Kearny was speaking to 150 activists gathered here for the 30th Annual General Meeting of the Irish Northern Aid Committee (Noraid). The organization was established in 1971 to raise political support and funds in the United States for Irish republicans imprisoned by the British government because of their activities in favor of the unification of Ireland and freedom from British domination. For the last three decades it has been the main organization campaigning in this country to end British rule in Ireland.

This year's conference took place amid continuing advances in the struggle for a united Ireland. Speaking on behalf of the Sinn Fein leadership, Pat Treanor opened the conference with an outline of the situation in Ireland. He described how, over the last several weeks, the British government has been unable to roll back the deep popular sentiment in northern Ireland against the continuation of direct British rule over the northern six counties, and has been forced to move toward reinstating the executive body of the assembly established under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement with limited powers of self-government. The British government suspended the executive in February, alleging that the refusal of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to "decommission" its weapons violated the Good Friday Agreement.

Treanor explained that the British government has now agreed to reestablish the executive of the assembly. As part of this process, it has agreed to release all remaining Irish republican prisoners in British jails by July 28, withdraw British army units from the streets and return them to their barracks, and begin the removal of an initial six "observation posts"--spy posts used by the British army to monitor and harass the nationalist population. The concentration of military facilities makes areas like rural South Armagh some of the most heavily militarized places in the world.

In response to this progress, the Irish Republican Army stated May 6 that it will "initiate a process that will completely and verifiably put IRA arms beyond use." IRA arms dumps will not be turned over to the British government, but will be inspected by two observers reporting to the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning. Irish republicans nominated Cyril Ramaphosa, a former leader of the African National Congress in South Africa, as one of the arms inspectors. He will be joined by Martti Ahtisaari, a former prime minister of Finland.

Pat Treanor and leaders of Noraid stressed the importance of stepping up solidarity activity in the United States in this new phase of the struggle in Ireland. The conference was marked by enthusiasm and determination to do just that.  
 
Support to former political prisoners
Declan Kearny outlined the work of Coiste, set up to help reintegrate freed Irish republican prisoners into society. Alongside work to assist the former prisoners and their families, Coiste campaigns to decriminalize their struggle. Kearny noted that in the eyes of the British government the former political prisoners are paroled criminals. There are about 15,000 former republican prisoners. In some nationalist areas, more than 10 percent of the population has served time for their political activities. Noraid pledged to make raising funds for Coiste activities a top priority.

The conference was the largest such gathering for several years, and Noraid organizers reported that in the last few months four new local units have been set up. Activists mapped out plans for fund-raising activities. They decided to expand the circulation of the Irish People, weekly newspaper of Irish republicans in the United States.

Local units of Noraid were urged to plan out events commemorating the 20th anniversary of the hunger strikes. During the 1980 hunger protest, 10 young Irish nationalist fighters died in an effort to force the British government to recognize incarcerated republicans as political prisoners. The hunger strike, and the large street actions in support of the strikers, focused world attention on the brutality of the British occupation of northern Ireland and won deeper international support to the struggle for a united Ireland.  
 
 
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