Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald's address today in Milltown Cemetery during the National Hunger Strike Commemoration.
“TÁ muid anseo inniu i mBéal Feirste chun laochra na poblachta a chomóradh. Seasamid anseo ar son saoirse ár dtíre, ar son na poblachta.
“Ten names that inspire generations.
“Ten stories that reverberate throughout the world.
“Ten brave Irish men who laid down their lives on hunger strike for the freedom of their country.
“Starved and persecuted they lay in the H-Blocks and with every sinew of their being, they refused to be criminalised, refused to be broken, refused to be defeated.
“Today we call those ten names to the Belfast air:
Bobby Sands
Francis Hughes
Raymond McCreesh
Pasty O’Hara
Joe McDonnell
Martin Hurson
Kevin Lynch
Kieran Doherty
Thomas McElwee
Michael Devine.
“Just like Ashe, MacSwiney, McCaughey, Gaughan and Stagg before them, the hunger strikes of ‘81 looked beyond the confines of their jail cells, beyond their own deaths, to the day when the sun would set on British rule, to the end of partition, and to a future of hope, equality, and justice in a United Ireland. They did not give in to the weight of despair or surrender to the burden of hopelessness. Against the odds, they found a way to rise-up against a brutal system, against the oppression of the sectarian, gerrymandered Orange state, to challenge Britain’s imperial occupation of Ireland, to attest with their lives the enduring right of Ireland to full freedom, to full nationhood - their hopes encapsulated by the immortal words, ‘Our revenge will be the laughter of our children’.
Mary Lou McDonald addresses the crowd at Milltown Cemetery
“Joined by heroic women in Armagh Gaol, they hungered not only for political status, but for the Ireland envisaged by the proclamation – for the Republic.
“The hunger strikers’ heroism was yet another link in an unbroken chain struggle to achieve a 32-county Irish Republic of the people.
“Their spirit of resistance garnered passionate support. Across Ireland and throughout the world, people marched in their droves and protested. In massive blows to the British criminalisation policy, the people of Fermanagh-South Tyrone elected Bobby Sands as their MP. The people of Cavan-Monaghan elected Kieran Doherty as their Teachta Dála.
“It was this spirit of resistance, this refusal to be subjugated or to lie down that Thatcher could never overcome.
“Thatched failed.
“The British government failed.
“Even in the hell of Long Kesh, they could not extinguish the Irish passion for freedom.
“The legacy of the hunger strikers calls to us today. To stay true to vision and the dream for which they gave everything.
“To never despair.
“Never lose hope.
“Never give up.
A tribute to Brendan 'Bik' McFarlane who died earlier this year
“So, here we stand together, forty-four years on from their courageous sacrifices. We stand in our unshakable belief that this generation of republicans will reunite Ireland and build a better future. To realise Tone’s mission to unite the whole people of Ireland – Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter.
“We stand together i mBéal Feirste, in the North of Ireland that has witnessed seismic change. The northern state into which the hunger strikers were born is no more. The bedrocks of prejudice and discrimination upon which that state was built shattered by the hopeful energy of a new generation moving forward together.
“The unionist majority once considered perpetual is gone. Sinn Féin is now the largest party in the Assembly and in local government across the six counties. Sinn Féin is the largest party in Ireland.
“I don’t say this to sound a clarion of triumph but to mark progress and change, to remind us of the strong position we hold. Built on generations of struggle, sacrifice, hard work. Rooted in a foundation of belief, determination and activism.
“That brings a big responsibility. A responsibility is to bring people together, to advance reconciliation, to ensure that the discrimination once inflicted on the nationalist people is never inflicted on any other community. To be, as Martin McGuinness said, so confident in our Irishness that we have no desire to chip away at the Britishness of others. To build a place called home that never, ever tolerates bigotry, racism, the exclusion or belittling of any person. A society true to itself, to ourselves, to who we are as Irish men and Irish women.
“It is in that spirit that we will never waiver in our solidarity with the families of Seán Brown and Pat Finucane in their fight for truth and justice. Our message to the British government is clear – accept the ruling of the High Court and grant a full public inquiry into the murder of Seán Brown!
“Friends, it is our duty as activists carve the avenue through which we will reach a United Ireland. We are getting there, inch by inch, day by day, year by year. Remember – this state was designed to prevent a republican from ever becoming First Minister. The good and great said it would never happen. Well, as Mandela said, ‘It always seems impossible until it is done’.
Today's commemoration in West Belfast
“As First Minister for all, Michelle and her team show the determination needed to make politics work for everyone, to reach-out beyond the trenches of the past, to confront British austerity and to work night and day to improve people’s lives. To deliver Casement Park, the A5, the services and opportunities that allow each person to live a decent, happy life.
“That principle of putting ordinary people first also guides our work in leading the opposition to the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael/Lowry Government in the South. In a time of an ever-worsening housing emergency and an escalating cost of living crisis, Micheál Martin and Simon Harris show they are about defending the status quo. A government on the side of the golden circles, the insiders, the big landlords and the wealthy property funds. But we are fighting back for working people, for carers, for those with disabilities, for families, for our young people. We will not rest until they have a Republican government that is squarely and unapologetically on their side.
“Friends, twenty-seven years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, it's time to write the next chapter of our nation’s story – reunification. We know that the best future for our people lies in a United Ireland. We are out to achieve a thirty-two county Republic, and the building of a society underpinned by equality, fairness, economic justice.
“The momentum for Irish unity is growing all the time. Both the Irish and British governments must catch-up. Partition has failed all of our people. It has failed Ireland. So, the planning and preparation for democratic constitutional change must start now. The planning and preparations for unity referendums must start now. With optimism, hope, and determination, we seek to transform Ireland to a place where opportunity and prosperity are truly open to every worker, every family, and every community.
“This autumn we will elect a new Irish President. It is a disgrace that Irish citizens living in the north of Ireland cannot vote for their President, for our President. This politics of exclusion is beneath the dignity and importance of the office of Uachtarán na hÉireann. The first citizen of all Ireland, for all Irish citizens.
“Whoever is elected to this important office must understand and honour their duties to Irish citizens living in this part of Ireland.
“And must understand also that the days of saying ‘yes to Unity but not now’ are over. It’s time to get on the pitch, to stop being bystanders as history unfolds, to finally shed the harness of partitionism, and become leaders for the reunification of our country. That’s what a government with real vision would do. That’s what a patriotic government would do. That’s what Micheál Martin should do. These are the values that the Irish President must advance.
Marching along Belfast's Falls Road
“The day is coming when the people will have their say on unity. Our job is to build the most positive campaigns possible. To win those referendums and to win well. I say we can do it. I say we must do it. I say we will do it.
“As our long walk to nationhood continues, we never forget other peoples who yearn for freedom. We stand in unwavering support of Palestine and the people of Gaza as Israel’s barbaric genocide continues. As occupation, apartheid, starvation, bombardment, brutality, Israeli barbarism plays out for all the world to see. As Britain, the United States, the European Union facilitate, enable and finance genocide.
“We know what it means to be colonised, occupied, and oppressed but to rise-up and never surrender the principle of human dignity.
“So, the people of Palestine can count on the people of Ireland. We will never stop raising our voices in their name. As the powerful turn a blind eye to unimaginable suffering, as they aid and fund this brutal genocide, the people of Ireland will never be silent. With everything we have we will champion Ireland’s values of freedom, peace, and human rights. Together we say, sanction Israel, stop the genocide, end the occupation, free Palestine!
“Friends, the enduring legacy of the hunger strikes is found all around us. It is found in our unshakable belief in Ireland that can be, in the future we’re building together, in the spirit, ambition, joy and energy of our young people. My heart swells when I see groups of young people in their local GAA club half-zips, carrying hurls, and chatting as Gaeilge together. This generation of young people know who they are, know what they are about, and they love their country so fully. Our job is to work with them, work for them, to ensure that they can grow, achieve their aspirations, and build a good future here at home in Ireland.
“Young people have always been at the forefront of the struggle of equality and justice. The hunger strikers were young. The average age of the ten who died was twenty-eight. Thomas McElwee, the youngest, was only twenty-three when he died. Joe McDonell, the eldest, was only thirty. Their story shows us that young people can change history. Our job is to inspire within them the power of activism. To instil in them the politics of defiance, over despair, the politics of hope, over fear. To instil in them the spark to rock the system, to shake things up, to be the living embodiment of Irish republicanism.
“As long as we do that, the cause of Irish freedom and unity is in safe hands.
“A chairde, together we continue the journey to a united Ireland, to the Republic. The Hunger Strikers walked their length of the road, now we walk ours in confidence, hope and determination. The struggle is long, the struggle is hard, but the struggle is always, always worth it.
“We look beyond today to the Ireland we are shaping for our children, for those young people who look to their future undaunted and unafraid. For them, we will do the work, we will walk the extra yards, we will write our nation's next chapter – Ireland, united and free. We hold tightly to our belief in the words written by Bobby Sands as he lay brutalised in a H-Block cell with the lark of freedom singing in his heart. ‘The day will dawn when all the people of Ireland will have the desire for freedom. It is then that we will see the rising of the moon’.”