An Phoblacht

An Phoblacht (Irish for "The Republic") is the official newspaper of Sinn Féin in Ireland. It is published on a weekly basis, and according to its website sells an average of up to 15,000 copies every week and was the first Irish paper to provide an edition online and currently having in excess of 100,000 website hits per week.^[1] Following the split in the Republican Movement in January 1970, one of the urgent tasks facing their leadership was producing a new republican newspaper. The first issue of the monthly paper, An Phoblacht, under the editorship of Seán Ó Brádaigh, appeared on 31 January 1970.

Background

The original An Phoblacht was founded as the official organ of the Dungannon Clubs in Belfast in 1906 and its first edition was printed on 13 December 1906 under the English language version of the title The Republic. In the first edition, Bulmer Hobson, one of the founders of the Dungannon Clubs, set out their aims:

A year later the paper merged with a Dublin title called The Peasant, however the title An Phoblacht was again used from 1925 and continued until 1937 with a tumultuous history of internal splits and constant state oppression. Frank Ryan, Seán MacBride and Peadar O'Donnell were just some of the prominent contributors during this time.

The title appeared again in 1966 as the mouthpiece of a small IRA splinter group based in Cork.^[2] Its modern version was again refounded immediately following the Sinn Féin split by Jimmy Steele in January 1970, An Phoblacht supporting the group led by Ruaírí O'Bradaigh that became the Provisional IRA when the split with the Official Irish Republican Army occurred.

In 1970, An Phoblacht was at first circulated only in the South with another republican paper also established in Northern Ireland in 1970, Republican News, under the editorship of veteran republican Jimmy Steel. It supported the campaign of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and published a weekly column titled "War News", which outlined IRA actions and conflict with the British Army, and provided in depth analysis of the policies being formulated by the Republican Movement. An Phoblacht began with a circulation of 20,000 per month.

Located at 2a Lower Kevin Street in Dublin’s south inner city, it moved to the northside of the capital, to Kevin Barry House, 44 Parnell Square, in August 1972. And in that October it became a fortnightly publication under the editorship of Éamonn Mac Thomáis, a writer and historian^[3] who instituted changes in layout and general improvements so that it became a weekly publication. After 1976, the then Minister for Post and Telecommunications, Conor Cruise O'Brien, a Labour Party minister in the Fine Gael/Labour coalition, beefed up Jack Lynch’s original 1971 Section 31 censorship directive so that it now effectively prohibited the expression of any kind of a republican viewpoint. Section 31 specifically banned Sinn Féin from the airwaves.

This produced a climate where career journalists learned how to sing for their supper and the media in the 26 Counties became increasingly biased against republicans to the point where the plight of Northern nationalists could not be discussed lest it be denounced as ‘Provo propaganda’.

An Phoblacht became more important in disseminating the republican message and highlighting what it saw as the naked state oppression by the Unionist Party and the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Northern Ireland. It consequently suffered regular Garda Special Branch harassment. Mac Thomáis was arrested and charged with IRA membership and sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment. The paper continued under the stewardship of Dublin journalist Deasún Breathnach until Mac Thomáis resumed duties on his release in July 1974. Within two months, Mac Thomáis was again arrested and sentenced to another 15 months. Another editor, Coleman Moynihan, who had succeeded Seán Ó Brádaigh in 1972, suffered a similar fate.

The paper continued on with the succeeding editors being Gerry Danaher (1974-75), Gerry O’Hare (1975-77), and Deasún Breathnach (1977-79).

It had become clear that a single paper for the whole of Ireland was required to provide a clear and coherent line from the leadership and to counter any partitionist thinking which might flow from the British division of Ireland. Accordingly, on 27 January 1979, the first issue of the merged publications, under the banner of An Phoblacht/Republican News, appeared under the editorship of Danny Morrison.

The paper focuses on providing a weekly commentary on all aspects of Irish politics, and currently it articulates the political position of Sinn Féin and supports the peace process.

The paper was officially relaunched in September 2005 as An Phoblacht. The current editor is Seán Mac Brádaigh.

First incarnation

Notable contributors

Contents

Background

First incarnation

Notable contributors

See also

External links

References