Sinn Féin author sees its future as part of radical left

REPUBLICANS SHOULD discuss and debate their own political history as well as their place in Irish history in general, Sinn Féin MEP Mary Lou McDonald has said.

Speaking in Dublin at the launch last night of Sinn Féin and the Politics of Left Republicanism by Eoin Ó Broin, former director of the party’s European department, she said: “It is important that we participate in the broader conversation with historians and political commentators beyond the republican family.”

Mr Ó Broin, a Sinn Féin candidate in the local elections for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown council, said: “Sinn Féin has been one of the central architects of the peace process and is increasingly setting the terms of political debate in Ireland north and south. Despite this, the party remains much misunderstood and often misrepresented.

“It is the left republican tradition started by Connolly and continued by Mellows, Gilmore, O’Donnell, the Republican Congress, Clann na Poblachta and even the Workers’ Party to which we belong.

“While our history has seen many successes, it has also seen many failures. Honestly understanding our past is vital if we are to understand the limitations of our present and to achieve our objectives in the future.

“Sinn Féin’s future must be a left republican future, taking our place in the globally resurgent radical democratic left of Europe, Latin America and the wider world.”

Rise in NI AIDS cases linked to foreign travel

The volume of HIV and Aids cases is expected to increase significantly and sexual health consultant Dr Raymond Maw said official figures under-estimated fresh diagnoses by about a third. Most heterosexual people have been exposed to the virus outside the UK but homosexuality has also been blamed.

A total of 65 new cases were diagnosed in 2007. The tally has been increasing since 2001.

Dr Naresh Chada, senior medical officer at the Department of Health, told a conference at Stormont sexually transmitted diseases posed a major challenge. “Some of the preliminary figures for 2008 suggest that there would be quite a considerable increase on the previous years but those won’t be official until the end of the year,” he said.

“It is difficult for us to say why those figures are going up. There seems to be a mixture of issues, one of the continuing infection of men who have sex with men but there is also an increase in heterosexual HIV.”

Approximately 250 people are receiving anti-retroviral therapy which can cost over £1 million from the drugs budget. Dr Chada added: “Compared to other parts of the world and in the rest of the UK our rates of HIV are somewhat low but it is very much on the increase. “HIV/Aids is a huge burden in terms of actual resources that are used.”

The Department’s funding for genito-urinary treatment was branded a “sticking plaster” by Dr Maw.

He said: “We just have not had the investment in sexual health services and this is known by everybody from the Department of Health down. “We have had some recent investment which is welcome but it is certainly not adequate to meet the needs of our population and it is considerably less than has been given in the rest of the UK.”

Marlene Kinghan from the Children’s Commissioners’ office said a number of services were not fit for purpose or covering the level of need. We currently have four (genito-urinary) clinics however combined they are open for less than 40 hours per week, some which operate on an appointment system others on a drop in basis,“ she said.

“How are young people, some of whom who are still in full time education, expected to access a clinic that is only open three hours per week during the day?

“The approach to delivering relationship and sexual education is neither comprehensive nor consistent in schools across Northern Ireland. Research on this issue shows the quality of sexual education depends on the school the young person attends and indeed the approach taken by individual teachers.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0216/breaking64.htm