Wednesday, December 02, 2009

THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY.......
Twenty-six men were convicted on the word of Harry Kirkpatrick. On their appeal against those convictions could well rest the future of the 'Anglo-Irish Agreement'
('The Hillsborough Treaty')
. Based on a full transcript of the Kirkpatrick trials , the story of how these convictions were obtained shows why the 'Supergrass System' is a pale shadow of justice.
By Derek Dunne. From 'MAGILL' magazine, February 1986.

In January 1984 , former RUC detective sergeant Thomas McCormick had his conviction quashed : he had served twenty-one months of a twenty-year sentence for hi-jacking and armed robbery , and had been convicted on the word of Anthony O' Doherty, an RUC informer inside the (P)IRA .

O'Doherty himself was sentenced to eighteen years , and was held in the same part of Crumlin Road Prison - in the annex - at the same time as Harry Kirkpatrick ; O' Doherty had asked for an eight-year remission on an eighteen year sentence.

One of James Prior's last political acts in the North of Ireland was to order the release of Anthony O' Doherty , which occurred after he had given evidence against former RUC detective sergeant Thomas McCormick.......
(MORE LATER).




WHERE DO THE DRUGS GO ?
The official line is that the evidence is finally taken under guard to a certain multinational chemical-processing company that is under contract to the State Department of Justice to dispose of the substances and the packaging.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , March 1988. By Marguerite Barry.

At the headquarters of the 'National' (sic) Drug Unit in Dublin Castle, there is a comfortably-furnished waiting room where those with inquiries wait to be seen . There are armchairs , upright chairs , a soft carpet , plants and a table where someone has kindly provided an ashtray .

Everything in the room is marked and bar-coded with a State Garda Asset number . And well they might be - the only other item in the room is a large glass cabinet displaying several large - 8 oz and 16 oz - bars of cannabis resin , bags of marijuana leaves and buds, a tube containing (and marked) 'The highest-quality Dutch seed : swazix skunk' , a bag of white tablets marked with doves , uppers , downers , a bag of a brown heroin-like substance , a 500ml bottle of methadone hydrochloride and several tubes of a white powder . A lot of money's worth , in other words.

The display case also houses a collection of smoking materials , or perhaps the contents of an ethnic crafts shop - elaborately carved bongs and water bongs, pipes and chillums, a 10-inch rolling machine , a little box marked 'smokers gauzes' , weighing scales and weights . Perhaps such exhibits are commonplace in garda offices now . Instead of being destroyed , the booty adorns the walls of the captors , like moose heads and stuffed pheasants - the fruits of other hunts - once did.......
(MORE LATER).



THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST HEROIN IN DUBLIN....... The drugs crisis is one of the major problems facing young people in Dublin today. In large areas of the city it has now reached massive proportions , while in the inner city there is estimated to be a higher percentage of drug addicts and drug abusers than in Harlem in New York . But it has been only recently - 5 years after this epidemic began in earnest - that any notice has been paid to the problem. And even now the Free State government has failed to confront the crisis in a meaningful way . Tony Barry of Na Fianna Eireann has been looking at the issues for 'IRIS' magazine.
From 'IRIS' magazine, December 1984.

Tony Barry : " Would drug addicts be beaten up by the residents that patrol the flats if they did come into the area ? "

Noel Sillery : " No , nobody has ever been beaten up. If a known drug addict came in and he was approached and he was known to be going in to look for drugs , he'd just be asked to leave the flats , and they would leave."
(MORE LATER).







Monday, November 30, 2009

COMMUNITY SECTOR (CDP-JI-CE) PROTEST , CLONDALKIN , MONDAY 30th NOVEMBER 2009.

RSF at the Clondalkin protest, Monday 30 November 2009.

At 3.30pm today (Monday 30 November 2009) in Clondalkin Village , protestors against the proposed/'recommended' State cuts to the finances of those working in the Community Sector gathered outside the County Council offices and, at 4pm , marched through the Village to the constituency office of John Curran ,Fianna Fail State Minister responsible for 'Community Affairs'.

RSF were there , Curran was not!

Altogether , about fifty protestors remained outside Curran's office for approximately an hour-and-a-half , blowing whistles , chanting protest songs and sharing two hand-held battery-operated loudhailers between them , to get their point across to Curran and , more importantly, to his constituents who stopped in their dozens to listen to the protestors as, indeed, did cars etc , causing a small tailback at times. But Curran wasn't listening - because he wasn't in his office....

Two staff from Clondalkin Womens Network protesting outside John Curran's office , Clondalkin, Monday 30 November 2009.

...the protestors had been told , after trying to get in to speak to State Minister Curran , that he had left earlier 'to attend a meeting' : Grace Wills, North Clondalkin, and Rita Fagan Inchicore (St Michaels Resource Centre) were disappointed that they had been prevented from addressing Curran across his table , but made up for it by addressing what was now a packed Clondalkin street , putting their point across that way , instead.

Eamon Ó Cuív and John Curran (both Fianna Fail) : in 'competition' to see which one can do the most damage to the Community Sector.

Inchicore CDP at the Clondalkin protest, Monday 30 November 2009.

The next Community Sector protest in Clondalkin will take place next Monday, 7th December 2009 at 4pm outside Curran's office - it was felt that we were losing a good half hour of 'protesting' light on these dark afternoons by marching from the County Council offices to the State Ministers office , so we are going directly to 'Cutback Currans' office at 4pm. Republican Sinn Féin will be there again , adding our voice to that of these low-paid but invaluable workers. See you there!
Thanks!
Sharon.






Sunday, November 29, 2009

'MOOCHING'FOR A SEAT AT THE RSF BALLAD SESSION,SATURDAY 28th NOVEMBER 2009!

'The Dublin City Moochers' on stage , Saturday 28th November 2009.

Another full , busy and noisy night at another RSF-organised ballad session in the 79'r pub in Ballyfermot , Dublin ! Two of us from this blog arrived at the premises at about eight-fifteen pm to see if we could help out in any way with the final preparations, only to find that Frankie , Liam , Robbie ,Pat and Keith had the hall ready to go , and Tom , Shay and PJ - 'The Moochers' - were already on stage , tuning-up. Happy Days! We retired to the bar...

The banner of the RSF Cumann which organised the function , the 'Anne Devlin/Robert Emmet' Cumann.

At about half-past nine , Frankie Nolan , representing the organisers of the night, took to the stage and welcomed the hundred-or-so people that were in the hall at that time (that number doubled within the following hour!) : Frankie stated that 300 tickets had been printed , distributed , sold and returned , and that this was just the first such event in a new programme of fund-raisers that had been organised by Republican Sinn Féin in that general area. He mentioned that a bus load of RSF members and supporters would be in later , as they were currently on the road back from County Armagh , where they and others had held a picket at Maghaberry Prison in support of Irish Republican POW's - this drew a round of sustained applause from all present.

Some of those at the ballad session.

Frankie mentioned the raffle that was going to be held at the gig , stating that all five prizes (three bodhrons and two framed Republican mirrors) had been made by Republican POW's in Maghaberry and Portlaoise prisons, and he made special mention of the up-coming annual CABHAIR Christmas Day Swim which , after 32 years, is still going strong and still raising much-needed funds for the families of Republican prisoners - this point was also stressed by the newly-elected President of Republican Sinn Féin , Des Dalton who, during his brief speech on the night, delivered a short report on the Maghaberry Prison picket , which he had just returned from.

The five raffle prizes , all made by Republican POW's in Maghaberry and Portlaoise Prisons.

Another section of the crowd at the ballad session.

Finally ; another issue which RSF is also involved in was highlighted from the stage by Frankie , Des and John - that of the atrocious and vicious cutbacks that are taking place in this State in order that the 'establishment' friends and business and political colleagues of the politicians in Leinster House will not have to sell their third or fourth home or , worse , downsize the fleet of luxury cars they own : the on-going pickets and protests by ordinary workers against those fatcat politicians . The 200-odd people present at the gig cheered loudly when told that RSF members and supporters will , once again, be joining in a picket on the near-by (Clondalkin) constituency office of a local Fianna Fail elected representative on Monday 30th November 2009 , beginning at 3.30pm - the poor , the unemployed and the low-paid workers will not pay for the greed of the wealthy elite and the political class which supports them.
Very 'Well Done' to the 'Anne Devlin/Robert Emmet' RSF Cumann which put the night together , thanks also to the pub management , staff and 'bouncers' , to the 'Dublin City Moochers' , to Frankie and Crew
(including Morris , Andy , Cathy , Des and John) and to YOU , for taking the time to look at our cider-induced out-of-focus pics and our rambling words! A report (and better pics!) will be carried in the December 2009 issue of 'SAOIRSE' , which will be published on Wednesday, December 2nd next.
Thanks!
Sharon.