THE SEEDS OF A POLICE STATE .......There is substantial evidence that a major crime was perpetrated within the Garda Siochana five years ago .
The evidence for this crime has certainly been available to senior Gardai ever since then , but no enquiry whatsoever has taken place , let alone any Garda being disciplined in connection with that crime .
By Vincent Browne and Derek Dunne .
From 'MAGILL' magazine , September 1983 .
THE CASE OF BRIAN McNALLY :
Brian McNally was arrested under the Offences Against The State Act , 1939 , at 7.10am on the Monday morning of April the 5th , 1976 : he was taken to Fitzgibbon Street Garda Station and shortly afterwards , he alleged in evidence , he was struck on the cheek by Detective Garda Thomas Dunne , and also shouted at by him. He said he was assaulted by Detective Garda Kieran P. Lawlor , who is alleged to have beaten him on the right cheek bone , the lip , the ribs and the chest .
McNally claimed also that he had been deprived of tablets which had been prescribed for him . He was questioned at intervals throughout the day , and alleged that by midnight he was fatigued and unsure of himself as a result of being deprived of his tablets . He was then brought to the Bridewell Garda Station .
His questioning resumed at 10.00am the following morning and lasted until 6.00pm , when he was put to his cell for tea . At 8.30pm he was taken out to an interview room where he was interviewed until 9.15pm : he alleged that during this interview he was sitting on a double seat with Detective Garda Felix McKenna , and that when he lit a cigarette it was knocked out of his mouth by Detective Garda Thomas Fitzgerald : that Detective Garda Felix McKenna stood up suddenly and that he (McNally) fell to the floor , that he was picked up by Detective Garda Felix McKenna and pushed towards Detective Garda Thomas Fitzgerald who slapped and pushed him and he fell back on the seat . Then four or five plain clothes detectives came into the room.......
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(Martin McGuinness , left , with Henry Kissinger , as usual , on the right ...) DISARMING MARTIN .......
All (P)Sinn Fein leaders have a series of mantras and mini-speeches which they seek to get into every interview , regardless of the question .
The task of the journalist is to avoid setting off these reflex responses : the problem with Martin McGuinness is that he does it so pleasantly that it seems impolite to interrupt him .
From 'MAGILL' magazine , March 1999 .
By John Waters .
Martin McGuinness stated - " I don't think there are republicans out there in the hills around Tyrone or Derry and Belfast who get up in the morning and say - ' We have to get back to armed struggle by midnight or the whole thing is lost' . ('1169...' Comment : Of course there are no republicans who propose a "midnight deadline" : who said there was ? There are , however , a growing number of republicans who are saying - ' It is wrong to completely rule out anything other than constitutional means of achieving our objective , as Westminster has not done so' .) These are very politically sophisticated people . When you think that, over the years , such a determined campaign was conducted to demonise us , and people were able to see through that , I think you have here probably one of the most politically sophisticated communities in the whole of western Europe .
If people were consumed by a militarist approach , as some people contend , then we should not have succeeded over the past number of years ; in fact , we not only succeeded , but we kept increasing our support . There's this debate about at the minute about what's the best to do . People will say to you - ' Sure , even if the whole thing collapses , the unionists will be in a worse position than they are at the moment , and the British will be forced to blah-blah-blah ....' " ('1169... ' Comment - .....by which we presume McGuinness meant that the British will be forced to talk their way out of it . It must be remembered that this McGuinness interview took place in 1999 , when the man was obviously not as 'polished' as he is now by the spin-doctors in the art of what we on this blog refer to as 'shite-talk' ie regardless of the question asked , give the [party-supplied] mantra , wrapped in a paragraph which ontains the term "going forward " : stretch your reply to last at least between 30 seconds and one minute, by which time the interviewer will have to move on to the next question or subject . Then repeat the process !)
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THE PROVOS AT THE BALLOT BOX .......By Michael Farrell .
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1983 .
If (the then) Sinn Fein manages to topple the SDLP it will throw British and Dublin government policy on the North of Ireland into total disarray * , burying all question of power-sharing or 'cross-community support' for devolved government there . ('1169....' Comment * - ...and it very well might have done , too , had not the section of the then Sinn Fein organisation which left the Movement with Adams and McGuinness three years after this article was penned , not actually turned into an SDLP-type party themselves!) It will also force government officials to swallow miles of official handouts devoted to explaining that 'the men of violence' had the support of only a fraction of one per cent of the Northern population .
For that reason the clash between the SDLP and Sinn Fein is the real kernel of this election , overshadowing for the moment the conflicts between nationalist and unionist and that within the unionist camp itself . There will be 17 seats in the North in this election instead of 12 in the past : the SDLP will be contesting all 17 , Sinn Fein will be standing in 14 . The real battle between the two will focus on the five constituencies with Nationalist majorities - Armagh-Newry , Fermanagh-South Tyrone , Foyle , Mid-Ulster and West Belfast . Sinn Fein won one seat in each of these areas in the elections to the 'Northern Assembly' last October and all their Assembly members are standing this time . The SDLP won two seats in Armagh-Newry , Foyle and Mid-Ulster and one each in Fermanagh-South Tyrone and West Belfast .
The SDLP also dominate the three main councils in the constituencies - Derry City , Fermanagh and Newry and Mourne , but Sinn Fein already hold the Fermanagh-South Tyrone seat at Westminster . The SDLP have held no Westminster seats since Gerry Fitt defected in 1979.......
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