Having corresponded with someone who isn’t a die-hard Sinn Fein voter, if at all, on why he should use his vote at this election, I’ve agreed to write this piece on the underlying basis for electing John and have set my own time aside to do it to demonstrate to that person that not only does every vote matter but that the concerns he raised to me would form the thrust of John Finucane’s mandate. So I hope he likes it and I intend to continue to press him for his vote at what is actually the most important General Election for a generation – one which will determine aspects of his children’s lives for years to come.
Unlike other parties, some of whom are offering a Christmas list manifesto on all the things they will apparently achieve as less than 1% of the British House of Commons, John is being transparent and honest with people. He has outlined that Irish MP’s taking their seats at Westminster have never been able to sway British parliamentary opinion towards their cause – for as Bernadette Devlin outlined in ridiculing Westminster, “there was never born an Englishman who understands the struggles of the Irish people.” He is not promising people the sun, the moon and the stars, only to back down from those pledges if elected, as many politicians often do. Nor is he a hatchet-man, but rather a friend.
His agenda is clear. Full equality can become the law of the land in a new Ireland. An Ireland that would have a constitution safeguarding people’s rights and standards of living. An Ireland where explicitly right wing Unionists could not veto any progressive measures the population urgently demands. That’s a pertinent point, for the values which were proclaimed in 1916 and solemnly sealed in blood, stand to reason today – the ownership of Ireland to the people of Ireland; Power that is accountable, under the premise of One Man, One Woman and One Vote.
Now to be an MP or politician, I think most would agree you have to be tough and resilient, as well as understanding. And witnessing the murder of your father after Mass on a Sunday, at the behest of a British Government, is not by any means an easy thing to have to deal with. Whatever is said about John, he truly understands what hurt is; what it’s like to struggle, to cry out in pain over life events and how to cope under the pressure of loss or depression. This isn’t someone who has lived a sheltered life. The dignity with which he, his mother Geraldine and the wider Finucane family have conducted themselves with over the years, is really something quite beautiful and reflective of the Irish conscience as a whole. There is never a bitter word from them, just an undying motivation for justice as a family and justice for Ireland’s people – akin to the Hillsborough families.
He knows he has big shoes to fill in terms of his father’s legacy, who was the greatest Justice Minister Ireland never had, but he carries himself with a certain authoritative gentlemanly ethos that depicts a core optimist. Electing an MP in the North is not like electing an MP in England, in that they aren’t going to decide the government, whether they take their seats or not. The role of an MP here is to be a community-based advocate, who articulates the expressed needs of the Irish people to all the relevant statutory agencies, while always providing a voice to those who need one. Someone who is prepared to proverbially “get their hands dirty” by focusing all their efforts towards issues on the ground in areas of economic deprivation and pressing appropriate bodies for the kind of changes North Belfast badly needs.
I’m a young North Belfast lad born and bred. The community is in my blood and is part of my identity. So I want someone humble and determined enough to speak up for the pensioner in Ardoyne who is dying on a hospital waiting list, or the parent worried about potential changes to tax-credits. I want someone who is of Ireland now, as it is, and for the Ireland of the future, as it could be. So the policy agenda for a Finucane-led constituency is not just nice rhetoric but the following things that I have analysed;
-Working with relevant stakeholders, including Assembly personnel, public sector staff and patients, to gain as much funding as possible for our local hospital, including a fair wage for nursing staff.
-Better and more timely provision of mental health services, including preventative care. This includes measures to tackle the large rates of addiction and suicide locally. So, shorter waiting times and a better functioning A&E unit, while arguing for more home-helps.
-Pressing the Department of Social Development on the urgent need to build more and better social housing in North Belfast.
-Gaining increased resources for the Girdwood Hub, housing units and Irish language school, all of which were secured by Sinn Fein efforts. In addition to efforts at increasing economic opportunities for ex-prisoners of the conflict era, both loyalist and republican.
-Fighting tooth and nail for a Bill of Rights, affording each and every citizen the dignity and respect they deserve from cradle to the grave, to prevent any repeat of Orange state injustice or discrimination.
-Holding the police to account and seeking to address levels of anti-social behaviour in the area, making sure our pensioners aren’t afraid to go out at night.
-Working with all relevant stakeholders to find fair and equitable solutions to the issue of contentious parades in a way which respects both traditions.
-Articulating the expressed human need for complete emancipation of the LGBT community, including equal marriage and adequate resources to tackle issues relating to mental health and suicide rates therein.
-Regularly meeting with each local school and their boards, as well as parents, to garner recommendations on ways to improve standards and ensure a place for every child each year. This involves giving each pupil the spiritual development and means to write a best selling book of their own lives via early and middle years interventions, using models of best practice.
-Speaking up for parents who badly need greater childcare provision and reassurance over welfare issues, while outlining the demands for more youth facilities and recreation.
-Seeking to ensure that every person, particularly our young people, is either earning or learning via pressing the state for more investment in jobs locally and making best use of the new apprenticeship levy/opportunities. This includes working with Invest NI and Belfast City Council to enhance transport provision to places of work or study.
-The jobs issue isn’t going to be a magic bullet, given the uncertainty of Brexit and our delicate post-recession climate. The economic powers still largely remain in London. But pressing for a continued low interest rate for small businesses would be a key priority, as would supporting Trade Unions to collectively bargain for fairer wages. Additionally, there would be a concentration on expressing the requirement to move from a market economy to a more Keynesian mixed model, with strong state spending and public service provision.
-Continuing the efforts of Sinn Fein to prevent hikes in university tuition fees (they were the only main party to vote against their implementation here at the time) by working with higher education bodies to address financial disadvantage among students.
-Perhaps the most important of all, an underlying effort to ensure that our national interests are protected as much as possible within the Brexit process by direct negotiations and lobbying of the British & Irish Governments, as well as taking our case to EU personnel at every opportunity. That includes securing a commitment to avoid a hard border and aiming for special status within the Single Market, helping our economy to trade and flourish tariff free.
-Using the legal and administrative methods which are in place or which have been agreed upon to gain maximum justice/answers for victims of the conflict, particularly those who have been brutalised by the apparatus of the state. This includes pressing the British government on local atrocities, like McGurk’s Bar, and individual cases of human rights abuses (particularly for the many people who were interned locally).
-And one which I think is of immense importance to all our lives; being a cohesive role model for our young people to look up to and seek to emulate in their lives, as they build their careers or settle down. Someone who people can feel proud to say “he is my Member of Parliament” via qualities of sheer grit and both listening and leading. Standing up for local interests and seeking to rectify the national interest by ending the forced mutilation of our country once and for all.
So at the end of the day, come June 8th, the choice is yours. But nobody doubts that this is a two horse race. The question you have to ask yourself is who is more representative, open-minded and able, to express the demographic needs of the people of North Belfast, John or Nigel? For one thing is for sure, if you vote for Mr McAuley (who can’t win) or for Nigel, you’ll get both a “Tory Hard-Brexit” and preservation of the status quo. And the other certainty, given all the problems we face in North Belfast, is that this area doesn’t need a careerist, it requires a champion!
Very good donal
Concur James, a great article indeed.