On this the 107th anniversary of the heroic Easter Rising of 1916 the leadership
of the Republican Movement sends greetings to Irish people at home and
abroad who are gathered at the graves and monuments to our patriot dead or
remembering them in any other way. The Republic which those patriots served
and gave their lives for has yet to triumph. We pledge to continue the struggle
despite all that is thrown against us.

We send salutations to Sinn Féin Poblachtach, Cumann na mBan and Na Fianna
Éireann who stand with us in the Republican project to bring about national
liberation from British Imperialism and influence. Last year we made a call to
the Irish people and especially the youth who believe in the cause of Irish
Republicanism to join the ranks of the Republican Movement. Again, we make
that call and we welcome those who have come forward since last Easter to
serve their country. To give service to the Irish Republic is indeed a noble act
and patriotic duty. With veterans and new people, the Republican Movement
will endure. We will build the Movement on a good Republican foundation and
we will resist the British occupation of our country to the best of our capability.

This year marks 25 years since the Stormont/Belfast Agreement which was
signed by constitutional nationalists, unionists and the Dublin and British
governments and strongly supported by the United States of America. The
agreement was based on the lie that the “peace agreement” was voted on by
all the Irish people as two referenda took place on the same day north and
south of Britain’s Border. The referendum in the 26 Counties was on an
amendment to the 26-County Constitution, not the Stormont Agreement. The
establishment in Ireland and Britain are self-congratulating themselves on a
great job done. They will fall over themselves in honouring people like Bertie Ahern, Tony Blair and Bill Clinton without whom we are told there would be no
agreement. Ahern who was dragged before a tribunal and Tony Blair who lied
to the British House of Commons and brought Britain into a war with Iraq
along with their US allies at a cost of hundreds of thousands of mostly civilian
lives. Those are the heroes of a so-called peace agreement which has now
institutionalised sectarianism in the Occupied Six Counties.

There is only peace for those who accept the British occupation; for those that
do not or it is suspected they do not there is stop and search, arbitrary arrests
and house raids. Political courts where judgements are made on the political
outlook of those unlucky to appear before them. Easter commemorations are
attacked by the RUC/PSNI; the Easter Lily is banned from prisons where
political prisoners are held while the poppy is allowed.

We condemn the political reformists who have turned their backs on the
struggle for Irish freedom while out of the corner of their mouths they
commemorate Irish patriots who carried out that struggle. The “peace
process” has become more important than their stated long-term objective, a
united Ireland. The “peace process” is a British process of containment of the
Irish struggle. The reformists have now taken over from the SDLP as the “Stoop
Down Low Party”. Their leader in Leinster House has declared she is a pen pal
of the British King Charles. Recently-released State papers reveal that John
Hume drafted a statement on behalf of the Provisionals’ military wing in 1996
in relation to returning to a ceasefire situation.

We reject the process which is now in full swing of bringing the 26-County
State into NATO. China and Russia are being sold as the bogeymen on TV and
radio news on a daily basis. Chinese social media is looked upon with suspicion.
All of this is to play mind games with the electorate and promote NATO as necessary for defence. The EU is now also a military bloc. The people of the 26
Counties will have serious choices to make in referenda in the near future. The
politicians who demand peace at home are doing their best to involve their
own military in foreign wars.

We reject the rise of right-wing anti-immigrant parties who have come to the
fore lately. Many of those involved carry our National Flag and also carry other
Republican flags, for example the Starry Plough. Where were these “patriots”
in opposition to the British occupation. These groups spew hatred and division
which the Irish people as a post-colonial society are very familiar with. Some of
these groups would be best described as the military wing of Fine Gael or
“dissident” Fine Gaelers.

We salute Sinn Féin Poblachtach and their Mise Éire “the selling of Ireland”
campaign which highlights the abandonment of Irish nationhood as a 32-
county unit by the political establishment in favour of two partition states.

100 years ago, in 1923, the savagery and brutality of the newly-formed Free
State came to the fore. From Kerry to Donegal, from Wexford to Galway and
several other areas, Free State forces, using British guns and munitions,
unleashed a campaign of terror against fellow Irishmen. They carried on where
the Black-and-Tans left off. This must never be forgotten. The Free State did
not succeed in crushing Republicanism, and they will never be allowed to do
so.

In conclusion the Leadership thanks our members and supporters for all they
do to keep the Republican Movement on the road to freedom. Since the
formation of the United Irishmen in Belfast in 1791 down to this day we strive
to bring about a better Ireland for the people to live in; a peaceful and fair society based on the traditional Republican ideals of Equality, Liberty and
Fraternity.

Continuity not compromise. An Phoblacht Abú!

— The Leadership of the Republican Movement 2023

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