Gerry Adams's Blog, page 66

Father Matt

There was enormous sadness at the news of the death of Fr. Matt Wallace at the weekend. A county Wexford man he had served as a priest in west Belfast for most of his time as a priest.
This is a short blog in memory of a remarkable man and priest.
Fr. Matt
I slipped up the side of Holy Trinity church and  joined the people standing at the front  door. Matt's clann were standing across from us in a line talking quietly. I noticed how well the church grounds looked. The crowd at the gate thickened. More people joined us. Turf Lodge was hushed. The sun shone. The birds sang. It all seemed surreal. Normal.

Then the coffin was lifted from the hearse and carried into the porch of the church.  People started to applaud.  Matt was home. Home in Holy Trinity.

His family wept. So did the rest of us. Poor Matt. Such a good straight decent man. Struggling. Giving. Slagging. Praying. But never preaching. Funny that. A priest who didn't preach. Not in the conventional sense.'People here don't need me to tell them what is wrong and what is right. They are rearing families, minding neighbours. They know what is wrong and what is right. The people are the church. It was always so. They need support. Hope. A chance. Not long sermons'. So Matt didn't preach.  Matt led.He was conscious of all the flaws in the human condition but energetically and impatiently alert to our great potential and our possibilities. His vocation was grounded in that gospel of hope. For all of us.
His Masses were always packed. And quick. He didn't hang about. Bustling up onto the altar. If he said anything aside from the prayers it would be to commend some local project or to comment favourably on a local development or disapprovingly of something the powers that be had done. Or to joke with someone in the congregation.

Matt saw the Mass as a social occasion. He told me that. For many people, he said, it was where they meet their friends. Particularly older people who didn't get out a lot. If you go to Holy Trinity a few minutes early for Mass that's what you would notice. People sitting chatting to each other. Others kneeling and praying of course. But in the background the low chatter of folks talking. Then, in Matt would come and all would rise. And he would be off at a gallop.

Matt is from Wexford. The weekend his life ended Wexford beat Louth in the football, and drew with Dublin in the hurling. He would have liked that. Forty years in Belfast, first on the Ormeau Road and the rest of the time in West Belfast, in Divis and Lenadoon and Turf Lodge. But a proud Wexford Gael.

Working with the great people of this wonderful community through all our tribulations. Baptising our babies. Burying our dead. Officiating at our weddings and communions and confirmations.  Working at building schools and community centres and youth facilities and counselling services and women's projects. Fundraising. Encouraging jobs initiatives. Visiting the sick. And the dying. And the elderly. Looking after victims of abuse of every kind.  Challenging the system. Standing up to the British Army when they were here. Visiting the prisons.
And having the odd pint up in the Gort to celebrate that fine club's achievements and to discuss the merits of Wexford and Antrim hurling.

Matt was his own man. He was often annoyed at the Hierarchy. At the height of the revelations of clerical child abuse and after the publication of one of the reports into this he told us one Sunday morning that he had a letter from the bishops to read to us.

'But' he continued, 'if you are really interested in what bishops are saying you can read it for yourselves. We all know what the bishops should do. They should clear all this up. And if they are not prepared to do this then they should resign.'

And he continued with the Mass.Matt was a very human being.
Another time when one of our much loved old patriots and celebrated Gaels, Eddie Keenan, died his local priest would not let Eddie's coffin into the parish church draped in the national flag. His family contacted me. I phoned Matt.

'Bring him here Gerry", he said.

And we did. For a Mass of music and song. A celebration of a life well lived.

Much like Matt's life. He also lived his life well.

He gave his all. And never stopped giving.Calls to the house at all times of the night. Distressed citizens. Or Passport forms to be signed. References to be written. Attending the scenes of sudden deaths. Of suicides. No wonder he smoked like a train. When he wasn't trying to give them up. Always something else to do. Someone else to attend to. Matt gave and gave and gave. Until he had nothing else to give.
And we, who wonder why he went as he did, we who are hurting because we couldn't  help him, we who are honoured to call him Father and friend we know  we are better people because of him.

Because he loved us and cared for us. All of us.
 
 

Putting children first

On Tuesday evening RTE broadcast a Prime Time special – A Breach of Trust -on childcare and crèches. Using secretly recorded film of three crèches the programme showed disturbing images of young children, some between one and two years of age, being emotionally and physically abused by some staff.

While it acknowledged that its under-cover researcher witnessed some very good examples of childcare the focus was on the ill-treatment that occurred. This included children being thrown about like a rag doll at nap time in one crèche; children being strapped for hours at a time into chairs with no stimulation available; staff shouting and cursing at children; lax supervision, poor or no training, and insufficient numbers of staff to cope with the children; and staff falsifying diaries of children’s activities.
The programme revealed that 75% of all crèches in the state are breaching mandatory standards. The programme also revealed that there are no inspectors in local health offices in Louth, Dublin South City, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan and North Monaghan.
Many families often pay more than their mortgages to ensure that their children are in childcare facilities. They expect that their children will be properly cared for and that their developmental, educational and learning needs will be catered for. And that all of this will be properly scrutinised and inspected by government.
However, the RTE programme revealed that the needs of children are not being met. It exposed the use of unacceptable practices.
It is clear that there is a serious failure of regulation and a failure of governance. Breaches of regulations are widespread, while the inspection regime is simply not up to scratch. Crèches in some parts of the country have not been inspected for up to four years despite hundreds of complaints from parents.
This is light touch regulation at its worst. There seems to be an over emphasis on the business interests of childcare providers and under emphasis on standards and regulation. Childcare is a very profitable business, not least because those involved draw down millions in state funding, despite there being no robust inspection regime.
The Giraffe crèche in Stepaside was featured on the RTE programme. The Giraffe childcare chain received over €1 million last year from the state. Along with the two other crèches highlighted in the film they secured €3.6 million. One of the three crèche groups – Links Childcare and Montessori Ltd – recorded accumulated profits of €1.7 million last year.
The state paid this money as part of its Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme under which every child is entitled to a free preschool place. This system also demands that children do not miss more than 20 days and the level of funding follows the child. So if parents move their child to a different crèche then the money moves with them.  
There is an onus on the government to ensure that there is a rigorous inspection system and that all crèches are fulfilling their statutory obligations. It also needs to ensure that childcare facilities are providing the quality framework for early years education that was agreed six years ago. One report suggests that just 3% of childcare providers are fully implementing it.
It is also clear that there is a serious shortage of trained and qualified staff. Almost a quarter of staff members has either inadequate or no qualifications.
The government should also ensure that no state funding is provided without a stringent inspection regime, proper training and robust regulation.
The State should not be funding high cost and profitable private childcare facilities that are below standard. In fact the whole policy of dependence on the private for profit sector for childcare should be reviewed.
Children deserve better and parents need to be reassured about the standards of care their children will receive. This is a scandalous situation and the HSE must move immediately to appoint inspectors for childcare facilities in those counties that have no inspectors.
Sinn Féin has indicated our willingness to work with the government to facilitate legislative progress on the 'Children First' legislation and the establishment of the Child and Family Support Agency as one way of addressing the appalling situation exposed by the RTE programme. But all of this will be meaningless if the government does not provide the necessary funding and ensure that the new structures and laws and recommendations are implemented in full.
   

The devastation of suicide

Last Monday saw the publication of a report in Dublin by the 3Ts (Turn the Tide of Suicide) charity ‘Suicide in Ireland 2003-08.’ It makes for grim reading.

The charity was established in 2003 with the aim of changing public attitudes toward suicide, raising awareness, lobbying the Irish government on the issue, provide funding for research and for those groups working in the areas of suicide and self-harm, and to run a suicide helpline.

It is hugely critical of the failure of the government to develop and fund strategies on mental health and specifically around suicide prevention and awareness and self-harming, despite the increase in the numbers of people dying from suicide.

The report commissioned by the 3Ts charity looks at the issue of suicide within the southern state but many of its conclusions are equally applicable in the north. It found that the actual number of citizens dying by suicide each year is significantly greater than official figures. In 2011 government statistics revealed that 525 people died by suicide. The 3T’s report puts that figure at 722.

The 3Ts report also reveals the startling fact that one child under 18 years of age dies by suicide every 18 days! One in six people aged under 21 who died by suicide had experienced bullying. Young men under 21 are at four times the risk of suicide. And the Irish state has the fourth highest youth suicide rate in Europe and that rate is increasing.

The study also found that as many as half of all suicides occur in clusters, that is where a series of deaths take place in one location over a short period of time. And it identified the damaging and often fatal role played by alcohol in contributing to suicide in 50% of all cases.

The ‘Suicide in Ireland 2003-08’ report also described how families are left to cope with the trauma of suicide. Many of them report a negative experience with the Gardaí and frontline services in health and education. One family said that their son was ‘stitched up in accident and emergency. Given a month’s prescription and sent home.’

Another family explained that the person who found his best friend dead by suicide was then held by the police for six hours.

It is very clear that Irish Government’s strategies to tackle suicide are not working.Suicide prevention is under resourced and there is insufficient training for those in the frontline in health, in education, and in the Gardaí who have to help those at risk or those who have been bereaved.

The report made a number of important recommendations. It called for mental health literacy; that is bringing intensive suicide intervention programmes into schools and communities for young people in their early teens.

It argues for an ‘early detection Adolescent Depression Screening programme … a real time monitoring of teen and young adult suicide … with a particular focus on a greater understanding of suicide clusters in young people and how best to modify them.’

The report also calls for the ‘mandatory upskilling and monitoring of all workers in statutory authority who interface with young people to eliminate the possibility of bullying/victimisation or humiliation of young people by such authorities … a deeper understanding of the role and culture of alcohol and its consumption in teens and young adults …’

The impact of suicide across the island is dreadful. In the north in 2011 289 people died from suicide. The six counties has seen a doubling of suicide since the start of the century placing the area in the top quarter of the international league table of suicide rates.

When you combine the figures 2011 saw over 1000 citizens die as a consequence of suicide on this island.

The figure for road deaths for the same period was 186 for the south and 59 for the north. A total of 245 deaths or approximately a quarter of the suicide figure.

Despite this huge gap in deaths suicide does not secure the same level of investment and resources that is put into safety on the roads.


Self harming is also a huge issue. Thousands are admitted to hospitals every year as a result of self-harm which in many cases go unreported. In 2008 11,700 people presented themselves at Accident and Emergency Units in the south as a result of self-harming.

While suicide and self-harming are now better understood than before, and it is accepted that suicide victims and survivors should be treated with compassion and care, the fact remains that only a relatively small proportion of the budget is devoted to mental health.

Mental Health remains the Cinderella of the health services. This needs to be rectified.

The reality is that there is an island wide - national emergency –in respect of suicide and it requires an island wide national response.

I believe that there should be an island wide independent suicide prevention agency – on the same lines as the Road Safety Authority in the south – bringing together the resources of each state under one over-arching agency to develop and oversee a strategy could reduce the numbers of suicide.

Adams calls for release of John Downey and Michael Burns

Gerry Adams TD speaking to the media at Leinster House
The arrest and charging by the British police of John Downey and the arrest and charging of Belfast man Michael Burns, is a matter of grave concern and a clear breach of commitments given by the British government at Weston Park and in subsequent negotiations.

Following the Good Friday Agreement both the British and Irish governments accepted that the issue of those defined as OTRs was an anomaly and the two governments committed to resolve the issue.

The OTRs are individuals who, if arrested and convicted, would be eligible for release under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

A process was put in place to deal with outstanding cases. John Downey and Michael Burns were two of these.

Between 150-200 individuals were classed as OTRs – On-the-Runs.  Some of these were individuals who had escaped from prison or jumped bail.

Most were victims of British Army and RUC harassment.

John Downey is a valued member of Sinn Féin and a long-time advocate of the Peace Process. Michael Burns is in poor health.

The decision to arrest and charge both men is malicious. It is also evidence that those British securocrats who have consistently opposed the peace process are still working to undermine it.

The arrest of John Downey and Michael Burns has caused huge anger among republicans.

For over two decades John Downey has been to the fore in promoting the peace process. As a former republican prisoner he has been involved in Cultural Diversity programmes with former loyalist prisoners.

And he participated in engagements at Corrymeela with former members of the Garda and Irish Army.

Coupled with the British government’s refusal to implement outstanding elements of the Good Friday Agreement these arrests provide yet more alarming evidence of David Cameron’s disregard for the Good Friday Agreement processes.
 
Sinn Féin has consistently raised all these matters with the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste.

I wrote to the Tánaiste only yesterday and I am meeting with him today to ask the government to urgently put in place a strategy to keep the British government to its obligations under the Good Friday Agreement.

Oireachtas all-party Cochlear Implant group agrees to keep up the pressure for funding

Happy New Ear families at Dáil today - May22nd 2013
The first meeting of the Oireachtas all-party group on Cochlear Implant met this afternoon (Wednesday).
It was very well attended.  17 TDs and Seanadóirí took part or sent one of their staffers.
A number of others indicated their support for the campaign but were unable to attend because of other Oireachtas commitments.
The meeting was chaired by Louth TD Gerry Adams and addressed by two parents from the Happy New Ear campaign, Danielle Ryan and Amie O Connor.
The families also met Minister Lynch today.
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD speaking after the meeting said:
“I want to thank all of the TDs and Seanadóirí who attended today’s meeting and the families for briefing us on recent developments. The families are meeting Minister Lynch.
Good progress has been made recently and a business proposal to provide bilateral cochlear implants will be presented to the Minister by Beaumont hospital in June.
The business plan calls for €7 million capital investment and annual running costs of €4 million. This will address the 200 children who are expected to take up this opportunity.
The business plan is based on a UK model which will have the children divided into groups with the largest, Group 1 containing 65 children aged under 5. It is expected that it will take 18 months – two years to clear the back log of children.
Caoimghín Ó Caoláin told the meeting that the Health Committee will be holding its quarterly meeting with the Minister for Health on Thursday and that this issue is down on the agenda for discussion. He asked the other party representatives to join in the discussion in support of the children. 
The meeting acknowledged that this is a winnable campaign but that the focus must be on keeping up the pressure and delivering the funding and business plan as early as possible.”
Note to Editor
The meeting was chaired by Gerry Adams TD and attended by Billy Kelleher TD FF; Sen James Darcy FG; Barry Cowen TD FF; a staffer from Sen Mary Moran Labour; Mary Mitchell O Connor TD FG; Peter Fitzpatrick TD FG; John Brown TD FF; Caoimghín Ó Caoláin TD SF; Sen Jillian Van Turnhout Ind; Ged Nash TD Lab; Robert Troy TD FF; Michael Colreavy TD SF; Luke Ming Flanagan TD Ind; a rep from Claire Daly TD Ind; Marcella Cororan Kennedy TD FG; and Sen Denis Landy Lab.
 

British are undermining the Good Friday Agreement - Adams

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams speaking this evening during the party’s PMB on the Good Friday Agreement warned that the British government is “seriously undermining the work of the Executive and of the political institutions”.
Teachta Adams cautioned that the “Executive’s ability to demonstrate that peace can deliver real economic change is being damaged by the British government’s significant cuts” to social welfare, the block grant and the investment package announced at St. Andrew’s 7 years ago.
The Sinn Féin leader described the Good Friday Agreement as “a defining moment in recent Irish history” which for the first time since partition “brought peace, stability and hope, and the opportunity for a better future for the people of this island”.

Full text of his remarks:
The Good Friday Agreement was a defining moment in recent Irish history. Comhréiteach stairiúil a bhí ann - a compromise between conflicting political positions following decades of conflict, the roots of which are to be found in the British government’s involvement in our country.
For the first time since partition the Agreement brought peace, stability and hope, and the opportunity for a better future for the people of this island.
It most directly affected the north but it has also positively impacted on this part of the island and on the diaspora.
It ushered in 15 years of relative peace.
Seasann próiseas síochana na hÉireann mar shampla do áiteanna eile ina bhfuil troid.

George Mitchel, who did such a remarkable job of charting a difficult course through the negotiations, correctly anticipated that agreeing the deal was the easy bit.
The hard part was going to be implementing it. And he was right.
The twists and turns from April 10th 1998 to May 2013 have been many.
At times the process has collapsed.
At other times it looked as if securocrats and the naysayers and begrudgers were going to succeed and the whole process was going to unravel.
But with patience and perseverance difficult issues, including those of weapons and of policing were overcome.
Along the way the UUP was replaced by the DUP as the largest unionist party.
Few imagined Sinn Féin and the DUP ever reaching agreement on the institutions.
But that’s what happened and Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness demonstrated enormous courage and vision to make power sharing work.
Two years ago an inclusive democratically elected local government, with all-island interlocking implementation bodies and a Council of Ministers, successfully completed a full term of office.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that everything is working smoothly.
Making peace is a process, not an event.
But unlike previous efforts, which were largely imposed by the British, with the support of successive Irish governments, and which excluded sections of political opinion, the negotiations that created the Good Friday Agreement were genuinely inclusive.
The Agreement also addressed the broad range of issues that had been previously ignored.  It deals with constitutional issues, political matters, and institutional issues.
It put in place a mechanism to hold a border poll to address the issue of partition and to achieve democratically and peacefully Irish unity.
It also set up political structures that provide for the sharing of power while including checks and balances to prevent a recurrence of past political abuses.
The underlying ethos of the Agreement is equality.
Agus cuireadh bearta i bhfeidhm chun comhionannas a bhaint amach. 
This is reflected in the fact that the word ‘equality’ is mentioned 21 times in the Good Friday Agreement.  It is not mentioned at all, for example, in the Sunningdale Agreement. Since then there have been further negotiations, mostly notably at Weston Park and St. Andrews and at Hillsborough Castle. 
Regrettably, once the political institutions were stabilised and the hard issues of policing and weapons dealt with the government here took its eye off the issue.
The British Tory/Lib Dem government has also not honoured commitments as it should have.  Consequently, there are a number of outstanding issues arising from the Good Friday Agreement, including a Bill of Rights for the north; an all-island Charter of Rights; the establishment of the North South Consultative Forum; and the introduction of an Acht na Gaeilge (Irish language Act).
The British government has also failed to act on its Weston Park commitment to hold an independent inquiry into the killing of human rights lawyer Pat Finucane.
At the same time the securocrats continue to abuse human rights, most clearly in the continued detention of Marian Price and Martin Corey.
Both governments have also failed to address the need for a victim centred truth and reconciliation process.
But the greatest threat to the Agreement at this time comes from the British government.

The decisions taken by Mr. Cameron and his colleagues are seriously undermining the Good Friday Agreement and the political institutions.

At the centre of this is a failure to support a society moving out of decades of conflict. Citizens and communities need hope and economic investment.
Citizens whose lives have been blighted by war or by generational sectarianism and division need to see that peace can change their lives and those of their children.
That is why all of the parties agreed to a significant peace dividend and investment of £18 billion at St Andrews.
One of the first actions of the current British government was to renege on this commitment.
This decision removed from the Executive the ability to deliver a major capital investment programme which would have had the dual effect of providing much needed employment in the construction industry while bringing our roads, hospitals and schools up to the necessary standard.
 The next action of the British government was to cut the Block Grant by £4 billion.
Within the fiscal constraints of the Executive the parties managed to raise some additional revenue and tried to offset the worst effects of the cut to the block grant.
 But this approach was clearly stretching their finances to the limit.
The British government has also refused to devolve powers on Corporation Tax. Now the Tory/Lib Dem government, in pursuit of austerity, is seeking to impose £1 billion of welfare cuts that will take millions out of the local economy and hurt disadvantaged and vulnerable families.
This is unacceptable and Martin McGuinness recently told the British Prime Minister this very directly.
Last week Martin and Peter Robinson also met the British Secretary of State Teresa Villiers to discuss an economic package for the Executive.
It was another bad meeting.
Ní féidir le seo leanúint ar aghaidh.
The British government is seriously undermining the work of the Executive and of the political institutions.
People need reassurance that peace will bring a real and positive change in their lives.
The Executive has achieved much, including £8 billion of investment and the creation of thousands of jobs through inward investment.
Today Allstate announced that it will create 650 jobs in the north. That’s good work by the Executive.
But the Executive’s ability to demonstrate that peace can deliver real economic change is being seriously damaged by the British government’s significant cuts.

It must be challenged on this.
The Irish government is an co-equal guarantor with the British government in the Good Friday Agreement and subsequent agreements. The government needs to urgently intervene and challenge this foolish and short-sighted approach by the British government.
It needs a strategy to keep London to its obligations under the Good Friday Agreement and to remove the threat to the Executive and institutions created by its cuts agenda.
 
 
 

Force feeding in Guantánamo Bay

Last Sunday was the 32ndanniversary of the death on hunger strike of Bobby Sands. The death of Bobby and his nine comrades, and of many others outside the prison radicalised a whole new generation. The 1981 hunger strike was a watershed in recent Irish history. Two other Irish republicans died on hunger strike in English prisons; Michael Gaughan in 1974 and Frank Stagg in 1976.
Hunger strike has long been a weapon in the arsenal of political prisoners fighting for improved conditions or release from illegal detention. It was used by republican political prisoners almost 100 years ago before and during the Tan War and Civil War. In more recent time ANC prisoners in South Africa marked Bobby’s death in 1981 and used hunger strike during their struggle with the prison regime. Palestinian, Basque and Kurdish prisoners have similarly used the hunger strike weapon and now some 100 detainees are on hunger strike in Guantánamo Bay. Reports state that four have been hospitalised and 23 are being force-fed.


Michael Gaughan

As I read about this development I was reminded of the experience of republican comrades in the 1970’s in jails in England who were forced fed. Michael Gaughan died on hunger strike in Parkhurst prison in England in June 1974 after 64 days without food. He was 24. Michael Gaughan had been force fed for almost six weeks and it later emerged that a tube, which was forced down his throat, had punctured his lung and led to pneumonia and his death.
Michael wasn’t the only one to be force fed. Frank Stagg, who died in February 1976, Gerry Kelly, Hugh Feeney, Dolores and Marian Price were also forced fed for over 200 days. The experience was horrific.
 Gerry Kelly At that time I wrote about this based on first hand accounts from Gerry and Hugh who had been repatriated to Long Kesh. I was trying to highlight the trauma that Frank Stagg would face. I am sure that the conditions of force feeding will not have changed much since then. 
“He will face at least one and maybe two ’feedings’ daily. Force-feeding is always brutal. No matter how often it occurs, the victim does not get used to it. If the ‘feedings’ are not at regular times each day, and usually they are not, then he spends his entire day trying to prepare himself emotionally, trying to restock his determination to fight.
A team of screws are the first to appear. They come into the cell with varying expressions on their faces, ranging from snarls through impassive indifference, to sheepish, apologetic smiles. Frank will either be ‘fed’ in his cell or dragged outside into another one where he will be held in a bed or on a chair. Usually six or eight screws are involved. They swoop in a planned manner, holding and pressing down on arms and legs. Frank will struggle as best he can even though he knows it is useless. One grabs him by the hair and forces his head back and when he is finally pinned down the doctor and his assistant arrive.
  Frank Stagg   Various methods will be employed to open Frank’s mouth: his nose will be covered to cut off air, or a screw or doctor will bunch his fists and bore his knuckles into the joints on each side of the jaws. A ‘Ryle’s tube’ will be used. This is a very long, thin tube which is pushed through the nose. It is supposedly for nasal feeding but in force-feeding it is simply a weapon used to force open the jaws. It rubs against the membrane at the back of the nose and, if not coated in lubricant (it seldom is), it causes a searing pain, akin to a red-hot needle being pushed into one’s head. If Frank cries out, a wooden clamp will immediately be pushed between his teeth. If this fails to work the doctor will use a large pair of forceps to cut into the gums, the ensuing pain again forcing the jaws open sufficiently for the clamp to be pressed in. Sometimes a metal clamp, rather like a ‘bulldog’ clip, is used. It is shoved between the teeth and a bolt is turned, opening a spring and forcing the jaws apart.
When Frank’s jaws are finally prised open, a wooden bit, rather like a horse’s bit, is forced into his mouth. It ‘sits’ across his mouth with a screw holding each end, and there is a hole in the centre of it through which the feeding tube passes. A flat piece of wood is used to press the tongue down and then a three-foot-long rubber tube, coated in liquid paraffin, is shoved in and down his throat. A funnel is placed on the open end and some water poured in. If the water bubbles they know the tube is in Frank’s lungs. If so, the tube is removed and the process starts again. Michael Gaughan was murdered in this way. When the tube is eventually fixed properly, it is pushed down into Frank’s stomach.
There are different widths of tube, and obviously the wider they are the more painful the torture. Doctors usually use the widest as it gets the food down quicker and they don’t have to delay overlong. Frank will feel his stomach filling up and stretching, an experience he has undergone before. Automatically he will vomit, the disgorged food being caught in a kidney-dish. If the doctor in charge is especially sadistic, the vomit will be forced back down his throat again (as happened to Gerry Kelly).
When the tube is being removed it tears at the back of the throat, more so than before because the liquid paraffin will have worn off on the way down. The last few inches will be ghastly. Frank will get violent pains in his chest. He will choke and at this point he will be sicker than before, as the tube coming out triggers off more retching (Marian Price passed out at this stage once).  This then is force-feeding. Last week the UN Commission for Human Rights stated that this force-feeding is ethically and legally unjustifiable. The use of force-feeding should end and Guantánamo Bay should be closed.
 
 

Government must preserve Moore Street 1916 Site

 Moore Street today During Order of business today in the Dáil I raised with the Taoiseach the issue of the National Monument at Moore Street and called on the government to directly intervene to save the Moore Street National Monument by removing it from the ownership of Chartered Land.
In his reply the Taoiseach said that Minister Deenihan will be bringing a memo to the government shortly dealing with this issue.
I reminded the Taoiseach that in their Programme for Government Fine Gael and Labour committed to develop a cultural plan for future commemorative events such as the Centenary of the Easter Rising in 2016.
This morning (Wednesday) government and opposition leaders, and relatives of the 1916 leaders, attended a commemorative event in Arbour Hill cemetery to remember the men and women who proclaimed a Republic in 1916.
The last headquarters of that republic, the National Monument in Moore Street stands in a perilous state of decay and in urgent need of remedial work.
Under the Monument Preservation Order No. 1 2007 the Minister is obliged to intervene when a national monument is in danger of falling into decay through neglect.
I specifically asked the Taoiseach to have Heritage Minister Deenihan intervene to remove the National Monument from the ownership of Chartered Land and to act to preserve the Moore Street battlefield site in its entirety.
Note to Reader:
The developer Chartered Land owns 14-17 Moore Street as well as most of what is the battlefield site - that side of Moore Street, the lanes and buildings behind it and part of Upper O’Connell Street. Their plan is to build a giant shopping centre, demolishing most of Moore Street on either side of Numbers 14 to 17, which would be dominated and overlooked by high buildings.
 

 Recently Dublin City Council’s Moore Street Advisory Committee was given access to the National Monument at 14 to 17 Moore Street, which was the last headquarters of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic at Easter 1916. Sinn Féin Councillor Mícheál Mac Donncha described the buildings as in a poor state of repair.  
 

Remembering Bobby and his comrades

Today marks the anniversary of the death of my friend and comrade Bobby Sands on the sixty sixth day of hunger strike.

I don’t remember the first time I met Bobby. I had been interned in Long Kesh and was sentenced for trying to escape and found myself in Cage 11, in another part of the camp which held sentenced political prisoners. Bobby was already one of those in the Cage.

The cages were literally that - a large space surrounded by a high wire fence in which there were four Nissan huts, a study hut and a toilet shower hut.

In the sentenced end of Long Kesh these each held around 80 prisoners. In Cage 11 one of the Nissan huts was also a Gaeltacht for those wanting to learn the Irish language and that’s were Bobby was.

I remember him as a keen sportsman who played soccer or gaelic football whenever he got the chance. He had long hair, a good sense of humour and liked music. He was very good on the guitar. I remember sitting in the study hut writing while he would be practicing on his guitar. His party piece was the classic by Kris Kristofferson, ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ and later when he went to the H Blocks Bobby wrote songs including ‘McIlhatton’ and ‘Back home in Derry’.

I got to know him better as we started to hold political debates and lectures. Bobby was a very intelligent, committed republican. He was well read and enjoyed political discussions and made up his own mind on the political situation. That is evident both from his return to the IRA on his release but also his engagement with local community politics when he went to live in Twinbrook.

The 1980 and 1981 hunger strikes were a measure of last resort by the prisoners. It was a selfless act by ordinary men and women seeking to improve the conditions of their comrades. It was also a political act in defiance of a British government that was seeking to criminalise the prisoners and the struggle for Irish freedom and independence.

The account of that period has often been told.

Of Kieran Nugent refusing to wearing the prison uniform and saying they would have to nail it to his back.

Of the hundreds of prisoners in the H Blocks – naked, beaten, starved, denied proper medical care or toilet facilities, forced frequently to run the gauntlet of riot clad screws or subjected to the brutality of the mirror search.

Of the women in Armagh – isolated and beaten and strip searched who were also denied adequate medical and toilet facilities.

Of the families who organised and campaigned through the Relatives Action Committees and then through the National Smash H-Block Campaign.

And of the tens of thousands who marched and protested in support of the prisoners.

The hunger strike changed the political landscape in Ireland.

The political gains that have been made by Sinn Féin since then owe much to the men and women political prisoners and to the sacrifice, resolve and perseverance of the hunger strikers and their families.

For his part Bobby was also a writer. His stories and poems reflect his politics and the terrible conditions in which he lived. They also provide an insight into a spirit that refused to be broken and could soar above the H Blocks.

For me one of his best and most important works is the Rhythm of Time. I include it below in memory of Bobby and his nine comrades who died with him on the 1981 hunger strike.

We remember them all: Bobby Sands; Francis Hughes; Raymond McCreesh; Patsy O Hara; Joe McDonnell; Martin Hurson; Kevin Lynch; Kieran Doherty; Thomas McElwee and Mickey Devine. And neither do we forget Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg.

The Rhythm Of Time
There’s an inner thing in every man,
Do you know this thing my friend?
It has withstood the blows of a million years,
And will do so to the end.

It was born when time did not exist,
And it grew up out of life,
It cut down evil’s strangling vines,
Like a slashing searing knife.

It lit fires when fires were not,
And burnt the mind of man,
Tempering leadened hearts to steel,
From the time that time began.

It wept by the waters of Babylon,
And when all men were a loss,
It screeched in writhing agony,
And it hung bleeding from the Cross.

It died in Rome by lion and sword,
And in defiant cruel array,
When the deathly word was ‘Spartacus’
Along the Appian Way.

It marched with Wat the Tyler’s poor,
And frightened lord and king,
And it was emblazoned in their deathly stare,
As e’er a living thing.

It smiled in holy innocence,
Before conquistadors of old,
So meek and tame and unaware,
Of the deathly power of gold.

It burst forth through pitiful Paris streets,
And stormed the old Bastille,
And marched upon the serpent’s head,
And crushed it ‘neath its heel.

It died in blood on Buffalo Plains,
And starved by moons of rain,
Its heart was buried in Wounded Knee,
But it will come to rise again.

It screamed aloud by Kerry lakes,
As it was knelt upon the ground,
And it died in great defiance,
As they coldly shot it down.

It is found in every light of hope,
It knows no bounds nor space
It has risen in red and black and white,
It is there in every race.

It lies in the hearts of heroes dead,
It screams in tyrants’ eyes,
It has reached the peak of mountains high,
It comes searing ‘cross the skies.

It lights the dark of this prison cell,
It thunders forth its might,
It is ‘the undauntable thought’, my friend,
That thought that says ‘I’m right!’

Helping victims and their families

 Late on Monday night I travelled out to the RTE studios in Dublin to do a Prime Time interview on the issue of victims of republican actions.  The program makers say their interest was sparked by my remarks in the Dáil in January following the  
On that occasion I apologised to the family of Garda Jerry McCabe who was killed by the IRA in June 1996. I also apologised to the families of other members of the State forces who were killed by republicans in the course of the conflict. I said: “I am very sorry for the pain and loss inflicted on these families. No words of mine can remove that hurt and dreadful deeds cannot be undone. However, I restate that the resolve of Sinn Féin and the majority of Irish people is to ensure there will never, ever be a recurrence of conflict.”
 
The war is over but the legacy of partition, of decades of discrimination, injustice and of conflict, means that there are many unresolved issues still facing society on this island. One of the most important is how we address this issue of victims.
 
Over three and a half thousand people were killed and many thousands more injured by combatant groups on all sides. Families were bereaved and years later continue to struggle with the pain and loss. Many also want truth. Who killed their loved one? Why?
 
This is certainly true of the three families who were interviewed for Prime Time. Garda Michael Clerkin was killed in October 1976; Garda Inspector Sam Donegan was killed by a bomb on the Cavan/Fermanagh border in June 1972, and Chief Prison Officer Brian Stack was shot 1983. He later died from his injuries. The film report carried at the beginning of Prime Time was a powerful reminder of the trauma that bereaved families live each day.
 
Over many years I have met other families in this same situation. Their stories are equally harrowing. Some were victims of the IRA. Others were killed as a result of collusion between British state forces and loyalist death squads, or by the British Army and RUC and the UDR. The grief and trauma suffered by all of these families is the same. This experience has convinced me that there can be no hierarchy of victims. All victims must be treated on the basis of equality.
 
In these three cases the IRA never accepted responsibility. In each case there is the possibility that other republican groups might have been responsible. It is certainly true that some Gardaí were killed by the INLA, Saor Éire and other smaller armed groups and it is possible that criminals might have been involved in one of these deaths.
 
The truth is that I don’t know. I have no personal information in respect of any of these three deaths. If the IRA was responsible or if individual or other republicans were involved then I have no hesitation in apologising to these families also. And I said so and did so on Prime Time.
 
But this doesn’t bring these families any closer to knowing with certainty who was responsible or why. Like hundreds, perhaps thousands of other families, they seek closure. Most do not want revenge. They don’t want anyone going to prison. But they do want to know what happened.
 
How do we achieve this for victims? There are two examples of how this can be done. One is the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday. It provided for former combatants from the IRA, the Official IRA and the British Army to give testimony.
 
More recently there is the Smithwick Tribunal which is examining the circumstances surround the killing of two RUC officers in March 1989. In that instance I met at his request with Justice Smithwick who asked if I could help. I explained to him that in 2005 the IRA put its weapons beyond use and stood down its structures. The IRA had left the stage. However, after some effort three former IRA volunteers did give evidence to the Tribunal.
 
This was a significant and unprecedented development. For the first time former members of the IRA gave evidence to an inquiry into an IRA action. Clearly this would not have been possible but for the Tribunal creating the context to allow it.
 
I met with Justice Smithwick because I sincerely believe that there is a responsibility on republicans to assist bereaved families if and when they can, though this may not be possible in all cases.
 
These examples show that with political will it would be possible for the two governments to help bring about  a truth and reconciliation process that can secure the participation of former combatants and provide the answers that families seek.
 
Sinn Féin has put forward a specific proposal for the governments to invite a reputable independent international body to establish such a commission. It would be independent of both states and the combatant groups, of the political parties, and civil society and economic interests and it should have the remit to inquire into the extent and pattern of past violations as well as their causes and consequences.
 
Events and actions in the Irish state have to be clearly part of this. After the Tan War and the dreadful Civil War that followed there was no such process. There was no attempt to locate the scores of remains of those killed and disappeared. There was no effort to heal wounds. Victims were not looked after. On the contrary the divisions of that period shaped the decades that have followed and contributed to corruption that became a part of the political system.
 
This lesson must be learned. A truth process must look at all actions, including those that occurred in the Irish state. This means a truth process addressing the fact that republicans were killed in this part of the island, including Tom Smith, Hugh Hehir, John Francis Green and Councillor Eddie Fullerton.
 
It has to address the experience of political prisoners in the jails; the role of the Heavy Gang and the fact that innocents were imprisoned; collusion between elements of the Irish establishment and the British system; and that that there were there were bombs in Dublin and Monaghan and Dundalk involving collusion between British state forces and loyalists.
 
There were other killings too by armed groups like the Official IRA and INLA. These include Larry White of Cork killed by the OIRA in June 1975 and Seamus Costello in October 1977.
 
Other may have a different vision for a truth process. That’s fine. But whatever sort of truth process is created it cannot be about putting people back into the prisons. The Good Friday Agreement, which the two governments and the political parties signed up to and which the people voted for in referendums, drew a line in the sand. It opened up a democratic and peaceful way to achieve political objectives and by so doing removed the reason for armed actions.  It released all political prisoners. This was a necessary part of making the peace process work. Without it there would have been no Good Friday Agreement. Many of these former prisoners are champions of the peace process.
 
Filling the prisons again for actions that occurred, in some instances over 40 years ago, would be counter-productive. It would play into the hands of those small and unrepresentative groups who want to undermine the peace process and return society on this island back to conflict. We cannot allow that to happen.
 
As a republican leader I have a duty and responsibility to do my best to help victims and their families. That is why I did the Prime Time interview.
 
Regrettably, instead of an intelligent focussed examination of how victims can be helped by republicans and others and scrutinising in a robust way the proposition we are developing, the programme reverted to type.
 
Miriam missed an opportunity to do a potentially ground breaking interview.
 
Sadly it seems to me that the bereaved families who featured in the Prime Time programme will have taken little succour from it.
 
Despite this I will not be deterred. My generation of republican activists who lived through and survived the war have a responsibility to try and bring the families of victims of the war, irrespective of who was responsible, to a better place.