Adams predicts Sinn Fein advance in general election

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has predicted success for the party in the recently announced Irish general election. The election will take place on May 24th. Although the party leadership is remaining tighlipped about the number of seats they expect to win, many commentators are suggesting they will double their TDs from 5 to 10 and may hold the balance of power.

Adams today said "Sinn Fein is going into this election campaign in a stronger position than ever before ... our objective is to be in government north and south." He also highlighted Sinn Fein's progressive programme, stating "We believe in the right to universal access to decent healthcare, education and childcare, we believe in the constitutional right to a home, we believe in building the economy and using the wealth created for the public good."

El Blogador has posted the results of a recent poll, showing the Fine Gael/Labour coalition closing with Fianna Fail and the PD's. FG/Lab stand on 41% (up 2%) whilst FF/PD is on 37% (down 1%). However, how this will translate into seats is not clear. The Greens are on 6% but Sinn Fein are now up to 10%, potentially holding the key to the next government. Sinn Fein would consider supporting a Fianna Fail government that agreed on action points on cross-border initiatives and, in particular, Sinn Fein reviving its demand for Westminster MPs in the north being given speakers rights in the Dail.

If Sinn Fein were to enter government in the south and north, it would be a serious step towards Irish unity and throw into sharp relief the failure of other southern parties who declare themselves to be republicans, to stand in elections on an all-Ireland basis.

Sinn Fein names Policing Board representatives

Sinn Féin today announced that it would be nominating Assembly members Alex Maskey, Martina Anderson and Daithí McKay to the Policing Board once the Board is reconstituted after the political institutions are re-established on May 8th.

Maskey is someone that republicans can be confident to represent them but who loyalists know will be fair. He was chosen by Sinn Féin, as a key ally of Gerry Adams, to lead the party's entry into electoral politics, winning a by-election in 1983 for a seat on Belfast City Council from the Upper Falls area.

Maskey is best known as the first ever republican to serve as Lord Mayor of Belfast and despite twenty years of struggling against intimidation by the unionist community was widely seen as having reached out to them as Lord Mayor. Sinn Fein's willingness to take its places on the Policing Board, despite ongoing inquiries by the Police Ombudsman into state collusion in murders of republicans, represents their ongoing commitment to offer concessions to push forward the Good Friday Agreement.

Speaking today in Stormont Mr Maskey said:"For many years a core Sinn Féin objective has been the creation of an accountable and representative policing service. This is a key area of work for Sinn Féin. The Policing Board is charged with holding the PSNI to account. Our presence on the Board will be the guarantee that this happens."

Labour Party Irish Society: Deputy Leader Hustings

The Labour Party Irish Society is to hold a hustings for the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party. Candidates so far confirmed as attending are Hazel Blears, Jon Cruddas, Peter Hain and Harriet Harman.

Labour Party members should use the meeting to clarify candidates views on the future of Ireland, whether they support Irish unity and how they will respond to likely demands from some quarters to stand candidates in the north - particularly as Jon Cruddas has committed to focusing on party organisation rather than the role of the Deputy Prime Ministership.

The meeting starts at 7pm on Thursday 17th May at the London Irish Centre, 50 Camden Square.

The Labour Party Irish Society has not yet arranged any Leadership hustings but following today's Guardian report that John McDonnell MP is only five nominations from securing his name on the ballot paper, readers may want to email info@lpis.org.uk to ask whether the LPIS should allow Leadership candidates to publicise their views on Ireland, not only because of McDonnell's long standing support for Irish unity but for his tireless work for the Irish community in Britain.

MLA pay rise...

The BBC reports that from next month, Northern Ireland's assembly members will receive a pay increase of almost £10,000 per year. The basic pay on 8 May will rise from about £32,000 to just over £41,000.

Sinn Fein policy, however, is that its members receive no more than the average industrial wage and that apparently means everyone from assembly member to minister gets the same - about £15,000. The rest goes to the party.

Opposing British parties organising in the Six Counties

David Trimble has used his announcement that he is to join the Conservative Party in the House of Lords to argue "that the people of Northern Ireland need to have more influence, which really means more involvement in national politics."

Naturally 'national politics' in David Trimble's eyes is the nation of the United Kindom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. His decision to join the Conservatives highlights the historic link between that party (anyone heard the term Conservative and Unionist Party lately?) and the elite of Irish unionists, who relied on sectarianism to cleave working class Protestants to them in 1912 and to force the partition of the country for the economic interests of empire.

Trimble's view is that "This would mean some form of realignment bringing all the national parties to compete for the votes of the people here." He also said that, "as the experience of the Northern Ireland Conservatives has shown, realignment cannot be achieved by one party alone. We need Labour and Liberal Democrats to be equally involved."

This suggestion that British parties should start organising in the Six Counties would be a backward step, following the success of the recent Assembly elections and the spirit of cooperation now evident between the parties. Considering the opposition to direct rule even in unionist communities, the organisation of British parties in the north would be to counter the ability of the people there to decide their own destiny and, as a result, would result in limited success for most.

This is shown by the derisory result achieved by Malachi Curran, the Labour Party (Northern Ireland) candidate in South Down in the recent Assembly election, who trailed in last with 123 out of 46,623 ballots cast. This represented a significant fall from the 498 votes he received in 1998, having been a member of the Northern Ireland Forum.

Curran stood under the title "Labour Party (Northern Ireland)" but would in fact prefer to be an officially sanctioned candidate of the British Labour Party. It has only recently accepted members in the north of Ireland following a legal challenge by GMB member Andy McGivern, a campaign Curran was part of, but the Labour Party has not yet organised its own candidates. Similarly, the Irish Labour Party accepts members in the north but does not contest elections.

As far back as the negotiations for the Articles of Agreement and partitioning of two states in 1922, the Labour Party supported an all-Ireland constituent assembly deciding the country's future. Since then it has supported unity by consent. Any proposal that the Labour Party should organise in the Six Counties elections in future should be opposed by Labour Party members in Britain. It is not our role to intervene into the politics of another country and, as the growing support for Sinn Fein across the 32 counties and the resulting increase in republican rhetoric from other parties shows, the forward march of that particular nation is toward a United Ireland.

Ahern attacks all-Ireland campaigning

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern today attacked Sinn Fein's all-Ireland agenda by criticising West Belfast Sinn Fein activists for joining Mary Lou McDonald's campaign in Dublin Central.

With Fianna Fail at risk of losing one of its two seats in the constituency to Sinn Fein, who came close in 2002, the Taoiseach's team are concerned at Sinn Fein's northern activists upping the campaigning stakes as the general election draws closer.

Whilst Ahern told the Irish Independent "It's fascinating to see people travel such long distances to try and upset me," others find it fascinating that a supposedly republican party like Fianna Fail have no members from the north to draw into the campaign, because they don't organise in the north of Ireland. Mary Lou McDonald's Dublin Central campaign is "twinned with Gerry Adams's West Belfast constituency, with Sinn Fein activists from both areas helping each constituency during elections.

However, when the results are know, Ahern may have a more conciliatory approach if a coalition with Sinn Fein keeps him in power.

Strong Sinn Féin challenge in Irish general election

RTE News has reported that Sinn Féin will stand 42 candidates in all but two of the 43 Dáil constituencies in the general election later this year.

Although the party's Director of Elections, Pat Doherty, would not speculate on the number of additional Dáil seats it hopes to win other party sources have suggested the party hopes to double its seats from 5 to 10.

If Sinn Fein does significantly increase its representation, and particularly if the Dublin councillor Daithi Doolan can remove the Progressive Democrat's Michael McDowell, then the party may be in a position to negotiate its way into power-sharing in the southern, as well as the northern, parliament.

Collusion: will we ever know the truth?

In January, the Policy Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan released a report which confirmed police colluded with loyalists behind over a dozen murders in north Belfast between 1991 and 2003. However press reports suggested it is unlikely that any of the police officers involved will be prosecuted as O'Loan has said that evidence has been deliberately destroyed to ensure there could not be prosecutions.

It therefore came as no surprise to read Sandra Laville's article in Saturday's Guardian that MI5 and the Ministry of Defence are demanding the return of secret documents from the Stevens inquiry and that 'In some cases the organisations asking for the paperwork have successfully appealed for the return of the documents only to shred them,' an allegation repeated by the Belfast Telegraph. The same article states that the Stevens Inquiry has amassed over 20 tonnes of paperwork, currently being stored in South London and that three previous inquiries into collusion have resulted in 97 prosecutions. The level of concern from security sources suggests that previous inquiries and prosecutions barely scratched the surface in exposing the extent of collusion between the British security apparatus and loyalist paramilitaries.

The idea of any incriminating documents being returned to the organisations themselves under investigation is difficult to comprehend and would serve to massively undermine the credibility of any investigation. The success of the recent agreement to re-establish power-sharing should not allow past crimes, including the murders of Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson, to be swept under the carpet since they directly impact on communities living in the north of Ireland today. Similarly, Sinn Fein's historic decision to co-operate with the Police Service of Northern Ireland has not prevented them pursuing justice for the victims of collusion.

In April Sinn Féin published a Dáil motion on collusion, which Bairbre de Bruin MEP said should `form the basis for the debate in Leinster House’. The motion called for an inter-governmental conference with the British Government `specifically dealing with the issue of collusion and truth recovery and calls for the establishment of full, public, independent, judicial inquiries into murders in this state where collusion is reasonably suspected’.

Failte

Welcome to a new blog, established since the Northern Ireland Assembly elections in March 2007. goodfriday >>> eastermonday has been set up for all those who support the Good Friday Agreement and recognise the role it will play in finally bringing about a United Ireland.

This blog is particularly for socialists and other progressives in Britain who support the ultimate aim of re-unifying all of Ireland under an Irish government.

The blog will therefore keep you updated on political developments in the 26 counties and in the north and offer practical ways for people in Britain to support the Agreement, including the re-establishment of cross-border institutions, and the development of all-Ireland political initiatives.