Gerry Adams's Blog, page 19

The Number Eleven Bus: Croí na Carraige - Investing in our young

 Croí na Carraige - Investing in our young

Recently I met with activists involved in the Glór na Móna project in west Belfast. Along with the local MLA Aisling Reilly they briefed us on their work in the field of youth provision through the medium of Irish. Glór na Móna was established in 2004 and since then has gone from strength to strength. The enthusiasm of its activists reflects the growth in the numbers of people who now conduct their everyday business and social life through Irish. This is especially true of the Irish medium education sector.

In 1971 the first Bunscoil was opened on the Shaws Road in west Belfast with nine pupils. Today there are pre-school, primary level and secondary level schools across the North accommodating almost 7,000 children.

Glór na Móna has pioneered Irish-medium youth-work and now caters fro 450 young people each week across the city. Among other projects it has also established are several dealing with local community history and heritage recovery.  

Since June 2016 it has operated from its own community hub, Gael-Ionad Mhic Goill, just off the Whiterock Road in the City which was funded by the Irish Language Investment Fund (Ciste), Belfast City Council and the Department for Communities. The following year it was awarded the prestigious, All Ireland Pride of Place Award and the National Glór na nGael Main Prize as the most effective Irish language organisation in Ireland. But these successes and a dramatic increase in its work in the Irish medium youth sector quickly saw the organisation outgrow the existing centre.

Consequently, our conversation with them focussed on the next stage in the development of Glór na Móna – the construction of an exciting multi-purpose youth, community, family and heritage hub – Croi na Carraige - on the Belfast City Council owned waste ground adjacent to them.

The new facility would create space for Irish speaking families, adult education projects for all ages, community festivals; arts and culture event, including space for concerts, lectures and films.

Glór na Móna appointed an Integrated design team and have produced an ambitious draft design for the Croí na Carraige project that maximises the space on the waste ground adjacent to the Gaelionad and opens up opportunities for the Upper Springfield community that will cover the next 20 years. They have funding for an Economic Appraisal and will commence this work before Christmas.

Aisling and I came away from our meeting with the Glór na Móna team hugely impressed by their commitment to providing first class youth services for young people through the medium of Irish. Aisling will be meeting them again next month along with Minister Deirdre Hargey who has committed to looking at funding opportunities.

 

The Number Eleven Bus. 

At our cruinniú in Glór na Móna I noticed a Pop Up advertising one of the projects Glór na Móna is pioneering. `Faoi Scáth an tSléibhe- Connecting People and Place in the Upper Springfield Area’ is a heritage project aimed at making local history vibrant and accessible. The Pop Up contained a photo of the Number Eleven bus wending its way along the Whiterock Road. That brought back many happy memories. I used to work in The Duke of York pub in Commercial Court off Lower Donegall Street in the late 1960s. I was a regular passenger on the Eleven bus when I wasn't on my bike or my Honda 50. 

Jimmy Keaveney was the boss in The Duke’s. Well his mother, Mrs Keaveney was the real boss. She lived upstairs, above the main bar but by the time I landed there as a young curate Jimmy ran the place.  He was a decent man. I liked working in The  Dukes. The customers were welcoming and interesting. Newspaper men and women from The Newsletter and the BBC. Trade Union officials. Communist Party activists. Old Labour Party stalwarts. Some of Belfast’s  republican leaders. Musicians, locals and visitors.  And ordinary decent drinkers. Plenty of singing on Friday and Saturday night. In both the lounge and public bars and in a wee converted store room tucked in adjacent to the bar. No party songs. Although Henry Joy marched to the scaffold most weekends and Joe Hill went on to organise as well. 

After closing time and the place was cleaned up I would dander around to Castle Street for the last bus home. Number Eleven was the last one going up the Falls and the Whiterock Roads. If I was taking the bus to work in the mornings I usually got the one down the Springfield Road. It stopped at New Barnsley up from and opposite the steps at the top of our street, Divismore Park. But at night it was Number Eleven. The buses used to be trolley buses and before that trams.

The last Number 11 bus on a Saturday night was special. All human life was there. Mostly with drink taken. Pretty girls. Old lads with carry outs of Guinness in stout little brown paper bags. Or a bottle of Mundies. Or Drawbridge. A flagon of Cider from Coyles in Hasting Street.  Younger folks with fish suppers wrapped in newspaper or Scallops from Raffos. Scallops are deep fried slices of potatoes. Couples returning from a night out at the pictures. Or maybe a dance or a Céili. Smoking was permitted upstairs. It enveloped everything. There was an overpowering smell of salt and vinegar, stale smoke, sweat, perfume, aftershave and pungently scented flatulence. 

The last bus was always overcrowded as it left Castle Street. The bus conductor usually ambled up and down the bus collecting fares and dispensing tickets. But on the last bus on Saturday night he sometimes didn't bother. He couldnt move the length of himself. People stood in the aisles and sat on the stairs. Hearty souls crowded on to the platform. These buses had no doors. A pole from floor to ceiling, was the only ‘barrier’ between the entrance/ exit and the road.  Many a time as I ran to catch the last bus I caught hold of the pole as the bus drew away from the pavement and ran alongside it before gathering myself to hop on board. And I wasn't on my own. Many latecomers risked that dangerous boarding challenge rather than face the long walk home. 

And the entertainment was free. A sing song. Elvis. The Beatles. Bridie Gallagher. Tom Jones. Perry Como. Frank Sinatra. Percy French. Maybe a subversive offering of The Merry Ploughboy or We Shall Overcome. At times it seemed like the bus swayed from side to side in harmony with the singing.   Lots of slegging as the bus slowly discharged its load of human beings at Albert Street, Leeson Street, the Pool, Iveagh and Beechmount, then St James and the Rock Streets before swinging right at the City Cemetery and up the sharp incline past the long grey wall at McCrory Park before stopping opposite Whiterock Drive to dislodge Whiterockians. By then only Ballymurphians or Turf Lodgers were left along with the odd straggler from New Barnsley. 

Eventually the Top of the Rock and a right turn onto the Springfield Road and right again into the terminus at Divismore Crescent where the last of us disembarked, bade our good nights and went home. Or if we were lucky off to somewhere else to finish our choral journey in comfort.  Yes the Number Eleven Bus was the transport of choice for most of the Ballymurphy travelling proletariat.

Then 1969 came along and that was the end of that. 

Six of The Best: An opinion poll on Unity: Standing with Palestinians

Six of The Best.

I’m reading Colin Broderick’s ‘That’s That,’ an evocative account of growing up in Altnamuskin in Tyrone at the height of the conflict. Colin’s mother and her efforts to protect her brood are at the heart of this story. Her ‘That’s That’ as she lays down the law and the final words in any dispute with young Colin, gives this book its title. 

In one little cameo Colin tells of getting ‘slapped’ at school.  He describes the strap as ‘a twenty inch length of thick leather about an inch and a half wide, worn smooth from years of skin contact.’  He goes on to describe how the teacher ordered him to hold his hand out, palm upwards as he struck him forcefully across the hand with the strap.

By coincidence Richard and I were discussing corporal punishment a few days before I read this. I don’t recall how that came into the conversation but that’s the way with conversations between Richard and me. They are inclined to meander. When I read Colin’s account of being slapped I was back again getting called to the front of the class while the teacher fetched his strap from the drawer in his desk and ordered me to extend my hand. Whack. Whack. Two slaps was the normal punishment for messing about in class. One on each hand. Six of the best was reserved for more serious offences like giving cheek to the teacher. 

The first slap was always the worst.  There was an initial shock as the strap met your extended palm. Sometimes the leather caught you across the fingers. After that the hand went numb except when the strap caught your thumb. That left your hand stinging and brought tears to your eyes. Some boys cried. I was stubborn. I also didn't get slapped too often. Sometimes a teacher would yank a boy to his feet by grabbing his ear lobe. Or the lock of hair alongside his ear. Some threw objects at boys they suspected of messing about. The  blackboard cleaner with its wooden base was a favourite projectile. So were rulers. Usually made of wood. Sometimes they were used instead of straps. 

Corporal punishment was the norm in those days. In the home as well as schools. Although more enlightened teachers or parents would not dream of striking a child. Corporal punishment was also part of community ‘justice’ during the conflict. We are all capable of striking out in anger or pain. When we are provoked. Or under threat. When our loved ones are under threat. There are few saints among us.  Or pacifists. But it’s good that corporal punishment is no longer tolerated in our schools or anywhere else. 

Managing a class of unruly boys, or girls, is a challenge. Teachers do their best. Nowadays. As well as back in the day. Most of us can name a teacher who made a positive difference in our lives.

When Richard and I were discussing these matters I asked him who supplied the straps. Richard, who was a student teacher, didn't know. He says he never slapped anyone. His incarceration in Long Kesh saved young scholars from that indignity. Saved Richard also? 

But who made the straps. Local cobblers? There were local cobblers in those days.  Or were they supplied centrally? Did the Brothers have a special supply? Was there a template? A recommended size, shape or length of strap. Was slapping part of teacher training?  Were young teachers advised on what ‘offences’ warranted slaps? Was there guidance on how many slaps were appropriate?

‘That’s That’: by Colin Broderick, published by BroadwayPaperbacks.com

An opinion poll on Unity

Opinion polls are no more than a glimpse into the public mood at a given moment. They can change dramatically and for those who are doing well in party political opinion polls they are no guarantee of success in a future election. That’s why I rarely pay too much heed to them. 

Last weekend a Red C poll for the Sunday Business Post looked at public attitudes in the South to the issue of a United Ireland, a Citizen’s Assembly and other matters. For those campaigning for Irish Unity the poll confirms that the debate on unity has increased and is a priority issue for many people.

Despite the refusal of An Taoiseach Micheál Martin to plan for or organise a considered discussion on the issue of unity 60% of people polled are ready to vote in favour of a united Ireland today. 62% also believe that the Irish government should start planning for a united Ireland now. I am not surprised by this. It has consistently been my view that the majority of people in the South are for unity. The details and conditions are a different matter. But most favour an end to partition and self government for the people of the island. That has been my experience. 

Micheál Martin has point blank refused to hold a Citizen’s Assembly to discuss the entire myriad of issues that must inevitably be part of any discussion on unity. 65% of those polled believe that it should be established. Other matters such as the flag, the anthem, the place of unionists in a cabinet, the continuation of power sharing in the North in the new Ireland, all point to some of the matters about which there is no clear view.

This is entirely reasonable. Reunification is a big step. Merging two economies; tax systems; health systems; education systems; planning for the environment in the midst of a climate crisis; accommodating the many different views of what the new Ireland should look like and in particular the warm place for unionists within it, are all huge issues that point to the need for dialogue and a willingness to compromise.

Only a planned conversation, involving all of those who wish to participate, can hope to find solutions to these issues. One thing is for sure. We republicans are not about the south taking over the north or vice versa. We are about self determination and a new society, citizen centred and rights based. A genuinely new Ireland based on equality. 

The Red C Poll is more evidence that the issue of Irish unity is now front and centre and the Irish government cannot continue to hide from it. 

Visiting a hospital bombed by Israel 2009

Standing with Palestinians

Monday was International Day of Solidarity with Palestine. Solidarity vigils and demonstrations took place in Belfast, in many other parts of Ireland and around the world. These acts of solidarity are very important. They are a reminder to the Palestinian people that they are not alone. Despite the many governments who continue to shamefully ignore the brutality of the Israeli apartheid system, and the ill-treatment of the Palestinian people, there are millions of people who empathise with and support their efforts to achieve freedom and self-determination.   

The challenges facing the Palestinian people are enormous. In April of this year Human Rights Watch published a scathing report on the policies and actions of the Israeli state. In ‘A Threshold Crossed – Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution’ it became the first major international human rights organisation to accuse Israel of committing the crime of apartheid and of responsibility for crimes against humanity.

It concluded that in its determination to maintain control over the Palestinian people, their land and resources, Israel has ‘dispossessed, confined, forcibly separated, and subjugated Palestinians by virtue of their identity to varying degrees of intensity. In certain areas, as described in this report, these deprivations are so severe that they amount to the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.’

Israel’s response has been to escalate its repression. Two months ago it accused six well known, internationally respected human rights groups, many funded by the United Nations, the European Union and some by the Irish government, of being terrorist organisations. The six organisations are Addameer, which focuses on providing support for the 4650 political prisoners; 500 internees; 160 children held in Israeli prisons and 34 women prisoners. 

Other groups impacted are Al-Haq, which has special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council; the Bisan center for research and development; the Union of Agricultural Work Committees; and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees. 

The child rights organisation Defense for Children International-Palestine is one of those outlawed. It is part of the Defence for Children International (DCI), an international child-rights movement. As part of DCI it holds consultative status on the United Nations Economic and Social Council, UNICEF, UNESCO, and the Council of Europe. In its work it highlights the continued imprisonment of children by the Israeli authorities. Its’ most recent statistics reveal that 27 children are in solitary confinement; there have been over 70 children killed this year; and there are 160 child detainees.

The Israeli human rights group B’tselem, which expressed its solidarity ‘with our Palestinian colleagues’ described the Israeli government’s assault on these human rights groups as ‘an act characteristic of totalitarian regimes, with the clear purpose of shutting down these organisations.’ Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International condemned the actions of the Israeli government. 

Crucially, the investigative work of the six banned organisations has contributed to the case to open criminal investigations by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israel. In March the ICC announced its decision to begin a criminal investigation.

There can be little doubt that the banning of the six Human Rights groups is an attempt to silence Palestinian organisations that would provide evidence to the ICC’s investigation. The solidarity protests on Monday are a reminder to the Palestinian people that they are not alone and to the Israeli authorities that however hard they oppress the Palestinian people there is widespread international support for them.

Gaels call for Citizens Assembly: Back off Boris: An Irish National Health Service

 Gaels call for Citizens Assembly

In a powerful video message 12,000 Ulster Gaels are appealing to our fellow Gaels in Munster, Leinster and Connaught to sign and endorse a letter to An Taoiseach Micheál Martin asking the Irish government to take the lead in planning for Irish Unity by establishing an All-Island Citizens Assembly “reflecting the views of citizens North and South to achieve maximum consensus on a way forward” toward an “agreed shared Ireland.”

The letter states: “It is the responsibility of the Irish government to ensure that the democratic rights of all citizens are respected and protected, regardless of where they live on the island … “

The letter to Micheál Martin was an idea that first emerged in Antrim earlier this year. Since then it has spread across the nine counties of Ulster and has gathered over 12,000 signatures. The campaign has also gained substantial support in the other three provinces.

Down’s double All-Ireland winner Ross Carr said that he has been overwhelmed by support since he started seeking support for the campaign. He said: “I asked people from all walks of life – doctors, barristers, former players, administrators, ordinary supporters – and it was incredible the amount of support for this initiative.”  

Paul Gibbons who coaches Cremartin Shamrocks GAA in Monaghan is one of those behind the efforts in that county to secure more signatures for this initiative. He told his local paper the Northern Standard: “The purpose of the letter is to highlight the growing conversation taking place in communities the length and breadth of our island about the future constitutional direction of this island and to provide a platform for Gaels throughout the county to engage in that conversation.”

He added: “Our letter articulates three main asks of the Irish government – to take the lead in the planning for a future border poll and start the planning for the future re-unification of this island; to establish a Citizen’s Assembly and to protect the rights of all citizens.”

Thus far An Taoiseach Micheál Martin has refused to comment on the initiative or respond to the letter which he first received in May. But as it says in the video – Ní neart go cur le chéile. There is strength in Unity.

Pádraig Hampsey is captain of the All Ireland Champions Tyrone. He has appealed to fellow Gaels to join in this effort, and to sign up to the letter at: www.gaelslettertotaoiseach.ie

So, if you have a minute click on to #gaelsletter and watch the amazing video of GAA greats asking you for your help and support in building a better future for all of our people.

 

Back off Boris

Comhgairdheas to the many hundreds of people who took part in a series of protests against Brexit along the border last Saturday. The ‘Border Communities Against Brexit’(BCAB) has been very effective in raising awareness around the threat to the Good Friday Agreement, to the economy of the island of Ireland and especially to the border communities, posed by Brexit. Saturday’s event at Carrickcarnon had activists dressed in customs officer’s clothes and a recreation of the old customs huts that used to sit along the border corridor. But beyond the theatrics the message was clear and vitally important.

‘Protect the Protocol’ and ‘Back off Boris’ were the two main themes for the five protests that took place at Carrickcarnon; Belcoo/Blacklion; Aughnacloy; Lifford Bridge and Bridgend, Derry. The message from all of the speakers was the same. Firstly, a warning to Boris Johnson not to trigger Article 16. Secondly, a demand that every effort must be made by the EU and the Irish government to defend the Protocol and the Good Friday Agreement.

Colin Harvey, who is professor of Human Rights Law at Queen’s University told the crowd: “The Protocol mitigates the damage that the British Brexiteers want to impose on this island … what is scandalous is the lack of discussion about the opportunities that the Protocol provides for all the people of the North.”

The Chair of BCAB Damian McGenity reminded those at the protest that the majority of citizens in the North voted to remain in the EU and that a majority of their political representatives support the Protocol. He pointed too to the benefits of the Protocol. Evidence of this emerged last week in the latest statistics on trade from the Central Statistics Office in Dublin which showed that the value and amount of trade between the North and the South has increased dramatically.

In the first nine months of this year trade North to South has increased by 60 per cent and from South to North by 48 per cent in the same period. In money terms exports from the North to the South have so far increased in 2021 by €1,061m (£897m) to €2,822m (£2,385m). Trade South to North has jumped by €835m (£706m) to €2,577m (£2,178m).

In addition the advantage for the North of having open access to the EU and to the British market has seen several important new job announcements. Ardagh Metal Packaging announced its intention to invest $200m and create 170 jobs in a new beverage can plant near Belfast. The pharmaceuticals group, Almac, also announced that it is going to create 1,000 jobs over the next three years.

Meanwhile in the British Parliament the DUP’s Ian Paisley engaged in the kind of hyperbole unionist leaders seeking to frighten and intimidate their supporters have used for generations. According to Paisley the Protocol is being used by Brussels to “destroy this part of the United Kingdom by insisting on the enforcement of a protocol in a disgraceful manner." And he demanded that the Johnson government "Invoke Article 16 and invoke it now, and stop dillydallying on this issue. Put business out of the misery in Northern Ireland."

This kind of doomsday rhetoric has no basis in fact. On the contrary triggering Article 16 would open up the real likelihood of a trade war between the British government and the EU with the North caught in the middle. According to a report in the Financial Times many businesses in the north are “filled with dread at the prospect of yet more disruption and uncertainty if Article 16 was triggered.”

BCAB is leading the way in challenging the British government, the DUP and others who have chosen to ignore the democratic vote of the people. Last week Sinn Féin hosted over 180 business representatives to discuss the economic opportunities created by the Protocol and the potential for greater investment and more jobs arising from Irish Unity. They and we are looking to a better future, a more prosperous future. God speed the Day.

An Irish National Health Service

The Proclamation of 1916 states that the Republic guarantees … “equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation … cherishing all the children of the nation equally …” It doesn’t say except for those who have a disability, or are sick, or who have mental health issues, or who need an operation.

Recent statistics reveal that over 900,000 people in the South are on a hospital waiting list. At the current rate the number will soon top one million. In the North a report last month noted that 348,867 people are waiting for a first consultant appointment – an increase of almost 40,000 over last year.

There are lots of reasons for these appalling stats. Mostly it’s as a result of under-investment and under capacity within the health systems and in the South by decisions taken by successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments. In the last 20 years, since Micheál Martin was Minister for Health in 2000, there have been eight Health Ministers from these two parties. All have promised an end to the crisis in the health service. They have all failed.

When I was a TD in Louth I learned very quickly that every winter Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Drogheda was going to come under huge pressure.

In the North the crisis in the Health Service is exacerbated by the fact that the purse strings are held by London and the Tories have been hell bent on privatisation for years. So too is the FFFG coalition in Dublin.

Covid has added to this very real crisis in our two health services one result of which is that patients urgently needing treatment for life threatening illnesses such as cancer are waiting longer than advisable for appointments and treatment.

The answer in the short term at this time in our history is for as much all-island cooperation and coordination as practicable to make best use of available limited resources. In the longer term we need an Irish National Health Service that is free at the point of access and is sufficiently funded to meet the health needs of citizens. This isn’t pie in the sky. This is a realizable, achievable objective. It just needs political will.

 

Rewriting History; Ratcheting up the Brexit crisis; Day of Action

 Rewriting History

“The first casualty when war comes is the truth” said US Senator Hiram Johnson in 1917. We know only too well from our own recent experience of reporting on the decades of conflict how true this is. However, it misses the equally important other side of the coin – the victor writes the history.

The narrative of European colonialism, and especially of the British Empire, is full of examples of this. The British public today still believes that the Empire was great! While those in Ireland, in Africa, in India and elsewhere who suffered from its exploitation and brutality see it as a thief, an exploiter, a mass murderer, the purveyor of famine and poverty.

The English claim they came to Ireland to civilise the barbarians. Colonial and western powers often use the excuse to justify their colonial occupation and military interventions. In recent years this was evident again in Iraq, in Afghanistan and in Libya. The French philosopher and writer Jean Paul Sarte described it well: “Terror and exploitation dehumanise, and the exploiter authorises himself with that dehumanisation to carry his exploitation further.”

In the 19th century British strategy in Ireland was based on this approach. We Irish were the problem. They, the British were the solution. The British state presented the Irish as ape-like in order to justify its use of coercion. O’Connell who was leading a campaign to end the Union with Britain was described by the Times as “scum condensed of Irish bog” and a “greedy self-serving Satan.” In 1846 in justification of even greater coercion the Times wrote: “The great obstacle to tranquillity in Ireland is the national character – the character of the masses of the middle classes, of the senators of Ireland … When Ireland acts according to the principles of civilised man then she can be ruled by the laws of civilised man.” The 19th century saw Coercion Acts passed every year by London to maintain its domination.

Following partition successive British governments and media ignored the institutionalised discriminatory and sectarian policies used by  the Ulster Unionist Party to maintain its control. 

During the years of conflict that followed the rejection by Stormont of the civil rights very modest demands the British state and its military attempted to manage the news. General Frank Kitson, Britain’s leading counter insurgency expert wrote: “the press properly handled is one of the government’s strongest weapons.”

Many programmes were banned.The lie used by the establishments North and South was that the British Army was needed to prevent civil war between Catholics and Protestants. This narrative helped fuel the years of war. It made the job of dialogue and conversation almost impossible. Sinn Féin was dehumanised and by extension anyone who spoke to us was the target for vilification. John Hume endured huge criticism for daring to talk to me about peace. The Dublin establishment was outraged. Or pretended to be outraged.

Almost 25 years after the Good Friday Agreement the British establishment is still fighting the war. The spooks and securocrats who run the British system know the IRA was not defeated. Instead they facilitated and supported the peace process. This is not acceptable to the war mongers and their cheerleaders on the British side. They are also worried that the historic narrative is increasingly exposing Britain’s illegal and violent actions during those years. In addition, the fact that Sinn Féin is in government in the North and might well lead a government in Dublin in the near future is intolerable to them.

It therefore came as no surprise when the London Telegraph revealed at the weekend that the British government is to commission a history of the ‘troubles’ beginning in the 1960s up to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. The Telegraph story states that this idea comes from Britain’s colonial office in the North – the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) – and that London will appoint a group of historians to write this official history. This group of historians, appointed by the government, will they claim, be independent of the government. Mar dhea!

Censorship and bias in the reporting of events and the interpretation and analyses of those events is a powerful weapon in any government’s arsenal. It allows it to shape attitudes in society in its own interests.

British governments are especially good at this. On the one hand they pose as the defenders of free speech and democratic change while imposing censorship or restricting debate and refusing change when it suits their national interests.

So, on the 19 October 1988 Margaret Thatcher introduced censorship restrictions on Sinn Féin. Our voices could no longer be heard. Several days later the same Thatcher visited Poland where she lectured the Polish government on the merits of openness: “In modern societies, success depends upon openness and free discussion. Suppress those things, and you are unable to respond to the need for change.”

Of course, Thatcher was not alone in employing this hypocritical policy. Successive Irish governments imposed Section 31. The effect of state censorship was pernicious. It rolled over into a revisionist history of recent Irish history which encouraged partitionism.

The British government’s current effort to close down legacy cases is an example of this hypocrisy. The right of families and victims to truth are being set aside through the introduction of a statute of limitations. The British state is intent on hiding the criminal actions of its state forces and its use of state collusion with state sponsored murder gangs.

However hard the British government seeks to do this; however many revisionist historians they employ to bolster Britain’s view of history, the case of Pat Finucane; the importation by British intelligence of South African sourced weapons for Loyalist groups; the three reports by John Stevens; the role of state agents like Brian Nelson, and of the Glenanne Gang; the deaths of hundreds of victims; and the countless official reports by the Ombudsman and others into state collusion, will continue to haunt the British government. No amount of historical revisionism will change this.

 

Ratcheting up the Brexit crisis

For those of you unfamiliar with the language of Brexit, Article 16 is the legal mechanism within the Irish Protocol which can be triggered if the Protocol is creating serious "economic, societal or environmental difficulties" that are liable to persist.  This would involve one side or the other unilaterally suspending parts of the deal. 

The British government has been claiming for months that the bar for invoking Article 16 was reached in the summer. In his efforts to heighten the sense of crisis Jeffrey Donaldson has repeatedly demanded that the British invoke Article 16 if the EU do not concede to London’s demands. Loyalist groups have hijacked several buses and the Progressive Unionist Party says there is no longer a basis for unionists supporting the Good Friday Agreement. The threat of violence is being consciously whipped up by some in unionism to raise tension and leverage concessions from the EU.

In contrast a University of Liverpool survey found that most unionists do not regard the Protocol as a priority concern.

More significantly last week four senior U.S. Democrats who chair major Congressional Committees - Gregory W. Meeks, Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; William R. Keating, Chair of the Europe, Energy, the Environment and Cyber Subcommittee; Earl Blumenauer, Chair of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, and Brendan Boyle, Chair of the European Union Caucus, -  issued a joint statement in which they called on the British government to end its threat to use Article 16. The four US politicians warned that the full implementation of the Protocol is “critical for ensuring Brexit doesn’t undermine decades of progress toward peace on the island of Ireland."

Adding to the pressure on the Johnson government the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen met President Biden in the White House also last week and emerged saying that the EU has the support of the United States. Von der Leyen told journalists that the EU and the USA share the assessment that “it is important for peace and stability on the island of Ireland to keep the withdrawal agreement and to stick to the protocol.”

But for now the DUP and Johnson still appear determined to create a real crisis with the EU. London has set a December deadline for a deal with the EU on British terms. Will they won’t they trigger Article 16 as part of this process? We should know soon. 

 

Day of Action

Well done to everyone who participated in last Saturday’s Day of Action in Belfast and Dublin which promoted the theme – Unity in Our Time. The new Bobby Sands mural was officially unveiled on the International Wall in Divis Street. It is based on a photo of Bobby taken at the first major political status march in August 1976 and is set against the backdrop of the Black Mountain. There were white line pickets across Belfast and Dublin City, as well as on the Ha’penny Bridge on the Liffey.

 

How I got a different view of Croker; First World problems need fixed: TG4 - here's to another 25 years

 

How I got a different view of Croker

Last week I spent a day in Croke Park. I have been there many times before. Usually for GAA fixtures or the occasional concert. But last week was different. Some of the courts service in Dublin, including defamation cases, are currently being heard there. The Covid restrictions meant shifting some cases out of the Four Courts. Croke Park is an unusual setting for court business. Looking out of the window on level five at the green pitch down below while lawyers, potential jurists, court officials and others were busily rushing about their business.

My case had to do with an article in the Sunday World in September 2015. In May that year Jock Davison was killed as he walked to work. Several months later on 13 August Kevin McGuigan was shot dead outside his home. As a result there was a huge political storm as some politicians tried to link republicans to these events. The DUP wanted Sinn Féin expelled from the institutions and threatened to leave the Executive. On 10 September Peter Robinson announced that he was standing aside as First Minister along with other DUP Ministers and leaving Arlene Foster as their sole Ministerial representative in the Executive. He said that he had “stepped aside but technically not resigned.”

Three days later the Sunday World published a story under the heading – “Gerry’s Secret McGuigan Meeting – Adams met murdered Provo over hit-threat fears’ which claimed that I had met Kevin McGuigan in July and assured him that he was not “under any threat from Sinn Féin members.”

The story was untrue. I had not met Kevin McGuigan. I said so publicly and immediately contacted my solicitor and commenced proceedings against the Sunday World. That was six years ago.

Last Tuesday the Sunday World’s legal representative read out an apology in the court. It said: “Although the Sunday World reported the existence of such a meeting in good faith, we now accept Mr. Adams’s position that no such meeting or conversation ever took place and have agreed to publish this apology for the record.”

Outside Croke Park my solicitor Paul Tweed described the front page story and the two prominent pages inside the paper as sensationalised and “making totally false and spurious claims”. Paul Tweed said: “Not only had this allegation been totally untrue but the defendant (Sunday World) failed to come up with any evidence or basis for the unfounded story. The publishers of the Sunday World have finally and belatedly acknowledged what they have done and retracted the allegations and unreservedly apologised to Mr. Adams before the court this afternoon.”

I took the opportunity to thank Paul Tweed and Johnsons and the senior counsel.

I told the waiting media: “For a long time now some elements of the media have reported or published or made very false and vicious and offensive claims about me and about other republicans. I am satisfied in this case that the Sunday World has apologised for this deeply offensive and false article. I am also very conscious that at the very centre of it a man, Kevin McGuigan murdered and another man Gerard Davison was murdered also. Their families like many others are grieving.” 

For me this was always about asserting my own integrity and I think the case succeeded in that. It is my intention to donate the proceeds of the settlement to good causes. These will include the Irish language sector, Green Cross, The Bobby Sands Trust, The Moore Street Preservation Trust, the homeless and other projects that I have a grá for. .

 

First World problems need fixed

Most readers of this column, like this columnist, live in the developed world. So, some of our problems are first world problems. Many of us have benefitted from the advances of recent decades.

I am from that generation who spent my childhood in an overcrowded house without basic amenities like a bathroom, inside toilet or hot water. Most of the menfolk in my clann were building labourers, hod carriers, manual workers. Their work was precarious, casual and underpaid. The womenfolk worked in the mills while rearing usually large broods of children. The work was hard, conditions tough and the wages were miserly.

The women were the homemakers, dependent on weekly visits to the pawnshop - Paddy Lavery’s in our case - the support of Grannies and the sharing of food with neighbours to supplement meagre incomes.

None of our adult family members were educated beyond primary school level. Yet they were intelligent socially aware human beings. Yet all  of us were poor. Why? I came to question this as I got older and more aware. 

There have been many improvements since then. Nowadays many of us have decent homes, a good quality of life and many of our children and grandchildren are university educated. These basic rights were won because people took a stand.

But not all of us are so lucky. Poverty is still widespread. Some citizens are still treated unfairly. Some children do not have the chance to reach their full potential. So we have to be always mindful that they are in the place we used to be in. We have to rise up with our class not out off it. Poverty is not an accident. It is a consequence of public policy or the lack of it. If we cannot eradicate poverty in this part of the developed world how can we hope to do so in the developing world where poverty is widespread and deeply embedded?

In my view we will not eradicate poverty in Ireland while we are governed by Tories in Dublin and London. Of course we need to keep trying to alleviate hardship and we need to support measures to give people economic rights even though our country is partitioned. But when we end partition and have our own national democracy and the opportunity for a real republic then the struggle enters another phase. A poverty free Ireland has to be the objective of all public policy. That is the best contribution we can make to a poverty free world. The proposition is straight forward. It is called equality. Anything else is unacceptable. Here in the so called developed world or in the developing world. James Connolly put it well: “For our demands most moderate are. We only want the earth.”

 

Lá breithe TG4.

I don’t watch television that often but when I do TG4 is usually my first choice. It has everything. Its an Irish language channel. The Irish language channel. Great music. Sport. It’s GAA coverage is first class. News. History. Culture. Documentaries, drama, programmes for children and much more. Its series of films telling the stories of the 1916 leaders are among the best ever produced. Its coverage of the centenary of 1916 was excellent. Dramas like An Klondike have attracted world-wide audiences and many awards. Ros na Rún has been running for 26 seasons. The travelogue documentaries which have examined the journeys of the diaspora and their impact on life in the USA and elsewhere have been hugely informative. TG4 has been a creative force in Irish society encouraging local talent and producing programmes to the best international standards.

25 years ago on Halloween evening 1996 Teilifís na Gaeilge was born in Baile na hAbhann, in Connemara. It was a long time coming. Like all efforts to promote the Irish language there was fierce resistance within the political establishment to investing in a television station that in their view would only ever service a minority community. Gaeilgeorí had fought long and hard over many years to get it established and its arrival was applauded by Irish speakers as a positive development here and overseas. However, the battle to defend, protect and expand the use of Gaeilge was not ended by the establishment of Teilifís na Gaeilge. That battle continues today.

Since 1996 Teilifís na Gaeilge, which was rebranded as TG4 in October 1999, has gone from strength to strength. Recently, as part of the celebration of its 25th birthday a new advertising campaign to promote TG4 has commenced. As part of this one of the many advertising hoardings on the Andersonstown Road carried a large message announcing ‘Súil Eile’. 

So, well done to everyone involved in TG4 – past, present and in the future. And whether you have Irish, or just a cúpla focal or none at all tune in. You won’t be disappointed.

 

Des Ferguson - Éireannach, Gael, fear chéile Mháire, athar agus Daideo, seán Daideo, Poblachtach, Laoch

We buried Des Ferguson in Kells, County Meath last Sunday. He died aged 91 after a short illness. 
His family, friends in the GAA, his neighbours and republicans from across Ireland gathered to give him a good send off. This is my tribute. 

Ar dtus bá mhaith liom mo buiochas a thabhairt do teaghlach Des mór deis a thug siad domhsa ag a caint anseo ar sean chara and comrade Des Ferguson.

I also want to thank Des for giving us such a fine day  – he was a great lover of nature and he would have enjoyed the spectacle of family and friends celebrating his life here in Ceannais.

Ba Éireannach, Gael, fear chéile Mháire, athar agus Daideo, seán Daideo, Poblachtach, Laoch  Des Ferguson.

Bá mhaith liom mo comhrón – comh bhrón  mo chroi a deanamh le Mháire agus a theaglach, le Des óg (Níl sé ro óg anois) Orlaith, Terry, Eimear, Conor, Pearse, Barry, Diarmuid, Rory.

Agus tá muid ag smaoineamh faoi Ronan ar a lá mór seo.

Agus ar comhrón le a dheirifeacha Rita agus Deirdre. Agus a dhearthair Liam. 

Ba imeoir  peile agus iomóna den scoth Des.

Le Naomh  Vincent, Baile Atha Cliadh agus anseo í Mhí le Gaeile  Colmcille. And his exploits and achievements, his prowess in the field of playing is celebrated throughout the Gaeldom.

He was a proud Dub and very proud of the fact that he won two All-Ireland football medals – 1958 – 1963 – but he always lamented with a smile not having an All-Ireland hurling media, particularly after Tipp robbed Dublin in the 1961 hurling final.

Anytime you talked about hurling or football and it came up about his achievements and the many accolades he had won he was always mentioned with a wee wry smile “I would have loved to have had a hurling one”.

He lived and breathed Cumann Luath Cleas Gael and gaelic games all his life.

And in more recent times when we couldn’t see each other as often  perhaps as we should have, when I phoned him the talk always turned to Gaelic games, always turned to what was happening.

He followed the fortunes of the Ulster teams including Antrim and he had a special grá for his father’s county – County Down where Des was born in Castlewellan.

I first met Des and Máire in the 1970s.

Any celebration of Des’s life would be incomplete without a celebration of Máire’s life. Thankfully she is still with us although she isn’t well at this time.

She and Des were a wonderful partnership and the family they reared are a credit to them and a core part of their legacy.

Máire and Des met in 1949 at a St. Vincent’s Club event in the Carlton Hall in Marino.

Dessie was a rising star, a dual player with Vincent's. At that time Vincent's was the premier Dublin club.

Des and Máire started going out together and were married five years later on a Monday to facilitate Des’s games and playing schedule. The story of any GAA home.

They were both from Republican families.

Des’s father Liam was active in the Castlewellan unit of the IRA in the 1920s along with his Uncle Samuel.

His father played football for Castlewellan GAC and for Down.

Samuel and Liam moved to Dublin in the 1930s to avoid harassment by the old RUC.

Interestingly, and Des always told this with a quiet, contrary type of pride - Des’s grandfather signed the Ulster Covenant in 1912.

In the 1911 census the Ferguson's are Presbyterians.

Des father went on to join the IRA despite his father’s politics. Or maybe because of his fathers politics. Or maybe he just took after his mother.

Máire’s parents were both active in 1916. Her father Jack McDonnell was in Dublin’s 2nd Battalion and fought in the GPO garrison in O’Connell Street.

Her mother Georgina Wright was in Cumann na mBán.

Máire is rightfully proud of her family history.

She and Des shared a love for each other – for Gaelic games, for their family and for Ireland.

They went on to have ten children. So, it wasn’t all Gaelic games.

One of their sons Ronán died from a brain tumour when he was just 16.

By now the Ferguson clan was living in County Meath; first in Oldcastle and then in Kells.

That’s when I met them. Des was very active with An Cumann Cabhrach.

Tom Murray who was a stalwart of that organisation had a little chalet in Aughyneill and Des arranged for Colette and I to go there when I was released from Long Kesh.

Our Gearóid was 4 and that was the first time we were together as a family and the start of many, many visits.

Des and Máire were wonderful hosts. Any number of people could stand here and say that.  There was always a welcome. A cup of tea. Always a bit of homemade scone. Always an interest and a curiosity about what was happening.

Once they took us to Dublin, along with Florrie French, another stalwart, to a Chieftain’s Concert.

Many people might not remember or have heard of Florrie French but she sold more An Phoblachts than anybody except Eddie Fullerton and she was a wonderful, wonderful free independent, strong woman.

My memory of her at the Chieftains concert is that  she had dung on her boots because she had just come straight off the farm, jumped in the car and away we went.

Des had a great love of nature. He and I also had memorable times traipsing the hills of north Meath – he brought me to Sliabh na Cailleach – we saw a fox that day.

Occasionally to Leinster games in Croke Park. One day he noticed that I had holes in both my shoes and we were in Navan and he disappeared into a shoe shop and he came out with a new pair of brogues and I sat down on the pavement and put on the new shoes and put the old ones in the bruscar.

That was the like of him. He was a wonderful, he was loyal, he was kind and a good natured  friend and comrade.

Martin McGuinness and he and Máire were very firm friends. Martin Loved Des and Máire.

Des and Máire were firm supporters of the peace process. They were firm supporters of the efforts to develop Sinn Féin. Without doubt we would not be as strong as we are today without their active support and the support of others like them who bore the brunt of state repression, harassment, the Heavy Gang, intimidation and censorship and vilification.

It is very difficult to describe the prevailing mood in this state at that time and how people who put their head above the parapet – fine patriots like Des and Máire – how they were vilified.

He was imprisoned once by a Kangaroo court – solely on the basis of a Garda Chief Superintendent's opinion that he was an IRA Volunteer.

The Superintendent repeatedly refused to answer questions about the basis of his opinion.

Des got sentenced to a year in Portlaoise.

He told afterward that he got a relatively easy time because most of the prison officers were GAA supporters and he was a novelty to be among them.

Martin Ferris would say he also was a GAA stalwart but that’s an entirely different story. Des won another medal in Portlaoise - a leather one made by the prisoners. He, Martin Ferris and Joe B O Hagan were on the same team. 

The Coiste Bainitsi – the GAAs Management Committed discussed Des’s incarceration and in July 1975 they applied for a visit to Portlaoise.

The state refused to allow them to visit Des Ferguson.

At the time of his arrest Des was a woodwork teacher. When he was released he was blocked from going back to his job and denied his right to his pension.

The GAA protested against this very vindictive measure and Des and his union   fought for that for long ten years until he got his rights restored.

I remember well when he told me that was going back to teaching – he was a muinteoir go h-iontach. He was delighted to be back with his students. 

In the meantime between prison and getting back the right to teach he worked in the building trade.

He really enjoyed teaching young people.

He loved nature. Máire was the gardener in the partnership but Des loved wood – I have a garden bench – a garden table and a coffee table all made by Des in his little shed at the back of the house where he also mended hurls.

Conor brought him and Máire up to Stormont when we organised a Póc  Fada in honour of Edward Carson – An Póc  ar an Cnoc.

He was also in County Louth- I remember seeing him and Máire at the side of the road-  when we brought back Vols. Mairead Farrell, Sean Savage and Dan McCann on their long journey home from Dublin to Belfast.

And when we brought Martin McGuiness home they were there also.

Now we have brought Des home.

His was a life well lived. Rooted in his republican values of decency, fairness and equality. He used to rail against the excesses of the Celtic Tiger. He spoke to me of young couples with huge mortages spending hours in gridlocked traffic on the way to or from Dublin while their children were in creches or with childminders. ‘ No quality of life’ he would say ‘ Little family time. Stress and more stress. Little time for fun’. 

He also stood by the people of the North while the Dublin government acquiesced to London.

Des kept the faith. He was one of the indomitable Irish who are probably in every townland on this island and across the world – who know no matter what bunkum, what guff, what nonsense, what lies come out of the establishment here in Dublin or in Britain – they know that Britain has no right in our country - that the British government has no right in our country, that partition has no place in our future.

This was true in his father’s time and true in our time.

Now that we have a way to end it – we have a peaceful way to end British rule – and we can be sure that the young people gathered around this grave and those who are too young to be here - Des and Máire’s grandchildren and great grandchildren will grow old in a free united Ireland.

My last remarks are for the grandchildren and the great grandchildren. I don’t mind if you are not at all involved in politics, or what your views are on any of these matters, but when you get to vote in the referendum to decide our future, do so in the knowledge that your Granny and Granda helped to bring it about.

Des Ferguson served his county and his country. He made the difference.

I will finish with a few lines from a poem by Seamus Redmond – The Hurler’s Prayer.

May my stroke be steady and my aim be true

My actions manly and my misses few

No matter what way the game may go

May I rest in friendship with every foe

When the final whistle for me has blown

And I stand at last before God's judgement throne

May the great referee when he calls my name

Say, Des you hurled like a laoch; you played the game.

Go raibh maith agat Des.

 

Ballymurphy remembers Criostóir de Baroid: Theresa McArdle: Time for Change – Time for Unity: Crann na Saoirse

 

Ballymurphy remembers Criostóir de Baroid

Criostóir de Baróid died two weeks ago, surrounded by his family in Marymount Hospice in Cork where his wife Máire had died in February. About 20 people from Ballymurphy travelled to Cork by car and train to participate in Criostóir’s funeral. They were there to pay their respects to a man, who in the 1970’s along with his son Ciaran became a part of the extended Ballymurphy family.

I met Ciaran after I was released from internment in the summer of 1972. He had arrived in the area in March to take up the job of ‘warden’ for the Ballymurphy Tenants Association centre on the Whiterock Road. Pat McCarthy who had previously held the post had been killed during the Ballymurphy Massacre in 1971. 

Ciaran worked closely with Frank Cahill who he describes as the “unofficial mayor of Ballymurphy, a man of enormous standing in the community.” Later in 1972 Criostóir came to visit his son. He was no stranger to Belfast. He was part of a voluntary group – the Association for Human Rights in the North – and was already at work here. In the summer of ’72 Criostóir’s group had provided financial and material support for camp for young people from Ballymurphy in Glaslough, County Monaghan.

Criostóir met Frank Cahill and many of those who were deeply involved in community work in the area. As a result the Cahill’s and the de Baróid’s worked closely together over many years. Criostóir helped establish BETWEEN. Initially his aim was to help those families deeply traumatised by the introduction of internment. Some had loved ones killed. Others had been forced to leave their homes as refugees and others had one or more family members interned.

He became so embedded in the Ballymurphy area and in his efforts to help people Criostóir took early retirement to work voluntarily. BETWEEN challenged the British State on its use of internment without trial, extra-judicial killings, the supergrass system, strip-searching in the prisons, the hunger strikes or the brutality of the British army. But its work also went beyond these issues.

Speaking at his father’s funeral Ciaran de Baróid explained the work of his father and of BETWEEN. He said: “Although best known as the scheme that provided respite for the families of republican and loyalist prisoners, and others under extreme stress, BETWEEN was much more than that. It was essentially an organisation that confronted oppression and injustice throughout the span of the Troubles.”

Criostóir lived campaigned tirelessly against injustice. He was a champion for those oppressed by the British state in the North.

Ciaran Cahill put it well in a letter he wrote to Criostóir last year: “through your work people were given hope in the darkest of times. The holiday camp provided much needed respite, joy and happiness when people were at their lowest, and re-energised them for whatever lay ahead. Not to mention your tireless efforts to highlight human rights abuses and injustices far and wide, many times falling on deaf ears, but you were never deterred, and forged ahead.

I’ve lost count of the number of people who still talk about the time they spent in Cork as children and how they were treated by the good people of Cork. This will remain with them forever…”

On behalf of all of those from Ballymurphy and beyond who benefited over many decades from Criostóir’s compassion and humanity I want to extend by deepest condolences to Ciaran, Niall, Fionnuala, Emer, Cahil and Neasa and to Criostóir’s sisters Joan and Kay.

 

Theresa McArdle

The suddenness of Theresa McArdle’s death last week was a shock to all of us who knew and loved her. On Thursday she texted and emailed out a wee note to everyone who works in and around the Sevastopol St office where she looked after us all. Her note was a reminder that Cónall was leaving us to work elsewhere. It said:

“Hi All,

The card for Cónall is under the notebook on my desk please sign it and leave your contribution inside … Only a few have signed it so far, thank you, ye know who you are.

Go raibh maith agaibh

Theresa”

After we heard the news of her death I tweeted:

“Sweet, kind, pleasant, staunch Treasa. I went 2 the office 2day becos she texted me 2 remind me to sign Cónall’s card. She left it below her notebook. I signed my name beside her’s in wonderment and sorrow that she had died since then. Grma T.  U made the difference xo”

 

 

Time for Change – Time for Unity

Apart from those years when I was imprisoned I have attended every Sinn Fein Ard Fheis since 1967. That is until last Saturday. 

However through the marvels of modern technology I was only missing in body not in spirit. I watched the days debates live online.

I don’t know if it was the consistently good opinion poll results over recent months that had people in good form or the fact that they were getting together under one roof for the first time in two years, but the Ard Fheis was buzzing. There were smiles everywhere. Everyone who got up to speak was applauded – some of the older hands looked seriously embarrassed by this while the younger speakers took it all in their stride.

Well done to everyone involved in the planning of the Ard Fheis. I know from long experience how much effort goes into making it all come together on the day and how many comrades are a part of the team and the success. So comhgairdheas to everyone involved. 

A united Ireland and change were the two big themes of the Ard Fheis and Mary Lou didn’t mince her words. She said it loud and clear: “I want to lead as Taoiseach if you give us that chance … we can unite our country. To make this happen we need a government that shows-up for you. A government for the people and a Taoiseach that puts you and your family first - now and always. So, to those who told me – again and again – to make sure we run enough candidates at the next Dáil election.  I hear you loud and clear because – friends – the time for change is now.”

Housing, Health, Climate Change and the Environment, Law and Order, the Courts were among the many positive, radical motions debated and passed. It was an all-island, all-Ireland Ard Fheis. It was international with speakers representing the Palestinian people and the people of Cuba.

Declan Kearney, the Party Chairperson and then Mary Lou also referenced a new initiative from the party that will see ‘Peoples Assemblies’ held in key locations across the island and among the diaspora. Under the theme of “The New Ireland is for Everyone – Have your Say” the initiative will be island-wide and global. It will be an ambitious, 18 month long public and private consultation, open to everyone. It is due to begin in January 2022.

Everyone should have their say on the political and constitutional future of the island of Ireland. It makes sense. The unity referendum and the possibility of a united Ireland are a central part of the mainstream political discourse at this time. Barely a week passes with two of more significant contributions from academia, the media, and individuals writing about, talking about Irish Unity.

For those old enough to remember the ‘Peoples Assemblies’ idea has its roots in the Peace Commission established by Sinn Féin in January 1994 that helped contribute to the IRA cessation announced in August of that year. On that occasion five major conferences were held – one in each province – Derry, Galway, Cork and Dublin and a fifth meeting in Belfast. 228 submissions were received from a broad range of community activists, religious groups, Trade Unions, women’s rights activists, Irish language and cultural rights activists, campaign groups, politicians and individuals.

So, keep an eye open for the posters and leaflets, the social media messaging, the tweets and Facebook promotions letting you know when and where these meetings will occur. And if you belong to a community group, a women’s organisaiton, a youth group, a business organisation, a farming organisaiton – in fact if you have an opinion on the future of the island of Ireland – Have Your Say. Make a submission. Come to the conferences and tell us about your vision for the future.

 

Crann na Saoirse

Last week I joined Aisling Reilly MLA in planting a tree in the memorial garden in Ballymurphy. Our Unity tree symbolizes our commitment to achieving a united Ireland. I look forward to watching it grow tall in a free United Ireland.

So why don’t you join us and plant your Crann na Saoirse. Plant your own Unity tree. Native broadleaf species are best.

This initiative will benefit the environment. It also provides families and communities the opportunity to plant a Unity Tree in memory of a loved one, for a new born baby,  your local club, association or community group. 

 

Alice Toner; The Rain that Falls on Palestine: Colin Powell; and Frederick Douglass honoured in Dublin

 

Alice Toner

I was deeply saddened by the death of Alice Toner. I knew Alice and her husband Fra all of my adult life. Like my own family they moved into Ballymurphy shortly after it was built. She and Fra were long standing republicans. Alice was born Alice Scullion in 1929 from Varna Street in the Falls area. Varna Street is now gone – a victim of redevelopment but it was situated around where Osman Street is now.

Alice was born eight years after partition was imposed. Her family suffered under the apartheid system imposed by the unionist regime at Stormont. Unemployment and poverty were widespread along with the denial of the vote in local elections and the gerrymandering of electoral boundaries. It was almost impossible to get a house if you were a Catholic.

In the late 1940s Alice met and fell in love with Francie Toner. Through the first years of their marriage they and their three children lived in one room in Alice’s family home in Varna Street. In the early 1950s they were offered a house in Ballymurphy, on the slopes of the Black Mountain. They moved into 24 Ballymurphy Drive. Unfortunately there were steps up to the front door and Alice and Fra needed a ground level home to address the needs of their daughter Theresa.

The family moved across the street to no. 27 Ballymurphy Drive and remain there to this day. The three children became 13 - Eilish, Kathleen, Carmel, Bernie, Roisin, Annemarie, Michael, Jim and Gerard, with the late Philomena, Frankie and Theresa.

The war years were tough. The British Army occupied the area. Internment saw the Ballymurphy Massacre in which 11 local people were killed. Others died during those harsh years including Alice and Fra’s son Frankie. He was shot by the UVF on 12 May 1982 while working in his brother-in-law’s fruit shop on the Antrim Road. Two other people were wounded. Frankie was married with four children.

Despite this personal trauma Alice and Fra continued to work for the Ballymurphy community and their door was always open to those in need.

Alice was an extraordinary woman – immensely strong and courageous - a mother, a grandmother, a great grandmother. She lived through tumultuous and difficult times and faced danger head on and never flinched whether it was raids on her home or on the streets of Ballymurphy.

For years Fra ran the Republican Prisoners Transport. He organised the small fleet of around six dilapidated minibuses that were used to bring families to visit loved ones in the various prisons - Crumlin Road, Long Kesh, Armagh and Portlaoise. He also raised money to keep them on the road and drove families to the prisons. The journeys to the prisons were dangerous and hazardous for drivers and families. They suffered constant harassment by the British Army, RUC and UDR. The buses and families would be stopped and searched.  Sometimes they would be held for several hours. One comrade of Fra’s Thomas McGuigan remembers: “It was very hard on the children. It was freezing in winter and too hot in summer."

Fra was himself targeted by loyalists. Thomas McGuigan remembers: "It was just past the West Circular Road, outside the Orange Hall. Fra always drove past around 2pm so he was an easy target. The gunman opened fire and shot Fra several times at the wheel. He survived but one bullet was lodged too close to his spine to be removed. He was always in pain after then, never the same, and he died a few years later."

Fra died in 2002. Alice died at home on 13 October. Local republican Liam Stone described them well – “Lovely people” he said.

I want to extend my sincerest Eilish, Kathleen, Carmel, Bernie, Roisin, Annemarie, Michael, Jim, Gerard and the late Philomena, Frankie and Theresa.

Colin Powell. 

I was sorry to hear of the death of Colin Powell .He was Secretary of State to President Bush from 2001 to 2005 so we met with him several times in those years. He was always courteous and had a quiet sense of humour. He told us once that he got his name Colin from his family connection to Ireland but that it was not  a happy connection.

He was a descendant of Sir Eyre Coote , a scion of the Coote family, who were powerful landlords in Cavan and Clare. Coote was Governor of Jamaica in the early 1800s and Powell's family were slaves in the Governor's house. Eyre Coote made one of the slave girls pregnant .She was Colin Powell's great, great, great grandmother.

I believe that Secretary Powell regretted the position he took on Iraq and his support for the invasion and a war on the basis of intelligence that was later shown to be false. This was a monumental mistake. 

He later moved away from the Republican Party and publicly endorsed Barak Obama in his run for President.

 

The Rain that Falls on Palestine

Davie Furey is a Laois man. He is a singer songwriter and a fine musician. He describes his influences as “Woody Guthrie, Luke Kelly, Tracy Chapman, Billy Bragg, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and a whole host of other songwriters who, at times, reflected on world events through their music.”

A wee while ago he told me he had written a song about Palestine and asked if I would listen to it. I thought it was excellent. It unashamedly supports the people of Palestine and is opposed to the actions of the Israeli state. It is a personal song about the experience of Palestinian families and especially of the children. Davie says: “I believe that the Palestinian people have been bullied, oppressed and abused for many years now. This song is for those proud people of Palestine.”

“On the streets of Gaza City

On a warm Monday night

Shahid sits on his father’s lap

Shaking with the fright

It’s been another night of terror

Of bombs and shells and fear

The cries of his neighbours

Thunder in his ears.’

The song was released on ITunes last week. And Davie came to Belfast to play it publicly for the first time to people here. The top room in Áras Uí Chonghaile was the venue on Friday lunchtime. Pat Sheehan said a few words about his experience of travelling to the occupied territories and to the Gaza Strip and his shock at the conditions under which the Palestinian people are forced to live. He recalled a visit to Jerusalem and witnessing the expulsion of a Palestinian family from their home of over 40 years by Israeli settlers.

Pat said: “I was also in Gaza after one of the bombardments and we stood on the rubble of the home of another Palestinian family. Three generations, 13 people wiped out in an Israeli airstrike on their home.

I know that when the conflict was at its height here that international solidarity was very important. I hope that when the Palestinian people hear this song they will understand that there is huge solidarity for them here. We also hope that the song will raise awareness of the plight of the Palestinian people and prick the conscience of the international community that hasn’t done enough to defend the rights of the Palestinian people.”

The Palestinian Ambassador Dr. Jilan Abdalmajid thanked all of those who had come in solidarity to the event and she especially thanked Davie presenting him with a Certificate of Appreciation “in grateful appreciation” of his “solidarity with the people of Palestine.”

“Oh the rain it falls in Palestine

Is the kind that kills and maims

The kind that tears down buildings

Yet Israel shows no shame

Shahid and his father take shelter from the rain

But there is no shelter to be found

From the suffering and the pain.”

The song was warmly welcomed by the audience and Davie was embraced and thanked for taking this initiative.

The following day he was in the family home of the Pearse Family, on Pearse St in Dublin to launch the song there.

If you would like to hear “The rain that falls on Palestine” visit Davie’s website https://www.daviefurey.com/

Or download from ITunes. All money raised will go to Palestinian charities in Gaza and the occupied territories.

 

 

Frederick Douglass honoured in Dublin

Last Thursday the Ardmhéara Bhaile Átha Cliath Alison Gilliland unveiled a Dublin City Council plaque in memory of the visit to that city in 1845 of the African-American anti-slavery leader Frederick Douglass. The plaque is on the Irish Film Institute (IFI) building in Eustace Street, Temple Bar which was formerly the meeting house of the Society of Friends.  It was also formerly the Eagle Tavern where the Dublin United Irish Society met in the 1790s. The proposal for a plaque was the idea of Sinn Fein Councillor Mícheál Mac Donncha, who is chair of the Dublin City Council Commemorations & Naming Committee.

Micheál said: “This plaque to Frederick Douglass sees the great African-American anti-slavery leader recognised by our City for his immense contribution to human liberty and progress. It is appropriate that this site links the United Irish Society which met here in the 1790s, the Society of Friends which hosted Frederick Douglass and still meets on this street, and the Irish Film Institute, a cultural hub of Dublin. Acts of commemoration such as this serve to remind us that while slavery was abolished in the United States, racism persists and needs to be opposed vigorously in all countries including our own.”

Among those who spoke at the event was historian and author Cecelia Hartsell who spoke of Douglass’s life and his visit to Ireland. Professor Margaret Kelleher, speaking for the IFI said: “On 9th September 1845, in this building which is now home to the IFI, Frederick Douglass delivered a stirring oration against slavery and in defence of human liberty. We at the IFI are very proud to mark today not only such a historic event but also his continuing legacy and inspiration.”

Well done Micheál and all of those involved in telling the remarkable story of this courageous and extraordinary human being.

H Bl ock LP –Resistance Music: Working together to help people: Samhain: Buiochas.

 H Block LP –Resistance Music

The first time Christy Moore sang ‘Ninety Miles from Dublin’ in west Belfast - his song about the obscenity of the H-Blocks - was in the old Ballymurphy Tenants Association building on the Whiterock Road in the summer of 1980. Tom Cahill had asked Christy to come to the city and play a set. Still not sure of the words, Christy had a piece of paper on which the words were written taped to the microphone.

The H Block LP which had been recorded over the previous two years was also released that summer a few months before the first hunger strike commenced and at the height of the public campaign in support of political status. It has ten tracks and the wealth of talent on display is formidable. Christy Moore, Francie Brolly, Dan Dowd, Mick Hanly, Noel Hill, Tone Linnane, Donal Lunny, Matt Molloy, and Declan Sinnott. Actor Stephen Rea reads three poems, two of them written by prisoners in the H Blocks and smuggled out from the prison.

Through words and music, the plight of the prisoners in the H-Blocks and in Armagh prison, and the strength of their endurance and resistance is evoked. The LP includes ‘On the Blanket’ by Mick Hanly; Francie Brolly’s iconic ‘H-Block Song’; and ’90 Miles from Dublin’ by Christy Moore.

I tell you all of this because the H-Block album has been remastered as a not-for-profit production by the Green Cross, and as part of the 40th commemoration of the hunger strikes of 1980 and 81. It is a tribute to the courage and resilience of 12 men who died on hunger strike.

The re-launched album received its first public presentation at an event last Friday evening in the Felons Club on the Falls Road. Speaking about the role, impact and importance of music and art, of film and the written word former blanketman and hunger striker, Laurence McKeown, told those present that the arts have the ability to move people to tears, to lift confidence and provide hope, and to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Friday night was such a night.

Christy Moore, in fine form, sat alone on the stage reminiscing and singing. The audience was enthralled. It was an intimate event, more like a family gathering than a gig. Christy was obviously enjoying the appreciative audience response to his songs and stories. Many had tears in their eyes as Christy interspersed  ‘No Time for Love’; ‘Only our rivers run free’; ‘Back Home in Derry’;  ‘McIlhatton,’ and other songs with stories from those years.

He spoke fondly of Bobby Sands and described ‘McIlhatton’ as one of the finest pieces of poetry he has ever read. He wondered what other marvellous pieces of prose and song Bobby might have written had he not died on hunger strike. Christy also recalled his good friends Tom Cahill and Bob Murray and their drive to use music to highlight the injustice of the H-Blocks and Armagh.

‘Ninety Miles from Dublin’ which he plans to rewrite as a tribute to Kieran Nugent, had its roots in conversations with former blanketmen Kieran, Fra McCann and Ned Brown about their experiences in the H-Blocks. Christy recalled that when the LP was launched in Dublin the venue was raided by the Garda Special Branch who confiscated all of the LPs that were there.  Ten years later at a concert a man – who identified himself as one of the Branch men on the raid – presented Christy with two of the original LPs. Christy then  surprised Fra McCann, who was in the audience, by calling him up and presenting him with one of his two copies.

Christy also recollected a visit to the H-Blocks in 1986 in a clapped out minibus - one of a small fleet used to bring the relatives of prisoners to the jails each day. Afterward he made another album – ‘The Spirit of Freedom’ – with the image of the Lark – Bobby Sands symbol – on the front cover. He presented Bob and Maureen  Murray with a copy of this.

It was a poignant, hugely enjoyable, uplifting evening of song and craic. Thank you Christy for a memorable evening.

A small limited edition in vinyl of H-Block LP  has been produced, as well as the CD. The LP and CD are available through An Fhuiseog, 55 Falls Road. www.thelarkstore.ie

The CD is available through Republican Merchandising Ltd as: The Sinn Féin Bookshop 0035318726100: www.sinnfein bookshop.com

Working together to help people

In the 2011 census figures and then in the statistics drawn from the 2017 Multiple Deprivation Measure (MDM) areas of Belfast are identified as either Protestant or Catholic depending on the relative size of the respective population in each. As much as this column dislikes identifying people by religious labels thats the way it is done in these projects. There are 174 so-called Super Output Areas (SOAs) in the city each with a population on average of just under 2,000 people.

Did you know that according to these figures that overall Belfast was 47% Protestant in 2011? Or that in 2017 the highest income poverty rate in Belfast was in Woodvale 1 (24.7%) which in 2011 was 91% Protestant? Or that the area with the second highest area of income poverty in Belfast was Ardoyne 2 (24.6%) which in 2011 was 95% Catholic?

Or that in the poorest 30% of Belfast 17 out of 52 SOAs are ‘Protestant areas’. And that Protestants form 44% of this population. Overall within the city Catholics continue to experience greater levels of poverty however it is also true that many loyalist working class areas endure similar levels of deprivation in relation to health and disability, crime and their living environment.

None of the larger unionist parties have shown the remotest interest in seriously challenging these problems. Everything is subordinated to maintaining a status quo that will condemn the next generation of young people to the same levels of poverty their parents have known. 

Several weeks ago, before the EU produced its recent proposals on the Protocol, the DUP, UUP and TUV participated in a discussion at the Tory Party conference. It was intended to expose the damage being caused to the north’s economy by the Protocol. Instead it succeeded in confirming that the Protocol is proving advantageous to business in the North and across the island of Ireland.

Last week new figures from the Irish government’s Central Statistics Office revealed that cross-border trade on the island of Ireland continues to sharply increase. In the first eight months of this year exports from the South to the North grew by 47% compared to the same period in 2020 – from €1.516 billion to €2.223 billion.

Trade going North to South grew even greater by 61% - from €1.553 billion to €2.5 billion.

For the British Brexit Minister this was his biggest concern. He told the Tory meeting: “we are definitely seeing supply chains being reordered quite quickly. Trade between Northern Ireland and Ireland has gone up a lot in both directions.” His worry is that this “will weaken the links with GB. I think that’s inevitable.”  

Once again the conservative unionist parties in the North choose to put their political self-interest above that of the working class loyalist families who will carry much of the burden of a Brexit decision that will impose increasing hardship.

Republicans believe that the best future for the people of the island of Ireland is through reunification. Working together as neighbours republicans believe that we have the wit and the wisdom to shape a new Ireland that meets the concerns of all, including our unionist brothers and sisters.

Unionist or Loyalist representatives working constructively with Republican representatives inside or outside of the Assembly and local Councils will not make them any less committed to their connection to the Union with Britain, no more than it would diminish the commitment of Sinn Fein representatives to a united Ireland. But it would mean better outcomes for those communities that constantly top the lists of those with severe poverty and deprivation.

Samhain

October is the month of Samhain. This ancient Celtic festival is one of the four quarter days, Imbolic, Bealtaine, Lughnasa and Samhain, in the old Gaelic calendar. It is celebrated on 31 October-1 November. Samhain is noted in the earliest Irish literature. It marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning if the ‘darker part’ of the tear. Winter. It is also believed to be the time when the boundary between this world and the other world relaxes so that the spirits can come into this world. The souls of the dead are said to return to their homeplaces. This led to many tricks and game which continue to this day. People dressing up, mumming, alongside more serious rituals.

Samhain is the precursor of Halloween. The exiled Irish brought it to North America where hallowed out Pumpkin lanterns replaced the Turnip lanterns of Ireland.

So as you celebrate Halloween or Oiche Shamna remember that before the English conquest of Ireland we had an advanced civilisation with its own customs, beliefs, music, culture and language, some of which endures to this day against all the odds. It is also a timely reminder that nothing stays the same. Change happens and this Samhain brings us all another year closer to ending the conquest.

Oiche Shamna faoi mhaise daoibhse.

Buiochas. 

Our thanks to Brendan Kennelly and Máire Mac  an tSaoi , two of our finest poets who died last weekend, for their work and for the wonderful legacy they left us all,  in the Irish and English language. Their words will endure forever. Here is Brendan:

'Though we live in a world that dreams of ending,

 that always seems about to give in, 

something that will not acknowledge conclusion

 insists that we forever begin’.

 

The Future of Moore St: Tony McMahon: Michael Davitt GAC

 

The Future of Moore Street

Last Thursday the relatives of the Signatories of the 1916 Proclamation of the Republic and the Moore Street Preservation Trust launched their detailed plan for the protection of the 1916 Moore Street Battlefield site and for its development as a historic cultural quarter. They were joined at the launched by many of those, including … and Mary Lou McDonald TD and others who have campaigned against the developer led proposal for the area that has been produced by British company Hammerson.

Hammerson’s plan which would see much of the iconic 1916 architecture of the area demolished, has the support of An Taoiseach Micheál Martin and his government. Mr. Martin, who met Hammerson and endorsed its plan before the developer published its proposal, has refused, thus far, to meet the relatives.

To their shame successive Irish governments have supported the private development of Moore Street and allowed the national monument at 14-17 Moore Street, the lasting meeting place of the 1916 leaders, to fall into decay.

The Moore Street Preservation Trust, the 1916 Relatives and other Moore Street activists have fought a long, difficult public and legal campaign to protect and preserve this site which the National Museum of Ireland has described as: “The most important site in modern Irish history.” And on Thursday the latest phase of that battle was launched with the unveiling of the scale model of Moore Street and its environs. Appropriately the Moore Street plan was unveiled in Ionad an Phiarsaigh, the Pearse Centre,former home of the Pearse family in Dublin.

James Connolly Heron, the great grandson of James Connolly, described Thursday as a: “A red letter day for the campaign … Today the 1916 Relatives salute architects Seán Ó Muirí and James Kelly and the Trust team for the realisation of a plan that we can enthusiastically endorse and adopt as the way forward for the development of an area so close to our hearts.”

Among those in attendance were Proinsias Ó Rathaille, grandson of Michael Joseph O’Rahilly - The O’Rahilly - Harry Coyle grandson of Henry Coyle and Brendan Mulvihill, grandson of Michael Mulvihill. Their grandfathers were killed in the Battle of Moore Street.

James Connolly Heron and Proinsias Ó Rathaille unveiled the model and an audio-visual presentation was made by Seán Ó Muirí. The Moore Street Preservation Trust has photographs and details of the event which was Covid compliant. They can be accessed at:

Face book page @MooreStreetTrust and https://www.facebook.com/MooreStreetTrust/photos/

 Among others who took part or came along to look at the model were Uachtarán Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald and Aengus O’Snodaigh TD, Mark Ward TD, Seanadóir Niall O’Donnghaile . Dublin Cllr Micheál MacDonncha, who is secretary of the Trust also spoke at the event.

The model and the detailed renderings and graphic designs will now be available for the Minister of Housing Darragh O’Brien and An Taoiseach Micheál Martin, as well as the planners, to view and examine.

The future of Moore Street is not just vitally important in the context of the 1916 Easter Rising but it is also inextricable linked to the planning laws and regulations that are supposed to protect important historic buildings and sites of national importance. Last year a hotel developer succeeded in demolishing the home of the O’Rahilly at Herbert Park in the city. The building had strong historic links to that period of Ireland’s cultural and historic renaissance and to the revolutionary period at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. In recent days it has also emerged that part of Merchants Arch, the covered laneway into Temple Bar from the Ha’penny Bridge is to be demolished, including part of The Cobblestone an iconic traditional music venue, to make way for a hotel and restaurant.

13,000 people have already signed a petition against the development including Imelda May, who has also supported the Moore Street campaign.

 

Tony McMahon

The great Tony McMahon has died. A musician and broadcaster Tony was one of the giants of traditional music. His music on the button accordion was passionate, deeply Irish, poignant, uplifting and spiritual. His programmes, The Pure Drop, The Long Note, Come West Along the Road and The Green Linnet with the late Barney McKenna are classics. So too his duets with Noel Hill. Irish music has lost a giant figure. Tony was a supporter of Féile an Phobail in hard times. His playing of Port na nPúcaí at a seisiún in Conway Mill remains with me to this day. He also contacted me after the Gibraltar killings with an offer to organise a concert in tribute to those who were assassinated that day. Two concerts were held. Tony also supported the Armagh Women and the H-Block men. Tony also contributed a bi-lingual piece to Hunger Strike – Reflections; a book of essays about the H-Block hunger strikes. He was a proud patriotic Clare man. Mo laoch thú Tony.

 

Michael Davitt GAC. 

In October 2006 and again in August 2021 I was asked to give a talk on Michael Davitt to the members of Davitts GAC on the Falls Road as part of the Davitts Culture, Sport and History Weekend. I enjoyed the craic. My thanks to Chairperson Tommy Shaw, Terry Park and others for a good evening.  

Michael Davitt was an amazing activist. An idealist, a Fenian, a labour activist and a founder of the Land League. He was also a founder patron of the GAA. Soccer heads will be pleased to know that he also laid a sod of Donegal turf in 1892, on behalf of Glasgow Celtic on their new ground at Parkhead. These and other stories are contained in Michael Davitt- Unselfish Idealist, available from Davitts GAC or An Fhuiseog. www.thelarkstore.ie