KEVIN BOLAND / WOMEN'S GHETTO / A ROUGH BEAST .
'MR BOLAND IS ASKED TO EXPLAIN'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .
The 26-County Minister For Defence , Mr Kevin Boland, refused permission for Mr Rory Brady , the Sinn Fein TD for Longford-Westmeath who is held in the Curragh Concentration Camp, to consult his solicitor .
This information was given to Roscommon County Council and the Council again asked Mr. Boland to seek legal advice on his suspension and his threatened dismissal from his post as a teacher at Roscommon Vocational School.
Mr D. O' Rourke said he did not see what harm it would do to Kevin Boland , the State or any one else to give that permission . In his written reply to the Council , Mr Boland said they could rest assured the decision had "...not been taken lightly.." . Mr P. A. McGuinness said he was quite sure that Mr. Boland had given more consideration to his reply than he had to Mr. Brady's request . He called The Offences Against The State Act " ..diabolical.."
[END of 'MR BOLAND IS ASKED TO EXPLAIN']
(Next - ' British Army In North To Have Publicity Expert' : from the same source)
OUT OF THE WOMEN'S GHETTO .......
By INEZ McCORMICK.
A review of Margaret Ward's book - 'Unmanageable Revolutionaries:Women and Irish Nationalism' .
From 'FORTNIGHT' magazine , October 1983.
Paradoxically , men who were prepared to fight the might of British imperialism were not prepared to face their own imperialism , which they used in sordid and brutal ways to force women to postpone consideration of their own demands . Through moral blackmail , women were made to feel guilty and selfish about seeking recognition of their own rights , and were forced to abandon them and driven back to the ghetto of chimney corner and kitchen .
It is not surprising therefore that the struggle for independence , relying upon such a parent , gave birth to such a monstrosity . This book pursues this analysis through consideration of the development and fate of three women's organisations : The Ladies Land League, Inghinidhe na hEireann and Cumann na mBan. While they were originally women's equivalents of existing organisations , they developed novel strategies and could have enlarged the meaning of revolutionary struggle to encompass the whole population and not just the adult male portion of it .
Most historians would pass by the Ladies Land League with hardly a glance . Miles of text have been consumed on Mrs O' Shea (the woman cast in one of her traditional roles as siren , temptress and ultimate frivolous and fatal diversion) . Few , except the professional historian , will have heard of Anna Parnell.......
(MORE LATER).
WHAT ROUGH BEAST IS THIS , ITS HOUR COME ROUND AT LAST.......?
By JOHN WATERS.
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine, 'Election Special' , 1987.
If you were to believe half of what is said and written about Charles J. Haughey you would conclude that this man is the greatest leader in the country's (sic) history ; if you believed the other half you would imagine that what we have here is the greatest bastard ever to break bread !
It's an old cliche to remark on how Charlie Haughey provokes extremes of reaction , but old cliches are often the best kind . In the Cavan-Monaghan constituency on the day I watched him being mauled and kissed by women of all ages , I watched old men who , by the looks of them , had barely enough money to feed themselves , shoving pound notes into his hand . On the other hand , there is the story about the chef in a certain hotel in the south-east of Ireland who , so great was his aversion to Haughey , that , whenever 'the Boss' dropped in for a meal , would do unmentionable things to the steak before serving it up to him...
Smug people . He hates smug people . People who think they know it all . So he told me in 1984 when I did an interview with him for 'Hot Press' magazine. He lies in wait for such people at all times . Let us proceed , therefore , with great caution.......
(MORE LATER).