MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS .James Keegan died in Granard Garda Station last September (1986) . Earlier this month , an inquest was held in Longford to ascertain the cause of death. The central question - how James Keegan managed to tear a blanket and hang himself within four minutes - still remains unanswered . DEREK DUNNE reports.From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine , February 1987 .Jimmy Keegan lived with his brother three miles outside
Granard , a small town in
north County Longford : he was
fifty-four years old and had been a
cattle drover all his life . In the
1940's , '50s and '60s there was a good living to be made from cattle droving but , as marts began to replace fairs ,
Jimmy Keegan found that his livelihood was being eroded .
Some cattle drovers bought lorries and became more professional - others , for one reason or another , did not , including
James Keegan . He was fond of drink and spent most of his money in that way . As a degree of prosperity made itself apparent in the
1960's he was left behind . In the
1970's and 1980's he survived by what he got from the
dole and by selling ash plants to farmers at the local mart for one pound at a time . Locals regarded him as 'harmless' - he might make a nuisance of himself by singing in bars or on the street but he was never considered nasty or violent .
He was occasionally barred from pubs in
Granard for his tendency to sing and generally create annoyance and he was well known to
the gardai in the town . Sometimes they would pick him up and leave him home , or leave him in
the garda station to sober up . He suffered from
alcoholism , and he had a heart condition....... (MORE LATER). 
KERRY GARDA CRISIS ....... There is a crisis among the Gardai in Kerry and it is much deeper than one of morale . For years the Kerry Detective force has enjoyed a free hand in dealing with Section 30 cases in this heavily Republican county . But the free rein given in these cases has had the inevitably corrupting effect . Now individual Gardai are being fingered for conduct that most of them had taken for normal : the heat is now on . Only the fall-guys remain to be named ....... From 'The Phoenix' magazine , February 1985 . KERRY'S SHERCOCK ?Rathmore schoolteacher Noel O' Sullivan died on the 28th of December 1981 after a visit to Kenmare Garda Station in the south of the county of Kerry . This case is now being openly spoken of as
Kerry's Shercock . According to the report of
Cork City coroner , Con Riordan , Noel O' Sullivan's death was as a result of "...extradural haemorrhage and contusion of the brain due to fracture of the skull caused by trauma to the head " . The position at the moment is that
civil proceedings were begun in
January 1983 and are still awaiting trial .
THE SHEEHAN CASE :James Sheehan was arrested under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act in the summer of 1982 . He had 12 or 13 previous arrests : he was taken to
Tralee Garda Station where , he alleges , local
detectives told him they wanted 'yes' answers to a series of questions . He alleges they beat him and that , in the course of the
beating , a window was broken and
his hand was cut . He was then
handcuffed and dragged by the hair to another room . The questioning continued
....... (MORE LATER).
A HARD 'OUL STATION : LIFE ON THE STREETS .......From 'NEW HIBERNIA' magazine , March 1987 . At around 7.45pm some of the co-workers arrive for their shift , and the full-time workers have a chance to go off for a pint or whatever until they come back again at 11.30pm . Again , like the full-time workers , the co-workers
(part-timers) are a friendly bunch . A good many of the residents have gone off to bed at this stage , some of them are still sitting around in the kitchen area , chatting amongst themselves , and others are just sitting there looking on with blank expressions on their faces .
Downstairs in a small room another group of co-workers have arrived in to give up some of their time to
the Simon Community . They will go out on the streets and visit people who are
sleeping rough and give them soup and sandwiches . The 'soup run' takes place every night between 10.00pm and 2.00am and those working on it have full time jobs during the day - they are mainly young people and are drawn from all walks of life . They will split up into small groups , depending on the number of cars that are available , and some of those groups will visit people living in flats that
Simon have managed to find for them while another group will seek out people
sleeping rough . The co-workers will arrive in
the shelter anytime after 8.30pm to make the soup and the sandwiches : tonight it is beef , cheese and egg sandwiches as well as French onion soup and tea . One of the residents who seems to have been wandering around the shelter all day sits down and looks at the assembled night crew who , before they actually set off , are being 'paired' and having their destinations designated . On the way out one of the girls smiles and says to the rest
" Let's be careful out there..." Too right -
Dublin's Buckingham Street and its environs may not be like
Hill Street but it sure is a
tough area.......(MORE LATER).
Annual Bobby Sands Commemorative Lecture - 
Annual H-Block Hunger Strike Commemoration - 
A picket in support of the prisoners in Maghaberry Prison who are currently fighting for political status will be held at the GPO, Dublin on Saturday, September 2nd 2006 at 12:45pm .
Annual Eve-Of-All-Ireland Rally -
