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29 February 2024 Edition

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‘Our demands most moderate are, we only want the earth’ – James Connolly

Uachtarán Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald sat down for an interview in this issue of An Phoblacht. Our talk covered everything from the “seismic event” of Michelle O’Neill taking office as First Minster, to leading the opposition in Leinster House, housing, health, a united Ireland, the coming elections and referendums.

During the course of the interview, Mary Lou said, “We are at a moment of change, a pivot moment. Some of that is generational, I think. We are living through change that is much bigger than Sinn Féin.”

She continued to say that “As a political party, we are seen as being at the vanguard of it. People’s expectations of life. People’s experience, people’s world view has evolved, and you have generations of people now saying that they want a politics that’s different.”

Sinn Féin’s elected representatives and activists are daily engaging in, participating with and building the communities that will be cornerstones of the new, better Ireland that is possible for us all.

This issue of An Phoblacht captures aspects of the challenges and potential of this pivot moment that Ireland stands at today. Daithí Doolan writes about the decades of activism republicans have engaged in to tackle the drugs problem in Ireland. Micheál Mac Donncha looks at the importance of the upcoming elections. Jim Gibney gives a sense of the personal journeys and activism that created the conditions for a Sinn Féin First Minister.

There is also an excellent article by Seán Napier that takes us back to the 1790s, another period of fundamental change in Ireland, where he asks what the spirit of 1798 means today. In the article, he quotes the first editorial of the Northern Star newspaper, which said their aim was, “To make the Irish people aware of their common interests so that they might act together with one heart and with one voice to assert their freedom and endeavour by all constitutional means to shake off the badges of slavery which yet disgrace them as a nation.”

If ever there was a time to reflect on our common interests, it is now. Our common interests on health, housing, the environment, the daily lives of the people sharing this island are paramount now more than ever.

Both Mary Lou McDonald in her interview and Michelle O’Neill in her inaugural speech addressed these challenges. Mary Lou spoke on the need for activism and to be on the doorsteps of our communities. Michelle O’Neill framed why this important when she told the Assembly that, “My eyes are firmly fixed on the future. On unifying people and society.” Quoting James Connolly she said – ‘Our demands most moderate are, we only want the earth’.

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