LIAM LYNCH , IRA LEADER ; THE FERMOY ATTACK , 1919 .......



.......on Sunday , 7th September , 1919 , twenty-five IRA Volunteers took up position around the Wesleyan Church gates in Fermoy , Cork --- they were waiting to ambush a British Army patrol , and take their weapons .......


The IRA Unit mingled with the people at the church gates and in the grounds . At the same time , other IRA men were preparing to topple two trees across the road at Carrickbrick , outside Fermoy --- the agreed route of escape for the IRA cars .


The IRA Unit at the Church received word at about ten-forty-five A .M. on that Sunday morning that fifteen armed British soldiers , led by a Corporal , had minutes beforehand left their Barracks and were marching towards the Church for eleven A. M. Mass , as per usual ; as the Brits marched off the road onto the footpath to enter the Church grounds , they were surrounded by the IRA Unit , most of whom were armed -- some of the Volunteers were only there to load the captured weapons into the cars .

Liam Lynch shouted at the British patrol to surrender , telling them that it was just the weapons that they were after this time , and not the soldiers . The Brits were stunned and surprised to find themselves in that position , and a number of them went to fire their rifles ; the IRA men fired first and , in a brief but bloody gun-battle , four British soldiers fell to the ground -- one was dead , the other three were badly wounded ....... (MORE LATER).



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .


CLASHMEALCON CAVES.......


".......a Free State Officer entered the room ; he looked at the IRA prisoners . He knew their names --- he wanted Rudge Hathaway first : his hands were tired behind his back and he was thrown on the floor ......."



" Then Greaney's hands were tied and he was flung down on the floor . They had hurt him : he was moaning . Catherine McEnery could not move . The look she had seen , half in imagination , on her brother's face , was there in reality now -- the look of a man facing a hard death . With violence , muttering terrible threats , they seized him and bound his hands and flung him beside the others on the floor .

Jim McGrath was taken out to the lorries , then the three were thrown in , on the floor , under the soldiers' feet . Catherine saw her brother looking up at her once with that tense , enduring look on his face . Then the lorries were driven off . The story of the fight at Clashmealcon Caves was in all the newspapers ; Father Tom McEnery , Jim's brother , had rushed home from England . A petition for the prisoners's lives was signed by thousands .

Rumours were flying through Tralee --- the prisoners , it was said , had been beaten almost to death . Father Tom was all night and day at the barrack gate , but no one was let in to them at all ........" (MORE LATER).




OUT.......

[from ' The Sunday Business Post ' , 3rd May , 1998 , page 16]


" (The Good Friday Agreement) means that Britain is out of the equation . " --- Bertie Ahern .

Good man, Bertie -- you just don't have a clue , do ya .....?



.....OUT.......

[from ' AP/RN ' , 22nd May , 1997 , page 9]


" There is no point in pretending that a partitionist solution is possible . It is now widely accepted that an internal settlement is not a solution . "

Definately not a solution to the British presence ; but a 'solution' , nonetheless , a ' ray of hope ' , for career politicians hoping to make a living by deception .....


.......OUT ---->

[from ' AP/RN ' , 5th February , 1998 , page 8 - Editorial Column]


<---- " An internal Six County settlement is not a solution to the conflict . A Six-County Assembly would institutionalise the Unionist veto . "

And that has happened ; still , a small price to pay for a pension , eh , lads ? Especially as it's future generations that will pay for it .......

---

¶ 8:08 AM

  LIAM LYNCH , IRA LEADER ; THE FERMOY ATTACK , 1919 .......


.......the plan to attack the RIC minders , the British Army , was rejected by IRA GHQ ; Liam Lynch and Michael Fitzgerald gave a detailed account of their proposed plan to GHQ on a second visit , and got the go-ahead .......



It had been observed that a party of up to twenty armed British soldiers , stationed in Fermoy Barracks in Cork , marched to Mass each Sunday morning to the local Wesleyan Church , about half a mile from their barracks . At that time , Fermoy was a stronghold for the British Army and one of the last places where the Brits would expect an attack . The IRA plan was to carry-out just such an operation .

A number of sites in which to dump the liberated weapons would be needed -- these were sourced and secured ; two cars would be required to transport the goods out of the area quickly -- that was arranged . Finally , a method to stop those in pursuit of the escaping cars was required -- that , too , was arranged .

On Sunday , 7th September , 1919 , the plan was put into action ; twenty-five IRA Volunteers , including Liam Lynch and Michael Fitzgerald , took up position around the Wesleyan Church gates in Fermoy ....... (MORE LATER).



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by DOROTHY MACARDLE - first published in 1924 .


CLASHMEALCON CAVES .......


".......the IRA prisoners were held captive by Free State troops ; they were not ill-treated . A Free State Officer entered the room and looked at the IRA men --- he ordered one of the men , Rudge Hathaway , to be taken to the caves ......."


" " They're taking us to the caves to finish us , " Jim McEnery said , and he implored his sister , Catherine , to follow Rudge . But she cared most for her brother , and would not leave him . They sat in silence , waiting again . It was not long before poor Rudge staggered in , trembling and bleeding and groaning . He could not tell what had been done to him .

The rest sat waiting still . It grew dark . Three cars tore up to the house . The Free State soldiers jumped up --- " Hancock's coming ! " someone shouted . The door opened : an Officer , a big man , strode in . The Free Staters saluted him ; the IRA prisoners looked at him , and he at them . " Are these the prisoners ? " he said , slowly . " Is this McEnery ? Is this Greaney ? This the Englishman ? At last ! "

Rudge Hathaway was bleeding . They knotted his hands behind his back and threw him down on the floor ....... " (MORE LATER).



AN UNNECESSARY CONTINUATION ....... --->


....... <--- " I believe in the United Kingdom . I value the Union . My agenda is not a united Ireland . None of us in this hall today , even the youngest , is likely to see Northern Ireland (sic) as anything but a part of the United Kingdom . That is the reality , because the consent principle is now almost universally accepted . "


So said the present British Prime Minister , Tony Blair , speaking in Belfast on 16th May , 1997 .


The " consent principle " , Mr. Blair ? By whose " consent " did you and yours come here in the first place ? By whose " consent " do you claim jurisdiction over six Irish counties ? By whose " consent " do you maintain an armed military presence in this country ?

Certainly not by the consent of the majority of the people in Ireland . You will share responsibility with other British Prime Ministers for the imposition of another eight-hundred-and-thirty-four years of war on future generations . And regardless of what type of deal you strike with Bertie Ahern , Gerry Adams or David Trimble ( or whoever it is you strike the deal with ) unless that deal contains a date for a British military and political withdrawal from Ireland , it will be worthless .

This is the 21st Century , Mr. Blair --- your people have been in conflict in this country since the 12th Century . The sun does set on the British 'Empire' , your country does not " rule the waves " anymore and the claim that British troops are in Ireland as " peacekeepers " between the " Catholics and Protestants " has long since been exposed as false .


COURAGE , MR.BLAIR --- LEAVE NOW .....

---

¶ 7:22 AM

  LIAM LYNCH , IRA LEADER - THE FERMOY ATTACK , 1919 .......


.......as Commander of the Cork No. 2 Brigade IRA, Liam Lynch wanted to launch an attack on those that were attempting to protect the British 'police'-force (RIC) in Ireland --- the British Army.......


Liam Lynch contacted IRA General Head Quarters to seek approval for this as yet untried 'twist' to an old plan , but the leadership thought it unwise to proceed with the action and turned him down ; at the time , the IRA attacks on RIC barrack's were obtaining the desired results --- extra weapons for the rebels with a mimimum of casualties : " if its not broke , don't fix it . "

But Lynch persisted ; the other IRA Volunteer in charge of the Cork No.2 Brigade , Michael Fitzgerald , was convinced that Lynch's idea was sound , so both men put together a plan of attack which they intended to take back to GHQ .

On the strength of that plan and with both Lynch and Fitzgerald insisting that it would work , they got the go-ahead for the operation ....... (MORE LATER).



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by DOROTHY MACARDLE - first published in 1924 .


CLASHMEALCON CAVES.......


".......with Aero Lyons dead , the other men in the cave gave up . Jim McEnery , soaking wet and starving , was brought up first by the Free Staters......."


" Greaney and Rudge Hathaway were brought up , and Jimmy McGrath . Greaney had a mad look on his face . Father Cahill said something reproachful to him as he passed , and a Free State soldier protested : " Why do you want to throw water on a drowned rat ? " .

Their vengeance seemed to have spent itself on Aero Lyons . The soldiers were kind . They let the prisoners warm themselves at the fire and put on dry clothes ; the woman gave them hot tea , and gradually their senses came back . They sat smoking , waiting ...... Jim McEnery said --- " They are going to finish us here . " His wife came to him with their little son . He took the boy in his arms and began to cry .

That was about four o' clock . Nothing was done to them , nothing happened , for about three hours ; then they heard a car drive up . A Free State Officer came in , a small man , with a white , smiling face . He looked from one to another and recognised the Englishman , Rudge Hathaway . " Now : get to the caves ! " he ordered . Rudge had to obey . He went out ....... " (MORE LATER).




LOSING.......

[from ' The Sunday Tribune ', 1st March , 1998 , page 13]


" The peace process has failed . The party should not go back to the talks . They are not a stepping stone to a united Ireland or to disengagement . Adams played his hand well , but it was a selected hand and it was'nt the best one in the game . Long term he has to lose . "


--- Jim McAllister , former member of Provisional Sinn Fein's Ard Chomhairle .

Adams' " selected hand " was one he dealt to himself ; too few 'aces' and too many 'jokers' .....




.......AND LYING ---->

[from ' AP/RN ' , 11th September , 1997 , page 5]


<---- " Decommissioning on our part would be tantamount to surrender . "


--- Provisional IRA statement ( issued days after Provisional Sinn Fein accepted the ' Mitchell Principles ' on 9th September , 1997 ) , intended to keep the remainder of their foot-soldiers happy .

Tell ' The Suits ' you're selling-out to that you will decommission and at the same time tell your own people there's not a chance of that happening !

Remember T.U.A.S ? " Totally Un-Armed Strategy " (for the suits) and " Tactical Use of Armed Struggle " (for the foot-soldiers) .

It must be obvious to all but those who refuse to see it --- the Adams Family are not lying to their new-found 'friends' - the Suits .

---

¶ 12:17 PM

  LIAM LYNCH , IRA LEADER ; THE FERMOY ATTACK , 1919 .


Sunday , 7th September , 1919 ; the date usually recognised for the first planned , organised and co-ordinated IRA attack against British forces in Ireland since the 1916 Rising .


During the Black and Tan war ( which started on 21st January , 1919 ) IRA units attacked Royal Irish Constabulary ( RIC - a British 'police'-force in Ireland ) barracks on a regular basis to ' relieve ' them of their weapons , which were then used against them .

The Commander of an IRA Brigade , Liam Lynch ( Cork No. 2 Brigade ) , realised that he could use the frequency of IRA attacks on the RIC to his advantage ; by mounting a surprise attack on those that were endeavouring to protect the RIC --- the British Army ....... (MORE LATER).



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .


CLASHMEALCON CAVES .......


".......the Free Staters lowered a rope for Aero Lyons to climb up on -- as he got to the top , the rope ' snapped ' and he fell about one-hundred feet . The Staters riddled his body with bullets then . A priest was at the scene by now ......."


" The Free State Officer in charge wanted the priest , Fr. Cahill , to go down to Lyons and his comrades on a rope . " Will you stay down and starve or come up and be shot ? " was the message he was to bring . If only they would drown themselves , now , Catherine McEnery thought....

While Fr. Cahill stood hesitating about the message , Jim McEnery came out on the ledge and put up his hands . Some soldiers forced Catherine McEnery into a house , for fear , perhaps , of what she might see next . When she looked out from the window she saw four soldiers leading Jim in ; he was swaying between them , his head hanging limply .

She ran out and cried out to him and he looked at her with staring eyes : water was streaming from his clothes -- his face was as white as death . " Who are they all round me ? " , he was asking wildly . " Don't shoot him ! " she implored the soldiers . " No , no , " , they answered, " we won't . " ........(MORE LATER).



WAR.......

[from 'AP/RN ', 12th March , 1998 , page 20]


Speaking in Kerry on 1st March , 1998 , Gerry Kelly said that the 26-County State was founded on the basis of war crimes for which it has yet to answer ; the following week , on the 7th March , 1998 , Martin Ferris said the same .


So that's why the Provos ( and their daughters ) want into the State apparatus ; to make them answer ( or pay £££ ) for their war crimes.....



....... CRIMES ---->

[from ' AP/RN ' , 9th April , 1998 , page 4]


John Kelly , Provisional Sinn Fein Councillor for Maghera at the time ( and now recently 'retired' ) , stated --

-- " We know a united Ireland will not result from this phase of the struggle (but) we are not prepared to put our name to any settlement that copperfastens partition . "


You've resigned from the Provos now , John , and better late than never... But...

..... the people you supported from 1986 to date " put their name to a settlement that copperfastened partition " and you did support them in that , for the last 17 years . All that time telling true Republicans that they were wrong . WHAT A WASTE .......

---

¶ 7:24 AM

  13 HOURS IN NEW ROSS , WEXFORD - 5th JUNE , 1798.......



.......after winning and losing the town twice , in two battles within hours of each other , one of the leaders of the United Irishmen rebel army , John Kelly , led a third attack . He was badly wounded in that assault and Mary Doyle burned to death .......



Both sides were by now exhausted . One of the surviving United Irishmen , a Thomas Cloney , described the last battle as a free-for-all " with two confused masses of men struggling alternatively to drive the other back by force alone . " For the third time in 13 hours , the Irish Rebels were forced out of their own town -- they had lost the battle this time .

Lord Mountjoy , who was in command of a British force from Dublin , was killed during the fight ; the three Irish Rebel leaders --- Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey , Fr. Philip Roche and John Kelly --- escaped , but were captured within a few weeks by the Brits and put to death in Wexford town .

The 13 hour fight on 5th June , 1798 , the thousands of Irish Rebels killed in that and other battles , the public execution of the leaders of the New Ross attack , and the destruction of Irish towns : but still the same spirit of resistance exists today -- hopefully we will never learn .......


[END].



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , BY DOROTHY MACARDLE -- FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1924.


CLASHMEALCON CAVES.......


".......the Free State troops threw a rope down to Aero Lyons ; his mother knew nothing of the siege -- at the same time as her son began to climb the rope , an old 'grandfather' clock in the kitchen beside his mother , chimed twelve times . The clock had not worked in fifteen years ......."


" What happened on the cliffs edge is not known . Free State soldiers boasted afterwards to their prisoners that some of them cut the rope ; other people say that this is not true . The rope was thin and rotten , it is said . All that is known is this : when Aero Lyons almost reached the top , the rope snapped and he crashed on the rocks below .

The people heard a dreadful cry below and a wild yell of triumph above . Sea-birds flew up madly into the air . Then came the sharp crackle of the machine-gun . Lyons lay on the ridge of the rock below , maybe a hundred feet down . Greaney and McEnery and Hathaway sprang to him , out of the cave , but he was riddled by the gun-fire while he lay . When they lifted him he was dead . The firing went on and on . Father Cahill stood with his arms lifted on the edge of the cliff ---

--- " Savages ! Stop shooting ! " he cried . He gave Conditional Absolution , standing there on the ridge , to the man below . Then all was quiet for a while . The air was full of the smell of tar . Catherine McEnery was hoping only for one thing now . She hoped they would drown themselves . They were sending up answers to the Free State officers' notes ........" (MORE LATER).



LICKS .......

[from ' Magill ' Annual , 1987 , page 39 ]


On the 24th October , 1986 , Peter Voss , former Vice-Chairperson of the U S Postal Service , was sentenced to four years in prison for accepting bribes in connection with a two-hundred-and-fifty million dollar postal-sorting equipment contract . Voss was Co-Chairperson of Ronald Reagans election campaign in Ohio in 1980 !

Maybe he should've got four years for that too .....



.......AND STICKS ---->

[from ' The Sunday Tribune ' , 10th August , 1986 , page 4]


<---- An ' Independent ' member of Leinster House ( ex-Labour Party member ) Sean Treacy described Conor Cruise O'Brien as " spineless and supine , ( full of ) unprincipled shoneenism . " !

He continued --- " You could say that Labour is now just a rump of Fine Gael . Conor Cruise O'Brien tried to make it a rump of the Unionist Party . "


And now it has made itself a rump of the Stickies .......

---

¶ 7:45 AM

  13 HOURS IN NEW ROSS , WEXFORD - 5th JUNE , 1798 .......


....... on 5th June , 1798 , the Irish Rebels attacked the British forces in the town of New Ross , and took the town ; but it was a short-lived victory --- the Brits re-grouped and forced the Rebels out . The rebels prepared for their second assault .......



The United Irishmen rebel army attacked again and were successful for a second time ; however , before they could consolidate their gain , the Brits gathered their remaining forces and drove the Rebels back --- it is believed to be at this point ( ie the second Irish retreat ) that Mary Doyle , who had once again being ' liberating ' enemy weapons , grabbed-on to a British cannon and vowed to stay with the gun regardless of what happened !

Her own comrades could only get her to safety by wheeling the weapon out of the town , with Mary Doyle said to be sitting on the barrel of same !

The town of New Ross was now on fire , with buildings crumbling and hundreds , if not thousands , of bodies strewn around ; one of the leaders of the United Irishmen , John Kelly ( from Killane ) assembled the remnants of the Rebel Army for one last push , which he led . It was in that last attack that Kelly was badly wounded and Mary Doyle was killed by one of the many fires which now consumed the town ....... (MORE LATER).



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , BY DOROTHY MACARDLE - FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1924 .


CLASHMEALCON CAVES .......


"....... Aero Lyons was the first of the trapped IRA men to leave the cave ; when the Free State soldiers recognised him from their cliff-top vantage point , they screamed that they were going to butcher him . He passed a note to the Staters telling them he would surrender on his own , and hand over the rifles ......."


" His enemies would hear of no terms for surrender . Catherine McEnery heard of the surrender at eleven o' clock . She knew what had to be done then : she sent two cars away for the priests . It was just mid-day when a rope , brought out in a lorry , was lowered to Lyons from the cliffs , and he knotted it and began to climb up . Mrs Lyons , his mother , tells of a strange thing that happened at that time in the house in Kilflyn .

The cottage is remote from the roads , and they heard no word at all of the siege at the caves . She was sitting in the kitchen ; her young son and daughter were about the house . The father was mending the fence outside the door . A round pendulum clock hangs on the wall , an heirloom , long past work . Its one hand had been hanging at the figure six , motionless , for fourteen or fifteen years . At mid-day they heard the clock strike .....

The four of them gathered round it , staring , counting the strokes . The hand had moved up to the figure twelve and it struck twelve times......." .......(MORE LATER).



CLEAR AS MUCK .......

[from ' AP/RN ' , 3rd February , 2000 , page 9]


Speaking in Newry , County Down , on Sunday , 30th January , 2000 , Gerry Adams stated ---


--- " It is clear that if this process collapses , it is clear that if the Unionists walk out of the process , it is clear that if the British Government is spooked into suspending the process on a Unionist threat to walk out , that decommissioning is never going to happen . "


The Brits and the Unionists can do what they like with " the process " , when they like and as often as they like , Gerry -- you've nowhere else to go except into their waiting arms ; after they have completely neuterd you and yours .

Still , on the bright side -- it should give you enough material for another book ! *


( * Suggested title's ---->

<---- " Please , Sir - Can I have My Balls Back " ;

" How To Sell-Out Victoriously " ;

" How To Finance A Holiday-Home By Selling Your Country " ;

" How I Mingled With Statesmen And Still Kept The Smell Of Sulphur " .

End of this chapter.......

---

¶ 8:36 AM

  13 HOURS IN NEW ROSS , WEXFORD - 5TH JUNE , 1798 .......


.......set-up outside New Ross and ready to attack the British forces in that town , the leader of the United Irishmen , Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey , sent a number of his men , under a flag of truce , to tell the British he was willing to accept their surrender and take prisoners .......



The British shot the truce party dead . The 13-hour battle was about to start :

: The Irish Rebel leadership gathered a huge herd of cattle and stampeded the animals towards the town ; the rebel army followed immediately behind the terrified beasts . The British outposts fell , and the Irish fought their way into the middle of New Ross , meeting strong resistance -- the Brits retreated , re-grouped , and succeeded in forcing the United Irishmen army out of the town .

Some of the Irish Rebels were reluctant to lose the ground they had gained , and had to be practically dragged away by their own comrades ; one such rebel was Mary Doyle , who ran from body to body of dead and dying enemy soldiers , finishing them off or just making sure they were dead before removing their ammunition belts and weapons which she then distributed to her own side !

After taking and then losing the town , which was now partly on fire , the Rebels prepared to launch another attack ....... (MORE LATER).




THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .


".......after pounding the cave for thirty hours with heavy weaponry , the Free Staters decided to send a scout to investigate . What would he find .......?"


" While the Free State soldiers were making ready to go down a call was heard below , away to the right ; then a savage triumphant yell from the cliff's edge .

Aero Lyons had come out on to the ledge below and put his hands up . They had been starved out . The tide rose to the foot of the second cave and the waves swept in . Saturated with salt-water and parched with thirst , weak and trembling from cold and want of food , they would have sunk into delirium very soon .

The thought of Jim McEnery's wife and child was troubling Lyons . " What will we do ," he kept saying , " about your wife and child ? " He knew well what fate awaited him if he were taken . He was going over plans in his head . " It would not be right for me , " he said , " to slip into the sea . "

There was joy like the joy of fiends above , when Aero Lyons was seen at last , living and trapped . " We'll butcher him ! " , some of the Free State soldiers screamed . Notes were passed up and down by cords . Lyons was trying to make terms . He would surrender himself and the rifles on condition that the rest should go free ........ " (MORE LATER)>



CHRISTMAS PRESSIES .......

[from ' Saoirse ' , January , 2000 , page 2]


On 6th December , 1999 , the members of the Stormont Assembly voted to give themselves a wage ( or should that be 'salary' ? ) increase ; ----

---- 'Ordinary' members went from Sterling £29,000 to £38,000 , those chairing committees and members of the Assembly commission voted to increase their money from £37,000 to £48,000 , a ' Deputy Chairperson ' would now be on £43,000 and two new ' Junior Minister ' positions were created ( on 15th December , 1999 ) at a wage/salary of £55,341 each .

The Stormont 'First Minister' was on £84,504 , as was the Deputy First Minister , but both would now be on £102,344 ! Other Ministers and ' Presiding Officers ' were on £69,451 each -- increased to £71,396 .

But that was back in 1999 ; one would no doubt find it difficult to maintain one's lifestyle in this , the 21st Century , on a 20th Century salary level .......


....... AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR ---->

[from ' The Sunday Tribune ' , 16th January , 2000 , page 21]


<---- Last week ( ie - early Jan 2000 ) the Stormont Assembly members voted themselves a generous redundancy package of half their annual ( recently increased ! ) salary in the event that the Assembly closes down !

As I've said here before , folks --- keep voting for them : there's a standard of living which your VIP's simply must adhere too .......

---

¶ 9:11 AM