Slán Peter John

Sinn Féin MP Conor Murphy, Fergal Caraher’s parents, Mary and Peter John, and Sinn Féin Councillors Brendan Curran and Colman Burns at the memorial in South Armagh dedicated to Fergal Caraher

It was a fine autumn morning. The South Armagh hilltops, free of British Army forts, were beautiful in the bright morning light as we drove north from Dublin to Cullyhanna to attend the funeral of Peter John Caraher.

This blog has known Peter John and the Caraher family for many years. A few weeks ago his son Miceál contacted me to let me know that Peter John was terminally ill. I told him I would call. It was just before the Ard Fheis.

Miceál explained to me that Peter John had been told he only had a few weeks left but had forgotten this and I needed to be mindful of that in my conversation.

I was therefore a wee bit apprehensive about the visit but I called and I came away uplifted and very happy.

Peter John was in great form. We spent a couple of hours craicing away, telling yarns and in his case engaging in a little bit of loose. As I left there were 40 people crowded into the kitchen and Peter John followed me out and left me to the door. I think that this was his way of saying slán in his own quiet country gentleman’s way.

In my view Peter John hadn’t forgotten how ill he was. Like the kind, loving husband and father he is he didn’t want it to be sore on his family.

Peter John died on Monday morning. The family had asked if I would do the oration and I was pleased to have been asked.

So, this morning I headed to Cullyhanna to join with Peter John’s family and friends and neighbours to say slán abhaile to one of the unsung heroes of the republican struggle.




Below is an edited version of my remarks:

I want friends and comrades to welcome all of you here today to Peter John’s graveside and on your behalf to extend our solidarity to Mary, to Peter John and Mary’s daughters, Maria, Therese and Joanne and their sons, Francis, John, Miceál, Phelim, and Cahal, to Peter John’s surviving siblings, his 19 grandchildren and the wider Caraher family, and to Peter John’s friends and neighbours.

I’m sure that many of you have your own stories, your own tales to tell of his humour.

He was a giant in our struggle. He was like a very, very tall tree in very turbulent times in the centre of his own family and the republican community.

He was a quiet big man who held his republicanism close to his heart and who gave 100% in pursuit of the Irish unity and freedom.

He was a very proud Armagh man and a very proud south Armagh man. He was born not far from here on the 9th of May, 1928 on Creenkill Hill, Crossmaglen. He was the eldest of 7 children - 4 boys and 3 girls to John and Catherine Caraher.

His was also a republican family. His father was a member of the 4th Northern Division. Peter John was fiercely proud of this. His father was imprisoned in Newbridge, Co. Kildare in the 1920's. He escaped and was recaptured and received such a severe beating that he died at the early age of 44 leaving Peter John as head of the household at the age of 14.

Peter John went to Kildare to work as a bricklayer and when his brother Francie contracted polio he returned home to help with the farm. Another brother Owen was imprisoned in 1959 during the 50s campaign and Francie died in 2005 at the age of 73,a volunteer of Oglaigh na hÉireann.

Peter John married Mary Carragher on the 4th September 1962 and they had a family of 9 children. And like his father before him Peter John was a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army.

South Armagh in those days was part of the Orange state oppressed and under British military occupation and was a very proud republican heartland. Peter John was rightly proud of the actions of the volunteer soldiers of the IRA.

In the early years of the conflict he was adjutant to Michael McVerry of Culllyhanna, a volunteer who was killed in action while carrying out an attack on Keady Barracks in 1973. Mickey McVerry and Peter John were firm friends and his death had a huge impact on him. There was never a day went by that he didn't speak of or refer to him.

The flag on Peter John's coffin today is the same one that was draped on Mickey McVerry's coffin.

In the aftermath of McVerry's death Peter John took on the role of OC and promised that Mickey’s memory would live on in Cullyhanna. He instigated the building of the monument to his comrade and friend which was opened a year to the day after his death.

Peter John and his other good friend Tom Rooney were founder members of the Cullyhanna band and even though he was approaching 80 years of age he acted as foreman at the building of the band hall.

With the support of his wife Mary he devoted his entire life to the Republican cause and his whole family suffered house raids, arrests, imprisonment and harassment by British Crown Forces.

He was very keen always that people should recognise the central role played by Mary. Not in a supporting role only but in her own right as an indomitable Irish republican woman and a sound patriot. And Peter John always valued her opinion and her advice.

The family suffered a great hurt when in December 1990 Fergal and Miceál were the victim of a shoot to kill action by the British Army. Fergal was killed and Miceál was severely wounded. Peter John refused to be daunted by this huge personal loss.

At Fergal’s graveside, Peter John spoke about the need to hold a public inquiry – that the RUC and British system could not be trusted in any investigation. And in June 1991, just six months after the shooting, with the help of the Irish National Congress, a two-day public inquiry into the murder of Fergal and the wounding of Míceál was held.

People from all over this district and South Armagh and beyond came to assist in the quest for the truth and organised a truly historic event in the local Community Centre. Michael Mansfield QC chaired the proceedings and there was a panel of jurists from America, Germany and France.

The inquiry was recorded and relayed to the crowd that overspilled to a marquee and a reconstruction of the shooting took place on the Tullinaval Road. It was an amazing achievement for such a historic event to be organised by the local community and was a huge source of comfort and pride for the Caraher family.

After careful examination of the events and of witnesses to the shooting on December 30th 1990, they found that there was excess use of lethal force on the day and that:
‘There are sufficient grounds to indict or charge with murder those soldiers who unreasonably fired their weapons with intent to kill Fergal and Miceál Caraher.’

The experience of the Caraher family is not unlike that of the Finucane family this week. Pat was killed by loyalists acting for the British state and in order to cover up that fact the British government told the Finucane family that there would be no inquiry, as agreed at Weston Park 10 years ago, into his murder.

Geraldine Finucane has made it clear that her family will not be daunted.

And Peter John was not daunted by the release of the soldiers who killed their son.

He understood the real nature of the British government’s involvement in Ireland. He also knew that there were hundreds of families, just like his, who were victim of British violence or collusion between British forces and loyalists, and who needed help. He and his family along with others, helped establish the Relatives for Justice Group.

Peter John was involved in the Pioneer Society and in the Lourdes Committee, having gone there for over 25 years to help the sick. He was Honorary President of Cullyhanna GFC and foremost in this community he was an authority figure and a huge influence on the republican struggle.

He took a keen interest in Prisoner Welfare and their families and was a member of South Armagh Green Cross from it's foundation. He was also a founder member of the Michael McVerry Cumann and was very keen on promoting the Irish Language.

Peter John was his own man. He took his own counsel. He was totally unselfish in his commitment. If you want a role model for our time than Peter John is that role model. He personified all that is sound about our struggle.

He was never a war monger, but he had a justifiable sense of pride in his republican comrades, especially here in South Armagh, to take on and fight the British Army to a standstill.

And he understood the need to build Sinn Féin as the vehicle of republican struggle.
So it’s a very, very sad day. There is a lot to reflect on and to be proud of. Peter John lived long enough to see Sinn Féin and republicanism grow. And he was a very central and positive part of that growth.

He also lived long enough to see his family grow. To enjoy his grandchildren, to be with his bellowed Mary in good times and bad.

He’s now with his IRA volunteer father and his IRA volunteer son.

But Peter John’s spirit lives on in the lives of his clan and the onward progress of the struggle which he helped shape.

A last word to the 19 grandchildren.

There are 19 grandchildren so far. To the 19 grandchildren you have a grandfather, a dadó to be proud of and you have a mamó to be proud of. Mind your granny.

Slan Peter John, slan abhaile.

Remembering Rev Fred Shuttlesworth

Mark Guilfoyle, mise agus Rev Fred Shuttlesworth

This blog has had the good fortune to meet many inspirational people over the years, in all parts of Ireland, in the Irish diaspora and beyond.

Often they are very ordinary men and women who despite very real dangers have been prepared to make a stand against injustice and to defend the rights of others.

Some walked the roads and streets and lanes of the north in pursuit of civil rights.

Some confronted and challenged the riot clad brutality of the RUC and British Army and the death squads of loyalism and the British state. And some refused to accept the status of criminal in prisons in Ireland and England.

In all sorts of little and big ways they and others stood tall for what is right. Most are anonymous citizens. Quietly and with dignity and courage, getting on with playing their part. Some, like Bobby Sands, Mairead Farrell and Maire Drumm, and many others took up leadership positions. They are remembered and are role models.

So it is in other struggles. They too have their role models. People like Mandela and Martin Luther King and Steve Biko and many more.

One such was Baptist Minister the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth who died last Wednesday aged 89. This blog met Fred in March 2002. I was in the USA for the St. Patricks week celebrations and had been asked to speak at the Cathedral in Covington, Kentucky. A good friend Mark Guilfoyle was instrumental in organising the event.



It was packed. I spoke from the altar and so too did Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth. In the USA Martin Luther King, Rev Ralph Abernathy and Rev Fred Shuttlesworth are still regarded by many as the head, heart and soul respectively of the civil rights struggle in that country in the 1950s and 60s.

At the end of our event in the Cathedral we were in a back room and I was formally introduced to Fred. He was seated in front of a church kneeler. I went over and set on the kneeler and spoke to one of the heroes of the American Civil Rights struggle. He was a quietly spoken man.

Fred was imprisoned countless times, his home was bombed and on at least 8 separate occasions he was close to death.

He was a fearless leader and pioneer of the civil rights movement. He had grown up in rural Alabama, and worked as a labourer and a truck driver. He eventually graduated from a black college in Selma and became a preacher. One newspaper report tells how ‘a friendly college professor gave him a cow. Once he had given some milk to the college, the balance went to feed Shuttlesworth's family.’

He moved to Birmingham Alabama which was at the centre of the struggle against segregation. In the 1950s dozens of homes and churches in the area were attacked. The white police force didn’t care. The KKK (Klu Klux Klan) dominated.

The City was starkly divided. Every aspect of life was segregated – the schools, the buses, the restaurants, the parks and including the waiting room in the train station.

Rev. Shuttlesworth and his wife bought tickets and took their seats in the white section. Like Rosa Parkes who refused to sit at the back of the bus, this was a brave and courageous act. It gave huge encouragement to others.

The response from the white supremacists to the Shuttleworth’s defiance of segregation was to attack Fred and his family. They detonated 16 sticks of dynamite at his home one Christmas day. He described what happened: ‘The floor beneath me was gone, but underneath me was my mattress. I knew God was there. And I felt more peaceful in that moment than I ever have in my entire life.’

Interviewed years later for a documentary, ‘Eyes on the Prize’ he recalled.
‘Instead of running away from the blast, running away from the Klansman, I said to the Klansman police that came – he said, “Reverend, if I were you I would get out of town fast”. I said, ‘Officer you’re not me. You go back and tell your Klan brethren that if God could keep me through this, then I’m here for the duration.’

On another occasion in September 1957 he tried to enrol his daughters in the all white Phillips High School. There was a white mob outside and they attacked him.

Remembering that event he later said: ‘They really thought if they killed me – the Klansmen did – that the movement would stop, because I remember they were saying, “This is the leader. Let’s get the SOB; if we killed him it will all be over.’

Rev. Shuttlesworth was beaten about the head and body with logging chains and whipped. He recalled that the doctor was amazed that his injuries weren’t much worse. ‘I said, “Well doctor, the Lord knew I lived in a hard town, so he gave me a hard head”.’

There can be no doubt that his actions in Birmingham helped create the conditions for the 1964 Civil Rights Act. He also played a key role in the famous march from Birmingham to Selma – that later inspired the Belfast to Derry civil rights march in 1969 – which led to the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

This blog was very pleased to have had the opportunity to meet and speak to Rev. Shuttlesworth. It was men and women like him and Rosa Parkes - who I was also proud to meet- who inspired many in the civil rights movement in Ireland.

We are indebted to their vision and courage and selflessness. The world is a better place for the stand they took.

And in these times of economic difficulty and opportunity for change in our own society let’s remember Fred’s words: ‘Do tomorrow what we did today, and do it the next day, and then the next day we won’t have to do it all.’

Kids are Great

Kids are the same everywhere. They are great craic. I remember visiting Phola Park, a vast squatter camp not far from Soweto in South Africa in the summer of 1995. The conditions were appalling. Families were living in one room structures made from pieces of battered corrugated tin held together with bits of wire and rope.

There was an overwhelming sense of great poverty. Very few had employment of any kind. Health care was basic. There was one water tap and a row of outside latrines. And it was all covered in dust.

But the people had a huge sense of pride in their contribution to the end of apartheid and the election the previous year of Madiba (Mandela), as President of a new free South Africa.

Their living conditions might have been primitive but their hearts were huge and the welcome they gave our small delegation of Shinners was mighty.

They danced and sang and their voices soared in exuberance over the barren landscape around them.

There were kids everywhere. Hundreds running around. They were enthusiastic participants in the songs and dances. They leaped through the air, jumping and gyrating. Most had no shoes or socks and wore old battered jumpers and frayed shorts.

They were curious too.

‘Who are you?’

‘Where are you from?’

‘Ireland? Where’s that?’

Robert McBride our host and guide, who had spent years on death row in an apartheid prison, told us of the ANC’s hopes for the future – new housing, schools and jobs.
He and his comrades were focussed on building a better future for the people of Phola Park and Soweto.

The energy and sense of hope and joy of young people is infectious, whether in South Africa, or west Belfast or Gaza or Dundalk.

Last Monday night that sense of excitement was evident in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dundalk.

RTE was broadcasting the second in a series of programmes entitled ‘The Secret Millionaire’. John Fitzpatrick is a New York based hotelier who was dropped off in Dundalk by the program makers – a place he had never been in before.

His objective was to identify individuals or groups he would give money to, to sustain or enhance their quality of life and project. They had all been told he was a native Irishman returning home to do a documentary on how communities here are responding to the economic crisis.

Last Monday night John hired a large room in the Crowne Plaza. It was packed to overflowing with many of those he had met during his time filming in the county Louth town. He had invited them to come and watch RTE broadcast the programme on a big screen.

And again it was the young people who shone through. They had no inhibitions. Despite living in some of the most disadvantaged social housing estates in the state these young people were bursting with energy. They laughed and joked and slagged each other and John. When someone they knew appeared on screen a huge shout of recognition went up.

In all John handed out almost €40,000 to local projects. Craobh Rua is a Doolargy based youth group which provides after schools activities and homework clubs and works hard to ensure that children stay in education. One young lad, Joel Maguire so impressed John with his singing that he has arranged for him to have singing lessons and he later brought Joel and his mother to Dublin for the Rhianna concert.

The Cuidigh Linn group is based in Muirhevnamor. It provides maintenance workers for elderly people who for a token fee will carry out repairs and decoration work on homes and gardens. The €15,000 John gave this group went toward buying a van. The O Hanlon Park Boxing club received €2,000 with which they were able to buy new kit, including head gear and sparring gloves. The club caters for over 80 ranging in age from 7 to 70.

The programme didn’t shy away from the anti-social and poor housing and health problems of people living in Cox’s Demesne and Muirhevnamor estates.
But what came through was the integrity, humanity and compassion of the mainly voluntary workers who help the young, the disabled and the elderly. I include John Fitzpatrick in this excellent company.

What was also evidence is the very positive effect of relatively small amounts of money when this money is invested in disadvantaged communities. Citizens working at the coal face know how to get value for every cent to improve the lives of our youth, elderly and disabled neighbours.

Secret Millionaire was an inspiring story made all the more relevant and moving because none of those taking part knew what the underlying purpose of the film was.

This blog has had the opportunity to travel to all parts of this island. Everywhere I go I am amazed and humbled and very proud of the numbers of people, whether in the GAA or Conradh na Gaeilge or in the community and voluntary sector, who freely give of their time to help others. Well done to all who took part in ‘The Secret Millionaire’.

The Clinton Global Initiative

Bill Clinton’s pulling power has not been diminished by his years out of office. If anything he is more popular today in the USA that when he was President.

The Clinton Global Initiative is his event. It is branded with the Clinton name and it reflects his values and ethos and politics, especially in seeking to help disadvantaged people and communities around the globe.

The CGI is held each year to coincide with the full meeting of the UN General Assembly. Consequently, it is a magnet for current and former Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers and Presidents and political leaders, who arrive in New York wanting to network with others and happy to share a high profile platform to talk on the major issues of the day.

This is my seventh year at the CGI. When former President Clinton established it in 2005 he invited this blog to be a member. I was happy to join and to travel there each year to participate in the discussions and to listen and learn from others.

The CGI is an innovative project which brings together political and economic leaders to devise and implement solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges, including poverty, climate change, inequality, and job creation.

Since 2005 the CGI has succeeded in improving the lives of over 300 million people in more than 180 countries through commitments valued in excess of $63 billion. This year another 6 billion dollars in commitments were made at the conference.

And it is this that marks the CGI out as different from other international conferences at which notable guests speak about issues of immediate concern. At the CGI participants are expected to make a commitment to action – that will see money, technical and human resources and enthusiasm and energy invested into a time limited specific project which has a definite outcome.

This can be the creation of jobs, the delivery of health services, the provision of water or telecommunications or education or skills training or a multitude of other outcomes.

This year’s CGI had three main topics. Jobs, sustainable consumption, and Girls and Women. A big part of the three day event focused on climate change and the danger it presents, for example to low lying areas as a result of rising sea levels.

The Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasine, warned that this threatened one fifth of her country, which is one of the poorest in the world and that this would displace over 30 million people. Another example cited was the Maldives islands in the Indian Ocean which some predicted might not exist in 30 or 40 years.

It is quite clear that the failure of world states to agree a legally binding agreement on carbon emissions is the source of much of the current difficulties. In addition the Kyoto Protocol on climate change will expire next year.

In two months representatives from world governments will be attending the United Nations convention on climate change in Durban, South Africa. It is vital that new rules are agreed that are legally binding and that they are monitored.

Rising sea levels also threaten parts of this island. It is a danger that must be taken seriously and action taken to minimise any dangers. The Irish government needs to go to Durban with a clear strategy to propose and support ideas which can tackle climate change.

Day one of the CGI also saw former Irish President Mary Robinson along with Archbishop Tutu of South Africa, announce their specific commitment to undertake a global partnership to end child marriage. The campaign is entitled ‘Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage’.

It is estimated that in poor countries, a third of all girls are married by 18 and that this forces them out of school and exposes them to abuse. Mrs Robinson and her colleagues are committed to ending this practice in a generation.

Day three of the conference saw a return to this issue when both the plenary sessions and the workshops and smaller discussions focussed on the problems faced by women and girls. Business participants recounted their experience of having to negotiate through the cultural barriers to persuade fathers and tribal elders allow women and girls take up paid positions or set up small businesses which could then support them and their families.

One speaker detailed the back breaking work that women and girls in sub Sahara Africa undertake collecting water. Many walk for 10 miles a day over the most difficult terrain and in high temperatures carrying up to 20 kg of water on their heads.

This has an adverse impact on their health leading to arthritic diseases, miscarriages and back and chest pains. Women and girls who travel from their home also face grave risk of rape and assault.

Piping clean water to villages can reduce the threat and provide women and girls with the time to engage in education and other training programmes that can economically benefit both them and their communities.

The plight of 12 million people in Somalia, who are currently experiencing famine and drought, was also highlighted during the conference by Somali born poet and rapper K'naan. He had recently been to Somalia to see for himself the conditions in the camps and he brought back film of the scale of the problem which was shown at the CGI.

In two weeks President Clinton will be in Dublin to attend an economic conference organised by the Irish government. This blog will be there as well. It will be interesting to see how his belief in growing the economic rather than austerity measures will go down with an Irish government that is committed to cuts.

Honouring Irish America’s labour legacy

Joseph Smyth, mise and Terry O Sullivan


The first thing you notice when you get out of the car at the South Street Seaport in New York are the massive sailing ships. The Peking, built in 1911, with its four enormous masts and rigging is an impressive sight and dominates the landscape. And there are other sailing ships dating from even earlier times. The South Street Seaport sits on the site of the original port of New York and part of it is Pier 17.

That was my destination last Wednesday evening. Me and your man were on our way to Harbour Lights, a restaurant, where the Irish Echo was holding an event to honour Irish America’s labour legacy – Irish Labour 50.

The Pier is now a tourist centre and part of a designated historic area which includes a Museum, exhibition galleries, a working 19th-century print shop, an archeology museum, a maritime library, and much more, including a small fleet of privately owned sailing ships.

Harbour Lights looks out over the East river and at night is lit by the lights of the Brooklyn Bridge.

The contribution of the Irish in America to the labour movement has been significant and the Irish Echo event was recognition of this. It was an opportunity to pay tribute to current labour leaders and activists, and for me to say thank them for their ongoing contribution to the peace process.



Kathleen Curtain from the Kingdom

The restaurant was packed to overflowing. Your man complained that he could not get a seat. I ignored him and went off to talk to Kathleen Curtain an old friend from Kerry who was amazingly magnanimous about Dublin’s victory over the Kingdom. I was also delighted to see Marian and Patti Reynolds. Great people all.

In my remarks I took the opportunity to extend warm greetings from Martin McGuinness and to assure the audience of his and Sinn Féin’s commitment to secure the right to vote in future Presidential elections for Irish citizens in the north and those living abroad.

The Irish involvement with the labour movement in the USA goes back over a 150 years. The period during and after the great hunger saw a huge influx of Irish and this gave a boost to efforts to organise working people.

Those Irish built the roads and canals, the sewers and the railroads, the buildings and the mines – the infrastructure of this vast new emerging United States of America. It was a hugely difficult time. Poverty and hardship were the common experience of millions of Irish. There was significant discrimination and I recalled a sign given to me some years ago which dates from that dark period and which declares, ‘No Irish Need Apply’.

Irish workers were not the only workers to face the challenges of exploitation and adversity. It was a time when workers had no rights. They were hired and fired by employers, who often had the power of life or death as witnessed in the oppression of the Molly Maguires.

The children of workers had no childhood and no future. They too worked from a young age. The great American writer Jack London described a child worker; ‘He did not walk like a man. He did not look like a man. He was a travesty of the human. It was a twisted and stunted and nameless piece of life that shambled like a sickly ape, arms loose-hanging, stoop shouldered, narrow-chested, grotesque and terrible.’

Trade Unions were the means by which working people could demand improvements in working conditions and wages. And the Irish helped establish many trade unions and worked hard to make them a success.




I reminded the audience that one of our greatest leaders James Connolly was a hugely influential trade union activist in the United States, as well as in Ireland. Connolly spent 7 years of his life here and he helped found and organise the ‘Independent Workers of the World’ and campaigned tirelessly for workers rights. He understood the importance of workers standing together, united against injustice and oppression.

And he articulated the connection between British colonialism and sectarianism in Ireland, and the importance of workers taking a stand against the British presence. He famously wrote: ‘The cause of Labour is the cause of Ireland; the cause of Ireland is the cause of Labour.’

He was prepared to put his life on the line in pursuit of his beliefs and in 1916 he was executed by the British for helping to lead the Easter Rising. But his death did not stop his ideas from taking root.

The Proclamation, which Connolly played a key role in writing, reflects his beliefs. It is a freedom charter. It guarantees religious and civil liberty and is avowedly anti-sectarian. It promotes equal rights and equal opportunities for all citizens. And at a time when women in most countries did not have the vote, the government of this new Republic was to be elected by the suffrages of all her men and women. The Proclamation is a declaration of social and economic intent for a rights based society in which the people are sovereign.

It is, as this blog has said many times, for Irish republicans today our mission statement for the 21st century.

There were also among the audience Labour leaders who have stood shoulder to shoulder with us in the peace process in Ireland. Their role and that of Irish America and especially of the Trade Unions, has been hugely influential and invaluable.

The fact is that there would be no peace process at this time in Ireland if the trade union movement had not been part of the Irish American lobby, which in the early 1990’s created the possibility of cessations and negotiations and agreements.
However, the great historic challenge facing the people of Ireland has yet to be resolved – British involvement in our country and the reunification of Ireland.

Uniting Ireland makes economic sense; it makes political sense; it makes common sense. And we need Irish America to stay with us as we seek to advance toward the achievement of this goal.



Thanking Terry for his help with the Peace Process

At the end of the speeches I had the honour to make a number of presentations. One especially was for the President of LiUNA – The Labourer’s International Union of North America.

I have known Terry O Sullivan, whose family are from Kerry, for many years now. He has been a good friend and supporter of the Irish peace process.

I had to leave early to go back to another event but it was clear from the boisterous banter that the labour activists and their families were intent on having a great night.

As we left your man was complaining again. This time it was because he was leaving. There is no pleasing some people.



With John Liu New York City Comptroller

THE PEOPLES’ PRESIDENT

Martin McGuinness has been my friend for almost 40 years. He is a remarkable and gifted human being and a great leader and a patriot. It will be a great honour for me to propose Martin McGuinness to contest Presidential election on a broad, republican, citizen-centred platform. He will make an excellent President of Ireland.

Ireland is a partitioned country. The consequences of that have been deeply damaging for the people of this island.

In the north a unionist one party regime ruled and abused citizens for 50 years. Unionist repression and a society in which Catholics were treated as second class citizens led to a civil rights campaign for justice. When that was attacked by the state there followed decades of conflict.

Martin McGuinness played a huge role in bringing that conflict to an end.
The southern state was run by a conservative political and business elite whose greed and corrupt practices ultimately led to the current dire economic crisis.
As a result there is now a climate of despair and of fear. Half a million are unemployed; thousands more face losing their homes; one third of our children are going without one or more of the basic necessities of life. This includes a warm coat in winter, a bed and bedding of their own, and three meals a day. And each day brings more news of job losses. This is unacceptable.

Never was there a more important time for republican politics. Never was there a greater need for a President who can represent all that is good and vital and compassionate and caring about the Irish people.

Ireland needs a Peoples President – a President who can bring hope; who can lift spirits and reach out to and embrace all the people fo this island.

A President who has the ability to break down barriers between people and who has the acknowledged experience to work with those of opposite opinions.

Martin is an outstanding political leader. First as Minister of the Education when he began the work of transforming education in the north, and then as Deputy Fiurst Minister Martin has worked closely with unionist leaders like Ian Paisley and Peter Robinson, building a partnership power sharing government which has defied the begrudgers and is delivering for citizens.

Martin has demonstrated enormous courage and taken a strong stand against those who would seek to plunge Ireland back into war.

He has travelled widely, ably representing the people of the north on the international stage. He knows many world leaders and is recognised by then as a capable and effective leader and representative.

Martin has a deserved international reputation as a peace maker. He is a statesman who has taken huge personal and political risks in his life.

As Sinn Féin’s chief negotiator during the peace process, time and again HE demonstrated immense personal leadership and an ability to persuade others to take decisions and initiatives which many thought impossible.

There would have been no peace process without his enthusiastic encouragement.

The next seven years will be enormously challenging for the people of this island.

Ireland needs a President who has a vision of a fairer, better and more prosperous Ireland.

A President who can represent every section of our society, nationalist and unionist, urban and rural, republican and loyalist, and those from the new immigrant community.

Martin will ensure that the Aras is a welcoming place for all sections of society across this island, and in particular for those who have been marginalized.

He is uniquely placed to reach out to the Irish diaspora and to engage with it in building a new Ireland.

Martin is for a new Republic which has citizens rights at its heart. He believes totally in the core republican values of equality and fairness.

He believes in people and community and in civic virtues. He has the ability to rise above the party political and to successfully represent all of the Irish people.

I am confident that he will build on the excellent work of President McAleese and her husband Martin.

And as we enter a period of unprecedented historic anniversaries, including the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Rising, it would be especially important that we have a President who is committed to uniting Ireland and ensuring that the principles and values that are expressed in the Proclamation become a reality.

This is a time of great challenge for all the people of Ireland. We need positive but authentic leadership.

I believe that this election will give Martin the platform to continue the work which he has led in the North and in the peace process and to put it on a national footing.

If elected he will draw the average wage. He will dedicate himself to a genuine national reconciliation and the unity of our people. He will personify hope in the great genius and integrity of all the people of this island, Catholics, Protestants and Dissenters.

I would appeal, if Martin contests this election, for people to join in this campaign, including people in the North and across the diaspora who are denied a vote at this time. The campaign will give citizens the opportunity to make a stand for a better Ireland, for a united Ireland.

Remembering Friends

Todd Allen, John Fitzgerald, Tom McGinnis, Desi Macken, Gerry Adams, Larry Downes, Tom Boyan, John Kitrick

This blog has met the Irish everywhere. From Britain to Australia, from all parts of Europe, to the USA, from the Middle East to South Africa. Some have been first generation. Others have been the sons and daughters of previous generations forced from Ireland for economic and social and political reasons. Persecution, sectarianism, repression, hunger all played their part.

Among the 70 plus million in the Irish diaspora scattered around the globe there are many who take a deep interest in developments in Ireland. They seek to play a helpful role. Many times this is in small personal ways. Over recent decades they have positively contributed to the search for peace. This has been especially true of the Irish in America, Britain and Australia.

Friends of Sinn Féin in America was established in 1995. It raises funds for the party. It has done sterling work in that time. Consequently leading Shinners have travelled to all corners of the USA speaking at breakfast, brunch and dinner fundraisers and at many universities. We have addressed press conferences, met newspaper editorial boards, lobby groups and politicians at local, state and federal level, as well as the various Washington administrations under Clinton, Bush and Obama. We have also engaged with local Irish American communities and briefed them on the ongoing developments in the peace process.

In my travels around the USA I have met tens of thousands of very good, decent Irish Americans.

Frequently, in the early days of my travels I would be met at airports by Irish American police officers who would whizz me around New York and other cities, through rush hour traffic, with lights flashing and sirens blaring. I used to joke that it was for me a whole new experience of being driven round by police officers who weren’t intent on taking me to prison.

In New York the backbone of the fundraising project for FOSF is the construction industry, and the police and fire services. Others, including people who work in the financial district, the law, the pub and restaurant business, in community organisations and ordinary working men and women, have also been enormously helpful.

A frequent attender at our fundraisers was Fr. Mychal Judge, a Franciscan priest, who was well known in New York for his work among the homeless and aids victims. Mychal was chaplain to New York’s Firefighters. He was also close friend of Steven McDonald, a New York policeman now a quadriplegic, as a result of being shot. Steven is a strong opponent of violence and a firm believer in forgiveness.

Mychal and Steven both attended some of our New York events. They even travelled to Ireland and Parliament Buildings at Stormont to see the changes that their support for the peace process had helped bring about.

In 1999 I visited the Mercantile Exchange, the largest commodity futures exchange in the world, and then in the shadow of the twin towers. A group of FOSF activists, Todd, Fitzy and Tom arranged for me to see the place and watch the madness of the ‘bear pit,’ There scores of traders, buying and selling commodities, line 10 or more deep shouting at each other creating a cacophony of noise and excitement. How they understand what they were buying and selling is beyond me.

These three also organised a very successful fundraiser in the north tower of the World Trade Centre in the Windows on the World restaurant.

The restaurant was at the top of the tower, on the 107th floor. I remember looking out of the large windows. It was like being in a helicopter hovering high above New York. It was a spectacular panoramic view of New York and New Jersey, of the Hudson River, and the Statue of Liberty, and of Ellis island through which so many tens of thousands of Irish immigrants had entered the United States.

There were about 30 people there that day. Enjoying the craic, getting photos taken and talking about Ireland. Being captivated by Rita O Hare.

We also met security men and women, waiters, lift operators, and others. They were all warm decent human beings.



Mise with Tom McGinnis

Two years later the twin towers were gone and almost 3000 people were dead. Among them was Tom (McGinnis) one of the three who had organised our World Trade Centre event. Another to die was Mychal Judge. Hundreds of New York police officers and NYFD personnel died also, along with construction workers, many from Ireland.

I remember that day. Martin McGuinness and I had been meeting the Taoiseach in government buildings in Dublin. As we left the building we met US Special Envoy Richard Haas. The first reports were coming in but the detail was vague. Mark Costigan, a very good radio journalist was outside Government Buildings with the press pack. He had a new hi tech electronic gadget with a miniature TV. We heard him exclaiming and gathered around him to watch images of the planes hitting the Twin Towers.

It was like a scene from a film. Hard to take in. Then on the way north we listened on the car radio to Conor O Cleary’s eye witness account of what was happening. It was gripping and shocking and terrifying.

I immediately began to ring friends in New York trying to find out if any of those we knew were among the dead or injured. Like many others I spent several hours each day for several days doing this as the extent of the devastation and the scale of the deaths became clearer.

Two months later FOSF held its annual fundraising dinner in New York. It was agreed that the monies raised would go to help the families of the construction industry who were killed at the World Trade Centre. It was a small gesture of solidarity from Irish republicans in Ireland, and from Friends of Sinn Fein in the USA, to our friends in the construction industry who suffered grievously as a consequence of the attacks that autumn day in September 2001.

During that visit I called to a local Fire Station. The fire fighters talk with huge pride of their chaplain Mychal Judge. He had joined them in the inferno that was the Twin Towers. He died attending to them and the dead and injured. The Fire Fighters had a deep sense of gratitude to him.

There was also a deep sense of the huge courage and heroism of all those who rushed to help others caught up in the attacks in New York and Washington and the passengers of Flight 93 who confronted their hijackers.

September 11 is one of those watershed moments in human history. Its consequences are still with us today in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere.

But on this tenth anniversary our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent who died. On Sunday I thought back on all this. I also thought of the time I visited Arlington cemetery with Courtney Kennedy, Robert Kennedy’s daughter. She brought us to visit her father and her uncle’s graves.

Carved on the wall before Robert Kennedy’s grave are words he spoke in South Africa in the 1960s – visionary words in the history of that troubled land but words which speak to those who died trying to help their neighbours in the 9 /11 attacks or the 70 million Irish people throughout the world who make up our great diaspora and whose help and support we still need as we seek to advance our democratic goals of peace and unity and freedom for Ireland.

Robert Kennedy said: ‘It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope; and crossing each other from a million different centres of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.’