Two prisoners, John Quinn and Jeremiah Sheehy, who were arrested as part of the police investigation into the murder of Detective Jerry McCabe in 1996 and subsequently charged with IRA membership and firearms offences, alleged that they were ill-treated while in custody in Henry Street Garda Station. The alleged ill-treatment of Jeremiah Sheehy was investigated by Chief Superintendent Seán Camon of the 'National Bureau of Criminal Investigation' and the results of that investigation were submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions in 1997 who decided there was no evidence with which to prosecute.
At his first court hearing on June 12, John Quinn's lawyer alleged that Quinn had received a number of injuries to his head and body while in custody. Quinn complained initially to the Garda Complaints Board but did not pursue it. According to republican sources Quinn refused to make a signed statement to the Board and it's expected that both men will raise allegations of ill treatment during their forthcoming trial in January.
(END of 'Garda Investigations'. Next : The Real IRA - "We will not disband" , from 'Magill' magazine, October 1998.)
APOCALYPSE AVERTED.
The mortar fell short of its target and blasted a five foot hole in the RUC station wall - a second mortar followed but exploded in mid-air breaking the leg of a teenage boy and injuring 25 civilians and 2 RUC men. None of the other mortars went off. It was an insane but calculated gamble by the PIRA ; if the mortars had fallen short they would have ploughed into a row of terraced houses killing and maimimg dozens of people but, on the other hand, had the attempt succeeded as planned the mortars would have caused carnage inside the RUC station. Afterwards, British Army bomb experts reckoned that up to 40 RUC men and soldiers could have been killed - almost enough, as one British Army source put it, for the PIRA 'to blast their way back to the negotiating table'.
A faulty firing mechanism had prevented the PIRA from inflicting on the northern security forces (sic) their heaviest casualties yet in their ten year long campaign. If the Newry mortaring had succeeded it would have put the Warrenpoint massacre of August 1979, in which 18 British soldiers were killed, into the shadows. It would also have transformed 1980 security statistics into a grim catalogue of death and sent flurries of foreign journalists over to Ireland for yet another series of lengthy analyses of Europe's longest surviving guerrilla army.
THE IRA REORGANISED.
That the Provisionals have survived to remain that sort of threat not only to the British Army and RUC but to any hope that the British government has of creating a peaceful internal settlement is due in the main to a massive re-organisation of the republican movement that was carried out from 1977 onwards. Without that re-organisation the IRA would in all probability now be a spent force and its leaders in jail or back home at their fireplaces dreaming of what had been or what might have been.
LESS THAN A WEEK. AND COUNTING....!
It began - properly structured and organised - in 1976 ,as a 'fundraiser with a difference' , combined with the need to gain extra publicity for a situation which was then - as now - making world headlines. Those that sat down together in early September 1976 to tighten-up the then 'hit-and-miss' affair were a dedicated team who fully understood that to fail in their business would not only bring derision on them and the issue they sought to highlight , but would give their enemy a publicity coup which they would exploit to the fullest extent. With that in mind, the team persevered - favours were called-in, guarantees were secured, provisions obtained and word dispatched to like-minded individuals in the area. At the appointed time on the agreed day - 12 Noon , Christmas Day 1976 - a soon-to-be 38-years-young event was 'born'. The CABHAIR Christmas Day Swim is, thankfully, still going strong and will be, as mentioned, 38-years-young on December 25th next!
Sponsored Swim * Christmas Day * 12 Noon * Grand Canal * 3rd Lock* Inchicore* Dublin*
ALL WELCOME!
OBFUSCATING NONSENSE.
Thank God, the Irish journalist,
But seeing what he or she will do
unbribed, there is no need to. (...apologies to Humbert Wolfe)
Paddy Murray, who wanted to be a journalist but instead settled for writing a weekly column for the 'Sunday World' State propaganda sheet, was up to his usual right-wing ranting in a piece he wrote in that 'newspaper' on Sunday, 14th December last. Under the heading 'Pay the water charge so the homeless and carers can all benefit' , the bishops brother* stated - "Every country pays for water. It's not free. We're not paying twice. Once we're paying 'Irish Water' we won't be paying through general taxation and that money can go to help others, the homeless, carers, mental health, suicide charities..." Lol! Typical of the man - going completely overboard in a further attempt to appease his employer and integrate himself with the 'establishment' that his employer 'mixes' with.
Paddy would be only too aware that the majority of us who object to this new form of taxation are doing so because we have already paid for that service and are not prepared to pay twice for any one service but, if by writing such obfuscating nonsense, he can muddy the waters (!) in favour of those who pay his way then he will at least feel that he's earning his keep. To declare that general taxation will decrease for those who pay the separate 'Irish Water' bill is again an attempt to muddy water and his claim that if we do pay that extra tax "...the homeless, carers, mental health (and) suicide charities.." will be better financed by the State is simply incredible - any extra money of that nature that surfaced in the State kitty would more likely go straight into the pension fund of the same politicians that Paddy seeks to defend and befriend.
*And, true to form, it's not only double-water tax 'defaulters' (as he would see us) that he lashes out at, but has also 'had a go' at journalists - "My anger at members of my own profession (yet another attempt to link himself to a grouping that is way out of his reach!) , for their utter failure to check facts and for publishing stories, which were utterly and patently false, is intense...." , Paddy once wrote, in defence of his brother, but the bishop was suitably reprimanded by a man who did know what he was talking about!
IS IT A BIRD ? IS IT A PLANE.....?
Of course those in Leinster House would be "much more open" to yet another way of monitoring the actions of the citizens of this State ; the on-going protests over the proposed double-water tax rattled their cages enough to make them concerned regarding their chances of being re-elected at the next State-wide general election in early April 2016 (if not before then) but they remain unconcerned at the actual imposition itself of that double tax, despite verbal utterances to the contrary from some of them.
These drone devices are already in use in part of Ireland (by a British 'security force') and are widely used in American cities - 'The FBI uses drones to watch specific targets within the United States, bureau Director Robert Mueller revealed.....(he) said he wasn’t certain whether the FBI had any official agreements with other agencies — such as the Department of Defense or the DHS — to receive assistance in using drones.....' (from here) and will be put to use in this State to frighten people into staying away from protests, street meetings, pickets etc and to build legal cases against those who continue to challenge the 'authority' of the State establishment to reduce them further into poverty. It was George Orwell who said 'To survive it is often necessary to fight and to fight you have to dirty yourself' - even if you can't afford the water to clean up in afterwards.
CHRISTMAS DAY 355 YEARS AGO - FIVE SHILLING FINE FOR CELEBRATIONS!
Seizing on the fact that a reference to Christmas apparently didn't make it into 'scripture', the Puritans decided that it must be an 'anti-Puritan' celebration and banned the event wholesale! With the backing of Oliver Cromwell, the group also deemed that Easter should be no more and ordered that other occasions of 'special church service' be brought to a finish in order to 'purify' society, the same reason given for their dislike of drama, religious music and certain types of poetry. Their Christmas ban extended to compelling town criers to patrol the streets shouting "No Christmas today, No Christmas today..." , and their society was organised in such a fashion that each 'parish' would be held responsible to God for any 'transgression' as, too, was each individual in that 'parish'. Those who didn't subscribe to their beliefs and who refused to convert were 'asked to leave' the area. That 'law' was enforced for 22 years (1659-1681) meaning that, had such items existed back then, you would have had 23-year-olds playing with 'Frozen' dolls. Almost as weird a concept as banning Christmas (and possibly a reason for doing so) !
UP THE REPUBLIC - OUR DAY WILL COME !NOLLAIG SHONA DAR LEITHEOIRI ! Ar eagle an dearmaid .... Ba bhrea an rud e siocháin bhuan bunaithe ar an gceart a bheith againn in Éireann . Is i an bronntanas is fearr a d'fheadfaimis a thabhairt duinn fein agus dar gclann. Coinniodh an ceart agus an tsiocháin uainn le breis agus ocht gcead bliain , de bharr ionradh , forghabhail agus miriaradh na Sasanach. Socrú ar bith a dheantar in ainm mhuintir na hÉireann agus a ghlacann le riail Shasana agus a dhaingnionn an chriochdheighilt , ni thig leis an ceart na an tsiocháin bhuann a bhunu.
Ni dheanfaidh se ach la na siochána buaine a chur ar an mhear fhada agus an bhunfhadb a thabhairt do ghluin eile . Tharla se seo cheana nuair a siniodh Conradh 1921 agus cuireadh siar ar mhuintir na hÉireann e in ainm na siochána . Is mór ag Sinn Féin Poblachtach Éire a bheith saor agus daonlathach , an cuspoir ceanna a bhi i gceist ag Wolfe Tone agus ag na Poblachtaigh uile anuas go dti 1916 agus an la ata inniu ann.
Rinne a lan fear agus ban croga iobairti mora , thug a mbeatha fiu, ar son na cuise uaisle seo. CEART. SAOIRSE. DAONLATHAS.
A PEACEFUL CHRISTMAS TO OUR READERS ! Least we forget .... A just and permanent peace in Ireland is most desirable. It is the greatest gift we could give to ourselves and our children. We have been denied justice and peace for more than eight centuries, because of English invasion, occupation and misrule of our country. Any arrangement which, in the name of the Irish people or otherwise, accepts English rule and copperfastens the border, will not bring justice and lasting peace. It will only postpone the day of permanent peace, handing over the basic problem to another generation.
This happened before when the Treaty of 1921 was signed and was forced on the Irish people in the name of peace. Republican Sinn Féin cherishes the objective of a free, democratic Ireland, as envisaged by Wolfe Tone and all Republicans down to 1916 and our own day. Many brave men and women sacrificed a lot, even their lives, for this noble objective. JUSTICE. FREEDOM. DEMOCRACY.
(From the '1169...' Crew , December 2014. PLEASE NOTE : we are on a short break from normal posting , although we will post details of how the CABHAIR swim went and possibly a few other posts. We will return to 'normal' early in the New Year. Go raibh maith agat, and thanks for reading! Sharon.)
