Gerry Adams is the pre-eminent republican activist of our times. A former President of Sinn Féin, he served as MP for West Belfast and as a TD in the Dáil over a four-decade period of frontline elected politics.
He is the author of several books including Before the Dawn, The Street and Other Stories and Falls Memories. His latest collection of short stories The Witness Trees will be published in the autumn.
He describes himself as "an optimistic and hopeful activist" and publishes a famed Twitter account.
THERE is widespread anger at the decision by the Irish government to convert the historic GPO in Dublin into shops and offices. Last Saturday hundreds gathered in O’Connell Street to protest at the government’s plans for the GPO and for the Moore Street. Battlefield site. Their demand is for the protection of the cultural and revolutionary heritage of this part of Dublin.
IN recent years there have been encouraging signs of growing support for Irish unity in successive electoral results, demographic changes, contributions from civic society, in opinion polling and in public commentary. Unsurprisingly, any debate on unity quickly focuses on practical issues like the economic viability of a united Ireland as well as on the future of a health and care system, governance structures, education, the environment and other matters.
THE Dublin GPO and the streets and laneways around it are forever linked with the Easter Rising of 1916. This is a battlefield site of major historic and international significance which successive Irish governments have failed to develop properly. Successive promises of investment and planning in Moore Street have come to nothing. Successive governments have reduced the National Monument to four houses, leaving the rest of the historic area to be destroyed by a London based developer.
SHOULD we have been surprised by the decision of the US President Donald Trump to attack Iran? No. Shocked maybe, but not surprised. The weapons of mass destruction spin that was used to justify the invasion of Iraq two decades ago was already in wide usage by some western governments and sections of the media before B2s dropped so-called ‘bunker buster’ bombs on Iran. And we all remember what a disaster the Iraq war was for the people of that nation and for world politics. An estimated million Iraqi citizens died.
IN 1972, Catholic families who had endured three years of sustained sectarian attacks on their homes fled Annalee Street in North Belfast. Last month – fifty-three years later – Catholic homes in Annalee Street were again the target of sectarian attack and families were forced to flee. In the past fortnight we have also witnessed the firebombing of homes in Ballymena, Larne Leisure Centre and racist attacks in other parts of the North.
REGULAR readers of this column will know that I wholeheartedly support the efforts of the Moore Street Preservation Trust to preserve the 1916 Moore Street battlefield site in Dublin that is under threat from a developer's wrecking ball.
THE success of my case against the British Broadcasting Corporation is an important and very significant breach of that institution's monopoly on how it broadcasts ‘news’, especially in Ireland.
THIS column makes no apologies for writing so much about the genocide in Palestine and the urgent need for ceasefires and a peace process. At least 14,000 babies face imminent death from starvation. Over 60,000 Palestinian children, women and men have been killed, including more than 4,000 since Israel ended its ceasefire in March. One especially harrowing example of Israel’s murder machine at work was the deliberate targeting last Friday of the family home of Hamdi and Walaa al-Najjar, two doctors who work at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. As Hamdi was at work, nine of her ten children were killed. Her husband and a 10th child were injured.
WHEN I was younger I had a stammer. I don’t know what age I was. Somewhere between seven and ten perhaps. A youngster! I grew out of my speech impediment and I have very little recollection of my stammering phase but I was reminded of it when I was on the phone to a friend in Ard Oifig in Dublin last week. . For no apparent reason she told me that she sometimes has a stammer when she is on the phone.
IN a historic vote in the Assembly last week, members overwhelmingly passed by 46 votes to 25 a motion calling on the Irish government to implement the recommendation of the 2013 Constitutional Convention on the Constitution to extend “the right to vote in elections for President of Ireland to all Irish citizens on the island of Ireland.”
I SPENT the last week in Dublin in the Four Courts as part of the outworking of my case against the BBC’s Spotlight programme nine years ago. But more of that when it’s over, which could take another fortnight.
ON May 4 at 3pm, a statue of Bobby Sands will be unveiled in the Republican Memorial Garden, in Twinbrook, where Bobby lived. The organisers of the event, all local republican activists and all inspired by the courage and self-sacrifice of Bobby and his comrades, have worked hard over recent years to raise the funds for the statue. Former hunger striker Pat Sheehan, who spent 55 days on the 1981 hunger strike, will speak about Bobby and his comrades who died.
I HOPE you all had an enjoyable Easter. Across the island and further afield commemorations were held at countless locations to remember those who fought in the 1916 Easter Rising and in all of the generations of the freedom struggle. The Belfast turnout was big and Pearse Doherty, who made an exceptional speech, was given a very warm welcome. I saw no mention of his remarks or those of other republican speakers on RTÉ, BBC or other broadcasters. So much for public service broadcasting.
I DIDN'T think Easter is almost upon us. It has crept up on me. For Irish republicans Easter holds a special significance. It is synonymous with the 1916 Easter Rising and the heroism over a century ago of those who rose up against the British Empire and declared for a Republic. It is also a time when we remember all of those women and men – over countless generations – who gave their lives in pursuit of Irish sovereignty and independence.
THE delay in building the new Casement Park is totally unacceptable. Like many Gaels of my age I grew up with Casement. I played there for our school teams and enjoyed sports days as well. I have watched umpteen games over the decades. Until 2013. That was the last time Casement Park hosted a game. On June 10, 2013.