No Economic Block on Irish Unity | World Premier in Galway of ‘A Ballymurphy Man’ | The Future of the GPO

No Economic Block on Irish Unity

In recent years there have been encouraging signs of growingsupport for Irish unity in successive electoral results, demographic changes,contributions from civic society, in opinion polling and in public commentary.Unsurprisingly, any debate on unity quickly focuses on practical issues likethe economic viability of a united Ireland as well as on the future of a healthand care system, governance structures, education, the environment and othermatters.

Sinn Féin’s Commission on the Future of Ireland recentlyheld a successful conference examining the issue of health in a new Ireland andthe party produced a widely welcomed health and care document looking to afuture all-island model. It is available at  https://sinnfein.ie/the-case-for-an-irish-national-health-and-care-service/

And now we have the report by Professor John Doyle of DublinCity Univeristy – ‘The Projected Public Finances of the Early Years of aUnited Ireland, and the Northern Ireland Subvention.’ The report is the productof joint research by Dublin City University and Ulster University’s EconomicPolicy Centre. It succeeds in cutting through much of the jargonassociated with economics to present a cogent explanation of the economicbenefits of a united Ireland.

The report is the first peer reviewed study to calculate thecost of Irish Unity over the first ten years. It takes account of thesubvention as well as the expected economic benefits that would occur.Professor Doyle contends that when “pensions; national debt; defence spendingand central UK ‘non-identifiable expenditure’” costs are calculated they“suggest that the starting fiscal deficit for ‘Northern Ireland’ within aunited Ireland would be £1.5 billion per annum.”

The report concludes that: “The cost of a united Ireland hasbeen exaggerated partly because what is called the UK subvention has beenmisunderstood and misinterpreted. At the same time the potential for economicgrowth in an all-island economy, where Northern Ireland is once again insidethe European Union, has not received sufficient attention.”

The report also argues that by boosting public expenditureby one billion euro a year investment in health, education, infrastructure andwelfare the cost for a full one year would be €3 billion. This would declineyear on year as the economy grows. It will disappear within a decade. Theresult for people living in the North would be more jobs, better wages and moreefficient public services.

This is a detailed, well researched, peer reviewed reportwhich deserves more than An Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s sneering and scandalousrejection of it as ‘nonsense.’ The reality is that there is no economicobstacle to forging ahead with Irish Unity. The message for the Irishgovernment is clear – begin planning now – planning for the unity referendumand planning for unity.

In the short term this means the Taoiseach ending his blockon the establishment of a Citizen’s Assembly or Assemblies to plan for thefuture.

 

World Premier in Galway of ‘A Ballymurphy Man’

This weekend I will be in Galway for the 37th annualinternational Galway Film Fleadh/Festival. The Fleadh runs for a week everyJuly.  This year it’s between 8 July and 13 July. It was established in1989 as a place for Irish filmmakers to exhibit their work to their peers. 

This year it will host World, International and IrishPremieres in the Town Hall Theatre and Pálás Cinema. It will feature 31 World Premieres, 11International/European Premieres and 46 Irish Premieres from 44 countries,featuring 96 feature films in total. An impressive total. Among the worldPremiers will be Trisha Ziff’s – A Ballymurphy Man. This film – a work inprogress version of which was shown in Féile an Phobail last year – provides anaccount of my 60 years of activism as a republican, the influences in my lifeand our efforts to build the peace process.

At just over two hours long and with lots of archive footageit also tells the story through my experience and insights of the republicanstruggle.

The film will be shown at 4pm on Saturday 12 July and therewill be a post screening discussion with myself and Trisha Ziff. The film iscurrently being screened in central and south America, and in San Franciscoseveral weeks ago, and will have festival screenings in Australia. It can alsobe seen on 7 August in the Kennedy Centre Omni Plex cinema during the westBelfast Féile an Phobail,on the 13 August during the Derry Féile and later inthe year in Dublin.

The trailer for the film can be viewed here: https://www.galwayfilmfleadh.com/project/gerry-adams-a-ballymurphy-man

 

The Future of the GPO

Micheál Martin’s ten-year plan for the GPO site in Dublin isshameful. His effort to sell the plan as a flagship project for Dublin CityCentre, that will protect the historic and cultural significance of the GPO,was described by the Irish Times as “vague and ill-defined.” Mary Lou McDonaldand others have been much more vocal and direct in their condemnation of thegovernment’s plans. Martin’s proposal, for example, that the upper floors ofthe GPO will be turned into office space, makes no sense when much of theavailable office space in central Dublin is currently unused and vacant.

The reality is that the GPO holds a special place in thenation’s soul. It may have been a Post Office for all of its two hundred yearsbut it is more than just another of those Dublin buildings that reflect thecapitals colonial past. It is acknowledged by generations of Irish people asthe birthplace of the Republic, as envisaged in the Proclamation. For over onehundred years it has symbolised the hopes, aspirations and vision of thathistoric document and of the courage of the men and women who risked everythingin April 1916.

Last week the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael coalition voted down aSinn Féin motion intended to protect this iconic building and the 1916 MooreSt. Battlefield site with which it is inextricably linked. The motionrecognised the:

·       “sacrifice ofthe men and women of 1916, who fought and died in the General Post Office(GPO), Moore Street, across Dublin and elsewhere in Ireland, so Ireland may befree;

·       “the status ofthe GPO as a national monument, the headquarters of the 1916 Easter Rising, andthe place where the Irish Republic was proclaimed on Easter Monday, 24th April,1916, and defended in arms in the following days;”

It also called on the government to ensure that “any plan involving the GPOmust include the entire 1916 battlefield site, of which it forms a part, andthat therefore, Ministerial consent must not be given to the current plan bythe private developer Hammerson…”

The motion was defeated by the government parties. Despitethis there remains solid opposition to the government’s plans and strongsupport for saving the GPO and the Moore St. Battlefield site.

The Moore St. Preservation Trust has produced an alternativeplan for the Moore St. Battlefield site that can be the basis on which the GPO,the Battlefield site and the North Inner City can be redeveloped andrevitalised. The area has been neglected by successive governments for years.With imagination and energy, we can respect and protect our history as well asimprove the local environment, while creating jobs and housing for citizens.

It’s not rocket science. It just needs the application ofcommon sense and a desire to honour the sacrifice of past generations whofought for our freedom.

Join the campaign to “Save the GPO”. Sign the petition whichcalls for the development of a 1916 Cultural Quarter in the area around theGPO, O’Connell Street and Moore Street and the implementation of the MooreStreet Preservation Trust plan. 

We must fight to save the GPO together.

Sign the petition here: outreach.sinnfein.ie/save-the-gpo