PADDY COONEY'S ARMY .......
Not since the earliest days of the State has the role of the Irish Army (sic) been under such intense scrutiny . And not since the war years has it had such a forceful political master as Patrick Mark Cooney .
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , 3 February 1984 .

Paddy Cooney , who is now the political boss of the State Army believes that there is "...an unwillingness to obey the laws of the land . Every citizen must realise that the alternative to the democratic concensus is anarchy leading to revolutionary change.." ('1169...' Comment - when that "law" is an ass , and is being enforced by unprincipled careerist assholes , and that "land" is a corrupt , gombeen and morally-challenged poxy State such as this is , then we say - 'bring on the anarchy!' and God speed the 'revolutionary change'! )

Mr. Cooney is also concerned with "... the high level of national (sic- for Cooney and his likes , the word 'national' is used to describe the Free State) malaise manifesting itself in so many unpleasant ways in our society today * . Anything that we could do or the (State) Defence Forces could be involved in doing to cure that would be a high national (sic) priority " , said the man , speaking in Leinster House in June 1983 . ( * '1169...' Comment - that "malaise" is caused by those self-same political leeches that reside in Leinster House : they are the cause of it , not the "cure" for it.)

The (State) Defence Forces "...curing.." the "...national malaise.." ? This sounds more like Generals Pinochet or Zia than 'General' Paddy Cooney ! Such bright ideas from the midland solicitor do not raise too many eyebrows with the Irish public at present : but they must sow seed of thought - and ambition - in the ranks of young (State) Army Officers ....... ('1169...' Comment - this corrupt wee Statelet really deserves to be screwed if it's "young Army Officers" are anyway anxious to 'grow up' to be like their political masters!)
(MORE LATER).



KERRY GARDA CRISIS .

There is a crisis among the Gardai in Kerry and it is much deeper than one of morale . For years the Kerry Detective force has enjoyed a free hand in dealing with Section 30 cases in this heavily Republican county .
But the free rein given in these cases has had the inevitably corrupting effect . Now individual Gardai are being fingered for conduct that most of them had taken for normal : the heat is now on . Only the fall-guys remain to be named .
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , February 1985 .

Aside altogether from the Kerry Babies case , there is a mounting catalogue of controversial incidents involving Gardai throughout the Kerry division in the years up to , and including , 1984 : there is evidence of Garda brutality - sometimes quite casual brutality . In addition , there is evidence of abuse of powers , intimidation of citizens , and of malpractice in constructing cases which has already brought the Kerry Gardai into conflict with the State DPP .

The following catalogue of controversial cases is by no means exhaustive ; it is simply representative of the types of cases that have built up to the current crisis in the division - once again , they point to the necessity for a complaints procedure so long promised , and so long delayed , by the present (State) Minister for Justice .

The Emmet Walsh Case -
Emmet Walsh was arrested under Section 30 of the Offences Against The State Act , in April 1982 , and taken to Tralee Garda Station , Kerry , where , he says , he was asked to sign a confession : he had no previous arrests , and is a college graduate , indicating some degree of articulateness . Furthermore , his father is a retired Garda Inspector : in short , Walsh's background was as different from 'the usual' as is possible .

Emmet Walsh alleges that he was beaten by named Detectives and , on his release , had the sense to make straight for the doctor . Complaints were duly made and the incident was investigated by a Garda Superintendent .......
(MORE LATER).



PILLARS OF SOCIETY : EOGHAN HARRIS .......
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , October 1985 .

Recently , Eoghan Harris has helped out on the planned production of a film based on 'Up In The Park', the boring reminiscences of Liz Shannon , the boring wife of the former boring United States Ambassador to Ireland . And only last week , the Eoghan and Anne team were giving a polite lecture on politics and literature at the Arts Club in Dublin .

But as Anne Harris emerges ever more to the forefront of the partnership , Eoghan retreats into the provincial Ireland he loves to loathe - like Noel Browne , he is spending more time in his country retreat , privately fulminating against the body politic and the ignorance of those who vote 'Yahoos' into office . Writing plays - even bad plays - is one antidote for this malaise ; the other is to put his own pet theories and his reputation to the real test that they deserve - on the hustings in an election .
[END of 'PILLARS OF SOCIETY : EOGHAN HARRIS']
(Next - 'A HARD 'OUL STATION : LIFE ON THE STREETS' . From 1987.)

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PADDY COONEY'S ARMY .......
Not since the earliest days of the State has the role of the Irish Army (sic) been under such intense scrutiny . And not since the war years has it had such a forceful political master as Patrick Mark Cooney .
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , 3 February 1984 .

The year 1977 saw the 'electoral fluke' in which Paddy Cooney got his comeuppance : he lost his seat ! But there was the 'consolation prize' of leader of Fine Gael in the State Senate for the next four years - but he still insisted on keeping abreast of 'justice' matters . Towards the end of 1977 , Paddy Cooney charged that the "...notoriously guilty.." were not convicted because of their "...clever manipulation.." of legal technicalities !

His decrease in salary was cushioned somewhat by a £28,000 award made against the 'Sunday World' newspaper when he sued them in a defamation action . This stint in the State Senate seems to have set him thinking about politics on a global scale : it was around this time that he said that "...a takeover by communists could be avoided by a political , and if necessary , a defence union , of Europe . " He succeeded in getting himself back into Leinster House in 1981 and held the 'Transport And Communications' portfolio in the short-lived Coalition administration of that year .

Sitting on the backbench once more , Paddy Cooney found time to criticise the Irish charity , 'Trocaire' , saying that much of the money donated "...went to a myraid of quasi-social and political projects .. " and added that if the Catholic Church hierarchy wanted to promote social and political revolution in the Third World (!) they should tell people what they were collecting the money for , and not for the relief of hunger . Fine Gael leader Garret Fitzgerald (on the left of the photograph : the person on the right is a female) was forced to wield a Very Big Stick for this outburst by Cooney and that stick was brought down unequivocally on Paddy Cooney's knuckles . But all was forgiven as another election ensued and Mr. Cooney was then elevated to the Defence portfolio : this was seen as a concession to the less liberal wing of Fine Gael.......
(MORE LATER).



SHOOT TO KILL .......
The unchanging face of repression .
PETER HAYES examines reactions to the latest shoot-to-kill deaths .
From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983.

If British strategists hope that an assassination campaign against Irish Republican activists specifically , will be accepted by nationalists as a 'logical outcome' of those activists' military opposition to British rule * , then they are sadly mistaken . (* ' 1169...' Comment - That 'logic' was , then [1983] , used by , amongst others , the political muppets in Leinster House and the SDLP ie - ' ...Westminster only has troops here because of the (para-)military opposition shown to them....' . Today , that nonsense is on the tip of the tongue of the new 'respectables'.)

Republican military resistance , as has been shown so often before , is too deeply a part of nationalists' rejection of the Orange State to be regarded as anything other than entirely legitmate , both politically and morally , and for the deaths of those Republican activists to be anything other than a deeply-felt tragedy . If the shoot-to-kill tactics persist , the Catholic bishops will have even fewer "...voices of moderation.. " left to talk to .
[END of 'SHOOT TO KILL' .]
(Next-'KERRY GARDA CRISIS' ; from 1985.)


PILLARS OF SOCIETY : EOGHAN HARRIS .......
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , October 1985 .

The 'cloak-and-dagger' days for the Workers Party are almost gone : although Eoghan Harris always took his role as 'Supreme Guru' very seriously , his elitist and bullying ways made him many enemies within the Workers Party .

Gone now are the days when a half-hour pep-talk from Harris in a smoke-filled back room would swing the party behind his latest point of view - his theories , too , have been somewhat discredited . The Telesis Report and the performance of multinationals inside the Irish economy in recent years have made his booklet 'The Irish Industrial Revolution' a tract which 'the comrades' would rather forget . Many members of the Workers Party also baulk at Eoghan Harris's complete commitment to the 'Two Nations' theory . Personally , poor Eoghan now has to contend with the twin debilities of being middle-aged and middle-rich !

Despite his favoured proletarian stance , Eoghan Harris and his wife must now enjoy a joint income of around £50,000 per year and the 'strain' of it is beginning to tell : the family is about to move house from an inner-city-but-chic residence off Dublin's South Circular Road to the blatantly burgeois comfort of Monkstown , overlooking Dublin Bay.......
(MORE LATER).



An tAthair Eoghan Ó Gramhnaigh (Father Eoghan O'Growney).

We wrote an article on Father Eoghan on this blog and have recently been contacted by a kind reader , Donncha , from Beal Feirste (Belfast) , who complimented our blog (*BLUSH!*) and wrote - " Could I request that you highlight in some way the fact that the homestead of this great man from county Meath is lying derelict. I think it is a shame that some memorial has not long ago been erected at this sacred spot. I know that there is a fine statue of him at the Church in Athboy but I think that something special should be erected at the place of his birth. I wrote to the Meath Co. Council but to date I have not received an acknowledgement of any sort. Keep up the good work."

It is a travesty , Donncha , that those who currently have the authority to authorise memorials to the the men and women that sacrificed so much , so often , in an attempt to build a better future for unknown generations would , instead , rather use taxpayers money on so-called 'modern street furniture' : an injustice to those of us who are proud of our history . We can at least console ourselves by believing that things will not always be so .

Thank You again , Donncha , a Chara ; your message was a joy to receive , considering the amount of anti-Republican/anti-Irish comments we get each week .
Slan go foill anois . Sharon .

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GREAT TO BE BACK !

....but hard to get going again ! We enjoyed our break in Tramore , County Waterford - too much of this , perhaps (it was , on a 'guessitmate' , between 27 and 30 degrees on most days!) , just the right amount of this and , as always , not enough of this !
This blog will be updated every Monday , Wednesday and Friday : if you have any comments please keep them to yourself . Or leave them in our 'Guestbook' !

Thank You . Sharon .


PADDY COONEY'S ARMY .......
Not since the earliest days of the State has the role of the Irish Army (sic) been under such intense scrutiny . And not since the war years has it had such a forceful political master as Patrick Mark Cooney .
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , 3 February 1984 .

In the late 1970's , Paddy Cooney busied himself not making deals with Gallagher and Coyle in relation to the Herrema kidnapping and criticised both the Provisional IRA and the Official IRA as "... the two sources of subversion in Ireland * springing from a debased nationalism and a Sino-Hibernian version of the Communist Manifesto. " (* '1169...' Comment : typical freestate mindset - no mention of the British presence as a "source of subversion" on this isle .)

This was one of the first indications that the 'Red Scare' was on the way . Then , in 1976 , the British Ambassador to this State , Christopher Ewart-Biggs , was assassinated , the Fine Gael and Labour State Administration declared an Emergency and rushed through seven-day detention . Surprise , surprise , allegations of brutality against plain clothes members of the Gardai began to pop up everywhere ; newspaper reports appeared which alleged that there was in existence within the Gardai a 'Heavy Gang' , whose main function was to force self-inflicting statements from those held in custody . Calls for an Independent Complaints Tribunal were met with the usual enthusiasm .

Paddy Cooney said that those who called for adequate legal counsel and medical attention for suspects held in custody should also demand access to hairdressers , dentists and opticians if they were to be consistent . ('1169...' Comment - an arrogant , sneering and 'elitist' response from a career politician - this time a Fine Gael one - directed at those that Cooney and his type most probably view as 'worthless' . On this occasion , however , Cooney let his guard down and spoke his mind - and he was , then , commenting on "suspects" , not those actually convicted of an offence.)

In any event , 22 charges of Garda brutality were referred to the State Director of Public Prosecutions ; eight Gardai were charged , but the charges were all dismissed in court . 'Internal disciplinary action' was taken in four cases . Somewhere in there , the Sallins train was robbed and the fall-out from that one is still around.......
(MORE LATER).



SHOOT TO KILL .......
The unchanging face of repression .
PETER HAYES examines reactions to the latest shoot-to-kill deaths .
From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983.

The British Government correctly believes that the main body of Northern Nationalist opinion is now , in the wake of the hunger-strikes and as seen partly in the Stormont Assembly elections , so totally alienated and polarised from British 'solutions' that it cannot be further polarised nor can it be wooed by velvet glove * tactics . (* ' 1169...' Comment : .....so Westminster commenced their tried and trusted 'Plan B' scenario : 'woo' the in-coming new leadership of the 'trouble-makers/dissidents/terrorist community' ie Adams and Company and use those that have been so 'wooed' to convince their followers that a 'respectable' way forward is possible . Then finance that new leadership and relax , then remove , restrictions on them . And in Adams , McGuinness , Kelly and others , they found willing 'wooables' .)

In those circumstances the British Government believes that its present tactical interests are served by satisfying increasingly outrageous loyalist demands for 'greater security' - which means further repression of nationalists - and for more drastic methods , and by attempting to sicken and terrify nationalists with a revamped 'tough image' RUC . Westminster also no doubt hopes , foolishly , to inflict a psychological wound among Irish republican activists by creating the impression that , given an opportunity , they will be shot on sight , in an attempt to intimidate them . Yet their own analysis should perhaps best teach them of the shortcomings of such a strategy against a nationalist people that has grown up in the face of such repressive terror tactics and has been hardned and steeled by them .

The killings in Lurgan and Armagh of Irish Republican activists had emotional repercussions right across the usual spectrum of nationalist opinion in those towns , and elsewhere in the North-East of Ireland , arousing an anger that the transparently futile calls for more Widgery-like whitewash enquiries did nothing to allay.......
(MORE LATER).



PILLARS OF SOCIETY : EOGHAN HARRIS .......
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , October 1985 .

In 1980 , Eoghan Harris tried to mobilise RTE producers against the mooted appointment of John Kelleher to Muiris Mac Conghail's slot as Controller of Programmes ; since then , however , Harris's star has waned inside the trade union as members have recoiled from the manipulative methods of Workers Party activists who wield a disproportionate influence inside the RTE complex .

Eoghan Harris can look back on 20 years in which he has pioneered a new intellectual and political framework for the force of ' moderninism' (or pro-imperialism , depending on your point of view) inside RTE and the Workers Party . But the Workers Party has moved away , politically if not militarily , from its obsessive secrecy - party members now seek open identification as the Workers Party now makes its bid to displace the Labour Party electorally . The methods of Harris were more geared to the infiltration of organisations : the unions , RTE , the Union of Students in Ireland and even the IDA .

Harris is an unusual phenomenon on the Irish political scene : he is an intellectual who is not an academic and a politician who does not seek public office : he is interested in political power but it is a power without responsibility or at least accountability .......
(MORE LATER).

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The present 'thug tactics' of the Israelis brings to mind similar atrocities 'visited' on a now extinct people , the Tainos , by Spaniards .

In 1492 , Columbus landed on an island which he and other invaders named 'Hispaniola' (now known as the Dominican Republic) . The natives , known as the Tainos , produced pottery and other ornaments using a local resource - gold . Columbus , being the first-class plunderer and pirate that he was , immediately recognised the gold for what it was and knew its value ; the native Tainos were , to their eventual detriment , a peaceful people who loved and respected the land which sustained all 600,000 of them . The Spaniards not only took whatever supplies of gold the Tainos themselves had stored , but put every native man , woman and child to work as slave labour to mine for more gold for them .

Due to their peaceful nature , the Tainos refused to fight back against their oppressor but were equally determined to end their oppression - mass suicide ensued . In the sixteen years (ie 1492-1508) after the arrival of Columbus and his thieves , 540,000 of the Tainos killed themselves by drinking the poisonous juice of the yellow yucca plant , or by hanging themselves after they had killed their own children and aborted their wives babies . Within the following nine years (ie 1508-1517) forty-nine thousand of the sixty-thousand Tainos that were still alive had killed themselves , leaving 11,000 natives on the isle , who were 'ruled over' by a 700-strong force of Spaniards .

In December 1518 , an epidemic of smallpox hit the remaining Tainos - the disease was rampant for two months until it had ran its course , leaving 8,000 natives dead . By this stage (ie early 1519 : twenty-seven years after slave-labour gold mining first began) the remaining gold was judged by the Spaniards to be not worth their time , so they left the 'surviving' natives to do as they pleased - 'all' 3,000 of them .

By 1550 - as other plunderers and pirates were beginning the plantation of Laois and Offaly on this isle - the Tainos were wiped out completely .

The so-called 'ruling elite' of the Spaniards , the Americans , the Israelis and the British , to name but a few , have consistently taught us , the 'ordinary' people , one thing , throughout history : that your way of life , your value system , your morals , are worth fighting for . The Tainos would have been described in their day , by their oppressor and their oppressor's business interests/'friends' , as " ignorant savages" : had they physically fought back they would have been labelled as "terrorists/dissidents" .

This blog , a voice in the wilderness as it may very well be , comes down firmly on the side of "ignorant savages" and "terrorists/dissidents" like the Tainos , wherever they are in this world . With no apology .

John , Sharon , 'Junior' : the '1169...' Crew .
Back on Monday , 31 July 2006 .

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The ' 1169...' crew are back in Dublin - physically , at least , if not mentally !

The weather still feels 'holiday-ish' , deadlines remain something we left behind us in early July , but ....... in the most definite yard-stick that 'normality' is closing-in fast : the spending money has been spent !

As a 'holding-post' until such time as we properly re-organise ourselves , we re-publish a 'Letter to the Editor' of 'The Freemans Journal' newspaper , dated July 9 , 1806 , from a person who signed themselves 'Nemo' . This letter was penned three short years after Robert Emmet's insurrection had failed and gives a flavour of what 'Nemo' sensed was to come .......


' Pray Mr Freeman , are you not misinformed with regard to the Fete Champetre , which her Grace the Duchess has proposed to give in the Phoenix Park , ten or twelve days hence ?
700 NOBILITY AND GENTRY ! Ah! Be easy , Mr. Editor , you are joking , sure , clever as you suppose yourself , you will not go it that way on us . Seven hundred nobility and gentry - 700 fiddle-sticks . Why man , you might as well tell us that 700 of Napoleon's legion of Honor , with their Ladies , were to breakfast with our Viceroy , as to satyrise the IRISH Nobility and Gentry , by supposing that 700 of them could be collected in dirty Dublin , while London , with all its glories expanded to their view .

Do you think , Sir , they are so destitute of taste , so Gothic in their preferences , so Antideluvian in their habits , so vulgarly Irish in their feelings , as to show partiality to the country which contains nothing belonging to them but their DIRTY ACRES ?
Yours ,
Nemo . '

It comes as no surprise to some of us that they had their 'Yes men' then , and their 'Nemo's ' as well !
Back soon .......

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Updated each Monday , Wednesday and Friday . The '1169...' crew will be heading off on our annual holiday today , July 14th , for about two weeks . 'Junior' considers himself "too old" to accompany old fogies like us but , if he finds time for the computer at all , it will be on 'Bebo/My Space' or the like . So whatever chance there is of him minding the house , there is absolutely no chance of him 'minding' the blog ! We should be back in late July , or possibly sooner - depends on the funds!


PADDY COONEY'S ARMY .......
Not since the earliest days of the State has the role of the Irish Army (sic) been under such intense scrutiny . And not since the war years has it had such a forceful political master as Patrick Mark Cooney .
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , 3 February 1984 .

Whilst Paddy Cooney was away representing the Dublin Administration at the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the wonderful State of Turkey , three of the enfants terribles helicoptered their way out of Mountjoy Prison in Dublin : this set a trend , and British agent Kenneth Littlejohn was the next to leave , followed by 19 more from Portlaoise Jail . Was it any surprise that a 'soft blanket' of paranoia seemed to settle over the State Coalition Administration ?

Organisations like Prisoners Dependents groups and Civil Rights organisations were accused of being fronts for the Provisional IRA : a hunger-strike in Mountjoy Jail 'merited' Free State troops being sent in . In 1975 , the Criminal Law (Jurisdiction) Bill was introduced and Paddy Cooney described as "...a fluke in our extradition laws.." the exemption from extradition for political offences : it should be noted that in 1977 , when Mr. Cooney failed to get re-elected , he described this as "...an electoral fluke.. " !

In the late 1970's , Paddy Cooney met members of the UDA in what he described as "...in a casual way.." and talked to British 'Northern Ireland' (sic) Secretary Merlyn Rees about the deployment of SAS units in South Armagh.......
(MORE LATER).


SHOOT TO KILL .......
The unchanging face of repression .
PETER HAYES examines reactions to the latest shoot-to-kill deaths .
From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983.

It needs to be said at this stage , although it is a commonplace for Northern Nationalists , that the British shoot-to-kill tactic is nothing new in the arsenal of British repression in the Six Counties , and that - although it has been an on-going tactic at one level or another throughout the whole course of the present resistance in the North of Ireland - it is , like sectarian assassination campaigns run by British forces and their paramilitary puppets in Ireland , a 'tap' that can be turned on and off to suit British and loyalist needs in particular political situations .

Bloody Sunday in 1972 , when British strategists tried unsuccessfully to 'draw out' the IRA and teach civil rights protestors a sharp and brutal lesson in the process , provides one major illustration of this . Nothing fundamentally has changed since this , except perhaps that the British are generally prepared to let loyalist killer gangs carry out random attacks on Catholic civilians , while themselves preferring to engage in specific political assassinations against Irish Republican activists .

Even so , it has generally been the role of the SAS - as seen particularly in the South Armagh area during 1975 and 1976 when they assassinated IRA Volunteers John Green and Peter Cleary and , mistakenly for a Republican , Seamus Ludlow - to carry out covert killings with few or no questions asked , rather than regular British soldiers or the RUC : what has altered then is the political circumstances.......
(MORE LATER).


PILLARS OF SOCIETY : EOGHAN HARRIS .......
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , October 1985 .

The Workers Party embraced Eoghan Harris and his 'marxist' policies , hungry as they were for political 'clothes' that would mark them off from the Provos and the Communist Party of Ireland and which would also enable them to replace a jaded (State) Labour Party in the future . Such feverish activity with great matters of State were beginning to cause problems in RTE : Harris was often away 'ill' or , more recently , on sabbatical leave . Last year (1984) an enraged senior executive attempted to remove Eoghan Harris from the payroll because he was not working on any project . Other less flamboyant programmers resent a man they see as a talented yet dilettante producer who can wander in and out of the station as he pleases !

Harris is currently working as a producer on the 'Mailbag' television programme , which hardly exercises his mind to the full...

Something that has not damaged Harris within RTE , however , has been his close relationship with Muiris Mac Conghail , now Controller of RTE 1 television and aspirant RTE Director General ; Harris and other Workers Party members moved a motion at the FWUI station-branch backing Mac Conghail in his tussle with RTE Authority Chairman Fred O 'Donovan earlier this year , but the move backfired when other producers objected to the Director General race being turned into a political football.......
(MORE LATER).


Holidays tomorrow , Saturday 15th July : we will be back in '1169 Towers' towards the end of July . However , having said that , I am reminded of an Oscar Wilde quote : " There is a fatality about all good resolutions . They are invariably made too soon . " Slan go foill anois , and remember : Ni Seoinini sinn go leir ! Sharon and crew .

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Updated each Monday , Wednesday and Friday . The '1169...' crew will be heading off on our annual holiday this Friday , July 14th , for about two weeks . 'Junior' considers himself "too old" to accompany old fogies like us but , if he finds time for the computer at all , it will be on 'Bebo/My Space' or the like . So whatever chance there is of him minding the house , there is absolutely no chance of him 'minding' the blog ! We should be back in late July , or possibly sooner - depends on the funds!

PADDY COONEY'S ARMY .......
Not since the earliest days of the State has the role of the Irish Army (sic) been under such intense scrutiny . And not since the war years has it had such a forceful political master as Patrick Mark Cooney .
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , 3 February 1984 .

It was as Fine Gael spokesman on Justice that Paddy Cooney uttered those immortal words that few now will credit as having emanated from the mouth of the man - speaking on the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Bill , which allowed for a statement of belief by a Garda Chief Superintendent that a person was a member of an 'illegal organisation' to be adduced in 'evidence' , Cooney said -

" .....how can he (the State Minister for Justice) come into this Parliament (ie Leinster House) and ask it to support a Bill the like of which can only be found on the statute books of South Africa ? There is a limit to the measures a democracy is entitled to adopt in order to protect itself , and that limit is exceeded in this bill . It is repugnant to the basic principles of justice and liberty . " In one short speech , Paddy Cooney had become 'the Great White Liberal Hope of the Seventies' !

Less than three months later Paddy Cooney was appointed (FS) Minister for Justice by the incoming Fine Gael/Labour coalition administration , largely as a concession to the 'liberal wing' of the party ! Only then did the people discover the real Paddy Cooney.......
(MORE LATER).


SHOOT TO KILL .......
The unchanging face of repression .
PETER HAYES examines reactions to the latest shoot-to-kill deaths .
From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983.

The text of the press communique issued by the Catholic bishops after their two-day conference read as follows - ".....it became clear that far more attention should be paid to voices of moderation in all sections of the Northern Ireland (sic) community . " This was clear in its call for acceptance of the status quo in the North of Ireland , including the RUC and their shoot-to-kill tactics , and was absolute in its rejection of those who daily experience that status quo , and that 'moderation' , and all the poverty , repression and death it entails .

The reaction of loyalists has been as predictable as that of the SDLP and the Catholic hierarchy , the shoot-to-kill policy answering the demands they have continually made for SAS-style assassination campaigns . Orange Order leader Thomas Passmore said -

" I call upon the (British) Secretary of State to remove the political shackles from our security forces . It is now high time for a review of the whole 'yellow card' procedure... " , while DUP leader Ian Paisley called for shoot-to-kill actions to be " ....repeated across the province. " But whether Paisley or other anti-Republicans spoke in favour of it or not , the Westminster shoot-to-kill policy was nothing new to Northern nationalists.......
(MORE LATER).


PILLARS OF SOCIETY : EOGHAN HARRIS .......
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , October 1985 .

In late 1972 , Eoghan Harris wrote an unsigned article in the 'United Irishman' newspaper entitled - " What Is Imperialism? " , one of the most lucid expositions ever penned of the classic anti-imperialist position in Ireland . Two years later he wrote a document , ' From Civil Rights To Class Politics' , which argued that the Sunningdale Agreement had solved the civil-rights question * and that it was now time to polarise Irish workers against Irish capitalism . ( * '1169...' Comment - as far as Irish republicans are concerned , the "question" regarding British jurisdiction over any part of this isle has nothing to do with "civil rights" . It is not , as Republican Sinn Fein has repeatedly stated , a case of saying to Westminster 'stay if you want , just treat us better...' . However - those that fumble in the greasy till , for Sterling or Euro , would accept a so-called "civil rights" 'solution' . Irish republicans , on the other hand , are aware that such a 'solution' would simply postpone the conflict and curse future generations into dealing with this same issue .)

In 1977 , Eoghan Harris co-authored 'The Irish Industrial Revolution' in which he argued that Irish under-development was the result , not of British suppression , but of the unwillingness of Irish capitalists to industrialise . The more orthodox marxists of the Communist Party of Ireland tore this thesis to shreds in a pamphlet issued in reply , but it remained the theoretical guideline of the Workers Party until recently . The result of this approach is to identify virtually all things ethnic as 'reactionary' and 'obscurantist' : thus , Harris would see Irish republican ideology , the Catholic Church and rural "backwardness" as the three pillars of reaction in Ireland today .

In this scenario , foreign multinational company's are the agency of industrialisation and therefore , ultimately , the creators of a strong industrial working class . That such an ideology should pass itself off as 'marxist' is a reflection on the dearth of a marxist tradition in Ireland rather than a tribute to Eoghan Harris as a 'socialist theoretician' - but the Workers Party loved it .......
(MORE LATER).

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Updated each Monday , Wednesday and Friday .
The '1169...' crew will be heading off on our annual holiday this Friday , July 14th , for about two weeks . 'Junior' considers himself "too old" to accompany old fogies like us but , if he finds time for the computer at all , it will be on 'Bebo/My Space' or the like . So whatever chance there is of him minding the house , there is absolutely no chance of him 'minding' the blog ! We should be back in late July , or possibly sooner - depends on the funds!


PADDY COONEY'S ARMY .......
Not since the earliest days of the State has the role of the Irish Army (sic) been under such intense scrutiny . And not since the war years has it had such a forceful political master as Patrick Mark Cooney .
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , 3 February 1984 .

Paddy Cooney is the first (Free State) Minister for Defence to be appointed who had previously held the 'Justice' slot in Leinster House , which explains why he finds himself more interested in local 'subversives' than foreign enemies .

Whilst soliciting in Athlone , County Westmeath , Generalissimo Patrick Cooney first threw his political hat into the ring by campaigning for his relation General Sean MacEoin in the State Presidential election of 1959 : at 28 years of age he was still a bright young thing , and in the following years ran no less than three times for election to Leinster House in the constituency of Longford-Westmeath .

On one count , he tied with former Provisional Sinn Fein President Ruairi O' Bradaigh , which may or may not go some way towards explaining why he said last December that he could not look at a member of Provisional Sinn Fein "...without a sense of loathing ." However , fourth-time lucky ; and in a by-election of 1970 , Paddy Cooney finally gained his reward for persistence .

Exactly one year later , Paddy Cooney became Fine Gael spokesman on Justice , a subject with which he has been politically connected ever since.......
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SHOOT TO KILL .......
The unchanging face of repression .
PETER HAYES examines reactions to the latest shoot-to-kill deaths .
From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983.

In early January 1983 , the Catholic hierarchy signalled its political support for the RUC and its total lack of real sympathy even for the relatives of the RUC's victims : arriving in the North of Ireland on January 4th , 1983 , for a two-day visit for talks by leading members of the Catholic hierarchy in England with their Irish counterparts , Bishop James O' Brien from Hertfordshire said that he was satisfied with British government denials that a shoot-to-kill policy existed - " I accept the sincerity of the British government , " he said .

The following evening , when relatives of the six Armagh shoot-to-kill victims gathered outside Aras Coeli , Cardinal O Fiaich's residence in Armagh where the bishops were meeting , to talk to Bishop O' Brien about the uninformed stupidity of his utterances , he callously refused to see them , while Cardinal O Fiaich's secretary , Fr. James Clyne , told the relatives they were trespassing on private property and that the RUC would be called to move them if they did not leave !

Having refused to listen at first-hand to the anguished voice of relatives who knew only too well what ' the rule of law and order' meant to them , the text of the press communique issued by the Catholic Bishops after their two day conference was seen by 'their flock' to be a call to 'accept your lot'.......
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PILLARS OF SOCIETY : EOGHAN HARRIS .......
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , October 1985 .

In late 1972 , Official Sinn Fein was at a crossroads : attempts to differentiate itself from the Provos meant that it had to forge a socialist ideology while still competing for republican support that was rapidly shifting towards the Provos .

Seamus Costello wanted to adopt a socialist , republican strategy backed by a military campaign : Sean Garland wanted to do likewise minus the armed struggle , as did Eoin O Murchu . Many Official Sinn Fein'ers wanted to maintain a Left alliance with the Communist Party of Ireland and the (Free State) Labour Party Left .

Eoghan Harris , however , decided it was necessary to dump Communists , Labour and republicanism and , along with Cathal Goulding , proceeded to purge the party of any taint of 'green' politics : Goulding was the organisational strategist while Harris provided the 'intellectual' muscle . The transformation of the party's politics could best be mirrored by Eoghan Harris's metamorphosis.......
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Due to a 'balls-up' with our staff (!) , this blog will publish only on Mondays , Wednesdays and Fridays .
Until.......

PADDY COONEY'S ARMY .......
Not since the earliest days of the State has the role of the Irish Army (sic) been under such intense scrutiny . And not since the war years has it had such a forceful political master as Patrick Mark Cooney .
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , 3 February 1984 .

Paddy Cooney himself stated in Leinster House in June 1983 - " Theoretically , the primary role of the (FS) Defence Forces is to defend the territory of the State against external aggression , but in practise its role consists of coming to the aid of the civil power in the apparently never ending fight against subversives and terrorism . " ('1169....' Comment - if Mr. Cooney was truly concerned about "subversives and terrorism" he would have noticed those evils being inflicted on us by Westminster and attempted to do something about that situation . Instead , he co-operated with the British to ensure that their occupation of part of this isle ran as smoothly as possible .)

Now , in the wake of Ballinamore , the State Army is to be given more powers and allowed more discretion in its back-up to the civil power .

The Defence portfolio used to be rated at the bottom of the State Cabinet barrel , but not any more : the very fact that the annual cost of maintaining the State Defence Forces is now over £220 million tells its own story , and with the increased importance of the State Army has come the higher ranking of the Defence job - Paddy Cooney is the most experienced State Minister to be put in charge of Defence since Oscar Traynor.......
(MORE LATER).


SHOOT TO KILL .......
The unchanging face of repression .
PETER HAYES examines reactions to the latest shoot-to-kill deaths .
From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983.

The Catholic hierarchy made meaningless calls for public enquiries into the British shoot-to-kill policy , but the British-established 'Northern Ireland Office' - after treating those appeals with deserved contempt - refused to heed , instead instituting internal RUC enquiries to be carried out by those that British Direct-Ruler James Prior glibly referred to as "...independent people from the police force.." !

Those 'enquiries' , meaningless as they are , have yet apparently even to reach the six-county Director of Public Prosecutions , in strong contrast to the alacrity with which the DPP in England received the report into the Metropolitan Police shooting of Stephen Waldorf in London in January 1983 , which resulted in two British detectives being charged with murder .

Dr. Francis Brooks , the Catholic Bishop of Dromore , speaking at the Requiem Mass for Michael Tighe on November 27th 1982 , demonstrated to what extent the Catholic hierarchy has deliberately cut itself adrift from the sentiments and fears of the bulk of the nationalist population , and has rendered itself logically and morally incapable of unequivocally condemning the deliberate shoot-to-kill tactics employed by the RUC . Dr. Brooks stated -

" The police have a most difficult and dangerous responsibility placed on them , restoring law and order in the province . An impartial enquiry , irrespective of its findings , would strengthen the credibility of the police and foster confidence among all fair-minded people . " ('1169...' Comment - as usual throughout our history , the Catholic hierarchy , ever-mindful of its 'position' within 'society' , will stoop to any level to preserve its links with those it perceives to be the 'ruling class' , regardless of the rights and wrongs of the issue at hand . They 'turn the other cheek' , providing said cheek belongs to someone else ).
(MORE LATER).


PILLARS OF SOCIETY : EOGHAN HARRIS .......
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , October 1985 .

It was in the 'Feach' team that Eoghan Harris had his first of several celebrated encounters with the equally egotistical Proinsias MacAonghusa - the 'Feach' presenter took umbrage at an unsigned article by Eoghan Harris in an unofficial producers' bulletin which claimed that Proinsias MacAonghusa was angling for promotion to Head of Radio na Gaeltachta : at MacAonghusa's insistence , Harris was removed from 'Feach' , fanning a feud that has continued ever since .

During the 1970's , Eoghan Harris displayed a diabolical talent for embroiling himself in controversy within the Borgia-like court at RTE , Montrose , while managing to survive unscathed himself . During a stint with the 'Seven Days' programme Eoghan Harris came to the angry attention of Conor Cruise O' Brien for his editing of a programme on Northern internees which had Cruise O' Brien openly fulminating about 'subversives in RTE' at the 1974 Labour Party conference .

But the scripting of 'The Greening of America', an award-winning programme on U.S.-Irish immigrants , later marked the climax of Harris's career as a TV producer . More and more he diverted his moody energies after that towards shaping the political direction of the Workers Party , or Official Sinn Fein as it was then known.......
(MORE LATER).

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Due to a 'balls-up' with our staff (!) , this blog will publish only on Mondays , Wednesdays and Fridays .
Until.......


PADDY COONEY'S ARMY .......
Not since the earliest days of the State has the role of the Irish Army (sic) been under such intense scrutiny . And not since the war years has it had such a forceful political master as Patrick Mark Cooney .
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , 3 February 1984 .

(Free State) Brig. Gen. Gerry O' Sullivan is Paddy Cooney's choice to head up the State Army at what Cooney believed was 'a time of change' : and that 'change' basically means a greater internal role for the State Army in law enforcement in this country (sic) - the young colonels cannot be displeased .

Few people realise the extent to which the State Army has become involved in semi-policing work over the past decade : in 1982 for instance -
* Over 21,000 military parties were supplied in Border areas for check-point duties and over 17,000 joint Garda/State Army checkpoints were set up .
* More than 11,000 patrols were sent out into the road network along the Border .
* Escorts for explosives and blasting operations were provided on over 1,200 occasions .
* About 150 requests for bomb disposal teams were handled.......
(MORE LATER).


SHOOT TO KILL .......
The unchanging face of repression .
PETER HAYES examines reactions to the latest shoot-to-kill deaths .
From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983.

John Hume's own craven belief in the 'right' of the RUC and the British Army to repress nationalists as long as it is done within the 'extraordinary' legal framework of the Orange State , was well expressed early in December 1982 -

" No-one objects to any person being arrested for any crime for which they are suspected , charged and brought before the courts . This is the due process of law . But to authorise their instant execution or attempted execution , as has now happened on five separate occasions in recent times , is in effect to abandon the rule of law completely . "

The Catholic hierarchy also made meaningless calls for public enquiries but even these 'words of concern' were ignored by the British , who set about to white-wash the shoot-to-kill policy.......
(MORE LATER).



PILLARS OF SOCIETY : EOGHAN HARRIS .......
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , October 1985 .

Politically , Anne O' Sullivan (Harris) is formed in the image of her husband , Eoghan : her public praise of the Official IRA bombers at Aldershot , who killed five cleaning women and a priest at Aldershot Britsh Army Barracks in 1972 , is unlikely to have caused a row in the Harris household , and , today , Anne's sexual crusade against the Catholic clergy , coupled with her execration of things republican or rural , mirrors the route her husband has followed since the 1960's .

Ironically , given his now rabid anti-republicanism , Eoghan Harris first attracted attention as a talented young producer in RTE with a series of religious discussion programmes , but it was with 'Feach' , where he collaborated with Brendan O hEithir , that he made his best programmes .

A competent programme-maker as well as a good publicist - he stage-managed a walk-out by Official Sinn Fein leader Tomas MacGiolla , from one programme , - Eoghan Harris and Brendan O hEithir brought Irish cultural affairs to the nation's attention in a relevant and lively manner that has not often been repeated since.......
(MORE LATER).

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Due to a 'balls-up' with our staff (!) , this blog will publish only on Mondays , Wednesdays and Fridays .
Until.......


PADDY COONEY'S ARMY .
Not since the earliest days of the State has the role of the Irish Army (sic) been under such intense scrutiny . And not since the war years has it had such a forceful political master as Patrick Mark Cooney .
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , 3 February 1984 .

The present (Free State) Minister for Defence , Paddy Cooney , has very positive views about Irish neutrality and there is a powerful lobby in the (State) Army now working for full Irish (ie in this case , 26 County) participation in NATO . But it is Mr. Cooney's obsession with 'subversives' at home - and how his army is going to deal with them - that warrants a close eye being kept on the activities of Generalissimo Patrick Mark Cooney .

The past year was a seminal one for the Irish (sic) Army for more reasons than one ; it was the first time a (FS) soldier was killed on active service in the State , it was the first time that a group of very senior retired officers publicly opposed any conduct of the State Army - in this case their participation in the British Legion commemoration on Poppy Day . And it was the first time that (State) soldiers on point duty shot at civilians on the public road .

The incoming (FS) Chief of Staff , Brig. Gen. Gerry O' Sullivan , is taking up his responsibility at a particularly sensitive time for the State defence forces .......
(MORE LATER).



SHOOT TO KILL .......
The unchanging face of repression .
PETER HAYES examines reactions to the latest shoot-to-kill deaths .
From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983.

In Donagh , County Fermanagh , Kieran Leonard , a Sinn Fein election worker , was shot and wounded on December 29th , 1982 , near his home , by an undercover British Army unit , and later charged with possession of explosives which were found several hundred yards away .

On February 2nd , 1983 , unarmed INLA Volunteer Neil McMonagle was shot dead , and a friend , Liam Duffy , wounded , by an undercover British soldier in Derry's Shantallow housing estate . In none of the cases mentioned above was there any evidence that the dead or wounded men had been armed or that they had been engaged in acts of republican resistance .

The response to these cold-blooded killings from the constitutional 'leaders' of the nationalist community has been predictable in its bleating ineffectiveness : despite Sinn Fein declaring that the time for calling for 'independent' public enquiries was over , and that they had achieved nothing in earlier cases of legalised murder by the British State : the SDLP's only contribution - expressed by party deputy leader Seamus Mallon - was to call for an "independent enquiry " .......
(MORE LATER).



PILLARS OF SOCIETY : EOGHAN HARRIS .......
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , October 1985 .

After a brief flirtation with the right-wing ' Poblacht Chriostuil' ('The Christian Republic') group , Eoghan Harris' 'republicanism' manifested itself in more extrovert ways ; contemporaries recall his habit of strutting around in trenchcoat and black beret and even sporting a green coat , white shirt and gold tie , on one particular Easter week !

Others remember him from the FCA ('An Fórsa Cosanta Áitiuíl') , in which he became a fanatical corporal , forcing his troops on long marches through the night to attain FCA awards for endurance and discipline . More significantly , Eoghan O hEarchu , as he then styled himself , struck up an enduring friendship with historian Professor John A Murphy , and the pupil soon became an intimate of the master : Murphy's pre-eminent role as the sharpest of the revisionist school of Irish historians owes much to his late-night dialectic discourses with Eoghan Harris .

Eoghan Harris met his future wife , Anne O' Sullivan , then a member of the Wolfe Tone Society , at UCC , and she has since emerged from his shadow to become editor of 'Image' magazine and , more recently , an assistant editor of the Sunday Independent 'newspaper'.......
(MORE LATER).

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Until .......


THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT : INSIDE THE NORTHERN IRELAND (sic) PEACE TALKS (sic).......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , November 1997 .
By Fionnuala O' Connor .

No-one is more aware than David Trimble himself of how little personal loyality he commands among his parliamentary party , how unreconciled senior colleagues still are to his elevation by the despised rank and file of the 600-strong UUP Council .

In an informal setting , Trimble was once asked why did'nt he tell Orangemen that they must realise the damage done by their yearly equation of unionism with the 'right' to march past angry Catholics ; " And if I did , " said Trimble , " would you find me another party to lead ? "

One veteran talks observer sounds an optimistic though disillusioned note - " He does everything arse about face . It takes forever , he creates obstacles so he can claim concessions , and who knows what that does to his community . But bit by bit with a lot of pressure he's moved in the right direction . And he's still in there . "
[END of 'THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT : INSIDE THE NORTHERN IRELAND (sic) PEACE TALKS (sic).]
(Next - 'PADDY COONEY'S ARMY' : from 1984.)

SHOOT TO KILL .......
The unchanging face of repression .
PETER HAYES examines reactions to the latest shoot-to-kill deaths .
From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983.

On December 12th , 1982 , at the Mullaghcreevie Estate in Armagh City , two INLA Volunteers , Roddy Carroll and Seamus Grew , were gunned down in an RUC ambush that bore all the hallmarks of earlier shoot-to-kill operations and , again , the RUC claimed that the car in which Carroll and Grew were in had burst through a road checkpoint before they opened fire . All the evidence would later confirm that there were no checkpoints at any of the incidents , only RUC men lying in wait . The INLA Volunteers were not armed .

In Roddy Carroll's case , he had only recently been released - to the RUC's considerable annoyance - after an informer retracted 'evidence' he had initially agreed to give against him .

Since those six Armagh slayings in the space of one month , there has been further incontrovertible proof of a shoot-to-kill policy operating right across the Six Counties , aimed specifically at known republican activists but affecting also other members of the nationalist community found in what the RUC or British Army regard as suitably compromising situations : two men engaged in petty theft have been shot dead in Belfast - Patrick Elliott on December 27th , 1982 , by soldiers of the British Army 'Black Watch' regiment as he ran unarmed from an Andersonstown chip shop he had just robbed .

Francis McColgan , January 19th , 1983 , was shot dead after a car chase by the RUC , following a petrol station robbery by McColgan and two friends using an imitation pistol.......
(MORE LATER).


PILLARS OF SOCIETY : EOGHAN HARRIS .
From 'The Phoenix' magazine , October 1985 .

Not the least surprise of the recent Theatre Festival was the emergence into public view of the author of 'Souper Sullivan', one Eoghan Harris , who is better known as a TV producer and less known as a political activist . Harris is so given to secrecy that few people outside the media know of his deep influence within the Workers Party - in fact , more than anyone else , Eoghan Harris has been responsible for the transformation of the Workers Party philosophy from socialist republicanism to a bizarre blend of stalinist unionism .

But strangely , now that the Workers Party is breaking through into electoral politics , it is also shaking itself free from its hard-line mentors . There are new stars rising in the WP , more pliable , more compromising , and more intent on getting their bums onto seats in Leinster House . All of which leaves the moody Eoghan Harris somewhat isolated , somewhat bitter , and with time on his hands to write boring plays .

The son of a well-to-do Cork shop-keeper , Harris was originally an ardent republican ; those who remember him in University College Cork say his early republican persona was almost stage Irish.......
(MORE LATER).

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Due to a 'balls-up' with our staff (!) , this blog will publish only on Mondays , Wednesdays and Fridays .
Until.......

THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT : INSIDE THE NORTHERN IRELAND (sic) PEACE TALKS (sic).......
From 'MAGILL' magazine , November 1997 .
By Fionnuala O' Connor .

DUP presence in talks , which has begun to seem possible since the recent warm exchange between Ian Paisley and Mo Mowlam , would nonetheless further un-nerve the clearly jittery UUP. The occasional proposition by a few London editorial writers that David Trimble is biding his time , edging his 'troops' forward , meets with derision among talks' participants and a unanimous shaking of heads - however , few predict a Trimble walkout : one delegate put it , gloomily , - " If the Paisley menace revives though , and he stops the thing in its tracks further down the line by starting on again about decommissioning , that would be no surprise . "

Whatever Gerry Adams and the (P) Sinn Fein leadership face in the future , it is the Unionist dilemma which grabs attention now - unionist posturing , mirrored perfectly for one watcher in David Trimble's jerky body language , invites mockery but offers the slightest of hopes - " He can't sit down and the others seem nearly as restless . Perhaps that represents the mood in their community at the moment . Who knows where it might lead ? On good days I think there might be a speeded-up versioin of the shift that brought republicans this far . "

Inside the talks some sympathise with David Trimble's predicament : only a remarkable leader could present the likely outcome of negotiations for unionists as anything other than defeat . Trimble could in theory of course say , as a scornful former colleague puts it - "...this is a process I neither like nor trust , the Shinners are a devious bunch , but I'm staying because my people will go unrepresented if I don't , and I'll argue as hard as I can for a settlement that underwrites the British dimension of Northern Ireland (sic) , no matter what happens to unionist numerical superiority . " That David Trimble who owes his election as leader to his performance at Drumcree 1995 , however , is on past form not the man to make such a pitch.......
(MORE LATER).


SHOOT TO KILL .
The unchanging face of repression .
PETER HAYES examines reactions to the latest shoot-to-kill deaths .
From 'IRIS' magazine , March 1983.

At around 9.35PM on the night of Thursday , November 11th last year (1982) , 31-year-old Gervase McKerr left his home in Lurgan's Teghnaven estate accompanied by Eugene Toman and Sean Burns , both aged 21 . All three were IRA Volunteers in the North Armagh Brigade , all three were unarmed .

Less than ten minutes later they lay dead or dying on a darkened road less than half-a-mile away , Gervase's Ford Escort car riddled with more than 50 bullets in an RUC ambush . Less than two weeks later , on November 24th 1982 , not far away from the scene of the earlier killings , at a farmhouse between Lurgan and Craigavon , 17-year-old Michael Tighe was shot dead and his 20-year-old friend critically wounded in a second RUC stake-out operation . Neither were members of a republican organisation , yet the RUC claimed that a routine patrol had opened fire when the youths had pointed weapons at them . The 'weapons' the RUC produced were three 60-year-old rifles of German and Italian origin , believed to have belonged to the late husband of the elderly woman who lived at the farmhouse - he was a republican veteran of the Black and Tan war .

There was no ammunition with the rifles and considerable evidence that an RUC unit had staked out the farm for some time before the shooting : Martin McAuley , wounded in the attack , was subsequently charged in his hospital bed with 'conspiracy to murder' , in a transparent attempt to cover up the RUC's cold-blooded killing .......
(MORE LATER).



THE RIGHT TO SILENCE.......
Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act has just been renewed for another year by State Communications Minister Jim Mitchell , despite increasing protests and lobbying by the NUJ .
HELEN O'CONNOR examines the results of a recent NIHE survey of the attitudes of Dublin people on the issue and GERRY LAVERY looks back to the roots of Section 31 .
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine , February 1987 .

In a 1977 directive to RTE , Conor Cruise O' Brien spelled out exactly what organisations were to be banned from the airwaves :

' RTE is hereby directed to refrain from broadcasting any matter which is : an interview or report of an interview with a spokesman for any one or more of the following organisations , namely -
a) the organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army .
b) the organisation styling itself Sinn Fein .
c) the organisation styling itself the Ulster Defence Association .
d) the organisation styling itself the Irish National Liberation Army . '
To that list has now been added Republican Sinn Fein .

The question of electoral broadcasts was contested during the 1982 elections by Sinn Fein candidate Sean Lynch : he won his case in the State High Court , but the State appealed to the Supreme Court , where Judge O' Higgins ruled that the Minister was not acting 'ultra vires' (' outside of his jurisdiction') , by restricting Sinn Fein from taking part in electoral broadcasts , no matter how many candidates they put up .
[END of 'The Right To Silence']
(NEXT : 'Eoghan Harris - Pillars Of Society' , from 1985)

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