'THE PRESS' Newspaper , October 1797 - March 1798 .
Too Radical for the Radicals .......
....... the informer Thomas Reynolds had done his 'job' well - in March 1798 , the Brits (under the command of a Major Henry Sirr) raided the home of Oliver Bond in Bridge Street , Dublin , and 'arrested' most of the leadership of the United Irishmen organisation . Edward Fitzgerald was not amongst them , and a 'bounty' of £1,000 for information leading to his capture was offered by the Brits .......
'Lord' Edward Fitzgerald went 'on-the-run' but , two months later (ie May [19th] 1798) Major Sirr's men raided a house on Thomas Street , in Dublin , where Fitzgerald was staying ; a struggle ensued , during which Edward Fitzgerald shot one of his attackers dead but was himself shot in the arm - he died , apparently from that wound , in Newgate Prison on 4th June 1798 , at 35 years young .
Incidentally , during the 1798 Rising , the county of Tipperary was particularly 'quiet' , with little or no Rebel activity ; in order to keep it that way , the Brits put up hundreds of copies of a poster , describing the level of retribution those taking part in " the Outrage ... " (the Rising) or assisting the Rebels in any way could expect .......
(MORE LATER).
A STICKY END.......
Rise and decline of the 'Officials' .
No by-line.
First published in 'IRIS' magazine , Volume 1 , No. 2 , November 1981 , pages 76 and 77.
Re-published here in 8 parts .
[8 of 8].
The ' Sinn Fein - The Workers Party ' 'solution' was to call in the multi-national corporations ; for the 26 County State anyway , because the North must be allowed its devolved (Orange) government . Only " terrorism " from the ' starry-eyed Hibernian Nationalists ' prevent this wonderful scenario from materialising . If it was not so sad this would be funny ; even their long time allies in the Communist Party were forced to issue a heavily critical pamphlet on this disgraceful document .
So - what happened between 1968 and 1978 ? This current emerged from Republicanism with an imported version of 'socialism' known as the 'stage theory' (apparently invented by Stalin) which said - 1) Democracy in the Six Counties : 2) National Unification : 3) Socialism . However , they seem to have got stuck at the first stage , ignoring that in the real world the tasks of all three are posed simultaneously .
Republicanism is the Irish revolutionary thought answering to the needs of the Irish people . The lesson of this current , today a mere trickle , should be that you get lost if you leave that tradition . ('1169....' Comment - and where better to "get lost... " than on a seemingly 'gold-paved' alleyway between Leinster House , Stormont and Westminster ... ?).
[END of 'A STICKY END...'].
(Tomorrow - 'Lights , Camera , Reagan ! ' - from October 1980 ).
BIG BROTHER HAS ARRIVED .......
An investigation into the extent of telephone surveillance in Ireland shows that with the aid of new technology , telephone tapping has reached alarmimg proportions and most of it is done illegally .
By Frank Doherty .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , December 1980 , page 19.
(2 of 6).
More sophisticated interceptions by the IRA have been discovered only by chance ; the latest was mentioned in a Belfast Court in June 1980 when it was stated that the RUC had uncovered " sophisticated electronic equipment used to decode British Army messages . " 'The Sunday Times' later revealed that among the British Army messages mentioned were the decoded conversations of Lt. General Sir Timothy Creasey , the General Officer Commanding 'Northern Ireland' and messages arranging an SAS ambush which later went wrong .
What the IRA had done was to intercept dozens of 'phone lines in the city at roadside connection boxes (called cabinets) and 'shunt' them into a safe house by running a special cable from the local distribution point .
Such an operation presents little difficulty for a Post Office engineer or former engineer .......
(MORE LATER).
