Gerry Adams's Blog, page 13

Macalla na mBán: A quarter of a century of the GFA:

 

Rita O'Hare

Macalla na mBán. 

This week’s column is dedicated to women. It includes a guest piece by Bairbre de Brún, former MLA and Minister.

Wednesday was International Women’s Day. It is a day set aside to celebrate the advances of women and their contribution to society and to draw attention to the inequalities and injustices still experienced by them. In the last week three woman friends of mine died.

They were Rita O Hare, Bridie Crowe and Marie McBride. I extend my sympathy and solidarity to their clans.

Rita is well known as a republican activist here and in North America. For many years she was one of our leaders. For most of her adult life she was a republican activist. Her story is a remarkable account of courage and tenacity and guts. As an IRA volunteer she confronted the British Army. She was grievously shot, imprisoned in Armagh Prison, got bail, went on the run, was imprisoned in the South and beat extradition. She was a campaigning journalist, editor of An Phoblacht, part of our national leadership, a core member of our negotiating team and for over two decades the Sinn Féin representative in the USA and Canada.

In that time she built up very effective personal and diplomatic relationship with Presidents, Congress members, Senators, their staffers, and Irish America. 

Bride Crowe

Like Rita, Bridie Crowe is an old comrade although I have not seen her for some time. She lived in the Whiterock and she and her husband Alex were part of the great popular uprising of the late 1960s. Bridie was a volunteer with Cumann na mBan. She was kind, down to earth, generous and funny. She was one of those indomitable working class women who faced down the British Army when they came with their tanks and guns into West Belfast.

Bridie reared a young family and spent years and years visiting Alex in Long Kesh. She and Colette and Anne Marie and Dorothy Maguire and wee Maureen and Anne Maguire were great friends along with the other risen women from that era.

Marie McBride

Marie McBride is a younger woman from a different generation. From Springhill.  The youngest of Paddy and Ann McBride’s daughters and the mother of two young children Elise and Cullan. A teacher and an avid reader of books. A young woman who was yet to realise her full potential. Rita and Bridie were both mothers and grandmothers.  They lived long full lives. Marie’s life was tragically cut short.

Rita and Bridie have long understood the connection between Irish freedom and equality and women’s rights. They knew there can be no real freedom without women’s freedom. Bairbre knows that also. So did Marie.

We buried Bridie on Monday. On Tuesday it was Rita’s turn. We buried Marie on Wednesday- International Women’s Day.

 

Macalla na mBan

Streachailt na mbBan

Caoineadh na mBan

Fulaingt na mBan

Neart na mBan

Foighne na mBan

Fearg na mBan

Dóchas na mBan

Ceol na mBan

Croí na mBan

Craic na mBan

Gáire na mBan

Cairdeas na mBan

Áthas na mBan

Grá na mBan

Todhchaí na mBan

Saoirse na mBan

 

A quarter of a century of the GFA

The Good Friday Agreement will be 25 years old next month. It is probably the most important political agreement of our time in Ireland. It is also an agreement that was overwhelmingly endorsed in referendum North and South by the people of Ireland.

Since then it has witnessed many ups and downs, including at this time when the institutions are not in place due to the intransigence of the DUP and the machinations of successive Tory governments. However, despite these difficulties the Agreement has succeeded in bringing about significant political and economic change not least in the almost complete absence of conflict. It is also seen as an example of hope by many people internationally who are looking for ways in which to resolve other deep rooted conflicts.

The Good Friday Agreement isn’t a perfect agreement. It was after all a compromise between conflicting political positions after decades of violence and generations of division. It is also a fact that crucial elements of the Agreement have still not been implemented by the British and Irish governments, including a Bill of Rights for the North; the Civic Forum; and a Charter of Rights for the island of Ireland.

Over the next few weeks as the debate around the anniversary of the Agreement increases I thought I would provide an opportunity for some of my comrades, who were part of our team which negotiated the Agreement, to reflect on their memories of that time.

I begin this week with Bairbre de Brún: 

“The late 1990s included moments of great hope and pride.  It also included real lows such as hearing about the Omagh bomb and the tragic loss of life that day.  There is always the danger that naming one event can appear to diminish others, but that was not the case.   We were always aware throughout that period of the real suffering people were going through and the determination to lead everyone to a better place. 

I went from being a local activist and Ard Chomhairle member who travelled abroad to promote the peace process, to being a teacher in an Irish medium school who took a year out to join Martin McGuinness on the Business Committee of the negotiations, to joining Martin in the Executive that was set up after the Good Friday Agreement as the first Sinn Féin Ministers in the North and, in my case, one of the first ever female Ministers from any local party.   I still pinch myself when I think of sharing these experiences with Martin, Gerry, and other giants of that period of history. 

We went to South Africa and met with Nelson Mandela, as ANC members shared their experiences of negotiations with us, and here at home we saw local democracy in action as community halls were packed with community activists pushing to include their needs and their demands on the negotiations agenda, and women marched to secure women’s place in what came out of the negotiations.

When the talks began, Sinn Fein was excluded.   There were a lot of protests as people were angry they were being denied a voice at the table because their representatives were not at the table. Talking to someone from the ANC,  I remarked about ’when Sinn Fein gets into the negotiations’.   He laughed.   ‘You are already in the negotiations’, he said.  ‘Make no mistake about that.  You may not be formally at the table right now, but you are very much part of the negotiations.

People opened their homes to us so that we could discuss negotiating strategy with some measure of privacy.   We had a broad negotiations team that carried out the painstaking work of preparing and refining papers and positions for our main negotiators on the range of issues that eventually became the Good Friday Agreement.  I have fond and proud memories of meeting and working with those in our communities who had expertise on that range of issues to tease out with them the possibilities and limitations of what we could hope to achieve.

Our negotiating position on the constitutional issue was a United Ireland.  If we’d had more political strength at that time, we’d have got what we sought immediately.   Had we had less political strength we wouldn’t have got the peaceful way forward which we did achieve.  

An MLA told me recently that he grew up visiting the prisons and could never have imagined that that would ever change, yet suddenly it did.  That gives him, and us hope that barriers that may seem overwhelming can be temporary and can be overcome.  We should never lose sight of what is possible.”

 

Celebrating with Alex and Fra: Prison Book Ban lifted: Brendan Behan

 

Janette, Fra, Mary Lou, Alex and Liz

Celebrating with Alex and Fra

Republicans don’t say thank you often enough to each other. Fra McCann and Alex Maskey are 50 year activists. That is they have both been involved in the struggle for over 50 years. The two of them stepped down from the Assembly two years ago. Fra was replaced by Aisling Reilly and Alex by Danny Baker. Alex still remains the Ceann Comhairle – Speaker of the Assembly – until such times as the DUP agree to elect a new Speaker.

Last Friday evening several hundred family, friends and comrades of both men came together to celebrate their lives of activism. They were also interviewed by Joe Austin about their experience of community activism, struggle, imprisonment and elected politics. 

There was a big team of McCann’s and Maskey’s – siblings, wives, children and grandchildren - in the hall to hear Jeanette McCann and Liz Maskey  equally honoured for putting up with their husbands.

I fondly remembered Fra’s mother and father Ruby and Patsy and his brother Paul and all the McCann’s ; and Alex’s parents Alec and Theresa and all the Maskey’s. 

Fra and Alex’s roles are rooted in this family context and in the communal and generational context of our struggle. Their parents and grandparents suffered under the weight of partition, under unionist rule and British rule and the poverty and discrimination inflicted upon the working class communities that most of us come from. 

No doubt their parents and grandparents resented the way they were treated. No doubt they railed against this or protested at different times against the status quo. But such protestations failed to bring about any real change. 

Alex and Fra grew up in the 60s. That was a time when change was in the air. The civil rights campaign was on the march. The Unionist regime and its allies were attacking it. Then came the Battle of the Bogside and the eviction of families in North Belfast and the widespread pogroms of August 69. 

Being interview by Joe Austin

Instinctively Fra and Alex and Liz - Janette was too young - resisted oppression. They were part of a community uprising which opposed the aggression of the RUC, the B Specials, the unionist murder gangs and the British Army. Belfast republicans and others wrapped their arms around those in need; those arrested; tortured; beaten; burned out of their homes; forced to flee as refugees.

A new empowered community made a stand. Many moved from passive acquiescence to active resistance.Fra and Alex chose to be activists. 

For our two comrades and their families the struggle has brought difficult choices, years of imprisonment, heartbreak, danger and threats, the deaths of close friends and more than one close shave with death for each of them. It has also brought a determination, a resolve, to make things better for those who come after them.

In 1969 and into the early 70s they were on the barricades. Juvenile rebels with a cause. Fifty years later they are still rebels - a little geriatric now but rebels nonetheless and still positive through all the twists and turns of struggle and life. 

Alex and Liz – an activist in her own right, and the first woman to be interned – faced many challenges inside and outside of the prisons. Their friend Alan Lundy was killed in their living room. On another occasion Alex was gravely wounded and quietly, courageously carries those scars today.

Fra too has endured much. On the run. Beatings. Internment. Desi Macken dressed in a cowboy suit and telling tall tales about him. Digging tunnels in Long Kesh and crawling through the muck and the water. His friend and comrade Hugh Coney shot dead lying beside him. His brother killed. Later Fra became a blanketman in the notorious H Blocks of Long Kesh. 

During the hunger strike campaigns Alex and Fra played exemplary roles, travelling, organising, planning, and winning support for the Blanket men and the Armagh women. The hunger strikes were a watershed moment in modern Irish history but especially for the republican struggle.

Jim Gibney, Alex, Mise agus Fra

In the 1980s we developed new strategies and new tactics. And Fra and Alex were at the heart of this.

Their generation’s gift to today’s generation of activists is a mechanism to achieve Irish Unity. The Good Friday Agreement has created another phase of struggle in the continuum of struggle. Alex and Fra, and many more helped to bring this about.

Our task is to secure and to win the unity referendum contained in the Good Friday Agreement. Of course, it won’t be easy. Struggle rarely is. But never forget what we were told over the decades by the great and the good. They told us time and again that many of the changes demanded by us would be impossible. 

But look back over the fifty years of Fra and Alex’s activism and count all the impossible achievements of that time. Think of the many times we were told we would fail. 

So republicans can face the future with confidence –  not least because of the activism of patriots like Fra and Alex.

They epitomise the spirit that Bobby Sands wrote of in the last entry of his prison diary:

“If they aren’t able to destroy the desire for freedom, they won’t break you. They won’t break me because the desire for freedom, and the freedom of the Irish people, is in my heart. The day will dawn when all the people of Ireland will have the desire for freedom to show. It is then we’ll see the rising of the moon.”

Thank you Bobby. Thank you Fra. Go raibh maith agat Alex. Thank you also Liz and Janette. 

 

Prison Book Ban lifted

Last week I wrote a piece about books and the prison system here. That literary ramble through our penal institutions was triggered by news that some books by republicans are banned from the prisons here. Pat Sheehan MLA, a former prisoner and hungerstriker, wrote to the prison authorities.

He said: “Twenty-five years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement I find it incomprehensible that republican literature should still be censored in this way. I thought those days were long behind us.

The Irish republican analysis of our history is as valid as any other, and attempts to censor that analysis only serve to indulge the view that the prison service is politically partisan.” 

In response Pat was told that an independent book review panel at Prison Service Headquarters was established some time ago ‘to ensure a decision to deny access to any publication by a prisoner could be independently reviewed.  This allows a prisoner to appeal a decision and to request a review, and that has happened on a small number of occasions’.

This included ‘No Greater Love.’ That book was reviewed by the Panel and the original decision to deny access was overturned.

The Joe Cahill book is also to be reviewed and Pat has been advised that the review panel will ‘consider the current guidance on books to take into account such issues as historical context of the publication’ . This column will update you on the outcome of this undertaking. Joe Cahill would be pleased. 

Brendan Behan

Last week, 9 February, marked the centenary of the birth of Brendan Behan. Behan was a hugely influential writer whose books were rooted in his working class experience and republicanism. His parents, Stephen Behan and Kathleen Kearney, were republicans. His mother’s brother - Peadar Ó Cearnaigh – was a veteran of the 1916 Rising and wrote The Soldier’s Song (Amhrán na bhFiann).

At the age of eight Brendan joined the Fianna. Later he joined the IRA. In December 1939 he was dispatched to Liverpool to identify possible targets for the then bombing campaign. In his eagerness he brought with him explosives he had personally prepared. He was arrested. Because he was aged 16 Behan was sentenced to three years in a juvenile centre. Almost 20 years later that story was told in Borstal Boy. The book was banned in the South.

After returning to Ireland he was imprisoned again between 1942-46. My Uncle Dominic was in Mountjoy with him. He told me Behan’s cell was filled with scraps of paper covered in Brendan’s writings. He was a fine poet, particularly in Irish.  He also was a chronic alcoholic, at times witty and entertaining, at other times aggressive and quarrelsome. By the time he died in March 1964 aged 41 he was widely recognised as one of the best Irish writers to have emerged in the 20th century. He was given a republican guard of honour at his funeral. I am a big fan of his writing and would recommend any of his books but Borstal Boy is especially worth a read.

 

 

Moore Street Belongs to the People: Prison Books

 

Moore St belongs to the people

The importance of the Moore Street 1916 Battlefield site was best summed up by Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D Higgins who said: “This area belongs to no one individual, group or party. It belongs to the people”.

If you want to protect this hugely important part of our revolutionary history with its many exceptional links to the dramatic events in Dublin at Easter 1916 then support the Urgent Public Meeting being held by the Moore Street Preservation Trust in Liberty Hall, Dublin on the 23 February. Belfast film maker Seán Murray will produce a short documentary with Oscar nominated actor Stephen Rea to be launched in the Urgent Public Meeting.

The London based developer Hammerson, whose proposals would destroy much of the terrace and the significant laneways around it, and the government which supports it, believe Moore Street and its environs exist to be exploited and developed in the interests of profit. The Hammerson plans, if they go ahead, would dramatically alter the streetscape as it was in 1916, demolish much of the area, including historic and significant buildings, and overshadow the terrace 10-25 Moore Street – the last meeting place of the 1916 leaders and GPO garrison - with high rise buildings.

Three months ago Dublin City Councillors voted unanimously to add six key buildings on Moore Street, associated with 1916 to the Record of Protected Structures. According to a report prepared for the Council some of the buildings contained ‘creep holes’ that were made during the evacuation from the GPO by the fleeing Volunteers to allow ease of movement between the buildings on the terrace.

The developer, Hammerson and Associates, claimed that it would be ‘inappropriate and unlawful’ for the Council to take this decision. Dublin City Councillors rejected the Hammerson assertion saying that the Council was not prevented from adding a building to the protected structures list while planning applications are pending. The Council said that there was “long-standing and historic interest in considering the protection of 1916 buildings located on Henry Place and Moore Street.” The Council voted to give full protection to Numbers 10 and 20/21 Moore Street and partial protection to other important buildings.

Dublin Central GP Ltd (DCGP), a subsidiary of Hammerson, has lodged judicial review proceedings in the High Court against the Council. As well as accusing Dublin City Council of “inappropriate and unlawful actions “ it claimed that its objective was to “sensitively rejuvenate this historic part of the city, while ensuring its long standing traditions and important heritage can be retained and celebrated.”

This claim was dismissed by James Connolly Heron, a great grandson of 1916 leader James Connolly, and a representative of the Moore Street Preservation Trust. He described the Hammerson decision to seek a judicial review as “a breathtaking disregard for the historic importance of the last extant 1916 battleground in the city.”

The Moore Street Preservation Trust along with the Relatives of the Signatories and other groups and individuals has been campaigning to protect what the National Museum of Ireland has described as the “most important historic site in modern Irish history.”

Its importance was underlined by the High Court in 2016 which described Moore Street as unique. The Court described Moore Street as “the place to which the men and women of the GPO fled, where battle was done and surrender was negotiated, and a site where workers, civilian and combatant, lived and died in what was, to a large extent, a workers’ rising.”

From Tom Clarke’s shop on Parnell Street; to the GPO; to Henry Street where the Proclamation was signed; to Moore Lane and Moore Street where the GPO Garrison retreated; to the spot where ‘The O'Rahilly’ died; to the Rotunda where the garrison was held by the British; and where the volunteers were founded three years earlier; these are all places intimately connected to the Rising and to the men and women who participated in it.

The Moore Street Preservation Trust plan to develop The 1916- Moore Street Quarter will be presented by Seán Antóin Ó Muiri at the Liberty Hall meeting. 

Moore Street and its environs are the heart and soul of the 1916 Rising. These buildings and back lanes provide a tangible link with 1916, to the courage of those who participated in it and the vision of the leaders who produced the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. But if consumerism and the rush to profit have their way the buildings and lanes around Moore Street will be obliterated.

There are no circumstances, no situation, no justification, for allowing the demolition of any part of this historic quarter. So, on 23 February if you can, get to Liberty Hall for the next stage in the campaign to develop a 1916-Moore Street Quarter.  Or log on to https://www.facebook.com/MooreStreetTrust/

Award-winning filmmaker, Seán Murray, will premiere a new short-film about Moore Street at our Public Meeting! Featuring renowned actor, Stephen Rea, the film delves into the campaign to save the historic site

Prison Books

News that some books have been banned by the Prison Service in the North comes as no surprise. The books are Joe Cahill A life in the IRA. Joe would be amused. Dessie; The life and Legacy of Volunteer Dessie Grew, and No Greater Love. The Memoirs of Seamus Kearney.

The banning of these books is stupid. No accident that they are written by or about republicans. Former prisoner and hungerstriker Pat Sheehan MLA has written to the prison authorities seeking the unbanning of these titles. Good man Pat. 

I love books. Ever since my Granny took me to the Falls Library when I was a wee lad I have loved books. She used to go to the library most weeks to exchange her reading material and I would potter along with her. I recall being amazed at the serried rows of shelved tomes and the quiet hush in the reading room. I quickly graduated to reading books myself.  By the time I was ten I was a book worm.

That’s why I wear glasses. The first and only youngster of our clann to do so. Though all my siblings wear them these days. 

A decade or so later I ended up on The Maidstone Prison Ship in Belfast Lough.  I don’t recall reading any books there. We were below decks and the lighting was poor and we were on protest most of the time. We succeeded in getting the Maidstone closed down. 

Later in Long Kesh the censors restricted the books permitted in to the cages. But most cages had a steady flow of reading material doing the rounds. We were internees so the rules were slightly different to the regime for remand or sentenced prisoners.

A few years later I was in Belfast Prison. It was a mad house at that time. Overcrowded, dangerous, brutal and oppressive. But it had a ‘library’. Well it had a store room containing books left by prisoners over the years. Mostly paperbacks. Thrillers and crime or cowboy novels. I read one or two books a day. There was nothing else to do. We were locked up most days. Three in a cell. My two cellmates were younger than me and they were addicted to DownTown Radio played loudly. So the daily dose of books helped me retain my sanity. 

In Cage Eleven we had our own reading circle. We cancelled our food parcels for a few weeks and our ever supportive families sent us in a few quid instead. We then ordered political books from The Connolly Association in London and from old Joe Clarke in Dublin. The censor banned some books but we found ways to smuggle them in and they were devoured and analysed by a cohort of comrades including mé féin,  Bobby Sands, Cleaky, Danny Lennon, Brendan Hughes, Hugh Feeney, Floorboards and other prisoners.

Later again I ended up in the H Blocks for a wee while. No books there except ‘The Bible’. As well as being well read by some, its thin pages were also utilised for rolling tobacco if  cigarette papers were in short supply. We also had miniatures of republican papers smuggled in to keep us up to-date with developments outside. 

Incidentally, I wrote a book while in Cage Eleven. Danny Devenny did illustrations and graphics. We smuggled it out to Tom Hartley. It was never published. But that’s another story. 

 

The Duke of York: Bloody Sunday: Establish a Citizens’ Assembly on Irish Unity

 

Image of Commercial Court given to Gerry by Fr. Des Wilson

The Duke of York 

The  recent cold snap and the sniffles of many of my associates reminded me of when I was a young curate in The Duke of York pub in Commercial Court in Belfast in the mid 1960s. In those days a hot whiskey was the cure for colds of all kinds. In the Dukes a ‘Hot Coleraine’ was the much prized preference of hot whiskey drinkers whether they had a cold or not. But in the winter it was regularly utilised to see off the ravages of Belfast chills for all and sundry.

The Coleraine Distillery was located in the town of Coleraine. Distilling had been going on in Ireland since the seventeenth century. The distillery was converted from an old mill in 1820. In 1845 it was the whiskey of choice of the London House of Commons, so “HC” was put on the labels of its bottles. Coleraine was reputed  to be one of the most meticulous distilleries ever. No whiskey was bottled under 10 years old.

The distillery was eventually bought out by Bushmills and production continued until 1978. Coleraine Whiskey is still available today courtesy of Irish Distilleries. 

Coleraine was not the only commodity sold by us in the Dukes’ for the pleasure of those  who were fond of a wee drink. And this column is not an encouragement to drink. It can be a curse if not contained. Moderation is the watchword. The Duke of York prided itself on the moderation of its customers and its stock of fine liquor. This included liqueurs  with fine  flavours, from coffee to almond to lemon, orange or mint. Some were used for medicinal purposes or as ‘a hair of the dog’. That’s a very important  medicine . It saved many lives.  Otherwise these potions were part of  little concoctions constructed  purely to tickle taste buds and liberate the imagination. Alongside fine brandies and rums,there was tequila and other rarer alcohol. From real Russian vodka imported from the USSR by our intrepid boss wee Jimmy Keaveney, to draught Barley Wine. Barley Wine is actually a beer. Draught Barley Wine is so strong customers were limited to carefully rationed servings. 

The Dukes was a great place to work in. Its clientele included many journalists from The Newsletter, including Ralph ‘Bud’ Bossence, Kay and Jimmy Kennedy, Mervyn Pauley, Jack Midgley and Hammie Hamilton.  Trade Union officials, Labour Party  and Communist Party stalwarts like Betty Sinclair, Jimmy Stewart and Edwina Stewart, Derek Peters who later helped found NICRA were regulars. Liam McMillian, Proinsias Mc Airt, Jim Hargey - republican activists - were less regular visitors and also founders of  NICRA. They rubbed shoulders with writers and broadcasters like Sam Hanna Bell, John Morrow and Davy Hammond. Other singers like Jackie Fallis, Dave Scott, Terry Brown, and musicans included Leslie Bingham and Brian Lavery. Ted Furey played for us one time.

Mrs Keaveny ruled the roost with her daughter from their rooms above the Dukes. Their son and brother wee Jimmy Keaveney was the boss downstairs. The Dukes, unusually in those days, served food during the day. Mostly soup and sandwiches. But great soup and super sandwiches.

We also served coffee. My first taste of real coffee – with freshly ground beans was in the Dukes.   Jimmy Keaveny taught me how to make Irish Coffees. We also bottled our own Guinness. Many pubs did that. Draught Guinness was porter slowly drawn from firkins.

Which brings me back to Hot Coleraines. Jimmy Keaveney used sugar. I use honey.  Here is  my receipe. Put a tea spoon in a suitable glass. Heat the  glass  with boiling water.  Discard this water  but keep the teaspoon in the glass. Then add a good go of Coleraine whiskey and top it up with more boiling water. Ditto with the cloves,  lemon and honey. But do not stir. Leave that pleasure to the drinker as s/he savours the healing vapours of this elixir. Sip. Enjoy. 
Sláinte 

 

Bloody Sunday

Last Monday – 30 January - was the anniversary 51 years ago of the deliberate murder of 14 Derry civil rights marchers by the British Parachute Regiment in Derry.

Following Bloody Sunday the British Widgery Inquiry blamed the organizers of the march, the victims and the IRA. Widgery accused the dead of being ‘gunmen and bombers’. According to the British the actions of the Paras actions were legal.

Martin McGuinness and I were in Guildhall Square in Derry when the Saville report was finally published in June 2010. It established that the victims were all innocent and was a vindication for the families who had campaigned for so long. It also concluded that the organizers of the march were not to blame for what happened. Saville acknowledged that British soldiers fired the first shot and continued firing without any provocation. He dismissed any suggestion that soldiers acted out of panic or fear or confusion. Their actions were “unjustified and unjustifiable”.

But Saville’s conclusions are not the end of the matter. It is clear that the report tries very hard to limit blame for what happened to the soldiers on the ground who carried out the killings. That is a fault. So too is the effort of the British government to deny families access to justice.

 51 years later and the Bloody Sunday families are still campaigning. I want to commend their courage and resilience. I support the proposal from Colm Eastwood for them to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Cllr JJ Magee with new Citizens' Assembly billboard

Establish a Citizens’ Assembly on Irish Unity

In recent weeks some readers will have seen billboards calling on the Irish government to establish a Citizen’s Assembly on Irish Unity. Thousands of leaflets have also been produced.

This campaign is a natural consequence of the Good Friday Agreement which is 25 years old this year. The Agreement affords the people of the island of Ireland the democratic opportunity to decide through referendums North and South if they wish to end the union with Britain or establish a united Ireland. For the first time since partition there us a peaceful and democratic route to ending the union with Britain.

Four decades ago when republicans set our sights on a peace process there were those who said it was impossible. But it happened. There were those said that an agreement was impossible. They were wrong. There are those today who say that unity is impossible. They also are wrong. Unity will happen by united Irelanders staying united, cohesive, strategic and active. By us reaching out to others. By those who want unity working intelligently and winning people, including northern Protestants and others, over to the potential of Irish unity.

The Citizens’ Assembly is a key step in this process of persuasion. It is an important mechanism for democratising the debate on the future. In the last decade Irish governments have held several successful Citizens’ Assemblies. These helped deliver marriage equality and the repeal of the 8th amendment. The reality is that the Irish government is against the unity referendums and consequently has rejected the Citizen’s Assembly proposal at this time.

The establishment of a Citizens’ Assembly is of crucial importance in preparing the way for the unity referendums. It will deliberate on the integration of public services; the all-island economy; culture, rights and identity, and the shape and form of new democratic institutions.

West Tyrone MP Órfhliath Begley

The public debate around ending partition and achieving Irish unity is now mainstream and one of the most important discussions in our society at this time. A Citizens’ Assembly is the democratic exercise of the right of citizens to have their say on their future. Professor Brendon O’Leary, in his recent book ‘Making Sense of a United Ireland’ writes; “The need to prepare for the possibility of reunification affects all on this island and it affects our diasporas. This book is a call for effective preparation, accurate information and informed judgements. How will reunification happen – if it does? And how should it happen, so it can happen as well as possible.” Professor O’Leary is right. The Irish government needs to plan for the future not ignore it.

TREES: ‘THERE IS NOTHING GREATER THAN FREEDOM': THE DEMOCRATIC PROGRAMME OF THE FIRST DÁIL

 TREES. 

I want to recommend that you make friends with a tree. Any tree. Pick one in your local park or glen or up on a mountain. Get up close and friendly with it. Or admire the very welcome trees now being planted along our urban roads and streets. Make friends with one of them. And you don’t have to be monogamous. You can love lots of trees. In lots of places.They come in all shapes and sizes. All produce seeds. Some have berries, bright and attractive.  Most of them are older than us. In the Irish tradition some trees are sacred. They ward of evil spirits. Or bring good luck. They provide shelter. Some are ancient. They have wisdom. They are holy.

Of course it’s better if you have a garden or a bit of ground to plant your own tree. It’s even better if you grow it from seed. Seeds are there for the picking up anywhere trees are growing. Just plant them. And if you are landless put them in pots. It’s nice to see them taking root and producing little shoots. Some will be happy for years in a pot as long as you keep upsizing the pot in keeping with the size of your tree. But I appreciate that not all of us can have our own tree on our own patch of earth.  So it’s good if you can but not the end of your relationship with trees if you can’t. 

The main thing is to be aware of them. Even on its own a tree can make the landscape. At this time of the year many decidious trees are bare. No leaves. Except for the mighty Beech.  But there is a beauty in these skeletal growing things standing proud against the skyline and stretching their limbs heavenwards, secure in the knowledge that soon they will be clothed in green leaves. 

I love the expectancy and promise of Irish winters. Yes it can be dark and downcast and  dismal outdoors but it won’t last long. Be sure of that. There is already a grand stretch in the evenings. And it’s still January.  Look at our hedges or the tree lined motorways. Now they are stark and naked. But in a month or so they will start to change. Wee buds will emerge. Then before we know it boughs will be in full leaf.  Trees are home to our squirrels and other little animals. Soon they will emerge from hibernation. 

Trees are home also for our birds. Our landscapes will once again be green and alive with lush emerald colours and alive with the chitter and chatter and music of birds. 

Enjoy the Winter. It too will pass. Soon it will be Spring. 

I am minded of the optimistic  words of Ho Chi Minh.

‘Without the cold 

And desolation of Winter.

There could not be the warmth 

And splendour of Spring. ’

This is the season for planting trees. Any month with an ‘r’ for bare rooted saplings. Or any month for pot grown yokes. Wee whips won’t need stakes. Bigger ones will. Avoid the frost of course. And plant native trees. They will encourage native insects,bugs and other creepy crawlies and these will sustain native birds. And other animals. As well as playing constructive roles in the natural world.

I prefer decidious trees to conifers. We have too many conifers. Dark, light blocking,unchanging blanket plantations. Decidious are more interesting. Native species are essential for our natural world. We need more of them. Everywhere. 

Trees will provide homes and food for bees and butterflies or flutterbys as I and the little people in my life call them. Trees clean the air. A walk among trees is good for us. A solitary tree is a thing of beauty. Be friends with it.  A hug is very therapeutic. G’wan hug a tree. Nobody is looking. The tree won’t tell on you. And you will feel better.

 

‘THERE IS NOTHING GREATER THAN FREEDOM'

Martin Luther King’s birthday is on 15 January. Each year since 1986 the USA has celebrated the life and legacy of King with a national public holiday.

In 2001 I had the good fortune to visit Atlanta in Georgia where Martin Luther King was born and where he spent much of his life preaching. Atlanta was at the heart of the Civil Rights struggle and I had the opportunity to sit quietly in Ebenezer Baptist Church where he preached his first sermon at the age of 17.

A short distance away is the King Centre with its impressive Visitors Centre and Dr King’s tomb. He was shot and killed in April 1968. Coretta King is buried next to her husband. Like him she was a dedicated champion of civil rights for over 40 years and after her husband’s death Coretta carried on the campaign for equality and justice right up until her death.

 I took the time with Larry Downes, who was then President of Friends of Sinn Féin, and Ted Sullivan from Atlanta to pay our respects and lay a wreath. 

Dr King was a visionary leader but he wasn’t naïve. In August 1967, just seven months before his murder, King said: “I must confess, my friends that the road ahead will not always be smooth. There will still be rocky places of frustration and meandering points of bewilderment. But difficult and painful as it is we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future.”

60 years later his efforts and those of millions of others have brought about enormous change in American society but intolerance, racism and inequality still exist. The work is not finished.

Similarly, in the 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement there have been many positive and fundamental changes in the North. Ireland today is in a process of transition. A lot of the old conservative influences have been weakened and progress has been made. But it is equally clear that there is still huge resistance to change. So, our task is to get the job done. To finish the journey. To have faith in the future and in our ability to build a new, shared Ireland.

As Martin Luther King said in 1956: “There is nothing in all of the world greater than freedom.” He was right.

 

THE DEMOCRATIC PROGRAMME OF THE FIRST DÁIL

21 January 1919 was a day of firsts. It was the day the first shots were fired in the Tan War at Soloheadbeg. It was the first day those TDs elected in the December 1918 election met in the Mansion House as the first Dáil Éireann. And it was also the first ever democratically elected Parliament in Ireland. Lá stairiúil a bhí ann.

The First Dáil was the moment the Irish people democratically asserted our desire for sovereignty from the British Empire. Just over a century later of the three texts presented to the Dáil that day the Democratic Programme is as relevant today as it was then.

Reflecting the language of the Proclamation of 1916 the Democratic Programme declared “the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland” and called on the Government of the Republic “to make provision for the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of the children, to secure that no child shall suffer hunger or cold from lack of food, clothing, or shelter, but that all shall be provided with the means and facilities requisite for their proper education and training as Citizens …” And to “safeguard the health of the people.”

100 years later and none of this has been achieved. In the South over 3,000 children are homeless. There is a health crisis clearly evident in the appalling scenes in hospital emergency departments and a housing crisis that the FFFGers refuse to tackle.

It’s time to deliver the promise of the Democratic Programme. That means ending partition and building the new Ireland. 

 

BE PREPARED FOR MORE STUPIDITIES: THE MOST HOSPITABLE HOUSE IN IRELAND

 BE PREPARED FOR MORE STUPIDITIES

I considered ignoring the British Government’s exclusion of the Sinn Féin President from the recent talks. Then I thought why should I?  Stupidity like this needs highlighted. For me it is proof, once again, of what democrats here are up against. 

This column could analyse the statements from the current British Secretary of State and the Foreign Minister - With – The – Wonderfully – Inaccurate - Surname. But I will let you do that yourselves if that is your want. Suffice to say that every statement was even stupider than the one which preceded it. 

So, I don’t intend to take us through all the he said, she said bits of this most recent debacle except to say that Mary Lou has spelt out the democratic position in her usual articulate way and Leo Varadkar sounded as weak as water with his; ‘I hope this is a one-off and that it doesn’t represent a change of policy’.

Ach Taoiseach. Surely you can do better than that!

This is exactly what you should not be saying.  Hope shouldn’t come into it. The fact is the British Government dictating who should represent a political party - any political party - means there is no hope of inclusive talks. The Taoiseach needs to make that clear to the British PM. 

So what does this recent stupidity mean? It means that this is the mindset of this British Government. It decided who could attend talks. Because it thinks it can.  Proof again that it is against the Good Friday Agreement. That it has no real investment in it. And it is evidence that the Tories have no notion of delivering on their obligations under the Agreement in a positive and good faith manner. That is the reality which all democrats have to face up to.

That means An Taoiseach and Tánaiste, our friends in the USA and the wider international community. And the EU. 

Of course, this British Government can and will be moved to honour its obligations. That is the real politick.  But as we have just seen it will do this awkwardly and in a minimalist way.

I am rarely really surprised by British stupidity towards Ireland.  Even a benign British Government has its lapses. The English establishment doesn’t understand Ireland. How could it? I don’t understand all the sensitivities of the English condition. But then I’m not trying to rule the English. They quite rightly do that themselves. Unfortunately they also think they should govern us. They have no mandate for this. But because they believe they are superior they don’t have any incentive not to be stupid. They don't need to take us or our democratic rights into account. That's the stupidity of their position and the reason for the exclusion of Mary Lou. 

But we can end British stupidity by replacing it with self rule by the people who live here.  That is our right. At the core of the British current machinations and Unionist contradictions is their refusal to give us that right. 

They have already signed up for that principle. But let’s expect no favours from them about its delivery.  It’s up to us to create the conditions wherein we exercise our right to self determination. That day is coming. If we proceed as we must, intelligently. So let’s go forward in that knowledge but in a positive and generous way reaching out to others who share our intention of making this a better place for everyone who lives here.   But be prepared for more stupidities en route. 

 

FRANCIS JOSEPH BIGGER

For the last few months I have been revisiting many of the oul words that used to be in common usage in times past. My source for many of these was a copy of a book of Montiaghisms written by William Lutton in 1923. The title of the book comes from a district close to Lurgan – the Montiaghs – where Lutton picked up many of the Ulster dialect words. He wasn’t alone in this. Other writers of the period – especially Francis Joseph Bigger - also had an interest in and made use of words that today are no longer used.

The copy I have of Lutton’s book was reprinted in 1976 by the Linen Hall Library but the first edition was published exactly 100 years ago. It was edited by Francis Joseph Bigger. 

Bigger was centrally involved in many of the events that shaped Ireland at the turn of the last century.  From a Presbyterian family in Mallusk he was a lawyer, gaeilgeoir, historian, folklorist, archaeologist, naturist, gardener, bee keeper, and conservationist. He was also a close friend of many of those who through the Irish Republican Brotherhood planned and participated in the 1916 Rising and subsequent events. 

He was a friend to Bulmer Hobson – who founded Na Fianna Éireann in Belfast with Countess Markievicz – with Pádraig Pearse and other leading republicans of the time. He was especially close to Roger Casement who stayed frequently at Ardrigh – Bigger’s home on the Antrim Road in north Belfast.

Bigger was born on the 17 July 1863 in Little Donegall St which runs from Carrickhill down to Library St and on to Royal Avenue in Belfast. He wrote several books and hundreds of articles on Irish history and archaeology, as well as contributing to local newspapers. When he joined the Gaelic League in the 1890’s he came to know Douglas Hyde and Eoin McNeill. 

In the late 19th and early 20th century the enormous impact of the great hunger, the decimation of the Irish language and culture, urban migration from the rural areas to Belfast and Dublin and the economic difficulties facing rural communities were all causing huge problems across the island. Bigger believed that the revival of the Irish language and culture were important in meeting these challenges.

In 1898 he was pivotal in organising the centenary celebrations of the 1798 rebellion. He went on to organise pageants, ceilidhs and féiseanna. Prominent among these was the creation of Féis na nGleann – in the Glens of Antrim. Bigger was a regular visitor to the area and he was very taken by its poetry, song, dance and craft. Along with others in 1904 he helped found the Féis which is still going strong over a century later. Bigger believed that the preservation and promotion of our native language, culture and sport would help encourage our sense of national identity.

Among his many other accomplishments was the founding of the Irish Folk Songs Society, the Ulster Public House Association, the Ulster Literary Theatre and the organising of the Irish Harp Festival in 1903. Bigger sought to identify the graves of Robert Emmet and Henry Joy McCracken and was among those who placed a huge granite boulder above what is believed to be the grave of St. Patrick in Downpatrick. Bigger also assisted many musicians with their careers among them the Uilleann piper Francis McPeake ('Da' McPeake), of the McPeake family.

Bigger’s home was a favourite meeting place for those involved in the cultural revival at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Writers, artists and musicians were regular visitors. According to one historian, Roger Dixon, Ardrigh was known as 'the most hospitable house in Ireland'. The importance of Francis Joseph Bigger is not as appreciate today. I am pleased to have this opportunity to remind readers of this influential Belfast man. I often wonder how he and other progressives from northern protestant stock survived the partition of Ireland and the calamities which followed it. Bigger himself died in 1926

 

 

On the steps of Ardrigh c. 1914: Bigger (centre), Roger Casement (back row, left) and what is thought to be members of Na Fianna Éireann

 

 

 

A failure of leadership: Don’t Let The Old Man In: More oul words

A failure of leadership

The Irish government’s two year term on the UN Security Council is at an end. Micheál Martin, now Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs claimed last week that the government had “achieved some real and tangible results." As evidence of this he pointed to the UN role in providing humanitarian aid in Syria and challenging Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. However welcome the Irish government’s role was in addressing these matters the reality is that its time on the Security Council failed to match the ambitious targets it set two years ago.

Its most obvious failure has been in providing leadership against Israel’s apartheid policies toward the Palestinian people. In recent months Israeli actions have resulted in hundreds of Palestinian deaths, especially of children. Last week the new Israeli government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, announced further measures against Palestinians. This followed the Palestinian Authority’s success in getting the UN to agree to ask the International Court of Justice to draft a legal opinion regarding Israel’s conduct in the Palestinian territories. The new Israeli sanctions include freezing Palestinian construction in much of the West Bank while its forces destroy Palestinian homes. The Israeli government has also cleared for further illegal settler construction in the west Bank.

Almost ten years ago the Oireachtas voted in support of the Irish government officially recognising the state of Palestine and providing official Embassy status to the Palestinian Mission in Dublin. None of this was done. The Irish government has also refused to enact The Occupied Territories Bill which makes it illegal to trade with and give economic support to “illegal settlements in territories deemed occupied under international law” most notably Israeli settlements.

The Dublin government’s foreign policy under Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil has been toturn a blind eye to the increasingly apartheid policies of the Israeli state. The Irish government had an opportunity to provide real leadership during its time on the UN Security Council. To challenge Israel’s apartheid policies. To defend the rights of the Palestinian people. It failed.

Don ’ t Let The Old Man In

I have been at a lot of funerals recently. It seems someone from my circle of friends, comrades, associates or neighbours is dying every week this last wee while. And sometimes more often than that. I console myself by reminding myself that its the age I’m at. People were always dying. That’s part of the circle of life. But now I notice it more because its also part of my circle, my own  wee peer group. 

When RG and I were exiled for almost a decade in the Dáil in Dublin I lost a lot of my social contact with Belfast. Including news of deaths of people I knew. Finding out  afterwards that  someone had died used to annoy me greatly. Especially if it was long after their funeral. And if I heard about their demise by accident. I used to hate that. Now I’m out of the capital that’s less of a problem. But it’s being replaced with another problem.  Too many funerals. Too often.

Funerals are also where we meet people we haven’t seen in a while. Sometimes it’s the only place we see them.  Fra McCann is the worst person to fall into company with at a funeral. He gets me into trouble all the time. He always has a funny tale or two to tell. Usually against himself. So before you know it you are grinning widely or worse still guffawing loudly during  what is after all a solemn or sad occasion. Fra is like that. He seems never to let things get on top him.

Others are less effervescent. When some old chums of mine bump into each other these days the discussion usually starts with medical updates, talk of bad backs, sore limbs and worse. That’s for those who can hear each other.

‘Was he sick?’

‘No’

‘Who says?’

‘Sue says’. 

‘Sue who?’

‘Sue Watch-you- call her’. 

‘Who?’

‘Sue says Tommy’s on the mend’. 

‘Tommy who?’

‘Tá mé go maith’. 

‘Who said that?’

‘Said what?’

Their focus is on sceal about who is in hospital or just out of hospital or on their way to hospital.  It reminds me of conversations I used to hear among older  people when I was a youngster. 

Some of my pals have become obsessed by these issues. No. I  won’t name names but RG has noticed it so that’s proof its true. 

Whenever I try to ease the conversation gently to more positive issues there is always someone who wants to remind us of the challenges of living.  Especially for 50 year activists. Or for some of us almost 60 yearactivists. Maybe that’s natural also. Part of the old aging process. One of my  more geriatric buddies is the devil for it. I have learned not to ask him how he is. Because he will tell in minute detail and at great length exactly  how afflicted he  is. But there is no harm in him. Thankfully hypochondria isnt contagious.  

Me?  I’ve learned that age does not come on its own so I’m just glad to be still alive. And delighted  that some of my nearest and dearest chairde are pottering along, despite our flaws, and still defiant and delinquent. 

Martin Ferris put it well one day.

‘Don't let the old man in’, he told me. ‘That’s Clint Eastwood’s secret’. 

Martin is right. So is Clint Eastwood.

Live in the moment.  And give thanks for it. Enjoy life. And those we meet with along the way. Including those we don’t like. Or who don’t like us. Put up with their awkward ways. Don’t ever forget they put up with us. And our awkward ways. Live in the nowness.

And remember don’t let the old man  in. Or  the old woman. 

 

MORE OUL WORDS

My friend Emma McArdle sent me some oul words to add to our collection. Emma is from South Armagh. 

Whist - Be quiet

Howl your whist - a command - say nothing.

Quit the craic - stop telling me this shocking story

Don't hang me - don't give me away, don't tell on me

Give the deadner - to shock

Hedges and Ditches - Benson and Hedges cigarettes

Bullifance - very drunk

Banjaxed - wrecked / exhaused.

Banty - not moving well, a banty wheel, leg

Bantyho - a very bad skyward kick in Gaelic football 

Lanty - go fast - Give her lanty, drive fast

Wet the Tae - make the tea

suckin diesel - having good luck - 'Now we're suckin diesel'

pennies from heaven - finding the thing you were looking for 

Chewing your cud - ruminating

dose - bad sickness / annoying person

Codding - joking

Donkey's - from Donkey's Years meaning a long time

Hames - mess

Dead on - grand/fine/sound

Up to high doh - very excited 

On top of your head - to be very busy

Another saying I heard years ago in  this area is ‘ Every rooster has its own dunkill.’ Every rooster has its own dung heap. A  put down for those full of themselves. 

According to Emma the  next few words are peculiar to the Crossmaglen area. She says they come from traveller language which is called Gammon or Cant. Incidentally I read somewhere that the form of English spoken in Crossmaglen is similar to that which was  used by William Shakespeare.

Cant - backchat - That's enough cant out of you!

Feen - boy

Buer - girl

Golya - child

yawk - steal

munya - great

rulya - crazy (can be good or bad - he was going rulya/We were rulya with drink)

Keen - house - Look at the state of this keen

Rog (sounds like dog) - car

When I'm in the mood, adds Emma, here is a rhyme my father used to say to us, I have no idea where it’s from:

‘When I was a lad and so was me dad, I jumped on to the beanstalk

The beanstalk being so full, I jumped onto the roaring bull

The roaring bull being so fat, I jumped onto the gentleman's hat

The gentleman's hat being so fine, I jumped onto the bottle of wine

The bottle of wine being so clear, I jumped onto the bottle of beer,

The bottle of beer being so thick, I jumped onto the oak stick

The oak stick being so narrow, I jumped onto the wheel of the barrow

The wheel of the barrow began to wheel, I jumped onto the horse's heel

The horse's heel began to crack, I jumped onto the horse's back

The horse's back began to bend, I jumped onto the turkey hen

The turkey hen began to lay, and I got an egg before me.’

 

 

A rights based society will benefit all of us; More Oul Words; An Dream Dearg

A rights based society will benefit all of us

2022 was an interesting year politically. Particularly around the changing attitudes about the relationship between the different parts of the ‘United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland’.

Methinks 2023 will be just as interesting. 

But for all the positive shifts in public opinion on the constitutional future for the people of this island there is still an embedded awfulness about the plight of homeless people, the poor and disadvantaged. This is no accident.  A government in Dublin wedded to policies which advantage their friends in high places has made little impression on the crisis in public services, especially the health services and the lack of affordable housing. Partition and the absence of a real national democracy have perpetuated this imbalance. 

Thank God for those brave souls who struggle within our public services to mind the sick and elderly who depend on these services. They deserve better. Neo-liberalism is the problem.  That is capitalism by another name. Citizens deserve rights. Neo-liberalism and its political supporters are against this.  They are against citizens having the right to a home, a genuinely public health service and other fundamentals, including workers rights. To achieve these fundamental entitlements will require a government and a popular movement wedded to these rights. Change is needed. Change is desired by the majority of people. Change is possible. In fact change is already happening. 

We need to intensify and popularise these demands so that market forces will no longer determine the shape of society based on how much profit will be garnered for big business and other vested interests. A truly democratic society should be citizen centred and rights based. We need to form alliances and coalitions to bring this about.

Political struggle was always more challenging in the North given the divisions, including the partition of our land. Nowadays the absence of the northern Assembly and other Good Friday Agreement structures and London’s toxic and malign role in our affairs, exacerbates this. But here too change is happening. And attitudes are evolving. This is particularly the case within civic society. 

It is difficult to figure out precisely  how many of those who have shifted their position during 2022 on the constitutional question have done so because of their desire to have an influence on social and equality issues. However, the contributions by some participants at ‘Ireland’s Future’ events and Sinn Féin’s ‘Commission on The Future of Ireland’ give some insights and causes for hope. So does the growing body of literature and academic studies devoted to examining the potential for a new society in Ireland.  This is particularly the case with the small but highly articulate groups of citizens from unionist backgrounds.

The arguments being advanced by them illustrate how and why they have ceased to be unionists and are now, some of them anyway, united Irelanders. Some of them were converted by their desire to live in a rights based society and by their discovery that London rule and the Union do not provide this. They want the right to self determination and the ability for us to properly govern ourselves instead of being governed by a self serving clique in London. The majority of unionists, for various reasons, remain wedded to the connection with London. The rest of us in varying degrees detest this terribly unfair union and all its malign consequences.  So the division of opinion is deep. But there is now movement towards democratic options. Not an inch doesn't work anymore as well as it used to. 

Everyone now knows that the future will be determined by the people by way of referendum. Those who are against change will not want to engage with this. Or to plan or prepare for this. But they know that the referendum is on its way.   So despite their refusal to embrace this, the reality is that we are all now into a new phase and everyone will find themselves increasingly having to respond to this. Saying NO will not work anymore. It may delay change. It will not stop it. Other responses will be required. 

So, now is the time for a generous enlightened phase of persuasion led by those who are embracing change. This means reaching out to others who are open to persuasion. Linking social and economic rights and the provision of public services as a necessary part of our new, re-imagined political dispensation will be a crucial part of this process. A progressive inclusive truly democratic rights based society will benefit all of us, across every part of this island. 

 

More Oul Words. 

And so back to my wee William Lutton book of Ulster Dialect words. Regular readers will recall that William Lutton collected words and phrases mostly used in the Montiaghs, a district close to Lurgan in County Armagh.

My copy of Montiaghisms   was reprinted in 1976 by The Linen Hall Library. It was first published in 1923. It is a wee dictionary of Ulster dialect words and phrases collected by William Lutton and edited by Francis Joseph Biggar. Lutton was born in 1807 and died in 1870.

Here is another sample of his notations for your entertainment and consideration. 

Codger= a crafty wee boy.

Cologueing = scheming

Cornaptious= irritable

Daunder= to walk about slowly and idly.

Diddy= a female breast.

Dinge = the impression made by a blow on a malleable surface.

Drouth = thirst.

Duds = worn out clothes

Dunder = a loud noise. 

Dullas = edible sea weed. 

Dear = a title given to God as in ‘The Dear  knows ….  The Dear keep us.

Fadge = a thick wheaten cake. 

Farl = the fourth part of a cake of bread.

Fiz = a tumult or uproar.

Flannin = flannel.

Foother = to do any work or business in an unskilled manner. 

For-bye = besides.

Fornent = opposite 

Gaulder= a loud shout

Gillygore= more than enough. Go leor.

Glar = thick adhesive mud found at the bottom of  bog drains, ponds, rivers. 

Glour = to stare at. 

Go = a large amount of anything. 

A gorb = a glutton.

Gowl = a howl. 

Grew hound = a greyhound.

Gub = mouth.

Gern = to make a wry face, to cry quietly.

Guzzle = to throttle. 

Haggard = a stackyard.

Harl = to peel the skin of potatoes without the use of a knife

Hape = a large quantity 

Heart scald = anything vexatious. 

Herrim Skirrim = a rash boisterous thoughtless person

Hoke = to dig badly.

Huff = to offend. 

Hunker = to squat down. 

Jaap = to use carelessly.

Jagg = a slight stab of a pin or a thorn.

Kink = a suppressed laugh. 

Kitlin = a kitten. 

Lammin = a good beating. 

A lash = a large quantity. 

Leather = to beat severely. 

Let on = to divulge a secret. 

Loanin = a bye road.

Lock = a small quantity

Luck penny = in a bargain a small amount returned to the purchaser. 

Lue warm = tepid. 

 

 

An Dream Dearg

One of the highlights of 2022 was the street campaign for Acht na Gaeilge led by An Dream Dearg. Thank you. Míle buiochas daoibhse.  There is a lot more to be done to deliver and advance Irish language rights across this island. But 2022 was a good year for Gaeilgeoirí. The good health and potential revitalisation and growth, against all the odds, of our language is due to the diligence and determination of multitudes of great people over many decades of struggle. We are indebted to them all.

But 2022 should be marked down as the year when we eventually got rid of the last of  England’s Penal Laws imposed upon us in 1737. Well done An Dream Dearg and everyone else for bringing colour, vitality, good humour, cheerfulness, success and fun to this achievement. Leanaghaí Ar Aghaigh. 

Bliain Úr faoi Mhaise Daoibhse: Mountain treasures on our doorstep: The Good Friday Agreement and the Future

301222

A very happy new year to all readers of this column and to Belfast Media supporters. Congratulations again to Andersonstown News on your 50th Anniversary. A great achievement. None of us know what 2023 will bring but we can be sure it will be interesting. May it also be good to you all and to your families. Beirigí bua.

 

Mountain treasures on our doorstep

When I arrived at Glór Na Móna last week for the launch of The Black Mountain Rewilding Project the place was packed. Tommy Morgan started the evening’s event with a few warm words of thanks and appreciation for the work of Aaron Kelly and his co-workers, particularly film maker Maírtín Keenan.

They are all local young people working voluntarily on our wonderful Black Mountain. Like people of my age Aaron spent his childhood playing on the mountain, exploring its wildness and learning about the wildlife which call it home. But Aaron took his mountain rambles to another level. Starting off with litter clean ups he discovered a pine marten, a fairly rare native Irish mammal and that discovery sparked off a series of wildlife surveys of the mountain.

Aaron is knowledgeable and passionate about the unique biodiversity of the Black Mountain.  He is working with landowners and farmers to improve and preserve the habitat of foxes, hares, pine martens, lizards, badgers, owls, wild birds including hen harriers and buzzards and moths and butter flies. That work includes planting native trees to re-wood the mountain slopes to provide homes for our mountainy wild life.  It’s all there on our doorstep amid flora including wonderful wild flowers like bluebells, mountain streams and wee patches wet lands.

The Treasures of the Hills film was the centre piece of the Glór na Móna event. It took Bayview Media two years to make and it is absolutely a most see documentary. Beautifully shot and produced. I’m tipping it as a potential prize winner for films of its kind. It’s on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXA6O...  and I posted it  on my social media platforms. It will also be available for screening in local schools and the community and youth sector.  So let’s get behind Aaron and his friends and support them in their work. Saving the planet starts where you are.

For Aaron that means Sliabh Dubh. Aaron can be contacted at BlackMountainwildlifeproject@outlook.com.

The Good Friday Agreement and the Future

April 2023 will mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. A month later many will also celebrate the anniversary of the referendum in May 1998 which saw the vast majority of people of the island of Ireland vote in support of the Agreement. I don’t think it is putting it too strongly to describe the Agreement and the referendum as probably the most important political events of our time in Ireland.

With party colleagues in Leinster House on December 15 to address the Good Friday Agreement committee. 

The twists and turns from April 10th 1998 to now have been many. Currently the institutions are not in place due to the intransigence of the DUP, the machinations of successive Tory governments and unionist efforts to force the EU and Irish government to scrap the protocol. However, despite these difficulties the success of the Agreement is that there are many people alive today because of it. It brought an end to almost three decades of war. It is seen by many internationally as an example of how deep rooted conflicts can be resolved.

Those who still seek to use violence or threaten the use of violence represent the past. So do the securocrats who manipulate the groups involved. They should end their actions and go away.

Of course, the Good Friday Agreement isn’t a perfect agreement. It was after all a compromise between conflicting political positions. It is also a fact that crucial elements of the Agreement have still not been implemented by the British and Irish governments, including a Bill of Rights for the North and the British government’s refusal to establish an inquiry into the murder of human rights lawyer Pat Finucane.

The reality is that the Tory government has no real investment in the Good Friday Agreement. In fact, its policy is to emasculate the human rights elements of the Agreement.  This is evidence in its refusal to fulfil its commitments and obligations to deal with the legacy of the past and the concerns of families bereaved during the conflict.

The Sinn Féin leadership went into the negotiations knowing we would not achieve all of our objectives given our political strength at that time. However, we had our own red line issues. For example; we had already decided to compromise on the need for a single unity referendum by holding two referendums North and South on the same day. Our leadership decided that the policing and justice issues should be dealt with in a separate negotiation – the RUC had to go. In our view a Commission could best deal with this issue.

One of our key objectives was to get rid of the Government of Ireland Act. I am pleased that we succeeded. Then crucially, there is the issue of consent. Previously this was interpreted as referring specifically to the consent of the unionist majority defined in Article 4 of the Sunningdale Agreement as “represented by the Unionist and Alliance delegations.”

The Good Friday Agreement is clear. Constitutional change requires the consent of a majority. This is the democratic position. Of course, the sensible goal for all democrats must be to persuade the largest number of people to vote YES. That is obvious and common sense.

It is also important to understand that the Good Friday Agreement is not a settlement. It never was. It doesn’t pretend to be. It is an agreement to a journey without agreement on the destination.  The promise of the Agreement is for a new society in which all citizens are respected; where the failed policies of the past are addressed; and where justice, equality and democracy are the guiding principles.

It also provides for the first time a peaceful democratic pathway to achieving Irish independence and unity. This was crucial and central to the long effort to provide an alternative to armed struggle as a means to advance these legitimate goals.

From a Sinn Féin perspective, the efforts to reach that position involved prolonged engagements with John Hume, back channel communications with successive British governments, with Fianna Fáil led administrations, ongoing outreach to Irish America, and subsequently the White House, as well as attempts to outreach to elements of unionist and loyalist opinion.

To their shame no Irish government has ever produced a strategy to build a new and inclusive Ireland and give effect to Irish unity. The Good Friday Agreement provides the mechanism to achieve this. The absence of Irish government planning is indefensible and incredibly short-sighted. There is no excuse for this.

·        We need the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement

·        The setting of a date and planning for the referendum provided for in the Agreement.

·        The Irish government to establish a Citizen’s Assembly or series of such Assemblies to discuss the process of constitutional change, as well as the measures needed to build an all-Ireland economy, a truly national health service, education system and much more.

·        The Irish government also has a responsibility along with the rest of us to be totally committed to upholding and promoting the rights of our unionist neighbours. The protections in the Good Friday Agreement are their protections also. This is their land, their home place.

All of this makes sense. Very few countries get a chance to begin anew. Ireland, North and South, has that chance. Most leaders would embrace this, welcome it, be excited by it and seize the opportunity. But not successive Irish governments. Political parties which have enjoyed power in the southern state since partition don’t wish to give up that power. That’s why the former Taoiseach Micheál Martin refused to establish a Citizen’s Assembly.

Irish Unity will profoundly transform the political landscape. At the core of the progress we have already made is dialogue. Dialogue - talking and listening to each other - is the key to resolving conflict. Dialogue is key to building an inclusive society. Yes, there will be many challenges but there will also be many opportunities. I look forward to continuing the process of change in 2023.

 

Nollaigh Shona Daoibh: A night before Christmas

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Nollaigh Shona Daoibh. 

Beannachtaí daoibhse go leir. Have a great Christmas dear readers. Thanks and benedictions also to the Belfast Media Group team. Christmas can be a sad and stressful time for some people. Be mindful of them my friends. Reach out to neighbours and others who may not be as lucky as we are.

I’m strongly against the commercialism of Christmas. I love the Christmas story and the story of Joseph and Mary and of Jesus’ birth in a stable. The simpleness of it all and the way children relate to Dadaí Na Nollaig appeals to me. So let’s celebrate our humanity, raise a glass to absent friends and give thanks to all who enhance and brighten our lives. 

 

A NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS. 

Earlier last week I was on my way to Craigavon for a book signing event.  The cold weather had conspired to create a thick fog. As we drove along the M1 we passed what remains of Long Kesh prison and I was reminded of another December, another fog and life in the internment cages.

I have undoubtedly told this story before but good stories always bear telling more than once and it is Christmas. So put up with me.

It was December 1973. Republican prisoners were always scheming around ways to escape. Some would go under the wire; others tried over or through the wire, and others still tried going through the gate, usually in disguise as a visitor. Although in the Great Escape they ran through the front gate pursued by Prison Officers. On that famous occasion 19 out of the 38 escapees made it to freedom. 

Escape tunnels were dug, but these suited perimeter cages better. Because of the time required, the problems involved in getting rid of the soil, the closeness of the water table to the surface and the real difficulties encountered in the actual tunnelling, many tunnels were discovered. Still, persistence sometimes paid off. 

The camp authorities countered efforts by increased raids and surveillance, and wannabe escapees were badly treated. If captured during an escape, we were beaten and subjected to spells in the punishment block, followed by charges in the Diplock courts. Hugh Coney was shot dead by the British army during an escape attempt in November 1974. Successful efforts to escape over or through the wire were aided by the fog which frequently enveloped Long Kesh in winter. Some of these escapes were unplanned. It was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time, but it helped, of course, to have wire-cutters or other equipment. 

A team of us in Cage 6 – Marshall Mooney, Tommy Toland, Marty O’Rawe and myself, all from the Murph – gathered up all the necessary tools, including camouflaged clothing, bolt cutters and hacksaws. We studied weather reports and spent months sitting up for hours waiting for the fog to fall. It didn’t. After a while we got bored with this standing by and, to pass the time, we used to escape from the hut – as a dummy run – and sneak around the cage. Marshall Mooney became particularly adept at this, but despite his ingenuity it was obvious that we were getting nowhere fast. 

Fog or no fog, we decided to make a bid on Christmas Eve of 1973 during the midnight mass. By now we had established the blind spots on the wire, and we had perfected a method of getting to them. Christmas Eve eventually arrived, and when the rest of the inmates were locked up, we four cut our way out of Cage 6, and crept into a gap between the internee and sentenced ends of the Kesh. It was ten o’clock. All around us we could hear the prison camp settling down for the night. It was very bright where we were. We were surrounded by miles of razor wire rolled in long tunnels and with watch-towers overlooking it all. 

Progress was slow; we crawled along inch by inch. By midnight a slight fog fell. Security was immediately tightened. We could hear orders being shouted all around us, and extra patrols were put out on the catwalk, which ran within feet of us to our right. Inside Cage 6, to our left, a patrol was put in the cage. Unfortunately, the fog was too light to assist us. The extra patrols meant we couldn’t move. We decided to sit tight until the security was lifted.

‘What’s that over there?’ I heard one screw ask.

‘Only an old football,’ replied his fellow screw. I realised it was Marshall Mooney’s head they had spotted, but fortunately they continued on their patrolling rounds and we continued to sit tight. 

However, they returned after a while, and one of them was convinced he could see something other than a football. The game was up. ‘Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas to you all!’ shouted Marshall Mooney suddenly as he emerged from the razor wire. Then he moved along the wire, trying to draw attention away from Tommy Toland, Marty O’Rawe and me. Searchlights cut through the darkness and the light fog; sirens sounded. Pandemonium broke out in the camp as shouting screws and soldiers ran around all over the place, guard dogs snarling and barking. 

Screws were shouting at Marshall to go to the other side of the wire, but when he produced his wire cutters and started to cut his way through they shouted at him to stop. Still trying to draw attention away from us, he walked on along the wire, but there was just too much light and too much attention focused on us, so I decided to try another ruse in the hope that the other two might still be missed by the screws. I stood up and walked away from them. Marshall, who copped on immediately to what I was at, shouted out ‘Hello!’ as if he were greatly surprised to see me. We rushed into each other’s arms, greeting each other like long-lost pals, ignoring the screws, the dogs and the chaos which surrounded us. But the barking and shouting rose to a new crescendo. 

The diversion didn’t work, and the screws threatened to set the dogs on us if we didn’t go back the way we had come. The screws and soldiers were pretty fired up as they bustled us up to the punishment block, and Marshall and I took bad beatings. I was wearing a pair of glasses, which I had tied on, and a very senior official pulled my glasses down and when he realised they weren’t coming off he gouged my face so that the flesh was pulled away in a deep and ugly wound. Meanwhile Tommy Toland had hit on the trick of shouting at Marty O’Rawe in a English accent and marching him up to the punishment cells, all the time shouting insults at him. 

This succeeded in confusing the Brits, and so Marty and Tommy escaped being beaten. In the punishment block we were taken one at a time and stripped naked. I was first.  As I made my way, draped in a blanket, to a cell Toddler slipped a set of wire cutters to me. I put them under my mattress and when we were returned to Cage 6 days later the wire cutters came with me. Meantime the four of us were locked up in separate cells and the dogs were set loose in the corridor outside. We feared that at any moment soldiers and warders would descend on us, and so we kept our spirits up by shouting jokes back and forth to each other. Marshall and Toddler in particular gave the British soldiers a hard time. 

Despite their provocations, or maybe because of them, the night passed without incident, though at one stage a couple of British army officers came to have a look at us. The next day, Christmas Day, a British army doctor was sent in to see me as part of the routine of checking that we were still alive. 

‘Can you give me some antiseptic cream for my face?’ I asked him. 

‘What’s wrong with your face?’ he replied, looking straight at the ugly wound on the side of my nose and across my cheek.

‘I hope you have a great Christmas’ I told him. 

‘Happy Christmas to you too’ he replied with a grunt and away he went. 

‘Ho Ho Ho’ big Marshall shouted into me. ‘Nollaig  Shona duit chara’

‘Nollaig shona daoibhse.’ I shouted back to him and Marty and Todler.

Then I wrapped myself in my blanket and settled down to be entertained by Toddler and Marshall’s festive and very funny and colourful tirade against the unfortunate British soldiers who guarded us.