FETCH ....... !
By Gene Kerrigan .
Four years ago this month the RUC began trying to put JOHN O' REILLY away . Four 'Supergrasses' failed to do the job . O' REILLY is now in Michael Noonan's custody . The RUC have demanded that Noonan "...bring him forthwith .. " to answer the accusations of HARRY KIRKPATRICK .
From 'MAGILL' magazine , February 1986 .
RUC 'supergrass' John Grimley had been convicted on various theft charges in the North of Ireland and in London in the late 1950's , when he was still a teenager . For a time he was confined in a mental hospital ; between 1963 and 1971 he did his best to become a British soldier .
First he joined the Irish Guards , then the Royal Irish Fusiliers , finally the Royal Pioneer Corps - he was discharged from all three British regiments , on psychiatric and disciplinary grounds . In 1973 he was convicted in the Republic (ie the 26-County State) on various robbery and assault charges , including beating-up his common-law wife . In 1975 he lost a job with the 'Goodyear' factory in Craigavon after being convicted of theft from the company .
Then John Grimley joined Sinn Fein ; he lasted five years with the Provos , his conduct becoming increasingly bizarre , until they expelled him in 1980 for "...irrational behaviour.. " . Then he joined the INLA - incredibly , they accepted him and made him a recruiting officer . Shortly after this , having done just about everything else , John Grimley threw his lot in with the RUC and became an informer . He was recruiting people for the INLA and informing on them to the RUC at £25 a go !
Eventually , he 'graduated' to 'supergrass' , fingering twenty-two people .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
There had been increasing ambiguity among all shades of Nationalist opinion about how best to defend Catholics against attacks from the RUC and loyalists , especially in Belfast . Whole shifts of population were occuring there as Catholics and Protestants retreated into the safety of the ghettoes , but Gerry Fitt warned on August 7 at a meeting in Trinity College , Dublin , that the swopping of houses was not a mutually polite arrangement . Catholics were being forced out of their homes , he said , and "...the people .. " (whom he did not specify) did not like it -
- " The time is coming when they will change their tactics and instead of moving people elsewhere under these circumstances they will have to protect them in their homes . The RUC are messenger boys of the UVF . " More was needed than a telephone network against the arrival of the RUC and the UVF in the area , he warned , but he did not specify what .
In Derry that August the 'Citizens Defence Committee' had been set up alongside the 'Civil Rights Association' , with overlapping Executive membership , and community halls were used to store petrol bombs ; no elected representatives shouted 'stop' . On August 12 Orangemen marched in the city centre , a few desultory stones were thrown at them , and the RUC and the Bogsiders re-acted as to a referee's whistle starting a football match - both sides running onto the 'pitch' under the High Flats , in the heart of Catholic territory . The set piece battle lasted for three days and Belfast street fighters came out in support in an effort to siphon off RUC strength .
Guns were used on both sides in Belfast . People died . Jack Lynch (Free State 'Taoiseach') moved his troops up to the border , four miles from Derry . Harold Wilson (Westminster PM) moved British soldiers onto the streets of the North of Ireland .......
(MORE LATER).
A DECADE OF CENSORSHIP .......
Bernadette Quinn looks at the development of SECTION 31 of the Broadcasting Act , used by the Free State government to suppress the Republican viewpoint on state radio and television - and extended by Radio Telefis Eireann itself into a regime of self-censorship .
From ' IRIS ' magazine , November 1983 .
Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act is a political act suppressing political opinion ; in order to be non-political , to do their job in presenting facts uncoloured by political bias , RTE journalists should take direct action against Section 31 . And the NUJ should defend them - otherwise admit that they are taking a political stand - admit that they are anti-republican , pro-Free State establishment and pro-British . There can be no excuse for them any longer .
Eamonn McCann , author of ' War and an Irish Town ' , former 'Sunday World' newspaper columnist and now a freelance journalist , has always opposed Section 31 and is a member of the 'Freedom of the Press and Broadcasting Committee' . In this interview with 'IRIS' magazine he talks about the effects of Section 31 on the coverage of events by RTE , and how it should be actively opposed -
- " Any journalist should be instinctively opposed to state control of the media . Section 31 is clearly against the code of conduct of the NUJ and against their stated policy . It has proved impossible to have union policy implemented on RTE and has led to a situation where RTE news and current affairs programmes are quite unable to give an accurate account of what is happening in the North .
The effect of Section 31 is not just to cut republicans out of coverage , but it also seriously distorts the coverage itself because in effect it is impossible to report the political views of the Catholic working class . That is an absolutely incredible thing for journalists to allow to happen - even journalists who are personally hostile to Sinn Fein ....... "
(MORE LATER).
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
FETCH ....... !
By Gene Kerrigan .
Four years ago this month the RUC began trying to put JOHN O' REILLY away . Four 'Supergrasses' failed to do the job . O' REILLY is now in Michael Noonan's custody . The RUC have demanded that Noonan "...bring him forthwith .. " to answer the accusations of HARRY KIRKPATRICK .
From 'MAGILL' magazine , February 1986 .
John O' Reilly was held that evening (October 9 , 1985) in Portlaoise Garda Station . He was questioned , fingerprinted , had a hair sample taken and his hands were swabbed . He was also photographed . He was told the RUC were interested in him ; a Garda Detective read from a pink folder labelled 'Office No. 6' . John O' Reilly , he noted , had failed to appear in a Belfast court on January 28 , nine months earlier .
John O' Reilly is 26 this month (ie February 1986) . He was born in Belfast . He was arrested by the RUC at around six in the morning of February 5 , 1982 , the day after his 22nd birthday - he was taken to Castlereagh Interrogation Centre and held for seven days . Two 'supergrasses' , Robert McAllister and Sean McConkey , had accused him of involvement in possession of firearms and armed robbery on behalf of the INLA . O' Reilly claimed he was in jail when the offences were committed .
That affair lasted seven weeks ; then Robert McAllister and Sean McConkey , who had accused a number of people of various crimes , retracted . The charges against John O' Reilly were withdrawn ; he was immediately re-arrested and again taken to Castlereagh - he had been 'fingered' by two more 'supergrasses' , Jackie Goodman and John Grimley . One of the other people they named was a Harry Kirkpatrick . That was in March 1982 ; O' Reilly remained in jail , awaiting trial . In September , Jackie Goodman retracted the accusations he had made against thirty-six people , including John O' Reilly .
But O' Reilly remained in jail : he still had to answer the accusations of John Grimley , the other 'supergrass.......'
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
Bernadette Devlin MP arrived at Westminster to help highlight the death of Sammy Devenney : " The publicity was unbelievable ; Gerry Fitt had booked me into the Irish Club , and I sat there in my mini-skirt and the press just drooled ! If I had been older or wiser or just more thoughtful or even courteous or machiavellian , I would have ended every remark with a reference to Gerry Fitt who was sitting , ignored , in the room . "
The 'alliance' , in any case , was doomed from the start , she says - " It was a matter of emphasis . Gerry Fitt would plead for reform , saying the RUC and later the British soldiers were only making martyrs by their handling of what was called 'security' . I would stand there saying - 'you've tried everything down the centuries , from hanging , drawing and quartering , to straight bullets . And the Croppy will never lie down ' " . ('1169...' Comment - "Gerry would plead for reform .... " : sounds familiar !)
There was also the acute difference of the socialist approach : " I appeared on every left-wing platform in England , speaking on gypsies rights , defending the Dagenham strikers against Harold Wilson , and I spoke in Trafalgar Square in defence of the PLO . Paul Rose took the Israeli side and wrote me a letter criticising my stand . I released it to the newspapers and the split with Labour widened . There was them and Gerry Fitt ; and there was me . "
And then there was the Battle of The Bogside in August 1969 , which brought the British Army into the North , with a resultant quagmire of political and armed struggle into which Gerry Fitt was to hopelessly flounder .......
(MORE LATER).
A DECADE OF CENSORSHIP .......
Bernadette Quinn looks at the development of SECTION 31 of the Broadcasting Act , used by the Free State government to suppress the Republican viewpoint on state radio and television - and extended by Radio Telefis Eireann itself into a regime of self-censorship .
From ' IRIS ' magazine , November 1983 .
On September 28 , 1983 , on RTE's current affairs programme ' Today Tonight' , Fr. Denis Faul and Unionist MP Harold McCusker were interviewed at length on the use of paid perjurers in the North of Ireland ; there was no representative of Sinn Fein interviewed , although there were repeated references to Sinn Fein's 'motives' in opposing the use of perjurers .
There was not even a mention that Sinn Fein would deny the charge that they were using the campaign against show trials for "...their own ends .. " . Was this not selective and distorted , as well as untrue (re NUJ 'rules') ? Section 31 of course is not just about the suppression of the views of Sinn Fein ; it is about suppression of the views of the working-class Nationalist community in the North ; it is denying information to people in the South not just about Sinn Fein policies but about the beliefs and aspirations of a significant section of the Irish population .
By contrast , Section 31 has not been used to deny access to RTE by the UDA , despite that organisation's massive involvement in sectarian murders of Catholics in the North - not to mention its bombing of Dublin and Monaghan in 1974 when 31 civilians died . The majority of RTE journalists justify their implementation of Section 31 by saying that they have to abide by the law - but it is surely not for journalists to do the Free State government and RTE Authority's political dirtywork for them when it flagrantly contravenes their own code of conduct .
For instance , why did the 'Today Tonight' production team not interview a Sinn Fein spokesperson on September 28th and leave RTE to cut out the interview , rather than themselves censoring Sinn Fein in the first place ? Why did'nt they do that during the elections ....... ?
(MORE LATER).
By Gene Kerrigan .
Four years ago this month the RUC began trying to put JOHN O' REILLY away . Four 'Supergrasses' failed to do the job . O' REILLY is now in Michael Noonan's custody . The RUC have demanded that Noonan "...bring him forthwith .. " to answer the accusations of HARRY KIRKPATRICK .
From 'MAGILL' magazine , February 1986 .
John O' Reilly was held that evening (October 9 , 1985) in Portlaoise Garda Station . He was questioned , fingerprinted , had a hair sample taken and his hands were swabbed . He was also photographed . He was told the RUC were interested in him ; a Garda Detective read from a pink folder labelled 'Office No. 6' . John O' Reilly , he noted , had failed to appear in a Belfast court on January 28 , nine months earlier .
John O' Reilly is 26 this month (ie February 1986) . He was born in Belfast . He was arrested by the RUC at around six in the morning of February 5 , 1982 , the day after his 22nd birthday - he was taken to Castlereagh Interrogation Centre and held for seven days . Two 'supergrasses' , Robert McAllister and Sean McConkey , had accused him of involvement in possession of firearms and armed robbery on behalf of the INLA . O' Reilly claimed he was in jail when the offences were committed .
That affair lasted seven weeks ; then Robert McAllister and Sean McConkey , who had accused a number of people of various crimes , retracted . The charges against John O' Reilly were withdrawn ; he was immediately re-arrested and again taken to Castlereagh - he had been 'fingered' by two more 'supergrasses' , Jackie Goodman and John Grimley . One of the other people they named was a Harry Kirkpatrick . That was in March 1982 ; O' Reilly remained in jail , awaiting trial . In September , Jackie Goodman retracted the accusations he had made against thirty-six people , including John O' Reilly .
But O' Reilly remained in jail : he still had to answer the accusations of John Grimley , the other 'supergrass.......'
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
Bernadette Devlin MP arrived at Westminster to help highlight the death of Sammy Devenney : " The publicity was unbelievable ; Gerry Fitt had booked me into the Irish Club , and I sat there in my mini-skirt and the press just drooled ! If I had been older or wiser or just more thoughtful or even courteous or machiavellian , I would have ended every remark with a reference to Gerry Fitt who was sitting , ignored , in the room . "
The 'alliance' , in any case , was doomed from the start , she says - " It was a matter of emphasis . Gerry Fitt would plead for reform , saying the RUC and later the British soldiers were only making martyrs by their handling of what was called 'security' . I would stand there saying - 'you've tried everything down the centuries , from hanging , drawing and quartering , to straight bullets . And the Croppy will never lie down ' " . ('1169...' Comment - "Gerry would plead for reform .... " : sounds familiar !)
There was also the acute difference of the socialist approach : " I appeared on every left-wing platform in England , speaking on gypsies rights , defending the Dagenham strikers against Harold Wilson , and I spoke in Trafalgar Square in defence of the PLO . Paul Rose took the Israeli side and wrote me a letter criticising my stand . I released it to the newspapers and the split with Labour widened . There was them and Gerry Fitt ; and there was me . "
And then there was the Battle of The Bogside in August 1969 , which brought the British Army into the North , with a resultant quagmire of political and armed struggle into which Gerry Fitt was to hopelessly flounder .......
(MORE LATER).
A DECADE OF CENSORSHIP .......
Bernadette Quinn looks at the development of SECTION 31 of the Broadcasting Act , used by the Free State government to suppress the Republican viewpoint on state radio and television - and extended by Radio Telefis Eireann itself into a regime of self-censorship .
From ' IRIS ' magazine , November 1983 .
On September 28 , 1983 , on RTE's current affairs programme ' Today Tonight' , Fr. Denis Faul and Unionist MP Harold McCusker were interviewed at length on the use of paid perjurers in the North of Ireland ; there was no representative of Sinn Fein interviewed , although there were repeated references to Sinn Fein's 'motives' in opposing the use of perjurers .
There was not even a mention that Sinn Fein would deny the charge that they were using the campaign against show trials for "...their own ends .. " . Was this not selective and distorted , as well as untrue (re NUJ 'rules') ? Section 31 of course is not just about the suppression of the views of Sinn Fein ; it is about suppression of the views of the working-class Nationalist community in the North ; it is denying information to people in the South not just about Sinn Fein policies but about the beliefs and aspirations of a significant section of the Irish population .
By contrast , Section 31 has not been used to deny access to RTE by the UDA , despite that organisation's massive involvement in sectarian murders of Catholics in the North - not to mention its bombing of Dublin and Monaghan in 1974 when 31 civilians died . The majority of RTE journalists justify their implementation of Section 31 by saying that they have to abide by the law - but it is surely not for journalists to do the Free State government and RTE Authority's political dirtywork for them when it flagrantly contravenes their own code of conduct .
For instance , why did the 'Today Tonight' production team not interview a Sinn Fein spokesperson on September 28th and leave RTE to cut out the interview , rather than themselves censoring Sinn Fein in the first place ? Why did'nt they do that during the elections ....... ?
(MORE LATER).
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
FETCH !
By Gene Kerrigan . Four years ago this month the RUC began trying to put JOHN O' REILLY away . Four 'Supergrasses' failed to do the job . O' REILLY is now in Michael Noonan's custody . The RUC have demanded that Noonan "...bring him forthwith .. " to answer the accusations of HARRY KIRKPATRICK . From 'MAGILL' magazine , February 1986 .
John O' Reilly was lifted by the gardai while passing through Portlaoise on October 9 , 1985 . They used the Road Traffic Act to take him into the local garda station , ostensibly to check his identity . After a while a Garda Sergeant came into the room and said there had been a phone call from Dublin and O' Reilly was'nt to be questioned about anything . He was taken to a cell , " ...until we can establish your identity . "
Two hours later , John O' Reilly was ostensibly released ; he was no longer being held under the Road Traffic Act . The Gardai were now satisfied of his identity . As O' Reilly left the Garda Station he was arrested under Section 30 of the Offences Against The State Act 1939 . Section 30 is the 'catch-all' law under which the gardai can jail anyone at anytime for two successive 24-hour periods .
In the period 1980-1984 a total of 11,035 Section 30 arrests were made ; this compares with a total of 2,724 arrests in the period 1972-1976 , the most violent period in the present round of the Northern conflict . Only a small fraction of the people thus lifted are charged - Section 30 is primarily a 'fishing net' , hauling in shoals of people for routine interrogation .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
'The Irish Times' newspaper went mad over Gerry Fitt with " ... his sailor's roll , his malapropisms , his Belfast turn-of-phrase which makes stiff upper lips wince , his yea-saying to life .. " but oh! - Bernadette ! : starting sonorously with "... youngest MP ever elected to Westminster .. " , journalists trundled down the Thesaurus runway and took off into the wild blue yonder ! She arrived , an orphan in a miniskirt , a real live Left Winger , a megastar , in the Commons , on her birthday , April 22 , 1969 .
" That made me 22 , which spoiled the script so nobody mentioned it " , she recalls tartly . She represented the newly militant civil rights movement , no longer prepared to turn the other cheek to British batons , if Britain was going to turn a blind eye to the facts . It was one thing being beaten from Belfast to Burntollet , quite another to be pursued on arrival all the way into the Bogside which the RUC now frequently did .
Sammy Devenney had been beaten by the RUC in his own home , in front of his family , and died from his injuries ; a Scotland Yard enquiry subsequently found a conspiracy of silence among the RUC and no one was charged . The 'barricades' were going up . Bernadette Devlin recalls -
- " The Devenney death was being raised at Westminster and Gerry Fitt wanted me over for it . I had won the by-election only a few days before and I had'nt a penny . He gave me fifty pounds for the fare and to buy myself something to wear . Things went wrong right from the start ; I had decided that the youngest MP should be introduced by the oldest MP , Manny Shinwell of Labour , and , of course , Gerry . But Gerry had decided I should be introduced by himself and Paul Rose , one of the leaders of the Campaign for Democracy .
We had'nt consulted on it , and Gerry found himself having to withdraw the invitation to Paul Rose . " The 'slight' and unintended erosion of Gerry Fitt's 'authority' was compounded by the events of the day .......
(MORE LATER).
A DECADE OF CENSORSHIP .......Bernadette Quinn looks at the development of SECTION 31 of the Broadcasting Act , used by the Free State government to suppress the Republican viewpoint on state radio and television - and extended by Radio Telefis Eireann itself into a regime of self-censorship . From ' IRIS ' magazine , November 1983 .
There have been a few other protests by some principled journalists , and in March this year (ie 1983) the 'Committee for the Freedom of the Press and Broadcasting ' was set-up , whose main objectives are the abolition of Section 31 along with the repeal of the laws on libel and contempt of court . Most RTE journalists , however , not only accept the ban but reinforce and extend it themselves .
The 'Code of Conduct' in the NUJ ('National Union of Journalists' ) rulebook includes the following -
Rule 2 : ' A journalist shall at all times defend the principle of the freedom of the press and other media in relation to the collection of information and the expression of comment and criticism . He/she shall strive to eliminate distortion , news suppression and censorship .'
Rule 3 : ' A journalist shall strive to ensure that the information he/she disseminates is fair and accurate , avoid the expression of comment and conjecture as established fact , and falsification by distortion or misrepresentation ... '
Rule 9 : ' A journalist shall not lend himself/herself to the distortion or suppression of a truth because of advertising or other considerations . '
Clearly , journalists on RTE are in breach of their own rules , as suppression of views and distortion of facts is part of the everyday running of RTE ....... ('1169... ' Comment - and it is still is today ; this scribbler has personally attended dozens of political marches , protests , parades , commemorations etc , alongside thousands of other people , which have brought Dublin city centre to a standstill . If RTE acknowledges the event at all , it is by way of a traffic report only ! )
(MORE LATER).
By Gene Kerrigan . Four years ago this month the RUC began trying to put JOHN O' REILLY away . Four 'Supergrasses' failed to do the job . O' REILLY is now in Michael Noonan's custody . The RUC have demanded that Noonan "...bring him forthwith .. " to answer the accusations of HARRY KIRKPATRICK . From 'MAGILL' magazine , February 1986 .
John O' Reilly was lifted by the gardai while passing through Portlaoise on October 9 , 1985 . They used the Road Traffic Act to take him into the local garda station , ostensibly to check his identity . After a while a Garda Sergeant came into the room and said there had been a phone call from Dublin and O' Reilly was'nt to be questioned about anything . He was taken to a cell , " ...until we can establish your identity . "
Two hours later , John O' Reilly was ostensibly released ; he was no longer being held under the Road Traffic Act . The Gardai were now satisfied of his identity . As O' Reilly left the Garda Station he was arrested under Section 30 of the Offences Against The State Act 1939 . Section 30 is the 'catch-all' law under which the gardai can jail anyone at anytime for two successive 24-hour periods .
In the period 1980-1984 a total of 11,035 Section 30 arrests were made ; this compares with a total of 2,724 arrests in the period 1972-1976 , the most violent period in the present round of the Northern conflict . Only a small fraction of the people thus lifted are charged - Section 30 is primarily a 'fishing net' , hauling in shoals of people for routine interrogation .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
'The Irish Times' newspaper went mad over Gerry Fitt with " ... his sailor's roll , his malapropisms , his Belfast turn-of-phrase which makes stiff upper lips wince , his yea-saying to life .. " but oh! - Bernadette ! : starting sonorously with "... youngest MP ever elected to Westminster .. " , journalists trundled down the Thesaurus runway and took off into the wild blue yonder ! She arrived , an orphan in a miniskirt , a real live Left Winger , a megastar , in the Commons , on her birthday , April 22 , 1969 .
" That made me 22 , which spoiled the script so nobody mentioned it " , she recalls tartly . She represented the newly militant civil rights movement , no longer prepared to turn the other cheek to British batons , if Britain was going to turn a blind eye to the facts . It was one thing being beaten from Belfast to Burntollet , quite another to be pursued on arrival all the way into the Bogside which the RUC now frequently did .
Sammy Devenney had been beaten by the RUC in his own home , in front of his family , and died from his injuries ; a Scotland Yard enquiry subsequently found a conspiracy of silence among the RUC and no one was charged . The 'barricades' were going up . Bernadette Devlin recalls -
- " The Devenney death was being raised at Westminster and Gerry Fitt wanted me over for it . I had won the by-election only a few days before and I had'nt a penny . He gave me fifty pounds for the fare and to buy myself something to wear . Things went wrong right from the start ; I had decided that the youngest MP should be introduced by the oldest MP , Manny Shinwell of Labour , and , of course , Gerry . But Gerry had decided I should be introduced by himself and Paul Rose , one of the leaders of the Campaign for Democracy .
We had'nt consulted on it , and Gerry found himself having to withdraw the invitation to Paul Rose . " The 'slight' and unintended erosion of Gerry Fitt's 'authority' was compounded by the events of the day .......
(MORE LATER).
A DECADE OF CENSORSHIP .......Bernadette Quinn looks at the development of SECTION 31 of the Broadcasting Act , used by the Free State government to suppress the Republican viewpoint on state radio and television - and extended by Radio Telefis Eireann itself into a regime of self-censorship . From ' IRIS ' magazine , November 1983 .
There have been a few other protests by some principled journalists , and in March this year (ie 1983) the 'Committee for the Freedom of the Press and Broadcasting ' was set-up , whose main objectives are the abolition of Section 31 along with the repeal of the laws on libel and contempt of court . Most RTE journalists , however , not only accept the ban but reinforce and extend it themselves .
The 'Code of Conduct' in the NUJ ('National Union of Journalists' ) rulebook includes the following -
Rule 2 : ' A journalist shall at all times defend the principle of the freedom of the press and other media in relation to the collection of information and the expression of comment and criticism . He/she shall strive to eliminate distortion , news suppression and censorship .'
Rule 3 : ' A journalist shall strive to ensure that the information he/she disseminates is fair and accurate , avoid the expression of comment and conjecture as established fact , and falsification by distortion or misrepresentation ... '
Rule 9 : ' A journalist shall not lend himself/herself to the distortion or suppression of a truth because of advertising or other considerations . '
Clearly , journalists on RTE are in breach of their own rules , as suppression of views and distortion of facts is part of the everyday running of RTE ....... ('1169... ' Comment - and it is still is today ; this scribbler has personally attended dozens of political marches , protests , parades , commemorations etc , alongside thousands of other people , which have brought Dublin city centre to a standstill . If RTE acknowledges the event at all , it is by way of a traffic report only ! )
(MORE LATER).
Monday, May 30, 2005
A ROUGH DEAL .......
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
Eddie Gallagher is currently spending twenty-three hours a day in his cell - he does a lot of physical exercise . He stands on the bed -end and he can see prison life through the bars on the windows . He says that prison life has made him more patient and circumspect .
Some years ago , he used do a lot of study and some reading in his cell . Now most of the sight is gone from one eye and the other one is weak . He does'nt bother any more .
[END of 'A ROUGH DEAL'].(Tomorrow : ' FETCH ! ' - John O'Reilly and four 'Supergrasses' )
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
The British Labour Government had commissioned Lord Cameron to report on the events and marches preceeding and following October 5 , and assign reasons . This Report , which Harold Wilson and the entire British Commons accepted , stated that Gerry Fitt " ...must clearly have envisaged the possibility of a violent clash with the police as providing the publicity he so ardently sought . His conduct , in our judgement , was reckless and wholly irresponsible in a person occupying his public position . "
From that moment on Gerry Fitt was effectively rendered impotent at Westminster . Back in the North of Ireland the high terrain of anti-unionism was about to be occupied by a whole new batch of articulate , pragmatic political operators who swept into Stormont in the spring of 1969 , on a civil rights wave which had drowned out the old Nationalist Party ; Hume , Cooper , O'Hanlon and Paddy Devlin waved no flags and did not gaze hopelessly into the Celtic mist : Austin Currie had long abandoned green fields for street smarts .
('1169... ' Comment - those are the words of Nell McCafferty , and are not shared by the writers of this blog . Currie proved himself to be a useful 'native employee' for the Brits .)
Gerry Fitt abandoned his own party ; he had been campaigning for a republican Labour councillor from Belfast who wanted a run at a seat - any seat - and Fitt had sent him off to fight in mid-Ulster . They addressed a small crowd after the ten o' clock mass , and hung around to see how their opponent Ivan Cooper would do after the eleven o' clock mass : Cooper attracted a massive crowd to his ' Independent Civil Rights' tag - Gerry Fitt got up on the truck and spoke in support of Cooper !
These Civil Rights guys wanted to slug it out toe to toe with the Unionists and they were men after Fitts' involved 'gurrier' heart ; he was no longer alone . He was in fact surrounded and obscured as they marched people all over the areas west of the Bann - in Newry , Armagh , Mid-Ulster , Fermanagh and Derry . Besides which , Bernadette Devlin had arrived at Westminster : together they should have made a colourful picture - the sailor home from the sea and the maiden in from the hills .......
(MORE LATER).
A DECADE OF CENSORSHIP .......Bernadette Quinn looks at the development of SECTION 31 of the Broadcasting Act , used by the Free State government to suppress the Republican viewpoint on state radio and television - and extended by Radio Telefis Eireann itself into a regime of self-censorship . From ' IRIS ' magazine , November 1983 .
The song ' The Men Behind The Wire' topped the music charts in the Free State for weeks during the 1970's but was never played on RTE ! More recently , Christy Moore's song ' On The Blanket ' was banned , as was his song about Nicky Kelly , ' The Wicklow Boy ' . Even traditional rebel songs are no longer played .
Most of the banned songs are never specifically banned by 'directive' or 'guidelines ' , but RTE presenters - in the atmosphere of fear that pervades RTE - do the censoring themselves .
During the last Westminster elections , in June 1983 , the Free State coalition government refused a request from RTE to lift the ban on Sinn Fein members for the purposes of election coverage . Charles Haughey , Fianna Fail leader and Free State 'Taoiseach' , opportunistically issued a statement saying that he "...had always taken the view that elected representatives should have the fullest possible access to the public media .. " - although it had earlier been Fianna Fail who refused Owen Carron MP and Sinn Fein's five Assembly elected representatives access to RTE ! (' 1169... ' Comment - typical Fianna Fail and Free State obfuscation : Republicans know , from experience , to 'watch what they do , not what they say ' . Those that leave the Movement not only forget that maxim , but become part of the group that has to be watched , not listened to . )
In protest at the refusal by Jim Mitchell (Fine Gael) , the Free State Minister for Posts and Telegraphs , to lift the ban , RTE journalists covering the election in the North of Ireland said they would refuse to interview any of the other candidates . They kept this stand for one week only ....... !
(MORE LATER).
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
Eddie Gallagher is currently spending twenty-three hours a day in his cell - he does a lot of physical exercise . He stands on the bed -end and he can see prison life through the bars on the windows . He says that prison life has made him more patient and circumspect .
Some years ago , he used do a lot of study and some reading in his cell . Now most of the sight is gone from one eye and the other one is weak . He does'nt bother any more .
[END of 'A ROUGH DEAL'].(Tomorrow : ' FETCH ! ' - John O'Reilly and four 'Supergrasses' )
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
The British Labour Government had commissioned Lord Cameron to report on the events and marches preceeding and following October 5 , and assign reasons . This Report , which Harold Wilson and the entire British Commons accepted , stated that Gerry Fitt " ...must clearly have envisaged the possibility of a violent clash with the police as providing the publicity he so ardently sought . His conduct , in our judgement , was reckless and wholly irresponsible in a person occupying his public position . "
From that moment on Gerry Fitt was effectively rendered impotent at Westminster . Back in the North of Ireland the high terrain of anti-unionism was about to be occupied by a whole new batch of articulate , pragmatic political operators who swept into Stormont in the spring of 1969 , on a civil rights wave which had drowned out the old Nationalist Party ; Hume , Cooper , O'Hanlon and Paddy Devlin waved no flags and did not gaze hopelessly into the Celtic mist : Austin Currie had long abandoned green fields for street smarts .
('1169... ' Comment - those are the words of Nell McCafferty , and are not shared by the writers of this blog . Currie proved himself to be a useful 'native employee' for the Brits .)
Gerry Fitt abandoned his own party ; he had been campaigning for a republican Labour councillor from Belfast who wanted a run at a seat - any seat - and Fitt had sent him off to fight in mid-Ulster . They addressed a small crowd after the ten o' clock mass , and hung around to see how their opponent Ivan Cooper would do after the eleven o' clock mass : Cooper attracted a massive crowd to his ' Independent Civil Rights' tag - Gerry Fitt got up on the truck and spoke in support of Cooper !
These Civil Rights guys wanted to slug it out toe to toe with the Unionists and they were men after Fitts' involved 'gurrier' heart ; he was no longer alone . He was in fact surrounded and obscured as they marched people all over the areas west of the Bann - in Newry , Armagh , Mid-Ulster , Fermanagh and Derry . Besides which , Bernadette Devlin had arrived at Westminster : together they should have made a colourful picture - the sailor home from the sea and the maiden in from the hills .......
(MORE LATER).
A DECADE OF CENSORSHIP .......Bernadette Quinn looks at the development of SECTION 31 of the Broadcasting Act , used by the Free State government to suppress the Republican viewpoint on state radio and television - and extended by Radio Telefis Eireann itself into a regime of self-censorship . From ' IRIS ' magazine , November 1983 .
The song ' The Men Behind The Wire' topped the music charts in the Free State for weeks during the 1970's but was never played on RTE ! More recently , Christy Moore's song ' On The Blanket ' was banned , as was his song about Nicky Kelly , ' The Wicklow Boy ' . Even traditional rebel songs are no longer played .
Most of the banned songs are never specifically banned by 'directive' or 'guidelines ' , but RTE presenters - in the atmosphere of fear that pervades RTE - do the censoring themselves .
During the last Westminster elections , in June 1983 , the Free State coalition government refused a request from RTE to lift the ban on Sinn Fein members for the purposes of election coverage . Charles Haughey , Fianna Fail leader and Free State 'Taoiseach' , opportunistically issued a statement saying that he "...had always taken the view that elected representatives should have the fullest possible access to the public media .. " - although it had earlier been Fianna Fail who refused Owen Carron MP and Sinn Fein's five Assembly elected representatives access to RTE ! (' 1169... ' Comment - typical Fianna Fail and Free State obfuscation : Republicans know , from experience , to 'watch what they do , not what they say ' . Those that leave the Movement not only forget that maxim , but become part of the group that has to be watched , not listened to . )
In protest at the refusal by Jim Mitchell (Fine Gael) , the Free State Minister for Posts and Telegraphs , to lift the ban , RTE journalists covering the election in the North of Ireland said they would refuse to interview any of the other candidates . They kept this stand for one week only ....... !
(MORE LATER).
Friday, May 27, 2005
A ROUGH DEAL .......
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
In 1978 , the then Free State Minister for Justice , Gerry Collins (Fianna Fail) wrote to Marion Coyle's mother in Derry and stated that the two conditions attached to the (early release) deal were broken by Ms Coyle - she was said to have assaulted a Ban (female) Garda on November 26 , 1975 . She was released late last year (ie 1985) having served ten of the fifteen years imposed on her .
Last October (ie October 1985) Eddie Gallagher's solicitor wrote to the Bishop of Raphoe , the Most Reverend Dr. S Hegarty , looking for support on several grounds with a view to entering a petition to the Free State Department of Justice for his release .
Some of the grounds included the fact that members of the UDA served less than one-third of their sentences when convicted and jailed in the 'Republic' ; the fact that the Littlejohns served eight out of their fifteen and twenty years respectively ; the fact that there is fifty per cent remission in the Six Counties ; the fact that he treated his trial as a formality on the basis of the agreement which he had entered into ; the fact that vision in one of his eyes is impaired eighty per cent ; the fact that he spent thirty-nine days on hunger strike ; the fact that his father is permanently hospitalised and he has not seen him for over ten years ; the fact that he has a ten-year-old son whom he has seen only twice in the last ten years .
However , the fact remains that Eddie Gallagher and Marion Coyle released Tiede Herrema unharmed on the basis that they would not serve more than four and two years in jail respectively , and the authorities refused to honour the undertaking . The siege might not have ended so peacefully if they had known what was going to happen . Tiede Herrema fully expected the deal to be honoured ; more importantly , the credibility of anyone attempting to make some similar arrangement at some future date in similar circumstances is undermined .
If Eddie Gallagher serves the same sentence as Marion Coyle on a pro-rata basis , he will be released in 1988 . He would then have served more than nine years longer than he envisaged when he surrendered on November 7 , 1975 .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
Mary Holland was crying - with vexation , frustration , anger , outrage and pity . She rang Bernard Levin ; he rang David Frost . 'The Observer' newspaper front-paged her story of October 5 March , and directed readers to the back-ground expose on the inside pages . David Frost came to Northern Ireland (sic) within days to do a live programme . The media wall burst to flood Britain with the facts . ('1169... ' Comment - this scribbler , for one , doubts that the British people ever have got the 'facts' about their government's involvement in this country . And certainly not from 'The Observer' or any other British newspaper.)
Gerry Fitt had done what he set out to do ; he had turned the spotlight on the North of Ireland , though he was run off his feet in the process . 'The Irish News' newspaper recorded proudly that on one historic day he attended Belfast Corporation as Councillor , in the morning , Stormont as MP for Dock in the afternoon , and Westminster as MP for West Belfast in the evening .
To Unionist protests that the whole civil rights thing was a plot by communists , republicans , intent on overthrowing the 'Crown' , murdering gunmen standing in the wings etc , Fitt would say across the floor of Stormont - " ... when I was on the Murmansk convoy .. " . He then reminisced about the dangers of the merchant seaman's lot in World War Two when he had helped defend Britain and the 'Free World' : the titled peers and majors on the Stormont government benches , most of whom had never fought in the war , chewed their lips .
The 'reasonable' response from the 'reasonable' members of Westminster , by which Gerry Fitt had set such store , came in the 'Cameron Report .......' ('1169 ... ' Comment - ...and here we are , some 30 years after Gerry Fitt expected a "reasonable response from reasonable members of Westminster ... " , witnessing another Gerry expecting much the same . 'Lord Adams' , anyone ...)
(MORE LATER).
A DECADE OF CENSORSHIP .......Bernadette Quinn looks at the development of SECTION 31 of the Broadcasting Act , used by the Free State government to suppress the Republican viewpoint on state radio and television - and extended by Radio Telefis Eireann itself into a regime of self-censorship . From ' IRIS ' magazine , November 1983 .
The clearest exposure of Section 31 censorship occurred during the 1982 general election in the Free State ; Sinn Fein fielded seven candidates and as such were entitled to make a party political broadcast on RTE . RTE agreed , but Patrick Cooney at Posts and Telegraphs ordered that Section 31 should be extended to include electoral broadcasts !
The Sinn Fein candidate in Cooney's own constituency of Longford/Westmeath , Sean Lynch , took an action in the High Court claiming that Section 31 was unconstitutional and interfered with his rights - the High Court agreed , and ruled that Section 31 of the 1976 (Amended) Broadcasting Act was repugnant to the Free State constitution . Making the ruling , Justice Hanlon said that the amendment to Section 31 " ... appeared to contain insufficient safeguards for the constitutional guarantee of the right of freedom of expression of opinion , with particular reference to the freedom of the press . "
Patrick Cooney immediately took the case to the Supreme Court , where the Chief Justice , Kevin O'Higgins , over-ruled the High Court and upheld Cooney's ban on a Sinn Fein election broadcast .
As well as being used to suppress any political comment by Sinn Fein , the indirect effect of Section 31 creates a self-censoring atmosphere in RTE that even prevents the playing of certain records (!) : 'The Men Behind The Wire' topped the charts in the South for weeks during the 1970's but was never played on RTE . And that was'nt the only song to be 'banned' .......
(MORE LATER).
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
In 1978 , the then Free State Minister for Justice , Gerry Collins (Fianna Fail) wrote to Marion Coyle's mother in Derry and stated that the two conditions attached to the (early release) deal were broken by Ms Coyle - she was said to have assaulted a Ban (female) Garda on November 26 , 1975 . She was released late last year (ie 1985) having served ten of the fifteen years imposed on her .
Last October (ie October 1985) Eddie Gallagher's solicitor wrote to the Bishop of Raphoe , the Most Reverend Dr. S Hegarty , looking for support on several grounds with a view to entering a petition to the Free State Department of Justice for his release .
Some of the grounds included the fact that members of the UDA served less than one-third of their sentences when convicted and jailed in the 'Republic' ; the fact that the Littlejohns served eight out of their fifteen and twenty years respectively ; the fact that there is fifty per cent remission in the Six Counties ; the fact that he treated his trial as a formality on the basis of the agreement which he had entered into ; the fact that vision in one of his eyes is impaired eighty per cent ; the fact that he spent thirty-nine days on hunger strike ; the fact that his father is permanently hospitalised and he has not seen him for over ten years ; the fact that he has a ten-year-old son whom he has seen only twice in the last ten years .
However , the fact remains that Eddie Gallagher and Marion Coyle released Tiede Herrema unharmed on the basis that they would not serve more than four and two years in jail respectively , and the authorities refused to honour the undertaking . The siege might not have ended so peacefully if they had known what was going to happen . Tiede Herrema fully expected the deal to be honoured ; more importantly , the credibility of anyone attempting to make some similar arrangement at some future date in similar circumstances is undermined .
If Eddie Gallagher serves the same sentence as Marion Coyle on a pro-rata basis , he will be released in 1988 . He would then have served more than nine years longer than he envisaged when he surrendered on November 7 , 1975 .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
Mary Holland was crying - with vexation , frustration , anger , outrage and pity . She rang Bernard Levin ; he rang David Frost . 'The Observer' newspaper front-paged her story of October 5 March , and directed readers to the back-ground expose on the inside pages . David Frost came to Northern Ireland (sic) within days to do a live programme . The media wall burst to flood Britain with the facts . ('1169... ' Comment - this scribbler , for one , doubts that the British people ever have got the 'facts' about their government's involvement in this country . And certainly not from 'The Observer' or any other British newspaper.)
Gerry Fitt had done what he set out to do ; he had turned the spotlight on the North of Ireland , though he was run off his feet in the process . 'The Irish News' newspaper recorded proudly that on one historic day he attended Belfast Corporation as Councillor , in the morning , Stormont as MP for Dock in the afternoon , and Westminster as MP for West Belfast in the evening .
To Unionist protests that the whole civil rights thing was a plot by communists , republicans , intent on overthrowing the 'Crown' , murdering gunmen standing in the wings etc , Fitt would say across the floor of Stormont - " ... when I was on the Murmansk convoy .. " . He then reminisced about the dangers of the merchant seaman's lot in World War Two when he had helped defend Britain and the 'Free World' : the titled peers and majors on the Stormont government benches , most of whom had never fought in the war , chewed their lips .
The 'reasonable' response from the 'reasonable' members of Westminster , by which Gerry Fitt had set such store , came in the 'Cameron Report .......' ('1169 ... ' Comment - ...and here we are , some 30 years after Gerry Fitt expected a "reasonable response from reasonable members of Westminster ... " , witnessing another Gerry expecting much the same . 'Lord Adams' , anyone ...)
(MORE LATER).
A DECADE OF CENSORSHIP .......Bernadette Quinn looks at the development of SECTION 31 of the Broadcasting Act , used by the Free State government to suppress the Republican viewpoint on state radio and television - and extended by Radio Telefis Eireann itself into a regime of self-censorship . From ' IRIS ' magazine , November 1983 .
The clearest exposure of Section 31 censorship occurred during the 1982 general election in the Free State ; Sinn Fein fielded seven candidates and as such were entitled to make a party political broadcast on RTE . RTE agreed , but Patrick Cooney at Posts and Telegraphs ordered that Section 31 should be extended to include electoral broadcasts !
The Sinn Fein candidate in Cooney's own constituency of Longford/Westmeath , Sean Lynch , took an action in the High Court claiming that Section 31 was unconstitutional and interfered with his rights - the High Court agreed , and ruled that Section 31 of the 1976 (Amended) Broadcasting Act was repugnant to the Free State constitution . Making the ruling , Justice Hanlon said that the amendment to Section 31 " ... appeared to contain insufficient safeguards for the constitutional guarantee of the right of freedom of expression of opinion , with particular reference to the freedom of the press . "
Patrick Cooney immediately took the case to the Supreme Court , where the Chief Justice , Kevin O'Higgins , over-ruled the High Court and upheld Cooney's ban on a Sinn Fein election broadcast .
As well as being used to suppress any political comment by Sinn Fein , the indirect effect of Section 31 creates a self-censoring atmosphere in RTE that even prevents the playing of certain records (!) : 'The Men Behind The Wire' topped the charts in the South for weeks during the 1970's but was never played on RTE . And that was'nt the only song to be 'banned' .......
(MORE LATER).
Thursday, May 26, 2005
A ROUGH DEAL .......
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
Free State Justice Minister Paddy Cooney denied that any concessions had been offered to bring to an end the kidnapping of Dr. Tiede Herrema ; but Free State Garda Commissioner Edmund Garvey had signed a document - this was witnessed by solicitor Stanley Siev .
One of the conditions of that document/agreement was that the conduct of Eddie Gallagher and Marion Coyle in prison should be " reasonable " and "serious misconduct " avoided . The latter was defined as misconduct which " ...would make it impracticable for the Minister to grant remission . " The deal was ratified by the Free State Cabinet .
Eddie Gallagher claimed that as a result of this deal , he was encouraged to think of his trial as nothing more than a formality and he did not have legal representation there . The document relating to the deal was brought into court and read by the three judges in the Free State Special Criminal Court but was not read out . Later still , Gallagher had to initiate High Court proceedings to get possession of the document . He had given it to Dr. Herrema who had passed it on to the Gardai .
In any event , the promise of release within two years for Marion Coyle and four years for Eddie Gallagher was'nt worth the paper it was written on - according to the authorities , Gallagher and Coyle had broken both of the conditions .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
Mary Holland's story , ' John Bull's Political Slum' , was scheduled as a major feature on the inside pages of ' The Observer ' newspaper of Sunday 6 October , 1968 ; Gerry Fitt came on the phone again pleading with her to return to Derry for October 5 , " just to see , just to see ... "
Three Labour Party MP's had agreed to come - " Ah come on Mary , for Jaysus sake ... " : 'The Observer' agreed , and sent over a photographer as well . He was the only photographer from a British newspaper . The picture he took of Gerry Fitt being batoned on the head by the RUC and the blood spurting down his shirt went all over the world , accompanied by RTE film . Mary Holland phoned the story in from a fish and chip shop in Duke Street , dictating amid the screams and shouting , and standing in a crush of bodies drenched with water from the RUC cannons and blood from their wounds .
The proprietor of the fish and chip shop handed her his card , hoping for a mention - there was a sense that the North was about to attract journalists on expense accounts ! ('1169 ... ' Comment - it is not only the journalists who are now on expense accounts : some of the Republican activists at that time are now in receipt of a regular stipend from Westminster and/or Leinster House . And their tastes have evolved (?) from fish and chips . )
Was she frightened ? - " I was outraged ; this was a part of Britain (sic) and the police were hitting a Westminster MP over the head . " That night she flew back to London and rang all the journalists she knew - she was crying .......
(MORE LATER).
A DECADE OF CENSORSHIP .......Bernadette Quinn looks at the development of SECTION 31 of the Broadcasting Act , used by the Free State government to suppress the Republican viewpoint on state radio and television - and extended by Radio Telefis Eireann itself into a regime of self-censorship . From ' IRIS ' magazine , November 1983 .
State censorship - Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act - was used against Irish Republicans : for instance , in 1976 , the RTE programme 'Feach' was not allowed to transmit a short report of that year's Sinn Fein Ard Fheis , despite the fact that the report did not contain any comments by members of Sinn Fein !
In 1977 , the RTE radio programme 'This Week' highlighted the case of the late Guiseppe Conlon , a Belfastman with no connection with the Republican Movement , who had been jailed in England on explosives forensic evidence so flimsy that even Gerry Fitt and arch-Tory MP John Biggs-Davison had taken up his case . Nonetheless , the Director-General of RTE sharply criticised 'This Week' for even mentioning that there were Irish political prisoners in English jails !
The absurdity of Section 31 was thrown into sharp relief by the screening of ' Ireland : A Television History ' , a series co-produced by RTE and the BBC and screened on both channels in 1982 - one of the episodes which had been allocated to a BBC production team contained interviews with a number of identifiable Sinn Fein members from the North . After some media speculation , Albert Reynolds , the then Free State Minister for Posts and Telegraphs ( who had himself renewed Section 31) was forced to lift the Section 31 restriction for that one episode to save RTE from the ridiculous position of censoring a production that they had partly made and financed !
Yet the clearest exposure of Section 31 censorship occurred during the 1982 general election in the Free State .......
(MORE LATER).
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
Free State Justice Minister Paddy Cooney denied that any concessions had been offered to bring to an end the kidnapping of Dr. Tiede Herrema ; but Free State Garda Commissioner Edmund Garvey had signed a document - this was witnessed by solicitor Stanley Siev .
One of the conditions of that document/agreement was that the conduct of Eddie Gallagher and Marion Coyle in prison should be " reasonable " and "serious misconduct " avoided . The latter was defined as misconduct which " ...would make it impracticable for the Minister to grant remission . " The deal was ratified by the Free State Cabinet .
Eddie Gallagher claimed that as a result of this deal , he was encouraged to think of his trial as nothing more than a formality and he did not have legal representation there . The document relating to the deal was brought into court and read by the three judges in the Free State Special Criminal Court but was not read out . Later still , Gallagher had to initiate High Court proceedings to get possession of the document . He had given it to Dr. Herrema who had passed it on to the Gardai .
In any event , the promise of release within two years for Marion Coyle and four years for Eddie Gallagher was'nt worth the paper it was written on - according to the authorities , Gallagher and Coyle had broken both of the conditions .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
Mary Holland's story , ' John Bull's Political Slum' , was scheduled as a major feature on the inside pages of ' The Observer ' newspaper of Sunday 6 October , 1968 ; Gerry Fitt came on the phone again pleading with her to return to Derry for October 5 , " just to see , just to see ... "
Three Labour Party MP's had agreed to come - " Ah come on Mary , for Jaysus sake ... " : 'The Observer' agreed , and sent over a photographer as well . He was the only photographer from a British newspaper . The picture he took of Gerry Fitt being batoned on the head by the RUC and the blood spurting down his shirt went all over the world , accompanied by RTE film . Mary Holland phoned the story in from a fish and chip shop in Duke Street , dictating amid the screams and shouting , and standing in a crush of bodies drenched with water from the RUC cannons and blood from their wounds .
The proprietor of the fish and chip shop handed her his card , hoping for a mention - there was a sense that the North was about to attract journalists on expense accounts ! ('1169 ... ' Comment - it is not only the journalists who are now on expense accounts : some of the Republican activists at that time are now in receipt of a regular stipend from Westminster and/or Leinster House . And their tastes have evolved (?) from fish and chips . )
Was she frightened ? - " I was outraged ; this was a part of Britain (sic) and the police were hitting a Westminster MP over the head . " That night she flew back to London and rang all the journalists she knew - she was crying .......
(MORE LATER).
A DECADE OF CENSORSHIP .......Bernadette Quinn looks at the development of SECTION 31 of the Broadcasting Act , used by the Free State government to suppress the Republican viewpoint on state radio and television - and extended by Radio Telefis Eireann itself into a regime of self-censorship . From ' IRIS ' magazine , November 1983 .
State censorship - Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act - was used against Irish Republicans : for instance , in 1976 , the RTE programme 'Feach' was not allowed to transmit a short report of that year's Sinn Fein Ard Fheis , despite the fact that the report did not contain any comments by members of Sinn Fein !
In 1977 , the RTE radio programme 'This Week' highlighted the case of the late Guiseppe Conlon , a Belfastman with no connection with the Republican Movement , who had been jailed in England on explosives forensic evidence so flimsy that even Gerry Fitt and arch-Tory MP John Biggs-Davison had taken up his case . Nonetheless , the Director-General of RTE sharply criticised 'This Week' for even mentioning that there were Irish political prisoners in English jails !
The absurdity of Section 31 was thrown into sharp relief by the screening of ' Ireland : A Television History ' , a series co-produced by RTE and the BBC and screened on both channels in 1982 - one of the episodes which had been allocated to a BBC production team contained interviews with a number of identifiable Sinn Fein members from the North . After some media speculation , Albert Reynolds , the then Free State Minister for Posts and Telegraphs ( who had himself renewed Section 31) was forced to lift the Section 31 restriction for that one episode to save RTE from the ridiculous position of censoring a production that they had partly made and financed !
Yet the clearest exposure of Section 31 censorship occurred during the 1982 general election in the Free State .......
(MORE LATER).
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
A ROUGH DEAL .......
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
At 8pm on November 7 , 1976 , the guns were thrown out of the siege house - that part of it was over . Eddie Gallagher gave Tiede Herrema a live .38 bullet before the end ; the kidnappers had had only five live rounds left for their three weapons . Eddie Gallagher and Marion Coyle were taken to the Bridewell Garda Station in Dublin and charged .
On February 12 , 1976 , Gallagher and Coyle , Brian McGowan and Vincent Walsh went on trial - the affair lasted twelve days ; Eddie Gallagher got twenty years , Marion Coyle got fifteen years , Davy Dunne got a three-year suspended sentence , Vincent Walsh and Brian McGowan got eight years each . In March 1977 , Thomas Dunne was given seven years , Michael Hall and P.J. Bailey were given five years each . The State entered a nolle prosequi in relation to Mrs Hall and Mrs Bailey . Eight people had been sentenced to a total of seventy-one years imprisonment in relation to the kidnapping of Dr. Tiede Herrema .
The day following the kidnap , Free State Justice Minister Paddy Cooney was asked , at a jubilant press conference , if there had been any concessions to the kidnappers ; he replied - " None at all . " Following protracted negotiations , Garda Commissioner Edmund Garvey put his signature on a document that gave a written assurance that Eddie Gallagher would have to spend no more than four years in prison and Marion Coyle no more than two years in prison , irrespective of the sentence imposed on them by the court . For the safe release of Dr. Tiede Herrema , Commissioner Garvey undertook to "... recommend to the Minister for Justice at the appropriate time that he should exercise his powers so as to remit in full the balances of such sentences then remaining after the expiry of four years in the case of Eddie Gallagher and two years in the case of Marion Coyle .
I understand and intend this undertaking to include , as well as the kidnapping itself , all other offences incidental to it . " The conditions attached to that agreement were that it should be kept confidential , save in the event of it not being honoured .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
On Tuesday , October 1 , 1968 , journalist Mary Holland found herself in Gerry Fitt's home on the Antrim Road in Belfast : " It was a complete culture shock . I sat in the room he uses as a clinic on the ground floor - the basement underneath was the kitchen where his family spent their time . He had a wife and five daughters . Everytime he wanted a cup of tea he'd stamp three times on the floor , and up from the basement beneath would come a woman with a tray . I sat there and listened to him and the stream of constituents who called into the room to see him . They were still calling well after midnight . "
Next day she hired a car and drove him to Dungannon to see Austin Currie , Stormont Nationalist MP . Gerry Fitt did'nt know the way and it took them ages . His lifelong refusal to learn how to drive , which made him dependent on someone who could , and his ignorance of areas west of the Bann were to be major factors in his later political career . Paddy Kennedy ('Republican Labour Party ') said - " When he first started operating out of Dock , the Falls Road was Outer Mongolia to him ! "
Politically , Dungannon must have seemed beyond Mongolia to Mary Holland . Austin Currie told her of the house allocated to the single unmarried female secretary of the local Unionist party branch , and the dozens of large Catholic families on the waiting list . Currie had squatted in the house in protest and the RUC had evicted him .
Gerry Fitt whirled her onto Derry that evening ; she was worried that they had'nt made appointments - " Ah , not at all , " he said , " you just arrive in the City Hotel and it all happens . " They arrived , she ordered tea and sandwiches , he went out into the street for a few minutes and returned with Eamonn McCann , Ivan Cooper , and the future Brigade Staff of the Official IRA , Provisional IRA and the INLA . On that night , though , they were no more than what they represented themselves to be - young militant civil rights activists . Ivan Cooper was the 'radical mascot' , a Protestant who had defected from the Unionist Party .
They were going to march in Derry that coming weekend - Mary Holland flew back to England on Wednesday with her story .......
(MORE LATER).
A DECADE OF CENSORSHIP .......Bernadette Quinn looks at the development of SECTION 31 of the Broadcasting Act , used by the Free State government to suppress the Republican viewpoint on state radio and television - and extended by Radio Telefis Eireann itself into a regime of self-censorship . From ' IRIS ' magazine , November 1983 .
In 1973 , a different administration took over power in Dublin - a Fine Gael and Labour coalition .
The new Free State Minister for Posts and Telegraphs was the Labour politician , Conor Cruise O' Brien . In 1972 he had opposed the sacking of the RTE Authority , saying in a Leinster House debate - " We believe that in modern conditions the degree of autonomy possessed by a body like RTE is a major bastion of democracy . " Yet , two years later , this 'champion of democracy' was accusing any journalists who were opposed to Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act of being - " ...crypto-Provos and fascists .. " , and it was he who re-amended Section 31 to specifically ban members of named organisations - Sinn Fein , the IRA , and all other organisations banned in the North - from appearing on RTE .
The amendment that gave Conor Cruise O' Brien the power to do this read - (paragraph 1) ' Where the Minister is of the opinion that the broadcasting of a particular matter or any matter of a particular class would be likely to promote or incite to crime , or would tend to undermine the authority of the State , he may by Order direct the (RTE) Authority to refrain from broadcasting the matter or any matter of the particular class and the Authority shall comply with the Order . '
Paragraph 1(A) of the amendment made Section 31 renewable every 12 months by the Free State Minister for Posts and Telegraphs , and it has been religiously renewed ever since . This has meant that not only have Sinn Fein members , including elected representatives , not been allowed to appear in RTE coverage of events in the Six Counties , but that even Sinn Fein Councillors in the Free State have not been allowed to be interviewed on matters such as hospital closures , water charges or the provision of school buses ! There are innumerable instances since then of the use of Section 31 against Republicans .......
(MORE LATER).
(To Paul William Stapleton : thank you for the visit and your words of encouragement . We are glad you found the site of some value to you in your quest . Our sources are varied ; old books , manuscripts , newspapers and , in some cases , writings left behind by those we mention in this blog . We have received literally hundreds of such 'leads' from our readers , and we hope to continue doing so . Should we receive more information on that particular person , we will post it here . Go raibh maith agat aris - Sharon. ).
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
At 8pm on November 7 , 1976 , the guns were thrown out of the siege house - that part of it was over . Eddie Gallagher gave Tiede Herrema a live .38 bullet before the end ; the kidnappers had had only five live rounds left for their three weapons . Eddie Gallagher and Marion Coyle were taken to the Bridewell Garda Station in Dublin and charged .
On February 12 , 1976 , Gallagher and Coyle , Brian McGowan and Vincent Walsh went on trial - the affair lasted twelve days ; Eddie Gallagher got twenty years , Marion Coyle got fifteen years , Davy Dunne got a three-year suspended sentence , Vincent Walsh and Brian McGowan got eight years each . In March 1977 , Thomas Dunne was given seven years , Michael Hall and P.J. Bailey were given five years each . The State entered a nolle prosequi in relation to Mrs Hall and Mrs Bailey . Eight people had been sentenced to a total of seventy-one years imprisonment in relation to the kidnapping of Dr. Tiede Herrema .
The day following the kidnap , Free State Justice Minister Paddy Cooney was asked , at a jubilant press conference , if there had been any concessions to the kidnappers ; he replied - " None at all . " Following protracted negotiations , Garda Commissioner Edmund Garvey put his signature on a document that gave a written assurance that Eddie Gallagher would have to spend no more than four years in prison and Marion Coyle no more than two years in prison , irrespective of the sentence imposed on them by the court . For the safe release of Dr. Tiede Herrema , Commissioner Garvey undertook to "... recommend to the Minister for Justice at the appropriate time that he should exercise his powers so as to remit in full the balances of such sentences then remaining after the expiry of four years in the case of Eddie Gallagher and two years in the case of Marion Coyle .
I understand and intend this undertaking to include , as well as the kidnapping itself , all other offences incidental to it . " The conditions attached to that agreement were that it should be kept confidential , save in the event of it not being honoured .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
On Tuesday , October 1 , 1968 , journalist Mary Holland found herself in Gerry Fitt's home on the Antrim Road in Belfast : " It was a complete culture shock . I sat in the room he uses as a clinic on the ground floor - the basement underneath was the kitchen where his family spent their time . He had a wife and five daughters . Everytime he wanted a cup of tea he'd stamp three times on the floor , and up from the basement beneath would come a woman with a tray . I sat there and listened to him and the stream of constituents who called into the room to see him . They were still calling well after midnight . "
Next day she hired a car and drove him to Dungannon to see Austin Currie , Stormont Nationalist MP . Gerry Fitt did'nt know the way and it took them ages . His lifelong refusal to learn how to drive , which made him dependent on someone who could , and his ignorance of areas west of the Bann were to be major factors in his later political career . Paddy Kennedy ('Republican Labour Party ') said - " When he first started operating out of Dock , the Falls Road was Outer Mongolia to him ! "
Politically , Dungannon must have seemed beyond Mongolia to Mary Holland . Austin Currie told her of the house allocated to the single unmarried female secretary of the local Unionist party branch , and the dozens of large Catholic families on the waiting list . Currie had squatted in the house in protest and the RUC had evicted him .
Gerry Fitt whirled her onto Derry that evening ; she was worried that they had'nt made appointments - " Ah , not at all , " he said , " you just arrive in the City Hotel and it all happens . " They arrived , she ordered tea and sandwiches , he went out into the street for a few minutes and returned with Eamonn McCann , Ivan Cooper , and the future Brigade Staff of the Official IRA , Provisional IRA and the INLA . On that night , though , they were no more than what they represented themselves to be - young militant civil rights activists . Ivan Cooper was the 'radical mascot' , a Protestant who had defected from the Unionist Party .
They were going to march in Derry that coming weekend - Mary Holland flew back to England on Wednesday with her story .......
(MORE LATER).
A DECADE OF CENSORSHIP .......Bernadette Quinn looks at the development of SECTION 31 of the Broadcasting Act , used by the Free State government to suppress the Republican viewpoint on state radio and television - and extended by Radio Telefis Eireann itself into a regime of self-censorship . From ' IRIS ' magazine , November 1983 .
In 1973 , a different administration took over power in Dublin - a Fine Gael and Labour coalition .
The new Free State Minister for Posts and Telegraphs was the Labour politician , Conor Cruise O' Brien . In 1972 he had opposed the sacking of the RTE Authority , saying in a Leinster House debate - " We believe that in modern conditions the degree of autonomy possessed by a body like RTE is a major bastion of democracy . " Yet , two years later , this 'champion of democracy' was accusing any journalists who were opposed to Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act of being - " ...crypto-Provos and fascists .. " , and it was he who re-amended Section 31 to specifically ban members of named organisations - Sinn Fein , the IRA , and all other organisations banned in the North - from appearing on RTE .
The amendment that gave Conor Cruise O' Brien the power to do this read - (paragraph 1) ' Where the Minister is of the opinion that the broadcasting of a particular matter or any matter of a particular class would be likely to promote or incite to crime , or would tend to undermine the authority of the State , he may by Order direct the (RTE) Authority to refrain from broadcasting the matter or any matter of the particular class and the Authority shall comply with the Order . '
Paragraph 1(A) of the amendment made Section 31 renewable every 12 months by the Free State Minister for Posts and Telegraphs , and it has been religiously renewed ever since . This has meant that not only have Sinn Fein members , including elected representatives , not been allowed to appear in RTE coverage of events in the Six Counties , but that even Sinn Fein Councillors in the Free State have not been allowed to be interviewed on matters such as hospital closures , water charges or the provision of school buses ! There are innumerable instances since then of the use of Section 31 against Republicans .......
(MORE LATER).
(To Paul William Stapleton : thank you for the visit and your words of encouragement . We are glad you found the site of some value to you in your quest . Our sources are varied ; old books , manuscripts , newspapers and , in some cases , writings left behind by those we mention in this blog . We have received literally hundreds of such 'leads' from our readers , and we hope to continue doing so . Should we receive more information on that particular person , we will post it here . Go raibh maith agat aris - Sharon. ).
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
A ROUGH DEAL .......
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
By October 18 , 1976 , the Gardai had arrested and re-arrested Brian McGowan , the man who had 'cased ' the job for Eddie Gallagher and Marion Coyle ; McGowan , according to the Garda evidence , accepted a lift to Tullamore , County Offaly from the garda station - he had been released again after questioning - from Detective Inspector John Courtney and Detective Inspector Myles Hawkshaw . On the way to Tullamore he suddenly announced that he wanted to tell the truth ; the car stopped in a lay-by and Brian McGowan made a written statement in which he admitted his part in the kidnap .
On the basis of his evidence the gardai were able to find the location of Marion Coyle , Eddie Gallagher and Dr. Tiede Herrema - there followed a siege of the house at Monasterevan , County Kildare , which lasted from October 21 1976 until November 7 1976 . Garda Chief Superintendent Larry Wren was the man who talked to Gallagher and Herrema , every day of the eighteen-day siege . The demands were modified as the siege wore on - they wanted a plane to take all three to Tanzania . Food was hoisted up to the room - just enough to keep them alive . Bright lights were set up and panned over the window of the bedroom in an effort to keep everyone inside awake .
Garda Detective Sergeant Michael Egan was shot by Eddie Gallagher as he attempted to remove a pane of glass from the bathroom ; the index finger of his left hand had to be amputated . The gardai claimed that they were trying to create a flow of air in the house which would freeze the two out . On October 29 1976 , Seamus Sorohan , barrister , and Stanley Siev , solicitor , went in and talked for three and a half hours with the kidnappers . At 8pm on November 7 1976 , Marion Coyle asked for medication for Herrema saying that he had pains in his neck ; Eddie Gallagher thought the man was dying . The guns were thrown out the window and they surrendered .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
Journalist Mary Holland agreed to meet Gerry Fitt to discuss his claim that Catholics in the North of Ireland were being discriminated against -
- " I named a restaurant in Soho - Wheeler's - and then there was something about his accent and his way of talking that made me add by way of caution ' it's very fashionable and it only serves fish dinners . ' " Ah Jaysus , Mary , " he said , " I want a real dinner . We'll go to the Irish Club and eat meat . "
When she arrived there , Gerry Fitt ordered drinks and opened a suitcase of documents and cuttings from the Irish News newspaper , gospel of Belfast Catholics , and The Skibbereen Eagle newspaper , of everything Unionists had ever done anywhere in the North against the Nationalist population . He held her spellbound for several hours : " I could'nt believe it , " she says simply of the things she heard that afternoon . Fitt cajoled and charmed and bullied and lured her across the Irish Sea .
Three days later , on Tuesday October 1 , 1968 , the reluctant would-be arts columnist found herself in the Fitt home on the Antrim Road - it was a complete shock to her .......
(MORE LATER).
A DECADE OF CENSORSHIP .......Bernadette Quinn looks at the development of SECTION 31 of the Broadcasting Act , used by the Free State government to suppress the Republican viewpoint on state radio and television - and extended by Radio Telefis Eireann itself into a regime of self-censorship . From ' IRIS ' magazine , November 1983 .
On November 19th , 1972 , RTE broadcast an interview with Sean MacStiofain , the alleged IRA Chief of Staff ; MacStiofain got six months in jail and the RTE man in charge , Kevin O'Kelly , got three months in jail . But equally important was the RTE sequel to the interview ; the Free State government immediately demanded that RTE take disciplinary action against O'Kelly , but RTE instead defended the editor and denied that the broadcasting of the summary was in breach of Gerry Collins' 1971 Directive . The Free State government responded by sacking the nine-member RTE Authority .
The new RTE Authority was predictably quick to demonstrate its willingness to uphold Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act , by issuing a set of 'guidelines' to RTE broadcasters ; these are interpreted , however , by RTE journalists , as strictly-enforceable rules which result in dismissal if broken .
The 'guidelines' stated - " In view of the consequences which can be anticipated if RTE is again judged to have contravened the directive , it will be clear to all concerned that the strictest care must be taken in all these matters and that action will be called for where the individuals are deemed to have disregarded the instructions or to have been careless in observing them . "
It was Fianna Fail who had used and strengthened Section 31 to suppress the voice of Republicanism , but the situation did not change under the Fine Gael/Labour coalition government which came to power in 1973 .......
(MORE LATER).
(Apologises for the occasional (!) mistake in the spacing between threads etc : our 'Junior' has set-up a new Operating System for us . Trouble is , he's out chasing girls when he should be here showing us how to use it ... !).
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
By October 18 , 1976 , the Gardai had arrested and re-arrested Brian McGowan , the man who had 'cased ' the job for Eddie Gallagher and Marion Coyle ; McGowan , according to the Garda evidence , accepted a lift to Tullamore , County Offaly from the garda station - he had been released again after questioning - from Detective Inspector John Courtney and Detective Inspector Myles Hawkshaw . On the way to Tullamore he suddenly announced that he wanted to tell the truth ; the car stopped in a lay-by and Brian McGowan made a written statement in which he admitted his part in the kidnap .
On the basis of his evidence the gardai were able to find the location of Marion Coyle , Eddie Gallagher and Dr. Tiede Herrema - there followed a siege of the house at Monasterevan , County Kildare , which lasted from October 21 1976 until November 7 1976 . Garda Chief Superintendent Larry Wren was the man who talked to Gallagher and Herrema , every day of the eighteen-day siege . The demands were modified as the siege wore on - they wanted a plane to take all three to Tanzania . Food was hoisted up to the room - just enough to keep them alive . Bright lights were set up and panned over the window of the bedroom in an effort to keep everyone inside awake .
Garda Detective Sergeant Michael Egan was shot by Eddie Gallagher as he attempted to remove a pane of glass from the bathroom ; the index finger of his left hand had to be amputated . The gardai claimed that they were trying to create a flow of air in the house which would freeze the two out . On October 29 1976 , Seamus Sorohan , barrister , and Stanley Siev , solicitor , went in and talked for three and a half hours with the kidnappers . At 8pm on November 7 1976 , Marion Coyle asked for medication for Herrema saying that he had pains in his neck ; Eddie Gallagher thought the man was dying . The guns were thrown out the window and they surrendered .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
Journalist Mary Holland agreed to meet Gerry Fitt to discuss his claim that Catholics in the North of Ireland were being discriminated against -
- " I named a restaurant in Soho - Wheeler's - and then there was something about his accent and his way of talking that made me add by way of caution ' it's very fashionable and it only serves fish dinners . ' " Ah Jaysus , Mary , " he said , " I want a real dinner . We'll go to the Irish Club and eat meat . "
When she arrived there , Gerry Fitt ordered drinks and opened a suitcase of documents and cuttings from the Irish News newspaper , gospel of Belfast Catholics , and The Skibbereen Eagle newspaper , of everything Unionists had ever done anywhere in the North against the Nationalist population . He held her spellbound for several hours : " I could'nt believe it , " she says simply of the things she heard that afternoon . Fitt cajoled and charmed and bullied and lured her across the Irish Sea .
Three days later , on Tuesday October 1 , 1968 , the reluctant would-be arts columnist found herself in the Fitt home on the Antrim Road - it was a complete shock to her .......
(MORE LATER).
A DECADE OF CENSORSHIP .......Bernadette Quinn looks at the development of SECTION 31 of the Broadcasting Act , used by the Free State government to suppress the Republican viewpoint on state radio and television - and extended by Radio Telefis Eireann itself into a regime of self-censorship . From ' IRIS ' magazine , November 1983 .
On November 19th , 1972 , RTE broadcast an interview with Sean MacStiofain , the alleged IRA Chief of Staff ; MacStiofain got six months in jail and the RTE man in charge , Kevin O'Kelly , got three months in jail . But equally important was the RTE sequel to the interview ; the Free State government immediately demanded that RTE take disciplinary action against O'Kelly , but RTE instead defended the editor and denied that the broadcasting of the summary was in breach of Gerry Collins' 1971 Directive . The Free State government responded by sacking the nine-member RTE Authority .
The new RTE Authority was predictably quick to demonstrate its willingness to uphold Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act , by issuing a set of 'guidelines' to RTE broadcasters ; these are interpreted , however , by RTE journalists , as strictly-enforceable rules which result in dismissal if broken .
The 'guidelines' stated - " In view of the consequences which can be anticipated if RTE is again judged to have contravened the directive , it will be clear to all concerned that the strictest care must be taken in all these matters and that action will be called for where the individuals are deemed to have disregarded the instructions or to have been careless in observing them . "
It was Fianna Fail who had used and strengthened Section 31 to suppress the voice of Republicanism , but the situation did not change under the Fine Gael/Labour coalition government which came to power in 1973 .......
(MORE LATER).
(Apologises for the occasional (!) mistake in the spacing between threads etc : our 'Junior' has set-up a new Operating System for us . Trouble is , he's out chasing girls when he should be here showing us how to use it ... !).
Monday, May 23, 2005
A ROUGH DEAL .......
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
What the IRA Army Council did'nt know was that Eddie Gallagher had been tentatively planning a kidnap for eight months - that of Dr. Tiede Herrema , Managing Director of the Ferenka factory in Limerick .
On Friday October 3 , 1976 , Eddie Gallagher , Marion Coyle , Vincent Walsh and Brian McGowan arrived at the house of Dr. Tiede Herrema , managing director of the £20 million steel cord manufacturing plant in Limerick ; shortly after eight o' clock , Eddie Gallagher halted Herrema , who was leaving his house , and ordered him into the back of a Ford Cortina at gunpoint .
They drove him to a cottage in the Slieve Bloom Mountains , where he was held for eight days . At 11.30pm Eric Kwint , First Secretary of the Dutch Embassy in Dublin , received a telephone call giving the kidnappers' demands ; these included the release of Rose Dugdale , Kevin Mallon and Jim Hyland . On October 11 , 1976 , Herrema was moved to a house at 1410 St Evin's Park , Monasterevan , County Kildare .
The search for Tiede Herrema involved over nine thousand (Free State) soldiers and Gardai - but there was another investigation involving the Garda Technical Bureau , headed at the time by Chief Superintendent Thomas McMahon , who brought with him , to Limerick , Detective Inspector John Courtney , Detective Sergeant Michael Canavan , Detective Garda Christy Godkin and Detective Garda Thomas Ibar Dunne .
By October 18 , 1976 , they had arrested and re-arrested Brian McGowan , the man who had 'cased ' the job for Eddie Gallagher and Marion Coyle and who had checked on the time that Tiede Herrema left for work .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
In the North of Ireland , a dossier of irrefutable information was being painstakingly compiled by the ' Campaign for Social Justice ' , fore-runner of the Civil Rights Movement : it was just a matter of presenting it to the Wilson government in Westminster and getting them to move on it . But the British government did not want to know the facts -
- in 1967 , a party of Stormont Nationalist MP's were received in Westminster by Roy Jenkins , then Chancellor of the British Exchequer . After they had presented their case and left , a horrified aide said to Roy Jenkins - " ... something will have to be done . " Jenkins replied that nothing would be done because any Englishman who set foot in Northern Ireland (sic) affairs would be setting a foot in his political grave .
Mary Holland , a journalist in 'The Observer ' newspaper at that time , heard the story from the aide after she had been persuaded by Gerry Fitt to break the 'paper wall' on the North that existed in the British media at the time . In the summer of 1968 she had been writing a series of articles entitled ' Them And Us ' , in which she detailed cases of discrimination against individuals : " A lot of it had to do with the difficulties experienced by back people , whose problems in England were then attracting a lot of attention . I got a phone call from Gerry Fitt , saying Catholics were undergoing the same discrimination in Northern Ireland (sic) .
It's a measure of our ignorance in England at that time that I asked him if he was sure he could prove his case . I'd had a lot of difficulty establishing actual discrimination against black people , given the subtleties of bureaucracy , and I was about to drop the series and accept promotion to a position as 'Arts Columnist ' on the Observer . "
Gerry Fitt was insistent and she agreed to meet him for lunch .......
(MORE LATER).
A DECADE OF CENSORSHIP .......Bernadette Quinn looks at the development of SECTION 31 of the Broadcasting Act , used by the Free State government to suppress the Republican viewpoint on state radio and television - and extended by Radio Telefis Eireann itself into a regime of self-censorship . From ' IRIS ' magazine , November 1983 .
In July 1970 , Des O' Malley (Free State Minister for Justice at the time) warned RTE that he was not happy with them for "... glamourising subversives (and) criminals .. " : RTE had been put on notice . A little over a year later , Gerry Collins (Free State Minister for Posts and Telegraphs at the time) went further - in October 1971 he invoked his authority under Section 31 of the 1960 Broadcasting Act to issue a directive instructing RTE to refrain from " ... broadcasting any matter that could be calculated to promote the aims or activities of any organisation which engages in , promotes , encourages or advocates the attaining of any particular objective by violent means . " The organisations alluded to were unnamed , but the implication was clear . ('1169...' Comment : If that 'law' had been followed to the letter , then surely RTE would not have been able to interview British combatants , as well as Irish Republican combatants ... ?) .
But it was the Kevin O' Kelly affair in November 1972 that was to kill off any remaining spark of independence in the corridors of RTE , and ensure that what Patrick Hilliard (the previous Free State Minister for Posts and Telegraphs) had alluded to twelve years earlier (ie in 1960) - " ... that the (RTE) Authority should act as its own censor .. " - would become as restrictive to political news coverage as would the veto contained in the legislation itself .
On November 19th 1972 the RTE Radio News Features Editor , Kevin O' Kelly , broadcast a summary of an interview which purported to be with Sean MacStiofain , said at the time to be the IRA's Chief of Staff . A court case followed , with MacStiofain receiving a six-month sentence for IRA membership and Kevin O' Kelly receiving a three-month sentence for contempt of court (later appealed against successfully) after he refused to identify the voice on the interview tape as Sean MacStiofain's .
But equally important was the RTE sequel to the interview .......
(MORE LATER).
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
What the IRA Army Council did'nt know was that Eddie Gallagher had been tentatively planning a kidnap for eight months - that of Dr. Tiede Herrema , Managing Director of the Ferenka factory in Limerick .
On Friday October 3 , 1976 , Eddie Gallagher , Marion Coyle , Vincent Walsh and Brian McGowan arrived at the house of Dr. Tiede Herrema , managing director of the £20 million steel cord manufacturing plant in Limerick ; shortly after eight o' clock , Eddie Gallagher halted Herrema , who was leaving his house , and ordered him into the back of a Ford Cortina at gunpoint .
They drove him to a cottage in the Slieve Bloom Mountains , where he was held for eight days . At 11.30pm Eric Kwint , First Secretary of the Dutch Embassy in Dublin , received a telephone call giving the kidnappers' demands ; these included the release of Rose Dugdale , Kevin Mallon and Jim Hyland . On October 11 , 1976 , Herrema was moved to a house at 1410 St Evin's Park , Monasterevan , County Kildare .
The search for Tiede Herrema involved over nine thousand (Free State) soldiers and Gardai - but there was another investigation involving the Garda Technical Bureau , headed at the time by Chief Superintendent Thomas McMahon , who brought with him , to Limerick , Detective Inspector John Courtney , Detective Sergeant Michael Canavan , Detective Garda Christy Godkin and Detective Garda Thomas Ibar Dunne .
By October 18 , 1976 , they had arrested and re-arrested Brian McGowan , the man who had 'cased ' the job for Eddie Gallagher and Marion Coyle and who had checked on the time that Tiede Herrema left for work .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
In the North of Ireland , a dossier of irrefutable information was being painstakingly compiled by the ' Campaign for Social Justice ' , fore-runner of the Civil Rights Movement : it was just a matter of presenting it to the Wilson government in Westminster and getting them to move on it . But the British government did not want to know the facts -
- in 1967 , a party of Stormont Nationalist MP's were received in Westminster by Roy Jenkins , then Chancellor of the British Exchequer . After they had presented their case and left , a horrified aide said to Roy Jenkins - " ... something will have to be done . " Jenkins replied that nothing would be done because any Englishman who set foot in Northern Ireland (sic) affairs would be setting a foot in his political grave .
Mary Holland , a journalist in 'The Observer ' newspaper at that time , heard the story from the aide after she had been persuaded by Gerry Fitt to break the 'paper wall' on the North that existed in the British media at the time . In the summer of 1968 she had been writing a series of articles entitled ' Them And Us ' , in which she detailed cases of discrimination against individuals : " A lot of it had to do with the difficulties experienced by back people , whose problems in England were then attracting a lot of attention . I got a phone call from Gerry Fitt , saying Catholics were undergoing the same discrimination in Northern Ireland (sic) .
It's a measure of our ignorance in England at that time that I asked him if he was sure he could prove his case . I'd had a lot of difficulty establishing actual discrimination against black people , given the subtleties of bureaucracy , and I was about to drop the series and accept promotion to a position as 'Arts Columnist ' on the Observer . "
Gerry Fitt was insistent and she agreed to meet him for lunch .......
(MORE LATER).
A DECADE OF CENSORSHIP .......Bernadette Quinn looks at the development of SECTION 31 of the Broadcasting Act , used by the Free State government to suppress the Republican viewpoint on state radio and television - and extended by Radio Telefis Eireann itself into a regime of self-censorship . From ' IRIS ' magazine , November 1983 .
In July 1970 , Des O' Malley (Free State Minister for Justice at the time) warned RTE that he was not happy with them for "... glamourising subversives (and) criminals .. " : RTE had been put on notice . A little over a year later , Gerry Collins (Free State Minister for Posts and Telegraphs at the time) went further - in October 1971 he invoked his authority under Section 31 of the 1960 Broadcasting Act to issue a directive instructing RTE to refrain from " ... broadcasting any matter that could be calculated to promote the aims or activities of any organisation which engages in , promotes , encourages or advocates the attaining of any particular objective by violent means . " The organisations alluded to were unnamed , but the implication was clear . ('1169...' Comment : If that 'law' had been followed to the letter , then surely RTE would not have been able to interview British combatants , as well as Irish Republican combatants ... ?) .
But it was the Kevin O' Kelly affair in November 1972 that was to kill off any remaining spark of independence in the corridors of RTE , and ensure that what Patrick Hilliard (the previous Free State Minister for Posts and Telegraphs) had alluded to twelve years earlier (ie in 1960) - " ... that the (RTE) Authority should act as its own censor .. " - would become as restrictive to political news coverage as would the veto contained in the legislation itself .
On November 19th 1972 the RTE Radio News Features Editor , Kevin O' Kelly , broadcast a summary of an interview which purported to be with Sean MacStiofain , said at the time to be the IRA's Chief of Staff . A court case followed , with MacStiofain receiving a six-month sentence for IRA membership and Kevin O' Kelly receiving a three-month sentence for contempt of court (later appealed against successfully) after he refused to identify the voice on the interview tape as Sean MacStiofain's .
But equally important was the RTE sequel to the interview .......
(MORE LATER).
Friday, May 20, 2005
A ROUGH DEAL .......
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
By 1975 , Eddie Gallagher was carrying-out military operations without the authority of the IRA leadership ; he refused to tell the leaders anything until the operation was complete , and considered that he should be just let get on with it . At that time , he was particularly active in the Donegal area , and had recruited a number of individuals of like mind . At the time Brendan Hughes was IRA Director Of Operations in the twenty-six counties , Eddie Gallagher was his Adjutant and Marion Coyle acted as Courier ; they were not attached to any particular IRA Unit .
Following the cease-fire , there was a botch up of a certain Provo operation in the twenty-six counties , and the IRA Army Council attempted to re-organise the entire membership . In mid-April , Marion Coyle was summoned to Dublin and told that she was being moved to another area ; the people who informed her of this decision were in favour of a truce and she associated the change with their attitude . In mid-May , the Provo Officer in charge of the area she had been sent to informed his superiors that she had'nt turned up . Moves were made to suspend her from membership .
Eddie Gallagher was at this time involved in a major operation but was refusing to give any money to the Provo leadership ; the IRA Army Council became worried when they did not hear from Brendan Hughes or Eddie Gallagher . Marion Coyle was afterwards cleared of doing anything untoward with these funds . The fact that Gallagher's was a maverick group did little to distinguish them from the Provos in the minds of most people ; a kidnapping would bring the Gardai and the (Free State) Army down hard all over the country (sic) - there would be searches in places there had never been . And , in fact, these searches turned up firearms in several places .
The Provos were displeased with Brendan Hughes , Eddie Gallagher and Marion Coyle - but the main bone of contention about any kidnapping would be that it would not be sanctioned by the IRA Army Council or any local IRA Unit .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
Gerry Fitts' stories were wonderful ; about the 2,000 couples he knew in Dungannon who could'nt get a house , the intricate saga of why Derry did'nt get the University and Coleraine did , and the " ... 468 telegrams , 700 letters and 1,000 phone calls .. " from people who opposed him in religion but supported him in his new approach to politics . Unionists , he finished , " ... cannot believe that 3,000 Protestants voted for me .. " .
Sir Douglas Glover , Conservative member from Ormskirk , followed him : " Whatever we may think about the arguments put forward , we like people who speak with sincerity and fire in their bellies . " He praised Gerry Fitts' " ... descriptive turn of phrase .. " and smoothly dismissed the complaints about Stormont - " In any parliament that is always the view of the minority about the actions of the majority . " Why , he too was about to spend five years watching the majority Labour Party members go through the lobbies like fodder , " ... used by whips in carrying through legislation in which they do not believe .. " .
British Captain L.S. Orr , Unionist member at Westminster for South Down said , smoothly , that Mr. Fitt had made no complaints to the RUC upon his election , that the University had been sited in Coleraine following recommendations by an independent board that included many prominent and eminent British academics , that the Northern Ireland (sic) Labour Party should confirm that religion was never mentioned when the NILP fought elections , and he finished with a quotation from the 'Irish Independent' newspaper Editorial - ' Captain O'Neill has a new respect from the Catholics of Belfast who cannot remember a time when the police were more fair or more efficient than they were last Sunday , when two rival parades were taking place in the city . '
But still Gerry Fitt had faith that when Harold Wilson's government knew the facts , they would take corrective action in Northern Ireland (sic) - one hundred Labour MP's had come together in a caucus called ' Campaign For Democracy in Ulster ' (sic) and in the North itself a dossier of irrefutable information was being painstakingly compiled to convince Westminster of the wrongs which existed .......
(MORE LATER).
A DECADE OF CENSORSHIP .Bernadette Quinn looks at the development of SECTION 31 of the Broadcasting Act , used by the Free State government to suppress the Republican viewpoint on state radio and television - and extended by Radio Telefis Eireann itself into a regime of self-censorship . From ' IRIS ' magazine , November 1983 .
Section 31 was first proposed as part of the Broadcasting Act of 1960 by the then Minister for Posts and Telegraphs in the Free State , Patrick Hilliard . It was intended to provide the Free State government with a veto which would make broadcasting an instrument of government policy and was supposedly intended to ensure that ' foreign governents were not embarrassed . '
Paragraph 1 of the section stated : ' The Minister may direct the (RTE) Authority in writing to refrain from broadcasting any particular matter or matter of any particular class , and the Authority shall comply with the direction . ' Admitting that the provision of the veto was "... restrictive.. " , Patrick Hilliard said : " It is the Government's wish that the Authority should act as its own censor , recognising the absolute importance of safeguarding truth and preserving intact the moral integrity of our people . "
Exactly ten years later , the Fianna Fail government's lack of action in response to the Northern crisis was becoming an embarrassment to it , as events there increasingly showed up the hollowness of the party's claim to 'republicanism' . In July 1970 , the then (Free State) Minister for Justice , Des O' Malley , wrote to his counterpart at Posts and Telegraphs , Gerry Collins , protesting bitterly about the " ... irresponsible behaviour of RTE in glamourising persons who are well known to have engaged in subversive or criminal activities . "
RTE had been warned ; a little over a year later , Gerry Collins went further .......
(MORE LATER).
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
By 1975 , Eddie Gallagher was carrying-out military operations without the authority of the IRA leadership ; he refused to tell the leaders anything until the operation was complete , and considered that he should be just let get on with it . At that time , he was particularly active in the Donegal area , and had recruited a number of individuals of like mind . At the time Brendan Hughes was IRA Director Of Operations in the twenty-six counties , Eddie Gallagher was his Adjutant and Marion Coyle acted as Courier ; they were not attached to any particular IRA Unit .
Following the cease-fire , there was a botch up of a certain Provo operation in the twenty-six counties , and the IRA Army Council attempted to re-organise the entire membership . In mid-April , Marion Coyle was summoned to Dublin and told that she was being moved to another area ; the people who informed her of this decision were in favour of a truce and she associated the change with their attitude . In mid-May , the Provo Officer in charge of the area she had been sent to informed his superiors that she had'nt turned up . Moves were made to suspend her from membership .
Eddie Gallagher was at this time involved in a major operation but was refusing to give any money to the Provo leadership ; the IRA Army Council became worried when they did not hear from Brendan Hughes or Eddie Gallagher . Marion Coyle was afterwards cleared of doing anything untoward with these funds . The fact that Gallagher's was a maverick group did little to distinguish them from the Provos in the minds of most people ; a kidnapping would bring the Gardai and the (Free State) Army down hard all over the country (sic) - there would be searches in places there had never been . And , in fact, these searches turned up firearms in several places .
The Provos were displeased with Brendan Hughes , Eddie Gallagher and Marion Coyle - but the main bone of contention about any kidnapping would be that it would not be sanctioned by the IRA Army Council or any local IRA Unit .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
Gerry Fitts' stories were wonderful ; about the 2,000 couples he knew in Dungannon who could'nt get a house , the intricate saga of why Derry did'nt get the University and Coleraine did , and the " ... 468 telegrams , 700 letters and 1,000 phone calls .. " from people who opposed him in religion but supported him in his new approach to politics . Unionists , he finished , " ... cannot believe that 3,000 Protestants voted for me .. " .
Sir Douglas Glover , Conservative member from Ormskirk , followed him : " Whatever we may think about the arguments put forward , we like people who speak with sincerity and fire in their bellies . " He praised Gerry Fitts' " ... descriptive turn of phrase .. " and smoothly dismissed the complaints about Stormont - " In any parliament that is always the view of the minority about the actions of the majority . " Why , he too was about to spend five years watching the majority Labour Party members go through the lobbies like fodder , " ... used by whips in carrying through legislation in which they do not believe .. " .
British Captain L.S. Orr , Unionist member at Westminster for South Down said , smoothly , that Mr. Fitt had made no complaints to the RUC upon his election , that the University had been sited in Coleraine following recommendations by an independent board that included many prominent and eminent British academics , that the Northern Ireland (sic) Labour Party should confirm that religion was never mentioned when the NILP fought elections , and he finished with a quotation from the 'Irish Independent' newspaper Editorial - ' Captain O'Neill has a new respect from the Catholics of Belfast who cannot remember a time when the police were more fair or more efficient than they were last Sunday , when two rival parades were taking place in the city . '
But still Gerry Fitt had faith that when Harold Wilson's government knew the facts , they would take corrective action in Northern Ireland (sic) - one hundred Labour MP's had come together in a caucus called ' Campaign For Democracy in Ulster ' (sic) and in the North itself a dossier of irrefutable information was being painstakingly compiled to convince Westminster of the wrongs which existed .......
(MORE LATER).
A DECADE OF CENSORSHIP .Bernadette Quinn looks at the development of SECTION 31 of the Broadcasting Act , used by the Free State government to suppress the Republican viewpoint on state radio and television - and extended by Radio Telefis Eireann itself into a regime of self-censorship . From ' IRIS ' magazine , November 1983 .
Section 31 was first proposed as part of the Broadcasting Act of 1960 by the then Minister for Posts and Telegraphs in the Free State , Patrick Hilliard . It was intended to provide the Free State government with a veto which would make broadcasting an instrument of government policy and was supposedly intended to ensure that ' foreign governents were not embarrassed . '
Paragraph 1 of the section stated : ' The Minister may direct the (RTE) Authority in writing to refrain from broadcasting any particular matter or matter of any particular class , and the Authority shall comply with the direction . ' Admitting that the provision of the veto was "... restrictive.. " , Patrick Hilliard said : " It is the Government's wish that the Authority should act as its own censor , recognising the absolute importance of safeguarding truth and preserving intact the moral integrity of our people . "
Exactly ten years later , the Fianna Fail government's lack of action in response to the Northern crisis was becoming an embarrassment to it , as events there increasingly showed up the hollowness of the party's claim to 'republicanism' . In July 1970 , the then (Free State) Minister for Justice , Des O' Malley , wrote to his counterpart at Posts and Telegraphs , Gerry Collins , protesting bitterly about the " ... irresponsible behaviour of RTE in glamourising persons who are well known to have engaged in subversive or criminal activities . "
RTE had been warned ; a little over a year later , Gerry Collins went further .......
(MORE LATER).
Thursday, May 19, 2005
A ROUGH DEAL .......
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
Rose Dugdale was given prison sentences ranging from three to nine years for her part in the hijacking of a helicopter on January 24 , 1974 , and also for the theft of the Beit paintings , valued at £8 million , in County Wicklow . She gave birth to a son - Ruairi - in Limerick Prison . Marion Coyle and Martin McGuinness were the godparents .
By mid-'74 , the Provos knew that Eddie Gallagher was anxious to get Rose Dugdale out of prison ; in August , he got himself arrested with another famous escapee - Richard Behal - and having spent one day in Portlaoise Prison , helped eighteen others to blast their way to freedom . Kevin Mallon was amongst those who got away . As 1974 drew to a close , it was dawning on the Provos that the struggle in the North was going to be a long drawn out affair .
In January 1975 , Kevin Mallon was again arrested in a raid on a house in Foxrock ; the 37-year-old native of Coalisland , County Tyrone , was sentenced to ten years . Rose Dugdale was having her own problems in Limerick Prison - visiting conditions were stringent , and in April , she went on hunger strike . A cease-fire was called in the North early in 1975 ; Eddie Gallagher was opposed to the IRA leadership because of this . To him , they seemed incapable of organising anything but " ... pompous press handouts and their own appearances at Republican dinner dances .. " .
Eddie Gallagher continued to do military operations without the authority of the IRA leadership .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
Gerry Fitt blithely welcomed the defeat of Glasgow Rangers , heroes of the Shankill , by Glasgow Celtic , heroes of the Falls , shortly after his own Westminster defeat of the sitting Unionist MP for West Belfast - " We beat them in politics , now we've beaten them in football , " he told the Catholics who had come onto the Falls Road after the match . ' The Belfast Telegraph ' newspaper ran an editorial criticising him for being sectarian - " The editorial was a joke to us , " Paddy Kennedy recalled , " we'd never heard of sectarianism or ecumenism in those days . There were bigoted Protestants in Belfast as top dogs , and poor wee Catholics as under dogs . The only time the Catholics won anything was when Gerry (Fitt) was elected and the night Celtic beat Rangers .
I rang Gerry down at the pub to tell him and it did'nt mean a thing to him , because he backed horses , not football teams , but I said they were out celebrating on the Falls and he'd better come up . He was up like a flash and they carried him along the street since they could'nt carry the football team . Fans meant votes , and if football teams kept their spirits up , Gerry identified with the football team . It was just another way to keep the fight going against the Unionists . "
In Westminster , Gerry Fitt dispensed with football teams and flags ; he thought the facts would suffice . The (British) Queens speech , outlining the priorities for Harold Wilson's incoming government , had lain heavy emphasis on the Rhodesian problem , where Ian Smith's white government had just declared independence from a Britain that had been considering reforms for Rhodesia's black majority . There was an exact parallel to Ireland , Gerry Fitt argued , where a minority had used guns in 1912 to subjugate the majority and Northern Ireland (sic) had resulted .
As with so many of his subsequent speeches , he did not tease out the difficult abstract problem any further , but relapsed into telling stories .......
(MORE LATER).
IT HAPPENED IN IRELAND ....... From 'The United Irishman' newspaper , Aibrean [April] 1957 , page 8.(IML. IX. UIMHIR 4 - price Tri Pingin [Three Pennies].Thanks to my late friends Christy and Theresa L. for giving me this 48-year-old newspaper ; this thread published in memory of those two old Fenians ! - John.
The foregoing incidents are typical but by no means comprehensive ; much worse has been reported , but verification is difficult because of censorship and because the people fear reprisals . These things are happening in Ireland , not Cyprus , Algeria or even Hungary . If we have sympathy for export perhaps we can spare a little for our kith and kin at home .
A good beginning would be to aid the families or dependents of the men in jail - you can do that through the Republican Aid Committee , care of this newspaper . There are now 112 men in Crumlin Road Jail , Belfast , 7 men jailed in England and 55 men in Mountjoy Prison , Dublin .
Their Cause is your Cause : the Cause of Irish Freedom .
[END of ' IT HAPPENED IN IRELAND '].
(Tomorrow - ' A DECADE OF CENSORSHIP ' - from 1983 ).
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
Rose Dugdale was given prison sentences ranging from three to nine years for her part in the hijacking of a helicopter on January 24 , 1974 , and also for the theft of the Beit paintings , valued at £8 million , in County Wicklow . She gave birth to a son - Ruairi - in Limerick Prison . Marion Coyle and Martin McGuinness were the godparents .
By mid-'74 , the Provos knew that Eddie Gallagher was anxious to get Rose Dugdale out of prison ; in August , he got himself arrested with another famous escapee - Richard Behal - and having spent one day in Portlaoise Prison , helped eighteen others to blast their way to freedom . Kevin Mallon was amongst those who got away . As 1974 drew to a close , it was dawning on the Provos that the struggle in the North was going to be a long drawn out affair .
In January 1975 , Kevin Mallon was again arrested in a raid on a house in Foxrock ; the 37-year-old native of Coalisland , County Tyrone , was sentenced to ten years . Rose Dugdale was having her own problems in Limerick Prison - visiting conditions were stringent , and in April , she went on hunger strike . A cease-fire was called in the North early in 1975 ; Eddie Gallagher was opposed to the IRA leadership because of this . To him , they seemed incapable of organising anything but " ... pompous press handouts and their own appearances at Republican dinner dances .. " .
Eddie Gallagher continued to do military operations without the authority of the IRA leadership .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
Gerry Fitt blithely welcomed the defeat of Glasgow Rangers , heroes of the Shankill , by Glasgow Celtic , heroes of the Falls , shortly after his own Westminster defeat of the sitting Unionist MP for West Belfast - " We beat them in politics , now we've beaten them in football , " he told the Catholics who had come onto the Falls Road after the match . ' The Belfast Telegraph ' newspaper ran an editorial criticising him for being sectarian - " The editorial was a joke to us , " Paddy Kennedy recalled , " we'd never heard of sectarianism or ecumenism in those days . There were bigoted Protestants in Belfast as top dogs , and poor wee Catholics as under dogs . The only time the Catholics won anything was when Gerry (Fitt) was elected and the night Celtic beat Rangers .
I rang Gerry down at the pub to tell him and it did'nt mean a thing to him , because he backed horses , not football teams , but I said they were out celebrating on the Falls and he'd better come up . He was up like a flash and they carried him along the street since they could'nt carry the football team . Fans meant votes , and if football teams kept their spirits up , Gerry identified with the football team . It was just another way to keep the fight going against the Unionists . "
In Westminster , Gerry Fitt dispensed with football teams and flags ; he thought the facts would suffice . The (British) Queens speech , outlining the priorities for Harold Wilson's incoming government , had lain heavy emphasis on the Rhodesian problem , where Ian Smith's white government had just declared independence from a Britain that had been considering reforms for Rhodesia's black majority . There was an exact parallel to Ireland , Gerry Fitt argued , where a minority had used guns in 1912 to subjugate the majority and Northern Ireland (sic) had resulted .
As with so many of his subsequent speeches , he did not tease out the difficult abstract problem any further , but relapsed into telling stories .......
(MORE LATER).
IT HAPPENED IN IRELAND ....... From 'The United Irishman' newspaper , Aibrean [April] 1957 , page 8.(IML. IX. UIMHIR 4 - price Tri Pingin [Three Pennies].Thanks to my late friends Christy and Theresa L. for giving me this 48-year-old newspaper ; this thread published in memory of those two old Fenians ! - John.
The foregoing incidents are typical but by no means comprehensive ; much worse has been reported , but verification is difficult because of censorship and because the people fear reprisals . These things are happening in Ireland , not Cyprus , Algeria or even Hungary . If we have sympathy for export perhaps we can spare a little for our kith and kin at home .
A good beginning would be to aid the families or dependents of the men in jail - you can do that through the Republican Aid Committee , care of this newspaper . There are now 112 men in Crumlin Road Jail , Belfast , 7 men jailed in England and 55 men in Mountjoy Prison , Dublin .
Their Cause is your Cause : the Cause of Irish Freedom .
[END of ' IT HAPPENED IN IRELAND '].
(Tomorrow - ' A DECADE OF CENSORSHIP ' - from 1983 ).
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
A ROUGH DEAL .......
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
At exactly 3.41pm on Wednesday October 31 , 1973 , a helicopter took off from Mountjoy Prison with three leading Provos aboard - Seamus Twomey , J.B. O'Hagan and Kevin Mallon . Mallon's freedom was shortlived and he was arrested at a dance-hall in Portlaoise six weeks later : he got four years . Marion Coyle was charged with allegedly firing at a detective at the dance-hall but she was acquitted through lack of identification .
The helicopter escape severely embarrassed the government in the south and led directly to a review of national (sic - the Leinster House Administration has not got national authority) security carried out by Justice Finlay . But if the escape was an embarrassment to the (Free State) government , it was an inspiration to the Provos and inspired another operation : on January 24 , 1974 , Rose Dugdale posed as a journalist and hired a helicopter along with two others to fly to Tory Island . Eddie Gallagher and Rose Dugdale had registered as man and wife in a hotel in Gortahork prior to the operation .
According to Eddie Gallagher , they first met in a 'doss house' in Edinburgh - they were both fascinated at how 'dossers' could sleep on ropes when they could not afford to pay for a flea-infested bed in the dormitory . They were very close and Dugdale later gave birth to Gallagher's son in prison . However - the helicopter was hijacked and forced to fly to Strabane RUC Station with three milk-churn bombs aboard . The bombs failed to explode when dropped .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
Gerry Fitt read James Connolly at sea and other socialist literature : " You know the way it is " , he says , " you dock into any port in the world and in some wee back lane you'll find the Communist Party bookshop , and wee cheap pamphlets . "
When he finally returned to Belfast and started his political career as a councillor , Gerry Fitt quickly attracted the attention of student militants like Eamonn McCann and Michael Farrell - " There was no smell of the Catholic grammar school off him , " says McCann , " he was an urban working class man . He was abrasive . He was nice . "
Paddy Kennedy , the other half of the Republican Labour Party presence at Stormont , learned his politics at Gerry Fitt's electoral knee : " He came off the merchant ship and back into Belfast and he used to say to me that what he would really love to be was an MP for Cardiff or Liverpool , a dockside place where he could get stuck into a straight fight .
Gerry called himself Republican Labour because the 'Northern Ireland (sic) Labour Party' was tied into union with Britain and the Irish Labour Party was preoccupied with the border . " Also , he added , Fitt did'nt like big parties .
Gerry Fitt's republicanism was entirely internal and personal , freeing him from bondage to any flag , although being Gerry Fitt he could wave flags with the best of them when electoral advantage was to be gained from it .......
(MORE LATER).
IT HAPPENED IN IRELAND . From 'The United Irishman' newspaper , Aibrean [April] 1957 , page 8.(IML. IX. UIMHIR 4 - price Tri Pingin [Three Pennies].Thanks to my late friends Christy and Theresa L. for giving me this 48-year-old newspaper ; this thread published in memory of those two old Fenians ! - John.
The men seized at Warrenpoint , County Down , were threatened by nervous RUC men toting sten guns and were covered by machine guns : a man seized in Fermanagh , and later freed for there was nothing against him , was beaten for a whole night in an RUC Barracks cell - an enraged Sergeant threatened to kill him . A woman was informed by the RUC that her husband would be shot - they were looking for information on his movements .
Fathers have been threatened by the RUC with loss of job unless they explain in detail the activities of their sons . A youth was seized at his father's funeral and when relatives travelled to Belfast they were'nt allowed to visit him . Men are being held without trial and their families are not allowed to see them .
Remand prisoners at Crumlin Road Jail can't associate - they exercise singly , ten paces or so behind one another , with a prison warder on each side . It is difficult to get information on conditions at Crumlin Road Jail but the fact that warders and prisoners clashed recently is symptomatic .......
(MORE LATER).
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
At exactly 3.41pm on Wednesday October 31 , 1973 , a helicopter took off from Mountjoy Prison with three leading Provos aboard - Seamus Twomey , J.B. O'Hagan and Kevin Mallon . Mallon's freedom was shortlived and he was arrested at a dance-hall in Portlaoise six weeks later : he got four years . Marion Coyle was charged with allegedly firing at a detective at the dance-hall but she was acquitted through lack of identification .
The helicopter escape severely embarrassed the government in the south and led directly to a review of national (sic - the Leinster House Administration has not got national authority) security carried out by Justice Finlay . But if the escape was an embarrassment to the (Free State) government , it was an inspiration to the Provos and inspired another operation : on January 24 , 1974 , Rose Dugdale posed as a journalist and hired a helicopter along with two others to fly to Tory Island . Eddie Gallagher and Rose Dugdale had registered as man and wife in a hotel in Gortahork prior to the operation .
According to Eddie Gallagher , they first met in a 'doss house' in Edinburgh - they were both fascinated at how 'dossers' could sleep on ropes when they could not afford to pay for a flea-infested bed in the dormitory . They were very close and Dugdale later gave birth to Gallagher's son in prison . However - the helicopter was hijacked and forced to fly to Strabane RUC Station with three milk-churn bombs aboard . The bombs failed to explode when dropped .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
Gerry Fitt read James Connolly at sea and other socialist literature : " You know the way it is " , he says , " you dock into any port in the world and in some wee back lane you'll find the Communist Party bookshop , and wee cheap pamphlets . "
When he finally returned to Belfast and started his political career as a councillor , Gerry Fitt quickly attracted the attention of student militants like Eamonn McCann and Michael Farrell - " There was no smell of the Catholic grammar school off him , " says McCann , " he was an urban working class man . He was abrasive . He was nice . "
Paddy Kennedy , the other half of the Republican Labour Party presence at Stormont , learned his politics at Gerry Fitt's electoral knee : " He came off the merchant ship and back into Belfast and he used to say to me that what he would really love to be was an MP for Cardiff or Liverpool , a dockside place where he could get stuck into a straight fight .
Gerry called himself Republican Labour because the 'Northern Ireland (sic) Labour Party' was tied into union with Britain and the Irish Labour Party was preoccupied with the border . " Also , he added , Fitt did'nt like big parties .
Gerry Fitt's republicanism was entirely internal and personal , freeing him from bondage to any flag , although being Gerry Fitt he could wave flags with the best of them when electoral advantage was to be gained from it .......
(MORE LATER).
IT HAPPENED IN IRELAND . From 'The United Irishman' newspaper , Aibrean [April] 1957 , page 8.(IML. IX. UIMHIR 4 - price Tri Pingin [Three Pennies].Thanks to my late friends Christy and Theresa L. for giving me this 48-year-old newspaper ; this thread published in memory of those two old Fenians ! - John.
The men seized at Warrenpoint , County Down , were threatened by nervous RUC men toting sten guns and were covered by machine guns : a man seized in Fermanagh , and later freed for there was nothing against him , was beaten for a whole night in an RUC Barracks cell - an enraged Sergeant threatened to kill him . A woman was informed by the RUC that her husband would be shot - they were looking for information on his movements .
Fathers have been threatened by the RUC with loss of job unless they explain in detail the activities of their sons . A youth was seized at his father's funeral and when relatives travelled to Belfast they were'nt allowed to visit him . Men are being held without trial and their families are not allowed to see them .
Remand prisoners at Crumlin Road Jail can't associate - they exercise singly , ten paces or so behind one another , with a prison warder on each side . It is difficult to get information on conditions at Crumlin Road Jail but the fact that warders and prisoners clashed recently is symptomatic .......
(MORE LATER).
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
A ROUGH DEAL .......
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
At first , Marion Coyle was not directly involved in military operations ; she acted as a 'lookout' and ran errands . She was known within the Republican Movement as a woman with a lot of nerve who did not fold under pressure . In August 1972 , when the British Army tore down the barricades separating ' Free Derry' from the rest of the world , she led six men safely across the border into Donegal , one at a time , by pretending to be their girlfriend .
In January of the following year , she was acquitted on a charge of possession of a rifle ; Leo Martin admitted full responsibility for the weapon and was given three years . The Provos sent her first to Buncrana and then to Leitrim . She was'nt attached to any particular Active Service Unit of the IRA . Eddie Gallagher , meanwhile , was jailed for twelve months in the Curragh for IRA activity .
It was around this time that Marion Coyle met Kevin Mallon - increasingly , she looked to him for guidance and a close platonic friendship grew up between the two . She admired his political clarity . Coyle moved to Dublin and returned to Derry at weekends . The raids on her home in Derry became more frequent , so the visits had to be curtailed . Increasingly , she was spending her time with the same people she worked with . In September of 1973 , Kevin Mallon was arrested in Monaghan and given twelve months for membership .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
Gerry Fitt's 'trust' in the Brits to do the 'right' thing in Ireland earned him the sobriquet ' Fitt The Brit' , applied with such bitterness to him now by Northern nationalists who have suffered under direct rule from England since 1972 , could have been applied with equal accuracy but a lot more affection in 1966 and more before that .
For many of Gerry Fitt's generation and background , religious and political , England offered an escape and refuge from the direct rule of the Unionist Party in Northern Ireland . Back in the North , Fitt told his Westminster audience on that first day , Catholics could'nt get homes , could'nt get jobs , could'nt even get the vote . They could'nt even get a hearing in the Stormont parliament , where a contrived Unionist majority turned a deaf ear to such as him , the democratically elected Stormont representative for Dock . " No matter what pleas I made to the Unionists , I would'nt get anywhere . "
Born in Belfast in 1926 , Gerry Fitt got out quick : his father died when he was eight and his mother was left to bring up the children in the depressed 1930's ; he ran away from home to become a fifteen-year-old cabin boy , in the British merchant navy , in 1941 , and sailed in wartime convoys to Russia . After the war , during a port call to London , he met his future wife Anne Doherty , from County Tyrone , who was then working as a clerk in the Conservatives Ladies' Club : " I used shout 'Vote Labour' during elections and they were annoyed ," she remembers .......
(MORE LATER).
IT HAPPENED IN IRELAND . From 'The United Irishman' newspaper , Aibrean [April] 1957 , page 8.(IML. IX. UIMHIR 4 - price Tri Pingin [Three Pennies].Thanks to my late friends Christy and Theresa L. for giving me this 48-year-old newspaper ; this thread published in memory of those two old Fenians ! - John.
If we had a national Press worthy of the name our people would be aware by now of the conditions in occupied Ireland ; the Americans and the English are much better informed because their Press coverage of events in the North is so much more extensive . Most of it - coming as it does from British sources - is biased of course but unlike the 26 County population they get a view of things even if that view is slanted .
We are not aware of the terrorism by British military , police and armed B-Specials ; we are not informed of the treatment handed out to captured men by these forces . We should make it our business to get the facts for the victims involved are young Irishmen fighting for our freedom . Tony Cooney and his two comrades taken at Torr Head , County Antrim , were fired on by police while they held their hands in the air and later were threatened with murder .
Seamus Heuston was beaten into insensibility by B-Specials near Armagh ; they smashed his head and broke his arm . Shots were fired at John Kelly and his comrades after they were taken in County Tyrone ; a Belfast Det-Sgt held a grenade from which the pin had been withdrawn and threatened them as they stood facing a wall with their hands up .......
(MORE LATER).
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
At first , Marion Coyle was not directly involved in military operations ; she acted as a 'lookout' and ran errands . She was known within the Republican Movement as a woman with a lot of nerve who did not fold under pressure . In August 1972 , when the British Army tore down the barricades separating ' Free Derry' from the rest of the world , she led six men safely across the border into Donegal , one at a time , by pretending to be their girlfriend .
In January of the following year , she was acquitted on a charge of possession of a rifle ; Leo Martin admitted full responsibility for the weapon and was given three years . The Provos sent her first to Buncrana and then to Leitrim . She was'nt attached to any particular Active Service Unit of the IRA . Eddie Gallagher , meanwhile , was jailed for twelve months in the Curragh for IRA activity .
It was around this time that Marion Coyle met Kevin Mallon - increasingly , she looked to him for guidance and a close platonic friendship grew up between the two . She admired his political clarity . Coyle moved to Dublin and returned to Derry at weekends . The raids on her home in Derry became more frequent , so the visits had to be curtailed . Increasingly , she was spending her time with the same people she worked with . In September of 1973 , Kevin Mallon was arrested in Monaghan and given twelve months for membership .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
Gerry Fitt's 'trust' in the Brits to do the 'right' thing in Ireland earned him the sobriquet ' Fitt The Brit' , applied with such bitterness to him now by Northern nationalists who have suffered under direct rule from England since 1972 , could have been applied with equal accuracy but a lot more affection in 1966 and more before that .
For many of Gerry Fitt's generation and background , religious and political , England offered an escape and refuge from the direct rule of the Unionist Party in Northern Ireland . Back in the North , Fitt told his Westminster audience on that first day , Catholics could'nt get homes , could'nt get jobs , could'nt even get the vote . They could'nt even get a hearing in the Stormont parliament , where a contrived Unionist majority turned a deaf ear to such as him , the democratically elected Stormont representative for Dock . " No matter what pleas I made to the Unionists , I would'nt get anywhere . "
Born in Belfast in 1926 , Gerry Fitt got out quick : his father died when he was eight and his mother was left to bring up the children in the depressed 1930's ; he ran away from home to become a fifteen-year-old cabin boy , in the British merchant navy , in 1941 , and sailed in wartime convoys to Russia . After the war , during a port call to London , he met his future wife Anne Doherty , from County Tyrone , who was then working as a clerk in the Conservatives Ladies' Club : " I used shout 'Vote Labour' during elections and they were annoyed ," she remembers .......
(MORE LATER).
IT HAPPENED IN IRELAND . From 'The United Irishman' newspaper , Aibrean [April] 1957 , page 8.(IML. IX. UIMHIR 4 - price Tri Pingin [Three Pennies].Thanks to my late friends Christy and Theresa L. for giving me this 48-year-old newspaper ; this thread published in memory of those two old Fenians ! - John.
If we had a national Press worthy of the name our people would be aware by now of the conditions in occupied Ireland ; the Americans and the English are much better informed because their Press coverage of events in the North is so much more extensive . Most of it - coming as it does from British sources - is biased of course but unlike the 26 County population they get a view of things even if that view is slanted .
We are not aware of the terrorism by British military , police and armed B-Specials ; we are not informed of the treatment handed out to captured men by these forces . We should make it our business to get the facts for the victims involved are young Irishmen fighting for our freedom . Tony Cooney and his two comrades taken at Torr Head , County Antrim , were fired on by police while they held their hands in the air and later were threatened with murder .
Seamus Heuston was beaten into insensibility by B-Specials near Armagh ; they smashed his head and broke his arm . Shots were fired at John Kelly and his comrades after they were taken in County Tyrone ; a Belfast Det-Sgt held a grenade from which the pin had been withdrawn and threatened them as they stood facing a wall with their hands up .......
(MORE LATER).
Monday, May 16, 2005
A ROUGH DEAL .......
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
A few nights before internment was introduced , a Catholic worker from Derry named Harry Thornton was driving past Springfield Road RUC Station in Belfast when his car backfired - a British soldier shot him dead . A passenger in the car ran , thinking he too was about to be shot - he was attacked by British soldiers , taken into the RUC station and badly beaten up .
Eddie Gallagher watched as the British jumped from their jeeps ; one British soldier shouted " One down , one to go ... " , according to Gallagher . That particular incident coupled with what happened in the next few days convinced Eddie Gallagher to become more actively involved with the IRA .
On March 14th , the Provos had a forty-minute gun battle with the British Army near Dove Gardens in Derry ; 90 minutes later , Eugene McGillen and Colm Keenan were shot dead as they came out of a house . The householder later told the inquest that they had come in for shelter . The Provos admitted that they were members but said that they had not been involved in anything at the time .
Marion Coyle and a friend had spent their summer holidays in Bundoran with Eugene McGillen and Colm Keenan . Almost immediately , her brother Philip , whom she was especially close to , got six years for possession of a firearm : Marion Coyle joined the Provisional IRA .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
The difference between Gerry Fitt and Gerry Adams was established as long ago as Monday April 25 , 1966 , 7pm : exactly when the Right Honourable Gerald Fitt , Esquire , Republican Labour Party , rose to his feet to speak for the first time in the House of Commons -
- " Since my election , I have read in sections of the British press that I have been classified as an Irish Republican . I should take this opportunity to classify my political allegiance . To classify me as an Irish Republican is not strictly correct ; the Irish Republican Party in Ireland does not recognise the authority of this House in any part of Ireland and its members would indeed refuse to take their seats in this House .
I have not yet given up hope , and I have not yet determined to follow the line of the Irish Republican Party , because I believe that during my term as the representative of West Belfast in this House I will be able to appeal to every reasonable member in the Chamber , and through them , to every reasonable member of the British public . I feel certain that at the end of this Parliament dramatic changes will have taken place in the North of Ireland ....... "
Through all the dramatic changes that subsequently took place in the North of Ireland , Gerry Fitt never did give up hope that the British Government would sort things out . He placed particular trust in the British Labour Party ('1169...' Comment - as does Gerry Adams today...) , which had in 1966 swept to power under Harold Wilson with a hundred seat majority .
His 'faith' in the Brits earned him a new nickname .......
(MORE LATER).
A MESSAGE OF HOPE TO OCCUPIED IRELAND ...... From 'The United Irishman' newspaper , Aibrean [April] 1957 , page 8.(IML. IX. UIMHIR 4 - price Tri Pingin [Three Pennies].Thanks to my late friends Christy and Theresa L. for giving me this 48-year-old newspaper ; this thread published in memory of those two old Fenians ! - John.
Jim Dolan stated that the people of Sligo-Leitrim had given Sinn Fein a mandate to go forward to greater victories , and certainly , it would be a message of hope to our people in Occupied Ireland . It would be a message to all of them that the people of Sligo-Leitrim were behind the freedom fighters who were fighting Ireland's Cause today .
It would also be an answer to Lord Brookesborough and his Quisling Government and to Mr. Costello who , during the past three months, has been responsible for sentencing many young men to terms of imprisonment . As a result of this election Mr. Costello would be a much wiser man .
The success achieved here would be a warning to the new administration that the people would not support them in suppressing the freedom fighters in the North of Ireland . Concluding , Jim Dolan returned thanks to all who had assisted them in achieving victory , as nobody could deny that they had scored a great success in Sligo-Leitrim constituency .
[END of 'A MESSAGE OF HOPE TO OCCUPIED IRELAND'].(Tomorrow - ' IT HAPPENED IN IRELAND ' : from the same source).
Ten years ago EDDIE GALLAGHER went to prison for his part in the kidnapping of TIEDE HERREMA . He is still there , even though he did a deal which promised him only four years in jail . His accomplice , MARION COYLE , has been released . DEREK DUNNE reports on GALLAGHER's maverick relationship with the IRA , on the negotiations which led to the release of TIEDE HERREMA and on the roots of GALLAGHER's involvement .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , January 1986 , pages 6 , 7 , 8, and 9 .
A few nights before internment was introduced , a Catholic worker from Derry named Harry Thornton was driving past Springfield Road RUC Station in Belfast when his car backfired - a British soldier shot him dead . A passenger in the car ran , thinking he too was about to be shot - he was attacked by British soldiers , taken into the RUC station and badly beaten up .
Eddie Gallagher watched as the British jumped from their jeeps ; one British soldier shouted " One down , one to go ... " , according to Gallagher . That particular incident coupled with what happened in the next few days convinced Eddie Gallagher to become more actively involved with the IRA .
On March 14th , the Provos had a forty-minute gun battle with the British Army near Dove Gardens in Derry ; 90 minutes later , Eugene McGillen and Colm Keenan were shot dead as they came out of a house . The householder later told the inquest that they had come in for shelter . The Provos admitted that they were members but said that they had not been involved in anything at the time .
Marion Coyle and a friend had spent their summer holidays in Bundoran with Eugene McGillen and Colm Keenan . Almost immediately , her brother Philip , whom she was especially close to , got six years for possession of a firearm : Marion Coyle joined the Provisional IRA .......
(MORE LATER).
TO WESTMINSTER AND BACK .......
The Life And Times Of Gerry Fitt.
By Nell McCafferty .
First published in ' MAGILL' magazine , July 1983 .
The difference between Gerry Fitt and Gerry Adams was established as long ago as Monday April 25 , 1966 , 7pm : exactly when the Right Honourable Gerald Fitt , Esquire , Republican Labour Party , rose to his feet to speak for the first time in the House of Commons -
- " Since my election , I have read in sections of the British press that I have been classified as an Irish Republican . I should take this opportunity to classify my political allegiance . To classify me as an Irish Republican is not strictly correct ; the Irish Republican Party in Ireland does not recognise the authority of this House in any part of Ireland and its members would indeed refuse to take their seats in this House .
I have not yet given up hope , and I have not yet determined to follow the line of the Irish Republican Party , because I believe that during my term as the representative of West Belfast in this House I will be able to appeal to every reasonable member in the Chamber , and through them , to every reasonable member of the British public . I feel certain that at the end of this Parliament dramatic changes will have taken place in the North of Ireland ....... "
Through all the dramatic changes that subsequently took place in the North of Ireland , Gerry Fitt never did give up hope that the British Government would sort things out . He placed particular trust in the British Labour Party ('1169...' Comment - as does Gerry Adams today...) , which had in 1966 swept to power under Harold Wilson with a hundred seat majority .
His 'faith' in the Brits earned him a new nickname .......
(MORE LATER).
A MESSAGE OF HOPE TO OCCUPIED IRELAND ...... From 'The United Irishman' newspaper , Aibrean [April] 1957 , page 8.(IML. IX. UIMHIR 4 - price Tri Pingin [Three Pennies].Thanks to my late friends Christy and Theresa L. for giving me this 48-year-old newspaper ; this thread published in memory of those two old Fenians ! - John.
Jim Dolan stated that the people of Sligo-Leitrim had given Sinn Fein a mandate to go forward to greater victories , and certainly , it would be a message of hope to our people in Occupied Ireland . It would be a message to all of them that the people of Sligo-Leitrim were behind the freedom fighters who were fighting Ireland's Cause today .
It would also be an answer to Lord Brookesborough and his Quisling Government and to Mr. Costello who , during the past three months, has been responsible for sentencing many young men to terms of imprisonment . As a result of this election Mr. Costello would be a much wiser man .
The success achieved here would be a warning to the new administration that the people would not support them in suppressing the freedom fighters in the North of Ireland . Concluding , Jim Dolan returned thanks to all who had assisted them in achieving victory , as nobody could deny that they had scored a great success in Sligo-Leitrim constituency .
[END of 'A MESSAGE OF HOPE TO OCCUPIED IRELAND'].(Tomorrow - ' IT HAPPENED IN IRELAND ' : from the same source).
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