Statement from the Continuity POWs, Maghaberry jail, Co Antrim, Easter 2012

A chairde,

It is a great honour that we, the Republican POWs here in Maghaberry, have this opportunity once again to address you, the people of Ireland and abroad, on this the 96th anniversary of the 1916 Rising. We extend Easter greetings to our comrades, friends and supporters throughout the world, and would also like to thank Republican Sinn Féin and CABHAIR for all the work done on our behalf. We extend special greetings to our families whose support is invaluable.

As you gather at the graves and monuments of Ireland's patriot dead you do so with great courage, unbowed and unbroken but mindful of the fact that the road ahead has never been harder. But as true Republicans we have never turned our backs on our struggle.

Those of us imprisoned at home and abroad have been so for our political beliefs. Our belief in the Proclamation of 1916 and all that it entails is steadfast and will remain so. As you are aware we the Republican POWs commenced protest action coming up on a year now. This decision was not taken lightly and is a direct result of the non-implementation of the Agreement which was signed on August 12, 2010.

This agreement was signed by Republican POWs in good faith. It had become clear that the British Government and their relevant departments had no intention of implementing the agreement they signed. Once again the British Government has embarked on a criminalisation policy within this concentration camp against Republicans and as such we had no alternative but to commence protest action.

We are Prisoners of War; we cannot be broken or criminalised and any such attempt to do so will be met with resistance. Our protest will continue until we see the full implementation of the August 12 Agreement.

We thank our families, Republicans and comrades for their renewed and continual support.

We, the Republican POWs, applaud those who took to the streets in protest in our name Once again we pledge our full support to the Leadership of Óglaigh na hÉireann and our comrades-in-arms who continue to fight for Irish freedom. We salute you.

We, the POWs, continue to resist all attempts by the NIO to criminalise us and our struggle and with your continued support we are confident of victory. In the words of Liam Lynch “we have declared for a Republic and will live by no other law”.

Continuity not compromise.

Tiocfaidh ár lá.

O/C Republican PoWs Maghaberry

Easter Statement 2012

ON the occasion of the 96th anniversary of the momentous Easter Rising of 1916 the Leadership of the Republican Movement sends greetings to Irish exiles throughout the world and to all Irish Republican prisoners.

In particular we salute the prisoners in Maghaberry Prison, Co Antrim who have been on protest for political status for two years this Easter. The British and the Stormont regime, which includes our former comrades who have accepted and now administer British rule in the Six Occupied Counties, entered into an agreement with the prisoners in August 2010 to end strip-searching.

They reneged on that arrangement. They never implemented the alternative of the BOSS chair and so the no-wash strike continues. Even the secretary of the prison warders’ union has stated publicly that the protest should be settled.

Meanwhile there is a publicity black-out on the plight of the prisoners while their comrades outside do their utmost to support them. The political status won at such great cost by the heroic hunger strikers was signed away as just another of the many surrenders to English rule in Ireland by the Provo leadership.

The state visit by the British monarch to the 26 Counties in the past year – the first such in 100 years – was intended to normalise British rule in Ireland and put the seal on the current sell-out of the Six Counties to England. Republican Sinn Féin’s protests on that occasion delivered a clear message.

Empty streets in Dublin and carefully-selected audiences elsewhere showed the performance to be a failure. Yet the establishment persists in calling it a “success”. But the reality was on the ground – and at a cost of €38 million for security.

Then in February the GAA sold out its independence and the ideals of its founders when it accepted a massive amount of English money -- £61 million sterling or €77 million euro – to develop Casement Park in Belfast. Roger Casement got the English hangman’s rope but those who use his name allow themselves to be exploited by Stormont just as others contribute to the city of Derry – historic Doire Cholm Cille – being the British “City of Culture” in 2013. Those who pay the piper undoubtedly call the tune!

As the centenary of the fateful Easter Rising of 1916 approaches the intentions of the Leinster House establishment become clearer to all. They want to combine commemorations of 1916 with those for members of the British forces involved in the imperialist World War I.

Republicans must clarify the issue for the Irish people. We salute the memory of those who died for Irish freedom. Others can pay homage otherwise to their dead, many of whom were forced for economic reasons to take part in the 1914-18 “war to end all wars”.

A further step has been taken to integrate the 26-County state forces into the British war machine with the announcement that RUC soldiers are now suitable to join the ranks of the 26-County police even up to top level. These new arrangements will bring the British forces back south of the Border 90 years after they were driven out by the men and women we honour today.

At the same time a combination of the International Monetary Fund, the EU Commission and the European Central Bank is dictating the pace for many years to come in eroding the limited sovereignty of the 26-County state. Undue hardship is being wantonly inflicted on ordinary people while the well-off continue to thrive.

The good name of the Republican Movement, valid since 1986, is under attack again. Criminality masquerades as Republicanism and confuses the Irish people. The name of Republican Sinn Féin and of the Continuity IRA have even been stolen by a minuscule local grouping in its reckless attempt to bewilder further those who stand for the full freedom of Ireland.

The people who rejected constitutionalism and reformism and stood staunchly by the revolutionary road when it was deserted and betrayed in 1986, have upheld the banner of Irish Republicanism down the years. They merit the support of Republican-minded people even as the no-wash protest continues in Maghaberry Jail.

Martin Corey of Lurgan, Co Armagh, who spent 19-and-a-half years in a British jail in the 1970s and 1980s, was returned to prison two years ago. He is now spending his third Easter in jail on no charge whatever. It is nothing short of internment again.

Republicans and their followers who support Martin and the prisoners on protest have been brought before British courts in the Six Occupied Counties for holding peaceful demonstrations on the streets.

Let us, in our turn, stand by the same Cause, the Cause we uphold today, the Cause of Pearse, Connolly and the men and women of Easter 1916!

An Phoblacht Abú. Long Live the All-Ireland Republic.

-- Issued by the Leadership of the Republican Movement, Easter 2012.

Robinson speech is attempt to suppress true meaning of 1916

Statement by the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton

The speech by Stormont First Minster Peter Robinson marking the centenary of the signing of “Ulster’s Solemn League and Covenant” in 1912 in the 26-County Department of Foreign Affairs is the first step in a campaign to dilute and sanitise the Centenary of the 1916 Rising.

The political establishments in Stormont, Leinster House and Westminster have signalled their intention to suppress any meaningful commemoration of the 1916 Rising by burying it in a celebration of the imperialist carnage of the First World War.

The 1916 Proclamation and the so-called “Solemn League and Covenant” symbolise the fundamental difference in the vision for Ireland held by Irish Republicans as opposed to the forces of imperialism. The Solemn League and Covenant was written in the narrow, sectarian and patriarchal language of empire, while the 1916 addresses itself to “Irishmen and Irishwomen” in the inclusive language of democracy, progress and human freedom.

Irish Republicans unapologetically declare that 1916 will remain unfinished business while “the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland” continues to be denied by either the old imperialism of British occupation or the new imperialism of the EU and IMF.

Easter Commemorations

Kildare

Easter Sunday commemoration at the grave of Martin O'Brien, St Corban's Cemetery, Naas, 12 noon.

Easter Monday, Wreaths will also be laid throughout county.

Carlow

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

Fight back and vote No

Statement by the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton

Fear and intimidation are again to be the stock-in-trade of the 26-County Administration and its political masters in Brussels as they attempt once more to steamroll the Irish people into giving away the last vestiges of independence.

The political elites of Leinster House and the EU have set the tone for the forthcoming referendum on the EU Austerity Treaty by threatening people about the dire consequences of a rejection of the treaty.

Off course we have heard it all before during the referenda on the Lisbon and Nice treaties. And on both occasions people were forced to vote again for treaties they had already rejected. The power elites of the EU are not interested in the will of the people but instead are intent on grabbing even more power using the fear of the people. In this they have willing collaborators in the political establishment of the 26-County State.

The system of finance capitalism driven by France and Germany created the economic collapse of the past four years yet it is the working people of Ireland and Europe who are being asked to pay the price. As we approach the centenary of the 1916 Rising we have now an opportunity to fight back and show that the 1916 Proclamation still speaks for this generation when it declares: “The right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible.” Begin the fight back for our country and vote No.

Who Fears to Speak of Easter Week?

Seminar: Centenary 1916-2016

Republican Sinn Féin holding the seminar in the Ireland Institute, Pearse Street, Dublin on April 21, 2012.

Doors open 11.30am, beginning 12noon sharp to 5pm

The seminar, entitled Who Fears to Speak of Easter Week, will be the first of many events that Republican Sinn Féin will host in the run-up to the Centenary of the 1916 Rising.

Speakers to date include the historian Rúan O’Donnell and President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton.

All welcome, admisssion free. Doors open 11.30am.

Tribute to Brian Mór Ó Baoighill

Statement from the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton

Irish Republicans were saddened to hear the news of the death of Brian Mór Ó Baoighill, in New York. Brian was a life-long Irish Republican activist and a man steeped in the history and revolutionary Fenian tradition of Irish America.

Brian’s unique gifts as an artist were given selflessly to aid the cause of a free Ireland. His paintings were used to highlight the plight of the Hunger Strikers in 1981 as well as every other facet of the ongoing struggle against British rule in Ireland. Famously in December 1983 he was responsible for an electronic sign in New York’s Time Square sending out Christmas greetings to Republican prisoners. Brian took great pride in the fact the British Ambassador was questioned over the sign. Brian used his artwork as a weapon against imperialism and in defence of the men and women of no property. Among his last works were cartoons in opposition to the visit by the Queen of England to the 26 Counties in May of last year.

In June of last year he wrote an open letter to the Lord Mayor of Belfast to protest at one of his poster artworks, commemorating Theobald Wolfe Tone and the 1798 Rising, being hung in Belfast City hall. Brian saw this as merely an attempt to distract from the fact that Belfast and the rest of the Six Counties were still occupied by British forces. In his own inimitable style Brian finished his letter by declaring: “When the Belfast City Hall is located in a united Ireland, not the United Kingdom, I would be honored to see my artwork displayed. Until then, I request that it be taken down. Moving the picture of the Queen of England from one wall to another does not in any way make Belfast part of a United Ireland. I object to my artwork being used to pretend otherwise.”

Brian’s involvement in the cause of Ireland stretches out over five decades, he was a founder member of Irish Northern Aid (NORAID) in 1972 and worked with the Irish People newspaper for almost 20 years. In 1986 he rejected the attempts of a reformist leadership to hijack Republican Movement and was among the founders of Cumann na Saoirse of which he remained an officer up to his death. Brian had a deep understanding and knowledge of Irish history and was a living link with previous generations of Irish Republicans who fanned the flames of revolutionary Republicanism such as Michael Flannery, Joe Stynes and George Harrison. Brian very much followed in their footsteps and ensured that the torch was passed to a new generation. Brian Mór was a friend, comrade and mentor to succeeding generations of activists in the cause of Irish Freedom in the US and Ireland over many years and was always willing to give freely of his time and experience.

Brian leaves behind a gap in the ranks but his legacy of unflinching loyalty and tireless commitment to ideal of the All-Ireland Republic of Easter Week is an inspiration to his friends and comrades on both sides of the Atlantic. In the words of Thomas Davis: “The rudder of our ship was he, our castle’s corner stone.”

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dilis.

Click here to view tributes to Brian . . .

Carlow protest in support of Republican Prisoners

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.