Slugger Radio feature

Tonight, Gerry - one of the election's most interviewed candidates! - featured on Slugger Radio and spoke to well known blogger Mick Fealty about his chances in the forthcoming election. You can listen to the podcast here.

The election is now less than a fortnight away, and as the time comes closer, you'll be hearing a lot more from Gerry on the airwaves. Watch out for a campaign video in the coming week, and listen out for more interviews.

Update: Also, check out this interview at the United Irelander blog, and watch out for a feature in the March edition of Ireland's Eye magazine.

The P.A.'s back in vogue!

The pre-election campaign continued in both Fermanagh and South Tyrone this weekend, as supporters gathered to greet Gerry at Derrylin, Kinawley, Maguiresbridge, Lisnaskea (Fermanagh), Ballygawley and Eglish (Tyrone), among others.

Enthusiasm was high in Eglish in particular, where Gerry, joined by a number of former Sinn Féin members and Irish-American Republican activist, Martin Galvin, addressed supporters using the old-style public address (P.A.) system after weekend Masses.

Much of Saturday was spent speaking to voters in Enniskillen, as a number of other campaign volunteers headed to Maguiresbridge and Lisnaskea to spread the word.

Glancing at the weekend papers, one thing is certain: that the liberal establishment, not to mention the sell-outs in the Sinn Féin leadership and the insatiable bigots in the DUP, are terrified that the people of Fermanagh/South Tyrone have found an uncompromising alternative to those claiming to "represent" their interests.

For the nationalist people of Fermanagh and south Tyrone, the time to make a stand for a united Ireland has come, as those "representing" Republicanism slip into a state of servitude.

Vote Gerry McGeough on March 7th - for representation with principle, and unflinching loyalty to a united Irish Nation. Éirinn go brách!

On the campaign trail

The campaign in Fermanagh/South Tyrone continued today, and I received tremendous support from people on the ground, and in Enniskillen in particular, where voters have continued to express their disgust at Sinn Féin's sell-out.

I also spoke with John McDonagh and Sandy Boyer on New York-based Radio Free Éireann about the forthcoming election. The interview may be downloaded here when it's posted over the coming days, and another interview which took place in January may be downloaded here.

England, get out of Ireland!

Featured in the February 2007 edition of The Hibernian:

When it comes to implementing the policy of "Divide and Rule", the British Establishment is second to none.

In Ireland, this age-old policy has served the British well over the centuries and continues to do so to this very day. In fact, the English Crown forces could never have exercised control in Ireland had it not been for their ability to use one group of Irishmen against another.

In recent weeks, we have witness a text-book deployment of this counter-insurgency policy that must have British Intelligence mandarins rollicking with glee. Through the use of long-term double-agents and informers, the British have succeeded in turning the once formidable opponent that was the Irish Republican movement into a compliant ally that will implement British rule in Ireland for the foreseeable future.

We now find ourselves watching in disbelief as a president of Sinn Féin, who for decades urged young Republicans to struggle against British Crown forces in Ireland, is now asking young Irishmen and women to put on British uniforms and inform on fellow Irishmen in order to uphold English rule in our country. By recognising and endorsing the crown forces, the Sinn Féin leadership has, de facto, conferred legitimacy upon the British presence in Ireland.

This is unacceptable. All true Irishmen and women must register their disgust at this betrayal by rejecting Sinn Féin outright at the polls in forthcoming elections. The Irish Nation is not for sale, and England's only mission here is to get out once and for all.

The February edition of The Hibernian is on sale now at €2 (£1.50 STG), and features a ripping argument by Martin Galvin against British policing in Ulster, some very interesting items on the history of Fermanagh and Tyrone, M. Deaglán Bairéid's Irish-American view, and lost more. Subscriptions may be ordered here.

Gerry McGeough - Biography

Born in 1958, Gerry McGeough is a native of the Brantry area of South Tyrone where his family have lived for centuries. As a boy he attended the local Derrylatinee PS and later St. Patrick's Academy in Dungannon, where the late Msgr. Denis Faul taught him Latin and Religion.

His involvement with the Republican Movement is well documented. Deported from Britain in 1978, he was active in the 1981 Bobby Sands election campaign in Fermanagh/South Tyrone. In 1982, he found himself on the run in the United States when an FBI warrant was issued for his arrest in relation to IRA arms charges.

In 1988, McGeough was arrested on the Dutch/German border and charged with a series of attacks against the British military on the Continent. At the time, he was wanted in five countries. He spent the next four years in German prisons. Despite a two-year trial conducted in a specially-constructed underground bunker courtroom before a panel of five judges, McGeough was never convicted and, in 1992, he became the first Irish Republican prisoner to be extradited from Germany to the United States.

In America, he was eventually given three years imprisonment on foot of the 1982 arrest warrant. He wrote his first book of short stories - entitled The Ambush and Other Stories - while in jail there. In 1996, he was deported back to Ireland. His second book, a novel entitled Defenders, was published in 1998.

In 1999, McGeough visited his parents' graves for the first time. They had died just three weeks apart in the winter of 1993/4.

Spending several months of the year working on building sites, McGeough - an accomplished Irish speaker and a promoter of Ireland's unique culture and heritage - put himself through university, graduating from Trinity College, Dublin with an Honours Degree in History in 2003. The following year, he attained a Higher Diploma in Education from University College, Dublin and went on to teach history.

During this time, he had been elected to the Sinn Féin Ard Comhairle and was the party's National Director during the successful No to Nice I campaign in 2001. He left Sinn Féin later that year over concerns about the leadership's weakening of Republican principles, and the party's increasingly pro-abortion stance.

McGeough ran for election in Fermanagh/South Tyrone on March 7, 2007, and while he appeared to have not succeeded in winning a seat, he was arrested and interned by Crown forces while leaving the count centre at Omagh on March 8. While an alleged incident in 1981 was cited as the reason for the arrest, it came at a time when McGeough's tireless campaigning posed a serious threat to the ambitions of the political "establishment" in the Six Counties - including the leadership of Provisional Sinn Féin, which has now absorbed itself into the administration of British rule in Ireland.

Editor of the robustly Catholic and Nationalist monthly magazine, The Hibernian, McGeough and his Spanish wife have three children.

Vote No. 1!

Gerry McGeough - Editor of The Hibernian Magazine, History Teacher, Author and former IRA volunteer - Your Independent Republican Candidate for Fermanagh/South Tyrone

• - A No. 1 vote for me is a vote for a United Ireland. Through peaceful, political means I will advocate that the demand for a 32 County Irish Republic be put firmly back on the agenda.
  
• - We must put an end to the constant stream of concessions to the British and the DUP. A vote for me sends a clear message to Paisley, McCrea and the rest of their outfit that the days of push-over Republicanism are over. The Catholic people of the North have been insulted far too often. No more crawling to the DUP!
  
• - In a direct appeal to the decent, patriotic grassroots Sinn Féin voters, I ask that you lend me your vote for this election in order that, together, we might restore our sense of national pride and promote traditional Republican ideals once again.
  
• - Those who ask Irish nationalists to support and join the PSNI/RUC, and to inform upon our neighbours, are insulting and betraying everything that Irish Republicans have ever stood for. A vote for me is a rejection of this policy.
  
• - If elected, I will block all attempts to have the 1967 British Abortion Act extended to the Six Counties.
  
• - Also, I will unflinchingly address the concerns of Irish political prisoners and their families.
  
• - I pledge to oppose the imposition of Water Rates and reject the recommendations of the Bain Report, which will lead to the closure of small schools.
  
• - The people of Fermanagh/South Tyrone are crying out for a political representative who will actually do some constituency work. I, too, want the roads repaired - help me get started.
  
• - I am on record as having called for a reduction in Corporation Tax to the level of that in the 26 Counties, in order to benefit the local economy. My position remains unchanged.
  
• - The moratorium on Rural Planning must be tackled.
  
• - I will also work to restore and protect our Irish townland placenames.

If elected, I propose to take my seat in order to directly confront the DUP as well as keep an eye on the Sinn Féin leadership, in case they should decide to go on another concessions spree.

In addition, from a purely pragmatic point of view, it is necessary to take the seat if I am to implement the above manifesto. Needless to say, I wish to see a full British withdrawal from Ireland as soon as possible, and will continue to work uncompromisingly towards that goal.

Éirinn go Brách - Ireland forever!