Project Gutenberg e-book

PRINCIPLES OF

FREEDOM

BY

TERENCE MACSWINEY

LATE LORD MAYOR OF CORK

Click >>here to read Terence MacSwiney’s book online at Project Gutenberg

searcs-web

**Last month marked the 85th anniversary of the death of Terence MacSwiney

Terence MacSwiney, brother of Mary MacSwiney, was born in Cork and educated at the Royal University where he studied accountancy and joined the Gaelic League.

During 1911-1912 he contributed articles to Irish Freedom which became the basis of his book Principles of Freedom published posthumously in 1921.

In 1913 MacSwiney founded the Cork Brigade of the Irish Volunteers and was President of the Cork Branch of Sinn Féin and the 1st Cork Brigade of Volunteers when he was interned under the Defence of the Realm Act in Reading and Wakefield Gaols from April to December, 1916.

Terence MacSwiney (1879-1920)

In February, 1917 MacSwiney was deported from Ireland and interned in Shrewsbury and Bromyard internment camps until June, 1917. In November, 1917 McSwiney was arrested in Cork for wearing an IRA uniform and was imprisoned in Cork Gaol where he went on a three day hunger-strike before his release. MacSwiney was arrested in Dublin in March, 1918 and imprisoned in Belfast and Dundalk Gaols until September when he was released, re-arrested and imprisoned to Lincoln Gaol. In the same year he published a volume of poetry entitled Battle Cries.

Click to view

MacSwiney was released in March, 1919 and following the assassination of Thomas McCurtain, Lord Mayor of Cork, MacSwiney was elected to the mayorality. He was arrested in Dublin on August 12th, 1920 and charged with making a ’seditious’ speech; with possession of a police code and a Cork Corporation resolution recognising Dáil Éireann. MacSwiney immediately commenced a hunger-strike. He was tried by court-martial, found guilty and sentenced to two years imprisonment. In Brixton Prison, MacSwiney continued his hunger-strike for seventy-four days until his death on October 25th, 1920. This was the longest hunger-strike in Irish political history. The young Ho Chi Minh, then a dishwasher in London, said of MacSwiney - ‘A Nation which has such citizens will never surrender’.

MacSwiney’s body lay in state in Southwark Cathederal, London before removal by sea to Dublin and then by train to Cork. His funeral procession was one of the largest ever seen in Cork City. In 1921 MacSwiney’s play The Revolutionist was produced at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.

This extract is from MacSwiney’s Principles of Freedom (1921)

Why should we fight for freedom? Is it not strange, that it has become necessary to ask and answer this question? We have fought our fight for centuries, and contending parties still continue the struggle, but the real significance of the struggle and its true motive force are hardly at all understood, and there is a curious but logical result. Men technically on the same side are separated by differences wide and deep, both of ideal and plan of action; while, conversely, men technically opposed have perhaps more in common than we realise in a sense deeper than we understand.

This is the question I would discuss. I find in practise everywhere in Ireland - it is worse out of Ireland - the doctrine ‘The end justifies the means’.

One party will denounce another for the use of discreditable tactics, but it will have no hesitation in using such itself if it can thereby snatch a discreditable victory. So, clear speaking is needed: a fight that is not clean-handed will make victory more disgraceful than any defeat. I make the point here because we stand for separation from the British Empire, and because I have heard it argued that we ought, if we could, make a foreign alliance to crush English power here, even if our foreign allies were engaged in crushing freedom elsewhere.

When such a question can be proposed it should be answered, though the time is not ripe to test it. If Ireland were to win freedom by helping directly or indirectly to crush another people she would earn the execration she has poured out on tyranny for ages. I have come to see it possible for Ireland to win her independence by base methods.

It is imperative, therefore, that we should declare ourselves and know where we stand. And I stand by this principle: no physical victory can compensate for spiritual surrender. Whatever side denies that is not my side…

A SPIRITUAL necessity makes the true significance of our claim to freedom: the material aspect is only a secondary consideration. A man facing life is gifted with certain powers of soul and body. It is of vital importance to himself and to the community that he be given a full opportunity to develop his powers, and to fill his place worthily. In a free state he is in the natural environment for full self-development. In an enslaved state it is the reverse. When one country holds another in subjection that other suffers materially and morally. It suffers materially, being a prey for plunder. It suffers morally because of the corrupt influences the bigger nation sets at work to maintain its ascendancy. Because of this moral corruption national subjection should be resisted, as a state fostering vice; and as in the case of vice, when we understand it we have no option but to fight. With it we can make no terms. It is the duty of the rightful power to develop the best in its subjects: it is the practise of the usurping power to develop the basest.

Our history affords many examples. When our rulers visit Ireland they bestow favours and titles on the supporters of their regime - but it is always seen that the greatest favours and the highest titles are not for the honest adherent of their power - but for him who has betrayed the national cause that he entered public life to support. Observe the men who might be respected are passed over for him who ought to be despised. In the corrupt politician there was surely a better nature. A free state would have encouraged and developed it. The usurping state titled him for the use of his baser instincts. Such allurement must mean demoralization. We are none of us angels, and under the best circumstances find it hard to do worthy things; when all the temptation is to do unworthy things we are demoralised. Most of us, happily, will not give ourselves over to the evil influence, but we lose faith in the ideal. We are apathetic. We have powers and let them lie fallow. Our minds should be restless for beautiful and noble things; they are hopeless in a land everywhere confined and wasted. In the destruction of spirit lies the deeper significance of our claim to freedom.

PEARSE.COM

Funeral of Terence MacSwiney - Click to view

‘Teach Us How To Die’ by Terence MacSwiney

God, we enter our last fight;
Thou dost see our cause is right;
Make us march now in Thy sight
on to victory

All the agony of years,
All the horrors, all the fears.
Martyr’s blood, survivors tears,
Now we offer Thee
As an endless holocaust
For the freedom, we have lost,
God restore it tho’ the cost
Greater still must be;
Let Thy grace attend our host,
Give us victory

See, we open our own hearts,
Every wrong that in them smarts;
Every secret pain that starts,
We, too, offer Thee;
Every dearest hope’s decrease
Every fear that rocks our peace.
Every cross with pain’s increase,
Burthened tho’ we be;
Sacrifice that shall not cease
Till our land be free.

Thou holdest freedom in Thy hand;
Thou canst liberate our land;
Hear us; yield our one demand-
Ireland’s liberty.

We ask not her chains tro rive
And the sacred deed survive,
That we may rejoice alive
In her victory;
We but ask that she shall thrive,
And rest our fate with Thee.

We know not what must befall
Marching at our country’s call;
Make us strong who must yield all
That she may not die.

Those who will survive the fight,
Still attend them with Thy Light,
Thou our hope in darkest night
Then our guardian be,

And hold our dear land in Thy sight
Erect, firm and free.

Daily Ireland

PSNI set up dedicated vice squad to deal with the rise of prostitution in the North

Connla Young

The PSNI has set up a dedicated vice squad to deal with a recent explosion in the North’s
lucrative sex-for-sale industry.
Until now neither the PSNI, nor its predecessor, the RUC, had a unit dealing specifically with the the North’s hugely profitable sex-trade industry.
However, a recent jump in the number of brothels emerging across Belfast has forced the PSNI’s top brass to set up a drug and vice unit which falls under the umbrella of CID.
Operating out of Musgrave Street PSNI station in Belfast city centre, the special unit, which was established in September, has been ordered to clamp down on the city’s spiralling sex-trade industry.
Worried PSNI chiefs are also understood to have requested expert advice from Nottinghamshire Police Service about the full extent of Belfast’s vice-trade scourge. In recent years, law enforcers in Nottingham have been involved in a battle to bust dozens of brothels littering its suburbs.
The PSNI last night said no one was available to confirm how many brothels it believes are currently operating across the North. However, Daily Ireland understands that PSNI vice squad chiefs estimate there may be as many as 40 in south Belfast alone.
The North’s first vice squad evolved from a working group set up by the PSNI in south Belfast last year to examine the full extent of the region’s seedy sex-trade industry.
Figures revealed by the PSNI show that since the formation of the vice squad, over 20 raids have been carried out on premises in the North’s sex-for-sale capital – south Belfast.
Many of the North’s bustling brothels currently operate under the cover of south Belfast’s tree-lined avenues. Dotted by the homes of some of the North’s most powerful political and business leaders, the sedate district has been turned into a Mecca for sleazy thrill-seekers from across the island.
Streetwalkers, who traditionally plied their elicit trade along the city’s infamous golden mile, have been replaced in recent years by dozens of high-class hookers who operate out of exclusive apartments and homes in some of the city’s most sought after addresses.
And the grip of greedy pimps stretches beyond the boundaries of Belfast as more and more market towns get caught up in the sex-for-cash web currently stretching across the North.
Daily Ireland is aware of a number of madams currently operating in towns such as Omagh, Dungannon and Derry City.
The PSNI came under pressure to deal with the rise in prostitution in the North after a number of foreign women were detected operating out of a house in the Tates Avenue district of Belfast in November 2003. Since then, dozens of fresh brothels have opened across the North, with many using foreign women, in some cases against their will.
Belfast-based pimps are known to have strong cross-Border links. Several sophisticated syndicates use the
internet to offer 24-7 “services” to potential punters.

Daily Ireland

Daily Ireland Editorial

Despite the fact that at no time were members of the British security forces discussed in relation to how to deal with those – generally known as On-the-Runs (OTRs) – who did not fall under the Good Friday Agreement’s prisoner provisions, the British government is now cynically attempting to slip them under the radar. That is something that should be strenuously opposed.
At first glance it might seem perfectly reasonable that members of the British army, for instance, who were involved in murder or targeting during the conflict should be subjected to the same process as IRA members involved in violent acts. But the fact is that the current legislation required a lot of hard work and delicate negotiation – the kind of negotiations, in fact, that are likely to cause real difficulties for republicans among their base.
Subsequently, the outcome was the Weston Park agreement published by both the Irish and British governments in 2003. Nowhere in this scheme were members of British state forces mentioned. For the British government now to display such blatant bad faith not only threatens to cut the legs from under those who negotiated the Weston Park deal in the first place, it also calls into question the very point of debating difficult issue with the British if the result is going to be an unrecognisable outcome suitable to London and nobody else.
Regardless of what they are accused of, those OTRs believed to be affected by the new scheme – all of them republicans and thought to number somewhere around 20 in all – have earned the right to be included in a comprehensive and imaginative deal that would see a tricky and important matter dealt with once and for all. To be ‘on the run’ is effectively to serve a prison sentence. It means separation from family and community; it means constantly moving and looking over the shoulder; it means a lifetime of uncertainty and trepidation waiting for the knock on the door or the gun on the neck. Those former members of the various armed agencies of the state who have carried out crimes and who have never been questioned, much less hunted down, have been allowed return to their families and friends, basking in the approbation of the British state and often decorated for a job well done.
Worse still, there are those still in the employment of the British state who have carried out the most heinous of crimes and who hold positions of increasing power and influence in the British armed forces. Former republican prisoners, meanwhile – and this will apply to OTRs – are hamstrung by an unending succession of official roadblocks on the road towards a new life: incapable of obtaining a licence to drive a taxi, for instance, or of fostering or adopting a child. If the British government is really interested in dealing with those who have broken the law while on its payroll, let them come to the table and put their propositions forward, to be debated, accepted or rejected by other parties – as happened in the process that led to the Weston Park OTR scheme.

Daily Ireland

Ciarán Barnes

Loyalist murder victim James McMahon

Two Lisburn loyalists convicted of hiding a huge Ulster Defence Association (UDA) weapons haul could have crucial information about the murder of a Catholic in the city, Daily Ireland has learned.
Detectives are understood to be planning to grill Darren Kenneth Grant and Anthony Madden about the sectarian killing of James McMahon in Lisburn two years ago.
The 21-year-old was bludgeoned to death by a gang of masked loyalists on November 20, 2003 as he walked home after a night out. Members of the UDA are believed to have carried out the murder.
Less than 24-hours after Mr McMahon’s death, and under orders from the UDA, Darren Grant (27) and Anthony Madden (24) moved a stockpile of weapons to what they believed was a safe house in the Hillhall estate in Lisburn.
The arsenal consisted of six sub-machine-guns, 2,000 rounds of ammunition, three pipe bombs, blank firing weapons, accelerant powder, weapons cleaning materials and pick axe and sledge hammer handles.
Madden returned to the house on November 22 with a third man, reminding the owner that something had been hidden in his attic which he was to say nothing about.
Two weeks later the PSNI took the homeowner in for questioning about the McMahon murder.
He admitted that something had been hidden in his attic by loyalists and a follow up search unearthed the weapons haul.
Grant and Madden were later arrested and charged with possession of firearms, ammunition and explosives with intent to endanger life.
The pair were sentenced to eight years in prison at Belfast crown court last week. During their trial they admitted to acting as “bagmen” for the UDA.
Daily Ireland understands that after realising its members had murdered Mr McMahon, UDA bosses ordered a number of arms dumps in Lisburn to be cleared.
The organisation feared the PSNI could learn of the weapons’ location if a UDA member suspected of involvement in the McMahon killing broke during questioning.
A senior Lisburn loyalist said: “The McMahon murder wasn’t sanctioned, but UDA men were involved.
“The cops were going to crack down on us after that and the weapons had to be moved.”
During PSNI interviews Grant and Madden consistently refused to reveal the name of the UDA chief who ordered them to move the weapons.
It is understood this paramilitary holds the key to discovering the identities of the three men who beat Mr McMahon to death. Detectives are hoping either Grant or Madden will agree to give evidence against this man.
A spokeswoman for the PSNI said its officers are still actively pursuing Mr McMahon’s killers.
A total of four people have been questioned about the murder, however no one has been charged.

Daily Ireland

‘Those who reorganised and rearmed the UDA, UVF and Ulster Resistance have never been on the run from any one. In fact many still hold senior positions in the NIO, British army, the PSNI and British government itself’ – An Fhírinne spokesperson Robert McClenaghan

Jarlath Kearney

Victims of state violence and collusion in the North have attacked the British government for attempting to create an amnesty for state agents and officials.
Yesterday marked the second reading of the controversial Northern Ireland Offences Bill in the House of Commons. The legislation was ostensibly supposed to remedy the situation of individuals currently on-the-run in other jurisdictions regarding pre-1998 political offences that took place in the North.
However concern is mounting that the British government is trying to create an amnesty for state agents and officials who have not yet even been questioned – never mind charged – in relation to illegal activities such as collusion.
“Families of victims of British state collusion with unionist death squads have been deeply angered by the attempts of the British government to use the on-the-run legislation to provide an escape clause for their agents involved in the murder of our relatives and friends,” Robert McClenaghan of anti-collusion group, An Fhírinne, said yesterday.
“Those who reorganised and rearmed the UDA, UVF and Ulster Resistance have never been on-the-run from anyone. In fact, many still hold senior positions in the NIO, the British army, the PSNI and the British government itself.
“British agents involved in collusion may attempt to run away from their past. But they will not be able to hide from the truth forever. We, the relatives of those murdered, will continue to campaign until the truth is openly told for all to see,” Mr McClenaghan said.
Speaking as he met London mayor Ken Livingstone yesterday, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams insisted that the British government is attempting “to conceal the truth about its involvement in the killing of citizens”.
“The scheme that we negotiated was published by the two governments at Weston Park in 2003 and related only to ‘on-the-runs’. It did not include members of British state forces,” Mr Adams said.
“Indeed, one of the key factors in Sinn Féin rejecting the position produced by the two governments at Weston Park was the British government’s refusal to agree to an independent judicial inquiry as called for by the family of Pat Finucane.
“Sinn Féin’s position is absolutely clear. We are opposed to the inclusion of British state forces in the current legislation. Sinn Féin will continue to confront the British government on the denial of truth about collusion.
“Our party activists, including elected representatives, were a primary target in this policy of state murder. Only last week, I was again told that my details, compiled by British intelligence agencies, had been passed to loyalist death squads.
“This is an urgent and immediate issue for Sinn Féin and we will continue to support the victims of collusion and state violence. The British persist in denying their policy of collusion. They must acknowledge the truth and those who directed this policy, including senior British political figures, must be held to account,” Mr Adams said.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan attacked Gerry Adams, claiming the West Belfast MP “has no credibility”. Mr Durkan was speaking in the House of Commons yesterday afternoon.
“The fact is that the British government has admitted that it was negotiating these plans with Sinn Féin over the summer. I say again Sinn Féin do not negotiate for the Irish people. They do not negotiate for the Agreement or the common good. They negotiate for themselves,” he added.

Irelandclick.com

A former republican prisoner has hit out at the PSNI’s reluctance to tell him how his details fell into the hands of loyalist paramilitaries.
The republican was visited at his Kashmir Road home by a PSNI officer on Friday morning and handed a letter addressed only to “The Occupier” telling him that loyalist paramilitaries knew his address.
Last week dozens of people were notified that files containing their details were found in the possession of loyalists. It has been widely reported that the details possessed by loyalists were removed from Castlereagh barracks in June 2004.
On that occasion the files relating to as many as 400 people were removed from the notorious former East Belfast interrogation centre.
However, the man contacted does not believe that the PSNI would have had details of his address as the only time that the PSNI have been in his house was last March, nine months after the files were removed from Castlereagh.
On that occasion they had raided the republican’s house in relation to an incident regarding his son, who had never lived at the Kashmir address.
“The house was only raided in March and the files that the loyalist have were stolen before then. How do they have these details of my property?”
He says he is anxious at the distress the incident has caused his family.
“I’m not frightened but my wife is. She fears that they will attack the house, and we have our grandchildren here at the weekends.”
The man is angry that the PSNI officer who delivered the letter refused to tell him anything about the circumstances in which the information was found, or which loyalists possess the details. He is now seeking legal advice on the matter.
“I asked him which loyalist groups have my details and he said ‘I don’t know’. I asked him when the files were lifted and he said ‘I don’t know’.
“They have put our lives in danger so they should inform all 400 named in the files of which loyalist group has the details.
“I should have the right to know everything about it and that is why it is in the hands of my solicitor.”
A PSNI spokesperson refused to discuss incidents which “involved the personal security of individuals.”
Meanwhile members of Republican Sinn Féin and their supporters are being urged to be vigilant after their details were found to be amongst those in the hands of loyalists.
“We in Republican Sinn Féin take these latest threats very seriously and call on our supporters to be vigilant,” said a spokesperson for the group.

Journalist:: Damien McCarney

Irelandclick.com

Pat Finucane

A brother of murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane has hit out at British authorities over fears that his details have been leaked to unionist paramilitaries.
Seamus Finucane was speaking after it emerged the PSNI called to his former home address in Belfast last Friday morning. Despite being advised that Mr Finucane no longer lived at the address, the PSNI has not yet called to his current home or contacted his solicitor.
Following revelations that dozens of nationalists in Belfast were warned about their security last week, Mr Finucane believes his personal details have also been found in the possession of loyalists. The PSNI has declined the opportunity to dispute Mr Finucane’s assertion.
It has been confirmed by the PSNI that the latest threat warnings involving dozens of nationalists across the North are connected with the “disappearance” of a top-secret intelligence document from Castlereagh Barracks in East Belfast 16 months ago.
At the time 28 members of the Royal Irish Regiment (formerly the UDR) were removed from intelligence duties. However NIO direct rule security minister Ian Pearson denied that paramilitaries had possession of the information and SDLP policing spokesperson Alex Attwood reported a senior PSNI member attributing the document’s disappearance to “research”.
Seamus Finucane said yesterday that the “shadow of collusion” which was evident in his brother’s murder still persists. “The onus is on the state to directly inform you if you are under threat,” Mr Finucane said.
“Yet the circumstances of this current spate of threats are reminiscent of what happened to Pat, by some of the very same agencies directly connected with his murder and with the wider British government collusion policy.
“Personally I have been under threat on a number of occasions, the first time being in the months after Pat’s murder when information was leaked from Dunmurry barracks.
“In recent years other members of our family have been under very serious threat from loyalists, which hasn’t been addressed until top-level government interventions were forced.
“The British collusion policy has focused entirely on the protection of state agents and state agencies, rather than the protection of the right to life of citizens. That policy is clearly continuing to the present day,” Mr Finucane said.
Responding to Mr Finucane’s remarks, the PSNI issued a statement which said: “This is an ongoing proactive investigation. We very much appreciate the concern of those being advised about their personal security. However, it is vitally important that details are checked and that they are correct and current. This is being systematically progressed. Any individual who has concerns for their safety is urged to contact the PSNI immediately.”
It also emerged yesterday that people notified that their lives were under threat last week have been offered just £150 by the British government to protect their homes.

Journalist:: Jarlath Kearney

Irelandclick.com

Please visit CHE GUEVARA

Click to view - photo from above website on Che

Belfast republican Sean Murray will tomorrow (Friday) deliver a key talk on the life and lessons of revolutionary Ché Guevara.
Mr Murray will highlight key aspects of Ché’s political development, in the context of ongoing political change in Ireland.
Speaking to the Andersonstown News, Mr Murray explained that the intention of the talk is to generate wider ideological debate within the republican community.
“The talk will be based on a short film about Ché and also draws from the education programme which was developed by political prisoners in Long Kesh,” Mr Murray said.
“The rationale behind the talk is basically linking the politics of Ché with the Irish struggle and learning the lessons that are there. Of course there’s no point learning lessons if you don’t apply them in practice.
“This is about generating a discussion of an ideological nature within republicanism about how to apply these lessons to our own struggle.”
Mr Murray emphasised that this discussion is particularly relevant in “the current situation where we are going into a new era of a revolutionary struggle”.
“Everyone can identify with Ché’s internationalism both in terms of Cuba but also in the Congo and Bolivia and so on. He remains a potent and iconic figure,” Mr Murray said.
Mr Murray has already spoken at an event in Gulladuff, Co Derry, and will be continuing to bring the talk to republican constituencies over coming weeks, including south Armagh and Derry city.
Tomorrow night’s talk takes place in the Felons on the Andersonstown Road at 8pm.

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

Irelandclick.com

Evan Short talks to 85-year-old Mealda Hall whose remarkable life is forever entwined with the path of Irish history

The past hundred years in Ireland have been as turbulent as any period in its history, and countless books have been written dealing with the major political players and events both North and South.
Mealda Hall admits to being a big fan of history books, but when you spend time talking to her it is clear there’s little any author could tell this feisty 85-year-old. This is not because she is an academic, though she is clearly intelligent, but because she has lived through some extraordinary times, and thanks to her family, even met a number of Ireland’s most revered figures.
Now living in a nursing home at the edge of the Waterworks, Mealda tells me how from the moment she was born, the politics of Ireland affected her life throughout the years.
“I was born in Strokestown, County Roscommon in a cell in the town jail - in fact it was the same cell the republican Jimmy Hope was held in. My father had been the RIC Commissioner for the area since 1916 and it was the height of the War of Independence. We were in the jail because the IRA had put us out of the local police station where we lived,” she recalls. Mealda said her family was an Irish aristocratic family that featured prominently in the ranks of the RIC.
“We came from a policing family. My father was the RIC Commissioner for Strokestown and was well-known throughout Ireland because he refused to carry a gun. At the same time my uncle was the District Inspector for the West of Ireland. In fact, when the War of Independence ended Michael Collins approached them both and asked them to take positions with the Garda.”
As Mealda grew up she took a great interest in the performing arts, and when she was old enough got a job as an actress with a travelling stage show. Happy to be getting paid for what she enjoyed doing, she doesn’t, however, count this as her first paid role, fondly remembering a meeting with a republican hero.
“When I was a child Countess Markievicz had come to Strokestown to hold a rally against the Free State government. At the time DeValera was in jail and Sinn Féin were trying to drum up support. The word went out they needed a child who could speak Irish and recite poetry. I was one of the only children in the area who could do this so I found myself standing beside her performing for a large crowd. The countess gave me half an orange for doing so well and I put this down as my first professional salary,” she smiled.
By the time the Second World War started Mealda was a renowned actress touring Ireland with a number of performers. She acted in Dickens’ plays and comedy routines, and remembers creating a lot of interest everywhere they went.
“With the war having started I was travelling North and South performing with this troupe. Everyone came to see us because we had gentlemen from Arabia and all across Europe in the show, trying to escape the war. We even had a circus act from England, a group of young men who disagreed with the war and were on the run from conscription.”
Word of Mealda’s performances had spread and she describes the situation where she very nearly made it as an international star.
“We had just finished a run of four nights in Killarney when the hotel we were staying in got a phone call. Someone had recommended us to a studio in Hollywood and they were inviting my friend and I to do a screen test. I would have loved to have gone but at that time I was considered a juvenile and needed permission from my parents. This was the time when German U-Boats were sinking every ship they could on the Atlantic and my parents were afraid that something would happen to me so they refused to let me go.”
Mealda continued to tour domestically with the troupe and it was when she was in Belfast she met her husband Bob Hall, from Dungannon. They moved to Belfast and opened the Councillor Bar in Everton Street in North Belfast.
“We came to Belfast to put on shows because at that time the Americans were stationed in the North and they had plenty of money, and that is where I met my husband and settled down.”
Mealda and Bob had 10 children, five girls and five boys, and as the problems Ireland faced in the past had impacted her life, so would the war from 1969.
“On July 27, 1972 my son Joseph was going into a Catholic taxi firm on the Cliftonville Road and the UVF shot him in the back.”
Tears well up in Mealda’s eyes when she recounts her heartache, the wounds clearly as raw now as today as they were when it happened. Despite being shot 16 times, however, Joseph Hall survived.
“His body wouldn’t work but his mind was as able as it had always been. He was one of the youngest ever people in the North do his eleven-plus, so young in fact that Stormont tried to reject him doing it.”
Paralysed, Joseph lived for the next 16 years with his mother who cared for him.
“We both kept our minds active by doing Open University courses together. He had such a great mind and it was a such a shame what they did to him.”
Joseph passed away in 1988, leading Mealda to become an active member of Survivors of Trauma and Relatives for Justice. She continues to lead a full life and draws on her performing experiences as an active storyteller, travelling around the country entertaining children and adults as she has always done.
“I love performing and will continue doing it as long as possible. My life on the stage over last 70 years is something I couldn’t do without.”

Journalist:: Evan Short

Irelandclick.com

We report this week on the fears and concerns of a number of republicans who have been warned by the PSNI that their details are in the hands of loyalists. To say that the men are less than impressed with how their cases have been dealt with would be an understatement – we’re far from impressed as well.
What seems to link the various cases which have prompted the PSNI to visit the homes of republicans is the Castlereagh debacle. Claims by various British government agencies that republicans were behind the raid were taken by many with a pinch of salt – today you’d need a lorryload of the stuff. It was always likely that when the fall-out from the Castlereagh thefts began that it would be republicans who would get it in the neck, and so it has proven, although anyone who fears for their safety and wants to do something about it can avail of the £150 being given to at-risk republicans by the British government. That sum might only barely pay for lunch for Ian Paisley’s phalanx of bodyguards, but in homes in Ballymurphy or Twinbrook it’ll put a peephole in the front door and perhaps a snib or two upstairs.
It’s clear that neither the PSNI nor the British government gives a fig about who knows what about republicans or what is likely to be done with the information. The cavalier way that the British and their agents have dealt with this issue has not changed from the dark days when the information was handed over in black binliners instead of staged break-ins. The bottom line is that if information that is compiled by various British government spooks ends up in the hands of loyalists then that is the fault of the British government: it is their information, expensively and painstakingly compiled, but guarded with rather less care. Having accepted that, it is incumbent upon the British to do something about it – enough money for effective security precautions would be a start, but we’re not holding our breath.
The amount of money being spent on the protection of ‘key persons’ continues to be mammoth, while a pittance is offered to those who will certainly be in the firing line should still-active loyalist paramilitaries decide to start targeting nationalists and republicans again instead of welshing pushers and light-fingered mules.
We’re told that it’s time for republicans to sign up to the new policing arrangements and that a new day has dawned. But what kind of dawn is it when the PSNI reacts to threats against this community in such a slapdash manner, and what kind of day is it when restive loyalist paramilitaries are still groaning under the weight of British security information and nothing is done to protect those most at risk?
The answer is that it is not a new day dawning at all, but rather a rerun of the same old story. The British government has a duty of care towards those it claims to govern, even those who don’t want to be governed by them. It is falling down on that duty of care. It has a responsibility to take all reasonable and practical steps to protect the personal safety of those it knows to be under threat – a cheque for £150 is hardly a reasonable and practical way to keep those being targeted by loyalists out of harm’s way. And since much of this information was collected when loyalists were acting hand-in-glove with the British state, then how much more onerous is the burden on the British to act effectively and meaningfully on the matter? Perhaps if we heard more about innocent people who are on the run from loyalist killers, and less about republicans who are still on the run from history, a solution might be arrived at.

Irelandclick.com

A Longlands man says he’s lucky to be alive after a group of loyalists tried to kill him.
Eamonn Delaney (right) was hit by a car containing a gang who then tried to run him over again as he lay injured on the ground.
The 36-year-old sustained a broken leg in the attack which took place after he and two friends visited a local 24-hour garage to buy a packet of cigarettes in the early hours of Sunday. While there they were subjected to sectarian abuse and had a glass bottle thrown at them by the group of men who chased Eamonn and his friends in a silver Audi.
Eamonn Delaney said he made a complaint to police when he returned home from hospital on Sunday evening.
“I got to the bottom of Old Church Road and the car came up behind me. I went up over the bonnet and when I tried to stand I knew I had broken my leg, it felt very bad. Then I heard the car do a handbrake turn and come back towards me to get me again. I threw myself over a small fence so they couldn’t get me. It was only then that the car sped off,” he said.
Eamonn said he now faces eight weeks in plaster and a miserable Christmas. He said the problem of sectarian attacks was getting worse in his area.
“It’s not safe to be a nationalist in this area any more. The reason I went to the garage with two friends is because everyone around here knows you cannot go around on your own. There are always attacks. I have been attacked before when on my own, it’s a constant problem living here.”
Eamonn informed the PSNI of the attack – they told him they were treating it as attempted murder. A PSNI spokesman revealed that a short time after the incident police recovered the vehicle in question.
“The man, who is in his 30s, was struck by a silver Audi car at a filling station.
“The Audi drove off but was recovered by police a short time later,” the spokesman confirmed.

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

Belfast Telegraph

By Linda McKee
24 November 2005

Rescued baby hedgehog

The giant McDonald’s fast-food chain has been accused of dragging its heels on a carton redesign that could save hedgehogs from starving to death, according to wildlife campaigners.

Vanessa Reavy, director of the Happy Hedgehog Rescue Centre in Castlereagh, said many of the animals would be saved with just a slight adjustment in the design of the McFlurry cartons produced by McDonald’s.

“They put their heads in to try and get the remaining ice cream and they can’t get their heads out again. They are going against their spines and they get stuck,” she said.

The British Hedgehog Preservation Society said that it’s been four years since it first alerted McDonald’s to the hazards posed by discarded McFlurry cartons, but nothing has changed.

“While we appreciate that McDonald’s cannot be accountable for irresponsible customers littering the countryside, in this particular instance they have the power to save lives by making a very minor change to the design of their packaging,” said chief executive Fay Vass.

And she urged people to make their voices heard to the fast-food giant.

However, McDonald’s said it had trialled a number of different packaging options but a suitable alternative had not yet been found.

Any new design would have to be introduced in around 1,250 restaurants in the UK and be approved for all European markets, a spokeswoman said.

“We recently trialled a revised design of the McFlurry lid. This lid had a smaller opening and featured messaging warning of the danger posed to wildlife through littering.”

Belfast Telegraph

By Debra Douglas
24 November 2005

A trailer board with a picture of Lisa Dorrian had to be removed from an estate on the outskirts of Belfast by her family last night after it was turned upside down.

Within an hour of being parked outside a house in the Rathcoole estate, the trailer, which has a large picture of the murdered Bangor woman and the slogan: “Is it fair to leave her there?” had been turned upside down.

Last night, family members returned to the estate under police escort and removed the trailer.

“The family put that trailer in a specific area and the reaction shows they have hit a raw nerve,” said a family spokesperson.

“The family were told the trailer had been moved but when they got up there, it was back where they had left it but the wheel clamp was missing.

“Apparently, the trailer had been dumped in a park but was then put back under orders from the Red Hand Commando.

“They’ve moved it but they believe the reaction they’ve got shows that someone there knows something.

“That trailer has been parked all over the place and not once has anyone complained about it. Most people say it is a good idea as it is so hard hitting so it shows what kind of people the family are dealing with here.”

The family then moved the trailer to the Kilcooley estate in Bangor.

Lisa, a 25-year-old shop worker, disappeared on February 28 after a party at a caravan park in Ballyhalbert on the Ards peninsula. Despite extensive air, land and sea searches, her body has not been recovered.

The trailer board is part of a high-profile campaign by her family to get her body back and bring her killers to justice

A number of people have been arrested in connection with her murder but all were released without charge.

BBC

Snow is forcecast for the North of Ireland

Motorists must exercise extra care if forecast snow appears, Northern Ireland’s Roads Service has said.

The Met Office has warned that heavy snow and blizzards can be expected from Thursday through to the weekend.

David Orr, Director of Network Services at the Roads Service, said prolonged snowfall could result in a high risk of disruption on the roads.

“Heavy and prolonged snowfall presents us all with perhaps the most difficult conditions that we can face,” he said.

He said their snow contingency plan would see all efforts directed to clearing snow from motorways and the trunk roads, before moving to other main roads and the busiest urban link roads.

“Every night during this period Roads Service will have over 260 personnel on standby to deal with these conditions,” he said.

“All our 120 gritters will be fitted with snow ploughs and we will spread salt at up to three times the normal rate.

“But clearing snow is much more difficult than dealing with frost, because of the large volume of frozen material.”

The operation will continue until all roads are cleared, but this may take some time even with all resources deployed.

In very deep snow, Roads Service will use its 13 snow blowers, the latest of which can shift 1,600 tons of snow an hour.

Arrangements are also in place to enlist the help of contractors (including farmers) to clear blocked roads.

A winter service leaflet is also available to help inform the public about winter driving and is available by calling 02890 540540 or from the Road Service website.