In early 1921 , IRA units in the Ulster area carried out many raids for arms on RIC and British Army barracks - in one of these operations , Matt Fitzpatrick, a Volunteer and,at the time, O/C of the Wattlebridge Company IRA, was badly injured and captured by the British....

Fitzpatrick was taken to Monaghan County Hospital under heavy guard and was to be moved to Crumlin Road Jail in Belfast when fit enough ; he was known to the British as a Republican operative and, as such, was marked by the Brits for execution as an example to the IRA .
The O/C of the Monaghan Brigade, Dan Hogan, knew that if Fitzpatrick was moved to the Belfast jail his fate was sealed : a meeting of the IRA Brigade Staff was called and it was agreed that Matt Fitzpatrick would be rescued from the hospital..... (MORE LATER)>>


Shortly before his death , Graham Greene said of religion - " I think its a mystery. It is a mystery which cannot be destroyed; even by the Church ! "
----- the same can be said of the Irish struggle for freedom - "....it cannot be destroyed; even by (so-called) Republicans ". The Provisionals are making a mockery of themselves and their attempts to surrender, without actually saying as much, tarnishes the people that went before them.
They should amalgamate with the SDLP and/or Fianna Fail , and do Republicanism a service.

.....a small group of Irish Republicans left the College of Surgeons during the 1916 Easter Week fighting , to set fire to shops around the Russell Hotel, which was occupied by British troops ; William P.Partridge was one of that group.....

...a young Na Fianna Eireann member, Fred Ryan, was shot dead and Margaret Skinnider was badly wounded on that operation . Putting his own life on the line, Partridge carried the wounded woman back to the College of Surgeons. After the surrender , Partridge was court-martialled, sentenced to fifteen years penal servitude and transferred to prison in England.
However, he was released from Dartmoor Prison in April 1917 , suffering from Brights disease, and he returned to his native Roscommon where he died on July 26th, 1917 , not having reached his 40th birthday .

A quiet unassuming gentleman from all accounts, William P.Partridge deserves his place in Irish history , more so than the 'suits' that, today, have attempted to steal the mantle of Irish Republicanism and prostitute it and themselves before the Brits and the Free Staters.
Thankfully , there are still many like William P.Partridge around , and involved, today .


In 1982 , America's CIA carried out a 'psychological profile' of Libya's Colonel Gadafy ; they found that he was "judged to suffer from a severe personality disturbance" and that he used excessive amounts of sleeping pills and other various 'uppers' .In a follow-up report some years later, the CIA reported that Gadafy wore make-up and high-heel shoes and carried a teddy-bear during a 1984 trip to spain !
Come on, lads - the "severe personality disturbance" part is perhaps believable , but you spoiled the whole report with the 'lipstick,high-heels and teddy-bear' thing .... (what would a psychological profile on Ian Paisley and his (sudden?) fixation on lips reveal?).

.....William P.Partridge , born in Ballaghadereen in County Roscommom during the 1880's , a friend and comrade to the Republican Movement and its leadership, joined the Irish Citizen Army on its formation in November 1913 ; on April 19th, 1916, James Connolly sent Partridge to Tralee in County Kerry to supervise the distribution of the (at least) 20,000 rifles that were to be landed on the Banna Strand , a consignment organised by Roger Casement.
However, Partridge learned on Good Friday that Casement was arrested and 'The Aud'(the ship carrying the rifles) had been scuttled by its crew after it had been intercepted by a British Navy ship . He returned to Dublin.

William P.Partridge was among the Irish Citizen Army contingent commanded by Michael Mallin and Countess Markievicz in St Stephens Green on Easter Monday and the College of Surgeons the following day. During the fighting of Easter Week , the British occupied the Russell Hotel in Harcourt Street and Partridge was among a small group of Republicans who left the near-by College of Surgeons to set fire to shops around the hotel ..... (MORE LATER)>>


The 'Sunday Life' 'newspaper' , June 23rd, 1991,page 12 -
" I would never repudiate the fact that I am an Irishman " - Ian 'Big Lips' Paisley !
The 'Dublin Tribune' newspaper, June 20th, 1991, page 10-
" The everlasting violence in Northern Ireland(sic) is fuelled by lack of job opportunities " - the late Jim Mitchell , Fine Gael.
The former does'nt know what to do about his Irishness , and the latter does'nt understand his Irishness.
Well pucker up , Ian , and understand this - the Brits will wash their hands of you and yours as soon as it suits them.....

A man born in Ballaghadereen in County Roscommon during the 1880's was well known in Republican circles at the time, but history has apparently left him behind......

During his short life, William P. Partridge was a politician , a soldier and a trade union activist : he moved to Dublin some time around 1910 and became involved in James Larkin's newly formed Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU) . In the municipal elections of 1911 , he was elected to Dublin Corporation .
The 'Great Lock Out' , which began in August 1913, ensured that Partridge and Larkin were kept busy , and also brought James Connolly into contact with the Ballaghadereen man ; in October 1913, William P. Partridge was asked by the ITGWU to do a fund-raising tour of England and to enlist the support of workers in that country for the strike in Ireland.
When the Lock-Out ended in February 1914, James Larkin departed to America; Partridge worked with James Connolly in re-organising the Union and the two men also assisted in organising the 'Women Workers' Union' . (MORE LATER)>


A Derry man, Charles Thomson, was the Secretary of the 'Continental Congress' of America and , as such, helped to transcribe the final draft of the U S Declaration of Independence ; Thomson was the first person to read it, both in Congress and publicly . He also served as Chief Executive of the American Government , a position he held several times between 1776 and 1789, during illnesses of the Congess Presidents. Charles Thomson also designed the 'Great Seal' of the United States - like William P. Partridge , Irishman Charles Thomson has been overlooked in the history books .

.....the patrol of Black and Tans and RIC men fired on each other, as the RIC men were reluctant to shoot known Sinn Fein members as per instructions issued by the Tans....

The above incident was one of many which was outlined to the Court of Commission - over the following few months numerous accounts of atrocities committed by the RIC, Tans, Auxiliaries and the regular British Army in Ireland were read into the record. In early 1921 , the Court published its interim report which , as expected, put the Brits in the world spotlight and was a major embarrassment to them .
The Commission had set-out to get international media attention focused on British military activity in Ireland and was successful in that . Now , over 80 years later, media attention is fixed on the Six Counties as yet another treaty buckles under the weight of its own contradictions.....


The Dublin administration attempted only once to refer the situation in the Six Counties to the United Nations :
This was when the then Free State Minister for External Affairs, Patrick Hillery,in August 1969, on behalf of the Dublin Administration, sought a meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the possibility of sending UN troops, or a joint Irish-British contingent, to the Six Counties to monitor the situation. Britain stated its belief that Article 2(7) of the UN Charter (non-intervention in domestic affairs of states) prohibited discussion of the North . Hillery replied by detailing the history of partition and declared that his administration did not "in any way concede(to the British) the right to exercise jurisdiction" in the North (as per then Articles Two and Three of the Free State Constitution).
However ,further consideration of the question was suspended, and that ended the UN 'role' in the North !
In 1998 , the fig-leaf of Articles Two and Three were done away with in the Stormont Treaty in a vain attempt to appease the Unionists and the British ; they grabbed the opportunity with both hands and continue to demand more......

.....the ex-RIC man,Daniel Crowley, told the Court of Commission that the RIC men on patrol with the Black and Tans were there to point out Sinn Fein members so as the Tans could shoot them , and then burn their houses.....

He told the Court of Commission of one incident in which the Black and Tans attempted to shoot members of the RIC patrol which was accompanying them - Crowley spoke of how, on the night of May 21st, 1920, an RIC/Tan patrol, which was heavily armed, raided the home of Maurice Walsh ,the Chairperson of the Clogheen (Tipperary) District Council (a local politician) . The tans had told the RIC members with them that it was their intention to kill Walsh and his family and burn their house ; the ex-RIC man , in his evidence, stated that himself and the other RIC men "reminded him(the man in charge of the Tans) that he was not in the (British) army now, and he said to me that when he left the training depot he was told that he could not be subjected to any discipline whatever if he shot any Sinn Feiners " .
Crowley went on to point out that the issue then developed into a verbal row between the Black and Tans and the RIC, then punches were thrown and, finally, the Tans fired their weapons at the RIC ( I have not been able to determine what injuries both sides caused to each other but, hopefully, they were all good shots !) . .... (MORE LATER)>>


.....it was only in 1989 that the then Stormont Education Minister, Brian Mahwinney, decided not to lower the status of the Irish language in the new curriculum - this still left the language on the fringes in English-medium primary schools and 'a low-status option' at secondary level......

In 1990, the Brits established the 'Ultach Trust' with a fanfare of media present but, five months later (and in a much quieter manner) they withdrew funding from Glor na nGael !
Also , it should be remembered that the 'Education Reform Order' of 1989 , which purported to give the Irish language equal status with French, German, Spanish and Italian as a choice in language studies in secondary schools , still left our first language as a 'lower status' one , said to be 'equivalent to classics' , when schools fulfil their timetabling obligations .
....like the Fianna Fail politician that ordered dozens of young trees to be planted in his ward just weeks before the election (in which he retained his seat) and then , within weeks of his victory, ordered that all the trees be dug up !
Give it to you in one hand........

..... the 'American Commission of Inquiry on Conditions in Ireland' , which was launched in August 1920, started to take evidence in a Washington office on November 19th, 1920....

The British declined an invitation to attend Court sittings, but an undertaking was secured from them that passports and other required travel-passes etc would be issued to people travelling from Ireland to testify ; the British were also asked to state that reprisals against those testifying would not be taken, and gave that commitment.
One of the first witnesses asked to attend the Court was a Catholic priest, Fr Michael Griffin, of Gurteen in County Galway - however, the following day the Court received word that Fr Griffin had been murdered by the Black and Tans. The Court heard evidence from an ex-RIC man (who had resigned in June 1920), Daniel Crowley, who was anxious to speak about British activities in Ireland : he described how, in March 1920, the RIC had been ordered to accompany the Black and Tans on all patrols - the RIC were to help identify 'likely suspects' to the Tans.
Crowley explained - " They (RIC) were to go on an armoured car with a machine-gun , and every man who took a prominent part in the Sinn Fein movement they were to stand up in front of his own house and turn the machine-gun on it. In the armoured car there were put 120 cans of petrol and also 120 Mills bombs, and the reason for this was that they were for burning houses" . (MORE LATER)>>


In 1923,the teaching of Irish in public elementary schools in the Six Counties was restricted by the then Stormont administration to ninty minutes per week. In 1927, British Lord Charlemont , the Stormont Minister of Education (one of Lord McGuinness' predecessors!) told a delegation from Comhaltas Uladh that Irish was dead or dying and French was a more useful language. And so things remained , until March 1989, when the then Education Minister Brian Mahwinney, reversed his own plan to lower the status of Irish in the new curriculum - this still left the Irish language on the fringes in English-medium primary schools and 'a low-status' option at secondary level .... (MORE LATER).

On November 19th, 1920, at the height of the Black and Tan War in Ireland, the 'American Commission of Inquiry on Conditions in Ireland' was due to hold its first session : this body, which successfully focused international attention on the campaign of terror being waged by the British forces against the people of Ireland, was launched in August 1920 by Dr WJ Maloney and Frank Walsh who, in turn were supported by the 32-County Dail Eireann .
Its objective was to ensure that the British would be reluctant to use excessive force in Ireland because to do so would, with the ensuing world-wide publicity, mark them out as the thugs they are. The Commission comprised prominent clergymen , U S Senators and Congressmen, newspaper editors, trade union leaders and members - about 150 people in all; they picked five of their number to act as the Court of the Commission , and were given legal powers to request the attendance of witnesses representing English and Irish opinion, and was to take its evidence at public sessions in a Washington office. (MORE LATER)>>


In a profile of Boris Yeltsin by William Millinship , which was published in 'The Observer' newspaper on June 16th, 1991(page 19) , it was stated that, as a schoolboy during the war, he broke into a church which was being used as an ammunition store, and stole a couple of hand-grenades. Wondering how they worked, Boris 'examined' one of them with a hammer and lost two fingers on his left hand in the explosion !
On February 19th, 1991, he went on television and called for Gorbachov's resignation, and in March he departed from the prepared text of a speech and called for a declaration of war on the country's leadership.....
Are'nt our lot dull in comparison.....
(.....and not only in comparison to Yeltsin ).

.....Alan Bell,the British'Resident Magistrate' in Ireland, was determined to confiscate the funds belonging to the Republican Movement and had already seized over £71,000 ; the IRA was determined to stop him ......

Michael Collins, the then IRA Director of Intelligence, had instructed his men to observe Bell's routine,and a plan to execute him was drawn-up ...
On March 26th, 1920, Collins ordered that the plan be acted on ; on that morning, Bell was joined on the packed tram at Dalkey Station by three armed IRA men and, as the tram arrived at the corner of Simmonscourt Square at Merrion Road to take on and let-off passengers , another IRA man held it there; the three IRA men on board rose from their seats and told Bell to step off the tram with them - he refused and repeatedly called on the other passengers to help him . Only one of the passengers on the packed tram attempted to help Bell, but he was quickly convinced to stay out of it . Bell was then dragged off the tram by the three IRA men and, when they stepped onto the road, they were met by three other armed IRA men - the six Volunteers pushed Alan Bell across the road where he was shot three times in the head and died instantly .
The Dail Eireann National Loan recorded £357,000 in its account at the end of 1920. Dublin Castle had to continue to use its own money to pay its lackies in Ireland to do its bidding......


In June 1991, Amnesty International released a 674-page document reporting on British human rights abuses in the Six Counties, which condemned Britain for same. The then John Major Conservative government responded by saying that it was "necessary in war to have secrecy" . Tory backbencher Ivor Stanbrook MP stated- " Britain is a democracy at war with bloodthirsty terrorists and it is our duty to protect British citizens.We are at war and thats why we use secret tribunals and inquiries. Why should we give our enemies free information ? We have high standards, a record that is better than any other in the world " !
"High Standards"? Probably referring to how well paid their Loyalist hit-squads are....

..... Alan Bell,the British 'Resident Magistrate' in Ireland, organised a raid on February 27th, 1920, on Sinn Fein's Harcourt Street Offices in Dublin, and seized over £71,000 belonging to the Movement ; he suspected there was more than that and he wanted it ........

.... days later he issued an order to all bank managers instructing them to appear before his Commission of Inquiry to be questioned by his Office and to bring with them all files, paper-work, receipts and other similar documentation relating to transactions between their bank and persons acting on behalf of certain named organisations and individuals.

Michael Collins, the then IRA Director of Intelligence, realised that it was only a matter of time before Bell's Office would be in a position to seize all the funds belonging to the Movement, and decided to remove the 'Resident Magistrate' before he could do so ; Collins ordered his Intelligence Officers to trace Bell and work out what, if any, routine he followed- it soon emerged that Bell travelled to work at Dublin Castle from his Dalkey, Dublin home by tram . A plan to execute Alan Bell was drawn-up ....... (MORE LATER)>>


From 'The Sunday Tribune' newspaper,June 9th,1991, page 6 -
In 1975, a British soldier killed a County Tyrone farmer, Patrick McElhone,a civilian, as he ran away from a military patrol. The soldier was charged with murder but acquitted- the trial judge said that although McElhone was an innocent person, the soldier had reason to believe he was a fleeing terrorist and because of the "war or quasi-war situation" in the Six Counties , the British soldier was justified in shooting him !
The British 'Law Lords' later stated- "If he (McElhone)got away (he) was likely sooner or later to participate in acts of violence" .....
.... Anyone out there seen the film 'Minority Report' ?

When the British sent their 'Black and Tan' thugs into Ireland to smash the IRA , they also attempted to hit Republicans by another, perhaps less well known, method - by confiscating funds belonging to the 32-County Dail Eireann.

As a young man in the RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary) , a man from Banagher in County Offaly, Alan Bell, had helped his British pay-masters to investigate the Land League funds during the 1880's. As a reward for his efforts, Bell was appointed as a 'Resident Magistrate' (RM) and served in Athenry, Ballinrobe, Lurgan and Belfast, during the last decade of the 19th Century and the early years of the 20th Century.

Bell rose through the ranks, and was promoted to membership of the British Staff at Dublin Castle in 1920, and worked with British Intelligence where, in February that year, he was put in charge of confiscating the monies built up by the successful Dail Eireann Loan Fund , and any other cash he could find which belonged to Sinn Fein. Alan Bell organised a raid on the then Sinn Fein Offices in Harcourt Street in Dublin on February 27th, 1920 , and seized over £71,000 belonging to the Movement; his information at the time was that there was at least four times that amount in Republican coffers, and he vowed to have it all ...... (MORE LATER)>>


After the Brit establishment lifts its collective jaw from the ground and re-groups in an attempt to 'spin' and/or cover-up the extent of its collusion with Loyalist death-squads in the Six Counties, they should seek out the writings of one Albert 'Ginger' Baker and throw said material on a bon-fire ;
'Ginger' was an ex-British soldier who operated in Belfast in the early 1970's. The gang he led was responsible for the 'Romper Room' murders where Nationalists were beaten, tortured, then mutilated before being shot. Baker was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1974 for a number of those killings, and also admitted his role as a British agent. He said the killings "were designed to fit into a British Intelligence plan to terrorise the Nationalist community and push off support for the IRA" .
'Black-Ops' , I think the Brits call it- but always denied it operated such a policy in Ireland .
Liar,Liar ......

.....James Crossan's friend, Sean Reilly, was asked by the barman if he would drive him and the two Fermanagh men to the border , and he agreed .....

Sean Reilly parked his van about 100 yards from the border and about 300 yards from Mullan British Customs post in Fermanagh ; James Crossan and the young McHugh got out with the three northerners and all five walked towards the border . With the few drinks on him and the time of the day it was - about 3am - Sean Reilly fell asleep in the van.
The sound of gunfire woke him up some time later and he saw flares lighting-up the sky and the area in which he was parked; he got out of the van and saw two RUC men about 30 yards in front of him- they were running towards the British Customs post. It later transpired that the five men (Crossan, McHugh, the barman and the two Fermanagh men),all unarmed, parted company on the Cavan side of the border at about 3.30am and, as Crossan and McHugh were walking back to the van, Crossan was shot dead by a group of RUC men who had positioned themselves on the southern side of the border. Ben McHugh was arrested, and Crossan's body was taken to Enniskillen.
The RUC claimed that they had come across an IRA reconnaissance mission of Mullan British Customs post, which was a total fabrication ; at the inquest (held in Enniskillen) no witnesses were called and no attempt was made to investigate the circumstances of the shooting. The coroner simply justified Crossan's death as "justifiable homicide" .

Baunboy, County Cavan man, James Crossan, was assassinated by the RUC in County Cavan on Sunday , August 24th, 1958.


A book by Shelby Foote, entitled 'The Civil War', gives a fascinating insight into the American Civil War -

Almost three million men fought in the war ; in the Union armies more than one in four were casualties , in the Confederacy more than half suffered the same fate. One in ten able-bodied Northerners were dead or maimed by the end of the war , and one in four Southerners the same. At Cold Harbor, 7,000 men fell in twenty minutes ; in the first post-war year, one-fifth of the Mississippi state budget went to pay for artificial limbs for its returning veterans ! At Shiloh , one hundred-thousand men fought and a quarter of their number were killed or wounded. The musketry was thick enough to denude the trees in a blossoming peach orchard , covering the dead and dying with petals and , by one account, suffocating some of the wounded in flowers ; and where lightning broke the night , it illuminated wild hogs devouring the dead.
Foote's book conjures up a lasting image of what a soldiers lot was like at that period in time ; sad but riveting reading....

At the height of the IRA's border campaign,the RUC,acting on its own information and details believed to be given to it by British Intelligence, targetted Sinn Fein members living close to the border.....
One man that that British police force were particularly interested in,and whose story is perhaps not as well known outside his native County Cavan as it should be, is James Crossan. A native of Baunboy in Cavan, and a prominent Sinn Fein Organiser in the border area, James Crossan and one of his neighbours , Sean Reilly, were in a van on their way to Swanlinbar to finalise details for a meeting to be held the next day, Sunday August 24th, 1958: the meeting was to be held in Ballyconnell.
Having done their business in Swanlinbar,the two men, and a local youth and Sinn Fein member,Ben McHugh, decided to go for a pint ; in the pub they met up with two friends from County Fermanagh. Near the end of the night, the barman asked James Crossan's friend, Sean Reilly, if he would drop him and the two men from Fermanagh to the border, and Reilly agreed ...... (MORE LATER)>>


In an article in the 'The Sunday Telegraph' on 19th May , 1991, (page 20, I think....) , then columnist Geoffrey Wheatcroft wrote - "Fifty years ago Serbs and Croats were massacring each other on a scale that makes the Ulster problem seem as trivial as it indeed is ...." !

In the same article (entitled 'Why division is good for Ireland') Mr/Sir/Lord Wheatcroft also wrote- " Partition has been the greatest boon and benefit Ireland has enjoyed this century. It is the essential condition without which the southern state could not have survived as it has " !
Well , its not cricket, but any of you chaps on for a round of 'Trivial Pursuit' or 'Lets Pretend' ?
You're a gas man , Geoff......

.....it should be noted that, during the 1940's, the Republican Movement was in a bad way, virtually decimated, following the years of internment; the executions and funerals of the six men boosted the Movement and dramatically improved the organisations recruitment capabilities . A terrible price had been paid by Irish Republicans but the Movement re-grouped , once again, and continued the struggle. Today, sixty-odd years after the events outlined above, the Provisionals are crawling over many a spinning grave in an attempt to surrender and apologise to the British and Free Staters in the hope that they may grab a career for themselves from the greasy till; they do so in their own name only - Irish Republicans don't want a reward for doing their duty and don't need words of encouragement from Bush, Blair or Ahern. The 'Adams Family' have put theselves outside the fold, just as Dev and, later, the Stickies , did before them. And if there is any justice , history will record it so .


In November 1975, the British Government announced its intention to withdraw 'Special Category' (ie Political Prisoner) status from POW's sentenced after March 1st, 1976; Special Category status was conceded by the Tory government in 1972 after a hunger-strike by republican POW's. When the then Catholic Cardinal, Tomas O'Fiaich,visited the prison in July 1978 , he announced - " One would hardly allow an animal to remain in such conditions, let alone a human being. The (British) authorities refuse to admit that these prisoners are in a different category from the ordinary, yet everything about their trials and family background indicates they are different. They were sentenced by special courts without juries. The vast majority were convicted on allegedly voluntary confessions obtained in circumstances which are now placed under grave suspicion " .
That was said 25 years ago ; the same problem exists today - the case of 'The Limerick Seven' (see'SAOIRSE', April 2003 issue) which has been described as a "garda driven prosecution" inspired by a political agenda . Unfortunately , as long as the British claim of jurisdiction remains in force re the Six Counties, this type of case will always be with us .

.....the remains of Charlie Kerins, Maurice O'Neill and Thomas Harte were released from Mountjoy Jail; the funerals made their way towards Dublin city centre .....
The hearse carrying the remains of Tom Harte turned left at Dorset Street to go North, to his native Lurgan in County Armagh: the other two hearses, carrying Charlie Kerins and Maurice O'Neill, made their way to Christ Church Cathedral where they were joined by the remains of George Plant. The funeral of Paddy McGrath , escorted by an IRA guard of honour and followed by thousands of republicans, took place from the Franciscan Church on Merchants Quay in Dublin, to Glasnevin Cemetery , where the oration was delivered by Brian O'Higgins (Editor of the 'Wolfe Tone Annual') - McGrath was then re-interred with full military honours in the Republican Plot.
At St. Johnstown Cemetery, near Fethard in County Tipperary, the remains of George Plant were buried following an oration by John McGrath; at the same time, two funerals were taking place in County Kerry- Charlie Kerins was buried in Rath Cemetery , in the Tralee Republican Plot, following an oration by Tomas MacCurtain(son of the assassinated Mayor of Cork) ; and Maurice O'Neill , who was buried in the Republican Plot in Cahirciveen after an oration by Sean Ryan. The remains of Tom Harte were re-interred in the Republican Plot at St.Colemans Cemetery in Lurgan, County Armagh , following an oration by Ruairi O'Drisceoil.

It should be noted that, during the 1940's , the Republican Movement........ (MORE LATER)..


In an article on the 1981 Hunger-Strikers , published in 'An Phoblacht/Republican News' on May 2nd, 1991 (page 7), Brendan 'Bik' McFarlane stated- " Accommodations with British-designed frameworks fly in the face of true justice and freedom" . Over to you, Brendan; speak up, now......
"Constitutional nationalists should, by now, have realised that there is no British solution, there is no partitionist solution and that a new and imaginative approach is required " - Gerry Adams,'AP/RN', May 30th,1991 (page 14) .
------- like Leinster House , Gerry ? or Stormont? Do us all a favour and stay away from Republican graves this Easter, Gerry : you could use the time you save to improve on your "British....partitionist solution" ......

The remains of the six men were only released because public opinion began to go against Fiann Fail - thousands of republicans met the remains of their comrades as they emerged through the prison gates , while tens of thousands of people lined the routes to pay their last respects as the funerals made their way to different parts of the country. The remains of Richie Goss were released on the morning of Saturday , September 11th, 1948; his coffin was handed over to his relatives at Portlaoise Prison. Thousands of republicans followed his Tricolour-draped coffin , which was flanked by an IRA guard of honour, as it made its way through Dublin and Drogheda on its way to Dundalk. On Sunday, September 12th, 1948, after mass in St Patricks Cathedral, he was buried with full military honours in the family grave in St Patricks Cemetery, Dundalk, County Louth.
The remains of the other five executed republicans were also handed over to their relatives - in the same week that the remains of Richie Goss were released, a coffin containing the body of George Plant was released from Portlaoise Prison and taken to Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, while those of Paddy McGrath were handed over to his family at Mountjoy Jail , and removed to the Franciscan Church, Merchants Quay, in Dublin. Also , that same September in 1948, the remains of Charlie Kerins, Maurice O'Neill and Thomas Harte were released from Mountjoy Jail in Dublin, and handed over to their relatives. Escorted by IRA guards of honour and followed by thousands of republicans, including many who had served with them in the IRA, and contingents of Fianna Eireann, Cumann na mBan, Clan na Gaedheal and Cumann na gCailini, the funerals made their way towards Dublin city centre....... (MORE LATER)>>


On April 27th, 1916(three days after the Rising started),the so-called 'newspaper of record', the establishment newspaper,' The Irish Times' , said in an Editorial - " How many citizens of Dublin have any real knowledge of the works of Shakespere ?" ! The 'paper suggested that its readers use the "enforced domesticity" caused by the Rising to renew the mans work.
Yet the same newspaper was'nt shy about reporting the US/British war in Iraq; perhaps it all depends on how big your guns are ......

......George Plant was then brought before the Free State Military Tribunal charged with shooting an informer and was sentenced to death........

The sentence was carried out by a six-man firing squad on March 5th, 1942 ; his remains were reinterred in Fethard in September 1948 .

Maurice O'Neill,a County Kerry man(Cahirciveen) was staying in a house in Donnycarney in Dublin with Harry White, when they were attacked by Staters(November 1942) ; Harry White escaped, but O'Neill was captured and brought before the Military Tribunal , charged with firing on Free State forces. He was sentenced to death and was shot by a Free State firing squad in Mountjoy Jail on November 12th, 1942. His remains were reinterred in Cahirciveen in September 1948.

Charlie Kerins, from Tralee in County Kerry, was IRA Chief of Staff when he was arrested in June 1944, and accused before the Military Tribunal with the shooting of Dinny O'Brien in 1942. No evidence was offered to the Tribunal by the Free State, and non was needed- the Tribunal delayed sentence until later in the day to allow Kerins to make an application to it whereby he might avoid the capital sentence ie plead for his life: Charlie Kerins replied- "You could have adjourned for six years as far as I'm concerned, as my attitude towards this Court will always be the same". He was sentenced to death by hanging. When no Irish person would take the job, De Valera and Boland hired an English hangman; Kerins climbed the scaffold on December 1st, 1944, the last Republican soldier to die on the gallows for Ireland. His remains were reinterred in Rath Cemetery in the Tralee Republican Plot in September 1948.
The remains of those six men were only released because public opinion began to go against Fianna Fail.......(MORE LATER)>>>


On March 2nd, 1993 (a Tuesday, if memory serves....) the then British 'Direct Ruler'for the Six Counties,Patrick Mayhew,stated- "The (British) government will, as I said in December, warmly,solemnly and steadfastly uphold Northern Irelands(sic) status. We are not indifferent, we are not neutral" .
WHAT?? Not a neutral,peace-keeping force? Not indifferent?
Not in Ireland, not in Iraq, and not in any of their other 'adventures' in other countries.

.....in his last letter before facing a Fianna Fail-organised firing squad (September 6th, 1940) , Tom Harte wrote, to his mother - "I am writing my last letter to you, because I thought more of you than any other person on earth .... you know I was always strongly Republican , was always thinking out ways and means of furthering Republican ideals...if I fought for my country, it was for the poor downtrodden people of Ireland... I knew I never showed my feelings much at any time , but you were always loved just the same ....I am going to finish now, asking you to remember me as a son you can be proud of. Say farewell to all for me. Goodbye and God bless you all, your loving son, Tom " .
At 24 years of age , Lurgan-born Tom Harte was shot dead by a Free State firing squad on September 6th, 1940.

Richie Goss was one of the most active IRA members of his time ; when he was arrested in the Casey home in Longford he was Divisional O/C of the North-Leinster/South Ulster area. When he was brought before the Free State Military Court, charged with firing on Free State soldiers, he was sentenced to death: transported from Mountjoy Jail in Dublin to Portlaoise,and made to sit on his own coffin all the way, Richie Goss was shot by a Free State firing squad on August 9th, 1941. His remains were reinterred in Dundalk in September 1948.


George Plant was from Fethard in County Tipperary and had been active in the Tan and Civil Wars ; he was one of the last prisoners to be released by the Free State and emigrated to America. He returned to Ireland in 1939 to take part in the struggle but was arrested in 1941. De Valera ordered that George Plant be taken before a non-jury court to be charged with shooting an informer, but the charges were dropped; he was then brought before the Military Tribunal on the same charge and was sentenced to death ..... (MORE LATER)>>



In February 1993, the then British Minister responsible for the environment and countryside, David MacLean, used the unusual means of a written answer to a parliamentary question to release figures showing that, in one day in February 1993, through one discharge stack, Sellafield had released nearly ten times as much plutonium as is usually discharged in a year ! MacLean described the plant officials' failure to inform the local MP,who was visiting the site at the time of the leak, as "a rather extraordinary discourtesy" !
......there is no truth in the rumour that "the local MP" gave up politics and is now employed as a street lamp.

....Paddy McGrath was brought to a shop in Rathgar Road in Dublin on August 15th 1940 by the then IRA Chief of Staff Stephen Hayes , for a meeting with Tom Harte and Tom Hunt ; the meeting was raided by Free State forces .....

The Free State raiding party, the 'Broy Harriers', was led by ex-IRA man Dinny O'Brien . Paddy McGrath escaped but, instead of making a run for it which he could have,he went back to comfort his friend who had been shot, Tom Harte . The two of them were arrested together and were later put to death together by a Free State firing squad . McGrath was known to be an uncompromising Irish Republican who rejected 'positions of power' which were offered him by De Valera. In 1960, the National Graves Association erected a fine monument to his memory in Glasnevin , which was unveiled by the late Tom Doyle .


Far dearer the grave or the prison
Illum'd by one patriot name,
than the trophies of all who have risen,
on liberty's ruins to fame.

Tom Harte was born in Lurgan on May 14th 1916 , and had three brothers and two sisters. He received his primary education in St Peters School in Lurgan and, on leaving there, became an apprentice painter to Charlie McIntyre. He joined the IRA and went to England as part of the 'Expeditionary Force' to take part in the bombing campaign- he was in London in 1939 with Arthur Conway when he was pulled in for questioning by the British police. He told them his name was Tom Green , from Baileborough in Cavan but was still deported to Dublin . Once back in Ireland, he worked as an Organiser for the GHQ Staff of the IRA . He was wounded when the Staters raided a shop on Rathgar Road in Dublin (August 15th, 1940) and was executed by a Fianna Fail-organised firing squad on September 6th, 1940. In his last letter, which was addressed to his mother, he wrote ...... (MORE LATER)>>



The THORP nuclear plant took fifteen years to build and cost stg£2.8 billion . It was finally finished in 1992 and contains more than a quarter of a million tonnes of concrete , and covers an area twice the size of the Wembley arena. 'Greenpeace' said that every four-and-a-half years , Sellafield and Thorp combined will release into the environment as much radioactivity as the Chernobyl meltdown ! That's two-and-a-quarter Chernobyls so far, and no world headlines ......

The last of the sentenced IRA prisoners were released in April 1948 - three years after the formal ending of the IRA's bombing campaign in England and the Six Counties . However , the remains of the six republican prisoners that were executed by the Free State Military Tribunal were still being held by the Staters in Mountjoy and Portlaoise prisons.
The six men were : Paddy McGrath , Tom Harte , Richie Goss , George Plant , Maurice O'Neill and Charlie Kerins . Paddy McGrath was born into one of the old Dublin Republican families and took part in the 1916 Rising , as did two of his brothers . He was sent to Frongoch Internment Camp after the Rising and served his time there with, amongst others, Michael Collins, Gerry Boland(who signed the execution order on Paddy in 1940) and Dinny O'Brien (who, years later, as a member of the Free State 'Broy Harriers' , was to lead the raid on Rathgar Road in Dublin , in August 1940, in which Paddy McGrath was arrested). Following the Treaty of Surrender in 1922, Paddy took the Republican side , as he did in the Civil War; indeed, he carried a bullet in his chest from a British soldier, when he was shot at the GPO in 1916 - it was too close to his heart to be removed. He undertook a hunger-strike in Mountjoy Prison with Dick MacCarthy, Jer Daly and Jack Lynch to obtain political status and they were released, after 42 days,unconditionally. Paddy was brought to a shop in Rathgar Road in Dublin on August 15th 1940, by the then IRA Chief of Staff, Stephen Hayes , for a meeting with Tom Harte and Tom Hunt; the meeting was raided by Free State forces ...... (MORE LATER)>>


Speaking in Japan in October 1989 , Margaret Thatcher declared- " It is improper for any country to acquire territory through war " ; she did'nt say anything about the kettle and the pot ....
Peggy Noonan , former speech-writer for Ronald Reagan , said of him- "The battle for his mind was like trench warfare in World War One. Never have so many fought so hard for such barren terrain " ! So that's why Maggie and Ronnie got on so well..