IRELAND , JANUARY 15th , 1920 : ELECTIONS .......
....... despite trying to 'fix' the outcome of the 1918 Election , the British lost badly after same in Ireland ...
After that election , the 'Unionist Party' held 26 seats (+8) , the 'Home Rulers' (IPP/INP) held 6 seats (-62) , no 'Independent' candidates were re-elected , and the then Sinn Fein Party held 73 seats (+66).
It should be noted that Sinn Fein made its position clear before and during the 1918 Election campaign - of boycotting Westminster and establishing an independent parliament for Ireland . In the 9 Counties of Ulster , the Unionists won 22 of the 37 constituencies , with a total vote of 265,111 compared to a total vote of 177,557 anti-Unionist votes .
If those figures are broke down to the now British-occupied Six Counties of Antrim , Armagh , Derry , Down , Fermanagh and Tyrone , it can be seen that the pro-Unionist vote won the day with a majority of just over two-to-one : 255,819 to 116,888.
However ; the newly-elected Sinn Fein 'MP's' refused to go to Westminster (and did not pocket their wages or expenses ...) , as per their election manifesto - the British were uneasy with these developments .......
(MORE LATER).
Why We Ended The Hunger-Strike .
The full text of the H-Block Blanket Men's statement announcing the end of the 1981 Hunger-Strike .
First published in 'IRIS' magazine , Volume 1 , Number 2, November 1981 , pages 23 , 24 , 25 and 26 .
Re-published here in 18 parts .
(3 of 18).
" The 'European Commission on Human Rights' (ECHR) delegation came to Long Kesh and Bobby Sands said he would meet them providing Brendan McFarlane , O/C of the prisoners , Mr. Gerry Adams , and Mr. Danny Morrison were present . This reasonable proviso was refused and the ECHR left Long Kesh . Bobby Sands released a statement that night attacking Charles Haughey for un-scrupulously exploiting his family's anxiety to cover his own inactivity .
On May 5th , 1981 , Bobby Sands died on hunger-strike , murdered by British callousness and vindictiveness . Frank Hughes , Raymond McCreesh and Patsy O'Hara were soon to follow Bobby to the grave .
And still the British Government remained steadfastly and inhumanly inflexible ..."
(MORE LATER).
ONE THAT GOT AWAY .......
Donegal IRA man , Patrick McIntyre - wanted by the RUC and by Gardai - was released by the High Court last month when his lawyers convinced the Court that he was not properly arrested and held by the Gardai . Tommie Gorman details McIntyre's story of two escapes and meets him 'on the run' .
From ' Magill ' magazine , June 1987 , pages 24 , 25 , 26 , 28 and 29 .
Re-produced here in 13 parts .
(6 of 13).
The legal defence was prepared in the tiny rooms over a swop-shop along Ormond Quay , near the Four Courts , in Dublin , where solicitor Anne Rowland , a native of Ballina , County Mayo , set up her own firm five years ago . Her penchant is for the cut and thrust of criminal cases .
On accepting the McIntyre brief , she immediately sought out barrister Patrick Gageby - they had worked together before ; Evelyn Glenhomes and Gerard Tuite were among those they had represented . Rowland and Gageby immediately agreed that their defence case would focus on the circumstances of McIntyre's arrest and detention .
They were told that an extradition application would come before District Justice Liam McMenamin at Ballyshannon District Court on January 7th last . Before leaving for County Donegal , Rowland put the state on notice that she would require in court the garda who performed the Section 30 arrest and the Garda Officer who signed the order extending Patrick McIntyre's detention for a second 24 hour period .......
(MORE LATER).
