Before the conference started an audio visual display was shown which included film footage of Duke Street, Derry in 1968, Bloody Sunday 1972, and the Garvaghy Road 1996.

At this stage an armed RUC patrol briefly entered the hall. One Republican overheard a member of the Crown Forces say “I think we have come to the wrong place at the wrong time.” To be sure!

In her opening remarks Republican Sinn Féin’s National Youth Officer Saoirse Breatnach, Dublin said that the main reason for the meeting was to offer the young people in Derry and around Ireland an alternative to the current process, which has failed them and to bridge the Border mentality amongst some Irish youth. Also to unite the youth against the common enemy, the British.

WORKSHOP

At the end of the workshop all three chairpersons conveyed to the floor the discussion and feelings from their workshop. A resolution was passed on marches “That this conference support nationalist right to protest against Orange marches if they feel that negotiations have failed them”.

After a break, discussions were held on Abstentionism. Dave Joyce from Galway gave a run-down on the basic reasons for Abstentionism. While some people from the floor were not in favour it was felt that there was not a sufficient understanding about Abstentionism in general.

Des Long, Vice-President of Republican Sinn Féin gave an impassioned explanation on the reason for Republican Sinn Féin’s stance. He pointed out that the 26-County administration in Leinster House was not the ‘Irish Government’ as some former Republicans called it.

When the resolution was put “Does the conference think that entering the 26-County assembly in Leinster House will bring about a united Ireland” an amendment was put forward by one delegate “That entering the 26-County Dáil will progress the Republican struggle”! The same delegate, who was a supporter of the Provisionals political organisation said that Caomhghín Ó Caoláin voted for Bertie Ahern in Leinster House because he was “the best man for the job”. Mary Ward, Vice-President of Republican Sinn Féin said that there were those who previously thought that Jack Lynch, Éamon de Valera or Charles Haughey were the “right men for the job” and they went on to collaborate with British rule and intern, jail and execute Republicans. The amended motion was defeated by a large majority and the original resolution was carried. Messages of support were read from Comhairlí Cúige of Republican Sinn Féin, from the O’Hara family in Derry, the Continuity IRA POWs in Portlaoise jail and from Limerick POW, Josephine Hayden.

The conference also sent best wishes and support to Josephine Hayden who is currently being held in deplorable conditions in Limerick jail, and called for her unconditional release.

The first speaker of the evening was a young Scottish Republican Socialist Party member, Gerry Kearns, who gave an interesting history of Scotland’s fight for independence, including the United Scotsmen of 1797. He said he hoped that when Scotland got its independence from England the Irish would be celebrating and vice versa. The break-up of the so-called United Kingdom would benefit both countries, he said.

CLEAR PARALLEL

Historian and author Fionnbarra Ó Dochartaigh spoke about the setting up of the Civil Rights movement in Derry. Fionnbarra explained why ÉIRE NUA is the only way forward and a complete British withdrawal is the only way for peace, not an internal settlement. Deaglán Ó Donghaile of the Keenan/Toner Cumann of Republican Sinn Féin in Derry said the conference proves the failure of the British State to terrorise and contain the young Republican people of Ireland. “We celebrate their resistance to that terrorism. As Máire Drumm, the Republican leader assassinated by the British in 1976, told the people of Ireland: ‘We must take no steps backward, our steps must be onward, for if we don’t, the martyrs who died for you, for me, for this country, will haunt us for eternity.’ "

The Youth Conference itself will prove that their refusal to be conquered was not, and is not, in vain, he concluded.

Ruairí Óg Ó Brádaigh, editor of SAOIRSE said that abstentionism was the non-recognition of foreign and partition parliaments and was the only basis on which a revolutionary Republican movement could oppose British rule in Ireland.

He quoted the late Republican leader Dáithí Ó Conaill, well-known and loved in Derry, who said that entering Leinster House was like a banana: “You go in green, turn yellow and go rotten”.

Young delegates present from Derry commented on the unhindered debate on Republicanism and the way forward which was not available to them in the more established political organisations in the city.

There was too much of the ‘mushroom treatment’ for young people in the city by the Provisionals keeping them away from any decision-making and using an iron hand on anybody who stepped out of line on the so-called peace process.

On the Sunday Republicans were taken on a mystery tour of Derry which included the Republican Plot in the city cemetery, Free Derry Corner and the famous walls. The conference was itself beside where Cahir Rua O’Doherty had defeated the English garrison in the 17th Century. (Thanks to Donnchá Mac Niallais for the “kind words” along the way.)

The organisers expressed a big thank you to all the people of Derry who showed great kindness, hospitality and resistance. The fight goes on.

To end with a quote from the Kenyan Land and Freedom Army guerrilla song.

Those who haven’t joined the people’s movement
Should be informed about it,
And that we are waiting for them to join.
Come immediately to fight for our land
Which was taken by the colonialists by force
Reducing us to beggars in our own country
Rise up, you Youth!

In May of this year, the receiver’s bailiffs moved in for the third time, evicting members of the Liverpool Irish Cultural Society. Six members immediately occupied the roof of the building in protest. This protest has continued ever since, and has been supported by a street level lobby while security personnel occupy the centre.

The rooftop protest has received widespread support in the city, including that of the lock-out dockers, now in their 22nd month of industrial dispute, and of other workers and the unemployed.

On Monday, July 21, a delegation from Liverpool Irish Cultural Society arrived in Dublin and visited the Dublin Civic Centre where they delivered a letter to the secretary of Dublin Corporation to be read out at the Corporation’s next meeting and then handed on to the Mayor of Dublin.

The delegation told SAOIRSE that they have ruled out the idea that the Centre could be taken over by an individual entrepreneur. “No ethnic community centre should be privately owned by a businessman,” the spokesperson said.

The letter was delivered by Pat McDonnell, Secretary of the Society, and Ron Shaw, member, and read as follows:

“The Lord Mayor and members of Dublin Corporation, City Hall, Dublin 2:

“A chairde
“We, a delegation from the Liverpool Irish Centre Cultural Society, call on Dublin Corporation to intervene in the dispute which has arisen regarding the Liverpool Irish Centre.

“The Irish community in Liverpool were forcibly evicted from their Centre at the end of May and have staged a roof-top protest since that time.

“We do not believe that any other ethnic community group but the Irish would have been treated in this contemptuous fashion. The closure of the Centre has resulted in Irish language classes run by Conradh na Gaeilge and Irish dancing classes run by Comhaltas Ceolteóirí Éireann, as well as community care, being abandoned in the city. The fact that this has been allowed to happen on this the 150th anniversary of the Great Hunger is also significant.

“We, the representatives of the Irish community in Liverpool, demand that the Irish Centre be funded by Liverpool City Council and by central government and European funding.

“If the recent ‘twinning’ arrangements between Liverpool and Dublin mean anything at all, and are not simply so much hot air, we expect Liverpool City Council to give serious consideration to our demand, and we call on Dublin Corporation to intercede on our behalf in this matter.

“Please feel free to contact us for further information on the closure of our Centre. Correspondence should be addressed to: Box 110, Liverpool L69 8DP, England.”
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