'IN CURRAGH CONCENTRATION CAMP'....... From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .
DUBLIN:
Eamonn Ladrigan , 19 Merchants Road , East Wall .
Des Webster , 50 Curlew Road , Drimnagh .
Martin Shannon , 46 Griffith Drive , Finglas .
George Kelly , 52 Collins Avenue East , Killester .
John Keane , 30 Upper Dorset Street .
Thomas O' Neill , 5b Mary Aikenhead House , James Street .
Don Merrins , 41 Suir Road , Kilmainham .
Kevin McKay , 351 Captains Road , Crumlin .
Tim Conlon , 22 Turner's Cottages , Ballsbridge .
Liam O' Rourke , 2 Thomond Road , Ballyfermot .
Terry Murray , 16 Harrington Street .
Michael Mann , 57 Tyrconnell Road , Inchicore , Dublin .
(....those from Fermanagh next..)
(MORE LATER).
PUBLIC INQUIRY INTO OUR GREATEST SCANDAL.......From 'MAGILL' magazine, June 1998.
By Vincent Browne.
('1169...' Comment : please note - the use of the term 'murder' in connection with the death of an informer is not our choice of word.)
It stretches belief that the man said by Gardai to have been "...the most important intelligence agent in the history of the State.." did not tell the Gardai at the time what was happening . Sean O' Callaghan says in his book - and he has said repeatedly since he gave himself up to British police in 1989 - that he kept his Garda 'handler' fully informed at all stages of the John Corcoran kidnap , detention and murder .
The consistency of his account on this score - which contrasts with the flagrant contradictions in his accounts of other events and indeed other aspects of this murder - is impressive and plausible , and on the basis of that account the Gardai knew fully about the imminence of the detention of John Corcoran . They knew where he was being held over a series of days and of the likelihood of his murder . They knew of the decision to murder him and/or where he was to be murdered and yet they did nothing . The institution charged with the protection of the life and liberty of citizens of this State , the Garda Siochána, stood by while a citizen , who happened also to have been one of their own informants , was murdered .
And they had an obvious motive for refusing to intervene to protect John Corcoran's life - the protection of their flow of information from 'the most important intelligence agent in the history of the State' . Sean O' Callaghan has claimed variously that he personally shot John Corcoran in the head and that he was not present when John Corcoran was shot in the head . But even in his sanitised version of what happened , Sean O' Callaghan acknowledges that he was instrumental in the kidnap and detention of John Corcoran , that he took part in the decisions to murder him , that he even took those whom he now claims were the direct murderers to where John Corcoran was being held and that he advised them on where they would find a "quiet place" at which to commit the murder.......
(MORE LATER).
TAKING IT HANDY.......
Provisional Sinn Fein are fighting this election as a party which has just emerged from seventy years of abstentionism. The party is banned from the airwaves and there is a strong apparent bias against the party in the press.
From 'In Dublin' magazine Election Special, 1987.
By Derek Dunne.
Even though the Provos would expect to capitalise on the working-class vote , there were several middle-class looking voters who promised 'to think about it' . Here , as everywhere , the main problem is apathy . Television and radio , newspapers and magazines , have debated endlessly about the election and report all the press conferences , but this enthusiasm is not shared by the electorate .
There is a great cynicism abroad about politicians in general ('1169...' Comment - unjustified , of course..) but the response to the Provos is better , perhaps explained by the fact that , until now , they were pledged not to take their seats when elected ('1169...' Comment - 'pledged' by their membership of the Republican Movement , which they left in November 1986) but , on this occasion , they are fighting on the basis that they will share in the decision as to who will be the next State Taoiseach if and when they are elected . One man tells Gerry Adams that he was voting for the Provos before Adams was born , but that they failed to get Seamus South elected on that occasion . Adams is clearly uncomfortable about approaching people whilst they are out shopping - " I hate this type of canvassing , stopping people , you're almost in their way.." ('1169..' Comment - ...whatever about that(!) , he and his have definitely attempted to 'get in the way' of Irish Republicanism but , like the lackeys that went before them , have failed.)
The word from the various constituencies , especially Cavan-Monaghan , Dublin Central and Louth , is that the Provos are doing exceptionally well , and reports coming in suggest that the party will do much better than expected . But censorship still exists.......
(MORE LATER).
