The Simple Truth About The Irish Sugar Industry . In the past week or so , the remains of the sugar industry in this State has again come under attack from outside interests : with this in mind , we re-print a document which was first published 17 years ago (1989) .
The Simple Truth About The Irish Sugar Industry .
Address by Ruairi O Bradaigh , Uachtaran , at a meeting of Comhairle na Mumhan (Munster Executive) ,Sinn Fein Poblachtach , in Killaloe , County Clare , on Sunday 19 February 1989 .......
The EEC is committed to unbridled capitalist exploitation of workers and resources across national boundaries ; indeed the current fashionable flavour '1992' aims specifically to intensify this process .
Once you accept this , and the SEA package aimed to bring it about , it is futile to complain when native Irish sectors are undermined . As futile as it is to try and promote ' Buy Irish' campaigns and to complain about emigration . The EEC and the SEA aim to make emigration easier .
There is no 'home market' anymore : German , Dutch , French and British big business has a 'right' - encouraged 'officially' - to buy out valuable Irish assets . ' Regional Policy' for islands like Ireland is little more than facilitating the further integration of our national wealth into the EEC conglomeration through the development of a minimal infrastructure - to facilitate the transport of goods and people in both directions . Next year , 1990 , sees the effective ending of the inadequate IDA industrial policy based on tax-holidays which has been operating since 1958 .
'New Industry' in the greater part of Ireland from then on will be confined to tourism and the development of golf courses as well as a few pickings in minority craft and natural resource areas .......
(MORE LATER).
FIANNA FAIL - THE MASK OF DE VALERA ....... From 'AP/RN' , August 10th , 1989 .
(No 'By-Line')
In spite of his radical-sounding social and economic policies of 1932 and 1933 de Valera was careful never to threaten the wealthy ; his fostering of Irish industry behind tariff walls won the business people and industrialists to the side of Fianna Fail .
In his 1937 Constitution he enshrined the right of private property above the common good and rejected the radicalism of the First Dail's Democratic Programme . But the electorate saw no progressive alternative to Fianna Fail and its policies proved popular : its limited social welfare measures , job creation and housing provision broadened its appeal particularly among the urban working class . By 1943 it had won 45 per cent of the vote in Dublin .
By 1936 , de Valera felt strong enough to take on the IRA ; the military tribunal was revived , the IRA banned and Volunteers jailed in Arbour Hill Prison . Fianna Fail had swept the ground from under the IRA , politically , and retained its own popular image as a 'republican party' * : it would tolerate no challenge to its authority and the IRA was ruthlessly suppressed ....... ( * '1169...' Comment - ....and Fianna Fail , today , is still attempting to 'trade' on whatever little 'republican' credential it may have tripped over in its past . )
(MORE LATER).
BILLY WRIGHT , LOYALIST VOLUNTEER FORCE . " I have been prepared to die for long many a year . I don't wish to die , but at the end of the day no one will force their opinion down my throat . No one . "
On August 29 , 1996 , shortly before the 'Combined Loyalist Military Command's' death threat against him expired , EMER WOODFUL interviewed LVF leader BILLY WRIGHT in his Portadown home .......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , February 1998 .
Emer Woodful : " But how do you feel about the way many members of the Catholic community have been treated by loyalist paramilitaries , for example ? "
Billy Wright : " I can understand their feelings , and as a man that has buried three of his own family , I can sympathise with them . Nevertheless , I hold my views dear to my heart and I think by and large that the unionist population has been the biggest victim in all of this conflict . "
Emer Woodful : " You say you lost three of your own family members . What are your feelings about the recent killings in mid-Ulster , like the brutal killing of Michael McGoldrick , the taxi driver from Lurgan ; the young tennis player Gareth Parker in Belfast ; and Niall Donovan , who went to a chipper in a Protestant part of Dungannon , who was brutally murdered and , I think , who's innards were actually taken out ? "
Billy Wright : " Well , I know like all other killings , I wish that they did'nt take place . "
Emer Woodful : " But would you condemn them ? "
Billy Wright : " I don't know the circumstances of them , but I could say that I do sympathise with the families , but having been through it myself , I hope and pray that the IRA will call a permanent cease-fire , and that death and destruction will be gone forever from Northern Ireland ( sic) . But I will take the Sinn Fein line and say there's no point in condemnation . "
(MORE LATER).
LIAM MELLOWS AND THE IRISH CIVIL WAR .......This is the bulk of a public lecture given at University College , Galway , by Sinn Fein Ard Comhairle member and Deputy General Secretary of the 'Local Government and Public Services Union' , Phil Flynn , on December 8th 1982 , the 60th Anniversary of the Free State's execution of Liam Mellows .
First published in 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983 .
The medium-sized Irish bourgeoisie deserted imperialism , joined the national movement and took control of it ; they had never asked for more than a modest degree of 'Home Rule' - they were now satisfied with the imperialist concession of Dominion Status (...like this shower of wasters) which would permit them to become the 'ruling class' within Ireland .
On the other hand , the nationally conscious workers and small farmers , who had done most of the fighting , demanded an independent Irish Republic and they were willing to resume the war if the British did not meet that demand . The British offered 'Dominion Status' , and combined the 'offer' with a threat to resume the war if Ireland continued to demand an independent Republic - the offer satisfied the larger Sinn Fein property owners but failed to satisfy the workers and smaller 'peasants' , and the threat of war gave the big property owners , anxious to safeguard what they had 'won' , a direct interest in quelling the Republicans , whose continued activity against imperialism would put what they had 'won' in jeopardy.
The Sinn Fein bourgeoisie were joined by the Anglo-Irish and by the 'large' Irish bourgeoisie .......
(MORE LATER).
