1169 And Counting.....

Thursday, April 22, 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.....

" In this overall context, the inevitable stampede without real discussion towards "1992" in the EC has already thrown up major issues and contradictions. The bubble of "massive structural funding" has already been burst, while at the same time the reluctance of the Dublin administration to grant even a fraction of the inadequate action to anybody other than the unelected officials of Merrion Street puts paid for once and for all to Fianna Fail claims about a genuine interest in decentralisation.

Even the EC economic experts themselves are now stating publicly that "1992" is no solution for our economic ills. It is going to be tough all the way up to that year - with unemployment, asset stripping , take-overs, emigration and stagnation in most sectors being as bad as we predicted they would be in the 1970's and '80s when we tried to warn people about the snare of EC membership.

Even the latest NESC Report had to admit that the substantial part of the Raymond Crotty scenario on the Common Market was correct. Mr Crotty's case was and is our case also. Yet there is very little debate about this in the Irish media. Politicians are scared stiff to conduct debate on the so-called 'National Plan' , to such an extent that the NESC Report itself is difficult to get in shops and lirraries. Leinster House ostrich-like chooses to ignore the facts and continues to parrot the declining list of 'benefits' which they claim 1992 will bring......."
(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.)

" I filled up. I felt desperate, " Eileen Corcoran said. "I felt there was only one way out of there and that was in a box. So I was saying to myself how, after all these years of telling me he couldn't get out, does he suddenly say he's semi-retired?"

Looking back at the weeks leading up to her husband's murder * , she remembers other things : she remembers watching him lie awake one night, unable to sleep, clearly troubled by something. When she asked what was bothering him, he didn't answer. She remembers another night when the house alarm went off and John refused to get out of bed to investigate the incident. "You could be murdered out there," he said. She could sense he was very scared.

Then there was the mystery caller , the man who would phone at any hour and demand to speak to John. This man phoned several times during the days in March when John went missing and was anxious to find out where he was. " I have no face for this man. He was just a voice to me. Over the months and years (that he had been phoning) he was a man I wouldn't have liked. He was aggressive. When he wanted John , he wanted John , even if it was an awkward time. He was a demanding man......."
(MORE LATER).

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

Because of the massive unemployment in Ireland and because the other eight deaths , after Bobby Sands and Francis Hughes, were not as 'shocking' - though of course people were moved and angry nonetheless - industrial action, although still widespread, has been more on the scale of one-hour stoppages at the time of the funerals.

Some sections of workers merit special thanks for their support ; these are the Belfast dockers and De Lorean workers , the Shortt factory workers of Derry, the Dublin building workers, Waterford Glass workers and the 3,500 construction workers at Aughinish - the largest construction site in Ireland , on the Shannon river estuary - who have taken strike action to mark the loss of each of the hunger-strikers.

Evidence of the consistent support enjoyed by the prisoners among trade unionists came in the recent Southern general election and the Fermanagh/South Tyrone by-election brought about by the death of Bobby Sands .......
(MORE LATER).

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Des Dalton , RSF President , pictured outside Maghaberry Jail , during a 'Restore Political Status' protest.

Update : as well as the picket which is being held in support of political status for Irish Republican prisoners on Saturday 24th April 2010 outside the British Embassy , 29 Merrion Road, Ballsbridge , Dublin , from 1pm to 3pm , a POW picket will be held the following day, Sunday 25th April 2010, outside Maghaberry Jail at 11.30am. During this picket , Sinn Féin Poblachtach President Des Dalton will be going inside the Jail to visit one of the POW's. A bus for the Maghaberry Jail picket will be leaving from Aston Quay in Dublin at 8.30am Sunday morning, and a return seat on same will cost five euro.
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Saturday, April 17, 2010

HUNGER-STRIKER FUNCTION , SATURDAY 8th MAY 2010.

The hunger strike is part of a very ancient Irish tradition, although it seems that James Connolly was the first to use it in 1913 as tool of political protest in 20th century Ireland.
From 20 September 1917, Irish internees used the hunger strike as a means of trying to secure their rights from an implacable enemy. Thomas Ashe, former principal of Corduff National School,was the first to die after an attempted force-feeding.
Fasting as a means of asserting one's rights when faced with no other means of obtaining redress is something that has been embedded in Irish culture from ancient times. Even when the ancient Irish law system, the Laws of the Fénechus, which we popularly called the Brehon Laws from the word breitheamh, a judge, were first codified in AD 438, the law relating to the troscad, or hunger strike, was ancient.

The hunger striker gave notice of their intent and, according to the law tract Di Chetharslicht Athgabhála, if the person who is being fasted against does not come to arbitration, and actually allows the protester to die, then the moral judgement went against them and they endured shame and contempt until they made recompense to the family of the dead person. If they failed to make such amends, they were not only damned by society but damned in the next world. They were held to be without honour and without morality.
The ancient Irish texts are full of examples of people fasting to assert their rights and shame powerful enemies into accepting their moral obligations. St Patrick is recorded to have done so according to the Tripartite Life of St Patrick. And, in the Life of St Ailbe, we found St Lugid and St Salchin, carrying out ritual fasts to protest.
Even King Conall Dearg of Connacht fasted when he found his rights infringed. And the entire population of Leinster fasted against St Colmcille when he rode roughshod over their rights. The poet Mairgen mac Amalgado mac Mael Ruain of the Deisi fasted against another poet Finguine over an act of perceived injustice.
The troscad continued in Irish law throughout the centuries until the English conquests proscribed the native law system and foisted English law on Ireland through a series of Acts between 1587 and 1613.
Nevertheless, individual fasts against the cruelties of the English colonial administration are recorded several times over the subsequent years....

On Saturday , 8th May 2010 , a ballad session featuring The Beermats , Pato Cullen and Paddy Sweeney will be held in the 79'r pub in Ballyfermot ,Dublin, to remember the 22 Irish men who have died on hunger-strike since 1917. Doors open at 8.30pm , admission per person is Five Euro and a raffle for POW craft and other prizes will be held on the night.
All Welcome!

ALSO -
- a picket in support of political status for Irish Republican prisoners will be held on Saturday 24th April 2010 outside the British Embassy , 29 Merrion Road,
Ballsbridge , Dublin , from 1pm to 3pm. If you support Republican prisoners , and that which they are incaracted for , please be there , if you can make it....

ALSO -
- a fund-raiser for Cumann na mBan , featuring 'The Druids', will be held on Friday 18th June 2010 , in the 79'r Pub in Ballyfermot , Dublin. Doors open at 8.30pm , admission is five euro per person , and a Republican raffle will be held on the night. Hope to see you there....
Thanks!
Sharon.

Wednesday, April 14, 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 while recognising publicly the assistance and moral support given first by the Soviet Union to the Irish Republic on its declaration in 1919, we have to continue to champion the rights of those nations who were originally dominated by the Czarist empire and whose lot was no better, perhaps even worse in some cases, under Stalin and what followed.

We wish the economic reforms well , particularly if, as seems to be the case , some effort is being made to end the harsh state centralism without a return to the false economic gloss of modern capitalism. But when one notes the strong backing of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher for the Gorbachev experiment , one must be suspicious and ask whether the latest global rapprochement between the superpowers is nothing more than a coming together of the 'advanced' colonial forces in the white Northern hemisphere so that former revolutionaries , former colonialists and well-heeled privileged economic minorities, who gobble-up the vast majority of the world resources, can share out the spoils in an essentially conservative division of power and privilege.

This would see the overwhelming majority of humanity in the poor Southern hemisphere and throughout the Third World in general still deprived of any real share of the wealth of even their own continents....... "
(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 : " People out there were saying John was a informer , and I wanted to protect my children. It wasn't a nice thing to be branded . I felt we were victims of circumstance. It was very, very tough . You were always thinking what do people think of you..."

Eileen Corcoran says her husband was a quiet , inoffensive type of man , but frustratingly secretive. The cloud of the IRA always hung over them : " He would never tell me anything. He used to say to me, 'What you don't know, Eileen , nothing can happen to you.' It was his way of protecting us, if anything did happen." When he first told her that "he was involved" , she made it clear to him that she was not happy about it.

" I really thought I could work on John. It's like if you're married to an alcoholic. I thought my love would change him and make him see that his wife and family came first , before his country." Gradually , she came to accept that he could do nothing about it. Ironically , two weeks before he died he turned to her in their kitchen one night and told her that he had good news for her. " I'm now semi-retired," he declared. She knew immediately what he meant , but walked away saying nothing.......
(MORE LATER).

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

International labour and trade union support has been enormous with over 100 union organisations in North and Central America , Europe , Africa , Australasis and Polynesia , expressing solidarity with the hunger-strikers . Major forces such as the Prague-based World Federation of Trade Unions, the Longshoremen in the USA and the CFDT and CGT in France , are some of the best-known supporters.

Industrial solidarity action has been a significant aspect of the hunger-strike campaign. The continuous and intense nature of this action surpasses in extent and degree any industrial action on national question-related matters since the Tan War of 1919-1921. Major days of industrial action have taken place in both phases of the hunger-strike; on December 10th last (1980) , thousands of workers responded to a strike call issued by the National H-Block/Armagh Committee and each death of the hunger-strikers has also been marked by a day of vigils across the country coinciding with token industrial action.

The days of mourning , after the deaths of Volunteer Bobby Sands MP and Volunteer Francis Hughes brought out the greatest number of workers - approximately 250,000 workers downed tools on the day of each of the funerals of Bobby Sands and Francis Hughes with every major industrial centre registering a total shut-down for some part of the day in protest at Britain's death policy in the H-Blocks.......
(MORE LATER).

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.