Former Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has expressed his “deep sense of personal loss” at the death of John Hume.
Gerry Adams extended to John’s wife Pat and the entire Hume family his “sincere condolences and solidarity on the death of John.”
He said: “When others were stuck in the ritual politics of condemnation, John Hume had the courage to take real risks for peace. His decision to meet with me in September 1986, following an invitation from Fr Alex Reid, was a breakthrough moment in Irish politics.
"John’s agreement to examine the potential of building an alternative to conflict was the mark of a political leader genuinely prepared to look at the bigger picture and to put the wider interests of society above narrow party politics.
"This was at a time when the great and the good in the political and media establishments on these islands were committed to marginalising and demonising Sinn Féin.
"It took even greater courage to stick with it after we made our first Hume-Adams joint statement in April 1993. For daring to break the establishment consensus of talking to me, John was the target of a vitriolic and deeply hurtful and personalised campaign, much of it driven by sections of the southern media.
"Looking back, we should not forget that this was for the offence of talking to another elected political representative. John also faced fierce criticism from some within his own party.
"Despite all this, John stayed with our process of dialogue. We continued to work together throughout it all. For that he deserves great credit.
"So does Pat who was John’s mainstay, his life partner and constant adviser and supporter. She always made me welcome. Fr Alex often told me that Pat was the biggest influence on John and he often talked to her about our process. I thank her for all she has done.
"Over the many years of private conversation I got to know John well and we came to trust and respect each other’s opinions, and to accept that our common objective was to end conflict on the island of Ireland and create the conditions for a lasting peace with justice.
"John was very down to earth and easy to talk to. Our conversations were never combative. He listened attentively to my opinions while ably arguing his own views when we disagreed. I have many happy memories of my engagements with John.
"The Good Friday Agreement in 1998, 12 years after we first met, was a landmark moment for both of us.
"But one of my favourite memories is of John and I standing in the White House during St Patrick’s Day celebrations in March 1995 singing the ‘Town I Loved So Well’ to an appreciative and much bemused Irish American audience.
"John’s contribution to Irish politics cannot be underestimated. When others talked endlessly about peace, John grasped the challenge and helped make peace happen.
"Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis."
Former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has expressed his “deep sense of personal loss” at the death of John Hume.
Gerry Adams extended to John’s wife, Pat, and the entire Hume family his “sincere condolences and solidarity on the death of John”.
Gerry Adams said:
“When others were stuck in the ritual politics of condemnation John Hume had the courage to take real risks for peace. His decision to meet with me in September 1986, following an invitation from Fr Alex Reid, was a breakthrough moment in Irish politics. John’s agreement to examine the potential of building an alternative to conflict was the mark of a political leader genuinely prepared to look at the bigger picture and to put the wider interests of society above narrow party politics.
“This was at a time when the great and the good in the political and media establishments on these islands were committed to marginalising and demonising Sinn Féin.
“It took even greater courage to stick with it after we made our first Hume-Adams joint statement in April 1993. For daring to break the establishment consensus of talking to me, John was the target of a vitriolic and deeply hurtful and personalised campaign, much of it driven by sections of the southern media. Looking back we should not forget that this was for the offence of talking to another elected political representative. John also faced fierce criticism from some within his own party.
“Despite all this John stayed with our process of dialogue. We continued to work together throughout it all. For that he deserves great credit. So does Pat who was John’s mainstay, his life partner and constant adviser and supporter. She always made me welcome. Father Alex often told me that Pat was the biggest influence on John and he often talked to her about our process. I thank her for all she has done.
“Over the many years of private conversation I got to know John well and we came to trust and respect each other’s opinions, and to accept that our common objective was to end conflict on the island of Ireland and create the conditions for a lasting peace with justice.
“John was very down to earth and easy to talk to. Our conversations were never combative. He listened attentively to my opinions while ably arguing his own views when we disagreed. I have many happy memories of my engagements with John. The Good Friday Agreement in 1998 twelve years after we first met was a landmark moment for both of us. But one of my favourite memories is of John and I standing in the White House during St Patrick’s Day celebrations in March 1995 singing the ‘The town I loved so well’ to an appreciative and much bemused Irish-American audience.
“John’s contribution to Irish politics cannot be underestimated. When others talked endlessly about peace John grasped the challenge and helped make peace happen.
“Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.”
Dia daoibh a chairde agus fáilte mór romhaibh uilig. I want to welcome all of you here today – Big Bobby’s family and friends and comrades from all parts of the island here together to remember with pride a great republican and a great human being.
I have known many sound people but Bobby was one of a kind. He was always positive. He was a great motivator. And when you talked to him – whatever the issue – you always came away knowing that he would move heaven and earth to do what needed to be done to help. And he would do it with a smile.
I don’t know anyone who knew him who didn’t like him. Except for MI5, MI6, the old RUC, the British Army, and prison governors. How could you not like him? He was smart, well read, funny, caring, always ready to listen – always willing to help – always prepared to give freely of his time and his great positive energy.
The first 15 years of Big Bob’s life was spent in North Belfast. He was just 13 when the Falls and Clonard area and Ardoyne were attacked by loyalist mobs, led by the RUC and B Specials.
In this week 50 years ago three hugely significant events occurred which had a profound effect on the 14-year-old Bobby. The Battle of St Mathews took place, when unionist gangs tried to destroy the Short Strand and Ballymacarrett. The district was successfully defended by a small number of IRA volunteers and the local defence group.
Tomorrow is July 1st. On that day in 1970 the unionist regime at Stormont passed the Criminal Justice Bill which introduced a mandatory six-month prison sentence for rioting. Within six months over 100 people, mostly young nationalists were imprisoned under mandatory sentences.
Fifty years ago this Friday the Falls Curfew began. Three and a half thousand British soldiers surrounded the Falls area, killed four civilians and shrouded the area in a cloud of CS gas. Hundreds were arrested and beaten – homes were smashed – and mothers were denied food for their babies. The curfew was broken after three days by the courage and determination of thousands of women led by Máire Drumm and Marie Moore.
Bobby was politicised by his experience and by the events around him. He described his own experiences at the hands of the RUC and British Army.
He said:
“I was arrested over 20 times in a four-month period. They tied me up once and threw me out on the Shankill Road; they beat me up at a chapel one night. My experience was no different from many other people’s experience… The more beatings they gave me the more my resolve developed. These were the things that brought me to be a republican activist.”
In a little autograph book of former prisoners Bobby’s entry reads.
‘Bobby Storey interned 1973-75
Remand 76-77
Remand 77-77
Remand 78-79
Remand 79-81
Sentenced 81-94
Remand 96-98
A life of struggle is a life well lived.’
He signed off with a smiley face.
On 20 August 1981, the day the last hunger striker, Mickey Devine died, Big Bob was captured following a gun attack on British soldiers on Shaw’s Road. Bobby and his two comrades were captured and he was sentenced to 18 years. The 1983 escape came soon after. It wasn’t all down to Big Bobby. It was a team effort. His job as OC on the day was to coordinate the escape. He always said: “The biggest contribution to making that day so successful was the comradeship.”
Bobby was released in 1994. He went straight back into the struggle. The fact that it was now moving into a different mode didn’t faze him at all. He said:
“I put the same application into my current work as I did in the past. As republicans we are constantly making new sites of struggle and we have to be alert and scientific in our approach.”
During those years he travelled widely explaining the republican strategy to comrades and to the wider republican family. In 1996 he was arrested again, charged, spent two years on remand and was eventually released in 1998. He was 44 years-old and had spent more than 20 years in prison.
Bobby became the Chair of Belfast Sinn Féin and then of the six-county Cuige. He worked diligently at building the party. The result of his work and of others can be seen in the strength of the party today.
This weekend saw the election of Mícheál Martin as Taoiseach as part of the manoeuvre by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, aided and abetted by the Greens to maintain the status quo and to prevent Mary Lou McDonald from becoming Taoiseach. They are entitled to do that but their refusal to talk to the Sinn Féin leadership is a sad little undemocratic throw back to the way the unionist leaders used to behave.
Denying Sinn Féin voters their right to be included in talks shows how far the Dublin establishment is prepared to go to minimise and to delay the ongoing process of change across this island, including the movement towards Irish Unity. So, let me say loud and clear.
They will fail. Just as Unionists failed in their exclusion policies.
Change is coming. Not least because of the work of change makers like Bob mór. In order to justify their policy of exclusion An Taoiseach and Leo Varadkar say they cannot talk to us because Sinn Féin is controlled by shadowy figures like Bob. They also name Ted, Padraic, Marty. Sinn Féin is controlled by no one. We are an open democratic national movement with our elected leadership, led by two fine women and other national leaders and countless regional and local leaders.
We are proud and glad that Bob and other former IRA volunteers are part of what we are. We are also proud of Bob and the others when they were IRA Volunteers. They and their support base and republican Ireland defeated the British Army. They brought us and their political masters to the negotiating table.
Leo Varadkar has Michael Collins. Mícheál Martin has De Valera. We have Bobby Storey. Bobby has done more for Irish freedom, peace and unity on this island than either Leo Varadkar or Mícheál Martin.
Big Bobby’s death is a huge political blow for republicans but is also a very personal loss for all of us who knew him. There have been many tears shed since the news of his death. There is a void in our lives.
Bobby would not want that. He would want us to mind each other. He would want us to continue our struggle and to win that struggle. And that my friends and comrades is what we will do.
On behalf of Colette and myself and our family I extend my sincerest and deepest sympathies and solidarity to Teresa, their children and grandchildren, and the wider Storey and Pickering family.
We will all miss his wisdom, his analysis, and his craic in the time ahead. He brought out the best in all of us.
Because of him we can go forward with optimism as more and more people on this island realise that England rules us only in English interests and that the time is coming when we will end English rule and replace it with governance by the people of this island, for the people of this island.
That’s what Bobby believed. He knew we don’t need Boris Johnson or his cronies. Or any of the other mediocre amadáns who are arrogant enough to think they can rule us. Bob was right. As Ian Paisley said to Martin McGuinness one time: “We don’t need Englishmen to rule us.”
Former Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has spoken of his “deep sense of personal loss and sadness” at the death of his friend of many years Bobby Storey.
Gerry Adams said:
“Ba mhaith liom mo chomhbrón a ghabháil le teaghlach Storey.
“Bobby Storey was a stalwart of the struggle for Irish freedom for almost 50 years. As a young teenager growing up in North Belfast he witnessed, like many others of his generation, the violence and bigotry of the Unionist state, and then of the British Army. The introduction of internment in August 1971 and the murder of 14 civil rights marchers in Derry in January 1972 were two huge influences on his young life. Big Bobby chose to make a stand against these injustices. He was interned aged seventeen, one of the youngest internees, and in the decades that followed he spent over 20 years in prison.
“Bobby had a sharp, insightful political mind. He embraced the opportunity for building the republican struggle and advancing our goal of Irish Unity created by the peace process. At countless republican meetings he spoke in favour of Sinn Féin’s peace strategy. And when, following years of negotiations, the potential emerged for republicans to engage with the new policing dispensation Bobby played a leadership role in persuading others to grasp this new opportunity.
“Bobby was one of the bravest people I have ever had the honour to know. Whether inside or outside of prison, or through the years of harassment and beatings, arrests and torture from the RUC and British Army, Big Bobby demonstrated time and time again his enormous personal commitment and courage.
“He was also one of the funniest people I know. Big Bobby made light of his stammer. He could hold a group spellbound with his stories of past escapades and derring do. His accounts of life in prison in England were hilarious. He was kind, thoughtful, oyal and very giving.
“Bobby was part of an amazing group of people who over recent decades have formed a cohesive, effective collective leadership. During his time as Chairperson of Belfast Sinn Féin and of the Sinn Féin organisation in the North, Sinn Féin grew in electoral strength and representation. Big Bobby was loved and respected. In recent years as he battled his illness Bobby remained cheerful.
“He refused to allow it to prevent him from functioning as an activist. Last year he took on the task of reorganising the Sinn Féin Art/book shop on the Falls Road. As ever there were no half measures. The place was gutted out, completely redesigned and he took a personal interest in deciding what items would be on the shelves and helped design some of them. No task was too small or too great.
“Big Bobby’s death is a huge political blow for republicans but is also a very personal loss for all of us who knew him. There were tears shed across Ireland as comrades got news of his death.
“On behalf of Colette and myself and our family I extend my sincerest and deepest sympathies and solidarity to Teresa, their children and grandchildren, his brothers Seamus and Brian, his sister Geraldine, his extended family circle and his many friends.
“Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.”
Former Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams commenting on the death of Jean Kennedy Smith said:
“I want to extend my condolences and solidarity to the family of former US Ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith.
"Her appointment to the role of Ambassador to Dublin by President Clinton in 1993 was pivotal to the development of the peace process. She already had a relationship with John Hume through her brother Teddy. After she arrived in Ireland she and Fr. Alec Reid became close and contributed significantly to the efforts for peace, to the IRA cessation of August 1994 and eventually to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
"Fr. Reid was hugely impressed by Jean Kennedy Smith’s commitment to peace and willingness to take risks to advance it. He used to call her An Speir Bhean – the spirit woman - and he worked closely with her and An Taoiseach Albert Reynolds to overcome obstacles.
"I met Jean Kennedy Smith many times during those years. She stayed with the process throughout her years in Ireland and later when she returned to the USA. She was a wonderful, compassionate, formidable woman who played a key role in persuading her brother Senator Ted Kennedy to support a visa for me in 1994. She also worked closely with Senator George Mitchell and President Clinton during those challenging times and with Sinn Féin’s Rita O Hare.
"Her strength of character shone through on many occasions but none more so than when I applied for a visa in January 1994. Jean Kennedy Smith sent a cable to the State Department endorsing the visa application. Some members of her staff sent a dissenting cable to express their opposition. She removed the staff and faced the wrath of the State Department and of Secretary of State Warren Christopher who opposed giving me a visa.
"In the days that followed the British government engaged in an intense private and public campaign to keep me out. The British Embassy in the US and its ambassador Sir Robin Renwick worked round the clock arguing that a visa for me would be a diplomatic catastrophe. They sought and received the support of the House Speaker Tom Foley and the US Attorney General Janet Reno and the Head of the FBI Louis Freeh.
"But on the other side Jean Kennedy Smith, her brother Senator Ted Kennedy and three Democratic Senate colleagues, Chris Dodd, John Kerry and Daniel Moynihan all backed giving me a visa. With Irish America supporting the visa President Clinton agreed. Jean also played a key role in getting Joe Cahill a visa. She and Fr Alec sat up all night waiting for word from Washington.
"Jean Kennedy Smith dedicated her long life to helping others. Her record of achievements as a philanthropist and supporter of programs to help and support citizens with disabilities is legendary. I am glad to have known her. We exchanged trees one time and I also gave her a puppy dog. Tá sí ar slí an fhirinne anios.
"On my own behalf I want to extend my deepest sympathies to her family. Jean was an extraordinary human being. Her family can be very proud of her achievements and especially the role she played in making peace in Ireland. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam."
Former Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has welcomed this morning’s judgement by the Supreme Court in London which ruled that he was unlawfully interned in 1973 and that consequently two convictions - in March 1975 and April 1975 - for two attempted escapes from internment in December 1973 and July 1974 are quashed.
Mr. Adams has called on the British government to identify and inform other internees whose internment may also have been unlawful.
He said:
"I want to thank my legal team Seamus Collins, PJ McGrory & Co Solicitors, Sean Doran SC and Donal Sayers for their diligence in pursuing this case over the last decade.
"I also want to commend and thank the Pat Finucane Centre which in October 2009 uncovered communications from July 1974. The then Director of Public Prosecutions had provided a memorandum to the British Attorney General that 'I (and other detainees) held under orders which have not been signed by the Secretary of State himself may be unlawfully detained.' This was prior to the institution of proceedings against me in March 1975 in respect of the December 1973 incident.
"Subsequently, I understand that on 17 July 1974 this issue was discussed by the British Attorney General with the British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, so the knowledge of my unlawful detention was known at the most senior level of the British system.
"Of course internment, later described as detention by the British, was never lawful. In fact it set aside the normal principles of law and was based on a blunt and brutal piece of coercive legislation.
"I have no regrets about my imprisonment except for the time I was separated from my family. However, we were not on our own. It is believed that around two thousand men and women were interned during its four and a half years of operation.
"I consider my time in the Prison Ship Maidstone, in Belfast prison and in Long Kesh to have been in the company of many remarkable, resilient and inspiring people.
"Internment like all coercive measures failed.
"There is an onus on the British government to identify and inform other internees whose Internment may also have been unlawful."
Former Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has extended his condolences to the family of Jim Neeson.
Gerry Adams said:
“Ba mhaith liom mo chomhbhrón a ghabháil le teaglach Neeson ag an uair mhillteanach bhrónach seo i saol bhur gclann.
“I want to extend my solidarity and deepest condolences to Joan and to the family of Jim Neeson who has died after a long illness.
“I have known Jim for many years. He was a gentleman, a dedicated family man, a republican activist and one of the foremost community and business leaders in West Belfast for many decades.
“He is perhaps best known as a former Chairperson of the West Belfast Taxi Association.
“During his many years of leadership of that organisation he constantly challenged British government efforts to demonise and close ‘The People’s Taxis’ service.
“As a result Jim, like his colleagues, was under constant threat. Despite intense harassment by the British Army and RUC, and sectarian threats from unionist death squads the Black Taxis, under Jim’s leadership, continued to provide an essential public service.
“Over 20 years Unionist death squads killed eight black taxi drivers. But Jim refused to be intimidated and under his leadership the Black Taxi hub in King Street in the centre of the city was built.
“As a well known and respected business leader and community activist Jim was also actively involved in many of the justice and civil rights campaigns.
“Jim was also a Chairperson of the Committee that managed Conway Mill. When the Thatcher government introduced political vetting and stopped funding for the crèche in Conway Mill Jim was central to the fight back. Along with others they kept the crèche open and assisted in the successful campaign against political vetting.
“Jim was key to the redevelopment of the Mill through the West Belfast Task Force. Today this iconic building provides educational, employment and other facilities for the people of west Belfast.
“Jim also worked closely with the Falls Community Council as they put together the funding and planning for the redevelopment of St Comgall’s in Divis Street, which is now going ahead and will be a landmark building at the entrance to the west of the city. His expertise and experience was frequently called on to assist small businesses.
“As well as being a business and community leader Jim was also a republican activist. For many years he was Sinn Féin’s liaison with the republican solidarity network in Australia. For over 30 years Jim was the patron of the Casement Group in Melbourne.
“To his wife Joan and family and the entire Neeson family circle I want to extend my sincerest condolences on their loss.
“Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.”
Former Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams who was among those who negotiated the Good Friday Agreement on 10 April 1998, marked the anniversary in a comment this morning on his Twitter page @GerryAdamsSF
Mr. Adams criticised the current failure of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to learn the lesson of that time – the need to recognise the rights of others.
Gerry Adams said:
“This is the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
“I remember it well, the weeks leading into that Agreement and then especially the overnight session. Then after we came to a conclusion going off to our respective constituencies . And then weeks later the people North and South on this island voting for that agreement.
“It’s also worth remembering that the unionist parties, and things have changed massively with the unionist parties since then, but that the unionist parties went through all of that process without recognising the rights of the Sinn Féin voters, without talking to the Sinn Féin representatives.
“Here we are all these years, decades later, and the leaders of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are doing exactly the same thing. Refusing to recognise the rights of the Sinn Fein electorate.
Refusing to engage with Sinn Féin leadership in the formation for government talks.
“So, so much for the lessons of history.
“Having said that the Agreement has served all of us well. There are aspects of it, important dimensions of it, that both governments have failed to honour, but most especially the British government.
“We want to bring the Agreement to its complete fruition.
“For now it’s worth looking forward as well as looking backwards.
“So thanks to everyone who played any role in putting together the Good Friday Agreement, from this island, from our neighbouring island, from across the world and from the USA in particular.
“And to all of those people who have kept the peace process alive since then.
“Let’s keep on the road we are on.
“Let’s keep building peace and let’s make sure that all of the elements of the Good Friday Agreement are honoured in the time ahead and not undermined as Brexit threatens to do; not subvert it as Brexit threatens to do.
“Go n-éirí an t-ádh libhse.
“Go raibh maith agaibh.
“Happy Easter.”
Former Sinn Fein Louth TD Gerry Adams and Cllr Ruairí Ó Murchú – who is the chair of the Louth Drug & Alcohol Forum - today met with Minister Catherine Byrne, and other local representatives and six drug awareness service providers which cover Louth.
They discussed the government’s lack of adequate funding for the work of these groups and the viability of the services they provide.
The individuals and groups involved are:
· Andy Ogle - Coordinator, North East Regional Drug & Alcohol Task Force.
· Tim Murphy Cavan Monaghan Drug Awareness.
· Andrew Jackson - ISPCC Childhood Support Programme.
· Cathy Whelan - Meath Community Drug & Alcohol Response.
· Louise Mahony - The Red Door Project.
· Nicki Jordan - Turas Counselling Services
Speaking after the meeting Cllr Ruairí Ó Murchú said:
“The recent savagery and gun attacks in Drogheda are evidence of the level to which drug gangs will stoop.
"The Minister acknowledged at our meeting that front line drug addiction services are inadequately funded.
"Front line staff are under severe pressure. Greater government intervention is needed to secure the future of these projects and to improve their effectiveness in tackling addiction.
"The government has a responsibility to ensure that we have fully resourced policing and that service providers have sustainable funding.”
Gerry Adams said:
“In our discussion with Minister Byrne and her officials we made the case that this is now an emergency and the government needs to deal with it as an emergency. This requires a Minister dealing with this issue sitting at the Cabinet table.
The current situation is untenable. There must be zero tolerance of drug gangs and criminality.
This Fine Gael government has not taken the issue of drug addiction seriously. It has significantly underfunded vital public services for years."
Former Sinn Féin TD for Louth Gerry Adams has confessed to being “emotional” at the prospect of stepping back as a TD for Louth.
Gerry Adams was addressing a party meeting in Dundalk where he briefed activists on the successful negotiations to restore the political institutions in the North.
Gerry Adams said:
“As my term as a TD for Louth comes to an end, I have to confess to being emotional about departing after serving the people of this constituency for nine years.
"I am deeply indebted to the citizens who elected me in 2011 and again in 2016 with Imelda Munster.
"I want to thank all of them and also my comrades in Sinn Féin.
"Throughout my nine years in Louth, my endeavour was to keep a national focus while delivering locally.
"This included developing alternatives to Brexit, advancing the national cause, co-operating with neighbouring border counties and campaigning for projects like Narrow Water Bridge which as recently as last week we succeeded in getting into the ‘New Decade, New Approach’ agreement, which enabled the re-establishment of the power sharing government at Stormont.
"Locally we concentrated on improving the provision of public services – particularly the provision of a Primary Care Centre in Dundalk, Mental Health services, housing provision, a new county ground for the GAA, and much more.
"Sinn Féin, along with civil society and organisations like Border Communities Against Brexit have worked hard to ensure that there will be no physical infrastructure reinforcing the border dividing Ireland.
"But there is much more work to been done to protect our economies North and South and to oppose the efforts by the British to dilute the rights agenda in the North.
"I have mixed feelings about Leinster House. Obviously Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have a common agenda of outright hostility to Sinn Féin because we are United Irelanders and because of our commitment to equality, fairness and our core republican values.
"However, in the last term they took this to the extreme of turning Leinster House into a Do Nothing Dáil.
"The partnership between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael smothered and limited the potential for real solutions to the crises in housing and the health service. It also undermined the potential for advancing the search for Irish Unity in line with the Good Friday Agreement.
"Votes against the government were rendered meaningless as they were ignored by the Taoiseach with the active support of the Fianna Fáil leader.
"I also want to thank everyone who works in Teach Laighean to provide services and support for Oireachtas members.
"The catering staff, the ushers, the civil servants and cleaners, the librarians and research staff, An Garda Síochána and everyone else who ensure that the place functions, have been wonderful to work with.
"So too have my comrades in Sinn Féin’s Oireachtas team led by Mary Lou. I wish them well.
"I welcome the calling of the election and the opportunity for Sinn Féin to persuade voters to elect an even stronger Sinn Féin team. Sinn Féin has strong, costed policies to end the crisis in housing and health, provide childcare, tackle climate change and poverty, and give families and workers a break.
"We also have a clear strategy to win support for Irish Unity. This has been enhanced by the establishment of the power sharing government in the North and I am pleased to have been part of that endeavour.
"If we had listened to the propaganda from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil the durable basis for the Assembly would not have been secured.
"So there is a lot to be done. In Louth, Sinn Féin is standing two excellent candidates – Imelda Munster and Ruairí Ó Murchú - who in their time on Louth County Council, and in Imelda’s time in the Dáil, have proven to be very effective public representatives. I appeal to voters of Louth to return them both.
"I appeal to voters across the state to return an even stronger Sinn Féin team.
"On February 8th, the electorate will have the opportunity to vote for fairness and decency and for Irish Unity and to end the tweedledee and tweedledum politics of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.”
