FÉILE an Phobail is the launch pad each year of exiting new projects, and especially new books. One such book this year is ‘Women’s Voices, Hopes for a New Ireland’. The book is published by Sinn Féin’s Commission on the Future of Ireland and will be launched at 1pm on August 4 in Áras Uí Chonghaile by Uachtarán Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald TD.
The book is compiled and edited by Grace McDermott and Aoife Ferguson and is an innovative collection of contributions from 62 women across Ireland and the diaspora sharing their hopes for the future and a new Ireland.
The women are drawn from all sections of society. They are writers, actors, musicians, community workers, political activists, health workers. They include Protestant voices. This book is a mixture of written contributions, poetry, song lyrics and artwork. They reflect the experiences of these women to partition and a society that has often held them down, treated them as second-class citizens and pushed them to the margins of history.
Throughout our history, women have been leaders in the demand for change. Women like Winnie Carney stood resolute in 1916. Constance Markievicz challenged a patriarchal world. Mary Anne McCracken stood with her brother Henry Joy as he was executed for his part in the 1798 Rising and became a champion against slavery and poverty.
And in our own time women like Máire Drumm, Marie Moore, the women of Ballymurphy, Derry and Springhill and so many others who fought for justice and held their communities together in the face of British aggression.
Women’s Voices, Hopes for a New Ireland challenges us to imagine a future that is equal, inclusive and representative of all who share this island. The voices of women have never been more important.
So, well done Grace and Aoife and thank you to all of the women who have contributed to this remarkable book.
The book is being launched at this year’s Féile an Phobail. The launch will be on August 4 in Áras Uí Chonghaile. You can register to attend at Eventbrite. It will also be launched at the Derry Féile on August 12 in Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin at 2.30pm and other events are being planned.
It will be available from An Fhuiseog, Bóthar na bhFál, anfhuiseog.ie and sinnfeinbookshop.com/.
Gaza water crisis highlights ‘ceasefire’ fiction
IMAGINE in the midst of this very hot, and dry weather you did not have access to fresh drinking water. Could not have a shower or bath. Wash clothes. Prepare food. Make tea or coffee whenever you want. Fill a water container for storage in the fridge for a cold drink. Have a fridge?
That is the reality of life for almost two million women and children and men living in the Gaza Strip. Israel’s genocidal policies have resulted in the deliberate and targeted destruction of water, sanitation and hygiene systems in Gaza. It has created a humanitarian catastrophe. This is especially true for women who are pregnant or are menstruating. According to a recent Oxfam report, women cannot get the water they need to keep clean and hydrated.
It reports that the extensive damage to water networks, treatment facilities, and sewage systems “has crushed water production, so it is a fraction of pre-October 2023 levels.” In addition, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has revealed that Gaza’s water production has dropped to less than a quarter of what it was three years ago and that 89 per cent of water plants and sewage facilities “have been destroyed or partially damaged.”
For a family in the West it’s a simple matter to turn the water tap on to access all you need. In Gaza average daily use of water per person has dropped from the minimum humanitarian standard of 15 litres per day to around three litres.
Oxfam reports that one million people are getting less than the emergency minimum of drinking water per day.
The so-called ceasefire in Gaza has also become a “cruel and deadly illusion,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said. Over 250 Palestinian children have been killed since the truce was announced in October 2025. That means one child has been killed every day, with more than 400 others injured.
The government of Israel suppresses news of events in Gaza. It blocks international news agencies entering Gaza. This means that most of this is taking place unseen. One result is that many European governments still continue to support Israeli actions and refuse to stand up for international law.
One shameful example of this occurred two weeks ago when the Irish government finally allowed the Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2026 to clear the Dáil. It did so only after it gutted the legislation. Originally, the Bill, which was introduced by Seanadóir Frances Black in 2018, included a ban on goods and services coming out of the illegal Israeli settlements. The Irish government removed the ban on services from the legislation. The government stalled, delayed, blocked, and now they have stripped this bill of its original intent and purpose. They have blunted the impact on Israel by removing services, which make up over 70 per cent of trade.
This was a missed opportunity for the Irish government to take the lead on and to stand up for justice and international law. It was a disgraceful decision.
Rubber bullet injures Marwan Barghouti
Meanwhile, regular readers will know that I have written recently on several occasions about the imprisonment and torture of Palestinian prisoner Marwan Barghouti. Marwan, now aged 67, has been held in Israeli prisons for 24 years after a widely criticised show trial in 2002. He is a senior leader in Fatah and is viewed by Palestinians as their Nelson Mandela.
Over the years he has endured significant brutality but the most recent occurred in Ganot prison several weeks ago when a prison guard entered his cell and shot him in the leg with a rubber bullet. During the decades of conflict in the North rubber and plastic bullets were frequently used by the RUC and British army.
SHOT: Arab Barghouti at the International Wall tribute to his father, Marwan, who’s been struck with a rubber bullet
They were an attempt to terrorise citizens. Seventeen people were killed by rubber and plastic bullets. Eight of these were children and all but one was from nationalist areas.
However, the Israeli rubber bullets are of a significantly different design to those used here. Israel’s rubber bullets are “steel covered with a thin rubber coat.” They cause more fatalities and life-changing injuries.
Marwan’s son, Arab Barghouti, said the family only learned about the incident from his father's lawyer and that Marwan had not received medical treatment for the injury. Two weeks ago the Arab League called for an international commission of inquiry into what it said were "repeated assaults" on Barghouti.
Support freedom for Marwan Barghouti. Log on to https://freemarwan.org/.
Methodism and the Peace Process
‘FROM Feakle to the Falls and Derry’s Wall – Methodism and the Peace Process, 1985-2025’ by David Gallagher is an important book and a significant contribution to the discussion on peace-making in Ireland.
David has been a member of the Methodist Church in Ireland’s Council on Social Responsibility since 1986. He was the Northern Executive’s Lay Secretary from 1990 to 2003. His book is a detailed and critical assessment of the role of Methodism and I’m still reading it.
I have a firm belief that all of us have a story to tell. My personal focus has been on republicans and working class people telling our story, but the truth is the right and the need to tell our own story belongs to everyone. And the Methodists have a story worth telling. So well done, David.
David will be taking part in Féile an Phobail at 1pm on July 31 in St Mary’s University College on the Falls Road. The book is available at An Fhuiseog and anfhuiseog.ie/.
Let's hope that Andy's the last
AS I conclude this column Andy Burnham is taking up his position as British Prime Minister.
As I dispatch these lines he is addressing the media and supporters outside 10 Downing Street. I wish him well. I also hope he will be the last British Prime Minister to interfere in Irish affairs.
Our ambition is for the people of Ireland to govern ourselves. As soon as possible. When that happens we will govern Ireland in the interests of Ireland.
Mr Burnham, like every British PM, governs in the interests of the English establishment. He, like his predecessors, is a Unionist. Let’s work to ensure that he is the Prime Minister who ends the union.
