“We know exactly who we are. Irish Socialist Republicans. United Irelanders.” - Mary Lou McDonald

The grave of Theobald Wolfe Tone at Bodenstown was for long the site of the largest annual national gathering of republicans. Other events may since have overtaken it in numbers, but it remains the spiritual home of Irish Republicanism and a renewed emphasis on Tone’s commemoration this year saw a larger attendance in 2026 than for many years.

The context for this renewal is of course the drive for the Irish Unity referendum and the demand for the Irish government to prepare. As Mary Lou McDonald announced in her speech, Sinn Féin is bringing legislation to the Dáil next week setting out steps needed to prepare for reunification. And it was with that momentum for Irish Unity in mind that republicans from all over Ireland and beyond gathered in Sallins on Sunday 28 June for the walk to Bodenstown.

The sunshine and light breeze showed the banners and flags in full colour as people of all ages enjoyed the occasion. Before the parade set off the cyclists who came from Dublin were greeted with cheers. The parade was led by the Roddy McCorley Society colour party and the O’Neill/Allsopp Band.

The ceremony at Tone’s grave was chaired by Cathal Mallaghan, Sinn Féin MP for Mid-Ulster. A reading from Tone was given by Seán Napier and Kildare South Sinn Féin TD Shónagh Ní Raghailligh read ‘An Seanbhean Bhocht’. Uilleann piper Leo Rickard played the beautiful air ‘Ar Éirinn ní neosfainn cé hí’ followed by the rousing ‘Kelly the Boy from Killane’.

• Cathal Mallaghan MP chairs the ceremony

This year is the centenary of the National Graves Association founded in 1926 and Liam Ó Culbáird outlined the work of the NGA in the past year. He was loudly applauded when he condemned the commercialisation of Tone for profit by a company which has opened a private graveyard next to Bodenstown churchyard, using Tone’s name and image to promote the sale of graves.

• Liam Ó Culbáird, National Graves Association

It was Thomas Davis in 1843 who first made Tone’s grave nationally known and his ballad ‘Bodenstown Churchyard’ was sung by Ger Sheehan of Wexford.

We carry here in full the speech delivered by Uachtarán Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald.

‘The light of a new Republic’

A chairde,

Every nation that has fought for freedom has its sacred places.

Every nation that has struggled against oppression has its hallowed turf.

Sites of stillness and power where the soil carries the legacy of rebellion, courage, sacrifice and hope.

Today, we stand together in such a place.

At the graveside of Theobald Wolfe Tone: A patriot, a revolutionary, the leader of the United Irishmen uprising of 1798, the founding father of Irish Republicanism.

His credo has echoed down the centuries and moved generations of Irishmen and Irish women to rise up in defence of this country’s ancient nationhood.

“To subvert the tyranny of our execrable government, to break the connection with England, the never-failing source of all our political evils, and to assert the independence of my country – these were my objects.

“To unite the whole people of Ireland, to abolish the memory of all past dissensions, and to substitute the common name of Irishman in place of the denominations of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter – these were my means.”

These words remain the bedrock of our politics and our aims – to end partition, to unite our country, to fully and finally end British Rule in Ireland, to reconcile the orange and the green, and to achieve a new thirty-two Republic where the needs of ordinary citizens come first.

We stand here not only to commemorate our patriot dead, not only to honour the past, we stand here to testify.

That together we will unite Ireland and bring about a New Republic of the people, by the people, and for the people.

• Piper Leo Rickard listen to Tone

A NEW REPUBLIC

When we speak about our future in a New Republic it is not some abstract notion.

The future is our young people – their dreams, their aspirations, their right to a good and secure life in their own country.

We must make the promise real for them and for the generations to come.

We must respond to the clarion call of the Proclamation.

We must build a Republic where resources are used not to enrich the privileged few but to improve the lives of the people.

The right to a home.

An affordable life for working people and for families.

Access to healthcare when you need it.

Disabled people and carers supported to live full lives as equals.

Communities respected, cherished, and strengthened as the backbone of our country.

Equality, inclusion, and opportunity.

These are the hallmarks of the united Republic we seek.

A vision long usurped by self-serving Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments, by ruinous partition, and by the shackles of Westminster.

But the story of the past does not have to dictate the future.

Because that new Republic remains our light on the hill.

It calls out to us now.

It implores to stay the course, to go the extra mile, to always believe and to never ever give up.

So, we answer that call with our hope, with our activism, with our unbreakable commitment to the cause of Ireland.

• A pike for Palestine

WHO WE ARE

We answer it too in full confidence in what we stand for.

Throughout our history, others have sought to tell us who we are.

Today, there are those outside our ranks who presume to define Sinn Féin.

Let me respond.

We are defined neither by our political opponents, nor by anti-republican elements, nor by media commentators.

We are defined by the Proclamation of the Irish Republic.

By the Democratic Programme of the First Dáil.

We are defined by the principles of Wolfe Tone.

We know exactly who we are.

Irish Socialist Republicans.

United Irelanders.

We stand for equality, justice and a society in which those who create the wealth receive their fair share.

And we stand for the full freedom of Ireland.

We are a movement sustained by activists who have devoted their lives to political struggle.

People who have faced imprisonment.

State harassment.

Demonisation.

Censorship.

Many who made the ultimate sacrifice.

We stand on the shoulders of proud Irish men and women dedicated to achieving a 32-County Republic.

We are activists who never give up.

Because that is our DNA.

Yes – we know who we are.

Being a rooted, relevant, republican activist is the most powerful response to the naysayers, to the doubters, the mixers and to all our adversaries.

• Family day out

BUILDING A UNITED IRELAND

A United Ireland is about collapsing division and bringing the people of this island together to shape a better for all.

Tone taught that ordinary Catholics, Protestants and Dissenters had far more in common with one another than with those who sought to keep them apart.

That lesson is as important today as it was then.

Recent scenes of racist violence and attacks on the streets of Belfast were a stark reminder that division and scapegoating remain potent forces.

Irish republicans reject racism just as we reject sectarianism.

The answer to social and economic challenges is not to pit working people against one another, but to unite people around their shared interests and common future.

That is why I say directly to working-class unionists and Protestants – you have more in common with your nationalist neighbour than with the wealthy interests that profit from division and inequality.

The united Ireland Sinn Féin seeks is about achieving a republic in which political and economic power rests with the people.

That is the Ireland republicans seek to build.

• The team who cycled from Dublin

PROVIDING LEADERSHIP

In the North, Sinn Féin has unique experience of the challenges involved in advancing that vision.

We share office with others whose instinct is too often to resist change, block progress and hold back political, social and economic development.

But that has not stopped us providing leadership

We know the future belongs to those determined to build something better.

We will continue to stand with working people, drive progress and champion a better future for all.

The momentum towards Irish unity continues to grow.

Old assumptions are being questioned.

The election of nationalist governments in Scotland and Wales underlines that Britain’s Union is under unprecedented pressure from a rising pro-independence tide.

The future is open.

It belongs to those who hear it coming and it will be written by those with the courage to seize the day.

• Dublin Bay North contingent

PREPARING FOR THE REUNIFICATION

There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.

And I believe that the time has come for a United Ireland.

The planning and preparation must start now.

The momentum is building for all to see.

Last week was a week in which Irish Unity was centre stage.

Fine Gael’s announcement that they will publish their proposals on Irish Unity is a positive development.

I also welcome the SDLP Irish Unity conference held last Thursday.

But we now need to see positive movement and enthusiasm from Micheál Martin as the Leader of Fianna Fáil and as Taoiseach.

Because we now have an unprecedented opportunity for all parties to enter the conversation and begin planning for Unity with enthusiasm.

Words must now be matched by action.

The Irish Government must establish the structures, allocate the resources and begin the detailed work of preparing for constitutional change in partnership with communities across this island.

Despite the clear provisions of the Good Friday Agreement, and the profound implications of reunification for every aspect of Irish life, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have yet to demonstrate the urgency this moment demands.

The greatest threat to stability is not preparing for constitutional change. It is refusing to prepare.

Irish unity must be shaped through careful planning, democratic engagement and honest discussion.

That work cannot be delayed any longer.

Sinn Féin will continue to lead that conversation.

Next week, the Dáil will debate and vote on our landmark Irish Unity Bill.

It calls on the government to draft a Green Paper and establish a Citizens’ Assembly.

If passed, it would represent a significant step forward and put planning for a United Ireland at the top of the agenda.

History is unfolding before us.

Unity referendums are coming.

The day is coming when everyone will have their say in the voting booth.

What matters now is that the conversation deepens, that the preparations start, and that whoever next occupies Ten Downing Street realises that Britain can no longer fix the boundary to the march of this nation.

The arc of Irish history is long.

It now bends towards a future that belongs to the people in a United Ireland and a New Republic.

IRISH REPUBLICAN INTERNATIONALISM

Irish Republicans have always understood that our struggle is part of a wider struggle for freedom, justice and self-determination.

That is why we stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine and Gaza.

It is why we say end the slaughter, end the apartheid, end the occupation, free Palestine!

That is why we stand steadfast in defence of Ireland’s neutrality and resist the shameful efforts of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to dismantle it.

Tone argued passionately that Ireland should never become manipulated to enter wars that were not her own.

He was right then and those principles remain as relevant as ever.

We will fiercely oppose attempts by Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to dismantle the Triple Lock.

We will never accept Ireland being drawn into dangerous military alliances or her sons and daughters being sent off to fight in colonial wars.

The Irish people value our neutrality.

As a nation – we stand for peace, for diplomacy, for human rights, and for justice.

We stay true to Connolly and declare again that we serve neither King nor Kaiser, but Ireland!

THE TASK BEFORE US

In 1987, here in Bodenstown, our late and great comrade Rita O’Hare stated:

“It will be a hard system to shake, but we must take on that task… so that we can offer hope to the victims of the social, cultural and economic mess which is Ireland today.”

In that year, Sinn Féin had not a single TD.

But we took up the task Rita identified.

Together with others, we helped build a peace process that culminated in the Good Friday Agreement.

We built Sinn Féin into the largest party on this island – with a First Minister in the North and leading the Opposition in the South with 39 TDs.

We have shaken the system.

We have helped build people’s movements that advanced the rights of women, children, workers, and the marginalised.

We have ensured there can never be a return to the sectarian state in the North and we challenge the broken politics that holds back the South.

But our work is far from finished.

We need only look around us at the damage caused by decades of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments in this state. Or at the potential held back by DUP obstructionism in the North.

Yet we also know that progress is possible.

We can know that Ireland is better than this.

We can build a new and united Ireland –  a republic worthy of the name.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

A chairde, is é ár sprioc – is é cúis ár mbeatha – an Phoblachta a bhaint amach.

Chun deireadh a chur leis an deighilt agus ár dtír agus muintir na tíre a aontú faoi shaoirse, faoi bhráithreachas agus faoi chomhionnais.

Táimid treoraithe ag bunphrionsabail bhuana Fhorógra na Poblachta – cáipéis atá dílis d’fhís réabhlóideach Wolfe Tone.

Spreagann sé sinn chun aghaidh a thabhairt ar na dúshláin, chun tabhairt faoi na deacrachtaí, agus chun iad a shárú.

Tuigimid an cúram stairiúil atá romhainn.

Tá sé mar aidhm againn saoirse iomlán ár dtíre a bhaint amach agus náisiúntacht na hÉireann a dhaingniú faoi dheireadh.

Poblacht cheart a thógáil ina dtugtar tús áite do riachtanais an phobail seachas do leasanna an mhionlaigh faoi phribhléid.

Mar ghníomhaithe poblachtánacha, tá dualgas orainn ceannaireacht a thabhairt, fanacht dílis don aistear, agus obair gan staonadh ar son na todhchaí sin.

Inniu, táimid inár seasamh ag uaigh Thóin le muinín, diongbháilteacht agus dóchas.

Lá amháin, rachaidh an ghrian faoi ar an deighilt, ar an éagothroime, agus ar an bpolaitíocht bhriste a choinnigh glúnta siar.

Agus éireoidh sí ar lá nua in Éirinn Aontaithe, poblacht don phobal uilig, náisiún do chách.

Today, at the grave of Wolfe Tone, we renew our commitment to his noble cause.

The cause of Irish unity.

The cause of democracy.

The cause of economic and social equality.

Let us dedicate ourselves once more to building a New Republic.

A Republic in which power rests with the people.

In which wealth serves the people.

And in which the people of Ireland, together, determine our own destiny.

That is the unfinished business entrusted to our generation.

Let us be guided by the light of a new republic and let’s finish it together.

Ar aghaidh linn le chéile.

Go raibh míle maith agaibh.