An Phoblacht - Issue 3 - 2021

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BRITANNIA WAIVES THE RULES INTERNMENT 1971

OPERATION DEMETRIUS REMEMBERED

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ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2021 – UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3

British Government proposes to shut down investigations into 'conflict era' killings

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FOR OVER 50 YEARS anphoblacht HAS BEEN THE VOICE OF REPUBLICAN IRELAND. YOU CAN BE PART OF THE NEXT PHASE OF THIS HISTORY.

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‘WE HAVE BIG IDEAS’

August | September 2018 Lúnasa | Meán Fómhair

WHAT NEXT FOR RIGHTS AND EQUALITY?

EXCLUSIVE

Interview with new Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald

One year on...

An Phoblacht looks at the life and legacy of Martin McGuinness

THE STORY IN PICTURES

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CENTENARY OF THE FIRST DÁIL ÉIREANN

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Issue Number 1 – 2019 – Uimhir Eisiúna 1

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Louise O’Reilly on the need for a grassroots campaign to win the referendum - 9

48 YEARS OF GAZA IS AN ACTIVISM OPEN AIR PRISON

MAKE NO MISTAKE, IRISH UNITY IS UPON US - 25

Standing up for ‘Liberty Equality and Justice’

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#Yes4Unity

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Sinn Féin Vice President Michelle O’Neill writes for An Phoblacht

Social EU?... Repealing the 8th Paul Mason writes about the challenges facing the EU post Brexit - 6

stance M Con

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1868

We remember Joe Reilly

Sinn Féin MEP Martina Anderson on Palestine

REMEMBERING THE 1981 HUNGER STRIKES

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Raymond McCartney reflects on the past and future challenges AP Issue 2 - 2019 front 3 pages.indd 1

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No Border MICHELLE O'NEILL ON ‘THE BREXIT ELECTION’

REJECT BREXIT

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 FORUNITY IRISH

UNITY

GERRY ADAMS REMEMBERS LIAM McPARLAND

VOTE SINN FÉIN

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WE CAN HAVE A BETTER, FAIRER, UNITED IRELAND Covid-19 emergency has strengthened demand for change THE

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UNCERNSSOOF NE RED

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Leading the Opposition to the Chaotic Coalition ion IRELAND 1920 inA nat turmoil

Remembering Bobby Storey

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ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3  anphoblacht

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BRITANNIA WAIVES THE RULES INTERNMENT 1971

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British Government proposes to shut down investigations into 'conflict era' killings

contents clár

UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3 Michelle O’Neill interview



DANNY DEVENNY’S THE

OPERATION DEMETRIUS REMEMBERED

SESSION COMRADES, COMMUNITY AGUS CEOL

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

 MICHELLE O'NEILL talks to An Phoblacht on unity, Covid, building the economy, dealing with the British and Irish governments, and the challenges of a five party executive

PRODUCTION: MARK DAWSON

RUAIRÍ DOYLE MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA

CONTRIBUTORS

Michael McMonagle

9

Jim Gibney

12

Colin O’Byrne

18

Muireann Dalton

24

Mícheál Mac Donncha

29

27

Peadar Whelan

34 & 52

Jimmy Drumm

42

Carál Ní Chuilín Daithí Doolan

Sinéad Ní Bhroin

36

22

Eoin Ó Broin

Ella O’Dwyer

22

20

Eoghan Finn

Danny Morrison

CAP reform

15

Susan McKay

Chris MacManus

Cumann na mBan for 2021

11

Seán MacBrádaigh

Kevin O’Hara

Now is the time to prepare to secure and win a referendum on unity

38 46 48 53 55 58

Looking back at the inspirational role played by Cumann na mBan in the Irish revolutionary period 100 years ago, MUIREANN DALTON makes the case for forming a new structure in 2021 to organise, educate, mobilise, and empower women within Sinn Féin

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3

Sinn Féin’s MEP CHRIS MacMANUS writes on CAP reform and the party’s priority to save Ireland’s family farming model 3

EDITORIAL

anphoblacht EAGARFHOCAL

Britain's 50-year harvest of failure

M

arking the anniversary of internment, the so-called ‘Operation Demetrius’,

ROBBIE SMYTH editor@anphoblacht.com

executed by the British Army in August 1971, has been an important moment in the conflict in Ireland for Irish republicans to commemorate and remember.

Coming just two years after the 1969 pogroms, the response of the British Government to

two years of conflict, of nationalist communities under siege, to two more years of denial of basic civil rights and any role or participation in the government of the Six Counties, was to once again, attack a whole community.

The experience of thousands of soldiers in armoured cars swarming through the nationalist streets of the Six Counties must have been a terrifying one. Internment, agreed and planned at the highest levels of the British political establishment, became another chapter in the annals of the British Government’s selfish and strategic interest in Ireland.

The decades of attempting to marginalise and exclude the republican voice from Irish politics failed. Internment failed to subdue Irish nationalists and republicans, as did the

The decades of attempting to marginalise and exclude the republican voice from Irish politics failed

policies of criminalisation and normalisation. Torture and abuse of prisoners failed. The Diplock Courts, and Special Powers legislation, the media censorship, the shoot to kill strategies of the 80s and 90s, all failed.

Peadar Whelan’s article in this issue catalogues another aspect of Britain’s failure in Ireland. It marks the trail of murders and massacres perpetrated by British soldiers in the years after internment. It catalogues the policies of cover-up, lies, and deliberate obstacles placed in the way of the families from Derry, Ballymurphy, New Lodge, and Springhill as they fought and campaigned for the truth to be revealed of the circumstances in which their loved ones were murdered.

50 years on, the failure of internment and the subsequent decades of tragedy are symbolically marked in part by the 45 inquests waiting to be heard and 40 more awaiting progress. And now, the British Government are proposing legislation to stop any inquests and, most critically, any prosecutions resulting from their findings. They propose that there will be no justice when it comes to investigating their role in shoot to kill, state murder, and collusion.

The Sinn Féin position was made clear by Vice President Michelle O’Neill, who stated that: “If the current legacy process is to deliver for victims, in a human rights compliant manner, there can be no amnesty or statute of limitation for British state forces or intention to interfere with due legal process in respect of legacy inquests”.

Demetrius is a name linked to the ancient Greek deity of harvest and agriculture. 50 years on from the first phase of internment, it is clear that the British Government’s harvest has been a bitter and deadly one they want to cover-up. Irish republicans will not allow the truth of the British war in Ireland to be silenced. ⊟

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ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3  anphoblacht

MICHELLE O'NEILL INTERVIEWED

British government will not represent people’s best interests

What is a typical day as First Minister?

In politics and in government, there is no such thing as a typical day in this role. Every day is different with different issues and different challenges.

I spend most days at the Department and in the Assembly at Stormont. Typically, the days start early as I travel from Tyrone.

Each morning, I speak to our Ministers and other senior personnel based at Stormont to discuss the issues of the day and what business should take priority. I also then speak to the civil servants in the Department on our plans for the day ahead in terms of meetings with key sectors, other ministers from across the Executive, visiting delegations, media, etc. I also routinely speak before the Assembly answering questions from MLAs, contributing to debates or appearing before the scrutiny committee.

Pre-2017, the Executive met fortnightly, but obviously with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 when the political institutions were up and going again, we were meeting three times a week. That went to two over time and now we meet weekly with other Covid-specific meetings in between throughout the week with the Chief Medical Officer and other advisers.

A meeting of the Executive will deal with Covid-19 plus a whole spectrum of policy decisions from across the nine Departments, not least Brexit, tackling health waiting lists, mental health, housing, the economy and decisions on funding supports for the business or community sectors for instance. That requires briefing, reading, and getting to grips with proposals ahead of each meeting. So, you can see there’s a rhythm to the weekly cycle.

In the past, Executive meetings were held in the Executive anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3

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The pandemic has shown us the absolute need for greater co-operation across the island

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From virtual Executive meetings to days in her constituency office, MICHELLE O’NEILL talks to An Phoblacht on unity, Covid, the economy, dealing with the British and Irish governments, and the challenges of a five-party executive.

room in Stormont Castle around a circular table, but with the pandemic, just like everyone else, we do meetings virtually even though everyone may be on Stormont grounds and in relative close proximity. I chair half of the meeting and Minister Paul Givan chairs the other half. Given the importance of the issues we are considering and agreeing, most meetings start at 10.30am and finish in the afternoon.

Of course, things can change very quickly in the course of a day and things may arise suddenly or unexpectedly and have to be dealt with and that can mean a change of plans or change of travel arrangements, but that is the nature of the job.

I try to find time in each morning to walk with my close friends at home, but that isn’t always easy, particularly during the week, but even if I get the chance to get out early in the morning, it really helps clear the head and set you up for the day.

Alongside my duties as Joint Head of Government and Leas Uachtarán, of course there are also the day-to-day things we all have to do. Thankfully, I have great support from my family for all of that, but there are days where I could certainly be doing with a few more hours.

What sort of constituency work do you do, how do you balance the Executive work load and your role as an MLA? As well as being Joint Head of Government representing the people in the North, I am elected as an MLA by the people of 5

During the pandemic, I have definitely made use of technology more than before to hold meetings which has cut down on some travel. Of course, this was done as a necessity to limit travel and to keep people safe, but it has shown us how to adapt to new ways and what can be done with technology. And I hope that the lessons we have learned will allow us to continue to make changes after the pandemic in terms of cutting down travel which will help lower our carbon footprint, but will also be better for people’s work-life balance.

Finding a balance between my role as a Minister, Assembly Leader, Leas-Uachtarán, and my work in the constituency can be a challenge; it’s a juggling act, but the key is being organised, planning ahead, and having a great team ably working with me on each of those fronts.

There have been some changes in the Sinn Féin Assembly team, can you take us through that?

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There cannot be an à la carte approach to the political institutions of the Good Friday Agreement. The DUP cannot pick and choose

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Mid-Ulster to represent them and that is an honour and a privilege I take very seriously.

Alongside the business of government, there is also the day-today work of helping people locally, dealing with their cases, and getting them the support they need.

Thankfully, we have a great team in Mid-Ulster and my colleagues Linda Dillon and Emma Sheerin are a great support in the constituency, together with Francie Molloy and all those who work in offices and Sinn Féin activists in the area who help out.

Generally, if I’m not at Stormont, either in Parliament Buildings or Stormont Castle, or on a Ministerial visit, I’ll be in the constituency office in Coalisland or Cookstown or out and about in the local area meeting people, visiting local groups, and dealing with issues.

6

It’s an exciting time for the Sinn Féin Assembly team and one which will see a number of changes. We have already some changes with new faces coming in as people stand down after many years of public service and we will see more in the time ahead.

In particular, I’d like to pay tribute to Seán Lynch who recently stood down as an MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone after many years of working for the entire community. Seán has been a stalwart of the party both in the area and at Stormont and has shown great leadership and commitment and his experience will be missed, but we are fortunate enough to have Áine Murphy replacing him and she has recently signed in as the newest MLA in the Assembly and I have no doubt she will make an excellent contribution to our team.

Also, Alex Maskey has announced he will not be standing again at the next election after decades of tireless service as an elected representative both on Belfast City Council and in the Assembly.

He will remain in place as an MLA and as Speaker until the end of the mandate and even after that I have no doubt we will continue to benefit for his experience as he will continue as a republican activist.

Comrades Martina Anderson and Karen Mullan will also stand down before the Assembly returns after summer and take up new roles within the party organisation; Karen focussing on crossborder work of elected members in the North West and Martina on an international basis promoting the case for reunification. I want to wish them every success in these roles and thank them for all that they have given as outgoing public representatives.

We also have a number of other new candidates who have been selected to stand in the election and others will be selected in the coming weeks and months.

Change is a natural and positive thing within a political party.

We are in a new era and what I have characterised as a Decade of Opportunity. We need to constantly learn, change political and societal conditions, and be on the frontline of bringing about progressive change. Throughout the years, we have continually brought on new people who bring with them new ideas and new energies and, together with the experience we already have in the Assembly team and across the party, it is that mix that makes us what we are.

How do you bring the all-Ireland cross border dimension into your role?

Sinn Féin is an all-Ireland party. So, no-one will be surprised that my role as Leas-Uachtarán is a national one. As Joint Head of Government, the all-island dimension plays a major part.

When the political institutions got up and running again, the allIreland institutions were an integral part of that. The North South Ministerial Council is a key part of the political institutions of the Good Friday Agreement. All of the political institutions need to be working.

ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3  anphoblacht

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We have had the British government publicly declare its intention to break international law

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And the pandemic has shown us the absolute need for greater co-operation across the island. We are a small island. We work best when we work together. It simply makes sense to have increased working relationships across the island.

There cannot be an à la carte approach to the political institutions of the Good Friday Agreement. The DUP cannot pick and choose. The all-Ireland institutions are as important as the other institutions.

We are committed to implementing all the political institutions of the Agreement. The recent meeting of the North South Ministerial Council, which was attended by Ministers from across the island, is the way forward and points to what we can achieve when we work together. There are huge opportunities for cross-border development, investment, and collaboration in the delivery of public services which we cannot afford to underplay, and must maximise.

How are you coping with dynamics and challenges of dealing with the other political parties in Stormont?

We have a five-party Executive at Stormont. This is a positive dynamic and reflects proper power-sharing as envisaged in the Good Friday Agreement. Every Minister has made a huge contribution during the Covid-19 response. Little did we know when the Executive returned in January 2020, what was around the corner. So, while it isn’t always easy, particularly when parties have very distinctive political outlooks, the pandemic has shown us we can all work together on the issues of common cause that matter to people. That is what the public want and deserve. That is why we worked to secure the return of the political institutions; anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3

to provide good government to people. It hasn’t all been plain sailing and we have had differences of opinion, but we’re adults and we have managed to work together to put the interests of the people first. That is what government is about. That is why I am in government.

We will not always agree on everything. We have a coalition comprising parties to the left, centre, and right. There will be issues we will not be able to reach consensus on, but what I will do every day is work to deliver good government in the interests of the people we represent.

Dealing with the British Government must be a challenge, how do you plan for this?

As Joint Head of Government, I work on a daily basis with Ministers from the other Executive parties and with Ministers from across the island as part of the North South Ministerial Council. As Ministers, we also deal with the British government on a weekly basis to promote and advance the interests of the people we serve.

As Irish republicans, we know that the British government has not, cannot, and will not represent the best interests of the people of the North. They have shown that time and time again. Whether through Brexit or through the recent legacy proposals brought forward by the British government. Through their proposals, they have shown absolute disregard for those who have lost loved ones during the conflict. In fact, the proposals from the British government were an added insult.

We have raised this directly with the British government on repeated occasions. And we have reiterated to the British 7

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The Irish government have a central role to play in the preparations for a new Ireland

 government its commitment to deal with the legacy of the past as agreed in the Stormont House Agreement and the need for that agreement to be implemented in full.

The British government also agreed to the protocol with the European Commission and that international agreement also needs to be implemented in full. We have had the British government publicly declare its intention to break international law. That is totally unacceptable. The British government need to recognise these facts and implement all agreements it has entered into as a matter of urgency.

What are the challenges and issues dealing with the Irish Government?

I and our team work with Ministers from across the island.

All-Ireland working is crucial to the political institutions. The pandemic has shown all of us the importance of working together across the island and for the Irish government to work closely with the Executive.

The indifference of the British government as shown by Brexit has led many people to look to a new future, beyond Brexit and beyond the Union. We all have an opportunity to shape our own future under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement and we need to start preparing for that now.

The Irish government have a central role to play in the preparations for a new Ireland. Conversations on constitutional change are already underway across the island and we need to see the Irish government take a lead in that. The establishment of the Shared Ireland Unit is a welcome first step. We now need to see the Irish government going further and establishing a Citizens 8

Assembly and Constitutional Convention on Unity, bringing forward a green paper on constitutional change, and creating a ministerial portfolio with responsibility for preparing for a new Ireland.

Those who say that it is not the time are out of step with the national sentiment and expectation for change during this decade. Now is the time to prepare for a referendum on Unity.

What are the objectives and challenges for the coming year?

We face many challenges as we face into the new Assembly term.

The Covid-19 pandemic is still with us and our first priority must be to keep people safe and save lives. We also need to ensure our vaccine roll out continues across the island. Thanks to the efforts and cooperation of the people, we have been able to move along our pathway to recovery. We want to continue to keep moving along that pathway. Obviously, the pandemic still continues to pose a serious threat but we can continue to move forward if we work together.

We also need to see our economy recover after an incredibly difficult year. We need to be able to realise the potential of the special economic circumstances of the protocol which allows businesses in the north to access both the EU and British markets in order to be able to attract jobs and investments. For that to happen, we need to see the protocol implemented and honoured as agreed.

As an Executive, we are committed to creating a better society and to build more housing, create more jobs, and improve our health service for both patients and staff. We expect to see the Irish Language Act brought into law shortly and a Coimisinéir Teanga established. This represents respect for our national identity by the State and provides public services to those who wish to access them as Gaeilge. These are the things I am working towards every day and what all our ministers are focused on.

I will work with Ministers and with my party colleagues across the island to deliver that. ■ ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3  anphoblacht

New faces on Sinn Féin's Assembly team

BY MICHAEL McMONAGLE Sinn Féin’s Assembly team at Stormont has a number of new faces and is set to be joined by a few more in the time ahead.

The latest addition to the MLA team is Áine Murphy, who was recently co-opted to the Assembly in the Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency, replacing Seán Lynch who stepped down after representing the area for 11 years.

The 24 year old is one of the youngest Assembly members at Stormont and said she is looking forward to getting stuck in to her new challenge. “I am determined to serve all the people of Fermanagh and South Tyrone

and to make their voice heard in the Assembly chamber and on committees,” she said.

“There are many challenges and opportunities ahead of us and my priority will be to work alongside my colleagues to deliver a better health service, build more homes, create jobs and improve everyone’s lives.

“This is an exciting time in politics across our island and I look forward to playing my part as an MLA to build a better, fairer, greener new and united Ireland for all,” she added.

The new MLA hit the ground running after joining the Assembly, asking questions in the

Chamber just one hour after formally signing in in the Speaker’s office.

She also joined Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald and Vice President Michelle O’Neill in speaking to the media outside Stormont later the same day.

The new Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA will be one of a number of new faces in the Sinn Féin Assembly team in the coming term.

Changes are expected in a number of areas across the six counties as several longstanding MLAs step down from frontline

• New Assembly MLA for Fermanagh South Tyrone, Áine Murphy anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3

9

• Seán Lynch

• Alex Maskey

politics. Veteran Sinn Féin representative Alex Maskey has already announced that he will not be seeking re-election to the Assembly at the next election.

Alex has a long history within republican politics in various elected forums. A docker by trade, he was interned in the early 1970s and was elected to Belfast City Council in 1983, becoming the first Sinn Féin member of the council.

He faced outright hostility from unionist councillors who interfered with his microphone in the council chamber in an attempt to prevent him speaking and, at times, physically attacked him. Unable to silence him, the British state tried to assassinate him on several occasions, leading to him being seriously wounded when a loyalist gunman shot him at his front door. He later became the first Sinn Féin representative to serve as mayor of Belfast.

Undeterred, Alex continued to represent the people and was a familiar face alongside other Sinn Féin leaders. A key figure in the negotiations which led to the Good Friday Agreement, he was elected to the Assembly in 1998 and at every election subsequently, first in West Belfast, switching to South Belfast in 2001, before returning again to represent the west of the city.

In 2020, he became the Speaker of the Assembly and has gained praise and respect in that role from all shades of opinion in the chamber for his handling of debates.

His replacement to go forward for co-option in West Belfast has not yet been chosen and 10

• Sinn Féin Vice President Michelle O’Neill with Cathy Mason

the local area is expected to hold a selection convention in line with party guidelines in the coming months.

Further changes are expected in the West Belfast constituency which will also see a new

The new MLA hit the ground running after joining the Assembly, asking questions in the chamber just one hour after formally signing in in the Speaker’s office name added to the ballot paper at the next Assembly election.

There will be changes too in South Down with the announcement that Cathy Mason

has been selected to contest the next election for Sinn Féin in the constituency. She was chosen at a recent selection convention and will replace outgoing MLA Emma Rogan at the polls.

Cathy Mason has been a Sinn Féin councillor on Newry, Mourne and Down Council representing the Slieve Croob area since 2019. The 32 year old was recently appointed as chair of the council.

In Derry, two new candidates will be chosen to carry the Sinn Féin standard at the next Assembly election following the announcement that the two current Foyle MLAs will not be seeking re-election. It is expected the party will hold a selection convention in the coming months to choose the new candidates.

As those selection conventions are held, the full Sinn Féin team to contest the next election will emerge and is certain to include new faces to add to the experience in the Assembly team. ■ Michael McMonagle is a Sinn Féin Press Officer

ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3  anphoblacht

IN BL Y DU BA UTHTION C SOY-ELE

CHANGE GOVERNMENT

B

IS HAPPENING SUPPORT ERODES

BY SEÁN MacBRÁDAIGH

The results of July’s Dublin Bay South by-election, triggered by the resignation of disastrous former Fine Gael Housing Minister and local TD Eoghan Murphy, sees the Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil-Green government living on borrowed time.

The by-election results confirmed that the process of political change, witnessed in last year’s historic general election, is ongoing with Fine Gael’s Dáil numbers further depleted and Fianna Fáil recording an historically dismal result.

Fine Gael’s James Geoghegan entered the by-election as the favourite to retain Murphy’s seat. However, his campaign was marred by issues around his political record, including membership of the right-wing Renua party and his work as a lobbyist for the tobacco industry.

Geoghegan was Varadkar’s favoured candidate over former local Fine Gael TD Kate O’Connell and divisions within the party were obvious before, during, and after the by-election. In the end, Geoghe-

gan was overtaken by Labour’s Ivana Bacik and Fine Gael lost the seat they held here.

Fianna Fáil’s by-election campaign was an unmitigated disaster from beginning to end. Their efforts on social media were a recurring joke. Their candidate, Deirdre Conroy, performed miserably in TV and radio debates and her candidacy was marked by controversy around a blog she wrote on being a landlord, which included derogatory comments about her Latvian tenant.

Ivana Bacik was ahead of Geoghegan from early in the election count with transfers from Sinn Féin’s Lynn Boylan and Green Party candidate Claire Byrne ensuring her victory.

Bacik – the darling of the establishment media from early on – received a major boost from an Ipsos/MRBI poll in the week before voting. It was the only public poll conducted in advance of the election and assisted Bacik by placing her as the most likely candidate to beat the government and giving her much needed momentum in

• ON THE CANVAS – Sinn Féin’s President Mary Lou McDonald TD, Cllr Daniel Céitinn, Senator and candidate Lynn Boylan and TDs Eoin Ó Broin and Chris Andrew

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3

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the final week of campaigning.

To be fair to Bacik, she has a long and admirable track record of campaigning on issues of civil liberties, including abortion rights, same sex marriage, and the scandal of Mother and Baby Homes. She lives in the constituency and was a high profile Senator and former European election candidate.

The by-election saw a very solid campaign for Sinn Féin’s Lynn Boylan who – although she did not win – ran a positive, progressive campaign in a difficult constituency for the party, with a sharp focus on the most pressing issues, particularly housing and consolidating the party’s support here.

Boylan forced the issue of housing to the centre of the by-election debate and this has put further pressure on the government parties.

Not long ago, it would have been difficult to imagine Sinn Féin contending for a seat in such a Fine Gael stronghold. However, at the first count, Lynn Boylan had a total of 4,245 first preference votes – 15.8% of the total vote – and retained the breakthrough support won by sitting Sinn Féin TD Chris Andrews in last year’s general election. In the working class areas of the constituency, Lynn dominated.

In the end, she was eliminated on the eighth count with a total of 5,237 votes which is very positive for Chris Andrews holding his seat at the next general election.

The result is a hammer blow to Fine Gael as this was a seat held by the party in a constituency where they came close to taking two seats in the General Election.

For Fine Gael now to be without a TD in what has always been a

Boylan forced the issue of housing to the centre of the by-election debate and this has put further pressure on the government parties

• Fine Gael candidate James Geoghegan with leader Leo Varadkar

major Fine Gael stronghold is a severe setback for Leo Varadkar’s leadership. This remember is the constituency of former Fine Gael leaders Garret Fitzgerald and John A Costello. The party now drops to 34 seats in the Dáil, behind the 37 for Sinn Féin and 37 for Fianna Fáil.

• Eoghan Murphy

• Kate O’Connell

JIM GIBNEY takes us through a polling day odyssey as he helped get the Sinn Féin vote out for the Dublin Bay South election

Hope and history in Dublin Bay South “You can’t miss the house, Jim. There’s a poster of Lynn above the front door”, Sam said.

But, I first had to find the house. It was in Mackin Street which I eventually found via Pearse Street, named after Padraig Pearse who led the 1916 Rising.

It induced historical meanderings. Pearse Street was formerly known as Brunswick Street and it was there, in April 1920, an intense and lengthy gun battle took place between the IRA and the Black and Tans during which several people died.

As I turned into Mackin Street, I could see Mount Street Bridge, the site of another huge bat-

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tle during Easter Week, between the Volunteers of 1916 and the British Army, during which the British lost heavily.

On this street, there is the Pearse Centre in the former family home of Patrick and Willie, and beside it one of Dublin’s soup kitchens – what an ironic contrast of history.

My reminisces came to a welcome end when I spotted Lynn Boylan’s poster as described by Sam. And he was right, you couldn’t miss the house, with the striking poster of Lynn, former MEP and now Seanadoir, carefully placed for maximum impact on passers-by.

I find that about Sam, when it comes to exac-

titude and getting details right – especially details about elections.

He has qualities I met in his recently deceased father when we used to meet, when Sam and his brothers were children and his parents, Joe and Edna, were finding their feet in Belfast, a city at war, in the mid ‘70s, following Joe’s deportation from England.

When I see Sam Baker at election time, I relax and I am particularly relaxed if I see him in the company of Peter Lynch.

They are a powerful double-act, who provide outstanding leadership on many fronts, particularly when it comes to anything to do with

ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3  anphoblacht

• Labour candidate Ivana Bacik with leader what’s his name?

But it was also a truly dreadful day out for Fianna Fáil. Conroy struggled to get enough votes to keep her deposit. On the first count, she received 1,247 votes, a mere 4.6% of first preferences and 9.2% down on Fianna Fáil’s 2020 general election result.

This kind of result is unheard of for a government party led by

• Mícheál Martin

• Deirdre Conroy

elections; running the campaign, reading the turnout on polling day, predicting the turnout at close of poll, reading and predicting the result as the ballots fall from the ballot boxes onto the tables at the count. These are not places for the faint-hearted or those of a nervous disposition.

The late Siobhán O'Hanlon had the same calming effect on me. She had a great election brain, which was impressive in action, especially at close of poll, when everyone desperately wanted to know how Gerry Adams or any of the other Sinn Féin elected representatives in West Belfast fared.

On this occasion – polling day in the Dublin Bay by-election – Sam was in the company of much younger, yet formidable operators, on many fronts as well, including the election front; Rachel, formerly of the US, and Lauren from the Lower Falls.

They had, with the approval of the host family, taken over the kitchen and the three of them were

the Taoiseach. The votes had not been fully counted before issues around Mícheál Martin’s continued leadership of Fianna Fáil resurfaced, with several Fianna Fáil TDs, some on record, briefing heavily against Martin and calling for his resignation.

If Fianna Fáil’s dire performance was repeated in a general election, it would see a loss of seats on a huge scale. It continues the historic downward trajectory for the party and comes just weeks after one of their own TDs described the party as “toxic and irrelevant” to a whole swathe of the population.

And it was not just the two bigger government parties which suffered. The Greens vote also collapsed in the constituency of party leader Eamon Ryan.

Much post-election commentary has focused on whether Ivan Bacik’s performance represents a change in Labour’s fortunes.

The reality of course is that Ivana Bacik’s profile, who has a long-established record as a campaigner, is actually bigger than the Labour Party itself, which is now a very minor player on the Irish political landscape.

An Ireland Thinks poll has shown that support for Bacik was strongly related to her specific candidacy. Much more than other candidates, she received a personal vote (60% of those who voted for her) rather than one for her party.

There is also the feeling that Fine Gael divisions, sidelining a female former TD with a strong liberal profile, in favour of a male with a conservative track record played to Bacik’s advantage, particularly in terms of transfers. Fine Gael voters, over many years, are used to

huddled around the family’s dinner table, where a computer, not food, was the centre of attention.

On the computer screen and on hard copy in their hands was the all-powerful ‘election bible’ – the electoral register. The one document that brings joy and despair in equal measure. The one document that can make or break a candidate or indeed a party.

From inside the living room, I watched the experts at work as the canvass team leaders brought the immediate mood of the electorate into the make-shift election HQ, to be inserted first into the trios’ brains and then the computers’ brain.

I arrived around 4.30 pm and I could see from the reaction to the steady flow of information from the campaign managers that all was well in the Sinn Féin camp.

I was quickly assigned to a ‘door knocking’ team. My team leader was Aibhilin, from Derry, a university graduate, who is one of Mary Lou’s advisers and a niece of the now veteran (he will be

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3

For Fine Gael now to be without a TD in what has always been a major Fine Gael stronghold is a severe setback for Leo Varadkar’s leadership

raging at that) Derry/Belfast republican Peadar Whelan, former northern editor of An Phoblacht and ubiquitous photographer of the conflict for decades.

Aibhilin's father Liam and Peadar are brothers and spent years in the H-Blocks on the blanket protest for political status.

For the next few hours, gently and authoritatively the team was guided by Aibhilin from house to house and flat to flat at ground and higher levels.

We had an easy task encouraging people to come out to vote for Lynn. Most of those we canvassed were women of all ages and it was a joy to see the smiles on their faces as they told us ‘voted already’ or ‘on my way to vote’.

The canvass reminded me of the time I spent knocking doors in Tallaght for Mark Ward. The mood on the doors in that election was unreal and like Dublin Bay it was primarily women who were the most responsive and upbeat.

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transferring to Labour with whom they have been coalition partners in successive governments.

Polling also indicates that Bacik’s vote strongly correlated with that for Green Party leader Eamon Ryan in 2020 and much of her support came from the 14.4% decline in support for the Green Party.

Bacik made no significant inroads within working class areas, which is unsurprising considering that she has consistently supported the brutal austerity policies of governments involving Labour, which inflicted so much harm on ordinary people.

Despite the valiant efforts of elements within the media to revive Labour’s relevance, the Dublin Bay South result will undoubtedly prove to be the exception as opposed to the rule.

Fine Gael’s willingness to engage in shameless class snobbery was exposed during the by-election campaign with crass social media messages warning that working class areas of the constituency were experiencing high voter turnout, and appealing to their supporters not to “let Sinn Féin in”.

Varadkar’s hopes of a poll boost for Fine Gael relating to the vaccine rollout or ending of severe lockdown measures demonstrated the government’s underestimation of the frustration and anger over the housing crisis, as well as inequalities in employment conditions and income and within health system and childcare services.

First preferences for the government parties was just over 37% - a huge fall from 64% in the general election.

While merely a snapshot of opinion in a very untypical constituency, the by-election has nevertheless highlighted again the unpopularity of the policies of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

It has also underlined Sinn Féin’s position as the preeminent voice of ordinary, working people and whose policies are speaking to those most affected by the government’s abysmal handling of the housing crisis.

Around 8pm, I drew breath in the front garden of ‘HQ’. I was suddenly surrounded by other ‘door knockers’.

All young, all enthusiastic, and from all parts of Ireland – a section of the sizeable contingent from Ógra Sinn Féin led by Caoimhín McCann, its Cathaoirleach, who were dotted across the constituency.

There was Julietta from Cavan who fulsomely praised former TD Caoimhghín O Caoláin who was always on hand to help her and other young people locally.

There was Pete from Monaghan a young farmer who had finished his day’s work and headed to help Lynn.

There was Joe from Kerry, Conor from Newry, Darragh from Dublin, Eoin from Leitrim – all students at universities; Trinity, UCD, DCU, and Queens.

I was like Bamber Gasgoine of University Challenge as I asked each one what they were

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As society emerges from the pandemic and other issues come into even clearer focus, the challenge for Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, and the Greens will only increase. Government support is eroding fast and the mood for a general election is growing.

It is clear too that Sinn Féin’s phenomenal and historic 2020 General Election result was no ‘flash in the pan’. The process of real and fundamental political change continues. ■ Seán MacBrádaigh is a Sinn Féin political activist

studying; economics and applied economics, politics, history, and Spanish.

Darragh told me that young people in Raheny were joining Sinn Féin to help change the local area and became interested in a united Ireland when they realised it was the party’s main objective.

There was Liam Lappin, whom I first met when he was a student and has progressed through the ranks of the party and is now one its experienced leaders. It was an evening for a song, but unfortunately Liam hadn’t brought his guitar.

So, in the absence of musical entertainment, we ‘shot the breeze’, talking about my favourite topic – the economic benefits of a united Ireland.

Ably assisted by the economists in the company, topics included; the economic merits of a highspeed train from Belfast to Dublin, the decentralisation of economic planning, and of course by how many votes would Lynn win the seat.

And, when we were all getting too carried

away, Caoimhín McCann interjected with a sobering thought – the price of a pint in Dublin, 7 euros. Between the laughs, there was utter disbelief when I told them that for £1 in 1970 you could buy five bottles of beer. And I had.

Just before I paid thanks to the family for the generous use of their home, I had a fascinating conversation about the origins of Covid-19 with the daughter of the house, Nikita, who by profession investigated bacteria but was on secondment to the health service to battle the virus. She was in command of her post and her arguments; too many for this piece.

It was time to go.

As I walked past the pub at the top of the street – in the open air because of Covid, I heard a rousing chorus of imbibers chanting ‘Up the ‘Ra’, Up the ‘Ra’ Up the ‘Ra’.

Need I say anymore? ■ Jim Gibney is a former political prisoner and parliamentary adviser to Senator Niall Ó Donnghaile

ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3  anphoblacht

Unionism cannot cope with its loss of dominance

BY SUSAN McKAY I think the last time I wrote for An Phoblacht was as a spokesperson for the Belfast Rape Crisis Centre in 1984. I wrote about what our work with women from all over the North was telling us about the prevalence of sexual violence against women and children, and how, contrary to the myth that strangers were the threat, it was largely being carried out within families and within communities. I mentioned the metaphorical rape of Mother Ireland by British John Bull and concluded that in any new Ireland women needed a commitment that there would be “no rape of Irish women...by Irish men.”

The piece got me into trouble with the UDA to begin with - this was quickly resolved when I wrote a matching piece for Ulster magazine.

Then 30 years later, it was resurrected by a DUP politician who claimed on the basis of a misreading of what I had written that the BBC should not have me on its programmes.

My book “Northern Protestants - An Unsettled People” was published in 2000, when the Good Friday Agreement was new, and memories of the relentlessly violent years of conflict were raw. There was relief, hope for better times ahead. There was generosity and even a dash of magic. There was also sorrow and anger, and there was reason to fear that sectarianism would persist.

When I wrote a new introduction for the 2007 edition of the book, I quoted the broadcaster David Dunseith who said he sensed “a beginning of the green shoots of maturity” in the Protestant community. I also quoted the Progressive Unionist Party leader, David Ervine, who said there was less bitterness, less fear, and that: “We have become a more settled people.”

In 2000, I used the term, “the people I uneasily call my own”. My book’s harshest critics inevitably called me a Lundy, and, a term I had not heard before, a “guilty”, meaning someone ashamed of my own people and therefore cringing before its enemies. I was accused of not caring about the onslaught of violence that the IRA had directed at my community.

In the course of one radio discussion, a prominent unionist managed to call me both a “wee girl” and a Goebbels. But I also found many allies and, in the years that have followed, I have seen a new confidence grow among people from a Protestant background who no longer accept the old divisions here, the old banishings, the old assumption that if you criticise from within, you are a traitor. Far from anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3

wanting to defend and maintain, they want change. They identify with movements that are national, international and global.

By the time I came to write my new book “Northern Protestants On Shifting Ground”, I had become reconciled to my Lundification. In fact, I highlighted the voices of people from a Protestant background who have been excluded or rejected or have simply not been heard.

The book has been well received, though not by elements of political unionism about which it is highly critical. This comes as no surprise.

In this centenary of the Northern Irish state, it has become clear that unionism does not know how to cope with its loss of the dominant position it used to take for granted. The DUP and elements of loyalist paramilitarism are consumed by nostalgia. Unionist leaders have failed

Republicanism has to face up to the fact that there was an ugly strand of sectarianism in what it calls 'the armed struggle' to demonstrate the imagination and generosity that would be needed to transform the North.

They have not even tried to persuade republicans and nationalists that they truly want to share power. Instead they have wheeled out old militaristic clichés about coming out fighting, or said, like Arlene Foster, that if there was to be a United Ireland she would just leave.

Unionism’s state of disarray is nowhere more apparent than in its plea to the indifferent - verging on hostile - British government that all it wants is to be treated in exactly the same as the rest of the UK, while simultaneously refusing to implement UK law on, notably, abortion, claiming it is an imposition.

This belligerent weakness within unionism coincides with demographic changes which may well see the Protestant community become a minority. Sinn Féin is growing and there is a resurgence of energy and positivity in the SDLP. The conditions for a border poll will probably be met within the next decade. (Whether we can count on the 15

Republicans must do everything possible to demonstrate that they would never treat a Protestant minority, or any other minority, in anything remotely resembling the outrageous way that unionism, in its heyday, treated the Catholic minority in the North British Secretary of State to instigate it is another matter entirely.)

However, my book is also, I think, likely to challenge republicans.

Not because of the capacity of loyalists for renewed violence - which has been exaggerated, but because one of the themes that runs through the book is the deep pain that was, and is still, experienced by victims of IRA violence. The voices of people from a unionist background who were bereaved must be heard and responded to with imagination

rather than well-worn formulas about all sides having suffered.

Republicanism has to face up to the fact that there was an ugly strand of sectarianism in what it calls “the armed struggle”.

This book takes its title from something the poet and unionist Jean Bleakney said to me while we were walking along the border between her late father’s home in Co Fermanagh and Co Leitrim. Her father was a customs officer. She said that, in 2017, she had voted for the first time for the DUP. She had panicked, she said. “I felt the ground shifting...”

Unionism, she said, was feeling “aggrieved, isolated and anxious” and it was losing ground in the face of Sinn Féin’s confident north and south republicanism.

Many Protestants I spoke with were open minded about the constitutional future. But everyone is going to have to be willing to change if there is to be a new Ireland, including those who most ardently aspire to it. The Republic as currently governed is no fit place for anyone who believes in equality or human rights. Above all, republicans must do everything possible to demonstrate that they would never treat a Protestant minority, or any other minority, in anything remotely resembling the outrageous way that unionism, in its heyday, treated the Catholic minority in the North. That ground has, thankfully, shifted for all of us. ■ Susan McKay is a journalist and author

Northern Protestants On Shifting Ground

is published by Blackstaff Press, priced €19.99| £16.99

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ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3  anphoblacht

Grúpa Cónasctha den Chlé Aontaithe Eorpach • den Chlé Ghlas Nordach

GRÚPA PARLAIMINTEACH EORPACH

www.guengl.eu TREO EILE DON EORAIP ANOTHER EUROPE IS POSSIBLE

FUNDED BY THE EUROPEAN UNITED LEFT/NORDIC GREEN LEFT (GUE/NGL) anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3

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Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) for plastic bottles and aluminium drinking cans are coming to Ireland in 2022.

COLIN O’BYRNE explains the thinking and significant potential behind the plans.

Learning from the past on

BY COLIN O’BYRNE One needn’t trawl too heavily through the folk history of Ireland to discover a time when we had a vital aspect of the much ballyhoo-ed – and much needed – circular economy down to a tee.

Yes, who amongst you can forget the thrill of finding a good number of empty, but intact, glass bottles and bringing them to the shop for a few pence in return, so that they in turn could be cleaned and refilled?

Indeed, entire summer days could be given over to this pursuit as bands of local children scoured every conceivable nook and cranny in their locality to reclaim these wonderful containers from the ‘waste’ they had become. Today, we’d consider those forays as sustainable actions well executed in the pursuit of a cleaner, greener environment. Back in the day, however, they would just be filed under ‘common sense’.

I fear, however, that I may have sold some of you short with my timeline. Indeed, anyone born from the mid 80’s on may have zero recollection of Ireland’s glass bottle deposit return scheme as, come the 90’s, it had ceased to exist. Which is a terrible shame, truth be told. Not only did it encourage the collection of these valuable containers so that they might be re-used or recycled, it also imbued them with a value – both monetary and otherwise – to say nothing of the enterprising and entrepreneurial spirit it helped to foster in those roving platoons of scavenging children!

The good news is that those times are on the way back.

Last year, as part of the Programme for Government, a commitment was made to (re)introduce a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for plastic bottles and aluminium drinking cans in Ireland. Great headway has been made since and, if everything goes as expected, the DRS will come into being by the fourth quarter of 2022. In order to steer this along, Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment (VOICE) has developed a new campaign – Return for Change.

This campaign has one aim and one aim only – to ensure that Ireland gets the best DRS possible. In order to realise this, the Return for Change campaign has a few different strings to its bow. Firstly, it is vital that the legislation which underpins the introduction is both robust and dynamic.

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You can view our consultation submission on our website www.returnforchange.org to find out why those points are so important. VOICE also sits on the Departmental working group along with producers, retailers, waste operators and, having pressed for a DRS for over ten years now, are well placed to make our voice heard.

But that’s all the ‘boring’ stuff. What’s really important is getting the message out to the people of Ireland. We have to get the word out that the DRS is coming and tell them; why we need one; how to use it; and the benefits of having one. So, let’s start at the top NUMBER 1: Why we’re getting one. Under the EU’s Single Use Plastic Directive, we are legally obliged to reach a 90% separate collection rate for plastic bottles by 2030. Our current recycling rates for PET plastic bottles is about 60%. Other countries have, within a short period of implementing their own DRS, seen dramatic increases of recycling rates of containers. If they can do it, we can do it and a DRS is the best way of getting there.

NUMBER 2: How to use it. The Department has favoured the return-to-retail model. This means that any outlet which sells PET plastic bottles and cans is obliged to be part of the scheme. So, for example, a bottle of water might have a deposit of 20c placed on it (the deposits have yet to be decided). When that bottle is empty, it will be worth 20c to the holder. So rather than put it into the recycling bin as is done now, they can bring it back to any retailer whereupon their deposit will be returned. Smaller shops may take containers back manually, whereas larger outlets might install Reverse Vending Machines (put the container in, get the money out).

NUMBER 3: The Benefits. In real terms, a 60% collection rate means that every year we’re losing many hundreds of millions of plastic bottles to landfill, incinerator, and the environment. It’s worth thinking about the sheer waste involved here. Not only are all of these containers gone from our grasp, they take up permanent residence in our ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3  anphoblacht

deposit refund schemes environment as harmful pollutants. More bottles and cans collected as a result of a DRS means less of them littering our roads, rivers, and fields.

Recently, there have been developments toward a digital DRS. This system requires users (having downloaded the app) to scan the QR code of their container and then the QR code of their bin before depositing the item within, rather than returning to retailer. On the face of it, this sounds very convenient.

It does suffer from some not inconsiderable drawbacks, however. First among those is that it cannot guarantee the “separate collection” of bottles or cans as mandated by the EU’s directive, as the containers will be placed into the general recycling bin. Bottle-to-bottle, food-grade recycled material is what the Single Use Plastics Directive wants and digital DRS does not provide it.

There are also issues pertaining to connectivity and the fact that this technology is rather new. However, given time and the chance to develop, it could become part of the DRS armoury further down the line.

Glass bottles are not part of this system as Ireland has a well-managed glass collection system in place. While there was a blip in the glass recycling rate in 2019 (78%), down from the normal 86% rate in 2018, it is back up to 87% in 2020.

We believe that there is a better use of glass and we are fighting for the establishment of a reuse pilot under the DRS. We call on the government and drinks producers to identify consumer streams where reusable bottles can and should be used, such as for milk, water, beer, and pub trade.

Glass reusable bottles can be used, collected, washed and refilled up to 50 times, which is a much better use of valuable resources than the current use, collect, and recycle model. Additionally, while not only supporting the circular economy, it provides local jobs and keeps valuable resources in Ireland.

The word ‘waste’ tends to be bandied about rather anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3

carelessly when we talk about litter. It’s true that bottles and cans that end up being strewn about the environment are an awful waste of precious resources (to say nothing of the pollution they cause). However, these bottles and cans are not themselves ‘waste’. They are valuable materials and by capturing them for recycling, we cut down on the need for more of them to be created anew as the energy costs associate with this far outweighs that of recycling.

Don’t let ‘waste’ go to waste! Recycling isn’t the preferred method when it comes to litter reduction – reduce and reuse are better again! – but it’s so much better than landfill, incinerator or pollution.

Before I finish up, I wanted to draw your attention to an interesting historical curio. According to Wikipedia, A&R Thwaites & Co. in Dublin announced that they would pay 2 shillings per dozen returned glass bottles–in 1799! So, you can see there is nothing new about deposit return schemes.

In fact, there is nothing new about common sense approaches to solving problems. What is weird, aberrant, and totally lacking in common sense is to use something once and throw it away.

There is only so much ‘stuff’ on the planet and yet we act as if it we have limitless supplies of everything. Quite where this lethal misconception came from is a conversation for another day but we’re coming up hard against reality now and need to take many steps to get our house in order.

Placing a deposit on plastic bottles and cans isn’t going to solve all of our problems but it’s a solid and practical step which as good as guarantees we’ll collect hundreds of millions more bottles and cans for recycling than we do presently and that’s nothing to be sniffed at.

VOICE is an environmental charity which works with communities and Government to promote the wise use of natural resources as we build toward as a sustainable future. ■ Colin O’Byrne is Coordinator of Return for Change and Dublin #CircleCity campaigns

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Reifreann na Saoirse i gCanacaí

Tá faitíos ar an Fhrainc faoin nGleo san Aigéan Ciúin LE EOGHAN FINN Trí bliana is fichead tar éis chomhaontú síochána, tá reifreann na saoirse ag teacht go gairid, tá an stát coilíneach ag triáil an lámh in uachtar a thabhairt do dhílseoirí, agus toghadh náisiúnaí mar cheannaire rialtais don chéad uair.

Ceacht dár dtodhchaí ar thaobh eile na cruinne?

Is cosúil go bhfuil an t-Aigéan Ciúin ag aimsiú a ghlór.

I 2019, vótáil 98% ar oileán Bougainville ar son na saoirse, le Bertie Ahern mar mhaoirseoir sa reifreann. Dhá bhliain ina dhiaidh, tá siad fós faoi smacht ag Nua-Ghuine Phapua. Sin cheannaireacht Fhianna Fáil is dócha! Sa cheantar máguaird, tá reifreann curtha ar athló ag stát oileánda eile darbh ainm Chuuk chun Stáit Chónaidhm na Micrinéise a fhágáil: Chuukfaidh a lá i 2022.

Suite ag lárphointe idir an Astráil agus Fídsí, béal-doras orthu seo go léir, tá tír tanaí oileánda ar chomh-achar le Cúige

'Is ionann turraing an choilínithe agus tráma marthanach don phobal dúchasach' – Réamhrá Chomhaontú Nouméa, 1998 Chonnachta ach ar leath den daonra, atá fós faoi chois ag an Fhrainc agus ar liosta na Náisiúin Aontaithe de chríocha atá fós le díchoilíniú: Canacaí (Kanaky, nó an Nua-Chaladóin de réir ainm na gcoilíneach).

Cé nár ghlac an Fhrainc seilbh ar Chanacaí go dtí lár na 19ú hAois, d’éirigh leo gach gné den eispéireas coilíneach a bhrú uirthi ó shin. Plandáil inar bhrúdh na Kanakaigh isteach i dtearmainn srianta sléibhe.

Obair gan rogha faoi dhintiúir sna mianaigh.

Péindlíthe agus stádas den tríú ghrád ina dtír féin.

Galair nua a scrios leath den daonra dúchasach ó 55,000 i 1853 go 27,000 i 1902, agus bás dóibh siúd a d’éirigh amach (a gcoirp léirithe in aice ainmhithe in iarsmalann i bPáras go dtí le déanaí).

Choinnigh na Kanakaigh a mhisneach áfach, agus faoi cheannas an bhFronta Náisiúnta Kanak agus Sóisialach ar son na Saoirse (FLNKS), throid siad go cróga ar son na saoirse go dtí gur thosaigh comhráití síochána i 1988 tar éis sléacht i bpluais Ouvéa.

Ní raibh mí thart ó síníodh Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta anseo nuair ar síníodh Comhaontú Nouméa ar an 5 • Sébastien Lecornu, an tAire do ‘Thar-Sáile’ na Fraince

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Bealtaine 1998, an péire acu dearbhaithe de réir reifrinn.

Bunaíodh institiúidí cineachta comhpháirtíoch sa dá háit mar thoradh, agus leag an dá conarthaí modh daonlathach amach don chéad uair chun saoirse náisiúnta a bhaint amach.

I gcás Canacaí áfach, cuireadh idirthréimhse daingean sa chomhaontú – 20 bliain – agus socraíodh 2018 don chéad reifreann, le srianta a bhain cearta vótála ó imircigh nua gan dlúth-bhaint acu leis an oileán.

Léiriú ar ghaisce an FLNKS ná gur ghéill an Fhrainc don phróiseas seo agus don fhoclaíocht sa réamhrá a thug aitheantas d’fhulaingt na gKanakaigh ag lámha na bhFrancaigh: “Le choc de la colonisation a constitué un traumatisme durable pour la population d’origine (Is ionann turraing an choilínithe agus tráma marthanach don phobal dúchasach)”.

Ghéill an Fhrainc don socrú seo áfach toisc nár shíl aon duine ag an am go mbeadh seans ar bith ag Kanakaigh an bua a fháil i reifreann – ba mhionlach iad ina dtír féin faoin tráth seo, agus d’fhógair beagnach gach pobalbhreith suas go dtí 2018 go mbeadh móramh os cionn 60% ina gcoinne, toisc dílseacht na gCaldoches (de bhunús Eorpach) agus pobail imirceacha ó choilíneachtaí eile na Fraince.

“Bua síceolaíoch agus polaitiúil” a bhí ann mar sin, mar a thug Cathaoirleach an Chomhdhála Roch Watyman (FLNKS) air, nuair a thacaigh 43.6% leis an neamhspleáchas sa chéad reifreann. Ní bua a bhí ann i ndáiríre, ach go dtí sin, bhí cuma dosheachanta ar riail na Fraince; anois bhí bealach éalaithe faoina láimh ag na náisiúnaithe agus deis dóibh borradh leanúnach a chur leis an dtacaíocht sin de réir Chomhaontú Nouméa.

Tugadh ceart d’aon triain den Chomhdháil dara reifreann a lorg sa chás gur theip ar reifreann 2018, vóta a tharlódh sa dara bhliain tar éis don chéad reifreann. Bheadh seans amháin eile tríú reifreann -ceann deireanach – a lorg ina dhiaidh, dé réir an idirthréimhse céanna leis an gcéad ceann.

Baineadh geit ní ba thubaistí as dílseoirí sa dara reifreann a tharla anuraidh: 46.7% ar son na saoirse, sin 3.5% anuas ar fhigiúir 2018.

Ag féachaint don tríú reifreann, dá dtarlódh an t-ardú céanna arís thar an tréimhse céanna ullmhúcháin, bhainfeadh lucht an neamhspleáchais an bua amach i 2022.

Ach ní bheidh reifreann i 2022.

In ainneoin na forála faoin idirthréimhse céanna idirreifreann a bheith i gceist, agus cé gur gheall rialtas na Fraince 2022 mar dháta don tríú reifreann, chinn

ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3  anphoblacht

• Tá rialtas cineachta ag an Nua-Chaladóin de réir Chomhaontú Nouméa

rialtas na Fraince ag tús mí an Mheitheamh an reifreann seo a thabhairt chun tosaigh: 12 Nollaig 2021 an dáta nua, agus beagnach bliain iomlán níos lú ullmhúcháin.

“Conas ar féidir a chosaint, ag an nóiméad is cinniúnaí i stair na tíre, go bhfuilimid á bhrostú?” Sin a bhí le rá ag ceannaire de chuid an FLNKS Louis Mapou, sular cheapadh mar Uachtarán é ina dhiaidh.

Dílseoirí a d’iarr an dáta luath seo ag comhráití i bPáras, agus rialtas na Fraince a ghlac an cinneadh, gan éisteacht a thabhairt do ghearáin na náisiúnaithe.

Cosúil le Stát-Rúnaí Shasana i gcás Chomhaontú Aoine an Chéasta, tá ról ró-chumhachtach ag Aire Pháras do ‘Thar Sáile’ na Fraince, Sébastien Lecornu, mar cheannasaí “neamh-chlaonta” ar an bpróiseas, Aire atá gach aon orlach

Conas ar féidir a chosaint, ag an nóiméad is cinniúnaí i stair na tíre, go bhfuilimid á bhrostú? chomh “neamh-chlaonta” le Brandon Lewis. Is léir go mba ar mhaithe leis an ngaoth a bhaint as seolta na saoirse a glacadh an cinneadh seo.

Ar an drochuair, ní conradh idirnáisiúnta ilpháirtíoch atá i gComhaontú Nouméa, ach geallúint inmheánach ó rialtas na Fraince, agus níl glór i Washington nó sa Bhruiséal chun troid ar a son Chanacaí.

Mar sin, cé gur léirigh siad díomá, glacfaidh siad páirt sa reifreann i mí na Nollag, agus níos lú ama acu an cás a dhéanamh ar son an neamhspleáchais ná mar a bhíodar ag súil. Tá na Francaigh ag tapadh an deis ‘Project Fear’ a chur ar bhun chun éiginnteacht a chothú i leith thodhchaí eacnamaíochta agus geopholaitiúla i gCanacaí neamhspleách.

Tá taithí againn féin ar an bplé a bhaineann le Blochdeontais. Deir dílseoirí nach mhairfeadh Canacaí gan an €1.25 billiúin sa bhliain a thagann ón Fhrainc, ach deir náisiúnaí gur suim i bhfad níos lú toisc go bhfuil státchiste Chanacaí ag íoc timpeall billiúin as lúb ar láir cánach do chorparáidí ilnáisiúnta.

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• Louis Mapou (FLNKS), Uachtarán na NuaChaladóine/Canacaí

Cibé acu is fíor, is minic go mbíonn ard-chostais ag baint le ‘bronntanas’ dá shórt. Ní ar bhun carthanachta atá smacht ag an Fhrainc ar an oileán is saibhre ar domhan de réir acmhainní nicil, bunáit straitéiseach míleata lena mbaineann ról i slándáil an Aigéin Chiúin agus limistéar eisiach eacnamaíochta mór millteach lán d’éisc agus d’acmhainní eile.

Seachas an lámh in uachtar a fháil thar na náisiúnaithe ó thaobh ama de, nochtann an cleasaíocht dáta comhartha laige suntasach faoi na Francaigh: tá faitíos orthu.

Agus ní haon ionadh go bhfuil. Idir reifrinn 2018 agus 2020, d’iompaigh scata neamh-dhúchasach ón “non” go “oui”.

Feictear gur thit líon na gCaldoches sa daonra ó 27% i 2014 go 24% i 2019 toisc eisimirce, agus tháinig méadú ar líon na gKanakaigh don chéad uair ó 1988 sa tréimhse céanna go 41%.

Tharla bua síceolaíoch agus polaitiúil eile i mí Iúil, nuair a toghadh tíreolaí Marxach, Louis Mapou, mar Uachtarán ar Chanacaí – an chéad náisiúnach a ghlac an ról seo ó Chomhaontú Nouméa. Dhiúltaigh dílseoirí Leas-Uachtarán a ainmniú chun comhrialtas a bhunú toisc a náire roimh ról den dara ghrád a ghlacadh, léiriú ar an bhfuath a bheadh acu roimh stát Kanak neamhspleách. Fágann sé sin rialtas lán-náisiúnach i gceannas ag teacht suas don reifreann áfach, agus dáinséar go mbeidh normalú an féin-riail mar thoradh ar cheanndánacht na ndílseoirí.

Ní chuirfidh sé sin stop leis an Fhrainc áfach má tá tuilleadh cleasaíocht folaigh i gceist acu, nó más mian leo smacht a choimeád ar Chanacaí mar atá acu ar a lán iarchoilíneachtaí ‘neamhspleácha’ eile. Ní mór dúinn súil géar a choimeád ar an scéal, chun féin-chinniúint na gKanakaigh a chosaint, ach freisin chun a bheith ullamh do chleasaíocht den chineál céanna ó Londain inár gcás féin. ■ Eoghan Finn CúntóirParlamainte I dTeach Laighean

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THE LEGACY OF

CELTIC TIGER BUILDING FAILURES Sinn Féin TD writes about his new book Defects, Living with the Legacy of the Celtic Tiger

BY EOIN Ó BROIN Tonight and every night across the state, tens of thousands of families will sleep in defective homes. In Donegal, Mayo, and other western counties, entire houses are literally crumbling to the ground, with defective blocks.

In almost every county, there are owners of apartments and duplexes living in properties with significant fire safety and structural defects.

During the heady days of the Celtic Tiger an unknown number of homes were badly built or built with defective materials.

How did this happen? Who is responsible?

Who will foot the bill? Could this happen again?

These are the questions that I set out to address in my new book 'Defects, Living with the Legacy of the Celtic Tiger'.

The book tells the story of five families and their struggle with latent defects. From Priory Hall in North Dublin to Brú na Sionna in Co Clare, the tragedy and trauma of owning a defective home is laid bare.

The book also names the developers and building contractors responsible. In many cases, they are household names like Tom McFeely, Michael Stanley and Bernard McNamara, all of whom are still involved in the building trade today.

'Defects' also tells the story, for the first time, of the politicians who put in place the light touch building regulations that allowed developers and builders get away with such shoddy work.

In the 1960s, as overcrowded tenements in Dublin were collapsing, the then Fianna Fáil Government passed an important piece of legislation. The Local Government (Planning and Development) Act of 1963 was the most comprehensive reform of the planning system since the foundation of the state.

Buried near the end of the Bill was a small 22

provision empowering the Minister to introduce a state-wide building control regime, to set and enforce standards to ensure all new buildings would be safe.

A draft building control scheme was put out for consultation at the end of the 60s and the Government published a revised plan in 1976. It proposed a Local Authority-led independent inspection regime for all new buildings.

The proposal was trashed by both the Construction Industry Federation and the industry body representing architects, engineers, and surveyors.

Justice Keane’s criticisms of the Government’s failure to introduce a building control regime was damning

• Named and shamed: Tom McFeely, Michael Stanley and Bernard McNamara

The following year, the Law Reform Commission, concerned with the issue of defective buildings, published a report calling for a legal duty to be placed on builders to build properly. This too was attacked by the construction sector.

Cowed by the industry lobby, Government threw the draft building control regime in the bin and there it stayed until 48 people lost their lives in the Stardust fire on Valentine’s night in 1981.

The report of the Tribunal of Enquiry established by the Government has been rightly criticised for effectively exonerating the owners of the nightclub. Justice Keane’s criticisms of the Government’s failure to introduce a building control regime was damning.

Indeed, Keane went so far as to say if key pro-

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• The book deals with Priory Hall and the pyrite foundations in Leinster and defective blocks in Donegal, Mayo and other western counties

visions of the 1976 draft building control regime had been in place at the time of the Stardust fire, “the consequences of the disaster might have been significantly diminished”.

Keane called for the fire safety elements of the 1976 proposals to be fast-tracked within three months.

Instead of accepting the Tribunal’s recommendations, the then Labour Minister for Environment, Dick Spring, brought a detailed memo to Cabinet. The Tánaiste rejected Keane’s criticisms and supported the construction industry’s proposals for a system of self-certification for new buildings.

The Building Control Bill was introduced in 1984. At its heart was a regime where builders and developers certified their own work. While Local Authorities could undertake inspections, there was no obligation on them to do so.

The legislation took six years to pass through the Oireachtas and a further two years to come into effect. First steered by Fine Gael Minister of State Fergus O’Brien, it was Fianna Fáil’s Pádraig Flynn who was ultimately responsible for the act.

During the years of debate and committee hearings, a small number of TDs raised significant concerns; chief among them was Proinsias de Rossa and Eamon Gilmore of the Workers Party.

They challenged what they termed the privatisation of building control and warned that the legislation would allow rogue builders and architects to build defective properties with no protection for the homebuyer.

Their concerns were dismissed by Flynn who claimed that builders would “only be able to continue in business as long as they have good quality work as their trade mark”.

Within a few years of Flynn’s self-certification regime coming into effect, the 26 Counties experienced a building boom that drove the Celtic Tiger economy.

Tested in the most extreme of circumstances, the building control regime introduced by Labour, Fine Gael, and Fianna Fáil failed. De Rossa and Gilmore were proven right and tens of thou-

sands of homeowners were left with defective homes.

‘Defects: Living with the Legacy of the Celtic Tiger’ charts the years from 1992 through to the present, exposing the weaknesses of Phil Hogan’s reforms in the aftermath of the Priory Hall scandal. It also details the reports and redress schemes established to deal with pyrite foundations in Leinster and defective blocks in Donegal, Mayo, and other western counties.

In addition to calling for 100% redress for all Celtic Tiger era defective home owners, the book

We need an independent Local Authority inspection regime to ensure all buildings meet the required standards

Defects, Living with the Legacy of the Celtic Tiger

is published by Merrion Press and signed copies are available from www. sinnfeinbookshop.com

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sets out a comprehensive reform plan for our entire building control regime.

If we are to learn anything from the defects scandals of the Celtic Tiger era, it is that self-certification does not work. We need an independent Local Authority inspection regime to ensure all buildings meet the required standards. And we need comprehensive consumer protection for home owners so that no family in the future has to face the tragedy and trauma that so many people are experiencing today because of the failure of politicians and the greed and negligence of builders and developers.

Eoin Ó Broin is a Sinn Féin TD and party spokesperson on Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

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MUIREANN DALTON looks back at the origins of Cumann na mBan and makes the case for forming a new political group in 2021 to organise, educate, mobilise, and empower women within Sinn Féin

A Cumann na mBan Polaitíocht group

in 2021

Organise, agitate, educate, empower.

These are all words that come into my head when I think of Cumann na mBan. These brave independent, determined women of 1914 laid the pathway for the generations of women that came after them.

Cumann na mBan was established in 1914, on 2 April in Wynn’s Hotel Dublin, with a meeting to announce the establishment of this new organisation for women. They were driven by the ideologies of Irish republicanism and feminism.

The primary aims of the organisation as stated in their later constitution included a pledge to “work for the establishment of an Irish Republic by organising and training the women of Ireland to take their place by the side of those who are working for a free Ireland.”

Cumann na mBan also pledged “To

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advance the cause of Irish liberty” and “To organise Irish women in the furthering of that objective”.

Cumann na mBan were instrumental in the Easter Rising. Women insurgents were positioned in all the main strongholds across Dublin, except Boland’s Mill and South Dublin Union. The majority of the women volunteers not only worked as Red Cross workers, they couriered and acquired rations to the men, they carried dispatches and transferred arms.

They also gathered intelligence.

This was all done under constant fire and attack from the British. They also arranged the evacuation of the strongholds at the time of surrender, risking life and limb to tend to the wounded. And still found the time to destroy incriminating papers. Winifred Carney refused to be evacuated so as to tend to James Connolly.

This was the type of astounding heroism these women showed across Dublin. Cumann na mBan were fighting for the movement of change, a movement of equality, a movement of freedom.

After 1916, Cumann na mBan took a leading role in or-

• Mae Burke, Eithne Coyle and Linda Kearns at Duckett's Grove, Co. Carlow, October 1921

ganising prisoner relief and opposing conscription while canvassing for Sinn Féin.

As the organisation developed in the war of independence, Cumann na mBan promised to “do all in our power to help families of men who suffer through refusing military service”.

They also assisted “in the election of republican candidates, keeping before the public the fact that under the

Cumann na mBan were fighting for the movement of change, a movement of equality, a movement of freedom Republican Proclamation Women are entitled to the same rights of citizenship as men”. They committed themselves to “not take the place of any man deprived of work through refusing military service” (Conscription campaign 1918).

These acts of defiance, support, and solidarity can only be admired.

The courageousness and steely determination of these women is inspiring. We have to remember that during the war of independence, and the scourge of the

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• Mary MacSwiney

• Ada English

• Constance Markievicz (above)

Black and Tans, that Cumann na mBan members could often not go on the run.

Their houses were being raided, there was sexual violence and their hair was shaved, along with suffering beatings and torture. The Black and Tans would take out their frustrations on the women when they could not catch the men.

Through all of this Cumann na mBan continued to organise educate and mobilise.

In 1918, some women finally had the right to vote in Ireland. You had to be age 30 with property qualifications or be resident in university constituencies, while men could vote at age 21 with no qualifications.

This was a turning point for women in politics.

In the 1918 general election, Constance Markievicz was elected to the first Dáil. After the election of May 1921, Cumann na mBan members Mary MacSwiney, Ada English, and Kathleen Clarke joined Markievicz in the Dáil.

• Kathleen Clarke

When I read about some of our comrades and their actions in Cumann na mBan, such as going on strike, organising marches, protests, letter writing cam-

Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill and Mary Lou McDonald are two formidable inspirational leaders that are laying the pathway for future generations

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paigns, even going on hunger strike, it sounds very familiar and resonates with our struggle for a socialist republican society, for better working conditions, for an end to poverty, homelessness, an end to the housing crisis, for a united and equal Ireland.

Sinn Féin is an extremely progressive party; we are leading the way politically when it comes to female leadership. We

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• Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill and Mary Lou McDonald

have powerful female Teachtaí Dála and Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill and Mary Lou McDonald are two formidable inspirational leaders that are laying the pathway for future generations.

To encourage more of our sisters to get involved in politics and activism both locally and nationally, we are in 2021 forming a Cumann na mBan – Polaitíocht group in Dublin, with the intention of expanding nationally.

The aim of this internal group will be to organise, educate, mobilise, and empower women within Sinn Féin. It will be a sisterhood that will support and

encourage female members into activism and politics. We will have discussion platforms and training platforms.

It is important we build a sisterhood, Cumann na mBan. a network where we can not only have political discussion but can reach out to other women’s groups to stand together in campaigns and to show solidarity not only nationally, but internationally to women’s causes.

It is vital that we continue to strive for a socialist republic, Irish Unity and equality for all.

It was said of Cumann na mBan members in the early 20th century that they

were ‘unmanageable revolutionaries’ and ‘ungovernable women’. I say they were inspirationally, intelligent, powerful, brave women who were determined to bring about change, to bring a united Ireland, an equal society, and to encourage and empower other sisters to do so.

It is up to us to be those unmanageable revolutionaries of today. ■ If you would like information on the group, please email 􀍕 muireann. dalton@sinnfein.ie Muireann Dalton is a Sinn Féin, community, and trade union activist

• Unmanageable Revolutionaries / Ungovernable Women, ‘banned’ Cumann na mBan convention in Dublin, 1920

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ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3  anphoblacht

Iascairí na hÉireann fágtha ar an trá fholamh LE KEVIN O’HARA

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Tá sé ró-éasca ag an rialtas i mBaile Átha Cliath beag is fiú a dhéanamh de thionscal na hiascaireachta agus an milleán ar fad a chur ar pholasaithe an Aontais Eorpaigh

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3

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Tá breis is 16,000 duine fostaithe i dtionscal na hiascaireachta sna 26 Chontae de réir figiúirí Bhord Iascaigh Mhara agus an fhostaíocht seo scaipthe ar fud na tíre, ag cruthú postanna agus deiseanna do dhaoine i gceantair nach bhfuil tionscal eile láidir le fáil iontu. I gConamara, ar nós go leor ceantair eile, tá oidhreacht agus traidisiún na hiascaireachta go smior sa phobal ach tá laghdú suntasach tagtha ar líon na ndaoine atá in ann dul ina mhuinín lena gcuid a shaothrú. Tá sé seo le sonrú go soiléir i scéal na scadán.

Scór bliain ó shin bhí cósta na tíre breac le monarchana éisc agus iad ag próiseáil scadán den chuid is mó. Chruthaigh na monarchana seo fostaíocht aitiúil sa phobal agus is iomaí teaghlach a bhain tairbhe astu.

Bhí breis agus 30,000 tonna scadáin ag teacht i dtír in aghaidh na bliana ach rinneadh scrios iomlán ar thionscal na scadán ó shin agus mar thoradh air tá roinnt mhaith de na monarchana sin dúnta anois, monarcha éisc Ros a Mhíl i gConamara san áireamh.

Tá sé ró-éasca ag an rialtas i mBaile Átha Cliath beag is fiú a dhéanamh de thionscal na hiascaireachta agus an milleán ar fad a chur ar pholasaithe an Aontais Eorpaigh. Is fíor, mar sin féin, go mbeadh ar an rialtas an fód a sheasamh le sciar réasúnta de chuóta iascaigh na hEorpa a chinntiú don stát seo agus tá teipthe glan orthu an méid sin a dhéanamh. Ní mór a aithint gur faoi Roinn na Mara atá sé an cuóta iascaigh atá againn a roinnt ar bhealach cothrom inmharthana agus atá ar leas an tionscail agus na tíre trí chéile.

Ní mó ná sásta atá iascairí go bhfuil an Roinn beag beann ar a n-achainí agus go bhfuil maorlathas na Ranna ag cothú a chuid fadhbanna féin. Creideann roinnt mhaith go bhfuil dearcadh iontach diúltach ag an Údarás um Chosaint Iascaigh Mhara (SFPA) ar na hiascairí agus go bhfuil siad ag súil le breith orthu in áit a bheith ag oibriú i bpáirt leo. Go deimhin féin, is minic imní ar iascairí go dtarraingneoidh siad an SFPA orthu féin má labhraíonn siad amach faoi fhadhbanna na hearnála.

Cé go bhfuil cáil ar fharraigí na hÉireann mar cheantar torthúil iascaireachta tá cuóta iascaigh na hÉireann tite siar go mór faoin gcóras reatha atá ag an Aontas Eorpach. Is le hÉirinn 12% d’fharraigí an Aontais bíodh is nach bhfuil ach 4% den chuóta iascaigh againn.

Tá iascairí na hÉireann fágtha in áit na leathphingine le blianta fada ag an stát ó dheas. Mar bharr ar an donas tá tionchar

imeacht na Breataine as an Aontas Eorpach ina bhuille mór don earnáil. Bhí fearg agus frustrachas na n-iascairí le brath go soiléir agus agóidí móra eagraithe acu le déanaí; i gCorcaigh i mí Bealtaine agus ansin i mBaile Átha Cliath i mí an Mheithimh. I dtionscal atá scoilte go stairiúil, b’iontach go deo an mhaise do na hiascairí é cosa a chur i dtaca agus seasamh le chéile don earnáil. Pé ar bith cén toradh a bhéas ar a gcuid éileamh, ní neart go cur le chéile.

Bhí an earnáil ag streachailt léi ach mar chuid de chomhréiteach na Breatimeachta ghéill an tAontas Eorpach roinnt dá chuóta éisc leis an Bhreatain. Tháinig sciar as cuimse den ghéilleadh seo as cuóta na Eireann (23%), beart a d’fhág gurb ionann an laghdú agus 15% de chuóta iomlán na tíre. Arís eile bhí tionscal na hiascaireachta fágtha ar an trá fholamh.

Mar cuid den chomhaontú seo tá laghdú de cheathrú le teacht ar chuóta ronnachaí na tíre. Ar an ábhar sin, bhí údar aighnis ar leith ag na hiascairí ar an 12ú Meitheamh nuair a cuireadh stop, gan choinne, leis na 27

• Pádraic A'Táiliúra, Kevin O'Hara, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, Mairéad Farrell & Chris MacManus i gcalafort Ros a'Mhíl, áit ar chas urlabhraí iascaireachta Shinn Féin Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, agus an Fheisire Eorpach Chris MacManus le hiascairí áitiúla

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Is le hÉirinn 12% d’fharraigí an Aontais bíodh is nach bhfuil ach 4% den chuóta iascaigh againn

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báid iascaireachta chladaigh a bhí ag úsáid duáin le breith ar na ronnachaí mar gheall go raibh an cuóta a bhí acu ídithe. Ní raibh ach 2% de chuóta ronnachaí na tíre ag na báid chladaigh agus an 98% eile ag 49 bád mór.

Léiriú eile ar an mbeagchúram atá á dhéanamh den earnáil seo a bhí sa seasamh siar a thóg an rialtas ón sean éileamh atá ag an tír seo ar Rocal (Rockall). Ó theacht i bhfeidhm na Breatimeachta tá cosc ar bháid na tíre seo iascach in aice le Rocal, in ainneoin gur cleachtas seanbhunaithe a bhí ann. Bhain sé siar as daoine go raibh glacadh ag an rialtas leis an chur chuige seo agus an Bille um Dhlínse Mhuirí (2021) á réiteach acu.

De réir bheartas Roinn na Mara féin Fisheries Quota Management in Ireland (Aibreán 2016) tá sé mar sprioc ag an Roinn a chinntiú go bhfuil an cuóta iascaigh á bhainistiú mar acmhainn phobail ionas nach ndéanfar príobháidiú nó lárnú ar an gcuóta ar mhaithe le comhlachtaí móra. Deir an cháipéis go dtuigeann an Roinn an tábhacht shocheacnamaíoch a bhaineann leis an gceangal airgeadais idir na báid iascaigh agus pobail chois chósta na tíre ar mhaithe le fostaíocht a chinntiú agus a bhuanú sa phobal áitiúil.

Tá sé in am ag an stát beart a dhéanamh de réir briathair maidir lena chur chuige i leith thionscal na hiascaireachta. Caithfear tacú leis na modhanna iascaireachta atá ar leas an phobail iascaigh agus phobal cois chósta

na tíre seo. Chuige sin is cóir an bhéim a leagan ar shlí bheatha a chinntiú do na hiascairí. Tá cúrsaí san earnáil ag dul in olcas le fada agus ní leor an béalghrá níos mó; tá sé in am ag Roinn na Mara agus ag an rialtas cur chuige an stáit i leith na hiascaireachta a athrú ón mbun aníos. ■ Is gníomhaí de chuid Shinn Féin i gConamara é Kevin O’Hara.

ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3  anphoblacht

MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA presents Danny Devenny’s recent painting titled ‘The Session’ which depicts Bobby Sands along with John Lennon, Woody Guthrie, Víctor Jara and Ché Guevara. Mac Donncha also takes us through Danny’s prison experiences which were part of the inspiration for creating this striking work.

THE

SESSION

BY DANNY D

comrades, community agus ceol “When I decided to create the painting, I hoped to have Bobby remembered not only for his death in the H-Blocks but also as we knew him - full of life, energy, serious and focused when needed, but also bursting with passion, laughter and craic. The same attributes that made him such a leader when called upon. How the great ones should be remembered.” – DANNY DEVENNY (RIGHT)

I

n the glow of light, tightly gathered in a cell, they play music and sing together. John Lennon, Bobby Sands, Woody Gurthrie, Victor Jara, Che Guevara. It is an extraordinary picture, a vision of revolutionaries who were also ordinary people who loved music and knew the value of friendship and comradeship. The picture can be seen in one way as Bobby’s dream of playing music with these men, something its creator Danny D was well placed to express as he was a friend and fellow political prisoner with Bobby.

“I think of him in his cell, big smile on his face, playing his guitar,” recalls Danny. He first met Bobby in Crumlin Road Prison when Bobby came looking for a ‘hanky’, a cotton handkerchief decorated with republican images by Danny, the first flowering of his activist art.

In 1973, Danny had been arrested and wounded in an IRA bank raid that went wrong. He was lucky to survive, as was the RUC man who wounded and arrested him. Both were in a position to shoot the other fatally at close range. Neither did so. Many years later, Danny was confronted by a UVF gunman at An Phoblacht’s office in 44 Parnell Square, Dublin, where he was working. The gunman could have killed him, but shot him in the leg instead. No wonder Danny talks about having had several lives.

He is renowned for his long connection with the Short Strand district, but he jokes that it all began across the city on Durham Street on the Lower Falls. His father and uncle were from County Donegal and arrived during the 1921 pogrom and his uncle was wounded in a loyalist attack at that time. Danny’s father’s first wife Molly McEvoy died young and he then married a Donegal woman, anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3

Mary Lafferty, Danny’s mother, who still lives in Short Strand to this day.

“I grew up in a mixed community. Apart from relatives, having Protestant cousins and friends, all my neighbours - their fathers were working in the shipyards. So, we grew up, we mucked around, sectarianism wasn’t talked about, wasn’t thought about. Bear in mind, my parents were from Donegal and we didn’t see ourselves as anything other than Irish from day one. My mother was from the Gaeltacht and went to an Irish speaking school.”

He recalls returning to Short Strand from a social outing one night in 1970, the very night when the district was attacked by loyalists, intent on another pogrom, who were thrown back by armed Volunteers of the IRA and civilians of the local defence committee.

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anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3

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• Bobby Sands and Danny D (circled) in the Cages of Long Kesh The following year, on the day internment without trial was imposed, Danny joined the IRA. “I was probably one of the worst IRA men ever invented. I was told ‘go away there Dan and paint the walls!’” he laughs.

I

n jail, his artistic skills were discovered and he moved from decorating handkerchiefs to illustrating articles in Republican News. On his release in 1976, some of his comrades had died in the struggle or were re-captured and in jail again. Danny went to work full time for Republican News in Belfast in the period when British Labour Secretary of State Roy Mason was attempting to close down the paper. He failed and Danny, after another spell in jail, went on to head up the design and graphics of the newly amalgamated An Phoblacht/Republican News, based in Dublin from 1979. He speaks highly of the team of young people who transformed the paper into one of the most dynamic and popular revolutionary publications in the world.

Week by week, it chronicled the tragedy of the 1981 Hunger Strike, which was deeply personal to Danny. It was he who had taken delivery of a ‘comm’ with one of the first pieces of writing for publication by his friend Bobby Sands. And based on an illustration of a sky lark he found in an ornithology book, Danny designed the image of the lark and barbed wire that illustrated Bobby’s story ‘The Lark and the Freedom Fighter’, an image that became known as the Spirit of Freedom, an icon to republicans from then on.

It was the rediscovery of Gerard Harley’s photographs of Bobby Sands carrying a flag at a march in West Belfast in August 1976

(see An Phoblacht, Number 4, 2019) that gave Danny the image he needed to make ‘The Session’. He had long wanted to do it but lacked the right image of Bobby. The picture immediately captured people’s imaginations and prints of it now hang in many homes. He recalls that Bobby’s favourite singer was Rod Stewart on whom he styled his looks, earning him the nickname Rod in the Cages of Long Kesh. And his most vivid memory of Bobby singing was with the late Rab McCullough at a Christmas concert in the Kesh in 1975 when they sang ‘The Mandolin Wind’.

Working with other mural artists whom he is always quick to credit, Danny has created hundreds of murals in Belfast and in many places beyond. An activist first, he says:

THE SINGERS John Lennon (1940-1980)

Bobby Sands (1954-1981)

Woody Guthrie (1912-1967)

Of Liverpool Irish descent, John Lennon spoke out against internment in 1971 and Bloody Sunday in 1972.

At an anti-interment march in 1971 he said: “If it’s a choice between the IRA and the British Army, I’m with the IRA. But if it’s a choice between violence and non-violence, I’m with non-violence. So, it’s a very delicate line.” He recorded two songs, ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ and ‘The Luck of the Irish’, both banned by the BBC. He met Irish republicans in New York, including the late Gerry O’Hare.

He successfully fought US government efforts to deport him because of his progressive politics including opposition to the Vietnam war. Bobby Sands was among prisoners in Long Kesh who signed a petition to support him. He was murdered in New York on 8 December 1980.

“Bobby loved John Lennon.

He would have loved being in a session with him. And the others. He admired them all.

There is a photo of a session of poitín-drinking prisoners in Cage Eleven which Danny based his painting on...Ewan McColl’s fine ballad ‘Tim Evans’ was one of Bobby’s first songs. Christy’s renditions led him to Woody Guthrie. James Taylor, Neil Young, Dylan, Bowie, Loudon Wainright III, and Leonard Cohen, all influenced him. He used the melody of Gordon Lightfoot’s ‘The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald’ years later in the H Blocks for ‘Back Home in Derry.” - Gerry Adams

American singer-songwriter, socialist, anti-fascist. He championed working people and labour unions and their struggles, especially during the Depression of the 1930s.

“I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world, and that if it has hit you pretty hard and knocked you down a dozen times and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter how hard it’s run you down and rolled over you, no matter what colour, what size you are, how you are built, I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work. And the songs I sing are made up for the most part by all sorts of folks just about like you.”

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• Bobby Sands (circled) and comrades enjoying a session in the Cages

“When asked the question, do you see yourself as an artist, well I always say Jimmy Lundy who sat beside me in primary school used to say to me all the time ‘Dan, you’re some artist!’ And that’s good enough for me.”

Danny’s recollections are laced with the names of comrades, friends, family, and community, especially those in Short Strand, where he is resident for nearly 60 years, though he says he is still seen as a “blow-in”. “My parents had 16 children and half the Short Strand are related to us now. It is like a village. Everyone knows each other and everyone looks out for each other.”

Danny D rarely signs his work. He is content to let the image go its own way and the message with it. He says that, whatever his talents, they have “sailed me through life” and he is not interested in adulation as an artist: “We are accidental celebrities. This is all about the community.” ■ The above article draws from Danny’s interview with Ruairi Mac Corsáin in the Rebel Rebel Podcast. Full interview available on Youtube ‘Ro in Conversation With, Episode #5 Danny Devenney’ 29 June 2021.

Victor Jara (1932-1973)

Che Guevara (1928-1967)

Chilean singer-songwriter, poet, theatre director, cultural ambassador for the socialist government of President Salvador Allende. He started the ‘new song’ movement in Chile and became a powerful and popular performer with an international reputation. The democratically elected Allende Popular Unity government was overthrown in a military coup backed by the US Government in September 1973. Victor Jara was tortured and shot dead in the national stadium in Santiago and his body dumped on the street.

In July 2018, eight retired Chilean military officers were sentenced to 15 years for Victor Jara’s murder.

Cuban revolutionary of Argentinian birth and Irish ancestry (Lynch).

“We must strive every day so that this love of living humanity is transformed into actual deeds, into acts that serve as examples, as a moving force.”

“I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist.

The people liberate themselves.”

“The first duty of a revolutionary is to be educated.”

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3

An Seisiún:

Do Danny Devenny Cúigear cairde i gcillín le chéile Faoi sholas láidir ag seinm cheoil.

John, Bobby, Woody, Che 's Victor, Gáire á roinnt agus poitín á ól.

Ruaig á chur ar brón 's ar eagla Buille láidir in éadan daoirse Ceol an phobail, ceol gan srianta Amhrán ghrá 's amhrán saoirse.

Mícheál Mac Donncha 33

Britannia waives the rules PEADAR WHELAN outlines the details and background to the British Government’s proposals to shut down investigations into ‘conflict era’ killings.

When Brandon Lewis, the British Secretary of State, took to his feet in the British Parliament on 14 July to outline the Tory government’s legislative package that would close down investigations into ‘conflict era’ killings, he knew his proposals would be rejected out of hand. He knew that his government would face the anger of all the North’s political parties and provoke the ire of groups representing the families of victims and survivors from across the political spectrum.

It seems that the British government is also calculating that they can sideline the concerns of the Dublin government, as these plans will supersede the Stormont House Agreement of which Dublin is a joint guarantor, and the United States administration of Joe Biden, which has kept a clear watching brief on political developments in Ireland.

It is an indication that the Johnson government is driven by the same ‘Britannia Waives the Rules’ worldview that drove the Brexit campaign!

It is now clear that there was only one objective for this Tory government; ditching the Stormont House Agreement to close

34

Brandon Lewis is also advocating an end to inquests into conflict related deaths, stopping police ombudsman investigations as well as any civil actions stemming from inquest findings down any avenue of investigation into its politico-military campaign in Ireland and that providing an amnesty for its soldiers who killed Irish civilians is a secondary consideration.

That the British government would elevate cynicism and crassness to the level it has should come as no surprise to anyone, let alone anyone in Ireland.

And if anyone in Ireland is surprised at the extent of the legislation outlined by the

ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3  anphoblacht

• Brandon Lewis, British Secretary of State and British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson

North’s Secretary of State Brandon Lewis on 14 July, then they have misread the signs.

These signs were there on Tuesday May 11 when Justice Siobhan Keegan, sitting as coroner in the Ballymurphy Massacre inquest cases, ruled that all ten people killed by British paratroopers were unarmed, posed no threat and were unjustifiably killed. That same day, the British Queen’s speech opening parliament stated that a “statute of limitations” for killings which occurred during the conflict in the North would be enacted.

At the time, Mark Thompson of Relatives for Justice reacted to the proposed legislation and the timing of its announcement saying, “When you think Britain can’t go any lower, it does”.

While Lewis’s speech was flagged up with speculation that a statute of limitations barring prosecutions for offences committed prior to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement would be at the heart of British government legislation, the wide ranging nature of the legal framework outlined to an almost empty chamber caught most observers on the hop.

The suggested legislation according to

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3

Lewis “will apply equally to all troublesrelated incidents”. And although he is making no difference between the combatant groups, viewing the IRA no differently from their opposition British forces including Britain’s proxies in the loyalist death squads, it is nonetheless geared towards ensuring that British soldiers active in Ireland during Operation Banner would not face prosecutions if they were involved in killings.

However, Brandon Lewis is also advocating an end to inquests into conflict related deaths, stopping police ombudsman investigations as well as any civil actions stemming from inquest findings. This clearly proves that this British government is intent on closing down any inquiry that shines a light on the actions of the British state and its forces during the conflict.

Since the 2013 conviction, and subsequent release, of British Marine Sergeant Alexander Blackman for summarily executing a wounded Taliban fighter in Afghanistan, successive British governments have been in a quandary over how to legislate to provide an amnesty for

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CASE STUDY

JIM SLOAN

BRENDAN MAGUIRE

JIM McCANN

JOHN LOUGHRAN

TONY ‘TC’ CAMPBELL

AMBROSE HARDY

NEW LODGE 6 INQUEST

The North’s Attorney General has ordered a fresh inquest in to the killing of six unarmed men in the New Lodge area of North Belfast over 3 and 4 February 1973.

Known as the New Lodge 6, the men were gunned down in a series of shootings that had all the hallmarks of a combined ‘dirty tricks’ operation.

In the initial shooting, around 11pm on Saturday 3 February, IRA Volunteers Jim Sloan and Jim McCann were shot dead from a passing car, most likely by members of the British Army’s undercover Military Reaction Force (MRF), at the junction of the New Lodge and Antrim Roads.

As locals came on to the streets, British Army snipers opened fire from the top of the New Lodge Flats and Duncairn Gardens.

Four men, IRA Volunteer Tony ‘TC’ Campbell, Brendan Maguire, John Loughran, and Ambrose Hardy lost their lives, while Charlie Carson was severely wounded.

None of the Volunteers who died that night were on active service and were unarmed when killed. As per their modus operandi, the British branded the dead as “gunmen”.

With the news that Attorney General Brenda King has ordered a new inquest comes the hope that the families and survivors of the killing spree will get answers to the many questions about that night, not least that the British Army operation was a planned ambush involving the MRF and those stationed on the high rise flats.

In the 48 years since the killings, locals have maintained that the first shootings, outside Lynch’s bar, were carried by the British Army’s covert MRF unit as a ruse to

36

draw the IRA onto the streets, presenting themselves as targets to British snipers deployed on the flats, who for the first time in the North, would be using newly developed infrared night sights.

Were this scenario to be substantiated in any way, it would expose the tactics of the British at the time in the North using death squads such as the MRF while also proving that the British planned the situation to allow them to ‘battle test’ a new weapon.

In 2017, King’s predecessor as Attorney General John Larkin refused to order a fresh inquest and referred the case to the Director of Public Prosecutions to ask the PSNI to investigate the case, the implication being that AG Larkin believed a ‘criminal’ investigation was warranted.

However, the DPP refused to investigate, resulting in it going back to King’s office who has reopened the case. Significantly, this sets the original inquests aside and means the new hearing will take place under the Article 2 Right to Life compliant rules set out by the European Court of Human Rights.

Essentially this means that the coroner can examine all the circumstances around the killings which could happen under the old regime where only the deceased could be identified and the date, place, and cause of death dealt with.

If the British government’s new legislation is enacted in full, the facts of what happened on the New Lodge Road will forever be buried in a British secret files bunker and the families of those massacred will never see justice as the military planners and their political overlords will remain beyond scrutiny. ■

those who killed in the illegal Iraq and Afghan wars.

The Overseas Operations Bill, whose long title is ‘A Bill to Make provision about legal proceedings and consideration of derogation from the European Convention on Human Rights in connection with operations of the armed forces outside the British Islands’, was the part solution to that particular conundrum.

It follows a long line of British derogation from European human rights legislation

There are over 45 inquests waiting to be heard and 40 awaiting progress; these inquests largely involve the state withholding information, even from coroners

and provides an amnesty for those who, like Blackman, executed a wounded man who could have been taken prisoner.

However, this law couldn’t be used to protect British soldiers responsible for killing and other offences in the North due to the British claim of sovereignty over the Six Counties which sees the British present the Northern conflict as “an internal law and order” problem, ignoring its colonial roots and centuries old occupation.

The underpinning legal problem for successive British governments was the application of Article 2 compliant inquests, conducted under European Court of Human Rights strictures, which found Britain in breach of human rights standards, found many killings such as the Ballymurphy killings unjustified thus leading to a number of British soldiers facing prosecution for murder.

One such case is that of former Life Guards soldier Dennis Hutchings, who is on trial for the attempted murder of 27-year-old Tyrone man John Pat Cunningham.

The Hutchings case has become the lighting rod that has attracted the British political and military establishment, the right wing press, and of course unionist militarists in a campaign to exonerate the actions of the British soldiers in the North.

The term ‘vexatious prosecution’ has crept into the discourse around legacy as the defenders of British Army killers, in one of the great ironies of the conflict, attack the legal system that protected them for years.

That protection was evident when the Paratrooper Regiment killers A and C of 'Official IRA' Volunteer Joe McCann were acquitted of his killing in May this year.

The anger felt at the collapse of the McCann case was compounded just weeks ago when Soldier F, the only Para charged over the Bloody Sunday killings, and Soldier B, charged with shooting dead 15-year-old Daniel

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• Family members and supporters of the Tyrone man John Pat Cunningham (left) protesting near the scene of his killing by former British soldier Dennis Hutchings

Hegarty also in Derry, had the cases against them dropped.

The latest announcement by British Secretary of State Lewis will facilitate blocking inquests and Ombudsman investigations and also prevent families from taking civil actions against the British state. It will ensure that those in the British establishment who were ultimately responsible for the actions of Britain’s forces and who controlled the unionist death squads will not face scrutiny.

Mark Thompson of Relatives for Justice (RFJ) in an angry response to Johnston and Lewis’ legacy proposals accused the British of the “mother of all cover ups”.

Thompson said, “these unilateral proposals have no political or community support whatsoever. The British government signed the Stormont House Agreement on legacy in 2014, which provided for human rights compliant investigations with full accountability for all sides. From that day and hour, it has attempted to back track and undermine the agreement”.

According to the RFJ director, “there are over 450 complaints residing with the Police Ombudsman’s Office which

• 'Official IRA' Volunteer Joe McCann

• 15-year-old Daniel Hegarty who was killed on Bloody Sunday

courts and other proceedings to prevent effective investigation, delay investigation, and discredit investigations. Their work has resulted in today’s announcement”.

Echoing Thompson’s remarks, Sinn Féin Joint Head of Government in the North Michelle O’Neill said these “unilateral proposals are a clear breach of the British government’s Stormont House Agreement and their New Decade New Approach commitments ...[and] is opposed by all five main political parties in the north and the Irish government.

“This is about the British government simply protecting their own state forces and the policy makers responsible for shoot to kill, state murder and collusion; facilitating impunity and blocking accountability.

“If the current legacy process is to deliver for victims in a human rights compliant manner, there can be no amnesty or statute of limitation for British state forces or intention to interfere with due legal process in respect of legacy inquests, judicial reviews, civil cases or prosecution cases involving British soldiers already before the courts”. ■

This is about the British government simply protecting their own state forces and the policy makers responsible for shoot to kill, state murder, and collusion by facilitating impunity and blocking accountability relate to RUC misfeasance in public office and criminal wrongdoing regarding state and non-state killings. There are over 45 inquests waiting to be heard and 40 awaiting progress; these inquests largely involve the state withholding information, even from coroners,” he said.

Thompson added that, “for two decades, a cabal of senior officers in the PSNI, former members of RUC Special Branch, and the Ministry of Defence have been fighting families tooth and nail, and using secret anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3

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Sinn Féin MEP CHRIS MacMANUS outlines the changes in the new CAP plan and shows how the Irish government can improve the situation for small Irish farmers.

WE MUST

PROTECT THE

IRISH FAMILY FARMING MODEL

In July, a deal was agreed on the new Common Agricultural Policy until 2027. For those unfamiliar with agriculture and CAP, there is sometimes a perception that farmers receive cheques from Europe to further boost healthy profit margins. Many would be shocked to learn that only one-third of Irish farms are regarded as financially viable.

In reality, the payments are compensation for the EU sacrificing the sector in order to protect more lucrative industries. The EU is committed to a neoliberal free trade agenda globally and trade means exchange.

If we are selling machinery, cars, and pharmaceuticals internationally, these countries want to send goods in our direction in return. For many countries, agricultural exports are a key industry and provide the best opportunity for trade expansion. A calculation has then been made that to allow these imports and also keep our own agricultural sector competitive is through direct financial support to farmers. Note the EU’s recent attempt to implement the Mercosur deal – BMWs on a boat to Brazil from Germany and 100,000 tons of cheap Brazilian beef returning to our supermarket shelves.

This system, though dysfunctional, at least held the prospect of affordable food prices for consumers and the protection of the sector. However, the method through which

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farmers gain supports will obviously result in intensification and market concentration.

In Ireland, farmers receive an amount of money per hectare of land. The average is in the region of €260. This amount varies as it was traditionally tied to how productive that piece of land was.

In 2003, the productive criteria was abolished, but they were allowed to keep their previous payment for that land. Today,

Note the EU’s recent attempt to implement the Mercosur deal – BMWs on a boat to Brazil from Germany and 100,000 tons of cheap Brazilian beef returning to our supermarket shelves this means some farmers may receive over €500 for a particular hectare of land while a neighbouring farmer receives €100. There is no rationality for continuing this inequity.

The land in Ireland varies in quality, having an impact on its capacity to be farmed.

Farmers in the west and border region often farm poorer quality land and have generally

ended up with small payments. Average family farm income in 2019 was highest in the South East at €36,659 and lowest in the Border region, where average farm incomes were less than one-third of that level, €11,107.

Unsurprisingly, these farmers are often forced to look for scarce off-farm income possibilities. Between sectors, there is also significant variation. Regional incomes differ to a great extent. Dairy farms are heavily concentrated on better land in the south of the country.

Those on meagre payments often leave farming as financially supporting a family is impossible. Large agricultural enterprises, with economies of scale, fill the gap these small farmers leave in the market.

This recipe is particularly dangerous when you consider its impact on climate change.

The intensive model, like US style grassless feedlots, means more carbon emissions.

Large farms cannot grow the grass needed to support their ballooning stock numbers and resort to importing animal feed from Brazil, destroying the rainforest in the process. This process prioritises quantity over quality and is negative for animal welfare. For the EU to permit such a direction of travel runs in complete contravention to the Green Deal.

Enter CAP reform. This new CAP offers an opportunity to reverse these trends. To

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Sinn Féin’s priorities for greater CAP equity Raise convergence to 100% from the new minimum 85%

Double the new mandatory front-loaded payment minimum from 10% to 20%

Implement the maximum reduction on payments over €60,000

Increase the minimum spend for young farmers in Pillar I from 3% to 4%

Design Pillar I eco-schemes to be straightforward and profitable

We are selling machinery, cars and pharmaceuticals internationally — these countries want to send goods in our direction and agricultural exports (like cheap Brazilian beef) provide the best opportunity for their trade expansion end inequality between farmers and support small and medium farmers, who are being squeezed by this race to intensify. Sinn Féin’s number one priority is to see our family farming model saved and a complete convergence of the amounts received for each hectare. A farmer in Donegal must be equal to a farmer in Cork.

Amazingly, Ireland’s Agricultural Minister actively opposed this proposal at EU level.

Despite data clearly stating that 60% of Irish farmers would benefit, the more powerful minority who gained from a continuation of inequality clearly had the Minister’s ear.

That opposition, alongside others, made full convergence of the amounts impossible.

However, the European Parliament did manage to guarantee that no farmer would receive less than 85% of the average. Inversely, no farmer would receive more than 15% above the average.

Sinn Féin’s second priority was to ensure no single farmer was receiving over €60,000. Even if all farmers get the same amount per hectare, larger farmers will have hundreds of hectares and would receive much larger payments than the average farmer, who farms 30. This is EU taxpayer money and shouldn’t favour those already profitable. To date, EU policy has failed to address this. 80% of EU subsidies go to 20% of farmers.

Thirdly, we wanted to boost the payments to small and medium sized farmers by paying a higher rate for the first 20 hectares, and less for what they claim after that threshold.

A farmer with 20 hectares may get €350-400 for each. The larger farmer will get the same payment for that first 20 but subsequently may only get €200. This is called the redistributive payment.

These proposals were again met with fierce opposition from national

Sinn Féin’s number one priority is to see our family farming model saved and a complete convergence of the amounts received for each hectare governments. Eventually, they agreed that a minimum of 10% of CAP funds would be set aside for redistributive payment. They also agreed that countries could reduce payments given to individual farmers over €60,000 by 85%. These measures represent significant progress from previous, but they can be improved.

Measures fall into two categories.

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The 85% convergence of payments is mandatory, with an option to increase.

The same goes for the 10% redistributive payment. However, the reduction of payments over €60,000 is not mandatory.

On the one hand, it means countries can do the bare minimum. On the other, it allows Sinn Féin to press the Irish Government to be more ambitious, as flexibility is enshrined.

Sinn Féin is taking on that challenge and is launching a campaign to ensure the Irish Government makes all per hectare payments 100% equal. 20% of our budget is ring fenced to help those small and medium farmers and we apply the maximum reduction to payments over €60,000.

As a left wing political party, Sinn Féin recognises this is a battle of class interests.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have lined up behind big Agribusiness who thirst for international expansion, regardless of social or environmental costs. Our vision for the sector prioritises the protection of grassfed production, the underpinning of rural economies through support for family farms and a rebalancing of our relationship with nature.

We must protect the Irish family farming model to ensure a viable future for the next generation. ■ 39

© Gérard Harlay

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INTERNMENT 1971

© Gérard Harlay

Operation Demetrius remembered Imprisoning citizens without trial has been a feature of political life in Ireland for the long century since 1916. North and South of the border it was a tool used by the unionist and Dublin governments, to constrain and deflect republican struggle.

However, despite the folk memory of internment, it is hard to conceptualise today the scale, or the shock of the imposition of internment without trial in the Six Counties in 1971. It is a challenge to fully comprehend the extent of the attack on already repressed nationalist communities across the Six Counties, who were being increasingly encircled and ghettoised since the pogroms of 1969.

On 9 August 1971, the British Army, under the cover of darkness, swamped nationalist communities, detaining 342 people in what they had named Operation Demetrius. In West Belfast, over 2,000 troops were deployed to make arrests. At the end of that day, 12 people had been killed in the North. By the time internment was ended in 1975, nearly 2,000 people had been detained.

To mark the 50th anniversary of internment, An Phoblacht has excerpts from the never before published diaries of Jimmy Drumm. Mícheál Mac Donncha sample’s Jimmy’s first-hand accounts of August 1971. Danny Morrison also gave us access to his compelling diary from 1971, while Peadar Whelan looks at the longer-term implications of internment in the decades that followed. We also reprint a 2007 interview by Ella O’Dwyer with Margaret Shannon. ■

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'Barbed wire JIMMY DRUMM’S INTERNMENT DIARY One of the hundreds of men and boys arrested by the British Army during the Internment swoop on the morning of 9 August 1971 was veteran Belfast Republican Jimmy Drumm. He was brought to Crumlin Road where he had been imprisoned as a teenager 33 years previously. Having served that first sentence in 1938, he was immediately interned and remained in the ‘Crum’ and Derry Jail until the end of World War Two. After his first release in 1945, Jimmy married Máire McAteer, a Republican from South Armagh. They had five children to whom they were devoted, but Jimmy was taken from them and interned again from 1956 to 1960. So, he was well into middle age when the British crown forces descended once more on the family home that August 50 years ago, arresting Jimmy and his son Seán. Máire was in Armagh Prison, serving a six-month sentence for encouraging people to join the IRA at a meeting in Turf Lodge a month before Internment.

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Máire Drumm herself highlighted the years Jimmy had spent under British lock and key. Speaking in 1972, she said: “At the present time, I’m a married woman with a husband in Long Kesh who has been interned for 13 years altogether in three different phases of internment without trial. He went back in 1956 and was in until 1960. Now he’s back since August 9 1971. I’ve had three periods of internment in my life in that I’ve suffered internment as a young girl, having a fiancé in prison, then as a young wife with a husband in prison and five children to rear on my own. And now as a middle-aged woman, my husband who’s also middle aged is back in prison again.”

Jimmy kept a diary vividly describing his arrest, interrogation, weeks in the ‘Crum’ and then the move to the newly opened Long Kesh Internment Camp. The diary is written in tiny, but fluent, and legible handwriting and records his own experiences and that of his family, the life of the prisoners and the news they were receiving from outside as the conflict escalated.

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abounding'

Exclusive first publication

Armoured cars and tanks and guns | Came to take away our sons But every man will stand behinds | The Men Behind the Wire It runs from 9 August 1971 to 6 June 1972 when Jimmy was released. He and Máire continued their tireless work in the Republican Movement. Máire became Vice-President of Sinn Féin and was assassinated in her hospital bed by pro-British forces in 1976. Jimmy survived her by 25 years and died in 2001 after a long illness.

Officer took over. Took our names, ordered that we be stripped of all possessions inc. ties, bootlaces. Hands tied behind backs and put into army personnel carrier Jimmy Drumm’s Internment Diary is a unique document and an important source for the history of the republican struggle in that era. The diary is in the possession of Jimmy and Máire’s son Séamus Ó Droma who has made it available now for publication for the first time. We carry here extracts from the diary covering the Internment arrest, Girdwood British Army barracks, Crumlin Road Prison and the first days in Long Kesh.

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MONDAY 9TH AUGUST 1971

Soldiers of the British Army came to my home at 5am. Heard the screech of brakes, looked out and saw soldiers with blackened faces scrambling from an armoured vehicle (a ‘Pig’). Beckoned to us to come down – opened the door and they burst in. “Hurry, you’re coming with us.” Insisted on getting dressed. Ordered Máire and Seán downstairs. Kept insisting I “hurry!” whilst dressing - took my time.

Máire came running upstairs “Daddy, they’re taking Seán!” I couldn’t believe it. “They are, have ordered him out in his pyjamas.”

Máire grabbed a pullover for him – I handed him my anorak.

Bundled into ‘Pig’ and driven around to checkpoint at corner of Shaw’s Rd – Stewartstown Rd. Whole convoy of army vehicles assembled. Officer took over. Took our names, ordered that we be stripped of all possessions inc. ties, bootlaces, hands tied behind backs and put into army personnel carrier (canvas covered). Seán Boyle and Grey there already. 4 soldiers in with us, issuing verbal threats and obscenities what they’d do to us! Up Kennedy Way and and Monagh Rd. In Turf Lodge ambushed by friends! Shower of bricks and bottles rained in on us – threw ourselves to the ground. Soldiers panicked – threw a gas canister which girl smothered with bin lid. Further ambushes going through Ballymurphy. Soldiers went wild – “Paddy b[astard]s, lousy Irish b[astard]s, another stone and we will shoot you.”

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Máire Drumm – A Visionary: A Rebel Heart

Down Shankill Rd, soldiers singing ‘The Sash’ etc. “Start praying to your B. Virgin now. We’ll throw you out to the Protestants” etc etc.

Eventually made our way by side streets to Girdwood Park Army Barracks. Kept waiting half hour or longer whilst soldiers excelled themselves with threats of what they’d do to us. Alsatians barking and helicopter propellers churning away. (We were sure we’d be transported to England). Saw men being pushed and prodded along.

Eventually pushed out of lorry and roughly grabbed and shoved into ‘Reception’ (foyer of barrack gymnasium). Saw lot of old familiar faces straight away Larry and Joe McGurk, Gerry Maguire, Brendan etc. Name, address noted, instamatic cameras clicking away taking our photographs. Heard “Drumm” being called. Into gymnasium where 100 or more were seated on floor without back support.

Wondered where Seán was. Hadn’t long to wait. 3 men, Seán Murphy, Seán and another came in. Pushed into room, gasping, Seán holding his side, obviously got beating. (Learned afterwards they had to run gauntlet of military policemen, and kicked and batoned the whole time. Our shoes had been removed. Seán had no stockings so suffered more.)

At intervals groups of 5 or 6 men were removed and received the ‘treatment’. Then interrogation by Special Branch and CID commenced. I was called out by MPs but mercifully at the same time

Seán, Margaret, Máire, Máire óg, Catherine and Seamus • Máire Drumm and family

Alsatians barking and helicopter propellers churning away. (We were sure we’d be transported to England.) Saw men being pushed and prodded along detectives came looking me for interrogation. More form filling in.

Name, occupation, dependents, etc. When did I join the IRA etc.

Refused to answer. “This will probably mean internment.”

Back to another room upper floor. MPs pacing up and down, barking threats. “Open your mouth.” Then batches of 6 called out (amongst them Seán), learned afterwards they had to run gauntlet again in bare feet over broken glass to prison. Eventually about 80 left. Taken back to gymnasium in same position (around 1pm).

Some time later got small amount of tea. Kept sitting floor until around 9pm when it was announced: “You’re to be our guests for the night.” Were issued with beds, eventually lay down to rest! Every ½ hour CID came around beds pulling back bedclothes looking for particular men to interrogate.

TUESDAY 10 AUGUST TH

Then at 2am, “Rise and shine” and ordered out of bed for nametaking exercise. Wakened again at 7am (?), back to sitting on floor.

Out to exercise on football pitch for ½ hour walking around – no talking! Plate of watery stew for dinner about 9pm. Harry Taylor and officials entered room. 12 names called out, took property and left, followed by another 11. H. Taylor (about midnight) came and told me Seán had been released from Crumlin Jail with a batch of other prisoners in the midst of gunfire but they were alright.

All day rumours whispered around that 24 people (including a priest) had died on Monday night in gun battles. Later learned that 15 people had in fact died. Kept sitting around until 3am when we were called out in batches of 6 – shown detention order, photographed. Line of RUC men on either side of us preceded by armed MP, another bringing up rear. Order given “Move! At the double!” Prodded by RUC across Girdwood, through hole in wall, into prison garden thence to ‘B’ Wing and Reception. After Reception moved to Cell 15 C3 in company of Liam Sheppard.

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Margaret, Seamus, Máire, Máire óg, Seán, Jimmy and Catherine

• British Prime Minister Edward Heath

• • Taoiseach Jack Lynch

THURSDAY 12TH AUGUST

Meetings today between different groups to settle question of O/C and staff. I acted as “go between”. Eventually J. O’Rawe O/C, Billy O’Neill on Staff with him, Art McMillen Adj and Michael Farrell.

Myself in charge of parcels and letters. Got parcel from home.

Laundry, sweets, shaving gear etc.

FRIDAY 13TH AUGUST

Today I should have been commencing my holiday…Saw press conference on TV Joe Cahill, P. Kennedy, and John Kelly. Joe stated that IRA had 30 members detained and 2 dead and 8 wounded.

FRIDAY 20TH AUGUST

Surprise visit this am from Máire, accompanied by Miss Totten, wardress. Lasted three quarters of an hour. Miss Kennedy came in and we were able to straighten out most of our problems. [Máire] was looking well. Papers full of protests and stories of brutality now fully reported in press. A beautiful day today. Sunning ourselves all day. Peter Bunting freed this afternoon. Smyth (Dublin) taken to Prison Hospital. Heard explosions.

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THURSDAY 2ND SEPTEMBER

Parade today in memory of T. Williams. Joe Cahill detained on arrival at Kennedy Airport, declared intent was money for arms.

Immigration application for return to Ireland adjourned for week.

Lynch to visit Heath next week. Midday explosions in centre of city caused panic...

SUNDAY 19 SEPTEMBER TH

Rumours going around after Mass this am of a shift to Long Kesh were confirmed! 88 of us were going by helicopter in batches of 6. At 2pm I was in the fourth batch in company of B. McGrath, P. Smith, D. Hannaway, Jim May, C. Notarantonio. We were escorted to playing field of prison by warders and escorted to waiting helicopter.

Escort of 6 warders accompanied us in our short 10 min journey over Belfast. All landmarks easily visible. I even got a glimpse of our house!

On arrival at Long Kesh we were herded into an army tent and left in groups for doctor, photographing etc and finally to Hut 16. Bunk beds (20) – 40 in our hut. Next hut 20 and rear of this hut used as dining room. Were surprised (disagreeably) to find that we were in a compound of 60 men. 2 huts and a further one containing toilets, wash hand basins and showers. Completely wired off from other compounds. Nearest compound to us consisting of 3 huts – the Maidstone men and remainder of our 88. Hut is a new corrugated iron Nissen type, electric heater and locker per man. We got a dinner at tea time, quite satisfactory.

Personal property sent on by lorry delivered to us tonight. We were able to carry on sing song across the wires to Maidstone compound and shouted greetings. Recognised J. McMahon, J. Davey, J. McKenna, J. Savage, P. O’Hagan. Camp surrounded by 10ft corrugated paling. Army sentry box at each corner mounted on stilts. Barbed wire abounding.

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At 6am, Johnny Collins roused the occupants of Hut 6 with a spirited rendition of ‘The Old Bog Road’ on the accordion MONDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER

The morning after the night before and Long Kesh doesn’t look any better! I awake at 6am (didn’t go to sleep until 1am). At 6am Johnny Collins roused the occupants of Hut 6 with a spirited rendition of ‘The Old Bog Road’ on the accordion. Door open at 7.30am, out for wash, and many had showers. Breakfast at 8.45am – weetabix, sausage, bacon and beans, tea, bread, marg. No papers or letters.

Visits commenced at 12 noon. Jim O’Kane had visit, reported that wife had to practically undress to satisfy women police searches.

(Later denied by Governor). Further visits followed – K. O’Rawe etc but they stated that only their handbags and shoes were searched.

P.O. told me that Máire had phoned enquiring if visit tomorrow stood – was told it did. Also informed from Miss Kennedy (Welfare, Crumlin Rd) “that property stolen during raid on our house was not at Hastings St Barracks, - letter following”.

Asked to conduct election of O/C Compund. John O’Rawe - 45 votes D. O’Hagan – 0. J. O’Rawe now O/C. Staff O/C J. O’Rawe, Billy O’Neill, J. Maguire, O. Kelly, P. Hartley, D. O’Hagan. Later interview with rep of Ministry of Home Affairs elicited little. Points raised – confinement, recreation etc. F. McGarry O/C of large compound. B. McKenna also took part in talks. Are entitled to 4 letters per week – got one tonight. Will write to Máire after visit tomorrow. Wonder how girls will travel. No public transport. Prison mini-bus picks up visitors at car park. Parcels left in today not given out – obviously understaffed. Shudder to think what delay will be with outgoing and incoming letters. Scene as I write – 11pm. Some watching tv, playing cards, reading, writing and decorating hankies. Dinner – soup, pie, potatoes, cabbage, sweet (sponge and custard). Tea – sausage rolls, potatoes, bread, tea, marg. V. poor, below Crumlin Rd. standard. ■

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'A huge wartime feeling and a sense that we’re all in this together'

EXCERPTS FROM DANNY MORRISON’S AUGUST 1971 DIARY DANNY MORRISON was 18 and a student when internment was introduced.

He lived in the Broadway/Iveagh/Beechmount area of the Falls in Belfast. The following account is based on a diary he kept during that time 1971 AUGUST MONDAY

9

Listened to the radio. The first news of the day said that a soldier’s been shot dead and there’s rioting in all nationalist parts of Belfast, in Derry, Newry and Omagh.

Outside our house there was shouting and screaming. There’s been raids and arrests and talk that ‘they’ve introduced internment’.

We began putting up barricades, which we’d last done in August 1969. Two on Broadway and one across Beechmount Avenue.

Side streets on the Falls being kept clear for access for fighting. Milk bottles collected for petrol bombs.

We rioted at the top of Iveagh Parade, the neighbours in other streets out in huge numbers. When armoured cars or military jeeps flew past we let them have everything we’d got — bricks, rocks, stones, hammers, wrenches, petrol bombs — then swarmed onto the main road to retrieve weapons and show the retreating soldiers the numbers against them, that we despise them.

Mostly young but older ones also threw and those who couldn’t riot made us sandwiches and sent drinks up to the street corner.

Incredible sense of morale.

Heard another two people have been 46

killed. Heard shooting throughout the day, coming from the Murph or Whiterock. Radio Free Belfast’s back on air. Broadcasting messages of resistance, playing republican songs and telling people to be wary of rumours.

Rioted as long as the soldiers came, never feeling exhausted. Swede said we should get on top of the Co-Op roof and drop paint and bottles of petrol onto the armoured cars speeding past, then further along people could set them alight with petrol bombs to immobilise them.

Saw that bastard Brian Faulkner on TV announcing they’d introduced internment. Hateful. Only ones arrested have been Catholics.

Coming across Beechmount after midnight shots were fired close to us but we could see no Brits out on foot. Later learnt that the Brits shot and wounded Marty Devine at the corner of Beechmount Drive. There was more heavy shooting around Broadway and the Donegal Road.

Heard that ten people were now dead. Go to bed for a few hours.

1971 AUGUST TUESDAY

10

News says now fourteen dead, many wounded, rioting in many towns.

The Brits tried to take down our barricades and we resisted.

Two soldiers in Andersonstown and another two in the Lower Falls wounded by snipers.

Rioting broke out from Broadway to Beechmount. We were out in even greater numbers, then the Brits opened fire and several struck the wall in Islandbawn Street. Later, they got out of a Saracen at the Avenue and took up positions in Daly’s Garage.

We replied with stones and bottles. Was standing at the top of Iveagh Drive when a soldier fired at me. Bullet went through the window of the Squirrel sweetie shop. He fired again and this time the bullet struck the ground a few feet in front of me and ricocheted, striking the gable wall in the entry behind me. Eventually we were pinned down with the Brits at Beechmount Avenue firing shots every now and then to keep the road clear. Heard that Eddie Doherty from Iveagh Street was shot dead by Brits on the Whiterock. He’s married with kids.

Met a nurse from the country. She was doing first aid on people who were injured, including my cousin Thomas McKee. Her name’s Carmel. She’s about two or three years older than me. I’ve no chance. She’s in digs on the front of the road.

Around about 11pm there was a rumour of trouble at the Broadway barricade. Lads were sent down. Me and Tony Taylor remained at the top of the Parade, next to the big ‘Guin-

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© Gérard Harlay

ness is Good For You’ billboard. Suddenly shots rang out and we dived to the ground.

The shots went through the advertisement.

My elbows were bleeding. Swede’s brotherin-law Gerry Deery gave me plasters and we went out again. The heavy shooting continued but it was all the Brits. Had a huge row with a local IRA man. Lads were screaming at him and giving him abuse. Why weren’t the IRA firing back? Where were they? If you don’t want to use your guns given them to us. He took as much as he could, then turned and walked away.

[It was only later that I learnt that the IRA had ordered no action in Beechmount. It wanted the area quiet so that they could meet in safe houses there and organise operations.]

1971 AUGUST WEDNESDAY

11

I got a few hours sleep but was woke at twenty past four by the sound of bin lids. I jumped out of bed and went out but the raids must have been in Rodney and St James. The noise of banging bin lids was continuous. The brickyard at the top of Beechmount was set alight.

There was more rioting and the number killed so far is twenty-two or more. There are no deliveries and the women have walked down to the loyalist Village area to buy food in the shops there.

We were joined by a group of Dubs who

• When armoured cars or military jeeps flew past we let them have everything we’d got — bricks, rocks, stones, hammers, wrenches, petrol bombs — then swarmed onto the main road to retrieve weapons

came up give us a hand. Things became quiet but were quite tense. Went home at half two.

1971 AUGUST THURSDAY

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McCavanagh’s next door was hit in the early hours. Brits took away Danny McCavanagh, Jim Duff, Noel Maguire and one of the Dublin lads, Frank Power, who was staying there.

Women came out banging bin lids. When I went to go out my mammy cried and begged me not to go. She didn’t want to see me killed.

I was conflicted and spent some time in the house until she calmed down, then I went out.

There’s a huge wartime feeling and a sense that we’re all in this together. Peter Fox and I hoisted the Tricolour from the top of the CoOp roof.

Aunty Eileen in England phoned up, wanting the family to move to Bury. Daddy would love to go but mammy would never leave her sisters and brothers or Belfast.

Granny Morrison packed up Springview Street and Uncle Gerard, Harriet and kids have cleared out Crocus Street and are on their way to England. Said they’ll not be back.

After we finished rioting tonight a Norwegian photographer from Oslo asked if he could take our pictures. He asked us, ‘Do

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you consider yourselves revolutionaries?’

Tear it down! Form our own democracy! Yes! 1971 AUGUST FRIDAY

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During the night hundreds of soldiers removed all our barricades and opened up all streets. It had been pouring down. Not good weather for fighting. Frank Power’s brother Seán arrived from Dublin, worried sick, looking for him. I took him up to Rockmount Road to someone who said they’d seen him in Girdwood Barracks and he was beaten up. We came back down the road and met my mammy who told us Frank had been released. But we couldn’t find him.

I got Seán a lift to Clonard Monastery where they’ll give him a room for the night.

Heard shooting from Beechmount tonight.

This time is was the IRA. 1971 AUGUST SATURDAY

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Heard that Frank Power had hitchhiked into the city centre and got the train to Dublin.

During all the rioting I never got saying goodbye to our Geraldine who’s gone to live in England and get married. Peter and I walked into town. In Harrison’s record shop I bought 'Avalon' by Mathew Ellis and in Eason’s 'The Irish Republic' by Dorothy Macardle. ■ 47

INTERVIEW On Monday 9 August, 1971, a series of raids across the Six Counties signaled the beginning of internment without trial, as hundreds of people were dragged to prisons and camps, where many were tortured. Within the first 24 hours 342 people were arrested and within three years the number of people held in Long Kesh internment camp alone had risen to

former internee Margaret Shannon 1,500. This was at the instigation of then Six County premier Brian Faulkner. Reminiscent of following tragedies like Bloody Sunday and the 1981 Hunger Strike it emerged that Free State governments of these periods were ambivalent enough in terms of addressing such tragedies.

The detainees were overwhelmingly nationalist and

male but among the women interned was Belfast woman Margaret Shannon, who this week talks to ELLA O’DWYER about her own experience of internment, how the Irish government of the time let the nationalist people of the Six Counties down, and her hope that now – 36 years on – the importance of remembering such events is recognised.

• Margaret Shannon

Never again

The legacy of Internment without Trial the two main communities?

Yes, things have moved on. I remember the bigotry of unionism back at the time when I was growing up. When I was 15 I left school and took my first job as a junior clerk with an agricultural firm. I remember one day serving tea to some of the other staff. One of them refused the tea and said he didn’t drink ‘holy water’. When I told my boss about it he said I’d better leave. But I’m by no manner or means a bitter person. I feel, for instance, that the loyalist community haven’t nurtured themselves enough all along.

They never really took the chance to learn or study and I think they are only doing that now.

There’s a whole lot of ways of putting people in jail.

What exactly is internment?

We had, of course, the Diplock courts here in the North in the late ‘70s where there was no jury, but during internment there was neither judge nor jury. Internment is basically indefinite detention without trial.

What year were you arrested?

I was arrested on 3 March 1973. I was 18 years of age and was held for five days and then I thought I was going home. Of course I wasn’t [laughs]. I was heading for Armagh Jail. I was taken from our house in Turf Lodge at the early hours of the morning.

None of the others in the family were lifted. My dad said that morning – ‘say nothing’. I took his advice. I got a bit of a pushing about and one cop – my dad had warned me about him – he was called Harry Taylor – a veteran of brutality, said he’d come down to the cell and rape me. He didn’t but I was afraid.

decided against it but the announcement was later used by the Stormont premier to justify bringing in internment in the North.

I’d like to see the Irish Government do what they should have done years ago – stand by their own people and particularly now during the Peace Process. I’d ask them to show sincerity after all these years – to have no hidden agendas and to do what they should have done all those years ago – take internment off the statute books. I’d ask the Irish Government to look into its own legislation and banish the pain of imprisonment without trial in the 26 Counties – it should be banished from Ireland, North and South.

How at 18 did you cope with that kind of aggression and how was Armagh?

In God’s truth I said, I’m not going to let it annoy me, and I knew there were republican POWs in Armagh ahead of me – Liz McKee and Tish Holland were there. Tish was only 17 when she was interned and then there were eight republican POWs in Armagh too.

The OC was Eileen Hickey.

Sadly, Eileen died in recent years. I learnt so much in Armagh about life, discipline, values and how to live with other people. We kind of leaned on each other and I made a lot of friendships in jail then – people I still know to this day.

• Poster from 1971, Margaret Shannon top right

Do you think the Irish Government could have done more to counteract Internment?

I feel the Irish Government let us down back then. In 1970, eight months before it was introduced by Faulkner, Jack Lynch, the then Taoiseach, and

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his Justice minister Dessie O’Malley, announced that the Irish Government was preparing to introduce internment in the South. In the event, they

What did you do when you came out of jail at twenty and how did internment impact on your life later on?

I spent two years in jail and it did take away part of my youth. My dad and my brother were also interned, so it was hard on my mother. She went to the rallies against internment – she was great. But you

26 July/Iúil 2007

must remember that while I was in jail I had POW status.

We turned a bad situation into a good one, as they say, and we studied.

I’m a counsellor now – not a political councillor – I work in the area of suicide support and with victims of sexual abuse. I have a very happy life now. I didn’t let jail ruin my life but it took away some of the important years.

It is estimated that something in the region of 1,981 people were interned at that phase of the struggle. Were there many loyalists interned?

Internment went on until December 1975. It was a weapon traditionally used to put down republicanism in Ireland but in fact it had the opposite effect and actually led to increased support for the IRA. Out of almost 2,000 internees only around 107 loyalists lifted. That speaks for itself.

Do you think there has been progress in the North in terms of relations between

In the period of 30 years of what is loosely called ‘the Troubles’, the republican struggle has had many traumatic phases. Do you think there is a tendency for us to lose sight of the memory and relevance of internment?

Maybe. But for the people who were directly affected the memory is alive. I think we need to recall that period – internment – and the injustice that was involved. As I said, it didn’t ruin my life, but it took away some of my youth and the internment of my father, brother and myself was hard on my mother. The families of all the other internees went through the same.

We have had hugely successful commemorations around the 20th and 25th anniversaries of the 1981 Hunger Strike and these events were central to educating young people about those tough times. It’s important that people throughout Ireland be made aware of the consequences of internment and that we do all possible to ensure it never happens in this country again. It’s important to remember, recall and look at what happened back then.

MARGARET SHANNON

ON HER INTERNMENT EXPERIENCE This article was first published in An Phoblacht, July 2007

www.anphoblacht.com

NEVER AGAIN Internment detainees were overwhelmingly male but among the women interned was Belfast woman MARGARET SHANNON, who talked to ELLA O’DWYER about her own experience of internment.

What year were you arrested?

I was arrested on 3 March 1973. I was 18 years of age and was held for five days and then I thought I was going home. Of course I wasn’t [laughs]. I was heading for Armagh Jail. I was taken from our house in Turf Lodge at the early hours of the morning. None of the others in the family were lifted. My dad said that morning – ‘say nothing’. I took his advice. I got a bit of a pushing about and one cop – my dad had warned me about him – he was called Harry Taylor – a veteran of brutality, said he’d come down to the cell and rape me. He didn’t, but I was afraid.

How at 18 did you cope with that kind of aggression and how was Armagh?

In God’s truth I said, I’m not going to let it annoy me, and I knew there were republican POWs in Armagh ahead of me – Liz McKee and Tish Holland were there. Tish was only 17 when she was interned and then there were eight republican POWs in Armagh too. The OC was Eileen Hickey. Sadly, Eileen died in recent years. I learnt so much in Armagh about life, discipline, values and how to live with other people. We kind of leaned on each other and I made a lot of friendships in jail then – people I still know to this day.

Do you think the Irish Government could have done more to counteract Internment?

I feel the Irish Government let us down back then. In 1970, eight months before it was introduced by Faulkner, Jack Lynch, the then Taoiseach, and his Justice minister Dessie O’Malley announced that the Irish Government was preparing to introduce internment in the South. In the event, they decided against it but the announcement was later used by the Stormont premier to justify bringing in internment in the North.

• Anti internment poster, Margaret Shannon top right

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© Gérard Harlay

© Gérard Harlay

What did you do when you came out of jail at 20 and how did internment impact on your life later on?

I spent two years in jail and it did take away part of my youth.

My dad and my brother were also interned, so it was hard on my mother. She went to the rallies against internment – she was great.

But you must remember that while I was in jail, I had POW status.

We turned a bad situation into a good one, as they say, and we studied.

I’m a counsellor now – not a political councillor – I work in the area of suicide support and with victims of sexual abuse. I have a very happy life now. I didn’t let jail ruin my life but it took away some of the important years.

It is estimated that something in the region of 1,981 people were interned at that phase of the struggle. Were there many loyalists interned?

Internment went on until December 1975. It was a weapon traditionally used to put down republicanism in Ireland but in fact it had the opposite effect and actually led to increased support for the IRA. Out of almost 2,000 internees, only around 107 loyalists lifted. That speaks for itself.

Do you think there has been progress in the North in terms of relations between the two main communities?

Yes, things have moved on. I remember the bigotry of

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unionism back at the time when I was growing up. When I was 15, I left school and took my first job as a junior clerk with an agricultural firm. I remember one day serving tea to some of the other staff. One of them refused the tea and said he didn’t drink ‘holy water’. When I told my boss about it, he said I’d better leave. But I’m by no manner or means a bitter person. I feel, for instance, that the loyalist community haven’t nurtured themselves enough all along. They never really took the chance to learn or study and I think they are only doing that now.

In the period of 30 years of what is loosely called ‘the Troubles’, the republican struggle has had many traumatic phases. Do you think there is a tendency for us to lose sight of the memory and relevance of internment?

Maybe. But for the people who were directly affected the memory is alive. I think we need to recall that period – internment – and the injustice that was involved. As I said, it didn’t ruin my life, but it took away some of my youth and the internment of my father, brother and myself was hard on my mother. The families of all the other internees went through the same.

It’s important that people throughout Ireland be made aware of the consequences of internment and that we do all possible to ensure it never happens in this country again. It’s important to remember, recall and look at what happened back then. ■

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OPERATION DEMETRIUS

As street warfare erupted across the Six Counties, the next chapter of the internment story was being written as detainees were systematically beaten in interrogation centres

Internment and the infamy of Long Kesh

BY PEADAR WHELAN On Sunday 8 August, hundreds of people marched through the streets of Ballymurphy in West Belfast to mark the 50th anniversary of the Ballymurphy Massacre, carried out by British paratroopers deployed to suppress the rage of a nationalist community incensed at the introduction of internment and the violence of the unionist state directed against them.

The march was all the more poignant as the echoes of the recent judicial verdict, confirming that the dead were unjustifiably killed by the British Army, reverberated through the march.

Among the marchers were campaigners from Derry’s Bloody Sunday group whose campaign for justice inspired the Ballymurphy families. There were also families from the Springhill/Westrock Massacre Campaign, highlighting their demand for justice for five unarmed civilians shot dead in July 1972 by Paratroopers.

Throughout the demonstration, the seething anger of the marchers could be felt, incensed at the British government’s plans to introduce amnesty legislation, their latest plan to prevent investigations and inquiries into the political/military strategies employed by the British state over the years of the Northern conflict.

The numerous banners from Derry, to the McGurk’s and Kelly’s bar bombings, to the Loughinisland Massacre and the families from MidUlster – Tyrone and Derry – carried at the demonstration represented

not only a geographical spread of Britain’s war, but also pointed to the various levels of British state activity in the conflict, including the use of unionist death squads.

That Sunday’s March for Truth took place on the eve of the 50th anniversary of Operation Demetrius, the military invasion of nationalist areas in August 1971, which saw 342 people from republican, socialist, and civil rights backgrounds rounded up and interned, ensuring that one of the seminal moments of our recent history was in focus.

Internment, used successfully against the IRA in the 1920s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s was the go-to form of suppression. However, the newly elected leader of the unionist party Brian Faulkner went further by sanctioning the killing of nationalists with his ‘shoot with effect’ order. This shows that the Ulster Unionist Party, riven by infighting, chose ever more repression, rather than real democratic change.

The events of July 1971 in Derry when civilians Seamus Cusack and Dessie Beattie were shot dead by British soldiers showed that the British Army were up for the task of ‘shooting with effect’!

That unionism wasn’t interested in a political solution at this stage is clear from the comments of John Taylor, Minister for Home Affairs, who defended the “action taken by the army … against subversives … when it was necessary to actually shoot to kill”.

The seething anger of the marchers could be felt, incensed at the British government’s plans to introduce amnesty legislation

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ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3  anphoblacht

© Gérard Harlay

• British army raiding parties into nationalist areas brought an angry communities onto the streets

• Ulster Unionist Party leader Brian Faulkner and John Taylor, Minister for Home Affairs (below)

Taylor warned, “I feel it may be necessary to shoot even more in the forthcoming months”. This was on 18 July.

The next day, Faulkner called British Prime Minister Edward Heath to cajole him into introducing internment.

On 5 August after a meeting between Faulkner and the British government, internment was agreed for 9 August and, in a prelude to what lay in store for the nationalist community, a paratrooper shot South Armagh anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3

man Harry Thornton dead on 7 August as he drove along West Belfast’s Springfield Road.

As the armoured cars and raiding parties swooped into nationalist areas, smashing their way into homes to arrest ‘suspects’, the palpable anger of those communities brought people onto the streets.

And John Taylor’s warning was fulfilled. Before the month was out, the British Army killed 23 people, the youngest being 14-year-old Desmond Healy, shot dead in Lenadoon.

As street warfare erupted across the Six Counties, the next chapter of the internment story was being written as detainees were systematically beaten in interrogation centres.

For 14 of them, the nightmare of ‘deep interrogation’ began as they were spirited off to a secret location, later identified as the British military base in Ballykelly, County Derry, where they were subjected to interrogation under a methodology known as the Five Techniques.

Journalist Ian Cobain’s 2014 book ‘Cruel Britannia’, confirmed that the Five Techniques were authorised at the highest level of the British government and “ill treatment of selected prisoners had been an integral part of British military doctrine for years”.

While initially classified as “torture” by the European Court of Human Rights in a case taken against the British by the Dublin government, the ECHR, after the British appealed, downgraded the ruling finding the British guilty of using only “inhuman and degrading treatment”. This ruling opened the door for the rendition of suspects in the United States and Britain’s so-called ‘war on terror’ and was relied upon by Israeli torturers in their interrogation of Palestinian prisoners.

Those interned on or just after 9 August were held in Armagh women’s prison, Crumlin Road jail, and on the Maidstone, a British Royal Navy vessel anchored in Belfast Lough before their transfer to the Long Kesh site outside Lisburn.

Sentenced prisoners were also incarcerated in The Kesh where 51

© Gérard Harlay

© Gérard Harlay

• Internees were transfered to the imfamous Long Kesh site outside Lisburn; Liz McKee was the first republican woman to be interned; Republican prisoners were beaten and CR Gas – a chemical weapon – was used against them, after the burning of the prison in 1974 (below)

they were moved to after the British succumbed to a Hunger Strike by IRA prisoners and granted them ‘Special Category Status’.

The notoriety of the prison soon made it a watchword for abuse.

When, in October 1974, the IRA prisoners fed up with their illtreatment by British soldiers and loyalist prison warders torched the prison, it was clear that the war on republican prisoners had reached a new level.

The deployment of SAS special forces units and the use of the CR Gas, classed as a chemical weapon, is one of the hidden stories of the conflict and the history of the prison camp.

Volunteers Francis Dodds, Teddy Campbell, Patrick Teer, Hugh Coney, Jim Moyne, Henry Heaney, Sean Bateson, and Pól Kinsella all died in Long Kesh. While their death certificates might put the deaths of the others down to natural causes, there was deliberate medical neglect in most cases that contributed to their deaths.

Volunteer Hugh Coney was shot dead by a British soldier in 1974 as he tried to escape from the camp in the aftermath of ‘The Burning’.

Liz McKee was the first republican woman to be interned, arrested on New Year’s Day 1973. She would be ultimately joined by 30 other women who were held in Armagh jail. Among those incarcerated with her was her close friend Tish Holland who was just 17 when arrested.

Only 107 loyalists were interned. The first only in February 1973, despite the fact that the UVF and UDA were responsible for some of the most notorious incidents of the conflict, including the McGurk’s Bar bombing in 1971 and the Dublin/Monaghan bombings in 1974.

It was an indication of the laissez-faire attitude the British had to loyalist violence.

When internment was phased out in 1974, the last internees were released in December. It was a time of hope as the IRA had met Protestant clergy in Feakle, County Clare and a ceasefire was implemented.

Sinn Féin would be legalised as a sign of ‘British goodwill’. However as with Troy, the British wooden Horse was full of dirty tricks and the dark days of H Blocks, Blanket and No Wash Protest, and the killing of Ten Hunger Strikers by the Thatcher regime lay ahead of us. ■ 52

ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3  anphoblacht

Carál Ní Chuilín Representing the people is an absolute privilege Being a Sinn Féin MLA comes with what can often be an onerous level of constituency work. Carál Ni Chuilín, a party MLA for North Belfast, has just opened a new constituency office and gives a flavour of the daily life of an activist MLA. I moved into my new office on the Cliftonville Road at the beginning of May this year. It is right in the heart of the constituency and it is the first time that Gerry Kelly and I have individual offices since 2007. I have some separation issues!

We are operating an appointment system because of Covid-19 and it’s really busy. Of

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This area has not seen the investment it is entitled to and it is my job to ensure we seen the redevelopment and regeneration for this community course, there are the constituents who just knock the door and need some quick advice and there are others with complex issues that will take more time.

The Cliftonville Sinn Féin office covers some affluent areas, but we represent mainly some of the most deprived communities in the

North. Parts of North Belfast are staunchly Republican and the people have supported the growth and development of the political and peace processes. This area has not seen the

anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3

investment it is entitled to and it is my job to ensure we seen the redevelopment and regeneration for this community.

There is no coincidence that poverty and

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• Tigers Bay 12 July bonfire – built right beside an interface, yards from their homes

poor physical and mental health are connected. It is the same for North Inner City Dublin as it is for North Belfast. However, the impact of the conflict has indelibly marked the lives of so many people here and we are now seeing three generations of families who have experienced imprisonment and bereavement. Some are still fighting legacy cases of their loved ones almost 50 years later.

Access to good, affordable public and private housing, hospital waiting lists and jobs and apprenticeships are some of the most persistent problems that we deal with on a daily basis. The issue of sectarianism in housing building programmes and allocations are still being felt in North Belfast after 60 plus years of Unionist rule.

An example of this was when Nigel Dodds, now Lord Dodds of Duncairn, the former MP for North Belfast and the DUP’s senior negotiator, actually left a Brexit negotiations meeting with the EU and British Government to oppose a housing programme that people from the nationalist and republican community would have benefited from.

I am also seeing people from the Protestant, unionist, and loyalist community too.

When it comes to suicide prevention, addiction or poor housing, all working class families are the same and Sinn Féin has a proud record in representing anyone who asks for help and long will that continue.

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Despite all the challenges, I am loving this new office. Where else can you walk into the local shop and an 81-year-old asks you if you’re single with a cheeky grin? Or that people know your entire family and still remember your Ma’s maiden name.

They know my history, and I know theirs and frankly, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. The challenges, at times, keep me awake at night though.

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The issue of sectarianism in housing building programmes and allocations are still being felt in North Belfast Recently, residents in the New Lodge area had bottles, bricks, and golf balls thrown at their homes damaging property from neighbouring Tigers Bay as a result of weeks of building a 12 July bonfire. This bonfire was built right beside an interface, yards from their homes.

I was still shocked that children were lifted from their beds in the early hours of the morning and brought to families for their own safety in 2021. Those images were reminiscent of the late 1990’s and 2000’s of interface violence

in North Belfast and it was genuinely shocking to see the same fear and distress on people’s faces in the run-up to the 12th.

Today, I’ve had queries from residents regarding travel and Covid Certs, fishing licences, private landlords not doing repairs, referrals to the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Teams, safety at work for nurses, and getting appointments with local GPs. Every Thursday night, we have a Social Media Clinic from 6.30-8 and it’s also really busy. I still enjoy being an elected activist for North Belfast. My constituents are interested in Irish unity, and many who cross our door give off about the bias on RTÉ and BBC opposed to reunification, and criticising the hard time ‘our ones’ got during an interview in comparison to other parties.

That’s the joys of being in Sinn Féin and in North Belfast, we have as much to say about the right-wing conservative Tories, be they Irish or British. People want to live free from sectarian harassment. They want to know why the truth about their loved one’s death decades ago is still being covered up. They want to have a good life and they don’t ask me for much. There are days I haven’t time to bless myself, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Growing up and still living in North Belfast is brilliant and representing the people on behalf of Sinn Féin since 2003 is an absolute privilege. ■

ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3  anphoblacht

Daithí Doolan

The money used in the failed war on drugs could be better invested in treatment and rehabilitation services in the very communities being destroyed by these drug gangs

Is it time to call off the failed war on drugs?

Illegal drug trafficking is a multibillion euro business and business is growing fast. The facts are startling. According to a March 2017 Global Financial Integrity report, titled ‘Transnational Crime in the Developing World’, drug trafficking is worth between €360 billion and €551.9 billion annually. That is 1% of the world’s GDP. In comparison, the International Federation of Phonographic Industry’s latest global music report confirmed worldwide recorded music revenues totalled €17.7 billion last year. In other words, the illegal drug trade is over 20 times more valuable that the music industry.

Ireland is not immune to this international trade. Irish criminal gangs are significant players in the business of smuggling drugs from around the world into Europe. This was confirmed in a recent interview by former Assistant Garda Commissioner Michael O’Sullivan with the Journal. ie. “Irish criminals are an integral part of organised crime anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3

in Europe and they all know one another and they all do business with one another,” he said.

This term ‘war on drugs’ was first used by US President Richard Nixon. He declared a war on drugs at a press conference in June 1971. He proclaimed that ‘drug abuse’ was ‘public enemy number one’.

Nixon’s war on drugs was a campaign of prohibition of illicit drugs, military aid, and intervention with the aim being to reduce the illegal drug trade. Currently, the Drug Policy Alliance estimates that the United States spends $51 billion per year on these initiatives.

But this ‘war’ was of course not just confined to the US. It impacted on government polices around the world. There was greater emphasis on the law and order approach to tackling drugs, rather than resourcing a public health response. This in turn has had a very negative impact on those who are addicted to drugs, their families, and the communities they live in.

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• Former US president Richard Nixon

• The drug trade is hugely lucrative and those involved will protect that market by any means necessary

There are few families who have not been affected by addiction. It is very likely that you or someone you know has had their lives turned upside down by drug addiction, gambling or alcoholism. But most people get the help they need and life moves on.

Addiction and the drugs crisis are two very different parts of the global drug trade.

A lecturer once informed our college class that there were 80 different definitions of addiction. From my own • Former Mexican President Felipe professional experience as a Calderón key worker, addiction is a selfmedicated response to unresolved trauma. That trauma can be caused by any number of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).

The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention defines ACEs as “potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood. ACEs can include violence, abuse, and growing up in a family with mental health or substance use problems”.

Unfortunately, for some families living with addiction, the very fabric of their community is deeply affected by the drugs crisis. For these communities, it is not just the addiction is a challenge but the drugs crisis becomes an everyday challenge and is a very real threat to themselves and their community.

The CityWide Drugs Crisis Campaign outline the impact of the drugs crisis. They state that: “In many communities, play grounds, parks, and recreational areas are taken over by the drugs trade and can become no-go areas. National and International studies indicate that high levels of unemployment, lower levels of secondary school completion and a high concentration of social housing can leave communities inadequately resourced to deal with these problems”.

Basically, it is a drugs crisis when there is widespread drug dealing in a community and the consequences of 56

this are seen and felt right across that community. This activity is not spread evenly across our cities or towns. It is mainly confined to certain areas or post codes. These communities are the focus of the original Local Drug Task Forces (LDTFs). Twelve LDTFs were established in 1997 to develop a more effective response to the drug crisis that was devastating many communities. The focus was on communities that were most effected by heroin epidemic.

These are the same communities that continue to suffer the worst effects of the ongoing drugs crisis. This includes drug related intimidation, criminal gangs terrorising neighbours, open-air drug dealing, a lack of response from the Gardaí, government and other state agencies. Another sinister development has been crime gangs targeting young and vulnerable people. This was clearly shown in the 2021 Dublin City Council report on ‘cuckooing’ in Ballymun.

Cuckooing is where crime gangs take over the homes of vulnerable council tenants and use their home as a base for dealing and drug distribution.

This regime of terror and intimidation is underpinned by the two important factors. Firstly, the drug trade is hugely lucrative. And those involved in the importation and distribution have billions invested in it and they will protect that market by any means necessary.

In Europe, the drugs market is growing rapidly. An increased demand for cocaine has driven the EU drugs market up to a staggering €30bn. The EU Drug Market Report 2019 showed that the cocaine use has increased by 60% on the previous three years, while cannabis consumption had increased by 25% to a total of €11.6bn.

This market is protected and defended by criminal gangs in Ireland. The influence of the drug gangs permeates right down to local level. The money made from the drug trade employs young people as ‘runners’, funds drug-related intimidation and creates microeconomies in pockets of our towns and cities.

The second factor is that the drug trade is illegal.

This ensures that a reign of terror is enforced across the same communities that are struggling with addiction, unemployment, trauma, poor housing, and poverty. If the local crime gang leader is challenged, swift retribution will be sought. That action sends out a clear message to the wider community. Crime gangs and their activities ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3  anphoblacht

• 30 countries have already started the process by decriminalising drugs

www.drugpolicy.org

are not to be challenged. If you dare challenge the drug dealing, you could be subjected to violence, threats, intimidation or sexual violence.

The Family Support Network highlighted this in their 2009 research, 'Intimidation of Families'. It confirmed that intimidation has been used as a mechanism to exert social control over communities and individuals affected by drug use. Intimidation of drug users, their families, and communities by various criminal groups has been an enduring factor since the re-emergence of the drugs crisis in the 1990s.

To break the stranglehold that criminal gangs have on our communities, their power must be challenged and

It is very likely that you or someone you know has had their lives turned upside down by drug addiction, gambling or alcoholism ultimately taken off them. This can be down either of two ways. The state and all its resources go head to head with the drugs cartels and defeat them. This has not happened despite the ‘war on drugs’ now entering its sixth decade.

During the intervening fifty years since Nixon made addiction public enemy number one, the drug market has grown and become more lucrative, the violence has increased and the drug lords have deepened their control on communities.

This is most clearly seen in Mexico. By the end of President Felipe Calderón’s administration in 2012, the official death toll of the Mexican drug war was at least 60,000. However, later revelations showed that 120,000 people died as a result of Calderón’s militaristic response to drug trafficking.

I would argue a new approach is urgently needed because the evidence points to the fact that the current ‘war on drugs’ has failed us.

Imagine if the drugs that give gangs their power were to be legalised. The drug gangs could no longer control and intimidate neighbourhoods because the basis of their power would be gone. Drugs would be anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3

www.fsn.ie legalised and strictly controlled by the State, similar to how prescription drugs are controlled. This would ensure that transparency, accountability and standards would be central to the distribution of drugs. It would also give the opportunity for drug services to engage with addicts offering treatment options rather than criminalising them.

30 countries have already started the process by decriminalising drugs. The approach is varied. But one thing is clear, a new approach is gaining momentum.

This new approach would also help shake off the shackle of criminality that is preventing our communities from reaching their full potential. According to the UN, “Punitive drug policies impact disproportionately on communities that are already vulnerable.”

The money used in the failed war on drugs could be better invested in treatment and rehabilitation services in the very communities being destroyed by these drug gangs. I do not claim that this article has all the answers.

But what I do hope is that it raises important questions about the global war on drugs and prompts a debate on this important issue. ■ Daithí Doolan is a Dublin City Councilor for Ballyfermot-Drimnagh, and works in a community based drug project in Dublin’s south inner city.

57

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Willa and Lucy are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary. The house is bedecked in plants and flowers from top to toe and the children are besides themselves with excitement.

Young Banba and Alroy have spent the last month making the most gorgeous decorative bunting from recycled paper now strung from the ceiling of every room in the house.

Afric, who operates a popular upcycling business out of her Mams’ garage, has replicated the little one’s colourful fiesta theme on the chairs and tables now laid out in the back garden.

Their eldest James is due home after a few months away working on a specialist farm. ‘Finally’, thinks Lucy’s Mam Eileen who lives with the family, a full house.

‘Come on kids’, shouts Eileen, ‘Time to get your glad rags on. Your Mams’ will be back from the hairdresser any minute now’. Afric lands into the kitchen with a sibling in each hand. ‘Look at the state of them Nana!’ Eileen looks down at Banba and Alroy who are covered head to toe in glue, glitter, and scraps of colourful paper. ‘Mother of God’, she exclaims with a big grin. ‘Right, upstairs with the pair of you and we’ll get you all cleaned up’ says Eileen, and ‘Afric, will you hold off getting ready until we’re finished in case anyone arrives early’. Afric gives her Nana a hug and heads back out into the garden.

Just as Afric starts to doze off in the afternoon sun, she hears her brother’s booming voice shouting thank you to the driver as the town bus pulls away from the house. Personal cars have been banned for years now due to energy shortages. Afric charges through the house, out the front door and throws her arms around her older brother James. ‘Jesus wept’; she says. ‘When was the last time you had a shower?’ ‘That’s

58

the smell of hard work sis, you should try it sometime’.

‘So big brother, how the hell are you’ asks Afric. ‘I can’t believe you haven’t written to us once since you headed off.

Everyone’s been asking for you, and the crowd at the Big Feed are barely able to manage without you’. The Big Feed is the town’s communal garden on which most of the community rely for their meat, fruit and veg. ‘I won’t lie’ says James, ‘it’s been tough’.

Afric squeezes her brother’s hand. She knows how committed and connected he is to the environment. James was inconsolable when the honey bees were declared globally extinct. Despite the eradication of all pesticides and herbicides and massive public investment in millions of hectares of native forests, woodlands, and wildflowers, the generations of damage to the developed world’s biodiversity simply could not be reversed. Solitary bees were the first to fall with the honey bees shortly after. The gorgeous European bee-eater bird has all but disappeared and once common fruits such as cherries and blueberries have become an exotic rarity.

Whole ecosystems have been lost and damaged. For years, people had asked what would happen if all the bees died.

Now, there is a real chance that we might just find out.

James is studying biodiversitybased agriculture. He has spent the last few months on a specialist farm that is developing technologies and processes to mitigate the unavoidable losses of biodiversity and new methods of farming that will protect, sustain and maintain existing food sources. These publicly funded projects have made Ireland the forerunner in the fight for world’s biodiversity. Following the unification of the Ireland, sustainability has been championed by every republican government, and now countries across the globe are looking to us to shape their public policy responses to climate change and to halt the rapid decline of the world’s biodiversity.

‘You know you are making a real difference, right?’ James sighs, and then gives Afric an affectionate smirk. ‘I know sis. It’s just the sense of loss, and the task ahead can sometimes be overwhelming.

But then I remind myself of the advances we’re making and changes we’ve all adapted to. I know I’m lucky…’. Before James can finish his sentence, their glammed-up Mammies are in the garden shrieking with joy at the sight of their grown up son. Afric rolls her eyes, and with a wry smile mumbles, ‘Don’t mind me, I’ll just go slaughter the fatted calf for the prodigal son’. ■

ISSUE NUMBER 3 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3  anphoblacht

EVENTS AD A4:Layout 1

09/03/2021

22:52

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To find out about events to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Hunger Strike you just have to go online at the two links below.

anphoblacht.com/contents/28025 bit.ly/30nTrgk anphoblacht  UIMHIR EISIÚNA 3 - 2021 - ISSUE NUMBER 3

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anphoblacht

• Internment without trial as reported by the then monthly An Phoblacht, September 1971