Fianna Fáil tries to mimic An Phoblacht - FF paper should spur Sinn Féin members to promote and sell An Phoblacht

A leaked internal Fianna Fáil report has revealed that the party is ageing, has far fewer members than its head office believed, and is not attracting new members. Most of its local cumainn meet only once a year or less. The leak may well have been FF's own effort to stir its membership in preparation for the next General Election. Part of the same pre-election drive is the appearance of a Fianna Fáil paper - The Nation.

The paper leads with a front-page interview in which Bertie Ahern says he will go on as Taoiseach until 2007. But don't take his word for it. He could call an election any time before 2007 — or unforeseen events could force one. And who does Fianna Fáil see as their main electoral rival come the General Election? The answer is in the pages of The Nation. It is clearly pitched both at FF voters who might defect to Sinn Féin and to equip FF members to counteract Sinn Féin arguments.

The centrespread of The Nation features the Fianna Fáil 1916 commemoration at Arbour Hill. But there is nothing about how (or if) FF intends to achieve its alleged aim of Irish unity, or even how it will restore the Good Friday Agreement. "End all IRA paramilitarism" is the headline that is reiterated throughout. A full page is devoted to an historically inaccurate article by Environment Minister Dick Roche attacking "Sinn Féin's sham centenary". The Nation does not tell us that the article first appeared in Tony O'Reilly's Sunday Independent on 16 January. (It was replied to by this writer in An Phoblacht on 27 January.) The same Minister Roche even manages to work an attack on SF MEP Mary Lou McDonald into an article on illegal dumping!

There is, of course, much boasting about the record of the Government — or the Fianna Fáil part of it. Their PD partners are kept in the closet. And in a 40-page paper, Health only gets half a page — exposing once again the Achilles heel of this government. Not much to boast of in the crisis-ridden health services.

Again and again, Fianna Fáil's 'republican' credentials are stressed. It's in the masthead and it's in Bertie's editorial welcoming the paper: "Fianna Fáil is the Republican Party. The concerns of working people have always been at the heart of our policies. We have a vision of an Ireland where there is equality of opportunity..." There is much hypocrisy here for Sinn Féiners to expose.

The paper claims the mantle of Thomas Davis's The Nation newspaper, and also harks back to the Fianna Fáil paper that preceded the Irish Press and ran from 1927-'31. Also called The Nation, its editorial is quoted: "The Nation stands for an Irish Republic. The Nation stands for the freedom which the men and women of 1916 and the years succeeding fought and died. The Nation takes its stand with Wolfe Tone..." Yet more ammunition for republicans.

FF have recognised the importance of a party paper in communicating with its members and supporters -- something real republicans have long put into practice. It will be interesting to see how often Fianna Fáil — with all their resources — manage to produce their newspaper, the first edition of which is undated and which does not tell us when it will next appear. An Phoblacht has been in continuous publication, uninterrupted even by death squad attacks, raids on our offices, Special Court jailings and attempted suppression, since February 1970. And the lesson of this latest FF venture for true republicans? Get out there and promote and sell An Phoblacht.