Gerry Adams's Blog, page 23

Blog: Are you listening to our voices, Micheál: Brexit mess intensifies unity conversation; and Billboards for Unity

Are you listening to our voices, Micheál?

Micheál Martin’s ‘Shared Island Unit’ is perceived by some as a positive initiative encouraging debate on Irish Unity, even though he fails to even mention unity in any of his utterances. For others it is a distraction. A talking shop that is short on strategy and lacking in vision. A means of pretending to be doing something while in fact doing as little as possible. And a way of avoiding taking the big steps necessary to plan for a referendum on Unity, or mapping out what the shape of that new Ireland will be if the referendum succeeds.

My own view is that United Irelanders should engage positively with An Taoiseach’ s Shared Island Unit but in full knowledge that it falls very far short of what Micheál Martin should be doing as part of his constitutional obligations and the imperatives of the Good Friday Agreement. In fact An Taoiseach is wilfully involved in the politics of illusion. But that should not come as a surprise to observers of his politics.

Despite Martin’s reluctance to be a persuader for Unity or to plan for a unity referendum the debate around Irish Unity has been intensifying. In recent weeks several important papers have been published by influential academic institutions and by Ireland’s Future. All of them highlight the need to plan for a referendum and to plan for Unity and that this needs to commence now.

The Ulster University published ‘Deliberating Constitutional Futures’ which examines the arguments around possible constitutional futures, including a unity referendum. Two weeks ago The Constitution Unit of University College London published an interim report from its ‘Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland.’

The report addresses the issue of what will constitute a winning vote. It states that the threshold for “the unification referendum in the North is ‘a majority of the people of Northern Ireland voting in a poll’. It would breach the Agreement to require a higher threshold than 50% + 1. In the South, approval of constitutional referendums likewise requires a simple majority.”

Critically the report authors highlight the danger of any failure to plan for a unity referendum. They state: “The years of acrimony following the UK’s vote on EU membership in 2016 illustrate the dangers of a vote called without adequate planning.” As part of this process of pre-planning the report calls for Citizens’ Assemblies to be established to help identify peoples’ views on what choices should be on offer in any referendum.

It adds: “All these criteria point towards the importance of advance planning: of the referendum processes; and about the shape of a united Ireland, or a continued Union.”

Is Micheál Martin listening? This conclusion is in direct contradiction to his refusal to plan for the time ahead.

Last week Ireland’s Future – an influential group of civic nationalists –published a discussion document entitled: ‘The Conversation on Ireland’s Future. A Principled Framework for Change.’ The paper deals with a series of key questions regarding the unity referendum process and as part of its launch Martina Devlin interviewed Professor Colin Harvey of Queens University. The interview is hugely informative and is still available on https://twitter.com/IrelandsFuture.

And like the report from the Constitution Unit the Ireland’s Future group “place emphasis on advance planning and the need for an evidence-based and informed debate. That is why we have suggested an all-island Citizens’ Assembly to underline the centrality of civic leadership in preparing the ground for change.”

So, planning for a unity referendum and planning the shape of the new Ireland that will emerge out of this process should begin now. As Ireland’s Future say: “There is no contradiction between making the (Good Friday) Agreement work, in all its parts, and planning for the referendums that will determine the future of Ireland. Those who continue to label this process ‘divisive’ and ‘dangerous’ are simply encouraging the spread of fear and anxiety.”

As part of Sinn Féin’s contribution to this growing debate we recently published a discussion paper the “Economic Benefits of a United Ireland.” It addresses many aspects of the current and future economic direction of Ireland and it specifically punctures the claim that a United Ireland is not affordable or viable.

Is Micheál Martin listening? I suspect not. He so wrapped up in a belief of an ‘Ireland’ that stops at the border that he cannot see the enormous opportunities that will open up for all the people of this island through reunification. However whatever Martin’s attitude the conversation on Irish Unity is not going away. The academic papers I have referenced are only the beginning. They are already seeking public feedback. And they and others will continue to focus on reunification in the time ahead.

The debate on unity is also being driven by the increasing realisation that partition has failed the people of the island of Ireland and by the shambles around Brexit and the recognition that a single island response to Covid-19 would have saved lives. So, if you believe in a United Ireland – in a new shared Ireland which embraces every citizen on the basis of equality join in the conversation. Incidentally I would love to know how the SDLP’s New Ireland Commission is getting on. Colum Eastwood’s promise to create a forum to discuss future constitutional arrangements could contribute significantly to the national conversation. Maybe he will give an update?

 

Brexit: Deal or no-deal

It’s possible that by the time you read this a deal will have been done on Brexit. It’s also possible that no deal will have been agreed.

According to the media speculators and commentators this week is the endgame for the Brexit negotiations. However, they also said that two weeks ago. A month before that the spin was that the British and EU negotiators were “down to the wire.” This deal/no-deal crisis has been ongoing since the 2016 referendum decision by England and Wales to leave the EU. (It should always be remembered that the North and Scotland voted to remain.)

I have lost track of the number of deadlines that have been broken this year alone. Two weeks ago the EU gave the British 48 hours to amend their stance or see the process fail. Then the British threatened to walk away. Clearly both sides are hard-balling. It’s the sort of negotiating tactics that successive British governments frequently used during the years of negotiations leading to the Good Friday Agreement and subsequent agreements.

Two weeks ago queues of trucks stretched for over five miles in the Kent countryside in south east England trying to travel onto the Continent. French authorities had decided to dry run new immigration procedures that will come into effect on 1 January when Brexit officially kicks-in. And the big issues remain around fishing, governance and state aid to industry.

At the same time there were media reports about the difficulties the North might face in bringing in food from Britain – particularly unfrozen mince and sausages. A big argument for carnivores to eat only Irish sausages and mince. In fact buy Irish all the time. And shop locally.

On Sunday, a British government paper dealing with the “reasonable worst case scenario planning assumptions” arising from a no deal outcome were leaked to the media. The 34 page document warns among other things that if the Brexit talks collapse  there could be a reduction in the availability of medicines; protests and counter-protests will take place; and there could be "reduced [food] supply availability, especially of certain fresh products" and "supply of some critical dependencies for the food supply chain... could be reduced".

Whatever the outcome of these negotiations – deal or no-deal – the end result will still be bad for the island of Ireland. In a response to questions from Sinn Féin TD John Brady about the impact of Brexit, and the British government’s Internal Market Bill which will breach international law, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney acknowledged that along with the North’s Human Rights Commission, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, as well as a number of civil society organisations, the Irish government shares their concerns that the Internal Market Bill risks undermining the “Good Friday Agreement commitment to ensure incorporation of the ECHR, and risk diminishing the commitment to ensure there is no diminution of rights, safeguards or equality of opportunity as the UK leaves the EU.”

So, the crisis around Brexit heightens; the threat to the Good Friday Agreement continues; and the conversation around the optimistic outcomes arising from a United Ireland intensifies.

 

 

Billboards for Unity

If you have been driving or walking around Belfast, Derry and parts of Dublin and other locations around the country in the last week you will have seen some new billboards and posters proclaiming ‘A New Ireland – A Time to Plan.’ In Belfast the billboards have been erected at some of the city’s busiest junctions and video messages spelling out the advantages of Irish Unity have been posted on social media. Well done to all involved.

The Billboards point to EU membership; Jobs; Prosperity and an All Island Health Service. Sinn Féin Úachtaran Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald put it will at the weekend when she urged citizens to be “part of this planning; to be part of making unification a reality. It is our best plan; it is our best chance; it is our future together.”

This weeks blog: A Session With Bobby Sands and Solidarity with the Palestinian People

 A Session With Bobby Sands.

At last! Danny Devenny is doing a book. He will have to finish it now that this column has broken the story. It will be a photographic and literary journey through his very eventful life. In my opinion Danny Dee  deserves a book or twenty books to celebrate his life in struggle and his art.He  has enriched  all our lives with his creativity and brightened Belfast’s streetscape and educated and uplifted its citizens and visitors with his murals. He will tell how art has been a huge help to him through all his decades of activism. That’s where this painting THE SESSION comes in. 

THE SESSION features John Lennon, Danny’s friend Bobby Sands, Ché Guevara, Chilean activist song writer and poet Víctor Jara and Woody Guthrie the great American song writer and activist. It is available as a limited edition print and a not-for-profit funder for Danny’s book. Check out his Facebook page and private message Danny if you want to buy a copy.

Danny has had a mind to do such a painting for a long time. He was in Long Kesh with Bobby and knows how much music meant to him. Bobby  loved John Lennon. He would love being in a session with him. And the others. He admired them all. There is a photo of a session of poítín drinking prisoners in Cage Eleven which Danny based his painting on. I will tell you the story of that photo and that session another time. 

Anyway Danny delayed doing that painting because he couldn't do a side view of Bobby’s face which satisfied him. Then Richard McAuley found the photo of Bobby in French photographer Gerard Harlay’s portfolio of photos when we were doing work on the Léargas book on Máire Drumm. That, and the pandemic, allowed the space for Danny Dee to work his magic. 

I know the political value of that magic from my time in the Kesh with him in the mid 70’s. Danny Dee did the art work for a number of publications produced in Cage Eleven and smuggled outside. These included Peace In Ireland and Our British Problem – unpublished- by this columnist and In Care Of Her Majesty’s Prisons by Hugh Feeney and Prison Struggle. He also did illustrations for  the Brownie  articles which were smuggled out to the Sinn Féin paper Republican News. His pen name was Flossie. 

Danny and Bobby were in the Gaeltacht hut in Cage Eleven. Bobby used to drive his comrades mad as he practised his guitar skills and learned his songs. Tomboy Loudon was just as bad. He was learning the mandolin. Bobby was taught guitar by blues legend Rab McCullough. They started in the Crum (Crumlin Road Prison) where there were two guitars. Bobby heard Rab playing and asked him for a few tips. Rab was already an accomplished guitarist.  He had been in a number of bands,including Sunshine and The Big Soul Band. 

When Tomboy and Bobby were moved to Long Kesh Rab –an exponent of Robert Johnson’s Delta Blues style–showed Bobby more tricks of the trade. He recalls Bobby was a big Rod Stewart and The Facesfan. He and Tomboy favoured Mandolin Wind. 

They also picked up on Christy Moore. Ewen McColl’s fine ballad ‘Tim Evans’ was one of Bobbys first songs. Christy’s renditions led him to Woody Guthrie. James Taylor, Neil Young, Dylan, Bowie, Loudan Wainright 111, Leonard Cohen  all influenced him. He used the melody of Gordon Lightfoots ‘The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald’ years later in the H Blocks for ‘Back Home in Derry.’

He loved The Beatles. Especially John Lennon and Paul McCartney because of their songs on Ireland. When Lennon was threatened with deportation from New York, Bobby was among the prisoners who signed a petition in Cage 8 to  support him. When McCartney formed Wings Bobby rehearsed ‘Mamunia’ until his hutmates dispaired. They threw oranges and apples at him another time, according to Paddy Donnelly, as he struggled  before eventually getting the key change in Lennon’s  Imagine. I recall him learning Kris Kristofferson’s ‘Bobby Magee’ in the study hut, just the two of us there, as I whiled away my time planning my next unsuccesful escape. 

For their first Christmas in Long Kesh, in Cage 17, Tomboy, Rab and Bobby played at the Cage Concert. By the time they arrived in Cage 11 both Bobby and Tomboy had a reasonable collection of songs. When Coireall MacCurtain arrived in from Limerick and started Irish  ranganna his teaching regime included A Singing Rang. Bobby, by now a committed Gaeilgeoir, learned ‘Gleanntáin Ghlas' Ghaoth Dobhair’ and ‘Báidín Fheilimí’.  He later went on to write his own songs í nGaeilge. There  was only one Record Player in the Cage. Each hut got a go at it. Bobby played Prosperous non-stop and Clannad,  Band On The Run and Bowie. By now his brother Seán had sent him in a guitar and song books. I remember him playing and singing at our Cage concert the Christmas before he was released. Tomboy got out later and Bobby played at his homecoming gig in Unity Flats. He then suggested to Tomboy that they form a group. They did. Pheonix was their name. They had only two gigs. In the LESA (League of Ex-Servicemen’s Association) and Saint Matthew’s clubs. Then Bobby was re-arrested and Tomboy was back on the run.  Before then they had one good night down in Omeath. Tomboy recalls they ended up at a local wedding. A showband, The Four Aces was playing and most of the older wedding guests were walzing serenely as Bobby, his wife Geraldine and Tomboy watched. When Bobby went off to the Gents Tomboy put his name down for a song request. He was duly called and on borrowing a guitar from one of The Four Aces Bobby launched into ‘Pinball Wizard’ by The Who. Tomboy says none of the walzers applauded at the end. Suitably mortified  Bobby told Tomboy with a big grin that it was like he was back singing in the Kesh.  

All of this was  before the horrrors of the H Blocks. So is the photo which Danny Dee used for The Session. He told me he wanted to show Bobby as he was. ’A light hearted  funny guy’. 

Thank you Danny Dee. May your murals keep our heads high.  Go raibh maith agat Bobby Sands. Let your music keep our spirits high.

 

Solidarity with the Palestinian People 

A few weeks ago this column wrote about the hunger strike of Palestinian prisoner Maher al-Akhras. He was on hunger strike for a remarkable 104 days against his internment by Israeli authorities under their infamous ‘administrative detention’ system.  Maher ended his hunger strike on the 6 Novemer following a commitment that he would be released on 26 November and not served with a further detention order. 

Two weeks ago he won his freedom and was taken to the Najah hospital in Nablus in the occupied west Bank. Maher’s courageous stand against the shameful system of administrative detention successfully brought the use of this repressive legislation to a wider international audience. It is also a reminder of the denial of sovereignty to the Palestinian people; the ongoing occupation of Palestinian land by Israel; and the apartheid system which most Palestinian’s are forced to live under.

Two Sunday's ago was the ‘International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People’. This annual act of solidarity with the Palestinian people was agreed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1977 (resolution 32/40 B). It takes place on 29 November each year in remembrance of the resolution passed on that day by the UN which partitioned Palestine (resolution 181 (II)).

The partition of Palestine has created over 80 years of conflict and instability in that region. The human rights consequences for the Palestinian people have been horrendous. The Palestinian people are regularly denied freedom of movement; access to jobs, goods and services, including fuel and food and in the midst of a pandemic, healthcare.

Three weeks ago in an act symbolic of the conditions endured by the people of Palestine, 73 people, including 41 children, were forcibly removed from their homes in the village of Khirbet Humsa and watched as Israeli military excavators smashed them into the ground. The Israeli forces also destroyed 30 tones of food for animals and confiscated two tractors.

It was according to the United Nations the largest forced displacement incident in four years. Yvonne Helle the United Nations coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory said: “Demolitions are a key means of creating an environment designed to coerce Palestinians to leave their homes.” So far this year almost 700 structures have been demolished in East Jerusalem and the west Bank.

However this Israeli tactic goes beyond demolishing Palestinian homes. For years it has destroyed EU funded infrastructure projects in Palestine. Last year 127 structures, mostly funded by EU member states, were destroyed in Israeli authorities. In September 2019 EU member states spoke out against the Israeli policy of demolition. At the time they reported that “the period from March to August 2020 saw the highest average destruction rate in four years."

At the same time the EU, which purports to support a two state solution, is Israel’s number one trade partner. It also sells significant amounts of weapons to Israel. 

The effect of this contradictory, confusing and ineffective stance by the international community allows the Israeli government to ignore protests and the demands of the United Nations for Israel to accept the rights of the people of Palestine. 

The diplomatic and political policy of successive Irish governments in respect of the Palestinian people has failed. It’s time for a new strategy. In 2014 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. It’s long overdue that this was done. The FF/FG/GP government should also end their opposition to the Occupied Territories Bill – which would ban imports from illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories. They should bring it back before the Oireachtas as soon as possible.

 

This weeks Blog deals with 'Economic Self-government; Covid-19 and the Conspiracy business; and The Speaker, King Billy , the Pope and the painting

 Economic Self-government is the future.

Last Friday, as this column noted, Sinn Féin published a new discussion paper – The Economic Benefits of a United Ireland. 

At the heart of the paper is a belief in economic self-government. The right and the ability of the people of Ireland to plan, manage, and develop our island economy in our best interests. It makes sense. Whatever differences may exist between the political parties on this island it is clear that they would prioritise economic policy in the interests of those they represent.

On the other hand British government’s rule in British interests and take political and economic decisions that suit their objectives and not those of the people of the North and of this island.

 The ‘Economic Benefits of a United Ireland’ confronts the first question usually posed by those who are opposed to Irish Unity or those who are uncertain of that goal; ‘can we afford a  United Ireland?’

The answer is yes. As Pearse Doherty TD remarked at the launch; “The health of an economy, the standard of living of its citizens; is driven by investment, research, innovation, good public services and access to the global economy. On all of these, not only is the Union stuttering, it is moving backwards...

The North deserves better, and a United Ireland offers so much more. Irish unity would allow for coordinated investment and development; something the Border region has been missing for a century. Irish unity would utilise economies of scale; allowing one economy to develop rather than having two economies compete. The current trajectory of the all-island economy attests to these opportunities”.       

The reality is that the Northern Executive doesn’t have access to any significant financial levers except rates.  90% of the Executive’s budget is directly controlled by London. The Assembly cannot devise long term fiscal policy or plan for the longer term. This is dictated by the British Government.

But what of the so called British subventions? British  official stats put the subvention at around £10 billion per annum. In reality, the true value is somewhere between £2.5 and £6 billion. The economic payoff from uniting the two economies on the island would more than compensate for the loss of the subvention. Economists such as Kurt Hubner and David McWilliams agree.

As Pearse Doherty attests “Reducing the argument to the subvention is an own goal, the subvention only exists because the economy in the north is so underdeveloped, the subvention is a measure of the failure of BG financial policy in the north.”

With almost seven million people and a larger economy, Irish Unity will create better jobs, increase incomes, improve our quality of life and deliver better public services. The discussion paper considers the advantages of Unity for the promotion of the Green Economy; the precedent of German re-unification; and the role the EU can play in successfully reuniting Ireland.

If you want to find out more go to : www.sinnfein.ie. Be part of the discussion.

 

Covid 19 and the conspiracy business

There is hope on the horizon that a vaccine may soon be available for the Covid-19 virus. This is a very welcome development but until it is available and distributed it is vitally important that citizens stick to the consistent advice that the health authorities have been giving since the start of the year.

Wear a mask; socially distance; wash your hands; and use a hand sanitiser.

The changing conditions have meant that the regulations, restrictions and lockdown processes are constantly changing. This has led to confusion, annoyance and anger. In our own place this has been added to by the refusal of some DUP ministers to play a consistent and constructive role alongside their colleagues on the Executive.

The reality is that the Coronavirus is an unparalleled event in our lives. At the time of writing almost one and a half million have died across the world. In the North almost a thousand people will have died by the end of this week and in the South over two thousand have died. Thousands more have been hospitalised or been taken ill with this virus. 

This Friday the North begins a two week lockdown. The restrictions willcreate hardship. But if lives are to be saved then it is necessary for us to follow the health advice.

One deeply worrying feature of recent months has been the growth in conspiracy theories around Covid-a9. Some say that Covid doesn’t exist; that wearing a mask is dangerous; that the Coronavirus is part of some grand plan by a cabal of leading states and politicians to control the world economy and limit peoples’ rights; and/or is a plot by big pharma to make money. In addition Covid deniers claim that the number of people dying from Coronavirus is being deliberately exaggerated by governments. And there is the claim that the extension of 5G technology is to blame for the spread of the disease. 

Lies; misrepresentation of facts; and right wing fantasy propaganda have become part of the daily diet of millions on social media.

One dangerous consequence of this is that increasing numbers of people are not just saying they will refuse to take a vaccine to immunise against Covid when it becomes available but are questioning the efficacy of vaccines in their entirety. A survey of 26,000 people in 25 countries last month by the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project in collaboration with the London Guardian found “widespread and concerning scepticism about vaccine safety.”

It reported that 20% of respondents across 19 countries gave some credibility to the view that “the truth about the harmful effects of vaccines is being deliberately hidden from the public”, including 57% of South Africans, 48% of Turks, 38% of French people, 33% of Americans, 31% of Germans and 26% of Swedes.

According to the World Health Organisation; “Vaccines have been one of the biggest success stories of modern medicine. WHO estimates that at least 10 million deaths were prevented between 2010 and 2015 thanks to vaccinations delivered around the world. Many millions more lives were protected from the suffering and disability associated with diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhea, whooping cough, measles, and polio.”

So, in these dangerous times ignore  the naysayers and sceptics, and the conspiracy theorists. Follow the health advice.  

The Speaker, King Billy, the Pope and the painting

Sinn Féin MLA Alex Maskey is the Speaker –An Ceann Chomairle - of the Assembly. In the waiting room of his official office in Parliament Buildings there hangs an unusual painting. When it was bought in 1933 by the Unionist government to adorn the wall of their new Parliament Building it was claimed to be a work by Pieter van derMuelen. He was allegedly a court painter for William of Orange. It is supposed to show a triumphant King William on a white charger landing at Carrickfergus at the start of his successful war with the English King James 11. When it was announced that the painting had been purchased unionist MPs cheered. 

In March 1933 the painting was unveiled in the lobby outside the Members’ Room. The applause which had accompanied the news of its successful purchase quickly turned to horror when it was examined. 

If you look closely at the painting you will see Pope Innocent X1, resting on a cloud above King Billy, giving a papal blessing to the King. Leading William and his entourage is a man on foot – apparently a Franciscan friar – with rosary beads in his hands. Pope Innocent X1 who ordered a Te Deum to be sung when news arrived of Williams victory at the Boyne, was an ally of the Prince of Orange in a war then convulsing much of Europe.

A few months after it was unveiled the painting was damaged by Charles Forrester, a member of the Scottish Protestant League who was affronted by it. It was restored but removed from public view. It was placed in the Speakers Office in 1983 where it remains.

There is some speculation that the painting is not a representation of King William at all or of his landing in Ireland but has to do with his war against the French in the Low Countries in Europe.

It is also claimed that van derMuelen was not a court painter for William. It is said that he was a minor painter, and may not have been responsible for the painting at all. 

Before the Covid restrictions the painting was a popular part of the tour which the Assembly staff provided for those who visited the building. So, when the tours are eventually reinstated post Covid and if you want to see a painting naively bought by the Unionist government in 1933 which does not show King Billy on his White Charger landing at Carrickfergus but has a more interesting story to tell, why not visit Parliament Buildings for a wee juke.

The painting on the Wall in the Speaker's office

 

 

 

This weeks blog examines the Economic Benefits of a United Ireland; Remembers Danny Groves; and Decision awaited in Pat Finucane case

 

Economic Benefits of a United Ireland

In four weeks (23 December) we will mark 100 years since the Government of Ireland Act, which partitioned Ireland, was signed into law by an English King. Six years earlier James Connolly, writing in the Irish Worker in March 1914, warned that partition “would mean a carnival of reaction both North and South, would set back the wheels of progress, would destroy the oncoming unity of the Irish labour movement and paralyse all advanced movements whilst it endured. To it Labour should give the bitterest opposition ...”

The northern state that emerged following partition delivered all that Connolly feared. Political Unionism and its business class built an apartheid ‘Orange’ state on sectarian divisions. They turned worker against worker and introduced a system of structured political and economic discrimination which continues to impact on northern society today.

Partition also inflicted great hurt on the southern economy. Places like Sligo and Monaghan and Derry, Dundalk and Newry were separated from their natural economic hinterland by an artificial border. Along the 300 miles of border farmers were cut off from their land; neighbours from neighbours; families from their relatives, and businesses from their customers.

Two conservative states, with two conservative elites, were established that took economic decisions that left the border region impoverished and a section of citizens in the North as second class citizens. We have had 100 years of disjointed and competing economic and social development on this small island.

In recent years, most notably since the Brexit vote of 2016, there has been a growing debate on the merits of Irish Unity. Much of that has focused on the issue of the economy.

This week Sinn Fein is publishing a new paper: the ‘Economic Benefits of a United Ireland’ which examines the failure of partition and sets out the economic benefits that will accrue from a single island economy in a United Ireland.  

The paper reveals that the North is the slowest growing economy on these islands. The labour market is characterised by jobs that are lower paid and less secure than in the Irish state or in Britain. Some 20% of workers earn less than a basic living wage. In addition the wasteful competition and division rising from partition undermines the fortunes of both sides of the border region. The result is an incoherent and unfulfilled economic development.

The ‘Economic Benefits of a United Ireland’ also refutes the claim that the Irish state cannot afford Irish Unity or cope with the loss of the British subvention. The claim that the subvention is worth £10bn a year is false. The real figure is at most £6bn and closer to less than half that.

The threat posed by Brexit and Covid-19 have also created new challenges and new opportunities. A United Ireland offers the best opportunity to tackle these issues in a way that is to the economic advantage of the people of the island of Ireland.

The ‘Economic Benefits of a United Ireland’ is an exciting contribution to the conversation about a new Ireland – a shared Ireland. It reveals an island economy capable of expanding its economic potential, creating new jobs, better paid jobs, building a better standard of living of all its citizens and first class public services, including a health service for everyone.

We should have the right to organise our own economy. We will certainly do that much better than anyone in London.

 

Danny and Jim O'Carroll

The death of Danny Groves

It is the nature of things that this column has been moved to record the deaths of friends more often than I would like to but it is with the greatest sadness that I extend my condolences to the family of Danny Groves who died last Sunday. Danny died after a long battle with cancer. I want to express my sympathies to his wife Liz, and to his children Roisin, Bill, Jim, Eilis, Danny, Emma and Deirdre and to his many grandchildren, great grandchildren and extended family circle.

I have known Danny and Liz for more years than I care to remember. The Groves family is one of those spinal republican families that have been involved in republican activism from the time of partition.

Danny was a member of the Tom Williams Pipe Band in the 1960s and participated in countless commemorations, Easter Parades and fund raisers for Sinn Féin and the National Graves Association. Joe Cahill was the President of the Band. Danny marched for civil rights in 1968/69 and in the pogroms of 1969 he was one of those who helped evacuate families out of Ardoyne into the west of the City.

Both Danny and Liz are from North Belfast. They moved to a flat in Lenadoon after they were married in July 1970 and then in 1972 moved again to Tullymore Gardens in upper Andersonstown. They lived three doors up from Danny’s mother, the indomitable Emma Groves. In December 1971 Emma, who was the mother of 11 children, was blinded by a British soldier who fired a rubber bullet at her through the window of her home. It was a devastating injury. Emma refused to allow her injury and disability to define her. Along with Clara Reilly she formed the United Campaign Against Plastic Bullets and with the support of Danny and her large family she campaigned tirelessly against the use of rubber and plastic bullets.

From those early years in the 1970s Danny and Liz have been part of the backbone of the Sinn Fein organisation in the Upper Andersonstown area. Despite having a large family there was always a ready welcome in their home for republican activists. Frequent house raids, harassment, constant arrests and threats by the British Army and RUC were a regular feature of Danny’s life at that time. He and Liz refused to be intimidated.

No job was too big or too small for Danny, especially during elections. You needed someone brought to a polling station his car was available. You needed someone to deliver leaflets or stand outside a polling station in the freezing cold and rain? Danny was your man.

Liz is one of the best known community workers in Belfast. She has been a key advice centre worker for Sinn Féin in Connolly House for many years and despite the Covid-19 pandemic Liz continues to work and use her experience on behalf of constituents.

During his illness Danny retained his strong sense of humour and although confined to his bed kept abreast of political developments locally as well as internationally. Danny was also more than willing to help where possible. Recently, Richard McAuley who is involved in doing some background research for a Léargas book I am writing on Kathleen Largey/Thompson, contacted Liz and asked if he could talk to her and Danny about Kathleen. Both knew Kathleen and Eamonn Largey. While maintaining social distance Richard visited Danny and Liz. Danny’s memory was undiminished by the years or his illness. He and Liz were very helpful. Lots of craic about An Ard Scoil, the 43 Club and the old Felons at Milltown.

Danny will be missed. By Liz and his children and the Groves family. But also by his neighbours and many friends whose lives he touched and enriched over the years. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis

 

Awaiting a Decision in Pat Finucane Case

The courage and tenacity of the Finucane family after years of battling with the British state continues to amaze and inspire. Pat Finucane was killed in February 1989 by a UDA death squad working in collusion with RUC Special Branch, the British Army’s Force Reconnaissance Unit and the British state,. For three decades the family, like many hundreds of others, have been fighting to get to the truth. Successive British governments have blustered and bluffed, stalled and lied in order to prevent this.

Last month a lawyer acting for the British Secretary of State for the North Brandon Lewis gave the High Court in Belfast a commitment from him that a decision would be taken on whether to proceed with a public inquiry on or before the 30 November. That’s next week.

Geraldine Finucane brought a judicial review against the British Secretary of State for his failure to implement last year’s Supreme Court ruling which criticised the British government’s failure to take a decision on establishing an investigation. On 11 October the barrister acting for Brandon Lewis told the court that he had been instructed to offer a commitment that a decision would be taken on or before 30 November.

The Judge adjourned the case until December. We now await the decision of the British Secretary of State.

Regrettably, the years of prevarication and disinformation around Pat’s case is part of a wider conspiracy by the British state to refuse to hold its security and intelligence agencies t account for their actions during the conflict. The decision by the PPS in relation to the Operation Kenova Case and the refusal to implement the Stormont House Agreement reached in 2014 are all evidence of this.

The decision by Brandon Lewis in respect of Pat Finucane will indicate whether it’s business as usual for this British government or if it is finally prepared to face up to its legal and international human rights obligations.

Make Voting Easier; Polls telling a vital story and Do you have an old An Phoblacht

Make Voting Easier

Joe Biden is now the President Elect of the USA. Kamala Harris – the first woman to hold thís post – will be the new Vice President.

There is always huge interest in Ireland about USPresidential elections. The well known family connection between Joe Biden and Ireland has reinforced this interest. Kamala  Harris also has Irish roots as well as Tamil Indian and Jamaican family connections. Her mother is from India, her father  from Jamaica.  By coincidence both the President Elect and the Vice President Elect share  the same familyname. Joe Biden is the great grandson of Owen Finnegan from the Cooley peninsula in County Louth. Kamala Harris’ Jamaican greatgrandmother’s first husband was Patrick A Finegan, the mixedrace son of an Irishman of the same name.

Their story is the story of Ireland’s diaspora and our globalconnections. Their familyhistory must be a fascinatingtale. The next phase of it will be even more interesting. Therewill be high expectations of the incoming Vice President not least among women and black American women in particular.

Both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris  have huge challenges before them and I wish them well. I  know President Biden. The Irish and British establishments willbe watching him closely. I’m sure British representatives will soon be wingingtheir way to DC. But I’m also sure that Ireland’s friends in the Capitol will be wise to that and I’m confident they and Joe Biden will stand over their commitment to defend the Good Friday Agreement.

One aspect of the US election campaign that we in Ireland should scrutinise more closely is the effort put in by most states and electoral bodies to make voting in the election as easy as possible.

Over 100 million citizens voted by mail or in person in early voting. Millions stood in long lines for hours in the weeks leading up to election day on 3 November. The demand was so great that drive through voting booths were established in some areas.

In 2016 47 million US citizens voted early. This time that figure was smashed ten days before polling day. The Covid-19 pandemic clearly played a part in persuading people to vote early and by mail but the fact that voting was made easier encouraged more citizens to participate in the democratic system.

Of course, there were efforts to suppress the vote in some states but despite this the American electorate chose to embrace all of the democratic methods available to them to vote in historic numbers.

This is a lesson that the two electoral systems on this island should examine closely. Despite claims in the past of voter fraud there has been no evidence of organised voter fraud over recent decades. What we do know, certainly in the North, is that every year many voters find that for no reason they have been taken off the register.

Elections are about citizens choosing who should have responsibility for managing the political system, making law and taking the economic, health, social and environmental decisions that will impact on their lives and their futures.

If a country as vast as the USA with 250 million voters can facilitate and encourage massive postal voting and in-person voting weeks in advance why can’t we?

If a country as diverse as the USA and with 50 states with different electoral rules and regulations can allow for in-person voting weeks before polling day. Why can’t we?

The island of Ireland has a population that is less than that of the state of Massachusetts. If the USA can make voting easy for its citizens why can’t we?

A voting system that makes voting easy – that encourages citizens to participate - while enforcing rules and regulations to prevent fraud must be a positive to any democratic system. More people voting is good for democracy and good for holding parties and governments to account. It will also be essential for  a fair outcome to the referendum on  Irish unity when  that day comes.

 

Polls telling a vital story

There is a fixation with political opinion polls. I have a healthy scepticism of such polls. I know from long experience that they rarely reflect the Sinn Féin vote and there have been examples internationally, including last week’s US election, where the final election result was significantly different to that predicted in the polls.

Opinion polls have been around for many decades and use different methodologies. As well as evidencing the shifting political allegiances of voters in the North opinion polls and electoral results have underlined the growing demographic changes that are increasingly evident.

No month passes without some new survey being published. It is then scrutinised and parsed from every conceivable angle by political correspondents, academics, editorial writers and bloggers who seek to read the public mood and identify possible political trends.

Opinion polls have also focused on the related issues of Irish Unity and a referendum on Irish Unity. In May 2019, during the European and local government elections in the South, an opinion poll conducted at polling stations for RTE recorded 65% of respondents saying they would vote yes for a united Ireland if it were held the following day.

This has been a pattern in recent years. A LucidTalk poll two weeks ago reported that 43% of 18-24 year olds in the North would definitely vote to end the union with Britain. The poll claimed that 34% would support remaining. Among those aged between 25-44 LucidTalk said that 42% strongly favour a United Ireland.

The public mood as revealed in polls is also reflected in recent election results which have seen political unionism lose its electoral majority. It’s all a long way from the imposition of the Government of Ireland Act 100 years ago next month. Change is clearly taking place.

Change too is taking place in Scotland where an opinion poll last week for Politico said that independence for Scotland now has a 12 point lead. This is the 11th poll in a row which has claimed that there is majority support for independence.

The Scottish National Party is busy planning for a referendum on independence and is honing its arguments. According to the US based Bloomberg News the British government is also planning to win public support in Scotland for retaining the Union.

So, the Scottish Government is planning for Independence. The British government is planning to challenge the independence campaign. Yet, faced with many of the same challenges and a growing public conversation around a referendum on Irish Unity An Taoiseach Micheál Martin and the Irish government have chosen to prevaricate, obfuscate, distract and do everything possible to avoid planning for a referendum or for a United Ireland. Failing to plan is no plan.

 

Do you have an old An Phoblacht?

The republican paper An Phoblacht- now a quarterlymagazine - needs your help. Thís year it celebrates 50 years of unbrokenpublication.  As someone who writes regularly about recentrepublican history An Phoblacht and An Phoblacht/Republican News is a great resource.

However, over the years editions of the paper were lost. That means we no longer have a complete archive. So, we are looking for your help in completing our archive.

We need specific issues of An Phoblacht/Republican News ranging from 1979-2015. If you or somebody you know has an issue of An Phoblacht from this period and want to help us, drop an email to admin@sinnfein.ie or call Ph: 01 872 6100. We look forward to hearing from you.

 

 

My Blog this week is about a Palestinian hunger striker; Gaeilgeoir Breanndán O Beaglaoich and my friend Pat McGivern

 

A   Palestinian   internee hungers for justice  

I want to welcome the end of the remarkable 103 day hunger strike by Palestinian Maher al-Akhras. Last week as we remembered the deaths on hunger strike 100 years ago of Terence MacSwiney, Michael Fitzgerald and Joseph Murphy, Maher was in an Israeli hospital on hunger strike protesting against his detention.

There is a close affinity between the people of Ireland and the Palestinian people. Both have a long history of being colonised. We have been the victim of occupation, state violence, discrimination and forced emigration. The experience of struggle has also been similar. 

Maher was arrested on 27 July and spent 103 days on hunger strike. He ended his hunger strike last Friday – 6 November – having received a commitment from the Israeli authorities that his detention would not be extended and that he would not be subject to further administrative detention orders.

It is absolutely remarkable and horrendous that this man survived such a long period on hunger strike.

It is a testimony to his courage and fortitude and determination to highlight a grave injustice by the Israeli authorities.

Maher is a father of six children and is from the village of Silat a-Dhahr in the occupied West Bank. He has not been formally charged with any offence. Like thousands of Palestinians over recent years he is the victim of administrative detention. This procedure is effectively ‘internment without charge’, a practice used by the British state and the Unionist Stormont regime for five years in the early 1970s.

A person arrested under administrative detention is held with a trial. The Israeli state does not have to accuse him/her of having committed an offense. There is no time limit on the length of the time they can imprison someone. In some cases it has lasted years. Currently according to B’tselem, the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, 355 Palestinians are being held under administrative detention, two of them are minors. In the last 20 years the Israeli government has enforced over 30,000 administrative detention orders.

The UN Committee against Torture has called on the Israeli government to: “Take the measures necessary to end the practice of administrative detention and ensure that all persons who are currently held in administrative detention are afforded all basic legal safeguards.”

Israel rejected this request by the United Nations.

In 2017 the UN Special Rapporteur expressed his concerns at administrative detention. He said: “Israel’s use of administrative detention is not in compliance with the extremely limited circumstances in which it is allowed under International Humanitarian Law ...”

Once again the Israeli government rejected this request.

In the last two decades 120,000 people have been arrested and imprisoned bythe  Israeli government. 18,000 of these were children. Gaza which is home to two million people is the largest open air prison in the world. When I visited Gaza in 2009 I was appalled by the conditions under which citizens were being forced to live because of the Israeli siege. That situation has deteriorated,if that is possible,in the years since.

The people of Palestine existing in Gaza and in the occupied West Bank are living lives dictated by an Israeli apartheid state that steals their land and their water and destroys their homes.

In June the Irish state won a seat on the UN Security Council for 2021-22. The Irish government campaigned on the themes of “Partnership, Empathy and Independence”. If it is to be true to these themes the Irish government must urgently seek the release of Maher al-Akhras (who is scheduled for release on November 26); demand that the Israeli government end the use of administrative detention, and recognise the state of Palestine.

I would also urge readers to write to Maher who is being held in the Kaplan Medical Centre, Pasternak St. P.O.Box 1, Rehovot 76100, Israel; or email its Public Relations Dept at TaliYa@clalit.org.il

 

An Gaeltacht Abú.

Comhghairdeas to Breanndán O Beaglaoich, renowned traditional musician, Gaeilgeoir and stander upper for people in Gaeltacht areas. He has just won a landmark appeal against Kerry County Council which had refused him permission to build a home on his own land in Baile na bPoc in the West Kerry Gaeltacht.

Breanndán’s fight has been going on for fifteen years. He was facing the threat of imprisonment because of his refusal to remove an ‘unauthorised’  trailer house from his land. He described An Bord Pleanála decision to overturn the Council’s  ruling as a  weight of his heart.

‘I finally have legal status on my own land. This fight has been about the rights of the younger generation  to live in their own townlands....This is only the beginning. Planning laws must be changed if rural communities are to survive. Without people on the land you wont have the language, you wont  have the music,you will lose the essence of what Ireland is’.

As part of his campaign Breanndán erected 235 white crosses to mark the impact of the depopulation on his home place. His victory is a victory for us all. Proof again that one person with tenacity and persistence can make a difference. Maith thú a Bhreanndán.

 

Pat, Mise agus Marguerite

Remembering Pat McGivern

Pat McGivern was a life-long republican. In recent years she was especially well known for working alongside Marguerite Gallagher in the Green Cross bookshop at 55 Falls Road, now An Fhuiseog. She continued to do this despite many years of constant battling against and being treated for cancer.

I never heard a single word of self-pity from her. Over many decades Pat was a stalwart for the Republican struggle in the Falls/Clonard area. When she lived in Sevastopol Street and later in Devenish Close her home was open day and night to republican activists. She had a generous heart and fed and watered many a weary Republican activist in her day.

As a supporter of Republican prisoners she worked hard in support of the Green Cross. During the various prison protests and through the campaign for political status and later against strip searching in Armagh Women’s Prison, Pat actively campaigned across Ireland in support of the prisoners demands.

An active and energetic member of Falls Sinn Fein Cumann, Pat worked hard in every election campaign from the 1980s until the present day. Her kind-heartedness and caring nature was there in abundance as she cared for over a long period of time for our now departed friend and comrade Paddy Mc Manus.

No part was ever too great or too daunting for Pat. She embodied in every way the spirit of Bobby Sands: “Every Republican or otherwise, has their own part to play. No part is too great or to small, no one is too old or too young to do something.”.

I am proud and honoured to say that Pat was my friend. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam dílis. To her children, grand children and great grand children and to her wide circle of friends and comrades I want to extend by deepest condolences.

 

 

 

Mt Blog this week is on 'A Shared Ireland?' Kevin Barry and Aontoim Abú

 A Shared Ireland?

Regular readers of this blog will not be surprised by An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin’s, recent comments on his government’s Shared Island Unit. As we have noted before Mr Martin is not a United Irelander. But he is An Taoiseach with a constitutional obligation to promote Irish unity and the leader of Fianna Fáil, a party with Irish unity as  its primary objective. So some may think he should set aside his  own narrow stunted  personal and unambitious views in order to fulfill his offical duties. And implement the Good Friday Agreement while he is at it.

Surely that’s what a Taoiseach should do?  Nope. That’s not the way it works. As we know Mr Martin is not the first Taoiseach not to promote Irish unity. Indeed he is one of a long line. But this is  to miss the point. I have a certain sympathy with Mr Martin. His predecessors had the luxury of wrapping the green flag around themselves when it suited them. They could wax lyrical about the fourth green field. Unity was a vague aspiration. A dream. A line in a song. There was no agreed mechanism to secure it. No agreed way to end the Union with England. Now there is.

Micheál Martin knows this. His party helped to negotiate the Good Friday Agreement. Fianna Fáil signed up to it. Bertie Ahern and the government he led agreed to this. So did all other major parties except the DUP, though they now work that agreement or those  parts of it they cannot block or delay or dilute.

So now there is now an agreed mechanism to end the Union if that’s what the people decide in the Good Friday Agreement. It states that:

(i) recognise the legitimacy of whatever choice is freely exercised by a majority of the people of Northern Ireland with regard to its status, whether they prefer to continue to support the Union with Great Britain or a sovereign united Ireland;

(ii) recognise that it is for the people of the island of Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts respectively and without external impediment, to exercise their right of self-determination on the basis of consent, freely and concurrently given, North and South, to bring about a united Ireland, if that is their wish, accepting that this right must be achieved and exercised with and subject to the agreement and consent of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland;

Even the DUP accept this. But not An Taoiseach Martin. Former DUP leader Peter Robinson, not for the first time,  argued  last week in his new Belfast Newsletter column that unionists should plan and prepare to win the referendum. Peter Robinson is right. Micheál Martin has no such intentions. But Peter Robinson, mistakenly in my view, does not want the union to end. Neither for totally different reasons does Micheál Martin. That’s why he has no intention of planning for the full implentation of the Good Friday Agreement.

The people of this island voted for the Agreement. It is their Agreement. While the peace it underpins may not be a perfect peace it is far better than what proceeded it. It is an International Treaty. The Irish and British Governments are co-equal  guarantors. The  British Government break the Agreement whenever it suits them. They get away with this because the Irish government lets them. So much of Micheál’s remarks in his Shared Island Unit speech about the British Government’s good intentions are nonsense. He knows this. He also knows that because there is an agreed mechanism to decide our future that he does not have the luxury of his predecessors. He has not the option of verbalised republicanism. He cannot extol the merits of ending the union and planning a new shared and agreed future together for the people of Ireland for fear he gets the very thing he does not want. A united Ireland.

That is why he has set Fianna Fáil policy aside. That is why  he ignores his own constitutional obligations and the imperatives of his office. And The Good Friday Agreement. That’s why The Shared Island Unit does not mention Irish  unity. Its purpose is to distract attention from that. But as Mr Martin will find out that is impossible. He probably knows that already. So his approach is to play for time. To long finger the necessary planning and consultation that building a new united inclusive Ireland requires. But he has to do something. He says he wants to foster a constructive and inclusive engagement on all aspects of our shared future. He has  launched what he calls The Shared Island Dialogue series. I welcome that although there is no information as far I can see on how this series will be organised or how citizens will participate.

We are told that the  Dialogue series will start next month and that the first Shared Future Dialogue will be ‘New generations and New voices on the Good Friday Agreement’.

So this is progress of sorts. The Government has eventually, reluctantly and hesitantly committed to an inclusive, constructive ‘engagement on all aspects of our shared future’.

Let’s see exactly what this means. Let’s make sure this isn’t just another talking shop. Micheál Martin may not want to talk about Irish unity. But he can’t stop the rest of us. Especially if his Dialogue series is really ‘an inclusive and constructive engagement’.  As Parnell said: ‘No man has the right to fix the boundary to the march of a nation. No man has the right to say to his country thus far shalt thou go and no further. We have never attempted to fix the ne plus ultra to the progress  of Ireland’s nationhood  and we never shall.’

 

 

‘Hold and stick to the Republic’

Yesterday the 1st November is 100 years since Kevin Barry was hanged by the British.  In recent weeks two books have been published reminding us of the Kevin Barry story.

The first – The Story of Kevin Barry - is a republication of a book originally written by Seán Cronin with a foreword by the legendary IRA guerrilla leader Tom Barry who commanded the 3rd West Cork Flying Column during the Tan War.

The book was first published in 1965 and has now been republished by the National Commemorations Committee. It has a new foreword by Úachtaran Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald.

Cronin’s account is an insightful, deeply moving story of an intelligent, deeply committed young man who embraced the struggle for Irish freedom.

One of Kevin Barry’s last visitors was Father Albert, one of the Capuchin priests who attended the 1916 leaders before their execution. Fr. Albert asked Kevin if he had a last message. He replied:

“The only message I have for anybody is ‘Hold on and stick to the Republic.’”

At 8 am the following morning Kevin Barry was hanged in Mountjoy jail as thousands prayed outside the walls. And there he lay with 9 other republican prisoners who were hanged by the British. The Forgotten Ten

Kevin Barry, Frank Flood, Thomas Whelan, Patrick Moran, Thomas Bryan, Patrick Doyle, Bernard Ryan, Thomas Traynor, Edward Foley and Patrick Maher.

On the 14 October 2001 the Ten coffins draped in the Irish Tricolour were driven through the streets of Dublin to the applause of the thousands who lined the route. I was very proud to be there with Martin McGuinness. Nine were buried in Glasnevin Cemetery. Patrick Maher was buried in Limerick. They were finally laid to rest.

The second book is ‘Yours ‘Til Hell Freezes – A Memoir of Kevin Barry.’ It is written by Síofra O’Donovan who is the grand niece of Kevin Barry and is published by Currach Books.

Kevin was an older brother to Síofra O’Donovan’s maternal grandmother, Monty (Mary) Barry. The book is a fascinating account of the Barry family and provides an invaluable insight into the life of Kevin Barry, the events that influenced and shaped his politics, and the courage he displayed in joining the Irish Republican Army and the fight for Irish freedom.

It also contains some anecdotal gems. Síofra O’Donovan relates how Paul Robeson came to record a 12” record of the ballad in 1957. She writes:

“My father related how Robeson came upon the ballad when Peadar O’Donnell and a friend were travelling across America in a car and the tyre burst and out stepped Paul Robeson from a limousine to offer his help.

One thing led to another, and when he expressed interest in recording an Irish song, O’Donnell suggested ‘Kevin Barry’. Robeson wrote down the words while Peadar sang the melody.

 

 

Aontroim Abú.

It’s great that The Sunday Game is back. In between lockdowns I enjoyed watching some junior games locally. I marveled at the skill levels especially of our young women and girls. The camógs were also in fine form.

There is something special about being on the sideline on a fine Saturday or Sunday reliving imaginary past glories and admiring the prowess of our young athletes.

But then the GAA itself is special. All Gaels and other sports fans should be grateful that we have such a lively living Gaelic games tradition and such an association to promote it. Corrigan Park looked wonderful on Sunday when Naomh Éoin hosted our county’s senior hurlers against Westmeath. The new stand  proudly framed by the Black Mountain was a fitting backdrop for a fine victory.

Well done Antrim’s hurlers. On a roll after a terrific win against Kerry.

Our footballers lost any chance of promotion when they were trounced by Wicklow but did well to beat Waterford. The Waterford County Board made no friends in these parts by refusing to travel into the North.

Pandemic or not it was a bad call by the Deise and a correct call by our own Board to travel to Louth.

My Blog this week is on US Elections; The British threat to the GFA; and Terence MacSwiney

 An appeal to Irish America

This US Presidential election race is its final stretch. It’s probably one of the most watched and bitter in modern American history. In recent weeks the electoral battle between President Trump and Vice President Biden has taken many twists and turns as each appeal to voters for support. In particular, how Trump and Biden are addressing the Coronavirus pandemic is probably the single biggest issue dominating the news agenda. It is also important to remember that this election is about more than who will be President. Every Congressional seat is also up for re-election and a third of the seats in the Senate.

Irish America is a huge constituency within the US. Around 40 million claim Irish roots. Where once it voted predominantly Democratic the voting pattern reflects wider US society. Consequently, the Irish American vote is important in this election. Many within that constituency continue to be keenly interested in the Irish peace process and the Good Friday Agreement. Many too are very conscious and concerned by the threat to the Agreement posed by the British government’s Brexit strategy. US political leaders in the Congress and Senate have consistently expressed their support for both. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been especially vocal in making clear her view that any threat to the Good Friday Agreement will rule out any post Brexit trade deal between the USA and Britain. 

The importance of the Irish American lobby is evident in the priority each give to Ireland. As in previous elections both Presidential candidates have set out their platforms on Ireland and our peace agreements. Joe Biden has frequently talked about his pride in his family’s Irish roots and his support in the Congress for the peace process. In a statement last week the Biden/Harris campaign set as their number one objective “active US diplomatic engagement to advance “ the peace process and “will ensure that there will be no US-UK trade deal if the implementation of Brexit imperils the Good Friday Agreement.” Biden also addressed the issue of the undocumented saying he will “prioritise legislation to create a roadmap to citizenship” for the undocumented.”

The Trump camp through its special envoy to Ireland, Mick Mulvaney, has also set out its support for the peace process, the Good Friday Agreement and opposition to the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland. Mulvaney visited Ireland last month and met political leaders, including Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald. He said: “We’re here to protect, defend that Good Friday Agreement that was so hard fought and won.”

The role of the international community in supporting peace in Ireland was long recognised by Sinn Féin as crucial to making progress. We made it a central plank of our peace strategy in the 1990s and strategically engaged with Irish America. That approach saw Irish America rise to the challenge and play a pivotal role in encouraging Congressional and Senate representatives and the Clinton White House to engage in the peace process. Since the Good Friday Agreement was achieved in 1998 every US administration has supported the Agreement.

In the demanding times ahead, as the British Government pursues a Brexit strategy that threatens the peace process, American support for the Good Friday Agreement is more important than ever.

I would appeal to Irish America to use this Presidential election as an opportunity to raise the issue of Ireland with their Congressional and Senate candidates, as well as with their Presidential candidates; to seek their public support for the Good Friday Agreement; and to encourage them to back a referendum on Irish Unity.

 

Gove and the Threat to the GFA

The British government states that its Brexit negotiations are about defending the Good Friday Agreement. As this column has frequently said how much confidence should we put in this claim? None dear readers. None whatsoever. Diddley sqwat.

Michael Gove is one of the British government’s key negotiators in the Brexit negotiations. Last week and again at the weekend Gove and other British Ministers were spinning that there was little prospect of a trade deal between Britain and the EU. Gove said the EU is "not serious" about agreeing the compromises the Brits are demanding. As time for a deal grows short the Brits are hard balling.

This is a dangerous time for the Good Friday Agreement. Gove is also currently championing the introduction of the Internal Market Bill, which the British accept breaches international law and breaks the Withdrawal Treaty and Irish Protocol. It will also undermine the Good Friday Agreement.

What Gove really thinks about the Good Friday Agreement was spelt out by him in a paper he wrote 20 years ago. In ‘The Price of Peace’ Gove likened the Agreement to the appeasement of the Nazis in the 1930s. He described the GFA as a ‘moral stain’. He wrote: “It is a humiliation of our Army, Police and Parliament. But, worse still, it is a denial of our national integrity, in every sense of the word. Surely, is the Belfast Agreement not the greatest achievement of this Government, but an indelible mark against it?”

In his paper Gove also rails against the human rights provisions of the Good Friday Agreement; criticises rights for the disabled and campaigners fighting against sex discrimination; attacks a human rights culture which allows women to sue for unfair dismissal when pregnant and challenges the creation of “new rights” for trans citizens.

Should we be surprised that a British government ignores the democratic vote of the people of the North to remain in the EU?

In this context there is an onus on the Irish government to stand up to the Johnson government and defend the rights of Irish citizens and the Good Friday Agreement.

 

 

 

Remembering Terence MacSwiney

“It is not those who can inflict the most but those who can endure the most who will conquer.”

This is one of the most recognisable Irish Republican slogans of the last 100 years of struggle. It has been frequently published in leaflets, painted on walls and quoted in speeches, especially during the 1981 H-Block hunger strike. The quote is taken from Terence MacSwiney’s ‘Principles of Freedom’ a collection of his writings that was published after his death. In his prison diary Bobby Sands references Terence MacSwiney as an inspiration: “Thomas Clarke is in my thoughts, and MacSwiney, Stagg, Gaughan, Thomas Ashe, McCaughey.”

Next Sunday – October 25th– marks 100 years since MacSwiney’s death after 74 days on hunger strike.

MacSwiney, was the second Lord Mayor of Cork to die in 1920. In March of that year he gave the oration at the graveside of his predecessor Tomás MacCurtain who was shot dead in his home by members of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). Like MacCurtain, Terence MacSwiney was pledged to the principles of the Republic declared at Easter 1916. He was a poet, a playwright, a gaeilgeoir, and a teacher. Like all of the Sinn Féin MPs elected in the December 1918 election he refused to take his seat and gave his allegiance to the First Dáil.

His hunger strike attracted huge international interest and support. The London based Observer recorded at the time that; “The majority of public opinion and of the press in Great Britain is unquestionably for the Lord Mayor’s release.” There were marches and meetings calling for his release. Lloyd George, the British Prime Minister refused to move.

On hearing of MacSwiney’s death a young Vietnamese man, Nguyen Tat Thanhn, who was working in the kitchen of a central London hotel, burst into tears. He said; “a country with a citizen like this will never surrender”. When he returned to Vietnam Thanhn changed his name. As Ho Chi Minh he lead the fight against Japanese and French occupation and later the war with the USA. Another international figure inspired by MacSwiney was Mahatma Ghandi.

Terence MacSwiney was not the only Republican political prisoner to die on hunger strike in October 1920. When the British removed political status from the republican prisoners a mass hunger strike commenced in August. The British objective was to criminalise the prisoners and by extension the struggle for freedom. On 17 October Michael Fitzgerald died after 67 days on hunger strike. On the same day that MacSwiney died Joseph Murphy died on his 76thday of hunger strike.

My Blog this week is 'On being 72'; Brit attacks on human rights; & German unification and Ireland

 On being Seventy Two.

I celebrated my seventy second birthday last week.
Seventy two is closer to eighty
Than it is to sixty.
Or fifty.
Or forty. 
Or thirty.
Or twenty.
 But I know that
I will never be sixty.
Or fifty.
Or forty.
Or thirty.
Or twenty.
Ever again.
Sin é.
That’s the way of it.
Thats life.
But will I ever be eighty?
Nobody knows.
That’s the mystery of it.
The wonder of it.
The adventure of it.
And the hope.
Me?
I hope to know my grandchildren’s
grandchildren.(But not too  soon a thaiscí)
That’s impossible say the naysayers.
Nothing is impossible I reply.
Content that
We will find out in the end.
Well some of us will.
Until then I will try to live every day
Like  it is my last day.
And eventually I will be right.
But from now until then
I am sure
The best is yet to come.

Fool Me  Once .........

When Boris Johnson tells you that his government is determined to defend the Good Friday Agreement – don’t believe a word of it. When British Ministers claim that their government “is committed to protecting and respecting human rights” - don’t believe a word of it. And when they claim to be a party committed to equality and fairness under the law – don’t believe it.
The Johnson government is currently engaged in the most concentrated attack on human rights of any British government since Margaret Thatcher. 

Last week the British Parliament passed the second reading of the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill. This legislation provides for authorisations that will empower Britain’s Secret Service and intelligence agencies, police forces and a range of public agencies, including the Environment Agency and Gambling Commission and others to authorise their agents and informants to commit criminal offences.
In a damning joint briefing by the Pat Finucane Centre; the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ); Reprieve; and Rights and Security International these front line human rights organisations point out that this Bill “places no express limits on the types of crimes which can be authorised. There is no express prohibition on authorising crimes that would constitute human rights violations, including murder, torture (e.g. punishment shootings), kidnap, or sexual offences, or on conduct that would interfere with the course of justice.”

In defence of this new law the British government claim that the Human Rights Act will provide a safeguard against any abuses. However, according to the human rights briefing the British have already taken the position that the Human Rights Act “does not apply to crimes committed by its covert agents.” Successive Tory Prime Ministers and Ministers have expressed their opposition to the Act. In addition, two weeks ago Britain’s Lord Chancellor revealed that the Johnson government is to commission an independent review of the Human Rights Act.

Last week the British Home Secretary Priti Patel used a speech to the Conservative Party conference to attack lawyers who defend migrants. She linked them to human traffickers. Patel said: “No doubt those who are well-rehearsed in how to play and profit from the broken system will lecture us on their grand theories about human rights. Those defending the broken system – the traffickers, the do-gooders, the lefty lawyers, the Labour Party – they are defending the indefensible.”

Patel’s criticism of lawyers was echoed a few days later by Boris Johnson who claimed that his government was determined to stop the “whole criminal justice system from being hamstrung by what the home Secretary would doubtless – and rightly – call the lefty human rights lawyers and other do-gooders.”

The Bar Council and Law Society which represent lawyers have criticised this Tory assault on lawyers. One pointed out that: “In countries where lawyers are unable to do their job for fear of intimidation the rule of law is weakened. The consequences are a society that become less safe, less stable and less fair.”

Another line of attack on human rights was also announced last week with the publication by the British Home Office of a report by the Law Commission which proposes significant changes to the scope of search warrants, the acquiring of medical records and stored digital data and accessing material held by journalists.

None of this will surprise anyone who experienced the British abuse of the legal and judicial system in the North during the recent years of conflict. Special Diplock Courts; special rules of evidence; the use of forced confessions; the onus on defendants to prove their innocence; the Special Powers Act and its replacements the Prevention of Terrorism Act and Emergency Provisions Act; and the role of agents, spies and state collusion in the murder of citizens. Pat Finucane was a human rights lawyer murdered by agents of the British state. So too was Rosemary Nelson. The Glenanne Gang killed 120 citizens, including those killed in the Dublin Monaghan bombs. A Police Ombudsman report in 2007 revealed how one agent, Mark Haddock was paid £80,000 by the British state. Haddock and his gang killed at least 15 people.

General Frank Kitson who served in many of Britain’s counter-insurgency campaigns, including in Belfast in the early 70s, and was regarded as their foremost counter-insurgency specialist wrote: “Everything done by a government and its agents in combating insurgency must be legitimate. But this does not mean that the government must work within exactly the same set of laws during an emergency as existed beforehand. The law should be used as just another weapon in the government’s arsenal, in which case it becomes little more than a propaganda cover for the disposal of unwanted members of the public.”

In essence the Johnson government is applying this principle to all aspects of British Law and in particular to the application of the Human Rights Act. The Human Rights Act is a core foundation stone of the human rights elements of the Good Friday Agreement. Any tampering with it is an attack, on the Agreement.

30 years old

There were two great events in 1990 that helped reshape the world and provide hope for many, including people in Ireland.

The first was the release on 11 February 1990 of Nelson Mandela. I recall as if it was yesterday Madiba walking out of Victor Verster Prison. I watched his release on television alone in the bedroom of the house I was in with tears streaming down my face as I stood and applauded. It still took almost four years of intense negotiations for him to become President of South Africa but his release sounded a note of hope for oppressed peoples everywhere.

The second great event was the smashing of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 and the negotiation over the following ten months which led 30 years ago this month to the reunification of Germany on 3 October 1990.

Two huge historic events that resonated across the globe and which reinforced our belief, as we were developing our own peace strategy, that no issue, however difficult, is intractable. That with courage and commitment and leadership it is possible to bring about transformative change.

There were many challenges for the people of Germany in making the process of reunification work. It brought with it a financial cost but today Germany is the strongest economy in the EU and its 83 million people are much better off. The 1990 East German economy, and its wage levels for workers, which were years behind that of West Germany, are now almost on a par with each other. A recent opinion poll revealed that Germans are happier now than at any time since 1990. But it is as Chancellor Angela Merkel remarked “a continual process”.

So too with Irish reunification. This too is a process. The Good Friday Agreement created the constitutional, democratic and legal context in which Irish reunification can take place. The debate on unity has become very intense in recent years, in part spurred by the stupidity of Brexit. Even the horrors of the pandemic point up the need for all island solutions to tackling the virus. Together is better. Division is not.

The months and years ahead will be challenging times but also a time of great opportunity for everyone living on the island of Ireland. The experience of Germany in successfully overcoming its barriers to reunification is evidence that it can be done. It needs an open transparent conversation about how it can be achieved; what changes need to be embraced to build a truly inclusive society based on equality; and what compromises will be necessary to win maximum public support.

 

Another part of our history demolished: Like characters from the Gulag

 

Another part of our history demolished

Last week 40 Herbert Park, the home of the only leader of the 1916 Rising to be killed in action, was demolished in a shameful act of political and corporate vandalism and greed. The O’Rahilly - Michael Joseph O'Rahilly was shot by British soldiers as he and others attacked a British machine gun position in an effort to cover the retreat from the burning GPO on Friday evening 28 April.  

As he lay bleeding to death in a doorway The O’Rahilly wrote a last note to his wife:

 ‘Written after I was shot. Darling Nancy I was shot leading a rush up Moore Street and took refuge in a doorway. While I was there I heard the men pointing out where I was and made a bolt for the laneway I am in now. I got more [than] one bullet I think. Tons and tons of love dearie to you and the boys and to Nell and Anna. It was a good fight anyhow.

Please deliver this to Nannie O' Rahilly, 40 Herbert Park, Dublin. Goodbye Darling.

The demolition of 40 Herbert Park again raises serious concerns at the refusal of successive Irish governments to protect Moore Street, part of the “laneways of history” linked to 1916 and where the leaders of the 1916 Rising held their last meeting.

Herbert Park was built in 1907 for the World’s Fair Irish International Exhibition to promote Irish industry. The O’Rahilly family moved in as its first occupants in 1909 and the O’Rahilly’s widow Nancy lived in their Herbert Park home until her death in 1961.

In August the O’Rahilly’s grandson Proinsias Ó Rathaille called for the house to be declared a national monument and protected. He said: “The house is of great historical significance. It is where the Asgard gunrunning was planned, meetings for the planning of the Rising were held there, Countess Markievicz and my grandmother initially set up Cumann na mBan from the house, and it was the house to which my grandfather addressed the note to my grandmother as he lay bleeding to death.”

Derryroe Ltd which demolished the house is owned by the McSharry and Kennedy families who own the nearby Herbert Park Hotel. They want to build 105 apartments on the site.

On 8th September An Bord Pleanála gave permission for the development to go ahead despite opposition from Dublin City Councillors, the O’Rahilly family, the 1916 Relatives, Sinn Féin and others. The approval was contingent on an eight week period to allow for any legal challenges. Several days after the decision by An Bord Pleanála Dublin City Council voted to add the building to the list of protected structures. Dublin City Council Chief Executive Owen Keegan confirmed to Sinn Féin that he had written to the developers McSharry-Kennedy to inform them of this.  

However, with five weeks of that period still to run the developers moved in on Tuesday morning 29 September and demolished the building. Dublin City Council has said it will take legal action and that legal proceedings will be issued but this will not save Herbert Park. It’s gone. And with it another crucial piece of the history of the 1916 revolutionary period.

James Connolly Heron, the grandson of James Connolly who is one of those fighting to save the Moore Street historic site described the developer’s action as “a shocking act of cultural vandalism.” It is he said; “a flagrant breach of the law and a direct challenge to each and every elected representative holding office on behalf of citizens.” He called for the house to be “rebuilt brick by brick, stone by stone, garden by garden.”

If you agree with James Connolly Heron and if you believe that the Irish government must protect Moore Street why not write and tell them that. They are the custodians of our history and of the buildings and historic sites that tell Ireland’s story. Imagine the public outrage if historic sites in the fight for American independence were demolished? If Independence Hall in Philadelphia where the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were debated and adopted was destroyed; Or Robben Island in South Africa? Or the home of Harriet Tubman, abolitionist, humanitarian and one of those who founded the underground railroad for escaping slaves from the Southern slave states in the USA or the GPO in O’Connell Street?

Write to An Taoiseach Micheál Martin - Government Buildings, Merrion Street Upper , Dublin 2 or email him at webmaster@taoiseach.ie:  and the Minister for Heritage Darragh O’Brien at The Customs House, Dublin D01 W6X0.

Like characters from the Gulag

This column welcomes the publication of the report of the Independent Panel of Inquiry into the Circumstances of the H-Block and Armagh Prison Protests 1976-1981’

On 27 October 1980 the first hunger strike commenced. The years from 1976, when the British government ended special category status and sought to impose its criminalisation strategy, to October 1981 when the second hunger strike ended after the deaths of 10 republican POWs, were hard and challenging and difficult. Successive British governments, but in particular the Thatcher government, believed that by defeating the political prisoners they could defeat the republican struggle. To that end special powers, special courts, non-jury trials, corrupt judicial practice in the admissibility of forced confession, torture in interrogation centres, were all employed as tools by the British state. The use of violence and brutality by prison administrations and prison guards was an extension of all this.

For those of us who lived through those traumatic years much of what is in the report; ‘I am Sir, you are a number: Report of the Independent Panel of Inquiry into the Circumstances of the H-Block and Armagh Prison Protests 1976-1981’ confirms what we already knew. However, the strength of the report is in its detail, in the confidential British government documents it accessed and in the eyewitness accounts of the prisoners and two prison governors. This report is an indictment of a British counter-insurgency strategy that deliberately and systematically abused physically and mentally hundreds of men and women.

I spent a short time in the H-Blocks on remand awaiting trial on an IRA membership charge. My conditions were radically different from those of the blanketmen but it did give me an opportunity to see for myself some of what they were going through and the urgent need for a mass public campaign in support of the prisoners.

I wrote; “I was struck by the spirit of the prisoners. In my other jail experiences, we had been cushioned by our numbers and by the prisoners’ own command structure from dealing directly with the screws; it had been possible for prisoners in the cages to serve long terms with little or no contact with the administration. Here in our individual cells, in the Blocks, it was different. If you wanted to resist a search, you had to face the screws on your own. But the screws couldn’t run the prison without the prisoners, and the prisoners were completely defiant. I listened in amused admiration as they shouted their defiance at particularly notorious prison officers. Most of those on my wing were younger than I was and were strongly assertive.

At night-time on most wings throughout the Blocks there would be a sing-song, a quiz, a storytelling session, or occasionally we would just swap banter. I would lie back on my bed listening to the better singers competing for our applause. We had good singers: we had Elvis impersonators, Mick Jagger singalikes, Bobby Vees and Johnny Cashes; and, of course, we had rebel songs...

I was treated as a special security prisoner, which meant that I was taken on my own when I had to go somewhere in the jail, normally for visits, and this was a bonus for me. Not only did Colette and I usually have an entire visiting block to ourselves – the one I had attempted to escape from – but it also meant that I got to see some of the blanket men when nobody else was seeing them.

They were like characters from Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag, shuffling along in big boots without laces, wearing, for their visits, ill-fitting jackets and trousers. Most of the trousers had their backsides slit open, and all of the blanket men had long, unwashed hair and unkempt beards.”

The members of the Independent Panel, (the late Warren Allmand, Richard Harvey, Dr. John Burton and Prof. Phil Scraton) as well as Coiste na nLarchimí and Ó Muirigh Solicitors are to be commended for their diligence in producing this report. It examines a pivotal moment in our recent history and provides an invaluable insight into Britain’s criminalisation strategy and determination to break the prisoners and by extension their objective of breaking the republican struggle.