You are currently browsing the daily archive for 27 March 2005.
**Hmmm, wonder if this applies to Billy Leonard, ex-RUC who has joined up with Sinn Féin?
Ex cops told to arm themselves
Provo spying triggers alert
By Alan Murray
27 March 2005
FORMER RUC officers are being told to buy their OWN guns, and take refresher firearms courses, because of new terrorist threats from republicans.
Some of those warned about their personal safety have been told that “mainstream” republicans are involved in tracking their movements.
A number of former RUC officers have been told that they should upgrade security levels around their homes, and be alert for suspicious vehicles.
East Derry DUP MP, Gregory Campbell, said that former officers were warned that their movements were being monitored by “mainstream” republicans.
He said: “I am now aware of seven people – three former RUC officers and four other constituents, who have links to the police – being advised by the PSNI that their movements are being monitored.
“It has been indicated to at least two of those seven, that the monitoring is being carried out by the IRA – not the Real or Continuity versions.
“These warnings have all been delivered in the last month, so it is absolutely clear that the Provisionals haven’t gone away – as indeed Gerry Adams told us some time ago.”
Former RUC officers, living in Belfast, have also been told to purchase a firearm for their personal protection, after security alerts around their homes.
In one case, a vehicle with 12 ‘traces’ to the IRA was spotted parked in a neighbour’s driveway. The officer was told that it would be advisable to purchase a personal protection weapon for his own security.
Said the former officer: “When I left the force, I handed in my service firearm, because I didn’t want to carry one, and actually didn’t think that I would need to carry one.
“But, I was advised a couple of months ago to buy a gun and undertake a firearms training refresher course.”
The officer, who lives in the greater Belfast area, said he was advised that the surveillance of his home was carried out by the IRA.
He added: “The vehicle being used by the ‘dicker’, as they call them, had 12 PIRA traces to it and it wasn’t disputed that the exercise to spy on me was linked to the IRA.
“I have now reluctantly purchased a gun, and gone for firearms training, which is something I didn’t want to do.”
Senior officers are still being given high-profile security protection around their homes, mainly because of the continuing threat from dissident republicans.
slnews@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
click for full view
The Grave where the fourteen men executed in 1916 were buried in quicklime, to be forgotten. Now a place of honour for Irish Patriots.
Added by: Rose Pearse
7/8/2004
Easter Statement C.I.R.A. P.O.W.s Portlaoise Gaol
A Chairde,
Today (Sunday) marks the 89th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising. The Easter rising was another significant time in Republican chronology in our nation’s struggle for independence and again brave Irishmen and Irishwomen took up arms to break the connection with a foreign oppressive enemy.
89 years on, and we still have 6 occupied counties. We have seen an agreement which has copper fastened British rule and seen the surrrender of arms procured for national liberation. The honourable men and women who sacrificed their lives throughout Ireland’s struggle would turn in their graves if they were alive to see the current climate.
All of us gathered here today are incarcerated because we sought to break the connection with England. We have followed the ideals of the 1916 martyrs. We are opposed to the occupation of our 6 counties and as long as one British foot remains on Irish soil, we will always see Republican resistance.
The current climate is tough at the moment but we persevere. There is still a lot of hard work to be done. It is not over until the Brits are gone home.
When the signatories signed the historic proclamation, they had one objective in mind and that was an independent 32 county Irish Republic.
To accept anything less than that is the ultimate betrayal to all those who gave their lives for Irish freedom.
Tiocfaidh ar La
Republican Prisoners
Portlaoise Gaol
Óglaigh na hÉireann Easter Statement 2005 **(RIRA)
*The Following text was issued anonymously to The Sovereign Nation and other media outlets*
Easter Statement 2005
The Leadership of Óglaigh na hÉireann extend Easter greetings to all our friends and comrades at home and abroad especially to our volunteers on active service and those captured by the enemy. Your commitment to Irish independence and the defence of the republic is an inspiration to all genuine Irish Republicans. We also extend fraternal greetings and solidarity to all revolutionaries worldwide as you struggle, like us, to throw off the yoke of the last remnants of colonialism.
As we commemorate the proclamation of the republic let us remember all those from every generation who have died to gain and then protect the republic. May we never sully their names or their memory by accepting less than they spilled their lifeblood for.
89 years ago a small band of dedicated and idealistic men with no popular support, lit a flame that still burns strongly. Those who today are well versed in the counter insurgency rhetoric of the Good Friday Agreement would probably have decried the men of 16 as ‘a micro organisation with no strategy or support’ but they would be wrong, just as they are wrong when they try to belittle Óglaigh na hÉireann. The cause of Irish liberty and true democracy is bigger than us all. The success of the Easter Martyrs despite their military failure was the inherent rightness of their cause. This reawakened a dormant patriotism in an apathetic Irish population. Today apathy reigns once again in the Irish people and the counter revolutionary techniques of the British and their free state allies have borne much fruit. We must reawaken the Irish people’s natural instinct for liberty and justice. To do this we must fight against pacification and normalisation as well as occupation. We must also politically educate and radicalise the republican base.
The Irish people have become distracted by the trappings of wealth generated by the Celtic Tiger and multinational investment. This investment, north and south, is aimed at pacifying the people and keeping them obedient. The impression has been created that the people have something to lose if they challenge the status quo. But what is that loss set against the loss of national sovereignty?
We pay tribute to the dedication and resilience of our volunteers and supporters and their refusal to be tempted by the benefits of support for the modernisation of partition despite the hardships of this resistance. Unlike our enemies and former comrades we will never recognise the institutions of the partitionist states as legitimate and we will never accept the Republican Army as illegitimate. There will never be a time when the IRA moves of the stage short of a British declaration of intent to withdraw from our country leaving the Irish people to freely choose their own form of government and their own form of defence force. Óglaigh na hEireann are the only legitimate armed force in Ireland today and we reject all those who would attempt to use the Army as a bargaining tool or a party militia. We also reject those who out of a lack of understanding of the fundamentals of republicanism or a mischievous attempt to undermine republican resistance have allowed republicanism to be perceived as criminal. We will not be labelled Criminals to facilitate the path to political power for those who have betrayed everything we stand for. We who defend the republic and who still uphold the constitution of Óglaigh na hÉireann claim rightful ownership of that title and call on those who have flown in the face of everything the army stands for to desist from using that noble name.
Recent events have shown the folly of accepting the British at their word as persuaders for peace. The events also illustrate the error of accepting the Free State parties, constitutional nationalists and conservative Irish America as partners. In reality all these allies are hostile to the aims and objectives of Irish republicanism. Republicanism is not conservative or constitutional, it is revolutionary. We have no wish to become part of rotten and corrupt states that exist to subvert the true expression of National democracy. We stand for the complete overthrow of both states in Ireland in order that the Irish people can freely exercise their right to self determination and freely constitute their own form of government. Only when our people agree their own constitution will be become constitutional.
The antics of former republicans have left republican base fragmented, isolated, marginalised and confused. We pledge to devise and implement strategies to unite republicanism and to force an end to British military and political interference in our affairs. We call on all republicans to unite around the defence or our sovereignty and we further call on the people to reject all agencies of the state as illegal and illegitimate.
The causes of the conflict in Ireland remain and have not changed since Pearse, Connolly and their comrades signed the proclamation all those years ago. Any and all treaties since partition have failed because they have failed to address the causes and have instead sought to address the symptoms. Let us be clear that the cause of conflict in Ireland is British interference in Irish affairs and while this cause exists. THE WAR CONTINUES.
Beir Bua.
**I am including all statements in the interest of objectivity
Easter 2005 statement from Republican Sinn Féin
Easter Statement from the Leadership of the Republican Movement 2005
On this the 89th anniversary of the historic 1916 Rising the Leadership of the Republican Movement extends fraternal greetings to members and supporters throughout the world. We particularly extend greetings of solidarity to all our imprisoned comrades held in British and Free State jails and we pay tribute to the Republican Prisoners Action Group who are engaged in a campaign against the British attempts to criminalise our POWs in Maghaberry jail.
We extend fraternal greetings to all the people throughout the world who are struggling against forces of oppression.
Since last Easter the Irish people have once again witnessed yet another failed attempt by the British and their Irish agents to re-launch the partitionist parliament at Stormont. We have watched the continued grovelling of all shades of Irish nationalists to British rule in our country, but at the end of the day as we had predicted the grovelling was not enough for the British master.
It was however significant that once again the Provisionals were prepared to perform a final act of betrayal in destroying all the military material which does not belong to them, but to the Irish people.
The recent public exposé of their other criminal activities has contributed to a frenzy aimed against Irish Republicanism. This and the murder of Robert McCartney in Belfast are typical examples of what the Provos are about. It is not about freedom, it is not about justice, it is not about equality and, above all, it has nothing to do with the honourable Republican struggle to end British rule in Ireland once and for all. We again call upon this organisation to desist from claiming any linkage to this honourable cause as they attempted to usurp and sully all that true Republicanism stands for.
Over the past year our supporters throughout the whole of Ireland have been the subject of continued harassment, intimidation and false imprisonment at the hands of the British Forces of Occupation in the Six Counties and by their lackeys in the Free State.
We note the outcry from all quarters over the raid on the Northern Bank in Belfast, where has been the outcry over the theft of money from Republican Sinn Féin by the Free State police, just a month earlier? These same forces should well remember that they will not succeed where others have failed, and should be mindful of the true saying that it is not those who can inflict the most, but those who can endure the most who will finally over come.
The past twelve months have been a difficult time for those who remain committed to resisting the continued colonial occupation of our country. We are faced with an unprecedented combination of forces railed against us. We will undoubtedly see in the coming twelve months a further renewed and forceful attempt to quell Republican resistance to this colonial rule, but let us again reassert our commitment and absolute determination to ensure that this resistance not only remains, but prospers.
There will never be an acceptance of colonial occupation, however it is remodelled. All Republicans committed to this resistance must unite under the banner of Irish Republicanism. Our unity of purpose will serve both to reject those who have usurped Republicanism and to resist the colonial occupier.
There will be no surrender, there will be no compromise. Onwards to the Republic!
Easter Statement from the IRSM
by IRSP – Irish Republican Socialist Party Sunday, Mar 27 2005, 4:48pm
dublinirsp@hotmail.com address: PO Box 10081, Dublin 1, Ireland phone: 0876 320 323
(Delivered by Andy Gallagher Easter Sunday 27th March 12 2005)
Easter Statement from the leadership of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement
BACK TO CONNOLLY-FORWARD TO SOCIALISM
Comrades of the IRSP, Volunteers of the INLA, our republican socialist prisoners in Portlaoise and Castlrea, relatives of our dead comrades, our ex-prisoners and friends and supporters, the republican socialist movement sends you fraternal greetings and solidarity on this Easter afternoon as we honour not only our own dead comrades but also all republicans who fell in the struggle against British Imperialism.
Republicanism is in crisis, is floundering and seems to be coming more and more detached from reality. The generic term Republicanism has been sullied not just in the past few months but in the past number of years by spin doctoring, by blatant and persistent lying, by cover-ups and clean ups worth of the mafia.
But we in the Republican Socialist movement cannot afford a holier than thou attitude. The Republican socialist movement has not been immune itself from errors mistakes and actions which sullied the name of republicans. Only a year ago we faced the wrath of many for incidents in Ardoyne. But we did not run and hide from those difficulties. We faced up to them dealt with it both internally and externally. The result has been a rise in our support and an increase in our membership
In the long history of republicanism there has always been people who joined for the so-called protection of the army. There are people who play at revolution and strut around like the bullyboys they are. There is a time for flexing muscles and a time for flexing brains. This is a time comrades and friends for flexing our brains. We do not need bar room republicans full of brawn and testosterone. The INLA has made clear to us that it supports the disciplined and politically controlled use of physical force in the context of armed anti imperialist struggle. It is not a private militia used to intimidate people in the context of personal disputes, bar brawls, personal grudges and the like. And it will do all in its power to ensure that it never becomes that.
I could mention many of our volunteers and activists but Let me mention just three of our fallen comrades and committed INLA volunteers Seamus Costello, Ta Power and Gino Gallagher. All three were also political activists and no task was too small for them to do. Whether it was sitting at boring meetings, making tea for comrades, driving around the country, planning military attacks moving guns, making bombs, and in Seamus’s case sitting in local councils, or selling the Starry Plough no task I repeat was too small for them.
There is no place in this movement for those who stand apart from the every day tasks of building the movement and part of that means selling the Party Newspaper. All three of those brave men believed passionately in the politicisation of republicans. If that was good enough for Costello, for Power, for Gallagher then it should be good enough for you.
By following their example we will play our part in re-establishing the credentials of republicanism as a valid revolutionary doctrine relevant to the needs and aspirations of the Irish working class. For there can be no doubt that the broad republican tradition has since the beginning of the so called peace process lost the high moral ground that had been obtained by virtue of being genuine anti-imperialists. But comrades we will not join with the friends and allies of the British, the USA and the Free State in the demonisation and victimisation of other republicans. Yes we have been, are and will be, critical of policies that other republicans and socialists follow. We vehemently disagree with the Good Friday Agreement and all that has flowed from it. But comrades we recognise other republicans -as republicans and acknowledge and admire the brave struggle that they have carried out. But politically we believe they have taken the wrong road
Instead of recognising that the armed struggle had run into the ground other Republicans elevated the so-called peace process as another step on the road to the Republic. They were and are wrong and mistaken. All that has happened since 1998 has strengthened partition. Sectarianism has raged like a virus throughout many working class areas and instead of unity we have even more divisions than ever.
Doing deals with the Free State establishment and entering alliances with the ruling classes of the Britain and the USA has weakened republicanism not strengthened it. Those who challenge us “ where’s your mandate?” and “what’s the alternative to the Good Friday Agreement “ have fallen for the illusions of power that a few election gains bring. Muttering the mantra of mandates does not blind us to the stark realities on the ground. The republican struggle has suffered a defeat.
Our dead comrades did not fight for an Ireland of equals. They fought for a socialist republic not a revamped Stormont- for the destruction of capitalism- not for seats in a capitalist coaliation-for unity not for more division. For us as a movement despite our mistakes and errors it was always about the liberation of our class- the working class – from the chains of capitalism. Real Politics is not about implementing the Good Friday Agreement. Our politics is about challenging the status quo. Not making capitalism work.
Ten years ago the great and good scoffed at our so-called outdated views on capitalism. They thought the collapse of the Soviet Union was the death knell of socialist and revolutionary ideas and actions. Well comrades look at the present state of the world and tell me that capitalism is working. Africa is in dire poverty with millions dying of aids- and starvation. Asia is in turmoil as the reactionary rich seek to maintain almost feudal power over the masses. South America is increasing turning towards the ideas of Socialism as witnessed by the revolutionary process underway in Venezuela and the increasing contact by many states with Socialist Cuba. Meanwhile the USA is becoming increasingly belligerent in its Imperialism despite its failures to end the Iraqi resistance.
But we are not enemies of the USA or of Britain. As internationalists we recognise the working classes in those countries as our brothers and sisters.
We recognise that the real enemy is the system of capitalism that spawns the reactionary policies of the World Trade organisation, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. It is these organisations that are dictating the policies of privatisation that is inflicting so much suffering on people around the world and that unfortunately other republicans bought into when Ministers in Stormont.
The consequences of the neo-liberal agenda of these World Bodies can be seen on the ground here in Ireland. . 8.000 thousand job losses in the North West as a direct result of Globalisation. These losses are not just figures; they are the real lives of Irish people destroyed by capitalism. The poor of Eastern Europe flock to Ireland to be exploited by every crook, gangster and thug that calls himself an employer. It is no wonder that increasingly independents get elected to the Dail, as there is growing disillusionment with the established political parties. Low wages, anti trade union practices, racism homophobia, educational services cut to pieces, increasing gaps between the rich and the poor and tax free breaks for the super rich.
Meanwhile many working class areas in the cities and towns of Ireland are breeding grounds now for thugs, knife wielding morons and young people with no social conscience. Social cohesion of working class communities has collapsed. Individualism and the “me -me -me” generation has almost destroyed working class solidarity. The health services north and south are in almost terminal decline and many now dread going into hospitals for fear they come out dead due to the appalling state of the hospitals themselves. Everyday in many ways the working classes on this island suffer humiliation and exploitation from the capitalist classes.
Those parties who in the face of these defeats whip up nationalism and or sectarian hatred are the enemies of the working class. Comrades, flags don’t put food on the table. We refuse to allow ourselves to be boxed into the role of defenders of this or that community. Our only community is the working class-Catholic Protestant Dissenter Sikh Muslim or Jew.
It is clear that there are three options facing the broad republican movement.
Route one is to follow the Provisional movement in its headlong rush into constitutional nationalism and accept the status quo of capitalism. Be in no doubt that PSF want to manage capitalism in Ireland and believe they can do it better than the existing rulers. The IRSP reject that route.
Route Two is to unify those republicans who reject the Good Friday Agreement in a joint political and military onslaught on British rule. Some belief that the “Republican Movement” can be rebuilt around the re-commencing of the armed struggle. The IRSP reject that route.
Route Three is to return to the republicanism of James Connolly and to raise the class questions in every arena, in every struggle in every battlefield.
For it is only by the working classes in Ireland taking up the issues that affect them, that the link can be made between the class and the national question. There is no short cut available. We face only a long hard slog of persuasion and of hard work. Republican Socialists must reach out to the youth, to the trade union activists to the community activists trying to improve their communities. We need to reach out to other republicans and socialists and together find a way to implement the visions of Connolly and Costello. For partition and British Imperialism will never be defeated until the class question comes to the fore. The IRSP accept that route.
Republicans need to return to basics. A return to the democratic principles inherent in republicanism is a first step followed by the taking up of the class issues that press down on the Irish working class. All republicans should henceforth put their trust not in parliamentary leaders or army councils but in the revolutionary instincts of the advanced sections of the working people on the island of Ireland. What this means in practice is the building of a revolutionary republican Party that links the struggle against privatisation north and south, that opposes Imperialism at home and abroad, that stands up for the rights of all workers, and that is firmly committed to the creation of a Socialist Republic. That’s where the energies of real republicans should be geared.
That is no mean task. We must overcome our own divisions and suspicions our own inertia our own self-righteousness and elitism. For our part we are prepared to sit down with any party or group to discuss issues frankly and in a comradely spirit, and to consider working together on issues we can agree on. We call on all those with a radical or republican or a socialist view to engage in constructive dialogue with us.
There is real truth in the old slogan that you cannot have a free Ireland without a free working class. Let us return to the ideals of James Connolly. His ideas were relevant in 1916.They are still relevant today. Stand by the ideals of Connolly and we cannot go wrong. On this Easter 2005 let us renew our faith in the republicanism and the socialism of James Connolly the founding father of our republican socialism. Back to Connolly-forward to Socialism.
Ends
=====================================
IRISH NATIONAL LIBERATION ARMY PRISONERS OF WAR STATEMENT
EASTER 2005
Delivered at IRSM Easter Commemoration, Belfast
Sunday 27th March 12 2005
The INLA POW’s give our continued support to the Leadership of both the INLA and IRSP. We send Easter greetings to all our Comrades within the Republican Socialist Movement, to friends and supporters at Home, and throughout the World. We extend our support and solidarity to our fellow political prisoners. To the Basques and Catalan prisoners, to the Turkish and Kurdish death fasters, to the Palestinian prisoners and to all political prisoners in Chile, Puerto Rico, USA and through out the World. We stand resolutely with, and pay tribute to all those fighting imperialism worldwide. We support the freedom fighters of Iraq.
Comrades on this, the 89th Anniversary of the Easter Rising, we gather once more to pay homage and to remember all those who gave their lives for a democratic Socialist Republic. We pay respect to and honour the republican dead- no matter what organisation they belonged to. While today, we in the Republican Socialist movement remember in particular our own martyred dead and our fallen comrades; we do not forget or ignore those other Republicans who sacrificed their lives so that this country could be free. We remember them all with pride.
At noon on that Easter Monday in 1916, members of the Irish Citizen Army and the Irish Volunteers occupied the GPO and strategic building around the centre of Dublin. From the steps of the GPO Padraig Pearse read aloud the proclamation of the Irish Republic, announcing that they were setting up a Provisional Government replacing Britton’s? These were extraordinary events involving ordinary men and women who lived in extraordinary times.
To day let us pause for a moment, and reflect on what, all those who died for the Republic, think they were doing. Irish men and women bravely fought and died for the rights of all of us, for all the people of this island to live in political, economic and social freedom in a Republic that cherishes all the children of the Nation equally.
Ask yourself, “Who today, stands by that concept of the Republic. The fat cats of Irish business life; The politicians who feed on corruption, greed and bribery, these very same politicians who have labelled Republicans – Republican Socialists as criminals. The full force of the establishment have united, to try and denigrate the sacrifices of all those we honour here today by there continuance in making unsubstantiated allegations of criminality against our Movement.
The facts speak for themselves, imprisoned INLA members were all convicted of political offences, there is no members of the INLA awaiting trial for criminal offences, No Member of the INLA or indeed the IRSP is involved in any type of criminality. However there are those out side of the Republican Socialist Movement who use the name of the INLA for there own ends, some with the approval and encouragement of the security agencies both north and south. These parasites who have descended into this type of activity, besmirch the name of Republicanism and not only is there no place for them in our movement, there is no place for them in society, for like the capitalist system they are a piraya who feed off the working class. There will never be a place in our movement for anyone who believes they can use it for personal advancement or financial gain.
Unlike Fianna Fail which has seen high ranking members of there party involved in criminal activities such as money laundering with the Guinness, Mahon, Cayman Trust, C J Haughey was rather partial to the odd bribe or two and ex Fianna Fail Minister Ray Burke is in jail on bribery and corruption convictions. The hypocrisy of the establishment is breath taking. None of these stand for the Republic, for they have allowed the poor of this country to slip into further debt and misery, with the gap between the rich and poor growing wider.
Nor do the Racists who preach hatred and enflame sectarianism, or the trade union leaders who have sold out the workers, nor those who wish to maintain oppression and inequality. None of these stands for the Republic we want to see.
We as Republican Socialists cannot and will not live under British colonial or unionist rule, for that rule is unjust, cruel, discriminatory and imperialistic. Seven years on since the signing of the GFA, what has changed? West minister maintains direct rule. The British army still patrol our streets, there intelligence service still operates clandestine operations, they continue to maintain and update their military installations. Sectarian clashes have increased and there is still no real justice or equality for the Republican- Nationalist community. Dessie O Hare continues to be held as a political hostage by the free state government who has reneged on its commitments under the GFA and Republican Prisoners in Maghaberry are denied recognition of there political status which was won because of the sacrifice of the hunger strikers in 81.
Comrades, It is time for us in the Republican Socialist Movement to take stock of where we are and where we are going, and how best to prepare politically and organisationally for the next phase, which will be our struggle, ie the class struggle. There is a danger at the moment of Republican Socialists ending up simply reacting to events. We encourage and fully support the Ard Chomhairle of the IRSP who are actively involved in preparing a long-term overview of a strategic and political understanding of what has to be done to achieve our aims and objectives.
Now that there is an acceptance of the primacy of politics, as outlined in the TA Power documents, the development of the party is critical, if we are to prepare the Irish working class for the struggles ahead. Political leadership comes from a political party that fully understands the situation and who possess the necessary tactics, strategies and policies that enables the working class struggle to move forward.
Our role should be to act as a catalyst to the struggle of the people, North and South, protestant and catholic so as to give them a cohesive programme of direction whilst raising their level of political consciousness. Our Movement has this potential if we are prepared to take the political responsibility that goes with it, and one of those responsibilities is to give voice to the people. There is a duty on each and every comrade to identify with, and participate in the everyday struggles of the people. Educate, agitate and organise comrades. It was the way of James Connolly it was the way of Costello, Onward to victory.
Ends
email: irsp@irsm.org
Online: http://www.irsm.org
McGuinness – Republicans determined that process will succeed
Published: 27 March, 2005
Sinn Féin Chief Negotiator Martin McGuinness MP speaking at the Easter Commemoration in Dublin this afternoon said, “Following the upcoming elections I believe that we will enter into what will be some of the most difficult negotiations that we have ever faced. If these are to be successful republicans must be honest in our analysis of the crisis in the peace process. But we also have to look to the future and set out clearly our solutions and our vision.
As we look back across a century of struggle, we see that each phase on the journey has been different. Each has required different strategies and tactics. Republicans required courage to survive, resourcefulness to find new ways forward and determination to persist with their course of action.
We need all of those qualities in abundance if we are to continue to advance our peace project for Irish independence.
But if republicans have challenges to face, there are also many challenges for the Irish government. All too often at critical junctures in the peace process they have allowed themselves to be treated as junior partners and have failed to act with the same determination in representing nationalists as the British government do when representing unionist interests.
It is time for the governments to be honest about all of this. It is time that we deal with all of the outstanding issues – armed groups, demilitarisation, equality, human rights and the difficult issue of policing.”
Full text of speech
I am extremely proud and honoured to stand here today and address you at the GPO, the Headquarters of the 1916 Rising. Dublin City was the cradle of the Irish revolution in the early years of the 20th Century.
The city of the Great Lockout and, three years later, the Easter Rising.
The City of Larkin, Connolly, Pearse and Markievicz.
During those years Dublin was a cauldron of revolutionary thought and revolutionary action. During Easter Week 1916 Dublin was witness to a momentous chapter in Irish and world history when Ireland through her Freedom Fighters struck for her freedom.
Padraig Pearse, James Connolly, Tom Clarke, Joseph Mary Plunkett, Sean Mac Diarmada, Thomas Mc Donough, Eamon Ceannt and many others were executed by the British for leading the Rising. They will always be remembered as heroes by all of us who cherish their memory and the freedom they died to achieve. The British thought that by killing them they would extinguish their memory and with it Ireland’s Freedom Spirit. Again the British got it wrong.
In the words of South African poet Don Matera writing after the release of Nelson Mandela:
Gone!
Buried!
Covered in the dust of defeat
Or so the conquerors believed
But there is nothing can be hidden
from the mind, nothing the memory
cannot reach, touch or call back
The Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army also struck an important and telling blow for democracy everywhere and signalled the beginning of the end for colonialism the world over.
The Irish revolutionary example inspired oppressed peoples across the globe and gave hope to many millions who sought freedom and national independence in their own countries.
Dublin republicans have played their part in the national struggle in every decade since. Indeed it was young Dubliners who helped to re-invigorate republicanism in many ways during the 1950s and who helped to redirect and focus its energies on removing partition.
I pay tribute to all those Dublin republicans who, down through the lean years for this struggle, kept alive the flame of freedom.
As we stand here today republicanism in Dublin is stronger than at any time in recent history. Throughout the 1970s and for much of the 1980s Sinn Fein did not have any elected representatives in Dublin whatsoever.
That is until Christy Burke was elected to the City Council in 1985 and in a few short years Sinn Fein in this city made remarkable progress.
As we stand here today, 14 Councillors, two TDs and an MEP represent Sinn Fein in Dublin. We represent over 60,000 Dubliners and we are using this mandate to build a radical alternative in this city and country and to bring about real change.
I also note that in this historic year for our party a young Dublin woman – Mary Lou McDonald – your MEP – has been honoured with being elected as Sinn Fein National Chairperson.
Again in this, Sinn Fein’s 100th anniversary year, Dublin is playing its part in the national struggle and in the coming weeks we will look to you once again, as across Ireland republicans prepare for three election campaigns – Údarás na Gaeltachta elections in the 26 counties and Local Government and Westminster elections in the Six Counties. Last year we saw what could be achieved when we worked as an all-Ireland party in the Local Government and European elections.
And here in Dublin today I want to send a message to our political opponents in Ireland and the British government.
Be prepared to do business with a stronger and more determined Sinn Féin following these elections. Because more and more of the Irish people are coming to accept,as we have always believed, that real peace and true Freedom will only come when we finally rid ourselves of the malaise of partitionism, which undermines our ability as a nation to reach our full potential.
Sinn Féin’s all-Ireland Agenda and the Good Friday Agreement when implemented with its all-Ireland and power-sharing institutions provides a powerful antidote to a crippling illness which has damaged all of us – unionist and republican for far too long.
Sinn Féin expects the highest standards from all those in our party
We must always be vigilant and cognisant of the fact that the stronger we get politically, the more we threaten the cosy cartel that has abused its grip on the levers of power in this state since partition. And those that have grown fat on the culture of acute hoorism and brown envelopes that permeated this state for decades do not appreciate their position being threatened.
Therefore they will grasp every opportunity to undermine and discredit our struggle. But this is nothing new; many of those in power today have learned well the tactics of their former colonial masters when it comes to the use of black propaganda.
In every generation of struggle against British occupation the policy of criminalisation was introduced in an attempt to break the spirit and sap the energy of Irish republicans.
Character assassination was used by the British against those Irish patriots, who chose peaceful means of resistance, just as effectively as physical assassination was used against those who used armed struggle.
The men and women of 1916 were called criminals and terrorists in their day. The Irish Independent referred to the Rising as a ‘criminal madness’. Today Sir Anthony O’ Reilly’s ( as he prefers to be called) Independent Group carries on that pro-British view of Irish Republicanism with relish. He didn’t get his British Knighthood for nothing.
Sadly, today the opponents of Irish republicanism who are attempting to brand republicans as criminals are not British oppressors.
It is establishment parties in this state who enjoy limited independence brought about by previous generations of Irish republicans.
The British did not succeed in criminalising the patriots of 1916 nor did they succeed in criminalising the men in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh and the Women in Armagh in 1981.
And we are not about to allow the Soldiers of Destiny or the PDs to succeed in criminalising this generation of Irish Republicans.
But it is not good enough to get indignant when our political opponents point the finger of accusation at us if some within our ranks give them the opportunity to do so.
Each and every person within our ranks must realise that we are not 9 to 5 republicans. We are republicans 24 hours a day and everything we do reflects on this party.
As republicans we expect the highest standards of conduct from all within our ranks. That has always been the case and we reject anyone who, by his or her actions would bring the good name of the republican cause into disrepute.
Tragically that is exactly what has happened in recent times.
The brutal murder of Robert McCartney by republicans was a most grave injustice inflicted on Robert himself, his partner Bridgeen, their children and his sisters. Those responsible should do the honourable thing and face up to their responsibilities. Anyone without exception with information about this murder should also do the honourable thing. There can be no place within Irish republicanism for those who perpetrated this terrible deed. Nor can there be any place within Irish republicanism for anyone who by his or her silence would attempt to cover it up.
Primarily they should do so because the murder of Robert McCartney was a crime. But not to do so is not only cowardly but also equally despicable as they are allowing their own community to be vilified and demonised.
Making Irish unity a reality
This weekend Republicans all over Ireland and from the Irish Diaspora throughout the world will participate in commemorations honouring generations of Ireland’s fallen heroes. On this the 89th anniversary of the Easter Rising we applaud and pay tribute to all of the Volunteers of the Irish Republican Army and members of Sinn Féin in every generation who gave their lives for Irish freedom.
We are a proud people. We are proud of our history; we make no apologies for our struggle against British occupation, oppression, murder and discrimination in our country.
We are proud of our role in the peace process and our work in bringing about Irish re-unification.
Only a fool would believe that the Irish people are not equipped to govern themselves better than the British have done in the last 800 years.
It’s a bigger fool that believes that we will not succeed in achieving a sovereign independent Ireland. And we will achieve it through building our political strength throughout the four Provinces of this island.
In this the centenary year of Sinn Féin, we launched a campaign to get the Irish government to bring forward a Green Paper on Irish unity. Already it is making an impact with parties outdoing each other proclaiming to be the true inheritors of the legacy of 1916.
Can anyone remember any of the establishment parties in Leinster House or the SDLP in the North proclaim their united Ireland credentials prior to the growing support for Sinn Féin and our agenda for change?
No! I don’t think so.
We also had Dermot Ahern cynically using the debate to attack Sinn Féin but the most telling thing about his comments was how far some in the leadership of the so-called largest Irish Republican party have moved from their traditional roots.
Dermot Ahern’s claims that a Green Paper on Irish Unity is ‘irrelevant’, is very reminiscent of the SDLP’s claim to be a ‘post-nationalist’ party. A policy platform that was very quickly abandoned by the SDLP after the last elections, when it failed miserably.
But whatever about the SDLP and their ill-advised attempts to position themselves politically it is absolutely unforgivable for any Irish minister, but especially a border TD, to be so hostile to the need for all of us in nationalist Ireland to properly plan for Irish reunification.
In almost 90 years of limited independence no Irish government has ever produced a strategy for unification and all four establishment parties who proclaim aspirations to a united Ireland have been in power during that period.
Besides paying lip service at Easter Commemorations, at Bodenstown and various commemorations up and down the country they have done absolutely zilch to promote Irish unity.
If we are to wait for Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour or the PDs to deliver unity we will be sorely disappointed. Republicans have to be the engine that drives the united-Ireland train. We need to be innovative, adventurous and persuasive in our approach as well as our thinking.
It is not an issue to grandstand on – it is an imperative if we are to successfully bring about unity in a planned and structured way.
Republicans will continue to set the agenda
The current onslaught against Sinn Féin is about trying to weaken our negotiating position and the wider nationalist position in future talks.
Those who oppose the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement and who oppose equality and human rights do not want to do business with a strong, effective and determined Sinn Féin.
Our opponents never contemplated a future where Sinn Féin would be the largest nationalist party in the north, the third largest party on the island where the status quo would be threatened and where the prospect of Irish unity would be ever closer.
Following these elections I believe that we will enter into what will be some of the most difficult negotiations that we have ever faced. If these are to be successful, republicans must be honest in our analysis of the crisis in the peace process. But we also have to look to the future and set out clearly our solutions and our vision.
As we look back across a century of struggle we see that each phase on the journey has been different. Each has required different strategies and tactics. Republicans required courage to survive, resourcefulness to find new ways forward and determination to persist with their course of action.
We need all of those qualities in abundance if we are to continue to advance our peace project for Irish independence.
But if republicans have challenges to face there are also many challenges for the Irish government. All too often at critical junctures in the peace process they have allowed themselves to be treated as junior partners and have failed to act with the same determination in representing nationalists as the British government do when representing unionist interests.
Their approach has been clouded by a belief that unionists must be pandered to, even when this short-sighted approach has seen talks collapse twice in the last two years.
When all others had agreed a way forward, it was unionists who could not make the final move, it was unionists who walked away and it was the Irish and British governments who supported them.
It is time for the governments to be honest about all of this. It is time that we deal with all of the outstanding issues – armed groups, demilitarisation, equality, human rights and the difficult issue of policing.
We want to see the peace process succeed. We want to see the Agreement implemented and all-Ireland power-sharing institutions restored. I believe that this can be achieved.
I don’t underestimate the challenges that lie ahead but I am confident that republicanism will continue to grow and that we will succeed. We will go away from here confident of the success of our peace strategy to date and in the knowledge that there is much work still to be done to bring the peace process to a successful conclusion and to build towards
a different Ireland;
a new Ireland;
a united, free and independent Ireland.
Republicans will continue to act as the dynamic for change
Published: 27 March, 2005
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams MP speaking at the Easter Commemoration in Derry this afternoon said, “As Irish republicans we have a responsibility to look at where we want to be – a free and independent Ireland – and set about the task of getting there.
“Guided by our peace strategy this will inevitably mean more hard choices, more hard decisions for Irish republicans as we push ahead with our political project, and as we seek to achieve a united Ireland.
“The fact is that those who want the greatest change have to take the greatest risks. Time and time again we have demonstrated our willingness to do this. Are we ready to do that again? Are we ready to take more risks, to step up to the plate and demonstrate again the courage and tenacity, which is the hallmark of Irish republicanism?
“I believe we are. I believe we must. I intend to return to this issue in the short period ahead. Our preparedness to act as the dynamic for change has brought the peace process thus far. Sinn Féin’s peace strategy and the initiatives Irish republicans have taken are what have made the progress of the last 10 years possible.”
Extracts from Gerry Adams’ speech
A Process in trouble
While significant progress has been made in recent years much more should have occurred by now. Irish republicans do not underestimate the seriousness of the current situation. We share the concern of people across this island that years of hard work and progress is now being cast aside.
We also share their concern at the brutal and savage murder of Robert McCartney. Our goal must be to bring about the closure and truth and justice the McCartney family are campaigning for and deserve.
At our recent Ard Fheis I said that I was not letting this issue go until those who have sullied the republican cause are made to account for their actions.
Thus far those who killed Robert McCartney have refused to obey instructions from the IRA, and appeals from republican leaders. They have refused to behave in a brave and courageous way.
I know that many republicans and nationalists are outraged at how this murder is being cynically exploited to undermine republicanism.
What annoys me the most is not the criticism from the two governments, our political opponents, or those sections of the media who are clearly delighted to have a go at us. We are used to that and we can take it. What else do we expect? If those who fear the growth of Irish republicanism are given an opportunity to undermine it they will take that chance.
What annoys me the most is that a small group of individuals are not prepared to face up to their responsibilities. Instead these cowardly individuals will allow an avalanche of propaganda aimed at criminalising republicanism.
So let me be clear; I am not letting this issue go.
Whatever way people feel about how the McCartney’s are running their campaign this family have the right to truth and justice. And we as a party have a duty not to allow republicanism to be diminished in any way.
How we deal with this killing is very important. It is about us. It is about how we see ourselves.
The women prisoners in Armagh and the blanketmen and the hunger strikers in Long Kesh wouldn’t allow Margaret Thatcher to criminalise our struggle. We will not allow anyone within republican ranks to criminalise this party or this struggle.
Irish government self-interest
Irish republicans pride ourselves on our ability to face up to challenges and find solutions to problems. Look at the record of the peace process. Time and time again Irish republicans have taken initiatives to help move the process forward. Last December we stood ready to do that again. Just three months ago the process was close to a deal which many thought impossible. Now the momentum is going the other way.
The process is in serious difficulty.
Much of this is being driven by an Irish government fearful of the growth of Sinn Féin and our determination to challenge the mess the establishment parties in Dublin are making of the economy, of health, of education and of the peace process.
Partitionism, self interest and incompetence are the factors underlying the Irish government’s current approach to the process.
Too often Irish government Ministers have behaved like junior partners to the British government; frequently dismissed or ignored by London, and forever desperate to facilitate the unionists, even when it is obvious that such an approach smacks of weakness and reinforces unionist intransigence.
Since December the British and Irish governments have sought to reduce all of the issues to one – that is the issue of the IRA – even though they know that the IRA is not the only issue. What about policing? Demilitarisation? Human rights and Equality? The political institutions?
The current shallow and short sighted approach, especially by the Irish government, as well as its vitriolic attacks on Irish republicans, has further eroded confidence in the process, especially among nationalists and republicans.
We will be meeting the Taoiseach after Easter to discuss all of the issues. Be assured that Sinn Féin will not be kow-towing to the agenda being set by the Irish government. We will not be lectured to by anyone. We will treat everyone with respect. We expect to be treated in the same way. We do not let unionism walk over us. We do not let the British government walk over us. We will not let the Irish government walk over us.
Challenges and solutions – Irish republicans must be strategic
But while others are being tactical, we have to be strategic – we have to be thinking not just about the upcoming electoral battle but also about the peace process.
As Irish republicans we have a responsibility to look at where we want to be – a free and independent Ireland – and set about the task of getting there.
Guided by our peace strategy this will inevitably mean more hard choices, more hard decisions for Irish republicans as we push ahead with our political project, and as we seek to achieve a united Ireland.
The fact is that those who want the greatest change have to take the greatest risks. Time and time again we have demonstrated our willingness to do this. Are we ready to do that again? Are we ready to take more risks, to step up to the plate and demonstrate again the courage and tenacity which is the hallmark of Irish republicanism?
I believe we are. I believe we must. I intend to return to this issue in the short period ahead. Our preparedness to act as the dynamic for change has brought the peace process thus far. Sinn Féin’s peace strategy and the initiatives Irish republicans have taken are what have made the progress of the last 10 years possible.
Of course others have played their part. But does anyone doubt that but for our efforts the war, which dominated this island for much of the latter part of the 20th century, would still be raging? It is Irish republicans who have made the difference and it is we who must continue to make the difference.
I appeal to all Irish republicans to give long and serious and calm consideration to the current situation. Talk to friends and comrades. Reflect on where Irish republicanism is today, how we got here and where we now need to go. Do what we do best – strategise, plan and be prepared to act.” ENDS
McCartneys ‘considering civil action’
27/03/2005 – 16:41:55
The family of murdered Belfast father-of-two Robert McCartney is considering a civil action against his killers similar to the case against people accused of the Omagh bomb.
As Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams branded those responsible for the murder cowards, Mr McCartney’s sister Catherine confirmed tonight they were exploring whether a civil action could be taken if it proved impossible to bring his killers to court.
“We are looking, if we cannot get those who killed my brother into court on criminal charges, at the possibility of a legal action similar to the Omagh families’ civil action,” she said.
“It is one avenue we want to explore with lawyers and we will be seeking legal advice. However our principal focus at the moment is on getting those responsible into court.”
Robert McCartney, a 30-year-old forklift driver, was stabbed and beaten outside a Belfast city centre bar on January 30 and a friend, Brendan Devine was also seriously wounded following a row with republicans.
Some of the relatives of the 29 people killed by the Real IRA in the Omagh bomb have taken a landmark civil action against five people alleged to have had roles in the attack.
In August 2003, Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy donated £800,000 (€1.1bn) in government funds to the Omagh family’s legal fund to enable the case to be heard in court.
Catherine McCartney tonight queried Sinn Féin’s handling of her brother’s case.
“It has emerged Sinn Féin members were among the 70 people in that bar,” she said.
“Why hasn’t Sinn Féin expelled those members? Any other party would have. It is also not good enough to ask people to provide information through their solicitors to the Police Ombudsman.
“People must go directly to the police or Police Ombudsman because they have the investigative skills to find out what happened.”
SF pledge over McCartney murder
Mr Adams was speaking at an event to mark the Easter Rising
Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams has said he will not let the issue of Robert McCartney’s murder go until his killers are made to account for their actions.
The party’s president was speaking at a rally in Derry to commemorate the 1916 Easter Rising.
Mr Adams said he was annoyed a small group of individuals were not prepared to face up to their responsibilities.
Mr McCartney, 33, was stabbed to death after a row in a bar near Belfast city centre on 30 January.
His family has blamed IRA members for his murder and intimidating witnesses.
Mr Adams told those gathered at the event that many republicans and nationalists felt Mr McCartney’s murder had been “cynically exploited to undermine republicanism”.
“What annoys me the most is not the criticism from the two governments, our political opponents, or those sections of the media who are clearly delighted to have a go at us,” he said.
‘Justice’
“If those who fear the growth of Irish republicanism are given an opportunity to undermine it they will take that chance.
“What annoys me the most is that a small group of individuals are not prepared to face up to their responsibilities.
“Instead these cowardly individuals will allow an avalanche of propaganda aimed at criminalising republicanism. So let me be clear – I am not letting this issue go.
“Whatever way people feel about how the McCartneys are running their campaign, this family have the right to truth and justice.”
Sinn Fein has suspended seven of its members while the police investigation into Mr McCartney’s murder takes place.
“Life springs from death and from the graves of patriot men and women spring living nations.”
–Patrick Pearse
A puzzling betrayal
Why is the Arts Council refusing to fund Fortnight magazine?
Henry McDonald
Sunday March 27, 2005
The Observer
Have you heard the one about the magazine that has been promoting arts and culture in Northern Ireland for more than 30 years but no longer gets a grant from the Arts Council of… er, Northern Ireland?
This is not the beginning of some in-house south Belfast joke but sums up the current predicament of Fortnight magazine, the arts, culture and politics review that has been covering life in the Troubles-torn north of Ireland since the early 1970s.
Just before St Patrick’s Day the publication’s current editor Malachi O’Doherty, and his deputy Rudie Goldsmith, were informed that the Arts Council had refused Fortnight a grant totalling £20,000. At the same time the publicly-funded body forked out thousands to both the Ultach Trust (designed to promote the Irish language) and a further up to £50,000 to a little known if worthy collection of writing that comes out twice a year called Irish Pages.
There is absolutely no disrespect intended here either to Ultach or Irish Pages, each of which plays a valuable role in the promotion of arts, language and literature. But the question still has to be asked: what they have got what Fortnight doesn’t? For instance, Irish Pages got a huge increase in its funding which indicates that this year’s financial decisions were not based on budget constraints but rather the re-allocation of resources away from Fortnight.
Before we go on I really should declare an interest here: I am an infrequent contributor to Fortnight. However, I would stress that in my defence of it and my right to say so, the magazine has never paid me a penny for a single article I have written.
Fortnight has also provided a window for academics, journalists, opinion formers, politicians on corners unvisited by the conventional electronic and print media. O’Doherty’s predecessors opened up uncharted routes into the new thinking emerging inside the post-hunger strike Provisionals and later the pre-ceasefire Ulster loyalists. Under John O’Farrell and latterly O’Doherty’s tenure it has taken on the role of the slightly precocious child pointing out that the Emperor of the Peace Process has no clothes.
In conjunction with its erudite, often controversial and eclectic political features have been illuminating interviews and articles focussing on the world of Irish cinema, poetry, literature and the performing arts. Fortnight ‘s alumni include Glenn Patterson, Michael Longley and Seamus Heaney. Newer voices on the poetic-literary scene have also emerged in the pages of the magazine such as Fionola Meredith, Paula Shields and Maureen Boyle. Women at last have been given more prominence in the pages of this very necessary publication. This new band of female writers have covered a catholic range of topics from the legacy of Brian Friel to Belfast’s brief flirtation with the lap dancing phenomena.
The notion peddled by those who have defended the Arts Council’s decision that the magazine is too political is bizarre given that since its inception there has been a section in the back dedicated to new poetry.
It is a shame, then, that the Arts Council of Northern Ireland should deny it funding and by doing so ignore the contributions over a generation to culture and public discourse. After all, literature in all its guises (and that includes political writing which, as George Orwell set out to prove, could be made into an art form) provides a neutral space into which common humanity rather than ethnic, sectarian, racial and other superficial divisions reigns. Through the darkest decades of our recent conflict Fortnight ‘ has opened up various passageways into that other space.
This financial blow to Fortnight comes on the back of an equally perplexing decision by the Community Relations Council not to help fund the magazine. The council has undoubtedly promoted many worthy cross-sectarian causes over decades and it deserves credit for that. Yet its own brief makes it all the more puzzling as to why it doesn’t grant monetary support for a publication that amplifies voices from across all religions, nationalities and classes in the north of Ireland.
Since publicly-funded NI based bodies have for now forsaken Fortnight , surely some private benefactors could step into the breach and shore up the magazine? And in addition we might ask, where is the International Fund for Ireland here, which has donated millions of dollars to other good causes on this island?
What irony that on this weekend, the seventh anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, a magazine that embodies political, social and cultural inclusivity, that has given equal value to various traditions and identities, is denied public funding. The real risk-takers have been Fortnight ‘s directors, in particular Tom Hadden… people who could have used money poured into the magazine for their own comfort. Such philanthropy should be rewarded, not betrayed.
Henry.mcdonald@observer.co.uk
Padraig Pearse surrender letter may leave the country
LARA BRADLEY and NICOLA TALLANT
A SURRENDER letter handwritten by Padraig Pearse just three days before his execution is likely to fall into the hands of a rich private collector and may leave the country.
The Government had been urged to purchase the “priceless” document when it goes under the hammer at a major art sale in May, but ironically the preciousness of the letter is the very reason the State will be unable to secure it for the Irish people.
The rare letter was penned by Pearse in Arbour Hill Prison on April 30, 1916. It states: “In order to prevent further slaughter of the civil population and in the hope of saving the lives of our followers, the members of the Provisional Government present at Headquarters have decided on an unconditional surrender, and Commandants or Officers commanding districts will order their commands to lay down arms.”
The Managing Director of James Adam auction house, where the letter is to be sold, believes it should be snapped up by the State so it can always be available to the people of Ireland.
He said: “It would be awful to see it leave the country. This is a very important document of Irish history and it is practically impossible to put a price on it. It is the sort of thing that will be of interest to a lot of collectors and it is rare that something of this quality should come up for sale.
“I would like to see this bought by the State so it can remain the property of the Irish people and not be locked away out of sight.”
Experts at the National Library, where an original of another 1916 surrender letter is held, authenticated the letter.
Curator of the National Museum Lar Joy said: “We already have copies of surrender documents. There are several around. We don’t tell when we have an intention to bid on an item as that can affect the price, but we will probably take a look at it nearer the date.”
Although historians and archivists in the national cultural institutions secretly covet the letter, the Government Department which controls them believes the price demanded will be too high.
A Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism spokesman said: “There are a number of these letters in circulation. The National Museum already have two in place, accordingly the value of this one would not be huge to the museum. We will look at it, but we don’t intend to bid for it.
“It is likely to go for an astronomical price and our funds can be better spent elsewhere.”
The letter was written the day after the surrender at the request of the Capuchin Order because rebels in Church St refused to believe there had been a surrender until they saw a letter from Pearse.
Curator of Kilmainham Gaol and the Pearse Museum, Mr Pat Cooke, said: “The price of Republican memorabilia has gone through the roof so, being publicly funded, we can only bid for exceptional items.
“The one comforting thing is that if someone pays a high price for this letter they are likely to treasure it. Remarkably, there are still people out there who donate such items to museums because they feel it is the right thing to do.”
Photograph finally clears up Easter 1916 mystery
LARA BRADLEY
click photo of burnt-out GPO in 1916 to view
IF ALL the people who claimed they were in the GPO on Easter Monday 1916 had actually been there, it was little wonder the British pulled out.
The standing Irish joke is that tens of thousands of people boasted they were right at the heart of the action on that historic date, but only a tiny percentage would have fitted within the walls of the GPO.
But this grainy black and white photograph shows that at least 288 people played their part in defending the landmark post office.
Hanging in a side-room off the main hall of the GPO and next to an original copy of the Proclamation, this amazing photograph has been shrouded in mystery – until today.
Like the unknown soldier, the image of these nameless heroes has captivated many who passed through the GPO, but it is only now that their identities can be confirmed.
Writer Ulick O’Connor said: “It is fascinating that all the people who were in the GPO could be identified from this.”
The photograph has been on display in the GPO for just over a decade.
It was originally discovered quite by chance when a postal worker visited the home of a relative of former Minister for Defence, Oscar Traynor, and saw the framed photograph hanging there. After a fascinating discussion it was agreed a copy should be made available for display in the GPO.
Within An Post, even through the significance of this photograph has never been underestimated, many staff have always wrongly believed that the line-up includes a high percentage of people who falsely claimed to be members of the GPO garrison.
A spokesman for An Post said: “The only information we have on it is that it is the garrison of 1916. There has never been a proper caption done, but the feeling is there is no way all those people can possibly have been there. We’d like to know how they were vetted.
“There are a surprising number of women in it, who would have been nurses, cooks and runners. We would be delighted to learn more about this picture and the whole nation would be interested in having these people identified.”
Today, for the first time, the Sunday Independent can confirm that every individual pictured above genuinely played his or her part in the securing Irish freedom – and did so within the GPO.
Curator of the National Museum, Lar Joy, said: “There are stories that whole villages applied for pensions claiming to have been in the GPO at that time, but if they are in this picture they were definitely there.
“This photograph was officially organised by the Government and the people in it were in receipt of pensions, so there was a legal process and strict rules involved in identifying them.
“Everyone of them went to prison so we can be definite about who they are.”
The photograph was taken in Croke Park on the 20th anniversary of the Easter Rising and was published in the Irish Press.
The highlight of the 1936 celebrations was a ceremonial march down O’Connell Street by each of the garrisons who fought in the Rising.
A roll of honour signed by each of the 1,500 survivors was then presented to Eamon de Valera outside the GPO, and it is from this historic document that the people pictured above can be identified.
Mr Joy said: “De Valera gave the roll of honour to the National Museum. The signatures are listed by Garrison – the Four Courts, Jacob’s Factory, Boland’s Bakery, the South Dublin Union, St Stephen’s Green, the College of Surgeons and the GPO – which was the largest.”
From next year, anyone interested in identifying the nameless heroes pictured above will finally be able to solve the mystery at the National Museum.
Mr Joy said: “We don’t have the roll of honour out on display as the paper is so fragile, but we hope to scan it next year and display it in our 1916 room in Kildare Street. We also have a copy of thispicture.”
Military archivist Commandant Victor Lang said: “I have never seen a trace or a legend on any of these commemorative photographs. They were social occasions and the photographers often didn’t bother writing down all the names in order.”
Device ignites in shopping centre
A device was left at Forestside shopping centre
A fire in one of Northern Ireland’s busiest shopping centres was started by an incendiary device, police have confirmed.
Security staff discovered the device in a clothes shop in the Forestside complex in south Belfast at about 2200 GMT on Saturday.
It ignited and damaged stock before being put out by a sprinkler system.
The complex was closed to key holders for a time, but keyholders were asked to return to check their premises.
Meanwhile, police have said they have warned shop owners across the province to be extra vigilant over the Easter period.
Original unaltered mural photo used is from crazyfenian
**If I have messed up any spellings, I apologise, as I had to fix the text. For previously posted Sinn Féin Easter commemorations, go HERE.
Easter Commemorations
Honour Ireland’s Dead – Wear an Easter Lily
ANTRIM
Belfast, Easter Sunday, Republican Plot,
Milltown Cemetery, 12 noon.
ARMAGH
Easter Sunday, commemoration, St
Michael’s Killeen after 11.30 Mass.
Wreath-laying ceremonies at Camloch,
Edentubber, Jonsboro, Dromintee,
Mullaghabawn, Cullyhanna, and
Cloughogue.
Armagh city, Easter Sunday, Sandyhill
Cemetery, 3pm.
Lurgan, Easter Saturday,
commemoration at Republican Plot, St
Colman’s Cemetery, 3pm.
CLARE
Easter Sunday commemoration, Drumcliffe
Cemetery, Ennis, 4pm.
CORK
Assemble at Wilton Roundabout, 2pm
Easter Sunday. Parade to Republican Plot,
St Finbarr’s Cemetery.
DERRY
Cú chulainn Memorial, City Cemetery,
Derry City, Easter Sunday, assemble at 12
noon.
Wreath-laying ceremonies at the
following on Easter Sunday morning: The
Loup Cemetery, 9am at the grave of
Brigadier Seán Larkin; and the grave of
Tommy Toner in Dungiven, 10.15am at the
graves of Vols Kealy, O’Carolan and
Kilmartin and hunger striker Kevin Lynch.
DONEGAL
Holy Saturday, Doneyloup, Castlefin
7.30pm.
Clady Bridge, 11.30am.
Drumboe, Easter Sunday, assemble Johnson’s Corner
2.30pm.
DOWN
Easter Sunday, Newry, 10 am, St Mary’s
Cemetery.
DUBLIN
Assemble Garden of Remembrance,
11.45am for march to GPO, O’Connell
Street, Dublin, Easter Sunday.
Wreath-laying ceremony at Glasnevin
Cemetery, Easter Sunday 1pm.
Easter Monday, commemoration at Deansgrange
Cemetery, 1pm.
FERMANAGH
Easter Sunday, Roslea, assemble at
cemetery, 2.30pm and march to gave of
Roslea Martyrs.
GALWAY
Assemble at Cathedral for parade to Liam
Mellows Memorial, Eyre Square, Galway
city, Easter Sunday, 11am.
Republican Plot, Donaghpatrick,
Headford, Easter Sunday, assemble
Queally’s Cross, Cahirlistrane, 3pm.
Wreath-laying ceremonies at Uachtarard,
grave of Vol Séamus O’Máille, 7pm,
Saturday, April 22.
Easter Sunday 12 noon, wreath-laying
ceremony at the grave of Fr Michael
Griffin, Cathedral, Loughrea.
Tuam, Easter Sunday, 2pm wreath-laying
ceremony, Workhouse Memorial.
GLASGOW
Easter Sunday commemoration and
function. Details from SAOIRSE sellers.
KERRY
Cahersiveen, Easter Sunday, assemble
2.30pm Fair Green and parade to
Killavarogue Cemetery. Wreath-laying
ceremonies at 3rd Kerry Brigade memorial
in Church Street along the route.
Easter Sunday, Republican Plot,
Listowel, assemble The Square, Listowel,
12.30.
Tralee, Easter Sunday, assemble at
Denny Street at 2pm parade to Republican
Plot, Rath Cemetery. Killarney, wreathlaying
ceremony at Republican Monument.
KILDARE
Easter Sunday, 12 noon in St Conleth’s
Cemetery, Newbridge, at the grave of
Eugene O’Rourke.
Easter Monday, 12 noon
wreath-laying at the Connor/Lacey
Monument, Barrowhouse, Athy Co
Kildare. Wreaths will be laid throughout the
county.
LAOIS/OFFALY
Easter Commemoration, Easter Monday,
Portarlington, assemble at the East End
Hotel at 2.30pm and march to the 1798
monument in the town square.
Wreathlaying
at the grave of Walter Mitchell, Clara
Cemetery, Easter Saturday, at 6pm.
LEITRIM
Easter Sunday, North Leitrim wreathlaying
ceremonies: Rossinver, at grave of
Vol Jack McCabe, 12 noon; Manorhamilton
at memorial to Capt Phil Gilgunn, 12.30pm.
Easter Sunday Commemoration
Aughnasheelin, Ballinamore 3pm, at the
graves of Séamus Wrynn and the O’Reillys.
LIMERICK
Easter Sunday, assemble Munster Tavern,
Mulgrave Street, 2.45pm for parade to
Republican Plot, Mount St Lawrence
Cemetery.
LIVERPOOL
Easter Sunday commemoration, Ford
Cemetery, Liverpool, 12 noon.
LONDON
Wreath-laying ceremonies, Easter Monday,
Hendon, London.
LONGFORD
Easter Sunday, Drumlish, at the grave of
Tommy Kelleher, 3pm.
LOUTH
Dundalk, Easter Sunday, assemble Adelphi
(old cinema now closed) at 1pm for parade
to Republican Plot, St Patricks Cemetery.
MANCHESTER
Wreath-laying ceremonies: Manchester,
Ilford, Romford.
MAYO
Kilkelly, Easter Monday, 12 noon,
assemble at Church and parade to East
Mayo Brigade Memorial on main Sligo-
Galway Road.
MEATH
12 noon, Easter Monday, wreath-laying
ceremony at Tom Allen Memorial,
Longwood.
Wreath-laying ceremonies will
also be held at the Séamus Fox Memorial,
Drumree, 1pm and at Ardbracken, Navan,
1.30pm.
MONAGHAN
Easter Sunday, Commemoration,
Urbleshanny Cemetery, Scotstown, at grave
of Vol Seámus McElwaine 2pm.
NEW YORK*
Easter Sunday Commemoration, McGee’s
Pub, 240W 55th Street, (near 7th Avenue),
New York city, 11am.
ROSCOMMON
Ballinlough, Easter Sunday, 12 noon,
parade to IRA Memorial.
Elphin, parade to County Roscommon
Memorial after 11.30 Mass.
County Commemoration, 3.30,
Cloontuskert Cemetery, Curraghroe at the
graves of John Scally and Michael Grealy.
SLIGO
Sligo Town, Easter Sunday, assemble Sligo
Cemetery gates 1pm and march to
Republican Plot.
TIPPERARY
Easter Sunday, commemoration, 10am,
Hunger Strike Memorial, Banba Square,
Nenagh.
TYRONE
Easter Saturday, Edendork Cemetery, East
Tyrone, 5.30pm at the graveside of Fian
James Mc Caughey.
Carrickmore, Easter Saturday, 6.30pm,
wreath-laying ceremony at grave of Frank
Ward. Aghyaran, Easter Sunday 10.15am at
grave of John Phillip O’Donnell.
WATERFORD
Easter Monday, Republican Memorial, The
Square, Cappoquin, 7pm.
WESTMEATH
Easter Sunday, Dromraney Cemetery.
Assemble 3pm, at grave of Tom Sloan.
WEXFORD
Republican Plot, St Ibara’s Cemetery,
Crosstown, Easter Sunday, assemble at
Crescent Quay, Wexford at 3pm. Wreathlaying
ceremonies at the grave of Joe
Whitty; and at the graves of Rafter and
McCarthy in Morrinton Cemetery.
http://www.irishfreedom.net/Easter.html
These are commemorations associated with Republican
Sinn Féin and Cumann Na Saoirse Náisiúnta. Others
are more than welcome to post notice of other Easter
commemorations and events.
Easter Sunday Address – 2005
Eighty-nine years ago tomorrow on Easter Monday, brave Irish men and women took up arms to rid Ireland of the cruel master who had brutalized and terrorized the populace for nigh on eight hundred years. The events of that day and the war that followed gave hope and courage to other victims around the world. It set in motion a ground swell of armed resistance and civil disobedience in countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, South America and the Caribbean. The beginning of the end of the tyrannical British Empire began its disintegration into nothingness on that fateful Easter Monday morning.
They, the men and women who bore arms on that day were brave and honorable and we shall always remember and honor them. The rulers of the British Empire rode the waves for centuries plundering the wealth, natural resources and antiquities of their innocent victims. They set indigenous peoples against each other by favoring one group, tribe or clan over another. Their `divide and rule’ policy used religion and skin color; very divisive and easy tools to use in the right hands. They started the opium trade in China and supplied the slave trade in the Americas from their African colonies. They destroyed the Irish language, tried hard to destroy Irish core values and customs and in general wrecked havoc on the Irish psyche. Their arrogance was typified by the way they behaved after losing the American colonies in 1776. Instead of accepting defeat gracefully and the new reality of a free America, they tried a comeback in 1812. Let all of us be grateful and thankful to Andrew Jackson and other brave Americans who made sure that a comeback was not in the cards.
Although the sun has set on the British Empire, England the mother country needs to hold on to some semblance of a world power. Other than on the playing field, mother England prefers to be referred to as the United Kingdom. On the world scene it sounds more important than England. How ironic that six of Ireland’s counties are claimed as part of the fanciful United Kingdom instead of being part of a United Ireland, where after all, their natural affinity lies. It is doubtful if the Good Friday Agreement will change that. On the contrary, provisions of that agreement go a long way to make the six occupied Irish counties a permanent part of the United Kingdom. The great irony surrounding the 1916 Easter Sunday uprising and the war that followed is that the sacrifices of all those who fought and died was not enough to bring freedom and unity to Ireland, whereas freedom and independence prevail in many of the other countries who took their cue from the Irish insurrection. Eighty-nine years later we are still witnessing the consequences of letting the enemy dictate the terms of their defeat. This could not have happened then or now without the collaboration of opportunists and profiteers posing as republicans and nationalists.
Our task here in the U.S is to continue to represent the aspirations of the men and women of 1916. It is a formidable task fraught with challenges and obstacles but with God’s help we shall prevail. We are confident in the knowledge that we represent what the martyrs of 1916, and the martyrs who came before and after, fought and died for. We will continue to strive until Ireland is reunited in an all-
Ireland federal Republic free of outside interference and inside corruption and profiteering. The British initiated Good Friday Agreement will not achieve that; The Irish crafted Eire Nua plan will.
The premise on which Eire Nua is based, the devolution of power in an all-Ireland federal Republic, would negate the need for future armed conflicts and eliminate the prevailing climate of criminality and corruption permeating the political system throughout Ireland. Men and women of good will should settle for nothing less. In conclusion let us reflect once more on the following excerpt from the Proclamation of 1916
“We place the cause of the Irish Republic under the protection of the Most High God Whose blessing we invoke upon our arms, and we pray that no one who serves that cause will dishonor it by cowardice, inhumanity, or rapine. In this supreme hour the Irish nation must, by its valour and discipline and by the readiness of its children to sacrifice themselves for the common good, prove
itself worthy of the august destiny to which it is called.”
War at sea: Greenpeace fights to save dolphins from the nets
By Terry Kirby
26 March 2005
Skimming the peaks of mountainous waves, plunging into space then hitting the bottom of watery canyons with a great slap that leaves your stomach some way behind, the inflatable boats tear across the English Channel towards the target.
The Greenpeace boats are heading for two French trawlers, which appear intermittently between rolling blue hills of water. Trailing between them is a massive net, its presence under the waves signalled by two buoys on the surface a couple of hundred metres behind the ships.
At that moment, many feet below, this net is scooping up the loose shoals of the gleaming prize, fish which gather to spawn at this time of year; sea bass in Britain, loup de mer to the French. And among the sea bass may be dolphins, gorging on a smorgasbord of smaller fry, unsuspecting of the nets that will haul them in.
Campaigners say dolphins, who have to come up for air every six minutes or so, are dying in their hundreds, possibly thousands, each year, drowning entangled in the nets of these “pair” trawlers.
Their bodies are usually dumped back by the fishermen, their bellies slit to make them sink quickly. And by a combination of persuasion and harassment, the Greenpeace boats are trying to stop the fishing and save the dolphins.
This morning, persuasion by shortwave radio fails. “They say we cut their buoys before and it didn’t stop them, so they say they don’t care what we do now,” Francoise Provost, a Greenpeace protester says. He gives a Gallic shrug. “So, you can go then,” he says to Stan Vincent, the Greenpeace logistics co-ordinator.
We are in two “ribs” or rigid inflatable boats, fast, light-weight and manoeuvrable. One, piloted by Vincent, contains the Greenpeace volunteers who will try to free the buoys and allow the net to drift down, seriously affecting the size and quality of the catch. The second has The Independent, with a Greenpeace photographer and film cameraman.
The operation is dangerous. The Greenpeace volunteers, armed with bolt-cutters, try to reach the buoys and boats have to cope with the swell, keeping pace with the trawlers and the presence of a new factor: two other non-fishing trawlers, who have come to support their colleagues by bearing down in an intimidating fashion on the ribs.
The attempt is abandoned when the pair of trawlers speed up, pulling the buoys underwater. The Greenpeace boats catch up and begin plan B. Vincent carefully manoeuvres in close to attach a sea anchor – a device akin to an underwater parachute – to the net ropes to drag it down. We are now surrounded by three of the four trawlers, looming above us as the sea heaves around.
The fishermen shout something indistinguishable in French, but definitely not an invitation to come on board for café au lait. “Watch your heads in case they start throwing something,” warns Kevin, the Scottish pilot of our boat, who struggles to control the rib and keep a safe distance from the other vessels.
Sure enough, a big metal shackle is lobbed at the other boat, landing harmlessly. Those on board have already donned climbers’ helmets. There is momentary alarm when we see men on the closest non-fishing boat fiddling with black objects that could be flare guns; they soon turn out to be cameras.
By now the French have lost patience and their net is being winched in several hours before it would normally have been, and we wait for several tense minutes to see whether any dead dolphins are in the netting. The result is nothing, not a dolphin, bass or fish of any kind. Even the gannets and fulmars scooting across the waves wheel away disappointed.
All four boats head off and are pursued at high speed by Greenpeace to try to deter them from casting again. We are soaked with biting spray, as the ribs fight the waves. “Sometimes these games of cat and mouse can go on for hours,” says Gavin Newman, the Greenpeace cameraman.
This morning’s skirmish is part of a battle that has been fought in an area 20 to 40 miles south of Plymouth, since the Greenpeace ship, the Esperanza, crewed by a multi-national team of Greenpeace employees and volunteers, arrived in mid-February. There has been increasing acrimony from the fishermen, who aim their boats at the inflatables, throw objects and fire flares at the protesters. Coastguards have warned both sides to back off, in case someone is seriously injured or killed.
The day before, safety fears cut short an attempt to sever the buoys from the now non-fishing pair. Vincent decided the swell made it too hazardous. The boats had been tracked overnight by the Esperanza and this morning’s mission was launched at first light when the second pair was sighted.
Now it is mid-morning and after nearly an hour’s chase, it looks as if all the trawlers are heading for their home port of Cherbourg. Vincent signals it time to return to the Esperanza. Back on the bridge, he says: “A good morning’s work. Two trawlers forced to haul in their nets after only a couple of hours, two others harassing us, and therefore not fishing themselves. And they all give up and head for port, so they have stopped fishing for a while. A small victory.”
The bigger victory sought by Greenpeace and other groups such as the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, who have observers on board gathering data on all cetacean populations, is a total ban on trawling in the area to preserve dolphins.
Based on official British figures of dolphin by-catch by the few Scottish pair trawlers, campaigners estimate up to 2,000 dolphins are killed by fishing here each year, an unacceptable proportion, they say, of a total population of at least 9,700.
The dolphins, which gather to feed in early spring, started to suffer only when the sea bass fishery began nearly 20 years ago, in response to rising demand. The rest of the world woke up to the slaughter only two years ago when scores of dead dolphins were washed up on Cornish and Devon shores.
“If action is not taken now, our children will never get to see dolphins in the English Channel because we are pushing them to extinction,” says Sarah Duthie, head of Greenpeace’s oceans campaign. Protesters have dumped dead dolphins – many bearing the scars of nets – at the French embassy and the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in London. Finding a lactating female dolphin, say Greenpeace, is particularly distressing, knowing its calf might still be out there.
Last year, the Government banned pair fishing within 12 miles of the British coast, but ministers say pressure should be brought on the French, whose presence is the biggest in a fishery mostly in international waters. Twenty French trawler pairs and just two Scots ones have been in the area this year. Although the French trawlermen deny killing dolphins in large numbers, their government says it wants to resolve the problem without affecting their livelihoods.
Greenpeace say Britain’s 12-mile ban is irrelevant because most fishing is outside it. They say the Government has the power to institute a temporary ban to protect a threatened species. Greenpeace is bringing a High Court action to force the Government’s hand.
SLAUGHTER ON AN INDUSTRIAL SCALE
* Sea bass spawn in the Channel between February and March. The area is between 20 and 40 miles south of the Devon and Cornwall coast.
* It is also home to an estimated 9,700 common dolphins, feeding on smaller fish. Other species of dolphins and porpoises, as well as fin whales, minke whales and basking sharks have also been recorded
* At least 20 pairs of French trawlers fish the area, and a few Scottish pair trawlers. They trail huge nets between and behind them, hauling in about every eight hours.
* British pair trawlers accounted for the deaths of an estimated 400-plus dolphins last year. They drown tangled in the nets because they have to surface for air every six minutes or so. Campaigners say 2,000 die every year.
* Dolphins, found in almost all the oceans, can be taught complex tasks. Researchers say their intelligence is greater than that of dogs.
SAOIRSE32 
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