Friends of Sinn Fein co-founder, Sean Downes, opened up the session welcoming the “smaller than usual” crowd. He speculated that the light turnout was related to the previous day’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities.

 The event was advertised as an information session to update Irish Americans on the current political situation in the 6 Counties. The first speaker was John O’Dowd, who discussed the status of negotiations on loyalist parades. He said that Sinn Fein (SF) “will stand firm on the issue of the parades issue” but failed to give specifics. He also stated that only with support from Irish America can SF achieve the goal of a 32 County Ireland. Curiously, this is a common Sinn Fein claim. He failed to mention that under the Belfast agreement this goal can only be achieved with the approval of a majority of voters in the 6 Counties. Americans have absolutely no say in the matter.

 Martin McGuinness opened with remarks in Irish to which the small crowd of about 60 people applauded. One has to wonder how many of these Sinn Finn aficionados understood what he said. Mr. McGuinness spoke for about 10 minutes during which he claimed that Sinn Fein has “delivered on everything we said we’d make happen.” No one asked him about their one-time claim that they would achieve a united Ireland by 2016. No one asked why we no longer hear that claim. No one asked about SF’s about-face on policing and other critical issues.  

None of their great achievements happened by accident, he stated. It has taken a lot of planning. In addition, he basically praised the SF leadership for its foresight in developing a credible long-term strategy. Typically, he failed to clue in the audience about what exactly their long term strategy is. The closest to specifics he got was to claim that they are building a series of short term objectives that will somehow support the “building of the road to our long-tem goal: a united Ireland.” 

The Deputy First Minister addressed the issue of so-called Republican “dissidents.” He referred to them as “micro-groups, tiny groups with no support, no strategy and no intelligence.” He referred to them as “thugs” who only want to destroy the progress that SF has made through ‘the peace process’ and are “trying to bring British troops back onto the streets and destroy the peace process.” He stated firmly that “these people are not going to stop the process toward the goal of Irish unity through the peace process” and that he “won’t stand idly by while these people try to stand in the way and destroy the peace process.”

The best sound byte of the night from Mr. McGuinness was “anyone who says that things haven’t changed in the North is living in cuckoo land.” Only Sinn Fein has the strategy to deliver. However, we were not told what the strategy is.

Surprisingly, questions were taken from the floor, not from submitted written questions which is SF’s common ploy for avoiding the tough questions. A Belfast native spoke about how Orange parades affected him as a child but didn’t actually ask a question. Next was a politely worded question that asked for specifics on how SF plans to reach “our aspiration.” Rather than answer the question, McGuinness’ response was that he views a united Ireland as a goal, not just an aspiration. He did state – and this is the most specificity I have ever heard from any SF leader – that we will reach our goal “by a process of devolution.” He mentioned the power sharing institutions and the All Ireland Ministerial council, which is comprised of ministers from the north and south. “Building on these institutions is how it’s going to happen.” The armed struggle is over, he said. “They don’t have the numbers, the intelligence or the support,” he added.

 The third question, from Sean Downes, was directed to Rita O’Hare. He asked about upcoming elections and SF’s preparedness. She talked about Sinn Fein’s great electoral victories of the past and said that going forward the party will go after every vote and take none for granted. All their successes “are weakening the link with Britain.” 

The final question was the most interesting of the evening and provoked an angry response from McGuinness. The thrust of the questioner’s remarks were about the increasing political oppression in the north. She asked McGuinness to describe Sinn Fein’s strategy on Section 44 (of the British government’s ‘Terrorism, Justice and Security Act’). This policy is presently being used by the PSNI/RUC and MI5 to harass and imprison Irish republicans who oppose British rule in the north and who do not support Sinn Fein’s version of a ‘peace process.’ She challenged McGuinness on his claim earlier in the evening that all recent casualties in the north have been men from Derry.  She asked him about John Brady, who mysteriously died in a PSNI/RUC station in 2009. What is Sinn Fein doing about that? And what about Joe O’Connor and Paul Quinn, she asked?