The murder of Nora McCabe

Nora McCabe was murdered almost 29 years ago on July 9th 1981. She was shot in the back of the head at close range by a plastic bullet fired from an RUC armoured landrover. She died the next day in hospital from her injuries.

It was the same morning Joe McDonnell died on hunger strike.

Nora was aged 33 and the mother of three young children, the youngest three months old. Over the years I have met her husband Jim many times. He is a quiet but very determined man who never gave up on getting the truth. Jim knew what happened, but as in so many other similar incidents, the RUC and the Director of Public Prosecutions office embarked on a cover up of the circumstances in order to protect the RUC personnel responsible for Nora’s murder.

At the inquest in November 1982 several RUC people gave evidence, including James Critchley who was the senior RUC officer in west Belfast at the time. He was in one of the armoured vehicles. The RUC claimed that there were barricades on the Falls Road, that there were rioters and that they fired two plastic bullets when petrol bombs were thrown at them.

In their account there were hijacked and burning vehicles on the road and beer barrels and debris strewn around.

Pat Finucane, whose murder was covered up in much the same manner as Nora’s, was representing the McCabe family. At the inquest he was given a video filmed by a Canadian TV film crew who were on the Falls Road that morning. When he tried to introduce it as evidence the inquest was adjourned. It did not reconvene until one year later.

The video was then played to the inquest and it entirely disproved the evidence given by the RUC witnesses. There were no rioters, no barricades, no burning vehicles. Crucially it did show the RUC landrover turn toward Linden Street where Nora McCabe was walking and a plastic bullet being fired.

The inquest jury found that Nora was an innocent victim. But the DPP decided not to prosecute the RUC officers involved. The RUC sergeant who fired the deadly bullet and the senior officer who ordered him to fire are now both dead.

Last year Jim initiated a judicial review into the decision not to prosecute anyone. He wanted that decision quashed.

Last week the court accepted that there were significant factual conflicts between the evidence of the RUC witnesses and the film evidence.

The judge said that consideration ought to have been given to charging the RUC witnesses with perjury. But he accepted that the DPP had the legal right to take the decision.

Speaking afterwards Jim said he felt vindicated in taking the case. The court had accepted Nora’s innocence and the authenticity of the tape. The lies of the RUC witnesses had been exposed.

Jim also spoke of the difficulties he and his children had encountered. And he acknowledged that many other families had suffered similar experiences.

Between 1970 when they were first introduced, almost 100,000 rubber and plastic bullets were fired up to 1981. In that year alone 30,000 were fired. 17 people, 8 of them children, were killed and thousands of people were injured. Some of them, like Emma Groves who was blinded, were permanently disabled.

Plastic bullets are lethal weapons. They should be banned.

Jim McCabe is one of our unsung heroes. He reared his young family while pursuing truth and justice for his wife Nora. I am sure there were times when grief, anger and frustration must have threatened to overwhelm him. But he never gave up. He persisted. And this week he prevailed.

Oppose the Cuts

On Monday the Ulster Unionist and Conservative parties published their election manifesto for the north. The launch was overshadowed by the controversy surrounding comments by David Cameron, the Conservative Party leader in London, which have been interpreted as meaning that he is intent on cutting public services in the six counties.

His efforts to retreat from this position have only added to the debate.

Sensing a blunder the DUP went on the attack.

However, the fact is that there is no real difference between the approach of the Unionist/Conservatives and the DUP when it comes to the economy and politics generally. They are both cut from the same cloth.

Look at working class unionist areas and you will see the same issues of deprivation and poverty that exist in deprived nationalist estates. Poor health indices, low education attainment levels, inadequate community facilities and much more. Poverty is rampant in many of these areas.

Working class unionist neighbourhoods have long been abandoned by the main unionist parties. If cuts are not challenged they will reduce public services, particularly the health services, and destroy the social fabric and necessary protections for citizens.

Those who will suffer most as a result of these cuts will be working people. Jobs will go and under resourced public services will be slashed further.

Parents of children with disabilities, carers, ethnic minorities, women, the unemployed, young people and others who need the protection of a legislatively based Bill of Rights are being denied this by the two unionist parties.

Working people have nothing to gain from voting for parties which will not oppose cuts. While Peter Robinson and Reg Empey may take up populist positions on social or economic issues they are opposed to equality measures which would help working families in these difficult economic times.

Both unionist parties oppose the Bill of Rights. Their ideology is based on conservative values.

Peter Robinson is attacking Reg Empey because his party is in a Conservative coalition.

Yet the DUP is supporting a so-called unity candidate in Fermanagh South Tyrone who has pledged his support for the Conservatives and who is committed, if elected, to taking the Tory Whip.

So, despite the rhetoric Peter Robinson has exactly the same position as Reg Empey. The DUP desire to disempower the people of Fermanagh South Tyrone is clearly greater than any notional differences with the British Tories.

Be that as it may if the unionist parties are really against cuts in public services, and more importantly if these cuts are to be stopped, then all the local parties need to unite agains the cuts which the two main British parties want to impose here.

We did it before when Martin McGuinness and Peter Robinson, working together, secured an additional £800 million for policing and justice.

What is required is a major negotiation with the British on funding. In the short term this is about an increase in the block grant. But in the medium term it must also be about transferring fiscal powers back to Ireland.

The people of Ireland can’t afford partition. Hundreds of millions of revenue are lost every year through duplication of services, agencies competing against each other, an absence of joined up infrastructure.

What people want to see is a programme to counter all this . What citizens are looking for is leadership.

There is a way out of the economic difficulties. There is an alternative.

The SDLP have pinned their flag to the British Labour masthead. The British Labour Party is also committed to cuts. The alternative to cuts is a united commitment to public services and particularly front line services and against cuts, no matters what London party wants to introduce them. So instead of making sectional politics – inter unionist politics – on this crucially important issue the DUP and The UUP need to join with Sinn Féin against the cuts. The SDLP need to do likewise.

Hunger Strike Commemoration.

Finally, mar eolas daoibhse, Sinn Féin in Belfast is organising a weekend of events to commemorate the 29th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike.

The hunger strike and the deaths of the 10 hunger strikers was a watershed in republican and Irish politics.

Take a quiet moment to yourself to reflect on the huge contribution of the prisoners, particularly the hungerstrikers. Or join any of these events if you are in Belfast. Or organise your own event.

Saturday May 1st:

11am Tour of Milltown with Tom Hartley and Pod Devenney.

12.30pm Wreath Laying ceremony at the Hunger Strikers graves. Gather at Milltown Gates

3pm: Andersonstown Social Club: Hunger Strike exhibition and panel disucssion for young people with hunger strikers Pat Sheehan, Mary Doyle and Belfast Chairperson Bobby Storey. Chaired by Charlene O’Hara.

Sunday May 2nd:

9.30am Bobby Sands walk/Black Mountain challenge. Meet at Caulfield’s car part at the top of the Whiterock Road.

8pm Bobby Sands Annual memorial lecture by Sean Murray in the Andersonstown Social Club

Monday May 3rd:

11 am: Fian John Dempsey Hurling and Football Tournament at Gort na Móna GAA. Assemble at Divis Drive

Wednesday May 5th:

White line pickets across Belfast. Gather at local Assembly points at 5pm.

A Vigil of Community Solidarity

The look of shock, sadness and disbelief on the faces of hundreds of people told their own story last night. The Lenadoon community was in mourning for a good neighbour and friend Seamus Fox.

Seamus was a well known and respected Lenadoon resident. In the early hours of Thursday morning he was returning home from the Donegal Celtic Club, on the Suffolk Road, following a darts match. He was brutally assaulted and murdered close his home in Horn Drive.

Yesterday I visited his wife Phyllis and family, and offered my personal condolences and those of the people of west Belfast.

Later the community came together in a vigil to demonstrate our solidarity with the family and our abhorrence of the murder. It was a quiet but emotional event.

It was chaired by local Councillor Gerard O Neill. The family had asked Sue Ramsay to read a statement on their behalf which spoke of their devastation at the ‘loss of a wonderful husband, father and grandfather. This has come as an enormous shock for all of us.”

The family statement thanked the community which has rallied round, those who are helping the PSNI, the paramedics who tried to save Seamus, and ‘lastly a huge thank you to those who were with our father when he died and remained with him.’

Gerry McConville of the Falls Community Council and the Upper Falls Community Safety Forum also addressed the vigil and local priest Father Martin Magill said a decade of the Rosary. This was followed by a minute silence. Afterward those with flowers walked the few yards to the place where Seamus was found and placed the flowers there.

Tomorrow I will be meeting the PSNI to discuss the circumstances surrounding Seamus’s murder. An entrance to the Colin Glen Park, just across the Suffolk Road from where the murder took place, is a well known hot spot for anti-social behaviour. A strategy involving the PSNI and other statutory agencies is needed to address this problem.

Dishonouring the name of Republican

A few hours before the murder of Seamus Fox a bomb exploded in Newtownhamilton injuring two people and causing damage to local property. Residents have praised the actions of firefighters whose prompt action helped evacuate residents and seal of the area around the bomb.

The small militarist group responsible for this attack, and other similar factions, dishonour the name of republican. At a time when republicans have constructed a peaceful and democratic path to achieving a United Ireland, which has popular and growing support, these militarists have no strategy and no politics to offer.

They appear incapable of doing what successful revolutionaries and those in struggle across the world long ago learned. That is to review, adapt, change, make struggle relevant in its own place and time and most important of all win popular support.

Without popular support or at the very least the support of a significant section of the population no group can survive, much less win. That’s not just the view of this blog. That’s at the heart of every book ever written on the subject, including those leaders who succeeded in their goals. That’s the lesson of successful struggle world wide.

In the Assembly elections three years ago political representatives of some of these groups stood. They received derisory votes. This time they’re not taking the chance of repeating that humiliating performance and have chosen not to stand.

These groups are not the IRA. No matter how many letters they put in front of their names they are not the IRA. The IRA was a people's army with popular support. It was a sophisticated political army which had strategies and a politicised membership. It also had the courage to debate the merits of the peace process and when a peaceful and democratic path to Irish unity was created to take big decisions democratically and to honour them.

Wannabe groups like those who placed the bomb in Newtownhamilton play into the hands of those in the Brit system who are dissatisfied with the progress which Sinn Féin has made. Instability is the name of the game.

All democrats must defend the progress that has been made and to defend the peace process against all comers. This election gives us that opportunity.

Bronagh Wilson

Conor, mise agus Bronagh


I met Bronagh Wilson and her family last Saturday night. She is an ordinary young woman from west Belfast with two small children. But she is also one of the bravest people I have had the honour to meet during my life. Her story is one of great love and compassion.

Bronagh was diagnosed with a brain tumour last year. Although she was already presenting with symptoms beforehand, and had sought medical attention, the cancerous tumour was only detected in medical check-ups during Bronagh’s 2nd pregnancy.

After her son Daniel was born, Bronagh was diagnosed and was then subject to surgery and post-operative treatment. Her medical condition is deemed as terminal.

The Bronagh Wilson Trust was set up in September 2009 with the objective of raising funds for private medical treatment when the NHS treatment ends. That treatment stopped a few weeks ago.

So the money raised during the funding campaign will be used to provide her with further private treatment.

On Saturday night the Trust held a packed gala dinner for the Bronagh Wilson Trust in the Hilton Hotel. Bronagh was there with her fiancée Conor, her mother Loretta, her father Gerry and her wide circle of family and friends and supporters.

It was at times an emotional event, particularly when she joined her father on the stage but it was also a moment of celebration of her courage and determination and of the astonishing and successful efforts of the Trust to raise money.

In the seven months since the Trust was established its small core of friends, supported by scores of others, and through the enormous generosity of the people of west Belfast and beyond have surpassed the £50k target that was set last October.

This blog was asked to speak at the event and I was pleased to agree. Recently, President McAleese had been in touch with me about a special dinner she was hosting next weekend in Áras an Uachtaráin. She asked me to nominate some west Belfast people to attend. I nominated Bronagh and her mummy Loretta.

But I only told Bronagh that in my remarks on Saturday night so it was a nice surprise for her and I’m sure President McAleese and her husband Martin will make them very welcome.

This blog knows how difficult it is to fundraise so I took the opportunity to commend all of those who have contributed in any way to what has been an astonishing fundraising effort by the Trust. It has been a truly remarkable achievement.

The dedication and commitment of everyone involved has been outstanding.

The work of the Bronagh Wilson Trust is yet another example of people power rising quickly to a very special challenge.

But Bronagh’s story has also helped raise public consciousness and understanding about Cancer. And this is very important as so many individuals and families struggle each day to deal with the reality of this terrible illness.

In one newspaper account of her experience of cancer and of her treatments Bronagh talked about the physical impact of these and in one interview she remarked that her hair falling out had been the worst thing.

It reminded me of my close friend, Siobhan O Hanlon.

Siobhan had breast cancer. It was very aggressive and she fought it every day.

As part of an effort to raise awareness around breast cancer we organised – no she organised – a conference in the old St. Thomas’s school on the Whiterock Road.
Siobhan spoke at it and she too talked about her experience of doctors and hospitals and chemo and radiotheraphy.

She held nothing back.

But Bronagh’s comment about hair sent me back to my copy of Siobhan’s remarks that day.

She told the conference: “I had no hair, no eyebrows, no eyelashes, one breast, my nails were all broken, I was tired. But I knew I had to get my act together. My hair had started growing but it was very slow. It was also terribly grey.
Three terrible days in relation to your hair are 1. when your hair starts coming out, 2. when you put a wig on for the first time and 3. when you have to take it off again. That was an awful day.

I remember going into the office and this guy was going across the top of the stairs.

He said “Ah, Siobhan”.

“Don’t open your mouth,” I told him. “I have more hair than you”. And I did!
“
That was Siobhan. Hugely courageous. And that is Bronagh too – courageous and indomitable and determined

Have a great night Bronagh on Friday evening in Áras an Uachtaráin.

A letter to Margaret

Omagh on Friday night

Last Monday I wrote to Margaret Ritchie inviting her to meet with me to discuss co-operation between our parties in the upcoming British General Election.

I proposed that the agenda should include the need to co-operate in specific constituencies to ensure as far as possible that unionism does not increase its share of Westminster seats.

Having consulted with our Belfast leadership It was my intention to propose that Sinn Féin would stand aside in South Belfast in return for the SDLP standing aside in Fermanagh South Tyrone.

I had included on the letter a telephone contact number where I could be reached. Not having heard anything I wandered down before lunchtime on the Tuesday to her private office to find out what was happening.

Her most senior PA told me she was out and when I asked for a telephone number to contact her I was told that she had recently changed her phone and he didn’t have the number. A senior SDLP party MLA who told me he was just a party flunky and didn’t know anything about these matters was there at the time.

Eventually a letter of response arrived at my office at the same time as it was given to the BBC. It was a rejection.

The fact is that the SDLP approach to this election as to all previous elections has been dictated not by what is good for nationalists or for the peace process, but by their antipathy toward Sinn Féin and what’s in it for them.

If the Shinners are for it – the SDLP have to be against it.

I responded to Margaret Ritchie on the Wednesday. Mar eolas daoibh.

14th April 2010
Margaret, a chara
Thank you for your letter of 13th April.

I was surprised at your rejection of my proposal that we meet to discuss co-operation between our parties in the upcoming election, including the possibility of co-operation in specific constituencies.

I note that you did not have the courtesy to meet with me before the release to the media of your response to my letter, particularly considering you were not aware of any specific proposal I might put. Your staff also refused to facilitate a telephone conversation between us when I dropped into your office yesterday in the hope that we could discuss this issue.

My intention was to put a firm proposition to you that Sinn Féin would stand aside in South Belfast in return for the SDLP standing aside in Fermanagh South Tyrone.
I consider such an approach is in the best interests of both broader nationalism and the wider community.

Regrettably, your response to my letter carries the same narrow-minded stamp which has characterized your party’s stance on a range of issues in recent times.

It is quite absurd to describe co-operation among nationalist parties as sectarian, unless of course you subscribe to the view that nationalism as a political ideology is sectarian. Perhaps you or your party are again in post-nationalist mode.

Nor can any electoral pact between nationalist parties be described in the same terms as the collaboration between the Orange Order, DUP, Ulster Unionists and British Conservative party in an attempt to unseat Michelle Gildernew.

Michelle has diligently represented all the people of Fermanagh South Tyrone since she became their MP. She has pursued the same agenda as an MLA and as a Minister in the Executive. She represents, and is a strong advocate of a future based on equality.

What the unionist parties have cobbled together represents regressive politics based on a negative agenda. It is about base sectarianism, and the old agenda of division and inequality.

Your rejection of the co-operation with Sinn Féin which I propose places your party in exactly in the same camp as those who seek to unseat Michelle Gildernew and return the seat to a unionist and a Tory.

There is absolutely no contradiction in Martin McGuiness’ insistence that the Executive Ministers must deliver for the entire community and my proposal that we co-operate.

Your claim that Sinn Fein has in some way brought about an under representation of nationalists in government is also absurd. The Justice Minister appointed on Monday last in the Assembly was elected by cross-community support, one of the critical safeguards built into the Good Friday Agreement.

I note your party put forward a candidate for this position, and would, presumably, have been quite content to have taken up the post on this basis had he secured the required degree of cross community support. As you know Sinn Fein MLAs voted in favour of your nomination. It was you who failed to win unionist support.

And of course your party supported the legislation which established these interim arrangements for appointing the Justice Minister. As far back as May 2006, Mark Durkan told the British House of Commons that he would support such a procedure for the election of a Justice Minister.

Your position on the outworking of the RPA is similarly riddled with contradictions. The SDLP advocated a reduction in the number of councils from 26 to 15. Any reduction in the number of councils requires the redrawing of council boundaries.

The proposed new boundaries have been defined by the Boundaries Commissioners. The SDLP have been strangely silent until now on the impact of boundary changes.

A primary and consistent focus for Sinn Fein in the RPA has been to build the rights and safeguards enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement into new governance arrangements in local government, thus ensuring the interests of all sections of the community are given full consideration in decision making at local government level.

And it was Sinn Fein, not the SDLP, who blocked recent proposals by the DUP to gerrymander boundaries in Lisburn, Castlereagh and Belfast.

As for abstentionism, it is patently untrue to state that abstentionism works to the disadvantage of people in need. Sinn Fein is a party of active absentionism. We receive a mandate not to sit in the British House of Commons or to take an oath of allegiance to the English Queen. That we actively represent our constituents is an uncontestable fact.

You and your party know full well how unimportant SDLP attendance at Westminster is. This is reflected in the attendance record of SDLP which is among the lowest of the 646 MPs.

But of course, despite this limited attendance, SDLP MPs found time in recent years to turn up at Westminster to vote for emergency laws which include the continued use of Public Immunity Certificates, 28 day detention without trial, and a continued provision for non-jury trials.

You should hardly be surprised therefore that I find your assertion that you ‘feel it important now to be principled and consistent’ as particularly ironic. You have committed to supporting the British Labour party in Westminster, the party currently pursuing a war in Afghanistan which has cost the lives of thousands.

There are many differences between our parties. Despite these differences, we have an opportunity and a shared responsibility to work together to ensure the best possible outcome for the entire community from the forthcoming election. It remains my view that we should co-operate towards this objective.

Is mise le meas,

Gerry Adams

St. Galls Abú

Derry Townhall meeting








This blog has often thought he would make a good scheduler. Most of this is based on my experience at the hands of bad schedulers.

Your man is the worse scheduler in the business. Regular readers will recall that this blog took an initiative to host a civic reception in Belfast City Hall for the all-Ireland Club champions St. Galls.

It took place on Thursday night. This blog wasn’t there. It’s entirely your man’s fault. He had me in Upper Bann at one of Sinn Féin’s Townhall meetings.

The Upper Bann meeting was really good. This blog met local activists and then separately the families of our patriot dead. And then we held a larger meeting which over a hundred or so turned out to. The conversation covered everything from the SDLP rejection of the proposed arrangement for Fermanagh South Tyrone and South Belfast to local issues, policing and justice and the impact on the peace process if the Tories were to win in Britain.











The audience in Derry

The Upper Bann meeting was my third this week. The first was in Derry on Tuesday evening, then it was the turn of Derry, Thursday night was Upper Bann and tonight, Friday, I will be enjoying the company of Pat Doherty and Barry McElduff and friends in Omagh.











Gerry Kelly enjoying the craic at the Belfast Townhall meeting




But back to St.Galls. Fra McCann tells me the civic reception, which was hosted by Sinn Féin Councillor Danny Lavery, who is currently the Deputy Mayor, was excellent. Everyone had a great time and Tom Hartley gave the St. Galls team and their guests a tour of the refurbished City Hall. Thanks to your man’s scheduling clanger I couldn’t be there so I sent a letter of comhghairdeas which Tom kindly read out.

This is it.

A Chairde Gaeil

Comhgairdeas don Chumann Naomh Gall, Seampíní na hÉireann i mbliana Comóradh Céad Bliain. Tá brón orm nach bhfuil mé faoi lathair libh anocht don ceiliriú seo i Halla na Cathrach.

I am sorry that I am unable to be with you this evening. As a result of bad scheduling, I am in Upper Bann at a Townhall meeting.

I would much rather be with you to salute your achievements, no harm to the people of Upper Bann, and I tried to readjust the schedule but because I was publicly advertised to speak here I felt I couldn’t break this engagement. Mea Culpa.

I want to congratulate St Galls on becoming the All-Ireland champions, especially in this your centenary year.

St Galls have played a remarkably historic role in the gaelic tradition in Belfast and your achievements have given great heart and hope to Belfast Gaels and all of County Antrim.

No-one knows better than you - hurlers and footballers - what is involved in reaching and performing in an All-Ireland final. But no-one deserves more than you to be the all-Ireland club champions.

You won the all-Ireland because you deserved to.

It wasn't luck; it wasn't a fluke; it was by dint of years of hard work, good management and mentoring, self belief, pride in yourselves and your club and brilliant footballing skills.

Well done to you all.

Your mentors and managers and especially your families, know how much is required to build a successful gaelic athletics club.

So while this is a night for the players, it is also for the entire Naomh Gall club family.

This event is one way for the citizens of this city to officially and formally thank you. And to salute you.

Belfast Gaels have a proud record of achievement. This has been accomplished despite the fact that Cumann Luthchleas Gael has not been cherished and supported by Belfast City Council as it should be. But this also is changing.

Sinn Féin is determined to ensure that all the civic institutions and public bodies in our society respect, reflect and properly resource our Gaelic games, language culture.

This is about rights and entitlements, and ensuring that Belfast becomes a city for all its citizens.

So welcome to OUR city hall. Tonight Belfast City belongs to Naomh Galls.

However, it is not only in this city that the gaelic games and culture deserve to be embraced and enjoyed.

That is why I have asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and Leisure, Nelson McCausland, to host an event at Stormont to honour your club. As soon I receive a response to my request, I will be in contact again with your club officials.

That is one event our schedulers won't mess up. Me and Nelson will be delighted to see you all up on the hill.

I hope that in the season ahead, we will have other reasons to come together to celebrate

Good luck with the rest of your evening.

Naomh Gall agus Aontroim Abú.












The Derry crowd and Bill Groves

Another good day

Monday was another beautiful day. Clear blue skies, warm and uplifting.

It was also another good day in the peace process. It was a day we were told would never happen. It just goes to show; you should never say never or never, never, or never!

Policing and justice was one of those hugely difficult issues that couldn’t be sorted during the Good Friday Agreement negotiations. The governments and the parties established the Patten Commission to deal with policing and the Criminal Justice Review to deal with criminal justice.

We all then spent the intervening 12 years trying to chart a course through the party politics, the objections and the machinations of the vested British security and intelligence interests in the political system, to get to today. It was a torturous process.

The unionist parties vehemently objected. At one level this was strange given that it was the removal of these powers by the Heath government which led unionism to collapse the Stormont regime in 1972. But at another level unionists also knew that this was one of those key issues of change. So, they tried to minimise or block efforts to ensure that any new policing and justice arrangements were free from partisan political control and democratically accountable.

Transferring powers from London to an accountable power sharing Assembly in Belfast was the ultimate prize and was therefore not something unionists wanted or were easily going to be persuaded to accept.

The SDLP position was entirely self serving and shallow. If the Shinners were for it they were against it. Almost 10 years ago the British passed the Mandelson Policing Act. Seamus Mallon and his friends took the view that that was as good as it was going to get. They claimed that there would be no more new legislation on policing. And in order to try and get one jump ahead of Sinn Féin they joined the Policing Board and harangued Sinn Féin for refusing to.

But the Shinners refused to acquiesce and took the British and Irish governments through a lengthy and complex process of negotiation until new legislation had indeed been secured and more changes achieved to policing and justice arrangements.

And by then our focus was firmly on the transfer of powers. This was crucial to Sinn Féin engaging with policing.

Once again the naysayers, and especially the SDLP said there was no chance of the transfer of policing and justice powers being agreed by the DUP and Sinn Féin. And the unionists for their part said not in a political life time.

But the agreement at Hillsborough in February saw a time table for transfer. Today David Forde was appointed Minister of Justice.

Strangely enough those parties which whinged and gurned the loudest about what they called ‘carve up’ politics were the most eager to have the ministerial position.

The Ulster Conservative and Unionist New Force – the Tories – failed to win cross community support.

The SDLP just failed and then sulked in their corner.

Just past midnight into Monday morning a large bomb exploded outside Holywood Barracks not far from Parliament Buildings. Obviously someone thought that this action would rock the political institutions.

Another mistake on their part. Today’s vote in the Assembly is evidence of the durability of the political institutions.

Yes, the peace process has been challenged but it stands strong and is moving forward.

It won’t be deflected by those who put self interest above the needs of the people of this island. The peace process has brought about enormous political changes. It has transformed the situation on this island, and in particular here in the north, in a way unimaginable not that long ago.

So, today, for the first time since partition there is a Justice Minister who is accountable to a locally elected power sharing Assembly, representative of the citizens who live here. The north never had an acceptable policing or justice system.

The Good Friday Agreement has changed all of this. There is still work to be done but this blog is very pleased with today’s progress.

A FINE DAY.

‘Isn’t it wonderful weather?’

‘Go hiontach’ I agreed.

Your man has a habit of stating the obvious. But he was right. For once.
The weather is gorgeous. Big blue sky stretched over us. The sun beaming
down.

‘I wud love a beer.’ He continued. ‘An ice cold lager. From Belgium or
Germany or the Nordic countries. A natural ice cold lager. Without
chemicals’.

I looked closely at him.

‘In a big glass.’

We were nearly home after a quick skite up the Black Mountain. His drought started at the Hatchet Field.

‘I have some lager in the shed since Christmas’ I volunteered.

‘Ah’ he said ‘ I thought I saw them when I borrowed your spade’.

‘When did you borrow my spade?’ I asked.

‘Last week’ he replied.

‘What for?’

‘To dig holes for the fence poles for my chicken run’.

‘Ah…..when are you getting chickens?’

‘I’m working on it. I have to pick my moment very carefully. Otherwise I’m snookered. I can’t ask until I know I will get a yes’.

‘So did you touch the beer?’

‘Nope. I didn’t touch a thing. Except the spade’.

By now we were at the bottom of the mountain lonnan.

‘I wudn’t mind getting ducks as well’ he reflected as we cut across the
cemetery.

‘Only ducks like water and I don’t think I wud get away with digging a
pool out the back. Getting the chicken run done will be a big enough
challenge to my relationship.’

‘My granny used to keep chickens in the coalhole’ I recalled. ‘but not
ducks. I like duck eggs.’

‘How many beer have you?’ He asked.

‘I ate an ostrich egg once’ I continued ‘ a guy outta the azoo gave me it.
Very strong. Like a big duck egg. I used a pint glass as an egg cup’.

‘I wud have fresh chicken eggs every day if I get chickens. I might even
give you some.’

‘Fear maith thú. That deserves a beer. Here we are now.’

Minutes later we sat out the back, shaded slightly from the warm sun and
contemplated the pitchers of golden lager.

‘Slainte’ Your man raised his glass and saluted me.

‘First today’ he said.

‘That was a great walk.’

I agreed. We sat quietly for an hour enjoying the sun, the birdsong and
the sound of a neighbour preparing a barbeque. And the beer. When the
remnants of the Christmas drink was dispatched your man made ready to go.

‘Thanks for the beer’ he said.

‘Failte’ I replied. ‘Big Mickey gave them to me for you just before
Christmas . It’s lucky I forgot about them or we wudn’t be able to enjoy
them today.’

Your man wasn’t well pleased.

‘Did Mickey give you anything else for me?’ he snarled.

‘Nawh’ I said. ‘Just the Pils. Sure didn’t we enjoy them?’

‘Aye’ he relented after a minute’s quiet reflection.

‘Good luck with the chickens.’ I said.

‘I‘ll get you your spade back when I’m finished. Slán.’

‘Slán’ I replied ‘Do you think you’ll be able to give a hand in the
elections.’

‘Aye’ he said ‘ No problem. Give me a shout when you need me. By the way
does that guy who gave you the ostrich egg still work in the azoo?’

‘Nawh’ I said ‘but big Mickey knows a man who knows a man who has
alligator eggs’.

‘Hardly an Easter present’ your man shoke his head.

'I’ll stick to Rhode Island Reds. If you don’t mind. Thanks again for the
beer. Even if it was me own. It rounded off a fine day’.

‘Aye’ I agreed. ‘Now we’ve finished yours I’m going to get stuck into mine.’

Your man stopped on his way out.

‘You cannot be serious’.

‘I’m only jokin’ I laughed.

He looked doubtful.

‘Politicians’ he exclaimed ‘I don’t know whether to believe you or not!’

I eased him through the door.

‘See ya’ he said.

‘Nivver believe an election promise’ I shouted at his departing figure.
Then I made my way back to the shed. Big Mickey was a decent man. May his giving hand never be empty.

A fine day indeed.

GAME ON!

The British Prime Minister has finally called the Westminster election. It
will be on Thursday May 6 th . The date comes as no great surprise. It has been widely expected for months now.

This blog likes elections. Except for canvassing in shopping centres,
which I hate, they are great craic. You get out of the office; you meet
people on their doorsteps and on the streets. You get a chance to connect directly with punters for a short but very intense period of weeks.

It’s an opportunity to listen. To engage with citizens directly about our
hopes, fears and plans for the future. But equally importantly it’s a chance to talk.

This year the election and the annual series of Townhall Meetings held by
Sinn Féin dovetail together. We first started these in January 2007 in the weeks leading up to the Sinn Fein special Ard Fheis on policing and justice. That was an intense time! And we have done it each year since because it’s a democratic exercise.

The party has been preparing for this election for some time now. Apart
from the organisational work that is the necessary backbone of every election campaign, and the PR preparation around posters and leaflets and the like, most areas across the North have already been involved in canvassing.

So, we have a good idea of what the main issues are at this time; the
political institutions, job losses, job security, the state of the health service, the economy, education, Irish language rights, housing, policing, public services and so on.

Sinn Féin is also, as all regular readers of this blog know, a republican
party. That means Irish reunification will be at the top of our political agenda.

Most people aren’t born nationalist or republican. Yes, family and
environment play a big part but it is possible to persuade someone to adopt a different view of the world.

So, this blog will be asking all of you who are unionist to consider your
future; to consider what the union has meant and now means for you and your family; what it offers you in the future? If you live in the lower Shankill or Springmartin,or Ballymena or in Fermanagh South Tyrone; what has the union delivered for you? How have your unionist politicians represented you? Can Sinn Féin do better? Would Irish unity give you greater control over your own destiny and deliver a better quality of life for you and your children?

Think about these questions and let’s talk about them on the campaign
trail over the next few weeks.

Think also about the peace process and the political institutions and the
recent agreement at Hillsborough. This process and the improvement it has ushered in are proof that slowly but surely, Sinn Féin is creating a better society. And we need your support to keep going and to finish the job.

Every election the media latch on to some issue. An angle. Sometimes they
get it right. Sometimes they zero in on nonsense.

There is already some nonsense about a hung parliament. Well, not so much about a hung parliament. That could be an outcome, how likely no one can say. No, the nonsense is that that a party from here could be in a very pivotal position in a hung parliament at Westminster. Wishful thinking!

Your man reckons I should return to this issue. And I will. Particularly
about the Irish experience in that institution.

In the meantime best wishes to the other parties in the election. All the
parties will go to the electorate with our different opinions but let’s have a good debate. And a message to the media – don’t reduce it to two debates - to what’s happening within unionism or what’s happening within nationalism. Let’s have a cross cutting debate on the issues that are important to citizens.

Three years ago in the last Assembly election it was noticeable that bread
and butter issues, and jobs and the environment and policing and other issues were what citizens were focused on. I think that this election is likely to follow that pattern.

People are worried about the recession. We have all heard the predictions
of worse to come. So what are the local parties and politicians going to do to protect jobs and create new ones? What are we going to do about the public services?

This election will be about Leadership. The Shinners have that in abundance. The story of the peace process is evidence of that. How often did others give up and the Shinners persevered and found a way through? The recent agreement at Hillsborough is a clear example of this. So Sinn Féin has the leadership, the right ideas, the right policies and the right political strategy for the future.

I have been convinced for a very long time that the institutions are
popular and that people want them to work. So, May 6th is the electorate’s opportunity to make a judgement on these. This may be a Westminster election. But all politics are local. And it’s what happens here that’s important.

See you all on the campaign trail!

Easter in Belfast

A beautiful Easter Sunday morning here in Belfast. Bright brittle spring sunshine.

Mass first and a good decent priest doing his best to make sense of Church scandals. A time for reflection.

Then a quick visit to old friends, Seando and Patricia. Seando, who is battling illness, wears his Easter Lily with pride and poses for photographs with his clan.

Other clans were assembled also. The families of our patriot dead gathered for a short ceremony hosted by the National Graves Association. It was a moving and poignant event. The Graves do great work. I don’t often get to be in Belfast at Easter so this was a special event for me.

Then a bigger than usual Easter parade up the Falls Road to the Republican Plot at Milltown. This blog was this years’ speaker. I am posting my remarks below mar eolas daoibhse. Have a good Easter wherever you are.













Peace; Equality; Jobs and Unity

A chairde,

Tá mé lán sásta seasamh anseo libh inniu ar Domhnach na Cásca seo le smaoineadh ar ár gcomrádaithe a chuaigh romhainn agus a caint faoi an todhcaí.

Is cuimhin linn an méid a thug ár laochrai cróga ar son saoirse na tire seo, an méid a chaill siad.

Cuidíonn seo linn nuair a bhíonn fadhbanna againn nó nuair a bhíonn muid traochta.

I want to welcome you all here today.

Easter Sunday is a special day. Especially here in Belfast.

It is a day to remember, to honour, and to celebrate all those republicans of our generation and other generations who gave their lives in the struggle for Irish freedom and justice.

Belfast republicans are proud of our patriot dead; we are proud of their families; we are proud of our struggle and we are proud of our history.

Belfast is where the United Irish men and women committed to ending the connection with Britain.

This is the city where James Connolly organised the working men and women, and particularly the women against sweat shop exploitation.

In 1916 he went from the Falls Road to join with the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Citizen Army, Cumann na mBan and Na Fianna to take on the might of the British Empire.

This is the city where Sean MacDiarmada joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood.

This is the city where Countess Markievicz founded Na Fianna hÉireann.

This is the city visited often by Padraig Pearse and the leaders of the 1916 Rising as they worked with County Antrim gaeilgeoirí and home rulers before going on to become republicans.

This is the city of Maire Drumm and of other brave Sinn Féin activists.

The city of Mairead Farrell and Dorothy Maguire and all the other patriotic women of our time.

Sa chathair seo a lásadh splanc na saoirse. Tá sé beo, briomhar ann go foill.

This is the city of Bobby Sands and Joe McDonnell and Ciaran Doherty and all their brave freedom fighting comrades of the Irish Republican Army.

We honour them all.

In particular we honour those who lie in these republican plots and in this cemetery.

They are not just heroes and heroines. They are our friends, our comrades, our neighbours, our family members.

Like the men and women of 1916 they knew the dangers they faced; the military capacity of the British state, and the subservience of sections of the Irish political establishment and media.

But they were determined to bring about change.

To end centuries of British involvement in Ireland and to construct a republic in which citizens would be treated fairly and equitably.

That goal is not yet achieved.

Ireland is still partitioned. Economic recession north and south means that nearly half a million citizens are out of work.

But the Irish government, as we saw again this week, continues to bail out its friends and cronies in the banking system and the golden circle of property developers and speculators.

NAMA gets precedence over citizens while our public services are slashed and poverty and emigration increases.

There is no more urgent time than this to promote our republican politics of equality and respect and dignity.

Tá muintir na fiche sé chontae feargach, tuigeann muid sin.

Tá muid feargach fosta mar is pháirthí muidinne a bhfuil lonnaithe I measc na ndaoine, sna phobail ar fud na tire seo.

There is no better time to be demanding that citizens have the right to a home; to a safe environment; to good quality education and health care; and to a job.

There is no better time than this to campaign for a united
Ireland.

Republican Belfast and this generation of Irish republicans is stronger, more experienced and better supported than at any other time in the history of our city.

And Irish reunification and republican politics have never been more clearly in demand to advance and defend peoples’ rights.

I believed that when I joined the Republican struggle in the 1960s.

I believe it today.

Over 40 years ago, in the summer of 1969, progressive citizens of Belfast made a stand against the Orange state and in support of the beleaguered people of Derry. I was there.

I was also in Ballymurphy in 1970 when citizens there engaged in one of the first acts of mass resistance since partition.

And in all the time since then many ordinary people made extraordinary sacrifices and displayed great courage in pursuit of freedom and justice and Irish unity.

I am proud to have been part of all that.

During this phase of the struggle some of us had to leave our families and homes, go on the run, adapt many ruses, go under false names.

We relied totally on the support of the people to protect us.

And we, in turn, protected the people as best we could.

We did not divulge their names, their roles, their actions.

That is still my position. That was the bond of comradeship and loyalty which was forged between us.

And let no one think that I will bend to the demands of anti-republican elements or their allies in a hostile section of the media on this issue.

I am also very conscious of the human cost of the war and the great hurt inflicted by republicans.

I have acknowledged this and my regret for this many times. And I do so again today.

There are victims and citizens who want to know the truth about what happened to loved ones during the conflict.

That is their right. I cannot demand truth for victims of British terrorism, collusion or unionist error without supporting the same right for victims of republican actions.

That is why Sinn Féin supports the establishment of an effective
independent and international truth recovery process.

I certainly would be prepared to be part of such a process and I would encourage others to participate.

I am glad the war is over.

Any post conflict phase – any transition is bound to be difficult.

For all survivors, victims, former combatants.

The war should never be glamourised or repeated.

But neither should the republican involvement in it – the Army’s involvement, the involvement our patriot dead – be permitted by us to be criminalised or retrospectively delegitimised.

This is bigger than me. This is about us as a republican community, especially in this city of Belfast.

This is about our integrity and the just nature of our cause.

That is why the Irish Republican Army – Oglaigh na hEireann- was known as the peoples army.

I am proud of that Army and my association with it.

I am not a militarist and I never have been but without the IRA the nationalist people of this state would still be on our knees.

We would still be second class citizens.

So bear in mind that this relentless campaign against me is not really about me at all. It’s about trying to defeat the struggle.

Tá muid cleachtaithe leis na h’ionsaithe seo. Níl rud nua é. Ach I gcónai seas muid an fhód na cúise le chéile.

During the war the might of British militarism and its unionist allies in the death squads could not defeat the republican people of this city.

The millions spent on black propaganda, the lies and smears and
disinformation and the efforts to criminalise our struggle all failed.

Republicans stayed focussed and strong and united.

We stuck with our republican principles.

We perservered. We strategised and planned.

And the peoples army – the IRA - was an undefeated army when it took brave decisions to support the Sinn Féin peace strategy and to create the present opportunities for a new future.

This society, the citizens of this island would not be in the new place, a better place particularly here in the North, but for the dedication and determination of republicans.

So this campaign against me, against us, by the Irish News and Sunday Times, Tribune and others is not new.

They did it during the hunger strikes; they did when I first stood for
election and in every election since; they did when I was involved in talks with John Hume; they did it constantly throughout the negotiations and the peace process.

It is about stopping our development.

So our immediate focus as republican activists is to mobilise and win the biggest republican vote in the Westminster election next month.

Building political strength and winning more and more people over to Irish republicanism is the best way to ensure the full implementation of the Good Friday and St. Andrews Agreement and in particular of their all-Ireland elements.

The key to this is leadership.

And Sinn Fein has a tried, experienced and trusted leadership. In early March we demonstrated that by concluding an agreement at Hillsborough with the DUP.

We did this by making the two governments and the DUP face up to their political responsibilities.

Under this Agreement powers on policing and justice will be transferred next week.

There will also be the transfer of powers from London to Belfast to deal with the issue of parades.

More powers moving from England to Ireland.

Irish language rights will also be delivered on and there is additional funding for the language.

Tá níos mó le déanamh againn ach tá Sinn Féin go h’iomlán dírithe cearta na nGael a chuir chun tosaigh in achan rud a dhéanann muid.

This Agreement is a staging post.

More change is necessary but it is proof that change is possible and that the process is ongoing.

And that change is also evident every day in the efforts of our activists across this island to get investment in public services, in education and roads and rural communities.

In our defence of the elderly, our efforts to secure jobs, and houses and environmental improvements and much more.

Sinn Féin is doing all this by standing up to the governments.

By standing up for the rights of citizens.

And by making clear to the unionist parties that while we are a partner in government we are no push over.

We want to work with unionists.

This party is more active on grassroots issues in working class unionist areas of this city than at any time in my lifetime.

We take seriously our republican heritage which embraces the radical Presbyterian tradition of the United Irish Society.

And we are serious also about wanting to make friends with unionists based on tolerance, respect and equality.

This great, proud party believes that a free, independent and United Ireland makes political and economic sense.

We have embarked on a national and international campaign to bring this about.

We determined and resolute and confident of success.

This years Ard Fheis cleared the way for everyone who wants to, to join Sinn Féin on your own terms.

So I am appealing to everyone here to become a Shinner and to take a stand for freedom, peace and justice.

Join Sinn Féin and build a new Ireland, an Ireland the signatories of 1916 and those republicans we remember today, would be proud of.

Join with us in the fight for jobs, for peace, for equality, for unity.

Join with us we make peace with former enemies, and as we seek to achieve our primary goal of Irish unity and freedom.

And finally my friends let us send a message of solidarity to the people of Gaza.

Let us send a message to the Israeli government.

Stop the war against Palestine. Build the peace.

Bígí linn.

THE STRUGGLE GOES ON.

Visteon workers in Parliament Buildings along with myself, Sue Ramsay MLA, Jennifer McCann MLA, Paul Maskey MLA, Paul Butler MLA and Basil McCrea MLA


Two matters to blog about this Good Friday. The death of an old friend and the celebration of a workers protest. A year ago workers in the Visteon plant in west Belfast occupied the factory after the management announced its closure. The shutting of the factory was a devastating blow. It was compounded by the shenanigans of Visteon and Ford in trying to strip away pension rights from workers.

The community of west Belfast rallied to the workers side and their courageous action emboldened their colleagues in two other plants in Britain. Six weeks after they began their occupation the workers marched out of the plant united and proud. They had secured from the Visteon Corporation a compensation package, which while not as fair as it should have been was much, much better than Visteon intended it to be.

This Wednesday Visteon workers held a demonstration in London and this blog hosted an event in Parliament Buildings, to mark the first anniversary of the occupation. Former workers and trade union officials came along and watched a ten minute slide show of last years sit in. This blog and union leaders, including Jimmy Kelly, the Unite regional organiser and John Maguire; Brian Burns and Charlie Maxwell spoke.

Basil McCrea of the Ulster Unionist Party and Jeffrey Donaldson of the DUP also addressed the event.

It all passed off well and the former workers enjoyed their brief visit to Parliament Buildings. But the campaign for justice for Visteon workers, and the effort to uncover the full facts surrounding the decisions taken by the company last year, are far from over.

Many facts are now well established. It is known that some of the core products manufactured in Belfast were deliberately rerouted to other locations; that a manufacturing plant in South Africa was built from nothing and began production on Belfast-developed ed parts; and that millions of pounds of assets were transferred out of pension funds by Visteon management.

This blog has been in on going contact with the Pensions Regulator. Its investigation is continuing.

I have also pressed British PM Gordon Brown to ensure that companies cannot take public money; reinvest it somewhere else; transfer assets and pensions; swap management into safe jobs; and then axe workers and their livelihoods.

So the campaign goes on. The workers spirit is unbroken. One year on, the Ford / Visteon scandal has become a badge of shame for the management. It has become a medal of honour for the workers. This blog is very proud of the campaign medal that was made in the plant and given to me by the workers. Happy Easter to them all and to their families.
















Dan and Nellie McCaughley

SLIABH NA MBAN.

Nellie McCaughley was 85 when she died earlier this week. She was a proud republican for all of her teenage and adult life. She was also the mother of Big Eamonn who used to accompany me on my journeys around Ireland and beyond. Eamonn is married to my sister Anne. So I have known Nellie and her family for much of my adult life and was pleased to be asked to say a few words at the graveside on Holy Thursday

She was born Nelly Lidster shortly after partition in January 1925 and lived in Bombay Street in the Clonard area of Belfast. Nellie was in the Cumann na gCaliní and at the young age of 16 she joined the Cumann na mBan. She was involved with other well known republican figures of the time; women like Bridget Hannon; Madge McConville; Greta Nolan, and men like Joe Cahill and Tom Williams, jimmy Steele.

Tom was two years older than Nellie and a neighbour in Bombay Street. Nellie was one of those who helped organise the campaign to save Tom from hanging after his arrest at Easter 1942 with five other comrades for killing a member of the RUC. The campaign failed and Tom was hanged.

Nelly’s dedication to the cause of republican prisoners saw her collecting funds for prisoners and their families in the 1940’s and throughout all the subsequent decades. She was also part of all of the campaigns in support of prisoners rights, including the Armagh and H Block hunger strikers in 1980 and 81.

She visited the prisoners in the 40s. In the 1950’s when her husband Dan was interned and later in the 70’s and 80’s when her own children Eamonn and Briege Anne were in Long Kesh and Armagh.

In the 1950’s she was OC of the Cumann na mBan in Belfast and was active in Sinn Féin. She worked closely with Maire Drumm and others during that period. With the outbreak of conflict, following the pogroms in 1969 which saw her mother burned out of her home in Bombay Street, Nelly was as active as ever visiting the prisoners, raising money and being active in the street politics of the time. She was an enthusiastic member of the bin lid brigade whose early warnings of British troops in the area saved more than one republican from arrest. She was also out with other local women in hen patrols harassing Brit Army patrols.

She attended marches and rallies, was a member of the Relatives Action Committee and a regular visitor to Bodenstown where she proudly joined with other women in marching in her Cumann na mBan uniform. She active in every West Belfast election campaign since then, leafleting, canvassing and acting as a polling clerk.

Nelly loved her family. With Dan she had six children; Eamonn mór, Maura, Fionnuala, Donal, Briege Anne and Ciaran. She loved singing, ceilí dancing and camogie. My condolences to them all, especially Dan and the grand children and great grand children. Nellie was also a great cook and a wonderful baker. Until about two years ago she presented me with a lovely fruit cake every Christmas.

She made a huge difference in the lives of many, many people, especially of prisoners. This struggle has been blessed by having many brave and courageous people. Especially the unsung heroes. Our patriotic women. Go ndeanfaidh Dia Trocaire ar anam Nellie McCaughley.