Posted by Jim on January 29, 2019
All-Ireland talks are important
Irish News. Editorial.Belfast.Tuesday, January 29, 2010
Almost every serious economist agrees that Brexit will be a disaster for all traditions in Ireland and the consequences for community relations across The North are arguably even more alarming.
It is essential that serious and measured consideration is given to a range of forthcoming options, even though it is painfully obvious that the British cabinet has been unable to come up with a coherent strategy for the withdrawal which is scheduled to take effect from March 29.
What is heartening is that, for the first time since the partition of Ireland almost a century ago, our issues have been placed at the centre of European political developments and the remaining 27 EU member states, assuming that the UK really does withdraw later this year, have lined up solidly behind the position of the Dublin government.
If it was the case that northern Nationalists and Unionists could come together and demand that, at the very least, a no-deal Brexit is emphatically ruled out, a hugely powerful message would be sent to Theresa May,
Unfortunately, while nationalism in all its strands on both sides of The Border is united in deep concern over Brexit, the Unionist response has taken some much more complicated forms.
Some unionists know that a catastrophe is coming down the line, others have exercised their right to curry temporary favor with the Conservative Party at Westminster and a relatively small number are cheerleaders for the most reactionary elements of the Brexit campaign.
A full debate at a functioning Stormont assembly might have moved events forward, and it needs to be acknowledged that all sides carry degrees of responsibility for the collapse which occurred there almost exactly two years ago.
Many commentators have offered valid and credible points about the priority of engaging across the board and establishing ways of extending the hand of friendship in all directions.
However, the Renewable Heat Incentive public inquiry laid bare the specific extent of the dysfunctional and unacceptable nature of the DUP’s approach to financial management in particular and basic standards of public administration in general.
The forthcoming report from Sir Patrick Coghlin will be closely studied, and there will be major surprise if grave criticism is not directed at some senior figures, so it is inevitable that a sweeping overhaul of DUP structures must follow before a return to devolution can start to be contemplated.
Stormont parties need to step up their dialogue in the meantime but discussions on an all-Ireland basis are equally important and should be encouraged in every way.
The gathering at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast at the weekend represented a unique coming together of the two largest Dáil groups with the two main northern nationalist parties in front of a huge and enthusiastic audience.
If some Unionists wish to align themselves with the dangerous and divisive Brexit gamble, nationalists are equally entitled to set out an alternative vision of progress through partnership at all levels
Posted by Jim on January 28, 2019
2019 RANGERS FIRST RESPONDERS NIGHT
The New York Rangers are pleased to provide special access to tickets to first responders, their families, and friends for Rangers First Responders Night on Wednesday, February 27th as the Rangers play host to the Tampa Bay Lightning at 7:30 PM at Madison Square Garden. This offer provides savings off of individual game tickets and can be shared with your friends & family. Tickets purchased through the link https://www.fevo.com/…/2019-Rangers-First-Responders-Night-… include an exclusive First Responder’s patch, and a portion of all tickets purchased through the above link will be donated to the UFA Widows and Children’s Fund. For questions, please reach out to Tim Holder at tim.holder@msg.com or 212-631-5659.
FDNY EMERALD SOCIETY MEETING NOTICE
The Emerald Society’s monthly meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 6, 2019,in Long Island. The meeting will be at 8:00 PM at the Irish American Center, 297 Willis Ave, Mineola, NY 11501 (one block north of Jericho Turnpike). Do not park in the lot. Food and refreshments will be served. For more information, visit www.fdnyemerald.org or call their hotline at 516-889-2541.
2019 NYC MARATHON PARTICIPATION WITH THE FDNY RUNNING CLUB
Any member interested in running the 2019 NYC Marathon must register for the marathon lottery with the NYRR at https://www.tcsnycmarathon.org/ by February 14, 2019. For more information about the marathon and the FDNY Running Club, please email Denis Sweeney (L-35) at denis.p.sweeney@gmail.com.
WORKING ADVANTAGE CORPORATE DISCOUNT PROGRAM
Working Advantage is pleased to offer entertainment and travel discounts for both regional and nationwide attractions and events to all UFA Members. Now you’ll have access to exclusive savings on movie tickets, theme parks, hotels, tours, Broadway and Vegas shows & more. These discounts are not available to the general public and are exclusive to the Working Advantage Corporate Discount Program. Be sure to visit often as new products and discounts are constantly being added! To get started, visit https://www.workingadvantage.com/ and click “Register.” You will then be prompted to create an account with your email address & company code: 99042621. Once enrolled, you will have access to all the savings nationwide. Please see the workingadvantage.com website for details and restrictions.
Posted by Jim on January 26, 2019
Last weekend, an official state commemoration of the First Dail took
place in the Mansion House in Dublin. Addressing the audience, Sinn Féin
President Mary Lou McDonald said that “the Ireland of today is not the
Ireland promised in the 1916 Proclamation. This is not the Dail of the
Democratic Programme.”
She said that “we have before us the opportunity to build a new and
united Ireland”. The following is the full prepared text of her address.
Go raibh maith agat a Ceann Comhairle.
Táim lán-sásta labhairt ag an ócáid stairiúil seo – comóradh céad bliain
An Chéad Dáil.
One hundred years ago – in this very room – revolutionary Ireland found
its voice.
TDs gather with a unity of purpose, in the cause of equality,
independence and freedom.
An eye witness to the day, Máire Comerford of Cumann na mBan said of An
Chéad Dáil, “never was the past so near, or the present so brave or the
future so full of hope”
It is an honour to follow in their footsteps.
To share this room with elected representatives from across this island
and, including the counties of partitioned Ulster – Antrim, Down, Derry,
Fermanagh, Armagh and Tyrone.
Today we are whole.
After so much hope, the vision of the Democratic Programme and the First
Dáil was lost to British repression, civil war, partition, conflict and
the establishment of two conservative states, north and south.
The Ireland of today is not the Ireland promised in the 1916
Proclamation.
This is not the Dáil of the Democratic Programme.
Ireland remains divided. Broken.
The tenements have gone, but tenants live in fear of eviction.
Children no longer go hungry in the streets but now in hotel rooms.
Unseen and forgotten.
The lockout bosses are gone, but workers’ rights are being eroded.
A job is no longer the route out of poverty.
There are those who believe that homelessness is acceptable, that
poverty is inevitable and that partition is permanent.
I do not accept that view.
Our forbearers one hundred years ago rejected that view.
The generation that entered this room and said to the British
government, your empire is ended.
This is our nation.
We come not to recriminate about what could have been; but to plan for
what can be.
Let me say; this is the time.
This is the time to realise the promise of the revolutionary generation.
We come not to genuflect to the past but to stand with all those who
came before us.
Is trí Ghaeilge a ritheadh imeachtaí na Chéad Dála céad bliain ó shin.
Tharla sé seo mar gur bhain chéad chruinniú na Dála le níos mó ná Stát a
bhunú – bhain sé leis an Náisiún.
Uirlis pholaitiúil leis an náisiún a chur chun cinn a bhí i Sinn Féin
agus chuaigh sé i bhfeidhm ar i bhfad níos mó ná a ballraíocht féin.
Bhí forbairt ag teacht thar ghluaiseacht na gceardchumann agus ar
ghluaiseacht chearta na mban ag an am sin.
Bhí An Cumann Lúthchleas Gael agus Conradh na Gaeilge ar thús
cadhnaíochta maidir le slánú agus caomhnú an Gaeilge.
Agus céad bliain ar aghaidh, tá an Ghaeilge faoi bhagairt fós.
Caithfimid níos mó daoine a spreagadh chun An Gaeilge a úsáid ina shaol,
ar fud an oileáin – ó thuaidh agus ó dheas.
Independence alone is not enough.
To paraphrase Connolly, it is not about changing the flag over Dublin
Castle.
Ireland, north and south, is changing.
We have before us the opportunity to build a new and united Ireland.
In which all can find a home.
In which the sick are cared for.
An Ireland of the safety net and of the helping hand.
An Ireland of equal rights, equal opportunity and shared prosperity.
A free and sovereign nation amongst the nations of the world.
Standing here one hundred years on, the past has never been so near, the
present crying out for bravery.
The future so filled with challenge and hope.
Let us not wait another one hundred years.
The government should convene an all-Ireland forum to build for unity
and to plan for unity.
We now have a peaceful and democratic pathway to a new and united
Ireland.
An opportunity that was not afforded the First Dáil or generations of
Irish Republications.
Now is the time to start the last leg of that journey.
To build a truly national democracy and a truly national parliament.
An Irish Republic, worthy of the name and the sacrifices of all those
who came before.
Tá bealach síochánta, daonlathach againn anois Éire aontaithe a bhaint
amach.
Deis nach raibh ar fáil do bhaill Na Chéad Dála ná do ghlúin eile
phoblachtánaigh.
Tá sé in am anois an tír a aontú agus ní mór dúinn reifreann ar aontacht
na hÉireann a bheith againn.
Caithfimid é sin a dhéanamh agus caithfimid Éire nua, aontaithe a bhaint
amach.
Posted by Jim on
The context for this years’s Bloody Sunday March. For more information
see bloodysundaymarch.org
The main focus of the 2019 Bloody Sunday march is on our demand for
“Sir” Michael Jackson to be jailed.
Yes, the paratroopers who fired the shots must be brought to book. But
the greater guilt lies with the top brass.
Jackson, in the Bogside as second-in-command on the day, should be
charged with murder and with perverting the law by procuring the
cover-up.
By the time he appeared before the second Bloody Sunday Inquiry, under
Lord Saville in 2003, Jackson had risen through the ranks to become
Chief of the General Staff, Britain’s top soldier. Following the
publication of the inquiry’s report in June 2010, Tory prime minister
David Cameron couldn’t have described the Derry massacre as “unjustified
and unjustifiable” if the finger of blame had been pointed at Jackson.
Saville damned rank-and-file paratroopers and let the upper echelons off
scot-free. The same old story. We owe it to the victims not to let this
stand.
We place Bloody Sunday in the context of Ballymurphy, the Shankill,
Loughinisland, McGurk’s Bar etc. And we relate it, too, to State
assaults on citizens elsewhere: the collusion by cover-up in the killing
of Liverpool fans at Hillsborough; the relentless massacre of young
black people by police in the US; the continuing ethnic cleansing of
Palestinians by the Israeli state; the persecution of the Rohingya in
Myannmar; and the drowning in the Mediterranean of refugees fleeing
poverty and war.
The world is awash with blood. We march for the cleansing of war and
injustice from the earth.
The Bloody Sunday March is not party-political. Everyone is entitled to
their own perspective. We urge people of all persuasions to join with us
once again on Sunday, January 27th to signal that we won’t stop
campaigning until the families of all who have lost their lives to State
violence have truth and justice.
We want Jackson jailed, not for revenge or retaliation but because when
the State kills its citizens it must be held to account.
Posted by Jim on
A spectacular bomb attack at Derry courthouse last weekend followed by a
series of hoaxes appears designed to deliver a message about the
continuing ability of the ‘new IRA’ to carry on its armed campaign.
It was no coincidence that it came on the eve of the 100th anniversary
of the start of the War of Independence, and the centenary of the First
Dail, when Ireland formally proclaimed its independence.
A timeline of events on the night of Saturday showed that the bombing
had been carefully planned, with a telephoned warning issued just
moments after the device was driven to the courthouse. It detonated 45
minutes later, after the area had been cleared by the PSNI police.
It was followed by hoaxes and alerts across Derry. At the same time,
republicans came under assault by the PSNI, with the Creggan area
described as “saturated” by Crown Forces on Sunday. Seven young
activists were arrested in heavy-handed raids, but all of those were
subsequently released unconditionally.
The ‘new IRA’ evolved from a merger of the Real IRA with other breakaway
IRA groups in 2012 and Derry is their power base. The organisation has
not claimed responsibility for the attack, but most people believe that
it must be their work.
In their response to the events, Saoradh noted that the attack had taken
place against a ‘British institution’ almost exactly one hundred years
after the Soloheadbeg ambush, when most historians say that Ireland’s
War of Independence began.
But they said that media coverage wrongly misinterpreted their response
to the bombing, which noted the centenary, as providing justification
for it.
A spokesperson for the group said that “as long as imperialism remains
the dominant power there will be women and men willing to engage in
revolutionary armed struggle”.
Saoradh also denied having links to the new IRA and insisted that it is
an autonomous political party: “Saoradh does not or will not come under
the control or influence of any other organisation, armed or otherwise,”
they said.
The size of Saturday’s bombing has generated speculation that the new
IRA could mount a further escalation, and that renewed border
infrastructure associated with Brexit might present a target.
The attack also comes in the face of British moves to reinforce its
military and policing presence in the border area ahead of Brexit.
A convoy of British Army vehicles was seen heading for the Derry area
late last week. British forces have also increased their covert
activities in the border town of Newry, where unidentified and heavily
armed units were seen entering properties in the town under cover of
darkness.
As confidence in the Good Friday Agreement wanes, Britain’s Direct Ruler
in Ireland, Karen Bradley told MPs in London that the weekend bomb had
“absolutely nothing to do with Brexit”.
The DUP Westminster leader Nigel Dodds supported the statement, adding
that the attack was also “somewhat unrelated” to the collapse of the
political institutions of the Good Friday Agreement.
For her part, Sinn Féin’s leader in the North, Michelle O’Neill insisted
that there was no support for armed actions within republican
communities.
She told an event marking the centenary of the first Dail that it was
“ironic” that the disruption in Derry had occurred on the anniversary of
the “quintessential expression of the democratic will of the Irish
people”.
She said support for a peaceful reunification of Ireland was growing.
“There is absolutely no justification for these actions. The Good Friday
Agreement provides a democratic and peaceful avenue to pursue political
change including the central republican objective of unifying our
country,” she said.
“This bombing is totally unacceptable and, ironically, comes at a time
when support for a peaceful democratic transition to a United Ireland as
set out in the GFA is at an all-time high.”
In a subsequent statement, Saoradh criticised Sinn Féin for what it said
were statements lending support to the police raids against its
activists.
“The policy put in place by former Republicans of criminalising those
who do not agree with the current political dimension hasn’t gone
unnoticed by those within our communities,” they said.
“Furthermore, as these raids continue to happen, those who have been
elected on the back of Republicanism sit in pro-establishment talking
shops and bury their proverbial heads in the sand as they watch our
communities being destroyed by an unwanted occupying force.”
In their response, the IRSP, which has links to the INLA (Irish National
Liberation Army), did not condemn the attack. It described the bomb at
Derry courthouse as “an expression of resistance that has characterised
legitimate opposition to British rule in Ireland for generations.
“While the IRSP do not believe that current conditions are conducive to
armed actions, we have no inclination or wish to pass judgment on others
who do, we have never condemned Republicans who express opposition to
British rule via armed struggle and we never will, the root cause of
armed actions remains our common enemy, British occupation itself.
“We understand that a wave of retaliatory raids and arrests have been
launched against republicans in the aftermath of Saturday’s action; our
thoughts are with those affected and we send them our best.”