A MANIFESTO : BRITAIN MUST WITHDRAW HER FORCES…….

This Manifesto was posted throughout Occupied Ireland during the week beginning December 6 , 1957 , and ending on December 12 .
From ‘The United Irishman’ newspaper, January 1958 .

” To achieve our objectives we must end forever interference in our affairs by an outside power . We must drive from our shores the forces of this outside power . We must establish national independence .

That is the task the Resistance has set itself . With the help of the Irish people we will reach our goal . All British occupation forces must withdraw from Ireland now .”

[END of ‘A MANIFESTO : BRITAIN MUST WITHDRAW HER FORCES’]
(NEXT : ‘Drogheda Corporation On Internments’ - from the same source.)

A QUESTION OF LIBERATION …….

Feminists and anti-imperialists in Ireland have often regarded each other’s struggles with misunderstanding , mutual suspicion , and sometimes outright rejection . What then is the relationship between them ? Eibhlin Ni Gabhann surveys the emergence of women’s liberation groups in Belfast and Dublin over the past decade or so , and some of the questions they have faced .
From ‘IRIS’ magazine , November 1983.

One founder member of the ‘Irish Women United’(IWU)group recalls -

” Young angry women in IWU only had to look at the position of women in Dublin , Belfast , Cork or Kerry to see that nothing had been gained for women through fighting beside men . Republicans had been as guilty as imperialists in their eyes . Now seemed the time for women to fight on their own , undistracted by calls for support from anti-imperialist but essentially male struggles . Ultimately though , the damage done by the non-discussion of the North led to the break-up of the IWU .”

For their part , republican women raised the question of women’s rights formally for the first time at the 1979 Sinn Fein Ard Fheis . Both Northern and Southern women spoke , convinced that Sinn Fein had to take up seriously the oppression of women , and that it was not enough to say - as some argued - that women in the Republican Movement were not discriminated against within the Movement . Whether that were true or not , our concern had to be for the people of Ireland , for all the women who were not just second-class citizens but , as James Connolly said , “…the slaves of slaves..” .

Out of that Ard Fheis intervention came the Sinn Fein Department of Women’s Affairs which submitted a policy document - ‘Women In The New Ireland’ - to the 1980 Ard Fheis . It had the backing of the Ard Comhairle (ruling body) of Sinn Fein and was passed almost unanimously . Since then , ‘women’s affairs’ officers have been appointed in most Sinn Fein cumann and comhairli ceantair , and the ‘Women’s Affairs’ Head of Department is automatically co-opted to the Ard Comhairle : that Department , focussed mainly on Belfast , Dublin and Derry , is still in a formative stage but it has been responsible for some important initiatives as well as heightening generally the republican consciousness concerning women’s rights…….
(MORE LATER).

THE LEFT BEHIND.

Dick Spring and the Labour Party headed into this election campaign with four years of coalition government behind them . To observe them on the campaign trial you would never guess this , but there is , nevertheless , a noticeable resistence to them , especially amongst traditional Labour voters . Judging from Dick Spring’s reception on the campaign trial it is almost certain that the party is in big trouble , at least in the Dublin area .
From ‘IN DUBLIN’ magazine ‘Election Special’ , 1987 .
By Derek Dunne.

Nobody noticed how Ruairi Quinn hi-jacked Dick Spring’s itinerary that day . The plan that had been laid out for Dick in advance included a visit to Ruairi , but when everybody arrived Ruairi had an alternative sheet prepared which he gave to journalists . Other than to have a stand-up row about it , there was really no choice but to go along with the new plan , which included a fair amount of publicity for Ruairi himself , who may not be returned in this election . There was even talk that he might have found himself ‘a job’ in the event of being made redundant by the electorate .

It’s hardly a month since Dick Spring sat at the cabinet table, but in the minds of the Labour Party ministers they have distanced themselves from those awful days . Nowadays , posters of Dick show the man with an open shirt - a ‘Good Man Of The People’- : his moustache is trimmed , to give it a tamer if sharper look . On the posters at least , the working class hero has finally come home to roost .

The day is dark and cold when the bus leaves Labour Party Headquarters ; Dick Spring steps out - ‘People of Ireland , I love you…’ On the bus , the RTE cameras start to roll as the vehicle makes its way down Dorset Street . Passers-by look with amazement as they see James Connolly’s successor (!) answering questions , facing into a camera , in a bus moving through the early morning traffic . Dick has own reservations about touring in buses , and what effect it has on people but , since the other parties do it , Labour would not seem to have a choice . It is a travelling circus…….
(MORE LATER).

THE DOGS OF FIONN…

” It was a time of trouble-executions,
Death, searches, nightly firing, balked escapes –
And I sat silent while my cellmate figured
Ruy Lopez’ Gambit from the ‘Praxis’. Silence
Best fitted our mood: we seldom spoke.
‘I have a thought,’ he said, tilting his stool.
‘We prisoners are so many pieces taken,
Swept from the chessboard, only used again
When a new game is started.’ ‘There’s that hope,’
I said, ‘the hope of being used again.
Some day of strength, when ploughs are out in March,
The dogs of Fionn will slip their iron chains
And, heedless of torn wounds and failing wind,
Will run the old grey wolf to death at last’.
He smiled, ‘I like your image. My fat kings,
And painted Queens, and purple-cassocked Bishops
Are tame, indeed, beside your angry dogs! “
(….taken from here.)

- Written by Joseph Campbell, interned in the Curragh, 1923-24.

Read the above , follow the links and read what they offer . Then , read this link and see if you can help…….
Go raibh máith agat , from the ‘1169…’ Crew .

A MANIFESTO : BRITAIN MUST WITHDRAW HER FORCES…….

This Manifesto was posted throughout Occupied Ireland during the week beginning December 6 , 1957 , and ending on December 12 .
From ‘The United Irishman’ newspaper, January 1958 .

” The Protestants of Occupied Ireland are thinking for themselves . They know that Irish Republicanism was born among them 167 years ago . They know that Protestant Ireland - and Protestant Ulster especially - has given some of her best sons to the cause of Irish Republicanism . They know that only in a truly Republican Ireland will equal rights and equal opportunities for all our citizens be assured , the memory of all past dissentions be abolished , and the common name of Irishman be substituted in place of the designations ‘Protestant , Catholic and Dissenter’ .

We must recover for the Irish people possession of the natural resources of our country. We must secure for the Irish people democracy , unity and sovereignty……. “
(MORE LATER).

A QUESTION OF LIBERATION …….

Feminists and anti-imperialists in Ireland have often regarded each other’s struggles with misunderstanding , mutual suspicion , and sometimes outright rejection . What then is the relationship between them ? Eibhlin Ni Gabhann surveys the emergence of women’s liberation groups in Belfast and Dublin over the past decade or so , and some of the questions they have faced .
From ‘IRIS’ magazine , November 1983.

One founding member of the ‘Irish Women United’ group recalls : ” A major problem in IWU was the issue of the North . Some women were members of anti-imperialist organisations , but others didn’t want to hear about any struggle other than our own . Historically , the reasons for this are quite apparent and indeed valid - republicans had , like all other men , written women out of history . Anne Devlin had been relegated to the position of Robert Emmet’s girlfriend - no mention of her part in the organisation of the 1803 Rising.

More recently , some republicans had been prepared to use the suffragettes, and support the women’s right to vote , while others felt it was too trival to even discuss . Republicans had dismissed the suffragette hunger-strike as ‘a very womanish thing to do’…….! ”
(MORE LATER).

REPUBLICAN EVICTIONS…….

Known members of the INLA were recruited to carry out a forced eviction of tenants in a Dublin house.
By Liz Walsh.
From ‘MAGILL’magazine, June 1998 .

Gary Adams , from County Antrim , has one previous conviction for armed robbery in the South . Last year (1997) he gave the oration at the graveside of Johnny Morris, the young INLA man from Tallaght who was shot dead by gardai in an abortive robbery at Goldenbridge in Inchicore , Dublin .

Gary Adams and Damien Bond (31) of Doolargy Avenue , Dundalk , County Louth , were charged with INLA membership and intimidation at Oaktree Drive on August 1 , 1996 . The State later dropped the membership charge in return for both men pleading guilty to intimidation . Thomas Murray (25) of Marion Park , Dundalk , and Bart O’ Connor (60) of Whitethorn Close , Beaumont , Dublin , were charged with intimidation , although the charge against Bond was later dropped .

The DPP recommended that no charge be brought against Thomas Gear.

[END of ‘REPUBLICAN EVICTIONS’]
(NEXT : ‘The Left Behind’ - from 1987)

A FEW UP-COMING REPUBLICAN EVENTS…

POLITICAL STATUS PICKET -
Saturday , September 8 , 12.45pm , GPO , Dublin .

ANNUAL EVE OF ALL-IRELAND RALLY -
Saturday , September 15 : Garden Of Remembrance , Parnell Square , 1.45pm for parade to the GPO .

ANNUAL BOBBY SANDS LECTURE -
Monday , September 24 , 7pm-9.30pm , Wynn’s Hotel , Dublin . Theme : ‘The Fenians And The Manchester Martyrs’ .

More details to follow…

A MANIFESTO : BRITAIN MUST WITHDRAW HER FORCES…….

This Manifesto was posted throughout Occupied Ireland during the week beginning December 6 , 1957 , and ending on December 12 .
From ‘The United Irishman’ newspaper, January 1958 .

” Scores of our comrades are serving long terms of imprisonment . Many more are jailed without charge or trial . But their places in the Resistance have been filled ten-fold and now on the hills , in the glens , through the towns and villages of historic Ulster the young Volunteer freedom fighters are intensifying the struggle .

We have no quarrel with any section of the Irish people or with any Irish man or woman . The puppet Assembly at Stormont - representing the vested interests of Tory-Unionism (’1169…’ Comment - ….and nationalists/ex-republicans) who are tied to the British Empire by bonds of wealth , power and privilege - in appealing to sectarian passions have attempted to misrepresent us . Stormont has failed . (’1169…’ Comment : Stormont was then , and is now , set-up by Westminster to manage the illegal and immoral occupation and to put a veneer of ‘democracy’ on same to the outside world , preferably , from Westminster’s point of view that is , with the assistance of some local ‘rebel pets’) The Protestants of Occupied Ireland have not ALL been blinded by the propaganda of this Ascendancy class……. “
(MORE LATER).

A QUESTION OF LIBERATION …….

Feminists and anti-imperialists in Ireland have often regarded each other’s struggles with misunderstanding , mutual suspicion , and sometimes outright rejection . What then is the relationship between them ? Eibhlin Ni Gabhann surveys the emergence of women’s liberation groups in Belfast and Dublin over the past decade or so , and some of the questions they have faced .
From ‘IRIS’ magazine , November 1983.

There was little attempt by the ‘Irish Women’s Liberation Group’ to organise or recruit working-class women , who of course were suffering most from the Free State’s repressive laws and attitudes . It is especially significant that no demands on child care were ever formulated by the ‘Irish Women’s Liberation Group , but , however , their activities did raise the public consciousness of women’s rights in the South , and it was through their agitation that , for instance , deserted wives and unmarried mothers now have the right to social welfare allowances .

A breakaway group of socialist and radical feminist women , the ‘Irish Women United’ group, emerged in 1976 - but the same inability to get to grips with the situation in the North remained . To those who raised the question of the war in the North of Ireland the stock objection put forward was that it did not ‘prioritise’ women and as such was not an issue for feminists ! The fact remains that many of those objectors had perceived no difficulty in supporting women struggling in anti-imperialist wars in other countries . Mairin de Burca, for instance , one of the most vociferous women who spoke against any support for the republican women prisoners in Armagh Jail, had been arrested at a demonstration held outside the American Embassy in Dublin against the war in Vietnam and subsequently served a sentence in Mountjoy Jail where she demanded and got privileges as a political prisoner…….!
(MORE LATER).

REPUBLICAN EVICTIONS…….

Known members of the INLA were recruited to carry out a forced eviction of tenants in a Dublin house.
By Liz Walsh.
From ‘MAGILL’magazine, June 1998 .

According to Thomas Gear , Bart O’ Connor said ‘they’ll never bother you again’ , and said there would be no cost involved but if he wanted to pay a nominal expense he could do so at a later stage . Thomas Gear denied being a member of the INLA . When Bart O’ Connor was arrested he admitted contacting Gary Adams ‘as a favour’ to Gear - ” I know he (Adams) is involved ,” he told detectives , ” I don’t want to mention he is in the INLA , but you know yourself , it’s no secret.”

During questioning , Damien Bond said he had known Gary Adams for about 18 months . When asked how much he was getting for the job , he said - ” I don’t know . I was told it was a small job for drink money .” According to Thomas Murray’s statements , the gang members were to get £100 for the job . He said he wouldn’t have used the lump hammer found on him ‘unless I had to.’ Gary Adams refused to make a statement . The 36-year-old republican is a member of the executive of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP), the alleged political wing of the INLA . According to ’security force’ intelligence reports , Gary Adams is also the INLA’s most senior member in the South of Ireland .

He was one of just 11 IRSP members to vote in favour of an INLA cease-fire at the IRSP Ard Fheis in Dublin last year (1997) . That vote was overwhelmingly defeated . Ironically , one of the issues he addressed at that Ard Fheis was forced evictions , caused by ‘unionist-loyalist pogroms’ . He condemned the evictions as ‘cowardly attacks on defenceless men , women and children…….’
(MORE LATER).

APPEAL FOR FUNDS…….

Republican Sinn Fein are embarking on a development and modernisation programme for their organisation which will include advances in recruitment , publicity , upgrading of technology and improved Office accomodation .

This will cost a considerable amount of money , which RSF haven’t got , necessitating this financial appeal . All subscriptions , large or small , can be sent to the treasurer of the Republican Sinn Fein Development Fund at Head Office , 223 Parnell Street , Dublin 1 , or made payable to -

Republican Sinn Fein Development Fund ,
Allied Irish Bank ,
Capel Street ,
Dublin 1.
Account Number 15411-097.

All donations will be appreciated and acknowledged.
Go raibh máith agat !
Sharon.

26th ANNUAL HUNGER STRIKE COMMEMORATION AND MARCH TO TAKE PLACE IN BUNDORAN…

THE 1981 Hunger Strike Committee, Bundoran/Ballyshannon, will hold the 26th annual Hunger Strike Anniversary commemoration and March in Bundoran on Saturday, August 25 at 3p.m. Assemble at East End, Bundoran.Guests of Honour will be the Hunger Strike families - Sands; Hughes; McCreesh; O’Hara; McDonnell; Hurson; Lynch; Doherty; McElwee; Devine; Gaughan; Stagg, and Ward families.
Speakers will be Cathleen Knowles McGuirk (Dublin), Vice-President, Republican Sinn Féin; Bob Loughman (USA), Emerald Society New York Police Band and Ruairí White (Newry, Co. Down); Republican Sinn Féin.

Chief Marshalls: Mick Cullen (Bundoran); Jimmy McElhinney (Omagh).
Chairman: Joe O’Neill (Bundoran).

Bands: New York Police Band; The Tunnel Pipe Band (Portadown); Glens of Antrim Pipe Band; Glens of Antrim piper; Kevin Lynch Memorial Flute Band (Dungiven).

Theme: Where there is an Occupation there can never be a true peace with justice.
This is still the case in Ireland. With the nominal end of “Operation Banner” and the associated fanfare, the fact remains that 5,000 British soldiers remain permanently garrisoned in Ireland - and can be called to support the RUC/PSNI as and when required. The remainder can be returned at short notice. At a time when countries including Iraq, Chechnya and Palestine make regular news owing to the Occupation, we must remind the world that Ireland too remains an illegally Occupied country. So long as there is Occupation, there will always be Resistance.

A MANIFESTO : BRITAIN MUST WITHDRAW HER FORCES.

This Manifesto was posted throughout Occupied Ireland during the week beginning December 6 , 1957 , and ending on December 12 .
From ‘The United Irishman’ newspaper, January 1958 .

” TO THE PEOPLE OF BRITISH OCCUPIED IRELAND :

On this , the first anniversary of the December 12 , 1956, Revolt against foreign tyranny and occupation we send you greetings on behalf of the heroic freedom fighters and the men and women of the Resistance . Your sacrifices during the past 12 months have proved to the world that the historic Irish Nation still lives ; that it has not accepted and will never accept British Imperial domination over the affairs of our country .

Be assured that the people of the 26 Counties and Irish exiles everywhere are slowly becoming aware of your sufferings for the cause of Irish liberty and unity . Be assured that victory will be ours in the end . Since this Revolt began seven of our comrades have made the supreme sacrifice. We shall not forget them . Their deaths have made us more determined to carry on the work for which they gave their lives . Their names will live on in the annals of our people while the flame of freedom burns among us…….”
(MORE LATER).

A QUESTION OF LIBERATION …….

Feminists and anti-imperialists in Ireland have often regarded each other’s struggles with misunderstanding , mutual suspicion , and sometimes outright rejection . What then is the relationship between them ? Eibhlin Ni Gabhann surveys the emergence of women’s liberation groups in Belfast and Dublin over the past decade or so , and some of the questions they have faced .
From ‘IRIS’ magazine , November 1983.

The ‘Irish Women’s Liberation Group’ did take up issues that were important to women in the South : their most effective protest was the ‘Contraceptive Train’ to Belfast in May 1971 , when members of the group travelled North to buy up large numbers of contraceptives , which were illegal in the Free State , and publicly ‘imported’ them into the South . Their aim - maximum media coverage - was achieved and no action was taken against them .

Differences , however , surfaced within the group when some of the women who had been active in housing action groups wanted it to state an opposition to the proposed ‘Forcible Entry Act’ then going through Leinster House : that Act gave the gardai the ‘right’ to enter any building and evict the occupiers without a court order . Other women in the group did not see this as being particularly a ‘woman’s issue’ .

However - since so many of the founding members of the ‘Irish Women’s Liberation Group’ were journalists and women involved in the media , publicity for the issues they raised was not hard to get . The invasions of ‘Men Only’ pubs and bathing places got maximum coverage , and many women were attracted by the image of flouting authotity . Mary Kenny, in particular , who emerged as the principal spokesperson for the group , delighted in shocking Irish conventionality…….
(MORE LATER).

REPUBLICAN EVICTIONS…….

Known members of the INLA were recruited to carry out a forced eviction of tenants in a Dublin house.
By Liz Walsh.
From ‘MAGILL’magazine, June 1998 .

At 8pm , Bart O’ Connor let Gary Adams , Damien Bond and Thomas Murray off at a roundabout near Oaktree Drive , Castleknock , Dublin . After threatening the lodgers inside Number 8 , the three men tried to leave the house but were immediately surrounded by armed gardai . Special Branch detectives found Saoirse Mullen inside the door with a telephone in her hand . She was crying and shaking uncontrollably .

The following day , Thomas Gear was arrested at his jeweller’s shop at the Parnell Mall in the Ilac Shopping Centre in Dublin on suspicion of being a member of the INLA. When questioned about the incident at his home the previous night , he said he first met Saoirse Mullen in April 1996 when she replied to his advertisement for lodgers . She and Thomas Gear had a cordial landlord-tenant relationship until July 23 ,1996 , the night he entered her room . He admitted trying to kiss her , but said he stopped when she made it clear that she wasn’t interested . He admitted going to see Bart O’ Connor to see about having his lodgers removed…….
(MORE LATER).

1981-2007.

Bobby Sands, Belfast , 66 days, 5 May 1981.
Frank Hughes , Bellaghy (Derry) , 59 days, 12 May 1981.
Raymond McCreesh , South Armagh , 61 days, 21 May 1981.
Patsy O Hara , Derry , 61 days, 21 May 1981.
Joe McDonnell , Belfast , 61 days, 8 July 1981.
Martin Hurson , Tyrone , 46 days, 13 July 1981.
Kevin Lynch, Dungiven (Derry) ,71 days, 1 August 1981.
Kieran Doherty , Belfast , 73 days, 2 August 1981.
Tom McIlwee , Bellaghy (Derry) , 62 days, 8 August 1981.
Micky Devine , Derry , 60 days, 20 August 1981.

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT…

STREET TALK …….
The name Tony Gregory was virtually unheard of outside Dublin before 1982 when he was elected to Leinster House as an independent in Dublin Central , a post he still holds . He made the headlines with the famous ‘Gregory Deal’ in the same year when , in return for his support , the Fianna Fail government pumped £76 million into the redevelopment of inner city housing .
By Sean Ó Donáile .
From ‘USI NEWS’ , February 1989.

Tony Gregory on the Provisional IRA :
” I think the Provisionals are irrelevant for the reason that they have no real grasp of the socio-economic realities in Ireland today . If they had carried out a military struggle against military targets (’1169…’ Comment : Is Mr. Gregory not aware that campaigns were carried out against economic and military targets ?) they would have a great deal more support . Enniskillen pales in comparison to some of their atrocities committed over the last twenty years . But when you condemn the Provisionals you ignore the root causes of their existence which is the military occupation of the six counties , and a struggle is inevitable because of that .”

On Emigration - a ’safety valve’ ? :
From the infamous ‘coffin ships’ right up to the present day the Irish have left in droves (’1169…’ Comment - …not always voluntarily..) and a ‘Paddy’ can be found in every corner of the globe , be it ‘The National’ in Kilburn, the ‘Corrib’ in Boston or in the West Indies where they were brought in Cromwellian times to pick crops and were called ‘The White Niggers’. Tony Gregory believes that emigration has , and is , been used as a safety valve :

” The huge emigration of the 1950’s was used as such . It prevented any sort of radical political development in the country , because the people worst affected left . It has made the country more inherently conservative and now , not only are people leaving , but they are being encouraged to leave by politicians and their like .”

[END of ‘STREET TALK’]
(Next : ‘ A Manifesto - Britain Must Withdraw Her Forces’ , from 1958)

A QUESTION OF LIBERATION …….

Feminists and anti-imperialists in Ireland have often regarded each other’s struggles with misunderstanding , mutual suspicion , and sometimes outright rejection . What then is the relationship between them ? Eibhlin Ni Gabhann surveys the emergence of women’s liberation groups in Belfast and Dublin over the past decade or so , and some of the questions they have faced .
From ‘IRIS’ magazine , November 1983.

Irish women have been brought up to model themselves on a certain image of ‘the ideal woman’ : a mixture of the passive and docile , and Pearse’s Mother- stoic in suffering : ” Lord , thou art hard on mothers : we suffer in their coming and their going , and tho’ I grudge them not , I weary , weary , of the long sorrow…”

A woman’s role was in the background , raising sons for Ireland , yet the ‘Irish Mammy’ was a figure of fun . Marriage or the nunnery were for years the only real choices , and yet women who did devote their lives to the family were then caricatured . Added to this were the blatant anti-woman laws of the Free State , which denied women rights to property or indeed any identity but that of chattel .

When in 1970 an ‘Irish Women’s Liberation Group’ was formed in Dublin , as in Belfast , they were mainly middle-class , journalists and students . Four of its prominent members - Nell McCafferty, Mary Maher, Mary Kenny and June Levine - were all working as journalists on Free State daily newspapers . As in Belfast , too , the resistance struggle in the North was left unmentioned - Republicanism was dismissed as ‘male politics’ , while women involved in the Republican Movement were seen as ‘fighting a man’s war…….’

(MORE LATER).

REPUBLICAN EVICTIONS…….

Known members of the INLA were recruited to carry out a forced eviction of tenants in a Dublin house.
By Liz Walsh.
From ‘MAGILL’magazine, June 1998 .

Saoirse Mullen said she was ’so frightened by the incident’ she asked her boyfriend Michael Murphy to stay in the house until she found other accommodation : ” Each night I used to put the chest of drawers up against the door to avoid a repetition of this assault , ” she said . Thomas Gear , the landlord , then moved out of the house and into a hotel when one of the other tenants , Marguerite Beggan , threatened to report the attack on Saoirse Mullen .

A week after the incident , Saoirse Mullen was in the house at 8.15pm , when the front door opened and three men wearing baseball caps appeared . One of them was holding a sheet of paper containing the names of the occupants - this man was later identified as Gary Adams, of Muirhevnamore Estate in Dundalk , County Louth . ” Right , I’ve been given orders to clear this house , “ he said . Turning to Saoirse Mullen , he said ” Get your stuff packed , you’re leaving now.”

She said that she felt scared and threatened as the men were verbally aggressive . She asked for more time to get her things together , as she had furniture and belongings to remove . Warning her not to telephone anyone , Gary Adams replied - ” Right . 11pm we’ll be back , you better be gone by then.” Unknown to the men , however , they had been ‘tailed’ going to the house by Special Branch detectives who received a tip-off that the INLA was planning a ‘job’ in Dublin that night . The Branch watched Gary Adams , Damien Bond and Thomas Murray as they drove to a house at Whitehorn Close , Beaumont , owned by Bart O’ Connor , an associate of Damien Bond’s . There they took baseball caps , dark jackets and a lump hammer out of the boot of Gary Adam’s car . All four got into a blue van driven by Bart O’ Connor and headed for Castleknock , making several ‘u-turns’ along the way , apparently to avoid surveillance…….
(MORE LATER).