Top Issue 1-2024

1916 Easter Rising commemorated in Stormont

23 March 2013

THE LONG GALLERY in Stormont echoed to the sound of republicans honouring the sacrifices of the men and women of 1916 on Wednesday 20 March when Sinn Féin’s Assembly team held their annual Easter commemoration. Songs of freedom reverberated around the marble palisades of a building more used to the hushed tones of reverential musings than those of republicans sending out a confident, upbeat reminder of just how confident we are now. Newly-elected MP for Mid Ulster Francie Molloy chaired the event in one of his last duties as an MLA. Sinn Féin Vice-President Mary Lou McDonald TD was the guest speaker. Mary Lou, scheduled to deliver the main address at the main Belfast 1916 Rising parade on Easter Sunday reminded her audience of the huge sacrifices made by republicans in the struggle for freedom. She spoke of the connection between the struggle for workers’ rights and the struggle to end British rule in our country, an apt connection in this the centenary year of the founding of the Irish Citizen Army by James Connolly. Junior Minister Jennifer McCann MLA recited Pearse’s inspirational poem ‘The Rebel’. Seán Bateson, Chair of the Queen’s University Sheena Campbell Sinn Féin Cumann read the Proclamation. And with a magnificent rendition of ‘The Foggy Dew’, Belfast singer Gráinne Holland brought the event to a close.

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Hundreds remember dead of Gibraltar, Turf Lodge and Milltown

19 March 2013

ON Saturday 16 March 2013, the 25th anniversary of the attack on mourners in Milltown Cemetery, hundreds of republicans and family members took part in a commemoration ceremony to honour those republicans who lost their lives during March 1988. In the aftermath of the Gibraltar shootings, Volunteer Kevin McCracken was shot dead by the British Army in Turf Lodge while three young men lost their lives to death squad assassin Michael Stone in Milltown Cemetery during the funerals of the Gibraltar Three. Lead by a republican colour party the crowd marched through Milltown to the Republican Plot, the site of Stone’s attack. Sinn Féin Junior Minister Jennifer McCann, a friend of Mairéad Farrell’s, chaired the proceedings. The leader of the Sinn Féin group in Belfast City Hall, Councillor Jim McVeigh, delivered the main address.

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Mural officially unveiled

19 March 2013

THE recently-refurbished mural remembering the dead of Gibraltar, Turf Lodge and Milltown Cemetery was officially unveiled on Thursday 14 March in the presence of family members of those who died in March 25 years ago. The mural on the famous International Wall on the Falls Road remembers IRA Volunteers Mairéad Farrell, Dan McCann, Seán Savage, Kevin McCracken and Caoimhín Mac Brádaigh as well as John Murray and Thomas McErlean, who all lost their lives at the hands of British gunmen during those fateful two weeks in March 1988.

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Easter Lily appeal in Belfast City Hall

19 March 2013

BELFAST National Graves Association and the Belfast Executive of Sinn Féin launched the annual Easter Lily appeal in Belfast City Hall on Thursday 14 March. This is the third year running that the annual Easter Lily appeal has been launched in City Hall and Councillor Jim McVeigh says this "marks the changing face of Belfast’s primary civic building". Liam Shannon, Chairperson of the Belfast National Graves Association, was the main speaker. In an example of the changing nature of politics in the North, Liam recounted how he had been arrested “close to City Hall in the 1960s for selling Lilies”. As well as members of the National Graves Association, invited guests included Dessie Cassidy from north Belfast, a grand-nephew of Winifred Carney. Winifred Carney played an important role alongside James Connolly in the Irish Citizen Army and it was particularly fitting that her relative should be present at the Lily launch in this centenary year of the founding of the Citizen Army.

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St Patrick’s Day, 1975: IRA Volunteer Tom Smith shot dead in Portlaoise Prison escape attempt

14 March 2013

This photo gallery recalls some of the scenes of the funeral of Dublin Brigade IRA Volunteer Tom Smith, who was shot dead by army sentries during an escape attempt from Portlaoise Prison

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CD fund-raiser for Irish-language schools launched

12 March 2013

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD was on hand in Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich on Monday 11 March 11 to launch a new CD in aid of Irish-medium education. The CD, a compilation of traditional and not so traditional tunes, was recorded by pupils from the various Irish-language schools across the city. Present at the launch were Coláiste Féirste pupils Niamh Nic Ionnrachtaigh and Laoise Ní Ghreachain, who designed the cover for the album. Maurice Hayes, of the International Fund for Ireland, which ensured funding for the project, also attended the launch.

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Celebrating the involvement of women in the 1913 Lockout

12 March 2013

7.30pm Friday 8th March. The Law Society of Ireland. The Presidents Room, Blackhall Place, Dublin 7. » Historian James Curry will give an introduction into the Inspirational Woman Delia Larkin » Women’s journey from 1913-2013 by Lynn Ní Bhaoighealláin » A Scene from ‘THE RISEN PEOPLE’ – The Story of the Fitzpatrick Family's struggle to survive during the 1913 Dublin Lockout, directed by Peter and Sheila Sheridan and performed by East Wall PEG Variety and Drama Group » And Finally Niamh Parsons and Graham Dunne-breathing life into traditional music and songs

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Venezuela vigil

11 March 2013

A VIGIL in solidarity with the people of Venezuela was attended by around a hundred people in Derry City on Friday evening, 8 March, the day of the funeral of revolutionary leader Hugo Chávez. The event was attended by Mayor of Derry Kevin Campbell (Sinn Féin), Sinn Féin MEP Martina Anderson and Eamonn McCann.

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East Antrim Sinn Féin historic dinner

11 March 2013

THE first-ever East Antrim Sinn Féin Dinner, held recently in the Glens Hotel, Cushendall, is testament to the development of the party in the area. Boasting a membership that has doubled in the last six months, there are clear signs the party’s expansion will have a major electoral impact in the coming years. The election of Oliver McMullan as an MLA in the staunchly unionist East Antrim constituency is proof of that. Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill, the guest speaker, praised the efforts of republicans in the area and encouraged them to be clear minded and strong in the political battles that lie ahead.

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2013 Sinn Féin National Youth Congress

8 March 2013

200 young republicans from all corners of Ireland packed into the Felons' Club, Belfast, on the weekend of the 1 March to take part in the 2013 Sinn Féin National Youth Congress. The weekend included debates, guest speakers and workshops on issues such as the Irish language, women's rights, the EU, identity and culture, Irish unity, the Peace Process and much more.

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Contributions from key figures in the churches, academia and wider civic society as well as senior republican figures


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