SAOIRSE32

JOHN BEW
Irish Times
2 Jan 2008

LONDON VIEW: BRITISH STATE papers reveal a process of internal IRA reorganisation in 1978, alongside fresh evidence of Britain’s covert intelligence war in Northern Ireland.

Sensitive documents released in London point to the emergence of the “dirty war” which is sometimes said to characterise the later phase of the Troubles.

At the end of 1977, Northern secretary Roy Mason had claimed that “the tide has turned against the terrorists and the message for 1978 is one of real hope”.

There was further evidence of success on the security side, with 81 deaths arising directly from the conflict in 1978, compared to 116 in 1977 and 297 in 1976.

At the same time, however, the IRA began to reorganise, replacing the old structure of geographically-based brigades with active service units, drawn from different areas and designed to be less susceptible to infiltration. There was a fresh emphasis, driven by a new northern command, on “long war”, “attrition” and “armed propaganda”.

On February 25th, Gerry Adams was charged with membership of the IRA. Although he was later freed on September 6th when a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him, British officials did link his arrest to a downturn in the level of violence.

At a Northern Ireland Office (NIO) meeting on security on March 17th, a month after the La Mon House restaurant bombing, it was suggested that the IRA “are undoubtedly feeling the pressure of recent arrests, notably that of Gerry Adams on a membership charge”. Nonetheless, the future was difficult to predict.

At a meeting of the same committee on May 24th, it was again suggested that that the arrest of Adams in February, along with that of Francis Hughes on March 16th, “had undoubtedly inhibited PIRA (Provisional IRA) activity”.

While further incidents could be expected to occur, it was hoped that counter-measures taken by the security forces would mean that PIRA were unlikely to maintain a particular strategy for long.

Running alongside the reorganisation of the IRA is evidence of the increasing use of covert intelligence and the SAS by the British government.

At a meeting with Unionist MPs on March 2nd, 1978, at which the prime minister was also present, Mason explained that: “Increasing use was made of the SAS on the intelligence side and more and more personnel was being used in SAS-type activities.” Despite the main security burden still falling on the police, there were now covert surveillance teams attached to every army unit, assigned to intelligence-gathering tasks.

One letter relating to the SAS, in the files of the prime minister, is likely to raise controversy about the nature of covert operations. It is from the British Ministry of Defence on May 18th, 1978, recording the dispatch of four Heckler-Koch MP machine guns to Northern Ireland, for use by the SAS. More intriguing is the fact that the four guns were specially equipped with silencers, a move approved by ministers.

The letter explains how the army had good intelligence of an attack on an RUC station to be carried out by the IRA in the next few days. There was “specific information that the terrorists will be in two separate groups” and the response, to be carried out by elements of the SAS squadron in Northern Ireland, was therefore planned in two phases.

The use of silenced weapons was “strongly supported on the operational grounds that any firings in the first phase should not compromise the second”.

The use of silencers was to be kept secret. It was stated that the IRA “have from time to time claimed that the army was engaged in assassinations, and these allegations might be given colour” if more details about the weaponry became known.

Despite the fact that the expected attack did not occur on this occasion, the SAS kept the silenced guns in case they were required again at short notice.

The details of the operation are likely to provoke comparisons with the notorious shoot-out at Loughgall, nine years later, on May 8th, 1987. On that occasion, it is believed that eight members of an IRA active service unit were shot dead in an ambush by an SAS combat team, along with an innocent passer-by, as they attempted to attack an RUC station.

On June 21st, 1978, British soldiers also killed three IRA bombers in an ambush at a post office depot in north Belfast. But the risk to civilians of such an approach also became apparent on July 11th when soldiers killed an innocent youth, 16-year-old John Boyle, who had returned to a terrorist arms cache that he had discovered, after reporting it to the police. On August 11th, in a discussion about the incident at the NIO, it was noted that “a lack of candour” about the youth’s innocence, in statements to the press immediately after the incident, had been damaging to the reputation of the security forces.

On November 14th, a document by Sir Brian Cubbon, permanent under-secretary at the Northern Ireland Office reflected on the “substantial deterrent effect of PIRA knowing that there are many covert operations and that terrorists have been killed in the course of these operations”.

On the other hand, he also pointed out that when innocent civilians also came under threat, this could threaten the public acceptance of covert operations and the security policy.

Ominously, when the NIO security committee met for the final time at the start of December, signs were reported of PIRA’s improved organisation, including a greater stockpile of explosives.

A growing number of attacks had occurred away from Belfast and Derry - in smaller towns where the security presence was at a lower level. Furthermore, the increasing use of the car bomb suggested that PIRA had “ample supplies of home-made explosives which was presumably produced in the Republic”.

In particular, towards the end of the year there was an increase in IRA activity in “the 3 Brigade area - the southern part of the province”. Indeed, “since the release of Gerry Adams, PIRA’s cell system had been consolidated and the degree of central control extended” and the leadership “now consisted of a tightly drawn group of trusted men”.

On December 6th, a British foreign office report also confirmed that the new cell structure might make them less susceptible to the hostility which government policy is seeking to encourage within the minority community.

On December 9th, 1978, Republican News led with the headline “IRA Geared To A Long War”. On December 17th, IRA bombs exploded in Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, Coventry and Southampton and on December 21st three soldiers were gunned down in Crossmaglen by IRA men.

DEAGLAN DE BREADUN
Irish Times
2 Jan 2008

MAZE PRISON PROTESTS: THE FIANNA Fáil government of the day raised the issue of conditions for republican prisoners at the Maze Prison, Long Kesh, with the British government in late 1978 but State Papers released under the 30-year rule show that no pressure was applied for the restoration of special category status.

The so-called “dirty protest” against the removal of special category or political prisoner status was already under way and would lead to the upheaval of the hunger strike, which in turn precipitated the downfall of the government in the June 1981 general election, by which time Charles Haughey had succeeded Jack Lynch as taoiseach.

A briefing note for the taoiseach prior to a meeting with Jim Callaghan in London on November 27th states that: “For the past eight months approximately 330 of the prisoners in H-Blocks 3 and 5 have been refusing to wash, clean out their cells or empty slop buckets. The cumulative effect is that these two blocks are now disgustingly filthy and unhygienic.”

Reaction to the protest among “the minority” in Northern Ireland is characterised as one of “general indifference” but the note adds that this situation could change quickly if the protest were to result in fatalities among the prisoners.

The document adds: “In private contacts with British representatives we have taken the line that . . . it should be possible to take some measures to improve the situation without any concession on the principle of special category status.”

At a meeting with British secretary of state Roy Mason in Dublin on September 20th, minister for foreign affairs Michael O’Kennedy had indicated that “anything which could be done to take the tension out of the confrontation on aspects which did not involve questions of principle would be welcome”.

Some weeks later, on October 16th, Mason had written a personal letter to O’Kennedy in which he repeated that the British government will not be deflected from its policy of phasing out special category status.

The Mason letter states that “apart from a few minor skin conditions, no prisoner has been found to be suffering from any illness, physical or mental, attributable to the protest. The operation of the new steam-cleaning equipment in use in the prison is also described.”

A further background note suggests various headings for the prime ministerial meeting, including “H Block Situation” and observes that “if the H Block situation could be resolved in whole or in part, the PIRA and kindred organisations would have much less going for them both here in Ireland and abroad than they have at present.”

The night before the November 27th meeting, deputy governor of the Maze Prison, Albert Miles (50) was shot dead by the IRA at his home in north Belfast. The government’s note of the Downing Street talks next day records that “the taoiseach began by expressing sympathy at the murder”.

The meeting was mainly taken up with a discussion on the European Monetary System which was a major issue in British-Irish relations at the time. No other reference to the H Block situation is recorded although the taoiseach did raise the question of the proposed increase in the number of Northern Ireland MPs at Westminster from 12 up to 17 (now 18).

The taoiseach said it was difficult in the run-up to a general election to take positive steps in relation to Northern Ireland.

DEAGLAN de BREADUN
Irish Times
2 Jan 2008

ARMY INTELLIGENCE: THE PROVISIONAL IRA had approximately 250 “hardcore activists” in counties adjacent to the Border in early 1977, according to a secret intelligence assessment supplied to the Irish government by the Defence Forces for that period.

Peace feelers were reported to have been sent out by the IRA in Christmas 1976 to the British authorities for a long ceasefire

The document, dated February 15th, 1977, which emerged in the latest State Papers released through the National Archives for public viewing, states that “about 100″ were operating from the Republic. The group of southern-based activists consisted of, “about 40 locals with 20 from other parts of the Republic and the remainder fugitives from Northern Ireland”, according to the Army assessment provided to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The document continues: “They appear to be broken down into active service units, each of which could muster the following approximate strengths at any one time: north Louth 10; Castleblayney 6; Monaghan 10; Cavan 10; Leitrim 6; Bundoran/south Donegal 10; Bundoran/north Donegal 10; Meath/south Louth/west Donegal 20.

“In the remaining counties of the Republic where [the] main activity has been painting slogans, there appears to be only a handful active at any time in a military sense.

“Some of these groups become more prominent at different times, such as Offaly-Laois where there appears to be a hardcore of about 20 active for some time.”

The assessment goes on: “Despite this apparent dispersion of PIRA activists, they are credited with the capacity to assemble a unit of up to 40 experienced fighters for a specific job in any part of the country and stand a good chance of avoiding detection prior to an attack. “In a well-planned raid they might even expect to avoid capture. They could also count on being able to activate another 50 support men at short notice for such second-line tasks as providing transport, couriers, hidings [hiding places], warnings, diversions and blocking roads.”

Erosion of strength, supplies and support meant the Provisionals would be forced back on small-scale attacks such as, “ambush by parties of two or three at short-range”.

“But because this type of terror tactics does not seriously affect the overall situation, the PIRA must, therefore, strive for the big spectaculars which intentionally or otherwise carry the danger of heavy civilian casualties.”

The document complains that members of the Defence Forces “talk far too freely in public on matters of security interest” and reports that during the previous year, 1976, there were “approximately 30 discharges on security grounds” in the Army and “somewhat more” in the reserve, then known as An Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil (FCA).

Commenting on the withdrawal of special category status from republican and loyalist prisoners in Northern Ireland, the document states: “It is doubtful if there is sufficient dedication or purity of motive among the IRA or the loyalist paramilitaries to sustain a worthwhile campaign of disobedience, unless, of course, they are driven to it by desperation.

“It is now known that feelers were sent out at Christmas [1976] by the top PIRA leadership to interest the British authorities in another long ceasefire. This may explain the low level of violence immediately following the PIRA unilateral Christmas ceasefire. This attempt is seen as an indication of a loss of confidence among the leadership.”

On IRA activities south of the Border, the Army assessment is that: “The PIRA prohibition on attacks against institutions of the Republic no longer has any force. Indeed, it is to be expected that Army and gardaí will be singled out for attack.”

On the Official IRA and its political counterpart, Sinn Féin the Workers’ Party, the document regards their renunciation of violence “merely as a tactical manoeuvre to tide them over the next couple of years” and comments: “The OIRA/Sinn Féin must be seen as essentially a revolutionary organisation and a serious threat in the long term.”

Commenting yesterday on the claim that IRA peace “feelers” were sent to the British government in December 1976, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, then president of Sinn Féin, said he did not believe this report ” had any basis in fact”.

EAMON PHOENIX
Irish Times
2 Jan 2008

RUC BRUTALITY FILE: IN A revealing note on the RUC brutality file, Dr Maurice Hayes (the future Northern Ireland Ombudsman and a member of Seanad Éireann 1997-2007) reported a meeting with Dr Robert Irwin, one of the police surgeons, on April 4th, 1978.

Irwin struck the official as “a completely credible witness . . . concerned about his own professional standards and aware of the difficulties of the police. He is not a troublemaker or an agitator but is concerned with the public good . . . and with the human rights of persons in custody”.

Hayes reported to ministers: “Dr Irwin said that the recent report to the Police Authority had effected no change. He was alarmed at the number of prisoners showing signs of injury which could not be self-inflicted. These were continuing and were associated with a group of eight or 10 policemen who were consistently described to the doctors by injured prisoners and were familiarly known as the “Goon Squad”. He was convinced that these officers were maltreating prisoners under interrogation as a matter of policy approved by the chief constable.” Irwin said there was a marked increase in the incidence of injuries when deputy chief constable Jack Hermon was on leave.

More importantly, Hayes added: “The surgeons also feel that they were used to secure a favourable report from Amnesty International and are determined not to be so used again. If asked by Amnesty, they were not prepared to stand over the present practice.

“It is very obvious to me that the doctors are nearly at the end of their patience and getting little satisfaction from the Police Authority and less from the chief constable. Some have been subjected to personal threats by anonymous phone calls.”

On April 17th, 1978, one of the police surgeons, Dr Elliott, tendered his request for a transfer from Gough Barracks, Armagh, triggering a flurry at Stormont Castle. At the same time chairman of the police authority Sir Myles Humphreys wrote to secretary of state for Northern Ireland Roy Mason regarding the concerns of police doctors that the ill-treatment had resumed in March 1978.

In his letter Elliott noted that he had asked for a transfer due to “the intolerable situation regarding the mal-treatment of prisoners”. The issue was discussed at a meeting in Dundonald House, Belfast, on April 18th, 1978. It was attended by junior minister James Dunn and officials. Dunn said he wished to get to the root of the problem so that it could be rectified. He emphasised that “he would not condone cruelty or the man-handling of persons being questioned in Armagh or other centres and, if it was happening, it would have to be stopped”. Dunn took the view that it was essential that Elliott was persuaded to stay in his position on the assurance that action would be taken. His departure would trigger a public argument which would only assist men of violence.

By April 1978 the Standing Advisory Committee on Human Rights had taken up the case of ill-treatment. Under pressure, the RUC chief constable agreed to meet police doctors Alexander, Elliott and Irwin and to consider closed-circuit television at interrogation centres. The doctors welcomed his initiative and Elliott agreed to withdraw his transfer request.

The situation improved rapidly. In a letter to Mason on May 11th, 1978, Humphreys reported that the police surgeons were satisfied that “the recrudescence of cases” which had caused them such disquiet in March had ceased.

In June an Amnesty report confirmed consistent evidence of malpractice by RUC interrogators. The following March (1979) the Bennett report confirmed medical evidence of ill-treatment at holding centres and the British government accepted its main recommendations.

Maltreatment: pressure mounts

THE RUC brutality crisis deepened on December 9th, 1977, with a strong letter from Joe Cooper, a leading trade unionist and chairman of the Armagh Prison Board of Visitors.

Cooper informed secretary of state for Northern Ireland Roy Mason that the board had on the previous day interviewed six female prisoners at Armagh Jail who had just returned from Armagh courthouse, having been escorted by a detail of the RUC.

“The prisoners were in a very distressed and shocked condition. A couple had torn clothing and others had bruises and marks of having been recently physically assaulted by the RUC escort party at Armagh courthouse. Cooper impressed on the secretary of state: “The Board of Visitors were very concerned at the condition of the prisoners who were seen in the prison hospital where they were examined by the Prison Doctor and nurse. It was unanimously decided to minute this concern and to request that the allegations be investigated to prevent a re-occurrence of the distressed witness.”

EAMON PHOENIX
Irish Times
2 Jan 2008

INTERROGATION CENTRES: THE CONCERNS of police doctors, MPs, priests and the Northern Ireland Police Authority at mounting evidence of brutality in RUC interrogation centres in the North are detailed in confidential files released by the Public Record Office in Belfast.

The allegations were to lead directly to the establishment of the Bennett inquiry, headed by an English judge, which reported in March 1979. The Bennett report confirmed that injuries sustained in police custody were not self-inflicted. The British government accepted its major recommendations, including the installation of closed-circuit television in interview rooms.

Castlereagh RUC holding centre: concerns were expressed by police doctors, MPs, priests and the police authority at mounting evidence of brutality in RUC interrogation centres in the North

The “misgivings” of police doctors are recorded in a report of a meeting on October 11th, 1977, between RUC chief constable Sir Kenneth Newman and the Police Doctors’ Association. The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) official who reported on the meeting, AA Pritchard, understood that Sir Kenneth was prepared to establish a joint working group under assistant chief constable Jack Hermon (later chief constable of the RUC) to examine the cases.

As concern over the issue mounted, a Northern Ireland Office memo dated October 21st, 1977, noted that the issue had united the SDLP, the Civil Rights Association, Provisional Sinn Féin and Loyalist organisations. SDLP leader Gerry Fitt MP had announced his intention to press for a government inquiry while Andy Tyrie, the supreme commander of the UDA, had declared his support for exposing the activities of certain police officers at Castlereagh holding centre.

An intelligence briefing document in the file warned of the possible international impact of allegations of police brutality. An official noted that a strong effect would be “to undermine a recent trend towards a more understanding attitude in America towards HMG’s position”, while there were also signs of renewed Soviet interest in the matter. “It is part of their answer to western criticism of Soviet handling of human rights.”

Finally, it alleged that: “The attacks on the RUC are running in tandem with similar criticism of the Garda in the Republic.”

On October 27th, 1977, Mr Pritchard circulated a memo to ministers and officials on the brutality allegations.Sir Kenneth had told the official that he felt “he had contributed to the build-up of the current campaign through his decision to permit private doctors to visit those under interrogation at Castlereagh”. “Dubious elements had taken advantage of this ruling” and the chief constable was considering tightening up the rules governing medical examinations of prisoners at interrogation centres. The head of the NIO, Brian Cubbon, told him that this would be a last resort.

Following the screening on October 27th of a This Week TV programme on the issue made by the journalist Peter Taylor, the allegations of brutality intensified. On November 12th, Fr Raymond Murray, chaplain to Armagh (Women’s) Prison, wrote to secretary of state Roy Mason about the case of Mary McCann, a prisoner in Armagh who had alleged serious ill-treatment under interrogation at Castlereagh RUC interrogation centre during the period November 6th to 10th, 1977.

Fr Murray wrote: “She alleges she was interviewed 13 times and during that time was pushed, pulled, slapped, kicked, threatened by interrogators, both male and female. She had extensive bruising, a lump and bruise over her left eye and bruises on her left arm . . . I have seen the injuries myself.”

The pressures increased with a letter from Mr Fitt on October 28th concerning the case of Tony Crozier of Keady, Co Armagh, alleging serious allegations of police brutality at Armagh RUC station, including being beaten on the legs and knuckles with an iron pipe. Mr Crozier was allegedly forced to do press-ups until exhausted and menaced with an electric fan which he was told would be used to administer electric shocks. It was also alleged an RUC man had put a gun to his head and threatened him with assassination on a Border road.

On November 10th , leading Belfast defence solicitor PJ McGrory wrote a strong letter to Mr Mason. He alleged that a large number of solicitors practising in Northern Ireland courts shared “the conviction that ill-treatment of suspects by police officers with the object of obtaining confessions is now common practice” and that this occurred most often at Castlereagh RUC station. “We find it very difficult to accept that this happens without the knowledge of a substantial number of police officers of senior rank,” Mr McGrory said. The solicitors were collecting evidence for a forthcoming Amnesty International inquiry into the allegations.

By March 1978, six months after the initial allegations, the situation was beginning to concern the members of the Police Authority.

On March 9th, two members, Dr W Baird and Mr Canavan, had a meeting with the NIO junior minister James Dunn. They wished, they said, to alert the minister to “a very serious issue which the police surgeons had raised with the Police Authority. In particular, the surgeons were anxious about possible ill-treatment of prisoners under interrogation.”On March 7th, 1978, Dr Baird wrote to Sir Kenneth about the issue. He said the Police Authority had met three police doctors, Drs Alexander, Elliott and Irwin. The doctors were worried about a “resurgence” of brutality and alleged “a general worsening of attitudes” following a visit by Amnesty. They were uneasy that no result had emerged about specific cases they had reported to the chief constable the previous year.

BY MICHAEL BRESLIN
Fermanagh Herald
**Via Newshound
31 Dec 2008

State papers released this week reveal the existence of systematic abuse, physical and emotional, of detainees in three holding centres in the North in the 1970’s and the attempts at cover-up at the highest level of the RUC as the force was then called.

The five-day detentions impacted on Fermanagh in that ‘prisoners’ from here were brought to either Castlereagh in East Belfast, Strand Road in Derry and Gough Barracks in Armagh. Arguably the most notable was Enniskillen head teacher, Bernard O’Connor whose ill-treatment at the hands of Special Branch interrogators in Castlereagh led to a famous victory in Court when he took a case against the then Secretary of State, Roy Mason and the Chief Constable in 1980.

Bernard O’Connor

He had been arrested in January, 1977 and, over the course of his five days’ detention in Castlereagh, he was quizzed by in all 38 detectives, struck, deprived of sleep, forced to strip naked and hooded.

Speaking to the ‘Herald’, he said the trauma remained: “They could have killed me and very nearly did at one stage of the interrogation. The idea was to get you to make statements for them to stop it.”

In the course of one three-year period, more than 3,000 people were charged with paramilitary-related offences, based largely on confessions obtained at Castleragh. In 1978, an Amnesty Report accused the RUC of mistreatment of detainees held there. Following its publication, Roy Mason promised an enquiry but the then RUC Chief Constable, Kenneth Newman rejected its findings.

The year before, a leading Belfast defence lawyer, P. J. McGrory, writing on behalf of a large number of solicitors, told Roy Mason that the legal profession, ’shared the conviction that ill-treatment of suspects by police officers with the object of obtaining confessions is now common practice’.

The letter highlighted Castlereagh as a particular source of complaints, and Mr McGrory then informed Roy Mason that the solicitors would be presenting evidence of the forthcoming Amnesty International Enquiry into the allegations.

Events moved swiftly after that. Two members of the Police Authority met with a Junior Northern Ireland Office Junior Minister, expressing their concerns and the State papers released this week show that one of these two, Dr W. Baird wrote to the Chief Constable.

He told Sir Kenneth Newman that the Police Authority had met three Police doctors (they were on duty at holding centres) who were worried about a resurgence of brutality in the wake of the Amnesty International Report.

One of the three, a Dr Elliott was so concerned at, ‘the intolerable situation regarding the maltreatment of prisoners’ that he submitted a written request to be transferred from Gough Barracks.

Under pressure, the Chief Constable agreed to meet the doctors and, having agreed to consider cctv in the three holding centres, Dr Elliott withdrew his transfer request. In March the following year, the Bennett Report confirmed medical evidence of ill-treatment and the UK government accepted its main recommendations, including cctv.

DEAGLAN de BREADUN, Political Correspondent
Irish Times
2 Jan 2008

VETERAN REPUBLICAN Ruairí Ó Brádaigh has rejected a claim that the Provisional IRA sought peace talks with the British Government in early 1978.

A document from 10 Downing Street released to the UK National Archives under the 30-year rule claims that the IRA sent a message through an intermediary “to the effect that it was time to talk and end the present violence”.

In a statement yesterday, Mr Ó Brádaigh said: “As one who as president of Sinn Féin was involved in the 1974-76 talks between representatives of the British government and the Republican movement, I am totally unaware of the purported IRA message. Not alone do I doubt the authenticity of such a message, but I believe that if it existed at all it was the work of some self-appointed ‘well-wisher’ and had no basis in fact.

“Further, the same report claims that for many Republicans ‘the truce of 1975 had also been seen as a mistake and that it had undermined Ruairí Ó Brádaigh’s leadership’. If this was so, how was it that I remained in the position of president of Sinn Féin for another eight years - up to 1983?”

Commenting on a separate claim in a military intelligence document released in Dublin that similar peace “feelers” were sent out in December 1976, Mr Ó Brádaigh said: “I do not believe that this report either had any basis in fact.

“The only development of this nature at Christmas 1976 was the commencement of the Boal-MacBride talks which sought to marry Sinn Féin’s Éire Nua proposals for a four-province federation with the Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee’s project of an independent Six-County State with a view to a joint approach to the British government for its withdrawal from Ireland.

“These discreet and confidential talks lasted until June 1977 but failed when Dr Conor Cruise-O’Brien exposed and criticised them on RTÉ radio.”

BY Jim Gibney
Irish News
**Via Newshound
01/01/09

Sean McKenna died on December 19 2008. On December 19 1980, with hundreds of others, I had huddled in the biting cold outside the Belfast Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) listening with dread to the rumours that swept through the crowd that the same Sean who had been rushed to the hospital from the H-Blocks the night before had died.

There were other rumours that Sean was alive, that he had been brought from the prison where he had been on hunger strike for 53 days for political status wrapped in a special body-bag to preserve his body temperature.

No-one knew for sure what to believe that cold winter night as we dispersed, uncertain of Sean’s fate. Sean survived that ordeal although the priest at his funeral Mass said that Sean had been ‘clinically dead’ for four seconds in the prison hospital before being moved to the RVH and that he lived a difficult life with health problems thereafter.

The circumstances were entirely different when I saw Sean McKenna for the first time in 1973. We were interned in Long Kesh. Sean was 17 or 18, similar in age to myself. He wore denim: jacket and jeans, a checked shirt and Dr Martin boots. He looked like a pop star with his spiked hair and lean frame.

He was strikingly handsome with distinctive eyes.

The next time I saw Sean I did not recognise him. It was late 1984. We were in the H-Blocks in separate wings. I saw him through a series of grill bars. Gone were his lean frame and his striking looks. He was overweight due to the daily medication he had to take as a result of his hunger strike.

His eyesight was poor but he could see you if he raised his eyes looking upwards which revealed the whites of his eyes – a sight which left you aching with sympathy for him.

Sean McKenna’s difficult life mirrored that of his father, also called Sean. Both were illegally arrested on the first day of internment, August 9 1971, and interned for several years.

Sean senior was selected for special torture by the RUC. He was one of the ‘hooded men’ -– a group of republicans used as guinea pigs and experimented on by interrogators who used inhuman and degrading treatment against them.

He never regained his full health and died shortly after being released from internment.

The McKennas are republicans. They believed partition was wrong and actively opposed British occupation. They paid a high price for their political convictions.

There were other reminders of the consequences of partition over the festive season. On Christmas Eve I attended the funeral of Robbie McDonnell, the father of Joe McDonnell, one of the 10 republicans who died in the H-Blocks on hunger strike.

The McDonnells are another republican family which has paid a heavy price for their beliefs.

Not much was said in the media about the McKennas or the McDonnells. I did not read any obituaries examining the hurt caused to either family. No analysis of why state forces should arrest a father and son, torture the father and permit the circumstances where defenceless prisoners should end up on hunger strike with 10 dying.

There was, however, lots of media for the contrived furore sponsored by the SDLP when minister for education Caitriona Ruane correctly praised Bobby Sands when she attended St Colm’s school in Twinbrook, where Bobby Sands had lived.

Similar public commentary greeted the passing of Conor Cruise O’Brien a few weeks ago.

O’Brien was in a very privileged place in Irish society, put there by those men and women who fought and died for Irish independence and secured a measure of it in the setting up of the 26-county state.

O’Brien started out his political life as a liberal, crusading for justice, for oppressed people around the world, yet the injustice of partition meant little to him.

Ending that injustice was left to families like the McKennas and McDonnells and others.

And it is their contribution to that end which will endure and make the difference to peace, justice and freedom – not that offered up by Cruise O’Brien.

Irish Times
Friday, January 2, 2009, 09:05

Campaigns to lobby for a united Ireland could tap into the huge Irish populations living in the US and in Britain, Sinn Féin said today.

Later this month the party is to stage a major event at Dublin’s Mansion House marking the sitting of the first Dáil, which followed the rise of Sinn Féin nearly a century ago.

But 90 years after the events that led to the war of independence in Ireland, modern republicans hope to build on the current peace process to lobby internationally for Irish unity.

While the Belfast Agreement ensured Northern Ireland’s constitutional position within the UK cannot change without the consent of a majority of voters, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said his party wanted to encourage debate towards ending partition.

“All of this is part of a process,” he said.

“I like to judge it, because it’s convenient to do so, in a 40-year span.

“And 40 years in a lifetime is huge, but in history it’s only a blink.

“If you consider what things were like here 40 years ago, in terms of both the Orange state, the conservative, impoverished state in the south, the fragmented and very minimalist republican development.

“And then you fast forward to now — without for a moment minimising all the tragedies and difficulties that have occurred in between — you can see how things have moved ahead.

“That’s what’s going to happen in the up-coming period. It’s an incremental process of building the republic day-by-day.”

“Of course Sinn Fein have to do an awful lot in terms of building our organisation and our support, particularly in the 26 counties, but that’s a challenge we are prepared to rise to,” said Mr Adams.

He conceded the international media had moved on from focusing on Ireland.

“But the Irish Diaspora haven’t,” he said.

“We are regularly engaged with the Irish Diaspora.

“And if you move outside the Diaspora and talk to anyone, they will tell you — and I defy anyone to contradict this — that most people who know anything about Ireland know the British government should have no claim or jurisdiction.

“What we have to do is galvanise that.”

By Bimpe Fatogun
Irish News
01/01/09

NORTHERN Ireland cannot afford another year of missed opportunities through political infighting, SDLP leader Mark Durkan has warned.

The Foyle MP said the economic effects of the past 12 months which have taken their toll on firms and families had been compounded by political posturing during the five-month executive stalemate.

“The past 12 months saw things get tough for many families and firms here,” Mr Durkan said in his new year message.

“Households, businesses, pensioners, parents, those out of work and many in jobs face challenge and uncertainty.

“They need real answers to real problems and real help with real hardship.

“It is the job of government, whether in the executive and assembly or in Westminster and Dublin to offer practical support during this recession.”

Mr Durkan said it was essential that people saw devolution working.

“Just as people understandably ask why oil and gas price reductions have not been fully passed on to customers, many are also wondering they are getting the full benefits of devolution,” Mr Durkan said.

“2009 needs to see more pace and performance from our own institutions. People want to see substance rather than stand-off on one hand and strokes on the other.

“Opportunities were missed last year as parties indulged in power posturing.

“Problems were missed in the hyped-up budget, in the overspun programme for government as during the five months of stalemate.

“This year needs to see greater determination, better decisions and truer democratic accountability. Economic uncertainty should not be compounded by political uncertainty.”

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said agreement between his party and the DUP has been crucial in maintaining political momentum and restoring faith in the process.

In his new year message he also said more work was needed to help families experiencing economic hardship.

“In particular there is a need to tackle the lack of economic and fiscal sovereignty, and the British government’s inadequate annual subvention, which limits the options available to the executive,” he said.

The subvention represents the shortfall between the total amount of money raised in the north, mainly in taxation,

and the total amount spent, mainly on public services and security.

“It is important that we see further progress on this and other issues in the year ahead and Sinn Fein is determined to ensure that commitments given in the Good Friday and St Andrews Agreements are implemented,” Mr Adams said.

“Vital areas of work remain to be completed, specifically in the areas of the bill of rights, equality and the Irish language.”

“The latter part of 2008 was dominated by the credit crunch and the global economic crisis.

“This is having a severe impact on the economy of this island and has led to a large number of job losses and hardship for many families.”

News Letter
02 January 2009

FORMER undercover agent Martin McGartland, who penetrated the IRA, says he cannot move permanently to Northern Ireland. His former colleagues have not forgotten him, but he says they are now dedicated to money-making rackets.

It may surprise some people, but former undercover agent Martin McGartland now returns regularly to Northern Ireland.

“Over the past three or four years I have been back a lot more than before, unless I go to Ballymurphy, where I was from, there is no problem,” he says.

“So many people don’t know what I look like now.”

But although he greatly missed west Belfast when he left for England in 1991, he will never live here again.

“Nothing would attract me back, even if Sinn Fein said: ‘These people can return and are not to be harmed’ – I would not believe them.”

He notes that he was shot six times during an IRA ceasefire in 1999, and although republicans always denied responsibility he has no doubt PIRA was responsible.

“Even if the group of people I was involved with died tomorrow, their wider family will have heard of me and may still bear a grudge,” he adds.

He is proud of the work he did against the IRA and estimates that 50 people are still alive thanks to him; thus the name of his book and the soon to be released film Fifty Dead Men walking. The movie precipitated an international storm recently when starring US actress Rose McGowan said she would have joined the IRA had she grown up in Belfast.

Although the International Monitoring Commission now says the IRA has left terrorism and criminality behind, McGartland is completely unconvinced.

“The IRA is still heavily involved in cigarette smuggling, DVD counterfeiting, racketeering with taxis, livestock and fuel smuggling and VAT and tax fraud, especially in the construction sector,” he says.

Copies of the forthcoming film about his life have been sold in west Belfast for some time, even though it has not been released to cinemas yet, he says.

“They call me the scum of the earth but they are happy to profit from me,” he adds.

And despite the fact that the fuel fraud business has been worth some £300m a year since the early 1990s, he is adamant that the biggest money spinner for the IRA was always – and still is – tax scams in the building sector.

“There are no overheads, no trucks, few staff and no diesel to buy in construction tax fraud,” he says.

But, basing his information on the many sources he still has in Northern Ireland, he says that prosperity has removed the desire for a return to violence: “The good times are here, they have no reason to rock the boat.”

Yet he would put money on the idea that dissidents seek permission from the IRA for attacks on security forces across the Province in recent months, and that permission is given for reasons of political leverage.

“There is no doubt Sinn Fein are using dissidents, who are mainly ex-IRA/INLA,” he says.

“The IRA is more than capable of closing down any group it wants overnight,” he says.

“It could just click its fingers and it would happen with no killing.”

He is also convinced that the IRA has retained a reasonable number of weapons.

But he is certain it will not return to all-out violence.

“If the IRA attempt to go down that route again with another bomb people will say ‘enough is enough’. They have had enough of soldiers and police wrecking their houses and now they see jobs, wealth and investment. People don’t want to go back.”

The cost to him has been high; he escaped the IRA when he was unmasked by jumping from a third floor window and was later shot six times in England when in hiding. Relatives have been viciously attacked in retaliation for his actions and he was forced to leave his partner and two children behind.

But he does not regret any of it for a second. “A key reason why the IRA came to the table to negotiate peace was that it knew they were so riddled with informers,” he said.

Posted on 31/12/2008 at 18:21:15 by The Sovereign Nation
32CSM Message Board

32CSM
New Year Statement
2009

On behalf of the National Executive I would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all our activists who campaigned so effectively for our goals during 2008. I choose the word effectively deliberately as I believe certain milestones in Irish republicanism were achieved during the past year. At the outset let me address the realities of our struggle by welcoming home the Derry 4 but in equal breath call for the immediate release of Terry McCafferty, Michael Campbell and all incarcerated Irish republicans. If ever a set of circumstances so described the nature of justice under partition it is these which do so with the greatest clarity. Partition is maintained by the establishments on either side of it which makes our struggle a thirty two county affair. A protest in Kerry is no less important than a protest in Belfast and in our efforts to build our organisation this is the message we must bring with us.

Our organisation has grown in 2008. We have reached into new areas and attracted new people who share our strategic vision. 2009 must see the Sovereignty Movement consolidate this growth and give it firm political leadership. The effective activism I speak of was visible in a number of areas;

A mature campaign for a No Vote against Lisbon.
The sustained protests on Prisoner issues.
The establishment of the Irish Republican Forum For Unity.

Our efforts at securing a No Vote in the Lisbon referendum were based on ensuring that the issue of Sovereignty and Partition were at the heart of our strategy. In doing so we made it clear that all issues of national relevance, be they concerned with natural resources or national heritage, can only be addressed in the context of National Sovereignty and that a resolution of one must contain a resolution of all. Sovereignty cannot be sub-divided.

Our comrades in the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association facilitated our activists in holding protests and demonstrations concerning imprisoned Irish Republicans. We point to the successful intervention in the Aidan Hulme case and the release of the Derry 4. But the cases of Terry McCafferty and Michael Campbell loom large and require similar attention to secure similar outcomes. We send solidarity greetings to all imprisoned republicans but we will do so through continued activism on their behalf.

After long and searching debate the Unity Initiative bore fruit with the formal establishment of The Irish Republican Forum For Unity. At its inaugural meeting in Derry City the republican base could finally see the unity idea transformed into political action on an inclusive basis. A series of public meetings have been planned throughout 2009 to bring the Unity Forum to different areas so that the broad republican base can be instrumental in forging its political activity. The 32CSM will remain fully engaged with the Unity Forum and have proposals prepared to put to it for the coming year.

2009 will see us once again confronted with the Lisbon issue. Those who make the repeated charge that republicans should respect the ‘democratic’ wish expressed in the dual referendums on the Good Friday Agreement should have their hypocrisy thrown back at them. A second referendum will have the added issue of its democratic nature and once again the 32CSM will campaign to ensure that this undemocratic premise and that of Partition itself will be seen as one. Our analysis of the re-run Nice Treaty convinced us that only a Yes vote will satisfy the Dublin Government and having anticipated the inevitability of a second poll we had begun our preparations for our campaign soon after the No victory. I take this opportunity to formally launch ‘Countdown To Lisbon II’ as our effort in the forthcoming campaign. It will be a campaign which will focus on our original objections to Lisbon and also on the status of a second referendum as it relates to our National Sovereignty. We will also campaign for a No Vote by highlighting the extraordinary corruption and social bankruptcy of the Twenty Six Counties political and financial classes as it tries to convince the people that a treaty hewn from the same bankruptcy is in our best interests.

2009 will not see the ending of Partition. Neither will 2016. These are the realities which face us and they need to be recognised by all republicans. However, this does not mean that 2009 and 2016 cannot witness political achievements that will help us secure this objective. Acting within our limitations and acting together to reduce those limitations can greatly enhance our prospects to once again place the republican position back onto the national agenda. Wallowing in the past or afraid to grasp nettles is the stuff of cul-de-sac politics. There is no need to reinvent the republican wheel but we do need to reinvent ways and means by which our core message is given the weight of political activity behind it. We view the Unity Forum as one such means and we strongly urge that all republican groups engage with it so that 2009 can become a watershed in our history.

Beir Bua.

Francie Mackey.

Posted on 31/12/2008 at 18:47:22 by The Sovereign Nation
The 32CSM Message Board

The following statement was issued anonymously to The Sovereign Nation.

Óglaigh na hÉireann New Years Statement 2009

The leadership of Óglaigh na hÉireann send new years greetings to our friends, supporters and to our volunteers who have remained steadfast, committed and dedicated to defending the republican position in the face of massive odds.

We also remembers at this time all republican POW’s and political prisoners incarcerated in gaols throughout Ireland, Britain, Europe and America, the republican community appreciate your sacrifice and will continue to work on your behalf.

We extend solidarity greetings to fellow revolutionaries across the world and we draw inspiration from other struggles against occupation and imperialism.

In the past 12 months Óglaigh na hÉireann have continued to organise, develop and consolidate. We have carried out a number of attacks against British state interests in Ireland and our volunteers have stood shoulder to shoulder with our communities against the scourge of Drugs. Óglaigh na hÉireann have taken direct action against a number of drug networks across the country and in the coming year, we not allow our communities to face this menace alone.

This past year has also saw republicanism under a level of attack from the Chruch, State and Media that has not been witnessed for many years. Those who consider republicanism an irrelevance should take a look at the massive resources the status quo is investing to defeat us. The British are spending unlimited amounts of money on surveillance and intelligence, the Free State are interning republicans at the behest of the British, the media are continuing to fabricate lies on a daily basis and many editors have developed and almost pathological hatred of Anti Stormont republicans.

Again the Catholic church has entered the fray on the side of capitalism, conservatism and the status quo, this is to be expected. We would advise the church to clean up their own back yard before commenting on others. They should take the plank out of their own eyes before worrying themselves about the splinters in others. It is perhaps a small mercy that the church is no longer a major player in forming opinions in Irish society.

In the Coming year Óglaigh na hÉireann will continue to resist the British occupation of Ireland by any and all means including the force of arms, however, all republican organisations must remain disciplined and no one should engage in attacks or threats that they cannot immediately defend or explain. For our part Óglaigh na hÉireann will stand behind any actions we take.

Republicanism is facing into a difficult future, the forces ranged against us are many and we are few. We must think and act strategically and in the long term, the British are not going anywhere soon and neither are we. Republicans must develop realistic short and medium term goals, 2009 will not be the year of victory and another phase of the long war is yet to begin in earnest.

Óglaigh na hÉireann is facing a huge uphill struggle but we will face it full on, make no mistake, we are here for the long haul, we will continue to exist until the illegal occupation of our nation has ended.

Victory to the IRA.