"Reprisals are wrong.
They are bad for the discipline of the force.
They are bad for Ireland, especially if the wholly innocent suffer.
Reprisals are wrong but reprisals do not happen only by accident.
They are the result of the brutal, cowardly murder of police officers (sic) by assassins (sic), who take shelter behind the screen of terrorism (sic) and intimidation (sic) they have created.
Police (sic) murder (sic) produces reprisals. Stop murdering (sic) policemen (sic)."
- Editorial in the printed 'The Weekly Summary', 8th October 1920.
Those printed pages masqueraded as an in-house 'newspaper' for RIC members in the early 1920's in Ireland, repeatedly describing the Republican Movement as "enemies of humanity", but was a poor man's version of 'The Irish Bulletin', the Irish republican newspaper, which had a guaranteed readership outside of the Movement, and abroad.
'The Weekly Summary' was circulated among its in-house members from August 1920 until January 1922, when it folded due to a dying readership.
Literally.
Before it folded, 'The Summary' apparently lost one of its readers on the same date that it published that editorial - an RIC member, a 'Constable Dennison', in Dunamore (Dunnamore/Donamore), in County Tyrone, wouldn't surrender his revolver when ordered to do so by IRA Volunteers and, seemingly, involved himself in a scuffle with the Volunteers, during which a gun was fired, wounding him, at least.
Our sources record no mention of this event, and we couldn't find any other information on the incident.
When Mr Dennison may or may not have been involved in a situation in Tyrone, 270 miles down the road (about 430 km), in County Cork, a very definite incident was unfolding.
At least 30 IRA Volunteers, attached to the 2nd Battalion of Cork No. 1 Brigade (with Volunteer Michael Murphy in command), were in ambush position at the corner of Cove Street and Barrack Street in Cork when, at about 9am - as expected - a British Army lorry approached their position.
Seven armed BA soldiers, from the '2nd Battalion Hampshire Regiment', were in the lorry and they were quickly joined by a ticking bomb (four bombs were thrown at the vehicle altogether, one of which failed to explode) which had been lobbed into the vehicle.
One of the BA soldiers, a Mr Gordon John Squibb (17, 'Service Number 5487222'), grabbed the device with the intention of throwing it out onto the street but it exploded when he lifted it, killing him : he is buried (12th October) in the Churchyard of the Baptist Chapel in Niton, on the Isle of Wight, in England.
Three of his comrade soldiers were injured as were at least four civilians - Mr Thomas Madden, Mr Denis Buckley, M/s Kate Fitzpatrick and a Mr Jeremiah Linehan - and two Volunteers also sustained injuries - Volunteer Michael Murphy and Volunteer Tadgh O'Sullivan - when the BA gunmen fired about 20 shots in, roughly, their direction.
The civilians recovered, shaken, but in good health.
On that same date (8th October 1920), a British Army Brigadier General, 'Sir' George Kynaston Cockerill (pictured, a Conservative/Tory MP for the Reigate Constituency in Surrey, 1918-1931) had his 'Letter to The Editor' published in 'The London Times' newspaper.
In his letter, Mr Cockerill called for.. "..a meeting of plenipotentiaries from Britain and Ireland to discuss settlement, to be preceded by a truce and amnesty with the resulting agreement to be submitted to both parliaments for acceptance or rejection but not amendment..."
In (officially) July, 1921, a truce was agreed, followed by negotiations, followed by the signing of same in December 1921.
He was deeply involved in the British 'Intelligence Services' and was was 'knighted' (!) in 1926, beginning (officially!) his political career in the so-called 'House of Commons'.
He either had good intuition or knew the inside track - my money's on the latter!
As 'Sir' Cockerill was reading his own letter in 'The London Times' on the 8th, his military colleagues in Ireland were raiding a house in Meelick, in County Clare, believing they were about to 'arrest' three rebel brothers Michael, Austen and Patrick Brennan.
The armed foreigners forced their way into the dwelling only to discover that the three brothers had been notified about the raid and had gone 'on the run'.
To ease their disappointment, the British soldiers put Mrs Brennan, a widow, and her daughter, out of the house and burned it to the ground, then left the area.
Mrs Brennan and her daughter and three sons were then homeless.
We wonder did Mr Cockerill write a letter to 'The London Times' about that...?
==========================
GAS LADS...
The massive finds of oil and gas on our western seaboard could ensure Ireland's financial security for generations.
Wealth approximating that of the Arab countries is within our grasp, but the Irish government seems content to sell off our birthright for a handful of votes and a few dollars.
In a special 'Magill' report, Sandra Mara investigates just what we are giving away, and why.
From 'Magill' magazine, March 2002.
Pat Keating, spokesperson for 'Enterprise Oil', said -
"Exploration off Ireland had not been a great success, and it needed a regime to attract more exploration.
Enterprise Oil never came here because of a deal, but in the hope of making a discovery.
But the amounts of discoveries to date hasn't been great."
And on the subject of whether the terms of Irish licence agreements are more attractive than those of other countries, he said -
"I wouldn't have said so, because so many factors come into consideration in different countries.
It would be like comparing apples and oranges ; every area has its own frameworks and parameters."
Again, he stresses, that companies would come to Ireland not because the terms of licence agreements would be attractive, but rather in the hope of making a significant oil or gas find and, he says,... "Ireland has been dismally disappointing.." in that regard so far...
(MORE LATER.)
On the 8th October, 1921, Volunteer Patrick Dunne, from Greenhills, in the village of Kill, County Kildare, knocked on his own halldoor, having been imprisoned for nine months by the British, for having "seditious literature in his possession".
Our enquiries about Volunteer Dunne indicate that he shouldered a weapon for Ireland alongside the other brave men and women of the 7th Brigade, 1st Eastern Division of the Republican Army, that he had been active in the 1916 Rising and later served as Captain of the Kill Company of the Irish Volunteers.
More here...
As Volunteer Patrick Dunne was 'born again' after his nine months 'stay' (!), a British Army intelligence officer in Berlin, Germany, a 'Sir' John Arnold Wallinger, pictured, KBE, DSO, CIE, KPM ETC ETC (!), reported to his army superiors about IRA gunrunning activities in Germany.
In his (accurate) report, he provided scripture and verse on how a 'Mr Thompson' (Charles John McGuinness, aka 'Charles T. Hennessey', 'Nomad', 'Charlie', 'Night-Hawk') and another IRA Volunteer, William Beaumont (a 'Crossover' ie an ex-British Army man) had been sent to Germany by the IRA GHQ with two million German Marks to make further contact with the far-right, fascist 'Orgesch' organisation, to purchase weapons from them, which they succeeded in doing.
IRA conduits in Germany, Robert Emmet Briscoe and John T. Ryan, assisted in putting the deal together.
Mr Wallinger, somewhat exasperated, we imagine (!), also reported that the IRA Unit was also dealing with the German Communist Party to secure boats to transport the purchased weapons to Ireland!
So there ya have it - in short, in 1921, Irish republicans worked hand-in-glove with fascists and communists when the need and the opportunity to do so presented itself, for the objective of fighting for an Ireland for the Irish.
'Any port in a storm', as the saying goes, if the end result means the removal of the foreigners...
And, speaking of boats, ports and faraway lands, an event linked to the above took place on the 21st October, 1921 - German police in Hamburg raided and searched a ship called 'Anita', and found and confiscated a large amount of weapons destined for the IRA.
Volunteer Charles McGuinness was arrested by them, was eventually fined a sum of money and then released ; the ship was by all accounts rather worn but was up to the task, the weapons had been purchased by IRA GHQ from the fascist Orgesch organisation (also mentioned here) and, at his trial, the judge privately wished Volunteer McGuinness better luck next time!
...and, in yet another related incident, Volunteers Robert Briscoe and Charles McGuinness left the port of Hamburg in a small tug called 'The Frieda' on the 28th October, 1921, with a German crew supplied by the Orgesch organisation.
The tug was carrying about 300 guns and 80,000 rounds of ammunition for those weapons (some reports state 200 rifles and 10,000 rounds of ammunition), destined for the IRA.
Just before they set sail, Volunteer Briscoe sent a pre-arranged 'Thumbs Up!' telegram to Volunteer Liam Mellows, in Ireland, who was the IRA's Director of Purchases, and then Volunteer Pax Whelan, Officer Commanding of the Waterford Brigade IRA, was notified to prepare for 'The Frieda' landing on the shores of Helvick Head, in Waterford.
The tug got delayed by rough weather at sea and even worse weather made them take shelter behind a small island near Helvick Head, so Volunteer McGuinness and a few crew members decided to row a lifeboat ashore, and they then made to way to the house of a local Sinn Féin member, a Dr Vincent White (a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher).
Between Mr White and Volunteer Whelan, transport was arranged, the cargo was safely unloaded from 'The Frieda' and taken to Keatings of Kilrossanty in the Comeragh Mountains, on the Waterford/Tipperary border, a republican owned and operated business and, from there, the goods were distributed between the Southern and Midlands Divisions of the IRA.
That gunrunning operation was successfully completed because of cooperation between Irish republicans, fascists and communists, an unlikely combination, but one that was deemed necessary by Irish republicans to free Ireland from the foreigners.
'In January 1937, Tom Barry, then IRA Chief of Staff, traveled to Germany to meet with Nazi intelligence (the Abwehr) seeking financial and military support for a potential war with Britain, and secured a commitment subject to the IRA focusing attacks on British military installations in Northern Ireland (sic).
The trip, which was controversial and resulted in Barry's eventual resignation from the IRA leadership, laid groundwork for future IRA-Nazi contact...in January 1937, IRA leader Tom Barry travelled to Nazi Germany at the request of German Abwehr intelligence, accompanied by a German agent named Jupp Hoven, to seek financial support and ensure a commitment to a war with Britain, which the IRA would respond to by attacking British military installations in Northern Ireland (sic).
Barry secured this support, but upon his return, the IRA Army Convention rejected the "Barry Plan" in favor of Seán Russell's S-Plan to attack targets in Britain. Barry resigned as Chief of Staff but continued to have contact with German agents until at least February 1939...' (From here.)
'When it became clear that victory could not be achieved, Barry proposed that the Anti-Treaty IRA should lay down their arms, which led to frequent clashes with Liam Lynch.
Barry still continued to be a part of the IRA after the civil war and served briefly as its commander-in-chief in 1937, during which he devised a proposed plan for an IRA offensive into Northern Ireland (sic) and opened contacts with Nazi Germany. After leaving the IRA, Barry would write Guerrilla Days in Ireland, a memoir about his service in World War I and in Ireland...' (From here.)
'Barry would assert in later life that he opposed both the 1930s bombing campaign in England and IRA contacts with Nazi Germany.
In fact in January 1937 he had taken a trip to Germany seeking Nazi support, which was assured to him subject to the condition that the IRA limit its actions to British military installations once war was declared.
Financing was to be arranged through the Clann na Gael in the USA.
The Army Convention in April 1938 adopted Seán Russells S-Plan instead.
Barry resigned as chief of staff as a result, but remained in contact with German agents at least to February 1939...' (From here.)
'1937–1939: the first IRA contacts :
The Abwehr had German agents in Ireland at this point.
Joseph Hoven was an anthropology student who spent much of 1938 and 1939 in Northern Ireland and the province of Connacht.
Hoven had befriended Tom Barry, an IRA member who had fought during the Anglo-Irish War and was still active within the organisation. They met frequently with a view to fostering links between the IRA and Germany.
At this time Barry had taken up the position of IRA Chief of Staff and it was within this capacity that he visited Germany in 1937 accompanied by Hoven, with a view to developing IRA/German relations...' (From here.)
'Looking around for allies, Barry would take what would become an extremely controversial trip to Nazi Germany in January 1937, organised after contacts between German agents in Ireland and Barry.
He would later claim he made the journey at least partially to discover how much penetration the Germans had been able to manage within the IRA.
There he secured a commitment from the Abwehr, the Germany military intelligence service, for financial support in the event of a war with Britain, to be organised through republican organisations in the United States : with this, the IRA would attack British military installations in Northern Ireland (sic).
Naturally history has taken a dim view of such contacts, but at the time Barry was simply looking to become friends with those who shared his enemy.
Of course Nazi racial ideology, anti-Semitism and aggressive territorial expansion was not some secret at the time, so Barry, and others who followed the same path afterwards, should not be entirely immune from criticism either...' (From here.)
'James O’Donovan set sail for Germany and held a series of meetings in Hamburg with his new best friends in the Abwehr, discussing IRA resources, capabilities and various issues of mutual interest. The Germans also set up a means of coded communication and provided contact details for Abwehr agents.
As no money was forthcoming from Germany, Sean Russell set off on a fundraising trip to America, meeting up with Joe McGarrity, the leader of Clan na Gael. It was through McGarrity that Russell had initially made contact with German intelligence.
It was the prospect of financial and military assistance from Germany, that had earlier helped Russell secure the role of IRA Chief of Staff. Whilst Russell was in America, Stephen Hayes was appointed the new Chief of Staff.
In April 1939, O’Donovan returned to Hamburg for further discussions with the Abwehr, hoping to secure the promise of weapons and radios, but the only outcome from the trip was the setting up of a courier route.
In the middle of August 1939, two weeks before Germany invaded Poland, James O’Donovan was back in Hamburg for his third and final meeting with his Abwehr contacts. On this occasion O’Donovan stated that the IRA was seeking German support for the occupation of Northern Ireland (sic).
Whilst this was not ruled out by the Abwehr, they requested that the IRA focused for the time being on British military targets in Northern Ireland (sic) and elsewhere (sic) in the UK.
O’Donovan also requested weapons, ammunition and explosives, but these failed to materialise.
German agents did however transport money to the IRA and a radio link was established...' (From here.)
'The Orgesch (Organisation Escherich) was an anti-communist, anti-Semitic paramilitary organization in Germany during the early Weimar Republic, founded by Georg Escherich in 1920.
It was formed from the larger Citizens' Defense (Bürgerwehr) and was supported by government and army forces but was eventually disarmed and disbanded by the Allies in 1921 due to its far-right connections and private army status...' (From here.)
And it should be noted that those who were sought out then by Irish republicans to do 'business' with were real, dedicated and active far-right fascists, not the pro-Irish Mammies and Daddies (me and mine included), teenagers and old-age pensioners who are called far-right fascists by the 'Come-One-Come-All/Open Borders' people and Irish self-declared 'republican' groups for taking to the streets of Ireland today to voice opposition to even more foreign vagrants - 'asylum seekers, migrants and refugees' - being 'chaperoned' into their housing estates and nearby industrial estates, hotels, B+B's etc by State cops (AGS) and local and Leinster House politicians, as part of the people-trafficking industry that has been organised and is being run by the 'Establishment' in this corrupt State.
We can't house the world, and we can't afford - morally, societally, financially, or physically - to try and house the world, we have no "international obligations" to try to do so and, no - we're not "far-right fascist Nazis" for wanting an Ireland for the Irish!
Éire ar leathphingin, ach cá bhfuil an leathphingin?
Éire do na Gaeil.
Éire Do na hÉireannaigh.
Éire do mhuintir na hÉireann.
==========================
ON THIS DATE (8TH OCTOBER) 182 YEARS AGO - THE 'DOC' BACKS DOWN.
The 'Monster Meetings' (pictured) held by Daniel O'Connell were a great success, despite all the 'misfortunes' (as the British would have it) that the Irish people were suffering in their daily lives ; the desire, the demand, for a British withdrawal had not gone away.
But, after the Tara 'Monster Meeting' (held on the 15th August 1843) the British decided such meetings were not to the benefit of the 'Union' and were not to be allowed. A 'Monster Meeting' planned for Clontarf, in Dublin, which was to take place on Sunday, 8th October, 1843, was, on Saturday 7th October - 182 years ago on this date - banned by the British authorities ; the day before the event was due to take place.
Daniel O'Connell and others in the leadership of 'The Loyal National Repeal Association' quickly lodged a complaint. They protested at the banning and were arrested by the British and sentenced to a year in prison for 'conspiracy', but this judgement was then reversed in the 'British House of Lords'.
When, on that Saturday, the 7th of October 1843, O'Connell noticed that posters were being put up in Dublin by the British 'authorities' stating that the following days meeting had been banned (those posters were issued from Dublin Castle and were written by the 'Prime Minister of Britain and Ireland', Sir Robert Peel, who called the proposed meeting [for the restoration of the Irish Parliament, abolished in 1801] "an attempt to overthrow the constitution of the British Empire as by law established") and O'Connell backed down.
In our opinion, he should have 'stuck to his guns' and ignored the British 'writ' - he should have went ahead with the Clontarf 'Monster Meeting' thereby 'putting it up' to the British but 'moral force only' won the day ; O'Connell issued his own poster that same day (ie Saturday 7th October 1843) as well as spreading the word through the 'grapevine' that the meeting was cancelled.
That poster makes for interesting reading -
'NOTICE
WHEREAS there has appeared, under the signatures of E.B. SUGDEN, C DONOUGHMORE, ELIOT F BLACKBURN, E. BLAKENEY, FRED SHAW, T.B.C. SMITH, a paper being, or purporting to be, a PROCLAMATION, drawn up in very loose and inaccurate terms, and manifestly misrepresenting known facts ; the objects of which appear to be, to prevent the PUBLIC MEETING, intended to be held TO-MORROW, the 8th instant, at CLONTARF, TO PETITION PARLIAMENT for the REPEAL of the baleful and destructive measure of the LEGISLATIVE UNION.
AND WHEREAS, such Proclamation has not appeared until LATE IN THE AFTERNOON OF THIS SATURDAY, THE 7th, so that it is utterly impossible that the knowledge of its existence could be communicated in the usual official channels, or by the post, in time to have its contents known to the persons intending to meet at CLONTARF, for the purpose of petitioning , as aforesaid, whereby ill-disposed persons may have an opportunity, under cover of said proclamation, to provoke breaches of the peace, or to commit violence on persons intending to proceed peaceably and legally to the said meeting.
WE, therefore, the COMMITTEE of the LOYAL NATIONAL REPEAL ASSOCIATION, do most earnestly request and entreat, that all well-disposed persons will, IMMEDIATELY on receiving this intimation, repair to their own dwellings, and not place themselves in peril of any collision, or of receiving any ill-treatment whatsoever.
And we do further inform all such persons, that without yielding in any thing to the unfounded allegations in said alleged proclamation, we deem it prudent and wise, and above all things humane, to declare that said MEETING IS ABANDONED, AND IS NOT TO BE HELD.
SIGNED BY ORDER,
DANIEL O'CONNELL,
CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE. T. M. RAY, Secretary.
SATURDAY, 7th OCTOBER, 1843. 3 O 'CLOCK P.M.
RESOLVED - That the above cautionary notice be immediately transmitted by express to the Very Reverend and Reverend Gentlemen who signed the requisition for the CLONTARF MEETING, and to all adjacent districts, SO AS TO PREVENT the influx of persons coming to the intended meeting.
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN.'
'God Save The Queen' indeed!
Perhaps Mr O'Connell should have contacted his 'queen' and asked her to please permit the rally to go ahead...
The British had put pressure on their 'rebel pet', O'Connell, to enforce their ban, and had ordered a number of gunboats and land-based artillery pieces to train their weapons on the Clontarf area ; two British warships, the Rhathemus and the Dee, were already in Dublin Harbour, carrying around 3,000 British troops from the 24th and 34th regiments to ensure the mass rally in favour of repeal of the 'Union' did not take place.
The nationalist newspaper, the 'Freeman’s Journal', stated that the troops had been summoned to "cut the people down (and) run riot in the blood of the innocent".
Daniel O'Connell was aware that thousands of people would already be on their way to the Clontarf meeting (some having left their homes on the Friday, or earlier, for the walk to Dublin) so he sent his marshals out from Dublin on horseback, urging the crowds to return home : it was that or challenge Westminster, but that wasn't an option, as far as he was concerned.
O'Connell and his 'Loyal Association' had painted themselves into a corner ; they fell into a trap of their own making.
He had publicly and repeatedly vowed to work "within the law" (ie British 'law') which could have at any time been used, as it eventually was, to ban his agitation and he had vehemently ruled out the use of force in any circumstances in challenging the British.
One of the results of the decision by Daniel O'Connell to cancel the Clontarf 'Monster Meeting' was that the public lost faith in him and in the 'Loyal National Repeal Association' ; when he realised that he had lost that support, he expressed the view that "repeal of the Union" could not be won.
The 'Young Irelanders' denounced him and the manner in which he had directed the 'Repeal' campaign, and stated that his leadership had failed to address the threat "of the decay of Irish culture, language and custom" under British influence and interference.
One of the many who left O'Connell's side to lead the 'Young Ireland' Movement, John Mitchel, the son of a Northern Presbyterian Minister, called on the Irish people to strike back against the British - "England! All England, operating through her government : through all her organised and effectual public opinion, press, platform, parliament has done, is doing, and means to do, grievous wrongs to Ireland. She must be punished - that punishment will, as I believe, come upon her by and through Ireland ; and so Ireland will be avenged..."
The 'Loyal National Repeal Association' managed to limp along for a further four years but when O'Connell died in 1847 it fell into disarray and dissolved itself in 1848 proving, not for the first time in our history, that 'moral force' alone, when dealing with a tyrant, will not win the day.
On the 8th October, 1922, two Kildare IRA Volunteers, Thomas Murphy (mentioned here, page 3, an IRA Quartermaster, from the townland of Landenstown) and Denis Hannon (from the townland of Baile Nua Dhún Uabhair ['Newtowndonore'], a townland in Downings Civil Parish, in Barony, County Kildare) were in the town of Coill Dubh ('Blackwood') in North Kildare when they were surrounded by Naas-based Free State Army troops and 'arrested'.
The two rebels were taken to Naas FSA Military Barracks and held in a cell similar to the one pictured.
We have no more information on what happened to these two Volunteers.
==========================
WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON.
Had the electoral rules entitled him to run again for the White House in 2000, few are in any doubt that Bill Clinton would be at this present moment in time relaxing in the Oval House, toying with a fat cuban and possibly smoking a cigar...
From 'Magill' Annual, 2002.
Alas, things have been on a slide for the Teflon President ever since he swapped the White House for a modest office in Harlem (the rent being prohibitive in downtown Manhattan) where he hopes to eke out a career as a lawyer, public speaker and an international nuisance to the Bush administration.
Whereas the only decent thing for a US President to do upon leaving office is die, thus saving the taxpayer money on Secret Service wages and Presidential pensions.
Bill Clinton would appear to have a few hand-shaking, wistful decades in him yet ; not an alluring prospect for an operator weaned on the lust for power.
The solution...?
- elect him President of Ireland.
'Magill' magazine senses your reaction and begs you to persist as the argument unfolds...
(MORE LATER.)
DEATH IN THE MEDITERRANEAN...
Desmond Boomer, a Belfast engineer working in the Libyan oil-fields, disappeared seven years ago.
Officially, the plane on which he was a passenger crashed as a result of mechanical failure and pilot error.
But is that the real story?
Or were the Irishman and his fellow passengers unwitting victims of the shady war between Islamic fundamentalism and Mossad, Israel's intelligence network?
A special 'Magill' investigation by Don Mullan, author of 'Eyewitness Bloody Sunday'.
From 'Magill' magazine, January 2003.
There is no evidence that Captain Bartolo managed to have the torn alternator belt replaced on his aircraft.
The idea, therefore, that an experienced pilot would place his own life and that of his passengers in mortal danger by taking off without an alternator belt, into a raging Mediterrean storm, is scarcely conceivable.
However, this is the primary conclusion of the Maltese Board of Inquiry -
"Given the known state of the alternator belt from the passengers account on the outbound flight, the time of night, weather conditions, the time that would be needed to repair same, the pilot flew the aircraft on a sole battery with limited time.
This short duration on battery life resulted in the loss of primary flight instruments, de-icing equipment, communications, lighting and navigational instruments, making it impossible to complete the flight..."
(MORE LATER.)
On the 8th October, 1924, the 'Executive Council' of the Free State administration "decided to demand" (ie went cap-in-hand, again, to their superiors in Westminster) that a plebiscite be held in all 'Poor Law Union' areas (established by Westminster in 1838 "to provide relief through workhouses" ; ie all the villages and towns in the Occupied Six Counties in which 'workhouses' existed).
The reasoning behind such a "demand" (request) was that it was mainly Catholics/Nationalists that had to avail of the 'services offered' by those workhouses and they were the people most likely to vote for a change in political leaderhip - from Westminster rule to Dublin rule, the Staters hoped.
Leinster House made its 'demand', and waited...
..and waited some more..
...until, in order to save face, they could wait no more and, on the 1st December (1924), they issued their request "demand" again.
The Brits said somethin' along the lines of 'Ah sure, what harm to humour them...', and told the Staters to present themselves in London on the 5th December to have a chat about the issue.
And so it was that Stater reps travelled over to their real capital city on the 5th and met with a Mr Justice Richard Feetham (pictured), one of the British reps on the failed 'Boundary Commission' junket, who bluntly told them that there wouldn't be any alteration to the imposed border because, says he, that would resonate negatively on the finances of the occupied area and, just for good measure, he told the Staters that the Treaty (of Surrender) which they signed did not delegate powers to that Boundary Commission to be abe to call for any such plebiscite - Staters snookered!
The Staters wrapped-up their packed lunches and went home, and there the matter rested - until the 22nd December, 1924.
For t'was on the 22nd that the still-limping-along Boundary Commission finished their 'fact-finding tour' (!) of the Occupied Six Counties ; they had visited political delegates in Armagh, Newry, Fermanagh and Derry and it was in Derry that Mr Feetham announced publicly that the Commission had no power to call a plebiscite to ascertain the wishes of the inhabitants, putting it up to the still-limpimg-along Staters, who didn't protest or challenge Mr Feetham's comments - don't bite that hand that feeds etc.
Finishing up for Christmas, Mr Feetham asked anyone intending to contact the Commission do so, in writing, before the end of January 1925.
And we'd bet that the Staters still sent him a Christmas Card...
==========================
ON THIS DATE (8TH OCTOBER) 203 YEARS AGO...
Richard D'Alton Williams, Irish rebel, author and doctor, is born in Dublin , 8th October 1822.
In Dublin, on the 8th October 1822, a child was born to Mary Williams, wife of a Tipperary Count, Count D'Alton ; the child, Richard D'alton Williams, was reared at Grenanstown, Nenagh, County Tipperary and educated at St. Stanislaus School, Tullabeg, in County Laois, and at St.Patricks College, County Carlow, and also studied medicine at St. Vincent's Hospital in Dublin.
His first published poem was entitled - 'The Munster War Song' and it appeared in 'The Nation' newspaper on 7th January, 1843, under the pseudonym 'Shamrock' ; at the time of its publication, Richard D'alton Williams was in the process of moving from Carlow to Dublin, to study medicine in St Vincents Hospital.
'The Nation' newspaper received a great response to Williams' poems, and 'Shamrock' became a regular contributor, with works such as 'The Dying Gael', 'Sisters of Charity' and 'The Haunted Man', which raised the profile and readership of the newspaper.
As well as the poems, 'The Nation' published a series of humorous articles from Richard D'alton Williams, entitled 'Misadventures of a Medical Student' and described the author, 'Shamrock' (in its July 1851 issue), in the following terms -
"His intellect is robust and vigorous, his passion impetuous and noble, his perception of beauty most delicate and enthusiastic ; his sympathies take in the whole range of human affections, and his humour is irresistible. We think, indeed, that 'Shamrock' excels all his contemporaries in imagination and humour."
Richard D'alton Williams, now a member of the 'Young Ireland' Movement, put his medical training to good use during 'The Great Hunger' of 1845-1849, by helping to ease the suffering of hundreds of cholera victims ; he was by now a hardened opponent of British mis-rule in Ireland and had joined the 'Irish Confederation' group, which was founded in January 1847 by William Smith O'Brien and other 'Young Irelanders' who had disagreed with Daniel O'Connell's 'Repeal Association'.
He was quickly elected to Council level in the 'Confederation' and was the driving force behind a short-lived newspaper called 'The Irish Tribune', which he published with the assistance of 'Young Ireland' leader, Kevin Izod O'Doherty ; the first issue was published in June 1848 but only five issues of the weekly newspaper made it on to the streets before it was suppressed by the British in early July that year and gave Westminster the pretence to arrest Williams and Kevin Izod O'Doherty.
Both men were charged under the 'Treason-Felony Act' with "intent to depose the queen and levying war". A famous barrister of the time, Samuel Ferguson, defended both men in a trial which lasted five months and caused great embarrassment to the British.
Eventually, in November 1848, Williams and O'Doherty were acquitted ; Williams went back to studying medicine, and qualified as a doctor, in Edinburgh, in July 1849 and, in June 1851, emigrated to America.
Whilst in New Orleans, he met and married an Irish woman, Elizabeth Connolly, and the couple moved to a town called Thibodeaux in Louisiana, where he wrote his last poem - 'Song of the Irish-American Regiments.'
On 5th July, 1862, just shy of his fortieth birthday, Richard D'alton Williams died of consumption in Thibodeaux, Louisiana, in America.
A patriot, a poet and a publisher, Dr Richard D'alton Williams is one of the hundreds, if not thousands, of almost unknown and/or forgotten Irish men and women that played their part in the on-going struggle to remove the British presence from Ireland.
They deserve to be remembered somewhere.
Thanks for the visit, and for reading - appreciated.
Sharon and the team.
(We'll be back on Wednesday, 22nd October, 2025.)
1930's, IRELAND : KERRY-BORN IRA GHQ REPRESENTATIVE TRAVELS TO GERMANY FOR POLITICAL/MILITARY TALKS WITH FASCISTS.
That IRA leader travelled to Germany with a Nazi spy who was doing Hitler's bidding in three Irish counties and, although the IRA Commander is a household name - even today, nine decades later - his association with genuine fascists is less well known.
Also, in the 1940's, other IRA leadership figures again made contact with German fascists, knowing that they were fascists ; indeed, one of the Nazi spies that the IRA involved themselves with in the 1930's was again involved in the 1940's plan.
This time, however, the IRA Commander died in the middle of the mission.
Today, 2025, there are people and groups in Ireland who consider themselves 'Irish republicans/left wingers' who repeat and cling to the anti-republican State Establishment narrative/script that those of us who oppose the 'Come-One-Come-All/Open Borders' migrant situation in this State are "far-right fascists and Nazis" while at the same time unaware of, deny or refuse to speak about, republican links with genuine far-right, fascists and Nazis!
We'll be naming the people mentioned above (re the events in the 1930's and 1940's), writing more about this issue and posting more Irish republican/far-right/Nazi links, comments, dates, locations etc, on Wednesday, 8th October 2025, as part of a 14-piece blog post we'll be putting up here.
See y'all back here then, hopefully!
Sharon and the team.
PRO-IRISH 'FASCIST' MAMMIES AND DADDIES!
"Those sought out at that time by Irish republicans to do 'business' with were real, dedicated and active far-right fascists, not the pro-Irish Mammies and Daddies (me and mine included) , teenagers and old-age pensioners who are called far-right fascists by the 'Come-One-Come-All/Open Borders' people and Irish self-declared 'republican' groups, for taking to the streets of Ireland today to voice opposition to the foreign vagrants that are here now..."
Who is the slippery ex-American President whose name was raised by an Irish Establishment media outlet as being linked to the State Presidential election here? He has Irish roots (or at least claims to have!) and is a household name here...
...and that's just two of the 14-piece blog entry that we'll be posting here on Wednesday, 8th October 2025, in which we'll be writing about certain political events that happened in Ireland, England, and further afield, between the 18th and 21st centuries.
Not all of the events, mind, as it's not a bleedin' manuscript we'll be posting...!
And here's a few more teasers for ya -
Munster, 1920's - the British soldiers were travelling in the back of the Crossley Tender lorry when a ticking bomb was lobbed in at their feet. Stunned, the soldiers looked at it, then looked at each other. One of them jumped up and lifted it, intending to throw it out on the busy road or footpath, but...
In the early 1920's, this Volunteer, from Kildare, knocked on his own halldoor for the first time in almost a year : he had been imprisoned by the British for "having seditious literature in his possession..."
"The DOC backed down, as he was always wont to do - he 'talked the talk' but, when push came to shove by the British, he showed his true mettle, and panicked that he would not be able to back down quick enough..."
Mid-1920's, Ireland - Westminster's newest serfs at that time, the Free State administration in this part of Ireland, put it out there in their then-as-now bought-and-paid-for media, that they had DEMANDED AN IMMEDIATE RESPONSE from the British in relation to a particular issue concerning their branch management of the new entity (...the word 'requested' was not used!). AND...they done the same, months later, after their Head Office in London couldn't be bothered to even acknowledge receipt of THE DEMAND (!), never mind respond to it...!
Ireland, mid-19th Century : this unsung Irish hero - a doctor - always holding rebel feelings, fully expressed those feelings when he could take British injustices in Ireland no more. When he got too 'uppity' for the British, they accused him of waging war against them but they had to be careful how they dealt with him because, by now, he had attracted worldwide coverage...
Thanks for reading - we appreciate it!
We'll be looking out for ya on Wednesday, 8th October 2025 - and we'll be disappointed if yer a no-show, and so will the Boys (...the Boys on the blog, I mean..!)
See ya on Wednesday the 8th.
Sharon and the team.
ON THIS DATE (24TH SEPTEMBER) 227 YEARS AGO..."HE DRAWS ANOTHER PISTOL AND SHOOTS THE GUNNER..."
"....suddenly Bartholomew Teeling broke from the Franco-Irish forces and charged forward on his horse.
One may imagine the scene: the British at first watch incredulously, then a scattered fire of muskets. Teeling is unharmed, galloping onwards. The British sharpshooter by the cannon coolly takes aim. Teeling eyes him and suddenly swerves his horse ; the shot goes past him.
The sharpshooter curses and reloads. Another ragged volley from the infantry and again they miss...the French and the Irish are cheering but they can’t believe he will make it. Teeling’s horse leaps a ditch and gallops on past the infantry, foam flying from the animal's body – the sharpshooter looks up at him, loses his nerve and fumbles the charging of his musket.
Teeling is up at the gun, he has drawn his pistol and shoots the sharpshooter dead. He draws another pistol and shoots the gunner.
The Irish and French are ecstatic and charge forward. The British are stunned ; some stand but most of the British infantry flee from the superior numbers and leave the cannon in the hands of the insurrectionist forces, as well as 60 dead and 100 taken prisoner..."
(from here.)
Another author wrote, re the above scene, which took place at the Battle of Collooney - "...this was the turning point of the battle. The troops despatched from Knockbeg had reached Beal Ban and were already rushing down on the British flank. The other column was advancing at a rapid pace against the front.
There was no safety for Verecker from this double danger, except in retreat ; and as the Ballysadare road was no longer practicable, he ordered his men to cross the river and make for Sligo..."
Bartholomew Teeling (pictured, above) was only 24 years of age when he was captured at the Battle of Ballinamuck, Longford, as were another 500 or so Irish and French fighters. The French soldiers were treated as POW's but the Irish soldiers were executed - Teeling was hanged by the British on the 24th September 1798 at Provost Prison in Arbour Hill, Dublin, before his body was thrown into the 'Croppy Pit'.
He attempted to read the following statement from the scaffold, but was not permitted by the 'authorities' to do so :
"Fellow-citizens, I have been condemned by a military tribunal to suffer what they call an ignominious death, but what appears, from the number of its illustrious victims, to be glorious in the highest degree.
It is not in the power of men to abase virtue nor the man who dies for it. His death must be glorious in the field of battle or on the scaffold.
The same Tribunal which has condemned me — citizens, I do not speak to you here of the constitutional right of such a Tribunal — has stamped me a traitor.
If to have been active in endeavouring to put a stop to the blood-thirsty policy of an oppressive Government has been treason, I am guilty. If to have endeavoured to give my native country a place among the nations of the earth was treason, then I am guilty indeed. If to have been active in endeavouring to remove the fangs of oppression from the head of the devoted Irish peasant was treason, I am guilty.
Finally, if to have striven to make my fellow-men love each other was guilt, then I am guilty.
You, my countrymen, may perhaps one day be able to tell whether these were the acts of a traitor or deserved death. My own heart tells me they were not and, conscious of my innocence, I would not change my present situation for that of the highest of my enemies.
Fellow-citizens, I leave you with the heartfelt satisfaction of having kept my oath as a United Irishman, and also with the glorious prospect of the success of the cause in which we have been engaged.
Persevere, my beloved countrymen.
Your cause is the cause of Truth.
It must and will ultimately triumph."
RIP Bartholomew Teeling, Irish Rebel, 1774-1798.
"You cannot in the existing state in Ireland punish a policeman (sic) who shoots a man whom he has every reason to suspect is concerned in police murders.
That kind of thing (ie shooting an RIC member) can only be met by reprisals..."
- the words of a Mr David Lloyd George ('1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor' etc!), the British Prime Minister at the time, as recounted (on the 24th September 1920) by a colleague of his, a Mr Herbert Albert Laurens Fisher (pictured), an MP for the constituency of Sheffield Hallam and, at that time, the President of the British Board of Education.
In effect, that would be a 'licence to kill' - to shoot dead anyone who 'looks suspect'!
On the same date that Mr Fisher was fondly recounting the words of Mr George, a Mr Henry Owens (30, 'Service Number 4180426'), a soldier in the British Army's 'Royal Welch Fusiliers', was in a military barracks ('New Barracks') in Limerick, when he was shot, dying shortly afterwards from the wound.
The shooting was said to have been carried out, 'accidentally', by one of his own comrades.
==========================
GAS LADS...
The massive finds of oil and gas on our western seaboard could ensure Ireland's financial security for generations.
Wealth approximating that of the Arab countries is within our grasp, but the Irish government seems content to sell off our birthright for a handful of votes and a few dollars.
In a special 'Magill' report, Sandra Mara investigates just what we are giving away, and why.
From 'Magill' magazine, March 2002.
However, 'Enterprise Oil' refused to meet with SIPTU and there followed a series of peaceful protests by Irish rig-workers.
The company then moved operations to Ayr on the west coast of Scotland and outsourced the bulk of its goods and services requirements.
For its part, the company says it has no objection to hiring Irish rig-workers ; "absolutely not.." spokesperson Pat Keating told 'Magill' magazine, "...my understanding of the issue is that rigs come in on contract for two, three or five months, and have specialist work forces which come with them.
You can't just send anybody out on a rig ; it would be a delight to have Irish workers, but there's not enough specialist Irish staff out there. So that issue really is a red herring..."
As for Ray Burke's rather generous terms, Pat Keating says they would have had little impact on Enterprise Oil's decision to drill here...
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (24TH SEPTEMBER) 108 YEARS AGO : BRITISH PLANS FINALISED TO FORCE-FEED AN IRISH HUNGER-STRIKER.
"You cannot put a rope around the neck of an idea...you cannot confine it in the strongest prison cell that your slaves could ever build.." - the words of Séan O'Casey, in relation to the murder of Thomas Ashe.
The funeral procession in Dublin, 30th September 1917 (pictured), for Thomas Ashe, an IRB leader, who died on the 25th September that year, after being force fed by his British jailers.
He was the first Irish republican to die as a result of a hunger-strike and, between that year and 1981, twenty-one other Irish republicans died on hunger-strike.
The jury at the inquest into his death found "..that the deceased, Thomas Ashe, according to the medical evidence of Professor McWeeney, Sir Arthur Chance, and Sir Thomas Myles, died from heart failure and congestion of the lungs on the 25th September, 1917 and that his death was caused by the punishment of taking away from the cell bed, bedding and boots and allowing him to be on the cold floor for 50 hours, and then subjecting him to forcible feeding in his weak condition after hunger-striking for five or six days.."
Michael Collins organised the funeral and transformed it into a national demonstration against British misrule in Ireland ; armed 'Irish Republican Brotherhood' Volunteers in full uniform flanked the coffin, followed by 9,000 other IRB Volunteers, and approximately 30,000 people lined the streets.
A volley of shots was fired over Ashe's grave, following which Michael Collins stated - "Nothing more remains to be said. That volley which we have just heard is the only speech which it is proper to make over the grave of a dead Fenian."
The London-based 'Daily Express' newspaper perhaps summed it up best when it stated, re the funeral of Thomas Ashe, that what had happened had made '100,000 Sinn Féiners out of 100,000 constitutional nationalists.'
The level of support shown gave a boost to Irish republicans, and this was noted by the 'establishment' in Westminster - 'The Daily Mail' newspaper claimed that, a month earlier, Sinn Féin, despite its electoral successes, had been a waning force. That newspaper said -
'..It had no practical programme, for the programme of going further than anyone else cannot be so described. It was not making headway. But Sinn Féin today is pretty nearly another name for the vast bulk of youth in Ireland...'
Thomas Patrick Ashe’s activities and interests included cultural and physical force nationalism as well as trade unionism and socialism. He also commanded the 5th Battalion of the Dublin Brigade Volunteers who won the Battle of Ashbourne on the 29th of April 1916. Born in Lispole, County Kerry on the 12th of January 1885, he was the seventh of ten siblings.
He qualified as a teacher in 1905 at De La Salle College, Waterford and, after teaching briefly in Kinnard, County Kerry, in 1906 he became principal of Corduff National School in Lusk, County Dublin.
Thomas Ashe was a fluent Irish speaker and a member of the Keating branch of the Gaelic League and was an accomplished sportsman and musician setting up the Roundtowers GAA Club as well as helping to establish the Lusk Pipe Band (pictured). He was also a talented singer and poet who was committed to Conradh na Gaeilge.
Politically, he was a member of the 'Irish Republican Brotherhood' (IRB) and established IRB circles in Dublin and Kerry and eventually became President of the IRB Supreme Council in 1917. While he was actively and intellectually nationalist he was also inspired by contemporary socialism. Ashe rejected conservative Home Rule politicians and as part of that rejection he espoused the Labour policies of James Larkin.
Writing in a letter to his brother Gregory he said "We are all here on Larkin's side. He'll beat hell out of the snobbish, mean, seoinín employers yet, and more power to him".
Ashe supported the unionisation of north Dublin farm labourers and his activities brought him into conflict with landowners such as Thomas Kettle in 1912. During the infamous lockout in 1913 he was a frequent visitor to Liberty Hall and become a friend of James Connolly.
Long prior to its publication in 1916, Thomas Ashe was a practitioner of Connolly’s dictum that "the cause of labour is the cause of Ireland, the cause of Ireland is the cause of labour". In 1914 Ashe travelled to the United States where he raised a substantial sum of money for both the Gaelic League and the newly formed Irish Volunteers of which he was an early member.
He founded the Volunteers in Lusk and established a firm foundation of practical and theoretical military training, and provided charismatic leadership first as Adjutant and then as O/C (Officer Commanding) the 5th Battalion of the Dublin Brigade.
He inspired fierce loyalty and encouraged personal initiative in his junior officers and was therefore able to confidently delegate command to Charlie Weston, Joseph Lawless, Edward Rooney and others during the Rising. Most significantly, he took advantage of the arrival of Richard Mulcahy at Finglas Glen on the Tuesday of the Rising and appointed him second in command.
The two men knew one another through the IRB and Gaelic League and Ashe recognized Mulcahy’s tactical abilities. As a result Ashe allowed himself to be persuaded by Mulcahy not to withdraw following the unexpected arrival of the motorised force at the Rath crossroads. At Ashbourne on the 28th of April Ashe also demonstrated great personal courage, first exposing himself to fire while calling on the RIC in the fortified barracks to surrender and then actively leading his Volunteers against the RIC during the Battle.
After the 1916 Rising he was court-martialled (on the 8th of May 1916) and was sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life.
He was incarcerated in a variety of English prisons before being released in the June 1917 general amnesty, immediately returned to Ireland, toured the country reorganising the IRB and incited civil opposition to British rule.
In August 1917, after a speech in Ballinalee, County Longford, he was arrested by the RIC and charged with "speeches calculated to cause disaffection".
He was detained in the Curragh camp and later sentenced to a year's hard labour in Mountjoy Jail. There he became O/C of the Volunteer prisoners, and demanded prisoner-of-war status and, as a result, he was punished by the Governor.
He went on hunger strike on the 20th September 1917 and five days later died as a result of force-feeding by the prison authorities ; he was just 32 years of age.
The death of Thomas Ashe resulted in POW status being conceded to the Volunteer prisoners two days later.
Thomas Ashe's funeral was the first public funeral after the Rising and provided a focal point for public disaffection with British rule. His body lay in state in Dublin City Hall before being escorted by armed Volunteers to Glasnevin Cemetery ; 30,000 people attended the burial where three volleys were fired over the grave (pictured) and the Last Post was sounded.
While imprisoned in Lewes Jail in 1916, Thomas Ashe had written his poem 'Let Me Carry Your Cross for Ireland, Lord' which later provided the inspiration for the Battle of Ashbourne memorial unveiled by Sean T. O'Kelly on Easter Sunday, 26th April 1959 at the Rath Cross in Ashbourne :
Let me carry your Cross for Ireland, Lord
The hour of her trial draws near,
And the pangs and the pains of the sacrifice
May be borne by comrades dear.
But, Lord, take me from the offering throng,
There are many far less prepared,
Through anxious and all as they are to die
That Ireland may be spared.
Let me carry your Cross for Ireland, Lord
My cares in this world are few,
and few are the tears will for me fall
When I go on my way to You.
Spare Oh! Spare to their loved ones dear
The brother and son and sire,
That the cause we love may never die
In the land of our Heart's desire!
Let me carry your Cross for Ireland, Lord!
Let me suffer the pain and shame
I bow my head to their rage and hate,
And I take on myself the blame.
Let them do with my body whate'er they will,
My spirit I offer to You,
That the faithful few who heard her call
May be spared to Roisin Dubh.
Let me carry your Cross for Ireland, Lord!
For Ireland weak with tears,
For the aged man of the clouded brow,
And the child of tender years;
For the empty homes of her golden plains,
For the hopes of her future, Too!
Let me carry your Cross for Ireland, Lord!
For the cause of Roisin Dubh.
RIP Volunteer Thomas Ashe, 12th January 1885 – 25th September 1917.
ON THIS DATE (24TH SEPTEMBER) 49 YEARS AGO : "A THUNDERING DISGRACE" COMMENT MADE PUBLIC.
Ireland, 1970's : turmoil in the country, due to the then-as-now unwanted political and military interference here by Westminster.
The Leinster House administration was headed-up at the time by Fine Gael's Liam Cosgrave , and among the many harsh laws introduced, enforced and 'improved on' by the Blueshirts was a censorship act, 'Section 31'.
The then Free State President was a Fianna Fail man, Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh , said to be a compromise candidate by the powers-that-be at the time, as he fitted the requirements dictated by the 'establishment' (ie 'a safe pair of hands').
He was previously the Free State Attorney General and Chief Justice of the FS Supreme Court, and was given the Office, unopposed, in 1974, following the death of Erskine Hamilton Childers.
But it was that legal training which raised a red flag with him in relation to a piece of legislation which the Blueshirt Leinster House administration wanted him to 'rubber stamp' - the 'Emergency Powers Act', and the fact that Ó Dálaigh and Cosgrave didn't agree with each other, socially or politically, came into play : Ó Dálaigh refused to simply 'sign off' on the 'EPA' without first testing its constitutionally.
On the 24th of September, 1976 - 49 years ago on this date - it became known that Mr Ó Dálaigh had spent four hours the day before consulting with a bunch of posh suits known as the Free State 'Council of State' on whether or not it would be best practice to refer the legislation to the Free State Supreme Court to test its constitutionality before he could declare it to be 'the law' and it was decided that that would be the best thing to do, a decision which annoyed the Blueshirt administration.
Just over three weeks later (ie on the 15th October 1976) the FS Supreme Court declared that the 'EPA' was a legitimate piece of legislation and it was only then that Ó Dálaigh deemed it necessary to sign-off on it, which he did, reluctantly (or so it was claimed at the time) but that 'victory' wasn't enough for Cosgrave and his people - they considered themselves to have been disrespected by the actions of Mr Ó Dálaigh and, three days later (ie on the 18th October 1976), they could contain themselves no longer.
It was on that date that the Free State Minister of Defence, Paddy Donegan, was opening a new Free State army barracks in Mullingar, County Westmeath (having, seemingly, forgot that Mr Ó Dálaigh was the Commander-In-Chief of said army!) that he made a remark (he was concussed at the time, he later claimed!) which was to haunt him for the rest of his life.
He had 'kicked himself up the transom', if you like, which wouldn't have caused as much damage as firing a shotgun over dwellings in which people lived - more about that 'eccentric' (!) Free State politician can be read here...
On the 24th September, 1921, during a speech he delivered in Dundee in Scotland, a Mr Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (pictured), British PM, stated that if the Treaty (of Surrender) was not accepted by the Irish...
"..our course would be very unpleasant, but it would also be very simple.
Not peace, but certain war ; real war, not mere bushranging, would follow such a course..."
Later in that speech, Mr Churchill admitted that one of the main reasons why the British needed an end to their terror campaign in Ireland was because "it would remove the greatest obstacle which has ever existed to Anglo-American unity.." ie trade, business, money : slaughtering the Irish was not a good business card to approach the Americans with...
...meanwhile, on that same date, the IRA were doing some approach work themselves, in connection with that same subject - the (Treaty) Truce - which had come into effect on Monday, July 11th 1921, to allow for negotiations between both sides.
The Officer Commanding of the West Limerick Brigade approached the Battalion Commanders in his operational area and instructed them that, as the Truce talks were winding-up, they should advise their fighters to be ready for battle as the outcome of the talks may demand it.
While IRA fighters in Limerick (and other areas in the country) were being briefed by their officers, rioting broke out about 200 miles/320 km up the road in Belfast.
British loyalists, disgusted that 'their side might be about to loose ground to Irish republicans', behaved as expected - they rioted.
A gang of them met up and proceeded to the Short Strand and Newtownards Road area of the city but they met resistance on the way and there and, in the ensuing street fight, two of their number (both aged 19) - James McMinn, from Reid's Place, and Alexander Harrison, from Frazer Street - died when a bomb was thrown at the gang, and about 20 of their colleagues were injured.
==========================
CASH NO EXCUSE FOR RTE PUTTING DOCUMENTARY TO DEATH...
It has been a disastrous 12 months for RTE.
£23.5 million in cutbacks, a bid to increase the licence fee rejected, an enforced postponement of digital expansion, and a predicted £20 million loss to report for 2001.
By Belinda McKeon .
From 'Magill' Annual, 2002.
RTE should remember that its audience has always come through for it when it has taken intelligent risks with programming - it should have faith in that audience, it should have faith in its independent programmers, and it should have faith in itself.
Because, ultimately, it is for itself that the station needs to move forward, not for a minister and her pack of accountants.
(END of 'Cash No Excuse For RTE Putting Documentary To Death' : NEXT - 'William Jefferson Clinton', from the same source.)
"We consider it imperative that some sort of Government, whether a Provisional or a Republican or a military one, should be inaugurated at once..."
- the words written by Volunteer leader Ernie O'Malley (pictured, aka 'B. Stuart'), in a letter he sent, on the 24th September, 1922, to Volunteer leader Liam Lynch.
At that time, the IRA had launched a 'September Offensive' and was attacking Free State forces as opposed to simply defending themselves from FSA attacks on them, and the rebels had success enough to worry the Stater politicians to the point that they introduced, that same month, a death penalty for IRA members.
Perhaps their colleagues in Westminster were paying them a bounty on each ex-comrade they executed...?
As Volunteer Lynch was reading that letter, an IRA Active Service Unit had opened fire on a FSA guard post in Glendalough, in County Wicklow, and was getting the upper hand when the fight was interrupted by the arrival of a 50-strong FSA patrol.
The IRA ASU was now outnumbered and outgunned, and was forced to retreat, with two Volunteers wounded and three captured.
And, on that same date (the 24th), an already captured IRA fighter, Volunteer Patrick Mangan (age 20, Third Battalion of the Cork No. 2 Brigade), from the village of Carrignagower, near Lismore, in County Waterford, was shot by a FSA sentry during a disturbance in Cork Jail.
The IRA POW'S (numbering about 400 Volunteers) refused to return to their cells from the recreation yard and, after being forced to move inside the prison by FSA soldiers/prison guards using their rifle butts, the prisoners rioted in the corridors.
Shots were fired over their heads which dispersed some of the POW's and, when a second round was fired at them, Volunteer Mangan fell to the ground, wounded. He died from that wound the next day.
Attempting to explain and excuse their actions, the Staters put out a statement -
"One party of prisoners, amongst whom was the deceased, still remained on the corridors, shouting and defiant. The sentry was again ordered to fire, and Mangan fell wounded..."
Volunteer Mangan died the following day from the wound.
The Staters held a 'Military Inquiry' (!) into the shooting and issued the following statement afterwards -
"Patrick Mangan met his death as the result of a shot fired by a sentry in the execution of his duty, and the officer who gave the order to fire was justified, as the prisoners had sufficient warnings and ample time to comply with the order to return to their cells..."
Volunteer Patrick Mangan, from the village of Carrignagower, near Lismore, in County Waterford, was attached to the Third Battalion of the Cork No. 2 Brigade, and operated mostly as as a dispatach rider. He was captured by the Staters in Fermoy, County Cork, in August 1922 and imprisoned in Cork Jail.
He is buried in Lismore Old Cemetery in County Cork, and is named on the IRA memorial in Kilcrumper Cemetery in that town.
RIP Volunteer Patrick Mangan.
On that same Sunday (24th September 1922), a pastoral letter from the RC Bishop of Cork, a Mr Daniel Coughlan, was read out at all Masses in the diocese, in which Mr Coughlan stated that "the killing of National (sic) soldiers is murder...", and went on to state that any person taking part in an ambush in which British soldiers were injured, held as hostages, or killed ("murdered", he called it) would be promptly excommunicated by the Catholic Church!
Mr Coughlan, or Cohalan, which he preferred, was known for his loyalty to the Crown and was also known - among the public - as 'Danny Boy', a reference to his pro-British leanings.
Just another quisling in a long line of quislings.
==========================
DEATH IN THE MEDITERRANEAN...
Desmond Boomer, a Belfast engineer working in the Libyan oil-fields, disappeared seven years ago.
Officially, the plane on which he was a passenger crashed as a result of mechanical failure and pilot error.
But is that the real story?
Or were the Irishman and his fellow passengers unwitting victims of the shady war between Islamic fundamentalism and Mossad, Israel's intelligence network?
A special 'Magill' investigation by Don Mullan, author of 'Eyewitness Bloody Sunday'.
From 'Magill' magazine, January 2003.
Cormac Boomer, an engineer by profession, told 'Magill' magazine -
"On the 16th May, 1997, I examined and photographed the alleged wreckage.
It is obviouse the condition of it was not compatible with having spent ten months in the salt brine of the Mediterranean.
There was no indication of salt pigment or the corrosion one would expect to find in such circumstances.
It is claimed the aircraft fell from a height of 9,000 feet into the sea in a severe storm but it is strange, therefore, that the cable looms do not show any indication of the stretch, arc or rupture one would expect from the ripping-apart which would occur in an aircraft descending in a headlong plunge.
From my visual inspection and the photographic evidence it is obvious the ends of those cables have been severed with a cutting tool..."
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (24TH SEPTEMBER) 42 YEARS AGO - IRA H-BLOCK PRISON ESCAPE PLAN FINALISED BY IRA POW'S.
THE LONG KESH ESCAPE - SUNDAY 25th SEPTEMBER 1983. From 'IRIS' magazine, November 1983.
"We perceived the escape as a military operation from beginning to end. It could not have been achieved in any other way, and the ASU - as Volunteers in the Irish Republican Army - were under strict orders throughout from an Operations Officer whose judgement was crucial and whose every order had to be obeyed.
Every Volunteer was under a tight brief.." - IRA statement.
It was this precision of planning, exclusively revealed in a detailed interview by key ASU personnel involved, that lay behind the almost incredible escape of 38 Republicans on Sunday 25th September 1983 from what is generally believed to be the most secure prison in Western Europe - the H-Blocks of Long Kesh (near Lisburn, South Belfast).
At 2.15pm that day, three IRA Volunteers carrying concealed pistols fitted with silencers, which had been smuggled into the prison, moved into the 'Central Administration' area (the 'Circle') of H7-Block on the pretext of cleaning out a store. Fifteen minutes later they were joined by a fourth armed Volunteer ; control of the 'Circle', with its numerous alarm bells, was vital for the escape's success and had to be carried out simultaneously with the overpowering of prison Screws in the four wings of H7-Block.
Minutes later three other Volunteers - armed with pistols, hammers or chisels - took up key positions near Screws positioned by alarm buttons, on the pretext of carrying out orderly duties, while Brendan 'Bic' McFarlane (the H-Block Officer Commanding during the hunger-strike) was allowed through two locked grilles into the hall of the Block on cleaning duties - his job was to arrest the Screw there and, on a given signal - once everyone was in position - IRA Volunteers overpowered and arrested all the prison Screws in the Block, many of the Volunteers subsequently changing into their uniforms.
During the seizure of control one Screw - on duty in a locked control room - was shot twice in the head when he ignored orders to lie on the floor and instead made a lunge for the alarm. Control of the Block was completed when 'Bic' McFarlane, accompanied by two IRA Volunteers dressed as Screws, arrested the Screw on duty in the front gate enclosure. It was now about 2.45pm.
Some time later the food lorry bringing evening meals to H7 (pictured) arrived ; 37 IRA Volunteers climbed into the back while another lay on the floor of the cab holding a gun on the Screw driving the lorry. The lorry then drove through a series of 'security gates' in the Long Kesh complex manned by unsuspecting Screws and in full view of armed British sentry posts.
It eventually arrived at a 'tally hut' close to a back gate of the prison camp ; the plan was to arrest the Screws in the 'tally hut' and, leaving five Volunteers in control, drive the food lorry a further quarter mile to the front gate 'tally hut' which the escapees would then take control of, leaving two Volunteers there, before driving out in the food lorry to freedom.
Meanwhile, the five Volunteers in the first 'tally hut' would obtain a Screw's car from the adjoining car park, drive to the front gate where the two Volunteers in control there would clamber into the boot, and also make their escape. That was the plan of escape ; unfortunately, it was not to be - the plan of escape began to go wrong at the first 'tally-hut' due to there being larger numbers of Screws coming on duty than anticipated.
While the escapees kept arresting more and more Screws, the situation got out of control and the alarm was raised.
At this point the escapees were forced to make a run for it on foot across fields, many of them successfully commandeering local cars. In the final melee several Screws were stabbed and one escapee, Harry Murray (pictured), was shot and wounded.
It was inevitable, given the eventual breakdown of the plan, that there would be some re-arrests, some within minutes and some within two days of the break-out. Nonetheless, the massive total of 19 Republican prisoners of war did successfully escape and eventually reach freedom - to the massive embarrassment of the British and the jubilation of Nationalists throughout the 32 Counties !
The 19 H-Block escapees that were then at liberty are - Kevin Barry Artt, (24) North Belfast ; Paul Brennan (30) Ballymurphy ; Seamus Campbell (26) Coalisland, County Tyrone ; James Clarke (27) Letterkenny, County Donegal ; Seamus Clarke (27) Ardoyne ; Gerard Fryer (24) Turf Lodge ; Dermot Finucane (22) Lenadoon ; Kieran Fleming (23) Derry ; Anthony Kelly (22) Derry ; Gerry Kelly (30) Belfast ; Anthony McAllister (25) Belfast ; Gerard McDonnell (32) Belfast ; Seamus McElwair (22) Scotstown, County Monaghan ; Brendan McFarane (31) Ardoyne ; Padraic McKearney (29) Moy, County Tyrone ; Dermot McNally (26) Lurgantarry, North Armagh ; Robert Russell (25) Ballymurphy ; Terence Kirby (27) Andersonstown and James Smith (38) Ardoyne.
Thanks for the visit, and for reading - appreciated, especially (because we're greedy!) as we're trying to get to 3 million hits (...did ya notice that we now have over two million hits..?!).
Sure we're never bleedin' happy...!
Sharon and the team.
(We'll be back on Wednesday, 8th October, 2025.)
