Images
Sinn Fein is the fastest growing party on the island of Ireland.
Martin McGuinness
They were two very religious people. My father was a foundry worker and was a daily Mass attender, as was my mother.
It was traumatic for my children to see the British army en masse coming into our home and searching the house. I recall on one occasion, when our home was raided, my youngest son was standing at the top of the stairs - he would probably have been only three years of age - in his pyjamas. The soldiers came up the stairs, and he peed himself.
Let me put it like this: I am not prepared to officiate over on behalf of the British government what I think is a disastrous strategy which will impact on some of the most vulnerable and poorest people within our society.
World War One is an important part of Ireland's multi-layered history during which tens of thousands Irish people lost their lives.
As anyone who has tinnitus knows, it's not something that you can ignore, and you have to deal with it on a daily basis.
I will not be silenced or deterred.
In fact, I would defend to the death their right to express a different point of view.
I don't know what caused my tinnitus, but I started to become aware of a very low ringing noise in my right ear, which is now constantly there.
I think people see me as someone very much associated with political agreement and, probably more than anything else, being able to build a relationship with loyalist leaders Ian Paisley and Peter Robinson.
I am very proud I was part of the IRA in Derry and involved in repelling the designs of the British state forces against people who were being treated as second- and third-class citizens.
Unlike the Tory millionaires, I live in the heart of the proud working-class community of the Bogside in Derry.
As a young man on the streets of Derry, I saw Ian Paisley as an immortal opponent of everything to do with equality, justice, fairness, and respect for Irishness.
That's healthy and good for us that there are people who are prepared to question what we are doing.
Austerity is devastating these communities. The working poor, public sector workers, the disabled, and the vulnerable are the hardest hit by this bankrupt and ideologically driven policy.
I haven't done anything that I'm ashamed of.
Let everyone leave all the guns - British guns and Irish guns - outside the door.
Bill Clinton was one of the greatest presidents that we've seen. He was involved in the peace process in the very beginning, and he not only showed himself to be knowledgeable about Irish history and Irish-British relationships, but also he was very sympathetic to the idea of resolving conflict.
The engagements I had with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles were about reaching out and showing respect to the unionist people. I also recognised that when someone like her makes acts of reconciliation as she did do at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin, she is 100% behind the peace process.
I don't hate Peter Robinson, and I don't think Peter Robinson hates me.
I remember vividly as a 15-year-old, in 1964, seeing Derry play Glentoran in the Irish Cup Final at Windsor Park in Belfast. Glentoran were one of the two big Belfast teams, along with Linfield. Any rural team playing them was up against the odds.
I'm still an Irish republican; I absolutely believe in Irish unity and am working to achieve that. But over the course of 15 years or more, people like myself and others have been working to end the vicious cycle of conflict.
Ireland's place north and south is in Europe and leading change in Europe.
What's important is that, when you're tested, you stand firm against the violent activities of those who would try to plunge our people back into the misery of the past.
I believe a united Ireland is inevitable. I have never put a date on it.
The fact is that a car used by Gerry Adams and myself during the course of the Mitchell review was bugged by elements within British military intelligence.
It is Cameron's cabinet of millionaires who are the real spongers given free rein to live out their Thatcherite fantasies at the expense of ordinary, decent communities throughout these islands.
If Britain votes to leave the European Union, then that could have huge implications for the entire island of Ireland and, given all the predictions, would run counter to the democratic wishes of the Irish people.
The war against British rule must continue until freedom is achieved.
Well I think it has always been a mistake to reduce the peace process in Ireland to a decommissioning process.
The last thing we want to see, given the success of the peace process, is the return of installations along the Irish border.
When I went to the all-Ireland final - Kerry against Dublin - I couldn't get away for an hour and a half with people coming up and wishing me all the best. Not one of them said, 'Martin, when did you leave the IRA?' But every one of them knew I was in the IRA at one stage.
As a former member of the IRA, I accept all the responsibilities that are due to me. But in terms of the individual circumstances, I don't comment on that.
But the fact is that the vast majority of Republicans support the Sinn Fein leadership.
I want to work with Peter Robinson as first minister in a positive, constructive way and leave the elections to the electorate.
I would have felt ashamed if I had not been part of the resistance and part of fighting back against the forces of the state.
I do not think we can dismiss the contribution that people make, particularly when it is a very dangerous occupation to be involved in building support for the peace process.
We have to govern by treating every single citizen equally.
The sheer scale of what the Tories are attempting to do is staggering. But Sinn Fein will not agree to this ideologically driven austerity agenda.
I know who Queen Elizabeth represents. I know she's the head of the British state. I know she has all sorts of titles in relation to different regiments in the British army. She knows my history. She knows I was a member of the IRA. She knows I was in conflict with her soldiers, yet both of us were prepared to rise above all of that.
All I can do is to try and make the future better.
Sinn Fein is committed to promoting and enhancing reconciliation, and in recent years, I and other members of my party have taken a number of significant initiatives aimed to advance this process.
I will work with whoever is leader of the DUP.
We've had a very consistent position down the years. Sinn Fein is not in favour of abortion, and we resisted any attempt to bring the British 1967 Abortion Act to the north.
Let us walk into the conference room as equals and not second class citizens.
Remembering the loss of those Irishmen from all parts of the island who were sent to their deaths in the imperialist slaughter of the First World War is crucial to understanding our history. It is also important to recognise the special significance in which the Battle of the Somme and the First World War is held.
Within loyalism and the UVF, there are clearly people who are not just aggravated by the issue around flags or parades. They're aggravated by me and Sinn Fein being in government. They're opposed to the political institutions - there's an inability of a minority within loyalism to accept the concept of equality.
A lot of Labour people are telling me Labour is in poor shape.
The people who were marching at Peggy O'Hara's funeral gave the impression they were associated with the INLA, which is supposed to be on ceasefire and to have decommissioned some of their weapons. I ask if they could have honoured her in a more dignified way.
There are many things we can do with Scotland and, indeed, with others which would be hugely beneficial to both Scotland and to Ireland, so I'm absolutely up for all of that.