JOSEPH MALONE , HUNGER-STRIKER , 1941 .....


....an active member of the Irish language group 'Conradh na Gaeilge' , Joseph Malone regularly stayed in the Donegal Gaeltacht for his holidays ....


At around twenty years young , Joseph Malone joined the Belfast Battalion of the IRA and , in February 1939, he travelled to England to take part in the bombing campaign . Within three months he was in Pentonville Prison , serving ten years penal servitude for possession of explosives .

The Republican prisoners were moved from Pentonville Prison and placed on the Isle of Wight , in Parkhurst Prison , where conditions were appalling ; the English 'Ordinary Decent Criminals' (ie non-political) and the warders took turns in beating the Republican prisoners , on a daily basis .

The prison authorities attempted to treat the Irish POW's as criminals , but they resisted ; because of their refusal to wear prison clothes , they were kept naked in solitary confinement for almost two years , in cells usually used to confine prisoners who were being punished . (MORE LATER)>



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


JACK GALVIN OF KILLORGLIN .

" Killorglin , held by the Republicans all the summer of nineteen-twenty-two , was occupied in August by Free State troops . On September the twenty-fifth , the Republicans made an attempt to take the town again ; the fight lasted twenty-nine hours - twenty Republicans were captured , several wounded , and four killed . After four days in Killorglin barracks the prisoners were put into lorries to be moved to Tralee .

Jack Galvin was among them : his guards had beaten him and broken his left hand . He was suffering great pain and the hand was in a sling . At Ballyseedy the lorries halted : two great trees had been felled and lay across the road . Colonel Michael Hogan ordered the prisoners to get out and remove the trees , but Galvin , because of his useless hand, was kept in the lorry . When the prisoners had cut the two trees they were sent to remove a third , which lay further on .... " (MORE LATER)>



DEAD SAFE .....

.....Autopsies performed on the bodies of three former Windscale (Sellafield) workers have shown plutonium concentrations hundreds of times higher than in the general population .

A report in Britains 'New Scientist' magazine , confirmed by the 'National Radiological Board' , said that in one case the concentration was thousand's of times higher than normal ! Even the locals living around the nuclear plant have plutonium levels of , on average, fifty to two-hundred-and-fifty per cent higher than anyone else in Britain . For workers and locals , the most severe plutonium concentrations were found in lung tissue and lymph nodes connected to the lungs , which suggests that the plutonium had been breathed in .

These peoples ribs , verterbae and livers all showed consistently high concentrations of plutonium .

( Above information from 'The Evening Press' newspaper , 15th August - a Friday , I believe- 1986 , page 4.)

MENTAL PICTURE .... of a Windscale (Sellafield)/B N F L 'Public Relations' person -->

<-- Externally = 'Steve Silvermint'-type , immaculately dressed , well-spoken , white teeth , manicured , tanned and polite , with good manners . What every mother wants for her daughter .

<-- Internally = Remember the van-driver , the 'baddie' , in one of the 'ROBOCOP' films , who missed his target and smashed into a large container , and was flushed out of the back of the van in a tide of nuclear puke .....

JOSEPH MALONE , HUNGER-STRIKER , 1941 .


" I was in a cell next to Joe Malone . On the second day of feeding there was no sound from his cell for half-an-hour after the screws leaving . When he spoke from his window he told me he had lost consciousness while being fed . He woke up later, lying on the floor, alone, with the door locked . He was wretchedly sick and spitting blood . Looking out on the prison wall he remarked - " It would be a decent thing for them to take us out and put us up against that wall and shoot us . " "

---- the words of Joe Collins , O/C IRA prisoners , Parkhurst Prison , Isle of Wight .

Joseph Malone was born in Cullingtree Road in Belfast in 1918 and , as a young man , worked as a sorter in the GPO , Belfast ; he was an active member of the Irish language group 'Conradh na Gaeilge' , and stayed in the Donegal Gaeltacht for his holidays . (MORE LATER)>



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

BERTIE MURPHY OF CASTLEISLAND....


....in September 1922 , IRA Volunteer Bertie Murphy was captured by the Free Staters and used by them as a hostage , to clear barricades etc . He was marched from Castleisland to Killarney and held in the Free State temporary barracks , the 'Great Southern Hotel' ....

" A Free State patrol had been ambushed on the road and there was violent excitement among the garrison in the hotel . A soldier seized Bertie by the throat and struck him ; then an officer called him out to the steps . There is a flight of eight steps in front of the hotel . The officer threw him , head first, down the steps and fired shots into him as he lay below .

Somebody who saw it went for a priest , and Bertie lived until the priest came . He had been killed , the Free State authorities stated , "in the ambush in Brennan's Glen ." "

[END]



OUCH ! ......(in the wallet..) -->

<-- All was rosy for Fine Gael man Eddie Collins and his missus , Mrs Eddie (or Lelia , as her friends called her). But the sky fell in on them and thorns were found on the roses and etc etc on the 24th September 1986 (a Wednesday , I believe..) , when the bould Eddie , then a Free State Minister , was sacked ! The Fine Gael boss at the time , Garret Fitzgerald , placed Austin Deasy in the seat that Eddie had been keeping warm .

Lelia stated - " We were deeply hurt . It was my greatest disappointment . Ed had made Garret Fitzgerald leader and Taoiseach , in my opinion - and on a particularly crucial day for the Taoiseach . I prayed and said Novenas all day for him . I wonder now if that was such good sense . "


Lelia said that her Ed was "shy" and "not a great media man" , but she felt he had better qualifications than the Taoiseach (oh nasty !) - " He was absolutely lost and wasted as a Minister of State " (ie : it was below him) "but he took the job because he felt it was his duty to his constituents and to the people of Waterford . Garret Fitzgerald let us down badly . I am absolutely disgusted with his weakness . I think Garret Fitzgerald does not like people to be intellectually equal to him . He has let us down very badly . "

(From 'The Evening Press' , 25th September , 1986 - a Thursday , if memory serves- page 3).


WELL screw him and his bloody train timetables , right, Missus ?

The bastard .....

AMERICAN FENIANS ; THEIR PLAN TO RAID THE CHESTER CASTLE MILITARY ARSENAL IN ENGLAND , 1867 .....

.....on being told that the Brits were ready for an attack on Chester Castle , the Fenian leadership ordered that all arms be dumped and that the rebels (estimated at over one-thousand strong) disperse - the British police later reported finding large quantities of weapons in Chester Town .....


In Ireland , the British blocked-off the ports in Dublin and Dundalk and quarantined all ships , steamers etc that docked in the port's ; hundreds of Fenians were arrested .

Fenian Captain John McCafferty and John Flood were caught in a small boat off Dublin Bay on 23rd February , 1867 - they were arrested and later sentenced to penal servitude for life . The fact that the informer was John F. Corydon was not discovered until the following September (1867) ; the course of Irish history could well have been changed in that one week in February 1867 but for the actions of that man . But the struggle itself continued ....

[END]


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


BERTIE MURPHY OF CASTLEISLAND .....

....in September 1922 , IRA Volunteer Bertie Murphy was captured by the Free Staters and taken out on patrol with them , as a hostage ...


" His mother heard that he was to be taken to Scartaglen , to remove a barricade and went in dread to the Officers of the IRA . They told her the barricade was not dangerous , and Bertie removed it without disaster on Sunday night . On the following Wednesday , September the nineteenth (1922) the troops from Castleisland went to Killarney .

A friend of Bertie Murphy's saw him marched through the streets carrying a heavy bag on his back . He was taken to the temporary barracks - the Great Southern Hotel . There were other prisoners in the guard-room , some of whom knew him well . (MORE LATER)>



OUCH ! ...... (below the belt..) ->

<- ...when he was a prospective election candidate for the British Conservative Party in the Scottish Constituency of East Lothian , a Mr Peter Clarke gave an address to the 'Federation of Conservative Students' , in which he stated -

" General Pinochet (of Chile) must be our inspiration . He is always caricatured by the left as merely an expert in electrifying peoples testicles ."

I could say thats a load of b***s , and tell Peter he's only a p***k , but this is a family column . And besides , its not forceful enough ...

TUNE IN TOMORROW for 'OUCH ! ......(in the wallet)' ->

<- ... a heart-breaking , mind-blowing , true-life story/drama of a Waterford woman , 'Lelia' , on her way up the social ladder , thanks to her husbands connection with a notorious Dublin-based organisation known to the authorities as 'Fine Gael' . This gang were not the type to 'take prisoners' , even from within their own ranks ; the womans chap , 'Eddie' , was about to be axed .....

Coming to a computer near you - starts tomorrow : don't miss it , or else ....

AMERICAN FENIANS ; THEIR PLAN TO RAID THE CHESTER CASTLE MILITARY ARSENAL IN ENGLAND , 1867 .....

..... the Fenians hoped to be sailing into Dublin Bay before midnight on Monday 11th February , 1867 , with the arsenal from Chester Castle ....


However , in the early afternoon of 11th February , a man who worked for the British administration in Dublin Castle but was a Fenian sympathiser , Thomas Breslin , got word to the Fenian leader Captain John McCafferty that the British were aware of the proposed attack on Chester Castle .

Breslin notified the Fenian leadership that there was an informer within the ranks of their leadership and , acting on that informers advice , the British had strengthened the Castle guard , local militia (British armed and trained) were out in force on the streets of Chester and British troop re-inforcements were on the way to the area from London .

The attack had to be called off , and quickly - word was sent out to dump arms and disperse . The British police later reported finding large quantities of arms and ammunition dumped in the grounds of the railway station and in the ponds and canals of the town ..... (More Later)>



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

BERTIE MURPHY OF CASTLEISLAND -

" Bertie Murphy was seventeen years old when he was killed in September , nineteen-twenty-two. During the Black-and-Tan time his mother could not persuade him to stay at school ; he would be drilling with the Fianna and carrying despatches for the Volunteers . His officer in the Fianna , Hickey, joined the Free State Army and Bertie Murphy became Captain of the Fianna then .

After the outbreak of civil war , Hickey led many a search for his old comrade , but Bertie eluded his enemies for four months . One day in September(1922) he was walking down a bohereen at Dysart , alone, with his rifle on his shoulder , when he encountered a Free State patrol . His mother was standing at the door of her little shop in Castleisland when she saw Bertie led up the street .

He was pale and disfigured , his face bruised . He signed to her with his hand to go in from the doorway . They had threatened , one of the soldiers told her afterwards, to shoot him at his mother's door. They kept him prisoner that day at the hotel and his mother spoke to him there . Hickey was one of his guards . They took him out as a hostage that night when patrolling in Ballymacelligot and brought him back to the hotel .... (MORE LATER)>



SUITS FOR SALE , CAREER'S TO BE MADE .....

.... when the 'Hillsborough Treaty' was signed by the Dublin and London administrations in 1985 (with the intention of defeating the Movement and stabilising the Six and Twenty-Six Counties in the interests of British imperialism and Free Statism) protests by both sides on the ground took place .

While Joe and Josephine Soap were arguing the pros and cons of the Treaty , or simply tuning-out altogether , a section of the Treaty was quietly working away in the background : the so-called 'International Fund' . That 'Fund' was set up under the 1985 Hillsborough Treaty but was only legally established on Thursday , 18th September , 1986 ; signing ceremonies in Dublin and London took place , all very low-key .

The reason for the silence ? - the sound of money ! America had already put fifty million dollars into the 'Fund' kitty , with a promise of two-hundred million dollars more over the following four years ; the Canadians gave ten million dollars , while Australia , New Zealand and the E U (then EEC) had been called on for "agreed contributions" .


The then Free State Minister for Foreign Affairs (and up-and-coming 'tea baron') Peter Barry and the then British 'Charge d'Affaires' , Robert Stimson , signed the 'Fund' into existence in Dublin , while British Sir Geoffrey Howe (then British Foreign Secretary) and Noel Dorr (then Free State Ambassador to London) signed the 'Fund'-papers in London .

It is believed that approximately three-hundred-and-fifty million dollars was raised to "stimulate private investment and enterprise , supplement public spending programmes and encourage voluntary effort including self-help schemes " . In other words , fat cats with nice tans to match their suits which , in turn , were colour-coded to go with the briefcase and company car , all with one objective -to purchase those who opposed the British presence .

They failed then , but had better luck in 1998 , with the 'Stormont Treaty' . And they managed to change old comrades of mine into suits like themselves .

AMERICAN FENIANS ; THEIR PLAN TO RAID THE CHESTER CASTLE MILITARY ARSENAL IN ENGLAND , 1867 .....

.....a force of over one-thousand rebels was being assembled to assist in the attack on Chester Castle in England , where the British were storing some 20,000 weapons ; hundreds of Fenians were being deployed to seize the trains , capture the Holyhead mail boat and for the attack on the castle itself ......


On Sunday , 10th February 1867 , the Fenian leaders held a meeting to go over the list of events one more time ; it was reckoned , if all went well, that at least one-thousand armed Fenians would be on board a commandeered mail boat with a supply of approximately twenty-thousand firearms , on their way to Dublin, by that Monday night .

The timetable envisaged that the Rising in Ireland would start on the morning of Monday , 11th February, 1867 ; that Chester Castle would be raided at seven (7pm) that evening and that the Fenians would sail into Dublin before midnight that same evening with the (ex) Chester arsenal . However , in the early afternoon of 11th February ....... (MORE LATER)>



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

SEAN MORIARTY OF TRALEE ....

..... on 27th August , 1922 , Sean Moriarty and James Healy were captured in their homes in Tralee by Free State troops .....

" They marched them through Tralee to Balloonagh Convent , where they took Healy over a ditch into a field . An officer shot him through the body and left him , believing him to be dead . He dragged himself , bleeding and in agony , to a house . While he was crawling away he heard shots .

The people of the house were not Republicans , but they sheltered him and sent for a priest and a doctor , and his life was saved . They sent word to Sean Moriarty's family .

Sean was found in the field , riddled with bullets , dead .

[END]


RUPERT THE BEAR-faced liar and his friends .....

.....(From 'The Evening Press' newspaper , 22nd September , 1986 - a Monday , I believe- page 1)... Loyalist paramilitary paid-perjurer , James Williamson, said he was forced by the RUC into naming innocent people as accomplices .

He was offered immunity from prosecution , a new life in England and a new identity . He stated -

" The whole thing is corrupt . I named innocent people . If it happened to me it must happen with all the others . If I named three people as discussing the murder in a house , they (RUC) would ask me to add a few more names . They would put forward names and suggest that they were there as well . I would argue that the people were'nt there and they would just press the point that they were ."

Ah yeah , well - maybe . But that was the RUC ; you know, "a few bad apples" and all that . Now , of course , the RUC have been replaced by the ' new kids in the orchard' , the PSNI . And we all know that when you put the 'bad apples' in with the 'good apples' the 'bad' ones turn 'good' ....


.... AND ANOTHER BRITISH FAIRYTALE >

< A 13th Century English law decreed that 'time immemorial' began with the reign of Richard 1 in 1189 !

(Whatcha might call '1189 And Counting ' ...)

AMERICAN FENIANS ; THEIR PLAN TO RAID THE CHESTER CASTLE MILITARY ARSENAL IN ENGLAND , 1867 .....

.....The Fenian Movement had decided to challenge the English on Irish soil , and the campaign was to begin on Monday , 11th February , 1867 .....


Supporters in England had notified the Fenian leadership (via despatch carrier John F. Corydon) that a castle in the North of England , Chester Castle , was being used by the British military to store an arsenal of some twenty-thousand weapons and ammunition for same . The castle had a jail built on to it and was guarded by about sixty men - one company of the 54th Regiment , led by a British Captain Edwards .

The plan involved Fenian Captain John McCafferty and a company of Fenians attacking the castle after other rebel leaders John Flood and Thomas J. Kelly and their men had seized the trains between Chester Town and Holyhead and had captured the mail-boat in Holyhead . Also , all telegraph communications in the Chester district would by then have been cut .

A force of over one-thousand rebels would be put in place for the operation ...... (MORE LATER)>



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

SEAN MORIARTY OF TRALEE -

" Free State troops landed at Fenit on August 2nd , 1922 . They had the work before them which the English forces had abandoned - of destroying the people's allegiance to the Republic and making Ireland a dominion of the British Crown . They knew that they must use more vigorous methods than their predecessors were they to succeed where these had failed .

They had fear as an added incentive - the fear that if they did not do these things to the Republicans these things would be done by the English to themselves . They captured Sean Moriarty and James Healy on August 27th (1922) in their homes ...... " (MORE LATER)>



GURKHA GURRIERS .....

.... five British soldiers , all members of the 'King Edward VII Gurkha Rifles' were given light sentences by Isleworth Crown Court , Middlesex , England , in August 1986 , for smuggling almost £200,000 worth of drugs into Britain , from Nepal .

Purnabahadur Gurung got six years for possession of £153,500 worth of heroin , Haure Rai and Madan Kumar Shrestha got eighteen months (for £19,000 worth of cannabis) and Premparsad Gurung and Debendra Gurung each got twelve months for possession of £17,600 worth of cannabis .

...... and here was I thinkin' that King Edwards men only smoked cigars !

(info from 'The Evening Press' , 25th August 1986 - a Monday , if memory serves - page 5).


...... AND MORE RESPECTABLE GURRIERS >

< Speaking in Newtownards in County Down in September 1986 , ultra-Loyalist and the true original 'MAD DOG' . George Seawright , stated -

" 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 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 widiws 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 .

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 to abort the Anglo-Irish Agreement ."

(info from 'The Sunday World' newspaper , 14th September 1986 , page 8).

Obviously , some of the above-mentioned 'cigars' got through .....

AMERICAN FENIANS ; THEIR PLAN TO RAID THE CHESTER CASTLE MILITARY ARSENAL IN ENGLAND , 1867 .


MONDAY , 11th February , 1867 :
John F.Corydon , an American Fenian , had been responsible for carrying despatches between Ireland and America since 1865 , for the Fenians , in preparation for the planned Rising set to take place on Monday , 11th February , 1867 . Now the day had come . If the operation had gone ahead as intended , Corydon would have been one of the few possible survivors .....


In late 1866 , the Fenian leader James Stephens was replaced as Chief of the organisation and , under the new leadership of Colonel Thomas J.Kelly and Captain John McCafferty , about fifty American Fenians made their way to England ; some of their number then travelled to Ireland .

A decision had already been made to militarily challenge the English on Irish soil and a date agreed - Monday , 11th February , 1867 . (MORE LATER)>



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


DANIEL MURPHY OF KNOCKNAGOSHEL -

" When Daniel Murphy was taken at his forge in Knocknagoshel on the twenty-fourth of April , no arms were found in the place . He was known , however, to have been an active Volunteer since 1916 .

Other prisoners taken on the round-up saw Daniel Murphy led away to a certain field . It was the field where Lieutenant O'Connor of the Free State Army had been killed by a trigger-mine .

When he was out of sight they heard shots fired . Daniel Murphy's body was found in the evening by the people of Knocknagoshel and carried home . "

[END]



CHEQUE THIS OUT ....

In July 1986 , U. S. Senator Zorinsky of Nebraska stated that he had been informed by "some members of the (British) House of Commons" that if the U S approved of the British request for $50 million dollars of 'aid' to the occupied six north-eastern counties of Ireland , the British Government was going to reduce , by the same amount, the 'aid' which they gave to the Six Counties .

" We might as well make the cheque out directly to the United Kingdom " , said Zorinsky . That's the Brits for ya , Senator - get your 'friends' to bankroll your 'colony' ....

( Sure have'nt the gombeens in Leinster House being doin' that for years !)


.....THIS CHEQUE OUT >

<...... When he was Free State Minister for Finance (and before he met British Prince Charles and gave him one on the chin - a kiss , that is ...) John Bruton (Fine Gael) gave a speech in Trim , County Meath (on 3rd August , 1986 - a Sunday , I believe..) in which he urged Irish holiday-makers to take the trouble to find out what's on offer in Irish holidays before deciding to go foreign -

- " People will discover that Irish holidays are a good bargain . What Irish tourism needs right now is a buoyant home holiday market . " So far , so good ...

.... however , John's Boss , Garret Fitzgerald , and Mrs Garret, decided to spend two weeks of his holidays in West Cork before jetting off to Cyprus for the rest of his holidays ! And their partner in Leinster House , Dick Spring , and his wife Kristi were in Dublin Airport around the same time as the Prince-Kisser was doing his bit for Irish tourism . The Springs had just arrived home from a holiday in Spain ....

You'll have to pay attention to your buddies' where-abouts in future , John , before you open your mouth ; you don't need their help to make a fool of yourself ....

(From 'The Evening Press' , Monday 4th August , 1986 , page 3).

PETER O'NEILL CROWLEY , CORK FENIAN , KILLED BY THE BRITISH IN TIPPERARY , 1867 ......


.....the 'Kilclooney Wood Engagement' is considered to be the last action of the 1867 Fenian Rising .....


The 1867 Fenian Rising received world-wide attention , but not all of those that died in that attempt to remove the British presence from Ireland , like 35-year's young Peter O'Neill Crowley , are remembered for the part they played in it .

Today , some of those that purport to follow in the Fenian tradition would only recognise the value of Kilclooney Wood as being a 'nice wee spot for the holiday-home' , somewhere to discuss how best to sell-out while making it look like "progress" (reference the infamous 'TUAS' document : 'Totally Un-Armed Strategy' and/or 'Tactical Use of Armed Struggle').

The ghosts of men and women like Peter O'Neill Crowley will hopefully haunt 'patriots' like that .....

[END]


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


.....John Linnane and Dick Bunyan and John Mullaney had a dug-out in a hayshed in Trineragh ....


" It was a fine dug-out , raised about five feet from the ground , and they slept there with a sense of great security and peace . Dick Bunyan woke up suddenly ; Linnane had touched his elbow - someone was pulling down the hay .

The bundle that stopped their exit hole was pulled out and a ( Free State) soldier looked in , shouting "Come out of that!" "We are coming," the three cried out instantly , in reply , but the soldier fired full in Linnane's face , and when his comrades lifted him up he was dead .

Men learned to thank God for a death like that in Kerry in nineteen-twenty-three.

[END]



A SLAP ON THE WRIST ......

..... from 'The Evening Press' newspaper , 28th July 1986 (a Monday, I'm sure..), page 7 -

What was then known as 'The World Court' (formally known as the 'International Court of Justice') found that the United States had broken international law and violated Nicaraguan sovereignty by aiding anti-government rebels . It ordered Washington to stop "arming and training" insurgents and to compensate Nicaragua for damage caused by military attacks , although it did not set an amount .

The United States argued that the Court had no jurisdiction in the case , and rejected the verdict . It said the Court "was not equipped" to judge complex international military issues !

( "COMPLEX" ? -
U S General : "Mr President, SIR ! There's oil in that there country ! "

U S President : " Move in , Private . And take the Army with you " .)


....AND A LIMP WRIST -

- In July 1986 , the then Chief Medical Officer of what was then known as 'WINDSCALE' (now 'Sellafield') , a Dr. Jack Strain [ I kid you not !] stated --

" If Sellafield was to inform general practitioners every time a worker was contaminated we would be writing 100 letters a day ."

WHAT ! only one-hundred .....?

(and sure is'nt it grand writin' a hundred letters a day when ya have five hands .....)

PETER O 'NEILL CROWLEY , CORK FENIAN, KILLED BY THE BRITISH IN TIPPERARY , 1867 .....

..... after three weeks in hiding in Kilclooney Wood in Tipperary , the three Irish rebels (Peter O'Neill Crowley , John McClure and Edward Kelly) were found by the British and , in the ensuing gun-battle, Crowley was killed . McClure and Kelly were later sentenced to life imprisonment .....


The county of Cork practically came to a standstill for the funeral of Peter O'Neill Crowley , in his native Ballymacoda ; the Fenian leader John Devoy said of the man -

" Peter O'Neill Crowley was one of the best men in the Fenian Movement , and Ireland never gave birth to a truer or more devoted son . His devotion to the cause of Irish liberty was sublime and his courage dauntless . "

The two men captured in Kilclooney Wood in Tipperary after the gun-battle , John McClure and Edward Kelly , were released four years later , in the 'general amnesty' of that year (1871).

Incidentally , the 'Kilclooney Wood Engagement' is considered to be the last action of the 1867 Fenian Rising ..... (MORE LATER)>



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


JOHN LINNANE OF LISTOWEL .

" John Linnane was a man of strong enthusiam and resolution , and such a man becomes loved and trusted in a time of national struggle . His religious conviction , his love of the Irish language , and his fearless activity as a soldier were an inspiration to all who knew him during ten difficult years .

He was killed on the thirteenth of April , nineteen-twenty-three , not far from the field in Gortaglanna where his old comrade-in-arms, Patrick Walsh, was murdered in nineteen-twenty-one by Black and Tans. John Linnane and Dick Bunyan and John Mullaney had a dug-out in a hayshed in Trineragh . (MORE LATER)>



A TALE OF TWO SHITTIES ...... Scene One - a distinguished building in Dublin > NOW READ ON .....

LIGHTS ! QUIET ON SET ! AND... ACTION -

DRUM ROLL < ORCHESTRA < and VOICEOVER ......


"Psst ! Hey Buddy .....
....wanna do a job for me ?

Don't matter what skills ya have , or if ya have a trade or not , man - and it's 'white-collar' stuff , won't dirty the hands - well, not with real dirt , ha-ha ! Inersted ? Here's your cut :

We start ya on a cool EURO 1541 a week , but it don't stop there - an associate of ours , right, Marty , from Kerry - hangs with the 'Adams Family' , this guy - shakin' down the 'one-five-four-one' grand on a weekly basis and, get this , buddy - Marty clicks another EURO 885 a week in - HA! HA! - "expenses" !

JEEZE , man , ya'd be crazy notta ! I mean it , dude , - EURO 2426 a week , every week ." Marty was sent in by 'Big Jer' , the Boss - " Gotta shake things up in there , Marty " , Big Jer said . "Sure thing," said Marty . But that's not the way it panned out .....


Marty got soft , ya know- comfortable - the broad was offa his back , things lookin' pretty good . So , Marty says to Bossman Jer - " Cut me some slack , man ; gimme time to stash some padding for the 'down-the-road' , like - you OK with that , boss ? " The Big Guy eyed up Marty : "Sure thing, Marty," he replied , " been there , done that , wrote the book , know what ya mean " , he said , winking .

But Jer was'nt finished - "Just one thing, man ..." . Marty froze : he knew from experience how good a huckster the boss was - he started to sweat . He knew well what Jer was capable of from the ( not so ) bad 'old days' ..... But he need'nt have worried - the boss knew the meaning (and price) of loyality : " Don't let the Family down , man " Jer said , walking towards a nervous Marty , "and pretty soon a weeks poke of EURO 2426 will be loose change . At my level , we call that a fair day's take ! "
The two men laughed out loud and hugged each other . Then , out of no-where, everything started shaking ; stuff falling offa the shelves , a real mess , and the very ground they were standing on pitched and rolled .

The bodyguards legged it , their new-found 'friends' standing in the background got offside , and all around them came crashing down .

"EARTHQUAKE !" , shouted Marty . "No " , said Jer , "I've seen this before . It's our own fault for having this conversation in the G P O " .


[END] (or is it.....?)


SOURCE -

financial figures : courtesy of the Free State 'Oireachtas' , released on Saturday 2nd August last - under the 'Freedom of Information Act' .


WORDS -

all my own . Really .


DRAMATIS PERSONAE -

Ah , ya know yourself ...
(.... go figure , buddy !)


FOREIGN RELEASE -

Yes . As a short play entitled 'Embarras de Richesses' .


CHANCE OF A HAPPY ENDING -

As we say in this business : " Enfants Perdus" .

PETER O'NEILL CROWLEY , CORK FENIAN , KILLED BY THE BRITISH IN TIPPERARY , 1867 .....


....when they realised that the Fenian Rising had failed , Peter O'Neill Crowley and his second and third in command, John McClure and Edward Kelly , issued an order to their men to disperse .....


After the 'dispersal' order was given (towards the end of the first week in March 1867) , the three Fenian leaders - Crowley , McClure and Kelly - fled to the limited safety of Kilclooney Wood in County Tipperary .

On 31st March , 1867, a large force of British soldiers entered Kilclooney Wood and 'scouts' from the same force soon located the whereabouts of the three Irish rebels . Within hours they were surrounded by the enemy and ordered to surrender ; they refused . The three were well-armed , and fought courageously , but were no match for the numbers ranged against them .

The gun-battle lasted for several hours ; it ended when Peter O'Neill Crowley died , with at least three gunshot wounds to his body . John McClure and Edward Kelly were arrested and were later sentenced to life imprisonment . (MORE LATER)>



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

JACK FLEMING OF TRALEE ...

....a member of the IRA since 1914 , Jack Fleming joined an established column of the Volunteers in 1922 : the Free State troops occupying Tralee were aware of his movements ....

" He caused enquiries to be made ,in the following March , by a friend : he wanted to know whether it would be safe for him to sleep at home . A direct message from the Free State Barracks was the reply - " He will be safe when he gives up his gun. " Jack Fleming went into hiding then ; he had no thought of purchasing safety at a price .

On the twenty-eight of March the house where he was sleeping was searched for him and he was found . He was taken to Ballymullen Barracks , that sinister building which the people of Tralee pass even now with shrinking , such screams of agony used to sound , a year ago, from the Intelligence Room. It is only from a score of vague , inconsecutive narratives told by soldiers and by men who were prisoners there , that what happened then can be made out at all .

Jack Fleming was taken out during the night ; he was brought to the prison , half a mile away, before daylight, dying or dead ; his body was refused to his people . No more is known . No more is known except this one thing - he could have saved himself had he chosen to be a traitor , and he chose to die .


[END]


BRUSSEL'S 'BULL' ....

..... in July , 1986 , the (then) EEC (now 'EU') made a decision to feed calves on cheap surplus butter rather than making it available to the poor . This move was backed by Britain , Denmark and the Netherlands because , they said , it would have little effect on levelling excess butter stocks if it were given to the poor ! (See 'The Evening Press' , 16th July , 1986 , page 4 ).

..the 'Straight Banana' proposal from those clowns was a laugh at the time , but when you hear of the above nonsense it takes the smile from your face .


GAY ? - no , just queer ....

.... Eamonn Dunphy used to be a member of the British Labour Party , but later supported Fine Gael . He stated - " Capitalism is the lesser of the two conflicting evils in the world ." (The other , he said , was Marxism.) He joined Fine Gael the night Charles Haughey became Free State Taoiseach , saying "Fine Gael is the most liberal party in this country (sic)" . (See 'In Dublin' magazine , issue 259, 24th July 1986 , page 9.)

Now THAT'S something the bouncer should do him for ....

PETER O'NEILL CROWLEY , CORK FENIAN , KILLED BY THE BRITISH IN TIPPERARY , 1867 .....

.....in March 1867 , Peter O'Neill Crowley and his Fenian 'Circle' attacked an armed coastguard station at Knockadoon ....


The Knockadoon coastguard station , located about eight miles from Youghal in Cork , was staffed by ten armed employees ; they were over-powered and held captive and their rifles and ammunition taken . It is not perhaps as well known as it should be , but the 'main' Fenian Rising of 1867 lasted for just over twenty-four hours , although isolated attacks on the British continued for a few weeks .

When Peter O'Neill Crowley and his second and third in command , John McClure and Edward Kelly , realised that the Rising had failed , they knew the British would be determined to 'round-up' the leadership ; they issued orders to their 'Circle' to disperse ..... (MORE LATER)>



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

JACK FLEMING OF TRALEE :


" Surely , in all wars , the most piteous stories are those that , to the worlds end, will never be told . To meet death in the night , alone among mocking enemies, knowing that no message from him will ever reach his comrades, that lies only will be told of him by his slayers , that the one sweet reward of sacrifice - a name remembered with love and praise among his people , may even be stolen from him in death - this, surely , is the hardest martyrdom a soldier can be called upon to endure .

There are men of Kerry who have died so , the manner of their end unknown . But this much is known of them - they could have saved themselves had they chosen to surrender to their torturers , to betray their comrades or to desert their cause . All that is known of their enemy's policy proves this : those who died knew a way to save themselves ; if they died it was because they would not take that way . Jack Fleming was best known in Tralee as a great lover of music and a skilled player of the pipes .

He had been a member of the Volunteers since nineteen-fourteen . In August , nineteen-twenty-two , he joined a column , but this was not known, he thought, to the Free State troops occupying Tralee ...... (MORE LATER)>



FILLING UP WITH IT ......>

....according to the 'Dubliners Diary' column of the old 'Evening Press' newspaper (12th September , 1992, page 11 - a Wednesday, if memory serves..) : British King George V once advised his sons - "In this business , it is wise never to pass up an opportunity to relieve yourself."

-- was the man full of piss , or was he just 'taking' it ?

-- or was he letting his sons know he was aware that they were full of s**t ?


FULL OF IT .....>

...... " 1916 challenges Irish nationalists to work to oppose any arrangement based on partition ; any such arrangement is doomed to failure ."

-- 'AP/RN' , 28th March , 1991 , page 2 . (...except, of course , Stormont and Leinster House - two parliaments set up by the British to maintain the imposed division on this island.)



.....AND OVER-FLOWING WITH IT -->

<-- " Accommodations with British-designed frameworks fly in the face of true justice and freedom ."

-- Brendan 'Bik' McFarlane , Provo leader , as quoted in 'AP/RN' , 2nd May , 1991 (page 7). Note that date - 2nd May 1991 ; on practically the same date (5th) of the same month (MAY) ten years earlier (1981) , Bobby Sands died on hunger-strike .

Had Bobby Sands or any of the ten men that died on hunger-strike that year made "accommodations with the British" they would not have died on hunger-strike .

Those men did not die so that others could make careers for themselves in Stormont and Leinster House by making "accommodations" with the Establishment ....

PETER O'NEILL CROWLEY , CORK FENIAN , KILLED BY THE BRITISH IN TIPPERARY , 1867 .....


...... 35-years young Cork man Peter O'Neill Crowley was in command of a Fenian 'Circle' of over one-hundred men .....


It is almost certain that Crowley and his 'Circle' were involved in the capture of the RIC Barracks at Ballynockane , County Cork, on the night of the 5th March , 1867 ; Fenian leaders J F X O'Brien , Michael O'Brien and William Mackey Lomasney had combined their forces into one 'Circle' consisting of over two-thousand Fenian fighters and , in early March 1867 caused havoc in Cork for the British administration -

- as well as capturing the Ballynockane RIC Barracks (and removing anything of value to the Fenian war effort) the Fenian's sabotaged large sections of rail-track used by the 'Great Southern and Western Railway' , destroyed the 'points-system' belonging to same and rendered inoperable the telegraph system in the district . In that same month (March 1867) , Peter O'Neill Crowley and his group attacked an armed coastguard station at Knockadoon .... (MORE LATER)>



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


JAMES WALSH OF CURROW -

" The killing of prisoners seemed to have become an almost mechanical practice in Kerry in March and April of nineteen-twenty-three . Over twenty were murdered on the roadsides of Kerry within twenty days . Some of them were Republican soldiers taken with arms and sentenced by their gaolers to death ; some were men taken unarmed in their own homes and killed by their captors out of hand . On March 22nd , James Walsh was taken , unarmed ; he was kept for a few days in Castleisland .

On Tuesday , the 27th, at about six in the morning , the prisoners were called out by Lieutenant McGinn . The street was lined with soldiers and two more prisoners , just captured, Daly and O'Rahilly, were there . The prisoners were marched along the Cordal Road and just outside Kingwilliamstown , at the cross of Glountane , a party of soldiers led Walsh away .

The people of Mount Falvey heard shots , but did not discover their meaning until evening , when they found James Walsh dead by the roadside , with a bullet wound in his head .

[END]



HE SHOULD KNOW ......

..... In 'The Sunday Tribune' of 31st January , 1993 , (page A11) , British 'Lord' Harold Wilson was quoted as having once said that -

- " a lie can be half way around the world before the truth has got its boots on ! " (...but not before you can put the boot in , eh, Harold ?)


..... AND SHE SHOULD KNOW BETTER ... >

< In an article published in 'The Sunday Tribune' on 10th January 1993 (page B6) , 'Workers Party', no, sorry - Democratic Left- oops! - eh, oh,whats it now ; that group that ex-WP/DL leader Pat Rabbitte leads now - yeah: the 'Labour Party' , that's the one .

Where was I ? Right - well , in the issue of the 'Trib' mentioned up above (somewhere) , one of Pat's buddies , Liz McManus , stated -

- " Notwithstanding the prayers as gaeilge (ie in Irish) and the Celtic motif , what is remarkable about 'Dail Eireann' (sic) is how BRITISH (her emphasis) the place is . More British very likely , than the British themselves these days ." (Whatcha mean "these" days , Liz?)


As 'Rabbie' Burns wrote in 'Tam O'Shanter' , Liz -

-- " I wonder it didna turn thy stomach ."
(But when your stomach's as strong as your neck is hard .....)

PETER O'NEILL CROWLEY , CORK FENIAN , KILLED BY THE BRITISH IN TIPPERARY , 1867 .


A child born in the townland of Ballymacoda in County Cork , in 1832 , learned how to make a living from the land and was considered in the locality , as a young adult , to be what would now be called "a pillar of society" ; he was known as an expert farmer and had a wide circle of friends .

An Irish Republican at heart , Peter O'Neill Crowley joined the Fenian Movement in Cork and rose quickly through the ranks - at 35 years young , he was in command of a 'Fenian Circle' , which numbered more than one hundred men . (MORE LATER)>



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


BOB McCARTHY OF MONAREE ....

....captured by the Free Staters on the 24th March , 1923, the man who had fought with his comrades against the British Black and Tans was now being tortured by those same men that he once fought with , now wearing Free State Army uniforms ; they beat him senseless and stoned him with bricks . His sister was eventually let in to see him in Dingle Workhouse and he told her of his shotgun , still in the family house .....


" " Give it up to them when they come ," he said, "for the sake of the people of Monaree ." "Let me take the cap off your head," she said . It was crusted with blood . But he answered : " No, no, let it alone." "You are suffering," she said then , breaking down , "and you don't want me to see ." Bob seemed to tired to talk to her . "Our Lord suffered more," is all he said . Then the soldiers put her outside the gate .

An escort came out for him from Tralee ; the officer who shot Tom Sullivan was in charge . What they did to Bob on the road will never be known . They buried him in the Workhouse in Tralee .

[END]



... a tax on children's shoes ? - JOLLY GOOD ! ......... ~

You're on the ball out there !

A reader left a message in the site guestbook pointing out that it was a M/S Margaret Downes who interviewed Fine Gaeler Avril Doyle (see yesterday's piece) for the 'SBP' ; dunno wha' exactly Doyler said to her but , in that 'SBP' article , Maggie wrote -

- " Fine Gaeler's believe themselves to be the epitome of good breeding with superior taste ." Hear , Hear ! Always considered it so , meself ....


.........~ and worth every penny >

< .... In January 1993 , French industrialist Bernard Tapie was ordered by the French courts to pay one franc (then worth twelve old Free State pennies) in damages for calling Jean-Marie Le Pen , the then leader of the right-wing National Front , a bastard !

Better end for now , otherwise Fine Gael could cost me a pretty penny (groan)!

PATRICK O'DONOGHUE AND 'THE IRISH EXILE' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER , AUSTRALIA .....


.....within months of his release in March 1851 , Patrick O'Donoghue was again arrested and sent out of the district to 'work' , once again, on a chain-gang ; he was released after three months and dumped in another district , Launceston .....


While en route to his new destination , under guard, Patrick O'Donoghue's comrades rescued him and stowed him on the 'SS YARRA YARA' which was headed for Melbourne ; he laid low there and , again with the help of the 'Young Ireland' Movement , escaped to San Francisco .

On 26th January , 1850 , the first edition of 'The Irish Exile' newspaper was published in Australia , the first Irish Republican 'paper to be printed on that continent - on 22nd January , 1854 , the author, owner and publisher of that newspaper , Patrick O'Donoghue , died in San Francisco .

In Ireland , he took up arms against the British presence - in Australia , he continued the fight as best he could and , in America, he died ; his tired , battered and bruised body unable to keep up with his rebel mind . The man was ostracised by the British and their allies , and his work for Irish freedom suppressed by them : but the memory of Patrick O'Donoghue is still with us .....

[END]



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


BOB McCARTHY OF MONAREE .

Bob McCarthy met with a death less merciful than his friend's . The enemies of the Republic had a great deal against him , for he had fought the Black-and-Tans in Dublin and the Free State troops in Kerry and was well-known. He was captured on March the twenty-fourth (1923), in Dunshean . He was sitting in a friend's house with a child on each knee when the soldiers rushed in and struck him on the head with a revolver . He was taken to Dingle and kept in the Workhouse that night . His sister heard that he was a prisoner and went in to Dingle and stood at the gate imploring the soldiers to let her in . She stood there hour after hour , though they refused her . She could not help crying , but she would not go away . At last they let her in and brought her to the yard .

The soldiers were kicking a football and her brother was among them . They were forcing him to kick the ball . He was swaying on his feet and was all stained and dusty . When she went to him he stared and seemed not to know her. His eyes were half-closed and there was blood on his head . "Oh, Bob, do you not know me ?" she asked him , and he said slowly : "You are my sister." They had beaten him , he told her , and stoned him with bricks . He seemed troubled about a shotgun that was in the house . (MORE LATER)>




SAME AS IT EVER WAS .......

.... on 10th January 1993 (a Sunday , if memory serves...) the Free State 'Labour Party' held a "Special Conference" to discuss forming an administration in Leinster House with one of the other parties , to make up the numbers required to obtain power ; the then leader of that party , Dick Spring , stated (amongst other things) --

---- " Let them sneer as we build houses on a scale not seen in many years , as we tackle waiting lists in the health service , as we bring Irelands commitment to the Third World up to international standards and as we take a seventy-five per cent cut in salary to put us on the minimum wage ." (WELL ok , then - that last part I just put in to keep ya all on yiser toes ; but the "sneer-houses-tackle-health service-Third World" diatribe is all Dick's doing : honestly - see 'The Sunday Business Post' , 17th January 1993, page 12).

The poor 'oul Dick that he is , he never did get his arse on the top seat in Leinster House : which is maybe just as well .....

..... in 1988 (see the same issue of 'The S B P' , page 12) Fine Gael Leinster House member Avril Doyle stated : " I can't think of anything worse than being Taoiseach . You'd want to be a masochist to become even leader of the party ." MASOCHIST ? So that's what happened our own 'Tricky Dicky' - he ended up as the cowboy in the 'Village People' and made enough money to buy-out the YMCA !

PATRICK O'DONOGHUE AND 'THE IRISH EXILE' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER , AUSTRALIA ......


.....the success of the newspaper brought it , and its owner/editor/publisher Patrick O'Donoghue to the attention of the pro-British authorities , and he was arrested for 'leaving the allocated district' by the District Governor Sir William Denison .....


Patrick O'Donoghue was sentenced to work for one year with a chain-gang , wearing a convicts uniform and 'living' in a convict station - in effect, a large 'out-house' . In March 1851 he was released and taken back to Hobart Town ; he promptly put 'The Irish Exile' newspaper back into print again , and began writing about his prison experience , as a political prisoner, forced by Governor Denison and his administration to suffer the same prison conditions as rapists , muggers and thieves .

Once again , the Governor moved against the newspaper - within months of his release , Patrick O'Donoghue found himself back on a chain-gang, this time further afield , at Cascades Penal Station . After three months of limb-wrenching slavery , Governor Denison ordered that O'Donoghue be released and sent out of the district , to Launceston . (MORE LATER)>



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

THOMAS O'SULLIVAN OF BALLINEANIG .....


.....Tom O'Sullivan was sleeping in a 'safe-house' when the Staters called ; his mother heard the shots and stood crying , then she heard more shots . The man with Tom later told a fellow-prisoner what had happened .....


" They were hiding and spoke to one another , not thinking the enemy were near , but they heard a voice call out suddenly : "that's Sullivan ! I know his talk ." They knew the man who spoke . He had been expelled from the Volunteers for misconduct and was a Free State Officer now . His kind were the most vindictive , always . Tom O'Sullivan must have known that this was death . The man saw him and fired , and Tom fell . He was badly wounded and put his hands up as he lay on the ground . "I surrender to you," he said . " Get a priest for me before you do any more ." The man fired again and Tom moaned, "O Jesus and Mary come against me" and died .

Bob McCarthy evaded the enemy that night . He had another month to live . It was he who came to Mrs. O'Sullivan to tell her that her son was dead . " [ END] .



.....welcome to the (smoke) FREE 'nanny' STATE -

-- the proposed all-out ban on smoking , due to be introduced in this State on 1st January next in public buildings , workplaces (if we still have any) pubs etc (to be enforced by a new division of the Free State Gardai , the 'Packetpigs' who , in turn, will get information from their touts , the 'cigcops' .....) is not a new concept in the arena of 'State Control' :

...... George Bernard Shaw once said (in relation to the Irish Censorship of Publications Act , which was passed in 1929) - " We shall never be easy until every Irish person is permanently manacled and fettered , gagged and curfewed, lest he should let the truth out about something " .

...... Edna O'Brien said , re the same 1929 Act - "There's more kinds of bondage than one !"


However , if the 'Packetpigs' catch ya havin' a sly smoke in a musty corner of the damp cellar in your local , and question you re your knowledge of the new 'law' , you could use the same defence that Free State Civil Servant Padraig O'hUiginn used in the 'Beef Tribunal' : " I was not aware that I was aware if I was aware " .

Then , when the 'Packetpigs' are trying to figure that out , ya leg it ....

PATRICK O'DONOGHUE AND 'THE IRISH EXILE' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER , AUSTRALIA .....


.....there were thousands of Irish deportees in the British penal colony and police garrison of Hobart Town , Australia, where Irish rebels were sent by the British ; one of their number , Patrick O'Donoghue , decided to publish a weekly newspaper , 'The Irish Exile' , aimed at , and for, those political prisoners .....


By all accounts , the arrival of the 'The Irish Exile' newspaper caused a stir ; it contained a regular column by the Fenian John Martin , who wrote about the Repeal Movement in Ireland , it had articles detailing periods of Irish history and it published Irish poetry and Irish ballads -- that mixture , along with local news and the 'comings and goings' of the thousands of Irish deportees themselves , ensured the success of the newspaper .

It also ensured that Patrick O'Donoghue and his enterprise came to the attention of the (pro-British) authorities , and the Governor , Sir William Denison, in an attempt to close 'The Irish Exile' down , arrested O'Donoghue and had him charged with 'leaving the allocated district' - Irish deportees were not allowed to leave the 'open prison' where they were dumped ...... (MORE LATER)>



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


THOMAS O'SULLIVAN OF BALLINEANIG ......

.....Thomas O'Sullivan's mother gave him his brothers letter - the brother , Dan, was in jail ; Tom read it under the lamp ......


" "Dan's all right," he said with relief in his voice , and gave her the letter again. Then he said, "Come down with me now ." She went with him down the bohereen. It was getting dark and she could not well see his face. Suddenly he put his arms round her . "Goodbye, mother," he said . "Why do you talk like that , Tom ," she said , half-crying , "and you always so brave ?" "Ah, mother," he answered , "I'll be under locks from you soon ." He took her hand then and they walked together a little further on . He was going to sleep in a house across the fields , where he'd be safe , he said. He started to go but came back to her again :

" You're not ashamed of me, mother ?" he asked her . It was in Irish , the speech of her heart , that she answered him . In the dark of the night a man came to her door . It was Bob McCarthy , Tom's friend : she knew him well . " 'Tis pity to be disturbing you," he said , "but the Staters are in the fields below. Where's Tom ?" She told him and he ran out . She was on her knees praying when she heard a shot fired . She started up and drew the bolt and ran out . She stood , crying out her prayers and blessings, against the gable of the house when she heard another shot and another again .....

The man who was with Tom hiding in a hollow knows what happened then , but he is a prisoner , sentenced to fifteen years . Only the little that he told to a fellow-prisoner , since released, is known .... (MORE LATER)>



IN GOOD COMPANY .......

.... yesterday we mentioned Martin and Theresa Ferris , the wanna-be Kerry 'dynasty' : but that's not all that's happening in the political world of 'warm-the-seat' .....

Joe Costello (Free State Labour Party) is doing it with his wife , Emer (!) , Brendan Howlin is doing it with his brother ,Ted (wha?) and so is Willie Penrose (no - not with Brendans brother ; with his own brother , John).

.... and as for the soldiers of opportunity , Fianna Fail ~ Margaret Cox and Kieran Phelan are both playing musical chairs with their brothers , while Sean Ardagh , Noel O'Flynn and Batt O'Keeffe, amongst other Fianna Fail luminaries, are giving their sons the seat-shaped 'thin-edge-of-the-wedge' ....

...... AND BLESSED FROM ABOVE FOR DOING IT -

- The word 'NEPOTISM' comes from Nepote , the Italian for 'Nephew' , and it stems from the time of Pope Innocent VIII who gave important posts to his nephews , regardless of their merit ! (And if the Italian's had'nt done it then , our own local political 'mafia' would have ...)

'Innocent' no more !

PATRICK 0' DONOGHUE AND 'THE IRISH EXILE' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER , AUSTRALIA .......


.....sentenced to death for his part in the 1848 Rising , Patrick O'Donoghue was 'spared' and his sentence commuted to transportation for life to the penal colony in Australia ; a death sentence by another name - six months at sea , a 14,000 -mile journey on board a 'slave-ship' - many did'nt make it ......


In the Autumn of 1849 ,'The Swift' , the ship carrying Patrick O'Donoghue and hundreds of other Irish rebel prisoners arrived in Australia , and the deportees were moved to Hobart Town , a (pro-British) police garrison town . They were closely monitored by the authorities , as per orders issued by the local Governor , Sir William Denison , who had no time for the Irish .

There was no work , no 'dole' , no state assistance and no-one to care whether you lived or died . In January 1850 , using materials he had begged and borrowed , Patrick O'Donoghue published , in Hobart Town, what was intended to be a self-financing newspaper - the weekly 'The Irish Exile' . There were thousands of Irish deportees in the district , and the 'paper was aimed at , and for, them ...... (MORE LATER)>




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

THOMAS O SULLIVAN OF BALLINEANIG -


" "I had twelve children , but I had none like him," Mrs. O'Sullivan says .

Tom was twenty-two years old when he was killed ; he was a teacher of Irish and a fisherman , and he was a Volunteer since the Black-and-Tan time ; he was Commandant of his Battalion when he died . They came raiding for him in December , with their lorries, but his mother got him away . He was going fishing and had his hand on the kettle , going to make himself a cup of tea , when she ran in with the warning and he made out through the back door . She lifted a bucket and went up the road towards them thinking to hold them awhile in talk .

" Who's that man running ?" the officer shouted to her , and she called back, "I don't know at all ." "You know well, you devil !" he answered . " 'Tis your son, Tom," and he went down on his knee and fired . The bullet slit Tom's jersey , but Tom was not hurt . But the danger to him seemed more than she could bear . "Wisha, give me your gun ," she said to Tom that night , "and I'll carry it into town for you ." "No, mother," he answered, "that's what I'll never do . I did'nt take my oath to break it, " he said . "I know what's before me , and I'm satisfied to face that ."

He used to come home sometimes , never to sleep, but maybe to change his clothes . He came in on the eighteenth of February . His mother thought he looked troubled . "Have you any letter from Dan ?" he asked her at once . Dan , his brother, was in jail. She gave him the letter and he read it under the lamp . (MORE LATER)>



KEEPING IT IN THE (Adams) FAMILY......

.....In an interview in 'Hot Press' magazine on 25th January , 1990 , (page 28) , Gerry Adams was questioned about the 1986 Sinn Fein Ard Fheis (when Adams and his followers left the Republican Movement to form a new Free State political party) and he stated -

" I pointed out in my presidential speech at the time that for too long republicans had 'left politics to the politicians' with the result that the ambitious and self-seeking were allowed to climb to power on the back of sacrifices made by generations of republicans " . Well said , Gerry - but I wonder would Theresa Ferris agree with you ? This 23-years young lass is to fill the seat on Kerry County Council soon to be vacated by her father , Martin , who will then no doubt find it easier to concentrate on his career in Leinster House .

And if Martin should decide to go for a seat in Brussels , who will be 'parachuted' in to fill his Leinster House seat .....? (Shades of Fianna Fail-'ism' : they went in to Leinster House to "change the system" only to find that the system changed them !)

Oh! what a tangled web we weave ......

PATRICK O'DONOGHUE AND 'THE IRISH EXILE' REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER , AUSTRALIA.


In July 1848 , a man from Clonegall , County Carlow , Patrick O'Donoghue ( a member of the 'Young Ireland' Movement) was one of the many Irish rebels arrested following the failure of the 1848 Rising ; these men and women were 'tried' before what the British termed a 'Special Commission' and , at one such 'trial' in Clonmel in County Tipperary , in October 1848 , Patrick O'Donoghue was found guilty and sentenced to death .

That death sentence was later commuted to transportation for life to the penal colony in Australia ; a death sentence by another name - the British Administration knew well that the six-month , 14,000 mile-journey to Australia , on board a 'slave-ship' , would finish most , if not all, of the Irish rebels , who had been treated like vermin while awaiting transportation . (MORE LATER)>




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

JOHN KEVINS OF BEAUFORT ......


..... a little girl walking on the main road saw (Free State) soldiers with a cart far up a lane . They were putting something wrapped in a blanket into the cart ......


" One of the soldiers was at the hotel later . He said - " The prisoner died on the road . " The Red Cross man , who had been awake all night , was sleeping there on a sofa . They woke him and said to him , "Your patient is dead ." He stared at them wildly , his face white . "Would the wound have killed him ?" , they asked . He said nothing , but shook his head . " It was I turned the mother back on the road , " a soldier who was drunk , said to Miss Sullivan later on . "I was sorry for that - I was sorry for the grey-haired woman - I was not sorry for him - he would have done the same to me , but I was sorry for the grey-haired woman . I have a mother myself , and I would not like her to see the deed that was done ... "

"I'll not forget the things she said to me ," he added , "when I turned her back - she gave hard words ." "I will tell you, then," Miss Sullivan replied, "what she said to me . She said'What could those poor decent boys do?' "

"Jesus," exclaimed the soldier , paling and sobering . "Oh, Jesus, did she say that ?" "



CHEQUE-MATE ........(and/....


" We owe it to the least fortunate of our citizens to ensure that public decisions affecting everyone's welfare are taken only on the grounds of equity and the public good , and to ensure that possession of wealth can never purchase private political favours ."

---- Bertie Ahern , present leader of Fianna Fail and current Free State Taoiseach , giving his response to the publication of the McCracken Tribunal findings , as quoted in 'The Sunday Tribune' , 12th May , 2002 , page 10.


...........or)......BUT THEN HE GOES AND SPOILS IT ALL BY SIGNING SOMETHING STUPID LIKE...

....ONE THOUSAND SIX-HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN CHEQUES -

-- The same Bertie Ahern co-signed most of the 1,615 cheques drawn on the Fianna Fail leaders allowance account from 1984 to 1992 ; better known as 'The Haughey Years' !

Ahern said he had no recollection of a cheque for £25,000 (that's twenty-five thousand old Free State punts- convert it yourself ; I have no recollection of saying I'd do it for ya) made out to cash and signed by him and Haughey on 16th June , 1989 - the day after the general election that year .

The cheque was discovered in an account linked to Haughey .



Is Bertie still married ? Or divorced ? Is 'she' still the girlfriend ? Or is 'she' the ex ? Where was the man educated ? And is 'that' degree really his ?

DOES'NT MATTER -
-- with his 'do-as-I-say-and-not-as-I-do' attitude , the man can ride out any storm.....

..... or claim to have no recollection of any storm !

ATTEMPTED TUNNEL ESCAPE FROM CORK JAIL , 1940 .....


....the result of the Free State 'inquest' into the shooting dead of IRA man John Kavanagh on 3rd August , 1940 (while "attempting to escape") was never made known ......


The IRA internees in Cork Jail were swiftly moved to the Curragh Camp in County Kildare - day's before that move took place , the IRA had buried John Kavanagh (a Cork man) in the Republican Plot in St Finbarrs Cemetery in Cork .

The three tunnel survivors - Denis Joseph O'Sullivan , Cornelius Byrd and Roger Ryan - were charged , on 2nd October 1940, in the 'Special Court' in Dublin with attempting to rescue prisoners from Cork Jail ; O'Sullivan got four years , and Byrd and Ryan each received two years .

I searched my files for more information on Broy Harrier Detective Jim Moore , but found only a fleeting reference to him being in charge of all Cork operations against the Republican Movement . I was curious as to whether he ever emerged from his own blinkered tunnel .



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

JOHN KEVINS OF BEAUFORT ....

.... John Kevins lay wounded in a shop at Carenahone , outside Beaufort, surrounded by Free State troops under the command of Captain Bishop of the Dublin Guards .....


" Nobody told John's mother that night . It was a night of cruel frost and east wind . At midnight , Kevins was moved down to the barracks ; at six o'clock , soldiers came to Sullivan's for a cart to take him to Killarney . The Red Cross man protested , offered to go for an ambulance , wanted to accompany the prisoner himself ; this was not allowed . Miss Sullivan went and told the mother , and Mrs. Kevins hurried to the barracks gate . " Let me send for an ambulance, " she pleaded, " and I will pay for it myself . " The answer was "No!" " Will you not let me in to see my boy ? " The answer was "No" , again . " Won't you let me go with him ? " The soldiers were ordered to push her out of the road .

" Don't you know, " she said , " if I saw one of yourselves lying there wounded that I'd help you ? I'd wash you , I'd bandage you , I'd do for you whatever I could - and will you not let me see my poor boy ? " Gently as they could , the soldiers pushed her back from the road . They were slow in doing it , and she saw the cart pass . She saw John lying back in his shirt only ; she called out to him , "Good-bye, John" and he lifted his arm and held it up . He held it up a long time .... When they had passed she turned and saw the mail cart standing at the hotel . It was the goodness of God , she thought, the pity of Mary ! It would be going the Killarney road . She climbed up and the driver started , following the rear-guard of the cart . She could not see the cart itself because of the bends in the road but she hoped , every moment , to see it again .

Then one of the soldiers shouted - " You, there , the boy's mother ! get down and go home !" and she was forced to turn back . The driver of the mail cart was forced to stay where he was for a long time . Whatever he heard or saw it was never told . A man working in the fields heard a terrible scream ; a little girl walking on the main road saw soldiers with a cart far up a lane . They were putting something wrapped in a blanket into the cart . (MORE LATER)>



GUESS WHO ..... (part four) -

.... said .....

..... " Well ,um, somethings neither good nor bad but thinking makes it so , I suppose , as Shakespeare said . "

.... and .....

..... " I believe what I said yesterday ... I don't know what I said, er , but I know what I think and...well , I assume its what I said ."

.... and .....

..... the answer is .....

..... DONALD RUMSFELD , the U S Secretary of Defence , speaking at a U S Department of Defence press conference in 2002 . His boss , George W Bush Jnr , could'nt have put it better himself ....

( See 'The Sunday Business Post' , 1st June last , page 19.)

ATTEMPTED TUNNEL ESCAPE FROM CORK JAIL , 1940.......


...... four IRA men were working in the tunnel on 3rd August , 1940, when one of a group of about ten Broy Harriers fired into it with a Thompson sub-machine gun ......


John Kavanagh died in the tunnel and Roger Ryan was seriously wounded . The other two Volunteers , Denis Joseph O'Sullivan and Cornelius Byrd , escaped injury as they had been round a bend in the tunnel when the shots were fired in ; they were dragged out and arrested .

It was known that John Kavanagh had been shot a number of times in the chest , so questions were asked when the Free State Justice Minister, Gerry Boland, (Fianna Fail) stated that both Kavanagh and Roger Ryan had been shot while attempting to escape ; Boland's answer to the questions was to invoke the 'Emergency Powers Act' , under cover of which the Free Staters prohibited the media from reporting the incident and also allowed the State to cancel the coroner's inquest (by jury) into the death of John Kavanagh .

To try and obtain a gloss of respectability for his actions , Boland conducted his own 'inquest' and one of his own people was put in charge of it - the 'results' of same were never made known ..... (MORE LATER)>



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


JOHN KEVINS OF BEAUFORT .....

.... John Kevins' mother went to her son , an IRA Volunteer, deep in the mountains, to warn him to be careful ; she went home comforted.....

" On March the 15th (1923) , late in the evening, John came down to a shop at Carenahone, outside Beaufort , where they used to buy cigarettes . The shop door was open and the light streamed out , shining on John Kevins' face as he came up . A man in a trench coat , carrying a rifle, stepped out of the shadow, and asked his name . "I'm Kevins ," he replied, "who are you ?" The man lifted his rifle and fired , and John staggered into the shop . There were more men there . "Put another in him," Bishop said .

But the woman of the house rushed between them . "You'll not murder the man in my house," she cried out . "Send for the priest !" A soldier , too, tried to stop murder being done . They left him there , alone with a girl . The priest came and went . The wound was in the shoulder . "This wound won't kill me," John said to the girl . "I don't feel too bad ; I wonder could I escape ?" She went out , but came back shaking her head . "The house is surrounded." "Then the hounds are up for my blood," John said .

Bishop went down for a drink to Miss Sullivan's hotel ; it was his driver who told her sister , the nurse, that a man was wounded above . "He's not too bad," he said; "He can talk away." "I'll let nobody see him," Bishop said . "I have sent up my own Red Cross man ". "What wounds has he ?" she asked , and Bishop answered "He has two." It was not true yet . When Father Dennehy saw him he had only one . Nurse Sullivan implored Bishop to let her go to the wounded man . "It was for me," she told him, "that John sent for his own prisoner, Dempsey. Surely you will let me go ?"

"I'll let no one at all see him," Bishop replied . Nobody told John's mother that night . " (MORE LATER)>



GUESS WHO ..... (part three)--


....said the following ......

..... " I would not say that the future is necessarily less predictable than the past - I think the past was not predictable when it started ."


..... and ......
... " I also know that stating what might be preferable , er , is simply stating what might be preferable ."


..... and ......
... " Near my Office is an American flag done in ....origami.... that's one of those words that I have'nt mastered yet ."


----- (MORE [and answer] LATER)>

ATTEMPTED TUNNEL ESCAPE FROM CORK JAIL , 1940......


.... the IRA were determined to break their imprisoned comrades out of Cork Jail .....


An asylum on College Road in Cork shared a high side-wall with the Jail and , from a secluded corner of the asylum grounds, it was decided to dig a tunnel under the wall and into Cork Jail . In mid-July , the IRA put the plan into action and for the next two weeks all went well ; the equipment was up to the job , the Volunteers worked in shifts and 'look-outs' were in position . But the Broy Harriers (Free State detectives) , under Detective Jim Moore, were monitoring the whole scene .....


On the 3rd August , 1940 , four IRA men were in the tunnel - John Kavanagh , Denis Joseph O'Sullivan , Cornelius Byrd and Roger Ryan : it is thought that John Kavanagh was coming up out of the tunnel , having passed Roger Ryan , who had his back to the opening . At least ten 'Harriers' , armed with sub-machine guns , were crouched-down at the opening , and one of them opened fire with a Thompson Gun into the tunnel ...... (MORE LATER)>



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


JOHN KEVINS OF BEAUFORT ......

....the captured Free State Officer was Colonel Dempsey of the Dublin Guards , an important capture for the IRA : the gun-battle had left him wounded in the eye .....

"( ..... the local IRA leader ) John Kevins had him cared for in a farmhouse and sent for Nurse Sullivan of Beaufort and for Dr. Carey , of Killarney, Medical Officer to the Brigade . Dr. Carey examined the wound and said it could not be satisfactorily treated except in a hospital . John Kevins asked him to take Dempsey to Killarney in his own car . He released the two 'Red Cross soldiers' at the same time .

Captain Bishop , of the Dublin Guards, took the clothes from some of the prisoners in Bahaghs Workhouse , and with a gang of Free State Officers, dressed in the soft hats and trench coats of Volunteers, went to Glencar . All were armed and Bishop carried a Thompson gun . It was the day of Seumas Taylor's funeral , the 14th of March (1923) ; people on the roads took them for Volunteers and answered their questions as to the identity of certain men . But one old man grew suspicious and called in a loud voice to another - " Would'nt you say there's five or six hundred of the Volunteers marching in the funeral the day ? " . Bishop and his gang changed their minds and travelled to Beaufort .

Beaufort was John Kevins' home . A week before his mother had a dream that troubled her . She saw John with blood on his forehead . She thought it was a foreshadowing of death . She travelled far into the mountains and found him , meaning to warn him because of her dream, but she found him so light-hearted and confident that for the world she could not have said a gloomy word . " Let you make your mind easy ," he said to her, " 'twould take a thousand to catch us here . " She went home comforted , her dream untold . " (MORE LATER)>



GUESS WHO ...... (part two..) --

-- .... told the 'New York Times'...
.... " Once in a while , I'm standing here, doing something . And I think 'what in the world am I doing here ?' It's a big surprise ! "

--
.... told a reporter ...
.... " If I know the answer , I'll tell you the answer , and if I don't , I'll just respond , cleverly ! "

--
.... the same person also said ...
... " I think what you'll find , I think what you'll find is , whatever it is we do substantively , there will be near-perfect clarity as to what it is . "

--
.... and ...
... " It will be known , and it will be known to the Congress, and it will be known to you , probably before we decide it, but it will be known . "

.... (MORE [and answer] LATER)>

( Great to be back ... have washed the Tramore sand out of my system and if I never see another bleedin' egg sambo ....)



ATTEMPTED TUNNEL ESCAPE FROM CORK JAIL , 1940.


The IRA bombing campaign in England , which started in 1939, prompted the Free State administration to double their efforts in the 26-Counties in regards to putting the Movement out of business ; Volunteers were either arrested and imprisoned , interned or shot dead and , by the summer of 1940 , the IRA was virtually decimated .

The 'Broy Harriers' (Free State detectives) were given a free hand , with the then Fianna Fail State Justice Minister Gerry Boland willing to excuse them any deed if it served the purpose of the Staters and the Brits. In Cork , Detective Jim Moore was in charge of the Broy Harriers and had been involved in the conversion of Cork Prison into a military detention centre ; IRA prisoners were interned there and their comrades in the area were determined to break them out ....... (MORE LATER) >



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

JOHN KEVINS OF BEAUFORT :

" No problem that confronted the IRA during the civil war was more difficult than the question of the disposal of the hundreds of prisoners who fell into their hands . A fight in which all the prisoners are held by one side is hard on those prisoners , but the IRA controlled no buildings where captives could be detained . To kill or ill-use a prisoner in any way was impossible : there was no alternative but to disarm the men and set them free to hunt their captors again . Throughout the campaign this was done .

In the winter of 1922 , Captain John Kevins and his company were attacked on the hill called 'The Devil's Punch-bowl' in the Macgillicuddy Reeks . Their attackers were driven off and left one wounded officer behind. Kevins saw two of the retreating officers put down their rifles , kneel down by their wounded officer and affix 'Red Cross' badges to their sleeves. He came down to the three prisoners , protesting against men who had come out as combatants wearing the 'Red Cross' . He had the book of 'Red Cross' regulations in his pocket and showed them that it was a breach of these.

The officer proved to be Colonel Dempsey , of the Dublin Guards . It was an important capture. To hold him as a hostage might stop the killing of prisoners which was being practised , by Act of Parliament , by the other side . But Dempsey was wounded in the eye . (MORE LATER)>



GUESS WHO .....

.... said , to a meeting of his Department of Defence last year -

" As we know , there are known knowns . There are things we know we know . We also know there are known unknowns . That is to say , we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknowns unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know ".

.... the same speaker was asked what he knew of the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden -

" We do know of certain knowledge that he is either in Afghanistan , or in some other country , or dead ."

.....and was also asked if the U S would go to war without the Brits backing them -

" Their situation is distinctive to their country and they have a government that deals with a parliament in their way , distinctive way, and what will ultimately be decided is unclear as to their role,um, that is to say their role in the event a decision is made to use force. "


......and no , it's not Homer !

( MORE [and answer] LATER)>