SINN FÉIN ASSEMBLY ELECTION CAMPAIGN | LEADERSHIP ACROSS IRELAND

‘You were a friend of Bobby Sands?’

Sinn Féin’s Assembly candidates unveiled

BY PEADAR WHELAN

“YOU were a friend of Bobby Sands?” the photographer asked of Jennifer McCann MLA as she stood in a huddle with her Sinn Féin comrades in the field beside Scoil na Fuiseoige in Twinbrook on the outskirts of west Belfast.
“Yes, I was,” said Jennifer matter-of-factly but with that tone of voice republicans reserve when they speak of someone for whom they have enormous respect.
It was Thursday 30th March and we’d gone to witness the sod-cutting ceremony for the new Scoil na Fuiseoige, founded by local republicans in the 1980s in memory of Bobby Sands.
Outgoing Education Minister Caitríona Ruane, performing the ceremonies, announced that this was her “fifteenth sod-cutting ceremony in recent weeks”. Each one of them was important but this one had a special meaning with its attachment to the memory of Bobby. And the event naturally brought to mind Bobby’s famous quote: “Our revenge will be the laughter of our children.”
Caitríona declared proudly:
“I’ve used all of my budget, unlike the previous direct-rule ministers who handed almost £200million back to the British Treasury.”
A case of a local minister majoring on the needs of the people rather than line the coffers of the Treasury in London.
Standing in the shadow of Scoil na Fuiseoige, Jennifer McCann acknowledged the hard work and dedication of the people who founded and maintained the school over the years in face of unionist and British Government bias.
“Bobby’s legacy is in the fabric of this school,” Jennifer said thoughtfully.
And Bobby’s legacy is in the fabric of the elections that Sinn Féin is contesting.
On May 5th - the date that marks the 30th anniversary of Bobby’s death on Hunger Strike - we go to the polls.
Sinn Féin can consolidate its position as the biggest party in the North and, going on the response canvassers are receiving on the doorsteps, the party’s appeal is growing.
Also the party is standing candidates in areas where they couldn’t, for their own safety, have stood before.
It is a confident party that is capturing the confident mood of the nationalist electorate.
That self-belief has been underlined by the resounding success of the party in winning 14 seats in the Dublin parliament.
The sight of those 14 TDs standing on the steps of Stormont a few weeks ago, accompanied by our outgoing MLAs, reinforced the all-Ireland agenda that is the cornerstone of our policies.
Even Irish News columnist Brian Feeney was forced to acknowledge the significance of the image.
Two of those TDs, Gerry Adams and Mary Lou McDonald, rushed from Dublin on Thursday 30th March to address the first of the party’s ‘town hall meetings’ in ‘The Roddies’.
The Roddy McCorley Society and their clubhouse have been enduring landmarks in republican Belfast since their birth in the 1960s.
Its symbolism and imagery matched the enthusiasm of the large crowd that turned up to hear Gerry Adams address his first public meeting back in west Belfast as a TD.
It was noticeable that people who had drifted away from the party were at the meeting, showing a determination and hunger for the work, and Adams focused on that.
He commended the hard work of our activists over the years but made special mention of the time and effort that Northern activists put into the 26-County election and the compliment that will be returned by 26-County activists between now and May 5th to ensure that the ‘bounce’ we got in the South might be replicated here.
Mary Lou McDonald TD emphasised the all-Ireland objectives of Sinn Féin in the decision to ‘transfer’ Gerry Adams to Louth:
“While Sinn Féin took the decision to move Gerry Adams to Leinster House to strengthen the movement for Irish unity and independence others parties [read SDLP] send their representatives to the British parliament.
“It is about leadership across the island,” said Mary Lou.
When the party next gathered it was on Monday 4th April. This was the date set for the launch of Sinn Féin’s Assembly election campaign but it came after the killing of PSNI member Ronan Kerr near Omagh on Saturday 2nd April. His death was the main focus for the gathered media.
Despite the forthright stand taken by the Sinn Féin leadership in response to the murder, it seemed the media was intent on negativity.
“Why did Sinn Féin not cancel the event?” they intoned.
Party president Gerry Adams responded:
“Sinn Féin considered carefully whether or not we should proceed with this morning’s launch.
“But the more we thought about it and discussed it the more important it seemed to us that the political process cannot become a hostage to the unrepresentative group which murdered Constable Kerr.
“The Peace Process is too important for that.
“So we stand here determined to keep making politics work. To keep defending the political institutions and keep delivering for ordinary people and demonstrating what republicanism is about.”
So as May 5th approaches, Sinn Féin are on the doorsteps asking for the voters for a mandate to deliver on core republican principles.
Sinn Féin is the only all-Ireland party, a republican party with a strategy for uniting Ireland. Our project is working. We will build an Ireland of Equals
Sinn Féin will continue to challenge cuts to the public sector and frontline services
Sinn Féin will continue to build the all-Ireland institutions.
And in the end our revenge will be the laughter of our children.