Easter Parade 'will excluse citizens', claims SF

The Easter Parade to mark the 90th anniversary of the 1916 Rising will exclude all citizens from taking part, it was claimed tonight.

The upsurge of violence in the North led to the event being cancelled in the early 1970s but the Government is reviving it in central Dublin on Easter Sunday.

However the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis tonight heard that the location of the ceremonial parade in the capital will not allow everybody to take part.

The party’s Dáil leader Caoimhghin O Caolain told delegates: “We welcome the decision by the Taoiseach to hold a parade on Easter Sunday, even if we are disappointed that the proposals seem to exclude citizens from participation in the commemorations.”

The Cavan/Monaghan TD said Sinn Féin had been accused of hijacking the 1916 Rising in the past even though the party had simply honoured the memory and sacrifice of the rebels.

He added: “As with every year since the Rising, Sinn Féin will mark the historic event with commemorations in every county in Ireland, inviting people to take part regardless of their political persuasion to honour the men and women who risked all to help establish the Republic.”

In his opening address in Dublin’s RDS, Mr O Caolain praised the courageous and unprecedented step by the IRA in ending its armed campaign.

“With the peace talks finally under way, it is time that the governments moved forward. It is time that they delivered on their commitments,” he said.

Referring to the battle by the Rossport Five to stop Shell building a gas terminal near their homes, he said sweetheart deals between exploration firms and successive governments robbed people of their natural resources.

“The needs of the men in the Fianna Fáil tent at the Galway races would, it seemed take precedence over the people of Rossport,” he said.

He recalled last year’s Ard Fheis which he said took place during a savage media onslaught on the party and efforts by others to criminalise Irish republicanism.

“A year on, we gather here again, stronger, bigger and more determined than ever to … establish a democratic, socialist republic.

He also said the capitulation of the Taoiseach on a proposed All-Ireland Oireachtas forum for Northern Ireland MPs was an appalling indicator of the deeply-held partitionism of Fine Gael and Labour

“It is a slap in the face for nationalist and republican communities who have long looked to Dublin as the place where they want their voices to be heard.

He congratulated all public representatives returned in the Westminster and local elections last year.

More than 2,000 Sinn Féin delegates will gather to debate 500 motions at the annual Ard Fheis.

The ’Irish Unity and Equality’ theme will coincide with the 90th and 25th respective anniversaries of 1916 Rising and the 1981 Hunger Strikes in coming months.

Guest speakers will include Micheal O Seighin of the Rossport Five group and Joanne Delaney, who was sacked from her job in Dunnes Stores in Crumlin because she wore a union badge.

Other invited delegates include members of the NUE-NGL political group in the European parliament and visitors from Portugal, the Basque country, Cyprus and Sweden.

Jim Monaghan, a member of the so-called Colombia Three, attended the opening of the Ard Fheis tonight.

Sinn Féin said the wide-ranging motions reflected the high level of debate that is ongoing through the party.

Party president Gerry Adams will make his keynote leader’s speech tomorrow evening.