Beating the bigots

By Carál Ní Chuilín

The murder this week of father of four Kevin McDaid in Coleraine and the attempted murder of Damian Fleming by a loyalist mob was barbaric and it showed once again the depth of sectarian hatred which still haunts our society.
My thoughts at this time go to Kevin McDaid’s wife Evelyn who was also injured in the attacks and to the family of Damian Fleming who is still fighting for his life.
This murder is made all the more poignant in that it happened at a time when a public inquiry is being held into the murder of Robert Hamill in 1997.
Like Kevin McDaid Robert Hamill was killed by an Orange mob in his native town simply because of his religious persuasion.
We have made enormous progress since then but sectarian hatred continues to blight many areas in the North and loyalist paramilitaries continue to orchestrate sectarian violence against nationalists.
Sectarianism has no place in our society and it must be challenged and faced down by all political and community leaders.
As political representatives we have a particular duty to lead by example and oppose bigotry in all its forms.
We must unite to tackle those who are determined to drag us back to darker days and we must stand shoulder to shoulder in telling the sectarian thugs responsible for the murder of Kevin McDaid that they have nothing to offer.
We can’t allow the bigots to derail the progress made to date and the best answer to the sectarian gang who killed Kevin McDaid, simply because he was a Catholic, is to recommit ourselves to a future based on partnership, on equality, on respect and on human rights for all.

A vote for all?
In 1968 the Civil Rights Association, People’s Democracy and Irish republicans took to the streets of this state in pursuit of equal rights for all.
One of the key demands of the CRA was ‘One man, One vote’, and while that slogan of the late ‘60s wouldn’t cut the mustard for women activists today, it was about achieving the right of all people to the vote on an equal basis.
The Civil Rights Movement was eventually successful in achieving this key demand.
However, as republican voting strength and representation has grown in the North of Ireland over the last 30 years there has been a new and concerted attempt to disenfranchise nationalist voters.
Firstly, voters here face ID checks which are unheard of anywhere else in Ireland or in Britain.
This measure disproportionately affects people from working-class communities who do not always possess the forms of ID demanded by the electoral office.
When this failed to stop the growth of the Republican vote throughout the ‘90s the British government brought in annual registration of voters.
This succeeded in removing more than 100,000 voters from the electoral register.
Nationalist working-class voters were the big losers in this.
Sinn Féin and other parties lobbied for years to reverse this policy.
The British government eventually did a U-turn allowing voters to remain registered at their home address for up to ten years.
Any hope however, that the electoral office would help rebuild a flawed electoral register were quickly dashed.
Under the stewardship of the current Chief Electoral Officer Douglas Bain our party has taken a growing number of complaints that citizens are being denied postal and proxy votes.
Families of eight people or more, many of them nationalist families, are also being disqualified from the register.
At present there are nearly 200,000 people who are entitled to vote but who are not on the register.
Put simply people are once again being denied their democratic right to vote as a result of incompetence or something more sinister.
It is all the more important therefore that those whose vote hasn’t yet been stolen by the electoral office come out on June 4 and use it.
You should show once again by giving Bairbre de Brún the strongest possible mandate that no amount of attempted vote rigging will stop the republican advance to a United Ireland of Equals.

Cardigan trees safe – Cunningham

Sinn Féin councillor Tierna Cunningham has welcomed assurances from Belfast City Council that pruning work being carried in Knutsford and Cardigan Drives will not affect the condition of mature trees in the area.
“Residents had contacted me with concerns about tree pruning work going on in Cardigan,” said Tierna Cunningham.
“The Council has assured me however that work on the trees is remedial and that they will quickly return to their natural state after pruning.
“Many of the trees being worked on are mature and were planted during the 19th Century and they have become a real feature in this area.
“Local people are very aware of the advantages the trees bring to the environment as well as making their area stand out.
“Belfast has tripled the number of trees being managed by the city over the last 25 years and I support plans to continue to plant new and semi mature trees in other parts of the city including several more locations in North Belfast.”

Working collectively to tackle problems

By Gerry Kelly
Last Friday my party colleague Carál Ní Chuilín and I hosted a meeting at Holy Cross hall to discuss how best to tackle together some of the difficulties which face the people of Ardoyne.
There were representatives at the meeting from local residents groups as well as youth, community and interface workers, local priests and school principals.
Representatives of the Irish government were there too along with all the statutory bodies, which have responsibility to deliver services in Ardoyne.
This included the Housing Executive, social services, Belfast City Council, the fire and ambulance services and the police.
There was a huge amount of experience in the hall, many of those present have been at the coal face tackling the area’s many problems.
These range from poverty, neglect, deprivation, women’s issues and educational underachievement to anti-social behaviour, crime, interfaces and community safety.
What was clear right from the outset of the meeting was the enormous goodwill to work together to tackle these difficulties collectively and build on the achievements and the hard work that goes in day and daily to help make the area a better place to live in for all.
A collective structured approach has helped to improve the quality of life in other parts of this city, including North Belfast, and we must ensure that it works too for the people of Ardoyne.
Only our combined efforts can ensure that resources and experience are pulled together to bring the maximum benefit to the lives of local people.
Clearly there is much to be done.
Successive unionist and British governments have failed communities like Ardoyne, deprivation, neglect and poverty has spanned three generations in the area.
What is required now is leadership from across all those groups, which attended the meeting to confront these issues head on.
While there is a clear role for the PSNI in tackling issues such as criminality, drugs, anti-social behaviour and interfaces it is also my view that you can’t just police away deprivation, poverty or the legacy of systematic discrimination.
It’s also my opinion that the community has a pivotal role in the months ahead to ensure the safety of our children and our neighbours’ children.
It’s vital that we do all in our power to keep them out of the criminal justice system but also beyond the influence of those who would exploit them for their own selfish ends.
Working collectively to tackle all these problems and their causes by pooling all our experience and resources is a radical, positive and progressive approach.
It is very different from the top down initiatives, which have failed in the past.
This is also a time to move forward on building on the contacts between all the communities who live in North Belfast.
Poverty and deprivation and the social issues which flow from them recognise no barriers and we must work with all those prepared to tackle these problems no matter where they appear.
It’s vital therefore that we build on the pledges made at Friday’s meeting.
To that end we have organised a recall meeting for May 8 to build on the momentum achieved in last week’s Ardoyne Hall meeting.
We can make a difference if we remember that problems, which affect the whole community can only be resolved by the whole community.

Election

Once again we are in the mouth of an election campaign.
Our Northern MEP Bairbre de Brún is once again the party’s flagbearer in the Six Counties.
However, we are the only party standing candidates in every constituency in Ireland, and we are also contesting local government elections in the 26 Counties, and we want to maximize the Sinn Féin vote right across the country.
We are asking people to come out to defend the Peace Process and vote for progress and change and a peaceful democratic transition to a United Ireland.
In Europe at EU level we are the only party on this island to put the interests of the Irish people first, our rural communities, the environment and fighting for European funding for our community sector and our people’s prosperity.
Mar sin vótáil de Brún uinhir a haon ar 4ú Meitheamh!

Bobby Sands vigil

North Belfast republicans will be holding a black flag vigil to mark the 28th anniversary of the death of Bobby Sands.
A vigil will be held at 5pm this Tuesday (5 May) at the corner of the New Lodge Road and Antrim Road to remember the IRA volunteer.
Vigils will be held across the city to remember his life and death. The IRA volunteer lived in Newtownabbey until the age of 18 when the Sands family moved to Twinbrook in the west of the city.
Belfast Sinn Féin leader Bobby Storey called on local people to come out onto the streets to remember Bobby Sands.
"We are calling on Republicans from throughout the city to come out onto the streets next Tuesday 5 May at 5pm to remember Bobby and all the Hunger Strikers with pride," he said.
"Bobby Sands, like his comrades Kieran Doherty and Joe McDonnell, and all of the hunger strikers, was a decent, selfless and heroic person.
"He was a loving father, a son, a brother, a soldier in the Irish Republican Army, an activist in Sinn Féin, a member of his local residents group, a poet, a musician, an MP and a hunger striker.
"He was also a friend and comrade to many, many people. Today, his memory lives on and we are continuing to work for the united Ireland that Bobby was so determined to achieve.
"So we are asking people to come out next Tuesday to remember an outstanding Irishman and revolutionary."

Multi-agency meeting in Ardoyne well attended

A multi-agency meeting in Ardoyne organised by North Belfast Sinn Féin MLA and junior minister Gerry Kelly was aimed at focusing minds and hearts ahead of the summer.
The meeting of Ardoyne community workers, clerics, teachers, civil servants, the Irish government, politicians and police took place in Holy Cross family centre.
“It was very well attended. We are coming into the summer and we wanted to make sure everyone was focused in terms of the issues facing the area. We felt an appropriate time to do it was after Easter,” said the republican representaive.
“The theme of the meeting was to have a collective approach to the difficulties facing Ardoyne and the greater Ardoyne area.
“It is an area of deprivation, with sporadic attacks at interfaces and anti social behaviour issues. We need a joined-up approach especially if we want to regenerate. You are much stronger if you take a collective approach."
Sinn Fein councillors and MLAs, PSNI, community workers from Ardoyne, youth workers and providers, school principals Terry Laverty, Kevin Gough and PJ O'Grady, Father Ciaran Dallat from Sacred Heart, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, Fire Service, North Belfast Community Action Unit and Community Restorative Justice were all present.
A further meeting is to take place on Friday May 8.

Kelly welcomes St Patrick’s College development

North Belfast Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly has welcomed the news that St Patrick’s College has been designated a specialist school from September this year.
The Antrim Road school is one of ten more schools across the North recognised by the Department of Education as specializing in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.
“Saint Patrick’s College, like the other schools involved in this initiative, have had an anxious wait in receiving this news,” said Gerry Kelly.
“However, I welcome the announcement and congratulate principal PJ O’Grady and his dedicated staff and pupils on their achievement.
“Education Minister Cáitríona Ruane indicated that by drawing on the experience of existing specialist schools that she would focus on raising standards as well as breaking down barriers to learning.
“The minister also wants to ensure that schools learn from each other and that pupils’ views must be taken into consideration when shaping programmes.
“It’s my belief that the strength of this programme is that it will help to tackle educational underachievement and make centres of excellence of our schools.
“That can only be a good thing for Saint Patrick’s and all other schools.”

Bairbre de Brún launches report highlighting good work of interface network

The North Belfast Interface Network can continue to punch above its weight if funded properly, a new report launched by MEP Bairbre de Brún said this week.
Compiled by Karl Leathem, the Social Return on Investment report found that for every one pound invested with NBIN, the return on the investment over a three year period is £45 to the economy.
Bairbre de Brún was in north Belfast for the launch of the report and is pictured here with interface workers.

Sinn Féin MLA launches Dockers photographic exhibition

Northern Assembly minister and Sinn Féin MLA Conor Murphy was at the Harbour Commissioners offices this week to launch a photographic exhibition on Belfast’s deep sea dockers and the start of celebrations to mark the centenary of the founding of the Irish Transport & General Workers Union (ITGWU).
“And while much of the attention has quite rightly focused on the achievements of the city’s shipyards, the story of the dockers is just as compelling,” said Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy.
“SHIP, the ITGWU / SIPTU and Belfast Harbour Commissioners are to be commended for their efforts to raise the profile of this integral but often forgotten part of Belfast’s maritime story.”
Sinn Féin MEP Bairbre de Brún along with local representatives Gerry Kelly and Tierna Cunningham were at the launch as was Dessie Cassidy (see photo) nephew of Winifred Carney