NO POST TODAY - Saturday , 8th NOVEMBER, 2003.....

NO TIME....... !

The ' 1169..... ' crew are on a 'working holiday ' (!) at the 99th Republican Sinn Fein Ard Fheis in Dublin .

Should be back to normal output tomorrow , Sunday 9th ( ...but could be Monday -- depends on how good the Ard Fheis ballad-session is tonight !)

---

P. J. SMYTH AND THE TASMANIA ESCAPE , 1853 .......



....... John Mitchel was joined in a Tasmania jail by six other leaders of the Young Ireland Rising ; in America , members and supporters of the Irish Rebels were watching developments with interest .......



The American supporters appointed one of their men , Patrick James Smyth , --- who had fought well in Ireland during the 1848 Rising and was lucky enough to have escaped to America after its collapse --- to travel to Australia to effect a rescue of all or some of the imprisoned Rebel leaders .

It was now the year 1853 ; John Mitchel and the other six Young Ireland leaders had been in prison for five years and were by now being allowed out on parole on a regular basis on condition that they give their word not to escape .

P J Smyth had arrived in Australia and had arranged to meet John Mitchel in a hotel outside the town of Hobart ....... (MORE LATER).




WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :

war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.

By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.


THE LITTLE FIELDS .......


"....... as you leave to go south-westward from Macroom you enter the country about which all those stories are told ......."


" We cross the Toon river by the bridge of the main road to Bantry and Glengariff . We are still on the northern bank of the Lee . We pass through Inchigeela village and now the Lee has widened and levelled to form Loch Allua which in places almost laps the road until we come to Ballingeary , five miles further on .

Passing through this village of the Gaeltacht , we cross the bridge over the now narrow Lee , and continue westwards along its southern bank . Through a rugged glen with the cascading Lee as companion for a while , we go upwards through Tuirin Dubh and soon the Pass of Ceimaneigh confronts us . We will not go through that gap . We will look back for ten miles to Toon Bridge . Ten miles of rugged scenery with a lake and two villages .

Little pockets of green fields set , high and low , among the overwhelming rocks , marshes and bogs . Those ten miles from the southern boundary of the area I write about ." (MORE LATER).



MONEY.......


" There is no art that one government sooner learns from another than that of draining money from the pockets of the people . "

--- Adam Smith , , ' The Wealth of Nations ' , 1776 .



.....MONEY ,MONEY .......

[from ' The Evening Press ' newspaper , 14th September , 1985 -- a Saturday , if memory serves ---page 1]


The extent of social welfare abuse in 1983 was £2.3 million punts , which was only one-eight of one per-cent of total social expenditure by the State that year .




......IT'S A RICH MAN'S WORLD ---->

[from ' Magill ' magazine , January , 1998 , page 15]


<---- Between 1st August , 1988 , and 31st January , 1991 , Charlie Haughey ( ex-Fianna Fail Free State Taoiseach ) spent £5446 Punts ( Euro 6914 ) a week . Every week !


....and they call us " Spongers " because we won't pay twice to have our bin's emptied !

---

P.J. SMYTH AND THE TASMANIA ESCAPE , 1853.......



.......in May 1848 , ' Young Ireland ' leader John Mitchel was sentenced by the British to fourteen years transportation , under the newly-enacted ' Treason Felony Act ' . The Rebellion against British mis-rule in Ireland began shortly after Mitchel's 'trial' .......


The Rising was short-lived -- it was over by July 1848 , the same month in which the British suspended the legal rule of ' Habeas Corpus ' . John Mitchel spent his first year of imprisonment in Bermuda before being sent to Van Diemans Land ( Tasmania ) , which was a penal colony in Australia .

Back home in Ireland , the British had captured the other leaders of the Young Ireland Rising and transported them to Van Diemans Land as well , to serve their sentences . John Mitchel was joined by William Smith O'Brien , Thomas Francis Meagher , Terence Bellew MacManus , John Martin , Pat O'Donoghue and Kevin Izod O'Doherty .

However , members and supporters of the Young Ireland movement in New York , America , were watching developments with interest ....... (MORE LATER).




WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :

war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.

By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.



THE LITTLE FIELDS.......



".......west of Macroom , in County Cork the landscape changes ; it is a rough , forbidding area , with large , sleepy rocks on outpost duty ......."



" You will not wonder at this , when you see all their connecting files and advance guard . Ill-kept and ill-mannered fellows they look , peering at you from behind their cover of brushwood or furze , and some standing naked and unashamed in the middle of small fields on steep hillsides .

But they are not bad fellows after all , and when you get to know them you will like them very much . Personally , I have a grievance against some of them , for I live amongst them . So have my neighbours , for these stubborn fellows are forever coming in one's way . Yet they have their uses .

And you must admire them for they are solid and unyielding , and the people who live with them must also acquire those qualities . Let us continue our tour south-westward from Macroom into the country about which all these stories are told ........" (MORE LATER).




RHYME.......

[from ' The Irish Reporter ' Magazine , Issue 2 , 1991 , page 23]


A poem by Brendan O hEithir ;


THE GENTLE BLACK AND TAN

' Come all you staunch revisionists and listen to my song ,
Its short and its unusual and it won't detain you long .
Its all about a soldier who has carried history's can ,
Who dodged Tom Barry and Dan Breen , the gentle Black and Tan . '


Our poet-in-residence here at '1169 ....' replies ---->

<---- ' Read it twice or more , you Stormont crew ,
then learn it ' off-by-heart ' .
'Cause what you're doing is old , not new ,
as from Republicans you part ......'



.......AND TREASON ---->

[from ' Fortnight ' Magazine , No. 294 , April 1991 , page 26]


<---- A Reverend J. O' Hannay once advised his flock that " reading Irish history was a fatal thing to anyone wishing to remain a sound Unionist . "

Unless , of course , the Reverend O' Hannay's parishioners were to read the type of 'history' referred to in Brendan O hEithir's poem !

---

P J SMYTH AND THE TASMANIA ESCAPE , 1853 .



Knowing from their informer network that the Irish Rebels were planning an armed Rising , the British introduced a new 'law' in April , 1848 -- ' The Treason Felony Act ' .


The first person to be 'tried' under the new 'law' was Young Ireland leader John Mitchel , who was arrested in March 1848 , a few weeks before the new 'law' was introduced . Mitchel was sentenced , under ' The Treason Felony Act ' to fourteen years transportation .

His 'trial' was held in Dublin's Green Street Courthouse in May , 1848 ; the rebellion took place shortly after Mitchel's 'trial' , but was short-lived ....... (MORE LATER).



WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :

war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1616-21.

By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.


THE LITTLE FIELDS.


" If you journey westward along the valley of the River Lee from Cork city you see on either hand , in the main , a pleasant and fertile land . It is a hilly country , but not such as to hinder cultivatiuon of the hills . This cultivation adds beauty to the landscape , especially in the harvest of the year .


What vista can excel one of hillsides with the green of grass and gold of ripening grain ? For twenty-four miles the scene unrolls itself before you until the town of Macroom is reached . Here the vista ends . West of Macroom is a new countryside , a more forbidding one . Rocks begin to uncover themselves , sleepy fellows on outpost duty .

Before you have advanced many miles , however , you will have discovered that somehow they have managed to warn the main body . " (MORE LATER).



FRUIT.......

[from ' The Observer ' newspaper , 21st April , 1991 page 63]


The New Market area of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia , U S A , is remembered chiefly for the fact that when the tide swung against the Confederates , two-hundred-and-forty-seven teenage Cadets from the Virginia Military Institute were ordered into battle to hold an apple orchard !

That was , I believe , the only time in U S history a Cadet corps has seen active service . They withstood repeated attacks from Union troops massed in a muddy morass known as the ' Field of Lost Shoes ' and , after the Confederate victory , received specially-minted medals and Jackson's personal thanks .

The youth of Ireland are organised , too - check them out here.




.......AND VEG ---->

[from ' AP/RN ', 5th September , 1985 , page 14]


Before he was U S President , actor Ronald Reagan was a member of the ' Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of Arts , Sciences and Professions ' ; he resigned from that body on 10th April , 1947 and went straight to the FBI to give a complete report to them on that organisation and its membership !


Ronnie in the running for a ' JAMES BOND ' -type role ? Or perhaps he thought he was a 'super-spy' !

---

LIAM LYNCH , IRA LEADER ; THE FERMOY ATTACK , 1919.......


.......enraged that the IRA had held-up a British patrol in broad daylight and taken their rifles , and angry that the locals in and around Fermoy refused to help them , the Brits wanted revenge .......



At around Eight P M on Monday , 8th September , 1919 , hundreds of British troops stationed in the area were sent into Fermoy town-centre to make the locals pay for their silence . People on the street were pistol-whipped , shops were broken in to and looted , and pubs were thrashed .

The Brits spent at least two hours on the wrecking spree and then went back to base . The following day , Tuesday , 9th September , not one Irish person contacted the Brits with information . Not convinced that they had made their point , the Brit Officers sent the same number of troops out two nights later ( Wednesday , 10th September , 1919 ) to terrorise the population again .

But this time the IRA were waiting on them , as were hundreds of civilians , who had armed themselves with shovels and hammers etc . The British troops returned early to base that night !

[END].




THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .


CLASHMEALCON CAVES .......


".......deaths of young , kindly and joyous men ; because of treachery . Destiny demands that honest men be heros , to sacrifice all , to give greater than the treacherous......."



" There is little pity in her destiny , it seems , for the men who die . That courage should blaze up , like a beacon , before the people ; that faithfulness should stand , in their vision , enduring as a rock . That the passion for freedom should be revealed to them deep and irresistible as the sea .

This , it would seem , is expedient , if Ireland is to be saved . Ireland will be saved surely , in spite of treachery , in spite of cruelty , in spite of murder , as the wise people of Kerry say --- " If there's any life in the dead ."


[END].

( NOTE - I got my copy of 'The Tragedies of Kerry' in the RSF book-shop at 223 Parnell Street , Dublin 1 . It cost about three Euro , and is a recommended read for those interested in our history . It will leave you with a heavy heart , and angry :....the mark of a good read. )




ON THE FENCE .......

[from ' In Dublin ' magazine , No. 369 , 14-27th March , 1991 , page 7]


According to the book ' Church and State in Modern Ireland ' , by J.H. Whyte , of the thirty-one Catholic Bishops at the time , seven condemned the 1916 Rising , one issued a statement of support --- and twenty-three said nothing one way or the other .

One honest man , 30 pieces of silver .......



.......FOR FOUR YEARS ---->

[from same as above , page 8]


<---- The Catholic Hierarchy issued a formal statement from Maynooth in October , 1920 in which they condemned the British " for murdering the innocent and destroying their property (which) has a parallel only in the horrors of Turkish atrocities or in the outrages of the Red Army of Bolshevist Russia . "

.....sit on the fence , pick up a splinter - and four years later it reaches the brain !

---

LIAM LYNCH , IRA LEADER ; THE FERMOY ATTACK , 1919.......



.......once both IRA cars with the rifles on board passed the town of Carrickbrick , two trees were felled by IRA Volunteers ---- the road was now blocked , and the two British Army trucks were forced to skid to a halt at the road-block . They spent a few minutes trying to clear the road .......



They could'nt move the trees , so they drove back to try and find a side-road which would take them around the blockage and back out onto the Lismore Road ; they failed ! By this time , the rifles had been stashed in the pre-arranged dumps -- the operation was successful .

For the rest of that day ( Sunday , 7th September , 1919 ) , and up to tea-time the following day , hundreds of British troops , in trucks and on foot , raided the nearest towns and practically imposed martial law on the population in their search for the rifles and the men responsible for the operation . Shops , houses and other buildings were searched , and people were stopped , searched and questioned as to their knowledge of events .

No-one knew anything , and the Brits went back to barracks on early Monday evening ( 8th September , 1919 ) , empty-handed . However , that was not the end of the matter ; at about eight P M that Monday , hundreds of British troops stationed in the area were sent into Fermoy town-centre to make the locals pay for their silence ....... (MORE LATER).




THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .


CLASHMEALCON CAVES .......


".......the survivors of the Clashmealcon Caves siege were executed by the Free Staters on 25th April , 1923 ; only Jim McGrath survived --- the Caves and Jim hold their secrets , they hold the last words of Aero Lyons -- myth and legend will have their say ......."


" " If they had food and water......." "If one of them had known how to swim ..... " " If Lyons had held out for one more hour ..... " the people are saying still . Then they comfort themselves with the sad phrase of resignation : " It seems that it was to be . "

" It was to be , " -- and they comfort themselves with that , for so many deaths - deaths of young , kindly and joyous men . Because there has been treachery in Ireland her destiny cannot be fulfilled without sacrifice greater than that shame - without the prodigal heroism , the extravagant sacrifice of the brave . " (MORE LATER).




FAST FOOD .......

[from ' The Evening Press ' , 4th September , 1985 -- a Wednesday , if memory serves -- page 5]


....... In South Africa , Managers of Wimpy food restaurants have to receive Government certificates before thay are allowed to serve blacks !

Black people can only be served at a take-out window facing the footpath unless permission is received from the Government to serve them inside the restaurat !

And to think that was less than twenty years ago .......




.......FASCISTS ---->

from ' AP/RN ', 27th November , 1986 , page 16]


At the Students Union meeting of the ' New University of Ulster ' in Coleraine in early November 1986 , a Michael Stokes , student , voiced his opposition to the use of plastic bullets by the RUC and the British Army -- he said lead bullets were " cheaper and more effective " .

Michael was a card-carrying member of the ' National Front ' . Ever worked in Wimpy , , Mick ?

---

LIAM LYNCH , IRA LEADER ; THE FERMOY ATTACK , 1919 .......



.......when the fifteen-strong British Army Patrol reached the Church gates , they were surrounded by a twenty-five strong IRA Unit ; the Brits were told to drop their weapons but , in a panic , some of them went to use their rifles .......



In the following gun-battle , four British soldiers fell to the ground --- one dead , three wounded . But the shooting ended there - the Brits surrendered and were relieved of their rifles - fifteen in all - which were loaded into two waiting cars .

The Volunteers loading the rifles into the cars got in themselves and both vehicles sped off towards the Lismore Road . Their comrades who were covering the now-disarmed British patrol inched away and withdrew from the area . Within fifteen minutes the British had filled two trucks with armed troops and were driving at top speed on the Lismore Road and were only minutes behind the two cars they were chasing .

When the two IRA vehicles passed the town of Carrickbrick , the IRA men at the side of the road toppled the two trees which they had weakened earlier that morning -- the trees fell across the road , blocking it , and the Volunteers made off across the fields . The two British Army trucks skidded to a halt at the road-block and spent a number of minutes trying to move the trees ....... (MORE LATER).



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .


CLASHMEALCON CAVES.......


".......rumour had it that the IRA prisoners had been beaten almost to death ; the Free Staters would not let any visitors in to see them ......."


" Fr. Tom McEnery telephoned the Free State barracks again and again -- eventually , a Free State Brigadier, Daly was his name , gave the priest a definate answer in relation to the prisoners .... " They'll be executed when we have time . "

They were executed at dawn on the twenty-fifth of April , 1923 . It was on the eighteenth that Aero Lyons was killed . On the fifth of May his body came up from the sea . Patrick O'Shea's and Tom McGrath's bodies the sea holds still . Only Jimmy McGrath lives now of the men who stood siege in Clashmealcon Caves .

How those nights and days passed for them , what sufferings they endured , what hopes and imaginations came to them , what Lyons said when he left them to climb the rope , no one but Jim can tell , and his memory of it all is confused . These are secrets that the caves will keep for ever , however myth and legend may shape the tale . " MORE LATER).



GOD IS ONE OF US - 1983 and 2003.......

[from an article by Anthony Lewis , of ' The New York Times ' , and re-published in 'The Evening Press' newspaper on 11th March - a Friday , if memory serves - 1983]


' When a politician claims that God favours his programmes , alarm bells should ring . That is what Ronald Reagan has just done . Speaking to the ' National Association of Evangelicals ' in Orlando , Florida , he said that belief in God should make Americans join him in oppossing a nuclear freeze and pressing for a vast build-up in U.S. weapons . '


" There is sin and evil in the world and we are enjoined by scripture and the Lord Jesus to oppose it with all our might . " --- so said U. S. President Ronald Reagan , who went on to describe the then Russia as " the focus of evil in the modern world " and described that country as having " the aggressive instincts of an evil empire . "

Reagan had his " evil empire " , now Bush Jnr has his " axis of evil . " As Anthony Lewis wrote in the above article ---


--- " If there is anything that should be illegitimate in the American system , it is such use of sectarian religiosity to sell a political programme . And this was done not by some fringe figure , but by the President of the United States . "

Whose 'side' will God be on in 2023 .....?

---

LIAM LYNCH , IRA LEADER ; THE FERMOY ATTACK , 1919 .......



.......on Sunday , 7th September , 1919 , twenty-five IRA Volunteers took up position around the Wesleyan Church gates in Fermoy , Cork --- they were waiting to ambush a British Army patrol , and take their weapons .......


The IRA Unit mingled with the people at the church gates and in the grounds . At the same time , other IRA men were preparing to topple two trees across the road at Carrickbrick , outside Fermoy --- the agreed route of escape for the IRA cars .


The IRA Unit at the Church received word at about ten-forty-five A .M. on that Sunday morning that fifteen armed British soldiers , led by a Corporal , had minutes beforehand left their Barracks and were marching towards the Church for eleven A. M. Mass , as per usual ; as the Brits marched off the road onto the footpath to enter the Church grounds , they were surrounded by the IRA Unit , most of whom were armed -- some of the Volunteers were only there to load the captured weapons into the cars .

Liam Lynch shouted at the British patrol to surrender , telling them that it was just the weapons that they were after this time , and not the soldiers . The Brits were stunned and surprised to find themselves in that position , and a number of them went to fire their rifles ; the IRA men fired first and , in a brief but bloody gun-battle , four British soldiers fell to the ground -- one was dead , the other three were badly wounded ....... (MORE LATER).



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .


CLASHMEALCON CAVES.......


".......a Free State Officer entered the room ; he looked at the IRA prisoners . He knew their names --- he wanted Rudge Hathaway first : his hands were tired behind his back and he was thrown on the floor ......."



" Then Greaney's hands were tied and he was flung down on the floor . They had hurt him : he was moaning . Catherine McEnery could not move . The look she had seen , half in imagination , on her brother's face , was there in reality now -- the look of a man facing a hard death . With violence , muttering terrible threats , they seized him and bound his hands and flung him beside the others on the floor .

Jim McGrath was taken out to the lorries , then the three were thrown in , on the floor , under the soldiers' feet . Catherine saw her brother looking up at her once with that tense , enduring look on his face . Then the lorries were driven off . The story of the fight at Clashmealcon Caves was in all the newspapers ; Father Tom McEnery , Jim's brother , had rushed home from England . A petition for the prisoners's lives was signed by thousands .

Rumours were flying through Tralee --- the prisoners , it was said , had been beaten almost to death . Father Tom was all night and day at the barrack gate , but no one was let in to them at all ........" (MORE LATER).




OUT.......

[from ' The Sunday Business Post ' , 3rd May , 1998 , page 16]


" (The Good Friday Agreement) means that Britain is out of the equation . " --- Bertie Ahern .

Good man, Bertie -- you just don't have a clue , do ya .....?



.....OUT.......

[from ' AP/RN ' , 22nd May , 1997 , page 9]


" There is no point in pretending that a partitionist solution is possible . It is now widely accepted that an internal settlement is not a solution . "

Definately not a solution to the British presence ; but a 'solution' , nonetheless , a ' ray of hope ' , for career politicians hoping to make a living by deception .....


.......OUT ---->

[from ' AP/RN ' , 5th February , 1998 , page 8 - Editorial Column]


<---- " An internal Six County settlement is not a solution to the conflict . A Six-County Assembly would institutionalise the Unionist veto . "

And that has happened ; still , a small price to pay for a pension , eh , lads ? Especially as it's future generations that will pay for it .......

---

LIAM LYNCH , IRA LEADER ; THE FERMOY ATTACK , 1919 .......


.......the plan to attack the RIC minders , the British Army , was rejected by IRA GHQ ; Liam Lynch and Michael Fitzgerald gave a detailed account of their proposed plan to GHQ on a second visit , and got the go-ahead .......



It had been observed that a party of up to twenty armed British soldiers , stationed in Fermoy Barracks in Cork , marched to Mass each Sunday morning to the local Wesleyan Church , about half a mile from their barracks . At that time , Fermoy was a stronghold for the British Army and one of the last places where the Brits would expect an attack . The IRA plan was to carry-out just such an operation .

A number of sites in which to dump the liberated weapons would be needed -- these were sourced and secured ; two cars would be required to transport the goods out of the area quickly -- that was arranged . Finally , a method to stop those in pursuit of the escaping cars was required -- that , too , was arranged .

On Sunday , 7th September , 1919 , the plan was put into action ; twenty-five IRA Volunteers , including Liam Lynch and Michael Fitzgerald , took up position around the Wesleyan Church gates in Fermoy ....... (MORE LATER).



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by DOROTHY MACARDLE - first published in 1924 .


CLASHMEALCON CAVES .......


".......the IRA prisoners were held captive by Free State troops ; they were not ill-treated . A Free State Officer entered the room and looked at the IRA men --- he ordered one of the men , Rudge Hathaway , to be taken to the caves ......."


" " They're taking us to the caves to finish us , " Jim McEnery said , and he implored his sister , Catherine , to follow Rudge . But she cared most for her brother , and would not leave him . They sat in silence , waiting again . It was not long before poor Rudge staggered in , trembling and bleeding and groaning . He could not tell what had been done to him .

The rest sat waiting still . It grew dark . Three cars tore up to the house . The Free State soldiers jumped up --- " Hancock's coming ! " someone shouted . The door opened : an Officer , a big man , strode in . The Free Staters saluted him ; the IRA prisoners looked at him , and he at them . " Are these the prisoners ? " he said , slowly . " Is this McEnery ? Is this Greaney ? This the Englishman ? At last ! "

Rudge Hathaway was bleeding . They knotted his hands behind his back and threw him down on the floor ....... " (MORE LATER).



AN UNNECESSARY CONTINUATION ....... --->


....... <--- " 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 consent principle is now almost universally accepted . "


So said the present British Prime Minister , Tony Blair , speaking in Belfast on 16th May , 1997 .


The " consent principle " , Mr. Blair ? By whose " consent " did you and yours come here in the first place ? By whose " consent " do you claim jurisdiction over six Irish counties ? By whose " consent " do you maintain an armed military presence in this country ?

Certainly not by the consent of the majority of the people in Ireland . You will share responsibility with other British Prime Ministers for the imposition of another eight-hundred-and-thirty-four years of war on future generations . And regardless of what type of deal you strike with Bertie Ahern , Gerry Adams or David Trimble ( or whoever it is you strike the deal with ) unless that deal contains a date for a British military and political withdrawal from Ireland , it will be worthless .

This is the 21st Century , Mr. Blair --- your people have been in conflict in this country since the 12th Century . The sun does set on the British 'Empire' , your country does not " rule the waves " anymore and the claim that British troops are in Ireland as " peacekeepers " between the " Catholics and Protestants " has long since been exposed as false .


COURAGE , MR.BLAIR --- LEAVE NOW .....

---

LIAM LYNCH , IRA LEADER - THE FERMOY ATTACK , 1919 .......


.......as Commander of the Cork No. 2 Brigade IRA, Liam Lynch wanted to launch an attack on those that were attempting to protect the British 'police'-force (RIC) in Ireland --- the British Army.......


Liam Lynch contacted IRA General Head Quarters to seek approval for this as yet untried 'twist' to an old plan , but the leadership thought it unwise to proceed with the action and turned him down ; at the time , the IRA attacks on RIC barrack's were obtaining the desired results --- extra weapons for the rebels with a mimimum of casualties : " if its not broke , don't fix it . "

But Lynch persisted ; the other IRA Volunteer in charge of the Cork No.2 Brigade , Michael Fitzgerald , was convinced that Lynch's idea was sound , so both men put together a plan of attack which they intended to take back to GHQ .

On the strength of that plan and with both Lynch and Fitzgerald insisting that it would work , they got the go-ahead for the operation ....... (MORE LATER).



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by DOROTHY MACARDLE - first published in 1924 .


CLASHMEALCON CAVES.......


".......with Aero Lyons dead , the other men in the cave gave up . Jim McEnery , soaking wet and starving , was brought up first by the Free Staters......."


" Greaney and Rudge Hathaway were brought up , and Jimmy McGrath . Greaney had a mad look on his face . Father Cahill said something reproachful to him as he passed , and a Free State soldier protested : " Why do you want to throw water on a drowned rat ? " .

Their vengeance seemed to have spent itself on Aero Lyons . The soldiers were kind . They let the prisoners warm themselves at the fire and put on dry clothes ; the woman gave them hot tea , and gradually their senses came back . They sat smoking , waiting ...... Jim McEnery said --- " They are going to finish us here . " His wife came to him with their little son . He took the boy in his arms and began to cry .

That was about four o' clock . Nothing was done to them , nothing happened , for about three hours ; then they heard a car drive up . A Free State Officer came in , a small man , with a white , smiling face . He looked from one to another and recognised the Englishman , Rudge Hathaway . " Now : get to the caves ! " he ordered . Rudge had to obey . He went out ....... " (MORE LATER).




LOSING.......

[from ' The Sunday Tribune ', 1st March , 1998 , page 13]


" The peace process has failed . The party should not go back to the talks . They are not a stepping stone to a united Ireland or to disengagement . Adams played his hand well , but it was a selected hand and it was'nt the best one in the game . Long term he has to lose . "


--- Jim McAllister , former member of Provisional Sinn Fein's Ard Chomhairle .

Adams' " selected hand " was one he dealt to himself ; too few 'aces' and too many 'jokers' .....




.......AND LYING ---->

[from ' AP/RN ' , 11th September , 1997 , page 5]


<---- " Decommissioning on our part would be tantamount to surrender . "


--- Provisional IRA statement ( issued days after Provisional Sinn Fein accepted the ' Mitchell Principles ' on 9th September , 1997 ) , intended to keep the remainder of their foot-soldiers happy .

Tell ' The Suits ' you're selling-out to that you will decommission and at the same time tell your own people there's not a chance of that happening !

Remember T.U.A.S ? " Totally Un-Armed Strategy " (for the suits) and " Tactical Use of Armed Struggle " (for the foot-soldiers) .

It must be obvious to all but those who refuse to see it --- the Adams Family are not lying to their new-found 'friends' - the Suits .

---

LIAM LYNCH , IRA LEADER ; THE FERMOY ATTACK , 1919 .


Sunday , 7th September , 1919 ; the date usually recognised for the first planned , organised and co-ordinated IRA attack against British forces in Ireland since the 1916 Rising .


During the Black and Tan war ( which started on 21st January , 1919 ) IRA units attacked Royal Irish Constabulary ( RIC - a British 'police'-force in Ireland ) barracks on a regular basis to ' relieve ' them of their weapons , which were then used against them .

The Commander of an IRA Brigade , Liam Lynch ( Cork No. 2 Brigade ) , realised that he could use the frequency of IRA attacks on the RIC to his advantage ; by mounting a surprise attack on those that were endeavouring to protect the RIC --- the British Army ....... (MORE LATER).



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .


CLASHMEALCON CAVES .......


".......the Free Staters lowered a rope for Aero Lyons to climb up on -- as he got to the top , the rope ' snapped ' and he fell about one-hundred feet . The Staters riddled his body with bullets then . A priest was at the scene by now ......."


" The Free State Officer in charge wanted the priest , Fr. Cahill , to go down to Lyons and his comrades on a rope . " Will you stay down and starve or come up and be shot ? " was the message he was to bring . If only they would drown themselves , now , Catherine McEnery thought....

While Fr. Cahill stood hesitating about the message , Jim McEnery came out on the ledge and put up his hands . Some soldiers forced Catherine McEnery into a house , for fear , perhaps , of what she might see next . When she looked out from the window she saw four soldiers leading Jim in ; he was swaying between them , his head hanging limply .

She ran out and cried out to him and he looked at her with staring eyes : water was streaming from his clothes -- his face was as white as death . " Who are they all round me ? " , he was asking wildly . " Don't shoot him ! " she implored the soldiers . " No , no , " , they answered, " we won't . " ........(MORE LATER).



WAR.......

[from 'AP/RN ', 12th March , 1998 , page 20]


Speaking in Kerry on 1st March , 1998 , Gerry Kelly said that the 26-County State was founded on the basis of war crimes for which it has yet to answer ; the following week , on the 7th March , 1998 , Martin Ferris said the same .


So that's why the Provos ( and their daughters ) want into the State apparatus ; to make them answer ( or pay £££ ) for their war crimes.....



....... CRIMES ---->

[from ' AP/RN ' , 9th April , 1998 , page 4]


John Kelly , Provisional Sinn Fein Councillor for Maghera at the time ( and now recently 'retired' ) , stated --

-- " We know a united Ireland will not result from this phase of the struggle (but) we are not prepared to put our name to any settlement that copperfastens partition . "


You've resigned from the Provos now , John , and better late than never... But...

..... the people you supported from 1986 to date " put their name to a settlement that copperfastened partition " and you did support them in that , for the last 17 years . All that time telling true Republicans that they were wrong . WHAT A WASTE .......

---

13 HOURS IN NEW ROSS , WEXFORD - 5th JUNE , 1798.......



.......after winning and losing the town twice , in two battles within hours of each other , one of the leaders of the United Irishmen rebel army , John Kelly , led a third attack . He was badly wounded in that assault and Mary Doyle burned to death .......



Both sides were by now exhausted . One of the surviving United Irishmen , a Thomas Cloney , described the last battle as a free-for-all " with two confused masses of men struggling alternatively to drive the other back by force alone . " For the third time in 13 hours , the Irish Rebels were forced out of their own town -- they had lost the battle this time .

Lord Mountjoy , who was in command of a British force from Dublin , was killed during the fight ; the three Irish Rebel leaders --- Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey , Fr. Philip Roche and John Kelly --- escaped , but were captured within a few weeks by the Brits and put to death in Wexford town .

The 13 hour fight on 5th June , 1798 , the thousands of Irish Rebels killed in that and other battles , the public execution of the leaders of the New Ross attack , and the destruction of Irish towns : but still the same spirit of resistance exists today -- hopefully we will never learn .......


[END].



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , BY DOROTHY MACARDLE -- FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1924.


CLASHMEALCON CAVES.......


".......the Free State troops threw a rope down to Aero Lyons ; his mother knew nothing of the siege -- at the same time as her son began to climb the rope , an old 'grandfather' clock in the kitchen beside his mother , chimed twelve times . The clock had not worked in fifteen years ......."


" What happened on the cliffs edge is not known . Free State soldiers boasted afterwards to their prisoners that some of them cut the rope ; other people say that this is not true . The rope was thin and rotten , it is said . All that is known is this : when Aero Lyons almost reached the top , the rope snapped and he crashed on the rocks below .

The people heard a dreadful cry below and a wild yell of triumph above . Sea-birds flew up madly into the air . Then came the sharp crackle of the machine-gun . Lyons lay on the ridge of the rock below , maybe a hundred feet down . Greaney and McEnery and Hathaway sprang to him , out of the cave , but he was riddled by the gun-fire while he lay . When they lifted him he was dead . The firing went on and on . Father Cahill stood with his arms lifted on the edge of the cliff ---

--- " Savages ! Stop shooting ! " he cried . He gave Conditional Absolution , standing there on the ridge , to the man below . Then all was quiet for a while . The air was full of the smell of tar . Catherine McEnery was hoping only for one thing now . She hoped they would drown themselves . They were sending up answers to the Free State officers' notes ........" (MORE LATER).



LICKS .......

[from ' Magill ' Annual , 1987 , page 39 ]


On the 24th October , 1986 , Peter Voss , former Vice-Chairperson of the U S Postal Service , was sentenced to four years in prison for accepting bribes in connection with a two-hundred-and-fifty million dollar postal-sorting equipment contract . Voss was Co-Chairperson of Ronald Reagans election campaign in Ohio in 1980 !

Maybe he should've got four years for that too .....



.......AND STICKS ---->

[from ' The Sunday Tribune ' , 10th August , 1986 , page 4]


<---- An ' Independent ' member of Leinster House ( ex-Labour Party member ) Sean Treacy described Conor Cruise O'Brien as " spineless and supine , ( full of ) unprincipled shoneenism . " !

He continued --- " You could say that Labour is now just a rump of Fine Gael . Conor Cruise O'Brien tried to make it a rump of the Unionist Party . "


And now it has made itself a rump of the Stickies .......

---

13 HOURS IN NEW ROSS , WEXFORD - 5th JUNE , 1798 .......


....... on 5th June , 1798 , the Irish Rebels attacked the British forces in the town of New Ross , and took the town ; but it was a short-lived victory --- the Brits re-grouped and forced the Rebels out . The rebels prepared for their second assault .......



The United Irishmen rebel army attacked again and were successful for a second time ; however , before they could consolidate their gain , the Brits gathered their remaining forces and drove the Rebels back --- it is believed to be at this point ( ie the second Irish retreat ) that Mary Doyle , who had once again being ' liberating ' enemy weapons , grabbed-on to a British cannon and vowed to stay with the gun regardless of what happened !

Her own comrades could only get her to safety by wheeling the weapon out of the town , with Mary Doyle said to be sitting on the barrel of same !

The town of New Ross was now on fire , with buildings crumbling and hundreds , if not thousands , of bodies strewn around ; one of the leaders of the United Irishmen , John Kelly ( from Killane ) assembled the remnants of the Rebel Army for one last push , which he led . It was in that last attack that Kelly was badly wounded and Mary Doyle was killed by one of the many fires which now consumed the town ....... (MORE LATER).



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , BY DOROTHY MACARDLE - FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1924 .


CLASHMEALCON CAVES .......


"....... Aero Lyons was the first of the trapped IRA men to leave the cave ; when the Free State soldiers recognised him from their cliff-top vantage point , they screamed that they were going to butcher him . He passed a note to the Staters telling them he would surrender on his own , and hand over the rifles ......."


" His enemies would hear of no terms for surrender . Catherine McEnery heard of the surrender at eleven o' clock . She knew what had to be done then : she sent two cars away for the priests . It was just mid-day when a rope , brought out in a lorry , was lowered to Lyons from the cliffs , and he knotted it and began to climb up . Mrs Lyons , his mother , tells of a strange thing that happened at that time in the house in Kilflyn .

The cottage is remote from the roads , and they heard no word at all of the siege at the caves . She was sitting in the kitchen ; her young son and daughter were about the house . The father was mending the fence outside the door . A round pendulum clock hangs on the wall , an heirloom , long past work . Its one hand had been hanging at the figure six , motionless , for fourteen or fifteen years . At mid-day they heard the clock strike .....

The four of them gathered round it , staring , counting the strokes . The hand had moved up to the figure twelve and it struck twelve times......." .......(MORE LATER).



CLEAR AS MUCK .......

[from ' AP/RN ' , 3rd February , 2000 , page 9]


Speaking in Newry , County Down , on Sunday , 30th January , 2000 , Gerry Adams stated ---


--- " It is clear that if this process collapses , it is clear that if the Unionists walk out of the process , it is clear that if the British Government is spooked into suspending the process on a Unionist threat to walk out , that decommissioning is never going to happen . "


The Brits and the Unionists can do what they like with " the process " , when they like and as often as they like , Gerry -- you've nowhere else to go except into their waiting arms ; after they have completely neuterd you and yours .

Still , on the bright side -- it should give you enough material for another book ! *


( * Suggested title's ---->

<---- " Please , Sir - Can I have My Balls Back " ;

" How To Sell-Out Victoriously " ;

" How To Finance A Holiday-Home By Selling Your Country " ;

" How I Mingled With Statesmen And Still Kept The Smell Of Sulphur " .

End of this chapter.......

---

13 HOURS IN NEW ROSS , WEXFORD - 5TH JUNE , 1798 .......


.......set-up outside New Ross and ready to attack the British forces in that town , the leader of the United Irishmen , Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey , sent a number of his men , under a flag of truce , to tell the British he was willing to accept their surrender and take prisoners .......



The British shot the truce party dead . The 13-hour battle was about to start :

: The Irish Rebel leadership gathered a huge herd of cattle and stampeded the animals towards the town ; the rebel army followed immediately behind the terrified beasts . The British outposts fell , and the Irish fought their way into the middle of New Ross , meeting strong resistance -- the Brits retreated , re-grouped , and succeeded in forcing the United Irishmen army out of the town .

Some of the Irish Rebels were reluctant to lose the ground they had gained , and had to be practically dragged away by their own comrades ; one such rebel was Mary Doyle , who ran from body to body of dead and dying enemy soldiers , finishing them off or just making sure they were dead before removing their ammunition belts and weapons which she then distributed to her own side !

After taking and then losing the town , which was now partly on fire , the Rebels prepared to launch another attack ....... (MORE LATER).




THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .


".......after pounding the cave for thirty hours with heavy weaponry , the Free Staters decided to send a scout to investigate . What would he find .......?"


" While the Free State soldiers were making ready to go down a call was heard below , away to the right ; then a savage triumphant yell from the cliff's edge .

Aero Lyons had come out on to the ledge below and put his hands up . They had been starved out . The tide rose to the foot of the second cave and the waves swept in . Saturated with salt-water and parched with thirst , weak and trembling from cold and want of food , they would have sunk into delirium very soon .

The thought of Jim McEnery's wife and child was troubling Lyons . " What will we do ," he kept saying , " about your wife and child ? " He knew well what fate awaited him if he were taken . He was going over plans in his head . " It would not be right for me , " he said , " to slip into the sea . "

There was joy like the joy of fiends above , when Aero Lyons was seen at last , living and trapped . " We'll butcher him ! " , some of the Free State soldiers screamed . Notes were passed up and down by cords . Lyons was trying to make terms . He would surrender himself and the rifles on condition that the rest should go free ........ " (MORE LATER)>



CHRISTMAS PRESSIES .......

[from ' Saoirse ' , January , 2000 , page 2]


On 6th December , 1999 , the members of the Stormont Assembly voted to give themselves a wage ( or should that be 'salary' ? ) increase ; ----

---- 'Ordinary' members went from Sterling £29,000 to £38,000 , those chairing committees and members of the Assembly commission voted to increase their money from £37,000 to £48,000 , a ' Deputy Chairperson ' would now be on £43,000 and two new ' Junior Minister ' positions were created ( on 15th December , 1999 ) at a wage/salary of £55,341 each .

The Stormont 'First Minister' was on £84,504 , as was the Deputy First Minister , but both would now be on £102,344 ! Other Ministers and ' Presiding Officers ' were on £69,451 each -- increased to £71,396 .

But that was back in 1999 ; one would no doubt find it difficult to maintain one's lifestyle in this , the 21st Century , on a 20th Century salary level .......


....... AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR ---->

[from ' The Sunday Tribune ' , 16th January , 2000 , page 21]


<---- Last week ( ie - early Jan 2000 ) the Stormont Assembly members voted themselves a generous redundancy package of half their annual ( recently increased ! ) salary in the event that the Assembly closes down !

As I've said here before , folks --- keep voting for them : there's a standard of living which your VIP's simply must adhere too .......

---

13 HOURS IN NEW ROSS , WEXFORD - 5th JUNE , 1798 .......


....... while on the move to New Ross , the army of United Irishmen ( and women ) , about three-thousand strong , had captured artillery pieces from British forces ; the rebels spent about three days at Carrickbyrne Hill learning how to use their new weapons .......


After two or three days , the leaders of the Rebel Army --- Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey , John Kelly and Fr. Philip Roche --- moved the approximately three-thousand-strong force the short distance from Carrickbyrne Hill to Corbett Hill ; they could now look down on the town of New Ross , which was then a walled town .

The Rebel leaders knew that there was about three or four-thousand enemy soldiers in New Ross , commanded by a General Johnson and a ' Lord ' Mountjoy , the latter in charge of an enemy Brigade from Dublin . One of the Rebel leaders , Harvey , wanted to take the town without bloodshed , if possible , and sent a number of his men , under a flag of truce , to let the British know that he was willing to accept their surrender and take prisoners ....... (MORE LATER).



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .


CLASHMEALCON CAVES .......


"....... the Free State troops had a search-light trained on the cave ; they were pounding the area with machine-gun fire and grenades . The explosions and gun-fire lasted all night ......."


" In the grey dawn , exhausted , they began to say the Republicans must be dead . Free State soldiers volunteered to go down . There was hesitation for a long time and disputes arose . The people from the cottages began to venture out . For some hours , nothing was done by the Staters . At ten o'clock that morning , the people heard it had been decided to send down a scout .

What would the scout find ? Were they all dead in the cave , or drowned ? Was the cave empty ? There had been no sign from it for thirty hours . Could they --- it would be like Aero Lyons --- could they , by some miraculous feat of daring , have got away ? How Aero would laugh .

If the cave was empty what would the Staters do ? Make sure they were drowned , maybe , and go away ..... And then , supposing they had escaped ! " (MORE LATER).



A WELL-DRESSED THUG....... ---->


<---- " Before the end of the year we'll burn the Tricolour over the GPO in Dublin and then we'll fire their city centre . Ulster (sic) has buried its dead and its widiws and orphans have wept , and Ulster has proved its commitment to the cause .

Now is the time for the Dublin people's commitment to their cause to be put to the test and it will have its fill of Irish widows and orphans to mourn their dead by the time we're finished . All loyalist efforts should be channeled against the Irish Republic because that is the weakest point in the British-Irish Agreement , and if bombs go off and fires consume Dublin , the ordinary people whose relatives are burnt or blown to bits will soon put pressure on their Irish Government (sic) to abort the Anglo-Irish Agreement . "


--- George Seawright , a loyalist who spoke his mind ( as opposed to the rest of his type , who put on a suit and wrapped the above type of sentiment in a greasy spin ) , speaking in Newtownards , County Down , as quoted in ' The Sunday World ' newspaper , 14th September , 1986 , page 8.

That's the mentality we've been dealing with here for over 800 years ; is it possible to sell-out to people like that and still hold on to your own principles , your own (alleged) ' bottom-line ' ? Ask Gerry .......

---

13 HOURS IN NEW ROSS , WEXFORD - 5TH JUNE , 1798 .......


.......the Irish rebels, camped at Three Rock ( and about four-thousand strong ) were divided by their leader , Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey , into three groups -- two of the groups went towards Wicklow , while the third group ( of about three-thousand men and women ) headed-off towards New Ross in Wexford .......


The two ' Wicklow ' groups put up a fierce struggle against professional British Yeomanry , but were eventually forced to scatter , leaving hundreds of fellow rebels dead or dying . By this time , the largest group ( under Harvey ) had reached Carrickbyrne Hill , about two-hours march from New Ross ; on their journey from Three Rock to Carrickbyrne Hill they had encountered and defeated armed British contingents and Harvey decided they should set-up base at the Hill and teach the rebel army how to use the captured pieces of artillery which they had obtained from the British forces they had met along the way .

After a few days in training , the rebel army were judged to be ready to be moved to the next ' camp ' -- the last such stop before they would attack the town of New Ross ....... (MORE LATER).



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , BY DOROTHY MACARDLE - FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1924 .


CLASHMEALCON CAVES .......


" .......the seven IRA men crept out of Dumforts Cave in the darkness and made their way to another cave ; then two of them , Tommy McGrath and Patrick O' Shea , said they would keep going to try and get help . Both men lost their grip and fell to their death......."



" With daylight on Tuesday , lorry after lorry came tearing out from Tralee with troops and munitions , bombs and grenades and mines . A machine-gun was placed on the point that commanded the cave . An armoured car was run out to the edge of the cliff . The Free State soldiers were swarming above the cliffs like green-flies , the people said .

The bombardment of the cave went on all day . The crackle of the machine-gun and the thunderous concussion of bursting shells , the rending explosion of mines and grenades , shook the houses in Causeway and Ballywilliam ; shook the listening people , fathers and mothers , wives and sisters of the besieged Republicans , to their hearts .

All day it went on and all day there was no answer from the silent cave . Aero Lyons was laughing , no doubt . That night darkness was routed from Clashmealcon . The white beam of a search-light crept over the rock-face , making every ridge and hollow stand out clear . Crimson flame and smoke from burning tar-barrels mixed with yellow , choking sulphurous fumes , made the creek below look like the pit of Hell .

The roar of the ocean and the roar of the fire , the pounding of brakers on rocks and the crash of explosions filled the night with a fiendish din . Rage and fury grew in the defeated horde of Free State soldiers above the cliff ........ " (MORE LATER).



GREEDY CUBS....... ----->


....... <----- In 1983 , the leader of Fine Gael was Garret Fitzgerald -- he was Free State Minister for Foreign Affairs 1973--1977 , became leader of Fine Gael in 1977 and was Free State Taoiseach for nine months between 1981 and 1982 . He was appointed 'Taoiseach' again in the Leinster House administration which was formed on the 14th December 1982 .

Twenty years ago , Mr. Fitzgerald was on Punts 826 a week ( Euro 1048 ) from the taxpayer to look after the finances of the State ; those that could'nt get a job or did'nt want to emigrate , in 1983 , went on the dole --- and Garret and his type decided that they could live on Punts 29 ( Euro 37 ) a week ! So , twenty years ago , it took a person on the dole 22 weeks to get the same amount of money that our politicians were pocketing in one week !

See -- it was'nt the ' Celtic Tiger ' that made them greedy .....

---

13 HOURS IN NEW ROSS , WEXFORD - 5th June , 1798 ........


.......the town of Enniscorthy , and Wexford Town itself , had both fallen to the British in late May , 1798 ; the United Irishmen planned to take New Ross , and use it as a base .......


The plan was to use New Ross as a base from which to march on Waterford and Kilkenny . There were at least four-thousand Irish rebels , all brave at heart but undisciplined in matters military .

They set-up a temporary base at Three Rock , just outside Wexford Town , and spent about three days there , drilling and learning basic military manoeuvres ; their leader , Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey , was aware that they needed to strike at the British quickly , before they could 'bed' themselves down in New Ross .

The United Irishmen were divided into three groups ; two of the groups , each consisting of hundreds of rebels , were dispatched towards Wicklow ( to delay and confuse the enemy ) while the third contingent , consisting of about three-thousand men and women , headed off towards New Ross , in Wexford ....... (MORE LATER).



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .


CLASHMEALCON CAVES .......


".......the IRA men were trapped in Dumforts Cave ; the Free Staters had tried to burn them out , but were not successful . When darkness fell , the IRA men crept out , one-by-one , in an attempt to escape ......."



" They moved stealthily , for fear of stirring a pebble , between the lonely pinnacle and the cliff , out of the creek and along to the flat rock over which hung , they knew well , a ledge they would be able to climb to and , above it , another cave . They came to the flat rock and stood there , cold and wet , hungry and victorious , their ruse wholly successful , their going unheard .

It seemed that the enemy were so idle in the wet night that if only aid could be summoned , one little company ambushing above might save them now . Tommy McGrath and Patrick o'Shea volunteered to go farther , to try to make their way out and get help . For a little distance they groped their way safely , but the night was black and the rocks baffled them ; there was no pathway now , no escape -- only rocks jutting everyway overhead and slippery masses of seaweed below .

They had come within reach of the breakers that flung themselves like monsters against the rocks and dragged the shingle back with a grinding roar . They were torn from their hold in the darkness and drowned ........" (MORE LATER).



LORD.......

On the eve of the 17th Century plantations , Sir William Parson , an English ' Overlord ' , stated ---

--- " We must change the Irish course of government , apparel , manner of holding land , language and habit of life . It will otherwise be impossible to set up in them obedience to the law and the British Empire . "

That was the 17th Century, this is the 21st Century : and they're still at it ......



.......SAVE US ---->

[from ' The Sunday Times ' , 20th October , 1985 , page 16]


British ' Lord ' Grey Gowrie resigned as British Arts Minister in September 1985 because his £33,000 sterling salary per year -- " was not sufficient to support my lifestyle . "

The poor man could'nt put bread on the table , in 1985 , on £687 Sterling a week !

DAMN IT, Grey , old man ; if we had known in time we would have organised a collection for you .......

---

, 13 HOURS IN NEW ROSS , WEXFORD -- 5th June , 1798 .......


....... the United Irishmen attacked the British forces in New Ross , Wexford on 5th June , 1798 , and were successful ; but the British re-grouped and took back the town , driving the Irish rebels out.......


The rebels themselves re-grouped , under the command of Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey , Thomas Cloney , Father Philip Roche and John Kelly . They forced their way into New Ross again and scattered the British forces but , once again , for the second time , the Brits re-grouped , attacked , and put the rebels to flight .

Feeling that a final victory was within their grasp , the United Irishmen assembled for another push -- the third such attack . The thirteen-hour battle for the town of New Ross in Wexford was one of the most ferocious and bloody fights of the 1798 Rising . In late May , 1798, the town of Enniscorthy and Wexford Town itself fell to the British ; the Irish rebels in the area , under Harvey , planned to take New Ross and use it as a base ....... (MORE LATER).




THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .


CLASHMEALCON CAVES.......


"....... two Free State soldiers attempted to enter Dumfort's Cave --- both were shot dead by the IRA unit inside . The other's knew not to try it again ......."


" Free State Officers went into the village and sent wires : " Prominent irregulars in caves . Come on ! " The Free Staters believed De Valera and Humphrey Morgan were there . They sent soldiers to every cottage to take out the hay and brought it to the cliff's edge and bundled sods of turf into it and threw it down , flaming and smoking , to the mouth of the cave . They wired to Tralee for paraffin , oil and tar . Lorries came tearing out loaded with oil and petrol and something that seemed like sulphur .

They got sheets from the houses and saturated them with the sulphurous stuff and set fire to them and flung them down . They made a choking smoke with a poisonous fume . They poured oil and tar and petrol into hay and turf and flung it all , flaming , down to the cave . A roaring blaze and a yellow smoke . The people thought that the rocks themselves would be consumed . But the wind changed and blew the flames out to sea . It was the season in Kerry of " the rough weather of the cuckoo " -- the weather called " scoriveen " . At nightfall torrents of rain came down .

The Free State Officers talked of rushing the cave under a shield of iron shutters , or attacking it from a boat , but the soldiers would make no such attack . They were cold and wet and their efforts subsided during the night . They tried once more to lower a lamp , but a shot from the cave smashed it , and they tried no more . The night was hung with thick , impenetrable darkness ; the tide , at midnight , was far out -- the elements were with the IRA men in the caves . One by one , they crept out from the narrow mouth of the cave and walked , barefoot , over the boulders , to the right , along by the friendly overshadowing rock wall........" (MORE LATER)>



TAKE IT DOWN FROM THE MAST .......
[from ' The Evening Press ' newspaper , 13th September , 1986 -- a Saturday , if memory serves -- page 4]

Peter Robinson ( Deputy leader of the ' Democratic Unionist Party ' at the time ) stated ---

--- " If someone will tell me the time and the place when the Union Jack will ever be banned , I'll be there with mine to make sure it keeps flying . Ulster (sic) is part of the United Kingdom , the Union Jack is its flag and no one can morally or legally order it to be taken down . If anyone here finds the flag provocative it is they who should be dealt with and not the flag . "


Mr. Robinson would do well to realise that most people on this island find that flag " provocative " , and for good reason -- it would serve him better in the long run to make his peace with the majority here , rather than threaten them .....



....... IRISH TRAITORS --->

[from ' The Sunday Business Post ' , 20th July , 1997 , page 14 ]


<--- Writing in ' The Irish News ' on Thursday , 17th July , 1997 , Gerry Adams stated that his party ( Provisional 'Spin' Fein ) wanted -- " Maximum constitutional change and a renegotiation of the Union . "

That's what Fianna Fail and the SDLP , amongst others , have always being willing to settle for . But its not what 1798 , 1803 , 1916 etc was about . Its not what the last 834 years have been fought for . And its not what the next 834 years , if it takes that long , will be fought for ......

---

THIRTEEN HOURS IN NEW ROSS , WEXFORD - 5th JUNE , 1798 .



The Irish poet William Rooney was so taken by the exploits of United Irishwoman Mary Doyle that , in the late 19th Century , he wrote one of his best known works about the 1798 fighter -- ' Heroine of Ross '.

Mary Doyle was to the fore in the thirteen-hour battle of New Ross , in County Wexford , on 5th June , 1798 ; during that battle , which involved thousands of fighters on both sides , the United Irishmen won the fight , and the town , on their first attack -- only to lose it when the British Yeomanry , under the command of a General Johnson , re-grouped and drove the rebels out .

However , within hours the Irish rebels had themselves re-grouped and were ready for another attack ....... (MORE LATER).



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .


CLASHMEALCON CAVES.......


"....... the Free Staters forced Jimmy McGrath to take them to the hidden caves in Clashmealcon where the IRA unit made camp ; he was tortured until he agreed to do so ; he was sure the cave was empty but , when he entered ......."


" 'Aero' Lyons and O'Shea and Jim McEnery and Greaney and the brave Englishman , Hathaway , and his own brother , Tom , were there . Dumfort's Cave was named , it is said , after a Fenian who used to hide there in '67 , or maybe from some fugitive of penal times . It is a small shallow hollow at the base of the rocks at the apex of the horse-shoe shaped creek .

Great boulders lie piled in front of it ; the tide flows almost to the hole -- half-way up the cliffs jut over it in an arch and the grassy edge above shelves out over that arch again . From no point , except one , far out on one butt of the horse-shoe , can the cave be seen . There is no way to it save the slippery path where only one man at a time can go , and he must cling with his hands ; the path is commanded , the whole way down , from the cave .

It is a position from which one man , had he provisions , might defy a besieging host ; the high rocks above are his allies , and the deep ocean below .

Not one of them blamed Jim McGrath . They took him into the cave . A Free State soldier tried to follow him , shouting " Come out ! " A bullet fired from the cave killed him instantly , and he fell on the flat rocks below . One more tried and was shot and fell into the sea . No soldier would go down after that ......." (MORE LATER).



TWISTED .......

[from 'AP/RN' , 31st July , 1986 , page 4]


In 1975 , Margaret Thatcher said ---

--- " The pursuit of equality is a mirage . Opportunity means nothing unless it includes the right to be unequal . "

And the Tories are determined to give that " right " to the working class......



.......LOGIC ---->

[from ' The Evening Press ' , 7th August , 1986 -- a Thursday , if memory serves -- page 7]


<---- According to the British Royal Air Force , the true position of Rockall is nearly one nautical mile south-east of where it was thought to be -- in other words , it is a mile closer to Ireland .

The Rock itself is one-hundred foot long and sixty foot high , and is situated about 260 miles north-west of Donegal , 300 miles distance from Scotland , 350 miles from the Faroe Islands and 440 miles from Iceland . It's previous position was (incorrectly) fixed by a (British ?) naval surveyor , a Captain Alexander Vidal , in 1831 .


" Rock on , Rockall , you'll never fall , to Britains greedy hands ....... "

---

THE B-SPECIALS ; 1920 - 1970 .......


.......on April Fools Day , 1970 , the Brits announced the 'disbandment' of the B-Specials ; a few weeks later , they announced the establishment of a 'new' force of men --- the ' Ulster Defence Regiment' . The UDR was to be heavily armed .......


Self-loading rifles , sub-machine guns , Bren guns and Browning machine guns mounted on armoured cars ; about eight-thousand members of the 'old' B-Specials / Ulster Volunteer Force joined the 'new' force , put on a different British uniform and basically carried-on from where they had left off .

In one form or another , in one uniform or another and with one name or another , the British and/or their lackeys in this country have never shrinked from using violence to maintain their grip on Ireland or part thereof . It is of no concern to Republicans whether they call themselves the British Army , the Ulster Volunteer Force , the B-Specials , the Ulster Defence Regiment or the Police Service of Northern Ireland (sic).

Their shared objective is to sustain an unnatural entity -- the British presence in Ireland . They might as well try and stop the tide coming in ......


[END].



THE TRAGEDIES OF KERRY , by Dorothy Macardle - first published in 1924 .


CLASHMEALCON CAVES.......


".......after driving-off the Free State attackers , the IRA men knew they would be back in force the next day ; they prepared to go on the run ......."


" But it seems that the Free State soldiers had said to a woman in Causeway that they knew the Republicans had a cave , and that they would make a good search for it next day . " And she never stirred her tongue to give us the warning ." It is a thing that the people do not forgive .

Three of the nine had been wary and gone inland , but six men , losing, as though by some unavoidable doom , all judgement , went into Dumfort's Cave . They slept ; they put out no sentry ; they had taken in no food . The Free State troops took one prisoner on Sunday morning-- Jimmy McGrath . He was Tom's brother , but had not his quick wit ; he hardly understood what the danger was . The Free Staters ' interrogated ' him in Tralee Barracks by their inhuman methods until he broke down and promised to take them to the caves . It would do little harm , he thought --- there was nobody there .

Very early on Monday morning he came out with the Free State troops to Clashmealcon . The soldiers watched from above while he clambered down the half-hidden , perilous path . He came down the cliffs and up the steep slope of shingle to the mouth of Dumfort's Cave ........ " (MORE LATER).



SOCIALIST SHYSTER....... ----> [from ' The Evening Press' newspaper , 19th February --- a Tuesday , I think --- 1985]



----> John O'Connell , a Fianna Fail Leinster House member at the time , stated that Charlie Haughey " could claim to be a socialist as it was he who brought in free TV licences , electricity and travel for the elderly . "


And Charlie Haughey did those things ; to his credit . And they are still in operation to this day . But that's where his credit run's dry .......


....... The man ripped-off the taxpayer in this State for his own selfish , personal , financial benefit , and continues to live an extremely comfortable lifestyle . Fianna Fail's idea of a " socialist " is someone who does'nt rip them off ! There idea of an " honest politician " is someone who , once purchased , stays purchased .

But , now that I think of it , Haughey DID rip his own off as well -- remember his " best political and personal friend " , Brian Lenihan , was dying and needed an operation ? And the bould Charlie touched all his business buddies for cash to help poor Brian out ?

Ask Lenihan's widow how much of that cash got through to her .......

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