RSF ON THE ANTI-HOUSEHOLD TAX PROTEST, CLONDALKIN , DUBLIN , SATURDAY 25th FEBRUARY 2012....



...a protest against the recently-implemented State Household Tax was held today (Saturday 25th February 2012) in Clondalkin Village , Dublin : members of the local Máire Drumm/Kevin Barry Cumann of Republican Sinn Féin took part in this protest and maintained their presence outside the Offices of South Dublin County Council for the full ninty minutes that the protest lasted for.




Hundreds of leaflets were distributed in the area , and a very welcome response was received by the protesters from shoppers going in to the near-by Mill Shopping Centre and from the drivers and passengers of the hundreds of cars that slowed down as they passed the protest .








As usual , the Clondalkin-based 'Mr T' was present with his 'Browning' camera (!) , as was 'Baby t' and , between them , they took a sh.....utter load of pics which , when they eventually tire of pressing leaflets in through the open windows of passing cars (!) , they will post on this 'Facebook' page !
Congrats to all those who took part in this protest , and to the many hundreds of passing supporters who voiced their agreement with the objectives on those on the protest - 'DON'T REGISTER FOR THE HOUSEHOLD TAX , AND DON'T PAY IT !'
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.

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'THERE WILL BE ANOTHER DAY.....'
By Peadar O'Donnell ; first published in January 1963.

For a little while on the morning of the attack on IRA Headquarters , Four Courts , Dublin , 28th June 1922 , Liam Mellows and I shared vigil at one of the barricaded upper windows , and watched the city bestir itself , within our arc of vision, to the noise of rifle fire and light artillery fire. We thought our thoughts. Two men , obviously workmen making their way along the quays to their jobs, started us speculating on what role the trade unions would have been guided into were James Connolly alive and the Republic under attack.

It was the first time I heard Mellows on the play of social forces in the crisis of the Treaty ; I was present at the Dáil Éireann session when he made his speech against the Treaty but , while what he said then impressed me greatly , it gave no indication of the pattern of ideas he uncovered now.

The Four Courts fell and its garrison became prisoners , and with it members of the IRA Executive - Rory O' Connor , Liam Mellows , Joe McKelvey and Peadar O' Donnell. In the angry mood of the thronged cells in Mountjoy Jail , the prisoners instinctively turned to Mellows as the one among us who must, somehow , be able to explain how the Republican Army could permit itself to be overrun by much weaker military forces and why certain men of courage , hitherto devoted to independence , should choose to enter on a road of struggle to overthrow the Republic and raise on its ruins a parliament which rested on the penal British Government of Ireland Act 1920.......
(MORE LATER).









THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

" In the Dail debate on May 8th and 9th , the Taoiseach gave an unqualified assurance that no postal warrant in respect of the telephone or correspondence of any member of government or, indeed , for any member of the Dail or Seanad had been signed by the Minister for Justice. The Taoiseach was right , of course, in what he said but it would not have been so if I had had my way. I saw no reason, then or at any other time, why there should be exceptions from the processes of criminal investigation."

MAY 8TH AND 9TH 1970 :
" The marathon two-day Dail debate on the circumstances of the dismissal of Ministers made unpleasant reading for me as I was mentioned by name and activities were ascribed to me which were without foundation. It was stated that I was working on a 'letter de cachet' basis to the Taoiseach : Deputy Kevin Boland's phraseology (Volume 246 , Number 7 , Cols. 744-48) and that I was employing a 'super-Special Branch' for surveillance of Ministers. It was complete nonsense. I was obliged to report direct to the Taoiseach in pursuance of directions from my Minister , Mr. O' Morain, who was to say so in Court in September 1970 and to say so with greater emphasis in his correspondence with and in his testimony before the Committee of Public Accounts - see Mr. O' Morain's letter dated 10th June 1961 on page 304 of CPA Report : "Any knowledge that I had of these events was fully reported both by me and , on my express instructions, by Mr Peter Berry ....to the Taoiseach at all material times....."
(MORE LATER).







BRIAN MÓR Ó BAOIGHILL RIP : Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dilis.....



I had the pleasure of meeting Brian Mór a number of times over the years , and each time we parted company we both knew it was only temporary due to the fact that we shared the same Irish Republican values and realised that , as comrades, we were destined to meet again : and we are , but, now , it won't be in this life.

Brian Mór's Christmas Greetings to Irish POW's , Times Square , New York , 1983.

'In June of last year he wrote an open letter to the Lord Mayor of Belfast to protest at one of his poster artworks, commemorating Theobald Wolfe Tone and the 1798 Rising, being hung in Belfast City hall. Brian saw this as merely an attempt to distract from the fact that Belfast and the rest of the Six Counties were still occupied by British forces. In his own inimitable style Brian finished his letter by declaring: "When the Belfast City Hall is located in a united Ireland, not the United Kingdom, I would be honored to see my artwork displayed. Until then, I request that it be taken down. Moving the picture of the Queen of England from one wall to another does not in any way make Belfast part of a United Ireland. I object to my artwork being used to pretend otherwise...." '
(More acknowledgments and tributes here and here.)

There is a lot more I could say about Brian , but this is not the most suitable venue in which to do so : I will close , for now , with the words of Oscar Wilde - "Friendship is far more tragic than love. It lasts longer."
Slán anois , A Chara.







'CAPTAIN MAC'S ' - A CLASS ACT.....

" I'm a Class Act. And you're paying for it...."

Beverley Cooper-Flynn , daughter of 'P' Flynn (from the 'ThreeHouse-Flynn' Clan) might very well have had her glittering political career whipped away from her by cruel circumstances (!) but at least she won't go hungry : she owns a chipper in Marbella , which enables her to top-up her tan whilst checking the accounts of her customers , some of whom may not realise that , on 'leaving' Leinster House , she received a few bob to help her on her way : a lump-sum payment of €186,000 , hardly enough, these days, to put fish and chips on the table. But not to worry : 'Class Act' Bev also receives a weekly State pension , courtesy of her services to those that had elected her to Leinster House, of €697 a week , every week , for the rest of her life. And no better girl to tell ya if it's index-linked or not.....
So - when you are next in Marbella on holiday (!) , you know where not to go if you're hungry , and where to go if you're angry.....
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.

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NIALL AND OWEN TALK SHOP , AND JIM WANTS IN : EARL GREY WITH THE 'RIGHT HONOURABLE....'

Jim McVeigh , PSF poacher turned gamekeeper.....


"Talk of Socialism, collectivism etc is all nonsense, people running around waving red flags is an embarrassment...."
- the words of Provisional Sinn Féin leader , head of the Provisional Sinn Féin Trade Union Department and leader of Belfast City Council, Jim McVeigh ,as spoken in the Waterfront Conference Centre , Belfast, on Saturday 11th February 2012.
It seems that these political misfits are not just content to welcome a British 'queen' to Irish soil , but also view their stated pro-working/unemployed-class policies as yet another 'chip' to be traded and/or ditched if doing so will integrate them further with the 'establishment'. Then there's this -



- a photograph taken earlier this month (Friday 10th February 2012) of the Provisional Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Belfast , Niall Ó Donnghaile, (right) having a nice cup of Earl Grey with the British Secretary of State , the 'Right Honourable' Owen Paterson MP , in the 'Parlour' of Belfast City Hall. Niall , the 'Pet Rebel' , then took his new friend , Owen , on a tour of the Big House.

And , as with other members of that 'establishment' , he and his party continue , for now, to benefit from 'selling' something that they don't possess and, more than likely , never possessed in the first place - political integrity. Until such time as the 'buyers' cop-on , these snakeoil salespeople will continue to prosper.
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.

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'THERE WILL BE ANOTHER DAY.....'
By Peadar O'Donnell ; first published in January 1963.

It was a near thing that the agitation did not burn itself out within the few townlands committed to it before other districts became involved. It was not easy , so late in the day as 1926, to convince even neighbour districts that this issue was vitally related to the independence struggle, since nobody raised it when the War of Independence was at its height.

The current annuity by itself , unrelated to a national issue, was not a matter of any great concern, and so for a time a few townlands stood alone. There is little left today of many of the townlands in which this agitation was cradled - they were a remnant of the Irish of history with little or no place in Irish life : its economy bypassed them. The Republic might have brought them back into it but its defeat sealed their fate. So they left, following well-beated paths into strange lands, a firm, gay people who blamed nobody for their lot.

It became them to make a proud stand against 'The Sherriff' before they set out, for, so to speak , that was where they came in - the prelude to Kinsale and its sequel. It would ill become me not to help them leave behind them some word of what they did. Indeed , I, too, might have failed them but for Maurice Moore. It is fitting that it should be from him the push came to make me write this, for he came to the aid of the townlands when they had few friends. He would like to be remembered with them , and they would like that, too.

For myself there is the further reward that this booklet is a footnote to Liam Mellows's 'Notes From Mountjoy Jail....'
(MORE LATER).









THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

" Of the two warrants signed by me , at the request of the Commissioner, one was never enforced after the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs consulted the Taoiseach : it was in connection with the attempted arms importation and it was in respect of a public servant (not a member of Parliament) who was deeply involved. I was no respector of persons and saw no reason for exclusivity but the Taoiseach took another view. This again made me - and the Garda Authorities - have doubts as to whether the Taoiseach was in earnest in directing on April 20th that the matter be fully investigated.

The manner in which postal censorship was exercised was dealt with by Mr Haughey in May 1963 and by the Taoiseach in 1970 (Vol. 246 , No. 7, Col. 1332) and by Mr O' Malley in the following month in even greater particularity but the answers of each were to the same effect.

I had been pilloried by 'Backbencher' , a gossip columnist in 'The Irish Times' , on several occasions in the 1960's for "tapping" telephones when I was completely innocent......."
(MORE LATER).







ON THIS DAY (15th FEB) 91 YEARS AGO (1921)....

IRA Column 1920's , Ireland.


Paddy Moran and Joseph Rochford are charged with the 'murder' of Lieutenant Peter Ashmun Ames at 38 Upper Mount Street , Dublin, on 'Bloody Sunday', November 21st, 1920. Joe Rochford was acquitted but Paddy Moran was found guilty and sentenced to be hung. A large number of alibi witnesses had come forward for Moran but three British soldiers identified him as being in Upper Mount St.
Paddy Moran "....was arrested on two occasions in early 1920. While in detention at Arbour Hill Prison, he was identified as being one of a group of men who had killed Lieutenant Ames at 38 Mount Street, Dublin. Moran strongly protested his innocence of any involvement in Bloody Sunday. His alibi was that he was at Mass in Blackrock (over four miles from the scene of the shooting) at the time and seen there by several people including a member of the Dublin Metropolitan Police...."
(From here.)




15th FEBRUARY 1921 : UPTON AMBUSH , CORK -

"Let the moon shine out tonight along the valley
Where those men who fought for freedom now are laid
May they rest in piece those men who died for Ireland
And fell in that Upton ambush for Sinn Fein....."

On the 15th of February 1921 a planned ambush by the I.R.A. of a train carrying British soldiers went wrong resulting in the death of three I.R.A. men and six civilians. The plan was to ambush the train when it stopped at Upton station : the station staff were detained by the I.R.A. as they waited for the train , which held about fifty soldiers of the Essex Regiment , to arrive. The British soldiers were dispersed throughout the train rather than concentrated in the central carriage as the I.R.A. believed. As a result of acting on faulty information, the civilian causalities were high and the British soldiers were in a better position to repel the IRA attackers. The three dead I.R.A. men were Lieutenant John Whelan a native of Liverpool England, Lieutenant Patrick O'Sullivan of Raheen, Upton , and IRA Section Commander Batt Falvey of Ballymurphy, Upton.








CLONMULT MASSACRE TO BE COMMEMORATED....



On the 20th February 1921 , IRA Captain James P. Aherne and Volunteer James Glavin , two members of an IRA 'Flying Squad' that was based in Cork, watched as one of their number headed off on a short stroll to a near-by stream to collect water for the IRA Squad : a poacher , an ex-British Army man, was on the far side of the stream laying traps for rabbits when he spotted the man , whom he knew to be an IRA member, and watched as the IRA man filled as many buckets as he could carry and observed as the Volunteer headed to the near-by cottage. The poacher reported the sighting to the local RIC and they , in turn , called-in a Black and Tan murder gang. The cottage was soon surrounded by these armed pro-British thugs.
Twelve I.R.A. Volunteers were killed and another two were executed later :

Captain James Aherne from Cobh County Cork was killed while jumping a fence 200 yards from the house.
Volunteer Jeremiah Aherne, from Midleton, County Cork ,was killed in action.
Volunteer Liam Aherne, from Midleton, County Cork, killed in action.
Volunteer Donal Dennehy, from Midleton, County Cork, killed in action.
Volunteer David Desmond, from Midleton, County Cork, killed in action.
Volunteer Michael Desmond, from Midleton, County Cork, was killed while attempting to fight his way back into the house.
Volunteer James Glavin, from Cobh, County Cork, was killed during the fighting.
Volunteer Michael Hallahan, from Midleton, County Cork, killed in action.
Volunteer Richard Hegarty, from Garryvoe, County Cork, killed in front of the house when attempting to go for aid.
Volunteer John Joe Joyce, from Midleton, County Cork, killed while attempting to re-gain entry to the farm house.
Volunteer Maurice Moore, from Cobh, County Cork, was captured during the Ambush,and was later executed at Cork Military Barracks on April 28th 1921.
Volunteer Joseph Morrissey, from Athlone, County Westmeath, killed during the fighting.
Volunteer Christopher O'Sullivan, from Midleton, County Cork, killed during the fighting.
Volunteer Paddy O'Sullivan, from Cobh, County Cork, was captured and was later executed at Cork Military Barracks, on April 28th 1921.



The Clonmult Martyrs Commemoration Committee will pay tribute to those brave IRA Volunteers on Sunday , 19th February 2012 : those attending are asked to assemble at the Courthouse , Main Street, Midleton , County Cork , at 2.30pm , from where a parade will be held to the Churchyard at Saint John the Baptist Church , where a wreath will be laid and an oration will be delivered by Mary Ward.
ALL WELCOME !
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.

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DUBLIN RSF EASTER COMMEMORATION ARRANGEMENTS FOR APRIL 2012 :
"Too long a sacrifice
Can make a stone of the heart.
O when may it suffice?
That is Heaven's part, our part
To murmur name upon name,
As a mother names her child
When sleep at last has come
On limbs that had run wild.
What is it but nightfall?
No, no, not night but death;
Was it needless death after all?
For England may keep faith
For all that is done and said.
We know their dream; enough
To know they dreamed and are dead;
And what if excess of love
Bewildered them till they died?
I write it out in a verse -
MacDonagh and MacBride
And Connolly and Pearse
Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born...."
(From here.)



EASTER SUNDAY , 8th April 2012 - Assemble at gates of Deansgrange Cemetery at 12.45pm for the march to the Republican Plot.

EASTER MONDAY , 9th April 2012 - Assemble at the Garden of Rememberance , Parnell Square , Dublin City Centre , at 1.45pm for the march to the GPO.
Thanks,
Sharon.

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RAFFLE....

The monthly raffle that was held in a friendly hotel today was , as expected, a roaring (!) success , with all available tickets sold-out within the first twenty minutes of our arrival on the premises : Pat , the Manager , and Anne and Tommy , the staff that were on-hand with us (and who tried their best to maintain order lol!) asked me to publish the results on the blog , as they want to display same on their big screen TV's in the bar and both lounges : Pat and Tommie insisted that I include a pic of myself , as well, but sure I'm far too shy to do that..... ;-) !

Anyway , to business : congrats to Derry , ticket number 578 , who won the €200 first prize , having been sold the ticket by our Anto (who was DELIGHTED that he sold it.....!) , as was Mick , who sold the ticket that won the second prize (€100 - ticket number 276) to the winner of same , Ken. A lovely young colleen from Waterford , Shiela , and her friend , Eileen (also from Waterford) , who were in the hotel for a bite to eat (having broken many a heart in Dublin !) won 3rd and 4th prize respectively with ticket numbers 367 and 34 (€40 and €20 - but that wasn't the real reason the boys were cheering !) and , actually, two of those cheering boys - Tom and Joe - shared "a twenty-spot..." between them , when they won 5th prize with ticket number 711.
Bobby won prize number 6 (€20) , with ticket number 164 , which he bought from the mysterious 'Mr H' and , believe it or not , an RSF member from Kells in County Meath (whom we suspect was with Shiela and Eileen or , at least , was trying his best to be!) won the second-last prize of €20 with ticket number 683 and the last prize , €20, was won by Martin with ticket number 425 , and he was sold that ticket by our resident ticket-seller , Gavin.

It was yet again a very busy , active , noisey and financially beneficial event for the Movement , and the 'Raffle Crew' are to be praised for the professional manner in which they conduct the raffle , and themselves , each month. They are a credit to the organisation ! And finally - FAO Pat and Tommy : when our resident ticket-seller , Gav, confirms to me that this blog post is on display on your big screen TV's , I'll send the pic you asked for.....maybe....... ;-) !





....AND REVENUE !

....a quick word here on finances of another sort : the fact that the corrupt politicians in Leinster House and their business buddies in the property and banking sectors have busted this State wide open and surrendered themselves and , by default, the rest of us, to the sharks in Brussels and the IMF : said sharks have ordered their employees in Kildare Street to issue new income-tax forms , a pic of which we publish with this post -



- As those clowns in Leinster House would say : "Be a true Patriot , and fill it out for us...."
Perhaps they , too, should organise a monthly raffle - but that would be too much like hard work for them.....
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.

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WANTED.....



















"....FOR A SERIES OF LEGAL VIOLATIONS SUCH AS BLACKMAIL,COVERTLY ABOLISHING OR ERODING DEMOCRACY AND NATIONAL
SOVEREIGNTY...."

Greece's largest police union has threatened to issue arrest warrants for officials from the European Union and International Monetary Fund - "Since you are continuing this destructive policy, we warn you that you cannot make us fight against our brothers. We refuse to stand against our parents, our brothers, our children or any citizen who protests and demands a change of policy," said the union, which represents more than two-thirds of Greek policemen.

"We warn you that as legal representatives of Greek policemen, we will issue arrest warrants for a series of legal violations ... such as blackmail, covertly abolishing or eroding democracy and national sovereignty", and said one target of its warrants would be the IMF's top official for Greece, Poul Thomsen.
(More here.)

When the Greek police are finished with the EU and IMF robber-barons , they might like to visit this corrupt State and deal with the useless money-grabbers in the Leinster House institution : only say the word , Mr Policeman , and we'll have a white-washed wall ready.....
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.

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'THERE WILL BE ANOTHER DAY.....'
By Peadar O'Donnell ; first published in January 1963.

The land annuity agitation was pushed forward, initially , by weak forces. It developed in the shelter of the unrest created by the growing strength and aggression of the IRA , in a period of widespread , economic crisis - between 1926 and 1932 - only that the IRA was abroad the townlands involved in the agitation would have been overrun.

I think it unlikely that the land annuity agitation would have forced itself onto the political scene , as a dominant , national issue , so soon, only that I was among the weapons to its hand , at an early stage, and that I , in turn, had to hand 'An Phoblacht' , the weekly journal of the IRA , which I edited. ('1169...' Comment : that paper , 'An Phoblacht' , is now the journal of constitutional nationalism and supports the views expressed by constitutional nationalists in both Leinster House and Stormont.)

My role was a simple one : I faced a few townlands with a view of a state of things which they recognised to be authentic , and their response to it was courageous, but they were influenced by what they saw and not by me directly, for I was never popular among them , in the mass sense.......
(MORE LATER).







THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

MAY 7 , 1970 :

" Very early on , Mr O' Malley made it clear to me that he expected that all communication between the Taoiseach and me would be through him and that was entirely in accordance with my personal wishes. In my own case I had never spoken on official matters to Mr. Lemass or Mr. de Valera except in the presence and with the permission of my Minister of the day but Mr. Lynch had a style of his own which permitted of direct access to civil servants when it suited him and a quick drawing down of the shutters if an objective assessment were proferred which did not fall in line with his line of thought.

On this date I sought the formal approval of the Minister for two postal warrants (authorisation for phone-tapping) which I had signed under the Seal of Office of the Minister for Justice in the interregnum between Mr. O Morain's departure and his appointment.

Under the Ministers and Secretaries Act 1924, the Secretary of a Department of State was empowered to sign under Seal. In actual fact, those were the only postal warrants signed by me during ten years as Secretary. The practice varied before my time - some Ministers , notably Mr. Gerry Boland and Mr. Everett, took the view that it would be preferable that warrants should be signed Departmentally in order that the Minister could, in truth , disclaim knowledge of warrants issued for the control of organised crime of a serious nature or for the supervision of subversive activities which were only issued on the written demand of the Commissioner, Garda Siochana or the Minister for Defence for the purposes of military intelligence......."
(MORE LATER).







BLEEDING THE TAXPAYER - A TALE OF TWO PRO-BRITISH , ANTI-REPUBLICAN 'PARLIAMENTS' :

Leinster House , 26-County Assembly.


Stormont , Assembly for the Occupied Six Counties.

Besides being pro-British and anti-Republican , the lodgers in the above-pictured 'political assemblies' share one other trait in common : their desire to enrich themselves with as much cash as quickly as possible. The representatives in the first assembly , Leinster House, have recently billed the State taxpayer for €6 million in expenses for less than one years 'work' (full 'spreadsheet' break-down can be viewed here ) whilst their counterparts in Stormont have taken £5 million from the taxpayer and used it to pay for 'Spin Doctors'!

One (Fine Gael) representative in Leinster House, whilst canvassing for votes this time last year , stated loud and repeatedly that , if elected, he would not take the €90,000-plus salary and would instead only accept half of it and return the other half to State coffers : he got elected and promptly let it be known that he was doing the job for approximately €45,000 a year and called on other Leinster House members to do likewise - a call that fell on deaf ears. And perhaps it was one of those 'deaf-eared' members that tipped-off the media that the same 'half-rate' representative had placed his wife and two of his cousins in his Office as full-time staff members , paid for by the taxpayer.....

The only sure way to stop these political gangsters from ripping-off the taxpayer is to vote N.O.T.A. - and encourage as many others as you can to do likewise. They are all living beyond our means.







'LOVE ULSTER' LOYALISTS TO CAUSE RIOTS IN DUBLIN AGAIN AT EASTER 2012 ?




















A number of readers of this blog , who live in various parts of the Occupied Six Counties, have been in touch with us in recent days to voice concerns about strong rumours that are circulating in their areas in connection with Willie Frazer's 'FAIR' group and their colleagues in the Nazi-supporting 'Combat 18' gang. Apparently , members and/or supporters of both outfits are actively canvassing support for a loyalist parade to take place through Dublin city centre on Easter weekend 2012 , in what is allegedly being touted by them as 'a return match' , a reference to the riots they caused in Dublin in 2006. We covered the trouble they caused at that time on this blog and, whilst we hope there is no foundation to the rumours , we would not be surprised to again witness the clueless politicians in Leinster House welcoming same and instructing their police force to remove protestors from the intended parade route. Republican Sinn Féin were out in 2006 on the streets , in protest, and we have no doubt that, should Mr Frazer and his right-wing thugs attempt to parade their neo-Nazi attitudes in Dublin , they will again be met by Irish Republican objectors. When/if we receive verification that these pro-British loyalists are indeed planning to cause more riots in Dublin , we will post about it here.







AND FINALLY...



...this coming Sunday (12th February 2012) will see myself and five others taking shelter (!) in a hotel on the Dublin-Kildare border for the usual monthly raffle : and shelter we will surely need because, unless we get back a few dozen unsold tickets (highly unlikely!) we will be going into the lions den with only twenty-five 'peace offerings' , having already sold fifty of our 'on-the-day-offerings' (ie tickets for that day's raffle) the last time we were there ! So , at this particular moment in time, we are not concerned AT ALL at facing-down Mr Frazer and his 'C18' thugs......!
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.

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'THERE WILL BE ANOTHER DAY'.
By Peadar O'Donnell ; first published in January 1963.

Shortly before he died , Colonel Maurice Moore asked my wife to promise him that she would keep at me until I wrote an account of the land annuity agitation in which he and I - and for that matter, she - played active roles. She took her promise seriously - "One dare not fail so good a man" , she said , and put me under geasa not to fail him.

I promised her , and told myself, I would chase along country roads for a few weeks and gather the story , life-living, from the lips of those who lived it. Every now and then I made a false start, and wrote bits of notes in this townland and that , which I proposed to fit into a framework of time later , by checking them against the files of 'An Phoblacht'. I had no sense of urgency about the work until Phil McCauley , secretary to the most important of all the committees, died suddenly.

Looking around me then , I was startled at how many of those from whom I was to gather the story had died , and with some regret for my delay I set about writing, at least enough of an outline to meet the obligation laid on me.......
(MORE LATER).





THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

" When reading in 'The Irish Times' an account of the dismissal of the two Ministers I came across references to Mr. O Morain which seemed to me to misrepresent his attitude and, at lunch time , I went to see him in Mount Carmel Hospital . I showed the offending statement to him and offered to draft a correction which I would bring to the notice of the Taoiseach before a Fianna Fail Parliamentary Party meeting which was scheduled for 6.00 pm : I felt that a misrepresentation of Mr. O Morain's attitude would not be helpful to the Taoiseach and I had always understood from Mr. O Morain's manner and speech that he held the Taoiseach in the highest respect. Mr. O Morain declined."

MAY 7 , 1970 :
" The President appointed Mr Des O Malley , on the nomination of the Taoiseach , to be Minister for Justice. Earlier , I had said to the Taoiseach that I had had a dreadful time since 1965 as principal adviser to the Minister , under the Minister and Secretary's Act , and he said that he was well aware that I had been working under difficulties : " - " I will give you a good one this time."

" Although Mr. O Malley took office formally as Minister for Justice on this date he moved in on 6th May , the day that he was nominated in the Dail. He made an immediate impact as full of energy , boyishness and humour. Before this he had been Parliamentary Secretary to the Taoiseach since the General Election in 1969 so that he was a comparative newcomer to the political scene with no experience in administration of a public Department. I enquired and was told by his office staff that '...he was one of the best but shockingly impulsive and would need to be advised to think again.......' " .
(MORE LATER).







BLOODY SUNDAY , DERRY : 40TH ANNIVERSARY , SUNDAY 29TH JANUARY 2012 , IN PICS....



"I went with Anger at my heel
Through Bogside of the bitter zeal
- Jesus pity! - on a day
Of cold and drizzle and decay.
A month had passed. Yet there remained
A murder smell that stung and stained.
On flats and alleys-over all-
It hung; on battered roof and wall,
On wreck and rubbish scattered thick,
On sullen steps and pitted brick.
And when I came where thirteen died
It shrivelled up my heart. I sighed...."
(By Thomas Kinsella , from here.)

More pics from the 40th Anniversary of 'Bloody Sunday' in Derry can be viewed here.






FINE GAEL HYPOCRISY - JUST THE SAME AS ANY OTHER LEINSTER HOUSE-PARTY HYPOCRISY....


"(It is) morally unjust and unfair to tax a persons home and by so doing grind him into the ground. It reminds me of a vampire tax, in that it drives a stake through the heart of home ownership, through enthusiasm and initiative, and sucks the the life blood of the people who want to own their own home and better their position....(Fine Gael)...will be opposing it by every means possible...."

- Enda Kenny , Fine Gael , when he was the leader of the then main 'Opposition' party in Leinster House (from here) .





"However, given the large majority of the Government we know it can railroad through any legislation. If residential property tax, or family home tax as I prefer to call it, is amalgamated with service charges it will crucify hundreds of thousands of people and develop into a super-tax which will be fought tooth and nail. The odium which the poll tax in Britain, under the redoubtable Mrs. Thatcher, caused a number of years ago will pale into insignificance when our electorate deal with this Government's outrageous intention to introduce such a tax....."

- anti-home-tax hero Enda Kenny , again - and again , he was in supposed 'Opposition' to the then Leinster House Fianna Fail-led 'government'. And it worked , as expected : enough politically-stupid voters took the man at his word and voted for him and his Fine Gael party last February to put them in power resulting in this u-turn , amongst others.




As was the case in previous Free State elections , Irish Republicans saw it coming and tried to ensure that those intending to vote would do so wisely - by not voting for any of them , as none of them can be trusted. And whilst we got our message out to thousands of people , it wasn't a fully successful campaign and Fine Gael and Labour took over from Fianna Fail and the Greens , resulting in a different shade of u-turn , hypocrisy and broken 'promise'. The fact is that the IMF and a bank in Brussels are in charge of this State and regardless of which type of 'home grown' political gangster took Office in February 2011 and , indeed, regardless of which of those political criminals takes Office at the next State-wide election , they, too, will do as their told by their boss in Washington or Brussels. The best you can do , as a voter, is to vote against them all by voting N.O.T.A. You owe it to yourself and your children to do so.....





RSF STATEMENTS AND ON TWITTER -



Statements from Republican Sinn Féin can be read here...






......and the RSF 'Twitter' Page.....



..can be viewed here!


As an Irish Republican organisation , Republican Sinn Féin is largely censored by the State media and by the State-friendly so-called 'Independent' media operatives and, as such - as well as publishing its own monthly newspaper and a 'Mailing List' - the organisation will use any avenue available to it to promote the Irish Republican message. If you want to be kept up-to-date on that message , then 'Bookmark' the above links and perhaps take out a subscription to the monthly newspaper.
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.

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RSF BLOODY SUNDAY RALLY , DUBLIN , SATURDAY 28th JANUARY 2012 : brief report and some pics....



Approximately thirty members of Republican Sinn Féin , Leinster, held a rally on O'Connell Street today (Saturday 28th January 2012) for about two hours to mark the 40th Anniversary of 'Bloody Sunday' , Derry when , on 30th January 1972 , British soldiers massacred 13 Civil Rights protestors.
In a wide-ranging speech delivered to the crowds that had assembled under the pillars of the GPO and on the traffic isle itself , RSF Dublin PRO John Horan outlined the events of that day forty years ago , mentioning that in fact forty-two people had actually been shot by the British Army Paratroopers on 30th January 1972 , of whom 13 died on the day - one other man , John Johnston , died six months later from the gunshot wounds that were inflicted on him that day.


"No more Bloody Sundays..."

The name and age of each of the other 13 victims was read out at the Dublin Rally , along with brief details of their location on the day , and of the wound(s) inflicted on them : Jack Duddy (17) , Hugh Gilmore (17) , Bernard McGuigan (41) , Gerald McKinney (35) , William McKinney (26) , Kevin McElhinney (17) , John Young (17) , Michael McDaid (20) , William Nash (19) , Michael Kelly (17) , Gerald Donaghey (17) , Patrick Doherty (31) and James Wray (22).


RSF on O'Connell Street , Dublin , Saturday 28th January 2012.

The RSF speaker also re-called the words of British Army Major Hubert O' Neill , the then Derry City coroner who , at the end of his 'inquest' into the 'Bloody Sunday' shootings (on 21st August , 1973 - 19 months after the massacre!) declared - "It strikes me that the British Army ran amok that day and they shot without thinking of what they were doing. They were shooting innocent people. I say it without reservation - it was sheer unadulterated murder...."


RSF Clondalkin at the 'Bloody Sunday' Rally , Dublin , Saturday 28th January 2012.


RSF 'Map of Ireland' placard at the 'Bloody Sunday' Rally in Dublin , Saturday 28th January 2012.


Finally : only two things went 'wrong' at the Rally today - we experienced the usual harassment from the State 'Special Branch' and , about twenty minutes from the end of the event, we ran-out of leaflets! Six hundred RSF 'Bloody Sunday' leaflets had been distributed in the past week throughout various parts of Leinster and 1,400 were distributed to the public today , at the Rally - had we had another 500 , the four-person 'Leaflet Team' might just about have had enough to distribute to everyone that asked for one! A proper report on this Rally will be published in the February 2012 issue of 'Saoirse' , which goes to print on Wednesday 8th of that month. Also , if you're a 'Facebooker' , keep an eye on this 'Facebook' page , as our 'Mr T' (!) , a solid supporter of RSF , took a few pics and a video or two of the Rally and sure you might even see meself smiling at the camera.....!
Thanks for reading ,
Sharon.

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THE MURDER OF JOHN CORCORAN -

- THE COVER-UP CONTINUES.......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , March 1998.

MR. DICK SPRING :
" Does the Minister believe that ?"

MR.JOHN O DONOGHUE :
" However, this investigation is hampered by the continued absence of the person released from prison in Northern Ireland (sic) in 1996 from the jurisdiction."

MR. DICK SPRING :
" I will bring him to the minister."

MR. JOHN O DONOGHUE :
" I can fully understand the distress which has been caused to the family of the victim in this case. They have endured an ordeal of ignorance about the circumstances surrounding the summary execution of a husband and father. The continuing drip-feeding of information and speculation has not helped. I assure the deputy that I intend to ensure this uncertainty is brought to an end as quickly as possible. I will keep in close contact with the garda about the progress they are making in bringing their investigations to a conclusion."

MR. DICK SPRING :
" That reply is an absolute disgrace."

[END OF 'THE MURDER OF JOHN CORCORAN'.]
(NEXT : 'There Will Be Another Day' , by Peadar O' Donnell - first published in January 1963.)









THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

MAY 4TH , 1970 :

" I was at Mount Carmel at 8.45am to meet the Taoiseach in order to show him Mr. O Morain's room ; the Taoiseach had phoned me late on the previous evening (Sunday) to be there, saying that he intended to settle matters. Afterwards, before he entered his car, the Taoiseach said to me 'he will go quietly' , and then asked if I thought that Mr. O Morain would recollect his conversation with me on 13th April and I said that I did not think so , that on that day after his journey from Mayo he seemed to be in a fuddled condition. The Taoiseach told me that he was coming back in the afternoon to receive Mr O Morain's formal resignation in writing.

On numerous occasions in the Dail the Taoiseach was to say that he had known nothing before the 20th April - see for instance Vol. 246 No. 7 Col. 755 : 'The first indication I got was on Monday 20th April. I do not know what the deputy is relying on for asserting ortherwise...'

MAY 6TH , 1970 :

" At about 2.00am the Taoiseach phoned me to tell me of Deputy Cosgrave's disclosures to him and of his decision to dismiss Mr Haughey and Mr Blaney from the Cabinet. We surmised as to the source of the leak but by that time it would have been a miracle if the rumours had not percolated through the persons outside official circles. There was a persistent rumour that the matter had been discussed at a meeting of Government on Friday , 1st May , and if that were so it would not surprise me in the least if the matter were leaked from there as one Member , in particular, had shown , again and again, that he was incapable of resisting temptation to air his knowledge. But the Garda investigations in following days indicated another source , without positively establishing it......."
(MORE LATER).








RATS RULE THE SINKING SHIP......



Population of Ireland 1841: - 8,175,124 (32 Counties).
Population of Ireland 2010 :- 6,280,822 (32 Counties).

For most of us in Ireland , the 'Master' has changed over the above-mentioned years but all that has really changed is that we have seen one arrogant bully 'leave' and a native one take his place : the owners of the 'Big Houses' have moved , attitude intact, into the one 'Big House' - Leinster House , in Kildare Street , Dublin.
This native 'Toff' , a 'poacher turned gamekeeper' , has decided that they , too, should be entitled to the best of everything, with little or no effort on their behalf , whilst offering nothing in return for their 'keep'. In order to maintain their lifestyles , they are bleeding not only the working and non-working population dry but are thieving whatever natural resources they can get their fat-fingered hands on and selling it to the highest bidder in return for personal 'donations'.
And , unfortunately, rather than take them on , challenge and stop them, most people take the view that it's easier - less hassle - to just leave the country and try and start a new life in a society that will treat them with some respect. And, in our opinion, that's a shame , and it's the wrong choice : the native 'Toff' , morally , financially and spiritually self-'insulated' from those he/she looks down on - and surrounded by a legal and 'security' barrier (ironically paid for in taxes by those at the bottom of the heap) has feet of clay and stands on a weak foundation. They can be toppled , but not from a distant shore. To quote Oscar Wilde : "The development of the race depends on the development of the individual , and where self-culture has ceased to be the ideal, the intellectual standard is instantly lowered and , often, ultimately lost."
We , as a people, haven't quite "lost" it , yet - but we're getting there.






DON'T REGISTER , DON'T PAY......



.....THE 'HOUSEHOLD TAX'.

The following email is 'doing the rounds' re this €100 tax :

'Household Charge - how to LEGALLY avoid paying it-
You don't have to legally pay Household Tax!!- You wont get a bill because the charge is a Statute. People need to understand this: A Statute is a "legislated rule of society given the force of law by the consent of the governed."(Blacks Law Dictionary 4th edition).
Who are those it governs? Us, the public.
This household charge is a Statute, otherwise known as an Act of Government and only carries the force of law upon you if you consent to it which means that your legally
obliged to pay if you consent or in other words register(for it).If you do not consent, a Statute cannot affect you in any way whatsoever. The courts know this and the last thing they will do is tell you. In fact they will hide this from you at every opportunity they can. On the other hand, if you tell them, they will accept it because they know it is actually true. According to the above definitions a statutory instrument is a contract. If you register for this "charge" you are consenting to this statuate ie: signing the contract. This is why the Government are ASKING the people to register and not just billing them instead.'

From the point of view of those of us who run this blog , whether this new tax is a State "Statute" or not is immaterial , as we have no intention of paying it anyway but , for those who have been wondering if they can 'get away' without having to pay it , the above email might just help to strengthen their resolve. Or , then again , of course, this new tax might just be 'the straw that breaks the camel's back' for some of our readers and , as per our 'Big House' post , above , finally 'convinces' them that their only choice now is to flee the State. Granted , that is an option , and one which will ensure that you don't become 'liable' for this new tax , but at a much higher cost, all things considered, not least to your self-respect. For those thinking along those lines , we would ask that you re-consider and ask yourself if, as a younger man/women in, for example, school , the fact that you might have been able to outrun the bully didn't guarantee that that bully would stop harassing you , did it ?






AND FINALLY....



....I have been asked by an RSF Comhairle Laighean rep to kindly make myself available this coming Saturday , January 28th , for about two hours , to assist with the distribution of what remains of the 2,000 leaflets which that body produced for the annual 'Bloody Sunday' Rally in Dublin : of course I agreed and, if you can make it , please do - and/or spread the word about this Rally. This British massacre occurred almost forty years ago to the day and should never be forgotten.
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.

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"PUMP LEAD AND WATCH THE BLOOD FLOW...."


BRITISH ARMY LIEUTENANT A.F.N. CLARKE : 'When an IRA gunman is wounded and captured, they let him bleed to death. When they pull in suspects, they beat them up, quickly and almost casually: the rougher things are done at a higher level by the people who come and take the suspects away for proper interrogation. When they are off duty, the ‘toms’ improve the hour by sticking pins and razor blades into 'baton rounds' and filing bullets down into expanding 'dum-dums' (something British soldiers have done ever since the invention of the rifle). Clarke reconstructs his own thoughts: "I was really quite a nice guy before I came out here ... build an outer casing round your emotions, enjoy the sense of power, revel in the excitement of the chase...."
(From here.)

To understand what the military occupation of an urban area by British paratroopers actually means, it is helpful to read the memoirs of Lieutenant A.F.N Clarke of 3 Para who completed a tour of duty in Belfast in early 1973. Clarke's account gives an illuminating picture of undisciplined, racist thugs, spoiling for blood, unleashed on a defenceless civilian population.
Describing his "peacekeeping role", he writes:

"The whole camp is praying for a contact. For an opportunity to shoot at anything in the street, pump lead into any living thing and watch the blood flow. Toms sitting in their overcrowded rooms putting more powder into baton rounds to give them more poke; some insert pins and broken razor blades into the rubber rounds. Buckshee rounds have had the heads filed down for a dum-dum effect, naughty, naughty, but who's to know when there are so many spare rounds of ammunition floating about?
Lead filled truncheons, Magnum revolvers, one bloke even has a bowie knife...We have spent months and years training, learning from pamphlets called Shoot To Kill, Fighting In Built Up Areas and others. So now we're let loose on the streets trained to the eyeballs, waiting for a suitable opportunity to let everything rip.
A few kills would be nice at this stage, good for morale, good to inject some new life into the jaded senses of the company...."
(From the above book , authored by Ciarán De Baróid.)

That British Army "pump-lead-into-any-living-thing-and-watch-the-blood-flow" murderous attitude is the same one which prevailed in the British Army and within their political leadership in the years before (and during) 'Bloody Sunday' and which prevails to this day within the approximate 5,000 British troops that maintain an armed presence in the Occupied Six Counties in Ireland. Indeed, that "...pump lead.." attitude was how Westminster managed its 'affairs' in the dozens of other countries it claimed as part of 'the British Empire'. And it is that attitude , and that on-going unwanted presence , that Republican Sinn Féin will continue to campaign against.
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.

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THE MURDER OF JOHN CORCORAN -

- THE COVER-UP CONTINUES.......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , March 1998.

Mr John O' Donoghue :
" In November 1988 , three-and-a-half years after the murder, a person surrendered to the police in England and made certain statements about his involvement in murder and other serious offences committed in Northern Ireland (sic) and in the State. This included the murder of the person concerned in Cork in 1985.

As a result of those statements , a garda investigation file was forwarded to the director of public prosecutions with a view to prosecuting the person involved in Northern Ireland (sic) under the provisions of the Criminal Law Jurisdiction Act 1976. However, this aspect was subsequently overtaken by events when the person was convicted on a charge of murder in Northern Ireland (sic) and received two life sentences there.

The garda investigation into the murder in 1985 is continuing. I am satisfied from a report I recently received from the garda that they are pursuing the investigations as far as they can......."
(MORE LATER).







THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

" It happened as had been anticipated - Captain Kelly sought to see Mr Gibbons privately and when the Minister had instructed him to make a full statement the Minister proceeded to settle himself comfortably to listen-in but it was indicated to him that he should leave.

The Chief Superintendent reported that there was a rapport between the Minister and the Army Officer which was very evident : he strongly suspected from all his enquiries that Mr Gibbons had pre-knowledge of the attempts to import arms. He also reported that , having begun a statement, Captain Kelly desisted, saying that he would name names if he saw the Taoiseach. I so informed the Taoiseach who agreed to see him.

In the evening I had a phone call from the President who referred to the arrest of Captain Kelly and the many rumours about arms importations. He asked as to the dependability of the Garda Force and I said that it was 100% behind the Government. I said , also, that there was no fear of disaffection in the Army, that only a very small number were involved. The President thanked me and , as I had no Minister at the time, I did not think it necessary to inform the Taoiseach......."
(MORE LATER).








On this day 90 years ago (18th January 1922) a group of unemployed Dublin workers seized the concert hall of the Rotunda ; this group , led by Liam Ó Flaithearta (Liam O Flaherty , author of , amongst other works, 'The Informer') , had constituted itself as 'the Council of the Unemployed' and this action was reported on by 'The Irish Times' of the day in the following manner - "The unemployed in Dublin have seized the concert room at the Rotunda, and they declare that they will hold that part of the building until they are removed, as a protest against the apathy of the authorities.....a 'garrison', divided into 'companies', each with its 'officers' , has been formed, and from one of the windows the red flag flies...."
(More here , and here.)

And now , it seems , we have come 'full circle' in relation to this same issue : "apathy of the authorities..." to the 'old' and 'new' unemployed ie State promises to establish 'task forces' (where overpaid career politicians wring their hands in 'solidarity' with the jobless) and the biggest trade union in the State has been 'outed' , along with other such bodies , in regards to just how 'cosy' they are with employers and Leinster House politicians - for a price, of course: not only are the Trade Union leadership reluctant to challenge their 'slush-fund suppliers' in Leinster House , they also shy away from fully supporting their membership least , in doing so, they come into conflict with those 'suppliers'. Now , having sold out what remained of our sovereignty to the IMF and a Brussels bank, those same overpaid career politicians can only stand back and make empty , worthless promises and excuses as the dole queue grows and the 'Departure Lounge' in airports in the State fill-up to capacity. It must now be obvious to all that this State is , to coin a phrase, 'a failed political entity' : equally , it should be obvious to all that we need a new beginning and a new outlook on how Ireland should be governed. The alternative now is either the dole queue or the 'Departure Lounge'.








40 years ago yesterday (17th January 1972),seven IRA prisoners escaped from an "escape proof" British prison ship , which was anchored in Irish waters : the ship had three decks , the top one of which was sometimes used as an 'exercise yard' for a few hours each day by the Republican POW's , with the other two 'converted' into living quarters. Approximately 850 people were present on the ship at any one time , consisting of around 700 British military personnel and 150 prisoners , including Provisional and Official IRA members and some others that were not involved with either group.

James Emerson Bryson , Tommy Tolan , Thomas Kane , Tommy Gorman , Peter Rodgers , Martin Taylor and Sean Convery , a group of Irish Republicans that became known as 'The Magnificent Seven' because of the nature of their escape from the Maidstone prison ship on January 17th , 1972 , were determined that their 'stay' on the ship would be a short one.
Of the 226 men detained following the introduction of internment in August 1971,124 were initially held in Crumlin Road Jail while the remainder were held on the Maidstone , a prison ship moored at the coalwharf in Belfast docks. The prison ship ,used as an emergency billet for British troops who arrived in 1969 , was totally unsuitable as a prison - it was cramped , stuffy and overcrowded , with the 'lock-up' section located at the stern below the deck , which was used twice a day for exercise. On January 16th , 1972 , fifty men were transferred from the ship to the new camp at Magilligan : this sudden move spurred on some of the internees who were planning to escape.

One of the group had spotted a seal slip through a gap in the barbed-wire draped around the ship and it was decided that if the seal could come in , then they could go out! The men used black boot polish to camouflag themselves and smeared each other in butter , to keep out the cold. They had already cut through a bar in a porthole which they now slipped through , and clambered down the Maidstone's steel hauser and entered the water . Several of them were badly cut by the barbed-wire , but they all managed to get through it. In single file , they swam the 400 yards through the ice-cold floodlit water to the shore : it took them twenty minutes , as some of the men could not swim and had to be helped by the others. On the bank, Volunteers of the Andersonstown unit of the IRA's Belfast Brigade were waiting with four cars to transport the escapees to safety , but the escapees landed at the wrong spot ; approximately 500 yards away. The men realised their mistake and made their way to Queen's Road bus terminus where they commandeered a bus and drove across the city to the Markets area. During the journey , the bus was spotted by a British Army Land Rover which attempted to stop the vehicle ; however , the Brits backed-off when the bus entered the staunchly republican Markets district , which was then surrounded by British reinforcements. A search of the area was carried out by the British Army and RUC , but none of the escapees were found - the 'Magnificent Seven' were long gone to a different part of Belfast !
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.

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