Gerry Adams's Blog, page 30

Féile An Phobail Abú.

Wasn’t Féile an Phobail 2019 great? 11 days, covering over 300 events, which attracted tens of thousands people. Amazing. Comhghairdeas to all of those who made it happen. To everyone involved in planning, organising, or participating in this year’s Féile. The best ever. Buiochas to Kevin and the entire Féile team. Well done. As Emma Goldman said “A revolution without dancing is not a revolution worth having.” She was right.
Dancing is an essential part of Féile an Phobail. And singing. There were sold out concerts in the Falls Park – Boyzone, Wolftones, and Dance night. Other seisúns everywhere. The Michael Conlan Fight Night was televised live to millions of people across the world on BT Sport and ESPN+. Phil Coulter packed out Clonard Monastery. Féile comedy night was hugely successful. There were dramas, art exhibitions,film, debates and discussions, lectures, the carnival parade, sporting events, and the visual arts. And the Cribby World Championship.
There were also an unequalled series of debates and discussions - over 75 in total - making Féile an event to rival any of the summer schools that take place across the island of Ireland. The main themes for the debates this year were Irish Unity, including a referendum on Unity, the imperative of engaging with unionism on this, building an all-Ireland health service, the made a keynote contribution on the issue of the so-called British subvention. Breaking it down and explaining that it is not as great as claimed and concluding that unity is affordable.
On the Monday night John McDonnell, the British Labour Shadow Chancellor, was warmly welcomed as he gave the James Connolly lecture to a capacity crowd in St. Mary’s University College. Brexit and a referendum on Irish Unity were the big issues. McDonnell said that the constitutional future of Ireland was a matter for the Irish people.
The following night the leader’s debate saw representatives from all of the main political parties participate, including An Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar TD, Mary Lou McDonald TD, Sinn Féin President, Naomi Long MEP, Alliance leader, Fianna Fáil TD Brendan Smith, SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan, East Derry MP Gregory Campbell for the DUP, UUP MLA Doug Beattie.
This year the Féile organisers ensured that most of the debates and discussions were live streamed as they happened on the internet. Some were later put up on youtube. I have friends in the USA and Australia who watched the leader’s debate.
When we started we had a battle a day to get the tourism agencies interested in Féile and West Belfast. This year a major global Tourism Conference was held for the first time, hosted by Fáilte Feirste Thiar. It brought together tourism experts from New Orleans, Barcelona and many other places. World tourism expert Dr Terry Stephens was involved in organising the event.
The diversity of events was staggering. Discussions included – Stop Female Genital Mutilation: Belfast women and the vote, war and socialism (held in the Shankill Library): Who says that Protestants can’t be socialists (in Áras Uí Chonghaile): Collusion: The End Game with Professor Mark McGovern: The Conversation about Irish Unity with Professor Colin Harvey. Sean Murray’s expose of the Glenanne Gang – Unquiet Graves – was shown, as was the Ballymurphy Precedent. A play by Patricia Downey tells of the grief and trauma of Gina Murray, whose 13 year old daughter Leanna was killed in the Shankill Road bomb in 1993. The play received a standing ovation from the audience.
This is the other part of the Féile story. Féile an Phobail was born out of the devastation of war. West Belfast was a different place in 1988 when the first Féile took place. It was a community under military occupation. Thousands of heavily armed British troops patrolled our streets stopping and searching citizens. Those stopped were often abused. Homes were frequently raided and wrecked. There were menacing British military and RUC barracks scattered across west Belfast monitoring and controlling population movement. State collusion with unionist death squads, including their rearming with South African sourced weapons, saw hundreds killed across the North at that time and over the following years. Shoot-to-kill was government policy and part of the plethora of repressive laws used by the British state.
1988 saw the introduction by the Thatcher government of official political censorship and the extension of political vetting of community groups, including the denial of funding to crèches and other community groups. Discrimination in employment and housing, and unionist efforts to control local councils and exclude Sinn Féin representatives, were part of everyday life.
The catalyst for Féile was the killing in Gibraltar of three young people from this area in March 1988 – IRA Volunteers Mairead Farrell, Seán Savage and Dan McCann. In the two weeks following the Gibraltar killings a further nine people died - another four from this constituency. It was a tragic, depressingly sad time for the victims and their families but also for the citizens of west Belfast. They were demonised. Seamus Mallon, the then Deputy leader of the SDLP, said that the people of this area ‘have turned into savages’. Others said we were ‘animals’.
A lesser people could not have survived the years of insults, lies and invective. But we knew that wasn’t a true reflection of our people. We knew that the people of west Belfast were proud and courageous and resilient. We knew that despite almost 20 years of war the community of west Belfast was still standing strong against injustice and inequality.
A small group of us got together and out of our conversations grew a community festival – a peoples’ festival – Féile an Phobail. It was to be our alternative to the bonfires and the riots that usually marked the August internment anniversary. It was our way of demonstrating to the world that the people of west Belfast are a generous, humorous, talented, gifted and inclusive community. It was to be positive, upbeat reflection of everything that is positive, and loving and hopeful. That first festival was, by the scale of recent years, very modest but it was also a huge success. This 8 August, there were no bonfires in west Belfast. Apart from one anti-community bonfire in the New Lodge, almost 12,000 young people participated in a dance night in west Belfast.
Now the Féile is Ireland’s foremost community festival. Despite all the begrudgers and the naysayers Féile an Phobail has gone from strength to strength. Our culture of resistance built over many decades has transitioned into a culture of change. Of reconquest. Of dancing and singing.
So, well done to everyone who over the last 31 years has played any part in this inspirational story of resistance and change. Maya Angelou’s words speak to all of you.“Leaving behind nights of terror and fearI riseInto a daybreak that’s wonderously clearI riseBringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,I am the dream and hope of the slave.I riseI riseI rise.

August 69 – it all changed forever.

August 69 was a turning point for the North and for many of us who lived here. The Civil Rights Association had been campaigning for an end to discrimination by the Unionist regime at Stormont. I was a member of NICRA and on the committee of its West Belfast branch. I was also very active in the West Belfast Housing Action Committee, campaigning against high rise flats at Divis, and squatting homeless families in the Falls area. 
At the start of the year Loyalists and B Specials had attacked a Peoples Democracy March at Burntollet, outside Derry. Sporadic rioting had occurred in the months since then and in Belfast Catholic homes were attacked and some families evicted.In April Samuel Devenney had been batoned in his home by the RUC. He died three months later on July 16th. That same month an Orange parade had clashed with nationalists in Derry, and in three days of renewed attacks on the Bogside by the RUC, two civilians were shot and wounded. In the course of two days of riots in Dungiven, a Catholic pensioner Francis McCloskey was killed on July 14thin an RUC baton charge. He was first person killed as a result of violence in the most recent phase of conflict.The British statelet would not concede ‘one man, one vote’, or any principle of equality; it could only be sustained on the basis of inequality. That was what kept Big House unionists in their positions as top dogs; they knew that if change came and inequality was ended they would no longer even have reason to be unionists. The slogans of the regime, ‘Not an inch’ and ‘No surrender’, must prevail at all costs.On 2 August the Shankill Defence Association, aided and abetted by the RUC and B Specials, launched attacks on Unity Flats after an Orange march. Patrick Corry, a Catholic, was hit by an RUC baton near his home and died four months later. Catholic families were intimidated out of the Crumlin Road area by loyalist gangs. On 12 August the Orange parade went ahead in Derry. At the edge of the Bogside, young nationalists clashed with loyalists, and the RUC launched baton charges. Fighting side by side with the loyalists, the RUC brought up armoured cars and, for the first time in Ireland, CS gas. For forty-eight hours the mainly teenage defenders of the Bogside used stones, bottles and petrol bombs against the constant baton charges of hundreds of RUC and loyalists. Free Derry was born.At the height of the Battle of the Bogside I attended an emergency meeting of NICRA in the Wellington Park Hotel in Belfast. It was decided to organize demos throughout the North to stretch the RUC and relieve the pressure on the people of the Bogside. The Belfast demo was to be organized by the West Belfast Housing Action Committee.In Dublin three cabinet ministers proposed that the Irish army cross the border and seize Derry, Newry and other areas of majority Catholic population. On August 13th An Taoiseach Jack Lynch went on television to announce that ‘the Irish government can no longer stand by and see innocent people injured and perhaps worse’. At around the time of his broadcast I was chairing the protest meeting at Divis Flats. When we marched later to Hasting Street and Springfield Road Barracks we were attacked by the RUC. Later again in the early hours of the morning the RUC opened fire on us from the roof of Springfield Road barracks. Only half slept I went into work that morning of the 14th, but at 11.30 a.m. someone came into the bar for me, saying, ‘You’re wanted. You should pack in work. The wee man’s looking for you.’ The ‘wee man’ was Billy McMillen.I went straight from work to Leeson Street, where Billy McMillen and Jimmy Sullivan were in the process of mobilising republicans from all over Belfast and attempting to put in place some defensive arrangements for nationalist areas which were under attack. During the course of that day, there were reports of increasing tension in different parts of the city bordering on loyalist areas, in particular Ardoyne. That evening a loyalist mob, including many members of the B Specials, armed with rifles, revolvers and sub-machine guns moved from the Shankill Road toward the Falls. They petrol bombed Catholic houses in the streets that lay on their route, beating up their occupants and shooting at fleeing residents. As the mob reached the Falls Road itself, it started to attack St Comgall’s school. A lone IRA volunteer opened fire and the crowd was repelled. The RUC, coming in behind the loyalist civilians and B Specials, opened up with heavy calibre Browning machine-guns from Shorland armoured cars. They directed their firing into the nationalist area, into narrow streets and into Divis Flats itself, where they killed a nine-year-old boy. An RUC sniper from Hasting Street Barracks shot dead a young local man home on leave from the British army.Within a remarkably short space of time, the streets off the Falls Road, and the Falls itself, had been turned into a war zone. Throughout the night, the RUC roared up and down in their armoured vehicles. Dover Street was burned out, and Percy Street, and fighting continued all night in Conway Street. As dawn arose on the morning of 15 August, it did so over a scene of absolute devastation. Six people were dead, five Catholics and one Protestant; about 150 had been wounded by gunfire and 150 Catholic homes had been gutted. The streetscape that I grew up in was gone. The attacks continued through the 15th. In the Clonard area Gerald McAuley, a fifteen-year-old member of Na Fianna, was shot dead defending Bombay Street, and the street itself was ablaze. Catholic families were fleeing from their homes across Belfast. From the Grosvenor Road, Donegal Road, Tiger’s Bay, York Street, Sandy Row, Highfield and Greencastle: Some fled south, but more moved into safer areas of West Belfast, particularly Andersonstown and Ballymurphy. Relief committees were established in most of these areas.Local people opened up their homes to these refugees or just emptied their houses of blankets and clothes and gave up their beds to those who had been forced to flee. In the short few weeks of August 1969, all had changed. Forever. 

Now Is The Time.

By the time you read this

Micheál Martin should take positive leadership role in Irish unity process

In the same week that Boris Johnson achieved his long held ambition to be British PM, Fianna Fáil Leader Micheál Martin said he “can’t comprehend” why there is no Executive and Assembly in the North.I don’t believe this. Micheál Martin understands exactly why the institutions collapsed. He knows why they have not been restored. But he doesn’t let this get in the way of his totally self serving narrative.Micheál Martin has long been obsessed with the perceived threat to Fianna Fáil posed by Sinn Féin. He rarely misses an opportunity, in or outside the Dáil, to attack the party. Facts are irrelevant. The crisis in the North is shamefully exploited time and time again.Last year when the deal agreed between Sinn Fein and the DUP collapsed, because the DUP walked away, Martin was out of the traps almost immediately with his irresponsible and inaccurate tweet: “The continued failure of the two dominant political parties in the North to agree restoration of government is bitterly disappointing… “There was no failure by Sinn Féin. The deliberate attempt to present Sinn Fein as unwilling to negotiate in good faith and of being one of the two problem parties, has been a constant refrain of Martin’s since Fianna Fáil lost power in 2011.He knows it is untrue. He knows the obstacles to progress in the North arise from British government stupidity and indifference to Ireland, allied to failures by successive Irish governments, and to resistance from the DUP and others within political unionism who oppose the Good Friday Agreement.This week Mr. Martin was at it again. Speaking at the MacGill Summer School he said that he “can’t comprehend” why there is no Executive and Assembly. This from the same Fianna Fáil leader who in September 2015 called on the two governments to suspend the institutions in the North!He also repeated his claim that Sinn Féin conspired to bring down the Executive in January 2017. Micheál Martin knows this is untrue. Why on earth would Sinn Féin do that? He also knows that Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O Neill have made exhaustive efforts, alongside the Irish Government and others, to establish the basis for the power sharing government to be restored. As far as Sinn Féin is concerned this has to be is on the basis of equality as set out by the Good Friday Agreement. That basis has yet to be achieved.So why should citizens in the North be expected to tolerate the denial of human rights available to Irish citizens elsewhere on the island of Ireland – or indeed by citizens living in Britain? Why should they embrace a system of governance which denies these rights? Micheál Martin clearly thinks they should.He also knows that the Renewable Heat Initiative scandal, which brought the crisis to a head and which was inextricably linked to serious allegations of DUP corruption at a cost of hundreds of millions to taxpayers- could not be ignored by any responsible partner in government. His own long tenure in various Ministerial roles saw Fianna Fail ministers accused of corruption. Mr Martin did nothing about this. He should now know how this undermines public confidence. That is why Martin McGuinness took the action he did. Martin McGuinness was right.In addition, Micheál Martin’s claim that marriage equality would already be on the statue books in the North, if the institutions had not collapsed, ignores the record of Sinn Féin and others within the Assembly who tried to get the necessary legislation passed. Marriage equality was blocked five times in the Assembly by the DUP. Five times. On the last occasion, despite a clear majority of MLAs in favour, the DUP used a petition of concern to oppose it. There remain sufficient DUP and unionist MLAs to use the petition of concern again, if they wish.These are the facts.Finally, Micheál Martin’s can also be judged by his abject failure to produce the 12 point plan on Unity he announced two and a half years ago. Not only has there been no progress on that front but a commitment to organise Fianna Fáil in the North has not materialised.When leading Fianna Fáil representatives Éamon Ó Cuiv TD and Seanadóir Mark Daly attempted to launch the Fianna Fáil party in Tyrone they were publicly censured by their leader. Ó Cuiv was sacked from the party’s front bench and Mark Daly was sacked as deputy Seanad leader for Fianna Fáil and spokesperson for foreign affairs.Two years ago I wrote to the Fianna Fáil leader and I met him to ask for his support in establishing an Oireachtas Committee to prepare for Irish Unity. This is a modest common sense attempt to plan for the future. If we want to persuade unionists or anyone else to vote Yes in a referendum for Irish unity then we need to examine all the issues involved in a thoughtful and inclusive way. An Oireachtas Committee could look at the economic arguments, as well as the cultural and societal elements of such a process to create an agreed Ireland.Micheál Martin said no.The Fianna Fáil leader’s negative campaigning against Sinn Fein is not about the interests of citizens in the North. It is not about the national interest. Like Boris Johnson it is about  narrow self-interest. Its real focus is the electoral contest between Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin in the South. This approach does a disservice to citizens who live here and to the genuine desire of many across this island for unity.As the relationships on this island and between us and Britain continue to change, as more people look to a future, which is more democratic and hopeful than that envisaged for us by Boris Johnson, my hope is that Mr. Martin will take a more positive leadership role. I urge to him to do so.

In Praise of Wakes.

The loss of a loved one lasts forever. That is hardly surprising. How could it be otherwise? The death of a loved one - a child, a parent, a partner, a friend can be devastating. Sudden unexpected loss is the worst. No time for goodbyes. No time for adjusting to the inevitable. Your whole life turned upside down in a second and in an incomprehensible way. Little wonder your grief lasts forever.

But we slowly learn to live with that loss. We slowly reshape our lives around their absence. We heal. We will never be the same again. How could we be? We adjust slowly but surely. Because we have to. Healing is helped by the knowledge that we were loved and that we love the one we mourn. Death does not change that.

Friendship does not cease because someone dies. Your friend is still your friend. They are no longer there for you to share life with but they remain your friend nonetheless. Forever.

The Irish wake is a great comfort and a real help to the bereaved coming to terms with the death of a loved one. Even as the news of a sudden death shocks us we know as family members or friends that we have to be with the next of kin at this terrible time. We have to get the house ready for the dead person coming home. And as we wait we talk about what happened to him or her and as neighbours and friends gather we tell our tale again and again.

By the time the dearly departed arrives home we are ready for them. The coffin is laid out in the living room. The carpet of mass cards slowly grows as mourners call. Small children wander in and out of the room. Sandwiches arrive, pots of soup. Someone gets a tea urn. Everyone is given something to eat. The kitchen is coming down with stews, pizzas, sweet cakes, wee buns and biscuits. And everyone talks. About the dead person. As we watch over him or her there will be tears and laughter, with banter and slagging taking the edge momentarily off our deep sadness.

The wake probably goes back to ancient times when a burial chamber was left unsealed for three days in case the deceased was in a coma. Relatives gathered to watch in the hope that the unfortunate ‘corpse’ recovered consciousness. 

The Catholic Hierarchy in Ireland used to condemn wakes and wake games or songs. Probably because they were originally pagan practices. These type of wakes are rarely held these days. Nowadays wakes are much more sedate affairs. But they still allow for craic, reminiscence and story-telling. But according to Michael J Murphy, the folklorist, the old people back in his time and before, did not want a quiet wake and said so. That would be a slur on the corpse. So games were played by the mourners as they gathered around the corpse. In those days tobacco, clay pipes and drink was supplied. Singing was customary. The games included ‘My Man Jack’ ‘Rose o’ Roses’, ‘I’m in Love’ ‘Marrying Out’. These games were really courtship rituals. Organised by older people with the younger men and women their targets. Other traditions have similar - or used to have - similar fertility rituals. The presence of the dead person was important. The logic was straightforward. An affirmation that life continues even in grief. But no wake games were played at the wake of a young person or after a sudden death or if a friend of the deceased objected.

We are the poorer for the loss of these traditions. They disappeared as modernity - the radio, emigration and urbanisation among other developments - changed the lives of rural people. In those days story-telling, including games and singing or dancing were the main means of amusement when people gathered in each-others homes for wakes or weddings or just for fun. Now television is the main centre of attention in peoples’ homes. But television thankfully has no place at a wake. So people talk.

Never was there a better form of counselling for the bereaved. A good wake will not make up for our loss. But it is a first step in adjusting to that loss. Long live the Irish wake.

Voting for the next President of Ireland

The right of citizens living outside the southern State to vote for the President of Ireland is now a significant issue of debate, especially here in Dublin. Last week ‘Voices for Irish Citizens Abroad’ (VICA) visited the Oireachtas to engage with TDs and Seanadóirí on the referendum, which is to be held in October or November.
That evening they held a public meeting in the EPIC centre on the Quays. EPIC is the Irish Museum of Emigrants and tells the story of the millions of Irish who left our shores as a result of poverty, hunger, economic crisis or political repression. It was a very appropriate venue for a very informative and encouraging engagement..
Four years ago I asked the then Taoiseach Enda Kenny when the referendum on extending the franchise in Presidential elections, as supported by the Constitutional Convention in 2013, would take place. He refused to set a date. But Kenny’s reticence didn’t succeed in pushing the issue off the political agenda. On the contrary, Sinn Féin and others, especially from within the diaspora, continued to lobby for the right to vote for the President to be extended to citizens living in the North and within the diaspora.
In February speaking in the Dáil An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar explicitly set out his agenda for such a referendum. He said he wanted to hold the referendum in October. His proposal was that all citizens, wherever they live in the world, “will be entitled to register to vote for the next President.” It will be a postal ballot for those not living in the state and it would not be linked to a passport because there are citizens who do not have passports. He said: “As a result it will be linked to citizenship”.
Last month I asked Mr. Varadkar when he expected the legislation to facilitate the referendum to be published. He said he expected it to be published before the Dáil went into recess for the summer on July 11th. This was necessary in order to ensure that any legislation had time to pass through all stages in the Dáil and Seanad to ensure the referendum could be held on time.
When the Bill wasn’t published Mary Lou McDonald raised the issue with Mr. Varadkar last week. The Taoiseach told her that the plan is for the Bill to be published by the end of this month to allow for the establishment of a referendum commission. Subject to no hiccups he expects the referendum “in October or November of this year.”
So, if Mr. Varadkar is true to his word the legislation will be published within the next fortnight. However, given the delays that have occurred to date vigilance is required to ensure that these commitments are honoured.
But agreeing the date and passing the legislation is only one part of the battle ahead. Holding the referendum is important. Winning the referendum is essential. Already there are some voices being raised within the southern political and media establishment opposing the proposal.
The arguments against a referendum and for a NO vote include the claim that the current electorate would be swamped by the diaspora and voters from the North. The proponents of this view warn against a President being elected who is not supported by people who live within the 26 counties.
Of over 120 countries around the world who allow their overseas citizens to vote in elections none has ever raised a concern about this aspect of it. On the contrary the evidence suggests that the relatively small number of citizens abroad who do vote in elections generally follow the pattern of those living within the state.
Another argument heard is a variation on the slogan from the American Revolution’s ‘no taxation without representation’. In this instance it has become ‘no representation without taxation.’ In short if you don’t pay taxes you shouldn’t be allowed to vote. This is a deeply flawed position which if followed through logically would mean that pensioners, citizens on low incomes, parents who stay at home with their children, citizens with a disability, in fact anyone who doesn’t pay taxes for any reason should not have the right to vote.
The reality is that the right of a citizen to vote is not and cannot be dependent on whether they pay taxes. Implement the taxation clause and you are on the downward road to the sort of institutionalised structural discrimination that existed in the North for decades when citizens who were not rate payers had no vote in elections. Tens of thousands, mostly Catholics, were disenfranchised as unionist councils simply refused to build homes for them. No home - no payment of rates – and no vote.
Leo Varadkar in response to this same argument pointed out that it “the Dáil sets taxes and passes legislation which applies to people who are resident here. The Presidency is different. The President does not set taxes and does not make laws.”
The Office of the President and the role of the Presidency in the day to day life of the Irish nation is hugely symbolic and important. The President performs a largely ceremonial role and occasional constitutional duties when instructed by the government. She or he is above party politics. Even when the President has come from one particular party the role is accepted to be strictly non-partisan in its nature. It is about promoting Ireland abroad. The President is the guardian of the constitution and is about promoting a shared civic sense. The President, as we have seen in the past is also uniquely placed to engage with our unionist neighbours. To reach out and be a voice for the voiceless, and an advocate for the disadvantaged and dispossessed.
A successful referendum campaign which actively seeks to encourage those who are unionist to vote for the President would set a powerful example of the kind of shared, fair and equality based society we all want to build on our island. A new union of people. A Yes vote would be a demonstration of generosity and inclusiveness. It would be an invitation to contribute to and participate in the political life of the nation. It would be an important step forward in modernising Irish citizenship and the institution of the President itself.
Finally, in the past, especially around the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement, the role of the diaspora was very important. Permitting Irish citizens living overseas to vote in Presidential elections would send a powerful, positive signal to the diaspora that they are important to us now and in the future. That can only be good.
So this is a campaign for you dear reader. If you live in the North or if you are one of the global Irish you should find a way of asking the Southern electorate to give you your vote. Ask them to vote for the vote. Remember one hundred years ago women were denied the vote. Fifty years ago citizens in the North were denied a vote. We are still denied this vote. If former President Mary McAleese had stayed in Ardoyne she could not have voted for herself when she stood in the Presidential election. Martin McGuinness had no vote when he stood. We can now change this. Let’s do it.

Ireland and the tragedy of refugees

I have just finished reading The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri. Christy was a volunteer working with families fleeing war in Syria and trying to get into the EU. Her novel is a profoundly disturbing and timely reminder of what happens to human beings, just like you or me, when they are caught up in dreadful conflicts or disasters not of their making.
The plight of refugees and migrants is as old as human experience. The people of this small island, as a result of colonisation, have a long shared history of forced migration. As a consequence, most Irish people identify sympathetically with those who find themselves in similar situations. It’s in our DNA. The international refugee crisis of recent years, especially in the Mediterranean Sea, and the decades of displacement and disadvantage endured by the Palestinian people, have seen Irish citizens providing critical political, economic and financial support to those in need.
This experience of the Irish as refugees fleeing hunger, poverty and repression was underlined last month when the Canadian government confirmed that the remains of three children, washed up on a beach in Cap-des-Rosiers, in the Gaspe region of Quebec, Canada, were from Ireland. The bones of the three, aged between seven and 12, were found in 2011. A subsequent search of the beach by archaeologists uncovered the remains of another 18 people, mostly women and children.
Their investigation found that all of the victims were from the Carricks of Whitehaven, an Irish ship sailing from Sligo in 1847. It was carrying 180 passengers when it sank in a storm of the Gaspe coast as it made its way toward Quebec. One hundred and thirty two were drowned. Scientists from the Universite de Montreal concluded that the 21 victims were fleeing the Great Hunger. They had a diet typical of rural people In Ireland at that time and many suffered from diseases and malnutrition.
Last week the remains of the 21 were laid to rest at the Irish memorial on Cap-des-Rosiers beach. It is one of many such memorials that stretch from Canada down the east coast of the USA. These have been erected in memory of the tens of thousands of Irish who died on the coffin ships and in the fever camps trying to escape An Gorta Mór – the Great Hunger – of 1845-49. Not far from this spot is Grosse Ile – an island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It was a quarantine station established to house immigrants arriving from Europe. It is believed that at least three thousand Irish died there between 1845 and 1849. Another six thousand Irish refugees died at nearby Windmill Point and thousands more perished on the coffin ships and were buried at Sea.
Viveka Melki, who made a documentary about the sinking of the Carricks of Whitehaven, reported that some of the skeletons that were unearthed were found to be holding children in their arms.
One hundred and seventy years ago there were no photographers or documentary makers, or broadcast news cameras to record the human tragedy that was wiping out families and villages across the island of Ireland. Or to record the horror of impoverished, starving men, women and children, dying in their thousands in coffin ships crossing the Atlantic, or on the shores of north America.
Today there are photographers and broadcasters on the Mexican-US border, in the Mediterranean Sea, in North Africa, in Central Africa and elsewhere recording the escalating humanitarian refugee crisis.
Two weeks ago, on Sunday 23 June, Óscar Alberto Martinínez Ramírez, aged 25 drowned trying to cross the Rio Grande from Mexico into the USA. In the photograph that was published several hours later he can be seen lying face down on the bank of the river with his 23 month old daughter Angie Valeria in his arm. It is a graphic, brutal, heart rending picture of a father and daughter fleeing poverty and violence, and dying. It is an image which captures the horror of those Irish migrants also holding their children as they drowned off the coast of Canada.
It was also a reminder of another equally harrowing and distressing photo from four years ago when  three year old Aylan Kurdi was pictured lying on a beach in Turkey. He had died with his five year old brother Galip and mother Rihan and seven other refugees trying to cross the five dangerous miles from Turkey – which is outside the EU –to the Greek island of Kos which is inside the EU.  Aylan and his family, and Óscar Alberto Martinínez Ramírez and his daughter Angie Valeria, are the victims of a refugee crisis that the world has failed to grasp and which is growing worse every year.
A report covering 2014 and 2018, by the UN’s International Organisation for Migration, and published last month, reported that 32,000 migrants had died or were reported missing. Of these nearly 1600 were children. The deadliest migration route is the Mediterranean where at least 18,000 died. It is also the most dangerous route for children with 678 having drowned. The remains of 12,000 who drowned in the Mediterranean have never been found.
Today, the United Nations estimates that there are 70 million people displaced from their homes. This is double the figure from 20 years ago. It is the worst refugee crisis since the second-world-war and governments are failing to take effective steps to reduce it. They must do more. Particularly, the governments of Europe. It was their imperial ambitions over recent centuries, and military adventures of the last two decades, which created many of the crises confronting the people of the Middle East and Africa.
In recent months, the EU’s Operation Sophia has stopped participating in missions to rescue those in trouble in the Mediterranean. Operation Sophia is credited with saving tens of thousands of lives in its four years of operation. Its objective had been to disrupt people traffickers and rescue migrants crossing from north Africa. However, at the end of March EU diplomats said Operation Sophia will no longer carry out maritime patrols after Italy refused to receive those rescued at sea.
As a result migrants rescued by the Libyan coastguard end up in migrant camps in Libya where they are often the victims of traffickers and slave traders. In recent days one such camp was bombed and over 50 migrants killed.  The Tánaiste Simon Coveney recently acknowledged that “there are concerns about physical and sexual abuse of both adults and children in many of those camps. It is appalling”.
The EU needs to do more. It cannot wash its hands of its responsibilities in this crisis. Operation Sophia should be recommenced urgently and more funding to the United Nations humanitarian agencies must be a priority.

Remembering Kevin McKenna – the real deal.

Family funerals are an occasion for relatives - aunts and uncles, nephews and nieces, cousins and distant relatives – who probably haven’t seen each other since the last funeral, to get together. We reminisce about the person who has passed. Remembering the good times, the bad times, the craic. We talk about when we were kids, our families, those others who died previously, where we all are now, our hopes for the future, and especially our optimism for the next generation behind us.
Republican funerals nowadays are like that. Last week the republican family came together in Smithborough, County Monaghan to say goodbye to Kevin McKenna and to wrap our arms in solidarity around his bean chéile Marcella, their children and grandchildren.
I saw the genuine delight of former prisoners, reunited for the first time in years, as they greeted one and other. Some were obviously surprised and happy that old comrades were still alive, though a lot of the talk was about hip operations, stents, and arthritis.
Thursday was a scorcher of a day. Blue skies and a hot, hot sun as we made our slow journey along a road packed with mourners, through the green fields of lush countryside from the family home to St. Mary’s in Magherarney.
Family and relatives and neighbours were there. So too were many who counted Kevin as a friend and comrade, including some who were imprisoned with him in Portlaoise in the 1970s. Bernie McGuinness -  Martin’s bean chéile – Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald, and Leas Uachtáran Michelle O’Neill, Danny Morrison, Martin Ferris, and many others from all parts of the island of Ireland were present.
Kevin was a quiet, thoughtful republican. A committed comrade who dedicated years of his life to the cause of Irish freedom and to the Irish people. He first became involved in the republican struggle in 1970. He had just returned home from the Yukon Territory in north-west Canada, near Alaska. It was a place he liked to talk about – “When I was in Canada” – was usually the start of reminiscence about his time there, the people he’d met – especially the native peoples – and the beauty of the place.
The memories of his time in the Yukon stayed with Kevin all his life. He was especially fond of the poetry of Robert Service. He loved ‘Dangerous Dan McGrew’ and ‘The Cremation of Sam McGee’. But his heart was in the hills of County Tyrone where he was born and grew to manhood. Consequently he was also very fond of the poems of WF Marshall, the Bard of Tyrone.
I’m livin in Drumlister An I’m getting very oulI have to wear an Indian bag To save me from the coul. The deil a man in this townlan Wos claner raired nor me, But I’m livin in Drumlister In clabber to the knee. 
Me Da lived up in Carmin, An kep a sarvint boy. His second wife was very sharp, He birried her with joy. 
Now she wos thin, her name was Flynn She come from Cullentra, An if me shirts a clatty shirt The man to blames me Da. 
Kevin heard of the troubles at home. The campaign of the civil rights movement for reform, the marches in Coalisland and Dungannon, the Caledon Squat by the Gildernew’s and the violent response of the unionist regime at Stormont and of the British government. So he came back from the bitter cold of the Yukon to the hot house that was County Tyrone in early 1970 to join the ranks of the Irish Republican Army.
Among the rolling hills of Tyrone, its narrow laneways, villages and roads Kevin and his comrades relentlessly and defiantly fought the British Army.
He moved to County Monaghan in 1972 where in 1973 he met Marcella at the Ulster Football final in Clones. Tyrone won. So did Kevin. In 1974 he was arrested and charged with IRA membership. He was sentenced to Portlaoise prison where, along with others, he embarked on a hunger strike. After 39 days he was taken from the prison to the Curragh Military Hospital. Kevin took the prison authorities to court for continuing to hold him beyond his normal release date and he was freed in February 1975, after 48 days on hunger strike, without returning to Portlaoise.
In 1976 he was back in Portlaoise for a short time. He met Martin McGuinness in Portlaoise. He says he taught Martin to play chess. That was always an issue of good hearted banter between them.
Lots has changed in the time since then. Even as we gathered at Kevin’s graveside the so-called ‘United Kingdom’ is disuniting. Yes, we still have quarrels to settle with our unionist neighbours, and Yes, partition remains. But Republican Ireland remains also. Resolute, unbowed, undefeated and looking to the future.
Kevin was a decent man doing his best in very difficult times. War is a terrible calamity. The republican people of the north never went to war.  The war came to us. I am mindful of all those who have been hurt. And there has been hurt on all sides. But the war is over and the future is being written now.  As we help to write that future we will not let the past be written in a way which demonises patriots like Kevin McKenna any more than we would the generations before him. 
I think the men and women of 1916 were right. I also think the hunger strikers of 1981 were right. I think Kevin McKenna was right. I think the IRA was right. Not in everything it did. But it was right to fight when faced with the armed aggression of British rule. It was also right to make peace. 
Kevin McKenna’s leadership in that challenging period of change was essential. Kevin McKenna was a republican soldier who had the politics to know when to fight and the vision to know when to talk. He also actively supported the building of Sinn Féin. He had progressive social views and was a committed internationalist. This August marks 25 years from the first IRA cessation. It was an initiative created by republicans which opened up the potential of the peace process. Kevin had the courage to make the big decisions with others during the conflict. He was also one of those who had the courage to make the big and difficult decisions during the efforts to make peace. 
It is in the nature of these things that the part played by republicans like Kevin during the long years of war will never be known. The tales will never be told. Others may boast. Kevin would have none of that. He had no time for ego trippers, or vanity projects. He had no time for loose talkers, Walter Mitties or spoofs. He was the real deal.
An honest decent republican who saw off Thatcher and her ilk and brought the British government to the negotiating table. Republican Ireland is indebted to him and Marcella. In time thoughtful people of all political views, including some unionists, will acknowledge the important role played by Kevin and his comrades. Tá sé at slí an fhirinne anios.

Planning For The Future.

It’s always good to spark a debate, and my recent column and blog ‘Planning for Irish Unity’ certainly did that. My core argument was the need to move those parties which aspire to Irish unity beyond their traditional republican rhetoric and to get them involved in the real work of planning for unity. In particular I argued that the Irish government has a duty, a constitutional imperative, to plan for unity now.  Why would a government, any government, not plan for the future?
The future is not about a single step-change in which we go to bed one night in a partitioned Ireland and the next morning wake up in a united Ireland. It’s all about process. A process of change. A Process of transition. A process of transformation. It’s about agreeing how we will organize our society. It’s about how we share our future. It’s about all of us having our say and playing our part in this.
Can Sinn Féin do this on our own? The answer is obvious – no. The Irish government has a duty and a constitutional obligation to make preparations for unity. To examine the economic arguments. The cultural and social dimensions. The political dynamics. To take account of the significant shifts in population and identity demographics in the North in recent decades. To open this process up and in consultation with, and through a process of inclusive dialogue, to persuade those – unionists, nationalists and others – who have reservations about unity - that Irish unity makes sense for them, for their families and for the future.
The Irish government is best placed to create the space in which all of this can take place. Mary Lou McDonald suggested some time ago that the Irish Government establish a Forum to which all are invited and non are excluded. This dialogue could discuss the political shape of a new Ireland; a new constitution; the protections needed to assuage unionist concerns; the economic positives that will benefit all; the timeframe for a transition period and how long it should last and so much more.
It could also engage with our friends and neighbours in Europe. Almost 30 years ago the EU financially and politically supported German reunification. The EU through its negotiations on Brexit has demonstrated concern about the peace process and the future of the Good Friday Agreement. It has already accepted that in the event of Unity the North would automatically become part of the EU. This European good will can be harnessed.
All of this needs to be planned for now. Not after a referendum on Unity. As I said in my previous column, that is the one big lesson of Brexit. A referendum without a plan is stupid. I wrote; “So a referendum on unity must be set in a thoughtful inclusive process which sets out a programme of sustainable options. Including, phases of transition”.
The response to my column was both funny and serious. Funny because the SDLP sought to claim that Sinn Fein was shifting our position by calling for a plan. Serious because others haven’t been listening to what republicans have been constantly saying. The usually well informed commentator, Alex Kane said that I was “long-fingering the unity project”. He asked “is Adams preparing the ground for a row-back? Has it finally dawned on the party that Sinn Féin’s ‘ourselves alone’ approach to unity isn’t working? Are they simply buying themselves more time?”
In part, republicans must accept some responsibility for this failure by others to grasp what our approach has consistently been. So I thought it would be useful to remind readers of a few examples of Sinn Féin’s approach to the issue of Irish unity. In my first meeting with John Hume in September 1986 I put it to John that we needed to cooperate to get the British Government to set aside the Government of Ireland Act. This was the Act by which Britain claimed sovereignty in Ireland. Two years later Sinn Fein presented proposals to the SDLP during our talks in 1988 calling for an alliance of Irish political parties and opinion to achieve “maximum political unity in Ireland” to secure Irish Unity.
 We called for the launch of a “concerted political campaign internationally, using Dublin government diplomatic resources, to win international support”; and we proposed a “debate, aimed at leading to dialogue” with unionists to assure them of “our full commitment to their civil and religious rights and be persuaded of the need for their participation in building an Irish society based on equality and national reconciliation.”
In 1987 Sinn Féin published Scenario for Peace. This was the public launch of our developing peace strategy. Among other initiatives it called for an all-Ireland Constitutional Conference that would seek agreement on a new constitution and system of government. We dealt with the future of unionism and once again argued for the British government to repeal The Government of Ireland Act.
In February 1992 Sinn Féin published ‘Towards a Lasting Peace in Ireland’. It was a time of secret talks with the Irish and British governments, with political opinion in the USA, and private conversations with John Hume. The Sinn Féin document called for a peace process and it spelled out a strategy to achieve it. In particular, the document placed the onus for progress very much of the two governments with sovereign power and authority. It was an explicit recognition that republicans did not have the political strength on our own to effect the scale of change that was required.
Six years later, on 9 March 1998, a few weeks before the Good Friday Agreement was achieved, I set out in a keynote speech the broad outline of the sort of all-Ireland bodies and constitutional change that Sinn Féin believed were necessary in any agreement. I also said that nationalists want an “effective, peaceful, political strategy” to achieve a United Ireland. This means an alliance of Irish political parties, with the “Irish government playing a leadership role” and with a “common position worked out between Dublin, the SDLP and Sinn Féin”.
During and in the run into the negotiations leading to the Good Friday Agreement Sinn Féin pressed both governments on the need to end the Government of Ireland Act. In our first meeting in Downing Street we made this point clearly and in detail with British PM Tony Blair. I told him that a new Act needed to allow for an end to British rule that was least disruptive and most beneficial to all the people who live on the island of Ireland. Our point that the British Government needed to start unravelling the Act of Union by ending the Government of Ireland Act and the Northern Ireland Constitution Act, was made repeatedly by us. Our hard work paid off when in the Good Friday Agreement negotiations the Government of Ireland Act was replaced by legislation which declared “that if there were majority consent for a united Ireland that wish should be given effect.”
Sinn Féin’s position was that the unionist veto had to end; consent had to apply both ways. It is not just unionist consent but nationalist and republican consent as well. This very significant break-through opened up the potential for the development of an entirely peaceful way to end the union with Britain. It is that which should be the focus of all our efforts. That has been Sinn Féin’s focus. 
In 2005 we published ‘A Green Paper on Irish Unity’ in the Dáil. In my introduction I wrote: “In this discussion documents we are calling on the Irish government to publish a Green Paper and to begin the practical planning for Irish unity now.”
In June 2009, speaking in New York at a one-day conference on Irish Unity I told our audience: “Irish unity is bigger than Sinn Féin. We have no monopoly on this primary national and international issue. It is the business of everyone who desire peace and justice and freedom and prosperity for the people of Ireland. This can and will be established if we come together and plan and organise.”
Finally, speaking in the Mansion House on 21 January 2017 I said: “There is an onus on the Irish government to prepare a real plan for unity. A First Step in this would be the development of an all-party group to bring forward a Green Paper for Unity. In addition, plans should be developed for an all-island National Health Service and for all island public services through a ‘United Ireland investment and Prosperity Plan.”
So, these are just a few examples. But to ensure that there is no misunderstanding let me repeat. There needs to be planning for Irish unity. Now. There needs to be planning for a referendum on Irish Unity. Now. The Irish government has a key leadership role in this. There is a need for the rest of us – whatever our electoral differences and competitiveness on other issues - to work together for unity. And there must be a dialogue with unionism. They need to plan the future also.

Traveller culture and rights need to be upheld

I have long had an interest in the Traveller community, in their culture, nomadic life-style and music. The decision to recognise Traveller ethnicity in 2017 finally brought the Irish State into line with recognition already in place in the North, as well as in England, Scotland and Wales. But more is needed. The distinct culture, traditions and ethnicity of the Traveller community need to be cherished and valued.
Two weeks ago the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) produced a comprehensive report on the treatment of Travellers, refugees, the Direct Provision system for asylum seekers, anti-racism laws and hate crime. The report is a scathing indictment of the failure of successive Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil led governments.
It identified major legislative and policy failings in relation to hate speech, hate crime, the response of An Garda Síochána to these and the use of ethnic profiling by the Garda.
It is especially critical of the disgraceful refusal by many local Councils to draw down funding that is available from the government to provide Traveller specific accommodation. In February my colleague Teachta Eoin O’Broin revealed that of the 31 Councils in the South ten did not draw down any money in 2018 for Traveller accommodation – not a penny. A further 14 Councils failed to draw down all of their allocated funding. Overall less than half of the twelve million euro available for Traveller accommodation was spent in 2018.
A recent report – the 2019 #TravellerHomesNow monitoring report - published for that region by the Galway Traveller Movement (GTM) revealed that Travellers continue to live in appalling conditions. A year after a similar report, the 2019 review concluded that little change had taken place. The report examined the situation on 18 sites and describes accommodation that is overcrowded, damp and mouldy, overflowing sewerage, rat and fly infestations and no facilities for children. Poverty and social exclusion are the norm for Travellers.
Another report last year, from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, found that the Traveller community was the group most at risk of homelessness. It also experiences the highest level of discrimination when seeking rented housing.
The ECRI report underlines the significant difficulties faced by Travellers. It specifically calls for increased efforts to meet the accommodation needs of Travellers. It suggests that this can be done by improving existing halting sites to meet decent and safe living standards, and by providing adequate, accessible, suitable and culturally-appropriate accommodation.
Crucially, the Commission calls for the imposition of sanctions on local authorities for failure to spend allocated funding. Failing this it argues for removing the responsibility for Traveller accommodation entirely from local authorities and placing it under the authority of a central housing commission. This is a proposal that Traveller groups have supported for many years.
The ECRI is also highly critical of the Direct Provision system of holding asylum seekers in so-called accommodation centres that are run by private companies. Many have been in the system for years waiting on a decision on their application for asylum. The system has been frequently and justifiably criticised.
Last week we heard of the disturbing case of Sylva Tukula, who lived at the Great Western House Direct Provision Centre in Galway, and who died there last August. Sylva was buried in early May without any of her friends being informed.
This case has highlighted the fact that the Department of Justice no longer provides information about deaths in Direct Provision. It did until two years ago. Between 2007 and 2017 at least 44 people died in Direct Provision. 15 of these have no known cause. In a discussion about Direct Provision at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice two weeks ago Mr. Lucky Khumbule of the Movement of Asylum Seekers revealed that in the last 18 months there have been at least five suicides that they know of.
The Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) which is responsible for the Direct Provision system and treatment of asylum seekers and refugees, and the Department of Justice now tell us that recording deaths is not their business.
When I raised this issue and the ECRI report in the Dáil last week the Minister said he would write to me. I await his response with interest.
The ECRI report is a very welcome wake-up call. It sets out a range of common sense measures that would significantly advance equality and fairness in society.
All of us have rights. These include the right to receive equal service in shops and pubs, the right to access education, health services and work, and the right to accommodation, on the basis of equality. Regrettably, this has not been the case for our Traveller brothers and sisters. Or the unfortunate people in Direct Provision. This needs changed.