National Organiser Address: Turn our words and thoughts into unstoppable action!

Barry McColgan
National Organiser
Ógra Shinn Féin

Firstly I’d like to thank everyone for travelling and participating in the National Congress this weekend. I would especially like to extend our huge appreciation and solidarity to our Basque, Catalan and Corsican comrades, who travelled huge distances to be with us.

I would also like to thank the Shell to Sea and Tara activists for their presence and again dedicate our support to our imprisoned comrades who from captivity sent us a message of inspirational defiance, Ógra Shinn Féin will continue to campaign until each and everyone of you are free.

Ógra Shinn Féin held their last Congress here in Dublin just over a year ago. At that time Sinn Féin where knee deep in the Saint Andrew’s negotiations and this in particular formed a pivotal point of focus and discussion at that Congress.

The prospect of a deal at that time with the DUP, on power sharing in the Northern Assembly, although realizable, demanded crucial issues to be dealt with to ensure success. The most crucial of those issues for republicans was policing and of course Ógra, like every other part of the organization discussed this fully.

Having at the November Congress rejected outright any prospect of a deal on policing, the encroaching deadline and more optimistic signs from the DUP towards power sharing, the leadership of Ógra Shinn Féin proposed a radical new proposal on Policing, which included the setting up of municipal policing structures, more local accountability, and more separation from the 6 County state.

Shortly following the formulation of this document, the Sinn Féin Ard Comhairle debated fully the prospect of convening a Special Ard Fheis on the issue of Policing. Ógra Shinn Féin participated fully in these debates with the full Ógra leadership attending these meetings.

The outcome of the Ard Comhairle was to propose a Special Ard Fheis, with a motion to go before it calling for the Sinn Féin activist base to endorse policing arrangements in the North and to hold them critically to account through the Policing Board and District Policing Partnerships.

With new information made available, a changed reality and the Sinn Féin leadership now proposing engagement with policing and justice in the North, the Ógra National Executive decided to hold a Special Congress to debate whether or not to change our then position of complete rejection of policing.

Although not supporting the Ard Comhairle motion, the Ógra Special Congress voted overwhelmingly to support our alternative document on policing.

This position was carried forward to the Special Ard Fheis at which Ógra made strong representation on our position but stressing the importance of unity regardless of outcome, one of our key strategic objectives of maintaining maximum internal unity and cohesion.

But of course reserving the right to remain that radical voice and ensuring the party remains rooted to its ultimate objectives.

And that we did comrades, our organization has stayed solid in many areas and grown in others. This time last year we didn’t have Ógra activists from Derry, West Belfast, Clare and Wexford in attendance, we now have many fine activists from those areas joining us today.

In the past year, Ógra have continued to drive forward a radical agenda, building a mass republican youth movement that can and will affect necessary change across this Country.

In the past year our organisation has strengthened, our activism has increased and as a result we are now without doubt the most visible, fastest growing and impacting youth movement on this Island.

Organised in the communities and colleges throughout Ireland we have campaigned on pressing issues that are facing young people and on real issues that force the struggle forward.

The ARISE campaign was taken to the streets and countryside of Ireland, through broad based protests, and direct actions, we highlighted the plight of the blighted community of Rossport, demonstrated meaningful solidarity with our oppressed comrades, and we launched initiatives around tackling the pressing issues of Sectarianism and Racism.

Following a very active and concerted campaign on ARISE; Ógra launched a major campaign on the crucial issue of road safety, highlighting the huge avoidable death toll related to dangerous driving.

We believed that young people in particular were affected by this tragedy, with road accidents being the second biggest killer on this Island. Following a launch in Dublin, thousands of leaflets were handed out across Ireland, the campaign which was titled, ‘Moilligh Sios’ Slow Down, the message was driven to many major towns including Belfast, Omagh, Navan, Drogheda, and Armagh.

We also lead a national road safety vigil in Dublin in December. The vigil was organised in conjunction with Labour Youth, and the Young Greens, and succeeded in its objective of raising awareness and prompting other youth wings to take up the challenge of this difficult yet important issue.

The campaign touched on an important aspect of Road Safety which had not been utilised in the past. Ógra Shinn Féin mobilised their activists as peers to engage with young people on this issue and to urge them to consider their actions.

While it is very difficult to access the success of such a campaign, we do know that a report published into road deaths published in December reported that the overall number of deaths caused by road accidents was down. While there are many factors to this, Ógra can be confident that our many actions, and work on youth engagement has played a positive role in the broad campaign to urge, drivers to be more responsible.

We have professionalised our organisation over the past year, greatly increasing the output news and on the blogspot which now receives on average 500 hits daily, producing top quality films on issues ranging from Republican Youth and the Basque struggle; we also launched a new National Website, and have continued circulation of Glór Na nÓg and the circular.

In August of 2007, Ógra activists and Basque comrades descended on Omagh at the final West Tyrone Demilitarisation weekend where we bid Slan Abhaile to the British War Machine in that area, however a clear message being sent from that weekend was; we will continue to lead the campaign until the remaining 5000 British occupying troops are shipped back to where they came from – a simple message really – Brits Out!

On the International Front, Ógra Shinn Féin have greatly strengthened our solidarity and increased our working relationship with many inspirational youth wings throughout the world. While we have campaigned in Ireland throughout the past year Ógra have sent delegations to Corsica, England, USA, Catalan Countries and the Basque Country.

Sending a large national delegation to the Basque Country in September, we travelled throughout on a speaking tour, demonstrating the strong links between our 2 historic nations.

Our International work is very important; we are only one nation in a global struggle for freedom and socialism.

The past year has been a hectic, difficult yet rewarding; we need to step up our actions and further the growth created. It is very realisable that next year we will launch a further 12 cumann and double our membership, if every activist implements a simple logic of recruiting one member each.”

The N.A.R.C campaign, an extremely engaging campaign on an extremely important issue can assist in this greatly. So lets turn our words and thoughts here today into unstoppable action, let us campaign, recruit and educate and be a shining light to all those who have gone before us. Let us be the generation that see’s the rising of the moon!

Tíocfáidh ár lá!