FR. LUKE WADDING , AUTHOR AND IRISH REPUBLICAN .
A child born in Waterford in October 1588 grew up to become head of the Irish Franciscans in Rome , a position he used to draw attention to English mis-rule in Ireland .
The parents of Luke Wadding , Walter and Anastasia , had fourteen children in all , but noticed in Luke a propensity for study ; they helped him as best they could , but both parents were dead by the time Luke was in his early teens . At fourteen years young , Luke Wadding made his way to the Irish College in Lisbon , Portugal , and later entered the Franciscan Order . (MORE LATER....)
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
KILLARNEY.....
.....a tailor in the Free State barracks , a Mr. Sugrue , would sometimes manage to smuggle a bottle of stout into the cells for the Republican prisoners , but was afraid to do more than that for them .....
" Oh lads ," the tailor said to the IRA prisoners on Sunday, "tis a bad story . I heard them picking a firing party tonight ." The next day he was beaming : " You're reprieved," he said to them . They knew what that meant ; they were hostages . When the next Republican military operation took place they would be shot . It was on the Wednesday , the seventh of March (1923) that they were wakened suddenly .
A soldier , mad with rage , was trying to break into their cell , swearing he would kill them . He was removed but a Free State Officer , almost equally excited , shouted to them to come out . They were scarcely given time to dress . "You'll do as you are," he said . It was not yet light . Outside they found six Free State Officers and a crowd of soldiers . Five prisoners were marched along the road in single file and over the fields . It was neither dark nor light in the fields ; there was a fine bright moon . Coffey looked at Stephen Buckley , and what he saw filled him with a horror that the thought of death could never bring ..... " (MORE LATER.....).
FOREIGN......
[from'The Sunday Business Post',5th March , 1995 , page 40]
..... On 'Prime Time Live', 'ABC's current affairs programme last week (ie March 1995) their chief correspondent Chris Wallace explained why Free State Passports are so popular with rich Americans --
--" Say 'Mr. Rich' has a net worth of one billion dollars . If he dies a U S citizen , roughly 550 million dollars goes to the U S government . But if he changes his citizenship to a tax haven , the entire one billion dollars can go to his heirs . The first step , becoming a foreign citizen , is easy . Favourite new homes include Ireland , Switzerland and especially the Caribbean ."
.....step forward the leeches we have in Leinster House , who spotted an opportunity for a nixer and let it be known that , if the price was right , any wealthy business person could be an overnight 'Irish Citizen'.
......FRIENDS -->
[from'The Sunday Times',26th February , 1995 , section 3 , page 4]
<-- Eoghan Harris , Fine Gael's comedy expert on earth , described himself "as someone who greatly admires the heroic history of the Northern planters ." !
Now that's funny .....
Friday, September 12, 2003
DR. WILLIAM WALSH , ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN AND IRISH REPUBLICAN .....
.....at seventy-nine years of age ,Archbishop William Walsh assisted in the formation of the'Irish White Cross' organisation , which looked after the dependents of Irish Republican prisoners .....
On 9th April , 1921 , at eighty years of age , Archbishop Dr. William Walsh died in Dublin , much to the relief of the British , who despised him . Had he lived , there is little doubt , if any , but that he would have supported those who rejected the 'Treaty of Surrender' (6th December , 1921) . He was opposed to British rule in Ireland , and would almost certainly have been against the British surrogates (ie the Free Staters) that they left "in charge" .
People of the calibre of William Walsh are badly missed from the Catholic Church of today ; those that would be prepared to say " NO " to the easy , comfortable and affluent lifestyle offered them by the establishment and stand up for that which they know to be moral . There are an awful lot of well-dressed , well-fed people walking around with heavy hearts ....
(END).
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
KILLARNEY.....
.....the three IRA Volunteers had a 'dug-out' in Rathdrinagh and were sleeping there on March the third , 1923 .....
" The 'dug-out' must have been betrayed , for the Free State soldiers came straight to the spot and tore down the stones . They found two rifles with the three men . There were hundreds of soldiers surrounding the place , searching the hills . A boy named Shea , who was in the field , was arrested too . He saw Stephen Buckley beaten until he could not straighten his back . They were taken to Killarney together . "Up the Republic !" ,Stephen shouted as the lorry went in to the barrack gate .
People living in the market place heard terrible screams from the barrack during the evening . They thought the prisoners were being killed . Father Finbarr was leaving the barrack after hearing confessions that night and a soldier , when no one was watching , opened the door of a dark room and let him look in . Four prisoners were lying there , too weak to speak or move . He gave them conditional absolution - it was all he could do . There was a little Free State Army tailor working in the barrack : Sugrue was his name . He was greatly troubled about the prisoners , but dared not do much for them .
He would look round the door into the room where Coffey and Donoghue were , and put down , quickly , a bottle of stout . "For God's sake , hide it ," , he would say , terrified , "or I'll be plugged with yourselves !" " MORE LATER.
GOD'S WORD.......
[from'The Irish Times',8th June , 1995 - a Thursday , if memory serves - page 13]
....... " As an English churchman , I am aware of just how much we English need to ask forgiveness for our often brutal domination and crass insensitivity in the eight-hundred years of history of our relationship with Ireland . "
--Archbishop Carey , the then most senior-ranking member of the British establishment after the 'Royal' family , quoted on 19th November - a Friday , I believe - 1994 , in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin .
It may be a step in the right direction but , as well as the fact that the Brits did'nt heed the man , his use of the word "relationship" is hardly correct : try " dealing's " if you want to be diplomatic , Sir , or " interference " if you want to be honest .
.....at seventy-nine years of age ,Archbishop William Walsh assisted in the formation of the'Irish White Cross' organisation , which looked after the dependents of Irish Republican prisoners .....
On 9th April , 1921 , at eighty years of age , Archbishop Dr. William Walsh died in Dublin , much to the relief of the British , who despised him . Had he lived , there is little doubt , if any , but that he would have supported those who rejected the 'Treaty of Surrender' (6th December , 1921) . He was opposed to British rule in Ireland , and would almost certainly have been against the British surrogates (ie the Free Staters) that they left "in charge" .
People of the calibre of William Walsh are badly missed from the Catholic Church of today ; those that would be prepared to say " NO " to the easy , comfortable and affluent lifestyle offered them by the establishment and stand up for that which they know to be moral . There are an awful lot of well-dressed , well-fed people walking around with heavy hearts ....
(END).
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
KILLARNEY.....
.....the three IRA Volunteers had a 'dug-out' in Rathdrinagh and were sleeping there on March the third , 1923 .....
" The 'dug-out' must have been betrayed , for the Free State soldiers came straight to the spot and tore down the stones . They found two rifles with the three men . There were hundreds of soldiers surrounding the place , searching the hills . A boy named Shea , who was in the field , was arrested too . He saw Stephen Buckley beaten until he could not straighten his back . They were taken to Killarney together . "Up the Republic !" ,Stephen shouted as the lorry went in to the barrack gate .
People living in the market place heard terrible screams from the barrack during the evening . They thought the prisoners were being killed . Father Finbarr was leaving the barrack after hearing confessions that night and a soldier , when no one was watching , opened the door of a dark room and let him look in . Four prisoners were lying there , too weak to speak or move . He gave them conditional absolution - it was all he could do . There was a little Free State Army tailor working in the barrack : Sugrue was his name . He was greatly troubled about the prisoners , but dared not do much for them .
He would look round the door into the room where Coffey and Donoghue were , and put down , quickly , a bottle of stout . "For God's sake , hide it ," , he would say , terrified , "or I'll be plugged with yourselves !" " MORE LATER.
GOD'S WORD.......
[from'The Irish Times',8th June , 1995 - a Thursday , if memory serves - page 13]
....... " As an English churchman , I am aware of just how much we English need to ask forgiveness for our often brutal domination and crass insensitivity in the eight-hundred years of history of our relationship with Ireland . "
--Archbishop Carey , the then most senior-ranking member of the British establishment after the 'Royal' family , quoted on 19th November - a Friday , I believe - 1994 , in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin .
It may be a step in the right direction but , as well as the fact that the Brits did'nt heed the man , his use of the word "relationship" is hardly correct : try " dealing's " if you want to be diplomatic , Sir , or " interference " if you want to be honest .
Thursday, September 11, 2003
DR. WILLIAM WALSH , ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN AND IRISH REPUBLICAN ......
.....in May , 1919 , five men were on their way to a reception in Dublin's Mansion House when they were stopped by armed British troops ; the men , two Americans , two Irish Bishops and the then President of the Irish Republic , Eamon de Valera , were forced away from the area .....
In a statement issued to the media in relation to the incident , Archbishop Walsh condemned the British for their actions that day , and held the episode up "as the kind of government under which we are living in Ireland "; the statement went worldwide and , due to the fact that two U S citizens were accosted on an Irish street by armed British troops , caused great embarrassment to Westminster .
In 1920 , Archbishop Walsh was strident in his opposition to the then imminent so-called 'Government of Ireland Act' , which proposed the partition of Ireland , and actively campaigned against it - he was by this stage seventy-nine years of age and , although the body was weak , the mind was still sharp .
His last act was to assist in the establishment of the 'Irish White Cross' organisation with Cardinal Logue and Dr. Gilmartin , the Archbishop of Tuam ; the then Dail Eireann (32-County body) Minister for Finance (and IRA Director of Intelligence) Michael Collins worked closely with the organisation , which looked after the dependents of Irish Republican prisoners (a duty now being carried out by the CABHAIR organisation.) MORE LATER.
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924.
KILLARNEY.....
.....both of the IRA prisoners ,Tadgh Coffey and Jeremiah Donoghue were offered a commission in the Free State Army ; both men rejected the offer ......
" The Free State Officer got up , shouted a coarse insult , and went out , banging the door . Coffey wrote a letter to his people . Jeremiah was feeling too lonely to write . " I don't feel like it now ; I'll write later on ," he said . On Saturday night they met three prisoners who had been taken during the day in a dug-out ; they had been beaten , and were to be beaten again . They were Stephen Buckley of Rathdrinagh , Dan Donoghue of Lacca and Tim Murphy of Rathbrean . "You two and Dan and myself will be shot ," , Stephen said to them ; "but Tim's all right - he was not carrying arms."
Stephen Buckley was a man the people had a great love for in his own place . " Father Stephen " , he used to be called , laughingly , after what he did when Jim Daly was executed in Tralee . Father Brosnan refused to pray for Jim's soul in Kilcummen Chapel . At the end of the mass , when the people were leaving , Stephen Buckley rose and called to them to stay and , standing below the alter rails , he asked their prayers for the repose of James Daly's soul . He had brought no less than sixty recruits to join the Pioneer Temperance League , it was said . A friend asked the Volunteers in Milleen " Are you going to the mission ?" "No need" was the laughing answer . " Father Stephen is holding a mission for us here !"
"It is because he was good ," Father Dominic wrote , afterwards , to his mother , "that he was chosen to die ." They had a dug-out in Rathdrinagh - a small hollow cavity in the wide stone wall of a bohereen . The three were sleeping there on March the third . " (MORE LATER).
FACT......
[from 'The Sunday Business Post' , May 19th , 1996 , page 10]
......According to Mary Ellen Synon , journalist and ex-member of the British House of Commons --
--"Facts come and go , opinions need never vary."
Good on ya , girl - never let the truth get in the way of a good quote !
......AND FICTION -->
[from 'Hot Press' magazine , 16th October , 1996 , page 24]
<-- In an interview , Gerry Adams stated --
--" And all I know is that the Irish political establishment , for all the criticism I would have of it , on other issues , have a good , emotional sense about the North and they genuinely want to see Irish unity restored ."
HAR ! , HAR !, HAR ! . OH STOP IT , GERRY : between yourself and Mary Ellen , I'm dying here ....
.....in May , 1919 , five men were on their way to a reception in Dublin's Mansion House when they were stopped by armed British troops ; the men , two Americans , two Irish Bishops and the then President of the Irish Republic , Eamon de Valera , were forced away from the area .....
In a statement issued to the media in relation to the incident , Archbishop Walsh condemned the British for their actions that day , and held the episode up "as the kind of government under which we are living in Ireland "; the statement went worldwide and , due to the fact that two U S citizens were accosted on an Irish street by armed British troops , caused great embarrassment to Westminster .
In 1920 , Archbishop Walsh was strident in his opposition to the then imminent so-called 'Government of Ireland Act' , which proposed the partition of Ireland , and actively campaigned against it - he was by this stage seventy-nine years of age and , although the body was weak , the mind was still sharp .
His last act was to assist in the establishment of the 'Irish White Cross' organisation with Cardinal Logue and Dr. Gilmartin , the Archbishop of Tuam ; the then Dail Eireann (32-County body) Minister for Finance (and IRA Director of Intelligence) Michael Collins worked closely with the organisation , which looked after the dependents of Irish Republican prisoners (a duty now being carried out by the CABHAIR organisation.) MORE LATER.
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924.
KILLARNEY.....
.....both of the IRA prisoners ,Tadgh Coffey and Jeremiah Donoghue were offered a commission in the Free State Army ; both men rejected the offer ......
" The Free State Officer got up , shouted a coarse insult , and went out , banging the door . Coffey wrote a letter to his people . Jeremiah was feeling too lonely to write . " I don't feel like it now ; I'll write later on ," he said . On Saturday night they met three prisoners who had been taken during the day in a dug-out ; they had been beaten , and were to be beaten again . They were Stephen Buckley of Rathdrinagh , Dan Donoghue of Lacca and Tim Murphy of Rathbrean . "You two and Dan and myself will be shot ," , Stephen said to them ; "but Tim's all right - he was not carrying arms."
Stephen Buckley was a man the people had a great love for in his own place . " Father Stephen " , he used to be called , laughingly , after what he did when Jim Daly was executed in Tralee . Father Brosnan refused to pray for Jim's soul in Kilcummen Chapel . At the end of the mass , when the people were leaving , Stephen Buckley rose and called to them to stay and , standing below the alter rails , he asked their prayers for the repose of James Daly's soul . He had brought no less than sixty recruits to join the Pioneer Temperance League , it was said . A friend asked the Volunteers in Milleen " Are you going to the mission ?" "No need" was the laughing answer . " Father Stephen is holding a mission for us here !"
"It is because he was good ," Father Dominic wrote , afterwards , to his mother , "that he was chosen to die ." They had a dug-out in Rathdrinagh - a small hollow cavity in the wide stone wall of a bohereen . The three were sleeping there on March the third . " (MORE LATER).
FACT......
[from 'The Sunday Business Post' , May 19th , 1996 , page 10]
......According to Mary Ellen Synon , journalist and ex-member of the British House of Commons --
--"Facts come and go , opinions need never vary."
Good on ya , girl - never let the truth get in the way of a good quote !
......AND FICTION -->
[from 'Hot Press' magazine , 16th October , 1996 , page 24]
<-- In an interview , Gerry Adams stated --
--" And all I know is that the Irish political establishment , for all the criticism I would have of it , on other issues , have a good , emotional sense about the North and they genuinely want to see Irish unity restored ."
HAR ! , HAR !, HAR ! . OH STOP IT , GERRY : between yourself and Mary Ellen , I'm dying here ....
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
DR. WILLIAM WALSH , ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN AND IRISH REPUBLICAN ....
.....in May , 1917 ,Archbishop William Walshvoiced his support for a candidate in the Longford North by-election ; that candidate was Joe McGuinness , an IRA prisoner in an English jail . He won the election .....
He was to continue being a thorn in the side of the British ; in April 1918 , Archbishop Walsh led the hierarchical campaign against the British desire to impose conscription in Ireland and was instrumental in ensuring that the 'Maynooth Conference' , at which the issue of conscription was discussed , passed a motion declaring that forced conscription "was an oppressive and inhuman law ."
In May , 1919 , two members of the American organisation 'Friends of Irish Freedom' were in Ireland on a fact-finding tour and a reception was organised for them in Dublin's Mansion House ; the then President of the Irish Republic , Eamon de Valera , and two Bishops , accompanied both Americans to the reception , but the five men were stopped in the street by armed British troops and forced away from the area ...... MORE LATER
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , BY DOROTHY MACARDLE - FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1924 .
KILLARNEY.....
......IRA prisoner Tadhg Coffey was led into a room with four Free State Officers in it ; he was questioned regarding his IRA unit and the whereabouts of its arm's dump , but said nothing . A loaded rifle was then put to his head .....
" One of the Officers sprang up in fury then . There was a heavy iron poker in the grate . The man picked it up , made a lunge at Coffey and struck him with it across the back . The blow felled him . Kicking and beating began then , with pauses for the questions to be repeated . The prisoner became unconscious at last . The next night Coffey and Donoghue were charged , on Wilson's evidence , with being in possession of arms . They were sentenced to execution and put in the "condemned cell" .
What served as the 'condemned cell' was a small , dark cellar . The walls were moist and the blankets , the only thing in the cell , were soaking . They were left there until the following day when , in view of the priest's visit , they were brought up to a bright room with a fire . Father Finbarr visited them to hear their last confession . He was kind . Another priest came in and jeered at them . "How much nearer are you to the Republic now ! De Valera has run off to America and left you to get the punishment , and now the rope's round your necks !" , he said .
" I know one thing only : I took an oath to the Republic and I'll keep it ", Jeremiah replied . An Officer came in and sat down with them and offered them cigarettes . "You were in the Republican Police," he said to Coffey . "Little pay you got and little thanks . Were'nt you a fool ?" . He told them that commissions were offered to both of them if they would join the Free State Army . "We'll have nothing to do with your Army," they said . (MORE LATER).
DIVIDE......
[from 'The Irish News' , 22nd November , 1995 - a Wednesday , I believe- page 8]
......After the 'Williamite Wars' , the British divided Irish land up in the following way : 2,367,175 acres to soldiers who had served in the wars , 497,001 acres to forty-nine Officers , 707,321 acres to adventurers who had lent money to help fund the war , 477,873 acres to provisors to whom land had been promised , 257,518 acres to the Duke of Ormond and a Colonel Butler , 168,436 acres to the Duke of York and 31,526 acres to Protestant Bishops .
After the war , William also 'confiscated' a further one-and-a-half million acres and distributed them among the aristocratic plunderers who followed him , including eight 'Lords' , a doctor , a Colonel Hamilton , a Mr. Keilie and a Sir T. Pendergast . TIME UP , GENTLEMEN - YOU HAVE BEEN 'FREELOADING' FOR LONG ENOUGH .....
......AND CONQUER -->
[from 'The Evening News' , 5th June , 1996 - also a Wednesday , if memory serves - page 27]
--> Archives released under the 30-year rule show that Winston Churchill , the then British Prime Minister, wanted to cover Ireland in poison gas should the Germans invade during World War Two !
And he probably wanted to do it anyway ....
.....in May , 1917 ,Archbishop William Walshvoiced his support for a candidate in the Longford North by-election ; that candidate was Joe McGuinness , an IRA prisoner in an English jail . He won the election .....
He was to continue being a thorn in the side of the British ; in April 1918 , Archbishop Walsh led the hierarchical campaign against the British desire to impose conscription in Ireland and was instrumental in ensuring that the 'Maynooth Conference' , at which the issue of conscription was discussed , passed a motion declaring that forced conscription "was an oppressive and inhuman law ."
In May , 1919 , two members of the American organisation 'Friends of Irish Freedom' were in Ireland on a fact-finding tour and a reception was organised for them in Dublin's Mansion House ; the then President of the Irish Republic , Eamon de Valera , and two Bishops , accompanied both Americans to the reception , but the five men were stopped in the street by armed British troops and forced away from the area ...... MORE LATER
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , BY DOROTHY MACARDLE - FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1924 .
KILLARNEY.....
......IRA prisoner Tadhg Coffey was led into a room with four Free State Officers in it ; he was questioned regarding his IRA unit and the whereabouts of its arm's dump , but said nothing . A loaded rifle was then put to his head .....
" One of the Officers sprang up in fury then . There was a heavy iron poker in the grate . The man picked it up , made a lunge at Coffey and struck him with it across the back . The blow felled him . Kicking and beating began then , with pauses for the questions to be repeated . The prisoner became unconscious at last . The next night Coffey and Donoghue were charged , on Wilson's evidence , with being in possession of arms . They were sentenced to execution and put in the "condemned cell" .
What served as the 'condemned cell' was a small , dark cellar . The walls were moist and the blankets , the only thing in the cell , were soaking . They were left there until the following day when , in view of the priest's visit , they were brought up to a bright room with a fire . Father Finbarr visited them to hear their last confession . He was kind . Another priest came in and jeered at them . "How much nearer are you to the Republic now ! De Valera has run off to America and left you to get the punishment , and now the rope's round your necks !" , he said .
" I know one thing only : I took an oath to the Republic and I'll keep it ", Jeremiah replied . An Officer came in and sat down with them and offered them cigarettes . "You were in the Republican Police," he said to Coffey . "Little pay you got and little thanks . Were'nt you a fool ?" . He told them that commissions were offered to both of them if they would join the Free State Army . "We'll have nothing to do with your Army," they said . (MORE LATER).
DIVIDE......
[from 'The Irish News' , 22nd November , 1995 - a Wednesday , I believe- page 8]
......After the 'Williamite Wars' , the British divided Irish land up in the following way : 2,367,175 acres to soldiers who had served in the wars , 497,001 acres to forty-nine Officers , 707,321 acres to adventurers who had lent money to help fund the war , 477,873 acres to provisors to whom land had been promised , 257,518 acres to the Duke of Ormond and a Colonel Butler , 168,436 acres to the Duke of York and 31,526 acres to Protestant Bishops .
After the war , William also 'confiscated' a further one-and-a-half million acres and distributed them among the aristocratic plunderers who followed him , including eight 'Lords' , a doctor , a Colonel Hamilton , a Mr. Keilie and a Sir T. Pendergast . TIME UP , GENTLEMEN - YOU HAVE BEEN 'FREELOADING' FOR LONG ENOUGH .....
......AND CONQUER -->
[from 'The Evening News' , 5th June , 1996 - also a Wednesday , if memory serves - page 27]
--> Archives released under the 30-year rule show that Winston Churchill , the then British Prime Minister, wanted to cover Ireland in poison gas should the Germans invade during World War Two !
And he probably wanted to do it anyway ....
Tuesday, September 09, 2003
DR. WILLIAM WALSH , ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN AND IRISH REPUBLICAN ......
.....the appointment of WILLIAM WALSH as Archbishop of Dublin in 1885 was objected to by the British , but they were ignored . He soon proved to be a thorn in their side .....
He was a vocal supporter of the 'Land League' and refrained from using the pulpit to condemn those that were on the 'hit-list' handed down from Westminster. Indeed , another Archbishop , Thomas Croke of Cashel , in County Tipperary (the first patron of the GAA) backed Archbishop Walsh in his support for the 'Plan of Campaign' during the renewed 'Land War' (1886).
His was practically a lone voice after the 1916 Rising , in supporting the rebels , and he was not shy in criticising the British regime in Ireland . In May , 1917 , he used the fact that he was a well-known (or "notorious" , as the British would have it)cleric to obtain publicity for Irish Republican prisoner Joe McGuinness (who was incarcerated in Lewes Jail , in England , at the time); Joe was being run as a candidate in a by-election in Longford North , and Archbishop Walsh issued a statement to the media before the election in which he condemned British intractability and warned people that the Brits were seriously considering partioning the country .
Joe McGuinness won the election ! (MORE LATER).
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
KILLARNEY.....
.....two young IRA Volunteers , and close friends , Jeremiah Donoghue and Tadhg Coffey , were captured in the Barleymount area by Free State troops on the 22nd of February , 1923 .....
" When the troops burst into the house , Donoghue was resting at the fire and Coffey was cleaning his gun . Wilson , who was in command , rushed at Coffey , shouting abuse , and began to kick and beat him violently ; his mother screamed , and Wilson struck her a blow that flung her across the floor . The soldiers rushed about the cottage smashing the crockery on the dresser , smashing the pictures in the room , spilling the milk and flour over the floor .
Coffey and Donoghue were put against a wall outside and threatened with instant death unless they would tell where the rest of their column and the dump of arms were to be found . The kicking and beating which followed their refusal was so brutal that one of the Free State soldiers began to cry out in distress , "God , God, aren't they prisoners ?" Donoghue was defiant . "I don't care if you skin me : 'tis for the Republic," he said . The Great Southern Hotel in Killarney was the barrack .
It was there they had murdered Bertie Murphy . It was there the prisoners were brought . The same night Coffey was summoned to a room where four officers were sitting by the fire . The questioning began again . "Very well," Wilson said , when Coffey refused to answer . "You'll get a few days more to be singing 'Another martyr for old Ireland' ." Lieutenant Mack became excited . "I'll blow your brains out," he shouted , lifting his rifle , "unless you tell." Bertie Murphy had been killed there for less , but the lifted rifle evoked no reply "..... (MORE LATER).
PRESIDENTS AND PIRATES......
.....U S President Andrew Jackson's parents were born in Donegal and emigrated to the USA . As a boy , his mother , an Irish Republican , told young Andrew of the horrors the British committed on the Irish people , and she told him of how the Irish fought back . During the American Revolution , Jackson was taken prisoner by the British , who soon discovered that he had Irish roots . A British Officer ordered Jackson to shine boots and , when Jackson refused , the enraged Officer unsheated his sword and slashed young Jackson across the face , leaving a scar he would carry to his grave .
Throughout his life , Andrew Jackson despised the British . The U S again fought the British , from 1812-1814, and the war was fought to a standstill . A treaty was signed in England but it took thirty days to get word across the sea to America and the war waged on . The famous pirate , Jean Lafitte , an admirer of Jackson , got word to him that the war was over , but Jackson decided to ignore this until he got an official order ! His army , supported by Lafitte's pirates , were prepared to meet the Brits in battle , in New Orleans and , under a fog in the bayou , the British attacked ; the Americans , under Jackson , destroyed them .
The Brits lost over two-thousand soldiers and the Americans lost eight ! Later , when asked why the battle was fought after the war was over , Jackson claimed he had no official word that that was the position !
Way to go , Andy - the Brits 'waive the rules' when it suits them ....
.....the appointment of WILLIAM WALSH as Archbishop of Dublin in 1885 was objected to by the British , but they were ignored . He soon proved to be a thorn in their side .....
He was a vocal supporter of the 'Land League' and refrained from using the pulpit to condemn those that were on the 'hit-list' handed down from Westminster. Indeed , another Archbishop , Thomas Croke of Cashel , in County Tipperary (the first patron of the GAA) backed Archbishop Walsh in his support for the 'Plan of Campaign' during the renewed 'Land War' (1886).
His was practically a lone voice after the 1916 Rising , in supporting the rebels , and he was not shy in criticising the British regime in Ireland . In May , 1917 , he used the fact that he was a well-known (or "notorious" , as the British would have it)cleric to obtain publicity for Irish Republican prisoner Joe McGuinness (who was incarcerated in Lewes Jail , in England , at the time); Joe was being run as a candidate in a by-election in Longford North , and Archbishop Walsh issued a statement to the media before the election in which he condemned British intractability and warned people that the Brits were seriously considering partioning the country .
Joe McGuinness won the election ! (MORE LATER).
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
KILLARNEY.....
.....two young IRA Volunteers , and close friends , Jeremiah Donoghue and Tadhg Coffey , were captured in the Barleymount area by Free State troops on the 22nd of February , 1923 .....
" When the troops burst into the house , Donoghue was resting at the fire and Coffey was cleaning his gun . Wilson , who was in command , rushed at Coffey , shouting abuse , and began to kick and beat him violently ; his mother screamed , and Wilson struck her a blow that flung her across the floor . The soldiers rushed about the cottage smashing the crockery on the dresser , smashing the pictures in the room , spilling the milk and flour over the floor .
Coffey and Donoghue were put against a wall outside and threatened with instant death unless they would tell where the rest of their column and the dump of arms were to be found . The kicking and beating which followed their refusal was so brutal that one of the Free State soldiers began to cry out in distress , "God , God, aren't they prisoners ?" Donoghue was defiant . "I don't care if you skin me : 'tis for the Republic," he said . The Great Southern Hotel in Killarney was the barrack .
It was there they had murdered Bertie Murphy . It was there the prisoners were brought . The same night Coffey was summoned to a room where four officers were sitting by the fire . The questioning began again . "Very well," Wilson said , when Coffey refused to answer . "You'll get a few days more to be singing 'Another martyr for old Ireland' ." Lieutenant Mack became excited . "I'll blow your brains out," he shouted , lifting his rifle , "unless you tell." Bertie Murphy had been killed there for less , but the lifted rifle evoked no reply "..... (MORE LATER).
PRESIDENTS AND PIRATES......
.....U S President Andrew Jackson's parents were born in Donegal and emigrated to the USA . As a boy , his mother , an Irish Republican , told young Andrew of the horrors the British committed on the Irish people , and she told him of how the Irish fought back . During the American Revolution , Jackson was taken prisoner by the British , who soon discovered that he had Irish roots . A British Officer ordered Jackson to shine boots and , when Jackson refused , the enraged Officer unsheated his sword and slashed young Jackson across the face , leaving a scar he would carry to his grave .
Throughout his life , Andrew Jackson despised the British . The U S again fought the British , from 1812-1814, and the war was fought to a standstill . A treaty was signed in England but it took thirty days to get word across the sea to America and the war waged on . The famous pirate , Jean Lafitte , an admirer of Jackson , got word to him that the war was over , but Jackson decided to ignore this until he got an official order ! His army , supported by Lafitte's pirates , were prepared to meet the Brits in battle , in New Orleans and , under a fog in the bayou , the British attacked ; the Americans , under Jackson , destroyed them .
The Brits lost over two-thousand soldiers and the Americans lost eight ! Later , when asked why the battle was fought after the war was over , Jackson claimed he had no official word that that was the position !
Way to go , Andy - the Brits 'waive the rules' when it suits them ....
Monday, September 08, 2003
DR. WILLIAM WALSH , ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN AND IRISH REPUBLICAN .....
.....the Brits were wary of the newly-elected President of Maynooth College , William Walsh,as he had refused to jump at their command in the past .....
Most of the Catholic Church hierarchy would be more 'obliging' to Westminster ; being loath to 'bite the hand that feeds' ; an easy decision as , for the most part , the recipient would be of the same mind-set as the establishment .
At forty-four years young , William Walsh was appointed Archbishop of Dublin ; however , due to his refusal to condemn the Fenian Movement as had his predecessors , the British objected to his appointment , but were ignored . Indeed , one of his predecessors in particular , a Cardinal Paul Cullen (Archbishop of Dublin between 1852 and 1878) was said to be all but sleeping with the British Queen , such was his devotion to the British 'Royals' and the system they lorded over !
Much to the dismay of the British and to those within the Catholic hierarchy , Archbishop William Walsh did not disappoint the policy-makers in Westminster ......MORE LATER
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924
KILLARNEY
" On the Countess's Bridge , in Killarney , there is an iron cross with a painted inscription -
" In memory of Jer Donoghue , Stephen Buckley , Daniel Donoghue and Tim Murphy , IRA , killed on this spot on March 7 , 1923. RIP."
Jeremiah Donoghue was a young , upright , keen-looking lad whose whole heart was in Ireland's fight . The enemy , whoever he was , should be defied outright , in the open ; you should stand in his path and challenge him - that was his idea of strategy . He was for every daring enterprise , reckless of danger , impatient of counting the cost .
His comrades laughed at his wild honesty , but loved him for it . Tadhg Coffey was his close friend . Both had been out against the Black-and-Tans ; both were out in the Killarney area in the winter of 1922 . They were captured in Coffey's home , in Barleymount , on the 22nd of February , 1923 ....." MORE LATER
COWBOY......
[from 'The Irish News' ,15th of May , 1996 , page 7 - a Wednesday , if memory serves ....]
...... " I do not care if I never see a united Ireland ; nor do many of my fellow countrymen ."
--- so said Free State Senator Shane Ross , while addressing the 'North Down Conservative Association' , in Bangor , on Tuesday , 14th May 1996 .
When in Rome , Shane - 'cept our Shane says things like thatALLthe time : would'nt ya think he'd just ride off into the sunset of his British Empire .....
......AND COWGIRL -->
[from 'The Sunday Tribune' magazine , 19th May , 1996 , page 33]
<-- " I like some bony bits in personalities , some prickly bits , something you can argue with , because its only that way you get a solution . Diplomacy will not necessarily get you a solution ."
--- so said Margaret Thatcher , ex-British Prime Minister , and 'diplomat' of the 'Belgrano' !
Garret Fitzgerald would also agree with you , Maggie - remember 1985 : " OUT, OUT, OUT. "But it was'nt Fitzer saying that to the Brits ; it was Thatcher telling the Fine Gael leader which of his "aspirations" (ie 'crumbs') he could'nt have .....
.....the Brits were wary of the newly-elected President of Maynooth College , William Walsh,as he had refused to jump at their command in the past .....
Most of the Catholic Church hierarchy would be more 'obliging' to Westminster ; being loath to 'bite the hand that feeds' ; an easy decision as , for the most part , the recipient would be of the same mind-set as the establishment .
At forty-four years young , William Walsh was appointed Archbishop of Dublin ; however , due to his refusal to condemn the Fenian Movement as had his predecessors , the British objected to his appointment , but were ignored . Indeed , one of his predecessors in particular , a Cardinal Paul Cullen (Archbishop of Dublin between 1852 and 1878) was said to be all but sleeping with the British Queen , such was his devotion to the British 'Royals' and the system they lorded over !
Much to the dismay of the British and to those within the Catholic hierarchy , Archbishop William Walsh did not disappoint the policy-makers in Westminster ......MORE LATER
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924
KILLARNEY
" On the Countess's Bridge , in Killarney , there is an iron cross with a painted inscription -
" In memory of Jer Donoghue , Stephen Buckley , Daniel Donoghue and Tim Murphy , IRA , killed on this spot on March 7 , 1923. RIP."
Jeremiah Donoghue was a young , upright , keen-looking lad whose whole heart was in Ireland's fight . The enemy , whoever he was , should be defied outright , in the open ; you should stand in his path and challenge him - that was his idea of strategy . He was for every daring enterprise , reckless of danger , impatient of counting the cost .
His comrades laughed at his wild honesty , but loved him for it . Tadhg Coffey was his close friend . Both had been out against the Black-and-Tans ; both were out in the Killarney area in the winter of 1922 . They were captured in Coffey's home , in Barleymount , on the 22nd of February , 1923 ....." MORE LATER
COWBOY......
[from 'The Irish News' ,15th of May , 1996 , page 7 - a Wednesday , if memory serves ....]
...... " I do not care if I never see a united Ireland ; nor do many of my fellow countrymen ."
--- so said Free State Senator Shane Ross , while addressing the 'North Down Conservative Association' , in Bangor , on Tuesday , 14th May 1996 .
When in Rome , Shane - 'cept our Shane says things like thatALLthe time : would'nt ya think he'd just ride off into the sunset of his British Empire .....
......AND COWGIRL -->
[from 'The Sunday Tribune' magazine , 19th May , 1996 , page 33]
<-- " I like some bony bits in personalities , some prickly bits , something you can argue with , because its only that way you get a solution . Diplomacy will not necessarily get you a solution ."
--- so said Margaret Thatcher , ex-British Prime Minister , and 'diplomat' of the 'Belgrano' !
Garret Fitzgerald would also agree with you , Maggie - remember 1985 : " OUT, OUT, OUT. "But it was'nt Fitzer saying that to the Brits ; it was Thatcher telling the Fine Gael leader which of his "aspirations" (ie 'crumbs') he could'nt have .....
Sunday, September 07, 2003
DR. WILLIAM WALSH , ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN - AND IRISH REPUBLICAN .
To be "condemned from the pulpit" is practically a weekly occurrence for Irish Republicans on this island . That has always been the case throughout the 800-plus years of the struggle for Irish freedom , and is something that Irish Republicans have come to expect , from the Catholic hierarchy especially , but not confined to that particular religious grouping .
Personally , when myself and my (present !) wife were making arrangements to get married ("Its never that long ago , sweetheart , is it ...?") , we postponed the happy event (!) for one week as , in doing so , the priest who was 'booked' for the wedding would be on his holidays ; that priest , now dead , was Fr. Michael Clery , a man who was so anti-Republican as to be almost pro-British ! To my regret I never told him why we did'nt want to be associated with him , not that it would have made any difference to his attitude .
Anyway - the priest who 'did the job' on us turned out to have a different type of 'sickness' ; his name is Fr Walsh , and he's in the news now because of that 'sickness' .... out of the frying pan etc !
William Walsh was born in Dublin in 1841 , and studied in Maynooth College ; as a student he was exemplarily , and soon rose up the 'ranks' to become President of Maynooth College . The Brits were wary of Walsh , as he was not one for jumping at their command ...... (MORE LATER).
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
BALLYSEEDY CROSS .....
....the nine IRA prisoners were tied together , in a circle , around the land-mine ; the Free State soldiers moved away from them - the prisoners knew what was about to happen . Then the shock came , blinding , deafening and overwhelming .....
" For Stephen Fuller it was followed by a silence in which he knew that he was alive . Then sounds came to him - cries and low moans , then the sounds of rifle fire and exploding bombs . Then silence again : the work was done . He turned over ; he was not hurt : he was lying under a ditch in the wood . His clothes were scorched and torn to shreds ; cords with burnt and broken ends were knotted on both his wrists .
The explosion that killed the two men to whom he was bound had severed the cords and thrown him , uninjured , into the ditch . The Free State soldiers had no means of counting their victims . They went back to their breakfast , and Stephen Fuller crawled away to safety over the fields . The Military thought him dead ; his name was on one of the nine coffins which they sent out . There was madness among the people of Tralee . What prisoners were in those coffins ? No one could tell . The people opened them in the streets .
The frenzy that followed was terrible ; the women seemed demented ; Free State soldiers were stoned ; the funerals of those Republicans kindled a fire through Kerry that it would be difficult to subdue . The Free State Government issued a new regulation to their Kerry command -
" Prisoners who die while in military custody in the Kerry command shall be interred by the troops in the area in which the death has taken place. "
It was published in the Dublin press on the twenty-first of March (1923).
END
NEPOTISM GONE MAD .....
[from 'AP/RN' , December 1986]
.....President Desmond Hoyte of Guyana elected himself as Prime Minister , a move which everyone expected . But then he appointed himself as Chairperson of the Cabinet - again , most people in the country were not surprised , as he was simply ensuring that his power-base would be secured .
However , even his own cronies deserted him when he took the following positions -
Minister of Defence , Minister of National Security , Minister of National Services , Minister of Public Services , Minister of Regional Development , Minister of American-Indian Affairs , Director of Elections , Director of Industry , Director of Mining , Director of Foreign Affairs , Chairperson of the Water Board , Minister of State for Prisons , Chief Fire Officer , Chief Registrar for Births , Deaths and Marriages , and Controller of Licences !!
....no idea what the man got up to in his spare time !
To be "condemned from the pulpit" is practically a weekly occurrence for Irish Republicans on this island . That has always been the case throughout the 800-plus years of the struggle for Irish freedom , and is something that Irish Republicans have come to expect , from the Catholic hierarchy especially , but not confined to that particular religious grouping .
Personally , when myself and my (present !) wife were making arrangements to get married ("Its never that long ago , sweetheart , is it ...?") , we postponed the happy event (!) for one week as , in doing so , the priest who was 'booked' for the wedding would be on his holidays ; that priest , now dead , was Fr. Michael Clery , a man who was so anti-Republican as to be almost pro-British ! To my regret I never told him why we did'nt want to be associated with him , not that it would have made any difference to his attitude .
Anyway - the priest who 'did the job' on us turned out to have a different type of 'sickness' ; his name is Fr Walsh , and he's in the news now because of that 'sickness' .... out of the frying pan etc !
William Walsh was born in Dublin in 1841 , and studied in Maynooth College ; as a student he was exemplarily , and soon rose up the 'ranks' to become President of Maynooth College . The Brits were wary of Walsh , as he was not one for jumping at their command ...... (MORE LATER).
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
BALLYSEEDY CROSS .....
....the nine IRA prisoners were tied together , in a circle , around the land-mine ; the Free State soldiers moved away from them - the prisoners knew what was about to happen . Then the shock came , blinding , deafening and overwhelming .....
" For Stephen Fuller it was followed by a silence in which he knew that he was alive . Then sounds came to him - cries and low moans , then the sounds of rifle fire and exploding bombs . Then silence again : the work was done . He turned over ; he was not hurt : he was lying under a ditch in the wood . His clothes were scorched and torn to shreds ; cords with burnt and broken ends were knotted on both his wrists .
The explosion that killed the two men to whom he was bound had severed the cords and thrown him , uninjured , into the ditch . The Free State soldiers had no means of counting their victims . They went back to their breakfast , and Stephen Fuller crawled away to safety over the fields . The Military thought him dead ; his name was on one of the nine coffins which they sent out . There was madness among the people of Tralee . What prisoners were in those coffins ? No one could tell . The people opened them in the streets .
The frenzy that followed was terrible ; the women seemed demented ; Free State soldiers were stoned ; the funerals of those Republicans kindled a fire through Kerry that it would be difficult to subdue . The Free State Government issued a new regulation to their Kerry command -
" Prisoners who die while in military custody in the Kerry command shall be interred by the troops in the area in which the death has taken place. "
It was published in the Dublin press on the twenty-first of March (1923).
END
NEPOTISM GONE MAD .....
[from 'AP/RN' , December 1986]
.....President Desmond Hoyte of Guyana elected himself as Prime Minister , a move which everyone expected . But then he appointed himself as Chairperson of the Cabinet - again , most people in the country were not surprised , as he was simply ensuring that his power-base would be secured .
However , even his own cronies deserted him when he took the following positions -
Minister of Defence , Minister of National Security , Minister of National Services , Minister of Public Services , Minister of Regional Development , Minister of American-Indian Affairs , Director of Elections , Director of Industry , Director of Mining , Director of Foreign Affairs , Chairperson of the Water Board , Minister of State for Prisons , Chief Fire Officer , Chief Registrar for Births , Deaths and Marriages , and Controller of Licences !!
....no idea what the man got up to in his spare time !
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