Successful Éirígí Ard Fheis 2022 Held In Dublin
Éirígí For A New Republic activists from across Ireland came together for a successful Ard Fheis in The Teachers Club in Dublin on Saturday, February 26th. This was the first in-person Ard Fheis since January 2019, with the intervening Ard Fheiseanna postponed or held online due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Éirígí For A New Republic Ard Fheis 2022
Those in attendance came from Belfast, Dublin, Galway, Cork, Limerick, Roscommon, Armagh, Wexford, Wicklow, Kilkenny, Tipperary and elsewhere, a geographical spread reflective of Éirígi’s recent growth.
As in previous years, the morning session of An Ard Fheis included organisational reports, motion debates and the election of the officer board of An Ciorcal Náisiunta (national executive). The adopted motions, which covered a wide range of topics, will be published here in the coming days.
The ‘We Only Want The Earth’ theme of Ard Fheis 2022 was inspired by the James Connolly poem of the same name. A fitting title for a conference that was focused on the inter-related issues of capitalist-driven destruction of the natural environment, sustainable development, control of Ireland’s natural resources, and the global crisis in capitalism.
The afternoon session saw two external guest speakers address the assembled activists. The first to speak was John Smith, the author of “Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalism’s Final Crisis”.
In line with the theme of An Ard Fheis, Smith explained how globalised capitalism is not only driving human inequality but also driving climate change, habitat destruction, pollution, the spread of invasive species and other forms of environmental destruction.
Sorcha Cullen of 18for0 and the author John Smith
The second guest speaker was Sarah Cullen of the ‘18for0’ campaign. In her contribution Sarah first gave a brief overview of Ireland’s current energy mix which is highly reliant on imported carbon-emitting coal, gas and oil.
She then went on to explain that renewable sources of energy, primarily wind, will only be able to produce about 80% of Ireland’s electricity requirement, leaving a shortfall of about 20% that will have to come from somewhere else.
Under the Dublin government’s current plan, that shortfall will be filled by new gas-powered power plants until at least 2040. Cullen argued that now is the time for a national discussion about whether nuclear energy should be added to the Irish energy mix in the medium term, to replace those gas-powered plants and further dramatically reduce Ireland’s carbon emissions.
Cathaoirleach Éirígí, Brian Leeson
Smith and Cullen’s contributions were followed by a panel discussion which included Éirígí General Secretary Mickey Moran, as well as questions and comments from the floor.
The last speaker of the day was Brian Leeson, who had been reelected as Cathaoirleach Éirígí earlier in the day. The opening section of Leeson’s contribution called for Irish republicanism to embrace environmentalism and sustainable development as core values of an ideology which has been in a state of constant evolution since the 1790s.
Other themes addressed by Leeson included housing, energy, collusion, the 1922 counter-revolution and the building of a New Republic. He also highlighted Éirígí’s sixteen year track record of consistent activism across a wide range of political, economic and social issues.
Leeson concluded his speech by encouraging people to look at Éirígí’s analysis, policies and track record since 2006. And from there to give serious consideration to joining Éirígí as it builds a new republican movement and popular support for a New Republic.
Vincent Visseq of the French Parti Ouvrier Independent (Independent Workers Party) delivering solidarity greetings to Ard Fheis 2022