THE BOUNDARY COMMISSION , 1921-1925 .......
A British 'sleight-of-hand' which caused a mutiny within British forces in Ireland.......
....... in their desire to appease their supporters in the Six Occupied Counties of Ireland , Westminster's Winston Churchill stated that it was " absurd " to believe that the Boundary Commission would find against them ; the then British Chancellor of the Exchequer , Austen Chamberlain , was even more blatant .......
Austen Chamberlain 'reminded' the Unionists that they had , in effect , control of the " impartial Chairperson ... " of the Boundary Commission ! Indeed , it was the same Mr. Chamberlain who , during the negotiations with the (then) Irish Republican side insisted that they (the Irish) should take an " Oath of Allegiance to the (British) Crown ..." as part of the 1921 Treaty of Surrender .
Chamberlain was adamant that an Oath should be taken , so the soon-to-be Free Staters put forward the following form of words to the Brits -
- " I ....... , do solemnly swear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the Irish Free State , to the Treaty of the Association and to recognise the King of Great Britain as Head of the Associated States . "
But this was'nt a big enough 'climb-down' to suit the Brits ; they insisted that their form of words would hane to be used -
- " I ....... , do solemnly swear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the Irish Free State as by law established and that I will be faithful to His Majesty King George V , his heirs and successors by law , in virture of the common citizenship of Ireland with Great Britain and her adherence to and membership of the group of nations forming the British Commonwealth of Nations . "
This was 'a bridge too far' for the Irish ; further disagreement ensued between them and the British negotiating team over this 'Oath of Allegiance' and , finally , in exasperation , one of those from the Irish side , Gavan Duffy , could take no more - he stood up at the negotiating table and made a short statement to the Brits .......
(MORE LATER).
PLASTIC BULLETS.......
First published in 'IRIS' Magazine , Volume 1 , Number 2 , November 1981 .
In April 1981, 1,955 plastic bullets were fired - a rate of one every 20 minutes over the month . This was more than in the whole of 1980 .
Plastic bullets do not arouse the indignation that normal bullets excite . Over 7,000 have been fired since the death of Bobby Sands (ie May 1981 - November 1981) .
The intent of the British is that the mass protests can be shot off the streets without international opinion responding , as it would to news of large numbers of civilians being shot-up with buck shot or live rounds in , for example , South Africa .
Cases since April 1981 ; ' * ' denotes plastic bullet death .
Re-published here in 11 parts .
(9 of 11).
August 1st , 1981 (Day of Kevin Lynch's death) . Pauline Quigley , 16 years of age , New Lodge , Belfast . Shot in head at point-blank range by British soldier . Pauline received a hair-line fracture to her skull , with four stitches on the outside .
August 1st , 1981 . Vincent McGee , 34 years of age , Belfast . Shot by British soldier at point-blank range . Vincent suffered permanent kidney damage .
August 2nd , 1981 (Day of Kieran Doherty's death) . Patricia McGivern , 33 years of age , mother-of-three , Belfast . Shot by a British soldier from two feet . Several tendons were severed in her right hand and her flesh was torn away .
August 2nd , 1981 . James Kavanagh , 69 years of age , Lower Falls , Belfast . Shot from passing British Army armoured car ; James lives near Patricia McGivern . His lower left leg was severely bruised . Because of his age he will require medical treatment for a long time .
August 9th , 1981 * (10th Anniversary of introduction of internment without trial) . Peter Magennis , 40 years of age , father-of-five , Bawnmore , Belfast . Peter was shot through the window of his home by a passing RUC landrover patrol . Peter died . He was the seventh to be murdered in this recent phase . Like the others he was nowhere near a riot when killed .
(MORE LATER).
NORAID'S UNTOLD MILLIONS .......
Irish-Americans have long had complex and contradictory relations with Ireland and the 'Irish Question' . On Saint Patrick's Day , all the ambiguities are apparent .
This year (ie 1987) , on Saint Patrick's Day , the latest book by Irish writer , Jack Holland was published in New York , exploring the tangled web of links between Irish-Americans and the Irish in Ireland , the IRA and the Irish government .
' The American Connection ' describes the activities of leading Irish-American politicians , of romanticising writers and of gun-runners .
In this edited extract , the author tells how Noraid was set up and how it has resisted pressures to disclose all the sources and uses of its funds .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , April 1987 .
Re-published here in 31 parts .
(6 of 31).
The FBI also noted that the Irish Northern Aid Committee had registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) on January 14th , 1971 , less than a year after its formation . Since 1938 , FARA has been used to compel any person or organisation deemed to be acting as an agent for a " foreign principal " to register as such with the U.S. Attorney General .
The name of the 'foreign principal' has to be disclosed , as do other details about the relationship to that 'principal' and the nature of the activities undertaken on its behalf . These must be furnished on registration , and every six months following ; if money is collected for the 'foreign principal' , the amount raised must be filed , as well as details of how it was collected . All disbursements in connection with the 'foreign principal' must also be disclosed .
FARA's statutes demand that any written material of a political nature produced by the agent must be designated as " foreign political propaganda ." Registration allows the authorities to mount unannounced searches , without warrants , of the agent's financial records and correspondence .......
(MORE LATER).
