Archive for the ‘Irish News Newspaper (Belfast)’ Category
Six County Top Cop Jon Boutcher Says IRA Volunteers who killed Black and Tans (Royal Irish Constabulary) during War of Independence were “Terrorists”
PSNI boss Jon Boutcher is interested in recent Irish history – and he wants to know more about events which occurred over 100 years ago. He heads an organisation which has an extremely bad reputation. He wants to clean up the image of the police force operating in the six county bit of Ireland – but has run into serious problems.
He recently described the killing of members of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) in the 1919-21 War of Independence as acts of “terrorism”.
In January 2020 Fine Gael Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan TD (Laois-Offaly) proposed a state commemoration of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), whose members included the Black and Tans. A tsunami of public protest forced Flanagan’s government to drop this plan. Flanagan desperately pretended that he was only proposing to commemorate the 1920 police force – the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) – and not the Black-and-Tan or Auxie terrorists. This distinction was ridiculed. The row seriously damaged the Fine Gael government, and was a factor in its disastrous General Election result on February 8 2020.
Readers may be interested in contemporary assessments of the RIC/Black and Tans expressed in the First Dáil.
Pride of place goes to Eoin Mac Néill TD, a government minister. Mac Néill was a grandfather of Senator Michael MacDowell, a former Minister for Justice.
Here is a summary of MacNéill’s Dáil speech, delivered on April 10 1919 :
““Now, it is the determination of the English Government at present, and it is not only their determination but their last resource, to make the police supreme in Ireland, and it is not to relieve our feelings that we have this discussion, but to defeat this infamous policy. We can, and will, and must, defeat it, and to this end we must pledge ourselves, pledge our children, pledge our friends, and pledge our country on no account to submit in any shape or form or at any future time to be police-governed by the English Government. The police in Ireland are a force of spies. The police in Ireland are a force of traitors, and the police in Ireland are a force of perjurers. I say these things, not that your feelings might be roused, but to convince you of the necessity that exists why you should take such measures as will make police government in this country by the enemy impossible.”
More details are below.
1. Six-County Cops – Softly, Softly Against Racists 2. Twenty Six County Cops – target non-whites crossing Ireland’s “open(ish)” border
The two reports below tell us that policies operated by police forces operation in the two partitioned bits of Ireland – the Gardaí Síochána (Guardians of the Peace) and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) [a child of the hated Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)] are racist-friendly.
The news reports are related :
Claire Mullaly, a spokesperson for End Deportations Now Belfast told The Irish News that gardaí boarded the bus and began asking passengers for identification.
She said they specifically removed non-white passengers who could not produce documents while allowing white passengers in the same predicament to remain on board. She branded the incident as “disgraceful” in light of the anti-immigrant violence that took place in Northern Ireland in recent days.
Both reports come from the Belfast Irish News.
PSNI officers told not to intervene during race riots unless life at risk
Connla Young, Crime and Security Correspondent, Irish News, June 17th, 2025
DETAILS OF INSTRUCTION SENT IN EMAIL
PSNI officers were told not to interfere with violent mobs during last week’s race riots unless life was at risk.
Read the rest of this entry »British General Election 2024 – Highlights and Lowlights – Loveless Landslide, Sandcastle Majority. Far-Right Hiding in Plain Sight, House of Paisley Falls in Antrim – and a Message of Hope from new MP Shockat Adam, Leicester South
Let’s start with positive news :
Shockat Adam MP, Leicester South – “This is for the people of Gaza”.
When you listen to this June 25 car-crash interview with former Leicester South Labour MP Jonathan Ashworth, you would be forgiven for thinking he was a member of the far-right racist party, Reform.
Shockat Adam was not alone. Five pro-Gaza independent candidates (including former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in Islington North) are members of the new Westminster parliament :
Read the rest of this entry »Weak Arm of the Law in the 26 County bit of Ireland – Police “Hug-a-Thug” Policy imported from the 6 County bit of Ireland
The boss of An Garda Síochána (police force in the 26 county bit of Ireland), Drew Harris, was recruited from the cops in the 6 county bit of Ireland. The people running the two states in partitioned Ireland have developed very close social, political and personal relationships since the the 1998 triumph of the Good Friday Agreement. I recently circulated details of Harris’s “Hug-a-Thug” policy towards growing far-right violence in the 26 counties to a 6 county political activist, who commented this was “reminiscent of the historic style of policing up here”.
Ruling class forces were extremely happy about the continuation of partition guaranteed by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. They did not foresee that the foundations of partition in Ireland are more rotten than their constitutional plan conceding a Unionist Veto to a majority of the voting population of the six county state. The Brexit referendum result of 2016 lit a slow-burning fuse under the GFA structure; in the meantime we are witnessing the creation of a possible “United Ireland from Hell” which consists of knitting together the most reactionary features of both partitioned states in Ireland.
The following article from the Cedar Lounge Revolution Blog powerfully illustrates the dangers arising from importing 6 county softly-softly policing methods towards the far-right (loyalist paramilitaries), fine-tuned by Garda boss Drew Harris.
John Meehan April 22 2024
Weak Arm of the Law – Cedar Lounge Blog
Link : Weak Arm of the Law – Cedar Lounge Blog
So, Friday comes the news that the previous night:
Gardaí were called to the home of Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman on Thursday night when a gang of up to 12 masked men gathered outside his house and huge placards and banners were stretched across his driveway gate, along his wall and fastened to outside polls.
Read the rest of this entry »
The British Royal Family is “unequal, outdated, and should be consigned to the dustbin of history” – Agree or Disagree?
Read the news items below and decide for yourself if the statement above – written by West Belfast Stormont Assembly member Gerry Carroll (People Before Profit) – should be supported by everyone on the anti-imperialist left in Ireland.
I think the answer is Yes – and this should not be a controversial opinion, especially in Ireland. Unfortunately, some prominent public figures disagree. Lies about the British Royal Family resemble a mountain of dead dogs, and fresh stinking corpses are added daily.
Reliable news reports tell us that the English Prince Andrew, brother of British King Charles, is getting support from a convicted child abuse criminal.
A courageous woman, Virginia Giuffre, successfully won substantial damages in a USA court from the British Prince, who was a close associate of the convicted child abuse criminals Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
“Maxwell, who paid out millions to Giuffre herself in a separate lawsuit in 2017, was jailed for child sex trafficking in connection with Epstein.
But she claimed in an interview with CBS that Ms Giuffre’s claims are unfounded, and that she did not introduce her “dear friend” Prince Andrew to the teenager as had been claimed.
Ms Giuffre said: “My goal has been to show the rich and powerful are not above the law and should be held accountable.” Source : https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/prince-andrew-overturn-claim-by-sex-accuser-virginia-giuffre/
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Readers might assume that no self-respecting Irish political leader would risk getting close to the sinister Buckingham House royal parasites.
Read the rest of this entry »“Russian president Vladimir Putin held meetings with the Official IRA during two visits to Belfast in the 1980s.” – Intriguing Report on the Cedar Lounge Blog
Are past events in Ireland a guide to current events?
Source :
Russian president Vladimir Putin held meetings with the Official IRA during two visits to Belfast in the 1980s.
The former KGB intelligence officer was part of two separate delegations from the Soviet Union that visited Ireland in 1986, sources linked to the Official movement have claimed.
On both occasions Mr Putin travelled north where he met with representatives of the republican paramilitary group.
Could it be true?
How about this?
Read the rest of this entry »
Tomás Ó Flatharta 