Archive for the ‘Sinn Féin’ Category
The Force Research Unit – How it Began
Great work again – hats off to Ed Moloney and Bob Mitchell
By Ed Moloney and Bob Mitchell
In the wake of the de Silva report on the Pat Finucane assassination there has been a renewed interest, at least on the part of obsessives like ourselves, in the origins of British military intelligence operations in Northern Ireland. By coincidence BBC Panorama also has a documentary in the pipeline, postponed recently for some unexplained reason, on the Military Reaction Force (MRF), the prototype intelligence group established by the British Army’s counter insurgency guru, General Sir Frank Kitson. This fascinating period in the Troubles is being revisited on several fronts and deservedly so.
Some interesting light was shed on this early period in the development of military intelligence units and operations by a document released under the 30 year rule back in 2005. It is a Northern Ireland Office briefing paper prepared for a meeting in April 1974 between British prime minister Harold Wilson…
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Blue News for Fine Gael – 85% Want X Case Legislation
The latest credible Sunday Business Post Opinion Poll shows the Fine Gael-Labour Coalition would lose office if a General Election was held soon. In addition 85% of people polled favour abortion legislation on the X Case Supreme Court Judgment. As usual Adrian Kavanagh has published an excellent analysis – Paddy Healy and this writer have submitted comments.
Adrian Kavanagh, 1st December 2012
Tomorrow’s Sunday Business Post-Red C poll offers grim reading for Fine Gael, with the party support levels down six percentage points on the previous such poll. This poll puts national support levels for the main political parties and groupings, and relative to the most recent Sunday Business Post-Red C poll on 28th October 2012, as follows: Fine Gael 28% (down 6%), Labour 14% (up 1%), Fianna Fail 20% (up 1%), Sinn Fein 17% (NC), Green Party 3% (up 1%), Independents, United Left Alliance and Others 18% (up 3%). My constituency-level analysis of these poll figures estimates that party seat levels, should such national support trends be replicated in an actual general election, would be as follows: Fine Gael 53, Labour 21, Fianna Fail 36, Sinn Fein 25, Green Party 1, United Left Alliance 4, Independents and Others 19.
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Savita’s Laws
Large Demonstration Outside Leinster House on Wednesday November 21 –
Legislate for Abortion Now
Clare Daly has re-tabled her bill to legalise abortion, which will be debated next
Wednesday. ULA members distributed literature calling for another demo to coincide with the
legislation debate.
Praveen Halappanavar did an interview on RTÉ tonight calling for legalisation of abortion,
and thanking the over 10,000 people who demonstrated in Dublin last Saturday.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/1121/howlin-halappanavar.html#video
This crowd was overwhelmingly made up of people in their 20’s and 30’s, a big majority of
them women.
The government is still in a very deep crisis.
The public arena is transformed: see for example this pro-choice article by Vincent Browne
in the Irish Times :
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/1121/1224326896233.html?via=mr
International Day of Action for legal Abortion in Ireland
Bernadette McAliskey Interview – Not Much Has Changed in Northern Ireland
http://m.midulstermail.co.uk/news/local/progress-yes-change-bernadette-devlin-mcaliskey-1-4177025 This is a very sharp interview – highly recommended.
Have They Gone A Bit Mad in Cavan and Fermanagh, Ted? – Michelle Gildernew MP (SF) says Seán Quinn “is being punished for having the audacity to ‘buy the bank; and for being an ordinary man from Fermanagh”
The Fall of the Seán Quinn Family Empire has angered many people in the bankrupt billionaire’s home county of Fermanagh and its near-neighbour Cavan, where a demonstration of over 4000 people assembled in Ballyconnell on Sunday July 29.
Supporters include the Sinn Féin Fermanagh-South Tyrone MP Michelle Gildernew :
Even Sinn Fein MP Michelle Gildernew has come out to defend the family, telling this newspaper that what has happened to Mr. Quinn was “wrong”.
“He has been treated disgracefully by the Irish Government. Had they not tried to strip him off all his assets, including his home, deny him the ability to function in business, and routinely try to humiliate him I believe he would have paid back every penny he owed to the Irish taxpayer.
“He accepted he had done wrong, but all our attempts to make the government show some comment sense were ignored. He is being punished for having the audacity to ‘buy the bank; and for being an ordinary man from Fermanagh who is hugely respected by his community,” she said.
The support hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Quinns who say they will be “forever grateful” to everyone in both Fermanagh and Cavan “who have stood by us as they have been doing for nearly 40 years now”.
Boston College Oral History Archive – Dealing with the Past: BBC Radio Ulster Talkback Transcript | Boston College Subpoena News
Tommy McKearney (Former IRA Volunteer), discusses the Boston Tapes Dispute with two other panelists – Norman Hamill, a former police officer, and Roger Bailey, a psychologist. It is an excellent debate.
Link :
Former IRA Volunteer, an Ex Police Officer and a Psychologist Assess the Boston Archive
Norman Hamill’s Opinion :
The whole issue is enormously difficult but I think on balance I tend to come down on the side of thinking that the police are making a mistake in seeking these tapes because it is important that history is accurately recorded and that can make a contribution to our understanding.
And after all, we do have a mature attitude to the past now. People aren’t going to serve lengthy prison sentences for anything they’ve done.
So I think on balance it would have been better if the police had let this drop.
The Guardian (July 10) carries an Anthony McIntyre article :
Northern Ireland conflict archives should not fall into police hands
The British State is attempting to monopolise an “official version” of history :
Moreover, the double standards of the British state are on full display. It refuses access to the archives in the possession of its security services to the family of the murdered solicitor Pat Finucane, despite David Cameron admitting security force collusion in Finucane’s death.
What sort of history do we want? :
Ultimately, law enforcement agencies, which cannot escape culpability for Northern Ireland’s “dirty war”, are now trying to shape society’s knowledge of that war by seeking to monopolise control over what unfolds from the past while simultaneously relegating the role of academic and journalistic researchers. Any agency other than law enforcement is liable to be sabotaged. A law enforcement view of history is a partial and self-serving one, which seeks to conceal rather than reveal.
Link :
NUJ Dismay over Boston Tapes Ruling | Boston College Subpoena News
National Union of Journalists : Dismay Over Boston Tapes Ruling
NUJ General Secretary Michelle Stanistreet said the ruling has “significant implications” for academic and journalistic research.
She said:
“These interviews were recorded between 2001 and 2006 and each participant understood the recording would not be released prior to their death. We salute the stand taken by Ed Moloney, Belfast Project Director and Anthony McIntyre, who carried out the interviews in good faith. It is regrettable that Boston College did not support their legal challenge in relation to the Price interview. It is deeply disappointing that the challenge has failed. As a union we are concerned at the chilling effect which this ruling will have on academic and journalistic research but we are also concerned at the possible threat to the safety of Anthony McIntyre and Ed Moloney.”
This Henry McDonald Guardian article is also worth reading:
Disclosure of IRA testimony held in Boston could stall search for truth
Link :
SECOND FRONT OPENED IN LEGAL FIGHT TO SAVE BOSTON COLLEGE ARCHIVES
SECOND FRONT OPENED IN LEGAL FIGHT TO SAVE BOSTON COLLEGE ARCHIVES
Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre are pleased to announce that they are opening a second front in their fight to prevent the Police Service of Northern Ireland gaining access to the Belfast Archive at Boston College. In addition to the legal action currently ongoing in the federal appeals court in Boston, they have this week filed papers in the Belfast courts seeking a judicial review of the PSNI action alleging that the UK authorities are in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights and the British Human RIghts Act of 1998. The Judicial Review asks that the British Home Office’s request of assistance from the United States be quashed, the subpoenas be declared unlawful, a discontinuation of the PSNI’s application for the material, and for an injunction stopping any material from Boston College being received by the PSNI. The two legal actions in Belfast and Boston emphasise our utter determination that the enormously valuable historical documents in the Boston College archive will never fall into the hands of anyone except those authorised by the terms of the solemn and unbreakable contracts we made with the interviewees. Ultimately these papers tell a part of Ireland’s recent troubled history and they should be used for no reason other than to educate and inform. Read the rest of this entry »
ABOLISH THE MONARCHY!
ABOLISH THE MONARCHY!
Tommy McKearney is an opponent of monarchy! It seems this is a controversial policy in unexpected places these days. “Sinn Féin Councillor blasts McGuinness handshake” – Councillor Michael MacMahon told the Donegal Democrat,
I am not in favour of this meeting by a long head – I think it is wrong, it is premature and a step too far.
“I feel that I have a responsibility to remind people that this is the very person that decorated the paratroopers that killed innocent victims on Bloody Sunday.
“She is also responsible as Commander in Chief of the armed forces for the continued occupation of the six counties. Martin McGuinness should be asking the British Government and the Queen what is the real position in relation to the Six Counties. By meeting with the Queen he is acknowledging her as Head of State in Northern Ireland and giving legitimacy to the situation.
Donegal Sinn Féin Councillor Blasts McGuinness Handshake
Under the radar we read about Elizabeth II’s son : Read the rest of this entry »
ULA Conference: ‘Co-operation not competition’ – Statement from Paddy Healy and the South Tipperary Workers and Unemployed Action Group
It’s good to see the WUAG engaging like this with the ULA at large and doubly so given the content of the statement.
Huge Obligation and Opportunity for ULA as Sinn Féin reiterates its willingness to enter Coalition Government with any Party
Paddy Healy
Because of developments in the national and international economic and political crisis there is a huge obligation on ULA and on its components to make significant progress in its mission to politically reorganise the Irish working class in its own interest. The Irish Labour Party is once again in coalition government with a right-wing party. On this occasion the government is not just failing to introduce improvements for workers but is openly attacking all the gains made by workers over decades. If ULA can rise to its historic task the Labour Party could be wiped out and above all fail to recover from this period in government.
Following the recent rise of Sinn Féin in the polls, the party leader reiterated its willingness to enter coalition with any political party. This guarantees that sooner or later that party will go into oblivion sharing the same fate as Clann Na Poblachta and the Workers Party. But much damage could be done before then. The commitment of Sinn Féin to coalition confirms that it is no longer a revolutionary nationalist party. Read the rest of this entry »
Tomás Ó Flatharta 