DUBLIN 1980 : THE GLUE SNIFFERS.......Pictures by Andrew McGlynn. From 'MAGILL' magazine September 1980.
The Dublin Committee For Travelling People got the lease for the house from a Catholic bishop , a fact that ironically comes in handy when neighbours petition to close the place down . The Health Board helps but there are bureaucratic foul-ups with Dublin Corporation and there's never enough money .
Committee members are teaching the children some basic skills like painting , carpentry and domestic science and the kids help to improve the house and get paid for their efforts , sometimes with food instead of money . The idea is not to adjust them to a settled lifestyle but to give them skills which they can use in the travelling life . These children are proud , and loyal to their own codes . It is best to approach them as equals or not at all .
(MORE LATER).
HOPE IN THE SHADOWS.......For some Northern nationalists the Anglo-Irish Agreement ('Hillsborough Treaty',1985) only makes their lives more dangerous , for others it offers hope on a road to nowhere. Fionnuala O'Connor visited a (Provisional) Sinn Fein advice centre in the Ardoyne and Seamus Mallon's office in Newry.
From 'MAGILL' magazine, December 1986.
In the meantime , however , both men thought that people would 'vote for hope' . Somehow that brought us to elections , and British Labour's talks that very day with the Unionist leaders . Confidence wavered .
The record hung in the air : power-sharing betrayed , Westminster seats bartered , battle to the death begun with the Provos over the end of political prisoner status.
(MORE LATER).
A BATTLE FOR HEARTS AND MINDS.......A look at issues raised by Liz Curtis' recent book.
From 'IRIS' magazine, August 1984.
Review by Trisha Fox.
The film uses clips from earlier films of bombs , shootings and funerals , and overlays them with soundtracks from other footage , producing a totally distorted perception of Republicanism and a malicious profile of Gerry Adams.
Leading Workers Party spokespersons (whose political affiliations are not revealed on the programme) are allowed free rein to malign Adams , while being portrayed themselves as 'balanced commentators' . Seamus Lynch recounts - unchallenged - a fictitious conversation he alleges he had with Adams in which the latter claimed he was "prepared to wade knee-deep in Protestant blood " .
Elsewhere in the programme , a photograph is shown of a solitary standing hut in the Long Kesh Cages after the camp burning in 1974 . The programme alleges that Adams had refused to burn* the cage of which he was Officer Commanding , lacking the courage to do so . However , Adams was not Officer Commanding of his Cage at that time and claims he did take part in the burning of the camp . And it should be noted that the hut shown in the TV programme , for illustration purpose , was occupied by loyalist prisoners , not republicans.
('1169...' Comment : * According to verbal accounts given by some of those who shared prison time with Adams , he was tasked by the Screws with keeping the cage he was in , Cage 11 , clean , and carried out clean-up duties on a regular basis . This despite the fact that republican POW's were under orders not to take instructions from the Screws - Adams was said to be the only republican prisoner that was on friendly terms with the prison authorities. Also , it has been stated that Adams repeatedly stated "this is wrong" , when told that the Cages were on fire.)
(MORE LATER).
