THE WALLACE AND HOLROYD FILE .......These files are now coming under the scrutiny of the 'authorities' . Heads will role . But whose ?
From 'New Hibernia' magazine , April 1987 .
No one disputes that Fred Holroyd was what he says he was ; he has documentary evidence of every step in his career , from his rise through the ranks to his association with Craig Smellie , the Secret Service Chief in Lisburn , County Antrim . His allegations are that loyalist gunmen were used to kill and kidnap IRA suspects living south of the Border - with the help of three corrupt Garda detectives - at various times .
Their roles , according to Fred Holroyd , besides supplying information to British Intelligence , were to 'freeze' certain areas , ensuring that there were no Irish (ie 26-County State) security patrols when kidnaps or murders were planned . The names of those three Garda detectives were in the file which Irish (ie 26-County State) G2 Intelligence got last August (1986) , along with times , dates and specific dirty tricks operations , including the murders of John Francis Green and Eugene McQuaid , and the attempted kidnaps of two other men .
Amazingly , no attempt was made to establish the truth or otherwise of Fred Holroyd's claims : no interviews were carried out , nor were any Garda records for the dates and areas in question examined.......
(MORE LATER).
THE HEAVY HAND OF THE LAW .......Allegations of Garda brutality only hit the headlines intermittently . But the problem may be much more widespread than most people imagine . Last year out-of-court settlements of cases involving members of the Garda cost the taxpayer over €1 million . What's going on ?
From 'MAGILL' magazine , April 2003 .
By Mairead Carey.
Normally , solicitor Peter Mullen would not advise clients to take a civil case (against the Gardai) : " The Walsh sisters had huge advantages - they were middle class , well presented , articulate . It would have been a different story if they spoke with an inner-city accent , and had an address in Dublin 1 . It's easy to abuse the weak . The people I represent are more likely to be dispossessed , inarticulate or drug addicts . There are never any witnesses , because what happens takes place after the arrest . In court , you are faced with a Garda who is educated and articulate . The natural instinct is to believe the Gardai . "
Barry Gannon is a classic example : in June 1999 , Fr. Peter McVerry wrote to the newspapers about the then 20-year-old Barry Gannon - the Jesuit priest claimed that Gannon had been beaten up by gardai in Store Street Garda Barracks , having been accused of breaking a shop window in the city centre . A complaint had been made but would "...almost certainly not succeed.." , Peter Mullen predicted . He was right .
From behind the glass partition in the visiting room in Clover Hill prison in Dublin , Barry Gannon explains his life history in a few minutes . One of five children , his father died when he was eight years old . He was on the streets at 11 years of age , on heroin at the age of 13.......
(MORE LATER).
THE STRANGE STATE KILLING OF MAURICE O'NEILL . James Gogartys Tribunal reminiscences about the shooting dead of a Garda colleague have resurrected a long-lost story of justice miscarried .
From 'MAGILL' magazine , March 1999 .
By ANTON McCABE .
In evidence to the Flood Tribunal on Tuesday , 2 February , former garda James Gogarty remembered - " I was within six feet of being shot dead , and a comrade of mine was shot dead , George Mordaunt " . Two dark chapters of Irish history briefly touched . The Flood and Moriarity Tribunals are casting light on the under-belly of Irish (Free State) politics in the past two decades , but little light has ever been shone on the dark days of World War Two (or 'The Emergency' , as it was euphemistically termed here) .
Fifteen-hundred Irish Republicans were interned . Five men faced firing squads and a sixth was hanged , after sentence by military tribunal - from which the only verdicts were death or acquittal . Three prisoners died on hunger strike and four individuals were victims of a shoot-to-kill policy .
Garda George Mordaunt died on October 24 , 1942 : on November 12 , 25-year-old Maurice O' Neill , an IRA member from Cahirciveen in County Kerry , was executed by firing squad , even though the prosecution accepted he did not fire the fatal shots . His death sentence was for shooting at police with intent to resist arrest.......
(MORE LATER).
