Due to 'staff' (!) shortages here at '1169...' - because of some football matches or other , and exams (you show 'em , Junior!) - this Blog will only be updated every second day , for the next few weeks . In short , I have been abandoned by all but this machine ! Sharon .
THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT : INSIDE THE NORTHERN IRELAND (sic) PEACE TALKS (sic).......From 'MAGILL' magazine , November 1997 .
By Fionnuala O' Connor .
Provo socialising in Stormont is not helped by the building's internal segregation , with separate unionist and nationalist floors and lack of " friendly corners" , as several people put it ; but the bar-cum-coffee room , once described as having all the charm of a standard hotel bedroom without the bed , now attracts people away from their own office television sets to watch the news together on 'big' days ('1169...' Comment .......by which we presume they mean 'pay days' , where they can share and compare the 'spoils' between them !) .
" That's been interesting . Watching John Hume watching himself when he decided against the (Free State) presidency , and the different re-actions to Mary McAleese's announcement that she was running , " said one un-named Stormont politician - then discretion returned and no details followed from him . However , both 'camps' have taken part in 'get-togethers' for major football fixtures , with an (again) un-named participant volunteering to bring in his 'Sky' subscriber's card for the purpose .
Underlying differences are unchanged but mutual appreciation is plentiful , and remarkably * unanimous : the loyalists and the 'Women's Coalition' are useful 'lubricants' of debate , say Stormont Officials , with most parties remarking on how effectively Martha Pope runs the American team , George Mitchell's 'courteous firmness' and the pace he is now setting , and the loss to the Irish 'side' of the wise and elegant Sean O h-Uiginn ........ (* '1169...' Comment - why would both 'camps' NOT be "remarkably unanimous" ? After all , they share the share objective in Stormont - the implementation of the writ from Westminster.)
(MORE LATER).
THE ROMAN REICH....... ? Following the disbandment of the Dublin-based grouping , the NSIWP , a new right-wing organisation , believed to be linked with right-wing Catholic groups , has been formed . COLM KEENA reports .
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine , 1 October 1987.
Jim Keating is one of the Irish organisers of the U.S. group CAUSA , a group founded by the Moonie Cult leader (and tax fraudster) Sun Myung Moon , and supports the Contras in Nicaragua.
The new group which published the 'Ar Aghaidh' bulletin is said by sources in the rather bizarre world of the extreme right to have had discussions with James Keating and with a group of nationalistic Catholics who go by the name of the 'Christian Social Party', and operated from rooms at the top of 10 Lower Abbey Street in Dublin city centre . During the divorce referendum in this State , the 'Christian Social Party' put posters up around Dublin which had an infant in a nappy , with a sword descending on its head , and the inscription 'UNESCO' on the sword .
Up in 10 Lower Abbey Street , the 'CSP' have been producing policy documents on just about everything : they ran 'independent' candidates during the recent State election , but fared badly . The group fears world domination by communism , and also fears the work of the United Nations (UN), which it believes is preparing for world government : UNESCO , especially through its influences on the departments of education around the world , is playing an especially powerful role in this 'preparation for world government' , according to the Irish 'Christian Social Party'.......
(MORE LATER).
THE RIGHT TO SILENCE.......Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act has just been renewed for another year by State Communications Minister Jim Mitchell , despite increasing protests and lobbying by the NUJ .
HELEN O'CONNOR examines the results of a recent NIHE survey of the attitudes of Dublin people on the issue and GERRY LAVERY looks back to the roots of Section 31 .
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine , February 1987 .
The advent of the crisis in the North of Ireland in 1969 found RTE news camera crews free to investigate and feature interviews with whoever they pleased : some of the most telling news coverage of that period , including the Derry Civil Rights March and the 'Battle of the Bogside' , came from RTE news crews .
However , the rise of the Provisional IRA and the campaigns being waged by both them and the Official IRA gave rise to increasing concern on the part of the Jack Lynch administration in the 26-County State : the months immediately following internment in August 1971 was the high point of paramilitary activity and , on 1st October 1971 , the State Minister for Posts and Telegraphs , Gerry Collins , found it 'necessary' to issue a written directive to RTE which instructed them to "... refrain from broadcasting any matter that could be calculated to promote the aims or activities of any organisation which engages in , promotes , encourages or advocates the attainment of any political objective by violent means.. " . ('1169...' Comment - it should be noted that that 'directive' was not used against the British Army or its political representatives , both of which were given
free reign on RTE.)
It was a wide-ranging , not very specific 'directive' , but it was clearly aimed at members of the Republican Movement - RTE producers and the RTE Authority resisted pressure from the Lynch administration to exercise editorial control , and representatives from Sinn Fein were still interviewed , but the pressure was increasing . Delicate political negotiations were under way between the Lynch administration and Edward Heath's government in Westminster : the Republican Movement was perceived as a growing and dangerous political threat . Jack Lynch was showing increasing impatience with the failure of the RTE Authority to comply clearly with its 'directive' and , in May 1972 , P&T Minister Gerry Collins fired a warning shot across the bow of RTE when , as a result of the establishment of a 'Broadcasting Review Committee' , he decided to appoint the RTE Authority for only one year instead of the usual five years . Then 'that' interview took place - and all hell broke loose .......
(MORE LATER).