THE southern general election was called last Friday. In just over two weeks’ time 174 Teachtaí Dála (TDs) will be elected to the Dáil – an increase of 14 over the number elected in the 2020 general election.
On Sunday I was in Dublin for the Save Moore Street rally but afterwards I was in Caledon Road and St. Mary’s Road in East Wall with a Sinn Féin canvas team urging voters to give their number 1 vote to Mary Lou McDonald and their number 2 vote to Janice Boylan. The response was very good.
The early opinion polls – and I’m not a fan of opinion polls – have the three main parties - Sinn Féin, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil - all within two or three points of each other. Some folks get carried away with opinion polls. That’s foolish, as we have seen recently in the USA. Nothing beats real engagement with the electorate.
Predictably, the usual naysayers and bregrudgers are engaging in negative campaigning against Sinn Féin. It wouldn’t be an election if that weren’t the case but republican activists are upbeat – we like a good fight – the policies are excellent and the candidates are getting a positive response.
Even before Simon Harris had announced the election Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil were seeking to outdo each other in election promises. Decisions on housing and health, on pensions and VAT and other matters are all issues of concern that they could have delivered on while in government. They didn’t. Why believe they will do it after November 29?
Fine Gael has been in government for the last 14 years. Fianna Fáil supported Fine Gael in government between 2016 and 2020 and then joined it in a coalition after the February 2020 general election. It did so despite Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin famously saying: “People want change, that’s the message we’re receiving, they want Fine Gael out of office... Fine Gael need to come out of government, they’ve been there too long, they haven’t delivered on key issues such as housing, health and the impact of cost of living on many people. The people want a new government, that means a completely new government.”
Unfortunately, the people didn’t get their new government. Instead they got Fine Gael back propped up by Fianna Fáil. People in the south deserve a change of government. It’s up to Sinn Féin to convince them to give us a chance. This time there is a real prospect of ending the dominance of the two civil war parties who have run the Irish state in their own interests for over 100 years. Sinn Féin is running 71 candidates, which creates a real opportunity for a Sinn Féin-led government.
That is the only way of creating a new style of government that is for working people and for communities and which will deliver for citizens. As Mary Lou put it: “If Sinn Féin wins, you win, your family will win, your future will win.”
This is true on all the social and economic inequalities pressing down on people. The housing crisis and the cost of living and health crisis facing many people will only be rectified by Sinn Féin in government.
It is also true on the national question. Northeners know the approach of the other parties has been minimalist. They have failed to plan for the future. There has been no Citizens’ Assembly to discuss the constitutional changes which are needed. No real commitment to fulfil all aspects of the Good Friday Agreement. Sinn Féin on the other hand has a plan for unity and a clear manifesto commitment to bring this into government if the people vote for us.
It’s simple. If you want Irish unity, vote Sinn Féin.
The next few weeks will be interesting. It’s all to play for between now and November 29. Watch this space.
Moore Street battle's new phase
THE battle to save the 1916 Moore Street battlefield site has entered a new and critical phase with the decision by the Moore Street Preservation Trust to seek leave for a judicial review of the decision by An Bord Pleanála to allow the developer’s plan to proceed. Almost two decades after the campaign to protect this important historic part of the Easter 1916 revolutionary story the campaign has reached a decisive moment.
James Connolly Heron, the grandson of James Connolly, announced at a rally in Moore Street on Sunday that the Trust had lodged papers last Friday for a judicial review of the planners’ decision. He said: “The Hammerson plan would demolish much of the 1916 battlefield site, including buildings occupied by the Volunteers at the end of Easter Week. The area would be turned into a building site for up to 15 years to construct unwanted and unnecessary retail and office developments.”
CAMPAIGN James Connolly Heron speaking on the need to preserve Moore Street
James added: “Moore Street campaigners, with widespread public support at home and abroad, have up to now saved this historic site from destruction. That support will be needed more than ever now.”
Several hundred people attended the rally, which was addressed by campaigners including Mary Lou McDonald, Donna Clooney, Proinsias Ó Rathaille, Stephen Troy, Diarmuid Breatnach and Micheál MacDonncha.
The Sinn Féin leader criticised successive Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil governments who have allowed the area to be “shamefully left to go to rack and ruin. Not only have they abandoned the area to go to rot but they have also obstructed and delayed acting to ensure the revitalisation of the Moore Street area as a historical quarter. They actively support a plan to hand over Moore Street, including the revolutionary terrace, to private developers who seek to pave over our history for the sake of greed and profit.”
The Dublin Central TD told the rally that a Sinn Féin-led government will not allow the destruction of this most important site to go ahead. She described the plan by the Trust as “the plan that a Sinn Fein led government will back from day one... The Moore Street area echoes with the past and calls out to the future. The legacy of this historic area belongs to us all and for generations to come. We shouldn’t have to campaign to save it, we shouldn’t have to fight to fight to save it, but by working together we will save Moore Street.”
Mary Lou is right. The judicial review papers have been lodged. Support the effort to save Moore Street from demolition.
Impressive Palestine mural
AT the weekend a new mural was unveiled in Andersonstown highlighting the shared experience of struggle and solidarity between the peoples of Ireland and Palestine. Well done to Marty Lyons and Michael Doherty and the organisers.
The mural comes on the back of a report last week from the United Nations’ Human Rights Office that revealed that 70 per cent of those killed in Gaza between November last year and April this year were women and children. In the intervening months we are witness day after day to the deliberate and systematic genocide of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip. The people of southern Lebanon are now enduring the same Israeli tactics.
TRIBUTE: The new mural acknowledges the closeness of two struggles
An Oxfam report concluded that more women and children have been killed in Gaza by Israel than in any equivalent period since the start of this century. Current estimates reveal that more than 43,300 people – of which one third are children – have been killed since October 23. Many more bodies are believed to remain under the rubble of destroyed buildings.
Oxfam also published data showing that the Israeli military has attacked civilian infrastructure on average every three hours.
•Homes are attacked every four hours.
•Tents and temporary shelters every 17 hours.
•Schools and hospitals every four days.
•Aid distribution points and warehouses every 15 days.
The Israeli government has clearly no intention at this time of stopping its assault on the Gaza Strip or on Lebanon. Shamefully, most western governments are colluding in this.
Our task must be to continue to campaign for an end to the war and in support of the Palestinian people. It also means demanding the imposition of sanctions on Israel, as well as the release of all hostages – Palestinian and Israeli – and the provision of desperately needed aid.
