‘Fundamental change is needed in Irish society’

KILMICHAEL COMMEMORATION, COUNTY CORK | MARTIN McGUINNESS MP

Martin McGuinness at the Kilmichael Monument with Con Callaghan

KILMICHAEL, in west County Cork, is legendary. On Sunday, November 28th, another legend in Irish republican history, Martin McGuinness, was the main speaker on the actual anniversary of the famous Kilmichael Ambush of 90 years ago when 36 IRA Volunteers dealt a heavy blow to a mighty British Empire.
And, as always in Irish history, there is a lesson in the resistance of the men of Kilmichael to wrong-doing and injustice that has a resonance today.
Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness made this the theme of his address.

"THE IRA freedom fighters who gathered at Kilmichael were not motivated by personal gain. They were not in awe of the great and the good.
What sustained them that cold, wet, silent night was the same thing that sustained Bobby Sands 60 years later in a prison cell when he wrote:

It lights the dark of this prison cell,
It thunders forth its might,
It is ‘the undauntable thought’, my friend,
That thought that says ‘I’m right! ‘

All my adult life I have taken inspiration from the self-sacrifice and dedication of the Volunteers who fought here, at Crossbarry and in many other places during the Tan War.
Every time someone tells me, ‘No more progress can be made,’ or, ‘We have to accept our lot,’ I look back to the selfless courage of those who went before. And I resolve to carry on.
All through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, IRA Volunteers continued to wage armed struggle to achieve a united Ireland. Their efforts brought about the Irish Peace Process and negotiations.
The IRA said itself in 2005 that the best way to achieve Irish unity in present-day Ireland was through political and democratic programmes and to work with others to build increased popular support towards that end.
The foundation documents of modern Irish republicanism upon which our vision is based are timeless. The Easter Proclamation and Democratic Programme of the First Dail affirm the core values of Irish republicanism of sovereignty, equality, citizenship and democracy.
These values are not abstract. They are practical political objectives.
They are also a guide to political action but, more, they set out a template for the type of Ireland our citizens deserve.
Never before in the history of this state has the relevance of these political values been more urgent or immediate.
The imposition of partition prevented the strategic economic, industrial and infrastructural development of our country. It was a denial of national democracy. And it institutionalised discrimination and inequality against nationalists in the Six Counties.
Today our country, North and South, is in the grip of a deep economic recession and financial crisis.
The British Tory Government is trying to force a savage programme of cutbacks into the North’s economy. Sinn Féin will oppose these cuts and stand up for communities, as we always have done.
In this state, half a million citizens are unemployed and emigration has returned to the levels of the 1980s.
Homes belonging to ordinary people, small businesses and farms, family incomes, the minimum wage and welfare benefits are all threatened by the crisis and Government Budget here in the South.
The economy has been driven into rack and ruin because it was allowed to, primarily to serve the interests of greedy developers and bankers.
And, yes, it could have been different.
There is wealth in the Northern and Southern economies.
But that wealth has not been used to address the crisis with strategies to stabilise our economies and chart a path back to recovery.
Many believe it is a national travesty that the economy of this state has been pawned to appease foreign banks and that the country’s wealth is to be paid as financial compensation to the European economic elite.
That’s not the Ireland that the leaders of 1916 fought for; it is not the Ireland that the Volunteers of Kilmichael fought for; and it is not the Ireland that generations of modern-day republicans have struggled to achieve.
It is not our people who should be losing their jobs and paying the price.
Let the Golden Circle, the fat cats and gombeen men take the pain instead.
What has happened in this state is anathema to republicanism. It is a corruption of the Proclamation and Democratic Programme.
Sinn Féin believes this crisis can be stabilised and that we can get back to recovery and growth. We need to focus upon job creation and job creation programmes.
Change can happen.
The Irish republic is not the property of the political establishment. It belongs to the people of Ireland and I have faith in the people of Ireland.
Genuine republican leadership and a coherent political strategy are now needed.
That is what Sinn Féin is about. We are playing our part, in standing up and delivering. That is why Gerry Adams gave up a safe seat in west Belfast to run in County Louth in the next general election.
That’s why the people of Donegal South-West elected Pearse Doherty as their Sinn Féin TD on Friday.
We all need to stand up and be counted.
As citizens we need to be as bold and audacious today in asserting our right to equality and decent standards of living, as this Rebel County was during the Tan War.
Fundamental change is needed in Irish society, not more of the same, and not more ‘old wine in new bottles’.
We are now back to Connolly and the reconquest of Ireland’s economic sovereignty and political democracy for the benefit of our people.
Let us create the momentum to unite our country and together build a national, sovereign and democratic republic.
An Irish republic of the people, by the people, for the people.
Yes, there is indeed a better way.
And it will be found in a national republic which preserves and defends its sovereignty and cherishes all the children and citizens of the nation equally.
Ar aghaidh linn le cheile i dtreo na Poblachta."