Léargas: A Podcast by Gerry Adams

Gerry Adams
  • 4.8 (32)
  • Politics
  • Updated Weekly

Current Affairs, Politics, Irish Unity, History and Culture.

  1. 2d ago

    An Open Letter to my Orange Neighbours | Bodenstown | Cupla Focal Eile.

    A Chairde, As June heads towards July the distant beat of your drums is pounding out their rhythm. The marching season for all of the Loyal Orders is well underway and the 12 July is fast approaching. One July, sitting during yet another negotiation, into the early hours with Tony Blair the ratatat of Lambegs sundered the quiet. We paused as he asked if I knew what that was. Yes ,I replied that’s the Orangemen. “Jungle drums?” he said. I am minded to remind you that the Battle of the Boyne was fought on the 1st July not the 12th. The date changed in 1752 when the English adopted the Gregorian calendar introduced by Pope Gregory. The war was part of a much wider European conflagration – the Nine Years War. James was backed by the English Aristocracy, by France and by the Irish Catholic aristocracy. William who was James’s son-in-law and King of Holland, was backed by the English merchant class, by Pope Innocent X1, by Spain and Germany and by Protestant settlers in Ireland. At its core it was William leading a ‘Grand Alliance’ of Europeans to curb the power and expansion plans of the French King. The Pope contributed to Williams expenses and when news reached Rome of the victory there was a Te Deum hymn sang in a “joyous proclamation of praise, thanksgiving and faith.” The Pope was front and centre of it all. So much for No Pope Here!    Bodenstown “To say all in one word, Ireland shall be independent. We shall be a nation, not a province, citizens not slaves.” Wolfe Tone   On 28 June Republicans from across the island of Ireland will travel to Bodenstown, County Kildare, to stand in homage at the graveside of Theobald Wolfe Tone, the founder of Irish Republicanism. For those who know of Tone and for those who don’t I want to recommend a new publication – Bodenstown: Honouring Wolfe Tone – A Pictorial History – which tells his remarkable and inspirational story and recounts the generations who have travelled to Bodenstown each June to remember and celebrate his life. This new publication profiles Tone and publishes photographs of many of the commemorations that have been held there. The first image of Bodenstown is of Padraig Pearse delivering the oration in June 1913. The Irish Republican Brotherhood had asked Pearse to speak and the event was chaired by veteran Fenian Tom Clarke. Both were executed by the British less than three years later following the 1916 Easter Rising.    Cupla Focal Eile. Another few words í nGaeilge as part of this column’s contribution to the effort to use whatever Irish we have even if it is only a wee bit.  Here are a few more bits and pieces to replace their English equivalents. Lá breithe shona duit means Happy birthday to you.   It also sounds really good when sung by a crowd at a birthday gathering. Or even on a one to one basis. Try it. Use the same air as the English version.  Tiomaint go curamac means drive carefully.  Sliothar is a hurling ball.  Tóg go bóg é means take it easy.  Slán abhaile means Safe home.

    23 min

  2. Jun 4

    Unionism and the Future | Stop the Game | Róis-Máire Donnelly - A Ballymurphy Woman

    Unionism and the Future Last week, at a meeting of the Executive the DUP chose to block the Good Jobs Bill. Why did they do this? The Bill will be good for all workers. It makes no distinction based on religion, politics, ethnicity or gender. Workers who vote unionist would benefit as much from this Bill as would workers who vote nationalist or for neither of these. The legislation, being proposed by Caoimhe Archibald, the Minister for the Economy, contains common sense measures making it easier for Trade Unions to represent workers; replace zero hour contracts; protect employees tips and gratuities; strengthen neonatal leave and pay; and improve paternity entitlements and redundancy protections for workers who are pregnant. The DUP claim they need more time to scrutinise the legislation but the place for that is on the floor of the Assembly where it can be debated and amended. The truth is that the DUP is opposed to equality    Stop the Game In his most recent comments on the two Ireland-Israel soccer internationals due to be played in September/October An Taoiseach Micheál Martin chooses to waffle and pass the buck to UEFA rather than take a principled stand and oppose the game. He says, ‘Ireland’ does not want to be "self-defeating" – whatever than means - in its approach to the games. Martin claims, that while everyone knows the governments opposition to the actions of Israel – he avoids mentioning its disgraceful response to the Occupied Territories Bill – he says that “everything shouldn’t be reduced to just one match.” Why not? Russia was banned by EUFA following its invasion of Ukraine. Israel has killed close to 100,000 people in Gaza and the west Bank; stolen Palestinian land and invaded its sovereign neighbour Lebanon. Why should it be treated differently?  Róis-Máire Donnelly - A Ballymurphy Woman  There was a time when younger people I used to bump into would say to me by way of introduction ‘You used to know my Mammy.’ ‘Or my Daddy’. Nowadays they say to me; “You used to know my Granny.” That would have been over fifty years ago when Grannies and Granda’s were young and well before the Grandparent stage.  That’s when  I first met the late Mrs Donnelly, the Granny of our Ard Mheara Róis-Máire. It was in 1969/70. She was living in Westrock Drive off the Whiterock Road and then in Springhill Drive. Mrs Donnelly was a lovely woman. She was originally from McDonnell St. in the Falls area and lived for a time in Ballymacarrett in East Belfast before returning to the west of the city. As a young girl May had been one of hundreds of women who prayed outside Crumlin Road prison during the night and into the morning Tom Williams was hanged in September 1942. In the decades that followed, especially during the conflict following the pogroms of 1969, May was one of those Indomitable women in the greater Ballymurphy area who stood against the brutality, harassment and raids of the British Army. May was a kind; compassionate woman whose door was always open to republicans.

    19 min

  3. May 28

    Gaelscoil na Móna – Looking to the Future | Did you enjoy the good weather? | A Slap in the Face to Palestinians

    A few weeks after the Good Friday Agreement was agreed in April 1998 I brought a delegation of the Board of Governors of Bunscoil Phobail Feirste, on the Shaws Road in west Belfast, to meet the British Secretary of State Mo Mowlam. I asked for the meeting after the Department of Education had again denied funding to the school for the construction of permanent school buildings. The Department had just announced a £33 million schools building programme which excluded Irish medium schools and nurseries. I did an intense series of engagements with Mo Mowlam in the run into this meeting and she told me privately in advance that she was going to supply the funding. But she said she had not told the Department of Education officials.  Nowadays almost thirty years later, this attitude to equality and the right to acceptable school facilities remains an ongoing challenge. Despite this Irish medium education has grown in popularity and numbers. When Bunscoil Phobail Feirste, which was the first Irish medium school in the North, opened its doors in 1970 it had 8 pupils. Today there are around 8,000 pupils in  Irish medium education. A fitting tribute to those dedicated activists and parents who stood up for their rights and refused to be ignored or discriminated against. One fine example of this determination was evident last week when Gaelscoil na Móna held a celebration of its 25th anniversary. When it first opened in September 2000, on a tiny site in temporary huts behind houses on the Monagh Road in Turf Lodge, there were a handful of students. Today there are around 80 and there are an additional 25 in the Naíscoil. Did you enjoy the good weather?? Did you enjoy the weekend? The blue skies and warm weather? The mountain walk along the top of Black Mountain was busy with those of all ages enjoying the Sun and the heat. Our parks and public spaces were full of people making best use of the hot weather. It’s hard to imagine at such times that shifting weather patterns and climate instability, as a result of humanities pollution, is threatening the stability of our world. But it is. Three weeks ago the ‘European State of the Climate report’ was published bringing together the work of 100 scientific contributions and providing an overview of the threat to our climate. The report revealed that globally 2025 was the third warmest year on record and that each of the past 11 years has been among the 11 warmest on record. Europe is now the fastest warming continent on Earth. The result is that glaciers in all European regions saw a net mass loss; the annual sea surface temperature for Europe was the highest on record; and wildfires burned the largest area on record. A Slap in the Face to Palestinians Israel’s brutal treatment of hundreds of international activists, kidnapped by its forces after it attacked the Global Sumud Flotilla, has been widely condemned. The flotilla of ships was trying to bring much needed aid to the Gaza Strip. Images of men and women activists forced to kneel, with their hands bound behind them and their foreheads on the ground sparked outrage. This grew in intensity as reports emerged of systematic beatings and ill-treatment and the release of a video by Israel's far-right national security minister Ben-Gvir. He told the Israeli Parliament that he was proud of his actions “against those supporters of terror” and that the images released “are a great source of pride.

    17 min

  4. May 21

    Cúpla Focal. | Fianna Fáil – A centenary of failure | Britain’s shameful role in the Nakba

    Cúpla Focal I often quote the late Seán Mac Goill. Seán was one of the visionaries who gave us the new Bombay Street after the pogroms of 1969, the urban Gaeltacht on Bóthar Seoighe, The Andersonstown News and many other outstanding projects going back to the 1960s. Seán and his peers and their families were immersed in the Irish language and the wider cultural revolution across Belfast. It was they who laid the foundations for today’s revival and successes. Seán’s name is immortalised in the Gael Ionad Mhic Gioll in Ballymurphy, home of Glór na Móna, the outstanding Irish language organisation.  Britain’s shameful role in the Nakba On May 15 Palestinians across Palestine and throughout their diaspora commemorate the ‘Nakba’ or the ‘catastrophe’ of 1948. In that year Zionist militias commenced a systematic assault on Palestinian towns and villages creating fear and displacement. Massacres occurred daily and in a short time 800,000 Palestinians became refugees in their own place. The Nakba is ongoing. It is taking place now in the west Bank, in Lebanon and in the Gaza Strip. Fianna Fáil – A centenary of failure Last Saturday the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis in Dublin marked the centenary of that party. At its foundation in 1926 meeting it was agreed that the party would be titled ‘Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party.’ Its principal aim was defined as ‘Securing the political independence of a United Ireland as a republic.’ That was the basis on which Fianna Fáil first entered government in 1932. But in the decades to follow nothing was done to advance that aim. On the contrary when in government every effort was made to thwart unity, including through the imprisonment and execution of republican political prisoners and the abandonment of nationalists living in the North under an apartheid unionist regime.

    17 min

  5. May 17

    Special Episode: In Conversation with Author Gerard Shannon

    In conversation with Gerard Shannon on his new book ‘Rory O'Connor: To Defend the Republic’  Available to buy in An fhuiseog.ie

    1h 1m

  6. May 14

    The Disunited Kingdom | The Irish Language and Irish Unity | Marwan Barghouti – A Resolute Defender of Freedom

    The Disunited Kingdom At the time of writing this week’s column Keir Starmer is still the Leader of the British Labour Party and Prime Minister. On Monday he delivered a ‘Save Keir Starmer’ speech which may or may not work for him. Can he survive the voices of opposition within Labour? That is a matter for his party. The reality is that his leadership of Labour and its success in the 2024 general election had little to do with Starmer and more to do with voters’ deep antipathy toward the Conservative party. With a landslide victory and a massive majority of 174., Starmer was given a mandate to right the wrongs of a decade of Tory mismanagement and corruption, and of the Brexit debacle. Instead and in just 23 months Starmer has lost the confidence of the vast majority of the electorate in Britain. His funding of public services in the North is disgraceful; his government’s abject failure to tackle the cost of living crisis; or his bizarre and stupid appointment of Peter Mandelson to the post of Ambassador to the USA, have cost Labour dearly. Allied to these has been his shameful support for Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian people. Consequently, Starmer is now reputedly the most unpopular British Prime Minister since opinion polling began decades ago. The Irish Language and Irish Unity Well done to Conradh na Gaeilge on the publication of its report – ‘A United Ireland: A Transformative Opportunity for the Irish language and Gaeltacht.’ The report, written by Roisin Nic Liam, a researcher at Queens University, is an insightful examination of how the Irish Language has been traditionally viewed in the context of Irish Unity and its place in the growing conversation now taking place on unity. It accepts that “comprehensive planning is required in order to clarify what a united Ireland might look like. Such clarity would ensure that the people of Ireland are able to make an informed decision about the future of the country. Central to this discussion is the question of the Irish language.” Marwan Barghouti – A Resolute Defender of Freedom After 24 years the continued imprisonment of Palestinian Leader Marwan Barghouti is more than a punitive act of judicial oppression by Israel. It is a calculated strategic decision to prevent the emergence of a united Palestinian leadership. Barghouti is widely recognised among Palestinians as the leader who can unite the various Palestinian groups and provide a united, coherent political strategy to challenge Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories and its genocidal policy in Gaza. For more than 50 years Marwan Barghouti has been part of the struggle against Israel’s apartheid regime, its brutality and occupation of Palestine. He was born in 1959 in the west Bank. When he was eight years old the 1967 war resulted in Israel occupying the west Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. It was under this military occupation that Marwan grew up.

    16 min

  7. May 7

    Springhill Heroes |Tiocfaidh ár lá | Free Marwan Bargouti

    Springhill Heroes When I was a wee buck growing up in Ballymurphy there was a river at the back of the houses across from our home place at the corner of Glenalina Road and Divismore Park. The river ran the length of our street and the length of Ballymurphy Road before exiting below the Whiterock Road and into the City Cemetery. From there it meanders down to and under the Falls Road beside the Bus Depot and onwards to the Bog Meadows. You can see it there to this day.  The stretch which used to border our street was long ago captured and incarcerated in a pipe below ground. Before then it was one of our favourite places to play. The Ordinance Survey maps name this rivulet as the Ballymurphy Stream.  I can’t find its Irish name. It rises in the mountain and cuts under the Springfield Road beneath a very high arch just up from our street. It used to be at its widest at that point. Perfect for jumping. Swinging across on a rope. Falling in. Catching frogs. Plastic sandals were all the go. Perfect for walking on water.    Tiocfaidh ár lá It does not feel as if 45 years have passed since the death on 5 May 1981 of Bobby Sands on hunger strike. Bobby’s death and that of his nine comrades changed so much in our struggle and opened up so many new opportunities that it is rightly viewed as a tipping point in recent Irish history. On Sunday former hunger striker Pat Sheehan MLA gave a wonderful speech at Bobby’s statue in Twinbrook. The courage and heroism of the ten men who died and those who took part in the hunger strike, and of Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg, are a huge part of our republican history.    But we should never lose sight of the fact that Bobby and his comrades in the H-Blocks and in Armagh Women’s Prison were more than political prisoners. They were family members, friends, neighbours. Comrades. They were ordinary young men and women who enjoyed life.    Free Marwan Bargouti Freedom struggles across the globe have their heroes. Nelson Mandela, Che Guevara, Bobby Sands and in Palestine, Marwan Bargouti . Last September a mural celebrating Marwan’s leadership and resistance to Israeli occupation and the oppression of the Palestinian people,was unveiled at the international wall on Bóthár na bhFál. Two weeks ago at the Ard Fheis I met with Marwan’s son Arab. Since then we have spoken by zoom. His family and those, like me, who believe he should be released are fearful for his life.

    14 min

  8. Apr 30

    Standing at the crossroads | International Solidarity | Honouring Rita O’Hare | Remembering Bobby Sands

    Standing at the crossroads Sinn Féin, but especially, the party in Belfast pulled out all of the stops at the weekend to ensure that the Ard Fheis was a huge success. The ICC Waterfront Hall was buzzing with republican voices from across our island and beyond talking about the big issues confronting all of us nationally and internationally. The number of young people attending and taking part in the debates was particularly encouraging. There were 167 Motions on the clár for discussion. They ranged across the cost of living crisis, housing, Irish unity, education, health, the climate crisis and our environment, rural Ireland, justice and human rights, and the fraught international situation. International Solidarity Sinn Féin believes in international solidarity. Consequently, an important element of our annual Ard Fheis is the many international guests who travel to be with us. This year there were around 60 guests from the ANC in South Africa, EH Bildu in the Basque country, the ERC in Catalonia, from Australia, Kurdistan, France and other comrades. I was especially pleased to meet again with Arab Barghouti, from Ramallah in the west Bank and son of Marwan Barghouti who has been imprisoned for 24 years by Israel. The situation is Gaza continues to be appalling with scores of Palestinians being killed on an almost daily basis, and towns and villages in the west Bank regularly targeted by criminal Israeli gangs of settlers. Honouring Rita O’Hare The next time you go into Áras Uí Chonghaile on Bóthar na bhFál in Belfast go up to the first floor where there is a plaque dedicated to the work of Rita O’Hare, who played a huge part in securing the support of American Trade Unions for the Áras.  Last Friday a bunch of us, her family and friends, got together to remember Rita and to unveil a James Connolly bust in her memory. It’s a striking piece of art. It was created by the talented sculptor Steve Finney and Barry O’Neill of Lough Neagh Bronze. The bust was originally donated to the Moore St. Preservation Trust that is campaigning to save the 1916 Battlefield site in Dublin. Remembering Bobby Sands Finally, next Tuesday, 5 May, will be the anniversary of the death on hunger strike of Bobby Sands. He was the first of ten men to die during the six-month hunger strike in 1981. This weekend there will be a number of events to remember Bobby and his comrades and their contribution to the struggle for freedom. ·      At 9.30 am on Sunday the Annual Bobby Sands Walk will take place on Divis Mountain. ·      At the same time there will be a 12k freedom run meeting at the Bobby statue in Twinbrook. ·      At 2pm on Sunday there will be a commemoration and wreath laying at the Bobby Sands statue in Twinbrook. ·    And later that evening at 8pm the Annual Bobby Sands Lecture will take place in Andersonstown Social Club.

    13 min
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Current Affairs, Politics, Irish Unity, History and Culture.

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