Gerry Adams's Blog, page 3

Jim Fitzpatrick signed Limited Print of Elizabeth O’Farrell. | Health and Care in a New Ireland | An Act of International Piracy

 

JimFitzpatrick signed Limited Print of Elizabeth O’Farrell. 

Regularreaders of this column will know that I wholeheartedly support the efforts ofthe Moore St. Preservation Trust to preserve the 1916 Moore St. Battlefieldsite in Dublin that is under threat from the developers wrecking ball. Thisweek the Trust - a not for profit organisation led by Relatives ofthe Signatories of the 1916 Proclamation – will launch a new limited editionsigned print of Elizabeth O’Farrell by the renowned Irish artist JimFitzpatrick. One hundred prints will be available from Thursday evening at €150as part of the fundraising efforts of the Trust to raise much needed funds insupport of its alternative plan for a cultural and historical quarter in theMoore Street battlefield site. Link

Elizabeth O’Farrell, a member of the Cumann na mBan, was oneof three women who were present in the GPO throughout Easter week 1916 and whowere evacuated to Number 16 Moore St. as the GPO was in flames. She, herlife-long partner Julia Grennan, and Winifred Carney were in the roomin Number 16 when the decision to surrender was taken by Seán MacDiarmada,Pádraig Pearse, Joseph Plunkett, James Connolly and Tom Clarke.

At 12.45pm on Saturday 29 April O’Farrell was tasked by theleaders with the hazardous responsibility of going to the British lines.Carrying a white handkerchief tied to a pole and wearing a red cross armbandElizabeth O’Farrell courageously walked down Moore Street to the Britishbarricade. She was brought from there to Tom Clarke’s shop in Parnell Streetwhere the British General Lowe told her that he would only accept anunconditional surrender.

A short time later Pádraig Pearse, accompanied by O’Farrell,and wearing his military overcoat and hat, met General Lowe. In the originalphotograph taken of that meeting only Nurse O’Farrell’s feet can be seen and inmany of the reproductions later they were airbrushed out. O’Farrell deliveredthe surrender note to the outposts which were still fighting.

She and her partner Julia Grennan remained life-longrepublicans.  Elizabeth died in 1957 and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.Her tombstone carries a verse:

When duty called on the field of battle,

She went, under orders, the foe to meet,

Bearing sadly, unfearingly, proudly,

The flag of surrender but not defeat.

 

Jim Fitzpatrick has produced a remarkable portrait of thisremarkable and indomitable woman. Support the Moore St. Preservation Trust andbuy this historic portrait and unique work of art by one of Ireland’s foremostartists. If you want to buy a print you can connect to the link on Thursdayevening: The print is 40cm x 56cm. Is signed by the artist, numbered andon high quality paper.

Siopa| Shop – Moore Street Preservation Trust

 

Health andCare in a New Ireland

Last month theEuropean Movement in Ireland –Amárach Research – reported that a majority ofpeople in both parts of the island were in favour of a united Ireland withinthe EU. The figures were 67% in favour in the North and 62% in favour in theSouth.

Last week theLife and Times Survey, which is conducted by Queens University, reported thatthe gap between those who support the union with Britain and those who favourIrish Unity, has halved in the last year. In 2021 the gap was 23 points. In2023 that had halved to 12 points. This year it has halved again to 5 points.

In all of thepolls a key issue of public concern that emerges again and again is thequestion of health provision. People want to know what an all-island healthservice will look like. Sinn Féin favours an Irish National Health and CareService – centrally funded, universal, free at the point of delivery and basedon clinical need.

Currently healthcare provision across the island is in crisis and the health needs of citizensare not being met. A united Ireland provides an opportunity for thetransformation of the health and social care services. In addition to greatercross border healthcare planning and delivery, and increased collaboration onjoint projects, citizens would be much better served by a healthcare systemthat is planned, managed and delivered based on the needs of the nationalpopulation.

An Irish National Health and Care Service is a common senseand achievable proposition.  There are already many areas of cooperationacross the two health systems.  These need to be supported by the fullintegration of health provision across the island of Ireland and a nationalhealth strategy.

As part of thediscussion on this very important issue last Friday over 100 healthprofessionals met in St Comgall’s - Ionad Eileen Howell for a conferenceon Health and Care in the New Ireland. The event was organised by Sinn Féin’sCommission on the Future of Ireland. The conference was opened by the party’sHealth spokesperson in the Oireachtas David Cullinane TD and the main addresswas delivered by Pat Cullen MP. Philip McGuigan MLA the Sinn Féin spokespersonin the North was also in attendance.

The independentpanel was chaired by Tom Murray, President of the Irish Pharmacy Union andincluded Majella Beattie of Care Champions Ireland: Dr. Eddie Rooney, formerChief Executive of the Public Health Agency and Sara Boyce, of the New Scriptfor Mental Health Campaign.

The panelistsspoke of their experience in health and care provision and the gaps thatcurrently exist. The importance of investing in mental health provision, newinfrastructure, disability care, and improved provision for our elderlycitizens were all discussed by the panel and audience. The panelists spoke ofthe health challenges in the promotion and prioritisation of health care, theirconcerns at the diagnostic waiting times, particularly in respect of cancer,and the underfunding of counselling services.

The vital roleplayed by the voluntary and community sector, and charities, in improvingcapacity North and South was praised.

Pat Cullen MPtold the conference: “Successive Irish and British Governments have notprioritised our public health services. They have failed to plan servicesaccording to need, to train and retain enough health and social careprofessionals, or to modernise health and care provision for the 21st century.The gap between public and private health care is growing in the South’stwo-tier health service, despite the all-party commitment to Sláintecare.Little progress has been made towards realising that vision.”

Waiting timeshave also grown unacceptably long in the North, where the crisis is exacerbatedby the financial control of Westminster and the impact of partition on ourability to make decisions that maximise the all-island potential.

The reality isthat all island cooperation and planning makes sense.  On an island ofunder seven million people – less than the population of most of the world’sgreat cities – it makes no sense having two separate health services. A unitedIreland provides an opportunity for the transformation of the health and socialcare services.

 

An Act ofInternational Piracy

In an act ofinternational piracy Israeli forces hijacked the humanitarian aid vessel theMadleen in international waters as it was making its way to the Gaza Strip withmuch needed humanitarian aid for the beleaguered community. The Madleen is partof the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition and it had a crew of 12including environmental activist activist Greta Thunberg and RimaHassan MEP. The Israel action is part of its strategy to control the publicnarrative around events in the Palestinian occupied territories, particularlyGaza, where millions face starvation.

In the Gaza Strip and the west Bank the daily slaughter ofinnocents by the Israeli regime’s murder squads continues unimpeded. So toodoes the deliberate targeting of the health service which has been all butobliterated by Israel’s genocidal military campaign. The objective is clearlyto remove sll Palestinians from Gaza. 

Finally, I want to commend the thousands who participated inand/or supported the 25 mile March for Gaza last Saturday from Lurgan to Omeathin Co. Louth. The length of the march represented the length of the Gaza Strip.

The refusal of most western governments and the EuropeanUnion to take effective measures against the Israeli state for these war crimesmakes them complicit. We must keep up the pressure for a permanent ceasefire,humanitarian aid and freedom for the Palestinian people.

 

Mothers Against Genocide | ‘If I Must Die’ | Give the vote to 16-year-old citizens.

 Mothers Against Genocide

This column makes no apologies for writing so much about the genocide in Palestine and the urgent need for ceasefires and a peace process.  At least 14,000 babies face imminent death from starvation. Over 60,000 Palestinian children, women, men have been killed, including more than 4,000 since Israel ended its ceasefire in March. One especially harrowing example of Israel’s murder machine at work was the deliberate targeting last Friday of the family home of Hamdi and Walaa al-Najjar, two doctors who work at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. As Hamdi was at work nine of her ten children were killed. Her husband and a 10th child was left critically ill.

Mothers Against Genocide have stood up against this savagery and for the rights of the Palestinian people. Sue Pentel and Martine McCullough are active in this campaign. Sue has been a political activist all her life. My earliest memory of her is as a member of Women against Imperialism over 40 years ago. Sue is a Gaeilgeoir who has worked for decades promoting the education of our young people through the medium of Irish. She is also a committed advocate for the rights of the people of Palestine and last weekend she and her friend Martine were arrested by the PSNI and charged with ‘criminal damage’ to an ATM at Barclays Bank in Castle Place in Belfast City Centre. The so-called criminal damage was the placing of a sticker on the machine as a reminder of Barclays role in selling Israeli war bonds.

The ATM was not damaged by their non-violent protest. But five PSNI officers were dispatched to arrest Sue and Martine and the Public Prosecution Service is now tasked by the PSNI with determining if they will be prosecuted.

This speedy response by the PSNI drew sharp criticism with many pointing to the proliferation of loyalist paramilitary flags and no action by the PSNI.

Meanwhile, in London ‘Mo Chara’ - Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – of Kneecap was charged with a ‘terrorism’ offence for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London last November. He will be in court in June. There have been calls by British politicians to have Kneecap banned and for their concerts to be scrapped. Kneecap have described this as a blatant attempt to shut them down and to distract from the complicity of the British government in the slaughter of Palestinian civilians. At a packed concert last Saturday night in front of 20,000 Kneecap were defiant as they led the audience in the demand to “Free Palestine.”

And as the policing system here and in London makes a fool of itself Wednesday marked 600 days of the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

Israel has waged an unceasing war against medical facilities and staff in the Gaza Strip for 600 days. The Zionists are armed by the White House and London and other big Western powers 

Throughout this time Britain, France, Germany, the USA and others have defended Israel’s actions. They are excused and justified on the spurious grounds of self-defence. What threat did 16,000 dead Palestinian children present or the thousands more currently dying from starvation?

There is a huge onus on the Irish government to go beyond public criticism of the Israeli regime by taking effective steps to speedily pass the Occupied Territories Bill and to work with other governments to impose sanctions on Israel. This must include supporting Sinn Féin’s legislation to stop the Irish Central Bank from enabling the sale of Israeli war bonds and ensuring that no aircraft land at Shannon airport carrying war materials for Israel.

Of course, it’s not just down to the government. We can all play our part as individuals, as business people, as shopkeepers and as restaurateurs. ‘Don’t Buy Apartheid’ is a campaign aimed at persuading people to boycott produce and products made in Israel on stolen Palestinian land. This includes oranges, avocados, dates, Coca-Cola and its many brands. Sue and Martine, and many others have shown the power of activism. We must never give up. Free Palestine. 

 

‘If I Must Die’

There will be a public event this Saturday – 31 May - about the ongoing genocide. The venue is St Comgalls/Ionad Eileen Howell and it starts at 7.30pm. Chairing the meeting, which is sponsored by the Bobby Sands Trust, will be Dr Brendan Ciaran Browne, Associate Professor of Conflict Resolution. The main speaker will be Yousef M. Aljamal 

On the International Wall in Belfast there is a poem by Refaat Alareer, ‘If I Must Die’ which he wrote for his daughter, Shaymaa, who would grow up to be an accomplished illustrator. It is very poignant because the Israelis went on to kill Refaat, along with his sister, brother and four of nephews and nieces, eighteen months ago. 

In 2014 after the murder of his brother, Hamada, Refaat wrote: ‘My brother will be martyr number 26 in my extended family; five of them killed last week and had their bodies dug out of the rubble during Sunday’s twelve-hour “humanitarian ceasefire”.’

Refaat taught in the English Department of the Islamic University of Gaza. All seventeen universities and colleges in Gaza have since been destroyed: an educated people is one of the worst fears of the Zionists.

Among Refaat’s students was Yousef M. Aljamal who became a close friend and comrade. Yousef was one of the editors of A Shared Struggle which told the stories of surviving Palestinian and Irish republican hunger strikers, published by An Fhuiseog bookshop (and is, unfortunately, currently out of print).

You can listen to Yousef  in St Comgalls/Ionad Eileen Howell next Saturday at 7.30.  

This is the poem on the International Wall, the poem that Refaat wrote for his daughter, Shymaa fourteen years ago. Last year, the Israelis murdered Shaymaa, her husband and her three-month old baby.

If I Must Die

If I must die,

you must live

to tell my story

to sell my things

to buy a piece of cloth

and some strings,

(make it white with a long tail)

so that a child, somewhere in Gaza

while looking heaven in the eye

awaiting his dad who left in a blaze—

and bid no one farewell

not even to his flesh

not even to himself—

sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above

and thinks for a moment an angel is there

bringing back love

If I must die

let it bring hope

let it be a tale

 

Give the vote to  16-year-old citizens. 

The debate on reducing the voting age to 16 is gathering momentum. Twice in the last decade the Assembly – minus the DUP - has endorsed the call for the vote to be reduced in the North from 18 to 16. Several years ago Sinn Féin introduced a Bill in the Oireachtas to allow for this in southern elections and last week An Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that he had an “open mind” on such a proposition and would give it “serious consideration.”

16 year olds already have the vote in Scotland and Wales and in many central and south American states. The British Labour government made a commitment during the last election to introduce appropriate legislation for the vote at 16 but there is no timeframe for this.

Every day governments take decisions that impact on the lives of 16-year-old citizens while denying them a say in those decisions. At 16 a citizen can start work and pay tax and national insurance but is denied a say in how these are spent. We need to encourage the greatest participation in the democratic process.

Verbal Disorder | The Floodgates of Horror | The Catastrophe – Nakba

 Verbal Disorder

When I was younger I used to have a stammer. I don’t know what age I was. Somewhere between seven and ten perhaps. A youngster! I grew out of my speech impediment, and I have very little recollection of my stammering phase but I was reminded of it when I was on the phone to a friend in Ard Oifig in Dublin last week. . For no apparent reason she told me that she sometimes has a stammer when she is on the phone. 

“It isn’t obvious” I told her.  

And it wasn’t. 

“Its a nervous thing” she went on “it also happens the odd time when I’m at a meeting and it’s coming to my time to speak. I sometimes get anxious and my stutter starts. Just as I begin to make my contribution.”

I told her about my childhood stammer. 

“ You will grow out off it,” I said reassuredly. “I knew a guy in jail and he had an awful stoppage but he could sing like Tony Bennett. No sign of any impediment when he was leading us in a singsong. And then there was Daithí O. He had a wild stutter but only in English. When he was speaking in Irish his diction was perfect.”

“That’s funny” she said. 

“Big Bob used his very pronounced stammer to his advantage,” I told her. “He made people laugh, especially when he was getting to a serious point and his stutter sent him off on a tangent. He obviously knew what words or letters triggered his stoppage and he  had a wee bridging word - it might have been ‘sort of’ or ‘f…ing sort of’ - to get him back to his main message again, much to everyones amusement. The letter S was a challenge to him.” 

“Vowels can do that as well,”  she said. “You know A, E, I ,O and U? They can trip you up”. 

“I remember Bob trying to talk to another friend of ours who had adesperate stammer. It was hilarious. They were talking for half an hour but they barely got past the first few sentences. Eventually they gave up talking and just wrote notes to each other. Otherwise they would still be trying to get to the point.” 

“Thats mad” she said. “The worst thing ever is when somebody else tries to complete the word the stutterer is trying to say. Some people - and I know they are trying to help - do that and invariably it is the wrong word and that frustrates the stutterer even more, especially when the heplful one speaks very slowly and suggests a second or even a third or fourth word. That makes things worse.”

“I know what you mean” I said “ thanks for the yarn. It was nice nice to talk, talk, talk to you”. 

“Me, me, me too too” she said.

“This could be a long good good good bye” I replied.

 “Just say say say Slán” she laughed.

 “ Slán” I said.

 

The Floodgates of Horror

Uachtarán na hÉireann, Michael D Higgins does not mince his words when it comes to Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian people. Last weekend he addressed the annual commemoration of Ireland’s An Gorta Mór – The Great Hunger - of the 1840s. The commemoration is a reminder of our colonial experience and of a potato plight which became a genocide because of the policies of the British government. Over a million died and millions more fled. 

Michael D has addressed the National Famine Commemoration several times in recent years but with a Presidential election later this year this will be his last as Uachtarán na hÉireann. He said: “No other event in our history can be likened to the Great Famine, either for its immediate, tragic impact, or its legacy of involuntary emigration, cultural loss, increased decline of the Irish language, and demoralisation.” 

But his strongest words of criticism were reserved for those states that are using hunger as a weapon of war and in particular for Israel and its imposition of “a forced starvation in Gaza” which we are witness to “daily on our television screens.” Uachtarán na hÉireann referenced the recent comments by United Nations Secretary General António Guterres who warned that, “As aid dries up, the floodgates of horror have re-opened. […] Gaza is a killing field – and civilians are in an endless death loop.”

In Spain the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez accused Israel of being a “genocidal state.” Speaking in the Spanish Parliament Prime Minister Sanchez asserted that “we do not do business with a genocidal state. We do not.”

It is time that the Irish government emulated the example of Uachtarán na hÉireann, Michael D Higgins and others in the international community who have had the courage to speak out against Israel. An Taoiseach Micheál Martin must urgently pass into law the Occupied Territories Bill and impose sanctions against Israel. Anything less is to be complicit in what is happening in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. He needs to make it clear that “we do not do business with a genocidal state. We do not.” 

 

The Catastrophe – Nakba

Last week Palestinians across the world commemorated the Nakba – The Catastrophe. In 1948 almost a million Palestinians fled as refugees from their homes as the Israeli state was forcibly carved out of Palestine. For those who defend or are silent on Israel’s genocide in Gaza the Nakba is an uncomfortable reminder of when the gun was brought into Palestine. For that reason, it is often ignored.

The violence against the Palestinian people 77 years ago reflects current accounts of Israel’s brutal actions in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israeli prisons.

On 9 April 1948 Jacques de Reynes who was the head of the International Red Cross in Palestine arrived at Deir Yassin – a small Palestinian village a few miles from Jerusalem. As he entered the village he was confronted by members of the Irgun – a Jewish paramilitary organisation. He later recalled: “All of them were young, some even adolescents, men and women armed to the teeth: revolvers, machine guns, hand-grenades, and also cutlasses in their hands, most of them still blood stained.”

The Commander of the Irgun told de Reynes they were involved in a “clean up”. He went into a Palestinian home where; “I found some bodies cold. Here the ‘cleaning up’ had been done with machine guns, then hand grenades. It had been finished off with knives, anyone could see that. The same thing in the next room, but as I was about to leave, I heard something like a sigh. I looked everywhere, turned over all the bodies, and eventually found a little foot, still warm. It was a little girl of ten, mutilated by a hand grenade, but still alive … everywhere was the same horrible sight.”

According to a report to the United Nations by the British authorities in Palestine: “The deaths of some 250 Arabs, men, women and children, which occurred during this attack, took place in circumstances of great savagery. Woman and children were stripped, lined up, photographed, and then slaughtered by automatic firing and survivors have told of even more incredible bestialities. Those who were taken prisoner were treated with degrading brutality.”

The massacre in Deir Yassin, and in other Palestinian villages, was part of a carefully designed strategy to assist in the ethnic cleansing of large parts of Palestine. It was led by Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir who would later become Prime Ministers of Israel. The mass murder of Palestinian civilians in Deir Yassin and massacres in other Palestinian villages led to tens of thousands of refugees fleeing into neighbouring Arab states. It is estimated that three quarters of all Palestinians were expelled as the new Israeli state stole 78% of Palestine.

Several weeks later on 15 May the United Nations, under intense pressure from the United States, voted to recognise the state of Israel. 

So, when someone claims that Israel has the right to defend itself against a civilian population remember the Nakba (“catastrophe” in Arabic) and tell them that there will be no peace built on the genocide, subjugation and denial of Palestinian national rights. Many in the international community then and today stand indicted for facilitating genocide. Silence is complicity.

 

 

Presidential Vote is constitutional requirement | Donnacha

 

Presidential Vote is constitutional requirement

 

In a historic vote in the Assembly last week its membersoverwhelmingly passed by 46 votes to 25 - a motion calling on the Irishgovernment to implement the recommendation of the 2013 ConstitutionalConvention on the Constitution to extend “the right to vote in elections forPresident of Ireland to all Irish citizens on the island of Ireland.” Thereality of course is that successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments havedeliberately refused to implement this recommendation despite having 12 years todo so.

The right of Irish citizens to vote in Presidentialelections has been a constant campaign issue for Sinn Féin and many otherssince the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Article 2 of Bunreacht na hÉireannstates: “It is the entitlement and birthright of every person born in theisland of Ireland … to be part of the Irish nation. That is also theentitlement of all persons otherwise qualified in accordance with law to becitizens of Ireland.”

Last week’s remarkable Assembly debate and vote is areflection of the changing political landscape in the North. Leas UachtaránMichelle O’Neill has written to An Taoiseach Micheál Martin urging him to “makethe extension of Irish Presidential voting rights to Irish citizens in theNorth a priority for his government”.

There is time to do so before the next election later thisyear.

 

We are only after a wonderful weekend of Gaelic games. Welldone to Donegal and to Louth. Armagh are the current All Ireland champions. NoAll Ireland Champion on that All Ireland winning team can vote for thePresident. I remember well recent all-Ireland senior footballchampionships  between teams from theNorth. Most memorably Armagh and Tyrone. None of them could vote for the President who presented them with theSam Maguire trophy. In the case of President Mary McAleese she could not havevoted for herself if she had stayed in the North.

Its long past the time for a change and for the Governmentto act on its promise to hold a referendum.

 

 

Donnacha

 

I remember very well the time Anne Rynne told me Donnachahad multiple sclerosis. It must have been about thirty years ago. Orthereabouts. Donnacha was in his mid-twenties. Although she was scared Anne wasvery brave about this traumatic development in the life of her son. Donnachawas even braver. They are like that, this mother and son who have facedadversity for every minute since first they came into each other’s lives.

Donnacha is one of twin boys. Niall and he are the secondborn of Davoc and Anne’s family. There is Áine and Turlough. Davóg is theoldest. Donnacha’s story is incomplete without them. Especially his amazingparents. And they would be incomplete without Donnacha. He is the touchstone inthe lives of his family. And in the lives of many others including this column.He is a huge inspiration for me.

 

So who is Donnacha?

Donnacha Rynne was born six weeks prematurely. He hadcerebral palsy. Anne and Davoc were told he would never walk. Life for himcould not be the same as other boys. Not the same as his twin brother Niall. Noschool. No boyish experiences. And eventually… an institution.

Anne and Davoc decided this was not their way. Their sonwould be reared same as any other child. And he was.  In the early days in Kildare, later on thewest coast of Clare. He went to school and later to work.  For a time, he flew the nest and moved backto Kildare to live with his aunt. His mother taught him life skills in Galway.Then back to Clare.

 

That’s when I first met Donnacha. In the hostel at SpanishPoint.

 

Our Gearóid and I were camping our way around Ireland.Donnacha was working away at peeling and washing spuds, greeting guests andtelling yarns. He was great craic and we hit it off from the get go.

 

Before long he was in Belfast, up for the Féile. In thosedays Donnacha didn’t need the wheel chair or at least he didn’t bring it toBéal Feirste. He was out and about smoozing his way from gig to gig, lookingfor a girl and to his annoyance being chaperoned by Minnie Mo who shooed allpromising females away. He appeared on Féile Radio and promoted disabilityrights. He camped in our back room, ate us out of house and home, laughed a lotand charmed big Eamon and especially Colette with his take on life, love, lustand the importance of being.

 

By the time Gearoid and Roísín got married Donnacha waswheelchair bound. But that didn’t stop him bopping it up with the rest ofus.  By now Donnacha was livingindependently in a house of his own in Miltown Malbay and he and I would gettogether occasionally for coffee as I wandered through the land. Increasinglydependent on carers for everyday necessities, yoga, music, and friendshipuplifted him.

 

Donnacha died last week. I had planned to visit him in July.Unfortunately, that will not be. I sat down to write a tribute to him but hisMammy -Anne Rynne- has given me permission to print the one she wrote so I willoffer that to you instead dear readers. Donnacha loved West Belfast. And WestClare.

 

He loved life. He lived in the nowness. Donnacha remains aninspiration.

 

DONNACHA

 

As your life ebbs away from us

 

I remember your wisdom

 

I remember your patience

 

I remember your acceptance

 

I remember your joy at every beat of your heart

 

Oh son of mine

 

My teacher

 

My little funny boy who “hated all the stupid questions” hewas asked by the people in white coats who made him cry

 

And who laughed when I said let's not bother going again tothe White Coats

 

My beautiful good looking young man

 

Who never in his life said why me

 

Who never ever complained

 

Who always had a smile and a thank you

 

Who taught us how to live good lives

 

He struggled in school

 

He stretched in his yoga

 

He battled with his DISABLED PEOPLE OF CLARE comrades for“nothing about us without us”

 

He went to Belfast to walk the line for Justice

 

He rolled a rock from the Burren to Dublin for Mullaghmore

 

He insisted on being his own man and fought with MaryJo forhis own home

 

He shared his home with the best team in Ireland

 

His Dream Team of Ali Aine Mary Fiona Chris Gerry

 

He was cared for by the mighty Dr Billy for many years andnow by Dr Dymphna and her colleagues in the Medical Centre and by Veronica andher colleagues in West Clare Pharmacy

 

He smoked two joints every day when he was able – rolled byhis Ma SHHHHHH!

 

He loved a pint of the black stuff when he was able for it

 

He rolled down the centre of Main Street in his wheelchairwith his beloved dog Quinte by his side, waving at all and sundry oblivious tothe fact that a line of cars was waiting for him to go where he wanted to go

 

He ended up in a ditch on the bog road with the wheelchairon top of him and frightened the life out of a walker passing by with hisshouts for HELP!

 

He loved his home in Church Road, his neighbours andeveryone in Miltown Malbay

He loved D’UnBelieveables, Fr Ted, the Goons, the craic, theuncles.

 

He loved the postcards from Little John and GerryA as theytravelled the world and told him all about it

 

He was so delighted when Barry suggested – Don’s, you have abook in you - and after years of being recorded by TomP his book BEING DONNACHAwas published

"My contribution to the world Ma”

 

Oh Yes and much, much more sonshine

 

He showed us all and held us all together

 

This Mystical Man

 

This old man in the young boy who told us stories beyond hisyears

 

This young lad wanting to be an ordinary man

 

This man who wrote poetry and sang songs

 

This man who yearned for love and for sex

 

This man whose life is beyond our ken

 

This man who carries his life with grace with dignity withgratitude

 

The nephew to Catherine to Brigid and Eugene to Andrew A'nDJoan and Ramona

Christy and Val to Eilish and Peter to Andy and Sandra toTerry and to Barry

 

The cousin to Bríd Óg and all the cousins

 

The brother in law to Sophie, Maisie, Mary and Alan

 

The uncle to Amelia, Leane, Oscar, Alice and Robin

 

The brother to his twin Niall to Davóg and to Turlough

 

The brother to his darling sister Áine

 

The son to his crumbley old Mam and Dad - Anne and Davoc.

 

 

 

The man who is and always will be Donnacha.

 

 

 

Anne Rynne

Swinger | Israel’s reign of terror | Commission on the Future of Ireland

 

Swinger 

I spent the last week in Dublin in the Four Courts as partof the outworking of my case against the BBC’s Spotlight programme nine yearsago. But more of that when it’s over which could take another fortnight.

On the morning that the case started our Gearóid phoned meto say that his father-in-law Paddy ‘Swinger’ McBride was dead. The news was agreat shock. I had spent a half hour or more a few days before chatting withPaddy in his home. He was just out after a spell in hospital, and although hewas ill his spirit was strong and he was full of craic and talk about thecurrent politics, his son Patrick’s Man of the Match performance for Antrimagainst Armagh, the need to build Casement and how a son of Tony Benn couldbehave the way Hillary Benn does.

“Principled politics skips a generation sometimes,” I said.

“Aye’” he remarked in a Ballymurphy sort of way. “A TypicalBrit”. That was Paddy. Or Swinger to all his old friends. A Murph manthrough and through. 

Husband to Anne Austin. Father to Roísín, Ceara, Marie andPatrick. Daideo to Drithle, Luisne, Anna and Ruadan. I am their other Daideo.Connla, Elise and Culann are his other grandchildren. The seven of them arevery lucky to have him. So is our Gearóid. And me and Colette. And his brithersand sister. And our community. 

Swinger was sound. He was hardworking, intelligent beyondhis quiet demeanour, funny, a lover of a good yarn. And as strong as an oxbefore illness tripped him up. 

He was a committed republican. Gerry Kelly put it well inhis funeral oration.

 “When I picture Paddy in my mind the first image hasalways been in the early 1970s. Himself and Frankie Cahill,who always seemed to be together and dressed in skinner jeans with thebottoms turned up, checked shirts, denim jackets and, of course,the classic DM boots. Ready to take on the world-or at least anarmed foot patrol of British soldiers with whatever wasavailable.  Paddy witnessed the rise of the CivilRights Movement and the Orange State’s attempts to crush it with violence. Hewitnessed thousands of Catholics being driven from theirhomes. 

He saw the thousands of British Troops sent here to crushour community. 

During the first couple of daysof Interment in August 1971, 10 residents were shotdead by British soldiers in Ballymurphy, including Fr HughMullan as he was trying to help others. Then again, in July1972, British soldiers gunned down five innocent people inSpringhill, also including another priest- FrFitzpatrick and 3 children.

He also watched the BritishArmy on TV, in Derry, shooting down peacefulCivil-Rights marchers.  Closer to home, loyalist deathsquads were on a killing rampage against innocent Catholics.”

Gerry went in to describe how Paddy joined Na Fianna Éireannand then the Army. He outlined his years of activism and time inprison. He went on to say that Swinger was very aware of the changingdynamics of struggle. He knew that military action on its own would not achievea United Ireland and that Republicans needed to be active in every aspect ofthe community life.

He knew that Republicans had to learn from the past but actin the context of the present and the future. Thankfully, Gerry said, our youngmen and women no longer feel that they have to risk their lives and liberty onactive service.

Irish Unity, of course will not just happen. We need to makeit happen. 

Paddy did great things in his life, sometimes very difficultthings, brave things, but through it all, he was always a gentleman, in itstruest sense.

Gerry also stressed Paddy’s commitment to Anne and theirfamily. He was a good provider and he also coached their children through alltheir school tests. He was devoted to his family and probably never fullyrecovered from the death of his youngest daughter Marie. He and Anne produced afamily of teachers with a special emphasis on Irish language education. Swingerwent on to  tutor the grandkids at exam times. He was much smarter thanme.

He will be sadly missed by many, many people, including hisco-workers in Upper Springfield Development Trust and his old comrades but mostof all by his wife and lifelong partner, Anne, their children and partners,Roisin and Gearóid, Ciara and Maxie, Patrick and Meabh and Marie’s partnerSean. And his beloved grandchildren Drithle, Luisne, Anna, Ruadan, Conla, Eliseand Culan. 

The day after Swinger died I got news of another friend’sdeath. Donnacha Rynne down in Clare. But more of Donnacha aris. For now it’stime to say slán to Swinger. A decent Irish patriot and a great humanbeing. 

Israel’s reign of terror

As this column goes to press the Israeli government iscalling up tens of thousands of army reservists for a full scale militaryinvasion, subjugation and occupation of the Gaza Strip. After almost 20 monthsof genocide against the Palestinian people the Israeli state is now embarkingon its final solution – the displacement of two million people and the massmurder of more Palestinians.

Last Saturday was World Press Freedom Day – but not in Gaza.In the year and a half of this current reign of terror by Israel at least 211journalists have been killed in the Gaza Strip while the international presscorps is denied access to report on events in that huge concentration camp.Britain and most western and European states are silent on this. They aresilent also on the deliberate use of starvation as a weapon of war against twomillion people, many of them children, who live in Gaza. According to UNICEFover three hundred thousand children under the age of five are suffering severemalnutrition.

If ever press freedom was needed to call out the multiplebreaches of international humanitarian law by Israel and the new terror itplans for Palestinians it is now. Israel’s slaughter of innocents has to becalled out. Governments must exert the maximum pressure on the Netanyahu regimeto allow food, water, fuel and medicines into the territory.

In recent days the various aid agencies working in Gaza haverun out of supplies. they make their pleas for the world to intervene babiesand children with emaciated bodies lie on the few remaining hospital beds inGaza. Israeli war planes and drones fly overhead deliberately killing dozens ofhelpless people every day.

The Israeli threat to send tens of thousands of its soldiersinto Gaza cannot go unchallenged. It is long past time that European statestook action against Israel – in the form of sanctions; ending the supply ofweapons; and demanding that Israel allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

I agree fully with Tánaiste Simon Harris who said lastweek; “It is unconscionable that the current suffering is continuing…Ireland calls on Israel to immediately lift the blockade and allow forunimpeded access of humanitarian aid …” But is equally unconscionablethat the Irish government refuses to go beyond words. To describe the newthreat to conquer Gaza as ‘alarming’ is not enough. The Irishgovernment must urgently use its economic and political strength to challengeIsrael? If they fail to take meaningful action Israel will proceed with itsplans and thousands more Palestinians will die.

 

Commission on the Future of Ireland

As momentum in the demand for Irish Unity grows the work ofSinn Féin’s Commission on the Future of Ireland continues to expand.

In the last two months the Commission has held a Mid UlsterPeoples Assembly in the Seamus Heaney Homeplace in Bellaghy; a TionólPobail Bhaile Ghib in County Meath; a climate crisis conference - One Island,One Environment – in Dublin and an EU & Irish Unity- What next?- event inthe European Parliament in Brussels.

In addition, events were also held in Washington and NewYork in the United States and in Montreal in Canada.

Future events include ‘Rural Communities in a New Ireland’at the Balmoral Show in May and Health and Care in a New Ireland in early Junein St Comgall’s Belfast. There are also events in the USA at Nashville -28th May; Cincinnati - 29th May and Chicago on 31st May.

If you are interested in a united Ireland Save the Date andcome along. The more people who join in the conversation on Irish Unity thesooner we will secure the unity referendums and move into the future.

 

Statue of Bobby Sands to be unveiled | The Refugees | Pope Francis

 

Statue of Bobby Sands to be unveiled

On May 4 at 3pm, a statue of Bobby Sands will be unveiled inthe Republican Memorial Garden in Twinbrook, where Bobby lived. The organisersof the event, all local republican activists and all inspired by the courageand self-sacrifice of Bobby and his comrades, have worked hard over recentyears to raise the funds for the statue. Former hunger striker Pat Sheehan whospent 55 days on the 1981 hunger strike will speak about Bobby and his comradeswho died.

There will also be a Bobby Sands Mountain Walk that morningand the annual Bobby Sands lecture will be given that evening by Pat Sheehan inthe Andersonstown Social Club.

Bobby was the first of ten republican hunger strikers to dieduring the H-Block hunger strike of 1981. He died on May 5. The others were:Francis Hughes; Raymond McCreesh; Patsy O’Hara; Joe McDonnell; Kieran DohertyTD; Kevin Lynch; Martin Hurson; Tom McElwee; and Mickey Devine. Nor should weforget Michael Gaughan 1974 and Frank Stagg 1976 who died on hunger strike inprisons in England.

I knew Bobby and Francie Hughes, Kieran Doherty and JoeMcDonnell. I also met Tom McElwee and Mickey Devine on a visit to theprison hospital in July 1981. They were all ordinary young working class men.Joe McDonnell at 30 was the eldest. The rest were all in their 20s. Inextraordinary times they revealed a depth of resolve that few are ever calledupon to demonstrate.

I first met Bobby in Cage 11 of Long Kesh. It was almostcertainly at one of the political discussion groups I set up. One of the Nissanhuts was a Gaeltacht where those, like Bobby, who wished to live through themedium of the Irish language resided. 

Bobby was very interested in the political debates anddiscussions and became an avid reader of the books, many of which we got fromold Joe Clarkes Book Bureau in Dublin and from The Connolly Association inLondon. The prison regime banned political books from coming in but as ever weand our friends and family outside rose to the challenge and replaced thecovers with more innocuous titles. The screws tended to ignore the books ofZane Grey and other western writers.

Bobby was also big into sport. There were two all-weatherpitches where prisoners could play football or soccer or simply go out for arun. Running around the pitch was better than the relatively small Cages.

I got to know Bobby well during that time. He was anintelligent, committed republican who was open to new ideas.  Many of ourdiscussions focussed on how we could turn passive support into activism. Healso instinctively understood the need for strategies and for a greater focuson political activism – of building and using political strength. It was atthis time that Bobby picked up on the concept of everyone having a role in thestruggle, no matter how small.

He had a deep interest in internationalstruggles. Unbeknownst to us our struggle attracted similar interest inLatin America, in the Palestinian refugee camps, the South Africantownships and in the front line training camps of uMkhonto weSizwe –Spear of the Nation – where ANC activists were training for operations againstthe apartheid South African regime.

Bobby was to become a historic figure for ANC activists,including Nelson ‘Madiba’ Mandela. Madiba was on Robben Island when Bobbydied. In his cell, in common with all political prisoners, he was allowedas a privilege a calendar on which he marked significant events. On the 5th May1981 a simple single line is written: ‘IRA martyr Bobby Sandsdies.’ A tribute, hand written, on a paper calendar on a cell wall inSouth Africa which recognised the bond between those of us engaged in freedomstruggles.

Bobby was also a writer, a poet, and a musician and writerof songs. Bobby wrote about the horrors of the H-Blocks. His smuggled comms-letters; poems; songs articles; and creative pieces about the brutal reality oflife for political prisoners and of British rule.

 Bobby spent one third of his 27 years in prisons. Hewas never interviewed on television or radio and yet his name is known andhonoured around the world.

His writings tell us much about the man. His poem, TheRefugees, is appropriate in the context of the ongoing genocide in the westBank and Gaza and the anti-refugee feelings being engendered by right wingelements in our own country, particularly in Dublin. Bobby’s poem is about theevents of August 1969 when thousands became refugees as a result of theunionist pogrom.

The Refugees

A hurried worried people, a human stampede to God knowswhere,

Were spat out from the back streets, for God knows who tocare.

Their little kitchen houses lit up the night around about

‘For God and Ulster’ was the reason that the refugeeswere driven out.

 

Oh little humble homes where the people hugged the openfire,

Oil-clothed floors and little ornamented cabinets thatthe neighbours would admire,

The little backyard havens where the youngsters wouldplay

And in the hall the little font of holy water to blessyou on your way!

 

They were little narrow streets where the door was neverclosed,

Where the characters and folklore were born and notcomposed,

And where, by the street lamp by the corner, the childrenmade a swing

In a concrete jungle were the hoker was the king.

 

Oh a kindly people, too clannish were they not,

A simple cup of tea or the milkman’s price, were thingsthat weren’t forgot,

And when there was trouble sure didn’t all of them muckin,

Wouldn’t every man amongst them go out and get stuck in.

 

Ah sure some returned; others? God knows where they’vegone,

Driven out in terror by that bigoted orange throng.

‘Tis well I recall those hurried worried people, theirlittle mansions burnt down,

As I watched them go in their thousands on the road toGormanstown.  

 

 

Pope Francis

The funeral last Saturday of Pope Francis was an occasion tomourn the passing of a leader who championed progressive causes, stood up forthose most marginalised and vulnerable while opening the door to reform withinthe Church. 

There is much more to be done to make the Church democratic.I am among those who are alienated by the deep absence of equality in theChurch’s structures.  Banning women from the priesthood is totallyunacceptable as is the opulence of some institutions and the unaccountabilityof church leaders, particularly over the treatment of children and vulnerablepeople.  But still there are good priests and nuns and many decent peopledoing their best to make amends.  

They include Pope Francis. The many stories of his deepsense of compassion for the sick and vulnerable and those who are victim ofabuse and violence have filled the airwaves and social media since his death.His loss is a huge blow to the institutional Church which often seems aloof tothe trials and tribulations of ordinary people while being less than open aboutthe sins of some within its own ranks.

 

In his 12 years as leader of the Catholic Church PopeFrancis frequently spoke out against inequality, injustice, climate justice,militarism and he was especially vocal in his rejection of those who scapegoatmigrants and erect barriers to them. "Migrants and refugees” he toldthe Vatican's World Day of Migrants and Refugees in 2013 “are not pawns on thechessboard of humanity." He said: “They are children, women, and men wholeave or are forced to leave their homes for various reasons, who share alegitimate desire for knowing and having, but above all for beingmore." 

 

But it was his unstinting solidarity for the people ofPalestine that will mark out the last years of his Papacy. For almost 18 monthsfollowing Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip the Pope phoned the Holy FamilyChurch every evening to speak to those who sheltered there. He continued to doso even when he was in hospital.

 

On Easter Sunday, in his last public remarks Pope Franciscondemned the “deplorable humanitarian situation” in Gaza. He urged Israel andHamas to “call for a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of astarving people that aspires to a future of peace.” Ar dheis Dé go raibh aanam dílis

 

 

 

Kathleen Lynn – a Rebel Woman | Finding their place in a new Ireland | A Barren Landscape of Death | All that Fuss

 

Kathleen Lynn – a Rebel Woman

I hope you all had an enjoyable Easter. Across the islandand further afield commemorations were held at countless locations to rememberthose who fought in the 1916 Easter Rising and in all of the generations of thefreedom struggle. The Belfast turnout was big and Pearse Doherty, who made anexceptional speech, was given a very warm welcome. I saw no mention of hisremarks or those of other republican speakers on RTE, BBC or otherbroadcasters. So much for public service broadcasting! 

The story of Easter 1916 reverberates with many remarkableaccounts of courage as a small band of Irish Republicans took on the largestEmpire ever to have existed in human history. They include many women. Amongthese are Julia Grenan, Winifred Carney and Elizabeth O’Farrell who werein the GPO and in Moore St. when the decision to surrender was taken.Winifred Carney’s statue now stands proudly in front of Belfast City Hall.

Another rebel woman who fought during the Easter Rising wasDr. Kathleen Lynn from Killala in County Mayo. She was the daughter of aChurch of Ireland clergyman who overcame many obstacles before setting up ageneral practice in Dublin in 1904. She was hugely influenced by the workand words of Countess Markievicz and James Connolly and in early 1916 Connollypromoted Lynn to the rank of captain and Chief Medical Officer of the CitizenArmy. On Easter Monday 1916 she was one of those who occupied Dublin City Hall.After the Rising she was imprisoned in Dublin and then deported toEngland. 

When she returned to Ireland she was again active in supportof the republican political prisoners. In October 1917, the Sinn Féin Ard Fheisadopted a republican constitution and Kathleen Lynn was one of four womenelected to the Ard Chomhairle (the others were Markievicz, Kathleen Clarke andGrace Gifford Plunkett).

In 1918 Kathleen Lynn set up a hospital for infants - thefirst of its kind in Ireland. Along with others, including Kathleen Clarke, thewidow of Tom Clarke, they acquired a derelict house at 37 Charlemont Street.Before it opened for children it admitted many of those caught in the great fluepidemic which killed millions across the world. Kathleen Lynn carried outwidespread vaccinations, including to over 200 members of the Citizen Army inLiberty Hall, not one of whom, she says, developed flu. St. Ultan’shospital was opened in 1919.

Kathleen was later present at the meeting of the First DáilÉireann and worked with Constance Markievicz, Minister for Labour in the FirstDáil Éireann. She was thus part of the underground civil Government of theRepublic, as well as being a Leas Uachtarán (Vice President) of Sinn Féin. Likemost progressive republican women Kathleen Lynn opposed the Treaty. She waselected as a republican TD in the 1923 general election for the Dublin Countyconstituency, refusing to take her seat in what she and her comrades regardedas the partitionist Free State parliament. She was defeated in the June 1927general election.

By this time Kathleen Lynn was concentrating her work incaring for children in St Ultan’s Hospital and to promoting health among thepoorest citizens. St. Ultan’s was entirely managed by women. After a longand distinguished career Kathleen Lynn, a lifelong republican, died inSeptember 1955. 

Sinn Féin TD Aengus O’Snodaigh has formally presented a Billin the Oireachtas to have the new Children’s Hospital – which has cost severalbillion euro – named after Kathleen Lynn. There is widespread support for thisfrom historians, trade unionists and many in the medical profession. Bill hasbeen cleared by the Bills Office for introduction at First Stage in the Dáilafter the Easter recess.

This year will mark 70 years since Kathleen Lynn’s death.Naming the new hospital after her would be a fitting tribute to Kathleen and toall of the women who fought for Irish freedom and who today continue to be thebackbone of our medical and healthcare professions.

 

Finding their place in a new Ireland

In his Easter remarks at the Republican Plot in MilltownCemetery Teachta Pearse Doherty referenced the fact that the “momentum forIrish Unity grows stronger every day…. it is fast becoming the definingpolitical project of our generation.” Pearse also addressed the importance ofpreparing for unity and in doing so the imperative of engaging with theunionist section of our people. He said: “There are many issues for republicansand unionists to talk about. We need to address the genuine fears and concernsof unionists in a meaningful way.”

That means examining what they mean when they say they areBritish. We must be willing he said; “to explore and be open to new ideas. Weneed to look at ways in which the unionist people can find their place in a newIreland.”

Demographic trends, election results and the conclusionsfrom opinion polling all are evidence of a shift in the political landscapearound unity. So too are the frequent economic reports being published aboutthe growth and potential of the all–Ireland economy.

Two weeks ago the Economic and Social Research Institute(ESRI) published a report examining the ‘Economic Overview of Irelandand Northern Ireland.’ 

The report concludes that citizens living in the South enjoysignificantly higher wages, greater disposable income, higherproductivity, educational attainment, have lower hospital waiting lists, andtheir life expectancy is better. The opportunities offered up by IrishUnity are substantial. 

 

A  Barren Landscape of Death

The Gaza Strip is one eighth the size of County Antrim andhas a population three times larger. Imagine if Belfast north of the RiverLagan and including Mallusk and Newtownabbey were levelled to the ground. Noschools, no hospitals, no homes – just tents – no churches, no shops, notransport system, no sewage system. A barren levelled landscape of death. GazaCity has been under strict Israeli siege for seven weeks. No bread, no water,no fuel, no medicines have been allowed to enter the area. The people – thechildren – are starving.  And all the time the international communitywith a few honourable exceptions does nothing – is complicit in this genocide.

Two weeks the Palestinian Ambassador to London, HusamZomlot, addressed a packed hall in St. Mary’s University College on the FallsRoad. He thanked the people of Ireland for their solidarity in the face of asustained genocide that seeks to erase a people and their history.

Last week people across Belfast joined millions more aroundthe world in marking Palestinian Prisoners Day. I have written before about thehorrific conditions of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Currently thereare over 10,000 of whom 400 are children and 51 are journalists. All aresubjected to physical and psychological torture and in some instances they havebeen the target of rape and sexual assault. In the last 19 months 63Palestinian hostages have been killed.

The demands we make of the international community aresimple:

·       A ceasefire now

·       An end to theIsraeli occupation of Palestinian land.

·       Full compliancewith international law.

·       The admission ofhumanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

·       And meaningfulsanctions against Israel.

·       And for the Irishgovernment: Pass the Occupied Territories Bill into law.

 

All that Fuss

A friend of mine in County Tyrone was taking her seven yearold daughter to her local Gael Scoil when the child drew her attention to theroad sign for Londonderry. Someone had drawn a line through the London bit.

‘Why is that  like that Mammy?’ She asked. 

So Mammy gave a children’s explanation. 

‘But they are both wrong’ the child replied ‘It’s notLondonderry or Derry. Its Doire.’

And that dear readers is why there is all that fuss aboutIrish or bilingual signage. 

Wear an Easter Lilly | Micheál Martin and Moore St. | Two different Voices on Unity

 

Wear an Easter Lilly

I did not think Easter is almost upon us. It has crept up on me. For Irishrepublicans Easter holds a special significance. It is synonymous with the 1916Easter Rising and the heroism over a century ago of those who rose up againstthe British Empire and declared for a Republic. It is also a time when weremember all of those women and men – over countless generations – who gavetheir lives in pursuit of Irish sovereignty and independence.

In the course of my activism I have travelled widely. I havevisited many countries. Time and again I have been struck by the determinationof nations to honour the patriots and freedom fighters who gave meaning totheir desire for freedom and self-determination.

Across the world there are countless memorials to those whofought in wars against colonialism. National ceremonies of remembrance areheld. Buildings or lands and even prisons associated with struggles for freedomare protected and used as aids to teach young people the value of citizenshipand the importance of freedom and democracy.

Across this island and beyond there are many such monumentsto Irish patriots. Next Sunday tens of thousands of people in towns, villagesand cities, at country crossroads and at lonely hillside graveyards across thecountry, will gather for commemorations. They will gather also in Britain,Australia, Canada, the USA and many other places.

Most will wear an Easter Lily. This is a symbol of ourenduring commitment to the ideals of 1916 and of the Proclamation of theRepublic and is a mark of respect for all those, from every generation, whopaid with their lives in the cause of Irish freedom.

The first Easter Lily badges were designed in 1925 by therepublican women’s revolutionary organisation, Cumann na mBan. From the 1930s,successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments attempted to suppress sales ofthe Easter Lily. It was illegal in the North also. Over the decades manyrepublicans have been harassed, arrested and jailed for selling the EasterLily.

Fortunately, those days are now behind us and Easter Lilybadges of all shapes and sizes, some in metal or cloth or paper, are nowreadily available. So wear an Easter Lily with pride. And if you can attendyour local commemoration next week. Well done to The National GravesAssociation and all those who organise these events.

Táim ag iarraidh ar gach duine, óg agus sean, Lilí achaitheamh um Cháisc mar siombail náisiúnta a chuireann chun cinn nah-idéalacha agus prionsabail a bhain leo siúd a fuair bás um Cháisc 1916.

 

Micheál Martin and Moore St.

Micheál Martin visited 14-17 Moore St. last week. Number 16is where the leaders of the Rising held their last meeting before theirexecution. Numbers 14-17 are the planned location for a National Monument tothose who fought in the 1916 Easter Rising and who evacuated to that street asthe GPO was in flames. Martin’s visit comes 12 years after he called for the"protection and enhancement" of Moore Street. It comes 19 years afterthe Fianna Fáil government of Bertie Ahern designated 14-17 Moore St. as a NationalMonument. During that time the buildings lay derelict and have fallen into adangerous state of disrepair

Now almost two decades later Martin takes an interest, onthe cusp of Easter, in a site that his government has starved of funding.Moreover, Martin has backed the plan by the London based developer Hammerson toobliterate the Moore St. Battlefield site, including historic buildings thatare part of that period.

The rumour was that he was to make a public statement aboutthis. Representatives of the Moore Street Preservation Trust were there torespond, including the grandson of James Connolly, James Connolly Heron. 

James presented An Taoiseach with the Trusts plan for a1916 historic and Cultural Quarter. This encompasses the preservation,restoration and management of the Moore Street Battlefield Area, as designatedby the High Court in 2016 “the lands, buildings, streets and lanes within anarea including Moore Street, Henry Place, O’Rahilly Parade and Moore Lane, inwhich the 1916 Rising Volunteers travelled after evacuating the GPO”.

Micheál Martin did not visit any other part of the Street,speak to any of the shop owners or 1916 Relatives who were present and themedia. Maybe the presence of Moore Street campaigners put him off.

Speaking afterward James Connolly Heron said of thegovernment that “they claim to want to develop a museum whilesupporting a plan that will destroy the whole purpose and context of a museum -the story of the 1916 Rising as told in the very buildings where the last actof The Rising took place. The Hammerson plan would turn Moore Street into abuilding site for 15 years …” He called again for a meeting with AnTaoiseach.

Thus far Micheál Martin has declined to meet with the 1916Relatives. He has met with the developer whose plan he endorsed before theplanning process was completed.

The government’s plans for Moore St. do not reflect thehistoric significance of the area. In a submission to the High Court ten yearsago the National Museum of Ireland spoke of the “national historical importanceof the whole Moore Street area.” Nor does the government’s plan match theeconomic potential of the Battlefield site as a major tourist and employmentattraction for the centre of Dublin.

Martin should read the Moore Street Preservation Trustsalternative plan, meet with the Relatives and listen to the voices of those whohave a vision for Moore St. which reflects the ambition that the leaders of1916 had for the island of Ireland.

 

Two different Voices on Unity

Speaking of Micheál Martin, the Fianna Fáil leader wasinterviewed for the Belfast Telegraph last week. I was disappointed but notsurprised by his assertion that he wasn’t even thinking of a ‘border poll’.When pushed about the constitutional future of Ireland in 50 years-time hecouldn’t even bring himself to utter the words ‘united Ireland.’

 

In the 15 years he has been leader of Fianna Fáil Martin hasengaged in a deliberate strategy of obfuscation when it comes to unity. Hiscurrent excuse for not pursuing that legitimate national goal is his deeplyflawed assertion that you must first have reconciliation. To this end hepromotes the Shared Island Unit – which I support - claiming that its effortswill promote reconciliation and he infers - the cause of unity. But hisstrategy makes the achievement of reconciliation more difficult because it handsa veto to those who oppose reunification.

 

At the same time Martin praises the Good Friday Agreement.That’s because he has to. But he ignores the Agreement’s commitment to unityreferendums and his obligation as An Taoiseach to plane for the future. He isalso walking away from his constitutional obligation to pursue the objective ofa united Ireland.

 

As Micheál Martin was presenting his stunted view of thefuture Leo Varadkar was in the USA offering a more positive vision of a futureIreland. In his address to an Ireland’s Future event in Philadelphia he told500 Irish Americans: “I firmly believe that building a new and unitedIreland is the next step in our national journey, and I believe that IrishAmerica can help us to make those next steps,"  

 

A few days later writing for the Irish News Varadkarwrote: “Every generation has its great cause. I believe ours is thecause of uniting our island, working to build a new home where all traditions,all stories, and all our people belong. I believe building a new Ireland, aunited Ireland, is the political project of our generation.”  

 

Other United Irelanders will say that Leo should have donemore about this when he was Taoiseach. And that’s fair enough. But unlikeMicheál Martin the former Fine Gael leader is not afraid to use the ‘unity’word or to talk about a united Ireland. Nor are an increasing number ofcitizens across this island. The reality is that partition has failed. The onlycure for this is to end the union. A mechanism to do this is contained inthe Good Friday Agreement. Micheál Martin can only ignore this if the restof us let him. Regardless of his opposition the unity referendums will takeplace. There is therefore an onus on the rest of us to plan to win them. Ibelieve we can do it.

 

Build Casement Now | Protecting our environment | Trade War Demands United response | International Palestinian Child Day

 

Build Casement Now

The delay in building the new Casement Park is totallyunacceptable. Like many Gaels of my age I grew up with Casement. I playedthere for our school teams and enjoyed sports days as well. I have watchedumpteen games over the decades. Until 2013. That was the last time CasementPark hosted a game. On 10 June 2013. 

That was the UlsterSenior Football Championship quarter-final between  Antrim and Monaghan.  Sincethen the site has been derelict. A sullen lump of waste ground. AntrimGaels have been denied the use of our county ground and a generation ofyoung athletes are being denied the right to play there. It is adisgrace. 

The history of failure to build the new Casement and all thetwists and turns, of mistakes and upsets and set-backs, would take too long torecord here. But what is for sure is that the delay now rests with the Ministerof Communities Gordon Lyons,the DUP and the British Secretary of State HillaryBenn. 

The DUP are fighting a sham fight - one doomed to failure-over the Irish language as part of their electoral strategy. Casement is alsonow a victim of these machinations. But unlike the Irish language there was nowidespread public or street campaign in support of Casement.

I am glad to hear that this is now going to start. NextSaturday, April 12, the day of the Antrim v Armagh Senior Football game inCorrigan Park there will be a protest. Gaels and other sports fans are beingasked to assemble at Rossa Park at 9 am before leaving at 9.30 to walk theshort distance to Casement Park where a protest will be held. This columnistwelcomes that initiative. Bígí linn ansin.

 

Protecting our environment

The blue skies and warm weather of recent days is a reminderthat spring will soon give way to summer. Everywhere the trees and flowers arecoming into bloom and the dark evenings are retreating as our daylight hoursincrease. Regrettably, this change in weather also brings with it acts ofvandalism, in particular the setting of wildfires that present a real danger tohill walkers, animals, local wildlife and the natural fauna.

The huge fires on the Mourne Mountains at the weekend were adepressing reminder of this behaviour and of the dangers they present. Overrecent days 100 firefighters fought around 150 wildfires in Down andAntrim. Some of the fires stretched for miles destroying forestry andproperty and in the Hilltown area homes had to be evacuated. The Silent ValleyMountain Park, a favourite for visitors, which had just opened after nine weeksbecause of Storm Éowyn, was again closed to the public.

For the firefighters the high winds meant that the danger inthe Mournes was especially challenging as they battled to contain the blazes.They deserve our thanks  and solidarity for their exhausting workprotecting our natural environment and the lives and livelihoods of localpeople.

But it isn’t just the Mournes, with its spectacular mountaintops and ridges, rivers and streams, forests and gorse covered hillsides,separated by miles of stone walls. that is under threat. Summer brings similardestruction to the Belfast Hills. How many times have the people of Belfastlooked up at Black Mountain only to see fires dotted across the hillside withtheir smoke trails stretching for miles? The fires and the huge amounts ofsmoke they generate present a real risk to the lives of Hill Walkers and wild life.

A lot of effort has gone in over recent years to theconservation of the Belfast Hills and of the Mournes. I occasionally walk theBlack Mountain trails along with many others. The scenery is spectacular. TheBelfast Hills are a constant in the lives of all of us who live in this city.All parts of Belfast can see the Hills. The Black Mountain or Sliabh Dubh. TheDivis and Colin Mountains or An Colann and An Dubhais. Wolf Hill and Cave Hillor Beann Mhadagáin. There are other hills across the metropolis. TheCraigauntlet and Castlereagh hills. These slopes hug Belfast in one long, soft,green embrace. They are the backdrop to the city and the main natural feature,particularly of the west of Belfast.

That these should be threatened by the actions of a smallnumber of arsonists is unacceptable. I would urge everyone to be vigilant inprotecting our Hills and mountains.

 

Trade War Demands United response

The U.S. President Donald Trump has initiated the mostdangerous trade war of modern times. His widespread imposition of tariffsthreatens untold damage to the world’s economies. In the USA the stockmarket has declined sharply and senior economists are warning of a deeprecession. These too will adversely impact world economies. There is noindication that President Trump intends to change direction. On the contrary heappears to be digging in.

The consequence for many countries will be serious but thedanger to Ireland, with its two economies and a 20% tariff imposition on EUgoods and a 10% tariff on goods coming out of the North is even greater.  

The Southern economy linked as it is to the EU will respondas part of the European Union. The North is handcuffed to a failing Britisheconomy and to a British government which has already demonstrated through itsrecent economic budget that it couldn’t care less about the people of theNorth.

So, how do we face up to a deepening trade war andpotentially one of the worst economic recessions in generations?  Theinitial answer is to build on the growing all-island trade that is alreadybenefiting the two economies. We need what Seanadoir Conor Murphy last weekdescribed as a “serious collaborative approach from the Irish government andthe northern Executive to protect businesses and the all-Ireland economy.” Acrucial next step would be an early meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council.

The fact is that it was the close working relationshipbetween the Irish government, the Executive and the European Union which wascritical in charting a course through the Brexit debacle. In the longer termIrish unity is the best response to the disruption that Trump policies andgeopolitical tensions are causing.

International Palestinian Child Day

First, let me congratulate Francesca Albanese whodespite a despicable campaign by Israel and its allies to have her sacked, willcontinue in her role as UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in theoccupied Palestinian territories until 2028. She has been a champion for thepeople of Palestine as Israel’s genocide continues to kill and wound hundredsevery day.

Last Saturday, 5 April, was International Palestinian ChildDay. It was an appropriate opportunity to draw attention to Israel’s deliberategenocide of children in the Gaza Strip and the west Bank.

Over 17,000 have been killed. Many thousands more have lostlimbs. Tens of thousands of children in Gaza have lost one or both parentssince Israel launched its genocidal war. Children have also been deprived ofshelter, food, and water. And currently Israel is blocking essential aid andmedicines from entering Gaza.

Whatever other issues there may be in the news cycle todaywe must never forget the Palestinian people and we have to continue to campaignon their behalf. In our millions we are all Palestinians.

 

Protect the Assembly Rooms | Calls for Kurdish peace process welcomed | Time for Unity | Free Palestine

 

 

TheNorth began, the North held on,

Thestrife for native land;

WhenIreland rose to smite her foes

Godbless the Northern land

ThomasDavis

In the1790s Belfast was the centre of an Irish political movement which linked Antrimand Down with the Republics of France and America, and Belfast citizenscelebrated the Fall of the Bastille, drank toasts to Mirabeau and Lafayette andstudied Payne’s great book, The Rights of Man. Presbyterians formedthe Society of United Irishmen and declared for Catholic emancipation, for theabolition of church establishments and tithes, for resistance to rack rents andfor sweeping agrarian reforms. They gave a cordial welcome to Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindicationof the Rights of Women and joined with their Catholic neigbours in thestruggle for national independence and political democracy.

It was atime of change, of great ideas and of hope for a new future free from England’sclutches. The French revolutionary demands for “Liberté, Égalité,Fraternité" (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity) struck a chord that galvanizedthe 20,000 inhabitants of Belfast at that time. If the people of France couldoverthrow the monarchy, the Ancien Regime, why couldn’t the people of Belfastand beyond end  the many abuses inflicted by an English government on theCatholic and Dissenter (Presbyterian) people of Ireland. 

The rising which the United Irish men organised was brutallysuppressed. Along with that savage coercion we also lost much of thatpart of our history. 

Few of the buildings of that period still stand. FirstPresbyterian Church in Rosemary Street is one. Clifton House in North Queen St.is another. So too in the Linen Hall Library.

Another isthe Assembly Rooms – previously known as The Exchange - on the corner of NorthSt. and Waring St. It was built as a market house in 1769 and seven years latera second floor was added. It was at the centre of the economic and culturallife of Belfast. For a time, the United Irish leader Henry Joy McCracken held aSunday school there for the children of the poor. It was in Assembly rooms in1786 that Waddell Cunningham, a merchant proposed the establishmentof a Belfast based slave trading company. It was opposed by Mary AnneMcCracken, her brother and others who later established the United IrishSociety. The proposal was roundly defeated. Six years later the harpers ofIreland held their last Assembly there.

In 1798after the defeat of the 98 Rebellion Henry Joy and others were court martialedin the Assembly Rooms They were then walked the short distance to High Streetwhere they were hanged.

In the twohundred years after that The Assembly Rooms continued to play an important rolein the economic and cultural life of the city before eventually becoming abank. It closed in 2000 and the building has remained largely vacant sincethen, slowly decaying. Currently, Belfast City Council and the Assembly RoomsAlliance are involved in a process to try and save the building fromdereliction. If successful, The Assembly Rooms would be an importanthistorical, multi-cultural and heritage addition to Belfast. I support theirefforts. Its preservation would symbolize the determination of the City toprotect our history while looking to the future.

 

Callsfor Kurdish peace process welcomed

Following World War 1 the European colonial states dividedthe Middle East into British and French zones of interest. An initialcommitment to a Kurdish state was ignored and the Kurdish people were forciblypartitioned between Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran. Winston Churchill, who wasColonial Secretary in 1920 and helped draw up the state boundaries of thatregion, cleared the use of poison gas against the Kurdish people in Iraq. Therenowned writer and historian Noam Chomsky writes that Churchill favoured theuse of poison gas "againstrecalcitrant Arabs as an experiment" and cleared their use on the basisthat; "I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilisedtribes."

Since thenthe region has been convulsed with conflict. Not least has been the

centuries longstruggle of the Kurdish people to self-determination.

 

In the lastweek, Declan Kearney and I have signed a public statement, along with over200 international political leaders, human rights campaigners, women’sactivists, artists, academics, journalists, jurists, and human rights and civilsociety activists, urging all parties to the conflict between the Kurdishpeople and Turkey to “take decisive steps towards a lasting peace.”

The publicletter follows the recent declaration by imprisoned Kurdish leaderAbdullah Öcalan calling for the Kurdistan Workers Party(PKK) to disarm and dissolve. Öcalan’s statement received a positiveresponse from the PKK and has been widely welcomed by Kurdish leaders, creatinga new sense of hope that peace and a future away from a conflict can bebrought.  

Öcalan, whohelped found the PKK, has been imprisoned for over 25 years byTurkey where he has been held in solitaryconfinement and denied visitation rights for much of that time.Nevertheless, he has become a voice for peace, a leader willing to offerthe hand of friendship toenemies. Despite his decades of incarceration, he hasforged a road map to peace that commits the Kurdish people to democracy andfreedom and tolerance, stating that it is time to “silence the weapons andlet the ideas and politics speak.” Öcalan’s call follows months of recent negotiations that haverevived regional peace talks.

In thejoint letter signed by international supporters, we describe Öcalan's statement as “a pivotalmoment for Türkiye and the Kurdish people, aiming to end decades of conflict and pave theway for a democratic society. This call represents a vital opportunity to bringstability to Turkey and the Middle East, protect human rights, and facilitatereconciliation”; urging all sides to “seize this historic moment to worktogether for peace and justice for all Turks and Kurds.”

This is a significant moment for the region. The Good FridayAgreement (1998) negotiations underpins the importance ofall political representatives being involved the process and thatdialogue is essential.

As in our own situation and that of the Basque country,South Africa and other conflicts, the international community can playa very constructive role in supporting political agreement and apeaceful outcome. I would urge the international community to grasp thisopportunity. A successful peace process would be a huge encouragementto increase efforts in other parts of the region. I wantto commend Abdullah Öcalan for his leadership and visionand urge the Turkish Government to release him.

 

Time forUnity

The Spring budget statement from the British Chancellor lastweek exemplifies much that is wrong in the current union between the North andEngland. It was a statement that Margaret Thatcher would have approved of. Itdirectly attacks the most vulnerable in society and promises more cuts topublic services, including welfare provision. It commits Labour to theimplementation of policies that will cause significant difficulties for theNorth. It will significantly increase poverty, particularly forchildren and people with disabilities. At the same time Labour intends spendingmore money on weapons for war.

We need tostep away from a union in which the North is an afterthought to Londongovernments and embrace a future based on Irish unity.

Reunificationwould resolve the issue of national self-determination that has bedeviledrelationships on this island and between these islands for centuries. It wouldend partition and the divisions arising from it that have stymied political andeconomic growth for generations. It would provide a positive space in which therights of all sections of our people can be protected. The advances in theall-island economy are already proving that our economic future is best servedin an all-Ireland context. The end of the duplication of services will benefiteveryone and ensure better public services.

The realityis that the North is tied to a British economy that is in deep trouble. Aunited Ireland and an all-island economy which we control promises a brighterfuture.

 

Free Palestine

This column salutes Mothers Against Genocide for theirProtest on Mother’s Day against the genocidal war by the Zionists against thepeople of Palestine.  Mothers Against Genocide are an inspirational groupof women who campaign assertively and imaginatively for peace andself-determination for the people of Palestine. Their overnightvigil at the gates of Leinster House was forcibly cleared by AnGarda Síochána and eight protesters were arrested.