On November 10th 1966, when Sean Lemass resigned as Free State Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fail, George Colley and Charles J.Haughey made known their desire for that position.
Neil Blaney entered on the nomination of another Fianna Fail Minister, Kevin Boland, but Haughey and Blaney withdrew when Sean Lemass nominated Jack Lynch. George Colley stayed in the contest and was defeated by 53 votes to 19 ; the Colley-Haughey power struggle began to develop, but all concerned (George Colley, Haughey, Boland, Neil Blaney and Jack Lynch) continued to cooperate with each other within the confines of the Fianna Fail 'TACA' group.
Neil Blaney was interested in the workings and objectives of the 'Civil Rights Association' in the Six Counties but let it be known that he didn't consider them to be hardline enough and tried to steer Fianna Fail away from having too much to do with them, a position which some seen as a challenge to Free State Taoiseach Jack Lynch, and more so with each speech Blaney made in which he verbally attacked a politician favoured by Lynch, Six County (British) 'Premier', Captain Terence O'Neill (who was also under attack by Ian Paisley).
Blaney actually advised nationalists in the Six Counties not to support 'Premier' O'Neill.
However, for the sake of party unity (a State-wide general election was due in June 1969), Neil Blaney softened his tone in public but tension remained high between him, George Colley and Haughey, although Jack Lynch tried to avoid taking sides.
Seamus Brady, a Fianna Fail 'spin doctor' and a linkman between Blaney and the media of that time, was a well-respected Fianna Fail activist in the Dublin North-East area and was friendly with Blaney, who maintained his contacts in the Six Counties even though the Fianna Fail party itself, officially, did not bother to keep in touch too much with the few remaining contacts it had in the North, a position it regretted finding itself in as the Six County area was in open turmoil.
Leinster House decided that money would have to be provided to deal with 'distress' in the Six Counties and wanted any such funds spent in a way which would win friends and influence people for the Fianna Fail Government : £100,000 from State exchequer funds was agreed and a special sub-committee of the State Cabinet was appointed to deal with the whole Northern 'problem'; elected to that sub-comittee were Padraig Faulkner, Joe Brennan, Neil Blaney - their constituencies were on the border - and Charles J.Haughey, who was (FS) Minister for Finance and had strong Northern connections, his father having come South to join the Free State Army in the 1920's.
The objectives of that 'Northern sub-committee' were outlined by Charles Haughey at the 'Arms Trial'-
"We were given instructions that we should develop the maximum possible contacts with persons inside the Six Counties and try to inform ourselves as much as possible on events, political and other developments - within the Six County area."
This 'Northern Sub-Committee' made contact with the Belfast IRA, with Saor Éire elements through the Citizens Committee located in a house in Kildare Street in Dublin (now demolished) the use of which was made available by the New Ireland Assurance Company, and contact was also made with Cathal Goulding, the IRA Chief Of Staff, with the objective of using every possible contact to influence decision making in the Northern nationalist community.
Leinster House was not prepared to be 'compromised' by the decisions taken in either the Civil Rights Association or the IRA. Neil Blaney's friend, Seamus Brady, was appointed (on the 15th August 1969) by Haughey to the 'Propaganda Corps' attached to the State sub-committee and he was sent into the Six Counties and, later on that month, gave a report to Jack Lynch which concentrated on the strength of the IRA in the area.
Seamus Brady had produced a booklet entitled 'Terror in Northern Ireland' (sic) for the Central Citizens Defence Committee (CCDC) in Belfast - he had been chosen to infiltrate the CCDC and this publication launched him nicely into his work.
The full costs of producing the booklet were paid by the Leinster House-established 'Information Bureau', and a jointly-written booklet by Seamus Brady and local Civil Rights activist Aidan Corrigan was produced, entitled - 'Eye Witness in Northern Ireland' (sic) ; this too was financed by the 'Information Bureau' and was printed - 5,000 copies - at the Cityview Press in Dublin despite its imprint stating that it was 'Published and printed in the Province of Ulster'.
The booklet was launched at a press conference in Dublin's Jury's Hotel on October 5th, 1969 (the same month in which Neil Blaney, speaking at celebrations for his 21st year in Leinster House, said - "..the Fianna Fail party has never taken a decision to rule out the use of force if the circumstances in the Six Counties so demand .."), at an event organised by Brady who, along with Neil Blaney (the then State Minister for Agriculture) had had a meeting with an IRA staff officer, in Dublin (in Blaney's office in 'Government Buildings'!), the previous month (ie September 1969).
Neil Blaney's political career also encompassed ministerial sackings, the 'Arms Trial', an inquiry by the State 'Committee of Public Accounts' into exactly how a sum of money* (£100,000) was spent and power struggles in the Fianna Fail party, and we hope our few paragraphs, above, can give a flavour of Neil Blaney's involvement re the occupied six counties.
(*For instance - on the 14th November 1969, a bank account was opened [by a person operating on behalf of Charles J. Haughey, State Minister for Finance at that time] in a Baggot Street, Dublin, bank, in the name of 'Ann O'Brien', and the money in same was used mainly for the running and promotion of a newspaper called 'Voice of The North', which was based in an office in Monaghan and which pushed the views of Fianna Fail on 'the Northern Question').
The 'Gun Runner' died on the 8th of November, 1995, in his 74th year, 28 years ago on this date.
'FIRST THINGS FIRST...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.
For we are convinced that both Mr. de Valera and Mr. Costello are quite well aware that before the Irish people should even consider giving guarantees of this kind they must first get the British occupation forces out of our country.
That is the primary consideration.
To even suggest any kind of agreement or guarantee while those forces remain in Ireland is in effect a betrayal of our national rights and must be repudiated.
(END of 'First Things First' : NEXT - 'Radio Éireann', from the same source.)
ON THIS DATE (8TH NOVEMBER) 102 YEARS AGO : FINAL DRAFT PREPARED OF BRITISH GOVERNMENT'S 'SECRET CIRCULAR' RE EMPLOYING ARMED ANTI-IRISH MILITIA IN IRELAND.
It was a three-tiered grouping : group 'A', numbering around 2,000 men, would be paid full time, armed and mobile, operating much as the hated RIC did, group 'B' would have about 20,000 armed members, part-time, uniformed but unpaid and group 'C' would consist of about 15,000 'reservists', to be called 'for duty' in times of "extreme emergency" only.
A sizeable number of those who joined the new 'Specials' were from the ranks of the 'Ulster Volunteer Force' (UVF), a pro-British paramilitary outfit which, even after its numbers had been so diminished, managed to retain a membership of approximately 20,000 (armed) men, with a British Colonel, Frederick Hugh Crawford (pictured), in charge of it.
On the 8th November 1921 - 102 years ago on this date - the Divisional Commissioner of the RIC in the Six Counties, a Colonel 'Sir' Charles Wickham, put the finishing touches to a 'secret' circular which he was sending to other RIC bosses in the Six Counties -
"Owing to the number of reports which have been received as to the growth of unauthorised loyalist defence forces, the (British) Government have under consideration the desirability of obtaining the services of the best elements of these organisations. They have decided that the scheme most likely to meet the situation would be to enroll all who volunteer and are considered suitable into Class 'C' (of the 'Special Constabulary') and to form them into regular military units.
There is no necessity to produce the maximum possible number of units ; what is required is to ensure that every unit recommended for formation can be constituted from a reliable section of the population."
Note how the supposed 'neutral' RIC described the UVF paramilitary organisation as a "loyalist defence force" and as "a reliable section of the population" - the British were then, and still are today, 'in charge' of those loyalist paramilitary organisations, and use them to carry-out 'jobs' which Westminster wants done, but not 'officially'. Also, about two weeks after 'Sir' Wickham wrote and dispatched his 'secret' circular, a copy of it found its way into the hands of Michael Collins who, on 23rd November 1921 - while attending Treaty negotiations with the British in London - produced it to the startled British team and told them it may very well signal the end of the 'negotiations'.
However, by way of a 'two-fingered salute' to his political masters in Westminster, when he returned to Belfast, Craig increased the number of 'A Specials' by 700 men, and the 'B Specials' by 5,000 men - if they couldn't 'hire' "from a reliable section of the population" in one way, then they'd find another way to do it!
Incidentally, Colonel 'Sir' Charles Wickham had an interesting background - a British 'Establishment' man through and through,'Sir' Charles had an interesting background - he spent 23 years as the man in charge of the 'B' Specials, and was also head of the RUC for a period.
He was born in 1879, in England, and was educated at Harrow and Sandhurst, where he no doubt picked-up his 'stiff upper lip'. At 20 years young he joined the British Army and served in the Boer War and in the 'First World War'. Between the years 1918 and 1920 he served as a Lieutenant-Colonel with the British military 'mission' in the Russian Civil War, following which (at 41 years young) he was the 'Divisional Commissioner for Ulster' in the RIC, from 1920 to 1922.
It was at that time in his 'career' that he helped to establish the Ulster Special Constabulary.
At 43 years young he was appointed as the Inspector-General of the RUC, a position he held until 1945 when, at 66 years of age, his paymasters in Westminster formed the opinion that the 'johnnies' in the 'colonies' would benefit from a spot of 'Wickham-ism'. In 1945, British Lieutenant-Colonel 'Sir' Charles Wickham was 66 years of age ; but no rest for the wicked.
He was sent to Greece to serve as the 'Head of British Police and Prisons Mission', where he 'crossed swords' with the ELAS guerilla group. He remained in that position until 1952(when he was 73 years of age).
The man died in 1972, at the age of 93, and had a longer life than most of those he came into contact with.
IRELAND ON THE COUCH...
A Psychiatrist Writes.
'Magill' commissioned Professor Patricia Casey to compile an assessment of Irish society at what may emerge as the end of a period of unprecedented growth and change.
This is her report.
From 'Magill Magazine' Annual, 2002.
The priest as mentor has also been relegated due to a weakening of the influence of the Church.
In such a society, it is hardly surprising that those with problems are increasingly looking for help to counsellors but, even more worrying, is the fact that even those whose distress might be considered appropriate to the circumstances in which they find themselves are also attending counsellors ; moreover, they are also flocking to psychiatrists in huge numbers.
As personal development courses flourish and counsellors advertise in supermarkets, far from being considered an exercise in narcissism brought about by our affluence, it is regarded as a badge of honour to scrutinise one's past and explore one's feelings.
Not only are talking therapies available in abundance, but people are taking medication for nervous disorders in enormous amounts, costing the medical card system £52.66 million last year as compared to £19.1 million in 1995...
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (8TH NOVEMBER) 232 YEARS AGO : DUBLIN REPUBLICANS PREPARE TO ESTABLISH A BRANCH OF THE 'UNITED IRISHMEN'.
NORTHERN ARMY OF AVENGERS.
Head Quarters.
The first year of Irish Liberty.
GENERAL, JN TANDY,
to his COUNTRYMEN.
UNITED IRISHMEN,
What do I hear? The British Government are dared to speak of concessions! Would you accept of them? Can you think of entering into a treaty with a British Minister? A Minister too, who has left you at the mercy of an English soldiery, who has laid your cities waste, and massacred inhumanely your best Citizens . . . a Minister, the bane of society, and the scourge of mankind . . . behold, Irishmen . . . he holds in his hand the olive of peace; be aware, his other hand lies concealed armed with a poniard. NO, IRISHMEN, no . . . you shall not be the dupes of his base intrigues. Unable to subdue your courage, he attempts to seduce you, let his efforts be vain. Horrid crimes have been perpetuated in your country. Your friends have fallen a sacrifice to their devotion for your cause. Their shadows are around you and call aloud for Vengeance.
It is your duty to avenge their death. It is your duty to strike on their blood-cemented thrones the murderers of your friends.
Listen to no proposals, IRISHMEN, wage a war of extermination against your oppressors, the war of Liberty against tyranny, and Liberty shall Triumph.
JN TANDY.'
It was on this date (8th November) in 1791 that James Napper Tandy put the final preparation into convening the inaugural meeting of the 'Dublin Society of United Irishmen'.
The meeting took place in the Eagle Tavern (now known as the 'Quaker [Friends] Meeting House', where the wall plaque, pictured above, is located) in Eustace Street in Dublin city centre.
!['Quaker [Friends] Meeting House'](https://localstudies.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/eustace-street-dublin-meeting-house-erected-1694-rebuilt-c.jpg){kind=link}
The meeting was Chaired by Simon Butler (1757-1797, a barrister by profession, and brother of 'Lord' Mountgarret - family history here), with Tandy himself acting as Secretary, and the following resolutions were among those discussed and passed -
'That the weight of English influence in the government of this country is so great, as to require a cordial union among all the people of Ireland, to maintain that balance which is essential to the preservation of our liberties and the extension of our commerce...that the sole constitutional mode by which this influence can be opposed, is by a complete and radical reform of the representation of the people in Parliament... and that no reform is just which does not include every Irishman of every religious persuasion.'
The 'Dublin Society' held meetings on alternative Fridays, usually at the Music Hall in Fishamble Street in the city centre, with the objective of working to obtain social democratic reforms and independence from England and developed a strategy of spreading its ideals by means of leaflets, newspapers, ballads, 'catechisms' and travelling emissaries.
By 1797, the society as a whole had at least 100,000 members throughout Ireland whereas today, although smaller in number (!), the objective remains the same : 'independence from England'.
BEIR BUA...
Republicanism in history and today.
Published by the James Connolly/Tommy O'Neill Cumann, Republican Sinn Féin, The Liberties, Dublin.
August 1998.
('1169' comment - 'Beir Bua' translates as 'Grasp Victory' in the English language.)
The documents in this booklet are taken from periods of republican history in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
Though these documents are from history, they cannot be safely locked away in an historical archive to be forgotten about. They are living history, all part of a story which has yet to be completed.
The story of Irish republicanism is of the struggle to 'break the connection with England, the never-failing source of all our political evils'.
Padraig Pearse drew upon the history of the United Irishmen and the Fenians to re-invigorate the Republican Movement and demonstrate its continuity with the struggle of previous generations. He honoured Ireland's dead by taking up the struggle again under the same banner that they stood under in their day. He consciously followed in their tradition...
(MORE LATER.)
1919 :
In 1919 in Ireland, as Irish republican forces were defending themselves, their people and this country from imposed British political and military interference (an on-going struggle), the British paramilitary 'police force' in Ireland, the 'RIC', knew they were unable to 'contain the situation' and decided to regroup.
A 'Safety of Barracks' circular was distributed to all their 'section heads' in the country on the 8th November, decreeing that all such 'units' with less than six operatives should be closed immediately (...as they weren't able to 'defend themselves' successfully!) and the 'police men' effected by the policy change would be stationed in a different barracks, to ensure that they have more of their members present, should they be challenged by republicans.
That move led to the closure of smaller barracks - more than 430 of them - out of a total of 1,300 such 'police stations'. The IRA continued to defend themselves, their people and this country and also continued to 'close' hundreds more barracks in their own way...
===================
1920 :
On around the 8th November, 1920, an IRA Active Service Unit placed itself in an ambush position near Grange, in Limerick, waiting for two lorry loads of British soldiers who were due to pass that spot two days later (10th) ; Donnacha (Donnchadh) O'Hannigan (pictured, more info here) was in command of the rebels but the operation didn't go as intended -
"...we took up a position at the village of Grange on the Limerick-Brute road, expecting a convoy of enemy transport of which we had received information that it was likely to pass that way.
After several hours waiting, the enemy approached, but in the opposite direction to that which we expected them. Unfortunately, a shot was fired prematurely and probably accidentally by one of our men, and this precipitated the fight, much to our disadvantage in the position we occupied.
The British were supported by an armoured car. I had a very poor knowledge of the district, and decided to withdraw.
We were hotly pursued by the enemy, but we returned their fire and retired in good order. We had one wounded (Volunteer Burke), but in the circumstances were unable to calculate the enemy casualties. I was subsequently informed that they had five wounded..."
After 'Truce and Treaty', Donnacha was neutral in the on-going conflict between the Republicans and the Free Staters.
===================
1920 :
A Flying Column attached to the Longford Brigade of the IRA, under the command of Sean MacEoin (who later joined the Free State Army) attacked an RIC post on the 8th November and reports suggest that three RIC members were killed, and one wounded.
===================
1920 :
On the 8th November (1920), a motorised RIC and Black and Tan gang stormed into the villags of Ardfert, in County Kerry, by two different routes.
They 'arrested' three men - Michael Brosnan (a Volunteer with the Castleisland Company IRA, 1st Battallion, Kerry No. 2 Brigade), John Cantillion and Maurice ('Mossy') McElligott - and placed them in their lorries, to be used as hostages in case they were to come under attack from the IRA. The two lorries then drove off, at speed, in the direction of the village of Rathoneen, where they carried out house raids.
After wrecking a few houses, they decided to drive back to Ardfert but, nearing their destination, they stopped and took their three hostages out of the lorries, and brought them into a field (which is now the Hazel Grove housing state). The 'police' and the Tans lined up and told the three hostages to make a run for it, but an RIC member whispered to Mossy McElligott that if he valued his life, he shouldn't move.
Michael Brosnan and John Cantillion ran for their lives, but only made it about fifty yards across the field before they were both shot dead. The pro-British 'peace keepers' then turned on Mossy and beat him until they thought he was dead. The RIC and their Tan colleagues then left the scene and went to the near-by pub, 'O' Sullivans' and demanded, and got, free drink from the owner.
Mossy McElligott lived to tell the tale.
===================
1921 :
During the 'Treaty of Surrender' negotiations (!) in the early 1920's, a British 'Civil Servant' named Thomas Jones, who had made it his business to be 'friendly' with Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith, approached both of those men, on the 8th November, 1921, and asked if he could speak to them about a possible solution that he, Mr Jones, had been thinking about.
Mr Jones asked both of them if they thought, perhaps, the formation of a small group, comprising members from the British and Irish sides, to discuss which areas of Ireland should be partitioned, would be a good idea...?
Michael Collins replied that he wouldn't be in favour of such a group because "it sacrificed unity entirely" (how right he has been, to date, regarding that issue - yet he went on to implement and enforce that same proposal!) but Arthur Griffith said he wasn't opposed to the idea, and Mr Jones told them that if anything should happen to his Prime Minister (David Lloyd George), then Mr Bonar Law could find himself in charge and he wouldn't be as favourable to the Irish in relation to the partition issue.
This put the wind up both men ('the devil you know' and all that) and so it was that the seed of a 'partition group' (the 'Boundary Commission') was planted but...it later transpired that David Lloyd George, the British PM, had instructed Mr Thomas Jones to approach the two Irish men in the manner he did, to innocently (!) propose the outcome that he, the PM, wanted ie 'I'm Thomas Jones, this is my idea, lads, just shootin' the breeze, but what do ye think...?'!
To add insult to injury, later that same day (8th November 1921) a Mr Lionel Curtis, the 'Secretary to the British Delegation', called a meeting of his own people and announced a 'breakthrough' - that of the soon-to-be-announced formation of a 'Boundary Commission'! (We have mentioned (!) this con job before...)
===================
1922 :
That barracks was a holding centre for IRA POW's and was also used by the Staters as the base for their 'Army Intelligence' unit.
IRA men were positioned on both sides of the near-by Grand Canal, armed with a Thompson submachine gun, revolvers and rifles ; one Free State soldier, Thomas Murphy, was killed in the gun battle, and another, James Finlay, was wounded and died later. Altogether, about twenty Staters were wounded, as were two civilians, and a third civilian, named Keane, was killed in the crossfire.
In a revenge attack, an IRA man, James Spain, was captured on Donore Avenue, in Dublin, by the Staters, and shot dead by a Free State soldier named Christy Clarke, following which Clarke and his comrades returned to Wellington Barracks and 'punished' the IRA prisoners they were holding there.
===================
1922 :
During an IRA attack on Free State Army forces on the 8th November 1922, in Milltown Village in County Kerry (pictured), a mother and her son were wounded in the crossfire. The son, Jeremiah McKenna, died four days later from his wounds.
Thanks for the visit, and for reading!
Sharon and the team.