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Thar Saile ('tar-sal-ya') means "overseas" - "across the ocean".
July 8, 2010 
Martin McGuinness speaking at the AOH Convention in Cincinatti, Ohio attended by Seamus Boyle
President of the AOH and Mary Ryan President of the LAOH and the Irish Ambassador to the United
States Micheal Collins said:
We share the same objectives of Irish Reunification by Peaceful
and Democratic means.
We know that it is not enough to hold the aspiration; it is about
what we do to make our objective real.
I am proud that the AOH, LAOH and the bulk of Irish
America has worked to make our shared objective of reunification a job under way.
Tom Paulin in his poem, ‘The Wild Birds Act of 1931’, likened the experience of nationalists
and republicans in the northern state as being like tapping through granite with a spoon. We have
always recognised that our struggle would not be easy. No grand gesture by a few would win freedom.
Change comes from the small steps, and the resolute actions of the many.
38 years ago the
British Army shot 27 innocent people on the streets of Derry. 14 of them died. These were people
who were on a march for civil rights. A march which was banned from entering the centre of their
own city!
The British compounded that tragedy by setting up the Widgery Tribunal and claiming
that those killed were in someway guilty and complicit in there own deaths. They maintained that
lie for 38 years.
But Bloody Sunday cannot be taken in isolation from the many acts that led up
to it. The actions of the same troops in Ballymurphy left 11 innocent people dead. The same army
enforced the Falls Curfew and internment without trial! It cannot be divorced from the countless
acts of collusion, shoot to kill and intimidation that was visited on the nationalist community.
I also recognise and sympathise with that loss endured by the unionists and other communities due
to the actions of Irish Republicans. Over the most recent period of the conflict in Ireland we
have all suffered grievous loss. No one was exempt.
But over that period we built a movement
for peace, a movement for equality and a movement for reunification We had many partners
including the Irish Government and British Government led by Tony Blair. We have moved from
conflict, through negotiations and towards an inclusive power-sharing administration in the North.
At times it did indeed feel like tapping through granite with a spoon.
But by working
together with the Irish Government other political parties and the involvement of America we have
achieved:
Ceasefires
British Army being taken off the streets and returned to barracks
the signing of the Good Friday Agreement
the ending of the IRA campaign
the establishment
of the Executive and Assembly
the establishment of the North South Ministerial council. Only
last Monday a crucial meeting with an Taoiseach Brian Cowan and Cabinet sitting with Ministers
from the north including Unionists to share ideas and solutions for economic recovery took place
in Dublin.
the signing of St. Andrews agreement which led to the establishment of power sharing
between Ian Paisleys ‘s party the DUP and ourselves in Sinn Féin
Most recently we have
successfully negotiated for the return of policing and justice powers from London to our
administration in the North. We have now a policing and court service which recognises human
rights and is accountable to the people it serves.
And over the last two elections Sinn
Féin emerged as the largest party in the North.
At all these junctions we were told that
no further progress could be made. But we continued.
In all of this progress we have been
accompanied by the AOH, LAOH and our friends in Irish America and the American political
establishment. Clinton, Bush and Obama and Hilary Clinton
The recent release of the
Saville Tribunal into Bloody Sunday demonstrates how far we have travelled together.
.
A British Prime Minister recognised that those killed and injured on Bloody Sunday were innocent.
He said that the actions of the British Parachute Regiment were unjustified and unjustifiable.
Maybe now after nearly 4 decades the British media will call it what it was in the words of the
coroner of the time, ‘Unadulterated Murder’
When David Cameron apologised on behalf of
the British Governments and acknowledged the injustice of Widgery his words were beamed directly
into the centre of Derry where the families were gathered. The very place to which the original
march was barred!
This only came about because of the lobbying and campaigning by the
families of those injured and murdered. It came about because of the pressure of those who marched
every year in the biting wind of January to mark the anniversary of the original march.
The people of Derry and the north are grateful for the support of the AOH and LAOH who marched
loyally with us in Derry and who were part of making the apology possible. For the past 38 years
the AOH and LAOH have marched in support of the families. When others thought that it was
pointless you persevered. I was delighted to be invited here, because the families and the people
of Derry owe the AOH and LAOH a debt of honour. You stood with the people of Derry and we never
forget our friends.
Yes a thousand spoons tapping through granite long and hard enough
can reduce a mountain to rubble.
Yet we cannot rest on our laurels if we are to achieve
our objective of a unified Ireland.
We support reunification because it is the right of
the Irish people in the fullest sense to define our own destiny. We support reunification
because it makes sense. It makes economic sense, it makes political sense and it is the way to
heal the divisions in our society.
We need to continually build support here and at home
for peaceful democratic change.
I thank the many legislative and other bodies across this
great nation that has supported resolutions in favour of reunification.
We also have much
to do to build support at home for reunification.
Partition had an impact not just along
the border. It infested a mindset in the 26 counties that turned its back on the north and it
entrenched community division and promoted sectarianism in the North.
We need to unpick
90 years of partition and knit our society back together. We are working with Unionists and the
Irish government in this regard.
The visit to the Bogside of the leaders of the main
Protestant Churches in the aftermath of the Bloody Sunday Report to meet with the relatives of
those killed and injured was inspiring. It was an act of leadership bourn out of compassion and
respect for the families and people of Derry. I know you will applaud them for it.
Every
one in the community needs to feel the benefits of peace and change. As we build our coalition
to support reunification there are those that seek to take us back to conflict, whose actions
seek to have the British Army returned to our streets. They offer no strategy or plan to achieve
Irish reunification and have repeatedly been rejected by the community. They should now go away.
I am mindful that we are in the lead up to the 12th July at home. A tense time for many
communities! A time when another fraternal organisation celebrates its heritage! I am of course
referring to the Orange Order. I think that the Orange Order has much to learn from the open,
generous and pragmatic approach to marching and working with host communities demonstrated by
the AOH at home.
We recognise that the Orange Order is part of our shared heritage.
They are part of our diverse nation and history. There is no greater symbol of this than our
national flag. A symbol of peace and equality between green and orange!
All communities
want to move forward together with equality and respect. I look forward to the day when the leaders
of the Orange Order are willing to engage positively with the political and civic representatives
of the Nationalist people of the North in the process of creating a better future for all our
people.
Recent attacks on Orange Halls, places of worship, GAA, Sinn Féin Offices and
other premises are to be unreservedly condemned for the hate crimes they are and I know you will
all wholeheartedly agree with me that sectarianism like racism has no place in the New Ireland
which is under way.
In republican parlance we refer to the cause of reunification
as ‘the struggle’. We use the term because it will only be achieved by hard work, commitment
and sacrifice. I am confident that it will be achieved. I am confident it will be achieved when
I look back at how far we have come working together. And I am confident because it is the way to
secure prosperity, inclusion and peace for all in our diverse community across Ireland.
By guardian.co.uk - June 15, 2010
Read full Bloody Sunday report here...
The report leaves me in no doubt that serious mistakes and failings by officers and soldiers on that
terrible day led to the deaths of 13 civilians who did nothing that could have justified their
shooting. The prime minister has apologised on behalf of the government of the United Kingdom,
the army and those involved on the day, and I fully support that statement.
We must never forget the tragic events of Bloody Sunday. In the 38 years since that tragic day's
events, lessons have been learned. The way the army is trained, the way it works and the way it
operates have all changed significantly.
We should also remember that the overwhelming majority of the military personnel deployed over 38
years in Northern Ireland conducted themselves with utter professionalism, restraint and humanity.
The cost was high, with 651 service personnel killed, and over 6,000 wounded. They played an
important role in protecting the people of Northern Ireland, providing much-needed stability and
thereby helping to set the conditions for the peace Northern Ireland enjoys today.
