| Title: | Celt Notefile |
| Moderator: | TALLIS::DARCY |
| Created: | Wed Feb 19 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Tue Jun 03 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 1632 |
| Total number of notes: | 20523 |
Martin McGuinness on the upcoming elections
Sinn Fein is standing 85 candidates in the local elections across
the Six Counties on 19 May. With 44 sitting councillors, director
of Elections Jim Gibney says the party is "confident that at a
minimum we'll secure those 44 and we'll be going all out to
increase our representation." The following interview originally
appeared in An Phoblacht/Republican News and was re-printed in
The Irish People of May 15, 1993.
**********
AP/RN: How well do you think Sinn Fein will perform on 19 May?
MM: I am confident that the party will do well. Let me explain
why.
The ten years that Sinn Fein has been involved in local councils
have transformed the way in which northern nationalists look at
council politics. Up to 1970 local councils were the institution
through which the Orange Order and the unionist parties dispensed
their patronage and privilege.
Even after the reform of local government in 1970, unionists
continued their control virtually unchallenged. Nationalist
councillors, particularly the SDLP, seemed to accept their lot
as second-class councillors.
All of that changed in 1983 when Sinn Fein began to take seats
on the councils. It was like a breath of fresh air amidst the
stench of corruption and discrimination. Sinn Fein's first
achievement was to expose unionist bigotry. Its second was to
successfully confront that bigotry in the council chambers and
in the courts. Even our political opponents accept that in the
last four years Sinn Fein councillors in Belfast have espoused,
for example, the scandal of junkets involving the squandering
of huge sums of ratepayers' money. Several times they have forced
unionists to reluctantly agree to a fairer distribution of
resources to local community groups--a fight which still
continues.
Our councillors have led the campaign against privatization and
the resulting job losses and reduced council services to the
public. Finally they have defeated unionist efforts to exclude
nationalists from any say in the everyday running of
the council.
Belfast is not the only success story for Sinn Fein in local
government. Our team in Derry, in Strabane, and in councils
across the Six Counties have done tremendous work..
AP/RN: This success was achieved against the backdrop of an
escalating loyalist campaign against Sinn Fein. How has it
affected the party?
MM: The fact is we have 85 candidates standing for council seats
in all those areas in which we stood in 1989. Our party
membership, and those candidates, have shown remarkable
resilience and courage,and we are all very proud of them.
Their courage is all the more remarkable when you recall that
since 1989, 13 members of our party have been killed, including
three of our councillors. The most recent to die, Alan Lundy,
was shot dead in an attack on Councillor Alex Maskey's home.
Many more have suffered injury or had their home and family
attacked.
These attacks had the vocal support of unionist councillors.
Many of these attacks relied on intelligence information from
British and RUC sources. The guns and grenades used in these
attacks were part of the shipment supplied to loyalists with
the knowledge and approval of British intelligence. These weapons
have not been used exclusively on republicans, of course. With
those British supplied arsenal, loyalist death squads have killed
90 Catholics in Belfast alone in the last three and a half years.
In addition to the British arming and aiding the Loyalists, the
RUC has sought to ensure that our councillors and their families
are defenseless against loyalist attacks. They have refused to
issue firearm certificates and have delayed DHSS grants for
securing homes by not confirming that threats had been made to
individuals.
Let us not forget that while all this has been going on the
British have also silenced our elected representatives by way
of the 1988 Broadcasting Ban.
In spite of all of that our councillors have played a
constructive
role in their local communities and in the local councils. They
have refused to be cowed. They have refused to be gagged. We will
continue to pursue the rights of the nationalist community no
matter what obstacles are thrown in our way by the British and
their unionist allies.
AP/RN: What is the particular significance of these elections?
MM: For the first time since partition, and since the unionists
gerrymandered local government in the Six Counties, there is the
possibility that a large number of councils which are currently
unionist-controlled will pass into nationalist hands. I can
envisage a situation after these elections in which the west
of the Bann will have gone green on a local government map. It
is also clear that the days of unionist domination on Belfast
City Council are numbered--and well they know it.
The message to nationalist voters in Fermanagh, Magherafelt,
Dungannon, Cookstown, Strabane and Belfast is quite clear. A
strong nationalist vote can put an end to decades of unionist
abuse.
AP/RN: What about nationalist voters in other areas. Why should
they go out and vote 19 May?
MM: Well, of course they should elect as many Sinn Fein
candidates as possible, not only because of our work record
on the councils but also because we lead the way in the
struggle for national self-determination.
Every election since Sinn Fein embarked on its electoral
strategy in October 1982 has been used as a barometer of
the strength of nationalist opinion. This election is no
exception.
John Major, Albert Reynolds, and even the Clinton Administration
have gone on record in the last few months as saying that they
were awaiting the results of the local elections before
deciding on their next move in regard to the Six Counties.
A strong Sinn Fein vote on 19 May will send them a clear
message that nationalist determination is unshakable, that
northern nationalists are not interested in partial solutions
or internal solutions, that what they want is their right to
set up their own democracy free from British interference.
AP/RN: Do you really believe that a vote for Sinn Fein can
influence British policy on the North?
MM: Definitely. The British are under pressure domestically and
internationally. The financial cost of their war in Ireland
is taking its toll. Patrick Mayhew's recent comment to a German
magazine that it cost them 3 billion sterling a year "for one
and half million people!" is now grossly underestimated.
Coupled with the financial cost is the damage which the British
inflict on their political credibility with all their failed
attempts at cobbling up some internal arrangement. These costs
will continue to mount as long as Britain pursues this dead-end
strategy.
I believe that there is a growing debate among the British
establishment about the cost of the war in Ireland. Of course
there are those who are advocating more repression. a return
to supergrasses, more covert operations, even internment. But
there are also those who say armed roadblocks on the streets
of London are bad for business, the financial burden on the
British economy is too high, and the British government's
political strategy in the North is not working.
I am personally convinced that a strong Sinn Fein vote
in this election will strengthen the hand of those
advocating a fundamental shift in British policy and
a real basis for peace. I believe there is a growing mood
for change both in Britain and in Ireland. That mood for
change has been reflected in the positive response within
the nationalist community which greeted the discussions
between Gerry Adams and John Hume.
While it is too early to predict the outcome of these
discussions, the joint statement by the two leaders of
nationalist opinion in the North was in itself an
important development.
The republican struggle has been the major catalyst fir
political movement in the last 20 years, not least because
of the strength of the Sinn Fein vote. As I said earlier,
although this is a local government election, its political
impact is potentially much greater. On 19 May we as Sinn Fein
voter can help to realize that potential. We can each
individually contribute to winning this struggle.
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1214.1 | VYGER::RENNISONM | MARK RENNISON | Tue May 18 1993 08:31 | 21 | |
>> In addition to the British arming and aiding the loyalists.... I must take exception to that. Only yesterday (17/5/93), two Loyalist gunmen opened fire on Sinn Feinn headquarters. They fired at least 13 shots from automatic weapons. As they were making their escape, an Army marksman shot and seriously injured one of them. This does not sound like the actions of a man who is supposedly on the side of the loyalists. It is even more remarkable when you consider that the marksman managed to hit a moving target from 300 yards and 12 floors up. He could easily have missed deliberately and just claimed that it was too dificult a shot to make. The incident also proves that the British Army (despite their wrongdoings in Northern Ireland) are trying to protect Sinn Feinn candidates in the Local elections as well as the other candidates. Why else would they have an observation post watching the Sinn Feinn HQ and open fire the raiders who attacked it ? Yours helpfully, Mark R. | |||||
| 1214.2 | sin and pain candidate | KERNEL::BARTHUR | Wed May 19 1993 10:34 | 3 | |
I hear the deafening sound of silence from our absent, or should i
say remote colleague. Pun very intentional.
| |||||
| 1214.3 | No prompting or opening of eyes, please. | KEEGAN::TURNER | Wed May 19 1993 11:27 | 6 | |
re: .1,2
Shhhh...it's more fun if they work these things out for themselves.
Otherwise, they'll just ignore this topic and we'll get a new one with
a 763-line pamphlet to read.
| |||||
| 1214.4 | KOALA::HOLOHAN | Wed May 19 1993 14:13 | 17 | ||
re. .1
So the British army has added another loyalist to
to the handful that they have shot at over the past
twenty years. Good timing on this one, as it comes
just before the election (today), and makes it look
to those who don't follow the statistics that they
are playing peace-broker.
As for the British Army protecting Sinn Fein
candidates, I don't think so. Not when they've been
busy in the past passing on information to loyalist
death squads on Sinn Fein members.
Mark
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| 1214.5 | Certain lyrics spring to mind... | MASALA::LDICKHOFF | Up the junction | Thu May 20 1993 04:56 | 10 |
.... and what's lost, is lost and gone forever.
I can only pray, for a bright, brand new day,
for the town, I loved so well.
Remember the past, but look ahead. You might otherwise not see that
concrete plate in front of you. =8-)
Fwiw,
Leon
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| 1214.6 | MASALA::LDICKHOFF | Up the junction | Thu May 20 1993 05:02 | 7 | |
Oh, I forgot; the song I refer to in my previous entry can be
interpreted in various ways. For me as an 'outsider' it is an
inditement (sp?) of the violance kept alive by both sides of the
terrorist fence.
Leon
| |||||
| 1214.7 | "Vote Early and Vote Often" | HILL16::BURNS | ANCL�R | Thu May 20 1993 11:29 | 8 |
How long till the election results are known/announced ??
keVin
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| 1214.8 | VYGER::RENNISONM | MARK RENNISON | Thu May 20 1993 11:57 | 8 | |
Mark (Holohan), What you are referring to is conjecture. What I'm referring to is fact. Have a nice day, Mark (Rennison). | |||||
| 1214.9 | KOALA::HOLOHAN | Thu May 20 1993 13:04 | 13 | ||
re. .8
Mark (Rennison),
Is conjecture the word you would apply to the
Amnesty internatinal report (United Kingdom Human
Rights Concerns June 1991) Section 5: Collusion
between security forces and armed groups.
I've a copy if you are interested. It details
not only the Brian Nelson case but others as well.
Have a nice day,
Mark Holohan
| |||||
| 1214.10 | Election Results in NI... interesting results... | TALLIS::DARCY | Mon May 24 1993 11:07 | 58 | |
Article 17585 of soc.culture.celtic: Path: sousa.tay.dec.com!pa.dec.com!decwrl!ames!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!not-for-mail From: [email protected] (GERRY MULVENNA) Newsgroups: soc.culture.celtic Subject: Northern Ireland local election results Date: 22 May 1993 08:40:17 -0500 Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway Lines: 44 Sender: [email protected] Message-ID: <[email protected]> NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu Counting has finally finished in the local elections here. There has been no dramatic changes in voting patterns. Both major unionist parties suffered a small decrease in their vote, whereas Sinn Fein, the SDLP and the Alliance party enjoyed a slight increase. The Conservative party campaign has been declared a disaster. Here are some figures: % share of first preference votes 1989 1993 Official Unionists 31.2 29.0 SDLP 21.0 21.9 Democratic Unionists 17.8 17.2 Sinn Fein 11.2 12.5 Alliance 6.8 7.7 Others 12.0 11.7 (source: The Irish News, 22 May 93) distribution of seats Before After Official Unionists 194 197 SDLP 119 127 Democratic Unionists 97 103 Sinn Fein 44 51 Alliance 36 44 Others 76 60 (sources: The Belfast Telegraph 21 May 93 and The Irish News 22 May 93) Note: boundary changes have created 16 new seats for these elections. Also the position of parties immediately before this election wasn't quite the same as after the 1989 election, due mainly to defections from the OUP to the DUP. The large "Others" group is made up of Independents, Independent unionists and small parties such as Democratic Left, The Workers' Party and the Conservatives. The make-up of the new Belfast city council is UUP 15, Sinn Fein 10, SDLP 9, DUP 9, Alliance 5 and Others 3. Sinn Fein polled the most first preference votes in Belfast. Gerry Mulvenna ([email protected]) Belfast, Ireland | |||||
| 1214.11 | Sinn Fein Statements on Elections | KOALA::HOLOHAN | Mon May 24 1993 13:00 | 58 | |
Sinn Fein Statements on Elections Sinn Fein chair tops poll Tom Hartley, Sinn Fein chairperson, has topped the poll in the Lower Falls constituency. All seven Sinn Fein candidates in West Belfast have been elected. This combined with the 3 Sinn Fein candidates elected in North Belfast, Sinn Fein now has 10 in the Belfast City Council, making it the largest nationalist party. In a signifcant race, the coucil seat previously held by SDLP councilor Joe Hendron was lost to Sinn Fein. Hendron declined to run for re-election, claiming he would be too busy with his duties an M.P. in London. Hendron won his MP seat from Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams when in a British-brokered election deal, the Ulster Defense Association (UDA) a loyalist paramilitary group, agreed to deliver their votes to Hendron in their small section of West Belfast in the hopes of unseating Adams. Sinn Fein's vote held in republican West Belfast, but the UDA's intervention on behalf on Hendron put him over the top. Now Sinn Fein can point out that without the loyalist vote (election lines being drawn differently in Parliamentary and city elections) Hendron and the SDLP could not have won the MP seat or can they win in republican West Belfast. Ironically, randon loyalist murders of innocent catholics in Hendron's district dramatically increased after Hendron's election. Sinn Fein Women Do Well Sinn Fein women candidates polled well. Una Gillespie won her race in the Upper Falls while Marie Moore won hers in the Lower Falls. Annie Armstrong in Lisburn, Mary Nellis and Bernie Bradley in Derry city, Margaret McKenna in Magherafelt (Co. Tyrone) and Denise Sutton in Dungannon all won. Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein said in an official statement: "I am pleased with early results available so far. Despite censorship and intensive murder campaign against our party, the Sinn Fein vote has held up well. "The message coming clearly from the nationalist community is for strengthened a nationalist agenda in any future talks process. The London-Dublin governments, and the unionist parties, must take note. "The nationalist community has no interest in 'internal' arrangements; it wants a political solution which guarantees equality and an end to unionist domination." | |||||
| 1214.12 | A People's Victory - pulled off usenet | KOALA::HOLOHAN | Tue Jun 08 1993 16:05 | 144 | |
A People's Victory
by Jim Gibney
(from An Phoblacht/Republican News. May 27, 1993)
During the course of the election campaign it was clear that
Sinn Fein's election workers were in excellent form and an
upbeat mood prevailed throughout. On the ground it was
evident that Sinn Fein's electorate were confident in their
support for the republican struggle and the Sinn Fein vote
was solid. In a spectacular result, Sinn Fein polled 77,984
votes overall, representing a 10,000 increase from 1989,
returning 51 councillors, an overall increase of eight seats.
Two by-election victories since 1989 had brought the number
of Sinn Fein councillors to 43. Overall, Sinn Fein increased
its percentage share of the vote by more that any other
party, increasing from 11.2% to 12.5%
In West Belfast the percentage vote is even more striking with
Sinn Fein polling 47% of the vote and the SDLP slipping to
21%. In the Lower Falls, three out of four Sinn Fein candidates
were elected on the first count, polling above the quota by
several hundred votes each. The fourth candidate was elected on
the second count. Tom Hartley topped the poll with a vote of
2,573, securing more first preference votes than that polled
by the entire Workers' Party and Democratic Left put together.
Clearly with the 2,000 votes above the quota polled by Sinn
Fein's Lower Falls candidates, the party is on the line for
taking another seat in this area. In the Upper Falls, Sinn Fein
also polled 1,000 extra votes, making the very real possibility
of an extra Sinn Fein seat in the area in any forthcoming
election.
In North Belfast, the seat taken by Sinn Fein in a by-election
was consolidated, returning Joe Austin to City Hall. Gerard
McGuigan successfully increased Sinn Fein's share of the vote
in Castle Ward, while Joe O'Donnell standing in the Pottinger
area of the Short Strand narrowly missed securing the seat.
In South Belfast, Sean Hayes maintained a solid Sinn Fein vote
with loyalist death squads, who have increased sectarian attacks
in the Lagan Bank area, failing to intimidate the nationalist
electorate. All this bodes ill for the unionist majority of
one in Belfast's Council chambers.
In Belfast City Hall, the second largest elected body in
Ireland (the first being Leinster House, the southern parliament)
and the largest elected forum in the Six Counties, Sinn Fein won
the largest share of the first preference vote in the city,
bringing their number of seats to ten. Sinn Fein is the
second largest party in City Hall and the largest nationalist
party.
All this has to be viewed against the backdrop of a whole
alliance of anti-republican forces which include the political,
clerical and media establishment. Despite a murder campaign
against party activists, censorship, intimidation, harassment,
attempts to marginalize Sinn Fein as a party and demonize
party workers, in terms of local government elections, last
week's results were the best ever for Sinn Fein. Clearly
ordinary people have been able to see through the massive
propaganda offensive against Sinn Fein. It's a people's victory.
Even in areas which had been targeted by loyalist death squads
the nationalist electorate, far from being intimidated, turned
out in even greater force, and the Sinn Fein vote actually
increased. In Magherafelt District Council, for example, where
a seat formerly held by Bernard O'Hagan who was gunned down by
a loyalist death squad in September 1991, Sinn Fein topped the
poll with a 43% increase in first preference votes.
Clearly in Mid-Ulster and South Derry the loyalist campaign
against Sinn Fein has failed to intimidate either party workers
or our support.
Dungannon was another tremendous success with Sinn Fein topping
the poll in three wards. Francie Molloy topped the poll in
Torrent and Raymond McMahon in Clogher Valley. In Dungannon
Town, Vincent Kelly, father of IRA Volunteer Paddy Kelly who
was assassinated by the SAS in Loughall, polled twice as many
votes as Vincent Curry of the SDLP who is as bigoted against
Sinn Fein as any unionist councilor. Omagh produced another
solid performance returning six councillors and increasing
Sinn Fein's share of the vote. This election proves that
we have halted the decline of Sinn Fein's vote in this
area which we detected during last May's Westminster elections.
In Derry, Sinn Fein increased its share of the vote by a third.
Sinn Fein had five outgoing councillors and successfully returned
five. Sinn Fein gained a new seat but lost another due to a
boundary change, so that the overall number of Sinn Fein seats
remain the same.
In one of the most notoriously anti-nationalist councils
in the Six Counties, Lisburn, Sinn Fein topped the polls in
Dunmurray Cross area and returned an extra candidate.
Sinn Fein has now secured an eighth of the overall vote. Had more
of the nationalist electorate transferred to Sinn Fein, we could
have secured 72 seats, transforming the political complexion
of councils West of the Bann from unionist to nationalist
control. Nationalists across the Six Counties need to realize
the potential for significant change at local government level
if they properly use their preferences.
Organizationally Sinn Fein was better prepared for this local
government election than previous elections. We spent more
time preparing at local and Six County level and the result
proves that where we are well organized and give effective
leadership locally then we get the results we're entitled to.
One of my regrets following last week's tremendous success is
that Sheena Campbell was not here to see it. Sheena played a
central role in helping to develop our current election
programme. As campaign manager, Sheena helped to win a
succession of by-elections in Dungannon, Magherafelt and
North Belfast and passed on her expertise to those areas and
many others. She would have been very proud of our performance.
**********
An Phoblacht/Republican News is published by Sinn Fein.
It is available by subscription from
AP/RN
58 Parnell Square
Dublin, 1
Ireland
(tel-8733611 fax-733074)
or
AP/RN
51/55 Falls Road
Belfast
N. Ireland
(tel- 624421 fax-622112)
Ireland....35 punts
Britain....35 sterling
USA........90 dollars
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