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8 March, 2007 |
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Features
Sinn Féin Ard Fheis 2007 Presidential Address by Gerry Adams 
We carry here an edited version of the Presidential Address to the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis 2007 by Gerry Adams Sinn Féin Ard Fheis 2007 huge opportunities to take struggle forward 
Opening Sinn Féin's 2007 Ard Fheis in Dublin's RDS in Dublin on Friday evening, 2 March, Martina Anderson, Sinn Féin candidate for Foyle in the upcoming elections said that delegates and visitors were meeting in the midst of two elections which provided huge opportunities to take forward the republican struggle. Photo: Martina Anderson opening the 2007 Ard Fheis A time of great hope - McGuinness 
Delivering the keynote address to the Friday evening session of the Ard Fheis, Sinn Féin Chief Negotiator Martin McGuinness MP said it was a time of great hope "A time when we have within our sights the prospect of Ian Paisley, who began with 'Never', moved to 'No', then 'Maybe' and now a possible, some say probable 'Yes' finally accepting his nationalist and republican neighbours as equals." Photo: Martin McGuinness Sinn Féin Ard Fheis 2007 : Spotlight on collusion 
Amanda Fullerton, daughter of assassinated Sinn Féin Councillor Eddie Fullerton, was given a hugely warm welcome at the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis last weekend. Photo: Amanda Fullerton addressing the 2007 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis Sinn Féin Ard Fheis 2007 : Peace Process 
Will Ian Paisley share power on 26 March? That was the question posed by Sinn Féin's Mitchel McLaughlin delivering the opening address of the debate around the Peace Process. Sinn Féin Ard Fheis 2007 : SIPTU President addresses delegates 
The issue of workers' rights was to the fore at the 2007 Ard Fheis with delegates endorsing a new policy document on the issue. Introducing the document on behalf of the Ard Chomhairle Arthur Morgan TD, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Worker's Rights, said it had long been a priority area for the party. Photo: SIPTU President Jack O’Connor addressing the Ard Fheis Sinn Féin Ard Fheis 2007 : the All Ireland Agenda The all-Ireland agenda was the first debate of the Ard Fheis weekend and it was opened by Seán Oliver, head of the Sinn Féin All-Ireland Department. Oliver told the delegates that it was fitting for this section to kick off the conference, as it showed the party "building policies for the type of Ireland we want". Sinn Féin Ard Fheis 2007 : Health and Education 
The Health and Education section of this year's Ard Fheis was opened by Seán Crowe TD, Sinn Féin's 26 County spokesperson on education, whose address outlined the party policy that "education should be at the core of our society and equality must be at the core of our education. Although this state is one of the wealthiest in the world, our spending on education is one of the lowest, which is an absolute disgrace." Crowe condemned the Fianna Fáil/PD Government's failure to live up to its own commitments on class sizes and to reduce the teacher/pupil ratio to 1:15, as well as the current disgraceful situation where there are still many primary school children being taught in run-down prefabs and converted toilets. Photo: Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin Sinn Féin Ard Fheis 2007 : Housing and the economy debated 
Seán Crowe TD opened the Ard Fheis debate on housing with an endorsement of the new policy document Housing is a Right. Crowe lambasted the Fianna Fáil/PD Government's non-strategic, laissez-faire approach at a time when buying a home is beyond the means of most. Photo: Pearse Doherty and Toiréasa Ferris Ard Fheis Shinn Féin 2007 Acht Gaeilge anois 
Le linn dhíospóireachtaí na hArdfheise, bhí rannóg ar leith den chlár dírithe ar cheist na Gaeilge agus athbheochan chultúr na nGael. Bhí trí rún ar an gClár ag plé le: a) athghaelú ar ghluaiseacht na poblachta; b) comhghairdeas a dhéanamh le 'An Droichead' a bhuaigh duais náisiúnta Ghlór na nGael do 2005; agus c) ag moladh do Shinn Féin tacú le feachtas náisiúnta ACHT atá ag iarradh ar Rialtas na Breataine Acht Gaeilge a chur i bhfeidhm sna Sé Chontae. Photo: Niall Ó Donaile agus Sue Ramsey Sinn Féin Ard Fheis 2007 : Rural Development and Agriculture 
The Rural Development and Agriculture section of Sinn Féin's Ard Fheis last Saturday was chaired by Kerry County Councillor Toiréasa Ferris. General election candidate for North Tipperary, Councillor Seamus Morris, a postman, addressed Emergency Motion 1 opposing the proposed closure of rural post offices. 
"First they came for the communists..." Quoting Martin Niemoller's famous poem about the Nazis' rise to power in Germany, Caitríona Ruane opened the Ard Fheis section on equality and human rights. The outgoing South Down MLA said republicans should stand with all those suffering denial of their human rights and paid tribute to NGOs, trade unionists, the prisoners' rights movement and especially to those standing in solidarity with the people of Rossport. Ruane said Sinn Féin was the "engine of change" throughout the island. Photo: Caitríona Ruane International solidarity a key theme 
Solidarity was the key theme in this year's EU & International Affairs section. Motions extending solidarity to the peoples of Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Kurdistan, the Basque Country, Cuba and South America were prominent, as was support for the release of Leonard Peltier and for the struggles of Native American peoples. Photo: Ronnie and Eleanor Kasrills present Gerry Adams with a framed and signed letter of support from South African President Thabo Mbeki 
Dublin South Central TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh opened Friday's final session by speaking in favour of Motion 36, opposing mandatory minimum sentences. He acknowledged the "frustration" that working class communities feel when drug offenders are let off lightly, but said that international evidence has proven mandatory minimums to be an "expensive failure". Photo: Aengus Ó Snodaigh An Phoblacht, Irish emphasised in debate on party development 
Motion 139 from the Ulster Cúige, calling on the Ard Chomhairle to establish an information technology unit within the party, was just one of a series of complicated and at times hotly contested motions in the Ard Fheis debate on party development, constitution and rules. Photo: David Cullinane spoke in favour of motion 122 Interview : Francie Molloy, Sinn Féin National Commemorations Committee 
In January, FRANCIE MOLLOY was appointed Chairperson of Sinn Féin's National Commemorations Committee. He has big plans in particular to build the annual republican Easter commemorations, especially in the run-up to the 100th anniversary of 1916, which should be a huge national event involving people throughout the island and the Irish diaspora around the world. Here, Molloy talks to ELLA O'DWYER about the role of the Commemorations Committee and its aim of building, expanding and regenerating republican events - not just around Easter but at Bodenstown and elsewhere - and about plans underway for a commemorative garden for republican women. Dáil general election profile : Liam Browne - Tipperary South 
LIAM BROWNE, son of Sinn Féin Councillor Michael Browne, is the party's general election candidate in Tipperary South. Thirty-five years old, he's an up-beat and enthusiastic young man who - like Séamie Morris, his counterpart in the neighbouring North Tipp constituency - has a strong appetite for politics and community work. Currently doing a degree in politics and economics, he talks to ELLA O'DWYER about republicanism, the challenges facing his constituents and the rising support for Sinn Féin in South Tipperary. 
The most apt description of how the British partitioned Ireland can be found in a classic book written by the late Spike Milligan. Puckoon tells the story of what happened in a small village in Ireland when English civil servants, slightly in their cups, found that they could not guarantee an inbuilt unionist majority by drawing a straight line on the map. The result of this inebriated muddle was Puckoon, whose residents woke up the next morning to find the border running down the middle of the village street and through the cemetery. The dear departed were dug up to be re-interred on either side of the invisible line, according to their political and religious persuasions. It was thought at the time that Milligan had modelled Puckoon on the real-life village of Pettigo in Fermanagh. Indeed, he could have used any small village in Ireland, such was the economic and political disaster of partition for the people of this island. If only they had phones in Belfast the poor Dubs would have been spared a fruitless trek to Casement Park last Sunday. As it happened the team was ready to take the field when it was decided to abandon the game due to the condition of the pitch following severe overnight rain. It's a great relief to find that the Independent newspaper group, having briefly flirted with news and serious analysis about two weeks ago, has reverted to type and is once more spewing out the dishonest misrepresentation that is their hallmark. An Phoblacht's famous weekly satirical column. 
If you have a cold hand, it might be because you have a warm heart. Anyway, that was my explanation on meeting and greeting the people outside the Sacred Heart Church last Sunday morning. The last Sunday before the Assembly Elections. |
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