LAST UPDATE | 15 Oct 2023

TÁNAISTE AND FIANNA Fáil leader Micheál Martin has praised the contribution of Wolfe Tone to the cause of Republicanism in a speech commemorating the revolutionary figure. He also took aim at opposition politicians’ stance on the recent Hamas attacks in Israel. 

“The great task we have faced since the days of Tone remains – the task of overcoming entrenched sectarianism and suspicions between traditions who share this island,” Martin said. 

Speaking at a commemorative event in Bodenstown, Co Kildare today, Martin said Wolfe Tone was “one of the most important and most inspiring figures in the history of our country” and “a figure who has always challenged those who fail to respect the diversity of the Irish people.”

Tone “rejected the politics of group identity and promoted the idea of shared identity,” Martin said. 

Martin also cast Tone as an internationalist and a proud European. 

“Tone and his colleagues in the Society of United Irishmen were proud of Ireland’s history and culture, but they were defined by their internationalism – and especially their belief that Ireland was a European nation,” he said. 

“Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Tone’s legacy is that his core message of an Irish republicanism which seeks progress and seeks to unite different traditions is as relevant as ever.”

Martin said Tone inspired a generation’s revolutionary politics. 

“Inspired by Tone and his times, our greatest revolutionary generation were European, believed in human rights and challenged us all to overcome historical divides.”

Martin also used his speech to level criticisms at his political opponents regarding their stance on political violence, although he did not mention any specific parties or politicians. 

“It is not us who are drawing a distinction between recent campaigns of violence and the heroes of our revolution – those very heroes drew the distinction themselves when they lived.  And no amount of partisan aggression will change this fact,” he said. 

“It is a sad fact of modern Irish society that there are those who are aggressively promoting a new revisionism.  A new revisionism which tries to claim legitimacy for campaigns rejected repeatedly and overwhelmingly by the Irish people. A new revisionism which aggressively attacks any strand of opinion which disagrees with their sectarian narrative.

“As a country we are incredibly fortunate that the core idea which built our modern nationalism was a positive, outward-looking and European republicanism.”

Martin said that Ireland has benefited from taking part in international institutions like the UN and that the country “always had a strong sense of international solidarity”.

“This is not something we can take for granted because for the first time for ninety years a radical change in our approach is being advocated not just by a leading opposition party but also by others.

“They are fully entitled to hold to an approach to our international relations which has opposed our membership of the European Union, which has opposed all international trade agreements and which believes we should give a priority to relations with other countries.  What they’re not entitled to do is to pretend that this is not what they believe.

“We see this every day in the European Parliament, where Ireland has proportionately one of the most anti-EU delegations from any country.  They are loud in attacking the Union, attacking what they see as the evil West and opposing stronger shared action within the Union.

“Some, though not all, of our country’s anti-EU MEPs have at least stepped back from their previous siding with the Putin regime in its demand for influence over former soviet countries.”

The Tánaiste also used his speech to criticise politicians’ approaches to Hamas’ attack on Israel last week. He also claimed that Hamas, the ruling party in the besieged Palestinian city of Gaza, exclusively targeted civilians in their assault. 

“The savage acts committed by Hamas cannot be cheered or justified by anyone.  There was no targeting of a military enemy.  They knew that they were indiscriminately killing civilians.  They knew what they were doing when they decided to murder and kidnap young children.

“If you cannot condemn this without a lengthy delay and without adding in weasel words about equivalence, all it does is prove that you do not actually believe in basic values.  You will relativise anything and put your group interests ahead of everything.

“As a party, and as part of a multi-party government, I am proud that we have been consistent in speaking up for humanitarian values, for international law, against terrorism and against the medieval sectarianism at the core of Hamas’ behaviour.

“It is a genuinely sad fact that there are so many in our politics who simply cannot bring themselves to acknowledge that not everything done in the name of a cause can be justified.”

Martin also claimed that Hamas has no interest in the welfare of people in Gaza. 

“Hamas clearly has no interest in the welfare of the people of Gaza.  If they did they would not have taken action which they knew would bring overwhelming retaliation.  Their supporters here should take the time to remember this.”

Finally, Martin mentioned the implementation of the Windsor Framework for trade across the border with Northern Ireland, saying, “No one benefits from stalemate.  No one benefits from entrenched positions.” 

“Each tradition has core protections for their identity and unbreakable guarantees about how the constitutional future will be determined.

“It’s time to break the cycle of political division and to respect the one unchanging wish of all groups who share this island – which is to build a future where we overcome sectarianism and work together to achieve sustained economic and social progress.”