A HISTORY OF ARMAGH JAIL .......
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
NO LET UP IN REPRESSION .
Arrested on active service in April 1976 and sentenced at her 'trial' eight months later to 14 years imprisonment , Belfast Republican Mairead Farrell became one of the first women POW's to take part in the protest for political status .
" The whole atmosphere is hostile and oppressive , with every movement , spoken word and general habit chronicled by screws on the landings and scrutinised by the prison administration daily . One cannot help feeling like a caged animal walking up and down with every twitch monitored , analysed and filed away for future use against us .
It's a popular boast of the present regime that they know all we say and do , but they choose to forget that their mania for surveillance does not reveal what is in our minds , and that's what counts ! Since the installation of the present regime a year ago , there has been a marked increase in pettiness and severe punishments . The manner in which this is employed I can only describe as a two-fold tactic designed to divide Republican POW's and break their resistance to the system .
The first technique is obvious - constant punishment by long spells in solitary confinement , loss of remission and all so-called 'privileges' , so as to inflict as much suffering as possible in preparation for the second technique ; this involves a relaxation in the situation with a promise of more to come provided "you keep your nose clean..." . It is as though the prison regime have modeled their treatment of prisoners on the principle of 'teaching a dog new tricks' - do what we tell you and the reward will be yours , with the possibility of bigger and better rewards in the pipeline .
Then suddenly the 'breathing space' is over and things revert to the more familiar pattern of harsh punishments , leaving the taste of what life could be like if only Republicans would stop being Republicans ....... ! "
(MORE LATER).
THE HEROIC PRISON STRUGGLE .
1981 was dominated by the grim and heroic struggle of Republican prisoners for political recognition - which they undoubtedly received from millions all over the world , yet which few governments , least of all London or Dublin , would grant them .
From 'AP/RN' , 31st December 1981 .
By Teresa Kelly .
After the earlier hunger strike had ended , on December 18th , 1980 , and the British government had allowed the H-Block prisoners to read a thirty-four page document of proposed prison reforms , the prisoners , their relatives and their friends sat waiting and hoping that commen sense on the part of the British would once and for all resolve this five-year-old crisis .
The prisoners were willing to end all forms of protest provided the promised reforms were implemented , and their elected Officer Commanding , Bobby Sands , negotiated with prison governor Stanley Hilditch a phasing-out of the 'no-wash' protest , with ten men from H3 and ten from H5 as a 'test case' . On January 20th , 1981 , those twenty prisoners , having washed themselves , sat waiting in their clean cells for the clothes their families had brought . But this was refused .
From the prison warders right up to the British government there had never been the slightest intention to resolve the crisis : what Margaret Thatcher wanted was total humiliation for the Republican prisoners - what the warders wanted was their fat bonus at the end of each month resulting from the prisoners' protest . January 20th 1981 was the last chance for the British government to settle to everyone's advantage , and with minimum cost to themselves . On February 5th , 1981 , the prisoners released a statement announcing that a second hunger-strike would commence on March 1st 1981 , the fifth anniversary of the removal of 'special category' status .
As February 1981 drew to a close , it was learnt that Bobby Sands would begin the fast alone , and that others would join him at regular intervals .......
(MORE LATER).
IN THE SHADOW OF A GUNMAN .......
The aspirations of SINN FEIN THE WORKERS PARTY towards socialist respectability are undermined by the continued military operations of the OFFICIAL IRA and that Party's own ideoligical contortions .
From ' MAGILL' magazine , April 1982 .
By Vincent Browne.
The issue of legitimate targets for the Official IRA was discussed by the OIRA Army Council some weeks previous to the shooting dead of British soldier , Ranger Best , on May 21 , 1972 ; the local OIRA Unit had managed to set up a brothel in the Waterside area and it was proposed to entice British Officers there and poison them : explicit authorisation for this action was obtained by the Derry Staff OIRA for this operation from a very senior member of the Official IRA at the time , now a senior member of the 'Sinn Fein the Workers Party' Ard Comhairle .
There was heated discussion at OIRA Army Council level on the ceasefire - it was vigorously opposed by Seamus Costello and others ; however , the terms of the ceasefire were deliberately qualified in a manner that allowed a continuance of the campaign more or less as before . A statement issued at the time said - " The (O)IRA has agreed to this (ceasefire) proposal reserving only the right of self-defence and defence of areas if attacked by the British Army or sectarian forces . "
Throughout the rest of 1972 and the early part of 1973 , the OIRA military campaign continued more or less as before : this fact is best illustrated by just two incidents in this period - on December 5th 1972 , a massive mortar attack blitz was launched throughout the North - British Army installations and camps and RUC stations were fired on in Blight's Lane in Derry , Kilrea , Coalisland , Croagh , Co. Tyrone , Lurgan and in Belfast at Silver City , Fort Monagh , Ardoyne and North Queen's Street . It was a huge undertaking and , because of it's size , was co-ordinated by the OIRA GHQ Staff in Dublin and explicitly supported by the OIRA Army Council . Those mortar attacks took place over six months after the announcement of the ceasefire .
The other illustration of the extent to which the ceasefire initially was in name mainly was a statement issued by the Command Staff of the Official IRA in Belfast on May 2nd 1973 , almost a year after the ceasefire announcement , claiming responsibility for the deaths of 7 British soldiers "...during recent retaliatory action in the North of Ireland . " Thus the pretence that the OIRA military campaign came to an abrupt halt in the middle of 1972 is entirely false : the campaign continued for at least a year afterwards .......
(MORE LATER).
Friday, November 18, 2005
A HISTORY OF ARMAGH JAIL .......
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
NO LET UP IN REPRESSION .
Arrested on active service in April 1976 and sentenced at her 'trial' eight months later to 14 years imprisonment , Belfast Republican Mairead Farrell became one of the first women POW's to take part in the protest for political status .
" During the last seven years that I have been imprisoned in Armagh Jail , my comrades and I have endured much from the prison administration's ever-changing attitude . Now , three months after the termination of our 'no work' protest , the conditions have deteriorated , the regime is more repressive and the punishments more severe and excessive .
I hope here to give you an insight into this present-day situation in Armagh , where the new prison regime has resorted to the familiar tactic of 'divide and conquer' in every aspect of prison routine . Considering the overall prison population of the North , there are very few women prisoners - all of these are held in Armagh . Republicans form the vast majority of the total , and at present there are 28 sentenced Republicans and seven on remand , scattered throughout the jail .
Within the prison building there are three separate structures housing prisoners - 'A' , 'B' and 'C' wings - each of which is completely isolated from the others . Inside each of these wings there are two landings , one blocked off from the other with no contact possible between the two . This is geared to further isolating Republicans in the jail , with the number of prisoners on each landing not exceeding nine . This in fact is not a prison , but many prisons within a prison . The purpose of dividing Republicans into small units is one of surveillance and control , it is not primarily a security measure but more a means to determine any weaknesses in individuals which the administration hope to exploit for their own ends ....... "
(MORE LATER).
USEFUL POLITICAL INTERPRETATION OF IRISH REPUBICANISM.......
' Irish Nationalism - A History Of Its Roots And Its Ideology' by SEAN CRONIN (The Academy Press , Dublin, 1980) .
A book on Irish Nationalism by a one-time Republican is bound to attract attention . Cronin's study deals with the roots , history , growth and development of Nationalist thinking in Ireland , particularly its revolutionary form - Irish Republicanism .
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1981 .
No by-line.
Sean Cronin , the author , stated - " The Officials blame the Catholic middle class , not British rule , for Ireland's failure to industrialise . They favour devolved government in the North (ie return to Stormont's Orange State) and they have been accused (rightly) of betraying the National question by adopting the 'two nations' theory (ie Protestant and Catholic) . Finally , they support industrialisation via the multinationals . "
Cronin does not draw out all the conclusions from his obvious disillusionment with the Sticks (SFWP) but it is a clear sign that their one time 'radical' credentials are well and truly tarnished . Cronin ends up with a brief look at Republicanism proper , quoting from Sinn Fein vice-president Gerry Adams , and concluding that - "...his political ideas reflect a natural radicalisation of an armed struggle conducted among the Catholic ghettoes of Belfast and Derry . He seems much closer to Connolly's analysis than other voices . "
One wonders what has happened to the 'Hibernian gunmen' we used to hear of ! Cronin and his ilk never understand that pure republicanism has always been radical , in the sense that it looks to the roots of our problems - in our case , British imperialism and partition .
[END of ' USEFUL POLITICAL INTERPRETATION OF IRISH REPUBICANISM ' .]
(Monday , 21st - ' THE HEROIC PRISON STRUGGLE' : from 1981.)
IN THE SHADOW OF A GUNMAN .......
The aspirations of SINN FEIN THE WORKERS PARTY towards socialist respectability are undermined by the continued military operations of the OFFICIAL IRA and that Party's own ideoligical contortions .
From ' MAGILL' magazine , April 1982 .
By Vincent Browne.
March 6 , 1972 : Marcus McCausland , a former Officer in the UDR , was shot dead by the Official IRA - the coldblooded nature of this shooting as well as the fact that this was a middle-class target provoked particular outrage .
March 12 , 1972 : a woman was fatally injured in crossfire in Leeson Street , Belfast , between the Official IRA and the British Army .
March 24 , 1972 : the Official IRA announced that it would continue its campaign in spite of the prorogation of Stormont ; this statement was almost as hardline as that issued at the time by the Provisional Chief of Staff , Sean MacStiophain , which is much better remembered .
April 10 , 1972 : the Official IRA killed two soldiers in a booby trap .
May 10 , 1972 : a fifteen-year-old girl was beaten , tarred and feathered by the Official IRA in the Leeson Street area of Belfast .
May 21 , 1972 : an off-duty British soldier , Ranger Best , who was at home on leave in the Creggan in Derry was shot dead by the Official IRA . This incident led to the Official IRA ceasefire which was announced on May 29 , 1972 . Prior to the announcement of the ceasefire there was heated debate at OIRA Army Council level on the issue of the Ranger Best killing - several members of the Council condemned it and said that public support had been devastated by it , others pointed out that an explicit OIRA Army Council order had been made some months previously stating that British soldiers , in or out of uniform , were legitimate targets .......
(MORE LATER).
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
NO LET UP IN REPRESSION .
Arrested on active service in April 1976 and sentenced at her 'trial' eight months later to 14 years imprisonment , Belfast Republican Mairead Farrell became one of the first women POW's to take part in the protest for political status .
" During the last seven years that I have been imprisoned in Armagh Jail , my comrades and I have endured much from the prison administration's ever-changing attitude . Now , three months after the termination of our 'no work' protest , the conditions have deteriorated , the regime is more repressive and the punishments more severe and excessive .
I hope here to give you an insight into this present-day situation in Armagh , where the new prison regime has resorted to the familiar tactic of 'divide and conquer' in every aspect of prison routine . Considering the overall prison population of the North , there are very few women prisoners - all of these are held in Armagh . Republicans form the vast majority of the total , and at present there are 28 sentenced Republicans and seven on remand , scattered throughout the jail .
Within the prison building there are three separate structures housing prisoners - 'A' , 'B' and 'C' wings - each of which is completely isolated from the others . Inside each of these wings there are two landings , one blocked off from the other with no contact possible between the two . This is geared to further isolating Republicans in the jail , with the number of prisoners on each landing not exceeding nine . This in fact is not a prison , but many prisons within a prison . The purpose of dividing Republicans into small units is one of surveillance and control , it is not primarily a security measure but more a means to determine any weaknesses in individuals which the administration hope to exploit for their own ends ....... "
(MORE LATER).
USEFUL POLITICAL INTERPRETATION OF IRISH REPUBICANISM.......
' Irish Nationalism - A History Of Its Roots And Its Ideology' by SEAN CRONIN (The Academy Press , Dublin, 1980) .
A book on Irish Nationalism by a one-time Republican is bound to attract attention . Cronin's study deals with the roots , history , growth and development of Nationalist thinking in Ireland , particularly its revolutionary form - Irish Republicanism .
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1981 .
No by-line.
Sean Cronin , the author , stated - " The Officials blame the Catholic middle class , not British rule , for Ireland's failure to industrialise . They favour devolved government in the North (ie return to Stormont's Orange State) and they have been accused (rightly) of betraying the National question by adopting the 'two nations' theory (ie Protestant and Catholic) . Finally , they support industrialisation via the multinationals . "
Cronin does not draw out all the conclusions from his obvious disillusionment with the Sticks (SFWP) but it is a clear sign that their one time 'radical' credentials are well and truly tarnished . Cronin ends up with a brief look at Republicanism proper , quoting from Sinn Fein vice-president Gerry Adams , and concluding that - "...his political ideas reflect a natural radicalisation of an armed struggle conducted among the Catholic ghettoes of Belfast and Derry . He seems much closer to Connolly's analysis than other voices . "
One wonders what has happened to the 'Hibernian gunmen' we used to hear of ! Cronin and his ilk never understand that pure republicanism has always been radical , in the sense that it looks to the roots of our problems - in our case , British imperialism and partition .
[END of ' USEFUL POLITICAL INTERPRETATION OF IRISH REPUBICANISM ' .]
(Monday , 21st - ' THE HEROIC PRISON STRUGGLE' : from 1981.)
IN THE SHADOW OF A GUNMAN .......
The aspirations of SINN FEIN THE WORKERS PARTY towards socialist respectability are undermined by the continued military operations of the OFFICIAL IRA and that Party's own ideoligical contortions .
From ' MAGILL' magazine , April 1982 .
By Vincent Browne.
March 6 , 1972 : Marcus McCausland , a former Officer in the UDR , was shot dead by the Official IRA - the coldblooded nature of this shooting as well as the fact that this was a middle-class target provoked particular outrage .
March 12 , 1972 : a woman was fatally injured in crossfire in Leeson Street , Belfast , between the Official IRA and the British Army .
March 24 , 1972 : the Official IRA announced that it would continue its campaign in spite of the prorogation of Stormont ; this statement was almost as hardline as that issued at the time by the Provisional Chief of Staff , Sean MacStiophain , which is much better remembered .
April 10 , 1972 : the Official IRA killed two soldiers in a booby trap .
May 10 , 1972 : a fifteen-year-old girl was beaten , tarred and feathered by the Official IRA in the Leeson Street area of Belfast .
May 21 , 1972 : an off-duty British soldier , Ranger Best , who was at home on leave in the Creggan in Derry was shot dead by the Official IRA . This incident led to the Official IRA ceasefire which was announced on May 29 , 1972 . Prior to the announcement of the ceasefire there was heated debate at OIRA Army Council level on the issue of the Ranger Best killing - several members of the Council condemned it and said that public support had been devastated by it , others pointed out that an explicit OIRA Army Council order had been made some months previously stating that British soldiers , in or out of uniform , were legitimate targets .......
(MORE LATER).
Thursday, November 17, 2005
A HISTORY OF ARMAGH JAIL .......
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
A new type of criminalisation policy was launched - this was aimed at denying the legitimacy of Sinn Fein as a political party : increasingly , Sinn Fein election workers and advice centre workers who were identified with openly political activity rather than military organisations , began to be arrested and processed into jail on the Diplock conveyor belt . Intimidation and bribery were used to 'persuade' people to testify at the mass show trials which have become the latest feature of injustice in the North of Ireland system of 'justice' .
Despite the ending of the 'no-work' protest in Armagh Jail , as Mairead Farrell explains in the following piece , there was an increase in the amount of everyday harassment , which continues to this day .
NO LET UP IN REPRESSION .
Arrested on active service in April 1976 and sentenced at her 'trial' eight months later to 14 years imprisonment , Belfast Republican Mairead Farrell became one of the first women POW's to take part in the protest for political status .
Later on she was involved in the 'no wash' escalation of the protest in Armagh Jail and , in December 1980 , was one of three women prisoners to join the first hunger strike . Here , in a smuggled communication , she writes about the strip-searches , prison work and isolation that are features of the prison regime's repression in Armagh.......
(MORE LATER).
USEFUL POLITICAL INTERPRETATION OF IRISH REPUBICANISM.......
' Irish Nationalism - A History Of Its Roots And Its Ideology' by SEAN CRONIN (The Academy Press , Dublin, 1980) .
A book on Irish Nationalism by a one-time Republican is bound to attract attention . Cronin's study deals with the roots , history , growth and development of Nationalist thinking in Ireland , particularly its revolutionary form - Irish Republicanism .
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1981 .
No by-line.
Current debates and discussions within the Republican Movement find interesting parallels in the discussions going on in the 1930's : Father Michael O' Flanagan , President of Sinn Fein in 1934-1935 noted how " ...the immediate task that lies before us is to clarify our minds on the essential principles of pure Republicanism , to apply them with unswerving consistency in the daily activities of our organisation , to show how their general application would solve all the pressing problems of the whole people of Ireland , and work out , in detail , a plan of governmet . "
A governmental programme was in fact worked out , which said of Republicans - " Not only must they be the organised and armed vanguard but they must also supply leadership and guidance in directing the thoughts of the people along constructive revolutionary lines . "
The lessons for the 1980's are obvious - we must move beyond abstract policies and pious declarations , to provide constructive revolutionary leadership in the day-to-day struggles of the people of no property . A 'Plan of Government' should aim at taking us from the real , concrete situation of today towards the united democratic-socialist Republic we are committed to .
Sean Cronin , the author , has not become converted overnight into an ardent supporter of the Republican Movement , but the pressure of events has forced him to recognise the bankruptcy of 'Sinn Fein The Workers Party' : as Cronin has said - " In their efforts to unite Protestant and Catholic workers , they seemed to have abandoned the small farmers , North and South . The Officials have come to some surprising conclusions on the National question , given their tradition and history....... "
(MORE LATER).
IN THE SHADOW OF A GUNMAN .......
The aspirations of SINN FEIN THE WORKERS PARTY towards socialist respectability are undermined by the continued military operations of the OFFICIAL IRA and that Party's own ideoligical contortions .
From ' MAGILL' magazine , April 1982 .
By Vincent Browne.
The course of the campaign began to go sour on the Official IRA from an early stage and in fact it was the Officials who were most associated in the public mind with atrocities rather than the Provisionals in early 1972 . The following is a sequence of incidents which caused considerable public outrage and pressure on the Officials to halt their campaign :
December 12 , 1971 - Senator Jack Barnhill was shot dead when he resisted attempts to burn down his house . Although it seems that there was no intention to kill him , in fact , his name had appeared on a death list of prominent individuals , compiled by the leadership of the Official IRA , to be assassinated at some future date . The list included several resident magistrates and prominent Unionist politicians .
February 22 , 1972 - Seven people , including five cleaning women , a priest and a gardener , were killed when bombs went off at the Headquarters of the British Parachute Regiment at Aldershot . The Official IRA planted the bomb in retaliation for the killing of the civilians in Derry during Bloody Sunday . The Official leadership approved the operation believing that over 20 senior Parachute Officers would be killed .
February 25 , 1972 - The Official IRA gunned down the Unionist politician , John Taylor on a pavement in Armagh . Relations now between SFWP and the Official Unionists are very close , thus this incident seems all the more bizarre in retrospect . However , Cathal Goulding seemed quite dismissive about the incident when interviewed some years later on March 8 , 1975 , by 'The Irish Times' newspaper : referring to the Taylor shooting , he said - " I suppose you could say that , well , Brian Faulkner should have been the target . He was in charge , but, like everything else , availability of the target matters , too . "
(MORE LATER).
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
A new type of criminalisation policy was launched - this was aimed at denying the legitimacy of Sinn Fein as a political party : increasingly , Sinn Fein election workers and advice centre workers who were identified with openly political activity rather than military organisations , began to be arrested and processed into jail on the Diplock conveyor belt . Intimidation and bribery were used to 'persuade' people to testify at the mass show trials which have become the latest feature of injustice in the North of Ireland system of 'justice' .
Despite the ending of the 'no-work' protest in Armagh Jail , as Mairead Farrell explains in the following piece , there was an increase in the amount of everyday harassment , which continues to this day .
NO LET UP IN REPRESSION .
Arrested on active service in April 1976 and sentenced at her 'trial' eight months later to 14 years imprisonment , Belfast Republican Mairead Farrell became one of the first women POW's to take part in the protest for political status .
Later on she was involved in the 'no wash' escalation of the protest in Armagh Jail and , in December 1980 , was one of three women prisoners to join the first hunger strike . Here , in a smuggled communication , she writes about the strip-searches , prison work and isolation that are features of the prison regime's repression in Armagh.......
(MORE LATER).
USEFUL POLITICAL INTERPRETATION OF IRISH REPUBICANISM.......
' Irish Nationalism - A History Of Its Roots And Its Ideology' by SEAN CRONIN (The Academy Press , Dublin, 1980) .
A book on Irish Nationalism by a one-time Republican is bound to attract attention . Cronin's study deals with the roots , history , growth and development of Nationalist thinking in Ireland , particularly its revolutionary form - Irish Republicanism .
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1981 .
No by-line.
Current debates and discussions within the Republican Movement find interesting parallels in the discussions going on in the 1930's : Father Michael O' Flanagan , President of Sinn Fein in 1934-1935 noted how " ...the immediate task that lies before us is to clarify our minds on the essential principles of pure Republicanism , to apply them with unswerving consistency in the daily activities of our organisation , to show how their general application would solve all the pressing problems of the whole people of Ireland , and work out , in detail , a plan of governmet . "
A governmental programme was in fact worked out , which said of Republicans - " Not only must they be the organised and armed vanguard but they must also supply leadership and guidance in directing the thoughts of the people along constructive revolutionary lines . "
The lessons for the 1980's are obvious - we must move beyond abstract policies and pious declarations , to provide constructive revolutionary leadership in the day-to-day struggles of the people of no property . A 'Plan of Government' should aim at taking us from the real , concrete situation of today towards the united democratic-socialist Republic we are committed to .
Sean Cronin , the author , has not become converted overnight into an ardent supporter of the Republican Movement , but the pressure of events has forced him to recognise the bankruptcy of 'Sinn Fein The Workers Party' : as Cronin has said - " In their efforts to unite Protestant and Catholic workers , they seemed to have abandoned the small farmers , North and South . The Officials have come to some surprising conclusions on the National question , given their tradition and history....... "
(MORE LATER).
IN THE SHADOW OF A GUNMAN .......
The aspirations of SINN FEIN THE WORKERS PARTY towards socialist respectability are undermined by the continued military operations of the OFFICIAL IRA and that Party's own ideoligical contortions .
From ' MAGILL' magazine , April 1982 .
By Vincent Browne.
The course of the campaign began to go sour on the Official IRA from an early stage and in fact it was the Officials who were most associated in the public mind with atrocities rather than the Provisionals in early 1972 . The following is a sequence of incidents which caused considerable public outrage and pressure on the Officials to halt their campaign :
December 12 , 1971 - Senator Jack Barnhill was shot dead when he resisted attempts to burn down his house . Although it seems that there was no intention to kill him , in fact , his name had appeared on a death list of prominent individuals , compiled by the leadership of the Official IRA , to be assassinated at some future date . The list included several resident magistrates and prominent Unionist politicians .
February 22 , 1972 - Seven people , including five cleaning women , a priest and a gardener , were killed when bombs went off at the Headquarters of the British Parachute Regiment at Aldershot . The Official IRA planted the bomb in retaliation for the killing of the civilians in Derry during Bloody Sunday . The Official leadership approved the operation believing that over 20 senior Parachute Officers would be killed .
February 25 , 1972 - The Official IRA gunned down the Unionist politician , John Taylor on a pavement in Armagh . Relations now between SFWP and the Official Unionists are very close , thus this incident seems all the more bizarre in retrospect . However , Cathal Goulding seemed quite dismissive about the incident when interviewed some years later on March 8 , 1975 , by 'The Irish Times' newspaper : referring to the Taylor shooting , he said - " I suppose you could say that , well , Brian Faulkner should have been the target . He was in charge , but, like everything else , availability of the target matters , too . "
(MORE LATER).
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
A HISTORY OF ARMAGH JAIL .......
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
The protesting Irish POW's , men and women , came off both the dirty protest and the blanket protest to highlight the situation of the hunger strike - one by one , ten hunger strikers died . The five demands were ignored . Mass mobilisation and public support met derision and increased repression .
Before his death , Bobby Sands had been elected as a Westminster MP ; the British Government changed the law to ensure that no other prisoner could be elected . Two more Republican prisoners , Kieran Doherty and Paddy Agnew were elected to the Free State parliament . A Sinn Fein member , Owen Carron , was elected to replace the dead Bobby Sands : the British Government dug in its heels despite severe international pressure .
The strategy of using the ballot box to demonstrate the support amongst Catholics for a total British withdrawal from Ireland menaced the British Government . In the 1982 North of Ireland Assembly elections and the 1983 General Election , Sinn Fein , the largest Republican organisation in the North , got almost one half of the total Catholic vote .
A new type of criminalisation policy was launched by Westminster - this time aimed at denying the legitimacy of Sinn Fein as a political party .......
(MORE LATER).
USEFUL POLITICAL INTERPRETATION OF IRISH REPUBICANISM.
' Irish Nationalism - A History Of Its Roots And Its Ideology' by SEAN CRONIN (The Academy Press , Dublin, 1980) .
A book on Irish Nationalism by a one-time Republican is bound to attract attention . Cronin's study deals with the roots , history , growth and development of Nationalist thinking in Ireland , particularly its revolutionary form - Irish Republicanism .
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1981 .
No by-line.
One could be forgiven for dismissing this book as the product of a renegade Republican turned academic , and , even worse , one whose books are published by the mis-named Sinn Fein The Workers' Party's company , ' Repsol Publications ' . That would be mistaken on two counts :
1) The book is a generally useful political interpretation of Irish Republicanism , superior in that sense to Bowyer Bell's history of the IRA ;
2) In spite of repeating the standard slanders on the 1970 split in the Republican Movement it provides a damning indictment of those reactionaries masquerading behind the 'SFWP' label .
The history that author Sean Cronin takes us through is a familiar one - Wolfe Tone and the United Irishmen , Thomas Davis and Young Ireland , the Fenians and the Land War , and the great Easter Rising . He then traces the IRA through the Tan and Civil Wars , the difficulties of the 1930's , the war years , and the Border Campaign of the 1950's where Cronin of course played an important role himself .
His last chapter is entitled significantly ' The Final Rebellion in the 1970's ' , presumably an admission that this is the final , inevitably victorious phase of the struggle . Sean Cronin gives us one quite valid conclusion - " The lesson of Irish history is that England never yields to right , reason or justice , only to force . Consequently , armed rebellion is an essential element in any attempt to win Irish independence . " (Today , those that wrote those words , and those that so favourably quoted from them at the time , have had their minds changed by offers of a 'political career' within the British and/or Free State system and now favour a different 'solution' ) .......
(MORE LATER).
IN THE SHADOW OF A GUNMAN .......
The aspirations of SINN FEIN THE WORKERS PARTY towards socialist respectability are undermined by the continued military operations of the OFFICIAL IRA and that Party's own ideoligical contortions .
From ' MAGILL' magazine , April 1982 .
By Vincent Browne.
The IRA was run down during the 1960's with the main emphasis on civil rights - the belief was that concentration on civil rights would have the effect of destabilising the 'state' in the North of Ireland ; but when violence flared on the streets of Belfast in August 1969 , the Republican Movement re-acted instinctively in the traditional Republican manner . Although its rhetoric did'nt catch up for a while and the split with the Provisionals confused the issue , the Official IRA got caught up in a military campaign against the British presence in the North as much as did the Provos .
Although SFWP now seeks to minimise the significance of the issue , the Battle of the Lower Falls was a major 'macho boost' to the Officials in July 1970 . They boasted at the time that it was "...the first major battle between the forces of the Republic and the British Army since 1921 .. " - some enthusiasts even went so far as to claim that it was the heaviest military engagement involving the British Army since the Second World War - nowadays Tomas MacGiolla refers to it merely as a confrontation between the people of the Falls Road and the British Army : " Slates were thrown from the roofs .. " , he says , minimising the degree of military engagement * that occurred . ('1169...' Comment* - ...similar to the way that the Provos now refer to "a 30-year campaign.." , in the hope of convincing their new members that the struggle was a thirty-year one for 'civil rights' , instead of what it is - a freedom struggle which has been on-going for over 830 years .)
The military campaign of the Official IRA stepped up considerably in the months after the introduction of internment in August 1971 ; local OIRA O/C's were encouraged to 'out-do' the Provos in militancy - the Derry OIRA Officer Commanding at the time recalls being berated by very senior members of the Official IRA for not shooting enough British soldiers .......
(MORE LATER).
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
The protesting Irish POW's , men and women , came off both the dirty protest and the blanket protest to highlight the situation of the hunger strike - one by one , ten hunger strikers died . The five demands were ignored . Mass mobilisation and public support met derision and increased repression .
Before his death , Bobby Sands had been elected as a Westminster MP ; the British Government changed the law to ensure that no other prisoner could be elected . Two more Republican prisoners , Kieran Doherty and Paddy Agnew were elected to the Free State parliament . A Sinn Fein member , Owen Carron , was elected to replace the dead Bobby Sands : the British Government dug in its heels despite severe international pressure .
The strategy of using the ballot box to demonstrate the support amongst Catholics for a total British withdrawal from Ireland menaced the British Government . In the 1982 North of Ireland Assembly elections and the 1983 General Election , Sinn Fein , the largest Republican organisation in the North , got almost one half of the total Catholic vote .
A new type of criminalisation policy was launched by Westminster - this time aimed at denying the legitimacy of Sinn Fein as a political party .......
(MORE LATER).
USEFUL POLITICAL INTERPRETATION OF IRISH REPUBICANISM.
' Irish Nationalism - A History Of Its Roots And Its Ideology' by SEAN CRONIN (The Academy Press , Dublin, 1980) .
A book on Irish Nationalism by a one-time Republican is bound to attract attention . Cronin's study deals with the roots , history , growth and development of Nationalist thinking in Ireland , particularly its revolutionary form - Irish Republicanism .
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1981 .
No by-line.
One could be forgiven for dismissing this book as the product of a renegade Republican turned academic , and , even worse , one whose books are published by the mis-named Sinn Fein The Workers' Party's company , ' Repsol Publications ' . That would be mistaken on two counts :
1) The book is a generally useful political interpretation of Irish Republicanism , superior in that sense to Bowyer Bell's history of the IRA ;
2) In spite of repeating the standard slanders on the 1970 split in the Republican Movement it provides a damning indictment of those reactionaries masquerading behind the 'SFWP' label .
The history that author Sean Cronin takes us through is a familiar one - Wolfe Tone and the United Irishmen , Thomas Davis and Young Ireland , the Fenians and the Land War , and the great Easter Rising . He then traces the IRA through the Tan and Civil Wars , the difficulties of the 1930's , the war years , and the Border Campaign of the 1950's where Cronin of course played an important role himself .
His last chapter is entitled significantly ' The Final Rebellion in the 1970's ' , presumably an admission that this is the final , inevitably victorious phase of the struggle . Sean Cronin gives us one quite valid conclusion - " The lesson of Irish history is that England never yields to right , reason or justice , only to force . Consequently , armed rebellion is an essential element in any attempt to win Irish independence . " (Today , those that wrote those words , and those that so favourably quoted from them at the time , have had their minds changed by offers of a 'political career' within the British and/or Free State system and now favour a different 'solution' ) .......
(MORE LATER).
IN THE SHADOW OF A GUNMAN .......
The aspirations of SINN FEIN THE WORKERS PARTY towards socialist respectability are undermined by the continued military operations of the OFFICIAL IRA and that Party's own ideoligical contortions .
From ' MAGILL' magazine , April 1982 .
By Vincent Browne.
The IRA was run down during the 1960's with the main emphasis on civil rights - the belief was that concentration on civil rights would have the effect of destabilising the 'state' in the North of Ireland ; but when violence flared on the streets of Belfast in August 1969 , the Republican Movement re-acted instinctively in the traditional Republican manner . Although its rhetoric did'nt catch up for a while and the split with the Provisionals confused the issue , the Official IRA got caught up in a military campaign against the British presence in the North as much as did the Provos .
Although SFWP now seeks to minimise the significance of the issue , the Battle of the Lower Falls was a major 'macho boost' to the Officials in July 1970 . They boasted at the time that it was "...the first major battle between the forces of the Republic and the British Army since 1921 .. " - some enthusiasts even went so far as to claim that it was the heaviest military engagement involving the British Army since the Second World War - nowadays Tomas MacGiolla refers to it merely as a confrontation between the people of the Falls Road and the British Army : " Slates were thrown from the roofs .. " , he says , minimising the degree of military engagement * that occurred . ('1169...' Comment* - ...similar to the way that the Provos now refer to "a 30-year campaign.." , in the hope of convincing their new members that the struggle was a thirty-year one for 'civil rights' , instead of what it is - a freedom struggle which has been on-going for over 830 years .)
The military campaign of the Official IRA stepped up considerably in the months after the introduction of internment in August 1971 ; local OIRA O/C's were encouraged to 'out-do' the Provos in militancy - the Derry OIRA Officer Commanding at the time recalls being berated by very senior members of the Official IRA for not shooting enough British soldiers .......
(MORE LATER).
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
A HISTORY OF ARMAGH JAIL .......
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
In October 1980 , protesting POW's in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh began a hunger strike for political status ; on December 1 , 1980 , they were joined by three Republican women prisoners in Armagh Jail - Mairead Farrell , Mairead Nugent and Mary Doyle .
These were the only three women weighing more than eight-and-a-half stone . The 'no wash' protest was halted as the hunger strikes began : Westminster was reeling under fear of a Christmas bombing campaign , which hunger strike deaths would undoubtedly spark off . On December 18th , 1980 , a 30-page document was released outlining proposals and assurances from the British Government that , step by step , the five demands would be met .
The hunger strike was called off and the fulfilment of promises was awaited . They were never fulfilled . The condition of Pauline McLoughlin (vomiting constantly and rapidly losing weight) had been deteriorating . In October 1980 , the 'British Socialist Feminist Conference' (which was attended by 1,200 women) supported the demand for political status and pledged its aid to campaign for the release of Pauline McLoughlin from Armagh Jail ; after a sustained campaign in Ireland and Britain , Pauline McLoughlin was released on licence on January 10th , 1981 .
As the British Government was claiming that there had never been an agreement with the 1980 hunger strikers , and the possibility of concessions became more remote , another hunger strike began .......
(MORE LATER).
ELECTION INTERVENTIONS.......
Despite the fact that SINN FEIN has been contesting local elections in the 26 counties for more than two decades , much comment has been passed and incorrectly interpreted about Republican involvement in elections - north and south of the British-imposed border - in the past several months .
Here we review Republican interventions in the electoral process for the past century and more .
From 'IRIS' magazine , Volume 1 , Number 2 , November 1981 .
There is not and never has been a Republican principle on the issue of intervening in the electoral process although the Republican Movement has split on a number of occasions on the issue of attendence in colonial , neo-colonial or imperialist institutions. The Movement has suffered to some degree through the years from the effects of the various tendencies which have been in the ascendency during different periods .
Whether constitutional , militaristic or revolutionary , their lack of complete success - inevitable in the absence of a proper social and political consciousess - in achieving conditions by which the Irish people can re-establish the Republic has tended to thwart and obstruct efforts to apply the proper mixture of all three strategies to this end .
Only now , with a protracted war in the Six Counties - and the increasing politicisation which flows from it - sixty-three years after 1918 , is there the start of the beginning of a realisation of the need to secure such a strategy .
SOURCES for the above article :
' Land and the National Question in Ireland , 1858-1882' , by Paul Bew .
'Revolutionary Underground' , by Leon O' Broin .
'The Modernisation of Irish Society 1848-1918' , by Joseph Lee .
'Ourselves Alone' , by Robert Kee .
'The Irish Republic' , by Dorothy McArdle .
'Northern Ireland-The Orange State' , by Michael Farrell .
[END of 'ELECTION INTERVENTIONS'.]
(Tomorrow - ' Useful political interpretation of Irish Republicanism' : from 1981.)
IN THE SHADOW OF A GUNMAN .......
The aspirations of SINN FEIN THE WORKERS PARTY towards socialist respectability are undermined by the continued military operations of the OFFICIAL IRA and that Party's own ideoligical contortions .
From ' MAGILL' magazine , April 1982 .
By Vincent Browne.
In a recent interview on RTE's 'Day By Day' programme , Tomas MacGiolla , the President of Sinn Fein The Workers Party said - " I certainly have no knowledge of them (the Official IRA) . All I know is that I am convinced and I am aware that there is no question of any military organisation in any way associated with us at the present ." He went on to say - " I have no reason to think that (the Official IRA) still exists . Certainly it does'nt exist in any way down here . There was for some years a suggestion that it may have existed in the North and I pursued that there for quite a number of years to see any evidence of its existence and I am satisfied that it certainly does not exist in any association with us . "
In the course of the same RTE programme , Sean Garland said that in his July 1972 Carrighmore speech , Tomas MacGiolla had made it clear then that "...this party wanted nothing to do with such activities from then on . " Asked if he was still a member of the Official IRA Army Council he replied - " You're talking about today and we'll say 12 years ago , which is a long time . " The official stance of Sinn Fein The Workers Party nowadays is that as far as they are concerned the Official IRA went out of existence immediately after the July 1972 ceasefire : it is also suggested that the military campaign from 1970 until the ceasefire was 'an abberation' for which only a handful of 'hotheads' were responsible , while the SFWP leadership did what it could to stop the campaign all along !
The fact is that almost all the 100 or so members of the Official IRA are members of Sinn Fein The Workers Party . Like most organisations , SFWP remains to a large extent a prisoner of its past , although it has made remarkable efforts to disengage itself from its ideological heritage . The leftward drift of Sinn Fein during the 1960's under the direction of the Trinity intellectual Roy Johnson has been well chronicled by now . However , the significance of this development in terms of Marxism has been much exaggerated - it reflected much more the very non-marxist radicalism of the 1960's , more popularist , more issue-oriented in terms of fish-ins , housing agitation etc than a strict marxist strategy would allow . It was also very Republican , in the traditional sense of that word .
The 'National Question' remained central to its ideology and the struggle against "British imperialism" was seen as the focus of the party's main line of activity both in economic and nationalistic terms .......
(MORE LATER).
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
In October 1980 , protesting POW's in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh began a hunger strike for political status ; on December 1 , 1980 , they were joined by three Republican women prisoners in Armagh Jail - Mairead Farrell , Mairead Nugent and Mary Doyle .
These were the only three women weighing more than eight-and-a-half stone . The 'no wash' protest was halted as the hunger strikes began : Westminster was reeling under fear of a Christmas bombing campaign , which hunger strike deaths would undoubtedly spark off . On December 18th , 1980 , a 30-page document was released outlining proposals and assurances from the British Government that , step by step , the five demands would be met .
The hunger strike was called off and the fulfilment of promises was awaited . They were never fulfilled . The condition of Pauline McLoughlin (vomiting constantly and rapidly losing weight) had been deteriorating . In October 1980 , the 'British Socialist Feminist Conference' (which was attended by 1,200 women) supported the demand for political status and pledged its aid to campaign for the release of Pauline McLoughlin from Armagh Jail ; after a sustained campaign in Ireland and Britain , Pauline McLoughlin was released on licence on January 10th , 1981 .
As the British Government was claiming that there had never been an agreement with the 1980 hunger strikers , and the possibility of concessions became more remote , another hunger strike began .......
(MORE LATER).
ELECTION INTERVENTIONS.......
Despite the fact that SINN FEIN has been contesting local elections in the 26 counties for more than two decades , much comment has been passed and incorrectly interpreted about Republican involvement in elections - north and south of the British-imposed border - in the past several months .
Here we review Republican interventions in the electoral process for the past century and more .
From 'IRIS' magazine , Volume 1 , Number 2 , November 1981 .
There is not and never has been a Republican principle on the issue of intervening in the electoral process although the Republican Movement has split on a number of occasions on the issue of attendence in colonial , neo-colonial or imperialist institutions. The Movement has suffered to some degree through the years from the effects of the various tendencies which have been in the ascendency during different periods .
Whether constitutional , militaristic or revolutionary , their lack of complete success - inevitable in the absence of a proper social and political consciousess - in achieving conditions by which the Irish people can re-establish the Republic has tended to thwart and obstruct efforts to apply the proper mixture of all three strategies to this end .
Only now , with a protracted war in the Six Counties - and the increasing politicisation which flows from it - sixty-three years after 1918 , is there the start of the beginning of a realisation of the need to secure such a strategy .
SOURCES for the above article :
' Land and the National Question in Ireland , 1858-1882' , by Paul Bew .
'Revolutionary Underground' , by Leon O' Broin .
'The Modernisation of Irish Society 1848-1918' , by Joseph Lee .
'Ourselves Alone' , by Robert Kee .
'The Irish Republic' , by Dorothy McArdle .
'Northern Ireland-The Orange State' , by Michael Farrell .
[END of 'ELECTION INTERVENTIONS'.]
(Tomorrow - ' Useful political interpretation of Irish Republicanism' : from 1981.)
IN THE SHADOW OF A GUNMAN .......
The aspirations of SINN FEIN THE WORKERS PARTY towards socialist respectability are undermined by the continued military operations of the OFFICIAL IRA and that Party's own ideoligical contortions .
From ' MAGILL' magazine , April 1982 .
By Vincent Browne.
In a recent interview on RTE's 'Day By Day' programme , Tomas MacGiolla , the President of Sinn Fein The Workers Party said - " I certainly have no knowledge of them (the Official IRA) . All I know is that I am convinced and I am aware that there is no question of any military organisation in any way associated with us at the present ." He went on to say - " I have no reason to think that (the Official IRA) still exists . Certainly it does'nt exist in any way down here . There was for some years a suggestion that it may have existed in the North and I pursued that there for quite a number of years to see any evidence of its existence and I am satisfied that it certainly does not exist in any association with us . "
In the course of the same RTE programme , Sean Garland said that in his July 1972 Carrighmore speech , Tomas MacGiolla had made it clear then that "...this party wanted nothing to do with such activities from then on . " Asked if he was still a member of the Official IRA Army Council he replied - " You're talking about today and we'll say 12 years ago , which is a long time . " The official stance of Sinn Fein The Workers Party nowadays is that as far as they are concerned the Official IRA went out of existence immediately after the July 1972 ceasefire : it is also suggested that the military campaign from 1970 until the ceasefire was 'an abberation' for which only a handful of 'hotheads' were responsible , while the SFWP leadership did what it could to stop the campaign all along !
The fact is that almost all the 100 or so members of the Official IRA are members of Sinn Fein The Workers Party . Like most organisations , SFWP remains to a large extent a prisoner of its past , although it has made remarkable efforts to disengage itself from its ideological heritage . The leftward drift of Sinn Fein during the 1960's under the direction of the Trinity intellectual Roy Johnson has been well chronicled by now . However , the significance of this development in terms of Marxism has been much exaggerated - it reflected much more the very non-marxist radicalism of the 1960's , more popularist , more issue-oriented in terms of fish-ins , housing agitation etc than a strict marxist strategy would allow . It was also very Republican , in the traditional sense of that word .
The 'National Question' remained central to its ideology and the struggle against "British imperialism" was seen as the focus of the party's main line of activity both in economic and nationalistic terms .......
(MORE LATER).
Monday, November 14, 2005
A HISTORY OF ARMAGH JAIL .......
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
The details leading up to a sustained assault on the women prisoners by male and female prison officers , in February 1980 , are harrowing ; male warders had been on the prison wing for three days during which time the women were not allowed access to the toilet - they began to empty their excreta out of the spyholes and windows . When these were blocked up , they smeared it on the walls .
The women prisoners were offered a return to 'normality' if they would cease their ' no-work' protest for political status - this they refused to do . ('1169.....' Comment - we wonder how many of their sons and daughters are now members of this political party which , in 1998 , signed away that same right to political status in return for a political career ?) As their own excrement was almost the only part of their lives over which they could exercise control , they used it as another form of protesting against the political nature of their imprisonment .
In March 1980 , on the anniversary of their previous picket in 1979 , 'Women Against Imperialism' called for a mass demonstration ; feminists travelled from the rest of Ireland , from England , Scotand , Wales and elsewhere to support the prisoners' claim for political status and to assert the right of 'Women Against Imperialism' to picket their local jail on International Womens Day . Those pickets are now an annual event .
Protesting POW's in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh began a hunger strike for political status in October 1980 - they were soon to be joined in the protest by the women in Armagh Jail .......
(MORE LATER).
ELECTION INTERVENTIONS.......
Despite the fact that SINN FEIN has been contesting local elections in the 26 counties for more than two decades , much comment has been passed and incorrectly interpreted about Republican involvement in elections - north and south of the British-imposed border - in the past several months .
Here we review Republican interventions in the electoral process for the past century and more .
From 'IRIS' magazine , Volume 1 , Number 2 , November 1981 .
The Free State government called a general election for August 27th , 1923 ; Sinn Fein declared its intention to contest 87 seats on an abstentionist basis - the Free Staters moved against the Sinn Feiners . Harassment of election workers , arrests and attacks on Sinn Fein members (one man was killed) seriously disrupted Sinn Fein's election machine . Despite this , the Republicans returned 44 TD's , with the Staters winning 63 .
Later , in by-elections in November 1924 , Sinn Fein increased its vote in all five constituencies contested . The Republican underground government of the Second Dail continued to meet - in consulation now with those TD's elected in 1923 and 1924 - and although the Republican vote continued to rise in every by-election contested since the general election of 1923 , massive discriminatory laws against Republicans were forcing more and more activists - released from prison or home from a life 'on the run' - into exile . The Free State government's system of patronage and its use of the oath to the Free State constitution as a condition of employment in almost every sphere of work made it most difficult for Republicans to live in Ireland : in 1925 , more than 30,000 people emigrated to countries outside Europe .
The victory of 1918 was reduced to ashes ; nine short years after the Easter Rising - exhausted and demoralised by a bloody war against the British and by a shorter but bloodier war between Irishmen - the Irish people had nothing but partition and embitterment to show for their aspirations and struggle . Republican Ireland is still recovering from the effects of that period in our history ; partition , with its effects , has become one of the single greatest obstacles to the unity of the Irish people . Republicans have contested elections since then - with varying degrees of success - in 26 County , 6 County and Westminster elections.......
(MORE LATER).
IN THE SHADOW OF A GUNMAN .......
The aspirations of SINN FEIN THE WORKERS PARTY towards socialist respectability are undermined by the continued military operations of the OFFICIAL IRA and that Party's own ideoligical contortions .
From ' MAGILL' magazine , April 1982 .
By Vincent Browne.
The man in charge of the eight-man Official IRA punishment squad is from the North and was formerly a member of Clann na hEireann (the Sinn Fein Workers Party British support organisation) and was deported from England ; he carried out several robberies in that country for the organisation prior to his deportation . It was he who led the gang of eight men to The Dockers Pub that Sunday morning and it was he who assembled that gang for the operation . They had convened earlier that morning in a house near the North Strand in Dublin , a place where the Official IRA Dubin Unit still meets regularly . Information about this incident comes primarily from one of the eight men who were involved , and from one of the victims .
People who were members of the Official IRA until recently tell us that there is no way that this incident could have happened without explicit authorisation for it from a senior Officer in the Official IRA , who is also a member of Sinn Fein The Workers Party . As the two victims had been involved with the Communist Party there were protests from the latter about this incident to the leadership of SFWP , who denied any knowledge of the attack or the involvement of any of its members in the whole affair .
In the course of an interview for this article with Tomas MacGiolla , President of SFWP , and Sean Garland , General Secretary , they both recalled hearing of the incident at the time and remembered the correspondence with the Communist Party - they both denied that members of SFWP had been involved and said that as they were unaware of the existence of the Official IRA they were not in a position to make any observations about its involvement or otherwise in the incident . Such incidents are almost unique in the South of Ireland , where SFWP is keen to project a respectable image while it competes for votes as a regular conventional politial party of the left . But those incidents are commonplace in the North of Ireland .
The leadership of Sinn Fein The Workers Party now consistently deny any knowledge of the Official IRA or any involvement by the party in military activity .......
(MORE LATER).
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
The details leading up to a sustained assault on the women prisoners by male and female prison officers , in February 1980 , are harrowing ; male warders had been on the prison wing for three days during which time the women were not allowed access to the toilet - they began to empty their excreta out of the spyholes and windows . When these were blocked up , they smeared it on the walls .
The women prisoners were offered a return to 'normality' if they would cease their ' no-work' protest for political status - this they refused to do . ('1169.....' Comment - we wonder how many of their sons and daughters are now members of this political party which , in 1998 , signed away that same right to political status in return for a political career ?) As their own excrement was almost the only part of their lives over which they could exercise control , they used it as another form of protesting against the political nature of their imprisonment .
In March 1980 , on the anniversary of their previous picket in 1979 , 'Women Against Imperialism' called for a mass demonstration ; feminists travelled from the rest of Ireland , from England , Scotand , Wales and elsewhere to support the prisoners' claim for political status and to assert the right of 'Women Against Imperialism' to picket their local jail on International Womens Day . Those pickets are now an annual event .
Protesting POW's in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh began a hunger strike for political status in October 1980 - they were soon to be joined in the protest by the women in Armagh Jail .......
(MORE LATER).
ELECTION INTERVENTIONS.......
Despite the fact that SINN FEIN has been contesting local elections in the 26 counties for more than two decades , much comment has been passed and incorrectly interpreted about Republican involvement in elections - north and south of the British-imposed border - in the past several months .
Here we review Republican interventions in the electoral process for the past century and more .
From 'IRIS' magazine , Volume 1 , Number 2 , November 1981 .
The Free State government called a general election for August 27th , 1923 ; Sinn Fein declared its intention to contest 87 seats on an abstentionist basis - the Free Staters moved against the Sinn Feiners . Harassment of election workers , arrests and attacks on Sinn Fein members (one man was killed) seriously disrupted Sinn Fein's election machine . Despite this , the Republicans returned 44 TD's , with the Staters winning 63 .
Later , in by-elections in November 1924 , Sinn Fein increased its vote in all five constituencies contested . The Republican underground government of the Second Dail continued to meet - in consulation now with those TD's elected in 1923 and 1924 - and although the Republican vote continued to rise in every by-election contested since the general election of 1923 , massive discriminatory laws against Republicans were forcing more and more activists - released from prison or home from a life 'on the run' - into exile . The Free State government's system of patronage and its use of the oath to the Free State constitution as a condition of employment in almost every sphere of work made it most difficult for Republicans to live in Ireland : in 1925 , more than 30,000 people emigrated to countries outside Europe .
The victory of 1918 was reduced to ashes ; nine short years after the Easter Rising - exhausted and demoralised by a bloody war against the British and by a shorter but bloodier war between Irishmen - the Irish people had nothing but partition and embitterment to show for their aspirations and struggle . Republican Ireland is still recovering from the effects of that period in our history ; partition , with its effects , has become one of the single greatest obstacles to the unity of the Irish people . Republicans have contested elections since then - with varying degrees of success - in 26 County , 6 County and Westminster elections.......
(MORE LATER).
IN THE SHADOW OF A GUNMAN .......
The aspirations of SINN FEIN THE WORKERS PARTY towards socialist respectability are undermined by the continued military operations of the OFFICIAL IRA and that Party's own ideoligical contortions .
From ' MAGILL' magazine , April 1982 .
By Vincent Browne.
The man in charge of the eight-man Official IRA punishment squad is from the North and was formerly a member of Clann na hEireann (the Sinn Fein Workers Party British support organisation) and was deported from England ; he carried out several robberies in that country for the organisation prior to his deportation . It was he who led the gang of eight men to The Dockers Pub that Sunday morning and it was he who assembled that gang for the operation . They had convened earlier that morning in a house near the North Strand in Dublin , a place where the Official IRA Dubin Unit still meets regularly . Information about this incident comes primarily from one of the eight men who were involved , and from one of the victims .
People who were members of the Official IRA until recently tell us that there is no way that this incident could have happened without explicit authorisation for it from a senior Officer in the Official IRA , who is also a member of Sinn Fein The Workers Party . As the two victims had been involved with the Communist Party there were protests from the latter about this incident to the leadership of SFWP , who denied any knowledge of the attack or the involvement of any of its members in the whole affair .
In the course of an interview for this article with Tomas MacGiolla , President of SFWP , and Sean Garland , General Secretary , they both recalled hearing of the incident at the time and remembered the correspondence with the Communist Party - they both denied that members of SFWP had been involved and said that as they were unaware of the existence of the Official IRA they were not in a position to make any observations about its involvement or otherwise in the incident . Such incidents are almost unique in the South of Ireland , where SFWP is keen to project a respectable image while it competes for votes as a regular conventional politial party of the left . But those incidents are commonplace in the North of Ireland .
The leadership of Sinn Fein The Workers Party now consistently deny any knowledge of the Official IRA or any involvement by the party in military activity .......
(MORE LATER).
Friday, November 11, 2005
A HISTORY OF ARMAGH JAIL .......
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
A peaceful picket outside Armagh Jail in 1979 had just ended and those present were about to leave ; suddenly , the RUC charged into the 50-strong crowd - eleven women eventually stood 'trial' on charges arising out of the picket . All were fined but two opted to serve prison sentences rather than 'acknowledge criminality' .
A Tribunal exposing the conditions in Armagh Jail and publicising the charges against those arrested on the picket was held ; the Tribunal heard disturbing facts about the conditions of the protesting women - a woman who should have been on an ulcer diet was being treated instead with valium . Another , who eventually had to be hospitalised , was told that the pains in her stomach existed only in her imagination !
Meanwhile , Pauline McLoughlin , a woman who was so ill that she vomited constantly and was rapidly losing weight , was not getting adequate care . On February 7 , 1980 , there was what can only be described as mass assaults by male and female prison officers on the women in B Wing , Armagh Jail ; the resultant bruises and swellings were noted by the prison chaplain , Fr. Raymond Murray , and by Bishop Edward Daly who visited the jail on February 13 , 1980 .
The details of those assaults have been documented in both ' On The Blanket' by Tim Pat Coogan and ' The Armagh Women' by Nell McCafferty : the details are harrowing.......
(MORE LATER).
ELECTION INTERVENTIONS.......
Despite the fact that SINN FEIN has been contesting local elections in the 26 counties for more than two decades , much comment has been passed and incorrectly interpreted about Republican involvement in elections - north and south of the British-imposed border - in the past several months .
Here we review Republican interventions in the electoral process for the past century and more .
From 'IRIS' magazine , Volume 1 , Number 2 , November 1981 .
As a means of keeping the de jure government - Dail Eireann - in being , the IRA initiated a meeting of Republican deputies who had remained faithful to the Republic ; that meeting was held on September 9th , 1922 and constituted itself as the 'Second Dail' . Eamon de Valera was elected as President and an 'Emergency Government' was appointed . This action , taken by the IRA , was in accordance with a resolution of Dail Eireann which provided for the IRA having the power to proclaim an 'Emergency Government' if enemy action at any time prevented democratic means of securing a Republican government .
This re-constituted Republican government was not able to function - a fact which Liam Mellows was at pains to criticise . Although regarded by a large section of the population as the only de jure government it could do little more than represent the protest against the seizure of power by the pro-Treaty party and place the logical and constitutional facts of the situation on record by means of statements and proclamations .
In May 1923 , the defence of the Republic by armed struggle was suspended : from April 1922 until May 1923 , the fighting had raged throughout the country until the Republican forces , encircled and isolated , were forced to dump arms . The Republican Army had lost some of its best leaders ; the Republican institutions had been smashed and British interests were being protected ".. with an economy of English lives.. " ('1169...' Comment - ...and those in Leinster House have been doing that ever since .)
The Free State government called a general election for August 27th , 1923 ; although 11,316 Republicans were still interned , Sinn Fein contested eighty-seven seats on an abstentionist ticket - because of the oath to the Free State constitution and the English 'king' : the Free Staters moved against the Sinn Fein organisation .......
(MORE LATER).
IN THE SHADOW OF A GUNMAN .
The aspirations of SINN FEIN THE WORKERS PARTY towards socialist respectability are undermined by the continued military operations of the OFFICIAL IRA and that Party's own ideoligical contortions .
From ' MAGILL' magazine , April 1982 .
By Vincent Browne.
Prior to Christmas three years ago a row , involving a full-time Official of Sinn Fein The Workers Party , broke out in a Dublin pub , The Dockers, on Sir John Rogerson's Quay . The row resulted in the party Official stabbing a broken glass in the face of one of two of his antagonists , both of whom were former members of Sinn Fein The Workers Party . Inevitably , there were threats of retribution .
These former members , brothers , had been involved on a number of previous occasions in conflicts with other SFWP Officials - indeed , there had previously been a row with the same SFWP Official at the party's drinking club , 'Club Ui Cadhain' , at Gardiner Place in Dublin city centre . Somebody obviously decided that the Dockers Pub incident was the last straw and that the two brothers would have to be taught a lesson : the Sunday morning after the row two cars carrying eight men drew up outside The Dockers ; the men , several of whom were armed , went into the pub and singed out the two brothers , having warned the rest of the Sunday morning drinking crowd to stand back and mind their own business .
They then beat the two brothers over the head with hatchets , causing them very serious injury . A girl who was with one of the brothers and who was then a current member of Sinn Fein The Workers Party , was beaten when she protested . She had been involved with a senior member of the party some time previously and this may have been an aggravating factor in the dispute . Seven of the eight men were members of SFWP - all were members of the Official IRA , some of them from the Dublin Unit OIRA and some from Belfast , including one of the most notorious 'heavies' of the latter organisation in the North , who is now in jail on an arms offence . The other person from that eight-man gang , who is not a member of SFWP , is perhaps the most interesting of that group .
He occupies a very senior position on the GHQ Staff of the Official IRA , and has been involved in numerous robberies over the last several years , and is believed to have murdered a prominent individual in Dublin in the course of the last five years .......
(MORE LATER).
(We would like to wish the Republican Movement well and congratulate them on their 101st Ard Fheis , which is being held in Dublin this weekend : 100 years of unbroken continuity ! )
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
A peaceful picket outside Armagh Jail in 1979 had just ended and those present were about to leave ; suddenly , the RUC charged into the 50-strong crowd - eleven women eventually stood 'trial' on charges arising out of the picket . All were fined but two opted to serve prison sentences rather than 'acknowledge criminality' .
A Tribunal exposing the conditions in Armagh Jail and publicising the charges against those arrested on the picket was held ; the Tribunal heard disturbing facts about the conditions of the protesting women - a woman who should have been on an ulcer diet was being treated instead with valium . Another , who eventually had to be hospitalised , was told that the pains in her stomach existed only in her imagination !
Meanwhile , Pauline McLoughlin , a woman who was so ill that she vomited constantly and was rapidly losing weight , was not getting adequate care . On February 7 , 1980 , there was what can only be described as mass assaults by male and female prison officers on the women in B Wing , Armagh Jail ; the resultant bruises and swellings were noted by the prison chaplain , Fr. Raymond Murray , and by Bishop Edward Daly who visited the jail on February 13 , 1980 .
The details of those assaults have been documented in both ' On The Blanket' by Tim Pat Coogan and ' The Armagh Women' by Nell McCafferty : the details are harrowing.......
(MORE LATER).
ELECTION INTERVENTIONS.......
Despite the fact that SINN FEIN has been contesting local elections in the 26 counties for more than two decades , much comment has been passed and incorrectly interpreted about Republican involvement in elections - north and south of the British-imposed border - in the past several months .
Here we review Republican interventions in the electoral process for the past century and more .
From 'IRIS' magazine , Volume 1 , Number 2 , November 1981 .
As a means of keeping the de jure government - Dail Eireann - in being , the IRA initiated a meeting of Republican deputies who had remained faithful to the Republic ; that meeting was held on September 9th , 1922 and constituted itself as the 'Second Dail' . Eamon de Valera was elected as President and an 'Emergency Government' was appointed . This action , taken by the IRA , was in accordance with a resolution of Dail Eireann which provided for the IRA having the power to proclaim an 'Emergency Government' if enemy action at any time prevented democratic means of securing a Republican government .
This re-constituted Republican government was not able to function - a fact which Liam Mellows was at pains to criticise . Although regarded by a large section of the population as the only de jure government it could do little more than represent the protest against the seizure of power by the pro-Treaty party and place the logical and constitutional facts of the situation on record by means of statements and proclamations .
In May 1923 , the defence of the Republic by armed struggle was suspended : from April 1922 until May 1923 , the fighting had raged throughout the country until the Republican forces , encircled and isolated , were forced to dump arms . The Republican Army had lost some of its best leaders ; the Republican institutions had been smashed and British interests were being protected ".. with an economy of English lives.. " ('1169...' Comment - ...and those in Leinster House have been doing that ever since .)
The Free State government called a general election for August 27th , 1923 ; although 11,316 Republicans were still interned , Sinn Fein contested eighty-seven seats on an abstentionist ticket - because of the oath to the Free State constitution and the English 'king' : the Free Staters moved against the Sinn Fein organisation .......
(MORE LATER).
IN THE SHADOW OF A GUNMAN .
The aspirations of SINN FEIN THE WORKERS PARTY towards socialist respectability are undermined by the continued military operations of the OFFICIAL IRA and that Party's own ideoligical contortions .
From ' MAGILL' magazine , April 1982 .
By Vincent Browne.
Prior to Christmas three years ago a row , involving a full-time Official of Sinn Fein The Workers Party , broke out in a Dublin pub , The Dockers, on Sir John Rogerson's Quay . The row resulted in the party Official stabbing a broken glass in the face of one of two of his antagonists , both of whom were former members of Sinn Fein The Workers Party . Inevitably , there were threats of retribution .
These former members , brothers , had been involved on a number of previous occasions in conflicts with other SFWP Officials - indeed , there had previously been a row with the same SFWP Official at the party's drinking club , 'Club Ui Cadhain' , at Gardiner Place in Dublin city centre . Somebody obviously decided that the Dockers Pub incident was the last straw and that the two brothers would have to be taught a lesson : the Sunday morning after the row two cars carrying eight men drew up outside The Dockers ; the men , several of whom were armed , went into the pub and singed out the two brothers , having warned the rest of the Sunday morning drinking crowd to stand back and mind their own business .
They then beat the two brothers over the head with hatchets , causing them very serious injury . A girl who was with one of the brothers and who was then a current member of Sinn Fein The Workers Party , was beaten when she protested . She had been involved with a senior member of the party some time previously and this may have been an aggravating factor in the dispute . Seven of the eight men were members of SFWP - all were members of the Official IRA , some of them from the Dublin Unit OIRA and some from Belfast , including one of the most notorious 'heavies' of the latter organisation in the North , who is now in jail on an arms offence . The other person from that eight-man gang , who is not a member of SFWP , is perhaps the most interesting of that group .
He occupies a very senior position on the GHQ Staff of the Official IRA , and has been involved in numerous robberies over the last several years , and is believed to have murdered a prominent individual in Dublin in the course of the last five years .......
(MORE LATER).
(We would like to wish the Republican Movement well and congratulate them on their 101st Ard Fheis , which is being held in Dublin this weekend : 100 years of unbroken continuity ! )
Thursday, November 10, 2005
A HISTORY OF ARMAGH JAIL .......
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
1976 saw the formation of the Relatives Action Committees ; they were mainly women relatives of political prisoners who , finding the added financial strain of visits and food parcels and the deteriorating situation in the jails going un-noticed , got together to draw attention to what was happening .
The Committees worked hard and long , raising money , spreading information and touring Europe , America and Britain raising support for the prisoners : they were later to form the backbone of the H-Block/Armagh Committees which mushroomed during the hunger-strikes . A group called ' Women Against Imperialism ' , believing that feminists could no longer pretend neutrality on the national question , had broken away from the Belfast Women's Collective .
The 'Women Against Imperialism' group marked the linking of the struggles for women's liberation and national liberation by picketing Armagh Jail on International Women's Day 1979 - it was known that , in May 1978 , following disturbances among remand prisoners , a squad of male prison offices in riot gear had locked the women in the cells for a number of weeks .
The picket in 1979 was attended by about 50 people ; when it had ended and those on the picket were about to leave , the RUC charged into the crowd .......
(MORE LATER).
ELECTION INTERVENTIONS.......
Despite the fact that SINN FEIN has been contesting local elections in the 26 counties for more than two decades , much comment has been passed and incorrectly interpreted about Republican involvement in elections - north and south of the British-imposed border - in the past several months .
Here we review Republican interventions in the electoral process for the past century and more .
From 'IRIS' magazine , Volume 1 , Number 2 , November 1981 .
The July 31st , 1922 elections left the country swept by rumour : the IRA were holding on to their garrisoned positions and Belfast was fired by pogroms . Eamonn de Valera awaited a call from Michael Collins to forward the names selected by his party for the coalition cabinet - that call , understandably , never came . Sinn Fein - a nationalist movement more than a doctrinaire Republican party - was broken and while the legitimacy of the First Dail remained intact , de jure legitimacy was to be no match for the de facto control exerted ruthlessly by those who now formed the first Free State government .
For parliamentarian republicans - with the repudiation by the IRA of all civil control and a policy of coercion from the parliament itself - only a limited number of options were available . Some had the view that until the Second Dail was formally resolved no other assembly should be recognised as legal ; among these , some contested that those deputies who had broken their oath by conspiring to overthrow the Republic had forfeited their right to sit in Dail Eireann and that the Dail deputies who had remained faithful to the Republic would have the constitutional right to act as the 'Second Dail' .
Others , including de Valera , believed that Republican TD's should go and claim their seats , whether in a 'Second' or a 'Third' Dail ; he discussed this with Mulcahy (of the Free State government) who insisted that the Treaty must be accepted as a condition for attendence in the parliament . This the parliamentarian republicans rejected .......
(MORE LATER).
23 DAYS IN HELL : THE STORY OF THE O'GRADY KIDNAPPING .......
The Gardai had in their possession a clue which could have led them to the O'Grady kidnappers and their captive some ten days earlier .
A card found in a rucksack after the Midleton shoot-out led them directly to the gang once they checked it out - but this was ten days later , by which time John O 'Grady had lost two of his fingers .
First published in 'MAGILL' Magazine , May 1988 .
By Michael O'Higgins .
Dessie O' Hare told the court that his wife , Claire , had been as much a hostage as John O' Grady had been . Claire O' Hare , who is also charged with the kidnap , had opted for a separate trial .
During his speech from the dock Dessie O' Hare told the court that the only justice in Ireland came through the barrel of a gun ; he faltered at one point when he looked up to the packed public gallery - the family of Jimmy McDaid was staring intently at him . Dessie O' Hare and Eddie Hogan got forty years . Tony McNeill received a fifteen year sentence . Fergal Toal got twenty years . The court treated the fourth accused more leniently - Gerry Wright got just seven years .
[END of ' 23 DAYS IN HELL : THE STORY OF THE O'GRADY KIDNAPPING ' .]
(Tomorrow - 'In The Shadow Of A Gunman' - from 1982.)
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
1976 saw the formation of the Relatives Action Committees ; they were mainly women relatives of political prisoners who , finding the added financial strain of visits and food parcels and the deteriorating situation in the jails going un-noticed , got together to draw attention to what was happening .
The Committees worked hard and long , raising money , spreading information and touring Europe , America and Britain raising support for the prisoners : they were later to form the backbone of the H-Block/Armagh Committees which mushroomed during the hunger-strikes . A group called ' Women Against Imperialism ' , believing that feminists could no longer pretend neutrality on the national question , had broken away from the Belfast Women's Collective .
The 'Women Against Imperialism' group marked the linking of the struggles for women's liberation and national liberation by picketing Armagh Jail on International Women's Day 1979 - it was known that , in May 1978 , following disturbances among remand prisoners , a squad of male prison offices in riot gear had locked the women in the cells for a number of weeks .
The picket in 1979 was attended by about 50 people ; when it had ended and those on the picket were about to leave , the RUC charged into the crowd .......
(MORE LATER).
ELECTION INTERVENTIONS.......
Despite the fact that SINN FEIN has been contesting local elections in the 26 counties for more than two decades , much comment has been passed and incorrectly interpreted about Republican involvement in elections - north and south of the British-imposed border - in the past several months .
Here we review Republican interventions in the electoral process for the past century and more .
From 'IRIS' magazine , Volume 1 , Number 2 , November 1981 .
The July 31st , 1922 elections left the country swept by rumour : the IRA were holding on to their garrisoned positions and Belfast was fired by pogroms . Eamonn de Valera awaited a call from Michael Collins to forward the names selected by his party for the coalition cabinet - that call , understandably , never came . Sinn Fein - a nationalist movement more than a doctrinaire Republican party - was broken and while the legitimacy of the First Dail remained intact , de jure legitimacy was to be no match for the de facto control exerted ruthlessly by those who now formed the first Free State government .
For parliamentarian republicans - with the repudiation by the IRA of all civil control and a policy of coercion from the parliament itself - only a limited number of options were available . Some had the view that until the Second Dail was formally resolved no other assembly should be recognised as legal ; among these , some contested that those deputies who had broken their oath by conspiring to overthrow the Republic had forfeited their right to sit in Dail Eireann and that the Dail deputies who had remained faithful to the Republic would have the constitutional right to act as the 'Second Dail' .
Others , including de Valera , believed that Republican TD's should go and claim their seats , whether in a 'Second' or a 'Third' Dail ; he discussed this with Mulcahy (of the Free State government) who insisted that the Treaty must be accepted as a condition for attendence in the parliament . This the parliamentarian republicans rejected .......
(MORE LATER).
23 DAYS IN HELL : THE STORY OF THE O'GRADY KIDNAPPING .......
The Gardai had in their possession a clue which could have led them to the O'Grady kidnappers and their captive some ten days earlier .
A card found in a rucksack after the Midleton shoot-out led them directly to the gang once they checked it out - but this was ten days later , by which time John O 'Grady had lost two of his fingers .
First published in 'MAGILL' Magazine , May 1988 .
By Michael O'Higgins .
Dessie O' Hare told the court that his wife , Claire , had been as much a hostage as John O' Grady had been . Claire O' Hare , who is also charged with the kidnap , had opted for a separate trial .
During his speech from the dock Dessie O' Hare told the court that the only justice in Ireland came through the barrel of a gun ; he faltered at one point when he looked up to the packed public gallery - the family of Jimmy McDaid was staring intently at him . Dessie O' Hare and Eddie Hogan got forty years . Tony McNeill received a fifteen year sentence . Fergal Toal got twenty years . The court treated the fourth accused more leniently - Gerry Wright got just seven years .
[END of ' 23 DAYS IN HELL : THE STORY OF THE O'GRADY KIDNAPPING ' .]
(Tomorrow - 'In The Shadow Of A Gunman' - from 1982.)
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
A HISTORY OF ARMAGH JAIL .......
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
The British policy of 'Normalisation' meant that the trappings of 'democracy' had to appear to be present - a large number of political prisoners would seem inconsistent with 'democracy' , so the hitherto recognised Special Category Status was removed and , to the outside world , the North appeared to undergo an 800 per cent increase in "crime rate" in the space of just seven years !
Internment was gone and people were to be 'processed' through the courts : but the 'trials' were to be held in non-jury courts , following up to seven days interrogation . There were to be special 'scheduled' offences which were to carry especially long , mandatory sentences . People could be arrested without charge and uncorroborated 'evidence' was to be accepted by the 'court' as sufficient proof of guilt.
The only trouble for the British Government was that the prisoners refused to accept the 'status' of "common criminals" ; as the numbers of those convicted under the Diplock (non-jury court) system increased , so too did the number of relatives of prisoners who were becoming aware that anyone who was unfortunate enough to get arrested on the whim of the 'security forces' had little hope of jumping off the conveyor belt which would eventually drop her or him into prison.......
(MORE LATER).
ELECTION INTERVENTIONS.......
Despite the fact that SINN FEIN has been contesting local elections in the 26 counties for more than two decades , much comment has been passed and incorrectly interpreted about Republican involvement in elections - north and south of the British-imposed border - in the past several months .
Here we review Republican interventions in the electoral process for the past century and more .
From 'IRIS' magazine , Volume 1 , Number 2 , November 1981 .
A pact was agreed between the Irish Republicans and the (Free State) 'Treatyites' in which it was agreed that the July 31st , 1922 elections would not be considered as deciding the issue of the Treaty but as creating a government to preserve peace .
It provided for a National Coalition Government : Sinn Fein was to put forward a panel of candidates - sixty-six nominated by the 'Treatyites' and fifty-eight by the Republicans . The new government would consist of four Republicans , five pro-Treaty members , a President - to be elected by the Dail (presumably pro-Treaty) - and the Minister of Defence , to be elected by the Army - and therefore most likely to be a Republican , given the (Republican) Army's opposition to the Treaty .
Contrary to the agreements of the pact the new Free State Constitution appeared in the newspapers the following day - this had the obvious and intended consequence of confusing the election results . The Treaty party proclaimed the return of 94 Coalition candidates as an endorsement of the Treaty while the Republican side obviously contested this . The Constitution for the Free State was in fact the British government's interpretation of the Treaty - a diluted 'Home Rule'-type of arrangement and a basis upon which Republicans obviously could not co-operate .
The disaster of becoming involved in the election for the Second Dail had tied the parliamentarian 'republicans' to a semantical debate about the integrity and status of a " Third Dail " which had , in fact , been diluted to a Constituent Assembly , tied to implementing British policy and supplied with British legislation and British guns for that purpose .......
(MORE LATER).
23 DAYS IN HELL : THE STORY OF THE O'GRADY KIDNAPPING .......
The Gardai had in their possession a clue which could have led them to the O'Grady kidnappers and their captive some ten days earlier .
A card found in a rucksack after the Midleton shoot-out led them directly to the gang once they checked it out - but this was ten days later , by which time John O 'Grady had lost two of his fingers .
First published in 'MAGILL' Magazine , May 1988 .
By Michael O'Higgins .
When the John O' Grady kidnap trial opened , the decision by the accused to plead guilty was greeted with surprise ; however , given the weight of evidence against them , this was inevitable .
Tony McNeill and Gerry Wright had made statements in custody , admitting involvement . There were dozens of fingerprints of the kidnap gang in Carnlough Road and at the site of the container at Midleton . At Carnlough Road the gang got bored and Eddie Hogan and Fergal Toal took photographs of each other armed with shotguns - they had'nt even bothered to wear balaclavas .
Dessie O' Hare was unrepentant ; McNeill , Hogan and Toal were acting under military orders , he told the court . Gerry Wright had been duped into helping them initially by the promise to shoot the man responsible for killing his brother and , later , by threats .......
(MORE LATER).
(Thank you for the kind comments , Cathal - glad we could help ! Sharon.)
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
The British policy of 'Normalisation' meant that the trappings of 'democracy' had to appear to be present - a large number of political prisoners would seem inconsistent with 'democracy' , so the hitherto recognised Special Category Status was removed and , to the outside world , the North appeared to undergo an 800 per cent increase in "crime rate" in the space of just seven years !
Internment was gone and people were to be 'processed' through the courts : but the 'trials' were to be held in non-jury courts , following up to seven days interrogation . There were to be special 'scheduled' offences which were to carry especially long , mandatory sentences . People could be arrested without charge and uncorroborated 'evidence' was to be accepted by the 'court' as sufficient proof of guilt.
The only trouble for the British Government was that the prisoners refused to accept the 'status' of "common criminals" ; as the numbers of those convicted under the Diplock (non-jury court) system increased , so too did the number of relatives of prisoners who were becoming aware that anyone who was unfortunate enough to get arrested on the whim of the 'security forces' had little hope of jumping off the conveyor belt which would eventually drop her or him into prison.......
(MORE LATER).
ELECTION INTERVENTIONS.......
Despite the fact that SINN FEIN has been contesting local elections in the 26 counties for more than two decades , much comment has been passed and incorrectly interpreted about Republican involvement in elections - north and south of the British-imposed border - in the past several months .
Here we review Republican interventions in the electoral process for the past century and more .
From 'IRIS' magazine , Volume 1 , Number 2 , November 1981 .
A pact was agreed between the Irish Republicans and the (Free State) 'Treatyites' in which it was agreed that the July 31st , 1922 elections would not be considered as deciding the issue of the Treaty but as creating a government to preserve peace .
It provided for a National Coalition Government : Sinn Fein was to put forward a panel of candidates - sixty-six nominated by the 'Treatyites' and fifty-eight by the Republicans . The new government would consist of four Republicans , five pro-Treaty members , a President - to be elected by the Dail (presumably pro-Treaty) - and the Minister of Defence , to be elected by the Army - and therefore most likely to be a Republican , given the (Republican) Army's opposition to the Treaty .
Contrary to the agreements of the pact the new Free State Constitution appeared in the newspapers the following day - this had the obvious and intended consequence of confusing the election results . The Treaty party proclaimed the return of 94 Coalition candidates as an endorsement of the Treaty while the Republican side obviously contested this . The Constitution for the Free State was in fact the British government's interpretation of the Treaty - a diluted 'Home Rule'-type of arrangement and a basis upon which Republicans obviously could not co-operate .
The disaster of becoming involved in the election for the Second Dail had tied the parliamentarian 'republicans' to a semantical debate about the integrity and status of a " Third Dail " which had , in fact , been diluted to a Constituent Assembly , tied to implementing British policy and supplied with British legislation and British guns for that purpose .......
(MORE LATER).
23 DAYS IN HELL : THE STORY OF THE O'GRADY KIDNAPPING .......
The Gardai had in their possession a clue which could have led them to the O'Grady kidnappers and their captive some ten days earlier .
A card found in a rucksack after the Midleton shoot-out led them directly to the gang once they checked it out - but this was ten days later , by which time John O 'Grady had lost two of his fingers .
First published in 'MAGILL' Magazine , May 1988 .
By Michael O'Higgins .
When the John O' Grady kidnap trial opened , the decision by the accused to plead guilty was greeted with surprise ; however , given the weight of evidence against them , this was inevitable .
Tony McNeill and Gerry Wright had made statements in custody , admitting involvement . There were dozens of fingerprints of the kidnap gang in Carnlough Road and at the site of the container at Midleton . At Carnlough Road the gang got bored and Eddie Hogan and Fergal Toal took photographs of each other armed with shotguns - they had'nt even bothered to wear balaclavas .
Dessie O' Hare was unrepentant ; McNeill , Hogan and Toal were acting under military orders , he told the court . Gerry Wright had been duped into helping them initially by the promise to shoot the man responsible for killing his brother and , later , by threats .......
(MORE LATER).
(Thank you for the kind comments , Cathal - glad we could help ! Sharon.)
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
A HISTORY OF ARMAGH JAIL .......
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
In 1976 , Westminster introduced a new three-pronged strategy into its illegal occupation of the North-East of Ireland - Criminalisation , Ulsterisation and Normalisation . The latter was the pretence that the contradiction between the demands of the Civil Rights Movement and the intransigent bigotry of the loyalists had been resolved .
In order to make the North appear to be more like a Western-type 'liberal democracy' , the other two strategies were needed . Because having 25,000 British soldiers in Ireland made the situation look more like war than 'peace-keeping' , the British Government set up the 'Ulster Defence Regiment' (UDR) who would replace some of the British soldiers . The fact that the UDR was composed of some of the most bigoted , anti-Catholic individuals in the Six Counties did not appear to cause any great concern at Westminster .
The fact that they are 'security' personnel enables members of the UDR to take advantage of surveillance to gain the necessary knowledge to carry out sectarian assassinations eg in 1983 an IRSP member was shot dead returning from the dole office on the first day that he had attended at a new time . In this case , and many others , there was inside information . At present , 10 UDR members are awaiting trial for murders of Catholics , some of which were initially claimed by the 'Protestant Action Force' . In addition to setting up the UDR , Westminster made provision for the numbers of RUC (the 'policeforce') to be increased .
The British policy of 'Normalisation' also impacted on the political prisoners .......
(MORE LATER).
ELECTION INTERVENTIONS.......
Despite the fact that SINN FEIN has been contesting local elections in the 26 counties for more than two decades , much comment has been passed and incorrectly interpreted about Republican involvement in elections - north and south of the British-imposed border - in the past several months .
Here we review Republican interventions in the electoral process for the past century and more .
From 'IRIS' magazine , Volume 1 , Number 2 , November 1981 .
Sinn Fein split over the December 1921 Treaty of Surrender and , by a majority of seven , Dail Eireann recommended the people of Ireland to surrender the Republic proclaimed in 1916 , ratified by democratic sanction in 1918 and defended since its proclamation by immeasurable effort and sacrifice . Sixty-four TD's voted for acceptance of the Treaty and fifty-seven voted against .
A proper analysis of why this happened - or the bloodshed which followed - is outside the scope of this article , dealing as we do here merely with Republican involvement in the electoral process . While every effort has been made to do this against the outline of the social and political conditions which prevailed (and of the forces at play within both British and nationalist camps) to get a detailed view of this , or any other , period , readers are advised to read any of the many informative studies available .
For our purposes it is sufficient to state that the 'Treatyites' formed a provisional government and prepared to implement the Treaty while the Republicans prepared to defend the Republic ; on March 8th , 1922 , the British Government passed the 'Irish Free State (Agreement) Bill' which , among other things , stipulated that an election should be held before July 31st , 1922 , to elect a provisional parliament which would be ratified and given 'powers' , under a Free State Constitution , by another British Act which was to be passed no later than December 6th , 1922 .
A pact was agreed between the Republicans and the 'Treatyites' in which it was agreed that the July 31st election would not be considered as deciding the issue of the Treaty , but as ' creating a 'government' to preserve peace' .......
(MORE LATER).
23 DAYS IN HELL : THE STORY OF THE O'GRADY KIDNAPPING .......
The Gardai had in their possession a clue which could have led them to the O'Grady kidnappers and their captive some ten days earlier .
A card found in a rucksack after the Midleton shoot-out led them directly to the gang once they checked it out - but this was ten days later , by which time John O 'Grady had lost two of his fingers .
First published in 'MAGILL' Magazine , May 1988 .
By Michael O'Higgins .
The new Garda Commissioner , Eamon Doherty , called a secret meeting of all Chief Superintendents at Templemore in Tipperary to discuss what had gone wrong during the kidnap ; 'The Irish Times' newspaper the following day had a detailed report on the 'secret' meeting . The State Minister for Justice had also called for a report from the gardai to establish what had gone wrong , while the opposition parties in Leinster House had called for an independent inquiry .
But the meeting held at Templemore was not concerned with 'probing' - the mood was self-congratulatory ! The Chief Superintendents from Dun Laoghaire , Midleton and Tipperary addressed the meeting , with key sections of their speeches being devoted to rebutting criticism made by the media . However , it was conceded during the Templemore meeting that the need to refer all information to Dublin resulted in the investigation being slowed up . The outcome of the meeting was the setting up of a team of inquiry , led by three Assistant Commissioners known as the 'Three Wise Men' . The Report was ready within weeks ; it 'passed the buck' upwards .
The faults during the kidnap , it concluded , were due to the outdated structures the gardai were operating . The responsibility for this lay with the State Department of Justice - however , the Minister in charge of that Department was unimpressed with the report and was particularly annoyed about the fact that the report had not examined specific 'bungles' during the investigation .
When the trial opened on April 13th the decision by the accused to plead guilty was greeted with surprise ; but it was inevitable that they should , given the weight of evidence against them .......
(MORE LATER).
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
In 1976 , Westminster introduced a new three-pronged strategy into its illegal occupation of the North-East of Ireland - Criminalisation , Ulsterisation and Normalisation . The latter was the pretence that the contradiction between the demands of the Civil Rights Movement and the intransigent bigotry of the loyalists had been resolved .
In order to make the North appear to be more like a Western-type 'liberal democracy' , the other two strategies were needed . Because having 25,000 British soldiers in Ireland made the situation look more like war than 'peace-keeping' , the British Government set up the 'Ulster Defence Regiment' (UDR) who would replace some of the British soldiers . The fact that the UDR was composed of some of the most bigoted , anti-Catholic individuals in the Six Counties did not appear to cause any great concern at Westminster .
The fact that they are 'security' personnel enables members of the UDR to take advantage of surveillance to gain the necessary knowledge to carry out sectarian assassinations eg in 1983 an IRSP member was shot dead returning from the dole office on the first day that he had attended at a new time . In this case , and many others , there was inside information . At present , 10 UDR members are awaiting trial for murders of Catholics , some of which were initially claimed by the 'Protestant Action Force' . In addition to setting up the UDR , Westminster made provision for the numbers of RUC (the 'policeforce') to be increased .
The British policy of 'Normalisation' also impacted on the political prisoners .......
(MORE LATER).
ELECTION INTERVENTIONS.......
Despite the fact that SINN FEIN has been contesting local elections in the 26 counties for more than two decades , much comment has been passed and incorrectly interpreted about Republican involvement in elections - north and south of the British-imposed border - in the past several months .
Here we review Republican interventions in the electoral process for the past century and more .
From 'IRIS' magazine , Volume 1 , Number 2 , November 1981 .
Sinn Fein split over the December 1921 Treaty of Surrender and , by a majority of seven , Dail Eireann recommended the people of Ireland to surrender the Republic proclaimed in 1916 , ratified by democratic sanction in 1918 and defended since its proclamation by immeasurable effort and sacrifice . Sixty-four TD's voted for acceptance of the Treaty and fifty-seven voted against .
A proper analysis of why this happened - or the bloodshed which followed - is outside the scope of this article , dealing as we do here merely with Republican involvement in the electoral process . While every effort has been made to do this against the outline of the social and political conditions which prevailed (and of the forces at play within both British and nationalist camps) to get a detailed view of this , or any other , period , readers are advised to read any of the many informative studies available .
For our purposes it is sufficient to state that the 'Treatyites' formed a provisional government and prepared to implement the Treaty while the Republicans prepared to defend the Republic ; on March 8th , 1922 , the British Government passed the 'Irish Free State (Agreement) Bill' which , among other things , stipulated that an election should be held before July 31st , 1922 , to elect a provisional parliament which would be ratified and given 'powers' , under a Free State Constitution , by another British Act which was to be passed no later than December 6th , 1922 .
A pact was agreed between the Republicans and the 'Treatyites' in which it was agreed that the July 31st election would not be considered as deciding the issue of the Treaty , but as ' creating a 'government' to preserve peace' .......
(MORE LATER).
23 DAYS IN HELL : THE STORY OF THE O'GRADY KIDNAPPING .......
The Gardai had in their possession a clue which could have led them to the O'Grady kidnappers and their captive some ten days earlier .
A card found in a rucksack after the Midleton shoot-out led them directly to the gang once they checked it out - but this was ten days later , by which time John O 'Grady had lost two of his fingers .
First published in 'MAGILL' Magazine , May 1988 .
By Michael O'Higgins .
The new Garda Commissioner , Eamon Doherty , called a secret meeting of all Chief Superintendents at Templemore in Tipperary to discuss what had gone wrong during the kidnap ; 'The Irish Times' newspaper the following day had a detailed report on the 'secret' meeting . The State Minister for Justice had also called for a report from the gardai to establish what had gone wrong , while the opposition parties in Leinster House had called for an independent inquiry .
But the meeting held at Templemore was not concerned with 'probing' - the mood was self-congratulatory ! The Chief Superintendents from Dun Laoghaire , Midleton and Tipperary addressed the meeting , with key sections of their speeches being devoted to rebutting criticism made by the media . However , it was conceded during the Templemore meeting that the need to refer all information to Dublin resulted in the investigation being slowed up . The outcome of the meeting was the setting up of a team of inquiry , led by three Assistant Commissioners known as the 'Three Wise Men' . The Report was ready within weeks ; it 'passed the buck' upwards .
The faults during the kidnap , it concluded , were due to the outdated structures the gardai were operating . The responsibility for this lay with the State Department of Justice - however , the Minister in charge of that Department was unimpressed with the report and was particularly annoyed about the fact that the report had not examined specific 'bungles' during the investigation .
When the trial opened on April 13th the decision by the accused to plead guilty was greeted with surprise ; but it was inevitable that they should , given the weight of evidence against them .......
(MORE LATER).
Monday, November 07, 2005
A HISTORY OF ARMAGH JAIL .......
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
There were over 1,600 political prisoners in the jails in the North of Ireland and this fact was becoming a severe embarrassment to the British government ; attempts were underway to abolish Special Category Status .
While the men set fire to parts of Long Kesh prison , the women in Armagh Jail held a successful blockade of prison officers until Merlyn Rees , the then British 'Secretary of State for Northern Ireland' , gave an assurance that political status would not be tampered with ; that 'assurance' was to prove meaningless and , with the removal of Special Category Status , the (British) Labour Government began the process of 'criminalisation' in 1976 .
All prisoners convicted of 'offences' committed after March 1 , 1976 , were denied political status and classified as 'criminals' ! The Prisoners were now expected to do prison work ; in Long Kesh , 'criminalisation' also meant that male prisoners had to wear prison uniform . In September 1976 , Kieran Nugent refused to wear prison uniform and began the 'Blanket Protest' . The women in Armagh refused to do prison work . The protesting prisoners in Armagh and Long Kesh had begun a struggle for the recognition of their political status which was to end in the deaths of the hunger strikers five years later (ie 1981) .
The British policy of 'criminalisation' was part of a new three-pronged strategy ; the other two aspects were 'Ulsterisation' and 'Normalisation' .......
(MORE LATER).
ELECTION INTERVENTIONS.......
Despite the fact that SINN FEIN has been contesting local elections in the 26 counties for more than two decades , much comment has been passed and incorrectly interpreted about Republican involvement in elections - north and south of the British-imposed border - in the past several months .
Here we review Republican interventions in the electoral process for the past century and more .
From 'IRIS' magazine , Volume 1 , Number 2 , November 1981 .
The British 'Better Government of Ireland Bill' came nominally into force on May 3rd , 1921 ; on May 19th , the first Catholic Viceroy of Ireland , 'Lord' Fitzalan , came into office ; he issued a proclamation summoning the 'parliament of Northern Ireland' and the 'parliament of Southern Ireland' to meet in June 1921 . Elections were to take place in the twenty-six counties on May 19th , 1921 and in the six counties on May 24th . The House of Commons of 'Northern Ireland' was to have fifty two members , while that of 'Southern Ireland' was to have one hundred and twenty eight members . The six counties were to be entitled to sent thirteen M.P.'s to Westminster , and the twenty-six counties were to send thirty-three .
While Sinn Fein rejected the 'Better Government of Ireland Act' it fought the elections on the premise that they were to take place as demonstrations of the peoples will (as decreed by the Dail) and were to be regarded as elections for the Second Dail . Elections for the Senate were not to be recognised as the constitution's proposal for these bodies by the British were regarded as undemocratic , a certain number of Senators being nominated by the British Government . The representatives of all Ireland as elected would constitute the Dail and would be permitted to take their seats on subscribing to the Republican oath .
That Sinn Fein contested this essentially partition election was undoubtedly making partition a reality but contest it they did , with 124 Sinn Fein representatives being returned without opposition in any constituency in the twenty-six counties : in the six counties , the Unionists [led by Craig] won forty out of fifty-two seats .
Tyrone and Fermanagh returned nationalist and republican majorities , while Down and Armagh elected republican MP's ; the Unionists formed , as expected , the six county 'government' which was boycotted by the 'Irish Nationalist Party' and Sinn Fein . Stormont was opened by the British 'Monarch' , George V , on June 22nd 1921 . Partition was now a reality and the Truce negotiations which were to follow between the Republican leadership and the British Government merely formalised this arrangement .......
(MORE LATER).
23 DAYS IN HELL : THE STORY OF THE O'GRADY KIDNAPPING .......
The Gardai had in their possession a clue which could have led them to the O'Grady kidnappers and their captive some ten days earlier .
A card found in a rucksack after the Midleton shoot-out led them directly to the gang once they checked it out - but this was ten days later , by which time John O 'Grady had lost two of his fingers .
First published in 'MAGILL' Magazine , May 1988 .
By Michael O'Higgins .
The BMW came to a halt after it crashed ; the gunfight had left Martin Bryan dead . Inspector Moriarty and Detective Sergeant O' Rourke approached the car - " O' Hare ! Put both your hands on the steering wheel where I can see them ! " , shouted Moriarty . O' Hare's left hand came slowly onto the wheel . Moriarty shouted again to him to put the other hand up . " I can't ," O' Hare replied , " It's busted. " Detective Sergeant P.J. O' Rourke had sneaked around to the back of the car , and now emerged at the driver's window ; he put his Smith and Wesson revolver into Dessie O' Hare's neck . It was over .
Dessie O' Hare was given a glass of water ; he was muttering - " Fading ...fading ...fading fast .. " It was when he was being transferred to the ambulance he uttered the immortal and infamous line : " Easy , easy . You're hurting me .. " On the journey O' Hare held Inspector Moriarty's hand and complained of pain . At St Luke's Hospital his blood-spattered clothes were cut off with scissors and he was taken to surgery . A wallet had fallen out of his pocket when he was being moved into the ambulance ; the contents included a photograph of John O' Grady , taken immediately after he had severed his fingers , and a list of safe houses , vehicles and people . Later that night O' Hare was transferred to St Vincent's Hospital where he was put on a respirator .
28. THE AFTERMATH .
The gardai were jubilant : all the principals involved in the kidnap were now in custody . Dessie O' Hare was discharged from St Vincent's Hospital on January 8 , 1988 ; before being brought to the Special Criminal Court he was arrested under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act and taken to the Bridewell Garda Station for questioning . He refused to answer any questions ; the only member of the garda force he acknowledged was Inspector Moriarty who had arrested him in Urlingford and travelled in the ambulance with him after the shoot-out . When Moriarty introduced himself O' Hare smiled and nodded his head from side to side before shaking Moriarty's hand . Then , for no apparent reason , O' Hare stood up , shook his fist in the air and began to shudder . He then sat down and started smiling again .
During his period in the Bridewell , O' Hare objected to going on an identity parade : when the volunteers for the parade were brought in , O' Hare removed his shirt and trousers , exposing dressings covering his wounds . He was worried , it appears , that the parade was likely to admit evidence that might prejudice a fair trial.......
(MORE LATER).
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
There were over 1,600 political prisoners in the jails in the North of Ireland and this fact was becoming a severe embarrassment to the British government ; attempts were underway to abolish Special Category Status .
While the men set fire to parts of Long Kesh prison , the women in Armagh Jail held a successful blockade of prison officers until Merlyn Rees , the then British 'Secretary of State for Northern Ireland' , gave an assurance that political status would not be tampered with ; that 'assurance' was to prove meaningless and , with the removal of Special Category Status , the (British) Labour Government began the process of 'criminalisation' in 1976 .
All prisoners convicted of 'offences' committed after March 1 , 1976 , were denied political status and classified as 'criminals' ! The Prisoners were now expected to do prison work ; in Long Kesh , 'criminalisation' also meant that male prisoners had to wear prison uniform . In September 1976 , Kieran Nugent refused to wear prison uniform and began the 'Blanket Protest' . The women in Armagh refused to do prison work . The protesting prisoners in Armagh and Long Kesh had begun a struggle for the recognition of their political status which was to end in the deaths of the hunger strikers five years later (ie 1981) .
The British policy of 'criminalisation' was part of a new three-pronged strategy ; the other two aspects were 'Ulsterisation' and 'Normalisation' .......
(MORE LATER).
ELECTION INTERVENTIONS.......
Despite the fact that SINN FEIN has been contesting local elections in the 26 counties for more than two decades , much comment has been passed and incorrectly interpreted about Republican involvement in elections - north and south of the British-imposed border - in the past several months .
Here we review Republican interventions in the electoral process for the past century and more .
From 'IRIS' magazine , Volume 1 , Number 2 , November 1981 .
The British 'Better Government of Ireland Bill' came nominally into force on May 3rd , 1921 ; on May 19th , the first Catholic Viceroy of Ireland , 'Lord' Fitzalan , came into office ; he issued a proclamation summoning the 'parliament of Northern Ireland' and the 'parliament of Southern Ireland' to meet in June 1921 . Elections were to take place in the twenty-six counties on May 19th , 1921 and in the six counties on May 24th . The House of Commons of 'Northern Ireland' was to have fifty two members , while that of 'Southern Ireland' was to have one hundred and twenty eight members . The six counties were to be entitled to sent thirteen M.P.'s to Westminster , and the twenty-six counties were to send thirty-three .
While Sinn Fein rejected the 'Better Government of Ireland Act' it fought the elections on the premise that they were to take place as demonstrations of the peoples will (as decreed by the Dail) and were to be regarded as elections for the Second Dail . Elections for the Senate were not to be recognised as the constitution's proposal for these bodies by the British were regarded as undemocratic , a certain number of Senators being nominated by the British Government . The representatives of all Ireland as elected would constitute the Dail and would be permitted to take their seats on subscribing to the Republican oath .
That Sinn Fein contested this essentially partition election was undoubtedly making partition a reality but contest it they did , with 124 Sinn Fein representatives being returned without opposition in any constituency in the twenty-six counties : in the six counties , the Unionists [led by Craig] won forty out of fifty-two seats .
Tyrone and Fermanagh returned nationalist and republican majorities , while Down and Armagh elected republican MP's ; the Unionists formed , as expected , the six county 'government' which was boycotted by the 'Irish Nationalist Party' and Sinn Fein . Stormont was opened by the British 'Monarch' , George V , on June 22nd 1921 . Partition was now a reality and the Truce negotiations which were to follow between the Republican leadership and the British Government merely formalised this arrangement .......
(MORE LATER).
23 DAYS IN HELL : THE STORY OF THE O'GRADY KIDNAPPING .......
The Gardai had in their possession a clue which could have led them to the O'Grady kidnappers and their captive some ten days earlier .
A card found in a rucksack after the Midleton shoot-out led them directly to the gang once they checked it out - but this was ten days later , by which time John O 'Grady had lost two of his fingers .
First published in 'MAGILL' Magazine , May 1988 .
By Michael O'Higgins .
The BMW came to a halt after it crashed ; the gunfight had left Martin Bryan dead . Inspector Moriarty and Detective Sergeant O' Rourke approached the car - " O' Hare ! Put both your hands on the steering wheel where I can see them ! " , shouted Moriarty . O' Hare's left hand came slowly onto the wheel . Moriarty shouted again to him to put the other hand up . " I can't ," O' Hare replied , " It's busted. " Detective Sergeant P.J. O' Rourke had sneaked around to the back of the car , and now emerged at the driver's window ; he put his Smith and Wesson revolver into Dessie O' Hare's neck . It was over .
Dessie O' Hare was given a glass of water ; he was muttering - " Fading ...fading ...fading fast .. " It was when he was being transferred to the ambulance he uttered the immortal and infamous line : " Easy , easy . You're hurting me .. " On the journey O' Hare held Inspector Moriarty's hand and complained of pain . At St Luke's Hospital his blood-spattered clothes were cut off with scissors and he was taken to surgery . A wallet had fallen out of his pocket when he was being moved into the ambulance ; the contents included a photograph of John O' Grady , taken immediately after he had severed his fingers , and a list of safe houses , vehicles and people . Later that night O' Hare was transferred to St Vincent's Hospital where he was put on a respirator .
28. THE AFTERMATH .
The gardai were jubilant : all the principals involved in the kidnap were now in custody . Dessie O' Hare was discharged from St Vincent's Hospital on January 8 , 1988 ; before being brought to the Special Criminal Court he was arrested under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act and taken to the Bridewell Garda Station for questioning . He refused to answer any questions ; the only member of the garda force he acknowledged was Inspector Moriarty who had arrested him in Urlingford and travelled in the ambulance with him after the shoot-out . When Moriarty introduced himself O' Hare smiled and nodded his head from side to side before shaking Moriarty's hand . Then , for no apparent reason , O' Hare stood up , shook his fist in the air and began to shudder . He then sat down and started smiling again .
During his period in the Bridewell , O' Hare objected to going on an identity parade : when the volunteers for the parade were brought in , O' Hare removed his shirt and trousers , exposing dressings covering his wounds . He was worried , it appears , that the parade was likely to admit evidence that might prejudice a fair trial.......
(MORE LATER).
Friday, November 04, 2005
A HISTORY OF ARMAGH JAIL .......
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
In Ireland and in Britain , tens of thousands of people marched in opposition to the British Government's policy of internment : but the shooting dead of 14 unarmed people without any provocation on Bloody Sunday (January 30 , 1972) spelt out clearly that in the North of Ireland mass political peaceful and even pacifist protest by those supporting nothing more than equal civil rights for Catholics would not be tolerated by the British government .
Internment and particularly Bloody Sunday convinced many young people that the British government had no intention of listening to anyone who could not force them to listen . Armed raids on the Catholic ghettoes continued and , as one woman described it , "...anyone who could walk on two legs was making petrol bombs .. " . Not surprisingly , women began to be sentenced to long terms of imprisonment .
Special Category Status was won in 1973 due to hunger strikes by two male political prisoners in Crumlin Road Jail - this meant that all political prisoners could now wear their own clothing , associate freely , receive food parcels and visits every week , organise their own recreation and education and obtain 50 per cent remission of sentence . In Armagh , Special Category Status allowed women the chance to take education and examinations . CSE and RSA exams were sat and classes in Irish , maths , geography , dressmaking , art , music , physical education and handicrafts were held . The prisoners could walk freely from one side of the prison to the other .
There was a kitchen on the wing , and with twice-weekly food parcels (if relatives could afford them) the demoralising prison food was supplemented . As one political prisoner was later to say - " It was'nt a holiday camp but at least you did'nt feel like you were dying from the neck up ....... "
(MORE LATER).
ELECTION INTERVENTIONS.......
Despite the fact that SINN FEIN has been contesting local elections in the 26 counties for more than two decades , much comment has been passed and incorrectly interpreted about Republican involvement in elections - north and south of the British-imposed border - in the past several months .
Here we review Republican interventions in the electoral process for the past century and more .
From 'IRIS' magazine , Volume 1 , Number 2 , November 1981 .
The First Dail was making its presence felt , against the background of an increasingly escalating IRA campaign , to the point where even British political commentators were beginning to refer to the Dail and Sinn Fein as the "...de facto government in three-quarters of Ireland .. " . In the local government elections of 1920 Sinn Fein won an overwhelming endorsement of their position : in Ulster , both Tyrone and Fermanagh County Councils , with twenty three town councils , were out of Unionist control ; the Unionists had a majority in only twenty two councils .
In the meantime the British government had passed their 'Better Government of Ireland Bill' - a throw back to the 'Home Rule' days with the added mixture of two domestic bicameral parliaments in Ireland - one for the six north easterly counties and the other for the remaining twenty-six counties . An all-Ireland council with equal representation for the 'two parts' of Ireland was to provide a forum for six and twenty-six county interests and there were to be provisions whereby various functions of both 'parliaments' could be transferred to the all-Ireland Council .
The Westminster Parliament was to retain control of all 'imperial concerns' including trade , customs and excise , defence and foreign affairs . As can be seen , the 'powers' devolved to the two partitionist parliaments were very limited . Finally , the 'Act' declared that if the majority of members of either 'parliament' had not taken their oath of allegiance to the British Crown within fourteen days of the date fixed for the opening of the 'parliaments' , then the assembly in question would be dissolved and that 'part' of Ireland would be administered as a British Crown colony.......
(MORE LATER).
23 DAYS IN HELL : THE STORY OF THE O'GRADY KIDNAPPING .......
The Gardai had in their possession a clue which could have led them to the O'Grady kidnappers and their captive some ten days earlier .
A card found in a rucksack after the Midleton shoot-out led them directly to the gang once they checked it out - but this was ten days later , by which time John O 'Grady had lost two of his fingers .
First published in 'MAGILL' Magazine , May 1988 .
By Michael O'Higgins .
The gardai knew that Dessie O' Hare would be travelling in a green BMW car ; they knew its registration number , and the road it would be on at lunchtime on Friday November 27 (1987) . An armed checkpoint was set up . The BMW was now driving towards that checkpoint . Word spread quickly down the garda line to be ready - members of the State Army were there as back-up .
As the car came nearer it swerved , as if the driver had braked suddenly . Dessie O' Hare was driving , Martin Bryan was in the passenger seat . O' Hare rolled down the window - " How's it going? " Inspector Moriarty asked O' Hare , who nodded in reply . Moriarty asked him where they were coming from . O' Hare muttered "Kilkenny." At this stage Moriarty did not recognise the driver as O' Hare , who was dressed in a grey suit and collar and tie - he looked more like a solicitor than the 'Border Fox' . He had blonde highlights in his hair as well .
Moriarty's hesitation may also have been grounded in the fact that the gardai had been told to expect O' Hare to be in the passenger seat . Moriarty turned his attention to the passenger , Martin Bryan , asking him a couple of questions to which Bryan made no reply . He was then ordered out of the car . Bryan moved as if to open the seat belt but produced a gun : at that very moment Sergeant Joseph D'Arcy , who was behind a wall covering Inspector Moriarty , recognised O' Hare and shouted - " That's him . Get him out of the car ." Moriarty jumped back when Bryan produced the gun ; Detective Sergeant O' Rourke already had his hand on his revolver - the BMW rushed forward in a wheel-spin .
From their concealed positions the State Army and the gardai opened fire ; the BMW came to a halt when it crashed into the garda car and a State Army landrover , which had been spread across the road . There was a pause . Dessie O' Hare pointed a gun out the window and started firing at the State soldiers and the gardai to his right . One of the two shots he managed to fire grazed a Lieutenant's leg : the firing started again . The BMW was hit thirty-six times in all . Dessie O' Hare was slumped over towards Martin Bryan , who was already dead . Inspector Moriarty ordered his men to stay in position , as he and Detective Sergeant O' Rourke approached the car.......
(MORE LATER).
( To the person seeking more information on Tom D : I can only suggest you enter his full name in our 'Searchbox' ...and hope for the best ! Thank you for the visit . Sharon )
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
In Ireland and in Britain , tens of thousands of people marched in opposition to the British Government's policy of internment : but the shooting dead of 14 unarmed people without any provocation on Bloody Sunday (January 30 , 1972) spelt out clearly that in the North of Ireland mass political peaceful and even pacifist protest by those supporting nothing more than equal civil rights for Catholics would not be tolerated by the British government .
Internment and particularly Bloody Sunday convinced many young people that the British government had no intention of listening to anyone who could not force them to listen . Armed raids on the Catholic ghettoes continued and , as one woman described it , "...anyone who could walk on two legs was making petrol bombs .. " . Not surprisingly , women began to be sentenced to long terms of imprisonment .
Special Category Status was won in 1973 due to hunger strikes by two male political prisoners in Crumlin Road Jail - this meant that all political prisoners could now wear their own clothing , associate freely , receive food parcels and visits every week , organise their own recreation and education and obtain 50 per cent remission of sentence . In Armagh , Special Category Status allowed women the chance to take education and examinations . CSE and RSA exams were sat and classes in Irish , maths , geography , dressmaking , art , music , physical education and handicrafts were held . The prisoners could walk freely from one side of the prison to the other .
There was a kitchen on the wing , and with twice-weekly food parcels (if relatives could afford them) the demoralising prison food was supplemented . As one political prisoner was later to say - " It was'nt a holiday camp but at least you did'nt feel like you were dying from the neck up ....... "
(MORE LATER).
ELECTION INTERVENTIONS.......
Despite the fact that SINN FEIN has been contesting local elections in the 26 counties for more than two decades , much comment has been passed and incorrectly interpreted about Republican involvement in elections - north and south of the British-imposed border - in the past several months .
Here we review Republican interventions in the electoral process for the past century and more .
From 'IRIS' magazine , Volume 1 , Number 2 , November 1981 .
The First Dail was making its presence felt , against the background of an increasingly escalating IRA campaign , to the point where even British political commentators were beginning to refer to the Dail and Sinn Fein as the "...de facto government in three-quarters of Ireland .. " . In the local government elections of 1920 Sinn Fein won an overwhelming endorsement of their position : in Ulster , both Tyrone and Fermanagh County Councils , with twenty three town councils , were out of Unionist control ; the Unionists had a majority in only twenty two councils .
In the meantime the British government had passed their 'Better Government of Ireland Bill' - a throw back to the 'Home Rule' days with the added mixture of two domestic bicameral parliaments in Ireland - one for the six north easterly counties and the other for the remaining twenty-six counties . An all-Ireland council with equal representation for the 'two parts' of Ireland was to provide a forum for six and twenty-six county interests and there were to be provisions whereby various functions of both 'parliaments' could be transferred to the all-Ireland Council .
The Westminster Parliament was to retain control of all 'imperial concerns' including trade , customs and excise , defence and foreign affairs . As can be seen , the 'powers' devolved to the two partitionist parliaments were very limited . Finally , the 'Act' declared that if the majority of members of either 'parliament' had not taken their oath of allegiance to the British Crown within fourteen days of the date fixed for the opening of the 'parliaments' , then the assembly in question would be dissolved and that 'part' of Ireland would be administered as a British Crown colony.......
(MORE LATER).
23 DAYS IN HELL : THE STORY OF THE O'GRADY KIDNAPPING .......
The Gardai had in their possession a clue which could have led them to the O'Grady kidnappers and their captive some ten days earlier .
A card found in a rucksack after the Midleton shoot-out led them directly to the gang once they checked it out - but this was ten days later , by which time John O 'Grady had lost two of his fingers .
First published in 'MAGILL' Magazine , May 1988 .
By Michael O'Higgins .
The gardai knew that Dessie O' Hare would be travelling in a green BMW car ; they knew its registration number , and the road it would be on at lunchtime on Friday November 27 (1987) . An armed checkpoint was set up . The BMW was now driving towards that checkpoint . Word spread quickly down the garda line to be ready - members of the State Army were there as back-up .
As the car came nearer it swerved , as if the driver had braked suddenly . Dessie O' Hare was driving , Martin Bryan was in the passenger seat . O' Hare rolled down the window - " How's it going? " Inspector Moriarty asked O' Hare , who nodded in reply . Moriarty asked him where they were coming from . O' Hare muttered "Kilkenny." At this stage Moriarty did not recognise the driver as O' Hare , who was dressed in a grey suit and collar and tie - he looked more like a solicitor than the 'Border Fox' . He had blonde highlights in his hair as well .
Moriarty's hesitation may also have been grounded in the fact that the gardai had been told to expect O' Hare to be in the passenger seat . Moriarty turned his attention to the passenger , Martin Bryan , asking him a couple of questions to which Bryan made no reply . He was then ordered out of the car . Bryan moved as if to open the seat belt but produced a gun : at that very moment Sergeant Joseph D'Arcy , who was behind a wall covering Inspector Moriarty , recognised O' Hare and shouted - " That's him . Get him out of the car ." Moriarty jumped back when Bryan produced the gun ; Detective Sergeant O' Rourke already had his hand on his revolver - the BMW rushed forward in a wheel-spin .
From their concealed positions the State Army and the gardai opened fire ; the BMW came to a halt when it crashed into the garda car and a State Army landrover , which had been spread across the road . There was a pause . Dessie O' Hare pointed a gun out the window and started firing at the State soldiers and the gardai to his right . One of the two shots he managed to fire grazed a Lieutenant's leg : the firing started again . The BMW was hit thirty-six times in all . Dessie O' Hare was slumped over towards Martin Bryan , who was already dead . Inspector Moriarty ordered his men to stay in position , as he and Detective Sergeant O' Rourke approached the car.......
(MORE LATER).
( To the person seeking more information on Tom D : I can only suggest you enter his full name in our 'Searchbox' ...and hope for the best ! Thank you for the visit . Sharon )
Thursday, November 03, 2005
A HISTORY OF ARMAGH JAIL .
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
Before the 1970's , Armagh Jail was hardly heard of ; it served as hostel/prison/'drying-out' institution for women criminalised for the usual survival 'crimes' such as theft , alcoholism and prostitution . Few prisoners were in the jail : in fact , in 1969 , the total was 8 !
Armagh Jail hit the headlines in 1970 when Bernadette Devlin MP was sentenced to six months for leading the people of the Bogside in Derry against the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) . She was no criminal , nor was she termed one . She carried out her constituency work from her 11 ft by 8ft cell .
A mandatory sentence of six months in jail for anyone whom an RUC member said had been rioting brought a handful of political prisoners to Armagh ; they were allowed two letters per month , one visit per week and no touching of visitors was permitted . Although the Civil Rights Movement had been widely supported internationally and propaganda proclaimed that the British Army was in the North of Ireland to protect Catholics from a bigoted anti-Catholic 'police force' , Catholics - who were perceived as potential Irish nationalists by the Unionists - were gradually being transformed by the propaganda machine into 'the baddies' .
When internment was introduced by them on August 9 , 1971 , the British government locked up hundreds of actual and potential political opponents without any 'crimes' having been proven or even claimed to have been committed .......
(MORE LATER).
ELECTION INTERVENTIONS.......
Despite the fact that SINN FEIN has been contesting local elections in the 26 counties for more than two decades , much comment has been passed and incorrectly interpreted about Republican involvement in elections - north and south of the British-imposed border - in the past several months .
Here we review Republican interventions in the electoral process for the past century and more .
From 'IRIS' magazine , Volume 1 , Number 2 , November 1981 .
Early in January 1919 , Sinn Fein representatives convened the constituent assembly promised in their election manifesto ; the successful candidates in all Irish constituencies , of whatever political complexion , were invited to take their seats in Dail Eireann at its opening session on 21st January 1919 ; as expected , only the members of parliament elected as Sinn Fein candidates attended .
They approved a provisional constitution , endorsed a declaration of independence , appointed delegates to the Peace Conference in Versailles , sanctioned a message to the free nations of the world and adopted a democratic programme of social and economic reform .
While , initially , merely a de jure government , the 1st Dail were quickly successful in establishing some really workable ministries . In particular , the Ministry of Finance , which raised £358,000 in a ' Dail Eireann National Loan' . By 1920 virtually all local bodies switched their allegiance from the (British) 'Local Government Board' to the Dail Local Government Ministry , and in agriculture , where a Land Bank , which advanced small loans for land purchase , flourished .
The most successful aspect of the 1st Dail machinery was in the system of 'Dail Courts' or 'Sinn Fein Courts' , which made decisions in various spheres from land to criminal activity and which managed to supplant to a very large degree the British judicial system .......
(MORE LATER).
23 DAYS IN HELL : THE STORY OF THE O'GRADY KIDNAPPING .......
The Gardai had in their possession a clue which could have led them to the O'Grady kidnappers and their captive some ten days earlier .
A card found in a rucksack after the Midleton shoot-out led them directly to the gang once they checked it out - but this was ten days later , by which time John O 'Grady had lost two of his fingers .
First published in 'MAGILL' Magazine , May 1988 .
By Michael O'Higgins .
After being interviewed by Free State Detectives , Tony McNeill was handed notes made out by them and 'invited' to sign them - he declined , and asked that a reference to him 'going down for 25 years' be changed to read 'a long time' . McNeill did'nt want to give the trial judges any ideas .
Gerry Wright was a broken man ; he was arrested immediately after the shoot out at Carnlough Road under Section 30 of The Offences Against The State Act and taken to the Bridewell Station for questioning , where he made statements admitting providing food and shelter for the kidnappers . In the beginning he had become involved because O' Hare and his gang had promised to 'take care' of the man who had shot his brother . As the kidnap progressed the gang had coerced and threatened him , and he was afraid and could see no way out .
27. " Fading , fading , fading fast .. "
It was hard information and very specific - Dessie O' Hare was expected to travel in a green BMW car , registration number 220 EID , on the main Kilkenny to Urlingford road at lunchtime on Friday , November 27 , 1987 . The gardai seem to have got the information around eleven o'clock in the morning . Gardai were recalled from other operational duties and told to report to the Balief Cross , fifteen miles outside Kilkenny to set up a roadblock . The (FS) Army was contacted just after eleven o'clock and asked to provide a company platoon of thirty-two troops as back-up . The roadblock was in position by 12.30 pm .
Nearly an hour later the gardai received a message over the radio to expect the car in the next fifteen to twenty minutes ; there were two garda patrol cars and a (FS) Army landrover blocking the road . Armed gardai and soldiers were in position . Inspector Moriarty from the Tipperary Garda Division and Detective Sergeant P.J. O' Rourke set up a check-point about seventy yards in front of the roadblock . An unmarked patrol car was hidden up a lane further down the road . Once the BMW drove up to the checkpoint the hidden car would move out on the road cutting off its retreat .
They saw the BMW approaching in the distance . " Here we go . This is it , " O' Rourke said to his men .......
(MORE LATER).
The women's prison in the North of Ireland is situated in the centre of the Protestant/Loyalist city of Armagh .
It was built in the 19th century , a huge granite building which today sports all the trappings of a high-security jail such as barbed wire , guards , arc-lamps , and closed circuit television cameras .
First published in the booklet ' STRIP SEARCHES IN ARMAGH JAIL' , produced , in February 1984 , by 'The London Armagh Group' .
Before the 1970's , Armagh Jail was hardly heard of ; it served as hostel/prison/'drying-out' institution for women criminalised for the usual survival 'crimes' such as theft , alcoholism and prostitution . Few prisoners were in the jail : in fact , in 1969 , the total was 8 !
Armagh Jail hit the headlines in 1970 when Bernadette Devlin MP was sentenced to six months for leading the people of the Bogside in Derry against the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) . She was no criminal , nor was she termed one . She carried out her constituency work from her 11 ft by 8ft cell .
A mandatory sentence of six months in jail for anyone whom an RUC member said had been rioting brought a handful of political prisoners to Armagh ; they were allowed two letters per month , one visit per week and no touching of visitors was permitted . Although the Civil Rights Movement had been widely supported internationally and propaganda proclaimed that the British Army was in the North of Ireland to protect Catholics from a bigoted anti-Catholic 'police force' , Catholics - who were perceived as potential Irish nationalists by the Unionists - were gradually being transformed by the propaganda machine into 'the baddies' .
When internment was introduced by them on August 9 , 1971 , the British government locked up hundreds of actual and potential political opponents without any 'crimes' having been proven or even claimed to have been committed .......
(MORE LATER).
ELECTION INTERVENTIONS.......
Despite the fact that SINN FEIN has been contesting local elections in the 26 counties for more than two decades , much comment has been passed and incorrectly interpreted about Republican involvement in elections - north and south of the British-imposed border - in the past several months .
Here we review Republican interventions in the electoral process for the past century and more .
From 'IRIS' magazine , Volume 1 , Number 2 , November 1981 .
Early in January 1919 , Sinn Fein representatives convened the constituent assembly promised in their election manifesto ; the successful candidates in all Irish constituencies , of whatever political complexion , were invited to take their seats in Dail Eireann at its opening session on 21st January 1919 ; as expected , only the members of parliament elected as Sinn Fein candidates attended .
They approved a provisional constitution , endorsed a declaration of independence , appointed delegates to the Peace Conference in Versailles , sanctioned a message to the free nations of the world and adopted a democratic programme of social and economic reform .
While , initially , merely a de jure government , the 1st Dail were quickly successful in establishing some really workable ministries . In particular , the Ministry of Finance , which raised £358,000 in a ' Dail Eireann National Loan' . By 1920 virtually all local bodies switched their allegiance from the (British) 'Local Government Board' to the Dail Local Government Ministry , and in agriculture , where a Land Bank , which advanced small loans for land purchase , flourished .
The most successful aspect of the 1st Dail machinery was in the system of 'Dail Courts' or 'Sinn Fein Courts' , which made decisions in various spheres from land to criminal activity and which managed to supplant to a very large degree the British judicial system .......
(MORE LATER).
23 DAYS IN HELL : THE STORY OF THE O'GRADY KIDNAPPING .......
The Gardai had in their possession a clue which could have led them to the O'Grady kidnappers and their captive some ten days earlier .
A card found in a rucksack after the Midleton shoot-out led them directly to the gang once they checked it out - but this was ten days later , by which time John O 'Grady had lost two of his fingers .
First published in 'MAGILL' Magazine , May 1988 .
By Michael O'Higgins .
After being interviewed by Free State Detectives , Tony McNeill was handed notes made out by them and 'invited' to sign them - he declined , and asked that a reference to him 'going down for 25 years' be changed to read 'a long time' . McNeill did'nt want to give the trial judges any ideas .
Gerry Wright was a broken man ; he was arrested immediately after the shoot out at Carnlough Road under Section 30 of The Offences Against The State Act and taken to the Bridewell Station for questioning , where he made statements admitting providing food and shelter for the kidnappers . In the beginning he had become involved because O' Hare and his gang had promised to 'take care' of the man who had shot his brother . As the kidnap progressed the gang had coerced and threatened him , and he was afraid and could see no way out .
27. " Fading , fading , fading fast .. "
It was hard information and very specific - Dessie O' Hare was expected to travel in a green BMW car , registration number 220 EID , on the main Kilkenny to Urlingford road at lunchtime on Friday , November 27 , 1987 . The gardai seem to have got the information around eleven o'clock in the morning . Gardai were recalled from other operational duties and told to report to the Balief Cross , fifteen miles outside Kilkenny to set up a roadblock . The (FS) Army was contacted just after eleven o'clock and asked to provide a company platoon of thirty-two troops as back-up . The roadblock was in position by 12.30 pm .
Nearly an hour later the gardai received a message over the radio to expect the car in the next fifteen to twenty minutes ; there were two garda patrol cars and a (FS) Army landrover blocking the road . Armed gardai and soldiers were in position . Inspector Moriarty from the Tipperary Garda Division and Detective Sergeant P.J. O' Rourke set up a check-point about seventy yards in front of the roadblock . An unmarked patrol car was hidden up a lane further down the road . Once the BMW drove up to the checkpoint the hidden car would move out on the road cutting off its retreat .
They saw the BMW approaching in the distance . " Here we go . This is it , " O' Rourke said to his men .......
(MORE LATER).
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