1169 And Counting.....

Friday, May 26, 2006

ANNUAL WOLFE TONE COMMEMORATION :
Sunday , June 11 , 2006 , Sallins , Co. Kildare .

A bus for this Commemoration , which is organised each year by the Republican Movement , will leave from outside the old McBirneys/Virgin Megastore site on Dublin's Aston Quay at 12.45PM on the day : the Commemoration itself starts at 2.30PM .

The same bus will leave Bodenstown at 5.30PM that afternoon on its return to Dublin city centre . The fare is ten Euro per person .

For information on the death of Wolfe Tone , scroll through this piece (article starts on March 9 on that page) which was published on this blog last year .
"To subvert the tyranny of our execrable government, to break the connection with England, the never-failing source of all our political evils and to assert the independence of my country- these were my objectives. To unite the whole people of Ireland, to abolish the memory of all past dissensions, and to substitute the common name of Irishman in place of the denominations of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter - these were my means." -Theobald Wolfe Tone .

MacGIOLLA's GUERRILLAS .......
Fifteen years ago , the leadership of the 'Official Republican Movement' (now 'The Workers' Party') stated that their armed wing , the 'Official IRA' , went out of existence .
Today , the 'Official IRA' is alive and well and living mainly in Belfast and Newry . In the days when both organisations were operating in an overt way , the leadership of 'The Workers' Party' and the 'Official IRA' overlapped to a certain degree .
Tomas MacGiolla , the man who led the 'Official IRA' for the last twenty-five years has always maintained the position that the 'Official IRA' went out of existence in 1972 . But the 'Official IRA' still march on , not an army fighting the British , but as a fund-collecting agency .
DEREK DUNNE traces the roots of the 'Official IRA' and 'The Workers' Party' .
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine , October 1987 .

In December 1985 , five men , including a Mr. Anthony McDonagh , pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to defraud the Inland Revenue in the North : McDonagh was described in court as an Official IRA Commander . The scam involved securing tax-exemption certificates with the intention of making deductions from employees on building sites : it was not the intention of those operating the fraud to pay the money over and the company involved , Broadmine Ltd , would have been 'folded' before the time came to settle with the Revenue people .

There is plenty of evidence available to the public that the Official IRA are still in existence ; embarrassingly , Official IRA people are still making appearances in court on charges , almost exclusively relating to money-gathering activities .

In 1985 , Peter Halpenny and Benny Holden hi-jacked a taxi and kidnapped the driver in an attempted £10,000 robbery at the Larne ferry : both were Official IRA men and were members of Official drinking clubs in Belfast . In December 1985 , Newry businessman Brendan McNamee wrote to Tomas MacGiolla and Prionsias De Rossa at Leinster House : Mr. McNamee had a story to tell about money that was loaned .......
(MORE LATER).

SHANE ROSS : PLAYING THE ORANGE CARD .......
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , February 1984 .
No By-Line.

The young Shane Ross was sent , quite properly , to Rugby public school for some character building : after a colourful stay during which , by his own admission , he "...twice narrowly avoided expulsion for drinking and gambling .. " he took his assorted talents to Trinity to study history . Here he met and befriended two people who were to play crucial roles in the construction of Ross's now substatial public platform - Paul Tansey (the former 'Irish Times' and now 'Sunday Tribune' economics guru) and Ruth Buchanan (whom he married) .

Not that these relationships served to mellow Ross in any way - if anything , he became wilder than ever and his reputation as a ranter survives within the hallowed portals of TCD to this day . Ironically , some of those who now feature most prominently among the supporters of Shane Ross for the Seanad seat were the first to disown him as 'a waster' in College ! But Shane did find time for some preliminary political activity - he ran for auditor of one of the prestigious debating societies but failed by three votes . After that , he turned to the Student Representative Council (the forerunner of the current Students Union) where he was Secretary and PRO , but was beaten in election for 'President' by Paul Tansey , who actually got in thanks to Ross's transfers : Tansey was to repay this 'favour' handsomely in the years to come .

Having moved into the rarified world of stockbroking with Dillon and Waldron of Anglesea Street in Dublin , Ross began to gear himself up for a challenge on political office .......
(MORE LATER).

Thursday, May 25, 2006

MacGIOLLA's GUERRILLAS .......
Fifteen years ago , the leadership of the 'Official Republican Movement' (now 'The Workers' Party') stated that their armed wing , the 'Official IRA' , went out of existence .
Today , the 'Official IRA' is alive and well and living mainly in Belfast and Newry . In the days when both organisations were operating in an overt way , the leadership of 'The Workers' Party' and the 'Official IRA' overlapped to a certain degree .
Tomas MacGiolla , the man who led the 'Official IRA' for the last twenty-five years has always maintained the position that the 'Official IRA' went out of existence in 1972 . But the 'Official IRA' still march on , not an army fighting the British , but as a fund-collecting agency .
DEREK DUNNE traces the roots of the 'Official IRA' and 'The Workers' Party' .
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine , October 1987 .

In 1983 , the Free State gardai discovered plates at the Workers' Party Headquarters at Gardiner Place in Dublin which could have been used to print 'Irish Life' chequebooks and car tax books . The garda raid at Gardiner Place was to the ground floor , a space occupied by Repsol Ltd ., a printing company : the directors of Repsol are Tomas MacGiolla , Sean Garland , Cathal Goulding , Michael Ryan and Patrick Yeates : all are or have been closely associated with the Official Republican Movement .

The raid at Gardiner Place followed another garda raid at a warehouse in Ringsend , Dublin , where £1.7 million in forged fivers were found : the gardai wished to interview Brian Lynch , a Repsol employee , in relation to the find , but he was unavailable . Brian Lynch was spotted recently (ie 1987) at the Munster Hurling final in Thurles , County Tipperary . However , there was never any explanation as to how 'Irish Life' and car tax plates came to be in Gardiner Place .

But if the Official IRA had moved away from military activity aimed at the British by the early 1980's , there were still plenty of signs that the organisation was alive and keeping well.......
(MORE LATER).

SHANE ROSS : PLAYING THE ORANGE CARD .
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , February 1984 .
No By-Line.

Shane Ross first entered Seanad Eireann ( '1169...' Comment - sic : that 'Senate' does not represent the island of Ireland , regardless of that which it calls itself) in October 1981 . The timing was most appropriate as it coincided with the launching of Garret Fitzgerald's corny 'constitutional crusade' , amid a flurry of pious pluralist platitudes . The rhetoric was ideally suited to our Shane , and indeed Garret could not have wished for a more insistent preacher of his secular society in the months that lay ahead .

Trouble is , that 'crusade' is now a dead duck : the message and rhetoric were finally laid to rest last year (ie 1983) when the referendum fever took over , but it seems that Shane has'nt got the message yet , because he's still spouting on , ever so eloquently , about just what a nasty bunch of insular , doctrinaire old Taigues (ie Catholics) we really are .

Shane Ross comes from solid , conservative , Merrion Square , professional , Unionist stock : his father , John N. Ross , was a Senator for Trinity in the 1960's and is a partner in the top-crust Dublin law firm of Matheson Ormsby Prentice . So the precedent was set for young Shane to dabble in politics when he came of age . But first he had to sow those wild oats.......
(MORE LATER).

" WE ARE ALL PART OF THE SAME STRUGGLE ....... "
MARGARET WARD , author of a recent book 'UNMANAGEABLE REVOLUTIONARIES' , on the role of women in the national struggle , argues critically that republicans need to develop a non-elitist attitude of support for the feminist movement as an integral part of the liberation struggle .
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1983 .
No By-Line.

If a political movement that claims to represent the aspirations of the Irish people decides not to confront the reactionary might of the Catholic Church , not to add its considerable weight and political experience to a campaign desperately in need of all the support it can muster , because of a fear that it might alienate some of its supporters , can it expect the unconditional support of women in the future ?

At the very least , this failure to support women provides feminists with over-whelming confirmation of the wisdom of their insistence that women must continue to organise separately in their own interests , that they cannot automatically expect other political organisations to come to their defence .

We are all part of the same struggle , with its many layers of oppression . Women , gays , children , tenants , prisoners , claimants , pensioners - who can decide on the most worthy categories for attention ? We are all oppressed and we are all struggling for our freedom . Women's groups and women's caucuses in trade unions and political organisations cannot take on the burden single-handedly of fighting for women : while they can formulate policy to be adopted by their organisations , those policies should be taken seriously and fought for by all members - male and female.......
(MORE LATER).

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

MacGIOLLA's GUERRILLAS .......
Fifteen years ago , the leadership of the 'Official Republican Movement' (now 'The Workers' Party') stated that their armed wing , the 'Official IRA' , went out of existence .
Today , the 'Official IRA' is alive and well and living mainly in Belfast and Newry . In the days when both organisations were operating in an overt way , the leadership of 'The Workers' Party' and the 'Official IRA' overlapped to a certain degree .
Tomas MacGiolla , the man who led the 'Official IRA' for the last twenty-five years has always maintained the position that the 'Official IRA' went out of existence in 1972 . But the 'Official IRA' still march on , not an army fighting the British , but as a fund-collecting agency .
DEREK DUNNE traces the roots of the 'Official IRA' and 'The Workers' Party' .
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine , October 1987 .

During the Hunger-Strikes of 1980 and 1981 , the Workers' Party came out against the strikers - in the late 1970's , Tomas MacGiolla had stated that his organisation had 'no prisoners' : the political change in the Officials had seen less people serving time , but when political status was first abandoned in 1976 , 'The Plough' newspaper in Newry stated - ' Merlyn Rees wants to have political trials but no political prisoners and with all the grace and arrogance of a seasoned dictator , that is what he has decreed . The ending of political prisoner status is another pillar of the repressive state which has been built up against the working class people of the Six Counties during the past five (sic) years . It is not until these basic , democratic demands are conceded by the British that we can talk about the ending of political prisoner status . '

The Official IRA carried out numerous robberies throughout the late 1970's and early 1980's :
April 1977 - £229,997 taken in a robbery from a Securicor van in the Glens of Antrim .
November 1978 - £150,000 taken from the CIE Office at Inchicore in Dublin .
May 1980 - £60,000 taken in jewellery robbery from Dundalk jewellers .
November 1983 - £250,000 in cash and cheques taken from a Securicor van in Newry .

Dublin Official IRA Commander Jim Flynn was shot dead by the INLA who said that it was he who killed Seamus Costello in 1977 : following the death of Flynn , the Official IRA in Dublin drifted apart - they are still active in Dublin , but not to the same extent .......
(MORE LATER).

EOGHAN HARRIS : OUT OF THE SHADOWS .......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , November 1997 .
By Brenda Power .

Eoghan Harris is convinced that "...maybe 50 per cent of the people in the Republic (sic) are unhappy with the Hume-Adams agenda that Mary McAleese represents , the blurring of moral boundaries between Constitutionalism and the physical force tradition ... " , and goes on to say that those people will despatch her and her 'Bad Politics Supporters' on polling day .

Eamonn McCann says - " Harris cannot accept that you might disagree with him other than in bad faith . He does'nt believe that you could calmly consider his theories and find them a heap of shite . He genuinely believes he is the most fascinating person you have ever met , and that just gets boring . "

Harris himself states - " If I am wrong , if I am just some eccentric , why am I being denounced ? I know why I don't get a right of reply in RTE - I could name 22 Provos in the radio centre - but could it be they suspect that what I'm saying makes sense ? If McAleese wins she'll be a lame duck President , and I don't believe she'll get more than 40 per cent first preference votes . I believe in the people's 'Secret Fatwa' on Sinn Fein supporters , and if I'm wrng I'll retire . I really fucking will . "
[END of 'EOGHAN HARRIS : OUT OF THE SHADOWS']
(Tomorrow - 'SHANE ROSS : PLAYING THE ORANGE CARD' ; from 1984)

" WE ARE ALL PART OF THE SAME STRUGGLE ....... "
MARGARET WARD , author of a recent book 'UNMANAGEABLE REVOLUTIONARIES' , on the role of women in the national struggle , argues critically that republicans need to develop a non-elitist attitude of support for the feminist movement as an integral part of the liberation struggle .
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1983 .
No By-Line.

Can there be socialism without the liberation of women , can national liberation be more than an abstract phrase , if women remain oppressed within the new nation state ? There are many instances , Iran being the most recent , where a national revolution was accompanied by the increased enslavement of women . If we are to have a fully human society , it cannot contain within it the restricting , deformed remnants of old ideologies . We must have the courage to break free , to develop now - in however limited a manner - our new vision of the future .

This will entail encouraging people to fight for their own interests within their communities , not to take them over , to impose a leadership , but to provide comradely support . It will involve recognising the legitimacy of other organisations - women's groups , claimants' unions , tenants' organisations , prisoners' action groups - and working with them .

It will involve a principled commitment to human liberation that challenges the power of church and state . It should have involved active participation by Sinn Fein in the anti-amendment campaign , which was one of the most important challenges to the ruling class and church power to have emerged in Ireland . The defeat of the anti-amendment campaign is a terrible defeat for Irish women and for all who have fought for a more just society - one based on compassion , not dogma , on freedom , not fear . The demoralisation that has resulted from this defeat will have serious repercussions unless a mass movement can be re-grouped , particularly if the victorious Right now decide to campaign against the limited freedoms that do exist in the 26 Counties , such as the contraceptive law .......
(MORE LATER).

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

MacGIOLLA's GUERRILLAS .......
Fifteen years ago , the leadership of the 'Official Republican Movement' (now 'The Workers' Party') stated that their armed wing , the 'Official IRA' , went out of existence .
Today , the 'Official IRA' is alive and well and living mainly in Belfast and Newry . In the days when both organisations were operating in an overt way , the leadership of 'The Workers' Party' and the 'Official IRA' overlapped to a certain degree .
Tomas MacGiolla , the man who led the 'Official IRA' for the last twenty-five years has always maintained the position that the 'Official IRA' went out of existence in 1972 . But the 'Official IRA' still march on , not an army fighting the British , but as a fund-collecting agency .
DEREK DUNNE traces the roots of the 'Official IRA' and 'The Workers' Party' .
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine , October 1987 .

In the late 1970's , about eighteen people from Newry - all Official IRA - went to jail for 'fund raising' activities : there followed a period of reflection in the Officials . Also in the late 1970's , four people were 'sent down' (ie locked up) for doing a robbery and the word went out that they had done it for themselves .

These men were released within the last couple of years and immediately initiated a procedure which resulted in the deposing of the leadership of the Officials in Newry just over a year ago (ie mid-to-late 1986) ; the old leadership had degenerated , and much of their activities involved salting away the money for personal use . The Official IRA today is a different organisation from that of the early 1970's , or even the early 1980's : the people now involved have made a career out of being 'professional soldiers' , and using the gun .

But now they do not point the guns at the British Army or the RUC : their guns are pointed in the direction of people who they wish to intimidate or threaten ....... ('1169...' Comment : History repeats itself - the PIRA are now tasked , by both Westminster and Leinster House , with keeping 'the dissidents' [ie those that seek to change the constitutional position regarding the Six Counties] in 'check' : a certain amout of activity from them in relation to that task will be tolerated by the 'Establishment' in this State and in Westminster , provided their 'efforts' stay focussed on the 'dissidents' .)
(MORE LATER).

EOGHAN HARRIS : OUT OF THE SHADOWS .......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , November 1997 .
By Brenda Power .

Dun Laoghaire (Dublin) Fianna Fail member Betty Coffey says she got a phone call and a strategy from Eoghan Harris - "...out of the blue . And it was brilliant advice . I admire him very much . " Adi Roche's campaign received some early encouragement from Harris , but he lost interest when reports of her brother's alleged Irish Republican sympathies made the headlines . Fergus Finlay stated - " Harris rang and said she'll have to repudiate her brother completely , which she would not do . He could'nt see that her brother's politics were not hers . "

Eoghan Harris said - " I wanted her to dump the brother , because it meant she had unfinished business on the National Question . And I believe the Irish people pronounce a secret fatwa on people who are soft on Sinn Fein : it may not show up in the polls , but Mary McAleese is holed below the water line , and it will sink her . I don't hate McAleese - in fact I admired her , she has great courage - I liked that 'in-your-face' Northern thing , she knows politics is a big boys' game played by big boys' rules , not a daisy chain like Adi Roche , she was thrilled to see myself and John Caden getting caught with our fingers in the pie . And she is far and away the sexiest woman in the race . But I never rated her as a reporter , she was a typical whingeing Northern grievance-monger and I consider that she is one of the armchair generals of the Nationalist community , the ones who did well out of positive discrimination but who keep on whinging : if they get to be Vice Chancellor of Queens they want to be Chancellor , then Chief Justice .

Sinn Fein are'nt into that kind of shit , any advancement they get is through the polls or the gun - I don't agree or respect that , but at least I understand it ! Compare her to somebody like David Irvine in his cheap shirt , coming from a little red brick house , going to a dreary miserable little UDP hall , doing his best to hold the peace . He's my hero . " The admiration is probably mutual : the November 1997 edition of the 'Orange Journal' newsletter compliments Eoghan Harris on his " ...support for the Unionist cause.. " , and Harris himself is also said to have claimed , to a senior Fianna Fail figure , that he has advised the Orange Order on publicity .......
(MORE LATER).

" WE ARE ALL PART OF THE SAME STRUGGLE ....... "
MARGARET WARD , author of a recent book 'UNMANAGEABLE REVOLUTIONARIES' , on the role of women in the national struggle , argues critically that republicans need to develop a non-elitist attitude of support for the feminist movement as an integral part of the liberation struggle .
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1983 .
No By-Line.

Feminists are inspired by the ideal of a future society in which there is no oppression , no exploitation , no forms of domination . But the ultimate achievement of such a society cannot be separated from the process of its making : if full democracy does not exist in the struggle today , how can there be in the future ?

It won't drop from the sky , it can only come , slowly and painfully , from ourselves . Feminists also believe that , because of the specific gender oppression of women , we must have an independent political movement so that we can develop our own strengths and decide upon our own demands . In other words , a movement that defines itself , that is 'autonomous' , but one which does not shut itself off from other struggles taking place .

The experience of organising as women increases our self-confidence , heightens our feelings of solidarity and enriches our participation in all political activities . It also gives us the strength to assert our own demands within the wider political context ; if this sounds irrelevant to readers of 'IRIS' , then let us take concrete examples to make the point more strongly.......
(MORE LATER).

Monday, May 22, 2006

MacGIOLLA's GUERRILLAS .......
Fifteen years ago , the leadership of the 'Official Republican Movement' (now 'The Workers' Party') stated that their armed wing , the 'Official IRA' , went out of existence .
Today , the 'Official IRA' is alive and well and living mainly in Belfast and Newry . In the days when both organisations were operating in an overt way , the leadership of 'The Workers' Party' and the 'Official IRA' overlapped to a certain degree .
Tomas MacGiolla , the man who led the 'Official IRA' for the last twenty-five years has always maintained the position that the 'Official IRA' went out of existence in 1972 . But the 'Official IRA' still march on , not an army fighting the British , but as a fund-collecting agency .
DEREK DUNNE traces the roots of the 'Official IRA' and 'The Workers' Party' .
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine , October 1987 .

In 1977 , there was a major increase in militarisation within the Official IRA in Newry : the Provos called the Officials 'Rustyguns' on account of their ancient weapons . The OIRA got Kalashnikov AK47s in 1977 and had enough weapons to arm all their members and lots to spare . Long-term weapon dumps were established , using large concrete pipes buried deep in the ground : ten , twenty and thirty weapons were buried in grease , ready to be brought out in the event of a doomsday situation developing .

One such doomsday scenario might have involved a shoot-out with either the Provos or the INLA : in 1975 , the Provos had made an all-out attack on dozens of Officials on the same day . The Official IRA and Official Sinn Fein (The Workers Party) always considered itself a cut above the rest - they were 'politically motivated' , as distinct from the Provos who were 'only interested in carrying out military campaigns' . There were many people involved with Official Sinn Fein who had no knowledge of the Official IRA : the organisation as a whole pursued a policy of 'the ballot box in one hand and the gun in the back pocket' : their vote held up across the North right up to the end of the 1970's , because they were still seen as being 'republican' in some sense .

But after the Hunger Strikes (of 1981) , their vote collapsed ; by that time also , the Provos had shown that you could be quite open about the gun and still hold support . If you were keeping the gun 'hidden' it showed that you thought that there was something wrong with having it in the first place .......
(MORE LATER).

EOGHAN HARRIS : OUT OF THE SHADOWS .......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , November 1997 .
By Brenda Power .

Fergus Finlay questions Eoghan Harris' involvement in the 1990 election of Mary Robinson - " He (Harris) wrote a very intelligent and rational letter to Mary Robinson outlining strategy , but I'm not convinced that he was the first person to suggest those points . " Speaking about Mary Robinson , Eoghan Harris stated - " She did not do the decent thing by me - I said I wanted credit rather than cash for advising her , writing her speeches : I never get paid for that work , by the way , I do it just to keep track on how good a spin doctor I am *. But she never gave me the credit . " ( * '1169....' Comment : the Harris-inspired Fine Gael 'Twink' sketch comes to mind ... !)

Eoghan Harris' next target was John Bruton and Fine Gael - a former RTE producer stated : " When I saw him move in on Fine Gael , I wondered if it was because he reckoned the party would be as easy to take over as the old WUI . " Though Phil Hogan claimed that Bruton and Harris were "...old college friends.. " , this seems unlikely since they were'nt educated in the same college , or even the same city ! Harris went to UCC and Bruton went to UCD . Eoghan Harris ceased to be 'flavour of the month' in Fine Gael around April 1991 when he devised the tasteless 'Twink Sketch' for Fine Gael's Ard Fheis , in which the 'comedienne' camped-up the toilet roll 'Ad Lady' and lampooned , amongst others , Una Claffey .

Harris is truly profligate with unsolicited advice to candidates he admires - regardless of which party they belong to .......
(MORE LATER).

" WE ARE ALL PART OF THE SAME STRUGGLE . "
MARGARET WARD , author of a recent book 'UNMANAGEABLE REVOLUTIONARIES' , on the role of women in the national struggle , argues critically that republicans need to develop a non-elitist attitude of support for the feminist movement as an integral part of the liberation struggle .
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1983 .
No By-Line.

The struggle for a new society takes many forms : the struggle against British rule in Ireland , campaigns on behalf of prisoners , workers' struggles in factories , community struggles around issues such as housing and tenant rights , the campaign for nuclear disarmament , for the right of women to have freely available abortion * . The list is endless . But , for feminists especially , our personal relationships with family and friends , and the fight against women's subordination within the family , at work , in political groups , is an integral part of this struggle . (* '1169...' Comment : "freely available abortion... " ? As in as a method of birth control , perhaps ? That particular sentiment would need to be defined in detail before it could be agreed with.)

In a most fundamental sense , 'the personal is political' , and a political movement that fails to recognise the importance of developing non-hierarchical , mutually supportive relationships , both within the movement itself and in the wider society , will find itself perpetuating the same injustices and oppression ; and this stark fact cannot be dismissed as some 'middle-class luxury' , to be enjoyed solely by the privileged while the masses struggle to combat the ravages of British harassment , poverty and despair .

There is violence in the home as well as on the streets , and violence in the streets comes not only from the British Army and RUC: men rape women and that ever-present threat diminishes the freedom of all women.......
(MORE LATER).

Friday, May 19, 2006

MacGIOLLA's GUERRILLAS .......
Fifteen years ago , the leadership of the 'Official Republican Movement' (now 'The Workers' Party') stated that their armed wing , the 'Official IRA' , went out of existence .
Today , the 'Official IRA' is alive and well and living mainly in Belfast and Newry . In the days when both organisations were operating in an overt way , the leadership of 'The Workers' Party' and the 'Official IRA' overlapped to a certain degree .
Tomas MacGiolla , the man who led the 'Official IRA' for the last twenty-five years has always maintained the position that the 'Official IRA' went out of existence in 1972 . But the 'Official IRA' still march on , not an army fighting the British , but as a fund-collecting agency .
DEREK DUNNE traces the roots of the 'Official IRA' and 'The Workers' Party' .
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine , October 1987 .

At the Mornington conference , there was another paper delivered by Sean Garland during which the following question was posted : ' The question for the leadership (of the Official organisation) as put by a foreign observer , was : " How can a revolutionary group shift priorities when it is dominated by a secret army organised for military purposes , led largely by men sympathetic first and foremost to military action , staffed by volunteers who joined not another party but an army , and hampered by deeply orthodox traditional civilian organisation suspicious to politics ? " ' .

That question encompassed the central question relating to the Official organisation , and one which has never been completely and satisfactorily resolved . Another aspect of the Officials that was always uppermost in the minds of the leadership was discipline : this also came up at the Mornington conference and it was pointed out that failure to comply with a 'direction' from the Ard Comhairle (the 'ruling body') was no different from opting out of the organisation altogether .

As Tomas MacGiolla succinctly put it - " The need for a tight organisational structure and disciplined membership is paramount " . By the mid-1970's , Derry had ceased to be a base of substantial support for the Officials : Belfast , Dublin and Newry became the power centres . Gradually , all orders came from Dublin . In 1977 and 1978 , the Official IRA was still actively recruiting in Newry ; there were also a large back-up of people who were no longer militarily involved - they were brought out for a day a year to fire weapons , to 'keep their hands in' and to keep their support . There were about 100 active OIRA members and they continued to carry out attacks on the British Army , though never claiming these on behalf of the Official IRA .......
(MORE LATER).

EOGHAN HARRIS : OUT OF THE SHADOWS .......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , November 1997 .
By Brenda Power .

Fergus Finlay recalls "...being told no , we don't want a Labour Party spokesman for this programme , we're not having politicians , only trade unionists - and then the trade unionist would turn out to be Des Geraghty . " A senior RTE figure stated - " One of the funniest examples of this practice that I can recall was the time that a man called Brian Lynch popped up in the 'Late Late Show' audience attacking the Wolfe Tones , or somebody . It later emerged that , at the very same time , the very same Mr. Lynch was on the HQ staff in Gardiner Place counterfeiting tax books , 'Irish Life' cheque books and five pound notes ! In fact I believe the the mugshot that Interpol currently use - they're still hunting Brian Lynch - came off a piece of RTE film . "

A 'MAGILL' investigation in 1982 calculated that the cost of running the Sinn Fein The Workers Party organisation was around £3,000 per week at that time while membership fees - the party's declared source of funds - yielded about £500 per week . That report concluded - ' In an interview with 'MAGILL' for this article , Tomas MacGiolla and Sean Garland stated that the party also earned a lot from the sale of Easter Lilies . '

After his departure from both Sinn Fein The Workers Party and , in 1990 , from RTE , Eoghan Harris became what Eamonn McCann describes as " ...a freelance ideologue , a genuine soldier of fortune .. " , and he had his first major success as a 'spin doctor' with Prionsias De Rossa's memorable European Parliament campaign in 1989 : Harris also played a major part in the election of Mary Robinson in 1990 , although the extent of his involvement is questioned by others involved at that time .......
(MORE LATER).

Thursday, May 18, 2006

MacGIOLLA's GUERRILLAS .......
Fifteen years ago , the leadership of the 'Official Republican Movement' (now 'The Workers' Party') stated that their armed wing , the 'Official IRA' , went out of existence .
Today , the 'Official IRA' is alive and well and living mainly in Belfast and Newry . In the days when both organisations were operating in an overt way , the leadership of 'The Workers' Party' and the 'Official IRA' overlapped to a certain degree .
Tomas MacGiolla , the man who led the 'Official IRA' for the last twenty-five years has always maintained the position that the 'Official IRA' went out of existence in 1972 . But the 'Official IRA' still march on , not an army fighting the British , but as a fund-collecting agency .
DEREK DUNNE traces the roots of the 'Official IRA' and 'The Workers' Party' .
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine , October 1987 .

During the mid-1970's , the Officials underwent a major change : there was first of all their famous conference and various papers were delivered and discussed . The Workers' Party 'Research Department' outlined that they were in favour of multi-natioal investment , rather than align the party with what they saw as being SDLP/Provo small-scale business , with the Unionists in control at the top .

By the mid-1970's , the SDLP had consolidated its middle class Catholic vote and the Provos had taken the military road : the Unionists were equally entrenched , and the Officials , in order to survive , had to carve out a new ideological niche for themselves . Since they had already renounced armed struggle as a means of attaining power their policies and direction had to be discernibly different from anything else on the political scene in order to attract support .

Hence the 'evolution' of tortured and changed positions on a range of issues from the EEC to the RUC to multi-national investment .......
(MORE LATER).

EOGHAN HARRIS : OUT OF THE SHADOWS .......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , November 1997 .
By Brenda Power .

Eoghan Harris stated - " If I broke the broadcasting restrictions then I never did it in an underhand way ; I was suspended for six months in 1974 for a programme on the treatment of internees (Conor Cruise O' Brien furiously denounced the programme at a Labour Party conference that year) and I was docked a huge amount of money , there was a point when I'd have lost my house only Gay Byrne and Bunny Carr sent me £50 . But I have seen my personnel file in RTE and there's a report in it by Michael Garvey where he says that I just was'nt capable of producing an unbalanced programme . "

That is not , however , how another senior RTE figure remembers the era : " Here was the sort of thing he'd do for the Workers Party - if a panel required , say , a Labour member and a Stickie , he'd pick the greatest gobdaw (ie 'half-wit') of a Labour specimen he could find , and put him up against the brightest Workers Party member . Or if there was a report on a issue that was dear to the Workers' Party heart , you'd have trade unionists or community spokesmen on discussing it , without any acknowledgement that they were members of the Workers Party . "

In a 'Today Tonight' programme aired on April 22 , 1982 , a Dr. John McManus admitted that there was considerable tax evasion within the medical profession during a debate on the iniquities of the PRSI system . Dr. McManus was not identified as a Workers Party Ard Comhairle (ie 'ruling body') member and a party candidate in that year's general election , nor the line he took acknowledged as the party line.......
(MORE LATER).

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

MacGIOLLA's GUERRILLAS .......
Fifteen years ago , the leadership of the 'Official Republican Movement' (now 'The Workers' Party') stated that their armed wing , the 'Official IRA' , went out of existence .
Today , the 'Official IRA' is alive and well and living mainly in Belfast and Newry . In the days when both organisations were operating in an overt way , the leadership of 'The Workers' Party' and the 'Official IRA' overlapped to a certain degree .
Tomas MacGiolla , the man who led the 'Official IRA' for the last twenty-five years has always maintained the position that the 'Official IRA' went out of existence in 1972 . But the 'Official IRA' still march on , not an army fighting the British , but as a fund-collecting agency .
DEREK DUNNE traces the roots of the 'Official IRA' and 'The Workers' Party' .
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine , October 1987 .

The new addition to the 'Stages Theory' , as proposed by Sinn Fein The Workers Party , read that the Catholic and Protestant working class would have to be united before anything else could happen : what key personnel within Official Sinn Fein and the Official IRA said around this time about armed resistance is worthy of note .

For example , in 1970 , Cathal Goulding , then acknowledged Chief of Staff of the Official IRA , said : " I believe the job of pushing the British troops out of Ireland will eventually have to be done by ourselves ...... we do advocate physical force against the establishment ..... the people are only safe when they have an armed force to resist a dictatorship by the right .. " . A private statement by the Officials , issued in one of its internal documents in the mid-1970's , and entitled 'Differences' , makes interesting reading -

' It is said that we (Official Sinn Fein) have 'gone political' and that we have rejected or begun to reject any form of military action . Whenever necessary , and in keeping with our policy , units have engaged in military action . Our main force consists of a few small units , underarmed , ill equipped , and with God knows what degree of training and organisation . ' The above is typical of the approach of the Officials to politics : while seeking to promote the party as one which has renounced violence and the gun ( at this stage the Official IRA was supposed to be three years gone!) , in private , there was in existance a clandestine Army .......
(MORE LATER).

EOGHAN HARRIS : OUT OF THE SHADOWS .......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , November 1997 .
By Brenda Power .

Eoghan Harris stated - " But I had contempt for the Derry IRA and after they shot John Taylor and Ranger Best I resigned and I did'nt return until they called a truce . And , if I was involved back then , why not admit it now ? It would give me a whiff of sulphur and might even help me pull birds . "

Eoghan Harris concedes to a limited degree that he slanted programme content to reflect the Workers' Party agenda at times - " There was a very heated atmosphere in RTE at that time and , to us , the work we were doing was important and principled political work . There was a lot of debate going on , but basically it broke down into supporters of the Provos and supporters of the Conor Cruise O' Brien line . There is a retrospective air of manipulation because I was a Workers' Party supporter , but I only pulled strings as far as I could pull them verbally , and each case had to be won by debate .

And we were better and brighter than the rest , so we got the best jobs . And , if there was a last seat to be filled on a panel debate I'd put on John A. Murphy rather than Tim Pat Coogan , and if it was for a news insert and I wanted someone to interpret a baton charge for me then I would'nt pick someone who would sound a tribal tone ....... "
(MORE LATER).

THE 26 COUNTIES : A STATE BUT NOT A NATION .......
The history of the Free State has been one of progressively solidifying partition : cross-border collaboration is only one aspect of this .
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1983.
No By-Line.

The ripples that British 'involvement' in six of our counties has caused is a sign that there is still a national spirit of some kind alive in the 26 counties ; yet the illogicality of overlooking Free State Army collaboration on the border with the British Army , whilst condemning it in remembrance ceremonies , emphasises that opportunities continue to exist for republicans in the 26 counties to raise that national spirit higher .

In the same way , the attempt to introduce extradition , whilst expressing reservations about the use of paid perjurers in the courts to where those extradited are being sent , is yet another contradiction which presents itself for action . The repressive effects of partition , in their brutal reality for the nationalist people of the North , remain , in spite of all efforts , a strong call to the people of the 26 counties - the popular concern felt by people in the Free State during the hunger-strikes was an expression of this .

But the effects of decades of solidifying partition in the South have also been strong on those same people . There may be no nation in the Free State , which can foster real patriotism , but the vast majority of the 26-county people have come to accept the mechanisms of that State - or economic unit - which does exist . They have come to see Sinn Fein only as an isolated group relevant in the 'external' context of the North : for the vast majority of people , politics is primarily concerned with elections and in the Free State those elections are to institutions which have come to be accepted and , however criticised , there is no mood for gambling on a revolutionary alternative .......
(MORE LATER).

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

MacGIOLLA's GUERRILLAS .......
Fifteen years ago , the leadership of the 'Official Republican Movement' (now 'The Workers' Party') stated that their armed wing , the 'Official IRA' , went out of existence .
Today , the 'Official IRA' is alive and well and living mainly in Belfast and Newry . In the days when both organisations were operating in an overt way , the leadership of 'The Workers' Party' and the 'Official IRA' overlapped to a certain degree .
Tomas MacGiolla , the man who led the 'Official IRA' for the last twenty-five years has always maintained the position that the 'Official IRA' went out of existence in 1972 . But the 'Official IRA' still march on , not an army fighting the British , but as a fund-collecting agency .
DEREK DUNNE traces the roots of the 'Official IRA' and 'The Workers' Party' .
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine , October 1987 .

In 1974 , Belfast had held a Convention to find out if the Official organisation should contest elections : the vote went against the motion by sixty-six to sixty-four . The leadership demanded and got three recounts ! In the following two weeks , whole cumanns (ie branches) found themselves suspended from membership : another Convention was called and the original decision was reversed - the leadership had demanded the second Convention "...due to groundswell of opinion among the ranks.. " !

Half of Belfast went with the INLA : a feud followed which left five dead and more than forty injured . Sean Garland was among those who were shot . Liam McMillan stated at a Belfast OIRA Command meeting that he "...would smash the IRSP within a fortnight .. " : as truce talks were under way , Gerry Steenson , still a teenager , shot Liam McMillan dead . The feud ended a few days later following the intervention of an intermediary . But an OIRA order went out that Seamus Costello was to be shot in retaliation , and he was killed by Dublin Official IRA Commander Jim Flynn in 1977 : Flynn was killed by the INLA in 1982 .

Prior to the split , Sean Garland had proposed that there be one structure for the OIRA and Sinn Fein the Workers Party : it was generally held that Cathal Goulding was the mind behind the decision to wind down the military end of things ; SFWP had come to firmly believe that in order for their revised 'Stages Theory' to work , another 'Stage' would have to be inserted .......
(MORE LATER).

EOGHAN HARRIS : OUT OF THE SHADOWS .......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , November 1997 .
By Brenda Power .

Eamonn McCann said at the time - " It was well known that the Stickies killed Ranger Willie Best , and what I can't understand about Eoghan Harris is that he never took responsibility for the crimes committed by his associates during that period . He calls people 'Hush Puppy Provos' , and 'Sneaking Regarders' , and he applies these epithets to people who were never as close to paramilitaries as he knowingly was at that time . There was only one party which said that Stalin was right , which defended the invasion of Hungary and the Berlin Wall and offered abject obeisance to Kim II Sung , and that was the Official Republican Movement . In the light of those mistakes , you might expect Eoghan Harris to be a little more humble in pointing out other people's . "

Eoghan Harris is incensed to be asked about those contradictions : " If you write anything that links me to Official Sinn Fein I will sue . Seamus Costello once tried to recruit me and Cathal Goulding said - 'Put him writing pamphlets , he can't keep a secret' and he said to me ' Stay out of all that shit' . I'd be useless at clandestine activity , that's what's so crazy about trying to link me with these McAleese leaks , I never thought she was that much of a Shinner , I would'nt be able to keep my mouth shut about it . The fact was that there was a military wing attached to the Workers' Party and I was the political party's chief pamphleteer , which sometimes brought me into the same company , but if I can be smeared by association then so can Pat Rabbitte , so can everyone who was around at the time .

I'm an idealogue and a polemecist , it was fuck all to do with me , my job was to educate our membership to give up the gun , to convert them from republicanism to revisionism , to go to the old guard and say - ' Well , where did the guns get us ?' And I was very good at finding fighting formulas that did'nt require force - sit-ins and street demos , but no guns - I was a skilled propagandist at covering up our retreat from the gun . I felt the Provos were shading the balance of terror , and I could'nt go around lecturing the Official IRA to lay down their guns while the Provos were shooting politicians like Trevor McNulty ....... "
(MORE LATER).

Monday, May 15, 2006

(Great to be back . We enjoyed the break - but we enjoy the 'blog' more!)

MacGIOLLA's GUERRILLAS .......
Fifteen years ago , the leadership of the 'Official Republican Movement' (now 'The Workers' Party') stated that their armed wing , the 'Official IRA' , went out of existence .
Today , the 'Official IRA' is alive and well and living mainly in Belfast and Newry . In the days when both organisations were operating in an overt way , the leadership of 'The Workers' Party' and the 'Official IRA' overlapped to a certain degree .
Tomas MacGiolla , the man who led the 'Official IRA' for the last twenty-five years has always maintained the position that the 'Official IRA' went out of existence in 1972 . But the 'Official IRA' still march on , not an army fighting the British , but as a fund-collecting agency .
DEREK DUNNE traces the roots of the 'Official IRA' and 'The Workers' Party' .
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine , October 1987 .

'The Greater West Belfast Community Association' was set up and the Official IRA and the UDA held structured talks under its umbrella as the Dublin leadership attempted to stamp out the military activity which was now beyond their control , and outside their ideology . 'Dissidents' were ousted ; rules and regulations were introduced which mitigated against their enemies within their own organisation .

One 'OIRA Standing Order' stated that all members of the Official IRA had to be members of their local Workers' Party Cumann (party branch) - suspension from one automatically meant expulsion from the other ! 'Dissidents' found themselves suspended for minor breaches of discipline . At the Official Sinn Fein Ard Fheis (annual party conference) in Liberty Hall, Dublin , in 1973 , Seamus Costello circulated a list of twelve people he believed could rescue the organisation from the direction it had taken .

Dessie O' Hagan also circulated an alternative to that list but it was Seamus Costello alone who was charged ; winesses who were to give evidence on Costello's behalf found themselves under suspension . Seamus Costello knew that the break was coming and had postponed carrying out certain fund-raising operations ; he also had people who remained inside the Official IRA and who were in key positions within the OIRA Intelligence Department , which was the internal group which supplied names to the leadership of people likely to defect in the event of a split . The Officials ended up staking-out some of their own people and arming some of the opposition .

In November 1974 , the Official IRA started to beat up potential defectors : Kevin Rafferty and Vincent Fagan were beaten in Belfast .......
(MORE LATER).

EOGHAN HARRIS : OUT OF THE SHADOWS .......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , November 1997 .
By Brenda Power .

An RTE producer at the time said of Eoghan Harris and his supporters in the station - " They (Sinn Fein the Workers Party) had some very powerful friends in RTE and they managed to get friends and relatives and party members into prominent positions , often without jobs having been advertised or any interviews having been held . And their agenda infiltrated every programme , even the books programme ! I remember one current affairs team doing a programme on the hunger strikes who were told to "take their line" from Mary McMahon of Sinn Fein the Workers Party and John McMichael , who was then the 'Supreme Commander' of the UDA and was said to have been personally responsible for the deaths of 600 Catholics .

So of course the programmes did not reflect the huge support there was for the hunger strikers amongst the Catholic community . " In 1982 , 'Magill' magazine reported that the first four 'Today Tonight' RTE television programmes to deal with the issue of the POW position were hostile to the H-Block cause , and that a huge internal row was prompted by the irritation of the programme's then editor , Joe Mulholland , over a subsequent programme which reflected widespread support for the hunger strikers . " And that was when Mary McAleese first fell foul of Eoghan Harris and his people , " the RTE producer continues - " McAleese saw reporters being sent up to Belfast to take their line on the hunger strikes from people she knew to be members of the Official IRA . She recognised them because they used to drink in her father's pub on the Lower Falls Road - she took terrible abuse from these people at programme conferences . I remember her being called a Provo to her face , when anyone with a shred of wit could have seen that she detested violence . It just shows how vitriolic those people were , and how long their memories are , that they're still out to get her now . "

Eoghan Harris's association with Sinn Fein the Workers Party endured throughout the period when its military wing , the Official IRA , was known to be involved in murder and racketeering .......
(MORE LATER).

THE 26 COUNTIES : A STATE BUT NOT A NATION .......
The history of the Free State has been one of progressively solidifying partition : cross-border collaboration is only one aspect of this .
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1983.
No By-Line.

Economically , following the logic of this inability to create a truncated 'nation' , the solutions are not sought within the State itself in the development of resources , but are sought from outside in attempts to attract multinationals or to beg from Brussels . Politically , all of this trend can easily be seen in the most recent developments .

The so-called abortion referendum - which ignored the social problems surrounding abortion - was a reflex action of a long socially-repressed people , which in its underlining of the confessional State could not have caused any great dismay to the Free State upholders of partition , whatever their public position on the issue . The abortion issue , as the question of divorce now is , was deliberately put into a fallacious context of 'concession to the Northern Protestants' , rather than an examination of an actual social problem in the Free State , with the inevitable partitionist result .

In the 'New Ireland Forum', the absence of any unionists - even the Alliance Party - is not seen as a major drawback at all . The 'Forum' is in fact being hailed as a success by the Free State establishment parties on the basis of a procession of unionist academics , who graciously tell it that Irish unity is not on , and a handful of 'nationalists' who suggest a variety of federal , confederal and dual sovereignty solutions which would leave the North of Ireland 'safely' separated . Fianna Fail is happily pontificating in that area of a '6 and 26 solution' ....... * (* '1169....' Comment - as , indeed , are Provisional Sinn Fein , as was verified in March 1999 when one of its leaders , Francie Molloy , stated - " Republicans are prepared to work an Executive . We are really prepared to administer British rule in Ireland for the foreseeable future . The very principle of partition is accepted . " The 'principle of partition' will never be 'accepted' by true Irish Republicans.)
(MORE LATER).