Something Old, Something New…

A new direction for Republicanism?

A couple of weeks ago, on Easter Saturday 4th April, I attended a Republican commemoration at Arbour Hill (my wife’s local church and the church where I was married), in honour of our fallen heroes who were executed in the aftermath of the 1916 Rising and were later buried on those hallowed grounds.  I felt humbled to have received a special invite from the organisers — prominent Republican activists among them — who I’ve recently had some contact with over the phone (and now in person after this event).  I attended purely as a bystander and observer and to pay my own respects to those great men who made the ultimate sacrifice 110 years ago.

I was hugely interested to hear some of the young emergent voices speaking on the day and the wording of their speeches intrigued me.  There has been somewhat of a shift in mindset over the past while bubbling up inside Republican circles and the murmurs of discontent are growing.  I was already mildly aware of this new reality (having read plenty of articles expressing such sentiments) but admittedly to a greatly underestimated degree, until some of those opinions were heard first hand.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover we seem to agree on a great deal more than I had anticipated. On the far more important issues like national/ethnic identity and the revival of our language, we are almost unanimously in agreement, rendering the trivial things we disagree on negligible by comparison.  A few online interactions eventually turned into phone discussions, which in turn made space for some much needed and very welcome dialogue. Although many Republican activists have been present at some of our rallies and have quietly supported in a personal capacity, what has been absent thus far was a big statement from one of the groups.

A leaflet distributed to the public in Kilkenny

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That was delivered on Easter Saturday by members of Fronta Poblachtach, an emerging group of young Republicans who are aiming to return to the principles laid out in the Proclamation with the unapologetic pursuit of a 32 county Gaelic Republic central to their aims.  Republicanism was the ideological framework that mobilised the mass of the Irish population into open rebellion against the British Empire at the beginning of the 20th Century.  People with varying opinions from across the political spectrum, were mature enough to stand together for one cause.  Ireland’s. Even prior to our most recent uprising, Republicanism has been the chosen vehicle for Gaelic resistance to tyranny since the time of Wolfe Tone.  It is something which is historically natural to us and something with a tried and tested pedigree.

The horrors of The Troubles cannot be erased, no more than the pain of the Civil War, but like it or not, the guiding principles of Republicanism are still the cornerstone of our nation.  The Free State which later became a Republic has long since deviated from these foundational core principles put down on parchment by ár Laochra.  Rather than becoming the stepping stone envisioned by the pro-treaty side, it has become a mere vassal to subjugate our people once more as it sets about obscuring our identity with the aim of its eventual erasure entirely.  The current EU province and the traitors who currently occupy the levers of power at their master's behest, have also more or less abandoned any latent hope for a United Ireland.  Certainly anything resembling a Gaelic one and they have largely conditioned much of the population to view our Gaelic brethren on the north of the island as mere citizens of the UK.  Three decades have now passed since the Good Friday Agreement with no movement other than lip service on this topic.

Fronta Poblachtach, as a Republican organisation, are not shy on such matters.  They believe that a return to those principles —through the renewed pursuit and realisation of the aims set forth in the Proclamation and the Democratic Program of the First Dáil — would provide us with many of the tools required for us to build again.  Another point we agree on.  We need to get back to basics and simplify the guide for nationhood.  We have lost control of our resources which are the keys to the economic destiny of our nation.  How is a corporate master any different than a monarch of the past?  For the working class man it is no different than it ever was.  A class struggle with every effort made to keep him at the bottom. By any means necessary.

Over the past few months, I have personally become extremely irritated by the Zionist friendly element within what passes itself off as a resistance movement.  It is something now unrecognisable to me and something I will never identify with ever again.  I have run out of patience with the pseudo-celebrity podcast parade and crave something new, something with teeth and something uniquely Irish, resistant to outside influence.  In particular, something that shows open hostility to the clear attempts from friends of Israel, across the international influencer sphere, to infiltrate the Irish movement.

I can handle support for Palestinian people and their plight, so long as Ireland’s cause comes first, but what I cannot abide is the increasing levels of support within Irish right-wing circles for a self-declared enemy of Ireland.  Israel are not our friends, they have been instrumental in the ongoing replacement agenda, with the likes of Alan Shatter providing the legal framework in this country through the now infamous citizenship ceremonies, for our eventual disenfranchisement.

The same people writing 'banned', yet bestselling books about the evils of NGO’s and their part in this scam in Ireland, suspiciously neglect to mention that most are merely the local facilitators of groups like IsraAid helping to funnel ‘refugees’ into Europe.  They invariably skip across multiple safe countries and end up here in Ireland.  Coming in their tens of thousands to avail of our extremely generous welfare system, yet on the root causes and architects these great journalists are strangely mute.  I am left awestruck at the hypocrisy of those presenting themselves as top researchers being unable to uncover a network totally open about their aims.  It is glaringly omitted.

I'm completely divorced now from the MAGA loving, Ziophilic X brigade who will sell you catastrophe and the symptom, but call you an antisemite for pointing out the source of the disease.  I’m no longer prepared to align myself with people platforming the likes of Shatter, Ezra Levant or Tommy Robinson.  I’m no longer prepared to stay quiet on this clear subversion either.  Zionism is a cancer that must be called out and it is not welcome here on this island.  Support of this imperialist model excludes you from the very concept of nationalism by default.

Republicanism is a natural antidote to all of this.  It has become a lot clearer to me now that the reluctance of Republicans to be part of the growing movement fuelled by a rekindled nationalistic pride, is less borne out of fear of being labelled and seems to be more the result of an ability to spot this subversion before many of us were able to, due to their natural immunity to it.  And to be fair, who could blame them.  It is the antithesis of all that they stand for. Judging by the language they are now using it seems they are gearing up to enter the fray and play a more active role in the fight for not only Irish unity, but for our very survival.  I will be watching this developing situation with great interest.

Main oration read by Nathan Hastings

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What you make of it all yourself, is entirely up to you, but I have attached some of their content for your perusal, which includes the speeches on the day.  It’s good to be aware that genuine anti-establishment sentiment is not confined solely to the online conservative/’far right’ echo chamber.  Make up your own mind, but for my part… I’m liking what I’m hearing.

Speeches and other information linked below:

https://www.anfronta.ie/publications/arbour-hill-easter-commemoration-2026