SAOIRSE32

An Phoblacht

The Gough Barracks raid - Remembering the Past

BY SHANE Mac THOMÁIS

Photo: Gough Barracks

In January 1954, Leo McCormick, the Training Officer for the Dublin Brigade of the IRA, was on a visit to Armagh. As he passed Gough Barracks, the home of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, McCormick noticed that the guard on duty outside the barracks was armed with a sten gun without a magazine. McCormick concluded rightly that Gough Barracks was in effect being guarded by an unarmed guard.

On his return to Dublin, McCormick informed the Dublin Brigade of his chance observation. Alas, McCormick was not to see the end result of his information, as he was arrested soon after and received four years for possession of a document.

By April, the General Head Quarters decided that they would raid Gough Barracks for arms. But first, more information was needed.

Eamon Boyce the Intelligence Officer of the Dublin Brigade, was asked to travel up to Armagh and check out the barracks. Boyce travelled up many times and soon had a detailed account of life outside the barracks. But GHQ wanted more inside details. Charlie Murphy got over this problem by asking Seán Garland to go up to Armagh and enlist in the British Army.

Not long after Garland’s enlistment, a stream of maps, documents, time schedules and even photographs flowed into GHQ for processing. Finally, a last intelligence coup was arranged. Using Garland’s information, the IRA got inside the barracks to have a look around.

On a Saturday night in May, Boyce and Murphy slipped into the barracks as ‘guests’ at a weekly dance. With them they brought a girl, Mae Smith, who was later to become chairperson of Sinn Féin. After a few dances, Garland took Mae outside for what his fellow soldiers assumed was an hour of light passion but was in fact a detailed tour of the entire barracks.

The operation was launched on 12 June 1954, from a farm just outside Dundalk. A large red cattle truck had been commandeered at the last moment and 19 IRA men, about half of the Dublin Brigade, climbed in and were informed as to what their target was. It was almost 3 o’clock on a busy Saturday afternoon when the cattle truck and a car drove into Armagh.

Paddy Ford got out of the car and walked over to the sentry and asked him about enlisting in the British Army. While the sentry was dissuading Ford of what he considered a foolish course of action, he looked down into the barrel of a .45 calibre colt revolver in the perspective recruit’s hand. As the sentry was held at gunpoint, three IRA men went past him into the guardhouse. The sentry was then brought in after them. While the sentry was being tied up, a new IRA sentry, complete with British uniform, white webbing belt, regimental cap and sten gun with magazine stepped out to stand guard over Gough Barracks.

As soon as the IRA sentry appeared, the cattle truck drove through the gate and came to a halt outside the arsenal door. After fumbling through 200 keys, Eamonn Boyce found the right one and opened the armoury. Murphy raced up the stairs and in the first room two British soldiers demanded to know what a civilian wanted inside the barracks. Murphy had some trouble getting his revolver out of his pocket and was further embarrassed when the two soldiers refused to put up their hands. However, another IRA man arrived carrying a Thompson sub machine gun, which quickly convinced them to do as they were told. Posting a Bren gun at the armoury window to command the barracks square, the IRA began stripping the armoury.

During the course of the raid a woman, noticing something was wrong, stopped a British officer in the street and urged him into the barracks to investigate. Once inside the gate the officer was taken under control and, protesting that he was an officer and a gentleman, refused to be tied until a gun was put to his head.

An NCO then noticed what was happening, got into a lorry and drove for the gate, intending to block the exit. But an IRA man (later to become editor of An Phoblacht) stood at the gate brandishing a revolver and shouted “Back”. He forced the NCO to reverse the lorry. The NCO was placed under arrest in the guard room. By the end of the raid, the IRA had tied up 19 British soldiers and one civilian.

In less than 20 minutes the job was done. The lorry carrying 340 rifles, 50 sten guns, 12 bren guns, and a number of small arms drove out of the barrack gates and rumbled through Armagh in the direction of the 26 Counties. Eamon Boyce and the group in the car followed after locking every gate and door for which they could find keys (the keys were later auctioned in America to raise funds for the IRA). At 3.25pm the first alarm in the barracks was given but it was not until 5 o’clock that the general alarm was given and by that time the big red truck was long gone.

The raid for arms in Gough Barracks gained international attention. The IRA, which had been described by some as moribund since the ’40s campaign, had once more risen from its slumber to strike a blow against the forces of occupation. The raid awoke a calling in many to join the IRA and take part in the Border Campaign, which kept alive the flame of republicanism through to the present time.

On 12 June 1954, 50 years ago, the IRA raided Gough Barracks in County Armagh.

Unison.ie / Irish Independent

**I have just noticed that the URL I have always used for stories coming from the Irish Independent does not work at all. Since you must register with your email details to view the articles from the site, I only meant to give a link to the Independent’s front page, but it turned up an error message. I apologise for not checking this. This is the correct link for access to the Independent:

http://www.unison.ie

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An Phoblacht

New Bloody Sunday rifle claim - Families demand truth

BY FERN LANE

The Bloody Sunday families have demanded an investigation into claims that one of the SLR rifles used by the Parachute Regiment in the killings in January 1972 turned up in Sierra Leone — after the Ministry of Defence had told the Bloody Sunday Inquiry that the weapon had been destroyed.

The claim is made in a newly-published book by former Royal Irish Regiment colonel, Belfast-born Tim Collins, who during his time in Iraq was investigated for the violent abuse and murder of Iraqi civilians. Although he was formally exonerated, the mud of the allegations stuck and he left the British Army with some bitterness. He now works for Aegis, a firm of private ’security consultants’, headed by Tim Spicer. Spicer was head of the mercenary organisation Sandline International, which was forced to shut up shop in April 2004 when it became involved in an attempted illegal coup in Equatorial Guinea. Spicer was also the former commander of two British soldiers sentenced to life for murdering unarmed Belfast teenager Peter McBride 13 years ago.

In his book, Rules of Engagement, Collins writes that the rifle in question was one of a number taken by the British Army during an operation against the rebel group, The West Side Boys, in Sierra Leone, in which he was involved. It was taken back to Britain and kept as a souvenir. Collins writes: “It was only when they were back to the UK that it was discovered from the serial numbers that one of the rifles was actually an old 1 Para rifle.

“It was used on Bloody Sunday in Londonderry in 1972 when 13 protestors had been shot — and it had been declared destroyed when the Saville Inquiry into the shootings had asked for it.”

Sinn Féin MLA Raymond McCartney supports the families’ call for a full investigation into the matter. He says:

“At the Saville Inquiry we were told that this particular rifle was destroyed yet we now have claims in a new book that it turned up in Sierra Leone and was captured by the same British Army regiment that was responsible for Bloody Sunday.

“If this is the case then it begs the question as to why the MOD told the Inquiry it was destroyed when in fact it was being held in an British Army camp as some sort of macabre trophy.

“In Derry recently a man was imprisoned for failing to attend the Inquiry although he stated he was not present on the day yet we have no one being held to account for misleading the inquiry.

“People must have full confidence that the British Government have disclosed all relevant information in relation to Bloody Sunday but if the accusation in this book are true then people will be sceptical of any findings as the full truth is obvious being withheld.”

An Phoblacht

Criminality, Collusion and Cover-up

BY MARTIN MCGUINNESS

The revelations in the Morris Tribunal Report this week would have been astounding if not for the fact that most of us already knew what Morris exposed officially.

But what is astounding and would be unacceptable in any other jurisdiction in the free world is that a Commissioner of Police and a Justice Minister who were guilty of overseeing the operation of a Police Service while ignoring all of the warning signs of corruption, collusion and cover-up within that service are not to be held accountable.

Will the Morris Report lead to root and branch reform of the Gardaí? I don’t think so, because the arrogance of the present Irish Justice Minister knows no bounds and I don’t believe that he will accept, despite all of the evidence, the need for an Independent Garda Ombudsman. That would be to accept that there is something fundamentally wrong with the manner in which he has conducted his responsibilities not just as Justice Minister but also as Attorney General when the allegations in the McBrearty case first emerged.

It’s not as if Mr McDowell only became aware of the facts of the McBrearty case with the publication of the Morris Report last week. Frank McBrearty Jnr claims that he informed Michael McDowell about what happened to his family as far back as nine years ago, when McDowell was Attorney General, and he failed to take any action. The least that an Attorney General should do if there are allegations of wrongdoing in the police service would be to set up an inquiry. Such dereliction of duty would not be tolerated in any other walk of life. Because of his inaction, the McBrearty family were forced to endure nine years of untold suffering and hardship.

It’s not as if there was no precedent for Garda corruption and cover-up going back many years and covering instances such as the Kerry Babies case, the Sallins Train Robbery, the Frank Shortt case and the Garda Heavy Gang. Resistance to scrutiny of state bodies within the Irish political establishment must end if true democracy is to be developed on this island. It is hypocritical to say the least for Irish Government Ministers to lecture others on the principles of democracy whilst at the same time presiding over a system rife with corruption, criminality and cover-ups.

Of course, this attitude by government ministers who fail to accept responsibility for their actions when things go wrong does not apply solely to this Minister. But in this Ministry, failure to ensure openness and transparency inflicts hurt and suffering that can never be erased on innocent citizens who are supposed to be protected by the State.

I have great admiration for the McBreartys‚ for the courage that they have shown in challenging the establishment knowing that all the powers of the state would be used to disprove their allegations. I wish them every success and hope that they can find closure on this episode in their lives and go on to enjoy good health and good fortune in the future.

Irish Independent

Suspected RIRA men ‘on way to carry out a hiding’ held by gardai

TWO suspected members of the Real IRA were in Garda custody last night after a handgun was found hidden in a car.

Senior gardai believe the suspects were part of a six-strong group on their way to hand out a “hiding” to a former associate linked to a rival dissident group.

The Real IRA has been riven with faction fighting since the split between its former chief of staff, Michael McKevitt, and his former director of operations, Liam Campbell.

The two men were arrested by gardai as part of Operation Anvil, the big offensive against armed crime in Dublin, after they were spotted acting suspiciously.

Detectives on an Anvil patrol stopped their estate car at Croydon Green in Marino on Tuesday night and a search of the vehicle later unearthed the gun hidden underneath the floor.

Gardai also recovered a number of balaclavas and batons which they think were to have been used in the intended assault. The two men, aged 30 and 21, are both from the Ballybough area in the north inner city. They were being held last night under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act at Clontarf garda station and a decision on their fate was expected to be made this morning.

Meanwhile, detectives from the Santry divisional task force yesterday raided a flat in the north inner city and seized two replica firearms and a quantity of cannabis with a street value of a couple of thousand euro.

Three men were detained and were being held last night under the Offences Against the State Act. The men had been placed under surveillance after they were seen watching a bank in Cloghran, Co Dublin, last weekend. Gardai said there was no paramilitary link to the arrests and they believed the bank raid was to have been carried out by a city crime gang.

Tom Brady
Security Editor

Daily Ireland

OPINION: Is it safe for the IRA to completely go away?

Danny Morrison
To comment: columnists@dailyireland.com
Danny Morrison.com

click photo to view mural - (source)

There are two crucial political questions at the moment in the North. What will be the IRA’s response to Gerry Adams’ appeal for it to stand down and for its activists to devote their energies to political struggle? And what is the Democratic Unionist Party’s true position on a power-sharing deal with Sinn Féin?
Last Christmas, the DUP balked at the unprecedented offer then made by the IRA leadership — without consultation with its volunteers — to verifiably put all of its arms beyond use. For a short while, it seemed as if Ian Paisley and the DUP were going to take most of the blame for the impasse.
But within a short time, republicans were being urged to do “more” — that is, agree to decommissioning being photographed — while the DUP was merely chided for turning down a historic offer.
Republicans felt that the pressure should have been on the DUP and were angry at London and Dublin for retrospectively conferring any validity on Paisley’s “sackcloth and ashes” approach.
Despite the peace, every protagonist here is still fighting the old wars through the political process. Just because opponents shake hands doesn’t make them bosom pals. Bertie Ahern, in particular, needs to keep Sinn Féin in check in the South by limiting its prestige nationally and exploiting the party’s difficulties.
Tony Blair represents a state that was antipathetic to the Irish long before the IRA relentlessly attacked it. He is from a tradition of “my country, right or wrong” — which explains why he will not even co-operate with his ally Bertie on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.
Certainly, Blair and Ahern do not want the IRA to return to armed struggle and do not want to be perceived to be the cause of a split that might see a rump of the IRA return to conflict, even if that were disastrous for the cause of republicanism.
Those in the political establishment want to keep the Sinn Féin leadership under pressure, reeling, embarrassed, angry and frustrated. They love the idea of being tough and putting manners on Sinn Féin. Thus Bertie Ahern’s riposte to an angry Gerry Adams’ denial of republican involvement in money laundering: “What kind of eejits do people take us for?”
This is the price Sinn Féin has to pay for being the driving force for major change when its disparate opponents would prefer various degrees of minimal change, if any. But it is also the price the party has to pay for the question mark over IRA intentions.
Republicans are always going to be viewed as the real enemy. How can it be otherwise, given their relentless pursuit of their objectives and their high aspirations?
Immediately after the Northern Bank raid and before the repercussions of the Robert McCartney murder (and the major mishandling of this local incident), the remaining limited pressure on the DUP vanished and Sinn Féin was roasted on a hot spit for five long months.
Sinn Féin’s vote in the Westminster elections still proved remarkably resilient but, had it not been for the Northern Bank raid and the McCartney murder, the party’s vote would have been more substantial. Foyle just might have been taken, and the SDLP lead over Sinn Féin in South Down would have been narrowed beyond dispute.
Instead, the SDLP has been reinvigorated for a while by limited successes — but successes nonetheless — which actually masks a party still in decline. The negative impact of the SDLP’s election results is that Blair and the DUP will waste time thinking there is an option available of co-opting Mark Durkan into a power-sharing arrangement to the exclusion of Sinn Féin. Durkan has repeatedly repudiated that as an option but, with people in the party such as Alasdair McDonnell and Eddie McGrady who supported the idea just months ago, Blair and the DUP are likely to give up later rather than sooner.
One repercussion of this is that the DUP will resist to the end answering Gerry Adams’ challenge to engage in dialogue. Indeed, because of its inherently sectarian nature, the DUP might remain intransigent even if the IRA responds to Gerry Adams in a way that turns the tables on the DUP, including the two governments putting pressure on the DUP. That is a real possibility that will influence the internal debate requested by Gerry Adams.
It doesn’t matter that the IRA has already put weapons beyond use on three separate occasions — acts witnessed by international observers. However unfairly, Sinn Féin was always going to pay the price for the IRA’s past and present and the question over its future.
The ceasefire is arguably a staging post in the unified and disciplined demobilisation of the IRA. But republican opponents have successfully presented it as the very opposite — a position from which the IRA carries out limited but significant activities and consolidates its ability to return to war.
The IRA has existed, in one mode or another, throughout the existence of the Northern state, a state of which nationalists could never feel a part, except as vanquished subjects. The IRA existed to defend nationalists against the forces of the state and to make a stand against the state as part of the struggle to overthrow the state, break the British connection and reunite Ireland.
The largest popular support for the IRA came in the 1970s and was directly fuelled by violent unionist opposition to the civil rights movement and its demand for equality. With the introduction of the British army in support of the unionist status quo and the intensification of military repression, the conflict shot to an unprecedented level.
Given the repeated outbreaks of conflict throughout the history of the Northern state, is it safe for the IRA to completely go away? When all is debated and discussed, that might be the most crucial question republicans have to answer.
Would the nationalist community feel safer, be safer, if their sons and daughters made up half of the PSNI and, as insurance, if their party of choice in the North, Sinn Féin, was also a party or potential party of government in the South?
What is in a deal for unionists? Access to real, though shared, power and, clearly, the hope that nationalist fervour for reunification would be dulled or neutered by full participation in the North. For nationalists, it is the power to really change society and the hope that peace and stability in the North would relax unionists and allow them to view Ireland as their home.
All life is a gamble. To me, the IRA has fulfilled its role in line with the cards it has been dealt. Many former activists joined Sinn Féin and brought to that party immense energy and talent. It only remains for the process to be completed and republicans, in my opinion, will triumph.

Danny Morrison is a regular media commentator on Irish politics. He is the author of three novels and three works of non-fiction.

Belfast Telegraph

Concern at MI5 role in police intelligence
Watchdog raises worries at handover

By Chris Thornton and Jonathan McCambridge
09 June 2005

The Government’s plan to hand responsibility for intelligence to MI5 raised concerns today with police reform watchdog Al Hutchinson.

Mr Hutchinson warned that the plan to take intelligence primacy away from the PSNI and hand it to MI5 could undermine Patten reforms and hurt the fight against organised crime.

Mr Hutchinson, issuing the 13th regular report on police reform today, described Sinn Fein’s refusal to support policing as “an impediment” to reform.

The former Canadian Mounted Police chief said 114 out of 175 recommendations from the 1999 Patten report have now been realised. He described the doubling of Catholic representation in the force as a success story but warned that police, media and the community need to address the gap between falling crime and a rise in public fears about crime.

MI5 is due to take over primary responsibility for intelligence gathering in Northern Ireland in 2007.

Mr Hutchinson said he raised concerns about the plan because “I do not want to see Patten undermined”.

“For very specific reasons, Patten went about setting up a number of recommendations about Special Branch, security and a force within a force,” he said.

He said those changes - while still incomplete - have improved the accountability of Special Branch and the use of intelligence in combating crime.

“I do not want to see that effectiveness changed by a switch to the Security Services or MI5, he said.

“We don’t want to end up inadvertently recreating what we had before, where you have an impenetrable wall between intelligence gathering and the needs of the community.

“The caveat to this is that we haven’t seen any detail.

“The element of transparency is important, and at the same time you don’t want to destroy effective policing.”

Mr Hutchinson said full political support for policing - a veiled reference to Sinn Fein’s refusal to back policing - is holding back further progress.

“We’ve generally skated around this but we’re now at the stage where it really is the issue,” he said. “I won’t say it’s a blockage but it is an impediment to the further progress that people want on the streets.”

But Sinn Fein’s Gerry Kelly said concerns about MI5 vindicated his party’s refusal to consider support for policing until after the publication of a bill to transfer policing and justice powers to Stormont.

Chief Constable Hugh Orde said the time is now right for discussions with Government on how to fully implement the Patten Report.

Irelandclick.com

New tribute to Terry óg

photo from the Terry Enright Foundation.org

A plaque commemorating the life and work of local man Terry Enright Junior is to be unveiled at St Anne’s Cathedral this Saturday on what would have been Terry’s 36th birthday.

The plaque will be positioned on a pillar on the cathedral’s façade, and will overlook the spot in Talbot Street where the Dermott Hill man was murdered by LVF gunmen almost eight years ago.

The father-of-two was working as a doorman at the nearby Space nightclub when he was gunned down in an apparent retaliation for the INLA killing of loyalist Billy Wright.

Delighted by the mark of respect to his son, Terry Enright Senior says it is a fitting tribute to the life and work of a man who was a well-known and respected member of his own community and, indeed, of many other communities across Belfast, where he promoted his passion for youth work and mutual understanding.

“Talbot Street, and the cathedral beside it, is a place where any time I pass,it’s in my head… sometimes I’ll go a different way,” said Terry.

“But this plaque is going to be on a pillar, approximately opposite to where Terry was killed, so that’s a nice idea, and it’ll make it a wee bit easier to walk past, I think.

“I think the idea is to get two kids, young leaders from Ballymurphy and the Shankill, who are taking part in the Terry Enright Leadership Award, to launch it.”

Commenting on the event in memory of the former Gort na Mona player and coach, the Dean of Belfast, Rev Houston McKelvey said, “Terry Enright worked cross-community and his funeral brought together young people from every tradition in the city. His funeral was an act of unity and hope amidst immense sorrow and grief.

“Thankfully, his work is being continued with the Enright Foundation and particularly through its bursary scheme for emerging young leaders.

“The Cathedral Board was unanimous in its response to a request from the Foundation and Terry’s family that a plaque be erected at the cathedral close to where Terry died.

“We hope that this event, which is being held on Terry’s birthday, will be of comfort to his wife, young daughters, his parents and his family. We welcome this opportunity to remember a young man who made a most positive contribution to our city and to send out yet again a clear message to those who engage in or plan murder that good will always ultimately conquer and that the hope of those working for a better city cannot be quenched.

“Terry’s work brought him to all areas,” added his father, “and he was a person who came across so well, women liked him a lot,” he laughed, “ and he was able to build up a great rapport with people, particularly children, and he loved his work.

“He treated everyone the same. He didn’t care where he was, or indeed what people were, he treated them as he found them, and I’ve been surprised time and time again over the years by the people who tell me they met him and remembered him. They say he had a lovely way about him and a great openness.

“Sometimes I hear people talk about this closure you get, but there’s no such thing, it’s always with you, it never goes away. But you get on with it and you deal with it.

“I used to walk past St Anne’s Cathedral,” said Terry, “and there was all this chat about the good work of the Black Santa and everything and I used to think, ‘well, there’s no mention of my son, and he was killed just outside the place’, but now this very nice gesture from the church is happening and it’ll make it that little bit easier to walk down the street.”

A short service will be held in St Anne’s Cathedral on Saturday at 2pm before the dedication.

Also taking part in the service will be clergy from St Peter’s Cathedral on the Falls Road.

Journalist:: Ciara McGuigan

BBC

Pellet gun bar attack ’sectarian’

The incident happened in the Waterside area of Derry

A pellet gun attack on a Derry bar in which two people were injured is being treated as sectarian by police.

A man walked into the Oval bar on Duke Street in the Waterside area at about midnight and opened fire.

A male customer was hit once in the head and twice on the hand. A woman sitting nearby was struck on the chest.

The victims were treated in hospital but their injuries are not thought to be life threatening. A man has been arrested in connection with the attack.

According to police, the gunman had been in the bar earlier on Wednesday evening and had been involved in an incident.

He left, but returned half an hour later with a pellet gun and fired several shots.

Tests at scene

The male victim is said to be in a stable condition in Altnagelvin Hospital where he is expected to have surgery.

The Mayor of Derry, Lynn Fleming, said the attack was worrying as it was the second incident of its kind in recent weeks.

Last month, a schoolgirl was shot in the face with a pellet gun in a drive-by attack in the Waterside area.

Ms Fleming said it was time for controls on the weapons to be tightened.

Detectives are carrying out a further examination of the shooting scene.

Anyone who was in the bar at the time of Wednesday’s attack is being urged to contact the police.

BBC

Boys are rescued off Down coast

Two boys have been rescued after they became stranded on rocks off the County Down coast.

The boys, aged 12 and 14, got into trouble on Wednesday. A member of the public raised the alarm and they were picked up by Donaghadee lifeboat.

The rescue took place just after 2230 BST, about 150 yards off the beach at Millisle on the Ards Peninsula.

The teenagers were stranded on rocks which had been surrounded by the incoming tide.

Boat coxswain Philip McNamara said the teenagers were very lucky.

“I think they were just out having a bit of fun like all children do, just out in low water,” he said.

“It was a beautiful, flat, calm evening. They were out hunting for crabs or whatever they were doing, and the tide just caught them.”

Mr McNamara pointed out that the tide on that part of the coastline can come in quite quickly.

“I think the water would have got up around their waist, maybe up round their knees, so it would have caused them a bit of stress,” he said.

“They were glad to be picked up.

“It’s a lesson learned, it’s lovely to be beside the seaside, but always keep a wary eye on the tide and always inform people of what you are doing.”

Guardian

‘Biggest hacker’ fights extradition

Briton accused of breaking into 90 military computers

Owen Bowcott
Thursday June 9, 2005

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Indymedia Ireland

ISRAELI ARMY HOLDS 2 TDs AT GUNPOINT

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