Sinn Fein Donegal

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Sinn Fein’s Presidential decision – a case of the tail wagging the dog

Is Sinn Fein’s decision this weekend to support Independent candidate, Catherine Connolly, in November’s Irish Presidential elections a case of the tail wagging the dog?

It certainly seems so.

After much dithering and delay, Ireland’s third ranked political party – which not so long ago could have topped the polls nationwide and emerged as the nation’s leading party if they’d only put forward more candidates – could not even decide on its own Presidential candidate, party member or not.

Instead, it meekly followed in the wake of other smaller Left-leaning parties who have been supporting Connolly for many months.

Catherine Connolly – established Irish politician.

If that’s not the tail wagging the dog, what is? 

No matter how well the story is spun – and sadly Sinn Fein party leader Mary Lou MacDonald offered an ‘over-the-top’ act to do so a few days ago, uttering the superlative cliché ‘game-changer’ – this non-decision decision may come back to bite her and her colleagues. 

While they won’t say it publicly, the other Left wing parties in Ireland are now frothing at the mouth at the possibility of stealing parliament seats from Sinn Fein at the next election.

Unfortunately, Mary Lou made the situation even worse this weekend when she tried vainly to justify choosing Connolly by saying recent Irish presidents had been elected “from outside the political establishment” and that Connolly was following in that tradition.

What a load of nonsense.

Catherine Connolly has been an ‘established’ politician for the last quarter of a century, beginning as local councillor in Galway, then rising to Mayor five years later, then becoming a TD ten years ago. For goodness sake, she was even chairperson of Ireland’s national parliament for a full four years.

If that’s not ‘established’, what is?

Even the present President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins, elected not once but twice over the last 14 years, was a ‘classic established politician.’ For almost half a century including stints as Labour Party president, Senator, TD (Member of Parliament) and even as a Minister. 

One has to ask oneself ‘Who the hell is writing Mary Lou’s scripts. And who’s conducting her research?”

I’ve always been Left of center in my political outlook, and would like Sinn Fein to be in Government and shake up the meagre mediocrity of Irish politics. But with poor decisions like this one over the Presidency, I fear that’s not going to happen any time soon.  

Sinn Fein has shown itself in many instances to be a no-risk party, including its electoral management strategy in Donegal where I now live. In order for it to justify its claim as a leading party, it needs to take risks. But time and time again, it has shown itself to be very much risk averse.  

My humble view is that Irish people are desperate for a fresh face in Áras an Uachtaráin, the official residence of the President of Ireland, someone truly not involved in Irish politics. Someone with the international experience necessary to conduct the role of Presidency in a strong diplomatic manner. They simply don’t want the Presidential race to be based along worn, age-old political party lines.

That’s why someone like Gareth Sheridan – a man whose US-based company has accumulated losses of 40 million dollars and who has himself already been fined for misleading people about his business and whose main business partner is said to have links with Russian oligarchs – has managed to get two county councils in Ireland to nominate him as a Presidential candidate. 

That’s how desperate Irish people are to find someone new. 

Mary Lou went half way by talking about the need for someone new. 

But then she went right ahead and selected someone straight from the old political establishment. And to make matters worse, someone other parties had already selected a long time ago.

It seems Sinn Fein may have just bought the ruling coalition of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael an early Christmas present.  

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Meet The Real Simon Harris – The Dishonourable Duke Of Duping

Is it not reprehensible – the height of hypocrisy in fact – that Simon Harris the leader of the Irish Government  – has the audacity to accuse Sinn Féin in recent weeks of ‘duping’ people when it expelled several party members for substandard social behaviour?

Simon Harris – the Dishonourable Duke of Duping.

The Cambridge dictionary definition of dupe is ‘to deceive’ and if anyone is guilty of deception, it is Harris and his colleagues in the coalition Government of Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and the Green Party.

Over the last four years since being in power – and for many years before that – these parties have been nothing less than ‘repeat offenders,’ constantly deceiving the ordinary hardworking people of Ireland with false promises of a quality lifestyle as befitting a nation that is one of the earliest members of the European Union, then called the European Economic Community, or EEC for short, back in 1973.

Instead, however, we have one of the most disastrous health systems on the continent, with people waiting years for life-saving surgeries, often dying before they receive it; we are awash in homelessness and poverty, with an estimated people 30,000 living on the streets, including thousands of young children and infants; we have a forsaken, forgotten, forlorn State where retirees and newlyweds alike are unable to afford the rent of a simple home, never mind the financial resources to even remotely consider buying one to end or begin their lives together in a modicum of comfort.

Not only does the Dishonourable Duke of Duping continue to deceive people that after all these years he’ll one day consider putting a roof over our heads, but he himself basks in the lap of luxury in one of the most expensive and elitist places in Ireland, the scenic coastal town of Greystones in county Wicklow, where he was born, where he lives and where houses cost up to two million euro, and more.

But is it not somewhat harsh of us to criticise the Dishonourable Duke of Duping for his lack of common decency? Is it not unfair to ask a man of such Royal blood living in such a high falutin’ environment to understand the plight of so many desperate Irish people? Is that not akin to asking King Charles of England to make his own cupán tae once in a while?

Shamefully, while the wealthy in Ireland (many of whom are the Dishonourable Duke of Duping’s closest neighbours) while away their days in decadent lifestyles with fancy homes in fancy places or travel in  environmentally-damaging private jets (which the Dishonourable Duke of Duping does frequently) and indulge their whims in ostentatious holiday homes abroad (which the Dishonourable Duke of Duping often does), modern Ireland suffers the worst housing shortage in its entire 100-year history. 

Studies show less than a third of 30-year-olds own their home. Over half of all newly-built homes in greater Dublin alone were bought or developed by global vulture investor funds, thus locking countless people out of ever attempting to buy one. These ‘vampire funds’ don’t buy homes to sell, they buy them to extract high rents in perpetuity. In other words, they suck the lifeblood out of decent Irish society.

And to make matters worse, the Dishonourable Duke of Duping and his cadre of Government lackeys allowed a temporary no-fault eviction ban in Ireland to lapse last March, thus opening the floodgates for more than 15,000 notices of termination to be issued last year, making the number of evictions higher than it was during the Famine in the mid-1800s. 

For centuries, gutless, greedy, often absentee, landlords, have been the scourge of Ireland, rich, ruthless people who with the click of a finger, a scribbled signature on a sheet of paper, thoughtlessly tossed hungry families out into the ditches. 

Now it seems the same is happening all over again in modern Ireland, this time under the dictatorial rule of the Dishonourable Duke of Duping and his ignoble entourage.

Instead of urgently dealing with these major social and health issues that are making the lives of so many Irish people intolerable, Harris and his well-to-do cohorts, including Government coalition leaders, Micheál Martin of Fianna Fail and Roderic O’Gorman of the Green Party, are pointing their grubby finger at Sinn Féin, an oft-used political ploy to distract popular attention away from the real issues, and their own failings on them. 

In doing so, however, these ‘I’m-better-than-you’ leaders fail to realise something important. While the bitter winds of winter howl at our doors, while Storm Ashley batters the coast this weekend, Irish people are not bears. They are not hibernating. They are wide awake. And fearful. And hungry. And cold. And they remember the empty promises made to them from on high four years ago, and for many years before that.  

Maybe, just maybe, we should ask Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald to re-tell the story of these empty promises once more, to remind us how easily we were taken for fools. And in doing so, help us make sure the Dishonourable Duke of Duping and his Royal patrons don’t sneak back into power through the back door and make jesters of us for another four years in their Court of Failure.

Maybe, just maybe, we’ve learned our lesson and are wide awake enough to elect Sinn Féin, the ‘Party of Change’ and improve things for the better. For each and everyone of us, our parents, our children and the generations who come after. 

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Is Sinn Fein really ready for Government?

by Sean Hillen 

ATHLONE, WESTMEATH – A resounding ‘YES’ was the answer that rang out loud and clear all around me from around 1,500 enthusiastic and committed members, young and old, men and women, some teenagers, some retirees, gathered for the party’s annual Ard Fheis in Athlone, Westmeath several weeks ago.

A large Donegal delegation, the county where I live in northwest Ireland, attended the Ard Fheis.

I know from past experience in both Europe and the US that political party conferences can be full of hype and promise but I sensed something special in the air at this one. Positivity, definitely. Excitement, plenty. Anticipation, yes. Expectation, ditto. Even a little apprehension. Natural, considering it’s been 100 years since Sinn Fein last walked through the corridors of power as the undisputed political leader of Ireland.

Attending this annual meeting, I was extremely impressed with the overwhelming enthusiasm shown by members, their readiness to be in Government and make meaningful changes in Ireland for a better future for all and by the large number of women present, many of whom spoke incisively from the stage as delegates on a range of issues, from education to health, the high cost of living to homelessness. 

With local and EU elections, and perhaps national ones as well, occurring next year, it seemed appropriate that a party that continues to rise in national popularity was holding its annual party meeting in Athlone, a town considered the geographical center of Ireland, with Sinn Féin hoping its influence radiates from there nationwide in all directions.

Led by two women, Mary Lou McDonald, the party’s president and TD for Dublin Central, and Michelle O’Neill, party vice-president and First Minister Elect in Northern Ireland, with TDs nationwide, would-be Ministers-in-waiting, including TDs Pearse Doherty and Pádraig MacLochlainn from Donegal where I now live and with whom I spoke during breaks in the formal proceedings, all aired their views on key issues such as the cost of living crisis, plight of the health system, mounting housing problems, and many more. 

We want to build a new Ireland,” said McDonald in her keynote address after receiving a rousing reception. “A nation home for all. A unified nation of confidence and compassion, talent and ingenuity, claiming our future, our rightful place among the nations of the world. A new Ireland. The Orange and Green reconciled. No place for racism, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, or sectarianism.”

O’Neill spoke about the urgent need to kick-start the Stormont Assembly, the national parliament in Belfast, which has been boycotted by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the main Unionist opposition, for the past year. “My message is one of positivity, one about the future, about building a better society for us all to live side by side,” she said. “My message to the DUP is that they need to be in the Executive with the rest of us, making politics work, making this a better place for everybody who lives here.”

Pearse Doherty, the party’s spokesperson on finance, thanked his fellow party members, saying, “You are the engine room of our organisation. Your work, your energy, your ideas, make Sinn Féin what it is – the only viable vehicle for the ordinary people of Ireland to achieve change in our country, and the only viable vehicle to achieve the unity of our country. We are focused on one thing – delivery for workers and family the length and breadth of our island. We are on the countdown to the general election, and we are setting out the type of change that a Sinn Féin government will deliver if the people give us that opportunity. We are setting out our plans to build a better, fairer country for all, for positive change and transformation.”

Pearse Doherty listens closely as Mary Lou McDonald gives her keynote address.

Paul Hayes, from Carrigart, Sinn Féin regional secretary in Donegal, was delighted with the weekend’s success, telling me that the Ard Fheis had brought together over 1,400 people, with more than 200 speakers over 300 issues voted on. “It’s a great success, I’m very happy,” he told me, smiling. Sitting beside me in the auditorium stalwart Pat Doherty, former Sinn Féin vice-president, wore a quiet, thoughtful – one might even say, contented – expression on his face. And no wonder. After many years of personal struggle and hard work towards the goal of a United Ireland Socialist Republic, the idea – once remote – of his party leading Government both in the north and south of of the nation seems rapidly becoming a reality.

(left to right) Paul Hayes, Sinn Féin regional secretary in Donegal, with Pat Doherty, the party’s former vice-president. Both were happy with the strong attendance and content at the Ard Fheis.

Thanking me for exclusive information I provided to Sinn Féin on RTE expenses, MacLochlainn, the party’s chief whip and spokesperson on fisheries and the marine, added, “We are mindful that this Sinn Féin Ard Fheis could be the last one before the next general election and the formation of a new government. We are confident, we are ready.”

Pádraig MacLochlainn, TD, is confident. “Sinn Féin is ready for Government,” he said.

Among the many motions passed was one affecting many people in Donegal. This pertains to an ongoing scandal – houses that are crumbling due to mica and pyrite in concrete. “Sinn Féin are determined to lead the next government so it is important to renew our commitment to one hundred percent redress and to spell out how we would implement that policy, if we get that chance,” said Sinn Féin housing spokesperson, Eoin Ó Broin. “We believe the Enhanced Defective Concrete Block Grant Scheme is another scheme that will deny redress to most affected homeowners.” 

Aside from domestic issues, Sinn Féin also debated foreign policy issues with loud cheers of support and a prolonged standing ovation given to Dr. Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, Ambassador of Palestine to Ireland, a VIP guest speaker.

Sinn Féin initially abstained at local council and national level from calling for the expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland but in face of horrific stories of death and life-threatening injuries, including thousands of young children, and the wholesale destruction of home and hearth in Gaza, changed tack and formally backed those calls, as well as calling for Israel to be referred to the International Criminal Court by Ireland and the Irish government to formally recognise the State of Palestine.

“We call for an immediate ceasefire and stand firmly behind Palestine in its hopes and  aspirations for its own homeland recognised by all international bodies and a long and lasting peace with all its neighbours,” said Matt Carthy, the party’s spokesperson on foreign affairs, who also thanked me for a proposal I made on a possible long-term solution to the Palestine question.

Young members of Sinn Féin show their support for Palestine.

Elsewhere at the Ard Fheis, former Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, cheerfully met with a long line of well-wishers as he signed copies of his latest book, Black Mountain and Other Stories. Gerry has authored a number of books including Before the Dawn: An Autobiography; Cage Eleven: Writings From Prison; The Street And Other Stories; Falls Memories; and A Farther Shore: Ireland’s Long Road.

I am proud to say that Gerry’s Donegal holiday house lies less than 10 kilometers from my own home and that his mother and mine were very close friends as teenagers, working side-by-side in west Belfast and stayed together in the Donegal Gaeltacht on several occasions (with their interest in boys vying closely with their interest in the Irish language and culture, I am reliably informed).

Former Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, signs copies of his books.
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Half million euro missing in Donegal, 250 euro returned

Half a million euro would be considered a miraculous life-saver by Mary, the tireless community worker struggling on behalf of cancer patients from Donegal who can barely afford the hefty cost of travel to Galway for specialised treatments.

If the hardworking managers of local community centres in the Donegal Gaeltacht received half a million euro, they could hire additional full-time Irish, and English-language, staff for several years and expand exponentially their range of services and activities in support of local people. 

If Amharclann, the Irish-language theatre in Bunbeg, received half a million euro, it could run an exciting cultural programme of dance, music, cinematic and theatrical performances for the next five years.

Not to mention how hard-pressed individual artists and musicians bereft of gigs due to Covid could use that money. Or indeed the Donegal office of Irish-language organisation, Foras na Gaeilge, whose local members help keep our native language alive here. And as for those unfortunate people whose homes and businesses have been destroyed by mica ….

But none of these groups have the luxury of half a million euro. 

Such a notion would be considered pure and utter fantasy, especially in the hard financial times in which we now live. 

Yet that is about the sum of money former Donegal Fianna Fail Senator, Brian O’Donnell, from Falcarragh in the heart of the Donegal Gaeltacht, has just wasted. ‘Snatched brutally, selfishly and greedily’ some are saying, from the public purse. Others use the term ‘stolen,’ but in this article I wish to be diplomatic.

How did he do this?

Ironically, over the Irish language.

O’Donnell was caught taking money from the public purse by duplicating travel and subsistence expenses as both board member of Irish-language economic group, Údarás na Gaeltachta, and Donegal County Council. 

The accusations – and this beggars belief – investigated by the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) – was that it would have been impossible for him to have been in two different parts of the country at exactly the same time, at two different conferences. 

And there I thought teleportation – where matter is de-materialised at one place and recreated instantly at another – happened only in science-fiction movies and fantasy comics.

If that wasn’t enough, the former Fianna Fail Senator then cowardly left the scene of an accident while driving his car in a drunken state.

But that’s only the beginning of the saga.

O’Donnell, with the aid of well-paid lawyers, fought the accusations against him, not on the basis of whether they were right or wrong, true or false, but on the simple basis that the cases should be heard as Gaeilge (in Irish) not English. The fact that both languages are official languages of the Republic of Ireland didn’t matter a damn to him, nor them. Nor the eventual cost to ordinary Irish citizens, including those unfortunate people suffering from cancer.

The rest of the story is spread across years of newsprint.

After deploying numerous tactics to delay the ‘claims investigation’ many times, he then decided to do the same to the ‘leaving the scene of an accident’ investigation, not once but a total of 20 times.

As a result, the total bill to the ordinary Irishman, woman and child has been estimated at around – yes, you’ve guessed it – half a million euro, the amount the board of trustees of Amharclann, Donegal’s proud Irish-language theatre, the hardworking staff of the county’s community centres and the many severely sick people – all dream of having to help them.

In the meantime, craftily devising his delaying tactics, which eventually spanned a massive eight years, did O’Donnell quietly planned his ‘get-out-of-jail card’ – his emigration to Canada? In fact, O’Donnell being found guilty could perhaps have led to a short prison sentence and would have prevented him emigrating to Canada. And certainly would have prevented him getting a Canadian driving license.

Was his delaying tactics also related to avoidance of his share of the legal costs? For example, I’ve been trying to find out if he ever paid a legal bill placed upon him by three judges who threw out of court his claim that the SIPO was not entitled to investigate his duplicitous behaviour because, he claimed, the allegations arose from ‘an anonymous complaint by a member of the public.’ 

I’d like to know not only if Mr. O’Donnell has paid his full legal bill but how much it was. If Mr O’Donnell is reading this, please get in touch. It’s only fair to hear his side of the story. And transparency is something we all should strive for.

Mysteriously the court hearing that finally put an end to one of the most ludicrous and wasteful cases in Irish legal history, almost went under the radar earlier this month, slipped quietly and quickly onto the docket of a mundane court sitting.

How did this happen? Donegal media said simply that, “according to court papers.. O’Donnell’s case was not due to be heard until the Wednesday after during a sitting  of Falcarragh District Court.” That’s when his (O’Donnell’s) solicitor, Sean Cannon, “brought the matter up with Judge Paul Kelly …during a family law sitting of Letterkenny District Court.” And the judge conveniently and quickly moved the case forward.

‘Brought the matter matter up?’ What the hell does that mean? And does such a serious case merit being in a sitting on family law? The mind boggles.

And this Judge Paul Kelly? Who is he? Was he appointed under a previous Fianna Fail government? Does it look like it from this article? But then again, that doesn’t matter, surely. After all, the Irish legal system is separate from the political one, isn’t it?

Though, as we well know, it is not unknown in Ireland for political favours and indeed, brown envelopes, or both, to pass hands.

The result of the long-delayed case: a ridiculously low fine, in my opinion, of 250 euro for charges of drunken driving leaving the scene of an accident and providing misinformation the police. I dare you to find any court case where such a laughable decision has been made in such a serious case. 

As for the short ban from driving, does it really matter? O’Donnell is sitting pretty in another country. Did an infamous Irish ‘brown envelope’ pass hands to facilitate this convenient legal accommodation in Letterkenny? No-one knows, and unfortunately no-one will probably ever know. Is this just an example of the old adage, ‘there’s a law for the ordinary working citizen but a very different one for the elite, well-connected in Irish society?’ 

So, while O’Donnell enjoys his new life in Quebec, Irish men, women and children in his very own constituency in the heart of the Donegal Gaeltacht continue to struggle to make ends meet, people continue to suffer pain and hardship, some desperately trying to raise enough money to help them avail of specialised life-saving cancer treatments. And young, talented teachers from the Donegal Gaeltacht, and other parts of the county, are forced to go abroad, to places like Quatar in the Middle East, because there’s no money to employ them here at home.

Is this called ‘fairness’ in Ireland today? 

Among all this misconduct (there are stronger words to describe O’Donnell’s behaviour), there are two other guilty parties that should not escape blame and require stronger scrutiny by the public at large and by themselves. 

At the very least, both Údarás na Gaeltachta and Donegal Council obviously urgently require a proper Code of Practice for Good Governance. And, more importantly, to enforce it. Want to know more about the failings of Údarás na Gaeltachta, an organisation that receives tens of millions of euro from the public purse every year? Read more here. Has it cleaned up its act since then? Time will tell.

There’s little anyone can do now about the regrettable situation surrounding the O’Donnell controversy, except two things.

Firstly, as a citizen you have the right to appeal to the relevant authorities about a court decision you consider overly-lenient and unfair and to have the case reviewed. One place to start is writing to the Complaints Department of the Law Society of Ireland at complaints@lsra.iethe

Then the Judicial Conduct Committee established by The Judicial Council recently. You can write a short email to: info@judicialcouncil.ie You can ask to remain anonymous in both instances. It’s time to stand up and speak out, don’t you think?

I have already sent a complaint about Judge Paul Kelly’s decision as I consider a 250 euro fine to be utterly ridiculous and a 3-year driving ban to be insignificant, considering that Mr. O’Donnell can simply come to Ireland in the intervening years and drive with no problems using a Canadian driving license I presume he will obtain quite easily, thus posing a danger yet again to ordinary people on our roads. On both sides of the Atlantic.  

Secondly, when election time comes round, and it will come quicker than you think, consider carefully which political party and candidates you vote for. Is it not better to avoid the Brian O’Donnells of this world and choose others with a much greater sense of decency and honesty? 

Traditional Irish group Arcanadh woos and wins hearts of audience
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Traditional Irish group Arcanadh woos and wins hearts of audience

Another cultural entertainment success for Amharclann

What a terrific cultural contribution this historic theatre provides not just for Bunbeg, not just for the Gaeltacht, not just for Donegal but for all-Ireland, north and south.

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by Sean Hillen

Six musicians-singers-songwriters with such a wealth of talent it seems blatantly unfair to the rest of us mere mortals – that sums up Irish-group, Arcanadh, which played to an enthusiastic audience at historic Amharclann theater, Bunbeg, northwest Donegal, Ireland this week.

Here I must admit my bias.

In a rare moment of wisdom, I invited this terrific group to tour Romania when I launched the first-ever Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations in that former-Communist country. It was a decision I’ve never regretted.

The result more than 10 years ago was the same as that at Amharclann 72-hours ago – a boisterous appeal for more at the end and an appreciative standing ovation after their final encore.

Members of Arcanadh have known each other for more than twenty years and this is reflected in their smooth light-hearted banter off-song and their seamless harmonies on-song. Their passion for their…

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Shit-smeared walls and degrading bum searches

Sinn Fein hosts fascinating ‘Living History’ talk on the 1981 hunger strikes
 
Organized by the Sinn Fein cumann in Cloughaneely, an engrossing talk by former Irish Republican prisoners, Danny Morrison and Breige Brownlee took place at The Yard, Falcarragh, Donegal this weekend as a ‘Living History’ event about the tragic 1981 hunger strikes.
Focusing on the deaths of 10 young men 35 years ago in the H-blocks (it’s shocking to think it was so long ago), the two speakers captivated their audience with their personal, graphic accounts of life behind bars during one of northern Ireland’s most turbulent eras and of the awful circumstances that led to those brave men giving up their lives in such an agonizing way to achieve political status. The event also featured screening of the documentary, “The Blanketmen.’ 
In face of mind-numbing prison conditions including humiliating bum searches and other abuse at the hands of prison officers and the awful stench of shit-smeared walls as part of the ‘no blanket-dirty protest,’ one had to marvel (regardless of political views) at the absolute resilience of this body of women and men enduring years of confinement, many incarcerated without trial, resolutely united in a common cause – the reunification of Ireland.
One also has to admire their abiding sense of humor – something not easy to muster in such despairing circumstances – that helped Irish Republican prisoners deal with the dark, depressing moments that must have visited them often in their cells, especially with ‘screws’ dragging them into toilets to shear off their hair and wash them in freezing cold water or when they heard about the slow deaths of their comrades, the first being Bobby Sands on the 66th day of his hunger strike.
Brownlee talked about life in Armagh prison, with both pathos and humor, about how women there reacted supportively to events in the H-blocks and were determined to show a united front to the authorities, especially as one of the women was partner to a hunger striker. “It was an awful time, for all of us, but we knew we couldn’t let the men down,” she recalled.
At times, Brownlee added humor to her recollections, saying, ‘with my luck, I was the first person needing to go to the toilet after we women decided to join the dirty protest. It wasn’t easy to wipe it (her own shit) all over the walls of my cell but someone had given me a bottle of expensive perfume as a present so I sprayed it everywhere afterwards. It stunk to high heaven, the perfume more than the poo.” She also talked about how, having gotten used to wiping their shit on the walls, she and her comrades would create ‘masterpieces’ of art, Sistine Chapel- Michelangelo-style, then admired and laughed about each other’s artistry, or lack thereof. “It helped ease the terrible tension and stress we were all facing and helped keep up our morale,” she explained. Brownlee is now working in support of diverse community projects.
Morrison, who was public relations director for Sinn Fein and editor of ‘An Phoblacht’ newspaper and is now an author and creative writing coach (he was guest trainer and speaker at northwest Donegal’s annual Ireland Writing Retreat) talked in detail about the reasons for the prison protests and how they developed. He offered powerful insights into the detailed discussions that took place among prisoners on the ‘inside’ and their comrades outside the H-blocks, as well as negotiations with various bodies, including the British Government and various peace, justice and human rights groups such as the Irish Commission for Justice and Peace.
As the only leading Irish Republican allowed into the prison to talk to the hunger strikers, the Falls Road man painted a striking picture of himself seated among six or seven of the hunger strikers – even pointing in the air to where each person was positioned around him in the prison hospital, including one, Joe McDonnell, in a wheelchair as he explained how negotiations on the prisoners’ demands were progressing. It must have been unenviable, utterly heart-breaking position for him to be in, seeing his friends’ bodies ravaged by hunger and sickness, some with mere days to live. Unfortunately, most of those men listening to him in that room, giving their views, would die. “To my mind, those Irish hunger strikers were just as heroic as the Irish leaders who died in 1916,” Morrison said.
Reflecting on how some people compare (unfairly in his view) the IRA of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s to the rebels of 1916, he added, “If Republican leaders one hundred years ago had Semtex, they’d have used it, if they’d had cars that could be used as bombs, they’d have used them too,” he said.
I agree. To my mind, such unfair commentary from people, which we also hear often from supposedly intelligent commentators on national airwaves and in the print media, reflects a classic case of what I term ‘moral anesthesiology of time.’ That’s the main reason why Michael Collins is considered a hero yet Gerry Adams is demonized by some. War is war is war, awful as it is always is.
Living in Andersonstown then (though born in Ballymurphy) and just beginning my journalism career, I remember vividly the night Bobby Sands died. While working full-time on minor issues for Belfast Telegraph newspapers, I was also covering the hunger strikes for international newspapers in Australia and the US. Hearing the crash of bin-lids being banged on pavements outside my door in the early hours of that fateful May 5th morning, I knew it meant only one thing – the death of the 27-year-old Twinbrook man. I recall jumping out of bed, getting dressed and rushing down the Falls Road and an American columnist for the New York ‘Daily News’ stepping out in front of me outside the former Lake Glen Hotel asking if he could come with me to ‘where the action was.’ Later, pushed up against a wall near the Royal Victoria Hospital for a body search by a British Army snatch squad, we were told of ‘burning barricades and snipers on roofs’ and warned we’d be ‘taking our lives in our hands’ if we went on.
We ignored the warning, crouched close to the wall and made our way to the makeshift barricade at the junction of the Grosvenor and Falls Roads, filing our separate articles for newspapers after dawn. But within 48-hours I was receiving trans-Atlantic telephone calls at the Telegraph’s small Carrickfergus office where I worked (not the safest place in the world then for an Irish nationalist to be receiving such calls) from major newspapers such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, from well-known writers as Pete Hamill and Jimmy Breslin, asking if I was with the columnist that night and what exactly had happened.
Seemingly, the inexperienced columnist had made up stories – not just that we had both heard soldiers saying words like ‘Don’t waste bullets. Aim for the head’ (which I hadn’t) but even naming a regiment and a particular soldier that were not even operating in the North at that time. Such inaccurate reporting was used as propaganda by the British media, especially the ‘red-tops’ – led by the Express Mirror, Mail and Sun – which tried to spin this reporter’s ‘figments of imagination’ to claim other reporters’ articles sympathetic to the Irish Republican cause were also based on lies. It made the gargantuan efforts by an overworked and exhausted Morrison and his staff in the Sinn Fein press office even more difficult, especially as they were already faced with such anti-Republican reporters as Chris Ryder of The Sunday Times and a ranting sensationalist Kate Adie of the BBC who Morrison said at the Falcarragh event, quizzed him mere hours after Sands’ passing about how he felt about ‘starving his friend to death.’
I also recall clearly making my way up the road from my Andersonstown home to that of Bobby Sands in Twinbrook for the wake and, with a heavy heart, seeing him laid out his coffin in the living room, then a few days later joining the tens of thousands of mourners who walked solemnly behind the cortege the few miles to Milltown Cemetery.   

Pearse Doherty, Breige Brownlee, Danny Morisson

(l to r) Pearse Doherty TD, Breige Brownlee, Tommy Francis and Danny Morrison at Saturday’s ‘Living History’ event at ‘The Yard’ Community Centre, Falcarragh. (Photo By Columbia Hillen).

In conclusion, the idea of ‘Living History’ events such as the one this weekend in west Donegal, chaired by Tommy Francis with fine organization by Eamon Jackson, his wife Eilis, and input by members of the Sinn Fein members including James Woods, is an excellent one. Wherever possible, we should have people involved in pivotal events in our nation’s history speak out about their experiences. It is a rare opportunity. This particular one on the 1981 Hunger Strikes, an event that attracted worldwide attention, was especially riveting and enlightening.
“With the hunger strikes now a topic on school curriculums, it was also an opportunity for young people to learn about specific aspects of our history straight from the mouths of those who were intricately involved and who are still alive to tell us what happened,” said Jackson.  
It is my fervent hope that such community events will also encourage more Irish people to openly discuss political ideas and electoral choices. Having had the good fortune to have lived in other countries, particularly the United States, I remain disappointed by the lack of lively, open political discussion among ordinary Irish people about the reasons for their choice of candidates. The longer Ireland remains a relatively closed society where people consider talking about their voting choice as akin to discussing their most intimate sex secrets, the longer corruption will continue and unsuitable leaders remain in the higher echelons of our government and civil service. We’ll all simply remain paralyzed in a time loop, with the same old ideas, the same parties, ruling the roost.
And just look what that attitude has cost us already.