1169 And Counting.....: 05/06/2007

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Wolfe Tone Commemoration .

ANNUAL WOLFE TONE COMMEMORATION :
Sunday , June 10 , 2007 , Sallins , Co. Kildare .

A bus for this Commemoration , which is organised each year by the Republican Movement , will leave from outside the old McBirneys/Virgin Megastore site on Dublin's Aston Quay at 12.45PM on the day , and return to Dublin at 5.45PM.

The fare is ten Euro per person .

For information on the death of Wolfe Tone , scroll through this piece (article starts on March 9 on that page) which was published on this blog two years ago.
" From my earliest youth I have regarded the connection between Great Britain and Ireland as the curse of the Irish nation , and felt convinced that , while it lasted , this country could never be free nor happy . My mind has been confirmed in this opinion by the experience of every succeeding year , and the conclusions which I have drawn from every fact before my eyes . In consequence , I was determined to employ all the powers which my individual efforts could move , in order to separate the two countries .
That Ireland was not able of herself to throw off the yoke , I knew ; I therefore sought for aid wherever it was to be found . In honourable poverty I rejected offers which , to a man in my circumstances , might be considered highly advantageous . I remained faithful to what I thought the cause of my country , and sought in the French Republic an ally to rescue three millions of my countrymen " . -Theobald Wolfe Tone .

MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT - SPOIL IT !

This coming May 24th a 'general election' will take place in this 26-County State to elect and/or re-elect 165 time-serving place-seekers who will sit in a plush building in Kildare Street in Dublin city centre , pay themselves a basic salary of €2013 a week (...whilst , at the same time [in some cases], paying themselves up to €1572 a week 'expenses' on top of their salary!) and wash their manicured hands of responsibility for their continued and repeated failures to those voters that previously would have considered them 'worthy' enough to sit in that institution .

In this election we encourage those of our readers who are entitled to vote to SPOIL THAT VOTE ! Go to your polling station , claim your vote and deliberately and purposely SPOIL IT ! We ourselves , from this blog , will be writing - " Release All Political Prisoners!" on our voting ballot , but any message you decide to write on your ballot will have the same effect ie that vote will be deemed 'spoiled' .
A 'spoiled vote' is the only proper option open to those of us who wish to declare that we view the whole political system , as it now stands , as a corrupt , money-grabbing 'mé féin' and morally bankrupt system , run , operated , controlled and maintained by useless self-servers .

IF YOU HAVE A VOTE THIS MAY 2007 , USE IT TO MAKE A PROTEST. SPOIL IT !

Friday, May 11, 2007

'THE MEN OF 1922...'

'THE MEN OF 1922'.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

' " Rory and Liam and Dick and Joe
Star of the morning , Mary come .
Red is their hearts' blood ,
Their souls like snow ,
Mary Immaculate guide them home ."

- Padraíg de Brun.

Thirty-five years ago Rory and Liam , Dick and Joe were killed . They died for the Irish people . For freedom . For the Republic of Pearse and Connolly. The 'Sunday Press' newspaper remembered them on December 8 (1958) , while 125 Irish Republicans exercised in the Curragh Concentration Camp, another half dozen moved around the cells of the same Mountjoy Prison where those four men met their deaths , 250 Irish Republicans were guarded with guns in the Crumlin Road Prison in Belfast and seven others exercised in English jails with the convicts of England .

Rory O' Connor , Liam Mellowes , Dick Barrett and Joe McKelvey , the 'Sunday Press' remembered you . You were also remembered by the Irish Republicans of our day in the prisons of Ireland and England . The top men of Fianna Fail attended Mass at Trinity Church , Dublin Castle, in memory of the four martyrs , on December 8th . They were photographed later and next day the 'Irish Press' newspaper told us all about it . But no photographer travelled to the Curragh , or Mountjoy , or Crumlin Road , Wakefield or Wormwood Scrubs. If he had he would not have been admitted or , indeed , might have stood a good chance of being locked up.......'
(MORE LATER).

THE YOUNG BLOODS : CLARE DALY.......
Swords (Dublin) councillor , Clare Daly , wiped a tear from her eye in the (State) High Court after being sentenced to one month in Mountjoy Prison for contempt of Court in defying an injunction on her blockading bin lorries.
From 'The Phoenix' magazine, September 2003 .

The Labour Party's former Mayor of Dublin , Dermot Lacey, seriously embarrassed his party in January this year (2003) by voting against his party to pass an increase in the council charges so as not to spoil his stint in the Mansion House. Although the Labour Party condemns the charges , it is recommending people to 'obey the law' and pay up ! The Party is moving to the political right under Pat Rabbitte who has sidled up to the bloodsports enthusiasts at the National Association of Regional Games Councils (NARGC) (sic - that Association is a 26-county body only) and endorsed the privatisation of services earlier in 2003 - so the Labour Party won't be doing anything radical on the bins issue .

While this makes the Labour Party vulnerable to both (P) Sinn Fein ( whose members in Leinster House from beyond the Pale , it emerged , have paid their bin charges!) and the Socialist Party in working-class areas , there is little (P)SF support in Swords and it is Clare Daly who will benefit and who could take the Labour seat off Sean Ryan. In 2002 , she received more of (P) Sinn Fein's candidate , Mick Davis's, transfers than anyone else ; however , republicans consider the 400-member Socialist Party - which was inspired by and emerged in the same way as the British Socialist Party - to be virtually unionist on the issue of the North , classing British squaddies as "workers in uniform" ! ('1169...' Comment - those that were then critical of the Socialist Party in relation to the North-Eastern issue are now on that same road themselves , dismissing those of us whom still hold true to Republican ideals as 'micro/unrepresentative/dissident' groups . The 'squaddies are just workers'-remarks will surely follow in time...)

The Socialist Party has a virtual monopoly on the anti double-bin tax issue in Fingal , where it is most serious . For Fingal County Council to put one Socialist Party member in jail could be excused as unlucky , but to put the scariest woman in north Dublin behind bars was just plain foolish . Clare Daly will be back to haunt them .
[END of 'THE YOUNG BLOODS : CLARE DALY'] .
(Next - 'DERRY : CITY BESIEGED WITHIN THE SIEGE' , from 1983)

DEATH AND MYSTERY .......
John O Shea was a small farmer and republican . He died at his Kerry home in October 2001 within hours of being released from Garda custody . The inquest into his death raised more questions than it answered and now Kerry County Council has backed calls for a public inquiry . Did John O Shea die from natural causes or is there a more sinister explanation ?
By Mairead Carey.
From 'MAGILL' magazine, May 2003 .

According to the Gardai , John O' Shea was kept in a cell in Tralee Garda Station until 9.40pm , when they woke him up . He made the bed , put on his boots and returned with them to the dayroom to collect his belongings . As he left the station another garda waited outside ; he was then questioned on the steps of the station in relation to the car accident but refused to sign garda notes . All the gardai present testified that he was sober and was in "...good form.." when he left them .

John O'Shea's arrest , detention and subsequent questioning were all unlawful , according to the family's solicitor , Michael Finucane: " There is no law that says you can't be under the influence of alcohol and be a passenger in a car . They invited him out of the car and created a situation where he was drunk in a public place and arrested him for it . It's a contrived offence , " says Finucane , the son of murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.

" They then detained him for almost three hours , when there are no provisions in the Act for detaining him without charge for longer than it is nesessary to take his details . When he walked out the front door there were two gardai waiting for him to question him about the car accident . Why didn't they question him in the Garda station ? " Michael Finucane wanted answers about the manner of John O' Shea's arrest but the coroner in Kerry was having none of it , and stated as much in a letter.......
(MORE LATER).

Thursday, May 10, 2007

SEND A MESSAGE ON MAY 24 : SPOIL YOUR VOTE !

Don't Just 'rock the vote' : ROCK THE ESTABLISHMENT !

MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT - SPOIL IT !

This coming May 24th a 'general election' will take place in this 26-County State to elect and/or re-elect 165 time-serving place-seekers who will sit in a plush building in Kildare Street in Dublin city centre , pay themselves a basic salary of €2013 a week (...whilst , at the same time [in some cases], paying themselves up to €1572 a week 'expenses'on top of their salary!) and wash their manicured hands of responsibility for their continued and repeated failures to those voters that previously would have considered them 'worthy' enough to sit in that institution .

In this election we encourage those of our readers who are entitled to vote to SPOIL THAT VOTE ! Go to your polling station , claim your vote and deliberately and purposely SPOIL IT ! We ourselves , from this blog , will be writing - " Release All Political Prisoners!" on our voting ballot , but any message you decide to write on your ballot will have the same effect ie that vote will be deemed 'spoiled' .
A 'spoiled vote' is the only proper option open to those of us who wish to declare that we view the whole political system , as it now stands , as a corrupt , money-grabbing 'mé féin' and morally bankrupt system , run , operated , controlled and maintained by useless self-servers .

IF YOU HAVE A VOTE THIS MAY 2007 , USE IT TO MAKE A PROTEST. SPOIL IT !

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

United Irishman 1958 / Young Bloods / Death And Mystery .

'INSIDE THE CURRAGH CONCENTRATION CAMP.......'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

' The result is that there are many here who have had treatment prescribed for them months ago and for whom nothing has been done...

A similar situation exists about clothing . We have been told that if the doctor recommended clothing it would be supplied ; the doctor here has done so and only a few items have come . It is one or two months ago that he put down a recommendation for a pair of slacks for me and although I have beaten a track up to the medical hut - but no dice so far .

However , these are all the things which we have experienced for years and years . Eventually we'll wear them down . I must say that the people are doing their best to make things easy but even at its best a prison-camp is not too pleasant a place .

Internee ,
The Curragh Concentration Camp,
The Curragh Military Camp,
Co. Kildare . '
(Next - from the same source : 'THE MEN OF 1922')

DEATH AND MYSTERY .......
John O Shea was a small farmer and republican . He died at his Kerry home in October 2001 within hours of being released from Garda custody . The inquest into his death raised more questions than it answered and now Kerry County Council has backed calls for a public inquiry . Did John O Shea die from natural causes or is there a more sinister explanation ?
By Mairead Carey.
From 'MAGILL' magazine, May 2003 .

Michael O' Shea rang his brother , John , again , from outside the Garda Barracks in Tralee : John colourfully complained that the gardai were keeping him in . But his conversation was cut short . " I heard shuffling and banging , " Michael O' Shea told the inquest , "...it sounded to me like the guards were carrying him to a cell . "

Inside the Barracks , Michael met two gardai : " They looked shaky and a bit nervous . I asked one of the guards if John O' Shea was here , that I was there to collect him . The guards told me that he wouldn't be going anywhere for a while , that they were investigating a traffic accident . " At the inquest the gardai said they had no knowledge of John O' Shea receiving a phonecall : they said they had taken his mobile phone once he entered the Barracks . But an 'Eircell' phone bill , seen by this magazine , shows that two calls were made to his number at 7.23pm and 7.30pm . The second call lasted for over two minutes .

The gardai said at the inquest that they got a tip-off from an anonymous male caller at about 6.50pm saying that a car had crashed into a sign at Ballymullen and that the driver was drunk : when they got there they found John O' Shea sitting in the passenger's seat . They believed he was drunk and arrested him under the Public Order Act. They took him to Tralee Garda Station .......
(MORE LATER).

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Report and photographs on Hunger-Strike Rally , 5th May 2007 , Dublin .

The RSF-organised Memorial Rally for the 22 Irish Hunger-Strikers , which was held on Saturday 5th May 2007 in Dublin's O'Connell Street , was a great success and a reminder to all that the conditions which led to those men taking that action still exist - the continuing British military and political presence on this island .

Those attending the two-hour Memorial Rally witnessed at least fifty members and supporters of the Republican Movement commemorating in a dignified manner the sacrifice made by the 22 Hunger-Strikers : over that two-hour period in Dublin's O'Connell Street , at least fifty other people joined in the Commemoration and assisted in handing out leaflets , selling the 'Saoirse' newspaper and leaving their contact details with the organisers .
Republican Sinn Fein are to be congratulated for organising this event - photographs from same are published below :

Once again , thanks to Republican Sinn Fein for putting this event together .

Monday, May 07, 2007

United Irishman 1958 /Young Bloods /Death And Mystery.

'INSIDE THE CURRAGH CONCENTRATION CAMP'.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

' The following is part of a letter to his family from a Republican in the Curragh Concentration Camp :

You will have seen in the debate in Leinster House that we would be appearing to have no grounds at all for complaint and that the standard of cleanliness is very high . Well , first of all , if the standard of cleanliness is high it would be well for them to remember that we clean and keep the Camp in order and it is due mainly to the high standard of discipline and co-operation among our lads that the place is so clean .

As for being perfectly housed , anyone who has lived in huts with poor fires and bad turf will know all about that . For months past we have been looking for treatment for eyes and teeth and although the staff here have recommended treatment it has been stopped or delayed or stymied up the line somewhere .

The result is that there are many here who have had treatment prescribed for them months ago and for whom nothing has been done.......'
(MORE LATER).

THE YOUNG BLOODS : CLARE DALY.......
Swords (Dublin) councillor , Clare Daly , wiped a tear from her eye in the (State) High Court after being sentenced to one month in Mountjoy Prison for contempt of Court in defying an injunction on her blockading bin lorries.
From 'The Phoenix' magazine, September 2003 .

Clare Daly first stood (unsuccessfully) for election to Leinster House in 1997 in Dublin North when she got 2,971 first preference votes - 7 per cent of the total vote . She also (unsuccessfully) contested the by-election (ie 'local council') in that constituency later in that same year . However , in 1999 she succeeded in getting onto Fingal County Council in the five-seat Swords area with 1,287 first preferences (14 per cent of the vote) . She came in second after Sean Ryan (Labour) and ahead of Anne Devitt(Fine Gael) and Michael Kennedy (Fianna Fail).

She had her council photocopying privileges withdrawn in 2002 by county manager , Willie Soffe, for "...undermining council policy.." by copying leaflets critical of the council itself , and has regular clashes with other councillors - especially Fine Gael's Anne Devitt - on planning issues , accusing them of bowing to the agendas of privatisation and property developers . She is said to remain 'aloof' from the other councillors ("...shame-faced hypocrites.." , she calls them on the double bin-tax issue) at meetings and not to socialise with them , probably because they are the enemy . However , she is feared in the debating chamber because of her debating skills and because her regular political 'rants' are often too much for some to take .

Her skill has been to latch onto populist local issues and break them down in terms of us versus them - the workers vs the bosses - and feed on that same arms-folded , 'sure they're all on the take' indignation that surrounds the tribunals.......
(MORE LATER).

DEATH AND MYSTERY .......
John O Shea was a small farmer and republican . He died at his Kerry home in October 2001 within hours of being released from Garda custody . The inquest into his death raised more questions than it answered and now Kerry County Council has backed calls for a public inquiry . Did John O Shea die from natural causes or is there a more sinister explanation ?
By Mairead Carey.
From 'MAGILL' magazine, May 2003 .

John O' Shea had just turned 40 at the time of his death . He was a small farmer , with a holding of 18 acres and 14 cows . He was a member of (Provisional) Sinn Fein . There was a republican colour party at his funeral . He had no convictions and was never in any real trouble with the law , according to his family . " He was very quiet and shy , but when he had a few pints in him he had courage all right . He was a binge drinker . He could go on the batter for a few days and be off it again for a few weeks , " says his brother , Michael .

He died during the October bank holiday weekend in October 2001 . He had left his home in Castlemaine , County Kerry, around lunchtime that Monday with a neighbour , John Thorney O' Shea . The duo ended up drinking in Tralee , 17 miles away . At around 7pm , John rang his sister-in-law , Chris , saying that his car had been crashed and asking if she would come and pick him up . The car had hit a 'Yield' sign , but O'Shea told her someone else was driving it at the time . She later gave the man's name to the gardai but the man in question has told this magazine that he was never interviewed by them . It is not certain if O'Shea was actually in the car when it crashed .

O'Shea arranged to meet his sister-in-law outside a pub near Tralee , but when Chris and her husband , Michael (John's brother) , arrived there was no sign of John . They rang him on his mobile phone to be told that he had been arrested.......
(MORE LATER).