1169 And Counting.....

Thursday, April 08, 2010

BETRAYAL.......
The (State) Gardaí used John Corcoran (pictured) as a (P)IRA informer. They allowed him to be killed by another (P)IRA informer, and have since refused to investigate his murder*.
From 'MAGILL' magazine, Christmas Annual 1997.
By Ursula Halligan and Vincent Browne.
(* '1169...' Comment - their word, not ours.)

At 7pm that night - Saturday 23rd March 1985 - the local parish priest and garda sergeant called to the family home in Ballyvolane and broke the news to Mrs Corcoran. At this stage it came as no surprise ; earlier in the day , she had heard on the radio that a body had been found near Ballincollig , and she had spent the day nervously waiting for a knock on the door.

She was heartbroken by the news. " I was very, very saddened to think they [the IRA] had done this to John , because I'd seen John protecting so many of them over the years , and that caused hassle with me, because if he brought guys here I had a rule that my children weren't to meet them."

The heartbreak of her husband's murder* was compounded by the shame of being called an informer. Eileen Corcoran felt the chill locally. While she describes her immediate neighbours and friends as 'brilliant' and very supportive , there were others who shunned her in the street.......
(MORE LATER).

TRADE UNIONS AND THE HUNGER-STRIKE.......
From 'IRIS' magazine, November 1981.

There is substaintial support for the hunger-strikers in the British trade union movement. The Scottish Trades Union Congress is the most notable body and many other trades councils and trade union branches , too numerous to enumerate in this article, are sympathetic.

Prominent members of the labour movement - Tony Benn, Ken Livingstone etc - have been vocal on the issue. The Labour Party-based Labour Committee on Ireland has ensured that there are over forty resolutions , mostly pro-nationalist, on the agenda for this year's Labour Party conference.

Agitation around the hunger-strike by British trade unionists has begun to seriously threaten the bi-partisan policy of the Labour Party leadership and the Tory establishment.......
(MORE LATER).

Monday, April 05, 2010

(UPDATE : An American who works as an International Travel Writer , Ron Chatham, was at the GPO in Dublin on Easter Monday last when the RSF Easter Commemoration was taking place, and he took these photographs of the proceedings.Thanks, Ron - good work!)

RSF EASTER MONDAY COMMEMORATION , GPO DUBLIN , APRIL 5th 2010.

The 1916 Proclamation being read out at the GPO , Dublin.

For the 93rd successive year , RSF , as a political organisation, held an Easter Commemoration outside Dublin's GPO in O'Connell Street : the year before they held their first such Commemoration (ie 1916) RSF people would also have been present at the GPO , but inside it !

Speakers lectern , Dublin's GPO , Easter Monday, April 5th 2010.

For over a three-hour period today - from when RSF began the stage/lectern etc build-up for their Easter Monday Commemoration at Dublin's GPO to when they disassembled same at 3pm that afternoon - thousands of people passed-by , out of which hundreds of Irish and foreign tourists stopped to talk and photograph the build-up: over 200 copies of 'Saoirse' were sold , and slightly more than that amount of copies of the 1916 Proclamation were sold , and a very busy 'trade' in the distribution of pin-on Easter Lillies took place. Over 600 'booklets' of Irish Republican leaflets - each 'booklet' consisting of either four or five separate leaflets - were distributed , and new contacts were made.

Na Fianna Éireann faces the GPO in Dublin , Easter Monday , April 5th 2010.

Led by an RSF Colour Party , members of Na Fianna Éireann and a representative from Cumann na mBan , the RSF Easter Parade left the Garden of Remembrance at 1.45pm and arrived at the GPO shortly after 2pm. A crowd had already gathered to listen to the 'warm-up' speaker and , within ten minutes , between approximately three and five hundred people had stopped to listen , all of whom stayed for 60 minutes that the commemoration lasted for.

RSF Colour Party and Na Fianna Éireann at the GPO , Dublin, Easter Monday, April 5th 2010.

The commemoration was Chaired by Andy Connolly , Dublin who , in the course of several short speeches throughout the proceedings , outlined to the many tourists present the historical significence of the GPO , mentioning other buildings and areas in Dublin in which action also took place. The 1916 Proclamation was read , as was the Easter Message from the leadership of the Republican Movement. Easter Greetings from the Republican Prisoners in Portlaoise Jail was read to the hundreds of people present , to loud applause, as was an Easter Statement from CIRA POW's in Maghaberry Jail.

Cumann na mBan member watching proceedings at the GPO in Dublin.

The Main Oration was delivered by Sinn Féin Poblachtach President Des Dalton , in which , amongst other points , he outlined the history of the Republican Movement , detailing the various constitutional 'twists and turns' undertaken by those who left the Movement, having found the going too hard and the promise of a Free State or British political career too hard to resist. To a resounding cheer of support from the hundreds present , Des implored all Irish Republicans to remember , and to support , our POW's , and he also congratulated the 'Cabhair' organisation , which works full-time on behalf of our comrades who languish behind prison bars.

RSF Colour Party member facing the GPO.

RSF colour party at the GPO.

Dipping of the Flags , GPO , Dublin , Easter Monday , April 5th 2010.

RSF member laying the Wreath at the GPO in Dublin.

Republican Sinn Féin are to be congratulated for holding , once again, a fitting and dignified tribute to the men and women from , as one of the contributors said from the stage - "...the men and women from 1916 , those that went before them and those today that are using the same methods in an attempt to achieve the same objective as those that we honour here today.."
Apart from the usual harrassment from the 'Special Branch' , the GPO Commemoration was a trouble-free event , and is a testament to the sheer determination of that Movement. Very 'Well Done' to all concerned !
Thanks!
Sharon.

Sunday, April 04, 2010

Na Fianna Éireann in Deansgrange Cemetery , Dublin, Easter Sunday (4th April) 2010.

Republican Plot , Deansgrange Cemetery , Dublin.

At Deansgrange Cemetery, which was established in 1861 and had its first burial in 1865 , there is an area marked as the ‘Republican Plot’ and it commemorates prisoners who died in Wandsworth Prison in 1922. James Connolly’s daughter Fiona is also buried here . It was at that Plot that approximately forty Irish Republicans and supporters gathered today , for a wreath-laying ceremony chaired by ex-POW Seán Ó Sé , to listen as Seán Ó Bradaigh delivered a resounding speech on the history of the cemetery they were standing in , which he then linked to the history of the on-going struggle itself.

An RSF Colour Party and members of Na Fianna Éireann were present , a wreath was laid and a message of support from Republican prisoners was read out during the ceremony : it was stated by Seán that , at 10am this morning ,between 20 and 30 Republican Prisoners in Maghaberry Prison took control of their landing and are now, as I type this, locked in the canteen. This event was provoked by the refusal of the prison authorities to 'allow' the men to wear Easter Lilies. This blog wishes those POW's every success in their prison struggle , a wish echoed by all at the ceremony in Deansgrange today.
Unlike yesterday in Balbriggan (Easter Saturday) , the weather was kind to us but , like yesterday - albeit not as aggressive - the 'Special Branch' were there , four of them , but contented themselves this time with recording the proceedings on a 'jeep'-mounted video unit and writing down the names and addresses of all present.
A full report , with 'proper' pictures, will be published in the May 2010 issue of 'Saoirse' .
Thanks!
Sharon.

Saturday, April 03, 2010

RSF Easter Commemoration , Balbriggan Bridge, Saturday 3rd April 2010.

"RIC Head Constable Peter Burke and his brother, Sgt Michael Burke are attacked by the IRA in Mrs Smith's public house on The Square, Balbriggan, Co. Dublin. In retaliation, the Auxiliaries, who are based in Gormanstown, carry out reprisals in Balbriggan, killing two suspected IRA men, burning 54 houses, a hosiery factory and loot four public houses. This became known as the 'Sack of Balbriggan'....."
(From here.)

The parade leaves the assembly point on its way to the Memorial Stone on the bridge.

RSF Colour Party member at the Memorial Stone on Balbriggan Bridge.

About thirty Irish Republicans and supporters braved the damp weather - which, near the end of the Commemoration , turned (once again!) to heavy rain - and stood on both sides of Balbriggan Bridge to remember two Republicans who were murdered by British Auxiliaries on 20th September 1920.

A member of Na Fianna Éireann at the RSF Commemoration , Balbriggan , Saturday 3rd April 2010.

The Commemoration was Chaired by Andy Connolly , Dublin, who spoke about the similarities between the aims and objectives of Irish Republicans then , and now : that of securing , by whatever means necessary,a complete British political and military withdrawal from Ireland. A wreath was laid on behalf of the Republican Movement , the Easter Message from the leadership of the Movement was read to the crowd, the 1916 Proclamation was read by a member of the RSF Colour Party, and a letter of support from Irish Republican POW's was read.

A member of the RSF Colour Party reads the 1916 Proclamation on Balbriggan Bridge.

A family relation of Sean Gibbons, one of the men murdered by the British Auxiliaries , was present and was welcomed by the organisers. He was extremely happy to see that fellow Republicans had gathered to remember his relation and said Seán himself would have appreciated it. After the National Flag was dipped , the Chairperson thanked all who had braved the elements and made the effort to attend, and brought proceedings to a close by singing Amhrán na bhFiann.
Finally - four members of the 'Special Branch' tried to hinder or stop the Commemoration by constantly threatening to arrest those present for refusing to co-operate with them or/and for not fully answering the questions that were shouted at them. It was made clear in no uncertain terms to them by RSF that a Republican ceremony will be held there, today , regardless of what action the State takes against them ;those present formed-up amidst the mini-melee that the Branch had instigated and proceedings began , as planned.
A full report , with extra pictures , will be carried in the May 2010 issue of 'Saoirse' - the only true and genuine monthly Irish Republican newspaper - which will be available from the usual outlets on Wednesday 5th May 2010.
Thanks!
Sharon.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Aitheasc an Uachtaráin Ruairí Ó Brádaigh don 85ú Ard-Fheis de Shinn Féin in Óstlann an Spa , Leamhcán , Co. Atha Cliath , 21ú agus 22ú Deireadh Fómhair , 1989 /
Presidential Address of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh to the 85th Ard-Fheis of Sinn Féin in the Spa Hotel , Lucan , County Dublin , 21st and 22nd October 1989.....

" On the Polish issue , we supported the demand for democracy and the restoration of basic human and national rights from the outset at a time when many other socialist groupings felt they had better remain silent just because it appeared Ronald Reagan's (pictured here, on the right. Naturally.) brand of 'republicanism' was on the same side. The fact that one undemocratic Stalinist regime in Eastern Europe was forced out of office by the blunt demands of the peoople , is significant and important , if only because it shows what can be done.

We accept also that the Polish Bishop of Rome , who visited Ireland ten years ago, lent considerable diplomatic as well as spiritual weight to the Solidarity effort. But we must , as people who sought serious dialogue with the Pope on his Irish visit, and got little or nowhere, remind those who seek to draw comparisons with the Irish situation that while the people of Warsaw and Gdansk feared a Russian invasion, and agonised about what to do when or if the tanks rolled in , the people of Belfast and Derry have to face the reality of foreign troops on the streets day in and day out.

In reminding ourselves of what John Paul II had to say in Ireland we should also point out , as others always fail to do, that the plea for the creation of political structures that would make physical force unnecessary in Ireland has fallen on very deaf ears indeed. The big lie about the real aggressors in Ireland , the root cause of the problem and the massive international attempt to overlook the denial of Ireland's right to national self-determination, is one of the most immoral conspiracies against truth and any real search for justice in this century......."
(MORE LATER).

BETRAYAL.......
The (State) Gardaí used John Corcoran (pictured) as a (P)IRA informer. They allowed him to be killed by another (P)IRA informer, and have since refused to investigate his murder*.
From 'MAGILL' magazine, Christmas Annual 1997.
By Ursula Halligan and Vincent Browne.
(* '1169...' Comment - their word, not ours.)

Eileen Corcoran said - " I went back to the gardaí on Friday (22nd March 1985) and I wasn't very pleasant to the sergeant on duty. I asked him were they holding John and weren't telling me . This thought had come into my mind . I was desperate. I was desperate for answers and I'm still desperate for answers."

The following day , Saturday 23rd March 1985, John Corcoran's body was found . An anonymous caller rang Fr Liam O' Cuiv in Dublin's Pro Catherdal and said - "John Corcoran is dead." The caller said that his body could be found between the Ballincollig waterworks and Kilnaglory , outside Cork City. He said the dead man was an informer.

After a five-hour search , gardaí found John Corcoran's body in a green sleeping-bag dumped beside old lorry tyres and blackbags on the roadside. The body was lying on its right side . The feet were wrapped in black plastic refuse sacks , and the left hand , wearing a rubber glove, was tucked behind his back. The right hand , also with a rubber glove, was pointing in the air . The head and shoulders were wrapped in black plastic bags. The post-mortem showed that a bullet, fired from a high-velocity weapon, had entered John Corcoran's head close to the left ear and had gone through the right side of his skull , breaking his jaw.......
(MORE LATER).

TRADE UNIONS AND THE HUNGER-STRIKE.......
From 'IRIS' magazine, November 1981.

In Ireland , local trades councils , which are an all pervasive force in the labour movement , have moved very strongly behind the prisoners.

Headed by the Dublin Council of Trade Unions - which was the moving force in the massive campaign in recent years against the South's inequitable tax system - the following trades councils have carried sympathetic motions on the prisoners' demands : Belfast, Derry, Dundalk, Drogheda, Waterford , Navan (Meath), Longford, Carrick-on-Suir, Galway and Sligo.

Some well known groups of workers who had given consistent support are the 3,000 workers in Waterford Glass and the De Lorean car workers in West Belfast. Combined with the formal annual conference support of the above-mentioned unions, the support from the trades councils means that the vast majority of trade union members in Ireland - approximately 80% - through their affiliated organisations support the prisoners demands. This is further proven by government-conducted polls which showed that 68% (December 1980) of those polled thought that the British should concede the five demands. This would naturally be higher in the organised labour movement.......
(MORE LATER).

Saturday, March 27, 2010

POW PICKET , SATURDAY 27th MARCH 2010 , THOMAS STREET , DUBLIN.

During two hours today (11.45AM - 1.45PM) ,in Dublin, between 20 and 30 Irish Republican supporters held a picket in support of Irish Republican prisoners. The supporters stood outside St Catherine's Church in Thomas Street with banners , placards and leaflets.
Approximately two thousand leaflets were distributed - a good few of which were requested by tourists from Sweden , Denmark and the United States , to name but some places - with the bulk of the leaflets being handed to locals and to cars , vans , lorries etc , which slowed down to get a better view of the picket.

Some of the Republican supporters on Thomas Street , Dublin , today.

Amidst the thousands of people that were in the area over the two hours which the picket lasted for - and who were , for the most part , willing to take leaflets and talk to the Republican supporters present - only six males (as opposed to 'men')verbally objected : four operatives from the State 'Special Branch' and two uniformed gardai , all of whom harrassed the Republicans and , at one stage, tried to move them off the wide footpath where they were. With no success.

Two of the RSF banners on display at the POW picket.

"I'll wear no convicts uniform...."

Five different leaflets were distributed at the picket , numbering about two thousand leaflets in total - a POW leaflet , outlining the issues facing our prisoners, a Dublin Easter Commemoration leaflet , a leaflet advertising a hunger-striker function on May 8th next , an RSF recruitment leaflet and a Na Fianna Éireann recruitment leaflet. As stated , the leaflets were very well-received by almost all in the vicinity !

POW leaflet.

Na Fianna Éireann recruitment leaflets (incidentally , if you would like to know more about NFÉ , or become a member, you can 'phone one of the Organisers on 085-2422602).

Leaflet for May 8th hunger-strike function and Dublin Easter Commemorations leaflet.

It was two hours well spent in Dublin's Thomas Street today ; the on-going suffering of our POW's was highlighted and brought home to thousands of people who otherwise might not have given the issue a second thought. The Organisers are to be congratulated on a job well done!
Thanks!
Sharon.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Aitheasc an Uachtaráin Ruairí Ó Brádaigh don 85ú Ard-Fheis de Shinn Féin in Óstlann an Spa , Leamhcán , Co. Atha Cliath , 21ú agus 22ú Deireadh Fómhair , 1989 /
Presidential Address of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh to the 85th Ard-Fheis of Sinn Féin in the Spa Hotel , Lucan , County Dublin , 21st and 22nd October 1989.....

" And yet , on the international scene, there have been some positive developments and hopeful signs over the past year. The demise of 'Reaganism' renders the wounded Thatcher regime weaker than it has been at any time in the past decade. Thatcherite economics have failed even in the case of the well-heeled pockets of privilege and segments of greed which the Tory marketing people have targetted in order to maintain power on the minority vote that can achieve office under the illiberal , unjust and undemocratic system of elections that prevails in Britain.

The price, inevitably , is being paid by the poorer sections of the British public itself including many Irish people from all parts of this island who have been denied a job and decent standards of living in their own country by the overall domination of neo-colonial consumerist economics.

On the Eastern front of the world power-blocs there have been even more dramatic developments . We welcome the triumph of the Solidarity ideal in Poland with the same sense of enthusiam that we condemn the suppression of the quest by China's youth to push forward towards reform and real democracy , 40 years after the establishment of the 'People's Republic' in that huge country......."
(MORE LATER).

BETRAYAL.......
The (State) Gardaí used John Corcoran (pictured) as a (P)IRA informer. They allowed him to be killed by another (P)IRA informer, and have since refused to investigate his murder*.
From 'MAGILL' magazine, Christmas Annual 1997.
By Ursula Halligan and Vincent Browne.
(* '1169...' Comment - their word, not ours.)

John Corcoran never made it to the works quiz. He never made it home. It was totally out of character for the 45-year-old warehouse manager. That night , his wife waited for his return. She remembers drifting in and out of a fitful sleep and hearing a disembodied voice in a dream warning her that 'life is all an illusion' .

She awoke at 6.30 a.m. on Wednesday morning , 20th March 1985 , to find that John had still not returned home. She was to spend the next three days searching the city for him with neighbours and friends. Her first concern was to shield her eight children , ranging in age from 16 years to six months, from the trauma. She did not contact the gardaí . John was an epileptic , and she thought he might have suffered a fit and had an accident. But she had other reasons for not contacting them , too.

She knew John was involved in the IRA . Although he was a low-level activist , his involvement had always been a bone of contention between them . She wanted nothing to do with the IRA , and when the couple got married they reached an agreement ; he would not discuss or expose their children , if they had children, to that side of his life. By Friday , 22nd March 1985 , Eileen Corcoran was panicking. Eventually , she went to the gardaí and reported her husband missing . She also rang the newspapers to make a public appeal for his whereabouts.......
(MORE LATER).

TRADE UNIONS AND THE HUNGER-STRIKE.......
From 'IRIS' magazine, November 1981.

Matt Merrigan, Irish district secretary of the second largest union - the ATGWU - of which the late Bobby Sands MP, was a member , has appeared on numerous platforms since 1979 in support of the prisoners.

Other notable trade union supporters include Philip Flynn of the LGPSU, Seamus De Paor, general secretary of the Irish Post Office Engineering Union, which is the largest and most militant blue-collar union in the twenty-six counties' civil service , and Seán Redmond, general secretary of the Marine , Port and General Workers' Union, the largest dockers' union in the twenty-six counties . Also , dozens of other members of trade union national executives , local branch officials and hundreds of shop stewards and union section representatives have showed their support as well .

All of this initial support was built on to the stage where , presently, the annual conference of the following unions have unanimously adopted positions of sympathy towards the republican prisoners : LGPSU , ITGWU , MPGWU and IPOEU . Plus , the majority of branches of other unions have endorsed the prisoners' demands.......
(MORE LATER).

Saturday, March 20, 2010

A picket will be held in Dublin on Saturday 27th March 2010 in support of Irish Republican prisoners : this picket will be held near the spot where Irish patriot Robert Emmet - himself a political prisoner - was executed in 1803.....

From "A FENIAN BALLAD" [aka "Sweet Iveleary"]
By JEREMIAH O’DONOVAN ROSSA (pictured above) :

".. I joined the Redcoats then – mo lein! – what would my father say?
And I was sent in one short year on service to Bombay.

I thought to be a pauper was the greatest human curse
But fighting in a robber’s cause I felt it ten times worse!
I helped to plunder and enslave those tribes of India’s sons
And we spent many a sultry day blowing sepoys from our guns.

I told these sins to Father Ned, the murder and the booty.
These were no sins for me, he said, I only did my “duty” ...

No sin to kill for English greed in some far foreign clime
How can it be that patriot love in Ireland is a crime?
How can it be, by God’s decree, I’m cursed, outlawed and banned?
Because I swore one day to free my trampled native land."

....the picket in support of those who have been "...cursed , outlawed and banned.." will , as stated , be held on Saturday 27th March 2010 outside St Catherine's Church in Thomas Street , Dublin , between 12 Noon and 2pm. These prisoners have been jailed because they fought against a 'robbers cause' , and deserve our support.
ALL WELCOME !
Thanks!
Sharon.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig!
We wish all our readers an Irish Blessing....

Aitheasc an Uachtaráin Ruairí Ó Brádaigh don 85ú Ard-Fheis de Shinn Féin in Óstlann an Spa , Leamhcán , Co. Atha Cliath , 21ú agus 22ú Deireadh Fómhair , 1989 /
Presidential Address of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh to the 85th Ard-Fheis of Sinn Féin in the Spa Hotel , Lucan , County Dublin , 21st and 22nd October 1989.....

" Not only did Leinster House fail to as much as raise a flag to honour the coming into being of that democratic Irish National Assembly , which re-declared the sovereign Irish Republic proclaimed in arms by the men and women of 1916 , but they totally ignored the suppression of that parliament by the British in September 1919.

If ever there was a case in history of the imperial overlord seeking to ignore the verdict of the people and to change the goalposts in the ballot-box business as soon as it became clear that the results did not suit them , this was it.

At a time when the same issue of allowing the voice of the overwhelming majority of people in South Africa to determine the Government is in the news again , and when Mr. Haughey and company see no harm in shadow-boxing with the British about certain issues over which they know they will get no satisfaction , this substitution of cheese and wine parties for serious discussion about either the French , the Irish or even the Russian revolution , is a sad reflection on the Ireland that has evolved twenty years after the Battle of the Bogside ......."
(MORE LATER).

BETRAYAL.......
The (State) Gardaí used John Corcoran (pictured) as a (P)IRA informer. They allowed him to be killed by another (P)IRA informer, and have since refused to investigate his murder*.
From 'MAGILL' magazine, Christmas Annual 1997.
By Ursula Halligan and Vincent Browne.
(* '1169...' Comment - their word, not ours.)

The gardaí advised John Corcoran's family not to talk to the media. But 'Magill' interviewed them : when John Corcoran was murdered* he left a wife , Eileen , and eight children . One daughter , Ursula , has since committed suicide. The family saw hope in April this year (1997) when Fianna Fáil's John O'Donoghue promised to have the case fully investigated if his party was returned to power after the State general election. Six months on , they're still waiting .

"We're not looking for revenge. We're looking for answers."

The weekend before John Corcoran was murdered* was one of the happiest in his 16-year-old marriage to his wife , Eileen . St Patricks Day was on a Sunday that year , and John Corcoran had taken the three youngest of their eight children into Cork City to see the parade. Monday was a Bank Holiday , and he spent the day pottering around the house doing odd jobs for Eileen and playing with the children . He seemed relaxed and contented.

On Tuesday , 19 March 1985 , John Corcoran was getting ready to go to work in the local branch of Musgraves, where he had worked for 20 years. Before he left the house , he shouted in to his wife that he would need his dinner early and his green pullover ready when he got home that night , because he was going on to a work quiz in a local hotel after he got home. Those were the last words that Eileen Corcoran heard her husband say.......
(MORE LATER).

TRADE UNIONS AND THE HUNGER-STRIKE.......
From 'IRIS' magazine, November 1981.

The 'Trade Union Campaign Against Repression'(T.U.C.A.R.) Group organised the first industrial action for many years against British repression when, in protest against the killing of Brian Maguire, it led thousands of workers from West Belfast in the first anti-British repression demonstration in the city's centre since 1969.

T.U.C.A.R. lobbied extensively , in Ireland and Britain , until it was eventually absorbed in 1979 into the National H-Block/Armagh Committee campaign - of which it was a genuinely broadly-based industrial predecessor .

Following the 'Green Briar' Belfast conference of the National H-Block/Armagh Committee , in June 1979 , at which the five demands of the prisoners were launched , a number of notable trade unionists rallied to the campaign . Michael Mullen, general secretary of the largest trade union in Ireland - the ITGWU- himself an ex-political prisoner from the 1940's , headed an eminent list.......
(MORE LATER).

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Fianna Fáil cowboy 'steers' self into border bust-up....

- DALLAS NOT IN IRELAND ! -

Fianna Fail councillor Tom Allen , who supplements his cotton-pickin' income by being a cowboy on stage , as well , needed a new van recently to transport his stage gear from gig to gig. So he looked around locally - or, perhaps , one of his pardners did -but the poor folk were left disappointed. Yessiree.

So Mr Dallas decided he was a-gonna take some down time and head off to hills near and far to see what was on offer. He ended up in Armagh , a tough-talkin' town across Britains illegal and unwanted 'border' , which purports to separate one 'part' of Ireland from another. And Mr Dallas purchased a high-roofed Ford Transit van. With yellow number plates , as are sold in that part of the terrority. A journalist was made aware that this Fianna Fáil councillor's yellow-plated van was being driven around the badlands of Westmeath , bedecked in the green , white and orange Fianna Fail colours , complete with slogans - 'VOTE NO. 1 TOM ALLEN : WORKING FOR ALL OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME!'
The journalist contacted the Cowboy himself and asked him why he didn't buy a vehicle locally , thus helping , financially , the local economy , which Fianna Fail themselves are on record for asking the rest of us to do , to which that member of 'Fianna Fail The Republican Party' replied -
" We would have friends in high and low places in the car industry. The people want me politically and they want me musically and that's all I care about. We get it serviced here and we buy diesel here. My wife has a car she bought in Ireland. I was looking for a particular type of van with an extra high roof but I couldn't get one in Ireland so I came on this one and said 'Hallelujah! This is what I wanted'. It's just because I am a politician and there was a sign (on the van)..."

So there you have it , readers - Armagh is not in Ireland. According to that particular Fianna Fáil cowboy , anyway.
YEE-HAW!
(Sourced here, just in case ya thought I was speakin' hog-wash or pullin' yer leg....)
Thanks!
Sharon.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Aitheasc an Uachtaráin Ruairí Ó Brádaigh don 85ú Ard-Fheis de Shinn Féin in Óstlann an Spa , Leamhcán , Co. Atha Cliath , 21ú agus 22ú Deireadh Fómhair , 1989 /
Presidential Address of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh to the 85th Ard-Fheis of Sinn Féin in the Spa Hotel , Lucan , County Dublin , 21st and 22nd October 1989.....

" The reactions of others to these events and commemorations are also revealing because , if considered in detailed context, they give us some idea of which are the really progressive forces at work in the world , and which are sham distortions that require normally intelligent people to stand on their heads concerning former opinions or to ignore huge gaps of factual history and political realities in order to maintain their position in current fashionable power-circles.

Sinn Féin Poblachtach have , ever since the Treaty sell-out of 1921 , the Fianna Fáil sell-out of 1926-27 , the Stickie sell-out of 1969-70 and the Super-Stickie betrayal of Irish Republican principles in the 1980's , continued to stick to basics that are so painful in their clarity that no effort is spared by some very strange bed-fellows to keep the younger generation in the dark about the basic historical facts.

Thus while academics and summer schools , not to mention the establishment media , rushed to celebrate the French Revolution with considerations of food-fads and fashions , they nearly all ignored the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the First Dáil Éireann by the Republican Sinn Féin members who had won a mandate for the establishment of an all-Ireland Parliament in the British-run general election at the end of 1918......."
(MORE LATER).

TRADE UNIONS AND THE HUNGER-STRIKE.......
From 'IRIS' magazine, November 1981.

The presently dominant elements on the ICTU executive ignore their own body's precedents , and because of their political orientation try to obscure the real issue at hand , which is in line with their own policy because of their entrenched opposition to the Republican Movement and, by extension , to the prisoners.

Fortunately , the above-explained situation is not at all typical of the actual reality of wide support for the hunger-strikers demands which exists within the trade union movement in Ireland and abroad.

Since 1977 , trade unionists have been active , in a co-ordinated fashion , in support of the H-Block and Armagh prisoners . Much of the initial work was done by the 'Trade Union Campaign Against Repression' (TUCAR) group, which was a Dublin-based thirty-two county organisation composed of representative trade unionists and shop stewards.......
(MORE LATER).

Friday, March 05, 2010

Aitheasc an Uachtaráin Ruairí Ó Brádaigh don 85ú Ard-Fheis de Shinn Féin in Óstlann an Spa , Leamhcán , Co. Atha Cliath , 21ú agus 22ú Deireadh Fómhair , 1989 /
Presidential Address of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh to the 85th Ard-Fheis of Sinn Féin in the Spa Hotel , Lucan , County Dublin , 21st and 22nd October 1989.....

" A welcome if belated development in Ireland has been the increasing willingness of Church bodies and spokespersons to speak out on behalf of the poor , as they have done in Latin America and elsewhere in the Third World. Some of them have joined with us in calling for the unemployed and young people of Ireland to refuse to emigrate and to fight for a decent future in their own country.

The past year has seen a remarkable series of anniversaries in different countries connected with major historical developments , some of them more remote than others , but all relevant in their own way for this organisation and for the Republican Movement. Our hallmark always has been , despite the detractors, the lies and the clever propaganda , the pursuit of a genuine developed democratic system , based on national sovereignty and international respect for the rights of all members of the family of nations.

Nineteen eighty-nine has also seen some remarkable developments in current liberation struggles and in the efforts of those pushing for reforms , some good, some bad, some radical and revolutionary , some unexpected , many unbelievable even to the members of this organisation whose basic tenet - core value if you will ! - has always been that the Irish people are capable of practically anything in the pursuit of their august destiny as long as they believe in their own strength and their inalienable right to self-determination....... "
(MORE LATER).

TRADE UNIONS AND THE HUNGER-STRIKE.......
From 'IRIS' magazine, November 1981.

Uniquely amongst the general trade union movement , the executive of the ICTU is exceptionally anti-nationalist and adhers loyally to the confused and stumbling politics* it has borrowed , on the 'national question' , from the State 'Labour Party' . (*'1169...' Comment - whilst others were quite happy in 1998, to 'borrow' from the anti-republican agenda of Leinster House , Stormont and Westminster.) Dominated by Labour Party supporters - members of a party which never turns down the opportunity to coalesce with the ultra-conservative Fine Gael - the ICTU leadership conjures up many spurious arguments to justify its otherwise inexcusable immobility on what is now a major national and international issue .

The spectre of a loyalist backlash , within the trade unions in the Six Counties , is a figment of the ICTU's imaginatiom . In fact the Belfast Trades Council - which is loyalist dominated - has a long-standing policy of sympathy with three of the hunger-strikers' demands , and an implied desire to see the hunger-strike ended by the British moving towards full concessions to the protestors.

Even the Rev. Martin Smyth, 'Grand Master' of the Orange Order - to which many loyalist workers belong - has pointed out that the conceding of political status poses no great problems for his organisation. In fact , the hunger-strike is not the question which could seriously divide the organised trade union movement.......
(MORE LATER).

Thursday, March 04, 2010

GREEN ISLE FOODS DISPUTE RESOLVED : 15-day hunger-strike ends.

A "confidential agreement" was secured today in the dispute between Green Isle Foods and those in dispute with the company , thus bringing to an end a 3-man hunger-strike in protest about the manner in which the company had attempted to railroad its employees. The trade union involved issued the following statement today , Thursday 4th March 2010 -
"Joint statement on behalf of Green Isle Foods Limited and the TEEU.
Re: Industrial Relations Dispute :
Green Isle Foods Limited, a major employer in Co Kildare, and the TEEU (Technical Engineering and Electrical Union) are pleased to confirm that the mediation process to resolve the industrial dispute at the company's manufacturing site in Naas has been concluded, with both parties agreeing to be bound by the proposals put forward by the independent mediators.
The agreement will be implemented, and accordingly, all forms of industrial action and other activity will cease with immediate effect. Both parties will be bound by confidentiality under the terms of the mediation agreement.
Both parties acknowledge the efforts and assistance of all involved in reaching agreement, and in particular pay tribute to Mr Bernard Durkan TD and Mr Jack Wall TD who facilitated the independent mediation process."
(From here.)

'The Irish Times' newspaper has a more detailed article here in relation to this dispute. For our part , we would like to congratulate those workers who took a stand against the ever-prevalent and on-going bully-boy tactics that is present today in most firms , it being - as we are repeatedly told by both management and trade union sources - 'an employers market' (ie translates as "Aren't you lucky to have a job at all....?"). We hope the workers involved received a just and fair settlement , and we also hope that the overall trade union movement will , at least and at last , take heart from the fact that the workers involved were prepared to take on the bosses rather than just cave-in to them - the easy option , and the favoured option of the trade union representatives of workers like those men. And hopefully , too , other workers will once again begin to stand-up to their management and bosses and instruct their trade union reps to grow a backbone and lead from the front in the war that has been declared on ordinary workers and the unemployed. Hopefully.....?
Sharon.

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

HUNGER-STRIKING GREEN ISLE FOODS WORKER TOLD BY STATE REPRESENTATIVE TO 'GET OUT OF THE COUNTRY...'

Statement released today , Wednesday 3rd March 2010 by SIPTU:

History of Green Isle Foods dispute.
Workers in Green Isle Foods have embarked on a course of action not seen in Ireland for many years. Members of the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) have been left on the picket line for six months by their employer and the parent company, Northern Foods in Britain.

"The basic facts.
In December 2008, a TEEU member opened a new icon on his computer entitled Boardroom. He assumed it was an information bulletin. In fact it had been sent to him by mistake instead of a senior member of management with a similar name. He did not pay much attention to the contents until a file appeared on the site in March 2009 containing restructuring proposals that involved making six TEEU members redundant.
The engineer showed his manager the file and shared the information with a number of fellow employees. When the company realised its error it insisted that all employees who may have accessed the Boardroom folder sign a document confirming that they had done so and accepting it was a serious disciplinary offence for which they faced dismissal.

The members asked their union for advice. When the TEEU sought to represent them the company refused to entertain the union. The men were suspended on full pay, while Green Isle Foods applied to the High Court for an order seeking full disclosure from the employees along with exemplary damages for breach of contract, confidentiality, interfering with the company's business and all legal costs - including interest.

The TEEU represented the men in court and after hearing the evidence Judge Mary Laffoy recommended that the parties agree a mutually acceptable process for resolving the problem. An agreement was reached by which all suspensions were lifted, the men returned to work and they agreed to co-operate with the company investigation.
The investigation dragged on from early April until mid June 2009. Eamon Devoy, General Secretary Designate of the TEEU, eventually wrote to the company on June 17th, asking that the inquiry into 'Boardroom' be wound up because of the stress it was causing employees.

Instead, the company said it had begun what it claimed was a second investigation, wholly unrelated to the first, on the previous day, June 16th, into the storage of inappropriate emails on PCs. On June 18th it also issued the findings of its first investigation. This found the company IT systems were not secure or properly monitored. There was no evidence to suggest information from the Boardroom folder had been given to anyone outside the company.
Meanwhile, the company pursued its second investigation without any involvement from the TEEU, whose members refused to engage in the new process without union representation. The same individuals were investigated as in the Boardroom inquiry and, while it remains unclear if this investigation was ever concluded, the men were dismissed at the end of what had proven a very secretive process on July 10th,2009.
Their appeals were rejected on July 31st. The company rejected an offer by the Labour Relations Commission to intervene.

Having failed to find some means of resolving the dispute through negotiation, mediation and dialogue, the TEEU served strike notice on Green Isle Foods. The response of the company was to bring in strike breakers, who were in place even before pickets were mounted at the end of August 2009.

Meanwhile the other TEEU members, whose positions had been identified as redundant in the Boardroom file, received satisfactory redundancy settlements. The crucial difference was that they were employees of ESS, a subcontractor on the Green Isle Foods site which recognises unions.
Green Isle Foods has sought to portray the dispute as one involving the downloading of pornographic from the internet, but in fact the Green Isle Foods system does not allow employees access to the internet, let alone the ability to download material. In the case of two TEEU members who were dismissed, they opened unsolicited emails which had nothing to suggest the material was inappropriate. In one case the man was dismissed for failing to delete the email subsequently from his in-box although he did not show it to anyone else. The source of the unsolicited emails has never been identified by the company.

The third employee was dismissed because he brought a memory stick to work with film and video game material on it which was not pornographic images, but which the company claimed could breach copyright law if used on its equipment.
After being on the picket line for over four months the TEEU referred the dispute to the Labour Court. The Court heard the case on December 4th, 2009. The company refused to attend, saying it did not recognise unions and therefore the Labour Court was an appropriate forum to resolve the dispute. Nevertheless it was represented at the hearing by IBEC.
The Court issued a recommendation on December 8th, 2009, stating it was satisfied the dismissals were unjustified, that there should be an immediate return to work, full reinstatement of the men and compensation for loss of earnings. In the event that this was not acceptable to the two sides the Court recommended that they should agree, through a third party if necessary, on a compensation package for the men.

When the company rejected this proposal the Court recommended, on January 5th, 2010, that the sacked men receive €40,000, €60,000 and €80,000 respectively, reflecting their lengths of service (seven, 10 and 16 years), if they were not reinstated as previously recommended.
When the company continued to ignore the Labour Court recommendations, the shop stewards, Jim Wyse and Declan Shannon, requested meetings with the company locally to resolve the dispute through direct talks. They even offered to negotiate on the Labour Court terms. Management met them briefly for a few minutes on three occasions over four weeks but did not even bother to make a note of the men's proposals before rejecting them.
It was after this final rebuff that the workers decided to adopt a hunger strike strategy. They had spent six months on the picket line during the worst winter weather for 40 years and their families were experiencing extreme economic hardship. They felt it was the last means available to bring pressure to bear on a company that was impervious to all the normal rules of industrial relations or common decency.
Jim Wyse became the first hunger striker on February 17th. He volunteered to go first because it was his suggestion. John Guinan joined him on February 24th.

John Recto, joined the Green Isle Foods hunger strike today (Wednesday March 3rd).
Some hours before he joined Jim Wyse and John Guinan on hunger strike, John Recto was asked call into Naas Garda Station, where he was informed that his work visa has been revoked. He was told he has until March 8th to leave the country. He is from the Philippines and has been working at Green Isle Foods for the past three years.
His wife and three children, aged six, seven and one year old, are living with him in Naas. His youngest child was born in Ireland."

To a certain extent , this is the fault of those that work for a wage and the overall Trade Union movement. All involved with this blog work outside (and inside) the home , for a wage , and are union members : in recent years we have been financially victimised by been forced to pay higher direct and indirect ('stealth') taxes , have seen our terms and conditions in the workplace suffer and most of us have had our take-home pay reduced by between €25 and €50 per week , with some workers losing even more per week than that top figure. And we are still expected to work the same number of hours (39 , in our case) that we worked before those deductions were forced on us at source. All this because the greedy , incompetent and useless bastards in Leinster House need billions of Euro to bail-out their business , banking and property-speculating colleagues , who are equally just as greedy , incompetent and useless.
It is as much the fault of the Trade Union movement because they have become 'soft' and over-friendly with both groups of useless bastards mentioned above : in truth , the Trade Union leadership have more in common - and not only in relation to the money they 'earn' - with those two groups in that they lack the moral courage to stand-by their (stated) convictions and alleged intention - to protect that what we already have , in the workplace, and to seek to improve conditions for the working class. We , the tax-paying working class , have been sold out four times over- by ourselves , for not only not whole-heartedly fighting back but for not actually leaving blood on the streets in our attempt to do so , by (surprise,surprise) the self-serving and (pension-)time-serving millionaire politicians in this State , by (again-surprise,surprise) the business owners , bosses and management and , finally , by 'our' trade union movement.
We should be thoroughly ashamed of ourselves.
Sharon.