Aitheasc an Uachtaráin Ruairí Ó Brádaigh don 85ú Ard-Fheis de Shinn Féin in Óstlann an Spa , Leamhcán , Co. Atha Cliath , 21ú agus 22ú Deireadh Fómhair , 1989 /
Presidential Address of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh to the 85th Ard-Fheis of Sinn Féin in the Spa Hotel , Lucan , County Dublin , 21st and 22nd October 1989.....
" In the Leinster House election at the same time we stated in a leafletting blitz throughout the 26 counties that it was a failed institution that was not going to deliver any solutions to Ireland's problems. The first step towards revbuilding this country is the total withdrawal of British forces and administration from Ireland and a 32-county election for one national parliament. That remains our alternative to the Leinster House cul-de-sac.
Let us take the opportunity at this Ard-Fheis to publicly salute Irish Republican prisoners in Irish , British or other foreign jails. Some of them are now longer in jail than the Fenians in Victorian England , passing the fifteen-and-a-half years highwater mark endured by Tom Clarke, the 1916 signatory , in English jails. We pledge our support to you and extend solidarity greetings to all Basque , Corsican and Breton prisoners and all those imprisoned fighters for justice throughout the world.
It is proper for us also to acknowledge here the good work done in the last year by other branches of the Republican Movement : the women of Cumann na mBan, the youth of Na Fianna Éireann and the dedicated personnel of CABHAIR, the Irish Republican Prisoners' Dependants Fund. Each has a vital role to play in the Movement and all of them have a call on our time , energy and resources. There is a place for every contribution and a role for every person within our ranks....."
(MORE LATER).
MURDERER , LIAR , OR BOTH.......?
(* '1169...' Comment - their word, not ours.)
From 'MAGILL' magazine, December 1997. By Ursula Halligan.
When asked why the gardaí did not intervene to save John Corcoran , Seán O' Callaghan said he never received an explanation. He said it was a "cock-up" and could have been avoided . His own theory is that the gardaí didn't take his warnings seriously , because they believed he could handle the situation on his own , as he had done previously in a similar situation involving another garda informer in Cork. He wouldn't say who that was.
" That's one explanation . The other is that they simply were not going to compromise me. The 'Marita Ann' ( a gun-running ship intercepted by gardaí in 1984) had happened and , if they rescued John Corcoran , then the finger of suspicion would point to me . I'm just guessing this . Someone , somewhere may have deemed that I was a million times more valuable , as an informer, than John Corcoran was to the gardaí..." , he said.
(MORE LATER).
CABHAIR : organising fund-raisers for the Republican prisoners and supporting them on the streets....This weekend will , yet again, see the CABHAIR organisation hold another function for the POW's that it supports ; one of these will be held on Sunday 8th August 2010 in Dublin and , the day before that , in Belfast, a 'Political Status' march through the streets will be held , assembling at 1.30PM at Dunville Park and marching from there to Castle Street.
We on this blog are proud to be associated with such an organisation , and have met and befriended some of its many members and activists throughout this country , and from abroad. For the most part , it's an organisation that stays mostly 'off radar' , content to work away in the 'back-ground' , doing what it does best - helping to ensure that as much money as possible is available to the families of the Irish Republican prisoners which it supports.
It is maintaining the proud tradition of Irish Republicanism that it has always held , and is to commended for doing so.
Thanks!
Sharon.