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Honouring Máire Drumm Last Sunday a series of events took place in South Armagh and in Belfast to remember Leas Uachtarán Shinn Fein Máire Drumm. Máire was shot to death by unionist gunmen in the Mater Hospital in Belfast fifty years ago. One of the Belfast events last weekend was at her grave in Milltown Cemetery. The other was in the grounds of the Roddy McCorley Heritage Centre. Órlaithí Flynn MLA chaired the ceremony and Carál Ní Chuilín MLA gave the main address. Seamus Drumm, Máire’s son, and I planted a tree in her memory. We were joined by George Stagg, brother of Frank Stagg who died on hunger strike in 1976. George was in Belfast for the play about his brother that was performed at the weekend in Ionad Eileen Howell/St. Comgalls. Máire was born Máire McAteer on Kelly’s Road, Killean, on 22 October 1919. It was the year before the British Government of Ireland Act partitioned Ireland.  The Story of Kevin Barry Memorial Hall I have been in and out of 44 Parnell Square, (Kevin Barry Memorial Hall) in Dublin for more years than I care to remember. It is Sinn Féin’s Head Office and for a time it was where the An Phoblacht and then An Phoblacht/Republican News was produced. It started life around 1760 as a residence but the house has had a long association with Republican activism and been witness to significant political developments in the struggle for Irish freedom. Micheál MacDonncha, Sinn Féin Dublin Councillor, former editor of An Phoblacht/Republican News, and an insightful writer and historian, will be publishing a book telling the story of 44 Parnell Square on 1 November https://sinnfeinbookshop.com/products/kevin-barry-memorial-hall-the-story-of-44-parnell-square  Save Moore Street – Buy the Terrace! On 7 November at 1pm The Moore St. Preservation Trust will be holding a rally in Moore St. in support the Campaign to save and protect one of the most important historic sites in Ireland’s long struggle for freedom. 16 Moore Street was the last meeting place of five of the seven signatories of the Proclamation - the leaders who planned and led the 1916 Easter Rising. 14-17 Moore St. were bought by the government 19 years ago for a national monument. The rest of the 1916 Battlefield site is in the hands of a London based developer – Hammerson - that plans to knock it down. In the two decades since, 14-17 remain derelict. No work has commenced on building the national monument and interpretative centre that was promised. The rally on 7 November is part of a long running campaign to Save Moore St. and is demanding that the Irish Government take Moore Street and its laneways into public ownership to secure and protect them. There will be music and song by Frances Black and Evelyn Campbell, street theatre and much more as we stand together for Moore Street. So come along and join us – join the campaign to protect our history and secure Moore Street’s future. Save the Date: 7 November Moore St.    Dónal Lunny Dónal Lunny’s death has robbed us all of one of the great innovators of Irish music. Dónal was one of the giants of Ireland’s traditional music and a central figure in the revival and expansion of Irish music for over sixty plus years. From Emmet Spiceland to Planxty, The Bothy Band to Moving Hearts and many celebrated musical collaborations. Dónal brought his unique talents to numerous film scores and music documentaries. He fused ancient Irish traditional airs and tunes with modern influences and non-traditional instruments. He played with the greats of Irish ceol most famously with Christy Moore, his friend of over sixty years. Together they and others supported the women prisoners in Armagh and the Blanket Men in the H Blocks.

Up the Murph My mother was allocated a house in Ballymurphy in the mid 50’s. It was 11 Divismore Park, at the corner of Glenalina road. At around the same time, Maureen McKee was allocated a house in the same street, 20 Divismore Park. It was just across the street from us. Maureen and Josie ‘Boxer’ McKee had fourteen children. Rosie, Josie, Seamus, Packie, Ned, Martin, Cookie, Anthony, Chick, Delores, Bernie, Maureen, Maggie and Tessie. Big families were the norm in those days, there were 13 of us also. And they like us, came from the Falls. Maureen was from Ton Street, ‘Boxer’ was a boxing coach with the Immaculata Club. He was from Baker Street. Postscript As we go to print Micheál Martin at long last has said that he and his party would be bringing forward some proposals and ideas on the issue of Irish Unity. I welcome that. And I look forward to seeing what he produces. An Taoiseach said: “There needs to be strong objective information that lays it on the table about what needs to be done …” I could take issue with the rest of his remarks but I won’t. Readers will know that this is not the first time Micheál Martin has made such a commitment. But it’s good that Fine Gael and now Fianna Fáil are going to set out their positions.

AN OPEN LETTER TO MY ORANGE NEIGHBOURS A Chairde, Now that the British Secretary of State - recently landed among us – has banned the Portadown Lodge march on Garvaghy Road all of us should take time for a quiet reflection. Time also to be thankful that the stand-off was peaceful. You and the people of Garvaghy Road deserve credit for that. All thinking people want to see our society moving beyond the sectarian hatred that has cursed us for so long. Division in our country was created and is exploited to keep us apart. This is our home place. Your homeland as well as mine. The land of the Orange and the Green and many others as well.  We have a deeply toxic past and a troubled present. But we have the opportunity to build a peaceful shared future. Many of us disagree with aspects of what the loyal orders believe in and they disagree with us. But there is no harm in that if we can respect and tolerate our differences. We recognise that you are an integral part of the culture and heritage of some of our Protestant and unionist fellow citizens. And an important dimension of the deep well of our wider history. And our future on this island. 2,507 notified parades took place this year up to March 2026. Only 137 had restrictions imposed on them and 51 of these were connected to weekly parades in Portadown relating to Drumcree. That means that the vast majority of Orange and Loyal Order parades - 2,370 - took place without any controversy or issue. The Outdoor Relief Riots Following the Wall Street crash in 1929 and the economic crisis it created unemployment across the North stood at approximately 40%, with nationalist areas especially hard hit because of decades of discrimination. Life was hard for working people, including working class Protestants. Poverty was endemic. A survey conducted in the 1930s concluded that 36% of the population was in absolute poverty. That meant they had little food, clothing or fuel to sustain health. Belfast children from unemployed families were on average two to three inches shorter and ten pounds slighter than those in middle class areas. The welfare scheme at that time was called ‘Outdoor Relief.’ To qualify an unemployed person had to work on public employment schemes, paving roads, digging up roads, laying pipes, digging ditches and so on. Those unable to carry out this physical work were often reduced to starvation. The scheme was administered for the Stormont regime by 27 local Board of Guardians whose relief rate was half that of similar schemes in Britain. Michael Farrell in his exceptional book ‘The Orange State’ records how; “Single men who got no work, single girls, widows and orphans had either to live off their relations or to go into the workhouse.” Save Moore Street – Buy the Terrace! The Moore St. Preservation Trust is holding a rally on Saturday, November 7th, at 1 p.m. to support the campaign to protect one of the most important sites in Ireland’s history. Moore Street is where the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising met for the last time following the retreat from the burning GPO. The Moore St. Preservation Trust, the families of the Signatories to the Proclamation and others have opposed plans by a British developer Hammerson to destroy much of this Battlefield site. I would urge readers to join the Moore St. Preservation Trust on November 7 in demanding that the Irish Government take Moore Street into public ownership and secure, protect and build a 1916 Historical Cultural Quarter for future generations. There will be music, street theatre and much more as we stand together for Moore Street.  Join us to demand action, protect our history and secure Moore Street’s future.

No Pasarán- They Shall not Pass Sunday’s rally on the Garvaghy Road was amazing, wonderful. Over many years of activism, I have attended countless rallies but Sunday was special. It lifted the spirits of the thousands who were there. From the speakers, to the musicians, to the thousands standing and applauding, and to the many more watching on social media, the overwhelming message and focus of the rally was about the future. A better future. A different future. A new future in which the rights of all are respected. The mood was also defiant and determined. Given the implications of the disastrous decision by the Parades Commission that was to be expected. But it was also positive. A community refusing to allow the past to dictate its future. With one voice those present were rejecting supremacism. Asserting loudly and clearly that bigotry and sectarianism have no place in our society. Instead, they want the promise of the Good Friday Agreement, of equality and parity of esteem. Of respect. Of rights. The Battle of Cable Street Sunday marked the 90th anniversary of the ‘Battle of Cable Street’ in the East End of London in 1936. Its historic importance is in the resistance of the working class people of that part of London to a march by Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists (BUF) into a mostly Jewish community. Its contemporary significance lies in the parallels with contentious parades here, and in particular the solidarity of those standing with the residents of the Garvaghy Road. The 1930s saw the rise of fascism across Europe and in Britain. Thousands of people were fleeing persecution in fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. The concentration camps, first established in 1933 in Germany, were already full of trade unionists, Jews, left wing activists, the disabled, homosexuals, and political opponents of fascism. The East End of London saw an influx of Jewish refugees The Great Depression of 1929 had caused huge hardship for working people. The fascists were intent on exploiting the refugees and scapegoating them as the source of the problems facing working people. A tactic still used today. "We have him back!"  - Brave Frank Stagg On 24 and 25 October a deeply evocative play about the death in February 1976 of hunger striker Frank Stagg will be presented in Ionad Eileen Howell – St. Comgalls, Divis Street in Belfast. The play is written by Brían MacSuibhne and is set in Leigue Cemetery, Ballina, Co. Mayo where Frank was initially buried by the Irish state after stealing his body and then reburied beside his fellow Mayo hunger striker Michael Gaughan. The play is a historically accurate and deeply human account of the events surrounding the three funerals of Frank Stagg. George Stagg, Franks brother, will speak on both nights. He says the play “conveys my brother Frank with honesty, dignity and accuracy. It honours not only his sacrifice, but the pain, courage and determination of our family in the face of Frank’s treatment even after his death.”  Almost two years after the Irish state buried Frank against the family’s wishes in a grave which they then concreted over, George and some comrades successfully extracted Frank’s coffin and on a cold and wet November night reburied him beside his friend and comrade Michael Gaughan. The play has been developed with the co-operation of the Stagg family. “We Have Him Back! tells the story of a mother watching her son die, a wife confronting official falsehoods, a sister struggling to understand, and a brother whose love and resolve would not allow history to be buried in silence. Weaving documented conversations, world and national news, music, and life in 1970s rural Ireland Grounding the personal tragedy into a wider historical moment.” Tickets are available at: https://www.ticketsource.com/whats-on?q=Frank+Staggg

Garvaghy Road – No Going Back.  As I write this column the situation on the Garvaghy Road is no closer to resolution. The Orange Order wants to walk through a nationalist community. The residents say no. Outside of political unionism there has been widespread anger and shock at the decision of the Parades Commission to make a determination to facilitate that march. In July the Commission had said no to a march. What changed? If it was wrong for the Orange to march in July, or for the last 28 years, why is it ok in September? The Commission needs to explain this. Clearly and publicly. The PSNI also needs to publish and explain its advice to the Parades Commission. The PSNI Chief Constable has a case to answer. So too with the British Secretary of State. Flying in from Wales to his Castle here to treat us to meaningless NIO double speak is insulting to us all. Including the Orange. The sooner we get the British government out of our affairs the better.  But in the meantime let’s try not to get too angry at the usual NIO scripted PR platitudes and patronising sound bites.  I was on Garvaghy Road thirty years ago during all those dark days. I was back on Sunday. Fair play to the folks there, to the Residents’ Coalition and its leaders and to all who made a stand in support of the people of Garvaghy Road. Very well done.  Gaza - Largest concentration camp in World In 2009 I visited the Gaza Strip. The Israeli siege of the Palestinian territory had been going on for around four years. Gaza was at that time the largest open air prison in the world. Twenty-one years later and it has been blasted beyond recognition by Israel and is now the largest concentration camp in the world. An estimated 75,000 Palestinians are dead, including over 20,000 children. Thousands more lie buried beneath the rubble. The genocide began three years ago next week. The anger of many in the world at Israel was witnessed last week in the United Nations when many of the delegates walked out when Netanyahu got up to speak.  To its shame the Irish government chose to stay. Later in his speech Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the General Assembly that, “when the full truth of what has happened - what is still happening - in Gaza is finally known, when the evidence is gathered, when the testimonies are heard, when the true horrors are finally and fully revealed, it will shame the world. Nobody will be able to say that we did not know. Let it not be said that we did not act.” Another Poll Once upon a time elites ‘read the runes’ as a way of foretelling the future. For some it was about interpreting symbols carved into stones or bones. For others it involved reading the entrails of animals. The practice is called haruspicy and it was about predicting the future. Today, we have opinion polling to discern the mood of people and their likely attitude to specific issues, mostly but not exclusively in respect of elections. Hardly a week goes passed without a media broadcaster, newspaper or academic institution producing an opinion poll. I have a healthy scepticism of polls. Long experience North and South has led me to question their accuracy, especially when looking at the Sinn Féin vote. However, they can be a useful barometer of the public mood at a given time and of possible emerging trends. Opinion polls have also focussed on the related issues of Irish Unity and a referendum on Irish Unity.

Micheál bottled it As Fianna Fáil this year marks its 100th birthday, where does it stand on the issue of Irish Unity? According to its Constitution, Fianna Fáil’s first aim is; “To secure in peace and agreement the unity of Ireland and its people.” Very worthy but has the party in or out of government during the last century actually done anything to achieve it? Currently, while the conversation on unity is daily taking place An Taoiseach Micheál Martin is seen by many as the greatest impediment to progress. When asked he waffles and generally dissembles.  Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians Imagine, if at any point during the decades of conflict, the RUC and British Army had invaded Ballymacarrett/Short Strand in East Belfast and forcibly evicted its residents and systematically destroyed every home, shop, school, St. Mathew’s, and tore up the roads, sewage and water infrastructure. Imagine too if this policy had been applied to other nationalist areas like Crossmaglen or the Bogside. This is the reality of life for the Palestinian people of the west Bank at this time. A new report by B’Tselem – an Israeli human rights organisation - is a damning indictment of Israeli aggression and apartheid against the Palestinians. It records, in its detailed 200 page report, entitled ‘The Elimination Project,’ that as of June this year 64 Shepherding communities have been forcibly expelled from their homes. In the last 20 months the Israeli military has also displaced 33,000 Palestinians from the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps. It destroyed homes, buildings and infrastructure. Imagine, if at any point during the decades of conflict, the RUC and British Army had invaded Ballymacarrett/Short Strand in East Belfast and forcibly evicted its residents and systematically destroyed every home, shop, school, St. Mathew’s, and tore up the roads, sewage and water infrastructure. Imagine too if this policy had been applied to other nationalist areas like Crossmaglen or the Bogside. This is the reality of life for the Palestinian people of the west Bank at this time. A new report by B’Tselem – an Israeli human rights organisation - is a damning indictment of Israeli aggression and apartheid against the Palestinians. It records, in its detailed 200 page report, entitled ‘The Elimination Project,’ that as of June this year 64 Shepherding communities have been forcibly expelled from their homes. In the last 20 months the Israeli military has also displaced 33,000 Palestinians from the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps. It destroyed homes, buildings and infrastructure.  The B’Tselem report is available: https://www.btselem.org//  Buíochas   I consider it a great honour for me to have a column  published by the Belfast Media Group. I don’t know how many people pay heed to my musings but I am grateful to have a platform to write about whatever takes my fancy. Thats’ what the Andersontown News and The Irish Echo do. They provide an alternative viewpoint to the line  promolgated  by the establishment media. An inclusive community based response. You don’t have to agree with the editorial line all the time but I for one, and many many others have an affinity with our Andytown News that we will never have with other newspapers.  A newspaper of its own is a mighty asset for any community to have.

Indepth conversation with the new MLA for West Tyrone, Paul Boggs.

The Dis-United Kingdom. Several weeks ago British PM Andy Burnham sparked a furious debate over future constitutional change and Irish Unity with his crass comment that it was ‘off the table.’ The Unionist parties were delighted. Fast forward two weeks and an endorsement of a united Ireland by US President Donald Trump has ignited another energetic conversation around the issue. Speaking during his visit President Trump, sitting beside An Taoiseach Micheál Martin, whose opposition to planning for unity is well known, said he would love to see a united Ireland – it would be a ‘fantastic thing.’ He repeated this several times over the following two days. The unionist parties were not delighted. President Trump’s remarks are welcome, even though this column profoundly differs with him on many other matters, especially US foreign policy including the genocide against the Palestinian people.  President Trump’s comments reflect broad north American sentiment and particularly that of Irish America towards Irish reunification. Since the days of President Clinton, who played an important role in the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement, there has been a bi-partisan approach on Capitol Hill. Successive American administrations have reflected a more positive and progressive position on Ireland. This bodes well for the future.    Kieran Nugent – The First Blanketman Several hundred former political prisoners gathered in Ionad Eileen Howell – St. Comgall’s on Saturday for the launch of a new book - ‘Kieran Nugent – The First Blanketman’ edited by Danny Morrison. It was an emotional event with former comrades recalling Kieran’s courage and heroism in the face of a brutal prison regime. Kieran’s daughters Rae and Eileen and grandchildren Michael John, and Michael were present. 50 years ago, on 14 September 1976, Kieran was the first Republican political prisoner to be sent to the H-Blocks. Britain’s criminalisation strategy was determined that Republican prisoners would no longer be classified as political. That meant political prisoners wearing a criminal uniform and acquiescing to the prison regime. Desmond Greaves Summer School Last week I wrote in advance about participating in the Desmond Greaves Summer School. A packed Unite Trade Union Hall in Dublin on Sunday was the venue. The clár dealt with a number of important issues including a talk by Ray Bassett and me about the importance of the Good Friday Agreement. I want to thank Anthony Coughlan, Kevin McCorry, Daltún Ó Ceallaigh and all of those who organised the 36th summer school for their invitation to take part.

A Process of Perpetual Change This weekend I will be in Dublin for the 36th Desmond Greaves Weekend Summer School. It begins in the UNITE Trade Union Hall, in Middle Abbey St, on Friday evening the 11 September and runs over Saturday and Sunday. The discussions range from the state of the European Union, to the place of the nation state, migration and asylum policy, to China and the Good Friday Agreement. My contribution on the Sunday, along with former Irish Ambassador to Canada, Ray Bassett, will be to discuss the Good Friday Agreement. The summer school has been taking place annually and seeks to reflect the legacy of historian and activist C Desmond Greaves. His books and writings have been a significant influence on my own politics. His two biographies on Liam Mellows and James Connolly are as important and influential today as they were when first published almost 60 years ago. His ‘The Irish Crisis’ is equally important. Siúlóid an Taoisigh - The Chieftain’s Walk To be honest I find it difficult to comprehend that next March it will be ten years since the death of my friend and comrade Martin McGuinness. For more years than I care to remember we were comrades in struggle seeking to advance our republican objective of national self-determination, build Sinn Féin as a radical, activist based, republican party, and at the same time contributing to the creation of a peace process to end decades of conflict. This Sunday the ninth Chieftain’s Walk will take place in Derry in Martin’s memory and to raise money for charity. The first year the Walk went to the Stone Fort of Grianán of Aileach on the Inishowen peninsula. It was one of Martin’s favourite places in the world. He would walk there, no matter the weather, and whenever the opportunity presented itself. I walked there with him on many occasions. It is a place of quiet beauty with amazing panoramic views. On one side you can see Derry City in the distance. Grianán also overlooks Inishowen, Inch Island and there is a dramatic view of Lough Foyle and especially Lough Swilly. But it was a taxing walk – long and very challenging for many. Sign the Moore St Petition The Moore St. Preservation Trust held an informative night in the Pearse Institute in Dublin last week to discuss the future of Moore St and the ongoing efforts to save the iconic 1916 battlefield site that is threatened by bad government policy and developers. Dublin Cllr Janice Boylan chaired the event which included Cllr Mícheál Mac Donncha who is Secretary of the Trust and Ray Bateson, author of ‘Battle of Moore Street / Cath Shráid Uí Mhórdha’, a bilingual history of the final battle of the Easter Rising. Moore Street is unique. It is a place of enormous historical importance, and the campaign to protect it is about ensuring that this unique part of our revolutionary history is preserved for generations to come. It is also about creating a historic cultural quarter around the GPO on a par with that of other states internationally. In the USA, in South Africa, and in countless other states across the globe governments have invested in preserving their past to remind current and future generations of the heroism and of the principles of struggle that previous generations fought for and which continue to help shape their future. If you would like to support campaign to save Moore St. by bringing it into public ownership and by developing a historic 1916 Cultural Quarter then sign the petition here: https://c.org/4nfjJMtzjv Comhghairdeas Katie Taylor Finally, comhghairdeas to Katie Taylor. Her determination, individual strength of character is an example to everyone. It was her last night boxing in front of a packed 80,000 Croke Park. She did it in style. She won it convincingly. Well; done Katie.

Andy Burnham is a Unionist Should we have been surprised by British Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s crass assertion last week that the issue of the unity referendum promised in the Good Friday Agreement, “is one issue that will be off the table.”? Two months ago as I watched Burnham address the media outside10 Downing St, on the day he replaced Keir Starmer, I wrote that he; “like every British Prime Minister governs in the interests of the English establishment. He like his predecessors is a Unionist.” For as far back as England’s involvement in Ireland its policies have always been determined by British national interests. Not the interests of the Irish people. Drumcree – Unionism Stuck in the Past In the early hours of Sunday 6 July 1997 I remember vividly driving back from an event in Tralee, County Kerry because of the growing tension over Unionist demands to march down the Garvaghy Road. I arrived home as David Blevins for Sky News broke the news that hundreds of British soldiers and RUC had swamped the nationalist streets of Garvaghy Road. Protestors were swept aside and the Orange Order got its march. There were widespread civil disturbances as nationalist areas reacted to the developments. 1997 was the last year a march took place. The Parade Commission decisions and the opposition of the local community had seen to that. Last week Drumcree and the Garvaghy Road jumped back into the media headlines when the High Court in Belfast quashed a determination by the Parades Commission to ban this year’s Drumcree march. It did so because of a procedural flaw in how that decision was reached. The High Court decision did not clear the way for an Orange Order parade to proceed down the Garvaghy Road. But it did lead to an increase in the sectarian bombast that has long been part and parcel of political unionism in the northern state. The UUP, DUP and TUV have all united to claim “a massive victory for unionism and loyalism” and to demand that the Orange Order be able to march through the nationalist Garvaghy Road area. They want to turn the clock back to the ‘No surrender’ ‘Not an Inch’ ethos of the Orange State. They want a return to the old order. That will not happen. Nationalists and non-unionists are looking to the future not the past. The nationalist community of the Garvaghy Road area is greater now than it was in 1997. It has lived in peace for almost 30 years. It deserves to be able to continue to do so and there is no desire within that community to facilitate a sectarian Orange march.  Paddy Elliott The Elliott’s and the Adams’s were cousins. They still are. Maybe second or third cousins by this generation. But back in the day my Granny Adams was a Begley. So was Paddy Elliott’s mammy. And Gerry Begley’s Daddy. Brother and sisters. Paddy and Gerry were six or seven years older than me. They were inseparable when I was growing up. I was living in Abercorn Street North with my Granny. Gerry Begley lived in the same street. I think Paddy was reared in Gibson Street, but he spent a lot of time in Abercorn Street North. There were very few cars in those days so the streets belonged to the children. Especially during the summer. Girls and boys. Dogs.  Hopscotch and Marlies. Skipping songs, swings on the lamp posts, rounders, street soccer with a ball made from a sock filled with newspapers, hurling and handball.

Ballina Commemoration will remember the Hunger Strikers This Sunday the national hunger strike commemoration will commence at 2.30pm in Ballina, County Mayo. The starting point is at Bunree Road Industrial Estate F26V243. The event will mark 45 years since the 1981 hunger strike in which ten men died. It will also remember all of those Irish republicans who died on hunger strike and especially the resolve and courage of three Mayo hunger strikers Michael Gaughan (1974), Frank Stagg (1976), and Jack McNeela (1940). Looking back five decades after the commencement of the blanket protest in September 1976 and the two hunger strikes that took place in 1980 and 1981, I remain awed by the tenacity and determination of those who endured five years of brutality, violence, deprivation and abuse in the H-Blocks and Armagh Women’s prison before embarking on that most challenging of all personal undertakings – the hunger strike.   Irish Traveller Heritage Strategy  The Traveller Community has contributed hugely to the preservation of Ireland’s native culture particularly our music and song tradition. Christy Moore, among others has always acknowledged and recognised this. In particular, the songs of John Reilly. The late Tom Munnelly did mighty work collecting and recording this aspect of our heritage. Now the Heritage Council has published Ireland’s first Traveller Heritage Strategy 2026-2030, setting out a national framework to support Traveller cultural heritage. It is available here: https://www.paveepoint.ie/first-traveller-heritage-strategy/ Death of Eithne Vallely A few weeks ago I wrote a piece for this column - The Little Lost Bird and the Blue Butterfly – about an art exhibition in Féile an Phobail by John B Vallely, a renowned artist from Armagh City. His exhibition focussed on the children killed at Wounded Knee by the US army in 1890 and the Israeli genocide in Gaza in which over 20,000 Palestinian children have been murdered.  Sadly, Brian’s wife Eithne was killed last Friday morning in a road accident. Eithne was a well-known and popular traditional musician and teacher. Along with her husband she founded the Armagh Pipers Club in 1966. She was an outstanding Irish woman.  I want to extend my deepest condolences to Brian, to their children, grandchildren and the wider Vallely clan. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam.   The Chieftain’s Walk On Sunday 13 September The Chieftain’s Walk in Derry in memory of Martin McGuinness will take place. All money raised goes to charitable causes. Sign up and take part. I will return to this in next week’s column with more details.

Anger Is Not A Strategy! Monday’s Irish Times has an editorial dealing with the possibility of the collapse of the Northern Assembly at Stormont. This is the latest media driven piece of speculation in recent weeks – based on nothing other than the view of the authors - that Sinn Féin plans to bring down the Executive and Assembly. No evidence is presented to support this opinion.  Thoughts on the Unity Agenda Declan Kearney has published a timely piece in An Phoblacht - Time for a New Initiative On Irish Unity.  He argues for a national consensus and cites the Agreement between me and John Hume in 1993.  Declan’s proposition led me to revisit a little book I published in 1998. ‘A Pathway to Peace.’ It was my view at that time on how to achieve Unity; the need for peace with justice; the role of the Irish government; the importance of reaching out to our unionist neighbours; and the need to develop a strategy for Irish nationalists. Meeting Friends of Sinn Féin International A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of doing a zoom meeting with supporters who are part of Friends of Sinn Féin International. This is a subscription based support network for supporters of Sinn Féin.  In return for an annual subscription they get a number of benefits including regular email updates from the party, access to the An Phoblacht archives and a discount from the Sinn Féin Shop plus briefings during the course of the year with senior leaders in the party.

The Féile and the Fleadh Following on from Tradfest - well done Dónal and everyone  involved- Féile and  the Fleadh were mighty. Sixteen days of Féile An Phobail, seperate but running parallel with a week of the first Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann to be held in Belfast. An estimated one million plus Fleadh hoppers  meandered their way through Belfast soaking up the music, the craic and the joyful atmosphere as musicians and dancers playing their hearts out on streets and in pubs and music venues. Well done to all involved in organising this marvellous event. From Comhaltas first of all and all the musicans and dancers to Belfast City Council to the Economy Minister Dr Caoimhe Archibald who gave £1 million in funding in support of the Fleadh, to all of the business owners who opened their doors and provided the services that the crowds needed and enjoyed. Well done also to the media. The local broadcast radio and television made a special effort, as did TG4. Together they broadcast hours of happy smiling people appreciating the Fleadh, listening to the music and watching the dancers. And not forgetting Niall and Bronagh McClean,and Ards Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (CCE), the host branch for the Fleadh. This fleadh was six years in the making but it paid off – big time. Not least in its social and societal benefits. I spent some time each day at the competitions in the Waterfront Hall. The standard of the music was amazing. Over 5,000 musicians from over 20 countries participated. That included a number of bands from the Unionist and Loyalist tradition. Fair play to them. They were warmly welcomed by enthusiastic crowds. The Little Lost Bird and the Blue Butterfly Among the art exhibitions was one by John B Vallely. JB is a renowned artist from Armagh City and a traditional musician and s great champion of the Uilleann pipes. He has been painting for over 70 years and his exhibition for Féile focussed on the loss of innocence; on the children killed at Wounded Knee by the US army in 1890 and the current Israeli genocide in Gaza in which tens of thousands of Palestinian children have been murdered. Two images stand out in his remarkable exhibition. One is of a blue bird dedicated to Zintkála Nuni – the Little Lost Bird. It is symbolic of a baby girl who was found strapped to her murdered mother’s back four days after the massacre at Wounded Knee. She had survived four days in the snow. Her name was not known so she was named Zintkála Nuni – the Little Lost Bird. Wildfires and Climate Change It has been a summer thus far that tens of thousands of people in Europe and North America will remember for a long time to come. Climate change has exploded in a series of enormous and dangerous wildfires that have left devastation in their wake. Day after day the media is full of images of forests and farm land destroyed, homes in ruins and families living in makeshift shelters. From Spain to Greece and across Canada and the USA the land burns as a result of prolonged heatwaves and droughts.Of course, there are still those who boohoo even the notion of climate change. But the evidence today is overwhelming and it’s not new. As far back as the 1970s I recall warnings about the impact of pollution on the environment. In 1988 the United Nations established two UN agencies focussed on climate change - the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) along with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Choosing the Struggle by Martina Anderson Last Saturday a packed St. Mary’s gave a huge welcome to Martina Anderson who was launching her personal and hugely important autobiography – Choosing the Struggle. This is an honest and heartfelt account of Martina growing up in Derry, her experience of poverty, witnessing the excesses of the British Army and RUC and the injustice of the northern state, and deciding to take a stand against these by joining the Irish Republican Army. It is wonderfully well written with her description of her arrest and imprisonment in England, and of the conditions ion which she and her friend and comrade Ella O’Dwyer were held, a reminder of the terrible conditions that Irish POWs endured. Martina’s account of her decision to seek a termination of a pregnancy and of the years of brutal strip searches are deeply personal and moving. Her experiences with Ella in Durham prison are especially shocking. Martina sees herself as an activist – in whatever area of struggle she is engaged. She is an Irish Republican who believes that the future of the island of Ireland lies in securing our right to self-determination and Unity. As an MEP she played a leadership role in the campaign to defend the Good Friday Agreement, and force the then Irish government of Enda Kenny to challenge the British government following the disastrous Brexit referendum vote. And she led the diplomatic offensive to secure a special drsignated status for the North. As her friend Eibhlín Glenholmes writes in the Foreword: “This book is also threaded in her love stories. A love for her husband Paul, of the indefatigable Anderson family, of her people, of her comrades, of the future New Irelanders who will reap what she and other women have sown – the seeds of a just and equitable society where every voice is heard.” Well ssid Eibhlín.  And well done Martina. Choosing the Struggle is published by Beyond the Pale Books. It is available through An Fhuiseog, 55 Bóthar na bhFál, BT12 4PD and https://sinnfeinbookshop.com/   Women's Voices, Hopes for the Future: Áras Uí Chonghaile was packed to capacity on Tuesday for the launch of Women's Voices, Hopes for the Future a new book published by Sinn Féin's Commission on the Future of Ireland, and Edited by Grace McDermott and Aoife Ferguson. Uachtarán Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald praised the 62 women who contributed to the book which was, she said an “important opportunity to bring women's voices from the margins to the centre of the conversation about Ireland's future.” The focus of Women's Voices, Hopes for the Future is the new Ireland. What kind of future Ireland do women envisage? The book is a contribution to this conversation and seeks to amplify the diverse voices of women and girls across Ireland and the diaspora. Women have been in the leadership of the struggle for Irish freedom and self-determination. They have been champions for change. Women like Mary Ann McCracken and Winnie Carnie, Constance Markievicz and Máire Drumm, Mairead Farrell and too many others to name. This book challenges all of us to imagine a future that is more equal, more inclusive and more representative of all who share this island. I want to thank all of the women who contributed to the book and when a book signing takes place in your area I would encourage you to get this remarkable book which is full of new ideas, great ideas, for the new Ireland. Women’s Voices is available through An Fhuiseog, 55 Bóthar na bhFál, BT12 4PD and https://sinnfeinbookshop.com/ The book will also be launched at the Derry Féile by Leas Uachtarán Shinn Féin Michelle O’Neill in Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin, Derry on the 12th August at 2.30pm. More details and other launches will be announced soon.   Mary Doherty Last Friday I travelled to Carraig Airt in North Donegal to [join my friend and comrade Pat Doherty as he buried his wife Mary. I knew Mary well. She was originally from Mayo and met Pat in the early 1960s in the Gorbals in Glasgow. They married in 1967 and would have celebrated 59 years together next week. As Uachtarán Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald said in her oration Mary was “unique, brave, irreplaceable. She was fierce. She stood her ground. Stood by her beliefs. By her friends. And she loved her family ferociously.” Mary and Pat arrived back in Ireland as the Civil Rights campaign grew into mass street protests across the North and just a year before British soldiers were sent onto those same streets. Together they took a stand against the prejudice, discrimination and oppression they witnessed in the North. Thus began a lifetime of activism in the Republican struggle. Pat contested his first general election in 1989 and then three European elections for Sinn Féin. He became an MLA in 1998. In 2001 Pat became Sinn Féin MP for West Tyrone. Mary was at the heart of each of those campaigns.  I want to extend my deep condolences to Mary’s children; Maria, Rosaleen, Kathleen Anne, Danny and Michael. And to her grandchildren; Aoife, Ultán, Daithí, Ruairí, Aoise, Dearbhla, Laoise, Pádraig, Óonagh, Daniel, Mikey and little Gracie.

The Re-Conquest of Ireland Well done Mayo in the all-Ireland football final. Commiserations to Kerry. Both teams played their hearts out but in the end Mayo were worthy winners. Next month on August 30 I will be in Ballina, Mayo for the 45th anniversary of the 10 hunger strikers who died during the 1981 hunger strike. The event will also remember the three Mayo Hunger Strikers, Jack McNeela (1940), Michael Gaughan (1974) and Frank Stagg, (1976). 22 Republican prisoners died on hunger strike in the 20th century.  Gerry Kelly My friend and comrade Gerry Kelly has announced his decision not to stand in the Assembly election next May. That does not mean that he will no longer be a republican activist. No chance of that. As I found out when I stepped back from electoral politics there is still a lot to do. And I am certain Gerry Kelly will also find that to be true. Gerry’s commitment to ending the union with Britain and building a new Ireland, based on equality and respect is well known. As is his courage and determination in the face of enormous challenges. He spent 15 years in prisons in Ireland, Britain and Europe and was 205 days on hunger strike. For 167 of those days he was force fed by having a tube inserted into his nose – “like a red-hot needle being pushed into one’s head”, he later wrote – and a wooden clamp jammed between his teeth to hold his jaws open while a feeding tube was fed down his throat. He was in solitary confinement in Mountjoy, Brixton, Wormwood Scrubs, Long Lartin, Maastricht, Amsterdam, the H-Blocks and Crumlin Road prisons. He attempted to escape several times and succeeded in the Great Escape from the H-Blocks of 1983 with 37 comrades. I have many fond memories of working with and socialising with Gerry, including on one occasion when he and I drove over to Lissadell House in County Sligo, childhood home of Countess Markievicz, to listen to Leonard Cohen sing. It was a beautiful summer evening in 2010. Leonard had an affection for Ireland and occasionally he sang “Kevin Barry”. Gerry is a wonderful dancer. In Lissadell Leonard started his set and after a time Gerry found a spot near the beer tent, where he was soon moved to go into the dancing repertoire he’d developed in solitary, listening to the music in his head. A crowd gathered around him. “Dance me to the end of love,” sang Leonard. “Dance me through the panic ‘til I’m gathered safely in.” Gerry moved more deeply into synchronicity with the song, fluid, absorbed, committed, his whole body in it in an expression of melodic wonderment. From the stage Leonard stopped mid-verse to salute him. I basked in the reflected glory of Gerry’s rhythmic perambulations. ‘I’m your man,’ I told him. As an elected official and negotiator Gerry has been a formidable representative for Sinn Fein and for the people of North Belfast. In the early 1990’s he and Martin McGuinness engaged in secret talks with the British. He was one of our negotiating team for the Good Friday Agreement and in many subsequent negotiations, most frequently on policing. Gerry is a very fine writer. I have an Australian friend who frequently tells me that Gerry’s book – The Escape: The Inside Story of the 1983 Escape from Long Kesh Prison – is the best book he’s read on the struggle. Gerry has also written a memoir and two books of poems.  So well done Gerry. You won’t get away that easy – but you know that!!! Go luck to you and Margaret and all your clann.  No Place for Armed Groups Last week an explosive device was discovered in a car in County Monaghan, apparently on its way North. Whoever was responsible for this irresponsible action is actively working against the significant opportunity that now exists to end partition. Public and political support for Irish unity is stronger now than at any time since partition was imposed over a century ago. The conversation on unity crosses all political and community sectors. Apart from Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin there is a growing consensus among the broad nationalist/left parties across the island that Irish Unity is a winnable objective and offers the best prospect for a better future for all of the people of our island.