It is hard to believe at times that we are fast approaching a quarter century since we lost Seamus Costello through the murderous actions of counter-revolutionaries. Certainly there were those who were uncertain that the still young Irish Republican Socialist Party and Irish National Liberation Army could survive the loss of such a brilliant and charismatic leader.

When that death was followed by the murders that stole from us Miriam Daly, Ronnie Bunting and Noel Lyttle, Ta Power, and Gino Gallagher, along with a host of other comrades of exceptional talents, it seemed impossible that our movement would survive; and yet here we are today. The Irish Republican Socialist Movement is today stronger, more unified, more active, and more able than at any time since the start of the 1980s.

There was a time when many of us anxiously awaited the coming of a new Seamus Costellosome exceptionally gifted leader who would move us forward, but we have learned that the success of any movement rests not on any single leader of historic stature, but on the collective efforts of everyday working women and men, relying on oneanother to provide leadership and support.

Men like Seamus Costello are the rare gifts of history, who shape us with their vision and insight and help to urge us forward, but the success of a movement requires something more. It requires ordinary women and men of the working class to develop trust in their own abilities, recognition of their own contribution, knowledge that a movement is not to be judged by the awe-inspiring light of its leading comrade, but by the collective efforts of all of its members.

In the act of transforming our movement into a collectively led organisation, in which the contribution of every member is respected and which bases its trust in the ability of common working people to confront difficulties and determine strategy and tactics to address them, the Irish Republican Socialist Movement has accomplished the greatest tribute possible to the genius and inspiration provided by Seamus Costello. Marx, Engels, Connolly, and Costello all looked to the working people of the world, and of Ireland, in order to determine The Way Forward. From the working class, they drew out the course that must be followed. If we are to achieve victory, it will be by each and every member of this movement's rank-and-file recognising her or his responsibility for the success and direction of the movement. We demonstrate that we have benefited from the gift history has given us when it brought forward these individuals of greatness, when their inspiration allows us to see we are also collectively capable of greatness.

The North American comrades of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement join with our comrades and friends assembled today in Bray to pay tribute to a man of exceptional greatness, Seamus Costello. We also applaud the comrades assembled here this day for playing their part in ensuring that contact with Costello's greatness was not squandered. The most lasting and important tribute to the memory of Seamus Costello possible, is the building and developing of the party and army he helped to create into vital organisations in the service of the working class people of Ireland. The IRSP and INLA are the true monument to the memory of Seamus Costellocomrades, let us continue to build that monument.