THE COALISLAND STORY : British Torture In Ireland....... From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .
The British authorities have turned East Tyrone into a terror-area : scores of young men have been arrested , interrogated , beaten , released , re-arrested - and the torture process repeated to force 'confessions' . This is the story of four such young men who are now held in pre-trial detention - no charges have yet been preferred against them - in Crumlin Road Jail in Belfast. This did not happen in Hungary , Algeria or Cyprus . It happened in Ireland . Now read it and see what the 26-County administration is co-operating with by using their forces to protect British rule in Ireland :
Four Coalisland , County Tyrone , youths - Kevin Mallon , James O' Donnell , Francis Talbot and John O' Neill , were arrested at various times on Monday November 18 , 1957 , and Tuesday , November 19 , by the RUC. They were taken to Dungannon RUC Barracks where the first interrogations began at 7.30pm on November 19 , 1957 , and lasted until midnight . The young men received no meals and a request for a cup of tea was ignored .
They were questioned continuously by relays of three men and in the course of the first questioning were beaten with fists , punched in the stomachs and face , caught by the hair and their heads banged against the wall . Then , shortly after midnight , the four young men were handcuffed.......
(MORE LATER).
A PORTRAIT OF IRELAND , by Saoránach.......First published in the Republican Bulletin - Iris Na Poblachta , November 1986.
Ellen Hazelkorn wrote : " Through clientelism , the State has actively sought to deflect incipient conflict by channelling it instead into well-established clientele networks , controlled by parties of the dominant classes . Clientelism is institutionalised within the very fabric of the state , and reinforced by a consistent effort to exclude questions that refer to class differences . In this manner , protest is curtailed and the status quo enforced. "
This is how the 26-County state is run . This is how the masses are manipulated and kept docile . Our job is to find ways and means of changing it and this must surely begin as a process of education . 'Class , Clientelism and the Political Process in the Republic Of Ireland' is a book worth reading and studying . It is a serious but readable book and each chapter would provide an ideal basis for discussion in groups - if you cannot afford the price (or do not get a book token for Christmas!) then ask your local library to get it for you .
[END of 'A PORTRAIT OF IRELAND']
(NEXT: 'King Of The Yuppie Heartland' - from 1987)
THE EAMON BYRNE CASE .Eamon Byrne , a 19-year-old Dubliner , was shot dead by a garda detective during an attempted robbery at the B+I terminal in November 1982 . For his family , obtaining justice , or simply the truth , could be a long and expensive process.
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , July 1983 .
Eamon Byrne , the 19-year-old Dubliner who was shot dead by a garda detective during an attempted robbery at the B+I terminal in November 1982 , has been disposed of by due bureaucratic process. But it's unlikely we've heard the last of the matter . The dead youth's teenage widow , Elizabeth , is currently considering an action against the Garda Commissioner and the Officers directly involved in the incident .
A lot of questions remain unanswered . The coroner's jury (handpicked by the gardai) returned , on July 5th , 1983 , an ambiguous verdict that Eamon Byrne died of wounds sustained when he was wounded by a detective garda . Verdicts don't come much more open-ended than that , but there is unlikely to be any follow-up by the authorities into precisely what happened on the Dublin Docks on the morning of November 22nd , 1982 , when Eamon Byrne was shot .
The new facts established at the inquest only deepen cause for concern . Byrne , for instance , was not armed at the time he was shot . Two detective gardai were grappling with him on the ground when the gun of one of them "...struck Byrne's head.." and went off , accidentally killing him.......
(MORE LATER).