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 Workers Party and the Progressive Democrats seem to be willing to indulge in the 'selling off' of the new arrangements in return for 'advances' in the cases of the Birmingham Six , the Guildford Four and Annie Maguire . Recently , Labour MP Chris Mullin , who has long been campaigning on behalf of the Birmingham Six , said that he was surprised that the Haughey government was going to implement the new extradition laws while there was still no significant progress in the three cases which have been of concern to * the Dublin government for some time . ( * '1169...' Comment : a good example of their level of 'concern' . )
Chris Mullin said that he had discussed the cases with Charles Haughey and Brian Lenihan in October 1986 , and he was now surprised that they were "...so easily satisfied . I do wish the Irish government would be a bit more robust , " he said . Chris Mullin has long been campaigning to "...tip the balance of inconvenience .. " so as to make it more embarrassing for the British government to keep these people in prison , than it would be to admit that its courts got it wrong .
Professor Mary McAleese said - " The experiences of the Guildford Four , the Birmingham Six and Annie Maguire are precisely the sort of things that a country should worry about when extraditing its citizens to a jurisdiction with that sort of track record . I would be considerably concerned about these matters being outstanding , and the 'Act' going through . "
(MORE LATER).
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 .
The 'on the take' malaise is represented perhaps best by three extraordinary decisions taken by Fianna Fail-led governments in recent years : the first of these decisions was the tax amnesty of 1993 , whereby tax defrauders were given a total amnesty on payment of just 15 per cent of the tax they owed to the State and a guarantee of absolute confidentiality hereafter !
The scale of this benefit to the richest in society cannot now be quantified , but it may be assumed with confidence that it was massive - but of more concern is what motivated the introduction of the tax amnesty in the first place : was it done to accommodate a single mega-rich taxpayer who was in trouble with the Revenue Commissioners and whose generosity to Fianna Fail and perhaps to individuals within the party was considerable ?
So troubled was the then Minister for Finance , Bertie Ahern , with the proposal to introduce the scheme that he considered resignation , and he was talked out of it only by a representative of the Labour Party , which was then in government with Bertie Ahern's party , Fianna Fail ; how ironic that a Fianna Fail finance minister should be encouraged to accept a measure that was so manifestly unfair by a representative of a party that purports to represent the quintessence of fairness !
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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 (b) : Work of the Republic -
" To show it was - and is - a reality . This is an antidote to the hypocrites who now pretend that it never existed . Some pamphlets have already been published by direction of the Dail last year showing how the Republic functioned - Courts , Land Settlements , Decrees etc . These were sold for 6d each , I think , and they could be reproduced or used again . The 'Bulletin' , published by D/Publicity all through the war up to the signing of the Treaty does , I think , contain heaps of dates .
POINT 3 (c) : Hierarchy -
Invariably wrong in Ireland in their political outlook ie against the people in 1798 . Frs. Murphy (2) , Roche , Kearns , excommunicated by the then Bishop of Ferns : against Emmet , "condoning outrage" . Against Young Irelanders , "Godless young men " , support of Sadlier and Keogh , against the Fenians - Dr. Cullen , Bishop Moriarty : "Hell not hot enough or eternity long enough ... " . Against Sinn Fein , against the Irish Volunteers . Supported England in European War , 1914 , morally to blame for the deaths of thousands of Irish youths in France , Flanders , Mesopotamia , Gallipoli , Macedonia etc : nothing can condone this - the European War was a hideous holocaust on the alter of Mammon , a struggle between Europe for power . "
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