- THE COVER-UP CONTINUES.......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , March 1998.
Mr. Dick Spring : " I would remind the minister - I am probably reminding him of a concern which he shares - of the concern of the Corcoran family to get full and vital information in relation to this dreadful murder. Every effort should be made not only to establish the facts and to bring those involved in this murder before the courts but to establish the truth and the sequence of events which led to the callous murder of John Corcoran. I appeal to the minister to be forthcoming and to put all the information on the record."
Mr John O' Donoghue : " When in opposition I promised that , if nominated as minister for justice by the incoming Taoiseach, I would order an inquiry into this matter. I have done that. I thank Deputy Spring for raising the matter and , being mindful of the twin perils of ensuring that I do not interfere with the independence of the director of public prosecutions or with the course of an individual garda investigation , I propose, nevertheless, to depart from precedent and to outline some evidence in this difficult and complex case because I regard it as exceptional.
The facts are that a person was murdered in March 1985 and all the indications point to a Provisional IRA assassination. A major investigation was carried out by the Garda Síochána into the murder but , as it turned out, sufficient evidence was not available to prefer charges against any persons at that time....."
(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.
" Chief Superintendent Fleming and I conjectured as to the purpose of the exercise and it did not become apparent that the Taoiseach was bridge-building until he delivered himself of the following in the Dail on 9th May : Col. 246 No. 7 cols. 1331/2/3 - '....I had consultations jointly with Officers of the Special Branch of the Garda and the Army Intelligence Service and the Attorney General and the Minister for Defence were also present at these consultations. The Minister for Justice, who would have been the other appropriate Minister, was not present because he had entered hospital some days previously.
The purpose of that meeting was to co-ordinate as well as I could the evidence that was available from both of the special source and also to receive guidance from the Attorney General....' . As a result of the mis-statements already recorded , with more to follow , I lost respect for the Taoiseach's credibility."
MAY 1 , 1970 :
" Captain James Kelly was arrested and questioned in the Bridewell . He asked to see the Minister for Defence , Mr Gibbons. Chief Superintendent informed me of the request and I conveyed it to the Taoiseach and it was arranged that Captain Kelly would be brought to Chief Supt. Fleming's office in Dublin Castle where he would be confronted with Mr Gibbons. I warned Mr Fleming that as Captain Kelly was in custody there could be no question of a private meeting between the two and that after Mr Gibbons had indicated to Captain Kelly that he should speak up - as he had said he would , if instructed by the Minister - the Minister should be politely shown the door....."
(MORE LATER).
Results of 650-ticket Republican raffle , held on Sunday 8th January 2012 -
Getting the results out as they happen - laptops and mobiles....!- and, once again , we ran out of tickets to sell ; so much so , that we sold more than sixty tickets for next month's raffle ! Anyway - congrats to our eight winners who , between them , won €440 on the day : Sheila , who won €200 with ticket number 46,David collected €100 with ticket number 345, 3rd prize went to Jacinta (319) , Ray won 4th prize (532), 5th prize went to Joe (322) and his near-neighbour (!) Catherine won prize number 6 with ticket number 321. The second-last prize was collected by 'Jella' ,the holder of ticket number 491 and the last prize went to 'Joey S' , with ticket number 267.
Unfortunately - for now , anyway - there can only be eight winners , but such is the success of this venture that the organising committee are looking at 'tweaking' it a wee bit , but nothing definite just yet - the adage 'if it's not broke, don't fix it...' currently holds sway , but there is huge scope with the format and the fantastic team involved to take this to a new level - 'More Later' , hopefully...!
IRA Volunteer Fergal O'Hanlon Commemoration , Sunday 8th January 2012....
....at which the main oration was delivered by Republican Sinn Féin's Diarmuid Mac Dubhghlais, who delivered a timely reminder re the manner in which this corrupt State is attempting to fund itself and asked for people to "...get involved in opposing unfair and unjust taxes and cuts, and to demand a fairer deal for all...." : a 'YouTube' recording of the commemoration can be viewed here.
40th Anniversary of 'Bloody Sunday' to be marked in Dublin on Saturday 28th January 2012....
...an intercepted letter to the commander of the 1st Battalion of the British Parachute Regiment , Lt. Colonel Derek Wilford , was printed on the front page of 'The Sunday Press' newspaper on the Sunday following the massacre in Derry .
It was penned by Brigadier F.P. Barclay , DSO , MCDL , Colonel , The Royal Norfolk Regiment , and says -
1/2/'72.
Dear Wilford ,
As an ex-parachute Brigade Commander I write to say how proud it made one feel to see the way , on TV , which your lads went into action against those blighters last Sunday . They looked splendid and , as usual , bang on the ball .
It seems to me and many others that prompt retaliatory action such as this is long overdue . It will have , I've little doubt , a most salutory effect . Should have happened long since!
I sincerely trust you successfully weather those thoroughly unjustified but seemingly inevitable brickbats and recriminations emanating mostly from those who either have no sense of law and order , duty or perspective , or who are spineless .
With best wishes to you and yours ,
Sincerely ,
Peter Barclay ,
Little Dunham Lodge ,
Kings Lynn , Norfolk.
After a peaceful Civil Rights march on January 30th , 1972 - from Creggan to Free Derry Corner - units of the British army Parachute Regiment opened fire with automatic rifles and shot dead 13 unarmed civilians , injuring many more . It was later revealed that some days prior to the massacre , the British soldiers involved had been briefed to "…shoot to kill.." at the march.
"This Sunday became known as ‘Bloody Sunday’ and bloody it was . It was quite unnecessary . It strikes me that the (British) army ran amok that day and shot without thinking of what they were doing . They were shooting innocent people . They may have been taking part in a parade which was banned , but that did not justify the troops coming in and firing live rounds indiscriminately . I would say without reservations that it was sheer unadulterated murder . It was murder , gentlemen."
- the words of British Major Hubert O’Neill , Derry City Coroner, at the conclusion of the inquests on the 13 people killed by the British Army on Bloody Sunday.
On Saturday , 28th January 2012 , Republican Sinn Féin will mark the 40th Anniversary of 'Bloody Sunday' with a Rally in Dublin (on the traffic isle , facing the GPO in O'Connell Street) , between 12 Noon and 1.45pm : ALL WELCOME !
AND FINALLY : just another 'YES' man......
Josephine Hayden , speaking at the Eamonn Ceannt Commemoration , Dublin......re our piece last week in connection with the TG4 interview with Josephine Hayden for their 'Mna an IRA' series (to be shown on TG4 on Thursday 12th January 2012 , at 10.30pm) , it seems that there are some who take offence at an Irish television station talking about Irish history !
I will go easy on the 'objector' and say that , in my opinion, he is simply out to prove to the political 'Establishment' in this corrupt State that he is a 'safe pair of hands' and, as such , could/should be rewarded with , say.... a seat in the State Senate or some other such morally useless but shiny babel , which he no doubt would consider to be most 'fitting' to what he appears to see as his 'station' in this life : were I NOT to go easy on the TG4 board member in question , he would then genuinely have something to complain about.
Thanks,
Sharon.
