Aitheasc an Uachtaráin Ruairí Ó Brádaigh don 85ú Ard-Fheis de Shinn Féin in Óstlann an Spa , Leamhcán , Co. Atha Cliath , 21ú agus 22ú Deireadh Fómhair , 1989 /
Presidential Address of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh to the 85th Ard-Fheis of Sinn Féin in the Spa Hotel , Lucan , County Dublin , 21st and 22nd October 1989.....
" The systematic regulation of the Irish nation to that of a dependent off-shore island is becoming too real even for those parties and politicians who always felt it was a pity that John Redmond and his Home Rulers did not work out a full-time career for the fathers of the present-day Leinster House politicians within 'the single market' which the Act of Union, essentially , allotted us in 'the bad old days' .
Lena cheart a thabhairt don Réamanach , áfach, ní mór a mheabhrú dúinn féin b'fhéidir go ndeachaigh sé féin is a pháirtí i gcomhar le Sinn Féin, Conradh na Gaeilge agus dreamanna náisiúnta eile, deich mbliana roimh Éirí Amach na Cásca, le cinntiú go mbeadh an seasamh is dual di ag teanga náisiúnta na tíre , agus ag an dúchas Gaelach san oideachtas, tríd an Ghaeilge a bheith mar abhar riachtanach don Mháithréanach san Ollscoil Náisiúnta on uair a bunaíodh í in 1908.
Bhunaigh an stát 26 Chontae dhá ollscoil nua i mbliana, gan oiread is focal a rá faoi seasamh na Gaeilge sna forais ardoideachais nua seo.
An rud nár éirigh leis an rialtas Gallda a bhrú ar an bpobal, d'éirigh le Fianna Fáil agus an Páirtí Daonlathach a dhéanamh, gan ghíog ó eagrais Ghaeilge atá anois faoi cheannas daoine a bhíodh ag maíomh ghlúin ó shin go raibh Conradh na Gaeilge ceannaithe ag Fianna Fáil....."
(MORE LATER).
BETRAYAL.......
The (State) Gardaí used John Corcoran (pictured) as a (P)IRA informer. They allowed him to be killed by another (P)IRA informer, and have since refused to investigate his murder*.
From 'MAGILL' magazine, Christmas Annual 1997.
By Ursula Halligan and Vincent Browne.
(* '1169...' Comment - their word, not ours.)
Eileen Corcoran has her own suspicions as to who the 'mystery caller' is, but she refuses to confirm that it was John's garda 'handler' . She does wonder, however, about the time her husband was arrested by gardaí, seven years before his death, and the way he was suddenly set free , although it had looked at one point that he was going to be charged. She says she doesn't know if her husband was a garda informer, but she doesn't rule it out.
The Corcoran children, seven girls and a boy, were distraught by their father's death. One of the daughters, Ursula, who was ten at the time, and the fourth eldest, took his death the worst. The doctor had to be called, and she was sedated. "You could hear her roaring and crying when she heard the news. She was soul-destroyed," her mother said.
Eight years later, tragedy struck again when Ursula committed suicide. She was 18 years old when she hanged herself in an outhouse at the rear of the family home. Her mother believes that while there may have been other factors contributing to her death, John's murder* played a large part in it - " It played a large part in all our lives," she said.......
(MORE LATER).
TRADE UNIONS AND THE HUNGER-STRIKE.......From 'IRIS' magazine, November 1981.
In the twenty-six county general election on June 11th , 1981, trade union support was evident in the election of two prisoner TD's - the late Kieran Doherty for Cavan/Monaghan and Paddy Agnew for Louth - and in the performance of their seven comrades around the other constituencies in which prisoners intervened. Against all odds and the predictions of his opponents , Paddy Agnew topped the poll in his native Louth, with 8,368 first-preference votes.
Central to Paddy's victory - alongside other strong factors such as an excellent republican organisation historically and his being a popular local IRA Volunteer - was the unanimous support he received from the trade union movement in the county. The Dundalk Trades Council had long sent official representatives to the county H-Block/Armagh committee and it was on the basis of this and massive support for strike action in both Dundalk and Drogheda - the two major towns in the county - that there were numerous defections from the state Labour Party to Paddy Agnew's camp.
His chances, which were good because of the extent of republican organisation in the area, were assured by the active sympathy of organised workers throughout County Louth.......
(MORE LATER).
