Léargas: A Podcast by Gerry Adams

The internal machinations of the Labour Party in Britain are a matter for that party but the policies it adopts and advocates in relation to Ireland have for decades adversely impacted on the lives of citizens here. A month ago the current British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer visited the North and provided a valuable insight into the double-think that has long been at the core of the British Labour Party’s attitude to Ireland. During his two day visit Starmer asserted his support for the Good Friday Agreement and the ‘principle that the decision, in the end, is for the people of the island of Ireland.’ On this he is absolutely right. The Agreement specifically states that: “it is for the people of the island of Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts respectively and without external impediment, to exercise their right of self-determination on the basis of consent, freely and concurrently given …”

The demand for truth:One after another their faces appeared on my twitter feed. The very young. The older. Children and young people. Mothers and sisters and daughters. Sons and brothers and fathers. Uncles. Aunts. Grandparents. Many with smiling faces from better times. Birthdays. Weddings. A night out. Black and white and colour images. The faces of victims – the legacy of decades of conflict. The response from Relatives for Justice to the British government’s plan to close down legacy cases, criminal prosecutions, inquests and civil actions was simple in its design but powerful in its effectiveness.Cock A DoodleDoo!!:Discerning listeners of this podcast will know I love animals. Dogs are number one. I love horses too. Cats I admire. And all manner and make of wildlife. And birds. Including farm yard ducks geese and chickens. My friends, the Dognappers have chickens. I came into conflict with this chicken this week! Climbing Mountains for UnityI want to commend all of those who took part in the Climb for Unity at the weekend. From North Antrim to Mount Gabriel in West Cork; from Slieve Patrick in South Down to Slieve Gullion in South Armagh; from the Sugar Loaf to Bray Head; from Cnoc Chamais in Conamara to Knockavoe overlooking the River Foyle in west Tyrone; to Loughcrew and Patrickstown in Meath; from Carntogher to the Black Mountain and Cave Hill overlooking Belfast and at all parts in between hundreds of activists braved the scorching weather to climb summits and hills, small and large, with their banners and posters to promote the Irish Unity cause.

Together we can make a better future:The Unity Referendum provision of the Good Friday Agreement provides a peaceful and democratic pathway to a United Ireland. It is part of an international treaty and agreement. It is part of the inexorable process of change that has been ongoing for years and that will continue in the time ahead. The conversation on the unity referendum and the constitutional future of the island of Ireland is well underway. Join it.

The Springhill Massacre families are to be commended – like those hundreds of others in similar circumstances - for their courage and resilience in the face of British government intransigence. Last weekend the families of many of those killed by British state agencies took part in protests across the North against the PPS decision. Among them were relatives of those killed in the Ballymurphy Massacre in August 1971. Only weeks ago the Coroner concluded after a lengthy inquest that nine men (including a local priest) and Joan Connolly a mother of 8, were entirely innocent victims. The Coroner described the use of violence by the Parachute Regiment as “unjustifiable” and “disproportionate.”The Orange Card:This is July. In the North July is widely known as the Orange Month. So I am producing an Orange Card for more discerning listeners. Since its inception the Orange has been associated with sectarian triumphalistic behaviour. For a long time it was a powerful network which united the Unionist ruling class, elements of the judiciary, business and Church figures and working class unionists.

Time Running out – Save Moore StAt the beginning of June the British-based property company Hammerson lodged three planning applications for major developments on and around Moore Street. The applications will effectively destroy much of the 1916 Rising Heritage of the site. Some of the buildings in the terrace that runs for 10-25 Moore Street and where the last meeting of the 1916 leaders was held, and scores of those evacuated from the burning GPO took shelter, will be demolished under the Hammerson plan.The Aghadavoyle Train Ambush.One lesser known aspect of the visit to Ireland by George V occurred in South Armagh two days after the Belfast pomp and ceremony of the opening of the Parliament in Belfast City Hall. On the 24th June three trains carrying the trappings for the opening of the Parliament, as well as members of the 10th Royal Hussars Regiment, a cavalry unit which had acted as the personal bodyguard to the British King, were heading south to the Curragh British military camp in County Kildare. Volunteers from the 4th Northern Division of the IRA, mostly from South Armagh, under the direction of Frank Aiken ambushed the last train which was carrying the Hussars and their horses in the townland of Achadh Aileóg, a few miles from the Aghadavoyle train station.

MY sister Frances died last week. Death is part of the story of life. Is é seo ar sceal. Sibling grief is a very special grief. Brothers and sisters usually know each other for the whole of their lives. So during these sad days Margaret and Paddy and Anne and Seán and Maura and Deirdre and Dominic and me are reflecting, no doubt in our own ways, on childhood memories and all the good times and bad times of lives bound up together.

Boris is a Chancer:Last week was not a good week for Boris Johnson. Even before the weekend’s G7 summit began in Cornwall the news agenda was already dominated by reports that the US government had issued a démarche to the British in advance of President Biden’s arrival.I must admit I had never heard of a démarche. During my years of negotiations with the Irish, British, US and other governments it was not a piece of diplomatic speak I had ever come across. Nor Meekly Serve my time: They were real, they were young, they were full of life. They were like anyone else. They were like you. The prison robbed them of their lives; we should never compound that by only recalling their deaths. The accounts from their friends and comrades that you are about to read, breathe life into them and make them real. You will enter their world and form an impression of them. You will get to know them a little.

Master Plan for Moore Street UnveiledMost readers know that Moore Street in Dublin City Centre holds a special place in the history of Ireland. It was in Moore Street and the surrounding streets and laneways and at the nearby GPO that a fierce battle was fought between the 1916 republican forces and the British Army. Number 16 Moore Street was where five of the seven signatories of the Proclamation held their last meeting before the surrender.A fine day, thank God.We are launching a Celebrate the Good Weather While it Lasts campaign. The CTGWWIL will endeavour to get people to express unconditional delight about whatever weather we have. Down with glum assessments about our clime and that sort of thing.Frederick DouglassFrederick Douglass was an escaped slave who travelled from the USA to Ireland in 1845. Douglass toured Ireland speaking about slavery and telling of his experience. Douglass gave his first Irish lecture in Dublin in September 1845. Over the following months he travelled to Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Limerick and Belfast. He returned to Belfast another four times.

Preparing for Unity:Hardly a week goes passed without some new aspect or commentary emerging on the issue of Irish Unity. When will the unity referendum by held? What criteria should the British Secretary of State apply when deciding on the date? What is the role of the Irish government? What will the question/s be that will be asked of citizens? How will the referendums be structured and what new laws might be needed to facilitate them.Well done to loyalists trying to keep the peace:They are also trying to deal with housing need; unemployment; drug gangs; health inequalities; poverty, deprivation and disadvantage. They are especially concerned at the emergence of an underclass of young people – no hopers – who refuse to listen to anyone. The recent street disturbances at some of the interfaces witnessed a section of unionist youth prepared to tell loyalist leaders who tried to stop the violence where to go.Tackling these problems in a heightened atmosphere of fear and with unionist parties normally disinterested in addressing these issues, is hugely difficult. There is a commonality of challenges facing our society in both nationalist and unionist working class areas. We are best able to tackle these if we are able to do so together.So well done to those from within loyalism who are doing their best to keep the peace and to tackle disadvantage.

Belfast tribute to two remarkable women:Two Belfast women, Mary Ann McCracken and Winifred Carney, will soon have statues commemorating their heroism, leadership and commitment to social justice and freedom erected in the grounds of Belfast City HallBlues legend- Rab McCullough:Recently I asked Rab if he would join Tomboy, BikMcFarlane and other exprisoner musicans, post the Covid restrictions, in a session of music from the 60s and 70s that they played together with Bobby in the Crum and Long Kesh. Rab was delighted to be asked. He rhymed off a list of potential numbers from Rod Stewart, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, John Lennon and others. Tomboy also signed up. Bik agreed to ramrod that gig and we spoke about it only last week. Unfortunately it won’t happen now. Not with Rab anyway. But his music will live on. Belfast Blues is a classic. Go deanfaidh Dia trocaire ar Rab. Mo comhbhrón le Marian agus a chlann. Mountain memories:IT was an honour for me to be on a panel discussion about the Belfast Hills.I recalled the role the local community played in getting quarrying on the mountain stopped and how the campaign for the conservation of the Bog Meadows and Divis and Black Mountain developed. Getting my notes together for this event started me thinking of the time when my family got a house in the late 1950s in Ballymurphy. At that time the ’Murph was surrounded by green fields. A river, now mostly underground, ran parallel with Ballymurphy. That was one of our favourite places to play when we weren’t on the mountain.

Ballymurphy came out of familiar playbook:The response of the Tory government of Boris Johnson, like that of Cameron and of every British and Unionist government for 50 years, has been to cover up the culpability of their forces in the killing and wounding of citizens. On the day that a Coroner found that nine innocent citizens were murdered by the Paras. Downing Street issued a statement in which it said that the British Government intends introducing “a legacy package that delivers better outcomes for victims, survivors and veterans, focuses on information recovery and reconciliation, and ends the cycle of investigations. This package will deliver on the commitments to Northern Ireland veterans, giving them the protections they deserve as part of a wider package to address legacy issues in Northern Ireland.” This is effectively an amnesty.Poots faces a big challenge:More recently Edwin led the charge to get rid of Arlene Foster and now he will face exactly the same challenges that confronted her. It’s all about positive societal change. Change is coming, including on constitutional matters. Edwin must know by now that the best way to deal with the change is to manage it with others. Standing aside may slow progress down but that will only serve to deepen difficulties and will ultimately fail. I hope the Edwin who I came to like faces up to this. He may not. If so he will end up like Arlene.

Innocent:This week the long running campaign for truth and justice by the families of the 10 people killed by the Parachute Regiment in Ballymurphy during internment in August 1971 was vindicated with the judgement in the Inquest findings.Standing Idly By. Again :In December 2017 the then Taoiseach, Mr. Varadkar said: “To the nationalist people in Northern Ireland... You will never again be left behind by an Irish Government.”That was warmly welcomed by most right thinking people at that time though some of us thought it was unlikely to be true. We were right to be cautious. Maybe Mr Varadkar meant what he said when he said it. But we need more than fine words, though they are important. We need political leaders to lead. That includes An Taoiseach. He - and so far they all have been hemales - needs to do his job

Unionism at another crossroads:Monday was the birthday of partition. It was a century since the Northern State formally came into existence with the passing into law on May 3, 1921 of the Government of Ireland Act. Unionist parties, the British government and some others tried –unsuccessfully for the most part – to turn this into a birthday celebration. The British government’s colonial office in Belfast, the NIO (Northern Ireland Office), not the Executive or Assembly, was given the task of organising this. Some bright spark came up with the idea of using Seamus Heaney and Mary Peters’ images under the tagline “Our Story in the Making: NI Beyond 100”. It was supposed to be all about “the spirit of inclusivity, mutual respect and optimism.” It backfired. No-one had asked the Heaney family. The NIO claimed that the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University had given its permission for the portrait to be used but this was denied. There was outrage and uproar with many quoting Seamus Heaney’s own words: “Be advised, my passport’s green/No glass of ours was ever raised to toast the Queen.” Israel still enforcing apartheid:I make no apologies for returning again to the plight of the Palestinian people living under the yoke of Israeli apartheid laws and policies. Last week Human Rights Watch published a 224 page report on the policies and actions of the Israeli state.

Let’s plan our own Future togetherMichelle O’Neill hit the nail on the head in her interview on the Late Late Show with Ryan Tubridy last Friday evening. She said: “In the light of Brexit there is a stark choice that has opened up for people. Which Union do you wish to be part of? Do you wish to be part of an inclusive inward looking Ireland? ... There is something better for us to own our future together. Plan it. Find a way to insure that both Irish identity and British identity can live side by side – we have lived apart for far too long. Now’s the time to plan something that we all have a stake in and that we are all benefiting from.”ANC supports Unity Referendum and a United IrelandIrish Republicans have long enjoyed fraternal relations with the African National Congress. For much of the last three decades there have been ongoing solidarity links between Sinn Féin and the ANC. During the years of armed struggle, according to ANC leader and Government Minister, the late Kadar Asmal, the IRA assisted MK, the ANC’ s army. MK was founded by Nelson Mandela and others in December 1961.In the 1990s as our own peace strategy evolved Sinn Féin and the IRA called its 1994 cessation Sinn Fein leaders, including myself and Martin McGuinness, Rita O’Hare and others travelled to South Africa. After the Good Friday Agreement was achieved in 1998 ANC leaders, including the current President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa travelled to Ireland to speak to the republican grassroots and went into the prisons where they met Republican POWs.

Inflexible Unionism The current unionist narrative seeks to present the present political crisis as the fault of everyone else except themselves. Mostly they blame the Irish Protocol element of the Brexit Withdrawal Treaty, the Irish government and the EU, and the funeral of Bobby Storey ten months ago. Black Mountain.I’m pleased to say that I sent the final draft of my new book to O Brien Press this week. My original book title was The Witness Tree but I’ve opted now for Black Mountain and Other Stories. There are eleven new ones and five which were previously published. So Black Mountain it is. Watch this space for further details. Save the date for publication of Black Mountain and Other Stories during Féile in August.Palestinian Prisoners Day12 years ago this month I visited Palestine and Israel as part of a Sinn Fein delegation. We saw for ourselves the extent of the devastation. Schools destroyed; hospitals damaged; homes and businesses flattened. Last Saturday was Palestinian Prisoners Day. It is an important date in the Palestinian calendar. Since the Israeli occupation commenced in 1967 it is estimated that one million Palestinians have been arrested by Israel. I want to extend my solidarity to all Palestinian political prisoners and to wish the Palestinian people well as they prepare for elections to the Palestinian parliament in May and Presidential elections on 31 July. These are important elections and they offer the Palestinian people a significant opportunity to build new alliances, develop new strategies and reach out to the international community for support as they seek to achieve Palestinian Statehood, on the borders of 1967 with East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.

The Process of Change Must Continue:The recent loyalist sponsored violence and the provocative and inflammatory language of unionist political leaders has led to speculation about what the violence is really all about? Voting for Bobby Sands:As many readers will know this year marks 40 years since the 1981 hunger strike. It was a traumatic, difficult and yet historic year which undoubtedly shaped future politics on this island in ways none of us could have foreseen at the time.

Why Would Arlene Leave Fermanagh?Arlene Foster talks of leaving the North in the event of a Yes referendum vote for a United Ireland. “I cannot see how I could be British in Fermanagh, in a United Ireland, because by the very definition you are no longer British because you are living in an all-Ireland state.”I see no reason for Arlene to leave Fermanagh. That will be her decision of course, not mine. But Fermanagh is her homeplace regardless of its future constitutional status. Why anyone who suffered during the conflict and survived as she has, would voluntarily leave such a beautiful peaceful place simply because it would be part of a United Ireland is worthy of deeper analysis. Maybe Arlene should elaborate?The second battle of Moore StreetAs you read this week’s column cast your mind back to Dublin 105 years ago. Pádraig Pearse and James Connolly had stood at the entrance of the GPO on Monday and issued the Proclamation of The Republic to the Irish People.After five days of fierce fighting and with the GPO in Sackville St (now O’Connell St) in flames the Volunteers were forced on the Friday evening to evacuate that position. There was a British Army barricade at the top of the street where it joined with Parnell Street. The O Rahilly led a failed charge to break through into Parnell Street. Wounded he was to die against the side wall of 25 Moore Street after writing a last poignent letter to his wife. Carrying a wounded James Connolly, and under constant machine gun and sniper fire the GPO Garrison had made their way across Henry Street to Number 10 Moore Street. They broke through the outside wall of Number 10 and began tunnelling their way up through the terrace of houses.The next morning – Saturday - five of the signatories to the Proclamation – Pádraig Pearse, Seán Mac Diarmada, Tom Clarke, James Connolly and Joseph Plunkett met in Number 16. There they discussed their next steps. Surrounded on all sides by British forces; with no prospect of success and concerned about the ongoing risk to civilians, the leaders reluctantly decided to surrender. Decades later Moore Street and the lanes surrounding it – The Battlefield Site - stand alongside national monuments in other states around the world where the right to independence and freedom was fought for. It is, as the National Museum of Ireland has described: “The most important site in modern Irish history.”Regrettably, successive Dublin governments have taken a different view preferring to back private developers whose plans would see the destruction of much of this iconic area. Currently a second battle of Moore Street is taking place. A company called Hammerson is about to lodge planning permission for a development that would ruin the Battlefield Site if it is given the go-ahead.

Bin the Orange Card Time & again unionist leaders have whipped up anger & fear. Playing the Orange Card is older than the northern state. It’s time to call a halt. It’s time to bin the Orange Card.Inclusion and Reconciliation in the new IrelandAs part of our desire for a greater understanding of the issues involved and of the measures needed to confront sectarianism and hate Sinn Féin this month commenced an internal dialogue on inclusion and reconciliation. As new ideas and proposals emerge with increasing momentum around the shape and form of a new Ireland, we need the most informed debate possible. Everything should be on the table for discussion. That’s the way forward.Bronntanais Mala Na CascaThe recent United Ireland Easter Egg - an Bronntanais Mala Na Casca - was a great success. The problem was there were not enough of them. We knew that from the start. Le cuidiú De next year we will do a big United Ireland Easter Egg extravaganza. And intensify our Uniting Ireland activism in the meantime. Have a good Easter. Wear a lily. Honour our Patriot Dead.

Micheál has it badly wrong on Irish unity:While no-one was able to travel to the USA this St Patrick’s Day because of the pandemic restrictions it was still nonetheless a good couple of weeks for the peace process, the Good Friday Agreement, the demand for the referendum on unity and for the campaign for a United Ireland. Friends of Sinn Féin successfully fund-raised the money to pay for major adverts in the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Irish American papers. Under the banner headline: ‘A United Ireland: Let the People have their say’, the message was clear.An Taoiseach Micheál Martin, in response to the Irish American ads, again rejected any possibility of planning for the unity referendum or even planning for a united Ireland. Instead Martin stuck to the line that now is not the time to talk about unity. He told an audience in Washington: “I think it is divisive and puts people back into the trenches too early.” His strategy – if it can be called that – is to put reconciliation and a unionist majority in favour of unity as preconditions to any discussion or planning on unity. This is a clear breach of the terms of the Good Friday Agreement which require a simple majority in favour of unity. It is undemocratic and would hand to unionism a veto over future constitutional change. Martin’s stance fundamentally subverts a key component of the Good Friday Agreement.The big cat and dog debateI love dogs. I have a slightly different relationship with cats. I respect cats.There were feral cats in Long Kesh. They used to hoke in the bins. Maybe they are still there. Like wee ghosts haunting the place. The odd time a few were persuaded to accept titbits from cat-loving or mice- and rat-hating political prisoners who looked to the cats for rodent control. That was in the Cages. I think of them when I see a cat slinking along the yard wall in ambush mode for the wee birds feeding at the birdtable. A bell around the cat’s neck would even things up. Make it a fair dig.

6000 DAYS.Jaz McCann writes very well. The reader is quickly drawn into his world. From the opening sentences of his Prologue Jaz paints the sights and sounds, the emotions, shocks, excitement, sadness, smells and the savage brutality and amazing horrors of his 6000 Days of incarceration, mostly in the H Blocks of Long Kesh. He also makes us witness to the incredible courage, vision, commitment, solidarity, idealism, generosity, quirkiness, anger, native contrariness, humour, comradeship and stubbornness of the political prisoners.Lá Féile Padráig Faoi Mhaise Daoibhse.I like Saint Patricks Day. I always like to raise a glass on this special day to all the Paddies and Patricia’s, the Pádraic’s and Pádráigín’s in my life. Chief among these is my older brother Paddy and our Uncle Paddy.Seachtain na GaeilgeSeachtain na Gaeilge is the biggest celebration of Irish language and culture in the world. It is a non-profit organization that was set up by Conradh na Gaeilge with the aim of promoting the use of the Irish language in Ireland and overseas. The festival used to run for one week but became so popular it had to be extended and now runs annually from 1 March to 17 March – St. Patrick’s Day. In 2020 there were over 30,000 events held in Ireland and across the world with an estimated three quarters of a million people participating.

It is my great privilege to have met many fine women and men over the years. The Léargas series of books is a record of some of these I came to know or to know of along life’s journey. It is very personal to me.This week I published the latest of these. The seventh book in the series is titled; ‘Kathleen Thompson – Up The Republic, She Raised The Battle Cry’. It is a tribute to my good friend Kathleen Thompson and it includes a limited edition of one of her most popular CDs – Legion of the Rearguard.Kathleen is for many of my generation the voice we most associate with the republican songs of the 1970s but she was not just a fabulous singer. She was also a committed republican activist. She understood that her music could move audiences and remind them of the importance of Ireland’s long struggle for freedom. Kathleen was a member of Cumann na mBan, of Green Cross and the National Graves. She was a strong supporter of the political prisoners and their families.Kathleen was also one of the most giving people I know. She gave freely of her talents and her time for the Irish cause. She stood up for herself and for us all. All these years later I still miss her. Ireland and her family lost a bright shining star when she left us. Go ndeanfaidh Dia trocaire uirthi. Many thanks to everyone who shared their memories of Kathleen with us and special thanks to Richard McAuley for his input.

A date to rememberDates can evoke powerful memories for all of us. The birth or death of a loved one; a wedding; a new job; a joyous family occasion or a tragedy. Some memories can be so strong that it’s as if we are still there now. The smells, the noise, the fear, the joy, the sadness.March 1st, the date I pen these words, is one of those dates for me. Walking the Belfast HillsI have always enjoyed walking. Especially with a dog. Or dogs. As youngsters my brother Paddy, Joe Magee and I would tramp the Black Mountain above Ballymurphy and beyond. The enjoyment of walking dogs, especially across open fields or hills, has remained with me all my life. Sometimes we walked to Glenavy. Later we graduated from walking to cycling. Later again on a Honda 50. Joe and I went often to Glenavy and up, down and around all the countryside along that part of Lough Neagh. But we would always spend part of our day walking. .

So what are we to make of the threats by some Unionist leaders over the Irish Protocol? Do we ignore them? I think not. Even though we have heard all this all our lives it is too serious to ignore. Operation Fear needs challenged. Threats of violence or the use of violence by Unionists to get their own way have been a regular feature of Irish political life going back to the nineteenth century. Sectarian pogroms, the use of the “Orange Card” by unionist and Tory politicians, discrimination in jobs and housing, the gerrymandering of elections, state collusion with death squads, have all been part and parcel of unionist strategy when faced with anything that could be construed as a threat to their domination.It is important that we are attentive to this mindset within political unionism. But we should not acquiesce to it. Unionism is no longer the monolith it once was. Its electoral majority in the Assembly and at Westminster is gone. Dialogue and a common sense approach to the constitutional status of the North is a part of the way forward. It’s time for unionists to decide that we dont need leaders from another country to rule us. As James Connolly said once, ‘Ruling by fooling is a great British art. With great Irish fools to practise on’. Let unionists say NO to any more betrayals.

Fly Me To The Moon.I downloaded a new album, Cheek to Cheek, by Tony Bennett and Lady GaGa. It is brilliant. I am a longtime fan of Mr Bennett and in more recent times, Lady GaGa. Tony Bennett is celebrated for his decades of singing hit songs. He has also been a life long activist, a dedicated pacifist and an advocate for social justice and a cleaner environment. He marched with Martin Luther King in the Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights demonstration. He is also an acclaimed painter whose work has raised millions for good causes. But it is his singing that most of us enjoy. I have had the good luck to hear him sing live a few times. PSNI losing sight of Patten Vision for PolicingAll societies need a police service. A police service that works in partnership with the community and with citizens. Community policing is not the same as policing the community. A policing service is different from a police force. The North does not need another state police force. We had that with the RUC. For 80 years that paramilitary organisation, along with the B Specials, functioned as the armed wing of the unionist/British state and employed a plethora of special laws and repressive techniques to maintain unionist domination. The Good Friday Agreement established the Patten Commission as a means of creating a new beginning to policing. Progress was made. But in the last few weeks a series of events and issues have emerged that have inflicted significant damage to hopes of the Patten vision and the PSNI...

Brexit - A Child of the DUP.I have been watching the machinations of the DUP over the Article 16 carry on. TSo, what’s it all about? For me it’s very simple. Brexit is a child of the DUP. The DUP were hell bound for Brexit. They disregarded all advice and suggestions from all quarters about the likely consequences. Now they complain. Very much like someone jumping into a lake and then complaining about being wet. So lets be clear. Who has the responsibility for the current Brexit difficulties? The Democratic Unionist Party.That’s who! Lets keep reminding them and the Protestant, Unionist and Loyalist people of this indisputable fact.Anger at attack on victims and survivorsThe media has been filled with the images around the deeply unacceptable interference and thuggery of a PSNI patrol when it attacked a commemoration by the families of those who had lost loved ones in the mass murder attack by the UDA on Graham’s bookies in February 1992.Video footage of the event showed disturbing evidence of a heavy handed PSNI intervention.This resulted in relatives being left deeply distressed and one man Mark Sykes – who was shot seven times in the original 1992 attack – being manhandled by the PSNI, handcuffed and arrested. The video footage and the actions of the PSNI have caused widespread and justifiable anger.

On the 5th of February 1992, five people were brutally murdered, with a further seven injured in a massacre carried out by the UDA. Each year the relatives and friends and the local community hold a remembrance ceremony at the site of the attack. This year, in keeping with Covid restrictions only relatives attended. They wore masks and were socially distanced.Video footage of the event shows disturbing evidence of a heavy handed PSNI intervention. This resulted in relatives being left deeply distressed and one man Mark Sykes – who was shot four times in the original 1992 attack – being manhandled by the PSNI, handcuffed and arrested. The video footage and the actions of the PSNI have caused widespread and justifiable anger.Those of you who are familiar with this sad story will know that the Police Ombudsman’s report into the original mass killing has been delayed.This has been in part because information relating to the 1992 attack, that had never been disclosed to the Police Ombudsman’s investigation, was discovered on PSNI computers. So the PSNI had information about the massacre under their computers and this was not given to the Police Ombudsman.

Fra McCann's amazing life of struggleI have known Fra McCann for almost 50 years. Even as he battles prostate cancer Fra continues to live his life as a republican activist – an MLA representing the people of the Falls, an area and a people he loves. Like many others it was the pogrom of August 1969 that changed Fra’s life. The barricades went up in Belfast and local people stepped forward to defend their community. Among them was a very young Fra. Several years later, aged 18, he was interned on the prison ship Maidstone for a month before being sent to Long Kesh in February 1972. He was released in May of that year. Six months later he was interned again and returned to Long Kesh in November 1972 where he was held until his release on December 23, 1975. Growing support for a border referendumA LUCIDTALK poll published by the London Times suggests that the trend toward a fragmentation of the British Union is growing stronger. All United Irelanders should note that growing support for a referendum does not necessarily mean support for unity. So we have work to do. Securing a referendum on unity is one thing. Winning that referendum and moving inclusively and in agreement into a new Ireland is another piece of work entirely. Let’s do itMe, Larry King and the SF broadcast banTHE legendary American broadcaster Larry King died at the weekend. For over 60 years he worked in radio and TV. I first met him during my 48-hour visit to New York at the end of January 1994. I was invited to participate in a peace conference organised by the National Committee on Foreign Policy. The British government began an intense private and public campaign to keep me out. The British Embassy worked round the clock arguing that a visa for me would be a diplomatic catastrophe.

Des Wilson – A Voice for the Poor and Oppressed by Joe McVeighFr. Joe McVeigh was a close friend and colleague of Des Wilson. It wasn’t just that both were priests. They both shared a passionate believe in justice and were committed to standing up for the rights of citizens against a British state apparatus which was oppressive and violent.The ANC and the 1981 hunger strikersThe year after the 1994 election I had the honour and pleasure to meet Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu. In June 1995 I travelled to South Africa as part of a Sinn Féin delegation to meet with the ANC’s senior negotiators. Our objective was to talk to them about their strategies and tactics and to see what Sinn Féin could learn from their experience for our peace efforts. The IRA cessation was then ten months old and the British were stalling on establishing all-party talks. By the end of our visit we had made many new friends, confounded the British who had tried to block a meeting with President Mandela, and were pleased to discover that our peace strategy was already following the pattern of that used by the ANC.The storming of the CapitolThe political and constitutional fallout in the USA to the unparalleled events last week in Washington will continue for years to come. I have visited the Capitol Building many times since my first visit to Washington DC in September 1994. I know well many of those Congressional and Senate representatives and their staffers who have regularly met with me to discuss Ireland. It was surreal and deeply troubling to watch as mobs rampaged along corridors and stairwells and offices that I have visited many times.

Singing and climbing in 2021A Chairde, a very happy 2021 to you all. Here are ten personal things I want to do in this bright new year. · Survive the pandemic. Stay alive and stay healthy. That means following the health advice and getting the vaccine as soon as I can. · Climb Errigal again. I used to do that regularly but the pandemic and travel restrictions intruded. Ewan McColl wrote ‘The Joy Of Living’, a very fine song when he realised that he could not hill walk or climb as he used to because of his age. I never really knew what he meant until my last ascent up Errigal. But as I panted slowly heavenwards I discovered the secret. Take your time. It’s not a race. So I will keep going upwards for as long and as slowly as I can. And as soon as possible in 2021. · Publish my new book of short stories. The Witness Tree has also fallen foul of the pandemic but hopefully mid summer will see O’Brien Press launching this collection. · Keep producing the Léargas series, in partnership with the incredible R G McAuley. This not for profit project is about women and men I came to know, or know of, along lifes journey. Kathleen Thompson, nee Largey, nee McCready, the singer and activist, is the subject of our next tribute. Hopefully to be published before Easter. Then we intend to do one about The Armagh Women in time for the Hungerstrike Anniversary. · Get to more games. The standard of hurling, camogie and football at underage, and all other levels, is rising in Belfast as a result of the work of many dedicated local GAA volunteers, parents and mentors and club stalwarts. Spectating is a great way to support Gaelic games. Commenting on the state of play and shouting loudly about the referee’s shortcomings from the safety of the ditch, is a great way to entertain those around you. And to get rid of stress. And self-respect. · Learn an entire song. It is a little known fact that I gave up a promising singing career in order to concentrate on the cause of Irish freedom. I have recently realised that I know a few lines of hundreds of songs but if I was called on to sing I could not sing an entire song. I hope to rectify that by learning all the words of I Wish I Had Someone To Love Me and Mo Ghille Mear. · Get called to sing. · Improve my knowledge and use of the Irish language. · Give up Twitter. · Have a few very pleasant ordinary social outings with family and/or friends. · Intensify my involvement in the cause of Irish freedom so that I can enjoy being a citizen in a free Ireland as soon as possible. · Relaunch my singing career.A DOGS LIFE!We have two dogs. Truth to tell we have had two dogs for a very long time. Once we had three. Three times or four times when puppies arrived we had a dozen or so. But that was only for a wee while. I wouldn't be without a dog. Since I was about six or so, when my uncle went to Canada and left his dog with me, there has always been a mutt in my life...FINALLY.While Brexit and the Coronavirus dominated the political agenda for much of 2020 nonetheless the debate on the proposal in the Good Friday Agreement for a unity referendum and the value, form and nature of such a referendum, have all gathered momentum... So, if you believe in a new Ireland – a shared Ireland – based on fairness, equality and mutual respect join the conversation in 2021 for a United Ireland.

The Government of Ireland Act was signed into British Law by a British King on 23 December 1920. In 1998 Sinn Féin succeeded in having this act scrapped - I will write about that process and its implications in the New Year.Partition was born out of violence and the threat of greater violence by unionism supported by the British government. In July 1920 nearly five thousand Catholics who were working in the two Belfast shipyards were expelled from their jobs. Over the following days more Catholic workers were expelled from the engineering works and many of the textile mills across the city. Around 93,000 Catholics lived in Belfast at that time, many existing in poverty and in overcrowded unsanitary conditions. The financial and human impact on families and communities of so many Catholic workers losing their jobs was devastating. In October 1920 unionist paramilitary organisations were recruited almost to a man into the Ulster Special Constabulary of A, B and C Specials – which eventually formed the bulk of the Royal Ulster Constabulary RUC). Michael Farrell, in his definitive ‘Arming the Protestants of Ulster’ concludes: “The USC was effectively a Protestant force from the very beginning and the British government made no effort to avert this …”Those who built the Southern State turned their backs on the North. They turned their backs also on the ideals of independence and a genuine republic. As James Connolly predicted, a carnival of reaction followed partition.In the decades after the signing into law of the Government of Ireland Act and the establishment of two states the Unionist establishment in the North solidified its control through the imposition of an apartheid regime in which nationalists and republicans were reduced to the status of non citizen. This was done through the systematic gerrymandering of electoral boundaries, the denial of the vote to hundreds of thousands of Catholics in local government elections, and the extensive use of structured sectarian discrimination in housing and employment. In every decade in the North there was conflict; internment and repression.In July 1966, as the English Queen visited Belfast, the Sunday Times wrote a rare article about the north. Under the headline ‘John Bull’s political slum’ the article described the northern state as ‘a part of Britain where the crude apparatus of political and religious oppression, ballot rigging, job and housing discrimination and an omnipresent threat of violence co-exists with intense loyalty to the Crown.’ In the 1960s groups like the Campaign for Social Justice, the Wolfe Tone Societies, the Derry Housing Action Committee and then the Civil Rights Association campaigned against the injustice of the unionist regime at Stormont. The Unionist government responded with violence against the civil rights campaign. The first people killed in 1966 and in 1969 at what some define as the start of the so-called troubles were killed by the RUC, the B Specials and Loyalists.Today the adverse political, economic and societal consequences of partition and of those policies are still with us. They exist in the poor state of the northern economy; the disproportionate number of Catholics on the housing waiting lists; unionist resistance to the construction of new housing in nationalist areas; the denial of Irish language rights; the continued opposition by political unionism of basic human rights for all citizens; a biased approach to the issue of victims; and resistance to the full implementation of all aspects of the Good Friday Agreement.This is partition. A disastrous British government policy. It is time for a new Ireland, a new future - a United Ireland.

Nollaig Shona agus athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibhse go leir. I know it’s going to be a strange Christmas. It’s always poignant as we think of absent friends and family but this year especially we think of those who fell victim to the Pandemic. It’s very important that we do the best we can to stay safe, to keep our families and our friends safe and to follow the basic health advice and rules. It’s also close to the time when the British government has to make its mind up on Brexit. Brexit is the outworking of a little Englander mentality that harks back to the days of the Empire and those who propose this believe that by cutting themselves off from their ties with the European Union Britain can attain the power and prestige it once enjoyed as an Empire on which it was claimed that the sun never set. And when they were the largest Empire the world had ever seen a key tactic of British imperial strategy for much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and part of the 20th century, was gunboat diplomacy. So, when the British Empire wished to extend its economic and political influence and power, or curb the desire for independence by others, without the necessity of a full scale military intervention. British gunboats would be sent in to blockade ports and threaten governments. It was the brazen use of intimidation and the threat of greater violence to achieve its objective. Of course the British were not alone in using this tactic. All of the European colonial powers used similar tactics. However, as the largest Empire ever in the history of humanity, and with a navy providing it with unrivalled power, the use of gunboat diplomacy allowed the British to hold hundreds of millions of people across the world in thrall to its demands and exploitation.So as this year of 2020 fades gunboat diplomacy was resurrected by the British government.

This week's Podcast has its roots in a conversation with Danny D; Rab; & Tomboy. We were all in Cage 11 with Bobby Sands and recalled his learning the guitar. I also reflect on the ongoing plight of the Palestinian people.

Its Gerry Adams here again.And a very big welcome to you all to this Podcast.On Friday Sinn Féin published its discussion paper the Economic Benefits of a United Ireland.It is an exciting contribution to the growing conversation about the future, about a new Ireland – a shared, agreed Ireland. The big question that some people put up who are against the ending of the union and self-government or who just aren’t sure, is can we afford it? This discussion document reveals an island economy which is capable of expanding its economic potential, creating new jobs, better paid jobs, building a better standard of living of all its citizens, alongside first class public services, including a health service for everyone...The ‘Economic Benefits of a United Ireland’ refutes the claim that the Irish state cannot afford Irish Unity or cope with the loss of the British subvention. The claim that the British subvention is worth £10bn a year is false. The real figure is at most £6bn and closer to less than half that. The threat posed by Brexit and Covid-19 have also created new challenges and new opportunities. A United Ireland offers the best opportunity to tackle these issues in a way that is to the economic advantage of the people of the island of Ireland.We should have the right to self-government.We should have the right to take decisions on and in our own interests.London takes decisions in its interests.The people of this island will take economic decisions in our interests not theirs.A United Ireland will have a bigger, stronger and better economy. It will unlock the huge potential of a single, all-island economic system within the European Union. Find out more on ‘The Economic Benefits of a United Ireland’ at www.sinnfein.ie The death of Danny Groves It is the nature of things that this column has been moved to record the deaths of friends more often than I would like to so it is with the greatest sadness that I extend my condolences to the family of Danny Groves who died last Sunday. Danny died after a long battle with cancer. I want to express my sympathies to his wife Liz, and to his children Roisin, Bill, Jim, Eilis, Danny, Emma and Deirdre and to his many grandchildren, great grandchildren and extended family circle.Awaiting a Decision in Pat Finucane CaseThe courage and tenacity of the Finucane family after years of battling with the British state continues to amaze and inspire. Pat Finucane was killed in February 1989 by a UDA death squad working in collusion with RUC Special Branch, the British Army’s Force Reconnaissance Unit and the British state. For three decades the family, like many hundreds of others, have been fighting to get to the truth. Successive British governments have blustered and bluffed, stalled and lied in order to prevent this.Last month a lawyer acting for the British Secretary of State for the North Brandon Lewis gave the High Court in Belfast a commitment from him that a decision would be taken on whether to proceed with a public inquiry on or before the 30 November. He has until next Monday.The decision by Brandon Lewis in respect of Pat Finucane will indicate whether it’s business as usual for this British government or if it is finally prepared to face up to its legal and international human rights obligations.

071120It’s Gerry Adams and in this podcast I want to deal with a number of issues: a hunger strike by a Palestinian prisoner Maher al-Akhras and the success of Breanndán O Beaglaoich First of all I want to welcome, after 103 days, the end of the hunger strike by Palestinian prisoner Maher al Akhras.It is a testimony to his courage and fortitude and determination to highlight a grave injustice by the Israeli authorities.There is a close affinity between the people of Ireland and the people of Palestine. We both have a long history of being colonised.We have both been the victim of occupation, state violence, discrimination and forced emigration. And the experience of struggle has also been similar. Last week we in Ireland and throughout the world remembered the deaths on hunger strike 100 years ago of Terence MacSwiney, Michael Fitzgerald and Joseph Murphy.It is therefore relevant in terms of our own memory, and in particular of that of the 1980 and 81 hunger strikes when 10 Republican prisoners died, that we express solidarity with this Palestinian internee.Maher was arrested on 27 July and spent the following 103 days on hunger strike protesting against his detention.He is a father of six children.He is a dairy farmer from a village in the occupied West Bank. He has not been charged with any alleged offence. Like thousands of Palestinians over recent years he is the victim of administrative detention. This procedure is effectively ‘internment without charge’, internment without trial.It is a practice used by the British state and the old Unionist Stormont regime in every decade since the creation of this state, until the 1970s when it was used for five years.A person arrested under administrative detention is held with a trial. The Israeli state does not have to accuse him/her of having committed an offense. There is no time limit on the length of the time they can imprison someone. In some cases it has lasted years. Currently according to the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, 355 Palestinians are being held under administrative detention, two of them are minors. In the last 20 years the Israeli government has enforced over 30,000 administrative detention orders. The Irish govt is now a member of the UN Security Council. It campaigned for membership on the themes of “Partnership, Empathy and Independence”. If it is to be true to these it demand that the Israeli government end the use of administrative detention. It should also move now to fulfill motions passed in the Oireachtas several years ago and recognise the state of Palestine.I would also urge readers to write to Maher who is being held in the Kaplan Medical Centre, Pasternak St. P.O.Box 1, Rehovot 76100, Israel or email its Public Relations Dept at [email protected]

Few names from the Tan War 100 years ago are as well known that of Kevin Barry. His torture and execution by the British at the age of 18 generated huge national and international attention.His name evokes a deep rooted emotional connection to a young man who heroically fought for Irish freedom and lost his life at the end of a hangman’s rope.The song was written a few months after his death. No one knows who wrote the lyrics but there are few songs of Ireland’s long struggle for freedom that have been played as frequently or successfully capture the heartfelt passion of that struggle as ‘Kevin Barry’. In times past it has been sung by almost every Irish folk group, including the Clancy Brothers and The Wolfe Tones. International singers have also recorded it. Leonard Cohen who we heard at the top of this podcast was one. Next Sunday, November 1st, will mark the centenary of the execution of Kevin Barry.In recent weeks two books have been published reminding us of the Kevin Barry story.

My Podcast this week deals with the demolition of Herbert Park in Dublin, the home of the only leader of the 1916 Rising to be killed in action, and the report of the Independent Panel of Inquiry into the Circumstances of the H-Block and Armagh Prison Protests 1976-1981.’ 40 Herbert Park was demolished two weeks ago in a shameful act of political and corporate vandalism and greed. Its demolition again raises serious concerns at the refusal of successive Irish governments to protect Moore Street, part of the “laneways of history” linked to 1916 and where the leaders of the 1916 Rising held their last meeting. Dublin City Council has now said that legal proceedings will be issued and is calling for the home to be restored.James Connolly Heron, the grandson of James Connolly described it as; “a flagrant breach of the law and a direct challenge to each and every elected representative holding office on behalf of citizens.” He called for the house to be “rebuilt brick by brick, stone by stone, garden by garden.” If you agree with James Connolly Heron and if you believe that the Irish government must protect Moore Street why not write and tell them that. Write to An Taoiseach Micheál Martin - Government Buildings, Merrion Street Upper , Dublin 2 or email him at [email protected]: and the Minister for Heritage Darragh O’Brien at The Customs House, Dublin D01 W6X0. Like characters from the GulagLast week saw the publication of the report of the Independent Panel of Inquiry into the Circumstances of the H-Block and Armagh Prison Protests 1976-1981’ The years from 1976, when the British government ended special category status and sought to impose its criminalisation strategy, to August 1981 when the second hunger strike ended after the deaths of 10 republican POWs, were hard and challenging and difficult. For those of us who lived through those traumatic years much of what is in the report; ‘I am Sir, you are a number: Report of the Independent Panel of Inquiry into the Circumstances of the H-Block and Armagh Prison Protests 1976-1981’ confirms what we already knew. However, the strength of the report is in its detail, in the confidential British government documents it accessed and in the eyewitness accounts of the prisoners and two prison governors. I spent a short time in the H-Blocks on remand awaiting trial on an IRA membership charge. I wrote about it in my book ‘Before the Dawn.’I wrote; “I was struck by the spirit of the prisoners. In my other jail experiences, we had been cushioned by our numbers and by the prisoners’ own command structure from dealing directly with the screws; it had been possible for prisoners in the cages to serve long terms with little or no contact with the administration. Here in our individual cells, in the Blocks, it was different. If you wanted to resist a search, you had to face the screws on your own... They were like characters from Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag, shuffling along in big boots without laces, wearing, for their visits, ill-fitting jackets and trousers. Most of the trousers had their backsides slit open, and all of the blanket men had long, unwashed hair and unkempt beards.”

For those of you who don’t know him or have never heard of him Chuck Feeney is an extraordinary human being whose kindness and vision has brought hope and joy to millions. Last week he signed the papers to finally bring an end to Atlantic Philanthropies – a humanitarian and charitable organisation he established in 1982. His purpose was to give away his 8 billion dollar fortune.I first met Chuck in 1993. Niall Ó Dowd brought the two of us together. We hit it off from that first crinniú. Later he was part of a delegation of Irish Americans who came to Ireland on a fact finding visit. As well as Chuck and Niall the group was led by former US Congress member Bruce Morrison and included Bill Flynn, Chair of National Committee on American Foreign Policy, and Trade Union activist Joe Jamison. Because our first meeting with the delegation took place in Connolly House, the Sinn Féin office in west Belfast, the delegation became known as the Connolly House group.The group played a hugely important role in creating the conditions for the 1994 IRA cessation. They were especially vital in encouraging and sustaining the involvement of the Clinton White House. Chuck has remained steadfast and committed to the Irish peace process ever since.Chuck also made an outstanding financial contribution to the establishment and running of the Sinn Féin office in Washington in 1995 and to its funding in advance of Friends of Sinn Féin being established.Chuck is one of the most remarkable people I have ever met. A very private man who shunned the spotlight and who was totally committed to our efforts to build a peace process. He always remained keenly interested in the latest developments within the peace process.Chuck travelled the world, quietly, anonymously, donating his money to education projects, cancer research, the arts, music, neuroscience, sport and human rights. Millions of people in the USA, Ireland, Australia, Vietnam, South Africa and in dozens of other countries have benefited from his determination to use his wealth to improve the human condition.Chuck’s philosophy is straightforward – if you give while living you get to see the results. So, thank you Chuck and Helga for your generosity and solidarity over many years. Be assured that your efforts have touched many millions and will continue to do so into the future. Go raibh maith agaibh chairde. Britannia Waives The Rules .... Arís.The song ‘Rule Britannia’ with its infamous line “Britons never, never, never shall be slaves” was written in 1740 at a time when Britain was the leading slaving nation of that century, transporting and selling slaves in their tens of thousands. Britain’s wealth was largely built on this trade. Recent controversies around statues belonging to slave owners and traders in Britain and elsewhere and a growing awareness of ‘Black Lives Matter’ and of the appalling impact of British colonial policy, saw the BBC announce that the lyrics to Rule Britannia would not be sung in its ‘Last night at the Proms’ to be broadcast several weeks ago. The jingoistic and right wing outrage this sparked, including a condemnation from Boris Johnson, forced the BBC to u-turn. The words were sung to an empty Albert Hall.From the first landings by Norman knights in the 12th century, through centuries of exploitation, occupation, dispossession and land thefts, to the imposition of plantation, the promotion of sectarian divisions, famines, An Gorta Mór, partition and state collusion and murder, British government involvement in Ireland has been to our detriment. But I won’t go on about that. It has encouraged and sustained a ‘Little Englander’ mentality that is narcissistic, aggressive, and arrogant. An attitude that ignores the inhumanity a

This weeks Podcast is about An Taoiseach Micheál Martin; his failure to address Irish Unity; and questions his Shared Island Unit.Partition is almost 100 years old. But for democrats across this island, and in the Irish diaspora, for all of that time it has always been the great wrong that has to be righted. But it is not only a historic wrong. It is also a great injustice now, today. It remains the greatest cause of instability and division on our island.Where stands the leader of Fianna Fáil ‘The Republican Party’ on ending partition and achieving Irish Unity? In the past Fianna Fail leaderships have proven particularly adept at exploiting the widespread desire for Irish Unity and the republican rhetoric of a ‘united Ireland’ in order to win votes. And of course many Fianna Fáil voters and members are republican. However, at no time has their party leadership made a serious effort to develop a strategy, in keeping with their constitutional obligation to end partition and “unite all the people who share the territory of the island of Ireland ...” Why? Because both the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael leaderships are comfortable with partition. An Taoiseach Micheál Martin is not a United Irelander. Under his leadership the traditional rhetoric of the leadership of Fianna Fáil, whose first aim according to its own constitution and rules – is to “restore the unity and independence of Ireland as a Republic” - has been systematically eroded.The debate – the conversation - around Irish Unity has been ongoing for years. It’s not going away. On the contrary, interest in and support for Irish unity is growing at the same time as support within England for maintaining the British Union is diminishing. As the debate around Irish unity increases our collective endeavour should be to shape that debate in a constructive and positive direction and to encourage the widest possible engagement between all strands of opinion on the island of Ireland.

WITNESS TREES.I used to have an old hard backed copy of Nora Connolly O’Brien’s; ‘Portrait Of A Rebel Father’. This wonderful account of James Connolly’s life, as recalled by his daughter, is a must read for followers of the great man. I foolishly lent my copy to a comrade and that is the last I saw of it. But that’s another story...In my copy of ‘Portrait Of A Rebel Father’ there is a photo of some of the Connolly children outside their family home at Nos 1 Glenalina Terrace opposite the City Cemetery on the Falls Road...Beside them is a tree that was planted in 1903. It was one of many planted along that stretch of road. The tree outside the family home is now gone but most of the rest are still there...These trees would have seen James Connolly and his wife Lillie and their six children taking up residence in Glenalina Terrace...They have been observers of many events in their lifetimes. From the Rising to Partition to the Hungerstrikes, to the Good Friday Agreement and all the thousands of marches and rallies and demos and funerals and shootings and explosions and Féile An Phobail carnivals. All the good, sad, angry, happy, proud, confusing events of their time. That’s what Witness Trees do. They stand witness and provide connections to times outside of our mere human lifespan.

This podcast is going to deal with the shameful refusal of successive Irish governments to develop a national monument, a cultural quarter, a revolutionary quarter, a freedom quarter, a 1916 quarter on the battlefield site of Moore St.For those of you who don’t know Moore Street runs parallel to O’Connell Street from Parnell Street to Henry Street beside the GPO. 16 Moore Street was the last meeting place of five of the seven signatories of the 1916 Proclamation - the leaders who planned and led the 1916 Easter Rising. It is also where the O’Rahilly - a leader of the Volunteers- was killed. In April 1916 the small streets around the GPO in Dublin were the site of a fierce battle between republican forces seeking independence and British forces determined to defeat them.On Friday evening, 28 April, and with the GPO in flames, the embattled republican defenders evacuated the building. The O’Rahilly was killed leading the first charge. As he lay dying in a shop doorway he wrote a last note to his wife:‘Written after I was shot. Darling Nancy I was shot leading a rush up Moore Street and took refuge in a doorway. While I was there I heard the men pointing out where I was and made a bolt for the laneway I am in now. I got more [than] one bullet I think. Tons and tons of love dearie to you and the boys and to Nell and Anna. It was a good fight anyhow. Please deliver this to Nannie O' Rahilly, 40 Herbert Park, Dublin. Goodbye Darling.Incidently 40 Herbert Park is not the subject of a similar debacle as that of Moore Street. More of that in a moment.The rest of the GPO garrison, O’Rahilly’s comrades, made their way to number 5 Moore Street – Dunne’s Butchers, and began tunnelling from house to house along the terrace.The following morning they wrapped the wounded the James Connolly in blankets and with great difficulty carried him through the holes they had forced in the walls to number 16 – Plunkett’s, a poultry shop. It was an agonising journey for Connolly.In a small room Seán MacDiarmada, Pádraig Pearse, Joseph Plunkett, James Connolly and Tom Clarke discussed the limited options open to them, including the possibility of rushing the British Army barricade on Parnell Street. Tom Clarke, who went to look at the situation, returned to tell his comrades that it could not succeed. The leaders came to the reluctant conclusion that surrender was the only choice open to them to avoid further loss of civilian life.Julia Grenan, Winifred Carney and Elizabeth O’Farrell had stayed throughout Easter week in the GPO. O’Farrell was now tasked with the dangerous responsibility of going to the British lines. She walked down Moore Street to the British barricade and was brought from there to Tom Clarke’s shop in Parnell Street where the British Army General William Lowe insisted that he would only accept unconditional surrender. A short time later Pádraig Pearse, accompanied by Elizabeth O’Farrell, and wearing his military overcoat and hat, left the Moore Street headquarters of the Provisional government to meet the British General. This meeting occurred on Parnell St opposite Moore St and close to where the Kingfisher Cafe now is. In the original photograph taken of that meeting only Nurse O’Farrell’s feet can be seen and in many of the reproductions since then they were airbrushed out. Another example of women being airbrushed out of our history.Shortly after 4.30pm the republican garrison left their Moore Street HQ and marched to the Gresham Hotel where they were searched before being taken to the Green in front of the Rotunda Hospital in Parnell Street. This then is Moore Street. A hugely important part of our history.

Sunday, August 2nd is the anniversary of the death on hunger strike in 1981 of Andersonstown man Kieran Doherty. Normally, August is also when Sinn Féin holds its National Commemoration in remembrance of all of the 1981 Hunger Strikers and of Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg who died in prisons in England. However this year the Covid-19 pandemic has made that impossible, so like so many other events this year it will be held online. On Sunday evening as you sit down to watch the 2020 National Hunger Strike Commemoration on Facebook, on YouTube and Twitter, remember the courage of Kieran Doherty and his comrades. 39 years ago at around 7.15 pm on the evening of August 2nd Big Doc died. He had been on hunger strike 73 days. He was just 25 years old. He spent seven of the last ten years of his life in prison. Big Doc’s remains arrived at his family home at Commedagh Drive in Andersonstown in the early hours of the following morning. Two days later thousands followed his cortege to the Republican Plot in Milltown Cemetery where he was laid beside Bobby Sands and Joe McDonnell.I knew Big Doc. The last time I met him was a few days before he died. I was visiting the prison hospital to speak to the hunger strikers. After speaking to Tom McElwee and Lorny McKeown, Matt Devlin and others I walked into Big Doc’s cell. He was too weak to join the others. I had known Big Doc on the outside but there in that prison cell he was a shadow of himself.Doc was propped up on one elbow, his eyes unseeing. He looked massive in his gauntness, as his eyes, fierce in their quiet defiance, scanned my face. I spoke to him quietly and slowly. I sat on the side of the bed. I told him that he would soon be dead and that if he wanted I would leave the blocks and announce that the hunger strike was over. He paused momentarily, and said: “We haven’t got our five demands and that’s the only way I’m coming off. Too much suffered for too long, too many good men dead. Thatcher can’t break us. Lean ar aghaidh. I’m not a criminal.” After that we talked quietly for a few minutes. As I left his cell we shook hands, an old internee’s handshake, firm and strong. “Thanks for coming in”, he said, “I’m glad we had that wee yarn. Tell everyone, all the lads I was asking for them and…” He continued to grip my hand. “Don’t worry, we’ll get our five demands. We’ll break Thatcher. Lean ar aghaidh... For too long our people have been broken. The Free Staters, the Chgurch, the SDLP. We won’t be broken. We’ll get our five demands. If I’m dead well, the others will have them ... I don’t want to died but that’s up to the Brits. They think they can break us. Well they can’t. Tiocfaidh ár lá.” Big Doc was right. Thatcher was beaten. The political prisoners won their five demands. And today because of their self-sacrifice and that of countless others, Sinn Féin is the biggest party on the island of Ireland. We refuse to allow anyone to delegitimize or criminalise the hunger strikers or our struggle. Kieran Doherty put in well in those final moments before we parted. ‘Lean ar aghaidh’ – Go Ahead. www.facebook.com/sinnfein www.twitter.com/sinnfeinireland www.sinnfein.ie www.youtube.com/c/sinnfeinireland

This week I thought I would talk about the 12th in this podcast. When I mentioned a few days ago to some friends that I was going to do this podcast about the 12th and asked them what they thought if I sang a few Orange songs, the answer was no. And that’s understandable. Some of these songs are very sectarian, are about hatred and are not acceptable. I first came across Orange songs way back in the day when I came across the writings of Richard Hayward. He wrote a number of books about Ireland, about Irish folklore, about Ulster – its nine counties – and I still remain very fond of his writings. And that’s where I came across The Sash.It is old but it is beautiful, and its colours they are fine It was worn at Derry, Aughrim, Enniskillen and the Boyne. My father wore it as a youth in bygone days of yore, And on the Twelfth, I love to wear the sash my father wore. Anyone offended by that, either by my singing or my singing this song? Apologies in advance.The Orange marches have to have a place in the Ireland of the future. The Orange is one of our national colours – the tradition of Orangeism is not one that many of us will appreciate but it’s there none the less and on the basis of equality we have to make space for all of this. At the same time there can be no space for hatred or incitement to hatred.But let’s just look at some of the facts around the 12 July. The Battle of the Boyne was actually held on 1 July 1690. It was part of a wider European war. They just used Ireland – King Billy and the Pope on the one side and King James and the King of France – as one of the sites of their war. The Pope, Innocent X1 supported the Dutchman King William after the English parliament sacked King James and invited William to take his job. The Pope paid part of King Billy’s expenses and when news of his victory at the Boyne reached Rome a Te Deum was sung in the Vatican in celebration.The twelfth celebrations have little to do with religion though many Orange men and women are both religious and decent. Others infamously are not. They know the Twelfth is about power and domination. In its day the Orange Order was the backbone of unionism. Most business people, almost every unionist politician, Judges and senior RUC officers were members one of the Loyal Orders – The Orange Order – the largest - the Apprentice Boys, or the Royal Black Preceptory. It was essential in the control of the political system, the gerrymandering of electoral boundaries, and the domination by the Ulster Unionist Party of the North for over 50 years. The Orange Order was essential to the control that party exerted. It facilitated structured sectarian political and economic discrimination against nationalists and Catholics. It’s not for nothing that the North of Ireland is known by nationalists as the Orange State.And even to this day, and I have spoken to many Orangemen over the years and had good relationships with them, and enjoy those relationships yet, it’s still a matter of deep regret that the leadership of the Orange Order will not meet with the President of Sinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald in the same way that they refused to meet with me. The Orange Order was founded by the English and Protestant ascendancy in Ireland in the 1790s as a counter to the United Irish Society which was seeking independence from England. Its purpose was to defend England’s colonial presence and interests in Ireland and to divide people. Its fortunes waned through much of the early p

The big spin from last week and the formation of the new government in Dublin is that civil war politics is dead and gone. But the truth is that for most career politicians they have been dead for decades. What we now have from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael is the same old, same old – with the Green party propping it up. But there is one new significant historical difference. As Micheál Martin takes his place as Taoiseach, and Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party occupy the government benches, they will be faced by an opposition led by Sinn Fein. Mary Lou McDonald TD is now the Leader of the Opposition. This is the first time that position will be held by a woman. It is also the first time since 1927 that the main opposition party is not from Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil. And of course it is the first time that Sinn Féin have held that position.

Traditionally the third Sunday of June is when Irish republicans from across the island of Ireland gather at the graveside of Wolfe Tone in Bodenstown. Such annual commemorations have been taking place for almost 150 years.Tone’s central thesis has remained a cornerstone of Irish Republican philosophy to this day. He wrote:“... to break the connection with England, the never, failing source of all our political evils, and to assert the independence of my country – these were my objects. To unite the whole people of Ireland, to abolish the memory of all past dissensions, and to substitute the common name of Irishman in place of the denominations of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter––these were my means.”My first trip to Bodenstown was as a teenager in the mid 1960s. Apart from periods of imprisonment I think I have been at Bodenstown almost every year since then. On Sunday Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald TD, who has previously spoken at Bodenstown on three occasions, will give the keynote address. This Sunday Mary Lou has a lot to talk about. Her speech comes at another decisive moment. As well as the unparalleled economic and health consequences of the pandemic there is the threat posed by Brexit. The British government is once again rushing toward the cliff edge and is intent on dragging the island of Ireland with it.However the big story of this week was the formal ending of the sham fight between the so-called civil war parties of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.The last decade has seen the gradual realignment of Irish politics. The growth of Sinn Féin, and an increasingly politicised electorate, especially among younger citizens, and a falling vote, has forced the two conservative parties ever closer.This week narrow party political self-interest forced Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to set all that play acting aside. In their Programme for Government 2020 Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil couldn’t even bring themselves to mention a united Ireland or Irish Unity.So join us online for Mary Lou’s Bodenstown speech on Sunday.It will be broadcast on Sinn Féin’s Facebook, Twitter and Youtube pagesfacebook.com/sinnfeintwitter.com/sinnfeinirelandyoutube.com/sinnfeinireland

You only die once.You live everyday.I first met Martin McGuinness shortly before he & I travelled to London in 1972 as part of a delegation to negotiate with the British govt. Martin would have been seventy on the 23 of May. He lived a very full life & he lived it well. There was a wonderful online celebration organised by The Martin McGuinness Peace Foundation (its available https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc1L_ajK3UA )

Last week the British Supreme Court quashed two convictions I had received in 1975 for attempting to escape from Long Kesh internment camp. It was a long ten year battle. The case also revealed the fact that the British government at the highest level knew that I was unlawfully interned before the two trials. They also knew that up to 200 other internees were also likely to have been unlawfully detained. In typical fashion the British government chose to allow my trials to take place and never informed any of the internees that they too were wrongfully imprisoned.Escapes and escape attempts from British and Irish prisons have long been part of the Irish experience.In the most recent period of conflict it is estimated that at least 100 republican POWs escaped from British prisons. Republican political prisoners see it as their duty to try and escape and return to the struggle.In this podcast I thought I would tell you of my first escape attempt on Christmas Eve 1973.

A remembrance of my friend and comrade Bobby Sands who died on hunger strike this week (5 May) 1981. Bobby was the first of ten republican prisoners who died in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh. The Thatcher Govt's criminalisation policy was an attempt to defeat and criminalise the political prisoners and through them the republican struggle. The republican POWs in Long Kesh and in Armagh Woman's prison faced up to this challenge and broke the British government. Their courage and tenacity in the most horrendous of conditions is inspirational.

Current Affairs, Politics, Irish Unity, History and Culture.