LAW IN DISORDER.......


The state trumpets every drugs seizure as a major victory over the barons. But the war against drugs is really a murky world characterised by botched operations , questionable use of informers and ego-driven squabbles between the Garda Siochana and customs officials.
Mairead Carey gets the inside story.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , August 2002.

Jack Doyle had openly admitted to having a drink problem , but had been working in the force for 24 years without incident. He had never been the subject of a disciplinary inquiry and there was no psychiatric report to back-up the 'diagnosis' that he was ".....mentally infirm (and) so incapacitated by infirmity of mind that he was unable to perform his duties.." .

His own doctor had given him a sick note for three weeks because he was suffering from stress , but he later told RTE that it was a temporary sick note.

Former colleagues contacted by 'Magill' vouch for his honesty and integrity - " It may seem incredible , but what Jack Doyle says is the truth , the whole truth and nothing but the truth..." , said one such colleague.......
(MORE LATER).





THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

" The Minister arrived shortly before 11.00AM when he was due to be in Government Buildings for the meeting : I told him that the memorandum for the admission of Fallon had been sent to the Secretary of the Cabinet for circulation and I handed him the memorandum on the 'native medal' to be circulated by himself by hand.

I again urged him to go slow , that there was no prohibition on a posthumous medal and that the substitution of a 'native medal' (by this hour my colleagues were dubbing it cynically the 'O Morain Medal') might cause offence within the rank and file and to relatives of those who had got awards in the past. He made no comment.

At 12.30PM I had a phone call from the Secretary to the Cabinet to say that Martin Fallon had been admitted to the Garda Force and I phoned the Commissioner to tell Garda Fallon's father - I released a statement to the press , through the Information Bureau, as approved by the Minister on the previous Saturday. At 3.30PM I was summoned , with two Assistant Secretaries, to a Ministerial conference. When we entered the Minister's room I noticed his bloated countenance which was streaming with perspiration and that his eyes were wild......."
(MORE LATER).




JI EMPLOYEES IN CLONDALKIN , DUBLIN......
....MOUNTAINS TO MOVE.


There are about fifty men and women employed permanently , in full-time positions - 39 hours a week - in the (now ex-FÁS -operated) Clondalkin 'Jobs Initiative' programme. In March 2007 , FÁS appointed the 'Clondalkin Partnership' group as the 'managing agent' for JI workers in Clondalkin and a new entity was established - the 'Clondalkin Employment Initiative' - to oversee the running of the Programme.
As in any 'new company' , a few 'teething problems' developed (some of which , over four years later, remain unresolved) and meetings were held between CEI , the Clondalkin Partnership and SIPTU ; meanwhile , the JI workers carried-on in their jobs in community-based (and run) creches , community centres , local sporting organisations etc and were paid €457.40 cents a week for doing so.
That was the wage they were on in December 2009 as they broke for their Christmas holidays : when they returned to work in January 2010 they found themselves on a wage of €432.00 cents , a reduction of €25.40 cents a week. There had been no meetings , discussion or agreement etc in relation to that wage cut - just a blanket across-the-board imposition , with a letter announcing same sent from CEI on 4th January 2010 and received by those employees on the 5th and 6th of January : the first pay-day (of the 'new rate' wage) was 7th January 2010.

To make a long story short : the JI workers in the State and their trade union , SIPTU , decided to challenge the wage reduction and their case was heard over a three-day period in March 2011 - four representatives from Clondalkin JI and two officials from SIPTU had their case heard by a 'Rights Commissioner' in the 'Labour Relations Commission' on Monday 21st March 2011 and were told that a judgement re same would be issued "within six to eight weeks" ie by approximately the end of May or early June.
During June , July and August this year , various JI employees in Clondalkin contacted SIPTU seeking information re the judgement but were told by their trade union that they had heard nothing back from the LRC : then , on August 30th last , one such inquiry from a Clondalkin JI worker elicited the response from SIPTU that they had lost their case. Plans were being made by the Clondalkin workers to appeal the decision - as had always been the intention , should the need arise - when they were told by the LRC that they could not now do so as the six-week appeal period had expired. On inquiring re same , Clondalkin JI established that SIPTU had been notified on June 2nd 2011 , by registered post from the LRC, that the case had been lost.
Through either pure sloppiness or laziness , or worse - 'brown envelopes' have been mentioned in Clondalkin JI circles - SIPTU have added to the financial 'hit' taken by their members in that part of Dublin and have given succour to the notion that SIPTU are not really interested in or concerned about small groups of their low-paid members who have no industrial 'muscle'.
At the time of writing this piece - and despite commitments to the contrary given by them to Clondalkin JI - SIPTU have not contacted any member in Clondalkin JI to explain their 'negligence' and appear to be hoping that this matter will disappear. It is to the credit of Clondalkin JI that they aren't about to let that happen without a fight : they now find themselves fighting the politicians who want to 'punish' them for the greed of the bankers , fighting FÁS/CEI and having to fight their own trade union. If you are in a position to help those low-paid community workers , or publicise their case , please do so.....
Thanks,
Sharon.

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LAW IN DISORDER.......


The state trumpets every drugs seizure as a major victory over the barons. But the war against drugs is really a murky world characterised by botched operations , questionable use of informers and ego-driven squabbles between the Garda Siochana and customs officials.
Mairead Carey gets the inside story.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , August 2002.

Concerned about who he could trust in the garda force , Garda Jack Doyle called in the help of a retired garda , Gerry McCarthy, who brought the rucksack to an inspector in the district. Doyle said he never heard of the guns again and no one was ever charged in connection with the find.

Dissatisfied with the way the Garda was handling the informer Edward Keating , Jack Doyle contacted then 'Sunday Independent' newspaper crime reporter Liz Allen and revealed the existence of the tapes : when it became apparent that he had gone public , he came under increasing pressure to hand the tapes over and eventually did pass them on to the Garda authorities , asking them to investigate the contents.

In November 1998 , he took three weeks sick leave due to stress and, on the night he was due to return to duty he turned up at Togher Garda Barracks , Cork, but was refused entry - he said he was later told by the Garda that he should leave the force on medical grounds or risk being kicked out without a pension. The retirement order , signed by Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne, stated that Jack Doyle was "..mentally infirm , so incapacitated by infirmity of mind that he was unable to perform his duties...." . That "incapacity" was "likely to be permanent" , according to the retirement order........
(MORE LATER).






THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

" I assured the Minister that the Garda Commissioner was mistaken and that there was no prohibition in the Rules governing an award to prevent it being awarded posthumously. Immediately afterwards I sent for the appropriate files , discussed the matter with my senior colleagues and was satisfied that what I had told the Minister was correct.

At 9.30pm the Minister phoned me at my home - his speech was furred but he proceeded to give me instructions to have a memo ready for next morning - he proceeded as if he had never spoken to me on the subject earlier. When I told him that I had looked up the files and that I was absolutely certain that there was no prohibition against a posthumous award he interrupted me angrily and told me to stop talking and to have the memorandum prepared in time for the morning's meeting.

I sat down at 9.50pm to draft the memo which I completed after midnight : meanwhile , I had phoned my private secretary to be in my office at 7.45am to type the memo and also got in touch with the Secretary of the Representative Body for Gardai to ask what would be the reaction of the rank-and-file to the substitution of a 'native' medal for the Scott Medal and when he thought that the reaction would be against , I told him to say no more. I incorporated a reference to the view of the Secretary of the Representative Body in the memo......."
(MORE LATER).





TWO UP-COMING EVENTS TO COMMEMORATE THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1981 HUNGER STRIKES.


The 'National Graves Association' (Cumann Uaigheann na Laochra Gael) has organised a hunger-striker commemoration to take place in Milltown Cemetery, Belfast, on Sunday 25th September 2011 , at 2pm ,at which the oration will be delivered by former hunger striker Tommy McKearney.

A chartered bus will leave from the Municipal Gallery, Parnell Square, Dublin 1 and a limited number of seats are still available , priced at €25 each. Please note that payment must be received a week in advance of the commemoration : for more details phone 087 2282033.


The legacy of the 1981 H Block Hunger Strikes : to mark the 30th anniversary of the end of the 1981 hunger strikes Republican Sinn Féin are providing a unique opportunity to hear two people who played a central part in the events of 1981 both inside and outside the H Blocks of Long Kesh.
On Saturday October 8, 2011, in Wynn’s Hotel, 35-39 Lower Abbey St, Dublin, Ruarí Ó Brádaigh and Richard O’Rawe will be talking about the events of this momentous and painful year in Irish Revolutionary history. Beginning at 12.30pm the afternoon symposium will also include music, song, poems and writings of the 1981 Hunger Strikes. Posters, leaflets, papers etc of the period will also be on display. Ruairí Ó Brádaigh was President of Sinn Féin at the time of the hunger strikes. He has been one of the leading Irish Republicans in Ireland for almost 60 years and is currently Patron of Republican Sinn Féin. Richard O’Rawe was the PRO of the Republican prisoners in the H Blocks of Long Kesh throughout the hunger strikes. He is the author of 'Blanketmen', an untold story of the H Block hunger strike (2005) and 'Afterlives, The Hunger Strike and the Secret Offer that changed Irish History' (2010). The afternoon of reflection and commemoration will take place from 12.30pm to 5pm.
Thanks,
Sharon.

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30th ANNUAL HUNGER-STRIKE COMMEMORATION , BUNDORAN , SATURDAY 27th AUGUST 2011.


Republican Colour Party and Band , Bundoran , August 27th , 2011.


Bundoran Hunger-Strike Commemoration , Saturday 27th August 2011.



The 30th annual Hunger Strike Commemoration was held in Bundoran , County Donegal , on Saturday last , 27th August 2011. The largest turn-out in recent years joined the Bundoran/Ballyshannon H-Block Committee in remembering the ten men who died on hunger-strike in 1981 and listened intently as Richard Behal read a previously unpublished poem by Bobby Sands.
A full report will be published in the September 2011 issue of 'Saoirse' , which goes to print on Wednesday 7th September 2011 : meanwhile , photographs from this Commemoration can be viewed here.
Thanks ,
Sharon.

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LAW IN DISORDER.......


The state trumpets every drugs seizure as a major victory over the barons. But the war against drugs is really a murky world characterised by botched operations , questionable use of informers and ego-driven squabbles between the Garda Siochana and customs officials.
Mairead Carey gets the inside story.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , August 2002.

By mid-1997 , the informant Edward Keating had come to the notice of Customs , who pulled him over in Ringaskiddy in Cork and questioned him : he revealed that he was working with the Garda , so Customs sent a report on the case to Garda HQ. Keating felt under pressure.

In July 1997 , Garda Jack Doyle said that arrangements were made to find two bags of cocaine in a field beside Keating's home - no one was ever prosecuted in relation to the find , but it allowed both Keating and the Garda to sever their arrangement gracefully. In October 1997 , Garda Doyle took up duty at Togher Garda Barracks in Cork and was there only about six weeks when Keating was arrested after a shooting incident in Farranree , on the north side of Cork city.

Later that same night he got information about a rucksack which Keating had stored at his home outside Blarney and he travelled out to the house and picked it up. Inside the rucksack was a handful of firearms , including a Magnum 357 , the type of gun used to murder Veronica Guerin ; there was also a 9mm semi-automatic Browning pistol , a number of other hand guns and a couple of hundred rounds of ammunition.......
(MORE LATER).






THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

" A State funeral was accorded to Garda Fallon who was taken from Mount Argus Church in Dublin to his family burial place in County Meath ; when the cortege was passing through the City I directed my police driver to slip aside around the Custom House to return to my office where I had urgent matters to attend to , including the preparation of a memorandum to Government seeking approval for the Fallon brother's admission to the Force.

Towards 6.00pm that evening , the Minister phoned me from licensed premises where he was in the company of the Commissioner and other senior officers of the Garda Siochana - he was not articulating well. He authorised me , at my request, to sign an "Urgency" certificate placing the item on the agenda of next morning's meeting of Government and also approved of immediate publicity of Garda Martin Fallon's admission should the Government so decide.

I had the newspaper blurb in readiness : the Minister then went on to say that he wanted another memorandum in readiness for the Government meeting seeking approval of the establishment of a 'native' medal for Garda bravery , saying that he had been told by the Garda Commissioner and his Officers that the Scott Medal could not be awarded posthumously and that Garda Dick Fallon's bravery should not go unrecognised......."
(MORE LATER).





PRESIDENTIAL PARASITES.....

On Thursday 27th October 2011 , the voters in this financially and morally bankrupt State will be asked to go to the polls to vote on three issues : whether or not State Judges should be paid less , whether increased powers should be given to Leinster House political committees to 'assist' them in 'bringing to justice' the robber-baron elite and to state their 'choice' regarding the next State 'President'.

The Judges in this State are directly or indirectly appointed either by the (political) State itself or on its behalf : in order to 'show' that the so-called 'elite' in this State are suffering , financially , like the rest of us, 'noises' are being made in relation to the outrageous salary being paid to same -hence the October 2011 'will of the people' decision. However , it's a safe bet that if their wages are cut , their 'expenses' will be increased to compensate because, if nothing else, this State looks after its own.

The various Leinster House 'Committees of Inquiry', and those established by same, have been on the receiving end of verbal abuse for a few years now due to their willingness to 'seek justice and compensation from those who bend or break the rules of society' ie if you are an unemployed labourer caught doing a cash-in-hand nixer then you will be 'punished' but, if you are a member of the State 'Elite' or connected to them , promoted by them or friends with them then it's not at all as straight forward : in short , you or one of your 'Elite' friends will no doubt know in whose closet certain skeletons lie and that information can be 'traded' for a 'Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free' Card. The politicians are hoping to remove themselves from this responsibility by 'ceding investigatory power' to what they will call 'Independent Committees' - the latter having been established , salaried and expensed, by those same politicians and therefore unlikely to (indirectly) 'bite the hand that feeds'. In short - the vote on this issue is a con job !

The third vote on that day will be to elect a different , or rather a 'new' (!) , State President : he or she will be paid a salary of €5008 a week , an 'entertainment allowance' of €8696 a week and, when they retire , will receive a pension of €3140 a week. He or she will be living beyond our means , carrying out a 'function' that only costs the tax-payer a fortune in money that we haven't got and will very quickly come to see themselves as 'State Royalty' and behave accordingly....





The best course of action for voters on polling day , Thursday 27th October 2011 , is to register your disgust of corrupt State practices - and,indeed, of the State itself - by spoiling your vote. It is the only course of action that an honourable person can take!
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.

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LAW IN DISORDER.......


The state trumpets every drugs seizure as a major victory over the barons. But the war against drugs is really a murky world characterised by botched operations , questionable use of informers and ego-driven squabbles between the Garda Siochana and customs officials.
Mairead Carey gets the inside story.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , August 2002.

Garda Jack Doyle was taken off all operations after the second delivery , but he maintained contact with Garda informant Edward Keating who , he said later, told him that the drug runs continued. Doyle was concerned , and began making secret recordings of his conversations with the informant.

Keating claimed that between 1995 and 1997 he had brought in 20 consignments of 100 kilos of cannabis , worth a million pounds each , and that nearly all of it made it on to the streets.

He also admitted to storing large quantities of drugs around his home in Blarney , Cork, where he had built a nine-bedroomed bungalow and stables . While there , the drugs were obviously not under the control of the Garda : the concept of a 'controlled delivery' is that the drug are permanently under the surveillance and control of gardai at all times.......
(MORE LATER).






THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

3rd APRIL 1970 :

" In a 'Saor Eire' bank robbery in Dublin , Garda Fallon was shot dead : a reward of £5,000 was offered for information leading to arrest and conviction and a list of suspects was published by the Gardai.

On the next day , a Saturday , the Garda Commissioner informed me that Garda Fallon had been one of four brothers who were serving in the Force, that a fifth had failed to get entry as he had not qualified in the Irish test and that their father had now appealed for his admission : the Commissioner and I discussed the merits and were of the opinion that such a gesture, which would require the authority of Government as admission would be outside the normal statutory channels , would be good for the morale of the Force , and for the image of the Government.

I phoned the Minister at his home and got his consent to submit the question to Government with a formal recommendation. The Minister appreciated my arguments that an appointment would be largely valueless unless it were publicised immediately......."
(MORE LATER).







20th AUGUST 1981 - 20th August 2011....



On Thursday , 20th August 1981 , INLA Volunteer Michael Devine became the tenth man to die on Hunger-Strike that year , and the 22nd Irish Republican POW to die on Hunger-Strike since 1917.



On Saturday 20th August 2011 , Michael Devine and the other twenty-one Irish Republican Hunger-Strikers who died to obtain the yet unobtained goal of a complete British military and political withdrawal from Ireland will be commemorated in both Cork City and Wexford Town : at 1(one)PM at the National Monument in Cork City , at the corner of Grand Parade and South Mall, a wreath-laying ceremony will take place, at which Republican songs will be sung and poetry readings from the Hunger-Strikers will be recited. The event is organised by Republican Sinn Féin and RSF President , Des Dalton , will be the main speaker. ALL WELCOME !

Also on that same day (Saturday 20th August 2011) , at the Republican Garden Of Remembrance ('Old Jail') , Hill Street , Wexford Town , at 3PM , a sponsored 24-hour Fast will commence , with all monies raised being donated to the CABHAIR organisation.
Before the above-mentioned Fast , a picket in support of Republican POW's will be held at the Bullring , from 1.30PM to 2.30PM . The main Republican speaker in Wexford on the day will be Matt Conway, and the event has been organised by Republican Sinn Féin. ALL WELCOME!
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.

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LAW IN DISORDER.......


The state trumpets every drugs seizure as a major victory over the barons. But the war against drugs is really a murky world characterised by botched operations , questionable use of informers and ego-driven squabbles between the Garda Siochana and customs officials.
Mairead Carey gets the inside story.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , August 2002.

Garda informant Edward Keating got through Customs on his own and the gardai met him in Rosslare , took possession of the drugs and brought them back to Anglesea Street Garda Barracks ; the drugs were later returned to the informant. The plan was that Keating would drive with the load to and through a garda checkpoint in the remote area of Ballycunningham in County Cork , drop the drugs , and be brought home by gardai.

The following day it was announced that 52 kilos of cannabis and 20,000 ecstasy tablets had been found by gardai after a car had failed to stop at a roadside checkpoint. The drugs were put on display for the television cameras , and the Cork drugs squad got the kudos.

The following day Garda Jack Doyle met Edward Keating in Blarney and asked what had happened to the rest of the drugs - he was told that they had been left in a drain at the 'Yellow House' , an area six miles west of Blarney , and picked up by the gang. Almost 50 kilos of cannabis and 30,000 ecstasy tablets had gotten through.......
(MORE LATER).







THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

FEBRUARY 1970 :

" Early in the month I reminded the Minister (Mr O Morain) of his discussion with the Commissioner and asked did he yet want to see him - he said no. Later, he told me that he had discussed the information about the Baileboro meeting and Captain Kelly's part in it with the Minister for Defence who questioned Col Hefferon , the Director of Military Intelligence, who described the information as "pure poppycock". When I related this back to the 'S Branch' the comment was - "Christ , Hefferon must be in the swim, too."

Politically the month was uneventful , in my recollection, except that information of a highly confidential nature was coming through of imports of arms through Dublin Airport, facilitated by named members of the Customs staff : one consignment labelled "agricultural machinery" had been invoiced to a firm in Walkinstown in Dublin who were puzzled to receive notification from the Customs at Dublin Airport of a cargo for them but when the firm sent a representative to view the cargo it had disappeared.

Another cargo , weighing three-and-a-half cwts, labelled "machine parts" and invoiced to an engineering firm, disappeared in similar fashion . The 'S Branch' were aware from a highly confidential source of the dates the cargos were cleared , the names of the accommodating Customs and Dublin Airport officials and of the individual members of the IRA involved but for fear of a leak-back which might disclose the source the importations were not reported-on in writing. They had no doubt of the authenticity of their information......."
(MORE LATER).







AN 'EMPIRE' DEFINED : CIVIL UNREST....


The civil unrest that is taking place now in London , Birmingham , Bristol , Liverpool , Manchester , Wolverhampton etc is a mirror-image of that which has happened and/or is happening in Antigua and Barbuda,Australia,Bahamas,Bangladesh,Barbados,Belize,
Botswana,Brunei Darussalam, Cameroon, Canada ,Cyprus, Dominica , Fiji Islands,Gambia,
Ghana, Grenada, Guyana ,Ireland ,India,Jamaica,Kenya,Kiribati, Lesotho, Malawi ,
Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius,Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, New Zealand,Nigeria,
Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia ,Seychelles, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa,Sri Lanka,
Swaziland, Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Western Samoa, Zambia, Egypt, Palestine, the Falklands, Hong Kong, Aden and the United States : civil and social unrest , street riots and looting etc except , on this occasion , the British are doing it to themselves , on their own 'Mainland'.

One of the downfalls of having such a large and diverse 'family unit' (albeit , mostly, an enforced one) is that not every member 'gets along' - especially so when that 'family' is divided within itself , in this case , financially so : in London alone, there are 47,000 people with an average pre-tax income of £780,000 a year , and 420,000 people with a pre-tax income of between £100,000 and £350,000 :in 2006,London 'boasted' 19 billionaires-today (2011),there are 36 billionaires. Not one of those self-imposed 'financially divided' Captains of Industry , or any of their family members, have ever had to shed blood to 'secure the Empire' , yet it is they who benefit , financially, from that 'Empire'. In contrast, the young men and women who are on the streets , lashing-out (at the wrong targets) , will hurridly and horribly be used, by those 'Captains', as shrapnel bags , to secure the wealth , privileges and life-styles of the 'Elite'. Should they get 'uppity' , and demand a chance to have a decent standard of living, those that would 'praise' them should they return in a box from having 'defended the Empire' in Iraq , Ireland or Afghanistan will light another cigar and arrange for the State to give them their answer....

Finally - a little ditty that is doing the rounds in Irish Republican circles :
"For more than 800 Summers as they lay in their bed,
dragged from their sleep with a weapon to their head,
torn from their houses then burnt to a shell,
Belfast and beyond turned into Hell.
And still to this day the anger's still churning
now you know why I smile as I watch Britain burning...."
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.

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P.O.W. PICKET , TUESDAY 9th AUGUST 2011 , GPO , DUBLIN , 12 NOON - 4PM....


This morning (Monday 8th August 2011) , Irish Republican Prisoners in Maghaberry Jail began a 48-hour fast to highlight the fact that the prison authorities , the Stormont Administration and Westminster have renaged on an Agreement reached on 12th August 2010 in relation to the conditions that the Prisoners were forced to endure.
In support of those Republican Prisoners , a picket will be held at the GPO in Dublin tomorrow (Tuesday 9th August) from 12 Noon to 4pm : if you are in a position to attend , we ask that you please do so.
Thanks,
Sharon.

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LAW IN DISORDER.......


The state trumpets every drugs seizure as a major victory over the barons. But the war against drugs is really a murky world characterised by botched operations , questionable use of informers and ego-driven squabbles between the Garda Siochana and customs officials.
Mairead Carey gets the inside story.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , August 2002.

Garda Jack Doyle had been working as an ordinary uniformed garda in Blarney , Cork , when he was approached by Edward Keating , a former British soldier and firearms enthusiast , who offered to pass on information about the criminal underworld in Cork : Doyle contacted his superiors and, before long, Keating was hired as a paid Garda informant , supervised by Garda Supt Dermot Dwyer.

In March 1995 , Garda HQ approved his first 'controlled delivery' - one hundred kilos of cannabis were brought in through Ringaskiddy , packed into suitcases in the boot of a hired Opel Vectra car. They were brought to Anglesea Street Garda barracks where they were kept for three days , then handed back to the gang. By arrangement , Edward Keating brought the drugs to Inishannon wood , where gardai later arrested three men picking up the drugs. Thirty kilos were seized - the remaining 70 kilos were found in a follow-up operation. It was hailed as a major victory against the drug barons.

The second operation took place on 5th April 1995 : Keating , according to Garda Jack Doyle , had been given assurances that he would have a free run . There was supposed to be Customs clearance , but Doyle was informed that there had been a change of plan because Customs apparently wouldn't 'play ball' . A senior garda had called to his counterpart in the Revenue Commissioners the night before and had explained what was happening but , on moral grounds, Revenue said they could not allow it to go ahead. But the operation did go ahead nonetheless.......
(MORE LATER).








THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

" I urged the Minister to convey the information to the Taoiseach , saying that, inevitably, it would get a wider circulation in police circles and, perhaps , reach his ears indirectly. The Minister said that he would like to give the matter further thought , that the allegations were of the most serious kind and he hesitated to be the harbinger of such bad news.

I said that I shared his dismay but that I felt that the information should be passed on so that if it were untrue or exaggerated it could be refuted.

It occured to me, of course , that the Minister had already told the Taoioseach who would not want it known that he knew, except in the tightest of circles. The Minister was quite obviously not in good health from January onwards and it was very difficult to get him to do ordinary Departmental work - additionally, he was having difficulty in the staffing and functioning of his solicitor's practice in Castlebar and he was trying to exercise control day by day from Dublin......."
(MORE LATER).






3/8 - 188 YEARS AGO......



On August 3rd , 188 years ago to the day , 48-year-old Daniel O'Connell - misnomered 'The Liberator' , as he did not, as the name would suggest, 'liberate' this country from British misrule (which has still to be done) but rather due to the fact that the majority of the country's population at that time considered O'Connell to be liberating them from political irrelevance - founded 'The Catholic Association'.
This new organisation grew rapidly , as 'associate membership' cost only one penny a month which was affordable to small land-owners , those that worked for them , the many who had no jobs or land , the so-called 'middle class' and even the Catholic Clergy - all of whom either joined or strongly supported 'The Catholic Association' , quickly ensuring that, with tens of thousands of members and associate members, Daniel O'Connell became a man to be reckoned with. And the British - masters at 'people-reckoning' - quickly came to realise that O'Connell would only use "moral force" to achieve what he termed "...repeal of the Union.. " and, even then ,they knew he favoured the island of Ireland remaining as a unit governed by the British 'Monarchy'.
In actual fact , O'Connell worked within British 'law' with a vow NOT to use force against the British : the latter , of course , impose no such restriction on themselves....

On the same day that O'Connell founded 'The Catholic Association' - 3rd August 1823 , 188 years ago to the day - a baby boy was born to the Meagher family in Waterford : this child was to dedicate twenty-four of his forty-four years on this earth to challenging British mis-rule in Ireland .......
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.

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BEWARE THE SELF-SERVING 'MONGO's'*.......


Natural / 'man'-made disasters , scenes of 'famine' (whether real or enforced) , television pictures of thousands of hungry , homeless people fleeing vast areas because of on-going strife and/or so-called 'civil war' , adult and child survivors of forced amputation etc - all accompanied by a serious-sounding voice-over person pleading with the readers/listeners/viewers to 'give generously...'
-but perhaps by so doing you could be prolonging the suffering ?

'A vast industry has grown up around humanitarian aid: a cavalcade of organizations--some 37,000--compete for a share of the $160 billion annual prize, with "fact-inflation" sometimes ramping up disaster coverage to draw in more funds. Insurgents and warring governments, meanwhile, have made aid a permanent feature of military strategy...'
(Here and here.)

"In case after case, a persuasive argument can be made that, over-all, humanitarian aid did as much or even more harm than good..."
-Philip Gourevitch, 'The New Yorker'.


However : not all those asking you for financial assistance are intent on ripping you off : CABHAIR is a charitable organisation, solely dependant on public subscriptions, which was established in early 1987 for "...the relief of cases of distress arising out of republican activity.." and can be contacted here.

As our regular readers know , we never ask for money and this post is no different : we are not looking for funds for ourselves but are asking you to donate whatever spare funds you can afford to the CABHAIR organisation to help the families of Irish Republican prisoners to meet their financial commitments. All monies donated will go directly to those families , with no administration costs being deducted.
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.
(*My Own Non-Governmental Organisation.)

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IRELAND 1871 : EVICTIONS , THE 'WESTMEATH ACT' AND THE BIRTH OF A CHILD TO THE SMYTH FAMILY IN LONGFORD....


In 1871 in Ireland , as evictions were being carried-out on a large scale , the British Parliament in Westminster realised that, as ever, there were still armed groups in Ireland that were not prepared to accept the genocidal diktat from the British as to how or, indeed, whether , they should live or die : amongst the measures employed by the British to destroy the Irish Rebels was the 'Westmeath Act' , which became 'law' in that year (1871)and which encouraged "....the arrest and detention without trial of persons reasonably suspected of membership in a secret society....."
Into this turmoil , a child was born to the Smyth family in Longford - a son , Patrick , who grew-up to be a good 'loyal subject of the crown' and , as such, wanted to 'serve queen and country' : he joined the 'Dublin Metropolitan Police' (seen here trying to drive striking workers off the streets of Dublin during the '1913 Lockout') and rose to the rank of 'Detective Sergeant' , and was known to viciously detest Irish Rebels of any class , creed or gender : he took particular delight in harassing Irish Republicans and , following the 1916 Easter Rising - which he appeared to have taken as a personal slight - he 'upped the ante' regarding his outright hatred of all things 'anti British' to the extent that he was warned by Irish Republicans to cease his activities against them - but he refused to do so.
On this day 92 years ago - 30th July 1919 - Detective Sergeant Patrick Smyth , having spent the day and evening 'serving queen and country' , returned to his home , alive, for the last time.......
Thanks for reading ,
Sharon.

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LAW IN DISORDER.......

The state trumpets every drugs seizure as a major victory over the barons. But the war against drugs is really a murky world characterised by botched operations , questionable use of informers and ego-driven squabbles between the Garda Siochana and customs officials.
Mairead Carey gets the inside story.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , August 2002.

In relation to the incident at Dublin Airpoprt , Det Sgt Denis Palmer said he was "horrified" to learn that Declan Griffin was caught with drugs , and was only there to meet him to get information about an unrelated crime. The jury of eight men and four women took just over an hour to reach a unanimous decision in the case : Griffin was acquitted.

Meanwhile , down in Cork , Customs had become aware of another operation where gardai were running a drugs courier who worked for one of the city's most notorious criminals , Tommy O' Callaghan: their concerns about the activities of Garda informant Edward Keating were raised at the highest level with the Garda but Garda HQ was well aware of what was going on - a garda from Blarney , Jack Doyle, had already raised the matter with senior officers in Dublin , so concerned was he that large amounts of drugs as well as firearms were reaching the streets in an operation which had been designed but had failed to catch Tommy O' Callaghan.

Garda Doyle had secretly recorded tapes of conversations with the informant Eddie Keating , who was the 'transportation manager' for O' Callaghan's drug gang , and handed the tapes over to the senior officers in the hope that they would carry out an internal investigation. Garda Doyle was then 'retired' from the force , on the grounds that he was mentally unfit to carry out his duties : he believes his forced retirement was a means of discrediting his story.......
(MORE LATER).







THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

" In Captain Kelly's book "Orders For The Captain" the action in this case is described (page 12) as "...a continuation of this 'softly softly' approach.." whereas the exact opposite was the intention , the Government's - or at least the Taoiseach's - desire that it should be seen publicly that the 'Twenty Six'-side of the Border could not be used for violent purposes in the Six Counties."

MID-JANUARY 1970 :

" I told the Minister that I had learnt from Mr Ward (the Assistant Secretary) of the Commissioner's visit on December 10th , 1969 , and of his instruction to the Commissioner to have further checks as to the authenticity of the information. I told him that I had spoken to the Commissioner that morning and that he had assured me that the information had been checked immediately after 10th December and that it stood up.

I had asked the Commissioner why had he not reported back and he said that he thought that the initiative for another meeting should lie with the Minister - I was not satisfied with this , as it seemed to me that there was an anxiety on both sides to let the matter die......."
(MORE LATER).





BRENDAN LILLIS , MAGHABERRY AND BUNDORAN....


Brendan Lillis , dying in prison....

Call for the immediate release of Brendan Lillis :in a statement on July 18 last, the POW Department of Republican Sinn Féin called for the immediate release of a seriously ill Republican prisoner in Maghaberry jail, Co Antrim.

"The continued incarceration of Republican prisoner Brendan Lillis in Maghaberry jail in Co Antrim is just further proof of the bloody-mindedness of the British state to Irish political prisoners.

When Brendan Lillis was arrested and charged his licence was revoked. Yet when the charges against him were dropped he was not released. If the charges were genuine then he would surely have been taken before the Diplock court - as is considered "normal" by the British state. But the charges were not proceeded with, and yet Brendan Lillis is still in Maghaberry.

Brendan has been very ill for some time and is now just five and a half stone in weight. To continue to keep him is jail constitutes cruel and inhuman treatment.

Republican Sinn Fein calls for the immediate release of Brendan Lillis, if for no other reason than on humanitarian grounds. To continue to keep him in jail is nothing other than vindictive".
Josephine Hayden
Republican Sinn Fein POW Department
223 Parnell Street
Dublin 1.



Maghaberry Jail , Antrim.

POWs refuse to accept criminalisation policy :

"The situation in Maghaberry jail has worsened over the last several months
while David Ford, British minister of justice in the Stormont regime sat on a report that would solve the impasse in the jail. For eight months this report has been with Ford, and no doubt his bosses the First and Second Ministers Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness, but he has refused to act on it and tries to justify his inaction by blaming the Republican prisoners.

The full-body humiliating and unnecessary strip search of the POWs is a major stumbling block to bringing about a conclusion to the protest and a major one in the commencement of this action by the POWs. The men were driven to take such drastic measures because they refuse to accept the British Government policy of criminalisation. A policy that was discredited by hundreds of POWs culminating in the deaths of Bobby Sands and his nine comrades in the H-Blocks in 1981.
For the past 13 days, (the ‘dirty’ protest commenced on June 5 last, alarmingly reminiscent of the notorious H-Block conditions) the prisoners have been locked-down 24-hours a day and were refused visits because of their refusal to be classified as criminals, similar to the stand taken by Bobby Sands and his comrades. Relatives are now being victimised and used to add extra pressure on the prisoners, including the ending of all visits until they capitulate on their principled protest.

The POWs are not allowed out of their cells even for a shower or exercise in the yard. They have been living in a ‘tomb’ for two weeks and it looks likely to continue. Everything except their mattress has been removed from the cells. The BOSS chair is a modern device which scans the prisoner’s body for concealed items without the POW having to be forcibly stripped naked and one is in use within the prison already. However in a bazaar twist, prisoners leaving and entering the prison, whether to courts or hospital, are still subjected to this vile naked body search. What is the rationale?
There is a hidden agenda here. Is it policy or disguised sectarianism?

The answer may lie in the mindset of the prison administration, the warders, all the way up to the British Government itself. The day–to-day running of the jail is done almost exclusively by men and women of a loyalist/unionist mindset with the express purpose of making life as difficult as possible for the Republican POWs. The very same mindset pertained at the time of the H-Blocks.

This, the 30th Anniversary of the H-Block Martyrs, is a grave indictment of the British and Stormont authorities that they still continue with the attempted criminalisation of Irish Republican political prisoners."

Issued by Josephine Hayden
POW Department
Republican Sinn Féin
223 Parnell Street
Dublin 1.



Bundoran Commemoration , Saturday 27th August 2011 , Donegal.

Show your support for Irish Republican Prisoners and for the Cause of Irish Republicanism.....
Thanks,
Sharon.

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LAW IN DISORDER.......

The state trumpets every drugs seizure as a major victory over the barons. But the war against drugs is really a murky world characterised by botched operations , questionable use of informers and ego-driven squabbles between the Garda Siochana and customs officials.
Mairead Carey gets the inside story.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , August 2002.

When the case came to court three years later , Declan Griffin pleaded not guilty to the charges of possession with intent to supply and importing heroin and ecstasy at Dublin Airport.

He told the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that the importation of the drugs from Amsterdam had been cleared by his Garda 'handler' , Detective Sergeant Denis Palmer. When he was arrested and brought to Santry Garda Station , Griffin said he waited for Detective Sergeant Palmer to turn up "....and sort it all out , but when I saw the gates of Mountjoy Jail I realised Denis was not going to save me now, he's thrown me to the wolves to try and save himself...".

He told the court that his association with Palmer had begun in 1993 when he was arrested by gardai from Coolock station : Palmer had released him on £1000 cash bail and , Griffin claimed , the detective said that he would "look after" the charges against him . Those charges were dropped in exchange for information on petty crime. Palmer told the court that he and his colleagues believed there was insufficient evidence to warrant a prosecution, but agreed that he was wrong not to have contacted the DPP about dropping the charges.......
(MORE LATER).







THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

" I did not know then and I was not to know until the arms trial in September 1970 of the Fort Dunree episode in the last week of September 1969 in which , with the approval of the Minister for Defence , a number of men from the Six Counties were taken into the FCA for training with rifled weapons - a course which was immediately cancelled when brought to the Taoiseach's notice.

Twenty-four hours later Mr Haughey was on the phone to me , furiously enquiring who had given the Gardai the "stupid" direction to arrest these men , and I told him that the decision came from the very top and he asked 'do you mean the Taoiseach?' and I said yes. I recapped what had happened and said that I had no doubt that when the defendants were before the court the indictable charges would be thrown out but that a new complication might arise if the defendants refused to recognise the court and were held to be in contempt , that for this they could be committed.

His language was not of the kind usually heard in church - he said that he would ensure that there would be no contempt. Subsequently , I consulted the Attorney General who, after consultation with the Taoiseach, instructed the local State Solicitor to appear at the District Court proceedings and the men were let go , but their weapons were held......."
(MORE LATER).






PAT CANNON COMMEMORATION , DUBLIN - SATURDAY 23rd JULY 2011 , BALGRIFFIN CEMETERY.

Pat Cannon (left) and Peter McElchar.

On Saturday 17th July 1976, two IRA Volunteers on active service - Patrick Cannon from Dublin and Peter McElchar from Donegal - set out in a car in which they were transporting an explosive device. They crossed the border from Donegal into Tyrone and were approaching the town of Castlederg when the device exploded prematurely. It was about 2.15pm.
Peter McElchar was killed instantly. Patrick Cannon was gravely injured and was taken to Tyrone County Hospital in Omagh. He was being transferred to hospital in Belfast when he died....

The Patrick Cannon Commemoration will be held on Saturday , 23rd July 2011 , at 1pm ; the assembly point is at the Cemetery gates. Bus number 42 from Dublin City Centre will get you there!

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LAW IN DISORDER.......

The state trumpets every drugs seizure as a major victory over the barons. But the war against drugs is really a murky world characterised by botched operations , questionable use of informers and ego-driven squabbles between the Garda Siochana and customs officials.
Mairead Carey gets the inside story.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , August 2002.

Almost a year after the Urlingford operation , a secret Customs dossier was reported stolen from Lord Edward Street in Dublin where Customs are based ; the documents ended up in the hands of anti-drugs activists in the city , and were also leaked to a number of journalists.

They contained details of Customs' internal investigation into the goings-on at Urlingford , but also contained details of the Declan Griffin case , where Customs were concerned about the modus operandi of the Garda.

It was Christmas week 1995 , six weeks after Urlingford , when Customs officials pulled 29-year-old Declan Griffin over as he made his way through the 'Blue Channel' at Dublin Airport : in his bags they found four packages , wrapped in black tape , which contained three kilos of heroin and over 2,000 ecstasy tablets with a street value of over one million Irish Punts. Outside in 'Arrivals' , Detective Garda Denis Palmer was waiting for Griffin . Customs hadn't been informed of any 'controlled delivery'.......
(MORE LATER).








THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

DECEMBER 29th 1969 :

" I received a phone call late one evening from Gardai HQ to say that a group of men armed with rifled weapons had been arrested by uniformed Gardai in a disused house near the Border in County Donegal . Instructions were sought , so I informed the Minister.

He telephoned me back soon afterwards to say that he had consulted the Taoiseach and that they (a barrister and a solicitor) wanted to know what charges could be preferred and with what consequences. I replied that there were several courses open : (1) let them go , they had surrendered peacefully although they outnumbered the Gardai three to one, but their weapons could be confiscated / (2) they could be charged with unlawful possession of firearms which was a summary offence usually punishable with a fine of one Irish Punt - I mentioned that they could not be held in custody on this charge / (3) if it was the desire to hold them in custody it would be necessary to prefer charges of unlawful possession of firearms with intent to endanger life or property but , I added, while they could be held temporarily that charge could not be made stick when they were brought to Court.

The Minister telephoned back - the Taoiseach wants to throw the book at them , the indictable charges are to be preferred and they are to be lodged in Mountjoy Prison. I gave the necessary instructions and this seemed to indicate to me that the Taoiseach wanted it to be seen publicly that the Government would not tolerate any activity connected with violence......."
(MORE LATER).







"FOOL ME ONCE......



.....SHAME ON YOU......



......FOOL ME TWICE....


.....SHAME ON ME."


And that , in a nutshell , is what this is all about : a majority of people in Roscommon (and,probably, elsewhere in this IMF State...) are disgusted with the Leinster House politicians they voted for in the 'General Election' which was held here on Friday 25th February last , because the Fine Gael and Labour candidates that were elected in Roscommon have renaged on election promises made during the campaign in relation to Roscommon Hospital.

"Here we go again; as they appear from the wood work
Promising and speaking party rhetoric and waffle
Their wholesome and goodness act makes me irk
With minders in tow, through towns they waddle.

All on offer, their coffers now open
Shaking hands, kissing babies and pretending to listen
Hospitals, roads and schools, their voices will deafen
Be wary of promises that sparkle and glisten......"
(From here.)

But.....

.....in the opinion of those of us who put this blog together , that anger is mis-placed : those voters should , first and foremost , be angry , sickened and disgusted with themselves for believing those promises and for voting accordingly : the politicians who fooled them were only doing what comes naturally to them (ie "...tell 'em what they want to hear...") and should be only second 'in line' to be held to account ; the top of that queue should be reserved for those amongst the Roscommon protestors who , in February last , actually voted for the same politicians they are now protesting against !

And , at the next chance they get , those same voters/protestors will fall for it again and elect a 'different' political snake-oil salesperson , possibly from Fianna Fail , the Greens , Provisional Sinn Féin or some other politically-warped outfit.....

.....which is why we advocated a 'N.O.T.A.' vote in that 'General Election' and will more than likely be doing so again on the next occasion. Those with a vested interest will tell you that such a vote '....is a wasted opportunity..' but , in our opinion, the real 'wasted opportunity' is in not voting against all of those who want into Leinster House to maintain this corrupt political system and make a very comfortable living for themselves at the same time , at your expense.
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.

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LAW IN DISORDER.......

The state trumpets every drugs seizure as a major victory over the barons. But the war against drugs is really a murky world characterised by botched operations , questionable use of informers and ego-driven squabbles between the Garda Siochana and customs officials.
Mairead Carey gets the inside story.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , August 2002.

The Urlingford issue marked a new low in the relationship between Customs and the Garda , but there was more to come : Customs documents stolen from Dublin Castle and leaked to the media highlighted concerns about other cases in Dublin.

They were also worried about the Garda dealings with a side-kick of the Cork drug lord , Tommy O' Callaghan , concerns which were also raised by a former member of the Garda , Jack Doyle . Today , the two agencies are still involved in a turf war - customs officers throughout the country (sic) say relations with their Garda counterparts are as bad as ever , if not worse.

The two forces are supposed to work together , share intelligence and share the spoils in the fight against drugs but customs officers complain that the information is given on a one-way basis only , and they point to two major Garda seizures of drugs and cigarettes in the last six weeks to prove their point.......
(MORE LATER).





THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.

" Knowing the Commissioner as well as I did I would regard it as entirely out of character for him to give such an expression of opinion and I do not think that he would go any farther than not to demur from an expression of opinion from the Minister.

It was known to me , of course , that it was known to Mr Wymes that he owed his appointment as Assistant Commissioner to Mr Haughey ; he was about twentieth in the order of seniority in 1963 and was not the nominee of the then Commissioner , Mr Costigan. Likewise , Mr Wymes was aware that he was not favoured by the then Minister for Justice , Mr Lenihan - when the question of selecting a successor to Mr Carroll was raised in March 1968 - and that it was largely due to Mr Haughey that he was given the post of Commissioner.

In such circumstances it would have been only natural that Mr Wymes should hope against hope - as I did myself - that the police information was not true in relation to Mr Haughey, or that at least whatever he was doing was Government policy......."

(MORE LATER).






LAST EVER POST ABOUT OUR 2011 NEW YORK HOLIDAY for now, anyway......
The 'Search And Destroy' alternative fashion store , East Village , New York - they tell it , and sell it , like it is......!


As you may have guessed (!) , I'm having a very hard time putting our recent New York holiday behind us and those of you who have been there for a holiday will understand why that is , whereas those of you who haven't probably won't have a clue as to why I am still in mourning.... :-(

.....however - I couldn't let the holiday pass without mentioning one of our best shopping experiences , in a rather racy establishment , pictured above , where Lady Gaga , amongst other famous people , can regularly be found : but a word of caution for those who would be what I consider reserved/prudish - shop elsewhere !

It's worth buying something - anything ! - in this shop , just to get your hands on one of their plastic bags :




.....now you know why I told you it is a "rather racy" store - but it's a brilliant experience. Just like the City itself....
Thanks for reading - I hope to have the NYC 'bug' out of my system in the next few days.....

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