Republican Sinn Féin Cork City and County
Shinn Féin Poblachtach Chathair Chorcaí agus contae
Irish Republican Information Service (No 243) - Date: 2 Iúil / July 2010
Irish Republican Information Service (no. 243)
Teach Dáithí Ó Conaill, 223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1, Ireland
Phone: +353-1-872 9747; FAX: +353-1-872 9757; e-mail: saoirse@iol.ie
Date: 2 Iúil / July 2010
Teach Dáithí Ó Conaill, 223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1, Ireland
Phone: +353-1-872 9747; FAX: +353-1-872 9757; e-mail: saoirse@iol.ie
Date: 2 Iúil / July 2010
Internet resources maintained by SAOIRSE-Irish Freedom
In this issue:
1. Conditions in Maghaberry are violation of human rights
2. RUC/PSNI attack nationalist estate
3. The principles of Republicanism have an unnegotiable trajectory
4. Orange Order march on Garvaghy Road banned again
5. Paisley under pressure over Reavey apology
6. Curfew memories still hurt 40 years on
7. Republican Sinn Féin support for Maura Harrington
8. Basque separatist to oppose extradition
1. CONDITIONS IN MAGHABERRY ARE VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
ON Sunday, June 27 the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton and its Patron Ruairí Ó Brádaigh visited Maghaberry prison.
Despite assurances by the Northern Ireland Prison Service the Duty Governor failed to meet Des Dalton and Ruairí Ó Brádaigh. However they did meet with the OC of the Republican prisoners.
The purpose of the proposed meeting with the Duty Governor was to put forward the five demands of the Republican prisoners for political status as well as to highlight the internment of veteran Republican and political hostage Martin Corey.
Speaking at a rally held in support of the prisoners outside of Maghaberry following the visit, which was attended by people from Lurgan, Armagh city, Belfast, Tyrone, Fermanagh and Dublin, Des Dalton said:
“The conditions being endured by the Republican prisoners are a gross violation of even the most basic standards of human rights and are likely to have a detrimental effect on the health of the men. Republican Ireland stands by the POWs and the campaign for political status must be intensified to bring these conditions to an end.
“By their actions the men in Maghaberry are not allowing themselves to be passive victims of the British state but instead are giving the lie to the normalisation of British occupation. The struggle of the Republican prisoners in Maghaberry proclaims to Ireland and the world that British rule in Ireland is neither normal nor acceptable.
“The five demands of Republican prisoners must be met now.”
2. RUC/PSNI ATTACK NATIONALIST ESTATE
ON Thursday, July 1 a large force of armed RUC/PSNI in up to 15 Land Rovers arrived to raid a house in the Drumbeg estate, Craigavon, Co Armagh at around 8.30am. Around 1.30pm they were reinforced by another five Land Rovers.
In a statement the PRO of the Thomas Harte Cumann, Lurgan said:
“A member of Republican Sinn Féin came out of his home on his way to a local shop. As he did members of the RUC jumped on him and began to beat him with batons. Other Republican Sinn Féin members and local people went to the youth's assistance.
“Men, women and children were hit with batons, punched to the ground and sprayed with CS spray. One member of the RUC/PSNI drew his firearm while in the land rover. The youth was arrested and taken to Lurgan RUC barracks, charged with disorderly behaviour and remanded in custody until he provides an address in Lurgan, although he resides in Craigavon. He has bruising all over his body, his nose and mouth was bleeding, his face scraped and he had to receive medical treatment by a doctor at the barracks. Several other people were injured during the police attack.
“Local people reacted to the invasion of their estate. Lorries were hijacked and burned to set up roadblocks.
“The RUC/PSNI withdrew to the outskirts of the Drumbeg estate around 3.30pm but local people believe that they will return in force as the evening goes on. The RUC/PSNI are still there directing traffic away from Craigavon.
“Two days ago the RUC/PSNI arrested and badly beat a 15-year-old youth in the same area as he was walking his dogs. Local people refused to let him go with the police until his father arrived to accompany him to the police barracks and there were clashes between the RUC and local people. He was charged with riotous behaviour and it is obvious that the RUC/PSNI is targeting the Craigavon/Lurgan areas in an attempt to stamp Republican resistance to British rule in Ireland.”
3. THE PRINCIPLES OF REPUBLICANISM HAVE AN UNNEGOTIABLE TRAJECTORY
IN A statement Republicans based in England pledged support for the elected leadership of Republican Sinn Féin:
“We have watched with interest the changes in the leadership of Republican Sinn Fein and waited for a time when we could - by a review of their actions - ascertain both the quality of intellect and an evaluation of their commitment to the principles of Republicanism.
“In our view they have performed the tasks of leadership generally well and often exceptionally well. They have remained steadfast in articulating the Republican analysis and - they have proved receptive to new ways of thinking which could accelerate the time scale for the achievement of our collective purpose.
“Those who espouse a ‘Broad Front’ are driven by a mixture of egocentrism and possibly some misplaced sense of frustration. Perhaps this heady mixture manifests itself to some as a pathway worth following. The principles of Republicanism have an unnegotiable trajectory. They are like an arrow which will not deviate from its path.
“If these misguided individuals have thought through or conceptualised some astonishingly precise methodology with which to direct our efforts -- it was their duty to articulate these remarkable ‘insights’ through the appropriate channels and not configure themselves into a petulant distraction. We note the unambiguous viewpoint of the Republican Movement and endorse it. Let's move on.”
4. ORANGE ORDER MARCH ON GARVAGHY ROAD BANNED AGAIN
THE Six-County Parades Commission has again banned Portadown Orangemen from going down the Garvaghy Road. The Commission has also placed a number of other conditions on the parade. It has once again put responsibility on the organisers to make sure it starts and finishes on time, does not have any undue delays, and has enough stewards. The Orangemen will be marching to their annual service at Drumcree Parish Church on July 4.
5. PAISLEY UNDER PRESSURE OVER REAVEY APOLOGY
FORMER Stormont first minister Ian Paisley has come under pressure to apologise for linking innocent murder victims to the IRA.
The former Democratic Unionist leader made the allegations in the British House of Commons in 1999 amid growing speculation of British Crown force collusion in the 1976 murder of three brothers in South Armagh.
A special debate in Stormont on June 30 heard how Paisley used parliamentary privilege to quote an RUC file that he said accused the dead men's brother, Eugene Reavey, of being a leading republican responsible for a notorious sectarian attack. Paisley failed to appear at the debate in Stormont.
An investigation subsequently cleared Eugene Reavey, and his brothers John Martin aged 24, Brian, 22, and Anthony, 17, of any wrongdoing. Stormont Justice Minister David Ford on June 30 repeated in the Stormont Assembly that the family was entirely innocent.
At the time of the Reavey murders, 16 people were killed in 24 hours. The victims of the spate of sectarian shootings included three members of the nationalist O'Dowd family who were killed by gunmen on the same night as the Reavey family killings.
Joseph O'Dowd, aged 61, and his nephews Barry O'Dowd, 24, and Declan O'Dowd, 19, were killed, while Barney O'Dowd, father of the boys, was seriously injured. The deaths were blamed on a gang comprising loyalist paramilitaries acting in collusion with members of the RUC, the RUC Reserve and the UDR - known as the Glenanne Gang - responsible for at least 18 gun and bomb attacks in which 58 people were murdered.
6. Curfew memories still hurt 40 years on
ALTHOUGH it is forty years since his brother was killed by the British Army during the Falls Curfew, Kevin Burns remembers it vividly.
Billy Burns (54) was shot by the British Army during the Falls Curfew in July 1970. He was one of four people who were killed as a result of the three day curfew imposed by the British Army on the people of the Falls Road.
His younger brother Kevin remembers Billy with fondness.
At the time of his death, Billy lived in the family home at 57 Falls Road with his two brothers Tommy and Éamonn and sister Sadie.
The family were well-known locally and in previous years had owned a shop in Castle Street — Burns’ Fish, Fruit and Poultry Shop.
Kevin recalled getting the news that his brother had been shot on the first day of the curfew, Friday July 3.
“I had to be wakened because I was on night work," said Kevin. “I got down as far as the Springfield Road and they weren’t going to let me past. As far as I remember a priest came and he managed to get me down to 57 Falls Road. My two brothers and sister were there, so I arranged for them to come up and stay in my house for two days.”
Billy’s son Paul says his dad, who was working as a handyman at the time, had been helping the man next door, who ran a shop, before he was shot.
“The rioting had started earlier that afternoon further down the Falls and the soldiers had fired tear gas," said Paul.
Billy had helped his neighbour secure shutters to the shop.
“They had come back and were standing at Billy's door.”
The men were looking down the road.
"The next thing there was a bang and Billy stepped back into the living-room.
“Billy had been hit in the chest and the bullet had gone straight through into his heart and lungs,” said Paul. “It was a soldier’s bullet from a 7.62 mm SRL rifle that was recovered from his body.”
Billy was rushed to the hospital but he was already dead.
“The inquest was held later but there wasn’t too much questioning done of the soldiers, or even of the Major of the battalion on that night,” said Paul.
Kevin remembers his brother as an athletic man full of life.
“He was very outgoing,” he said. “He cycled everywhere and every Friday he would take himself down south or up north.”
Billy had travelled all over Europe and his passport shows trips to Germany, Czechoslovakia and Russia. Kevin said that his brother’s murder had a big impact on his family.
The inquest into Billy's death was held three or four months later and the verdict of the jury was of misadventure.
“On that terrible night, one of my aunts went down and tried to get through the barricaded Springfield Road,” adds Paul. “A soldier said to her that Billy had no business standing at his own front door. That was the reception she got. The anger came from all that, there was always a feeling of helplessness as well. Remember this was the time that the Stormont government was still in power.”
Because of the curfew, Billy’s body couldn’t be brought back to his own parish of St Peter's.
“Because of the curfew they couldn't get his body back to St Peter's,” said Paul. “He had to go to St. Paul’s chapel. He never actually got back home. His body was brought there on the Sunday evening and he was buried on the Monday. The other sad thing was that Billy’s brother Tommy took ill that weekend and he ended up in hospital.
“I always remember that one of the saddest things was when we came out of St Paul’s on to Cavendish Street and we were facing the Royal Victoria Hospital, that the nurses had wheeled Tommy out to one of the windows so that he could see the funeral,” he added
7. REPUBLICAN SINN FÉIN SUPPORT FOR MAURA HARRINGTON
IN A statement on June 28 the Assistant PRO of Republican Sinn Féin Kevin Devlin said:
“Republican Sinn Féin sends our support to Maura Harrington after her arrest and incarceration in Mountjoy jail.
“Maura Harrington has been steadfast in her opposition to Shell's destruction of her local community and the bleeding dry of Ireland's much-needed natural resources, aided and abetted by the Dublin Administration.
“Shell has begun the process of destroying an area of natural beauty to line the pockets of already mega-rich oil barons. The Dublin Administration had already sold off the royalties to Shell at a time when they thought they didn't want money.
“Along with "The Chief" O'Donnell and Niall Hartnett, Maura Harrington has not bowed to the bully-boy tactics of Shell and the 26-County police. We salute them and all of those who oppose the blatant capitalist theft of resources which rightfully belong to the Irish people.”
8. BASQUE SEPARATIST TO OPPOSE EXTRADITION
A LAWYER for a Basque separatist has told a Belfast court that his client will oppose proceedings for extradition to Spain, where he is wanted in connection with a car bombing campaign by the militant group, ETA.
The court heard that the 40-year-old had been living in Belfast under an assumed name for more than two years.
Belfast Recorders Court heard that Fermin Vila Michelena had been in possession of a number of high-quality fake identification documents.
Fermin Vila Michelena arrived in Belfast in 2007 and had been working as a chef in a city restaurant.
He was first arrested on June 24 in a joint-operation between Spanish police and the RUC/PSNI.
He was then detained again on June 26 under a European arrest warrant issued over his alleged involvement in murder and possession of explosives.
Belfast's Recorder Tom Burgess said on June 28 that because of the seriousness of the charges against Fermin Vila Michelena and the fact that he had access to false documentation bail was being refused.
Fermin Vila Michelena was remanded in custody and a full hearing is expected in September.
2. RUC/PSNI attack nationalist estate
3. The principles of Republicanism have an unnegotiable trajectory
4. Orange Order march on Garvaghy Road banned again
5. Paisley under pressure over Reavey apology
6. Curfew memories still hurt 40 years on
7. Republican Sinn Féin support for Maura Harrington
8. Basque separatist to oppose extradition
1. CONDITIONS IN MAGHABERRY ARE VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
ON Sunday, June 27 the President of Republican Sinn Féin Des Dalton and its Patron Ruairí Ó Brádaigh visited Maghaberry prison.
Despite assurances by the Northern Ireland Prison Service the Duty Governor failed to meet Des Dalton and Ruairí Ó Brádaigh. However they did meet with the OC of the Republican prisoners.
The purpose of the proposed meeting with the Duty Governor was to put forward the five demands of the Republican prisoners for political status as well as to highlight the internment of veteran Republican and political hostage Martin Corey.
Speaking at a rally held in support of the prisoners outside of Maghaberry following the visit, which was attended by people from Lurgan, Armagh city, Belfast, Tyrone, Fermanagh and Dublin, Des Dalton said:
“The conditions being endured by the Republican prisoners are a gross violation of even the most basic standards of human rights and are likely to have a detrimental effect on the health of the men. Republican Ireland stands by the POWs and the campaign for political status must be intensified to bring these conditions to an end.
“By their actions the men in Maghaberry are not allowing themselves to be passive victims of the British state but instead are giving the lie to the normalisation of British occupation. The struggle of the Republican prisoners in Maghaberry proclaims to Ireland and the world that British rule in Ireland is neither normal nor acceptable.
“The five demands of Republican prisoners must be met now.”
2. RUC/PSNI ATTACK NATIONALIST ESTATE
ON Thursday, July 1 a large force of armed RUC/PSNI in up to 15 Land Rovers arrived to raid a house in the Drumbeg estate, Craigavon, Co Armagh at around 8.30am. Around 1.30pm they were reinforced by another five Land Rovers.
In a statement the PRO of the Thomas Harte Cumann, Lurgan said:
“A member of Republican Sinn Féin came out of his home on his way to a local shop. As he did members of the RUC jumped on him and began to beat him with batons. Other Republican Sinn Féin members and local people went to the youth's assistance.
“Men, women and children were hit with batons, punched to the ground and sprayed with CS spray. One member of the RUC/PSNI drew his firearm while in the land rover. The youth was arrested and taken to Lurgan RUC barracks, charged with disorderly behaviour and remanded in custody until he provides an address in Lurgan, although he resides in Craigavon. He has bruising all over his body, his nose and mouth was bleeding, his face scraped and he had to receive medical treatment by a doctor at the barracks. Several other people were injured during the police attack.
“Local people reacted to the invasion of their estate. Lorries were hijacked and burned to set up roadblocks.
“The RUC/PSNI withdrew to the outskirts of the Drumbeg estate around 3.30pm but local people believe that they will return in force as the evening goes on. The RUC/PSNI are still there directing traffic away from Craigavon.
“Two days ago the RUC/PSNI arrested and badly beat a 15-year-old youth in the same area as he was walking his dogs. Local people refused to let him go with the police until his father arrived to accompany him to the police barracks and there were clashes between the RUC and local people. He was charged with riotous behaviour and it is obvious that the RUC/PSNI is targeting the Craigavon/Lurgan areas in an attempt to stamp Republican resistance to British rule in Ireland.”
3. THE PRINCIPLES OF REPUBLICANISM HAVE AN UNNEGOTIABLE TRAJECTORY
IN A statement Republicans based in England pledged support for the elected leadership of Republican Sinn Féin:
“We have watched with interest the changes in the leadership of Republican Sinn Fein and waited for a time when we could - by a review of their actions - ascertain both the quality of intellect and an evaluation of their commitment to the principles of Republicanism.
“In our view they have performed the tasks of leadership generally well and often exceptionally well. They have remained steadfast in articulating the Republican analysis and - they have proved receptive to new ways of thinking which could accelerate the time scale for the achievement of our collective purpose.
“Those who espouse a ‘Broad Front’ are driven by a mixture of egocentrism and possibly some misplaced sense of frustration. Perhaps this heady mixture manifests itself to some as a pathway worth following. The principles of Republicanism have an unnegotiable trajectory. They are like an arrow which will not deviate from its path.
“If these misguided individuals have thought through or conceptualised some astonishingly precise methodology with which to direct our efforts -- it was their duty to articulate these remarkable ‘insights’ through the appropriate channels and not configure themselves into a petulant distraction. We note the unambiguous viewpoint of the Republican Movement and endorse it. Let's move on.”
4. ORANGE ORDER MARCH ON GARVAGHY ROAD BANNED AGAIN
THE Six-County Parades Commission has again banned Portadown Orangemen from going down the Garvaghy Road. The Commission has also placed a number of other conditions on the parade. It has once again put responsibility on the organisers to make sure it starts and finishes on time, does not have any undue delays, and has enough stewards. The Orangemen will be marching to their annual service at Drumcree Parish Church on July 4.
5. PAISLEY UNDER PRESSURE OVER REAVEY APOLOGY
FORMER Stormont first minister Ian Paisley has come under pressure to apologise for linking innocent murder victims to the IRA.
The former Democratic Unionist leader made the allegations in the British House of Commons in 1999 amid growing speculation of British Crown force collusion in the 1976 murder of three brothers in South Armagh.
A special debate in Stormont on June 30 heard how Paisley used parliamentary privilege to quote an RUC file that he said accused the dead men's brother, Eugene Reavey, of being a leading republican responsible for a notorious sectarian attack. Paisley failed to appear at the debate in Stormont.
An investigation subsequently cleared Eugene Reavey, and his brothers John Martin aged 24, Brian, 22, and Anthony, 17, of any wrongdoing. Stormont Justice Minister David Ford on June 30 repeated in the Stormont Assembly that the family was entirely innocent.
At the time of the Reavey murders, 16 people were killed in 24 hours. The victims of the spate of sectarian shootings included three members of the nationalist O'Dowd family who were killed by gunmen on the same night as the Reavey family killings.
Joseph O'Dowd, aged 61, and his nephews Barry O'Dowd, 24, and Declan O'Dowd, 19, were killed, while Barney O'Dowd, father of the boys, was seriously injured. The deaths were blamed on a gang comprising loyalist paramilitaries acting in collusion with members of the RUC, the RUC Reserve and the UDR - known as the Glenanne Gang - responsible for at least 18 gun and bomb attacks in which 58 people were murdered.
6. Curfew memories still hurt 40 years on
ALTHOUGH it is forty years since his brother was killed by the British Army during the Falls Curfew, Kevin Burns remembers it vividly.
Billy Burns (54) was shot by the British Army during the Falls Curfew in July 1970. He was one of four people who were killed as a result of the three day curfew imposed by the British Army on the people of the Falls Road.
His younger brother Kevin remembers Billy with fondness.
At the time of his death, Billy lived in the family home at 57 Falls Road with his two brothers Tommy and Éamonn and sister Sadie.
The family were well-known locally and in previous years had owned a shop in Castle Street — Burns’ Fish, Fruit and Poultry Shop.
Kevin recalled getting the news that his brother had been shot on the first day of the curfew, Friday July 3.
“I had to be wakened because I was on night work," said Kevin. “I got down as far as the Springfield Road and they weren’t going to let me past. As far as I remember a priest came and he managed to get me down to 57 Falls Road. My two brothers and sister were there, so I arranged for them to come up and stay in my house for two days.”
Billy’s son Paul says his dad, who was working as a handyman at the time, had been helping the man next door, who ran a shop, before he was shot.
“The rioting had started earlier that afternoon further down the Falls and the soldiers had fired tear gas," said Paul.
Billy had helped his neighbour secure shutters to the shop.
“They had come back and were standing at Billy's door.”
The men were looking down the road.
"The next thing there was a bang and Billy stepped back into the living-room.
“Billy had been hit in the chest and the bullet had gone straight through into his heart and lungs,” said Paul. “It was a soldier’s bullet from a 7.62 mm SRL rifle that was recovered from his body.”
Billy was rushed to the hospital but he was already dead.
“The inquest was held later but there wasn’t too much questioning done of the soldiers, or even of the Major of the battalion on that night,” said Paul.
Kevin remembers his brother as an athletic man full of life.
“He was very outgoing,” he said. “He cycled everywhere and every Friday he would take himself down south or up north.”
Billy had travelled all over Europe and his passport shows trips to Germany, Czechoslovakia and Russia. Kevin said that his brother’s murder had a big impact on his family.
The inquest into Billy's death was held three or four months later and the verdict of the jury was of misadventure.
“On that terrible night, one of my aunts went down and tried to get through the barricaded Springfield Road,” adds Paul. “A soldier said to her that Billy had no business standing at his own front door. That was the reception she got. The anger came from all that, there was always a feeling of helplessness as well. Remember this was the time that the Stormont government was still in power.”
Because of the curfew, Billy’s body couldn’t be brought back to his own parish of St Peter's.
“Because of the curfew they couldn't get his body back to St Peter's,” said Paul. “He had to go to St. Paul’s chapel. He never actually got back home. His body was brought there on the Sunday evening and he was buried on the Monday. The other sad thing was that Billy’s brother Tommy took ill that weekend and he ended up in hospital.
“I always remember that one of the saddest things was when we came out of St Paul’s on to Cavendish Street and we were facing the Royal Victoria Hospital, that the nurses had wheeled Tommy out to one of the windows so that he could see the funeral,” he added
7. REPUBLICAN SINN FÉIN SUPPORT FOR MAURA HARRINGTON
IN A statement on June 28 the Assistant PRO of Republican Sinn Féin Kevin Devlin said:
“Republican Sinn Féin sends our support to Maura Harrington after her arrest and incarceration in Mountjoy jail.
“Maura Harrington has been steadfast in her opposition to Shell's destruction of her local community and the bleeding dry of Ireland's much-needed natural resources, aided and abetted by the Dublin Administration.
“Shell has begun the process of destroying an area of natural beauty to line the pockets of already mega-rich oil barons. The Dublin Administration had already sold off the royalties to Shell at a time when they thought they didn't want money.
“Along with "The Chief" O'Donnell and Niall Hartnett, Maura Harrington has not bowed to the bully-boy tactics of Shell and the 26-County police. We salute them and all of those who oppose the blatant capitalist theft of resources which rightfully belong to the Irish people.”
8. BASQUE SEPARATIST TO OPPOSE EXTRADITION
A LAWYER for a Basque separatist has told a Belfast court that his client will oppose proceedings for extradition to Spain, where he is wanted in connection with a car bombing campaign by the militant group, ETA.
The court heard that the 40-year-old had been living in Belfast under an assumed name for more than two years.
Belfast Recorders Court heard that Fermin Vila Michelena had been in possession of a number of high-quality fake identification documents.
Fermin Vila Michelena arrived in Belfast in 2007 and had been working as a chef in a city restaurant.
He was first arrested on June 24 in a joint-operation between Spanish police and the RUC/PSNI.
He was then detained again on June 26 under a European arrest warrant issued over his alleged involvement in murder and possession of explosives.
Belfast's Recorder Tom Burgess said on June 28 that because of the seriousness of the charges against Fermin Vila Michelena and the fact that he had access to false documentation bail was being refused.
Fermin Vila Michelena was remanded in custody and a full hearing is expected in September.
