips in July. Constituency duties in the Dáil and in...
View ArticleJimmy
Once upon a time I was in prison. Truth to tell I was in prison a few times. That experience stays with you. Even now I occasionally have the sense of being a lapsed prisoner. Though not in any serious...
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Our Children's Voice
Padraig MacLochlainn; Michelle O'Neill; Gina Grant; Gerry Adams; Aisling NibbsMany, many years I heard Father Alec Reid say 'There is no blessing like the blessing of a healthy child'. When I first...
View ArticleSinn Féin is committed to restoring the institutions
In the cut and thrust of negotiations there is always the risk that someone will say something that makes the process of achieving agreement more difficult. Sometimes they do that deliberately....
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The Dreaded SSSS
Last Friday I arrived in New York for an overnight visit. I was there to speak at the Irish Echo’s Labor (it’s the US spelling) Awards. On Saturday I met up with my good friend Bill Flynn for lunch....
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What next for the Middle East?
24 years ago this month, on September 13th 1993, the Oslo Accord was signed on the lawn of the White House in the presence of Yasser Arafat for the PLO, Yitzhak Rabin for Israel and US President Bill...
View ArticleThe Battle of Ideas
The battle of ideasThirty years ago last Saturday in an interview in Woman's Own, the late British Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher spelt out her own narrow view of society and the role of...
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Votarem – We will vote
Today Thursday, October 5th, is the anniversary of the RUC attack on a Civil Rights March at Duke Street in Derry in 1968. The image of RUC officers batoning peaceful protestors, and of one senior...
View ArticleThe Hills
In my years as a political activist I have had the unique opportunity to travel to many far flung places around the world.I once flew in a tiny plane up the coast of Maine in the USA with its hundreds...
View ArticleSerpents Tales of Forked Tongued Politics
What have the DUP, the Fianna Fáil leadership and the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) got in common? At the start of this year the DUP described Sinn Féin, and those who vote for our party, as...
View ArticleThe connection between climate change and conflict
Our ability as human beings to dramatically and adversely impact on our environment, and consequently on the lives of millions of people, has grown enormously in recent decades. This is usually...
View ArticleUnity in our Time
I went to my first Sinn Féin Ard Fheis about fifty years ago. I say about fifty years ago because I don’t recall if it was in 1967 or 1968 and I haven’t the time to check out the dates. Suffice to say...
View ArticleIt’s all about equality
This blog was due to be posted at the weekend but because of the Ard Fheis it was held back until today. My next blog in two days will deal with my decision, which I announced at the Ard Fheis, to...
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