Interview With The Republican Socialist Youth Movement

A journalist from Aontacht Media sat down with a member of the Republican Socialist Youth Movement (RSYM). The RSYM is part of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement (IRSM) umbrella, which fights for a 32-county socialist republic, and its other associated groups include the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) and the paramilitary organisation Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). Through our conversation with the member, who is involved in the RSYM, we explored the topics of socialist republicanism, the importance of remembering those who gave their lives in the fight for Ireland, the persecution of republican and nationalists communities in the occupied 6 counties, the move of Sinn Féin towards reformist politics, the Good Friday Agreement and the status of modern-day republican prisoners.

The interview was conducted in Costello House on Falls Road in Belfast, and included a tour of the various historical artefacts from the history of revolutionary socialist republicanism. 

The house is named after Seamus Costello, who founded the IRSP in 1974. It was then INLA Chief of Staff Gino Gallagher who helped revitalise the building when it had fallen into disrepair, restoring it as a functioning headquarters and opening it up to young people in the area. As such, there are two murals, dedicated to each leader respectively side-by-side, outside the house. It became a place where people could discuss politics, learn about the movement and meet regularly. Today, it continues to serve as a center where the IRSM can engage with members of the community and build their working-class movement. 

Upon entry, the visitor is greeted by a mural depicting Patsy O'Hara's funeral. The mural was repainted from an earlier version that had previously occupied the same space. Nearby are photographs and images and artwork of figures including James Connolly and Karl Marx. Some of the artwork was made by republican prisoners. Among these is a detailed map of the HM Prison Maze. The member highlighted his favourite piece, which is from 1975 and features Che Guevara alongside the initials "INLA." The member pointed out that the movement also possesses a letter from Fidel Castro, sent in response to correspondence from a member of the movement, which can be viewed in James Connolly House in Derry. The IRSM continues to enjoy diplomatic relationships with Cuba to this day. 

The IRSM commemoration recently held in Derry was really well attended, and we have seen videos online. Can you speak a bit about why it is important to commemorate republican heroes and those who died fighting for Ireland? And can you speak a bit about the success of the commemoration? 

Yeah, that is a big commemoration for us. Every year, we hold it in memory of the 10 hunger strikers who gave their lives for political status in 1981. Three, of course, were from our own movement, three INLA volunteers: Patsy O'Hara, Kevin Lynch, and Michael Devine. There was a massive colour party, the biggest IRSM colour party that Derry has seen in a long time, and that was amazing. A lot of that colour party was made up of RSYM members, so it was a great day for the movement, young and old.

We then went back to a hotel after, for political talks from former prisoners who were in jail around that time. Willie Gallagher gave us a talk. Willie himself was actually on hunger strike at one point.

It was a great day, very beneficial for the younger members to experience all that and hear those stories, humanise the struggle, because a lot of times you will see people looking at the struggle as a fairy tale or a fictional story. So it was good to sort of sit the boys down and, you know, say, "This was real, this happened, people went through it, and they are still here to tell the story."

So you are mentioning Patsy O'Hara there, and we know that there was a very young person, an 18-year-old, who was arrested, I believe in Derry, for wearing a Patsy O'Hara T-shirt. Can you tell us what this means in relation to the regime in the occupied 6 counties persecuting republicans?

He was arrested in Derry, this 18-year-old kid. He has been arrested on terrorism charges, based on the terrorism legislation, for wearing a t-shirt. You know, that paints a picture of how bad it is. If you did not believe before how bad the State persecution of republicans is, now you know. They are arresting literal children on terrorism charges for wearing a t-shirt commemorating a hunger striker.

Yeah, well, that was a particularly sad, sad case, you know, because the boy was just wearing a t-shirt. At the end of the day, it is just a t-shirt. Even the smallest form of resistance, wearing a t-shirt with a resistance fighter's face on it, is enough for the State to charge you on terrorism legislation.

The bail conditions which that lad has now to adhere to are ridiculous if you really take a look at it. He cannot talk to a lot of his friends, he cannot be in a certain place, has to be in after a certain time, has to be readily available for the cops anytime they want to speak to him and so on.

It is sad, because they are trying to ruin someone's life, someone so young too, for simply wearing a t-shirt. 

Would you say that the State has double standards when it comes to persecuting loyalists versus persecuting nationalist and republican activists and communities? 

I would say so. You see time and time again loyalists getting away with most things, to be fair, caught red-handed, and, you know, they are let off with it. And you see them side by side with the cops all the time at public meetings, events, shoulder to shoulder, where you would never see a genuine republican shoulder to shoulder with a cop. Revolutionary republicans, genuine republicans, are treated much differently. They are treated like criminals. 

It is all part of the persecution of republicans. 

As you said, there were also arrests in Strabane, in relation to a march that IRSM held in April 2026. Can you speak to that? 

Yeah, so last year, maybe two years ago now, there was a commemoration in Strabane in which the RSYM led the dignified colour party. This colour party was in black and white, you know, they were wearing white t-shirts, they had no militant gear on whatsoever, and subsequently they were arrested, and a lot of them still face court.

Our boys were still up in court from that up until a few weeks ago. It was ridiculous. It is not even like they are parading through the streets masked up or anything, or in anything they could call terrorist gear or whatever. They were wearing white shirts and black ties. So, you know, you cannot win. It is just what you are going to face from the State. It is ridiculous.

You said, you know, here in Costello House, the PSNI always come around and search. It is an everyday occurrence, this intimidation of republicans, would you say?

Yeah, even while you have been here, the cops have driven past numerous times, looking in, seeing what is going on. Listen, republicans are well used to it by now. It is harassment at the end of the day. All genuine republicans are going to face it, so that is just something you have to accept when you are getting involved.

Yes, and so you were showing me around Costello House, and there is a very interesting and very nice poster here about republican prisoners. And obviously, people know about republican prisoners throughout the decades, but are there republican prisoners today? What can we do to support them, and what organisations are there to support them? 

Listen, of course republican prisoners still exist today, contrary to popular belief. There are republican prisoners in Magaberry, Hydebank and Portlaoise prisons. You know, a lot of so-called republicans would like to deny their existence. Rather, not deny it, just pretend, lie to themselves that they do not exist anymore. Some so-called republicans would even refer to them as criminals.

You know, their political status, which the hunger strikers died for, was quietly ripped away after the Good Friday Agreement. So they actually had to struggle for that in the early 2010s again, where there were even members of our own movement on the dirty protest. And they won, they got the August Agreement. So there is somewhat political status intact in the jails now.

But look, what those boys go through on a daily basis is absolutely shocking, and it is up to us and to awareness groups to bring that up, make sure they are not forgotten. And I feel sorry for them because they are inside, and, you know, the vast majority of people would pretend that they are not there. So it is particularly sad.

The IRPWA, is an organization which supports modern-day republican prisoners. 

What does that stand for, the IRPWA, for our readers?

Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association. So they would hold protests, pickets, etc., and, you know, raise awareness that republican prisoners still exist. And that is also a big focal point for the RSYM.  

One of the campaigns that the IRSM runs is about Seán Carlin's case. Can you tell us a bit about who Seán Carlin is and why you are running this campaign? 

Well, Seán Carlin is on the Ard Chomhairle of the IRSP. The State tried to blacken his name. The State and the State rags, the Sunday papers, tried to blacken his name and send him down. You know, they failed spectacularly, and Seán is now taking them to court. And, look, what they did to him was ridiculous. They slandered him every other day in the papers, pretending that he is someone that he is not. Seán is a good man. And I hope that justice is served eventually for Seán and his family and for what they had to go through during that whole case. So yes, best of luck to him.

So you were talking about the Good Friday Agreement. What is your view on the Good Friday Agreement, and do you think that Sinn Féin betrayed the revolution? Do you agree with what Brendan “The Dark” Hughes, was saying and predicting about what would happen to the working class? 

Our party also predicted it back then. We were against the Good Friday Agreement then, and we are against it now. The Good Friday Agreement has been superseded by various other agreements, you know. It is not in place anymore. Sinn Féin and other parties build it up as if it was God's gift to the North of Ireland. 

People are not any better off now than they were then. Suicide rates in the North are ridiculous since the Good Friday Agreement. You know, people are still struggling. These are still poverty-stricken areas. 

It is the working class that is being left behind by Sinn Féin and the Good Friday Agreement.

Maybe the middle class got a lot from the Good Friday Agreement, but the working class got nothing. And we held that position through the period in which the negotiations were going on. You can go back and read what the IRSP was putting out about the Good Friday Agreement. And we still hold that position now. We have been proven right.

Sinn Féin, through the Good Friday Agreement, transitioned into a constitutional nationalist party, whereas they would still call themselves revolutionary republicans, which is laughable, to say the least. We are not here to talk about Sinn Féin, however, that is just funny, how they can look themselves in the mirror and call themselves republicans in this day and age.

What was your reaction to Andy Burnham's comments just recently? It was expected, of course, but this time it exploded all over mainstream media too. However, a lot of people are now beginning to see through the illusions of the Good Friday Agreement. 

The Good Friday Agreement was celebrated as a republican win. Look at the agreement. Who has the power to grant us a referendum or a border poll or anything like that? It is the Secretary of State planted there by the Brits. So we cannot turn around at any point and say, look, listen, we have a nationalist majority, give us our referendum, with any real leverage. 

They are going to say no, and we cannot do anything about it. 

Under the Good Friday Agreement, you know, Sinn Féin's comments on what Andy Burnham said there were: “he should not have said it” or “it is not up to him”. Well, it is not up to you either, you know. You signed this agreement, you wanted this agreement, and now it is coming back to bite you. And I think many republicans have looked at themselves after he shrugged that off. What are we doing here then? There is a political path, some say. Is there a political path? Because I personally do not -  and I am not talking on behalf of the RSYM here - I personally believe that there is no way to vote into a socialist republic. 

Maybe you can vote into a capitalist United Ireland, within the European Union. This is what we are actually sleep walking into right now, at the behest of Sinn Féin. However, we are fighting for a 32-county socialist republic.

So, with Fergie Chambers's arrest, we talked a bit about the persecution of republicans in the occupied 6 counties, but we also see an intensification of State persecution and surveillance on republicans also in the 26 counties. And then we recently also heard the news that Fergie Chambers was arrested at the behest of the US in Spain. So, as part of the European Union and in Ireland, both in the occupied 6 and the 26 counties, can you speak a bit to the dangers of political repression, of the police gaining more powers and using that to crush pro-Palestine, republican, socialist activism? 

As you know, and as your followers will know, the police are just the enforcers of the State, the protectors of the State, on a street level. Anything the State says goes. So you see a lot of people being arrested at the behest of the State in the 26 counties. You know, the repression that republicans face in the 26 counties is not any better than the repression that we face in the North.

Just because the police service name is in Irish does not mean that they care about republicans or have any sort of affiliation to republicans. They do not care. Even in Portlaoise, how many republican prisoners are sitting out sentences, and they are getting badly beaten and so on. The Gardaí are trying to crush the pro-Palestine movement and many other revolutionary campaigns in the South.

You are going to face it everywhere, North and South. Two capitalist States, two capitalist serfdoms. The solution is the 32-county socialist republic.

We have seen some direct action from a group called the Republican Socialist Action Group (RSA) who are targeting landlords who charge exorbitant rents in working-class areas. Can you speak a bit about why that is important and also about the broader housing policy in the North and the South of Ireland? 

I cannot speak on behalf of RSA, but I can only assume that they have turned around to themselves, and said: "look, we cannot let this go on any longer".  Working-class families are being priced out of working-class areas. Gentrification is rife. The level of gentrification is rife in areas like West Belfast.

I assume RSA have then decided to take up the direct action campaign for which they are now known for. And it seems to be working. Northern Property has been active in an area called Beechmount. They took all the listings offline so activists could not see it and could not get there.

I would see that as a win for RSA. I can only assume they would see that as a win too. All left-wing people, all genuine left-wing people, should give congratulations to them because they are doing very good work.

There are a lot of republican groups operating both in the 26 counties and in the occupied 6 counties. Are there plans to deepen cooperation with republican groups and move towards unity, especially now that republicanism seems to be getting more popular as people see through the illusions of Sinn Féin and the illusions of the Good Friday Agreement? 

We are in a great place with cross-party and cross-movement relations. You see that genuine revolutionary republicanism is gaining popularity. It is amazing to see, and of course we would like to strengthen relations between groups. Campaign to campaign, protest to protest, standing hand in hand, because that is when we are strongest. That is when the State fears us the most, when we are unified. It is great that republicans are starting to work together. 

So the IRSM has a policy of engaging with working-class communities and also around issues concerning immigration. There might have been some confusion among some sectors of the Left on what the IRSM's stance is, so can you explain to us what the IRSM's policy on immigration is? 

The IRSM have what we would call a common-sense approach to immigration, in which we say that the working class themselves should have a say and control the borders of this country, to say who is let in and who is not. So that is not to say: “I am a racist and close the borders”. What I am saying is that currently, we do not have a say in it, which is wrong.

This has nothing to do with skin colour or ethnicity, or where they are from, it does not matter to me. I just uphold the principle, and the IRSM uphold the principle, that we should have a say in it, which we currently do not have. This is all our immigration policy is. It is not some sort of, right-wing, “Get them out!” view, which a lot of people on the liberal left seem to make it out to be. That is all it is. It is common sense. You are not a racist if you state that the workers, who we represent, should have a say in immigration into this country.