THE EXTRADITION SELL-OUT .......Should it become law as intended on December 1 next , The Irish Extradition Act will adversely affect the rights of many Irish citizens in the future .
COLM KEENA examines the implications of proposed legislation .
From 'In Dublin' magazine , 1 October 1987 .
The Fianna Fail government who , in opposition had stated that they were opposed to the Extradition Act , especially in regard to its not having a demand for a prima facie case , has not said that it will delay its implementation or amend it . To do either would require a vote in Leinster House . ('1169...' Comment - for Fianna Fail "to do either" would require Fianna Fail to take a principled stand , one way on the other , on the issue . An altogether alien proposition for them .)
In the last number of weeks the (Westminster-appointed) Northern Secretary , Mr. Tom King , has repeated his view that the number of judges sitting in the Diplock Courts is not to be changed from one to three ; the Dublin Administration has been pressing for this , but the 'British Council for Civil Liberties' sees little difference between three judges or one : they want more jury trials . Professor Mary McAleese sees little difference between one judge , three judges or sixty judges : 'the law is being implemented correctly , but there are problems with the law' !
The new rules in regard to the admissibility of evidence and confessions , which are 'peculiar' to the Diplock Courts , are the major problem , she says . The Workers' Party and the Progressive Democrats say that they dislike the Extradition Act , that they would like to see the inclusion of the prima facie requirement.......
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ON THE TAKE ! The question is no longer whether there is corruption within our political establishment but whether the political establishment is itself corrupt .
From 'MAGILL' magazine , February 1998 .
We know now what we purported not to know before : that senior political figures were 'on the take' and that at least one of them was 'on the take' for decades ; we now know that the manner in which this senior political figure , Charles Haughey , was 'on the take' involved the complicity of bankers , accountants and 'benefactors' .
We know now that it involved a complicated financial ruse ( the Ansbacher accounts ) that were availed of by many others as well : many of those others were associates of Mr. Charles Haughey .
But whatever the further revelations of the Moriarty Tribunal into these matters and whatever more emerges about the existence of similar financial ruses in other banks , these represent only the symptom of what seems to be a much deeper malaise.......
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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 .
Point 3 : PROPAGANDA (a) - Imperialism .
" What the rejection of it by Ireland means , and what its acceptance by Ireland means - this should be fully explained . What imperialism is ; what Empires are - what the British Empire is - its growth , how it exists and maintains itself .
Colonies (Irish Free State as a colony) , India - how oppression and possession of it is essential to maintenance of the British Empire . Money , trade , power etc (Curzon on India) . Extracts from Roger Casement's articles on 'Ireland , Germany and Freedom of the Seas' , published first in 'Irish Review' , 1913 or 1914 : what Ireland's connection with imperialism , however much the apparent material gain , means to her future .
No use freeing Ireland to set her up as a state following in the footsteps of all the rotten nations in Europe today - what Ireland's rejection of imperialism means etc . "
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