Thursday, December 02, 2010

AN EXPERIMENT IN JAMES STREET : THE DEATH OF NIALL RUSH.......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , September 1984.
By Derek Dunne.

There were 3 friends in a car waiting outside the ICP for Joe. They rewound the tape , but there was nothing but static on it - Joe had pushed the button the wrong way. He psyched himself up once again , and went back in. Dr Brick and Dr Darragh weren't around , but Dr Walker was. Under questioning , Dr Walker admitted that there were some good points being made , and said that he would take up the issue of examination of patients who were returning for the second part of a test, with the people in the ICP. He expressed a worry that volunteers might be having treatment from another doctor , which they would not disclose for fear of being refused for a course.

He talked for a while about the difficulty of getting the truth out of would-be patients about their medical history and so forth , stating - "But how do we get the truth out of them? You know? We're not policemen. We're not here to beat people up. We're not..." , to which Joe replied "That's right, yeah..." , and Dr Walker continued - ".....and I try to be as sympathetic as possible to anybdy who comes in here because I know that....that the money end of it.....and that's why I keep away from the money end of it , that I don't get involved at all. If a fellow is fit at all I would recommend him for admission , but if somebody has a past history of illness of any sort, or a psychiatric admission to hospital, how the hell am I going to get that info out of them if they deny it..."

When Dr Walker was pushed on the issue of testing for specific drugs that present in the bloodstream of a patient, he replied that the usual drugs had been looked for , the ones that could be bought on the street - cocaine , heroine , morphine etc but, in coming in for the second part of a test, he admitted that the patients "....could be on anything..........".
(MORE LATER).







THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

" Charles Haughey (and here) became Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Justice in the following circumstances : In 1960 the Minister , Mr Oscar Traynor, piloted two Bills through the Dail and Seanad and early on it became apparent that he was in difficulties with the omnibus 'Intoxicating Liquor Act', partly because of deafness of which he was secretive and sensitive , and partly because of the complexity and conflicting nature of the measure. On that account, the Taoiseach , Mr Lemass, directed that Mr O Morain , Minister for Lands at the time , sit in with him.

Again he was in some difficulties with the 'Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill' which opened the way for new developments in penal reform : for instance, it enabled the implementation of the 'parole' system and the 'sleep-in-work-out' system for which Mr Haughey was to be given credit for initiating. In the aftermath , Minister Traynor informed me that the Taoiseach had offered him the assistance of a Parliamentary Secretary and he asked me to draw up a panel of Dail Deputies whom I considered would be suitable. After consultation with my senior officers I submitted the names of Deputy Seán Flanagan (later Minister for Health) , Deputy Michael Carty (later Parliamentary Secretary) , Deputy Honor Crowley and one other which I now forget.

Later, Minister Traynor told me that Deputy Flanagan had been offered the post and had refused , that the Taoiseach did not consider the other Deputies ripe for appointment to the Department of Justice and , instead, had put forward the name of Deputy Charles Haughey , his own son-in-law , who was a Dail representative in Mr Traynor's constituency and for whom Mr Traynor had a decided aversion........"

(MORE LATER).








MARY BYRNE-THE NEW VERA LYNN,'FORCES SWEETHEART'?


















From 'The Clondalkin Echo' newspaper , 25th November 2010 , page 7 : 'X Factors singer Mary Byrne has revealed that meeting injured British soldiers was one of the most inspirational moments of the show. Mary Byrne......told 'The Echo' that although she had met her idols Tom Jones and Robbie Williams , nothing compared to those young injured soldiers : "We went to see the heros from Afghanistan and I met a young guy who was 20 years old and had no legs but his spirit is just electric . They embraced us and I must have kissed about 70 million of them that evening - that has been the highlight for me." '


Mary Byrne - the new Vera Lynn ?


This woman is either politically clueless or she is prepared to do or say anything to advance her singing 'career' : either way , she has publicly disgraced herself by associating with those British thugs and has , by her foolish actions in relation to voicing support for terrorism, actually politicised a large number of people in the Clondalkin and Ballyfermot areas of Dublin and, we hope , further afield. Those who, up to now, had considered her escapades as 'harmless fun' etc are now looking at her in a different light.

And win , loose or draw in the competition she is in , some people will no longer view her simply as an 'aspiring/successful singer' - she has tainted herself as a politically ignorant airhead and/or a scheming , calculating wannabe 'Diva' , prepared to go to any lengths to gain fame and fortune. Just another disappointing stage act , with no moral safety net.
What a shame ; good voice , pity about the politics.
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.







Wednesday, December 01, 2010

14 PHOTOGRAPHS FROM RECENT EVENTS : 2 FROM THE 'FRANK DRIVER COMMEMORATION' IN KILDARE (SUN 21ST NOV 2010) / 2 FROM THE 'KEVIN BARRY COMMEMORATION' IN CARLOW (SUN 21ST NOV 2010)/ 10 FROM THE ICTU PROTEST IN DUBLIN ON SATURDAY 27TH NOV 2010 (thanks to Joe H for same!) -





























































Thanks for the visit!
Sharon.







Sunday, November 28, 2010

ICTU PROTEST MARCH , DUBLIN , SATURDAY 27TH NOVEMBER 2010 - BRIEF REPORT AND PICS.

"Brits Out , IMF Out!"

















Republican Sinn Féin had two different 'teams' out in Dublin yesterday , Saturday 27th November 2010 , at the ICTU-organised protest march in Dublin : one 'team' assembled at 10.45am on the traffic isle facing the GPO , while the second one assembled at 11.15am at Wood Quay , the main assembly point. Incidentally , members of both RSF 'teams' were present on the 'secondary' march , which made its way to Leinster House after the main event to continue the protest and was bullied , en route and once there, by uniformed 'guardians of the State' , as expected.

Our estimate as to the numbers present - and we are 'old hands' at street demos! - is between 100,000 and 150,000 people : at one stage , protestors , banners and placards could be seen to have secured all available space between O'Connell Bridge and the old Ambassador Cinema , with the main concentration gathered around the GPO area and, in our opinion, even more would have turned-out had it not been for the heavy snow and ice that we woke-up to here that morning. The mood was one of anger , and not only at the politicians and bankers etc that have thieved from the State purse and bankrupted this State , but also at some trade union leaders - Jack O'Connor and David Begg were , once again, poorly received by the crowd and, at points throughout their speeches, they could not be heard, such was the level of 'cat-calls' for them to stand down. In contrast , singers Christy Moore and Francis Black were well-received, as was the pensioner and the now-unemployed apprentice plumber who was let go just before his time was up.

For its part , Republican Sinn Féin distributed 2,000 leaflets (including '90th Celebrations' leaflets and 'CABHAIR SWIM' leaflets) and sold almost 100 copies of its newspaper , 'Saoirse'. As we have mentioned on our 'Sister Site' (linked to , below - with more protest pics on view, as well) protests like this are necessary and welcome but, on their own, are only a stop-gap 'solution' : it is not simply those that 'run' this State that need to be changed, but the very State itself , which must be re-organised and changed dramatically, on a 32 County basis, in favour of its citizens, rather than- as is the position now- in favour of its so-called 'elite'.
However : RSF more than held its own in Dublin City Centre yesterday, and was very well received by the crowds, and is to be congratulated for the two 'teams' it managed to put out there. We publish some pics from the protest, with a link to more of same at the bottom of this post :




A Dublin RSF member on the protest march - "Get Up , Stand Up...."



Some of the RSF members and supporters at the protest.



RSF 'Community Sector' placard.



Some of the 100,000-150,000 crowd.



Cowen the Reaper.



RSF 'Community Sector' headstone placard.


Well done to RSF and all the other organisations and individuals that were present at the protest and, hopefully, the ICTU will take comfort from the turn-out and take this issue to the next stage : an all-out strike , on a regular basis, with those on strike being bussed to the city centre of their nearest town to hold a sit-down protest. The support is definitey there , but the determination to do so is lacking on behalf of the trade union leadership . Shame on them.
As stated - more pics from this protest can be viewed on our 'Sister Site' , here (with thanks to TC, our camera person on the day!).

Thanks for reading,
Sharon.