The Re-interment of Frank Stagg. | Slán Brendan
The Re-interment of Frank Stagg. Last week we remembered Frank Stagg who died on hunger strike in an English prison in February 1976. Frank began his fourth and final hunger strike in December 1975. He died 62 days later. He last request was "to be buried next to my republican colleagues and my comrade, Michael Gaughan" who died on hunger strike two years earlier. Michael had been buried in Ballina with republican honours. Faced with the prospect of another high-profile funeral of...
23 Feb 14min
My Internment by Roseleen Walsh | Climate Crisis |The World Stands at a Tipping Point
My Internment by Roseleen Walsh Roseleen Walsh is one of 36 women who were interned in the early 1970s. Her latest book – My Internment – tells the very personal story of her life as a young woman in west Belfast in the late 60s and early 70s. Of the constant pressure and danger of living under British occupation and of her time as an internee in Armagh Women’s Prison. Roseleen has been writing for many years, including during her time in Armagh Prison. She is a writer of great skill includin...
16 Feb 16min
Partitionism Rules | International support grows for Palestinian Struggle | OFF LINE.
Partitionism Rules. Simon Harris has said that Irish unity is not a priority for him. That is self-evident. But for him to say so is at odds with the stated position of most senior Irish politicians including An Taoiseach Micheál Martin. Their position is one of verbalised adherence to the constitutional objective of unity. In other words, they are verbalised republicans. Rhetorical United Irelanders. Mr Harris doesn't even pay lip service to this. Some may think this clarity from...
9 Feb 13min
Starmer Waiving The Rules | Leonard Peltier - Going Home
Starmer Waiving The Rules. According to the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer his government is looking at "every conceivable way" to prevent me and at least 300 other people from receiving compensation for wrongful arrest and imprisonment in the 1970s. This issue of compensation arises from the decision by the British Supreme Court in May 2020 that the Interim Custody Order (ICO) or internment order issued against me was unlawful. Internment was demanded by the Unionist governm...
2 Feb 13min
Dublin Lacks Ambition | Presidential Vote | Solidarity with the people of Palestine
Dublin Lacks Ambition Last week Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, supported by the regional independents, published their Programme for Government 2025. This contains the objectives set by the government parties for the next five years. In my ten years in the Oireachtas as the TD for Louth and East Meath I worked through two such Programmes. First in 2011 and then again in 2016. Neither Programme for Government matched the rhetoric or the commitments contained within them. The Programme for Governm...
26 Jan 18min
A Good Start To 2025 | Let the Music Keep the Spirits High | A Ceasefire
A Good Start To 2025. On Saturday last leading trade union activists from across the island of Ireland came together in Newry for a packed Ireland’s Future event in the Thomas Davis Hub. It was a wet winter morning and i was pleasantly uplifted by the turn out. The panel included ICTU assistant general secretary Gerry Murphy, Unison regional general secretary Patricia McKeown, Phil Ni Sheaghdha, general secretary of the Nurses and Midwives Organisation, Katie Morgan of FORSA, Greg...
19 Jan 18min
Ted Howell: A successful Irish revolutionary.
Nollaig na mBan Monday 6 January is traditionally the date on which the Christmas decorations are taken down. In the Christian calendar it marks the end of the Christmas season and the visit of the Magi – the three wise men – to Jesus. In Ireland the 6 January is also Nollaig na mBan - Women’s Christmas or Little Christmas. It’s a day set aside to celebrate the role of women who did all the work catering for and making Christmas a success for everyone else. On 6 January the women rested...
12 Jan 19min
Ted Howell - Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
ONE FLU OVER? I have the flu. It’s a sign of my loyalty to you dear reader, that I write this column in my sick bed. Bathed in sweat. I’ve changed my T shirt four times since Saint Stephen’s Day. I ran out of paper hankies and turned to kitchen roll for nose cleaning duties. The snatters are tripping me. I’ve changed my sheets as well. Three times. Everyone else is away so I phoned Richard. Gearóid Ó Cairealláin – the definitive activist Lots has already been written about Gearóid Ó Ca...
5 Jan 18min
