Friday, October 12, 2007

THEY ARE HELD IN BELFAST JAIL .......

From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

DETAINED FOR POSSIBLE TRIAL :

J. Campbell , Belfast , County Antrim .
M.P. Cassidy , Maghera , County Derry .
H. Cassidy , Maghera .
J. Cassidy , Maghera .
R. J. Cunningham , Newry , County Down .
P. Smith , Newry .
S. Maguire , Belfast .
I. McGovern , Dungannon , County Tyrone .
L. Lavery , Cookstown , County Tyrone .
M. McLoughlin , Dundalk , County Louth .
J. F. Lee , County Fermanagh .
P. Brewster , County Fermanagh .
F. Carey , County Fermanagh .
J. McEvoy , Lurgan , County Armagh .
E. Matthews , South Armagh .

(MORE LATER).



ECONOMY IN CRISIS - An Historical Perspective.......

By any standards the economy of Ireland , North and South , can be described as being in a sorry mess with crisis , recession and imminent bankruptcy the most constant themes of economic discussion , intermittently over the last decade and ceaselessly in the last three years . In this article , Peter Graham surveys the factors which have produced this economy , and the historical role of foreign and native Irish capital.

From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1982.

Efforts to control foreign food imports , guarantee farm prices and divert ever-increasing amounts of public money into agriculture did not have the effect of stimulating development but , rather , because of the ability of big farmers to profit from these schemes , had the effect of transforming wealth to them at the expense of the small farmers .

The protectionism of Free State government economic policy , which continued right up until the late 1950's , did not get any major response from Irish capital : rather than risk his money in creating industry , the wealthy Irishman invested in Britain . The high interest rates guaranteed by the Free State government for scarce investment money became another burden on public spending , as under-financed industries rose and soon collapsed .

What small industries did grow behind the tariff walls were geared to the small home market , while the resultant high costs made any foray into the export market wholly unrealistic . The Second World war , too , left its mark.......
(MORE LATER).




PRISONERS RIGHTS - the mark of a civilised society .

From 'Fourthwrite' magazine, Autumn 2003.
By Siobhan O'Dwyer.

Republican prisoners in Maghaberry Gaol are in the sixth week of a dirty protest as part of their campaign for segregation from Loyalist prisoners and for political status. The very words 'dirty protest' and 'political status' invoke bitter and sad memories of the late 1970's and early 1980's .

However , the republican prisoners and their families today are facing a very different set of political circumstances than pertained then - that of the political and military defeat of 'mainstream republicanism' ('1169...' Comment - ....by which the author means the Provisional organisation) . The prisoners are faced with a situation where they are sharing wings and landings with loyalist prisoners , which has led to a number of incidents of republican prisoners being beaten , scalded and having their food tampered with . A number of death threats have been made against them .

The Stormont Prison Service continue to deny that the prisoners are subjected to beatings or have anything to fear but their words mean nothing , as they also denied the brutal treatment meted out to the Blanket Men. The setting up of a Commission to 'look into the situation in Maghaberry Prison' , while welcome , does not fill me with any confidence that Britain has any real interest in resolving the situation......
(MORE LATER).