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A round-up of the messages and orations delivered around Ireland to mark the 108th anniversary of the Easter Rising.
Address to Unfinished Revolution Easter Commemoration
A chairde agus a chomrádaithe,
Tá fáilte romhaibh go léir anseo inniú. You are all very welcome to the 2024 Unfinished Revolution Easter Commemoration.
Friends and comrades, I am proud to stand here today with you all outside the historic GPO, the revolutionary headquarters of the 1916 revolution, and site of where that inspirational document, the Proclamation of the Irish Republic was read out 108 years ago. We remember and honour the brave men and women of Easter Week and also all those who sacrificed their lives in the pursuit of Irish freedom before and after 1916 and we rededicate ourselves today to continue that struggle.
We remember our comrades today who can’t be with us and those that are incarcerated in British and Free State jails for continuing the work of the Unfinished Revolution. We praise the ongoing work of the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association who support republican prisoners and their families and raise issues that affect them.
Our POWs of today are the latest in a continuous lineage that includes the unbreakable Anne Devlin, the great Fenian O’Donovan Rossa, James Connolly, Padraig Pearse and the leaders of 16, Bobby Sands and the rest of the Republican dead who gave their lives for freedom. Like those brave men and women, our POWs are dedicated and unbowed.
We are here today because these men and women are a vitally important part of our history. The counter revolutionary Free State have tried to claim our history as their own and ban the term Óglaigh na hÉireann unless it’s used in relation to the so called defence forces of the 26 counties.
We defy them here today and call on people to honour all Óglaigh who have died in Ireland’s proud freedom struggle and indeed salute all Óglaigh who continue to resist the occupation of our country. There is no better tribute to those who fought and died behind me, than to volunteer for your community, your country, your class and fight for the Republic we all deserve.
We send revolutionary greetings to all oppressed peoples and imprisoned political prisoners worldwide with a special message of solidarity to our Palestinian brothers and sisters suffering under the brutal Zionist genocide. This tragedy-in-Realtime underlines the moral hypocrisy of the West, and especially the United States who speak the language of peace and conciliation, all the while supplying weapons of war to help with the eradication of an entire nation. It would be well to remember these are same people the Free State want to hitch their wagon to.
As we gather here today in homage and respect to these great heroes, scholars, socialists, educators, poets, and trade unionists the patriotic men and women of 1916 we ask ourselves what would they think of the Ireland of today.
They would see a partitioned country, a republic in name only in the south that has handed sovereignty over to faceless EU bureaucrats; a country governed by gombeen men, their worthlessness only matched by their servility. They have moulded a nation in their image and because of them we have a housing system beset by parasitic native-born landlords and multinational vulture funds who profit from what should be a basic human right. A generation of children condemned to homelessness, a health system fit for the scrap heap, a cost-of-living crisis hitting the poorest in society, and an unacknowledged haemorrhaging of young people from our shores is met with spin and silence from Leinster House. Níl muintir na Gaeltachta in ann teach a fháil ina gceantar féin.
In the north, they would see a 6 county statelet formed out of Unionist ignorance and British treachery. An Orange state set up to keep one section of the community in perpetual servitude. It is a state that still persecutes Irish Republicans, only now gleefully administered by Sinn Fein. We have MI5 led police and gaol administration’s attempts to break the republican movement. There is no ceasing of the stop and searches, internment by Remand, draconian conditions, and approaches by sinister forces of British intelligence.
The failure of the left is damning, both in their failure to connect with the working class they claim to represent, and in their utter and wilful ignorance of partition. Some of the left here are more aligned with American style liberalism who talk at the working class and as a consequence have allowed reactionary elements to gain a foothold in our communities. They are more interested in fighting useless culture wars than the class war that needs to be waged. Don’t be fooled by those that promise ‘change’ by entering the two stooge administrations while they ignore challenging the biggest elephants in the room, British and EU imperialism.
We remain steadfast in our position that ‘Revolution is the only solution.’
What of our movement today? Standing here today we remember the words of the great James Connolly when facing court martial who said.
“Believing that the British Government has no right in Ireland, never had any right in Ireland, and never can have any right in Ireland, the presence, in any one generation of Irishmen, of even a respectable minority, ready to die to affirm that truth, makes that Government for ever a usurpation and a crime against human progress.”
Connolly’s words remain as true today as they were then. Unfortunately, the stink of British imperialism still lingers over the entire island. All of us here know the Good Friday Agreement was a grave setback thanks to the arrogance of a small minority of so-called republicans. The leadership of Sinn Fein were seduced, bought, and turned and came to view a place at the Stormont table as the ultimate goal. Now these former Republicans at Stormont administer British laws, advance British agendas, and bow and kneel before the crown.
However, an equally insidious form of imperialism is at our doors; an economic and bureaucratic imperialism embodied by a slavish embrace of free market “voodoo economics.” The lack of debate around Ireland’s future in the EU is deeply troubling to Republicans as is the move towards militarization of the EU from pocket dictators like Macron. We cannot and should not be dictated to by the EU bureaucrats. A United States of Europe is just a few short years away, and our neutrality and sovereignty is ever more being willingly legislated out of existence by the actions of dim-witted place-hunting shoneens in Leinster House. We remember our so called “partners” in Europe threatening a bomb going off in Dublin at the highpoint of the last financial crisis, a feature of capitalism that will happen again, as sure as night follows day.
We, as Republicans need to confront the looming danger of the current structure and direction of the EU. We need to educate our supporters and the wider public. It is not simply a matter of ‘Brits Out’ but to lay out our means and methods if we are to have any real chance of genuine independence or sovereignty.
This is a defining moment in our history, just like in 1916 it is up to you, to us and the current generation to keep the uncompromising revolutionary spirit alive. We can see no other option. If we fail to even attempt this then we are leaving the country to be socially, morally and culturally bankrupt.
We remember with the defiant words of Pearse who said. “You cannot conquer Ireland. You cannot extinguish the Irish passion for freedom. If our deed has not been sufficient to win freedom, then our children will win by a better deed.”
We are the true inheritors of Wolfe Tone, James Connolly, Padraig Pearse and Bobby Sands. Of the untold number of Fenian dead who fought and died for our country. We owe it to those who went before us and those who come after us to continue to strive for a Republic by whatever means necessary. Let’s leave here today invigorated and inspired. This fight needs to be fought in every sphere. Our message of resistance needs to echo in every corner of the land.
We know the hearts and minds of the Irish people. It does not take much to tap into genuine patriotism. That is why our movement suffers harassment and censorship from mi5 led forces north and south. As Bobby Sands said “You cannot put a rope around the neck of an idea.”
That idea, a 32 County Irish Republic, declared here 108 years ago is our goal and we need to be ready to embrace any and all strategies, and to battle the forces arrayed against us to achieve it.
We know the battle ahead is a hard road but struggle always is. We have been fighting this battle for centuries, an unequal fight against almost overwhelming odds. Yet on these streets, in the building behind me, a determined, idealistic and brilliant band of men and women faced down the might of an empire. These men and women, Óglaigh na hÉireann, the Irish Republican Army re-lit the patriotic flame that had long been dormant in the Irish people. We seek to re-awaken that spirit again.
Please join with us and help us to complete the Unfinished Revolution.
South Derry Easter Commemoration (1916 Societies), oration by Tommy McKearney
For Irish Republicans, Easter is a time when we gather to commemorate our fallen comrades and to pay tribute to their courage, to their valour and to the sacrifice they have made in the cause of an independent, sovereign, all Ireland Republic. Today we stand here at the gravesides of Volunteers Francis Hughes, Thomas McIlwee and Dominic McGlinchy in recognition of and acknowledgement of their dedication, their awesome bravery and heroism.
It is important also that we recognise the enormous debt we owe these heroes, and all the other countless martyrs and not just those of the most recent struggle but also over the decades and indeed centuries of our people’s resistance to occupation, oppression and tyranny.
Resistance has ever been a feature of our history and as we know only too well as we stand here by the graveside of Francis Hughes and Thomas McIlwee so often this resistance emanated from the fortitude of the imprisoned as they denied the oppressor the ability to criminalise the struggle for liberation. The iron will of the Fenian Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa or the enduring strength of Tom Clarke who wrote in a memoire that would resonate in many a prison cell throughout the century. It is appropriate to quote some lines:
“Humiliation might be heaped upon me with an unsparing hand and punishments, diabolically brutal, measured out for years, but never for one minute did I forget that I was an Irish political prisoner and, in spite of it all, never felt any degradation. The struggle has gone on for centuries and, in the course of it, a well trodden path has been made that leads to the scaffold and to the prison.”
Words written, mind you, shortly before he organised the first of the now annual pilgrimage to Wolfe Tone’s grave at Bodenstown, Co. Kildare, and done so as a counter to a royal visit of the new king of England, George V.
Easter is also a time for reflection. A time to consider, in light of the enormity of the contribution, of the scale of the sacrifice made by our heroic volunteers, that this is a time to think deeply about the vision that inspired them and the principles that motivated them. To do so is especially important at times like this when opportunistic tactics are employed in certain quarters in order to discredit our heroes and uncertainty prevails among others seeking to be accepted by their rulers.
First, look south of the border where re-unification is being fiercely resisted by the Free State ruling class.
Consider for a moment the absurdity of the newly installed leader of Fine Gael shouting about reclaiming the flag of the Republic. This, let us never forget, coming from a party that implemented the Treaty that overthrew the Republic in exchange for Dominion status within the British Empire. Perhaps it would be more appropriate if he were asked to take it down from the mast.
Then again there is the slanderous accusation of barbarism emanating from a reactionary former minister who seemingly has no awareness of atrocities carried out by his Free State in order to impose the treaty by force. Atrocities such as Ballyseedy Cross or closer to home for him, the executions on 8th December 1922 of Liam Mellows, Dick Barrett, Rory O’Connor and Joe McKelvey.
And while many might well ask, what else would you expect from that quarter, there are those closer to home who would care to claim the mantle of our heroes … But only when it suits their greater ambitions. Those who are ambivalent about which line to take, a group of people with principles so flexible that they appear to believe in the possibility of walking both sides of the road at the same time.
Would-be Republicans embracing and pandering in London to his newly crowned Britannic Majesty.
So-called anti-imperialists yet who cannot be advised against wining and dining with the Imperial Emperor in his lair.
Wannabe socialists cosying up to and giving solid reassurances to big business.
Not so much a party for all, as a party of all things to all people. As an American comedian once said; those are my principles and if you don’t like I have plenty others.
How starkly stands the contrast between the disingenuousness of long-term reactionaries joined now by ambivalent reformists with the unbending and unbreakable heart of our fallen comrades, the gallant patriots, Francis, Thomas and Dominic.
Let me be abundantly clear. No one can speak for the dead and I do not presume to do so. But what we can say unequivocally is the position they held and the ground they stood upon while alive. As the poet wrote;
“We know their dream; enough
To know they dreamed and are dead”
What we can say without contradiction is that Oglaigh Francis Hughes, Thomas McIlwee and Dominic McGlinchy had one objective and it was that set out clearly at that time by the Irish Republican Army and INLA in which they were proud to serve and which they so nobly served. And that objective was an independent, sovereign, all Ireland democratic socialist republic. And it was in pursuit of this very clear and noble objective for which the noble three buried in this cemetery laid down their lives.
These heroes had pledged their allegiance to a cause from which they would not deviate, echoing the immortal words of General Liam Lynch;
‘ … we have declared for an Irish Republic and will not live under any other law…’
And just as with General Lynch, they were to make the supreme sacrifice because of their loyalty to the Republic as proclaimed by Pádraig Mac Piarais from the GPO steps on Easter Monday 1916.
Before we leave this sacred spot where lies the mortal remains of our comrades, let us pay them the only and properly fitting tribute for the sacrifice they made and did so, never forget, for us and the generations to come. That tribute is to pledge ourselves to see the realisation of the vision they held. No halfway house, no damned good bargain, no steppingstone, no 32-County Free State.
Nothing less than the establishment of an independent, sovereign, all Ireland democratic socialist republic. It was for this our patriots laid down their lives and until that is achieved, we shall not rest.
Is i measc na laochra ullig a mbeidh siad go deo.
Easter Statement from the Leadership of the Republican Movement (Republican Sinn Fein)
On this significant occasion, marking the 108th Anniversary of the Easter Rising of 1916, the leadership of the Republican Movement sends heartfelt greetings to the Irish people worldwide.
As they gather at the graves and monuments of our patriot dead, who laid down their lives for the Irish Republic envisioned by Theobald Wolfe Tone, we reflect on the birth of this vision on the streets of Dublin in 1916. It has been defended by the dedication of Irish men and women over the past 108 years and, importantly, the journey towards its realisation remains an ongoing and unfinished mission.
Revolutionary greetings are extended to Sinn Féin Poblachtach, Cumann na mBan and Na Fianna Éireann, steadfast champions of the cause for a 32-County Irish Republic. In solidarity, we convey greetings to the Palestinian people, valiantly defending their country against the genocidal occupation imposed by the Israeli government. Warm wishes are also sent to our international comrades engaged in struggles against imperialist aggression and occupation in various parts of the world.
The acceptance of Partition continues to be an affront to the Republic envisioned by Theobald Wolfe Tone and remains the source of discontent for the people of Ireland, regardless of their religious affiliations — whether Protestant, Catholic or Dissenter.
England, having spent the spoils of our country’s resources, promoting and actively fuelling sectarian hatred, employing economic coercion, and maintaining demographic control to effectively hold the Irish people hostage, remains, in Tone’s words, “the never-failing source of all our political evils”.
However, these efforts can never dilute the enduring hunger for freedom and sovereignty within the Irish people. The historical scars of Partition persist, fuelling the struggle for an independent 32-County Irish Republic.
The Republican Movement reserves the right to defend the Irish Republic proclaimed in 1916 and ratified by the First Dáil in January 1919 following the election of 1918. The notion that English duplicity should indefinitely hold the Irish people spellbound to the rightful expectation of freedom shall not pass as a perpetual solution. We shall have our freedom; we remain the continuity of the Irish struggle.
We call on the Irish people to be mindful and recognise where we are on the roadmap to freedom; remember perfidious England throughout the saga of home rule acts and the slaughter of John Redmond’s Volunteers whom he sent out to fight “for the freedom of small nations”.
We call on you to join us and help sustain a strong Movement acting against the occupation of our country. It is our birthright to be free and we are fearful of the cajoling of nationalist politicians who have revised the year of freedom 2016 to the year of freedom 2036.
Irish Republicans see this as just another act of kicking the can down the road by political reformists who have lost their way and who will stand at the graves and commemorate our patriot dead, while at the same time we have to watch the so-called first minister for all standing for the English national anthem in Belfast recently.
It seems that the so-called peace process and getting their hands on the apparatus of power are more important. They will be out next telling the people of Ireland that a strong election in the Free State will put us a step closer to the Irish Republic when in fact it will be no more than an extension of the Stormont show.
Ruling by fooling, let those who sit at the top table believe they are in charge and let them implement British policy throughout the 32 counties of Ireland.
In conclusion the Leadership thanks our members and supporters for all they do to keep the Republican Movement on the road to freedom.
Continuity not compromise.
An Phoblacht Abú!
Republican Prisoners Easter Statement 2024 (IRPWA)
Republican Prisoners incarcerated in Portlaoise, Maghaberry and Hydebank Gaols send solidarity greetings to the leadership and members of the Republican Movement, our supporters and friends worldwide. We also take this opportunity to once again thank the IRPWA, Saoradh and Éistigí for their ongoing support of Irish Republican Prisoners and our families, and for the work done in highlighting the plight of Republican Prisoners across the island.
We also send revolutionary greetings to other incarcerated and occupied people around the world. We especially think of the Palestinian people, slaughtered in their tens of thousands with many more maimed and wounded. However, to the eventual detrement of the Zionist war machine, Palestine will live on! Palestine will be free from the river to the sea!
As Irish people well know, occupation and indiscriminate killing won’t frighten a people into submission. Alternatively, it drives further resistance. That resisitance is not something which oppressed people pick up and let go of at any given time or circumstances. It is something which breeds in us a result of being an oppressed people. The same logic applies to Republican Prisoners. Prisons by the very nature are an apparatus of the state designed to control those incarcerated in them. However, Republican Prisoners have always defied these measures. As Republican Prisoners, the very premis of our Republican ideology dictates that our resitance continues within the prison walls. This is what differentiates a Republican Prisoner from a social prisoner. The state wants to imprison Republicans, turn them into law abiding citizens and churn them out. As Republican Prisoners, imprisoned for our belief in a Socialist Republic, we do not buy into such occurrences. We will not be broken.
For Republican Prisoners, and Republicans on a broader front, Easter is a significant time in the Republican calendar which offers us a chance to reconnect with the core principles of the Republican Socialist ideology. We proudly reflect on those who made a revolutionary decision in 1916 to engage in political violence against the might of the British Empire. While not the first revolutionary act of violence on this island, nor the last, it was a hugely important one. It saw the coming together of the Irish Volunteers, The Irish Citizen Army, Cuman na mBan and other like minded Republican Socialists who wanted to not only break the connection with England, but also to create an Ireland for everyone based on socilaist principles. This revolutionary act went on to inspire additional generations of Republicans. 108 years ago men and women took a stand for Ireland knowing that they faced imprisonment, death, or both. The unselfishness of their deeds, knowing they would pay the full price for what they hoped could be achived for others should not be lost on us today.
However, Easter must not just be about reflection. It must also be about determination, endurance and dedication. If those who stood around O’ Donnanvan Rossa’s grave giving orations in 1915 were to simply reflect on the revolutionary actions of 1867 then there would have been no 1916. Instead, those in attendance, such as Clarke, Hueston, Mac Bride, and Casement went on to play a leading role in carrying Pearse’s message that Ireland Unfree Shall never be at peace. Within a year they had fashioned their own revolution. Cathal Brugha, also in attendance continued to carry on the message into the War for Indepenence. And that is our message from the prisons to those here today. Our revolutionary dead are best remembered by the continuing of the revolution. James Connolly didn’t give his life just to have his name sang a couple of times a year. Thomas Mc Donagh didn’t rise up so that someone can lower a flag in his name every twelve months. Thousands of men, women and children didn’t carry out revolutionary acts in 1916 to simply have their name hung up on a remote wall somewhere. They carried out their actions understanding that they may not be victorious, but they may keep the struggle alive for other generations. We are another generation!
As long as Britain occupies Ireland, there will always be a generation willing to carry on the struggle.
In the words of Thomas nc Donagh “...While Ireland Lives, the brain and brawn of her manhood will strive to destroy the last vestige of British rule in her territory.
Onwards to victory, onwards to a united Ireland.
Beidh ar lá linn.
Republican Prisoners
Portlaoise, Maghaberry and Hydebank Gaols.
Irish Republican Socialist Party Easter Oration
Friends and comrades,
We gather here at this sacred place every year to remember past sacrifices and to rededicate ourselves to the political ideals for which our comrades gave their lives. Easter is a special time for Irish Republicans and as we gather to mark the 1916 Rising and those heroes who took on the might of British imperialism one hundred and eight years ago in Dublin, we also rightfully remember all our comrades from the Irish National Liberation Army and the Irish Republican Socialist Party who died in the struggle for National Liberation and Socialism during the latest phase of the conflict. These were our friends, leaders in our communities, heroes of the struggle. We are proud of them all, each and every one of them, we are proud of their families and we will never forget what they gave up for us and for the Irish working class.
As we reflect on the Easter Rising our hearts resonate with the echoes of the past, pulsating with the fervor of those who fought, bled, and sacrificed for the noble cause of Irish freedom. It is a time of remembrance, a time of reflection, and a time of recommitment to the ideals that have animated our struggle.
Easter holds a profound significance for Irish Republicans, serving as a poignant reminder of the many thousands of ordinary people who dared to challenge the shackles of oppression, igniting a flame of resistance that continues to flicker in the darkest corners of our collective memory. Their sacrifices, their unwavering resolve, and their indomitable spirit serve as beacons of inspiration for us all.
We stand here today, not merely as individuals, but as inheritors of a legacy steeped in the blood and sweat of generations past. From the hallowed ground which holds the bodies of our fallen, the echoes of their voices resound, urging us onward in our quest for justice, equality, and liberation.
The Easter Rising of 1916 stands as a seminal moment of Irish history, a call to arms against the tyranny of British colonial rule. Led by visionaries such as James Connolly, Patrick Pearse, and Thomas Clarke, it was an audacious declaration of Ireland’s right to self-determination, a proclamation that reverberated across the globe, stirring the thoughts of liberation of oppressed peoples everywhere.
That flame of resistance has endured, flickering defiantly in the face of adversity, a testament to the indomitable spirit of the Irish people. It was a spirit forged in the crucible of oppression, tempered by the fires of adversity, and annealed by the bonds of solidarity.
And so, as we gather here today to commemorate the Easter Rising and honour the sacrifices of those who came before us, let us also recommit ourselves to the struggle for Irish unity and socialist emancipation whilst offering solidarity to revolutionaries throughout the world fighting for freedom. Let us heed the lessons of history, drawing strength from the courage of our forebears and the resilience of our people.
Today in Palestine our brothers and sisters are being slaughtered by a genocidal regime that would not exist if it weren’t for the full and unconditional support of corrupt western countries. But the resistance of the Palestinian people endures and thrives in the most horrendous circumstances. In past generations the Palestinians took inspiration from Irish struggles and now we look at them in awe as they stand defiantly against an attempted colonial genocide. We offer our continuing support and solidarity to all those fighting against the genocide in Gaza and wider Palestine.
This movement was founded in 1974 by Seamus Costello and the hundreds of activists from every corner of Ireland who he had gathered around him. This movement was needed as he seen the provisionals representing physical force republicanism without a political direction and on the other side the Officials giving up any semblance of republicanism and enthusiastically adopting reformism and the acceptance of this rotten northern state.
The decision then by those with the foresight to establish this movement has been borne out by events over the last half century. The officials experiment with reformism has made them politically irrelevant and fifty years later the provisional movement has gone much further than the Officials ever dreamed possible. Pandering to British royalty is seen by many within the republican community as a step too far. The Republican Socialist Movement has stayed true to the principles upon which we were founded in 1974 and in this anniversary year these principles remain the solid foundation of our movement. The fact we are here, growing and making differences in our communities shows us that the founders of this movement were entirely correct in their assessments of the official and provisional republican movements in 1974.
One famous slogan attributed to Seamus Costello was; “We owe our allegiance to the working class!” and when we reflect upon that we realise that we must listen to our neighbours, friends and work colleagues. They face real challenges and we need to be able to help where needed.
And whilst many people have come to Ireland, settled, integrated and thrived, many others have not. The far right are taking advantage of this situation by attempting to create division among our class based on nationality and skin colour and we must oppose this where we can. Those fermenting such tensions must be faced down and exposed for the scum that they are. Likewise the policy makers in Dublin, the political parties both in power and in opposition who support the current reckless policy are beginning to see the anger of ordinary working class people, most of whom are not far right or ideologically driven. But their anger is real and genuine. There are very real concerns that opportunistic far right groups, groups by the way that are connected to extreme loyalism in the north and far right fascist groups in the UK and Europe, are quietly manipulating and organising within communities.
We in the IRSP must and will, provide an alternative voice to the racism and hatred espoused by these groups. We have to be able to express the concerns of working class people and be in a position to provide leadership and support where it’s needed. Working class communities across Ireland, either by default or design, are becoming cannon fodder for the far right and we pledge to be better organised in many communities in order to empower those communities and to give no space for the far right to grow.
All political struggles are fraught with challenges. But with the spirit of the Easter martyrs as our guide and the legacy of the Rising as our inspiration, there is no obstacle too great and no adversary too formidable to overcome.
We all know what is to be done comrades, Ta Power, Gino Gallagher and Seamus Costello knew what had to be done. To succeed where others have failed before us is to create a fire in the hearts of every oppressed Irishman and Irish woman. We need them all to rise up with us. To create this mass movement we need a strong, motivated, relevant, class conscious and principled republican, Irish Republican Socialist Party.
There must be no ceasefire in the class war. The IRSP must use our Republican Socialist political agenda as the main weapon in our arsenal to undermine the confidence of our class in the institutions of capitalism and against the denial of our national sovereignty. The IRSP must step up our campaign to break the links with Britain and the corrupt European Union. We must strive to create an Ireland in which our entire class is bonded together in a community of purpose, of sustainability, of stability of united working class solidarity.
Our task is to help raise the living conditions of our class. To make an equal society in which we can all give our allegiance. Currently we have an unequal society in which the rich are getting richer off the backs of the wealth generators. All the while our class gets left behind by those born with a silver spoon in their mouths. We must strive to make sure that all the children of the nation have access to the prosperity that we are all working to build and those private corporations or off shore banks are not in a position to steal that wealth, rather it goes back to the people who generate it.
It’s only by convincing others of the IRSPs progressive political program that we grow the struggle for national liberation and socialism. Our vision for this island and its people must be confident, vibrant, contemporary and revolutionary. In the heart of every “Irp” beats an organic contempt for the institutions and people that represent the arrogant, greedy and condescending values of the small few who control so much at the top of the unequal society we live in, and have lived under for hundreds of years.
It is the same organic contempt for the elite that lives in us that drove the United Irishmen of 1798. It’s the contempt for those who would oppress us that drove the men and women of the 1916 Easter Rising. It’s the same contempt for all forms of injustice and oppression and the hope of creating something better that led to the creation of the Irish Republican Socialist Party and the Irish National Liberation Army in 1974.
And so, let us leave this place with heads held high and hearts ablaze with the fires of revolution, filled with pride for our fallen comrades and the cause for which they gave their lives, for it is a righteous cause, and the future belongs to those who dare to dream, to struggle, and to prevail. Victory will be ours comrades, Saoirse go deo!
Workers’ Party Belfast Easter oration
A chairde agus a chomrádaithe,
Tà fáilte romhaibh chuig ár gcomóradh ar Éirí Amach na Cásca. Tàimid bailithe anseo chun cuimhnuigh ar fhir agus ar mhná seachtsine na càsca, chomh maith lenár gcomrádaithe féin a fuair bás ar son na poblacht shoisialach.
We gather once again, as we have done each year for over a century, to remember and honour those who fought in Easter Week 1916; we come here to re-affirm our commitment to the ideals of the rising, to acknowledge the importance of the progressive and democratic vision of Pearse and Connolly and of the Easter Proclamation, and to commit ourselves once more to the struggle to achieve it.
Though we remain a proudly secular party, the symbolism of Easter has never been lost on us, nor was it lost on the leaders of Easter week, who saw in their sacrifice a moment of rebirth for the republican cause.
Our Easter Commemorations are a time to reflect on the sacrifice of our own comrades who have gone before us in the struggle for a Socialist Republic, yet they are also a time for us to look forward, to re-commit ourselves to their cause, to learn and draw inspiration from their example, to re-gather our strength and prepare ourselves to carry on that struggle for a new generation.
It is a time, also, to reassert our claim to the true Republican tradition, and to put forward our vision – the vision of Connolly and the Citizen Army – of a new Republic, a united, democratic, secular Socialist Republic.
Though we are separated now by 108 years, there are still many lessons we can take from Easter week. In 1916, as now, Europe and the middle east were being ravaged by imperialist war, while in Ireland, the workers’ movement was demoralised following the defeat of the Dublin Lockout.
The Irish working class were called upon by their rulers and by the nationalist leadership to fight in the service of empire, to take the part of the imperialist ruling class, who pitted the workers of Europe against each other.
This drive to war threw the European socialist movement into disarray, but the leaders of Easter week rejected this call, declaring proudly that their fight was against empire, and not against their fellow workers. In that time of national and international crisis, Connolly, Pearse, and the men and women of the Citizen Army and the Volunteers led by example and organised to strike a blow for Irish freedom against the overwhelming might of the British Empire.
That blow for freedom, that sacrifice, set an example that has inspired generations of republicans and socialists, and continues to do so, over 100 years later. Our own Party’s fight has long moved on to the terrain of democratic struggle, but the example of Easter week still guides our movement.
Comrades, we find ourselves at a critical juncture for the republican movement. The slowly shifting sands of demographic change, and the recent political upheavals of brexit have combined to bring the prospect of political reunification closer than it has been in 100 years.
There are many people on this island, people who claim for themselves the name of Republican, who are triumphant at this time, who believe that on the day when the narrowest of majorities has voted for unity, that the republican movement can declare victory. Yet in many ways, real national unity seems as far away now as 50 years ago.
Last month in Dublin we celebrated the life and work of our late comrade Tomas Mac Giolla, who played such an important role in setting our party on the path of republican socialism.
56 years ago in his presidential address to the 1968 Ard Fheis, he showed us the path towards true national unity: “It must be made clear”, he told us, “that republicans do not ask the people of the Six Counties to come into the existing Twenty Six-county state. We would not wish that fate on anyone. We ask the people of the Six Counties to join with the people of the Twenty Six counties in abolishing both states which serve only British imperialism, and in establishing a Democratic Socialist Republic for the whole island in which the workers who create the wealth decide how and where it is used”.
Those words are as important and as relevant today as they ever were.
They remind us that our struggle is not for the replacement of the orange with the green, and that our victory will not be won on the day when 51% percent vote for a united Ireland, or the union jack is hauled down over City Hall for the last time.
They remind us of the warning of Connolly, that If you remove the English Army tomorrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle, unless you set about the organisation of the Socialist Republic your efforts will be in vain.
They remind us that our victory will come on the day when Tone’s vision is realised, and the denominations of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter are finally replaced with the common name of Irishman.
Standing here today we also remember those of our comrades who gave their lives in the pursuit of that victory. These comrades committed themselves to the building of a true Workers’ Party, a party of all religions and of none, a party of those noble men of no property. This is Tone’s way, it is Connolly’s way, and it is Billy McMillan and Desi O’Hagan’s way. It is thanks to our comrades who have never hesitated, never surrendered, who in the most dangerous of times held the line, that we are able to say we will not only survive but we will win the day.
To honour their memory, we must continue to strengthen and rebuild our party, a party which can once again be the vanguard of a united working class, and take the lead in the creation of a workers’ republic. We must ensure that wherever the question of national unity is raised, we are there to be the voice of the working class. Our rallying cry must be that, this time, Labour will not wait.
Comrades, in the spirit of Easter, we come here to re-dedicate ourselves to our cause. In the history of our movement few better embody dedication to the revolutionary struggle than Liam Mellows. Imprisoned in Mountjoy Jail, Mellows wrote of the partitioned Free State that it was ‘’British created, British controlled and serves British Imperialist interests. It is the buffer erected between British Capitalism and the Irish Republic.’
Times have changed, and the power of the British empire has waned. On the world stage it has long since been replaced by the USA in its domination of our politics, our popular culture and our political economy. But while empires may rise and fall the nature of imperialism, and the tools of economic control and coercion remain the same.
In 1914, as the imperial powers of Europe plunged the world into war, the men and women of the citizen army had no doubt where their loyalty should lie. Rejecting the call to war, they raised their banner over liberty hall proclaiming “We serve neither King nor Kaiser, but Ireland”.
Today we again refuse to be lackeys of empire, we refuse to put the interests of our rulers over those of the international proletariat. We instead offer our aid and solidarity to those workers who resist imperialism, and those movements who fight for national sovereignty against the agents of the US empire.
As socialists we are internationalists. We take pride in being part of a larger international movement and we take inspiration from the struggles and victories of those parties wherever they occur. We defend the political gains of our class whether that is in Cuba, Venezuela, or China.
We once again offer our support and thanks to our comrades in Cuba, whose continued resistance provides an inspiration to the workers of the world, even when faced with unparalleled economic violence.
Most urgently, at this time, we offer our support to the people of Palestine, thousands of whom have paid the ultimate price for their resistance to imperialism.
The genocide unfolding in gaza is carried out with arms and funding supplied the US and Britain, and under the protections of the US navy and air force.
It demonstrates once more that the American empire is the greatest enemy of the working class worldwide. We must dedicate ourselves unconditionally to its defeat, just as the men and women of 1916 dedicated themselves to the defeat of the British empire.
Comrades, in the words of Tomas Mac Giolla:
‘’No member of the Workers’ Party should have any hang-ups about commemorating men like Connolly and Pearse and the historic events which took place in Dublin in Easter Week 1916.’’
We remain unapologetic about the centrality of the Republican tradition and ideology to the Workers’ Party. It is the foundations upon which our politics are built.
It links us with the great thinkers and doers of the past in Ireland and abroad; from Tom Paine to Karl Marx to Tone and Connolly.
Our republicanism leads us to reject the artificial division of the people on this island. We understand the necessity of ending the partition of our working class communities as being as essential a step forward as ending the partition of our country.
We know, through hard experience, that it is a difficult task to build working class unity and so far we have not succeeded.
Nevertheless, we stand clearly and unambiguously for the unity of all working people in Ireland in a 32 county socialist republic.
Commemorations such as these should not be an excuse to bask in former glories or to rue past defeats. We gather at these events to pay our respects to a great historical tradition which has yet to bear fruit: the republican tradition. To truly honour the memories of our republican forbearers and our fallen comrades, we must dedicate ourselves to the political struggle and to building the Workers’ Party.
When we gather here to commemorate 1916, we do so in the realisation that we must go beyond it, as the great James Connolly realised even then. It is only through the socialist transformation of society that the republican vision can be fulfilled.
We have a long way to go in building a party of the working class, a socialist party, that can confront the ruling class and imperialism. To do so we have to re-engage with working class communities and make the Workers’ Party a household name again
We have to fight on the issues that matter to working people, on housing, healthcare, energy and public services, and bring them to our side.
Today, as we remember the men and women who bravely fought an Empire, we in the Workers’ Party once again commit ourselves to the achievement of a united, democratic, secular and socialist republic. Free from oppression, free from sectarian division and free from class exploitation.
This is the vision that Connolly died for, it is the vision our fallen comrades dedicated their lives to – let us honour them and endeavour to bring that vision to completion at last. Go raibh maith agaibh go leir.
32 County Sovereignty Movement Easter Commemoration 2024, oration by Martin Rafferty
The noble words magnificently engraved on the wall behind me are the life blood thoughts of our great patriot dead, interred here in front of me. These words are the words of nationhood, of statehood and of national sovereignty.
They are the bedrock of the republican struggle. They proclaim to the world, not only the right of the people of Ireland to self-determination, but the right of all peoples who are struggling against imperial and colonial conquest to that very same right.
The 1916 Proclamation also serves another important function, it sets out in clear and precise language the basic terms required to finally settle the Anglo-Irish conflict.
At this hallowed spot lay the greatest of our Fenian dead. Steeped in history and culture and in possession of an acute sense of social justice, they embody a living template of what an Irish Republic must be to its people.
The sovereignty of the people of Ireland is inalienable and indefeasible. The partition of our country is a continuing affront to that fundamental truth. The guiding principle for all republicans is to act in accordance with the elemental truths of the Proclamation and afford zero legitimacy to either partitionist states.
Throughout our history so-called ‘solutions to the Irish problem’ have only perpetuated British occupation because they employed a willing Irish political class to administer that occupation under British supervision.
From Grattan’s Parliament to Stormont the legacy of Irish quislings paints a predictable pattern wherein the occupation is sanitised and the resistance to it is demonised.
Irishmen and Irish women who adhered to the wisdom and teachings of Wolfe Tone were criminalised, imprisoned, transported, excommunicated and executed.
But what the British could never understand, and their chosen Irish could never emulate, is that the oppression and betrayal levelled against us was the very theatre within which Irish republicanism perfected our resistance and honed our vision for a sovereign Irish Republic.
The leaders of the 1916 Rising represented to almost perfection the rich tapestry which was woven over generations of armed resistance, land agitation, cultural revival and social and industrial struggle.
Each of those generations who took to arms also brought with them revolutionary ideas which linked inextricably the plight of our people to the national struggle for sovereignty.
Central to the formulation of these ideas was the complete removal of British Parliamentary activity in Ireland to address conclusively what the Proclamation referred to as ‘the differences carefully fostered by an alien Government’.
Those fabricated differences are at the root of British strategic interests in Ireland. From the Penal Laws to the Good Friday Agreement, British occupation structured itself around a basic premise, that those who claimed loyalty to the crown were exempt from any semblance of democratic accountability within the island of Ireland.
This is the mindset, both British and Irish, that partitioned our country. Home Rule foundered because the so-called mother of parliaments bowed to the threat of unionist violence. Partition was made manifest because Irish counter-revolutionaries bowed to threats of violence from that very same parliament.
The true enemy of Ireland is the deeply flawed premise that any settlement of the Anglo-Irish conflict must contain an institutionalised British dimension.
Such a dimension is always portrayed as temporary, a stepping stone and necessary for peace. Yet the partition of our country has surpassed a full century. For a quarter of that century partition has been administered under the Good Friday Agreement. False milestone after promised milestone have come and passed and the expectation of British withdrawal recedes even further.
The future direction of the constitutional question has once again been surrendered to the total discretion of the British Government. The fallacy that a Border Poll in some way places the future of Ireland in the hands of the Irish people continues to be exposed, as the realities of electoral politics forces its adherents to make the Six County entity work, both politically and economically, on behalf of its British overseers.
The narrative has now changed to a two-state solution on the island of Ireland.
As Irish republicans we are as one with the struggle of the Palestinian people. The present US backed Israeli genocide in occupied Palestine has rightly brought millions of people onto their respective streets demanding an end to the carnage.
The people of Ireland have stepped up to the mark and can proudly say that they have done so in solidarity with the people of Palestine in the Gaza Strip and The West Bank.
But Irish republicans must be to the fore in combatting the same narrative used in Ireland that is now being used for Palestine. There is no two-state solution. Such a strategy has at its core the sanitising of Israeli occupation of Palestine and the continuing denial of national sovereignty for the Palestinian people.
The parallels are clear between the process which gave us the Good Friday Agreement and the Palestinians the Oslo Accords. Couched in terms such as peace process and democratic settlement these liberal outworkings serve only the interests of the Western powers which sponsor them.
In the case of Palestine and the Oslo Accords the Palestinian Authority were the chosen safe pair of hands, Israels version of Provisional Sinn Féin and Stormont. But in 2006 Hamas won the elections and the response from the West was swift and predictable, a total rejection of the democratic result and no elections have been held since. The only acceptable Palestinian representatives are those they deem to be “moderates” and pro-Western. All others were labelled as dissidents.
In 1993 when the PLO, led by Yasser Arafat, were forced, against the wishes of a considerable number of the Palestinian population, to sign the Oslo Accords there were 7,400 illegal settlers in the West Bank. Today that number has increased to 670,000.
The PLO were promised full control of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with the creation of the Palestinian Authority. Full control of security over the areas would still be in the hands of the Israelis.
From its inception the Palestinian Authority has been embroiled in power struggles and corruption scandals. With the ever-increasing expansion of the illegal settlements and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their lands the Palestinian Authority has become nothing more than a gate keeper for its Israeli paymaster.
To understand why a two-state solution was never going to materialise you have to understand why Israel was created by Britain with the full backing of the UN and the USA in the first place. It wasn’t to provide a safe home for the Jewish community of the world. It was to create an outpost to look after its own interests in the Middle East. What we are witnessing now is the final phase of the West’s project to totally and finally rid Palestine of its people and replace them with Zionist settlers. Resistance to this colonial genocide must be centred around the issue of national sovereignty for Palestine as a first prerequisite to any negotiations for a just and lasting peace.
So when we take to the streets in protest, we must remember that the cause of Palestine is the cause of Ireland, and the cause of Ireland is the cause of Palestine in return. We must make all our protests count.
The Proclamation remains unfinished business. The legacy of those who fought in Easter Week still remains entwined with the yet to be written epitaph of Robert Emmet.
Every generation of Irish people have both the right and duty to author that epitaph. That we are that generation confers on us an onerous responsibility particularly if we choose to stand in this place and claim solidarity with their sacrifice and cause.
They did not give their lives for praise or adulation but in full confidence that those who would come after them could realise their objectives. That is the price we must pay for gathering here.
Of late, those who have abandoned the struggle for political careers, have now sought to apologise for that struggle because it harms the political direction they have taken.
The recently published Kenovo Report into the role of British Intelligence in the war in the Six Counties demonstrates, in stark terms, the resolve of the Westminster Parliament to murder at will in Ireland to protect their interests here.
It lays bare the complete falsehood upon which the so-called peace process was based, that the British have no selfish strategic or economic reasons to remain in Ireland.
The depth of British infiltration within republican ranks may well explain to a large degree why a republican leadership surrendered so much in return for so little from British negotiators. Some day the truth will out.
For our part we make no apologies for struggles past, present or in the future. The British have a long history of coercion, terror and genocide in the occupation of our country.
We take great heart and resolve in how our revolutionary forebears dealt with these oppressive measures in their turn. But for now this generation must be guided by the enabling words of Cork IRA Commander Tom Barry;
“They went down into the mire to destroy us and our country and down after them we had to go.”
Republican Network for Unity Easter Statement, read by chairperson Eddie Quinn
Friends and comrades we stand here bound under the common cause of being Irish and commemorating those who have gave their lives for Irish liberation. It is incumbent upon us all to achieve the dreams and aspirations of our people through the pursuit of the true Irish Republic proclaimed in 1916.
We send solidarity to Cogús Pows, Paul Crawford, Fergal Kane and Aiden O’Keefe, our thoughts are with you all and your families. We also would like to give a warm welcome home to our comrade Carl Reilly, we are glad to see you returned to your loving family and community.
We moved beyond rhetoric in our daily activism, we advocated community support and empowerment, creating a political conscience that would trancend tribalistic mentalities, we have and continue to demonstrate that those people that you vote for are supposed to be a manifestation of your will and your desire but have routinely failed to represent you. So what is the alternative?
Truly the only alternative to something that is beyond repair is to change it, when we say it is Time for Change we are not simply asking you to think about a United Ireland, instead we are asking you to envision a different future, one that places real political power within the communities with the people, not with the corrupted bureaucrats currently hoarding power and profits.
There are better examples of government across the world, better fiscal systems, health systems etc. we are allowing ourselves to be stifled by the set parameters of a foreign power. Republican Network for Unity will continue to use our time in crafting a road map not of Irish unity but for Irish liberation.
The Palestinian people are suffering a monumental terror and genocide by the cowardly Israelis who drop bombs, murder and maim without care for innocent people. This is yet another attempt to wipe the Palestinian people from the map. The United States of America and Britain continue to supply these bombs and other munitions to be used on a civilian population they are no less culaple in genocide and war crimes. As of writing this statement the death toll has risen to 32,705 and Israeli continue to deliberately target locations that are being used as shelter for those displaced by the conflict. We stand resolutely with the Palestinian people and support every action and effort to highlight and bring accountability to the war criminals Israel, US and Britain.
This past year we have continued from strength to strength, despite the attempts by the state to cripple our movement through arrests, threats and intimidation, we remain strong and steadfast in our direction.
This year has also displayed new levels of corruption within the PSNI, this same force that has its boot on the neck of our communities has seen a number of its members in court charged with various crimes, including their own anti-corruption officers being charged with corruption. We held an event in Belfast to discuss policing in our communities, some at the meeting suggested another Patton esk type reform, unfortunately Patton failed to reform the RUC, so there is little faith that another process can achieve anything better. In truth no force which is an extension of the British State is likely to be accepted in our communities, the levels of political policing are high with any form of dissenting opinions being attacked and repressed, the media being an invaluable tool within their arsenal.
Corruption is a common theme across Ireland it is virtually inescapable, it extends from one place, the centuries old wrong of Britain forcing itself upon Ireland. Furthering that we have witnessed the return of the circus to Stormont, one of their first moves was to raise funds for the British purse in order to receive their financial package from Westminster. Then it transpired that part of a deal to get the DUP to return was to grant them veto power over EU legislation, it’s seems that the stagnant deadlocks will return and will ultimately bring Stormont crashing down again, how many times must a failed institution fall before it is replaced, British Rule can never be sustained in Ireland if it should take another 100 years it will end.
Speaking of a failed institution we have touched upon this subject before but it seems that the Fine Gael government are continuously attempting to distort Irish culture and Irish history. They support and endorse an army under the name Oglaigh na hEireann, they now want to make it an offense to use this historic term without their permission. When you and your ilk signed the treaty in 1921, you no longer had any claim to that title, you completely and utterly abandoned the Republic.
A theme that is becoming Fine Gael rhetoric is asking the Irish people to take back their flag, since it was gifted to Thomas Francis Meagher in 1848 the flag has represented the people, flown above the GPO in 1916 as Republicans faced down British imperialism, the flag has represented the Republic and in all truth those in Leinster house have no claim to it. Those in Leinster house have brought nothing but misery, struggle and poverty to the Irish people. They created a haven for multinational companies to avoid taxation, forced thousands to live on the streets with an unending housing crisis and their neo liberal policies continue to stifle the economy. They have betrayed the Irish people, perhaps it’s time for change, it’s time to take back Ireland from these corrupt bureaucrats and forge a new destiny, not only vote for United Ireland but to seize the opportunity to make a better country for our people.
To the Irish people we say, Rise up and take back what is yours, your flag, your country and your destiny!
Go raibh míle mhaith agaibh
Address by Cait Trainor to Duleek Independent Easter Commemoration
Who here among us would have had the courage of the men and women of easter week 1916, I think we would all like to believe we would all have been standing shoulder to shoulder with the patriots and I have no doubt a very many of us would.
The legacy of 1916 resonates to this day with Irish Republicans not only because it produced the foundation document which proclaimed our Republic to which we all give allegiance, but because the rising itself was as an audacious and daring act of rebellion that the World had ever seen, we all take great pride in the martyrs of 1916 as we continue to uphold their legacy with our enduring efforts to finish the job and secure Irish Independence once and for all.
The Republic of 1916 may not be established in practice but it persists, for those of us who would call ourselves traditional Republicans, the Republic of 1916 is the only legitimate governmental authority that we politically recognise, all other claimants of authority in this Country are usurpers and enemies of the Republic, it may seem an academic point to make, but it is one which we MUST re-iterate at every opportunity and especially at Easter.
There are many people gathered at gravesides and monuments throughout the country this weekend, the 1916 proclamation will be read at every event but what will follow at many will be a complete denial of the Republic, hypocritical alternatives to the Republic will be put forward and downright rejections of the Republic proposed, but not here in Duleek, we stand united here today to confirm once more that we stand for the Republic and the Republic only, there are no alternatives or compromises to be had.
The big matters in the world today are still connected with National Sovereignty, it is not some outdated notion or something for a bygone era, the denial of national sovereignty is what continues to fuel wars, look at Palestine for example, the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people is driven solely by Israeli imperial ambitions, yet there are those even among our own ranks who would try to persuade us that ongoing rejection of British rule is futile and that we should settle ourselves into a peaceful subservience albeit with a veneer of opposition
For centuries they have tried to defeat the Republican people and have failed, they have jailed, maimed, and killed us and not succeeded, yet they have hit on a winning formula or at least they think they have.
Pearse famously said at O’Donovan Rossa’s funeral:
“The Defenders of this Realm have worked well in secret and in the open. They think that they have pacified Ireland. They think that they have purchased half of us and intimidated the other half.”
And this is still an ongoing formula for them, where they cannot intimidate us into submission, they try to buy us or at least buy influence and today this is a serious issue.
It may be an uncomfortable reality but there are those, fellow travellers we have all encountered who maybe even unbeknownst to themselves are attempting to dilute our position and activities because they are funded to do so.
Funding of political groupings under various guises is a growing problem in Republicanism, it may seem benign, but nothing could be more dangerous, in fact funding is the best weapon the Brits and their allies have at their disposal today.
Many may not be aware when in engaging with “activists” that they may have ulterior motives for what they say and do, while these people ostensibly work alongside us, ask us to attend seminars or meetings and present themselves as “anti good Friday agreement Republicans” they are reporting back to NGO’s and charity foundations on their work with radical Republicans.
We have all seen it in recent years so called “community activists” instructing young people to go home when trying to politically organise in an attempt to control, others operating as innocent talking shops and forums asking Republicans to attend meetings where they can then try and dissuade from revolutionary Republican activities
Don’t take my word for it, every action they take is documented and reported back in their annual reports to their funders which are publicly available as evidence of why they should continue to be funded, sometimes to the tune of over £100k
One such grouping in the receipt of massive funding states that their job
“Places particular emphasis on engaging with disaffected and marginalised young people who are vulnerable to recruitment by those opposed to the Peace Process.”
Others openly admit that they are promoting a border poll, the border poll pitch to Republicans precisely being what seals the deal for funding.
if evidence was ever needed that a border poll was not in Republicans interests, the funding of its promotion by British allied parties surely is it.
They would have the Republican position weakened down to selling ourselves to the highest bidder for funding with a vague aspiration of a union for Ireland. They have been recruited into the state bureaucracy enforcing the same political position of those who fund them.
We must be wise enough to see through these useful fools and they are indeed fools if they think it is them who are pulling one over on the Brits with talk of “loopholes”
it was recently remarked to me that far from wolves in sheep’s clothing, they are in fact sheep in wolves clothing.
Funding within Republican communities and enticing Republicans to police their own areas is a counter insurgency tactics adopted by the Brits documented going back to at least the 1970s, funding and policing of communities go hand in hand. The promise of money diverts, it focuses attentions on vying for the biggest share of the pot, pitting themselves against other groups loyalist and nationalist, a prime example of British Divide and more importantly British rule.
Thankfully though Republicans continue to advance in the face of such reformism, we can be grateful that a new generations experience has not been tainted by sell outs and revisionism, the Republican youth will be guided of course by older Republicans but they have the confidence to forge ahead, a new generation of Irish people will emerge to continue the job and they need no endorsement or seal of approval, they won’t be patronised into compliance with festivals and vague promises.
They see only too well that Ireland is still under British occupation, that occupation continues to be an injustice and an ancient wrong that must be righted in this Country, the men and women currently in Maghaberry, Portlaoise and Hydebank prisons also know this, and we take this opportunity to send our greetings to them and commit to continuing our support.
So too do we take this opportunity to send our solidarity to the people of Palestine who are suffering the most unspeakable and unimaginable terrors at the hands of Israeli terrorists on a daily basis, we pledge to continue our support on the ground in Ireland.
Importantly, the work of the Republic must continue, it is our job to hold the line and not be redirected towards reformist positions, Republicans never set out for half measures or to settle for a 32 county Freestate, doing the right thing is not usually the trendy position nor is it the easy one, if there is one message for us all to take away today it is that the Republic must prevail, we must renew our call for a British declaration of intent to withdraw from our Country and reject all attempts to subvert us.
In closing going back to Pearse’s words at O’Donovan Rossa’s funeral he also said:
“They think that they have foreseen everything, think that they have provided against everything; but the fools, the fools, the fools! — they have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.”
Mary Lou McDonald address to Sinn Féin annual Easter Rising Commemoration
A chairde,
Ar Dhomhnach na Cásca, tagann Poblachtánaigh le chéile ar fud na tríocha dó contae chun cuimhneamh ar ár dtírghráthóirí.
Thug siad a mbeatha ar son saoirse na hÉireann.
Seasann siad mar inspioráid bheo dúinn inniu.
Le chéile, d’éiríomar go misniúil don lá amárach, agus déanaimid ár ndícheall aisling dóchasach 1916 a chomhlíonadh.
Éire aontaithe. Éire a sheasann mar léaró dóchais, cothrom na féinne agus deiseanna do gach uile duine.
The ground on which we stand is sacred.
The soil of Arbour Hill, the final resting place of the leaders and patriots of the 1916 Rising, the foundation of our dream, Ireland – united and free – taking its rightful place amongst the nations of the world.
The words of the Proclamation echo across history and reverberate powerfully for this generation of Irish Republicans.
In so many ways, the things for which the rebels of the rising fought are the same things for which we strive today – national freedom, democracy, economic and social justice for all.
That is the vision that lights a fire in our hearts, which propels us forward in search of the Republic.
One hundred and eight years ago, ordinary Irish men and women marched out to do the unimaginable, to take on the might of the British Empire, to end Ireland’s centuries-old subjugation, and to establish an Independent Irish Republic.
These noble rebels knew the odds were stacked against them, but their courage, their incredible reservoir of hope, defined that revolutionary generation.
Those who rallied to the ranks of the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army believed that the sun of a better tomorrow would only rise with the people of Ireland shaping and deciding their own destiny.
It was this unwavering belief that gave birth to the Republic on the streets of Dublin and inspired the rebels to fight for its survival for six days.
The streets, laneways and buildings touched by rebellion belong to our history.
Arbour Hill is the final resting place of the leaders of the rising.
The terrace at Moore Street was their final meeting place.
It must be protected and restored as the birthright of future generations, to drive exciting regeneration of Dublin’s north inner city, not torn down in the name of profit.
We will never surrender our revolutionary history.
We will keep fighting for Moore Street.
The rebels of 1916 were ordinary people who stepped forward to do extraordinary things.
Their bravery lit a flame of freedom too powerful to confine to the past.
It stands as a living, breathing inspiration for all of us today.
Those who rose-up against British rule were not satisfied with Ireland as it was.
They reached heroically for the Ireland that could be.
They were revolutionaries.
They were cultural revivalists.
They were dreamers and doers.
They were the changemakers of their time and they transformed the course of Irish history.
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Today, the mantle of ‘changemaker’ falls to this generation.
To make change happen in our communities.
To make change happen right across Ireland.
The appetite for real change is driven by ordinary people determined to win a better future.
It is most powerfully reflected by the fact that Michelle O’Neill is now First Minister in the north.
For the first time ever, a nationalist is head of government in a state that was designed to ensure that it could never ever happen.
Michelle pledged to reach beyond the trenches and the hurt of the past, to be a First Minister for all.
Every day she proves herself to be true to her word and we’re rightly proud of Michelle and her team for making politics work every day.
The great beauty of the peace we’ve built together is that we can hold differing and opposing views about the future, about constitutional change, and still work together to make life better for workers and families in the here and now.
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Here in the south, people believe that real change is possible.
Irish republicans are about the task of achieving a new, united Ireland where workers, families and communities come first.
We have never been closer.
So, we shouldn’t be surprised that, as we push for change, there is a push back by those who thrive on division, who seek to distract for their own selfish reasons.
They won’t succeed because the need for change in our communities is undeniable and Sinn Féin is the party that will deliver it.
Today, we are witnessing the rearguard action of the political establishment.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, the parties who have passed power back and forth to each other for over a century, now cling to government at any cost.
They now propose to install their third Taoiseach in four years.
In little over a week, these parties will seek to appoint Simon Harris as head of government without allowing the people to have their say in a General Election.
We face an incredible scenario where Fianna Fáil, who refused to vote confidence in Simon Harris as Health Minister, now prepare to line up, one after the other, to vote him in as Taoiseach.
Likewise, Independent TDs will also line up to make Simon Harris Taoiseach.
So much for their independence as they act to keep this failed government in office.
As they prepare to hand the keys of government buildings to Simon Harris and deny the people the democratic opportunity to have their say, to decide who is in government and to decide who leads that government.
If Simon Harris wants to be Taoiseach, if Micheál Martin and Eamon Ryan really believe that their government commands the support of the public, then they should have no problem putting that to the people in a General Election.
I believe the people not only want a General Election, I believe they would relish an Election and the chance to call time on a government that is tired, out of touch and out of ideas.
It’s time for a new government with energy and determination.
A government of change that will roll-up its sleeves and get the work done to fix housing, sort out health and ensure that young people can build a good life and prosperous future here at home instead of being forced out by the repeated failures of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.
We need a government that will finish the business of 1916 and make the promise of the proclamation real in the everyday lives of ordinary people.
Sinn Féin leads the opposition, and we will call out this bad government at every turn.
We are changemakers and we want a government of change.
We want to lead that government of change, a government without Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil for the first time in over one hundred years.
So, our message today is simple – call a general election and let the people decide.
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Community is everything to us in Sinn Féin.
We are a party of activists rooted in our communities, working every day for real improvements in local areas.
We want the best for our communities.
We want people to have the services, quality of life and the responsive local government they deserve.
The work done by local authorities is so important and takes on an even greater importance because of the housing crisis.
Electing as many Sinn Féin Councillors as possible is part of the solution.
This is how we turn the tide of the housing crisis, get families off waiting lists and into homes, deliver our plan to make housing affordable again, and make sure everybody can put a secure roof over their heads.
This the most important local election for a generation.
We are standing a record number of candidates, and make no mistake, we are standing every one of them to win.
Friends, Ireland is an ancient European nation.
We believe in working with our European neighbours to drive positive change, to make real progress, and build a better future.
Ireland’s place is within the European Union, but we also know that the Irish people are best placed to make the decisions that affect them, particularly on issues such as foreign affairs, taxation, and investment in public services.
We believe passionately in the independence of Ireland’s foreign policy, in defending our military neutrality, in standing up for a Common Agricultural Policy that delivers for family farmers.
For far too long Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have been far too deferential to the European Union.
Sinn Féin is different.
We back policies when they are good for Ireland.
We oppose them when they are not.
We will never rollover on the things that matter to the people of our country.
Our vision is for a European Union that works better for the ordinary people of Ireland and for the ordinary people of Europe.
Sinn Féin MEPs are not afraid to stand up for Ireland.
Lynn Boylan and Daithí Doolan are not afraid to stand up for Ireland.
That is why we must leave it all on the pitch to get them elected to the European Parliament.
On Friday, June 7th everyone will enter their local polling station with a choice.
Choose change.
Come out and vote for change by voting for Sinn Féin.
Back us to deliver real improvements for you, your family, and your community.
Back us to get the job done and we will not let you down.
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The struggle for freedom and peace in Ireland has always connected with freedom struggles throughout the world.
Today, our thoughts are with the people of Gaza who have, over the last seven months, endured genocide.
More than 30,000 Palestinian men, women and children have had their beautiful lives taken in the most brutal way.
Now, Gazans endure famine and the spread of disease.
Israel’s onslaught on Gaza is the gravest human rights violation of our time, broadcast live across television and social media.
For these atrocities, the Israeli government must be held accountable.
We call again on Israel to end its slaughter.
We call for an immediate, full, and permanent ceasefire.
We know from our own history that no conflict is intractable.
Peace is a question of will.
The only thing that will transform this horrific situation is the renewal of a peace process grounded in international law and with the aim of achieving freedom and a Palestinian state.
Today, with the words of our freedom Proclamation beating loudly in our hearts, we say end the war in Gaza, end apartheid, end the occupation.
Ceasefire now.
Free Palestine.
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Our ultimate objective is a united Ireland.
A society of equality in which every person can achieve their aspirations and pursue happiness.
Reunification is the next chapter in the story of Irish nationhood.
I believe that we will have unity referendums in this decade.
Our job is to win these referendums and win them well by reaching out, exceeding expectations, pushing the boundaries, and building alliances.
Uniting Ireland is about building a nation for all our people.
The United Ireland we seek is a true reconciliation between the Orange and the Green, in the spirit of Tone, where everyone who calls Ireland home reaches for a better future side by side.
It’s time for the Irish government to get serious about constitutional change.
It’s time to establish an all-Ireland Citizens’ Assembly to plan for Irish unity.
A new and United Ireland is about everyone, and it is for everyone.
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In his address to his Court Martial following the Easter Rising, Pádraig Pearse said, “We have kept faith with the past, and handed on a tradition to the future.”
We are the inheritors of the hopes so dearly held by the rebels of 1916.
Our generation can be the generation that unites Ireland and delivers the Republic envisaged by the Proclamation.
We look beyond today to a new Ireland for all the children of the nation.
To a coming together of all our people.
To a republic of equality, fairness, and justice.
That is a future worth believing in, worth working for, worth achieving.
I believe we are closer than ever. The destiny of the Irish nation is on the horizon.
So, let’s leave Arbour Hill today determined to move mountains, to move heaven and earth, to realise the dream for which our gallant patriots gave their lives.
