CORRECTION RE UP-COMING 27th NOVEMBER 2010 DUBLIN ICTU-ORGANISED PROTEST....
....our previous post in relation to this protest march gave incorrect assembly and destination points : the correct assembly point is at the Civic Offices on Wood Quay , from where , at 12 Noon , those present will form-up and march to the GPO in O'Connell Street , where a rally will be held.

However - no change or corrections needed for these three events :


The RSF Ard Fheis 2010 is unchanged in venue and time etc - this weekend in a Dublin Hotel , as stated, and.....






....the 650-ticket raffle will be held on Sunday 14th November , in a different Dublin hotel and , finally.....




....the Annual CABHAIR Christmas Day Swim : so far , five brave men , who have been gathering sponsorship for the past few weeks and who have each collected a few hundred Euro, have been trying to loose their beer-bellies (!) and co-ordinate the colour of their 'Speedos' ;-) !
The 2009 colour scheme can be viewed here...
Thanks!
Sharon.

---

---

---

AN EXPERIMENT IN JAMES STREET : THE DEATH OF NIALL RUSH.......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , September 1984.
By Derek Dunne.

The test also involved doing cycometric tests , which attempt to measure motor responses to drugs , and are considered an indicator of how a person who had been prescribed the drug might act whilst driving a car. These tests were taken three times a day : one such test monitored reaction when a light was switched on or off , another test involved watching a circular tray of lights , knocking each one off as it was switched on. After taking the drug , the time taken to complete these tests increased dramatically. When Joe Claffey was doing this test he was given four cardiographs a day , one of which was done while he was lying down , one standing and one sitting , with three minutes between each reading.

There are many different tests performed at the Institute , ranging from one-off tests lasting a few days up to those lasting a month. Some of the trials are split with intervals of perhaps weeks between each session. Conditions for individual volunteers inside the Institute vary according to what drug they are on : some volunteers might have to give , say, three blood and urine samples a day and, for the rest of the time, they would watch TV , play cards or read etc. Others might have to give more samples , some might have a permanent needle in their arm .

Meals are regular - breakfast , lunch , tea , supper ; some volunteers might have to fast in the morning with certain drugs and those on less exacting tests might sit around playing cards or chatting during the day. The Institute has always had a reputation among some of the people who went in there with , amongst other things , descriptions given of cannabis smoking sessions. A few years ago , the Institute began doing THC tests , which would show up cannabis residue in the bloodstream , and anyone found to have a positive test would be deemed unsuitable to continue their test.......
(MORE LATER).







THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

" With Ministers , the trouble I ran into was generally in connection with their efforts to get the use of additional State cars for personal purposes where government directives restricted each to the use of one car. As Accounting Officer during my 10 years as Secretary , I was held personally responsible to the Minister for Finance and to the Committee of Public Accounts that all disbursements and services within the Votes for the Department of Justice were administered as efficiently and economically as possible and within the treasury rules.

The 'treasury rules' , republished in 1929 and still being circulated to incoming Accounting Officers , in their pristine form in the 1960's provided that where an Accounting Officer differed with the political Head of his department (the Minister) in relation to a matter coming within his purview he should require the Minister's directions in writing and report the matter to the Minister for Finance and to the Committee of Public Accounts.

I had to invoke this protection clause in Mr Haughey's first year of Office and at least twice while Mr Lenihan was Minister. In Mr Haughey's case it was a trial of strength - he was flexing his muscles and exercising what he understood to be absolute authority within his department. It came about in this way : in 1960 , while Parliamentary Secretary , he had promised a minor appointment carrying a small capitation grant while unaware that the Minister , Mr Traynor , was allocating it to somebody else...... "
(MORE LATER).








On Saturday 27th November 2010 , the authors of this blog will be taking part with members of Republican Sinn Féin in a trade union-organised 'anti-budget/cutbacks' protest march through Dublin city centre : we want to stress , again , that we do so in support of the employed and the unemployed , the 'abled' and the 'disabled' and the 'havenots' rather than the 'haves' , who are about to be forced to pay €6 billion between them to bail out the politicians and their property-speculating and big builder friends , and that our participation should not be viewed as an action in support of the trade union leadership who are , in our opinion , as morally corrupt as the politicians they claim to oppose.
We dedicate this song to those who , like ourselves, are about to be penalised , again, for the wanton greed and incompetence of the fine-suited , corrupt and perma-tanned bastards that not only caused this poverty , but are determined that others should rescue them , financially - they are beyond any attempted moral rescue.
The assembly point for this protest march is the Garden of Remembrance , Parnell Square , at 12 Noon : hopefully , thousands of people will take part in this on Saturday 27th November 2010 and shut down Dublin City Centre for a few hours.







Thanks to our colleagues in RSF in Cork for bringing this worthy 'Facebook' page to our attention. Contact details for the 'National Graves Association' can be found here , and we wish Matt and the team continued success in their great work. They are a tireless bunch , totally dedicated to their objective , and deserve any assistance you can give them.




Vinny Byrne, who was 15 years old at the time of the Rising in 1916, asked to see Lieutenant Peter Ames and Lieutenant George Bennett at the door of 38 Upper Mount Street in Dublin :
"As I opened the folding-doors, the officer, who was in bed, was in the act of going for his gun under his pillow...."
(From here : please note - the word "murder" is not a word we would use to describe that which happened....)







The ballad session which was to be held in the 79'r Pub in Ballyfermot , Dublin , on Friday 17th December 2010 has been postponed : one of the three acts which were booked to appear had, in fact , being double-booked and the organisers were unable to replace that act in time. As the event had been advertised and promoted locally as a "three-group gig" , the Organising Committee considered it best to postpone the event : a wise decision , I think , as the venue and the crowds who attended all the previous gigs in the venue might have considered themselves to have been 'short-changed' ie expecting a three-group event at which only two groups played.

It takes a lot of effort over a long period of time to build a good reputation - as that particular RSF Organising Committee have done - but only one 'wrong move' to destroy that reputation. When the gig has been re-organised we will , of course , post those details here.
Thanks for reading!
Sharon.

---

---

---

A NUMBER'S GAME : 106 (13-14-11-10), 650 , 12/10/34/25......

106 (13-14-11-10) - As we have mentioned before ('106 All Round') , this number relates to the 106th RSF Ard Fheis , which will be held this coming weekend , 13th and 14th November , in a Dublin venue. By coincidence , that number (106) also relates to the number of motions which will be discussed at the Ard Fheis.


650 - Also an event we have covered before and , like '106' above , it will be held this weekend as well , in a different venue. The two events will help to 'balance' each other out : '106' will cost money , whilst '650' will make money!


12/10/34/25 - Again , mentioned on this Blog recently : that set of numbers indicate that the 34th successive CABHAIR Christmas Swim , in the Grand Canal, in Dublin , will be held in December ('12'/month) this year (twenty10) on the 25th - Christmas Day.

A busier than usual few days ahead for Republican Sinn Féin and CABHAIR , but nothing they haven't handled before. Those of us that put this Blog together have been 'jobbed' already , as we have always volunteered to assist the Republican Movement , and are proud to do so !
Thanks for reading ,
Sharon.

---

---

---

On Saturday 27th November 2010 , the authors of this blog will be taking part with members of Republican Sinn Féin in a trade union-organised 'anti-budget/cutbacks' protest march through Dublin city centre : we want to stress - as we have before - that we do so in support of the employed and the unemployed ,the 'abled' and the 'disabled', the 'havenots' rather than the 'haves', who are about to be forced to pay €6 billion between them to bail out the politicians and their property-speculating and big builder friends , and that our participation should not be viewed as an action in support of the trade union leadership who are , in our opinion , as morally corrupt as the politicians they claim to oppose.
We dedicate this song to those who , like ourselves, are about to be penalised , again, for the wanton greed and incompetence of the fine-suited , corrupt and perma-tanned bastards that not only caused this poverty , but are determined that others should rescue them , financially - they are beyond any attempted moral rescue.
Hopefully , an attempt will be made by the protestors to forcibly enter Leinster House and to physically destroy that institution from the inside and such an event , if/when it happens , should not stop there - the State Senate , Anglo Irish Bank (amongst others) and the plush Offices on Merrion Street , Dublin, which we , the public, purchased for the politicians ,should all be either destroyed or converted into hostels for the homeless.
Any such action will , of course , be condemned by the politicians themselves , the union leadership , the churches , the business leaders and the mainstream media.
We can listen to their condemnation as they are being lined-up against a white-washed wall....
We will publish the details regarding the protest on this blog in the next few days.
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.

---

---

---

AN EXPERIMENT IN JAMES STREET : THE DEATH OF NIALL RUSH.......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , September 1984.
By Derek Dunne.

'Clause 5' of the consent form states - "The health of an individual volunteer will not be improved by participation in any drug trial of this nature. On the contrary, some element, however small, of health and life endangering risk must always be involved in any study. It will be the responsibility of the Institute and its clinical staff to ensure, by all possible means, that the health of the participants is safeguarded." This is the standard clause on all consent forms.

According to Joe Claffey , Niall Rush was turned down for the test due to the condition of his veins , as the trial involved taking a large number of blood tests over the period. So it was important that the volunteers veins be in good order and others , besides Niall Rush, were turned down as well.

The same day, however, Niall Rush was accepted to undergo the Eproxindine 4/0089 test, a different one. Joe Claffey underwent his pre-medical on May 8th and was admitted on May 16th - he described the effects of the drug as being like an electric shock to the system , that it made you feel as if you had slowed down , even when you walked. He had the impression that he was never going to arrive at the point he was walking to but , mentally, there were no noticeable side effects - they were all physical.......
(MORE LATER).







THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

"In later years , early in 1970 for instance, I found that information communicated to me verbally on a Thursday , simultaneously with communication to Garda HQ , had not been reported to the Minister in writing by the following Tuesday , when he intended to bring the matter to the notice of a government meeting.

On the Tuesday , the Commissioner denied any knowledge of the serious matter as did his senior officers but when a search was made it was found that the report had been received in Garda HQ on the Friday and had not been dealt with because the officer concerned was "house-hunting". These are some of the reasons why I felt that government would be best served by a continuation of my personal supervision in policy matters of a political nature.

In my time as eminence grise to Gerry Boland and , later, when in positions of additional paper authority as Assistant Secretary and Secretary of the Department for a span of over 13 years, I ran foul of Minister after Minister and quite a number of Members of the Oireachtas in refusing to accept their 'nods and winks' to turn a blind eye to irregularities......."
(MORE LATER).







NO WELCOME HERE FOR BRITISH 'ROYALTY'!

In the last few weeks there has been increased speculation by the establishment media that the present English 'queen' is planning to visit her loyal subjects in Stormont and Leinster House : the Irish Republican position on any such visit is clear -

'When the english robbed our language
and gave us theirs instead,
they gave us leave to cheat them
in the things we left unsaid,
when they robbed us of our claymores
and thought our pikes absurd,
we fashioned brand new weapons,
with each new fangled word.'

British 'Princess' Anne Windsor , for example, was the Colonel-in-Chief of the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment of the British Crown Forces (29th/45th Foot) until it became the 2nd Battalion of the Mercian Regiment (Worcesters and Foresters) . In 1916, the 178 (Forester) Brigade was sent to Dublin in an attempt to suppress the Easter Rising. The same women is presently associated with British political and military imperialism by virtue of the following positions which she holds :
* Colonel-in-Chief, The King’s Royal Hussars
* Colonel-in-Chief, The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment (29/45 Foot)
* Colonel-in-Chief, The Royal Corps of Signals
* Colonel-in-Chief, The Royal Logistic Corps
* Colonel-in-Chief, The Royal Army Veterinary Corps
* Commandant-in-Chief, The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Princess Royal’s Volunteer Corps)
* Colonel, The Blues and Royals
* Royal Colonel, The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland
* Royal Colonel, The 52nd Lowland Regiment, 6th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland
* Rear Admiral and Chief Commandant for women, Royal Navy
* Honorary Air Commodore, RAF Lyneham
* Honorary Air Commodore, University of London Air Squadron
* Royal Honorary Colonel, University of London OTC
* Commodore-in-Chief, Portsmouth.
Irish Republicans will be opposing the presence on this island of Anne Windsor or any other British 'Royal' : details of the intended protest will be announced nearer the date concerned .
Sharon.

---

---

---

'POLITICAL STATUS' AND 'NO TO ROYAL VISIT' PICKETS , DUBLIN , SATURDAY 30th OCTOBER 2010 : BRIEF REPORT AND A FEW PICS...








Republican Sinn Féin Poblachtach members staged two protests today in O'Connell Street , Dublin, both of which lasted for 75 minutes : a 'Political Status' picket , and a 'No To Royal Visits' picket. About 20 activists , including a 'crew' who 'worked the immediate area' with leaflets and selling the 'Saoirse' newspaper , maintained a very visible presence on the traffic isle facing the GPO , and were well received by shoppers and passers-by ; indeed, tourists from France , Italy and America , amongst other places , not only took leaflets and purchased 'Saoirse' , but practically formed a queue at one stage to be photographed with the assembled Republicans!


'NO ROYAL WELCOME...' - RSF.


More than 30 copies of the 'Saoirse' newspaper were sold , and 900 leaflets distributed - 300 each of 'Political Status' leaflets , 'No Royal Visit' leaflets and 'CABHAIR Christmas Swim' leaflets , a 'job' which kept the seven-person 'crew' engaged for the duration of the pickets. Incidentally , two 'crew' members returned to base (!) with the equivalent , roughly, of €50 each (in American and Australian dollars!) , which they received as donations , from tourists who had earlier 'posed' in between the Republican placards and banners in O'Connell Street - they were full of praise for those on the picket , and were especially delighted to be given a half-dozen of each leaflet each , and a few 'papers!


'NO WELCOME FOR BRIT ROYALS!' - RSF.



"Just glance over the placard - don't read it slowly ...please...." : we can explain the.....


.....missing 'N' ! The missing letter can be attributed to a Special Branch man , Nicky , who, accompanied by his equally 'Special' girlfriend - too shy to give her name - tried their best to move the RSF 'picketeers' off the traffic isle and , when that failed, tried to scare away the on-lookers and the many tourists - but no luck there , either ! So , in desperation , we think he must have tried to interfere with the placards and obviously succeeded in damaging at least one. That's our story , icky (!) , and we're sticki g to it...;-) !



'Political Status' banner , O'Connell Street , Dublin , Saturday 30th October 2010.


Finally - even though we promised we wouldn't mention it (didn't we , Louise and Maire ?) , but it's almost Halloween and we're up for a wee bit of divilment (!) : an RSF Comhairle Laighean meeting ('Leinster Executive') was held today in a venue near Fairview in Dublin , from 12 Noon to 2pm , clashing with these two pickets. Bad timing on someones part , eh , girls.....;-) !
Anyway : full marks to RSF for the good jobs today , thanks to the many wishes of support from the thousands of people who seen us today , to Louise and Maire (!) and , of course , to icky and his girlfrie d , whom we hope will tie the knot soon.
Where they tie it , of course , is there own business....
Thanks!
Sharon.

---

---

---

An 'Anti-Royal' picket....








.....and a 'Pro Political Status' picket will be held this Saturday , 30th October 2010 , from 12.45pm until 1.45pm , on the traffic isle facing the GPO in O'Connell Street , Dublin :
ALL WELCOME!

---

---

---

AN EXPERIMENT IN JAMES STREET : THE DEATH OF NIALL RUSH.......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , September 1984.
By Derek Dunne.

The main specification in paying volunteers for drug trials is that the inducement should not be too much : even if the payment were less than £20 a day , it is likely that people would still put themselves forward as volunteers and that can be witnessed in the fact that even though the rate has not changed in the last six years (but the actual value of the amount has decreased considerably) there is no shortage of volunteers.

Joe Claffey and Niall Rush went to ICP Limited in May this year (1984) to put themselves down to be tested for a drug to control Parkinson's Disease: on the consent form , that drug is identified simply by the code MJ 13805 , and this was to be the first time that it had been given to a human , with the test being carried out for the company Bristol Myers, and was a 'tolerance study' , meaning that the dose given is increased with each administration.

One of the purposes of a 'tolerance study' is to find out at what point the patient will experience adverse effects. A total of 18 people were to be taken in for 17 days , with each participant receiving £340. 'Clause 5' of the Consent Form would be read to each of them as they 'signed in'.......
(MORE LATER).








THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

" Through experience I found, at times , that information emanating from the field workers in the 'S Branch' had taken on a different emphasis after it had passed through Garda HQ and I was not happy with some of the HQ interpretations which tended to make mountains out of molehills.

My direct contact with the Head of the 'S Branch' and my general knowledge of the subject stood me in good stead for instance when I found that, without the Minister's knowledge, a radio network was being strung along the Border in anticipation of an outbreak of IRA violence on the occasion of the 1966 Commemoration Ceremonies of the Rising of 1916 : Garda HQ went off at half cock and were taking preventive measures just in case while , in my judgement, the installation on Garda barracks along the Border of a radio network might prove to be a provocation so I took the responsibility of cancelling the installation and I was proved right , in the event.

Indeed, the Garda action might have had more far flung results as I had a personal letter from the Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs in Northern Ireland (sic) asking for a meeting between our respective Ministers for a joint plan* against anticipated IRA violence. The meeting was avoided but the projected action from Garda HQ might have led to acute embarrassment for Government. This was only one of several occasions on which Garda HQ , always kicking for touch, gave advice in policy matters which was not justified by the facts......"

( * '1169..' Comment : for "joint plan" read 'collaboration' , a long-term and on-going 'solution' by Leinster House in how to 'deal' with resistance to British interference in Ireland - cooperate with Westminster in its occupation and aid it in its fight against those who seek a re-united Ireland!)
(MORE LATER).










On Saturday , 30th October 2010 , a picket in support of Irish Republican prisoners will be held at the GPO in O'Connell Street , Dublin , from 12.45pm to 1.45pm.
ALL WELCOME!













A quick mention here about our friends and colleagues in the Limerick area , whom we shared company with at a recent function. Congratulations to all concerned on the gains made and on managing the increased workload. We'll return the hospitality at the Ard Fheis function in November - but it's still your round ;-) !









THE BLOOD STAINED BANDAGE.....

We don't often (enough!) use our blog to comment on Irish Rebel songs , but at the last Republican gig we attended we heard two old favourites that are not heard often (enough!) at ballad sessions , so we thought we would take this opportunity to link to one of them and to provide basic info (here) regarding that IRA Volunteer.

But we can't find a decent video of the second old favourite so , rather than do it an injustice , we'll just post the lyrics of it here -

Blood Stained Bandage....

A cold May morning was breaking over Dublin's dreary town
Sixteen brave men have fallen to the rifles of the crown,
Because they loved their country and served it night and day
Before they faced those rifles this is what those boys did say-

"Take away the blood-stained bandage from off an Irish brow
We fought and bled for Ireland and will not shirk it now,
We have held in her struggle, in answer to her call
And because we sought to free her we are placed against a wall...."

Ned Daly, Heuston, Colbert, Mac Donagh and Mac Bride
Mac Dermott and the brothers Ceannt, with Clarke and Plunkett died
Mick Mallin, Pat and Willy Pearse, O'Hanrahan and Kent
And last of all James Connolly this message to them sent-

"Take away the blood-stained bandage from off an Irish brow
We fought and bled for Ireland and will not shirk it now,
We have held in her struggle, in answer to her call
And because we sought to free her we are placed against a wall..."

The next Republican gig in the 79'r Pub in Ballyfermot , Dublin , will be held on Friday 17th December 2010. If you can make it , well and good - if not , we'll be thinking of you in between pints of cider and singing along to the above two songs... !






106 ALL ROUND !
The 106th Ard Fheis of Republican Sinn Féin Poblachtach will be held in a Dublin venue on Saturday/Sunday 13th/14th November 2010, at which 106 motions will be discussed. That figure represents the final tally of motions , duplicates having been amalgamated. We are particularly pleased to see a number of motions on the Clár ('Programme') dealing with workers in the Community Sector (CDP's,JI and CE) , as this is an issue of specific interest to those of us on this blog.
Congrats to RSF and full marks indeed to those men and women who remain true to their Republican principles!
Thanks!
Sharon.

---

---

---

GIVE GENEROUSLY - OR ELSE YOUR KIDS WILL BE FORCED TO EMIGRATE WITHOUT AN EDUCATION.....








We all know by now that those in Leinster House have been living beyond our means.
This is because our means are not sufficient to keep them in the style they deserve. Yes , readers - it's our fault. The up-coming State budget will ensure that most of us (but not all of us) will have less money available to maintain the lifestyles of our professional career politicians : with this worrying development in mind , we at this blog feel it's time to offer-up one possible solution , first mooted by those that have our best interests at heart - Fine Gael.

One of our Fine Gael leaders-in-waiting , Therese Ridge , a State Senator amongst other fine attributes ,
first suggested this worthy approach in ensuring that the money stopped from your wagepacket each week should not be wasted on health or education initiatives to the point that there will not be enough left over to maintain the lifestyles of our professional career State politicians. The suggestion from the lovely Senator also ensured that the unemployed could contribute as well as they , too , have hall doors (...even if , like the employed , they can't really afford those hall doors..)


For the good of our politicians , we MUST fill buckets like these...







Foolproof!
We wrote about this brave and sensible proposal before and , indeed - to the credit of some of our readers - we received a few messages of 'support' (!) and, as such , we feel it is time to resurrect this noble idea and to campaign for it to be included in the up-coming State budget initiatives.
However , we realise that there are begrudgers out there who won't be happy until the Therese Ridges's of our taxpayer-funded gated communities are down in the gutter where they are , and to those small-minded individuals we have this message : would ye ever go and feck off with yourselves!
Those begrudgers have no idea of the strain our leaders are under and we ask that our readers ignore people like that , put the 'Welcome!' mat out on the doorstep and boil-up the kettle.
It's the least you owe Therese and the hundreds of others like her , that are simply trying to ensure - at your expense , naturally - that they remain insulated from the troubling , 'penny-pinching' and worrying day-to-day financial difficulties that you and I endure.
Dig DEEP , won't you.......?

---

---

---

AN EXPERIMENT IN JAMES STREET : THE DEATH OF NIALL RUSH.......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , September 1984.
By Derek Dunne.

The Institute of Clinical Pharmachology in Dublin has about 1,000 volunteers a year , most of whom are male : even though Irish women have the highest incidence of cardio vascular disease in Europe, these drugs are not tested on females.

Volunteers are paid a standard £20 a day for their service , which works out at about 83p an hour. Grants to the Clinic of up to 50% are available from the IDA if the drug under test is to be manufactured here.

In the 1970's , the Institute was known as a place where students could go if they wanted some 'handy' money. Predominantly , volunteers were students taking time out to collect money for fees or rent etc but , towards the end of the decade, things began to change : the prevailing economic conditions left more and more people without work , without money , and unemployed Dubliners took 'advantage' of the £20 a day on offer from the Institute , as a single unemployed person gets about £30 a week on the dole.

The prospect of £20 a day for , say, a 26-day straight test - total 'earned' £520 - must amount to an inducement , as it would take four months to get that amount on the dole.......
(MORE LATER).







THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

" From February 1948 , on the change of government, until March 1957 when Fianna Fail took over again , I retained custody of the confidential papers although I was in higher ranks and dealing with broader Departmental matters : it suited everybody , in particular the new Secretary and Assistant Secretary , to have somebody around who could reel off facts and figures or turn up precedents from memory.

During the Border Campaign of 1956/1962, I was one of a team of three - the others being the Attorney General ,Andrias O Caoimh, and the Legal Adviser of the Department of External Affairs - who prepared the case against Lawless which came before the Human Rights Commission and the International Court of Justice at Strasbourg. I attended the hearings , with my job being to make up the dossier of facts to deal with the legal aspects.

Again the writing and re-writing of the history of IRA activities to justify the government's use of the powers of detention without trial imprinted on my mind details which time has not erased. In the course of the Strasbourg hearings I got to know the Head of 'S Branch', Philip McMahon , very well, as he had been subpoenaed as a witness before the Commission of Human Rights and I formed a great respect for his integrity and knowledge of his subject : at the time he was being described in Tim Pat Coogan's book 'Ireland Since the Rising', as "...the nemesis of the IRA.." . And so he was......."
(MORE LATER).







Viva le France!





At the time of writing , industrial unrest in France is on-going and , with a bit of luck, will spread from France to elsewhere - like here , in Ireland , for instance.
We Irish used to have that 'back-bone' - to take to the streets over injustices , to strike from our jobs when the bosses attempted to take back or reduce that which we had won by standing together , to riot in the streets when those same bosses - backed by a complient media and supported by the political establishment and the brute force of that establishment and silently (and sometimes not that silently) supported by a weak trade union leadership - attempted to increase their profits by "reducing their expenditure" ie by reducing the workforce and/or reducing the wage paid to each employee as well as by attempting to change whatever terms , conditions and work practices which that workforce had obtained to make their working life that bit more bearable.
That 'Spirit of Resistance' is still present , albeit not as prevalent or as widespread as it once was : people seem to be , for the most part , 'browbeaten' , subjuded by a combination of malignant forces that has left them scared to raise their head above the parapet.
We on this blog have helped place pickets on the offices of those politicians who have introduced and/or supported financial and social cutbacks on workers and the unemployed , we have protested at the presence of State politicians at a community function when the actions of those same politicians have devestated that same community and we have been on the streets protesting against the unreal and unfair 'bank bailouts' and , as trade union members ourselves, we are in full agreement with like-minded observers who point out that those in the leadership of the trade union movement - whilst promoted as 'radicals' by the establishment - are , in actual fact , the paid-for 'pet rebels' of that same State establishment.
And , whilst we fully intend to continue doing all of the above , it would make it all the more worthwhile to us if we could do so in the company of others that also had the 'Esprit of the French'. But we won't let the (temporary) absence of same deter us...!
Thanks!
Sharon.

---

---

---

REPUBLICAN BALLAD SESSION IN 79'r PUB , DUBLIN , SATURDAY 16th OCTOBER 2010 - BRIEF REPORT AND A FEW PICS.














Two of the six raffle prizes won on the night.


Full marks to the lads and lassies from the Ballyfermot-based James Connolly/Frank Carroll/Denis O Donovan Cumann , Republican Sinn Féin , who organised this fund raiser : they know their stuff and run a 'tight ship' !
They managed to sell more than 400 tickets for the event , book three acts for the night - Paddy Sweeney , Pato Cullen and Willie Nolan - acquire six items for raffle prizes (two framed Republican mirrors , a Bodhrón , two books ['Between Comrades' and 'Women of Ireland'] and a framed 1916 Proclamation ) and accomodate a crew from Armagh who came down specially to see how to do it right ;-) (only joking, Cait !) !

A good-sized crowd , which almost filled the hall, was welcomed to the venue by Josephine Hayden, General Secretary of RSF , who dedicated the night to Kevin and Seán , and , to loud applause, spoke briefly of how important events like this are to the Movement , as they raise much-needed funds and help to 'get the word out' re the Republican position on the on-going struggle for full self-determination and on the Republican position regarding the financial crisis being experienced by workers and the unemployed due to the incompetence and greed of "...the expense-account time-servers in Leinster House.." .

Josephine also said a few words about the CABHAIR Christmas Swim , reminding the crowd that this soon-to-be 34-years 'young' event will be held on Christmas Day next at the 3rd Lough of the Grand Canal , about a mile in distance from the venue we were in now. Also , Josephine mentioned that the 79'r had been booked , again, for Friday 17th December next, for another ballad session - details to follow. And with that , she introduced the first act of the night - Pato Cullen - and another great night (and early morning!) in the 79'r got underway...

Finally : thanks to Frank , Robbie , Paddy and Matt for 'doing the door' , to Pat , Barney , Steve and Harold [;-)] for looking after the other entry/exit point , to Cait for doing the raffle (I didn't win anything and Cait can't hold her cider !) and to the manager and staff of the pub for looking after us so well. Much appreciated!
We publish with this brief report a few pics from the event :



RSF Cumann banner used as stage backdrop on the night - incidentally , Denis O Donovan Jnr was present at this function.




A section of the crowd.




Edentubber Martyrs mirror.




Four of the six raffle prizes won on the night.




Another section of the crowd.


Thanks for reading - see you on the 17th in the 79'r and/or on the 25th for the 34th...!
Sharon.

---

---

---

AN EXPERIMENT IN JAMES STREET : THE DEATH OF NIALL RUSH.......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , September 1984.
By Derek Dunne.

The routine for a test for a company might go something like this : a case arrives from the drug company containing the complete range of doses for each volunteer for the entire trial. Each individual would be marked out from start to finish , and the doses would have been made up by the drug companies in many cases. The protocol would also come with the drugs , and it would set out the rationale for the test , why it is being done at all and a description of the drug.

It would set out how the 'subjects' should be selected and what sort of people should be excluded by virture of age or gender. The design of the study is also indicated : whether it is 'single' or 'double-blind' ie a 'single blind test' is where the volunteer does not know what he/she is being given but the doctor does and a 'double-blind test' is where neither of them know what is being administered !

The protocol also deals with the assessments to be made , how adverse effects are to be dealth with, and whether the samples taken will be analysed by the clinic or the company. At the end of the protocol , there is the name and telephone number (day and night) of a doctor , usually in the country of origin of the drug , to be contacted in case anything goes wrong. Sometimes , in the case of 'double-blind tests' , there is a sealed code accompanying the drugs in case of an emergency.......
(MORE LATER).








THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

" On this account I got an encyclopaedic knowledge of subversive elements and the process of writing and re-writing in preparation for the printed volumes imprinted in my memory a great deal of information which was to prove very useful to ministers in the course of Dail debates and so on.

In 1938 I became Private Secretary to the Minister , Mr Ruttledge and , in September 1939 , to his successor , Mr Gerald Boland. In June 1940 , the minister signed warrants for the detention of 500 alleged members of the IRA and an 'Intelligence Division' , consisting of a Principal Officer and a Higher Executive Officer - formerly Mr Ruttledge's private secretary - was established to advise the minister and to sift the value of police recommendations. Mr Boland had a very healthy question mark placed over every recommendation for a detention order and he was not satisfied to keep a person in detention without trial on police recommendations alone *.

In the next eight months he became increasingly dis-satisfied with the lack of independence from the police of the Departmental advice and he insisted on a change of personnel. On the Secretary's advice the minister assigned me to the job and I had daily , sometimes hourly , contact with the minister during the 'War Years' and attended him in the Dail debates on political matters and when he was receiving deputations. I signed all correspondence in connection with matters such as parole and came to be recognised in political circles as the minister's 'eminence grise'.

When things got slack I carried on with my research with a result that a second printed volume was produced for the years 1941/47 to supplement the volume for the years ending in 1940 in relation to the IRA. I also produced a dossier in manuscript form in relation to communist activities for the same period . The period 1948/51 of a coalition government , the period 51/54 of Fianna Fail and another period of 54/57 of coalition government were quiet years , politically , but on 12th December 1956 the Border Campaign erupted and it was to continue until February 1962......"

(* '1169...' Comment - that opinion would not be, to put it mildly, shared by Irish Republicans , as Boland and his colleagues in Fianna Fail were (and are) of the one mind as to a 'solution' to British interference in Irish affairs ie brand those who oppose it as as 'criminals' , give them a 'trial' in front of a State Military Court and then intern and/or execute them.)
(MORE LATER).









SINGING AND SHOUTING AND GAMBLING....

.....and not all of it will be at the 2010 Ard Fheis !

To get the vocal chords in good working order (!) for the up-coming RSF Ard Fheis , a ballad session will be held in the 79'r Pub on Saturday 16th October 2010.
The ever-reliable and very popular Paddy Sweeney has been booked , and various friends of his - and he has a lot of them ! - will be helping him out and filling-in for him when he goes for a 'cup of tea'......
The doors open for this event at 9pm , admission is a fiver per person and the usual raffle will be held.
ALL WELCOME!



106Ú RSF ARD FHEIS - Saturday and Sunday , 13th and 14th November 2010.

On the above dates , in a Dublin venue, the Republican Movement will hold its 106th Ard Fheis at which various motions - in this vein - will be discussed. A brief report and a few pics from last years Ard Fheis can be viewed here.
Members of this blog have been given a 'Visitors Pass' and , if we're not working elsewhere on that weekend (see below) , we will write-up a brief report on same for this blog.
However - either way - we congratulate the RSF leadership , its members and its supporters on actually surviving to this point , as we have first-hand experience of the many ways in which the Administration of this corrupt State constantly attempt to put that political organisation out of business. But whilst Westminster continues to claim jurisdictional control over any part of Ireland , Irish Republicans will continue to oppose them and their illegal , immoral and unwanted 'claim'.
RSF ABÚ!



ROLL UP ! ROLL UP......!

Also on that same Sunday (14th November 2010) , in a different venue , RSF will be holding a raffle for which more than 600 tickets will have been sold and at which over €400 will be handed-out , there and then , in prize money.
It's a testament to the commitment of RSF that it can manage to hold two such major events on the same weekend - each of which demands that dedicated 'crews' be assigned to each such event if same is to be held in a correct and successful manner - whilst those who have placed themselves 'outside the fold' scream loud and shrill of how that organisation is 'too weak to survive etc ' .
Those 'screamers' invest more time and energy in trying to cause damage to RSF than they do in battling Westminster or in challenging the corrupt regime in Leinster House and , as such - to put it mildly - their objectives must be questioned.
Thanks for reading !
Sharon.

---

---

---

AN EXPERIMENT IN JAMES STREET : THE DEATH OF NIALL RUSH.......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , September 1984.
By Derek Dunne.

The Institute of Clinical Pharmachology in Dublin was first set up in 1965 with the backing of the Swiss pharmaceutical company , Hoffmann La Roche. Dr Austin Darragh was its director and, in 1979, Hoffmann La Roche sold its interest and Austin Darragh now owns and runs the Institute with managing director Dr Ian Brick and John Murphy , its financial controller.

Although the Institute is situated in the grounds of St James Hospital in Dublin , there are no links between the two places. Austin Darragh intends opening a new Institute some distance from the present site with the aid of a £1.1 million IDA approved grant. The present Institute employs just over one hundred people and its operations extend into the White Cross Clinic at Stillorgan which carries out similar testing.

The Elan Corporation based in Athlone , County Westmeath, is another company which carries out tests on healthy volunteers and , at one time or another, the following multi-national pharmaceutical companies have had clinical trials carried out for them in Ireland : Pfizer , Hoffmann La Roche , Kali Chemie , Beechams, Janssen , Bayer , Squibb , Astra, Warner Lambert , Bristol Myers, Schering Plough , Revlon, Wellcome, GD Searle, Pharmuka , Boehringer , Ingelheim , Organnon , Chemibiotic and Hoechst.......
(MORE LATER).







THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

Peter Berry talked to us about his job - " When I joined the secreariat of the Department of Justice in January 1927 it was a very small unit , housed on the top floor of government buildings (on Merrion Street) . In those early years I was moved from pillar to post, wherever a handyman was wanted. I was baptised on the Intoxicating Liquor Act 1927 which then , in Bill form, was going through the Dail. I spent endless wearying days on alien administration and when the Censorship of Publications Act became law in 1929 I was thrown some dozens of books and periodicals which had been seized in customs clearance and told to lodge a complaint to the Censorship of Publications Board that this book or that periodical was "...in its general tendency indecent or obscene or advocated the unnatural prevention of conception".....

It was a good thing for me that I had been an omnivorous reader from infancy and that my library , ranging from Charles Carvice to Mrs Henry Woods to Ouida to Shakespeare to Shaw had prepared me for the forbidden fruits of Henry Miller et al.

My 'catholic' taste in literature had been developed by sea-chests of books sent from ports all over the world by my eldest brother , who was a ship's radio officer during World War 1 , and in the twenties. Even so , if there was any semblance of meaning in the prohibitory provisions of the Act , it was not good for a boy of nineteen to spend night after night reading salacious matter . In 1936, I was appointed Private Secretary to the Secretary of the Department and thus became one of a nucleus who had access to police reports dealing with subversive organisations. Part of my job was researching the history and activities of the IRA and the Communist movement with a view to keeping records in printed books for easy reference by the minister and government....... "
(MORE LATER).





GAMBLE....AND GUESS ?

GAMBLE -
This weekend ,in a venue on the Dublin/Kildare border , the monthly raffle will be held , at which over 600 tickets will be sold and over €400 in prize money will be won : the profit made from this raffle , which has been held on a monthly basis since the late 1970’s , will go to the CABHAIR POW support group and, as usual , no expenses and/or admin fees etc will be deducted..... (More here)

.....AND GUESS -
In the 12th in the 10 , the 34th will be held on the 25th.....?

---

---

---

TEST POST - new templet: the pic shows RSF members taking part in the 'anti-cutbacks' protest which was held in Dublin city centre on Wednesday 29th September 2010. More pics and a brief report can be viewed on our 'Sister' site , here.
(Please Note - on changing the templet , we automatically lost our old stat counter , which showed a figure of close to 380,000 hits : with your support , we'll have our new counter inching its way upwards again...!)
Thanks!
Sharon.

---

---

---

(PLEASE NOTE : this is our usual 'three-in-one' post - we have also posted a brief report and some pics re the anti-cutbacks Dublin protest , which was held today , Wednesday 29th September 2010 , on our 'Sister' blog , here.)


AN EXPERIMENT IN JAMES STREET : THE DEATH OF NIALL RUSH.......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , September 1984.
By Derek Dunne.

The Institute of Clinical Pharmachology in Dublin is one of the top three centres of its kind in the world : it exists as a profit-making limited liability company and carries out 'Phase One' clinical drug trials for dozens of foreign pharmaceutical companies. 'Phase One' trials are those which are being conducted for the very first time on humans, having previously been tried only on animals.

Millions of people may be treated on the basis of results from clinical trials. 'Phase One' (or 'Phase I') involves giving the drug to healthy volunteers , 'Phase One One A' (or 'Phase II A') involves giving the drug to patients in a limited way , 'Phase One One B' (or 'Phase II B') seeks to define the dose level and 'Phase One One One' (or 'Phase III') testing is full preregistration studies. With the exception of 'Phase One (I)' testing , all the others are carried-out in ordinary hospitals , and all the teaching hospitals in Dublin carry-out such tests , whilst between 20 and 25 hospitals in the State carry-out such tests for drug companies.

Between 400 and 1,400 people may take part in all the various trials before the drug may be marketed in this State but, in order to market a drug, it must come under the scrutiny of the 'National Drugs Advisory Board'(sic). However , even if a drug is refused for marketing , it may still be prescribed by a doctor and given to a patient. Many different types of drugs have been tested in the Institute including anti-cancer drugs , anti-coagulants (to prevent blood clots) , hormones , cardiac drugs , analgesics (painkillers) , antibiotics , anti-depressants , diuretics (to alleviate fluid retention) and most other blood pressure drugs.......
(MORE LATER).







THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

The Berry Papers show that there was a remarkable unwillingness within the (State) Department of Finance to investigate the possibility that funds from the 'Grant-in-Aid' for the 'Relief of Distress in Northern Ireland' (sic) might have been used for the purchase of guns , they reveal an extraordinary meeting of (State) cabinet ministers on Sunday July 8th 1970 , called in response to rumours of a possible coup d'etat , and they document the background to the internment threat of December 1970 in response to information that Saor Éire might be about to kidnap one of a number of senior officials , including Peter Berry himself.

Berry and all the security chief's were opposed to the immediate introduction of internment but both Jack Lynch and Desmond O'Malley, the then (State) Minister for Justice, were keen to push ahead with its introduction. Mr Berry believed that the imminence of a by-election in Donegal was persuasive in the minds of Lynch and O'Malley as there was a significant Protestant vote in the constituency which was concerned about 'law and order'.

Peter Berry was born in Killarney , County Kerry , on June 7 , 1909 : his family later moved to Charleville , Cork, where he was brought up. He joined the (State) civil service aged 17 and became Secretaty of the Department in 1960. In the late 1920's and early 1930's , he was well known as a champion handball player. 'Magill' magazine asked him to explain his job to us.......
(MORE LATER).








'BEST BUSINESS PERSON OF THE MONTH' IS REALLY A "HARDLINE MILITANT RADICAL" !






In an article entitled 'Peter Will Be Missed' , published on Saturday January 9th last (page 25) in the 'Oirish' edition of the British 'Daily Mail' anti-Republican and anti-trade union chip-wrap of a 'newspaper' , right-wing columnist Richard Waghorne wrote -
"THE announcement of the retirement of Peter McLoone (more here) ,leading trade union negotiator, is bad news for the Government. Though fairly truculent in his own right, he was regarded as that mildly tautologic creation, a moderate union boss. He was seen within trade union circles as a restraining influence on Siptu boss and militant radical Jack O'Connor. We can expect the unions to finish up with an even more hardline position, now that one more obstacle to Mr O'Connor getting his way is about to quit the scene."

Now, perhaps, you understand why it has taken us so long to write this piece - we've been laughing too hard at it since Richie 'Wag-The-Finger' wrote it in January last ! To describe Jack O'Connor as a "....(hardline) militant radical...." is absolutely ludicrous and bears no resemblance to the actual reality of the situation. Mr O'Connor is just another time-server and seat-warmer at the top of an institution which has it within its power to at least try to effect a political and economic change which would not only serve the interests of its membership but would encourage other trade union leaders to themselves make a stand against the corrupt administration and their colleagues in the millionaire property market and banks - instead , people like that are content to let rip a verbal fart every now and again , whilst counting down the days to their retirement and an even cushier number on the Board of FÁS or some other useless over-paid doss-house of an institution.

Mr O'Connor's true value to the political 'establishment' in this poxy State was more recently properly evaluated here, with that 'Bible of the Elite' bestowing on him its gratitude for helping to remove what remains of his members backbones.
Well done , Jack , you "militant radical" you......
Thanks!
Sharon.

---

---

---