THE DOGS OF FIONN ...


" It was a time of trouble-executions,
Death, searches, nightly firing, balked escapes –
And I sat silent while my cellmate figured
Ruy Lopez' Gambit from the 'Praxis'. Silence
Best fitted our mood: we seldom spoke.
'I have a thought,' he said, tilting his stool.
'We prisoners are so many pieces taken,
Swept from the chessboard, only used again
When a new game is started.' 'There's that hope,'
I said, 'the hope of being used again.
Some day of strength, when ploughs are out in March,
The dogs of Fionn will slip their iron chains
And, heedless of torn wounds and failing wind,
Will run the old grey wolf to death at last'.
He smiled, 'I like your image. My fat kings,
And painted Queens, and purple-cassocked Bishops
Are tame, indeed, beside your angry dogs! "
(....taken from here.)

- Written by Joseph Campbell, interned in the Curragh, 1923-24.


Read the above , follow the links and read what they offer . Then , read this link and see if you can help.......
Go raibh máith agat , from the '1169...' Crew .

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PARTITION/WOMEN'S GHETTO/A ROUGH BEAST.


'THE QUESTION OF PARTITION' .
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

" The question of Partition is , of course , a burning political issue which can be determined only by democratic action , " states Arthur G. Bottomley, British Labour M.P. , writing in 'The Belfast Telegraph' newspaper on December 4th , 1957 .

" The ultimate decision on Partition , " he continues , " rests with the Irish people themselves , who will determine this issue by their votes in the ballot-box . " Fair enough , Mr. Bottomley . Now ask your Government why they don't allow us "...to determine this issue by (our votes in) the ballot box.." ? To satisfy his Tory-Unionist hosts no doubt , Mr. Bottomley adds this rider :

" Certainly United Kingdom public opinion would not support a policy which was for taking the initiative in urging the people of Northern Ireland (sic) to leave the United Kingdom and through this the Commonwealth of Nations ." Isn't that a contradiction , Mr. Bottomley ?
[END of 'THE QUESTION OF PARTITION']
(Next : 'The True Position In Occupied Ireland ?' - from the same source)



OUT OF THE WOMEN'S GHETTO .......

By INEZ McCORMICK.
A review of Margaret Ward's book - 'Unmanageable Revolutionaries:Women and Irish Nationalism' .
From 'FORTNIGHT' magazine , October 1983.

This book's lesson is that women's issues can easily be pushed to the sidelines , and women's rights , once won , have to be constantly protected , used and extended or they will be eroded . Let women organise anything and it will be ignored by most men . Yet , if successful , it will be taken over by them and the history of its origins rewritten .

There is nothing more calculated to drive men off in search of refreshment than a discussion of 'the women question' that does not threaten male power . Once it does , they queue up at the platform to speak on it , pledge undying support for women's rights , lecture women on how best to get them - and then cast their votes for the maintenance of male privilege and power .
[END of 'OUT OF THE WOMEN'S GHETTO']
(Next : 'A Day At The Rent Court' - from the same source)


WHAT ROUGH BEAST IS THIS , ITS HOUR COME ROUND AT LAST.......?

By JOHN WATERS.
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine, 'Election Special' , 1987.

There are a lot of good things about Charlie Haughey : there's his record as a minister in various departments over the years , for example . ('1169...' Comment : Whatever 'good things' the man done were placed in the shade by the man himself by virture of how he used those "various departments" to further his own enrichment.)

Haughey is into populism and patronage not ideology , but he never forgot that he came from the wrong side of the tracks . But also , on a personal level , on the odd occasion when he lets his guard slip , there is the faintest inkling that behind the facade there is , just possibly , something approaching a heart of gold . ('1169...' Comment : It's verbal clap-trap like this that explains why the Haughey's of this corrupt Statelet can plunder as they do - journalists , for the most part , are no threat to them.) He quite often shows signs of genuine warmth when he is with people he likes and trusts .

You could see , for example , on the election campaign trial , that he has a lot more time for Dr. John O'Connell than he has for Seamus Brennan: he has also shown himself to have some sense of objective morality in public life , as evidenced by his response to the Belgrano sinking, something which could not be said of by any means of every Irish politician at that time ('1169...' Comment : .....a classic opportunity for Haughey to play 'the Green Card' , which he duly did . However , some journalists were fooled...).......
(MORE LATER).

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APPEAL FOR FUNDS.......


Republican Sinn Fein are embarking on a development and modernisation programme for their organisation which will include advances in recruitment , publicity , upgrading of technology and improved Office accomodation .

This will cost a considerable amount of money , which RSF haven't got , necessitating this financial appeal . All subscriptions , large or small , can be sent to the treasurer of the Republican Sinn Fein Development Fund at Head Office , 223 Parnell Street , Dublin 1 , or made payable to -

Republican Sinn Fein Development Fund ,
Allied Irish Bank ,
Capel Street ,
Dublin 1.
Account Number 15411-097.

All donations will be appreciated and acknowledged.
Go raibh máith agat !
Sharon.

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LAW AND ORDER/WOMEN'S GHETTO/A ROUGH BEAST.

'LAW AND ORDER IN OCCUPIED IRELAND.......'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

For the first time ever , according to a Tory-Unionist announcement in Belfast , the Six-County group of Conservative Imperial M.P.'s in the British House of Commons, were dined and wined by British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan at Number 10 Downing Street on December 4th , 1957 .

It was described as a purely social occasion , but the Imperial M.P.'s from Occupied Ireland said later that a full discussion of Six County affairs had taken place : the reason for the dinner , Belfast Tory-Unionists said , was to give Harold MacMillan an opportunity to learn about Occupied Ireland's problems in the "...security and economic.." fields !

Present at the dinner was Mr. R. A. Butler, 'Lord Privy Seal' and British Home Secretary who is the British Cabinet member directly responsible for Occupied Ireland . 'Sir' Phelim O' Neill sent Harold MacMillan a telegram saying he could not be present as he was fog-bound on his way from the Six Counties . His plight seems to illustrate the position of the Stormont Tories in general ...
[END of 'LAW AND ORDER IN OCCUPIED IRELAND']
(Next - 'The Question Of Partition' : from the same source)



OUT OF THE WOMEN'S GHETTO .......

By INEZ McCORMICK.
A review of Margaret Ward's book - 'Unmanageable Revolutionaries:Women and Irish Nationalism' .
From 'FORTNIGHT' magazine , October 1983.

The State's 'Family Planning Act' was a male solution to a problem conceptualised in male terms which , on the evidence of this book , is the same as an 'Irish solution to an Irish problem' , in Charlie Haughey's memorable if unenlightened phrase.

Only James Connolly - here given his due as one of the very few Irish revolutionaries who recognised the centrality of women's demands - was aware that struggle can be undertaken in a spirit of pleasure , warmth and joy , and that to demonstrate these qualities is to affirm one's determination neither to accept defeat nor to accept one's enemies definition of defeat - in appropriate circumstances they are revolutionary weapons.......
(MORE LATER).



WHAT ROUGH BEAST IS THIS , ITS HOUR COME ROUND AT LAST.......?

By JOHN WATERS.
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine, 'Election Special' , 1987.

Charles Haughey may act like a despot but he is a committed democrat . ('1169...' Comment : 'Committed' to his own well-being...) He repeatedly points out that Ireland is the home of western democracy and his greatest wish is to be loved by what he terms "my people" (Link here...) . Moreover , what his critics in this respect invariably miss is the degree of irony which is inherent in his persona .

P.J. Mara's 'Uno Duce' remark , for example , was a throwaway joke which was taken out of context ('1169...' Comment - Not so . That comment was a yardstick of how far the political gombeen 'yes' men and women were prepared to go to support their 'Boss' and , in doing so , they hoped , safeguard their own sleezy careers ) . Nobody who knows P.J. Mara could possibly think otherwise . ('1169...' Comment - ...see last comment.) Charles Haughey was furious about that incident , though he undoubtedly appreciated the irony .

But Mr. Mara has not abandoned his sense of humour as a result of this 'bad experience' : at the launch of the Fianna Fail election manifesto in a Dublin hotel last week , the music which blared from the sound-system before the press conference was Beethoven's Emperor Concerto. Not one journalist mentioned this . Journalists don't much like jokes unless they are on somebody else . ('1169...' Comment : ....and some people will go out of their way to excuse arrogance as a 'joke' , especially when that arrogance comes from a person they admire.... )

(MORE LATER).

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REPORT AND PICTURES ON BODENSTOWN 2007 .


"We have come to the holiest place in Ireland: holier to us than the place where Patrick sleeps in Down. Patrick brought us life, but this man died for us. And though many before him and some since have died in testimony of the truth of Ireland's claim to nationhood, Wolfe Tone was the greatest of all that have died for Ireland whether in old time or in new. He was the greatest of Irish nationalists. I believe he was the greatest of Irish men. And if I am right in this I am right in saying that we stand in the holiest place in Ireland and that the holiest sod of a Nation's soil is the sod where the greatest of her dead lies buried."

-that is the first paragraph of the address delivered by Pádraig Pearse at Wolfe Tone's grave on June 12, 1913.

A report and photographs of the Commemoration held on Sunday June 10th 2007 can be seen here.

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LAW AND ORDER/WOMEN'S GHETTO/A ROUGH BEAST.

'LAW AND ORDER IN OCCUPIED IRELAND'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

'Sir' Norman Stronge had many words of advice for many people when he addressed a meeting of Tory-Unionists in Mullaghglass , County Armagh , recently . 'Sir' Norman , the Speaker at Stormont, congratulated Mr. de Valera for coming out on the side of what he called "...law and order.." in Occupied Ireland : he said - " I suppose that with age people get more sense. "

'Sir' Norman said that he thought that what Mr. de Valera stated could be trusted . He went on to say that all "...the rot.." which the Resistance preached could be put down to propaganda , and that industrialists were coming from Canada and the USA to build factories in Occupied Ireland , and that their friends in many parts of 'the Empire' were congratulating them for their stand on the side of Britain .

'Sir' Stronge also told the members of the Mullaghglass Unionist Association that they owed more to the Tory Party in England than anybody knew ; he said a good many of the Labour Party were unfriendly to them and the Liberal Party was for Home Rule.......
(MORE LATER).



OUT OF THE WOMEN'S GHETTO .......

By INEZ McCORMICK.
A review of Margaret Ward's book - 'Unmanageable Revolutionaries:Women and Irish Nationalism' .
From 'FORTNIGHT' magazine , October 1983.

Hannah Sheehy Skeffington pointed out that the position women were forced to adopt in the Gaelic revival and Sinn Fein was a restricting one , re-inforcing their roles as 'mother and housewife' .

She advised women to "...refuse any longer to be camp followers and parasites of public life , dependent upon caprice and expediency.." : the pity is that her advice was ignored , and Irishwomen are still suffering the consequences . The 1935 Conditions of Employment Act, presented by the late 'progressive' Sean Lemass, and supported by the male Labour leaders in Leinster House and the State Senate- under the paternalistic guise of concern for women's welfare - restricted women's access to the workforce , and hence retarded their entry in significant numbers into the trade union movement .

De Valera's 1937 (State) Constitution made second-class citizens of half the population - the 'Mother and Child' debacle and the even more recent Constitutional Amendment on Abortion show the ease with which women's needs can be ignored , once women are persuaded to subordinate them.......
(MORE LATER).



WHAT ROUGH BEAST IS THIS , ITS HOUR COME ROUND AT LAST.......?

By JOHN WATERS.
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine, 'Election Special' , 1987.

Charles J. Haughey, more than any Irish politician , is aware of the dynamics of power : he knows that the ability to use power is useless unless you first obtain it . He knows that to do this in a democracy you must be a 'Man Of The People' , which he undoubtedly is , but that you must also have authority , a sense of leadership , about you . He knows about the theatrics of power .

He has cultivated mannerisms which he has borrowed from a wide range of leaders which include Napoleon, Lemass and Catholic Popes ! If you watch his hands , they speak volumes about his belief in himself , his destiny , his inevitable inheritance of the earth . He is acutely aware , however , that there is a potential conflict between being a 'Man Of The People' and maintaining the necessary trappings of power .

You must have the illusion of wealth , but you mustn't flaunt it . It is a tricky tightrope : he rarely allows himself to be photographed inside his house in Kinsealy - "...too much Georgian splendour.." , he explains . Because of this monarchical streak in Haughey's character , much has been made of the possible dangers to democracy should he achieve his ambition of an extended period in Office . This is almost certainly pure nonsense ('1169...' Comment... that Haughey was living beyond his means was obvious to almost all at the time ..) and we have recently observed the colour of the democracy espoused by one of the chief proponents of this viewpoint , Dr Conor Cruise O' Brien, in the form of his behaviour over South Africa.......

(MORE LATER).

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ANNUAL WOLFE TONE COMMEMORATION,SUNDAY JUNE 10, 2007 .



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 , and return to Dublin at 5.30PM.

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 two years ago .
" From my earliest youth I have regarded the connection between Great Britain and Ireland as the curse of the Irish nation , and felt convinced that , while it lasted , this country could never be free nor happy . My mind has been confirmed in this opinion by the experience of every succeeding year , and the conclusions which I have drawn from every fact before my eyes . In consequence , I was determined to employ all the powers which my individual efforts could move , in order to separate the two countries .
That Ireland was not able of herself to throw off the yoke , I knew ; I therefore sought for aid wherever it was to be found . In honourable poverty I rejected offers which , to a man in my circumstances , might be considered highly advantageous . I remained faithful to what I thought the cause of my country , and sought in the French Republic an ally to rescue three millions of my countrymen " . -Theobald Wolfe Tone .

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BRITISH PUBLICITY EXPERT / WOMEN'S GHETTO / A ROUGH BEAST .

'BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH TO HAVE PUBLICITY EXPERT'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

The British Army in Occupied Ireland is to have a public relations expert . He is a Mr. A. A. McLoughlin of Leigh-on-Sea , Essex , and he takes up duty this month . He spent December at the War Office in London being briefed on all aspects of his job in Occupied Ireland . Mr. McLoughlin was a Major in the British Army , serving with the 6th Airborne Division .

In 1945 he was seconded to S.H.A.E.F. Military Mission in Denmark and , after the war , he became information officer to the Advertising Association of Great Britain.

[END of 'BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH TO HAVE PUBLICITY EXPERT']
(Next - ' LAW AND ORDER IN OCCUPIED IRELAND' : from the same source.)


OUT OF THE WOMEN'S GHETTO .......

By INEZ McCORMICK.
A review of Margaret Ward's book - 'Unmanageable Revolutionaries:Women and Irish Nationalism' .
From 'FORTNIGHT' magazine , October 1983.

We have Andrew Kettle saying of Anna Parnell that "...she had a better knowledge of the social and political forces of Ireland than any person , man or woman , I have ever met . She would have worked the Land League revolution to a much better conclusion than her great brother ."

From the point of view of the men involved , the women's organisational and analytical potential was threatening and dangerous . As the author puts it , the women 'redefined resistance itself' . With evident relief the men forced the dissolution of the Ladies League in a sordid authoritarian manner , and then promptly rewrote history to trivalise and marginalise the role women had played .

Anna Parnell lived under an assumed name , died destitute and no member of her family attended her funeral : you will find no square named after her in Dublin or elsewhere . Yet the most important figure in this book from the point of view of contemporary reference is Hannah Sheehy Skeffington - she insisted that women's rights were a central part of the struggle and the revolution would be incomplete if they were set aside , however temporarily.......
(MORE LATER).



WHAT ROUGH BEAST IS THIS , ITS HOUR COME ROUND AT LAST.......?

By JOHN WATERS.
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine, 'Election Special' , 1987.

Charles J. Haughey is not the kind of man you would choose to bring along on your holidays : his is an uneasy presence , there is a constant tension about him which is probably partly explained by his traumatic history and partly is due to his ambition . He wants to be 'Top Dog' , in the larger sense and in the smaller . All but the most superficial of encounters with him have this element of friction about them . His whole life is a mind game in which he tries to score points off pretty much everybody he comes in contact with .

He will lead you into situations in which he can put you down , make you feel small with little sarcastic asides and other devices - the encounter with 'The Sunday Times' journalist is a typical example . Once the parameters have been established , however , he will pick you up and is capable of being almost charming . Just so long as you know who's 'boss....' ! The man's personal political machine operates as a reign of terror - all his aides are afraid of their lives of him and will do almost anything to avoid his wrath .

In a Dublin shopping centre last week a little girl asked him for ballons . There had been some around earlier but they had all been given away . Haughey's aides looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders . Haughey clicked his fingers and said - " Balloons . Now . Get some . Find some . Steal some . Now . Balloons . " An estimated twenty people were killed in the rush ! He frequently does such things in public , showing up even his most loyal henchmen - his 'abrasive' (the usual euphemism) personality is undoubtedly in part attributable to the dichotomy which his position demands that he be ('1169...' Comment - ....or , more likely , to that which Haughey believed his elevated position demanded.).......
(MORE LATER).

(Thank You , M. O'R , for that message - much appreciated ! Sharon.)

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BODENSTOWN SUNDAY , JUNE 10th , 2007.......




ANNUAL WOLFE TONE COMMEMORATION :
Sunday , June 10 , 2007 , 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 , and return to Dublin at 5.30PM.

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 two years ago .
" From my earliest youth I have regarded the connection between Great Britain and Ireland as the curse of the Irish nation , and felt convinced that , while it lasted , this country could never be free nor happy . My mind has been confirmed in this opinion by the experience of every succeeding year , and the conclusions which I have drawn from every fact before my eyes . In consequence , I was determined to employ all the powers which my individual efforts could move , in order to separate the two countries .
That Ireland was not able of herself to throw off the yoke , I knew ; I therefore sought for aid wherever it was to be found . In honourable poverty I rejected offers which , to a man in my circumstances , might be considered highly advantageous . I remained faithful to what I thought the cause of my country , and sought in the French Republic an ally to rescue three millions of my countrymen " . -Theobald Wolfe Tone .

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KEVIN BOLAND / WOMEN'S GHETTO / A ROUGH BEAST .

'MR BOLAND IS ASKED TO EXPLAIN'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

The 26-County Minister For Defence , Mr Kevin Boland, refused permission for Mr Rory Brady , the Sinn Fein TD for Longford-Westmeath who is held in the Curragh Concentration Camp, to consult his solicitor .

This information was given to Roscommon County Council and the Council again asked Mr. Boland to seek legal advice on his suspension and his threatened dismissal from his post as a teacher at Roscommon Vocational School.

Mr D. O' Rourke said he did not see what harm it would do to Kevin Boland , the State or any one else to give that permission . In his written reply to the Council , Mr Boland said they could rest assured the decision had "...not been taken lightly.." . Mr P. A. McGuinness said he was quite sure that Mr. Boland had given more consideration to his reply than he had to Mr. Brady's request . He called The Offences Against The State Act " ..diabolical.."
[END of 'MR BOLAND IS ASKED TO EXPLAIN']
(Next - ' British Army In North To Have Publicity Expert' : from the same source)



OUT OF THE WOMEN'S GHETTO .......

By INEZ McCORMICK.
A review of Margaret Ward's book - 'Unmanageable Revolutionaries:Women and Irish Nationalism' .
From 'FORTNIGHT' magazine , October 1983.

Paradoxically , men who were prepared to fight the might of British imperialism were not prepared to face their own imperialism , which they used in sordid and brutal ways to force women to postpone consideration of their own demands . Through moral blackmail , women were made to feel guilty and selfish about seeking recognition of their own rights , and were forced to abandon them and driven back to the ghetto of chimney corner and kitchen .

It is not surprising therefore that the struggle for independence , relying upon such a parent , gave birth to such a monstrosity . This book pursues this analysis through consideration of the development and fate of three women's organisations : The Ladies Land League, Inghinidhe na hEireann and Cumann na mBan. While they were originally women's equivalents of existing organisations , they developed novel strategies and could have enlarged the meaning of revolutionary struggle to encompass the whole population and not just the adult male portion of it .

Most historians would pass by the Ladies Land League with hardly a glance . Miles of text have been consumed on Mrs O' Shea (the woman cast in one of her traditional roles as siren , temptress and ultimate frivolous and fatal diversion) . Few , except the professional historian , will have heard of Anna Parnell.......
(MORE LATER).



WHAT ROUGH BEAST IS THIS , ITS HOUR COME ROUND AT LAST.......?

By JOHN WATERS.
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine, 'Election Special' , 1987.

If you were to believe half of what is said and written about Charles J. Haughey you would conclude that this man is the greatest leader in the country's (sic) history ; if you believed the other half you would imagine that what we have here is the greatest bastard ever to break bread !

It's an old cliche to remark on how Charlie Haughey provokes extremes of reaction , but old cliches are often the best kind . In the Cavan-Monaghan constituency on the day I watched him being mauled and kissed by women of all ages , I watched old men who , by the looks of them , had barely enough money to feed themselves , shoving pound notes into his hand . On the other hand , there is the story about the chef in a certain hotel in the south-east of Ireland who , so great was his aversion to Haughey , that , whenever 'the Boss' dropped in for a meal , would do unmentionable things to the steak before serving it up to him...

Smug people . He hates smug people . People who think they know it all . So he told me in 1984 when I did an interview with him for 'Hot Press' magazine. He lies in wait for such people at all times . Let us proceed , therefore , with great caution.......
(MORE LATER).

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WOLFE TONE COMMEMORATION , SUNDAY JUNE 10 , 2007:



ANNUAL WOLFE TONE COMMEMORATION :
Sunday , June 10 , 2007 , 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 , and return to Dublin at 5.30PM.

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 two years ago .
" From my earliest youth I have regarded the connection between Great Britain and Ireland as the curse of the Irish nation , and felt convinced that , while it lasted , this country could never be free nor happy . My mind has been confirmed in this opinion by the experience of every succeeding year , and the conclusions which I have drawn from every fact before my eyes . In consequence , I was determined to employ all the powers which my individual efforts could move , in order to separate the two countries .
That Ireland was not able of herself to throw off the yoke , I knew ; I therefore sought for aid wherever it was to be found . In honourable poverty I rejected offers which , to a man in my circumstances , might be considered highly advantageous . I remained faithful to what I thought the cause of my country , and sought in the French Republic an ally to rescue three millions of my countrymen " . -Theobald Wolfe Tone .

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MOUNTJOY PRISONERS / WOMEN'S GHETTO / A ROUGH BEAST.

'PRISONERS ON BREAD AND TEA IN MOUNTJOY' .......
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

Liam Gleeson told the Court - " We are not ashamed of our actions and activities that are the causes of our being here today - indeed we consider it a great honour and a great privilege to have tried in some small way to free our country of the Imperial forces of occupation. We are sorry that we are being tried by fellow-Irishmen . We think it a great tragedy , Irishmen putting Irishmen behind bars and England laughs at us ." ('1169...' Comment ....now we have Irishmen calling on other Irishmen to report political objectors to the British police!)

" We have been sentenced for unlawful possession of arms . We don't think it an unlawful act to use arms against our enemy , England . We don't require 'Firearms Certificates' to fire on members of the forces of occupation in the Six Counties . We are not breaking the peace , we are attempting to restore peace - a just peace based on justice for everyone . England has broken every pact and treaty we made with them . They have no word , they have no honour , when dealing with us . They have shown an utter disregard for the continued demand of the Irish people for freedom .

But there is one thing they fear and dread - young Irishmen with guns in their hands ready to fight for the freedom they demand ."

[END of ''PRISONERS ON BREAD AND TEA IN MOUNTJOY']
(NEXT : 'MR. BOLAND IS ASKED TO EXPLAIN' : from the same source)



OUT OF THE WOMEN'S GHETTO .......

By INEZ McCORMICK.
A review of Margaret Ward's book - 'Unmanageable Revolutionaries:Women and Irish Nationalism' .
From 'FORTNIGHT' magazine , October 1983.

If women were not prepared to subordinate themselves totally to a definition of the revolutionary struggle they had no part in shaping , they were classed as diversionary , divisive , or just plain silly .

The theme of the book is summed up by the author's assertion that feminists were criticised for 'putting the interests of their sex before that of the nation.' No contemporary feminist can miss the parallel with their own frustration in getting male organisations to recognise the need to give parity to women's issues . The book provides an illuminating reversal of the usual stereotype of women's political orientation and activity . When offered the opportunity , women threw themselves into the revolutionary struggle , shared the sacrifice and the danger , and provided a radical analysis based upon their own experience which deepened the struggle , redefining and enlarging it .

Yet men who called themselves revolutionary felt themselves threatened by this . Their vision was too narrow to comprehend the importance of the women's issue ; and their innate conservatism and dominance allowed them to make women toe the line , or even to disband their organisations . The book , in short , is an account of potential unrecognised talents and of talents abused.......
(MORE LATER).



WHAT ROUGH BEAST IS THIS , ITS HOUR COME ROUND AT LAST.......?

By JOHN WATERS.
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine, 'Election Special' , 1987.

There are varying opinions as to whether Charles J. Haughey's suspicion of the press is the chicken or the egg , but either way it will always be with us . Most journalists have by now developed their own individual ways of handling it - some opt for confrontation , most for sycophancy . But there will always be the newcomer who will rush right in as though this were some kind of regular politician . At times like this you tend to feel a tinge of sympathy even if the guy does work for 'The Sunday Times' !

All this makes writing about Charlie Haughey a fairly hazardous business : Dublin is a small town and sooner or later you are going to run into the rough edge of his tongue . Many journalists have already learned this lesson and in this campaign there has been a noticeable reluctance on the part of most to get into an eyeball-to-eyeball situation with 'The Boss'. Vincent Browne tried it at the launch of the Fianna Fail manifesto and was , incredibly , shouted down and 'shushed' by other hacks in the room !

There is another reason why it is dangerous to write about Charles Haughey and it is that pretty much nobody knows anything of any great substance about what he is really like . This may probably be because this is the way Charles J. Haughey likes it or it may be because there is little of any great substance behind the myth of this man.......
(MORE LATER).

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WOLFE TONE COMMEMORATION , Sunday,June 10,2007,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 , and return to Dublin at 5.30PM.

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 two years ago .
" From my earliest youth I have regarded the connection between Great Britain and Ireland as the curse of the Irish nation , and felt convinced that , while it lasted , this country could never be free nor happy . My mind has been confirmed in this opinion by the experience of every succeeding year , and the conclusions which I have drawn from every fact before my eyes . In consequence , I was determined to employ all the powers which my individual efforts could move , in order to separate the two countries .
That Ireland was not able of herself to throw off the yoke , I knew ; I therefore sought for aid wherever it was to be found . In honourable poverty I rejected offers which , to a man in my circumstances , might be considered highly advantageous . I remained faithful to what I thought the cause of my country , and sought in the French Republic an ally to rescue three millions of my countrymen " . -Theobald Wolfe Tone .

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'MOUNTJOY / WOMEN'S GHETTO / A ROUGH BEAST' .

'PRISONERS ON BREAD AND TEA IN MOUNTJOY' .
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

Liam Gleeson of Limerick City , Sean Daly of Clonakilty , County Cork , and Kevin McCooey of Monaghan , were each sentenced to six months imprisonment at a County Cavan District Court following their arrest near the border on November 29th , 1957 .

They were arrested and tried in the most secret circumstances - the Press was not represented at their trials and no word of the case was reported in the daily newspapers . They were shifted from Monaghan to the Bridewell Jail in Dublin on the back of an open lorry guarded by Special Branch men armed with sub-machines guns . After being detained in solitary confinement they were shifted to Mountjoy Prison. An attempt was made to impose criminal status on them .

Their mid-day meal in Mountjoy was uneatable . As a protest against these conditions they have not eaten any dinner since December 7th and are now living on a daily diet of eight ounces of bread and a pint of tea.......
(MORE LATER).




OUT OF THE WOMEN'S GHETTO .

By INEZ McCORMICK.
A review of Margaret Ward's book - 'Unmanageable Revolutionaries:Women and Irish Nationalism' .
From 'FORTNIGHT' magazine , October 1983.

I do not approach this book as a potential historian , but rather as a feminist trade unionist . From this perspective I am not surprised that the view of Irish history it reveals is a novel one , ignored by the many professionall historians who have trodden this ground . For the latter , the role of women has been marginal : they appear , if at all , as adjuncts to the main actors and in their stereotyped roles .

Here we might see 'Mrs James Connolly' readying the great man's clothes , or Mrs Pearse teaching Padraig his prayers . Or , as in the case of women such as Maud Gonne or Countess Markievicz they are effectively de-sexed and cast in the role of 'honorary men' - and women's issues never even make an appearance .

Reading this book is in equal measure an exhilerating and depressing experience . Ultimately , however , it is a hopeful book . Parallels with the present and the recent past jump out of the pages , and it draws a clear lesson for the contemporary feminist . This book indicates clearly that while womem were prepared to play a large part in revolutionary struggle they were welcome only insofar as they accepted the struggle as defined by their male comrades ; when they attempted to articulate their own demands , or to work out an approach of their own , they were promptly cast in the role of disloyal or unreliable.......
(MORE LATER).



WHAT ROUGH BEAST IS THIS , ITS HOUR COME ROUND AT LAST?

By JOHN WATERS.
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine, 'Election Special' , 1987.

" I don't propose to have any kind of relationship with Mr Thatcher." The journalists gathered round the table in the kitchen of Cavan County Hospital looked up from their notebooks and stared at Charles J. Haughey. Then they stared at the reporter from 'The Sunday Times' newspaper whom he was addressing .

It was halfway through the election campaign and Charles Haughey was about to embark on a walkabout of the Cavan-Monaghan constituency . First of all , though , he had to give the hacks their daily fix of column inches and up to now had been answering fairly nondescript questions about taxing farmers , border trading and suchlike . He had already cautioned a BBC reporter about "...monopolising the conversation . There are some Irish journalists here as well , you know... " , he told an unabashed Tim Maby of BBC Radio Four's 'Today' programme.

" What kind of relationship do you hope to have with Mrs Thatcher should you become Taoiseach ?" , the man from 'The Sunday Times' had thereupon piped up from the back . " And who are you now ?" , demanded Charles J. Haughey . " I'm from 'The Sunday Times' , Mr. Haughey , " came the reply . " I don't propose to have any kind of relationship with Mr. Thatcher..." , Haughey said , and paused . He stared the reporter straight in the eye and said "...you did say Mr Thatcher , didn't you ? "

" Actually , no . I said Mrs Thatcher ." "Oh sorry . It's your accent , you see......." , said Haughey.......
(MORE LATER).

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WOLFE TONE COMMEMORATION , JUNE 2007 .

ANNUAL WOLFE TONE COMMEMORATION :
Sunday , June 10 , 2007 , 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 , and return to Dublin at 5.30PM.

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 two years ago .
" From my earliest youth I have regarded the connection between Great Britain and Ireland as the curse of the Irish nation , and felt convinced that , while it lasted , this country could never be free nor happy . My mind has been confirmed in this opinion by the experience of every succeeding year , and the conclusions which I have drawn from every fact before my eyes . In consequence , I was determined to employ all the powers which my individual efforts could move , in order to separate the two countries .
That Ireland was not able of herself to throw off the yoke , I knew ; I therefore sought for aid wherever it was to be found . In honourable poverty I rejected offers which , to a man in my circumstances , might be considered highly advantageous . I remained faithful to what I thought the cause of my country , and sought in the French Republic an ally to rescue three millions of my countrymen " . -Theobald Wolfe Tone .

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'SECRET ARRESTS / DERRY BESIEGED / DEATH AND MYSTERY' .

'SECRET ARRESTS AND TRIALS.......'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

'The Sunday Independent' newspaper of December 8 , 1957 , carried a front page lead-story of Garda 'precautions' along the border on the 26-County side , and noted - " The RUC maintain a similar watch on their side of the border but within the last two weeks a band of six men managed to slip over from the South , disarm a two-man patrol and get back across the border . A party of men who tried to blow up an RUC tender also got back to the South despite the fact that radio-cars from nearby RUC stations were on the move within half an hour of the ambush taking place . "

This type of reporting is playing Britain's propaganda game in Ireland : it is absolutely unfounded and what is more the perpetrators know well that it is unfounded . 'The Sunday Press' newspaper on that same date carried a report - unconfirmed and as it turned out totally unfounded - that a man may have been killed in the blowing up of the Belleek Customs Post. Is all this accidental ?

'The Irish Press' newspaper of December 9 , 1957 , when reporting arrests of five men in Waterford , did not give the reason for those arrests : putting up posters for 'The United Irishman' newspaper ! Those men were lodged in filthy cells and held without charge or explanation . This fact was not reported .
[END of 'SECRET ARRESTS AND TRIALS']
(Next : 'Prisoners on bread and tea in Mountjoy' - from the same source)


DERRY : CITY BESIEGED WITHIN THE SIEGE .

Derry , once the cockpit of the Northern Irish conflict , has become quarantined in apathy , grimness and deprivation , writes Seamus Deane , the Derry-born poet and writer . In a return look at his native city he finds that its demoralisation has disturbing implications .
From 'FORTNIGHT' magazine, 1983.

Derry has still a way to go before it rivals Belfast in its poor social structures , but what both cities are breeding now is another updated form of the siege mentality . This is the sort favoured by those who believe in authoritarian measures , distrust dissent and believe that force comes first , law second . The beginnings of this situation are visible in Derry already - the cathedrals are beginning to lose their symbolic significance .

In their place come the new 'security' barracks and , confronting them , the new and increasingly violent housing estates . The 'other' Derry is still just visible . But no more than that .
[END of 'DERRY: CITY BESIEGED WITHIN THE SIEGE']
(Next - 'Out Of The Womens Ghetto' , from 1983)


DEATH AND MYSTERY .......
John O Shea was a small farmer and republican . He died at his Kerry home in October 2001 within hours of being released from Garda custody . The inquest into his death raised more questions than it answered and now Kerry County Council has backed calls for a public inquiry . Did John O Shea die from natural causes or is there a more sinister explanation ?
By Mairead Carey.
From 'MAGILL' magazine, May 2003 .

For Michael Finucane , the case shows the inadequacy of the coroner's court system - " The European Court of Human Rights has set down standards that inquests are supposed to meet but the state breaks every one of them . There is no right to legal aid for the families , no right to material in advance of the inquest . All questions about John O' Shea's arrest and detention were ruled 'off limits' . The office of the coroner needs to be drastically updated - the world has moved on and it's time our legislation moved with it ."

[END of 'DEATH AND MYSTERY']
(Next - ' What Rough Beast Is This , It's Hour Come Round At Last?' , from 1987)

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WOLFE TONE COMMEMORATION , JUNE 2007 .

ANNUAL WOLFE TONE COMMEMORATION :
Sunday , June 10 , 2007 , 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 , and return to Dublin at 5.30PM.

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 two years ago .
" From my earliest youth I have regarded the connection between Great Britain and Ireland as the curse of the Irish nation , and felt convinced that , while it lasted , this country could never be free nor happy . My mind has been confirmed in this opinion by the experience of every succeeding year , and the conclusions which I have drawn from every fact before my eyes . In consequence , I was determined to employ all the powers which my individual efforts could move , in order to separate the two countries .
That Ireland was not able of herself to throw off the yoke , I knew ; I therefore sought for aid wherever it was to be found . In honourable poverty I rejected offers which , to a man in my circumstances , might be considered highly advantageous . I remained faithful to what I thought the cause of my country , and sought in the French Republic an ally to rescue three millions of my countrymen " . -Theobald Wolfe Tone .

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'SECRET ARRESTS / DERRY BESIEGED / DEATH AND MYSTERY' .

'SECRET ARRESTS AND TRIALS.'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

During the weekend December 6 , 7 and 8 last (1957) , a manifesto from the Resistance Movement was posted up throughout Occupied Ireland . The 'Press' and 'Independent' newspapers ignored it for the most part . 'The Sunday Press' in its city edition carried a short paragraph . The false statements from Stormont and British sources are carried in the Dublin newspapers - these are about the only notice events in Occupied Ireland now received in the 26-County State .

No newspaper carried the report on the torture of four young Coalisland , County Tyrone , men , which was released by the Irish Republican Publicity Bureau, on December 5th , 1957 . Six men , arrested in Monaghan in the early part of December 1957 were tried before two courts without any mention in the national press : three of them were sentenced to six months imprisonment each . Their arrests might not have been mentioned either but for the fact that local people informed the press . No word was released by the authorities .

Homes are being raided and men arrested in the 26 Counties without any mention in the newspapers , and these are not isolated instances . But some of our 'national' newspapers are not above sensationalising the news from Occupied Ireland when it suits their book . The attempt here is to discredit the Resistance in the eyes of the people . An example of this can be seen with 'The Sunday Independent' newspaper.......
(MORE LATER).



DERRY : CITY BESIEGED WITHIN THE SIEGE .

Derry , once the cockpit of the Northern Irish conflict , has become quarantined in apathy , grimness and deprivation , writes Seamus Deane , the Derry-born poet and writer . In a return look at his native city he finds that its demoralisation has disturbing implications .
From 'FORTNIGHT' magazine, 1983.

Derry , like the rest of the country , is changing into another kind of society . The city I remember was an organic community , although no one would have used such a phrase then . All the talk about community is itself a sign of the thing's disappearance . What is more interesting , but not more attractive , is the kind of city that is now emerging . Built for the automobile , planned in large estates clustered around supermarkeys and 'community' centres , with TV , videos and home computers available at low rentals , it will attempt to give a consumer sheen to the leaden facts of unemployment and political failure .

It is in the imbalance between these two aspects of society that vandalism flourishes . Rebellion separated from its political engagements and violence fostered by the cult of the 'Hard Man' , deprivation surrounded by excess - this is the recipe for organised crime .......
(MORE LATER).



DEATH AND MYSTERY .......
John O Shea was a small farmer and republican . He died at his Kerry home in October 2001 within hours of being released from Garda custody . The inquest into his death raised more questions than it answered and now Kerry County Council has backed calls for a public inquiry . Did John O Shea die from natural causes or is there a more sinister explanation ?
By Mairead Carey.
From 'MAGILL' magazine, May 2003 .

Garda Chief Superintendent Fred Garvey said he is "...quite happy.." there was no altercation with John O' Shea in Garda custody : as to the legality of his arrest , Garvey "...would rather not speculate on it at this stage..". There was no internal inquiry into who told the State pathologist that John O' Shea had been left in the cold for hours , which led to his verdict of hypothermia , nor would there be , said Garvey - " It has gone through the coroner , and there is no problem as far as we are concerned ."

The decision of the county council and the urban council in Tralee to call for a public inquiry was , in Garvey's eyes , certainly not a vote of no confidence in the gardai : " I'm not sure how many of them would have been aware of the investigation anyway..." , was Fred Garvey's opinion.......
(MORE LATER).

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WOLFE TONE COMMEMORATION , JUNE 2007 .

ANNUAL WOLFE TONE COMMEMORATION :
Sunday , June 10 , 2007 , 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 , and return to Dublin at 5.30PM.

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 two years ago .
" From my earliest youth I have regarded the connection between Great Britain and Ireland as the curse of the Irish nation , and felt convinced that , while it lasted , this country could never be free nor happy . My mind has been confirmed in this opinion by the experience of every succeeding year , and the conclusions which I have drawn from every fact before my eyes . In consequence , I was determined to employ all the powers which my individual efforts could move , in order to separate the two countries .
That Ireland was not able of herself to throw off the yoke , I knew ; I therefore sought for aid wherever it was to be found . In honourable poverty I rejected offers which , to a man in my circumstances , might be considered highly advantageous . I remained faithful to what I thought the cause of my country , and sought in the French Republic an ally to rescue three millions of my countrymen " . -Theobald Wolfe Tone .

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'Spotlight / Derry Besieged / Death And Mystery' .

'TURN THE SPOTLIGHT' ........
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

Colonel Topping is proud to boast that his RUC Commandos are a "...Black-And-Tan terror force.." . 'The London Times' newspaper can open an article on Occupied Ireland with the startling assertion : " The Irish border owes its existence entirely to the determination of the Sinn Fein movement to break the link with Britain ." And yet politicians get away with the lie that it is the young men of Ireland today who are responsible for the present suituation .

'The Irish Times' newspaper (hardly an organ of Republican opinion) was closer to reality when it remarked editorially , while commenting on 'The London Times' article - "Throughout the free world , is there a solitary country in which a third of the electorate is solidly opposed to the regime , not merely , as in normal democracies , to the government , but to the whole conception of the State as it stands ?" And again , after quoting 'The London Times' sermon on the Six Counties' "...resolution to remain under the Crown and to keep the Union Jack flying.." , 'The Irish Times' noted -

"Something similar might be said of Algeria's resolution to remain part of Metropolitan France , but who would dare to say it ? And is there , outside Algeria , a case comparable to that of the North of Ireland on this side of the Iron Curtain ? " Is there , indeed ? Isn't it time the people of the 26-Counties woke up to this fact ? Isn't it time they told their political leaders to stop being England's policemen in Ireland ?
[END of 'TURN THE SPOTLIGHT']
(Next : 'SECRET ARRESTS AND TRIALS' . From the same source.)


DERRY : CITY BESIEGED WITHIN THE SIEGE .

Derry , once the cockpit of the Northern Irish conflict , has become quarantined in apathy , grimness and deprivation , writes Seamus Deane , the Derry-born poet and writer . In a return look at his native city he finds that its demoralisation has disturbing implications .
From 'FORTNIGHT' magazine, 1983.

For as long as I can remember , Derry has been described as a dying city : everything that could be removed from it - docks , university , jobs , power , pride - has been taken away . It continues to die , because dying was given to it as its own form of life . The same could be said of Strabane or Newry , but there was still some form of cohesion within those communities . That has now all but vanished .

When the television aerials first sprouted in Derry , the city began to lose its sense of itself . Yet we have been told often enough that it was television which made an issue of the Northern crisis : well , it did . It made it an event . But it also made the event into TV fodder . Isolation was at first replaced by 'coverage' , but this exposure has led finally to a deeper isolation that had been there in the first place and , with the increasingly violent turn of events , and with the communities being driven back on their old positions , dissent became indistinguishable from betrayal and solidarity was maintained only by force or the threat of force .

The 'troubles' , or the rebellion , or 'the crisis' - whatever we may want to call the situation - have had a depressive effect upon the community . Nothing and no one has yet been 'liberated' .......
(MORE LATER).



DEATH AND MYSTERY .......
John O Shea was a small farmer and republican . He died at his Kerry home in October 2001 within hours of being released from Garda custody . The inquest into his death raised more questions than it answered and now Kerry County Council has backed calls for a public inquiry . Did John O Shea die from natural causes or is there a more sinister explanation ?
By Mairead Carey.
From 'MAGILL' magazine, May 2003 .

Michael McDowell's statement is disingenous , according to local county councillor Billy Leen, who put forward the motion calling for a public inquiry into John O' Shea's death : " I listened to Dr. Harbison giving evidence on both days of the inquest and he said the direct opposite . He (John O' Shea) had a host of marks on his body which were not consistent with falls . One has to ask the question where the Minister (Michael McDowell) got his information from . In my opinion he is being misled and that just adds more fuel to the speculation that there is something drastically wrong in the handling of this investigation . "

" The Minister makes it sound like he was in custody 24 hours earlier when it was less than four . He offered no explanation as to why Dr. Harbison's version of events didn't tally with the gardai . He never mentioned the fact that the jury returned an open verdict . This needs to be investigated thoroughly . The O' Shea family deserve to know what happened to John . They need to get to the bottom of it . "

The gardai in Kerry have no intention of re-opening their investigation into the death of John O' Shea : the local Garda Chief Superintendent , Fred Garvey, told this magazine that "...as far as we are comcerned , the matter is closed . It's not for me to speculate on how he died....... "
(MORE LATER).

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