Gerry Adams's Blog, page 69

Irish government must act on EU Jerusalem Report

I have written to the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste calling on them to use the good offices of the Presidency of the EU to publicly raise the details contained in a report by the EU Heads of Mission in Jerusalem and Ramallah. The content of the report has only emerged in recent days although the report itself was handed over to EU governments in January.

The report makes grim reading and is a scathing indictment of the Israeli government’s flouting of international law and its violation of the rights of Palestinian citizens living in East Jerusalem and the occupied territories.

The report finds that the Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the west bank are ‘the biggest single threat to the two state solution.’

The EU report accuses the Israeli government of implementing a settlement policy that is ‘systematic, deliberate and provocative’.

It concludes that Israel is pursuing a deliberate policy of seeking to drive Palestinians out of East Jerusalem through restrictive zoning and planning, demolitions and evacuations, discriminatory access to religious sites, an inequitable education policy, difficult access to health care and inadequate provision of resources.

The 15-page report from the EU diplomats identified settlement construction on the southern flank of east Jerusalem -- in Har Homa, Gilo and Givat HaMatos - as being the "most significant and problematic".

The diplomats warned that this construction would likely cut the area off from Bethlehem by the end of the year.

‘The construction of these three settlements is part of a political strategy aiming at making it impossible for Jerusalem to become the capital of two states … If the current pace of settlement activity on Jerusalem's southern flank persists, an effective buffer between east Jerusalem and Bethlehem may be in place by the end of 2013, thus making the realization of a viable two-state solution inordinately more difficult, if not impossible.’

The report also focuses on plans announced by Israel late last year to build 3,426 units in E1 -- a strip of West Bank land east of Jerusalem. If this project goes ahead the EU report concludes that it will effectively cut the West Bank in half.

The Heads of Mission Jerusalem Report 2012 indicts Israel of violating ‘international humanitarian law’.

The report, which was written by the EU heads of mission in Jerusalem and Ramallah, makes six recommendations. It calls on the European Union to ‘prevent, discourage and raise awareness about problematic implications of financial transactions, including foreign direct investments, from within the EU in support of settlement activities, infrastructure and services.’

It recommends that the EU, which is Israel's largest import and export market and accounts for about a third of Israel’s total trade, should take sanctions against settlements in East Jerusalem and the west Bank. It wants settlement products clearly labelled to ensure that ‘imports of settlement products do not benefit from preferential tariffs’. “

The information in this report cannot be ignored or set aside.

The Irish government currently holds the Presidency of the EU. This report provides clear evidence of Israeli breaches of international law and the implementation of policies that are reminiscent of the homeland policy of the old apartheid regime in South Africa.

The Irish government must give leadership on this vital matter of international concern and act urgently on the information and recommendations made by EU officials. This should include the introduction of EU wide legislation to prevent Israeli products manufactured or grown in Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank from benefitting from preferential tariffs agreed under an Israeli-EU trade agreement.

Disabled targeted by government

On Monday evening the Fine Gael and Labour government announced that it was scrapping the Mobility Allowance Scheme and the Motorised Transport Grant Scheme. There was no prior notice given to the various disability groups, which the government claims to be regularly meeting, or to the Dáil. The Ombudsman described it as a ‘bolt out of the blue.’The two schemes have been in operation for some years and it has been known for at least 13 years that they have been operating illegally under the Equal Status Act. They discriminate against a sizeable number of citizens who have been denied access to them.The Ombudsman raised the Mobility Allowance Scheme with the Department of Health in February 2009 and pointed out that the upper age limit applied by the scheme was illegal. The Department would have known this from as long ago as 2000 when the Equal Status Act was enacted. Last October the Ombudsman told the Dáil and Seanad that the two schemes were “operating on the basis of eligibility conditions which are in breach of the Equal Status Acts. The mobility allowance operates with an upper age limit which excludes applicants who are over 66 years; the motorised transport grant operates on the basis of a very narrow definition of disability which discriminates unfairly within the category of people with disabilities”.In the same month the Tánaiste, in response to a question by Sinn Féin Deputy Leaders Mary Lou McDonald on this issue, said: ‘It is not the government’s wish to withdraw the Mobility Allowance from those who currently have it’. But that’s exactly what the government announced on Monday.So, instead of tackling this discrimination head on and bringing it to an end the government chose to end the schemes and discriminate against all of those with disability.
The government has tried to disguise its move by hiding behind the argument that the schemes are illegal and that its decision has nothing to do with cost. Nonsense.
The Ombudsman had already recorded that the Department of Health; “said that it was unable to accept the Ombudsman's recommendations that each of these schemes should be brought into compliance with the law. The Department said that the costs of bringing the schemes into compliance with the law could not be borne in present circumstances.”Cost therefore has had everything to do with this decision. The government won’t extend the two schemes because it will cost more. According to Kathleen Lynch the Labour Minister of State at Health the state would have to spend between €170 million and €300 million extra. The choice therefore for the government was between spending that or €10 million.

For Minister Lynch and later the Taoiseach the choice was easy. They took the cheaper option. The government’s claim that it was going to ring-fence the €10 million for this year simply adds insult to injury to all of those disabled citizens who continue to be discriminated against by the government. 
The result of the government’s manoeuvrings is that those currently in receipt of Mobility Allowance and the Motorised Transport Grant Scheme will lose it in four months’ time, and many thousands of other citizens who should be receiving some form of disability support will continue to be denied their entitlements.  
The various political parties that have been in government over the last 13 years have all known of this problem. The fact is that Fianna Fáil, which was in government for most of that time, was actively discriminating against citizens with disabilities. So too has this government. Fine Gael and Labour have had two years to fix this problem. The way to do this is to bring these schemes into compliance with the law and to give citizens with disabilities, where appropriate, their entitlement to access to these schemes.That would be fair and legal. This is what the Ombudsman recommended. But the Department of Health has said these costs cannot be borne. So, the government chooses to scrap the schemes.  
Once again Fine Gael and Labour, in pursuit of their austerity policies, are targeting citizens who are least able to defend themselves. Having attacked the incomes of frontline workers they have now turned its attention to the disabled and elderly.This Government and its Fianna Fáil predecessor have failed people with disabilities.The government should lift this threat from the thousands of disabled citizens. It should apply the law equally and fairly for all disabled citizens and abandon a policy decision that is mean spirited and will impose severe hardship on more than 5,000 people with disabilities. The government needs to go back to the drawing board. Its starting point has to be the fact that discrimination is wrong. It also has a responsibility to provide for disabled citizens. It should reflect on the decision it has taken, rescind it; wait until the current review is completed, and consult with those representing disabled citizens before taking any decisions on this matter.
 
 

Gibraltar - 25 years on

Reimagining Ireland
25 years ago next week Mairead Farrell, Dan McCann and Sean Savage died on the streets of Gibraltar. They were three extraordinary republicans. In their short lives they repeatedly demonstrated courage; resilience in the face of brutality, imprisonment and hunger strike; compassion; loyalty and a fierce commitment to building a different society on this island – a better Ireland – than that in which they had grown up.
Their deaths at Gibraltar were a huge blow to their families. They were robbed of three warm, loving, and compassionate human beings. A father, a daughter, a sister, a brother, a son, a husband. For those of us who knew them we lost three good friends who still had much to offer the republican struggle, their communities and Ireland.
Mairead, Dan and Sean were shaped by the political conditions into which they were born but also by the republicanism they espoused. They were all well read, articulate and politically very well informed. They had read Tone and Connolly and Pearse and all the great Irish thinkers.
They were with Connolly in his belief in the re-conquest of Ireland by the Irish people. But they also understood that an elite cannot free Ireland. Yes, there is work for a vanguard; for the people who take initiatives, who take chances, who make sacrifices and who go on the political offensive.
But the only true freedom of people is that which is shaped by the people themselves.
James Connolly observed in 1913 during the dark days of the Dublin lock-out that: “we fought as conditions dictate; we meet new conditions with new policies. Those who choose may keep old policies to meet new conditions. We cannot and will not try.”
Connolly and his comrades applied that in 1916. Tone and Emmet and the Young Irelanders and the Fenians and those who led the Land League did the same. As did the republicans of this generation.
Each took Irish republicanism and shaped it to their specific political conditions. And that is what Sinn Féin is doing in 2013. We are taking Connolly’s maxim and our core republican values and making them relevant in our time and in our place of activism; whether that is in the community, in school, in our places of work, in local government, in the Assembly or the Oireachtas.
We are creating new strategies, formulating new policies, building political strength all with an eye on the prize. Like 25 years ago it is about achieving a united independent Ireland; bringing an end to partition; ending the union with Britain; and constructing on this island a new national democracy, a new republic based on equality and reconciliation between orange and green.
The struggle for freedom continues. Today it takes a different form from that in the past. Irish republicanism is now stronger and more vibrant and more relevant to people in their daily lives than at any time since partition. Sinn Féin in government in the Assembly and in opposition in the Oireachtas is leading the fight against austerity and in defence of citizen’s rights.
Across this island Sinn Féin activists are building a republican alternative to the bad and corrupt politics of the conservative elites north and south.
Our focus is on constructing a new Ireland that embraces all of the citizens of this island and especially those who feel themselves to be British.
A new Ireland that shares its wealth more equitably, looks after its’ aged and young, provides full rights for people with disabilities, liberates women, and delivers the highest standards of public services.
These are not new concepts. Take up the Proclamation and read it. Read too the Democratic Programme of the First Dáil. These visionary documents contain great words.
Pursuing the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and all its parts; guaranteeing civil and religious liberty, and equal rights and equal opportunities; and cherishing all the children of the nation equally.
These words speak to the people of this island today.
This generation of Irish republicans  are re-imagining Ireland. A new Ireland for this century.
Tone captured the spirit of this when he wrote of “a cordial union among all the people of Ireland, to maintain that balance which is essential to the preservation of our liberties and the extension of our commerce.”
We are an island people in transition. For that we need a new Republic that reflects our genius and diversity, our dignity and our strengths – a new Republic that is inclusive and visionary.
A new Ireland where neither gender or race, age or disability, sexual orientation or class, or creed or skin colour or location will be used to deny citizens their full rights and entitlements.
A new Ireland where citizens will have the right to a job; to a home; to a decent standard of education and health, and to equality in the Irish language.

And a new Ireland that reaches out to our unionist neighbours and the children of the diaspora scattered around the globe.
This is the context in which I called several weeks ago for a border poll. The Good Friday Agreement allows for such a poll. Sinn Féin believes the time is right to campaign for the British and Irish governments to set a date in the next term of the Assembly and Oireachtas for a border poll.
This provides ample time for the debate that is necessary and the time that is needed to persuade unionists – or at least a section of unionism – that a united Ireland makes political, economic, social and cultural sense.  
This is the great historic challenge for the Irish people. To undo centuries of English and then British government involvement in Ireland and bring an end to the artificial divisions that involvement have created.
Irish republicans are in the vanguard of the struggle to achieve this.  
Join Sinn Féin. Join with us and help achieve the goals that Mairead and Dan and Sean and many others died for.
 

Wee Beau and Gael Arás Mhic Ardghail

 
Brother Beau agus mise
 Last night I came face to face – sort of – with a very old friend. Brother Thomas Finbar Beausang – or wee Beau, as he was endearingly called by those of us he taught in St. Mary’s grammar school in Barrack Street and then on the Glen Road, was a renowned Irish language activist.
His bust now proudly adorns the entrance to Gael Arás Mhic Ardghail, an Irish language cultural centre in Newry.
Gael Áras Mhic Ardghail is the culmination of a huge amount of work by the Newry branch of Conradh na Gaeilge, in co-operation with Newry and Mourne Council; An Ciste Infheistíocha Gaeilge and many others.
I was there to say a few words at the formal opening, in part because of the role Sinn Féin played in securing a £20 million package of funding for the Irish language from the British government at Hillsborough Castle in 2010. £8 million of this has gone to An Ciste Infheistíocha Gaeilge.
The Ciste provides capital funding for Irish language projects like Gael Arás Mhic Ardghail and many others across the north. Its role is to sustain and assist the development of Irish language communities; provide financial support and fund capital projects which will create jobs, and to develop cultural hubs. 
But before our time stalwart language activists, including those in the Newry Gaelic League, campaigned and pioneered for decades for language rights, including the right to education through Irish.
The Newry Branch was especially active. In its early days it helped establish the famous Omeath Feis in 1902; it helped found Coláiste Bhríde Ó Méith in 1912 where Pearse, it is reported, composed a draft of the Irish Proclamation; it appointed the first full-time, salaried Gaelic League travelling teacher in Ireland, an múinteor taistil from South Armagh Francis Nugent; and it encouraged the gaelicisation of the local press, especially the newly founded ‘Frontier Sentinel’ (1904).
The Newry Gaelic League also collaborated with Killeavy and Omeath Gaelic Leaguers in erecting what are believed to be the first Irish language road signs on the island at the Corr na Muclach junction half-way between Newry and Omeath.
After partition the unionist regime at Stormont discriminated against and actively oppressed the Irish language and culture. However, in the 1930s and 1940s, the Newry Urban Council, again in direct defiance of unionism, erected new bilingual street signage at James Connolly Park and Michael Mallin Park.
And, it was Newry and Mourne District Council who appointed Ireland’s first local government Irish Language Development Officer in Maolcholaim Scott.
So, Newry and its hinterland, which straddles the border, has a proud history of promoting the Irish language. This is the context for Gael Áras Mhic Ardghail and its role as a provider of Irish medium education, art, music, debate, and the promotion of Irish culture and heritage.
It is an exceptional building, well designed and constructed. At its heart is the family home of the McArdle family who in an exceptional and generous gesture donated it to this project. But it has been expanded to include exhibition space and class rooms.
  Audience at formal opening of Gael Áras Mhic Ardghail  As you enter the foyer there is an old desk, similar to those we had in Barrack Street and on a pedestal behind – as if looking over the pupils shoulder – is Brother Beau. The bust is a very good likeness of the man. And it is entirely appropriate that it should greet visitors as they enter Gael Arás Mhic Ardghail, not just because this is originally the site of St. Patrick’s – the first Christian Brothers school in Newry, but also because Brother Beau was such an influential figure in Irish language circles over many years.
He was a part of my experience of learning Irish. My own interest in the language began when I started primary school at St. Finian’s De La Salle School on the Falls Road.

However it was St. Mary’s Grammar School run by the Christian Brothers which really bonded me to the language. And Brother Beausang was a big part of that with his summer breaks to the Donegal Gaeltacht.
My next real opportunity to extend my limited knowledge of the language was in prison.  
Political prisoners, particularly in the cages of Long Kesh, created Irish language communities in prison – Gaeltacht huts – where they lived and breathed the language each day.

And because we had political status we were permitted Irish language text books. It was there that Bobby Sands learned Irish.
Subsequently, many of these prisoners and others who had been interned continued with their work on the language when they were released. Later when the cages were replaced by the H Blocks and when the Irish language became the daily language of most of the protesting prisoners at that time, this had a huge impact on the consciousness, particularly of young working-class nationalists.
When prisoners were released from the Blocks, many of them brought the language skills and teaching methods they had learned back into their communities conducting classes in pubs, clubs, community centres and homes.

But it was Irish language stalwarts like Brother Beau who helped keep the language alive in the north during the bad days. For that he will be fondly remembered by all of us who knew him.
Brother Beau is also remembered in far off places. Another person who was taught by him was catholic priest Kevin McGarry. Just over a decade ago when Father McGarry opened a school in the town of Embulbul, just outside greater Nairobi, in Kenya, he decided to name it after Brother Beausang. A fine gesture for a great teacher.  
 

Government fails households in mortgage distress

Last week the Irish Central Bank held a conference on ‘How to fix distressed property markets’. In this state this issue is of huge importance because of the numbers of citizens in mortgage arrears.
Despite the fact that the state has borrowed €67 billion and used €64 billion of this to recapitalise the banks there has been little evidence of the banks themselves seeking to address the mortgage arrears issue in a compassionate yet effective fashion. They have refused to engage credibly with distressed borrowers. And have stuck their heads in the sand over the obvious need for debt forgiveness for those borrowers who clearly cannot repay their debt.
As the Irish Times acknowledged last week, ‘Debt forgiveness is inevitable. It is an unavoidable part of any major debt resolution process.’
Last October Fiona Muldoon, the Head of Banking Regulation at the Irish Central Bank was scathing in her criticism of the bankers and their failure to address the issue of mortgage distress.
And on Wednesday Allied Irish Bank indicated that it plans to increase its variable interest rates once again - a move that will directly impact on 70,000 customers.
Every 0.25pc rise in rates adds €30 a month to the cost of repayments on every €200,000 borrowed. That’s €30 that many of these families simply don’t have.
Clearly the banks have learned nothing, and care less.
But worse, AIB is a fully owned state bank and the government is refusing to tackle this issue head on. It’s alright to give €64 billion to the banks but it’s not alright to helps citizens in mortgage distress.
This week Sinn Féin’s Private Members Business in the Dáil was devoted to the twin big issues in housing, of mortgage distress and the lack of social housing.
The government has failed to tackle these two issues in a planned and effective fashion and consequently is failing the tens of thousands of families in mortgage distress and on the social housing waiting lists.
Fine Gael and Labour came to power promising to prioritise those in mortgage distress – it has abandoned them.
Exactly two years ago in the days immediately before the general election vote the Labour told people in mortgage distress that, ‘if Labour is in government, they will enjoy peace of mind.’
The Labour Leader Eamon Gilmore said: ‘The banks have already received thousands of millions in taxpayers money. There has to be a ‘quid pro quo’ for that, and that is to give people who are in mortgage distress a breather …’
Another election promise made and another election promise broken by Labour.
Today, there are more citizens than ever in mortgage distress. The governor of the Central Bank Patrick Honohan told last week’s conference that household financial distress is at unprecedented levels. Last June one in five mortgages were in arrears amounting to some 167,000 households. The most recent figure puts that now at 180,000 households currently in trouble with 115 additional homeowners falling into distress every day.
The government’s Personal Insolvency legislation will not fix this problem. It hands a veto over any Personal Insolvency Arrangement to the banks. And as long as the Banks have a veto, and the government refuses to face them down, there is little prospect of real progress for struggling homeowners.
In respect of social housing; the policy of Fine Gael and Labour in depleting the social housing stock is exacerbating the crisis in housing and the numbers of citizens on waiting lists.
My constituency offices, in Dundalk and Drogheda, like many other TD’s offices, are dealing with increasing numbers of people who have been forced to leave what was the family home.

Sinn Féin believes there are solutions to this problem. The starting point must be to remove the veto given to lenders over proposed insolvency agreements in the Personal Insolvency Act 2012. The government should also prioritise the maintenance of the family home in any agreements dealing with residential mortgages.
In our Private Members Motion we set out several other proposals. These include:      ·       provide in the legislation for the independent adjudication and enforcement on mortgage distress cases, through a new category of agreement to be known as ‘independent agreement on mortgage distress’ which will be adjudicated by a ‘mortgage restructuring panel’ appointed by the Minister, who would have the statutory power to agree and impose agreements on lending institutions where the panel believes that such agreements would enable the mortgage holders to remain in the family home;
·       include the possibility of write downs on portions of the mortgage debt as well as other options such as debt for equity swaps, mortgage to rent and short selling in the options available when reaching ‘mortgage restructuring agreements’; ·       take more direct action with the Central Bank to force lending institutions to adopt a more proactive and lender friendly approach to the mortgage crisis;·       ensure that NAMA contributes to ‘the social and economic development of the State’ in providing any housing units in its portfolio suitable for social housing; ·       develop a plan to commence the building of at least 5,000 housing units by the end of 2013, with a further 4,000 houses by the second half of 2014 for the public housing system, including the use of social housing bonds to fund these projects; and ·       restore funding for Traveller accommodation to its 2010 level.”
 

“The Magdalene Women are an inspiration”

This evening the Dáil has been debating the McAleese report on the Magdalene Laundries. In my contribution to the debate I praised the Magdalene women:
“Despite their experiences all those I have met have remained feisty, and strong and resilient and good humoured and some of them have relentlessly campaigned for justice over many years.
They are more than victims and survivors they have become campaigners and role models for others in this state and beyond who seek justice and equality and freedom.
The Magdalene women are an inspiration and this Dáil and the people of this island owes theme a debt of gratitude for their endeavours on behalf of each other and of all those who were victims of abuse.”
I also acknowledged and thanked the Taoiseach for his “fulsome and comprehensive apology on behalf of the state to the Magdalene women and to commend your remarks.”
The full text of my remarks: 
“Taoiseach I want to welcome the survivors of the Magdalene Laundries who are with us today in the public gallery and the hundreds more who will be following this evenings debate very intently. 
I especially want to commend the women themselves and those groups and individuals who advocated on their behalf.
You shone the light so that the rest of us could see. 
I also Taoiseach want to acknowledge and to thank you for your fulsome and comprehensive apology on behalf of the state to the Magdalene women and to commend your remarks. 
Taoiseach the Proclamation of 1916 – a Proclamation which has yet to become a reality – at a time when women did not have the vote, addresses itself to Irishmen and Irishwomen. 
Giving recognition of that reality. 
It was the mission of statement of Irish republicanism at the start of the 20th century and it remains as vital and relevant today as it was then.
It is a charter of rights for citizens. 
It guarantees religious and civil liberty, and equal rights and equal opportunities. 
It is a charter of rights for equality and solidarity and freedom for all the people of this island. 
But that is not what emerged in our partitioned island post 1916. 
Taoiseach the women and girls in the Magdalene Laundries had no rights. 
They were objects in a conservative dispensation governed by conservative elites in the Church and the political establishment. 
In the manner of their incarceration and in their treatment in the Magdalene Laundries – these women were slaves – these girls were slaves - slaves of a brutal and inhuman regime which Irish governments turned a blind eye to. 
Indeed, successive governments endorsed and used these institutions. 
The ‘Anti-Slavery International’ defines slavery; and I quote: “People are sold like objects, forced to work for little or no pay and are at the mercy of their ‘employers’.” 
There are common characteristics that distinguish slavery from other human rights violations. 
These include when a person is “forced to work – dehumanised – treated as a commodity – physically constrained or have restrictions placed on his/her freedom of movement.”
Last September I listened to President Obama describe slavery as; “when a woman is locked in a sweatshop, or trapped in a home as a domestic servant, alone, abused and incapable of leaving – that’s slavery.”
These are descriptions which I am sure the Magdalene women – the survivors - listening to this debate will immediately identify with. 
It was an essential part of their life experience in the Magdalene Laundries.
James M Smith in a recent article gives one graphic example of this. 
He describes how two sisters were put to work in the Magdalene Laundries.
One of the two, aged 14 was placed in the Good Shepherd convent in New Ross.  
He recounts the horror of her existence.
He says: “For the next five years she washed society’s dirty laundry and received no pay. When she refused to work the nuns cut her hair as punishment. The hair grew back but to this day the loss of her education angers her. To her, it was a prison in all but name. There was no inspector, no child welfare officer. She was abandoned and no one cared.Sixty years later this woman lives with the stigma and shame attached to these institutions. These are the indelible stains on her life.”Taoiseach this was slavery and as you have said, the state failed to challenge it; to end it; or to provide for its victims.On the contrary as we now know the state employed this system for decades.In July 1960 James Connolly’s daughter Nora Connolly O Brien addressed the Seanad on the then Criminal Justice Bill.
That piece of government legislation, according to Nora Connolly O Brien’s contribution to the debate, would permit young women on remand to be “legally committed to St. Mary Magdalene's Asylum”.

Nora warned that any girl held there would, as she said;“suffer for the rest of her life the stigma of having at one time been an inmate of that asylum.”

The Bill provided – that’s the Bill in this Oireachtas - that girls would have a choice - to go to St. Mary’s or to prison.

Nora Connolly O Brien’s objection to the Magdalene system were so great that she said that if asked for her advice she would tell girls
Taoiseach, much of what went on in the laundries, the ill-treatment inflicted on women and young girls, some as young as 9, has also been described in previous reports. 
The Ryan Report (2009) details the women’s forced unpaid labour in the Laundries and states that their working conditions were harsh, they were completely deprived of their liberty and they suffered both physical and emotional abuse.
Those who tried to escape and who were caught were returned to these institutions.  
As far back as November 2010 an assessment report on the Magdalene Laundries by the Irish Human Rights Commission called on the government to establish a statutory inquiry and to provide redress for the survivors.  
The following May the United Nations Convention against Torture commended that the Irish state should ensure that survivors from the Laundries obtain redress.  
It also expressed its grave concern at the failure by the State to institute prompt, independent and thorough investigations into the allegations of ill-treatment of the women.  
The government, and it’s to be commended for this, set up the Inter-departmental Committee in June 2012 to clarify whether the state had any interaction with the Laundries. 
Taoiseach I welcome the publication of Martin McAleese’s report and thank him and his team for their report but the government’s strictly limited terms of reference mean that some of the Magdalene Laundries and the stories of some of the women, are not included in the report. 
According to Amnesty International today this also includes previously unknown Laundries in the north. 
Nor does the report cover the scandalous and equally harsh conditions in Bethany Home. 
These significant gaps have to be addressed if a comprehensive and effective resolution of the treatment of girls and women by the state in institutions is to be achieved. 
Taoiseach, I also welcome the meetings you had with the Minister for Justice, in the last week with some of the survivors, and with the Tánaiste before that. 
I also have had the honour of meeting some of these women myself. 
They are remarkable women and living witnesses of a terrible injustice. 
They will have told you of their personal experience and of the horrendous and brutal conditions endured by over ten thousand women in the Magdalene laundries.
I know some of the survivors feel that the 1000 page report by Senator Martin McAleese does not accurately reflect the abuse and the suffering that all of the women endured in these institutions.  
For example, the Report states that only a minority experienced physical abuse and none suffered sexual abuse.  
Many will take issue with this statement.  
Taoiseach, your apology this evening for occurred will be warmly welcomed. 
But what is now needed is a process of redress by the state that treats all of the Magdalene survivors on the basis of equality and provides for their future in a comprehensive fashion. 
As you have acknowledged clearly the starting point must be that their incarceration was wrong; that they were treated as slaves;that their basic rights as citizens and human beings were trampled on, and that the state must bear the burden of putting this right. 
Time is of the essence for these women.  
Many of them are elderly and unwell.  
They have lived with the stigma of Magdalene Laundries and the brutality they experienced during their incarceration for their entire lives.  
The government has a responsibility to act quickly.  
It must not compound the women’s trauma by failing to respond promptly and in a satisfactory way. 
And the Dáil may have concerns about the redress scheme that has been announced and that you have put in place.
That you have commissioned a report to be supplied by Justice John Quirke.  
We will want to hear more of the detail of that.  
But the state has a responsibility to care; to protect citizens from abuse, and in our acknowledgement that it failed; that it failed all of the girls and women – without any exception – it requires that we put forward a non-adversarial redress scheme. 
The women must be compensated for lost wages and pensions.  
Any of their immediate health, housing and counselling needs must also be promptly catered for. 
A package needs to be prepared for these women to compensate for the effects of the abuse that they suffered in the laundries.  And that requires a transparent compensation package.  
That will be the mark against which the government’s proposals will be judged. 
As Martin McAleese himself records in his report women endured unspeakable horror;  
“None of us can begin to imagine the confusion and fear experienced by these young girls, in many cases little more than children, on entering the Laundries – not knowing why they were there, feeling abandoned, wondering whether they had done something wrong, and not knowing when – if ever – they would get out, and see their families again.” 
So, we are all agreed the Magdalene women have suffered long enough, they now need justice.  
Despite their experiences all those I have met have remained feisty, and strong and resilient and good humoured and some of them have relentlessly campaigned for justice over many years.  
They are more than victims and survivors they have become campaigners and role models for others in this state and beyond who seek justice and equality and freedom.
The Magdalene women are an inspiration and this Dáil and the people of this island owes theme a debt of gratitude for their endeavours on behalf of each other and of all those who were victims of abuse.
 
 
 

Vote 1 for King Oak

                                                                     King Oak

I am called many things. One of the least offensive is tree-hugger! As anyone who really knows me will tell you I love trees. I even grow trees although this year has been busier than usual and hasn’t left a lot of space to gather up the seeds and plant and pot them.
In my travels I have picked up seeds here and there. I have Holly trees from Hillsborough Castle and Rowans I picked up at Chequers once upon a time while visiting Tony Blair.
Most of my trees are local. Not surprising when you realise how much a part of Irish history and culture and sport and mythology are our trees. Many of our place names and towns and town lands and some of our counties derive their name from local trees. My home county of Antrim is associated with Aon Trim or Elder. Derry or Doire is connected to the Oak. Mayo or Maigh Eo is the plain of the yews and so on. Indigenous trees also encourage our native wildlife, whether birds or insects.
So, in the interest of promoting Irish trees I am asking readers everywhere to take a few minutes and log on to www.treeoftheyear.org and vote in the European Tree of the Year competition for Ireland’s entry - ‘King Oak’.
This is a huge Oak tree – a pendunculate Oak (quercus robar) - from the Charleville Forest estate at Tullamore in County Offaly. It is estimated to be aged between 400 and 800 years old. Locally it is well known and it is said that generations of Tullamore inhabitants have climbed its branches. It stretches 50 meters from the tip of one branch to the tip of another.
I heard about the Charleville Oak and the competition while listening to Derek Mooney’s excellent show on RTE 1. The person speaking about it claimed that romances began and some ended in the shadow of that great oak.
The European Tree of the Year is not about finding the biggest tree or the smallest or the oldest or most beautiful – however interesting these facts may be. The organisers say they are searching “for the tree closest to your heart, a tree with a story that can hold the community together.”
It’s about the connection between a tree and the community it lives in. According to Hana Rambousková of the Czech Republic who is one of the organisers of the competition; “these trees, many of them hundreds of years old, have witnessed important history in their community. They are tightly bound to a group of people, sometimes even the whole village.”
The closing date for the competition is February 28thand the results will be announced on March 1st. King Oak is currently lying in third place so let’s make an effort and help it win the competition.

The Magdalene Laundries – A shameful record

The Taoiseach’s refusal to apologise last week for the treatment of the women and girls, who were held in the Magdalene laundries over the six decades after the state was established, was met with almost universal anger and frustration.

The publication of the Inter-departmental Committee report, Chaired by Senator Martin McAleese, into the Magdalene Laundries last Tuesday February 5thprovided the government with at least two opportunities in the Dáil for the Taoiseach to apologiseon behalf of the state to the survivors of the Magdalene laundries. Mary Lou who has worked closely with the survivors and their support groups in recent years repeatedly asked him to apologise. To address the needs of the women.

The Taoiseach dissembled. He prevaricated. He acknowledged the conditions under which thousands of women were held. But ultimately he refused to apologise.

Some of the victims accused him of ‘cruelty and ineptitude.’ There was widespread public disbelief at his attitude.

This week he has another opportunity. Today he met some of the survivors. They will have told him again of the horrendous and brutal conditions endured by over ten thousand women in ten Magdalene laundries.  They will also have told him that the 1000 page report by Senator Martin McAleese does not accurately reflect the abuse and suffering that the women endured in these institutions.

Much of what went on in the laundries, the ill-treatment inflicted on women and young girls, some as young as 9, has been described in previous reports. The Ryan Report (2009) details the women’s forced unpaid labour in the Laundries and states that their working conditions were harsh, they were completely deprived of their liberty and suffered both physical and emotional abuse. Those who tried to escape and were caught by the Garda were returned to the institutions.Despite this several months later, in September 09, the then Fianna Fáil Minister for Education, Bat O Keefe rejected a proposal that the state should apologise for what occurred in the laundries. He also refused to establish a redress scheme to help women who worked as slaves in these institutions.Crucially, and against all of the available evidence available at that time Minister sought to distance the state from the laundries. The Minister said that “the situation … is quite different to persons who were resident in State-run institutions. The Magdalene Laundries were privately owned and operated establishments and did not come within the responsibility of the state. The State did not refer individuals to Magdalene Laundries, nor was it complicit in referring individuals to them.”

His comments caused outrage.

In November 2010 an assessment report on the Magdalene Laundries by the Irish Human Rights Commission called on the government to establish a statutory inquiry and to provide redress for the survivors.The following May the United Nations Convention against Torturerecommended that the Irish state should ensure that survivors from the Laundries obtain redress. It also expressed its grave concern at the failure by the State to institute prompt, independent and thorough investigations into the allegations of ill-treatment of the women.

The government then set up the Inter-departmental Committee in June to clarify whether the state had any interaction with the Laundries.The McAleese report examined five possible areas of involvement with the state: the routes by which girls and women entered the Laundries; the regulation of the workplace and state inspections of the Laundries; state funding of and financial assistance to the Laundries (including contracts for laundry services); the routes by which girls and women left the Laundries; and death registration, burials and exhumations.

It concluded that “in each of these areas, the committee found evidence of direct State involvement.”So, the report conclusively answers the question posed by the government. The state was involved at every level of sending girls and women to the Laundries and it funded the existence of the Laundries and was fully aware of the conditions within them.

What should its response now be? There should be a clear and unequivocal apology from the Taoiseach on behalf of the state for its actions and the issue of pensions and a redress scheme for the survivors of this harsh system should be processed speedily.

As Martin McAleese himself records in his report; “None of us can begin to imagine the confusion and fear experienced by these young girls, in many cases little more than children, on entering the Laundries – not knowing why they were there, feeling abandoned, wondering whether they had done something wrong, and not knowing when – if ever – they would get out, and see their families again.”Those women who survive and have spoken of their experiences have given an insight into the brutal regime they lived under.

Last September the government voted against a Sinn Féin Private members motion on the Magdalene Laundries. Labour Minister Kathleen Lynch said she did not doubt the sincerity of the women or ‘have sympathy with them for the hardships they faced and endured’ but she claimed that the ‘the facts remain undetermined’.Well the facts have now been well and truly established – again. There can be no more excuses. The government has a responsibility to act. The Magdalene women endured slavery and successive Irish governments colluded in this. The McAleese report has confirmed this.

It is unacceptable that the government has compounded the women’s trauma by failing to respond promptly and satisfactorily to the report and to issue the apology that the survivors deserve. The onus is now on the Taoiseach and Tánaiste to right the wrongs of past governments.

Adams urges ‘dissidents’ to ‘reflect on their position’

Today I am in Dundalk for our weekly constituency meeting which alternates with Drogheda and Mid Louth. We are also holding a local launch of Sinn Fein's border poll campaign. Conor Murphy, and MLAs and Councillors from both sides of the border will be here.

It is an opportunity to talk about the disastrous impact of partition in the border corridor.

It is also an opportunity to address those who are usually described as dissident. In my remarks I said.
‘I would urge all republicans and nationalists, whatever their opinion of the peace process, and irrespective of which political party or tendency they support, to seize this opportunity to advance republican and nationalist objectives.

I would especially ask those who are usually described as ‘dissident’ to recognise the potential that this initiative holds.

There is now a democratic and peaceful way to bring about Irish unity. There is no reason whatever for any group to engage in or promote or support violent actions.

The challenge for thinking republicans is to find ways to engage with and to listen to the concerns and ambitions of our unionist neighbours.

As the anniversary of the Easter Rising approaches I want to appeal directly to groups which claim to follow in that tradition to reflect on their position.

Now is the time for them to show courage and in the spirit of the 1916 Proclamation to embrace a peaceful way forward…

This is a phase of political activity that is about persuasion; it’s about democratic conversations and winning support for Irish unity.

Violent actions will not assist this process. Violent actions will make the task of achieving a YES vote more difficult. So, consider the options. Examine the possibilities. And don’t miss this opportunity.

I believe Irish unity makes sense. I believe it makes political and economic sense and that it is in the best interests of the people of these islands.

The Good Friday Agreement provides a legislative, peaceful and democratic route to Irish unity. A Border Poll is the means.

So, let the people decide!’

The full text of my remarks.

“The Memorandum of Understanding between Newry and Mourne Council and Louth County Council, and the cross border support for the construction of a bridge at Narrow Water are just two examples of local communities grasping the challenging of breaking down the barriers created by partition.

Ending partition would be good for communities and business along the border.

Partition inhibits trade, investment, co-operation and creates a cycle of boom and bust for towns straddling the border.

There will be times when economic and political circumstances and differences between the euro and sterling will favour one side of the border over the other.

This is bad for business, bad for the communities that depend upon those small towns and bad for the economy of the island.

It also encourages criminality, particularly in respect of fuel smuggling which costs each state money in revenue as well as leaving behind a toxic sludge that is an environmental danger and threat to citizens and which costs huge amounts of money to clean up.

It’s time for partition to go.”

The Sinn Féin leader also urged those republicans who do not support Sinn Féin to “consider carefully the implications and possibilities presented by a border poll.

The Good Friday Agreement allows for the people of the island of Ireland to determine the future shape of this island, including the right to opt for a united Ireland.

It provides for a peaceful and democratic means by which the Irish republican and nationalist objective of Irish independence and freedom can be achieved.

This has been the core political objective since Wolfe Tone and the Society of United Irishmen.

It has been the goal of Irish people since England first involved itself in Irish affairs.

The Good Friday Agreement has created the means by which this can be achieved.

Sinn Féin has called for the British and Irish governments to set a date for a border poll and for that referendum to be held in the next term of the Assembly and Oireachtas.

Already this initiative has seen a significant increase in debate around the issue of possibility of Irish unity and the ending of the union.

Dialogue and conversation and persuasion is an important part of this process.

Sinn Féin wants to encourage the widest possible debate of all of the issues involved whether it’s the economy, political allegiance, the protection of traditions, the shape of the new Ireland and reconciliation.

These are just some of the matters which will need to be discussed in the time ahead.

I would urge all republicans and nationalists, whatever their opinion of the peace process, and irrespective of which political party or tendency they support, to seize this opportunity to advance republican and nationalist objectives.

I would especially ask those who are usually described as ‘dissident’ to recognise the potential that this initiative holds.

There is now a democratic and peaceful way to bring about Irish unity. There is no reason whatever for any group to engage in or promote or support violent actions.

The challenge for thinking republicans is to find ways to engage with and to listen to the concerns and ambitions of our unionist neighbours.

As the anniversary of the Easter Rising approaches I want to appeal directly to groups which claim to follow in that tradition to reflect on their position.

Now is the time for them to show courage and in the spirit of the 1916 Proclamation to embrace a peaceful way forward.

Sinn Féin wants a date for a border poll to be set and held within the lifetime of the next Assembly and Oireachtas. During this time we will be actively seeking to persuade unionists and non-unionists and all those who may at this time be opposed to Irish unity, or ambivalent on it, to join with us in making it happen.

That is a significant challenge but one I believe we are up to and can succeed in.

This is a phase of political activity that is about persuasion; it’s about democratic conversations and winning support for Irish unity.

Violent actions will not assist this process. Violent actions will make the task of achieving a YES vote more difficult. So, consider the options. Examine the possibilities. And don’t miss this opportunity.

I believe Irish unity makes sense. I believe it makes political and economic sense and that it is in the best interests of the people of these islands.

The Good Friday Agreement provides a legislative, peaceful and democratic route to Irish unity. A Border Poll is the means.

So, let the people decide!

The IBRC Bill turns bad banking debt into soveriegn debt

Late on Wednesday evening February 6th the Irish government rushed to introduce emergency legislation into the Oireachtas to liquidate Anglo-Irish Bank, now called the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation.
This was part of a package of moves by the government which it claims will allow it to avoid paying the annual €3.1 billion Promissory Note.
Sinn Féin voted against the Bill.
In my contribution to the debate I said:
This Bill will turn bad banking debt into sovereign debt - Adams
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD speaking in the debate on February 6th on the liquidation of Anglo-Irish Bank said:
Here we are at 1.30 a.m. and we have not been told anything by the Government about this issue. The most revealing part of the Minister's contribution was the following statement:
‘I would have preferred to be introducing this Bill in tandem with a finalised agreement with the European Central Bank. However, I understand the European Central Bank will continue to consider the proposals made by the Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, with the agreement of the Government, tomorrow.’
 Why can the Dáil and the people not be told what these proposals are?
Why can this Bill not be brought forward in tandem with that finalised agreement tomorrow?
Instead, we are presented with legislation in a vacuum. We did not even receive it until 10.30 p.m., our finance spokespersons did not receive proper briefings and the European Central Bank has made no statement.
The Bill is but one half of a package and the Dáil is being denied the right to see the other half.
We cannot even table amendments to the Bill.
This is the Government that promised to operate in a different way. Deputies are denied the right to speak on this issue. This is not the way in which the Dáil should be doing business. It smacks of the type of stroke politics that Fianna Fáil pulled in its time and that Fine Gael and Labour rightly condemned.
That is what Sinn Féin argued for.
Instead of closing the bank down, Fianna Fáil bailed it out and poured billions of euro in taxpayers' money into it.
Labour came along with Fine Gael and did exactly the same.
Instead of liquidating the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation the Government wants to compound this mistake by turning bad banking debt into sovereign Government bonds, in effect, a Government promissory note.
It wants to wind the bank down, but it does not want to wind down its debt.
The Government wants the citizens to fall for this and for the Bill to be passed in two hours.
This comes after nearly two years of negotiations that the Taoiseach continuously claimed were too intense, detailed and technical for ordinary mortals and decent Deputies to understand.
Suddenly, the Bill now has to be rushed through. This is a mark of the Government.
The Dáil has never seen the fabled technical paper on the promissory note that, according to the Taoiseach, the Minister has been working on for 18 months. Where is it?
What of the Government's claim in June that there would be a deal on legacy debt by October? Where is it?
This is no way to deal with the Dáil.
 There is a certain benign arrogance about the way the Government treats the Oireachtas and the State's citizens, including the workers of IBRC.
No amount of crocodile tears will undo the fact that, without notice and through the media, the workers were informed that their jobs were finished.
This is no way to deal with any kind of legislation, certainly not legislation as important as the Bill before us.
To our cost, the State's citizens have learned that rushed legislation is bad legislation.

Let us remind ourselves that the Government's proposal is a U-turn on the claims following the European Council meeting in June that there would be a deal on legacy debt by October.
That month has come and gone, as has 2012, yet there is still no deal on legacy debt.

Neither is there a separation, an idea to which the Government was converted after rubbishing Sinn Féin's championing of the need to separate banking debt from sovereign debt.
On the contrary and even on a cursory reading, the Bill will turn bad banking debt into sovereign debt.
The Bill reads: "And whereas the winding up of the IBRC is necessary to resolve the debt of the IBRC to the Central Bank of Ireland".
No one should be surprised. This Government promised that it would not give another red cent to bad banks.
Then, in one of its first acts as a Government, it paid €3.1 billion to Anglo Irish Bank. Despite our best wishes and us willing the Government to do well, this is no game-changer or seismic shift.
The critical issue was never whether there would be a deal; it was what type of deal would be done.
Sinn Féin has long advocated a deal that would remove the toxic banking debt from the shoulders of Irish citizens.
That is not what is being proposed. This is not a write-down.
The Government never asked for a write-down.
 It never negotiated for one and it did not seek one.
The overall stock of the debt remains the same.
 With interest, it might be larger.
 The Government might be winding up Anglo Irish Bank as an institution but not its debt.
Sinn Féin does not accept that restructuring or paying the debt over a longer timeframe is a credible deal for the taxpayer.
The fact is, as the Minister said in opposition, the promissory note should not be paid. It should not be paid for the simple reason we cannot afford to pay it.
It is not our debt.
The Government’s approach will tie this bad debt to citizens for decades to come – our children and grandchildren will have to pay billions.
We are handing a legacy debt to them and we have no idea what the economic and political circumstances will be when the bonds mature.
That is wrong.
We should not place on the shoulders of children not yet born a legacy which might well damage their future.
That is not good government. It is not good strategic, visionary government.
It is short-term, short-sighted opportunism.
It is matched only by the Government’s flawed negotiating approach.
The Government needed to tell the ECB and the EU that enough is enough.
Instead, it told the ECB and the EU that it would honour the debt, that the Government would not have the word “defaulter” written on our foreheads, and it gave up its best negotiating hand at the outset.
The Government finds it easier to be tougher on citizens than it does on our partners in the European Union.
It has cut respite care and child benefit, the back to work clothing and footwear allowance and it has taxed maternity benefit.
A family home tax is being introduced and septic tank charges have been imposed. It is easy for the Government to be tough on the small people.
There will be no relief in what the Government is doing because it is tied to austerity.
There will be no relief from the relentless austerity citizens have endured to bail out bankers.
Every billion of the bad debt that is paid is a cut to the health budget, an increase in PRSI, a new property tax, more over-crowded classrooms, more workers out of jobs, more families struggling to make ends meet, more Garda stations being closed and more nurses emigrating.
A credible deal is one that will bring relief to citizens.
There have been six austerity budgets, which have taken €28 billion out of the economy.
Sinn Féin has long argued for the end of the IBRC. What we simply cannot support is turning the bad debts of this bankrupt bank into sovereign debt.
It is not our debt.
It does not belong to the people of this State and it never was.
Fianna Fáil saddled us with it in the first place.
Sinn Féin cannot and will not support the Government in doing this.
The Government should not proceed with the Bill. It should bring forward the entire package, finish its deal with the ECB.
The Minister should not miss the point I make.
We can all be smart alecs but Members should listen to what I say.
The Minister should introduce the entire package and deal with people as mature citizens who should be empowered by Government, not denied their rights.