An Phoblacht, Issue 2 - 2022

IRISH UNITY

AN PHOBLACHT

Editor: Robbie Smyth

An Phoblacht is published by Sinn Féin. The views in An Phoblacht are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sinn Féin. We welcome articles, opinions and photographs from new contributors but contact the Editor first. An Phoblacht, Kevin Barry House, 44 Parnell Square, Dublin 1, Ireland.

Telephone: (+353 1) 872 6 100.

Email: editor@anphoblacht.com www.anphoblacht.com

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UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2022 - ISSUE NUMBER 3 Let

Commission on the Future of Ireland

EIBHLÍN GLENHOLMES reviews 'The Armagh Women', a new book and CD which chronicles the story of political protests by women prisoners in the gaol. The stories in the book describe the mental and physical torture, the degrading and inhumane treatment over years of incarceration endured by republican women. The book by Gerry Adams and Richard McAuley comes with a Christy Moore CD of songs about the prison titled ‘On the Bridge’.

1982-2002: Sensational Sinn Féin victories

This year marks two key anniversaries in Sinn Féin’s recent history. 40 years ago, the party won five seats in the 1982 Assembly elections. In 2002, Sinn Féin elected five TDs to Leinster House. ROBBIE SMYTH looks at these critical periods and reviews the media reactions of the time.

Irish Unity is within touching distance, writes Sinn Féin National Chairperson DECLAN KEARNEY as he introduces the party’s Commission on the Future of Ireland and the upcoming series of People’s Assemblies. The challenge now he believes is discussing the way towards a new constitutional future that is an inclusive and democratic process.

ROBBIE SMYTH editor@anphoblacht.com

The Ireland we want to live in

It is clear in Ireland today that we are moving into a new phase of an intensified discussion on the political future of the island. There are a range of initiatives from Sinn Féin’s Commission on the Future of Ireland to the Preparing for a New Ireland conference to be held in Dublin’s 3 Arena on 1 October.

Senator Niall Ó Donnghaile writes in this issue on how the Seanad’s Public Consultation Committee is undertaking a series of hearings on the constitutional future of Ireland. There is also a piece on the Gaels le Chéile initiative where GAA supporters are encouraging fellow members, and Gaels across Ireland, to get involved by signing a letter to the Taoiseach asking him to establish an all-island Citizens’ Assembly on Irish Unity.

In his article, Ó Donnghaile comments how important it is to take advantage of the Seanad consultation process as the hearings will “provide an opportunity for people from the Six Counties, Irish citizens and others, to have a say in the heart of Dublin, to penetrate the walls where some would prefer their voices aren’t heard”.

This is a key aspect of this process. It is all happening in spite of the Fianna FáilFine Gael-Green Party coalition. These parties have stalled and dithered on the unity issue. Micheál Martin still has to acknowledge or answer the Gaels le Chéile request. When Leo Varadkar takes back this post in December, I don’t expect he will answer this letter either.

In these months as we move through the Civil War centenaries, it is worth remembering the Ireland that the partitioned parliaments of the Six and 26 Counties brought into being.

For example, 1923 was the second full year of the population of Ireland living with Partition. Both these new parliaments subsequently passed special powers acts. In the Six Counties, it allowed for no jury courts and a 32,000 member special constabulary was set up alongside the 3,000 members of the newly formed Royal Ulster Constabulary.

In the 26-County state, membership of the Free State Army had grown to 58,000 troops by the end of the Civil War, and emergency legislation had facilitated the execution of 77 republican prisoners between November 1922 and May 1923. Both states exited a decade of dissent and revolution as heavily armed regimes, effectively at war with significant elements of their citizens. There were 13,000 republicans held in jails across the state in 1923.

It makes me wonder where in 1923 was the spirit of the 1916 Proclamation or the 1919 Democratic Programme. The growing discussions on Irish unity provide a unique opportunity to begin talking about the Ireland we really want to live in. 

Micheál Martin still has to acknowledge or answer the Gaels le Chéile request. When Leo Varadkar takes back this post in December, I don’t expect he will answer this letter either

BUDGET 2023 MUST PROTECT HOUSEHOLDS

BY PEARSE DOHERTY

Workers and families are in the grip of a cost of living crisis. Irish households face the biggest drop in living standards since the financial crash, with prices rising by more than 9% in the past year.

Of course, every household is different. Lower and middle-income households, who spend more of their money on food and energy than the wealthy, face higher rates of inflation as a result.

As talk of a coming recession becomes louder, the reality is that many workers and families have been plunged into their own personal recession. We cannot overstate the difficulties so many are facing. This summer, the number of households in energy poverty rose to 1 in 3, with charities recording bigger queues for food parcels and calls for support.

Rising food costs and higher energy bills are pushing households to the brink, with many having already fallen off. This cost of living crisis is not new, nor is it a surprise. It has been with us for some time.

As Republicans, we will always champion the responsibility of the State to serve its citizens and protect the most vulnerable. This has guided our party’s response to the cost of living crisis.

We urged the government to wake up and step up to its obligations, calling for an emergency budget before the Dáil broke for its summer recess. This call fell on the deaf ears of a government that refuses to understand the immediate struggles so many are facing.

The inaction of the government has sent

a clear message to the people – buckle up, because you are on your own. This dereliction of duty betrays the responsibility of the State to do its job. If the purpose of a government is not to protect its citizens at a time of crisis, then what is it for?

As workers and families are plunged into financial distress, made worse by a manufactured housing disaster and a home-grown energy crisis sown by underinvestment in the electricity grid, this government has once again

demonstrated that it is out of touch, out of

The ultimate fix for this problem is a change of government, led by Sinn Féin. One that puts the interests of workers and families first, with the vision and determination to take on vested interests and address the persistent failures of this

But in the immediate future, our job is to put pressure on this tired government to do the right thing and to demonstrate that a better alternative is possible. Budget 2023, which will be announced in the coming weeks, is the next step in that job of work.

Sinn Féin will publish its

As Republicans, we will always champion the responsibility of the State to serve its citizens and protect the most vulnerable

Pearse Doherty is a Sinn Féin TD for Donegal and Oireachtas spokesperson for Finance

own alternative budget to show what can be done under a government committed to change and to the interests of ordinary workers and families. This will demonstrate our preparedness for government and the capacity of government to protect and improve the living standards of households if it makes the right decisions.

The challenges the Irish people face are great. Persistent failures in housing policy have pushed the aspiration of home ownership further out of reach and crushed renters under the pressure of rip-off rents.

House prices have returned to their Celtic Tiger peak, average rents have reached more than €1,600, and the availability of rental accommodation has collapsed. Driven by unresolved issues that have been brewing for decades, over one million people languish on some form of health waiting list.

Outdated contracts with doctors, staff on the verge of strike action, and a lack of capacity in major hospitals are

undermining the ability of our excellent healthcare workers to tackle waiting lists and improve outcomes for patients.

The inability of parents to access affordable childcare continues to press down on family finances and deprives too many women the option to enter the workforce.

In the midst of these failures, households now face a cost of living crisis that threatens the living standards of all and poverty for the most vulnerable. Budget 2023 can begin to address these challenges, but only if the right choices are made.

The Budget's priority must be to tackle the cost of living crisis that is only getting worse, with households frightened of how they will make ends meet in the months ahead.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s neglect of our energy supply despite repeated warnings over many years now risks our energy security while bills spiral out of control.

The price of basic essentials such as food and fuel are stretching household finances to breaking point while the Government parties fail to take action. Budget 2023 must put in place a protective shield for workers and families

so that they can weather this storm, with a combination of direct financial support for households together with measures to bring down to price of fuel and energy.

That must include boosting the incomes of lower and middle-income workers, increasing social welfare rates and slashing taxes on petrol, diesel, and home heating oil.

The housing scandal has been created and deepened by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael – but it is a crisis that can be solved. The Government’s failed housing plan has not and will not deliver for renters or those struggling to own their own home – only for developers and landlords.

Budget 2023 must deliver a radical departure from these failed policies, beginning with increased investment in public housing; in genuinely affordable homes to rent and buy. It should give renters a break from the nightmare they face, by putting one month’s rent back in their pockets through a refundable tax credit and a ban on further rent increases.

Our healthcare service is failing patients and their families. That failure lies with the Government, not our healthcare staff who work every day to save lives and care

This Government has once again demonstrated that it is out of touch, out of ideas, and out of time

• Housing policy failures have pushed home ownership further out of reach and left renters under the pressure of rip-off rents

• Prices are stretching household finances to breaking point

• Our healthcare service is failing patients and their families, Budget 2023 must recognise the problems

for our sick. Budget 2023 must recognise the problems that bedevil our health service through increased investment in capacity and frontline staff.

For too many, our country has become a place where the simple aspiration of economic security and building a better future has become an impossible dream.

Educating our children should be a right - not a financial burden. Childcare for our children should be an accessible and affordable service - not a second mortgage.

A day’s work should provide security, dignity and decent pay – not low wages and insecurity. Budget 2023 must reduce the costs of education and reduce class sizes. It must slash childcare fees by two thirds and ensure that work pays more.

Budget 2023 can achieve all of these aims, but only with

a Government that is willing to make the right decisions. Yes, that involves taking on vested interests and ensuring that the wealthiest in our society pay their fair share.

But that is the duty of a Republic – to put workers, families and the vulnerable first. In the coming weeks, we will set out our proposals to ensure that Budget 2023 does just that. 

SINN FÉIN WILL PUT WORKERS AND FAMILIES FIRST

DIRECT CASH PAYMENTS TO FAMILIES

ONE MONTH’S RENT BACK AND BAN INCREASES

INCREASE SOCIAL PROTECTION

ESTABLISH DISCRETIONARY FUND FOR UTILITY DEBT

A day’s work should provide security, dignity, and decent pay – not low wages and insecurity

THE NEW IRELAND IS FOR EVERYONE HAVE YOUR SAY

BY DECLAN KEARNEY

The prospect of a unity referendum and future constitutional change in Ireland is now one of the most dominant conversations taking place in Irish society. It is resonating across the Irish diaspora like never before. It has seized the attention of the international community.

Recent opinion polls, and particularly the growing support for Sinn Féin, reflect that momentum. Irish politics have been dramatically realigned by the emergence of Sinn Féin as the largest political party in Ireland.

Whilst not inevitable, there is now an unprecedented potential for our party to lead a restored power-sharing coalition in the North, and to become the lead party of government in the South after the next Irish general election.

These are exciting times. The end of Partition and development of a new, agreed, constitutional national democracy is within touching distance.

Irish reunification is a legitimate, reasonable, and achievable democratic objective. The exercise of self-determination which can bring it about, and up to now denied to the people of Ireland, is provided for under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

But while Sinn Féin is central to helping to achieve a united Ireland in the coming period, a much wider national democratic coalition is needed to continue making progress.

More citizens and sectors in Irish society are posing obvious questions about the transition to constitutional change, and what form a new Ireland would take. They are asking about the next steps and time frames, future systems of governance, the development of an Irish national health service, pension arrangements, how education and other public services would function, citizens’ rights and guarantees for minorities, and re-entry to the European Union.

It is understandable that these practical issues are being raised. People want reassurance that the future will be better than the past, that their interests will be better served and protected. Put simply, we need a plan to ensure that the new Ire-

We need a plan to ensure that the new Ireland will not be the old Ireland

These are exciting times. The end of Partition and development of a new, agreed, constitutional national democracy is within touching distance.

land will not be the old Ireland. The preparation and planning should start now.

The Irish government is constitutionally obliged to plan for reunification. It should be focussed on developing a phased transition. Irish Unity will not happen overnight.

Sinn Féin has been calling on the Irish government to establish a Citizens’ Assembly as a sensible democratic process to commence this work without delay. There is no logic for this government’s continued failure to establish a forum which would help structure the current, organic conversation, and allow the views of Irish citizens to shape the future.

Sinn Féin strongly believes people should have their say. That is why Uachatarán Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald recently launched the Commission on the Future of Ireland. Of course, it is not a substitute for a Citizens Assembly, but is intended as a genuine initiative to encourage the popular debate and grow the momentum.

The Commission on the Future of Ireland will be an 18 month project intended to widen democratic participation by using a model of grassroots consultation.

This will be achieved through hosting a series of public People’s Assemblies across the country, incorporating women’s assemblies, youth assemblies, and assemblies in Gaeltacht areas.

There will also be sectoral and private engagements. An on-

• John Finucane, Declan Kearney, Aisling Reilly and Paul Maskey addressing the media about Belfast People’s Assembly

DUP are holding society to ransom

BY CONOR MURPHY

In May, the people of the North had their say in an Assembly election. They voted for real change, for hope and for an Executive that would deliver for all. They voted for parties and political leaders to work together. They voted for a First Minister for all.

From day one after that election, Sinn Féin Vice-President Michelle O’Neill has been ready to lead our team into the Executive to agree a budget, put money into people’s pockets and start to fix our health service. Months have now passed, and we still do not have a government in place.

Why? Because the DUP are unwilling to respect the democratic outcome of that election and are blocking the change that people voted for. The DUP are holding society to ransom over the outcome over their own Brexit project. And they are doing so at a time when people are struggling to heat their homes or put fuel in the car.

As we approach the winter, the economic picture is bleak. Prices are set to continue to rise with inflation spiralling out of control. The coming weeks will see another at least 30 percent hike to the price of gas here, and that it is only the beginning.

Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of pounds are stuck in a Stormont bank account and cannot be spent without an Executive. Jeffrey Donaldson’s boycott of the Assembly and Executive is a cruel dereliction of duty at a time when people are crying out for help. At a time when people wait years on hospital waiting lists while others struggle to see their GP.

The health service has suffered from a decade of Tory cuts.

Earlier in the year, I set out a plan to invest an extra £1 billion in our health service. This would help tackle waiting lists, hire more doctors and nurses, and fund mental health and cancer services.

It is ordinary people who are paying the price for the DUP’s boycott, despite the party’s glossy manifesto commitments to make health a priority and deal with the cost of living.

And the DUP are being aided and abet ted by the Tories, who have absolutely no regard for the inter wishes of the people.

The Tories are deliberately picking a fight with the EU. This helps distract from their abysmal domestic record. It also serves to bolster the anti-EU credentials of individuals with leadership ambitions.

In pursuing this reckless political agen da, the British government has aban doned any pretence of the rigorous impartiality demanded Good Friday Agreement. That must stop now.

Having dragged us out of the EU against our wishes, the To ries are now intent on tearing up the Protocol which is helping

The DUP are unwilling to respect the democratic outcome of that election and are blocking the change that people voted for

• Conor Murphy

• Jeffrey Donaldson

to create jobs and giving our businesses unique access to both the EU and British markets.

The recent contracts awarded to Wrightbus to produce hydrogen buses to Germany and Dublin are just one example of the Protocol’s benefits

There are parties, just like Sinn Féin, who are willing and ready to do something about it. The majority of people in the Six Counties support the Protocol and they voted overwhelmingly for parties that support the Protocol. 53 of the 90 MLAs support the Protocol – a clear majority.

It protects people and businesses here from the damage caused by Brexit, and it protects the North’s economy from the destructive Tory Brexit. In fact, the Six-County economy is now outperforming most of Britain.

While the Tories undermine our economic interests and help deny people a government, they have made little or no effort to cut household bills. They are allowing big energy companies to walk away with eye-watering profits as they rip people off with huge price hikes.

Action needs to be taken urgently to shift the burden off workers, families and businesses. That means cutting taxes on fuel, ensuring that big energy companies pay their way, and cutting VAT on energy bills for our businesses to ensure they can protect jobs.

I have repeatedly told the British government they need to step up and provide more money for Executive departments to deal with the rise in inflation and the huge spike in the cost of living and the cost of doing business.

There are big challenges and a tough number of months ahead for workers and families, but also for political leaders. As the Assembly returns from the summer recess, Sinn Féin is ready to do the business and form an Executive immediately.

There is a huge opportunity to deliver a three year Budget

that would give certainty to our public services and departments like Health, to plan and deliver real change.

We need locally elected Ministers in place now, working together and doing what they can to ensure people and businesses are supported through this cost of living emergency. Workers and families need that help urgently. They cannot wait any longer. We need an Executive now. 

Conor Murphy is Northern Ireland Executive Finance Minister and an MLA for Newry-Armagh

Jeffrey Donaldson’s boycott of the Assembly and Executive is a cruel dereliction of duty at a time when people are crying out for help

• Big energy companies are walking away with eye-watering profits and action needs to be taken urgently to shift the burden off workers, families and businesses

Niall Ó Donnghaile

All voices welcome at Seanad public consultation

The Seanad’s Public Consultation Committee is undertaking a series of hearings on the constitutional future of Ireland.

This is a welcome step forward and one that is indicative of the growing momentum, interest in and focus on this important topic; an issue being debated daily, right across all aspects of Irish life, be it political, civic, academic, within the media or simply conversations in the family home, the workplace, the clubhouse or pitch side.

It is my firm hope that our committee hearings can create a crucial platform for discussing pertinent issues such as the economy, our environment, the climate emergency and the biodiversity crisis, education, social issues, and healthcare.

The Committee will consider issues including a referendum on constitutional change and lessons from other referendums held here and in other jurisdictions. We will also discuss key societal and economic elements of constitutional change such as culture and language, reconciliation and careful consideration of Ireland’s economic future.

Republicans will have a key role to play in engaging with these hearings, and putting forward our positive, progressive, and citizen-centred perspective on the debate about our constitutional future.

We will champion, unashamedly, the cause of Irish Unity, of a better Ireland, a more equal, fair and just Ireland. An Ireland where difference is respected and celebrated, where our language is protected, promoted, and

invested in, and where people have a modern, innovative and universally accessible healthcare system. An Ireland that builds homes, builds communities and builds social solidarity.

The voices of young people, of our Traveller brothers and sisters, new communities, ethnic minority groups and refugees, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as Gaeilgeoirí and those from Gaeltacht communities, members of the unionist community and those with a British identity are all welcome as we listen, engage, discuss, and inform. Many of these groups are already engaged in these conversations and I have no doubt will welcome the opportunity to engage with the Oireachtas on an issue they feel strongly about -

We will champion, unashamedly, the cause of Irish Unity, of a better Ireland, a more equal, fair and just Ireland

regardless of their position on constitutional change. It’s important all perspectives are heard.

The Seanad’s hearings will provide an important platform for this debate, right at the heart of Leinster House. For far too long, the establishment parties and indeed institutions have turned their backs on the voices, the lived experiences, and the democratic aspirations of those from the North who demand that the Good Friday Agreement provision for a referendum on constitutional change is enacted. These hearings will provide an opportunity for people from the Six Counties, Irish citizens and others, to have a say in the heart of Dublin, to penetrate the walls where some would prefer their voices aren’t heard, so it’s crucial that this opportunity is taken.

As I have always said, conversations about constitutional change are growing and ignoring this does no one any favours. Politicians burying their head in the sand and trying to dismiss this conversation as ‘divisive’ does a huge disservice to us all. Political leaders have a responsibility to show positive leadership and engage in this dialogue with respect, generosity and inclusion – that is my and Sinn Féin’s approach to this committee and our important work.

The Seanad’s initiative takes place alongside other, similar discussions. At this summer’s Féile an Phobail

in Belfast, we saw debate after debate putting forward the case about the need to plan for constitutional change.

The SDLP have established their ‘New Ireland Forum’. We have seen thousands of Gaels under the banner of ‘Gaels Le Chéile’ write to An Taoiseach urging him to convene a Citizens Assembly on constitutional change.

For our part, Sinn Féin will also hold our ‘People’s Assemblies’ throughout the country in the course of the coming months and October will see a huge gathering at the Three Arena in Dublin for the ‘Together We Can’ event organised by leading civil society group ‘Ireland’s Future’.

While many challenges, not least the cost of living crisis and relentless neoliberal agenda of governments in Dublin and London that continue to bear down on people across our society, this debate offers us a hopeful course towards a better future – it is only right that the Oireachtas would be to the fore of the discussion and the planning – that’s why the Seanad’s hearings are a step in the right direction, but in isolation will not be enough.

We need more.

We need a political acceptance from Government that this debate is live, that it needs focus, coordination, resourcing and a home. That home should be in the heart of the political institutions. That is why we need an Irish Government that will act responsibly, that will adhere to the Good Friday Agreement, one that will direct the necessary resources, diplomatic endeavour and political effort to the ever-growing demand for change.

The Seanad’s platform and ultimately our voice on this matter will be an important, inclusive and, I have no doubt, representative one. I am excited for the work of this committee and keen to hear the range of views brought before it. I am confident in the drive, determination and commitment of United Irelanders out there across Irish society, who will continue to work for change – change for the better, change for us all. 

Niall Ó Donnghaile is Sinn Féin’s leader in the Seanad

These hearings will provide an opportunity for people from the Six Counties, Irish citizens and others, to have a say in the heart of Dublin, to penetrate the walls where some would prefer their voices aren’t heard

Scotland has nothing to fear from making its own way in the world

SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY PRESIDENT

MICHAEL RUSSELL WRITES ON THE PATH TOWARDS A NEW INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM IN SCOTLAND

There was a joke in the 1970s when a Scottish Devolution Bill was making its very slow and bumpy way through the UK House of Commons. “Which takes longer”, was the question, “devolution or evolution?”

Scotland is a slow burn country in terms of constitutional change. Our Parliament was adjourned (not abolished) in 1707 and only reconvened in 1999, the intervening 292 years being the longest democratic interregnum in history.

It also took two attempts over almost 25 years - and two referenda - to secure even a limited transfer of some legislative powers back to Edinburgh, despite democratic majorities first time round. The new Parliament finally met 86 years after the First Scottish Home Rule Bill had received a second reading at Westminster.

The desire for self-determination may be universal, but all national movements are different. How and to what degree they move forward depends on the structures and circumstances within which the demand is being expressed. Scotland’s slow but steady progress towards

restoring self-government has been completely peaceful and democratic over the past 200 years and that won’t change.

The pressure for a greater degree of administrative and legislative responsibility in Scotland emerged publicly al-

most a 150 years after the Parliamentary Union of 1707 with the establishment of the National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights in 1853, a body that was mostly supported by Tories and established as a reaction to what was seen - it may be strange to recount - as more favourable treatment of Ireland by Westminster.

Our Parliament was adjourned (not abolished) in 1707 and only reconvened in 1999, the intervening 292 years being the longest democratic interregnum in history

From those modest beginnings grew a variety of organisations and campaigns which by the 1960s were supported, at least in part, by many in the UK parties who felt that that the governance of Scotland in some domestic matters would be better undertaken closer to its citizens and by its own more responsive parliament.

Yet as that view progressed, it found itself in contention with two others - one being a demand for complete independence and the other a small but vocal opposition to any change at all. The working out of these tensions has been the dominant issue in Scottish politics for the last half century.

The independence referendum of 2014 came about because the SNP - a party founded in the 1930s to secure Scottish Home Rule, but which developed into one that sought complete autonomy - was able in 2011, against the odds, to form a majority government in a proportional electoral system, having previously formed a minority administration after the 2007 election.

Westminster under David Cameron eventually agreed that Scotland had the right to consult its citizens about its own constitutional future avoiding a lengthy legal dispute about whether, under the Scotland Act that had established the Parliament, such approval was needed for matters not devolved (such as the Constitution).

Support for independence grew during the two-year campaign from around 30% to a peak of just over 50% a week before the poll. It was beaten back to the final 45% by

ises including a final massively publicised pledge jointly signed by the then UK Leaders of the Tory, Labour, and Liberal Parties which claimed that voting no would “deliver faster, safer and better change than separation”.

That of course has not happened. After some initial concessions, the reverse has been the case as increasingly right-wing Tory governments, with little Labour or Liberal opposition, have sought not to enhance Scottish powers, but undermine and diminish them, a process exacerbated by Brexit which was itself overwhelmingly rejected by the Scottish people, but which was imposed none less.

At the Scottish elections of 2016, only six weeks before the Brexit referendum, the SNP explicitly stated in its manifesto that any attempt to take Scotland out of the EU against its will would be grounds for a new independence referendum.

At the Scottish elections of 2016, only six weeks before the Brexit referendum, the SNP explicitly stated in its manifesto that any attempt to take Scotland out of the EU against its will would be grounds for a new independence referendum

• David Cameron, Theresa May and Liz Truss

• Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon

• The SNP secured the 2014 Scottish independence referendum

fourth successive term and with the independence supporting Scottish Green Party in the administration giving another overall majority - did repeatedly seek to honour the Scottish consensus against Brexit by negotiating a compromise such as the Protocol provides for Northern Ireland.

However, this was repeatedly and contemptuously refused by the Tories and the current grubby Tory Leadership contest confirms that it is their intention to accelerate their attack on the Scottish Parliament and Scottish democracy in order to diminish and most probably destroy even the limited devolution that exists.

Moreover, unlike in 2014, the UK parties together have repeatedly refused to co-operate with the Scottish Government in assisting with the legislation for a referendum.

Instead the response has actually deteriorated from Theresa May’s cold “this is not the time” to Liz Truss’s sneering intention to, in her actual words, “ignore” the “attention seeking” of the Scottish First Minister when Nicola Sturgeon attempts to honour not just one electoral mandate for a second independence referendum, but a mandate given by the Scottish people to the SNP at every election since 2014, in contrast to the lack of a Tory mandate, that party not having won a Scottish election since 1955.

This issue needs to be put to the test and the democratic route to self-determination defined and taken in contrast to the Westminster attempts to obfuscate and bar it.

tion of Westminster involvement in the decision to hold a referendum to the UK Supreme Court for a definitive determination.

If the court holds that the Scottish Parliament has the right to hold such a poll no matter what London thinks, it will take place on 19 October 2023.

If it does not, Scotland’s First Minister has confirmed the Scottish Government’s intention to treat the next Westminster Election (due to be held by the end of 2024) as a plebiscite on independence, with the independence supporting parties aiming to secure more than 50% of the vote and

using that as the foundation for progress to independence and an application to rejoin the EU.

There is a renewed determination in the SNP-Green Scottish Government to secure Scotland’s right to choose how it wishes to be governed. Opinion polls suggest that, at the worst, the current situation is 50/50. A vigorous and informed campaign, illustrated not just by Brexit but by the toxicity of the current Tory leadership and the repeated impotence of UK Labour, which now backs Brexit, will make all the difference and that is currently getting underway.

Scotland is a well-educated, productive, and well-resourced nation. It has nothing to fear from making its own way in the world and that will be proved resoundingly when it is achieved And achieved it will be. 

Michael Russell has been a member of the SNP since 1974 and has served as an MSP, Minister and is currently party president as well as Professor in Scottish Culture and Governance at the University of Glasgow. He is the author of seven books and contributes a weekly column to The National

There is a renewed determination in the SNPGreen Scottish Government to secure Scotland’s right to choose how it wishes to be governed

TOGETHER WE

Imagine this. The day you are listening to the announcement of the referendum outcome in the North. A comfortable win for a new and united Ireland. Think about that precise moment, what you will do, who you will embrace, those in your mind. Take that feeling, work with it and towards it.

In the complex deliberations ahead, it is vital to retain a focus on what this is about. There will be rigorous scholarly papers and books on economics, culture, law, politics, and much more. These may be dry, tedious, and hard going. That is as it should and must be.

Considering those who have gone before, and now finally ending the major separation on this island, will be at the heart of this collective project. And that is what will motivate people to engage in the growing movement for change and keep everyone going when it becomes even more difficult.

It is apparent that the conversation has entered a new phase. In recent years, the focus was on the need for planning and preparation to start. That has unquestionably happened. Civic society, universities, political parties, and many others have commenced the required work.

Sinn Féin has launched a new Commission on the Future of Ireland, with a People’s Assembly to be held in Belfast in October. The SDLP has a New Ireland Commission. Papers have been produced by Neale Richmond TD and Jim O’Callaghan TD. The Oireachtas is intensifying its efforts through the Seanad Public Consultation Committee and the Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.

It is to be hoped that the role and remit of the Shared Island Initiative will be extended to embrace constitutional change. Academic projects are proliferating, and the leadership of civic society remains impressive. Ireland’s Future has held a wide range of diverse and inclusive events across Ireland and beyond, supplemented by policy papers on citizenship, rights and identity, and the economy, among others.

A major event will take place in the 3Arena in Dublin on 1 October 2022. Like the Waterfront Hall conference in January 2019, this is likely to be one of those not to be missed moments in the journey towards reunification.

The Constitutional Conversations Group and the Shared Ireland Podcast Team contribute significantly to bringing critical insights and new voices to the discussions. Whether stated openly or not, it is hard to deny what this looks like. People are getting ready for potential constitutional change and thus the prospect of a united Ireland.

The symbolic and practical repartitioning of the island of Ireland post-Brexit is a reality. The much-discussed protocol mitigates some of this, but a hard truth remains: The border in Ireland is an external border of the EU. The offer of automatic re-entry brings a new constituency into the room, and the toxic Tory Brexiteers and local enablers will continue to make the pro-union case in the North a challenge.

Where does this go now? The right of self-determination belongs to the people of this island and, in a post-Brexit environment, it is essential that people are given the constitutional choice. While there is a focus on the British Government and the Secretary of State, due to the triggering mechanism for a referendum in the North, it would be silly to wait around.

Political realities will determine what happens next and that is why the position of the Irish Government is vital. The Irish state will have to deliver reunification for all practical purposes. Although there will

be an intergovernmental process and no doubt agreements reached, the Irish Government will be tasked with implementing campaign promises.

Anyone trusting the British state to follow through is not paying attention to history. Wise, of course, to negotiate to ensure that their obligations are detailed and then enforced, but equally sensible to retain a measure of scepticism. It is determined political pressure from Ireland, with the assistance of international friends and partners, that will be essential in ensuring a referendum happens and that a united Ireland is sustainable and a success.

The references to ‘new’ in new and united Ireland will prompt considerable interest among those who want transformative change. Many will join the campaign for reunification because of the opportunities opened up on, for example, socio-economic and climate justice, equality, and human rights.

Irish history speaks to what can happen to radical hopes during transitions. Conservative forces will try to push aside, caricature, and marginalise activism that takes guarantees of societal change seriously.

What might be done to achieve reunification while maximising the chances of a genuinely new Ireland emerging? Civic society will have a vital democratic role in shaping these deliberations, and thus it is essential that people are encouraged and supported to participate and to organise.

I asked you at the start to consider a future scenario. Emotion and imagination will each play a part in the campaign for change on this island. That is often presented as a flaw, to be avoided. But it is not either/or. The referendum in the North will be packed with calm, measured and evidence-based argument; statistics will fly around. Quite right too.

But is that what will motivate the tireless activism that will deliver constitutional change in the end? I doubt it. Because in a world battered by aggressive conservative cynicism and vicious, often personalised, negativity that amplifies distortion and hate, it is hope that will bring people out. The idea that together people can work towards a new and united Ireland, an island beyond borders. So, be ambitious, make demands, join the debate, start your own. We are part of making history. See you in the 3Arena in October. 

Colin Harvey is Professor of Human Rights Law and Director of the Human Rights Centre in the School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast, a Fellow of the Senator George J Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, and an Associate Fellow of the Institute of Irish Studies. He is on the Management Board of Ireland’s Future and is a member of the Constitutional Conversations Group

The references to ‘new’ in new and united Ireland will prompt considerable interest among those who want transformative change

COLIN HARVEY outlines the thinking behind the Preparing for a New Ireland conference to be held in Dublin’s 3 Arena on 1 October.

Tickets for Ireland’s Future ‘TOGETHER WE CAN’

are available via Ticketmaster: https://www.ticketmaster.ie/irelands-future-presentstogether-we-can-tickets/artist/5387345

Más féidir leo, cén fáth nach féidir linn?

LE EOGHAN FINN

Seo an mana atá á scaipeadh ag Cian Ward ó dhoras go doras ag feachtasaíocht ar son pacáistiú dhátheangach, bunaithe ar an méid a chonaic sé féin sna siopaí agus sna hollmhargaidh i Montréal. Níl mórán Gaeilge ag Cian féin, ach creideann sé go láidir go gcabhródh sé go mór leis na céadta míle a deir go bhfuil Gaeilge acu ach atá ag streachailt léi, agus dá leithéadsa atá ag iarraidh í a fhoghlaim, dá mbeadh an Ghaeilge mar chuid normálaithe,

chur i gcrích, gur chóir dúinn a bheith buíoch as an méid atá faighte againn, institiúidí agus nósanna coilíneacha ina measc. Ná éirigh os cionn do chéimíochta. Is leor an Béarla, tá an Ghaeilge iomarcach, agus is ar éigean go labhraíonn duine ar bith í ar aon nós.

feiceálach, ábhartha den ghnáthshaol, más bia nó earraí glantacháin nó pé rud eile atá i gceist.

Chuidigh mé le Cian ag canbhasáil lá amháin i gCuan Aoibhinn cluthara Bhaile Átha Cliath, agus idir Ghaeilgeoirí agus daoine ar fuath leo an Ghaeilge ó ‘gradaíodh ar scoil iad’ mar gheall uirthi, ba d’aon ghuth a thug siad freagra: gur slí loigheacúil í seo chun go mbeadh fáil níos fearr ag daoine ar an nGaeilge.

Dhéanfadh sé maith duit an athrú poirt seo a chloisteáil ón ghnáthmhantra iarchoilíneach atá le cloisteáil go hiondúil sna 26 Contae, nár chóir dúinn a bheith uaillmhianach, nach bhfuil muid mór go leor chun rudaí a dhéanann tíortha eile a

Mar a tharlaíonn sé, deir céatadán níos airde sna 26 Contae go bhfuil Gaeilge acu (40%) ná a deir go bhfuil tuiscint acu ar an bhFrancais i gCeanada (29%), ach tá Francais agus Béarla le chéile de dhíth ar phacáistiú i gCeanada. Dá mbeadh stát acu féin acu siúd go léir a deir go bhfuil Gaeilge acu in Éirinn, bheadh daonra níos mó ag an stát sin ná ag cúig ballstáit den Aontas Eorpach, an Éastóin agus an Laitvia ina measc nach nglacann ach le pacáistiú ina dteangacha náisiúnta féin.

Ar ndóigh, tá stát ag Gaeilgeoirí a deir gurb í an Ghaeilge a príomhtheanga oifigiúil agus a teanga náisiúnta. In áit forálacha daingne a chur i bhfeidhm chun inmharthanacht a teanga a chosaint sa saol poiblí áfach, mar atá déanta ag tíortha eile buartha faoina leithéid, chinn na 26 contae gur leor polasaí Béarla-amháin. Más é seo cur chuige an stát, ní haon ionadh nach bhfuil formhór na ndaoine a bhfuil Gaeilge acu á labhairt. Más féidir leis an Éastóin agus an Laitvia pacáistiú a chinntiú ina dteangacha náisiúnta féin, cén fáth nach féidir linn a mhacasamhail a dhéanamh don beagnach dhá milliúin le Gaeilge anseo?

Dála an scéil, is féidir linn. Thuaidh agus theas, ceanglaíonn muid coinníollacha stáit agus AE cheana féin chun a chinntiú go léirítear eolas ar leith ar phacáistiú, ní theastódh ach athruithe beaga sa dlí chun a chinntiú gur sa dá teanga a bheadh an t-eolas sin. Tá tacaíocht forleathan traspháirtí don athrú seo

Dá mbeadh stát acu féin acu siúd go léir a deir go bhfuil Gaeilge acu in Éirinn, bheadh daonra níos mó ag an stát sin ná ag 5 ballstáit den Aontas Eorpach

• Aengus Ó Snodaigh

If they can, why can’t we?

BY EOGHAN FINN

This is the slogan Cian Ward has been spreading from door to door with his bilingual packaging campaign, seeking to emulate what he experienced first-hand in shops and supermarkets in Montréal. Cian doesn’t speak much Irish himself, but feels strongly that if Irish were a more normalised, visible, and relevant part of everyday life, on everything from food to cleaning products, it would make it easier for the hundreds of thousands who claim to speak Irish but struggle and the many like him who’d like to

I joined Cian for a day’s canvass in Dublin’s bougie Portobello, and the response was resounding. From Gaeilgeoirí to people who say they’ve hated Irish since it was ‘bet into them in school’, all agreed that this simple move would be a common-sense way to make Irish more accessible.

It’s a refreshing change from the postcolonial mantra that pervades the 26 Counties, that we shouldn’t be overly ambitious, that we’re not big enough to do what other countries do, that we should be grateful for what we’ve inherited, including colonial institutions and practices, and stay in our lane. English will do, Irish is asking too much, sure hardly anyone speaks it anyway.

In fact, proportionally more claim to speak Irish in the 26 Counties (40%) than Canadians claim knowledge of French (29%), yet English and French are both required on packaging in Canada. If all the people who claim to speak Irish in Ireland had a state of their own, it would have a larger population than five EU member states, including Estonia and Latvia who require packaging in their national languages.

Of course, Irish speakers do have a state that claims Irish as its first official and national language. But where other states concerned about the survival of their language enacted strict provisions to protect their language in public life, the 26 County state decided a policy of English-only would do. With an attitude like that from the state, is it any wonder most people who can speak Irish don’t? If Estonia and Latvia can require

packaging in their own national languages, why can’t we for our roughly two million Irish speakers?

The fact is, we can. North and South, we already impose EU and state requirements that packaging displays certain information, only a small change in law would be needed to ensure that is in both languages.

If all the people who claim to speak Irish in Ireland had a state of their own, it would have a larger population than five EU member states, including Estonia and Latvia who require packaging in their national languages

• Jack Chambers

le sonrú sa Dáil ó thosaigh Cian ag feachtasaíocht, ach dhiúltaigh an tAire Gaeltachta Jack Chambers tacú le hiarrachtaí Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD (Sinn Féin) pacáistiú

Dhiúltaigh an tAire Gaeltachta Jack Chambers tacú le hiarrachtaí Aengus

Ó Snodaigh TD (Sinn Féin) pacáistiú dhátheangach a chur isteach in Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla

dhátheangach a chur isteach in Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla.

Mar thoradh ar an aird dírithe ar seirbhísí poiblí a fheabhsú do Ghaeilgeoirí san Acht sin, rud atá ríthábhachtach freisin áfach, déantar neamhaird ar an tábhacht a bhaineann le

hábharthacht agus feiceálacht na Gaeilge lasmuigh den státchóras agus den scoil. D’aithin Québec le déanaí, sa Bhille nua 96, an tábhacht a bhaineann le saol an ghnó agus an domhain poiblí mar láthair chatha i slánú teanga. Beidh deis eile an chath seo a chur chun cinn nuair a thagann an Bhille um Chearta an Tomhaltóir os comhair an Seanaid sna míonna amach romhainn.

I stát dátheangach, ba chóir go mbeadh sé inghlactha mar bunrud go gcinnteofar dátheangachas áit a cheanglaíonn an stát coinníollacha cheana féin – ar nós i gcás pacáistiú, comharthaí bóithre, agus fógraíocht, mar shampla – go háirithe stát atá ag iarraidh úsáid an teanga mhionlaithe a spreagadh.

Cad a tharla don aisling sin d’Éire Gaelach agus saor, a mhol an Piarsach agus an Chonghaileach, an Coileánach agus an Craoibhín Aoibhinn, a lig don Éire seo a dhéanann sprioc an Bhéarla amháin nó an Bhéarla chun tosaigh a bhrú? Más féidir le tíortha eile an spleáchas a shárú, cén fáth nach féidir linn? 

Eoghan Finn Cúntóir Parlamainte I dTeach Laighean

Such a change has received widespread support across parties in the Dáil since Cian started his campaign, but Gaeltacht Minister Jack Chambers refused to support

speakers, while also vital, has left the state blinkered to the importance of protecting the relevance and presence of Irish outside the state and school. Québec recently recognised, through their new Bill 96, that business and the public sphere too are key battlegrounds for language survival. The Consumer Rights Bill coming before the Seanad in the coming months should offer another opportunity to make this case.

Ensuring bilingualism where the state already imposes requirements – like on packaging, road signs, and advertising, for example – should be the basics, taken as a given in a bilingual state, especially one trying to encourage use of a minoritised language.

Sinn Féin’s Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD when he tried to include bilingual packaging in the Official Languages Act.

That Act’s focus on improving public services for Irish

What happened that saw the dream of a Gaelic and Free Ireland, shared by Pearse and Connolly, Collins and Hyde, replaced by an Ireland that pushes an English-only, English-first agenda? If other countries can do better, why can’t we?

Eoghan Finn is a parliamentary assistant in Leinster House

Gaeltacht Minister Jack Chambers refused to support Sinn Féin’s Aengus

Ó Snodaigh TD when he tried to include bilingual packaging in the Official Languages Act

Cian is asking that people who want bilingual packaging send an email to the relevant Ministers outlining their support for the initiative:

PROTECTING THE NARRATIVE OF CHANGE

TOM HARTLEY – A COLLECTOR’S STORY

The political upheaval inside the Northern State which began in the late 1960s led to an explosion of creative and artistic energy in the nationalist community. It triggered the creation of local radio stations and the production of posters, leaflets, and local news-sheets.

These early posters, leaflets, and local newssheets were first etched out or printed on to a stencil and then attached to an old Gestetner printing machine. Within two to three years, a weekly community newspaper, the Andersonstown News, and the weekly Republicans News were carrying details of the political crisis unfolding within the Northern State.

These local publications were quickly adopted as the voice of opposition to the dominant political narrative of the media and political elites. These platforms of local communication quickly developed as an essential site of struggle and change. This was also the period when I began to collect the ephemera produced as a result of the ongoing conflict. It remains a significant part of my political activism

The Public Record Office in Belfast was the first recipient of ephemera collected by me. I also began a long association with the Linen Hall Library in Belfast, contributing a collection of approximately four thousand pamphlets and hundreds of posters.

In 2001, I started to collect for the Ulster Museum. Presently, I have donated over 2,000 objects, representing a broad political and social spectrum of political and social ideas. Now named the Tom Hartley Collection; posters of all sizes, banners, leaflets, badges, pamphlets, mugs, maps, prison crafts, republican Christmas stamps, GAA jerseys, political jerseys, loyalist and unionist badges, and a lot more beside are now part of the collection.

On 15 June this year, the museum launched an exhibition titled ‘A Collector’s Story’, which showcases a selection of objects from the Tom Hartley Collection. In a short address on the night of the launch, I emphasised the importance of providing

future historians with the ephemera of the political and social struggles that constitute the multiple narratives of change from the 1960s through to the present. I argued that to fail in this was to allow others to hijack, distort or silence those voices of change. I related that sentiment to the exhibition itself. The exhibits engage us through their demands for marriage equality, nation-

al rights, prisoners’ rights, Irish language rights, and the rights of families to have the truth.

The painter Robert Ballagh is well represented through his thought provoking prints; ‘The Thirtieth of January’, ‘Martin McGuiness’, and ‘Slán Abhaile’. There is also a small representative collection of pamphlets and political badges. The exhi-

The exhibition ‘A Collector’s Story’ will be on display in the Ulster Museum’s Belfast Room until January 2023

bition includes objects from the Unionist community, which remind us of the complexity of our island narrative.

While an exhibit invites us to engage with an awareness of its form and design, it can also reveal the intellectual process or journey that turns a political idea into an object. For example, one of the exhibits is a Sinn Féin poster demanding marriage equality.

This campaign poster began with an awareness of an injustice, which became a focus for group activity to highlight and oppose the injustice. Through forms of communication, ideas led to proposals to end the injustice, the poster being one of those proposals.

In this process, we see group purpose, action, creativity, and energy. Multiply this by the number of objects on display and,

over the timeframe of years, a picture of a highly creative and politicised human process emerges, which shaped the political and social space it occupied.

Another example of this process is to be found in a recently acquired crocodile suit which was worn by Irish language activists in a protest held outside the office of the DUP’s Nelson McCausland on 7 February 2017.

The protest occurred in the wake of the outrageous response of Arlene Foster, then leader of the DUP, to the demand for an Irish Language Act, Foster stated, “If you feed a crocodile, it will keep coming back and looking for more”.

Those wearing the suit at the protest on 7 February exposed the reactionary nature of Arlene Foster’s attitude to the demand for an Irish Language Act. Again, in the 2019

In 2001, I started to collect for the Ulster Museum. Presently, I have donated over 2,000 objects, representing a broad political and social spectrum of political and social ideas

Assembly Elections, Irish language activists highlighted this crocodile moment and its deep political impact across the nationalist community by simply wearing a crocodile suit.

Of course, all of us accumulate objects and, through them, we build a reservoir of memory and experience. Memory is not static consciousness; it grows, matures, changes and is reshaped by new experiences. Much can be forgotten and hidden in the depth of our unconscious.

Therein lies the secret of an exhibition; it is a key that opens a door to these hidden memories. For those who remember the exhibit as a part of their life experience, between object on display and encountering the object, significant moments of debate, change, political activity, and collective energy are revisited and brought to the surface, to be lodged in our individual and collective memory bank.

Memories have the potential to be collected and recorded and add to depth of understanding for future generations. This memory bank can become the starting

point and a powerful stimulus for conversation and debate, releasing memories long forgotten and associated with particular periods of life’s journey and the individuals who occupied that particular space in time. An important dimension of any public display of museum exhibits is how it allows for multiple and antagonistic opinions to emerge, thus allowing a critical analysis of the exhibition which stimulates a broader interpretation of the objects on display.

I sincerely hope that those who view the exhibits for the first time become curious about the context of their use, seeking to understand how they emerged and through their imagination begin to place the exhibits within an historical setting. It could be the start of a historical journey and an exploration of the past, broadening their knowledge and understanding and triggering the need for ongoing research.

Struggle and change is often represent-

ed through the lives of big personalities and their leadership roles. What I seek to achieve is to collect the ephemera of historical events which allows for a look at history from the viewpoint of activists and participants who embody the grassroots and backbone of political and social movements.

The more we hear their voices, the more we see them, the more we can locate their presence in the historical events they shaped in the course of their lives. To achieve this, we need to collect, collate, and conserve the material.

Material sitting in attics should not be seen as rubbish and dumped. So, if you have material which you think is of historical importance, talk to your local museum or university about your material or contact the head office of Sinn Féin who may be interested in adding your material to their archive. Whatever you do, make sure your history is preserved and valued. 

Tom Hartley is an author, historian, and former Belfast Sinn Féin councillor and Mayor

The exhibits engage us through their demands for marriage equality, national rights, prisoners’ rights, Irish language rights, and the rights of families to have the truth

• EXHIBITION: Tom with Deirdre Hargey and Gerry Adams Photo: leargas.blogspot.com

• MEMORIES: Fra McCann beside one of the many exhibits Photo: leargas.blogspot.com

Sliocht Róisín LIOSTA LAOCHRA NA POBLACHTA

Éireann Nic Uaitéir introduces the Sliocht Róisín project, an ongoing independent venture that seeks to record the details of every Republican who died as a result of the conflict in Ireland from 1916-23 and in the years after.

We are excited to be given an opportunity to introduce the readership of An Phoblacht to Sliocht Róisín – Liosta Laochra na Poblachta (Descendants of Róisín – Heroes of the Republic), a massive project of Republican historiography that has been in the work for two years.

Sliocht Róisín is an independent project aimed at recording details of every Republican who died as a result of the conflict in Ireland from 1916-23 and in the years after. All members of the Irish Volunteers/ IRA, Na Fianna Éireann, Cumann na mBan, IRB, Sinn Féin and other Republican organizations who died during this era have had their details carefully pieced together, many for the first time.

The project is a joint work between 1798 historian Colum O’Ruairc, co-author of United Irishmen: Emigres of Erin, and Maynooth University student Shane Waters. However, a huge number of both locally and nationally renowned historians have contributed their knowledge to help us on the journey towards a comprehensive list, unlike any ever seen.

Every entry consists of their rank, unit, birth details and parentage, occupation, address and marital status and children where applicable. This will be of huge help for those tracing their family genealogy from this era.

Each entry culminates with an account of their death, drawn from all relevant sources, inquests, newspapers, Bureau of Military History (BMH) statements and local knowledge. Finally, their resting place is noted; whether it be the expanse of Glasnevin, a lonely churchyard in West Clare, with their comrades in a well-maintained Republican plot or a yet unmarked grave in Milltown.

The work has already seen at least one tangible result, with a plaque erected to Volunteer John Walker killed in April 1922 in the Short Strand after we passed on his details to the local commemoration committee.

Quotes and images of the time are scattered throughout the book, alongside songs, many which have never sung or recorded outside the locality where the volunteer remembered was

‘Many of them are poor — almost all are. Most of them are unheard of, and yet their work for Ireland deserves to be known. It will never be, in our day anyway, in all probability, but it is to them the thanks of future generations of the Irish people will be due. They gave their all in silence, seeking no reward and getting none.’

COMMANDANT-GENERAL LIAM MELLOWS

THE KILMAINHAM FOUR

FISHER, James:

Rank: Volunteer

Unit: F Coy, 4th Batt., Dublin No.1 Bde, IRA.

DOB: c.1903.

Occupation: Cigarette Factory employee

Address: Echlin Street Buildings, James St, Dublin.

Death: Having been found in possession of a revolver, Fisher and several comrades were arrested by INA on Dublin’s Catherine St. He was tried by a Military Tribunal and sentenced to death by firing squad. Fisher was executed in Kilmainham Gaol in what were the first State sanctioned executions of the Irish Civil War.

Buried: The Republican Plot, Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.

MSPC Ref: None

“To my Mother whom I dearly love, Good-bye, Good-bye, Good-bye. We will meet in Heaven, please God, Mother. God strengthen me in this ordeal, Mother. I am to die for Ireland.”

• A sample of a bio from the book

from. Eyewitness accounts from the time, ranging from reports of Sinn Féin cumainn forming to fierce firefights capture the mood of the era. It is among the most detailed studies of the dead of any war ever undertaken.

We went through every national and local history of the era, every BMH statement, every memorial, the 1921-22 nominal rolls, death notices, and any other source we could find until the list exceeded 1,000.

Many of those listed in Sliocht Róisín have never been acknowledged in conventional narratives as Republicans. With the releases of military pension files, nominal rolls and a wealth of local knowledge supplied to us, they will finally be listed alongside their comrades as they always should have been.

Sliocht Róisín is in some ways a successor to the highly sought after ‘The Last Post’ book of 1976 and 1985, but with significantly expanded detail and a most crucial addition, the photographs. We have amassed what is certainly the largest collection of photographs of Republican casualties of the era ever compiled, with over 500 photographed, having scoured books, newspapers, websites but most importantly, having secured a massive amount of cooperation from families of the dead.

Many have never been seen outside of their families in the past century. A typical example of this is Volunteer Seán Bulman of D Company, First Battalion, First Cork Brigade, shot dead in Shandon St Barracks in Cork in April 1922.

Seán’s grandniece Juliann related to us how his picture had to be rescued from a second-hand shop after his sister died, where it has remained a possession of his proud family ever since. We intend to bring back the forgotten faces of the names inscribed on dark crosses in lonely graveyards, to change them from quick lines in songs back into human beings, who shared a deathless dream and fell before seeing its conclusion.

There are many more photographs to unearth yet

and we would like to appeal particularly to families from the north of Ireland whose relations have had their pictures and stories hidden by the most recent phase of the conflict.

We are extremely fortunate to have the cooperation of the National Graves Association and all profits from the publication will be going towards their work maintaining the graves of those we are writing of.

We decided that the enormous help we have received from families and historians was not something we wanted to profit from and that those who helped make this possible should see the memorials to their relations marked in a fitting way.

Sliocht Róisín is still looking for a publisher at the time of writing and we hope to have our first volume, containing the dead of 1916-1919 out by Christmas. If any of the readership wishes to contribute to the project please email �� 1798rcd@gmail.com. All contributions are welcome and any information that you feel we may have overlooked will be appreciated. 

Éireann Nic Uaitéir is a history and politics student at Maynooth University and a Sinn Féin activist based in Wexford

The work has already seen at least one tangible result with a plaque erected to Volunteer John Walker killed in April 1922 in the Short Strand

A huge number of both locally and nationally known historians have contributed their knowledge to help us on the journey towards a comprehensive list, unlike any ever seen

• The Volunteer John Walker plaque in the Short Strand

Place of Execution

Kilmainham Jail, Dublin

Kilmainham Jail, Dublin

Kilmainham Jail, Dublin

Kilmainham Jail, Dublin

Beggars Bush Barracks, Dublin

Beggars Bush Barracks, Dublin

Beggars Bush Barracks, Dublin

Beggars Bush Barracks, Dublin

Mountjoy Jail, Dublin

Mountjoy Jail, Dublin

Mountjoy Jail, Dublin

Mountjoy Jail, Dublin

Curragh Camp, Kildare

Curragh Camp, Kildare

Curragh Camp, Kildare

Curragh Camp, Kildare

Curragh Camp, Kildare

Curragh Camp, Kildare

Curragh Camp, Kildare

Kilkenny Jail, Kilkenny

Kilkenny Jail, Kilkenny

Portobello Barracks, Dublin

Portobello Barracks, Dublin

Portobello Barracks, Dublin

THE

Portobello Barracks, Dublin

Portobello Barracks, Dublin

Dundalk Barracks, Louth

Dundalk Barracks, Louth

Dundalk Barracks, Louth

Roscrea, Tipperary

Roscrea, Tipperary

Roscrea, Tipperary

Roscrea, Tipperary

Carlow Jail, Carlow

Tralee Barracks, Kerry

Tralee Barracks, Kerry

Tralee Barracks, Kerry

Tralee Barracks, Kerry

Limerick Prison, Limerick

Limerick Prison, Limerick

Athlone, Westmeath

Athlone, Westmeath

Athlone, Westmeath

Athlone, Westmeath

Athlone, Westmeath

Dundalk Barracks, Louth

Dundalk Barracks, Louth

Dundalk Barracks, Louth

Waterford Jail, Waterford

Waterford Jail, Waterford

Birr, O aly

Birr, O aly

Birr, O aly

Portlaoise Jail, Laois

Portlaoise Jail, Laois

Portlaoise Jail, Laois

Beggars Bush Barracks, Dublin

Cork Jail, Cork

Wexford Jail, Wexford

Wexford Jail, Wexford

Wexford Jail, Wexford

Mullingar, Westmeath

Mullingar, Westmeath

Drumboe, Donegal

Drumboe, Donegal

Drumboe, Donegal

Drumboe, Donegal

Tuam

Tuam

Tralee

Tralee Barracks,

Tuam

An investment in Ireland’s children, is an investment in us all

BRÓNAGH NÍ CHUILINN

From as long as I can remember, traveling the world was always on my agenda. Being one of four girls, my parents would often half joke to us to not even think of getting married before we travelled the world first.

Alas, as I got older, leaving the Emerald Isle became more of a necessity than a want as rents soared, cost of living exponentially went through the roof, and Ireland headed in a direction of pricing itself out of the market.

Before we dive into life on the other side of the world, let’s look at what life was like for a woman in her twenties with a plethora of experience and see why she had to leave her beloved Ireland in the first place.

I moved to Dublin in 2015 and fell quickly into the rat race of trying to keep my head above water. It took my partner and I a good eight months to find a semi-decent

flat that was within our budget, didn’t have mushrooms growing on the walls and didn’t charge an extra €200 a month to park your car.

Our rent was €1,200 for a one bedroom flat in the heart of Ballybough. While it was nice and central to the fair city of Dublin, the only bit of nature we could see was a small patch of sky above the tall surrounding buildings.

We spent four years living it up in the big smoke and while we had some good times, it’d be ludicrous to say that we didn’t feel the pinch. I was on a zero hour contract, earning €14-€16 an hour with RTÉ at the time but I still found myself dipping into savings when a shift here and there fell through.

I quickly learnt that unless you have your hand in a few pies, there’s no way you can have a healthy savings account

compares the situation of living in Ireland and Australia asking why would Irish migrants consider returning when the state here does so little to invest in the future of our younger generations

In Melbourne, we get tax breaks on all sorts of things such as clothes or attire for work. We get 80c back for every hour we spent working from home to help with our utility bills

while living in Dublin. That’s when I took up a second job as an Irish teacher with Conradh na Gaeilge adding an extra six or seven hours to my work week.

After four years, we decided it was time for a change in pace. We arrived in Melbourne during March 2019 and that first year was an absolute whirlwind of new and exciting adventures. It became quickly apparent how Australia managed to have cracked the code on the work-life balance that most people in Ireland seem to fail at.

While the cost of living is slightly higher in Melbourne, the cost is warranted by your lifestyle. My partner and I pay €1,300 a month for a beautifully spacious two-bedroom apartment with panoramic views of the bay in the heart of the city. Our pad comes with a swimming pool, a gym and two communal cars to use free of charge.

Public transport is like liquid gold for the Irish down under. Everyone has a MiKi public transport card in which you can pay as you go or get a weekly subscription of €24

which will give you unlimited public transport on local buses, trams, and trains.

One tap is worth €2.66 but is valid for two hours which allows you to make multiple transfers on your journey for the one price and furthermore, the most you’ll ever spend on public transport per day is €5 because of the caps.

The big win is the free tram zone. This was introduced as an initiative to stop people from driving within the Central Business District and for those who had meetings in various locations of the inner city to entice them to catch public transport rather than drive a couple of blocks and add to the traffic.

We recently had our “End of Financial Year” which means we are officially allowed to do our tax returns. In Melbourne, we get tax breaks on all sorts of things such as clothes or attire for work. We get 80c back for every hour we spent working from home to help with our utility bills, part of your mobile bill if you use it for work, work seminars,

• The cost of living in Ireland has gone through the roof

meal expenses you spent while working overtime, union fees, courses that are used to enhance your career, the cost of using a tax agent, and so much more.

Superannuation, a pension as the Irish know it, is a massive industry in itself here. No matter what you work as or how little you work, your employer is legally required to pay at least 9.5% in addition to your weekly wage. This starts from the minute you earn your first dollar and everyone is included no matter what. This gives everyone a fair chance to have a stable retirement without having to rely on the government’s shortfalls.

No matter what country or industry you work in, there will always be a need for casual workers. It doesn’t mean that we can exploit them for doing the same work as a full timer. I worked as a casual worker for two years in Melbourne and was rewarded with a 25% loading fee on top of my hourly pay which counted for my lack of sick days and holiday pay.

With all of that being said, there is still something that draws me to Ireland. After nearly four years living in Australia, I find myself longing for the green fields of Offaly, the familiar Dublin wit, and the bustling music sessions.

I went home for Christmas and spent two months between the four corners of Ireland, and I can assure you despite all of the luxuries Australia affords me to have, it took every ounce of strength to get my bum back on that seat back to Melbourne.

I miss being able to nip home on whim and into the familiar smell of my mother’s cooking. I miss driving through the flat lands of the midlands, smelling the rotten but oh-so familiar smell of slurry being spread by the local farmer across his green fields.

I have played a lot of Irish music since leaving Ireland and every time I play at a session in Melbourne, I am often one of very few Irish natives in attendance, but I am quickly

reminded how Irish culture brings all backgrounds together and includes absolutely everyone.

Although most people back home would say we are pushovers, I do love how laid back we are and how no matter what’s going on, you’ll always find some lad in the back of a crowd wearing a GAA jersey saying “Ah ya can’t be at that craic now”. There’s not one such thing that makes us Irish, but rather a collection of proclivities that makes us the lovable rogues that we are worldwide.

Alas, as I’m embarking the bullet train towards 30, I find myself wondering what I want out of life at this stage. I feel ambivalent towards Ireland at the moment and I’m unsure as to whether I want to dedicate my life, my career to her if I get very little in return.

An investment in Ireland’s children is an investment in us all. Irish blood runs through my veins and she’ll always be a part of me no matter where I go, but I’d rather be at home, investing in Irish businesses and investing in my Irish career because at the end of the day, níl aon tinteán mar do thinteán féin. 

Brónagh Ní Chuilinn is a Senior Events Manager who lives in Melbourne, Australia.

I feel ambivalent towards Ireland at the moment and I’m unsure as to whether I want to dedicate my life, my career to her if I get very little in return

• Leaving the Emerald Isle became a necessity when rents soared

MAIRÉAD

A TALE OF SOLIDARITY AND STRUGGLE

“I remember as darkness fell my Daddy telling my elder sister Noreen and me to lie on the floor of the living room with bullets ricocheting off the back walls of our house, while he went out into the night, risking the gunfire in order to get help to evacuate us.”

The first pages of Síle Darragh’s newly republished ‘John Lennon’s Dead’ transport us to the author’s childhood home in 1970s East Belfast. The vivid description of the terrifying night of the 27 June of that year as experienced by a 12 year old Síle gives us the context of the world in which she grew up and which shaped her. On reading her story, the reality hits that no child should suffer such a terrifying incident, nor should it be allowed or enabled by the state in which that child lives.

The book focuses largely on Síle’s time in gaol. The experiences of republican women in gaol is something which is too often left out of discussions and the history of that period.

Of course, the establishment will always ensure that history books, newspapers, and art reinforce its point of view. Often, the life experience of the working class, the oppressed is excluded. The generations that follow are presented with this prejudiced narrative as ‘history’. For subsequent generations to find out what life felt like for the people who struggled, they can usually only do so by accessing materials that record personal experience. For this reason,

it is of paramount importance that the working class and revolutionaries document what it was like to live through their times, tell of their struggle and their life experience, through stories, poems, and memoirs.

For this reason alone, Síle Darragh’s recently republished book about her experience as an IRA prisoner in Armagh Gaol, ‘John Lennon’s Dead’, is of such importance.

The book brings to life and humanises women, many of whom have passed away and allows the reader to get to know their unique personalities. The average age of the women in Armagh Gaol in the early 1970s ranged from 17 to 19 years old. Readers realise just how young they were –swapping clothes, getting dressed up for prison visits and talking about their lives – and the reality that many of these women will be spending their young lives in that gaol.

The brutality of 7 February 1980 is described with such detail that it feels like one is witnessing it; the thumps, muffled sounds as women are dragged from their cells, the feeling of helplessness.

“The male screws had obviously hyped themselves up in expectation of trouble and they went bezerk...

They grabbed women in head locks, twisted arms, kicked and punched… Anne Marie Quinn was being held in a headlock with her throat being pressed against the side bar of the metal stairs, gasping for breath.”

This proved to be a turning point in the struggle in Armagh

FARRELL REVIEWS THE REPUBLISHED ‘JOHN LENNON’S DEAD’ BY SÍLE DARRAGH

• Drilling for Easter Commemoration in Armagh, 1979

to allow the emptying of chamber pots leading to the no wash protest. While such vital points in the history of the men’s struggle in Long Kesh are known by many, that same understanding cannot be said of the experiences of the women in Armagh.

Very little has been written about the women’s participation in the 1980 Hunger Strike; indeed, it is regularly forgotten. This memoir is a powerful insight into that period. Throughout the book, the medical neglect of the women is highlighted, with some very serious results. This again is seen during the Hunger Strike when something as simple as informing the women of salt tablets, which they could take, was not done. It details the impact of the strike on the women’s bodies, the morale within the gaol, and the continuation of daily life in such tense times.

Until such time as we take control of our own story in history books and historical records, we will rely on books such as this to give us the perspective of the oppressed, and usually this applies particularly to working class women. Síle

Darragh realised this. She had the foresight to send all her prison comms to Chicago for safekeeping and she writes:

In 2001, 20 later, I got them back, and I cried again. Once more I was that young woman of 23 sitting in a cell in Armagh gaol, reliving the terrible memories of a terrible period in my life.”

This book documents with some humour and much heartbreak the story of these women but what stands out is the anguish. They were a family, and a loss for one was a loss for all. This experience forged a profound sense of solidarity and the knowledge of the strength in unity. Síle’s account shows that united we are stronger, that they survived because they were a group of comrades who remain comrades to this day.

The legacy of Síle and her comrades is the t generation of confident republican women who not only demand their place but expect it. 

• Protest in Armagh Gaol for Political Status,

Ard Fheis 2022 Dublin

Due to the spiralling cost of living crisis and the staggering cost of accommodation in Dublin, the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle agreed to hold this year's Ard Fheis over one day, not two.

Ard Chomhairle members cited some examples of extreme cost for delegates and visitors, with no reprieve in sight.

The 2022 Ard Fheis will now take place on Saturday 5 November, in the RDS, Dublin .

We are asking all members who intend to go to register their interest here:

 www.sinnfein.ie/members/ardfheisreg

If you have have difficulties registering please contact: �� membership@sinnfein.ie

De bharr na géarchéime i gcostais mhaireachtála agus an praghas uafásach ard lóistín i mBaile Átha Cliath, tá socrú déanta ag Ard Chomhairle Shinn Féin chun Ard Fheis na bliana seo a reáchtáil thar aon lá amháin, seachas dhá lá.

Thug baill Ard Chomhairle aird ar shamplaí áirithe den chostas ollmhór a bheadh ar thoscairí agus ar chuairteoirí.

Is ar an Satharn 5 Samhain san RDS i mBaile Átha Cliath a bhéas Ard Fheis 2022 ar siúl anois.

Iarraimid ar aon bhall a bhfuil sé i gceist acu bheith i láthair suim a chlárú anseo:

 www.sinnfein.ie/members/ardfheisreg

Má bhíonn aon deacrachtaí agat leis an gclárú déan teagmháil le: �� membership@sinnfein.ie

WE MUST BE THE GUARDIANS OF OUR OWN HISTORY

BY EIBHLÍN GLENHOLMES

At the Prisoners Day book launch of ‘The Armagh Women’ in the Felons Club, Richard McAuley referred to the question every author asks of themselves. “Where to start?” So, they started at the beginning, with a brief history of the jail itself from its construction in 1780 to its closure in 1988. Female political prisoners were moved to Maghaberry prison in 1986 before they were eventually released as part of the Good Friday Agreement.

Each period of imprisonment, before and after Partition and including our most recent conflict, is contextualised against the climate of the time and where the struggle stood at that given period.

The book joins a small library by female authors, including ‘John Lennon’s Dead’, Síle Darragh’s first-hand account of her prison years during the protest, ‘In The Footsteps of Anne’, the project of Eileen Hickey which notes the stories of republican political female prisoners in Ireland and England, ‘Unmanageable Revolutionaries’ by Margaret Ward, Chrissie McAuley’s ‘Women In a War Zone’, ‘When History Was Made’ by Ruth Taillon, and most recently ‘On Dangerous Ground’, the memoirs of Máire Comerford. Comerford’s book was refused

publication during her lifetime due to her anti-Treaty stance and only brought to life by the dedication of Dr Hilary Dully.

'The Armagh Women' gives voice to the particular contribution of those women who, throughout our arduous history, refused to regard themselves as the “le-

At a time when there was no strip-searching of male prisoners – even after the great escape from the H-Blocks in 1983 –the Armagh authorities imposed this punitive practice remorselessly

• Susan Loughran

• Armagh Goal

gion of the rearguard” and firmly took their place in the vanguard of our struggle. For this, they paid. They paid heavily

The harrowing account of the 1943 attack on Republican internees, the hosing and forced strip searching carried out by the screws and RUC men, makes for grim reading. Decades on, Bernie Loughran, the last of the politcal prisoners from the ‘40s, recalled, “It was bloody awful, shocking, how in under God we survived that, many a time it still keeps me awake”.

The 1970s hunger strike for political status by Susan Loughran and other sentenced women prisoners lasted for over 21 days. Early 1973 saw the indiscriminate internment of almost 40 women, among them mothers of young families.

At the launch, Martina Anderson, who was imprisoned in England before being transferred to Ireland, spoke about her and her comrade Ella O’Dwyer’s experience of being strip searched over 3,000 times while on remand. At a time when there was no strip searching of male prisoners – even after the great escape from the H-Blocks in 1983 – the Armagh authorities imposed this punitive practice remorselessly.

We all thought we had seen the worst the British Government could do to defenceless women. We had not yet seen the British Government’s ‘Ulsterisation, Normalisation and Criminalisation’ policy however.

Then came 1 March 1976. In that year, the British government reneged on an earlier agreement and withdrew political status for those convicted in the special non-jury Diplock Courts. Women would be ordered to do punitive work or face punishments in terms of lockups, solitary confinement and loss of remission.

Richard and Gerry allow the voices of the women themselves to tell the story of these almost indescribable years of protest in Armagh, including ‘Black Friday’ when there was a coordinated and harrowing attack on the women.

The women describe the mental and physical torture, the degrading and inhumane treatment over the years of incarceration. The enforced no-wash protest,

• Ella O’Dwyer and Martina Anderson

• Gerry Adams and Richard McAuley with their new book

the denial of sanitary protection, the brutalisation and desexualisation were systemic and systematic throughout. Eventually three prisoners went on hunger strike

– Mairéad Farrell, Mairéad Nugent and Mary Doyle – in parallel with a strike by seven men in the H-Blocks. This period is also vividly described in Síle Darragh’s prison memoir, ‘John Lennon’s Dead’, which has just been reissued.

The history of the Republican women political prisoners in Armagh Jail makes for dolorous reading. It should do so. It also raises us up as we read and understand more of the indomitable and unquenchable spirit of Bobby Sands “the undauntable thought” that shines through their lives and their suffering.

In between, we also get a glimpse of their heroism, their bravery, their humour, their wit in “outwitting” the prison regime and their deep, life lasting bonds of sisterhood and comradeship.

Richard said that Gerry and he had tried to keep men out of the book and they have done so. This is a book about the women of Armagh, and we acknowledge

�

Let our own voices be heard. Let us write Irish women into the history books. Let us write about ourselves

• 'The Armagh Women' describes the mental and physical torture, the degrading and inhumane treatment over the years of incarceration which led to the 1980 Hunger Strike

• Women drilling in Armagh Jail

sisters’ stories.

There are still many Armagh stories we don’t know enough about. The post–protest period in Armagh Jail, the women’s campaign of disobedience, is still unwritten and would require a book in itself. I look forward to reading it someday.

The underlying subtext to the book is an appeal for those women who can tell their stories to do so. The number of women incarcerated during this most recent stage of our conflict numbers almost 400. A figure too large to be entirely ignored by future historians, but why risk it?

We must be the guardians of our own history. If we, the republican women of our generation, do not tell our stories, present our narratives, then journalists, academics, and historians will stamp their own bias and prejudices on the story of Armagh, Limerick, Durham, and Maghaberry as well prisons in France. Let our own voices be heard. Let us write Irish women into the history books. Let us write about ourselves. 

Eibhlín Glenholmes is a Republican activist who successfully fought a British extradition case in the Dublin High Court in 1986. She currently works in Tar Anall, a centre for Republican former political prisoners.

By Gerry Adams and Richard McAuley

Published by An Fhuiseog Price €23

‘The Armagh Women: The Story of Protests in Armagh Women’s Jail ’

• Mairéad Farrell on the 'no wash protest'

CHALLENGES IN THE IRISH UNITY DEBATE

MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA reviews ‘United Nationthe Case for Integrating Ireland’ by Frank Connolly

This is the most comprehensive book so far on the ever-growing debate on Irish Unity and the need for the Unity referendum as set out in the Good Friday Agreement.

At the opening of the book, the author quotes Roger Casement who described a nation as a river with many tributaries joining to form one great stream. The Irish nation is surely such a river, and our heritage is pre-Celtic, Gaelic, Viking, Norman with tributaries of Scots, English, Welsh all flowing through our history, joined now by streams from many other nations worldwide.

There is no such thing as a ‘pure’ nation and what binds people in a positive sense of nationhoodas distinct from a narrow nationalism - is not race or ethnicity but shared experience and a sense of community linked to a sense of place.

The other vital element for a modern nation is democracy. The demand for Irish Unity is based on the principle of self-determination, national democracy. The test of that is relations with other nations and states. And this is where the book begins because that’s what the Brexit crisis is all

There is no such thing as a ‘pure’ nation and what binds people in a positive sense of nationhood - as distinct from a narrow nationalism - is not race or ethnicity but shared experience and a sense of community linked to a sense of place

• First Minister in waiting, Michelle O’Neill

about as it affects Ireland. The vast majority in Ireland, including a majority in the Six Counties, want to decide our relationship with the EU ourselves and not to have it determined by England.

Brexit threw the fundamental contradictions and injustices of Partition into sharp relief. The threat to reimpose a hard border in Ireland rang alarm bells not only here, but in European capitals, in North America and among friends of Ireland everywhere. It proved to be the main stumbling block for the English Brexiteers in their push to get a favourable divorce from the EU. And it is far from over as the Tories and DUP try to overturn the Protocol which they themselves previously agreed.

Underlying the negative DUP-Tory axis is their veiled hostility to the Good Friday Agreement itself and their refusal to recognise change as manifested in Michelle O’Neill’s position as First Minister in waiting.

This is the political background so well filled in by the author, but there is far more to the book. He interviews a wide range of people from all walks of life and from across the political spectrum. Connolly tackles head-on the great challenges of Irish Unity - how to win the referendum, how to persuade more

By Frank Connolly

Published by Gill Books

Price €16.99

Ireland and the social, economic, and cultural shape of a New Ireland.

Proponents of the referendum have been saying for years now that we must prepare, that we must chart the way ahead and give a clear view of our ultimate destination and what that United Ireland would look like. And much work has been done in that regard, to which this book is a major contribution. But the Irish government still drags its feet, still refuses to put in place a Citizens’ Assembly, still blocks full engagement by the Oireachtas. That position cannot hold, and pressure must be kept up on the Irish government to fulfil its obligations.

The author is to be highly commended, as are those who engaged as interviewees and made the book possible. It should be used now as a resource in the widening debate and the expanding campaign for Irish Unity. 

Mícheál Mac Donncha has been a Dublin City councillor for Sinn Féin since 2011

‘United Nation - the Case for Integrating Ireland’

Connolly tackles head-on the great challenges of Irish Unity - how to win the referendum, how to persuade more people of the necessity for unity, how to find a secure place for all, especially Unionists, in a United Ireland

• Author Frank Connolly with Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald

Is ar an gcéad Domhnach de mhí Iúil gach bliain a chuirtear tús le féile Sheachtain na mBundúchasach san Astráil (NAIDOC). Cuireadh ar athló na hócáidí ar fad i 2020 de bharr ráig na pandéime Covid-19 agus cuireadh clár giorraithe ar siúl anuraidh ach trí bliana ó shin bhí de sheans agam freastal ar roinnt imeachtaí a bhain leis an bhféile i Sydney na hAstráile.

Seachtain na mBundúchasach san Astráil

LE LUKE CALLINAN

“Guth | Conradh | Fírinne” ba théama do sheachtain NAIDOC na hAstráile i 2019. Is é atá sa bhféile seo, ceiliúradh ar chultúr na mbundúchasach san Astráil agus clár imeachtaí a thugann stair na tíre sin chun cuimhne go hionraic cneasta gan dallamullóg an choilíneachais Eorpaigh a chur ar an bpobal. Rug mé ar an bhfaill eolas a chur ar chultúr agus ar stair an phobail seo le linn dom bheith ar cuairt ag daoine muintreacha liom thall agus seachtain NAIDOC faoi lán tseoil. Is furasta do dhuine de bhunadh na hÉireann a bhfuil stair a dhúiche ar eolas aige bá ghaoil bheith aige do mhuintir dhúchasach na hAstráile, an cultúr beo is faide ar an saol. Is go maith a thuigeann muid brúidiúlacht agus mídhaonnacht impireacht na Breataine ach ba mheasa go mór an anachain a rinneadh do mhuintir “Bayala Nura”, ainm eile ag na bundúchasaigh

ar an Astráil arb ionann é agus “yarning country”. Cé gur iomaí treibh, teanga agus pobal san Astráil - tá mórchríoch na hAstrála naíocha oiread níos mó ná Éire – bhí, agus tá, sé de nós acu uilig scéalta, saíocht agus seanchas an phobail a roinnt tríd an gcaint, an damhsa agus na hamhráin.

Is ann don dream a cheidreann gur meán é teanga d’fhonn cumarsáid a dhéanamh agus nach n-iompraíonn sí cultúr ná meon ach tá cumhacht ar leith ag baint le teangacha; ní gan chúis a chuir lucht coilínithe na hAstráile an ru aig ar na teangacha dúchais agus Béarla á thabhairt isteach mar theanga oifi giúil an stáit nua. “Djabara” a thug an lucht dúchais ar na hinimircigh Eorpacha san Astráil, cuir i gcás, focal a chiallaíonn maide tine nó gunna. Ar cheann de na focail ba thábhachtaí don duine óg ag teacht in inmhe bpobal bundúchasach bhí “ngara”. Dar le “ngara” gur cheart don duine éisteacht, cloisteáil agus smaoineamh: éisteacht leis na seanóirí; an saol mór timpeall idir mhuir, spéir, ainmhithe is thalamh a chloisteáil; agus smaoineamh faoin tionchar a bhíonn againn ar an saol mór sin. Is gá meas agus tuiscint ghéar bheith ag duine ar an “garrigarrang”, focal de chuid phobail Eora i Sydney a chuimsíonn gach uile ghné de shaol an phobail atá buailte leis an cósta. “Uluru” a thug glúinte den phobal Pitjantjatjara Anangu ar an gcloch uasal ghaineamhchloch i lár na hAstráile, ár ndóigh, nó gur tháinig William Gosse uirthi i 1872, bail ó Dhia air, agus Ayers Rock a baisteadh uirthi ó shin in ómós do Sir Henry Ayers as Portsmouth Shasana, tráth a raibh sé ina PhríomhRúnaí do Dheisceart na hAstrála.

Scéal amháin a ch-

uaigh i gcion orm go mór agus mé ar cuairt i Melbourne le linn sheachtain na mbundúchasach, cás Tunnerminnerwait agus Maulboyheenner, beirt as Tasmania a crochadh go poiblí taobh amuigh de phríosún Mhelbourne 20 Eanáir 1842, an chéad bheirt a chuir rialtas coilíneach nua i Victoria chun báis. Ba sa bpríosún céanna a cuireadh Ned Kelly chun báis sa bhliain 1880. Rinne Tunnerminnerwait agus Maulboyheenner seasamh in aghaidh fhoréigean agus leatrom an choilínithe, go háirithe mar gheall ar na hionsaithe a rinne coilínigh ar mhná dúchais, agus socraíodh a chur in iúl do na bundúchasaigh seo nach raibh glacadh ag an gcóras nua lena leithéid. Géilleadh cultúrtha agus fisiciúil nó bás ba dhán dóibh. Blianta fada i ndiaidh bhás na bhfear a

Is é atá sa bhféile seo, ceiliúradh ar chultúr na mbundúchasach san Astráil agus clár imeachtaí a thugann stair na tíre sin chun cuimhne go hionraic cneasta

gan dallamullóg an choilíneachais

Eorpaigh a chur ar an bpobal

Bhain Pemulwuy, ceann fine an phobail Bidjigal, clú agus cáil amach mar an chéad treallchogaí dá gcuid agus deirtear go raibh os cionn céad fear a sheas leis sa bhfeachtas in aghaidh lucht an choilíneachais

le scigdhráma an cás cúirte inar ciontaíodh Tunnerminnerwait agus Maulboyheenner. Easpa fianaise, fianaise bhréige, nósanna cúirte aisteacha agus teanga nach raibh na cimí compordach léi, chuirfeadh sé murdair Mhám Trasna i gcuimhne don Ghael meabhrach. Ba ghá duine nó beirt a chur chun báis le fainic a chur ar an gcuid eile acu nó ba dheacair an jab iad a chur as a seilbh. Lena gcás a chur chun donais, níor tugadh coirp na bhfear a maraíodh ar ais dá muintir agus cuireadh go fánach iad i Sean-Reilig Mhelbourne gan leacht ná marc, áit ar cuireadh na céadta bundúchasach ina ndiaidh ar an gcaoi chéanna nó gur tógadh margadh an “Queen Vic” ar na tailte sin i dtús an fhichiú haois. Níl ort ach an méid sin bheith ar eolas agat go dtuige tú an dímheas a bhí ag na húdaráis ar an bpobal cráite seo.

Tá conamar de chultúr beo bríomhar na mbundúchasach fós le fáil ag an té a thugann cuairt ar an Astráil ach a dhul sa tóir air. Tá ealaín den chéad scoth á saothrú acu i gcónaí. Ealaín dhaonna shaolta a thugann le fios an ceangal atá ag an bpobal bundúchasach leis an saol mór timpeall. Níor tugadh aird ariamh ar an gceangal thábhachtach seo ná ar chearta na mbundúchasach don talamh. Is fearr a chuireann Big Bill Neidjie focail ar an nasc seo, seanóir den phobal Kakadu i dTuaisceart na hAstrála: “I feel with my body, with my blood. Feeling all these trees, all this country. When this wind blow you can feel it. Same for country… you feel

it, you can look, but feeling… that make you.”

Ach oiread leis na laochra a sheas an fód ar son na nGael, bhí a laochra féin ag pobal bundúchasach na hAstráile. Bhain Pemulwuy, ceann fine an phobail Bidjigal, clú agus cáil amach mar an chéad treallchogaí dá gcuid agus deirtear go raibh os cionn céad fear a sheas leis sa bhfeachtas in aghaidh lucht an choilíneachais. Gabhadh é i 1802 ach de bharr a fhada a thóg sé ar na húdaráis teacht air (agus an náire a bhain leis sin), baineadh cloigeann Pemulwuy dá chorp agus cuireadh chun na Breataine í. Tá caint mhór fós ar bhean darb ainm Shirley Smith a chaith formhór a saoil ag cabhrú le cimí ón bpobal dúchasach chomh maith leo sin gan dídean gan fhostaíocht. Ba mhinic í in éineacht le fir agus mná óga bundúchasacha a bhí os comhair cúirte sna 60í agus 70í.

D’fhiafraítí di tuige go raibh sí ag labhairt ar son an duine chúisithe agus ba í an fhreagairt a thugadh sí “is mise a máthair”. Is mar gheall ar an nós sin a tugadh “Mum Shirl” uirthi.

Tá an scéal go riabhach ag bundúchasaigh na hAstráile ar go leor bealaí ach tá siad agus a gcultúr ar an bhfód go fóill in ainneoin na n-iarrachtaí ar fad le dhá chéad bliain, nach mór, iad a mhilleadh. Más nós leat Laois a rá seachas “Queen’s County” nó Doire Cholm Cille in áit “Londonderry”, bíodh a fhios agat gur dúiche Gadigal agus Kulin a bhí in úsáid i bhfad Éireann níos faide ná Sydney agus Melbourne. 

Luke Callinan, Riarthóir Réigiúnach, Cúige an Iarthair is na nOileán Sinn Féin

• Leac chuimhneacháin do Maulboyheener agus Tunnerminnerwait a chuireadh chun bás in 1820 sa Tasmáin

WE NEED TO LEAD ON THE CLIMATE CHANGE EMERGENCY

BY MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA

The climate change emergency is the biggest crisis facing humanity. When the Sinn Féin constitution was updated in 2005, it included in its objectives a commitment to “promote cultural diversity, sustainable development, and environmental responsibility through national policy and international co-operation and solidarity” (Bunreacht Shinn

Féin, Objectives 3j).

The party’s discussion document ‘Climate Justice and a Just Transition’ was published in 2019 and includes the following:

“Without a government policy that is framed by climate justice and a just transition, the leadership and direction

and misleading definitions on us, dumping the cost of climate action onto the shoulders of ordinary communities the same way they dumped the cost of global warming and pollution. ‘As is always the case’ the UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently said in relation to global warming, ‘the poor and vulnerable are the first to suffer and the worst hit’.

“Sinn Féin is committed to climate justice and a just transition for Ireland, north and south. This means a fairer and more democratic society, one which protects workers’ rights and empowers communities with more input and control over their future.”

So far, so good. But how many of us have read the climate change policy document, let alone promoted it more broadly?

of climate action will become the plaything of bankers and corporate investors. They will be concerned with only one thing: how to make a buck out of the crisis. That is what they do, it is in their nature, and it is killing the planet.

“We cannot allow corporate interests to push false solutions

I will admit that until recently I had not done so. How often do we discuss the climate emergency that threatens the future of all of us, raising the prospect of a planet uninhabitable for our children?

Part of the problem is that political discussion of the climate emergency is so often narrowed down to soundbite

Without a government policy that is framed by climate justice and a just transition, the leadership and direction of climate action will become the plaything of bankers and corporate investors

• UN Secretary-General António Guterres

urban vs rural ‘debates’, with news media eager to pitch some Green minister against some independent TD purporting to speak for the whole of Ireland outside Dublin. Cap-wearing rural-dwellers vs hipster city cyclists. In other words, cartoon politics. Seldom is the breadth and depth of the crisis, and its massive implications, adequately addressed.

Take public transport. This has been narrowed down to rows over the location of cycle lanes when what is needed is a huge reduction globally and locally in emissions and a mass switch, in a short time, away from the private car, and to public transport. Yet, the Irish state is still underinvesting in public transport.

Despite a reasonably good system in Dublin, there are still far too many car journeys there and yet Government and Gardaí refuse to put in place public transport police to make it safer for passengers, as recommended by the transport unions. Reduction of fares has been welcome but more radical action is needed, including free public transport in the cities as happens in some European countries.

Other cities such as Cork and Galway lag far behind Dublin in public transport infrastructure. And outside the cities, public transport hardly exists at all. The scattered nature of

to global warming. Progressive global alliances for a just transition need to be developed and Ireland should be at the centre of such a movement.

All sectors of the economy and society, nationally and globally, have to make their fair contribution in this effort. The bottom line has to be what will work and what is fair. Sectional lobbies and special interest groups must take a back seat and must not be allowed to determine national actions as part of the global response.

As the largest political party in Ireland and the progressive government in prospect, Sinn Féin needs to think climate, act climate, and take the lead on this most vital issue. The crisis gives renewed relevance to James Connolly’s famous call: “Our demands most moderate are, we only want the earth.” That is no longer vague aspiration, it is urgent necessity. It is time for Sinn Féin to do what it does best and to mobilise to make change happen. 

ywa

settlement patterns in Ireland makes this a challenge, but it must be met. Simply telling people to get electric cars is not enough and is beyond affordability for most.

To what extent have we thought out all the implications of the climate emergency for Irish agriculture, industry, housing, tourism? For Irish Unity? This is the context of all governance and all policymaking now.

It cannot be left to neo-liberal governments in cahoots with the very global forces and financial interests that contribute

Mícheál Mac Donncha has been a Dublin City councillor for Sinn Féin since 2011

How many of us have read the climate change policy document, let alone promoted it more broadly? I will admit that, until recently, I had not done so ds mostmoderate are, weonl

n t t h

Diversity strengthens nations

BY MARTINA ANDERSON

How we understand politics, nationalism, and patriotism is often defined by a country’s history, its politics, and its political leaders. It is sometimes glibly claimed that patriotism is the love of your country whilst nationalism is the hatred of everyone else’s.

Nationalism can be in in many instances a positive thing. However, when it is mixed with economic malpractice, fear mongering or scapegoating and used to pitch people against each other, it becomes a negative force. There are plenty of examples in history, many sadly recent.

Many of the left in Europe have been influenced by this perception, seeing nationalism in pejorative terms, as being narrow and insular with a sole focus on one’s own national interests and to the exclusion or detriment of the interests of other nations.

Nationalism turns bad when it is fuelled by regressive, socially divisive, and economically discriminatory politics.

There is no doubt that some parties and governments in Europe have exploited a version of nationalism that fits that description. They seek to deflect blame for their own political shortcomings by pretending that there are simple answers to complex national issues and that their failures are someone else’s fault, vis-à-vis the foreigner, the outsider.

Negative nationalism is stoked by politicians on the far right who propagate xenophobic and racist hate to create division in order to garner political support for their ideological interests above the real national interests.

Common contemporary examples of this include the BNP, AFD, True Finns, La Pen’s Front National, Orbán’s Fidez, and the English Defence League.

Historical examples include Nazism and various white-power groups in the USA. We have seen some within loyalism in the Six Counties linking up with British-based far-right groups, while in the 26 Counties the so-called Irish National Party and Irish Freedom Party have attempted to stir up bigotry.

Take these examples of nationalism,

verging on fascism that exist in Europe today and the themes they share. Orbán’s xenophobic remarks about the “mixing of European and non-European races”, the British Tory government’s Brexit anti-migrant stance and it seeking to blame the EU for its own economic failures, and a rising racially motivated extreme right in central and Eastern Europe, reinforce this point.

We also see this clearly in response to the humanitarian crisis at Europe’s borders, as right-wing leaders, masquerading as nationalists, erect border fences to keep desperate refugees out and use far-right anti-migration rhetoric as their main talking point. They frequently give a nod to the ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy theory, which claims there is a plot to dilute the white population of the US and European countries through immigration. This is nationalism at its worst; insular, unconfident, and inhumane.

However, nationalism, despite the language of some, is not universally a negative force. Progressive nationalism is a growing force in Europe. Diversity strengthens nations; it does not weaken them.

For the most part, in Europe, nationalism is a force for good. Progressive nationalism as pursed by Sinn Féin is the vaccine against the far right.

Progressive nationalism that transforms systems of repression and oppression should be embraced by those on the left and centre-left as a means to counter the simplistic and xenophobic politics of the far right.

It can unite people of all faiths, ideologies, and socio-economic circumstance in pursuit of noble causes, principally the right to self-determi-

Progressive nationalism that transforms systems of repression and oppression should be embraced by those on the left and centre-left

nation, national democracy, independence, human rights, and equality.

Progressive nationalism, in many cases, is a reaction to oppression, occupation or injustice. Parties that pursue independence and autonomy are on the march and they are not regressive, insular, or right-wing.

So, we need to make a clear distinction between regressive, almost fascist nationalists and those who promote progressive nationalism. In Ireland, Scotland, the Basque country, Cataluña, and Wales, progressive independence and nationalist movements are growing

Sinn Féin is the voice of the progressive independence movement in Ireland. The party has grown rapidly in recent years. Sinn Féin is in government in the north of Ireland with a First Minister elect and leads the opposition in the south of Ireland.

In Scotland, the progressive nationalists of the SNP have also grown rapidly. They secured the holding of a referendum on Scottish independence in 2014. Whilst they narrowly lost the 2014 referendum, they have since expanded politically and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced a few weeks ago that she would be seeking the Section 30 provision to be triggered for

Scotland to hold a second referendum.

In Wales, Plaid Cymru are the largest voice of progressive nationalism with MPs, Welsh Assembly Members, and nearly 200 councillors. Nationalist movements in the regions of the socalled ‘UK’ all opposed Brexit. They were opposed to national isolationism, erecting borders, and insular national politics.

In the Basque Country, the peace strategy of EH Bildu is also bearing fruit. EH Bildu has consistently polled well since its formation in 2011 and it stands on a shared plat-

ists and left wingers.

In Cataluña, I stood shoulder to shoulder with the Catalan people during their referendum called by the Speaker of the Catalan Parliament Carme Forcadell and I witnessed the Spanish Guardia Civil smash heads and subsequently imprison nationalist leaders including the Speaker who we subsequently visited in jail.

These progressive nationalists confidently support membership of the European Union whilst striving to protect the interests and independence of their country. They critically engage with the EU and believe another Europe is possible

Pro-independence left parties are progressively nationalist and internationalists. They transform systems of oppression and repression in a world where false pseudo-divisions are over emphasised by far-right wing governments, parties, and politicians.

If the left does not embrace progressive nationalism and differentiate between it and jingoistic regressive nationalism, masquerading as a negative patriotism, they will leave that ground for fascists to occupy and for fascism to grow. 

Martina Anderson is the Sinn Féin representative in Europe

�

In Ireland, Scotland, the Basque country, Cataluña, and Wales, progressive independence and nationalist movements are growing �

An Cultúr Oráisteach

Rugadh agus tógadh mise faoi scáth na gCrann Tógála in Oirthear Bhéal Feirste agus tá me sáite i gcultúr na háite sin; den chuid is mó oidhreacht an Phobail Aontachtaigh. Óige spéisialta a bhí ann. Bhí ceithre ócáid mhór marcáilte i bhFéilire ‘s againne: an Nollaig; an Cháisc; Oiche Shamhna (an trí sin comhroinnte le gach dream i mBéal Feirste) agus an Fhéile Oráisteach, a mhaireas a bheag nó a mhór fud fad an tSamhraidh.

Baineann dhá cheann acu le Creideamh agus an dá cheann eile le Ceilteachas agus na hEalaiona.

Is aoibhinn liom an Samhradh, leis an ghrian ag spalpadh (uaireanta!), daoine gléasta sna héadaí dathannach agus gleoite ar fad, laethanta saoire agus, ar ndóigh, an Fhéile a bhaineadh linne, sa chuid seo den chathair, Féile ealíona, Féilte ildhaite agus Féile cheoil – an Fhéile Fhlannbhuí. Thosnódh sí ag deireadh Mí Meithimh (direach I ndiaidh na Féile Eoin), le páisti na háite ag bailiú adhmaid go priomha do na tinte cnámh. Phioc muid suas na craobhanna a thit ó na crainn, fuair muid roinnt boscai déanta de chairtclár o na siopai, corr píosa sean troscáin onár dtithe féin agus nach muid a bhain sult as an saol ag togáil triantáin mhóir! Ni ró-ard a bhi siad fadó agus ni raibh postaeiri na bratacha orthu. Samhail dhuine amháin ar an bharr, cé nach raibh a fhos againn ag an

LE MÁIRIN HURNDALL

am cérbh é. Lundy a bhí ann, an fear a rinne feall ar Phrintísigh Dhoire. Ní raibh contúirt ar bith ann.

An Lá a b’fhearr domh féin ná an t-aonú lá déag. Bhi muid brónach ar an dara lá déag, mar bhiodh a fhios againn go mbeadh gach rud thart roimh dheireadh an lae.

Ar an 11 Iúil, bhi sé de nós againn dul go dti An Raon Gainimh (ceantar cluiteach dilseach eile) chun ár gcuid earraí a fháil don Lá Mór. Roghnaigh muid sraoilleáin sna dathanna oráiste agus corcra nó i ndearg, bán agus gorm; bratacha,t-Léinte priontáilte le cibé teachtaireacht a theastaígh;

suaitheantais agus, b’fhéidir hata beag chomh maith.

Ansin, théimís abhaile don Tae. Díreach ina dhiaidh sin, thiománódh m’athair muid thart ar na ceantair dhílseacha ar fad sa cathair, le feiceáil cén chineál tine a bhi acu siúd.

Bhí ceithre ócáid mhór marcáilte i bhféilire ’s againne: an Nollaig; an Cháisc; Oíche Shamhna (an trí sin comhroinnte le gach dream i mBéal Feirste) agus an Fhéile

Oráisteach

Nios moille, thagadh na páisti uilig as a gcuid tithe le cóisir a shamplú thart ar an Tine Mhór. Rinne muid damhsa, ith agus ól agus thug muid faoi roinnt amhráin, le tionclacán ar an organ bhéil. Thagadh daoine ón Phobail Náisiunach fosta, leis an taitneamh ceannan céanna a bhaint as.

Ach róluath, afach, ní tine dheas

• Robert Lundy

dhearg a bhi ann nios mó ach deatach agus luaithreach.

Chuaigh muid a chodladh lenár neart a choigilt don Lá Mór.

Mar a deirim i gcónaí, is Féile Ealaiona í seo, seachas aon rud eile. Is iad na hamharc-ealaíona atá le feiceáil sna meirgi móra ildaite le pictiúir ar an dá thaobh, pictiúir d’imeacht sa stair bhuí nó de dhuine a raibh clú agus cáil air sna laethant a bhí, cosúil le Risteard Ó Cathain (Richard Rutledge Kane) iar-Ard Mháistéar an Oird, a raibh Gaeilge líofa aige agus a bhi ar chéad choiste Chonradh na Gaeilge i mBéal Feirste. Bhí teideal na Loistí ar na meirgí fosta, ceann acu siúd as Gaeilge “Oidhreacht na hÉireann”.

Ansin, bhí na hÁirsi iontacha ann sna sráideanna ó Mhí Iúil ar aghaidh. Píosa ailtireachta, gan trácht ar ealaín, a bhí iontú, i bhfírinne, áirsí threilíse, agus ar an bharr, ceithre shiombal ar nós Bíobla oscailte, lilí oráisteach & eile. Ar an drochuair, d’imigh said as radharc i mBéal Feirste le tamall de bhlianta, ach ardaíodh mo chroí nuair a tógadh ceann nua i mbliana I bhFáinneán Carlisle.

B’in na hamharc-ealaíona. Ansin, tá an ceol ann. Eagsúlacht iontach an t-am sin agus atá fós ann sna ceantair tuaithe: ní hámháin an druma mór a bhi le cluinstin nó an fheadóg Mhór ach an Bosca cheoil, an Pib, úirleisí phráis agus eile. Níl baint ar bith ag na Banna Cheoil leis an Ord Oráisteach. Bhiodh na daoine sin ag cleachtadh le bliain, nach mór, fá choinne seo. Ach, le fírinne, cleachtaíonn siad fosta don iliomad comórtas a bheas siad páirteach ann. Is

bealach é seo, cosúil le CLG, le daoine óga a choinneáil o na sráideanna.

Tagann mud anois chuig an Ord féin. Nil ‘s ag móramh na ndaoine a bheas ag siúl ar na cosáin leis an Pháráid, nó ag breathnú air, cad é fealsunach an Oird Bhui. Nil ‘s acu, ach oiread, mórán faoin stair seachas Cath na Bóinne. Níl ‘s acu, go fiú féin cad chuige a bhfuil tinte cnámjh a lasadh acu.. Is e fírinne an scéil faoi seo ná gurbh ann doibh le teroir a thabhairt don Ri Liam, agus é ar tí dul i dtir ag Carraig Fhearghais.

Ach siar linn chuig an Ord. Is meascán aisteach é de Stair an Rí Liam, Creideamh i bhfoirm Phrotastunachais agus line Comharbais na Clainne Rioga i Sasain.

Throid Liam i gcoinne an Rí Séamuis. Bhi siad ag iarraidh go mbeadh an Ríocht Protastúnach ag leanúint mar shíl siad nach mbeadh cearta ann. Shíl siad go raibh céad dílseacht gach Caitliceach ag dul don Róimh seachas don Stát agus go raibh an Ri Séamus ag iarraidh níos mó cumhachta a thabhairt dó féin agus ar shiúl ón Pharlaimint. Agus i ndiaidh do Bhua Liam, tugadh isteach Bille Cearta.

Is féidir a rá, cinnte, go bhful an tOrd seicteach. Níl cead ag na baill duine Caitliceach a phosadh, cé gur féidir leo Moslamach a phósadh, rud fior-amaideach. Le cuid mhaith de na rialacha, ní cuirtear i bhfeidhm i gconaí iad. Ni gá a rá, ar ndóigh, nach n-aontaím féin leis seo, ná móramh na bProtastúnach, ach oiread.

Dúinne na hAontachtaigh, is Féile Ghlormhór Dhathannach, Ealaíona í agus táimid an-bróduil aisti. Is fior, gan dabht, go mbionn dornán de dhaoine i mbun míiompair agus maslaí, ach oiread na fride atá ann. Nior tharla sé ar chor ar bith i mbliana, cé gur ionsaiodh ar an Pharáid féin ar Bhothar Ormeau.

Bhí chóir a bheith cúig chéad mhíle daoine ann, idir banna, an chosmhuintir ag siúl ar an chosán, nó ag breathnú air agus na

Lóistí agus Lá sultmhar a bhi ann.

Ní thuigim, mar sin, cad chuige go mbionn Poblachtánaigh de shíor ag ionsaí ar an rud, ag diúltú cead bealaigh dó nó ag ionsaí ormsa ar bhealach nimhneach ar na meain shoisialta de bharr gur molaim é. Is Carnabhal é. Sin an méid. Muna bhfuil daoine sásta, ní hamháin cur suas le traidisiúin eile na tire seo, ACH glacadh,

go fonnmhar leis, mar Fhéile Cheilteach Ghaelach, Éireannach, ní bheidh dóchas ann go n-aontófar croíthe na ndaoine in Éirinn go deo. Sin an t-aon Aontais atá tabhachtach, i ndeireadh na dála. 

Chaith Máirín Hurndall a gairm bheatha ar fad ag plé le Cumarsáid de chineál éigin, ag teagasc faoi láthair in Ollscoil na Banríona Béal Feirste, ag Léachtóireacht san Earnáil Bhreis Oideachais, ag láithriú agus ag léiriú clár do Raidió Fáilte le roinnt blianta, agus anois ag obair mar Thráchtaire do Raidió na Gaeltachta agus TG4

Rinne muid damhsa, ith agus ól agus thug muid faoi roinnt amhráin le tionlacán ar an orgán bhéil. Thagadh daoine

ón Phobal Náisiunach fosta, leis an taitneamh ceannan céanna a bhaint as

• Richard Rutledge Kane

GAELS LE CHÉILE address Féile an Phobail

BY EMMA McARDLE

In May 2021, a group of grassroots GAA members penned a letter to An Taoiseach asking him to begin to plan for the future by establishing an all island Citizens’ Assembly on Irish Unity. To date, the letter, which has been signed by over 12,000 Gaels, has gone unanswered.

In a packed room at St Mary’s University, Belfast, on 11 August, Antrim’s Paddy Cunningham explained:

“Gaels le Chéile want a new and improved Ireland. This is not an elite initiative; this is not an Antrim initiative. Conversations are happening pitch side, planning for the future needs to begin now and the Irish government must lead it.”

The discussion, which took place as part of West Belfast’s annual Féile an Phobail events, was chaired by journalist Brendan Crossan who has written for the Irish News Sports Department since 1999.

Crossan moderated the discussion, which lasted for over an hour, with all panel members outlining their reasons for becoming involved and how they wanted the campaign to develop.

Antrim camogie star Jane Adams explained the origins of the group, which came about from a discussion between herself and Paddy Cunningham, saying:

“This is a Gael on Gael initiative and I am asking Gaels across Ireland to get involved and sign the letter to the Taoiseach. This isn’t a political initiative. In sport, politics is lost on the field. I want to hear other voices, to have the discussion.”

Crossan questioned Cork’s Aisling Thompson about the appetite for Irish Unity in the south. Thompson’s answer was insightful; she replied that people in the south are not educated on the issue, and that she herself had been trying to ‘read up’ on constitutional matters ahead of the discussion in Belfast.

The notion that you need all the answers before you can have an opinion or contribute to the discussion is interesting. Of course, the more informed you are the better, but an initiative like Gaels le Chéile needs to be welcoming to

everyone, regardless of the depth of their knowledge of constitutional matters.

Sambo McNaughten spoke of the role of sport beyond the playing field citing Neil MacManus’s defibrillator campaign and the power of sport to provide a platform for other ideas. “I want to help my community too”. Well said, Sambo.

When asked about the next phase of the campaign, a number of panellists cited the 2,700 GAA clubs across Ireland, encouraging their members, and Gaels across Ireland, to get involved by signing the letter to the Taoiseach.

This can be done through the website www.gaelslettertotaoiseach.ie. Gaels le Chéile are also active across all social media platforms.

This group deserves commendation. They are not politicians; they are interested, motivated, and articulate citizens exercising their right to participate in the political process.

A similar discussion at a forum in the south of Ireland would be a positive development for this initiative. 

Emma McArdle is a Campaign and Policy Manager on Sinn Féin’s Uniting Ireland project.

• Gaels le Chéile Féile an Phobail panel discussion: Aisling Thompson (Cork), Terrence ‘Sambo’ Mc Naughton (Antrim), Meeting Chairperson – Brendan Crossan The Irish News, Paddy Cunningham (Antrim), Jane Adams (Antrim).

'Gaels le Chéile want a new and improved Ireland, this is not an elite initiative, this is not an Antrim initiative, conversations are happening pitch side, planning for the future needs to begin now and the Irish government must lead it' ANTRIM’S PADDY CUNINGHAM

AND DAGGERS INVINCIBLES IN WESTMINSTER

BY JOE DWYER

On the evening of 6 May 1882, the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, Lord Frederick Cavendish, and Permanent Under Secretary Thomas Burke were assassinated by seven men wielding surgical knives.

The two men had been strolling through Dublin’s Phoenix Park at the conclusion of Lord Cavendish’s second day in the Irish capital.

Two days prior, the British House of Commons had erupted with ridicule at news of his appointment. As someone with little direct experience of Ireland, who also happened to be the Prime Minister’s nephew by marriage, Cavendish’s elevation carried all of the hallmarks of nepotism.

Tim Healy MP jeered from the Irish benches, “We will tear him in pieces within a fortnight!” It was to be a prophetic gag.

By the close of Saturday, the Chief Secretary lay dead. Cavendish had suffered multiple stab wounds to his heart. While the hands of Burke were sliced apart and his throat severed.

In the wake of the attack, black bordered cards were deposited to newspaper-rooms across Dublin. The ominous calling-cards announced the arrival of a new revolutionary organisation: “This deed was done by the Invincibles”.

The police investigation began in earnest but of these proclaimed ‘Invincibles’, the Lord Lieutenant was forced to concede, “We know little more than they exist.”

A more informed prognosis came from Charles J. Kickham, the President of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. When asked by an American journalist whether Fenians had been involved, the veteran Republican replied, "I don’t know, but if they had they were Fenians seduced by the Land League."

The Irish Parliamentary Party leader, Charles Stewart Parnell, was outraged by the attack. Only recently released from prison under the ‘Kilmainham Treaty’, he privately wrote to the Prime Minister stating his willingness to retire from public life if it was deemed appropriate.

Parnell’s revulsion towards the act of violence would have, no doubt, been further compounded had he known then that - just short of a month previous - he had been in the company of the chief conspirator and instigator behind it.

On 10 April, while on parole for his nephew’s funeral, Parnell had alighted at Willesden Junction, London. There he was received by a welcoming party of four colleagues. One of them was the Secretary of the Land League of Great Britain, Frank Byrne.

As the Freeman’s Journal later reported, Byrne “was the first to enter the compartment and greet Mr. Parnell, whom he warmly shook by the hand. That gentlemen appeared delighted at seeing him, and expressing his satisfaction at meeting him.”

Unbeknownst to Parnell, the man he embraced was - at that very point in time - authorising a policy of targeted assassination against British officials in Ireland.

THE MAN IRISH HISTORY FORGOT

Frank Byrne was a man that Irish history soon forgot. Perhaps deliberately. To piece together his life, one is almost entirely reliant on the testimony of informers, the observation of British agents, the tittle-tattle of journalists, and the memoirs of braggarts.

• Charles J. Kickham

• Charles Stewart Parnell

However, in his own time, he was a well-regarded figure, held in high esteem among all hues of Irish nationalism, from Fenians to Parnellites to Land Leaguers.

A veteran of the 1870 Franco-Prussian war, he had risen through the ranks of the

Irish constitutionalist movement in Britain. First as the paid Secretary for the Home Rule Confederation of Great Britain, and later as the General Secretary the Land League of Great Britain.

Under his leadership, the League became notably more radical than its sister organisation in Ireland. It adopted the formal title ‘the National Land and Labour League of Great Britain’ and began to take up the cause of industrial workers as well as tenant farmers. As General Secretary, Byrne worked out of an office inside Westminster’s Palace Chambers, a room just across from the British Parliament.

Justin McCarthy MP later recalled a “straightforward, business man”. While Dr Andrew Commins MP remembered him as an “exemplary young man”. Frank Hugh O’Donnell MP recollected someone “always devoted to the duties of the office, to our great satisfaction”. Few would have suspected that Byrne was also a sworn member of the IRB and a committed Fenian.

While the IRB leadership fervently forbade any engagement or collaboration with constitutionalist bodies, many grassroots Fenians, especially those living in Britain, were invariably drawn towards these organisations.

As F.S. Lyons outlines, “It was in Britain rather than in Ireland that Fenians were beginning to take the Home Rule movement seriously enough to consider infiltrating it for their own ends. In Ireland, the official IRB line continued to be that constitutional agitation was a deviation in which no true republican should indulge, but across the Irish Sea a less rigid attitude prevailed.”

Through the Land League of Great Britain, Byrne identified individuals of similar thinking, fellow Fenians who eschewed the IRB’s prohibition on constitutional activity

but were equally frustrated with the lack of militant action taking place.

Byrne himself would later summarise, “I do not say you should alone use dynamite, or the knife or the rifle, or parliamentary agitation, but I hold no Irishman true who will not use all and each method as the opportunity presents itself.”

COERCION ACT ARRESTS

In October 1881, Parnell and other Irish Parliamentary Party leaders were arrested under the Coercion Act. This round-up marked the genesis of the Irish Invincibles. A meeting was held in London of former IRB men now active in the Land League. Some accounts also place at least two sitting Irish MPs, quite possibly Joseph Biggar MP and John Barry MP, at the gathering. Following this meeting, a three-man Directory was appointed to oversee the formation of an assassination unit in Dublin. Frank Byrne was almost certainly one of the three, most likely alongside Patrick Egan, the Land League’s national treasurer who had recently fled to Paris to avoid arrest, and Patrick ‘P.J.’ Sheridan, the League’s organiser for Connacht. Egan and Brennan had been high-ranking IRB officials, but were expelled because of their Land League activity.

Closely associated with this London Directory was the Land League’s Assistant Secretary, Thomas Brennan, and the League’s organiser for the North of England, John Walsh.

P.J. Sheridan was a longstanding Fenian organiser whose activism stretched back to the Chester Castle raid in 1867. Meanwhile, John Walsh had been a participant in the ‘Catalpa rescue’ of six Fenian Prisoners from Freemantle Prison in Australia.

They were soon joined by Captain John

'I do not say you should alone use dynamite, or the knife or the rifle, or parliamentary agitation, but I hold no Irishman true who will not use all and each method as the opportunity presents itself'

FRANK BYRNE

• Frank Byrne

McCafferty, a Confederate veteran of the American Civil War. McCafferty had fallen out with the IRB because he advocated for the kidnap of British Royals in exchange for Fenian prisoners. Such unchivalrous propositions appalled the Brotherhood’s traditionalist leadership. Unsurprisingly, a policy of assassination appealed to the adventurous Captain.

Byrne, Egan, Brennan, Sheridan, Walsh, and McCafferty would form the nucleus of the Invincibles. These were Kickham’s ‘Fenians seduced by the Land League.’

Funding for the conspiracy freely flowed from Egan’s Land League funds. However, in the words of the historian Tom Corfe, “It is not at all clear to what extent he who undoubtedly paid the piper called the tune”. An observation that Robert Kee later appended, “one member of the London Directory who undoubtedly knew the tune was Frank Byrne”.

IMPATIENT FENIANS

Using old IRB contacts, Walsh recruited a band of Dublin Fenians impatient with the IRB leadership’s lack of action. The first to join were James Carey, Edward McCaffrey, James Mullett, and Daniel Curley. Under pain of death, the men swore to obey all orders issued by the London Directory and to “never injure by word or act a brother Invincible”.

The Dublin membership grew further, and the Dublin men would be visited, on

separate occasions, by McCafferty and Sheridan to provide them with guidance and finance. The Chief Secretary of Ireland, William ‘Buckshot’ Forster, was selected as their first target. James Carey requested daggers to carry out the operation. McCafferty concurred and advised that cord wrapped around the handles improved the grip.

Frank Byrne would oversee the procurement of these daggers. On his request, Dr Hamilton Williams, a Fenian sympathiser in London, purchased a dozen 12-inch knives - designed for major surgical amputations - from Weiss & Son’s on Bond Street. The blades were then delivered to Bethnal Green where Maurice Collins, an old Fenian turned shoemaker, fashioned leather sheaths for them.

From Bethnal Green, the knives were deposited in Frank Byrne’s office in Palace Chambers, Westminster. The very implements that would soon shake an Empire lay for weeks inside a drawer in the centre of Westminster.

ROLE OF MARY BYRNE

Alert to security checks, Byrne turned to the one person he trusted above all others to transfer the blades to Dublin, his wife Mary Byrne. In February 1883, the seven-months pregnant Mrs Byrne made the journey to Dublin with a dozen surgical blades sewn into her skirt.

Arriving at James Carey’s Denzille Street home, she threw off a voluminous furlined cape, to reveal the requested knives, a Winchester rifle tied round her neck, two handguns, and a large supply of ammunition.

As Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa later noted, Frank Byrne could only achieve “the part of two men” because “his wife was with him, heart and soul, in the work he did, and took an important part in that work”. Byrne deliberately utilised his access to the corridors of power to advance his conspiracy. When he recruited his Peckham-Rye neighbour, Patrick Tynan, into the Invincibles, he did so inside the Irish Par-

liamentary Party’s Westminster meeting room.

Tynan would later record his astonishment “to be approached by a prominent and trusted Parnellite official to join an active movement of the most extreme kind, in the very chamber where Parliamentary members sat to consult and arrange ‘Legal and Constitutional Agitation’.”

CHIEF SECRETARY RESIGNS

In April, ‘Buckshot’ Forster resigned. The Invincibles had lost their prime target and their attention now turned to the Permanent Under-Secretary, Thomas Burke. On 3 May, Tynan sent a dispatch from Dublin to London proposing Burke, alongside Forster’s still to be confirmed replacement, as the new targets. Two days later, word came from London, most likely from Byrne’s own hand, giving the necessary go-ahead.

The following day, the Invincibles struck, killing Burke and Cavendish in the Phoenix Park. Back in London, Frank Byrne was with Michael Davitt and colleagues, celebrating Davitt’s release from Portland prison.

The following December, Byrne stood down as General Secretary. Suspicion was beginning to spread. October had seen Egan forced out as the League’s treasurer and whispers began about Byrne being “ill oftener than was necessary”. Nevertheless, a farewell banquet was held to recognise his years of service and many high-ranking Parnellites attended.

The following month, suspected Invincibles in Dublin were rounded up and charged with conspiracy to murder public officials. Duped into thinking that Daniel Curley had

M KAVANAGH (GERMAN) TIM KELLY JOE BRADY

D CURLEY L HANLON J FITZHARRIS ‘SKIN THE GOAT’

M FAGAN J HANLON

E O’BRIEN

JOE SMITH

P DOYLE

DAN DELANEY

W MORONEY P CAREY JAMES CAREY TC

H ROWLES

T MARTIN

JOE MULLET T DOYLE J MULLET E McCAFFERTY

PAT DELANEY T CAFFERY

Three Shouts on a Hill insert.indd 82

been turned, James Carey broke down and confessed everything.

The tapestry of intrigue and conspiracy that Carey painted from the witness box caused a global sensation. The Invincibles were thrust out into the spotlight and Byrne, Walsh, Sheridan, and McCafferty were all named. Scotland Yard detectives raided Byrne’s Peckham-Rye home, but Byrne was already out of the country.

CAREY’S TESTIMONY

Now working as a London press agency correspondent, Frank Byrne was actually doing a report on the Prime Minister’s holiday to the south of France. When MPs Justin McCarthy and John Barry heard that Byrne was in Cannes tailing the Prime Minister, they rushed to Herbert Gladstone’s office and implored that he "take precautions for his father’s life against their own secretary."

Unfortunately, Mary Byrne was home. She was conveyed the following day to

Dublin, escorted by four armed detectives. However, when presented before Carey, the informer stated that he did not recognise her, despite previous testimony that Mary Byrne had brought the murder weapons to Denzille Street.

In actuality, Carey was hoping to recoup lost reputation. As he confided to a magistrate, “I had to do something to soften the people outside, who feel resentment against me, and who are sore at my having given evidence.”

Mary Byrne was released without charge, but Carey’s words would hang five Invincibles; Joe Brady, Daniel Curley, Timothy Kelly, Michael Fagan, and Thomas Caffrey.

In July, a Donegal man named Patrick O’Donnell killed James Carey just off the coast of Cape Town. He was hanged for his deed, but a stone to his memory was erected in Glasnevin Cemetery four years later. The monument lists among the “grateful admirers of O’Donnell’s heroism” one ‘Mrs F. Byrne’.

By the end of February, Frank Byrne was picked up by French police, accompanied by an English detective, in Paris. But, nine days later, the French Government announced that there was no case for extradition and Byrne was released.

When Mr and Mrs Byrne landed in New York later that month, they were greeted by P.J. Sheridan. Others followed. Indeed, by the end of April, all those sought in connection to the Invincibles conspiracy - Byrne, Egan, Brennan, Sheridan, Walsh, Tynan, and even Dr Hamilton Williams - were in the United States.

On the third anniversary of the killings, a ‘reunion’ dinner was held in Sinclair House, Broadway. The guest of honour was Mary Byrne, introduced to the audience as “a brave little woman whose memorable courage in connexion with the victory in the Phoenix Park three years ago, is known to us all”. Addressing the dinner, Frank Byrne thanked those assembled and pronounced the dubious claim that “the blow inflicted upon England in the Phoenix Park’ was ‘the greatest since Brian smote the Dane at Clontarf’.”

BYRNE DIES

The final mention of Byrne and his Invincibles came in 1889. Patrick Egan had publicly branded John Devoy, a leading Fenian in America, a ‘traitor’. The incensed Devoy wrote to a colleague, complaining that Egan had since fled to a hotel room and was now never seen in public “without a bodyguard of three or four Invincibles headed by Frank Byrne”.

Frank Byrne died in Providence, Rhode Island on 16 February 1894. The Providence Journal recorded, “He was admittedly a revolutionist, opposed to Parnell’s methods, and he was undoubtedly a leader among the men with whom he affiliated. Just what his official position among the revolutionists at that time was there is nobody here who apparently knows, or if aware of the fact is willing to tell.”

On Independence Day 1899, a ten-foot high, granite Celtic Cross was erected over the grave of Frank and Mary Byrne. Peculiarly, the stone memorialises the pair as ‘co-labourers with Charles Stewart Parnell’. It is a mantle that both Parnell and Byrne would have likely disputed.

As a final curious note – to this day, Patrick Egan and Thomas Brennan can be found in a corridor inside the Parliament of Westminster. A painting by William Drummond Young (1855–1924), titled ‘The Men who Made Home Rule’, hangs outside the Stranger’s Dining Room and includes both men in the ensemble. Few who pass would be aware that two of those featured were allegedly implicated in the Phoenix Park killings and the establishment of the Irish Invincibles. 

Joe Dwyer is the Sinn Féin Political Organiser for Britain

• Patrick O’Donnell on trial for killing James Carey. O’Donnell was hanged in Newgate Jail

• Frank Byrne was picked up in France, but the French Government said there was no case for extradition and he was released

A VICTORY FOR THE REPUBLICAN STRUGGLE

BY ROBBIE SMYTH

2022 is benchmarking two critical events in Sinn Féin’s electoral history. This October marks the 40th anniversary of the Prior Assembly elections where Sinn Fein won five seats and 10.1% of the poll. 17 May was the 20th anniversary of the party’s major leap in representation in Leinster House. The party won five seats in the 26 County general election.

In the immediate aftermath of the 1981 Hunger Strikes, the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis of October 1981 voted to run candidates in future elections. The 1982 Assembly elections promoted by then Northern Secretary James Prior was the first Six-County election contested by Sinn Féin. It also marked the first electoral victories of Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams.

Sinn Féin topped the poll in two of the 12 constituencies. They were West Belfast and Fermanagh South Tyrone. The party contested seven of the 12 constituencies. There were 78 seats in the assembly.

The Sinn Féin candidates were Jim McAllister and JB O’Hagan in Armagh. McAllister won a seat. Joe Austin ran in North Belfast, Gerry Adams and Alex Maskey in West Belfast, Cyril Toman in South

Belfast Telegraph, 1982

Down, Owen Carron and Francie Molloy in Fermanagh South Tyrone. Carron topped the poll here, winning a seat. Cathal Crumley and Martin McGuinness ran in Derry. Danny Morrison ran in Mid Ulster, being elected on the sixth count.

The following year, Gerry Adams was elected MP for West Belfast, with Danny Morrison narrowly missing out on a second seat in Mid Ulster. Alex Maskey, an unsuccessful candidate in the 1982

'The party grabbed a political foothold in its first ever Northern Ireland election and answered Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s taunts to test its popularity at the polls'

PLASTIC BULLET OUTRAGE

election, won a Belfast City Council by-election the following June, becoming the first Sinn Féin representative on the council since the early 1920s. He was followed onto Belfast City Council in later elections by Joe Austin who narrowly missed out on winning a sixth Sinn Féin seat in 1982.

There was extensive media coverage of the election. A front-page headline in the Belfast Telegraph proclaimed, “Adams first home”. He was the first candidate elected to the Assembly. “Sensational Sinn Féin victories in election” was the Cork, now Irish Examiner’s front-page headline. The article reported how “The party grabbed a political foothold in its first ever Northern Ireland election and answered Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s taunts to test its popularity at the polls”.

Adams was reported in the Belfast Telegraph as saying, “The media can interpret this result any way they wish. I do not regard it as a

personal victory. It is a victory for the Republican struggle”.

“Assembly win for extremism” was the Irish Independent frontpage headline, while also acknowledging that Sinn Féin had “won a political foothold”. “Provisionals shock election winners” was the Irish Press front page headline. Sinn Féin’s success had “sent shock waves through the entire community”. It was also the first appearance of media clichés about the party’s “well-oiled election machine”.

“Sinn Féin takes 10% of NI vote” was the Irish Times front-page headline. Ed Moloney declared in the article that the Sinn Féin sup-

SINN FÉIN PRESIDENT Gerry Adams has praised the party’s 37 candidates, their families and election teams who worked round the clock to achieve last week’s historic breakthrough in the

Gerry Adams writes of a realignment of Irish politics in this week’s editorial PAGE

Breslin was trying to decipher how, “Sinn Féin managed to engineer its stunning political breakthrough, grab five seats, and build the foundation to make them a major player in years to come”. He too like many other reporters had discovered “a well-oiled and committed political machine” that he describes has having been ‘unleashed’!

OUR HUNGER STRIKERS – OUR HEROES

Thousands of Republicans from across Ireland gathered for the first time in three years to commemorate the 19171981 hunger strikers in Belfast. The address was delivered by West Belfast MLA and former hunger striker Pat Sheehan.

He told the crowd that the hunger strikers were “exemplars of a new risen generation who would not accept the naked sectarianism, supremacism, discrimination, and brutality of the unionist regime, the British Government and its military”.

The bravery of the hunger strikers created a momentum that “will carry us forward to the realisation of an Irish national democracy”. It will be “a republic where the rights and identity of all our people, of whatever persuasion or background, will be accommodated and cherished”.