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SAOIRSE -- Irish Freedom
Issue number 273 | January 2010
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NATO to act as the military arm of the EU
Sinister actions of Special Branch.
Nationalist Couple in Banbridge targeted by Mi5 & Special Branch.
Statement from Republican POWs, E1 Landing, Portlaoise jail.
Cuts to minimum wage must be opposed.
Republican Prisoners Demand Right to Organise Landing.
British rule has always been resisted.
RSF give leadership to a new generation.
“Same old British boot with a willing Provo foot”.
6ú Feabhra/February 2010 
On February 6, Republican Sinn Fein Vice President Geraldine Taylor said that the agreement at Hillsborough is just a further indication of the depths that
Unionised Provisionals will go to uphold British rule in our country.
They have now added the administration of British policing and justice to their already full ‘portfolio’ in administering British rule on Irish people in the Occupied Six Counties.
We as Republicans know only too well the jackboot tactics they will employ against those who oppose British occupation and what we will have to endure in the future - history has show us what to expect.
We call on all Republicans opposed to continued British rule, be it from Westminster or Stormont, to join us in the continuing struggle for Irish unity and self-determination. Republicans especially will be under the eye of those who once opposed occupation and called for self-determination.
Our road will not be an easy road because we will have to endure British law enforced by the Provos, decided on with the Unionists. It’s the same old British boot but with a willing Provo foot.
We cannot forget the sacrifices made by the brave men and women who gave their lives and the many who endured years of imprisonment and torture, and although the signs may not be apparent at the moment this agreement will only extend the continued repression of Republican prisoners.
Geraldine Taylor concluded “be true to yourself, your principles and your country because history has never been kind to those who betrayed all three”.
5ú Feabhra/February 2010
Statement by the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton
With the fervour of political converts the Provos cannot wait to administer British Police and British Justice in Ireland.
As they don the uniforms and carry the weapons of their one-time enemy, it can be truly said that the 'poachers have become gamekeepers.'
When the new 'Broy Harriers' take to the streets under Provo direction history can be accurately said to be repeating itself.
As British rule reaches into the grass-roots in the Six Counties, British Imperialism in its updated mode seeks to make itself more acceptable. However history teaches us that it will once more be resisted.
NATO to act as the military arm of the EU
Statement by the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton
1ú Feabhra/February 2010
Comments by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the Lisbon Treaty provides a platform for deeper ties between the EU and NATO confirms one of the main arguments against the Lisbon Treaty according to the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton who in a statement said: “This bears out one of the central arguments of those who called for a rejection of Lisbon. As Republican Sinn Féin argued in both referenda held in the 26 Counties the purpose of the Lisbon Treaty was to bring the EU project to its logical next step in the construction of an undemocratic and militarised superstate
“Hillary Clinton’s comments regarding “energy security” are significant. It would appear the ground is being prepared for NATO to act as the military arm of the EU in order to fight the resource wars - forecast by the then President of the EU Commission Jacques Delors in 1992 - over what have been identified as the key resources of water, food and energy.
“The world vision set out by Hillary Clinton is one where the political and economic hegemony of the rich northern hemisphere over the poor south will be enforced by NATO.” Des Dalton said.
Sinister actions of Special Branch.
30ú Eanáir/January 2010
IN A statement on January 30, Comhairle Chúige Laighean, Sinn Féin Poblachtach criticised the actions of the Special Branch on January 30, 2010.
Republican Sinn Féin views the actions of the Special Branch at the Bloody Sunday picket in Dublin on January 30 as grossly insulting and slightly sinister.
After taking the names and addresses of several members and supporters, they proceeded to enter the GPO where they took pictures, through the window, of those on the picket. Comparing notes, they wrote down the names of those ‘in the [picture] frame’.
We object to the paid lackeys of Leinster house using a hallowed Republican building, the headquarters of the All-Ireland Republic proclaimed in 1916, to skulk in and gather information on Irish Republicans which they pass on to the British Colonial police and MI5 spymasters.
Republicans know that such people will use any underhand methods to undermine the Republican struggle. We will continue to highlight the activities of the likes of Det Kevin Doherty and Det Joe Higgins.
We say to people: do not let their tactics intimidate you but rather strengthen your resolve to highlight the injustice of British occupation in our country.
Nationalist Couple in Banbridge targeted by Mi5 & Special Branch.
27ú Eanáir/January 2010
A young nationalist couple in Banbridge have been harassed by British Intelligence agencies over the course of the past twelve months due to their friendship with a member of Republican Sinn Féin in Newry. Most recently an elaborate hoax bomb was left outside their home.
One of the couple has been stopped by British spies whilst holidaying. They also tore apart his house and told him that they would have their fellow Loyalists intimidate him if he did not co-operate.
Most recently his refusal to collaborate resulted in a bomb being left at his front door in the early hours of Wednesday morning. He was forced to evacuate through the back door and was kept out of his home for several hours.
Around the same time his mother also received a phone call to say that her son was going to be burnt out of his home.
These incidents show that British Intelligence agencies – including those belonging to Gerry Adams' RUC – remain involved with Loyalist death squads.
Statement from Republican POWs, E1 Landing, Portlaoise jail.
23ú Eanáir/January 2010
We have moved into E1, E Block of the jail with all the other groups and we currently share one side of our landing with some non-aligned prisoenrs.
We have put in place structures to keep discipline and Republican ideals alive and well.
Today in conjunction with the picket held by the Republican Sinn Féin POW Department picket we are undertaking a 12-hour fast, from 8am to 8pm.
We would like to thank all of you for your support. Go raibh maith agaibh
Cuts to minimum wage must be opposed.
27ú Eanáir/January 2010
Statement from Fergal Moore, Vice-President, Republican Sinn Féin
Any attempt to cut the minimum wage is an attack on the most vulnerable members of the working class and must be vigorously opposed by all those who wish to live in a just and equitable society.
The suggestion that some businesses will be exempt from paying the minimum wage in the 26 Counties is an invitation to the business classes to abuse their workers in order to chase profit margins. Mary Coughlan’s indication that she will follow a Labour Court proposal on the matter does not bode well for the lower paid.
The workers, who are the means by which wealth is created in the first place, are already bearing the brunt of the mishandling of the economy by the incompetents in Leinster House.
Workers from all sections of society and all pay levels must unite on this issue which exposes the rotten core that lies at the heart of the Capitalist system. Only by replacing this system with one that values the workers and does not exploit them will there be true justice in Ireland.
Republican Prisoners Demand Right to Organise Landing.
20 January 2010
Statement from the Republican Sinn Féin PoW Department
The denial of a separate landing for the CIRA PoWs in Portlaoise prison is part of a policy to criminalise the continued Irish Republican resistance to British rule in Ireland.
Since 1917, 22 Irish Republicans have died in defence of their right to political status.
In the 1940s the Republican Prisoners in Portlaoise were among the first ‘Blanketmen’ in opposition to criminalisation. In the 1970s Republican prisoners endured a 47-day hunger strike.
The Republican prisoners in Portlaoise today are defending the same right to political status because they are part of the same struggle.
The CIRA prisoners demand their right to a separate landing. The CIRA PoWs' demand is simple – they want to continue to be treated as political prisoners - as other groups in the jail are.
British rule has always been resisted.
10ú Eanáir/January 2010
Des Dalton
Speaking at Republican Sinn Féin’s annual Fearghal Ó h-Anluain commemoration on Sunday January 10 at Lathlurcan cemetery Monaghan, the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton said:
“Throughout Irish revolutionary history in each phase of the freedom struggle the sacrifice of individual Irish patriots have come to personify the fight for Irish freedom. Following their deaths Seán Sabhat and Fearghal Ó h-Anluain names would be forever more linked together. They represented in the eyes of people both at home and abroad the historic demand of the Irish people for national independence.
“ ‘Thoughtful, well read, deeply convinced and dedicated Irish Republicans’, was how Ruairí Ó Brádaigh described both men on the 50th anniversary of their deaths in 2007.
“Fearghal Ó hAnluain came from a staunchly Republican family imbued with a passionate love for his language – like Seán Sabhat he was a fluent Irish speaker - his games and his culture. A footballer of note he represented Monaghan at minor, junior and senior level.
“Fearghal Ó hAnluain took his part as a member of the Pearse Column in the attack on Brookborough RUC barracks on the evening of January 1 1957. His presence in Brookborough on that fateful evening was for him the natural and practical expression of his deeply held Irish Republicanism. Like Pearse he believed that in the face of continued British rule in Ireland ‘the only honourable attitude for Irishmen and Irishwomen is an attitude of revolt.’
“The sacrifice of Sabhat and Ó hAnluain was acknowledged within months when four Republican Sinn Féin TDs were elected to an All-Ireland parliament –including Fearghal’s brother Éineachán. Songs and ballads eulogised them and GAA teams were named in their honour .
“While the flame of Irish nationality burns their names will live on in the hearts of the people.
“Sabhat and Ó hAnluain died so that future generations would live in a Free Ireland.
“British rule in Ireland has always been met with resistance by a section of the Irish people. The attacks in recent days and weeks on British Crown forces testify to this iron law of Irish history. There are those who would wish it otherwise but that is the reality, which must be faced if a lasting settlement is to be secured for all of the Irish people.
“Irish history is a cycle of coercion - mixed with pacification - and resistance. It is time to break that cycle and for that to happen the British Government must accept that the only constructive role they have to play in our country is their leaving of it.
“A public declaration of intent by the British Government to withdraw from Ireland would create the dynamic within which all of the Irish people could negotiate the basis for a New Ireland.
“We believe that the EIRE NUA proposals can provide the framework for the pluralist, non-sectarian and Democratic Socialist Republic set out in the 1916 proclamation. Such a Republic stands in stark contrast to the present discredited, sectarian scandal and crisis ridden Stormont and Leinster House regimes.
“In Lurgan, Ardoyne and other areas of the Six Counties young people have taken on the forces of British occupation. They have been dismissed as ‘A-political and anti-social by Westminster, Stormont and Leinster House.
“Again those who have signed up to holding Ireland for the British Crown are not prepared to face up to the reality confronting them.
“We salute this new generation of Irish people who have neither been purchased nor intimated. It is the duty of Sinn Féin to give clear leadership and a political voice to that section of the Irish people who refuse to accept British rule in our country.
“Thomas Davis said: ‘The people of the country are its wealth’, believing this to be true we must view our struggle to be both political and economic. The struggle for a free Ireland must be about bringing fundamental change .
“In both partitionist states within Ireland today the political establishment is intent on squeezing the most vulnerable and weak in order to protect the vested interests of the powerful and wealthy. Protecting the discredited political and economic system whatever the cost in human terms is the priority in Lenister House, Stormont and Westminster.
“In a recent collection of essays published by Social Justice Ireland Prof PJ Drudy of Trinity College Dublin points out that the measure of what is a successful economy needs to be based on meeting the needs of people: ‘Indeed, we need to turn away for good from the obsession with economic growth and the philosophy of the market to focus instead on a philosophy and a set of values and ethics which facilitates and nurtures human development.’
“This is the philosophy which underpins SAOL NUA Sinn Féin’s proposals for economic democracy. As Irish Republicans we must always return to Wolfe Tone: ‘Our strength shall come from that great and respectable class, the men of no property’. Political and Economic democracy must be the twin pillars of the New Ireland for which we strive.
“On the 1st anniversay of Operation Harvest on December 12 1957 the Republican Movement issued a manifesto setting out the task that remained to be completed: ‘We must win for the Irish people democracy, unity and sovereignty. To achieve these objectives we must end forever interference in our affairs by an outside power. We must drive from our shores the forces of this outside power. We must establish national independence.’ It is a task which remains for us to complete.
“We believe like Pearse that: ‘our patriotism is measured, not by the formula in which we declare it, but by the service which we render.’ We must live up to the legacy of Sabhat and Ó hAnluain by rendering that service.”
RSF give leadership to a new generation.
1ú Eanáir/January 2010
Speaking at the annual Dáithí Ó Conaill commemoration in Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin on January 1 the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton set out the challenges and opportunities, which face Republican Sinn Féin in the New Year.
The following is the full text of his oration:
“The forces of history as they work themselves out tend to throw up people capable not only of recognising but more importantly seizing the moment. Such people are not content to merely witness history as it unfolds. Rather they are determined to take their place on the stage of history and play their part to the full. Dáithí Ó Conaill was such a man.
“Ó Conaill in 1969/70 was a key member of a leadership who realised: ‘There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune’. With his lifelong friend and comrade Ruairí Ó Brádaigh he ensured that the Republican Movement was prepared to take the tide of revolution at full flood.
“By their actions they ensured the historic Republican Movement was not diverted from the path of revolutionary Irish Republicanism. For despite his youth he knew from his profound knowledge of Irish history that any diversion from this path led only to division and final absorption into the apparatus of British rule in Ireland.
“Dáithí Ó Conaill came from a strong Cork Republican family. His uncle Michael O’Sullivan (17) along with five of his comrades was bayoneted to death by British Crown forces in March 1921. Dáithí’s first active involvement in the Republican Movement came during the 26-County Local Elections in 1955 when at the age of 17 he joined Sinn Féin. By the end of the following year he was on active service as a Volunteer in the Irish Republican Army serving as an organiser under GHQ staff in Co Fermanagh.
“On January 1 1957 he was Second-in Command of the Pearse Column during the attack on Brookeborough RUC barracks which resulted in the deaths of two of his comrades Fearghal Ó hAnluáin, Co Monaghan and Seán Sabhat, Co Limerick. Four others were wounded including the column commander. This young man of 18 years took command and led a successful withdrawal back across the border – evading 400 RUC, B-Specials, two helicopters and the British army - where they were forced to retire. But as the historian Bowyer Bell pointed out: ‘not before the arms had been safely dumped’. From there he found himself in Mountjoy and the Curragh Concentration camp from where he escaped with his friend and comrade Ruairí Ó Brádaigh in September 1958.
“He returned to active service and for a period was Director of Operations. He was critically wounded in an ambush by the RUC and B-Specials in Arboe, Co Tyrone on the shores of Lough Neagh in November 1959. He made his escape but was forced to seek help because of loss of blood and his weakened condition. Captured, he was sentenced to eight years which he served in Belfast’s Crumlin Road Jail. Following his release in 1963 he reported back to active service.
“In 1969/70 again made his talents available to the Republican Movement. Ruairí Ó Brádaigh said of him he possessed the ‘ablest mind in the Republican Movement for over 20 years’. The sheer breadth of his ability and intellect was evidenced by his service to the All-Ireland Republic both militarily and politically. A lasting monument to his contribution to the freedom struggle is EIRE NUA. He had a central role in framing this historic document and remained a tireless advocate of EIRE NUA right up to his death in 1991.
“Dáithí Ó Conaill never equivocated on what was the cause of the war in Ireland or what was required to deliver a just and lasting peace for all of the Irish people. Speaking in Belfast at Easter 1973 he said: ‘Today, the central issue in the war is one of conflict between Ireland’s right to freedom and England’s determination to keep us in subjection. All other issues are subordinate to this basic point. There can be no compromise on the fundamental issue as to who should rule Ireland: the British Parliament or the Irish people. We have had 800 years of British ineptitude in ruling Ireland; we have never known rule by the Irish, of the Irish, for the Irish. Until we do, we shall never enjoy peace and stability in our land.’
“The coming year presents us all with huge challenges but also opportunities. The two fronts on which it is essential that we engage in 2010 are political and economic.
“Last year and in recent days events on the ground in the Six Counties testified to the fact that British rule in Ireland will be met with resistance. The attacks on British crown forces and the wave of repression and resistance, which followed are evidence to the reality that the nature of British occupation in Ireland has not changed but neither has the attitude of a section of the Irish people.
“The young people in the Six Counties who took on the forces of the British Crown were dismissed as ‘ A-political thugs’ or merely representing an ‘anti-social’ sub youth culture. We know what the truth is. These young people represent a new undefeated generation prepared to take on British rule in Ireland. They are young people simply taking their place in the latest phase of the historic struggle for Irish freedom.
“It is our duty in Sinn Féin –the only political organisation representing the revolutionary Irish Republican tradition - to give political expression and leadership to this new generation.
“The coming year is also likely to see an intensification of the normalisation of British rule and partition. Speaking on RTÉ television on Monday night (December 28) the 26-County President Mary McAleese signalled the possibility of a visit to the 26 Counties by the Queen of England. We in Sinn Féin equally signal our intention to oppose such a visit.
“Mary McAleese’s use of the word ‘collegial’ in describing 26-County relations with the British state is worthy of note. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary 11th revised edition 2006 defines collegial as meaning: ‘belonging to or relating to shared responsibility.’ Or alternatively as one of a number of colleges belonging to the same university. This use of such language is a significant pointer as to the thinking of the political establishment in the 26-County State and how they view their relationship with Britain.
“At this time we are also conscious of the Republican prisoners in both Portlaoise and Maghaberry. We extend them our greetings and pledge them our solidarity. Support for the Republican prisoners in Maghaberry in their fight for political status is vital in the coming year. By denying British attempts to ‘criminalise’ them the prisoners in Maghaberry are engaged in a battle to deny the British Government’s criminalisation of the Irish people’s historic struggle for national independence.
“We must recognise like James Connolly: ‘If you remove the English army to-morrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle, unless you set about the organisation of the Socialist Republic your efforts would be in vain.’
“A war is being waged on working people globally. Here the 26-County administration faced with a choice between taxing the rich or taking from the marginalised and vulnerable, have chosen to put their hands in the pockets of the poorest. Employers and the state are intent on rolling back any advance made by workers over the course of the last century.
“In the face of all this a weak and reformist trade union leadership were deliberately humiliated and wrong-footed by the Dublin administration in their vain attempts to lay the basis for yet another so-called ‘Partnership Agreement’.
“Tinkering at the edges of a discredited and failed social and economic system is not enough. Real revolutionary political and economic change is demanded. In its obituary of Dáithí Ó Conaill SAOIRSE pointed out he ‘viewed the Republican Movement not as a political party, but as the main catalyst of progressive forces to achieve Irish Freedom.’ It is the role, which we must live up to.
“We would do well to heed the advice of Connolly given to those intent on building a national movement over a century ago: ‘It must demonstrate to the people of Ireland that our nationalism is not merely a morbid idealising of the past, but is also capable of formulating a distinct and definite answer to the problems of the present and a political and economic creed capable of adjustment to the wants of the future.’
“Armed as we are with clearly thought out and radical programme for real political and economic democracy EIRE NUA and SAOL NUA we can take our rightful place in the vanguard of the struggle.
“The All-Republic for which we struggle has to be – returning to Connolly again – of such a character that: ‘the mere mention of its name would at all times serve as a beacon-light to the oppressed of every land.’
“Just as imperialism is not confined to one country the solidarity in the fight against it must also be international. Over the coming year we must continue to develop our role in the international struggle against imperialism.
“We extend our greetings to all engaged in the noble quest for national liberation. We face a common enemy but also share the common goal of securing and defending the inalienable rights common to all peoples and nations.
“Our work is clearly marked out for us. It is our duty to bring to the task all our energies and abilities. This is the most fitting tribute we can pay Dáithí Ó Conaill and all those who lie in this pantheon of our patriot dead. ‘Life springs from death; and from the graves of patriot men and women spring living nations.’”
