Gerry Adams addresses Donegal Sinn Féin Republican Youth during National Congress

The Sinn Féin Republican Youth is holding their annual National Congress in Derry City this weekend, with cumanns from around Ireland attending.

The youth wing of Sinn Féin’s main party was established in September of 2016 by Matthew McLaughlin and Patrick O’Neil.

The party have so far submitted six motions to National Congress concerning; the empowerment of young people to get involved in politics, having equal fishing licence fees on both sides of the border, recognising drug addiction as an illness as opposed to a criminal offense, and taking a stand against homophobia and sexism.

Gerry Adams joined the Sinn Féin Republican Youth congress yesterday and addressed the audience.

Speaking about the youth wing, Conor Weir of the Donegal Sinn Féin Republican Youth says; “A primary aim of Sinn Féin Republican Youth is to educate and promote Socialist and Republican politics within the young people.”

“We the members of Donegal Sinn Féin Republican Youth focus on issues which affect local communities in Donegal and we have collectively put forward a number of motions which we believe will improve life in Donegal communities and, also, in turn impact life throughout the country for the better.”

“In the number of months in which we have been active we have voiced our opinion and actively protested against matters in which we feel change is needed.

“Donegal Sinn Féin Republican Youth were present at the Hospital Protest in Letterkenny and we also attended a number of Border Communities Against Brexit protests.

“Donegal Sinn Féin provided us with our own facilities in the new Republican Centre in Letterkenny where we hold productive meetings and discuss various topics and hold different discussions on political and local issues.

So far, the Donegal Branch of Sinn Féin Republican Youth have submitted 6 motions to the National Congress, details of which can be found below;

Motion 1:In 2017, Republican Youth needs to shift its focus away from functioning primarily as a ‘rent-a-crowd’ for Sinn Féin campaigns, demonstrations and protests in favour of fun and creative forms of direct action that capture young people’s interest, adds value to the Republican Youth brand and ultimately attract new members into the fold.

Speaking of motion one, Marcas of the SFRY said: “I feel this motion is particularly important as it will empower young people to articulate their own idea of what an equitable republic should look like.

“It is vital that young people have the space to develop their own platform and mobilise themselves politically in a manner that is relevant to them and not simply that set out to them by a senior party. The process has to be a bilateral one. A great many young people have important and profound things to say about current events and where both the republican movement and the broader world are heading today but they may not have the confidence to express them outside of their peer group in a way to make a real difference.

“By allowing the space to put forward their own republican platform and challenging them to exercise their creativity we give a collective voice to the future and we all benefit from that.”

Motion 2: We propose the establishment of a working group to develop a structured education programme for Republican Youth – one that meets the specific needs of young activists and addresses local demand for education within an overarching national framework.

Erin said: “My motion is to create a full educational program that educates our members on our parties beliefs and our parties stance on certain issues etc. I think this program is important as it will teach our young people tactics on how to create change in our society as well as creating a well educated skilled new generation of political activists in our country who hold the same important values and beliefs.

“It is also important that the program will be on a national level but will hold relevance to each members own local area.”

Motion 3: I call on this congress to support the motion that all boats on the island of Ireland regardless of whether they are registered in northern Ireland or the republic of Ireland that they should share equal access to the waters around the coast of the island of Ireland, and that the licenses fees should meet the same rate of pricing regardless of the border.

Chelsea said: “I put my motion forward because it’s important to my dad and every other Irish fisherman in Ireland. The fishing industry is very important to Ireland aswell.

“Northern Ireland licenses are so much cheaper than Southern Ireland licenses and that shouldn’t be the case we are all fishing in the same water. We are one island fishing in the same water there should be equality in license price and free to fish wherever in Ireland ! I do believe Northern Ireland don’t own the water surrounding them so I don’t see why we can’t all fish together as one country. Licenses should be at a fair price also.

“Southern Ireland fishermen have bought Northern Ireland licenses because they are cheaper and now it’s been recognized. I think the prices should be equal because a small minority of fishermen can afford the southern license which shouldn’t be the case! Ireland needs the fishing industry. For all those reasons is why I put this motion forward.”

Motion 4:This congress and SFRY expresses its solidarity to the socialist governments and socialist programs being pursued in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua. We recognise the increasingly violent tactics of the right wing opposition in the mentioned countries and we condemn their attempts to push the Latin American working-class back under the thumb of neoliberalism.

Matthew said: “The motion I put forward was the motion of sending solidarity to the socialist movements and governments of south and central America. I did this because of the huge progress made by these states in slashing poverty levels, building homes for all and distributing the wealth of industries.

“I also put for this motion because these movements and governments are under increasing threat from right wing and far right wing forces, backed up by outside imperialist aggression. These forces intend to destroy all the progress made in these states. They are also determined to eliminate anyone who stands in their way.”

Motion 5: This congress & SFRY recognises drug addiction as a disease and those suffering from this disease as victims not criminals.

Niamh said: “Drug addiction should be treated as a disease, not a criminal matter. We should not just throw drug addicts in prison, we should help them get off drugs. We need to recognise that drug addicts, with proper help can once again become functioning members of society that are not reliant on drugs.

“Often people start taking drugs as a coping mechanism for problems in their lives. It offers a means of escapism. We cant just leave the most vulnerable members of society at the sidelines.”

Motion 6:This congress and SFRY recognises the serious issue ‘lad culture’ plays on our society. It serves to normalise sexist attitudes towards women as well as racism and homophobia.

For more information on Donegal Sinn Féin Republican Youth visit their Facebook page.

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