'THERE WILL BE ANOTHER DAY.....'
By Peadar O'Donnell ; first published in January 1963.
Jack Boyle went on his way , and I sat there , the threatening letter still in my hand. The envelope was distinctive and I called on one of the local postmen and asked him if he had delivered letters of this kind and he had , and he named people to me. I was a native of the district and it was easy for me to wander around and pick up enough to give myself an idea of the state of things , on the level of neighbourly gossip.
I consulted nobody , told nobody of my intention , but on the following Sunday I was on the wall by the chapel gate to make a speech as the people came out from Mass - I am certain I could write , even at this interval of half a lifetime , almost the exact words I used that day , so clearly do I recall the vision of the countryside I had in mind : the same words come easily at each showing of the same 'still'. I was anxious to get my say without stirring up the
griosach of bitterness that smouldered around my name in my home district , since the Treaty . My message was a simple one - the bailiff would soon be on the rampage through the townlands.
Nothing was to be gained by asking whether people did the right or the wrong thing in withholding rents in 1919 , nor whether what was right in the setting of 1919 was wrong now. The rent itself was no great burden on people then , but the arrears were not so simple a matter now and there was a neighbour , here and there , who just could not pay them and already such people were threatened with the bailiff.......
(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.
" The Garda authorities felt that my life was placed in danger and they placed an armed guard on my home and had me escorted in a police car to and from my home by an armed guard. Later the Commissioner prevailed on me to carry a loaded pistol which was issued to me under a Firearms Certificate and in which I was given instructions as to its use.
The fact that I was under police protection was deliberately publicised by the Gardai for my protection - they expressed the view that a campaign of denigration was being deliberately built up to discredit me in advance of my testimony in the arms conspiracy trial. They also felt that extreme elements - members of Saor Eire - who saw themselves deprived of arms for robberies and the like were a positive danger."
8TH JULY 1970 :
" On the same day my solicitors , Messers. Maurice Veale and Company , wrote to the 'Irish Press' newspaper demanding publication of a full retraction of the libellous news paragraphs. A reply was received from the newspapers' solicitors , Messrs. John S. O' Connor and Company , claiming a right to publish a news item. Some days later , apparently , the Managing Director of the 'Irish Press' , Mr. Vivion de Valera TD spoke to the Minister about his phone call to the Acting Editor of the 'Irish Press'......."
(MORE LATER).
....FREE STATE 'ELITE' COIN IT IN.
'NOT IN IT FOR THE MONEY...' : last year (2011) , approximately one-hundred ex-Free State Ministers were given , between them, over eight-and-a-half million Euros in State pension payments - which they continue to receive to date.
Bertie Ahern trousers €3173.56 cents a week , every week and, no doubt , cries with happiness each Friday as he toddles on down to his local Post Office to collect it , whilst John Bruton -
- pockets €2955.18 cents a week in his pension 'take'. Which probably allows him enough leeway to hire an accountant to look after it.
Albert Reynolds (pictured here , in shock at the amount of pension money he receives...) -
- who was State 'Taoiseach' for just two years - collects €3119.58 a week , more than enough to put a dog's dinner on the table.
Liam Cosgrave , another ex-FS 'Taoiseach' ....
.....is entitled to €2771.31 a week , and is not to be confused with his son.
Mary Harney , in return for building a world-class health service in this State (!) takes home a weekly pension of €2704.27 and one of her best political buddies , the equally right-wing Charlie McCreevy ....
....can 'bank' on a pension payout of €2482.85 a week.
Michael Woods -
- , meanwhile , settled with his pals in the 'Pension Payout' section of Leinster House for a weekly payment of €2556.14 cents.
We could continue , as we have similar financial details on most of the 100 or so of these OAP's , but the only thing to be proved by doing that would be to give further confirmation that this State has money despite the oft-repeated lie that we are in 'economic meltdown'. Ahern , Bruton , Reynolds and the rest of them are living proof that that ain't so !
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.
Much laughter ensued when Lord McGuinness asked if he would be expected to courtesy before or after he kisses her hand , and he was given a second copy of the protocol involved - his first such copy was rendered useless as someone had dribbled uncontrollably over it.....
