A Process of Perpetual Change | Siúlóid an Taoisigh - The Chieftain’s Walk | Sign the Moore St Petition | Comhghairdeas Katie Taylor

A Process of Perpetual Change

This weekend I will be in Dublin for the 36th Desmond Greaves Weekend Summer School. It begins in the UNITE Trade Union Hall, in Middle Abbey St, on Friday evening the 11 September and runs over Saturday and Sunday. The discussions range from the state of the European Union, to the place of the nation state, migration and asylum policy, to China and the Good Friday Agreement. My contribution on the Sunday, along with former Irish Ambassador to Canada, Ray Bassett, will be to discuss the Good Friday Agreement.

The summer school has been taking place annually and seeks to reflect the legacy of historian and activist C Desmond Greaves. His books and writings have been a significant influence on my own politics. His two biographies on Liam Mellows and James Connolly are as important and influential today as they were when first published almost 60 years ago. His ‘The Irish Crisis’ is equally important.

Siúlóid an Taoisigh - The Chieftain’s Walk

To be honest I find it difficult to comprehend that next March it will be ten years since the death of my friend and comrade Martin McGuinness. For more years than I care to remember we were comrades in struggle seeking to advance our republican objective of national self-determination, build Sinn Féin as a radical, activist based, republican party, and at the same time contributing to the creation of a peace process to end decades of conflict.

This Sunday the ninth Chieftain’s Walk will take place in Derry in Martin’s memory and to raise money for charity.

The first year the Walk went to the Stone Fort of Grianán of Aileach on the Inishowen peninsula. It was one of Martin’s favourite places in the world. He would walk there, no matter the weather, and whenever the opportunity presented itself. I walked there with him on many occasions. It is a place of quiet beauty with amazing panoramic views. On one side you can see Derry City in the distance. Grianán also overlooks Inishowen, Inch Island and there is a dramatic view of Lough Foyle and especially Lough Swilly. But it was a taxing walk – long and very challenging for many.

Sign the Moore St Petition

The Moore St. Preservation Trust held an informative night in the Pearse Institute in Dublin last week to discuss the future of Moore St and the ongoing efforts to save the iconic 1916 battlefield site that is threatened by bad government policy and developers.

Dublin Cllr Janice Boylan chaired the event which included Cllr Mícheál Mac Donncha who is Secretary of the Trust and Ray Bateson, author of ‘Battle of Moore Street / Cath Shráid Uí Mhórdha’, a bilingual history of the final battle of the Easter Rising.

Moore Street is unique. It is a place of enormous historical importance, and the campaign to protect it is about ensuring that this unique part of our revolutionary history is preserved for generations to come. It is also about creating a historic cultural quarter around the GPO on a par with that of other states internationally. In the USA, in South Africa, and in countless other states across the globe governments have invested in preserving their past to remind current and future generations of the heroism and of the principles of struggle that previous generations fought for and which continue to help shape their future.

If you would like to support campaign to save Moore St. by bringing it into

public ownership and by developing a historic 1916 Cultural Quarter then sign the petition here: https://c.org/4nfjJMtzjv

Comhghairdeas Katie Taylor

Finally, comhghairdeas to Katie Taylor. Her determination, individual strength of character is an example to everyone. It was her last night boxing in front of a packed 80,000 Croke Park. She did it in style. She won it convincingly. Well; done Katie.