An Phoblacht Editorial, February 2016 – 1916 centenary year election milestone

2016 will see elections for the Dáil and for the Assembly. It is an opportunity for real change, to have republicans in government North and South.

The first step is the Dáil general election and ending the rule of the parties that have failed to live up to the standards of the men and women of 1916 and failed to deliver the promise of the Proclamation.

Many factors beyond the control of republicans (not least the anti-republican Establishment media) could swing the election one way or another, but the one factor we can control is our own drive and determination to mount as an effective campaign as humanly possible in the few weeks we have till people go to the polls.

This year also marks the 35th anniversary of the historic H-Blocks Hunger Strikes in which ten republicans gave their lives in the battle for the restoration of political status. It is also 35 years since the election of Kieran Doherty TD and Bobby Sands MP, when the people rejected the the attempt by those in power to criminalise republicans.

What better way of paying tribute to the Hunger Strikers – and all the men and women who have given their lives down the generations – than to return the largest number of Sinn Féin TDs ever elected since the extraordinary all-Ireland general election of 1918 and marking a milestone on the way to restoring a united Ireland and a nation once again.

The Rising belongs to the people

THE 1916 CENTENARY EVENTS have begun – and so have the Establishment attacks on Sinn Féin's role in the Rising commemorations.

Unlike the other parties, Sinn Féin has commemorated the Rising every year and across the island, North and South. Republicans have been proud to do so and we make no apologies for continuing to commemorate the events of 1916 this centenary year.

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said as far back as April of last year, when he launched Sinn Féin's centenary programme, that the memory and ownership of 1916 does not exclusively belong to Sinn Féin, any other party, or the Government.

As a republican party, Sinn Féin encourages everyone to share in learning about, understanding, critically evaluating, celebrating and commemorating this momentous period in this island's history.

No one party or group owns these celebrations – the 1916 Rising belongs to the people of Ireland.