IRELAND , JANUARY 15th , 1920 : ELECTIONS .......
....... on 24th May 1921 , British General 'Sir' Nevil Macready informed Westminster that the IRA could not be militarily defeated ; on 22nd June 1921 , British 'King' George V , in coded language , offered the Irish Rebels the opportunity to talk and , on 9th July 1921 , Eamon de Valera led an Irish Republican delegation to meet the Brits .......
On 11th July 1921 , in Dublin , a 'Truce' was signed between the Crown Forces and the IRA and then , in London on 6th December 1921 , the 'Treaty of Surrender' was signed , bringing this cursed Free State into being .
We have had other 'Treaty's ' since then : 1973 (Sunningdale) , 1985 (Hillsborough) and 1998 (Stormont) - and no doubt we will suffer more of them in the future . But until such time as a Treaty contains a date for British military and political withdrawal from Ireland , it will not 'solve the Irish problem' ; we have not endured an 835-years long struggle for freedom only to now say to Westminster , as the Provos and others in the Free State 'parliament' , and system , have said - ' Stay if you want , just treat us better .....' .
Likewise , we have had dozens of elections (both 'local' and 'general') since that election of 15th January 1920 , and the Provisional political party have done well out of them ; they went in to local Councils , Leinster House , Stormont , Westminster (currently abstaining from their seats in the latter institution) and Brussels , to " change the system ..." ; but the system changed them .
In order to keep their seats (and win new ones) they will have to "look after things" ie acquire / inquire after medical cards , street lighting , grass verges to be cut , representation re social welfare claims etc etc - all laudable pursuits , right enough , but ... .. what about that which we Irish Republicans consider to be 'the big picture' ? - the British political and military presence in our country , and their continuing claim of jurisdiction over part of this island ?
No votes in it for the Provisionals . For Irish Republicans there does'nt have to be .......
[END of ' IRELAND , JANUARY 15th , 1920 : ELECTIONS .......'].
(Tomorrow - 'THE BOUNDARY COMMISSION , 1921 - 1925 : A BRITISH 'SLEIGHT-OF-HAND' WHICH CAUSED A MUTINY WITHIN BRITISH FORCES IN IRELAND .' )
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 .
(2 of 11).
May 6th , 1981 . Bridget Maguire , mother of six , Belfast . Shot by RUC . Received twenty-six stitches to face . She was kneeling at an open-air prayer meeting when shot .
May 7th , 1981 . Paul Logue , 16 years of age , Waterside , Derry . Shot by RUC . Received six stitches to forehead .
May 8th , 1981 . Patrick Doherty , 68 years of age , Shantallow , Derry . Shot at close range by British soldier . Kicked on ground after shooting , suffered fractured skull . Shot near home , no rioting in area .
May 8th , 1981 . Derry man , 21 years of age , Creggan , Derry . Shot at point-blank range by RUC . Lost an eye , which was completely shattered , despite two-and-a-half hours in surgery . He was returning home from a night out with two friends . No rioting in area .
May 8th , 1981 . John Wasson , 22 years of age , Ardoyne , Belfast . Shot with two bullets . Injured in head and chest . Paralysed down one side . No riot in area .
May 8th , 1981 . Alfred Parker , 36 years of age , Whiterock , Belfast . Shot in head , received sixteen stitches .
(MORE LATER).
THE EXTRADITION FIASCO .......
By Derek Dunne .
First published in 'Magill' magazine , October 1985 , pages 9,10 and 11.
Re-published here in 13 parts.
(12 of 13).
The second case coming before the High Court is that of Brendan Burns ; he was arrested on foot of fifteen warrants from the North , five relating to the killing of five British soldiers at Camlough , County Down , in May 1981 . Another warrant relates to the killing of a British soldier at Crossmaglen in October 1982 .
The remaining nine warrants relate to explosions , possession and control of explosives and conspiracy ; it is claimed that the offences are political and thus exempt from extradition . What is significant about both the Robert Russell and Brendan Burns cases is that no evidence need ever be produced in a court in the Republic ( ie the Free State) linking either of the men to the alleged offences .
The normally conservative senior and junior counsel who work the High and Supreme Courts are now saying that the entire Extradition issue was carefully engineered from the start . First , there was Dominic McGlinchey , extradited for the killing of a sixty-seven year-old woman , Hester McMullan ; it later emerged that there was much more evidence linking him with other killings than there was with Hester McMullan .......
(MORE LATER).
