FOREIGN INJUSTICES : EASIER TO HIGHLIGHT.

'THERE WILL BE ANOTHER DAY.....' By Peadar O'Donnell ; first published in January 1963.

I stepped off the mail car at the bailiff's gate and was lucky enough to find him tinkering with his motorcycle : I was a motorbike enthusiast as early as 1915 and he knew that - it did not seem strange to him that I should halt to ask him what was wrong , but when I turned in on the gravel path to his door the friendliness went out of him. He sulked through a few brief exchanges on motorbike talk then asked me sharply what I wanted. His wife came to the door when he raised his voice and he flashed her a warning : "This man didn't come to our door to bid us the time of day." She nodded her agreement and I walked past and seated myself on the motorbike. I told him I came that way to see him , that there would be a rich harvest for him to reap in the townlands around Dungloe and he could reap it and walk the road at night whistling if he showed a bit of sense. He warned me he wanted no talk of that kind and that he would not listen to the like , but his wife was listening. If he did not make the seizures another bailiff would be called in , I said, stating that people were sensible. The thing was , seized cattle would have to be sold and they would go for a song. We would want to seize such cattle back and all we wanted from the bailiff was the names of the people who bought them. He really did storm at me then and went half-way to the public road threatening to go to the barracks but I sat where I was and he came back. "Who the hell do you think would take such a message to you ? Me? My wife? Or do you think I'd be mad enough to put myself in somebody else's hands?" This was the moment and the question I was awaiting. I told him all that was fixed.....

(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.

"On the 4th December the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice met the press and issued a policy statement. On the evening of Monday 7th December , the Taoiseach phoned me at my home and asked me if my mind were irrevocably made up to retire ; I mentioned that my wife had already been in hospital three times with coronary thrombosis , brought on by the threats she had received on the telephone , the picketing of my home by Sinn Féin , the constant armed police guard outside my house , the fact that I was restricted to travelling in police cars , the placards calling me informer , traitor and so on. I told the Taoiseach that I had been subjected to such continuous strain that I doubted that I was in a fit condition to give an objective assessment of the IRA situation and that I thought that my usefulness to Government in that sphere was impaired. The Taoiseach was sympathetic and said that he appreciated what I had said. In speaking to the Taoiseach I was doing so in the context of what Mr. O'Malley had said about recompense. The Government announcement on 9th December of my intention to retire read - 'The Government, conscious of the criticisms and threats to which Mr. Berry had been subjected to in recent times arising out of the loyal discharge of his duties as a public servant, wish to record that they have noted his retirement with regret.' "(MORE LATER).

"ON AUGUST 21st 1971......

..... a convention was assembled in Monaghan to consider the establishment of an Ulster Parliament (Dail Ulaidh). Invitations were sent to a broad spectrum of people including elected officials representing various political viewpoints. All nine counties of Ulster were represented. This convention drew both national and international attention and received major media coverage. Amongst those attending were two Westminster parliamentarians, Frank McManus and Paddy Kennedy. Since these were the only parliamentary level officials present, it was decided that as a first step a council would be set up to promote Dail Ulaidh. Paddy Kennedy and Frank McManus were selected to head up the council. Aided by a constitutional expert from Dublin the council drafted structures for local and provincial governments....."(More here.)

The 'Eire Nua' document has of course been updated a number of times since then but its basic principle and objective have not been changed : a fair , just, permanent and final settlement to the on-going problem inflicted on the Irish people by Westminster. It is the only properly workable answer to partition and offers in-built safeguards to those in Ireland who consider themselves to be 'British' : it is not reliant on 'smoke and mirrors' nor will those promoting it make a rich career from it (indeed, it may even cost those rich careerists the loss of their ill-gotten gains) but it will save future generations from living through the turmoil that Westminster has cursed this country with.

FOREIGN INJUSTICES : EASIER TO HIGHLIGHT.

Fair play to Amnesty Ireland for protesting against the 'Pussy Riot' injustice but here's three more injustices that that fine Human Rights organisation may wish to address :

1) Martin Corey.

2) Marian Price.

3) The fact that when either of the two above-mentioned names are entered into the 'Search' facility of the 'Amnesty Ireland' website a 'YOUR SEARCH YIELDED NO RESULTS' reply is received.

Don't assist in putting out the flame , Amnesty.....

AND FINALLY....

....the twenty-two men that died on hunger-strike in Ireland (and for Ireland) between 1917 and 1981 will be commemorated in Donegal on Saturday 25th August 2012 :

Thomas Ashe, Kerry, 5 days, 25 September 1917 (force fed by tube , died as a result).

Terence McSwiney, Cork, 74 days, 25 October 1920.

Michael Fitzgerald, Cork, 67 days, 17 October 1920.

Joseph Murphy, Cork, 76 days , 25 October 1920.

Joe Witty, Wexford , 2 September 1923.

Dennis Barry, Cork, 34 days, 20 November 1923.

Andy O Sullivan , Cork, 40 days, 22 November 1923.

Tony Darcy, Galway, 52 days, 16 April 1940.

Jack 'Sean' McNeela, Mayo, 55 days, 19 April 1940.

Sean McCaughey, Tyrone ,22 days, 11 May 1946 (hunger and thirst Strike).

Michael Gaughan, Mayo , 64 days, 3 June 1974.

Frank Stagg, Mayo , 62 days, 12 February 1976.

Bobby Sands, Belfast , 66 days, 5 May 1981.

Frank Hughes , Bellaghy (Derry) , 59 days, 12 May 1981.

Raymond McCreesh , South Armagh , 61 days, 21 May 1981.

Patsy O Hara , Derry , 61 days, 21 May 1981.

Joe McDonnell , Belfast , 61 days, 8 July 1981.

Martin Hurson , Tyrone , 46 days, 13 July 1981.

Kevin Lynch, Dungiven (Derry) ,71 days, 1 August 1981.

Kieran Doherty , Belfast , 73 days, 2 August 1981.

Tom McIlwee , Bellaghy (Derry) , 62 days, 8 August 1981.

Micky Devine , Derry , 60 days, 20 August 1981.

Pics from the 2011 commemoration can be viewed here , and from what we hear in Irish Republican circles there will be just as good a turn-out at this years event. See you there!

Thanks for reading, Sharon.

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"THE COLONIAL TIMES ARE OVER...."

OUT OF SIGHT OUT OF MIND....

....not as far as the British are concerned in the Julian Assange case , anyway : he may be 'out of sight' (temporarily [?] out of 'reach') but he is very much in their thoughts , so much so that Westminster had to be reminded that it no longer 'rules the waves': "If the measure announced in the British official communication is enacted, it will be interpreted by Ecuador as an unacceptable, unfriendly and hostile act and as an attempt against our sovereignty. It would force us to respond. We are not a British colony....we want to be very clear, we're not a British colony. The colonial times are over...."(...and here.)

"We are not a British colony...the colonial times are over....." : how refreshing it must be to witness a political leader from your country stand up to a world-stage bully-boy nation like Britain and tell it that it no longer carries the 'authority' that it once wielded in regards to political issues in your country , and not only 'talk the talk' but actually 'walk the walk' , too. But it will never happen here in this corrupt State ,at that level, because those useless self-serving muppets in Kildare Street 'sold' the right to do that when they accepted Britain's 'authority' in this country. But , thankfully, there remains in Ireland a steadfast organisation prepared to do just that.

"Freedom after the victory came,

And the lion was heard broken

Roar of helplessness and despair...." (From here.)

The '(British) Lion' in "despair" : the stuff dreams are made from !

Thanks for reading, Sharon.

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HALF-A-MILLION HITS.....AND COUNTING !

'THERE WILL BE ANOTHER DAY.....' By Peadar O'Donnell ; first published in January 1963.

The government group in the village would be a danger to us , which brought us to a great problem - publicity , speech-making. We were very short of speakers and I , who was the only experienced speaker among us, lived in Dublin. I encouraged them by telling of my experience with workers on strike. Once a man got excited he would find he was not scarce of words. The first task, in any case, was to spread word of what we had agreed on that night throughout the townlands and I promised that 'An Phoblacht' would pick up every noise they made and make a bugle call of it. Big Nial Houston had a word to say : "Maybe I couldn't make a speech but when it comes to scolding I'll hold my own with anybody. So let them among us who can't argue , scold." I rowed back across the calm bay , idling on the oars now and then on the helpful ebb. Things had gone very quickly and the people moving into this conflict were my neighbours , so I was desperately anxious to win time for them to get themselves organised. It was easy to see how many gaps were open to the bailiff to make a quick raid and get away with a few head of cattle. I knew the bailiff - a sour, courageous , plucky man , and I knew him rather well some years earlier when he was the local champion cyclist. I wondered whether any good would come of my seeing him but , by the time I had tied up my boat , I had made my mind up to go that road on my way back to Dublin and see what I could do with him. There was the danger that he might go to the local guards and make a charge against me, but I did not think he would dare.... (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.
" During that weekend I gave the matter earnest thought and came to the conclusion that by giving up my job I would save my family from their nightmare existence and that my action would , also, ease the pressure on Government. I submitted on Monday 30th November , my Note of my intention to retire which, subsequently , Mr. O' Malley told me he read to Government who expressed concern and sympathy at my predicament and that Mr. Colley was to see how recompense could be made for the loss of over £10,000 that I and my family would suffer by premature retirement. Mr. O'Malley gave me a clear impression that the Government had a firm intention which was specifically shared by the Taoiseach and himself. Some months earlier , when I was ill in a nursing home, he assured me in writing that both he and the Taoiseach were very concerned for me. I have that letter. Before the Government meeting on 1st December I gave the Minister a submission headed 'Kidnapping : Counter Measures' , in which I started off by saying that I had come to the "inescapable" conclusion that the line of action in contemplation was all wrong. In the course of that submission I suggested that early publication of my intention to retire might take the heat off the Government's necessity to take action and I remember saying , also, that the overnight news from London that the extradition proceedings could not come on before the end of January would cool the situation. The Government adopted an alternative course, not the course that I favoured but one put forward by External Affairs....." (MORE LATER).

McKENZIE'S.......

....GOLD !!
Headlines can be a wee bit like buses - you wait ages for the proper one to come along (Number 749 , in this instance!) and when you think you see it in the distance....

...it turns away at the last minute !

But there is a certain 'Mr. W' (McKenzie W) , from Waterford , who can now ignore the bus and get a taxi : the lucky man won 1st Prize on Sunday 12th August last at the CABHAIR raffle - his ticket , 749, was first out of the raffle drum , winning him a handy €200 in cash !

McKenzie , in his excitement , told us that he is a Clare man and travelled to Dublin that morning with a friend , Anita K , in the hope of buying two tickets for a GAA game (against us Dubs!) that was being held that afternoon in the City - as it turned out he couldn't source the two tickets but decided to stay in the hotel to watch the game on one of the big screens : a good move for him , and for his friend , Anita K , from Kilrush - she won 6th Prize (€20) on ticket number 473 and , to put the icing on the cake for the pair of them - Clare won !

In a 'reverse-type' win , a Dub , now living in Wicklow - C O'Callaghan - hoarse from cheering-on the (losing!) Dub team somehow managed to find his voice again when his ticket , number 702 , was pulled from the drum to claim the 2nd Prize - €100. Using sign language (!) we asked him to pull out the 3rd Prize , €40, which went to the holder of ticket number 264 - a Jamie D. , from Cork (they were playing against Galway that day) and shy Jamie came to the CABHAIR table , accompanied by his Dad , Tómas , and happily collected his winnings ! One of the raffle team got him to pull out the 4th Prize (€20) and a Wicklow boyo , Seán K , from Arklow , claimed it with ticket number 459.

The 5th Prize of €20 was sold to Mick B. by one of our regular ticket sellers , Andy , who won it with ticket number 696 and another one of our regular sellers , Anto , sold ticket number 561 to Robbie and Ken , who won the 7th Prize (€20) and it was Ken who pulled out the 8th and last prize,worth €20, which was won by David J. , another Wicklow resident , with ticket number 738.

It was , as usual, a packed house and a noisy affair, at times - the atmosphere was buzzing , as would be expected when you have dozens of different GAA supporters in the one building - men , women and kids from Dublin , Cork , Galway , Wicklow ,Clare and Kildare but , all-in-all, it made for a very successful fund-raiser for the Movement and afforded us the opportunity to meet people that might not otherwise have had the chance to chat with Irish republicans. Winners all round !

THE BATTLE OF CURLEW PASS.

A plaque well-deserved , but with one fault : Noel Dempsey (or any other Free State time-server) should not have been allowed to have his name on it as the only 'Cause' he served was his own.

However - Dempsey's attempt to link himself to an act of Irish rebellion does not take from what happened on that day in 1599 : this battle in Roscommon (Curlew Pass) took place a few months after the British 'Earl of Essex', Robert Devereux, was appointed 'Lord Lieutenant of Ireland' - his objective was to bring to an end the then six-year-old uprising of the Ulster Chiefs.....
....this story involves an Irish turncoat , guerrilla tactics by the Irish rebels and the beheading of a titled British Commander and can be read here. And please don't let the 'Dempsey Connection' prevent you from reading about the actions of true Irishmen....

499,673 AND COUNTING.....

Thanks to you , the readers (...and a wee mention also for the 1169 Team on this side of the screen!) this little blog will have scored over half-a-million hits before the coming weekend is over : it was never an objective of ours to reach that or any other figure but it's nice that we have ! Our intention is to keep going in much the same manner and format that got us to this point , in keeping with the old maxim If it ain't broke , don't fix it! We enjoy what it is that we do here and have made contact with all types of people from all walks of life , including some who wanted to interview one of us , some who wanted to shut us up and others that wanted us to place political and non-political advertising on the blog. We said 'No Thanks' to the first lot , and 'No' (without the 'Thanks' !) to the second and third proposers. But - again - we'll say 'Thanks' to our many readers and we hope you will keep checking in on us in the future. Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir !

Thanks for reading, Sharon.

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COME DOWN FROM THE PALACE , KATIE TAYLOR.....

'THERE WILL BE ANOTHER DAY.....' By Peadar O'Donnell ; first published in January 1963.


We would make no quarrel with people who went in and made peace , but we would keep them with us by using their safe byres and safe fields to shelter cattle in danger. All the time we would mock at landlordism and boast of the period when people said they would suffer it no more. It was a fine confused cheery gathering with one clear decision - the townlands would go on the defensive against the bailiff. I have no idea who it was raised the doubt that no matter how we picked our steps , the government might take alarm and issue decrees against everybody in all the townlands involved. There would then be no safe byres and no safe fields - people might take fright , and what would we do then ? This brought us to a decision that was , one day, to bring the agitation to the verge of collapse : it was agreed among us that if the time should come when the committee would have to make up its mind that it was too great a risk to go on fighting then , rather than have the people scatter in bitterness, I would go to Paddy Hogan , Minister for Agriculture, and make what terms I could on arrears. And what was more , if the committee wrote to me to go to Hogan I would not delay to ask them to talk the matter further over with me.... (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 also told him that my daughter's car had been followed on different routes on a number of occasions when she was returning late at night from St. Vincents Hospital where she was a nurse - I told him that the police took a serious view of this matter and that she was now travelling under armed escort. Also that my family were living a nightmare existence and that something would have to be done. I said all this in writing. On Thursday , 26th November , the Minister instructed me to have all documents ready for the Government on the following Tuesday (1st December) with a view to bringing Part 2 of the Offences Against the State (Amendt.)Act 1940 into force forthwith and the immediate arrest and detention of the 15 hard core members of Saor Éire. I discussed the matter with the Commissioner and Chief. Supt. Fleming and with Mr. Ward and then told the Minister it would not be possible or desirable to move so fast , that the difficulties in paper work alone , apart from physical difficulties of providing a safe place of detention , were very formidable. The Minister then told me that the decision had already been taken and that I should proceed with arrangements to implement it. At my urgent request , the Minister agreed to meet, in council , the Commissioner , the Assistant Commissioner , Mr. Malone , and the Deputy Secretary , Mr. Ward and myself. We met in the afternoon of Friday 27th November and the two Garda Officers , Mr. Ward and myself , appreciating the seriousness of the situation , opposed the immediate use of the powers of detention. I remember that I pointed out the particular undesirability of bringing Part 2 into force on the eve of the County Donegal by-election (3rd December) and that to do so would leave the police and the administration - apart from Government itself - under an ugly cloud of suspicion....." (MORE LATER).

IN MEMORY OF A COMRADE.....

Thomas McElwee , died at 23 years of age on 8th August 1981 after 62 days on hunger-strike.

Not forgetting the other 21 Irish Republican hunger-strikers , but today we especially remember a young man who died on this date (8th August) in 1981 : Thomas McElwee (funeral video here.)

Thomas McElwee - H-Block Martyr

James Connolly’s spirit

I wish to inherit

The passion of Pearse

I wish to claim

The strength of Collins

Would make me determined,

Tom Barry’s leadership

To hold Ireland’s flame.

As Ireland stands

With her angel wings

The souls of the dead,

Aloud, they sing,

Bring back the armies

Of ancient Irish kings,

For the freedom bell,

Once again, will ring.

ENGLAND YOUR SINS ARE NOT OVER.....

SUNDAY 12TH AUGUST 2012 : CABHAIR ON , GAA ON , OLYMPICS OFF !

This coming Sunday (12th August 2012) will see the Olympics come to an end (Happy Days !) , a GAA hurling match being played (a fairly important one , I'm told...?) and , as far as I'm concerned , anyway, the most important 'fixture' of the day : a 650-ticket raffle to be held for the Irish Republican POW's (and their families) that are supported by the CABHAIR organisation. This raffle will , as always , be held in the late afternoon in the usual hotel venue and by the time it's over more than four hundred Euro's will have been handed out in prize money and a few dozen tickets , at the very least, will have been sold in advance for the next raffle.

The hotel venue is , as I've said before , a 'meeting place' for families and also attracts large numbers of sport fans as it has a number of huge screens and surround sound systems which give the impression that you are at the game - all that's missing is the wind and the rain plus , of course, the big bonus point : pints of cold , crisp cider are readily available and much appreciated !

If I don't get carried-away on the day (and end up in one or other of the hurling counties !) or , indeed , if I don't literally get carried-away (having over-indulged with pints of cold , crisp cider...) I'll post the results of the raffle here on the Sunday or the Monday. Or at least before the following Wednesday.

Hopefully... ;-)!

A 'CON' JOB....

The late Con Houlihan , Sports Journalist.

Not so much (or at all , even) 'speaking ill of the dead' in this piece as highlighting the straws an 'artist' will clutch at when they attempt to stray onto another 'canvass'. And Mr. Houlihan was indeed an 'artist' when it came to discussing and dressing-up/colouring in matters of the field and had wonderful turns of phrase which he employed with great timing.

But he done himself no favours when he attempted to 'stray' on to the well-trodden anti-republican 'canvass' , where he was not as sure-footed as he was 'on the field' - indeed , the only way he could sustain an 'away trip' of that nature was to use a straw man argument in the hope that those as unfamiliar with that particular 'turf' as he was would consider him to be as good a pol corr as he was a sports writer. The first fault with Mr. Houlihan's effort in this piece is that a radio station would not be played through the same loudspeakers on the same stage at the same time as an Irish Republican was addressing an Irish Republican gathering. It just wouldn't happen , simple as and, whilst some might dismiss this example as 'nit picking' it is from such 'little acorns' that mighty deceptions spring from. It was a 'straw man' introduction that the author invented in order to 'colour' the gathering as "....inflamed with hatred.... indoctrinated by bigots in pubs and cafes or by mob orators....." , before bringing in the standard 'Nazi' comparison. All standard fare for any 'straw man' author - invent a 'connection' then rage against it. Mr. Houlihan got his answer days later from that particular "...bigot (of a) mob orator" but the damage had been done : through deliberate misrepresentation , one anti-republican had 'confirmed' to others of that ilk just how right they were to despise Irish republicans and republicanism in general and , job done, Con parked his 'straw weapon' (in the back of the net , no doubt) to be (ab) used another day. Which he did , by the way - and often - but I'll not go into that here , as I have no desire to 'speak ill of the dead'.

TELEGRAPH TELL-A-GAFF.....

Brits claim Irish boxer and Australians throw in the towel over guinness , whiskey and potato remark.It's occasions like this that would encourage me to take an interest in sport! Thanks for reading,

Sharon.

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OLYMPICS , OIL AND VINEGAR.....

ME ?

SICK OF THE OLYMPICS......?

.....NO , NOT AT ALL.

I JUST DON'T LIKE ALL THE SPORTY THINGS THAT SEEM TO GO WITH IT.....!

This blog should have has a special affiliation with the Olympics , seeing as they are practically named after us ("...historical records of the original Tailteann Games are very vague indeed. Mythology has it that they were instituted in ancient Ireland by the god Lugh, in honour of his mother Táilte, who had just died. It's said that they took place until 1169, after the Norman Invasion......") but enough is enough : there's only so much running , jumping and racing etc that a girl can watch before she gets dizzy.

I can appreciate that , as far as some people are concerned , these games/trials highlight all that is best in human athletics achievement and that millions and millions of people will eagerly follow every move in the table tennis / fencing / track race / rowing etc etc and will loudly cheer-on their sporting heroes in the belief that they are witnessing sporting miracles but I'd have to insist that those fans should realise that there are (...must be ?) an equal number of us WHO JUST DON'T GIVE A DAMN and have had our fill of having hardly any choice except to tune in to hour after hour after hour of these sports that we don't understand nor have any interest in ?

About the best thing I can say is that I am glad it has started as it will be all over and done with a lot sooner than if it had NOT already started lol !

Here's a neutral(ish) piece about the Olympics from 'The New York Times' and , finally , to finish this rant on a positive(ish!) note - and in my own defence - I must stress that I can just about manage to stay in a room when a football match is on the telly but that's because I need only keep myself diverted for 90 minutes whereas this present sporting abomination demands that I mentally duck-and-dive for two weeks (although it feels like two months already...)

To (mis)quote Oscar Wilde : " To make athletics good is to be a brilliant diplomatist - the problem is entirely the same in both cases. To know exactly how much oil one must put with one's vinegar."

And someone definitely got the mix wrong this time....

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SHOWING CARSON THAT TWO CAN PLAY THAT GAME.....

'THERE WILL BE ANOTHER DAY.....'

By Peadar O'Donnell ; first published in January 1963.

Was there a danger , if we called the the people back to the 1919 decision , that the government would take alarm at the threat of a new land war and hit the townlands harder than they could hope to withstand ? The case I made at the chapel gate was, maybe , the most advanced stand we could risk at that moment. Nial Houston had an objection to it - there would be people who would defy the courts but who would not plead the poor mouth ; he himself , for example, would not like to stand up before the neighbours and ask them to help him against the bailiff on the ground that he could not meet the decree if he wanted to. If we were to encourage others to take their stand on high ground we would need a defence fund. If a man lost a few head of cattle , a couple of his neighbours could put a value on them and the committee would then compensate him out of that fund . It was his belief that everybody on our side would willingly pay in one year's rent and that the fund would last longer if we got hold of the seized cattle again and gave them back to the man who lost them or, if that was too dangerous , sell them and put that money back into the fund. The idea made sense to everybody at the meeting , and in time a very considerable defence fund was built up. (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.
" Early in November 1970 there was reliable , highly confidential police information that a hard core of 15 members of Saor Éire , who had already carried out murder and armed robberies of banks , were plotting to kidnap two persons, of whom I was one, to hold as hostage against the safety of Frank Keane who was awaiting extradition from London for the murder of Garda Fallon. On the directions of the Minister I prepared a comprehensive memo for circulation to Government which set out the very serious situation and the various steps that might be taken to correct it. I gave him , separately, a covering note in which I had analysed the options and , two days later, on 13th November , I gave Mr. O' Malley , in writing, my considered opinion as to the course that I thought should be followed - as it happened , my recommendation was not followed , then or later. On Wednesday 25th November I informed the Minister , in writing , of urgent , highly confidential , police information that at a meeting of the Saor Éire hard core some days earlier my name had been specifically mentioned for punitive action. I informed Mr. O'Malley that the Commissioner, who had already prevailed on me to carry a gun - in the use of which I received police instruction - had strengthened the police protection on my house and had suggested that the plates on my wife's and daughter's cars should be changed , I told the Minister that my wife was under great mental strain and that I was reluctant to let her know of this new terrorism...." (MORE LATER).

THERE'S INAPPROPRIATE AND OFFENSIVE SPAM , AND THEN THERE'S WORSE......

Great 'foundation' !

As we all know , one of the hazards of being on-line and being 'out there' on the web is the constant bombardment received from trolls , chancers , weirdos and spammers. Bad enough to be repeatedly targetted by one or other of that type , but when an all-in-one weird chancer of a spammer-troll insists on repeatedly (over 100 times in the past week !) sending a 'Queen Elizabeth the Great....' -type 'invite' to an Irish Republican blog then it's perhaps not being paranoid to assume that it's coming from someone other than just your average spam bot. This is the spam deposit , in full , and unedited -

QUEEN ELIZABETH FOUNDATION, MOBILITY CENTER, COVE 2 HOWARD ST. NEW LONDON, CT 06320 UNITED KINGDOM, LONDON

Dear Sir/Ma,

In Honor of Queen Elizabeth the Great, the European Union Foundation (E.U.F.) and the African Union Foundation (A.U.F.) would love to inform You that in honor of her majesty Queen Elizabeth. you have been nominated As a bonafide beneficiary to the sum of GBP650, 000.00(Six Hundred and Fifty Thousand Great British Pounds).

The Queen Elizabeth foundation is a body or organization established to Enrich the poor, needy, retired, sick, lesspriviledge and also establishing And enriching personal individuals with skills to eradicate poverty in USA, Europe, Asia and Africa and also to compensate all victims of scam and reimburse them back for there looses.

In accordance to the above mentioned money, be informed that this is not Associated with any form of lottery. Please reconfirm your information's in our custody:

Your Full Names: Address: Tel: Country Of Residence: Occupation: Age:

Furthermore, your money would be remitted to you via ONLINE BANKING (SELF TRANSFER) into your account.

Details of ONLINE BANKING TRANSFER (your login) would be issued to you Upon response to this email, all you need to do is ensure you activate You’re Online Banking Account with the sum of $US150 and all necessary Details would be issued to you to enable you transfer your funds Online Yourself.

Please do bear In mind I do repeat you would be required an account activation fee of $US150 if you know you can't come up with the required fee please do disregard this EMAIL...

Once you activate your account these organization assures you that no Further fee would be required of you for whatever, because we are registered to W.B and I.M.F monetary unit.

Once more, Congratulation.

Mr. Anthony Perez. Acting Secretary, Queen Elizabeth Foundation.

Naturally , as fully paid-up (!) members of "... the poor, needy, retired, sick, lesspriviledge...." class , who need to be 'reimbursed for our looses' , we almost fell over ourselves to do as requested - 'confirmed our information's in their custody' and posted our credit card over to Mr Perez from which he will deduct our "...activation fee.." . Sure it's a bargain at half the price. Furthermore , we felt even more assured that we were doing the right thing when we read that the 'Foundation' is "...registered to W.B and I.M.F monetary unit..." , an August body , to be sure , which is well-versed in looking after "...the poor, needy, retired, sick (and) lesspriviledge..." members of our society. After the 'Foundation' enriches us with our just desert , and we inevitably move up the social ladder to our proper class , we promise we won't forget where we came from - we'll check-in with you plebs from time to time , in between the polo and the cricket.....

CHOTAH AND HOWTH - A 'NUGGET' OF A CONNECTION , 98 YEARS AGO ON THIS DATE (1st AUGUST).

Thomas Myles: "....I'll show that bloody Carson that two could play his game..."

98 years ago - in July 1914 - the 'Asgard' made history in Howth , County Dublin , thereby inadvertently helping to draw interested historical eyes away from a similar episode which took place six days later , thanks to the brave efforts of a Dublin surgeon , a 'Sir' Thomas Myles .

"It was arranged for a consignment of arms from Germany to be smuggled aboard the yacht 'Chotah' , belonging to the Dublin surgeon , Sir Thomas Myles...." (More here, and a detailed history of the man and his family can be read here.)

Whilst his heart , in the main , was in the right place , Mr. Myles also had to know his arse from his elbow (!) : "Once while on holidays in Co Clare, a surgeon was asked to see a sailor who had urinary retention from a urethral stricture. The surgeon went to the man’s cottage and got two strong men from the assembled crowd of locals to hold the man in the lithotomy position with his buttocks presenting over the half-door of the cottage. Having sharpened his penknife on a nearby stone, the surgeon plunged it into the man’s perineum producing a scream from the man, a gush of urine and gasps of astonishment from the watching crowd. Retiring to the local GP’s house, the surgeon, Sir Thomas Myles, ate a hearty breakfast...." (More here.)

Whilst acknowledging that the man was not an out-and-out full supporter of the Irish Republican cause , it can be seen that his heart , head and conscience were troubled enough , on more than one occasion , for him to risk his life in furthering the objectives of the Movement. And , as Bobby Sands once said.....

Mr Myles had a comfortable lifestyle in 'polite' society but , unlike those today who enjoy such a lifestyle (or the majority of them , at least...) , he also had a sense of justice and an ability - and a 'need' - to act on same when the injustices around him seemed to be gathering pace. And Irish Republicans can appreciate people like that.

IN MEMORY OF A COMRADE.....

Caoimhín Ó Loingsigh [Kevin Lynch] ; 25th May 1956 - 1st August 1981.

Not forgetting the other 21 Irish Republican hunger-strikers , but today I especially remember a man that I had the very good fortune to meet on numerous occasions when I wore a younger girls clothes : Kevin Lynch , who died on 1st August 1981 after 71 days on hunger strike.

The truth comes hard as the cold rain

On your face in the heat of the storm

And the stories I'm hearing would shock you

To believe that such deeds can go on

You can starve men and take all their clothing

You can beat them up till they fall

You can break up the bodies but never the spirit

Of those on the blanket.....

(From here.)

ENGLAND YOUR SINS ARE NOT OVER.....

Thanks for reading,

Sharon.

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OVERLOOKED AND OVER-SHADOWED......

A 'SIR' , A SURGEON AND AN IRISH REPUBLICAN GUN-RUNNER.......

'...he readied his knife on a stone and drove it into the area between the anus and the scrotum..'

Tomorrow (Wednesday 1st August 2012) we will post a paragraph or two about an eminent member of Irish 'High Society' who is mostly overlooked in our history and whose deed is most definitely over-shadowed by an event which occurred days before his own valiant effort....

Thanks for the visit ! Sharon.

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BUNDORAN HUNGER STRIKE COMMEMORATION , 25TH AUGUST 2012.

'THERE WILL BE ANOTHER DAY.....' By Peadar O'Donnell ; first published in January 1963.


I borrowed a punt and sailed across the bay to the meeting at Jimmy Getins' house. Black James Duirnin rode over and Big Nial Houston met Widow Biddy Doherty at the village and brought her along - it was the first time that I met that brave woman. "The devil is in you..." , she greeted me , "...why didn't you get us together long go ?" , and that was the mood of the meeting. I have rarely sat with a group of people who contributed so evenly to the making of a decision. We talked with the townlands in plain view in our minds and we went over them house by house , picking on a man here and a man there who would make a good firm foundation for any movement , and we had names over when we thought we had built a big enough committee. I suggested that we get the townlands to appoint delegates chosen at small gatherings of neighbours , and that the delegates sit with the committee , from time to time, for consultation : there is more than an echo in this of the relationship between the Army Council of the IRA and its Executive. The committee would grow into the townlands through these talks with the delegates but policy must be made by the committee , meeting by itself. Later , when the townlands came fully to life , the delegates could elect the committee which, in the meantime , must be hand-picked : the joint meeting of the committee and the delegates came to be known among us as 'The Dáil'. There seemed no doubt among us that the townlands would make a stand against the bailiff , but once we went among the people on this issue there would be questions we would have to answer. Now that the courts had begun their bombardment , people who could pay their arrears would want to know if it was our wish they should stand out. Were we , in fact, going to preach the doctrine of 1919? This would cut us off from everyone except Irish Republicans , but then the truth was that Free Staters would not attach themselves to a movement built around me......

(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.

22ND SEPTEMBER 1970 :

" The trial opened on 22nd September and , contrary to the undertaking which had been given to me , Counsel for the prosecution opened the case with a dramatic recapitulation of my account of my conversation with Mr. Haughey on Saturday , 18th April , which he described as of "crucial importance" . It hit the headlines and , in the view of the Garda Authorities, made me a target for IRA extremists who felt that they had been deprived of getting arms. I protested to the Minister and said that this placed me and my wife and children in acute danger from the psychopaths in Saor Eire and the IRA . Thereupon , he offered to give an undertaking , in writing, that if I were killed or injured because of my part in the Arms Trial my family would be compensated. He mentioned a figure of £20,000. I didn't ask for his written assurance there and then but having discussed the matter with my Departmental colleagues I returned to the Minister and asked for his assurances in writing , and he gave it to me."

One of the most bizarre incidents of Mr. Berry's extraordinary career came at the end of his tenure in the Department of Justice and was in fact to precipitate his retirement. This was the Saor Eire kidnap plot , which was to involve Mr. Berry himself , and the internment plan conceived by Mr. Lynch and Mr. O' Malley.....

(MORE LATER).


31ST ANNUAL HUNGER STRIKE COMMEMORATION FOR PEACE WITH JUSTICE : SATURDAY 25TH AUGUST 2012 , 3PM , EAST END , BUNDORAN .



On Saturday 25th August 2012 , the Bundoran/Ballyshannon H-Block Committee will be holding a rally in Bundoran , Donegal , to commemorate the 31st Anniversary of the 1981 Hunger Strike and in memory of the 22 Irish Republicans that have died on hunger strike between 1917 and 1981 ; those participating have been asked to form-up at 3pm at the East End. The main oration on the day will be delivered by Diarmuid Mac Dubhglais, Republican Sinn Féin, Dublin , and all are welcome to attend !

Bundoran Hunger Strike Commemoration , Saturday 25th August 2012.

Unseen Sorrow. (By Bobby Sands)

Her tears fall in the darkness as the rain falls in the night,

Silvery tears like silvery rain, hidden out of sight,

The stars fall from her eyes like floating petals from the sky,

Is there no one in all this world who hears this woman cry?

A simple little floating dreamy thought has stired this woman's heart,

The golden sleepy dream of yesterdays before they were apart,

What comfort can there be found for a petal so fair and slim

Alone in a forest dark of sorrow she weeps again for him?

Warm silver rolling tears blemish a once complexion fair,

That once shown in the fairest radiance midst a cloak of golden hair.

And the children whimper and cry for a father's care

and love they've never known,

Who sees their little tears of innocent years

as the winds of time are blown?

What sorrow will you know tonight

when all the worlds asleep,

When through the darkness comes the wind

that cuts the heart so deep,

For there is no one there to dry your tears

or your childrens tears who cling around your frock,

When there has been another bloody slaughter

in the dungeons of H Block.


Some pics from last years Hunger Strike Commemoration can be viewed here......

.....and we look forward to seeing (and meeting) as many of our readers as possible on Saturday , 25th August 2012 , in Bundoran !

NOT A TOTAL 'BURKE' ?

Thomas T.Burke : the last 'honest' member of Leinster House ?

For 11 years (from 1937 to 1948) , a Mr.Thomas T. Burke sat in Leinster House representing County Clare as a member of the 'Independent Farmer' organisation. He rarely took part in debates and made no secret of the fact that he was in politics purely for the salary , expenses and pension. He traded as a 'bone-setter' , a kind of unlicensed chiropractor , who provided his services free providing that the patient vote for him in the next election! From 1948 until 1951 he 'traded' bones for seats as an 'Independent' , losing his seat that year as his 43-year-old bones gave up and he found a different graveyard to rest in.

bonesetter

and impostor

pretended to be

some desperate rogue suborned.

garrulous!

[Cinquain definition ; Crapsey , I know.... :-)]

7th CENTURY AND COUNTING....

In recent posts on this blog we have 'stayed local' and mentioned St.Brigid's Well and the 'Red Cow Three' : not too far from those two sites lies a round tower , info on which you can read here and , lucky for us in '1169 Towers' , the shortest way , on foot, for us to get from base to the tower is through Corkagh Park , a 120-hectare (almost 300 acres) oasis of tranquility which opened 26 years ago and contains a playground for children , pet farm , two fish lakes , a rose garden , cycle tracks , allotments ,sports and playing pitches and a caravan/camping park.

This pic of the inside of the round tower in Clondalkin was taken by a local man.....

.....whilst this pic was taken by our 'Junior' , who recently found himself in the Intercultural Centre in Clondalkin , the back garden of which contains an unusual feature at the end of it - a round tower !

Now that I've put this post 'to bed' - and before I have to do the same with my youngest daughter - the two of us are off for an hour or two to stroll around Corkagh Park:lucky us !

Thanks for the visit,

Sharon.

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DUBLIN 1922 : FROM DRUMCONDRA TO CLONDALKIN.

'THERE WILL BE ANOTHER DAY.....' By Peadar O'Donnell ; first published in January 1963.


I called on Phil McCauley next ; he had seen me go by and was on the lookout for me. He had been in the village , and the Free State people there were blaming themselves for not breaking in on Peadar O' Donnell's meeting "when he turned it into politics". Their talk was that this was Peadar O' Donnell's way of tricking the people back into the fight against the Treaty which the IRA had not the resolution to make with any firmness. A man Phil met at the forge told him he had it from a man who knew what he was talking about , that the Land Commission would sell out anybody who defied them on arrears : they would sell the land for the amount of the arrears and that would be a great temptation , especially now with all this bitterness. I listened to Phil McCauley pile doubt on doubt to make a gloomy picture : " Jimmy Getins and Big Nial Houston want you and me to go over to them this evening or send them word where to meet us. We have to move quick before this kind of talk makes headway among the people." I was to find, again and again , over the hard years of struggle that lay ahead, that Phil McCauley had this gift of painting a dark picture and then taking a courageous stand.....

(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.

15TH SEPTEMBER 1970 :

"The trial was due to open on 22nd September : a consulation was held in the Attorney General's office on 15th September for the purpose , I suppose, of becoming acquainted with Counsel. I had met them briefly in the Attorney's office , with the Minister, on 14th July and, as my evidence was - to my mnd - straightforward , I did not foresee any difficulties for me. I discussed the question of producing and reading from my diary in support of my account of my conversation with Mr. Haughey on April 18th and the Attorney said that I could if the notes had been made at the time but that I should ask permission of the Judge. I was also told that it was sound to answer the questions briefly and to the point and not to feel rushed. I was given no indication that my direct testimony was to be confined to my conversation with Mr. Haughey and that my conversation with Chief Super. Malone and his corroboratory evidence would not be called for in evidence by the State. Incidentally , police witnesses complained to me that they had experienced great difficulty in getting to see the prosecuting lawyers and that when they did it was only for a short period , much shorter than was usual in police experience. At my consulation with the Attorney General and in conversation with the Minister , it was agreed that in view of the serious threats to my life , according to the police , my part in the presentation of evidence would not be overplayed - in fact , that it would not be emphasised....."

(MORE LATER).


IRELAND 1922 : OLD SCORES SETTLED , NEW SCORES STARTED.

THREE NA FIANNA ÉIREANN BOYS ,TWO AGED 17, ONE 16 YEARS : SHOT IN THE HEAD...

Dublin 1922 : Free State forces acquire weaponry from Westminster and use it against Irish Republicans.

On the evening of Friday October 6th 1922, a young Dublin lady , Jennie O’Toole (last entry , this page) - a member of Cumann na mBan - was pasting Republican leaflets on lamp posts on the Clonliffe Road in Drumcondra and, when she got near the Distillery Road junction, she was shouted at repeatedly and verbally abused by a local man when he saw the nature of the material involved. That loudmouth was , according to information distributed in Irish Republican circles at the time , Free State Army Captain Pat Moynihan , who lived on that same road. Moynihan , an Irish Republican 'poacher-turned-gamekeeper', could very well have been watching that street as two of his nieces were expected home on that route from a date to a theatre which they had been on with two anti-Republican State operatives , Nicholas Tobin and Charlie Dalton , who both worked for the Free State Army Intelligence Section at Wellington Barracks. When Charlie Dalton was the same age as one of the NFE youths mentioned in this piece - Joseph Rogers (16) - he was recruited by Michael Collins and joined the squad that Collins was then assembling : this IRA Unit was permanently housed in Abbey St, Dublin, in a 'front' premises in which a 'legitimate' business operated from - 'George Moreland, Cabinet Maker' , and squad members were paid £4 10s a week to carry out assassinations on a full-time basis. Shortly after his 17th birthday , as a member of that Squad , Charlie Dalton took part in the executions of British Army Major C M Dowling and British Army Captain Leonard Price in their bedrooms in Baggot Street.

The distressed young lady, Jennie, encountered three young lads , members of Na Fianna Éireann, who offered to take over the work : Edwin Hughes (17),who lived at 107 Clonliffe Road , Drumcomdra ,Brendan Holohan (17) ,49 St.Patrick’s Road, Drumcondra and Joseph Rogers (16) ,2 Upper St.Patrick’s Road, Drumcondra. It appears to be the case that Free State Captain Moynihan met Nick Tobin and Charlie Dalton and told them that Republicans were in the area , pasting leaflets , and that Tobin and Dalton contacted a near-by Free State Army barracks for a search party and arranged to meet them in the area. Dalton could very well have known who he was hunting , as young Brendan Holohan and Joseph Rogers were near-neighbours of his and the nature of his job would have dictated that he familarise himself with local Republican activists.

The three young boys were still pasting leaflets on poles on that route which took them in the vicinity of Free State Captain Pat Moynihan's house when , shortly after 10.30pm on that Friday night, a Free State Army truck screeched to a halt beside them and they were violently thrown in to the back of it and taken to Wellington Barracks , where they were interrogated and released. Their Free State captors included Charlie Dalton and Nick Tobin. The next day - Saturday 7th October 1922 - the three young lads were lifted again by the Free Staters and soon found themselves standing in waste ground just off the Naas Road in an area known then as 'The Quarries' , in Clondalkin (near to the Naas Road/Monastery Road junction) : each of them was riddled with bullets and had a coup de grâce delivered to 'finish the job' - a shot to the head.

In November 1922 , an inquest was held at which the prosecution demanded that a verdict of murder be brought against Charlie Dalton but , apparently, the Jury were 'reminded' by the State that they were living in 'exceptional times' and,following that and possibly other 'reminders' , the Jury declined to entertain the prosecution. In an effort to suggest that 'justice will be done' , Dalton was then 'arrested' by his colleagues in the CID but was never charged with an offence related to the 'Quarrie Killings'.

The youngest of the three lads , 16-years-old Joseph Rogers, was the son of well know Dublin Bookmaker Mr. Thomas Rodgers and had served two years of his apprenticeship as a mechanical engineer.

But this crime did not go unnoticed - Dermot MacGiolla Phadraig, a Na Fianna Éireann training officer, was passing by the area at the time on Saturday 7th October 1922 and witnessed the executions and a Charles Byrne, an undercover man for the IRA in Oriel House, was also passing by and actually spoke to one of the Free State gunmen, Charlie Dalton.

The remains of Edwin Hughes (17) was identified by his older brother, Gerald, 17-year-old Brendan Holohan's body was identified by his father Michael and Joseph Rogers (16) was identified by his older brother, Michael.

Incidentally , Nick Tobin , one of the Free State 'Quarrie Gunmen' , was in charge of a Free State raiding party later on that same month (October 1922) when they went to kill more Republicans who , they were told, were operating an IRA bomb-making factory from house number 8 in Gardiner Place , in Dublin city centre: Nick never made it back to his Free State base that day , having been shot dead by 'accident'.

Na Fianna Éireann at the GPO ,Dublin, Easter Monday 2012.

The Na Fianna Éireann organisation is still active to this day and , as in 1922, continues to support the Republican position : Na Fianna Eireann (literally "Warriors of Ireland") has had several subtitles in its history; Irish National Youth Movement, Irish Republican Youth Movement, Irish Republican Scouts etc but its central ethos has never changed. It has always had the object of educating the youth of Ireland in national ideas and re-establishing the independence of the nation. The goal of the organisation on its foundation in 1909 was "...to re-establish the independence of Ireland by means of training the youth of Ireland to fight Ireland’s fight when they are older and the day comes..." Members are trained in scouting skills and parade drill and receive education regarding Republicanism and Irish history and heritage. In short , the NFE organisation instills a sense of pride , worth and value into those who join - worthy character traits which they carry with them into adulthood.

Thanks for reading, Sharon.

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'BRIDESWELL COMMONS' AND ST. BRIGID.

ST. BRIGID'S WELL IN CLONDALKIN , DUBLIN -

Whilst doing a wee bit of research for a piece we hope to publish here this coming Wednesday - concerning three young lads from the Northside of Dublin who were viciously dealth with by Free State forces in 1922 - our 'Junior' got diverted (as young lads do!) when he came across mention of a local landmark which he and his friends know well - a supposed 'magic well' that is situated within walking distance of '1169 Towers (!)' and is sometimes used as a meeting-up place , as it's only a stones throw from a better-known landmark - Newlands Cross.

The 'Well' in question - St. Brigid's - was, at one time, situated on what was known as 'Brideswell Common' , an abandoned piece of land which travellers passed on their way to Kildare. The 'Well' and surrounding land was 'owned' by William Caldbeck Esq., who rented it to a Mr. Ormsby. The 'Commons' area at that time consisted of just two fields with a rough lane dividing them , and a natural spring which the locals named 'St.Brigid's Well' , in honour of St.Brigid who, according to folklore, would baptise so-called 'pagans' in the waters of the Well - and, in return, the locals payed particular homage to her on the 1st February each year : 'the Feast Day of St. Brigid'.

Infants that died before they could be baptised were said to be buried in this immediate area as a lease signed by Caldbeck Esq., allowed for burials in a 'ground [area] of 4 Perches...' and this and the fact that St. Brigid made regular 'pit stops' there soon ensured that the Well became a 'special place' , the waters of which were said to improve the eyesight of young girls , once their eyes were washed with a wet cloth which was then hung on the nearest tree to dry - as the cloth dried , the eyesight of the girl who had been washed with it improved.

Anyway :enough diversion - a forty minute walk from St. Brigid's Well , heading towards the Inchicore area, would take you to a spot where, on October 7th 1922, the bodies of three teenage boys were found : each had been shot in the head...

(MORE ON WEDNESDAY , 18TH JULY 2012...)

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BRITAIN WAIVES THE RULES....

'THERE WILL BE ANOTHER DAY.....' By Peadar O'Donnell ; first published in January 1963.


Jack Boyle was a man of this townland and I had sat by every fireside in it. It was not a meeting I wanted just then but a chat with James Duirnin , and I addressed myself to him and the people stood around and listened. I knew James was not at the chapel gate and I asked him if the neighbours were in with him to tell him what I said , and they were. "The dangerous hour will be the early morning...." he said, in his serious way, "...always the dangerous raid, whether the British made it or the Free Staters , was the early morning raid. We will guard against that by making a place for Jack Boyle's cattle in our byres at night. And we thought the best way would be to draw carts across the one road into the glen by day so that a motorcar won't be able to bring trouble on us without warning. People will be on the watch and someone will give a shout." He looked round at his neighbours. " This is the neighbourliest townland in the whole world and the Republicanist townland in Ireland." Just like that. I felt strangely inadequate - even a little scared - and more than a little moved. I told them this was my first place of call and that I would be on my way now to see a man here and there in other townlands , that I would not keep them from their work on a good harvest day , but I would be back. That scene in Black James Duirnin's field of oats is one of my great 'stills'.

(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 said that I felt like resigning forthwith , in protest, but that to do so in advance of the arms trial would look like trying to run away from my obligation to give testimony and I said that I contemplated retiring on that account in the following January when I would have completed another full year's service which would have pensionable value. My relations with the Minister were not on as cordial a plane after that. When, later , I was to institute an action against the 'Irish Press' newspaper for a defamatory article published on 25th September , just before I was due to give evidence in the arms trial , I showed Senior Counsel my notes in relation to Deputy de Valera's character assassination of July 1970 which I did not propose to use , on the Minister's account, and he said that while it did me much credit it was an unanswerable course of action. "

31ST AUGUST 1970 :

" I resumed work on Monday 31st August. While I had booked an apartment in Torremuella , Spain , for the month of August, I returned to Dublin on 16th August , leaving my wife and daughter behind. The fact that I was to give testimony at the trial of Mr. Haughey in September destroyed my peace of mind and I felt that I would be happier in my home surroundings with books etc to occupy me. I resumed communication with my office and the Garda Authorities who maintained an armed guard on my house throughout the twenty-four hours. The Commissioner prevailed on me to carry a gun for safety and I was given police instructions in the use of it. A firearms certificate was issued by the local District Officer of the Garda and was repeated in 1971....."

(MORE LATER).

BRITAIN WAIVES THE RULES.....

MARTIN COREY 'GUILTY , INNOCENT , GUILTY....'

It's not very often that the mighty British political establishment shows its fangs in public , as it prefers to present itself on the world stage as 'toothless' , if not 'neutral' , when it comes to issues pertaining 'colonial issues' ie '....we introduced democracy to the natives , taught them social etiquette showed them how to trade and then left them to it..'.

Occasionally , however , the drool spills and , in the case of Martin Corey , it flows : "Irish Republican Martin Corey From Lurgan, Co. Armagh was sentenced to Life Imprisonment in December 1973. He was 19 years old. He spent the next 19 years in jail and was finally released without signing anything, in June 1992.Without warning on April 16th 2010 he was taken back into custody. No Reason for same was given to Martin at the time or since his return to jail......"

There have been 'developments' in the last few days in relation to Martin's position which have been aptly commented on by Irish Republicans but , if there is a 'silver lining' to be found in this political 'cloud' , it is to be had in the fact that Westminster's claim to be 'neutral' re its on-going role in this country has publicly been exposed as lie.The judiciary in the Occupied Six Counties will be 'obliged' to play second-fiddle to its paymaster in Westminster (monkey , organ-grinder springs to mind!) when the latter decides that doing so protects its interests better : nothing new to be learned there for Irish Republicans, of course , as we experience smaller instances of that nature whenever we are stopped by HM 'Security Forces' whilst crossing Britain's illegal border and/or when on the streets of the O6C , by which we mean that we know to expect harassment and to have our toes stood on , literally, by these uniformed thugs, but Martin's case has brought things to a level not experienced in a good few years : internment for no reason other than your political viewpoint having marked you out as a target for the State.

The only guaranteed way to exit this 'level' is to obtain a complete British military and political withdrawal from this country and , regardless of how many of us fall victim to the 'monkey' , that will remain the objective. The latest news on this travesty of justice - and opinion on same - can be viewed here.

UP FOR THE MATCH AND IN FOR THE DRAW.....!

We had a wilder than usual time on Sunday last (8th July 2012) at the monthly Irish Republican raffle , as we found ourselves in the middle of four sets of competing fans : Galway , Kilkenny , Dublin and Wexford were playing against each other (in some or other combination!) in GAA fixtures which yours truly hadn't a clue about. Two members of the raffle team apparently knew about the matches as they purposely wore 'neutral colour' clothes but the other three of us were picked-on/slagged/supported/encouraged (include and/or between all of those descriptive terms!) because of the colour of some or other item of clothing and because of our Dub accents !

But , as usual with all the sporting fans we've met at previous raffles, it was all in good craic , and we gave as good as we got and didn't care whether they were Dubs or culchies! Anyway - down to business : one of usual customers , Anto the coach driver, went nuclear when a ticket (202) he sold to his pal , Tony Burke, was the first one out of the raffle drum , winning a tidy €200 for Tony but then it dawned on Anto that he couldn't share in the spoils 'cause he was the 'designated driver' and so we done the only thing we could do : we slagged Anto !

When Anto and Tony calmed down a wee bit , we got Tony to pull the second prize (€100) and that was when Tony's celebrations paled into nothingness as a young Dublin lady , Sonya F , whooped and danced her way to our table to verify that ticket number 044 was the winner - and it sure was! Amidst the chaos that ensued , we managed to get one of Sonya's friends to pull out the third prize - €40 - and a young Miss from Arklow , in the county of Wicklow - Trisha K - made her way to the front of house to claim her prize with ticket number 461. The Arklow lass pulled the fourth prize for us - ticket number 253 - and a young Waterford lad , Tommy D , calmly approached the table , handed over his ticket stub and , with a wink, quietly collected his twenty spot. That 'TD'(!) then gave an oul fella from Ballyer in Dublin - Paddy T - fifth prize of €20 on ticket number 650 and Paddy extended the good karma by picking ticket 295 , which Brandan from Carlow had bought and he, in turn, passed-on a similar sum to Tomás , from Waterford , on ticket number 257. And it was that latter winner we blamed for no-one else winning except Colm Farrelly , who had bought ticket 120 from one of our regulars , Owen , and won our last prize with it.

When things returned to normal (or as normal as possible with all the GAA supporters present!) we left two of the Committee members to tidy-up the books and the rest of us went off in search of Tony Burke , to take him up on his earlier offer of a pint or two to celebrate his win. Which is how we ended up in Kilkenny (or was it Galway?) for the remainder of that day and some of the next one and also explains why it is that I'm so late in posting this report..... ;-)!

Thanks for reading, Sharon.

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