Gerry Adams's Blog, page 67

The Jackie Clarke Collection

 
The Jackie Clarke Museum in Ballina
 This last week or so has been a traumatic time for my family. On-going court proceedings prevent me from commenting on this though it may be something I will return to again. For now let me tell you about a remarkable man.
Occasionally, in my political travels around IrelandI would arrive in Mayo and Ballina where I would meet Jackie Clarke. He was a local Sinn Féin Councillor, a life-long republican activist and well known across the county and beyond. He was also a fish merchant and ran a smokery. Jackie would enthusiastically show me some new book or pamphlet that he had recently acquired. But none of us had the slightest inkling of the depth and extent of his passion for all things Irish or his determination to record centuries of republican resistance to British rule through publications of the period.
It was only after his death in 2000 that the magnitude and historical importance of Jackie Clarke’s collection came to light. 
100,000 items, including a Proclamation; eviction notices from the late 19thcentury when another Mayo man, Michael Davitt led the tenant farmers in their battle with the Landlords; a cockade that was attached to Wolfe Tone’s hat when he was captured; photographs; old maps; letters from many significant leaders in Irish history, including Michael Collins, Michael Davitt and O Donovan Rossa, as well as posters, leaflets and other materials from the hunger strikes of the 1980s.
Jackie chronicled armed resistance from 1798 until the 1990’s. He gathered material from every phase of the republican struggle over 200 years. There are also exceptional documents going back a further 200 years to the 16th century.
Jackie’s personal commitment to Irish republicanism began at a very young age. He lived in Dublin for a time and became a close friend of 1916 veteran republican Joe Clarke who founded the Irish Book Bureau in Dublin and was in the 1970s a Vice President of Sinn Féin. While living there Jackie would regularly visit many of the other bookshops that then existed along the quays looking for books and pamphlets and other republican items that might catch his eye. Jackie maintained his connection to Joe after he returned to Mayo.
 According to his family Jackie joined the I.R.A in 1944 at the age of 17. He was a dedicated republican activist all his life and a Sinn Féin Councillor on Ballina Urban District Councillor for over 20 years.
On June 3rd1974 IRA Volunteer and Mayo republican Michael Gaughan died on hunger strike in Parkhurst prison in Englandafter 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.
Five days later his remains arrived in Dublinwhere thousands of people attended the lying in state. From there it made its slow respectful way across the island to Ballina where Jackie Clarke was responsible for the complex funeral arrangements. He did Michael Gaughan proud.
Two years later on February 12th 1976 another Mayo man Frank Stagg, also died on hunger strike after 62 days on hunger strike in Wakefield prison. He was aged 33.
When Frank Stagg’s remains were on their way back to Irelandthe Fine Gael/Labour Coalition government ordered that the plane be diverted from Dublin to Shannonairport. They were determined that there would be no repeat of the outpouring of public sympathy for a republican hunger striker seen two years earlier at Michael Gaughan’s funeral.
The body was hijacked and taken by helicopter directly to the cemetery in Ballina. There amid huge security Frank Stagg was buried in a private plot near to the republican plot. His grave was covered in concrete to prevent his remains from being reinterred and a 24 hour guard was put in place by the state.
Jackie Clarke was the main organiser of the public commemoration that took place the day after the state buried Frank Stagg. Despite a huge Garda presence a volley of shots was fired and Joe Cahill gave an oration in which he pledged that Frank Stagg’s body would lie in the republican plot. Shortly afterward Jackie was arrested and charged with IRA membership but was subsequently acquitted.
Undeterred by the round-the-clock guard and the several feet of concrete Jackie Clarke and his Mayo comrades patiently planned and organised and in November Frank Stagg’s remains were removed and he was reburied beside Michael Gaughan.
Throughout the war years Jackie and his shop were under constant surveillance by the Special Branch. It was raided on numerous occasions.  Despite the harassment and the censorship of Section 31 that was directed towards Jackie and his fellow Republicans in Mayo, he not only managed to be elected as a Sinn Fein councillor but in 1976, the year he was charged with IRA membership, Jackie was elected Mayor of Ballina.
Jackie was an extraordinary human being. He made a significant contribution to Irish republicanism. In his amazing collection he has left an extraordinary legacy to Mayo and to the Nation.
By virtue of Jackie Clarke’s diligence and generosity the people of Mayo and the Irish Nation have an exceptional record of centuries of struggle for freedom and justice.
The Jackie Clarke Collection is located in the former Provincial Bank building on Pearse Street, Ballina. Built in 1881, it was used as a bank until 1977. It was designed by the Victorian architect Thomas Manly Deane, who also designed the National Museumand Government Buildings, Dublin. The building, which was acquired by Mayo County Council in 2008, has been completely renovated and refurbished. It now hosts a world-class exhibition centre that has been specially designed for the Jackie Clarke Collection.
If you are interested in the history of the Irish people’s struggle for freedom and of the central role played by Irish republicanism in this then make a point of visiting Ballina and the Jackie Clarke collection. I intend to.

The Innocents of Boston and Iraq

I have visited Boston many times over the years. It’s a beautiful city and full of Irish and Irish Americans. Despite its sprawling size and population, and unlike New York and Los Angeles, it has the feel of a town where community is important and everyone knows everyone else. It’s also a comfortable place to go for a walk.

The first time I visited Boston was in September 1994. It was several weeks after the first IRA cessation. It was the start of a gruelling three week journey across the USA which would eventually take us to Washington DC for meetings with senior White House and government officials. I was given a rousing welcome at Logan airport where I was met by Senator Ted Kennedy and other Irish American activists.

I have been back often. Three years ago I was there for the St. Patrick’s Day celebration which traditionally goes on all week – they don’t do things by half!

Kevin Fagin from Dublin – Fago to all who know him – and Senator Steve Toland chaperoned us around, including to a remarkable early breakfast event hosted by Senator Jack Hart in South Boston. There were hundreds of Irish Americans, including Congress members, state legislators, city council members, the Boston police and fire service, trade unionists and community activists. They were all in fine voice and enjoyed an amazing singalong that went on for hours.

Every Irish song you can think of from ‘McNamara’s Band’ to ‘If You’re Irish Come Into the Parlour’, to ‘The Fields Of Athenry’ and ‘The Boys Of The Old Brigade’, were all belted out with great gusto. And in between one after another of the politicians would get up and slag off their opponents with wit and irony. It was a truly weird but wonderful experience.

Rita O Hare and I walked later that day in the St. Patrick’s Day event along with tens of thousands of Irish Americans whose enthusiasm was undiminished by the torrential rain that poured down from a grey leaden sky and the gale force winds that threatened to sweep Rita off her feet.

On another occasion Friends of Sinn Féin hired a large boat for a fundraising event and it was packed full of Bostonians eating, drinking and eventually listening to me speak about the peace process and the role of Irish America.

On Monday evening when the news broke about the bomb attacks in Boston and of the deaths and scores of injured, these were the people I immediately thought of. Good people, sound people, who have been hugely supportive of the people of Ireland over generations. Many of them first generation residents. Some from west Belfast.

Rita tried to ring Shannon who lives in Boston and has been a very close friend and activist for many years. She couldn’t get through as the phone lines were down. Eventually Shannon picked up on some of the texts that had been sent and emailed Rita back to confirm that she and her family were ok. Her niece, Courtney had been running in the marathon and was only seconds from the finish line when the explosion occurred. They were all shocked but safe and well.

Thus far no one knows who was responsible for the attacks or what lies behind this appalling incident. But for the people of Boston it is a day they will long remember.

Given the connections between Ireland and Boston there was and is a widespread and understandable feeling of shock and horror at events there. This is especially true in the north which has witnessed many similar days. Consequently, there is an acute of sense of solidarity with the people of Boston.

But Boston wasn’t the only place to suffer the horror of bomb attacks. On the same day, and in advance of elections to be held there on Saturday, there was a series of devastating bomb attacks across Iraq. Over 50 people were killed and countless more injured. More than 30 bombs, eight of them in Baghdad, detonated during the morning rush hour and caused chaos. Other bomb attacks have occured there this week.

Like the bomb attacks in Boston no one knows who was responsible although the attacks in Iraq are clearly linked to the elections and efforts to destabilise the country.

What is certain is that a lot of innocent people were killed and injured. To the families of all of those who were killed and injured I want to extend my condolences and solidarity.

Change is possible now: Ard Fheis 2013

The Ard Fheis is over. It was an excellent weekend of discussion and debate and craic. Mayo gave us a warm céad míle fáilte. The Ard Fheis is a big undertaking. It involves countless numbers of people. I want to thank all those who helped organise it and who worked hard to ensure that everything ran smoothly. Some delegates and activists left for home this evening after my speech but many others stayed overnight to travel home tomorrow. This evening many of these attended the Le Chéile event which celebrates the activism of a small number of esteemed honourees who have given years of service to the struggle for freedom.
 This year the honourees were: Cúige Uladh – Pádraigín Uí Mhurchadha (Monaghan)
Cúige Laighain – Marie Gavaghan (Wicklow)
Cúige Mumhan – Marcus Fogarty (Tipperary)
Cúige Chonnacht – Pat Rehill (Leitrim)
Canada– Alan McConnell (Antrim) I want to add my personal best wishes and comhghairdeas and to thank them for their years of dedication and commitment to Sinn Féin and the republican struggle. Too often republicans take each other for granted but Le Chéile is an opportunity to embrace our comrades, extend to them our solidarity and to say well done. Tomorrow I have a couple of post Ard Fheis interviews. A Week in Politics and This week - both of RTE. After that it will be back to Belfast. For those interested below is the text of my speech. As always I tweaked it slightly in the delivery but its mostly here:  
"Tá failte romhaibh uilig chuig Ard Fheis Shinn Féin i gContae Maigh Eo.


Támid an an sásta a bheith anseo san Iarthar.
A special Céad Míle Fáilte also to Friends of Sinn Féin from the USA, Canada and Australia; to our comrades from the Basque country, South Africa, Palestine, Cuba, Britain and to all foreign dignitaries.
I want to extend solidarity from this Ard Fheis to the Palestinian people and urge the international community to take decisive action for peace in the Middle East.
A Border Poll
This week saw the 15th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
Sinn Féin is proud of the pivotal role we played with others in forging that Agreement.
There would be no peace process and no Agreement without the commitment, initiatives and political risks taken by Irish republicans.
Or, without the great work of individuals like Des Wilson, Harold Good, Inez McCormack and especially Fr. Alex Reid.
It isn’t a perfect agreement.  
But Sinn Féin secured the removal of the Government of Ireland Act, under which the British government claimed sovereignty over the North.
The Agreement provides for a border poll on Irish unity.  It’s no surprise that the two governments are saying No.

But Sinn Féin is saying Yes.
And more importantly nationalist and republican Ireland says Yes.
And we now need to work together for a Yes vote.

It’s time to let the people have their say on the future of Ireland.
It’s time for a referendum on Irish unity.
Government Failure
From the 1798 rebellion to Michael Davitt, from the Hunger Strikers Frank Stagg and Michael Gaughan, to IRA activist and Sinn Fein Councillor Jackie Clarke, whose wonderful public collection of historic documents and memorabilia charts 200 years of republican resistance, Mayo has a long and distinguished republican history.
So it is particularly appropriate that we meet here.
And proof that the West is Awake.
Is Páirtí Poblachtach bródúil Sinn Féin.
Tá muid go hiomlán dílis do fíor phoblacht a thugann tús áite do chearta gach duine.
We stand for equality, social solidarity and freedom.
Sinn Féin has always stood by the people.
Sin ceann de na príomh difríochtaí idir muidinne agus an rialtas i mBaile Átha Cliath.
This government, like the one before it, has failed the people.
Its core values are those of austerity.      It has refused to negotiate a write-down on the Promissory Note.  It gave away our natural resources.
 
It tore up the Croke Park Agreement and is now targeting frontline workers on low and average pay.
It cut child benefit, carer’s allowances and home-help hours.
But it has no problem putting taxpayers money into the pockets of bankers and financiers.
It and Fianna Fáil gave €64 billion to the banks.
Over the last five years, Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fáil have taken €28 billion out of the economy in taxes and cuts.
Cuts to hospitals.
To schools.
To garda stations.
Taxes on pensions.
On savings.
And on homes.
In October the Government will take another €3 billion.
Next year, they will take €2.5 billion more.
They have little thought for the social consequences of their actions, of the divided, polarised, unequal society they are creating.
Of impoverished communities and families hurting from the scourge of drug and alcohol abuse, and suicide.
But the bankers, developers and politicians who created the mess have been untouched.
Despite all the election rhetoric from Labour and Fine Gael this is still the best small country in the world for big bankers, crooked developers or corrupt politicians.
The Family Home Tax
Be sure of this. 
When we make promises and commitments we keep them.
Sinn Féin will put manners on the elites and the fat cats.
Sinn Féin is totally opposed to the Property Tax.
We are against plans to raid salaries, social welfare payments and pensions to get it.
We will fight this family home tax tooth and nail.
We have published legislation to scrap it.
And in government we will abolish it.
Sinn Féin is also opposed to the introduction of water charges and will resist any legislation to introduce them.
The only way to restore our economy and rebuild society is to break with the self-serving politics of Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fáil.
They refused to share the wealth during the boom years.
But they socialise the debt afterwards.
They are taking from those who have least to benefit those who have most.
Fairness

Sinn Féin was right during the era of the Celtic Tiger when we said that the wealth should be used to build public services, infrastructure and sustainable jobs.
Sinn Féin is right when we say the economy needs growth and jobs – not debt and cuts.
We were right in our demand to burn the bondholders.
We are right in our call not to pay the Promissory Notes.
We are right to tackle the high pay of politicians and top civil servants.
Táimid ceart faoin gá atá le smaointí nua agus focas nua ar cruthú poist.
Fairness is at the core of Sinn Féin’s approach.
Of course the deficit must be tackled.
But those with the broadest shoulders must bear the heaviest load.
In a fair Ireland the weak, the vulnerable and the least well-off would be protected.
If this was a real republic working people would not be punished for the greed and corruption of others.
If the Proclamation of 1916 was a reality families would not be punished.
Women would not be punished.
Children would not be punished.
Citizens with disabilities would not be punished.
People in rural Ireland would not be punished.
The poor would not be punished.
Change is Possible Now
But change cannot wait until there is a real republic.
Tá Sinn Féin go han-soiléir faoina príomh cheisteanna seo.
It doesn’t have to be like this.
Change is needed and change is possible now.
Sinn Féin is offering a realistic alternative.
We are committed to investing €13 billion in job creation and retention.
And we have presented realistic and costed, alternative budget proposals to reduce the deficit, create growth, and protect families under financial pressure.
Is seo cloch coirnéal ár bpolasaí.
The mortgage crisis is a direct result of Fianna Fáil policy and this government’s failure to help struggling families.
Sinn Féin proposes the establishment of an independent mortgage distress body to adjudicate and enforce agreements on mortgages between banks and mortgage holders.
Public Services Delivered Fairly
The mark of a real republic has to be in the quality of its public services.
Tá cearta ag saoránaigh.
These include the right to a home; the right to a job; the right to education; to a health service from the cradle to the grave; the right to a safe and clean environment; and to civil and religious liberties.
This is what republicanism is about.
This is what real democracy should be about.
Public services delivered fairly and paid for by direct taxation. 
This should include decent childcare facilities at affordable prices.
No matter what government Ministers say no parent should be forced from their job because they earn less than the cost of childcare.
Standing up for Rural Ireland
Last year, along with others, I visited many rural communities blighted by unemployment and poverty.
In places where our young people should have an opportunity to build their lives we saw at first-hand how emigration is tearing the heart out of rural families.
We met families bereft by the scourge of suicide.
Sinn Féin will shortly publish a comprehensive report - "Standing up for Rural Ireland".
This report outlines the need to:
Reverse Fianna Fáil’s decision to cut Garda numbers.
Provide a full grant to upgrade septic tanks.
Overhaul CAP to create a fairer distribution of payments.
Ensure that income support for farmers is directed at those who need it most.
Creating jobs, particularly in the agri-food industry, and investing in our fishing industry, are key to ensuring a future for rural communities.
Especially in the west of Ireland.
But people who live in rural communities also need schools, an accessible health service, decent infrastructure, public transport and an end to isolation.
Gaeltacht areas need active regeneration.
And across this island the Irish language needs to be actively promoted, including an Acht na Gaeilge in the north.
Women Victims Need Justice
Women are among those most shamefully denied their rights under the conservative culture, which has dominated this state.
Mary Lou spoke for everyone on the day that the Magdalene report was published when she said it was time for a full apology to these brave women.
That happened eventually.
Now they need justice.
The victims of Bethany Home need justice.
The victims of symphysiotomy need justice.
People across Ireland have been moved this week by the reports from the inquest into the death of Savita Halappanavar and by the grace and great dignity of her husband.
I want to extend solidarity to Praveen and his family and friends.
Savita’s death brought into sharp and tragic focus the failure of successive governments to legislate in the X case.
The people have spoken and firmly placed the responsibility upon their Oireachtas representatives to legislate on this issue.
It is time doctors had legal clarity.
It’s time for protection for pregnant women whose lives are at risk.
Progress in the North
Sinn Féin opposes austerity across this island.
Despite £4bn pounds of cuts by the British government, Sinn Féin’s Ministerial and Assembly team under Martin McGuinness’s leadership, has prioritised finding money to maintain frontline services, protect those on lowest incomes and assist disadvantaged communities.
The so-called Welfare Reform Bill is another example of the English Tory Agenda.
Sinn Féin is opposed to these cuts in exactly the same way that we are opposed to the cuts being introduced by our own Tories in Dublin.
We are also working for the transfer of fiscal power to the Assembly and Executive and a harmonisation of the Corporation Tax rate across Ireland.
Dialogue with Unionists and Loyalists
The Orange marching season has begun.
This year sees the added vexation about the flying of flags on public buildings.
Playing party politics with these issues is dangerous and counter-productive.
There are many genuine loyalists and unionists, including former combatants, working in disadvantaged communities who realise the dangers and risks involved.
They also know that it is citizens from these disadvantaged communities who will bear the brunt of any violent or disruptive actions.
These communities have more in common with their republican neighbours than they may realise.
Dialogue between them and Sinn Féin is essential and there is an imperative on republicans, challenging though it may be, to build alliances on social and economic issues with working class loyalists and unionists.
The Protestant, Unionist and Loyalist people are not going away.
And Sinn Féin doesn’t want them to go away.
They are part of what we are and we have to get to know each other better, to listen and take heed of what is being said.
I commit our party, without preconditions, to be part of such discussions as we face into the Orange marching season, and to find solutions to contentious issues and to tackle economic disadvantage.
This is the only way to build a fair society.
It is what the vast majority of citizens want.
The tiny minorities who espouse violence have been rejected.
Tá siad greamaithe san am atá caite agus thart orthu tá Éirinn Thuaidh agus Theas ag athrú.
And there is still work to be done to ensure that policing is non-partisan and civic.

Recent decisions by the PSNI have failed this test.
And clearly there are elements in the NIO who are uncomfortable with the new dispensation.
A Bill of Rights is long overdue.
And the continued imprisonment of Marian Price and Martin Corey is wrong.
They should be released.
A Truth Process
So, much work still needs to be done including the creation of a victim centred truth and reconciliation process.
Dubhshlán mór a bheidh anseo.
Almost 100 years ago the Tan War against British forces was deadly and vicious.
But the civil war left a bitterness and a legacy that still shapes politics to this day.
77 republicans were executed during those terrible years by the Free State – among them six young men from the west who were executed in Tuam 90 years ago this week.
Members of the Free State Army, of the Garda and civilians died too.
There was never any process of truth recovery or reconciliation after these events.
Ba chóir dúinn foghlaim ón meancog sin.
During the recent conflict, Gardaí and other members of the state’s forces were killed by republicans.
Republicans were killed also, including Tom Smith, and Hugh Hehir.
During the era of the Heavy Gang many citizens were brutally assaulted.
Innocents were imprisoned.
There was collusion between elements of the Irish establishment and the British system.
Our friend Councillor Eddie Fullerton and John Francis Green and Martin Doherty and others died.
There were bombs in Dublin and Monaghan and Dundalk and elsewhere.
All this needs to be faced up to.
Sinn Féin has argued for the establishment of an Independent International Truth Commission.
The two governments; former combatants, and those in leadership across Ireland and Britain need to be part of such a process.
There can be no hierarchy of victims.
I and others in the Sinn Féin leadership have met many victims and victim’s families in the north.
I am prepared to meet with victims’ families in this state if they believe this will be helpful and I intend to do this in the near future.
Irish republicans will not shirk from our obligations to those who died as a consequence of the conflict.
Imagine a Different Future
Ireland is a great country.
But we are partitioned.
Our people are divided.
Imagine an end to these divisions.
Imagine a new agreed Ireland.
Imagine the unity of Orange and Green.
Imagine a fair society and an economy run democratically in the interests of all citizens.
Our vision is based on equality.
It means equal rights for citizens in same sex relationships, ethnic minorities and those of all creeds and none.
The Challenge for Labour
Our history is replete with challenges, adversity and great injustice.
This is such a time.
A time for real leadership.
A real Labour Party with a principled leadership should not be in government with Fine Gael.
If Fine Gael is set on implementing Fianna Fáil policy then let them do that with the support of Fianna Fáil.
Whatever the case for entry into coalition after the last election, there is now only one principled position for Labour.
Fágaigí an bealach ag sloite na bhFiann. 
Stand by working people as Connolly and Larkin did.
Leave this government and leave it now!
Building a New Republic
We are internationalists in solidarity with people in struggle everywhere.
So, from this Ard Fheis I want to extend our love and solidarity to our friend and comrade Madiba - Nelson Mandela.
Our people have come through a lot.
In every generation brave men and women have shown the way.
In three years we celebrate the centenary of the 1916 Rising.
The government is contemplating bulldozing the area around Moore Street into the ground in the interests of private developers.
I commend the work of the families of the 1916 leaders who have highlighted this hugely important issue.
Every person with a sense of national pride will oppose such a shameful act of vandalism.
The Moore Street laneways of history should be developed as a 1916 Revolutionary Quarter.
This year also marks the Centenary of the 1913 Lockout.
The Lockout showed the courage and fighting spirit of the Dublin working class.
They chose to resist rather than submit.
They showed the way.
In Ireland today parents defending children with disabilities, frontline workers defending each other and vital public services, carers, teachers, health workers, citizens who are standing up for themselves and their communities, are showing the way.
Sinn Féin believes in the people of Ireland.
Join with us in building a New Republic.
Ar aghaidh linn le chéile.

The Good Friday Agreement - The promise of a new society

On the signing of the Good Friday Agreement George Mitchel famously said that that 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 April 2013 have been many. At times the process has collapsed. At other times it looked as if securocrats and the wreckers were going to succeed and the whole peace process was going to unravel. But with patience and perseverance 15 years after the Good Friday Agreement was achieved we have stable power sharing arrangements and political institutions that are working and continue to enjoy popular support.

So successful has it been that the Agreement is seen by many internationally has an example of how deep rooted conflicts can be resolved. International delegations are regular visitors to the Assembly, and unionist and republican leaders frequently travel to trouble spots around the world to speak about our unique Agreement.

Of course, it isn’t a perfect agreement. It was after all a compromise between conflicting political positions and after decades of violence and generations of division.

Unlike the efforts that governments had concocted before – from Sunningdale in December 1973 through to the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985 - the Good Friday Agreement was genuinely comprehensive and inclusive, and 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. 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. It also secured remarkable progress in the areas of policing and justice; demilitarisation and arms; discrimination and sectarianism; equality and human rights; and the Irish language.

The underlying ethos of the Agreement and the major difference between it and all its predecessors is that at its core is the issue of equality. As a result measures were put in place to achieve this. 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 1998 there have been further negotiations. The unionist leaderships have consistently sought to minimise the implementation of the Agreement. Republicans have argued for maximum implementation.

As a result, and in particular because of the failure of the British and Irish governments to fulfil their obligations, there are a number of outstanding issues arising from the Good Friday Agreement, including a Bill of Rights for the north of Ireland.

In recent years the British government has argued that its preferred choice for dealing with the issue of rights in the north is for an add-on or separate section to a UK Bill of Rights. This is in direct contravention of the Good Friday Agreement.

Just before Christmas the British government’s Commission on a Bill of Rights published its report. It failed to reach agreement on how the future of human rights will be dealt with in the British context. And this issue is now being long fingered.

However, there was unanimity among the Commissioners that the Bill of Rights issue should continue to be progressed in the north. The Commissioners recognised the distinctive Bill of Rights process to the north ‘and its importance to the peace process’.

They said: ‘We do not wish to interfere in that process in any way nor for any of the conclusions that we reach to be interpreted or used in such a way as to interfere in, or delay, the Northern Ireland Bill of Rights process.’

This places the onus on the British government to progress this matter. A Bill of Rights for the north is an outstanding Good Friday Agreement commitment. This is not a nationalist or a unionist issue. A Bill of Rights would offer protections for the most vulnerable, it would respect the diversity of our community and would have equality at its very core.

Other outstanding issues include an all-island Charter of Rights; the establishment of the North South Consultative Forum; the introduction of an Acht na Gaeilge (Irish language Act) and a resolution to the issue of OTRs.

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 and at the same time has allowed the securocrats to continue to abuse human rights, most clearly in the continued detention of Marian Price and Martin Corey.

But it is in respect of a victim centred truth and reconciliation process that much work still needs done.

This will be a huge challenge. Sinn Féin believes that the best way of doing this is through the establishment of an Independent International Truth Commission. The two governments’, former combatants and those in leadership across Ireland and Britain need to part of such a process. There can be no hierarchy of victims. The people of this island need a genuine process of national reconciliation.

There can be no going back. The tiny minorities who want to cling to the past must be rejected. Sectarianism must be tackled and ended. The promise of the Good Friday Agreement for a new society in which all citizens are respected, and where fairness and justice and equality are the guiding principles, has to be advanced.

Thatcher’s Legacy in Ireland

Margaret Thatcher was a hugely divisive figure in British politics. Her right wing politics saw Thatcher align herself with some of the most repressive and undemocratic regimes in the late 20thcentury – including apartheid South Africa and Chile’s Pinochet. Her description of the ANC and Mandela as terrorists was evidence of her ultra conservative view of the world.
She championed the deregulation of the financial institutions, cuts in public services and was vehemently anti-trade union. She set out to crush the trade union movement. The confrontation with the miners and the brutality of the British police was played out on television screens night after night for months. The current crisis in the banking institutions and the economic recession owe much to these policies. And she went to war in the Malvinas.
But for the people of Ireland, and especially the north, the Thatcher years were among some of the worst of the conflict. For longer than any other British Prime Minister her policy decisions entrenched sectarian divisions, handed draconian military powers over to the securocrats, and subverted basic human rights.
Thatcher refused to recognise the right of citizens to vote for representatives of their choice. She famously changed the law after Bobby Sands was elected in Fermanagh South Tyrone. And when I and several other Sinn Féin leaders were elected to the Assembly in 1982 we were barred from entry to Britain.
Margaret Thatcher’s government defended structured political and religious discrimination and political vetting in the north, legislated for political censorship   and institutionalised to a greater extent than ever before collusion between British state forces and unionist death squads.
It under her leadership that in 1982 that the Force Research Unit (FRU) was established as a unit within the British Army Intelligence Corps. This British Army agency recruited agents who were then used to kill citizens. Among them was loyalist Brian Nelson. He was a former British soldier and member of the Ulster Defence Association who was recruited by FRU in 1983. He became the UDA’s Senior Intelligence Officer and his associates in FRU helped him to update his intelligence files, including photo-montages of potential victims. In the summer of 1985 Nelson travelled to South Africa where he helped negotiate a deal for that ultimately saw the UDA, UVF and Ulster Resistance acquire 200 AK47 automatic rifles, 90 Browning pistols, 500 fragmentation grenades, ammunition and 12 RPG rocket launchers. The shipment arrived in the north in late 1987 or early 1988. 
The Thatcher government was across all the details of this shipment. Its impact on the streets of the north is evident in the statistics of death. In the three years prior to receiving this weapons shipment the loyalist death squads killed 34 people. In the three years after the shipment they killed 224 and wounded countless scores more.  
The extent of the role of FRU in the killing of citizens is formidable. But it was the killing of human rights lawyer Pat Finucane in February 1989 that reveals the depth of the structured state collusion policy being pursued by the Thatcher government.  
Pat was one of several lawyers targeted by unionist death squads at the behest of the RUC and British intelligence agencies. At every level of his killing British agents and agencies had a hand. The leader of the UDA group which carried out the killing was a Special Branch agent - Tommy Lyttle. The man who subsequently confessed to being the UDA gunman who killed Pat Finucane was Ken Barrett, also a Special Branch agent. The UDA man who supplied the gun was William Stobie, a Special Branch agent – later killed in 2001 by the UDA when he threatened to lift the lid on the Finucane case. And, of course, the man who provided the intelligence for the killing was Brian Nelson, a British army agent.  
This is part of the Thatcher legacy in Ireland.  
She will be especially remembered by many for her shameful role during the epic hunger strikes of 1980 and 81.  
The Thatcher government believed that the criminalisation of the republican prisoners would break the republican struggle. It was not interested in a resolution.  
This much is evident in government papers released two years ago. For example a report of a meeting at Chequers on May 27th, after the deaths of Bobby Sands, Francie Hughes, Raymond McCreesh and Patsy O Hara, describes Thatcher commenting that ‘the Government must be ‘rock solid’ against any concessions to the hunger strikers or PIRA.’  
The following day on a visit to Belfast Thatcher declared that the hunger strike ‘may well be their [the IRA’s] last card.’  
The events of that awful summer of '81 polarised Irish society, north and south.  It was a watershed moment in Irish politics. The Thatcher government policy during the 1980’s was little more than a war policy. All of the strategies issuing from that policy were aimed at defeating or isolating republicanism. This included the shallow and ineffectual 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement which was about creating a political alliance involving the Dublin establishment, the SDLP, and the British to defeat Irish republicanism. Margaret Thatcher was a prime mover in all of this. 
Shoot-to-kill actions by British forces also significantly increased. This was most evident in the shooting dead of three unarmed IRA activists in Gibraltar in March 1988. It is my view that Thatcher authorised the killings at Gibraltar.  
Later when the BBC and the IBA scheduled two programmes about Gibraltar Thatcher tried to stop them. She was “outraged” when the programmes went ahead. Later that year she introduced the Broadcasting Ban on Sinn Féin.  
Three years later Thatcher authorised the then British Secretary of State Peter Brooke to reopen the back-channel with republicans. We were wary of this. However, for almost a decade Sinn Féin had been patently trying to build a peace process and unfolding events on the world stage, including the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, and the release of Mandela, were evidence that governments, and apparently intractable situations, could change. So we agreed to reactivate the back channel.  
But for Thatcher it all ended several months later in November 1990 when she was forced to resign by her party who perceived her to be no longer an electoral asset. She was evicted from Downing Street with all the ruthlessness, treachery and warped humanity of what passes for high politics.  
Thatcher’s 12 years of dictating British policy in Ireland was a legacy of bitterness and entrenched division.  Her Irish policy failed miserably.

A truth process for all

 Drumboe was cold but the welcome was warm. This year the powers that be had decided I would be the main speaker at the Drumboe commemoration in County Donegal. People were glad to see me and I them.
The surrounding mountain peaks had coverings of snow but unlike Belfast there was none on the roads or footpaths. But it was bitterly cold. It had a sharpness that cut to the bone and left ears numb.
The Drumboe commemoration is held each Easter at the republican memorial to the IRA volunteers of County Donegal who from every generation have fallen in pursuit of freedom and sovereignty. The Celtic Cross and the small plot that holds it, can be found at the end of the main street of Stranorlar, just before you cross the arched bridge that brings the traveller from the north side of the River Finn, to Ballybofey on the south side.
Stranorlar was among the first garrison towns in Ulster in the 16thcentury built after the plantation. Even today there are no schools or churches in Ballybofey - they are all in Stranorlar – a hangover from those days and the penal laws.
The proximity of the twin towns to west Tyrone and the closeness of the communities that live on either side of the border also means that all of those republicans on the rolls of honour and remembrance for Donegal and west Tyrone are remembered each year at the Drumboe Easter Commemoration.
This year holds a particular significance because it marks the 90thanniversary of the four Drumboe martyrs - four IRA fighters, Charlie Daly, Sean Larkin, Daniel Enwright, and Timothy O' Sullivan who were captured and held in the nearby Drumboe castle from January 1923 until they were executed by Free State forces on March 14th1923.
The Tan War against British forces was deadly and vicious, but the civil war left a bitterness and a political legacy that still shapes politics in the Irish state to this day. The civil war turned brother against brother, and neighbour against neighbour. The four who were shot by firing squad at Drumboe were among 77 republicans executed during those terrible years by the Free State.
There was never any process of truth recovery or reconciliation put in place after those catastrophic events. We should learn from that mistake.
During the recent conflict others died in the south as a consequence of the conflict. Tom Smyth, a republican prisoner, was killed in Portlaoise prison and Hugh Hehir was shot dead in County Clare. During the era of the heavy gang many citizens were brutally assaulted. Beatings were also common place within the prison systems. And there was collusion between elements of the Irish Defence Forces and the British forces in the north. We remember the death of Donegal Councillor Eddie Fullerton and others. But it is important that Republicans also acknowledge that we too inflicted great hurt. Members of the defence forces, including An Garda Síochána were killed by republicans. These matters need to be faced up to. Sinn Féin believes that the best means of addressing these matters is through the establishment of an Independent International Truth Commission.
The two governments’, former combatants and those in leadership across Ireland and Britain need to part of such a process. There can be no hierarchy of victims. The people of this island need a genuine process of national reconciliation. I am prepared to meet with victims’ families and others as part of this.
There is a need for a healing process so that we can all go forward in a united and harmonious way looking after victims, and victim’s families and survivors is a significant and important part of this. The proclamation of 1916, which is the mission statement of Irish republicans, is explicit in its anti-sectarianism. This is important as republicans seek to address at what is the start of the north’s orange marching season, the controversy over flags and emblems.  Unionist leaders have to face up to the reality that the old ways and the old days are gone. The vast majority of citizens want to live in a fair society based upon equality and Sinn Féin is committed to bring that this about. This means being prepared to enter into a rationale and informed debate with those who represent disadvantaged unionist communities about the difficulties they face every day and to vigorously challenge sectarianism and segregation and inequality.
Irish republicans are absolutely committed to the principles of equality and parity of esteem, and mutual respect contained in the Proclamation and in the Good Friday Agreement.  The tiny minorities on all sides who espouse violence must be rejected. They are stuck in the past while all around them Ireland north and south is changing.  Their actions will not destroy the peace process, or the efforts to create a new republic, but they can destroy lives, including those held in the prisons. The British government also cannot evade its responsibility in this respect. The continued imprisonment of Marian Price and Martin Corey is unacceptable. They should be released.
 

LONG JOURNEY HOME.

  US Secretary of State John Kerry
 This blog was written as I returned from the USA two weeks ago following a few hectic days marking St. Patrick's feast day. I get to travel a lot even when I don't feel like it. From the Meath East by-election to Washington DC is a tidy number of miles but there is a rhythm to stress free travelling which I follow now for years. The key is not to get stressed, to be on time and to be mindful that there is an end to every journey. It is also a good thing not to be overwhelmed by schedules  - especially Sinn Féin schedules. Go with the flow. And get a walk when you can as often as you can.

So from Belfast to Newark across the Atlantic in my sleep before solid ground welcomes my feet and the rest of me to the USA. A few train switches and then the almost three hours railway trek to DC. Nineteen hours later and collapse into bed in a downtown hotel room. Weather? Cold, wet and windy. Sinuses on a Tet offensive. Not enough duvets on bed. RG snoring. No way to spend Saint Patricks Day.

But next morning Friends of Sinn Féin and Joseph Smiths wonderful hospitality cheers us all. Here they have a Saint Patricks Week. And a jolly old week it is too. Busy. Our delegation is joined by Mary Lou. We are led by Rita O Hare.

We are early for our morning meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry so RG and I take a walk down to the corner. Set among holly and elm trees in the grounds of the National Academy of Sciences there sits a 12 foot bronze likeness of Albert Einstein. It’s a remarkable piece of sculpture of Einstein holding in his left hand a paper with the equations that marked his three most important scientific discoveries.
It’s then back to the State department for our meeting with Secretary Kerry. We talk about the peace process, the threats to it, the future, a border poll and the middle east. From there I’ts over to a series of briefings with our friends on Capitol Hill, to a fundraising lunch replete with some of the most powerful labour union leaders led by the fiery Terry O Sullivan, to a walk around the block and dinner in Bobby Vans, it is all go.

Ditto the next day. More briefings on the Hill. Met up with senior Congress members Richie Neal and Peter King and other stalwarts in Congress and the Senate. Then the Speakers Lunch where the Taoiseach and the President say their cupla focal and we dine on lamb and praties on a bed of green white and orange vegetables. Good straight words from the Taoiseach about the north. Delivery essential when he gets back. Martin Mc Guinness is there too. Alongside Peter Robinson. On the last leg of their long journey home from Latin America and the west coast of USA.

RG and I get a walk. The weather has changed for the better. Saint Patrick turned the stone. Big blue sky. lovely sunshine. almost summery. Visit Macey’s but buy nought. Can't find a book shop. Back to Capitol Hill to meet Senator Patrick Leahy and from there to the White House. Almost missed speeches. Was settled in White House library browsing. But a nice woman in a uniform alerted me in a soft prairie drawl to Presidents remarks starting. He was very positive on immigration issues. Met lots of old friends from Ireland and USA. Delighted to see Matt Molloy from The Chieftans. Great ceoltoir and a sound man.

And so mission almost completed, we retire to Bobby Vans again for what is now our traditional Saint Patricks dinner courtesy of Joseph. Met some disabled Vietnam veterans. There are 31 million combat vets here. Made me think of Pete Seegers ‘Where Have All The Flowers Gone’? And so to bed.

And then we headed back to whence we came. Was it a good trip? Yes. We got to brief powerful and influential people on current state of the process of change back home. From Marian Price, Pat Finucane., Ballymurphy families, Border poll, to Undocumented Irish and the need for an end to sectarianism and segregation. And all the bits in between like the Bill of Rights and Acht na Gaeilge.

What was main message?

It's not over yet. Our journey continues. Lots to be done. And we need our friends in the USA to complete the journey with us.

Become champions for deaf children – Adams

Today I hosted a briefing in the Dáil by parents from the Happy New Ear group. The group have been campaigning for the introduction of a bilateral cochlear implant programme. Currently, children in this state who are profoundly deaf only receive one cochlear implant, rather than the two which is accepted as best international practice.
I urged TDs and Seanadóirí who attended todays briefing  to become champions for those children and adults in need of bilateral cochlear implants and to increase our lobbying of the Minister for Health in advance of the budget estimates in June for Budget 2014.
This is a very winnable campaign. It is an issue that the government can fix. It needs political will. The HSE has commissioned a business plan to be submitted in June for inclusion in its estimates for Budget 2014. We need to increase our efforts to ensure that this business plan is comprehensive and effective and that the necessary funds are included for a bilateral cochlear implant programme.
All of the Oireachtas members who listened to the parents were impressed and moved by the contributions. The parents spoke powerfully about the courage and the difficulties faced by their children. And they explained that the absence of the second implant can also create problems for the children. Without a second implant children find it more difficult to differentiate speech in noisy environments; they can’t located direction for a sound and the stress of trying to hear is exhausting.
The provision of cochlear implants for children is an issue of fundamental rights. It is also a race against time as the auditory nerve to which the implants are connected becomes more redundant every day and will eventually die if they are not being used.
It is also accepted that there are around 200 children throughout the state who may be able to avail of this service.
International best practice demands that children receive bilateral implants. For the last 17 years the practice in this state has been for a single implant.
All of the parties in the Dáil and Seanad and the independent groups were represented at the briefing. I appealed to them to raise this issue in their groups meetings and to use the few months between now and June to increase pressure of the Minister and the HSE to ensure that a fully costed bilateral cochlear implant programme is put in place for next year. Support the Happy New Ear group and go onto their website and facebook page. Just google Happy New Ear.

Government made huge mistake on Cyprus crisis

 

Two weeks ago the European Council met. The meeting focused on the “European Semester” and the economic priorities for the EU in 2013. It is clear, both from the economic priorities emanating from the Council and its approach to the Cyprus crisis, that the EU is wedded to the failed policies of austerity. There is nowhere the dynamism and determination needed to tackle the jobs crisis across the EU. 

However it is the events in Cyprus that have dominated political and public attention in the period since that meeting. 
This morning in the Dáil there was an opportunity for party leaders to speak on the Council meeting but most speakers concentrated Cyprus. It is there that we see the real dysfunction at the heart of the EU approach to the economic crisis. 
The fact that the Euro Group, including Minister Noonan, would sign up to a bailout which contained a levy on bank depositors under and over €100k, while sparing Senior Bondholders in the banks, quite frankly beggars belief. That was a huge mistake by the Irish government.  
In his statement this morning the Taoiseach admitted that the issue was not discussed in detail at the summit, yet the government welcomed and signed up to EU/ECB/IMF proposed bailout and levy, and European leaders then stood back over the last week and allowed Cyprus to be brought to the brink of economic collapse. 
Instead of assisting the people of the island, they have bullied it and accused the Cypriot people of being the authors of their own demise. So, much for European solidarity. 
We don’t see such allegations being hurled at larger European states when they get themselves in difficulty.
The revised bailout agreement means that senior bondholders will now take a hit as will deposit holders over €100,000.
While I welcome the decision not to hit deposit holders under €100,000 the reality is that the Rubicon has been crossed. International depositors looking at the mess in Cyprus may consider not just withdrawing their money from banks there, but from across the EU.
It is claimed that there are several large multinationals who reportedly withdraw their money from Eurozone banks every Friday in case something happens over the weekend – and that was before this latest crisis. So, the prevailing sense is of a European establishment making it up as it goes along.
 The decision to try and hit depositors under €100,000 puts into sharp focus ECB President Mario Draghi’s statement last July that the bank will do whatever it takes to preserve the Euro.
 This appears to now include hitting depositors and possibly those with under €100,000 in a bank. The government welcomed this. That was a mistake. The Cypriot Parliament rejected it but the damage was done by then.  
Why should investors, especially large investors, trust the EU or ECB? Fears that bank accounts could be raided in future bailouts were given added weight by the head of the Eurozone Finance Ministers who at first suggested that the Cyprus bailout could be a template for future action and then he had to retract this.
The ECB put Cyprus under huge pressure to agree a plan by threatening to collapse its banking system. The bailout package that has now been agreed includes the increase in their corporation tax from 10% to 12.5%.
This is a sovereign state having a new tax rate imposed on it. The government claims that the EU cannot make us increase our corporation tax rate – yet the government was part of the group forcing this on Cyprus.   At the beginning of the Irish banking crisis Sinn Féin called for bondholders to be burned.
Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour told us it would never happen. They derided our approach and claimed that the EU would never let it happen, and that banks had to be bailed out at any cost.
The EU has now signed off on the burning of senior bondholders in Cypriot banks.
Last June, the Government also told us that a seismic game changer had been reached in Europe, which would see the separation of banking debt from sovereign debt. The Taoiseach told us that in future bank crises, the ESM would directly recapitalize banks and the sovereign would not be expected to take on a bank bailout.
He told us that because we had taken on this liability, we would be retrospectively recapitalized.
The EU could have committed to using the ESM to cover losses needed for the Cypriot Banks. They didn’t do this. And there is now uncertainty over the commitment to separate sovereign debt from Bank debt.
Comments over today and yesterday by some politicians cast doubt over whether the ESM will ever be used to recapitalise banks whether retrospectively or not. Yesterday the European Commission confirmed that it hopes the ESM fund will not be used for directly recapitalising banks.
This seems to confirm comments by the chief of the euro zone finance ministers Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who questioned whether the ESM bailout fund will ever be used to rescue banks directly.
There seems to be a complete U-turn in EU policy in relation to the use of the ESM and the burning of senior bondholders.
And this is a u-turn which causes real problems for citizens of this state which had this debt foisted on us by Fianna Fáil. We now have a legacy bank debt which may never be dealt with.
So, the government has serious questions to answer. What is the point of the ESM and where does Europe now stand on banking solidarity?
What is the Irish Governments attitude towards the burning of depositors in Irish/European banks and why did the Government support it in the Cypriot case?
And will the citizens of this state ever receive debt assistance for the debt this Government and the previous Government put on the shoulders of the taxpayers to bail out banks with taxpayers’ money?
Finally and prior to the European Council meeting the Taoiseach agreed to raise the Jerusalem report that had been just been made public and which was written by EU diplomats in the Middle East.
The report raised serious concerns about the actions of the Israeli government in building settlements and excluding Palestinians for their land.  The Taoiseach made no mention of that in his statement this morning or subsequently. So, I don’t know whether he did or didn’t raise the report as promised. It is a  matter I intend to return to.
 

The Property Tax - A Tax too far

This week saw Sinn Féin publish a Bill which seeks to repeal the Property Tax. The Financial Local Property Tax Repeal Bill is about lifting the burden of this unfair tax off families and households and to replace it with alternative measures to raise taxes, including a wealth tax. The record of this government in its two years in power has been appalling. Fine Gael and Labour were elected to undo the damage of Fianna Fáil but have chosen instead to implement Fianna Fáil policies.
The government’s austerity policies are driving up poverty and disadvantage. Emigration and unemployment are at record levels; public services, particularly health, are in crisis and there are more cuts to be imposed this year; the economy is flat lined and another new tax – the family home tax – is to be forced on households in the coming months. 
Both Labour and Fine Gael opposed the property tax in opposition. The Taoiseach said in the Fine Gael election manifesto that:
“Fianna Fail’s proposal, now endorsed by the Labour Party, to introduce by 2014 an annual, recurring residential property tax on the family home is unfair” (P59)

But on his watch householders across the state have now received letters from revenue demanding payment of a tax on their family home. The first payments are due in the summer. This is a tax that takes no account, of ability to pay, those in negative equity, those who paid stamp duty or the 140,000 families in Mortgage distress. The financial implications for households are very serious. It will especially punish those on low and middle incomes, social welfare recipients and the disabled. 
It is a tax proposed by Fianna Fail and implemented by Fine Gael and Labour. It is a tax with no waivers and whose so-called exemptions are quite frankly a joke. This family home tax is a draconian piece of legislation which takes no regard of the impact it will have on parents trying to put food on the table or to heat their homes.  
The government is pursuing a policy which will drive more and more people even further into debt.  
It has also ensured that the revenue has the means to take this tax irrespective of the individual or family circumstances. The tax can be deducted from people’s social welfare, from wages, from their Bank accounts, and even from their Credit Union accounts.  
Michael Noonan said: "The Revenue know how to collect taxes and they WILL collect taxes and they are also being mandated to collect the arrears on the household charge."
The government has taken a totally coldblooded stance. Regardless of a person’s ability to pay the money, it will be taken directly at source from wages or pensions or social welfare. 
Households will have to manage a dwindling income. Some will buy less food; others will turn down or off the heating; children will have to make do with more hand-me-downs and all the time the government will impose more stealth taxes like water charges. 
The reality is that the government is creating additional debt at a time when the economy desperately needs consumers to be spending more to lift the domestic economy, save jobs and encourage growth. 
The reality is that the Property Tax is for many households a tax too far. Many families will be pushed over the edge by this tax. When added to the taxes and charges introduced by the coalition government, including the Household Charge, increases in VAT, septic tank charges, cuts to child benefit and much more, it will have a grievous impact on working families. 
It is being introduced by Labour and Fine Gael to raise money to pay the debts of the banking system not to provide public services for citizens. In fact funding is being cut for public services by these parties. 
There are alternative measures that the government could have taken, including the introduction of a wealth tax on all property, liquid and assets, above a certain net wealth.  
Sinn Féin’s proposal is to levy a 1% wealth tax on all net wealth over €1 million with certain exclusions. Because it is net wealth, it takes into account mortgages and loans. Because it has a high value, it protects struggling families. And because it is aimed at high net worth individuals, it is dealt with by people used to engaging with the revenue system, who very often have tax accountants dealing with the system on their behalf. 
So Fine Gael and Labour had a choice. They could have opted to take more from those who can afford it. Instead, Labour and Fine Gael chose to inflict more pain on struggling families.  
Sinn Féin intends introducing a bill to reverse the Property Tax. In the meantime we are urging citizens to lobby their local politicians, particularly government TDs and councillors to support the bill. The only way to stop this tax is to repeal the legislation.  No other measures such as boycott or refusing to value your home will work.  We need to build campaign for the repeal of the bill and that is where Sinn Féin is focussed.