FR. LUKE WADDING , AUTHOR AND IRISH REPUBLICAN .
A child born in Waterford in October 1588 grew up to become head of the Irish Franciscans in Rome , a position he used to draw attention to English mis-rule in Ireland .
The parents of Luke Wadding , Walter and Anastasia , had fourteen children in all , but noticed in Luke a propensity for study ; they helped him as best they could , but both parents were dead by the time Luke was in his early teens . At fourteen years young , Luke Wadding made his way to the Irish College in Lisbon , Portugal , and later entered the Franciscan Order . (MORE LATER....)
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
KILLARNEY.....
.....a tailor in the Free State barracks , a Mr. Sugrue , would sometimes manage to smuggle a bottle of stout into the cells for the Republican prisoners , but was afraid to do more than that for them .....
" Oh lads ," the tailor said to the IRA prisoners on Sunday, "tis a bad story . I heard them picking a firing party tonight ." The next day he was beaming : " You're reprieved," he said to them . They knew what that meant ; they were hostages . When the next Republican military operation took place they would be shot . It was on the Wednesday , the seventh of March (1923) that they were wakened suddenly .
A soldier , mad with rage , was trying to break into their cell , swearing he would kill them . He was removed but a Free State Officer , almost equally excited , shouted to them to come out . They were scarcely given time to dress . "You'll do as you are," he said . It was not yet light . Outside they found six Free State Officers and a crowd of soldiers . Five prisoners were marched along the road in single file and over the fields . It was neither dark nor light in the fields ; there was a fine bright moon . Coffey looked at Stephen Buckley , and what he saw filled him with a horror that the thought of death could never bring ..... " (MORE LATER.....).
FOREIGN......
[from'The Sunday Business Post',5th March , 1995 , page 40]
..... On 'Prime Time Live', 'ABC's current affairs programme last week (ie March 1995) their chief correspondent Chris Wallace explained why Free State Passports are so popular with rich Americans --
--" Say 'Mr. Rich' has a net worth of one billion dollars . If he dies a U S citizen , roughly 550 million dollars goes to the U S government . But if he changes his citizenship to a tax haven , the entire one billion dollars can go to his heirs . The first step , becoming a foreign citizen , is easy . Favourite new homes include Ireland , Switzerland and especially the Caribbean ."
.....step forward the leeches we have in Leinster House , who spotted an opportunity for a nixer and let it be known that , if the price was right , any wealthy business person could be an overnight 'Irish Citizen'.
......FRIENDS -->
[from'The Sunday Times',26th February , 1995 , section 3 , page 4]
<-- Eoghan Harris , Fine Gael's comedy expert on earth , described himself "as someone who greatly admires the heroic history of the Northern planters ." !
Now that's funny .....
Friday, September 12, 2003
DR. WILLIAM WALSH , ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN AND IRISH REPUBLICAN .....
.....at seventy-nine years of age ,Archbishop William Walsh assisted in the formation of the'Irish White Cross' organisation , which looked after the dependents of Irish Republican prisoners .....
On 9th April , 1921 , at eighty years of age , Archbishop Dr. William Walsh died in Dublin , much to the relief of the British , who despised him . Had he lived , there is little doubt , if any , but that he would have supported those who rejected the 'Treaty of Surrender' (6th December , 1921) . He was opposed to British rule in Ireland , and would almost certainly have been against the British surrogates (ie the Free Staters) that they left "in charge" .
People of the calibre of William Walsh are badly missed from the Catholic Church of today ; those that would be prepared to say " NO " to the easy , comfortable and affluent lifestyle offered them by the establishment and stand up for that which they know to be moral . There are an awful lot of well-dressed , well-fed people walking around with heavy hearts ....
(END).
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
KILLARNEY.....
.....the three IRA Volunteers had a 'dug-out' in Rathdrinagh and were sleeping there on March the third , 1923 .....
" The 'dug-out' must have been betrayed , for the Free State soldiers came straight to the spot and tore down the stones . They found two rifles with the three men . There were hundreds of soldiers surrounding the place , searching the hills . A boy named Shea , who was in the field , was arrested too . He saw Stephen Buckley beaten until he could not straighten his back . They were taken to Killarney together . "Up the Republic !" ,Stephen shouted as the lorry went in to the barrack gate .
People living in the market place heard terrible screams from the barrack during the evening . They thought the prisoners were being killed . Father Finbarr was leaving the barrack after hearing confessions that night and a soldier , when no one was watching , opened the door of a dark room and let him look in . Four prisoners were lying there , too weak to speak or move . He gave them conditional absolution - it was all he could do . There was a little Free State Army tailor working in the barrack : Sugrue was his name . He was greatly troubled about the prisoners , but dared not do much for them .
He would look round the door into the room where Coffey and Donoghue were , and put down , quickly , a bottle of stout . "For God's sake , hide it ," , he would say , terrified , "or I'll be plugged with yourselves !" " MORE LATER.
GOD'S WORD.......
[from'The Irish Times',8th June , 1995 - a Thursday , if memory serves - page 13]
....... " As an English churchman , I am aware of just how much we English need to ask forgiveness for our often brutal domination and crass insensitivity in the eight-hundred years of history of our relationship with Ireland . "
--Archbishop Carey , the then most senior-ranking member of the British establishment after the 'Royal' family , quoted on 19th November - a Friday , I believe - 1994 , in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin .
It may be a step in the right direction but , as well as the fact that the Brits did'nt heed the man , his use of the word "relationship" is hardly correct : try " dealing's " if you want to be diplomatic , Sir , or " interference " if you want to be honest .
.....at seventy-nine years of age ,Archbishop William Walsh assisted in the formation of the'Irish White Cross' organisation , which looked after the dependents of Irish Republican prisoners .....
On 9th April , 1921 , at eighty years of age , Archbishop Dr. William Walsh died in Dublin , much to the relief of the British , who despised him . Had he lived , there is little doubt , if any , but that he would have supported those who rejected the 'Treaty of Surrender' (6th December , 1921) . He was opposed to British rule in Ireland , and would almost certainly have been against the British surrogates (ie the Free Staters) that they left "in charge" .
People of the calibre of William Walsh are badly missed from the Catholic Church of today ; those that would be prepared to say " NO " to the easy , comfortable and affluent lifestyle offered them by the establishment and stand up for that which they know to be moral . There are an awful lot of well-dressed , well-fed people walking around with heavy hearts ....
(END).
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
KILLARNEY.....
.....the three IRA Volunteers had a 'dug-out' in Rathdrinagh and were sleeping there on March the third , 1923 .....
" The 'dug-out' must have been betrayed , for the Free State soldiers came straight to the spot and tore down the stones . They found two rifles with the three men . There were hundreds of soldiers surrounding the place , searching the hills . A boy named Shea , who was in the field , was arrested too . He saw Stephen Buckley beaten until he could not straighten his back . They were taken to Killarney together . "Up the Republic !" ,Stephen shouted as the lorry went in to the barrack gate .
People living in the market place heard terrible screams from the barrack during the evening . They thought the prisoners were being killed . Father Finbarr was leaving the barrack after hearing confessions that night and a soldier , when no one was watching , opened the door of a dark room and let him look in . Four prisoners were lying there , too weak to speak or move . He gave them conditional absolution - it was all he could do . There was a little Free State Army tailor working in the barrack : Sugrue was his name . He was greatly troubled about the prisoners , but dared not do much for them .
He would look round the door into the room where Coffey and Donoghue were , and put down , quickly , a bottle of stout . "For God's sake , hide it ," , he would say , terrified , "or I'll be plugged with yourselves !" " MORE LATER.
GOD'S WORD.......
[from'The Irish Times',8th June , 1995 - a Thursday , if memory serves - page 13]
....... " As an English churchman , I am aware of just how much we English need to ask forgiveness for our often brutal domination and crass insensitivity in the eight-hundred years of history of our relationship with Ireland . "
--Archbishop Carey , the then most senior-ranking member of the British establishment after the 'Royal' family , quoted on 19th November - a Friday , I believe - 1994 , in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin .
It may be a step in the right direction but , as well as the fact that the Brits did'nt heed the man , his use of the word "relationship" is hardly correct : try " dealing's " if you want to be diplomatic , Sir , or " interference " if you want to be honest .
Thursday, September 11, 2003
DR. WILLIAM WALSH , ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN AND IRISH REPUBLICAN ......
.....in May , 1919 , five men were on their way to a reception in Dublin's Mansion House when they were stopped by armed British troops ; the men , two Americans , two Irish Bishops and the then President of the Irish Republic , Eamon de Valera , were forced away from the area .....
In a statement issued to the media in relation to the incident , Archbishop Walsh condemned the British for their actions that day , and held the episode up "as the kind of government under which we are living in Ireland "; the statement went worldwide and , due to the fact that two U S citizens were accosted on an Irish street by armed British troops , caused great embarrassment to Westminster .
In 1920 , Archbishop Walsh was strident in his opposition to the then imminent so-called 'Government of Ireland Act' , which proposed the partition of Ireland , and actively campaigned against it - he was by this stage seventy-nine years of age and , although the body was weak , the mind was still sharp .
His last act was to assist in the establishment of the 'Irish White Cross' organisation with Cardinal Logue and Dr. Gilmartin , the Archbishop of Tuam ; the then Dail Eireann (32-County body) Minister for Finance (and IRA Director of Intelligence) Michael Collins worked closely with the organisation , which looked after the dependents of Irish Republican prisoners (a duty now being carried out by the CABHAIR organisation.) MORE LATER.
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924.
KILLARNEY.....
.....both of the IRA prisoners ,Tadgh Coffey and Jeremiah Donoghue were offered a commission in the Free State Army ; both men rejected the offer ......
" The Free State Officer got up , shouted a coarse insult , and went out , banging the door . Coffey wrote a letter to his people . Jeremiah was feeling too lonely to write . " I don't feel like it now ; I'll write later on ," he said . On Saturday night they met three prisoners who had been taken during the day in a dug-out ; they had been beaten , and were to be beaten again . They were Stephen Buckley of Rathdrinagh , Dan Donoghue of Lacca and Tim Murphy of Rathbrean . "You two and Dan and myself will be shot ," , Stephen said to them ; "but Tim's all right - he was not carrying arms."
Stephen Buckley was a man the people had a great love for in his own place . " Father Stephen " , he used to be called , laughingly , after what he did when Jim Daly was executed in Tralee . Father Brosnan refused to pray for Jim's soul in Kilcummen Chapel . At the end of the mass , when the people were leaving , Stephen Buckley rose and called to them to stay and , standing below the alter rails , he asked their prayers for the repose of James Daly's soul . He had brought no less than sixty recruits to join the Pioneer Temperance League , it was said . A friend asked the Volunteers in Milleen " Are you going to the mission ?" "No need" was the laughing answer . " Father Stephen is holding a mission for us here !"
"It is because he was good ," Father Dominic wrote , afterwards , to his mother , "that he was chosen to die ." They had a dug-out in Rathdrinagh - a small hollow cavity in the wide stone wall of a bohereen . The three were sleeping there on March the third . " (MORE LATER).
FACT......
[from 'The Sunday Business Post' , May 19th , 1996 , page 10]
......According to Mary Ellen Synon , journalist and ex-member of the British House of Commons --
--"Facts come and go , opinions need never vary."
Good on ya , girl - never let the truth get in the way of a good quote !
......AND FICTION -->
[from 'Hot Press' magazine , 16th October , 1996 , page 24]
<-- In an interview , Gerry Adams stated --
--" And all I know is that the Irish political establishment , for all the criticism I would have of it , on other issues , have a good , emotional sense about the North and they genuinely want to see Irish unity restored ."
HAR ! , HAR !, HAR ! . OH STOP IT , GERRY : between yourself and Mary Ellen , I'm dying here ....
.....in May , 1919 , five men were on their way to a reception in Dublin's Mansion House when they were stopped by armed British troops ; the men , two Americans , two Irish Bishops and the then President of the Irish Republic , Eamon de Valera , were forced away from the area .....
In a statement issued to the media in relation to the incident , Archbishop Walsh condemned the British for their actions that day , and held the episode up "as the kind of government under which we are living in Ireland "; the statement went worldwide and , due to the fact that two U S citizens were accosted on an Irish street by armed British troops , caused great embarrassment to Westminster .
In 1920 , Archbishop Walsh was strident in his opposition to the then imminent so-called 'Government of Ireland Act' , which proposed the partition of Ireland , and actively campaigned against it - he was by this stage seventy-nine years of age and , although the body was weak , the mind was still sharp .
His last act was to assist in the establishment of the 'Irish White Cross' organisation with Cardinal Logue and Dr. Gilmartin , the Archbishop of Tuam ; the then Dail Eireann (32-County body) Minister for Finance (and IRA Director of Intelligence) Michael Collins worked closely with the organisation , which looked after the dependents of Irish Republican prisoners (a duty now being carried out by the CABHAIR organisation.) MORE LATER.
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924.
KILLARNEY.....
.....both of the IRA prisoners ,Tadgh Coffey and Jeremiah Donoghue were offered a commission in the Free State Army ; both men rejected the offer ......
" The Free State Officer got up , shouted a coarse insult , and went out , banging the door . Coffey wrote a letter to his people . Jeremiah was feeling too lonely to write . " I don't feel like it now ; I'll write later on ," he said . On Saturday night they met three prisoners who had been taken during the day in a dug-out ; they had been beaten , and were to be beaten again . They were Stephen Buckley of Rathdrinagh , Dan Donoghue of Lacca and Tim Murphy of Rathbrean . "You two and Dan and myself will be shot ," , Stephen said to them ; "but Tim's all right - he was not carrying arms."
Stephen Buckley was a man the people had a great love for in his own place . " Father Stephen " , he used to be called , laughingly , after what he did when Jim Daly was executed in Tralee . Father Brosnan refused to pray for Jim's soul in Kilcummen Chapel . At the end of the mass , when the people were leaving , Stephen Buckley rose and called to them to stay and , standing below the alter rails , he asked their prayers for the repose of James Daly's soul . He had brought no less than sixty recruits to join the Pioneer Temperance League , it was said . A friend asked the Volunteers in Milleen " Are you going to the mission ?" "No need" was the laughing answer . " Father Stephen is holding a mission for us here !"
"It is because he was good ," Father Dominic wrote , afterwards , to his mother , "that he was chosen to die ." They had a dug-out in Rathdrinagh - a small hollow cavity in the wide stone wall of a bohereen . The three were sleeping there on March the third . " (MORE LATER).
FACT......
[from 'The Sunday Business Post' , May 19th , 1996 , page 10]
......According to Mary Ellen Synon , journalist and ex-member of the British House of Commons --
--"Facts come and go , opinions need never vary."
Good on ya , girl - never let the truth get in the way of a good quote !
......AND FICTION -->
[from 'Hot Press' magazine , 16th October , 1996 , page 24]
<-- In an interview , Gerry Adams stated --
--" And all I know is that the Irish political establishment , for all the criticism I would have of it , on other issues , have a good , emotional sense about the North and they genuinely want to see Irish unity restored ."
HAR ! , HAR !, HAR ! . OH STOP IT , GERRY : between yourself and Mary Ellen , I'm dying here ....
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
DR. WILLIAM WALSH , ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN AND IRISH REPUBLICAN ....
.....in May , 1917 ,Archbishop William Walshvoiced his support for a candidate in the Longford North by-election ; that candidate was Joe McGuinness , an IRA prisoner in an English jail . He won the election .....
He was to continue being a thorn in the side of the British ; in April 1918 , Archbishop Walsh led the hierarchical campaign against the British desire to impose conscription in Ireland and was instrumental in ensuring that the 'Maynooth Conference' , at which the issue of conscription was discussed , passed a motion declaring that forced conscription "was an oppressive and inhuman law ."
In May , 1919 , two members of the American organisation 'Friends of Irish Freedom' were in Ireland on a fact-finding tour and a reception was organised for them in Dublin's Mansion House ; the then President of the Irish Republic , Eamon de Valera , and two Bishops , accompanied both Americans to the reception , but the five men were stopped in the street by armed British troops and forced away from the area ...... MORE LATER
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , BY DOROTHY MACARDLE - FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1924 .
KILLARNEY.....
......IRA prisoner Tadhg Coffey was led into a room with four Free State Officers in it ; he was questioned regarding his IRA unit and the whereabouts of its arm's dump , but said nothing . A loaded rifle was then put to his head .....
" One of the Officers sprang up in fury then . There was a heavy iron poker in the grate . The man picked it up , made a lunge at Coffey and struck him with it across the back . The blow felled him . Kicking and beating began then , with pauses for the questions to be repeated . The prisoner became unconscious at last . The next night Coffey and Donoghue were charged , on Wilson's evidence , with being in possession of arms . They were sentenced to execution and put in the "condemned cell" .
What served as the 'condemned cell' was a small , dark cellar . The walls were moist and the blankets , the only thing in the cell , were soaking . They were left there until the following day when , in view of the priest's visit , they were brought up to a bright room with a fire . Father Finbarr visited them to hear their last confession . He was kind . Another priest came in and jeered at them . "How much nearer are you to the Republic now ! De Valera has run off to America and left you to get the punishment , and now the rope's round your necks !" , he said .
" I know one thing only : I took an oath to the Republic and I'll keep it ", Jeremiah replied . An Officer came in and sat down with them and offered them cigarettes . "You were in the Republican Police," he said to Coffey . "Little pay you got and little thanks . Were'nt you a fool ?" . He told them that commissions were offered to both of them if they would join the Free State Army . "We'll have nothing to do with your Army," they said . (MORE LATER).
DIVIDE......
[from 'The Irish News' , 22nd November , 1995 - a Wednesday , I believe- page 8]
......After the 'Williamite Wars' , the British divided Irish land up in the following way : 2,367,175 acres to soldiers who had served in the wars , 497,001 acres to forty-nine Officers , 707,321 acres to adventurers who had lent money to help fund the war , 477,873 acres to provisors to whom land had been promised , 257,518 acres to the Duke of Ormond and a Colonel Butler , 168,436 acres to the Duke of York and 31,526 acres to Protestant Bishops .
After the war , William also 'confiscated' a further one-and-a-half million acres and distributed them among the aristocratic plunderers who followed him , including eight 'Lords' , a doctor , a Colonel Hamilton , a Mr. Keilie and a Sir T. Pendergast . TIME UP , GENTLEMEN - YOU HAVE BEEN 'FREELOADING' FOR LONG ENOUGH .....
......AND CONQUER -->
[from 'The Evening News' , 5th June , 1996 - also a Wednesday , if memory serves - page 27]
--> Archives released under the 30-year rule show that Winston Churchill , the then British Prime Minister, wanted to cover Ireland in poison gas should the Germans invade during World War Two !
And he probably wanted to do it anyway ....
.....in May , 1917 ,Archbishop William Walshvoiced his support for a candidate in the Longford North by-election ; that candidate was Joe McGuinness , an IRA prisoner in an English jail . He won the election .....
He was to continue being a thorn in the side of the British ; in April 1918 , Archbishop Walsh led the hierarchical campaign against the British desire to impose conscription in Ireland and was instrumental in ensuring that the 'Maynooth Conference' , at which the issue of conscription was discussed , passed a motion declaring that forced conscription "was an oppressive and inhuman law ."
In May , 1919 , two members of the American organisation 'Friends of Irish Freedom' were in Ireland on a fact-finding tour and a reception was organised for them in Dublin's Mansion House ; the then President of the Irish Republic , Eamon de Valera , and two Bishops , accompanied both Americans to the reception , but the five men were stopped in the street by armed British troops and forced away from the area ...... MORE LATER
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , BY DOROTHY MACARDLE - FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1924 .
KILLARNEY.....
......IRA prisoner Tadhg Coffey was led into a room with four Free State Officers in it ; he was questioned regarding his IRA unit and the whereabouts of its arm's dump , but said nothing . A loaded rifle was then put to his head .....
" One of the Officers sprang up in fury then . There was a heavy iron poker in the grate . The man picked it up , made a lunge at Coffey and struck him with it across the back . The blow felled him . Kicking and beating began then , with pauses for the questions to be repeated . The prisoner became unconscious at last . The next night Coffey and Donoghue were charged , on Wilson's evidence , with being in possession of arms . They were sentenced to execution and put in the "condemned cell" .
What served as the 'condemned cell' was a small , dark cellar . The walls were moist and the blankets , the only thing in the cell , were soaking . They were left there until the following day when , in view of the priest's visit , they were brought up to a bright room with a fire . Father Finbarr visited them to hear their last confession . He was kind . Another priest came in and jeered at them . "How much nearer are you to the Republic now ! De Valera has run off to America and left you to get the punishment , and now the rope's round your necks !" , he said .
" I know one thing only : I took an oath to the Republic and I'll keep it ", Jeremiah replied . An Officer came in and sat down with them and offered them cigarettes . "You were in the Republican Police," he said to Coffey . "Little pay you got and little thanks . Were'nt you a fool ?" . He told them that commissions were offered to both of them if they would join the Free State Army . "We'll have nothing to do with your Army," they said . (MORE LATER).
DIVIDE......
[from 'The Irish News' , 22nd November , 1995 - a Wednesday , I believe- page 8]
......After the 'Williamite Wars' , the British divided Irish land up in the following way : 2,367,175 acres to soldiers who had served in the wars , 497,001 acres to forty-nine Officers , 707,321 acres to adventurers who had lent money to help fund the war , 477,873 acres to provisors to whom land had been promised , 257,518 acres to the Duke of Ormond and a Colonel Butler , 168,436 acres to the Duke of York and 31,526 acres to Protestant Bishops .
After the war , William also 'confiscated' a further one-and-a-half million acres and distributed them among the aristocratic plunderers who followed him , including eight 'Lords' , a doctor , a Colonel Hamilton , a Mr. Keilie and a Sir T. Pendergast . TIME UP , GENTLEMEN - YOU HAVE BEEN 'FREELOADING' FOR LONG ENOUGH .....
......AND CONQUER -->
[from 'The Evening News' , 5th June , 1996 - also a Wednesday , if memory serves - page 27]
--> Archives released under the 30-year rule show that Winston Churchill , the then British Prime Minister, wanted to cover Ireland in poison gas should the Germans invade during World War Two !
And he probably wanted to do it anyway ....
Tuesday, September 09, 2003
DR. WILLIAM WALSH , ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN AND IRISH REPUBLICAN ......
.....the appointment of WILLIAM WALSH as Archbishop of Dublin in 1885 was objected to by the British , but they were ignored . He soon proved to be a thorn in their side .....
He was a vocal supporter of the 'Land League' and refrained from using the pulpit to condemn those that were on the 'hit-list' handed down from Westminster. Indeed , another Archbishop , Thomas Croke of Cashel , in County Tipperary (the first patron of the GAA) backed Archbishop Walsh in his support for the 'Plan of Campaign' during the renewed 'Land War' (1886).
His was practically a lone voice after the 1916 Rising , in supporting the rebels , and he was not shy in criticising the British regime in Ireland . In May , 1917 , he used the fact that he was a well-known (or "notorious" , as the British would have it)cleric to obtain publicity for Irish Republican prisoner Joe McGuinness (who was incarcerated in Lewes Jail , in England , at the time); Joe was being run as a candidate in a by-election in Longford North , and Archbishop Walsh issued a statement to the media before the election in which he condemned British intractability and warned people that the Brits were seriously considering partioning the country .
Joe McGuinness won the election ! (MORE LATER).
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
KILLARNEY.....
.....two young IRA Volunteers , and close friends , Jeremiah Donoghue and Tadhg Coffey , were captured in the Barleymount area by Free State troops on the 22nd of February , 1923 .....
" When the troops burst into the house , Donoghue was resting at the fire and Coffey was cleaning his gun . Wilson , who was in command , rushed at Coffey , shouting abuse , and began to kick and beat him violently ; his mother screamed , and Wilson struck her a blow that flung her across the floor . The soldiers rushed about the cottage smashing the crockery on the dresser , smashing the pictures in the room , spilling the milk and flour over the floor .
Coffey and Donoghue were put against a wall outside and threatened with instant death unless they would tell where the rest of their column and the dump of arms were to be found . The kicking and beating which followed their refusal was so brutal that one of the Free State soldiers began to cry out in distress , "God , God, aren't they prisoners ?" Donoghue was defiant . "I don't care if you skin me : 'tis for the Republic," he said . The Great Southern Hotel in Killarney was the barrack .
It was there they had murdered Bertie Murphy . It was there the prisoners were brought . The same night Coffey was summoned to a room where four officers were sitting by the fire . The questioning began again . "Very well," Wilson said , when Coffey refused to answer . "You'll get a few days more to be singing 'Another martyr for old Ireland' ." Lieutenant Mack became excited . "I'll blow your brains out," he shouted , lifting his rifle , "unless you tell." Bertie Murphy had been killed there for less , but the lifted rifle evoked no reply "..... (MORE LATER).
PRESIDENTS AND PIRATES......
.....U S President Andrew Jackson's parents were born in Donegal and emigrated to the USA . As a boy , his mother , an Irish Republican , told young Andrew of the horrors the British committed on the Irish people , and she told him of how the Irish fought back . During the American Revolution , Jackson was taken prisoner by the British , who soon discovered that he had Irish roots . A British Officer ordered Jackson to shine boots and , when Jackson refused , the enraged Officer unsheated his sword and slashed young Jackson across the face , leaving a scar he would carry to his grave .
Throughout his life , Andrew Jackson despised the British . The U S again fought the British , from 1812-1814, and the war was fought to a standstill . A treaty was signed in England but it took thirty days to get word across the sea to America and the war waged on . The famous pirate , Jean Lafitte , an admirer of Jackson , got word to him that the war was over , but Jackson decided to ignore this until he got an official order ! His army , supported by Lafitte's pirates , were prepared to meet the Brits in battle , in New Orleans and , under a fog in the bayou , the British attacked ; the Americans , under Jackson , destroyed them .
The Brits lost over two-thousand soldiers and the Americans lost eight ! Later , when asked why the battle was fought after the war was over , Jackson claimed he had no official word that that was the position !
Way to go , Andy - the Brits 'waive the rules' when it suits them ....
.....the appointment of WILLIAM WALSH as Archbishop of Dublin in 1885 was objected to by the British , but they were ignored . He soon proved to be a thorn in their side .....
He was a vocal supporter of the 'Land League' and refrained from using the pulpit to condemn those that were on the 'hit-list' handed down from Westminster. Indeed , another Archbishop , Thomas Croke of Cashel , in County Tipperary (the first patron of the GAA) backed Archbishop Walsh in his support for the 'Plan of Campaign' during the renewed 'Land War' (1886).
His was practically a lone voice after the 1916 Rising , in supporting the rebels , and he was not shy in criticising the British regime in Ireland . In May , 1917 , he used the fact that he was a well-known (or "notorious" , as the British would have it)cleric to obtain publicity for Irish Republican prisoner Joe McGuinness (who was incarcerated in Lewes Jail , in England , at the time); Joe was being run as a candidate in a by-election in Longford North , and Archbishop Walsh issued a statement to the media before the election in which he condemned British intractability and warned people that the Brits were seriously considering partioning the country .
Joe McGuinness won the election ! (MORE LATER).
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
KILLARNEY.....
.....two young IRA Volunteers , and close friends , Jeremiah Donoghue and Tadhg Coffey , were captured in the Barleymount area by Free State troops on the 22nd of February , 1923 .....
" When the troops burst into the house , Donoghue was resting at the fire and Coffey was cleaning his gun . Wilson , who was in command , rushed at Coffey , shouting abuse , and began to kick and beat him violently ; his mother screamed , and Wilson struck her a blow that flung her across the floor . The soldiers rushed about the cottage smashing the crockery on the dresser , smashing the pictures in the room , spilling the milk and flour over the floor .
Coffey and Donoghue were put against a wall outside and threatened with instant death unless they would tell where the rest of their column and the dump of arms were to be found . The kicking and beating which followed their refusal was so brutal that one of the Free State soldiers began to cry out in distress , "God , God, aren't they prisoners ?" Donoghue was defiant . "I don't care if you skin me : 'tis for the Republic," he said . The Great Southern Hotel in Killarney was the barrack .
It was there they had murdered Bertie Murphy . It was there the prisoners were brought . The same night Coffey was summoned to a room where four officers were sitting by the fire . The questioning began again . "Very well," Wilson said , when Coffey refused to answer . "You'll get a few days more to be singing 'Another martyr for old Ireland' ." Lieutenant Mack became excited . "I'll blow your brains out," he shouted , lifting his rifle , "unless you tell." Bertie Murphy had been killed there for less , but the lifted rifle evoked no reply "..... (MORE LATER).
PRESIDENTS AND PIRATES......
.....U S President Andrew Jackson's parents were born in Donegal and emigrated to the USA . As a boy , his mother , an Irish Republican , told young Andrew of the horrors the British committed on the Irish people , and she told him of how the Irish fought back . During the American Revolution , Jackson was taken prisoner by the British , who soon discovered that he had Irish roots . A British Officer ordered Jackson to shine boots and , when Jackson refused , the enraged Officer unsheated his sword and slashed young Jackson across the face , leaving a scar he would carry to his grave .
Throughout his life , Andrew Jackson despised the British . The U S again fought the British , from 1812-1814, and the war was fought to a standstill . A treaty was signed in England but it took thirty days to get word across the sea to America and the war waged on . The famous pirate , Jean Lafitte , an admirer of Jackson , got word to him that the war was over , but Jackson decided to ignore this until he got an official order ! His army , supported by Lafitte's pirates , were prepared to meet the Brits in battle , in New Orleans and , under a fog in the bayou , the British attacked ; the Americans , under Jackson , destroyed them .
The Brits lost over two-thousand soldiers and the Americans lost eight ! Later , when asked why the battle was fought after the war was over , Jackson claimed he had no official word that that was the position !
Way to go , Andy - the Brits 'waive the rules' when it suits them ....
Monday, September 08, 2003
DR. WILLIAM WALSH , ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN AND IRISH REPUBLICAN .....
.....the Brits were wary of the newly-elected President of Maynooth College , William Walsh,as he had refused to jump at their command in the past .....
Most of the Catholic Church hierarchy would be more 'obliging' to Westminster ; being loath to 'bite the hand that feeds' ; an easy decision as , for the most part , the recipient would be of the same mind-set as the establishment .
At forty-four years young , William Walsh was appointed Archbishop of Dublin ; however , due to his refusal to condemn the Fenian Movement as had his predecessors , the British objected to his appointment , but were ignored . Indeed , one of his predecessors in particular , a Cardinal Paul Cullen (Archbishop of Dublin between 1852 and 1878) was said to be all but sleeping with the British Queen , such was his devotion to the British 'Royals' and the system they lorded over !
Much to the dismay of the British and to those within the Catholic hierarchy , Archbishop William Walsh did not disappoint the policy-makers in Westminster ......MORE LATER
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924
KILLARNEY
" On the Countess's Bridge , in Killarney , there is an iron cross with a painted inscription -
" In memory of Jer Donoghue , Stephen Buckley , Daniel Donoghue and Tim Murphy , IRA , killed on this spot on March 7 , 1923. RIP."
Jeremiah Donoghue was a young , upright , keen-looking lad whose whole heart was in Ireland's fight . The enemy , whoever he was , should be defied outright , in the open ; you should stand in his path and challenge him - that was his idea of strategy . He was for every daring enterprise , reckless of danger , impatient of counting the cost .
His comrades laughed at his wild honesty , but loved him for it . Tadhg Coffey was his close friend . Both had been out against the Black-and-Tans ; both were out in the Killarney area in the winter of 1922 . They were captured in Coffey's home , in Barleymount , on the 22nd of February , 1923 ....." MORE LATER
COWBOY......
[from 'The Irish News' ,15th of May , 1996 , page 7 - a Wednesday , if memory serves ....]
...... " I do not care if I never see a united Ireland ; nor do many of my fellow countrymen ."
--- so said Free State Senator Shane Ross , while addressing the 'North Down Conservative Association' , in Bangor , on Tuesday , 14th May 1996 .
When in Rome , Shane - 'cept our Shane says things like thatALLthe time : would'nt ya think he'd just ride off into the sunset of his British Empire .....
......AND COWGIRL -->
[from 'The Sunday Tribune' magazine , 19th May , 1996 , page 33]
<-- " I like some bony bits in personalities , some prickly bits , something you can argue with , because its only that way you get a solution . Diplomacy will not necessarily get you a solution ."
--- so said Margaret Thatcher , ex-British Prime Minister , and 'diplomat' of the 'Belgrano' !
Garret Fitzgerald would also agree with you , Maggie - remember 1985 : " OUT, OUT, OUT. "But it was'nt Fitzer saying that to the Brits ; it was Thatcher telling the Fine Gael leader which of his "aspirations" (ie 'crumbs') he could'nt have .....
.....the Brits were wary of the newly-elected President of Maynooth College , William Walsh,as he had refused to jump at their command in the past .....
Most of the Catholic Church hierarchy would be more 'obliging' to Westminster ; being loath to 'bite the hand that feeds' ; an easy decision as , for the most part , the recipient would be of the same mind-set as the establishment .
At forty-four years young , William Walsh was appointed Archbishop of Dublin ; however , due to his refusal to condemn the Fenian Movement as had his predecessors , the British objected to his appointment , but were ignored . Indeed , one of his predecessors in particular , a Cardinal Paul Cullen (Archbishop of Dublin between 1852 and 1878) was said to be all but sleeping with the British Queen , such was his devotion to the British 'Royals' and the system they lorded over !
Much to the dismay of the British and to those within the Catholic hierarchy , Archbishop William Walsh did not disappoint the policy-makers in Westminster ......MORE LATER
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924
KILLARNEY
" On the Countess's Bridge , in Killarney , there is an iron cross with a painted inscription -
" In memory of Jer Donoghue , Stephen Buckley , Daniel Donoghue and Tim Murphy , IRA , killed on this spot on March 7 , 1923. RIP."
Jeremiah Donoghue was a young , upright , keen-looking lad whose whole heart was in Ireland's fight . The enemy , whoever he was , should be defied outright , in the open ; you should stand in his path and challenge him - that was his idea of strategy . He was for every daring enterprise , reckless of danger , impatient of counting the cost .
His comrades laughed at his wild honesty , but loved him for it . Tadhg Coffey was his close friend . Both had been out against the Black-and-Tans ; both were out in the Killarney area in the winter of 1922 . They were captured in Coffey's home , in Barleymount , on the 22nd of February , 1923 ....." MORE LATER
COWBOY......
[from 'The Irish News' ,15th of May , 1996 , page 7 - a Wednesday , if memory serves ....]
...... " I do not care if I never see a united Ireland ; nor do many of my fellow countrymen ."
--- so said Free State Senator Shane Ross , while addressing the 'North Down Conservative Association' , in Bangor , on Tuesday , 14th May 1996 .
When in Rome , Shane - 'cept our Shane says things like thatALLthe time : would'nt ya think he'd just ride off into the sunset of his British Empire .....
......AND COWGIRL -->
[from 'The Sunday Tribune' magazine , 19th May , 1996 , page 33]
<-- " I like some bony bits in personalities , some prickly bits , something you can argue with , because its only that way you get a solution . Diplomacy will not necessarily get you a solution ."
--- so said Margaret Thatcher , ex-British Prime Minister , and 'diplomat' of the 'Belgrano' !
Garret Fitzgerald would also agree with you , Maggie - remember 1985 : " OUT, OUT, OUT. "But it was'nt Fitzer saying that to the Brits ; it was Thatcher telling the Fine Gael leader which of his "aspirations" (ie 'crumbs') he could'nt have .....
Sunday, September 07, 2003
DR. WILLIAM WALSH , ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN - AND IRISH REPUBLICAN .
To be "condemned from the pulpit" is practically a weekly occurrence for Irish Republicans on this island . That has always been the case throughout the 800-plus years of the struggle for Irish freedom , and is something that Irish Republicans have come to expect , from the Catholic hierarchy especially , but not confined to that particular religious grouping .
Personally , when myself and my (present !) wife were making arrangements to get married ("Its never that long ago , sweetheart , is it ...?") , we postponed the happy event (!) for one week as , in doing so , the priest who was 'booked' for the wedding would be on his holidays ; that priest , now dead , was Fr. Michael Clery , a man who was so anti-Republican as to be almost pro-British ! To my regret I never told him why we did'nt want to be associated with him , not that it would have made any difference to his attitude .
Anyway - the priest who 'did the job' on us turned out to have a different type of 'sickness' ; his name is Fr Walsh , and he's in the news now because of that 'sickness' .... out of the frying pan etc !
William Walsh was born in Dublin in 1841 , and studied in Maynooth College ; as a student he was exemplarily , and soon rose up the 'ranks' to become President of Maynooth College . The Brits were wary of Walsh , as he was not one for jumping at their command ...... (MORE LATER).
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
BALLYSEEDY CROSS .....
....the nine IRA prisoners were tied together , in a circle , around the land-mine ; the Free State soldiers moved away from them - the prisoners knew what was about to happen . Then the shock came , blinding , deafening and overwhelming .....
" For Stephen Fuller it was followed by a silence in which he knew that he was alive . Then sounds came to him - cries and low moans , then the sounds of rifle fire and exploding bombs . Then silence again : the work was done . He turned over ; he was not hurt : he was lying under a ditch in the wood . His clothes were scorched and torn to shreds ; cords with burnt and broken ends were knotted on both his wrists .
The explosion that killed the two men to whom he was bound had severed the cords and thrown him , uninjured , into the ditch . The Free State soldiers had no means of counting their victims . They went back to their breakfast , and Stephen Fuller crawled away to safety over the fields . The Military thought him dead ; his name was on one of the nine coffins which they sent out . There was madness among the people of Tralee . What prisoners were in those coffins ? No one could tell . The people opened them in the streets .
The frenzy that followed was terrible ; the women seemed demented ; Free State soldiers were stoned ; the funerals of those Republicans kindled a fire through Kerry that it would be difficult to subdue . The Free State Government issued a new regulation to their Kerry command -
" Prisoners who die while in military custody in the Kerry command shall be interred by the troops in the area in which the death has taken place. "
It was published in the Dublin press on the twenty-first of March (1923).
END
NEPOTISM GONE MAD .....
[from 'AP/RN' , December 1986]
.....President Desmond Hoyte of Guyana elected himself as Prime Minister , a move which everyone expected . But then he appointed himself as Chairperson of the Cabinet - again , most people in the country were not surprised , as he was simply ensuring that his power-base would be secured .
However , even his own cronies deserted him when he took the following positions -
Minister of Defence , Minister of National Security , Minister of National Services , Minister of Public Services , Minister of Regional Development , Minister of American-Indian Affairs , Director of Elections , Director of Industry , Director of Mining , Director of Foreign Affairs , Chairperson of the Water Board , Minister of State for Prisons , Chief Fire Officer , Chief Registrar for Births , Deaths and Marriages , and Controller of Licences !!
....no idea what the man got up to in his spare time !
To be "condemned from the pulpit" is practically a weekly occurrence for Irish Republicans on this island . That has always been the case throughout the 800-plus years of the struggle for Irish freedom , and is something that Irish Republicans have come to expect , from the Catholic hierarchy especially , but not confined to that particular religious grouping .
Personally , when myself and my (present !) wife were making arrangements to get married ("Its never that long ago , sweetheart , is it ...?") , we postponed the happy event (!) for one week as , in doing so , the priest who was 'booked' for the wedding would be on his holidays ; that priest , now dead , was Fr. Michael Clery , a man who was so anti-Republican as to be almost pro-British ! To my regret I never told him why we did'nt want to be associated with him , not that it would have made any difference to his attitude .
Anyway - the priest who 'did the job' on us turned out to have a different type of 'sickness' ; his name is Fr Walsh , and he's in the news now because of that 'sickness' .... out of the frying pan etc !
William Walsh was born in Dublin in 1841 , and studied in Maynooth College ; as a student he was exemplarily , and soon rose up the 'ranks' to become President of Maynooth College . The Brits were wary of Walsh , as he was not one for jumping at their command ...... (MORE LATER).
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
BALLYSEEDY CROSS .....
....the nine IRA prisoners were tied together , in a circle , around the land-mine ; the Free State soldiers moved away from them - the prisoners knew what was about to happen . Then the shock came , blinding , deafening and overwhelming .....
" For Stephen Fuller it was followed by a silence in which he knew that he was alive . Then sounds came to him - cries and low moans , then the sounds of rifle fire and exploding bombs . Then silence again : the work was done . He turned over ; he was not hurt : he was lying under a ditch in the wood . His clothes were scorched and torn to shreds ; cords with burnt and broken ends were knotted on both his wrists .
The explosion that killed the two men to whom he was bound had severed the cords and thrown him , uninjured , into the ditch . The Free State soldiers had no means of counting their victims . They went back to their breakfast , and Stephen Fuller crawled away to safety over the fields . The Military thought him dead ; his name was on one of the nine coffins which they sent out . There was madness among the people of Tralee . What prisoners were in those coffins ? No one could tell . The people opened them in the streets .
The frenzy that followed was terrible ; the women seemed demented ; Free State soldiers were stoned ; the funerals of those Republicans kindled a fire through Kerry that it would be difficult to subdue . The Free State Government issued a new regulation to their Kerry command -
" Prisoners who die while in military custody in the Kerry command shall be interred by the troops in the area in which the death has taken place. "
It was published in the Dublin press on the twenty-first of March (1923).
END
NEPOTISM GONE MAD .....
[from 'AP/RN' , December 1986]
.....President Desmond Hoyte of Guyana elected himself as Prime Minister , a move which everyone expected . But then he appointed himself as Chairperson of the Cabinet - again , most people in the country were not surprised , as he was simply ensuring that his power-base would be secured .
However , even his own cronies deserted him when he took the following positions -
Minister of Defence , Minister of National Security , Minister of National Services , Minister of Public Services , Minister of Regional Development , Minister of American-Indian Affairs , Director of Elections , Director of Industry , Director of Mining , Director of Foreign Affairs , Chairperson of the Water Board , Minister of State for Prisons , Chief Fire Officer , Chief Registrar for Births , Deaths and Marriages , and Controller of Licences !!
....no idea what the man got up to in his spare time !
Saturday, September 06, 2003
MOLLY O'REILLY , GPO , 1916 ......
....when the 1921 split took place , over Michael Collins' support for the 'Treaty of Surrender' , Molly O'Reilly rejected the Free Staters and carried-on with her work for the Republican Movement ....
She was arrested in March 1923 and released on 23rd November that same year (along with about fifty other female Republican prisoners) after a sixteen-day hunger strike . Molly O'Reilly never compromised her principles in relation to her Republican beliefs ; she could have joined Michael Collins as an Officer in his Free State Intelligence Department - she had over ten years of sensitive information in her head (ie safe houses , contacts , meeting-places etc) but had no respect for those who had by then , armed by the British , turned on their former comrades .
She chose the hard road and stayed with the Republican cause . She died a 'Brits Out' Republican on 4th October , 1950 , age fifty . Molly O'Reilly is on that long list of Irish Republican activists that deserve to be remembered better than they are .....
[END]
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published i 1924 .
BALLYSEEDY CROSS ....
....the nine IRA prisoners , all bruised and battered from the beatings they got from their Free State captors , were put into a lorry , which was heavily escorted , and driven along the Castleisland Road .....
" They were being taken , they were told , to remove barricades . They did not believe that - sick men with useless hands and arms . One of the soldiers handed each of them a cigarette . "The last smoke you'll have ," he said . The lorry pulled up near the corner of the Killorglin Road , beside Ballyseedy Wood . They saw a log lying across the road . They were made to get out of the lorry and stand in a close circle around the log .
The soldiers had strong ropes and electric cord . Each prisoner's hands were tied behind him , then his arms were tied above the elbow to those of the man on either side of him . Their feet were bound together above the ankles and their legs were bound together above the knees . Then a strong rope was passed round the nine and the soldiers moved away . The prisoners had their backs to the log and the mine , which was beside it ; they could see the movement of the soldiers and knew what would happen next .
They gripped one another's hands , those who could , and prayed for God's mercy upon their souls . The shock came , blinding , deafening , overwhelming ..... " (MORE LATER)>
MORE REAGANISMS .......
[from 'AP/RN' , December , 1986]
....... At a media briefing in 1986 , the then U S President , Ronald Reagan , called the reporters "sons of bitches" ; when those present objected , one of Ronnie's 'spin doctors' , a Mr Larry Speakes , attempted to placate them by claiming that the President had actually said - "It's sunny and your rich" !
In early April 1986 , Reagan said (in relation to invading Nicaragua) - " You are looking at an individual that is the last one in the world that would ever want to put American troops into Latin America . We'd lose all our friends if we did anything of that kind . And anyway , we have'nt been asked ." !
On the bombs dropped on the French Embassy in Libya , he said - "Fortunately , no real harm was done . And besides , its not as if we hit the embassy of a friendly country . More people were disappointed over here than we hurt over there ." !
At a press conference in Chicago on 12th August , 1986 , he said - " We know there are some sound people in the ANC , but you do have an element there with its own agenda ." (WHAT'S THAT , Mr. President ? You mean there are people in the ANC who DON'T follow an American agenda ? ")
During the 1986 Congressional elections , Reagan said - " You know , America used to wear a 'kick me' sign around its neck . Today every nickle and dime dictator around the world knows that if he tangles with the U S of A , he will have to pay the price ." ! (Can't ya just picture it : High Noon , and the 'good guy' steps out on to the dusty street . He looks the 'bad guy' in the eye , and says - " Ah've come fer ma boyyy...." )
AND FINALLY --> <-- still on the Reagan connection (ie 'space') : Dr. Spock , the child psychologist , said that Ronald Reagan "was one of the greatest frauds of all time ."
Dr. Spock , at that time , was'nt to know about Clinton and Baby Bush ; Reagan has some serious competition .....
....when the 1921 split took place , over Michael Collins' support for the 'Treaty of Surrender' , Molly O'Reilly rejected the Free Staters and carried-on with her work for the Republican Movement ....
She was arrested in March 1923 and released on 23rd November that same year (along with about fifty other female Republican prisoners) after a sixteen-day hunger strike . Molly O'Reilly never compromised her principles in relation to her Republican beliefs ; she could have joined Michael Collins as an Officer in his Free State Intelligence Department - she had over ten years of sensitive information in her head (ie safe houses , contacts , meeting-places etc) but had no respect for those who had by then , armed by the British , turned on their former comrades .
She chose the hard road and stayed with the Republican cause . She died a 'Brits Out' Republican on 4th October , 1950 , age fifty . Molly O'Reilly is on that long list of Irish Republican activists that deserve to be remembered better than they are .....
[END]
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published i 1924 .
BALLYSEEDY CROSS ....
....the nine IRA prisoners , all bruised and battered from the beatings they got from their Free State captors , were put into a lorry , which was heavily escorted , and driven along the Castleisland Road .....
" They were being taken , they were told , to remove barricades . They did not believe that - sick men with useless hands and arms . One of the soldiers handed each of them a cigarette . "The last smoke you'll have ," he said . The lorry pulled up near the corner of the Killorglin Road , beside Ballyseedy Wood . They saw a log lying across the road . They were made to get out of the lorry and stand in a close circle around the log .
The soldiers had strong ropes and electric cord . Each prisoner's hands were tied behind him , then his arms were tied above the elbow to those of the man on either side of him . Their feet were bound together above the ankles and their legs were bound together above the knees . Then a strong rope was passed round the nine and the soldiers moved away . The prisoners had their backs to the log and the mine , which was beside it ; they could see the movement of the soldiers and knew what would happen next .
They gripped one another's hands , those who could , and prayed for God's mercy upon their souls . The shock came , blinding , deafening , overwhelming ..... " (MORE LATER)>
MORE REAGANISMS .......
[from 'AP/RN' , December , 1986]
....... At a media briefing in 1986 , the then U S President , Ronald Reagan , called the reporters "sons of bitches" ; when those present objected , one of Ronnie's 'spin doctors' , a Mr Larry Speakes , attempted to placate them by claiming that the President had actually said - "It's sunny and your rich" !
In early April 1986 , Reagan said (in relation to invading Nicaragua) - " You are looking at an individual that is the last one in the world that would ever want to put American troops into Latin America . We'd lose all our friends if we did anything of that kind . And anyway , we have'nt been asked ." !
On the bombs dropped on the French Embassy in Libya , he said - "Fortunately , no real harm was done . And besides , its not as if we hit the embassy of a friendly country . More people were disappointed over here than we hurt over there ." !
At a press conference in Chicago on 12th August , 1986 , he said - " We know there are some sound people in the ANC , but you do have an element there with its own agenda ." (WHAT'S THAT , Mr. President ? You mean there are people in the ANC who DON'T follow an American agenda ? ")
During the 1986 Congressional elections , Reagan said - " You know , America used to wear a 'kick me' sign around its neck . Today every nickle and dime dictator around the world knows that if he tangles with the U S of A , he will have to pay the price ." ! (Can't ya just picture it : High Noon , and the 'good guy' steps out on to the dusty street . He looks the 'bad guy' in the eye , and says - " Ah've come fer ma boyyy...." )
AND FINALLY --> <-- still on the Reagan connection (ie 'space') : Dr. Spock , the child psychologist , said that Ronald Reagan "was one of the greatest frauds of all time ."
Dr. Spock , at that time , was'nt to know about Clinton and Baby Bush ; Reagan has some serious competition .....
Friday, September 05, 2003
MOLLY O'REILLY , GPO , 1916 ......
...in Dublin's GPO with James Connolly on Easter Monday , 1916 , Molly O'Reilly asked to be put to work as a 'dispatch carrier' for the rebels .....
She left Ireland after the Easter Rising and lived in Yorkshire , in England , where she studied nursing , but came home in 1919 and , as a member of Cumann na nBan , spent the next three years fighting the Black-and-Tans ; her job was to place 'on-the-run' IRA Volunteers in safe-houses and to provide a means of contact between them and the IRA leadership .
By this time , Molly O'Reilly had secured a job in the 'United Services Club' on Dublin's Stephens Green - a 'drinking club/safe haven' for British soldiers ! It was through 'loose talk' at the club that Molly picked up useful information , which she passed on to Michael Collins , the then IRA Director of Intelligence . However , unlike Collins , Molly O'Reilly opposed the Treaty of Surrender (December 1921) and carried-on with her work for Irish Republicans . (MORE LATER)>
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
BALLYSEEDY CROSS ....
.... John Shanahan was taken by his Free State captors into a dark cell with nine coffins in it ; they pointed out his own coffin to him and questioned him again regarding the names of his comrades on the outside . He stayed silent . He was marched back to his own cell and locked in ....
" The prisoners were given some kind of trial in the Workhouse on March the third , but no sentence was told . They were kept there for three days more . Shanahan's back had grown weak since the beating in Ballymullen , and before March the sixth , he collapsed . His illness saved him when his comrades were taken out .
Very early on Wednesday , while it was still dark , Stephen Fuller was called out of his cell . He was taken to the guardroom . George Shea and Timothy Twomey were with him and they found six more prisoners there . An officer was shouting at Patrick Buckley , accusing him of having deserted from the RIC , raging against him for giving over a barrack to Michael Brennan before the Truce . It was true : he had done it - he was to get his punishment now .
The prisoners looked ill ; one had a broken arm ; all were scarred and bruised and suffering - James Welsh had a bandage on his broken wrist . The Free State soldiers searched them in the guardroom and took their cigarettes . They were put into a lorry with a heavy escort and driven along the Castleisland Road ....... (MORE LATER)>
DO AS I SAY ......
[from 'The Evening Press' newspaper , 29th December , 1986 , page 6 : a Monday , I believe...]
......" How do you think I feel when I told the American people that I did'nt know about the diversion of funds from the Iranian arms sale to the Contras and they don't believe me ? It disappoints me . It hurts ."
-- Ronnie Reagan , the then U S President .
CUT ! CUT ! NO, no no , Ronnie ; sheesh ! Come ON , Ronnie - you're an actor , for Christ sake - say it like ya MEAN it . OK ? RIGHT , places everyone ... and ACTION .....!
When Ronnie was Governor of California , he followed the advice of other staffers and fired several top aides suspected of being gay ! This was despite the fact that he himself had worked with those people for some time without thinking that they were gay .
This happened in his first year in Office as Governor and , four years later (after his re-election to a second term) it emerged that the by then millionaire Governor , who had argued for years that "taxes should hurt" , had managed , through various shelters and loopholes , to escape paying any state income-taxes himself for the previous year !
So - if you're a non-gay , non tax-paying hypocrite ... why , ya'll fit right in !
.....AND NOT AS I DO -->
[from 'Hot Press' magazine , 14th May , 1997 , page 7]
<-- " You can accuse me of being a hypocrite , but hypocrisy is a component of politics . Sometimes , hypocrisy is important to ensure that things are achieved ."
--Colm Keaveny , Free State Labour Party .
Yeah , right , Colm : by the way , are you gay ? Have you paid all your taxes ? Ever wanted to be Governor of California ..... ?
...in Dublin's GPO with James Connolly on Easter Monday , 1916 , Molly O'Reilly asked to be put to work as a 'dispatch carrier' for the rebels .....
She left Ireland after the Easter Rising and lived in Yorkshire , in England , where she studied nursing , but came home in 1919 and , as a member of Cumann na nBan , spent the next three years fighting the Black-and-Tans ; her job was to place 'on-the-run' IRA Volunteers in safe-houses and to provide a means of contact between them and the IRA leadership .
By this time , Molly O'Reilly had secured a job in the 'United Services Club' on Dublin's Stephens Green - a 'drinking club/safe haven' for British soldiers ! It was through 'loose talk' at the club that Molly picked up useful information , which she passed on to Michael Collins , the then IRA Director of Intelligence . However , unlike Collins , Molly O'Reilly opposed the Treaty of Surrender (December 1921) and carried-on with her work for Irish Republicans . (MORE LATER)>
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
BALLYSEEDY CROSS ....
.... John Shanahan was taken by his Free State captors into a dark cell with nine coffins in it ; they pointed out his own coffin to him and questioned him again regarding the names of his comrades on the outside . He stayed silent . He was marched back to his own cell and locked in ....
" The prisoners were given some kind of trial in the Workhouse on March the third , but no sentence was told . They were kept there for three days more . Shanahan's back had grown weak since the beating in Ballymullen , and before March the sixth , he collapsed . His illness saved him when his comrades were taken out .
Very early on Wednesday , while it was still dark , Stephen Fuller was called out of his cell . He was taken to the guardroom . George Shea and Timothy Twomey were with him and they found six more prisoners there . An officer was shouting at Patrick Buckley , accusing him of having deserted from the RIC , raging against him for giving over a barrack to Michael Brennan before the Truce . It was true : he had done it - he was to get his punishment now .
The prisoners looked ill ; one had a broken arm ; all were scarred and bruised and suffering - James Welsh had a bandage on his broken wrist . The Free State soldiers searched them in the guardroom and took their cigarettes . They were put into a lorry with a heavy escort and driven along the Castleisland Road ....... (MORE LATER)>
DO AS I SAY ......
[from 'The Evening Press' newspaper , 29th December , 1986 , page 6 : a Monday , I believe...]
......" How do you think I feel when I told the American people that I did'nt know about the diversion of funds from the Iranian arms sale to the Contras and they don't believe me ? It disappoints me . It hurts ."
-- Ronnie Reagan , the then U S President .
CUT ! CUT ! NO, no no , Ronnie ; sheesh ! Come ON , Ronnie - you're an actor , for Christ sake - say it like ya MEAN it . OK ? RIGHT , places everyone ... and ACTION .....!
When Ronnie was Governor of California , he followed the advice of other staffers and fired several top aides suspected of being gay ! This was despite the fact that he himself had worked with those people for some time without thinking that they were gay .
This happened in his first year in Office as Governor and , four years later (after his re-election to a second term) it emerged that the by then millionaire Governor , who had argued for years that "taxes should hurt" , had managed , through various shelters and loopholes , to escape paying any state income-taxes himself for the previous year !
So - if you're a non-gay , non tax-paying hypocrite ... why , ya'll fit right in !
.....AND NOT AS I DO -->
[from 'Hot Press' magazine , 14th May , 1997 , page 7]
<-- " You can accuse me of being a hypocrite , but hypocrisy is a component of politics . Sometimes , hypocrisy is important to ensure that things are achieved ."
--Colm Keaveny , Free State Labour Party .
Yeah , right , Colm : by the way , are you gay ? Have you paid all your taxes ? Ever wanted to be Governor of California ..... ?
Thursday, September 04, 2003
MOLLY O'REILLY - GPO , 1916 ......
.....only thirteen years young at the time of the 'Great Lock Out' , Molly O'Reilly , who lived in Dublin's Gardiner Street and was no stranger to poverty herself , was determined to help those fighting for change .....
Between August 1913 and February 1914 , Molly assisted Clann na nGaedheal in Liberty Hall and elsewhere , in running soup kitchens for the striking workers and their families . When she was about fourteen years young , Molly O'Reilly joined the 'Irish Citizen Army' ; in July that year (1914) , Molly's house in Gardiner Street was one of the venues used as an arms dump to store the weapon's landed by 'The Asgard' at Howth , in Dublin .
When the 'Irish Citizen Army' took over the GPO in Dublin city centre on Easter Monday , 23rd April , 1916 , Molly O'Reilly was present ; for the next week she worked as a 'dispatch carrier' for James Connolly - it was a position she herself wanted , and she was proved right in her assumption that a sixteen year-old girl would do the job better than a grown man . (MORE LATER)>
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
BALLYSEEDY CROSS ....
.... George Shea , Tim Twomey , John Shanahan and Stephen Fuller were captured on the twenty-first of February in a dug-out .....
" They were taken , to be interrogated , to Ballymullen Barracks in Tralee . 'Interrogation' by (David) Neligan in Ballymullen Barracks was an ordeal under which reason might give way . The prisoner , in the usual practice , was first blind-folded , then his arms were tied to his sides , and 'interrogation' began . This time a hammer was used . The prisoners were taken in separately . When John Shanahan came out his head was covered with blood and his spine was injured , but he was still able to walk .
The hammer failed . The prisoners were taken out to be shot , and shots were fired round their heads . They were then sentenced , for their obdurate silence , to be executed at midnight and were then locked in their cells . At midnight , Stephen Fuller heard his comrades being taken out , one by one , and heard shots fired in the yard . The guards came for him and took him down to a dark cell . He saw nine coffins there with the lids closed . "Three of those have their men," they told him , "and this is yours," and they stopped to unscrew the lid .
For half-an-hour more they were questioning him , he wishing only for a sharp end . Then they locked him into his cell again . " (MORE LATER)>
RUBBISH # 1 .......
[from AP/RN , 5th August , 1999 , page 13]
..... The internationally authoritative 'Rachels Hazardous Waste News' pointed out that a one-pound lump of garbage has a surface area of about 44 square inches , the size of a large post-card . However , if you burn it , the surface area of the same one-pound lump increases to 9,900 square yards --- about the size of two football pitches !
.......RUBBISH # 2 -->
[from 'Ireland on Sunday' , 13th February , 2000 , page 31]
<-- " The Good Friday Agreement is the democratic wish of ninty-five per cent of the population in the Irish Republic and seventy-two per cent in the North ."
--- Niall O'Dowd ,newspaper publisher and Provo 'point-man cum door-opener' in America .
Yeah , well ...trouble is , Niall , in "the Irish Republic" , 43.97 per cent of those entitled to vote did'nt bother doing so and , of those that did vote , 5.6 per cent voted 'NO' . How does that leave 95 per cent to vote 'YES' ?
And , in "the North" -- well ... 19 per cent of those entitled to vote did'nt bother doing so and , of those that did vote , 28.88 per cent voted 'NO' . How does that leave 72 per cent to vote 'YES' ?
And what else are you wrong about , Niall .... ?
.....only thirteen years young at the time of the 'Great Lock Out' , Molly O'Reilly , who lived in Dublin's Gardiner Street and was no stranger to poverty herself , was determined to help those fighting for change .....
Between August 1913 and February 1914 , Molly assisted Clann na nGaedheal in Liberty Hall and elsewhere , in running soup kitchens for the striking workers and their families . When she was about fourteen years young , Molly O'Reilly joined the 'Irish Citizen Army' ; in July that year (1914) , Molly's house in Gardiner Street was one of the venues used as an arms dump to store the weapon's landed by 'The Asgard' at Howth , in Dublin .
When the 'Irish Citizen Army' took over the GPO in Dublin city centre on Easter Monday , 23rd April , 1916 , Molly O'Reilly was present ; for the next week she worked as a 'dispatch carrier' for James Connolly - it was a position she herself wanted , and she was proved right in her assumption that a sixteen year-old girl would do the job better than a grown man . (MORE LATER)>
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
BALLYSEEDY CROSS ....
.... George Shea , Tim Twomey , John Shanahan and Stephen Fuller were captured on the twenty-first of February in a dug-out .....
" They were taken , to be interrogated , to Ballymullen Barracks in Tralee . 'Interrogation' by (David) Neligan in Ballymullen Barracks was an ordeal under which reason might give way . The prisoner , in the usual practice , was first blind-folded , then his arms were tied to his sides , and 'interrogation' began . This time a hammer was used . The prisoners were taken in separately . When John Shanahan came out his head was covered with blood and his spine was injured , but he was still able to walk .
The hammer failed . The prisoners were taken out to be shot , and shots were fired round their heads . They were then sentenced , for their obdurate silence , to be executed at midnight and were then locked in their cells . At midnight , Stephen Fuller heard his comrades being taken out , one by one , and heard shots fired in the yard . The guards came for him and took him down to a dark cell . He saw nine coffins there with the lids closed . "Three of those have their men," they told him , "and this is yours," and they stopped to unscrew the lid .
For half-an-hour more they were questioning him , he wishing only for a sharp end . Then they locked him into his cell again . " (MORE LATER)>
RUBBISH # 1 .......
[from AP/RN , 5th August , 1999 , page 13]
..... The internationally authoritative 'Rachels Hazardous Waste News' pointed out that a one-pound lump of garbage has a surface area of about 44 square inches , the size of a large post-card . However , if you burn it , the surface area of the same one-pound lump increases to 9,900 square yards --- about the size of two football pitches !
.......RUBBISH # 2 -->
[from 'Ireland on Sunday' , 13th February , 2000 , page 31]
<-- " The Good Friday Agreement is the democratic wish of ninty-five per cent of the population in the Irish Republic and seventy-two per cent in the North ."
--- Niall O'Dowd ,newspaper publisher and Provo 'point-man cum door-opener' in America .
Yeah , well ...trouble is , Niall , in "the Irish Republic" , 43.97 per cent of those entitled to vote did'nt bother doing so and , of those that did vote , 5.6 per cent voted 'NO' . How does that leave 95 per cent to vote 'YES' ?
And , in "the North" -- well ... 19 per cent of those entitled to vote did'nt bother doing so and , of those that did vote , 28.88 per cent voted 'NO' . How does that leave 72 per cent to vote 'YES' ?
And what else are you wrong about , Niall .... ?
Wednesday, September 03, 2003
MOLLY O'REILLY , GPO , 1916 .
At about eleven years young , Molly O'Reilly joined the then two year-old Irish Republican girl scout organisation , 'Clann na nGaedheal' , which had been formed , in 1909 , by May and Liz Kelly .
Barely in her teenage years during the 'Great Lock Out' of 1913 , Molly was deeply upset by the so-called 'living conditions' that the workers and their families endured - a number of families in one room , in crumbling tenements , disease and starvation rampant , with the men and women not guaranteed work , even on a day-to-day basis .
Molly herself lived in similar conditions in Gardiner Street , Dublin city centre and , despite her young age , was determined to help those fighting for change ...... (MORE LATER)>
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
BALLYSEEDY CROSS .....
.....John Daly was beaten by the Staters in Tralee Jail - when they were finished , his spine was injured beyond recovery .......
" Michael Connell was only twenty-two years old , but since the Conscription menace he had been a Volunteer . He was taken in the middle of February at a dance ; he was unarmed , and his mother had no fear for him . She saw him looking out of the prison window on Tuesday evening .
"I'll write tomorrow ," he called . She would not believe that he was one of the victims until a girl who had seen the bodies told her there was a "black curly boy" ; she went up and looked then , and knew her son .
James Walsh was well known to be in danger , being a leader and a man with great influence among the people . George Shea , Tim Twomey , John Shanahan and Stephen Fuller were captured on the twenty-first of February in a dug-out . " (MORE LATER)>
SWEET ......
[from 'The Sunday Business Post' , 24th March , 1996 , page 2]
...... For twenty years , the CIA spent more than the equivalent of £12 million Free State punts on six psychics who used to sit in Washington "visualising" Soviet weapon control rooms , Moscow offices , Fidel Castro , Colonel Gadaffi and Daniel Ortega . The pyschics were paid to relay their dreams and visions to CIA Chiefs !
What a dream job ! No , seriously - silly Americans : they should have just established a 'Decommissioning Body' like the Brits did . Hell , it worked for them !
......DREAMS -->
[from 'Hot Press' magazine , 12th June , 1996 , pages 41 and 42]
<-- In an interview , the then Labour Leinster House member for County Clare , Dr. Moosajee Bhamjee , stated that Leinster House "is very boring and very childish at times ." He predicted that his party would have "twenty-five or twenty-six" seats after the 1997 Free State general election , and added -
- "I hope I will be among them . I deserve to be elected again because I think I've done a bit . I'd be disappointed if I was'nt elected again ."
Poor Moosajee was disappointed ; he was last reported walking away from the count centre singing the 'Bay City Rollers' tune "Bye bye Bhamjee , Bhamjee bye bye'eee ....."
At about eleven years young , Molly O'Reilly joined the then two year-old Irish Republican girl scout organisation , 'Clann na nGaedheal' , which had been formed , in 1909 , by May and Liz Kelly .
Barely in her teenage years during the 'Great Lock Out' of 1913 , Molly was deeply upset by the so-called 'living conditions' that the workers and their families endured - a number of families in one room , in crumbling tenements , disease and starvation rampant , with the men and women not guaranteed work , even on a day-to-day basis .
Molly herself lived in similar conditions in Gardiner Street , Dublin city centre and , despite her young age , was determined to help those fighting for change ...... (MORE LATER)>
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
BALLYSEEDY CROSS .....
.....John Daly was beaten by the Staters in Tralee Jail - when they were finished , his spine was injured beyond recovery .......
" Michael Connell was only twenty-two years old , but since the Conscription menace he had been a Volunteer . He was taken in the middle of February at a dance ; he was unarmed , and his mother had no fear for him . She saw him looking out of the prison window on Tuesday evening .
"I'll write tomorrow ," he called . She would not believe that he was one of the victims until a girl who had seen the bodies told her there was a "black curly boy" ; she went up and looked then , and knew her son .
James Walsh was well known to be in danger , being a leader and a man with great influence among the people . George Shea , Tim Twomey , John Shanahan and Stephen Fuller were captured on the twenty-first of February in a dug-out . " (MORE LATER)>
SWEET ......
[from 'The Sunday Business Post' , 24th March , 1996 , page 2]
...... For twenty years , the CIA spent more than the equivalent of £12 million Free State punts on six psychics who used to sit in Washington "visualising" Soviet weapon control rooms , Moscow offices , Fidel Castro , Colonel Gadaffi and Daniel Ortega . The pyschics were paid to relay their dreams and visions to CIA Chiefs !
What a dream job ! No , seriously - silly Americans : they should have just established a 'Decommissioning Body' like the Brits did . Hell , it worked for them !
......DREAMS -->
[from 'Hot Press' magazine , 12th June , 1996 , pages 41 and 42]
<-- In an interview , the then Labour Leinster House member for County Clare , Dr. Moosajee Bhamjee , stated that Leinster House "is very boring and very childish at times ." He predicted that his party would have "twenty-five or twenty-six" seats after the 1997 Free State general election , and added -
- "I hope I will be among them . I deserve to be elected again because I think I've done a bit . I'd be disappointed if I was'nt elected again ."
Poor Moosajee was disappointed ; he was last reported walking away from the count centre singing the 'Bay City Rollers' tune "Bye bye Bhamjee , Bhamjee bye bye'eee ....."
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
TIM COUGHLAN -- IRA VOLUNTEER 1906-1928 ; SHOT DEAD BY IRA INFORMER OR FREE STATE AGENTS ...... ?
.....the records of the Free State police differed with the account given by the informer Sean Harling , his neighbours heard gun-shots that Harling said were never fired , and blood was found in a location which , according to Harling , had nothing to do with the shooting .....
The car in which Sean Harling got a lift home on that evening in January was a police car - he was reluctant to admit that fact , and also 'forgot' to tell the 'Tribunal' that his brother-in-law , Thomas Redican , was present when the shooting took place . Again , the 'Tribunal' was not interested - why ?
The fact that Tim Coughlan was an active IRA member meant that he was a 'marked man' as far as the Staters were concerned - had he been shot dead during an operation it would perhaps have been at least more acceptable , or understandable , to all concerned . However , it seems that he was 'bushwhacked' , and the State actively encouraged a 'cover-up' of the full facts involved .
They learned well from their British pay-masters ......
[END]
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
BALLYSEEDY CROSS .....
......eight IRA prisoners at Ballyseedy , four at Killarney , five at Cahirciveen ; the Free Staters were executing Republican prisoners in reprisal for the IRA mine at Knocknagoshel , which killed five Staters - two Captains , two Privates and a Lieutenant .....
" Every precaution against disclosure was taken by the murderers ; every preparation was made to make Ireland believe a lie ; yet every detail of those three massacres "by most miraculous organ" has been revealed . Nine prisoners were taken from Tralee to be killed at Ballyseedy , and nine coffins were sent out from the jail , but only eight men had been killed .
Their names were John Daly , George Shea , Timothy Twomey , Patrick Hartnett , James Connell , John O'Connor , Patrick Buckley , and James Walsh .
Patrick Buckley , who had five children , was thought by some of his friends to be safe in jail - he had done so much for Michael Brennan in Limerick in the trouble with the Black-and-Tans . There were others who knew that his action then would be little protection to him now . John Daly was captured on the 4th of February . He had been in the Republican Army for seven years or more , and was known to the enemy .
They beat him until his spine was injured beyond recovery , in Tralee Jail ." (MORE LATER)>
SIX OF ONE ......
[from 'The Irish News' newspaper , 12th June , 1996]
...... "(I admire 'The Observer' newspaper because) it does a better job of widening the mainland people's knowledge of the complexities of the situation (in the North) " --
-- Martin McGuinness ; can you spot the mistake ? YES ! - that's it : Marty referred to 'the North' when he really meant "the Province" !
......HALF DOZEN OF THE OTHER -->
[from 'The Sunday Business Post' newspaper , 24th March , 1996 , page 26]
<-- " He's not a republican , he's not a nationalist , but he is Taoiseach of this country " --
--Provo spokesperson Rita O'Hare describing the then Fine Gael leader John Bruton . Two outta three , Rita : the 26-county state is not a "country" . At least not to Republicans .... and NO , Rita - it's not a 'province' either !
.....the records of the Free State police differed with the account given by the informer Sean Harling , his neighbours heard gun-shots that Harling said were never fired , and blood was found in a location which , according to Harling , had nothing to do with the shooting .....
The car in which Sean Harling got a lift home on that evening in January was a police car - he was reluctant to admit that fact , and also 'forgot' to tell the 'Tribunal' that his brother-in-law , Thomas Redican , was present when the shooting took place . Again , the 'Tribunal' was not interested - why ?
The fact that Tim Coughlan was an active IRA member meant that he was a 'marked man' as far as the Staters were concerned - had he been shot dead during an operation it would perhaps have been at least more acceptable , or understandable , to all concerned . However , it seems that he was 'bushwhacked' , and the State actively encouraged a 'cover-up' of the full facts involved .
They learned well from their British pay-masters ......
[END]
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
BALLYSEEDY CROSS .....
......eight IRA prisoners at Ballyseedy , four at Killarney , five at Cahirciveen ; the Free Staters were executing Republican prisoners in reprisal for the IRA mine at Knocknagoshel , which killed five Staters - two Captains , two Privates and a Lieutenant .....
" Every precaution against disclosure was taken by the murderers ; every preparation was made to make Ireland believe a lie ; yet every detail of those three massacres "by most miraculous organ" has been revealed . Nine prisoners were taken from Tralee to be killed at Ballyseedy , and nine coffins were sent out from the jail , but only eight men had been killed .
Their names were John Daly , George Shea , Timothy Twomey , Patrick Hartnett , James Connell , John O'Connor , Patrick Buckley , and James Walsh .
Patrick Buckley , who had five children , was thought by some of his friends to be safe in jail - he had done so much for Michael Brennan in Limerick in the trouble with the Black-and-Tans . There were others who knew that his action then would be little protection to him now . John Daly was captured on the 4th of February . He had been in the Republican Army for seven years or more , and was known to the enemy .
They beat him until his spine was injured beyond recovery , in Tralee Jail ." (MORE LATER)>
SIX OF ONE ......
[from 'The Irish News' newspaper , 12th June , 1996]
...... "(I admire 'The Observer' newspaper because) it does a better job of widening the mainland people's knowledge of the complexities of the situation (in the North) " --
-- Martin McGuinness ; can you spot the mistake ? YES ! - that's it : Marty referred to 'the North' when he really meant "the Province" !
......HALF DOZEN OF THE OTHER -->
[from 'The Sunday Business Post' newspaper , 24th March , 1996 , page 26]
<-- " He's not a republican , he's not a nationalist , but he is Taoiseach of this country " --
--Provo spokesperson Rita O'Hare describing the then Fine Gael leader John Bruton . Two outta three , Rita : the 26-county state is not a "country" . At least not to Republicans .... and NO , Rita - it's not a 'province' either !
Monday, September 01, 2003
TIM COUGHLAN - IRA VOLUNTEER 1906-1928 ; SHOT DEAD BY IRA INFORMER OR FREE STATE AGENTS ..... ?
......the 'evidence' from the informer Sean Harling did not tally with the post-mortem findings , but Harling insisted his version was correct - the 'Tribunal' that he was given 'evidence' too had been set-up by his employers .....
Other people that lived on Dartry Road at the time of the shooting later spoke of the high level of police activity in the area before the incident and mentioned hearing more than the number of shots which Harling said were fired during the alleged gun-fight .
Police records of the alleged events on that January 1928 evening did not tally with the sequence of events as outlined by their man , Sean Harling , yet this line of investigation was not followed-up on : why ?
A pool of blood was found on the Dartry Road in a location which , according to Harling's account of events , had no bearing on the incident that evening - how did the blood get there and whose blood was it ?
Again , no questions asked . Why ? (MORE LATER)>
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
BALLYSEEDY CROSS .....
.....the Free Staters claimed that the incident was caused by a land-mine planted by the IRA on the Killorglin Road - but the IRA had not built a barricade nor planted explosives on that road at the time , and could not have been responsible .....
" They had , however , at Knocknagoshel , attached a trigger-mine to a dump . The following statement was issued on the tenth of March (1923) from IRA Headquarters , Kerry No.1 Brigade --
" A trigger-mine was laid in knocknagoshel for a member of the Free State Army , Lieutenant o'Connor , who had made a hobby of torturing Republican prisoners in Castleisland . On Tuesday , a party of Free State troops , including Lieutenant O'Connor , proceeded to the place , and two Captains , Lieutenant O'Connor , and two privates were killed . "
Reprisals on prisoners , instituted by the Free State Government in Mountjoy on December 8th , 1922 , had become a systematic practice in their jails . It was concluded that the slaughter of eight prisoners at Ballyseedy and of four at Killarney and of five at Cahirciveen were reprisals for the Knocknagoshel mine . " (MORE LATER)>
BENT , BLOATED BEEF BANDIT BLACKGUARD BAMBOOZLE'S BRETHREN .....
[financial figures from 'The Phoenix' magazine , 27th September , 1996 , page 15]
.....'Hands out' - oops! - I mean 'Hands Up' those that remember the 'Beef Tribunal' ? A Mr. Dermot Gleeson certainly should -->
<-- as the Free States Attorney General at the time , he was the highest-flying 'Legal Eagle' of them all and , as such , the best man to defend 'Beef Baron' Larry Goodman : especially as the taxpayer was footing the bill ! And wha' a bleedin' bill ....
... his fee for taking on the case was £175,000 , he charged £75,000 for making two submissions to the Tribunal , and was paid £3,000 PER DAY for fifty-six days on which the Tribunal was sitting (total £168,000) and a further £2,500 PER DAY for sixty-two other sitting days (£155,000) .
And when the Tribunal was'nt sitting - well , the bould Dermo musta' considered himself as being 'locked-out' or whatever , and was paid £118,000 for those days !
Now , as I remember it - Larry Goodman's company was being investigated (careful!) for allegedly (THAT'S better !) ripping off the taxpayer , yet the 'powers-that-be' determined that it was okay that the same company be defended with taxpayers money !
Jaysus , lads - 'straight bananas' is only in the ha'penny place ....
( THANKS to Sean McG. for sorting out the problem I had with the 'new code' issue : thought I was finished there for a while !)
......the 'evidence' from the informer Sean Harling did not tally with the post-mortem findings , but Harling insisted his version was correct - the 'Tribunal' that he was given 'evidence' too had been set-up by his employers .....
Other people that lived on Dartry Road at the time of the shooting later spoke of the high level of police activity in the area before the incident and mentioned hearing more than the number of shots which Harling said were fired during the alleged gun-fight .
Police records of the alleged events on that January 1928 evening did not tally with the sequence of events as outlined by their man , Sean Harling , yet this line of investigation was not followed-up on : why ?
A pool of blood was found on the Dartry Road in a location which , according to Harling's account of events , had no bearing on the incident that evening - how did the blood get there and whose blood was it ?
Again , no questions asked . Why ? (MORE LATER)>
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
BALLYSEEDY CROSS .....
.....the Free Staters claimed that the incident was caused by a land-mine planted by the IRA on the Killorglin Road - but the IRA had not built a barricade nor planted explosives on that road at the time , and could not have been responsible .....
" They had , however , at Knocknagoshel , attached a trigger-mine to a dump . The following statement was issued on the tenth of March (1923) from IRA Headquarters , Kerry No.1 Brigade --
" A trigger-mine was laid in knocknagoshel for a member of the Free State Army , Lieutenant o'Connor , who had made a hobby of torturing Republican prisoners in Castleisland . On Tuesday , a party of Free State troops , including Lieutenant O'Connor , proceeded to the place , and two Captains , Lieutenant O'Connor , and two privates were killed . "
Reprisals on prisoners , instituted by the Free State Government in Mountjoy on December 8th , 1922 , had become a systematic practice in their jails . It was concluded that the slaughter of eight prisoners at Ballyseedy and of four at Killarney and of five at Cahirciveen were reprisals for the Knocknagoshel mine . " (MORE LATER)>
BENT , BLOATED BEEF BANDIT BLACKGUARD BAMBOOZLE'S BRETHREN .....
[financial figures from 'The Phoenix' magazine , 27th September , 1996 , page 15]
.....'Hands out' - oops! - I mean 'Hands Up' those that remember the 'Beef Tribunal' ? A Mr. Dermot Gleeson certainly should -->
<-- as the Free States Attorney General at the time , he was the highest-flying 'Legal Eagle' of them all and , as such , the best man to defend 'Beef Baron' Larry Goodman : especially as the taxpayer was footing the bill ! And wha' a bleedin' bill ....
... his fee for taking on the case was £175,000 , he charged £75,000 for making two submissions to the Tribunal , and was paid £3,000 PER DAY for fifty-six days on which the Tribunal was sitting (total £168,000) and a further £2,500 PER DAY for sixty-two other sitting days (£155,000) .
And when the Tribunal was'nt sitting - well , the bould Dermo musta' considered himself as being 'locked-out' or whatever , and was paid £118,000 for those days !
Now , as I remember it - Larry Goodman's company was being investigated (careful!) for allegedly (THAT'S better !) ripping off the taxpayer , yet the 'powers-that-be' determined that it was okay that the same company be defended with taxpayers money !
Jaysus , lads - 'straight bananas' is only in the ha'penny place ....
( THANKS to Sean McG. for sorting out the problem I had with the 'new code' issue : thought I was finished there for a while !)
Sunday, August 31, 2003
TIM COUGHLAN - IRA VOLUNTEER 1906-1928 ; SHOT DEAD BY IRA INFORMER OR FREE STATE AGENTS ......?
....in his 'evidence' to the Free State 'Tribunal' , the informer Sean Harling claimed that he was running away from the two IRA men that were chasing him and fired one shot back at them : the post-mortem on Tim Coughlan said otherwise ......
The doctor doing the post-mortem , Wilfred Lane , discovered that the IRA man had died as a result of being shot in the back of his head ; the informer Harling had claimed that Tim Coughlan and another man were running towards him when he fired at them . How , then , could the bullet have struck the man in the BACK of his head ? Also , Dr. Lane discovered a cigarette-butt in Tim Coughlan's mouth , which would suggest that Coughlan was caught unawares ie his killer approached him from behind .
If , as the informer Harling had claimed , Coughlan was chasing him , then it is unlikely that Coughlan would have a cigarette in his mouth or , indeed, would even be holding a cigarette in his (gun) hand during the chase . The doctor found what he described as "an independent (ie not linked to the bullet-wound) horizontal fracture " on Coughlan's skull - could an attempt have been made to render the IRA man unconscious or , at the very least , to daze him or temporarily disable him , before delivering the 'coup de grace' ?
Not so , according to Sean Harling's 'evidence' to the so-called 'Tribunal' , established by that informer's employers ...... (MORE LATER)>
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
BALLYSEEDY CROSS .
" But for one accident , so incomprehensible as to seem miraculous , what happened at Ballyseedy Cross could never be rightly known . That early on Wednesday morning a shattering explosion was heard , that a great rent in the roadside and hideous evidence of bloodshed were discovered later in the day , that nine coffins containing the mutilated remains of prisoners were sent out from the barrack and that for days afterwards 'the birds were eating the flesh off the trees at Ballyseedy Cross' - these facts and these only would be known .
The explanation put out by the Free State authorities was known in the locality to be untrue . They said that the prisoners were blown up by mines attached to barricades set up by the Republicans in Killorglin Road . No barricade was placed by Republicans in that neighbourhood on that night . (MORE LATER)>
THE SHOE IS ON ......
[From 'Saoirse' , November 1996 , page 7] -
- For many years , a Mr. Byrne sat in Leinster House as an independent Deputy for County Clare . He rarely took part in debates and made no secret of the fact that he was in politics purely for the salary , expenses and pension . He traded as a 'bone-setter' , a kind of unlicensed chiropractor , who provided his services free ; his only requirement being that the patient vote for him in the next election !
...as near as you'll get to an honest politician !
.....THE OTHER FOOT -->
[From 'Saoirse' , November 1996 , page 7 , as above] -
....<-- In Naples for many years , the politically insignificant 'Monarchist Party' controlled the city because a week before each election they would distribute thousands of left-foot children's shoes free . If they won , then the right shoes would be distributed a week later !
...and John Bruton - DOH !- thought you could only tax them !
....in his 'evidence' to the Free State 'Tribunal' , the informer Sean Harling claimed that he was running away from the two IRA men that were chasing him and fired one shot back at them : the post-mortem on Tim Coughlan said otherwise ......
The doctor doing the post-mortem , Wilfred Lane , discovered that the IRA man had died as a result of being shot in the back of his head ; the informer Harling had claimed that Tim Coughlan and another man were running towards him when he fired at them . How , then , could the bullet have struck the man in the BACK of his head ? Also , Dr. Lane discovered a cigarette-butt in Tim Coughlan's mouth , which would suggest that Coughlan was caught unawares ie his killer approached him from behind .
If , as the informer Harling had claimed , Coughlan was chasing him , then it is unlikely that Coughlan would have a cigarette in his mouth or , indeed, would even be holding a cigarette in his (gun) hand during the chase . The doctor found what he described as "an independent (ie not linked to the bullet-wound) horizontal fracture " on Coughlan's skull - could an attempt have been made to render the IRA man unconscious or , at the very least , to daze him or temporarily disable him , before delivering the 'coup de grace' ?
Not so , according to Sean Harling's 'evidence' to the so-called 'Tribunal' , established by that informer's employers ...... (MORE LATER)>
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
BALLYSEEDY CROSS .
" But for one accident , so incomprehensible as to seem miraculous , what happened at Ballyseedy Cross could never be rightly known . That early on Wednesday morning a shattering explosion was heard , that a great rent in the roadside and hideous evidence of bloodshed were discovered later in the day , that nine coffins containing the mutilated remains of prisoners were sent out from the barrack and that for days afterwards 'the birds were eating the flesh off the trees at Ballyseedy Cross' - these facts and these only would be known .
The explanation put out by the Free State authorities was known in the locality to be untrue . They said that the prisoners were blown up by mines attached to barricades set up by the Republicans in Killorglin Road . No barricade was placed by Republicans in that neighbourhood on that night . (MORE LATER)>
THE SHOE IS ON ......
[From 'Saoirse' , November 1996 , page 7] -
- For many years , a Mr. Byrne sat in Leinster House as an independent Deputy for County Clare . He rarely took part in debates and made no secret of the fact that he was in politics purely for the salary , expenses and pension . He traded as a 'bone-setter' , a kind of unlicensed chiropractor , who provided his services free ; his only requirement being that the patient vote for him in the next election !
...as near as you'll get to an honest politician !
.....THE OTHER FOOT -->
[From 'Saoirse' , November 1996 , page 7 , as above] -
....<-- In Naples for many years , the politically insignificant 'Monarchist Party' controlled the city because a week before each election they would distribute thousands of left-foot children's shoes free . If they won , then the right shoes would be distributed a week later !
...and John Bruton - DOH !- thought you could only tax them !
Saturday, August 30, 2003
TIM COUGHLAN - IRA VOLUNTEER 1906-1928 ; SHOT DEAD BY IRA INFORMER OR FREE STATE AGENTS ......?
.....claiming to have been fired on by one of the two men chasing him , the informer Sean Harling said that as he was running towards the hall-door of his house , he managed to fire a shot back in the direction of the men behind him and made it safely into his house ; he was not followed in , he said .....
He laid low in one of the rooms , observing the drive-way and the area around it , but there was no movement that he could see . He claimed that he then went out to investigate the area further and found the body of one of his alleged attackers ; the Free State 'Tribunal' that heard his 'evidence' exonerated him , but Sean Harling knew that he was definitely now a 'dead man walking' and pleaded with his Free State 'handler' , David Neligan , for payments due as well as extra money and expenses , as he wanted out of the country altogether ; Neligan paid him off , and Harling went to America .
Some facts emerged later to back up the IRA claim that the State , and its agent , Sean Harling , had co-operated in lying about the true sequence of events that took place that January night in 1928 : a Dr. Wilfred Lane carried out a post-mortem on the body of IRA Volunteer Tim Coughlan and , amongst other anomalies , discovered that the IRA man died as a result of being shot in the back of his head ....... (MORE LATER)>
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
MICHAEL SINNOT AND JAMES O'CONNOR OF TRALEE ......
.....Mrs. Lyons woke suddenly ; it was the noise of gun-fire that woke her . It was still dark out . She went downstairs with her daughter , but her house was full of Free State soldiers . Mrs. Lyons and her daughter were prevented from leaving the house . More shooting . Then nothing . The Staters then left her house .....
" She tried to light a candle , but her hands were shaking . Her daughter struck a match and lit the candle and looked at her . The girl was trembling , too , and her face was white . "Oh mother ," she said , "you're not fit to go out." Mrs. Lyons took the candle and groped her way to the hay-shed . The hay had been pulled down and was lying everywhere ; some of the boys' clothes were out in the yard ; there were cartridge-cases lying about ; the light of the candle fell on a pool of blood . She listened : there was no sound from the dug-out , not even a moan .
At last she lifted the candle and looked in . Jim was lying there , half-dressed , and Michael beside him ; they were covered with blood , riddled with bullets - dead . There was no sight or sound of the lorries or of the Free State soldiers : they had done their night's work and gone home . "
[END]
ROOTS #1 ......
...... [from 'The Sunday Business Post' , 9th February , 2003 , page 6] -
--- Lawyers acting on behalf of the British Labour Party advised Tony Blair and his colleagues that , while residents of "Northern Ireland" (sic) may well be British 'subjects' , they do not live in Britain and are therefore "ineligible for membership of the British Labour Party " !
YEAH ! And don't even THINK of looking for a driving licence ..... (but DO keep paying your tax , em, ok ...?)
ROOTS #2 ......
...... [from 'The Phoenix' magazine , 10th May , 1996 , page 12] -
--- " People who deny their roots , far from escaping the past , are forced to assume the history of another tribe . "
-- Eoghan Harris , professional 'West Brit' and Fine Gael's Number-One Ard Fheis script-writer .
And Eoghan should know - he's the leader of the tribe .....
.....claiming to have been fired on by one of the two men chasing him , the informer Sean Harling said that as he was running towards the hall-door of his house , he managed to fire a shot back in the direction of the men behind him and made it safely into his house ; he was not followed in , he said .....
He laid low in one of the rooms , observing the drive-way and the area around it , but there was no movement that he could see . He claimed that he then went out to investigate the area further and found the body of one of his alleged attackers ; the Free State 'Tribunal' that heard his 'evidence' exonerated him , but Sean Harling knew that he was definitely now a 'dead man walking' and pleaded with his Free State 'handler' , David Neligan , for payments due as well as extra money and expenses , as he wanted out of the country altogether ; Neligan paid him off , and Harling went to America .
Some facts emerged later to back up the IRA claim that the State , and its agent , Sean Harling , had co-operated in lying about the true sequence of events that took place that January night in 1928 : a Dr. Wilfred Lane carried out a post-mortem on the body of IRA Volunteer Tim Coughlan and , amongst other anomalies , discovered that the IRA man died as a result of being shot in the back of his head ....... (MORE LATER)>
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
MICHAEL SINNOT AND JAMES O'CONNOR OF TRALEE ......
.....Mrs. Lyons woke suddenly ; it was the noise of gun-fire that woke her . It was still dark out . She went downstairs with her daughter , but her house was full of Free State soldiers . Mrs. Lyons and her daughter were prevented from leaving the house . More shooting . Then nothing . The Staters then left her house .....
" She tried to light a candle , but her hands were shaking . Her daughter struck a match and lit the candle and looked at her . The girl was trembling , too , and her face was white . "Oh mother ," she said , "you're not fit to go out." Mrs. Lyons took the candle and groped her way to the hay-shed . The hay had been pulled down and was lying everywhere ; some of the boys' clothes were out in the yard ; there were cartridge-cases lying about ; the light of the candle fell on a pool of blood . She listened : there was no sound from the dug-out , not even a moan .
At last she lifted the candle and looked in . Jim was lying there , half-dressed , and Michael beside him ; they were covered with blood , riddled with bullets - dead . There was no sight or sound of the lorries or of the Free State soldiers : they had done their night's work and gone home . "
[END]
ROOTS #1 ......
...... [from 'The Sunday Business Post' , 9th February , 2003 , page 6] -
--- Lawyers acting on behalf of the British Labour Party advised Tony Blair and his colleagues that , while residents of "Northern Ireland" (sic) may well be British 'subjects' , they do not live in Britain and are therefore "ineligible for membership of the British Labour Party " !
YEAH ! And don't even THINK of looking for a driving licence ..... (but DO keep paying your tax , em, ok ...?)
ROOTS #2 ......
...... [from 'The Phoenix' magazine , 10th May , 1996 , page 12] -
--- " People who deny their roots , far from escaping the past , are forced to assume the history of another tribe . "
-- Eoghan Harris , professional 'West Brit' and Fine Gael's Number-One Ard Fheis script-writer .
And Eoghan should know - he's the leader of the tribe .....
Friday, August 29, 2003
TIM COUGHLAN - IRA VOLUNTEER , 1906-1928 ; SHOT DEAD BY IRA INFORMER OR FREE STATE AGENTS .......?
.....on the evening of 28th January , 1928 , a shooting took place in the vicinity of the informer Sean Harling's house , on the Darty Road in Dublin , which left IRA Volunteer Tim Coughlan lying dead on the street .....
The informer Sean Harling later claimed in his statement to a Free State 'Tribunal' into the shooting , that he got a lift home from work that evening in a friend's car , arriving outside his house , 'Woodpark Lodge' , on the Dartry Road , at about 6.30 PM which , he said , was earlier than usual .
He said he noticed two men looking at him from the other side of the street ; as he was walking up his driveway , towards the front door of his house , a shot was fired at him by one of the two men , who were by now , he claimed , running at him . Sean Harling then said that he took to his heels towards his hall-door , taking his gun out of his pocket as he ran , and fired a shot in the direction of the two men behind him .
He stated that he made it into his house and was not followed by either of the two men chasing him ...... (MORE LATER)>
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
MICHAEL SINNOT AND JAMES O'CONNOR OF TRALEE .....
......on 13th February , 1923 , Free State troops rounded-up a number of youths in the Currahane Sands area of Kerry and took them to Ballymullen Barracks in Tralee for questioning ....
" Sinnot and O'Connor were wanted . Where were they sleeping ? Clifford and Drummond (two of the young men seized by the Staters) were beaten to make them tell , but held out . Greer said something to the officer and was not hurt . Ryle's , in Currahane , was raided that evening . Among the raiders , to their amazement , the Ryle's recognised Greer - to whom they had given breakfast that morning - and he in the green (Free State) coat .
He led the raiding party away , then , over Currahane Sands . Mrs Lyons heard that Michael and Jim had escaped capture , and hoped that they would come to her , for a meal , before going to sleep in their dug-out . It grew late and there was no sign of them , so she left cups and bread and butter ready , hung the kettle over the fire and went to bed . She was awakened suddenly while it was still dark , by shots - a sharp , quick rattle of shots close to the house .
Soldiers were in the kitchen ; they would not let her or her daughter go out . The sound of firing went on and on . It was like no other firing she had ever heard . It ceased at last and the soldiers went away ...... (MORE LATER)>
SCREW YOU ......
...... " I believe in the United Kingdom . I value the Union . My agenda is not a united Ireland . None of us in this hall today , even the youngest , is likely to see Northern Ireland (sic) as anything but a part of the United Kingdom . That is the reality , because the conset principle is now almost universally accepted . "
--- British Prime Minister Tony Blair , speaking in Belfast on 16th May , 1997 .
The "consent principle" , Mr Blair ? Then put the question of British withdrawal to the people of Ireland - all 32 Counties . I'd say you'd have an answer within , oh , 45 minutes , Tony .
......SCREW ME -->
<-- " There was one lesson that we learned when we were in government . And that was that the British will promise you the sun , moon and stars , and then at the last moment try and put in something , or change something . And it was like that in history , everything I'd learned in school was coming true . Every time the Irish and themselves (Brits) made a deal , they would do something at the end to screw it up ! "
--- Maire Geoghegan-Quinn , Fianna Fail , in an interview in 'The Sunday Business Post' , 12th May , 1996 , page 26.
Well , actually , Maire - the Brits don't need to "screw up everytime" : they have you lot to do that for them !!
.....on the evening of 28th January , 1928 , a shooting took place in the vicinity of the informer Sean Harling's house , on the Darty Road in Dublin , which left IRA Volunteer Tim Coughlan lying dead on the street .....
The informer Sean Harling later claimed in his statement to a Free State 'Tribunal' into the shooting , that he got a lift home from work that evening in a friend's car , arriving outside his house , 'Woodpark Lodge' , on the Dartry Road , at about 6.30 PM which , he said , was earlier than usual .
He said he noticed two men looking at him from the other side of the street ; as he was walking up his driveway , towards the front door of his house , a shot was fired at him by one of the two men , who were by now , he claimed , running at him . Sean Harling then said that he took to his heels towards his hall-door , taking his gun out of his pocket as he ran , and fired a shot in the direction of the two men behind him .
He stated that he made it into his house and was not followed by either of the two men chasing him ...... (MORE LATER)>
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
MICHAEL SINNOT AND JAMES O'CONNOR OF TRALEE .....
......on 13th February , 1923 , Free State troops rounded-up a number of youths in the Currahane Sands area of Kerry and took them to Ballymullen Barracks in Tralee for questioning ....
" Sinnot and O'Connor were wanted . Where were they sleeping ? Clifford and Drummond (two of the young men seized by the Staters) were beaten to make them tell , but held out . Greer said something to the officer and was not hurt . Ryle's , in Currahane , was raided that evening . Among the raiders , to their amazement , the Ryle's recognised Greer - to whom they had given breakfast that morning - and he in the green (Free State) coat .
He led the raiding party away , then , over Currahane Sands . Mrs Lyons heard that Michael and Jim had escaped capture , and hoped that they would come to her , for a meal , before going to sleep in their dug-out . It grew late and there was no sign of them , so she left cups and bread and butter ready , hung the kettle over the fire and went to bed . She was awakened suddenly while it was still dark , by shots - a sharp , quick rattle of shots close to the house .
Soldiers were in the kitchen ; they would not let her or her daughter go out . The sound of firing went on and on . It was like no other firing she had ever heard . It ceased at last and the soldiers went away ...... (MORE LATER)>
SCREW YOU ......
...... " I believe in the United Kingdom . I value the Union . My agenda is not a united Ireland . None of us in this hall today , even the youngest , is likely to see Northern Ireland (sic) as anything but a part of the United Kingdom . That is the reality , because the conset principle is now almost universally accepted . "
--- British Prime Minister Tony Blair , speaking in Belfast on 16th May , 1997 .
The "consent principle" , Mr Blair ? Then put the question of British withdrawal to the people of Ireland - all 32 Counties . I'd say you'd have an answer within , oh , 45 minutes , Tony .
......SCREW ME -->
<-- " There was one lesson that we learned when we were in government . And that was that the British will promise you the sun , moon and stars , and then at the last moment try and put in something , or change something . And it was like that in history , everything I'd learned in school was coming true . Every time the Irish and themselves (Brits) made a deal , they would do something at the end to screw it up ! "
--- Maire Geoghegan-Quinn , Fianna Fail , in an interview in 'The Sunday Business Post' , 12th May , 1996 , page 26.
Well , actually , Maire - the Brits don't need to "screw up everytime" : they have you lot to do that for them !!
Thursday, August 28, 2003
TIM COUGHLAN - IRA VOLUNTEER , 1906-1928 ; SHOT DEAD BY IRA INFORMER , OR STATE AGENTS .......?
......two ex-IRA men , Sean Harling and his brother-in-law Thomas Redican , had been 'turned' by the Free State ; Harling was responsible for arms-dumps being 'found' by the enemy , and he tried to turn the Movement on itself by spreading false rumours . In an attempt to discredit the organisation , he would 'throw his weight' around in pubs , shops etc , using his so-called Republican credentials ......
His 'handler' ('controller') was one David Neligan , a particularly vicious Free State operative who 'made his name' in the fight against Republicans in Kerry during the Civil War . Neligan's intention was to wreak havoc on the Republican Movement in Dublin , and Sean Harling and Thomas Redican were to be his instruments .
The IRA decided to take action against the two informers and , in a prelude to same , had instructed two of its Volunteers , Tim Coughlan and Archie Doyle , to monitor the movements of Harling and Redican . On the evening of 28th January , 1928 , Tim Coughlan and Archie Doyle were in the vicinity of Sean Harling's house when a shooting incident took place which left Tim Coughlan lying dead on the street....... (MORE LATER)>
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
MICHAEL SINNOT AND JAMES O'CONNOR OF TRALEE .
" Mrs. Lyons' farmhouse stands a couple of fields inland from Mrs. Connell's , on Currahane Sands . For the boys who were fighting for the Republic she had welcome and hospitality night and day . Michael Sinnot and Jim O'Connor were old friends of hers , and they were old comrades-in-arms : not so very old - they were , respectively , eighteen and nineteen years of age but Michael , the grandson of a Fenian , had joined the Na Fianna (youth movement) at the age of fifteen , and Jim was one of the hunger-strikers in Cork Jail at the time of Terence MacSwineys death .
They made a fine dug-out for themselves , with beds and blankets and all , under the hay in Mrs Lyons' shed . They got young Greer to help them to make it , and he , too , slept there , now and again . On February the thirteenth (1923) the boys had their breakfast ; some at Mrs. Connell's , young Greer at Ryles' , and went out . There were Free State troops in the neighbourhood : Clifford and Drummond and Greer were captured and taken to Tralee - to Ballymullen Barracks- to the Intelligence Room ...... (MORE LATER)>
SHOOTING......
......In his book 'The Last Conquest of Ireland' , the 'Young Ireland' leader John Mitchel wrote --
--- " Sometimes an ejecting landlord or agent was shot by desperate houseless men . What wonder ? There were not half enough of them shot ! "
Note to Bertie and the rest of the political 'elite' : the 'Young Ireland' Movement and its 'fellow-travellers' (ie Robert Emmet and other 'men of violence') were not the 'pure-as-driven-snow' visionaries you would have us believe they were . They used physical force to obtain a political objective .
Best not to commemorate them , Bertie - it might draw comparisons ....
......FROM THE MOUTH -->
<-- On 14th September , 1724 , Pope Benedict XIII granted an indulgence of one-hundred days for each recitation of the 'Angelus' , and declared that if a person said three ' Hail Mary's 'at six AM , noon and six PM every day , he/she would get two-thousand-one-hundred days off purgatory every week !
That's 109,500 days off in one year ! WOW ! Dunno what the going rate is this century , but its bound to be even better ....
......two ex-IRA men , Sean Harling and his brother-in-law Thomas Redican , had been 'turned' by the Free State ; Harling was responsible for arms-dumps being 'found' by the enemy , and he tried to turn the Movement on itself by spreading false rumours . In an attempt to discredit the organisation , he would 'throw his weight' around in pubs , shops etc , using his so-called Republican credentials ......
His 'handler' ('controller') was one David Neligan , a particularly vicious Free State operative who 'made his name' in the fight against Republicans in Kerry during the Civil War . Neligan's intention was to wreak havoc on the Republican Movement in Dublin , and Sean Harling and Thomas Redican were to be his instruments .
The IRA decided to take action against the two informers and , in a prelude to same , had instructed two of its Volunteers , Tim Coughlan and Archie Doyle , to monitor the movements of Harling and Redican . On the evening of 28th January , 1928 , Tim Coughlan and Archie Doyle were in the vicinity of Sean Harling's house when a shooting incident took place which left Tim Coughlan lying dead on the street....... (MORE LATER)>
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
MICHAEL SINNOT AND JAMES O'CONNOR OF TRALEE .
" Mrs. Lyons' farmhouse stands a couple of fields inland from Mrs. Connell's , on Currahane Sands . For the boys who were fighting for the Republic she had welcome and hospitality night and day . Michael Sinnot and Jim O'Connor were old friends of hers , and they were old comrades-in-arms : not so very old - they were , respectively , eighteen and nineteen years of age but Michael , the grandson of a Fenian , had joined the Na Fianna (youth movement) at the age of fifteen , and Jim was one of the hunger-strikers in Cork Jail at the time of Terence MacSwineys death .
They made a fine dug-out for themselves , with beds and blankets and all , under the hay in Mrs Lyons' shed . They got young Greer to help them to make it , and he , too , slept there , now and again . On February the thirteenth (1923) the boys had their breakfast ; some at Mrs. Connell's , young Greer at Ryles' , and went out . There were Free State troops in the neighbourhood : Clifford and Drummond and Greer were captured and taken to Tralee - to Ballymullen Barracks- to the Intelligence Room ...... (MORE LATER)>
SHOOTING......
......In his book 'The Last Conquest of Ireland' , the 'Young Ireland' leader John Mitchel wrote --
--- " Sometimes an ejecting landlord or agent was shot by desperate houseless men . What wonder ? There were not half enough of them shot ! "
Note to Bertie and the rest of the political 'elite' : the 'Young Ireland' Movement and its 'fellow-travellers' (ie Robert Emmet and other 'men of violence') were not the 'pure-as-driven-snow' visionaries you would have us believe they were . They used physical force to obtain a political objective .
Best not to commemorate them , Bertie - it might draw comparisons ....
......FROM THE MOUTH -->
<-- On 14th September , 1724 , Pope Benedict XIII granted an indulgence of one-hundred days for each recitation of the 'Angelus' , and declared that if a person said three ' Hail Mary's 'at six AM , noon and six PM every day , he/she would get two-thousand-one-hundred days off purgatory every week !
That's 109,500 days off in one year ! WOW ! Dunno what the going rate is this century , but its bound to be even better ....
Wednesday, August 27, 2003
TIM COUGHLAN - IRA VOLUNTEER , 1906-1928 ; SHOT DEAD BY IRA INFORMER , OR FREE STATE AGENTS .......?
......although only in his late teens/early twenties , Tim Coughlan was one of the three-man IRA unit that assassinated the then Free State Minister for 'Justice' , Kevin O'Higgins , on 10th July , 1927 .....
The Free State Army and police constantly harassed Tim Coughlan and anyone he came in contact with , but he ignored the Staters and continued with his work for the Movement . The IRA Dublin Brigade had been made aware that two of it's ex-members , Sean Harling and his brother-in-law Thomas Redican , had been 'turned' by the Free State ; Harling once worked as a Secretary in the First Dail and , as with his brother-in-law Thomas Redican , had been interned by the Free State during the Civil War .
Sean Harling was responsible for the 'discovery' of IRA arms dumps by the Staters and for spreading false rumours in the company of Dublin IRA members , apparently trying to convince them that a leadership challenge should be mounted . He was also , it seems , 'under orders' from his Free State 'handler' (ie 'controller') to "throw his weight around" in bars , shops etc , in an attempt to discredit the IRA in general . (MORE LATER)>
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
EUGENE FITZGERALD OF TRALEE .....
......the Staters tortured Eugene Fitzgerald , breaking his leg . Then they shot him , wounding him badly . His mother was allowed in to see him on a Sunday morning - she knew he was dying .....
" On Monday morning , at nine o'clock , she was at the gate again . The soldiers refused to let her in ; she was crying and pleading and sending notes in to General Daly for two hours and a half . At half past eleven an officer drove out in a car and he threw her a bit of paper as he passed . Her son was dead since ten minutes past ten .
They opened the gate then and let her go to her son . "He had nothing to tell me and nothing to say to me . They did'nt begrudge letting me in then ." "
[END]
FOOL......
...... Ed Rollins , a one-time U S Republican Party 'Political Consultant' (ie spin doctor) once said -
-- " You can fool all the people all the time , if the advertising budget is big enough " !
.....AND OUR MONEY -->
<-- [from 'The Sunday Tribune' , 5th October , 1997 , page 4 ] -
- ' The Fianna Fail / Progressive Democrat Coalition administration have spent an average of £7000 punts a day on 'public relations' and the services of 'consultants' since it took up office just over 100 days ago '.
Rollins was right , and still is ; but we already know that .....
......although only in his late teens/early twenties , Tim Coughlan was one of the three-man IRA unit that assassinated the then Free State Minister for 'Justice' , Kevin O'Higgins , on 10th July , 1927 .....
The Free State Army and police constantly harassed Tim Coughlan and anyone he came in contact with , but he ignored the Staters and continued with his work for the Movement . The IRA Dublin Brigade had been made aware that two of it's ex-members , Sean Harling and his brother-in-law Thomas Redican , had been 'turned' by the Free State ; Harling once worked as a Secretary in the First Dail and , as with his brother-in-law Thomas Redican , had been interned by the Free State during the Civil War .
Sean Harling was responsible for the 'discovery' of IRA arms dumps by the Staters and for spreading false rumours in the company of Dublin IRA members , apparently trying to convince them that a leadership challenge should be mounted . He was also , it seems , 'under orders' from his Free State 'handler' (ie 'controller') to "throw his weight around" in bars , shops etc , in an attempt to discredit the IRA in general . (MORE LATER)>
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .
EUGENE FITZGERALD OF TRALEE .....
......the Staters tortured Eugene Fitzgerald , breaking his leg . Then they shot him , wounding him badly . His mother was allowed in to see him on a Sunday morning - she knew he was dying .....
" On Monday morning , at nine o'clock , she was at the gate again . The soldiers refused to let her in ; she was crying and pleading and sending notes in to General Daly for two hours and a half . At half past eleven an officer drove out in a car and he threw her a bit of paper as he passed . Her son was dead since ten minutes past ten .
They opened the gate then and let her go to her son . "He had nothing to tell me and nothing to say to me . They did'nt begrudge letting me in then ." "
[END]
FOOL......
...... Ed Rollins , a one-time U S Republican Party 'Political Consultant' (ie spin doctor) once said -
-- " You can fool all the people all the time , if the advertising budget is big enough " !
.....AND OUR MONEY -->
<-- [from 'The Sunday Tribune' , 5th October , 1997 , page 4 ] -
- ' The Fianna Fail / Progressive Democrat Coalition administration have spent an average of £7000 punts a day on 'public relations' and the services of 'consultants' since it took up office just over 100 days ago '.
Rollins was right , and still is ; but we already know that .....
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
TIM COUGHLAN - IRA VOLUNTEER , 1906-1928 ; SHOT DEAD BY IRA INFORMER , OR FREE STATE AGENTS ?
The second-eldest in a family of nine , Tim Coughlan lived with his parents in the family home , in Inchicore , Dublin . Although only in his late teens/early twenties at the time , he had shoulderd a weapon against the Black-and-Tans and , later , against the Free State forces in the Civil War .
As a known member of the Dublin Brigade IRA , he was interned by the Staters during the Civil War and , if anything , became even more active within the IRA after his release . Tim Coughlan was one of the three-man IRA unit that assassinated the much-detested Free State Minister for 'Justice' , Kevin O'Higgins , on 10th July , 1927 (the other two IRA men were Archie Doyle and Bill Gannon). (MORE LATER)>
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle , first published in 1924 -
EUGENE FITZGERALD OF TRALEE .....
.....the Free State soldiers took their prisoner , Eugene Fitzgerald , to the beach and made him kneel on the stones ; if he told them the whereabouts of his IRA column , they swore they would let him go free .....
" It was then , when he refused , that they beat him and broke his leg . They threw him into the lorry again and drove along the road as far as Casement's Fort - the field where Casement was taken in nineteen-sixteen . The thought of Casement , who died for Ireland , was in his mind . There they took him out of the lorry and threw him on the ground and gave him one more chance . Would he tell ?
When he said "No" , one of them fired . He thought the pain would kill him , but he did'nt die . He heard them arguing in the corner of the field ; some wanted to leave him and some wanted to take him on . Those got their way , and they put him back in the lorry and took him into Tralee . She saw him on Sunday morning again . She knew then that he was dying , though he spoke to her and did not know it himself ..... " (MORE LATER)>
BIG BUSINESS ......
......Safety investigator Byron Bloch exposed the dangers of the Ford Pinto in the 1970's .
The car had an extended rear bumper which , when hit by another car , drove the petrol tank up against the rear axle and set the car on fire - dozens of 'Pintos' went on fire this way , and Bloch discovered a memo written by the Ford Company that analysed the costs involved :
180 'burn deaths' and 180 serious injuries would cost $50 million dollars ;
The cost of fixing each 'Pinto' , at $11 dollars per car , would cost $137 million dollars . So Ford decided to do nothing !
A Mr Richard Grimshaw , a 'Pinto' owner who nearly died in a 'Pinto' car crash , sued Ford and a jury awarded him $137 million dollars in punitive damages against the company ! (See 'The Sunday Tribune' magazine , 18th January , 1998 , page 37.)
.....AND BUSINESS AS USUAL -->
<-- ( From 'The Sunday Business Post' , 11th January , 1998 , page 14) --> The Fianna Fail / Progressive Democrat (present) Free State administration cut the 'Youth Development Fund' from £20 million punts to one-and-a-quarter million punts ; the £20 million punts had been earmarked by the previous Free State administration (Fine Gael/Labour/Democratic Left) but was reduced by Fianna Fail/Progressive Democratics at the end of 1997 - the money was needed to provide disadvantaged young people with alternatives to using drugs .
Less than two months before the above-mentioned cut-backs (ie November , 1997) the 'Ireland On Sunday' newspaper reported [see same , 23rd November , 1997 , page 6] that drug addicts were costing Dublin an estimated £300 million punts a year !
This figure included £60 million punts to the victims of crime , and £50 million punts spent on prison and policing costs . It was estimated then (ie 1997) that there were eight thousand drug addicts in Dublin .
Are all 'junkies' working-class 'yobbos' who don't vote and therefore , in the eyes of the establishment , don't count ?
The second-eldest in a family of nine , Tim Coughlan lived with his parents in the family home , in Inchicore , Dublin . Although only in his late teens/early twenties at the time , he had shoulderd a weapon against the Black-and-Tans and , later , against the Free State forces in the Civil War .
As a known member of the Dublin Brigade IRA , he was interned by the Staters during the Civil War and , if anything , became even more active within the IRA after his release . Tim Coughlan was one of the three-man IRA unit that assassinated the much-detested Free State Minister for 'Justice' , Kevin O'Higgins , on 10th July , 1927 (the other two IRA men were Archie Doyle and Bill Gannon). (MORE LATER)>
THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle , first published in 1924 -
EUGENE FITZGERALD OF TRALEE .....
.....the Free State soldiers took their prisoner , Eugene Fitzgerald , to the beach and made him kneel on the stones ; if he told them the whereabouts of his IRA column , they swore they would let him go free .....
" It was then , when he refused , that they beat him and broke his leg . They threw him into the lorry again and drove along the road as far as Casement's Fort - the field where Casement was taken in nineteen-sixteen . The thought of Casement , who died for Ireland , was in his mind . There they took him out of the lorry and threw him on the ground and gave him one more chance . Would he tell ?
When he said "No" , one of them fired . He thought the pain would kill him , but he did'nt die . He heard them arguing in the corner of the field ; some wanted to leave him and some wanted to take him on . Those got their way , and they put him back in the lorry and took him into Tralee . She saw him on Sunday morning again . She knew then that he was dying , though he spoke to her and did not know it himself ..... " (MORE LATER)>
BIG BUSINESS ......
......Safety investigator Byron Bloch exposed the dangers of the Ford Pinto in the 1970's .
The car had an extended rear bumper which , when hit by another car , drove the petrol tank up against the rear axle and set the car on fire - dozens of 'Pintos' went on fire this way , and Bloch discovered a memo written by the Ford Company that analysed the costs involved :
180 'burn deaths' and 180 serious injuries would cost $50 million dollars ;
The cost of fixing each 'Pinto' , at $11 dollars per car , would cost $137 million dollars . So Ford decided to do nothing !
A Mr Richard Grimshaw , a 'Pinto' owner who nearly died in a 'Pinto' car crash , sued Ford and a jury awarded him $137 million dollars in punitive damages against the company ! (See 'The Sunday Tribune' magazine , 18th January , 1998 , page 37.)
.....AND BUSINESS AS USUAL -->
<-- ( From 'The Sunday Business Post' , 11th January , 1998 , page 14) --> The Fianna Fail / Progressive Democrat (present) Free State administration cut the 'Youth Development Fund' from £20 million punts to one-and-a-quarter million punts ; the £20 million punts had been earmarked by the previous Free State administration (Fine Gael/Labour/Democratic Left) but was reduced by Fianna Fail/Progressive Democratics at the end of 1997 - the money was needed to provide disadvantaged young people with alternatives to using drugs .
Less than two months before the above-mentioned cut-backs (ie November , 1997) the 'Ireland On Sunday' newspaper reported [see same , 23rd November , 1997 , page 6] that drug addicts were costing Dublin an estimated £300 million punts a year !
This figure included £60 million punts to the victims of crime , and £50 million punts spent on prison and policing costs . It was estimated then (ie 1997) that there were eight thousand drug addicts in Dublin .
Are all 'junkies' working-class 'yobbos' who don't vote and therefore , in the eyes of the establishment , don't count ?
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