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 .
Amongst the Gardai involved in the course of the Sallins mail train robbery trial were :
Detective Sergeant Michael Egan / Garda Peter P. Cavanan / Detective Sergeant Bernard Cullen / Detective Garda Gerard O' Carroll / Chief Superintendent Anthony McMahon / Garda A. Keane / Detective Garda Joseph Holland / Detective Garda John Jordan / Detective Inspector Richard Murphy / Detective Garda Michael Noonan / Sergeant Martin J. Dowling / Detective Sergeant Thomas Boland / Detective Garda Patrick Raftery /
Detective Sergeant Thomas King / Sergeant James Dolan / Garda James G. Keogh / Garda Brian McGauran / Garda Patrick Fitzgerald / Detective Garda J. Naughton / Detective Garda James Butler and Sergeant William John Fennessy .
There is another list - one which contains the names and rank of those members of the Gardai against whom allegations of ill-treatment were made : 19 names in all.......
(MORE LATER).
A PEOPLE'S ARMY ....... 'IRIS' magazine talks to two active women Volunteers in the Irish Republican Army about their involvement , their political attitudes , and their observations on the role played by women in the liberation struggle. Both Volunteers are from the Free State , where they live , and are in their twenties . 'Mary' comes from a country area and has been in the IRA for six years ; 'Anne' comes from the city and joined the IRA about a year ago .
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1982.
'IRIS' magazine : " It's sometimes said (by women probably!) that , once involved , women make more dedicated revolutionaries than men because of their double oppression , the 'slaves of slaves' . What do you think ? "
MARY : " The way women are oppressed in our society would make me rebel against it . I can't say there is usually any conscious effort on my part to link the war with the fight against women's oppression , but the two are integrally related . I think it's true that when male Volunteers are going out on an operation they have in one sense less to lose . Women have a home or the prospects of a home to lose ('1169...' Comment - ....so have the male Volunteers !) and , if a male Volunteer is captured he still has his wife and family at home ('1169...' Comment - ...meaning what ? That a husband won't 'wait around' ? Rubbish!) : so , yes -in a lot of cases I think women do make more dedicated revolutionaries . " ('1169...' Comment -...perhaps , in some cases , and perhaps not . But not for the reasons listed by 'Mary' .)
ANNE : " I would agree with Mary in that the two struggles , national liberation and women's liberation , are integrally related . From my own point of view I cannot say that I am more dedicated than the male Volunteers I work with . "
(MORE LATER).
" COMRADES , BROTHERS AND SISTERS ......." Kerry Dougherty talks to Michael O'Riordan about fifty years of Irish Communism.
From 'MAGILL' magazine, June 1983 .
Although he is reluctant to speak of his own family , Michael O' Riordan , who is a father and grandfather , admits that should any of his offspring develop a capitalistic leaning he would object as strongly as his parents had when he first became a communist - " I'd send for a psychiatrist , " he says .
To ensure that there will be a next generation of Irish communists , the party has started communist youth groups which serve as a sort of 'communist boy scout'-organisation for the children of party members . For these up-and-coming young communists , Mr O' Riordan says he believes they will have a more active role to play in history than did his generation which was plagued by the Cold War .
The fact that 66 years after the Russian Revolution there is a growing global trend toward socialist states encourages him in his hopes for Irish communism.......
(MORE LATER).
