Issue 090, Saoirse : Irish Freedom (October, 1994)

              the organ of irish republicanism 437,320 unemployed u1mh 90 deireadh fomhair - october 1994 50p usa 75c the real numbers of unemployed in the whole of ireland are 300,920 in the 26 counties and 136,400 in the six occupied counties according to the irish national organisation of the unemployed official state jobless figures are much lower at 278,200 and 99,000 respectively but they exclude the number of people on schemes and courses designed only to lessen the extent of the jobless crisis the latest blow to fall is the plan by the esb to shed up to 3 000 jobs and close up to half of the 26 counties 103 esb offices • bobby sands — died on hunger strike in the h-blocks of long kesh may 5 1981 mdiredrumm — murdered in hospitalby british-backed death squad on october 28 1976 in the month since the provisional halted their armed campaign nothing tangible has been achieved in the direction of a british disengagement from ireland instead a list of civil rights demands have been put forward by the provisionals and the future direction of the so-called peace process is towards a new stormont and the continuation of british rule well may people ask why were the of the alliance party reynolds also said sacrifices of the past 25 years necessary ¦ since reforms and a new stormont have for the provos now replaced the objective of british disengagement and a totally new ireland in that case why did the four republican volunteers pictured on this page give their lives two of them died on hunger strike one was killed in action against british crown forces and the fourth was assassinated in hospital by british agents michael gaughan and maire drumm bobby sands and seamus mcelwaine did not lay down their lives so that the provisional leaders could ally themselves to the dublin establishment and in effect become the six-county wing of fianna fail the leader of this alliance albert reynolds told the observer on september 1 8 that there would be no united ireland in this generation it could be 20 or 25 years before the people ie the unionists of the six counties decide if they want to change and even then they might reject the idea of uniting north and south he said his remarks were immediately welcomed by unionist spokespersons john taylor of the ulster unionist party and john alderdice that he believed a new six-county assembly was possible with nationalists and unionists working together the provisionals strategy since accepting the 26-county state in 1 986 has been based on allying themselves to the dublin administration and their contacts with fianna fail go back to that year also see sunday tribune september 25 the dublin administration has no intention of challenging britain s right to be in ireland as republicans do in addition the commitment by dublin and london to hold separate referendums in the six and 26 counties confirmed by john major during his visit on september 16 means that the right of the irish people to vote as a single unit on the future of their country is also explicitly ruled out onbbc ' s newsnight on september 28 gerry adams indicated that how the people of ireland exercise their right to self-determination is now negotiable republican sinn fein's response to this is to agitate and organise a 32-county petition demanding an all-ireland referendum on any settlement with the british publicly committed to leave ireland michael gaughan — died on hunger strike in an english jail june 3 1976 seamus mcelwaine — shot dead by the sas april 26 1986 900 ard fheis 1994 november 12-13 spa hotel lucan co dublin all cumainn please return resolution/nomination/delegate forms immediately for visitors cards please contact ard-oifig 41 ce arann bac 7 teil 01-872 9747