BRITISH OCCUPATION AND THE LONDON 'TIMES' .......From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .
In a fit of pitiful pleading , David Bleakley stated : " It is an anachronism that an economically insecure Northern Ireland should exist in the midst of an industrially thriving British community . Ulster's labout force is ready , anxious and able to work its way through to prosperity . All it asks is to be given the tools and the jobs."
He should have said that the whole concept of Occupied Ireland is an anachronism - that the only way we can all 'work our way through to prosperity' is by first winning vocational independence and driving British imperialism from our land . That would be wisdom but one does not expect wisdom for Ireland in the columns of 'The London Times' newspaper .
[END of 'BRITISH OCCUPATION AND THE LONDON 'TIMES']
(NEXT : 'THE COALISLAND STORY - British Torture In Ireland')
A PORTRAIT OF IRELAND , by Saoránach.......First published in the Republican Bulletin - Iris Na Poblachta , November 1986.
Ellen Hazelkorn's paper , 'Class Clientelism and the Political Process in the Republic of Ireland', points to the world of political patronage and brokerage , the 'clinics' operated by those in Leinster House and the use of public money to buy allegiance . Ignorance is perpetuated and democracy becomes a joke . As Ellen Hazelkorn put it - " Few politicians would seek to define themselves as legislators , preferring the image of representing or serving their constituents . The initial assertion that deputies spend their time in clinics and letter-writing has been substantiated by more recent research."
Clientelism she regards as a mechanism for manipulating political disorganisation among the dominated classes in society . Her conclusions are devastating , as she refers to the risks involved in trying to change the system by becoming part of it. The system swallows you up . She wrote - " Put simply , Irish clientelism involves individuals who seek out the elected rep , or similarly placed 'elites' , in order to acquire some benefit or service which they feel they would not receive by their own , or their group's , efforts . This leads to a growth of cynicism and alienation......."
(MORE LATER).
ROBERT EMMET - THE DARLING OF ERIN.......Margaret McKearney looks at the life and death of one of Ireland's most enduring heroes.
From 'Fourthwrite' magazine, Autumn 2003.
For the English Army , which included Daniel O' Connell, it was then merely a mopping-up operation : in the aftermath , the English arrested and tortured Anne Devlin, even offering her the enormous sum of £500 to betray Robert Emmet - she refused .
Emmet himself hid out in the Harold's Cross area of Dublin , during which he met with his mother and Sarah Curran, however , on Thursday August 25 , 1803 , Robert Emmet was finally arrested . It has been stated by others that a £1000 reward was paid by Dublin Castle to an informer , for supplying the information which led to the capture of Emmet .
Robert Emmet's misfortunes did not stop on his arrest : he had the misfortune to be defended by one Leonard McNally who was trusted by the United Irishmen . However , after McNally's death in 1820 it transpired that he was a highly paid government agent and , in his role as an informer , that he had encouraged young men to join the rebels , betrayed them to Dublin Castle and would then collect fees from the United Irishmen to 'defend' those same rebels in court !
Emmet was tried before a 'Special Commission' in Green Street Court House in Dublin on September 19 , 1803.......
(MORE LATER).
