ON THIS DATE (24TH MARCH) 225 YEARS AGO : 'INSURRECTION ACT' IMPOSED IN IRELAND.
Near the end of the 18th century in Ireland, so much 'discomfort' was being caused to the 'landlord and polite society'-class in London by the rebellious acts of, among other groups, the 'United Irishmen' and 'The Defenders', that a new 'law' was required to deal with the issue.
On the 22nd February, 1796, an 'Insurrection Act'* for Ireland was introduced in Westminster and, on the 24th March, 1796 - 225 years ago, on this date - that piece of paper 'received the royal assent' and became 'law' :
'AN ACT MORE EFFECTUALLY TO SUPPRESS INSURRECTIONS, AND PREVENT THE DISTURBANCE OF THE PUBLIC PEACE :
Whereas traitorous insurrections have for some time past arisen in various parts of this kingdom, principally promoted and supported by persons associating under the pretended obligation of oaths unlawfully administered...be it enacted...that any person or persons who shall administer, or cause to be administered, or be present, aiding and assisting at the administering, or who shall by threats, promises, persuasions, or other undue means, cause, procure, or induce to be taken by any person or persons, upon a book, or otherwise any oath or engagement, importing to bind the person taking the same, to be of any association, brotherhood, society, or confederacy formed for seditious purposes, or to disturb the public peace, or to obey the orders or rules, or commands of any committee, or other body of men, not lawfully constituted, or the commands of any captain, leader, or commander (not appointed by his majesty, his heirs and successors) or to assemble at the desire or command of any such captain, leader, commander or committee, or of any person or persons not having lawful authority, or not to inform or given evidence against any brother, associate, confederate, or other person, or not to reveal or discover his having taken any illegal oath, or done any illegal act, or not to discover any illegal oath or engagement which may be tendered to him, or the import thereof, whether he shall take such oath, or enter into such engagement, or not, being by due course of law convicted thereof, shall be adjudged guilty of felony, and suffer death without benefit of clergy, and every person who shall take any such oath or engagement, not being thereto compelled by inevitable necessity, and being by due course of law thereof convicted, shall be adjudged guilty of felony and be transported for life...' (from here.)
In short, the 'authorities' empowered themselves to impose the death penalty (some of the other such 'Acts' replaced that penalty with 'transportation for life/penal transportation') and allowed for the political representatives of 'polite society' to declare specific districts in Ireland as "disturbed", thereby permitting curfews to be announced.
Also, trial by jury (as 'honest' as that was) was suspended and local 'law enforcers' were given full permission to search and detain any individual they wanted to.
*Overall (so far, that is) at least half-a-dozen such 'Insurrection Acts' have been imposed in Ireland by the British ; all eventually failed to obtain the objective that Westminster sought - a passive Ireland. And the British (or their proxies in Leinster House) can, if they so desire, impose another half-a-dozen similar 'Acts' in Ireland and they, too, will fail.
A passive Ireland will never exist as long as the the British continue to claim political and military jurisdiction over any part of this country.
'THE TWO-NATIONS THEORY...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, June, 1955.
Act of 1920 :
The Act of 1920, which set up the Stormont Parliament, was a purely British Act passed in a British Parliament - Westminster - by British votes, with not a single Irish representative having voted for it.
A separate parliament for the Six Counties was never demanded by the people of those counties, their press or their political leaders. When it became clear to British politicians that the Irish national demand could not much longer be resisted, the Act of 1920 was passed with the object of giving the minority a privileged position.
Pressure From Without :
From this brief summary of the origin of the Stormont Parliament it is clear that the parliament is not a national parliament in any real sense. National parliaments in all countries and at all times have come into being in response to dynamic forces acting from within. The Belfast Parliament is probably the only assembly in the world which owes its existence to an attitude of negation and to pressure from without.
Such a parliament may express a mood, a temper, a prejudice, a fear or a denial, but it certainly is not the expression of a national will.(END of 'The Two-Nations Theory' ; NEXT - 'Reflection', from the same source.)
ON THIS DATE (24TH MARCH) 101 YEARS AGO : BRITISH SPY EXECUTED BY 'THE SQUAD'.
"One of the most successful British agents in the War of Independence was a man called Bryan Fergus Molloy who was shot by Collins Squad in Dublin in 1920...he was a man with no past, no birth, no census records, no war record, and the assumption is that this was not his real name..." (from here.)
From 'Hansard' : 'Mr. IRVING asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether the man who was shot in Exchequer Street, Dublin, on the 24th instant, was identified by the police as bearing the name of Molloy ; whether, in fact, this name was correct ; whether there was any deliberate concealment of the real name ; if so, can he state the reason ; and whether the man had at one time been in the Dublin Metropolitan Police?'
Mr. MACPHERSON (replied) - 'This man was identified by the military authorities as Bryan Fergus Molloy, under which name he enlisted, and, as far as is known, this was his correct name. He was at no time a member of the Dublin Metropolitan Police...' (from here.)
Bryan Fergus Molloy aka Frederick McNulty was a British intelligence operative in Dublin who was placed there by Westminster to locate Collins or other IRA operatives ; he attempted to integrate himself with the Republican Movement by offering to procure weapons for use against the British but his cover was blown when the IRA's people in Dublin Castle warned them about Molly/McNulty's true intentions.
On the 24th March, 1920, he was located by the IRA and was executed - he was followed by at least three IRA members and was shot to death, in broad daylight, on South William Street in Dublin, by members of 'The Squad'.
'The shooting of the mysterious Bryan Fergus Molloy, a suspected spy who had been trying to make contact with the rebels, took place on the 24th of March, 1920. The operation didn't go smoothly. Passersby tried to detain the assassins and a cyclist blocked one gunman's getaway outside St. Andrew’s Church...the identity of the young spy may be that of Frederick Vernon Maximilian McNulty, a Manchester-born son of Irish parents with a chequered career in the British Army. Having been discharged from the Army Service Corps in 1914 for being underage, McNulty joined the RAF in 1917 before apparently deserting the following year to re-join the ASC under the assumed name, B.F. Molloy...' (from here.)
'Oh I am the man, the slimey man, that listens at yer door,
For I belong to the Special Branch and that's what I'm paid for.
If you're singing songs of protest or against repressive law,
I'll put yer name in me little black book,
And I'll see that yer done for...'
NO RIGHT OF APPEAL...
Why the media consensus on a broad range of issues is increasingly disturbing. By John Drennan.
From 'Magill' Annual, 2002.
But things began to change again after the arrival of the 'Appeasement Process' ; our restoration to the status of being members of the 'Fourth Estate' - such notions, begob! - brought new responsibilities.
Once again it was a case of 'forget about the facts, Ma'am, the age of moral equivalence has arrived' and, in this brave new world, the duty of the 'good journalist' was to always keep the sunny side up. If the IRA had to be coaxed into the political process, so be it. And if the right stick was needed to keep those hard-line democrats of the UUP on the right road, then flay away - and give 'em plenty of it.
The problem with the journalism of consensus, whether it concerns the North of Ireland, striking teachers, or the Church, is that it wears the mask of rebelliousness whilst hiding the frozen grimace of intolerance underneath.
It is seen as 'responsible' of the good bourgeois liberal hack to root out and punish the non-house-trained journalist who defecates on the carpet of consensus. All the dissidents have to go. Only then would the field be open for the liberal bourgeois 'sociology in UCD' autocracy to reform the greatest problem of all - Fianna Fáil... (MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (24TH MARCH) 98 YEARS AGO : DUBLIN IRA MEMBER SHOT DEAD BY STATERS.
As part of the IRA 'Entertainment Fixtures' order (which we wrote about last week), two IRA members were tasked with an operation to destroy or disrupt the Carlton Cinema in O'Connell Street, in Dublin.
On the 24th March, 1923 - 98 years ago on this date - the two republican operatives placed a bomb at the front door of the cinema. As they were leaving the premises, the device detonated, setting the doors on fire. The flames and smoke were noticed almost immediately by a Free State Army patrol which attempted to intervene ; the two IRA men opened fire on the Staters in an attempt to make good their escape but, as they reached near-by North Earl Street, one of the men, Patrick O'Brien, IRA First Dublin Battalion, was shot dead.
The other Volunteer, Martin Hogan (pictured), 28 years of age, was wounded in the exchange of gunfire but managed to escape his pursuers.
However, less than one month later, he was 'arrested' in Dublin by the Staters and had eleven bullets fired into him, in the Drumcondra/Whitehall part of the capital.
His girlfriend, who first tried to find him in one of the prisons, was told to enquire at Oriel House (CID headquarters), where she was told to "try the morgue".
His body was eventually found in a ditch in Drumcondra. He is buried in the family grave in Killodiernan Graveyard, Puckane, in his native County of Tipperary.
Also, a brief mention here, for the record, of an IRA man, William Walsh, from the Coombe, in Dublin who, on the 24th March in 1923, was badly wounded during an ambush at Whitehall, Dublin of a Free State troop lorry. He presented himself to the Mater Hospital but died that night. Unfortunately, we are unable to furnish more information about that brave individual as, it seems, history has forgotten him. As we said, just a name-check here of the man, for the record.
'OUR STEWARDSHIP...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, March, 1955.
'The United Irishman' newspaper became, therefore, a considerable menace to British rule in Ireland and had to be put down. Last month, and the preceeding month, however, the steady and consistent increase in the sales of the paper has been maintained, and in the Six Counties a spark has been kindled that is not likely to be extinguished even if there is not another copy of 'The United Irishman' seen there and, if I know our Northerners, an edict of Mr. Hanna will not prevent them from reading the newspaper.
To the pioneers who set out 'to blot out the handwriting that was against us' we raise our hats ; to the disinterested and generous who answered that ininial appeal - "funds are ungently needed" - we give our heartfelt thanks ; to the people of the North we say "hold on!", it isn't a forlorn hope or a lost cause, for the men and women of the South respond, they do not say with the politicians 'we can see no solution' ; they organise and work so that together we can, in the name of God, re-enthrone the Irish Republic.
(END of 'Our Stewardship' ; NEXT - 'Comments', from the same source.)
ON THIS DATE (24TH MARCH) 99 YEARS AGO : McMAHON FAMILY WIPED-OUT BY BRITISH MURDER GANG.
'...the murder of the family and their lodger was committed on 24th March 1922. The dead consisted of Owen McMahon and his sons Thomas, Frank, Bernard and Patrick. Their lodger Edward McKinney was also murdered.
On 23rd March 1922, USC officers Thomas Cunningham, aged 22, and William Cairnside, aged 21, were patrolling along Great Victoria Street when they were approached by IRA gunmen on foot who shot them both dead at close range. This event would provoke a ferocious response which would be carried out in a cool, calm and exceptionally cold manner. Initially, two innocent Catholics were shot dead in the Short Strand. However, much worse was to come for the Nationalist community.
At 1am on the morning of 24th March a worksite at Carlisle Circus was approached by two men in Police uniform. A City council volunteer was guarding it, and he was persuaded by these Policemen to hand over his sledgehammer. These two men met up with three others at the grounds of a large local residence known as Bruce’s Demesne and proceeded towards the large Victorian home where the McMahon family were resident. The assailants hammered at the front door, then smashed the glass panel enabling them to open the locks and break through a secondary door which led to the hallway. Owen and his wife Eliza were awakened by this commotion and attempted to run downstairs when both were confronted by a man in Police uniform.
The male members of the McMahon family and their lodger were taken into the downstairs living room whilst the females, who included Owens wife Eliza, daughter Lily and niece Mary, were ushered into the first-floor drawing-room. The male members of the family were told abruptly by the gang to say their prayers before firing was commenced. Frank McMahon aged 24; Patrick McMahon aged 25 and Thomas McMahon aged just 15 were killed almost instantaneously. Edward McKinney, their lodger, aged 25, was also killed.
Owen McMahon would die in hospital a few hours later. His son Bernard would die on 2nd April meaning only John aged 30 and Michael aged 12 survived. Michael in fact had a lucky escape hiding under the dining table and then the sofa before being found by neighbours in a "most frightful state".
The female members of the family tried to raise the alarm by screaming murder but by the time help arrived the massacre was over. Indeed an RIC patrol was close by and quickly on the scene. The scene they encountered was indescribable. The gang responsible had made a quick getaway into the darkness from whence they came...' (from here.)
The father, Owen McMahon, was shot in the abdomen and the head, Patrick was shot in the head, chest and abdomen, Frank was shot in the chest and the face, Bernard was shot in the spinal cord and lung, Thomas was shot in the head and chest and the family lodger, Edward McKinney, was shot in the lungs and abdomen.
The political administration that was responsible, in the first instance, for that outrage - Westminster - is still 'calling the shots', literally, in that part of Ireland, and the foot soldiers in their 'police force' - albeit it with a new name and uniform - are still on the ground there. And both entities remain capable of the atrocities that they inflicted, between them, on the McMahon family.
The only way to remove their ability to do something like that again is to remove them, politically and militarily, from Ireland.
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.
ON THIS DATE (28TH OCTOBER) 44 YEARS AGO : IRISH REPUBLICAN LEADER ASSASSINATED BY PRO-BRITISH DEATH SQUAD.
"We must take no steps backward, our steps must be onward, for if we don't, the martyrs that died for you, for me, for this country, will haunt us forever" - Máire Drumm, (pictured).
On the 28th October 1976 - 44 years ago on this date - the then Sinn Féin Vice President, Máire Drumm, was shot dead in her hospital bed by a pro-British loyalist death squad. She was born in the townland of Killeen, South Armagh, on the 22nd October 1919 to a staunchly republican family (the McAteer's) and her mother had been active in the Tan War and the Civil War.
In 1940, Máire joined Sinn Féin in Dublin but, in 1942, she moved to Belfast, which became her adopted city, and she continued her republican activities. Every weekend, she would carry food parcels to the republican prisoners in Crumlin Road Jail and it was here that she met Jimmy Drumm, who she married in 1946. When the IRA renewed the armed struggle in the late 1950s, Jimmy was again interned without trial from 1957 to 1961, and Máire became more actively involved in the civil rights movements of the 1960s. She worked tirelessly to rehouse the thousands of nationalists forced from their homes by unionist/loyalist pogroms.
In 1972, she became Vice President of the then Sinn Féin organisation and, due to her dedication and the dedication of her family to the republican struggle, they were continuously harassed by the RUC, British Army and by loyalist paramilitaries.
The British Army even constructed an observation post facing their home in Andersonstown and, at one point, her husband and son were interned at the same time. Her husband, Jimmy, became known as the most jailed republican in the Six Counties and Máire herself was also jailed twice for 'seditious' speeches, once along with her daughter.
In 1976, at only 57 years of age, her eyesight began to fail and she was admitted for a cataract operation to the Mater Hospital, Belfast. On the 28th October 1976, as Máire lay in her hospital bed, loyalist killers wearing doctors white coats walked into her room and shot her dead. Máire Drumm, freedom fighter and voice of the people, was buried in Milltown Cemetery.
'BRITISH OCCUPATION CHALLENGED'.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, June, 1955.
In spite of attempts by the unionists, the 'nationalists' and the so-called 'national press' to misrepresent the policy of Sinn Féin, the republicans and the separatists in the north rallied to the cause of Irish freedom and unity and elected two representatives to the republican parliament of the 32 Counties. The results are a striking vindication of Pearse's dictum that "the great, silent suffering mass of the Irish people are always ready to assert their right to freedom. The people have never failed Ireland. Always it has been the leaders who have failed the people."
On nomination day, the unionists tried to stampede the electors by declaring that votes cast for Mitchell and Clarke would be thrown away - that they would be completely discounted and the unionist candidate elected, but the republican electors were not deceived nor intimidated by the unionist tactics. Now that the smoke and fire of battle has cleared away, the unionists are regretting their rash threat and cannot decide what to do.
The legal position was made quite clear by the lobby correspondent of the London 'Observer' newspaper on Sunday 29th May, 1955, three days after the election : "Several Sinn Féin candidates were elected in 1918 although they were in prison, but no attempt was made to unseat them, and there has been no change in the law since then..."
(MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (28TH OCTOBER) 169 YEARS AGO : 'REBEL' MP AND BARRISTER (AND PLEDGE-BREAKER) EXPOSED.
It's practically impossible to write about William Keogh (pictured) without mentioning his pledge-breaking colleague and fellow charlatan, John Sadleir. Both men were born into difficult times, but so were many others and not all of them resorted to being 'snake oil' sales people, the path chosen by Keogh and Sadleir.
Their 19th century Ireland was one in which approximately six-and-a-half million people 'lived' in, which was a rise in population of about three-and-a-quarter million since the introduction of the potato into the country in the middle of the 18th Century (ie 1760, population of approximately three-and-a-quarter million ; 1815 - population of approximately six-and-a-half million).
With the potato being in itself highly nutritional and a good basis for an adequate diet, as well as being a prolific crop, the poor were able to get better use from what little land they had and use their land to support more people, which led to an increase in the population. Also, the potato needed less land than, for instance, grain, and allowed the farmer to grow other crop elsewhere which he could then sell. Unfortunately for the Irish 'peasant' farmer (as the British described us) , this 'good fortune' was noticed by the British 'landlords' and rents were increased at the same period that land was scarce (due to the population increase) - the 'rent' for a 'holding' quadrupled between 1760 and 1815, so the 'holding' (ie small farm) was sub-let, usually to the farmers sons, so that the 'rent owed' for that patch of soil could be shared by the family.
However, the Irish spirit was strong, and the British 'landlords' and their agents did not have it all their own way. The so-called 'lower-ranks', the 'wretched people', those who wore 'the mark of slavery', had organised themselves as best they could ; secret, underground oath-bound societies fought back - the Whiteboys, Oakboys, Moonlighters, the Defenders and the Steelboys : fences belonging to British 'landlords' were ripped-up, the 'masters' cattle were taken, his haystacks and crop removed, his 'Big House' attacked and, when possible, levelled and burnt, and he himself, and his minions, put to death when the opportunity presented itself to do so. It was into this 'melting-pot of madness' that a child was born in County Tipperary in 1815 - John Sadleir.
At the time that John Sadleir (pictured) was growing-up, a man named George Henry Moore (who was connected to, and supported by, the Catholic Church Hierarchy) was organising a 'pressure-group' which was to be called the 'Irish Brigade' to lobby Westminster on behalf of the Catholic Church, its members, and its 'flock' - John Sadleir joined the 'Irish Brigade' lobby-group and became a prominent member of it, as did about twenty liberal-minded British MP's, including William Keogh. When John Sadleir was 36 years of age (in 1851) the British administration introduced the 'Ecclesiastical Titles Bill' (on 6th February 1851) making it 'illegal' for any Catholic prelate (ie priest, arch-bishop, bishop etc) to be that which the Vatican claimed him to be - that is, under the 'Ecclesiastical Titles Bill', it was deemed to be 'a crime' to be described as the 'parish priest of XXX', 'arch-bishop of XXX', 'bishop of XXX' etc - in short, the assumption of titles by Roman catholic priests was outlawed by Westminster : the British wanted to curb the activities and influence of the catholic church, but this 'law' was not always followed-up (ie enforced) on the ground (what we in Ireland would call 'an Irish solution to an Irish problem').
However, enforced or not, the 'Titles Bill' was vehemently opposed by John Sadleir and William Keogh and 'The Irish Brigade' (who were by now known by the nick-name of 'The Popes Brass Band', such was their support for the catholic hierarchy) and others, too, were opposed to the 'Bill' - a group known as the 'Tenant Right League', which had been founded in 1850 by 'Young Ireland' Movement leaders Charles Gavan Duffy and Frederick Lucas (to secure better conditions for those that worked the land) also campaigned against 'The Ecclesiastical Titles Bill' : the 'Tenant Right League' was formed in City Assembly House in William Street in Dublin in August 1850, after a four-day conference which was attended by a right mix of people - magistrates, 'landlords', tenants themselves, priests (of both Catholic and Presbyterian persuasion) and newspaper journalists and editors. In his own constituency, where he was entertained to a public banquet on the 28th October, 1851 - 169 years ago on this date - William Keogh declared, in the presence of Archbishop McHale : "I will not support any party which does not make it the first ingredient of their political existence to repeal the Ecclesiastical Titles Act..." and again, in Cork, on the 8th March, 1852, he declared : "So help me God, no matter who the Minister may be, no matter who the party in power may be, I will support neither that minister nor that party unless he comes into power prepared to carry the measures which universal popular Ireland demands..." As the British themselves are fond of saying - 'Fine words butter no parsnips'.
In 1852, 'The Irish Brigade' and 'The Tenant Right League' joined forces to get the 'Ecclesiastical Titles Bill' revoked and, in July that year (1852) the new grouping came together as 'The Independent Irish Party', which declared that "legislative independence is the clear, eternal and inalienable right of this country, and that no settlement of the affairs of Ireland can be permanent until that right is recognised and established...(we will) take the most prompt and effective measures for the protection of the lives and interests of the Irish people, and the attainment of their natural rights..." John Sadleir and William Keogh, two of the more prominent MP's in 'The Independent Irish Party' (of which there were about forty, as the new 'IIP' was joined by Irish MP's in Westminster) , like all the other 'IIP' representatives, took a pledge not to accept any Office in a Westminster administration or to co-operate with same until, among other things, the 'Ecclesiastical Titles Bill' was done away with ; however, the British had seen developments like this elsewhere in their 'empire' and were preparing to manoeuvre things in their own favour.
The new 'Independent Irish Party' was flexing its muscle ; as William Keogh (a barrister and MP for Athlone) put it - "I will not support any party which does not make it the first ingredient of their political existence to repeal the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill. So help me God ..." By this stage, Charles Gavan Duffy had been elected as an 'Independent Irish Party' MP to Westminster, representing the New Ross area of Wexford. The 'IIP', with forty members elected to Westminster, did actually hold the balance of power in 'Lord' Derby's Tory-led government in Westminster and so pressed their claims with that administration regarding the 'Titles Bill' and other matters pertaining to Ireland - but they got no satisfaction from 'Lord' Derby or any of his Ministers, so the 'IIP' 'pulled the plug' and the British government of the day collapsed.
'Lord' Aberdeen offered John Sadleir IIP MP the position of 'Lord of The Treasury' in the new British administration, and also 'threw a bone' to the other dog, William Keogh IIP MP - that of the Office of British Solicitor-General for Ireland and, despite already having their parsnips well buttered, both men took the offer, and the Catholic Church, subservient as ever to the British, when push came to shove, supported them for doing so! This tore not only the 'Independent Irish Party' asunder (although it did manage to 'hobble' on for another few years, disintegrating along the way) until finally it disbanded in 1858, but it also disappointed Charles Gavan Duffy IIP MP, one of the more prominent members of the party, so much so that, in October 1855, he emigrated to Australia in despair.
Despite success at the polls, and having the 'ear' of the political bosses and the 'respect' of the British 'establishment' and good, favourable media coverage, being well-dressed, well-spoken and well-paid, if you lose your political principles, you're finished - draw your own conclusions....
'IS IT TIME TO ASK QUESTIONS OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION...?'
By John Drennan.
From 'The Magill Annual', 2002.
The law exists to protect us but, as with the moral law of the Church, those who devote their lives to it should be under its closest scrutiny, precisely because they are more empowered by it than anyone else in our society.
It is time that journalism and politics started asking difficult questions of the legal profession. For starters, we can look into the scandal of the family courts, and then go on to ask who benefits the most from our relatively new-found public tribunal culture. Only then will we even begin to redress the balance of power between the people and the courts.
(END of 'Is It Time To Ask Questions Of The Legal Profession?' ; NEXT - 'In The Name Of The Law', from the same source.)
'THE REPUBLICAN POSITION ; STATEMENT ISSUED BY ÓGLAIGH NA H-ÉIREANN AND SINN FÉIN...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, November 1954.
"A Chara,
The following statement has been released for publication. Please publish it in full or not at all...
Those who think in terms of a compromise with the leadership of Fianna Uladh must also realise that when they seek to get an alignment with the latest arrival of the splinter parties they are seeking that which is tantamount to an alignment with either Clann na Poblachta or Fianna Fail, both of which, for their own separate ends, foster and promote the growth of Fianna Uladh, whose advent can only distract our people further.
Its continued existence can but serve to create further dissensions and its leaders appear to do all in their power to retard and obstruct the advance of the Republican Movement.
Issued by the Army Council, Óglaigh na hÉireann, and the Standing Committee, Sinn Féin."
(END of 'The Republican Position ; Statement Issued By Óglaigh na hÉireann and Sinn Féin'. NEXT - 'Return To Sinn Féin', from the same source.)
Thanks for reading - Sharon and the '1169' team. Are you still with us, out there? Hard to know just where we are, in this State, in relation to the health and safety of the citizens of this State, as 'regulated' by Leinster House, that is : we think, as it's a Wednesday, we're somewhere between level 3.5 and level 5 of the 'lockdown'. Not sure. And it could change tomorrow. Or maybe not. Sure we'll see how it goes...
