“Nice to hear a European leader say, ‘Ireland first,’ since England always treated Ireland last.
—Fr. Sean Mc Manus.
EU freezes Brexit talks until Britain produces ‘realistic’ Irish border solution
Donald Tusk says negotiations on other issues will not progress until the Ireland question has been dealt with….“If in London someone assumes that the negotiations will deal with other issues first before the Irish issue, my response would be: Ireland first.”
Jon Stone. Independent. England. Friday, March 9, 2018
The EU has thrown down an ultimatum to Theresa May in Brexit talks, warning that it will not open discussions about trade or other issues until the Irish border question is solved.
Speaking in Dublin alongside the Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, European Council President Donald Tusk said talks would be a case of “Ireland first” and that “the risk of destabilising the fragile peace process must be avoided at all costs”.
“We know today that the UK Government rejects a customs and regulatory border down the Irish Sea, the EU single market, and the customs union,” the Mr Tusk said.
“While we must respect this position, we also expect the UK to propose a specific and realistic solution to avoid a hard border.
“As long as the UK doesn’t present such a solution, it is very difficult to imagine substantive progress in Brexit negotiations.
“If in London someone assumes that the negotiations will deal with other issues first before the Irish issue, my response would be: Ireland first.”
British negotiators have long been keen to move to discussions about trade and had hoped to do so after the March meeting of the European Council in two weeks, but Mr Tusk’s latest ultimatum suggests further delays could be in store. The EU says a withdrawal agreement must be negotiated by October to give it time to ratify the deal before the UK falls out of the bloc in March 2019.
Mr Tusk recalled that the Good Friday Agreement, whose 20th anniversary is next month, had been “ratified by huge majorities north and south of the border”.
“We must recognise the democratic decision taken by Britain to leave the EU in 2016 – just as we must recognise the democratic decision made on the island of Ireland in 1998 with all its consequences,” he said, in a play on the rhetoric used by Brexiteers regarding the 2016 EU referendum.
The EU27 nations granted the UK “sufficient progress” to move to the rest of Brexit talks in the December meeting of the European Council after the UK made a commitment to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland at all costs.
The joint report agreed by both sides stated that the UK would maintain regulatory alignment with the EU to prevent a hard Border – unless another solution could be found, either specifically for Ireland, or as part of the wider trade deal.
Since that agreement, however, the UK has ruled out a trade deal solution by reiterating its commitment to leave the customs union and single market, has ruled out a customs Border between the province and Great Britain, and has not produced detailed specific proposals for avoiding a hard border. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has also poured cold water on the issue, downplaying the UK’s commitment to avoiding a hard Border in a letter to the PM.
Mr Tusk’s ultimatum raises the prospect that trade talks will be delayed even further beyond March, when they had been expected to start following the next meeting of the council.
In her Mansion House speech last week Ms. May agreed that the UK had “a responsibility to help find a solution” to the Border issue. But she reiterated ideas such as ”streamlined processes, including a trusted trader scheme” and said they would be “consistent with our commitments”. The EU has suggested that these ideas are not serious.
“BBC today reports : ‘ judge has ruled that Arlene Foster’s decision to block funding for the lord chief justice’s plan for legacy inquests was unlawful and flawed.’
Belfast victims campaigner Raymond McCord, Sr.(from a Unionist/Protestant background) has issued the following statement which we want to share with the US Congress.”—Fr. Sean McManus
McCord on Court ruling that Foster’s decision was unlawful
“In the wake of the courts judgement regarding the legacy cases, it is without any doubt that Arlene Foster should resign. Either resign or the DUP should sack her. Not one victim I speak to has any faith or trust in her.
The fear of truth and justice for victims is something the DUP can’t cope with. It does not matter if it is IRA victims or UVF victims or even state security victims, all families deserve the truth and an inquest for their loved ones who were murdered.
Over twenty years since my son Raymond, Jr. was murdered, we still have not had an inquest. We are fighting in the courts to have one. Remember, my family and I are Unionists and my son’s murder was a result of collusion between the UVF and SPECIAL BRANCH/SECURITY FORCES .
It does not matter if the victims are Unionist or Nationalists, Arlene Foster unlawfully held back the funding for the inquests, which included my son’s . For that decision, she should hang her head in shame and resign. She has brought shame to Unionists with her brand of politics . To the DUP, I say ‘sack her!’ If that’s the best person you have to be leader, then thank God I’ve never voted for your party.”
Mother Jones “The Most Dangerous Woman in America”
Did You Know that a 72-year-old Irish woman, beloved by millions, was once called the most dangerous woman in America? Her name was Mary Harris Jones and this feisty little Irish lady was also called the Mother of All Agitators. Born in Cork City, Ireland on 1 May 1837, her family fled the Great Hunger to Canada where she trained as a teacher and dressmaker. In 1861, she married George Jones, an iron molder and union organizer in Memphis, Tennessee. They had four children, but she lost all four and her husband in the 1867 yellow fever epidemic. Determined to survive, Mrs. Jones moved to Chicago where she worked as a dressmaker until her shop was destroyed in the Chicago fire of 1871.
After her second heartbreaking setback, this courageous Irish lady took a job as an organizer for the Knights of Labor and United Mine Workers union in 1897. This was a hard time for labor in a tycoon-dominated America where politicians and police controlled the workplace for the giants of industry. In 1876-77, 21 miners in Pennsylvania were given mock trials and executed for union activities as ‘Molly Maguires’ – a name created to paint them as criminal conspirators when, in fact, the only organization they belonged to was the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
Mary Harris Jones, now in her 60s, entered the field of labor. An effective speaker she began organizing mine workers who she called ‘her boys’; they, in turn, called her ‘Mother Jones.’ Her success in organizing mine workers and their families was phenomenal. This petite, white-haired, grandmotherly-looking lady was a radical labor organizer. When she was called ‘the grandmother of all agitators’ by a local politician she replied ‘I hope to live long enough to be the great grandmother of all agitators!’ She also organized strikers’ wives because she felt that if the wife didn’t share the husband’s beliefs, he wouldn’t stay committed for long. In 1902, she was arrested for ignoring a West Virginia state injunction banning meetings by striking miners. The District Attorney said at her trial, ‘There sits the most dangerous woman in America. She crooks her finger and 20,000 workers lay down.’ According to Clarence Darrow, she was ‘one of the most forceful and picturesque figures of the American labor movement’. When asked for her address, she replied, ‘my address is on the sole of my shoes, it travels with me!’
For months she lived in the most desolate mining camps, sharing her meager belongings with half-starved miner’s families, nursing the sick and cheering the depressed. Not limited to organizing coal miners, she did likewise in the silk mills of Pennsylvania. When she noticed that many of the children had missing fingers and other disabilities from accidents in the mills and mines, she tried to publicize the terrible working conditions of child labor. Newspapers refused to carry her story noting that the mill and mine owners held stock in their papers. She replied, ‘Well, I’ve got stock in these children and I’ll arrange my own publicity.’ In 1903, she organized 200 children from the mills and mines, many of whom were maimed, to carry banners demanding ‘We want to go to school, not the mines!’ She led this “Children’s Crusade” on a march from Philadelphia to President Teddy Roosevelt’s summer home at Oyster Bay, Long Island. The march took several weeks and in every town along the way, Mother Jones was ready with a speech telling the public that she was on her way to let the President hear ‘the wail of the children’! He refused to see her, but she got her publicity! Child labor laws soon followed.
In January 1914, she visited Ludlow, Colorado to support miners trying to organize against the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, owned by John D. Rockefeller. She instilled hope in the strikers with her powerful speeches, even though she was now over 80 years of age. The mine owners had her arrested and confined in a psychiatric ward at Mt. San Rafael Hospital. On 21 January, miners’ wives and children organized a march to protest her arrest. Adjutant General Chase, commander of the Colorado Militia, was so furious he gave orders to ‘Ride down those women!’ Mounted troops attacked the march with sabers drawn, injuring many and Mother Jones was escorted to the state line and told never to return. More than 13,000 miners and their families were evicted from the company shacks, so they set up a tent colony on land belonging to one who supported their cause. The Governor called in the National Guard who were easily bought by the mine owners. In April, the Guard attacked the tent colony of miners and their families resulting in the violent deaths of 75 people including 2 women and 11 children. After the Ludlow Massacre, Mother Jones went to Standard Oil’s New York headquarters to face Rockefeller; the meeting prompted him to visit the Colorado mines and introduce reforms.
Mother Jones remained active in the union movement and her influence opened the door to other female labor leaders like Lenora O’Reilly who went from child laborer to co-founder of the Woman’s Trade Union League; Aunt Sara McLaughlin who rose to the top of the Textile Mill Union as organizer and Julia Sarsfield O’Connor who became the first female officer in the Woman’s Trade Union when she was elected President. The story was repeated again and again. Mother Jones died on 30 November 1930 and her name is still part of labor history. A plaque was erected to her memory in her native Cork city on 1 August, 2012. However, most the lasting tribute to her may be in the world of music. Gene Autry’s first recording in 1931 was ‘The Death of Mother Jones’; Woody Guthrie’s Union Maid’ calls for women to emulate Mother Jones and in 2010, Irish singer/songwriter Andy Irvine, recorded ‘The Spirit of Mother Jones‘. There is one song however, that has stood the test of time, the first printed version of which appeared in Carl Sandburg’s The American Songbag in 1927. Sandburg noted that the lyrics refer to Mother Jones’ travels among the Appalachian mountain coal mining camps promoting the unionization of the miners. Think of Mother Jones – one of the Irish who helped make America great – when next you sing, ‘She’ll be coming ’round the mountain when she comes, etc.
SSG CHRIS ENGELDRUM FDNY VFW POST 12033 The SSG Chris Engeldrum FDNY VFW Post 12033 will be holding its monthly meeting on Thursday, March 22nd. The meeting will be held at Randall’s Island, Building 11 Cafeteria at 7:30 pm. All Military Veterans who have served overseas during time of war are eligible to join. For additional information, see the Post website at FDNYVFW.com. MEMORIAL SERVICE A Memorial Service will be offered on Thursday, March 22, 2018 at 1000 hours at St. Rita’s Church, 275 Shepherd Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, to honor the following deceased members of E-332 and L-175. Capt. John T. Dunne, L-175, Capt. Eric P. Dailey, L-175, Lt. Robert R. Dolney, E-332, Lt. James W. Blackmore, E-332, Lt. Thomas J. Greaney, L-175, FF Theodore A. Wieczorek, L-175, FF Nicholas J. Marzelli, L-175, FF Anthony J. Nuccio, L-175, FF Timothy P. Melia, E-332, FF Harry Lee Davis, L-175.
The Memorial Service will also honor the memory of the following members previously assigned to “Bradford Street” lost on September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center: AC Donald J. Burns, CWTC, BC John J. Fanning, Haz-Mat, BC Lawrence T. Stack, Safety, BC Thomas T. Haskell, L-132, Lt. Robert B. Nagel, E-58, Lt. John A. Crisci, Haz-Mat, FF Robert J. Crawford, Safety, FF Thomas J. Kuveikis, Sq-252, FF Jeffery J. Olsen, E-10. All off-duty members and their families are invited to attend. Members are requested to attend in dress uniform. PLAQUE DEDICATION On Friday, March 23, 2018 at 1100 hours, a Plaque Dedication will be held honoring the memory of Firefighter Ronald R. Brenneisen, L-43, who died on September 12, 2014. The dedication will take place in the quarters of E-53/L-43, 1836 Third Avenue, New York, NY. All off-duty members and their families are invited to attend. Members are requested to attend in dress uniform.
A-Valentine’s Day break-up at Stormont Assembly talks- Talks between the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein to end the 13 month Stormont stalemate broke off, with Arlene Foster claiming “no current prospect” of any deal, and Michelle O’Neill saying the DUP collapsed the talks. The breakup came after British Prime Minister Theresa May and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar traveled to Belfast for an expected signing.
Between an understanding reached Friday, and the arranged signing on Monday, unionist hysteria over leaked proposals of an Irish language act made Foster and the DUP back out, later denying any draft agreement.
The thirteen page draft agreement was then published by journalist Eamon Mallie and can be read on his website. Sinn Fein would accept Foster as First Minister, despite the ‘money to burn’ heating scandal that caused Martin McGuinness’ resignation. An Irish language act would have been included as one of three language bills, alongside an overriding “Respecting Language and Diversity Bill” and Ulster-Scots Bill. Legacy inquest funding and legacy mechanism funding would be covered separately by the British government. The DUP now denies agreeing to anything and called on the British to implement direct rule. Eileen Paisley, widow of DUP founder Ian Paisley blamed current party leaders for “creating this mess.”
B-Time for Truth March in Belfast-Thousands of victims’ families and campaigners converged on Belfast City Hall, demanding truth
about murders of their loved ones. Many of the marchers carried crosses or large pictures with the names of murdered loved ones. Marchers from a number of victims’ campaigns joined together to slam the British government for giving the DUP a veto on legacy justice. John Teggart of the Ballymurphy Massacre families said the rally was about “telling the Government that people’s right to the truth is not some bargaining chip for political talks.” He called on the crown to release inquest funding requested by Chief Justice Declan Morgan. Mark Thompson of Relatives for Justice, said it was wrong for the British government to say “if you guys can get a deal we will give victims their rights… these rights are obligations under the European Convention and Human Rights Act.”
C-Brexit border plan rejected by May and DUP- Legal proposals by the European Union to avoid customs and immigration barriers across the six counties after Brexit, were rejected by Theresa May and denounced by the DUP. The proposal by EU negotiator Michael Barnier in Brussels, was based on a December agreement between May and the European Commission President. The EU and Irish government want a common regulatory area with no internal borders and free movement of goods as a ‘backstop’ or ‘default’ arrangement, if a full trade deal or technological solution to the border could not be devised. May said no British “Prime Minister could ever agree to it” and Arlene Foster called it “economically catastrophic”. Ireland and the EU noted that the British still have no real alternative to a hard border.
D–Newry parade battle for Irish flag-Following the successful fight against St. Patrick’s Day Parade bans on the Irish flag in Strabane and Derry, Newry has taken up the battle. Councillor Stephen Murney called the ban an “attempt to suppress and erode any display of Irish culture and heritage on a day of worldwide recognition of Irish culture”. In this heavily nationalist town marchers have been told that they are forbidden to carry the Irish national flag or even a flag with four provinces. Marchers are now threatening to defy the ban or boycott unless this ban is lifted.
ENGLAND GET OUT OF IRELAND BANNERS
Rules of the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade allow only two banners between the Irish and American flags. The only banners allowed are those identifying marching units and “England Get Out of Ireland”. These banners are a key theme of our parades. Once “Erin go Bragh” flags were used and were revolutionary. “Ireland forever” meant an Irish nation would exist and one day be free, outlasting British rule. This idea, often outlawed in Ireland, was carried proudly in American parades, where patriots among them Tom Clarke, John Devoy, O’Donovan Rossa etc would pledge to make it so and did.
Today the words “England Get Out of Ireland” signal our support for those still denied freedom for all Ireland. The words note that British rule serves English interests. Brexit, the DUP veto, and the denial of legacy truth for those murdered by British crown forces or their agents are prime examples.
IRELAND’S 1918 FREEDOM MANDATE
The 1916 Easter Rising and Proclamation of an Irish Republic on April 24,1916 was a historic event. This year Ireland will celebrate another centenary without which 1916 would have lost much of its meaning.
The British, joined by the Irish papers and establishment politicians of the day denied any popular support for the Rising or an Irish Republic. The Irish party leader at the time John Redmond even told Westminster that the Irish people regarded 1916 “with utter detestation and horror”. They hoped to make 1916 one more unsuccessful rising, to be forgotten. Over the next two years all of that changed utterly.
Events like the executions, brutal treatment of those interned, death of Thomas Ashe, campaigns for prisoner candidates, ballads, and poets would awaken Ireland to the true meaning of 1916 and the Proclamation. At the 1918 British General Election, Ireland voted a mandate for freedom, by choosing representatives who pledged to go a free Irish parliament or Dail Eireann instead of Westminster.
At our New York State Convention the AOH resolved to remember and commemorate Ireland’s 1918 mandate for freedom. FFAI encourages this theme for speakers at Easter Commemorations or other appropriate occasions. Under the leadership of our worthy New York State President Vic Vogel we are even hoping to get a formal recognition at the State Legislature.
