A Letter From Ireland
a Chara,
I’m back on the road again or to be correct on the train, leaving New York for Washington.
In New York, we hosted a launch of Rita O’Hare’s Memoir, attended the Martin McGuinness Foundation Walk for Irish Unity, and met up with friends and supporters.
Both Rita and Martin were formidable Irish Republican leaders. They paid a heavy price for their political beliefs: enduring jail, time on the run, arrest, and intimidation. Shot and left for dead, Rita carried the scars of her activism.
They were unrelenting. Yet they never carried any bitterness. They acted not out of recrimination but hope for a better future. An united Ireland that would be a home for all. At the events, stories were shared and the sound of laughter filled the air. It was not an occasion for sadness but a celebration. It was a community remembering. Many thanks to all of those who came out to remember Rita and to support the work of Friends of Sinn Féin.
Rita and Martin loved to listen to people’s stories. Their relationship with the US was more than political. It was of friends with a shared love of Ireland. The US and Canada for them was a place where hope and opportunity met and progress was made.
It was great to be part of the events. The conversation was not a look back but a look forward. These two leaders of Irish Republicanism had created an opportunity that they had been denied. A peaceful and democratic pathway to Irish Unity.
Both knew that the road ahead would contain many twists and turns. The focus was always to keep moving forward.
In the months ahead we face elections in the US and in Dublin. We now have a new government in London. By the start of next year we will have a new administration, a new Congress and possibly a new government in Dublin.
In the South of Ireland the election has to be held before March. The timing is in the hands of the government. A kind of home team advantage. We in Sinn Féin have a job of work to do to persuade voters to break from the past, that real change is possible and to elect a government that has a vision and a plan for a new and united Ireland.
A government in Dublin will plan and prepare for Irish Unity. That is what a Sinn Féin led government would do. That is what a Sinn Féin led government will do.
The US will be central in the next chapter in our history, the securing and the winning of Irish Unity referendums as provided for in the Good Friday Agreement.
The opportunity that we now enjoy is the legacy of a generation of leaders that included Martin McGuinness and Rita O’Hare. The only fitting tribute to them is to continue their work and build a new and united Ireland.
Have a great weekend.
Is mise,
Ciarán
Ciarán Quinn is the Sinn Féin Representative to North America
