Kerry Palestine support group to demand action on Gaza at State Commemoration of Daniel O'Connell
'We call upon you, as Taoiseach of the Irish people and heir to O'Connell's political tradition, to prove that his legacy lives on in more than bronze statues and anniversary speeches. The world is watching. History is recording. Future generations will judge whether Ireland's leaders in 2025 had the moral courage to match their commemorative words with meaningful action,' the letter states.
"Taoiseach, we stand today in the shadow of greatness – not to bask in past glories, but to be measured against them. Daniel O'Connell's legacy is not a museum piece to be admired from a distance, but a living flame that should ignite our conscience and compel our actions.
'The Liberator understood that freedom is indivisible – that the oppression of any people diminishes us all. His fight for Catholic Emancipation was never solely about Irish Catholics; it was about establishing the principle that no human being should be denied dignity because of their identity, faith, or origins.…Today, the Palestinian people cry out for the same justice that O'Connell demanded for his own people.'
The group outlined 10 demands to be enacted by the Irish Government and the EU, which include the resumption of international aid deliveries immediately at scale; the enacting, without delay, of the Occupied Territories Bill; prohibit the sale of War Bonds; suspend, with immediate effect, all arms and dual-use exports to Israel and suspend all preferential commercial arrangements for Israel under the Association Agreement.
The letter also includes a demand to cancel Israel's participation in Horizon Europe and all dual-use research, academic and technology programs of the EU; a demand to impose targeted sanctions on Israeli ministers, government officials, military commanders, and violent settlers responsible for war crimes; the support of international and national judicial mechanisms to provide political, legal, and financial support to Palestinian civilian victims and to nominate Francesca Albanese (United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories) for the Nobel Peace Prize.
'We are taking the opportunity to present him with a letter that marks this occasion, highlighting the historical and contemporary significance of Daniel O'Connell in relation to the famine in Gaza,' the South Kerry group stated.
'The actions we take in respect of the Palestinian People and others who are suffering oppression are a measure of the extent to which we respect the values and approaches of Daniel O'Connell. The Liberator's work is unfinished while any people remain enslaved by occupation, ethnic cleansing, and genocide,' the letter states.
'We demand that the Government of Ireland stand by and defend Irish sovereignty, rather than be bullied by external vested interests, whose values do not align with those of O'Connell. Short-term economic gains should never take precedence over our defence of national sovereignty, peace, justice and human rights. As O'Connell stated, 'nothing is politically right that is morally wrong,' it concludes.
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