Gerry Adams's Blog, page 70

My health matters are my business

I hope you all had a peaceful and enjoyable Christmas and New Year. Despite the rain and cold I spent a relaxing and very pleasant few wet days in Donegal generally unwinding from what had been a busy and full 2012.

At the beginning of 2013 news of hospital treatment I received in New York last July broke following the filing of my itinerary for 2012 by Friends of Sinn Féin with the Justice Department in the USA.

This process is part of our obligations under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. So I always knew that news of my treatment would become public. However my health matters are my business. They are personal and private. Just as they are for all citizens.

Sinn Féin responded to media inquiries and confirmed that in July I had travelled to New York to meet with the new Board of Friends of Sinn Féin. They are a dedicated group of Irish American activists who oversee the work of Friends of Sinn Féin in the USA. In the course of a normal year they organise and facilitate the running of fundraising events.

FOSF was established almost 20 years ago in 1995. Their help and support has been invaluable in facilitating Sinn Féin’s efforts to effectively lobby successive US Presidents and administrations and Congress in support of the Irish peace process and a United Ireland.

As part of a revamping of the organisation a new Board was appointed last year and July was an opportunity to meet them and discuss the ongoing work of the peace process as well as Sinn Féin’s plans to launch a campaign for a border poll in early 2013. I also met others on my visit, including business people.

FOSF were responsible for the cost of my flights and this information was filed as part of the annual accounts provided to the US Justice Department.

I have also been suffering for some years with a painful condition related to my prostate. It is not cancer. While in New York I had a medical consultation. I was told that treatment was necessary and overdue. My doctor in Ireland also advised that I should proceed with the treatment I required.

This involved me staying in hospital overnight. Friends of Sinn Féin did not pay any costs toward this treatment nor was there any cost to the Irish taxpayer.

And that was that. Until some in the SDLP, Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Independent Newspaper Group decided to try and use this to attack me and Sinn Féin.

This is the same Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil who have been about the demolition of public health services to the detriment of citizens and the privatisation of these services for the benefit of their cronies.

The SDLP even had the brass neck to try and claim the mantel of socialist arguing that none of them would use private medical treatment and that no true socialist would!

Sad people they are. I know many citizens of all ages and sexes who have sought medical treatment overseas for illnesses. The best treatment is not always available here. Some have had to run public campaigns to raise the money.

I am for a public health service in Ireland that meets the health needs of citizens. That is for a cradle to the grave universal public health service which delivers top class treatment to everyone.

If anyone wishes to use private health care to address a medical issue that is a matter for them, provided the taxpayer does not pick up the tab. What Sinn Féin is opposed to is the private health care business being subsidised from the public purse and the ongoing privatisation of hospital and other public services.

Finally, can I thank all of those who have wished me well since the news of this broke in the media. I am always uplifted by the kindness and generosity and humanity of people.

Finally, finally, Sinn Féin will be holding a major conference in Dublin in two weeks, on January 19th, to launch our campaign for a border poll. More on that important issue next week.

Beannachtaí na Nollag agus Bliain Úr faoi mhaise daoibh

The Music of Protest


Beannachtaí na Nollag agus Bliain Úr faoi mhaise daoibh. Let me wish readers and bloggers and facebookers everywhere a peaceful and happy Christmas and a great New Year.

I like music. And a lot will be played over the Christmas break. I play it all the time. In the car. In the office. At home. I have music on my IPad and my phone. And I like all kinds of music from classical to Irish traditional to folk to rock. Two weeks ago several of us took time out of a mad schedule in the Dáil to walk round to the Olympia for a Kris Kristofferson concert.

It was almost two hours of really good music. Just him and his guitar. With a few sets in harmony with his daughter Kelly and a young man who may have been his son. Many of the songs brought back memories of earlier times and were warmly welcomed by an appreciative audience. He sang all the standards from ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ – which Bobby Sands sang for us in Cage 11 - through ‘Help me make it through the night’ to ‘The Silver Tongued Devil’.

He sang of love, and drink, and friendship and God and politics. His admiration for President Barack Obama stated quietly. His voice is not as strong as it once was – he is 76 – but there was never a wrong note struck or a lyric stumbled over as he worked his way through his extensive back catalogue.

Much of Kristofferson’s best known work is as a performer on his own, although the Highwaymen period with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash produced great music.

I find, like most people that music is full of memories. Sometimes sad and happy but most often associated with specific times in our lives. It is also a great way to get a message across.

Over the centuries there have been some great songs of protest and resistance. In the USA the abolitionists sang songs of freedom for slaves; the trade union movement internationally has a wealth of songs of resistance; almost every war fought in recent centuries has produced songs of protest and opposition; and almost every campaign for civil and human rights, including the right to vote for women produced songs of solidarity.

In a very real way these are songs and music of propaganda.

Irish music is full of them. I was reminded of this last week when I met Conal Kearney, whose grandfather Peadar Kearney wrote The Soldiers Song, as well as Down by the Glenside (The Bold Fenian Men); The Tri-coloured Ribbon, and Down by the Liffey Side. There have been many others including, ‘The Broad Black Brimmer’, ‘Boolavogue’ and Kevin Barry which was memorably song by the American civil rights activist Paul Robson and also by Leonard Cohen. ‘A Nation Once Again’ song by the Wolfe Tones, was voted the number one song in the world in 2002 by listeners to the BBC’s World Service.

The Bold Fenian Men is a particular favourite. It was written around the time of 1916 and was a potent and evocative call to arms.

Over the years it has been sung by the best, from the Clancy Brothers to the Dubliners, and it even made an appearance in the John Wayne classic Rio Grande. The fact that the film was set in the American west 40 years before the song was written did not diminish the potency of its performance or its message.

‘Some died by the glenside, some died near a stranger

And wise men have told us their cause was a failure

But they fought for old Ireland and never feared danger

Glory O, Glory O, to the bold Fenian men

I passed on my way, God be praised that I met her

Be life long or short, sure I'll never forget her

We may have brave men, but we'll never have better

Glory O, Glory O, to the bold Fenian men’

There have been countless others up to and including the most recent period of conflict with songs like The Men behind the Wire, 90 Miles from Dublin and On the Bridge, by Christy Moore about the women prisoners in Armagh Gaol.

Christmas hasn’t escaped from a mention in protest songs. One of the best is John Lennon’s 1971 anti-war anthem ‘Happy Xmas – War is over’.

Lennon was writing about the Vietnam War but his words from 40 years ago are as powerful today as they were then. From violence on the streets of the north by unionist protestors, to the continuing denial of Palestinian rights in the Middle East, to the Congo and the Sahel region of north Africa and scores of other places around the world, war and hunger and inequality continue to inflict great hurt on millions of citizens.

Lennon’s message was simple and direct:

‘A very merry Christmas

And a happy New Year

Let's hope it's a good one

Without any fear

And so this is Christmas

For weak and for strong

For rich and the poor ones

The world is so wrong

And so happy Christmas

For black and for white

For yellow and red ones

Let's stop all the fight

A very merry Christmas

And a happy New Year’

A Letter to Enda Kenny

The de Silva Report On Tuesday I raised the de Silva report into Pat Finucane’s killing in the Dáil with the Taoiseach Enda Kenny. I asked that time be made available for a debate on the report. I also wrote to him last week and I asked that the Irish government carry out a trawl of the documents available to it about the threat to human rights lawyer PJ McGrory, as well as to Pat Finucane and Oliver Kelly.
I have decided to publish my letter to the Taoiseach in this column. The Pat Finucane case goes to the heart of British state collusion. The detail of what occurred is important if bereaved families and the communities in which they live are to have the fullest understanding of the events of that time.
December 13th 2012
Taoiseach a chara,
As you are aware the British government has not co-operated with the efforts to find justice for families bereaved or for those injured in actions involving their forces or believed to have resulted from collusion between these forces and unionist paramilitaries. 
These actions include the Ballymurphy Massacre, the Springhill Massacre, the Dublin Monaghan bombings and the killing of Pat Finucane. 
There are other cases involving collusion, these include the killing of three Sinn Féin Councillors John Davey, Bernard O Hagan and Eddie Fullerton who was murdered in his home in Buncrana county Donegal, eleven other Sinn Féin members and 7 of our family members. 
You will recall that I have urged you to adopt an approach in some of these cases similar to that employed in the run up to the Saville Inquiry. 
That is for your government to compile a file of all relevant information about these cases as a means to persuade the British government to lift the lid on these matters. 
I welcome the government’s support for the Finucane family’s call for a public inquiry into the killing of Pat Finucane.
I disagree with the Tánaiste’s assertion that David Cameron should be commended for his determination in seeking the truth about collusion. 
The de Silva review was constructed to frustrate the family’s demand for truth. It is a direct breach of the international agreement between the Irish and British government at Weston Park. 
Mr. Cameron has said that there was no ‘over-arching State conspiracy’. His statement that the then Attorney-General, Sir Patrick Mayhew, deserves credit for prosecuting British agent Brian Nelson has no credibility.
Nelson is believed to have been involved in at least 15 murders, probably many more and scores of attempted killings.
Far from prosecuting Nelson fully and in order to prevent the detail of Nelson’s role as an agent being scrutinised in court Patrick Mayhew did a deal with Nelson. The murder charges against Nelson were dropped.
It was agreed that Colonel Gordon Kerr, the head of the Force Research Unit, which ran many of the collusion operations, would give evidence supporting Nelson. 
The British Minister of Defence Tom King, who was Secretary of State for the north at the time of the killing of Pat Finucane, provided a letter of commendation for Nelson. 
And the British Prime Minister John Major held a meeting just before the trial with the north’s Lord Chief Justice Brian Hutton and the trial judge Basil Kelly. 
It is clear that there was significant knowledge among senior British Ministers about the role of Nelson, working as an agent of the British government, and that they moved to cover it up.  
Later when Patrick Mayhew was Secretary of State for the north the RUC Special Branch ran a UVF gang out of Mount Vernon, led by a Special Branch agent Mark Haddock,that killed at least ten people and possibly others. 
Mayhew cannot claim not to have known about collusion. 
In addition, the Force Research Unit received at least 74 ‘awards and honours’ for its work from the British government, including an OBE for Colonel Kerr in May 1991, less than two years after Pat Finucane was killed. 
Furthermore, before Pat Finucane was killed Belfast solicitor PJ McGrory spoke to me about the threat to his life. He told me that the UDA was saying that the RUC was putting it under pressure to kill himself, Pat Finucane and Oliver Kelly. 
PJ told me he briefed the Irish government who said they would raise it with the NIO.  
Hours after Pat Finucane was killed an Irish government official was in PJ’s home speaking to him about the threats.  
The then Taoiseach Charlie Haughey phoned and told PJ that he would take this matter up with Downing Street. 
In keeping with my suggestion about compiling a file, the Irish government should now initiate an extensive examination of all documents in the Department of the Taoiseach, Foreign Affairs and Justice relating to the north and identify those which could assist the family in refuting the British government’s effort to frustrate the Finucane family’s demand for a public inquiry. 
Is there a record of PJ’s conversation with the Taoiseach and with other departmental officials? 
Did the Taoiseach, Mr. Haughey, raise this matter with Downing Street or the NIO? 
What information has the government on the many allegations of collusion than were being made then and since? 
Did the Irish government or any of its agencies speak to the British government or its agencies? 
Taoiseach, the Irish government needs to shift into a higher gear in support of the family.
A strategic approach is required that would see the government use its diplomatic services across the globe and its influence in the USA, in the EU and at the United Nations, where the Irish government now sits on the Human Rights Council, to win support for the Finucane family.
I look forward to your reply. 
Is mise 
Gerry Adams TD
 

Stories of hope and courage

Telling their Story
One of the great pleasures in my work is that I get the opportunity to meet ordinary men and women, usually working in the community and voluntary sector, whose commitment to a cause or a project saves lives.Last Thursday morning I was in the Civic Centre at Coolock in north Dublin. I had been invited to speak at the launch of a new website and CD – ‘Voices’ – by the Laneway Learning Centre Community Drugs Rehabilitation Programme (RASP) which are about raising awareness of drug addiction.

But what makes this project innovative and special is its use of drama and music as a means of encouraging recovering addicts to examine their lives and to look to the future with optimism.
Conal Kearney, whose grandfather Peadar Kearney  wrote  Amhrán na bhFiann, as well as Down by the Glenside (The Bold Fenian Men); The Tri-coloured Ribbon, and Down by the Liffey Side, uses drama therapy and it is evident from the enthusiasm of the ten methadone maintenance participants, that it works.



Conal Kearney, whose grandfather Peadar Kearney wrote Amhrán na bhFiann, as well as Down by the Glenside (The Bold Fenian Men); The Tri-coloured Ribbon, and Down by the Liffey Side, uses drama therapy and it is evident from the enthusiasm of the ten methadone maintenance participants, that it works. The ten tell a story. They recall a happy childhood memory, their worst memory as a drug user and then their effort to lift themselves out of that dark place into a space where there is hope.



Four of the participants read extracts from the stories that are told.
John remembered a happy memory when he was 11 years old: “I got a red mountain bike for Christmas. See I knew that it was a bike because I saw my brother getting it out of the car and putting it upstairs in one of the bedrooms months before. They told me it was a snooker table, but I knew that it wasn’t because there were no cues. Me Ma locked the doors upstairs to make sure I didn’t get a look. She didn’t know that I had a key so when I had the gaff to myself I had a look at the lovely red mountain bike: ten speed as well. I put the axle on some books so I could test the gears, but it was no good. I put the beds on their sides and cycled it around upstairs just to use the gears. I got some scratches on the bike. I had to act all surprised on Christmas morning.”
Karen recalled a bleak violent point in her life: “One summers evening I went down to the Donnybrook to score my coke and gear. I lived in Rialto so it was only a ten minute drive, my dealer lived in a row of houses which had a lane in the back of them and that’s where I would meet him. I always got the taxi to wait at the end of the lane but this time I didn’t. It was starting to get dark, so I decided to cut through Herbert Park just thinking of getting my coke and gear into me. Suddenly I was grabbed from behind and dragged into a row of bushes. I hit, screamed, kicked, punched. I thought he was looking for my drugs but he wasn’t. He was trying to rape me. He pushed me to the ground, ripped off my top but all I was worried about was losing my drugs. He had me pinned to the ground saying repeatedly ‘stay still bitch’, ‘you will do as I say’. Luckily I got the chance to scream, my attacker hit me one last time as he fled.”
Their stories of hope were inspiring. Rachel described how her life “changed the day I left the hospital after nearly losing my leg. I realised that enough was enough and I want my life back. After a year being clean from street drugs I applied for a place in the educational programme here at RASP and was accepted. Before I started I had no confidence or belief in myself. After a while doing the courses I realised that I had intelligence and that I could make a life for myself …”Mary recalled that the last time “I was in Beaumont hospital my survival was placed at fifty/fifty. I didn’t realise how bad I was but I was still craving drugs. The drugs that I had put into my body heroin, crack and crystal meth had taken their toll. I realised I was going nowhere and it was time to stop. I became clear headed and applied for a place in RASP. After three months of giving clean urine I was given a place. I am now on the programme nine months and am stable …everyday is a struggle but I am learning what to do and not to do to aid my recovery …”

All of them praised RASP and described their struggle to battle addiction and the help they received from RASP and their families.
They were surrounded by their family and friends at the event and were being applauded and cheered on to tell their stories. They were as brave and courageous a group of people as any I have met in many years.
Councillor Larry O'Toole; Councillor Micheál McDonncha and Denise MitchellGroups like RASP are vital. They provide the extra push, the education and information that can make all the difference to someone wanting to end their addiction.
The website and the CD are important additional tools for those trying to provide support.
Of course, the reality is that there are many homes in Ireland that are or have had to cope with the problem of drug and alcohol addiction.
These drugs may be legal or illegal, prescribed or non-prescribed. But in most cases the addiction is tackled and the families, with difficulty and help, continue to live a largely normal life. But in some cases the addiction becomes a crisis. This manifests itself most clearly in the bald statistics of drug related deaths.
This state has one of the highest rates for drug related deaths in Europe. According to recent statistics these are twice the European average of deaths. The U.N.s World Drug Report for this year revealed that while the use of heroin is levelling out elsewhere in Europe, only in Sweden and in this state are prevalence rates increasing.
Different drugs and the misuse of alcohol will have different effects on different people. Drug addiction can also have a very negative effect on the wider community. 
Drug addiction becomes a community drug problem when drug pushers increase their activity; when public areas become unsafe and are associated with drug related behaviour; when citizens suffer intimidation and threats of violence and violence are used.
This rarely happens in isolation of other contributing factors; high unemployment, poverty, dependency on social welfare, poor housing conditions, lack second and third level education, and inadequate drug awareness programmes, all contribute to creating a community drugs problem.
It is also important to note that drug misuse is not restricted to working class or disadvantaged areas. It cuts across all social classes.
A reduction in funding to education and drug awareness programmes; cutbacks to new build or renovation projects for housing and to education, health and social welfare programmes ; to youth training projects; and to public services, all contribute to making the situation worse.
Effectively tackling the drug addiction problem requires a holistic approach by all of the statutory bodies, including the Gardaí and local councils and government, and local communities, working to an agreed strategy.
It requires a partnership approach, especially on an all-Ireland basis. This is the only way we can make progress in ridding our communities of this scourge.
But seeking help and support is the first important step in tackling addiction.  Any of us could become an addict. Those brave souls, like our friends in Kilbarrack,  who find the ability to overcome their addiction are proof that it can be done. They are heroes.

RASP: Laneway Learning Centre can be contacted at Unit 1 Belcamp Business Park, Belcamp Lane, Dublin 17
www.raspprogramme.com
Tel 01 8674060

Pat Finucane – a remarkable, extraordinary and courageous Irishman

 Geraldine Finucane
 
 Clara Reilly of Relatives for Justice
 
On Wednesday the de Silva review into the papers linked to the killing in 1989 of Belfast human rights lawyer Pat Finucane will be published. Today a mural to Pat Finucane was unveiled in west Belfast by Pat's wife Geraldine. Pat was killed by a unionist death squad in collusion with British state forces. I was asked to speak.   "I want to thank Geraldine, John, Michael and Katherine and the entire Finucane family for the invitation to speak today at the unveiling of this plaque to a very remarkable and courageous Irishman.
Some people measure heroes and bravery by their ability to be warriors in the physical conflict of war. But there are also those whose courage is of a different kind, of an extraordinary kind.
Pat was such a person. He believed in the law. More so than the elites in the parliament in London and elsewhere who make and bend and break the law at will.
He came from a working class background. He and I went to the same school, St. Finian’s on the Falls Road.
Pat went on to be a good, conscientious solicitor who worked long difficult hours, under trying conditions, representing his clients.
He was a lawyer working within a unionist and Orange dominated legal and judicial process that had been corrupted by years of British manipulation and an arsenal of new and ever more repressive laws.
All of these were designed to maximise the power of the state and reduce the rights of citizens. Pat worked tirelessly against this injustice. He constantly challenged the abuses of the state by seeking to use the law positively.

But this devotion to human rights, Pat’s diligence and his success, also made him a figure of hate within the RUC and the British system. They plotted against him.
On February 12th 1989 two masked gunmen forced their way into the family home in North Belfast. Pat was shot repeatedly. Geraldine was wounded in the attack.
And the RUC and the British they thought that was it. They thought they had silenced a good man, a brave man. That they could continue unimpeded in their use of agents and death squads. But they reckoned without Geraldine.

 The Finucane family have been responsible for one of the most effective and protracted justice campaigns ever mounted by a family against the might of the British system and its apologists.
I believe that Pat would be enormously proud of Geraldine and his family and their tenacity in the face of efforts by the British government to silence them. He would also be immensely proud of how Geraldine reared their two fine sons and their beautiful daughter.
The reason the British have worked so hard to avoid a public inquiry is because this case goes to the heart of British state collusion with unionist death squads.
The Pat Finucane case, through its disclosure of the connections between the British government, its military and intelligence agencies, the RUC and unionist deaths squads, exposes the use of those death squads at the highest level of government; its involvement in the mass murder of citizens, and in the smuggling of weapons to facilitate this.
Collusion was not just the occasional use of spies or agents by the British operating within the IRA or loyalist paramilitary organisations.
Collusion was a matter of institutional practise by successive British governments.
It involved the establishing of unionist paramilitary groups; the systematic infiltration by the British of all unionist death squads at the highest levels; controlling and directing these groups; arming; training; and providing them with information on people to be killed.
It also involved protecting them and when occasionally they were caught arranging for deals to minimise any court decisions.
The architect of this policy explained it best.
Brigadier (later General) Frank Kitson took command of the 39th Brigade, which covered the Belfastarea in 1970. Kitson was the British Army’s foremost expert on counter-insurgency.
He argued that all governmental structures, the judiciary, the law, the police and the media had to become part of a co-ordinated strategy and that all government policies, whether social, economic, cultural, infrastructural, had to be moulded to suit the aim of defeating the enemy and suppressing citizens and our rights.
Kitson wrote: ‘The fundamental concept is the working of the triumvirate, civil, military and police, as a joint and integrated organisation from the highest to the lowest level of policy making, planning and administration.’
But more significantly in light of the killing of Pat Finucane and countless others, Kitson explained the use of death squads and the corruption of justice: ‘Everything done by a government and its agents in combating insurgency must be legitimate.
But this does not mean that the government must work within exactly the same set of laws during an emergency as existed beforehand.
The law should be used as just another weapon in the government’s arsenal, in which case it becomes little more than a propaganda cover for the disposal of unwanted members of the public.’
This doesn’t mean that all loyalists are dupes. They have their own agenda, much of it anti-Catholic and based upon sectarian hatred or fears. But the war aims of both were similar and so it made for an easy alliance.
British agencies helped establish the UDA and re-organise the UVF.
New secret organisations like the Military Reaction or Reconnaissance Force (MRF) were established to foment sectarian violence and in 1982 the Force Research Unit was set up within the British Army Intelligence Corps.
One of the first people to be recruited by FRU was loyalist Brian Nelson. He was a former British soldier who had joined the UDA in 1972 and was convicted in 1974 of the kidnapping and torture of a partially sighted Catholic man Gerald Higgins. Nelson served just over 3 years in prison for this.
He was recruited by FRU in 1983 and was told to rejoin the UDA. Two years later he was appointed the UDA’s Intelligence Officer in its West Belfast Brigade. Essentially his job was to gather intelligence information on potential republican targets.
Later he became the UDA Senior Intelligence Officer for the entire organisation. His associates in FRU helped him to update his intelligence files.
In 1985 he was involved in the negotiation of arms from the South African apartheid regime. In return for money, and missile parts obtained from the huge military production plant at Shorts in East Belfast, the apartheid regime facilitated a massive arms shipment.
FRU was kept informed of all of this. The British Secret Service was across the detail. And in late 1987/early 88 an arms shipment arrived here consisting of 200 AK47 automatic rifles, 90 Browning pistols, 500 fragmentation grenades, ammunition and 12 RPG rocket launchers. The shipment was divided up between the UDA, UVF and Ulster Resistance.
The impact of this weapons shipment can be found in the statistics of sectarian attacks and killings which occurred in subsequent years.
In the three years prior to receiving this weapons shipment the unionist death squads had killed 34 people. In the three years after the shipment they killed 224 and wounded countless scores more.
The dramatic rise in the number of Sinn Féin activists and family members being killed can be traced directly to this fact and to the information FRU and the Special Branch were passing on to their agents within the loyalist death squads.
In the following years three Sinn Féin Councillors, 11 party activists, and 7 family members, including brothers, sons, spouse and partners were killed. Many others were seriously wounded.
Republican homes and Sinn Fein offices became the frequent targets of attack by loyalist death squads.
The role of Brian Nelson and in particular of Brigadier Gordon Kerr (Colonel J ) who ran the Force Research Unit, are particularly important in all of this.
Pat’s death came less than four weeks after Conservative government Minister Douglas Hogg MP, then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, in a Committee Stage debate on the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Bill on 17 January 1989 said:

"I have to state as a fact, but with great regret, that there are in Northern Irelanda number of solicitors who are unduly sympathetic to the cause of the IRA.”

And after Pat’s death as more and more information emerged we learned that Tommy Lyttle, the leader of the UDA group that carried out the killing was a Special Branch agent;
Ken Barrett, the man who was convicted of killing Pat Finucane was a Special Branch agent; William Stobie, the UDA man who supplied the gun used was a Special Branch agent; and Brian Nelson who provided the information was working for FRU.
The family demanded a full public inquiry. The British resisted.
At Weston Parkin 2001, 12 years after Pat was killed, the British government, in an effort to avoid an inquiry into the killing of Pat agreed with the Irish government to invite Judge Peter Cory to determine the need for inquires in a number of cases. The aim was to long finger the Finucane families demand.
In April 2003 John Stevens in his third report confirmed that he had evidence that there was collusion in the killing of Pat Finucane.
There was also a cover-up, consistent and deeply subversive and the destruction of evidence by the British system.
In 2004 Judge Cory concluded that there should be an inquiry into Pat’s killing.
The British moved to pass a new law – the Inquiries Act - giving Ministers the power to block evidence.
Judge Cory accused the British of moving the goalposts. He said: ‘It’s like playing hockey and instead of six to each team you have one team with eight and one with four. See how your doing for ten minutes and then in the middle of everything you move the goalposts and you change the rules of the game.’
Lord Saville who chaired the Bloody Sunday inquiry criticised the British government’s decision. He warned that giving a government Minister the power to block evidence would make ‘a very serious inroad into the independence of any inquiry and is likely to damage or destroy public confidence in the inquiry and its findings…
As a judge, I must tell you that I would not be prepared to be appointed as a member of an inquiry that was subject to a provision of this kind.’
Last year the family met David Cameron after months of protracted discussions in the expectation that he was about to provide for the type of inquiry they were demanding.
Instead he told them that he was ordering a review of the papers in the case by Desmond de Silva QC. This was a repudiation of the agreement between the British and Irish governments. The Irish government should have prevented this.
The family were understandably furious by David Cameron’s action.
·       This was not the public inquiry promised at Weston Park.
·       It was and is not independent and transparent.
·       It is the British Tory government investigating the British Tory government.
·       The family have been kept in the dark since de Silva commenced his review.
The day after David Cameron rejected the families demand the British Secretary of State, speaking in the British Parliament, accepted the Stevens report of 8 years earlier that Pat Finucane was killed as a result of collusion.
But what they remain desperate to avoid is for the depth of that collusion to become public or that it was cleared at the highest political levels, including Downing Street.
The role of the Irish government in all of this has not been helpful, strategic or as consistent as it could be.
The British government are in breach of an agreement with the Irish government. The Taoiseach has repeatedly said that he wants the British to fulfil their Weston Park Commitment but he has done little about it although I have raised this with him regularly in the Dáil.
However, apart from an occasional conversation with David Cameron on the margins of meetings there has been no consistent, planned strategy by the Irish government to mobilise international and diplomatic support for this.
This is not good enough. Whatever the outcome of the de Silva review all of us have a duty to fully support the Finucane family’s response to it. The family demand for a full, transparent and accountable public inquiry is a reasonable demand.
We wish Geraldine and her children well in these difficult times. You know you can rely on Pat’s siblings and his close colleagues, Peter and others, who have walked with you through all the challenges on your journey in search of justice for Pat.
You should also know that all those citizens in this country and in Britain and the USA and around the world who have supported them over the last 23 years of campaigning will continue to do so.
That’s the least we can do. 
 

A Constitution for a new Republic

 Martin McGuinness, Mary Lou McDonald, Tom Arnold, Chairperson of the Constitutional Convention and mise 
Saturday saw the inaugural meeting of the Constitutional Convention. 100 delegates from political parties and randomly selected citizens have come together for the next year to discuss and make recommendations on changing the constitution on 8 specific areas, including Martin McGuinness and Mary Lou McDonald and I are the three representatives from Sinn Féin. Addressing the Convention I said that even “though Sinn Féin is disappointed at the way the government has limited this initiative I want to commend the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste for proceeding with it and give them fraternal notice of our intent to work with all delegates to achieve the fullest potential of this Convention.
Sinn Féin welcomes especially the adjustments at our request to the process which include the requirement that the Convention give ‘appropriate regard’ to the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
Cuirim fáilte romhaibh uilig anseo inniu chuig an chead chruinniú den Tionol Bunreachtúil
Buíochas fosta don Justice Ó Hógáin, an tOllamh Dermot Keogh, an tOllamh David Farrell agus an Dochtúir Jane Suiter as a gcuid ionchur.
I want to commend all the participants.
I remain hopeful that the unionist parties will yet see the value of taking part.
We should continue to try and persuade them to participate.
And to those citizens who have agreed to embark on this extraordinary journey on behalf of their fellow citizens - Buíochas mór libh.
Tá sibh ag tabhairt faoi chúram agus freagracht an-mhór.
Sinn Féin welcomed the proposal to convene the Convention.
The 1937 Constitution was written in the aftermath of partition, a bloody civil war and in the context of a very different society.
It was for a state newly emerging from British colonization.
Centuries of foreign domination had almost destroyed the Irish language and culture.
Seven million of our citizens had fled overseas.
British policy ensured that the vast majority of citizens were impoverished and except for agriculture and the Lagan basin, most of the island had little industrial infrastructure.
The conflict in the north and the peace process, the enormous economic changes of recent decades, the revelations of child abuse, the diminished influence of the Catholic Hierarchy, and the disclosure of corruption in the golden circles and in politics, have also dramatically and fundamentally changed societal attitudes.
75 years after the 1937 Constitution was produced, and though Ireland is still partitioned, the Good Friday Agreement has created a new all-Ireland dynamic, all-Ireland institutions, and a new political and constitutional imperative.
Last week the Good Friday Agreement Committee, including representatives from all of the Oireachtas parties and independents, travelled to East Belfast and met with community and political leaders from loyalist working class areas.

On Wednesday another delegation of Oireachtas members visited Maghaberry prison.
Unionist leaders regularly visit Dublin.
Co-operation across this island is now commonplace.
But in the days of austerity and Troika governance citizens are asking where are our rights?
They are asking for more accountability.
More transparency.
They want equality.

Neither gender or race, age or disability, sexual orientation or class, or creed or skin colour or location should be used to deny citizens their full rights and entitlements.
The right to a job; to a home; to a decent standard of education and health, and to equality in all matters including the Irish language should be enshrined in our constitution and evident in the lives all our people.
Sinn Féin is for a constitution which reaches out to our neighbours and the children of the diaspora scattered around the globe.
Why can’t Irish passport holders in the north or the USA or Canada or Australia vote in Presidential elections?
Sinn Féin is for a constitution that also embraces all of the citizens of this island especially those who feel themselves to be British.
A constitution which builds reconciliation between Orange and Green.
A constitution that is part of shaping a new Republic for the 21st century and whick draws on best international practice.
A Republic that is democratic and inclusive and based on equality, freedom and social solidarity.
A Republic 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.
The constitution of a real Republic must reflect these core values.
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.
And making provision for the well-being of children, so that ‘no child shall suffer hunger or cold from lack of food, clothing or shelter.’
These are words that speak to us today in a society where children and adults go hungry; half a million citizens are out of work, and emigration is thriving.
This Constitutional Convention is an opportunity to re-imagine Ireland.
To think nationally; in the real meaning of that word.
As an Irish citizen from the north I find the use of the term ‘national’ offensive when it is really being applied improperly and solely to this state.
So, let’s think beyond partition.
Let’s think of the citizens of Antrim and Down, Armagh, Derry, Fermanagh and Tyrone, as well as our other 26 counties - and our off-shore islands.
Let’s re-imagine the Ireland of the 21st century as a place where conflict and violence are in the past.
This Convention needs to think big and be prepared to act big.
Demand more time for your deliberations; open the agenda up; ensure that the Convention travels into and meet citizens from rural Ireland and the border corridor and the Gaeltacht areas and the north.
Why don’t we invite representatives from the Travelling Community to present their rightful claim to be treated as an ethnic minority?
Why should the Diaspora be limited to ‘conference calls’?
Why don’t we open up dialogue with unionism at community and civic level as well as political level?
And most importantly ensure that the Constitutional Convention is open and transparent and builds public confidence in it.
Is obair thromchúiseach tabhairt faoi phroiséis leasú bunreachtúil
Leasú a láidreoidh athmhuintearas, síochán agus rathúnas ar oileán na hÉireann agus idir ár gcuid daoine.
There is the potential to create a new Republic.
Theobald Wolfe 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.”
Dublin Castle where we meet today used to be the centre of British power in Ireland.
It was here that James Connolly was held before being executed.
Go to the room where he was incarcerated and ponder on the mission we are embarking on today.
We know that citizens of this island deserve better than the society we have inherited.
Ireland north and south is changing.
We are an island people in transition.
For that we need a new Republic - a new constitution - that reflects our genius and diversity, our dignity and our strengths – a constitution that is inclusive and visionary.
A Constitution that belongs to all.
Go raibh maith agaibh.
 

Killanny – A Close knit, hard working community

The Killanny Heritage Committee Last year the Killanny Heritage Committee held a series of talks about the history of the local area. This year the Committee decided to look outside the parish and invite a variety of speakers in to talk about different aspects of the peace process. Former Methodist Moderator Harold Goode who was one of two witnesses to the IRA’s move to put arms beyond use and Fianna Fáil adviser and politician Martin Mansergh have been speakers in this series.

It was my turn last Friday evening. I arrived at Killanny along with local Councillor Pearse McGeough. The two of us had just attended the turning on the of the Christmas lights in Ardee. There was a receptive crowd in the Killanny Community and Sports Centre. The parish of Killanny straddles the border between counties Monaghan and Louth. It is a beautiful place of rolling drumlin hills interspersed with small lakes. I visited the Killanny Community and Sports Centre some months ago. It is an excellent example of community power in action. Working together over several years the people of Killanny raised the money and participated in the construction of a well-designed, practical two storey building that is at the centre of the local community. Work began in 2005 and took several years but the end result is outstanding.

No one quite knows where the name Killanny comes from. It is thought it might have its origins in the name Coill Fhanaidh (the wood of the slope). Although others argue that it is more likely that it comes from an early Church settlement in the area. In the superb ‘Pictorial History of Killanny’ Terence Dooley of NUJ Maynooth’s History department in his introduction writes; ‘Cill Eanaigh (the Church of the Marsh) is one interpretation but it is more commonly believed that the name derives from Cill Eanna, the Church of St. Enda, who died in 542 and whose feast day is celebrated on March 21st each year.’The story of Ireland is reflected in the history of Killanny. From the Norman conquest, through the clan wars against the English and the agrarian conflicts. Dooley records that: ‘It was in the spring of 1816 that agitation had manifested itself in a virulent form in Killanny. Secret societies specialised in destroying houses and burning haggard of hay in an attempt to control the local economy, to keep rents at an affordable level and to prevent estate clearances at a time when one local agent believed it would not be profitable to ‘make the best rental of the estate without entirely sweeping off the present population and replacing it by real farmers’ contending that ‘an entire change of system should take place.’

After one particularly brutal attack on a wealthy local land owner in which 8 men, women and children were killed, paid infomrers led to the arrest of over 20 men, 18 of whom were executed following their trial in Dundalk. Dooley writes that ‘at least half were innocent.’Killanny also suffered from the effect of An Gorta Mór – the great hunger, emigration, economic depression and the Land War. In the early 1870’s the Marquis of Bath attempted to get his tenants to sign a covenant on their lease that would mean that in the event of their eviction they would not be compensated - as was legally required – for an improvement works they had carried out on their holdings. This led to the establishment of the Farney Tenants’ Defence Association in which Killanny tenants were prominent.

A decade later the Gaelic Athletic Association and in 1893 the Gaelic League was created to encourage the Irish language and culture. Both put down roots in Killanny. The Irish National Volunteers also attracted huge support. Killanny played its part during the Tan War and was also affected by the civil war.Agriculture was and remains the mainstay of the local economy. And Killanny GAA has a proud record of achievement.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my visits to Killanny. It is a close knit, hard working community and the people are generous and welcoming. In the course of the year they run a series of festivals and other events and recently opened the Killanny playground which I had the pleasure to try out. Don’t believe me? Look at the photos.  

The eyes have it!

The nurse was very kind. And very, very professional. I was in the Royal Hospital in Belfast. I had come directly from speaking at Fra Fox’s funeral and before that Terry Enright’s funeral. They are two of the good guys.

Anyway I was to have surgery on my eyes. For months now they have been sore. The problem is the lower eye lids were growing inwards. It’s a condition called Entropion. It’s very irritating because the lower eye lash brushes against the cornea. Sometimes this can damage your vision. So surgery was prescribed.

It’s a fairly straightforward procedure which takes a few hours. I had opted to get both eyes done in one go. The surgeon was brilliant. So were all his team. And I am very grateful to them for their professionalism, skills and generosity.

The operation sounds very gruesome. It’s carried out under local anesthetic. All the little injections around the eye really sting and smart. Essentially I suppose what happens is that the surgeon cuts into the offending eye lid or in my case eye lids, corrects the inward leaning eye lids, straightens them out and then stitches it all together again.

And then after a cup of tea and a bit of toast your out on the Falls Road again looking for the quickest way home. And then the anesthetic wears off. Your eyes go black. You hide behind dark glasses and everyone you meet makes the same joke.

‘Ah, the blues brothers!’.

Or. ‘How you Roy. It’s Roy Orbinson isn’t it?’

Or. ‘What a great Stevie Wonder impersonation.’

Or   “Where did you leave the Labrador?”

But I’m glad I got it done. It was really debilitating. It was very difficult to read material or to use the computer.  Your man’s typing this piece for me. That’s another challenge. He keeps telling me to stop dictating to him!

But hopefully now in a short while I’ll be back to myself.

It’s busy times here. I’m back in Dublin since Monday. The death of Savita Halappanavar in Galway University Hospital on October 28thbrought the lack of protection for pregnant women and the absence of legal clarity for the medical profession back into sharp relief. Six successive governments have failed to introduce the required legislation for 20 years.

The ‘Report of the Expert Group on the Judgement in A,B, and C v Ireland’ was published yesterday after several days of leaks to the Dublin media.

The report sets out the options for the provision of lawful termination of pregnancy in circumstances where there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother which can only be avoided by a termination of the pregnancy. This is the core of the matter on which the Dáil has to legislate in the immediate months ahead.

And the budget is next week. The government is poised to take €3.5 billion in cuts and new taxes out of the economy. This will be the sixth austerity budget in four years.

Increasingly the burden is being borne by lower and middle income families, by the poor, and by those most dependent on public services.

These include citizens with disabilities, the elderly, patients in our hospital system, and others who are dependent on home help support, as well as our children. There are half a million people unemployed, and tens of thousands of mainly young people scattered throughout the globe.

So, there’s a lot to be done to straighten this out. Sinn Féin has produced an alternative budget which shows that a €3.5 billion adjustment is possible without the adverse social consequences of austerity. We also produced a Jobs Plan and early next year we will bring forward proposals for dealing with the banks.

There is a compelling need to oppose austerity, to develop social solidarity and for those who can, to stand up with and for our neighbours. People are doing that in increasing numbers. There was a big anti-austerity rally in Belfast recently. And one in Dublin at the weekend. Unfortunately a silly statement from trade union leader Jack O Connor distracted attention from what was an otherwise highly successful protest.

Apparently a section of the crowd booed the ICTU President Eugene McGlone. He took it in good humour and responded accordingly. I wasn’t on the march but according to those I’ve spoken to who were, those booing included trade union members, some carrying trade union banners. Jack called them fascists. He knows better. There were no fascist protestors on the anti-austerity march. His remarks were over the top and offensive.

Many people who are annoyed at the government are particularly incensed at Labour’s role. Some see the obvious contradiction in ICTU’s opposition to austerity and its support for the Labour Party. Booing is a fairly harmless expression of this and while I don’t recommend or approve of it as a tactic, it’s hardly a mark of fascism.

I have a lot of time for Jack O Connor. I am a trade union member myself. But this is a time to stay focussed on the outrageous behavior of the Fine Gael/Labour government. It is a time to build constructive opposition to that government and to develop real alternatives.

 

The Constitutional Convention and Border Poll

The past couple of years have been very important ones for Sinn Féin. Across the island successive elections have seen the party grow from strength to strength.

During this time Sinn Féin’s political message has been clear, coherent and consistent.

Whether in government in the north or opposition in the south it is about protecting public services and families on low and middle incomes; it is about fair taxes, investing in jobs, and growing the all-Ireland economy.

Sinn Féin is the only all-island party – a United Ireland party. Others, like Fianna Fáil, have engaged in the rhetoric of republican politics and a united Ireland for decades, but have no vision or strategies or policies to advance it.

Sinn Féin’s approach is rooted in our core republican values and our vision of a new Republic for this island. We believe in citizens and in citizens rights protected in legislation.

Partition has failed the people of Ireland, north and south, the unionists and the rest of us. A new agreed Ireland based on the rights of citizens is needed.

Constitutional Convention

On December 1st the inaugural meeting of the Irish government’s constitutional convention will take place in Dublin.

The Fine Gael/Labour approach to constitutional reform is under-ambitious and short-sighted.

Its proposals for the Constitutional Convention fall far short of the type of reform promised especially by Labour before entering government.

Despite this Sinn Féin is determined to put a number of crucial issues on the agenda at the convention, including voting rights for citizens in the North and for Irish emigrants.

During my recent visit to the USA and Canada I urged the Irish diaspora in those countries to engage with the convention and make demands of it. I also urge citizens in the north to make their voices heard on this. The Irish government is contemplating giving the vote to Irish citizens in Presidential elections outside the state but not in the north.

This is not acceptable. Only by lobbying and raising the demand for the vote will it be possible to move the convention beyond the narrow remit it has been set by the government.

A Border Poll

In the New year Sinn Féin will be launching our campaign to secure a border poll.

This is a part of the Good Friday Agreement. Responding to remarks I made in New York on this recently Nigel Dodds of the DUP said unionists had no concerns about a border poll. He actually claimed that I am "detached from reality”.


According to Nigel, "The DUP is not concerned about the likelihood of such a poll being held, nor are we worried about what the outcome would be”. His party Leader Peter Robinson echoed this at his party conference on Saturday.

Well if that is true and not just bravado then I expect to receive their support when we begin our campaign for a border poll in the new year. Let the DUP put their confidence to the test.

Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement there is now only a qualified, conditional claim by the British on the north and this will change when a majority of citizens vote for an end to the union.
The Good Friday Agreement therefore provides for a border poll on Irish unity and Sinn Féin wants that poll held in the upcoming period.

Of course, this means building support for a poll and for a vote in favour of ending partition. I believe we can do this. The economic and political dynamic for the 21st century is for greater co-operation and harmonisation. Common sense, as well as the logic of history, advocates Irish unity.

It would reduce government costs, make for more efficient governance, create new jobs and guarantee stability and peace.

I am convinced that it is possible to persuade a majority of citizens that this is the best way forward. That equality and unity is better.

A pause between wars

Nationalists and republicans familiar with the frequent bias and official and unofficial censorship that was the rule in British media coverage of the north over three decades will not have been surprised by that media’s current coverage of the Israeli assault on Gaza. The BBC has especially and justifiably come in for considerable criticism of its’ reporting.
Six years ago an independent group chaired by Quentin Thomas of the British Home Office, produced a report into the BBC’s coverage of the ‘Israeli-Palestinian conflict’. It concluded that there were ‘identifiable shortcomings, particularly in respect of gaps in coverage, analysis, context and perspective.’
The report was binned and the effect of that has been obvious in the current reportage of the violence in that region.
Palestinian citizens ‘die’. Israeli citizens are ‘killed’. Countless images are used of rockets being fired from Gaza but no comparable reports are given of the huge arsenal of weaponry, including nuclear weapons, that are available to the Israeli forces and much of which is being used against Palestinian civilians.
So let’s be clear the conflict in the middle east is not a war of equals. The Gaza Strip is a third world region, poor, under economic siege for six years and with most of its citizens living in poverty and relying on international aid.
Israel by comparison is a first world, highly developed, rich and heavily armed super-state with nuclear weapons. It’s as if Mohammed Ali at the height of his power and heavy weight champion of the world had decided to take on a teenager just learning to box. No contest.
Misinformation is also a weapon in every conflict. One example was reported in the last 48 hours by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency which looks after millions of Palestinian refugees scattered across several middle east countries.
It reported that on “17 November 2012 at 22:16, the Israeli Defense Forces tweeted from their official Twitter account (@IDFSpokesperson) a link to a video hosted on their official YouTube channel, featuring an animated film that depicts militants firing rockets from a school clearly marked with the UNRWA insignia.”
This didn’t happen. It wasn’t true. UNRWA denied the allegations and expressed concern at ‘the creation and use of footage that wrongly suggests that UNRWA is allowing its premises to be used for terrorist activities in the current conflict and the unauthorised use of its logo in computer-generated material. In a situation of conflict these allegations have potentially grave consequences. UNRWA takes with utmost seriousness the neutrality of its installations, particularly in times of heightened violence.”
It is worth noting that in the 2008-9 assault on Gaza the Israeli Army destroyed 10 schools and damaged another 204.
The overwhelming firepower of Israel is also evident in the numbers of Palestinian dead and the major physical damage being done to the infrastructure of the Gaza strip.
By Wednesday over 130 citizens of the Gaza strip had been killed. Five Israelis had also been killed. At least half of those killed in Gaza were women and children, like the Dula family. Their home was destroyed on Sunday afternoon. Nine family members, including a mother and four children were killed. In the Gaza strip at least 850 people have been wounded in the last 7 days. 260 have been children and 140 have been women.
There has been much talk of a ceasefire or truce and we must remain hopeful that one will be agreed. But the fact is that without a significant effort by the international community to create a meaningful and inclusive peace process any ceasefire will only be a pause between wars.
Real progress toward a negotiated political settlement requires an end of armed actions by all of the combatant groups. That means an end to the rocket attacks from Gaza. It also means an end to Israeli aggression and its bombardment of the Gaza Strip which has caused enormous suffering, and the lifting of the six year blockade.
The Gaza strip is in deep crisis. The future looks bleak for those living there.
 A United Nations report published recently – ‘Gaza in 2020 – A liveable place?’ concluded that within a decade, ‘There will be virtually no reliable access to sources of safe drinking water, standards of healthcare and education will have continued to decline and the vision of affordable and reliable electricity for all will have become a distant memory for most.”
The report added that; ‘The already high number of poor, marginalised and food-insecure people depending on assistance will not have changed and in all likelihood will have increased.’
Currently 80% of the one and a half million people who live in the Gaza strip are dependent upon international aid. Gaza is running out of water. And with a huge proportion of young people it needs 250 additional schools now and another 190 in the next eight years. It also needs 71,000 housing units.
 The UN report concludes that ‘one of the main reasons for the economy’s inability to recover to pre-2000 levels has been and is the blockade of the Gaza strip.’
The Palestinian people have been robbed of their land, imprisoned by separation walls and borders into ghettoes, and have little power or influence.
In 2009 I visited the Gaza strip and Israel. I saw for myself the impact of the Israeli attack and the enormous devastation it had wrought. I also spoke to Israeli victims of rocket attacks from Gaza.
The international experience and one of the main lessons from our peace process is clear. Refusing to engage in dialogue; demonising opponents; treating them as non-citizens; stripping them of their rights and entitlements, of their self-esteem and integrity as human beings; engaging in censorship and vilification, makes war easier and peace harder.  It is an approach which will perpetuate the cycle of conflict.
A real peace process must be inclusive, based on dialogue and equality, and all sides must respect the right of citizens to elect or select their representatives. That means Hamas must be involved in the negotiations.