“The Irish Republican Socialist Party give our full backing to Roisin (Brendan’s Partner) and the Friends Of Brendan Lillis Campaign in their sterling efforts to see Brendan released from his unjust incarceration in Maghaberry Gaol.
We, like the campaign, demand that Brendan Lillis is released from Gaol immediately on compassionate grounds, we demand that the Review Commission find in Brendan’s favour on Monday and have the courage to take the right, the Fair and the just decision that the Stormont chinless puppet, that is David Ford, failed to take on Friday past!
Brendan Lillis is not a danger to any human being alive, that is FACT, that is TRUE and for David Ford to say otherwise flies in the face of both medical evidence and natural justice!
Brendan Lillis is suffering from Ankylosing Spondylitis, it is a condition that I am personally aware of having had a close relative die from the condition a number of years ago. It is a recognised medical condition that causes severe curvature of the spine, the spinal-discs fuse together, eventually leaving the sufferer unable to walk, lie down and severely restricts the ability to breath.
Brendan Lillis is suffering from a debilitating and life limiting condition, all he, Roisin, his family and all of us here tonight are demanding is that Brendan is released to spend the rest of his life with his family, his medical condition is not going to go away.
It is worth stating that Brendan Lillis who already spent 16 years of his life languishing in a British Gaol and is in fact being held as a political hostage, alongside others including Marion Price and Martin Corry. Does being a dissenter carry a life sentence in the New Ireland of equals??
I believe that we all understood the sentiments of Bobby Sands, when he wrote:
‘let our revenge be the laughter of our children’
…. Listen…….not much of the laughter is to be heard there…!
The IRSP are calling here tonight for Brendan Lillis to be released into the arms of his family and friends immediately! If he is not released we need to work together, all political parties, all former political prisoners and the wider community at large.
This campaign is not going to go away. I will finish with a quote from another Irish republican Hunger striker, Patsy O Hara, INLA volunteer, that I believe has a resonance with the campaign to free Brendan Lillis,
Patsy said:
“Years from now they will ask you where you were when your comrades were dying on hunger strike. Shall you say you were with us or shall you say that you were conforming to the very system that drove us to our deaths?”
STAND UP AND BE COUNTED, FREE BRENDAN LILLIS NOW!
Go raibh Mhaith Agaibh..”
(Paul Little, IRSP)
