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 Remand : The Case Gets Curiouser and Curiouser :
There are circumstances in which accused persons are placed in Garda custody after being charged in the District Court but these circumstances are very unusual , especially in the Dublin area . The reasons generally relate to the lateness of the hour at which the charges are made and the distance from a prison .

Thus if a person is charged with an offence in a remote area and remanded in custody , either by a District Justice or by a Justice of the Peace , then they may be held in Garda custody overnight , pending their removal to a prison the following morning , but this is rarely necessary in the Dublin area . In any event the extraordinary procedure was taken in this case of specifically getting a remand into the custody of two named Gardai - this procedure is virtually unheard of , although provided for under Section 25 of the Criminal Procedures Act 1967 .

In fact during the course of the Sallins mail train robbery trial the issue arose during the cross examination of the station Sergeant of the Bridewell Garda Barracks who was on duty on the night of April 7 , 1976 - he , Sergeant Padden , admitted that he could not recall any other case in which an accused person had been remanded into Garda custody . One of the senior Garda officers involved in the case , Detective Inspector Ned Ryan , was unable to explain during the course of the trial why the remand into Garda custody had occurred at all.......
(MORE LATER).



BEYOND BREAKOUTS AND SUPERGRASSES .......
From 'FORTNIGHT' magazine , October 1983 .

One of the tasks of any ' Anglo-Irish Council' could be the expansion of the Irish (sic - should read 'State') Senate to allow for elected northern representation , thus going some way towards satisfying northern nationalist aspirations * while at the same time ensuring a permanent forum to discuss the possibilities of eventual condominium , joint sovereignty or federalism . ('1169...' Comment * ... "northern nationalists" may indeed 'aspire' to sit in a talking-shop with other suits , discussing the fortunes of their shares etc , but Irish Republicans would view such an 'aspiration' as aiming far too low.)

An all-Ireland economic development body should be set up , perhaps funded by a cross-border co-operation tax raised in Britain and both parts of Ireland (sic - Ireland has only one 'part' as it is a single entity) , which could help to channel capital , both foreign and local , private and public , to the North's areas of greatest need . ('1169...' Comment - in this humble blogs opinion , the " North's areas of greatest need " is to end British interference in that part of Ireland .)

And most immediately something has to be done to end the serious abuses of the North's judicial process which have been brought in * by the use of supergrass 'evidence' ('1169...' Comment * - not " brought in " , but exacerbated by , the use of such 'evidence ' ) - those abuses include convictions on the basis of uncorrororated and highly dubious 'evidence' of self-confessed criminals and perjurers and the use of the 'Bill of Indictment' procedure to avoid supergrass 'witnesses' having to confront those they are accusing at preliminary hearings.......
(MORE LATER).



THE PROVOS AT THE BALLOT BOX .......
By Michael Farrell .
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1983 .

FOYLE :
Gregory Campbell(DUP) : John Hume(SDLP) : Martin McGuinness(SF) : Eamon Melaugh(WP) and Gerry O'Grady(Alliance) .

The old Derry constituency had a Unionist majority , but now much of unionist North Derry has been hived off into the new East Derry seat and the solidly nationalist town of Strabane has been taken from Mid-Ulster and added to Derry city to 'make up' Foyle .

It now has a safe nationalist majority and John Hume should win here but if Martin McGuinness increases the Sinn Fein share of the vote it could worry Hume . However , if John Hume is beaten , the SDLP might as well pack up and go home .

Assembly Election 1982 :
(First Preferences) - All Unionists 30,783 , four seats ; SDLP 20,279 , two seats ; Sinn Fein 8,763 , one seat ; Alliance 3,663 ; Workers' Party 974 . Next - Mid-Ulster.......
(MORE LATER).

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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 .

Dr. Sean O' Cleirigh gave evidence of the injuries he found on examining Nicky Kelly -

" There was bruising between the middle and the lower third of the thigh . That is about two-thirds of the way between the hip joint and the knee joint on the left thigh , which was approximately two inches in diameter . There were also two small bruises on the front of the body , one just below the breast bone - the sternum - about an inch below the sternum : the other about three inches above and one inch outside the line of the left nipple . They would have been at most one inch in diameter - like small bruises .

He had extensive bruising of the left ear itself and behind the left ear . In other words , the discolouration extended from the ear itself . It extended for a couple of inches but it also extended down below the level of the ear . There was discolouration behind the right ear - it was a light brown . I describe it as 'browning'....... "

Referring again to the left ear , Dr. O' Cleirigh said - " I discovered that there was a swelling there and some discolouration and it was tender . He was in a state of very acute anxiety . I have quite a clear recollection of Kelly being particularly stressful . "

Dr. Sean O' Cleirigh was further questioned by Mr. Seamus Sorohan , State Counsel - '...those various injuries present ...matters that you noticed...distressful state ....what were all those matters consistent with in your opinion as a doctor...? ' Dr. O' Cleirigh replied - " They were consistent with beating of the type which he (Nicky Kelly) had described to me ." The doctor further put the ages of the bruisings found at one to three days : his evidence was corroborated by Dr. Sean Magee , who also examined Nicky Kelly at the same time.......
(MORE LATER).



BEYOND BREAKOUTS AND SUPERGRASSES .......
From 'FORTNIGHT' magazine , October 1983 .

The UDA and the UVF recognise that the IRA is* a revolutionary organisation ('1169...' Comment* - ....at least it was then (1983) : in 1986 the PIRA became the military wing of a Leinster House-registered political party , and remains so to this day ) - with all the long-term dedication and 'fanaticism' such a term entails . Loyalists believe that the revolutionary violence of the IRA has to be fought with the 'defensive violence' of a united loyalist community .

We (ie 'Fortnight' magazine) believe that is the way to bloody sectarian civil war : we must believe that there are still political moves the (British) government can make * which could begin to create an atmosphere in which the nationalist working class could be weaned away from Sinn Fein ('1169...' Comment - ...as it was then , in 1983) , and support for the IRA's campaign could be correspondingly reduced . ('1169...' Comment * -...the only such "political move" would be an announcement from Westminster of a date for political and military withdrawal from this island.)

The British government - or even better , all the British parliamentary parties in a joint statement - should make clear once and for all that there will never be any return of powers to a Stormont Assembly until there is guaranteed nationalist (not 'Catholic') participation in any devolved administration . ('1169...' Comment -....by which , then [1983] , was meant that the SDLP and the then Sinn Fein organisation would both have to implement British policy in that part of Ireland . And the Provos are now attempting to do so.) A 'formal' three-tier 'Anglo-Irish Council' , with its own budget and officials , should be set up as quickly as possible and charged with specific political and economic tasks *....... ('1169...' Comment*...a salaried 'talking-shop' , in other words , as that proposed body would be tasked with implementing British policy rather than finding ways of ending same.)
(MORE LATER).



THE PROVOS AT THE BALLOT BOX .......
By Michael Farrell .
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1983 .

The Battleground .
There are six constituencies where the SDLP or Sinn Fein have a chance of winning a seat :
West Belfast -
Candidates : Gerry Adams (SF) : Gerry Fitt (IND) : George Haffey (DUP) : Dr. Joe Hendron (SDLP) : Mary McMahon (WP) and Thomas Passmore (OUP) .

Once a fairly marginal seat in 'religious' terms , the new boundaries have given this seat a solid 'Catholic' majority, removing the Unionist Shankill and Donegall Road areas and adding the Nationalist Lenadoon Estate .

It is based on the Falls Road , Andersonstown and Ballymurphy/Turf Lodge : with a split Unionist vote , Gerry Adams , who topped the poll in the Assembly elections , should have no difficulty winning the seat .

Assembly Election 1982 : (First Preferences) SF 10,367 , one seat : SDLP 8,368 , one seat : OUP 4,505 , one seat : DUP 4,394 : Alliance 2,733 , one seat : Workers' Party 2,493 : Progressive Unionist Party 1,255 : PD 144 .
(MORE LATER).

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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 .

Dr. Sean O' Cleirigh , the independent medical witness , examined Nicky Kelly at Dublin's Mountjoy Jail at 7.30pm on Thursday , the 8th of April , 1976 : Dr. O' Cleirigh said in evidence -

" He had bruising over the left arm covering approximately the upper three quarters of the left arm and he had a similar type of bruising over approximately the middle two-thirds of the right arm - from the tip of the shoulders to about three-quarters way down the arm. There was also a large area of bruising , I call it 'ecchemosis' , that was an area approximately six inches over the left shoulder , at the back of the left shoulder on the back of the trunk ... "

Dr. O' Cleirigh said there was discolouration over the arms - "...a black blue discolouration . " He said - " The whole area was black blue . Over the back, there were areas where the discolouration was much fainter , and he also had bruising over both buttocks . I want to describe the area where it was - it was below the crest of the illium - the crest of the illium is what we would normally call the hips . It was on the upper crest of the pelvic bone , and this extended down for about two inches. It was right across the back . I called it 'linear bruising' because there were little lines through it . It was a slatey blue colour .

Over the left thigh , there was an area of slight bruising , where the discolouration was very slight , and this was approximately two inches by four inches . It extended from the tuborsity - the prominence at the top of the hip bone - the tuborsity , to the femor - the bone between the hip joint and the knee , and this was tender. By what I mean , when I palpitated it , there was pain present . It was roughly triangular in shape . The base was roughly two inches and the sides were roughly four inches . " Another detailed list of injuries was to follow.......
(MORE LATER).



BEYOND BREAKOUTS AND SUPERGRASSES .
From 'FORTNIGHT' magazine , October 1983 .

In the middle of September it looked as if this was turning out to be the authorities' (sic- ie by which the author means those paid , placed and/or 'authorised' by Westminster) best year in the fight against the Provisional IRA since Roy Mason's time , largely thanks to the emergence of the 'supergrass' phenomenon : a high point had been reached with the revelation that the RUC's latest 'converted terrorist' , Robert Lean , had allowed them , for the first time since the 'supergrasses' started to emerge at the end of 1981, to penetrate the West Belfast heartland of the IRA leadership.

Everyone was expecting some spectacular IRA action to rally the morale of its battered troops , but the stroke the Provisionals pulled was a particularly unexpected and humiliating one for the British government - in an operation of military-style precision and planning , 38 prisoners got out of the Maze Prison , trumpted as the highest security prison in these islands . It was the largest escape in British prison history , and at the time of writing 19 of the escapers are still free .

The reaction among Loyalists was interesting : while Ian Paisley and his ilk predictably screamed for Jim Prior's head and made unsubstantiated allegations about Irish Republican 'moles' inside the prison , some loyalist paramilitary leaders were the first to admit that the ability to pull off such spectacular strokes was one of the things that gave the IRA their credibility , both within the nationalist working class and among a growing number of politicians and media people in Britain , Europe and America.......
(MORE LATER).



THE PROVOS AT THE BALLOT BOX .......
By Michael Farrell .
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1983 .

Sinn Fein have five advice centres or political clinics in West Belfast , four in Derry and one in Strabane , five in Mid-Ulster , four in Fermanagh-South Tyrone and three in Armagh-Newry .

Most of the city ones and at least one in each of the rural areas are open full-time ; the rural constituencies have a hard-core of four or five full-time workers each , as well as the Stormont Assembly members - West Belfast and Derry have about 15 full-time workers each , all of whom deal with arrests , raids , prisoners' welfare and other traditional Republican concerns , but they also deal with complaints about repairs to 'Housing Executive' houses , social security benefits and even roads and agricultural grants .

In West Belfast they have set up specialised housing and welfare departments , with full-time staff , to get to know the regulations inside out . In some areas , instead of waiting for complaints to come in ,they have gone round the doors with a check-list of possible repairs or benefits - like beds , blankets or rent rebates - to which the people might be entitled . Then they have submitted the claims en bloc to the 'Housing Executive' or the (Six County) Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS), already broken down into the various categories used by the Department itself .

Gerry Adams claims this has forced the 'Housing Executive' and the DHSS to increase their staff in West Belfast and to issue new instructions to their officials to be more co-operative and less aggressive towards claimants.......
(MORE LATER).

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