CLON EASTER COMMEMORATION 2011

The 95^th anniversary of the 1916 Rising was remembered at the annual Clonakilty Easter Commemoration at Astna Square, Clonakilty on Easter Sunday with Jonathon O’ Brien, the recently-elected Sinn Féin T.D. for Cork North Central delivering the oration.

Cathaoirleach of the Clonakilty Easter Commemoration Committee, Michael O’ Donovan, extended a Céad Míle Fáilte to everyone, and in particular Clonakilty people living abroad who were home for Easter and attending the commemoration. He also asked people to think of Paddy McCullugh who attends the commemoration each year but is ill at present and also Billy Crowley from Dunmanway who provides the public address system for the commemoration, but was also ill in hospital. An Cathaoirleach also said it was a great honour that for the first time since the commemoration began 29 years ago that it would be addressed by a TD.

The wreath was laid by Steve Moxley, originally from Fairfield Terrace but living in England for over 40 years, He is a regular attendee at the Clonakilty Commemoration any time that he is home during Easter.

A minutes silence in memory of the patriots of 1916, and all who have given their lives for Irish Freedom before and since was observed and Courtmacsherry-based Deirdre Keohane proudly read the Proclamation of the Republic.

Recent Cork South West Sinn Féin General Election candidate, Paul Hayes thanked people for the great support the party received in the February election, and paid tribute to all involved in the effort in West Cork. He then introduced the main speaker, Jonathon O’ Brien, SF TD for Cork North Central. Paul said that before his election to Leinster House, Jonathon had been a tireless workers for his community as a Sinn Féin activist and since 2000, a Cork City Councillor. He had been involved in many prominent campaigns such as Housing, Anti Drugs, Anti-Social Behaviour and exposing the gravy train expenses of some of his fellow politicians.

In a wide-ranging address, Deputy O’ Brien referred to the Ireland which the patriots of 1916 hoped to achieve as outlined in the proclamation, and comparing those noble ideals with the reality of life for the people of Ireland today. He asked: “Do we, the people of Ireland, have ownership of Ireland and unfettered control over Irish destinies today? The answer is glaringly obvious. Not when the title deeds to this state have been handed to the EU and the IMF. Not while the title deeds to the occupied 6 counties remains in British hands. Not when our offshore oil and gas reserves, worth countless billions, have been given away to multinational corporations. Not while our country remains partitioned.”

The Proclamation also states the republic will “cherish all the children of the nation equally”.

Today we have governments that cherish the banks to the tune of €70 billion, and make everyone else foot the bill. The proclamation resolves “to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts.” The political elite of this state seem more concerned with the happiness and prosperity of international bondholders, greedy speculators and foreign gamblers.

Whole sections of our nation have been forgotten. The 440,000 unemployed. The tens of thousands of young people who are emigrating abroad. The working class communities hit hardest by cutbacks and unemployment. Families struggling with reduced wages and cuts to welfare benefits at a time of rising costs.

This government has lost any sense of national pride. It meekly accepts quarterly report cards from their paymasters in the IMF and falls over itself to welcome the English queen to our shores.

He continued that, “There has never been such a need for republican politics. The ideals of 1916 have never been more relevant. We live in a state which calls itself a republic, but which has never lived up to republican ideals. Instead of popular sovereignty, our political class kow-towed first to Britain and now to the EU; Instead of patriotism, we have had corruption and parish-pump politics. Instead of Unity we have partition.

Sinn Féin is the only all-Ireland political voice. While this state’s government is reduced to acting as mere agents of the IMF in Dublin, Sinn Féin MLAs in Belfast are fighting for the transfer of economic power from Westminster.

The general election saw hundreds of thousands of people coming out to vote for change. More than 220,000 of them voted for Sinn Féin. The election of 14 republican TDs was a massive breakthrough.

Over 20,000 people in County Cork voted for Sinn Féin.

The fact is, FG/Labour and FF are all the same. They represent the same vested interests that have bankrupted this state and they will not stand up for Ireland’s interests. The Labour party, a party who have the audacity to claim lineage from James Connolly, campaigned on a platform of change. The only change they brought about was facilitating the replacement of one right wing party in FF with another right wing party in FG.

On 20th May the English queen will come to our city. Sinn Féin is opposed to this visit. Let us say it loud and clear – Elizabeth Windsor is not welcome to Cork, and she is not welcome to Ireland. While British forces continue to occupy the six counties, no English monarch will ever be welcome in Ireland. Most of the royal family command British regiments, and the queen herself has been commander in chief of the British armed forces for over sixty years. During this period the British army has fought colonial wars around the world, and carried out many atrocities in Ireland. Including Bloody Sunday and the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, for which Mrs. Windsor has never apologised. We believe the lives of people like Terence MacSwiney and Tomás MacCurtain, and the ideals they fought for, are far more worthy of celebration than the arrival of a foreign monarch who is a head of state only because she is descended from warlords and brigands.

On 20th May, we invite people to gather at the National Monument and show Mrs Windsor and her lackeys that this is still Rebel Cork! The visit by the English queen is about further attempts to normalise relationships between Ireland and Britain. It is about glossing over our history. But relations cannot be normal so long as partition continues. And our history of resistance is something to be proud of and it will not be forgotten. Long after both Elizabeth Windsor and those who welcome her to our shores are forgotten the memory of our patriot dead will survive.

As long as there are men and women who value freedom, as long as there are people who fight for justice, so long as there is one patriot left in Ireland, the names of those we commemorate today will be honoured”, he concluded to applause.

The commemoration ended with An Cathaoirleach thanking everyone who had made it such a success and who attended from far and wide. He thanked all who had promoted the Easter Lily over the weekend, and Deirdre Archbold concluded the formalities with the singing of “Amhrán na bhFiann”.

There is further news and photographs from the commemoration on the “Clonakilty Easter Commemoration Committee” Facebook page. During May, it will be updated on the anniversaries of the executions of the 16 Leaders of the Easter Rising on their anniversaries.

CRÍOCH