RUC/PSNI attempt to silence Republican Sinn Féin

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

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

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

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

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.