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11 March, 2010 |
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The Irish people deserve better 
"A half a million citizens unemployed. Social welfare payments cut. Wages cut. Health and Education in crisis. Families facing eviction. Mass emigration back again. Parts of the country under water. In other parts the drinking water is unsafe. Billions of taxpayers money gifted to a dysfunctional, toxic banking system. 
On Thursday evening I organised a meeting between Shaun Woodward and the Bloody Sunday families. There is an expectation in Derry that finally after all the years of campaigning the truth of what happened on that day is close to being acknowledged. The Bloody Sunday families are an example to all of us, their commitment, their perseverance and their dedication to uncovering the truth has been unswerving and I pay tribute to them from this Ard Fheis. There can be no further delay on publishing the Saville Report. Photo: Martin McGuinness pictured shortly before his speech Time for coalition to stand down 
The job creation debate saw delegates identify the government's lack of strategy on employment; the fallout of that ineptitude - particularly emigration - and the need for this government to be decommissioned. Senator Pearse Doherty, speaking directly to one of the worst outcomes of recession in Ireland, emigration, said "jobs are far from a priority for this government". The coalition, he said, "has no plan and no strategy on job creation. We all know people who have lost their jobs while they see banks bailed out." The unemployed, Doherty said, "are angry that nothing is being done to help them. They are struggling to get by on reduced unemployment benefits and some are facing the repossession of their homes while others are packing their bags." Photo: Pearse Doherty and Martin McGuinness at the Ard Fheis Community safety, accountability and child protection raised 
Policing Board member Alex Maskey addressed the Ard Fheis discussion on justice, policing and community safety, describing the Hillsborough agreement that secured a date for the transfer of powers on policing and justice as a "truly welcome development" that showed Sinn Féin are "delivering on our mandate". Photo: Alex Maskey and Niall Ó Donnghaile 
Opening the economy and workers' rights section on Saturday, ICTU and SIPTU President Jack O'Connor said that "the cause of Ireland has become the cause of bankers". After referencing the James Connolly quote, O'Connor added: "Indeed, in many ways we have exchanged subservience to British rule for subservience to the financial markets." Photo: Sinn Féin TD Arthur Morgan and Senator Pearse Doherty talking with ICTU and SIPTU President Jack O’Connor Advancing the Irish Unity agenda 
The Ard Fheis adopted an emergency motion welcoming the agreement reached at Hillsborough between Sinn Féin and the DUP. The motion recognised the deal as delivering on the mandate as adopted by the special Ard Fheis on policing in January 2007. Proposing the motion, Martin McGuinness said that in 2009 he advised the Ard Fheis that he was concerned that a minority of Unionist politicians opposed to change were undermining the will of the majority: Photo: Declan Kearney and Mitchel McLaughlin at the Ard Fheis The Irish Unity Pledge and Canada 
This year's Ard Fheis heard an address by Warren Allmand, former Canadian Attorney General, human rights activist and longtime supporter of peace, unity and justice in Ireland. Allmand first visited the Six Counties in 1966 as part of a Canadian parliamentary delegation and returned on several occasions in the 1990s as an international observer monitoring contentious Orange Order parades. Photo: CANADIAN SOLIDARITY: Pat Totten, Alan McConnell, Alexandra Smith, Gerry Adams, Rita O’Hare, Warren Allmand and Chris Deehy Ard Fheis receives international greetings 
Sinn FÉin's Director of International Relations Padraic Wilson introduced three keynote international speakers at the party's Ard Fheis on Saturday 6 March. Executive Committee member of the PLO Professor As'ad Abdul Rahman addressed delegates, followed by Baleka Mbete, a national chairperson and former deputy president of the ANC, and Katalina Madriagia, a pro-independence left former MP from the Basque Country. Photo: Sinn Féin’s Director of International Relations Padraic Wilson sitting with some of the international speakers Fringe meeting discusses Palestine solidarity 
SINN Féin delegates participated in a packed fringe meeting on Palestine during the party Ard Fheis which was addressed by an executive member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Doctor As'ad Abdul Rahman. Photo: Dr As’ad Abdul Rahman talking to Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams Equality and Human Rights high on agenda Equality and human rights were high on the agenda of this year's Ard Fheis, with a number of important motions supported by delegates. One such motion outlined the party's support for the Equality and Human Rights Alliance. The motion attacked the government's record on social and economic rights and asserted that equality and rights must be at the heart of national economic recovery. 
The Dodder suite of the RDS was the scene for a gathering of the young, and the young at heart. For the second year in a row, a 'Youth Fringe event' was organised to allow young people to gather and discuss the role of youth within Sinn Féin. Rural and Coastal Communities - Robbery, betrayal and neglect 
The sense of betrayal and neglect felt by rural and coastal communities in Ireland was evident at the Ard Fheis. The communities that should be allowed harvest our natural resources are, literally, having the food taken out of their mouths. Speaking on the Common Fisheries Policy, Martin Ferris TD said: "The Irish fisheries sector has been in crisis for decades", and "fundamentally the crisis is a direct result of decades of mismanagement and neglect - ultimately based on the surrender of our fisheries to Brussels in 1973." Photo: Martin Ferris Lively debate on coalition and new model of membership 
At one of the best attended Friday evening sessions in many years, a large number of Ard Fheis delegates queued to speak on motions on party development and constitution and rules. While many of the speakers spoke on the issue of coalition, a range of other subjects were also debated, including the need to campaign more effectively and the promotion of the Irish language within Sinn Féin. Delegates rejected a motion that would have seen the party refuse to allow councillors who left other parties to join Sinn Féin. Photo: Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin urged the party to retain its strategy on coalition and said that Sinn Féin would always remain an independent political force Hospital waiting woes highlighted 
Public services have been dealt the full force of the Fianna Fáil led government and their agenda of cuts this year and this was reflected in the contributions of delegates on Saturday morning during the section on envionment and public services.. Photo: Paul Hogan (Athlone) voting at the Ard Fheis Of hares and our Easter Rising legacy It's not every day you attend a Sinn Féin Ard Fheis hearing pigs, cows, dogs, rats and cuddly hares the topic of conversation but this was no ordinary day, as the section on culture and heritage demonstrated. 
The final section of the Ard Fheis was on motions dealing with democracy and accountability but was dominated by a debate on a motion from the Driver O'Boyle cumann in Wicklow condemning An Taisce's objections to rural one-off housing. Councillor Martin Kenny from Leitrim accused An Taisce of trying to turn rural Ireland into a wildlife reserve, saying: "There is an agenda in certain sections of Irish society to remove people from the rural countryside. People in rural Ireland need to live and work and they need homes to live in." Photo: Dublin Sinn Féin’s Larry O’Toole and Seán Crowe National Officer Board and Ard Chomhairle members elected at Ard Fheis 2010 
Sinn Féin Ard Fheis 2010 |
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