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.

The courtroom is changed to suit the Kirkpatrick case : there’s a perspex screen between the public gallery and the main body of the court . The Preliminary Enquiry had ended in May 1984 in a bloody battle with dozens injured . Harry Kirkpatrick is about to go into the witness box . Defence counsel has made an application that the accused be allowed to move , but British Judge Carswell rules that each accused can move one space only and adjourns the sitting to allow that to take place . But none of the accused moves.

An observer in the courtroom was heard to whisper - ” Do not pass go . Do not collect £200…” , and his friend whispers back - ” Go directly to jail…” . But still no-one changes places . Harry Kirkpatrick then takes the oath and , whilst on the stand doing so , never actually looks at the person asking him the questions . He’s dressed in a suit , with his collar open and the tie loose . His voice is clear and he’s clean shaven , but he ever only used to shave rarely , and always used to wear jeans and combat jackets and soft bright shoes. But not now.

Up in the public gallery , there are about sixty relatives ; dozens of blue prison officer uniforms ring around the twenty-seven defendants , and green uniformed RUC men guard the judge and the court building itself . Some of these are armed . Dozens of legal people , including Desmond Boal and Paddy MacEntee, throng in front of Judge Carswell . Kirkpatrick was ready to give his direct ‘evidence’…….
(MORE LATER).

THE HOWARD MARKS AFFAIR…….
Customs Officers in England have arrested a man who could blow the lid off an embarrassing British Intelligence operation against the Provisional IRA , when he answers drug smuggling charges in London later this year.
From ‘MAGILL’ magazine, July 1980.
By James Curtis.

In 1972 , Howard Marks was recruited to MI6 by an old Balliol College friend of his , Hamilton MacMillian, then as now a British Foreign Office Official and MI6 operative. Kirkpatrick also met James McCann, probably in Holland : McCann had escaped from Belfast’s Crumlin Road Prison in June 1971 while awaiting trial on firearms charges - he had taken part in the PIRA’s border campaign based in Dundalk and then went to the Continent in 1972 to organise arms smuggling for the PIRA . By early 1973 Marks and McCann knew each other well , and even took their girlfriends on holiday together.

Marks allegedly became involved with a sophisticated plot to smuggle cannabis into the USA from Europe , inside amplifiers of a non-existent pop group but the whole gang was rounded up in September 1973 by American narcotics agents . However , Marks escaped the round up and fled to Holland.

In Amsterdam his luck ran out : Dutch police picked him up in a separate drugs raid . British Customs officers brought him to London - voluntarily - where he was charged over the US drug-smuggling operation but was released on bail . That was in November 1974 . James McCann , meanwhile , had been busy raiding , as he later alleged, the West German arms dealer Otto Schleuter, in Hamburg . Schleuter , it has been alleged, was involved in the so-called ‘1970’s Arms Crisis’ in Ireland . Part of James McCann’s gang made off with a cargo of machine pistols but his girlfriend and an accomplice were arrested when drugs were found at a Hamburg Hotel . McCann escaped to Holland where Dutch police tailed him . But the Dutch government told their police force to leave him alone…….
(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.

But heroin addiction does not only affect the user . If a female addict is pregnant she is likely to pass on her addiction to the baby . Six such babies were born between 1975 and 1980 , between 1981 and 1982 the figure shot up to 17 and , the following year , there were 25 babies born that were addicted to heroin , as far as the drugs unit knew of .

Only 8% of those women were weaned off drugs during the pregnancy , 40% were maintained on the drug methadone by the unit , 30% dropped out of the maintenance programme and only 20% maintained contact with the drugs unit.

After their babies were born , 65% of the mothers returned to their original addictions , 21% were lost contact with and only 11% were rehabilitated to a drug-free state. In at least three cases in one year the State Health Board removed children from addict parents and placed them in foster care . And all this time the State and its agencies completely ignored the situation until it could no longer do so . But , when it ‘intervened’ , it made things worse…….
(MORE LATER).

EAMONN CEANNT COMMEMORATION , SUNDAY 26 JULY 2009 : brief report , few pics and a link to more…

The two Republican wreaths laid today , Sunday 26 July 2009 , at the Eamonn Ceannt Commemoration.

The local ‘Joe McDonnell Cumann’ of Republican Sinn Féin held a very successfull commemoration/wreath laying ceremony today (Sunday 26 July 2009) for Eamonn Ceannt , in a park named after the man , in Crumlin , Dublin. About thirty local members and supporters gathered at a near-by point and , at about 12.45 pm , marched to the memorial stone in that park . The proceedings were Chaired by Paddy Ennis , who welcomed the crowd and gave a brief outline of why it is that RSF honour men and women like Eamonn Ceannt. He then called on Des Dalton to deliver the main oration , included in which was a history of Ceannt and good details on the part the man played in the 1916 Rising.
We publish with this post a total of five photographs of todays event , and a link at the bottom of the post to six more photographs . A full report , and different pics , will be published in the August 2009 issue of the ‘Saoirse’ republican newspaper , which goes to print this coming Wednesday , 29 July 2009.

Des Dalton , Paddy Ennis and , in the background , members of Na Fianna Eireann.

Des Dalton delivering the main oration.

Paddy Ennis and Des Dalton in Ceannt Park , Sunday 26 July 2009.

Paddy Ennis , Chairperson , with the RSF Colour Party in the background.

We have posted six more photographs on our ‘Sister’ site , here (post dated Sunday 26 July 2009) .
Thanks for reading!
Sharon.

Eamonn Ceannt:1881-1916.

“I shall die, like a man, for Ireland’s sake.”
-note written by Eamonn Ceannt (Commander of the South Dublin Union) to his wife, May 7th, 1916 , the day before he was executed by the British .
“Eamonn Ceannt (Edmund Kent) is unfortunately one of the least well-known or recognised of the major players in the Easter Rising. He has been described as a tall man, an able commander and a dependable leader under pressure. He had a passion for Irish music, Irish language and Irish dancing. He was Commandant of the Irish Volunteers and his jobs in the Rising were to oversee the South Dublin Union and to set up stations throughout the city.
He was a founding member of the Irish Volunteers and on the Supreme Council of the IRB and was one of 12 senior figures of the rising executed in Kilmainham Gaol.
Eamonn Ceannt was an intellectual, a native of Galway, where he was born in 1881. At heart a fiery gospeller for independence, his actual manner was reserved, almost aloof. He had great enthusiasm for the cause, but outwardly it was shown to only a few. His working hours were spent as a clerk in the City Treasurer’s office while every moment of his spare time was devoted to the great ideal of independence for Ireland…….”
(From here.)

A Republican Commemoration to honour Eamonn Ceannt will be held in the Crumlin area of Dublin, in a 42-acre park named after the man, on Sunday 26 July 2009,at One pm . Those attending are asked to assemble at the near-by ‘Superquinn’ shop on the Sundrive Road at 12.30pm , from where the parade will march the short distance to the Ceannt Memorial Stone in the Park .
All Welcome!
Thanks,
Sharon.

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.

By the time Harry Kirkpatrick was released in October 1980 , seven men had gone on hunger strike, two IRSP activists , Ronnie Bunting and Noel Little, had just been assassinated and ten men would die on hunger strike the following year.

Kirkpatrick got out and went to live with his sister Michelle in Twinbrook , Belfast , and went to see the Brigade Quartermaster of the INLA for Belfast , Jackie Goodman. He wanted to become involved in active service - but nothing came from that meeting . Kirkpatrick then went to see Gerard Steenson, INLA Brigade Operations Officer .

Kirkpatrick became Steenson’s assistant ; according to Harry , apart from his ‘promotion’ , that particular meeting discussed an operation - the first he would take part in . Kirkpatrick was now back on the streets , people called him ‘Harry O’ , and he was to remain at liberty for the next sixteen months . According to himself , he would be involved in multiple ‘murders’ , conspiracies to ‘murder’ , robberies , explosions , hijackings , intimidation , scouting and intelligence gathering . At the end of those sixteen months , he would name everyone allegedly involved with him…….
(MORE LATER).

THE HOWARD MARKS AFFAIR…….
Customs Officers in England have arrested a man who could blow the lid off an embarrassing British Intelligence operation against the Provisional IRA , when he answers drug smuggling charges in London later this year.
From ‘MAGILL’ magazine, July 1980.
By James Curtis.

The background to the Howard Marks affair runs briefly as follows : he was brought up in a respectable , middle-class family in South Wales . He was a rebel at school - but said to be a brilliant student - and won a scholarship to Balliol College In Oxford , England, in 1964 . In 1969 he went to Sussex University to carry out research and , whilst there , was equally well known as “a likeable rascal” , dabbling with drugs .

He had all the latest hi-fi gear and records in his flat , and was never short of money ; he explained his extravagance by claiming he had a terminal illness . By 1971 , stories were circulating on the Sussex campus about drugs and arms smuggling through Shannon airport with the connivance of Irish customs officers . ‘Howie’ Marks seemed to know all about these adventures . In 1972 , Marks returned to Oxford to open a boutique . Three things then happened in an uncertain order - he allegedly became involved in a plan to smuggle drugs from Holland to England , his ’spying career’ began , and he met a PIRA prison escapee…….
(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.

Further statistics from the Medico-Social Research Board and the Jervis Street Hospital Drug Treatment and Advisory Unit emphasise the scale of the drug problem in Dublin : in the inner city area , an estimated 10% of young people between 15 and 24 years of age were using heroin and injecting it daily . 80 teenagers were on drugs in one street alone . Some addicts now go straight on to heroin without , as used to be the case , ‘progressing’ through glue-sniffing or softer drugs such as ‘pot’ .

Not surprisingly , the number of people seeking treatment for heroin addiction has shot up dramatically . In 1979 at the Jervis Street drugs unit - the only one of its kind in the State - there were 415 patients seeking treatment . In subsequent years this has escalated - 554 in 1980 , 800 in 1981 , 1,307 in 1982 and 1,515 in 1983 . About half of those attending that drugs unit are referred there by the courts or probation service , the others are looking for treatment themselves . But by any standards they represent only the tip of the addiction iceberg .

The huge upsurge in drug addiction in recent years has put a severe strain on the scarce medical facilities available : the hepatitis laboratory in University College Dublin’s Microbiology Department, for example , has experienced a 500% increase in the incidence of hepatitis since 1980 . Hepatitis is a highly contagious viral liver disease and can be contracted through the use of unsterile and contaminated syringes used for injecting heroin directly into the vein (’mainlining’) . Now a new strain of the virus , resistant to previously administered treatments , has appeared and is spreading fast…….
(MORE LATER).

Eamonn Ceannt:1881-1916.

“I shall die, like a man, for Ireland’s sake.”
-note written by Eamonn Ceannt (Commander of the South Dublin Union) to his wife, May 7th, 1916 , the day before he was executed by the British .

A Republican Commemoration to honour Eamonn Ceannt will be held in the Crumlin area of Dublin, in a 42-acre park named after the man, on Sunday 26 July 2009,at One pm . Those attending are asked to assemble at the near-by ‘Superquinn’ shop on the Sundrive Road at 12.30pm , from where the parade will march the short distance to the Ceannt Memorial Stone in the Park .

All Welcome!
Thanks,
Sharon.

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.

Henry ‘Harry’ Kirkpatrick was a bit of a tearaway . He had been up for joy-riding , and often took off to Dundalk , Dublin and Cork without telling his father . The feud between the Officials and the PLA resulted in young Henry being fired at a couple of times and then the RUC found a sawn-off shotgun , which belonged to the PLA , hidden up his father’s chimney . Henry lied through his teeth when he made a statement about the shotgun , ending his account with the words - ” I am as white as the driven snow” !

He got bail , robbed a bank with his friend Gerard Barkley, got caught , made another statement , told more lies . He produced his father and two alibi ‘witnesses’ in court , said the statement he gave was induced and that he had been slapped around the place by the RUC . He claimed that the only part of the statement that was true was his name ; but the court was not convinced of his innocence and he was convicted of possession and robbery and got nine years for the robbery charge . It was 1975 that this happened , when he was only eighteen years old . He would spend five years in what he would later call ” a paramilitary cess pit.”

That “cess pit” was Long Kesh. Kirkpatrick was a keep fit fanatic , doing training and weight lifting etc five or six hours a week , every week . He was sworn into the revamped PLA - the INLA, which ran its prison compound in a highly structured manner , along army lines , and Kirkpatrick was quick in picking-up tips on guerrilla warfare . He read Trotsky , Stalin , Marx , Lenin and an assortment of communist literature , and went to prison meetings and lectures on politics and military violence . He rose to the rank of Compound Quartermaster…….
(MORE LATER).

THE HOWARD MARKS AFFAIR…….
Customs Officers in England have arrested a man who could blow the lid off an embarrassing British Intelligence operation against the Provisional IRA , when he answers drug smuggling charges in London later this year.
From ‘MAGILL’ magazine, July 1980.
By James Curtis.

A member of Britain’s ‘Independent Broadcasting Authority’ has since told a ‘London Weekend Television’ producer that they would have banned the LWT programme on Howard Marks anyway , had Michael Grade not already done so , on advice from MI5 , the British internal security agency. LWT knew “only a twentieth of the whole story” , the IBA member said cryptically : the Howard Marks programme would have “jeopardised current operations” .

Information about Marks’ precise role with MI6 is naturally scarce ; he told his parents that drugs were being sold to raise money to buy arms for the Provisional IRA and his job was to find the banks where the money that was made was being kept and he also claimed that MI6 blackmailed him over his drug dealings to get him to co-operate with them !

MI6 has admitted to police investigating his disappearance only that Marks worked as an agent for a while in 1973 , collecting information about the PIRA , but James McCann who associated with him in 1973 (and perhaps after) has claimed that Marks was a double agent , betraying information about British Intelligence . If this is true , then there is all the more reason for the British authorities to keep the lid on the story…….
(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.

Just how rapid the drug growth can be is illustrated by the fact that in one Dublin inner-city parish , between 1979 and 1983 , the number of young people taking drugs and looking for treatment shot up from 300 to 1,500 , but no-one knows exactly how many heroin users there are in Dublin . Estimates vary from a conservative 1,500 to an unofficial figure of 6-7,000 , although the real figure is probably somewhere in between.

A survey on drug abuse among teenage schoolchildren in the greater Dublin area , conducted by the Medico-Social Research Board in conjunction with Trinity College Dublin’s Department of Community Medicine, found that “…at least one fifth of the 5,178 children surveyed in the 16-18 year old groups had taken drugs . Four times as many children under 16 years of age had taken drugs than was the case 10 years ago and up to 35% used marijuana occasionally , 1% admitted using heroin - half of those said that they used it on a weekly basis.”

The children were also asked if they had been offered what they thought were addictive drugs : ” 11% of girls under 16 years of age said they had , and 23% of boys under 16 said the same . Over 25% of girls over 16 years of age and nearly 39% of boys in the same age group said they had been offered hard drugs……. “
(MORE LATER).

REPUBLICAN “YES” and “NO” LEAFLETS ….

First , the “NO” leaflet : this ‘NO TO LISBON TWO’ leaflet (below) was put together by an RSF Cumann in Dublin Mid-West and hundreds of them have been distributed on a door-to-door basis and in pubs/clubs etc over the past two weeks by members of that Cumann. Other RSF organisations in Dublin and throughout the State will be distributing similar leaflets between now and October next -

The “YES” leaflets : these are new full-colour recruitment leaflets which , again , have recently been distributed by RSF members and supporters in the Dublin area : distribution will be nationwide over the coming weeks -

Both leaflets are being very well received by the public , and a positive feedback has been reported from the areas in Dublin where the leaflets have been distributed - ‘YES’ to RSF membership , ‘NO’ to Lisbon Two !
Sharon.

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.

Henry ‘Harry’ Kirkpatrick was the eldest in his family : he had three younger sisters and the family lived in the Lower Falls area of Belfast , then in Ardoyne . In 1969 , when he was twelve , violence overtook the Kirkpatrick family and they were burned out of their house by loyalists . They moved from one address to the next , finally ending up in Springhill . By this time , his sister and grandmother had died in a car crash , and his mother and father had separated .

Henry went to primary and secondary school and in 1970 he ended up in St. Thomas’s school in Whiterock . However , he was moved out and sent to do social work with nuns . He joined Na Fianna Eireann, as did his friend Gerard Barkley and , over the next few years , they attended classes on explosives and weapons , sold Republican newspapers, collected money for Republican POW’s and acted as lookouts for operations being carried out .

Around 1973 , Henry Kirkpatrick worked at Belfast Laundry and met his future wife there . He would marry her eight years later . He also worked as a barman for a while but the hours didn’t suit and he quit the job . In 1974 , he left the Official IRA following the split: Seamus Costello left and took many members with him…….
(MORE LATER).

THE HOWARD MARKS AFFAIR…….
Customs Officers in England have arrested a man who could blow the lid off an embarrassing British Intelligence operation against the Provisional IRA , when he answers drug smuggling charges in London later this year.
From ‘MAGILL’ magazine, July 1980.
By James Curtis.

The main question re Howard Marks re-occurs again and again - will he tell all or some of what he knows about MI6 - either at an Old Bailey hearing into the original charges or at the separate proceedings following the recent arrests ?

If the charges were proved , he faces a long spell in jail so the temptation to speak out or do a deal might become strong , and there is always the possibility that the other defendants in the second case might cross-exam him about his MI6 role .

Since his disappearance in 1974 , Marks has been freely moving around in Britain with little or no attempt made by British police to apprehend him . He visited many of his old haunts and contacts , at Sussex University and in London . He bumped into an old university colleague , a ‘Guardian’ newspaper reporter , at a party and , as a result , ‘London Weekend Television’ prepared a film profile of his story . This film was due to be shown last July (ie July 1979) but the Programme Controller at LWT , Michael Grade (son of Lew) , stopped it after taking legal advice about the British Official Secrets Act…….
(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.

In an article in a Republican newspaper in June 1982 , Siobhan O’ Malley described how a young Dublin housewife ran an unusual credit system , marking down details of the purchases she was owed for in a child’s exercise book , the same as you might for teabags or sugar .

But her ‘customers’ were young drug addicts being supplied with £10 bags of heroin on credit until the weekend . If any ‘customer’ defaulted on his or her weekend payments , the ‘heavies’ were called in . Very few failed to pay up a second time .

An addict with an average heroin dependency might use three or four £10 bags a day , depending on the purity of the supplied drug ; but the ‘tolerance’ induced by repeated use of the drug means that many long-term addicts need to find up to £100 a day to achieve the same ‘kick’ . Not surprisingly , one of the characteristics of the heroin problem is the lengths to which pusher-addicts will go to introduce or reintroduce someone to the drug , since their own craving for a ‘fix’ of increasing amounts of heroin is dependent on their ability to involve more and more people with the drug . It is this ‘pyramid pushing’ which has been responsible for the massive growth of the heroin epidemic in such a short space of time…….
(MORE LATER).

VOTE ‘NO’ to Lisbon Two!

In December 2008 - 6 months after the majority of those that voted in this State on the ‘Lisbon 1′ treaty had voted ‘NO’ , a conference was held in Brussels at which EU business representatives and the political leadership of the EU queried reps from Leinster House as to ‘how we had lost’ ; Micheál Martin and Dick Roche (who, in monetary and property terms, are both millionaires) explained , cap-in-hand , that they would need permission from their bosses in Brussels that it would be ok for them to return to Dublin and (falsely) claim that they fought tooth-and-nail to obtain ‘a better Lisbon treaty’ to put before the electorate in this State . Permission was granted.

When they arrived back in Dublin , Micheál Martin declared - ” We will not be asking people to vote on the same proposition “ and his political accomplice, Dick Roche, stated - ” Our partners understand , I believe, that we cannot and will not put the same package to our people.” However , those comments backfired on the Dastardly Duo : the political leadership in other EU member States became uneasy that the voters in this State were apparently being offered a better deal than they themselves got - the political bosses in Poland , Holland , Austria , Sweden and Britain “raised issues about the (’new’) protocol text relating to a belief that the Irish guarantees [SIC] amount , in effect , to a new treaty” (’Irish Mail On Sunday’ newspaper , 14 June 2009) .

The unhappy political leadership in those countries demanded , and got, a meeting with the EU Presidents Office in Brussels and loudly demanded to know what exactly was going on in relation to the so-called ‘new Irish Lisbon treaty’ and were assured by the fattest of all fat-cats in the EU that the two Dublin reps , Martin and Roche , had simply practically begged to be allowed to re-sell the old Lisbon treaty as ‘a new and improved’ version and that permission had been granted for them to do so. The political (mini) fat-cats from Poland , Holland , Austria , Sweden and Britain replied that such private assurances from Brussels re the Irish situation were worthless unless made public ; the EU Presidents Office then issued the following , short, statement , in relation to ‘the Irish situation’ - “The text of the guarantees (given to the Irish) explicity states that the Lisbon treaty is not changed thereby “ (’Sunday Tribune’ newspaper , 28 June 2009) , which was a follow-up statement to that issued on 19 June 2009 by Jan Fischer , the President of the Czech Statistical Office , who stated - “The protocol (’changes’) will clarify but not change either the context or the application of the treaty of Lisbon . It is an explanatory clarifying text which changes not a dot nor comma of the Lisbon treaty.”

It is obvious that an underhanded attempt is being made by underhanded politicians to ’sell’ us the equivalent of ’snake oil medicine’ : those demanding that we should vote ‘YES’ to Lisbon 2 are people of low calibre , with a matching set of political morals . Let’s show them - by voting ‘NO’ to Lisbon Two in October 2009 - that we are better than they are!

The claim from those demanding that we now vote ‘YES’ to the Lisbon Two Treaty that they “have now secured a Commissioner in Brussels to look after our interests” is a false claim : under EU law , it is actually illegal for a Commissioner from any member State to seek to “look after” the interests of that particular State !
Likewise , the claim from the ‘YES’ side that they have obtained ” protocols and guarantees” from Brussels (ie a “new/changed” Lisbon Treaty) is also false : before any such “new/changed” Lisbon Treaty can legally come into operation ,it would have to be approved by all 27 member States , not just by this State.

What the ‘YES’ side is attempting to sell is a bright , well-paid and very-well-pensioned political career for themselves in Brussels - we are witnessing from them, in effect , predictions from the same people that never saw things coming on what’s going to happen next ! VOTE ‘NO!’ in October 2009 on ‘Lisbon Two’ - we don’t owe them a cushy career . We don’t owe them anything!

“Ní hea, No, Nein, Non, Nyet, Nope, Not, No Means No …”
What part of that don’t they understand ?

On Thursday , 12th June 2008 , a vote was held in this State on the Lisbon Constitution/Treaty : for months beforehand we were repeatedly told by the political ‘establishment’ in Leinster House that that what we were being asked to vote on was “non-negotiable” , that we had to vote on it as it then stood , that it was legally impossible to have anything removed from it or inserted into it. Now that same political ‘establishment’ are asking us to believe that not only was it possible to change that Treaty , but that they had managed to do so to the “benefit” of this State’s position within the EU !

However - Czech prime minister Jan Fischer, who chaired a meeting on the supposed ‘new Irish Lisbon Treaty’ (as his country presently holds the EU presidency) was questioned (on Friday 19th June 2009) on these ‘Irish changes’ and dismissed them as nothing of the sort : “The protocol (”changes”) will clarify but not change either the content or the application of the treaty of Lisbon. It is an explanatory clarifying text which changes not a dot nor comma of the Lisbon Treaty.”
What has actually been ‘achieved’ by those idiots in Leinster House is a promise (”guarantee”) from the bigger political fatcats in Brussels that , at some time in the future, they might look at making a few amendments to the way the Lisbon Two Treaty affects this State! And Brian Cowan and his equally useless cabal of semi-political misfits were never going to get “changes to the Lisbon Treaty” due to the fact that Poland , Holland , Austria , Sweden and Britain used their combined ‘weight’ to ‘lean’ on Brussels , stating that if the Irish were to be offered a new Treaty then they , too , would expect the same offer to be made to them - so a compromise was agreed : Brussels would allow Cowan to claim that a “new Treaty” for the Irish was on offer but , at the same time , made it clear to Cowan that what they were offering was a promise that , if passed this time, they would perhaps - at some future date - take a look at the manner in which the Treaty affected this State. And please have no doubt that that is all that is on offer here - a promise from corrupt millionaire politicians in Brussels that they will , someday , give a curious glance over their well-padded shoulder at the way their tax laws are effecting finances in this State.

Don’t be fooled by them - VOTE NO TO LISBON 2 in October 2009 .

“The meeting and dinner heard how Ireland’s “intellectual mediocrity and lack of political courage” led to the rejection of the Lisbon treaty and included discussions of how to “cuddle and pamper” the Irish voter ahead of a new vote while at the same time “making pressures on them”.
(From here.)

This video gives an apt description of the type of morally and politically corrupt politician and system that are now demanding we vote ‘the right way’ on the already failed Lisbon Treaty. And this video shows what those bent career politicians stand to loose if we don’t vote the way they want us to . As Republican Sinn Féin have stated - “The decision to re-run the referendum on the rejected Lisbon Treaty in the 26-Counties next October represents an attempt to subvert the sovereign will of the people.All kinds of pressure is being applied to those allowed to vote to ensure that they arrive at the result Brian Cowen and the EU ‘élite’ demand…..”
(From here.)
Once again, this blog will be campaigning for a ‘NO’ vote on the Lisbon Treaty , for the same reasons : the “guarantees” which Brian Cowen has received have been given to him by similar unprincipled characters and , even if they were to be written in blood , would still be worthless . VOTE ‘NO!’ and help keep the lifts and corridors of the EU building free of more political rats , who scurry around trying to find the ‘Sign In’ book before they head back home to the political brothels they come from .
Sharon.

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.

There had been a lot of ‘visitors’ calling to Harry Kirkpatrick during his two years in safe-keeping in Crumlin Road Prison . William ‘Budgie’ Allen’s (aka William Reeves) wife had called to see him , and his best friend Gerard Barkley had also called , as had his own wife , sisters and mother . The RUC had been in with him 117 times in eighteen months , although most of those had been social visits - two RUC men , Meeke and Mitchell , had built up a relationship with him , despite the fact that Kirkpatrick claimed he had spent sixteen months trying to blow away as many of them as possible ! Kirkpatrick called the two RUC men by their first names , Kenny and Tommy , and they called him Harry.

Harry had made statements about dozens of people , said how they had been involved in scores of ‘crimes’ . Twenty-seven of them were now in prison and , for almost two months , they had trouped through a tunnel across Crumlin Road to the Courthouse . The ‘evidence’ against them consisted of the word of Harry Kirkpatrick , who was then resting in the special annex of the same prison. The court time was taken up with proving that incidents happened as the ‘Supergrass’ claimed they had.

Kirkpatrick had passed a note to his wife on one of the last occasions that she came to visit him - ” Things are going my way now , ” he wrote . That was on Sunday 21st April 1985 ; on the Monday , 27-year-old Harry Kirkpatrick would troupe through the tunnel and take the witness stand . On his word he would send twenty-six men to prison for a couple of thousand years between them…….
(MORE LATER).

THE HOWARD MARKS AFFAIR…….
Customs Officers in England have arrested a man who could blow the lid off an embarrassing British Intelligence operation against the Provisional IRA , when he answers drug smuggling charges in London later this year.
From ‘MAGILL’ magazine, July 1980.
By James Curtis.

Howard Marks had been on the run for six years and is no stranger to the courts in Britain . In April 1974 he was due to face earlier charges of conspiracy to smuggle cannabis to the USA and , when out on bail , he had told family , friends and lawyers that he had been recruited by MI6 to collect information about the Provisional IRA and claimed that his spymaster knew he was involved with drug smuggling .

The possibility that Howard Marks might raise his MI6 involvement in his defence no doubt worried his intelligence bosses ; at this time , prison escapee Kenneth Littlejohn was telling the world that he had been cleared by his MI6 bosses to rob banks in Ireland . British MP’s were calling for a full inquiry into the security and intelligence services , but those ’spy authorities’ were spared any embarrassment when Marks conveniently vanished from his lodgings in Oxford a few days before his trial.

There has since been speculation about whether he was genuinely abducted or whether someone told him to make himself scarce . In the event , his parents were not directed to surrender any bail money . Back behind bars now , Howard Marks is unlikely to get bail a second time…….
(MORE LATER).

A BATTLE FOR HEARTS AND MINDS…….
A look at issues raised by Liz Curtis’ recent book.
From ‘IRIS’ magazine, August 1984.
Review by Trisha Fox.

As Liz Curtis concludes in her book - ” British people must , in the end , carry the responsibility for the policy their government pursues : they pay the piper and they could, if they wished, call an end to the tune .

Whatever the shortcomings of the coverage and the secretiveness of the British authorities , it is possible for people to take the initiative and seek out the information for themselves . Ireland is , after all , only next door.”
[END of ‘A BATTLE FOR HEARTS AND MINDS’]
(Next : ‘Fighting Back - The Campaign Against Heroin In Dublin’ , from 1984)