On the 18th June, 1919, Dáil Éireann (not to be confused with the present-day Leinster House institution) established the 'National Arbitration Courts', which became known as the 'Sinn Féin Courts'.
The objective was two-fold : to stamp the authority of Irish people over their own justice system, and to expedite problems with land agitation issues on a county-by-county basis ie the Dáil was aware that a 'one size-fits-all'-type of system wouldn't work, so the implementation of the courts was left to the discretion of each county.
The 'Arbitration Courts' model was replaced in June, 1920, by a more formal 'Dáil Courts' system which itself was later dismantled by the Free Staters and the present-day 'Greasy Till' process, which generally favours the State 'Establishment', was enacted, unfortunately.
==========================
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.
Mike Cunningham found it "most unusual" that the Taoiseach made the announcement of a joint venture to build the pipeline even before there had been a declaration that the Corrib was commercially viable.
In 1995, Michael Lowry issued many of the licences to the various interested parties, including 'Enterprise Oil', which holds the bulk of licences in Irish waters, including the much-lauded Corrib North gas field, in which it has a 45% stake.
'Statoil Exploration (Ireland)', together with 'Marathon International Hibernia Ltd', hold the remaining shares.
'Enterprise Energy Ireland Ltd', the operating company for the project, is headed up by 'Enterprise Oil' personnel, and is now known as 'Enterprise Fuinneamh Éireann'...
(MORE LATER.)
"You may make mistakes occasionally, and innocent persons may be shot, but that cannot be helped.
When civilians are seen approaching, shout, "Hands up!" and, should the order be not obeyed, shoot and shoot with effect.
If persons are seen on the streets and they run away, shoot them..."
- British Army Lieutenant-Colonel Gerald Bryce Ferguson Smyth ('DSO and Bar, French Croix de Guerre and Belgian Croix de Guerre' etc etc, pictured), addressing his troops and RIC members in Ireland, 1920.
His troops were 'gung-ho' with the 'shoot-on-sight' order, but the RIC argued against it, and refused to accept it.
Mr Smyth epitomised the British imperial officer class - he was a symbol of the British 'Establishment', a decorated war 'hero', and a ruthless enforcer of British misrule in Ireland, and spoke of his intention to crush the Irish Republican Army and dismantle the Republican Movement.
As the Westminster-appointed 'Divisional Commander for Munster', he ordered (in June 1920) the RIC in the village of Listowel, in County Kerry, to vacate their barracks and hand the building over to his troops, declaring that those RIC men were to be relocated to other stations in the district.
The RIC members in Listowel refused to leave the building and, on the 18th June (1920), Mr Smyth and the 'Police (sic) Advisor to the Irish Viceregal Administration in Ireland', a Major-General Henry Hugh Tudor, and their entourage (them being important people and all tha'...!), decided to take a trip to the "mutinous RIC station in Listowel" and the RIC members there were eventually placed in other areas.
Incidentally, on Saturday, the 17th July (1920), Mr Smyth was in the 'Smoking Room' of the County Club (a 'Gentleman's Club', frequented by British Army officers and loyalists) just off the South Mall, in Cork, having a smoke after dinner and drinks with his colleagues, among whom was the RIC 'County Inspector', a Mr George Craig, when an ASU from the Cork No.1 Brigade IRA, with Volunteer Dan 'Sandow' O'Donovan in command, interrupted play (!) and opened fire.
Mr Smyth was shot dead, and Mr Craig was badly wounded, but survived.
In short, Mr Smyth himself was 'relocated'.
While Mr Smyth and his friend Mr Tudor were packing their bags for the trip to Listowel, their comrades in the UVF, a pro-British paramilitary grouping, were consolidating their control of the Diamond and the Guildhall Square areas of Derry.
Once secure in their occupation, the UVF used the height advantage of the City Walls to fire into the Bogside, a nationalist area.
People walking on the footpaths, standing at their halldoors, coming or going to venues etc were fired on - men, women and children.
Derry IRA Volunteers Michael Sheerin and Alfie McCallion organised their IRA Company to defend the area, as did Cumann na mBan Commander Kathleen McGuinness, but they were outnumbered and outgunned, and were losing the battle when the British Army arrived on scene, and the UVF withdrew, but only temporarily - when the City Walls area went quiet, the British soldiers returned to barracks, and the UVF returned, opening fire again.
The IRA managed to establish a command centre in a college building (St Columb's), with Volunteers Patrick Shield and Michael Sheerin in charge (and two high-ranking IRA volunteers, Peadar Clancy and Dick McKee, came from Dublin and consulted with the Volunteers in the college) and rebels armed with rifles were sent out on patrol to target the loyalist shooters, which they did.
At least 20 people were killed during the attacks, which 'The Irish Independent' newspaper described as "war, pure and simple", and 'The Derry Journal' newspaper wrote that British soldiers had stood idly by while unionist gunmen had a free hand ; the UVF Commander in Derry later talked about how he and the British Army soldier in charge during the conflict discussed the issue as it was taking place and how he (the British Army lead soldier) "deferred to me as if I was virtually the Governor of Derry...".
The Westminster-enabled Stormont 'Parliament' in Belfast declared martial law on the 24th June (1920) but the fighting continued for another two days, with the IRA gaining the upper hand - on the 26th, extra enemy forces were drafted into the city of Derry (1,500 BA soldiers and 150 RIC members), forcing the IRA to dump arms and withdraw from their command centre.
But the IRA didn't withdraw, overall, from the conflict itself...
==========================
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.
Timely as it was for his own purposes (made as ITV prepared to launch the 25th season of his 'South Bank Show'), Melvyn Bragg's attack was lethally effective because it struck at the core of the BBC's insecurity about its public service remit, pin-pointing the essence of what public service broadcasting ought to do, ensuring that debate centered around a specific shortcoming rather than declining into a quibble about receipts and transparency, which is essentially all that the Irish debate has been.
We, too, should approach the problem properly.
If a public service broadcaster cannot recognise and reflect a central area of its viewers' experience, something significant is amiss and, here - in a country in which an estimated 25,000 people make their living from the artistic and cultural sectors - where the status of literature, drama, film, music, dance and the visual arts are bound up with national identity, the arts is just such an area of experience.
As the only genre which can capture contemporary experience in an interrogative, original and stimulating fashion, documentary is the only hope of escape from the pressure of towering piles of press releases which now dictate the format of any attempt at arts programming...
(MORE LATER.)
"Military action to be effective must be vigorous and ruthless.
No war can be carried on effectively in the glare of public criticism - it would be the wildest folly to embark on such a policy unless the Government were absolutely convinced that they could command the necessary support in Parliament and the country.
It is a case of 'all out or get out'..."
- Mr John Anderson (pictured), the '1st Viscount Waverley', in a letter he wrote on the 18th June, 1921, to the British 'Chief Secretary for Ireland', a 'Sir' Hamar Greenwood.
Mr Anderson was the (Westminster-) appointed 'Under-Secretary for Ireland' from 1921 to 1922.
His 'duties' (!) included 'tweaking' the Dublin Castle administrative machine and doing the same for the British 'police force' in Ireland, the RIC, which he most certainly did, but definitely not a 'job' to be proud of : he is, in effect, the mostly unknown and unheard of 'parent' to three murderous groupings in this country - the Black and Tans, the Auxiliaries, and the Special Constabulary (in the Occupied Six Counties).
Mr Anderson also acted as a high-level advisor to the British side during the 'Treaty of Surrender' talks, which brought him further to the attention of the IRA.
However, he survived his time in Ireland, and died in London on the 4th January, 1958, aged seventy-six, from cancer of the pancreas.
As Mr Anderson was putting pen to paper for his 'Gung-Ho!' letter to his boss, the IRA Officer Commanding of an ASU attached to the Kilkenny No.1 Brigade (pictured), Volunteer George O'Dwyer, was waiting with his men (about 60 Volunteers) at an ambush point they had established at the village of Coolbawn, near Castlecomer, in County Kilkenny.
However, the IRA Unit was itself ambushed by the British soldiers they were waiting on, resulting in a firefight and the deaths of two Volunteers, Nicholas Mullins and Seán Hartley, and the wounding and capture of another Volunteer, James Doyle.
The remainder of the IRA Volunteers escaped.
On later investigation, it transpired that a local woman, a M/s Florence M Dreaper, a farm owner known to be anti-republican, had notified the British military about the ambush and, on the night of the 7th of July (1921), M/s Dreaper answered a knock at the door of her 'Finsboro House' home and was greeted (!) by Volunteers from the IRA 3rd Battalion, Kilkenny Brigade, who advised her and anyone else in the mini-mansion to leave immediately as they were about to burn it down.
Which they did.
RIP Volunteers Nicholas Mullins and Seán Hartley.
As that gun battle was taking place, 150km (about 93 miles) up the road, in County Clare, an RIC member, a Mr George Stockdale ('Service Number 74590') went for a swim and drowned and, as that poor man was going down for the third time, up and 'across the road' from him, about 230km (145 miles) away in Dublin, an ex-British Army sodier, a Mr Robert Pike, who lived in Tolka Cottages in Drumcondra and who still maintained regular contact with his soldier buddies, was leaving Fleming's Shop on the Drumcondra Road when he was shot dead.
As the grocery bag on Drumcondra Road was emptying its load, an eight-man RIC cycle patrol was 'on duty' about 125km (75 miles) down the road in Fiddown, near Mooncoin, in County Kilkenny, local IRA Volunteers attached to the 9th Battalion of the Kilkenny Brigade, including Jack 'Na Culla' Walsh, Ted Moore, Pat 'The Builder' Walsh and Dick Brennan, were lying in wait for them at Sinnott's Cross (between Piltown and Mooncoin, in County Kilkenny) and opened fire on them when they cycled into the ambush position.
One RIC member, a Mr Albert Bradford (21, with ten months 'service' in the position), from Essex, in England, was killed and another, a Mr John Stewart, from Scotland, was wounded.
While Mr Bradford's pushbike wheel was spinning aimlessly, a number of IRA Officers and Volunteers attached to the Cork (West) No. 3 Brigade were resting about 155km (95 miles) down the road in a Mr Charles O'Sullivan's house, in the townland of Maulatrahane, in Kilmacabea Civil Parish, in Barony, County Cork.
Volunteers Liam Deasy, Tom Barry and Tadgh O'Sullivan were among those in the house when, suddenly, the alarm was raised that British soldiers from the 'King's Liverpools Regiment' were in the yard.
The Volunteers escaped from the house but, having left at such speed, two trench coats were among the items left behind and taken away by the Crown Forces.
With nothing (now!) to loose, Volunteer Tom Barry wrote a letter to British Army Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Hudson, who was then in command of 'the Liverpool's', insisting that his trench coat, and the other one, be returned immediately as they were not material considered to be contraband of war!
Surprisingly, Mr Hudson agreed with the demand and delivered the two coats to a Mr Richard Connolly, the editor of 'The Southern Star' newspaper who, in turn, delivered them to Volunteer Tom Barry.
'Trench warfare' with a twist...!
...and a circle to go with the twist -
On the same date that the trench coats were 'lost' in Cork, other coats were being removed by those that were wearing them and were placed on the backs of chairs in Mrs O'Rahilly's house in 40 Herbert Park, in Dublin (pictured - this historic building was destroyed with political approval in September 2020, and a migrant barracks was probably built in its place).
On that date (the 18th June 1921) two republican-gamekeepers-turned-Free State-poachers - a Mr Éamon de Valera and a Mr Robert Brennan - and one staunch Irish republican, Mr Erskine Childers, who was executed by people like Mr de Valera and Mr Brennan, held a meeting in the Herbert Park house.
Mr de Valera explained his concept of 'external association' by a circle, representing Ireland, touching, but not part of, a larger circle, representing the 'British Commonwealth', and was enthused about his 'we-are-but-we-aren't' political 'solution'!
Mr Brennan later stated that he didn't really think Mr de Valera could sell the notion, but said... "...I could not but admire the rare political genius which had brought it into being...", while Mr Childers was not enthusiastic about it at all, to put it mildly...
As Mr de Valera was 'squaring circles' in Dublin, in Mayo - about 225km (135 miles) up the road - 'The Western People' newspaper carried a report about the 13th June discovery of the partly decomposed body of a young man in a bog near the townland of Sraheen, on the road between Ballina and Foxford, in County Mayo -
'A post mortem examination was held, and the remains of all that was mortal of Michael Tolan (pictured, a batchelor, who lived on Shamble Street, in the town of Castlebar) was clearly and conclusively identified.
The way in which he met his death is given in the horrifying story told by the medial gentlemen named.
Two bullet wounds were found in the back of the head, one having an exit through the eye, and other through the cheek bone, four teeth which did not appear to have been extracted, were missing, and evidently broken off by a heavy blunt instrument ; an arm was wrenched off, and in the chest penetrating to the back was a large wound as if inflicted by a bayonet.
Such was the manner in which poor Tolan met his death...'
(From here.)
Volunteer Michael J Tolan, a tailor by trade, was born with 'reel foot' disability (where the feet face inwards), affecting his walk, his balance and his ability to defend himself.
At the time he was slaughtered by the Crown Forces, he was a Non-Commissioned Officer for the North Mayo Brigade IRA, an intelligence officer, recruiter and a 'summons server' for the local arbitration courts (known as the 'Sinn Féin Courts').
The body was exhumed in November 1921 and an autopsy carried out which gave evidence that he was tortured before being killed.
Volunteer Michael J Tolan was later buried with full military honours.
RIP Volunteer Michael J Tolan.
On the same date that 'The Western People' newspaper reported on Volunteer Tolan, 247km (about 155 miles) across the country, in County Louth, IRA Volunteers called to the farmhouse of a Mr George Brown, near the town of Carlingford, told him to leave the property as they were there to burn it down, as he had ignored their advice to stop contacting the Crown Forces with (mostly low-level) information. Mr Brown vacated the house, and it was then burned down.
Three days later, Crown Forces removed a Mr James Cunningham from the shop he owned in the same area and burned it down ; Mr Cunningham was a known Sinn Féin supporter (and IRA Volunteer).
A woman died as a result of the shop fire, but the poor soul has never been identified.
44 miles away (about 70 km), in County Cavan, at that same time, a gun was discharged in Kinaleck RIC Barracks and a 20-years-young RIC member from Essex, in England, fell down, wounded.
RIC member Albert Moore had only joined that grouping five months earlier ('Service Number 77437') and died from his wound in Dr Steeven's Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin, the next day.
One of his RIC colleagues had 'accidentally discharged his weapon in the barracks...'
On the same day that one RIC member shot another, Volunteers from the Offaly No.2 Brigade (pictured), 90km (about 55 miles) down the road from the Cavan barracks, two ex-British Army soldiers were removed from their houses near the village of Belmont, in County Offaly, and shot dead.
A Mr Thomas Cunningham and a Mr Michael Reilly had both previously been advised, more than once, to "cease all association" with their Crown Force colleagues, but failed to do so.
"It would be a great pity if well-meaning people queered the position by too much of this talk of peace.
There are always those who want to insist on shaking hands before the combat is over, and, in my opinion, we are not so near the end yet that we can afford to start the hand-shaking..."
- a Mr Michael Collins, in a letter he wrote to a Mr George Gavan Duffy (pictured), on the 18th June, 1921.
Ironic, really, considering that both Mr Collins and Mr Duffy 'shook hands (with the British) before the combat was over' and ended their days opposed to those who refused to shake those hands.
On the same date that Mr Collins was writing his 'call-my-bluff' letter, a lorry carrying armed British soldiers attached to the Wiltshire Regiment was driving down Capel Street in Dublin and, when they reached the Ryder's Row junction, the lorry exploded.
IRA Volunteers from 'H Company', 1st Battalion of the Dublin Brigade had thrown two grenades under it, and opened fire ; fire was returned and, in the gunfight, three Dublin civilians - Kate Mahon (27), from Phibsborough, Bessie O'Brien (the wife of an IRA Volunteer) and a child, four-years-young Michael Martin, from Capel Street - died from their wounds.
Altogether, seven members of the Wiltshire Regiment, six civilians and one member of the DMP were wounded.
RIP Kate Mahon, Bessie O'Brien and the poor child, Michael Martin.
==========================
ON THIS DATE (18TH JUNE) 51 YEARS AGO : "NO ONE EXPECTED THAT THE HOUSE OF COMMONS WOULD BE A TARGET..."
On Monday, 17th June 1974, the then IRA decided to make it's presence felt, once again, in 'the Belly of the Beast' - a 20lb device exploded at the British Parliament, causing widespread damage and injuring 11 people, British political pride and capturing world headlines.
Six months before that attack, the IRA had exploded two bombs in London - one at Madame Tussauds and one at a boat show which was taking place at Earls Court Exhibition Centre and, one month after the 17th June attack, two bombs also exploded in London - British government buildings in Balham, South London, were damaged in the first explosion that day and the Tower of London was the target for the second bomb. This is a BBC report of the 17th June 1974 IRA attack, which they broadcast on the 18th -
'A bomb has exploded at the Houses of Parliament, causing extensive damage and injuring 11 people.
The IRA said it planted the 20lb (9.1 kg) device which exploded at about 0828 BST in a corner of Westminster Hall.
The explosion is suspected to have fractured a gas main and a fierce fire spread quickly through the centuries-old hall in one of Britain's most closely-guarded buildings.
Scotland Yard detectives have said they fear this attack could herald the start of a new summer offensive by the dissident Irish group on government buildings.
No one expected in those days the House of Commons would be a target - security was extremely casual...'
Former Labour MP Tam Dalyell ('Sir' Thomas Dalyell of the Binns, 11th Baronet) gave this account -
"A man with an Irish accent telephoned the Press Association with a warning only six minutes before the explosion. Police said a recognised IRA codeword was given.
Although officers were not able to completely clear the palace before the bomb went off, most of the injured were only slightly hurt..."
A Mr Edward Short, the Leader of the British 'Commons', announced that a review of security procedures would begin immediately, but he said the attack would not disrupt parliamentary business or intimidate MPs.
Liberal Chief Whip David Steel was in the building when the device detonated and told the BBC the damage looked considerable -
"I looked through Westminster Hall and the whole hall was filled with dust. A few minutes later it was possible to see flames shooting up through the windows..."
Today, the group that carried out that attack have again entered that bastion of British misrule in Ireland but, this time, to assist their new objective of administering the British writ in Ireland.
Shame on them.
On the 18th June, 1922, the third IRA Convention was held in the Mansion House, in Dublin.
The 'Joint Army Council' and, indeed, the general membership, were aware that all was not well within the organisation and a split had developed over supporting or dismissing the Treaty of Surrender proposals that were being discussed in the army and in Westminster.
Volunteer Tom Barry proposed that the meeting should direct its energy at planning for a continuation/resumption of the armed campaign against British military and political targets and a vote on that proposal was held - 118 against, 103 for.
The defeated minority withdrew from the Convention and went back to the Four Courts, which they had held since April, where they appointed Volunteer Joe McKelvey as their chief of staff and repudiated the authority of Liam Lynch who, with his 1st Southern Division men, left the Mansion House and went to the Clarence Hotel in Dublin City Centre.
Volunteer Lynch and his supporters did not agree with Volunteer Barry's proposal.
The IRA was now 'officially' split, with 12 out of the 16 members of the IRA Executive having supported those in the Four Courts ; Liam Lynch was one of the leadership figures who did not enter the Four Courts, but was still recognised as the IRA Chief of Staff by the majority of the Volunteers overall.
Over the next few days, Volunteer Lynch and his supporters held discussions with Volunteer McKelvey and his officers and, on the 27th June (1922), the rift was healed and, with the support of Liam Deasy, Joe McKelvey and Liam Mellows, Liam Lynch was confirmed as chief of staff.
By coincidence (??!) , Michael Collins and his Free State Army attacked the Four Courts on the 28th June (1922)...
==========================
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.
Mike Williams managed the rock group 'The Characters', and he told band member Ray Mercieca that he would stay overnight in Djerba due to a bad storm.
He said he would call him as soon as his flight was leaving so that Mercieca could collect him at Malta's Luqa Airport, but the call never came.
Speaking to 'Magill Magazine' from Malta, Ray Mercieca said -
"Mike was my best friend.
He was always reliable.
We often phoned one another at all hours of the day and night and, before getting on that plane, Mike would have called me.
I don't believe he ever got on that plane and I am sceptical that the plane ever took off..."
A Maltese passenger, Matthew Aquilina, rang home on five occasions on the Saturday, the last time around 9.30pm to say he would be stopping over because of bad weather.
Similarly, Captain Bartolo's wife, Antonia, testified that her husband called her at 10.45pm to inform her that he was going to stay overnight...
(MORE LATER.)
The Ballyvoyle Viaduct is located over a steep ravine and the River Dalligan, near Dungarvan, in County Waterford.
It was built in 1878 for the Waterford, Dungarvan and Lismore railway and, in August, 1922, the structure was demolished by the IRA to impede the progress of the Staters from entering the Knockyoolahan East area of the county.
It was rebuilt by the State and opened on the 18th June, 1924, allowing trains to once again travel between Cork and Rosslare but, as expected, the Staters still haven't made much progress...
==========================
In 1931, the Leinster House administration declared that the IRA was an 'illegal organisation' and banned it, but it remained active.
Again, in 1936 (most likely on the 18th June that year) a Mr Éamon de Valera's State junta, having washed its hands of republicanism and of the republican objective, reintroduced its '1931 Public Safety Act' rebanning the Republican Army and imprisoned IRA Commander Maurice 'Moss' Twoomey ; Mr de Valera had his Free State and didn't want any internal threat to his political comforts.
His '1931 Public Safety Act' ('State Constitution Amendment No. 17') allowed for...
"..enhanced security measures and the suppression of perceived threats to the state (and) was enacted in response to increased activity by physical force Irish republicans.
It introduced 'Article 2A' to the Constitution, which empowered the Executive Council to declare a state of emergency and take special measures including the establishment of a Military Tribunal, granting extra powers to the Garda Síochána, and banning certain organisations deemed a threat..."
The real threat to the State and, indeed, the country overall - then, as now - comes from the very institution which considers its citizens to be "mongrels", undeserving of maintaining their culture, traditions, societal values, shared principles and standards...
(We're not quite finished with our country visit(s) just yet ; we had a grand chat with our friend and comrade, and the family, and the three of us have been invited back to meet the relatives that are flying in from Australia and America - and, you bet, we're going!
We'll be back on the blog on Wednesday, 2nd July 2025 and, in the meantime, I'll still be voicin' me opinion on 'X' and 'Facebook' as well ; see ya anytime over there, and back here on the 2nd!)
Thanks for reading,
Sharon and the team.
EXCLUSIVE !! WE NAME THE LOSERS IN THE 7TH JUNE 2024 COUNCIL AND EUROPEAN ELECTIONS...
..YOU!
There are thousands of candidates that would like you to vote for them on the 7th June 2024 to ensure that they stay as financially comfortable as they are, or become ever wealthier, or obtain a position through which they can sell their political soul for the opportunity to become wealthy.
In the council elections alone, the candidates seeking re-election and the wannabes are trying to convince you to gift them one of the seats in councils throughout the State.
The 'winners' will receive a seat in a political institution which purports to represent the views of 'the electorate' but which, in reality, represents the view of the highest bidder.
We (again) name 'the losers', regardless of who 'wins' - YOU, the voters!
Or, at least, those of you who claim your ballot and fill it in in the manner that is expected of you ie the State political establishment expect you to vote for State establishment candidates, regardless of whether those candidates are Irish or not, or whether they are men dressed as women or vice versa.
But there is a way by which you can claim your ballot, fill it in - and exclude yourself from the 'Losers Circle' : by purposely spoiling it if you haven't got the opportunity to vote for a candidate that values our Irishness - our culture, our traditions and our heritage.
With that in mind, a group of concerned citizens (now representing between 350 and 400 voters) in the part of Clondalkin, Dublin, that I live in, got together, informally at first, then in a more structured manner, had a chat and publicly issued a 'Wish List' to any interested candidates.
That 'Wish List' can be read here and, before the election (7th June 2024) I'll let you know how we got on (we have our final [?] meeting on the 5th).
If, however, you do decide or are still determined to tell them all to feck off, write a 'message' on your ballot paper, such as 'NOTA', or something stronger, and place it in the ballot box.
If enough of us do it, it will register with the 'powers-that-be' and, hopefully, force them to recognise that enough of us are not willing to participate in a faulty political system which, among other issues, under false "international obligations", compels us to house, feed and medically treat etc the whole world, and in which morally and politically-bankrupt 'blank canvas' party people do the bidding of their party bosses in the hope that, someday, they, too, will become party bosses.
'Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me' - don't get fooled (again) - vote 'NONE OF THE ABOVE' in the elections on Friday, 7th June, 2024, if you suspect the candidate is only seeking to feather his/her own nest, offering nothing in return : you don't owe anything to those candidates or the foreigners they may be promoting, so give them just that : nothing.
On the 22nd May, 1920 (listed elsewhere as the 16th), following the advice of the British 'Fisher Report', the staff in their main base in Ireland, Dublin Castle, were given a bit of a shakin' and a shufflin' by Westminster!
A Mr John Anderson (pictured), the '1st Viscount Waverley' (!), arrived in Dublin from what he would have regarded as 'the Mainland', to take up his new post as 'Joint Under Secretary', a position he shared with a Mr James MacMahon, a former 'Inspector General' of the RIC.
Mr Anderson was, by all accounts, a cold customer of aloof characteristics, a 'jobsworth', and set to work immediately : he instructed his 'Assistant Under Secretaries' (!), Andrew Cope and Mark Sturgis, to arrange a meeting for him with the then 'Inspector General' of the RIC, a Mr TJ Smith.
The meeting was arranged for that same day and, at it, the new bossman, Mr Anderson, was told in no uncertain terms by Mr Smith that he dreaded each new day because "he was in daily fear either of wholesale resignations or his men running amok.." due to the pressure from the Irish rebels!
A right 'Baptism of Fire' for poor Mr Anderson, who had to report the information back to his bossmen in Westminster.
Had we been around then, Mr Anderson, I'm sure we would have said that we feel your pain...
==========================
In Ballinrobe, in County Mayo, on the 22nd May, 1920, two Irish republicans, Kevin O'Shiel and Art O'Connor, presided over a court case involving a land dispute between, on the one side, a Mr Hyland and a Mr Murphy, who were renting the 'Fountain Hill' farm (on behalf of the Magdalene Asylum in Galway) and, on the other side, nine tenants who were occupying part of the land.
Mr Hyland and Mr Murphy won the case but the tenants refused to accept the court ruling and stayed where they were.
The IRA were sent in to enforce the court ruling and a number of the tenants were arrested and transported to a small island in Lough Corrib, County Galway, an 'open air' (!) prison.
The tenants relented and the court ruling came into effect.
Judge O'Sheil later recalled that particular case, stating that "no event did us, or our courts, more good.." than that judgement, as it secured further recognition for the Republican Courts from the citizens, ensuring that the decisions of the courts were deemed to be acceptable (sometimes reluctantly!) and the Judge, as an acknowledged land arbitration commissioner, settled about another seventy such cases over the following three months or so, with each case being publicised in the newspapers of the day.
==========================
On the 22nd May, 1921, Pope Benedict XV wrote a 'middle-of-the-road' letter in relation to British political and military interference in Irish affairs, in which he stated...
"...we do not see how the bitter strife can profit either of the parties, when property and homes are being ruthlessly and disgracefully laid waste, when villages and farmsteads are being set aflame...when, on both sides, a war resulting in the deaths of unarmed peoples, even of women and children is carried on...the English as well as the Irish (must) calmly consider some means of agreement..."
Westminster was disappointed, to put it mildly, with that statement, as they had been working away in the background to convince the Vatican to condemn the Irish republican struggle, a condemnation which would have carried weight in Ireland.
The British administration viewed the Pope's sentiments as a PR disaster for them, and their 'Foreign Office' all but condemned it, claiming that it placed...
"...His Majesty's Government in exactly the same category as the authors of arson and cold blooded murder..(it puts us) and the murder gang on a footing of equality.."
Irish republicans, however - then and now - were and are of the opinion that it was a lost opportunity by Rome, which should have availed of the situation to completely close down the 'moral right' of any imperialist power to interfere in the political and societal business of any other country.
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On the 22nd May, 1921, IRA Volunteer Patrick O'Brien was on active service with his comrades, re-opening a road trench which had been filled-in by British troops.
There was an explosion, and Volunteer O'Brien died at the scene.
The IRA investigated what had happened and discovered that the British had booby-trapped the trench ; they had place a Mills bomb in the trench, about a foot under the surface, and attached a length of wire from its pin to a rock.
When the rock was lifted, it pulled the pin from its socket and the bomb exploded.
Volunteer O'Brien had been working in America, aware of the on-going struggle in his home country, and decided to return home to live with his mother and join the local IRA Company in Coolcappa, in County Limerick.
The British simply stated, after they mentioned that Coolcappa, in Limerick, was one of the areas that they had recently imposed martial law in, that "Patrick O'Brien's death was due to shock, hemorrhage and exposure, following injuries received by misadventure, probably caused by falling into a trench..."
Westminster spat on Volunteer O'Brien when he was alive, and spat on him again after they killed him.
RIP Volunteer Patrick O'Brien.
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On the 22nd May, 1921, the East Waterford Brigade of the IRA, consisting of three Battalions (over 700 Volunteers) held a meeting at which Brigade Officers passed a vote of no confidence in their Officer Commanding, Paddy Paul (pictured, in New York, in 1970) and elected Michael Power as O/C instead.
However, when they told GHQ in Dublin of the change of O/C, they got no support and Paddy Paul was confirmed as the O/C, as far as Dublin was concerned.
The Volunteers obviously felt uneasy about Paddy Power who, shortly after joining the IRA, was appointed a Company Instructor, then a Battalion Instructor and was quickly advanced again to the position of Brigade Officer Commanding (he was eventually replaced in that position by Volunteer Seán Matthews and, incidentally, Paddy Paul ended his military career as an artillery officer in the Free State Army).
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On the 22nd May, 1921, in the 'British House of Commons' (sic), 'Sir' Hamar Greenwood, '1st Viscount Greenwood' (pictured) repeated, again, his promise to... "...hunt down the murder gang in Ireland and to pluck the last revolver out of the last assassin's hand.."
'Sir' Greenwood died in 1948, at 78 years of age, having never kept that promise.
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On the 22nd May, 1921, at about 11pm, the Athy (County Kildare) Company of the IRA made an unsuccessful attack on the RIC Barracks, which was located in the former British Army Barracks in Barrack Lane, Athy (those enemy forces were last holed-up in White's Castle).
The RIC turned a machine gun on the rebels, who continued to attack for about half an hour, and withdrew with no casualties just as the RIC discharged Verey Pistols into the air, calling for assistance.
==========================
'AN OLD AND UNFAIR CRITICISM.'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, April 1955.
I was amazed to read Aknefton's article under the above heading in 'The Irish Times' of 19th March 1955.
It stated -
'Birth of Fianna Fail.
When, around 1927, Eamon de Valera and his lieutenants decided to leave Sinn Féin - because inter alia that organisation did not appear to be sufficiently concerned with the economic wellbeing of the Irish people - they decided to found a new body of their own, Fianna Fáil.
This organisation attracted the normal and natural leadership of the working people, both from the agricultural and industrial communities.
Now, it is interesting to remember that, at an historic Ard Fheis of Fianna Fáil - I believe it was either the first or the second - held in the Rotunda, Dublin, quite a number of resolutions dealing with purely economic problems were moved and discussed.
Some of them were even of an ultra-leftist vintage yet, out of more than 1,000 delegates, roughly one-third of the assembly supported the left approach. In the light of current political affairs, it is important to remember that the Ard Fheis had its quota of clergymen delegates...'
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (22ND MAY) 92 YEARS AGO : DEATH OF A 'POACHER-TURNED-GAMEKEEPER' WHO 'TURNED' THE RIGHT WAY.
Isabella Augusta Persse Gregory ('Lady Gregory', pictured), was born on the 15th March, 1852 (the youngest daughter of Dudley and Frances Presse), in a 6,000-acre estate (which, incidentally, was mostly destroyed in a fire in 1921) known as Roxborough House, near Loughrea in County Galway, and was schooled at home by a nanny, Mary Sheridan, who obviously passed-on her interest in Irish history to her pupil.
On the 4th March, 1880, at 28 years young, Isabella married 'Sir' William Henry Gregory who was 63 years of age and 'owned' a large estate at Coole Park, near Gort, in County Galway, thus conveying on her the title 'Lady'.
The couple had one son, Robert, born on the 20th May, 1881, who was killed while piloting a warplane during the 'First World War', a death marked by WB Yates in two poems - 'An Irish Airman Foresees His Death' and 'In Memory of Major Robert Gregory'.
As a 'Lady of Leisure' who now found herself in the 'Big House' she availed of the large library and, when not reading, accompanied her husband on business trips throughout the world.
Her education, the library and her foreign travels sparked within her a love of the written word, and she quickly became a published author.
Her husband died when she was 41 years of age but she continued to live in 'the Big House', where her interest in all things Irish was nurtured, to the point that she practically converted the house into a 'retreat' for those who, like her, were smitten by Ireland and its troubled history - Edmund John Millington Synge, William Butler Yeats (and his brother, Jack, a well-known painter), George Bernard Shaw (who described her as "the greatest living Irishwoman") and Sean O'Casey were amongst those who visited regularly and, indeed, she was believed to have had romantic connections with the poet Wilfrid Blunt and a New York lawyer, John Quinn.
Despite her privileged lifestyle or, indeed, perhaps due to it, as it afforded her the time to 'look within her soul', Isabella Augusta Persse Gregory, who had a regular 'audience' with the 'Upper Class' of the day, loudly declared to all and sundry that it was "..impossible to study Irish history without getting a dislike and distrust of England..".
A 'poacher-turned-gamekeeper' but, unusual in our history, one who 'turned' the right way.
She died in that 'Big House' on the 22nd May 1932 - 92 years ago on this date - at 80 years of age, and is fondly remembered by those of us who share her convictions and agree with her "..impossible to study.." declaration.
Incidentally, the 'Big House' scenario still exists in Ireland today, and continues to be a topic of heated conversation, and will hopefully remain so after the British withdraw, politically and militarily, from Ireland.
SO, FAREWELL THEN, CELTIC TIGER....
It had to happen, sooner or later.
Most of the pundits and economists were too busy singing the Celtic Tiger's praises to notice, but a few critical observers worried all along about the weaknesses of a boom economy that depended so much on a few companies from one place - the United States.
By Denis O'Hearn.
From 'Magill' Annual 2002.
If practically all of the economy's profits are concentrated in the foreign sector, what will be left as an investment source if they disinvest from Ireland, as they did in the 1980's?
Economists and politicians have argued that this is unlikely to happen ; they say that the foreign sector is much more 'rooted' in the Irish economy today than it was in the 1980's.
This should make it harder for them to pick up and leave, yet this idea of being 'rooted' may be mistaken. US computer firms are not rooted in Ireland, they are rooted to each other within Ireland.
Dell buys computer parts from other American companies that happen to be in Ireland, but neither of them buys much from local Irish companies ; on the contrary, a 1999 study of 2,667 Irish companies by 'Enterprise Ireland' found that only 174 supplied transnational corporations (TNC's)...
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (22ND MAY) 219 YEARS AGO : BIRTH OF A 'YOUNG IRELANDER'.
'TO GENERAL JAMES SHIELDS, UNITED STATES SENATOR, ETC.
DEAR SIR,
In dedicating to you this narrative, I have been influenced by one consideration only. I have no title to your friendship. I cannot claim the most remote affinity with your career in arms. There is nothing connected with this sad fragment of history, either in fact or hope, to suggest any association with your name or achievements. But as my main object is to show that Ireland’s failure was not owing to native recreancy or cowardice, I feel satisfied that of all living men, your position and character will best sustain the sole aim of my present labour and ambition.
In past history, Ireland holds a high place ; but her laurels were won on foreign fields, and the jealous literary ambition which raised adequate monuments to these stormy times denied to her swords the distinction they vindicated for themselves in the hour of combat. The most brilliant, unscrupulous and daring historian of France degraded the niggard praise he accorded them by making it the medium of a false and contemptible sneer. “The Irish soldier,” says Voltaire, “fights bravely everywhere but in his own country.”
Without pausing here to vindicate that country from such ungrateful slander, it is enough to say that you were not placed in the same unhappy position as the illustrious exiles from the last Irish army — soldiers of fortune in the service of a foreign prince. You were a citizen of this free Republic, and a volunteer in its ranks ; it was your country, and you and your compatriots who followed the same standard did no dishonour to those who were bravest among the brave on the best debated fields in Europe.
In the wreck of every hope, all who yet cherish the ambition of realising for Ireland an independent destiny, point to your career as an encouraging augury, if not a complete justification for not despairing of their country. It is because I am among those that I have claimed the honour of inscribing your name on the first page of this, my latest labour in her cause.
I remain, dear Sir,
Very respectfully and sincerely yours,
MICHAEL DOHENY.
New York, Sept. 20, 1849.
'Who was Michael Doheny? For most of us he was the author of the neglected work 'The Felon’s Track'. For some he was the man who fled from the fiasco in Ballingarry in that bad summer of 1848 to walk 150 miles across Munster to little place called Dumanway, where he hoped to raise help in his efforts to escape from Ireland. Some others will know him as the writer of such hyperbolic verses as :
'I’ve tracked for thee the mountain side,
And slept within the brake,
More lonely than the swan that glides,
O’er Lua’s fairy lake...'
And for those with nationalist interests, he will be known as one of the prime movers in the 1840’s Confederacy in Ireland, and later one of the leading founders, in the United States, of the Fenian movement...' (from here.)
The Irish 'dissident', Michael Doheny, was born on this date (22nd May) in 1805 - 219 years ago - near Fethard, in County Tipperary, and became known as a poet and a writer. He was a member of the 'Young Irelanders', and was instrumental in establishing the 'Emmet Monument Association' in America.
After a lifetime in the service of Ireland, he died on the 1st April in 1863, aged 58, in New York, and is buried in Calvary Cemetery, in Maspeth and Woodside, Queens, in New York.
'What fate is thine, unhappy Isle,
When even the trusted few
Would pay thee back with hate and guile,
When most they should be true!
’Twas not my strength or spirit quailed,
Or those who’d die for thee -
Who loved thee truly have not failed,
A cuisle geal mo chroidhe!'
BEIR BUA...
The Thread of the Irish Republican Movement from The United Irishmen through to today.
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.)
ROBERT EMMET AND THE IRELAND OF TODAY...
"The fathers and mothers of Ireland should often tell their children that story of Robert Emmet and that story of Anne Devlin.
To the Irish mothers who hear me I would say that when at night you kiss your children and in your hearts call down a benediction, you could wish for your boys no higher thing than that, should the need come they may be given the strength to make Emmet's sacrifice, and for your girls no greater gift from God than such fidelity as Anne Devlin's.
It is more than a hundred years since these things were suffered ; and they were suffered in vain if nothing of the spirit of Emmet and Anne Devlin survives in the young men and young women of Ireland.
Does anything of that spirit survive?
I think I can speak for my own generation.
I think I can speak for my contemporaries in the Gaelic League, an organisation which has not yet concerned itself with politics, but whose younger spirits are accepting the full national idea and are bringing into the national struggle the passion and the practicalness which marked the early stages of the language movement..."
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (22ND MAY) 103 YEARS AGO : LAST KNOWN DAY ON EARTH OF A BRITISH 'RFAIO' IN IRELAND.
'A British Army Officer (2nd Lt Seymour Livingston Vincent) disappeared, presumed killed, in County Cork.
Casualty of the Great War, Captain Vincent served with the Army Educational Corps - he "disappeared at Fermoy", while working for the Intelligence services*, presumed abducted and murdered (sic) by the IRA - body exhumed 1926...originally of the 1/13th London Regiment (Kensingtons) (he) was evacuated from Le Havre on 5th July 1916 suffering from shell shock and shrapnel wounds to the right foot and left arm. He returned to France in May 1917 and served in Salonika with the 82nd Company, Machine Gun Corps. He was was born in 1890 and lived in Loughton, Essex.
He was seconded to the 168th Machine Gun Company on 16th March 1916. He died in strange circumstances in May 1921.
He had been transferred to the 2nd Brigade, RFA, in December 1920 and had been serving at Fermoy in County Cork. He had applied for a transfer to the Army Educational Corps (because) before the war he was a teacher, and had then asked to resign his commission...' (from 'The British Wartimes Project' compilation).
The 22nd May 1921 - 103 years ago on this date - was his last known day on Earth ; he disappeared without trace on the 23rd.
It was not until an anonymous letter was sent to the British Government in June 1924 containing details of the burial of a British officer in Lenihans Bog, Glenville, County Cork, that further investigations took place.
At the time of his disappearance, the Colonel commanding the 16th Infantry Brigade, based at Fermoy, in Cork, basically accused Mr Vincent of lying about his intentions of going on leave but, within a week, another report, regretting several errors in the first, was issued, which noted that he had appeared somewhat disorientated before going on (approved) leave.
The report stated that, five days after he left, three members of the 2nd Brigade of the IRA raided Fermoy Station and broke into the office there, taking various items from Mr Vincents luggage, including a service revolver.
Although the RIC were informed, nothing was ever discovered about his whereabouts.
It is thought that he, and possibly another man, were killed by the IRA and buried at Lenihans Bog.
Mr Vincents body was later re-interred in Glenville Church of Ireland, Glenville, County Cork.
*The IRA found a notebook in Royal Field Artillery Intelligent Officer Vincent's pocket in which he had listed the contact details of locals that were opposed to the struggle for independence - he was gathering intelligence on where 'friendly houses' were located and probably attempting to convince the local 'friendlies' to forward any information in connection with the 'dissidents' on to him.
As a teacher by profession, his was a lesson hard learned.
ON THE 22ND MAY 1922...
...the Red Flag was hoisted and about 100 men fell-in behind it in Naas, County Kildare.
They formed into lines and marched to the Courthouse and the local County Council office, calling for fair play for the unemployed in society and, when they reached the Council office, some of their number entered the building and insisted that a resolution be proposed and passed in support of their requirements, which it was.
Unfortunately, the timing was not the best for them, as other issues were taking centre stage...
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A Mr John McLarnon was working in the Midland Railway Station in Belfast when he was shot dead.
A Mr Charles McMurty was also shot dead on that date, and a Mr George Lawson and a Mr Thomas Boyd were shot dead.
A Mr Jack O'Hare was jumped on by a loyalist gang near the Albert Bridge in Belfast and was then thrown into the River Lagan, in full view of the RIC, who did not intervene.
A Mr James Brady was also shot dead on that same date.
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The Church of Ireland leadership in Ireland were anxious about their members being unfairly targetted in any new Irish Free State and requested a meeting with Michael Collins to discuss the matter.
Mr Collins assured them that the policy of not 'choosing enemies' because of their religious beliefs would continue, adding - "Ireland required the services of all of her sons of every class and creed.."
Except, apparently, those that still wanted the British removed from Ireland, politically and militarily.
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A Mr Joseph Ballantine (52) was in the process of removing furniture from his home in Raphoe, in County Donegal, when he answered a knock at his door.
He opened the door to be met by three men and was shot in the stomach ; he died from his wound.
He was an ex-RIC member.
==========================
On the 7th April, 1922, 'Article 23B of the Special Powers Act' (which, among other British injustice 'laws', allowed for internment in six of our counties) was brought into force and, on the evening of the 22nd May that year and the morning of the 23rd, over 200 nationalist/republican men were 'arrested' by Crown Forces.
Inside of four months, 446 men were interned and an estimated 728 men were detained between May 1922 and the end of 1924.
In what was an opportunistic operation rather than an authorised IRA 'job', a Mr William Twaddell (a draper by profession), a unionist MP for the Woodvale area of Belfast, was assassinated in Garfield Street, off the Royal Avenue.
==========================
Four (Catholic) homes on the Magherafelt side of Desertmartin in County Derry were attacked, with one being burnt to the ground and the others shot-up with some of the occupants receiving injuries.
Days afterwards, nationalists/republicans in the area received letters 'ordering' them to leave the area.
==========================
At a meeting of Free State Army officers, dissatisfaction was expressed with how their army was progressing in the 'Unity Talks' being held between it and the IRA and, such was the level of angst within the Staters, that Free State General Jeremiah Joseph (JJ) 'Ginger' O'Connell tendered his resignation letter on the 23rd, but it was not accepted by his superiors.
Mr O'Connell had had a narrow escape a few months previously, when he was held hostage by the IRA -
'The republicans knew that 'Ginger' was valued by Collins and his renegades - he was one of the few that eagerly conveyed the 'cancel-the-Rising'-order from Eoin MacNeill in 1916 and both Collins and Mulcahy regarded him as a safe pair of hands.
Collins's political and military bosses in London were notified about 'JJ Ginger' being held in republican custody and made it clear to Collins that if he and his Free State colleagues didn't take steps to remove the republicans from the Four Courts, they would...' (From here.)
The Ginger lad (!) survived both the IRA and the Staters, and died on the 19th February, 1944, in the Richmond hospital, in Dublin, having suffered a heart attack.
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Thanks for the visit, and for reading!
Sharon and the team.
