Republican Sinn Féin Kildare

Carlow protest in support of Republican Prisoners

2012-02-04T08:51:00.000-08:00

The Carlow town based Myles Shevlin/Tony Ruane Cumann of Republican Sinn Féin will be holding a protest at the Liberty Tree 1798 monument in Carlow Town on Saturday February 11 from 1.00pm to 2.00pm.

The protest is to highlight the ongoing struggle for their right to political status by the Republican prisoners in Maghaberry prison, near Lisburn in Co Antrim.

POW Picket, Carlow Town, Feb 11

2012-01-21T03:06:00.000-08:00

POW Picket Carlow Town

Liberty Tree Monument

Saturday, February 11, 1pm - 2pm

Bloody Sunday Picket

2012-01-21T03:01:00.000-08:00

Picket in Remembrance of the 40th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday

Saturday, January 28, 12noon

GPO, Dublin

organised by Comhairle Laighean, Sinn Féin Poblachtach

Craigavon Trial is an attack on civil rights

2012-01-09T05:28:00.000-08:00

The trial of 37 people – including the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton and Vice-President Fergal Moore – for participation in an anti-internment march in Lurgan Co Armagh in January of last year is due to take place in Craigavon Courthouse, Co Armagh on January 10, 11 and 12.

In a statement Republican Sinn Féin described the prosecutions as an attack on the right to publicly express a political opinion.

“In the Middle East people are being applauded for coming out on to the streets to demand political change but in the Occupied Six Counties Irish people are being prosecuted by the British state for doing the same thing. The prosecution of people for participating in a protest march – held on January 23 last to call for the release of veteran Lurgan Republican Martin Corey who has been held without trial in Maghaberry prison since April 2010 – is clearly an attempt to force Irish Republicans off the streets and to silence anyone who refuses to accept British occupation.

“Not for the first time Irish Republicans find themselves before a British Court for upholding the principle of “the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland” and in defiance of laws designed to silence the voice of protest. This political trial puts the political reality of the Six-County state under the spotlight and shows it to be still fundamentally undemocratic.”

New Year Statement 2012

2011-12-31T05:25:00.000-08:00

A vision of hope and inspiration
New Year Statement from the leadership of Republican Sinn Féin

Republican Sinn Féin extends fraternal New Year greetings to all of our comrades, friends and supporters both at home and abroad. The coming year will be a challenging one for working-class people in Ireland and across Europe. The threats facing us are manifold. Economically people are faced with the consequences of the austerity programme imposed on them by the EU political and financial elite. For Irish Republicans increasing repression highlights the reality of the old imperialism of British rule in Ireland.

The economic policies being pursued by the Leinster House and Stormont regimes are all part and parcel of the same finance capitalism which created the present world economic crisis. The very markers of a civilised society – the right to health, education and protection of the most vulnerable – are being sacrificed to uphold a failed and undemocratic EU. This should serve as a call to arms to all who wish to build a new world from the ashes of a failed political and economic model.

In the 26 Counties the introduction of a regressive property tax presents working people with an opportunity to find their own voice and strike the first blows of resistance against the Leinster House political class. Republican Sinn Féin is calling on people to refuse to register as a first step to refusing to pay this unjust tax.

In the Middle East people are being applauded for their courage in taking to the streets to seek political change but in the Occupied Six Counties Irish Republicans are being prosecuted for doing the same thing. In January our President Des Dalton and Vice-President Fergal Moore, along with 35 others, are being tried in Craigavon for taking part in a march in Lurgan in January 2011 calling for the release of the interned veteran Republican Martin Corry. This represents part of a pattern of repression directed against Republican Sinn Féin and all of those who refuse to accept British occupation and the partition of the historic Irish nation. The Craigavon trial is an attempt to force Republicans off the streets. We will not bow to such intimidation and reaffirm our commitment to resisting British imperialism in Ireland.

We also take this opportunity to extend greetings and solidarity to the Republican POWs in Maghaberry and Portlaoise prisons. These men are imprisoned because they refused to compromise on Ireland’s right to national freedom. We pledge our continued support to the Republican prisoners in Maghaberry prison in their ongoing struggle for the right to political status. We also renew our call for the release of Martin Corey and Marian Price, both of whom are political hostages held without trial in Maghaberry prison simply because of their political beliefs.

In 2012 Republican Sinn Féin will be launching our build-up to the centenary of the 1916 Rising with a one-day seminar in Dublin on April 21 entitled Who Fears to Speak of Easter Week. We will be appealing to all who wish, as unapologetic Irish Republicans, to commemorate the sacrifices of the men and women of Easter Week to join with us in planning for 2016. As the legitimate inheritors of the mantle of 1916 Republican Sinn Féin will commemorate 1916 not merely as an historic event but as a task yet to be completed with a living message for the Ireland of today.

As Irish Republicans we are the successors of a revolutionary tradition which stretches back to the foundation of the Society of United Irishmen 220 years ago. For this reason we make no apology for guarding the integrity of that tradition from all impostors or criminal elements who would attempt to besmirch it or misuse its noble title.

The year ahead will be difficult but it also provides many opportunities to further our goal of creating a New Irelandhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif. ÉIRE NUA and SAOL NUA set out a vision of hope and inspiration for an Ireland which truly “cherishes all the children of the nation equally”. Our duty as revolutionaries is to confront the twinhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifimperialisms of British occupation and EU finance capitalism and in so doing shape an Ireland worthy of the high ideals of the 1916 Proclamation.

New Year's Statement in German . . .

New Year's Statement in French . . .

New Year's Statement in Spanish . . .

Fight the cuts by refusing to pay property tax

2011-12-17T10:59:00.000-08:00

At its December meeting the Ard Chomhairle of Republican Sinn Féin called on people not to register in January for the 100 Euro property tax.

“We are calling on people not to register for payment of the 100 Euro property tax this coming January. This tax is just the latest in a wave of attacks on working people by the 26-County Administration in order to prop up the failed EU banking system and currency. By refusing to register, working people will be empowering themselves while also sending out a strong message to the political and financial elite that they will not allow the many to be sacrificed in order to protect the vested interests of the few.

“As we predicted, the last 26-County election did not deliver any political or economic change. It was merely a case of exchanging one set of gombeen politicians for another. For too long the Leinster House political class have used working people as voting fodder at election time, the campaign against the property tax allows ordinary Irish people to once more find their own political voice. By thinking and acting in their own interests rather than those of a powerful elite, this campaign can be mark the beginning of the fight back against the cuts and the first step in reclaiming our nation.”

Des Dalton on Twitter

2011-12-07T07:18:00.000-08:00

Follow the Republican Sinn Féin President Des Dalton on Twitter!

http://twitter.com/#!/Irelandherown

Pictures from Frank Driver & Kevin Barry Commemorations

2011-12-06T10:02:00.000-08:00

Report: Frank Driver Commemoration . . .

Report: Kevin Barry Commemoration . . .

Republican Sinn Féin supports student occupation of TD’s office

2011-12-04T12:43:00.000-08:00

Kildare Republican Sinn Féin expresses its support for the students who have occupied the constituency office of Fine Gael TD Anthony Lawler in Naas. Their action is a positive statement of the determination of ordinary people throughout Ireland to resist the attacks of the financial and political elite on essential social services as well as education and health in both the 26 and Six-County states.

Education is a right for all people and its provision a marker of any civilised society. By its policies the present Fine Gael/Labour administration is sacrificing not only this but future generations to bailout the failed and undemocratic EU political, economic and banking system. The radical action of a new generation in protesting their right to access third level education gives hope for the future.

The ‘Treaty of Surrender’ and its legacy

2011-12-04T12:13:00.000-08:00

This month marks the 90th anniversary of the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on December 6 1921. It was renamed the ‘Treaty of Surrender’ by faithful Irish Republicans because its terms subverted the All-Ireland Republic established according to the democratic will of the people of All-Ireland as expressed in the historic 1918 General Election – the last occasion in which the people of Ireland have been allowed to vote as one unit. That election led to the convening of the First 32-County Dáil Éireann on January 21 1919 and the setting up of a functioning Irish Republic.

The All-Ireland Republic quickly established active government departments and maintained a standing army in the field - the Irish Republican Army. Through its Department of Local Government it secured the allegiance of the vast majority of the county, town and city councils and other layers of local administration throughout Ireland. It also established its own policing and court system while internationally envoys and diplomatic missions were set-up.

The British Government’s response to this democratic expression of self-determination by the Irish people was to intensify its repression by introducing martial law in large swathes of Ireland including the entire province of Munster. From England it recruited extra RIC divisions, the notorious Black-and-Tans as well as the Auxiliaries.

This sets the backdrop to the negotiation of a Treaty, which would overturn the democratic will of the people of Ireland as well as partitioning the historic Irish nation. In his authoritive history of the Civil War or Counter-Revolution Green Against Green the historian Michael Hopkinson said of the Treaty: “No document could have more effectively brought out into the open divisions in the philosophy and leadership of the Sinn Féin movement. If it had offered a little more or a little less, it may well have unified opinion for or against it.”

Realising they could not defeat the Republic militarily, the British Government showing all the darks arts of intrigue and manipulation sharpened over centuries of empire building decided on a strategy of division and subversion from within.

Following the calling of a Truce on July 11 the British Government opened a dialogue with the Government of the All-Ireland Republic leading ultimately to the opening of formal negotiations on October 11 1921. The delegates chosen by the Government of the Republic were led by Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins and also included Eamonn Duggan, George Gavin Duffy and Robert Barton. According to Liam Mellows speaking during the Dáil’s Treaty debates, they had clear instructions as to any proposed treaty. Item three of the instructions given to the delegates quoted by Mellows stated: “It is also understood that the complete text of the draft Treaty about to be signed will be similarly submitted to Dublin's and a reply awaited.”. This was disputed by Collins and Griffith who claimed they had full plenipotentiary powers to negotiate and sign.

Within the negotiations themselves the British played their hand well dividing the Irish delegates up and concentrating in particular on Collins and Griffith. Thus they ensured that whilst their decisions and actions were tightly coordinated and carefully though out the Irish delegation was in disarray. Duggan, Barton and Gavin Duffy were in the dark regarding much of Collins’ and Griffith’s secret talks with Winston Churchill and British Prime Minister Lloyd George. In the introduction to the Whitehall Diary of Deputy Secretary to the British Cabinet Thomas Jones historian Nicholas Mansergh wrote that the negotiations involved: “concessions wrung by devices, some of which can be described at best as devious…”The care taken by the British in the negotiation is illustrated by a comment by Thomas Jones, in his diary: “….every word used and every nuance was so important.” When the leadership of the Republican Movement were about to engage in talks with the British Government in 1972 for the first time since the Treaty negotiations of 1921 they turned to Seán MacBride for advice as he had been part of the staff attached to the Irish delegation during the Treaty negotiations. His most important piece of advice was not to allow their delegation to be separated.

These were the circumstances in which the hard fought for and fully functioning All-Ireland Republic was undermined. The past 90 years of war and conflict in Ireland has flowed from the decisions made in those fateful months of late 1921 and early 1922. Speaking in the Dáil debate on the Treaty on January 4 Liam Mellows prophetically set out the consequences of abandoning the Republic and setting up a 26-County Free State: “The Government of the Free State will, with those who support it now liking it or not, eventually occupy the same relationship towards the people of Ireland as Dublin Castle does to-day, because, it will be the barrier government between the British and the Irish people. And the Irish people before they can struggle on will have to do something to remove that Free State Government. That, I think, has been the history of this country most of the time, as it is the history of most countries that go the way now urged by those who support the Free State. If the Free State is accepted and put into operation it will provide the means for the British Government to get its hold back again.”

The conspiratorial “internal methods” used to coerce and cajole deputies into voting for the Treaty in the Dáil as well as within the army of the Republic –the IRA – by the Irish Republican Brotherhood would be adopted by others in the years ahead to similarly divert the Republican Movement away from the path to the full freedom of Ireland.

Its legacy was a vicious civil war or more accurately counter-revolution, which robbed Ireland of some of its brightest and best political leaders. It poisoned politics in Ireland dividing families as well as territory. And in buying the pup of the Boundary Commission which in 1925 copper-fastened partition those who supported the Treaty condemned the nationalists population of the Six Counties to decades of sectarian Unionist domination and discrimination and British rule. It is a legacy that we remain burdened with today.

Its is best to leave the final word to Brian Murphy in his excellent book Patrick Pearse and the Lost Republican Ideal: “The Treaty, hailed by those who accepted it as a victory for democracy, has to be accessed in the knowledge that those http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifwho advocated it, be they from the ranks of the IRB or the Catholic clergy, were influenced by secret manoeuvres which were hardly compatible with the democratic process. If the Treaty was a victory for anyone, it was for the policy of the British administration.”

References:
Brian P. Murphy: Patrick Pearse and the Lost Republican Ideal.
Thomas Jones: Whitehall Diary.
Dáil Éireann: Official Report of the debate on the Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland

Taken from Des Dalton's Blog The Singing Flame . . .

Protest at gates of Croke Park to presence of RUC/PSNI

2011-11-25T10:44:00.000-08:00

Republican Sinn Féin held a very successful protest at the main entrance to Croke Park on November 25 against the presence of the RUC/PSNI in the stadium, defying an attempt by the 26-County police to close the road to any protests. Inside a team from the 26-County police were playing a team from the RUC/PSNI in a Gaelic football match.

Speaking at the protest the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton said: “The protest today is about driving home the message that British occupation of any part of Ireland is neither normal nor acceptable. The presence of the British colonial police in Croke Park is a betrayal of the principles upon which Cumann Lúthchleas Gael was founded. Foremost amongst these principles is Ireland’s right to its essential unity as a nation. The GAA has never recognised the British-imposed border but today the leadership of the GAA has allowed the same British forces who deny that unity of Ireland on to the pitch at Croke Park.

“The GAA is being hijacked by the British and 26-County political establishments to bolster their campaign of normalising British rule and the partition of Ireland. The very fact that this game is being played behind closed doors and under tight security tells us that it is far from normal. If, as we are constantly told, that relations with the British State are now normal why all the secrecy and security? The truth is that British rule in Ireland will never be normal,” Des Dalton said.

U-TV: Security fears over PSNI Croke Park game

Republican Sinn Féin Ard Fheis held in Dublin

2011-11-25T10:32:00.000-08:00

ON Saturday and Sunday, November 12 and 13, delegates and visitors from Ireland, Scotland and England attended the 107th Ard-Fheis of Sinn Féin in Dublin. Members of the International Relations Bureau from Austria, Germany and Italy, an activist of Liberation Irlande from France and members of the National Irish Freedom Committee from the USA were also in attendance.

The Ard-Fheis began with a seminar entitled Education within Sinn Féin, where we are coming from and where we are going, which was chaired by Tomás Ó Clérigh and addressed by Fergal Moore, head of the Education Department.

The Ard-Fheis was addressed by representatives of CABHAIR, Irish Republican Prisoners Dependants Fund, Cumann na mBan and Na Fianna Éireann and all three organisation praised Republican Sinn Féin for its steadfastness during what was a very difficult year. Messages of support were also received from the Continuity IRA Republican POWs in Maghaberry and Portlaoise jails. A message of solidarity wishing the Ard Fheis a successful weekend was received from the leadership of the Continuity IRA.

Plenary sessions took place on Saturday afternoon and throughout Sunday but the highlight of the Ard-Fheis was the address by President Des Dalton.

A full report will be carried in the December edition of SAOIRSE.

You can read the Presidential Address by Des Dalton by following this link: http://rsf-kildare.blogspot.com/2011/11/presidential-address-2011.html

Furthermore the Presidential Address can be downloaded as WMA-Audio File from this link: http://www.irish-solidarity.net/ardfheis/Presidential%20Address%202011.WMA

You can read the Ard Fheis Report and the Presidential Address in Spanish by following this link: http://nortedeirlanda.blogspot.com/2011/12/107-ard-fheis-del-rsf.html

Appeal to the noblest instincts not the lowest

2011-11-23T15:21:00.000-08:00

Statement by the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton

The racist comments made by Fine Gael Councillor Darren Scully should serve as a warning of the dark forces only too willing to exploit the present economic crisis. History teaches us that at times of social, political or economic upheaval the forces of reaction and fascism are all too willing to fan the flames of intolerance, bigotry and racism. Darren Scully’s comments give succour to these forces and will be used by them to justify their hateful ideology. The relative silence of Fine Gael on this issue and in particular Darren Scully’s continued membership of their party is a significant indication of the importance they place on the rights of minority communities in our society.

Across Europe working people regardless of skin colour, nationality, gender or religion all face the same social and economic hardship at the hands of the same political and financial elite. It is this elite who are the common enemy of all who believe in a sovereign nation and society, one which is based on the principles of political and economic democracy. As Irish Republicans we take our stand on the historic democratic principles handed down to us by the Society of United Irishmen: “The greatest happiness of the greatest number – on the rock of this principle let this Society rest”. We can only set about that task by appealing to the best and noblest instincts of human nature rather than the lowest.

Read the statement by Des Dalton in Spanish: Declaración de Des Dalton ante las palabras de Darren Scully (FG) . . .

Frank Driver remembered

2011-11-22T06:29:00.000-08:00

ON Sunday, November 20 Kildare Republican Sinn Féin held its annual Frank Driver commemoration in Ballymore Eustace Co Kildare. Led by colour parties from Republican Sinn Féin and Na Fianna Éireann those taking part marched from Frank Driver’s cottage in Ballymore to his grave in St John’s cemetery.

The ceremony was addressed by Republican Sinn Féin President Des Dalton. A wreath was laid on behalf of the Republican Movement by Celia Conway, Kilcullen and a decade of the rosary was recited by Kitty Hawkins, Ballymore Eustace. Des reminded those present of the long life and service to the Republican cause of Frank Driver.

The parade then formed up and marched back to Ballymore Eustace.

Kevin Barry commemorated in Rathvilly

2011-11-22T06:24:00.000-08:00

REPUBLICAN Sinn Féin marked the 91st anniversary of the death of Kevin Barry in Rathvilly Co Carlow on Sunday November 21. Republican Sinn Féin and Na Fianna Éireann colour parties led the parade to the Kevin Barry monument.

The ceremony was chaired by Jimmy Corcoran of the Myles Shevlin/Tony Ruane Cumann, Carlow. Wereaths were laid on behalf of the Republican Movement, Kildare Republican Sinn Féin and Wexford Republican Sinn Féin. Kitty Hawkins, Co Kildare recited a decade of the rosary. Jimmy then called for a minute’s silence and the dipping of the flags in memory of Kevin Barry and all who died for Irish Freedom.

The oration was given by Republican Sinn Féin President Des Dalton, who recounted the life and sacrifice of Kevin Barry and gave a most inspiring oration.

The commemoration was attended by members and supporters from Kildare, Carlow, Wexford and Dublin; local people also attended including Kevin Barry’s nephew, also called Kevin Barry.

Republican Resistance Calendar 2012

2011-11-20T10:18:00.000-08:00

€ 5,- excl. p+p

available from your local RSF Cumainn, the Kilcullen Cumann Kildare, the Frank Driver Cumann North Kildare and the Myles Shevlin/Tony Ruane Cumann Co Carlow, as well as the Head Office in Dublin

Order now!

The ideal X-mas Present !!!

Republican Sinn Féin oppose RUC/PSNI in Croke Park

2011-11-19T16:02:00.000-08:00

Following a meeting of the Ard Chomhairle of Republican Sinn Féin on November 19, the following statement was issued:

The announcement on November 11 that the RUC/PSNI is to play in Croke Park on November 25 shows that the GAA is once again being used to normalise British Rule in Ireland.

Bringing the British Colonial Police into Croke Park - like the visit by the Queen of England in May - contravenes the principles upon which the GAA was founded, namely the essential unity of Ireland as a nation.

This principle is reflected in the fact that the GAA has never recognised the British-imposed border but has remained an All-Ireland Association. Faithful Irish Republicans, many of whom are members of the GAA, will oppose this visit and will use it to highlight the fact that British rule/occupation in Ireland is not or never will be normal or acceptable.

Like James Connolly we say ‘England has no right in Ireland, never had any right in Ireland and never can have any right in Ireland’.

Republican Sinn Féin will be holding a protest on Friday. We will assemble at Quinn’s Pub in Drumcondra at a time to be confirmed.

Presidential Address 2011

2011-11-17T15:40:00.000-08:00

The following is the Presidential Address delivered by Des Dalton at the 107th Ard Fheis of Republican Sinn Féin on Sunday November 13.

You can read the Ard Fheis Report and the Presidential Address in Spanish by following this link: http://nortedeirlanda.blogspot.com/2011/12/107-ard-fheis-del-rsf.html

A Chathaoirligh, a Theachtaí is a cháirde go léir.

Fearaim céad míle fáilte romhaibh ar fad ag an Árd-Fheis seo.

Once again I am honoured to most heartily welcome you all to the 107th Ard-Fheis of Sinn Féin. We gather in national conference to take stock of where we are, to plan for the coming year and most importantly to ensure that we are capable of meeting the challenges that face us in the coming years.

Over the past year Republican Sinn Féin has been targeted by the British State in an obvious attempt to silence us. Your presence here this weekend tells us they have not been successful – and nor will they be.

Today the Irish people are being squeezed between the old imperialism of British occupation and the new imperialism of the EU/ECB/IMF. The need for a truly revolutionary Republican Movement has never been greater.

This year marked the 30th anniversary of the heroic sacrifice of Bobby Sands and his nine comrades who died on hunger strike in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh in 1981. As we remember the blanket men and women of 1981 we restate our support for the Republican prisoners in Maghaberry prison today who are upholding the same principles in the face of the same enemy.

Since the beginning of the year it has been self-evident that the British and 26-County states have made it a matter of policy to target Republican Sinn Fein. On January 23 Republican Sinn Féin held a very successful march in Lurgan, Co Armagh to protest at the internment without trial of Veteran Republican Martin Corey – who has been held in Maghaberry Prison since April 30, 2010. On February 16 the RUC/PSNI issued a letter to the President of Republican Sinn Féin accusing him of participating in an “illegal march” in Lurgan on January 23. The same letter was also sent to other members. A number of Republicans were arrested soon after this in the Armagh and Lurgan areas. This marked the beginning of what has been a concerted attempt to silence Republican Sinn Féin or indeed anyone who refuses to accept British rule in any part of Ireland.

In May Republican Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle member Cáit Trainor (Armagh), along with a member of the Thomas Harte Cumann in Lurgan Seán Moloney, were arrested and charged with political views expressed in an interview given to Channel Four News in September 2010. If this case goes ahead it will be one of great consequence not just for Irish Republicans but for all political activists because the charges represent an attack on the fundamental right to hold and express a political opinion as set out in the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In this regard it would have serious repercussions for all who are intent on securing real political and economic change.

We are calling on all human rights and civil liberty organisations to speak out about this attack on freedom of speech and the ability of the media to fairly and accurately report what is happening in the Six Counties.

During the protests in Dublin against the visit by the Queen of England in May the Secretary of Dublin Comhairle Ceantair Diarmuid Ó Dúbhghlais and another member of Republican Sinn Féin were arrested solely because of their participation in the protests. Diarmuid Ó Dúbhghlais was pictured by the media holding aloft the National Flag at the time of his arrest. Later members of the 26-County Police were shown dumping a Tricolour in a Dublin City Council bin-lorry.

On June 30 the home of our newly-appointed National Publicity Officer Geraldine McNamara in Tipperary town was raided by the 26-County Special Branch and her mobile phone was taken. Again this was act intended to silence and intimidate Republican Sinn Féin members and supporters.

The pattern of harassment continued with the arrest of the organisation’s President and Vice-President on July 6. The opposition of the RUC/PSNI and the Six-County Public Prosecution Services (PPS) to bail for both men was clearly an attempt to intern Des Dalton and Fergal Moore by remand. On July 8 Cáit Trainor was once again arrested at her home in Armagh and charged with breaking her bail conditions by attending the picket on Lurgan RUC station on the night of Des Dalton’s arrest. She was taken straight to Craigavon courthouse.

After a court appearance on September 7 Fergal Moore was again arrested as he left the courthouse in Craigavon in the company of his solicitor. He was once more taken to Lurgan RUC/PSNI barracks and this time charged with participating in the 1916 commemoration in Lurgan at Easter this year. To date 37 people have been charged in relation to the Martin Corey march in Lurgan – some also face charges in relation to the 1916 commemorations in Lurgan and Armagh. At a time when people in the Middle East are being applauded for coming out on to the streets to protest, in the Six Counties people are being prosecuted for doing just that.

Westminster, Stormont and Leinster House fear the revolutionary Irish Republicanism espoused by Republican Sinn Féin. It is a cause with deep roots in Irish history and the hearts of the Irish people. The age-old tactic of locking up the messenger as a means of silencing the message has failed in the past and history teaches us it will continue to fail. One is reminded of the words of Pádraig Mac Piarais at the grave of O’Donovan Rossa: “The defenders of this realm have worked well in secret and in the open. They think that they have pacified Ireland. They think that they have purchased half of us, and intimidated the other half.” Republican Sinn Féin represents that section of the Irish people who have neither been purchased nor intimidated, and never will be.

This year marked the 30th anniversary of the 1981 Hunger Strikes. Beginning in March Republican Sinn Féin marked the anniversary with a series of commemorations and commemorative events throughout the country. Events were also held in the United States and Rome. In Ireland this culminated in a very successful commemoration at Bundoran in August and finally to mark the anniversary of the ending of the hunger strike a candle-light vigil was held at the GPO in Dublin on October 5 and finally on October 8 a seminar was held in Wynn’s Hotel in Dublin.

It was an emotional afternoon of songs and poems of the hunger strike and the highlight of the afternoon was an address by former H-Block Republican prisoner Richard O’Rawe.

I would like to take this opportunity to applaud Richard O’Rawe for the great moral and physical courage he has shown in publishing his two books on the 1981 hunger strike. To publish those books required the same moral and physical courage he showed as a blanketman and political prisoner. By his action he has ensured that an important and honest account of the hunger strikes has been placed on the historical record to be read by this and future generations. Maith thú, a Risteárd!

The hunger strikes were a seminal period in our history and served to politicise an entire generation. The men and women of Long Kesh and Armagh prison were not simply engaged in a struggle for political status. There protest was about proclaiming to the world Ireland’s historic right to nationhood. As Bobby Sands pointed out in his prison diary written on the first day of his hunger strike: “What is lost here is lost for the Republic.”

Thirty years later another group of young Irish Republican prisoners are engaged in a prison protest on the same principle in defiance of the same enemy. This protest is a result of the rights won by Bobby Sands and his comrades being signed away under the terms of the 1998 Stormont Agreement.

On March 5 the Republican POWs in Maghaberry announced that because of the failure of the Stormont regime to implement the August 2010 Agreement they were forced to return to protest. They have endured 23 and 24-hour lock-up, degrading forced strip-searches, denial of both family and legal visits.

In their statement of March 23 they declared: “Thirty years ago this year our comrades in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh resisted such criminalisation which resulted in the deaths of ten young brave men. Many others suffered unspeakable horror in their fight for political status. We ask the public, our comrades and supporters to remember them and ensure that this will not happen again.” On August 8 and 9 the Republican POWs went on a 48-hour fast to highlight their protest.
On the outside Republicans have engaged in an active campaign of protests, pickets, and vigils throughout Ireland. Internationally our International Relations Bureau in cooperation with friends and supporters throughout Europe organised an ‘International Day of Action’ on October 8. On that day protests were held in Paris (France), Rome (Italy), Darmstadt, Magdeburg, Hamburg (all Germany), and further protests in other cities and various countries such as Austria and the Netherlands. They are to be congratulated on raising awareness of the Maghaberry protest internationally. An example of true internationalism at work.
The Six-County Prison Review Team in their final report entitled Review of the Northern Ireland Prison Service issued in October described strip-searching as “a procedure which is intrusive and invades the privacy of all prisoners”. While justifying its use the report makes a recommendation that: “Efforts should be continued to see whether there is an effective and less intrusive method than full body-searching of ensuring that prisoners leaving and entering prison are not bringing in contraband.”

Well such a method is already available in the form of the electronic BOSS chair, already in place and which the prison regime has refused to make use of. Republican Sinn Féin repeats its call for the immediate implementation of the independently-mediated August 2010 Agreement.

We extend our greetings and solidarity to the Republican prisoners in Maghaberry and pledge them our continued and active support. We also extend our greetings to the Republican POWs in Portlaoise for their loyal commitment to the cause of the All-Ireland Republic.

This year saw the long-threatened and unwelcome visit by the Queen of England to the 26-County State take place between May 17 and 20. A ring of steel – including members of the British intelligence services — was thrown up, resulting in Dublin being effectively closed down for two days. The estimated cost of the visit varied from €30 to €40 million. The extravagance of the visit with its itinerary of a lavish State dinner and tours of stud-farms contrasts with the savage cuts being applied to the pay and welfare of the most vulnerable in our society.

Irish Republicans ensured that the carnival of reaction which surrounded the recent visit was challenged both on the streets and in the media. In Dublin, Kildare and Cork members and supporters of Republican Sinn Féin held successful protests. In the media the undiluted message of revolutionary Irish Republicanism was given to media all over the world. From Al Jazeera to Iran’s Press TV, to Sky News, CBS and NBC and Fox News in the US, Canadian TV, media from Brazil and Spain, all reported on the fact that this visit was being met with protest and importantly why the protests were happening.

I wish to salute the decision of eight of the nine counties of Ulster not to attend the visit of the Queen of England to Croke Park on May 18. By their actions they have salvaged the honour of the GAA and have spoken for GAA members throughout Ireland who opposed this hijacking of our Association in order to normalise British rule in Ireland.

The GAA and Páirc an Chrócaigh where the All-Ireland Football and Hurling Finals are staged each year embody the essential unity of the Irish Nation. Bringing the head of the British State whose occupation of six of the nine counties of Ulster is a denial of that essential right to unity and right to national freedom. It is a contradiction of the principles upon which the GAA was founded. The announcement on Friday last that the RUC/PSNI is to play in Croke Park on November 25 shows that the GAA is once again being used to normalise British Rule in Ireland. Bringing the British Colonial Police into Croke Park - like the visit by the Queen of England - contravenes the essential principals upon which the GAA was founded, namely the essential unity of Ireland as a nation. This principle is reflected in the fact that the GAA has never recognised the British imposed border but has remained an All-Ireland association. Faithful Irish Republicans many of whom are members of the GAA will oppose this visit and will use it to highlight the fact that British Rule in Ireland is not or never will be normal or acceptable. Like James Connolly we say “England has nor right in Ireland, never had any right in Ireland and never can have any right in Ireland”.

On May 29 Republican Sinn Féin held a rededication ceremony at the Garden of Remembrance in Parnell Square, Dublin. The Garden was hijacked for the visit of the Queen of England and so the purpose of the ceremony was to rededicate the Garden to its original purpose ie, honouring all of the men and women who have died in pursuit of Irish Freedom since 1798.

On April 20 I had the honour of being the first President of Sinn Féin to visit the United States since Ruairí Ó Brádaigh in 1973. Over the course of the 14-day visit much hard work was put in by Cumann na Saoirse to ensure the visit was a great success. It included the Easter 1916 Commemoration and the Annual Michael and Pearl Flannery Dinner. Meetings were also held with various representatives of Irish American and general public opinion with the purpose of raising awareness of the ongoing protest by the Republican prisoners in Maghaberry as well as promoting our alternative for a New Federal Ireland, ÉIRE NUA.

ed on the political establishments on both sides of the Atlantic quickly emerged when the leadership of the American Ancient Order of Hibernians made a clumsy attempt to stop their members meeting with Republican Sinn Féin. I am delighted to report it is an instruction that has been ignored. Throughout the visit one consistent message was delivered and that was the undiluted gospel of revolutionary Irish Republicanism.
While schools are being closed by the Provo Stormont Education Minister and a 19% cut has been made in social care spending, one area where spending has not been cut is the enforcement of British rule in the Six Counties. All the while the usual round of house raids and random arrests continue. Plenty of money for arrests, courts and jails but not for schools or social services. There is it seems a limitless budget when it comes to repression.

There were three examples this year which show the attitude of the British government to its activities in Ireland has not changed. Firstly, the report of the Rosemary Nelson Inquiry, published on May 24, found that the British State failed to protect Rosemary Nelson before her murder by loyalists in 1999 but did not collude in her killing, despite clear evidence of collusion.

Secondly, the discredited British Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson launched a report on June 24, which ignored the blindingly obvious evidence of British State collusion in the murder of six innocent and uninvolved nationalists at the hands of a loyalist death squad in Loughinisland in 1994. On September 5 the Six-County Criminal Justice Inspection report into the office of Police Ombudsman described Hutchinson’s management as “dysfunctional”. It also found that criticism of the conduct of the RUC contained in reports into some of the most controversial killings during the war in the Six Counties were removed without any explanation.

And thirdly, the refusal of the British government — announced on October 11 at a meeting between the Finucane family and the British Prime Minister David Cameron — to hold an independent public inquiry into the murder of solicitor Pat Finucane in 1989. Geraldine Finucane expressed little doubt as to where responsibility for her husband’s death lay: “I do think it went to the very top of the security and political establishments. They all worked very much in hand. Everybody was informed as to what was going on.”

The loyalist attack on the nationalist community on the Short Strand during the July Orange parades and particularly the response of the RUC/PSNI to it are a clear illustration that the relationship of the Six-County State to the nationalist people has not changed. Following two days of carefully “orchestrated” – the description of the British colonial police themselves – violence by the UVF, the response of the Stormont junta and their police force was to arrest two nationalists and open up talks with the UVF.

On the other hand loyalist-orchestrated violence met with little or no response from the RUC/PSNI – indeed in Ballyclare, Co Antrim the Assistant Chief Constable apologised to loyalists for removing flags, an action that led to serious rioting. Compare this to nationalist areas where the RUC/PSNI had no hesitation in using plastic bullets and water cannon. There were widespread arrests and in a dangerous development the media were forced to hand over film footage to be used in prosecutions.

One can only judge a State or a society by how it treats its most vulnerable. In the 26 Counties we have witnessed the litany of reports of ill-treatment of the both the young and the old. In the Six Counties the case of Brendan Lillis is just another example of how, for all its boasting about its championing of the rule of law and human rights, when it comes to dealing with the Irish people Britain just can’t break the habits of the coloniser when dealing with the colonised.

The Provisional spin-doctors have written countless words about the “new dispensation” and a “new police force”. What we have is the same old British wolf dressed up in the lamb’s clothing afforded it by the 1998 Stormont Agreement.

The Review of the Northern Ireland Prison Service report finds that in all prisons in the Six Counties there is a disproportionate number of Catholics in the prison population – 55 per cent as compared to 44 per cent of the general population of the Six Counties. The report found there were “apparent and consistent disproportionalities in treatment and outcome in all the male prisons, in areas that depend principally on staff discretion”.

In other words where the prison staff have the opportunity they discriminate on sectarian lines against prisoners who are Catholic.

The report states that Catholics were over-represented in areas such as prison discipline – adjudication, use of force and segregation. Catholics were under-represented in terms of temporary release (for healthcare, emergencies or resettlement). In Maghaberry prisoners who were Catholic were over-represented in the poorer accommodation on the “square houses” and “Protestants over-represented in the newer and better units”. The bottom-line here is that the Six-County State is fundamentally sectarian and undemocratic. All of its institutions reflect this including its police force and its prisons.

This is all far removed from the teachings of Tone, Davis, Connolly and Pearse as you could get. As Republican Sinn Féin have continuously pointed out there is an alternative to all of this. ÉIRE NUA is the key to fashioning a New Ireland. ÉIRE NUA is inclusive of all sections of the Irish people. Because it is only the Irish people themselves who can create an Ireland capable of living up to the principles of the 1916 Proclamation. An All-Ireland Constituent Assembly would provide the forum for all sections of the Irish people to discuss and decide the shape of a New Ireland; to such an assembly we would bring ÉIRE NUA.
Such an open and democratic process is in stark contrast to the shadowy world of the current process where secret deals have been hammered out behind the closed doors of Whitehall and Stormont and behind the backs of the Irish people. ÉIRE NUA replaces the mystery, the intrigue, the sharp practice and the sleight of hand and replaces it with the sovereignty and the democratic will of the Irish people.
In the 26 Counties the people are being confronted by the new imperialism of the EU/ECB/IMF. The Troika have already demanded that the 26-County Administration sell off €5 billion of assets. In other words essential infrastructure such as energy supply, public transport, parks and woodland etc would be sold to the highest bidder. The 26-County Administration merely carries out the directives of their political and economic masters in Brussels, Frankfurt and Washington.

Before the last 26-County election Republican Sinn Féin pointed out that the election was meaningless as it entailed merely replacing one set of gombeen politicians with another. Within less than a month of the formation of the new 26-County Administration it was clear for all who were willing to see that the real political and economic masters were in Brussels and Frankfurt. Fine Gael and Labour fell over themselves to sign up to the austerity programme agreed by their predecessors. It seems it was Frankfurt’s way after all!

Already the effects of the cuts in public spending are being felt by the parents of special needs children with the cuts in Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) effectively depriving thousands of children of their right to an education.

The Irish people are to be sacrificed so that the undemocratic and unaccountable EU superstate can be kept afloat, confirming Republican Sinn Féin’s consistent analysis of the threat the EU posed not only to Ireland but also to the political and economic sovereignty of all small nations.

The most vulnerable and marginalised in society are in the sights of this political and economic elite not just in Ireland but also across Europe. The old, the young, the unemployed and those with special needs are to be the fodder used to bolster up a failed currency and the failed political project that is the EU. It was against this backdrop that on November 2, €715 million was handed over to the anonymous unsecured bondholders of the defunct Anglo-Irish Bank.

We are told there is no alternative to membership of the EU. However as the columnist Patrick Murphy – writing in the Irish News of October 15 – points out: “Norway, also a country of five million people, declined to join the EU, opting instead for membership of the European Economic Area. EEA members have free trade with the EU. Norway’s budget for 2012, announced on Thursday (October 6), projects unemployment at 3.3 per cent (Ireland’s (sic) is 14 per cent), wages to increase by more than 4 per cent (Irish wage levels are flat or declining) and its currency to have increased by 34 per cent in recent years against the imploding euro.”

The crucial difference, of course, is that Norway has retained its political and economic sovereignty and crucially Norwegian oil and gas are largely State-owned, giving Norway a £400 billion wealth fund.

This is in contrast to the 26-County State. In 1987 then 26-County Energy Minister Ray Burke reduced the State’s share of oil and gas finds from 50 per cent to zero. In 1992 then 26-County Finance Minister Bertie Ahern reduced corporation tax on oil company profits from 50 per cent to 25 per cent – making it among the lowest in the world. The result is that Irish oil and gas generate no income for the Irish people. As Patrick Murphy says: “Those who own Irish gas and oil include the Norwegian company Statoil, which is largely owned by the Norwegian government. The sovereign people of Norway own natural gas in non-sovereign Ireland. You couldn’t make it up.”

What would ownership of our resources mean? According to estimates Ireland’s Atlantic Margin contains 10 billion barrels of oil. At present markets prices that amounts to between €800 and €1,000 billion, more than ten times the size of the EU-IMF bailout. The SIPTU Oil and Gas Review Group in its report said that the licensing terms should be reviewed in the light of increasing energy prices, new technologies for extracting finds, and our current economic problems. Republican Sinn Féin would go further and say that Ireland’s resources belong to Ireland and should be utilised for the benefit and welfare of the Irish people. In the coming year we hope to publish a policy document on the ownership and use of our natural resources.

I would also like to once more salute Maura Harrington and the rest of the Shell-to-Sea campaign on their tireless defence of the Irish people’s right to the ownership of Ireland’s natural resources.

People need to get out and get radical just as the people of Greece have shown. By their militancy they have forced their government to hold a referendum on the terms of the EU-IMF bailout while also burning the bondholders to the tune of 50 per cent. At a minimum the people should be entitled to the same right to a vote on an austerity programme which will impoverish not only this but future generations. However in supporting the calls for a referendum in the 26 Counties we should be mindful of the contempt the political establishment in Dublin and Brussels have shown to the democratically-expressed will of the people of the 26 Counties in both the Nice and Lisbon referenda. A referendum in itself is not enough.
In SAOL NUA we set out a vision of a new sustainable economics in which growth is measured against the welfare of people and the development of society in terms of health, education, employment, distribution of wealth, etc. These are the real measures of the health of an economy. Tinkering around the edges of a failed political and economic system is not the answer. People need to seize the moment themselves and in doing so reject a political and chattering class who will never let go of this failed system because it will never be in their own self-interest to do so.
Bliain tar éis don Straitéis Fiche Bliain don Ghaeilge a bheith fógraithe ag Rialtas Bhaile Átha Cliath is cúis imní an ciúnas iomlán ó shin faoi. Idir an dá linn leanann an ghéarchéim teanga sna Gaeltachtaí, stoptar Gaelscoileanna nua á mbunú agus tá útamáil Adams agus a chairde i bhForas na Gaeilge ag tachtadh na n-eagras deonacha.
One year on from publication, nothing but silence surrounds the Dublin government’s 20-year Strategy for the Irish Language, which continues to promote vague discredited one-way bilingualism — the Irish speaker yielding all the time but the English speaker never yielding to the Irish speaker. The original national aim of the restoration of Irish as the primary language of the nation is the only one which will deliver fair, balanced and healthy bilingualism.

We view with alarm the move away from allowing parents and communities to set up Gaelscoileanna, and indeed other Patronage schools, to the present situation where the State decides the areas where the schools are established and by whom. Up to 10 parents’ groups have given up in their efforts to start Gaelscoileanna in the last three years due to this alarming anti-Irish language policy by the 26-County Department of Education.

Meanwhile the Dublin Administration has further downgraded and simplified the Irish language Leaving Certificate, with no reasonable educational challenge for either the Gaelscoil pupils or the Gaeltacht teenagers! As the journalist Eoin Ó Murchú stated in the Irish Times of October 11 regarding the attitude of the 26-County State to the language: “Officially, the language has primary status, but in fact officialdom treats it largely with indifference. A small amount of money suffices to take it off the agenda.”

The present stand-off between Foras na Gaeilge and the language organisations is also to be regarded with great worry. Foras na Gaeilge wants to take away the basic funding of organisations such as Conradh na Gaeilge and Gael Linn, among others, in a way that threatens the core ethos of these groups. Foras na Gaeilge is dominated, since its instigation by the Stormont Agreement, by Adams’s and McGuinness’s people. Where now is their famous commitment to the language and our proud historical language organisations are under severe stress and strain, with their very existence under threat by these proposals?

As Irish Republicans we view Ireland’s long struggle for national freedom as part of the international struggle against imperialism. In keeping with this position Republican Sinn Féin’s foreign policy – first put forward in 1976 – calls for action in three concentric circles: (a) with the other Celtic countries toward a Celtic League on the lines of the Nordic Council or the Arab League; (b) with the stateless nationalities of Europe and the working-class movements in Europe toward “a free federation of free peoples” (which was James Connolly’s goal); and (c) with the formerly-colonised nations and the people still struggling against colonialism such as Palestine.

In this regard we again pledge our support to the people of Palestine in their demand for nationhood and in particular their recognition as a nation-state by the UN. In this regard we applaud the decision of UNESCO – in the face of threats from Israel – in granting full membership to Palestine. The US cut funding to UNESCO as result of its vote. As our National Publicity Officer Geraldine McNamara points out: “Peace has to come about with justice and what is happening to the Palestinian people is totally unjust and immoral.”

The resource wars of the 21st century continue unabated as we can see with the latest imperialist intervention in Libya by Britain, the United States, France and Italy. Once more we are witnessing a scramble for Africa and the control of resources such as oil and water supplies, while the triumphalist parading of the dead body of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi shows that when speaking about the sanctity of human life the western political establishment and their mouthpieces in the media apply a double standard.

Next year marks the 40th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. This year in a blatant attempt to sanitise the deaths of 14 Irish people at the hands of the British army it was announced that there would be no longer an annual Bloody Sunday march. This decision was opposed by a number of the relatives of the Bloody Sunday victims. In a statement on January 30 our Vice-President Fergal Moore said: “We support the relatives who are calling for the annual march to be continued and Republican Sinn Féin will facilitate a march in Derry to mark the 40th anniversary of Bloody Sunday next year and in future years.”

Over the coming years we will with pride commemorate the significant dates in our revolutionary history including the centenaries of the founding of the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Citizen Army and Cumann na mBan as well as the 1913 Lockout. As the legitimate heirs to the legacy and mantle of 1916, as the political representatives of those who have never abandoned the All-Ireland Republic proclaimed at the GPO, Republican Sinn Féin will mark the centenary of the Rising with pride and also conscious of the unfinished work which remains to be done.

We face into the coming year mindful of the threats and challenges, which lie ahead. But we do so armed with the confidence and belief that our proud tradition gives us.

Let us go forward firm in our beliefs and convictions at the forefront of the struggle for Ireland’s political and economic freedom.

Go raibh mile maith agaibh ar fad. Beannacht dílis Dé oraibh go léir.

Long live the All-Ireland Republic.

An Phoblacht Abú.

Frank Driver & Kevin Barry Commemorations

2011-11-07T13:20:00.000-08:00

Frank Driver Commemoration

Ballymore Eustace, Co Kildare
Sunday, Novvember 20
Assemble 1pm opposite Driver's cottage in Ballymore Eustace and parade from there to the cemetery.

Kevin Barry Commemoration

Rathvilly, Co Carlow, 3pm
Sunday, November 20

RSF address to Celtic League AGM

2011-10-30T12:37:00.000-07:00

An address to the Celtic League 50th Anniversary AGM held in Falkirk,Scotland on Saturday October 29 from the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton.

For 50 years the Celtic League has been a tireless champion of the political, cultural, social, economic and environmental rights of the Celtic nations. Our Patron Ruairí Ó Brádaigh is a long-standing member of the Celtic League and he joins with me in extending greetings and Celtic solidarity to you all on behalf of Republican Sinn Féin.

As Irish Republicans we view Ireland’s long struggle for national freedom as part of the international struggle against imperialism. In keeping with this position Republican Sinn Féin’s foreign policy – first put forward in 1976 – calls for action in three concentric circles: (A) With the other Celtic countries toward a Celtic League on the lines of the Nordic Council or the Arab League; (B) with the stateless nationalities of Europe and the working class movements in Europe toward “a free federation of free peoples” (which was James Connolly’s goal); and (C) with the formerly colonized nations and the people still struggling against colonialism such as Palestine.

The world of today presents us with huge challenges and threats. In Ireland we are being squeezed between the old and new imperialisms. On the one hand the old imperialism of British Rule is still a reality in the Six Occupied Counties in the northeastern corner of our country. Arbitrary arrest, house raids and harassment remain the stock-in-trade of the British Colonial Police in Ireland.

The past year has seen a concerted effort by the British State to silence Republican Sinn Féin. In May of this year –just days before the Queen of England’s unwelcome visit to the 26-County State – two of our members Cait Trainor from Co Armagh - a member of our Ard Chomhairle (National Executive) - and Sean Maloney also from Co Armagh -a former Republican Prisoner - were arrested and charged as a result of political views they expressed in an interview with Channel Four News in September of last year. The charge is being taken under the draconian ‘Terrorism Act’ of 2006. The arrests and charges are an attack on the basic right to hold and express a political opinion and are reminiscent of the kind of draconian legislation used by the Spanish State in the Basque Country. We are calling on the Celtic League to highlight this case internationally,

In July of this year the President and Vice President of Republican Sinn Féin, Des Dalton and Fergal Moore were arrested in Lurgan Co Armagh and charged with participating in an ‘illegal’ march in Lurgan on January 23. The protest march in question was held to call for the release of veteran Republican Martin Corey who has been interned without trial in Maghaberry prison since April 2010. Again this is a deliberate attempt to put Republicans off the streets of the Six Counties. And we must also note that this year as Irish Republicans marked the 30th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strikes in the H Blocks of Long Kesh young Irish Republican prisoners are locked in a struggle for the same right to political status in Maghaberry Prison.

All of this shows that the nature of British occupation in Ireland has not changed. The British policy of “divisions carefully fostered by an alien government” created and sustained the Six-County State. It was a state built on sectarianism, discrimination, inequality and repression. The Stormont Agreement merely institutionalised sectarianism with a resultant increase in the polarisation of the two communities. Provisional Sinn Féin on the one side and the DUP on the other are more than happy to base their political supremacy on this sectarian divide. Posing as the political face of their respective ‘tribes’.

In the 26 Counties we face the new imperialism of the IMF/ECB and IMF.

The most vulnerable and marginalised in society are in the sights of this political and economic elite not just in Ireland but also across Europe. In Greece the people have been told they must pay the debts of the financial elite at the cost of the ownership of the very land beneath their feet. In Ireland the old, the young, the unemployed and those with special needs are to be the fodder used to bolster a failed currency and the failed political project that is the EU. The political and economic reality is that the 26-County Administration are merely managers of a programme that has been set out for them by the EU/ECB and IMF. It is time to cast off the shackles of the old imperialism of London – in occupation of part of our country - and the new imperialism of the EU/ECB/IMF.

The way forward for the Celtic peoples is to build an alliance of free peoples. In this regard we applaud Scotland’s progress towards independence. The Scots, Welsh, Cornish and even English nationalities or nationalisms are asserting themselves once more. The ties which bind the “Union” are fraying, a certain momentum is building up and we all need to be planning for a better future. We also salute the ongoing struggle of our comrades in Brittany for nationhood. The old order is being questioned more and more, people are receptive to new ideas and the circumstances are opportune again. What better basis on which to build a free, united, federal Ireland of over six million people?

In Ireland we believe that our programme for a Federal Ireland Éire Nua holds the key to building a New Ireland for all of the Irish people and replacing the two failed partitionist states. Republicans have never advocated the achievement of a united Ireland by adding the Six Counties to the 26, under either the 1922 or the 1937 Free State Constitutions. We have never proposed or recommended a 32-County Free State. We have never accepted either state but seek to restore the All-Ireland Republic which was overthrown in 1922.

The central thrust of Éire Nua is the maximum devolution of power from national to provincial, regional, right down to local or community level. The Provincial Parliaments will be elected by the people of each province according to a system of proportional representation.

Unionists and Nationalist, within a nine county Ulster would have a real and meaningful input and control over the political, social, economic and cultural life of their province, regions and communities. Unlike the institutions set up under the ‘Stormont’ and St Andrews Agreements, the governmental structures set out in Éire Nua, would be accountable only to the people who elected them. Under Éire Nua the sovereignty of the Irish people is paramount.

Éire Nua offers a framework within which all sections of the Irish people are the decision makers on the vital issues for their communities, their regions and their nation. “Apart from providing a solution to the Ulster situation, these proposals would bring power nearer to the people and help to correct east-west economic imbalance nationally. Republicans submit that such structures will be necessary to ensure justice for all, including the 18% of the national population who have supported the unionist position.”

Our social and economic programme Saol Nua – A New Way of Life - represents a vision of Ireland based on Republican, Socialist, and Self-reliance and Ecological principles; it identifies the obstacles to be overcome and the goals to be reached if we are to build an All-Ireland Federal Democratic Socialist Republic.

And so comrades and friends let us go forward together advancing the goal of a community of free Celtic Nations. I leave you with the words of the father of Irish Republicanism Theobald Wolfe Tone: “Let the nations go abreast. Let the interchange of sentiments among mankind concerning the Rights of Man be as immediate as possible”.

No other law

2011-10-24T02:38:00.000-07:00

Writing in the series Perspectives on the presidency in the Irish Times of October 13 Tom Hickey; lecturer in the School of Law NUI Galway gives a definition of Republicanism with which one could readily identify.

However he then puts a construct on Irish Republicanism, which is a misrepresentation of a 220 year-old revolutionary tradition. He writes that Irish Republicanism has for many become a “dirty word, gradually conflated with sectarian nationalism.” He goes on then to accuse Irish Republicans of defining Irish nationality along sectarian lines – reserved only for one section of the Irish people.

Irish Republicanism stands as a polar opposite to sectarianism. Drawing from the wellspring of the enlightenment, it rejects the ‘Divine Right of Kings’ and replaces it with the sovereignty of the people and the universal ‘Rights of Man’. The Father of Irish Republicanism Theobald Wolfe Tone could not have been clearer as to the foundation upon which a free All-Ireland Republic would be built: “To unite the whole people of Ireland, to abolish the memory of all past dissentions, and to substitute the common name of Irishman, in the place of the denominations of Protestant, Catholic, and Dissenter - these were my means.”

This has remained the bedrock of Irish Republicanism right up to the present day. Indeed it is this rejection of sectarianism, which was one of the two primary reasons advanced by Republican Sinn Féin in rejecting the 1998 Stormont Agreement. Because it served only to institutionalise sectarianism in what was already an undemocratic and sectarian statelet in the Six Counties. The other of course was that it copper-fastened British rule in Ireland.

Tom Hickey writes that in a real Republic the two “distinct pillars” are the “sanctity of the public space, and of the common public good.” He then says: “this requires meaningful deliberative engagement on the part of all citizens, and participation.”

The second pillar he identifies as “equal citizenship” and immunity from “arbitrary power.” I would invite Tom Hickey to read Éire Nua if he wishes to see a definition of just such a republic based on real participation and the common good. The Éire Nua proposals make tangible the Republic aspired to by Tone, Emmet, Davis, Lalor, Pearse and Connolly. Éire Nua presents a vision and a programme for a New Ireland that is in stark contrast to both failed partitionist states.

In an article published in Saoirse marking 40 years since the launch of Éire Nua Sean Ó Bradaigh had this to say about the nature of the two partition states: “The partition of Ireland in 1922 created not one, but two unnatural entities, not just a ‘Protestant parliament for a Protestant people’ in the Six Counties, but also a Catholic state in the 26 Counties.

“The Unionist majority in the North behaved very badly in their gerrymandering of electoral boundaries and in discrimination against the minority. The, mostly hidden, hand of the Orange Order was behind serious civil rights abuses. Westminster consistently refused to intervene and the whole thing blew up in all our faces in 1969. This would not have happened in a 32-County pluralist Ireland which guaranteed equal rights and equal opportunities to all her citizens.

“The same unnatural partition affected the 26 Counties also. A 32-County state with its balance of different religions could hardly have brought about the controversy over the appointment of a Protestant librarian in Co Mayo in 1931; the banning of Edna O’Brien’s short novels; the hounding from office of Dr Noel Browne, Minister for Health in 1951; the scandals of the Magdalene Laundries and the Industrial Schools, for examples.”
The opposition of unionists to the idea of being incorporated into such a state is understandable what is not is their treatment over a prolonged period of the minority within the Six-County State something that was shameful and unworthy of the descendants of the first Irish Republicans of the 1790s.
Not unreasonably unionists have expressed frustration at the apparent lack any concrete proposals setting out the shape of a future free and united Ireland. One Unionist, David Adams, writing in the Irish Times on December 3 2009, criticising this percieved failure of nationalist or republican Ireland to propose a blueprint for a united Ireland. He wrote: “Clarity is what the people of Northern Ireland (sic) need.” However he also noted: “The Éire Nua document, authored by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and Dáithí Ó Conaill in the 1970s, remains the only serious bid by any strand of nationalism or republicanism to address the issue at all.”

There is an onus on Irish Republicans to be very clear and precise in setting out our vision. Irish Republicans have never advocated a 32-County Free State. We believe that a New Ireland for all of the Irish people is required if we are to advance politically, socially and econimally. In short we seek the restoration of the 32-County Republic which was subverted in 1922.

Éire Nua proposes a Federal Ireland based on the historic four provinces including a nine-county Ulster. This would be horizontal democracy based on sharing autonomy and sovereignty between provinces, regions right down to local or community level within the framework of an independent nation state. This would represent meaningful decentralisation of power and decision-making. A nine-county Ulster Parliament would have considerably more power than any Stormont Assembly ever had. Importantly an Ulster Parliament or Dáil Uladh would be soverign and could not be suspended over the heads of its elected members by an outside parliament such as Westminster, as is the case today.

Again as Sean Ó Brádaigh points out : “Éire Nua includes a Draft Charter of Rights and the right of Petition or Initiative. This right of Initiative is much used in Switzerland. It is a constitutional modus operandi whereby a referendum can be resorted to on an issue of importance if a sufficient number of signatures are collected. This can be done at local, provincial or national level. Issues like Shell to Sea or the M3 motorway near Tara come to mind. This is direct participative democracy at work, as distinct from representative democracy.”

Tom Hickey concludes by saying if we are to “renew our Republic (sic) in advance of 2016 we must first restore the idea of republicanism.” I would agree with this sentiment but would go further and say that we must also restore the Republic of 1916, a Republic that was stolen from us and reconnect with the ideals enshrined in the 1916 Proclamation. To quote Liam Lynch: “We have declared for an Irish Republic and will not live under any other law”

Taken from Des Dalton's Blog thesingingflamedesdalton.blogspot.com

Candle Light Vigil at GPO marks 30th Anniversary of End of Hunger Strike

2011-10-08T05:55:00.000-07:00

Republican Sinn Féin marked the 30th anniversary of the ending of the hunger strikes in the H Blocks of Long Kesh with a candle light vigil at the GPO in O’Connell St in Dublin on October 5.

Addressing the crowd the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton said that the hunger striker was not simply in pursuit of political status. “Bobby Sands and his comrades gave their lives that the All-Ireland Republic might live. These young Irishmen were willing to give their lives that their children might live in a New Ireland. 30 years later the fact that there are young Irishmen in Maghaberry prison locked in a struggle for political status tells us that nothing has changed. Ireland still suffers British occupation and partition. Here in the 26-Counties the people are being sold out to the new imperialists of the EU/ECB and IMF. The most fitting monument we can erect to the martyrs of 1981 is to bring about that All-Ireland Federal Democratic Socialist Republic.” He concluded by quoting from the statement issued by the Republican POWs: “There were several reasons given by our comrades for going on hunger-strike. One was because we had no choice and no other means of securing a principled solution to the four-year protest.

“Another, and of fundamental importance, was to advance the Irish people's right to liberty. We believe that the age-old struggle for Irish self-determination and freedom has been immeasurably advanced by this hunger-strike and therefore we claim a massive political victory. The hunger-strikers, by their selflessness, have politicised a very substantial section of the Irish nation and exposed the shallow, unprincipled nature of the Irish partitions bloc.

“Our comrades have lit with their very lives an eternal beacon which will inspire this nation and people to rise and crush oppression forever and his nation can be proud that it produced such a quality of man hood.

“We pay a special tribute to the families of our dead comrades. You have suffered greatly and with immense dignity. Your loved ones, our comrades and friends, were and would be very proud of you for standing by them. No tribute is to great.

“Also, we give a special mention to those families who could not bear to watch their loved ones die in pain and agony. We prisoners understand the pressure you were under and stand by you.

“We thank the National H-Block/Armagh Committee, the H-Block movement, the nationalist people of Ireland, and all those who championed our cause abroad, we are indebted to you and ask you to continue your good work on our behalf.

“Lastly we reaffirm our commitment to the achievement of the five demands by whatever means we believe necessary and expedient. We rule nothing out.

“Under no circumstances are we going to devalue the memory of our dead comrades by submitting ourselves to a dehumanising and degrading régime.”

Sham politics in a sham state

2011-10-07T05:40:00.000-07:00

The ongoing soap opera, which we will laughingly refer to as the 26-County Presidential Election is an obscenity in terms of the cost estimated at €20 million and the fact that it is being used by the political elite as a very convenient distraction from the harsh economic realties faced by Irish people the length and breadth of the 32 Counties.

The office itself is a meaningless and empty position carrying no political weight. It was a position created by Éamon De Valera to replace the old position of Governor General when he introduced his 1937 Free State Constitution. The blandness of the rhetoric coming from the candidates reflects the shallowness of the well-paid position they are all jockeying for.

Martin McGuinness tells us he wants a “New Republic”. Perhaps Martin could enlighten us as to how he will “lead us to the Republic” from the Vice Regal lodge.

Martin has said he will fearlessly uphold all the institutions of the 26-County State – including its army and police force. Well at least here he is consistent, as he has already made a similar pledge to uphold the institutions of British rule in the Six Counties. It seems if Martin is going to uphold partition it’s a case of all or nothing!

This election is a parody of democracy a case of fiddling while Rome burns. The political class are playing their little games hoping that the people will be distracted enough not to notice that their country and the future of their children is being sold off. All the elements that go towards creating a civilised society – access to health at the point of need – equal access to education – sociahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifl protection of the young – the old – those with special needs either physical or mental are being sacrificed. The effects of this will be felt not just by this but also by future generations.

So as the rhetoric flies and the platitudes are trotted out by the various candidates telling us they “believe in people” or want to “encourage and inspire” or God preserve us “build bridges” just remember you can register your disgust and protest at this sham politics in a sham state. Either stay at home on polling day or if you do feel the need to go to the polling station write an appropriate slogan across the face of the ballot paper and send them your own message of protest and your aspiration for a truly New Ireland.

Taken from: http://thesingingflamedesdalton.blogspot.com/

Comment in French: http://liberationirlande.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/rsf-une-politique-minable-dans-un-etat-minable/

Boycott 26-County election

2011-10-06T01:32:00.000-07:00

Statement by the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton

The forthcoming 26-County Presidential election is a costly distraction from the very real issues confronting the people of Ireland such as the fact that political and economic sovereignty have been signed away to the unelected and unaccountable elite of the EU/ECB and IMF.

Our people are being sacrificed in order to bailout the undemocratic EU Superstate and its failed currency. While essential services such as health and education are being slashed €20 Million is being spent on a meaningless election to a meaningless position.

We are calling on people to register their rejection of the failed politics of a failed state by boycotting this election. It is time for a New Ireland based on the principles of the 1916 proclamation and the reestablishment of: “the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland”.

Statement in Spanish 'El R.SF propugna el boicot a las elecciones presidenciales en los 26 Condados' . . .

Statement in German 'Republikaner rufen zu Wahlboykott auf' . . .

Beware false prophets

2011-09-18T06:50:00.000-07:00

A time of economic crisis provides a moment in time when the revolutionary can more readily get the ear of the people. At such times people are open to the possibility of radical change. It is of such a juncture that Lenin wrote: “A revolution is impossible without a revolutionary situation” however he also warned “not every revolutionary situation leads to revolution”.

A climate of economic crisis not only opens up possibilities for the genuine revolutionary but also for the false prophet of racism and fascism. Germany in the 1920s and early 30s is an oft-quoted example of the kind of conditions that breed such hateful ideology. The pattern is the same the world over however: find a scapegoat for joblessness, poverty, cuts in social spending etc. Such a scapegoat will usually differ from the majority in skin colour, religion, language culture, nationality or gender. These false prophets then go to work on increasing paranoia and bigotry among the majority against the minority based on the false premise that salvation of the majority lies in the destruction of those that differ from the rest. The purpose is always the same to climb to a position of political power and hold it by creating fear among the population towards each other thereby ensuring their control by the state.

All of this is anathema to the very ethos and philosophy of Irish Republicanism. When Wolfe Tone, Thomas Russell, Samuel Neilson and others came together to found the Society of United Irishmen they were explicit as to what its purpose was to be: “This Society is likely to be a means the most powerful for the promotion of a great end. What end? The Rights of Man in Ireland. The greatest happiness of the greatest number in this island, the inherent and indefeasible claims of every free nation to rest in this nation. . . The greatest happiness of the greatest number – on the rock of this principle let this Society rest; by this let it judge and determine every political question, and whatever is necessary for this end let it not be accounted hazardous, but rather our interest, our duty, our glory and our common religion. The Rights of Man are the Rights of God, and to vindicate the one is to maintain the other. We must be free in order to serve Him whose service is perfect freedom.”

This is why it is all the more reprehensible when those who masaqurade under the banner of Irish Republicanism attempt to hide their hideous mantra of hate, bigotry and intolerence under such a noble standard. People should be awake to those who attempt this sleight of hand and treat them with the same contempt and suspicion one would any imposter or confidence trickster. Indeed I would argue even more so for such characters are worse than any fraudster because by their words anhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifd deeds they bismirch the very name of Irish Republicanism.

Irish Republicanism is no narrow insular dogma – it is an international philosophy of freedom and democracy drawing on the best and noblest instincts of human nature rather than the lowest. Our cause is the cause of humanity. Again we are back to Tone: “Let the nations go abreast. Let the interchange of sentiments among mankind concerning the Rights of Man be as immediate as possible”. It is a philosophy which invites people into the brightness of enlightment and progress rather than the shaows of fear and intolerence.

Taken from Des Daltons Blog thesingingflamedesdalton.blogspot.com

Voices of the POWs must be heard

2011-09-07T12:34:00.000-07:00

The release of Brendan Lillis was welcome news and is a testament to the tireless and unrelenting campaign for his release led his partner Roisin Lynch. However it should also be noted that Stormont ‘Justice’ Minister David Ford ominously dangled the ‘Sword of Damocles’ over Brendan Lillis with a warning that if his health improved the original charges could be brought again. There seems to be no end to the pettiness and vindictiveness of the British and their surrogates here in Ireland.

However we have no time to rest on laurels but focus must now return to the POWs currently on ‘Dirty Protest’ in Maghaberry prison. All this year we have been marking the 30th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strikes. The fact that thirty years later young Irishmen are being forced to engage in a similar protest against an attempt by the British State to criminalise them and by extension their cause tells us we have not travelled very far. The very presence of political prisoners in the Six-County State is a declaration for all who wish to see that it is an abnormal state.

The big obstacle faced by all campaigners for the Republican prisoners is the paper wall of silence, which Westminster, Stormont and Leinster House have erected around Maghaberry, and the wider issue of political prisoners. Since the right of political status in the Six Counties was signed away under the terms of the 1998 Stormont Agreement the official line is that there are no political prisoners in Ireland. In the years since 1998 their willing messengers within the media peddled this line to such an extent that among the mass of people it has become an accepted fact. Thus the big lie is repeated over and over until it is believed. The first hill to climb consequently is to establish in the public consciousness the very fact that today in the Ireland of 2011 there are political prisoners in both the Six and 26-County States and why they are there.

Breaking this artificial wall of silence around Maghaberry will allow the voices of the POWs to be heard and disturb the cosy consensus of the elites.

Deaths of the Hunger Strikers shone a spotlight on Ireland’s fight

2011-08-27T02:42:00.000-07:00

Speaking at Republican Sinn Féin’s commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the 1981 H Block Hunger Strikes held in Cork City on Saturday August 20th the President of Republican Sinn Féin said:

“This year we mark the 30th anniversary of the deaths on hunger strike of ten young Irishmen in the H Blocks of Long Kesh. The heroism and idealism shown by these otherwise ordinary young Irishmen was anything but ordinary. It was of a magnitude few can match. Their deaths made the world sit up and see that here in Western Europe was a small nation still struggling under the yoke of colonialism and imperialism.

“The background to the 1981 Hunger Strike lies in the British Government’s policy of criminalising Ireland’s historic fight for freedom and the determination of Irish Republicans to resist.

“Fasting was used as a method of protesting injustice in pre-Christian Ireland, where it was known as Troscadh or Cealachan. It was detailed in the contemporary civic codes, and had specific rules by which it could be used. The fast was often carried out on the doorstep of the home of the offender.

“As a political weapon it first came to the fore in the early 20th Century. The Women’s Suffrage movement employed hunger strike as a means of protesting their imprisonment and this was a method of resistance soon adopted by other political activists most notably in Ireland and India.

“On September 25 1917 Tomás Aghas became the first Irish Republican to die as a result of Hunger Strike whilst being forced fed in Mountjoy prison.

“In all 22 Irish Republicans have died on Hunger Strike in British and Free State prisons and internment camps in the years from 1917 to 1981. Each succeeeding generation of Republican prisoners have asserted their status as political prisoners and in doing so asserted the political nature of the struugle they are engaged in.

“Cork City too saw its Lord Mayor place his body on the altar of freedom. Terence MacSwiney endured a hunger strike of 74 days dying in Brixton Prison in London on October 25 1920. Like that of Bobby Sands 61 years later MacSwiney’s sacrifice and death threw the spotlight of the world on Britain’s occupation of Ireland.

“In a letter to Cathal Brugha written as he began his hunger strike MacSwiney gave a glimpse of the inner peace and resolution he felt about the sacrifice he was about to make: ‘If I die I know the fruit will exceed the cost a thousand fold. The thought makes me happy. I thank God for it. Ah Cathal, the pain of Easter Week is properly dead at last.’

“Four other sons of Co Cork would like MacSwiney use their bodies as the final weapon of resistance to British Rule. Michael Fitzgerald, Joseph Murphy, Denis Barry and Andy Sullivan.

“Each of the 22 who paid that ultimate sacrifice from Tomás Aghas to Mickey Devine – the 30th anniversay of whose death we remember today – did so not only to vindicate their right to political status but also to vindicate Ireland’s right to take her place among the nations of the earth.

“In 1998 the Provisionals under the terms of the Stormont Agreement signed away the rights won on the back of the sacrifice of Bobby Sands, Mickey Devine and their comrades. As a result today young Irishmen in Maghaberry Prison are enagaged in the same struggle against the same enemy for the same principle. Locked in their cells for 24 hours a day, these young Republican POWs are engaged in a ‘Dirty Protest’. They are being denied the right to legal or family visits. Even their right to post letters has been denied them. In August of last year an Agreement – independently mediated – laid the basis for a just settlement. Despite this the Stormont Justice Minister and his regime reneged on this Agreement and have instead forced the Republican Prisoners to return to protest. We are calling on people to come out in support of their right to political status and rally behind their demand for an end to the dehumanising practice of strip-searching and controlled movement.

“Events over the past months have told us more about the reality of British Rule in Ireland than any words we could express or write. The arrest and charging of the President and Vice President of Republican Sinn Féin on July 6 in relation to a march for Republican veteran Martin Corey held in Lurgan on January 23 is part of a deliberate targetting of Republican Sinn Féin by both the British and 26-County States. Our newly appointed Publicity Officer Geraldine McNamara had her home in Tipperary raided by the 26-County Special Branch on June 30 and her mobile phone siezed. In May two members of Republican Sinn Féin were arrested and charged with an interview they gave to Channel Four News in September of last year. Other members are also being chraged with participating in the same march while the RUC/PSNI have issued warning letters regarding the Easter 1916 commemorations in Lurgan and Armagh. An attempt to silence the message by locking up the messanger.

“When Loyalists attacked nationalist homes in Belfast’s Short Strand in June the response of the RUC/PSNI was to arrest two nationalists while within days Stormont First Minister Peter Robinson was negotiating with the UVF who carried out the attacks.

“We welcome the release of veteran Republican Brendan Lillis on August 18. But we also point out that he should never have been imprisoned in the first place. He was held in appalling conditions in Maghaberry Prison for no other reason than the vindictiveness of the British Government and the Stormont Regime. His internment without trial was a gross violation of his most basic human rights.

“We repeat our demand for the immediate release of Martin Corey – another veteran Republican – who has been interned without trial since April 2010. At the end of July he was told that he must serve a further four years in prison. Martin Corey served 19 years in Long Kesh making him the longest serving prisoner there. Despite this he is in Maghaberry today simply because he refuses to compromise with the occupier of his country.

“In the last week in July five nationalists were arrested in a high profile swoop, which the British Colonial Police trumpeted as being linked to the death of RUC/PSNI man Ronan Kerr in April. All were released within two days without charge. One of the men was in the US at the time of the attack in which Ronan Kerr was killed. Yet another case of ‘round up the usual suspects’.

“The Six-County State can never be either normal or democratic. It is inherently sectarian and a stumbling block to a New Ireland.

“If we wish to truly honour Bobby Sands and his comrades we can only do so when we remove the last vestiges of British Rule from Ireland along with the new imperialism of the EU/ECB and the IMF who seek to enslave our people politically as well as economically. A New Ireland based on the federal proposals set out in Éire Nua can make the All-Ireland Republic of 1916 a reality for all of the Irish people.
Irish Republicans are the true revolutionaries capable of fanning the flame of freedom and in the words of Terence MacSwiney: ‘scorching up hypocrisy, deceit, meanness, and lighting all brave hearts to high hope and achievement’.”

An Phoblacht Abú

Release Brendan Lillis now!

2011-08-14T13:43:00.000-07:00

The refusal of David Ford to release Brendan Lillis exposes the shallowness of Ford and his ilk when they talk about human rights and civil liberties. When Ford opens his mouth again with more sanctimonious sermonising his words should be dismissed for the weasel words that they are. Brendan Lillis is suffering from a very serious disease called ankylosing spondylitis, which leads to a curvature in the spine and causes the body to produce excess bone mass. To leave the politics of the issue aside for a moment on purely humanitarian grounds Brendan Lillies should be released immediately.

One can only judge a state or a society by how it treats its most vulnerable. In the 26 Counties we have witnessed the litany of reports of ill treatment of the both the young and the old. In the Six Counties the case of Brendan Lillis is just another example of how for all its boasting about its championing of the rule of law and human rights when it comes to dealing with the Irish people Britain just can’t break the habits of the coloniser when dealing with the colonised. Imprisoning Brendan Lillis even from the point of view of Stormont and Westminster (something I find very difficult to do) serves no purpose whatsoever. It is purely vindictive and a case of extracting the last pound of flesh from a man who in the distant past had the temerity to assert his country’s right to national independence.

On a political level the treatment of Brendan Lillis speaks louder than any words we could write or speak about the true nature of the Six-County State and its relationship with the nationalist people. The Provisonal spin-doctors have written countless words about the “new dispensation” and a “new police force”. All of this is merely dross to hide the fact that it is all a sham. What we have is thttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhe same old British wolf dressed up in the lamb’s clothing afforded it by the 1998 Stormont Agreement. The bottom line here is that the Six-County State is fundamentally sectarian and undemocratic. All of its institutions will reflect this including its police force no matter what name it is given. This is true of any state.

But to return to the issue at hand. The bravery and unstinting commitment shown by Brendan Lillis’s partner Roisin Lynch is a testament to the strength of an ordinary person when thrust into extraordinary circumstances. The case of Brendan Lillis is the human side of all of this. His continued imprisonment is above politics and is a question of one of the most basic rights – the right to life and dignity as a human being. Release Brendan Lillis now!

http://thesingingflamedesdalton.blogspot.com/

Six-County State is an obstacle to a New Ireland

2011-08-07T14:36:00.000-07:00

Speaking at a commemoration of the 1981 Hunger Striker Kevin Lynch in Dungiven Co Derry on Saturday August 6 the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton said:

“Here in Dungiven in North Derry we stand with pride in commemoration of Kevin Lynch. One of ten young Irish men who by their sacrifice and heroism captured the imagination of Ireland and the world, reminding one and all that ‘Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.’ Along with Kevin we also remember his fellow Derry men, Patsy O’Hara, Thomas McElwee, Francis Hughes and Mickey Devine. Like Co Cork, Derry saw five of her sons endure the long and lonely path of the hunger strike. Using their bodies as weapon of last resort at which to strike at British occupation.

“Kevin Lynch was born in the village of Park – eight miles from here on May 25 1956. He was the youngest in a family of eight. In his teens he moved to Dungiven or Dun Gheimhin (Given’s Fort) with his family. Like his father and brothers Kevin was a builder by trade. He had a passion for all things Irish and this was reflected in his love of Gaelic games and particularly hurling. He played right half-back with St Patrick’s Hurling Club in the inaugural Feile na nGael held in Thurles Co Tipperary in 1971. Despite only having had his appendix removed ten days prior to the competition Kevin was instrumental in his club winning their division over the two days. He captained Derry to an All-Ireland U16 title in 1972.

“He also played football and took up boxing as well. The fact the local hurling club was named in his honour reflects the esteem with which the Gaels of Dungiven held and still hold Kevin. Living in such a strongly nationalist community he quickly came face to face with the harsh reality of British Rule as experienced by the nationalist people of the Six Counties. This included a beating he and nine other young men suffered at the hands of the British Army as they returned home from a dance.

“His keen sense of justice and principle soon led him to become active in the struggle to end British interference in Ireland when he joined the INLA. Kevin was active with his local unit in acquiring arms right up to his arrest on December 2 1976. Following his arrest Kevin suffered a severe beating in the infamous Castlereagh interrogation centre following which he was charged with possession of weapons. Following a year on remand in Crumlin Road Jail a Diplock non-jury court sentenced him to 10 years. He at once took his place in the ranks of the ‘Blanket Men’ in the H Blocks of Long Kesh. He brought with him to the H Blocks the qualities, which marked him out on the hurling or football field: courage; loyalty and a will to win.

“Kevin Lynch like his comrades was determined that the British machine would not break them or criminalise the struggle for Irish Freedom. During a visit with his parents he told them: ‘If they took everything else away they’d never take my principles.’

“Kevin joined the first hunger strike of October to December 1980 for the last five days. Once it became clear the British had reneged on the terms agreed for ending that hunger strike the men in Long Kesh were more determined than ever to see their fight through to a finish. Kevin was among the first to volunteer for the second hunger strike, which began with Bobby Sands on March 1. On May 23 Kevin began his long hunger for justice. During the 26-County Elections in June of that year he contested the Waterford constituency where he won more than 3,753 votes as an H Block candidate. Towards the end of his hunger strike Kevin Lynch declared that what he and his comrades were engaged in was an extension of the war against British Rule that was being waged outside: ‘I am a soldier. We’re all soldiers. We’re fighting a war – and our war is in here’. Kevin Lynch died on August 1 1981 following 71 days on hunger strike.

“In 1998 the Provisionals under the terms of the Stormont Agreement signed away the rights won on the back of the sacrifice of Kevin Lynch; Bobby Sands; Patsy O’Hara; ;Mickey Devine and their comrades. As a result today young Irishmen in Maghaberry Prison are enagaged in the same struggle against the same enemy for the same principle. Locked in their cells for 24 hours a day, these young Republican POWs are engaged in a ‘Dirty Protest’. They are being denied the right to legal or family visits. Even their right to post letters has been denied them. In August of last year an Agreement – independently mediated – laid the basis for a just settlement. Despite this the Stormont Justice Minister David Ford and his regime reneged on this Agreement and have instead forced the Republican Prisoners to return to protest.

“The actions of the Brtitsh State over past months have exposed the reality of British Rule in Ireland despite the lies and spin of the Provos and their apologists. The arrest and charging of the President and Vice President of Republican Sinn Féin on July 6 in relation to a march for Republican veteran Martin Corey held in Lurgan on January 23 is part of a deliberate targetting of Republican Sinn Féin by both the British and 26-County States. The oppsoition of both the Six-County PPS as well as the RUC/PSNI to bail for both Des Dalton and Fergal Moore shows the clear intention was to intern both RSF’s President and Vice President.

“Our newly appointed Publicity Officer Geraldine McNamara had her home in Tipperary raided by the 26-County Special Branch on June 30 and her mobile phone siezed. In May two members of Republican Sinn Féin were arrested and charged in relation to an interview they gave to Channel Four News in September of last year. Other members are also being charged with participating in the Lurgan march while the RUC/PSNI have issued warning letters regarding the Easter 1916 commemorations in Lurgan and Armagh.

“It is evident that the undiluted message of revolutionary Irish Republicanism delivered by Republican Sinn Féin is feared by Westminster, Stormont and Leinster House. It is a message and a cause whose roots lie deep within the hearts of Irish people. The age-old tactic of locking up and silencing the very idea of Irish freedom has failed in the past and history teaches us will fail again today and in the future.

“When Loyalists attacked nationalist homes in Belfast’s Short Strand in June the immediate response of the RUC/PSNI was to arrest two nationalists while within days Stormont First Minister Peter Robinson was negotiating with the UVF who carried out the attacks.

“While all of this is going on a gravely ill man, Brendan Lillis is being held in appalling conditions in Maghaberry Prison. He is imprisoned for no other reason than the vindictiveness of the British Government and the Stormont Regime. Shame on David Ford and the rest of his junta. The continued internment without trial of Brendan Lillis is a gross violation of his most basic human rights. We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Brendan Lillis.

“We also demand the immediate release of Martin Corey – another veteran Republican – who has been interned without trial since April 2010. At the end of July he was told that he must serve a further four years in prison. Martin Corey served 19 years in Long Kesh making him the longest serving prisoner there. Despite this he is in Maghaberry today simply because he refuses to compromise with the occupier of his country.

“In the last week in July five nationalists were arrested in a high profile swoop, which the British Colonial Police trumpeted as being linked to the death of RUC/PSNI man Ronan Kerr in April. All were released within two days without charge. One of the men was in the US at the time of the attack in which Ronan Kerr was killed. Yet another case of ‘round up the usual suspects’.

“The Six-County State is a gerrymandered remnant of British Rule. It can never be a platform from which to build a New Ireland. It is an obstacle to the progress of the Irish people towards the All-Ireland Republic of Easter Week. We believe our proposals for a Federal Ireland contained in Éire Nua provide the basis for true All-Ireland democracy.

“Kevin Lynch; Patsy O’Hara; Francis Hughes; Tom McElwee and Mickey Devine all laid down their young lives so that the Irish Nation might live. Their faith was a Fenian Faith, which would brook no compromise with the invader. To keep faith with the ideals for which they lived and died is our solemn duty. Bobby Sands left this advice for future generations: ‘If they aren't able to destroy the desire for freedom, they won't break you. They won't break me because the desire for freedom, and the freedom of the Irish people, is in my heart. The day will dawn when all the people of Ireland will have the desire for freedom to show. It is then we'll see the rising of the moon.’”

An Phoblacht Abú

Carpe Diem - Seize the Day

2011-07-16T04:39:00.000-07:00

The last entry from Des Dalton's Blog The Singing Flame . . .

The recent furore caused by Enda Kenny, James Reilly and Eamon Gilmore reneging on “election pledges” given during the recent 26-County Election regarding Roscommon A&E and other hospitals sums up the worth of the political class presiding over this ‘failed political entity’. The ‘Bard’ wrote: “something is rotten in the state of Denmark”; in this case it is the state that is rotten.

Before the last 26-County election Republican Sinn Féin pointed out that the election was meaningless as it entailed merely replacing one set of gombeen politicians with another. Within less than a month of the formation of the new 26-County Administration it was clear for all who were willing to see that the real political and economic masters were in Brussels and Frankfurt and not in Dublin. Kenny and his cohorts fell over themselves to sign up to the austerity programme agreed by their predecessors. It seems it was Frankfurt’s way after all!

The political and economic reality is that the denizens of Leinster House and Merrion Square are merely managers of a programme, which has been set out for them by the EU/ECB and IMF. Today the ‘Troika’ tell us that the 26-County State is “on track”. But on track to what? you well may ask, ‘hell in a hand cart’ is one answer that springs to mind. The most vulnerable and marginalised in society are in the sights of this political and economic elite not just in Ireland but also across Europe. In Greece the people have been told they must pay the debts of the financial elite at the cost of the ownership of the very land beneath their feet. Here the old, the young, the unemployed and those with special needs are to be the fodder used to bolster up a failed currency and the failed political project that is the EU.

Enough is enough! Tinkering around the edges is not the answer. People need to seize the moment themselves and in doing so reject a political and chattering class who will never let go of this failed system because it will never be in their own self-interest to do so. People need to get out and get radical just as the people of Greece have shown. We must demand a real Republic an All-Ireland Republic. One that is worthy of the definition given to us in the 1916 Proclamation. On Bastille Day we remember the very roots of Irish Republicanism: Liberté, égalité, fraternité. It is time to cast off the shackles of the old imperialism of London – in occupation of part of our country - and the new imperialism of the EU/ECB/IMF.

Finally I would like to pay tribute to the late Liam Cotter of Co Kerry. Liam brought the same unselfish commitment and dedication to everything he did, whether it was for the Republican Movement or the GAA. He was a stalwart of both. Liam Cotter was very conscious of the proud Republican tradition of his beloved Kerry and lived up to that tradition throughout his life. He never faltered or wavered from the straight road to the All-Ireland Republic. When we march to the dawn light of freedom you will march with us Liam. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

http://thesingingflamedesdalton.blogspot.com/

You can lock up the messenger but not the message

2011-07-13T10:37:00.000-07:00

Read the newest entry from the Blog of Republican Sinn Féin President Des Dalton.

It is almost two weeks since my last post but a lot has happened in that time. Fergal Moore and myself experienced at first hand the ‘hospitality’ of the RUC/PSNI in Lurgan barracks last week. We were arrested and charged with participating in a march calling for the release of Republican Martin Corey in Lurgan on January 23 last. Martin, by the way was the longest serving Republican prisoner in Long Kesh serving 19 years. He was released in 1992. He was interned without trial in April of last year and has been held in Maghaberry prison ever since.

The arrest of the President and Vice President of Republican Sinn Féin marks the culmination of a clear pattern of harassment by both partitionist states with the clear intention of silencing our organisation. Within a month of the ‘Free Martin Corey March’ in January the British Colonial Police issued a letter accusing me of participating in an “illegal parade”. Similar letters were issued in relation to other members of Republican Sinn Féin in the Lurgan and Armagh areas. This was followed up a number of arrests.

In May Cait Trainor a member of our Ard Chomhairle along with Sean Maloney a former POW and member of the Thomas Harte Cumann in Lurgan were arrested and charged with “glorifying terrorism” in an interview given to Channel Four News in September of 2010. This is reminiscent of the kind of draconian legislation used by the Spanish State in the Basque Country. This was followed by the arrest of the Runaí of Dublin Comhairle Ceantair Diarmuid Ó Dúbhghlais and another member during the visit of the Queen of England to the 26 Counties on May 20. And finally on June 30 last the newly appointed national Publicity Officer Geraldine McNamara had her home raided by the 26-County Special Branch.

Its obvious Republican Sinn Féin has something to say which Westminster, Stormont and Leinster House don’t want to hear or more importantly don’t want the rest of the Irish people to hear. What we have to say is simple. British Rule in Ireland and its various institutions are an obstacle to a New Ireland and a lasting settlement. Our message has roots deep in the psyche of the Irish people. It is the same message delivered by Wolfe Tone, Emmet, Davis, Lalor, Pearse, Connolly, Mellows and Sands. In short we want: “To break the connection with England the never failing source of all our political evils.” You can lock up the messenger but not the message.

http://thesingingflamedesdalton.blogspot.com/

British and 26-County States target Republican Sinn Féin

2011-07-10T13:09:00.000-07:00

The arrest and charging of the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton and Vice President Fergal Moore in Lurgan, with participation in a protest march on July 6 is clearly the latest in a campaign to silence Republican Sinn Féin by both the British and 26-County States.

The march in Lurgan, organised by Republican Sinn Féin on January 23, was held as part of campaign calling for the release of veteran Republican Martin Corey – interned without trial since April 2010 - as well as to protest at the non-implementation of the August 12, 2010 Agreement in Maghaberry Prison.

On February 16 the RUC/PSNI issued a letter to the President of Republican Sinn Féin accusing him of participating in an “illegal march” in Lurgan on January 23.

In May Republican Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle member Cait Trainor (Armagh), along with a member of the Thomas Harte Cumann in Lurgan Sean Maloney, was arrested and charged with a political interview given to Channel Four News in September 2010

During the protests in Dublin against the visit by the Queen of England in May the Secretary of Dublin Comhairle Ceantair Diarmuid Ó Dúbhghlais and another member of Republican Sinn Féin, were arrested solely for their participation in the protests. Diarmuid Ó Dúbhghlais was pictured by the media holding aloft the National Flag at the time of his arrest.

On June 30 the home of the newly appointed National Publicity Officer of Republican Sinn Féin Geraldine McNamara in Tipperary was raided by the 26-County Special Branch who refused to let her read the search warrant and her mobile phones were taken. Again this was act intended to silence and intimidate Republican Sinn Féin members and supporters.

The pattern of harassment continued with the arrest of the organisation’s President and Vice President on July 6. The opposition of the RUC/PSNI and the Public Prosecution Services (PPS) to bail for both men was clearly an attempt to intern Des Dalton and Fergal Moore by remand.

On July 8 Cáit Trainor was once again arrested at her home in Armagh and charged with breaking her bail conditions, with attending the picket on Lurgan RUC station on the night of Des Dalton’s arrest. She was taken straight to Craigavon courthouse

It is evident that the undiluted message of revolutionary Irish Republicanism delivered by Republican Sinn Féin is feared by Westminster, Stormont and Leinster House. It is a message and a cause whose roots lie deep within the hearts of Irish people. The age-old tactic, of locking up the messenger and silencing the message and the very idea of Irish freedom, has failed in the past and history teaches us will fail again today and in the future.

Carlow remembers the hunger strikers

2011-07-10T13:07:00.000-07:00

Carlow Republican Sinn Féin held a very successful picket at the Liberty Tree 1798 monument in Carlow Town today (Saturday July 9) from 1.00pm to 2.30pm. The picket was held to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1981 Hunger Strike in the H Blocks of Long Kesh in which Bobby Sands and nine other Republican prisoners died. The picket was also to highlight the present campaign of the Republican prisoners in Maghaberry prison for the right to political status.

During the protest leaflets were distributed explaining about the protest in Maghaberry prison as well as the plight of veteran Republican Martin Corey who is at present interned without trial in Maghaberry prison where he has been held since April of last year.

The picket was addressed by the Athy based President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton who said that the events of 1981 were not merely a matter of history: “Today young Irishmen in Maghaberry prison are engaged in the same struggle against the same enemy on the same principle of political status. Like Bobby Sands and his comrades the present Republican prisoners are resisting the attempts of the British Government and its surrogate at Stormont to criminalise the historic and noble struggle for Irish freedom.”

Republican Sinn Féin President arrested

2011-07-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

Des Dalton, President of Republican Sinn Féin was arrested outside Lurgan, Co Armagh on tonight, Wednesday, July 6 at around 8pm. He was on his way to speak at a protest march in support of the Maghaberry POWs in the Drumbeg Estate in Lurgan.

He was informed by the RUC/PSNI that he was being arrested in connection with an ‘illegal march’. The march in question was held in Belfast on January 23 in support of the Republican POWs in Maghaberry jail and in particular drawing attention to the case of Martin Corey, whose licence was revoked last year without any reason being given.

Carlow remembers the hunger strikers

2011-07-03T13:01:00.000-07:00

The Tony Ruane/Myles Shevlin Cumann of Republican Sinn Féin in Carlow will be marking the 30th anniversary of the 1981 H Block hunger strikes with a picket in Carlow Town on Saturday July 9. The picket will also be in solidarity with the Republican prisoners in Maghaberry Prison Co Antrim who have recommenced a protest in defence of their right to political status.

The picket will take place at the Liberty Tree 1798 monument from 1.pm to 2pm.

British withdrawal only basis for a New Ireland

2011-07-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

Speaking at a commemoration marking the 90th anniversary of the murder by British forces of John and Thomas O’Reilly, Peter McGennity and Patrick Quinn in Killeen, Co Armagh the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton said:

“The nationalist people of the Six Counties have long experienced at first hand the terror and brutality of the British state. Gathering here to commemorate the murders of four soldiers of Oglaigh na hEireann at the hands of pro-British forces we are reminded that such dark deeds have been repeated time and again over the course of the last 90 years in the Six Occupied Counties.

“In the early hours of July 6 1921 – only four days before the truce with British forces – a British murder squad called to the homes of brothers John and Thomas O’Reilly, Peter McGennity and Patrick Quinn. All of them were volunteers in the First Northern Division of the IRA. The O’Reillys and Peter McGennity were driven a short distance from the McGennity house to the spot where they were shot dead. According to the Newry Reporter three quarters of an hour later the same murder gang raided the McQuaid home in Newry where Patrick Quinn was staying. Despite making a valiant attempt to escape Patrick Quinn was gunned down.

“Despite the fact that a sister of Peter McGennity told a British Military Inquiry that she could identify one of the murderers having seen him enter the British military barracks no was ever arrested or charged with the murders.

“The year 1921 had seen martial law declared in many parts of Ireland, habeas corpus was suspended while British forces engaged in a campaign of terror and murder. In 1920 the Lord Mayors of Cork and Limerick were murdered. In 1921 alone 322 young men were murdered in what have been called “official reprisals”.

“In March of the following year six members of the McMahon family along with Edward McKinney were murdered in Belfast by British forces. The following week saw another five nationalists murdered by the British Colonial police in the Arnon St massacre also in Belfast. Between June 1920 and July 1922 267 nationalist would be killed as a result of a British inspired sectarian pogrom. Dorothy Macardle in her authoritive history of that revolutionary decade ‘The Irish Republic’ wrote: ‘By June 18th, 1922, it was calculated, the total casualties since June 21st, 1920, were 1,766 wounded and 428 killed. The number driven from their homes, the ultimate triumph of the pogrom, was about 23,000. This work was carried out by the Specials and the mob. The British troops stationed throughout the towns of the Six Counties did not interfere.’

“During the current phase of the war against British rule in Ireland the British state has used similar methods in order to strike fear into the hearts of the nationalist community. In October 1976 in Whitecross, Co Armagh, a British-backed loyalist death-squad murdered six nationalists from two families, three from the Reavy family – one of whom died shortly after the attacks - and three from the O’Dowd family. The murder gang included members of the RUC and the British Army’s notorious UDR.

“The methods and policy of British Rule in Ireland does not change with time. Britain has always maintained its grip on Ireland through brutality and terror and has not taken anything off the table today in terms of the methods it will use to control the nationalist population.

“The 1998 Stormont Agreement was sold to the nationalist people of the Six Counties as providing a stepping-stone to a united and free Ireland. The Stormont Assembly is an obstacle on the road to a free Ireland not a stepping-stone.

“The events in the Short Strand in Belfast on June 21 and 22 along with the riots there over this weekend (July 1,2,3) and the response of the British state tell us that nothing has changed. Despite the admission of the RUC/PSNI that the attacks on the nationalist people of the Short Stand were “orchestrated” by the UVF, the first arrests were of two nationalists and within a day the Stormont First Minister Peter Robinson was sitting down to talk to the UVF.

“The report of British Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson into the murder of six nationalists in Loughinisland Co Down by a British directed loyalist death-squad in 1994 again exposes the true face of British Rule in Ireland. Hutchinson chose to ignore obvious evidence of collusion between loyalist death-squads and British Crown forces in his report. Again the British State protecting its own.

“Thirty years after the heroic sacrifice of Bobby Sands and his nine comrades in the H Blocks of Long Kesh Republican prisoners in Maghaberry prison are again embarking on a protest to uphold their right to political status and deny the attempt of the British Government and its surrogate regime in Stormont to criminalise the struggle for Irish Freedom. On June 30 they announced a return to protest as a result of the Stormont Justice Minister David Ford reneging on the independently mediated Agreement reached in August. We salute them and pledge them our activism and energy in support of their struggle. It is no less than our duty as Irish Republicans.

“Irish history has shown that there can be no lasting peace or settlement in Ireland as long as the British state continues to occupy Ireland. Each succeeding generation has shown willingness and ability to resist British rule and the present generation is no different in this regard. It is only by a full and total withdrawal of British military and political interference in Ireland can there be the basis for building a New Ireland.

“Republican Sinn Féin confidently puts forward Éire Nua as the only credible alternative to the two failed partitonst states. With its democratic check and balances and provision for local decision making within a free federal Ireland all sections of the Irish people will have a stake in the New Ireland.

“We honour the memory of four brave volunteers of the army of the All-Ireland Republic - the IRA - who gave their lives so that the Irish Nation might live. Our most fitting monument to them will be the re-establishment of that All-Ireland Republic. It is only then that we as a nation can march ‘to the dawn light of freedom.’”

An Phoblacht Abú

Loughinisland Report shows British policing in Ireland has not changed

2011-06-25T05:35:00.000-07:00

Statement by the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton

The report by British Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson into the murder of six people in Loughinisland, Co Down in 1994 by a British-backed Loyalist death-squad confirms that the nature of British rule in Ireland has not changed. Al Hutchinson’s report fails the crucial test of the definition of collusion he uses in coming to the conclusion that there was no collusion between loyalists and British Crown forces. The very narrow definition used by Hutchinson is in contrast to the very broad, clear and concise definition used by retired Canadian Judge Peter Corey in his inquiry into British and 26-County state collusion. Corey stated: “they [The two states] must not act collusively by ignoring or turning a blind eye to the wrongful acts of their servants or agents”. It is clear that in this case that is precisely what that RUC/PSNI did in their so-called investigation of the murder of these six people.

The leopard does not change his spots and this case shines a spotlight on the never changing face of British rule and policing as experienced by the nationalists people of the Six Counties.

Republican Sinn Féin President opens new Blog

2011-06-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

The President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton opened a new blogspot on June 23. In it he says he intends to use the blog to explain and promote “a view of Ireland today and how we can build a New Ireland and restore the All-Ireland Republic promised by the proclamation of 1916. A real Republic shaped by the Irish people themselves rather than an act of Westminster or the IMF or the ECB.”

The blog can be found at: http://thesingingflamedesdalton.blogspot.com

A 32-County free Ireland is only fitting monument to hunger strikers

2011-06-05T09:40:00.000-07:00

Speaking at Republican Sinn Féin’s commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strikes in the H Blocks of Long Kesh, which was held at the Ashe Memorial Hall in Tralee Co Kerry on Saturday June 4 the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton said:

Thirty years ago ten young Irish Republicans died for an ideal. They died as so many others before them and since – so that Irish Nation might live in freedom. As Liam Mellows wrote in the hours before his execution “The Republic lives; our deaths make it a certainty.”

The year 1981 takes its place alongside other years which have seared themselves into the hearts of the Irish people such as 1798, 1803, 1848, 1867, 1916 and 1969.

The sacrifice of Bobby Sands and his comrades was a cry for nationhood that echoed around the world. Kerry produced the first hunger striker Tomás Ághas. On September 25 1917 Tómas Aghas became the first Irish Republican to die as a result of Hunger Strike whilst being forced fed in Mountjoy prison.It is a fitting place to assemble in commemoration of the ten who walked in Ashe’s footsteps 30 years ago.

In all 22 Irish Republicans have died on Hunger Strike in British and Free State prisons and internment camps in the years from 1917 to 1981. Each succeeeding generation of Republican prisoners have asserted their status as political prisoners and in doing so asserted the political nature of the struugle they are engaged in.

The background to the 1981 Hunger Strike lies in the British Government’s policy of criminalising Ireland’s historic fight for freedom and the determination of Irish Republicans to resist.

Some will attempt to attribute views and opinions to the martyrs of Irish freedom however we can only judge them by them by their own words. Words which are a testament to their motives and ideals. On the first day of his 66 day hunger for justice Bobby Sands recorded why he was prepared to make the ulimate sacrifice of his life: ‘I believe I am but another of those wretched Irishmen born of a risen generation with a deeply rooted and unquenchable desire for freedom. I am dying not just to attempt to end the barbarity of H-Block, or to gain the rightful recognition of a political prisoner, but primarily because what is lost in here is lost for the Republic and those wretched oppressed whom I am deeply proud to know as the 'risen people’

In his final entry on March 17 Sands declared: ‘If they aren't able to destroy the desire for freedom, they won't break you. They won't break me because the desire for freedom, and the freedom of the Irish people, is in my heart. The day will dawn when all the people of Ireland will have the desire for freedom to show. It is then we'll see the rising of the moon.

In a letter ‘To the people of South Derry and Surrounding Areas” written before he embarked on his hunger strike, Francis Hughes wrote in very clear terms about the reason for the hunger strike: ‘You must realise the importance of what is happening here. This prolonged protest has become more than a minor prison issue for the British Government. Its very roots lie in the eleven years of struggle waged around you and its outcome will have great bearing on whether the British stay or go.’ He concluded by declaring: ‘I have no prouder boast than to say I am Irish and have been privileged to fight for the Irish people and for Ireland. If I have a duty I will perform it to the full in the unshakable belief that we are a noble race and that chains and bonds have no part in us.’ And Raymond Mac Creesh: ‘Not all the armies of all the empires on earth can crush the spirit one true man, and that man will prevail.’

Today in Maghaberry prison the Republican prisoners have similarly resisted all attempts by the British Government and their puppet regime in Stormont to criminalise either them or the cause for which they suffer the loss of their liberty – that is Ireland’s right to national independence. The Agreement, which was secured by independent mediators on August 12 last year – following a four month battle by the POWs against all attempts to criminalise them - has been reneged on by the Stormont regime and its minister David Ford.

We salute the men in Maghaberry for their struggle and call now for an end to strip searching and controlled movement of prisoners. We call for the full implementation of the agreement secured by the Republican prisoners.

We also applaud all of those throughout Ireland who came out to protest at the recent visit of the Queen of England. Again by their presence they showed that the spirit of revolutionary Irish Republicanism still lives on.

Reinforcing British rule, policing and administering British Rule in Ireland prolongs the conflict between England and Ireland. That is the flaw, which lies at the heart of every agreement since the Treaty of Surrender in 1921. The lesson of Irish history could not be clearer. While there remains in Ireland any vestige of British occupation there will always be a section of the Irish people prepared to resist it.

A bright future beckons to all of the Irish people once the British Government gives a declaration of intent to withdraw from Ireland. Republican Sinn Féin’s proposals for a New Federal Ireland Éire Nua can make the All-Ireland Republic of 1916 a reality for all of the Irish people.

I finish with the words of another of the martyrs of ’81. Thomas McElwee in a letter to the people of South Derry written after five days on hunger strike: ‘The British Government will only bow to a might more powerful than that of her imperial army. That might is at present in ourhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif country today. It is of a risen and united people. With the strength of their unity we will regain the rights of our political prisoners incarcerated behind the barbwire and steel in these British camps. With it also we march forth to unity and free our long oppressed nation. Within every individual Irish person lies the key. I implore you to use the key.’

An Phoblacht Abú!

Statement in French . . .

A peaceful protest

2011-05-26T09:25:00.000-07:00

Republican Sinn Féin held a protest in Kildare town against the visit of the Queen to the Irish National Stud,while a Naas based food company was delighted to get the opportunity to cater for the Royal party.

The demonstration organised by Republican Sinn Féin was a peaceful one and went off without any incident. It was timed to coincide with the Queen’s visit last Thursday morning and began with a march around the market square where wreaths were laid at the 1798 Monument to the 350 people murdered by British forces at the Gibbet Rath on the Curragh and the monument to the seven men executed by Free State forces on the Curragh on December 18 1922.

During the protest songs of resistance were played and the crowd was also addressed by the Kildare based President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton from Athy. He said the protest was intended to send out a clear message that while Britain continues to occupy and partition Ireland its head of state would not be welcome in any part of Ireland. He also saluted the GAA counties who did not attend the visit of the Queen of England to Croke Park on the previous day.

“By their actions they have salvaged the honour of the GAA and have spoken for GAA members throughout Ireland who opposed this hijacking of the GAA in order to normalise British Rule in Ireland,” Des Dalton said.

At noon the crowd marched out to Grey Abbey cemetery where a short ceremony was held at the Republican Plot. Here the 1916 Proclamation was read by the General Secretary of Republican Sinn Féin Josephine Hayden. A minute’s silence was then held in memory of the Irish men and women who died for Irish freedom and the ceremony concluded with the playing of the national anthem.

Published in Kildare Nationalist, direct link: http://www.kildare-nationalist.ie/tabId/201/itemId/10209/A-peaceful-protest.aspx

Kildare protest at visit of British Queen

2011-05-22T15:06:00.000-07:00

Kildare Republican Sinn Féin held a very successful demonstration in Kildare Town on Thursday May 19 from 10am to 12 Noon against the visit of the Queen of England to the nearby National Stud.

The protest began with a march around the market square where wreaths were laid at the 1798 Monument to the 350 men murdered by British Crown forces at the Gibbet Rath on the Curragh and the monument to the seven men executed by Free State forces on the Curragh on December 18 1922.

During the protest songs of resistance were played and the crowd was also addressed by the Kildare based President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton from Athy. He said the protest was intended to send out a clear message that while Britain continues to occupy and partition Ireland its head of state would not be welcome in any part of Ireland. He also saluted the GAA counties who did not attend the visit of the Queen of England to Coke Park on the previous day. “By their actions they have salvaged the honour of the GAA and have spoken for GAA members throughout Ireland who opposed this hijacking of the GAA in order to normalise British Rule in Ireland.” Des Dalton said.

At 12 Noon the crowd marched out to Grey Abbey cemetery where a short ceremony was held at the Republican Plot. Here the 1916 Proclamation was read by the General Secretary of Republican Sinn Féin Josephine Hayden. A minutes silence was held in memory of all the Irish men and women who have died for Irish freedom. The ceremony concluded with the playing of Amhrán na BhFiann.

Garden of Remembrance cleansing ceremony

2011-05-20T04:12:00.000-07:00

Republican Sinn Féin will be holding a cleansing ceremony at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin on Sunday May 29 at 12 Noon.

The purpose of the ceremony is to cleanse the Garden of Remembrance of any residue of British Imperialism as a result of the recent visit there by the British Queen.

Republican Sinn Féin salutes GAA counties boycott of British Queen

2011-05-20T04:11:00.000-07:00

Statement by President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton

Republican Sinn Féin salutes the decision of eight of the nine counties of Ulster not to attend the visit of the Queen of England to Croke Park on May 18. By their actions they have salvaged the honour of the GAA and have spoken for GAA members throughout Ireland who opposed this hijacking of the GAA in order to normalise British Rule in Ireland.

The GAA and Páirc an Chrócaigh where the All-Ireland Football and Hurling Finals are staged each year embody the essential unity of the Irish Nation. Bringing the head of the British State - whose occupation of six of the nine counties of Ulster is a denial of the Irish Nation’s essential right to unity and freedom - to Croke Park contradicts the principles upon which the GAA was founded.

Republican Sinn Féin protests at visit of English Queen

2011-05-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

Members of Republican Sinn Féin marched from Parnell Street, Dublin up Dorset Street and placed a picket at the junction of Frederick Street North and Dorset Street, as close as possible to the Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Square, where the Queen of England will lay a wreath at the memorial to all those who died for the freedom of Ireland from British rule.

While England rules any part of Ireland the British monarch is not welcome here and Republican Sinn Féin will protest throughout the visit.

What price the British bailout of Ireland

2011-05-17T13:23:00.000-07:00

“The price to be paid by the 26-County State for the British ‘bailout’ has eventually surfaced,” said, Josephine Hayden, PRO of Republican Sinn Féin for Leinster.

It was announced on May 14 that up to 120 members of the “London Metropolitan Police's royalty protection force armed with Glock pistols and Heckler & Koch submachine guns will join Gardaí” to operate in Dublin and Cork (at least) “to protect” the British Queen on her visit from May 17-20 -- “permission granted without hesitation” by the 26-County Administration.

The statement continued: “The visit by the Queen has been flagged as if it were the most normal visit in the world, yet the abnormality of the security measures in force give lie to that.

“Within the last month two state visits have taken place by other countries to the 26-Counties (itself an abnormal state) without a single person being inconvenienced or a street blocked off. That was normality. From May 17 to 20 what will pertain will be abnormality with Dublin city center as a ring of steel encircles Dublin.

“As long as there are British troops on Irish streets, as long as British rule is administered by Stormont and as long as British police (RUC/PSNI) patrol, harass, intimidate and arrest Republicans, resistance is our duty,” said Josephine Hayden.

An open letter to the President of the GAA

2011-05-17T02:49:00.000-07:00

12 Bealtaine / May 2011

Criostóir Uasal Ó Cuanaigh

Uachtarán

Cumann Lúthchleas Gael

Páirc an ChróaighBaile Átha Cliath

A Uachtaráin, a chara,

On behalf of Republican Sinn Féin I wish to place on record our opposition to the invitation which has been extended to the Queen of England to visit Páirc an Chrócaigh.

We object to this visit on the grounds that a visit to any part of Ireland by the head of the British State is inappropriate while that state continues to occupy part of Ireland.

Elizabeth Windsor is head of the British state and holder of the British Crown. This is a state and an institution, which claims sovereignty over six of the nine counties of Ulster, enforcing that claim with an army of occupation.

Furthermore the presence of the Queen of England on the site of a massacre of 14 unarmed Irish citizens –including a 14-year-old boy – by British Crown Forces on November 21, 1920 is particularly offensive. These events are not merely a matter of history but continue to have relevance today because of the continued British occupation of six of the nine counties of Ulster.

The purpose of this visit to the 26-County State is part of a carefully orchestrated campaign designed to normalise the partition and British occupation of Ireland.

The GAA has played and continues to play a pivotal role in the sporting and cultural life of our nation. As Uachtarán of Sinn Féin Poblachtach and also as a member of Cumann Lúthchleas Gael I wish to protest at this hijacking of our Association in support of this campaign of normalising British Rule in Ireland.

The founder of Conradh na Gaeilge Dúbhghlas de hÍde called for the de-anglicising of Ireland. Cumann Lúthchleas Gael was to the fore among the national movements who spearheaded this political, sporting and cultural revolution in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This visit contradicts the very principles upon which the GAA was founded.

Páirc an Chrócaigh is a place of huge cultural and historical significance for the Irish people. The senior All-Ireland hurling and football finals each year are a showcase of which the Irish people are rightly proud and are a symbol of our nationhood, indeed many of our members are also members of the GAA and rightly take pride in the associations contribution to the sporting, cultural and social life of communities throughout Ireland and the Irish community abroad.

We must not allow this proud history to be turned on its head by allowing our Association to be used in the Anglicisation of Ireland in the 21st Century.

Is mise

Des Dalton

Uachtarán

Protest at British Queen’s visit in Kildare Town

2011-05-11T13:40:00.000-07:00

Republican Sinn Féin will be holding a protest at the visit by the Queen of England to Co Kildare in Kildare Town on Thursday May 19 at 10.am.

All who wish to voice their opposition to this parade of British pomp and imperialism and the corrupt state which has organised this visit - at a cost of €20 million to the Irish people - are invited to join the protest.

The protest will be preceded by the laying of wreaths at the 1798 Rising monument in the Market Square as well as the monument to the seven Irish Republicans who died in defence of the All-Ireland Republic at the hands of Free State forces on the Curragh on December 19 1922.

Assembly points for protests at visit of British Queen

2011-05-11T13:39:00.000-07:00

Republican Sinn Féin will be holding a series of protests during the visit of the Queen of England to Dublin on May 17/18 and in Kildare on May 19.

On May 17 Republican Sinn Féin will assemble at the Black Church, St Mary’s Place (facing Granby Row and the Maldron Hotel) in Upper Dorset St at 12 noon. (Garden of Remembrance).

On Wednesday May 18 we will assemble at the junction of Summerhill Parade and Portland Row at 12 noon. (Croke Park).

On that evening of May 18 we will assemble at the junction of New St and Nicholas St near St Patrick’s Cathedral at 5pm. (Dublin Castle).

On Thursday May 19 in Kildare Town at 10am in the Market Square. (National Stud)

Some venues may be subject to change; for up to date information contact Republican Sinn Féin Ard Oifig at: 01 8729747 / 087 9374277.

Neil 'Plunkett' O'Boyle commemoration

2011-05-11T13:36:00.000-07:00

Republican Sinn Féin will be holding its annual Commandant Neil ‘Plunkett’ O’Boyle commemoration in Knocknadruce Co Wicklow on Sunday May 15 at 3.pm. Those taking part will assemble in Hollywood village at 2.30pm.

The oration will be given by Paddy Tidd, Co Kildare.

RSF President Des Dalton in New York this week

2011-04-27T03:26:00.000-07:00

Republican Sinn Fein President Des Dalton will be speaking at the Flannery Dinner this Saturday (April 30 - 6pm- 9pm) at Connolly's Restaurant, 121 W. 45th Street, NYC.

He will be joining the Honourees Peggy O'Hara (Derry) Mother of INLA Hunger Striker Patsy O' Hara and Vic Sackett (Long Island) & Pat Frawley (Bronx). Tickets $ 80.00 this includes 3 hours of open bar with hot starters/appetizers followed by dinner and dessert, coffee and tea after. Traditional music will be performed by Mary Courtney & Morningstar.

The themes for this year's Dinner will be: Countdown to 2016 --- The Centenary of the Easter Rising & The 30th anniversary of the deaths of the 1981 Hunger Strike Martyrs. More information at www.irishfreedom.net

Des appeared on Radio Free Eireann Saturday which can still be heard on http://archive.wbai.org/ with Peggy O'Hara and members of her family and Martin Galvin. The President of Republican Sinn Fein also gave the oration at the National Irish Freedom Committees Easter Commemoration on Sunday. He will be on the show again later this week just prior to the Dinner which can be heard live at wbai.org on the day

Statement from the CIRA POWs in Maghaberry jail, Co Antrim, Easter 2011

2011-04-23T11:25:00.000-07:00

We the Republican POWs incarcerated in Maghaberry concentration camp, Co Antrim, would like to take this opportunity on this the 95th anniversary of the Easter rising to send greeting to our comrades in Portlaoise gaol and in Republican Sinn Féin / Sinn Féin Poblachtach. We would also like to pay tribute to the leadership and Volunteers of the ContinuityIRA for your continued fight against the British forces of occupation.

This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the hunger strikes and 30 years on we still find ourselves once again in a struggle for the restoration of political status - a status that our gallant comrades in the H-blocks and Armagh gaol fought and died for. At present tensions are running high in the gaol. Like our comrades in 1981 we find that a deal brokered between ourselves and the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) and in the prison, the agreement is not being implemented. On August 12 an agreement was reached after a protracted protest. A fundamental part of this agreement was to see a total end to the degrading practice of strip searching. Despite this strip searching is still being practiced in the gaol and this is April 2011. So far we have refused to comply with these searches and as a result we are being forcibly striped by the jails riot squad. We the POWs will not stand by and let the NIO and the Brits renege on the agreement - it needs to be implemented in full or we will be forced to take more action.

This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the ÉIRE NUA programme along with SAOL NUA to provide a way forward for all the Irish people. We must liberate the Irish people and establish a democratic system based on justice and equality, to build ÉIRE NUA – a New Ireland for the people of Ireland. The ideal proclaimed by the leaders of the 1916 Rising still inspires those who today (in 2011) continue the armed struggle for a 32-County All-Ireland Republic that was proclaimed on Easter week by the 1916 leaders. We Irish Republicans today need to continue the struggle for freedom and not allow the deaths of all those who gave their lives for Irish freedom to be in vain.
We must fight on defiantly and pledge our allegiance to the all Ireland Republic; we must carry on the armed struggle until the British leave our country, there can be no compromise whatsoever.

After all we didn’t invite the British they came by force of arms many hundreds of years ago and they are still here. This is not acceptable they are still occupying our country as said by Patrick Pearse “while Ireland holds these graves Ireland unfree shall never be at peace”. The British remain here with a presence of force, we the people of Ireland will always resist their presence in Ireland until we gain a united Ireland and the occupation of British rule in Ireland has been removed. We will not tolerate their presence on our land and so we will continue our resistance campaign of arms until the British leave
Ireland.

There will be no compromise where the British are concerned we will not stop until there is a total withdraw of British rule from Ireland. “In matters of principle there can be no compromise” as said by Terence Mc Swiney.

Victory to the CIRA!

O/C CIRA Maghaberry

Statement in German: http://www.irish-solidarity.net/db1/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=406:stellungnahme-der-ira-gefangenen-maghaberry-co-antrim-ostern-2011&catid=44:republikanische-gefangene&Itemid=65

Easter Statement from the Leadership of the Republican Movement

2011-04-22T02:53:00.000-07:00

ON the 95th anniversary of the momentous Easter Rising of 1916 the Leadership of the Republican Movement once again sends greetings to all who are gathered in commemoration at the graves of the patriot dead or at monuments in their honour.

From Easter Sunday 2010 the Republican Prisoners in Maghaberry jail, Co Antrim embarked on a five-month long protest in support of their just demand for political status. That status was taken away when the Provisionals signed the 1998 Stormont Agreement.

On August 12 last this protest ended with an agreement in which facilitators, including the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and others were involved. More than six months later key elements of that agreement were not implemented. Specifically, the “BOSS chair” x-ray machine was installed to replace the strip-searching of prisoners, but despite the availability of that machine the original degrading practice was continued.

As a result Republican prisoners refused to cooperate with further strip searches. This, in turn, led to two prisoners being denied parole. The facilitators of the agreement returned to the prison in March and met the prisoners and the prison governor. The governor refused to abide by the terms of the August Agreement. The responsibility for reneging on the compact entered into in good faith lies with the Stormont Minister for Justice who sits at the cabinet table beside the Provisionals.

The Provos repeat Bobby Sands’s name while as the new jailers they deny Bobby Sands’s objective of political status to present-day Republican prisoners. They flaunt the Easter Lily in Leinster House while they punish the prisoners for wearing an Easter Lily in Maghaberry Prison.

Meanwhile the Continuity IRA has been carrying the war to the enemy and Republican Sinn Féin has campaigned tirelessly in support of the prisoners. To the Republicans prisoners in Maghaberry and Portlaoise the leadership sends greetings and congratulates and salutes their courage and sacrifice.

In the 26 Counties the hard-won rights of working people are under attack and must be defended. World-wide corrupt practices and bad management at home has resulted in almost half-a-million being unemployed and 1,000 per week emigrating in search of work. Whatever economic independence existed has now been ceded to the EU and the IMF. Real revolutionary change is necessary based on the principles of the 1916 Proclamation. ÉIRE NUA and SAOL NUA provide the basis for such a New Ireland.

Now to put the seal on the surrender process and the 1998 Agreement, which is not a settlement, the Queen of England is being brought to the 26 Counties – the first such occasion in 100 years. This is a political action designed to normalise and make acceptable British rule in Ireland.

Republicans must protest and tell the world that the English government will never be normal or acceptable here. The struggle is not over. It never will be over until the English government leaves Ireland – for all time. Spending €8 million on security for the Queen of England is sheer waste of the people’s money.

Up to this when the Dublin Administration and the British government joined together with Stormont in repression and coercion, their objective was, of course, to destroy the Republican Movement. In this they always failed.

In our time, they seek to go further. They are attempting to demolish the basic idea of Irish Republicanism, Irish national independence and control of our own natural resources. They have given away our Six north-eastern Counties to England and have handed over our natural resources for nothing to multi-national companies. The creeping tide of Anglicisation sweeps over our people gradually every day. In all of this they have the support of former comrades masquerading as Republicans.

We must resist this surrender process. We must be true to the ideals of the men and women of 1916 and of those who stood in the Bearna Baoil, the Gap of Danger, before 1916 and since 1916. Let us arise!

An Pboblacht Abú!

-- Issued by the Leadership of the Republican Movement, Easter 2011

Statement in German: http://www.irish-solidarity.net/db1/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=404:oster-stellungnahme-der-fuehrung-der-republikanischen-bewegung&catid=38:reden&Itemid=60

Easter Commemorations 2011

2011-04-21T02:46:00.000-07:00

Kildare

Easter Sunday, Burgage Cemetery, Blessington, 12 noon.

Easter Monday, St Corban's Cemetery Naas, wreath-laying at the Republican Plot, 12 noon.

Wreaths will also be laid throughout county.

Carlow

Easter Saturday, wreath laying ceremony at the Republican Plot, Carlow cemetery at 3.30pm.

Mobilise to oppose visit of British Queen

2011-04-08T10:00:00.000-07:00

Statement by the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton

Republican Sinn Féin are calling for an active campaign of opposition to the visit by the Queen of England to the 26-County State in May. Republican Sinn Féin have organised a nationwide campaign in opposition to this visit and we are calling on all people who believe in Ireland’s inherent right to national freedom to come out join the protest campaign and make their voices heard.

This visit is intended to symbolise the normalisation of British Rule in Ireland. Irish Republicans in opposing the visit will be sending out the clear message that British Rule in Ireland will never be either normal or acceptable.

At a time when over 400,000 people are unemployed, thousand more are being forced to emigrate or fear losing their homes in excess of 8 million Euro is being spent on a parade of pomp and imperialism which is being foisted on the people by the same political elite responsible for the economic collapse.

Our message will be the same in Dublin, Kildare, Cashel and Cork –the head of the British State will never be welcome in any part of Ireland as long as that state continues to partition and occupy Ireland.

Republican Sinn Féin will actively oppose visit of British Queen

2011-04-08T09:59:00.000-07:00

Statement by Kildare Republican Sinn Féin

In a statement Kildare Republican Sinn Féin said they would actively oppose the upcoming visit by the Queen of England to the 26-County State and in particular the proposed visit to the National Stud in Co Kildare:

“This visit is part of a carefully orchestrated campaign to normalise British rule and the enforced partition of Ireland. Irish Republicans will actively oppose this visit in order to send out the clear message that British rule and the partition of Ireland will never be either normal or acceptable. Kildare Republican Sinn Féin will play our part in this nationwide campaign and will take the lead in opposing this visit to Co Kildare.

“The head of the British State will never be welcome in any part of Ireland so long as that state continues to occupy part of Ireland.

“As part of the campaign we will be joining with the Myles Shevlin/Tony Ruane Cumann of Republican Sinn Féin in Carlow on Saturday April 9 for a protest to highlight opposition to this parade of pomp and imperialism. The protest will take place in at the Liberty Tree 1798 monument in the Haymarket from 1pm to 2.pm.”

Oppose visit of British Queen Carlow Protest

2011-03-31T04:01:00.000-07:00

The Myles Shevlin/Tony Ruane Cumann of Republican Sinn Féin will be holding a protest in Carlow against the visit of the British Queen to the 26-County State on Saturday April 9.

The protest will take place at the Liberty Tree 1798 monument in the Haymarket between 1.00pm and 2.00pm.

Republican Sinn Féin protest at British Embassy

2011-03-28T11:51:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday March 29 a protest will be held at the British Embassy on Merrion Road, Ballsbridge in Dublin. The protest is part of Republican Sinn Féin’s campaign against the visit by the Queen of England to the 26-County State.

The protest will take place from 2.00pm to 4.00pm.

The protest is part of a nationwide campaign against the normalisation of British Rule in Ireland.

Protest against visit of British Queen

2011-03-09T04:56:00.000-08:00

Republican Sinn Féin will be actively opposing a visit by the Queen of England to any part of Ireland. As part of its campaign Republican Sinn Féin will be holding a picket at the gates of Leinster House on Wednesday March 9 from 4.00pm to 6.00pm.

Republican Sinn Féin says no to British Queen - website

2011-03-07T10:42:00.000-08:00

Keep up with the latest news on the campaign against the visit of the British Queen at: www.britishqueennotwelcome.info

Republican Sinn Féin will actively oppose visit of British Queen

2011-03-05T07:04:00.000-08:00

Statement by the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton

Republican Sinn Féin will actively oppose the visit of the Queen of England to the 26-County State in order to send out a clear message to the world that British rule in Ireland is neither normal nor acceptable. We are calling on all Republican-minded people throughout Ireland and abroad to mobilise now in opposition to this visit.

The announcement of the visit by the head of the British State marks the culmination of a carefully orchestrated campaign by the political establishments in Leinster House, Stormont and Westminster to normalise the partition and continued British occupation of Ireland.

Republican Sinn Féin will provide leadership as well as active opposition to this visit. Our campaign will involve activities throughout Ireland including a protest at the gates of Leinster House on Wednesday March 9.

We are calling all who believe in Ireland’s inalienable right to nationhood to come out and join the protests.

Consent to Corrib gas pipeline is act of national treachery

2011-03-04T09:05:00.000-08:00

Statement by the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton

The decision of the outgoing 26-County Energy Minister Pat Carey to sign consents for the last section of the controversial Corrib gas pipeline is an act of national treachery by a defunct and discredited regime.

The people of the 26 Counties have been auctioned to the IMF/ECB and EU Commission by a 26-County administration which at the same time is giving away natural resources that belong as of right to the Irish people. As usual the 26-County
State protects the interests of international capitalism while trampling over the rights of communities.

Any rhetoric about change by the incoming 26-County administration –likely to be made up of Fine Gael and Labour – will be tested immediately on this issue. Experience tells us their actions will fall far short of their promises.

The revolutionary change that would uphold the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland will never be delivered in Leinster House. The ownership of our natural resources is the cornerstone of a New Ireland as set out in Republican Sinn Féin’s programme for political, social and economic democracy Éire Nua and Saol Nua.

RUC/PSNI attempt to silence Republican Sinn Féin

2011-02-24T09:14:00.000-08:00

Statement by the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton

The arrest of three members of Republican Sinn Féin – including a member of the Ard Chomhairle - in Co Armagh this morning is an attempt to silence Irish Republicans. All three were arrested in connection with the march held in Lurgan on January 23 calling for the release of Martin Corey. Martin Corey is a veteran Republican from Lurgan who has been interned without trial in Maghaberry prison since April of last year.

The President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton has also received a communication from the British Colonial Police threatening him with arrest in connection with the Martin Corey march.

These arrests and threats of arrest show that nature of British rule in Ireland has not changed. Such petty repression will not deflect Irish Republicans from continuing our work or lesson our determination to end Britain’s oppressive presence in Ireland.

26-County election will not deliver a New Ireland

2011-02-22T08:10:00.000-08:00

Statement by the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton

In a statement the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton called for a spoil vote campaign in the forthcoming 26-County election to highlight the need for a radical and revolutionary change to the political system:

“This election is a meaningless charade as merely swapping one set of gombeen politicians for another will change nothing. We are calling on people to spoil their vote in this election and by doing so tell the political elites that they are not prepared to prop up a failed and discredited state. What is required now is radical and revolutionary change leading to a New Ireland.

“We hear much talk about creating a ‘New Republic’. Irish Republicans have long pointed out that Ireland did have an All-Ireland Republic born out of the idealism of the men and women of Easter Week and based on the principles of the 1916 Proclamation. The Democratic Programme of the First All-Ireland Dáil Éireann in 1919 declared: ‘that the Nation's sovereignty extends not only to all men and women of the Nation, but to all its material possessions, the Nation's soil and all its resources’. The two failed partitionist states imposed on the Irish people fall far short of this noble vision.

“Republican Sinn Féin believe our political, social and economic policies Éire Nua and Saol Nua can once more make that All-Ireland Republic a reality for all of the Irish people.” Des Dalton said.

Republican Sinn Féin supports campaign for Welsh language

2011-02-21T08:47:00.000-08:00

Statement by the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton

“Republican Sinn Féin supports the right of the Welsh people to protect and control their own Welsh language TV station S4C. The language of a nation is an expression of its separate identity and history. Just like the Irish people the people of Wales have an inherent right to speak as well as promote and teach their own language.

“Republican Sinn Féin extends its solidarity to Rhyddid Cymru and the other language activists in their campaign to safeguard the future of S4C and ensure that it is brought under the control of the Welsh people themselves.

“The Irish patriot Padraig Mac Piarais said: “tir gan teanga tir gan anam” (A country without a language is a country without a soul), we are calling on all the Celtic nations to stand together in defence of their distinct language culture and history.

We salute our Celtic cousins in Wales on their courageous fight for their language.”

Republican Sinn Féin will oppose visit by Queen of England

2011-02-19T07:42:00.000-08:00

Statement by the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton

Republican Sinn Féin will be actively opposing a visit by the Queen of England to any part of Ireland. As part of its campaign Republican Sinn Féin will be holding a picket at the gates of Leinster House on Wednesday March 9 from 4.00pm to 6.00pm. In a statement the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton said:

“The Queen of England to the 26-County State is intended to signal that British occupation and the partition of Ireland is now normal and acceptable. A visit by the head of the British State while that state continues to occupy and partition Ireland be opposed.

“Republican Sinn Féin will lead an active campaign of opposition and will be calling on all Republican minded people throughout Ireland to come out and make their voices hear in protest.

“In 1911 patriots such as James Connolly, Maud Gonne and Helena Maloney among others led Republican and progressive resistance to a similar attempt to pacify Ireland with a British Royal visit. They did so under the banner ‘Thou art not conquered yet dear land’ and in 2011 those who have neither been purchased nor intimated will be sending out the same clear message.

“ Continued British Rule in Ireland is an obstacle to achieving a just and lasting settlement for all the Irish people and must be removed if we are serious about creating real All-Ireland economic and political democracy.”

Local community rages as dump that turned into a nightmare still burns

2011-02-13T00:24:00.000-08:00

It is the sickening taste at the back of your throat that gets you; not immediately but hours after exposure to Kerdiffstown dump. Seventeen days after a detritus of wood and waste plastic ignited, the fire is still spewing smoke across the Kildare countryside.

The scale is apparent only on close inspection. Fire appliances and dumper trucks are dwarfed by a huge plume of smoke carrying a toxic mix that lingers in the mouth. There are now 100 people on the site near Naas. Even after a week in which firefighters from four counties worked non-stop to contain the fire, the smoke is still streaming through the torn fence that surrounds the dump.

Kildare County Council chief fire officer Celina Barrett said the fire was initially believed to have started spontaneously but now appears to be a surface fire that worked its way down.

She said it would take at least a week to extinguish. The council has been pumping carbon dioxide underground towards the fire, and is conducting a nitrogen risk assessment. The fire was first noticed on January 18 and the area in which the fire is hottest is at least 20 metres underground.

The dump, which opened 14 years ago, was closed by an injunction granted to the Environmental Protection Agency last year on foot of 200 complaints. On February 3 the agency confirmed the final cost of making the 55-acre dump safe will be in the region of €30 million.

The figure is contained in a report by consultants SKM Enviros commissioned by the EPA, which was completed last October and published on February 30. Neiphin Trading, the company that operated the dump, is in liquidation. In the first week of February the wind changed, dispersing the smoke over less densely populated areas, but last week it lingered over the heavily populated areas of Naas, Clane and Sallins.

“It is like sooty anthracite you used to burn years ago, mixed with everything else you can think of,” said local resident Ann Stapleton. “Last week was dreadful. The minute you came out in the morning you could taste it.”

She has four sons, all of whom have been sick over the last 10 days. One stayed at home from school with vomiting last week, as another did this week. Anne Marie Friel, who lives on the Dublin Road in Naas, said her children have also been ill.

“You could say it is the time of year but it was not the time of year last week when my daughter, who is asthmatic, went back on the inhaler after two years off it. My other daughter went back on it too,” she said. Clean Air Naas has been calling for years for the dump to be cleaned up.

Deirdre McGeever, whose husband Brian is chairman of the campaign, stressed that putting out the fire was only the beginning as, she said, leachate in which toxins mix with water are filtering into the nearby Morell river, a tributary of the Liffey. “We have the smell; Dublin is going to get the water pollution,” she said.

A report commissioned by the Environmental Protection Agency, details of which were first made public last November, found levels of ammonia leaching into groundwater up to five times the maximum permitted by EU directives. This put the nearby Morrell river “at future risk of contamination”, the report said.

Republican Ballad Night

2011-01-22T08:56:00.000-08:00

The Town House
Naas, Co Kildare

Saturday, February 19th

€5 admission
Raffle on night

Doors open 9.00pm

Des Dalton interviewed on RFÉ

2011-01-16T03:26:00.000-08:00

Republican Sinn Féin President Des Dalton was guest on the New York Radio Station Radio Free Éireann on Saturday, January 15, 2011.

You can listen to this at the following link: http://archive.wbai.org/

The clarion voice of Irish Republicanism will be heard

2011-01-01T02:44:00.000-08:00

New Year Statement from the leadership of Republican Sinn Féin

Irish Republicans face into 2011 eager to take up the challenges of the coming year. Recognising that the struggle against imperialism is both political and economic Republican Sinn Féin must provide the revolutionary leadership the current situation demands.

Republican Sinn Féin is the only political organisation with a clearly thought out alternative to the “carnival of reaction” resulting from partition. ÉIRE NUA and SAOL NUA are based on the principles of All-Ireland political and economic democracy and are capable of making the All-Ireland Republic of 1916 a reality for all of the Irish people.

The clarion voice of Irish Republicanism must make itself heard above the chorus of protest arising from the present political and economic crisis. In the coming months we will present a fresh initiative based on the historic “right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland”.

Taking our stand on the rock of the All-Ireland Republic Republican Sinn Féin will continue to resist all attempts to normalise British rule in Ireland. A visit to any part of Ireland by the Queen of England - claiming style and title of Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (sic) - will be actively opposed by Irish Republicans. With James Connolly we hold to the “creed that England has no right in Ireland, never had any right in Ireland, never can have any right in Ireland”.

We take this opportunity to extend New Year greetings to the Irish Republican prisoners in Maghaberry and Portlaoise prisons. We salute their steadfast loyalty and service rendered to the cause of a free Ireland. We pledge our continued commitment to ensuring their voice is heard in 2011.

The struggle for an Ireland free of the shackles of British imperialism and trans-national capitalism will continue and Republican Sinn Féin will once more take its place in the vanguard of that fight.

An Phoblact Abú

Republican Resistance Calendar 2011

2010-12-19T04:08:00.000-08:00

€5 / £5stg each, plus p&p

Order now!

Contact your local Sinn Féin Poblachtach Cumann in Co Kildare: desdalton@eircom.net or 086-329 1809

Order from outside Co Kildare:
Republican Sinn Féin
223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1,
Telephone: 872 9747; e-mail: saoirse@iol.ie

Order from Continental Europe:
Republican Sinn Féin
Stiftgasse 8
1070 Vienna, Austria
e-mail: irish-solidarity@gmx.net

SAOIRSE November 2010 online!

2010-12-18T03:58:00.000-08:00

The November issue, No 283 Samhain 2010, of the monthly newspaper SAOIRSE - The Voice of the Republican Movement is now available as PDF from http://www.irish-solidarity.net/

Issue number 283 | November 2010

Download Presidential Address

2010-12-01T03:17:00.001-08:00

The Presidential Address, given by President of Sinn Féin, Des Dalton, at the 106. Ard Fheis of Sinn Féin, held on November 13/14, 2010 in Dublin, is available as audio file (.wav, about 55mb) under this link:

http://www.irish-solidarity.net/ardfheis/WS330098.WMA

Begin the fight-back against EU/IMF

2010-11-27T01:48:00.000-08:00

Republican Sinn Féin is calling on people to begin the fight back in the war being waged on working people by taking to the streets of Dublin and join the ICTU march on Saturday (November 27). Republican Sinn Féin will be joining the march but believes it should be only be the beginning of a campaign of resistance to the EU/IMF attacks on the people of Ireland.

Working people must get out on the streets and make their voices heard, anger is not enough, it must be translated into effective action and a coherent programme for a New Ireland based on the principles of the 1916 Proclamation.

106. Ard Fheis of Sinn Féin held in Dublin

2010-11-23T04:26:00.000-08:00

ON Saturday, November 13 and Sunday, November 14 delegates and visitors of Republican Sinn Féin from all over Ireland and from England as well as members of the International Affairs Bureau from Austria, Germany, Italy and France and from the USA assembled in Dublin for the 106th Ard-Fheis of Sinn Féin.

The Ard-Fheis began with a seminar entitled Developing Sinn Féin through Technology, chaired by Fergal Moore. It was addressed by Dieter Blumenfeld of the International Affairs Bureau and by Brian Quinn of Wexford.

The new SAOIRSE website which is being created at present was given a preview and was well received. A new Republican Sinn Féin website is also in preparation.

The Ard-Fheis was address by representatives of CABHAIR, Irish Republican Prisoners Dependants Fund, Cumann na mBan and Na Fianna Éireann and all three organisation praised Republican Sinn Féin for its steadfastness during what was a very difficult year.

Plenary sessions took place on Saturday afternoon and throughout Sunday but the highlight of the Ard-Fheis was the address by President Des Dalton. The Ard-Fheis was one of the best attended in recent years.

An edited version of his address is available here . . .

Frank Driver remembered

2010-11-22T01:57:00.000-08:00

On Sunday November 21 Kildare Republican Sinn Féin held its annual Frank Driver commemoration in Ballymore Eustace Co Kildare. Led by colour parties from Republican Sinn Féin and Na Fianna Éireann those taking part marched from Driver’s cottage in the Ballymore to the grave of Frank Driver in St John’s cemetery.

The ceremony was chaired by Paddy Tidd of the Frank Driver Cumann, North Kildare. A wreath was laid on behalf of the Republican Movement by Celia Conway, Kilcullen and a decade of the rosary was recited by Kitty Hawkins, Ballymore Eustace. Paddy Tidd called for a minutes silence and a dipping of the flags in memory of all who died for Irish Freedom.

In her oration Cáit Trainor, Co Armagh, a member of the Ard Chomhairle said:

“Firstly I would like to say what an honour it is to speak at the graveside of such a man as Frank Driver, Its 29 years since Frank Driver passed away and in those 29 years his relevance and inspiration has not waned. Frank Driver was a man of conviction and courage, his long career in the Republican Movement saw some of the Most Important events in Irish History.

“Frank was not a man who sat back and watched History unfold around him, but was indeed part of the making of Irish History, from the start Frank was Hands on, his first service for the Republican Movement began at age of 12 when he was a Tally clerk for Sinn Féin during the Historic 1918 General Election. After which time he was active within the IRA and at age sixteen was interned.

“Frank Driver was a dedicated republican, being active all his Live within Republicanism, in the 40's Frank Driver was instrumental in reorganising the Republican Movement, in the 50's training Volunteers and when he was interned once again in the Curragh camp, Frank was involved in organising a mass break out. Such was Frank Driver that no matter what was threw at him or where he was he always worked to further the Republican Movement, even at times when it seemed Fruitless Frank Worked on such was his resolve.

“We can all learn from the Life of such a man, a man who went through some of the most turbulent and it has to be said disheartening times in Republican History and still right up until his death he never gave up.

“At present we live in a time where determination and dedication are overlooked as outdated and stubborn, that Republicanism is somehow taboo and in our general lives we cant express our patriotism for fear of being seen as Old Fashioned or somehow backward. Well I believe the time of change has come, we now have a chance to speak to the masses and make a difference.

“The Free state economic crisis is an eye opener for many Irish People, the lies the Free state government has fed people have now been exposed, Partition does not work, it has never worked and it never will work. The people of Ireland must have social control of the economy.

“Eire Nua and Saol Nua had never been so relevant, its the only real solution, we have the solution but others just want to focus on the Problem.

“The Myth that the 26 County Free state is Independent and the Myth that the 6 county state being devolved is somehow independent has been shattered, the 6 county state has no autonomy, it relies on the British exchequer and takes instruction from the British in the management of the cuts applied to them, the 26 county state also has no autonomy in directing the economy and instead is ruled from Brussels and the IMF, Neither state is independent and the present economic crisis has made that abundantly clear to everyone. Partition must be abolished, only the Republic envisaged in 1916 by Connolly and Pearse can give Ireland autonomy, independence and real Sovereignty over our affairs politically and economically, and only the Republic envisaged in 1916 can act in the interests of all our people.

“Frank Driver stood by the revolutionary Republican ideas as laid down by the men of 16, these ideas were kept alive by men like Frank Driver in hard times for the Republican Movement, those revolutionary and progressive ideas have been hidden deliberately by self serving politicians and greedy capitalists in our country. It is thanks to Frank Driver and his comrades that the flag of revolution is still being kept alive and we in Republican Sinn Fein are the inheritors of that revolutionary and progressive tradition.

“Having suffered many set backs and misrepresentation by politicians and vested interests out for personal gain and with no regard for the interests of our nation, we have come through and are embarking on a new wave of republicanism that is now being seen as relevant as it always was, and more and more people are rediscovering the truth and relevance of revolutionary Republicanism, Republican Sinn are at the forefront of the revolution and stronger and more united than ever to achieve our goals which is assert the Sovereign independence of our country which was proclaimed on the steps of the GPO 1916.

“Only last week Republican Sinn Féin had a very successful Ard Fheis where many delegates from throughout the Country assembled, it was great to see a unity of purpose, men, women, young and old joined together, there we rededicated ourselves to the work of the republic.

“Until the 32 Counties of Ireland are independent and free we cant settle, we must reaffirm our dedication to have what is rightfully ours and we will not be lax in our efforts to spread the Republican message. Today as we commemorate the life of Frank Driver I wish to appeal to all of us to make a determined effort to fulfill Frank Driver and so many others Life Goal, which is to rid our Country of foreign occupation to support our Revolutionary Movement in whatever way you possibly can. We owe it to the past generations and we owe it to the future generations to Gain Independence once and for all.” Cáit Trainor said.

The parade then formed up and marched back to Ballymore Eustace.

Frank Driver

Frank Driver was born in Ballymore Eustace in 1907. As a young boy he was in Bodenstown when P H Pearse spoke there in 1913. His first activity on behalf of the Republican Movement was when he acted as a tally clerk for Sinn Féin in the historic 1918 General Election. He was active with the IRA and was the youngest internee in the Newbridge internment camp at 16 years of age.

He went on to give a life-time of service to the Republican Movement suffering imprisonment in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. His last period of imprisonment was in Mountjoy in 1976 for his participation in the banned 1916 60th anniversary commemoration at the GPO.

He played a lead role in the famous raid on the Free State army’s arsenal at the Magazine Fort in the Phoenix Park in 1939. He was interned in the Curragh from 1940 to 1944. Following the release of the internees and the aftermath of the repression of the 1940s Frank Driver travelled throughout Ireland re-organising the Republican Movement. As J Bowyer says in his history of the IRA “On June 23 1947,at Bodenstown, Frank Driver gave the traditional oration, signifying that the Republicans were back in business. Most important was the Army report, read to the crowd, the first public sign that the IRA still existed.”

In 1956 Frank, with others was responsible for setting up training camps. He was interned again in the Curragh in the 1950s. He was involved in the mass break-out from the Curragh on December 2 1958. Frank remained an active Republican right up to his death on November 12 1981. He was for many years a member of the Ard Chomhairle and was an Honoury life Vice-President of Sinn Féin.

Kevin Barry 90th anniversary marked in Rathvilly

2010-11-22T01:41:00.000-08:00

Republican Sinn Féin marked the 90th anniversary with a very well attended commemoration in Rathvilly Co Carlow on Sunday November 21. Republican Sinn Féin and Na Fianna Eireann colour parties led the parade to the Kevin Barry monument. The ceremony was chaired by Laura Nolan, Runaí of the Myles Shevlin/Tony Ruane Cumann, Carlow. She began by calling on Jimmy Corcoran, Carlow to lay a wreath on behalf of the Republican Movement. Kitty Hawkins, Co Kildare recited a decade of the rosary. Laura Nolan then called for a minutes silence and the dipping of the flags in memory of Kevin Barry and all who died for Irish Freedom.

The oration was given by Geraldine McNamara, Co Tipperary, who recounted the life and sacrifice of Kevin Barry: “I am honoured to have been asked to speak here today to remember Kevin Barry who was executed on November 1st 1920 in Mountjoy jail Dublin by the English invaders of our country. Kevin Barry was the first Irish republican to be executed by the British since 1916. Kevin was captured while on active service outside the entrance of Monk’s bakery in Dublin.

“Though he was born in Dublin he spent much of his life at the family home in Tombeigh, Hackettstown here in Carlow. Both sides of his family, the Barry’s and the Dowling’s came from the area here, some of his ancestors had fought in 1798 and his was a strong republican family.

“At the time of his death his eldest brother Mick was OC of the volunteers in Tombeigh and his sister Sheila was in Cumann na mBan

“Kevin attended national school here in Rathvilly for a few years before going to Belvedere College in Dublin where he was a medical student.

“For a young man he had a remarkable insight into life in Ireland at that time. He fully understood the unjustness of the continuing occupation of Ireland by the British, More especially after the elections of 1918 when Sinn Fein won an overwhelming mandate from the Irish people. He also understood the need for an Ireland where the workers were not the slaves of the likes of William Martin Murphy one of the big industrialists of the time. He believed in the power of labour and admired James Connolly greatly.

“Kevin Barry’s body was not returned to his family for burial. He was interred within the prison confines of Mountjoy jail 90 years ago this month. He was the first of what was to become know as the forgotten ten. Because Munster and a small part of Leinster was under martial law those executed there were shot as soldiers. Dublin was under civilian law and that is why those executed in Mountjoy were hanged. As the song goes “why not shoot me like a soldier, do not hang me like a dog, for I fought to free old Ireland on that bright September morn”

“We will also remember here today those nine other soldiers of Ireland who were interred in Mountjoy with Kevin Barry They are Patrick Moran, Frank Flood, Thomas Whelan, Thomas Traynor, Patrick Doyle, Thomas Bryan, Bernard Ryan, Edward Foley, and Patrick Maher. On October 14th 2001 Kevin with eight of the others was reinterred in Glasnevin cemetery Dublin. Patrick Maher was reburied in Garry Spillane in County Limerick with his family.

“Canon Waters the prison chaplain wrote to Kevin Barry’s mother with a description of his final moments. He said and I quote

“His courage was superhuman and rested I am sure, on his simple goodness and innocence of conscience, You are the mother, my dear Mrs. Barry of one of the bravest and best boys I have ever known, he went to the scaffold with the most perfect bravery, without the slightest faltering, ‘til the very last moment of his life”

“Ireland today needs to urgently listen to what was being fought for then and join in the fight again now. Our sovereignty has been continually eroded here in the 26 counties by the Leinster house administration who has continually hoodwinked the people.

“We were told during the recent Lisbon referenda that a no vote would cost jobs. Look at us now the poor relations in economic circles. We were told that our sovereignty would not be eroded. Now the IMF and the ECB have taken up residence in Dublin and we are being ruled directly from Europe. Republican Sinn Fein have always actively campaigned against the further erosion of our country’s sovereignty but sadly people voted so often out of fear, now what have you to fear but fear itself. I shouldn’t say it but we told you so.

“Only by a complete change of the system where you have a thirty two county federal republic based on sound socialist principles will Ireland ever be able to rise up out of this situation and give protection to it’s citizens not the multi national companies and bankers.

“Kevin Barry fought and died for an Ireland free from British rule, that objective still has not been obtained. We have many obstacles still today to achieving this noble goal. In Barry’s childhood we saw John Redmond’s party telling young men to join the British Army and RIC and they would all live happily ever after in a free Ireland. Sadly many listened and became the cannon fodder of the First World War. Did it bring Ireland any closer to freedom? No it did not. What it did, was condemn men like Barry which were the next generation of the time to continue the fight against British rule in our land.

“Today we have Redmonite Sinn Fein led by Gerry Adams telling our people the very same story. The nice masters are back we are told. Provo Sinn Fein tell our young people Join the PSNI/RUC, oppress your native countrymen who continue to stand against British rule in Ireland. go and fight in Afghanistan for the British but whatever you do, Don’t fight for the freedom of Ireland, Patriotism is a crime in Ireland; it is the only country in the world where you are put in jail because you believe a foreign government should not be here administering their rule.

“We are told to accept a six/ twenty six county division of our country. We are told to accept the nice British masters and their lapdogs in Leinster house. Republican Sinn Fein will never accept this; we will continue to fight for a thirty two county federal republic which is our right as Irish people. We will not join the British police or army and help them subjugate those who want a united Ireland. We leave that to the Provos.

“What we will do is continue to keep the flame of freedom alive. We will support the right to political status for our heroic prisoners in Maghaberry. From here today we send them our greetings and also our prisoners in Portlaoise. All of these men are freedom fighters and as they song goes.

“Just like Barry they are no cowards, from the foe they will not fly.”

“It is the duty of every Irish republican not just to remember the sacrifice of Kevin Barry and all those who died in the long fight for freedom

“It is our duty to continue the struggle and make that freedom a reality. There has been continuity in the fight for freedom through 1798 to 1848 on to 1916, then the 1920’s the 40’s the 50’s campaigns and on to 1969 when this campaign started, and the continuity continues today and will continue until the British withdraw from our country.

“I ask you all here today to think about this and ask yourself what more can I do to support the cause of freedom. I leave you with the last message of Kevin Barry he said and I quote.” the only message I have for anybody is hold on and stick to the republic.” Geraldine McNamara said.

The 26-County political class are guilty of treason

2010-11-20T11:10:00.000-08:00

Statement by the Ard Chomhairle of Republican Sinn Féin

The imposition of a so-called ‘bailout’ by the ECB and IMF is the price demanded of the Dublin administration in order to prop up the EU superstate and its currency. It marks the surrender of the last vestiges of sovereignty of the 26-County State.

The Irish people are to be sacrificed on the altar of international capitalism, the present and future generations are to be mortgaged to pay for the greed of the bankers. The political class who have presided over all this are guilty of treason.

Revolutionary history teaches us that a time of crisis also presents opportunities for radical change. The Irish people must seize this opportunity and not settle merely for a change of those administering a politically and economically bankrupt system.

Republican Sinn Féin calls for unity based on the historic right of the “people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland”.

Next year marks 40 years since we first presented ÉIRE NUA as an alternative to the two failed partitionist states. Today ÉIRE NUA and our social and economic programme SAOL NUA remain the only credible means by which we can make the Proclamation of 1916 a reality.

It is time to organise, it is time to fight back and build the All-Ireland Republic of Pearse and Connolly.

Commemorations this weekend

2010-11-19T02:44:00.000-08:00

Frank Driver Commemoration

Kildare Republican Sinn Féin will be holding its annual Frank Driver Commemoration in Ballymore Eustace on Sunday, November 21 at 1.pm.

Those taking part will assemble at Driver’s Cottage and parade from there to the grave of Frank Driver at St John’s Cemetery.

The oration will be given by Ard Chomhairle member Cáit Trainor, Co Armagh.

Kevin Barry 90th anniversary commemoration

The Carlow Myles Shevlin/Tony Ruane Cumann of Republican Sinn Féin will be marking the 90th anniversary of the execution of Kevin Barry by the British with a commemoration in Rathvilly, Co Carlow on Sunday November 21 at 3.pm.

The oration will be given by Geraldine McNamara, Co Tipperary.

Presidential Address 2010

2010-11-18T02:34:00.000-08:00

A Chathaoirligh, a Theachtaí is a cháirde go léir,

Fearaim céad míle fáilte romhaibh ar fad ag an Ard-Fheis seo.

I am honoured to welcome you all to the 106th Ard-Fheis of Sinn Féin. The past year has been an eventful one since last we met in national conference.

It began with agreement being reached in the Six Counties on the devolution of limited powers of British policing to the Stormont regime. This marked one of the final steps in the restructuring of British rule in Ireland.

However the nature and reality of British occupation on the ground has not changed – last month it is reported British soldiers participated in house raids in Derry – but we are glad to note the attitude of Irish Republicans to it has not changed either as evidenced by the increased level of acts of resistance.

Within Maghaberry the POWs engaged in a heroic campaign of resistance to the attempts of the Stormont regime to criminalise them.

Meanwhile a war is being waged on working people throughout Ireland and the world in order to prop up the failed and discredited economics which has caused the present collapse.

For Sinn Féin the past year marked a period of transition. Our Patron Ruairí Ó Brádaigh stepped down as President at last year’s Ard-Fheis – a position he held with distinction and honour from 1970 with only a break of three years from 1983 to 1986. However Ruairí, we are delighted to report did not retire but continued to make his valued contribution to our national leadership and our Movement to which he has devoted almost 61 years of his life.

Over the course of the year our movement withstood attack from a small minority of erstwhile comrades. The refusal of our members to be distracted from the primary goals and principles of our Movement is something of which you all should be proud.

On February 4 it was announced that a Hillsborough Agreement Mark II had been reached between the DUP and the Provisionals for the devolution of limited powers of British policing to the Stormont Executive. This came following a protracted “carnival of reaction” at Hillsborough Castle.

Even media commentators pointed to the inherent fault lines, which exist in the Six-County statelet, Stephen Collins in The Irish Times of January 30 observed: “The Belfast Agreement enshrined a dysfunctional society’s sectarian divisions into governmental institutions.” While on January 31 Tom McGurk writing in his column in the Sunday Business Post on said: “Stormont may have new seating and the latest technology but, underneath it all, the DUP still stands for what it has always stood for -- political supremacy over the nationalist community.” This is no more than Republican Sinn Féin pointed out 12 years ago.

In a statement the following day, An tUachtaráin, Sinn Féin Poblachtach, Des Dalton pointed out: “As they don the uniforms and carry the weapons of their one-time enemy, it can be truly said that the ‘poachers have become gamekeepers. When the new ‘Broy Harriers’ take to the streets under Provo direction history can be accurately said to be repeating itself. As British rule reaches into the grass-roots in the Six Counties, British Imperialism in its updated mode seeks to make itself more acceptable. However history teaches us that it will once more be resisted.”

On February 6 our Vice-President Geraldine Taylor said that: “The agreement at Hillsborough is just a further indication of the depths that unionised Provisionals will go to uphold British rule in our country. They have now added the administration of British policing and justice to their already full ‘portfolio’ in administering British rule on Irish people in the Occupied Six Counties.” She described it as “the same old British boot but with a willing Provo foot”.

During protracted negotiations it was revealed that the three sections of unionism were engaged in discussions with the British Conservative Party about an electoral pact, which came as no surprise. The scaly hand of the Orange order had of course emerged in all of this.

The historical forces of unionism and British imperialism remain at work and the return to some form of majority rule cannot be far around the corner as both the DUP and the British Tories have signalled.

Reaching for the “Orange Card” has long been an option of first resort for the British Tories in their quest for political power at Westminster. In his maiden speech to the British House of Lords in the week following the signing of the Treaty of Surrender in 1921 the leader of Unionism Edward Carson lamented his role in the Tory machinations: “What a fool I was. I was only a puppet, and so was Ulster, and so was Ireland, in the political game that was to get the Conservative Party into power.”

Broken into five sections, the document agreed at Hillsborough also contains a range of measures.

Key points include:

• While the Six-County justice minister would have the same status as all other ministers in the power-sharing cabinet, he would have the power to make certain decisions without conferring with the Executive while issues of British ‘national security’ remain the prerogative of the British government and its intelligence agency MI5.

• A six-member ‘working group’, was to be appointed by the Stormont First Minister and Deputy First Minister, with the task of formulating a framework for new Orange parade management procedures.

• Its work would place emphasis on local agreements. It is this aspect which caused most fear for many nationalist communities and how the rights of local residents and the Orange Order can be squared

• Significantly there was no commitment to an Irish Language Bill - promised with the St Andrews Agreement in 2006- or education reform or the much-promised Bills of Rights.

This devolution of British policing and justice powers changes nothing. The Stormont Executive will administer the limited devolved responsibilities for British policing and justice as a proxy for the British government.

Political policing continues to be directed as before from London. Under the St Andrews Agreement, amended by the Hillsborough Agreement, “security intelligence” in the Six Occupied Counties remains the responsibility of the MI5 Security Service with the RUC/PSNI in a support role. This is not the devolution of policing and justice powers. London will remain in control.

With an increased budget and a new HQ in Palace Barracks in Hollywood, Co Down MI5 will lead the British war machine in Ireland. MI5 is not accountable to the Stormont Policing Board for security-related matters but it will be available to brief the Board in secret on what it considers “appropriate”.

For their part, the Republican youth gave the RUC/PSNI their response on the streets of many towns in the occupied area. At a press conference held in Republican Sinn Féin’s Ulster Office on the Falls Road in Belfast on March 4 it was revealed that at least three baton rounds (plastic bullets) were fired by British Crown Forces in the Drumbeg area of Craigavon in County Armagh on February 27.

The RUC entered the area at around 10pm. They claimed this was in connection with the discovery of a suspicious object – however this was simply a gas cylinder, which had been discovered some 500 yards away at 12 noon.

The British incursion into the area was resisted by nationalist youths, and three baton rounds were fired. Two of these were fired at the ground whilst the RUC fired a third at a Republican, causing him serious injuries to his chest.

Republican Sinn Féin organised a press conference in its Ulster Office on the Falls Road in Belfast on February 19 which was attended by Des Dalton as well as the two Vice-Presidents Geraldine Taylor and Fergal Moore. The assembled journalists from the Irish News, the London Times, the Guardian as well as the Press Association were told of communities such as Lurgan who were under siege from the forces of the British Crown.

The past year has seen an increase in the number of acts of resistance directed against continued British rule in Ireland. In February alone incidents across the Six Counties pointed to a level of intensity, which the 26-County Justice Minister Dermot Ahern (RTÉ Radio 1 This Week February 28) acknowledged was as high as anything over the past 40 years.

The head of MI5 Jonathan Evans in a speech on September 17 acknowledged:

“Perhaps we were giving insufficient weight to the pattern of history over the last hundred years which shows that whenever the main body of Irish Republicanism has reached a political accommodation and rejoined constitutional politics, a hardliner rejectionist group would fragment off and continue with the so called “’armed struggle’.” Like the French Bourbon kings the English it seems have forgotten nothing but have learned nothing after 800 years of occupation.

A new generation of people who continue to resist British rule on the ground have been dismissed as “disaffected youth without either aspiration or hope” by one commentator. It is nothing new to dismiss young Republicans in such terms.

Over the decades the idealism and belief of each new risen generation has been dismissed in similar terms as a means of denying the legitimacy of the Irish Republican demand for a free Ireland. Such denial does a disservice to the idealism and hope of young Irish people for a New Ireland. We salute this new risen generation.

A survey carried out by Jonathan Tonge -- Professor of Politics Studies and Head of the Department of Politics Studies at the University of Liverpool – confirms the fact that there is still a significant section of the Irish people who oppose British rule in Ireland.

Researchers spoke to 1,002 people across the Six Counties from a range of backgrounds. The face-to-face interviews were carried out in the three weeks after the British general election. It was part of a wider study but included questions about attitudes to Republicans.

Respondents were asked whether they had sympathy for the reasons why Republican groups, such as the Continuity IRA, continued the armed struggle 8.2% (14% of those identifying themselves as nationalists) said yes.

Some 12.9 per cent of nationalists (7.8 per cent of the overall survey) claimed to ‘strongly like’ or ‘like’ Republican Sinn Fein while 7.5 per cent of nationalists (4.0 per cent of overall survey) strongly liked or liked 32-County Sovereignty Movement.

Eighteen per cent of nationalist (eleven per cent of overall) respondents believed the RUC/PSNI to be very similar to what was described as “the old RUC”. Among those who designated themselves as “nationalist” this was 18%.

Prof Tonge writes: “One of the mantras of the peace process is that ‘dissident’ Republicans have no support. To suggest otherwise risks talking up a disparate, seemingly desperate, band of diehards. It also disturbs the orthodoxy found on my side of the Irish Sea that Northern Ireland lies securely in the box marked ‘solved’. Yet the assumption that dissidents have no support has been precisely that – an assumption, untroubled by actual evidence either way. Until now, that is.”

Not surprisingly the findings were either largely ignored by the bulk of the media or dismissed by the Stormont political establishment.

Speaking at the launch Dr Martyn Frampton’s Legion of the Rearguard: Dissident Irish Republicanism in London on November 2 the former general officer commanding (GOC) of the British army in the Six Counties between 1990 and 1993, General Sir John Wilsey, said that he shared the same conclusion as the author about the situation within the Six Counties: “which is that Irish Republicanism has not yet been satisfied”. He went on to say that while most people in what he calls Great Britain “feel that Ireland is at peace and that it is over, those of us who are in touch with what goes on across the water know very well that that is not so”. He then poses a number of rhetorical questions: “If I had been in the IRA I would be saying, did we achieve our goal? Did we unite Ireland? Are we closer to a United Ireland now than we were when we first started? And the answer to that is manifestly that we are not.”

Speaking first on RTÉ Radio’s This Week programme on August 8 and again on August 12 on BBC Radio Ulster British Crown Minister Martin McGuinness claimed he had knowledge of secret talks involving the British government, the 26-County Administration and what were described in the media as “dissident Republicans”.

I repeat now what I stated in Bundoran on August 28, Republican Sinn Féin has not engaged in any such talks. The only basis on which the leaders of Republican Ireland will engage in talks with the British government will be to secure a full British withdrawal from Ireland. We cannot be any clearer. Mr McGuiness we suggest is playing his part in the machinery of British ‘black propaganda’.

Many nationalist communities feared part of the price for securing the deal by the Provisionals involved forcing loyalist parades on their communities as it emerged the key unionist demand for an end to the Six-County Parades Commission was won by them in the agreement.

The Provisionals and the DUP restricted membership of the ‘working group’ set up to review marching legislation to nominees from their own parties. However the legislation proposed was far more sweeping than merely dealing with Orange/Loyalist marches as set out in the Hillsborough Agreement.

As the journalist and political commentator Éamonn McCann pointed out in the Derry Journal “There was no indication in February that the group had been tasked to do anything other than devise a system to replace the procedures of the Parades Commission; no suggestion that it would be engaged in drafting a new, wide-ranging public order act.”

The provisions of the Public Assemblies, Parades and Protests Bill (Northern Ireland) (sic) as McCann points out: “appear aimed at least as much at curtailing protests against job losses and cuts in public services as resolving communal disagreements over marches”.

The scope of its provisions will affect the rights of every single person to organise themselves collectively as workers, trade unionists, community campaigners and political activists.

Gatherings of 50 or more people would require notice of 37 days to be given, and failure to comply could lead to imprisonment of up to six months. Clause 5 defined “public assembly” as covering any public procession, meeting or protest, apart from funerals and gatherings which “The First and deputy First Ministers specifically order to be excluded”.

The legislation is an attempt to control protest and silence dissent within the Six-County state. On September 27 Peter Robinson announced that the proposed bill was being put on hold because of the continued refusal of the Orange Order to endorse the legislation. It is unlikely this is the last we will hear of it.

Another ‘marching season’ witnessed a number of Orange/loyalist marches forced through nationalist communities by the British colonial police. Republican Sinn Féin stood shoulder to shoulder with those communities.

On July 12 members of Republican Sinn Féin took part in the sit down in solidarity with the local residents.

Upwards of 300 members of the RUC/PSNI surrounded the peaceful protesters who sat down on the main road despite repeated attempts by armed RUC personnel to forcibly remove them.

British Crown Minister Gerry Kelly accompanied by his entourage stayed away from the area, but later gave the impression of having tried to play some kind of mediating role.

Over 100 plastic bullets were fired during subsequent rioting with several people injured by the indiscriminate firing by the RUC. Water cannons were also deployed in an attempt to push the residents back before the loyalists were escorted through by the RUC/PSNI.

In the aftermath the Provisionals engaged in felon-setting of the community and in particular of the Greater Ardoyne Residents Collective. In a statement issued on July 15 following the arrest of two of its members the McKelvey/Steele Cumann of Republican Sinn Féin said: “The question must be asked were their names and details handed in by members of Provisional Sinn Féin who were out taking details at the protest against sectarian marches on Monday (July 12)?”

It also emerged that the Provisionals and other Stormont parties were calling on the Six-County Housing Executive and Social Services to penalise people who had protested against the forcing of the Orange/loyalist march by cutting their benefits, taking their homes and even threatening that their children could be taken into care.

As Republican Sinn Féin commented: “This is surely an example of Stormont ministers abusing their influence, acting as judge jury and executioner.”

The forcing of contentious Orange Parades also led to riots and disturbances in Portadown and other parts of the Six Counties. Ard Chomhairle member John Joe McCusker played a leading role in opposing the forcing of a sectarian march through Newtownbutler.

The Six-County state is fundamentally undemocratic, inherently sectarian and consequently an obstacle to the creation of a New Ireland. The 1998 Stormont Agreement and the St Andrews Agreement of 2006 merely institutionalised sectarianism whilst denying the exercise of real All-Ireland democracy. Since 1921 there have been at least six agreements arising from the enforced partition of Ireland. However none of them have represented a settlement of the historic ‘Irish question’, merely an attempt to reframe it.

As an alternative ÉIRE NUA offers a framework within which all sections of the Irish people can make the important decisions for their communities, their regions and their nation. To the unionists and others in Stormont who complained last month about the prospect of the British government reneging on the commitment to provide £18 billion funding over the next decade (not the first time a British government has reneged on a pledge) we place ÉIRE NUA before them.

Decisions affecting the people of a nine-county Ulster are being made by the people of Ulster within a free and Federal Ireland, not dependent on the whim of a foreign parliament or government. Sammy Wilson’s plaintive call “[We] have to simply accept what has been handed down to us,” in reference to the British budgets cuts sums up the impotence of the Stormont Assembly. Surely the path charted in ÉIRE NUA is one that will lead to a new dawn of democracy for all of the Irish people.

A delegation from the National Irish Freedom Committee’s (NIFC) ÉIRE NUA/Visa Denial Repeal Campaign (VDRC) initiated campaign action on April 20, 2010 with a visit to Washington DC. The NIFC delegation highlighted the continued British occupation and the sectarian nature of the Six-County state while also presenting the Irish federal peace proposals as a viable alternative to this failed British arrangement.

On Easter Sunday (April 4) the Republican prisoners in Maghaberry took direct action against the attempts of the British government and its colonial regime at Stormont to criminalise Ireland’s struggle for freedom. For two days they held the canteen at Maghaberry prison in a defiant stand, which gave the lie to those who claim there are no political prisoners in Ireland.

In a statement the POWs set out the conditions which necessitated their protest: “Over the past number of years, we the Republican Prisoners in Maghaberry have experienced a continual decline in conditions and a steady increase in oppressive tactics being adopted against ourselves, our families and visitors.”

The statement continued: “In recent times continuous lockdowns and loss of recreation are becoming more and more common. Searches have also been conducted on our families by the RUC. These lockdowns result in us being locked down in our cells for days at a time with no food, hot water and exercise, showers or contact with our families.

“We, the POWs, have also witnessed the attitude of the screws becoming more aggressive with up to five assaults being carried out on Republican prisoners in the last 18 months, all of which resulted in Republicans being charged with assault in an attempt by a corrupt prison regime to cover up what is happening.

“The accumulative effect of these grievances and a lack of any other form of redress, lead us to concede the only way to stop these assaults and degrading treatment is protest.”

The Republican prisoners have also been punished for wearing Easter Lilies – to commemorate the 1916 Rising and all those who have died for Irish freedom- while the British poppy is freely worn and sold in the prison each year.

The Republican prisoners endured 23-hour lockdown, denial of access to adequate medical care, nourishing food, running water etc. The sanitary conditions within the wing were in clear breach of the most basic human rights.

The five demands of the POWs were:

• Right to free association
• End to controlled movement
• Right to full-time education
• Adequate medical facilities
• An end to strip searching.

The regime at Maghaberry was intended to criminalise the POWs and their families.

Their actions resounded throughout Republican Ireland and over the following four months, protests and pickets were organised all over Ireland and internationally.

Republican activists took to the streets to breakdown the wall of silence, which Stormont, Leinster House and Westminster attempted to erect around Maghaberry.

On April 24 the President of Republican Sinn Féin visited Maghaberry and met with the OC of the Republican prisoners. To coincide with the visit a protest and rally was held outside the prison. On June 27 another visit by Des Dalton took place this time accompanied by our Patron Ruairí Ó Brádaigh. During the visit the OC said that the spirit and morale of the men was strong and they were determined to continue until their right to political status had been secured. Meeting such men is both humbling and inspiring.

Despite assurances given to our Ulster Office in Belfast by the Northern Ireland Prison Service in advance of the visit that the Duty Governor would meet both Des Dalton and Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, the meeting did not take place.

As they left, the car in which the Patron and President were travelling was stopped at a checkpoint — obviously erected by the British colonial police specifically for that purpose. The occupants of the car had their names taken and were asked to get out of the car while it was searched.

On May 29 Republicans marched in Belfast to highlight the POW protest. In keeping with long-held principle no permission was sought from the British state for this march. Irish Republicans have never sought permission from either partitionist state to march in any part of Ireland – and never will. A similar march was held on August 9.

The Republican prisoners in Portlaoise prison held a 48-hour fast from April 30 to May 2 in solidarity with their comrades.

On June 11 the Six-County prisoner ombudsman Pauline McCabe called for a review of lockdowns and strip searches at Maghaberry Jail.

In a wide-ranging report, she made 16 recommendations. Amongst these were:

• A review of the separated prisoner regime should be included in the overall prison review
• An independent prison review should be carried out into full body searches.

She also said prisoners in Roe House had effectively served their punishments for an Easter protest and should be released from the 23-hour lockdown.

The prison protest ended on August 12 when the Republican prisoners secured an agreement which addressed key demands, such as strip-searching and free association.

Among those involved in the negotiations, which secured the agreement, were the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the mediation group Creggan Enterprises from Derry and the Dialogue Advisory Group, based in Amsterdam. We would also like to commend the mediators who facilitated this settlement for the diligence, integrity and commitment shown by them over the past number of weeks.

The agreement if fully implemented will provide the platform for the attainment of full political status.

All those who joined in the campaign, including the families, in support of the prisoners are to be commended while the leadership and calm adherence to principle of the Republican prisoners in the face of the vile and inhumane conditions in Maghaberry must be acknowledged and saluted. In a statement following the end of the protest Sinn Féin pointed out: “By their actions the Republican prisoners delivered a message, which reverberated, throughout the world that British rule in Ireland will never be normal or acceptable.”

We salute the men in Maghaberry for their struggle and call now for the full implementation of the agreement secured by the Republican prisoners.

We also extend greetings to the Republican prisoners in Portlaoise who held the line for the Republican Movement despite attempt to isolate, intimidate and finally criminalise them.

Comhghairdeas leis na príosúnaigh phoblachtach!

On Tuesday, June 15 the Saville Report on the Bloody Sunday murders by British paratroopers in Derry on January 30, 1972 was finally released, 12 years after the inquiry began.

The report found that all those shot dead or injured on Bloody Sunday in the Bogside in January 1972 were innocent. Critically however it absolved the British State of all responsibility laying the blame solely on the soldiers of 1st Parachute Regiment and their commanding officer Derek Wilford.

Republican Sinn Féin said in a statement that this was a cop-out by the Saville Inquiry: “It fails on the crucial question of the responsibility of the British State for the murders. The belated acknowledgement of the innocence of those murdered and injured on Bloody Sunday is welcome for the families of the victims but the Inquiry fails the critical test of identifying and admitting the responsibility of the British State for the murder of unarmed Irish people on the streets of their own city.

“This is a cop-out and ignores the chain of command both political and military, which pitted assault troops such as the British Army’s parachute regiment against a peaceful anti-internment march. In August of the previous year over three days the same notorious British Army regiment murdered 11 people in Belfast.

“The British government’s apology for the murders of ‘Bloody Sunday’ is meaningless while it continues to occupy Ireland.”

Bernadette Devlin McAliskey –who was on the platform in Derry on the day of Bloody Sunday in 1972 -- described the events on the day as: “Fundamental to the nature of the British state in Ireland.”

Bloody Sunday is the true face of British rule in Ireland and the true face of imperialism as experienced today at the hands of the same army by the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Three times in the 20th century the forces of British occupation have visited a ‘Bloody Sunday’ on the Irish people. While British rule remains in Ireland the possibility of yet another will always exist.

Both here in Ireland and abroad the dark forces of international capital intend to use the world economic collapse to claw back any social or political advance made by working people over the past 100 years or more.

The global markets of which we hear so much are imperialism in a modern guise, formulating and setting national economic policy with no consideration of the social, political or environmental consequences for humanity.

On September 30 the true cost of the bank bailout was unveiled at €50 billion. On October 26 the 26-County Finance Minister Brian Lenihan announced cuts of €15 billion in public spending over the next four years. The social cost of bailing out the banks, the euro and the EU will be paid by this and future generations. The economist David McWilliams writing in the Sunday Business Post on September 19 pointed out.

“We simply do not have enough cash to pay for the banks and keep the welfare state going at the same time.”

In the Six Counties cuts of up to £5 billion in services and supports for the most vulnerable are set to take place over the next four years. Trade unions warn this will mean a loss of 40 to 50,000 jobs. The Provisionals may speak out of both sides of their mouths but the reality is that they will implement whatever budget is handed down to them by the British government at Westminster and agreed by the DUP in Stormont.

The lies told by those who forced the Lisbon Treaty on the people of the 26 Counties in the second referendum are coming home to roost now. The supposedly sacrosanct Treaty will now be amended to suit the agenda of the two big states of France and Germany. The rights of individual nations and with them of the individual citizen are subservient to the needs of the EU super state. The very definition of a free nation is one which controls its resources and decides its relationship with the rest of the world. A sovereign nation frames and implements policy based on the needs and welfare of its citizens.

The truth of the arguments of those who called for a NO vote in both Lisbon referenda was borne out by the comments in February of this year by US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton when she said that the Lisbon Treaty provided a platform for deeper ties between the EU and NATO. She said the EU’s energy policy in particular would benefit from closer coordination with NATO when she spoke at the French military academy in Paris on January 29.

This was followed up in February by German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle called for the EU to proceed with plans for a European army under the Lisbon Treaty. As Republican Sinn Féin argued in both referenda held in the 26 Counties in 2008 and 2009 the purpose of the Lisbon Treaty was to bring the EU project to its logical next step in the construction of an undemocratic and militarised superstate.

Hillary Clinton’s comments regarding “energy security” were significant. It would appear the ground is being prepared for NATO to act as the military arm of the EU in order to fight the resource wars -- forecast by the then President of the EU Commission Jacques Delors in 1992 -- over what have been identified as the key resources of water, food and energy.

The Political Editor of the Sunday Business Post (October 24) Pat Leahy sets out the reality of the EU in the present context: “Any four-year economic plan contains a fair degree of guesswork and supposition. Brussels knows this, of course, and it also knows the danger that too much austerity will dangerously deflate the economy. But, and this is a vital point to grasp, the European priority is Europe, not Ireland.” In other words the effect of the slash and burn economics on this and future generations of Irish people is of no consequence when set against the survival of the euro. Of course the media cheerleaders of Lisbon remain silent on this “new” reality, which is only now hitting home.

A new generation of “wild geese” will be forced to emigrate – emigration, historically the safety valve of the establishment has increased by 33% year-on-year with 100,000 people being forecast to emigrate by 2012 – while the elite who profited most from the so-called Celtic Tiger economy are cosseted from the effects of its collapse.

Tomas Ó Curráoin, Republican Sinn Féin member of Galway County Council, speaking about the new wave of emigration said on February 17: “People may recall the father of the current finance minister, Brian Lenihan snr, tell us ‘We can’t all live on a small island.’ If this state cannot support the people living in the State then perhaps it is the State and not the citizens that is the problem and perhaps it is now time to change the political infrastructure of this island to one that benefits all of the inhabitants of the island.

“The current political system is the continuation of British imperialism and is certainly not the one that the men and women of 1916 fought and died for. We in Republican Sinn Féin have an alternative to the present system which does not include the exportation of our youth for the benefits of other countries; these alternatives are called ÉIRE NUA and SAOL NUA.” Maith thú, a Thomáis.

The commentator and broadcaster Vincent Browne warned in the Sunday Business Post on September 26 of the kind of politics which has been constructed: “We have built a system whereby the sovereignty of the people is subcontracted to a political class which, in turn, subcontracts it to a governing elite.

Our social and economic programme SAOL NUA Republican Sinn Féin identifies essential elements of the Democratic Socialist system which are required in building the New Ireland; banking and all key industries must be brought under democratic or social control and the further development of community banking such as Credit Unions – it should be noted with concern the comments on October 5 of the 26-County Financial Regulator Matthew Elderfield when he said he would be targeting Credit Unions with the same rules used against the discredited banking system.

Social control of capital is essential to ensure capital serves people rather than people being the slaves of capital. By doing so you ensure balanced development and equitable distribution of wealth.

As is says in SAOL NUA: “Money must be regarded, not as a commodity, but as an accounting system in which all participate.”

Taxes should be progressive and redistributive, levied on wealth, legacies, waste and pollution. They should encourage the fair distribution and conservation of scarce resources especially energy. A comprehensive National Health Service and an education system which overturns the ‘Murder Machine’ which Pearse wrote about almost 90 years ago and is still largely with us today.

We must have new indicators of what constitutes economic success to replace the discredited indices of GNP and GDP. They merely record economic activity in terms of transaction and movement of money, commodities etc. They take no account of the voluntary sector, those who work in the home etc all of whom make a valuable contribution to the local and domestic economy. ‘Quality of Life’ is a far more valid index of human development and progress. Recording adult and infant mortality, literacy, access to health services, nutrition etc.

The UN Human Development Report mission statement is clear on what distinguishes meaningful human development: “The goal is human freedom. And in pursuing capabilities and realising rights, this freedom is vital. People must be free to exercise their choices and to participate in decision-making that affects their lives.”

Off course in any economy natural resources are vital and public ownership essential for the common good. We salute the continued resistance of people such as Maura Harrington and Pat ‘The Chief’ O’Donnell and the Shell-to-Sea group who have been steadfast in their opposition to Shell’s destruction of their community and the bleeding dry of Ireland’s much-needed natural resources, aided and abetted by the Dublin Administration.

They have not bowed to the bullyboy tactics of Shell and the 26-County police. Frontline a human rights report on the Corrib gas dispute published in May is a damning indictment of human rights abuses that have been suffered by those activists and a damning indictment of Shell, the 26-County police and the 26-County Dept of Energy. there is €420 billion worth of natural gas of the coast of Ireland - all of which has been given for free to Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil, Exxon Mobil while the Dublin administration are threatening the Irish people with the IMF.

We salute the people of Erris, Mayo and all of those who oppose the blatant capitalist theft of resources, which rightfully belong to the Irish people.

As our paper SAOIRSE declared in October: “No less than breaking the visible political and military chains of imperialism our struggle must be about breaking its economic chains also.”

Le bliain anuas foilsíodh dréacht de phlean fiche bliain chun seasamh na Gaeilge a dhéanamh níos láidre. Cé go bhfuil roinnt gníomhaíochtaí a d’fhéadfadh a bheith ionmholta sa dréacht-straitéis, measaimid nach bhfuil aon téagar ann chun aghaidh a thabhairt ar an dá áit go bhfuil meath ag tarlúint go leanúnach, is é sin an titim i líon na gcainteoirí dúchais sa Ghaeltacht agus an laghdú i gcumas pháistí i nGailge sna gnáthscoileanna.

The 20-year plan to aid the Irish language proposed by the Dublin Administration is seriously flawed in that the strategy is based on the discredited vague aim of bilingualism that was brought in to replace the long held national aim of the restoration of Irish to its rightful place as the primary language of the nation. In the immediate term, the plan does not adequately address the needs of the young native speaker in our Gaeltacht areas.

These young native speakers are under severe pressure from English from all sides. Young parents in the Gaeltacht need all our support in being able to raise their children in an all-Irish atmosphere. As we proposed in Éire Nua nearly 40 years ago, our Gaeltacht people deserve the right to make the local decisions they need to make, especially now that their very existence is threatened.

While we support the Gaelscoileanna, the continuing downgrading of Irish in English-medium schools has to be resisted. It is the right of every Irish pupil, in all schools, to instruction of the highest quality in our native language, all the way, up to and including the Leaving Certificate Exam.

The struggle for a free Ireland cannot be separated from the international struggle against imperialism. Irish Republicans have consistently stretched out the hand of solidarity with peoples engaged in the work of national liberation just as we have welcomed the extension of similar solidarity to us. We take this opportunity to do so again and in particular to the people of Palestine and Gaza. The state of Israel has waged a war on an entire people whilst denying them access to adequate supplies of fresh water or medicines.

On May 31 this year Israeli forces attacked the ‘Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which had been organized by the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief in which nine activists were murdered in defiance of international law. We applaud the courage of these activists and the Irish activist on the MV Rachel Corrie for their courage in breaking this illegal blockade on the people of Gaza.

The work of our International Relations Bureau is critical in ensuring that the political situation in Ireland from a Republican perspective is explained on the world stage while also developing that network of solidarity, which is essential to all anti-imperialists.

In December last our Ard Runaí Josephine Hayden addressed an international conference on the issue of political prisoners in London while this year Fergal Moore will be attending a similar conference in Vienna. In February the International Relations Bureau launched an updated website.

During the year we experienced some difficulties, which had their roots in the elections at our Ard-Fheis of 2004. One of our Vice-Presidents from Limerick, who had held the position for 14 years, lost by a small margin. He did not stand for election to An Ard-Chomhairle and later refused an offer of co-option to that body. Early in the New Year the entire Cumann in Limerick city resigned.

They remained outside the organisation for a year and a half when they all applied individually to the Ard Chomhairle for re-admission. They were visited by national officers and undertook never to quit the organisation in future or to refuse to sell our paper SAOIRSE.

At successive Ard-Fheiseanna from 2006 to 2009 resolutions they supported in favour of a Broad Front, the naming of Cumann after people who were members of a semi-constitutional organisation and the setting up of a Cumann in Portlaoise Prison – were all defeated openly on a show of hands.

At the 2009 Ard-Fheis also the Vice President from 1990 to 2004 was a candidate for the position of President and Vice-President. The result in the election of President was 32% to 68% against him. He also failed in the contest for Vice-President but was elected to An Ard Chomhairle.

Some months later, on April 30, a statement appeared on a new Limerick website entitled limerickrepublicans.com. It said: “Limerick Republicans formerly aligned to RSF have taken a decision after consulting with the membership over several months to dissolve the existing organisation in the city.” It was a repeat of the 2005 resignations.

A further statement from the same source said they had formed a new grouping called “LIRO-Limerick Independent Republican Organisation”.

Then we received information from several sources that they had applied to the 32-County Sovereignty Movement with a proposal to form a merger with them. This was refused.

Then they altered their course and changed their name to “RSF – Real Sinn Féin”. In a newspaper interview, a spokesperson demanded that we hand over our offices in Dublin and Belfast and control of our monthly paper SAOIRSE to them. These demands were angrily rejected by us immediately.

By October they had changed their name again, this time they stole our honoured title Republican Sinn Féin. The name they threw away in April they now embraced six months later. Now they claimed to be the Republican Movement of history and said we consisted of only a small number of individuals.

Well, let this Ard-Fheis be an answer to them. We have not changed our name several times over six months. We remain what we were for more than a century, through 1916 and the First (all-Ireland) Dáil of 1919-1922 – the historic Republican Movement and we yield to no one in that regard.

We have endured the insults and slights leaked to the tabloid press covertly for the first half of the past year and the open fabrications and untruths of the second half. We will go forward to rebuild our movement, strengthened in our resolve following on a malicious experience.

Over the course of the coming decade we will commemorate the centenary of 1916 as well as the anniversaries of the other landmark events in Irish Revolutionary history.

Speaking in UCD on May 20 the head of the 26-County administration Brian Cowen accused Irish Republicans of seeking to “hijack” the centenary of the 1916 Rising. It is an accusation that does not stand up; Republicans cannot hijack something they have never abandoned.

Each year Irish Republicans both in Ireland and abroad have commemorated 1916 without fail. The 26-County state on the other hand has alternated between ignoring the anniversary and banning commemoration of it. 1916 commemorations throughout the 26 Counties were banned by the Dublin administration in 1937.

In 1976 Republicans were prosecuted – including Fiona Plunkett sister of Joseph Mary Plunkett - and some jailed for their participation in a banned commemoration at the GPO. Each year Republicans face the prospect of prosecution for distributing Easter Lilies.

For forty years the 26-County administration ignored the anniversary of 1916 but since 2006 it has opportunistically seized on it in order to sell the big lie that history has come to an end and British rule in Ireland is now accepted. 1916 remains unfinished business while Britain holds any part of Ireland.

The message of 1916 could not be clearer; “Ireland unfree shall never be at peace”.

The coming year is likely to see a visit to the 26-County state by the Queen of England. On June 23 our Vice-President Fergal Moore put our position on the public record once again: “British rule in Ireland can never be normal nor will Ireland be pacified while partition and British rule remain. Republican Sinn Féin will vigorously oppose any visit to Ireland by the Queen of England and calls on all Republicans to do likewise.”

Irish Republicans will actively oppose such a visit and by doing so send a clear message to the world that British occupation and partition is neither normal nor acceptable. The visit by the head of the British state – who holds the style and title of ‘Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland” – to any part of Ireland will be resisted by Republican minded people throughout Ireland.

We will also be giving serious consideration to contesting the Údarás na Gaeltachta elections next year. Off course the imposition of a political test oath in the Six-County local elections will mean that people will be robbed of the opportunity to vote for candidates standing on a platform of unequivocal Irish Republicanism.

We turn from the old year and look to the coming year as one, which presents us with many challenges. However as a unified and principled Republican organisation we are more than capable of meeting those challenges and in doing so into opportunities for growth. Armed with the title deeds of Irish Republicanism and taking our stand on the rock of the All-Ireland Republic from which flows the political, social and economic freedom of Ireland our steps must be ever onward!

Go raibh mile maith agaibh ar fad. Beannacht dílis Dé oraibh go léir.
Victory to the Irish people!

An Phoblacht Abú!

Frank Driver Commemoration

2010-11-07T10:43:00.000-08:00

Ballymore Eustace, Co Kildare

Sunday November 21st

Assemble: 1pm opposite Drivers cottage in Ballymore
Eustace and parade from there to cemetary

James Daly remembered

2010-11-01T02:32:00.000-07:00

On Sunday October 31 Westmeath Republican Sinn Féin, marked the 90th anniversary of the execution on November 2 1920 of James Daly who was one of the leaders of the Connaught Rangers’ mutiny in India. The mutiny was in reaction to the war being waged by the British government on the people of Ireland.

At 2.pm the parade led by a colour party and a lone piper marched from the Village Hotel min Tyrellspass to the cemetery. There the ceremony was chaired by Seosamh Ó Maoiléoin. He began by outlining the events of 1920 in Ireland in the lead up to the execution of James Daly including the death on hunger strike of the Lord Mayor of Cork Terence MacSwiney and the execution of Kevin Barry. He welcomed the niece of James Daly, Veronica Dunne, Tullamore and his grand nephews and grand nieces.

Wreaths were laid on behalf of the Daly and Maher families by Cathal Maher, Tommy Morris laid a wreath on behalf of the Republican Movement in Westmeath and Celia Conway laid a wreath on behalf of the Republican Movement.

The piper then played a lament.

In his oration the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton said:

“The moral courage and sacrifice shown by James Daly and his comrades shines like a beacon light 90 years after those momentous events in Jullander and Solon in India in June and July of 1920. The leadership shown by James Daly and Joe Hawes galvanised their comrades into striking a blow for the freedom of their own land. We also remember with pride the sacrifices of Peter Sears and Patrick Smythe who died at the hands of the British army during the mutiny and who are interred in Glasnevin cemetery.

“The November 1970 edition of An Phoblacht summed up the mutiny and its place in history: ‘The men under the command of Private Hawes were as brave and as true to Ireland as any of the Wild Geese who had served in the Continental armies. Indeed they were braver because they were on their own against the full might and power of an empire. Their deed will be remembered for ever because it brought glory and fame to the land of their birth for which these men were prepared to give their all.’

“In 1920 Ireland was locked in a full scale war against the British Empire, in response to the democratic vote of the people of All-Ireland for full independence the British Government unleashed the Black-and-Tans and the Auxiliaries on the Irish people, the Lord Mayors of Cork and Limerick were murdered, towns such as Granard in Co Longford and Balbriggan in Co Dublin along with the centre of Cork city were burned by British forces. Almost 5,000 miles away in India Irishmen serving with the British army’s Connaught Rangers decided to take stand in defence of their own small nation.

“The British Government censored any news reaching Ireland or internationally.
They feared the fall-out, which would result from news of a mutiny within what they boasted , was supposedly the most highly trained and disciplined army in the world.

“In its aftermath the British army attempted to dismiss the cause of the mutiny to be merely relating to issues of conditions and discipline. However the actions of the men in hoisting the flag of the All-Ireland Republic in both Solon and Jullunder gave the lie to this. Thomas Kilfeather in his history of the Connaught Rangers gives a vivid description: ‘A remarkable thing happened in Jullunder barracks. From a flag-staff floated the Irish Tricolour, placed there by Frank Geraghty, of Castleblaney, Co Monaghan. He and Patrick Kelly, from Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath, had walked to the trading village, or bazaar, where they bought lengths of silk in green, white and orange. They stitched the silken material into a flag, six feet by four feet, and triumphantly hoisted it to an improvised staff on the roof of the bungalow. As the flag hung limply in the still air, a deep-throated cheer came from four hundred mutineers, and when the officers looked out from the verandah of their mess they became that the unthinkable had happened – the mutiny had now become impossible to control.

‘In the cantonment (military quarters), the Indian troops, who had been passive spectators of the extraordinary events of the day, gazed at this strange flag which had supplanted the Union Jack – the flag that was the symbol of their country’s occupation.’ The actions of the Connaught Rangers were a blow against colonialism and as An Phoblacht speculated that for the Indian soldiers the sight of the Irish Tricolour might be for them ‘a portent of great significance in the onward march towards freedom of their own people.”

“Of the 14 men sentenced to death for their part in the mutiny al bar one were commuted to life imprisonment. On November 2 1920 James Daly was executed by firing squad at Dagshai prison. In his final letter to his mother he assured her of his willingness to face death ‘its all for Ireland’. The rest of the mutineers were transported to England where they were held in harsh conditions until January 1923.

“Today the same ideals which led James Daly and his comrades to take on the might of the British Empire in India 90 years ago continues to inspire yet another generation of Irish people to resist the forces of British occupation. The British Government have yet to absorb the lesson of Irish history. As long as they lay claim and title to any part of Ireland they will be met with resistance.

“The single-minded determination and moral courage shown by James Daly and his comrades is an example to all revolutionaries who are earnest in the pursuit of their aims. As Irish Republicans we are conscious of the proud tradition we inherit but also of the weighty responsibility to ensure that we do not lose sight of the goal of the 23-County Democratic Socialist Republic. Republican Sinn Féin provide the leadership and the programme, which can turn the aspiration for a free Ireland into a reality.

“Let us prove equal to the task before us for the most fitting monument we can erect to James Daly and all of the Irish patriots who have laid down their lives in the cause of Irish freedom is the re-establishment of the All-Ireland Republic of Connolly, Pearse and Tone. It is then of the ballad of ‘The Devil’s Own’ written in Dagshai prison will be realised: ‘And when Ireland gets her freedom, we may go safely home, But we’ll ne’er forget that gallent crowd they call the “The Devil’s Own”’.”

James Daly Commemoration

2010-10-30T06:44:00.000-07:00

The 90th Anniversary James Daly Commemoration will take place on Sunday 31st at Tyrellspass, Co Westmeath.

Assemble at the Village Hotel, 2pm.

Speaker Des Dalton.

Nation-state lays foundation for democratic advance of humanity

2010-10-30T01:26:00.000-07:00

Speaking against the motion that: “Nationalism is a hangover from history” hosted by The University Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin on Thursday October 28 the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton said:

“We are being asked tonight to consider nationalism and its value in the modern world. I think firstly it is necessary to define what we mean by nationalism and patriotism before we can answer that question we need to do so because Nationalism is a concept and a banner under which many diverse and indeed unsavoury forces have rallied historically.

“Edward Said (Champion of Palestinian independence and anti-colonialist) defined nationalism in the context of the struggle against imperialism: ‘ 'nationalism' is a word that still signifies all sorts of undifferentiated things, but it serves me quite adequately to identify the mobilizing force that coalesced into resistance against an alien and occupying empire on the part of peoples processing a common history, religion, and language.”

“In building a national movement Connolly wrote: ‘It must demonstrate to the people of Ireland that our nationalism is not merely a morbid idealising of the past, but is also capable of formulating a distinct and definite answer to the problems of the present and a political and economic creed capable of adjustment to the wants of the future.

‘This concrete political and social ideal will best be supplied, I believe, by the frank acceptance on the part of all earnest nationalists of the Republic as their goal.” Connolly goes on to define what kind of Republic this would be.

“He discounts the Republic of France as ‘flaunting its apostasy to the traditions of the Revolution’ (echoes of today) and that ‘great’ Republic of the west in the US ‘where the power of the purse has established a new tyranny under the forms of freedom, (Again Connolly still has something to say to the modern world).

‘No the Republic I would wish our fellow-countrymen to set before them as their ideal should be of such a character that the mere mention of its name would at all times serve as a beacon-light to the oppressed of every land’, he continues ‘The Irish Republic might be made a word to conjure with – a rallying point for the disaffected, a haven for the oppressed, a point of departure for the socialist, enthusiastic in the cause of human freedom.’

“These are lofty ideals but for the revolutionary the goal must of such a nature as to inspire, and if change is to be attained it must be fundamental and radical and revolutionary.

“The historian, political activist and biographer of Connolly, Desmond Greaves regarded the nation state as the ‘locus of democracy’ arguing that it was only within national communities that people could exercise democracy in a meaningful way. It was the largest political unit within which rights of minorities could be protected.

“The value and need for community of strong nation states has rarely been as evident as it is today in light of the domestic and world economic collapse. The 26-Coounty state is a parody of the All- Republic proclaimed in 1916, willing to sacrificing its people in order to protect the economic model, which created the collapse in the first place. In order to meet the demands of remaining within the eurozone the essential markers of a civilised society such as access to health services at the point of need, education for all, care of the young, the disabled and the elderly and other vulnerable members of society, all will be sacrificed on the alter of the free market and the euro.

“In the Six Counties cuts of up to £5 Billion in services and supports for the most vulnerable are set over the next four years and, which trade unions warn will mean a loss of 40 to 50,000 jobs.

“The choice is stark and comes down to whether you believe an economy is there to serve people or the other way round. The political and economic establishments in Leinster House, Stormont and Westminster have made their choice. They view people and their rights as being subservient to the demands of the international money markets, profiteers and speculators who are setting their economic agenda.

“The false promises and lies told in order to foist the Lisbon Treaty on the people of the 26 Counties in the second referendum are coming home to roost now. The rights of individual nations and with them of the invidual citizen are subservient to the needs of the EU super state. The very definition of a free nation is one, which controls its resources and decides its relationship with the rest of the world. Which frames and implements policy based on the needs and welfare of its citizens.

“The political Editor of the Sunday Business Post (October 24) Pat Leahy sets out the reality of the EU: “Any four-year economic plan contains a fair degree of guesswork and supposition. Brussels knows this, of course, and it also knows the danger that too much austerity will dangerously deflate the economy. But and this is a vital point to grasp the European priority is Europe, not Ireland.” In other words the effect of the slash and burn economics on this and future generations of Irish people is of no consequence when set against the survival of the euro.

“Again the words of James Connolly are no less valid as we enter the second decade of the 21st Century: ‘There can be no perfect Europe in which Ireland is denied even the least of its national rights; there can be no worthy Ireland whose children brook tamely such denial. If such denial has been accepted by soulless slaves of politicians then it must be repudiated by Irish men and women whose souls are still their own.’

“Irish Republicanism was born out of the ideals and ideas of the enlightment. From its very beginnings it has taken a worldview, which has placed it in the vanguard of anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism.

“Desmond Greaves believed rightly that one could only claim to be an internationalist if one stood for the right to self-determination of the different nations into which humanity is divided. Connolly believed in building a community of free nations.

“The struggle for national freedom is part and parcel of the struggle against imperialism. It is not enough to oppose imperialism in one country if you do not oppose it internationally, conversely it is meaningless to oppose it internationally if you do not recognise and oppose it at home. Edward Said writes about internal colonialism and external imperialism. It is not enough to say no to US and British occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan or Israeli occupation of Palestine if you ignore England’s occupation of Ireland. It is not enough to create democracy within nations but it is also necessary between nations.

“It is the quest for a new and better Ireland for the present and future generations, which has always inspired and informed the struggle for a free Ireland. Like Connolly Irish Republicans believe removing British rule is not enough, this merely creates the space within which all of the Irish people can set about the essential task of building the All-Ireland Republic. Fulfilling the dream of Theobald Wolfe Tone of uniting Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter as citizens of that Republic.

“The 1998 Stormont Agreement and the St Andrews Agreement of 2006 merely institutionalised sectarianism whilst denying the exercise of real All-Ireland democracy. Since 1921 there have been at least six agreements arising from the enforced partition of Ireland. However none of them have represented a settlement of the historic ‘Irish question’, merely an attempt to reframe it.

“The lesson of Irish history is clear and continues to be played out today, continued occupation of Ireland by England will always be a source of conflict and a spark for continued resistance.

“EIRE NUA constitutes a serious and credible attempt to break that cycle. It offers a framework within which all sections of the Irish people can make the important decisions for their communities, their regions and their nation. To the unionists and others in Stormont who complained last week about the prospect of the British government reneging on the commitment to provide £18 Billion over the next decade (not the first time a British government has reneged on a promise) we juxtapose EIRE NUA.

“Decisions affecting the people of a nine county Ulster being made by the people of Ulster within a free and Federal Ireland, not dependent on the whim of a foreign parliament or government. Sammy Wilson’s plaintive call “[We] have to simply accept what has been handed down to us.” In reference to the British budgets cuts sums up the impotence of the Stormont Assembly. Surely the path laid out in EIRE NUA leads to a better future for all of our people.

“EIRE NUA provides for horizontal democracy based on local majorities, ensuring maximum decentralisation of political power and decision making from national to provincial right down to regional and community level. Apart from providing a solution to the Ulster situation, these proposals would bring power nearer to the people and help to correct east-west economic imbalance nationally. This is true participatory democracy involving people in making decisions on important matters like health, education, regional development and employment. It is real decentralisation based on decentralising the decision-making process rather than simply moving civil servants from one part of the country to another.

“Coupled with our social and economic policy SAOL NUA we believe they provide the blueprint to make tangible the dream of the All-Ireland Republic with real political and economic democracy.

“Irish Republicans do not desire a 32-County Free State but rather the creation of a New Ireland fashioned by the representatives of all the Irish people.

“We propose in the Towards A Peaceful Ireland document following a public declaration of intent by the British Government to withdraw from Ireland, the election of a constituent assembly, elected by the suffrage of the people of the 32 Counties. This assembly would be tasked with drafting an All-Ireland constitution. Republican Sinn Féin if elected would place the EIRE NUA proposals before the assembly for consideration. The constitution once agreed would be put before all of the Irish people in referendum. The internal relations of the Irish people with one another and their external relations with Europe and the world at large would be determined through free and open debate.

“Republican Sinn Féin and its leaders were prepared in 1981-82-83 and again in 1986 to take a principled stand to preserve the Republican position contained within EIRE NUA, which would “cherish all of the children of the nation equally” and stood by the goal of an inclusive Ireland when others within our movement were prepared to abandon these ideals. They are ideals, which go right to the heart of Irish Republicanism. We do not want to back the Unionists on to a cliff-edge politically where they will oppose us all the more. Neither do we seek to have them as a permanent and disgruntled political minority in one corner of Ireland. Besides, the proposals outlined would be more in keeping with the ideas of Wolfe Tone and Thomas Davis.

“An opportunity beckons to a new generation of Irish people to come together in fraternity and leave the failed politics of partition and sectarianism behind. England has little or nothing to offer at this stage and the time is long since past for them to bow out and for the Irish people to plan their future together setting about the work of building the Republic.

“Last Tuesday marked the 90th anniversary of the death on hunger strike of the Lord Mayor of Cork Terence MacSwiney. In his political and philosophical writings Principles of Freedom, MacSwiney defined ideal of an independent Irish nation ‘Accordingly, if we are to justify our own position as separatists, we must show that it will harmonise, unify and develop our national life, that it will restore us to a place among the nations, enable us to fulfil a national destiny, a destiny which through all our struggles, we ever believe is great and waiting for us.’ The nation-state lays the foundation for the democratic advance of humanity.”