105th Ard Fheis of Republican Sinn Féin Poblachtach , November 2009.

On November 14th and 15th this year , the Republican Sinn Féin organisation will hold its 105th Ard Fheis in a Dublin venue - and will say ” Slán go fóill anois” to its President , Ruairí Ó Brádaigh. Ruairi , whom we on this blog have had the pleasure and honour of meeting on countless occasions ,is a dedicated Irish Republican who is as politically honest as the day is long (a saying he uses himself in relation to other people!) and has never sought or fought for any political objective other than a 32-county socialist Irish Republic , free of British political and military interference. He - and fellow Irish Republicans - have been imprisoned , harassed and censored , amongst other disgraces , by their pro-Westminster and Leinster House enemies but have never faltered or compromised. Nor will they now , which is why this blog is so supportive of Irish Republicans of that calibre. We wish Ruairi and RSF best wishes , and offer our appreciation to them for the fantastic work they have done , are doing , and will continue to do. Ruairi will still be on the Ard Chomhairle of RSF , and has been nominated as Patron of the organisation. An Phoblacht Abú !

We have obtained two ‘Visitor Passes’ for the 105th Ard Fheis,where political motions , such as the following examples , will be put forward for discussion and accepted or rejected , as the case may be :
“That this Ard Fheis recognises the outstanding contribution that Ruairí Ó Brádaigh has made to Irish Republicanism and commends his selfless commitment to the goal of a United Ireland.”

“That this Ard Fheis congratulates all Republican prisoners and their families in the struggle for Irish freedom.”

In total , 112 motions will be discussed at this Ard Fheis and , whilst we hope to publish a general report from same , we will not be publishing a detailed report , as the matters concerned are , for now, internal RSF matters. We respect that stipulation , and wouldn’t have it any other way.
Thanks!
Sharon.

Two men, Fitzpatrick and Power , were convicted of the ‘murder’ of an RUC man , based on an alleged conversation that one of those men had with Harry Kirkpatrick. Gerard Steenson was convicted of conspiracy to cause an explosion along the route of a British ‘Royal’ wedding in 1981 ; Kirkpatrick recounted meetings with an American and an Englishmen about that operation, but he couldn’t remember their names. Also , Kirkpatrick was a year in custody before he mentioned the incident. But Steenson was still convicted.

Kirkpatrick claimed there was a plan to blow up a civil servants car and six people were thus convicted of conspiracy to cause an explosion. However , in his first statements to the RUC re that operation , Kirkpatrick never implicated a man named Jimmy Brown , who was one of the six . And Kirkpatrick got the make of the watch used in the device wrong and did not know exactly where the alleged target lived.

Kirkpatrick claimed that six .303 rifles were brought to Belfast from Dublin whereas another RUC informer , Rabbie McAllister, said they had come from Dundalk. Kirkpatrick then claimed that the six rifles had come from somewhere in the State - on the basis of that ‘evidence’ , three men were convicted of possession…….
(MORE LATER).

CIA SLAMS IRISH JUDGE…….
A Dublin District Justice was accused by American embassy intelligence personnel of encouraging left wing agitators and tolerating hostile acts against the United States…….
From ‘MAGILL’ magazine, ‘Christmas Special’ 1980.

Richard Milhaus Nixon smiled and waved at the Dublin crowd . Then he ducked - an egg had been thrown at him , as his motorcade was winding its way along Merchant’s Quay . There was little excitement generated by Nixon’s visit and only those determined to express some outrage at the continuing obscenity in Vietnam got anything out of the visit. Mairin de Burca took the opportunity to throw an egg at ‘the leader of the Free World’ , which was not as ‘effective’ as the napalm he was dropping on the Vietnamese , but it made the point. As a result , de Burca appeared in the Dublin District Court on November 17th 1970 to answer three charges arising from the incident.

Two of those charges were dismissed immediately and she was fined two pounds for throwing the egg. Cheap at the price. However - that ‘Egg’ incident is one of the convictions in her file and it is gone into in great detail under the heading ‘ Dublin Egg-Throwers Gently Treated’ , and a US Department of State confidential telegram in the file reports back to Washington on the case , noting that a CIA agent took notes in court and was identified in the file as ‘Emboff’ - code for ‘Embassy Officer’ or ‘Embassy Official’ . The telegram itself stated -

” Judge O hUadhaigh dismissed first two charges and fined Miss de Burca two pounds sterling (4.80 dollars) for throwing a missile.” The ‘Emboff’ , in filing the report, was careful to use great precision of words : as in “…throwing a missile..” [ie an egg!] . It was also recorded , by that person - ” Emboff present at trial noted sympathy displayed towards Miss de Burca by Judge , who made sarcastic remarks about the word “motorcade” and peroration about freedom of expression and the right of protest.” Strange , then , that this same State Judge is known to be very pro-establishment in his outlook…….
(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.

We sent one of our reporters , Tony Barry , to talk to Noel Sillery, Chairperson of Dolphin House Community Development Association, about the heroin problem in that area.

Tony Barry : ” How bad was the problem before the community organised itself to fight heroin?”

Noel Sillery : ” Well you’re talking about around the summer of 1983, and at that stage you had drug addicts lying all over the place - they were ’shooting up’ with heroin in the fields at the back of the flats complex , in the stairways in the different blocks of flats, and over in the football field.

It was all quite open. They were getting sick all over the place , and hassling everybody , the old people especially . Young kids were seeing what they were doing and some were taking example from it. You’d have about 300 people coming in here on a daily basis , looking for ‘junk’ . Taxis were coming in at all hours of the day and night bringing people to get their fixes. It got so bad that people were coming in , getting their fixes and ’shooting up’ immediately , where they stood. There were used syringes all over the place…….”
(MORE LATER).

It began - properly structured and organised - in 1976 ,as a ‘fundraiser with a difference’ combined with the need to gain extra publicity for a situation which was then - as now - making world headlines . Those that sat down together in early September 1976 to tighten-up the then ‘hit-and-miss’ affair were a dedicated team who fully understood that to fail in their business would not only bring derision on them and the issue they sought to highlight , but would give their enemy a publicity coup which they would exploit to the fullest extent . With that in mind , the team persevered - favours were called-in , guarantees were secured , provisions obtained and word dispatched to like-minded individuals in the near-locale . At the appointed time on the agreed day - 12 Noon , Christmas Day 1976 - a soon-to-be 33-years-young event was ‘born’…….
The CABHAIR Christmas Day Swim is , thankfully , still going strong and will be , as mentioned , 33-years-young on December 25th next!

Annual CABHAIR Christmas Morning Swim : 12 Noon , Grand Canal , 3rd Lough , Inchicore , Dublin 8.

Photographs of last years event can be viewed here and , if you can’t make it to the actual swim itself , you might consider posting a donation to the following address (please note that all monies raised goes to the republican prisoners themselves and to their families - no expenses or admin fees etc are removed) :
CABHAIR
Irish Republican Prisoners Dependants Fund
223 Parnell Street,
Dublin 1,
Ireland.
Thank You,
Go Raibh Maith Agat.
Sharon.

Harry Kirkpatrick claimed that a two-door car had been hijacked for a killing in 1981 and that it had been dumped in the Markets area of Belfast afterwards. It was a two-door car , but had been left back to its owner after the operation, and a witness description of the gunman involved corresponded more to Gerard Barkley , a friend of Kirkpatricks and his brother-in-law, than it did to the man named by Kirkpatrick, and Seanie McConkey , another RUC informer, claimed that different people altogether had taken part in that job. However , Gerard Steenson and two other men, Fitzpatrick and Power, were convicted of ‘murder’ .

Kirkpatrick had claimed that himself , Carroll , Grew and Steenson planned to kill a man in Armagh in 1981 ; he said they waited for twenty-five minutes before calling the operation off even though he had previously stated that they had allowed for a four hour wait. Kirkpatrick claimed that Grew had held a full household of people hostage as part of that operation , even though he admitted that Grew was not armed. Grew and Steenson were reluctantly acquitted.

Kirkpatrick claimed that Henry McNamee was involved in an attempted killing of a UDR soldier in 1981, but McNamee was in jail at the time and couldn’t have been involved - but Kirkpatrick was dogmatic about McNamee , to the extent that British Judge Carswell stepped-in to declare that Kirkpatrick was obviously “mistaken” rather than it being a case of him “deliberately falsifying” his ‘evidence’ . A man named Molloy was supposed to have given an account of the operation to Kirkpatrick , but that account was inaccurate . British Judge Carswell couldn’t resolve whether that was the fault of Kirkpatrick , Molloy or another man , named Fox - but nonetheless he convicted Steenson and a man named Power of ‘attempted murder’ on the ’strength’ of that ‘evidence’ !
(MORE LATER).

CIA SLAMS IRISH JUDGE…….
A Dublin District Justice was accused by American embassy intelligence personnel of encouraging left wing agitators and tolerating hostile acts against the United States…….
From ‘MAGILL’ magazine, ‘Christmas Special’ 1980.

One section of the CIA file on Mairin de Burca (it should be noted that the FBI deals only with occurrances within the USA , whereas the CIA deals with ‘enemies’ abroad) is composed of a number of newspaper clippings , one of which - from ‘The Baltimore Sun’ of April 1972 - carries an interview with Thomas MacGiolla, President of Official Sinn Fein . MacGiolla remarks that the party’s recent activities included sending its Secretary , Mairin de Burca , “…to the Middle East to attend some big conferences organised by Al Fatah last year…” Five months later , this turns up in de Burca’s file as - “…has several times visited Arab guerrillas in the Middle East , presumably for training in revolutionary tactics..”

From such little acorns grow the oaks of visa refusals , phone tapping , special courts and the like. It is important to remember that when the cops here stand up in court and swear that “to my knowledge” so-and-so has done this or that , their knowledge is like as not gathered on the same basis as the above !

5th October 1970 , Dublin : Richard Milhaus Nixon waved and smiled , waved and smiled , smiled and waved and smiled . Then he ducked as an object came hurtling towards his head…….
(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.

The frustration existing on this score can be well illustrated , however, by the State Customs and Excise Union’s submission to the State Oireachtas Select Committee on Crime , Lawlessness and Vandalism in April 1984 : they pleaded for the provision of such basic drug detection facilities as sniffer dogs, baggage x-ray equipment and vehicle examination bays . Virtually every customs service in the world possesses such facilities , yet with a major drugs importation problem this State does not !

In addition , the CPAD groups have called for the provision of drop-in centres in each drugs-affected community to give kids who have kicked the drugs habit the encouragement to stay clean : at present there are only two such centres in Dublin.

These demands were put by the CPAD groups to Fianna Fail opposition spokesperson on health , Michael Woods, in September 1984 and he at least listened to them - but then he would , wouldn’t he , as he’s not in power and can’t actually do anything! The person who could do something is the State health minister , Barry Desmond. And he wouldn’t even listen to them…….
(MORE LATER).

RSF in Clondalkin, Dublin , protesting outside the office of Fianna Fail’s John Curran.

About 50 workers , all connected in one way or another to CDP / JI / CE employment programmes , formed-up outside the County Council Offices in Clondalkin Village , Dublin, between 3.30pm and 4pm today ,and marched through the Village to the constituency office of John Curran (seen here in the middle seat, holding on to the State ‘bus’ for dear life) , State Minister with ’special responsibility for the National (sic) Drugs Strategy and Community Affairs’ - a position he has held since May 2008 ; so he has had plenty of time to plan and implement the death of the Community Sector throughout the State , and is now doing so , with zeal. Three of the protestors were allowed in to speak with Curran and emerged 30 minutes later more angry than when they went in. He spoke to them about budget cutbacks and how he hoped to have a look at their employment situation the week after next. Or thereabouts.
Republican Sinn Féin members and supporters were on that protest march today , and vowed to protest with them again on November 6th next , when a State-wide protest over this injustice will be held in Dublin city centre.
We publish with this brief report a few pictures which we recorded today, in Clondalkin :

Clondalkin CDP.

Ballymun in Clondalkin !

CDP coffin , Kilbarrack in mourning….

CDP RIP.

The policies of Curran and Fianna Fail will kill our youth.

Curran walks on the CDP grave.

“Get your hands out of our pockets…”

Kilbarrack shouts , Curran ignores…

…so Kilbarrack shouts louder!

And RSF will be shouting , again , on Friday November 6th next , when they and their supporters march through Dublin city centre with CDP / JI / CE workers , in an attempt to save their jobs. Well done to all who took part in the Community Sector protest in Clondalkin today : see you all on November 6th next.
Thanks!
Sharon.

Padjo ‘warming up’ the crowd…

Stage spotlight on the new RSF Cumann banner….

Stage back-drop: the new Maire Drumm/Kevin Barry RSF Cumann banner….

Beer Mats on stage….

Padjo and Padráig playing ‘The Lonesome Boatman’…..

4 - the number of members in the group , ‘The Beer Mats’ ; Colm, Brian, Tony and Francis . Thanks , lads - ye were fantastic !

The thirteen raffle prizes , all won on the night…..

Raffle prizes - “Ya have a winner , ya pick yer prize….!”

13 - the number of prizes on offer - and won - in the raffle on the night , including two Republican bodhráns , four Republican mirrors, three woodburn Republican prints , a framed 1916 Proclamation and a framed Irish National Anthem. A lot of prizes , sure enough , but not near enough for everyone in the audience! Also , as stated on the night, most of the prizes were made by Republican POW’s in Maghaberry and Portlaoise Prisons.

79 - the name of the pub where the event was held. The staff and management extended every courtesy to us , and were a great help to the RSF organising committee on the night , and in the days before the event was held. They played a major part in ensuring that the night went without a hitch!

A section of the crowd…..

…more of the crowd….

…and our final crowd scene.

200 - the number of tickets sold for the event and , it seems, the actual amount of people that attended! It was standing room only , so much so that extra chairs and high stools had to be carried up , on more than one occasion, to the function room from the bar and lounge areas downstairs. At one stage the organisers were talking about having to close the doors , and refund people in the queue their money back although , thankfully , it never actually got to that point, but it came very close to it!

The RSF organisers thanked the pub staff and owners , the audience and the group , for the great night that all three combined to make happen. An RSF representative also mentioned that the Beer Mats will , as usual, be making an appearance at the annual ‘Hope And Remembrance’ Mass , to be held this year on Tuesday 20th October in Fettercairn Community Centre in Tallaght at which, amongst other things, those who died from the misuse of drugs will be remembered. Also mentioned was the proposed loss of over 6,500 jobs in the Community Sector and this protest march against same but the biggest cheer - a standing ovation - was received when the speaker talked about “…the biggest scourge and disease in Ireland :the continuing British military and political presence in six of our counties which will never be accepted by Republican Sinn Féin…”
Finally - special thanks to Phyllis and Angela Nolan , who flew in specially (!) from Australia for the gig , to Bernadette and her fella , to Matt , Mags , Liam , Robbie , Andy , Barney , Frankie , Des from Limerick , Dan from Crumlin - and apologises to those who I don’t mention. The damn cider was very tasty and distracted me…
Thanks!
Sharon.

The Beer Mats in action : catch them in Dublin on Saturday 17th October 2009….

In their more-than 15 years together ,they have performed with groups like The Dubliners,The Fureys, The Wolfe Tones, The Dublin City Ramblers and Tommy Sands , in countries such as Ireland , Britain , Switzerland , Spain and America.

…..in a Ballyfermot pub!

The Beer Mats gig will be taking place tonight (Saturday 17th October 2009) in the 79′r pub in Ballyfermot , Dublin ; doors open at 9pm , admission is €5 per person and the usual raffle will be held , with raffle tickets selling for five for two Euro and/or fifteen for a fiver. The organisers have reported that all distributed entry tickets have been returned , sold, and that they have held back 30 such tickets for sale at the door on the night so , as we say here in Dublin - ” First up, best dressed…” / “Longest arm, best fed…” In other words - if you’re going to the gig , but haven’t got a pre-paid entry ticket , be there between 9pm and 9.30pm and you should still get in!
Thanks!
Sharon.

Harry Kirkpatrick gave ‘evidence’ about a post office robbery in 1980 in which he claimed to be involved ; he said he wore a scarf and his companion wore a mask , but witnesses contested this. So Kirkpatrick changed his ‘evidence’ saying that he was wearing nothing on his face and that the second man was wearing the scarf !

One woman claimed that one of the robbers had put his arm around her neck and that the burglar alarm had gone off , yet Kirkpatrick never mentioned these incidents - so British Judge Carswell ruled that the woman was mistaken. Gerard Steenson and two other men , Conway and McGrann , were nevertheless convicted.

Kirkpatrick said that the Carroll brothers and Oliver Grew were involved in the killing of a British Army ‘Territorial’ soldier in Armagh in 1980 , but then Kirkpatrick forgot all about the involvement in this incident of Oliver Grew in subsequent statements he gave to the RUC and, when this was brought to his attention, he simply said that he forgot about his involvement! The forensic evidence did not tally with the account given by Kirkpatrick of that incident , but Gerard Steenson was still convicted , while Oliver Grew was acquitted…….
(MORE LATER).

CIA SLAMS IRISH JUDGE…….
A Dublin District Justice was accused by American embassy intelligence personnel of encouraging left wing agitators and tolerating hostile acts against the United States…….
From ‘MAGILL’ magazine, ‘Christmas Special’ 1980.

The original refusal to give Mairin de Burca a visa to enter America is understandable in the light of the information in her file , on which that decision was based . It would appear, from this file, that as a danger to society as we know it , de Burca ranks about equal with the destruction of the ozone layer !

The file lists , from information supplied by the Gardai, a number of convictions - all minor and stemming from demonstrations against the Vietnam War , the housing scandal and other such occasions of ’sin’ . Given the contemporary view of that period, such convictions can be proudly regarded as ‘campaign medals’ in the fight for a less murderous world , but in that file they amounted to ‘proof’ of the “moral turpitude” of a person who was “…a well known fanatic agitator who was once described in a local press interview as “sracastic (sic) , sharp tounged (sic) , stubborn gritty and sometimes severe…” “

“Sracastic” and sharp “tounged” , and even ’sarcastic’ and sharp ‘tongued’ , Mairin de Burca may be on occasion but anyone with more than a gnat’s knowledge of Irish politics knows that she was never involved with the militarist aspects of republicanism. It is interesting , however, to see how a case is built up by the ’spooks’…….
(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.

What is very clear , however, is that Barry Desmond’s ‘concern’ with the heroin crisis, like the ‘concern’ of many other establishment politicians , has cynically manifested itself only in the wake of the establishment’s very real concern about (P) Sinn Féin’s growing popularity within Dublin’s working-class communities.

Barry Desmond has consistently directed his hostility against the Concerned Parents Against Drugs group and what he terms republican/’subversive’ involvement in the fight against heroin. Instead of genuinely trying to combat a problem that has killed young people and ruined the lives of hundreds more, and torn families and whole communities apart , Barry Desmond has instead played party politics and refused to meet delegations from the various ‘Concerned Parents’ groups which contained individual (P) Sinn Féin members.

The ‘CPAD’ movement, representing groups in 24 Dublin communities , has identified the importation of drugs as the key problem to be dealth with ; individual CPAD groups can rid their own communities of drug pushers , but as long as heroin is available the problem will only shift elsewhere. The State Customs service is aware of that fact , but the politicians in Leinster House will not listen to them , either…….
(MORE LATER).

As well as other spot prizes to be raffled off at the ballad session this weekend, the two items pictured - a Bodhrán , made this year by the Republican POW’s in Portlaoise Gaol and a framed Irish National Anthem - are bound to be two of the most sought-after prizes. And, as with the low cost of entry to the gig (€5 per person) , the price of the raffle tickets has been kept down by the organisers - five raffle tickets for €2 or fifteen for a fiver! 30 entry tickets have , as usual , been held back for sale on the night , and all entry tickets which were distributed have been returned paid in full : see you in the 79′r pub in Ballyfermot , Dublin, on Saturday 17th October 2009 . Doors open at 9pm , and all are welcome!

THE SLOP :

One down , 165 more to go. Because there are 166 political wasters , robbers and useless tax fleecing non-productive time-servers in Leinster House , not just the one who resigned today. However - par for the course for this pig ignorant waster, Lord O’Donoghue couldn’t just admit that he had been caught with his hand deep in the taxpayers pocket : amongst other claps on the back that he gave himself , he declared that he had “…no regrets….. I am not guilty of any corruption, I never took money or have used my office for my own enrichment……” Like Hell you didn’t, O’Donoghue - the only people who gave you a round of applause today were your crooked colleagues in that corrupt institution , and they done so because they recognise that there but by the grace of God , go I. Our only regret is that you were not forced to pay the stolen loot back to the taxpayers and then imprisoned alongside other common criminals.
Sharon.

A Ballad Session will be held in the 79′r pub in Ballyfermot , Dublin , on Saturday 17th October 2009 - The ‘Beer Mats’ Ballad Group have been booked , doors open at 9pm , admission is €5 per person and a raffle will be held on the night. All Welcome!
Thanks!
Sharon.