Irish Police Boss Drew Harris Offers Light-Touch Appeasement to Far-Right Protesters Outside the Gates of Leinster House – Skeletons Rattling in the Garda Commissioner’s Cupboard
Irish Police boss Drew Harris is in trouble – rank-and-file members of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) have voted no confidence in their chief – 10803 ballots issued, 9129 returned, 99 per cent of them (9113) against Harris, only 116 in favour. The GRA is on a collision course with Drew Harris and the Dublin Government over rosters introduced to deal with the Covid 19 emergency in 2020. Justice Minister Helen McEntee might be wishing she never heard of Drew Harris, but she has no excuses – plenty of warning lights were flashing.
Drew Harris was always a controversial choice. Appointed in September 2018, his preceding police career was spent in the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) of Northern Ireland from 1983 onwards. The RUC was renamed the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in 2001 in order to overcome a well-earned bad reputation. Skeletons are in the cupboard, and they haunt the boss of An Garda Síochána. One significant reason for the RUC’s negative image is the 1975 Miami Showband Massacre.
Unclean Hands of Garda Boss Drew Harris
Miami Showband Massacre Survivor Stephen Travers on the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris :
Read the rest of this entry »When he was part of the PSNI, Mr Harris had blocked, delayed and frustrated every effort to “find out who shot our lads”, he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
‘Lost Boys’ Film Adds Fuel To Kincora Fire And One Question: ‘Why Did The BBC Drop This Film?’ – Re- Blogged Posts which originally appeared on Ed Moloney’s site, The Broken Elbow
Introduction :
On Wednesday September 27 a world premiere takes place in Dublin’s Irish Film Institute
World Premiere
During the winter of 1969, young boys started to disappear from the streets of Belfast, never to be seen again. By 1974, as the Troubles were reaching a bloody and vicious peak, five boys in total had vanished within a five-mile radius. Fifty years later, as the disappearances remain unsolved and families continue to search for answers, filmmaker Des Henderson (How to Diffuse a Bomb) reopens these largely forgotten cold-cases, unearthing disturbing revelations in secret state documents to tell an extraordinary tale of abuse, trauma and potential cover-up.
Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn
Ed Moloney offers the recommendation below. Chris Moore, a journalist who has researched the subject thoroughly for many decades, wrote a fascinating (and chilling) background story about state collusion and child abuse on Ed Moloney’s blog in June 2023. it is reprinted below.
‘Lost Boys’ Film Adds Fuel To Kincora Fire And One Question: ‘Why Did The BBC Drop This Film?’
I had the opportunity yesterday to watch the new Kincora film made by Belfast’s own film company Alleycats. Called ‘Lost Boys’ it asks a simple but necessary question: was the disappearance and murder of four Belfast schoolboys in the 1970’s linked to the subsequent Kincora scandal, which broke some few years afterwards, revealing that all the employees at the home for wayward boys had been abusing inmates for years?
Read the rest of this entry »Irish troops to provide weapons training to Ukraine despite Government’s ‘non-lethal’ assistance pledge – Irish Times News Report, August 18 2023
“Department of Defence insists training does not impact neutrality and that there was no attempt to mislead public” – Irish Times
A copy of Conor Gallagher’s report is here :
Paul Murphy TD (Dublin South-West, People Before Profit) has issued a deeply mistaken public response, consistent with his party’s previously stated opposition to any military anti-imperialist solidarity action in support of the Ukrainian masses’ fight against a genocidal Russian invasion. Source :
This is a grim PBP Left-Evasionist chapter, part of the shocking story: failure to show anti-imperialist solidarity with the masses of Ukraine who are resisting a genocidal Russian invasion.
On July 29 2023 the PBP helped to organise a well-supported anti-racist rally in Dún Laoghaire, a town which proudly hosts a magnificent statue honouring the Irish anti-imperialist gun-runner and human rights activist Roger Casement.
PBP speakers drew attention to the many reasons we honour Casement today : but they overlooked a vital fact : this Easter 1916 rebel imported weapons from Kaiser Wilhelm’s German Empire in order to strike a blow against the then mighty British Empire.
John Meehan August 18 2023
What is a word you feel that too many people use? (indirect answers – or statements you should never believe in Ireland)
i was asked to answer this question :
What is a word you feel that too many people use?
The question is not directly answered here.
Many people deploy the following suggestions instead of saying Yes or No to a direct request – pointless conversations, EMail exchanges etc follow instead of simple actions.
Some of these are famous – they are assurances you should never believe in Ireland :
The cheque is in the post.
Send me a copy of a document (which the author already has) and I might be able to do something for you.
I will do that immediately and get back to you.
Correcting Mandel: Why arming Ukraine is the road to peace
This is a very good polemical article, written by the Canadian author David Gutnick, examining Professor David Mandel’s calls for Ukrainians to accept a ceasefire and negotiate with Russia immediately.
The source is :
Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières
David Gutnick’s article was originally published in :
Canadian Dimension
Monday 14 August 2023, by GUTNICK David
Correcting Mandel: Why arming Ukraine is the road to peace
“Pacifism has its place, but not here and not now,” writes David Gutnick
David Mandel and I share much more in common than our given name. We’re both French-speaking Anglophones who live in Montréal. Like professor Mandel, I worked for decades at a publicly funded institution: he taught at universities, while I produced documentaries for CBC Radio. We both consider ourselves humanists who want to help build a kinder, more democratic and socialist world.
But while reading Mandel’s August 2 piece in this publication, it became clear that we profoundly disagree on how to get there.
In a nutshell, Mandel calls for Ukrainians to accept a ceasefire and negotiate with Russia immediately, while I—following the lead of Ukrainians—believe the country needs more arms: the deadlier the better, unfortunately.
Mandel—like Vladimir Putin—says his position is the humanist one, as it will save lives.
I think that is wrongheaded. A wealth of evidence proves Volodymyr Zelensky’s position is right: Russia’s present leadership is bloodthirsty, intent on building an untrustworthy imperialist power. Putin slaughtered Chechens and Georgians when they would not submit to Russian domination, and now he is slaughtering Ukrainians. He will not hesitate to slaughter whoever is next to get in his way.
Humanists think of peace-building in the long term, and that means standing up to aggression now, not turning the other cheek.
Pacifism has its place, but not here and not now.
Unless Putin pulls back his army, Ukrainians have no choice but to fight.
Mandel writes that over the decades he has been “opposed to the policies of the regimes of these states, which were and remain deeply hostile to workers’ interests.”
We share that view.
But since the first Russian tanks illegally crossed Ukraine’s border into Crimea on February 20, 2014, then again into Kyiv on February 24, 2022, it is not just “workers’ interests” which have suffered: tens of thousands of Ukrainian trade unionists, kindergarten monitors, university students, mothers and fathers and innocent children have been killed by Russian invaders.
Read the rest of this entry »Medical Staff
What profession do you admire most and why?
Medical staff working for public health organisations saved millions of people during the Covid pandemic.
Should Robbie Keane reconsider going to Israeli Football Club Maccabi Tel Aviv?
The author of this article is Zoe Lawlor. Many thanks to Seán Marmion for bringing it to our attention.
Should Robbie Keane reconsider going to Israeli Football Club Maccabi Tel Aviv?
When Robbie Keane was asked about his move to manage Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv, he said he
didn’t want to “get into politics”, but taking up a role in what has been declared apartheid is
inherently political.
The Gaza Kids to Ireland project was launched officially by Brian Kerr in late 2014. The boys, coach
and chairman of Al Helal Football Academy, Gaza City finally made it to Ireland in 2016.
The logistics of trying to get out of Gaza are very complicated. The group needed Irish visas, permits
for Jordan and most problematic – permits to leave Gaza by Israel. Palestinians are the only people
who need permission to leave their country. Israel controls most aspects of life for the Palestinians
in Gaza, and it controls whether they can leave or enter the Strip.
The visa/permits process took months. Eventually the permits were granted but one player from the
15 – Karam Zedan wasn’t given a permit and neither were 5 of the adults due to travel, including the
only woman. The cruelty of Israel denying one child from 15 the opportunity to travel to Ireland
bears further consideration. Imagine how a 13-year-old boy must have felt seeing his friends and
teammates going on a big adventure that they had been preparing for together for months. Karam
was injured by the 2009 Israeli attack on Gaza and it’s likely they didn’t want him as living evidence
of their war crimes.
They played football against Ballybrack FC, Kinvara United, Nenagh AFC, Nenagh Celtic and Pike
Rovers. They played on pitches, beaches and in parks. A highlight was their game in Ballybrack where
the Palestinian community came out in numbers and reacted as if they had won the World Cup.
They formed the guard of honour for Galway United versus Dundalk, played at half time to the
delight and cheers of the Palestinian flag waving GUFC ultras. They met with President Michael D
Higgins at this game in Galway United. The League of Ireland was very supportive of the children’s
visit.
In 2017 the Al Helal team were guard of honour for the Shamrock Rovers V Derry City game.
President Michael D Higgins came to Tallaght that evening, for his first visit, especially to meet them.
He made a speech and took loads of photos with the children. It was a serious act of solidarity from
our President.
Sinéad O’Connor – Political and Musical Tributes
I think this photo was taken in August 1989 at a FADA (Forum for a Democratic Alternative) march outside the RDS, Ballsbridge, Dublin. It was a protest marking the 20th anniversary of British troops taking over the streets of the six counties after the 1969 Battle of the Bogside. Other speakers included Eamonn McCann. Sinéad O’Connor is singing, flanked by Joe Kelly who chaired the meeting. Thanks to Niamh Kelly, Joe’s daughter, who supplied the photograph.
Sinéad O’Connor understood, better than many others, that the partition of Ireland is a 32 county problem – it is not just about the north. This letter was published in the Irish Times edition of Tuesday, July 30, 1996.
John Meehan August 8 2023
Sinéad O’Connor’s funeral tribute in Bray Co. Wicklow – where she spent many happy years in a house on a promenade beside the sea – was led by a beautifully decorated old van, almost vintage :
Mandy La Combre’s Tributes
Mandy la Combre is a feminist and trade union activist.
I really wanted to be in Bray today to say a final farewell to Sinéad but unfortunately I’m working in Belfast so couldn’t make it. This made me sad. I also haven’t really seen any of the coverage of this morning but I have it recorded at home to watch on my return.
It still feels like a gut-punch to lose this priestess, political agitator, and gifted songwriter, who had an otherworldly voice like an angel and who inspired so many of us teenage girls growing up in grim 1980’s Ireland. What a terrible loss for us all.
It seems fitting that a giant installation honouring Sinéad was unveiled on Bray Head, Co.Wicklow, as she too was a giant. It reads ‘ÉIRE LOVES SINÉAD’ and is located where the recently rediscovered World War Two ‘ÉIRE’ navigational landmark is, also close to Sinéad’s former seafront home at Strand Road, Bray.
I love the below images. Sinéad indelibly marked into the Irish landscape as she should be, and a wonderful happy picture of Sinéad at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1990 – long before she was battered at the hands of the press and the world.
If I was religious I’d say something like I hope she’s sleeping soundly now in the arms of her boy, but unfortunately I’m not, and I’ve a hard time believing that to be true.
So when you don’t know what to say….
“Where words fail, music speaks”.
Thank you Sinéad, for everything. 
Written on August 8 2023
It’s taken me 24 hours to post anything about Sinéad O’Connor. It was actually quite a shock to hear the news.
I’ve enjoyed Sinéad’s music since the 80’s. When she rocked out onto the scene with her doc martens, rolled up jeans, shaved head and a screeching voice like an angel – she was quite the firebrand. Relentlessly willing to stand up for her beliefs even when they were not popular, and they so often were not.
As a teenage girl I wasn’t that many years younger than her and consumed her debut album ‘The Lion & The Cobra’ mercilessly. Playing it for years long after its release date. In fact when pregnant, the first time my son kicked inside my womb I was listening to ‘Troy’ on my Walkman, and so it was set in stone that would be his name. Over 30 years later the album still resonates, it’s a timeless work and an astonishing debut…and Troy still has the coolest name.
I’ve seen Sinéad live only a few times in my life; once in the 80’s in the Olympic ballroom where she looked incredible flouncing around the stage in a black tutu like a beautiful angry nymph, once in the 90’s in Giant stadium in New York, where she headlined an Irish music festival and she filled the stadium with her voice singing a capella literally stopping me in my tracks. And later in the 00’s singing on stage with Gavin Friday with whom her stunning performances with her iconic voice and attitude always complimented Gavin’s shows.
I met her briefly on two occasions and she was always polite. One particular occasion she appeared particularly quiet, shy and unassuming gripping Gavin’s arm for moral support as she navigated the nightclub trepidatiously as if worried that people would start looking at her – even though she looked just beautiful.
Last year I read her book ‘Rememberings’ and saw the film about her life ‘Nothing Compares’. Both fantastic pieces of work, both I seriously recommend to get a real insight into Sinéad’s character and talent.
The book is a brutally honest account of Sinéad’s life in her own words and the film is a stunning portrayal of a celebrated rise to fame and quick exile from mainstream music as a result of her outspokenness and activism. I was delighted to see I had a two second accidental cameo in the latter, it made me giggle in the cinema. Also, my abiding memory leaving the viewing was walking away thinking what a remarkable woman she really was.
You will see a multitude of platitudes to Sinéad in the coming days and weeks, most sincere, and some by those that used, persecuted, and mistreated her while she was alive. But if you really want to remember and celebrate Sinéad, get her back catalogue. That is where the real magic lies. The music and her unique voice speak for themselves. That is where she really shone.
Yes, she was a trailblazer, a feminist, an activist, a moral character that relied on honesty and was always true to herself – but she was also damaged and dreadfully hurt and her songs are an expression of all that she was, not faux, but genuine, and oftentimes in your face. That’s why we loved her and that’s what we should remember.
Right now I really feel for her children, her family and her friends that loved her so much, it must be an unbearable loss. But I also extend condolences to those fans that never wavered and always held Sinéad in their hearts through thick and thin and all the ups and downs. We’ve lost a true talent, and Ireland has lost the best female voice this country has ever produced.
Her work was such a gift.
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O’Connor, rest in power.
You have been loved. 
Written on July 27 2023
Sinéad O’Connor reached back to a powerful Irish ballad, “The Foggy Dew”, and produced a haunting new version with the Chieftains in 1995 :
Twas better to die neath an Irish sky than at Suvla or Sud-el-Bar
Tomás Ó Flatharta 