ALL AT S.E.A....... !A light-hearted look at the 'Single European Act' legislation .
From 'The Very End' column , 'New Hibernia' magazine , May 1987.
By Patrick Murphy.
The Government in Dublin has just announced that since people living within 15 kilometres of the border do not have to spend 48 hours in the North to take advantage of EEC tariff concessions , there will now be a ' Northern Ireland ' , a 'Southern Ireland' and a 'Middle Ireland' .
The new state of 'Middle Ireland' will be the 15 kilometre zone south of the border . People living there will speak Middle Irish and will pursue middle of the road policies .
The main occupation in the new State will be that of 'middle men' who will pass goods from one part of Ireland to another .......
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BILLY WRIGHT , LOYALIST VOLUNTEER FORCE . " I have been prepared to die for long many a year . I don't wish to die , but at the end of the day no one will force their opinion down my throat . No one . "
On August 29 , 1996 , shortly before the 'Combined Loyalist Military Command's' death threat against him expired , EMER WOODFUL interviewed LVF leader BILLY WRIGHT in his Portadown home .......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , February 1998 .
Emer Woodful : " You talk about the unionist family . There are obviously huge divisions in that family . You have a death threat from the CLMC . I mean , who do you represent ? "
Billy Wright : " I don't claim to represent anyone . I'm a mid-Ulster (sic) loyalist . My feelings are the same , I'm positive on this , as the loyalists from mid-Ulster (sic) , and at the end of the day my feelings I can equate to 97 per cent of the unionist population , because they vote in a similar fashion to me . "
Emer Woodful : " Are you saying , then , that the UVF , UDA and the PUP are totally out of touch with what the majority of unionists want ? "
Billy Wright : " Well , I would imagine that the UVF exists right across Northern Ireland (sic) , and I firmly believe that there are differences of opinion within that movement . If you ask me do I differ in politics from the PUP - yes , I do . "
Emer Woodful : " But it's not just a political difference between you and the UVF . The UDA and UVF say we disagree with you so much that we are going to kill you . "
Billy Wright : " Well , I find it incredible that they did'nt feel that they had to go out and take military action against the IRA . "
Emer Woodful : " Well , that shows how strongly they feel against you , surely . "
Billy Wright : " I think the unionist community will be bewildered at that . And , going by the amount of people , absolutely disgusted with them . I think they have made a great mistake . "
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LIAM MELLOWS AND THE IRISH CIVIL WAR .......This is the bulk of a public lecture given at University College , Galway , by Sinn Fein Ard Comhairle member and Deputy General Secretary of the 'Local Government and Public Services Union' , Phil Flynn , on December 8th 1982 , the 60th Anniversary of the Free State's execution of Liam Mellows .
First published in 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983 .
Liam Mellows was among the leaders of the Republicans who occupied the Four Courts ; he was captured when the building fell to Free State artillery (on loan from the British) at the end of June 1922 and jailed in Mountjoy . In August 1922 he smuggled out two documents comprising notes and observations on policy : later , these fell into the hands of the Free Staters and were published in a Free State ' Blue Paper' with the title - 'Correspondence of Eamon de Valera and Others' .
The 'others' are Mellows , Austin Stack , P.J. Ruttledge , Ernie O' Malley , Robert Brennan , Patrick Little and Charles Murphy . The core of the 'Blue Paper' is Mellows' 'Notes' - the point of publishing them was to brand Irish Republicans (including de Valera) as 'Communists' .
Mellows' 'Notes' , which were addressed to Austin Stack with a slightly abridged version to Ernie O' Malley , are contained in full in the excellent book , ' Liam Mellows and the Irish Revolution' , by Desmond Greaves . Those notes and documents make for interesting reading .......
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