Friday, May 13, 2005

A ROUGH DEAL .......


Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .


First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .


Eddie Gallagher was in one of 100 cars that travelled from Ballybofey to Derry for the funerals of those killed on Bloody Sunday . He was a labourer from the town but did not come from a particularly republican background - many of those on his father's side of the family had gone with de Valera " ... when he left the Republican Movement . "

According to Gallagher , he met many republicans during fishing rights agitation and civil rights marches in Britain during the 'sixties . In the early 'seventies , Eddie Gallagher was involved with Sinn Fein in Donegal , and in the anti-EEC campaigns .

He wanted to involve as many people as possible and considered that 'the policy of more gelignite' was " a winner . " His political views centered on emigration : it seemed to him that his entire school class was on a conveyor belt towards the Derry/Glasgow boat . He also wanted the British Army out of the North .......

(MORE LATER).




TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .

The Banqueting Room in Belfast's City Hall is used for the really big occasions ; it is there that politicians gather to hear the verdict of the electorate upon them . It is there that they are wined and dined in the successful years . A large stained glass window spells the message out for them : ' Pro Tanto , Quid Retribuamus ' - ' For All This , How Will We Repay You ' .

On Friday June 10th , 1983 , at 1.39pm the politicians of West Belfast gathered in the banqueting room and the verdict was read out : Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein was elected to Westminster . Gerry Fitt , who had held the seat since 1966 , was stripped of office . The RUC formed a massive funnel around Adams , down which he sped into the limelight of the world's media .

" There's more police protecting him than attacked me in Derry " quipped Gerry Fitt ; it was a joke for 'insiders' . Outwardly , the RUC were protecting Adams against the wrath of loyalists , gathered in Belfast City Hall , who did not like the election results , as seventeen years earlier they had protected Gerry Fitt against the loyalists who did'nt like the result then , either .

Unlike Fitt , though , Adams won't be referring to the matter in his maiden Westminster speech in London , England . The differences between the two Gerries was established as long ago as Monday , April 25th , 1966 . At 7pm , that day .......
(MORE LATER).




A MESSAGE OF HOPE TO OCCUPIED IRELAND ...... From 'The United Irishman' newspaper , Aibrean [April] 1957 , page 8.(IML. IX. UIMHIR 4 - price Tri Pingin [Three Pennies].Thanks to my late friends Christy and Theresa L. for giving me this 48-year-old newspaper ; this thread published in memory of those two old Fenians ! - John.


Jim Dolan , Election Agent for the successful Sinn Fein candidate John Joe Mac Fhearghaill , went on to say that in the course of the election campaign the Republican Movement had been at a great disadvantage because , as a result of arrests and internments , some of their very best speakers north and south had not been available to them .

Referring to meetings held during the election campaign on behalf of the candidate , John Joe , Jim Dolan said these had not been given one line of publicity in the daily press , while the organisation had been refused the use of Radio Eireann despite the fact that they had nineteen candidates in the field !

As a result of the lack of publicity given them , they had to fight their campaign and explain their policy from the tops of ditches and from chapel gates : " You all know , " said Jim Dolan , " that we were given no publicity , with one exception - a local newspaper . A few weeks ago , in the course of an Editorial , in another local paper , we were referred to as 'the people of lost causes and lost deposits .. ' , but the only deposit we lost was in Dublin , and that by a mere eight votes . I wonder what the Leader-writer will say after this election ... "

(MORE LATER).





Thursday, May 12, 2005

A ROUGH DEAL .......
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .

First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .



The arrest of Bernadette Devlin was a turning-point for the Provisional IRA ; a six-hour gun battle in the Short Strand in Belfast between Protestant groups and the Provos led many to believe that the British Army were unwilling to interfere .

In Derry , the population was saturated indiscriminately with CS gas . Three days after Bernadette Devlin was arrested , Joe Coyle , two children and two other men were burned to death in the house next door to where Marion Coyle had been born . The Provos said that he was a Staff Captain and that he had been killed in action ; it was claimed that an incendiary device was being made in the house .

The summer of 1971 saw her on holidays with friends in Bundoran , County Donegal , away from the tension of Derry . August 9th saw the last ditch attempt to prop up the Northern State and Brian Faulkner with the introduction of internment - over 300 were interned . The violence escalated as a direct result of this action . Then on the last day of January 1972 , thirteen Civil Rights marchers were shot dead by the British Army in Derry . Three days later , 30,000 people turned up in Dublin for the burning of the British Embassy .


None of these events on their own was enough to entice Marion Coyle to join the Provos although people were queueing up to do so .......

(MORE LATER).




THE ARMALITE AND THE BALLOT BOX ....... " We have now established a sort of Republican veto . ......" Michael Farrell interviews Gerry Adams MP , vice-president of Sinn Fein . From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 , pages 13 , 14 , and 17 .


MICHAEL FARRELL : " The referendum on the anti-abortion amendment will probably be held soon . What will Sinn Fein do about it ? "


GERRY ADAMS MP : " Probably nothing . You're into the silly situation there where Sinn Fein does'nt recognise the constitution of the Free State and can hardly take a stand on amending it . I would be against the amendment . I think it's nonsense , introduced for party political advantage , and does'nt deal at all with the issues involved , the conditions which force women to seek abortions . "


MICHAEL FARRELL : " You have recently developed links with people like Ken Livingstone , the leader of the Greater London Council . How much importance do you place on the development of a solidarity movement in Britain ? "


GERRY ADAMS : " We see it as very important . We decided some years ago to do all we could to encourage the development of an anti-war movement in Britain even if some of the elements in it were there for chauvinist reasons like not wanting their soldiers killed in Ireland . Recently we have refined our attitude somewhat and we are making an effort to develop contacts with people with influence in the British Labour Party .

This is especially important with the Labour Party in disarray after its defeat in the elections . Ken Livingstone thinks there may be a big swing to the Left and the party might eventually come to power committed to withdrawing from Ireland . "


[END of ' THE ARMALITE AND THE BALLOT BOX '].

(Tomorrow : ' TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK - THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GERRY FITT' ; by Neil McCafferty , first published in 1983 .)


A MESSAGE OF HOPE TO OCCUPIED IRELAND . From 'The United Irishman' newspaper , Aibrean [April] 1957 , page 8.(IML. IX. UIMHIR 4 - price Tri Pingin [Three Pennies].Thanks to my late friends Christy and Theresa L. for giving me this 48-year-old newspaper ; this thread published in memory of those two old Fenians ! - John.


Proposing a vote of thanks to the Returning Officer and his staff , for the manner in which the election count had been conducted , Jim Dolan , Election Agent for John Joe Mac Fhearghaill said he wished to take the opportunity of paying a personal tribute to Mr. Devins who had been most helpful and co-operative to him as one who was not very familiar with electioneering . The Returning Officer and his staff had given him every facility and he deeply appreciated this .

He felt very proud that the people in Sligo and Leitrim had raised the Sinn Fein flag once again by returning John Joe Mac Fhearghaill at the head of the poll . This was something which , three weeks ago , many people thought an impossibility and that , in fact, John Joe Mac Fhearghaill would be very lucky to save his deposit . In less than a month's campaign it had been proved that the people of Sligo-Leitrim had returned Sinn Fein and this was a splendid tribute to the successful candidate and to the Republican Movement .

A month ago John Joe's name was unfamiliar in County Sligo but tonight he was known in every homestead in Sligo and Leitrim . History had been written again like in 1907 when Sinn Fein first raised its flag in North Leitrim .......


(MORE LATER).





Wednesday, May 11, 2005

A ROUGH DEAL .......
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .

First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .


Eight people were sentenced to a total of seventy-one years for their part in the kidnap ; the three whom Gallagher and Coyle sought to get out of prison are long free . The only person remaining in prison from the entire affair is Eddie Gallagher .

Marion Coyle was not always a militant Republican : born in the Creggan in Derry in July 1954 , the sixth child of Johnnie and Susan Coyle . They owned a small shop and were relatively prosperous . She went to the (Catholic) Rosemount School and then to St. Mary's Intermediate ; at sixteen years of age , she went to the Municipal Technical College to study typing , shorthand and English .

There were by now twelve children in the Coyle household - nine boys and three girls . Marion Coyle worked in her parents' shop after school - she was generous to her friends and paid for them into dances when they did not have any money . She was not involved in politics but could hardly have been unaware of what was happening around her . One of her uncles was a steward at the Civil Rights marches then getting under-way .

Another of her relatives , Joe Coyle , a docker from the Bogside , was a staunch republican . By 1970 , the family had moved to the Duncreggan Estate . On June 26th , Bernadette Devlin was jailed for six months ; the arrest was badly timed and sparked off major riots in Derry - in the days following , eight people died and 200 were injured , fifty-four of those by gunshot wounds .......

(MORE LATER).



THE ARMALITE AND THE BALLOT BOX ....... " We have now established a sort of Republican veto . ......" Michael Farrell interviews Gerry Adams MP , vice-president of Sinn Fein . From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 , pages 13 , 14 , and 17 .


MICHAEL FARRELL : " There are rumours of discontent by more traditionalist elements in Sinn Fein at the emphasis on socialism and the increasing involvement in elections . Is there likely to be a backlash against this trend ? "

GERRY ADAMS MP : " The moves to radicalise the Movement have been won on the floor of the Ard Fheiseanna . There are people there certainly - and I think it's understandable given the history of Republican politics - who are opposed to involvement in what they call politics . What they are really opposed to is constitutionalism which I am equally opposed to .


I have found that once you explain things on the basis of the Proclamation saying the ownership of Ireland should belong to the people of Ireland and what Connolly and Pearse said , and how this should be updated by the nationalisation of major industries and how financiers and multinationals should'nt be allowed to suck the wealth out of Ireland , people start coming round .


I don't believe there are , in any significant numbers , ideological differences . I don't forsee any situation where , on the road to radicalising policies and strategies there would be a split . I think that some people might leave , as happened in the past ....... " ('1169...' Comment - The Ard Fheis in 1986 concerned itself with a lot more than simply 'radicalising policies and strategies .... ' : a section of those present attempted to steer Irish Republicanism on to a constitutional path by changing a principle of the Sinn Fein organisation , and formed a new entity with which to proceed on their 'new' path - Provisional Sinn Fein . They then registered their new grouping with Leinster House as a 'political party' . )
(MORE LATER).


PAST , PRESENT AND FUTURE : Thomas Davis , 'Essays' .
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper , Aibrean [April] 1957 , page 7.
(IML. IX. UIMHIR 4 - price Tri Pingin [Three Pennies].
Thanks to my late friends Christy and Theresa L. for giving me this 48-year-old newspaper ; this thread published in memory of those two old Fenians ! - John.


" And now , Englishmen , listen to us ! Though you were tomorrow to give us the best tenures on earth - though you were to equalise Presbyterian , Catholic and Episcopalian - though were to give us the amplest representation in your Senate - though you were to restore our absentees , disencumber us of your debt , and redress every one of our fiscal wrongs - and though , in addition to all this , you plundered the treasuries of the world to lay gold at our feet , and exhausted the resources of your genius to do us worship and honour : still we tell you , we tell you , in the names of liberty and country - we tell you , in the name of enthusiastic hearts , thoughtful souls , and fearless spirits - we tell you , by the past , the present , and the future , we would spurn your gifts , if the condition were that Ireland should remain a province .


We tell you , and all whom it may concern , come what may - bribery or deceit , justice , policy , or war - we tell you , in the name of Ireland , that Ireland shall be a Nation . "

[END of ' PAST , PRESENT AND FUTURE : Thomas Davis , 'Essays' ' ].
(Tomorrow - 'A MESSAGE OF HOPE TO OCCUPIED IRELAND').






Tuesday, May 10, 2005

A ROUGH DEAL .
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .

First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .


On December 20 last , Eddie Gallagher went on hunger strike in the Security Wing of Mountjoy Prison in Dublin in protest at the presence near-by of eight inmates who had anti-bodies to the AIDS virus in their blood . He then began to eat food but still refused anything that came from the prison kitchen .

Early in 1985 , Gallagher ended a 39-day fast in Portlaoise Prison after his condition became critical . At present , his sight is severely impaired .

Eddie Gallagher was sentenced to twenty years for his part in the Tiede Herrema kidnap in 1975 , and his accomplice Marion Coyle received fifteen years ; she was released last year (ie 1985) . A written undertaking given by the then Garda Commissioner , Edmund Garvey , that the two would serve no more than four and two years respectively , if Herrema was released unharmed , has not been honoured .

It was claimed that Gallagher and Coyle had broken the conditions of the agreement - that the agreement itself should not be disclosed except if it was not honoured , and that both prisoners should avoid " serious misconduct " in prison . Four successive (Free State) Ministers for Justice - Gerry Collins (FF) , Jim Mitchell (FG) , Sean Doherty (FF) and Michael Noonan (FG) - have refused to release Eddie Gallagher since 1979 . He has served six years more than he was originally promised .......


(MORE LATER).




THE ARMALITE AND THE BALLOT BOX ....... " We have now established a sort of Republican veto . ......" Michael Farrell interviews Gerry Adams MP , vice-president of Sinn Fein . From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 , pages 13 , 14 , and 17 .


MICHAEL FARRELL : " You devoted a large part of your recent Bodenstown speech to the need for Sinn Fein to develop new strategies in the South . There seemed to be a hint that you would contest Dail elections and that you might drop the traditional abstentionist policy . Is that so ? "


GERRY ADAMS MP : " We have not decided to stand for Leinster House . What I was saying at Bodenstown was that Republicans have to come up with a strategy which accepts the fact that most of the people in the 26 counties accept the Free State institution as legitimate . It is no use Republicans burying their heads in the sand and saying - although all these things are true - that it is a bastard State as a result of the Treaty and so on , if everyone else has a totally different view .


You can't develop a strategy without taking into account (1) the effects of the acceptance of the State institutions and (2) the effect an abstentionist policy by Republicans is going to have on that strategy . Sinn Fein does have a position , however , that we will not give recognition to Leinster House . I can't be pragmatic about that ; while that remains the position I will support it . ('1169....' Comment - it should be noted that Adams gave this interview in 1983 - three years later he was instrumental in leading a group out of the Republican Movement over this very issue . That group , Provisional Sinn Fein , is now a constitutional political party , and is similar in political outlook to the SDLP and Fianna Fail . Politically wealthy but morally bankrupt ... )


Essentially what I was trying to say was that you've got to take all these things into account and you can't proceed on the basis of what's happening in the North , on the basis of Sinn Fein being an IRA support group . You can't get support in Ballymun because of doors being kicked in by the Brits in Ballymurphy .


You've got to become a relevant political party with realistic policies which crystallise the disillusionment felt by people at the Thatcherite monetarist policies and the corruption by the Leinster House politicians ....... " ('1169...' Comment - What happens if you put what you believe to be 'good apples' in a barrel of bad apples ? Do the bad apples turn 'good' , or the 'good' apples turn bad ... ?)

(MORE LATER).



SEPARATIST MOVEMENT GROWS IN STRENGTH : analysis of recent General Election in the 26-Counties .......
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper , Aibrean [April] 1957 , page 7.
(IML. IX. UIMHIR 4 - price Tri Pingin [Three Pennies].
Thanks to my late friends Christy and Theresa L. for giving me this 48-year-old newspaper ; this thread published in memory of those two old Fenians ! - John.


In concluding this brief summary of the election results it is fitting that an expression of gratitude and sincere thanks be given to all those who assisted the Republican Movement during the election campaign . To all those who worked , who subscribed funds and who voted for the Republican candidates goes this simple expression of thanks for their generous support and willing co-operation .


Linked with this expression of thanks is an expression of hope for the future and confidence in the success of the Cause of Irish Freedom .

[END of ' SEPARATIST MOVEMENT GROWS IN STRENGTH : analysis of recent General Election in the 26-Counties'].
(Tomorrow : ' PAST , PRESENT AND FUTURE' - Thomas Davis , 'Essays').






A ROUGH DEAL .
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .

First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .


On December 20 last , Eddie Gallagher went on hunger strike in the Security Wing of Mountjoy Prison in Dublin in protest at the presence near-by of eight inmates who had anti-bodies to the AIDS virus in their blood . He then began to eat food but still refused anything that came from the prison kitchen .

Early in 1985 , Gallagher ended a 39-day fast in Portlaoise Prison after his condition became critical . At present , his sight is severely impaired .

Eddie Gallagher was sentenced to twenty years for his part in the Tiede Herrema kidnap in 1975 , and his accomplice Marion Coyle received fifteen years ; she was released last year (ie 1985) . A written undertaking given by the then Garda Commissioner , Edmund Garvey , that the two would serve no more than four and two years respectively , if Herrema was released unharmed , has not been honoured .

It was claimed that Gallagher and Coyle had broken the conditions of the agreement - that the agreement itself should not be disclosed except if it was not honoured , and that both prisoners should avoid " serious misconduct " in prison . Four successive (Free State) Ministers for Justice - Gerry Collins (FF) , Jim Mitchell (FG) , Sean Doherty (FF) and Michael Noonan (FG) - have refused to release Eddie Gallagher since 1979 . He has served six years more than he was originally promised .......

(MORE LATER).




THE ARMALITE AND THE BALLOT BOX ....... " We have now established a sort of Republican veto . ......" Michael Farrell interviews Gerry Adams MP , vice-president of Sinn Fein . From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 , pages 13 , 14 , and 17 .


MICHAEL FARRELL : " You devoted a large part of your recent Bodenstown speech to the need for Sinn Fein to develop new strategies in the South . There seemed to be a hint that you would contest Dail elections and that you might drop the traditional abstentionist policy . Is that so ? "


GERRY ADAMS MP : " We have not decided to stand for Leinster House . What I was saying at Bodenstown was that Republicans have to come up with a strategy which accepts the fact that most of the people in the 26 counties accept the Free State institution as legitimate . It is no use Republicans burying their heads in the sand and saying - although all these things are true - that it is a bastard State as a result of the Treaty and so on , if everyone else has a totally different view .


You can't develop a strategy without taking into account (1) the effects of the acceptance of the State institutions and (2) the effect an abstentionist policy by Republicans is going to have on that strategy . Sinn Fein does have a position , however , that we will not give recognition to Leinster House . I can't be pragmatic about that ; while that remains the position I will support it . ('1169....' Comment - it should be noted that Adams gave this interview in 1983 - three years later he was instrumental in leading a group out of the Republican Movement over this very issue . That group , Provisional Sinn Fein , is now a constitutional political party , and is similar in political outlook to the SDLP and Fianna Fail . Politically wealthy but morally bankrupt ... )


Essentially what I was trying to say was that you've got to take all these things into account and you can't proceed on the basis of what's happening in the North , on the basis of Sinn Fein being an IRA support group . You can't get support in Ballymun because of doors being kicked in by the Brits in Ballymurphy .


You've got to become a relevant political party with realistic policies which crystallise the disillusionment felt by people at the Thatcherite monetarist policies and the corruption by the Leinster House politicians ....... " ('1169...' Comment - What happens if you put what you believe to be 'good apples' in a barrel of bad apples ? Do the bad apples turn 'good' , or the 'good' apples turn bad ... ?)
(MORE LATER).



SEPARATIST MOVEMENT GROWS IN STRENGTH : analysis of recent General Election in the 26-Counties .......
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper , Aibrean [April] 1957 , page 7.
(IML. IX. UIMHIR 4 - price Tri Pingin [Three Pennies].
Thanks to my late friends Christy and Theresa L. for giving me this 48-year-old newspaper ; this thread published in memory of those two old Fenians ! - John.


In concluding this brief summary of the election results it is fitting that an expression of gratitude and sincere thanks be given to all those who assisted the Republican Movement during the election campaign . To all those who worked , who subscribed funds and who voted for the Republican candidates goes this simple expression of thanks for their generous support and willing co-operation .

Linked with this expression of thanks is an expression of hope for the future and confidence in the success of the Cause of Irish Freedom .

<
b>[END of ' SEPARATIST MOVEMENT GROWS IN STRENGTH : analysis of recent General Election in the 26-Counties'].

(Tomorrow : ' PAST , PRESENT AND FUTURE' - Thomas Davis , 'Essays').






Monday, May 09, 2005

FIVE DAYS IN AN IRA TRAINING CAMP .......
From the moment a new recruit enters the Irish Republican Army he or she undergoes a rigorous and intensive training to assess the individual Volunteer's level of commitment , general ability and particular aptitudes . After the initial recruitment lectures , this period includes training in personal security and anti-interrogation , basic intelligence work , political education - and of course training in the use of weapons . In this supplied article , a Volunteer in the IRA's Belfast Brigade describes his experience of taking part in an IRA training camp .
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1983 , pages 39 , 40 , 41 , 42, 43 , 44 and 45 .


... day 5 ..



Back in the draughty bedroom where we started out from - waiting for the morning and the return journey .


What happens next ? More training camps perhaps . Into an IRA Operational Unit hopefully , to put what we've learned into effect . Our experience of an IRA Training Camp , tiring but enjoyable and completely functional , has made two things clear :


One is that however long the British Army takes to train its mercenary squaddies for combat , they can never be as well-prepared both politically and psychologically , or so highly motivated , as Irish Republican soldiers (and in most cases no better trained in any military sense) .

The other is that for as long as British occupation continues , the IRA will retain the organisational ability and ingenuity to ensure that , no matter how many Republicans are killed or imprisoned , there will never be any shortage of trained Volunteers to spearhead the revolutionary warfare of the IRA !
('1169...' Comment : that "... revolutionary warfare .. " now pretends to manifest itself in British-imposed 'parliaments' on this island - Leinster House and Stormont . And the suits fit even better than the combat fatigues ever did ....)

[END of ' FIVE DAYS IN AN IRA TRAINING CAMP'].

(Tomorrow - ' A ROUGH DEAL' : Tiede Herrema Kidnap).



THE ARMALITE AND THE BALLOT BOX .......
" We have now established a sort of Republican veto . ......"
Michael Farrell interviews Gerry Adams MP , vice-president of Sinn Fein .
From 'MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 , pages 13 , 14 , and 17 .


MICHAEL FARRELL : " Sinn Fein appears to have moved a lot to the Left in recent times and talks a lot about socialism , the working class and the rights of women . What are you doing to put all this into practice ? "


GERRY ADAMS MP : " There have been a number of problems . Republicans , especially in the 26 counties , compartmentalise their activities a lot . I have found many Republicans who have been active trade unionists for years at shop-steward or trades council level but who make a distinction between their trade union activity and for example selling 'An Phoblacht' .


We have established a trade union department which brings Republican trade unionists together and tries to get them to integrate their trade union activities and their Republicanism . We have a lot of trade union members now but we are years behind the Workers' Party in this and have nothing like their position in the unions . But their influence may not be so great in the long run because they have grafted themselves onto the unions , they are not springing up from the bottom of the labour movement .


We have a department of women's affairs going for about two and a half years . It would see its role as politicising women Republicans to fight for their rights as women and politicising male Republicans to support equality for women . It is not a feminist department though there are some strong feminists in it . They are involved in working as Republicans in women's centres , rape crisis centres and so on , North and South .


To be frank , it is only in the last few years that we have begun to treat women's affairs in a political way and we do stand open to criticism on that issue ....... "

(MORE LATER).


SEPARATIST MOVEMENT GROWS IN STRENGTH : analysis of recent General Election in the 26-Counties .......
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper , Aibrean [April] 1957 , page 7.
(IML. IX. UIMHIR 4 - price Tri Pingin [Three Pennies].
Thanks to my late friends Christy and Theresa L. for giving me this 48-year-old newspaper ; this thread published in memory of those two old Fenians ! - John.


There are some grounds for the belief that quite a substantial number of the electorate voted for the party from which the new Government emerges simply because the outgoing government had employed coercive measures against members of the Republican Movement .


The new government has in effect been elected on an anti-government vote ; the electors expressed their objection to the imprisonment of Republicans who deemed it a duty to assist their fellowmen in the Six Counties in their present effort to free themselves from English rule and aggression .


Whilst this block of the electorate recorded it's objection to the arrest and imprisonment of members of the Republican Movement it is not unreasonable to assume that its support was given to the party forming the new Government in the firm belief and in the hope that coercion and imprisonment of Republicans would cease .......

(MORE LATER).

( ' Pagdorf ' - Thank you for the visit : your heart is definately in the right place , as are you - a potential unknown 'virus' in that body area you mentioned could prove invaluable , as you said . Hopefully it won't come to that , but it is comforting to know that there are those in your position that understand . Slan go foill , a Chara : stay in touch if you can . Sharon . )