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...
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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.
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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.
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'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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
ON THIS DATE (24TH NOVEMBER) 79 YEARS AGO : DEATH OF THE 'SOLDIERS SONG' STATER.
'(Peadar) Kearney was born at 68 Lower Dorset Street, Dublin, in 1883 (on the 12th December) (and) often walked along Gardiner Street to the Custom House and along the Quays. His father was from Louth and his mother was originally from Meath. He was educated at the Model School, Schoolhouse Lane and St Joseph's Christian Brothers School in Fairview, Dublin. He left school at the age of 14, becoming an apprentice house painter...(he) joined the Gaelic League in 1901, and joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood in 1903...he was a co-founder of the Irish Volunteers in 1913...', and this -
'A descendant of Amhran ha bhFiann composer Peadar Kearney has launched High Court proceedings against a fund-appointed receiver seeking the return of items including an original copy of the national anthem signed by the composer...' (from here and here.)
Peadar Kearney, the uncle of Irish writers Brendan Behan, Brian Behan, and Dominic Behan, joined the IRB when he was 20 years young (in 1903) and, four years later, along with his friend Paddy Heeney, wrote the words and tune for 'Amhrán na bhFiann' ('The Soldiers Song').
He took part in the 1916 Rising, fighting alongside Thomas MacDonagh at Jacobs Factory, and managed to escape the round-up by the 'authorities' that followed, literally 'living to fight another day'. And he did - he was active again during the 'Black and Tan War', during which he was imprisoned for about a year.
Following the 'Treaty of Surrender' - and this is perhaps not as well known as his republican involvement - he took the Free State side and was actually in the 'Collins Convoy' at Béal na mBláth when, in August 1922, those Free Staters were ambushed by the IRA, and Michael Collins was killed.
It's also not as well known as it should be that he worked for the Free State in Portlaoise Prison as a 'Censor' ie removing what the State regarded as 'sensitive content' from letters that republican prisoners were trying to send out to family and friends : his conscience must have troubled him, as he only stuck that job for a week and, in the late 1930's, made public his (new-found) opposition to partition.
He died in Inchicore, Dublin, in 1942, at 59 years of age - on the 24th November, 79 years ago on this date - and is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.
As we say - 'Put not your trust..'
'TYRONE AFTER-MASS MEETINGS...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, July, 1954.
Sinn Féin is putting forward a policy to secure the unity and independence of our country in its 'National Unity and Independence Programme' which states that it will contest all twelve seats in the Six-County area for the Westminster elections, as per that same policy, which was put forward in Louth and Clare. It is a policy for all 32 Counties.
The need to build up the organisation, to press forward the forming of cumainn in every parish in the Six Counties and the quick build-up of the machinery required to secure the casting of every single vote in favour of the Republic, not merely in the constituencies which can be won but in every area, was particularly emphasised.
(END of 'Tyrone After-Mass Meetings' ; NEXT - 'British Army Made To Look Foolish' and 'Worldwide Headlines', from the same source.)
ON THIS DATE (24TH NOVEMBER) 81 YEARS AGO : DEATH OF A "PROTESTANT PARLIAMENT, PROTESTANT STATE (sic)" POLITICAL BIGOT.
'James Craig was born on 8th January 1871 at the Hill, in the Sydenham area of east Belfast. His father had made his millions in the whiskey industry and Craig would go on to inherit a large portion of this fortune on his father’s death. Craig was raised as a Presbyterian and attended Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh, which was run by the Church of Scotland. After leaving school in 1888 he entered the world of finance and was one of the founding members of the Belfast Stock Exchange, before volunteering for the army during the Boer War...' (from here.)
At a meeting in London on the 2nd September 1920, the then 'Prime Minster' of Stormont, 'Sir' James Craig ("All I boast is that we are a Protestant Parliament and Protestant State...") demanded that a force of 'Special Constabulary' be established for Ulster and, six days later - on the 8th September - Westminster agreed that a force of "loyal citizens" were needed, and insisted that the then pro-British paramilitary gang known as the 'Ulster Volunteer Force' should be made 'official' and employed as such.
And, with a simple name change and the provision of a British uniform, a new State-sponsored paramilitary gang, the A,B and C Specials, was born : the 'A' gang (about 3,500 of them in total) were full-time operatives who lived in the local RIC barracks and were used as re-inforcements for the RIC, and were armed and on a wage. Essentially, their presence allowed more 'police officers' free to leave their desks and assist their British colleagues in cracking nationalist skulls.
The 'B' outfit (numbering 16,000 approximately) were armed but part-time and on 'expenses' only, and were usually to be found on street patrol and operating checkpoints and the 'C' grouping (about 1,000) were a reserve force with no specific duty as such but were 'on call' as an armed militia
Nationalists knew the danger of such a move for them - the UVF/Specials were not by any means 'neutral' in the conflict. The then 'Daily News' newspaper stated, re the establishment of the 'Specials' -'The official proposal to arm "well-disposed" citizens to "assist the authorities" in Belfast raised serious questions of the sanity of the government. It seems the most outrageous thing which they have ever done in Ireland. A citizen of Belfast who is "well-disposed" to the British government is, almost from the nature of the case, an Orangeman, or at any rate, a vehement anti-Sinn Feiner. These are the very same people who have been looting Catholic shops and driving thousands of Catholic women and children from their homes...' But all words of opposition, or even caution, were ignored.
The officer class in the 'Specials' were hired if they passed a civil service examination and were mostly upper and middle-class protestants with a moral connection to their 'mainland' (England) whereas the rank-and-file consisted of the thugs that once populated any anti-Irish paramilitary gang that would have them. The latter were not allowed 'serve' in their own county or that of a family member and were relocated on a fairly regular basis, living in the local barracks, and single men were not allowed to leave same at night to socialise.
A member of the pro-British 'Special Constabulary', pictured, on his way to the 'office' for yet another normal day of 'policing'....'Specials' who wanted to get married could only do so after they had been with the gang for seven years or more and even then only if their girlfriend was deemed 'suitable' by the officer class, a 'test' which included the nature of her job before and after the marriage. Any such 'Special' family were under orders not to take in lodgers, not to sell produce locally (ie eggs, vegetables etc) and the husband was not entitled to days off (no 'rest days' or annual holidays) and was not permitted to vote in elections!
After Westminster forcibly partitioned Ireland in 1921 the British wanted control over the new 'State' to be exercised by their own kind (as opposed to 'Paddies in British uniforms') and, in late 1925, they felt confident enough to declare that the 'Specials' should be wound-up and a kitty containing £1,200,000 was put on the table to secure their disbandment : their main man in that part of Ireland, 'Sir' James Craig - up to then a great friend and supporter of the Specials - was jobbed to pass on the bad news.
On 10th December 1925, Craig told the 'A' and 'C' Specials that they were out of work (the 'B' gang were to be kept on) and offered each man two months pay. End of announcement - at least as far as Craig and Westminster were concerned, but the 'A' and 'C' Specials were not happy with the "disband" order and discontent in the ranks grew. The 'A' and 'C' Specials held meetings between themselves and, on 14th December 1925, they mutinied!
'A' and 'C' members in Derry 'arrested' their own Officers, as they did in Ballycastle - two days later (ie on 16th December 1925) a demand from the 'A' and 'C' 'rebels' was handed over to 'Sir' Richard Dawson Bates, the Stormont 'Minister for Home Affairs', a solicitor by trade, who was also Secretary of the 'Ulster Unionist Council', a position he had held since 1905. He was not impressed with their conduct.
The 'A' and 'C' Specials were looking for more money ; they demanded a £200 tax-free 'bonus' for each member that was to be made redundant. Two days later (ie on 18th December 1925) 'Sir' Bates replied to the Special 'rebels' that not only would they not be getting the £200 'bonus' but if they didn't back down immediately they would loose whatever few bob they were entitled to for being made redundant and, on 19th December 1925, the 'rebels' all but apologised to Bates, released their hostages and signed on for the dole - the 'hard men' of the 'Specials' had been put in their place by a bigger thug than they were!
By Christmas Day, 1925, the 'A' and 'C' Sections of the 'Ulster (sic) Special Constabulary Association (the 'Specials') were disbanded. It was only in 1970 that the 'B' Special gang of thugs 'disbanded' (ie changed uniform into that of the 'Ulster Defence Regiment' (UDR) and carried-on with their mis-deeds) . It was actually in September 1969 that the (British) 'Cameron Commission' described the 'B' Specials as "a partisan and paramilitary force..." while the October 1969 'Hunt Report' recommended that the 'B' Specials be disbanded. Since then, the RUC (formed in 1922) have been amalgamated into the 'PSNI' but, even though the uniforms changed, the objective didn't - the preservation of British rule in Ireland.
The main instigator in Ireland of the above turmoil, 'Sir' James Craig - '1st Viscount Craigavon' - died in his house in Glencraig, in County Down, in Ireland, on the 24th November, 1940 - 81 years ago on this date. He and his wife had listened to the 6pm news and she left him smoking his pipe and listening to a detective story. When she returned later, she found him dead.
His political supporters in Westminster deemed him to be a 'Baronet' in 1918 and 'promoted' him to the position of 'Viscount' in 1927. His last parliamentary speech was on the 29th October, 1940, during which he spoke loudly against a United Ireland, as usual.
THE NOT SO IRISH NEWS...
Rita Smyth examines the editorials of the Northern newspaper, 'The Irish News', for the first six months of 1987.
Her analysis shows how the paper reflects the political attitudes of the Stormont Castle Catholics (who dominate the SDLP*) and the conservative values of the Catholic Hierarchy, especially Bishop Cahal Daly.
(From 'Iris' magazine, October 1987.) ('1169' comment - *...and who now fill the ranks of other Stoop-like political parties in Stormont and Leinster House.) From 'IRIS' magazine, October 1987.
No superlatives are spared by 'The Irish News' newspaper in describing the new era ; The (Hillsborough) Treaty is '...the the most significant step towards a solution of the Irish question in 60 years...a shift in balance of historic magnitude (has occurred)...equality is the operative word..the unionist veto has been removed at a stroke..the Orange card has finally been trumped..nationalists discarded their second-class citizenship on November 15th 1985..'
The 'Public Order' law, 'a direct result' of the Treaty, is protecting us against unionist extremism, according to that newspaper, which no doubt explains why it has been used to declare all republican marches 'illegal'!
We were repeatedly reminded of the 'substantial progress' brought to us via the Treaty, especially in the area of fair employment (!), the demolition of the Divis Flats, disappearance of 'supergrass' trials, repeal of discriminatory Stormont legislation, firm steps to curb 'provocative sectarian displays' and, of course, we were reminded to vote for those who had achieved all these things on our behalf - the SDLP*.
(*How ironic that it is now the PSF grouping that are making those same claims in relation to the Stormont Treaty!)
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (24TH NOVEMBER) 201 YEARS AGO : DEATH OF A SCALLYWAG.
'Arthur French came of a well established gentry family, which had 'an immense property' and prospered by his father's participation in the Dublin wine trade. He was Member for the county from 1783, usually acting with opposition, and he opposed the Union, despite the bait of a peerage.
At Westminster he was expected to continue in opposition and in his first speech there, 18th March 1801, deprecated the alarmism manifest in the continuation of martial law in Ireland. On 28th May he called for the deferment of the Irish elections bill with a view to overhauling the whole process. Nevertheless, he did not join the minority. By December 1801 he was asking the Castle for patronage for his brothers Richard and George..' (from here.)
By all accounts, Mr French was a bit of a scallywag : he was a politician, a 'landlord' that was considered by some to be an Irish patriot, a skilled speaker, an opportunist and was enthusiastic about the 'sport' of fox-hunting.
The 'Big House' he lived in was awash with staff - butlers and servants, 'postillions and whipper-ins', and kennel boys all employed as per the 'Rules to be Observed by the Servants' book.
He was, it seems, a 'mixed bag', morally, when it came to the manner in which he lived his life ; politically he was of the opinion that "..the independence of Ireland must always be with us a most favourite object..", he was a critic of martial law in Ireland, was against the 'Penal Laws', campaigned against Westminster's attempts to 'regulate' (ie tax!) the 'illegal unlicensed distillation of poteen spirit' in Ireland, in regards to which the British 'Chief Secretary of Ireland', Robert Peel, called him "an abominable fellow" (!) but, at the same time, Mr French saw nothing wrong in using his political position to improve the finances of family members!
A man fit for Leinster House, with that CV!
He suffered from intermittent bouts of bad health and, at the age of only 55, his body gave out and he died. The 'Tatler Magazine' of the day, 'The Gentleman’s Magazine', half-jokingly claimed that his cause of death was excessive fox hunting..!
'REDEMPTION...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, March, 1955.
I knew him, so did they, and they hailed him as their own,
there was no mistaking the countenance of the living Tone ;
Silence, deathly silence, as he raised his hand to speak
T'was the voice of our greatest one addressed the weak -
"You would kill her, loveliest maiden of the world,
and to this tomb of death her spirit would you have hurled.
And, she being dead - lifeless, spiritless - in her grave,
killed by you, who would don the garb of a slave.
Have you no hearts, have you no will to live as men,
to walk the green fields of our land in freedom once again?
Must all the sufferings of the past be cast aside,
and the glories of our race with you no more abide...?"
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (24TH NOVEMBER) IN...
...1843 :
'Richard "Boss" Croker was born ; he was a man who could show our current crop of corrupt politicians a thing or two. As head of Tammany Hall - the organisation that controlled the Democratic Party in New York - he amassed a vast fortune, taking at one time 27 different salaries from the city...he was born in Clonakilty, Co Cork, in 1843...(and)..at the height of the Great Famine (sic), his parents brought him to America. The young Croker became, successively, barman, blacksmith, machinist, professional boxer and, finally, boss of Tammany Hall...' (from here.)
Richard Welstead Croker, a Cork man - born in Ardfield, Clonakilty, Cork, on the 24th November, 1843* - died from pneumonia on the 29th April, 1922, in Glencairn House, his home in Stillorgan, Dublin. The pall-bearers were newly-minted Free Staters Arthur Griffith and Dr. Oliver St John Gogarty, but Michael Collins couldn't make it (he might very well have been having tea in Westminster at the time with his pals!) so he sent a Mr Kevin O'Shiel along to do the heavy lifting (!), A H Flauley, of Chicago and JE Tierney. Perhaps they admired the manner in which Tammany Hall operated..
A Mr. James MacMahon, the British Under-Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, was also in attendance, as was South African Bishop William Miller, Edmund Bernard FitzAlan-Howard and JJ Walsh who, in 1927, claimed that the 'Boss' Croker was ready to throw his political lot in with the Staters but died before he could do so!
Mr Croker was initially buried in a tomb at his home (Glencairn) but when the house was sold by his widow some years after his death, the new owner had the tomb opened, and arranged for his remains to be buried in Kilgobbin Cemetery.
Incidentally - * - 'The Boss' is also listed by various sources as having been born on the 23rd November 1841. A slippery character, without a doubt..!
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..1865 :
in November 1865, the British again attempted to destroy Irish republican opposition to their mis-rule in Ireland and 'arrested' the leadership of the Fenians/IRB, after raiding their headquarters, which was located in the offices of 'The Irish People' newspaper at 12 Parliament Street, Dublin. An informer, Pierce Nagle, was 'feeding' information, for a price, to the 'authorities'.
Among those that they took into custody was James Stephens (pictured), which meant that a planned uprising had to be postponed ; the Irish Republican Brotherhood decided to break him out of Richmond Jail, in Dublin, as he was that organisations military strategist. The 'Richmond General Penitentiary' was a prison established in 1820 in Grangegorman, Dublin, as an alternative to transportation. It was part of an experiment into a penitentiary system and the IRB planned to 'experiment' with it!
John Devoy, the IRB's Organiser, put an escape plan together : Ellen O'Leary (John O'Leary's sister) had agreed to mortgage her home and use the money to bribe two somewhat sympathetic warders (John J. Breslin and Daniel Byrne) in Richmond Jail to hand over a set of keys which would enable James Stephens to simply let himself out of the prison. And it worked!
Within about two weeks of his incarceration in Richmond Jail, Stephens had his own set of keys to the place and, on the night of November 24th, 1865 - 156 years ago on this date - he used them successfully. He was met on the outside, as arranged, and taken to a safe house. In the early hours of the 25th, his absence was noticed and the prison was searched but, as O'Donovan Rossa was to recall in his recollections of prison life - it was too late ; "the bird had flown".
The British offered what was then a small fortune - £300 - for information on James Stephens and on how he escaped, but to no avail. Within months he was in Frace, where he continued his work for the Fenians and the IRB. However, he 'mellowed' somewhat in his politics, so much so that his colleagues in American denounced him as a 'rogue, impostor, and traitor'.
He went to France where he worked as a journalist and an English teacher and spent some years in France, Belgium and the USA, living in poor circumstances, before returning to Ireland in 1891 (thanks to a deal worked out between himself, Charles Stewart Parnell and the British).
He was now in Ireland again, at 66 years of age and in poor health ; his in-laws, the Hopper family, put a roof over his head in Blackrock, in Dublin, and between the good will of that family and a small fund that had been raised locally for him by supporters he survived into his 76th year : he died on the 29th March, 1901, and is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.
His coffin bearers were James Bermingham, Michael Davitt, CG Doran, Michael Lambert, William Brophy and William Hickey, all of whom were respected Fenian veterans. He had 'dirtied his bib' abroad, in republican circles, but the 'old hands' at home still had enough respect for him to give him a decent burial.
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..1920 :
Patrick Flynn, from Roscommon, aged 23, worked on the family farm. He was the IRA Adjutant for the South Roscommon Brigade. The family home had been destroyed by British forces on the 2nd October when they raided, looking for Patrick, and discovered that he wasn't there - he had been staying with a near-neighbour, John Monaghan, but that home, too, was raided, on the 24th November.
The British found Patrick asleep in the Monaghan's house and shot him dead. They removed the remains, instructed that the Monaghan family leave the house, and burned the dwelling down.
His father, Frank, was later paid £800 compensation by Westminster.
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..1920 :
Michael Moran was the Officer Commanding of the Tuam Battalion IRA. He was 27, and a farmer of a small holding. He lived with his widowed mother, Margaret, at Carrowmoneen, in Tuam, County Galway. He was 'arrested' by the RIC in October 1920 and held in Galway Gaol for six weeks. On the morning of the 22nd October he was released, then rearrested, and held in Eglinton Street RIC Barracks for an additional two days of 'interrogation'.
On the 24th November he was being moved from there to a different 'interrogation' centre, Earls Island, when the transportation convoy was slowed down by crowds outside University College Galway ; according to the British Auxilaries, Michael Moran made a run for it but "was shot dead trying to escape". He was shot in the head and died behind the old handball alley on the grounds of Queen's College, Galway. The then new commander of 'D Company' of the British Auxiliaries, a Lieutenant Colonel Guard, was said by locals to have been the man who shot him.
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..1920 :
Denis O'Donnell, 36, lived in the family home in Meadstown, Kildorrery, in County Cork, with his father and five siblings ; he was a tailor by trade, and was helping to financially support the household.
The local British 'police force', the RIC, had their suspicions about Denis O'Donnell's knowledge about an IRA ambush that took place in Kildorrery on the 7th August which resulted in an RIC member, Ernest Watkins, being shot dead. During their investigations into that IRA operation, the RIC raided the home of a Mr James Dwaine and they found Denis O'Donnell asleep in one of the bedrooms ; RIC members Wood, Coe and Grey, from Kildorrery Barracks, woke him and took him outside the house.
The RIC raiders later claimed that O'Donnell made a run for it when he was taken out into the yard and 'Constables' Wood and Grey shot him dead. He is buried in Farrihy Churchyard Cemetery in Kildorrery.
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..1920 :
Patrick Trahey, 29, lived in No 6 Friar's Walk in Cork. He was married, with one child, and was the Vice Officer Commanding of the 2nd Battalion, Cork Number One Brigade, IRA.
On the 23rd November 1920, Patrick and three other men were standing at the corner of Patrick Street and Princes Street in Cork as a group of Black and Tans were going up near-by Careys Lane ; an object was thrown by the Tans at the four men and it exploded in their midst. Patrick Trahey took the force of the blast and died at 7am the following morning.
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..1920 :
On the 24th November, 1920, two officers of the IRA Cork No. 3 Brigade, Liam Deasy and Jim Lordan, were 'detained for questioning' by British Auxiliaries (under the command of a Colonel Francis Crake) at Castletownkenneigh, Enniskeane, County Cork, but they were later released.
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..1920 :
Thomas Dillon, 25, from Roscommon, joined the RIC on the 1st February, 1917, and done Britain's dirty work in the county of Wexford ; in March 1920 he was downgraded to the 'Reserve Force' and put to work in Dublin.
At about 9.30pm on the 24th November, 1920, himself and seven other members of the British forces stopped a tram near the gates of the Phoenix Park and 'ordered' all the passengers to get off with their arms up. However, some of the passengers got off with their arms outstretched and revolvers in their hands ; a gunfight ensued and two members of the British forces, Dillon and a Lance-Corporal named William Turner, from Northwood, Hanley, in Staffordshire, in England, a soldier in the '15th Kings Hussars', listed as 'Number 537303', were shot dead.
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..1922 :
On the 24th November, 1922, Irish republican Robert Erskine Childers was executed by the Free State administration. He was an author and former Treaty of Surrender negotiator who had been arrested for 'illegally' carrying a pistol which had been given to him by Michael Collins.
He was born on the 25th June, 1870, in London, and was executed for his actions in support of the republican cause in the 'civil war' that followed the establishment of the Free State, and had 'served' the British in World War One as an intelligence and aerial reconnaissance officer.
He supported a wholly independent 32-County Irish republic and, in 1921, he was elected to the All-Ireland Dáil Éireann as a Sinn Féin deputy from County Wicklow and became the Dáil's minister of propaganda.
Later that year he served as secretary to the Irish delegation to the Anglo-Irish Treaty conference. Opposing the concessions that Irish leaders Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins made to the British in signing the treaty, he used his propaganda and publicity skills to support the Irish Republican Army in the ensuing 'civil war'.
After being captured by Free State forces, Childers was court-martialed in Dublin on a charge of 'unauthorized possession of a revolver' and was shot dead in Beggars Bush Free State Barracks, in Dublin, by a firing squad under the commanded of a Paddy O'Connor.
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..1922 :
Michael Kilroy (pictured), Commandant of the 4th Western Division IRA, was wounded and captured during a gunfight between the IRA and the Staters in Mayo which went on for a number of days. The State officer in charge said that five of his troops and 11 IRA men were killed during this operation.
One of those killed was State Captain Joe Ruddy (who was implicated in the killing of John Charles Milling on the 31st March, 1919). Another State casualty was poacher-turned-gamekeeper Joe Walsh, who was in the IRA's West Mayo Flying Column. Three IRA casualties were recorded - a Volunteer Woods from Westport Quay, a P.McEllin from Kiltimagh and a Volunteer Murphy from Galway.
Michael Kilroy later joined Fianna Fáil and took a seat in Leinster House.
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..1922 :
A Free State Army member, James Murray, is listed as being 'killed in action' on the 24th November, 1922, in Castledermot, County Kildare.
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..1972 :
On the 24th November, 1972, the 'RTÉ Authority' (the 'Board of Management') was forcibly replaced by Leinster House politicians after the station broadcasted a radio interview with IRA leader Seán Mac Stiofáin (pictured).
He was arrested and the interview was later used as evidence against him on a trial of IRA membership and, on the 25th November, he was sentenced to six months imprisonment by the 'Special Criminal Court' in Dublin.
==================================
CABHAIR CHRISTMAS, CALENDAR AND COVID.
For the 45th year in a row (1976-2021), the Cabhair organisation will be holding a Christmas Morning Swim at about 12 Noon, at the 3rd Lock of the Grand Canal, in Inchicore, Dublin.
However, due to Covid conditions and the very real likelihood of a State-wide lockdown in late December, the event will be severely curtailed : two swimmers (three at the most) and a family member or two with each swimmer, and two Cabhair Crew members will be present at the gig, with the usual trappings (ie music, foodstuffs, 'soup' (!) etc) not appearing, due to the need to keep crowd numbers down. This decision was the result of a number of meetings and was felt to be the way to proceed. Myself and many others will miss the craic but, with the times that are in it, it can't be helped. And there's always next year..!
The Republican Calendar for 2022 is now available, price £5/Euro 5 :
Beautifully illustrated and selling fast, they are available for purchase by clicking this link or emailing your order to sfp1916ATgmail.com - but don't leave it too late to do so!
Thanks for the visit, and for reading,
Sharon.
