Sean Bresnahan shares his thoughts in the wake of the recent general election.

The election of Boris Johnson, and the impending resume of his ‘Brexit Britain’ policy agenda, has implications for Ireland of a national concern and focus. The context this ushers in demands that serious consideration be given the only credible alternative to failed Partition rule — namely Irish Unity under a 32-county republic.

In that context, Irish Republicans must here reassert our core political demand and object: that the Irish Republic be reconstituted and that its national parliament, Dáil Éireann, convene as a 32-county constituent assembly — freely elected on a pro rata basis — to agree its form and structure.

There, at that forum, the elected representatives of the Irish people, gathered in national congress, can draft by agreement among their number a new all-Ireland constitution. As part of that process, too, an adjoining charter of fundamental rights, to be embedded within the constitutional framework of state, can and should be determined towards.

In turn, the constitutional proposals thus drafted should be put to the people of Ireland by referendum, demanding as such that they meet with their approval and ensuring, for them, the final say on what is to be ultimately their future.

The essential premise of such a process, with the political framework in turn given onto, would be to safeguard for all citizens, forward into the future, the political rights, entitlements and protections that must be their preserve, in all of their differing identities and traditions and regardless the divisions of the past. It would stand for the entrench of same within the fundamental law of the Republic.

A reconstitution of the Irish Republic represents best road forward for Ireland and her people as these tumultuous times unfold. These times of seismic political import demand seismic political movement. The Irish Republic, restored in new form, in line with the needs and wants of its citizens, is best-placed to deliver on the requirements thus hastened.


Sean Bresnahan is an independent Republican from Co. Tyrone who 
blogs @ Claidheamh Soluis. Follow Sean Bresnahan on Twitter @bres79

Times Of Seismic Import Demand Seismic Political Movement

Sean Bresnahan shares his thoughts in the wake of the recent general election.

The election of Boris Johnson, and the impending resume of his ‘Brexit Britain’ policy agenda, has implications for Ireland of a national concern and focus. The context this ushers in demands that serious consideration be given the only credible alternative to failed Partition rule — namely Irish Unity under a 32-county republic.

In that context, Irish Republicans must here reassert our core political demand and object: that the Irish Republic be reconstituted and that its national parliament, Dáil Éireann, convene as a 32-county constituent assembly — freely elected on a pro rata basis — to agree its form and structure.

There, at that forum, the elected representatives of the Irish people, gathered in national congress, can draft by agreement among their number a new all-Ireland constitution. As part of that process, too, an adjoining charter of fundamental rights, to be embedded within the constitutional framework of state, can and should be determined towards.

In turn, the constitutional proposals thus drafted should be put to the people of Ireland by referendum, demanding as such that they meet with their approval and ensuring, for them, the final say on what is to be ultimately their future.

The essential premise of such a process, with the political framework in turn given onto, would be to safeguard for all citizens, forward into the future, the political rights, entitlements and protections that must be their preserve, in all of their differing identities and traditions and regardless the divisions of the past. It would stand for the entrench of same within the fundamental law of the Republic.

A reconstitution of the Irish Republic represents best road forward for Ireland and her people as these tumultuous times unfold. These times of seismic political import demand seismic political movement. The Irish Republic, restored in new form, in line with the needs and wants of its citizens, is best-placed to deliver on the requirements thus hastened.


Sean Bresnahan is an independent Republican from Co. Tyrone who 
blogs @ Claidheamh Soluis. Follow Sean Bresnahan on Twitter @bres79

9 comments:

  1. Sean,

    Forget about Irish Unity!

    It’s an oxymoron.

    Easier to herd cats.

    Better instead to just always demand more money from the Brits.

    That way every pence and pound spent in Ireland…

    Is a pence and pound not spent on some starving English child.

    Whose dead body Boris Johnson will gleefully step over to get lunch.

    All the while screaming: “Privatized profits, socialized costs!”

    Call it the price of English patriotism from the Somme to the Thames.

    Now sit back and watch the great English inequality implosion unfold.

    And being Irish means: we get a front row seat to this freak show.

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  2. Sean

    How do you propose to dissolve the actually existing Republic of Ireland (to say nothing of the Black North) so that you can reach this destination?

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  3. “ To promote the “club,” the “leader,” the “name, “the “symbol” or the “approach” soon becomes everything. In-fighting takes over. Petty competitions take care of the
    rest. Nothing is served. So it has always gone. To truly organize effectively means having someplace to hide on the other side of the country, anytime, for any reason. It
    means secrets being kept. It means material help when it is needed. It means a unified line and a unified response in the face of crises. It means respect and cooperation. It
    means loyalty. It means to multiply ourselves in a coordinated way to give the effect of a giant, a unit”

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  4. Eoghan and Barry,

    Britain’s impending withdrawal from the European Union, with its likely impact on Ireland — both north and south — establishes a renewed imperative towards Irish Unity that none can afford to ignore. For Irish Republicans, however, Irish Unity (in the sense of a British withdrawal from the North) is not the totality of our ambition. We seek thus, pursuant to that, a new democratic order that extends not just to the North, which Britain lays claim to, but to all of Ireland — one that restores the Proclamation, with its vision and virtues, to its rightful place in Irish society.

    In terms of bridging current realities with the Republican proposal. While the reality of existing political arrangements — with a resultant need to transition from same — is to be acknowledged, it need not prevent us from upholding the Republican line of theory, constituted under the Proclamation but since usurped by Britain’s imposed Partition system, which remains in place today. From a Republican perspective, the route forward in that context is that the current order, in all of its parts, should give way to an independent all-Ireland republic — this to proceed from, and thus restore, the Republican constitutional line.

    With that said, a large section of the Irish people either do not share, have insufficient knowledge of or are otherwise uncommitted to the intricacies and virtues of Republican political theory. Nevertheless, they share the Republican vision and aspiration for a united all-Ireland republic — this to be premised on the values, if not the explicit constitutional line, of the 1916 Proclamation. In the context of that shared aspiration, through a common endeavour towards an independent 32-county republic, the respective lines of political theory in Ireland can be reconciled, this without infringing upon the perceived integrity of either, with both, in turn, finding form and expression in a ‘new republic’ that meets the requirements of all.

    While I do not support the so-called Good Friday Agreement, believing it a violation of Ireland’s right to national freedom and sovereignty, in the legal treaty between the Republic of Ireland state and the United Kingdom state (which is a binding international treaty) it provides for the establishment of a ‘sovereign united Ireland’ in the event that the unionist gerrymandered majority in the Six Counties should be eclipsed. Such a happening is the most likely ‘trigger’ to unlock the process of constitutional change, no matter our views as to its legitimacy or its right to act as such a trigger. Come that scenario, Republicans must attempt to push ideas as the above to the fore and build support towards their realise.

    Regards etc, Sean

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  5. David,

    Didn’t see your comment until after I’d posted my own. An interesting quote. A unified line for sure is what the national struggle demands.

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  6. DaithiOD and Sean,

    Like I said, easier to heard cats.

    And while I too did not and do not support the so-called GFA…

    Or its puppet regional assembly…

    Fact remains most of our fellow Irish punters voted for it.

    Knowing full well it kept our national destiny in the UK’s hands.

    So, we’ll get an Irish unity referendum, if at all...

    When the Brits say so.

    Such a deal – signed by liars and thieves.

    Binding on no one!

    Because who but the Brits can enforce it?

    That said, I agree Brexit presents us with a possible opportunity.

    Which I think may be borne out if the UK economically implodes.

    Should that happen then maybe just maybe like a plane going down…

    They’ll want to discard their excess baggage of peripheral possessions.

    Much like the Brits did with Jamaica post-WWII.

    How Ireland reconstitutes itself after will be much like Germany did.

    Just as German became West Germany writ large as East Germany ended…

    Ireland 32 will become Ireland 26 writ large after N.I. ends.

    And to the extent that might transition beyond the current neo-liberal paradigm….

    Doesn’t strike me as very likely short of a French Revolution to kill all the rich.





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  7. Sean, I’m interested in lessons learned from those that try to organise under state oppression, im particularly interested in stuff we are told not to read. We need to be able to take what we need from them.

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  8. Eoghan, none of that precludes a revolution. The idea is to force a situation that causes those uncommitted to join you, herding cats is for those trying to follow the democratic path, to gain a majority as a prerequisite to enact ideas etc.

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  9. DaithiOD,

    Sounds like you’re reading from Mr. Ulyanov’s putschist playbook.

    He also wasn’t a fan of democracy or kulaks that had an extra cow.

    But I don’t do left-wing or right-wing authoritarianism.

    Wasn’t Adams & McGuinness, among others, enough?

    Moreover, I don’t think our current situation needs to be “…forced”.

    (Whatever that means?)

    Because as the Irish journalist Patrick Cockburn pointed out:

    “There is only so much Britain can do to diversify its economy away from the EU, since 45 per cent of British exports go to there compared to 15 per cent to the US, while exports to Ireland easily exceed those to China. Britain’s negotiators will once again bump into economic and political realities that are the same as under Theresa May. Brexit is bound to leave the UK weaker and poorer as a state than it would otherwise be – and part of this damage has already been done.”

    https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/12/16/boris-johnson-is-the-luckiest-politician-alive/

    As such I think all we have to do at this point...

    Is make boycotting British cars & motorcycles fashionable.

    So, tell your family & friends not to buy British cars or motorcycles.

    That way we can all just fashionably trend to the Republic.

    Rather than kill or die for it.

    Since most British people could care less about N.I.

    And so they’d be happy to dump it to relieve their economic woes.

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