On November 19th, 1920, at the height of the Black and Tan War in Ireland, the 'American Commission of Inquiry on Conditions in Ireland' was due to hold its first session : this body, which successfully focused international attention on the campaign of terror being waged by the British forces against the people of Ireland, was launched in August 1920 by Dr WJ Maloney and Frank Walsh who, in turn were supported by the 32-County Dail Eireann .
Its objective was to ensure that the British would be reluctant to use excessive force in Ireland because to do so would, with the ensuing world-wide publicity, mark them out as the thugs they are. The Commission comprised prominent clergymen , U S Senators and Congressmen, newspaper editors, trade union leaders and members - about 150 people in all; they picked five of their number to act as the Court of the Commission , and were given legal powers to request the attendance of witnesses representing English and Irish opinion, and was to take its evidence at public sessions in a Washington office. (MORE LATER)>>


In a profile of Boris Yeltsin by William Millinship , which was published in 'The Observer' newspaper on June 16th, 1991(page 19) , it was stated that, as a schoolboy during the war, he broke into a church which was being used as an ammunition store, and stole a couple of hand-grenades. Wondering how they worked, Boris 'examined' one of them with a hammer and lost two fingers on his left hand in the explosion !
On February 19th, 1991, he went on television and called for Gorbachov's resignation, and in March he departed from the prepared text of a speech and called for a declaration of war on the country's leadership.....
Are'nt our lot dull in comparison.....
(.....and not only in comparison to Yeltsin ).

.....Alan Bell,the British'Resident Magistrate' in Ireland, was determined to confiscate the funds belonging to the Republican Movement and had already seized over £71,000 ; the IRA was determined to stop him ......

Michael Collins, the then IRA Director of Intelligence, had instructed his men to observe Bell's routine,and a plan to execute him was drawn-up ...
On March 26th, 1920, Collins ordered that the plan be acted on ; on that morning, Bell was joined on the packed tram at Dalkey Station by three armed IRA men and, as the tram arrived at the corner of Simmonscourt Square at Merrion Road to take on and let-off passengers , another IRA man held it there; the three IRA men on board rose from their seats and told Bell to step off the tram with them - he refused and repeatedly called on the other passengers to help him . Only one of the passengers on the packed tram attempted to help Bell, but he was quickly convinced to stay out of it . Bell was then dragged off the tram by the three IRA men and, when they stepped onto the road, they were met by three other armed IRA men - the six Volunteers pushed Alan Bell across the road where he was shot three times in the head and died instantly .
The Dail Eireann National Loan recorded £357,000 in its account at the end of 1920. Dublin Castle had to continue to use its own money to pay its lackies in Ireland to do its bidding......


In June 1991, Amnesty International released a 674-page document reporting on British human rights abuses in the Six Counties, which condemned Britain for same. The then John Major Conservative government responded by saying that it was "necessary in war to have secrecy" . Tory backbencher Ivor Stanbrook MP stated- " Britain is a democracy at war with bloodthirsty terrorists and it is our duty to protect British citizens.We are at war and thats why we use secret tribunals and inquiries. Why should we give our enemies free information ? We have high standards, a record that is better than any other in the world " !
"High Standards"? Probably referring to how well paid their Loyalist hit-squads are....

..... Alan Bell,the British 'Resident Magistrate' in Ireland, organised a raid on February 27th, 1920, on Sinn Fein's Harcourt Street Offices in Dublin, and seized over £71,000 belonging to the Movement ; he suspected there was more than that and he wanted it ........

.... days later he issued an order to all bank managers instructing them to appear before his Commission of Inquiry to be questioned by his Office and to bring with them all files, paper-work, receipts and other similar documentation relating to transactions between their bank and persons acting on behalf of certain named organisations and individuals.

Michael Collins, the then IRA Director of Intelligence, realised that it was only a matter of time before Bell's Office would be in a position to seize all the funds belonging to the Movement, and decided to remove the 'Resident Magistrate' before he could do so ; Collins ordered his Intelligence Officers to trace Bell and work out what, if any, routine he followed- it soon emerged that Bell travelled to work at Dublin Castle from his Dalkey, Dublin home by tram . A plan to execute Alan Bell was drawn-up ....... (MORE LATER)>>


From 'The Sunday Tribune' newspaper,June 9th,1991, page 6 -
In 1975, a British soldier killed a County Tyrone farmer, Patrick McElhone,a civilian, as he ran away from a military patrol. The soldier was charged with murder but acquitted- the trial judge said that although McElhone was an innocent person, the soldier had reason to believe he was a fleeing terrorist and because of the "war or quasi-war situation" in the Six Counties , the British soldier was justified in shooting him !
The British 'Law Lords' later stated- "If he (McElhone)got away (he) was likely sooner or later to participate in acts of violence" .....
.... Anyone out there seen the film 'Minority Report' ?

When the British sent their 'Black and Tan' thugs into Ireland to smash the IRA , they also attempted to hit Republicans by another, perhaps less well known, method - by confiscating funds belonging to the 32-County Dail Eireann.

As a young man in the RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary) , a man from Banagher in County Offaly, Alan Bell, had helped his British pay-masters to investigate the Land League funds during the 1880's. As a reward for his efforts, Bell was appointed as a 'Resident Magistrate' (RM) and served in Athenry, Ballinrobe, Lurgan and Belfast, during the last decade of the 19th Century and the early years of the 20th Century.

Bell rose through the ranks, and was promoted to membership of the British Staff at Dublin Castle in 1920, and worked with British Intelligence where, in February that year, he was put in charge of confiscating the monies built up by the successful Dail Eireann Loan Fund , and any other cash he could find which belonged to Sinn Fein. Alan Bell organised a raid on the then Sinn Fein Offices in Harcourt Street in Dublin on February 27th, 1920 , and seized over £71,000 belonging to the Movement; his information at the time was that there was at least four times that amount in Republican coffers, and he vowed to have it all ...... (MORE LATER)>>


After the Brit establishment lifts its collective jaw from the ground and re-groups in an attempt to 'spin' and/or cover-up the extent of its collusion with Loyalist death-squads in the Six Counties, they should seek out the writings of one Albert 'Ginger' Baker and throw said material on a bon-fire ;
'Ginger' was an ex-British soldier who operated in Belfast in the early 1970's. The gang he led was responsible for the 'Romper Room' murders where Nationalists were beaten, tortured, then mutilated before being shot. Baker was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1974 for a number of those killings, and also admitted his role as a British agent. He said the killings "were designed to fit into a British Intelligence plan to terrorise the Nationalist community and push off support for the IRA" .
'Black-Ops' , I think the Brits call it- but always denied it operated such a policy in Ireland .
Liar,Liar ......

.....James Crossan's friend, Sean Reilly, was asked by the barman if he would drive him and the two Fermanagh men to the border , and he agreed .....

Sean Reilly parked his van about 100 yards from the border and about 300 yards from Mullan British Customs post in Fermanagh ; James Crossan and the young McHugh got out with the three northerners and all five walked towards the border . With the few drinks on him and the time of the day it was - about 3am - Sean Reilly fell asleep in the van.
The sound of gunfire woke him up some time later and he saw flares lighting-up the sky and the area in which he was parked; he got out of the van and saw two RUC men about 30 yards in front of him- they were running towards the British Customs post. It later transpired that the five men (Crossan, McHugh, the barman and the two Fermanagh men),all unarmed, parted company on the Cavan side of the border at about 3.30am and, as Crossan and McHugh were walking back to the van, Crossan was shot dead by a group of RUC men who had positioned themselves on the southern side of the border. Ben McHugh was arrested, and Crossan's body was taken to Enniskillen.
The RUC claimed that they had come across an IRA reconnaissance mission of Mullan British Customs post, which was a total fabrication ; at the inquest (held in Enniskillen) no witnesses were called and no attempt was made to investigate the circumstances of the shooting. The coroner simply justified Crossan's death as "justifiable homicide" .

Baunboy, County Cavan man, James Crossan, was assassinated by the RUC in County Cavan on Sunday , August 24th, 1958.


A book by Shelby Foote, entitled 'The Civil War', gives a fascinating insight into the American Civil War -

Almost three million men fought in the war ; in the Union armies more than one in four were casualties , in the Confederacy more than half suffered the same fate. One in ten able-bodied Northerners were dead or maimed by the end of the war , and one in four Southerners the same. At Cold Harbor, 7,000 men fell in twenty minutes ; in the first post-war year, one-fifth of the Mississippi state budget went to pay for artificial limbs for its returning veterans ! At Shiloh , one hundred-thousand men fought and a quarter of their number were killed or wounded. The musketry was thick enough to denude the trees in a blossoming peach orchard , covering the dead and dying with petals and , by one account, suffocating some of the wounded in flowers ; and where lightning broke the night , it illuminated wild hogs devouring the dead.
Foote's book conjures up a lasting image of what a soldiers lot was like at that period in time ; sad but riveting reading....

At the height of the IRA's border campaign,the RUC,acting on its own information and details believed to be given to it by British Intelligence, targetted Sinn Fein members living close to the border.....
One man that that British police force were particularly interested in,and whose story is perhaps not as well known outside his native County Cavan as it should be, is James Crossan. A native of Baunboy in Cavan, and a prominent Sinn Fein Organiser in the border area, James Crossan and one of his neighbours , Sean Reilly, were in a van on their way to Swanlinbar to finalise details for a meeting to be held the next day, Sunday August 24th, 1958: the meeting was to be held in Ballyconnell.
Having done their business in Swanlinbar,the two men, and a local youth and Sinn Fein member,Ben McHugh, decided to go for a pint ; in the pub they met up with two friends from County Fermanagh. Near the end of the night, the barman asked James Crossan's friend, Sean Reilly, if he would drop him and the two men from Fermanagh to the border, and Reilly agreed ...... (MORE LATER)>>


In an article in the 'The Sunday Telegraph' on 19th May , 1991, (page 20, I think....) , then columnist Geoffrey Wheatcroft wrote - "Fifty years ago Serbs and Croats were massacring each other on a scale that makes the Ulster problem seem as trivial as it indeed is ...." !

In the same article (entitled 'Why division is good for Ireland') Mr/Sir/Lord Wheatcroft also wrote- " Partition has been the greatest boon and benefit Ireland has enjoyed this century. It is the essential condition without which the southern state could not have survived as it has " !
Well , its not cricket, but any of you chaps on for a round of 'Trivial Pursuit' or 'Lets Pretend' ?
You're a gas man , Geoff......

.....it should be noted that, during the 1940's, the Republican Movement was in a bad way, virtually decimated, following the years of internment; the executions and funerals of the six men boosted the Movement and dramatically improved the organisations recruitment capabilities . A terrible price had been paid by Irish Republicans but the Movement re-grouped , once again, and continued the struggle. Today, sixty-odd years after the events outlined above, the Provisionals are crawling over many a spinning grave in an attempt to surrender and apologise to the British and Free Staters in the hope that they may grab a career for themselves from the greasy till; they do so in their own name only - Irish Republicans don't want a reward for doing their duty and don't need words of encouragement from Bush, Blair or Ahern. The 'Adams Family' have put theselves outside the fold, just as Dev and, later, the Stickies , did before them. And if there is any justice , history will record it so .


In November 1975, the British Government announced its intention to withdraw 'Special Category' (ie Political Prisoner) status from POW's sentenced after March 1st, 1976; Special Category status was conceded by the Tory government in 1972 after a hunger-strike by republican POW's. When the then Catholic Cardinal, Tomas O'Fiaich,visited the prison in July 1978 , he announced - " One would hardly allow an animal to remain in such conditions, let alone a human being. The (British) authorities refuse to admit that these prisoners are in a different category from the ordinary, yet everything about their trials and family background indicates they are different. They were sentenced by special courts without juries. The vast majority were convicted on allegedly voluntary confessions obtained in circumstances which are now placed under grave suspicion " .
That was said 25 years ago ; the same problem exists today - the case of 'The Limerick Seven' (see'SAOIRSE', April 2003 issue) which has been described as a "garda driven prosecution" inspired by a political agenda . Unfortunately , as long as the British claim of jurisdiction remains in force re the Six Counties, this type of case will always be with us .

.....the remains of Charlie Kerins, Maurice O'Neill and Thomas Harte were released from Mountjoy Jail; the funerals made their way towards Dublin city centre .....
The hearse carrying the remains of Tom Harte turned left at Dorset Street to go North, to his native Lurgan in County Armagh: the other two hearses, carrying Charlie Kerins and Maurice O'Neill, made their way to Christ Church Cathedral where they were joined by the remains of George Plant. The funeral of Paddy McGrath , escorted by an IRA guard of honour and followed by thousands of republicans, took place from the Franciscan Church on Merchants Quay in Dublin, to Glasnevin Cemetery , where the oration was delivered by Brian O'Higgins (Editor of the 'Wolfe Tone Annual') - McGrath was then re-interred with full military honours in the Republican Plot.
At St. Johnstown Cemetery, near Fethard in County Tipperary, the remains of George Plant were buried following an oration by John McGrath; at the same time, two funerals were taking place in County Kerry- Charlie Kerins was buried in Rath Cemetery , in the Tralee Republican Plot, following an oration by Tomas MacCurtain(son of the assassinated Mayor of Cork) ; and Maurice O'Neill , who was buried in the Republican Plot in Cahirciveen after an oration by Sean Ryan. The remains of Tom Harte were re-interred in the Republican Plot at St.Colemans Cemetery in Lurgan, County Armagh , following an oration by Ruairi O'Drisceoil.

It should be noted that, during the 1940's , the Republican Movement........ (MORE LATER)..


In an article on the 1981 Hunger-Strikers , published in 'An Phoblacht/Republican News' on May 2nd, 1991 (page 7), Brendan 'Bik' McFarlane stated- " Accommodations with British-designed frameworks fly in the face of true justice and freedom" . Over to you, Brendan; speak up, now......
"Constitutional nationalists should, by now, have realised that there is no British solution, there is no partitionist solution and that a new and imaginative approach is required " - Gerry Adams,'AP/RN', May 30th,1991 (page 14) .
------- like Leinster House , Gerry ? or Stormont? Do us all a favour and stay away from Republican graves this Easter, Gerry : you could use the time you save to improve on your "British....partitionist solution" ......

The remains of the six men were only released because public opinion began to go against Fiann Fail - thousands of republicans met the remains of their comrades as they emerged through the prison gates , while tens of thousands of people lined the routes to pay their last respects as the funerals made their way to different parts of the country. The remains of Richie Goss were released on the morning of Saturday , September 11th, 1948; his coffin was handed over to his relatives at Portlaoise Prison. Thousands of republicans followed his Tricolour-draped coffin , which was flanked by an IRA guard of honour, as it made its way through Dublin and Drogheda on its way to Dundalk. On Sunday, September 12th, 1948, after mass in St Patricks Cathedral, he was buried with full military honours in the family grave in St Patricks Cemetery, Dundalk, County Louth.
The remains of the other five executed republicans were also handed over to their relatives - in the same week that the remains of Richie Goss were released, a coffin containing the body of George Plant was released from Portlaoise Prison and taken to Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, while those of Paddy McGrath were handed over to his family at Mountjoy Jail , and removed to the Franciscan Church, Merchants Quay, in Dublin. Also , that same September in 1948, the remains of Charlie Kerins, Maurice O'Neill and Thomas Harte were released from Mountjoy Jail in Dublin, and handed over to their relatives. Escorted by IRA guards of honour and followed by thousands of republicans, including many who had served with them in the IRA, and contingents of Fianna Eireann, Cumann na mBan, Clan na Gaedheal and Cumann na gCailini, the funerals made their way towards Dublin city centre....... (MORE LATER)>>


On April 27th, 1916(three days after the Rising started),the so-called 'newspaper of record', the establishment newspaper,' The Irish Times' , said in an Editorial - " How many citizens of Dublin have any real knowledge of the works of Shakespere ?" ! The 'paper suggested that its readers use the "enforced domesticity" caused by the Rising to renew the mans work.
Yet the same newspaper was'nt shy about reporting the US/British war in Iraq; perhaps it all depends on how big your guns are ......

......George Plant was then brought before the Free State Military Tribunal charged with shooting an informer and was sentenced to death........

The sentence was carried out by a six-man firing squad on March 5th, 1942 ; his remains were reinterred in Fethard in September 1948 .

Maurice O'Neill,a County Kerry man(Cahirciveen) was staying in a house in Donnycarney in Dublin with Harry White, when they were attacked by Staters(November 1942) ; Harry White escaped, but O'Neill was captured and brought before the Military Tribunal , charged with firing on Free State forces. He was sentenced to death and was shot by a Free State firing squad in Mountjoy Jail on November 12th, 1942. His remains were reinterred in Cahirciveen in September 1948.

Charlie Kerins, from Tralee in County Kerry, was IRA Chief of Staff when he was arrested in June 1944, and accused before the Military Tribunal with the shooting of Dinny O'Brien in 1942. No evidence was offered to the Tribunal by the Free State, and non was needed- the Tribunal delayed sentence until later in the day to allow Kerins to make an application to it whereby he might avoid the capital sentence ie plead for his life: Charlie Kerins replied- "You could have adjourned for six years as far as I'm concerned, as my attitude towards this Court will always be the same". He was sentenced to death by hanging. When no Irish person would take the job, De Valera and Boland hired an English hangman; Kerins climbed the scaffold on December 1st, 1944, the last Republican soldier to die on the gallows for Ireland. His remains were reinterred in Rath Cemetery in the Tralee Republican Plot in September 1948.
The remains of those six men were only released because public opinion began to go against Fianna Fail.......(MORE LATER)>>>


On March 2nd, 1993 (a Tuesday, if memory serves....) the then British 'Direct Ruler'for the Six Counties,Patrick Mayhew,stated- "The (British) government will, as I said in December, warmly,solemnly and steadfastly uphold Northern Irelands(sic) status. We are not indifferent, we are not neutral" .
WHAT?? Not a neutral,peace-keeping force? Not indifferent?
Not in Ireland, not in Iraq, and not in any of their other 'adventures' in other countries.

.....in his last letter before facing a Fianna Fail-organised firing squad (September 6th, 1940) , Tom Harte wrote, to his mother - "I am writing my last letter to you, because I thought more of you than any other person on earth .... you know I was always strongly Republican , was always thinking out ways and means of furthering Republican ideals...if I fought for my country, it was for the poor downtrodden people of Ireland... I knew I never showed my feelings much at any time , but you were always loved just the same ....I am going to finish now, asking you to remember me as a son you can be proud of. Say farewell to all for me. Goodbye and God bless you all, your loving son, Tom " .
At 24 years of age , Lurgan-born Tom Harte was shot dead by a Free State firing squad on September 6th, 1940.

Richie Goss was one of the most active IRA members of his time ; when he was arrested in the Casey home in Longford he was Divisional O/C of the North-Leinster/South Ulster area. When he was brought before the Free State Military Court, charged with firing on Free State soldiers, he was sentenced to death: transported from Mountjoy Jail in Dublin to Portlaoise,and made to sit on his own coffin all the way, Richie Goss was shot by a Free State firing squad on August 9th, 1941. His remains were reinterred in Dundalk in September 1948.


George Plant was from Fethard in County Tipperary and had been active in the Tan and Civil Wars ; he was one of the last prisoners to be released by the Free State and emigrated to America. He returned to Ireland in 1939 to take part in the struggle but was arrested in 1941. De Valera ordered that George Plant be taken before a non-jury court to be charged with shooting an informer, but the charges were dropped; he was then brought before the Military Tribunal on the same charge and was sentenced to death ..... (MORE LATER)>>



In February 1993, the then British Minister responsible for the environment and countryside, David MacLean, used the unusual means of a written answer to a parliamentary question to release figures showing that, in one day in February 1993, through one discharge stack, Sellafield had released nearly ten times as much plutonium as is usually discharged in a year ! MacLean described the plant officials' failure to inform the local MP,who was visiting the site at the time of the leak, as "a rather extraordinary discourtesy" !
......there is no truth in the rumour that "the local MP" gave up politics and is now employed as a street lamp.

....Paddy McGrath was brought to a shop in Rathgar Road in Dublin on August 15th 1940 by the then IRA Chief of Staff Stephen Hayes , for a meeting with Tom Harte and Tom Hunt ; the meeting was raided by Free State forces .....

The Free State raiding party, the 'Broy Harriers', was led by ex-IRA man Dinny O'Brien . Paddy McGrath escaped but, instead of making a run for it which he could have,he went back to comfort his friend who had been shot, Tom Harte . The two of them were arrested together and were later put to death together by a Free State firing squad . McGrath was known to be an uncompromising Irish Republican who rejected 'positions of power' which were offered him by De Valera. In 1960, the National Graves Association erected a fine monument to his memory in Glasnevin , which was unveiled by the late Tom Doyle .


Far dearer the grave or the prison
Illum'd by one patriot name,
than the trophies of all who have risen,
on liberty's ruins to fame.

Tom Harte was born in Lurgan on May 14th 1916 , and had three brothers and two sisters. He received his primary education in St Peters School in Lurgan and, on leaving there, became an apprentice painter to Charlie McIntyre. He joined the IRA and went to England as part of the 'Expeditionary Force' to take part in the bombing campaign- he was in London in 1939 with Arthur Conway when he was pulled in for questioning by the British police. He told them his name was Tom Green , from Baileborough in Cavan but was still deported to Dublin . Once back in Ireland, he worked as an Organiser for the GHQ Staff of the IRA . He was wounded when the Staters raided a shop on Rathgar Road in Dublin (August 15th, 1940) and was executed by a Fianna Fail-organised firing squad on September 6th, 1940. In his last letter, which was addressed to his mother, he wrote ...... (MORE LATER)>>



The THORP nuclear plant took fifteen years to build and cost stg£2.8 billion . It was finally finished in 1992 and contains more than a quarter of a million tonnes of concrete , and covers an area twice the size of the Wembley arena. 'Greenpeace' said that every four-and-a-half years , Sellafield and Thorp combined will release into the environment as much radioactivity as the Chernobyl meltdown ! That's two-and-a-quarter Chernobyls so far, and no world headlines ......

The last of the sentenced IRA prisoners were released in April 1948 - three years after the formal ending of the IRA's bombing campaign in England and the Six Counties . However , the remains of the six republican prisoners that were executed by the Free State Military Tribunal were still being held by the Staters in Mountjoy and Portlaoise prisons.
The six men were : Paddy McGrath , Tom Harte , Richie Goss , George Plant , Maurice O'Neill and Charlie Kerins . Paddy McGrath was born into one of the old Dublin Republican families and took part in the 1916 Rising , as did two of his brothers . He was sent to Frongoch Internment Camp after the Rising and served his time there with, amongst others, Michael Collins, Gerry Boland(who signed the execution order on Paddy in 1940) and Dinny O'Brien (who, years later, as a member of the Free State 'Broy Harriers' , was to lead the raid on Rathgar Road in Dublin , in August 1940, in which Paddy McGrath was arrested). Following the Treaty of Surrender in 1922, Paddy took the Republican side , as he did in the Civil War; indeed, he carried a bullet in his chest from a British soldier, when he was shot at the GPO in 1916 - it was too close to his heart to be removed. He undertook a hunger-strike in Mountjoy Prison with Dick MacCarthy, Jer Daly and Jack Lynch to obtain political status and they were released, after 42 days,unconditionally. Paddy was brought to a shop in Rathgar Road in Dublin on August 15th 1940, by the then IRA Chief of Staff, Stephen Hayes , for a meeting with Tom Harte and Tom Hunt; the meeting was raided by Free State forces ...... (MORE LATER)>>


Speaking in Japan in October 1989 , Margaret Thatcher declared- " It is improper for any country to acquire territory through war " ; she did'nt say anything about the kettle and the pot ....
Peggy Noonan , former speech-writer for Ronald Reagan , said of him- "The battle for his mind was like trench warfare in World War One. Never have so many fought so hard for such barren terrain " ! So that's why Maggie and Ronnie got on so well..

....the following month(July 1936) those arrested on the bus were brought before a Free State military tribunal where eighteen of them , including Sean Glynn, were sentenced to nine months' imprisonment on a charge of IRA membership ,and were taken to Arbour Hill Military Prison in Dublin ....
The Fianna Fail 'Justice minister', Gerry Boland, in a statement, warned that Arbour Hill "was no longer(sic)going to be a holiday camp or hotel for republican prisoners". Conditions in the prison were grim- Free State military guards kept the republican prisoners in solitary confinement and they were punished for trying to speak or otherwise communicate with each other ; the prison was said to be like a tomb, and the system was intended to drive men insane and in some cases succeeded. Several men never recovered from their months of solitude even if they did manage to preserve their sanity. These were the conditions that drove Sean Glynn , who had been in perfect mental health prior to his arrest, first insane and then,on September 13th 1936, to take his own life.
A subsequent inquest and commission of inquiry into his death found that he had been driven insane by the 'silent-system' in Arbour Hill. After his death, somewhat more humane(but by no means pleasant) conditions prevailed for the remaining prisoners. Two days after his death, Sean Glynn was buried in the Republican Plot in Mount St Laurence's Cemetery in Limerick. He was born into a strong republican family in 1911 and, on leaving school, he began work as a labourer. In 1930 he joined the IRA. A committed Volunteer, he rose through the ranks and soon became O/C of 'B' Company of the Mid-Limerick Brigade, a position previously held by his father, John Glynn, during the early 1920's .
At 25 years of age, he was driven to take his own life on September 13th, 1936, by a Fianna Fail administration.



A poem by Brendan O hEithir , entitled 'The Gentle Black and Tan', comes to mind when I attempt to figure out why it is that Free Staters, even today, consider the Brits as a 'neutral' player in the Six Counties :

' Come all you staunch revisionists
and listen to my song,
Its short and its unusual
and it won't detain you long;
its all about a soldier
who has carried historys can,
who dodged Tom Barry and Dan Breen-
the gentle Black and Tan ' .

It's no surprise that the good Rev. J O Hannay once stated that "reading Irish history was a fatal thing to anyone wishing to remain a sound unionist " (ditto for anyone wishing to remain a sound Free Stater ....).

A 25-years young Irish Republican Army prisoner in Arbour Hill Military Prison wrote a letter to his mother which ended- " I feel I cannot stand this any longer. I have been subjected to cruel treatment since I was arrested". The young man, Sean Glynn, from Pennywell Road in Limerick city , then killed himself.

The 1936 Fianna Fail administration , led by Eamonn de Valera, had turned viciously on those it once fought beside; in June that year, the IRA had been declared an "unlawful association" and the annual republican commemoration to the grave of Wolfe Tone at Bodenstown in County Kildare was banned. It was in that atmosphere that Sean Glynn and more than two dozen other republicans boarded a bus in Limerick on Bodenstown Sunday morning to travel to the 'banned' commemoration : the bus was stopped at Dunkerrin, County Offaly, and all passengers were arrested. The following month(July 1936) those arrested on the bus were brought before a Free State military tribunal where eighteen of them, including Sean Glynn, were sentenced to nine months imprisonment on a charge of IRA membership, and were taken to Arbour Hill Military Prison in Dublin - (MORE LATER)>>


In 1991 , when Fianna Fail's Frank Fahey was Free State Minister of State at the Department of Education, with responsibility for Sports and Youth Affairs( a good 'all-rounder', is our Frank!) he gave an interview in 'Hot Press' magazine (April 4th, 1991, page 40) in which he stated - "I feel strongly about this, that Ireland in the future is going to be a country unique as a holiday destination and unique for the creative abilities that we have here. Our economic future is not in manufacturing industry. It's in our ability to become an attractive location for tourism and our ability to be upfront in sport and particularly in music " .
"An attractive location for tourism...a holiday destination (with) sport and music" but with no "manufacturing industry"; let's sit on our pony and traps , doff our caps at the paying visitors and greet them with "top o'the mornin' to ya". Sure would'nt that be grand,Frank.....

....the arrest , in November 1865, of Fenian leaders and, in particular, James Stephens,meant that a planned uprising had to be postponed; the Irish Republican Brotherhood decided to break him out of Richmond Jail ,as he was that organisations military strategist . John Devoy, the IRB's Organiser, put an escape plan together: Ellen O'Leary(John O'Leary's sister) had agreed to mortgage her home and use the money to bribe two somewhat sympathetic warders in Richmond Jail to hand over a set of keys which would enable James Stephens to simply let himself out of the prison! The plan worked; within weeks of his incarceration in Richmond Jail, Stephens had his own set of keys to the place and, on the night of November 24th, 1865, used them successfully- he was met on the outside , as arranged, and taken to a safe house. In the early hours of the 25th , his absence was noticed and the prison was searched but, as O'Donovan Rossa was to recall in his recollections of prison life- it was too late; "the bird had flown" .
The British offered what was then a small fortune - £300 - for information on James Stephens and on how he escaped , but to no avail . Within months he was in Frace , where he continued his work for the Fenians and the IRB .


The health service in this State is constantly under fire from those of us who are reliant on it - no beds, not enough staff, disorganised etc ; those that can afford it go private, the rest of us struggle on as best we can . A report from the 'El Tiempo' newspaper in Columbia , from February 20th, 1991, brought to mind a comparison of how they were then and how we are now - Speaking at a conference on South American medical authorities , a Dr Alaos Miguel Carlo said- "We are in the hands of mad politicians. Over one thousand complaints have been made about the service at Columbia's General Hospital. This famous institution has been officially opened six times by six different party leaders , but it is still not in service because the electricity has not been turned on . At the same time, the six 'opening's' cost over six million pesos, mostly for nibbles and drink" !
Must be South American blood in Leinster House.......

On the night of November 24th, 1865, the head of the Fenian movement and founder of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, James Stephens, escaped from Richmond Jail in Dublin .
Weeks before his imprisonment, the British had been involved in an all-out offensive against the Fenians; their newspaper 'The Irish People' had been suppressed and Fenian leaders John O'Leary, Thomas Clarke Luby and Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa had been arrested. They were charged with 'treason felony' , which was later changed to 'high treason' , and were put in Richmond Jail , off the South Circular Road in Dublin, to await 'trial'. In November 1865, more leaders of the Fenian movement were arrested- Charles J. Kickham , Edmund Duffy , Hugh Brophy and, perhaps most damaging of all, James Stephens : his detention not only hindered the work of the Fenians, but also slowed development of the IRB , which he had founded in Dublin on St.Patricks Day, 1858 . Stephens had built-up the organisation to such an extent that, by 1865, it was ready to rise up against British rule . (MORE LATER)>>


In 1947, the British government resettled some 8,000 men of the SS Galizien Division in Britain ; they were Ukrainians who supported the Nazi's because of their hatred of the Soviets . So,if, for example, you are a Palestinian who fought with the Iraq's because of your hatred of the United States - you know where to go.
In 1979, John Taylor , OUP , (now Brit Lord somethingorother) was returned in the European elections as one of the three MEP's for the Six Counties. In the European Parliament, he initially joined the British Conservatives in the European Democratic Group(EDG) . However, he left the EDG in 1987 because it supported the (1985) Hillsborough Treaty (2 years on the fence-a sore thing!) and he then joined the European Right Group(ERG) headed by French National Front leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen . At the time , Taylor insisted that he had made the right move , and boasted that the ERG made him their spokesperson because "I controlled their political expression". He later left the ERG(because he found its links with the neo-Nazi German Republican Party an "embarrassent" !) and joined the European Peoples Party (EPP) , the so-called 'Christian Democrat' grouping to which this state's Fine Gael party also belongs.
There is no truth to the rumour that John, having almost run out of groups to join, is to start his own and call it the 'Galizien Group' ......

......indeed, many of the IRA Volunteers that took on the British in a guerrilla war during the 1919-1921 period learned their trade in Frongoch Internment Camp in North Wales. The Irish Republican Brotherhood used their time in the camp to re-organise , and Michael Collins formed his deadly 'Dublin Squad' from those same internees ; his country-wide intelligence network was said to have been as efficient as it was because of the training its operatives received in Frongoch.
On December 23rd, 1916, the last 600 internees in the camp and the two remaining female internees in Aylesbury Jail, Winifred Carney and Helena Moloney , were released ; the sentenced prisoners, including Constance Markievicz, were held in English prisons until the general amnesty in June 1917. Frongoch, the 'Republican University' in North Wales,was first opened to receive Irish'students' on June 9th, 1916. And we're still 'learning' ......


Following the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Kurdistan was established by the League of Nations in 1920 as an independent nation for the then 25 million Kurds, whose homeland it was for well over a thousand years. In 1921, Britain set up the state of Iraq, and annexed the southern half of Kurdistan , while she was at it. Meanwhile, France was drawing up the borders of Syria and the Kurds lost the western part of their country. A year later, Kemal Ataturk founded the Turkish Republic , and took over the northern portion . Iran and the then Soviet Union swallowed up what remained . In that same period of time, Britain divided both Ireland and Mesopotamia, keeping control in each nation of the most industrialized and profitable area ; Ireland was partitioned and Mesopotamia was made into the kingdoms of Iraq and Kuwait .
Now the Brits are back, militarily, in that part of the world and would have us believe that their objective is to "restore democracy" : a word of warning to the 'pro-democracy' (ie puppet) administration that Bush and Blair will set-up ----- watch your backs; before you know it, you'll be the new "Axis of Evil"........

In early June 1916, 1,850 Irish Republicans were brought to Frongoch Internment Camp in North Wales ; this was the first use by the British of an internment camp for Irish political prisoners . Frongoch was divided into two sections , the South Camp(capable of holding 1,000 men) and the North Camp(850 men approximately) - the internees in each camp organised themselves into units, comprising a Camp Commandant, chain of command structures and group and hut leaders . By August 1916 ,there had been a large number of releases and all remaining internees were moved to the South Camp; however, the men insisted that if they were to continue to be held in Frongoch then it should be in the smaller North Camp, which had 'better' accommodation and, on October 21st, they were transferred there. The South Camp was then used as a 'punishment centre' only.
Frongoch became known as the 'Republican University' because,as it allowed for lengthy periods of free association , the internees organised lectures,debates and training sessions on a daily basis and those that were released left as disciplined military and political activists; indeed, many of those that took on the British in a guerrilla war during the 1919-1921 period learned their trade in Frongoch. (MORE LATER)>>


The Six-County area cut off in 1920 had never existed before as an entity in history, or politics, or economics. Craigavon, deputy-leader of the Unionists in the British Parliament, explained on March 29th, 1920, why only six of the nine counties of Ulster could be brought under a Belfast parliament - "The three excluded counties contain some 70,000 Unionists and 260,000 Sinn Feiners and Nationalists and the addition of that large block of Sinn Feiners and Nationalists would reduce our majority to such a level that no sane man would undertake to carry on a parliament with it. We quite frankly admit that we cannot hold the nine counties" (HANSARD, Volume 127,Col.991). The above is too big to fit on a placard, but perhaps someone will remind Tony Blair of it, and point out that the 'Irish problem' created by the English still exists- and then maybe Tony will pass it on to George, who might then ask his daddy what to do about it ......

It has been estimated that around 1,650 men and women took part in the 1916 Easter Rising yet, in the days following its collapse, 3,430 men and 79 women were arrested by the British ; of these, 1,424 men and 73 women were released almost immediately. Fifteen men were executed ; one-hundred and twenty-three men,who were sentenced to penal servitude ranging from two years to life and one woman,Countess Markievicz(who was sentenced to life imprisonment) were all deported to various English prisons , while 1,519 men and five women were interned. English prisons like Knutsford, Wakefield, Stafford and Wandsworth were used to house the male internees with the five females (Maire Perolz, Brigid Foley, Nell Ryan, Winifred Carney and Helena Moloney) sent to Aylesbury Prison. Shortly after being interned , 650 men were released and returned to Ireland - however, almost two thousand men were served with internment orders under the British 'Defence of The Realm Act' .
In early June 1916 , Frongoch Internment Camp in Merionethshire, North Wales, having being cleared of all German prisoners, was opened for Irish prisoners and about 1,850 men were brought there by rail from the various jails . This was the first use by the British of an internment camp for Irish political prisoners ....... (MORE LATER)>>


And the Adams Family has called on people to protest against the visit of George Bush Junior in Belfast today(not Tony Blair's visit,however- he pays for their Donegal holiday-homes) and at the same time the bould Gerry is due to break bread with the man! We are told it is necessary as Baby Bush has to be kept 'on-side' due to his support for what the establishment describes as"the Irish peace process" ; Bush, we are told, is a guarantor that, eventually,the Nationalists in the Six Counties will be treated with "equality": well, run this up the flagpole,George --- we "got equality" with Catholic emancipation in 1829 , and again in 1969 with Terence O'Neills reforms, and again in 1973 with the Sunningdale Agreement and again in 1985 with the Hillsborough Treaty ...... which brings us back to the Stormont Treaty of 1998 and it's promise of "equality" .
We've had a bellyfull of'equality' , George , so have a quick word in Tony's ear and suggest that he take the best option - withdrawal.
Because Gerry certainly won't do it........