IRELAND , JANUARY 15th , 1920 : ELECTIONS .......
....... the British Parliament at Westminster proposed to include legislation for a 'Council of Ireland' within its new (ie February 1920) 'Government of Ireland Bill' ; this 'Council' was put forward by the Brits as a 'sweetner' , to encourage the Nationalist/Republican community to accept the 'Bill' .......
The Unionists in Ireland , however , were sceptical and reluctant to accept the 'Government of Ireland Bill' , as it proposed the establishment of a nine-county parliament in Ulster , but Westminster encouraged them to believe that a local 'parliament' would strengthen their position within Ireland - and that was the reason put forward in 'The Government of Ireland Bill' for abandoning the three Ulster Counties of Cavan , Monaghan and Donegal...
... it was pointed out to the Irish (pro-Brit) Unionists that , within the Nine Counties of Ulster , Unionists had a 56.3 per cent majority , whereas , within a Six County 'Ulster' , they would have a 66 per cent majority . In true 'divide and conquer' style (even , as in this case , when dealing with 'their own' people ) , the Brits , speaking to those who were not in favour of jettisoning their Unionist brethren in Cavan , Monaghan and Donegal let it be known that Cavan had an 81.5 per cent Nationalist majority , Monaghan 74.7 per cent and Donegal 78.9 per cent - in short , Westminster could 'control' a Six County 'Ulster' better than it could a nine-county Ulster !
The then influential British MP , Thomas Moles (who was later to be appointed Editor of 'The Belfast Telegraph' newspaper) summed-up the options in his own indomitable way .......
(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 .
(13 of 18).
" We contend very strongly that the reason why the British did'nt respond to our August 6th statement is that the prison regime we proposed was inarguably superior and better than the present Victorian regime and that the church accepted this , but to support our demands would be to oppose the British government .
And the logical conclusion , again , would be to consciously incite the Irish Catholic population to oppose the British policy ; therefore , they remained ambiguous on the entire issue and the reason , as we stated, is that they are intricately immersed in the field of politics and deceit .
It was the Catholic clerics , more than anyone , who were involved in the back-door and public pressuring of families to get them to intervene ......."
(MORE LATER).
A CASE OF IRISH JUSTICE .......
By Maureen Armstrong .
First published in ' The Spirit of Freedom ' magazine ; An Independent Journal of Irish News and Opinion ' .
Volume 2 , Number 5 , May 1987 , page 3 .
Re-published here in six parts .
(3 of 6).
British 'Lord' Justice Gibson commended the RUC for sending three young Irishmen "...to the final court of justice . " The three lads had been shot dead by the RUC .
This time there was a reaction from some of the politicians ; Seamus Mallon (SDLP) accused Gibson of giving " a licence to murder " to the RUC , and added that the decision marked a new low in the Northern judiciary . Next day , Mallon forgot all about the whole affair !
He had voiced his opinion and that was that as far as he was concerned . The Toman case eventually became one of the alleged 'shoot-to-kill' incidents investigated by former Manchester Deputy Chief Constable John Stalker .
The tremendous power that British 'Lord' Justice Gibson wielded over the Nationalist community in the North made him secretly feel as if he was 'God' ; to further feed his 'secret power over the Irish' he secured for himsef a holiday home at Doonan , Kilcar , County Donegal and he revelled in the attention and security provided him by the Garda Siochana .......
(MORE LATER).
