Léargas: A Podcast by Gerry Adams

A Bridge to the FutureJust outside Warrenpoint on the northern side of Carlingford Lough the Newry River narrows substantially and it is at this point – aptly named Narrow Water – that the work on building a bridge has been well under way for the last two years. Recently decking and pylons for the bridge arrived from Belgium. When completed the bridge will be 195 metres long and will allow for vehicles, cycle and pedestrian traffic. It will provide a vital link between the Cooley Peninsula and County Louth in the South and the Mourne Mountains and South Down in the North.When I was elected as TD for County Louth in February 2011 I met many of the community activists and local Sinn Féin members, like Arthur Morgan, who had been involved in promoting the construction of a Narrow Water Bridge from at least the mid-1970s.Some people in Down and Louth have campaigned for even longer than this.  Sinn Féin passed motions at the Ard Fheis in 2009 pledging support for the Narrow Water Bridge and in 2011 we set up a cross border working group, met with Ministers North and South and with the East Border Region Group.  Along with the Narrow Water Bridge Community Network and the various Chambers of Commerce from this region, we embarked on a renewed effort to have the bridge built. There was and remains, widespread public support for the project. The lobbying involved extensive conversations with the European Union, its institutions, the Irish government, and the Executive in the North. I raised the project many times in the Dáil with successive Taoisigh and government Ministers, and discussed the project with Louth County Council and representatives of Newry and Mourne Council.Unlawfully Detained - A New BookMy new book – Unlawfully Detained – written with Timothy O’Grady, will be launched by Ronan Bennett on Saturday 28 November in Ionad Eileen Howell/St. Comgall’s at 12.45pm. Published by Greenisland Press it deals in part with my successful legal challenge in the British Supreme Court in 2020, against convictions I received for attempting to escape from internment in the 1970s. But the book also looks at the role of the law – of British law – in Ireland over the centuries which was integral to its colonisation process and the subjugation of the Irish people.British General Frank Kitson put it well when he wrote: “The law should be used as just another weapon in the government’s arsenal, in which case it becomes little more than a propaganda cover for the disposal of unwanted members of the public.”Jack Warshaw’s song ‘No Time For Love’ puts it better: “You call it the law, we call it apartheid, Internment, conscription, partition and silence. It’s the law that they make to keep you and me where they think we belong.”This is what underpinned British military incursions in India, in Kenya, Ireland, the Middle East, Malaya, Aden, Cyprus, and a host of others and more recently in Iraq and Afghanistan. The law of conquest and terror.  Unlawfully Detained will go on sale from 28 November. More details later.Surviving in GazaAlmost two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip continue to fight a daily battle for shelter, for heat, for safety and for food. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has reported that 94% of the population need shelter assistance and essential non-food items. A Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster survey completed in September found that 84% of Gaza’s population experienced frequent, unpredictable disruptions in access to safe, clean and reliable water for drinking, cooking and hygiene.To add to this crisis on Saturday the first storm of the winter wrought devastation to thousands of Palestinian families surviving amidst the rubble of Gaza. Thousands of tents sheltering displaced families were flooded and many were forced to abandon their meagre shelters. Families were reduced to using pots and pans to try and clear water from inside their flooded tents.Antrim’s Greatest Football TeamsMy thanks to all those who organized a great night in Saint Mary’s University last Friday to remember and celebrate Antrim’s great football teams from the 1920s to the 1940’s. In particular, the 1946 senior football team. The presence of many family members of players of that era and their recollections was a very special element of the event.Dónal Mac Anallen’s talk and power point presentation was outstanding. Dónal is a human library. Full of facts and figures. And amusing observations. I learned a lot about the early days of the Gaeldom in our county. So too with the great work of Hugh McGettigan. Hugh has produced a souvenir programme to accompany Dónal’s talk. If your club doesntvhave copies get some and distribute them. I whole heartedly recommend it.  Angela Feeney gave us a few songs. Paul McErlean was an outstanding fear an tí and there was a great input from the audience. Well done to all involved. Including Seamus McMullen and the County Board.  A great initiative. Now for a similar project about the hurlers and the camógs. And our handballers. Over to you Hugh agus do chairde. Míle buíochas.  

Unionist Unity?As the Assembly and Local Government elections loom on 6 May the Democratic Unionist Party, the Ulster Unionist Party and the Traditional Unionist Voice Party are increasingly speaking wistfully of unionist unity; a unionist electoral pact; of electoral co-operation, and of maximising the ‘pro-union vote.’ Last week Jonathan Buckley, a DUP MLA in Upper Bann, called for talks between the three unionist parties on the issue of unionist unity.Calling for unionist unity is easier than delivering it. Unionist unity has long been the holy grail for all shades of unionism going back decades. It has rarely occurred but elections are about winning votes and seats and each unionist party wants to make gains. That can only happen at the expense of their putative allies. Consequently, there are obvious divisions of approach from each.Currently, some want the DUP to crash the Executive by withdrawing Emma Little Pengelly from the Office of First and Deputy First Minister. Some want to chastise Sinn Féin by restricting Michelle O’Neill’s ability to do her job. Blocking her – and by extension Emma Little-Pengelly - from going to a meeting with the British PM and First Ministers of Scotland and Wales, hurt the North. Others within the DUP appear to be backing Carla Lockhart and making a push against Gavin Robinson, the DUP leader. This week the big question being asked of Carla; ‘will she won’t she jump’ to the TUV or into becoming an independent? – may finally be answered.People Power on UnityThree months ago An Taoiseach Micheál Martin urged Fianna Fáil TDs and Seanadóirí to push back against the increasingly vocal calls for the unity referendums promised in the Good Friday Agreement. To underline his opposition to the popular demand for the Irish government to plan for unity Martin said, “I go bananas when fellows talk to me and say, ‘What about a Border poll?’.However, last week Micheál Martin appeared to U-turn on this. In an interview in the Irish Times he announced that he was creating a new government body to “study and evaluate the issues adjacent to the unity question.” Martin’s plan is to “explore three baseline scenarios: a 32 country united Ireland; a continuation of the link between Northern Ireland and Britain and a new united Ireland but with a devolved Northern Ireland.”And FinallyOn Saturday the Moore Street Preservation Trust is hosting a ‘Reclaim Moore Street Rally’ at 1pm in Moore Street. The rally is demanding that the Irish Government purchase the entire Moore Street terrace and develop a 1916 Historic Cultural Quarter in the area. The rally will feature music from Frances Black and Evelyn Campbell, and will be addressed by Mary Lou McDonald TD, Cllr Donna Cooney and Prionsias Ó Rathaille. 

Honouring Máire DrummLast Sunday a series of events took place in South Armagh and in Belfast to remember Leas Uachtarán Shinn Fein Máire Drumm. Máire was shot to death by unionist gunmen in the Mater Hospital in Belfast fifty years ago. One of the Belfast events last weekend was at her grave in Milltown Cemetery. The other was in the grounds of the Roddy McCorley Heritage Centre. Órlaithí Flynn MLA chaired the ceremony and Carál Ní Chuilín MLA gave the main address. Seamus Drumm, Máire’s son, and I planted a tree in her memory. We were joined by George Stagg, brother of Frank Stagg who died on hunger strike in 1976. George was in Belfast for the play about his brother that was performed at the weekend in Ionad Eileen Howell/St. Comgalls.Máire was born Máire McAteer on Kelly’s Road, Killean, on 22 October 1919. It was the year before the British Government of Ireland Act partitioned Ireland. The Story of Kevin Barry Memorial HallI have been in and out of 44 Parnell Square, (Kevin Barry Memorial Hall) in Dublin for more years than I care to remember. It is Sinn Féin’s Head Office and for a time it was where the An Phoblacht and then An Phoblacht/Republican News was produced. It started life around 1760 as a residence but the house has had a long association with Republican activism and been witness to significant political developments in the struggle for Irish freedom.Micheál MacDonncha, Sinn Féin Dublin Councillor, former editor of An Phoblacht/Republican News, and an insightful writer and historian, will be publishing a book telling the story of 44 Parnell Square on 1 Novemberhttps://sinnfeinbookshop.com/products/kevin-barry-memorial-hall-the-story-of-44-parnell-square Save Moore Street – Buy the Terrace!On 7 November at 1pm The Moore St. Preservation Trust will be holding a rally in Moore St. in support the Campaign to save and protect one of the most important historic sites in Ireland’s long struggle for freedom.16 Moore Street was the last meeting place of five of the seven signatories of the Proclamation - the leaders who planned and led the 1916 Easter Rising. 14-17 Moore St. were bought by the government 19 years ago for a national monument. The rest of the 1916 Battlefield site is in the hands of a London based developer – Hammerson - that plans to knock it down. In the two decades since, 14-17 remain derelict. No work has commenced on building the national monument and interpretative centre that was promised.The rally on 7 November is part of a long running campaign to Save Moore St. and is demanding that the Irish Government take Moore Street and its laneways into public ownership to secure and protect them.There will be music and song by Frances Black and Evelyn Campbell, street theatre and much more as we stand together for Moore Street. So come along and join us – join the campaign to protect our history and secure Moore Street’s future.Save the Date: 7 November Moore St.  Dónal LunnyDónal Lunny’s death has robbed us all of one of the great innovators of Irish music. Dónal was one of the giants of Ireland’s traditional music and a central figure in the revival and expansion of Irish music for over sixty plus years. From Emmet Spiceland to Planxty, The Bothy Band to Moving Hearts and many celebrated musical collaborations.Dónal brought his unique talents to numerous film scores and music documentaries. He fused ancient Irish traditional airs and tunes with modern influences and non-traditional instruments. He played with the greats of Irish ceol most famously with Christy Moore, his friend of over sixty years. Together they and others supported the women prisoners in Armagh and the Blanket Men in the H Blocks.  

Up the MurphMy mother was allocated a house in Ballymurphy in the mid 50’s. It was 11 Divismore Park, at the corner of Glenalina road. At around the same time, Maureen McKee was allocated a house in the same street, 20 Divismore Park. It was just across the street from us. Maureen and Josie ‘Boxer’ McKee had fourteen children. Rosie, Josie, Seamus, Packie, Ned, Martin, Cookie, Anthony, Chick, Delores, Bernie, Maureen, Maggie and Tessie. Big families were the norm in those days, there were 13 of us also. And they like us, came from the Falls. Maureen was from Ton Street, ‘Boxer’ was a boxing coach with the Immaculata Club. He was from Baker Street.PostscriptAs we go to print Micheál Martin at long last has said that he and his party would be bringing forward some proposals and ideas on the issue of Irish Unity. I welcome that. And I look forward to seeing what he produces.An Taoiseach said: “There needs to be strong objective information that lays it on the table about what needs to be done …” I could take issue with the rest of his remarks but I won’t. Readers will know that this is not the first time Micheál Martin has made such a commitment. But it’s good that Fine Gael and now Fianna Fáil are going to set out their positions. 

AN OPEN LETTER TO MY ORANGE NEIGHBOURSA Chairde,Now that the British Secretary of State - recently landed among us – has banned the Portadown Lodge march on Garvaghy Road all of us should take time for a quiet reflection. Time also to be thankful that the stand-off was peaceful.You and the people of Garvaghy Road deserve credit for that.All thinking people want to see our society moving beyond the sectarian hatred that has cursed us for so long.Division in our country was created and is exploited to keep us apart. This is our home place. Your homeland as well as mine. The land of the Orange and the Green and many others as well. We have a deeply toxic past and a troubled present. But we have the opportunity to build a peaceful shared future.Many of us disagree with aspects of what the loyal orders believe in and they disagree with us. But there is no harm in that if we can respect and tolerate our differences.We recognise that you are an integral part of the culture and heritage of some of our Protestant and unionist fellow citizens. And an important dimension of the deep well of our wider history. And our future on this island.2,507 notified parades took place this year up to March 2026. Only 137 had restrictions imposed on them and 51 of these were connected to weekly parades in Portadown relating to Drumcree.That means that the vast majority of Orange and Loyal Order parades - 2,370 - took place without any controversy or issue.The Outdoor Relief RiotsFollowing the Wall Street crash in 1929 and the economic crisis it created unemployment across the North stood at approximately 40%, with nationalist areas especially hard hit because of decades of discrimination. Life was hard for working people, including working class Protestants. Poverty was endemic. A survey conducted in the 1930s concluded that 36% of the population was in absolute poverty. That meant they had little food, clothing or fuel to sustain health. Belfast children from unemployed families were on average two to three inches shorter and ten pounds slighter than those in middle class areas.The welfare scheme at that time was called ‘Outdoor Relief.’ To qualify an unemployed person had to work on public employment schemes, paving roads, digging up roads, laying pipes, digging ditches and so on. Those unable to carry out this physical work were often reduced to starvation. The scheme was administered for the Stormont regime by 27 local Board of Guardians whose relief rate was half that of similar schemes in Britain.Michael Farrell in his exceptional book ‘The Orange State’ records how; “Single men who got no work, single girls, widows and orphans had either to live off their relations or to go into the workhouse.”Save Moore Street – Buy the Terrace!The Moore St. Preservation Trust is holding a rally on Saturday, November 7th, at 1 p.m. to support the campaign to protect one of the most important sites in Ireland’s history. Moore Street is where the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising met for the last time following the retreat from the burning GPO.The Moore St. Preservation Trust, the families of the Signatories to the Proclamation and others have opposed plans by a British developer Hammerson to destroy much of this Battlefield site.I would urge readers to join the Moore St. Preservation Trust on November 7 in demanding that the Irish Government take Moore Street into public ownership and secure, protect and build a 1916 Historical Cultural Quarter for future generations.There will be music, street theatre and much more as we stand together for Moore Street.  Join us to demand action, protect our history and secure Moore Street’s future. 

No Pasarán- They Shall not PassSunday’s rally on the Garvaghy Road was amazing, wonderful. Over many years of activism, I have attended countless rallies but Sunday was special. It lifted the spirits of the thousands who were there. From the speakers, to the musicians, to the thousands standing and applauding, and to the many more watching on social media, the overwhelming message and focus of the rally was about the future. A better future. A different future. A new future in which the rights of all are respected.The mood was also defiant and determined. Given the implications of the disastrous decision by the Parades Commission that was to be expected. But it was also positive. A community refusing to allow the past to dictate its future. With one voice those present were rejecting supremacism. Asserting loudly and clearly that bigotry and sectarianism have no place in our society. Instead, they want the promise of the Good Friday Agreement, of equality and parity of esteem. Of respect. Of rights.The Battle of Cable StreetSunday marked the 90th anniversary of the ‘Battle of Cable Street’ in the East End of London in 1936. Its historic importance is in the resistance of the working class people of that part of London to a march by Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists (BUF) into a mostly Jewish community. Its contemporary significance lies in the parallels with contentious parades here, and in particular the solidarity of those standing with the residents of the Garvaghy Road.The 1930s saw the rise of fascism across Europe and in Britain. Thousands of people were fleeing persecution in fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. The concentration camps, first established in 1933 in Germany, were already full of trade unionists, Jews, left wing activists, the disabled, homosexuals, and political opponents of fascism. The East End of London saw an influx of Jewish refugeesThe Great Depression of 1929 had caused huge hardship for working people. The fascists were intent on exploiting the refugees and scapegoating them as the source of the problems facing working people. A tactic still used today."We have him back!"  - Brave Frank StaggOn 24 and 25 October a deeply evocative play about the death in February 1976 of hunger striker Frank Stagg will be presented in Ionad Eileen Howell – St. Comgalls, Divis Street in Belfast. The play is written by Brían MacSuibhne and is set in Leigue Cemetery, Ballina, Co. Mayo where Frank was initially buried by the Irish state after stealing his body and then reburied beside his fellow Mayo hunger striker Michael Gaughan.The play is a historically accurate and deeply human account of the events surrounding the three funerals of Frank Stagg. George Stagg, Franks brother, will speak on both nights. He says the play “conveys my brother Frank with honesty, dignity and accuracy. It honours not only his sacrifice, but the pain, courage and determination of our family in the face of Frank’s treatment even after his death.”  Almost two years after the Irish state buried Frank against the family’s wishes in a grave which they then concreted over, George and some comrades successfully extracted Frank’s coffin and on a cold and wet November night reburied him beside his friend and comrade Michael Gaughan.The play has been developed with the co-operation of the Stagg family.“We Have Him Back! tells the story of a mother watching her son die, a wife confronting official falsehoods, a sister struggling to understand, and a brother whose love and resolve would not allow history to be buried in silence. Weaving documented conversations, world and national news, music, and life in 1970s rural Ireland Grounding the personal tragedy into a wider historical moment.”Tickets are available at:https://www.ticketsource.com/whats-on?q=Frank+Staggg 

Garvaghy Road – No Going Back. As I write this column the situation on the Garvaghy Road is no closer to resolution. The Orange Order wants to walk through a nationalist community. The residents say no.Outside of political unionism there has been widespread anger and shock at the decision of the Parades Commission to make a determination to facilitate that march. In July the Commission had said no to a march. What changed? If it was wrong for the Orange to march in July, or for the last 28 years, why is it ok in September? The Commission needs to explain this. Clearly and publicly.The PSNI also needs to publish and explain its advice to the Parades Commission. The PSNI Chief Constable has a case to answer.So too with the British Secretary of State. Flying in from Wales to his Castle here to treat us to meaningless NIO double speak is insulting to us all. Including the Orange. The sooner we get the British government out of our affairs the better.  But in the meantime let’s try not to get too angry at the usual NIO scripted PR platitudes and patronising sound bites. I was on Garvaghy Road thirty years ago during all those dark days. I was back on Sunday. Fair play to the folks there, to the Residents’ Coalition and its leaders and to all who made a stand in support of the people of Garvaghy Road. Very well done. Gaza - Largest concentration camp in WorldIn 2009 I visited the Gaza Strip. The Israeli siege of the Palestinian territory had been going on for around four years. Gaza was at that time the largest open air prison in the world. Twenty-one years later and it has been blasted beyond recognition by Israel and is now the largest concentration camp in the world. An estimated 75,000 Palestinians are dead, including over 20,000 children. Thousands more lie buried beneath the rubble.The genocide began three years ago next week. The anger of many in the world at Israel was witnessed last week in the United Nations when many of the delegates walked out when Netanyahu got up to speak. To its shame the Irish government chose to stay. Later in his speech Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the General Assembly that, “when the full truth of what has happened - what is still happening - in Gaza is finally known, when the evidence is gathered, when the testimonies are heard, when the true horrors are finally and fully revealed, it will shame the world. Nobody will be able to say that we did not know. Let it not be said that we did not act.”Another PollOnce upon a time elites ‘read the runes’ as a way of foretelling the future. For some it was about interpreting symbols carved into stones or bones. For others it involved reading the entrails of animals. The practice is called haruspicy and it was about predicting the future.Today, we have opinion polling to discern the mood of people and their likely attitude to specific issues, mostly but not exclusively in respect of elections.Hardly a week goes passed without a media broadcaster, newspaper or academic institution producing an opinion poll. I have a healthy scepticism of polls. Long experience North and South has led me to question their accuracy, especially when looking at the Sinn Féin vote. However, they can be a useful barometer of the public mood at a given time and of possible emerging trends.Opinion polls have also focussed on the related issues of Irish Unity and a referendum on Irish Unity.

Micheál bottled itAs Fianna Fáil this year marks its 100th birthday, where does it stand on the issue of Irish Unity? According to its Constitution, Fianna Fáil’s first aim is; “To secure in peace and agreement the unity of Ireland and its people.” Very worthy but has the party in or out of government during the last century actually done anything to achieve it?Currently, while the conversation on unity is daily taking place An Taoiseach Micheál Martin is seen by many as the greatest impediment to progress. When asked he waffles and generally dissembles. Ethnic Cleansing of PalestiniansImagine, if at any point during the decades of conflict, the RUC and British Army had invaded Ballymacarrett/Short Strand in East Belfast and forcibly evicted its residents and systematically destroyed every home, shop, school, St. Mathew’s, and tore up the roads, sewage and water infrastructure. Imagine too if this policy had been applied to other nationalist areas like Crossmaglen or the Bogside.This is the reality of life for the Palestinian people of the west Bank at this time. A new report by B’Tselem – an Israeli human rights organisation - is a damning indictment of Israeli aggression and apartheid against the Palestinians. It records, in its detailed 200 page report, entitled ‘The Elimination Project,’ that as of June this year 64 Shepherding communities have been forcibly expelled from their homes. In the last 20 months the Israeli military has also displaced 33,000 Palestinians from the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps. It destroyed homes, buildings and infrastructure.Imagine, if at any point during the decades of conflict, the RUC and British Army had invaded Ballymacarrett/Short Strand in East Belfast and forcibly evicted its residents and systematically destroyed every home, shop, school, St. Mathew’s, and tore up the roads, sewage and water infrastructure. Imagine too if this policy had been applied to other nationalist areas like Crossmaglen or the Bogside.This is the reality of life for the Palestinian people of the west Bank at this time. A new report by B’Tselem – an Israeli human rights organisation - is a damning indictment of Israeli aggression and apartheid against the Palestinians. It records, in its detailed 200 page report, entitled ‘The Elimination Project,’ that as of June this year 64 Shepherding communities have been forcibly expelled from their homes. In the last 20 months the Israeli military has also displaced 33,000 Palestinians from the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps. It destroyed homes, buildings and infrastructure. The B’Tselem report is available: https://www.btselem.org// Buíochas  I consider it a great honour for me to have a column  published by the Belfast Media Group. I don’t know how many people pay heed to my musings but I am grateful to have a platform to write about whatever takes my fancy. Thats’ what the Andersontown News and The Irish Echo do. They provide an alternative viewpoint to the line  promolgated  by the establishment media. An inclusive community based response.You don’t have to agree with the editorial line all the time but I for one, and many many others have an affinity with our Andytown News that we will never have with other newspapers.  A newspaper of its own is a mighty asset for any community to have.

Indepth conversation with the new MLA for West Tyrone, Paul Boggs. 

The Dis-United Kingdom.Several weeks ago British PM Andy Burnham sparked a furious debate over future constitutional change and Irish Unity with his crass comment that it was ‘off the table.’The Unionist parties were delighted.Fast forward two weeks and an endorsement of a united Ireland by US President Donald Trump has ignited another energetic conversation around the issue. Speaking during his visit President Trump, sitting beside An Taoiseach Micheál Martin, whose opposition to planning for unity is well known, said he would love to see a united Ireland – it would be a ‘fantastic thing.’ He repeated this several times over the following two days.The unionist parties were not delighted.President Trump’s remarks are welcome, even though this column profoundly differs with him on many other matters, especially US foreign policy including the genocide against the Palestinian people. President Trump’s comments reflect broad north American sentiment and particularly that of Irish America towards Irish reunification. Since the days of President Clinton, who played an important role in the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement, there has been a bi-partisan approach on Capitol Hill. Successive American administrations have reflected a more positive and progressive position on Ireland. This bodes well for the future.  Kieran Nugent – The First BlanketmanSeveral hundred former political prisoners gathered in Ionad Eileen Howell – St. Comgall’s on Saturday for the launch of a new book - ‘Kieran Nugent – The First Blanketman’ edited by Danny Morrison. It was an emotional event with former comrades recalling Kieran’s courage and heroism in the face of a brutal prison regime. Kieran’s daughters Rae and Eileen and grandchildren Michael John, and Michael were present.50 years ago, on 14 September 1976, Kieran was the first Republican political prisoner to be sent to the H-Blocks. Britain’s criminalisation strategy was determined that Republican prisoners would no longer be classified as political. That meant political prisoners wearing a criminal uniform and acquiescing to the prison regime.Desmond Greaves Summer SchoolLast week I wrote in advance about participating in the Desmond Greaves Summer School. A packed Unite Trade Union Hall in Dublin on Sunday was the venue. The clár dealt with a number of important issues including a talk by Ray Bassett and me about the importance of the Good Friday Agreement.I want to thank Anthony Coughlan, Kevin McCorry, Daltún Ó Ceallaigh and all of those who organised the 36th summer school for their invitation to take part.