Shinn Féin Poblachtach Gaillimh.
Republican Sinn Féin Galway

IT is an honour to be invited here to speak at the grave of my fellow

Corkonian and comrade Dáithí Ó Conaill. His untimely death at the age of

51 was a great blow to the Republican Movement.

Dáithí came from a strong Cork Republican family. His uncle Michael

O’Sullivan (17), along with five of his comrades, was bayoneted to death

by British Crown forces in March 1921. He joined Sinn Féin at the age of

17 during the local elections in 1955. By the end of the following year

he was on active service as a Volunteer in the Irish Republican Army

serving as an organiser under GHQ staff in Co Fermanagh.

On January 1, 1957 he was second-in-command of the Pearse Column during

the attack on Brookeborough RUC barracks which resulted in the deaths of

two of his comrades, Fearghal Ó hAnluáin and Seán Sabhat. Four others

were wounded including the column commander. At 18 years of age Dáithí

took command and led a successful withdrawal back across the border –

evading 400 RUC, B-Specials, two helicopters and the British army –

where they were forced to retire. He was then imprisoned in Mountjoy and

the Curragh Concentration camp from where he escaped with his friend and

comrade Ruairí Ó Brádaigh in September 1958.

He returned to active service and for a period was Director of

Operations. He was critically wounded in an ambush by the RUC and

B-Specials in Arboe, Co Tyrone on the shores of Lough Neagh in November

1959. He made his escape but was forced to seek help because of loss of

blood and his weakened condition. He was captured by Crown Forces and

was sentenced to eight years which he served in Belfast’s Crumlin Road

Jail. Following his release in 1963 he reported back to active service.

In 1969/70 he again made his talents available to the Republican

Movement. Ruairí Ó Brádaigh said of him he possessed the ‘ablest mind in

the Republican Movement for over 20 years’. The sheer breadth of his

ability and intellect was evidenced by his service to the All-Ireland

Republic both militarily and politically. He had a central role in

framing ÉIRE NUA and remained a tireless advocate of it right up to his

death in 1991.

Dáithí Ó Conaill never equivocated on what was the cause of the war in

Ireland or what was required to deliver a just and lasting peace for all

of the Irish people. Speaking in Belfast at Easter 1973 he said: ‘Today,

the central issue in the war is one of conflict between Ireland’s right

to freedom and England’s determination to keep us in subjection. All

other issues are subordinate to this basic point. There can be no

compromise on the fundamental issue as to who should rule Ireland: the

British Parliament or the Irish people. We have had 800 years of British

ineptitude in ruling Ireland; we have never known rule by the Irish, of

the Irish, for the Irish. Until we do, we shall never enjoy peace and

stability in our land.’

In the past year we have seen the Establishments in Britain and Ireland

move to cement the status quo – the British presence in Ireland. The

visit of the Queen of England, which was a non-event in the eyes of most

of the Irish people, has been elevated to almost a holy event where we

are told ‘the relationship between Ireland and Britain is changed

forever’. The shoneens in the Dublin Administration would have us

believe that because she spoken a few words of broken Irish the past

must be forgotten and all is forgiven.

Well, that can only come about when the British presence is removed from

all of Ireland and its military apparatus has gone, lock, stock and

barrel. While Britain holds sway over any part of our country there will

always be men and women to resist that presence, no matter how many

former comrades take the British shilling and do her dirty work. Empty

gestures will not bring about a 32-County United Ireland where all,

nationalist and unionist, may live in peace together.

The coming year presents us all with huge challenges but also

opportunities. The two fronts on which it is essential that we engage in

2012 are political and economic.

The young people in the Six Counties who took on the forces of the

British Crown during 2011 were once again dismissed as ‘apolitical

thugs’ or merely representing an anti-social sub-youth culture. We know

what the truth is. These young people represent a new undefeated

generation prepared to take on British rule in Ireland. They are young

people simply taking their place in the latest phase of the historic

struggle for Irish freedom.

It is our duty in Sinn Féin –the only political organisation

representing the revolutionary Irish Republican tradition – to give

political expression and leadership to this new generation.

I take this opportunity to send new year greetings to the Republican

prisoners in both Portlaoise and Maghaberry. The situation of the

Republican prisoners in Maghaberry in their fight for political status

is extremely serious and the conditions they are enduring requires all

of us to make a huge effort in the coming year to bring their protest to

a successful end. The internment of Martin Corey and Marian Price must

be ended. It is up to all of us to do our utmost to publicise the plight

of the Republican POWs.

Here the 26-County Administration, faced with a choice between taxing

the rich or taking from the marginalised and vulnerable, have once more

chosen to put their hands in the pockets of the poor. Employers and the

State are intent on rolling back any advance made by workers over the

course of the last century. Whatever sovereignty the 26-County State had

is now in the hands of the so-called troika of the EU/EMF/IMF and this

is set to get worse in coming years. Water taxes, septic tank taxes,

property taxes and waste charges are crippling people while the rich

continue to get richer.

Ninety-six years after the 1916 Proclamation the children of the nation

are certainly not cherished equally. The men and women who sacrificed

their lives and freedom so that we could live in a country free from

foreign interference are turning in their graves as they see the mess

that has been made of the country by self-serving and incompetent

politicians, bankers and developers. Once again our young people are

being forced to emigrate all over the world to find work and whole

communities are being decimated.

In the run-up to the centenary of the 1916 Rising those of us who follow

in their path must provide the lead to the Irish people as they struggle

to fight the cuts and deprivation caused by the failure of those elected

to run the country, north and south.

Armed as we are with clearly thought out and radical programme for real

political and economic democracy ÉIRE NUA and SAOL NUA we can take our

rightful place in the vanguard of the struggle.

One final thing: There are people, some former members of our

organisation who either left because they were not prepared to accept

the democratic decision of An Ard-Fheis or who were dismissed for

bringing the organisation into disrepute, and their camp followers who

were never members, are using the honourable name of the Republican

Movement while engaging in criminal and nefarious acts.

These people are doing the work of the enemy and we in Republican Sinn

Féin will not allow them to continue to do so. We demand that they cease

using the name of this organisation forthwith. Republican Sinn Féin is

not now, nor never has, been involved in gangsterism and criminality and

these people will not be allowed to besmirch our name.

Our work is clearly marked out for us. It is our duty to bring to the

task all our energies and abilities. This is the most fitting tribute we

can pay Dáithí Ó Conaill and all those who lie in this pantheon of our

patriot dead. ‘Life springs from death; and from the graves of patriot

men and women spring living nations.’

Beir Bua agus beannacht agus Áth-bhliain fé mhaise go léir