Hunger Strike Rally , GPO , Dublin , Saturday May 6th 2006 .Remembering the Hunger-Strikers 25 years on.
A rally to commemorate the heroic struggle of the ten hunger-strikers : Bobby Sands, Francis Hughes, Ray McCreesh, Patsy O'Hara, Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, Kevin Lynch, Kieran Doherty, Thomas McElwee, Michael Devine - who gave their lives in 1981- will be held in Dublin on Saturday May 6 2006 . Assemble at the Garden of Remembrance at 2pm for march to GPO on O'Connell Street.
"They will not criminalise us, rob us of our true identity, steal our individualism, depoliticise us, churn us out as systemised, institutionalised, decent law-abiding robots. Never will they label our liberation struggle as criminal."
- Bobby Sands.
Twenty-two Irish political prisoners died on hunger-strike between 1917 and 1981 . The Dublin Rally is being held to commemorate all those Irishmen .
MacGIOLLA's GUERRILLAS .......Fifteen years ago , the leadership of the 'Official Republican Movement' (now 'The Workers' Party') stated that their armed wing , the 'Official IRA' , went out of existence .
Today , the 'Official IRA' is alive and well and living mainly in Belfast and Newry . In the days when both organisations were operating in an overt way , the leadership of 'The Workers' Party' and the 'Official IRA' overlapped to a certain degree .
Tomas MacGiolla , the man who led the 'Official IRA' for the last twenty-five years has always maintained the position that the 'Official IRA' went out of existence in 1972 . But the 'Official IRA' still march on , not an army fighting the British , but as a fund-collecting agency .
DEREK DUNNE traces the roots of the 'Official IRA' and 'The Workers' Party' .
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine , October 1987 .
Another occasion when Tomas MacGiolla went to Derry was following the killing of Senator Jack Barnhill on 12 December 1971 : it was claimed that he had been killed in a struggle when the Official IRA were about to burn down his house . Roy Johnston resigned from the Workers' Party over this . MacGiolla initially condemned the action , unaware that his own organisation had carried it out .
The third occasion when Tomas MacGiolla consulted with the Derry Command Staff of the OIRA was in 1972 , following the killing of Ranger Best in the city : Best was a local man who had joined the British Army and was home on leave . There was a standing Official IRA Order which stated that all British soldiers were to be killed , in or out of uniform . This Order was issued following Bloody Sunday .
Aldershot had also followed Bloody Sunday , but Aldershot had been planned for a year ahead , and a decision had already been taken prior to Bloody Sunday to prepare Britain for war on home ground .......
(MORE LATER).
GARDA GUN FIRE : WHO TO BELIEVE.......?Close analysis of television news film of incidents last month at Emyvale suggests a garda's gun went off accidentally . But that is not what the Minister of Justice told the Dail .
GENE KERRIGAN looks at the evidence.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1987 .
Most incidents of controversy happen away from the view of cameras ; the public must take on trust that the 'official' account subsequently produced is accurate and true . When available evidence seems to conflict with the 'official' account that trust is dangerously stretched .
To attempt to cover up an incident which in itself is quite explainable indicates , at best , a nonchalant attitude to a serious matter . Apart from the cover-up , questions arise about the wisdom of using an Uzi for crowd control , about the routine investigation following garda use of guns and about the reliability of garda guns and the training given to gardai .
[END of ' GARDA GUN FIRE : WHO TO BELIEVE ?'].
(Tomorrow - 'EOGHAN HARRIS : OUT OF THE SHADOWS' - from 1997)
ORANGE JUDGE EXECUTED.From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983 .
No 'By-Line' .
The IRA's execution of Judge William Doyle , a 'token Catholic' in the corrupt Orange judiciary in the North of Ireland , sent shock waves of anguish and anger through the pro-British establishment in the North , and through the Catholic middle class ad Catholic hierarchy who objectively assist the British presence .
Two days after the killing , Bishop Cathal Daly , who had been rather more circumspect in his criticism of recent RUC shoot-to-kill murders of nationalists , was prompted to describe those in the Irish republican tradition as representing - " ...the gravest danger which has been created for Belfast Catholicism for half a century . "
Responding to Bishop Daly's denunciation at the time , the IRA said - " Two weeks ago , we asked Bishop Daly to rule on a number of questions which we posed , and he refused to answer because he could not answer without exposing his pro-British sympathies ....... "
(MORE LATER).
