Bodenstown and the re-alignment of Irish politics

Traditionally the third Sunday of June is when Irish republicans from across the island of Ireland gather at the graveside of Wolfe Tone in Bodenstown. Such annual commemorations have been taking place for almost 150 years.Tone’s central thesis has remained a cornerstone of Irish Republican philosophy to this day. He wrote:“... to break the connection with England, the never, failing source of all our political evils, and to assert the independence of my country – these were my objects. To unite the whole people of Ireland, to abolish the memory of all past dissensions, and to substitute the common name of Irishman in place of the denominations of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter––these were my means.”My first trip to Bodenstown was as a teenager in the mid 1960s. Apart from periods of imprisonment I think I have been at Bodenstown almost every year since then. On Sunday Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald TD, who has previously spoken at Bodenstown on three occasions, will give the keynote address. This Sunday Mary Lou has a lot to talk about. Her speech comes at another decisive moment. As well as the unparalleled economic and health consequences of the pandemic there is the threat posed by Brexit. The British government is once again rushing toward the cliff edge and is intent on dragging the island of Ireland with it.However the big story of this week was the formal ending of the sham fight between the so-called civil war parties of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.The last decade has seen the gradual realignment of Irish politics. The growth of Sinn Féin, and an increasingly politicised electorate, especially among younger citizens, and a falling vote, has forced the two conservative parties ever closer.This week narrow party political self-interest forced Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to set all that play acting aside. In their Programme for Government 2020 Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil couldn’t even bring themselves to mention a united Ireland or Irish Unity.So join us online for Mary Lou’s Bodenstown speech on Sunday.It will be broadcast on Sinn Féin’s Facebook, Twitter and Youtube pagesfacebook.com/sinnfeintwitter.com/sinnfeinirelandyoutube.com/sinnfeinireland