THE FIANNA FÁIL STORY.......The Rise And Decline Of Fianna Fáil , by Kevin Boland - Mercier Press.
Seán Lemass And The Making Of Modern Ireland , by Paul Bew and Henry Patterson - Gill and Macmillan.
By Roy Johnston.
From 'Gralton' magazine, Aug/Sept 1983.
The Bew-Patterson analysis traces the roots of the decline of Fianna Fáil back into the depths of Boland's 'Belle Epoque' , specifically to the backtracking on agrarian policy : ".....and I think it is a mistake to give land to landless men.." (Seán Moylan , Minister for Lands , April 1946) ; also to the participation in the Marshall Plan(1947) .
The treatment of the transition period leading up to the conscious abandonment of protectionism in 1958 , with the 'First Programme' and its associated welcome to penetration by the transnational corporations (TNC's) , however suffers from its view being restricted to the vision of the prominent 'establishment' analysis of the time. There was analysis , of a sort, going on in the Fifties , without academic specialist resources , by the present writer and others.
We identified the key weakness of Fianna Fáil 1930's radicalism as failure to achieve an independent Irish financial system , with the consequent inability to control the movement of capital.......
(MORE LATER).
THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.
OCTOBER 4th , 1969 :
"I received information which alarmed me : it was to the effect that the egregious Captain Kelly had had meetings with the Chief of Staff of the IRA , Cathal Goulding , and that he had set up a meeting for that weekend in Baileboro , County Cavan, with persons from both sides of the Border with a known history in the IRA.
From the information already communicated in recent weeks it looked as if an officer group in the (State) Army were collaborating with members of an organisation which had been proclaimed by Government Order to be unlawful and who were engaging in violence contrary to the declared views of Government.
It was a Saturday : I phoned the Minister - no reply. I phoned the Taoiseach - no reply. I phoned Mr Haughey - he would be with me within the hour. His arrival , in time for afternoon tea * , caused more excitement amongst the nurses than the visit of the President. I told him of Captain Kelly's goings-on and of the visit planned for Baileboro , but he did not seem unduly perturbed about Kelly but was quite inquisitive about what I knew of Goulding . I felt reassured......."
( * WHAT! No cricket....?)
(MORE LATER).
"Push them back lads, and push them back hard......gimme your name and address or I'll rape ya..."Peaceful and (State) law-abiding protestors in this 'republic' are well used to being intimidated , on 'the picket line' , by both uniformed Garda and their colleagues in plain clothes : it is a refrain often uttered by Irish Republican protestors and ignored by some and , mostly , dismissed and/or ignored by the 'establishment' media.
We will make only a short post re this issue , least we be presented as attempting to make capital and/or 'propaganda' out of it , thus lessening the impact of a recent disgraceful episode in which legitimate protestors , involved in legitimate and worthy protest action , became embroiled , through no fault of their own.
This sick scenario involves a Dublin woman, in her 20s, who said: "I’m still in shock. Even though it happened a few days ago now, it’s hard enough to talk about it....."
The reason for this woman's distress can be listened to here , and read about here.
As far as this blog is concerned , the real issue at the heart of this incident is the on-going issue of Garda abuse of power ie their willingness to 'use' their uniform , presence , and a State 'blank cheque' to practically do as they want with , and to , those they consider "crusties" and/or "terrorists" , knowing full well that , at the most , they will receive a slight verbal 'slap on the wrist' , if caught , and will be moved 'sideways' within the apparatus of State 'security'. Meanwhile , there are many more waiting within their ranks to 'prove themselves' in just such a similar fashion........
Thanks,
Sharon.
