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From: stu <STU...@NUACVM.ACNS.NWU.EDU>
Subject: AP/RN articles (2/17/94)
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Articles from An Phoblacht/Republican News 17 Feb. 1994
1.FAIT gets L27,000 per year from British
2. INC responds to declaration
FAIT GETS L27,000 PER YEAR FROM BRITISH
The anti-republican grouping Families Against Intimidation and Terror (FAIT)
which masquerades as a peace group has admitted that it receives L27,000 per
year from the British government while its leading spokesperson Henry Robinson
acknowledges that he is a "former" member of the Workers' Party, carried out
a kneecapping and is now a member of the Democratic Left.
In an interview in the Belfast weekly newspaper the Andersontown News on
12 February, Robinson and Geoff Maxwell said that the five figure sum they
receive from the British government "is not enough money for us". "We need
much more money--tax-payers money--than we are getting," said Robinson.
It also emerged last week that the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) which
was set up after the Hillsborough Agreement to fund social and economic pro-
jects in the Six Counties and border areas, gave L15,000 to FAIT. Many con-
tributors to the IFI in the United States who believe that they are funding
a genuine peace group may be dismayed at the relevations of the clear anti-
republican political agenda of FAIT as freely admitted by its spokesperson in
the Andersontown News.
While FAIT claims to be an "anti-paramilitary" group all its activities have
been directed against republicans. Admitting that he was formerly a member of
the Workers' Party and is now in the Democratic Left, Robinson cites
An Phoblacht/Republican News as having first made the allegation of WP/DL
influence in FAIT.
It is mostly in the 26 Counties and outside Ireland that FAIT is perceived as
a peace group, but in the Andersontown News interview their spokespersons
reiterated their support for the RUC, the British state's violent paramilitary
police.
Nationalists in many parts of the Six Counties have been incensed by FAIT's
tactics and they will be further angered by their assertions that "paramilitary
organisations" make "community policing" impossible and that "joyriding" is the
responsibility of the ""paramilitaries" (the IRA in FAIT language) because
"they taught them to steal cars".
The British government funding for FAIT, first highlighted by AP/RN, and now
admitted by them in the Andersontown News puts into perspective all their
activities, fuelled as they are by a pro-British, anti-republican agenda.
These activites included their protest at Dublin Airport when Gerry Adams
arrived back from the USA on 3 February.
INC RESPONDS TO DECLARATION
by Liam O'Coileain
The Irish National Congress has announced its response to the Downing Street
Declaration. After two months of deliberations among its membership, who are
spread among 25 branches nationwide, its findings were made public at a press
conference in Dublin on Wednesday, 16 February.
"The INC welcomes the overall process, beginning with the Hume/Adams Initiative
and including the Downing Street Declaration, which has not only brought the
northern conflict to the centre of the political stage but has also engendered
a widespread desire for peace," said INC National Chairperson Bobby Ballagh.
Ballagh, accompanied by fellow INC national executive members Margaret Urwin
and Nora Comiskey, has published the INC's views in a booklet entitled Response
to the Peace Process.
Ballagh said that he was "surprised at people who express extraordinary
impatience for a decision on the declaration", a reference to the pressure
which Sinn Fein has been put under to say yes or no. He explained that the
INC had approached their assessment of it "very seriously" among its 25
brances and that "it has taken us all this time to produce a document which
reflects the views of all of our members".
The ten-point contents of that booklet welcome the thrust for peace but are
also critical of aspects of the Downing Street Declaration. Ballagh said that
the INC recognised that the declaration "could be a step in the development
of a peace process" but added the "if a just and lasting peace is to be
realised then its serious deficiencies must be addressed".
He welcomed the positive recognition of the right of the Irish people to
self-determination, but noted in the document that "this right is qualified
many times in the declaration by a reaffirmation of what has become known as
the unionist veto". The INC point out that there is no acceptance by John
Major in the declaration of the need for British constitutional change.
Ballagh also stated that "those aspects of the declaration which appear most
favorable to nationalists are couched in terms that are largely rhetorical and,
consequently, fail to translate into concrete proposals, whereas the unionist
veto is guarenteed on several occaisons, in totally unambiguous terms".
"If the declaration is to make a meaningful contribution to the peace process,
then a way must be found to bridge the gap between rhetoric and substance,"
said Ballagh.
The INC is also concerned that the "causes of the conflict" which Paragraph 1
of the declaration says must be addressed, are never spelled out or addressed
in the rest of the document. It describes the failures of the two governments
to address the many causes behind the conflict as the declaration's "fundament-
al flaw".
"There is no mention of discrimination in employment, of human rights abuses,
nor of the higher levels of social deprivation and the daily harassment and
abuse by the security forces experienced by large sections of the nationalist
community", said Ballagh. "These injustices and others exacerbate the conflict
and any peace process which fails to take them on board is doomed to failure."
The INC is disappointed that the Dublin government accepted the continuing
existence of the northern state by pledging that Irish unity can only come
about with the majority consent in the Six Counties. "If northern nationalists
are expected to accept this declaration on trust," said Ballagh,"then, at the
very least, the British government must recognise the legitimate grievances of
nationalists and make new arrangements, supplementary to the declaration if
necessary, which will recognise their Irish identity and redress the historical
disadvantage and the present-day burdens which they suffer."
He emphasised the belief of the INC that the northern state cannot, by its
nature, respond effectively to demands for democratic change. The INC is
convinced that the fundamental cause of the conflict is the British claim to
sovereignty and that the ending of partition must be a central part of the
peace process.
Ballagh also pointed out that the "ambiguous and contradictory" nature of the
declaration has been "compounded by subsequent statements and actions by the
two governments".
He referred to the British government's strong reassertion of a unionist
position in the immediate aftermath of the declaration. Ballagh pointed out
that while the two governments seemed in accord with what the declaration says,
"there seems to be some distance between what each government believes the
declaration means."
"People who are committed the peace process need to know precisely how the two
governments are interpreting the document and precisely where they see the
process going," Ballagh affirmed.
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From: stu <STU...@NUACVM.ACNS.NWU.EDU>
Subject: AP/RN feature
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----------------- Message requiring your approval (214 lines) -----------------
the following was part of a "feature" in the 24/2/94 issue of
AN PHOBLACHT/REPUBLICAN NEWS
"A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO SINN FEIN"
1.Evolution of a republican party
2.A radical voice
3.Electoral strategy--representing the people
4.Sinn Fein structures
Evolution of a Republican party
Modern Irish Republicans trace their political origins to the movement of the
United Irishmen of the 1790s. They took their inspiration from the French
Revolution and fought for the breaking of the political connection between
Ireland and Britain, believing that only an independent Ireland could guarentee
equality and prosperity for the Irish people.
Most of the leading figures of the United Irishmen were Presbyterians and
Protestants and a key part of their programme was unity between Irish people
of all religions in the cause of liberty. Their rebellion in 1798 was ruth-
lessly surpressed, but their ideas continued to inspire Irish nationalists
for over a century and a half.
The separatist strand of Irish nationalism waxed and wained in the 19th Century
enjoying its biggest popular following in the Fenian movement in Ireland and
the United States in the late 1850s and 1860s, but by the end of the century,
the organised demand for complete separation was almost nonexistent.
The name Sinn Fein (We Ourselves) first emerged in the early 1900s. It was a
federation of nationalist clubs and eventually, all nationalists to the left
of the Irish Parliamentary Party at Westminister came to be popularly known as
Sinn Feiners. The press of the time called the 1916 Rising the "Sinn Fein
Rebellion".
The Sinn Fein party, reorganised in 1917, was based on the demand for an Irish
Republic. It won the 1918 general election overwhelmingly and set up Dail
Eireann (Assembly of Ireland). Following three years of guerilla war, led by
the underground republican government, the party split in 1922 on the issue of
the Treaty which partitioned Ireland.
Throughout the 1920s, following a devastating Civil War, Sinn Fein continued as
the republican party. The departure of its leader Eamonn de Valera to form
Fianna Fail in 1926 meant that it was to remain a small abstentionist party for
the next two decades. Its fortunes ebbed and flowed in the late 1950s and
early 1960s with the IRA's border campaign, during which it enjoyed some
electoral success.
In the 1960s, Sinn Fein adopted a more radical stance on social and economic
affairs and campaigned politically to gain support on issues other than
partition. But differing approaches to the Civil Rights Movement and to the
outbreak of the present conflict in the Six Counties led to another split.
One section of Sinn Fein was in the process of abandoning the republican demand
for complete British withdrawal from Ireland and went on to become what are
now Democratic Left and the Workers Party.
The Sinn Fein which emerged in 1970--popularly known at the time as "Provision-
al" Sinn Fein--was to evolve through the '70s and '80s to the party we know
today. It was to the forefront of the resistance of the nationalist people in
the Six Counties, as they saw their peaceful demand for civil rights met with
state violence. Sinn Fein again took on the role of the leading advocate of
British withdrawal and a 32-County Ireland and campaigned on the streets
throughout Ireland in the 1970s.
It was only in the early 1980s that the challenge of Sinn Fein as a serious
political force and central element in the republican struggle was first fully
felt. The re-evaluation of strategy and reorganisation which resulted from
the mass campaign in support of republican prisoners in the H-Blocks and
Armagh before and during the 1981 Hunger Strike (when ten prisoners died) set
Sinn Fein on its course for the 1980s.
Electoral successes (see panel on elections) placed the party at the centre
of the political stage and thwarted British government efforts to impose an
internal partitionist solution in the Six Counties. It gave the most effective
voice they had ever had to the dispossessed nationalists of the Six Counties.
Having always pursued a lasting, peaceful settlement based on national self-
determination, the party refined its peace strategy in key documents Senario
for Peace (1987) and Towards a Lasting Peace in Ireland (1992). The pursuit
of that strategy laid the groundwork for the present efforts to achieve lasting
peace in which Sinn Fein has been a central participant.
A Radical Voice
Sinn Fein is a 32-County legal registered political party with a wide range of
policies, not just relating to the conflict in Ireland but reflecting all Irish
political, economic and social issues.
Sinn Fein's objective is the achieving of national self-determination and the
creation of a secular, socialist republic with a democratic island economy
based on the principles of the Proclamation of 1916, the Democratic Programme
of 1919 and the beliefs of Tone, Pearse and Connolly.
Sinn Fein has radical policies on national self-determination, neutrality,
the European Union, employment, worker's rights and unemployment, industrial
relations, privatisation, emigration, agriculture, poverty, women, the
environment, fisheries, culture, local government, health and social services,
education, the Irish language and international issues.
The party also campaigns against 26-County collaboration with Britain through
extradition and on justice issues arising directly out of the partition of
Ireland, including discrimination in employment, censorship, prisoners' issues,
shoot-to-kill, plastic bullets, collusion and other repressive legislation.
Electoral Strategy--Representing the People
Despite the efforts of its political opponents, especially the British govern-
ment which has adopted many measures to curb its electoral success, Sinn Fein,
over the last 13 years, has been a formidable electoral force. Since 1982 the
party has contested 16 elections across Ireland, and has contested elections
in all but two of the last 13 years. This is a unique record for any political
party in Ireland.
In the Six Counties, Sinn Fein has consistantly registered votes of more than
ten per cent of the total electorate and almost 40% of the nationalist
electorate. In the 26 Counties, the republican alternative has been
consistantly offered under conditions where republicans are censored, demonis-
ed and lack the financial resources of the establishment parties.
Elections in the Six Counties have been conducted under conditions where
election candidates have been denied access to the media, where election
workers have been harassed, arrested and murdered, where combined opposition
to Sinn Fein was the sole electoral plank of our opponents.
In the 26 Counties, Sinn Fein has just under 30 councilors across the state.
In Monaghan, there are seven councillors on county and urban authorities.
Sinn Fein representatives also sit in a number of councils including Donegal,
Leitrim, Dundalk, Birr, Kildare, Tralee, Listowel, Gorey, Dublin Corporation
and Shannon. This year Sinn Fein will be contesting urban, district, and
town commission elections throughout the 26 Counties.
In the Six Counties, Sinn Fein is currently represented by 51 councillors with
12.5% of the overall vote and 36.3% of the nationalist electorate. It was
their third highest percentage vote in the current phase of the struggle and
the ninth consecutive Six County election.
Sinn Fein is represented on 15 of the 26 councils in the Six Counties and in
1993 it increased its representation in seven of them. In Belfast, the largest
elected assembly in the Six Counties, Sinn Fein won the largest share of
first-preference votes giving them ten seats, the second largest grouping on
the council.
In West Belfast, where Gerry Adams was narrowly defeated in the 1992 Westmin-
ister election due to tactical voting by unionists, Sinn Fein won 47% of the
vote compared to 21% for the SDLP.
In Magharafelt District Council, Sinn Fein topped the poll with 43% of the
first-preferences. Sinn Fein also gained seats in Antrim, Belfast, Craigavon,
Lisburn and Newry and Mourne. In Dungannon, Sinn Fein candidates topped the
poll in three wards.
Sinn Fein has remained a formidable electoral force in the Six Counties and
has the potential to advance in the 26 Counties. In 1994, continued Sinn Fein
electoral campaigning reaffirms that there is a large nationalist population
who will not be silenced, will not be cowed by military repression or loyalist
death squads, who continue to demand and work for justice, freedom and real
democracy across Ireland.
Sinn Fein Structures
-Ard Fheis
The ultimate governing and legislative body within Sinn Fein is the annual
Ard Fheis (conference). It consists of (a) The officers and members of the
Ard Chomhairle. (b) Two delegates from each comhairle limisteir. (c) Two
delegates from each comhairle ceantair. (d) Two delegates from each affiliated
cumann of 20 members or less.
-Ard Chomhairle
When the Ard Fheis is not in session, control of the party is vested in the
Ard Chomhairle (national executive) which is comprised of the president,
vice president, general secretary, two national treasurers, the publicity
director, party chairperson, nine other members and one representative
from each of the comhairli limisteir.
The officers and nine other members are elected by the Ard Fheis delegates.
The Ard Chomhairle has the power to co-opt five members for specific posts
and the power for additional co-options to ensure that no less than one
quarter of Ard Chomhairle positions are held by women.
-Coiste Seasta
The Ard Chomhairle elects from its members a Coiste Seasta of eight members
who meet regularly and have full power to carry out routine business between
Ard Chomhairle meetings.
-Comhairli Limisteir
The Ard Chomhairle, in consultation with local Sinn Fein membership, can
establish comhairli limisteir. These are based on county or constituency
boundaries and have charge of the Sinn Fein organization in the region.
Delegates from the cumainn in the area attend the Comhairle Limisteir AGM
to elect officers and formulate policy for the ensuing year.
-Comhairli Ceantair
Each comhairle ceantair is based on a county electoral area as defined from
time to time by the county council, and has charge of all cumainn in the area.
The comhairle ceantair consists of its officers and two delegates from each
cumann in the area.
-Cumainn
The base of Sinn Fein is the cumann. Cumainn are established in such areas
as the Ard Chomhairle or authorised comhairle ceantair directs. A cumann
consists of not less than five members, the recommended maximum number of
members being 12. The cumann, as a component part of Sinn Fein, brings the
policies of the party to the people in their local areas.
-Departments
There are a number of departments within Sinn Fein which specialise in differ-
ent areas of political work. These include Publicity, Prisoner of War, Cultur-
al, Women, Education and Trade Union Departments, and Foreign Affairs Bureau
which deals with international affairs and Irish solidarity abroad.
Mike Rogers
>I think I speak for most readers of scc when I say that your Sinn Fein/IRA
>propaganda is not welcome here.
So use a KILL file, they were invented for people like you.
--
Mike Rogers,#3,44Westland##EveryoneHasTheRightToFreedomOfOpinionAndExpressionT
Row,Dublin2,Ireland Perl ##hisRightIncludesFreedomToHoldOpinionsWithoutInterfe
##############################renceAndToSeekReceiveAndImpartInformationAndIdea
sThroughAnyMediaAndRegardlessOfFrontiers#10 UN Declaration Of HumanRights Kibo
Patrick P. Murphy
> Mike Rogers (mi...@maths.tcd.ie) wrote:
> >So use a KILL file, they were invented for people like you.
> People like me? What sort of people are you referring to?
> I was mearly pointing out that Sinn Fein's propaganda does not seem to be
> welcome amongst most Celtic people.
But censorship, as in trying to force someone off usenet, is to me even
more unwelcome. Mike was merely trying to point out that kill files are a
useful way of not having to see posts from an individual or on a given
subject. I have one for a certain anonymous account that sometimes posts
here.
I don't like seeing Sinn Fein propaganda posted here either, but I'd much
prefer to see it refuted by calm, objective, rational posters than to just
have the posters shut out. (Yeah, I know, where are these posters :-) but
you get my drift, I hope).
- Pat
--
==========================================================================
| Patrick P. Murphy, Ph.D. Scientific Programming Analyst |
| National Radio Astronomy Observatory Net: pmu...@nrao.edu |
| 520 Edgemont Road Phone: (804) 296-0372 |
| Charlottesville, VA 22903-2475 VoiceMail: (804) 980-5889 |
| <a href=http://info.cv.nrao.edu/~pmurphy/> Irish/Celtic info </a> |
| "I don't believe in the no-win scenario" --- James T. Kirk |
==========================================================================
Steve Graham
>MCE...@zodiac.rutgers.edu wrote:
>>
>>the following was part of a "feature" in the 24/2/94 issue of
>>AN PHOBLACHT/REPUBLICAN NEWS
>>
>
>propaganda is not welcome here.
>
>
>-----------------------+------------------------+----------------------------
>Chris O'Byrne, | E-mail: oby...@iol.ie | IOL Internet Services
>Ireland On-Line, | Phone : +353-91-92727 | (01)671-5185 (091)92711 8N1
>Udaras Complex, Furbo, | Fax : +353-91-92726 | demo: log in as guest
>Co. Galway, Ireland. | http://www.iol.ie/~obyrne/obyrne.html
>
>Disclaimer: "I don't speak for IOL. I sometimes don't even speak for me!"
>
> "A computer will always do what you tell it to do,
> and not what you want it to do".
I don't care for it much either, but that last posting was quite revealing,
in that it quoted exact figures for Sinn Fein's low level of electoral support
in Northern Ireland. (But not the Republic. That would be TOO embarrassing.)
Stephen Parker
: MCE...@zodiac.rutgers.edu wrote:
: >
: >the following was part of a "feature" in the 24/2/94 issue of
: >AN PHOBLACHT/REPUBLICAN NEWS
: >
:
: I think I speak for most readers of scc when I say that your Sinn Fein/IRA
: propaganda is not welcome here.
:
: Chris.
I would imagine that most readers of scc are mature enough to decide
for themselves what they should/should not read. If you dont like
to read Mc Elroy's posts them simply dont read them.
Some of Mc Elroy's posts quite clearly have a high propoganda content
others are quite factual.
Personally, I found his revelations about FAIT quite interesting.
I believe that most people in the ROI do believe that they are
a peace group, so to reveal that they are actually highly sponsored
by the UK government (as by the way were Peace Train and New
Concensus) could lead people to have a more cynical
view of their activities.
Ireland has a very sorry history when it comes to censorship
please do not add to it.
You seem quite capable of discerning what is propaganda and
dismissing it as such. Please let other people have the
same opportunity.
So, from my viewpoint Mr. McElroy, please do continue to post
to scc and Chris please let other people decide for themselves
what they should and should not read.
Steve.
The Irish do not know what they want, but they will not be
happy until they get it. - Anon.
Matthew Moore
>MCE...@zodiac.rutgers.edu wrote:
>>
>>the following was part of a "feature" in the 24/2/94 issue of
>>AN PHOBLACHT/REPUBLICAN NEWS
>>
>I think I speak for most readers of scc when I say that your Sinn Fein/IRA
>propaganda is not welcome here.
Oh yeah?
Who appointed you then?
Mike Rogers
>fully aware that what he/she does, he/she does without the support of most
>of the people here.
I don't see that you have evidence to back up that claim.
I do hope that IOL isn't another Prodigy.
Nicholas J. Gant
|> In article <2lak2a$5...@ulysses.iol.ie>, oby...@iol.ie (Chris O'Byrne) writes:
|>
|> But censorship, as in trying to force someone off usenet, is to me even
.. snip..
|>
|> I don't like seeing Sinn Fein propaganda posted here either, but I'd much
|> prefer to see it refuted by calm, objective, rational posters than to just
|> have the posters shut out. (Yeah, I know, where are these posters :-) but
|> you get my drift, I hope).
|> - Pat
I agree, but sadly the posters are often too inarticulate to defend their message
personally as they are just a mouthpiece for others.
--
Nick Gant My opinions are my own.
Ulick Stafford
>MCE...@zodiac.rutgers.edu wrote:
>>
>>the following was part of a "feature" in the 24/2/94 issue of
>>AN PHOBLACHT/REPUBLICAN NEWS
>>
>
>propaganda is not welcome here.
And how can you say that? While most people who read this group do not agree
with many of McElroy's postings, there are few people who think he
shouldn't post here. While there are several people like you who know what
is better for other people to read, than they do themselves, most people
on the net value freedom of expression, and if something is not to thier
liking they hit n or k keys, or whatever. I will emila ypou a few rather
large files for your sin of advocating censorship, and hope others do
likewise.
_____________________________________________________________________________
'There was a master come unto the earth, | Ulick Stafford,
born in the holy land of Indiana, | Dept of Chemical Engineering,
in the mystical hills east of Fort Wayne'.| Notre Dame, IN 46556
| ul...@darwin.cc.nd.edu
Patrick P. Murphy
Stafford) writes:
> I will emila ypou a few rather large files for your sin of advocating
> censorship, and hope others do likewise.
If these are files pertaining to freedom of information, I view this as
somewhat questionable. If you're sending /etc/printcap or equivalent,
then it's childish. I expect to see email-bombing suggestions from
newbies, but you've been around a lot longer than that. :-(
Just MHO. You have every right to make suggestions like this, and I have
just as much right to say what I think of the idea.
- Pat
Des Keane
: Personally, I found his revelations about FAIT quite interesting.
: I believe that most people in the ROI do believe that they are
: a peace group, so to reveal that they are actually highly sponsored
: by the UK government (as by the way were Peace Train and New
: Concensus) could lead people to have a more cynical
: view of their activities.
Be careful - for all their faults, the FAIT is one of the few groups
speaking out against kneecapping and punishment shootings. The IRA
(and SF etc) criticise them in such propagandistic (is that a word?)
terms because they can't stand anyone criticising them. They usually
criticise FAIT, in NI, as 'do-gooders', implying that punishment
shootings are the only way to deal with things in NI. While FAIT may
be a bit reactionary in some ways, the IRA's main objection to them is
their objection to the IRA. The Provies' claim that they are agents
for the British etc is mainly because they criticise the Provies, and
as we all know, anyone whose not for 'us' is against us....
They don't criticise the loyalist paramilitaries because (in
origins anyway) they're not a peace group. They were set up to try to
find different ways to deals with the hoods than blowing their legs
off, and trying to find ways of dealing with the fact that a bunch of
hoods were going round blowing people's knees apart as 'justice'.
Don't be too caught up in An Phoblacht's story. As always
it's just one side.
Des
--
________________________________________________________
Desmond Keane
E-MAIL: da...@cus.cam.ac.uk
MAIL: 605 King's College, Cambridge, CB2 1ST, England.
Nicholas Whyte
> [FAIT] don't criticise the loyalist paramilitaries because (in
>origins anyway) they're not a peace group. They were set up to try to
>find different ways to deals with the hoods than blowing their legs
>off, and trying to find ways of dealing with the fact that a bunch of
>hoods were going round blowing people's knees apart as 'justice'.
> Don't be too caught up in An Phoblacht's story. As always
>it's just one side.
>Des
...and I see on the local news that FAIT were also protesting against the
latest Loyalist punishment shootings as well. I have to say I find the AP/RN
figure of £27,000 difficult to believe; the government rarely have that much
money to throw at voluntary groups of any kind. Apparently FAIT are getting
nothing from them next year anyway (unlike most of the Irish language groups
which presumably are therefore also front organisations for the Brits
**IRONY**).
It is also a bit much to hear AP/RN of all journals protesting about other
people’s previous kneecapping activities.
Nicholas Whyte
Queen’s University of Belfast
Mike Rogers
>do not know how to read a disclaimer. I feel personally attacked, and I
His .sig
>-----------------------+------------------------+----------------------------
>Chris O'Byrne, | E-mail: oby...@iol.ie | IOL Internet Services
>Ireland On-Line, | Phone : +353-91-92727 | (01)671-5185 (091)92711 8N1
>Udaras Complex, Furbo, | Fax : +353-91-92726 | demo: log in as guest
>Co. Galway, Ireland. | http://www.iol.ie/~obyrne/obyrne.html
>Disclaimer: "I don't speak for IOL. I sometimes don't even speak for me!"
> "A computer will always do what you tell it to do,
> and not what you want it to do".
I feel that you *do* drag IOL into every one of your posts by the use of this
signature. It is in effect an advertisement for a rather expensive commercial
buetin board. Furthermore it is was over the 4 line nice 'n' happy limit.
I have no objection to a commercial service's message appearing in one of
the Organisation headers: that's what they're there for and the reader can
easily screen them out should they desire. A .sig is harder to screen, it
is rather 'in your face'. I am reminded of that PepsiNet spoof a while back.
Simon Boyle
>I feel that you *do* drag IOL into every one of your posts by the use of this
>signature. It is in effect an advertisement for a rather expensive commercial
>buetin board. Furthermore it is was over the 4 line nice 'n' happy limit.
"Expensive"? have you had a look around for a price to connect to the internet
if you aren't lucky enough to have a college connection.
IOL provides incredibly good value judging from the sales literature. I'm
recommending it to people who asked me to look into this service in Ireland.
>I have no objection to a commercial service's message appearing in one of
>the Organisation headers: that's what they're there for and the reader can
>easily screen them out should they desire. A .sig is harder to screen, it
>is rather 'in your face'. I am reminded of that PepsiNet spoof a while back.
There's an argument for two sigs in this case. 'Official response' and
disclaimable comment.
--
---Simon Boyle
<A HREF="http://www.maths.tcd.ie/hyplan/sboyle/sboyle.html">
sbo...@maths.tcd.ie </A>
Matthew Moore
>For **** sake, people, what I said was :-
>>I think I speak for most readers of scc when I say that your Sinn Fein/IRA
>>propaganda is not welcome here.
{snip}
>As for evidence that what I said is true, I think the recent discussion on
>Irish-Americans and the IRA etc supports it to some extent.
your evidence is drawn from those who post, who are probably a subset
of those who read. It should be clear from posts made that not all
in this forum would agree.
>I take great exception to IOL being drawn into this. Obviously, some people
>do not know how to read a disclaimer. I feel personally attacked, and I
>wonder why? Did I say something that is too threatening for some people to
>handle - namely that IRA and Sinn Fein support is minimal? Because, in
>effect, that is all I said.
what you said was more foolish than threatening, and attracted attacks
because it was inflammatory.
>I will say no more, as my words are being twisted. In effect, I am being
>censored.
piffle! People's words get twisted here all the time. If you cant stand
the heat...
Jeff Inglis
>For **** sake, people, what I said was :-
>
>>propaganda is not welcome here.
>
>opinion is incorrect, then so be it.
Well, hm... I'd say, even I - an active participant in refuting
lots of propaganda lately - welcome propaganda from all sources
as a way to refute it logically and debunk those who believe
propaganda for whatever reason.
>As for evidence that what I said is true, I think the recent discussion on
>Irish-Americans and the IRA etc supports it to some extent.
What that thread does is prove that propaganda can be refuted.
>I take great exception to IOL being drawn into this. Obviously, some people
>do not know how to read a disclaimer. I feel personally attacked, and I
>wonder why? Did I say something that is too threatening for some people to
>handle - namely that IRA and Sinn Fein support is minimal? Because, in
>effect, that is all I said.
So that I do not appear to be coming down on the opposite side of
the fence from Chris entirely... I think that propaganda has
a place here, as does logical dissection and examination of it.
Propaganda unmitigated by critical thought isn't very good at
all. But I will defend people's right to post it - I would
advise against it as inflammatory, etc (see my postings in the
Irish-Americans thread).
It was brought up that IOL figures prominently in your
..sig. Admittedly, it is no more than a mere mailing address.
However, netiquette does suggest short .sigs for usenet postings
- if people want to snail mail you they have your email address
to ask you for it... However, you do put in the disclaimer which
means you know IOL is in your .sig and your address.
You do, though advertise IOL in your sig... I think it
is however clear that you do not speak for IOL, but for yourself,
despite your amusing disclaimer to the contrary of that last
part.
>I will say no more, as my words are being twisted. In effect, I am being
>censored.
Words do get twisted, as was pointed out. But that's part of
anarchy on the net... You aren't being censored - you can still
post. And if perhaps the contents of your comments aren't
welcomed by everyone, this can hardly come as a surprise...
.sig in question:
>-----------------------+------------------------+----------------------------
>Chris O'Byrne, | E-mail: oby...@iol.ie | IOL Internet Services
>Ireland On-Line, | Phone : +353-91-92727 | (01)671-5185 (091)92711 8N1
>Udaras Complex, Furbo, | Fax : +353-91-92726 | demo: log in as guest
>Co. Galway, Ireland. | http://www.iol.ie/~obyrne/obyrne.html
>
>Disclaimer: "I don't speak for IOL. I sometimes don't even speak for me!"
> [quote about computers following directions deleted]
At the end of the day, Chris, I have to say you put your foot in
it. I'd say that all opinions are welcome, of any kind, so long
as their posters (if no others who hold the same opinion) are
willing to see criticism, ridicule, even perhaps lambasting of
their ideas in public.
I really wish I could remember who said 'I disagree with
what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say
it.' A Frenchman I believe...except he said it in French.
Sla/inte,
Jeff
--
The number you have dialled is imaginary. Please divide by 0
and try again. Jeff Inglis JIN...@UCC.IE
Gerald Patrick Horgan
say is right, there is still an inbuilt nationalistic feeling withhin
Irsh people. do you remember the H-Block movement ?
Gerald
Ulick Stafford
>
>I would certainly prefer it if people would refrain from posting Sinn Fein/IRA
>propaganda, which seems not to be welcome here anyway.
>
>Most people know the arguments, have read the book, seen the film, lived the etc...
>
>I don't think that the propaganda postings have anything particularly relevant to
>contribute to scc, so it really seems like a waste of time and effort posting this stuff here.
>
>Martyn Jones,
>Munich, Alemania.
Many Irish Nationalists consider mainstream media to be pro-Government
propaganda. News always gets filtered by the medium in some manner. When
one reads or hears the news one must apply the appropriate counterfilter.
Take the critised Poblacht posting. Everyone knows that that this
publication is the official mouthpiece of Sinn Fein, much as the Daily
Telegraph is the mouthpiece of the Tory party. Naturally, it slants its
news to support Sinn Fein positions, much as any other newspaper supports
the views of its owner. However, it does contain news that many people
consider useful. OUtside of Ireland, the news one hears or reads in mainstream
media about Northern Ireland usually passes through a press office in
London, where a slant is applied. McElroy's posts are a useful
counter balance for those of us who can't pop out and get An Phoblacht (not
that I ever did when I was in Ireland) or who don't want to pay for it.
Personally, I am much more interested in these postings than in the etymology
of Welsh words, but I don't complain about those. I just hit n
repetitively or k. I don't state that they are a 'waste of time'.
_____________________________________________________________________________
'There was a miaster come unto the earth, | Ulick Stafford,
Martyn=Jones%Su...@bangate.compaq.com
I would certainly prefer it if people would refrain from posting Sinn Fein/IRA
propaganda, which seems not to be welcome here anyway.
Most people know the arguments, have read the book, seen the film, lived the etc...
I don't think that the propaganda postings have anything particularly relevant to
contribute to scc, so it really seems like a waste of time and effort posting this stuff here.
Martyn Jones,
Munich, Alemania.
p.s. Actually from Caerffili ... and yes as a matter of fact I am a Welsh Nationalist - however...
Alan Smaill
Well, hm... I'd say, even I - an active participant in refuting
lots of propaganda lately - welcome propaganda from all sources
as a way to refute it logically and debunk those who believe
propaganda for whatever reason.
Let's have lots of open debate, yes.
Let's hear lots of different opinions.
I would not censor any of the postings here;
but there are postings, which are simply taken verbatim from whatever source,
which are not a direct expression of the poster's beliefs, where the
poster is unwilling or unable to reason logically about the posting;
and I personally do not welcome such postings.
--
Alan Smaill JANET: sma...@uk.ac.ed.lfcs
LFCS, Dept. of Computer Science UUCP: ..!mcvax!ukc!lfcs!smaill
University of Edinburgh ARPA: sma...@lfcs.ed.ac.uk
Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, UK. Tel: 031-650-2710
Alan Meehan
: Last words (I hope).
: Reading what I've written, I realise that I have said that hating the British
: is anti-Irish. I realise that I don't give Irish people who want to the
: freedom to hate the British. This is because their freedom to hate the
: British interferes disproportionately with *my* freedom *not* to hate the
: British. When an Irishman goes over to an Irish pub in New York, you would
: imagine that he would have the freedom not to hate the British, especially
: since most Irish people don't. Yet that is not the case.
: Also, I think I am quite possibly a bit too emotionally involved in this
: subject, as we live next door to some people who are very involved in one
: of the Republican paramilitary groups, and they have given us noting but
: *EXTREME* grief all the time we've known them. So, maybe I should stay clear
: of any and all discussions on this group regarding Republican paramilitaries.
: Chris.
: ---------------------------+-----------------------+------------------------
: Chris O'Byrne, | Phone: +353-91-92727 | "I don't speak for
: Assistant System Manager, | Fax: +353-91-92726 | Ireland On-Line."
: Ireland On-Line (Internet Services). http://www.iol.ie/~obyrne/obyrne.html
Chris's point should remind us that the same grouping which protests so
vigourously about government censorship, i.e. Sinn Fein/IRA, itself imposes
a de-facto censorship on the Irish people via despicable persecution of those
who disagree with its methods, principal of which is murder.
Alan.
The SysAdmin
> oby...@iol.ie (Chris O'Byrne) writes:
> >I take great exception to IOL being drawn into this. Obviously, some people
> >do not know how to read a disclaimer. I feel personally attacked, and I
>
> His .sig
> >-----------------------+------------------------+---------------------------
> >Chris O'Byrne, | E-mail: oby...@iol.ie | IOL Internet Services
> >Ireland On-Line, | Phone : +353-91-92727 | (01)671-5185 (091)92711 8
> >Udaras Complex, Furbo, | Fax : +353-91-92726 | demo: log in as guest
> >Co. Galway, Ireland. | http://www.iol.ie/~obyrne/obyrne.html
>
> >Disclaimer: "I don't speak for IOL. I sometimes don't even speak for me!"
>
> I feel that you *do* drag IOL into every one of your posts by the use of this
> signature. It is in effect an advertisement for a rather expensive commercial
> buetin board. Furthermore it is was over the 4 line nice 'n' happy limit.
>
> I have no objection to a commercial service's message appearing in one of
> the Organisation headers: that's what they're there for and the reader can
> easily screen them out should they desire. A .sig is harder to screen, it
> is rather 'in your face'. I am reminded of that PepsiNet spoof a while back.
I suppose you object to mine too? I am the SysAdmin and as such I feel it is
valid to place a notice in my sig so that like-minded folks on the 'net can
find me, especially since we are still a "leaf" site and cannot be telnet'd to.
I have found many new pagan friends from across the world through my sig and I
feel that it's length is perfectly valid so long as the content of my messages
validates it [which they always do! :) ]
If I were a computer hardware company posting large x-posted msgs advertising
the latest price I have on hard disks, you might have a grief. My .sig is an
advert for an Internet service and as such, needs to get out to the net.
'nuff said.
Blessed Be!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Donal, SysAdmin of The Brewers' Witch BBS -- +1 713 272 7350 3 lines!
(Internet) do...@brewich.com (@work) bi...@sri.brewich.com
(CIS) 76460,1443 (Anon UUCP) login: nuucp
(SCA) Ld. Donal Dubh, IC of Dun Bruadair, B of The Stargate, K of Ansteorra
(Snail) 8880 Bellaire B-2 #139, Houston, TX 77036
***Public Access Unix--Multichat, Internet mail, Usenet news, Games & more***
MCE...@zodiac.rutgers.edu
April 23, 1994
************
All-Ireland stand by Sinn Fein
This June sees Sinn Fein contesting elections for the EU parliament, 26-County
UDC's, town commissions and a by-election in Dublin South Central. Sinn Fein
is the only political party which will contest all five Irish EU electoral
areas in the European Parliament election on 9 June.
The election is the first since the Irish Peace Initiative which became public
with the announcement of substantial progress in talks between Gerry Adams and
John Hume. At the time of the last European elections in 1989, Sinn Fein was
two years into a peace strategy which has been pursued intensely by the party
since then.
Now in the last year the Irish Peace Initiative has won substantial public
support. Sinn Fein believes that the partition of Ireland is a European issue
and that Britain's territorial claim to and armed occupation of its six
northern counties is also a European issue.
The creation of the Single Market in 'borderless' EU has come at a time when
Britain's border in Ireland is actually being reinforced. The concept of
European Union and open borders is at odds with a divided Ireland. Sinn Fein
believes the EU can have a constructive role to play in facilitating a peace
process in Ireland.
Other issues which will dominate the EU elections include the debacle over EU
structural funding and the continuing erosion of Irish neutrality by EU
involvement in the Western European Union (WEU).
Sinn Fein's manifesto will highlight the failures of EU membership over the
past 21 years while offering a range of viable alternatives to the
undemocratic and failed monetarist ideologies which dominate the undemocratic
EU structures of today.
Sinn Fein have positive proposals on unemployment, agriculture, the economy,
workers' rights and on women in the EU. At the core of Sinn Fein policy is an
emphasis on the need for democracy in EU structures. Only through proper
democratic structures can the EU be an effective representative organisation
which will cater for the needs of all the people of its member states. At
present the EU is a highly centralised super state which favours the
transnational corporations and the economically powerful.
The elections have become a side show in themselves with the 26-County media
focusing almost solely on the hype surrounding the Leinster House parties
attempts to parachute high-profile personalities as EU candidates for the
election.
Further damning for the government was the release of survey findings that
just under half of 26-County voters did not know that MEPs were directly
elected.
Alongside this we have the continuing dithering by the Labour/Fianna Fail
coalition on setting a date for the South Dublin by-election caused by the
retirement of Dr John O'Connell. It is still unclear whether the election will
be held or not. It seems that the coalition will only call an election if they
believe that they can win the seat and the pollsters have yet to give them the
all clear.
Issues dominating the local elections include the confusion over service
charges, the whole question of funding local government and the lack of
effective empowering local democracy throughout the 26 Counties.
AP/RN will cover the Sinn Fein platform in the forthcoming local elections and
the Dublin South Central by-election in future issues.
****************
BRITISH ARMY REQUISITION MORE GAA GROUNDS, FIELDS & GARDENS
25 years of British violence
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS to the week after the first death caused by British state
forces in the present phase of the Anglo-Irish conflict, nationalists in the
Six Counties have been bearing the brunt of British-sponsored violence.
Theresa Clinton, the wife of Sinn Fein member Jim Clinton, was shot dead by a
loyalist death squad in her own home. Like the RUC who batoned Samuel Devenney
to death in his Derry home 25 years ago in April 1969, these loyalist killers
were armed by the British state. Since the rearming of the loyalist
paramilitaries in 1988 - courtesy of Brian Nelson and British intelligence -
203 people have been killed by them.
In South Armagh massive resources have been put into the reinforcement of the
British military base in Crossmaglen with the small town still under siege.
But nationalists are determined not to be terrorised by the force of the
British state - whether directly through the British army and RUC or
indirectly through loyalist paramilitaries.
That determination was made clear as the people of Crossmaglen organised
against last week's British army invasion of their village. On Thursday
night,14 April, a protest meeting was organised to translate their anger into
positive action. On Saturday, the local GAA club organised a march in the
village which was attended by over 500 people, demonstrating the strength of
feeling throughout the community.
The public meeting resulted in the election of a protest committee. Among
those present were Sinn Fein's Francie Molloy and Bernadette McAliskey. The
committee decided to send a petition to the Dublin government detailing the
situation and outlining its effect upon local people. Since the influx of
military vehicles and personnel, and the setting up of checkpoints on all
roads into Crossmaglen, the full implications of the occupation are only now
being realised.
At the protest march held in the town on Saturday, 16 April, GAA Armagh County
Board member Gene Duffy criticised the British army over its policy of
requisitioning land.
Along with many individuals, the GAA has had land requisitioned
''temporarily'' by the British, with no indication of when it will be
returned. Gene Duffy told demonstrators at Saturday's march that the GAA had
20 years ago been in the same position, and, ''20 years later they still have
the land, and they are taking more, and saying the same again''.
The march was given even greater impetus by an incident at the GAA ground the
previous night. While training was taking place, a British helicopter landed
in the field, disrupting proceedings and endangering the lives of the
footballers training on the pitch.
On Saturday, after the Cardinal Tomas O Fiaich Cup match between Armagh and
Tyrone was played in the grounds, more than 500 people marched to highlight
their opposition to the military stranglehold on the town. The demonstrators
were addressed by Francie Molloy, Bernadette McAliskey, and local doctor, Mary
Allen, all of whom voiced the community's demand that the occupation of their
town be brought to an end.
The Sinn Fein EU candidate, Francie Molloy, spoke of the inconvenience and
harassment of the residents in Crossmaglen. Referring to the setting up of
checkpoints near schools and houses, he said ''parents and children are being
used as human shields. This shows the contempt the British have for for the
residents of Crossmaglen. They claim to be here to protect the community, when
in reality the population is being intimidated and harassed by the British''.
The proceedings were chaired by Margaret Caraher, who announced another rally
to be held in the town on Saturday, 23 April. She hoped that people from all
over the country would be able to express their disgust at what has taken
place in Crossmaglen.
The arrogance which has marked the British forces' actions in Crossmaglen was
mirrored in Washington by Direct Ruler Patrick Mayhew, on Thursday, 14 April.
Responding to comments by Seamus Mallon that the occupation of the village
could only increase support for the IRA, he told journalists: ''If it does, it
does. I am not going to put at risk soldiers and police officers... because it
may increase support for the IRA''.
At a press conference in Dublin on Wednesday, 20 April, two Louth Fianna Fail
TDs contradicted each other over the garda and army operation on the southern
side of the border. Seamus Kirk claimed that he had seen no increase in army
or garda activity. But fellow TD Dermot Aherne was quick to confirm the
massive garda and army presence, expressing concern that the confidence of
local people on both sides of the border in the army and gardai could be
''diminished'' if they were seen on a continuous basis to be protecting the
British forces as they occupied Crossmaglen or closed off border roads
elsewhere which local people had laboured to reopen, a situation which he
described as ''ludicrous''.
But the two TDs were speaking at the press conference, organised by the
Crossmaglen Community Council, in support of the people of the village. Aherne
last week raised the issue in Leinster House with Dick Spring. Two members of
Louth County Council also attended to show their opposition to the British
operation. Fianna Fail Councillor Micheal O'Donnell called on the Dublin
government to withdraw the excess numbers of gardai and soldiers from the
border as a gesture of support towards the people of Crossmaglen. Louth County
Council has unanimously passed a motion condemning the British occupation of
the village and Council Vice Chair,Tommy O'Reilly, was present on behalf of
the council.
The press conference was chaired by Dr Mary Allen, who said that there were
now two soldiers to every civilian in the village. She was particularly
critical of the checkpoint set up outside the local primary school. Local
children, she said, were frightened to go to school and could not learn in it
because outside their window was ''a Vietnam-type situation''. She said that
the level of harassment was incredible, telling how elderly women had their
hands swabbed at checkpoints. She emphasised that the campaign against the
British occupation was backed by the entire community.
US Congress members Peter King and Robert Menendez have promised to visit the
village to protest. They will be joined by John F Kennedy Junior, while senior
Irish-American politician Dan O'Kennedy will arrive in South Armagh on Friday,
22 April.
Paul Rooney, another member of the community council, said that the village
has been closed off from both North and South and was now effectively an
enclave like Sarajevo. He appealed to politicians on both sides of the border
to rally to the people of Crossmaglen. He quoted a statement from the local
priest, Father McGeough, who protested about the ''outrageous imposition on
our community'' and spoke of the peoples' feelings of ''much anger and sense
of isolation and of being abandoned''.
Referring to the effect of the crown forces' activities on the moves towards
peace, Seamus Kirk said that ''incidents like this don't do anything to help
that process''. Dermot Aherne said that Dick Spring had promised to raise the
matter at the next London/Dublin conference meeting, adding that he was also
trying to contact the minister for justice to ask how long the garda and army
operation in the south is expected to last. ''On the border they are in effect
mirroring what is going on on the northern side of the border,'' he said. He
said that he would also ask the minister what implications this diversion of
personnel would have for ordinary security in Louth. He said that the British
forces in Crossmaglen were ''using a sledgehammer to crack a nut''.
Concerns were also expressed at the Dublin press conference for the commercial
life of the village.
Malachy Murphy
: from An Phoblacht/Republican News
: April 23, 1994
:
: ************
:
: All-Ireland stand by Sinn Fein
:
: This June sees Sinn Fein contesting elections for the EU parliament, 26-County
: UDC's, town commissions and a by-election in Dublin South Central. Sinn Fein
: is the only political party which will contest all five Irish EU electoral
: areas in the European Parliament election on 9 June.
:
The Greens are also fielding candidates in all 5 European constituencies and I
believe the UDC and town commission elections have been postponed (again!!).
- Mal.
+-------------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| Malachy Murphy, | Phone : +351 1 3100 304 |
| SCORE Project, | Fax : +351 1 525843 |
| INESC, | E-mail : m...@magalhaes.inesc.pt |
| Rua Alves Redol, 9, +----------------------------------+
| Apartado 10105, | "An Irishman's heart is nothing |
| 1017 LISBOA CODEX, | but his imagination" |
| Portugal. | - George Bernard Shaw|
+-------------------------------------+----------------------------------+
Malachy Murphy
: MCE...@zodiac.rutgers.edu writes:
: : from An Phoblacht/Republican News
: : April 23, 1994
: :
: : ************
: :
: : All-Ireland stand by Sinn Fein
: :
: : This June sees Sinn Fein contesting elections for the EU parliament, 26-County
: : UDC's, town commissions and a by-election in Dublin South Central. Sinn Fein
: : is the only political party which will contest all five Irish EU electoral
: : areas in the European Parliament election on 9 June.
:
: The Greens are also fielding candidates in all 5 European constituencies and I
: believe the UDC and town commission elections have been postponed (again!!).
:
: - Mal.
Sorry, I have to post a correction. I misremembered an article I read in the Irish
Times when I wrote this. The UDC and town commision elections are going ahead this
year but under a new bill put to the Dail the next set of Local (i.e. Council)
Elections have been put back 1-2 years to 1998.
Sorry for any confusion caused,
- Mal.
--
+-------------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| Malachy Murphy, | Work Phone : +351 1 3100 304 |
| SCORE Project, | Work Fax : +351 1 525 843 |
| INESC, | E-mail : m...@magalhaes.inesc.pt |
| Rua Alves Redol, 9, | Home Phone : +351 1 657 036 |
| 1000 LISBOA, PORTUGAL. +----------------------------------+
+-------------------------------------+ "An Irishman's heart is nothing |
| Home : Calcada da Quintinha,73, 7-C,| but his imagination" |
| 1000 LISBOA, PORTUGAL. | - George Bernard Shaw|
+-------------------------------------+----------------------------------+
MCE...@zodiac.rutgers.edu
April 21, 1994
*******************
Derry family under continuous sectarian attack
A Catholic family in Derry has accused the RUC of ''gross negligence'' after
being targeted in a sectarian hate campaign. The family who live in the mainly
Protestant estate of Kilfennan, have suffered a litany of attacks in the past
few weeks. Included in this abuse is over 80 threatening and abusive telephone
calls, broken windows and threatening letters signed ''UDA''. But despite
continuous pleas from the family the RUC has yet to take action.
One of the children who is only 12 years old has been attacked and badly
beaten on several occassions coming home from school or as he played in the
street. A spokesperson for the family (who do not wish to be named) castigated
the RUC for their lack of action over the ongoing attacks.
In the most recent attack, a man forced his way into the house, punching a
hole in the back door and shattering the glass. During the ensuing struggle,
as the family members defended themselves, the man was heard to shout: ''We'll
get you, you bastards!''
The family phoned the RUC over five times in the next 30 minutes, but it was
only when 999 was phoned that they arrived.
''During that time someone could have been killed or seriously injured. The
situation is totally out of control... it's no exaggeration to say we are
living in fear,'' said the family member.
Commenting on the incident, EU candidate Dodie McGuinness said:
''The RUC's lack of interest must be severely criticised, this family must be
protected and given that they are in a very vulnerable position their case
must be given priority by the RUC. These sectarian thugs must not be allowed
to continue with their actions''.
************
Brits use children in sinister ploy
THE SINISTER USE of children by British soldiers in Newry has been condemned
by Sinn Fein Councillor Davy Hyland. British soldiers endangered the lives of
young children on the Derrybeg Estate by allowing them to handle their loaded
rifles. They then took photographs of the children holding these lethal
weapons in a sickening, and possibly a propaganda, ploy.
''Two young boys under the age of seven were approached by members of the
British army foot patrol in Fourth Avenue in the Derrybeg Estate last week.
The soldiers then gave their rifles to the children to hold. The boys were
encouraged to look through the sights of the weapons as one of the soldiers
took photographs of them.''
The boys' parents who were later told of the incident said the whole affair
had left them shaken and told AP/RN that they have lodged an official
complaint with the RUC at Bessbrook. Councillor Davy Hyland added that:
''This incident was very sinister, although not surprising considering the
past record of many Brits. The British army are certainly 'back to basics'
when targeting children. I would advise parents to keep their children away
from these British soldiers''
He said the fact that the crown forces in Bessbrook did not reply to the
official complaint made by the parents of the boys shows the total disregard
that they have for the nationalist community.
Meanwhile in the Barcroft Estate in Newry, crown forces put the residents
under a state of siege on Thursday, 15 April. They falsely claimed that there
was a bomb in an abandoned car on the estate.
Councillor Hyland said the crown forces had placed the people of Barcroft
''under siege similar to the martial law situation they have imposed in
Crossmaglen''. Local residents told the RUC that a burnt out car they were
'investigating' did not contain a bomb; in fact children were playing in the
car since Wednesday night.
''The crown forces made a political decision to spread panic about a 'bomb'
and attempted to sow the seeds of doubt about who was to blame for the
disruption to suit their warped agenda.''
************
Gardai threaten Sinn Fein with death squads
BY ART Mac EOIN
SINN FEIN MEMBERS in Dublin have been threatened that their details will be
handed to a loyalist death squad in a recent sinister campaign of Garda
harassment against the party.
Around ten members of the party in Dublin have been arrested and many had
their homes raided last week. In a number of interrogations, the victims were
told that there were members of the UVF in Dublin and that the gardai would
would cooperate with them to assassinate Sinn Fein members.
One point of the harassment in Dublin has been a very obvious attempt to
disrupt Sinn Fein's campaign in the Dublin South Central by-election where the
party's candidate Martina Gibney has been receiving a very positive response
from voters.
The most sinister interrogation was that of Joe Whelan, who was arrested from
his East Wall home on Friday morning, 15 April. A number of Special Branch
members invaded Whelan's home where he lives with his wife and two children.
He was taken to Clontarf Barracks where after several hours of interrogation
regarding his views on political matters, one detective referred to the recent
horrific killing of Margaret Wright by a loyalist death squad in Belfast and
said that a UVF group was in place in Dublin and that ''it would be no problem
for your name to be given to them and they'd find out where you are''. Another
detective added: ''Imagine what you'd be like after them torturing you for two
days. You'd beg them to shoot you.''
The second detective shoved his fingers into Whelan's ears, punched him in the
ribs, and threatened to apply electric cables to his genitals.
A third detective told Whelan: ''You can sit there all day for all I care. I'm
sick of you. There's a way of dealing with you lot now. I'm going to give your
name and address to the UVF and they'll blow up your house in the middle of
the night. That'll sort you and a few others out.'' The first detective then
added: ''Wait until the UVF gets sophisticated. They'll blow the fuck out of
youse in this town.''
During the interrogation Whelan was also told by a detective: ''I'll take a
team into town and every one of your crowd we see, we'll tell them that Whelan
is singing like a bird up there in Clontarf. Then we'll raid ten houses and
we'll say that you sent us. If you think this is an interrogation wait until
you see what the IRA give you.''
He was also told: ''We don't care if you say nothing. We'll use that trick
that we used on Peter Pringle. We haven't used that since then.'' [Peter
Pringle maintains that gardai completely fabricated statements which led to
his 40-year prison sentence]. Detective John Carney also offered Joe money by
in return for information.
The Sinn Fein election candidate in the Dublin South Central by-election,
Martina Gibney and two local cumann members were arrested and their homes
raided on Monday, 11 April. Twelve heavily-armed gardai in plainclothes
invaded Gibney's home where she lives with her two young children. The raid
occurred at 9pm when the children were asleep in bed. Gibney refused to leave
the children on their own when gardai ordered she be brought to a barracks.
They claimed to have somebody who would look after the children while she was
in custody, but Gibney refused to leave. Eventually she contacted her mother
to look after the children, but was not allowed to talk to her when she
arrived at the house.
A cumann member who arrived at the house in the midst of the Garda raid was
immediately arrested. His home was also raided. A third cumann member was also
arrested and his home raided.
During her interrogation, much of which centred on talk of the election
campaign, gardai pointed handguns into Gibney's face and referred to the
loyalist death squads and the torture and killing of Margaret Wright. One
garda said: ''Be thankful they didn't get you because if they did you'd know
all about it. They referred to the fact that Gibney's son is due to make his
First Holy Communion and commented that it would be ''a terrible pity if you
couldn't be there for it''.
One detective, referring to the by-election, said: ''It just wouldn't do if
Sinn Fein did well. What do you think would happen our jobs then? We can't
have that.'' Throughout the interrogation the detectives perused through a
file they had on Gibney which included articles from An Phoblacht/Republican
News which referred to community work with which she was involved in the
Crumlin area.
Gibney and the two other cumann members were held for 22 hours during which
one of them - Peter Byrne, was subjected to physical abuse, being forced to
stand up and sit down repeatedly. Since her release there has been a constant
Garda presence outside Martina Gibney's home.
Another woman member of Sinn Fein in Dublin was subjected to vicious treatment
at the hands of male gardai following an arrest on Saturday, 9 April. Rosie
Doherty was treated in hospital after she was released from Garda custody.
During her time in Fitzgibbon Street Garda Barracks, Doherty was subjected to
physical mistreatment and verbal abuse. At one stage she was thrown across a
desk by gardai who constantly refered to her as ''a Sinn Fein bitch''. Doherty
was refused a phone call and the right to see a doctor. She has since lodged
an official complaint.
Sinn Fein Dublin City Councillor Christy Burke has strongly condemned the
ongoing campaign of harassment against party members in the city. He called
the situation ''intolerable'' and added: ''The comments of gardai in
relation to loyalist death squads are particularly sinister. I would urge the
Minister for Justice Maire Geoghegan Quinn to immediately investigate this
latest disgraceful behaviour by Special Branch.
''Collusion between loyalist death squads and crown forces North of the border
is bad enough. Now it seems from what gardai have said that this policy is to
be extended South. Either the minister distance herself from this carry on or
we must take it that it has been politically sanctioned.''
Meanwhile the imposition of near martial law, involving raiding and sealing
off of a wide area of Slieve Bloom of the Laois/Offaly border has ceased after
gardai and 26-County troops achieved nothing from their expensive operation.
Major searches took place in and around Clonislee on Tuesday, 12 April, and
all roads in the area were blocked off, some of them remaining sealed over
night.
Birr Sinn Fein Councillor John Carroll unreservedly condemned what he said was
a waste of resources. He drew attention to the fact that elderly people in the
area were having their homes broken into and suggested that resoures be
directed to preventing this rather than imposing harassment and disruption to
the local community.
**************
Aids Alliance forced to close
BY LIAM O COILEAIN
THE MANNER in which voluntary organisations fulfilling vital roles in the
community are funded by the state was highlighted this week, when the Dublin
Aids Alliance announced that it had been forced to close its doors because of
a lack of funds.
The financial crisis occurred when the Eastern Health Board (EHB), which had
agreed to fund the Alliance to the tune of 75,000, refused to hand over the
money until the Alliance brought its accounts fully up to date. With the EHB
unwilling to compromise and the Alliance facing a 35,000 debt, it was forced
to turn away those seeking its services from Wednesday, 13 April.
The closure of the Dublin Aids Alliance, the oldest Aids support organisation
in Dublin put Aids support services in the city in crisis. Prior to its
closure, the Alliance was unique in the range of services which it provided to
those affected by HIV and Aids. Its drop-in centre offered support,
counselling, social-welfare/legal advice, education and information and
holistic therapies for people affected by HIV/Aids, regardless of background
or lifestyle. The Alliance was forced to withdraw its holistic therapists from
St James' Hospital and Cherry Orchard Hospital and some of its workers were
forced onto the dole.
At a press conference on Tuesday, 19 April, in the Clarence Hotel the Alliance
called on Health Minister Brendan Howlin to release emergency funding to clear
their debts of 35,000 and make it possible for the centre to reopen. The EHB
has agreed to provide 75,000 funding for the Alliance, but is refusing to
release the funds pending the results of the full audit which is underway.
Messages of support for the Alliance came from U2 and Christy Moore, as well
as a number of politicians, including Sinn Fein, represented at the conference
by EU candidate Larry O'Toole. The previous day over 5,000 signatures were
collected at the GPO to petition the minister. The group opened a 'mobile
drop-in' at the GPO to try to meet the needs of those ''who have been
consistantly using our services and who desperately need our support''.
Two people who regularly avail of the services were at the conference to back
the Alliance's demands. Cathy said the Alliance had turned her life around and
it provided a welcome place to drop in when she's in town with her baby every
morning to collect her medication. Joe, who has had the virus ''for a long
time'' told journalists that he had come along ''to give the Alliance support
for all the help that they have given me''.
Aids Alliance spokesperson Mags Geraghty explained that the backlog in
accounting had only occurred because of a lack of adequate state funding in
the first place A financial controller is employed and was just five weeks
away from providing the requested audit. Ironically because of the closure,
that financial controller has now been forced to sign on.
Hopes of an early resolution of the situation heightened when Fine Gael TD and
EHB member, Bernard Durkin, arrived at the press conference to engage in a
spot of damage limitation. He proposed discussions with the Alliance to see
''is there any way the Health Board can assist you with the accounts whereby
some sort of an arrangement, legal or otherwise, can be made to provide
funding''. Larry O'Toole promised Sinn Fein's support, citing the good work
provided by the Alliance for people from his own area of Darndale and Coolock.
He promised Sinn Fein participation in a march planned for later that
afternoon from the GPO to Hawkins House, where their petitions were handed in
to the minister. Another speaker at the press conference protested that such
voluntary organisations were providing a vital service not covered by the
state and that they shouldn't have to be on their knees to get money.
******************
Sinn Fein Candidates
Tom Hartley
Tom Hartley is one of three Sinn Fein candidates standing for election to the
European Parliament in the Six-County constituency.
A native of West Belfast, 47-year-old Hartley was born in the Beechmount area
of the Falls Road. Tom played a key part in the development of republican
politics in the 1970s, in the anti-H-Block and Hunger-Strike campaigns and in
Sinn Fein's electoral rise in the early 1980s.
In May 1993 Tom stood for Sinn Fein in the local government elections. He
topped the poll in the Lower Falls Ward, with over 2,000 first preference
votes. Since being elected to Belfast City Council he has represented his
constituencies interests in the face of continued unionist bigotry. He sits on
the Contract Services Committee.
As National Chairperson of Sinn Fein, Tom Hartley has been central to the
development of major party policy over the years. This included the
development of the Towards A Lasting Peace in Ireland document which is the
basis of Sinn Fein's peace strategy.
He has used his position as party chair to promote and move the Irish Peace
Initiative along. Included in this was his series of meetings with Protestant
clergymen and a number of trips to England and Europe to present Sinn Fein's
case.
He also disclosed Sinn Fein's record of contracts with the British government
at a press conference in Westminster earlier this year where the Setting the
Record Straight document was lodged in the House of Commons Library. As recent
as the 6 April, Hartley visited Downing Street and handed in a letter to the
British Prime Minister John Major, calling on him to give Sinn Fein
clarification of the Downing Street Declaration and by way of doing so to
recognise Sinn Fein's electoral mandate and its legitimacy as a political
party.
Dodie McGuinness
Dodie McGuinness from Derry city, one of three Sinn Fein candidates for the
Six Counties, will contest the election in the Derry/Mid-Ulster area. A single
mother with three children, Dodie has been a member of Sinn Fein since 1972.
She was elected to Derry City Council in 1985 where she served two terms up
until 1993.
Dodie is a member of Sinn Fein's Ard Chomhairle and also a member of the
Party's Six County Executive.
A full time activist for the party, Dodie McGuinness has the responsibility
for party development within the Six Counties.
She became involved in developing Sinn Fein's electoral techniques in many
areas in the Six Counties, taking responsibility for overseeing a number of
election campaigns including the Magherafelt by-election which followed the
killing by loyalists of Sinn Fein Councillor Bernard O'Hagan in 1991 and the
local government elections of May 1993.
She has travelled to America, England and several other countries speaking on
behalf of Sinn Fein.
Dodie was also one of the members of Sinn Fein's Peace Commission which was
set up to hear as wide a range of submissions as possible on the Downing
Street Declaration from outside the party.
Francie Molloy
Francie Molloy from Moy, County Tyrone, has been active in his area's
political and community life since his teens. Now 44 years of age he was one
of the first to join the Civil Rights Movement and has been involved in local
and national politics ever since.
A member of Sinn Fein's Ard Chomhairle, Francie is also an elected
representative on Dungannon Council. He is also a full-time community
activist. France was Director of Elections for Bobby Sands and Owen Carron,
both of whom won a Westminster seat in Fermanagh/South Tyrone.
In 1985 he was elected to Dungannon Council, where he is currently serving his
third term having won the Torrent by-election in November 1990 and securing
re-election in 1993. This election saw Sinn Fein emerge as the largest
nationalist party on Dungannon Council. He also contested Fermanagh/South
Tyrone for Sinn Fein in the 1992 Westminster elections. This election marks
his first venture into the European electoral arena.
Francie is the party's spokesperson on prison issues and was the author of a
paper, A View from the Lough, which is now widely used as a blueprint for
development and planning work around Lough Neagh. He regularly travels to
England to represent Sinn Fein at various forums.
Larry O'Toole
Larry O'Toole, the man whose court challenge to RTE's interpretation of
Section 31 paved the way for the government's decision last January to life
the censorship orders, is the Sinn Fein candidate in the European Union
elections in June.
In July 1992 the High Court ruled in Mr O'Toole's favour when he challenged
RTE's interpretation of Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act. The station
refused to broadcast interviews with him as chairperson of the Gateaux Workers
Strike Committee in Finglas in 1990 on the basis that he was a member of Sinn
Fein.
The High Court ruled that this was a breach of his rights and an unfair
extension of Section 31. RTE appealed the judgement but their appeal was
rejected by the Supreme Court in March 1993.
Larry O'Toole was one of the panel of Sinn Fein members who sat on the party's
Peace Commission.
The European election will be Larry O'Toole's third outing as a Sinn Fein
candidate. He stood in the local elections in Artane in 1991 and in the
general election in Dublin North East in 1992.
Larry O'Toole lives in Darndale, an area with one of the highest unemployment
rates in Dublin. He worked for over 20 years in the baking industry during
which time he was an active trade unionist. He is a former National Executive
member of the Bakers Union.
He is very active in his community and is a member of the committees of his
local community's resource centre, tenants association and social club. He is
also involved in adult literary where he is a voluntary tutor on a local
scheme.
Lucilita Breatnach
Lucilita Bhreatnach has been General Secretary of Sinn Fein since 1989. She is
33 years old and is married with two teenage children. She lives in Baile
Breac, Contae Bhaile Atha Cliath
Lucilita is multilingual, speaking Irish, Spanish and English fluently with a
knowledge of French and German.
Lucilita is convenor of Sinn Fein's European Strategy Committee, as part of
this committee she campaigned on both the Single European Act referendum and
the Maastricht Referendum. She has travelled as a party spokesperson speaking
at many conferences in England and Europe, addressing political and women's
groupings. She also conducted a three-week speaking tour addressing university
audiences and women's groups on the East Coast of the United States in 1992.
Lucilita has worked for Sinn Fein on a full time voluntary basis for over
eleven years spending three years in An Phoblacht/Republican News and for over
five years in the Foreign Affairs Bureau.
Lucilita has been a member of An Ard Chomhairle (national executive) for eight
years now and was Director of Elections for the 26 Counties in the 1989
European and General Elections and the 1990 Local Government elections.
Before becoming involved full time in politics, a Cultural enthusiast, she was
a Branch chairperson of Comhaltas Ceolteoiri Eireann for many years and an
active member of Conradh na Gaeilge. She set up a number of Irish language
youth groups and Irish classes. She continued her involvement through the
campaign in support of more Irish language programmes on RTE television and
support for Teilifis na Gaeilge.
As a member of Sinn Fein's Trade Union Department, Lucilita has been involved
in defining Sinn Fein policy on the economics of a united Ireland. In 1984,
Lucilita formed a Trade Union Branch (ITGWU) with the night staff cleaning
workers in Dublin Vincent's Hospital, who prior to that time were
nonunionised.
Lucilita has been actively involved in women's issues for many years. She has
been involved in campaigns highlighting violence against women, including the
Stop Strip-Searching Campaign and women's safety campaigns. It is because of
her belief in equality and justice that she was involved in the formulation of
Sinn Fein's first comprehensive policy document on women.
Lucilita is a member of both the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement and the Irish
Council for Civil Liberties.
Pat Doherty
Pat Doherty is the Sinn Fein candidate for the Connacht/Ulster constituency in
the forthcoming EU elections. A site engineer by profession, Pat is 48 years
of age, married with five children and lives in Upper Gortnabrade, Carrigart,
County Donegal.
A member of the party's Ard Chomhairle, Pat has been Sinn Fein vice-president
since 1989. Previously, from 1985, he was the party's national organiser. He
has stood in local elections for the Mildford constituency twice, in 1979 and
in 1992. In 1989 he contested Donegal North East in the Leinster House
constituency as well as the Connacht/Ulster constituency in the European
elections. Pat was Sinn Fein National Director of Elections for the European
Elections in 1984.
Pat Doherty is also a former chair of Donegal Sinn Fein Comhairle Ceantair and
of the Drumboe Commemoration Committee, of which he has been a member since
the early 1970's.
Pat is also an active member of his local credit union, of which he was a
founder member in 1992. He is the chairperson of the Sinn Fein Peace
Commission, set up as part of the Irish Peace Initiative to hear as wide a
range of submissions as possible on the Downing Street Declaration from
outside the party.
****************
Matthew Huntbach
>Derry family under continuous sectarian attack
>A Catholic family in Derry has accused the RUC of ''gross negligence'' after
>being targeted in a sectarian hate campaign. The family who live in the mainly
>Protestant estate of Kilfennan, have suffered a litany of attacks in the past
>few weeks. Included in this abuse is over 80 threatening and abusive telephone
>calls, broken windows and threatening letters signed ''UDA''. But despite
>continuous pleas from the family the RUC has yet to take action.
If this is true, it deserves condemnation.
But will you also tell us about the many families who have offended the IRA
in some way, and have been the victims of the most nasty and thuggish hate
campaigns from these brutes? What about the kneecappings and assinations, not
to mention those sentenced to exile by the IRA?
Matthew Huntbach
Matthew Huntbach
>Huntbach is a bit of a reactionary really. All he ever does in
>response to reports of injustice is to jump up and down shouting
>'What about the IRA murdering scum?'
I would respect opposition to reports of injustice in the security forces
from those who are equally willing to oppose the far worse injustices of the
terrorists. But when I see terrorist supporters twisting the facts with one
aim in mind - to justify their support for the bomb and the bullet, it just
sickens me to see the hypocrisy. I am sorry I have to be one-sided, but I have
never read anything from a UFF supporter here. I have read plenty from IRA
supporters, and I respond to them
Matthew Huntbach
Matthew Moore
>In <01HBQ5WGU...@zodiac.rutger> MCE...@zodiac.rutgers.edu writes:
>Matthew Huntbach
Huntbach is a bit of a reactionary really. All he ever does in
response to reports of injustice is to jump up and down shouting
'What about the IRA murdering scum?'
--
Matthew_Moore
Steve McDowell
: I would respect opposition to reports of injustice in the security forces
: from those who are equally willing to oppose the far worse injustices of the
: terrorists. But when I see terrorist supporters twisting the facts with one
: aim in mind - to justify their support for the bomb and the bullet, it just
: sickens me to see the hypocrisy. I am sorry I have to be one-sided, but I have
: never read anything from a UFF supporter here. I have read plenty from IRA
: supporters, and I respond to them
As an observer in the U.S. I've been trying to make sense out of the situation
in the North. From what I have picked up from the media (this group included)
gives a general impression of the IRA as taking on a military guerilla action
against the government, while the UFF, UVF, etc. appear to be on a missing to
eliminate Catholics. _I_ realize that this is an over simplification, but this
is the impression that many receive. From that perspective UFF supporters will
be vary rare outside N.I. and the U.K....
--
| Steve McDowell KEPS Inc.(a Kodak Co.) smcd...@keps.com 508-670-6543 |
|=============================================================================
Matthew Huntbach
>As an observer in the U.S. I've been trying to make sense out of the situation
>in the North. From what I have picked up from the media (this group included)
>gives a general impression of the IRA as taking on a military guerilla action
>against the government, while the UFF, UVF, etc. appear to be on a missing to
>eliminate Catholics. _I_ realize that this is an over simplification, but this
>is the impression that many receive. From that perspective UFF supporters will
>be vary rare outside N.I. and the U.K....
Yesterday one of the "loyalist" terrorist gangs shot dead a Catholic while he
was holding his one-year old baby. That was a disgusting and horrible thing to
do, and those responsible for it deserve to be locked away for life.
But suppose that supporters of the terrorist group that shot that man were to
post in this newsgroup, refusing to condemn that action. Suppose the speeches
of someone who declared those murderers to be "heroes who had done no wrong"
were to be sent here. Suppose that constant twistings and distortions of the
truth, dragging up of past injustices and refusal to acknowledge moves to
correct them, were posted here in order to give support and justification to
those murderers? Wouldn't that be disgusting? If someone posted expressing
disgust, would it be fair to post back accusing him of being a supporter of
"his beloved IRA"? Could it not perhaps be acknowledged that all violence
is wrong, and even when started in response to legitimate grievances eats up
its perpetrators until they live for nothing but violence. Look at Rwanda and
Bosnia - that is where a culture of violence gets you unless you stand up and
say KILLING IS WRONG AND THOSE WHO ENGAGE IN IT FOR WHATEVER CAUSES ARE WORSE
THAN BEASTS. The same goes for their mealy-mouthed supporters.
Matthew Huntbach
Steve McDowell
[much deleted]
: its perpetrators until they live for nothing but violence. Look at Rwanda and
: Bosnia - that is where a culture of violence gets you unless you stand up and
: say KILLING IS WRONG AND THOSE WHO ENGAGE IN IT FOR WHATEVER CAUSES ARE WORSE
: THAN BEASTS. The same goes for their mealy-mouthed supporters.
I really can't take issue with any of that. The violence just leads to more
violence. My point is that the violence should have been expected when a group
is oppressed by the ruling class for such a long period. That doesn't make it
right, or wrong for that matter. That's just what happens when all other avenues
have failed.
Where to go from here? Well that was an easy solution to an American who just
picked up bits and pieces on the evening news. Now that I've been looking into
it I find it to be one of the most complicated situations I've ever come across!
MCE...@zodiac.rutgers.edu
AN PHOBLACHT/REPUBLICAN NEWS
published by the Irish Republican Movement
May 19, 1994
___________________
1. Sinn Fein candidates in June 9 elections
2. Four Catholics killed in six days
3. War News
4. The Purpose of Loyalist Violence
5. Loyalists Kill Two Workers in North Belfast
6. Portlaoise POWS debate Peace Strategy
7. Lost British Files Detail 200
8. Loyalists Open Fire on City Hall March
9. United Stand Against Crossmaglen Seige
10. Students Protest Martial Law
11. 1974 Bombings--Stop The Cover-Up
12. 25 Years Ago-Masters of Change
13. Loyalists Kill Two in Ardoyne, Antrim Road
(64,000 bytes)
Sinn Fein confident of gains in Cavan/Monaghan
IN 1985 Sinn Fein stood seven candidates for various urban district
councils (UDC) in the border counties of Cavan and Monaghan. The election of
five of these candidates was secured while the party narrowly missed the
election of a sixth by four votes. Two Sinn Fein members were elected for
Clones UDC, two for Monaghan UDC, one for Castleblaney UDC and the party
narrowly missed getting a third seat in Clones.
In the 1985 election, however, Sinn Fein lost its seat on Cavan UDC. Cavan
has since been the only border county on either side of the border with no Sinn
Fein elected representatives over the past nine years.
In nine years all the Sinn Fein councillors in Monaghan have gained vast
experience and have a proven record of work and service to the community
behind them. Monaghan Sinn Fein County Councillor Caoimhghin O Caolain said
this made the party face the electorate with courage and consequently Sinn
Fein is fielding a longer list of candidates this time around.
There are eight nominees in County Monaghan - three for Clones UDC, three
for Monaghan UDC, one in Castleblaney and one for Ballybay Town Commission.
The party is also more than hopeful that it will retake its seat on Cavan Urban
District Council.
Monaghan UDC
Padraigin Ui Mhurchadha
Since her excellent showing in the 1985 local council elections, Padraigin
Ui Mhurchadha has established herself as an experienced and fair-minded
representative. As a woman and mother she has reflected ably on the areas that
concern women in our communities today.
A keen interest in Irish cultural and language activities, Padraigin has
been actively involved in the promotion of Irish within Sinn Fein, in the
council chamber and in the wider community.
Known and respected for her efforts in support of the less well-off, the
aged and infirm, Padraigin has spearheaded several important debates in the
chamber of Monaghan UDC, successfully securing real improvements for those most
in need. A member of a long established Monaghan family, Padraigin is assured
strong support in the current contest.
Owen Smyth
An able and forceful member of Monaghan UDC since 1985, Owen Smyth has
championed the needs and issues of concern to the people of Monaghan
throughout his term as a councillor.
Married to Ann, they have three children. Very supportive of all efforts to
promote the use of Irish in the daily life of the local community, Owen was
closely associated with the setting up of the all-Irish stream at St Mary's
which later grew into the highly acclaimed Gaelscoil Ultain.
A member of Sinn Fein since 1971, Owen has played an important role in the
development of republican politics in Monaghan town and county. A proven
record of service and commitment to the people of his native town, the 1985
local election poll-topper is certain to record yet another strong showing on
9 June.
Caoimhghin O Caolain
A member of Monaghan County Council since 1985, the selection of Caoimhghin
O Caolain as the third Sinn Fein candidate for Monaghan UDC underscores the
serious intent of the organisation in Monaghan in their quest for a third
urban seat.
Very experienced, Caoimhghin has been a full-time party activist and public
elected representative for almost a decade.
Married to Briege, they have four children.
A member of the Sinn Fein Ard Chomhairle, Caoimhghin has been prominently
identified with the party's international presentation of its peace proposals,
most recently on visits to Washington and Brussels.
Faced with a difficult challenge on this occasion, Caoimhghin O Caolain
presents Sinn Fein with its best prospects of securing three seats on Monaghan
UDC.
Clones UDC
Peter McAleer
A member of Clones UDC since 1985 Peter resides at Cherry Park with his
wife Eileen and their three children.
Secretary of County Monaghan Council of Trade Unions since 1987, Peter has
for long been associated with trade union activities and campaigns aimed at
securing and improving the pay conditions of workers. Involved in a number of
local and community-based committees, Peter has ably used his council seat to
promote the needs and interests of the people of Clones.
An active member of Sinn Fein throughout his adult life, Peter McAleer can
confidently face the electorate of Clones on 9 June.
Pat Treanor
Having served on Monaghan County Council (1985-1991), Pat Treanor enters
the Clones urban contest with a wealth of experience and considerable knowledge
of the workings of local government. A member of the former County Committee of
Agriculture and of the now abolished Local Health Committee, Pat has continued
to serve the interests of the electorate of Clones in a nonelected capacity
since 1991.
Married to Maire, they have three children.
Pat has been very supportive of all efforts to develop and promote the town
of Clones and has been to the fore in the campaign to secure the reopening of
all closed cross-border roads in the area.
His election to Clones UDC will assuredly strengthen that body's ability to
strive for and secure the important advances needed for the future of this
long neglected border town.
Debbie Moore
Popular young Clones woman Debbie Moore is a newcomer to Sinn Fein's
line-up of candidates.
Mother of Saoirse, she is very aware of the difficulties faced by young
families striving to cope in the Ireland of today.
An able and articulate woman, Debbie's candidature will undoubtedly enhance
Sinn Fein's prospects of taking a third seat in Clones.
Castleblaney UDC
Jackie Crowe
Sinn Fein's nominee to the party's vacant seat on Castleblayney UDC in
1993, Jackie Crowe is a long established and highly respected community
activist.
The refusal by some members of the urban body to support his co-option
proposal and the outright opposition of others, angered a crosssection of
'Blayney opinion. On June 9 the voters of Castleblayney will have the final
say on that injustice.
Married to Bernie, they and their family of eight live in Oliver Plunkett
Park at Drumillard.
A member of the Parents' Committee of Ard Scoil Lorgain, Jackie has a keen
interest in all youth related activities in Castleblayney.
An active member of Sinn Fein throughout his adult life, he places the housing
needs of young families and single mothers high on his list of priorities if
elected.
Ballybay TC
Gene Duffy
The Sinn Fein candidate for Ballybay Town Commission is Gene Duffy of
Corrybrennan Park.
A builder, Gene is married to Mary and they have a family of three.
An active member of Sinn Fein for ten years, Gene is very aware of the
problems faced by the people of this Mid-Monaghan town.
Highly regarded by all shades of opinion, Gene Duffy can be expected to
poll well in the June contest.
Cavan UDC
Brian McKeown
Brian and his wife Briege (nee Greenan) live at Swellan Lower, within the
new extended Cavan urban boundary. They have two sons, aged 12 and 13.
A keen sportsman, Brian is a founder member and coach of Cavan's Amateur
Boxing Club. He is currently secretary of the Cavan/Monaghan Boxing Board. He
represents County Cavan on the Ulster Council of the Irish Amateur Boxing
Association and has been coach to both the Ulster Provincial and Irish
National Amateur Boxing teams, including the Olympic qualifying tournament at
Berck in France in 1992.
A republican throughout his adult life, he joined Sinn Fein in 1972. To the
fore in the historic election of Kieran Doherty in the Cavan/Monaghan
constituency in 1981, he has been prominent in all Sinn Fein election
campaigns in the Cavan area since.
A popular figure in Cavan town, Brian's election would see the re-entry of
Sinn Fein to elected politics in the Breiffni county after a gap of nine
years.
-----------------
Four Catholics killed in six days
Slaughter of forgotten victims
Two teenage boys were shot down in a taxi depot by loyalist gunmen in
Armagh city on Wednesday afternoon. One was killed and the other was fighting
for his life on Wednesday night. The attack came the day after two Catholic
workers were murdered in Tiger's Bay in East Belfast and just six days after
yet another nationalist was shot dead in Ardoyne in North Belfast.
A UVF member entered the A-to-B taxi depot in Armagh city's Lower English
Street, at 11am on Wednesday 18 May, and tried to assassinate the owner's wife
who was working behind the counter.
The attacker's gun jammed, however, and his intended target, the daughter
of 'Witness A', the chief witness in the trial of UDR members accused of
murdering Adrian Carroll in 1983, escaped injury.
But the loyalist, having cleared his weapon, turned and shot dead
17-year-old student Gavin McShane as he and a friend played the arcade machines
in the waiting area of the depot. The dead youth's friend was shot in the head
and is in intensive care in a Belfast hospital. An employee of the taxi firm
was shot in the arm and is said to be in a stable condition.
An elderly woman, with a young child in her arms, was also in the waiting
area of the depot at the time. She told reporters she only survived because the
attacker's gun jammed.
Local Sinn Fein Councillor Noel Sheridan, speaking to AP/RN, said that he
arrived at the scene of the shooting about 30 minutes after the killing and
spoke to eye-witnesses.
They told him that an RIR (formerly UDR) patrol passed the depot two or
three minutes before the attack and were less than a hundred yards away when
the shooting occurred.
The witnesses claimed the patrol must have heard the gunshots. Other
witnesses said that after walking from the depot the assailant made his escape
down an adjacent alleyway to the Longstone Road from where he walked past the
city's court house on the Mall and into a loyalist estate.
Sheridan told AP/RN that residents of Armagh city had been commenting on
the increased presence of RIR patrols in the city's nationalist estates in the
past couple of weeks.
''People who wouldn't necessarily be republican said they were suspicious
about the RIR being here. They recalled the UDR killings of the early '80s
when Sinn Fein activist Peter Corrigan was shot dead in 1982 and Adrian
Carroll in 1983. Both were shot by serving UDR soldiers,'' said Sheridan.
''Now our suspicions are confirmed with two attacks on nationalists in two
days,'' he said referring to a shotgun attack on two men on Monday night.
The Armagh councillor went on to question how the killer could simply walk
away from the scene with the RIR patrol still in the vicinity, and also pass
the courthouse, on the Mall, which is under 24-hour guard, and get clean away.
Sinn Fein Councillor Francie Molloy accused unionists of creating an
atmosphere of anti-nationalist hatred: ''It is quite clear that unionist
politicians and loyalist death squads are intent on creating an atmosphere in
which no political movement can take place other than on their terms.''
TOMMY CARROLL, brother of Adrian Carroll, has accused the RUC of ''being
deliberately disingenuous by branding the Armagh shooting as simply sectarian.
They know why this depot was targeted; they know this was a planned political
assassination''.
The Armagh man quoted a legal document in support of his claim. The
document relates to the trial and appeals of the 'UDR Four' and showed that the
confidentiality of the main witness at the trial of the UDR soldiers, Witness
A, was broken when confidential medical files were circulated without
authorisation to people including unionist MP Ken Maginnis, John Alderdice of
the Alliance Party, James Hegan, one of the accused, and Jennifer McCusker.
As a result Witness A and the identities of Witness A's family became
known. The files contained Witness A's name, address, date of birth,
educational background and employment.
The file also contained her husband's name and occupation as well as
details of her three children.
Tommy Carroll alleged that the incident was a deliberate attempt to murder
Witness A's daughter who works in the taxi firm and also accused the RUC of
setting up the taxi firm for attack.
He said that RUC officers had ''openly labelled the firm 'Provie Taxis' and
constantly harassed its drivers''.
***************
War News
British soldier killed in bomb blast
IRA Volunteers in County Armagh killed a British soldier and seriously
injured several others in a bomb attack on an observation post at the permanent
checkpoint in Keady on Saturday, 14 May. The soldier was the first regular
British soldier that the British authorities have admitted being killed in the
Six Counties this year. Three weeks ago, North Armagh Volunteers executed a
member of the Royal Irish Regiment.
Avoiding detection while operating in close proximity to an observation
post for a considerable period of time and within sight of the permanent
checkpoint, an active service unit of IRA Volunteers succeeded in detonating a
Semtex device with deadly accuracy, destroying the highly-fortified
observation post, killing one of the crown force occupants and injuring
several others.
Claiming responsibility for the attack, the IRA said:
''At approximately 11.40pm on 14 May, a device containing the high explosive
Semtex was detonated beside a reinforced observation post containing a number
of British soldiers providing cover for their permanent vehicle checkpoint in
Davis Street, Keady.
''The post, situated 50 yards from the joint British army/RUC base was
badly damaged in the blast, killing one soldier and badly injuring several
others.
One of those injured was standing inside the post and was blown across the
road by the force of the blast.
''This checkpoint was set up in April of last year after we launched a
Barracks Buster mortar at the base. As so often before, British attempts to
frustrate our operations have proven totally futile.''
The dead soldier was later named as David Wilson, a Lance Corporal from 9
Regiment Royal Logistics Corps who was on attachment to 32 Regiment Royal
Artillery. Although Wilson was a member of the British army for ten years and
served in Bosnia, Germany and the Malvinas, this was his first time in
occupied Ireland. Last December another British soldier was shot dead by an
IRA sniper about 300 yards from last Saturday's attack.
Collaborator executed
Claiming responsibility for the execution of British collaborator Fredrick
Anthony, North Armagh Brigade, Oglaigh na hEireann, refuted RUC claims that he
regularly travelled to Lurgan RUC Barracks with his family. The statement came
after Anthony's young daughter was seriously wounded when a device exploded in
the car in which the family was travelling.
According to the IRA, weeks of close monitoring by Volunteers made it clear
that Anthony regularly drove his Skoda car alone to the crown force base in
Lurgan town centre. Anthony had been employed by the RUC's Police Authority as
part of their attempts to ''civilianise'' sections of the overall staff
employed by the Police Authority, allowing for more RUC members to be on
''active'' patrol. This was recently confirmed in the first ever report by Her
Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary when it stated:
''Civilianisation is one of the most cost-effective methods of both
securing an increased uniform presence on the streets and enhancing the
specialist expertise of many administrative duties.''
The North Armagh Brigade statement concluded:
''An explosive device was attached to the car and on Friday, 13 May, at 8.15am
as the car moved along Hill Street, the device detonated, killing Anthony
instantly.''
RUC officers' blasted
Confirming that Volunteers of the Derry Brigade had targeted a number of
RUC officers' homes in the Richill Park area of the Waterside with bombs, the
IRA put the attacks in context in a statement. The attacks took place last
Wednesday evening, 11 May.
The statement said that the IRA had chosen the time to target the homes of
several RUC members due to the fact that the RUC have been ''blanketing
nationalist areas and carrying out very hostile searches of nationalist homes.
''Derry Brigade Oglaigh na hEireann accuse the RUC of targeting
particularly the young and the elderly, and arresting nationalist women. We
should point out that no tactic employed by the RUC has broken the struggle and
this one will not work either. The RUC must be aware that they will not be
allowed to carry out their search operations and then return to the comfort of
their homes.
''The IRA chose this particular street to show that even living under the
surveillance of a major RUC base offers no security for members of the RUC.''
It has been confirmed this week that a number of RUC personnel have moved out
of the Richill Park area.
'Drug dealing will not be tolerated'
In a statement issued to the media this week, the IRA in Fermanagh said:
''For a number of weeks, Volunteers from South Fermanagh Brigade, Oglaigh
na hEireann have been keeping a number of people from Lisnaskea and Roslea
under surveillance on suspicion of drug trafficking and drug pushing. We are
now satisfied that all of these people are involved and unless they cease their
activities immediately we will take action against them.
''We would ask parents also to be aware of the dangers of drug taking to
their children. We have no doubt that the RUC will make every attempt to take
advantage of this situation and use it for their own ends.
''We are aware also of a number of people who have been using the name of
the IRA to support their criminal activities. This situation will not be
tolerated.''
*************
The Purpose of Loyalist Violence
ANOTHER WEEK has witnessed the unrestrained savagery of loyalist violence
in several areas of the Six Counties. The murder of five nationalist civilians
this week has been accompanied by pathetic public relations exercises on
behalf of the RUC which adds insult to the death and injury suffered by the
nationalist population.
The shooting of a man on Belfast's Antrim Road occurred as the RUC claimed
they were involved in a major ''search and arrest'' operation against loyalist
death squads in the Shankill Road area. The RUC claimed to have arrested up to
20 people, including one said to be the 'commander of the West Belfast UDA',
and seized weapons. The press statements hailed the operation as a success and
gave the impression that major arms seizures had been made.
However, as the cool light of day settled on the RUC claims, it emerged
that of the weapons captured only one, a sub machine gun, was in working order,
the rest were two sub-machine guns, ''with parts missing'', a replica AK 47
assault rifle, a replica M60 machine gun and a replica AR15 rifle.
Sinn Fein Councillor for North Belfast, Paddy McManus, correctly described
the RUC operation as ''a damage limitation exercise with the RUC trying to give
the impression that they are taking action against loyalist killers''. He
added that there was clear evidence of continuing collusion between crown
forces and loyalist death squads.
''That they could only seize dummy guns sums up the operation. In real
terms the killing capacity of the UDA and UVF, who are in possession of RPG 7
rocket launchers and modern assault rifles, has not diminished as a result of
the operation'', he said.
As Eamon Fox and Gary Convie were gunned down by another loyalist death
squad in the Tiger's Bay area of Belfast on Tuesday, 17 May, the RUC issued
another statement claiming they had captured men and rifles used by loyalists.
Again the guns turned out to be replicas.
The crown forces clearly have no intention of moving against the death
squads with whom they are colluding and directing. Loyalist violence is an
intrinsic part of an official state counter-insurgency strategy. The real
weapons being used by the loyalists, as opposed to the replicas, were brought
into this country by British Military Intelligence.
This week's vicious murders of nationalist civilians and the transparency
of the RUC public relations exercise brought into sharp focus the unchanging
nature and purpose of loyalist violence in Ireland on the 20th anniversary of
the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.
The threat of loyalist violence is still being used to influence public
opinion in the 26 Counties. The Dublin bombings were masterminded by British
Intelligence in order to frighten public opinion and the Dublin government.
Two events last year had the same purpose.
First was the staged 'seizure' of an arms shipment from Poland at Teesport
in England. This was said to be bound for loyalists but in fact the shipment
and the seizure was revealed to have been organised by the British security
services as a propaganda exercise. Second was the threatening statements from
RUC Chief Hugh Annesley about loyalist intentions to bomb the South.
Killings in the North, carried out with British supplied weapons are
designed, like the bombings of 1974, to terrorise nationalist Ireland into
dropping its political demands for a just, peaceful, all-Ireland settlement.
------------------
Lost' British Files Detail 200 People
THE DISCOVERY OF British army files containing the personal details of up
to 200 nationalists from all over Belfast was largely ignored by most sections
of the media with the exception of one Belfast weekly newspaper.
The list was apparently lost by a British soldier and handed in to the West
Belfast weekly, Andersonstown News. At least six of those named on these lists
have been targeted in loyalist attacks in the last three months. Loyalist
bombs have exploded at the homes of two men mentioned, while another man was
named by the UDA as the intended target of an attack in which a North Belfast
man was shot dead.
A number of Belfast Sinn Fein councillors are also included on the lists
which provide detailed descriptions of some of those named. Another indication
of this detail is that vehicle registration numbers, make of vehicle, colour
and distinguishing features, such as 'grill damaged'; 'dent on passenger door';
are all written into the crown forces sheets. Some people who had changed car
since that list was found had this fact noted on the crown forces' document.
AP/RN made comparisons with another set of files found in a loyalist area of
East Belfast shortly before Christmas 1993 and discovered that the information
on the recently-found files was accurately updated.
Clearly, such British army and RUC information is being used by loyalist
death squads who are continuing to expose the inadequacies of the whitewash
inquiry of the Stevens Report, purportedly set up to ''investigate'' collusion
between the crown forces and loyalist death squads.
That collusion exists has now been recognised, even by anti-republican
critics such as Cardinal Cahal Daly. As more and more evidence of British
double-dealing comes to light, the ranks of the sceptics look set to grow
while nationalists who viewed this week's RUC search and arrest operation
against loyalists with suspicion will have their suspicions vindicated.
---------------------
Volunteer Jim Lynagh Lecture 1994
Peace strategy Debated in Portlaoise
by PRO Republican POWs
Portlaoise Prison
THE SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY of the death on active service of Volunteer Jim
Lynagh and his seven comrades was commemorated this week by the republican POWs
in Portlaoise Prison.
As a comrade who spent time with us here, Jim Lynagh was an inspirational
figure who was to the fore in all aspects of the struggle. Jim was a highly
respected and fearless Volunteer on the outside who took the fight directly to
the British forces whenever the opportunity arose. In Portlaoise we also
remember him as a highly-politicised Volunteer who recognised the importance
of immersion in the politics of the struggle and the political awareness this
entailed. Well read in history and politics, Jim was convinced of the need to
learn from the lessons of the past so that they may guide us in the politics
we develop to carry us into the future.
While in Portlaoise, Jim was as active as he was outside. Taking part in
debates and lectures on a regular basis, he liked nothing better than a good
political argument. In his view this was putting one's time to good and
productive use while in prison. Developing and deepening our understanding of
republican politics will leave us better equipped to contribute to the
struggle when eventually released. In recognition of Jim Lynagh's contribution
to the struggle both inside and outside the prison we pay tribute to his
memory by dedicating a series of political lectures to him every year.
The annual Jim Lynagh series of lectures are an important feature of the
political life in Portlaoise. It provides the prisoners with an opportunity to
develop our politics and engage in fruitful discussion and debate around
relevant social, political, cultural and economic issues in Ireland today.
Each year the series of lectures focus broadly around a particular theme.
This year's well attended lectures had as their theme the current peace
process, how it can be developed and the possible directions this could take.
The first of three lectures was given by Martin Ferris (Kerry), outlining
the genesis and the development of the attempt to build a peace process, Ferris
presented a comprehensive run down on the Irish Peace Initiative. He argued
that after many painful years of struggle there now exists an unprecedented
effort by Irish nationalists to find a solution and end the conflict in
Ireland. He traced how the Republican Movement and other nationalist-minded
individuals and parties have arrived to where we are now: A form of
nationalist alliance encouraging and generating support for a real peace
process. Significant developments in republican politics were highlighted as
propelling the process forward. These included the ending of abstentionism by
Sinn Fein in the 26 Counties in 1986, which was seen as a major and first step
in ending the marginalisation of the Republican Movement. Another important
step was the 1987 discussion paper A Scenario for Peace, which focused on the
right of the Irish people as a whole to self-determination. This envisaged an
inclusive role for those currently in the unionist community along side the
rest of the Irish people.
The Sinn Fein/SDLP talks were identified as another crucial step forward.
These developments, combined with the 1992 document Towards a Lasting Peace in
Ireland, were cited as major contributory factors in ending years of enforced
political marginalisation and isolation of Sinn Fein. As a consequence they
have also been instrumental and of enormous import in the formulation of the
attempts to build an Irish peace process. As a result the British occupation
of the Six Counties has come under the world's media microscope. It remains
for all the parties involved to take the next steps together if there is to be
a continuation of the peace process and a lasting peace, Ferris pointed out.
Mark Farrell (Dublin) gave the second lecture. He presented a critical
analysis of a proposal by Bernadette McAliskey for an independent 9-county
Ulster as a way of bringing the conflict to a peaceful resolution. While
accepting McAliskey's sincerity, Mark questioned the acceptability of such a
proposal to any of the parties involved in the conflict.
It lacked the necessary ingredients to resolve the conflict and was unlikely
to be accepted by either nationalist or unionists, he maintained. The proposal
was also questioned in terms of the economic viability of the entity in
question. Farrell stressed his belief that the only real chance of Ireland
moving forward politically or economically would be in the context of a united
32-County socialist republic. Anything less would delay, rather than
encourage, a peaceful outcome, he argued.
The third and final lecture was delivered by Brian Kenna (Dublin). His talk
focused on the need for clarification. If the Downing Street Declaration was
the 'first step', as the British maintained, then they have a responsibility
to outline and clarify what the next steps are and, more importantly, where
they are leading. On the face of it the Declaration appears to rule out the
Irish people's right to self-determination. If this is not the case then the
British should have no problem clarifying this and other relevant points and
ambiguities in the document. As representatives of a substantial section of
the nationalist electorate in the Six Counties, Sinn Fein should be entitled
to the same consideration with regard to clarification as were all the other
parties. Sinn Fein involvement is central to any prospect of a resolution to
the conflict, he pointed out. Without inclusive dialogue, and a recognition of
the legitimacy of the Sinn Fein mandate, no initiative can succeed.
The British have a responsibility to involve all parties. If Dublin could
clarify aspects of the declaration for Sinn Fein then the British should have
no problem in doing like wise, if they are sincere about bringing about a
lasting peace. It was hypocritical of the British not to engage in dialogue
given their prolonged secret contact with the Republican Movement over a
three-year period from 1990, Kenna pointed out.
Debate after each lecture was enthusiastic and lively. The contributions
and questions from the floor were wide ranging and detailed. Those delivering
the lectures were given no easy ride and were pressed to elaborate on and
defend their arguments. The response from the floor reflected the intense
interest by the prisoners in the current political situation.
Many speakers emphasised the need for, and the importance of, the prisoners
having an input into the republican strategy. It was agreed that in light of
the constantly changing and evolving political situation it was imperative
that the issues raised at the lectures should not end there. There was a need
to continually debate and updated the issues and arguments over the coming
months.
This week's series of lectures and the contributions made by those in
attendance reflect the prisoners' viewpoint that our participation in the
struggle does not end at the prison gate. On the contrary, the
well-established tradition here, as in other prisons containing republican
POWs, encourages involvement in continuous analysis and debating the issues
relevant to the overall struggle.
This year's lectures were a fitting tribute to Volunteer Jim Lynagh's
memory.
It was a deep political understanding of the root causes of the conflict in
this country that motivated Jim Lynagh and his comrades. We can pay them no
better tribute while in prison ourselves than to deepen our own political
awareness. By using our time constructively we can equip ourselves to play an
even grater role in the freedom struggle and help achieve the objectives for
which Jim and his comrades fought and died.
***************
Two Catholic Workers Shot Dead In Tiger's Bay
IN A DOUBLE KILLING carried out in the loyalist Tiger's Bay area of North
Belfast on Tuesday, 17 May, two Catholic workers lost their lives at the hands
of UVF assassins. A third man, a brother-in-law of one of the victims received
facial injuries during the shooting.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing the UVF killer stand in a children's
playground and open fire with a machine gun. The men were hit as they began
their lunch break. One man died instantly, the other a short time later. The
killer ran off up Parkmount Street after the killings.
Summing up the the feelings of Six-County nationalists North Belfast Sinn
Fein Councillor Joe Austin spoke movingly minutes after the killings. ''The
killing fields of North Belfast have again witnessed a terrible slaughter. The
purpose behind this attack, as with so many others, is to strike terror into
the nationalist community and force it to concede to the demands of unionism.''
The dead men were later named as father of six, 44-year-old Eamon Fox and
Gary Convie (24) both from Maghery in County Armagh. Both were GAA members. The
men were subcontractors carrying out electrical work on a building site in
North Queen Street beside the loyalist Tiger's Bay area. Both men received the
last rites from Father Sean Emerson from the nearby Holy Family chapel. The two
men will be buried today, Thursday, 19 May after Requiem Mass at Maghery.
The building site is situated less than 500 yards from both York Road and
North Queen Street RUC Barracks. This showed the killers confidence that their
deed would go unopposed by state forces.
Another nationalist worker who has since left the site where over 50 men
work and who will not be returning, said that the murdered men had been stopped
at a British army checkpoint several times over the past number of weeks as
they drove to and from the job.
In the aftermath of the double killing the RUC press office went into
overdrive to show that their officers had captured men and ''rifles''.
The ''weapons'' turned out to be replica guns, quite obviously incapable of
being fired, yet the RUC continued with their news management up to 12 hours
later. Anyone with a basic knowledge of firearms, particularly the
heavily-armed and highly-trained RUC, would have known within minutes that the
replicas were not the murder weapons.
That the RUC allowed this misinformation to circulate for up to 12 hours
after these ''weapons'' were found is an indication of their strategy of media
manipulation and a further attempt to inflate their minimal efforts to contain
loyalist violence.
RUC Assistant Chief Constable for the greater Belfast area, Ronnie
Flanagan, who arrived swiftly on the scene described the murders as ''purely
sectarian''.
Responding to this comment by RUC supremo Flanagan, Craigavon Sinn Fein
Councillor Brendan Curran who has himself survived several UVF attempts on his
life called on the RUC to reveal results of forensic tests on guns used in
recent loyalist murders and tell the public if they were part of the
consignment brought in by Brian Nelson when he was working as British agent.
*************
Loyalists Open Fire On City Hall March
REPUBLICANS taking part in a peaceful march to Belfast City Hall, on
Sunday, 15 May, came under attack from a loyalist terror gang.
Armed with automatic rifles, the loyalists fired on the 1,000-strong rally as
it passed St Comgall's Primary School at the junction of Percy Street and the
Falls Road. The loyalist gang fired indiscriminately at the crowd, intent on
taking the lives of as many people as possible.
The gang fired across a 'peace wall' from the loyalist Shankill area.
Initial RUC claims, made by Assistant Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan, who said
that the shots were fired into the air, were intended to diminish the
seriousness and intent of the attack as witnessed by participants, who said
that the firing was meant to hit marchers.
Marchers saw the bullets striking the school wall. Eight bullet holes were
clearly visible on the walls of St Comgall School after the attack, but
miraculously no one had been injured.
''They must have fired up to 30 shots,'' said one eyewitness. ''I heard the
bullets ping off the railings after they whizzed past me. There is no way the
shots were fired in the air. It was a deliberate attack to kill people trying
to march peacefully to the City Hall.''
The follow-up operation by the RUC was branded ''a sick joke'' by Belfast
Sinn Fein Councillor Mairtin O Muilleoir. Speaking after the attack O Muilleoir
stated:
''It is now four hours after the attack and the RUC still hasn't sealed off
the scene. There are no scenes of crime officers and no one out collecting the
spent bullets.
''Does the Assistant Chief Constable for Belfast, Ronnie Flannagan, still
want us to believe that the UDA sent two men out with rifles to the peaceline
to fire shots in the air?
'There were nearly 2,000 members of the crown forces present at the rally,
at a cost of what must run into the hundreds of thousands for the British
taxpayer, yet they were still unable or unwilling to catch the attackers.''
Although chaos reigned for several moments after the attack, stewards were
able to restore order and the rally continued peacefully and quietly to the
City Hall.
This attack came a week after the RUC banned the original Hunger-Strike
Commemoration March on 8 May under the pretext that they feared a
counter-demonstration by the DUP.
Despite the shooting, the marchers were in a bouyant mood as they gathered
outside the City Hall and listened to North Belfast Sinn Fein Councillor Joe
Austin slam the actions of the loyalists. He stated that the guns used in the
attack were shipped here with the knowledge of British intelligence and he
slated the RUC for their well-documented collusion in these murderous loyalist
activities.
West Belfast Sinn Fein Councillor Una Gillespie, who chaired the rally,
then introduced the main speaker, EU candidate Tom Hartley. Councillor Hartley
was greeted with a rousing reception by the waiting crowd. He welcomed the
people to ''our city hall'' and vowed that no one ''would stop us on our march
towards freedom and liberty. And that one day our flag will be flying above
the city Hall.''
In his speech, Hartley praised the resilience and calm demeanor of the
crowd. He looked forward to August when nationalists would again gather at the
City Hall to mark the introduction of internment and 25 years of British troops
on the streets.
___________________
United Stand Against Crossmaglen Siege
OVER 1,000 PEOPLE turned out on the streets of Crossmaglen last Saturday,
14 May, to demand the removal of the British military presence from the South
Armagh town. Representatives from various societies and organisations were
there to support the local community in their demands, as well as people from
Derry, Dublin, Belfast, and throughout Ireland.
The banners brought by the many GAA clubs from the surrounding area, and
Crossmaglen itself, showed the strength of feeling created by the British
requisition of GAA property. Banners were also brought by other supportive
bodies from Louth, Belfast and Dublin. The march proceeded around the town,
finishing in the main square, now completely dominated by the British sangar.
Local doctor, Mary Allen, chaired the rally, at which the number of
speakers was so great that there was barely room for them on the platform.
Representatives from Sinn Fein, the GAA, Louth County Council, the SDLP and
Newry and Mourne Council also spoke at the gathering. Doctor Allen warned
against growing immune to the present situation in Crossmaglen, as the
community became accustomed to living in a state of siege.
James Savage, chair of Newry and Mourne Council, conveyed the council's
''support and sympathy'' for the people of Crossmaglen. He also stated that he
had been assured by those responsible that the siege of the town would be
lifted, but no date was given for this reduction in the British military
presence. However, the mood of the crowd was to take such British assurances
with a pinch of salt.
SDLP MP Seamus Mallon paid tribute to the people of Crossmaglen, and the
dignity of their protest at what was an intolerable situation. He described
this as a violation of people's lives, ''every hour of the day and night''.
The building work which the British claim is responsible for the greatly
increased military activity in the town would, he said, not improve the lives
of the people of Crossmaglen, in fact the opposite. Mallon's speech was
followed by the local SDLP representative, John Fee.
Bernadette McAliskey then addressed the assembled crowd. She asserted the
basic right of the people of Crossmaglen to live without militarisation, and
pointed out that this right was being violated by the British presence in the
town. The failure to recognise this basic right was ''the beginning and the
end of the problem'' for the people of Crossmaglen.
It is the lack of ''respect for us as human beings, as nationalists, and as
republicans'' which makes this failure possible. She added: ''We are told we
must stop being what we are if we want peace and dignity, but we cannot do
this.''
McAliskey pointed out that the first movement towards peace must come from
the aggressor, peace is ''not in the gift of the oppressed''. The first step
towards peace in Crossmaglen would come with the dismantling of the sangar
opposite the platform. The suggestion that the offending installation be sold
for scrap was greeted by cheers from the assembled crowd.
Sinn Fein Euro candidate Francie Molloy congratulated the people of
Crossmaglen on the stand they were taking against the British crown forces. He
especially mentioned parents, children and teachers who had taken part in the
demonstration the previous day. The dignity with which they had marched, armed
only with their desire for the removal of the installations which now
dominated their schools, typified the resilience of the community. Molloy said
this resistance to the heavily-armed occupation of Crossmaglen, reminded him
of the sole protester in Tiananmin Square faced with the armed might of tanks.
''The entire area is a massive concentration camp'' and the community are
being used as ''human shields''. Sinn Fein, Molloy concluded, wanted to see an
''end to militarisation'' but this ''can only come with an end to British
occupation''.
Two GAA representatives, Gene Duffy and Eddie Hughes, then spoke of their
hopes of an ''end to the siege of Crossmaglen''. Fianna Fail TDs Doctor Rory
O'Hanlon and Seamus Kirk said they hoped there would soon be a ''reduction in
the level of security'' in the area.
Father Piaras O Duill said he came to Crossmaglen as ''a fellow
countryman'' and said those who wanted peace should remember, ''peace does not
come before freedom''.
The representative of the Rosemount Watchtower Committee in Derry, said he
had never been to Crossmaglen, but he could understand the anger of the
community.
The people of Rosemount were continuing to fight back against the intrusive
watchtower in their midst. ''We will get our human rights... We are not the
ones who need watching. We are not animals, we do not break down doors in the
middle of the night, it is the British who need watching.''
The final speaker was greeted with cheers of recognition by the assembled
crowd. Sinn Fein Councillor Jim McAllister said there were terrorists in
Crossmaglen, and ''everyone of them wears the uniform of the British state''.
He added that ''not one man, woman or child in the area wants them here...
They are not here to keep the peace'', but in an attempt to claim that Britain
rules Ireland ''Britain does not, we do''.
McAllister then called for a minute's silence in memory of those killed in
the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, which occurred 20 years ago.
''We are the oppressed, and we want to put an end to it. Your presence here
is very powerful... This is an Irish town with Irish people, fighting back. We
want the GAA property back and our gardens back. We want all inclusive
meetings and democracy... We will come back and back, and we will do it.''
McAllister concluded by telling the representatives present from Louth, Dublin
and elsewhere, to go back and ''tell them we don't want the Irish army on the
border'' supporting the British in what they are doing in Crossmaglen.
Doctor Allen then read out the faxes that had been received from those were
not able to be present in Crossmaglen, including Brendan McGahon TD for Louth,
and US Senator, Peter King.
Sinn Fein President, Gerry Adams, sent solidarity greetings to the people
of Crossmaglen
-------------------------
Students Protest At Martial Law
AS A PRELUDE to Saturday's demonstration protests were organised by the
Crossmaglen Concerned Parents Committee outside St Joseph's and St Patrick's
schools.
Beginning at 10am students and parents alike gathered outside St Joseph's
High School before marching to the crown forces' emplacement on the Dundalk
Road. Carrying placards that stating the British of using the pupils as human
shields the protesters marched to the emplacement. They heard a message from
the Concerned Parents group, read by group spokesperson Margaret O'Callaghan.
In the statement O'Callaghan said they were ''marching to highlight the
continued danger to their children by these checkpoints being so close to the
schools and demand their removal''.
O'Callaghan pointed out that pupils doing their GCSE exams and their
teachers were under enough pressure and didn't need the pressure from the crown
forces. ''We will continue to highlight, in anyway we can, this situation and
emphasise to the younger children to stay from these British army bunkers.
British soldiers are giving them sweets to entice them into the bunkers. We
don't want the any child to get hurt or worse.''
The crowd consisting of children, their parents, teachers from the school
then marched through the town to St Patrick's Primary School on the Carron
Road.
There the pupils and teachers walked out to join the protest which had
swollen to hundreds of people. Again they marched to the Carron Road crown
forces' emplacement and made their protest.
Before departing O'Callaghan thanked everyone who came along, for their
support and also those parents who did not send their children to school as a
mark of solidarity. Also, she mentioned the governors and staff of St Joseph's
High School who put an advertisement in the local paper to express their
support for the concerned parents' action.
-------------------
1974 Bombings - Stop The Cover Up
BY ART Mac EOIN
SURVIVORS of the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings and relatives of the 33
people killed in the massacre commemorated the event which witnessed the
greatest loss of life in 25 years of conflict on Tuesday, 17 May, and called
for an end to two decades of official secrecy and silence surrounding the
events.
British military intelligence worked with loyalist operatives from the Six
Counties in carrying out the attacks. The Dublin government has shown a
reluctance to properly investigate and reveal the true story behind the
massacres. Nobody has ever been arrested or charged in connection with the
bombings and gardai received no cooperation from the RUC - to whom the
identities of several loyalists suspected of involvement in the bombings is
known.
This was the 20th anniversary of the bombings and the first time that any
form of official state recognition of the suffering endured by the victims,
survivors and relatives has ever been paid. The 26-County president, Lord
Mayor of Dublin, TDs, senators and Dublin city councillors attended a
commemorative Mass at Dublin's Pro-Cathedral.
The official attendance at the Mass comes after 20 years in which the
survivors of the bombings and relatives of the victims were ignored and
marginalised. They have also been subjected to Garda Special Branch
surveillance when organising commemorative activities.
A memorial stone unveiled a year ago in Parnell Square has been moved and
was unveiled on Tuesday in Cathal Brugha Street. The relatives, however, regard
this as only a temporary measure and are seeking the erection of a larger
monument bearing the names of the victims, preferably in a more prominent
location. The government has not said that it will erect such a monument.
Denise O'Neill, whose father Edward was killed and whose brother was disabled
for life in the Talbot Street explosion, told a crowd at the unveiling that
relatives and survivors had waited ten months for Minister for Justice Maire
Geoghegan Quinn, to complete a promised investigation into the identities of
those who planted the bombs in Dublin and Monaghan. Later on Tuesday afternoon
wreaths were laid at the sites of the three Dublin explosions on Parnell
Street, Talbot Street and South Leinster Street, at roughly the same time that
the explosions detonated 20 years ago.
Sinn Fein EU candidate for Dublin Larry O'Toole, who attended the wreath
layings, said that 20 years after the Dublin and Monaghan bombings the threat
of loyalist violence is still being used to influence public opinion in the 26
Counties:
''The garda inquiry into the the bombings initiated by the Minister for
Justice Maire Geoghegan Quinn should be speeded up and published. I also call
for an international inquiry into the collusion of British intelligence and
other British forces with loyalist paramilitaries right from the start of this
conflict.''
--------------------
25 years ago
Change of masters
IN MAY 1969 the volcano which was the Six-County state was still boiling
after the eruptions of the previous months. There was no visible sign yet of
the catastrophic explosion which was to come later in the summer, but the
rumblings which presaged it could be heard clearly.
At the start of the month Major James Chichester Clarke had taken over as
unionist prime minister from Terence O'Neill.
Chichester Clarke had resigned from the government in protest at O'Neill's
attempts at reforms in response to the Civil Rights Movement. The removal of
O'Neill and the election of Chichester-Clarke to the leadership of the
Unionist Party had been a victory for the increasingly angry and vocal right
wing of unionism. But lest it be thought that O'Neill was any less
condescending in his attitude to Catholics than the more extreme unionists,
his remarks on 10 May, within three weeks of his resignation, should not be
forgotten. In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph he said:
''It is frightfully hard to explain to Protestants that if you give Roman
Catholics a good job and a good house, they will live like Protestants,
because they will see neighbours with cars and television sets. They will
refuse to have 18 children, but if a Roman Catholic is jobless and lives in a
most ghastly hovel, he will rear 18 children on National Assistance. If you
treat Roman Catholics with due consideration and kindness, they will live like
Protestants in spite of the authoritative nature of their church.''
The pattern that was to emerge throughout the year was the irreformability
of unionism and of the unionist state. That the man who made such remarks could
be seen as too radical by most of his own party, and as a traitor by the
growing forces of loyalism led by Ian Paisley, said much about the deeply
reactionary nature of unionism. It was this stone wall of sectarianism that
the Civil Rights Movement was to confront over the next few months.
The man who had taken over the reins of power at Stormont was, like
O'Neill, from a unionist landlord background. Chichester Clarke had been
educated at Eton, one of the foremost English public schools, became an officer
in the Irish Guards, and inherited his grandmother's Stormont seat in South
Derry in 1960. He was a leading figure in the unionist party throughout the
1960s.
Proposals to introduce even the most basic reforms to end the most blatant
forms of gerrymandering in local government had caused a crisis in unionism
which was still developing when Chichester Clarke took over. On 18 May 1969
the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) said that the failure of
the government to stick to a timetable of reforms meant that there was no
alternative, but to continue their civil disobedience campaign. In April they
had announced a moratorium on marches and street demonstrations, but they now
gave the government six weeks, up to the end of the Stormont parliament term,
to issue a public timetable of reforms or else demonstrations would start
again.
NICRA repeated their demands which were designed to break the unionist
sectarian stranglehold on all levels of government. These demands included
'one man, one vote' (an end to the system whereby only people of property
could vote in local elections and where companies had multiple votes), the
lowering of the voting age to 18, an independent boundary commission to change
the rigged constituencies, a points system for housing, machinery to remedy
local government abuses, legislation against discrimination in jobs, a review
of the Special Powers Act and the disbandment of the B Specials.
By the end of the month Chichester Clarke had produced no timetable and on 1
June NICRA announced that street demonstrations would resume. The stage was
set for one of the most momentous summers in Irish history.
---------------------------
'GET BACK IN THERE YOU FENIAN BITCH' - killer
Nationalist gunned down in Ardoyne
''GET BACK IN THERE YOU FENIAN BITCH'' was what a UDA death squad member
shouted at 12-year-old Jolene McAllister seconds after shooting dead her
uncle, 23-year-old Martin Bradley in Ardoyne, North Belfast last Thursday, 12
May. He also kicked her in the chest as he made his getaway.
Martin Bradley died shortly after 5.30pm after being shot several times by
the hooded assassins in his aunt's Crumlin Road home. The UDA assailant had
walked in through the open front door and opened fire as Bradley cradled his
baby nephew, James.
An uncle of Bradley told reporters how he had found his nephew's body lying
on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood. The baby was also found lying on the
floor covered in his uncle's blood.
The distraught relative described Martin Bradley as ''an innocent big
fella''. ''I was in my own house when we got the phone call from my sister. He
was nursing a one-year-old child at the time, and the loyalist just kept
shooting into him, even as he fell to the ground with the child still in his
arms.'' An eyewitness to the shooting described how the assassin walked calmly
from the house to the getaway car ''as cool as anything''. Another relative
said that two weeks ago the crown forces had threatened Martin Bradley's life
in Oldpark RUC Barracks after he had gone to sort out a driving matter.
Shortly after Thursday's shooting a crowd of residents shouted at an
identified member of the crown forces whom they maintained had threatened
Bradley's life.
Twenty-four hours after the shooting around 120 neighbours of Bradley
joined North Belfast Sinn Fein Councillors Bobby Lavery, Paddy Mc Manus and Joe
Austin at Oldpark RUC Barracks to protest at collusion between the RUC and
loyalist death squads.
Less than half-a-mile from Thursday's killing, another loyalist gun attack
was carried out, this time on a Catholic delivery man from the Antrim Road area
of North Belfast. The man targeted was making a regular weekly delivery to a
shop in Disraeli Street at 11am on Monday, 16 May, when the death squad struck.
Five loyalists had taken over a house in the street the previous night and
held a couple and a nine-year-old boy hostage. A shop assistant at Disraeli
Street told reporters that she had heard a single shot seconds after the
Catholic man had left her shop. It appears from reports from the scene that
the would-be killers struck as he went to the back of the van. After shooting
the man in the upper thigh the the gang fled the scene in a hi-jacked van.
The victim's condition was later described as ''serious'' by a hospital
spokesperson. Ironically an ambulance going to the scene passed mourners
leaving the funeral mass for Martin Bradley.
Later on Monday loyalists in Armagh shot two nationalists as they stood
talking outside a house in Drumbreda Park in the Loughall Road area after
11pm. The pair were blasted with shotgun pellets fired by a loyalist
travelling past them in a stolen car. Both were taken to a local hospital
where they were treated for their wounds.
A Derryman, the target of a loyalist bomb attack, has told how his life was
threatened by the RUC three weeks ago. During an RUC raid on his home an
identified RUC member told Tommy McGlinchey that ''there were a lot of angry
people in the Waterside who would want to get rid of people like him''.
Tommy McGlinchey was speaking only hours after loyalists had blown off the
front door of his Chapel Road home in the Waterside. It is believed a pipe
bomb, which had been planted in the early hours of Monday morning, was used.
Windows and cars belonging to neighbours were also damaged in the blast.
McGlinchey, who had been a member of both the Irish Independence Party and
Sinn Fein, lost both legs in a 1975 loyalist no-warning car bomb. He vowed
that he and his family would not be forced out of their home despite a number
of loyalist attacks.
Following that first loyalist car bombing McGlinchey and his family's
personal details were found among documents hidden in a loyalist dump and this
fact was noted during the Stevens Inquiry into allegations of collusion between
loyalist death squads and the crown forces.
In 1986 loyalists made a further attempt on McGlinchey's life. They tried
to shoot him as he drove down Fountain Hill, near his home. Mass cards have
also been sent to his home. Sinn Fein EU election candidate Dodie McGuinness
speaking to AP/RN shortly after the bomb attack said that she had issued a
statement three weeks ago highlighting the threat made to the family by the
RUC member. ''This RUC officer is part of an RUC squad that has been targeting
nationalists in the city,'' said McGuinness.
*******************
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---------
Matthew Huntbach
> ANOTHER WEEK has witnessed the unrestrained savagery of loyalist violence
>in several areas of the Six Counties. The murder of five nationalist civilians
>this week has been accompanied by pathetic public relations exercises on
>behalf of the RUC which adds insult to the death and injury suffered by the
>nationalist population.
> IN A DOUBLE KILLING carried out in the loyalist Tiger's Bay area of North
>Belfast on Tuesday, 17 May, two Catholic workers lost their lives at the hands
>of UVF assassins. A third man, a brother-in-law of one of the victims received
>facial injuries during the shooting.
> Eyewitnesses reported seeing the UVF killer stand in a children's
>playground and open fire with a machine gun. The men were hit as they began
>their lunch break. One man died instantly, the other a short time later. The
>killer ran off up Parkmount Street after the killings.
If you used the same logic you use with the IRA, you would fete the
perpetrators of these atrocities as "peacemakers" and call for them to
be immediately given places of honour at the negotiating table. There
is no difference between these monsters and the IRA mosnters. Both are
thugs who are no friends of Northern Ireland and deserve to be locked
up together for ever.
Why can't you realise what a bunch of hypocrites you are when you condemn
violence in others but laud it in yourselves?
Matthew Huntbach