1169 And Counting.....

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY.......
Twenty-six men were convicted on the word of Harry Kirkpatrick. On their appeal against those convictions could well rest the future of the 'Anglo-Irish Agreement'
('The Hillsborough Treaty') . Based on a full transcript of the Kirkpatrick trials , the story of how these convictions were obtained shows why the 'Supergrass System' is a pale shadow of justice.
By Derek Dunne. From 'MAGILL' magazine, February 1986.

One week after turning 'Supergrass' , Harry Kirkpatrick found out that he wasn't getting immunity . He changed solicitors and prepared to challenge the statements he made and was examined by a psychiatrist. He said that the statements had been extracted by threats and abuse , that he had been offered bribes and immunity , that statements of informers had been put in front of him.

He also said that he hadn't got valium at Castlereagh Interrogation Centre , as he usually did, and that he cried . Then Harry changed his mind and , also once again , changed his solicitor . He decided to plead guilty and give evidence against his friends . This happened on 19th January 1983 ; between 2.30pm and 3pm that day , Gerard Barkley came to see him . As Barkley left , his RUC friends arrived and he told them of his change of mind and denied that he told Barkley that he was going to turn and to get off side . He also denied passing a note to his wife which read - "things are going my way now."

In the following months , his wife was kidnapped by the INLA to try and get him to retract , and his step-father and sister were also held by the INLA . In June , he pleaded guilty to seventy-seven counts , including five killings . He received five life sentences , with no recommended minimum . Twelve days later he was again back in court , apparently at his own request , to clear one outstanding matter - the killing of UDA member William 'Bucky' McCullough. British Crown counsel got up and said that since Kirkpatrick was in prison at the time of the killing of William McCullough , all charges were being dropped against him . Kirkpatrick now had a clean slate regarding that issue but the strange thing about that is that Kirkpatrick was not in prison at the time . Nonetheless , the British decided not to proceed with charges in that case , meaning that there were now no outstanding charges against Kirkpatrick.......
(MORE LATER).

CIA SLAMS IRISH JUDGE.......

A Dublin District Justice was accused by American embassy intelligence personnel of encouraging left wing agitators and tolerating hostile acts against the United States.......
From 'MAGILL' magazine, 'Christmas Special' 1980.

The telegram is just one of over a hundred secret documents recently obtained from US intelligence agencies under the Freedom of Information Act : the documents give an amusing and sometimes incredible picture of the absurdities indulged in by the intelligence agencies while trying to justify their budgets and assuage their fear of dissidents. They also demonstrate that the US tax payers are getting lously value for their money!

In September 1972 Mairin de Burca , then Joint Secretary of Official Sinn Féin , sought a visa to go to the United States but was refused on the grounds of "moral turpitude" . It subsequently dawned on de Burca that she didn't need a visa - her parents were naturalised US citizens and she could therefore claim American citizenship . This she did and she was thus able to visit the US in 1976 and to speak at a number of meetings there .

In 1977 she left Official Sinn Féin , dropped out of politics and shortly afterwards became a journalist . Some time ago , on a whim, she wrote to Washington demanding access to any files that might have been kept on her political activities in the 1970's . Under the Freedom of Information Act , which was passed after the agencies had been caught breaking the law once too often while snooping , any US citizen is entitled to scrutinise copies of any files being kept on her or himself. While refusing to release 40 of the documents and heavily censoring most of the rest (usually in order to protect informers) the spooks released enough information to show the determination with which they keep files on Irish individuals and politicians - and their level of incompetence at so doing.......
(MORE LATER).

THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST HEROIN IN DUBLIN....... The drugs crisis is one of the major problems facing young people in Dublin today. In large areas of the city it has now reached massive proportions , while in the inner city there is estimated to be a higher percentage of drug addicts and drug abusers than in Harlem in New York . But it has been only recently - 5 years after this epidemic began in earnest - that any notice has been paid to the problem. And even now the Free State government has failed to confront the crisis in a meaningful way . Tony Barry of Na Fianna Eireann has been looking at the issues for 'IRIS' magazine.
From 'IRIS' magazine, December 1984.

The IRA spokesperson then drew a clear line between local pushers and those who organise and finance the distribution of drugs : " There are , however, some characters operating who will never be affected by community action since they do not live anywhere near where the problem has taken hold. These are totally cynical and callous business people who will exploit unscrupulously to fill their own pockets. We issue a strong warning to those people that they will not be safe , no matter where they live. They are the ones who are making vast profits from the misery of young people, and we are keeping a constant watch on them."

Four Dublin men are currently serving sentences of up to nine years in Portlaoise Prison, related to a kidnapping that was aimed at combatting gun attacks on anti-drugs committees by organised drug pushers. Meanwhile , dozens of well-known heroin pushers are permitted by the gardai to walk the streets of Dublin freely plying their trade of death.

There are now 62 gardai assigned to that force's Drug Squad , compared with 45 up until September 1983 and only 20 in 1981. There is precious little evidence , however, that this extra manpower marks a serious commitment to dealing with the source of the problem - the organisers of the drugs racket . Indeed , what little success they have had serves better to illustrate the increase in drug abuse that is exploding in all major cities.......
(MORE LATER).

Sunday, August 30, 2009

ANNUAL EVE OF ALL-IRELAND RALLY,DUBLIN, Saturday 19th September 2009.

"One of the largest public rallies seen in Dublin for years was held by Sinn Féin at the GPO on the eve of the All-Ireland Football Final . Headed by a Colour Party and a pipe band , a parade of more than 2,000 people marched from Parnell Square through the main city thoroughfare as a protest against the continued unjust imprisonment of Irishmen without charge or trial .
Contingents from all over the country took part and many carried banners and placards including groups from England and Scotland . In the Ulster section was a strong representation of the Derry supporters who thronged the capital city for the Final . One placard they carried asked - ' Why are Six-County Nationalists interned in the Curragh?' ....."
(From 'An tÉireannach Aontaithe/The United Irishman' newspaper , November 1958)

The Annual Eve Of All-Ireland Rally will be held this year on Saturday 19th September : those attending are asked to assemble at the Garden of Remembrance in Parnell Square at 12 Noon from where the parade will leave for the GPO. All Welcome!
Thanks!
Sharon.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY.......
Twenty-six men were convicted on the word of Harry Kirkpatrick. On their appeal against those convictions could well rest the future of the 'Anglo-Irish Agreement'
('The Hillsborough Treaty') . Based on a full transcript of the Kirkpatrick trials , the story of how these convictions were obtained shows why the 'Supergrass System' is a pale shadow of justice.
By Derek Dunne. From 'MAGILL' magazine, February 1986.

RUC Detective Superintendent Mitchell and Detective Chief Inspector Meeke came into the room in Castlereagh Interrogation Centre where Harry Kirkpatrick was being held : Kirkpatrick told them he knew more than Jackie Goodman or John Grimley would know , that he "...could put a lot of people away.." but wanted immunity before he would give 'evidence' . The RUC said they couldn't do that , to which Kirkpatrick replied that not only did he want immunity but he also wanted to get out of the country.

The RUC then told him that the question of immunity would be in the hands of the Director of Public Prosecutions and asked Kirkpatrick what exactly he was involved in - Kirkpatrick hesitated , then opened-up and spent three days making statements , at the end of which he signed a form saying that he had told the RUC everything . That , too , was a lie. That was on 26th March 1982 - the date Harry Kirkpatrick 'officially' turned 'Supergrass' .

Kirkpatrick was then charged with the killing of RUC man Lyndsay McDougall and was put into the annex of Crumlin Road Prison, the 'home of Supergrasses' . Then, acting on his 'word' , the RUC went out and made wave after wave of arrests across Belfast . Men were taken from New Barnsley , Ballymurphy , Springhill , the Falls , the New Lodge Road , Andersonstown , the Marklets and Divis Flats . Most of them ended up in Castlereagh Interrogation Centre , but only one of them made a 'statement' ; naming only himself ! According to Kirkpatrick , the people he had put away comprised the entire Brigade Staff of the INLA , including the Officers Commanding of many areas.......
(MORE LATER).

CIA SLAMS IRISH JUDGE.

A Dublin District Justice was accused by American embassy intelligence personnel of encouraging left wing agitators and tolerating hostile acts against the United States.
From 'MAGILL' magazine, 'Christmas Special' 1980.

A Dublin District Justice was accused by American embassy intelligence personnel of encouraging left wing agitators and tolerating hostile acts against the United States. The accusation was carried in a confidential telegram to the Secretary of State in Washington in November 1970 .

The telegram also informed the Secretary of State that the embassy "...badly needs the means to combat.." the activities of the 'agitators' and those who "encourage" them - in this case State District Justice Robert O hUadhaigh.

Traditionally , foreign diplomats who conspire to , or seek the means to, intervene in the internal affairs of their host country would , if exposed, be declared persona non grata and ejected from that country . In this case , however , its just the CIA - paranoia , incompetence and an ability to make mountains out of molehills being their trademarks . But what else can you expect.......?
(MORE LATER).

THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST HEROIN IN DUBLIN....... The drugs crisis is one of the major problems facing young people in Dublin today. In large areas of the city it has now reached massive proportions , while in the inner city there is estimated to be a higher percentage of drug addicts and drug abusers than in Harlem in New York . But it has been only recently - 5 years after this epidemic began in earnest - that any notice has been paid to the problem. And even now the Free State government has failed to confront the crisis in a meaningful way . Tony Barry of Na Fianna Eireann has been looking at the issues for 'IRIS' magazine.
From 'IRIS' magazine, December 1984.

Some of the drug pushers moved their operation to nearby pubs , chip shops , pool halls and hotels , but more often than not local people followed them there and bluntly told the owners and managers that the community would oppose their licence when it came up for renewal if they didn't clear the pushers out .

RTE ran a number of major documentaries on what was happening which focussed public attention on the crisis , but RTE's desire to sensationalise every aspect of the campaign led to the community action being portrayed as mob rule and vigilante violence , and as being a 'front' - which it clearly wasn't - for the IRA.

This attitude so infuriated some local people that in many areas documentary makers were not allowed to film in those areas . The IRA's attitude to pushers and the drugs crisis was in fact spelt out in an interview given to a local newsletter produced by a Sinn Féin cumann in Dublin's inner city . An IRA spokesperson stated - " We do not believe that the solution to the problem lies in our hands. It lies with the people in the areas affected by heroin. In situations where drug pushers are living amongst the people in the areas affected we would see it as the work of those people to make life unbearable and unprofitable for the pushers." Then that spokesperson went on to issue a warning.......
(MORE LATER).

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

On Tuesday , 18th August 2009 , a 'Battle Honoured' (Belgian Coast 1914-1915, 'Konigsberg' 1915) British warship , the 'HMS MERSEY' , docked at John Rogerson's Quay , in Dublin. Republican Sinn Féin issued a statement on the unwanted presence of that ship , a protest was organised and, afterwards, a brief report and some photographs regarding the protest were published.

We have recently received some more photographs of the republican protest that was held, which we publish with this post :

Thanks!
Sharon.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Na Fianna Éireann recently held two celebrations to mark its 100th Anniversary - one in Dublin and the other in Limerick , both taking place on the same day - Sunday 16th August 2009. Those celebrations were announced here, amongst other places , and reports on both of those Anniversary events were carried here and here.
This blog has recently received a number of photographs of the Dublin event , which we publish with this post -

Congratulations to Na Fianna Éireann on reaching their 100th 'birthday' and on celebrating same in such a public fashion. This is one republican organisation which will continue to grow, as those that know its membership and leadership will agree : they have held steadfast to their republican principles through thick and thin and will continue to so!
Thanks!
Sharon.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

(UPDATE re picket on HMS Mersey , Wednesday 19th August 2009 : 3 hours on a Dublin Quay - 40 protestors , 14 State security operatives , a 'missing' Captain and a blocked gangplank . Details here! )

THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY.......
Twenty-six men were convicted on the word of Harry Kirkpatrick. On their appeal against those convictions could well rest the future of the 'Anglo-Irish Agreement'
('The Hillsborough Treaty') . Based on a full transcript of the Kirkpatrick trials , the story of how these convictions were obtained shows why the 'Supergrass System' is a pale shadow of justice.
By Derek Dunne. From 'MAGILL' magazine, February 1986.

Harry Kirkpatrick had been arrested and taken to Castlereagh on numerous occasions . He was picked up and taken there on 4th February 1982 but he had a method of dealing with the questions - say nothing and stare at the wall . The RUC were talking to him about the killing of RUC man Lindsay McDougall but Kirkpatrick said nothing . Then the RUC brought in Seanie McConkey who accused Harry Kirkpatrick of being involved in the McDougall killing . Kirkpatrick professed to remember none of this at his 'trial' .

After seven days , he was charged with the killing on the word of Sean McConkey , but then McConkey retracted his statement and Harry was out again . Then John Grimley started to talk and implicated Kirkpatrick , who was once again lifted and found himself back in Castlereagh . He was kept there for three days . " Look , what's the score here ?" , Harry asked his RUC captors , and was told that he would probably do time on the word of John Grimley . Jackie Goodman had also turned informer and Kirkpatrick was worried . He started to talk.

He said that Jackie Goodman was "...a nobody in the organisation . I'm Brigade Operations Officer for the North but I am saying nothing more." He asked to speak to someone higher-up in authority and wanted "...an assurance." He was told that nothing could be promised ; Kirkpatrick then said that not alone was he Brigade Operations Officer for the North , but that he was also Brigade Quartermaster and Brigade Adjutant . An RUC detective asked him what operations he was involved in and he replied "Murders and a lot of conspiracies." However , he could remember none of the above at his 'trial'.......
(MORE LATER).

THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST HEROIN IN DUBLIN....... The drugs crisis is one of the major problems facing young people in Dublin today. In large areas of the city it has now reached massive proportions , while in the inner city there is estimated to be a higher percentage of drug addicts and drug abusers than in Harlem in New York . But it has been only recently - 5 years after this epidemic began in earnest - that any notice has been paid to the problem. And even now the Free State government has failed to confront the crisis in a meaningful way . Tony Barry of Na Fianna Eireann has been looking at the issues for 'IRIS' magazine.
From 'IRIS' magazine, December 1984.

Apart from Jervis Street and Coolmine there are a few non-residential therapy groups , among them , in Dublin, is the Drugs Advisory Centre in Ballymun , the Anna Liffey Project , the Rutland Centre at Knocklyon Road and the Talbot Centre in Sherrard Street . There are also a number of 'Narcotics Anonymous' groups in Drogheda , Wexford , Limerick and Belfast , as well as some in Dublin .

The response of different communities throughout Dublin to the drugs crisis began last year with the people of St Teresa's Gardens, followed rapidly by the communities in Dolphin House , Hardwicke Street , Liberty House , Tallaght , St Michael's Estate in Inchicore and others , taking a stand against heroin . This invariably started with meetings being organised in local halls or schools to discuss the problem .

In areas like St Teresa's Gardens and Dolphin House there was an immediate and overwhelming response and , as with all those other areas , there was a general agreement that drugs were a community problem which could only be resolved by the local community . Street marches and protests were held on the flats of local pushers and they were told to stop pushing drugs or leave the area . Citizen patrols were organised to turn away drug addicts coming into the areas to get their 'fix' . The pushers were now getting 'pushed' . Then the State media branded the local communities as 'vigilante mobs'.......
(MORE LATER).

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

(UPDATE re picket on HMS Mersey : 3 hours on a Dublin Quay - 40 protestors , 14 State security operatives , a 'missing' Captain and a blocked gangplank . Details here! )

BRITISH WARSHIP IN DUBLIN : PICKET ORGANISED.

British warship 'HMS Mersey' , docked in Dublin at John Rogersons Quay and will be there untill Thursday - a Republican picket as close as possible to the ship will be held on Wednesday 19 August 2009 , beginning at One pm.

This ship , which boasts of Armaments consisting of one 20mm British Manufacturing and Research Company (BMARC) KAA Gun and two General Purpose Machine Guns also carries a complement of 30, plus a Royal Marine boarding party. It takes its military orders from the same institution (Westminster) which continues to claim jurisdiction over six Irish counties and , as such , it is not welcome.

A picket against this ship and what it represents....

...will be held as close as possible to it , on Wednesday 19th August 2009, at One pm.

All Welcome!
Thanks,
Sharon.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY.......
Twenty-six men were convicted on the word of Harry Kirkpatrick. On their appeal against those convictions could well rest the future of the 'Anglo-Irish Agreement'
('The Hillsborough Treaty') . Based on a full transcript of the Kirkpatrick trials , the story of how these convictions were obtained shows why the 'Supergrass System' is a pale shadow of justice.
By Derek Dunne. From 'MAGILL' magazine, February 1986.

Harry Kirkpatrick tells how he used his father's driving licence to hire cars for military operations , and names his sister as being involved . And also names his brother-in-law and his best friend Gerard Barkley. For more than twenty days the namings go on , followed by court examinations and cross-examinations , during which Kirkpatrick refuses to turn around to look at his questioners . But occasionally he smirks.

He describes the most appalling killings with a casualness that is unreal but , again and again he is caught out for telling lies . He again and again refuses to accept that he said certain things to the RUC but , when documents are produced to prove otherwise he accepts the contents of those documents and claims that he remembers very little about the interviews he had with the RUC but states that the only thing he is really clear about are the events themselves .

But , again and again, he is wrong about crucial details - for example , when he names Henry McNamee as being involved in a 'job' , McNamee was actually in jail when it was supposed to have taken place . Overall , his 'evidence' is far from satisfactory . The nervous twitch he has in his right eye gets worse as the 'trial' wears on , and it is noticable that he claims to remember very little from the time of his arrest to now.......
(MORE LATER).

THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST HEROIN IN DUBLIN....... The drugs crisis is one of the major problems facing young people in Dublin today. In large areas of the city it has now reached massive proportions , while in the inner city there is estimated to be a higher percentage of drug addicts and drug abusers than in Harlem in New York . But it has been only recently - 5 years after this epidemic began in earnest - that any notice has been paid to the problem. And even now the Free State government has failed to confront the crisis in a meaningful way . Tony Barry of Na Fianna Eireann has been looking at the issues for 'IRIS' magazine.
From 'IRIS' magazine, December 1984.

A few drug treatment centres do exist , but their already overstretched facilities are painfully inadequate to deal with the growth of the problem. The Jervis Street unit in Dublin has only nine beds available in the detoxification ward so that the vast majority of people it deals with are forced into the position of being 'outpatients' .

Jervis Street Hospital is due to move to a new site at Beaumont , on the north side of Dublin, where there will be ten beds in the new detoxification ward . In addition , the Task Force report has said that the drugs unit at Jervis Street will be maintained and a further unit set up at St James' Hospital, but has given no concrete outline of how and when this will be done.

The only residential treatment centre in the State is the Coolmine Therapeutic Community : its importance lies in the fact that while centres like Jervis Street can try to wean addicts off heroin by administering smaller and smaller quantities of less addictive drugs over a period of weeks , the psychological dependence on heroin runs so deep in addicts that they additionally need the supportive counselling and full-time care that only a residential centre can provide . Coolmine , however, has limited facilities and a long waiting list.......
(MORE LATER).

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY.......
Twenty-six men were convicted on the word of Harry Kirkpatrick. On their appeal against those convictions could well rest the future of the 'Anglo-Irish Agreement'
('The Hillsborough Treaty') . Based on a full transcript of the Kirkpatrick trials , the story of how these convictions were obtained shows why the 'Supergrass System' is a pale shadow of justice.
By Derek Dunne. From 'MAGILL' magazine, February 1986.

At 11.40am on the first day of proceedings , Harry Kirkpatrick turns around and identifies Seán Tumelty: (and here) he claims that Tumelty was involved in criminal acts and , pointing at him , declares - " He is sitting facing me , third row , and second from my left hand side beside the prison officer." Kirkpatrick does the same for the other twenty-six men.

Seán Tumelty has a steel plate in his head and , several times during the hearing, he lets out a scream and collapses from the pain , at which point the court adjourns and resumes again when Tumelty has recovered. He was hit by a plastic bullet at point blank range in 1981 and was in a coma and on a life support machine . He takes a lot of sedatives nowadays , but refuses assistance when dressing etc , preferring to do it himself . Kirkpatrick is saying that Tumelty was involved in making up a bomb .

Barbara (nee-Tumelty ?) , wife of one of the accused, Hugh Torney, is sitting in the public gallery . Harry Kirkpatrick calmly explains that she was a courier for the INLA. It's the first time her name has been mentioned by Kirkpatrick and she is visibly shocked - she may now be arrested on his 'word' . Day after day , the 'evidence' goes on like this . Harry Kirkpatrick's father cries in the public gallery , sitting alone.......
(MORE LATER).

Monday, August 03, 2009

BRUSSELS NOT THE 'SAVIOUR' WE ARE ASKED TO BELIEVE IT IS : VOTE 'NO!' ON OCTOBER 2nd 2009.

'Updated' car number plate , Dublin!

'VOTE NO!' - mobile placard !

A reader of this blog spotted the above number plate ,on a car parked near O' Connell Street , in Dublin , and kindly sent it in to this blog : thanks ,Louise!
Incidentally , a tax imposed on 'imported vehicles' (whatever happened to the EU 'promise' that 'Europe' will be "one big market" ?) by politicians here in this State was actually deemed , in 2002 , by the EU , as "...illegal under the EU treaty..." who called for its abolition but , in typical 'cherry-picker' mode , the wealthy elite in Leinster House have ignored that instruction - because that illegal tax is worth approximately over €900million a year to them! And they 'need' it to maintain the lifestyles they have become accustomed to .

There is a huge amount of information on the EU and its various faults on these two '11 Sixty Nine And Counting…' posts - especially in the 'Comments' thread attached to each of those posts (thanks , 'Phoenix One UK' !) : "faults" , that is , for those of us that have to pay for the sheer extravagant waste that the Brussels Monster has become , and a waste that the political elite want to ensure will continue for their own financial gain, which is what the Lisbon Constitution/Treaty will guarantee .
We don't 'owe' them and we can't afford them - VOTE 'NO!' on 2nd October 2009.
Thanks!
Sharon.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY.......
Twenty-six men were convicted on the word of Harry Kirkpatrick. On their appeal against those convictions could well rest the future of the 'Anglo-Irish Agreement'
('The Hillsborough Treaty') . Based on a full transcript of the Kirkpatrick trials , the story of how these convictions were obtained shows why the 'Supergrass System' is a pale shadow of justice.
By Derek Dunne. From 'MAGILL' magazine, February 1986.

The courtroom is changed to suit the Kirkpatrick case : there's a perspex screen between the public gallery and the main body of the court . The Preliminary Enquiry had ended in May 1984 in a bloody battle with dozens injured . Harry Kirkpatrick is about to go into the witness box . Defence counsel has made an application that the accused be allowed to move , but British Judge Carswell rules that each accused can move one space only and adjourns the sitting to allow that to take place . But none of the accused moves.

An observer in the courtroom was heard to whisper - " Do not pass go . Do not collect £200..." , and his friend whispers back - " Go directly to jail..." . But still no-one changes places . Harry Kirkpatrick then takes the oath and , whilst on the stand doing so , never actually looks at the person asking him the questions . He's dressed in a suit , with his collar open and the tie loose . His voice is clear and he's clean shaven , but he ever only used to shave rarely , and always used to wear jeans and combat jackets and soft bright shoes. But not now.

Up in the public gallery , there are about sixty relatives ; dozens of blue prison officer uniforms ring around the twenty-seven defendants , and green uniformed RUC men guard the judge and the court building itself . Some of these are armed . Dozens of legal people , including Desmond Boal and Paddy MacEntee, throng in front of Judge Carswell . Kirkpatrick was ready to give his direct 'evidence'.......
(MORE LATER).

THE HOWARD MARKS AFFAIR.......
Customs Officers in England have arrested a man who could blow the lid off an embarrassing British Intelligence operation against the Provisional IRA , when he answers drug smuggling charges in London later this year.
From 'MAGILL' magazine, July 1980.
By James Curtis.

In 1972 , Howard Marks was recruited to MI6 by an old Balliol College friend of his , Hamilton MacMillian, then as now a British Foreign Office Official and MI6 operative. Kirkpatrick also met James McCann, probably in Holland : McCann had escaped from Belfast's Crumlin Road Prison in June 1971 while awaiting trial on firearms charges - he had taken part in the PIRA's border campaign based in Dundalk and then went to the Continent in 1972 to organise arms smuggling for the PIRA . By early 1973 Marks and McCann knew each other well , and even took their girlfriends on holiday together.

Marks allegedly became involved with a sophisticated plot to smuggle cannabis into the USA from Europe , inside amplifiers of a non-existent pop group but the whole gang was rounded up in September 1973 by American narcotics agents . However , Marks escaped the round up and fled to Holland.

In Amsterdam his luck ran out : Dutch police picked him up in a separate drugs raid . British Customs officers brought him to London - voluntarily - where he was charged over the US drug-smuggling operation but was released on bail . That was in November 1974 . James McCann , meanwhile , had been busy raiding , as he later alleged, the West German arms dealer Otto Schleuter, in Hamburg . Schleuter , it has been alleged, was involved in the so-called '1970's Arms Crisis' in Ireland . Part of James McCann's gang made off with a cargo of machine pistols but his girlfriend and an accomplice were arrested when drugs were found at a Hamburg Hotel . McCann escaped to Holland where Dutch police tailed him . But the Dutch government told their police force to leave him alone.......
(MORE LATER).

THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST HEROIN IN DUBLIN....... The drugs crisis is one of the major problems facing young people in Dublin today. In large areas of the city it has now reached massive proportions , while in the inner city there is estimated to be a higher percentage of drug addicts and drug abusers than in Harlem in New York . But it has been only recently - 5 years after this epidemic began in earnest - that any notice has been paid to the problem. And even now the Free State government has failed to confront the crisis in a meaningful way . Tony Barry of Na Fianna Eireann has been looking at the issues for 'IRIS' magazine.
From 'IRIS' magazine, December 1984.

But heroin addiction does not only affect the user . If a female addict is pregnant she is likely to pass on her addiction to the baby . Six such babies were born between 1975 and 1980 , between 1981 and 1982 the figure shot up to 17 and , the following year , there were 25 babies born that were addicted to heroin , as far as the drugs unit knew of .

Only 8% of those women were weaned off drugs during the pregnancy , 40% were maintained on the drug methadone by the unit , 30% dropped out of the maintenance programme and only 20% maintained contact with the drugs unit.

After their babies were born , 65% of the mothers returned to their original addictions , 21% were lost contact with and only 11% were rehabilitated to a drug-free state. In at least three cases in one year the State Health Board removed children from addict parents and placed them in foster care . And all this time the State and its agencies completely ignored the situation until it could no longer do so . But , when it 'intervened' , it made things worse.......
(MORE LATER).

Sunday, July 26, 2009

EAMONN CEANNT COMMEMORATION , SUNDAY 26 JULY 2009 : brief report , few pics and a link to more...

The local 'Joe McDonnell Cumann' of Republican Sinn Féin held a very successfull commemoration/wreath laying ceremony today (Sunday 26 July 2009) for Eamonn Ceannt , in a park named after the man , in Crumlin , Dublin. About thirty local members and supporters gathered at a near-by point and , at about 12.45 pm , marched to the memorial stone in that park . The proceedings were Chaired by Paddy Ennis , who welcomed the crowd and gave a brief outline of why it is that RSF honour men and women like Eamonn Ceannt. He then called on Des Dalton to deliver the main oration , included in which was a history of Ceannt and good details on the part the man played in the 1916 Rising.
We publish with this post a total of six photographs of todays event , and a link at the bottom of the post to five more photographs . A full report , and different pics , will be published in the August 2009 issue of the 'Saoirse' republican newspaper , which goes to print this coming Wednesday , 29 July 2009.

Na Fianna Eireann at the Ceannt Commemoration.

RSF Colour Party at the Ceannt Commemoration.

Paddy Ennis , Commemoration Chairperson.

Wreath being laid at the Ceannt Commemoration , Sunday 26 July 2009.

We have posted five more pics from today on our 'Sister' site , here.
Thanks for reading!
Sharon.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

EAMONN CEANNT COMMEMORATION , DUBLIN , SUNDAY 26 JULY 2009.

Eamonn Ceannt:1881-1916.

"I shall die, like a man, for Ireland's sake."
-note written by Eamonn Ceannt (Commander of the South Dublin Union) to his wife, May 7th, 1916 , the day before he was executed by the British .

"Eamonn Ceannt (Edmund Kent) is unfortunately one of the least well-known or recognised of the major players in the Easter Rising. He has been described as a tall man, an able commander and a dependable leader under pressure. He had a passion for Irish music, Irish language and Irish dancing. He was Commandant of the Irish Volunteers and his jobs in the Rising were to oversee the South Dublin Union and to set up stations throughout the city.
He was a founding member of the Irish Volunteers and on the Supreme Council of the IRB and was one of 12 senior figures of the rising executed in Kilmainham Gaol.
Eamonn Ceannt was an intellectual, a native of Galway, where he was born in 1881. At heart a fiery gospeller for independence, his actual manner was reserved, almost aloof. He had great enthusiasm for the cause, but outwardly it was shown to only a few. His working hours were spent as a clerk in the City Treasurer’s office while every moment of his spare time was devoted to the great ideal of independence for Ireland......."
(From here.)

A Republican Commemoration to honour Eamonn Ceannt will be held in the Crumlin area of Dublin, in a 42-acre park named after the man, on Sunday 26 July 2009,at One pm . Those attending are asked to assemble at the near-by ‘Superquinn’ shop on the Sundrive Road at 12.30pm , from where the parade will march the short distance to the Ceannt Memorial Stone in the Park .
All Welcome!
Thanks,
Sharon.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST HEROIN IN DUBLIN....... The drugs crisis is one of the major problems facing young people in Dublin today. In large areas of the city it has now reached massive proportions , while in the inner city there is estimated to be a higher percentage of drug addicts and drug abusers than in Harlem in New York . But it has been only recently - 5 years after this epidemic began in earnest - that any notice has been paid to the problem. And even now the Free State government has failed to confront the crisis in a meaningful way . Tony Barry of Na Fianna Eireann has been looking at the issues for 'IRIS' magazine.
From 'IRIS' magazine, December 1984.

Further statistics from the Medico-Social Research Board and the Jervis Street Hospital Drug Treatment and Advisory Unit emphasise the scale of the drug problem in Dublin : in the inner city area , an estimated 10% of young people between 15 and 24 years of age were using heroin and injecting it daily . 80 teenagers were on drugs in one street alone . Some addicts now go straight on to heroin without , as used to be the case , 'progressing' through glue-sniffing or softer drugs such as 'pot' .

Not surprisingly , the number of people seeking treatment for heroin addiction has shot up dramatically . In 1979 at the Jervis Street drugs unit - the only one of its kind in the State - there were 415 patients seeking treatment . In subsequent years this has escalated - 554 in 1980 , 800 in 1981 , 1,307 in 1982 and 1,515 in 1983 . About half of those attending that drugs unit are referred there by the courts or probation service , the others are looking for treatment themselves . But by any standards they represent only the tip of the addiction iceberg .

The huge upsurge in drug addiction in recent years has put a severe strain on the scarce medical facilities available : the hepatitis laboratory in University College Dublin's Microbiology Department, for example , has experienced a 500% increase in the incidence of hepatitis since 1980 . Hepatitis is a highly contagious viral liver disease and can be contracted through the use of unsterile and contaminated syringes used for injecting heroin directly into the vein ('mainlining') . Now a new strain of the virus , resistant to previously administered treatments , has appeared and is spreading fast.......
(MORE LATER).

Friday, July 17, 2009

Eamonn Ceannt:1881-1916.

"I shall die, like a man, for Ireland's sake."
-note written by Eamonn Ceannt (Commander of the South Dublin Union) to his wife, May 7th, 1916 , the day before he was executed by the British .

A Republican Commemoration to honour Eamonn Ceannt will be held in the Crumlin area of Dublin, in a 42-acre park named after the man, on Sunday 26 July 2009,at One pm . Those attending are asked to assemble at the near-by ‘Superquinn’ shop on the Sundrive Road at 12.30pm , from where the parade will march the short distance to the Ceannt Memorial Stone in the Park .

All Welcome!
Thanks,
Sharon.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY.......
Twenty-six men were convicted on the word of Harry Kirkpatrick. On their appeal against those convictions could well rest the future of the 'Anglo-Irish Agreement'
('The Hillsborough Treaty') . Based on a full transcript of the Kirkpatrick trials , the story of how these convictions were obtained shows why the 'Supergrass System' is a pale shadow of justice.
By Derek Dunne. From 'MAGILL' magazine, February 1986.

Henry 'Harry' Kirkpatrick was a bit of a tearaway . He had been up for joy-riding , and often took off to Dundalk , Dublin and Cork without telling his father . The feud between the Officials and the PLA resulted in young Henry being fired at a couple of times and then the RUC found a sawn-off shotgun , which belonged to the PLA , hidden up his father's chimney . Henry lied through his teeth when he made a statement about the shotgun , ending his account with the words - " I am as white as the driven snow" !

He got bail , robbed a bank with his friend Gerard Barkley, got caught , made another statement , told more lies . He produced his father and two alibi 'witnesses' in court , said the statement he gave was induced and that he had been slapped around the place by the RUC . He claimed that the only part of the statement that was true was his name ; but the court was not convinced of his innocence and he was convicted of possession and robbery and got nine years for the robbery charge . It was 1975 that this happened , when he was only eighteen years old . He would spend five years in what he would later call " a paramilitary cess pit."

That "cess pit" was Long Kesh. Kirkpatrick was a keep fit fanatic , doing training and weight lifting etc five or six hours a week , every week . He was sworn into the revamped PLA - the INLA, which ran its prison compound in a highly structured manner , along army lines , and Kirkpatrick was quick in picking-up tips on guerrilla warfare . He read Trotsky , Stalin , Marx , Lenin and an assortment of communist literature , and went to prison meetings and lectures on politics and military violence . He rose to the rank of Compound Quartermaster.......
(MORE LATER).

THE HOWARD MARKS AFFAIR.......
Customs Officers in England have arrested a man who could blow the lid off an embarrassing British Intelligence operation against the Provisional IRA , when he answers drug smuggling charges in London later this year.
From 'MAGILL' magazine, July 1980.
By James Curtis.

A member of Britain's 'Independent Broadcasting Authority' has since told a 'London Weekend Television' producer that they would have banned the LWT programme on Howard Marks anyway , had Michael Grade not already done so , on advice from MI5 , the British internal security agency. LWT knew "only a twentieth of the whole story" , the IBA member said cryptically : the Howard Marks programme would have "jeopardised current operations" .

Information about Marks' precise role with MI6 is naturally scarce ; he told his parents that drugs were being sold to raise money to buy arms for the Provisional IRA and his job was to find the banks where the money that was made was being kept and he also claimed that MI6 blackmailed him over his drug dealings to get him to co-operate with them !

MI6 has admitted to police investigating his disappearance only that Marks worked as an agent for a while in 1973 , collecting information about the PIRA , but James McCann who associated with him in 1973 (and perhaps after) has claimed that Marks was a double agent , betraying information about British Intelligence . If this is true , then there is all the more reason for the British authorities to keep the lid on the story.......
(MORE LATER).

THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST HEROIN IN DUBLIN....... The drugs crisis is one of the major problems facing young people in Dublin today. In large areas of the city it has now reached massive proportions , while in the inner city there is estimated to be a higher percentage of drug addicts and drug abusers than in Harlem in New York . But it has been only recently - 5 years after this epidemic began in earnest - that any notice has been paid to the problem. And even now the Free State government has failed to confront the crisis in a meaningful way . Tony Barry of Na Fianna Eireann has been looking at the issues for 'IRIS' magazine.
From 'IRIS' magazine, December 1984.

Just how rapid the drug growth can be is illustrated by the fact that in one Dublin inner-city parish , between 1979 and 1983 , the number of young people taking drugs and looking for treatment shot up from 300 to 1,500 , but no-one knows exactly how many heroin users there are in Dublin . Estimates vary from a conservative 1,500 to an unofficial figure of 6-7,000 , although the real figure is probably somewhere in between.

A survey on drug abuse among teenage schoolchildren in the greater Dublin area , conducted by the Medico-Social Research Board in conjunction with Trinity College Dublin's Department of Community Medicine, found that "...at least one fifth of the 5,178 children surveyed in the 16-18 year old groups had taken drugs . Four times as many children under 16 years of age had taken drugs than was the case 10 years ago and up to 35% used marijuana occasionally , 1% admitted using heroin - half of those said that they used it on a weekly basis."

The children were also asked if they had been offered what they thought were addictive drugs : " 11% of girls under 16 years of age said they had , and 23% of boys under 16 said the same . Over 25% of girls over 16 years of age and nearly 39% of boys in the same age group said they had been offered hard drugs....... "
(MORE LATER).