'IN CURRAGH CONCENTRATION CAMP'....... From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .
MEATH :
Peter Smith , Balreask , Navan.
Leo Collins , Liscarton , Navan.
Dermot Blake , Academy Street , Navan.
James Perry , 11 Watergate Street , Navan.
Joseph Daly , Garlow Cross , Navan.
James Foy , Drumcondrath .
MAYO :
Patrick McCallig , Claremorris .
Péadar Murray , Rosclare , Newport .
John J. Monaghan , Cushmola .
MONAGHAN :
Seamus Hughes , Monaghan .
(MORE LATER).
THE LAUGHING STOCK OF DUBLIN....... !
From the 'Wigmore' Column , MAGILL magazine, June 1998 .
The above were quotations from the infamous editorial of 'The Sunday Business Post' newspaper, published on April 12 , 1998 , just two days after the Stormont Treaty was signed , which referred to the proposed amendments to Articles 2 and 3 of the State Constitution as "...well meaning drivel.." , saying that the Treaty would make us become "...the laughing stock of Europe.." .
It described the deal as "...a rescue operation for Ulster unionism .." to whom had been handed "...unprecedented gifts." Six weeks later , by May 24 , 'The Sunday Business Post' had changed its tune - somewhat . The different tone was captured in the second paragraph of the editorial of that day : " Clearly the vast majority of people on this island are prepared to invest their hope and trust for the future in what is , by any standards , a complex agreement ."
Gone were the "...drivel.." , the "...unprecedented gifts.." to unionists . We are no more the laughing stock of Europe...
[END of 'THE LAUGHING STOCK OF DUBLIN']
(Next : 'Henry Doherty is 44 days on hunger-strike' - from 1986)
NICKY KELLY: STATE HIGH COURT JUDGEMENT.
From 'Wigmore'Column , MAGILL magazine, February 1986 .
Last months State High Court judgement by Justice Rory O'Hanlon on the Nicky Kelly case has received scant coverage or explanation in the press . Nicky Kelly went on hunger strike in Portlaoise Prison in May 1983 and , in an effort to get him off the hunger strike , the government invited him to take a civil case on the grounds of his allegations that he was beaten into signing a confession by gardai .
Michael Noonan promised that "...a favourable outcome could be adduced as being relevant , even only indirectly , to the question of his imprisonment . " Noonan later said that "...if a jury found in his favour in a civil case , that would change things." Nicky Kelly took the government's advice , came off the hunger strike , and instituted civil proceedings which would , if successful , gain him damages and , above all , clear his name .
The civil case would have the added benefit that for the first time the case would be heard by a jury : but it soon became clear that the government had pulled a stroke - week after week their legal representatives sought to put obstacles in Kelly's way to a civil case . He was released in July 1984 , but he persisted in demanding that his case be reviewed , that his name be cleared . But the government strategy involved obtaining an 'estoppel', and they used the case of the Birmingham Six to stop Nicky kelly.......
(MORE LATER).