Posted by Jim on April 18, 2018
On this solemn day, we mourn the loss of Barbara Bush, an outstanding and memorable woman of character. As a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, military spouse, and former First Lady, Mrs. Bush was an advocate of the American family. Mrs. Bush lived a life that reminds us always to cherish our relationships with friends, family, and all acquaintances. In the spirit of the memory of Mrs. Bush, may we always remember to be kind to one another and to put the care of others first.
As a mark of respect for the memory of Barbara Bush, I hereby order, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, on the day of interment. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same period at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this seventeenth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand eighteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-second.
Posted by Jim on
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’ ?
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.
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.