Sinn Fein
The Week in Review
15-22 October 2015

Sinn Fein committed to peace and political process
On 20 October Sinn Féin MLA Martin McGuinness made a statement where he asserted that `our society is on a journey from conflict to peace and we all need to work to complete that journey so that violence becomes a thing of the past’.
Mr McGuinness said that the murders of Jock Davison and Kevin McGuigan were `personal tragedies for the families involved and we should be mindful of their grief’.
He said it was `a matter of historical fact that the IRA instructed its members in 2005 “to assist the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means’ and ‘not engage in any other activities whatsoever”’ adding that it was clear the IRA leadership has successfully delivered on this transition from conflict to peace’,
He said `Let me be absolutely clear and unequivocal. Sinn Féin is now the only organisation involved in the Republican struggle and in Republican activism. Republicans who support the Good Friday Agreement support the political institutions, support the peace process and don’t represent a threat to anyone in the community.’
He said that there were, of course `enormous and urgent issues to be dealt with around the existence of armed groups, paramilitaries and criminality’ and that `we all have a responsibility to deal with these issues to tackle criminality and bring para militarism to an end and Sinn Féin will play a full part in this important work’.
He concluded: `We now need to get on with the pressing issues facing the community and the economy; Tory cuts to essential public services and attacks on working families and those on welfare and dealing with the legacy of the past. We will work positively and constructively with all the political parties and the two governments to achieve all of this.’

* Sinn Fein Westminster Briefing meetings with Sinn Fein MPs:
Defend the Agreement – Equality not Austerity
Tuesday 3 November 7:30pm Grimond Room Portcullis House.
Speakers: Paul Maskey MP, Mickey Brady MP.
All welcome jayne.fisher@parliament.uk

Sinn Fein `will engage positively at Stormont talks’
On 21 October Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD speaking in the Dáil reiterated the message that Sinn Féin was `engaging in the current talks positively with the objective of creating a real future for all citizens based on equality.’
He said Sinn Féin was `totally and absolutely opposed to all criminality’ and that `like other parties here is accountable to the electorate… We are not accountable to any other group or organisation.’
He went on to criticise the Fianna Fáil leader’s `idiotic call’ for the suspension of the political institutions. Mr Adams said that `the basis for the very welcome recommencement of talks today is the publication of a report by the British government, alongside one from the Garda Commissioner’.
He went on to say that `some elements of these reports have been seized upon by opponents of Sinn Féin’. Dealing with aspects of this, he said `Sinn Féin is totally and absolutely opposed to all criminality. We stand with communities and the police services on both parts of this island. Our party has paid a price for that. I and other Sinn Féin leaders are under active death threats. My home is regularly targeted with bomb alerts.’
He said that other party members `have had their homes and property attacked and one young man, Frank McCabe junior, was blinded in one eye because of his family’s stand against criminality. So this is not an academic exercise for us or a point scoring electorally driven contest. We put our lives on the line against those who are engaging in criminality.’
Secondly, he added `Sinn Féin like other parties here is accountable to the electorate. Our leadership – the Ard Chomhairle – is democratically elected annually at our Ard Fheis. We are not accountable to any other group or organisation.’
He said the `business of making peace and implementing a process of societal change is challenging. But that is the priority for Sinn Féin alongside our efforts to present a genuine republican alternative to austerity and building support for a united Ireland.’
He added that `Led by Martin McGuinness Sinn Féin is engaging in the current talks positively. We will deal with all issues with the objective of creating a real future for all citizens based on equality.’

Inquiries into state role in killings ‘hugely significant’
Sinn Féin justice spokesperson Raymond McCartney has said that the announcement of two new inquiries into the activity of the British state agent Stakeknife and MI5 and the British secret service was `hugely significant’.
The Sinn Fein MLA said the decision by the Director of the PPS to request the new investigations followed information being provided to him by the Police Ombudsman Dr Michael Maguire.
Sinn Féin had, he said `consistently highlighted the fact that British intelligence and RUC Special Branch personnel colluded with agents to commit murder with impunity’. He said the role of agents in killings `has also been systemically covered up by the British state’.
He said `the families of the victims of Stakeknife and his British military and Special Branch handlers who continue to protect him have a right to know what occurred and deserve the truth into the killings of their loved ones’, adding `Sinn Féin will continue to support the search for truth by these families.’
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin MLA Chris Hazzard welcomed the decision by the family of Pat Finucane to appeal a decision that British Prime Minister David Cameron acted lawfully in refusing to hold a public inquiry into his killing.
Mr Hazzard said the British Government had `failed to live up to its responsiblities’ to hold a public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane, which was agreed at the Weston Park negotiations in 2001.
He said it was `well established that British state forces colluded with the Unionist death squad which carried out the killing of the human rights lawyer’, and praised the Finucane family who had `once again shown fortitude and dignity in bringing this case back to the courts.’

True nature of unequal budget emerging
On 15 October Sinn Féin’s Finance Spokesperson Pearse Doherty TD said research from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and Social Justice Ireland has brought to light `the true regressive and unequal nature of the Budget’ recently announced. Deputy Doherty was responding to the analysis carried out by the organisations which showed that the better off had, once again, gained most from the budget.
Deputy Doherty said the budged `unambiguously favoured the wealthiest in society’ and that the ESRI analysis `highlights how the lowest 20% of our population comes out worst of any group in the Budget’.
He added, `the real winners were the highest earners who in real and relative terms will now be wealthier than the rest of society than they were the day before budget day. That is the true nature of Budget 2016 and it is no accident. It is by design and by policy that the more you have the more you get under Fine Gael and Labour. They have shown themselves incapable of bringing about a fair recovery.’
He said that in percentage terms, `the top earners are among the winners but the fact that this is magnified so much in real terms just shows how unequal the starting point was. The last Budget of the government, like every one before it, widened the gap between rich and poor.’
He concluded that despite the government spin, `the actual middle earners in our society, those earning around €28,500, benefit little from the budget. Only two days after Budget day and the fog is clearing to reveal the true nature of budget 2016. The picture is of more of the same and top earners moving further away from the majority of hard working families and of the emergence of an unequal and unfair recovery.’

Passage of equal marriage bill `truly historic day’
Sinn Féin Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh has described the passing of the bill giving gay people equal rights to marriage as `truly historic’. Speaking after the Marriage Bill 2015 had passed in the Seanad, Senator Ó Clochartaigh congratulated `all the gay rights activists who struggled for years, often against huge odds, for today to become a reality’.
Sinn Féin `salutes their courage, bravery and tenacity’, he said, adding`this is a good day for the people of Ireland and for the larger equality project.’
He said `as a society, we have a long way to go before we achieve equality of access to life chances for all our people’, and that the Marriage Equality campaign had shown `if we organise around broad based progressive social movements, then change is possible’.
He concluded: `while today belongs to the gay and lesbian community and to their families and supporters, there is an onus on all going forward to work together to dismantle other structures of discrimination, especially the anti-Traveller racism that is so pervasive across all areas of Irish political and social life.’

Adams urges action in support of travellers
On 22 October Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD attended the funeral mass at Sandyford for Thomas and Sylvia Connors and their three children Jim, Christy, and baby Mary, who were killed in the Carrickmines Fire.
Gerry Adams said that the `failure to reach a satisfactory outcome over a proposed temporary halting site at Rockville Drive for the bereaved Traveller families is deeply disappointing.’
He said the decision to provide the families with a site `that is inadequate for their needs and which lacks basic amenities is an indictment of this and successive governments and their inaction in providing for the needs of the Traveller community.Travellers are citizens’, adding `they have rights. Those rights are being denied to them’.
He said that he had urged the Taoiseach in the Dail `to directly intervene in the Traveller issue and to ‘establish as a matter of urgency a state-wide forum involving Travellers, political parties, Government, local authorities, health and education sectors and media organisations to make recommendations on how this major issue of inequality facing our society can be addressed.’
He said that the Taoiseach had refused claiming that existing structures are sufficient.
He added, `They are patently not as is evident in the statistics available on discrimination in housing and employment, health and poverty. At the root of all these problems is a deep rooted prejudice that must be tackled. This requires a sea change in public policy and government and local government attitudes.’
He concluded by supporting the call by Pavee Point `for a dedicated Traveller Agency to co-ordinate and where appropriate enforce government policy affecting Travellers’ and also urged the government `to implement the recommendations of the April 2014 report on Traveller Ethnicity by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice and Equality. In particular the government should formally recognise the distinct ethnicity of the Traveller community.’

Week in Review is circulated by Sinn Fein MPs. Email jayne.fisher@parliament.uk to join the list. For further information visit www.sinnfein.ie or follow us on twitter @sinnfeinireland