First Derry Volunteer to be killed by Crown forces, 1971

ÓGLACH EAMONN LAFFERTY MEMORIAL LECTURE, 40th ANNIVERSARY | BY MARTIN McGUINNESS MP, MLA

A large audience turned out for the Eamonn Lafferty Memorial Lecture in Derry City

"EAMONN LAFFERTY was the first IRA Volunteer to be killed by crown forces in Derry in the recent phase of our struggle, on 18th August 1971. Coming in the immediate aftermath of the introduction of internment and inside the perimeter of what was at that time ‘Free Derry’, it had an indelible impact on the whole community. We also remember IRA Volunteer James O’Hagan, who lost his life in a shooting in the Waterside the following day.
It says a lot about Eamonn’s strength of character that in the IRA at that time he was identified as a leader at the young age of 18 and led from the front in many actions without fear until his untimely death following a fierce gun-battle with British forces 40 years ago today — just two months short of his 20th birthday.
The Hunger Strike came at the end of a decade in which the British Government had employed every conceivable weapon in its substantial military and political arsenal. This included its determination to forge political alliances with the SDLP and the Irish Government in an attempt to stem the growing influence of republicans and undermine our developing peace and political strategy.
The British aim was simple — to protect British interests and to defeat Irish republicanism and the struggle for Irish reunification and independence.
While the foundations for the peaceful, democratic process in which we now play a major part lays in the years following the Hunger Strike, IRA Volunteers like Eamonn Lafferty continued to engage the might of the British Army.
Senior members of the British Army conceded that they could never hope to defeat the IRA. Eventually, in the aftermath of the 1997 general election, the British Government, led by Prime Minister Tony Blair, came to the negotiating table.
I have had many very interesting conversations with Tony Blair, the most interesting of which took place during the week leading to the Good Friday Agreement when he
admitted that after studying Irish history that it was his view that successive British governments were as responsible as anyone from the North for the situation that partition had brought.
Everyone needs to be clear about the type of republic we want to create: Sinn Féin wants to change the status quo on this island not join it. We are a country in transition, a country in continuous change and Sinn Féin is driving that change.
The construction of the New Republic will require the reconciliation of Orange and Green. It will require that we reach out to unionists and engage with them to determine what accommodating them and their understanding of Britishness in a new Ireland would entail. It will necessitate us, as republicans, to think outside our comfort zone, to consider different constructs that although would be independent and sovereign, may not fit our traditional view of the Republic.
I believe that it is generally accepted that if we are to map our way towards Irish unity we need to do so in a manner that is both economically attractive and politically sensitive to those unionists who fear change will disadvantage them. We must change our politics, our economy and our whole society for the better. But we can’t do that
without examining a fundamental issue — the way we govern ourselves.
We cannot expect to reach our full economic potential by maintaining two economic and political structures — two sets of currencies, tax systems, social services, laws and regulations — for a population of six million people. All the people who share this island would benefit from the creation of a vibrant, dynamic all-Ireland economy based on democratic control over Irish monetary and fiscal policies, an equitable and progressive tax regime, a harmonised VAT, income tax and corporation tax, and all-Ireland regulation of public and private sector business to ensure protection of the economic interests of the people of Ireland.
In the course of the struggle, many challenges have been placed in our way, many decisions had to be made. We acknowledge that these challenges and decisions posed great difficulties, apprehension and pain for some people — indeed at times including myself.
As a result, a small minority may have felt confused and disconnected from the changing strategy being adopted and an even smaller minority opposed the strategy.
To the former, I ask that them to honestly look at how far we have travelled in the last 40 years and to ask ourselves the question, how best do we deliver our common objective of building the New Republic, reuniting Ireland, and what contribution is required of all of us to make it happen? To the latter, I say the overwhelming number of republicans who participated in the struggle support our strategy. Under no circumstances can we allow tiny, unrepresentative groups committed to violence prevail over the democratically-expressed wishes of the people of Ireland’s 32 counties in election after election.
We are within striking distance of achieving what our fallen comrades gave their lives for. They created the circumstances for us as republicans to achieve our republican objectives. It’s up to each and every one of us who proclaim to be republican to stand shoulder to shoulder and finish the task set for us.
Let the laughter of our children be our revenge. Let’s make sure that our children are the generation that sees Ireland reunited and free.
We have within our grasp the opportunity to deliver the united, independent and free Ireland that Eamonn Lafferty, James O’Hagan and their comrades made the supreme sacrifice for.
They gave their lives and we must now give the rest of our lives to finish this historic task. The most fitting monument we can build to our fallen Volunteers will be the achievement of our republican objectives."

» This is an edited version of the Eamonn Lafferty Memorial Lecture given by Martin McGuinness in the Creggan in Derry City on 18th August.