Fermanagh captain abandoning ship.

Posted by Jim on April 18, 2018

As a proud son of Fermanagh, I have regularly praised DUP leader, Mrs. Arlene Foster, who is also a native of Fermanagh. … Despite political differences in Northern Ireland, county solidarity is still quite strong, especially in Fermanagh. In this letter published in the Irish News of Belfast, I gently question Mrs. Foster’s recent statement that, in the event of Ireland’s re-unification, she would leave Fermanagh and Ireland. That is something which the Founder of the DUP, Reverend Ian Paisley, MP, would never have done.” —Fr. Sean McManus. 
Good gracious, a Fermanagh captain prepared to abandon ship
Letters to the Editor. Irish News. Belfast. Published,  Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Fr Sean McManus, President, Irish National Caucus.Washington DC

I had high hopes and nothing but good wishes for Arlene Foster, and was proud that a Fermanagh native had become first minister.

I had the pleasure of meeting her several times over the years, before and after she became first minister, at Washington functions. She was out-going, friendly and gracious.

This impressive lady is going to banish the unpleasant memory of the other famous Fermanagh unionist leader Basil Brooke (1888-1973), I remember thinking to myself.

And, now, I find out that Arlene on her own words would do what Basil Brooke would never have done – flee the north if she does not get her own way. She says she would abandon those whom she leads when Ireland is inevitably united.

Good gracious, a Fermanagh captain abandoning ship.

Whereas Basil Brooke (who became prime minister 1943-1963) was in 1940 even prepared to ask Churchill to offer a United Ireland as the price of defeating Hitler and thus save the British Empire.

Arlene, it appears, is prepared to do what Carson (a Dublin man) did – abandon Protestants. In the Carson case, the Protestants that were abandoned were in counties Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan.

In 1920, Carson in the British Parliament declared (backed and egged on by the top British leaders) that not only Ireland had to be partitioned but Ulster as well. Because including counties Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan would mean too many Catholics in the new artificial state of Northern Ireland:

“We have to refer in these matters to Protestants and Catholics – we should only be making the very greatest camouflage of argument if we did not treat them in that way. On the other hand, while you would leave out 70,000 [Protestants]who are in these three counties [Donegal, Cavan, and Monaghan] you would bring in from these three counties into the northern province an additional 260,000 Roman Catholics.” (Edward Carson. Westminster, May 18, 1920).

To get his own way, Carson in 1920 was prepared to sell out the Protestants of counties Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan. And, equally, the treasonous Carson in 1914 conspired with Germany to arm unionists to fight His Majesty’s forces. No wonder Teddy Roosevelt, who couldn’t abide traitors, declared Carson should have been shot by His Majesty’s government. Instead, Carson in 1915 was made attorney general in the British coalition government.

And, now, Captain Arlene Foster is going to abandon the Good Six County Ship as the currents of historical necessity and modernity ineluctably steer it closer to the rest of Ulster, Connaught, Munster and Leinster.

Would the late Dr Paisley, God rest him, ever have said he would abandon the people he led or would he have said: ‘Never, never, never’ ?

Official Communication from the UFA

Posted by Jim on April 16, 2018

The rise of Sinn Féin

Posted by Jim on April 14, 2018

The executions and deportations after the Rising fuelled popular hostility in Ireland towards Britain. They also increased sympathy for the use of force to achieve independence as well as support for an independent Irish republic. Other aspects of the British government’s policy reinforced these trends – it persisted with nationwide martial law until November 1916; it arrested prominent and articulate critics of its administration and it threatened to impose conscription, so causing deepening resentment, especially among young men. In these circumstances, the appeal of the moderate nationalist Irish Parliamentary Party declined further. It was also damaged by its continuing failure in wartime to achieve Irish self-government.

It was not until 1917 that the IPP’s 50-year domination of Irish politics was challenged. The delay was because its militant nationalist opponents were divided and split into numerous separate organisations, with their own programmes and priorities, and also because the leaders of these had been imprisoned after the Rising. The process of forming a single cohesive political force to challenge the IPP was begun with their gradual release from December 1916.

It was the Sinn Féin party which eventually displaced the IPP. Sinn Féin was not directly involved in the Rising, but benefited immensely from it. It was quite wrongly associated with the outbreak by the Irish public. This was because the role of the Irish Republican Brotherhood Military Council in planning the insurrection was not widely known. Sinn Féin was believed to be involved as it was the best-known, openly anti-English, nationalist propaganda body in Dublin. As admiration for the rebels grew, it had become by mid-1916 a ‘magic name’ in Ireland, instantly recognisable with powerful appeal. In the course of 1917, the movement was transformed. First its organisation changed: it coalesced with and absorbed other militant nationalist bodies and its party branches spread nationwide. Then, in October it elected a new leader – Eamon de Valera – and agreed a new programme, which broadly committed it to the goal of an Irish republic.

The December 1918 General Election was the Sinn Féin movement’s supreme test. Its manifesto offered voters a republic. It also stated that the party would refuse to attend Westminster and set up an Irish assembly as ‘the supreme …authority’. It would make use of ‘every means available to render impotent the power of England to hold Ireland in subjection’ and appeal to a post-war peace conference ‘for the establishment of Ireland as an independent nation’. Sinn Féin swept the polls winning 73 seats, having previously held 6 (IPP representation fell from 68 to seven). It won because it was the natural focus for the pervasive hatred many then felt towards England. Also it was well organised and led; this was vital as the Irish electorate had trebled since the previous election in 1910. Moreover, Irish voters now aspired to a greater measure of independence than the limited self-government on offer from the IPP.

The first session of Dáil Éireann (Assembly of Ireland) was held at the Mansion House, Dublin 21st January 1919 ©

Sinn Féin acted quickly to fulfil its far-reaching manifesto pledges. It summoned those elected to meet in Dublin on 21st January; 27 of them did so, all of them Sinn Féin members (most of its other successful candidates had been arrested). The occasion was historic. It was the first session of the promised assembly of Ireland (Dáil Éireann). It immediately approved a provisional Irish constitution and then ratified three statements. The first proclaimed the establishment of an Irish Republic. The second was an appeal for recognition and support addressed to all the ‘free nations of the world’. The third, the ‘Democratic Programme’ stated that Ireland would be governed by principles of ‘Liberty, Equality and Justice’, that the government’s first duty would be to the nation’s children, and that all citizens should enjoy an ‘adequate share’ of its wealth. Inevitably these aspirations were to be neglected in the struggle for Irish independence which consumed the next three years.

A united Ireland can be a home to Arlene Foster

Posted by Jim on

The principles of the Good Friday Agreement are now central to our
future, argues Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald
The hand of history on Tony Blair’s shoulder, Bertie Ahern returning to
talks having buried his mother. Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness in
deep conversation, pacing the car park, John Hume, David Trimble, Monica
McWilliams, Mo Mowlam, John Alderdice – all putting in the long hours
and making the hard calls.

Hope and history rhymed.

Senator George Mitchell wisely counselled that the hard work starts now.
How right he was.

The partition of Ireland in 1922 created two conservative states, rife
with inequality and intolerance. In the south, Home Rule became Rome
Rule, just as so many unionist and Protestant people had feared and
predicted. It was a cold house for Protestants, women, children and our
invisible LGBT community.

It has taken generations to confront this cold, hard state but it has
been confronted, challenged and transformed.

The peace and stability brought by the Good Friday Agreement has been
accompanied by momentous social advancement over the last 20 years.

Dublin is a modern European capital city. While we face big challenges
to build a national health service, to eradicate inequality, to
safeguard rights and to ensure fairness, we are on our way, on the right
path.

The northern state, a cold house for Catholics since partition, likewise
has changed. The institutionalised repression and discrimination of the
past is gone.

The violence which marked every decade since partition up to the signing
of the Good Friday Agreement is gone.

We now have peace.

While we still have big challenges – community segregation, a denial of
rights to sections of our people, the unacceptable destructive potential
of Brexit – we are on our way, on the right path.

The unionist veto is gone. The notion of a perpetual unionist majority
is gone, lost in the last two elections.

I write these things not to be triumphant or provocative, but because
they are signposts of change.

Nothing stands still. Change is coming. It can be disorganised and
chaotic, or it can be planned and organised. I believe we need to plan
for change together. That is why the Good Friday Agreement, twenty years
on, is central to our future. It provides a set of rules, principles and
values that govern what we do today and how we shape the future.

The Agreement at its essence is about managing change; About the primacy
of politics, the equal rights of citizens and a peaceful and democratic
pathway to constitutional change.

I have been involved in the many negotiations following the signing of
the Agreement.

Twenty years on from the signing of the Agreement, I lead Sinn Fein, a
party to the Agreement. As such, I carry the responsibility, not only of
protecting it, but more importantly to fully realising its potential.

There are some in the leadership of political unionism that have never
supported the Agreement, who walked out of the process and who have
never embraced genuine power-sharing, equality and respect.

Privately many unionists acknowledge that change is coming, that there
can be no return to unionist majority rule; who understand that the
Union is conditional and dependent on the consent of the people and that
modernity beckons; change is upon us.

Our society is more than green and orange, we have a whole rainbow of
colours and diversity of identities that make up Ireland.

The largest political parades in the North have been Pride, An Dream
Dearg and the Right to Truth. Our LGBT community are not going to go
away, Irish language speakers are not going to go away and victims of
the conflict are not going away. These issues need to be resolved and I
believe we will all be better for that.

I am an Irish Republican, a United Irelander. The united Ireland I seek
is not simply adding the north on to the south. It is about a new and
agreed Ireland.

An Ireland in which you can comfortably be Irish or British, or both or
neither.

The united Ireland I want to build has to be home for my family and for
Arlene Foster and her family.

We will not repeat the mistakes of the past. We cannot countenance the
exclusion or discrimination of any section of our people in a new
Ireland.

The Good Friday Agreement is relevant today for its basis of respect,
equality and power-sharing.

These are the pillars of our new, united Ireland; it commits us to:
“rigorous impartiality on behalf of all the people in the diversity of
their identities and traditions and shall be founded on the principles
of full respect for, and equality of, civil, political, social and
cultural rights, of freedom from discrimination for all citizens, and of
parity of esteem and of just and equal treatment for the identity,
ethos, and aspirations of both communities.”

These principles must underpin governance in the north, in a
newly-formed Executive, and in the political, social and economic life
across Ireland.

These principles will underpin our new and united Ireland.

Honouring and delivering on these principles is the only way to get the
power-sharing Executive up and running. Twenty years on, let’s honour
the Good Friday Agreement by being true to it and by implementing it in
full.

Good Friday Ambiguity, twenty years on

Posted by Jim on

Elephants filled Queen’s University’s Whitla Hall this week where a
major media event was organised to mark the 20th anniversary of the
1998 Good Friday Agreement.

Starring in the show were former premiers Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and
Bertie Ahern, while former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and Ulster
Unionist leader David Trimble topped the bill of local politicians.

The most heartfelt praise was for former US Senator George Mitchell,
whose political skill and negotiating prowess was universally praised.

Earlier in the afternoon, Senator George Mitchell received a standing
ovation after his speech.

He told the audience: “Many of you have thanked me for my work here, my
response is that it is I who should be grateful. And I am, for you have
filled an inner void that I didn’t even know existed.

“I am an American and very proud of it but a large part of my heart and
my emotions will forever be with the people of Northern Ireland.”

Among those whose absence was felt were former SDLP leader John Hume,
who is struggling with dementia, Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness, who
passed away last year, and former British Direct Ruler Mo Mowlam, who
died in 2005. Nevertheless, there was a mood of celebration at an event
which literally sung the praises of a peace deal credited with
effectively ending the recent conflict in the north of Ireland.

The afternoon’s panel discussions were a Hollywood-ready mix of
anecdote and nostalgia, and a selected audience of around 500 were
appreciative of the dealmakers who brought an end to a fearsome
conflict in which thousands of lives were lost.

The agreement brought demilitarisation by the British Army, the
disbandment of the Provisional IRA and the release of hundreds of
republican and loyalist prisoners.

But twenty years later, unresolved and unimplemented aspects of the
1998 Agreement continue to haunt the north of Ireland, including some
of those who participated in the negotiations.

Former SDLP Deputy Leader Seamus Mallon brought a chill to proceedings
when he said he was angry by the “hypocrisies” of current politics in
the north. A key nationalist architect of the deal, he accused the DUP
and Sinn Fein of creating “political silos”, debasing the process and
“almost Balkanising” the north of Ireland.

The former Newry and Armagh MP said he would become “sad” and “angry”
when at home watching television news.

“I watch the hypocrisies which are unbelievable and the untruths which
are believable,” he said.

In the days before the gathering, comments by former UUP leader David
Trimble also cast a pall over events when he mentioned two
unmentionables in a single breath — Brexit, which is weighing
massively on what remains intact of the deal, as well as the continuing
violence of loyalist paramilitaries groups who signed up to it. The
Noble Peace Prize Winner delivered a sharply off-message intervention
when he warned of loyalist attacks against the south of Ireland if
Dublin continues to oppose the return of a militarised border.

Probably the biggest elephant in the room lurked behind former DUP
leader Peter Robinson, who in 1998 was roaring in protest at the gates
of Stormont as the deal was being hammered out.

Most unionists now support his party who continue to reject the
agreement, and Robinson ws proud of the fact.

“The specifics of the Belfast Agreement itself, clearly I oppose – I
think I was right in opposing it; I think the unionist community
validated that by their subsequent votes in the electoral process,” he
said.

The event was criticised by a range of politicians who stayed away,
including a number of senior DUP figures.

DUP MLA Edwin Poots said praise for the Good Friday Agreement “as the
deliverer of peace” had done a “grave injustice to the men and women
who put their life on the line infiltrated the IRA”.

Another DUP figure, Christopher Stalford, described the event in
colourful terms as a “glutinous, nauseous, back slapping exercise” that
“never made me more glad that I was with the ‘No’ campaign in 98.”

An even more hardline unionist, TUV leader Jim Allister, stood on the
steps of the Whitla Hall and handed out leaflets to the guests as they
went in. The two-page leaflet listed ‘deceptions’ in the Agreement
which Mr Allister labelled a “failure”.

The collapse of power-sharing a year ago, in part due to the DUP’s
refusal to implement outstanding agreements was something which the
celebrants felt obliged to address, and the former premiers did so in
hopeful tones.

Bill Clinton urged the politicians present to “inspire the world”
again. The former US President, who was awarded the Freedom of Belfast
on Tuesday night alongside Senator Mitchell, spoke directly to
political leaders who sat in the second row.

In his signature folksy style, he told the audience: “I’m sitting here
and my view is [current DUP leader] Arlene [Foster] and [Sinn Fein
leader] Mary Lou [McDonald] sitting in the same row. We just gotta
figure out how to get them to sit next to each other.”

He described the Good Friday Agreement as a “work of genius that is
applicable if you care at all about preserving democracy”.

He added: “Because the rest of the world continues to do foolish things.
You do smart things. Save the peace, save the freedom, save the
democracy, inspire the world.”

Tony Blair said the important thing was that the conflict had ended.

“The important thing is not to compare where we are with where we would
ideally want to be because ideally we would want to be in a better place
than where we are,” he said.

“The comparison is with where we are and where we were. The important
thing is to remember when we used to wake up every day to the news of
death, destruction and and terrorism.”

Optimism was the byword and Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams predicted his party
and the DUP would eventually go back into government.

“We’re in a bit of an ebb at the moment, a bit of stagnation,” said Mr
Adams. “That’s temporary. That will pass. And we’ll be back to sorting
these issues out.”

Describing the 1998 agreement as a “highly significant development in
Anglo-Irish history”, Mr Adams added that the accord could still act as
a “template for the times ahead” in fresh political negotiations aimed
at restoring power-sharing.

The event also saw criticism by some republicans. The President of
Republican Sinn Fein Des Dalton said the legacy of the Good Friday
Agreement was “a dysfunctional and undemocratic sectarian statelet”.

RSF campaigned against the 1998 Agreement, and Mr Dalton claimed his
arguments that it institutionalised sectarianism had been borne out.

“The two dominant political blocs, the Provisionals and the DUP are two
sides of the same sectarian coin,” he said. “Corruption and nepotism
is the currency of this outpost of colonialism.

“Since 1921 there have been five Anglo-Irish agreements all of which
have failed to provide a settlement of the conflict in Ireland. The
reason that all of these have failed is because all are based on the
partionist set-up, imposed upon the Irish people in 1920/21 by the
British Government with the threat of “immediate and terrible war”.

“The root cause of the conflict in Ireland is partition and the
continued British military and political occupation. A New Ireland can
never emerge from the Stormont Agreement because it copper fastens the
partition of the historic Irish nation.”

Raymond McCord, whose son Raymond Jnr was beaten to death by the UVF in
North Belfast in 1997 and his body left in a quarry, also criticised the
celebrations.

“These events have practically excluded victims from Northern Ireland,
I am not talking about victims from the unionist community, this is all
victims,” he said. “Twenty years after the Good Friday Agreement
victims have been betrayed by politicians.”

He is seeking an inquest into his son’s death, adding: “Why should we be
doing this 20 years after the Good Friday Agreement?”

He also criticised the inflated reporting of this week’s loyalist claim
that their paramilitaries would now support the rule of law.

“The whole week has been a disgrace for victims, it has just been a
repeat of what has happened over the years. They are all telling us what
to do and what is best for us.”

The main victims’ issues had been ignored by the official events, he
said. “Why don’t they sit down with ordinary working-class people like
myself? What is the government and organisers frightened of? Why are
they frightened of victims sitting on a panel? They don’t want the truth
to be said, they are frightened.”