Monday, July 23, 2007

CURRAGH CAMP/PUBLIC INQUIRY/HANDY.


'IN CURRAGH CONCENTRATION CAMP'.......
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .

DUBLIN :

Peter Pringle , 2 Alexandra Terrace , South Circular Road .
James Fagan , 171 Windmill Road , Crumlin .
Patrick McLoughlin , 121 Larkhill Road , Whitehall .
Gordon Hyland , 17 McMahon Street , South Circular Road .
Liam Healy , 22 Luke Street .
Sean Garland, 7 Belvedere Place .
Liam Egan , 3 Islington Avenue , Sandymount .
Seamus Doran , 31 Sullivan Street , Infirmary Road .
Frank Ross, 14 The Rise , Glasnevin .
Patrick O' Regan , 1 Goldsmith Street , North Circular Road.
Tomás MacGearáilt , Rathmines Road .
Bernárd Ó Riain , Dun Laoghaire .
Phil O' Donoghue , 95 Lally Road , Ballyfermot .
Peter O' Donoghue , 95 Lally Road , Ballyfermot .
(MORE LATER).



PUBLIC INQUIRY INTO OUR GREATEST SCANDAL.......
From 'MAGILL' magazine, June 1998.
By Vincent Browne.
('1169...' Comment : please note - the use of the term 'murder' in connection with the death of an informer is not our choice of word.)

Amidst the mountain of lies that Sean O' Callaghan has told and probably remains telling about his involvement in the PIRA , there are some things we know for sure about him : the first is that he was a high-ranking member of (P) Sinn Fein and the PIRA in the 1980's ; the second is that he was a high-ranking Garda informant during this time . We also know that John Corcoran was murdered in the area of the country for which Sean O' Callaghan had responsibility as a PIRA operative .

Without believing anything at all that O' Callaghan now says concerning the murder of John Corcoran , we can be reasonably sure that he was somehow implicated in that murder or at least would have been aware that Corcoran was about to be or had been kidnapped and was about to be murdered .

If it were the case that O' Callaghan told the Gardai nothing at all at the time about the kidnapping of John Corcoran and the imminence of his murder , then Gardai would have known themselves that O' Callaghan had been involved somehow . Or at least that the kidnapping and murder of John Corcoran could not have taken place without his knowledge and , almost certainly , his acquiescence . On that basis alone , O' Callaghan should have been charged with the murder of John Corcoran in 1985 . There is no evidence that Sean O' Callaghan was even interrogated about that murder at the time.......
(MORE LATER).





TAKING IT HANDY.......

Provisional Sinn Fein are fighting this election as a party which has just emerged from seventy years of abstentionism. The party is banned from the airwaves and there is a strong apparent bias against the party in the press.
From 'In Dublin' magazine Election Special, 1987.
By Derek Dunne.

Garret FitzGerald finally comes rushing down the stairs , surrounded by handlers and gardai , both of which group have no qualms about pushing , elbowing and shoving their way past the crowd . Gerry Adams is brushed aside before too many words can be exchanged . FitzGerald is pale and tense looking , and there is a general rush towards the narrow exit in the wake of the man . One Fine Gaeler decides to take the law into his own hands and pins Adams against the narrow door , refusing to let him go , while other Fine Gaelers are shouting abuse . Outside a scuffle develops between one Provo supporter and the gardai .

Adams sees the scuffle and approaches the gardai in a conciliatory manner and says 'It's ok , it's ok , I'll take him...' and finally the youth is released and calm has been restored but , by now , FitzGerald has disappeared .

The reception that Adams gets in the Liberties contrasts to that afforded to Dessie O' Malley: Adams is promised a vote by almost every person he talks to . A minibus * goes around , urging support for the party and announcing that Adams is in the area . Many people want to meet him and shake his hand and wish him luck . There is a strong base of support for him in the area and if it transfers into actual votes they could take a seat eventually . Back in Crumlin Shopping Centre , the election workers are sent in first , then the candidates are brought in and , finally , Adams goes in . Unlike most of the other parties , canvassing is done outside . One man remarks that Adams looks much better in reality than he does on television , and wishes him the best of luck.......(*'1169...' Comment : the Provos do their canvassing now from transport supplied by their British and/or Free State paymasters and would scarcely remember what the inside of a minibus looks like..)
(MORE LATER).