Talking and walking

A REPETITION of the riots in Ardoyne on the Twelfth and for days after, including the attempted burning of the Belfast to Dublin train while passengers were still on board, must be avoided.
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams wrote to all the loyal orders in May, inviting them to talks. After Ardoyne, two months later, he reissued his invitation to try and avoid any recurrences.
The unionist North and West Belfast Parades Forum has now accepted the Sinn Féin leader’s invitation ahead of the Apprentice Boys of Derry parade at Ardoyne on August 14th.
While some people in the loyal orders see the sense in talking to nationalist representatives, others are dragging their feet.
But Gerry Adams isn’t giving up hope.
“I am asking that loyal order leaders set aside past differences, demonstrate real courage and vision, and engage in dialogue with Sinn Féin and local host communities affected by marches.
“It is time that the issue of contentious marches was finally resolved.”
In his blog (http://leargas.blogspot.com), Gerry Adams says that attempts by the loyal orders in recent years to rebrand the marching season as ‘Orangefest’ are lost in the confrontations and violence around a very few number of marches.
There are almost 4,000 loyal order parades each year. The vast majority pass peacefully. Only a handful result in violence. Gerry Adams appeals:
“Surely it is not beyond the wit and intelligence of all of us to find a resolution which can bring this to an end.”
It’s time to talk.

Cuts, Fianna Fáil and ‘Fianna Fáil Lite’

AND so the Fianna Fáil/Green Party Government’s charade begins.
Last month, the 26-County Government met at Farmleigh House in Dublin to discuss where the axe will fall as it implements a €3billion adjustment in the December Budget. The meeting was for the media’s benefit. The Government has already pretty much worked out where its latest austerity package will fall and you wouldn’t go far wrong if you thought of social welfare and public services.
Of course, the other target for the Government is the capital budget - that’s the budget that invests in infrastructure like school buildings and transport, infrastructure that provides jobs.
Another buzzword was thrown out by the Government at its meeting: stimulus.
We have been talking about a stimulus for a while now but the Government has latterly come to the idea that one way to fix the economy is to stimulate it. Unfortunately, their definition of the word applies to helping large lobby groups like the car and drinks industry.
And what isn’t being mentioned by the Government in this Budget? Well, that would be the €22billion being lobbed into the banking black-hole this year which has the capacity to double the state’s deficit in one swift blow.
Let’s not mention the multi-billion elephant in the room when we’re talking about people on €198 a week having too much to live on.
This Government are still so far out of touch that no one can reach them to make them see sense.
It’s time for them to go and the answer is not to replace them with Fine Gael - what Fine Gael TD Lucinda Creighton called “Fianna Fáil Lite”.
It’s time for Sinn Féin.

Honouring the Hunger-Strikers

REPUBLICANS have been gathering at commemorative events over these past weeks to honour the memory of the 1981 Hunger Strike Martyrs, the prisoners whose courage and sacrifice epitomised that shown by all the activists and their families who have given so much in the ongoing struggle for freedom, a reunited Ireland and a society that values its people and cares for them.
We urge all republicans to make a particular effort to attend the National Hunger-Strike Commemoration events in County Derry around Sunday, August 15th, highlighted inside in An Phoblacht’s interview with Sinn Féin Councillor Ian Milne, an active service comrade of IRA Volunteer Francis Hughes. Amongst the other local events (see inside), there is also a week-long programme of activities from Saturday, July 31st, to Saturday, August 7th, in west Belfast for Óglach Kieran Doherty.
We salute their memory. We continue their struggle.

“Everyone, republican or otherwise, has their own particular part to play. No part is too great or too small;
no one is too old or too young to do something.”
– Bobby Sands MP