Political Status Picket

To mark the traditioal prisoner's month of December Kildare Republican Sinn Fein will be holding a political status picket in support of Republican POWs in Poplar Square Naas Co Kildare on Saturday December 19 from 1.00pm to 3.00pm.

Historic Republican Sinn Féin Ard-Fheis

REPUBLICAN Sinn Féin held its 205ú Ard-Fheis in Dublin on the weekend of November 14/15. It was a successful and historic occasion. Ruairí Ó Brádaigh stepped down as President of Sinn Féin –however he was formally invested as the new Patron of Republican Sinn Féin. Ruairí Ó Brádaigh has not retired from active involvement as indicated by his election to the incoming Ard Chomhairle.

Another leading Republican Joe O’Neill of Bundoran, Co Donegal was elected as Honorary Life Vice President of Sinn Féin.

The new President of Republican Sinn Féin is Des Dalton from Co Kildare. Des Dalton (38) has been a member of Sinn Féin since 1989. He has been Vice President since 2003 and has represented Sinn Féin in the 2004 and 2009 local elections in the 26 Counties when he stood for Athy Town Council. He has represented Republican Sinn Féin internationally also. Des Dalton is also an active trade unionist and is Vice President of the Athy/Kildare Branch of SIPTU.

In his final address as President Ruairí Ó Brádaigh outlined the challenges which lie ahead both political and economic. He said that the process of normalising British rule in Ireland is continuing: “The process of normalising English rule in Ireland proceeds in the teeth of organised opposition. The playing of Gaelic football matches between 26-County police/army teams and teams representing British forces, British royal visits, so-called courtesy visits by British naval vessels to 26-County ports, the erection of memorials to British soldiers are all part of this process.

“Such events are highly publicised, especially after the occasion while opposition by Republican Sinn Féin and others is blacked out. A gratuitous insult to the people of Ireland and the unity of Ireland was the decision of the Tyrone Co Board GAA, to bring the senior and minor football All-Ireland trophies, the Sam Maguire and Tommy Markham cups into Stormont on February 6.

“To do so was to hijack two symbols of the essential unity of the Irish nation in order to lend credibility to a prop of British rule here and of the partition of Ireland.” He said

He also pledged Republican Sinn Féin’s continued support for the Shell to Sea campaign and he singled Maura Harrington out for special mention: “In March last one of the fearless leaders of the “Shell to Sea” campaign, Maura Harrington, was imprisoned for 28 days in Mountjoy in connection with protest activities. Later on she served another two weeks and now she is appealing a further four months sentence and two three month sentences.

“All of this is a shameful indictment of the political culture of the 26-County state. She has been jailed because her fearless defence of the Irish people’s right to the ownership of their own natural resources, while those who have robbed and profited at the expense of the people escape with impunity and in many cases are rewarded from public monies.

“Maura Harrington’s imprisonment illustrates all that is wrong with modern Ireland and the political and economic system which underpins it. The 26-County state and its institutions have once more closed ranks to punish a woman whose alleged crime is to adhere faithfully to the 1916 Proclamation’s declaration of “the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland”. Ruairí Ó Brádaigh said. He went on to restate Republican Sinn Féin’s continued support for worker’s locked in a battle to defend their hard fought for rights.

He said that the election of Tomás Ó Curraoin to Galway Co Council in June signalled what could be achieved: “His outstanding success proves that Republican Sinn Féin candidates are electable -- it can be done -- but it requires hard work over time. Comhgháirdeachas ó chroí, a Thomáis”.

He said that democratic control of the banking system was the only effective means of dealing with the causes of the collapse of the economy. “Republican Sinn Féin advocates “finance and banking under public, democratic or social control” (SAOL NUA; Long-Term Policy). Banks should be nationalised, sorted out and then, rather than staying under state control or being sold to outside investors, be turned into mutuals. In other words, they would be controlled by their accountholders.

“The scope and extent of local community banking, like the Credit Unions, should be extended, so as to serve the needs of local people.” (SAOL NUA) Essentially the banks would become co-operatives, with one vote per person rather than per account. They would operate under a Trust Deed which would govern the basis on which the bank had to be run, with security a primary objective.” He said.

He also praised the youth of the Six Counties for their continued resistance to British rule: “For our part we compliment the Republican youth on their courage and daring. They have recognised British rule for what it is – the very same as it has been down the centuries. Having identified it, they have stepped forward to oppose it. Others – to their shame – have joined forces with the Brits; to cover their shame they have called faithful Republicans “traitors”.” Concluding he explained his reasons for stepping down as Uachtarán of Republican Sinn Féin and his future plans: “But anno Domini catches up with us all, eventually. My turn has come to step down as President. I do soon the grounds of age and health. I have given service in that role for 35 years, a first period of 13 and a second of 22. All in all I am in my 60th year as an active member of the Republican Movement. My first Ard-Fheis was in 1950 when Margaret Buckley gave her last Address as President.

“I intend to continue with my activity, both at local and at national level; today I am going forward for membership of the incoming Ard-Chomhairle.

“I have never found any difficulty in carrying out my duties and want to record my appreciation and thanks to all who worked with me down the years and over the decades.” He concluded to a standing ovation.

The incoming President addressed the Ard-Fheis in the afternoon following a presentation to Ruairí Ó Brádaigh. In his address Des Dalton said that he was humbled by the honour which the members of Republican Sinn Féin had bestowed on him by electing him President. He also said he was: “conscious also of the grave responsibility which has also been placed on me.”

He described Ruairí Ó Brádaigh as: “a pillar of this movement. His contribution to Irish Republicanism is immense and singular. Over the course of almost 60 years of involvement in the Republican Movement he has never shirked responsibility or leadership when it has been thrust on him.”

Des Dalton continued by saying it was not enough to be proud of the tradition inherited by Irish Republicans: “As inheritors of such a tradition, it brings with duties and responsibilities. Our duty is to bring about the realisation of the ideals which inspired all those who have gone before us. Ideals and a sense of duty which have inspired succeeding generations of Republicans to sacrifice their very all.

“The responsibility falls on each succeeding generation to take up and carry forward the torch of Irish freedom. It is not enough to say we are right but we must show it by our actions, our work and our commitment.” Des Dalton said.

Des Dalton said the attacks on British Crown forces this year: “tell us that the iron law of Irish history has not changed. While there is a British presence in Ireland it will be met with resistance.”

Des Dalton said that over the coming year Republican Sinn Féin will be carrying out a review of its ability as an organisation to take on the “challenges which face us and seizing the opportunities which lie ahead.”

He also set out Republican Sinn Féin’s involvement in struggling against imperialism in all of its forms –describing Globalisation as “the new imperialism of the 21st Century.” He stressed the importance of international solidarity in opposition to the common enemy of imperialism political, economic or cultural. “Our struggle against British imperialism is part of the international struggle against the same enemy.” Des Dalton said.

He concluded by saying that a strong united Republican Movement was the only vehicle which can deliver on the goal of a free Ireland and said that the warning given by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh in 1983 should be heeded. “A strong disciplined and united Republican Movement is the only vehicle which can deliver on the historic goal of a free Ireland. It must and can only be a unity based on the principles of Irish Republicanism. In 1983 when Ruairí Ó Brádaigh stood down as Uachtarán he warned “During my 14 years as head of Sinn Féin there were no splits or splinters – long may it remain so, as it will provided we stick to basic principles.”
They are words which we would do well to heed.

“We have much to be proud of – a noble tradition has been handed to us. We can only honour that tradition by endeavouring to fan the flame of Irish nationality. Ensuring it is not extinguished but rather in the words of Terence MacSwiney it can become a living flame ‘scorching up hypocrisy, deceit, meanness, and lighting all brave hearts to high hope and achievement’.”

Over the course of two days the Ard-Fheis discussed and passed resolutions covering areas such as Political and Social and Economic Policy. Political Prisoners, International Affairs, Organisation and Activities, as well as Education and Culture.

A rsolution from the Ard Chomhairle pledged: “Irrespective of the outcome of Lisbon this Ard-Fheis reiterates and upholds the right of the Irish people, acting as a unit, to bring about self-determination.” While a resolution from the Brugha/Sabhat Cumann, Limerick reaffirmed: “That Republican Sinn Féin reaffirm that they will accept nothing less than total British withdrawal.” Another resolution Roscommon Comhairle Ceantair pledged Republican Sinn Féin’s opposition to political extradition; “That this Ard-Fheis opposes extradition of Irish citizens at any time as the Free State, the British and Americans will use it against Republicans in the future as in the past.”

Resolutions extending greetings and solidarity to Republican prisoners were also passed as well continuing to campaign actively for the right of Republican prisoners to political status.

A resolution from the Joe Conway Cumann, Newry, Co Down called on Sinn Féin members to: “to join and to fully participate in the community, voluntary and trade union organisations in their local area, advancing wherever appropriate the principles of SAOL NUA.”
A resolution from the Ard Chomhairle declared: “greetings and solidarity to the Dublin port workers and all workers engaged in defence of the rights secured over the past 100 years of trade union struggle. We recognise that a war is being waged on the working people of Ireland and we pledge to place ourselves in the vanguard of that struggle.”

On Saturday morning a lively seminar took place on the Saturday morning of the Ard-Fheis. The seminar first heard from Andy Connolly who pressed the need to build the organisation on the ground. He stated that Fianna Fáil and the GAA were two organisations with massive numbers around the country and that Republican Sinn Féin should be trying to reach the same amounts of people. Once we have people we then must educate them to achieve the Republic. We must be visible and be seen to campaign as we did with the Lisbon Treaty. When people join this organisation they must be placed in positions to which they are suited.

Des Dalton spoke next. He pointed out that our own structures are often not working and that the work ethic from our own membership is sometimes not there. Des asserted that we cannot sit back and rest on our laurels but we should instead take stock of ourselves. Any review such as the SWOT analysis performed 5 years ago would be meaningless however unless we acted on it. Des was also adamant that we should interact with people on everyday issues to make Republicanism relevant to people in their everyday lives. We should be campaigning on a wide range of issues because revolutionary movements die if they remain static. We should put ourselves amongst the people in a bold, confident manner.

There were then several submissions from the floor of the hall. The general feeling of those in attendance was that Republican Sinn Féin should be more involved with communities than it currently was. It was pointed out that we are a revolutionary political organisation not a political party. One speaker felt that a radio programme such as Radio Free Éireann would be of great benefit in getting the Republican message across to the people. Delegates were reminded of the words of Connolly that “the cause of labour is the cause of Ireland and the cause of Ireland is the cause of labour.” We cannot divorce socialism from Republicanism. This was all important if we are to build the Republic.

The task before is to convince and win over the people towards revolutionary Republicanism and we can only do this if we are relevant.

Presidential Address by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh

Presidential Address by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh

Ard-Fheis 2009, Sunday, November 15, 2009

A Chathaoirligh, a Theachtaí is a cháirde go léir,

Fearaim Céad Míle Fáilte romhaibh ar fad ag an Árd-Fheis seo. You are all most welcome indeed to this, the 105th Ard-Fheis of Sinn Féin. The past year has been an active one; it began with the exposure to the real aims of Unionists and of the British Conservative Party, reckoned to return to power in Westminster next year.

Before Ian Paisley retired in 2008 after a ceremonial year as First Minister, he stated that he only signed up to power-sharing for a single four-year term of the Stormont Assembly.

At the DUP conference in November last year the leader Peter Robinson declared that the ending of power-sharing in Stormont and the imposition of majority Unionist rule was “unfinished business”.

Then on February 28 this year, Owen Paterson MP, British Tory Party Shadow Secretary of State for the Six Counties, spoke out on BBC Radio Ulster’s Inside Politics programme. The Conservative Party’s spokesperson said, “We would like to move towards voluntary coalition”.

This would be a “more normal democratic arrangement”. The key point is that the Six-County state is neither normal nor democratic. It is a gerrymandered artificially-created statelet, the very existence of which is a denial of All-Ireland democracy.

The Tory spokesperson was in the Six Counties to formalise a link-up with the Ulster Unionist Party. The UUP leader, Reg Empey – a minister in the Stormont Executive – said he agreed with Paterson.

“The current system was necessary to get everyone on board and get ‘government’ established As we mature we ought to be able to evolve the structures…” he said. In plain language these were stepping stones back to the old Stormont.

The British Conservative Party is likely to win the next election, due by May 2010, in England. Both Unionist parties in the Occupied area agree with the Tories that what is wanted is a return to the “majority-rule” Stormont. This does not bode well for the Nationalist people in the Six Counties.

Then on December 19 last the Irish language newspaper Lá Nua published its last edition. The only daily paper ever in Irish fell a victim to the Provisionals' appeasement of the DUP when its subsidy was cut off with the consent of those former Republicans.

Dúirt Conchúr ó Liatháin - a bhiodh ina eagarthóir ar Lá Nua – go mbíodh an páipéar go cáinteach in-aghaidh na Sealadach de bhrigh nar comhlíonadar a gcuid gealtanas i leith na Gaeilge.

Tá sé ar eolas le fada nach raibh na Sealadaigh sásta glacadh le cáineadh ar bith taobh istigh den phobal Náisiúnach. Sampla den dearcadh díoltasach seo abea gearradh siar ar thacaíocht airgid do Lá Nua, rud a chuir deire leis an bpáipéar.

Taispeánann an chríoch a chuireadh le Lá Nua agus an teip ar Acht le Gaeilge a gealladh le fada cé comh mór is a ghéill na Sealadaigh do chlár oibre an DUP.

Cruthaíonn an dá gníomh seo go bhfuil said sásta an Ghaeilge féin a íobairt mar luach ar fhanacht taobh istigh de Choiste Feidhmiúcháin Stormont.

Bhí Lá Nua an ón mbliain 1984. Is cuma cé’n dearcadh a bhí ag an bpáipéar i leith cúrsaí reatha agus cúrsaí an t-saoil i gcoitinne, ní raibh sé ag déanamh bollscaireachta do dhream polaitiúil ar bith.

Bhí ceathrar ball den Ghluaiseacht Sealadach ar an gcoiste a rinne an t-airgead a roinnt. Nuair a tháinig cás Lá Nua ós coir an choiste, shuí an ceatrar “ar a lámha” is níor oscail said a mbéil.

Ba mhór an náire agus an scannal dóibh a leithéid a dhéanamh – lámh a chur i mbás Lá Nua. Ní maithfear dóibh an peaca náisiúnta sin.

In a matter of days subsequent to last Christmas, Republican Sinn Féin spoke out against the Israeli attacks on the population of Gaza. These attacks, the statement said, were “the culmination of the internment of 1.5 million people by Israel” for a year and a half coupled with the rationing of essential services such as water, electricity and medical supplies.

Such action was contrary to international law, for example, the Geneva Convention of 1949 on the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. These crimes were connived at by US and British governments and the EU and aided by the total inaction of many of the international community of states.

Irish Republicans once again supported the right of the Palestinian people to national freedom and sovereignty in a viable Palestinian state. We viewed this as an essential first step in the process of bringing about a just and lasting settlement in the entire Middle East region.

We called for support of the protests at the Israeli and US embassies in Dublin. Our monthly picket in O’Connell St., Dublin in aid of political status for Republican prisoners was suspended so that our members and supporters could join the protest for the people of Gaza on January10 at the Central Bank.

Similarly, Republican Sinn Féin sent greetings “to the valiant people of Cuba” on the 50th anniversary of the success of their revolution.

“Despite all the tyrannical efforts to encircle you and isolate you”, the message said, “you have survived and won the admiration and applause of freedom-loving peoples throughout the world. Your achievements during that time in education, in medicine and in health services are the envy of many countries. You have also maintained Cuban sovereignty against all outside threats”.

January 2009 was also the 90th anniversary of the setting up of the First (All-Ireland) Dáil. The difference between the Black and Tan War and earlier periods of struggle was that in 1919-21 the liberation movement took over the machinery of government.

In other words, having won the overwhelming support of the Irish people, Sinn Féin proceeded to organise an alternative Irish government. This was to be a headline for other national liberation movements throughout the world.

Faithful Republicans today would agree with Dorothy Macardle in her book, The Irish Republic. She wrote: “For Irish Republicans what had been done on that day (January 21, 1919) was an act as grave as was the Declaration of Independence in the United States for the American people – an act from which the nation could not withdraw”.

Republican Sinn Féin commemorated the First Dáil fittingly in the centre of Dublin. Similarly, Fíanna Éireann commemorated the centenary of its founding in 1909 by Countess Markievicz and Bulmer Hobson.

A parade marched from St Stephen’s Green to 34 Lower Camden Street, Dublin – the location of the hall where the scout movement was constituted as an Irish national alternative to the British Baden-Powell scouts.

Meanwhile the process of normalising English rule in Ireland proceeds in the teeth of organised opposition. The playing of Gaelic football matches between 26-County police/army teams and teams representing British forces, British royal visits, so-called courtesy visits by British naval vessels to 26-County ports, the erection of memorials to British soldiers are all part of this process.

Such events are highly publicised, especially after the occasion while opposition by Republican Sinn Féin and others is blacked out. A gratuitous insult to the people of Ireland and the unity of Ireland was the decision of the Tyrone Co Board GAA, to bring the senior and minor football All-Ireland trophies, the Sam Maguire and Tommy Markham cups into Stormont on February 6.

To do so was to hijack two symbols of the essential unity of the Irish nation in order to lend credibility to a prop of British rule here and of the partition of Ireland.

But Ireland is a word that must not be mentioned in the course of the sell-out. It is now “politically correct” to call the 26 Counties Ireland, while the Six Occupied Counties must be called “Northern Ireland”, another place entirely which belongs to England. So a British Act of Parliament in 1920 said when it named it.

The two parts when taken together, we are told make up “the island” with nothing in common except geography. And so we have “All-Island Schools choral competition”. How long will it be until the GAA sponsors the “All-Island” football and hurling finals”?

Shame on those who would deny what we are, because a British Act of Parliament says so! And don’t think that such reneging on principle impresses the Unionists. They have no respect for persons who deny what they are supposed to believe in.

Interviewed on BBC Radio One “Andrew Marr Show” on March 9 last year, Mr Paisley said: “I did smash them (the Provos) because I took away their main plank. Their main plank was that they would not recognise the British government (in Ireland)”.

He went on: “Now they are in part of the British government. They can’t be true Republicans when they now accept the right of Britain to govern this country and take part in that government”.

For more than 20 years Republican Sinn Féin has been warning that the lessons of Irish history have been that as long as the English government and British occupation troops remain in Ireland there will be Irish people to oppose their presence here.

In the first week of March, Hugh Orde, the head of the RUC/PSNI, announced that undercover British troops were being brought back into this country. Some days later casualties were inflicted on the British occupation forces. Republican Sinn Féin noted that “while everyone regretted loss of life, the hard realities of the situation in Ireland must be faced”.

Harassment and repression of people in several areas and particularly in Lurgan, North Armagh followed. The RUC/PSNI continually exerted pressure on the weaker members of the community in their attempts to turn them into informers.

At the end of April a young man on bail on a charge of hijacking revoked the bail himself and went voluntarily into Maghaberry Jail where he feels the British police would no longer be able to pressurise him.

The President of Republican Sinn Féin went into Lurgan at Easter and spoke at the Annual 1916 Commemoration there. The event was highly successful and showed that the people were not cowed by the tactics of the British.

Two weeks earlier, the RUC/PSNI hijacked the website of the local Thomas Harte Cumann and used it to attempt to gather information on visitors to the site who would leave contact details. An Ard Oifig immediately advised people to avoid the site and regard it as an intelligence gathering tool of the British.

In a statement to the media on May 8 the Thomas Harte Cumann listed tactics being employed by RUC/PSNI. It continued: “the British propaganda machine is in full flow as it attempts to demonise those who oppose them. Republicans are accused of everything from drugs to running brothels”. (International Monitoring Commission report).

The Lurgan statement went on: “No member of Republican Sinn Féin is or has been engaged in any of these activities and the editor of the Irish News who is from Lurgan is well aware of this. Our aim has always been to free our country from British rule and to build a better country for us all. Our policy is EIRE NUA a New Ireland of 32 Counties where we can all live in peace.

“No part of our beliefs allows anyone belonging to the Republican Movement to engage in the activities the British and their supports suggest”. The statement concluded: “The Republican people of North Armagh stand firm behind the POWs and the Republican Movement”.

And the process of denigration continues. A new head of the RUC/PSNI arrived from England at the end of September. The Irish News of September 30 reported Chief Constable Matt Baggott speaking to the media in Dublin where he held a two-hour meeting with the head of the 26-County police.

He said that he would treat dissident (sic) Republican groups as criminal gangs. “It’s a huge mistake, I think, to see terrorism as isolated from criminality. I think it’s very helpful to see it as a criminal enterprise”.

Of course, once the British propaganda line is dictated it will be avidly repeated on every available occasion by the 26-County establishment, politicians, police, crime reporters, etc. It was stated on RTÉ television talk-show, for instance, during April that, “the Continuity IRA” provided ceremonial honours at the funeral of a Limerick gang member who met a violent end. On inquiry in Limerick this was found to be a blatant lie. The alleged “honours” must have been invisible.

In March last one of the fearless leaders of the “Shell to Sea” campaign, Maura Harrington, was imprisoned for 28 days in Mountjoy in connection with protest activities. Later on she served another two weeks and now she is appealing a further four months sentence and two three month sentences.

All of this is a shameful indictment of the political culture of the 26-County state. She has been jailed because her fearless defence of the Irish people’s right to the ownership of their own natural resources, while those who have robbed and profited at the expense of the people escape with impunity and in many cases are rewarded from public monies.

Maura Harrington’s imprisonment illustrates all that is wrong with modern Ireland and the political and economic system which underpins it. The 26-County state and its institutions have once more closed ranks to punish a woman whose alleged crime is to adhere faithfully to the 1916 Proclamation’s declaration of “the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland”.

The direction of the judge in her case that she “undergo psychiatric assessment” is reminiscent of the methods employed by totalitarian regimes the world over to suppress political dissent. Republican Sinn Féin extends our solidarity to Maura Harrington and the Shell to Sea campaign and we pledge our continued and active support.

We supported the Waterford Crystal workers in February with their ongoing sit in. They led the way, sending out a clear message throughout Ireland and internationally that workers were not prepared simply to roll over and allow their livelihoods to be taken away.

We called in April for unity of purpose among people. Workers must not allow themselves to be divided, public sector against private sector, employed versus unemployed or old versus young. Solidarity of workers was essential, we said in September, if the ongoing attacks on their rights, pay and conditions were to be resisted.

The Dublin Port Dockers at Marine Terminals, the Coca Cola workers and Green Isle workers were but the latest examples, following on the Thomas Cooke workers in August, where the recession was being used to create an environment in which to roll back the hard fought gains secured over the last 100 years of Trade Union struggle.

Indeed this year of 2009 marks the centenary of the foundation of the ITGWU now named SIPTU, the largest trade union in Ireland. Republican Sinn Féin was proud to have its Vice-President, Des Dalton, present as a delegate at the SIPTU centenary national conference in Tralee, Co Kerry during October. We are also pleased to note that he delivered an address to that historic conference.

In June Republican Sinn Féin contested the local council elections in the 26 counties. We put forward nine candidates over seven counties. Much energy and our limited resources were expended in promoting the Republican ideal especially over the months leading up to the election.

The Ard-Chomhairle congratulates all who took part in support of our candidates. Scenes of great jubilation took place in Galway at the victory of Tomás Ó Curraoin when he took the sixth seat out of seven for the Conamara area on Galway Co Council.

The accumulation of 2,050 votes from a huge constituency reaching from Lough Corrib west to the Atlantic did not come easily. They were gathered by hard work on the ground over a prolonged period of time. Tomás had contested the Co Council four times and Udarás Na Gaeltachta on three occasions – steadily increasing his vote each time.

The economic recession affected him and he was able to work full-time for the last year. Over the years he rejected all blandishments and approaches to stand as an Independent, saying he would never have been a candidate except that he wanted to advance the Republican Movement.

His outstanding success proves that Republican Sinn Féin candidates are electable -- it can be done -- but it requires hard work over time. Comhgháirdeachas ó chroí, a Thomáis

Chruthaigh tú thar bárr, mar adúirt na póstaerí ar an mbealach siar ar bhóthar Chois-Fharraige. He had help from Mayo, Roscommon and Westmeath - areas that did not contest themselves.

Where we did contest we had good candidates and good issues. Our weakness was in organisation and in many cases being late in the field. We must use the lessons learned for the next 26-County local elections in 2014 and – provided no obstacles are put in our way – in the 2011 Six County local elections. But we must also take a longer term view, developing and expanding Republican Sinn Féin over the next five to ten years.

With this in mind it is important that we recognise that local elections are a key tool in developing our movement. It is by campaigning at a local level, identifying ourselves with issues that matter to people in their everyday lives, be it employment, housing, the environment, health or education, that we make Republican Sinn Féin relevant to the Irish people.

Doing so is the most practical and effective way to build a mass movement of people capable of ending English rule in Ireland which is, of course, our ultimate objective. In several areas there was a complete black-out on our candidates by the media, both newspapers and local radio. We must work to overcome this, as a priority.

In this connection the most complete censorship of our point of view was in the autumn, in the matter of the Lisbon referendum. With the exception of two news reports in the Irish Times and one on Raidió na Gaeltachta we got no coverage whatever in the daily or Sunday papers or on radio or television.

Our six-week campaign against the turning of the EU into a new United States of Europe began in August with a public statement and the production of 40,000 leaflets and 1,200 large posters.

In early September Vice-President Des Dalton followed up on his March visit to Italy with an anti-Lisbon visit to Austria where he spoke at a large public meeting in Vienna and briefed the Austrian media.

Among the speakers there was Professor Karl A Schachtschneider, former Professor of Law at Nuremberg University, Germany. The Professor took the famous legal challenge to the Lisbon Treaty at the German Federal Constitutional Court which delayed German ratification of that treaty.

Arising out of the contact made in Vienna Professor Schachtschneider along with Inge Rauscher of the campaigning group Wegwarte (Home, Nation, Environment) led a party of five people from Germany and Austria to Ireland in September. They took part in a press conference in Dublin and in public meetings in Dublin and Galway.

They sought to contribute to the No to Lisbon campaign and paid the expenses of their entire trip themselves. We here today appreciate and are gratified by their practical expression of international solidarity. Question and answer sessions followed both public meetings and the Dublin event was covered by Swedish Television which also interviewed Des Dalton, chairperson for the night.

The result of the Lisbon referendum in the 26 Counties makes for further integration into the EU, that is more power to Brussels and less power in Ireland. The current economic recession was harnessed by the Yes advocates to stir up the fears of the people. Massive resources were deployed at home and abroad and false promises made of “jobs” and “recovery” by simply voting Yes.

The reason for such a massive swing in sixteen months towards the Yes side was the fear about the economy and the doubling of unemployment since the first Lisbon referendum. A major contributory factor to the boom and the corruption which accompanied it was the handing over of control of interest rates and exchange rates to the EU.

The entire print media and the electronic media were unashamedly pro-Treaty in a vote which was not about EU membership. Like the notorious Act of Union which abolished the colonial Irish parliament in Dublin, the Lisbon Treaty had to be put twice in order to get it passed.

Will those who promoted Yes now deliver on their promises of “jobs” and “recovery”? And will the compliant media hold them to their commitments? In particular Republican Sinn Féin members and supporters who worked hard to oppose this tightening of the EU grip on Ireland are to be complimented, as is our European representative on the continent.

Meanwhile the recession bites deeper and the cut backs on ordinary people ensure that those who abused the system – the reckless bankers, the greedy developers, the grasping speculators in tow with the corrupt politicians – are not being made pay for their wrongdoing.

This year, next year, and the year after – we are told – €4 billion must be sweated each year from working people, all the while unemployment rises higher, and still higher. The gains made over the years have been threatened with clawbacks, and trade union membership, while extensive in the public service is reported to be only 20% in private employment. Failure to join may well be regretted at present, but even more so in time to come.

While the banks are to be bailed out by the so-called National Assets Management Agency, known as NAMA, using the people’s money, no mercy is to be shown to the families who find themselves in difficulty with their mortgages. Repossession of their homes is becoming more and more common. At present 200,000 out of 600,000 find themselves in negative equity, that is their houses are now valued at less than what they owe on mortgages.

In the United States familiar names such as Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae and Lehmann Brothers on Wall Street have crashed. Ireland’s world famous Waterford Crystal is now located in the Czech Republic and in Indonesia. One big bluff created by easy credit has led to disaster. Devaluation cannot be carried out because the currency of the 26-County state is tied hand and foot to the Euro.

Republican Sinn Féin advocates “finance and banking under public, democratic or social control” (SAOL NUA; Long-Term Policy). Banks should be nationalised, sorted out and then, rather than staying under state control or being sold to outside investors, be turned into mutuals. In other words, they would be controlled by their accountholders.

“The scope and extent of local community banking, like the Credit Unions, should be extended, so as to serve the needs of local people.” (SAOL NUA) Essentially the banks would become co-operatives, with one vote per person rather than per account. They would operate under a Trust Deed which would govern the basis on which the bank had to be run, with security a primary objective.

Any surplus would be retained. The holders of voting rights would not be the owners, as ownership would still be vested in the State, although the State itself would not have the right to sell the banks either. There would be advantages in splitting each of the big banks into smaller units, e.g. on geographic lines. Foreign operations would be sold off for the benefit of members of the bank or of the state before the reorganisation.

However the Trust Deed would need to be drafted in such a manner as to prevent a repetition of past mistakes. Two banks established by the 26-County State, the Agricultural Credit Corporation (ACC) and the Industrial Credit Company were both sold off into private hands even though they had operated successfully for many decades.

Similarly, two existing mutuals, the Educational Building Society (EBS) and Irish Nationwide, were not adequately controlled by their members and were damaged by the property crash. Both instances prove the necessity for formulating terms which preclude privatisation and make for solid restraint by participating members.

All of this must be viewed against a background reality of the second highest level of personal indebtedness in the EU. To rebuild the failed institutions on the same model as before is to invite a repetition of the catastrophe we are now experiencing.

We send greetings from all at this Ard-Fheis to the Republican prisoners in Maghaberry Prison, Co Antrim and in Portlaoise Jail. We salute them and pledge ourselves to continue to support their dependant families. We shall carry on with our campaigns on their behalf.

Even as the new head of the RUC/PSNI visits Dublin with a fresh briefing from the English government for the 26-County police, the Republican youth have been on the streets of the Six Occupied Counties defending their communities and resisting British rule here.

As reported in the Irish News, Belfast on September 30 last, Mr Baggot said in Dublin that “he would adopt a two-pronged approval” to the “substantial threat” being directed “at Northern Ireland” (sic): “building on support for the PSNI from the community while strengthening cooperation with the Garda”.

The report went on: “The new chief constable said it was a mark of the importance he placed on collaboration with the Garda that he had made his first official visit to Dublin on his second week in the job”.

But back in the Six Counties the Republican youth were out in Derry, Belfast, Armagh and other centres, while meetings of the so-called District Policing Partnership in Dungiven and other places were met with lively and noisy pickets and protests.

The appointment of Matthew Baggott, who as head of the Leicestershire Constabulary in England oversaw the introduction of plastic bullets in 2003, and last year championed the use of 90-day detention without charge or trial, signals the intent of the British government and their satellite at Stormont to bring in whatever repressive measures are required to prop up English rule and the partition of Ireland.

For our part we compliment the Republican youth on their courage and daring. They have recognised British rule for what it is – the very same as it has been down the centuries. Having identified it, they have stepped forward to oppose it. Others – to their shame – have joined forces with the Brits; to cover their shame they have called faithful Republicans “traitors”.

But anno Domini catches up with us all, eventually. My turn has come to step down as President. I do soon the grounds of age and health. I have given service in that role for 35 years, a first period of 13 and a second of 22. All in all I am in my 60th year as an active member of the Republican Movement. My first Ard-Fheis was in 1950 when Margaret Buckley gave her last Address as President.

I intend to continue with my activity, both at local and at national level; today I am going forward for membership of the incoming Ard-Chomhairle.

I have never found any difficulty in carrying out my duties and want to record my appreciation and thanks to all who worked with me down the years and over the decades.

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

Victory to the Irish people.

An Phoblacht Abú.

Address by new President of Republican Sinn Féin

Address by
new President of Republican Sinn Féin, Des Dalton
to Ard-Fheis, Sunday November 11, 2009

A Chathaoirleach, a theachtaí

I stand before you humbled by the great honour which you my fellow Irish Republicans have bestowed on me. I am conscious also of the grave responsibility which has also been placed on me.

One has only to look to the names of those who have occupied this office to realise that the office to which you the delegates of Sinn Féin have elected me is a sacred trust and one which is not to be taken up lightly.

Those names ring down the ages to us today, Seán Ó Ceallaigh (Sceilg), Brian O’Higgins, Fr Michael O’Flanagan Cathal Ó Murchadha, Margaret Buckley, Padraig McLogan, Tomás Ó Dubhghaill. They are names and people bound together by a common thread of unswerving loyalty, commitment and an overriding sense of duty to the All-Ireland Republic. One also bound by that same thread and imbued with the same qualities of loyalty, commitment and duty is Ruairí Ó Brádaigh.

Ruairí Ó Brádaigh is a pillar of this movement. His contribution to Irish Republicanism is immense and singular. Over the course of almost 60 years of involvement in the Republican Movement he has never shirked responsibility or leadership when it has been thrust on him. Serving as Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army, elected a Teachta Dala (serving the people of Longford/Westmeath) and as President of Sinn Féin.

In the past forty years this movement has faced two critical junctures when the fate of revolutionary Irish Republicanism lay in the balance. On both occasions – in 1969/70 and 1986 - Ruairí Ó Brádaigh along with his close friend and comrade Dáithí Ó Conaill provided the leadership which stemmed the tide of reformism which threatened to engulf our movement.

Both men tower over any history of Irish Republicanism in the latter half of the 20th Century. EIRE NUA - which was the fruit of their labour - was the first time that a serious effort was made to reach out to all sections of the Irish nation. It lays the basis as it still does today for an All-Ireland Republic. A Republic which would unite Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter in a common allegiance to the historic Irish nation. Making a reality of the dream of Tone, Emmet and Davis.

Today Ruairí Ó Brádaigh’s gifts of leadership, intellect and eloquence are a prized asset of Sinn Féin and the Republican Movement. In the introduction to his scholarly biography of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, Professor Robert W. White writes: “ Ó Brádaigh’s life is a window for understanding his generation of Irish Republicans and how they received the values of a previous generation and are transmitting those values to the next generation.” Ruairí Ó Brádaigh is not last Irish Republican, or one of the last but rather by his life’s work has ensured that the spirit and values of revolutionary Irish Republicanism live on into the 21st Century.

I would also like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the other person who allowed his name to go forward for nomination as Uachtarán of Sinn Féin. Like Ruairí Ó Bradaigh, Des Long is a person who has for the past 50 years played a central role in the Republican Movement. Also like Ruairí Ó Brádaigh on the two occasions this Movement was in danger of being hijacked by a reformist leadership Des Long did not shirk his responsibility to safeguard the ideals of our Movement.

As Irish Republicans we are rightly proud of our history of unbroken resistance to British rule in Ireland. We are inheritors of a revolutionary tradition which stretches back through 218 years of Irish history. We are members of the oldest revolutionary movement in the world. We have every right to be proud! A true continuity of struggle.

But it is not enough to know all of this. As inheritors of such a tradition, it brings with duties and responsibilities. Our duty is to bring about the realisation of the ideals which inspired all those who have gone before us. Ideals and a sense of duty which have inspired succeeding generations of Republicans to sacrifice their very all.

The responsibility falls on each succeeding generation to take up and carry forward the torch of Irish freedom. It is not enough to say we are right but we must show it by our actions, our work and our commitment.

Speaking at Bodenstown in 1989 Dáithí Ó Conaill defined the role a cohesive Republican Movement can play: “The Movement then fulfilled its true role; it was the catalyst for the progressive forces of this country and abroad who desired the establishment of a sovereign, democratic, socialist Republic.”

Today we must live up to this role – the Republican Movement must become the catalyst for all the progressive forces in Ireland; political, social and economic.

Today more than ever clear thinking, leadership and a programme of action are required, providing a focal point of resistance to that section of the Irish people who will never accept British rule in Ireland.

The attacks on British Crown forces this year tell us that the iron law of Irish history has not changed. While there is a British presence in Ireland it will be met with resistance.

We in Sinn Féin are the only political organisation capable of providing the leadership and direction which is demanded by the conditions of today. Our platform is one of solid and unequivocal Irish Republicanism. Other groups and organisations outside of the Republican Movement may claim to hold this ground but Republican Sinn Féin is the only political organisation to uphold the right of Irish people –acting as a unit –to national independence.

Sinn Féin is the only political organisation which rejects both partitionist states in Ireland and their respective assemblies. Sinn Féin is the only political organisation with policies capable of delivering a New Ireland for all of the Irish people. EIRE NUA and SAOL NUA.

Yesterday we passed a motion directing that a review of our organisation is carried out in the coming year to ensure Sinn Féin is capable of taking on the challenges which face us and seizing the opportunities which lie ahead.

As President I intend to drive this process forward. But the task of building and developing our movement is not one for the leadership alone. On the contrary it is the duty and responsibility of each and every member of Sinn Féin to play their part to the full in carrying out this essential work.

Over the coming year as was discussed in the seminar yesterday morning, we must look at how our organisation functions on the ground, we must look at how we carry out our work from cumainn level up to the Ard Chomhairle.

We must ask basic questions of ourselves, as an organisation and as members. How effective are we in building and promoting Sinn Féin not only at national level but in our own cities, our towns, villages and communities? Do people in the area in which I live know that we exist? That we have a functioning cumann? Do we utilise to the full all the forms of media available to us such as the internet, local media etc? Are we reluctant to face the public?

Sinn Féin’s strength has always been that we are of the people, that we have involved ourselves in the struggles of ordinary working people. Yesterday we passed a motion which calls on our members to “join and fully participate in the community, voluntary and trade union organisations in their local area, advancing wherever appropriate the principles of SAOL NUA.”

Our constitution sets this out as one of the means by which we achieve our objects: “Through local Sinn Féin members establishing themselves in their local community on local issues, thereby gaining the confidence of those involved in local affairs.” It is only by doing this, going out among the Irish people can we become relevant and can we make Irish Republicanism relevant to the mass of the people.

Membership of Sinn Fein is an honour, we are part of something which is greater than each and every one us. But it is not enough to take pride in who are and what we represent, we must also bring to our task, hard work, commitment, discipline, and a sense of purpose and even more hard work The very qualities which have ensured the unbroken continuity of Republicanism for over 200 years.

This is what is required if we are serious about our goal of “organising the Irish people into a united and disciplined movement for the restoration of the Republic”.

Today Ruairí gave his usual excellent and comprehensive review and analysis of the past 12 months and the challenges which face us in the coming year. In the Six Counties we see the institutions of British rule being bedded down. The DUP have stated clearly that they along with a new British Tory government intend to return to Unionist majority rule in Stormont.

In the recent debate on the transfer of British policing powers to Stormont they have loaded yet further preconditions, setting further hurdles that the Provos willl have to jump to be given the privilege of administering British rule in Ireland. This includes the imposition of sectarian and triumphilist Orange marches on the nationalist people of the Six Counties.

Following the attacks on British Crown forces the Provisionals experienced what the journalist Ed Maloney described as their “Four Courts” moment. In other words reality caught up with them. Posturing and weasel words could no longer hide the fact that they had now thrown in their lot with the British government – lining up against that section of the Irish people who refuse to accept British occupation of their country.

Irish history is a cycle of armed resistance followed by coercion and attempts constitutionally to square the circle of British occupation and Irish democracy. It is a circle which can never be squared because British rule denies the exercise of true All-Ireland democracy. That is the right of the people of Ireland acting as a unit to national self-determination.

The only way to break the cycle of Irish history is to end British rule in Ireland once and for all. A public declaration of intent by the British government to withdraw from Ireland would create the dynamic for all of the Irish people to build a New Ireland. Our proposals EIRE NUA provide the blueprint to make this a reality.

The agenda of normalising British rule in Ireland goes on and Republican Sinn Féin must remain at the forefront in resisting all attempts to normalise what is the illegal partition and occupation of our country. Any attempt to bring the Queen of England to any part of Ireland will be met with opposition led by Republican Sinn Féin.

James Connolly famously declared that “Ireland without her people means nothing to me”. Whilst ending British rule in Ireland is our core objective we also recognise that merely opposing British military occupation of our nation is not enough. We must oppose imperialism in all its forms.

For that reason Republicans are to be found in the Trade Union movement defending and fighting for proper pay and conditions for all workers, opposing the use of Irish airports or airspace by US warplanes, waging a war of conquest on the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. Opposing the creation of an undemocratic and militarised EU superstate - as we have done in the two referenda on Lisbon and each referenda since original decision to join the then EEC.

The Czech Republic’s ratification of the Lisbon Treaty on November 3, paving the way for its adoption as EU law does not mark the end of history. The principles of upon which the campaign against the Lisbon Treaty was fought are timeless and will hold true as long as the human race exists.

The fight for real political and economic democracy both within and between states must go on. The struggle against imperialism in Ireland is part of the wider international struggle for human progress, freedom and democracy.

Almost 100 years after the First World War, is yet another generation of Irish people to be sacrificed on foreign battlefields in the interests of European capitalism and imperialism? Connolly defined participation in that war as “to slaughter our comrades abroad at the dictate of our enemies at home”. To those who wished to fight he urged: “ If ever you shoulder a rifle, let it be for Ireland”. Like so much of what Connolly had to say, both statements hold true today as they did almost a century ago.

The struggle for a free Ireland also involves standing shoulder to shoulder with the people of Rosspost and Erris in opposing the theft of our natural resources by global capitalism, with the active collusion of the Dublin administration. We applaud the actions of Maura Harington and her community in defending the rights of all of the Irish people to the ownership of our natural resources.

The struggle for a free Ireland also means joining battle on the side of the working people of Ireland against the political and financial elite who are intent to use the current economic collapse to roll back the hard fought for rights of working men and women. It is a war which is being fought on a global scale –the same forces attacking workers in Ireland murder trade unionists and political activists in Columbia, use child labour to maximise profits in India and the Far East. Globalisation is the new imperialism of the 21st Century.

Its goal is the control of resources and markets, the maximisation of profits by the wealthy northern hemisphere, whatever the cost in terms of people or the environment. Its logic is to build a world where the most vulnerable are exploited and used to set one section of the working class against the other.
Our struggle against British imperialism is part of the international struggle against the same enemy. This is evidenced by the greetings read to us yesterday from solidarity groups and national liberation movements. Irish Republicans have for long forged solidarity links abroad.

In the Basque Country, links were established from the early 1970s, Catalonia, Corsica amongst others. Of course relations were also established with our sister Celtic countries in Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany, the goal of a league of free and independent Celtic nations is one which Irish Republicans would aspire to.

Our solidarity with the people of Palestine in the long fight for national freedom remains strong and we salute the bravery of the people of Palestine and particularly Gaza who are interned by the Israeli state, deprived of essential medicines and even clean drinking water.

The work of developing such contacts remains vital and the work of our International Relations Bureau is to be commended. This work must be maintained and indeed stepped up. Just as imperialism is a global enemy an international network of solidarity is essential in opposing it.

So entering our second century the tasks and forces facing us are daunting. Building a strong vibrant revolutionary political organisation to meet those challenges is the task which must be taken up by the incoming leadership and by each and every member.

A strong disciplined and united Republican Movement is the only vehicle which can deliver on the historic goal of a free Ireland. It must and can only be a unity based on the principles of Irish Republicanism. In 1983 when Ruairí Ó Brádaigh stood down as Uachtarán he warned “During my 14 years as head of Sinn Féin there were no splits or splinters – long may it remain so, as it will provided we stick to basic principles.”
They are words which we would do well to heed.

We have much to be proud of – a noble tradition has been handed to us. We can only honour that tradition by endeavouring to fan the flame of Irish nationality. Ensuring it is not extinguished but rather in the words of Terence MacSwiney it can become a living flame ‘scorching up hypocrisy, deceit, meanness, and lighting all brave hearts to high hope and achievement’.

Onwards to the Republic
An Poblacht Abú

New President Elected

Des Dalton from Athy, Co. Kildare has been elected as the incoming President of Sinn Féin. He replaces veteren Republican Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, who has been affirmed as the Patron of the organisation.

He has been a member of Sinn Féin since 1989, and has served many years as a member of An Ard-Chomhairle (National Executive). Des has been a Vice-President of Sinn Féin since 2003.

The 2004 and 2009 elections for Athy Town Council were contested by Des Dalton on behalf of Republican Sinn Féin. He has also represented the organisation throughout Europe during the course of the past eight years.

Des Dalton is also the Vice-President of the Athy branch of Siptu and a member of Cumann Lúthchleas Gael (the Gaelic Athletic Association).

OECD signals point of attack

Statement by the Vice President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton

The OECD report on the 26 Counties signals that the point of attack for the political and financial elite will be public services and the most vulnerable in society. The report is a clear signal that workers, the unemployed, the sick, the elderly and the young will be those expected to bear the cost of propping up a corrupt and failed banking and economic system.

Working people are under attack and must act accordingly. Solidarity and mobilisation is required to drive the message home that people are not willing to accept such a barbaric attack on wages, pensions and benefits. Those who benefited least from the so-called ‘Celtic Tiger’ are those expected now to suffer the most. The orthodoxy of the political establishment is that services - which are the bench-mark of a civilised society - will be sacrificed in order to protect the bankers, the builders and the bosses.

Attacks on education, health, social services for the elderly, the disabled and the marginalised etc will leave a scar not only on this but on future generations.

Revolutionary change will not simply happen, we must make it happen. Republican Sinn Féin is calling on people to come out and support the ICTU day of action on November 6.

Struggle goes on after Lisbon

Statement by the Vice President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton

The Czech Republic’s ratification of the Lisbon Treaty on November 3, paving the way for its adoption as EU law does not mark the end of history. The principles of upon which the campaign against the Lisbon Treaty was fought are timeless and will hold true as long as the human race exists.

The fight for real political and economic democracy both within and between states must go on. The struggle against imperialism in Ireland is part of the wider international struggle for human progress, freedom and democracy.

The forces we face have rarely been more formidable but the ideals which inform our activism and struggle have never been more relevant or needed.

Frank Driver Commemoration

On Sunday November 8 the Frank Driver Cumann, North Kildare, of Republican Sinn Féin will be holding its annual Frank Driver commemoration in Ballymore Eustace, Co Kildare.

Those taking part will assemble at 12.45pm opposite Driver’s cottage in Ballymore Eustace and parade from there to the cemetery.

Leinster Leader, Saturday 14 November 1981:
Frank Driver Passes into Legend

Staunch, lifelong republican, Frank Driver of Ballymore Eustace, who died last week, was given a funeral on Saturday which will live on in memory.

Frank, who had been in poor health in recent years, was in his late seventies. His whole life was devoted to the movement, and his last big public occasion was in June when he laid the Provisional Sinn Féin wreath at Bodenstown.

A most notable feature of his funeral was the presence of over 100 Gardai and detectives including members of the Special Branch. Some took up duty on all approach roads, and scores flanked the cortege and later encircled the hillside cemetery where he was laid to rest.

The late Mr. Driver was a life Vice-President and former member of the Provisional Sinn Féin Árd Comhairle and a former internee at Newbridge and Curragh. The internment followed Mass in irish concelebrated by three priests, Rev. John Dunphy, C.C Ballymore Eustace; Rev. Myles Christy, Francis Street Church, Dublin, formerly of Ballymore and National H-Blocks Committee Chairman, Rev. P. Ó Duill. Peace and justice were highlights of a brief eulogy by Fr. Dunphy.

Five men and two women in black garb flanked the Tricolour draped coffin during the Mass and a lone piper (Jack O’Connor) walked ahead of the cortege playing laments. The coffin was borne over half a mile on the shoulders of Sinn Féin colleagues and friends. Outside his humble home near the church it halted for a brief period as a mark of respect.

The huge Gardai force was directed by Chief Supt. James Murphy from H.Q. in the local station, and only on occasions of Cabinet meetings in nearby Barrettstown Castle has the village seen so much activity and official transport in use.

The attendance included Ruari Ó Brádaigh, President of Provisional Sinn Féin, Daithi ÓConaill, Joe Cahill, Richard Behal, Joe O’Neill, and the former Fianna Fáil Minister, Kevin Boland.

In an oration in Irish and English at the graveside, where prayers were recited in Irish by Fr. Dunphy, assisted by Fr. Christy, Mr. Ó Brádaigh touched on highlights of Mr. Driver’s devotion to the cause of republicanism and described him as a lodestone to whom all supporters could gravitate.