All of my community and political activism is anchored in, and motivated by, the core Republican values of Liberty, Equality, Community, Justice and Democracy. I believe in a form of Republicanism that puts the needs of the many ahead of the greed of the few. The current economic and political system does the direct opposite, by allowing the rich to get richer while the rest of us struggle to keep our heads above water. Systems that concentrate wealth in this way are inherently undemocratic.
Our people deserve so much more than the current system offers them. It is within our ability to build a New all-Ireland Republic of the type envisioned by Tone, Pearse, Lynn, Connolly and Markievicz - a Republic that will truly cherish all the children of the Nation equally.
Video above shows the Patrick Doyle Commemoration in Columbanus in 2016. Organised by Éirígí for a New Republic.
Momentum for a New Republic will not come from the establishment political parties, the mainstream media or big business. Instead it will come from workers and the wider community struggling together for positive change.
With knowledge of our past comes an understanding of how we arrived at the present and how we can create a better future. Ireland has a long history of radical political and social movements, an aspect of our history that was largely ignored and airbrushed from the history that we all learned in school.
None of us want to live in the past, but we must learn from learn it if we are to avoid repeating the mistakes that were made in the past.
The ‘1916 People’s Parade’ in 2016 was a massive community celebration of the 1916 Rising. Organised by the Dublin South 1916 Centenary Commemoration Committee that I helped found and Chair.
In 2015 I was a founding member of the Dublin South 1916 Centenary Committee. As Chairperson of the committee I have helped organise a series of public talks and commemorative events that continued past the centenary celebrations. The local branch of Éirigí for a New Republic has also organised similar events over the last five years, including several to mark the 1916 Centenary. Below are a selection of photos from those events.
