Vol. Ronan McLoughlin
10th Anniversary Oration
April 27th 2008
It is hugely symbolic that the tenth anniversary of Volunteer Ronan McLoughlin’s death should coincide with the tenth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. It is hugely symbolic because the politics which gave us that agreement is the same politics which directly led to the death of Ronan and countless thousands before him throughout our history. Partition killed Ronan McLoughlin. British Parliamentary activity in Ireland killed Ronan McLoughlin. The violation of our sovereignty killed Ronan McLoughlin. And whilst we stand at his graveside to commemorate his sacrifice and lament the causes of it others stand at the altar of political expediency and perpetuate those causes by recognising a disputed right of the British government to be in our country.
They will stand over the graves of Pearse and Connolly and boast of what they have done. They will pay lip service to the Proclamation but flout its core assertions. They will take the names of selected dead and call them criminals. They will act contrary to what they publicly claim and for that Ronan will not be the last to sacrifice his life. They have sat down with the British and allowed the British to define what they politically are, just as they did in 1922. In claiming to seek a resolution to the conflict they returned to the template of partition which exacerbated the conflict in the first place. They chose a proven failed path and the grave of Ronan McLoughlin is but one example of that failure. And as before it is left to others to pick up the pieces.
As Irish republicans this is our task now. What they have done, they have done and dwelling on the deceit of it will not move us forward. In the spirit of Ronan we must rededicate ourselves to the republican goal and we must arm ourselves with political strategies to make this effective. We must collectively look at republicanism and be honest in our appraisal of it. We must refrain from elitism and embrace democratic advancement. We should look at ourselves and ask; where is our strength? And we should all reach the conclusion that our strength lies in our unity.
Unity and diversity are not polar opposites. There is strength in diversity because we can unite in recognising this. There is more which unites us than divides us and all it takes is the political will like Ronan’s to grasp it and make it a reality. We honour Ronan fittingly by emulating his political will. We do justice to his memory by turning that will into political action. And we make his sacrifice worthwhile by making that political action as effective as we can. In the name of Ronan MacLoughlin we demand that republicans act like the men and women of 1916 acted, together, united and under common banner. For the most powerful argument in favour of this is its absolute necessity.
The 32 County Sovereignty Movement will play our full part in this. Our door is open to receive ideas and to give our own to others. We have met, and we will meet, other Irish republicans and together we have sewn the seeds for better and stronger republicanism. I urge everyone here to become a part of the unity project. Bring your ideas to this project. Bring your activism to this project. Be guided by the resolve of Ronan MacLoughlin and above all remember that what he died for is now up to us to achieve. Let us at least come back here next year and say that we have realistically made advances toward that goal. Because if we cannot do this we will have surrendered our patriot dead to those who make false claims in their name. This is not an option for us. Go raibh maith agat.