ANOTHER CENTURY LOCKED OUT LOCKED UP INTERNED DEAD/ALIVE

     WEAR A PROTEST HELMET IN IRELAND


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Dying Interned Marian Price Showtrial British Occupied Ireland

 international | crime and justice | news report  Friday November 23, 2012 08:55 by BrianClarkeNUJ - AllVoices 

Secret Internment

Marian Price could not attend her latest court hearing on Wednesday because she is too ill. Her lawyer said, that she is unable to give instructions to her legal team, with her physical and mental health continuing to deteriorate. Her lawyer raised concerns about Marian being examined by anymore experts from the prosecution and defence, claiming she has been examined by 16 doctors already. Marian’s case was adjourned for another four weeks of internment without trial, until December 19 when she will have been politically interned for 19 months, camouflaged as remand, for what are in essence farcical hearings.

Liberty or Death

Marian Price could not attend her latest court hearing on Wednesday because she is too ill. Her lawyer said, that she is unable to give instructions to her legal team, with her physical and mental health continuing to deteriorate. Her lawyer raised concerns about Marian being examined by anymore experts from the prosecution and defence, claiming she has been examined by 16 doctors already. Marian’s case was adjourned for another four weeks of internment without trial, until December 19 when she will have been politically interned for 19 months, camouflaged as remand, for what are in essence farcical hearings.

Marian Price is just one of several Irish people currently politically interned in British Occupied Ireland during which time lawyers have not been allowed to see any of Britain's ‘alleged’ evidence.

• She has been kept in solitary confinement in a ‘male’ high security prison
• She is effectively interned without a trial, sentence, or release date.
• She has not been given any timescale for any investigation.
• She has not been allowed to see the evidence that the state claims to have
• Her release has been ordered on two occasions by judges. However, on both occasions the British Vice royal has overruled those decisions.
• The Vice royal claims they ‘revoked Marian’s license, ’despite Marian never being released on license. She was given a Royal Pardon.
• Marian’s Royal Pardon has ‘gone missing’ from the home office (the only time in history). The British Vice royal has taken the view that unless a paper copy can be located – it must be assumed that she does not have one. It is generally agreed that MI5 shredded her majesty's pardon.
• Despite no ‘license’ existing for her release from prison in 1980, it is the non-existent licence that is being used to keep her in prison.
• She can only be released by Theresa Villiers the current Vice royal responsible for Marian's internment.

Recently the charges against Marian were thrown out of court because of a lack of evidence. Now the very same charges have been re-instated against Marian again before the same Judge.

In secret courts, being introduced by the back door, through legislation in the House of Lords, MI5 the British secret services are pushing for secret trials, with secret evidence by secret witnesses, that the defendant's appointed lawyer is not allowed to know, see or refute. The length of sentence is also kept secret, under penalty of a long jail sentence by Britain's Official Secret's Act. This trial of Marian Price is believed to have already happened in secret, with the public hearings and showtrial being simply a public rubber stamp, for the injustice against Marian Price in of British Occupied Ireland.

Related Link: http://irishblog-irelandblog.blogspot.com/

The Pogues - Top 10 X-Rated: Birmingham Six

SPOOKY BIZARRE BRITISH SECRET EXPERIMENTS

                                                                    #freemarianprice

'She left her human body behind. She left her human mind behind. She became a point of consciousness, of awareness, in an empty, infinite space filled with light. Slowly two presences, two Beings, began to approach her from a distance. There was a three-way exchange of direct thought, of direct meaning, of direct feeling with no words.'

Marian Price who has had an experiment of almost six months force feeding conducted on her, along with a further year of sensory deprivation experiments, should be released from internment without trial in British occupied ireland is close to death. Marian rather than being "on licence" as per British spin doctors and media, actually she received a full royal pardon, the Royal Prerogative of Mercy. Viceroy Paterson's claimed that this document, which would set Marian free, was either lost or shredded after she and her sister Dolours were force-fed for 167 days, in a practice that is widely recognized as inhumane.

'The conference of the three Beings was taking place in a dimensionless space, the spaceless set of dimensions somewhere near the third planet of a small solar system dominated by a type-G star. The organization which they represented he would later call the Earth Coincidence Control Office (ECCO).'

 Speaking in an interview afterwards, Marian said of her ordeal:

“Four male prison officers tie you into the chair so tightly with sheets you can’t struggle. You clench your teeth to try to keep your mouth closed but they push a metal spring device around your jaw to prise it open. They force a wooden clamp with a hole in the middle into your mouth. Then, they insert a big rubber tube down that. They hold your head back. You can’t move. They throw whatever they like into the food mixer – orange juice, soup, or cartons of cream if they want to beef up the calories. They take jugs of this gruel from the food mixer and pour it into a funnel attached to the tube. The force-feeding takes 15 minutes but it feels like forever. You’re in control of nothing. You’re terrified the food will go down the wrong way and you won’t be able to let them know because you can’t speak or move. You’re frightened you’ll choke to death.”

'The First Being speaks: "We are meeting at this particular space-time juncture in order to review the evolution of a vehicle that we control on the planet Earth. She is at another transition point in her training. We need to review what she has done, what she is thinking, what her motivations are. We must determine what the future of her mission can be within the evolutionary speed limit allowed the humans on that planet."

Second Being: "You, the First Being, and I, the Second Being, have been controlling the coordination of coincidences of this agent on Earth. I feel it is important that we state all of this very clearly for the benefit of the Third Being, who has been responsible for that human agent. It is important that she not exceed the evolutionary speed limit at this particular time; however, we realize that there is a certain discrepancy existing among the humans, that their evolution is proceeding extremely rapidly in certain areas and is going backward in others. It is the purpose of this conference among the three of us to make sure that the Third Being controls her so that she stays within certain wel]-defined limits and avoids the kinds of catastrophes certain other agents of ours have experienced on that planet. Let us listen to the report of the Being who has been in charge of the vehicle on the planet." '

Pat Ramsey, a Social Democratic and Labour member of the Occupied Ireland Assembly, wrote to Paterson about this "lost" pardon. He asked:

-- Where would Mrs. Price-McGlinchey's pardon have been held?
-- How many staff are currently seeking the document and in what departments?
-- Are those looking for it doing so on a full-time basis, if not, why not?
-- Has the Northern Ireland Office received comment from the judiciary on the apparent loss of the document?
-- How many Royal Prerogative's have been lost (or destroyed) that the government has record of?
-- Who is ultimately responsible for the care and maintenance of the building where these documents are kept?
-- What communication [has Paterson] personally had with this person/Department?
-- Can [Paterson] confirm the Department is still seeking the document and will do so until it is found?

Paterson who contemptuously dismissed Ramsey's inquiry stating that "unfortunately the RPM (Royal Prerogative of Mercy) was not recovered but had "no bearing on current circumstances." before was abruptly moved back to London and replaced by Viceroyal Theresa Villliers? Paterson had placed himself above the British Occupied Ireland Assembly, which was supposedly elected to govern British Occupied Ireland, just as he has previously overruled the judiciary. Two judges have ruled that Marian Price should be released on bail, it appears Viceroyal Villliers will ignore and override the courts as well. The following is a presentation of the facts as concisely and accurately as possible.

'Third Being: "Currently my agent is in a quandary. I need this conference to know in what direction she is to move next. The vehicle that she inhabits is now in a deep trance state and is willing to share with us the sources of this quandary.

"As you both know she has a carefully constructed cover story in which she has invested a good deal of time, effort, and training. All three of us are well acquainted with the rather arduous steps that he has been taking in her human form. There have been many times when she has lost contact with me, has repressed her knowledge of me, and has had to be guided through her unconscious mind. There were times when she had too much knowledge of me, necessitating repression so that she could continue to function as an acceptable human being in the society in which she lives. Her main worry at times was being made persona non grata by her fellow humans in various fields of endeavor. "She went through a process which humans call psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis to us is a means of educating humans in how to remain human, at the same time keeping sufficient independence of that state so as to be aware of our existence. Psychoanalysis also furnishes the human agents with the current rationalizations and basic assumptions upon which humans operate. It helps them develop their cover story so that they will not reveal our existence or our influence. It allows them to reconstruct their past history and understand it in terms of the present human society.'


'In May 2011, Marian Price was taken to Maghaberry high security prison (an all-male prison) and was placed in solitary confinement, where as a result of holding up a piece of paper or statement on a windy day, at a traditional Irish Easter republican ceremony which was read aloud by a masked man, she was accused of, ‘encouraging support for an illegal organisation’. Marian has now been interned for 17 months, during which time neither her lawyers, or Marian have been allowed to see any of Britain's ‘alleged’ evidence.

• She has been kept in solitary confinement in a ‘male’ high security prison
• She is effectively interned without a trial, sentence, or release date.
• She has not been given any timescale for any investigation.
• She has not been allowed to see the evidence that the state claims to have
• Her release has been ordered on two occasions by judges. However, on both occasions the secretary of state has overruled those decisions.
• The secretary of state claims he has ‘revoked Marian’s license’. This is despite Marian never being released on license. She was given a Royal Pardon.
• Marian’s Royal Pardon has ‘gone missing’ from the home office (the only time in history). The secretary of state has taken the view that unless a paper copy can be located – it must be assumed that she does not have one.
• Despite no ‘license’ existing for her release from prison in 1980, it is the non-existent license that is being used to keep her in prison.
• She can only be released by Theresa Villiers the current Secretary of State responsible.

"In the area of self-awareness, her awareness of me, of his deeper self, our agent is on the threshold of recognizing us and our influence on her.

"In her brain research she has discovered the difference between small brains (monkeys) and large brains (human and dolphin). She has realized that in order to do research on the brain and the mind, she must work in an institution which she herself controls, insofar as is possible in the current human reality. Sh sees that human society interacts with her in a way that allows certain areas of research and not others. She realizes that the laboratory work in relation to the isolation tank is difficult to support. She has learned that the brain work can be supported openly and that the tank work must be done covertly. As long as the tank work was done in solitude, she was unimpeded in the directions in which she could carry it. "She is becoming aware of the political and social realities of what she is doing. Her mission to thoroughly investigate the brain with thousands of electrodes and with feedback between her own brain and its recorded activity has implications which she knows she cannot reveal at the present state of development of the human species. Her analyst taught her to look more critically at this particular aspect of her mission. Her work for the last five years has been in the direction of perfecting electrodes so that he can use them safely in his own brain. He found on monkeys and dolphins that this was not a safe procedure. The brain sections revealed damage along every electrode track to the extent that she would not wish to insert electrodes into herself or another human.'

The last time Marian appeared in court the charges against her were thrown out of court for lack of evidence by a Judge and now the very same charges have been re-instated against Marian again !

This clearly is internment without trial which has been applied to several other traditional Irish republicans of political conscience who do not accept British Occupation of Ireland. Many seasoned political observers of previous political internment in Ireland, where the British were found guilty of Sensory Deprivation torture by the International Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, have been baffled, at the ridiculous lengths the British have gone, to keep a 58 year old woman interned, who is close to death and in extreme pain, too old as she has said herself, to be of any threat to the British. Why ?

There are number of links below that may explain this, albeit again, as any seasoned observer of British Occupied Ireland where the truth is often stranger than fiction. Internment without trial like many aspects of the British occupation over the last forty years, has largely being a further experimental exercise by the British military and their secret services in their Imperial evolution with research for a new hegemony.

' "From her interactions with the government agency in which she she refuses to work, she finally realizes that the isolation tank gives her more information in more dimensions than can be absorbed by those in control.

"She now wishes to abandon the study of electrodes. They are too damaging to brains. She wants to pursue other methods not including brain electrodes or damage to either her own brain or monkey or dolphin brains." '


There is an old cliche 'Too much of a good thing may be bad." When there is excess within the whole, an imbalance develops, and health problems arise. This applies to things as simple as food, alcohol, drugs and in relation to the subject addressed here Sensory Deprivation

Sensory Deprivation and torture experiments, have been conducted by the British, since internment  in 1971 was introduced in Ireland. “Segregation, isolation, separation, cellular, lockdown, Supermax, the hole, Secure Housing Unit… whatever the name, solitary confinement should be banned by States as a punishment or extortion technique,” UN Special Rapporteur on torture Juan E. Méndez told the General Assembly’s third committee on 18 October 2011, saying the practice amounts to torture.

' "Her work to date with dolphins has convinced her  that they are quite as intelligent, quite as ethical, quite as sentient as humans................" '

Bearing the above in mind and to finish the story, I ask you to look at number of links below some of which you may be very familiar including an article I wrote last week, other somewhat bizarre you may not. I believe they are highly relevant not just in the context of Marian Price but with the introduction of secret courts, trials and the introduction of internment in England itself where like Marian the victims will not be allowed to see or have knowledge of any evidence against them and where they are presumed guilty on the heresay of a bureaucrat with a vested interest in internment.


British Political Internment Madness to Induce Suicide of Marian Price


Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Sensory Deprivation Tanks


FIRST CONFERENCE OF THREE BEINGS


Marian Price Suffered Enough

Another Irishwoman Being Murdered by London 2012

The SAS gave no warning prior to shooting. Carmen Proetta, an independent witness, told Thames Television "They [the British] didn't do anything. They just went and shot these people. That's all. They didn't say anything, they didn't scream, they didn't shout, they didn't do anything. These people were turning their heads back to see what was happening and when they saw these men had guns in their hands they put their hands up. It looked like the man was protecting the girl because he stood in front of her, but there was no chance. I mean they went to the floor immediately, they dropped."


It was the unarmed Mairead Farrell and her comrades murdered by the British, now it it is Marian Price being murdered by the British, while interned without trial, after the courts and queen of England ordered her release. As Margaret Thatcher who gave the SAS their orders said, "Murder is Murder." Marian Price has been held in solitary confinement for almost a year, force fed 400 times and interned without trial, she is a free spirit dying from British injustice in Occupied Ireland. She is close to 60 years of age and has never known freedom in her own land.

   

PRICE IN INTENSIVE CARE

 

Interned political dissident Marian Price has contracted pneumonia, it has emerged.

Ms Price’s condition is described as “serious” and her family has expressed deep concern about her deteriorating physical and mental health.
In June Price was moved from Hydebank prison to a unit of Belfast City Hospital, where she was receiving treatment for severe depression. But her health has continued to fail. On Tuesday she was diagnosed with pneumonia and moved to the main hospital.
Campaigners have urged activists and supporters to help organise an international human rights campaign to pressurise the British establishment into immediately freeing Ms Price.
The prison authorities boarded up the windows of her intensive care room in hospital until the staff protested against it, said Geraldine McNamara, National PRO of Republican Sinn Féin.
“Unless immediate action is taken to save Marian’s life, she, like Giuseppe Conlon in 1980, will die a prisoner, another innocent victim of British ,” she said.
“Marian’s continued detention is yet another breach of human and civil rights by the British Establishment who continues to occupy the six north-eastern counties of Ireland.”
Her husband, Jerry McGlinchey, said: “We’re extremely worried. Marian has been in constant pain for months.
“Nobody has to agree with my wife’s politics to see this is wrong and violates her human rights.”
Ms Price was charged with encouraging support for the Real IRA last year, and subsequently interned without trial by British Direct Ruler Owen Paterson.
Mr McGlinchey said: “I’ve nothing to say to Owen Paterson, but I appeal to (Justice Minister) David Ford to show compassion and release my wife.”
Sinn Féin’s Jennifer McCann said her party had confirmed the deterioration in Marian Price’s condition.
“It is unacceptable that despite being moved from prison that she remains in custody with her historic licence still revoked,” she said.
“It has long since passed the time when the British government moved to show some genuine compassion in this case and reinstate Marion Price’s licence and allow her to return to the care of her family without any further delay.
“I will be making contact with the British government to continue to press them to release Marion Price before further damage is done to her health. 

_______________

As to why Marian has contracted pneumonia an important clue may be found in the following extract from the diary of Bobby Sands and is taken from where he is reflecting on his situation as a prisoner. "A stretch of tarmac surrounded by barbed wire and steel is the only view from my cell window, I’m told it’s an exercise yard. I wouldn’t know. In my fourteen months in H-Block, I haven’t been allowedto walk in the fresh air. I am on ‘cellular confinement’ today. That is the three days out of every fourteen when my only possessions, three blankets and a mattress, are removed, leaving a blanket and a chamber pot. I’m left to pass the day like this, from 7.30 a.m. to 8.30 p.m. How I spend my day is determined by the weather. If it’s reasonably warm, it’s possible to sit on the floor, stare at the white walls, and passa few hours day dreaming. But otherwise I must spend my day continuously pacing the cell to prevent the cold chilling through to my bones. Even after my bedding is returned at 8.30 p.m.hours will pass before the circulation returns to my feet and legs."

    

Clonoe families launch shoot-to-kill report

Relatives of four IRA Volunteers killed by undercover British soldiers 20 years ago have launched a report to highlight their campaign to establish how they died.

Peter Clancy, Kevin Barry O’Donnell and Sean O’Farrell, from the Coalisland area, and Patrick Vincent from Dungannon were shot dead in the grounds of St Patrick’s Church at Clonoe, County Tyrone, during the covert British military operation on February 16 1992.
They were ambushed minutes after taking part in a gun attack on nearby CoalislandRUC station during which noone was injured. All four were aged in their late teens or early twenties.
A barrage of 514 rounds were fired at the IRA unit by 12 undercover soldiers, believed to include SAS members. Eight cars, each containing two soldiers, provided back-up to the undercover troops.
Despite the passing of two decades and more than 20 preliminary hearings, a full inquest into the men’s deaths has yet to be held.
Relatives travelled to the US in March and presented the report, which has been compiled by victim-support group Relatives for Justice, to Irish and American politicians.
Six-County Justice minister David Ford and PSNI Chief Matt Baggott also received copies.
Relatives believe the soldiers ignored chances to arrest some of the IRA men prior to the planned ambush.
Hours before the shoot-out, O’Farrell was stopped at a British army checkpoint near the spot where he died.
He was allowed to continue on his journey. O’Donnell’s sister Roisin Ui Mhuiri said she and the other relatives deserve to know what happened.
“It’s about finding out the truth,” she said.
“For 20 years they have refused to tell us the truth of what happened that night.
“This is going to eat away at us until we find out the truth.
“If we stay silent, which is the easy thing to do, it means we accept what happened that night.
“It was a well-planned military operation and we believe that instead of arresting those men, which they could have done, a decision was made high up to shoot them.”
“The British government should hold up their hands so we can move forward as a community and we can heal not only as families but as a community. Instead there are families still holding all this pain and grief.”
Controversy continued after the killings when 200 mourners walked out of the funeral Mass of O’Donnell and O’Farrell at the Church of the Holy Family in Coalisland after parish priest Mgr Liam McEntegart denounced the IRA leadership.
In the aftermath of the ambush the then British ‘security’ minister, Dr Brian Mawhinney, said he had no reason to doubt that the soldiers followed proper procedures.
The report, ‘Ambush, Assassination and Impunity’, was launched at the Cornmill Heritage Centre in Coalisland on Thursday night.
“It has become apparent that state forces had exact knowledge of the IRA plan to attack the RUC station,” the report by Relatives for Justice says.
“The obvious question would, therefore, be why the state made no attempt to arrest the IRA men.
“The deployment of SAS soldiers, noted solely for their ambush and execution methods, rather than effectively securing and making arrests in accordance with international standards, adds to the concern that the aim of this operation had indeed been to kill the IRA men and not to arrest them. This was never an arrest operation.”
It demands that the full inquest should now be held and that the Public Prosecution Service should review the case.

Historic IRA realignment

A regrouping of previously distinct breakaway IRA groups is being described as the most significant development within physical-force republicanism since the Provisional IRA split in 1997.

In a statement released yesterday [Thursday] evening, the new IRA grouping said that following extensive consultation, the three organisations “have come together within a united structure under a single leadership subservient to the constitution of the Irish Republican Army”.
A completely new command structure and army council has been established to oversee the running of the new organisation which will combine the resources of all three former groups. It is believed members of the three original groups have already been briefed on the merger.
The transition was helped by the fact that a majority of the new IRA’s leadership previously held senior roles within the Provisional IRA at various stages of that organisation’s existence.
The new organisation does not include the Continuity IRA. In addition, one or two elements which operated under the name Oglaigh na hEireann [the Irish synonym for IRA] may not have been brought into the new group, particularly in Belfast.
In a statement issued by the regrouped organisation’s army council, the IRA said it remained “committed to the full realisation of the ideals and principles enshrined in the proclamation of 1916”.
“In recent years the establishment of a free and independent Ireland has suffered set backs due to the failures among the leaders of Irish nationalism and fractures within republicanism,” it said.
“The root cause of conflict in our country is the subversion of the nation’s inalienable right to self determination and this has yet to be addressed.
“Instead the Irish people have been sold a phony peace rubber stamped by the token legislature in Stormont.”
It said the continuing British denial of Irish self-determination remained the source of the conflict.
“It is Britain, not the IRA that has chosen provocation and conflict,” it said.
“The IRA’s mandate for armed struggle derives from Britain’s denial of the fundamental right of the Irish people to national self-determination and sovereignty.
“So long as Britain persists in its denial of national and democratic rights in Ireland then the IRA will continue to assert those rights.
“The necessity of armed actions in pursuit of Irish freedom can be avoided through the removal of the British military presence from our country, the dismantling of their armed militia and declaration of an internationally observed timescale that details the dismantling of British political interference in our country.”
It is unclear what motivated the new development, but the breakaway organisations have reported a surge in support since Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness shook hands and greeted the English queen, Elizabeth Windsor, as part of the British royal jubilee celebrations last month.
The increased size and relative unity within the organisation will directly challenge long-standing efforts by the political establishment in the North to portray republican militants as small or “micro” groups.
For the moment, there seems no possibility of an engagement between the two, but in the future, the organisation’s new combined structure could allow a single, coherent channel of communication.
North Belfast Sinn Fein assembly member Gerry Kelly recently described the breakaway IRA groups as “small groupings” but insisted that his party had sought to engage with them.
“They have no right to carry out armed actions, the vast majority of which are directed against civilians in republican areas, in the name of Irish republicanism,” he said.
One of the group’s involved in the merger, Republican Action Against Drugs, has operated a controversial vigilante campaign against criminals within the nationalist community in Derry. However, last month it began to target the PSNI, triggering a wave of raids and searches in which dozens of homes were ransacked, most recently that of the Sinn Fein Mayor, Kevin Campbell.
Other units or groupings involved in the merger include one which carried out an attack which killed a member of the PSNI in County Tyrone last year, as well as others which have used the name Oglaigh na hEireann, or simply ‘the IRA’.
While the full extent of the regrouping has yet to be confirmed, it has been reported that the new IRA has membership ‘nationwide’.
Meanwhile, in an apparently separate development, the Continuity IRA (CIRA) says it has expelled several members and has a new leadership.
A statement issued in Dublin said those acting in a criminal manner and using the name of the CIRA would be subject to “military action”.
The group said it remains determined to continue its armed campaign in the north. The CIRA has claimed responsibility for several attacks in recent years, including one in 2009 in which a member of the PSNI was killed.
There has as yet been no direct response to the development by Sinn Fein or other IRA groups.

Smithwick lawyers ‘bewildered and alarmed’ by PSNI secrecy

Five intelligence documents were deliberately withheld from the Smithwick Tribunal by the PSNI police, the force has said, deepening the mystery over a profoundly murky incident from 1989.

The ongoing tribunal at Dublin Castle was set up to investigate claims that the Provisional IRA received assistance from a member of the 26-County Garda police in 1989. It was announced following unionist demands for a ‘balance’ to nationalist calls for inquiries into collusion between the British Crown forces and loyalist death squads north of the border.
Two senior members of the police (then RUC) died when they were ambushed as they crossed the border en route to Dundalk Garda station, allegedly afer inside information was passed to the IRA.
The revelation that the PSNI had withheld the documents was described as a matter of “great concern” by lawyers at the tribunal on Wednesday. Lawyers for the two families involved said it now appeared the PSNI may be hiding even more documents from the inquiry, while lawyers for Owen Corrigan, a Garda member who had been accused of assisting the IRA, said the PSNI had very belatedly produced evidence which cleared his client.
John McBurney, solicitor for the Breen family, said there was now “a truly bewildering and alarming array of collusion pointers”.
The PSNI has provided only “summaries” of the five intelligence documents, the originals of which they said were being withheld for “reasons of national security”.
Four of the five “summaries” related to reports that a garda in Dundalk passed information to the IRA. The fifth said a Dundalk garda named as Jim Lane had repeatedly warned of inappropriate relationships between members of the IRA and Dundalk sergeants.
While the first two documents made reference to “a detective” member of the Garda in Dundalk who was said to be passing information to the IRA, the summary provided said the unnamed detective officer in question was not involved in [or revealed to] the Smithwick Tribunal.
Jim O’Callaghan SC, for Owen Corrigan, said this was “exculpatory” information about his client’s alleged involvement with the IRA, and the PSNI had decided, at least initially, not to share it.
Asked if he was prepared to apologise to Mr Corrigan, the PSNI representative replied: “A decision was taken to not release this intelligence.”
He added that he was “not in a position to tell you who made that decision, the circumstances or the context in which that or those decisions were taken. And I’d be speculating beyond that.”

The merger of physical force republicans

A different take on last week’s IRA announcement, by socialist republican Tommy McKearney.

Organisations with strong centralised and hierarchal structures, especially the conviction driven, are usually prone to splitting or the breaking away of factions. Often this occurs at periods of significant political development or societal transformation when direction-changing decisions are required. This happens in religion, in sport and with unending regularity in the world of militant Irish republicanism. Three of the largest parties in the present Irish parliament, for example, had their origins in bitter divisions within the country’s republican milieu. Such a history, therefore, makes the news of a merging of certain forces within the present day republican underground, an interesting and indeed surprising development.
A small number of journalists were briefed on Thursday 26th July that three strands of what is sometimes referred to as the ‘physical force’ element of Irish republicanism had amalgamated. The Real IRA (best known to British readers for carrying out the 1998 Omagh bombing), a vigilante group called Republican Action Against Drugs and a low profile group of armed republicans still calling themselves ‘the IRA’ have united under the, hardly original, title of the Irish Republican Army. In its communique to the press, the group repeated its commitment to militarism when it spoke of the ‘... necessity of armed struggle in the pursuit of Irish freedom ...’
In spite of its newsworthiness, this development should be kept in perspective. In the first instance, this new IRA group will be confronted with a challenge experienced by every revolutionary organisation; that of maintaining security and secrecy in the face of energetic surveillance by the state. There is little doubt that this merger will simplify MI5’s task of monitoring and foiling the new group’s activities.
Secondly, there are two other bodies, still calling themselves the IRA that remains outside this merger. Therefore the fractious and divided nature of armed Irish republicanism remains as poisonous and debilitating as ever. The particular school of Irish republicanism represented in this new group is often more certain of what it opposes rather than what it stands for. This makes it difficult for them to build the type of broad support base necessary to influence the political process.
Most pertinent of all, though, is the fact that the new formation is unlikely to change significantly the balance of forces within Northern Ireland. Trying to estimate membership strength for the various militant groups is difficult because the level and depth of support can fluctuate widely depending on the time and circumstances. One of the anomalies of the current situation is that while Sinn Féin voters are strongly opposed to further armed action, many are unwilling for historical reasons to cooperate with the authorities. Acceptance for all aspects of policing remains ambiguous within most republican circles.
Nevertheless, an overwhelming majority of people in Northern Ireland are opposed to any resumption of the violent battle of the final quarter century of the 20thcentury. Every election since the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 has returned, from within the wider republican constituency, an overwhelming majority in favour of ending armed conflict and an equally strong rejection of those indicating any intention of recommencing insurrection. While there is no mechanical correlation between electoral support and ability or capacity to carry out direct action, the presiding officer’s count provides its own message. When people are unwilling to vote in secret for an insurrectionist candidate, they are unlikely to endure the unavoidable hardships and risks of war against the state. In practical terms there is insufficient water in which armed radicals can swim in Northern Ireland of the present day.
This low-key assessment notwithstanding; there is a message to be taken from a coming together of previously separate entities. It is rare for divisions in republican Ireland to be repaired or for groups to coalesce in this fashion. The significance of what has happened may not lie, therefore, in the new group’s potential for increased military capacity (and that is questionable hypothesis by any assessment) but in the fact that there is a new strategy in play and the process is towards unity rather than remaining separate.
Bear in mind that all is not well in Northern Ireland. Global recession is embedding economic and social hardship in areas that have experienced little improvement in their level of material prosperity over the last two decades. Sectarian divisions remain at a toxic level, especially in working class districts. Local devolved government performs a basic function of any parliament in that it is a substitute for civil war, yet it hardly makes any other obvious difference in the population’s day to day lives. Ominously, this new IRA is concentrated in the very areas where deprivation is most acute.
There is, in a nutshell, a space for dissenting voices to question the status quo and Irish republicanism is, after all, more a response to material conditions than it is an aspiration to a form of government. Five years ago a sense of estrangement manifested itself in France with youths burning property in the suburbs. Last year something similar happened in Britain when rioting broke out across urban centres.
Protest in Ireland sometimes follows an indigenous pattern and therein lurks the one great unknown factor in this latest ‘new departure’. Is this a huddling of desperate men determined to hang together rather than hang separately or is it an indication, even subconsciously, of a societal change that is encouraging direction-changing decisions?

IRISH REPUBLICAN NEWS : The Interned Olympics

IRISH REPUBLICAN NEWS
    http:/republican-news.org

    Friday-Thursday, 13-19 July, 2012


1.  SECTARIANISM ON SHOW
2.  PSNI arrests continue
3.  SF challenges British on prisoner issues
4.  Loyalists extend bonfire message of hate
5.  IMF demands more cuts as protest councillor jailed
6.  Opposition walkout over anti-democratic action
7.  Feature: The Howth gun-running
8.  Analysis: The Twelfth


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>>>>>> SECTARIANISM ON SHOW


 A member of Sinn Fein has described how he was set upon as he videoed a
 loyalist 'kick the Pope' band deliberately circling and playing
 sectarian tunes outside a Catholic church during the Orange Order's
 main Belfast 'Twelfth' parade.

 Belfast community worker JJ Magee later released the video [see below]
 which shows the band playing the so-called Famine Song, which contains
 notoriously anti-Catholic and anti-Irish lyrics.  A second video clip,
 which has not been released, shows the band playing 'the Sash', another
 sectarian tune.

 The Shankill Road-based YCV Flute Band, which is dedicated to the memory
 of a UVF paramilitary, marched in ritualistic circles for up to 30
 minutes in front of St Patrick's Church on Donegall Street. A large
 crowd of loyalists cheered them on.

 Mr Magee said he had been part of a group of community workers
 monitoring the parade in the nationalist Carrick Hill area.

 "A couple of people in the band came over to me and threatened me and
 told me to clear off. Then they started swiping at me and one man was
 trying to hit me with a stick," he said. "Then some Orangemen broke
 ranks and came over and started throwing kicks at me as well."

 The Orange Order's parades celebrate a historic Protestant victory over
 Catholics on July 12th every year. Sectarian provocations are a routine
 element of such parades, but are typically ignored or censored by the
 mainstream media in the North.

 "I went over and began to record what was happening," said Mr Magee. "At
 that stage I didn't feel under threat and was just standing on the
 footpath recording.

 "Obviously I knew what they were doing was inflammatory and they were
 only doing it because they were stopped outside a Catholic church."

 One man can be heard on the video threatening Mr Magee, while another
 holds a club in his direction.

 The New Lodge man described the episode as "frightening".

 "I knew I was under pressure and I thought: Should I defend myself here?
 I knew I was in a sticky situation but it wasn't until it was over that
 I realised how lucky I actually was to get away."

 The Shankill Road-based YCV band had been making their way from nearby
 Clifton Street Orange Hall to the main Belfast Twelfth demonstration.

 The group was formed in 2007 for the "preservation and promotion" of the
 memory of Thomas Kinner -- a former member of the Young Citizen
 Volunteers, the youth wing of the UVF death squads, who died in 2003.

 The second clip, recorded by a local resident, shows two members of the
 PSNI police standing beside the church, apparently facilitating the
 provocation. Two nationalist residents are seen to remonstrate with the
 PSNI about the display, but are ignored.

 Sinn Fein councillor Conor Maskey said two prominent unionists, North
 Belfast DUP MP Nigel Dodds and Assembly Member Nelson McCausland had
 also been near the band at the time.

 "Nigel Dodds and Nelson McCausland were in close proximity yet did
 nothing to intervene," he said.

 "It is time for the Orange Order to show leadership, step into the 21st
 century and get rid of the organisation's anti-Catholic, sectarian
 ethos.

 "Until that happens, then clearly this bigoted side of the organisation
 will continue to manifest itself in incidents like this."

 The release of the video into the public domain led to an outcry on
 social media sites.

 In an extraordinary response, the flute band claimed they were
 harmlessly playing a tune by the Beach Boys.

 The band said: "The singing of words that some supporters associated
 with the tune the band was playing at the time was perhaps unfortunate
 and may have just been a by-product of the exuberance of the day of
 celebration of our culture and history."

 Nelson McCausland supported the band this week with an equally absurd
 statement.

 "The band could equally have been stopped outside a paper shop or a chip
 shop", he said. "It simply was by coincidence that they were outside
 [the church]".

 North Belfast Sinn Fein councillor Conor Maskey said Mr McCausland's
 comments were "an utter disgrace".

 "The DUP politician should hang his head in shame. Instead of attempting
 to gloss over and excuse such sickening and offensive behaviour he
 should be condemning it," he said.

 "Not only has he done himself a diservice with this load of nonsense but
 he has also further discredited the Orange Order and the DUP in the eyes
 of the wider public."


-----------------------------------------------------------------------


>>>>>> PSNI arrests continue


 The fallout from the decision to force an anti-Catholic parade through
 Catholic north Belfast on July 12th continued this week with a series
 of arrests.

 The PSNI police has been accused of exploiting the annual disorder in
 Ardoyne to intern and imprison republicans caught up in the trouble. So
 far there have been six arrests, all of them from the nationalist
 community. Four have been ordered to be remanded without bail.

 The initial policing operation during the riot of last Thursday saw two
 arrests, one of whom was publicly stripped and beaten in the course of
 his detention. The PSNI is currently reported to be engaged in a
 'trawling' operation of the greater Ardoyne area in a bid to effect
 further arrests.

 One of those arrested in connection with the riot so far is Alan Lundy,
 who was a marshal of a protest by the nationalist Greater Ardoyne
 Residents Collective (GARC). The PSNI astonished courtroom observers
 this week when they presented what they said was video evidence of Mr
 Lundy engaged in rioting -- but which actually dated from a previous
 Ardoyne riot, seven years ago. Mr Lundy was refused bail.

 The Lundy family have issued a statement to express their belief that
 their "father, son and brother" Alan is a victim of political policing.

 "Alan is an unrepentant republican, and does not hide his perfectly
 legitimate beliefs from anyone," they said.

 "He is involved in numerous republican projects such as commemorations
 and prisoner welfare, and also takes part in community initiatives
 including anti-drug projects and opposing sectarian parades.

 "The two charges that Alan is facing have been brought in order to
 remove him from the streets, no other reason. Not because he has
 committed any offence, but purely to imprison him in a foolish attempt
 to break his belief in the republican struggle.

 They said his arrest was a "further example" of the harassment that Mr
 Lundy has faced from the PSNI, the RUC and the British Army since his
 teens.

 "He has been the subject of numerous stop-and-searches... over the
 years, and has had his home raided on a number of occasions.  However,
 all of this only served to strengthen his resolve and determination to
 achieve positive change in our country, and the response of the State
 has been to intern him by remand to try and end the valuable work he
 does in our community."

 Alan's father, also named Alan, was a republican activist, Sinn Fein
 member and a former political prisoner. In 1993 he was murdered by a
 loyalist death squad after working in the home of his friend, Sinn
 Fein's Alex Maskey.

 Members of the Greater Ardoyne Residents Collective held white-line
 protests on the Crumlin Road in condemnation of the arrest, as well as
 that of another Ardoyne man, Ta McWilliams. Mr McWilliams is being
 considered for potential internment by British Direct Ruler Owen
 Paterson, according to media reports.

 Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has called for a meeting with the
 Orange Order over the organisation's insistence on marching through
 Ardoyne.

 He said the openly anti-Catholic organisation must open up dialogue
 with his party and nationalist residents opposed to Orangemen parading
 through their communities.

 "The Orange Order needs to step forward and make their contribution to
 the peace process," Mr Adams said at the weekend. "That means dialogue
 with residents. It also means dialogue with Sinn Fein.

 "I have written to the Orange Order many times over the years seeking a
 meeting. I repeat that call again today. The work to prevent a repeat
 of this week's violence must begin now."

 MAYOR CRITICISM

 Meanwhile, the Sinn Fein Mayor of Derry Kevin Campbell has demanded an
 apology from the PSNI after seven hours of raids in the city on the
 same night of the Twelfth.

 Mr Campbell's own home was one of several pulled apart during the
 overnight operation by the PSNI in the nationalist Creggan area.

 The Mayor called on the PSNI to return two laptop computers belonging
 to Derry City Council and his 10-year-old daughter as well as three
 mobile phones.

 A former member of the Derry district policing partnership, the
 targeting of Mr Campbell's home has fuelled claims that the PSNI has
 become increasingly hostile to Sinn Fein.

 "I was in the house on my own around 10.30 on Thursday night when I
 heard the Land Rover doors slamming," he said.

 "I looked out and saw police coming into the house. One officer
 recognised me and asked if I was living there.

 Mr Campbell said they wore white suits and told him they'd been sent
 from Upper Queen Street in Belfast for the search.

 "They told me they were looking for someone. I told them there was
 no-one in the house but me and as Mayor of Derry my integrity was on
 the line."

 The PSNI remained both at the front and back of the mayor's home until
 after 4am the following morning when reinforcements arrived to carry
 out a search of Mr Campbell's house, before finally leaving around
 5.30am.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------


>>>>>> SF challenges British on prisoner issues


 Sinn Fein's party leader Gerry Adams has challenged the British Direct
 Ruler, Owen Paterson during a meeting at the Dublin parliament over
 political prisoners in the North, including the continued imprisonment
 of Marian Price and Martin Corey.

 Mr Adams said the main focus of the meeting on Thursday afternoon was
 the continued imprisonment of Marian Price and the decision by Paterson
 to appeal the recent court decision to release Martin Corey, both of
 which the Sinn Fein leader described as "unjust".

 "Marian Price is not well," he said. "Martin Corey was released by the
 courts. Both of these citizens are entitled to due process which they
 have been denied. They should be released and I put it very strongly to
 Mr Paterson that this should be done."

 Sinn Fein has increasingly focused on the issue of internment without
 trial in recent weeks.

 At another event in Dublin attended by Paterson, a protest was
 organised by the party to demand the release of Marian Price and Martin
 Corey.

 As Paterson left the building he was met with chants of "shame on you"
 and "justice for political prisoners" by Sinn Fein protesters who also
 called for Paterson to "let the peace process move forward".

 Party veterans also were present as a picket was organised by the Free
 Marian Price Dublin Campaign at Dublin City Hall earlier this month.
 City councillors were discussing Marian Price's case at the council
 meeting and debated a motion calling for the release of Marian Price.

 The protest was attended by up to fifty people. The council passed a
 motion demanding the immediate release of Marian Price on humanitarian
 grounds.

 The motion, submitted by eirigi councillor Louise Minihan and
 independent councillor Ciaran Perry on behalf of the Free Marian Price
 Dublin Committee, passed almost unanimously. Only Councillor Paul
 McAuliffe of Fianna Fail voted against the motion.

 All town, city and county councils in the 26 Counties will now receive
 an official copy of the motion highlighting Price's case. Official
 letters from Dublin City Council will also be sent to Owen Paterson,
 Six County Justice Minister David Ford, the North's First and Deputy
 First Ministers and 26-County Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore requesting an
 explanation for the continued incarceration of Marian Price and
 demanding her immediate release.

 The text of the motion passed by Dublin City Council reads:

 'That Dublin City Council calls for the release of Marian Price on
 health and humanitarian grounds and requests an explanation for the
 incarceration of Marian Price from the Minister for Foreign Affairs,
 Minister for Justice in Northern Ireland and First and Deputy First
 Ministers in Northern Ireland.'

 The following is the text of the speech made by eirigi's Louise
 Minihan, when proposing the motion in Dublin City Council:

 "As we sit in the comfort of this chamber tonight, a sick frail woman
 is in hospital, under arrest after enduring solitary confinement for
 over a year, with 9 months of it spent in an all male prison.

 "This woman has committed no crime and has been convicted of no charge.
 Marian Price is in gaol on the whim of a British Secretary of state,
 and is being interned without trial.

 "Marian Price is a 58-year-old mother. The question here is not whether
 you agree with Marian's political beliefs or with the aims of the
 organisation she is a member of. The question is will you stand up
 against human rights abuses committed in this country by the British
 Government.

 "Marian's case is a gross miscarriage of justice and as severe a
 violation of a person's human rights that has ever been discussed by
 this council.

 "Fourteen months ago Marian was arrested for her part in a 1916
 commemoration in Derry. Marian appeared before a court and was released
 on bail. However the British secretary of state disagreed with this
 decision and stepped in and had her arrested and committed to prison.
 Since then all charges against Marian has been dropped.

 "For the next 9 months Marian was held in complete isolation on a wing
 in an all male prison. This we must remember was without crime or
 trial.

 "Due to the deterioration of Marian's health, she was transferred to a
 so called medical facility at Hydebank Prison were she continued to be
 held in complete isolation, unable to get the proper medical care she
 needed.

 "Expert medical opinion has recommended her immediate release, along
 with a number of prominent civil and human rights campaigners such as
 Monsignor Raymond Murray, who is running the Free Marian Price
 Campaign, Bernadette McAliskey and Eamonn McCann, TDs, trade unionists
 and academics including Maureen O Sullivan, Thomas Pringle, Eamon O
 Cuiv, Frank Keoghan, and actress Margaretta D'Arcy, Juan Mendez, UN
 Special Rapporteur on Torture, the SDLP and many, many more.

 "As I said, this case is not about whether you agree with Marian or
 not. It is about, whether you are willing to stand up against human
 rights abuses. Internment under any other name is still internment.
 Internment was wrong in the 70s and it is still wrong today.

 "This council has a great record for standing up for people's civil and
 human rights around the world. This motion allows us to send a clear
 message on behalf of the people of Dublin that human rights abuses will
 not be tolerated anywhere on this island, and that the elected
 representatives of the people of Dublin will stand up against any
 infringement of the civil and human rights of Irish Citizens.

 "I am asking councillors to support this motion in calling for the
 release of Marian Price on humanitarian grounds."


 * Activists have been urged to support to sign online petitions calling
 for the release of both Marian Price and Martin Corey. The petitions
 are available at http://bit.ly/Q9i60l and http://bit.ly/Ke3Olt


-----------------------------------------------------------------------


>>>>>> Loyalists extend bonfire message of hate


 The Polish community in the North have reacted angrily after it emerged
 that Polish national flags were placed on loyalist bonfires alongside
 Irish tricolour flags in a public display of racism and bigotry.

 The PSNI said they were investigating two incidents of Polish flags
 being burned on 'Eleventh Night' bonfires in east Belfast last week.

 Loyalists have frequently targeted foreign nationals in the North for
 race attacks, particularly those who are likely to be Catholic. While
 Irish tricolour flags are ritually and habitually burned by loyalists,
 it is believed to be the first time Polish flags have been burned on
 their Eleventh Night bonfires.

 Maciek Bator, director of the Polish Association of Northern Ireland,
 said it was a "totally appalling and offensive" act and said his
 organisation had received several complaints.

 "As a community, we are against a society where to affirm one identity,
 others are denied respect and dignity," he said.

 Mr Bator called on "all political and community leaders" to take "urgent
 action to stop hatred and bigotry".

 Among the other items burned last week was an election poster for the
 SDLP's Polish candidate, Magdalena Wolska.

 SDLP councillor Claire Hanna said the burning was "yet another worrying
 symptom of the fact that we stili have people in the north who cannot
 accept difference".

 Meanwhile, loyalists have hacked down goalposts for the second time in a
 month at a County Down Gaelic sports pitch used by children. The latest
 attack on the newly installed posts at council-owned playing fields in
 Kilkeel saw the uprights cut completely to the ground.

 Nationalists reacted angrily last month when the uprights at Carginagh
 Road were hacked down to the size of soccer goals by loyalists using
 heavy cutting gear. The word 'British' was also stencilled into the
 posts, days after a Union Jack flag had also been flown from one of the
 uprights.

 And a 14-year-old boy was grabbed by the throat and punched in the face by
 loyalist band members after he attempted to cross the road while a
 parade was taking place, it has emerged.

 The teenager was seized by one male band member and attacked by another
 during the parade on Wednesday June 30 in Magherafelt, County Derry.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------


>>>>>> IMF demands more cuts as protest councillor jailed


 The International Monetary Fund has ordered the Dublin government to
 slash dole payments, cut child benefit, and take medical cards away from
 more old age pensioners.

 As part of the conditions of its bailout loans, the IMF also demanded
 the government increase the household charge.  There was no call for a
 tax on wealth or on high earners.

 Responding to the report, Sinn Fein finance spokesperson, Pearse Doherty
 TD, said advice from the IMF on how Ireland should fix its deficit had
 so far resulted in a lengthening of the Irish recession.  He said the
 latest suggestions of further cuts and flat taxes, if implemented, would
 cause more damage.

 "From the beginning, Sinn Fein advocated separating bank debt from
 sovereign debt, burning bondholders, stimulating the economy, reforming
 the taxation system and eliminating spending waste.

 "The Troika, including the IMF, and along with the Government, has
 pursued a policy of bailing out banks, taxing lower earners, cutting
 frontline service spending and refusing first to acknowledge and then to
 deal with the jobs crisis. A crisis that began in 2007 is as bad as it
 ever was now in 2012, and we have many hard years ahead to reach the
 reduced deficit target."

 Mr Doherty said the measures recommended by the IMF had the potential to
 undermine a recovery.

 "A flat rate, high property tax, levied at everybody, would seriously
 impact on the ability of low and middle income earners to continue
 consuming in this economy. This is not to mention what it will do their
 standard of living.

 "The abolition of universal payments such as childcare and pensions
 would similarly target low and middle income earners
 disproportionately."

 MINIHAN JAILED

 Meanwhile, Dublin City Councillor Louise Minihan has been imprisoned as
 punishment for her 'red paint' protest against health service cutbacks
 by the former 26-County Minister for Health, Mary Harney.

 The eirigi councillor was arrested at Ballyfermot Garda barracks at
 lunchtime Wednesday before being transported to the notorious Mountjoy
 Prison complex. Minihan is expected serve up to seven days imprisonment
 as a result of her refusal to pay the 1,500 euro fine the courts imposed
 upon her in February 2011.

 Over sixty people joined a spontaneous protest on Wednesday calling for
 her release.

 Speaking at the protest outside of the jail, eirigi Cathaoirleach
 [chairperson] Brian Leeson said his colleague's jailing was "yet another
 example of the two-tier justice system that operates within this state.
 It is now abundantly clear that there is one law for the rich and
 powerful and another, far more severe, law for the rest of us.

 "We should all remember that this is the state that has yet to jail the
 corrupt Taoiseach who explained away his vast sums of unaccounted for
 income by claiming he won it on the horses; this is the state that has
 yet to jail the media tycoon who bribed a minister to win a broadcasting
 licence; this is the state that has failed to jail a single banker or
 financier for bringing the economy to the point of ruin; this is a state
 that has failed to jail anyone for the blood transfusion scandal which
 cost the lives of hundreds of people. And the list goes on and on."

 Leeson concluded by encouraging people to join further protests outside
 of Mountjoy over the coming days. He said protests would take place each
 evening at 8pm until Councillor Minihan was released.

 "The difference between Louise Minihan and all of those who have escaped
 punishment is simple. Louise is not part of the golden circle that runs
 this state and she is therefore not entitled to the immunity from
 punishment that members of that circle enjoy. By directly challenging
 Harney, Louise was in fact directly challenging the entire ruling class
 in this state and for that she must be seen to be punished.

 "The tiny minority that control this state fear people who are willing
 to challenge them, because they know how tenuous their grip on power
 actually is."


-----------------------------------------------------------------------


>>>>>> Opposition walkout over anti-democratic action


 All Opposition members of the Dublin parliament walked out of the Dail
 chamber on the last day of parliamentary session in a rare protest at the
 government's handling of legislation on Gaeltacht (Irish language
 speaking) areas.

 Sinn Fein, Fianna Fail and the Technical Group of independents walked
 out in unity in protest at anti-democratic legislation being rushed
 through the parliament by the coalition government before the two-month
 summer recess.

 The legislation will abolish elections to Udaras na Gaeltachta, the
 local authority that represents Irish language speaking areas, and
 almost halve its size, from 20 members to 12.

 Thirty four opposition TDs were in the chamber and left as committee
 stage of the Bill, scheduled to take three hours, began with none of the
 150 amendments accepted by the government.

 Just seven government TDs, all Fine Gael, were left in the chamber.

 The Irish language is in crisis, with research showing that the language
 has between fifteen and twenty years left as a spoken tongue in the
 Gaeltacht.

 Minister of State for the Gaeltacht Dinny McGinley claimed the decision
 to axe direct public representation on Udaras na Gaeltachta was being
 taken because just one in four Gaeltacht residents spoke Irish on a
 daily basis, but did not draw connection between the two.

 Sinn Fein's Peader Toibin said the first Gaeltacht Bill in 60 years had
 been "forced and guillotined" through the parliament on the last day.

 "Despite this bill containing some positive changes its overall effect
 will be negative. All Irish language groups are calling for it to be
 suspended to allow amendments to fix the problems," he said.

 "The government has reduced the power of the Coimisineir Teanga
 [Language Commissioner] and a large number of its departments are
 breaking the law with regards to Irish language provision without
 sanction."

 He also pointed to decisions to downgrade three areas on the authority,
 the Meath Gaeltachtai, Rathcairn and Baile Gibb.

 The survival and the growth of the language can be achieved, but Irish
 "needs more that empty platitudes", said Mr Toibin.

 "Minority languages have been strengthened in the Catalonia, Wales and
 the Basque Country, through strategic planning, modest resources but
 most importantly political will.

 "Is leir nach bhfuil suim da laghad ag an Roinn no ag an rialtas ple
 oscailte daonlathas a chuir ar siuil anseo inniu. Mar sin diultaim leis
 an proiseas in a iomlan. Nilimid sasta fanacht agus taim chun siuil
 amach chun mo deistin a thaispeaint ar an coras seo."

 [It is clear that neither the Department nor the government is the least
 interested in having an open democratic debate here today. Because of
 that, I reject the process in its totality.  We are not content to
 remain and I will walk out to show my disgust at this system.]

 Irish-language advocacy groups Conradh na Gaeilge and Guth na Gaeltachta
 welcomed the Opposition walk-out.

 The parliamentary Committee on Gaeltacht Affairs "wasn't given the
 opportunity to even discuss the Gaeltacht Bill 2012", Julian de Spainn,
 Conradh na Gaeilge general secretary, said yesterday.

 "The most important legislation pertaining to the Gaeltacht and the
 Irish language in almost 60 years was pushed through the Oireachtas
 before the summer break."


-----------------------------------------------------------------------


>>>>>> Feature: The Howth gun-running


 ------------------------------------------------------------------
 In response to the Larne gun-running in arming the Ulster Volunteers,
 the Howth gun running was intended to redress the balance by providing
 arms to the Irish Volunteers. It took place in Ireland on 26 July 1914,
 98 years ago this week.  An article by Aengus O Snodaigh.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------


 Republican leaders in 1913 decided that it was an opportune time to
 challenge England's illegal occupation of Ireland through force of arms
 or threat of armed revolt. Following their establishment to the Irish
 Volunteers in the Rotunda Rink, Dublin, on 25 November 1913 they set
 about arming and equipping the new force.

 The order prohibiting the importation of arms was making it difficult to
 obtain rifles, revolvers and heavy weaponry. Seeing unionists import
 huge quantities of arms unhindered into Ulster, they undertook to follow
 suit.

 Darrell Figgis accompanied Erskine Childers to Hamburg in Germany where
 they purchased 1,500 second-hand Mauser rifles and 49,000 rounds of
 ammunition. In a ruse Childers let it be known that an Irish trawler was
 transporting the cargo to Ireland. English warships spent their time
 intercepting all Irish trawlers in the area while in fact it was
 Childers' yacht Asgard and Conor O'Brien's Kelpie which carried the
 precious cargo to Ireland, having been loaded from a tug in the North
 Sea.

 At home preparations were put in place to receive the weapons. The
 Volunteers organised regular route marches and parades so when the day
 came they wouldn't appear out of place or alert police attention.
 Unknown to most Volunteers and Fianna the march scheduled for 26 July
 1914 had a secondary purpose. Just prior to the arms landing the
 officers were appraised of what was occurring, phonelines were cut, the
 Fianna trek-cart was emptied of its 150 oak batons, guards were put on
 coastguard and police stations.

 Unlike the unionists' Larne gun-running episode the Volunteer leaders
 predicted that British forces would make a move against the arms landing
 and so only Childers' boat was detailed to land its cargo in full view
 in daylight in Howth, County Dublin. Nearly half of the shipment was
 destined for Kilcoole, County Wicklow aboard Sir Thomas Myles' Chotah
 which had relieved the Kelpie of its load. These were landed a week
 after the Howth landing due to a storm.

 Howth republican Pearse McLoughlin who died last year, was the first to
 reveal the role played by Howth fishermen in the Kilcoole gun-running.
 He wrote:

 "Eoin MacNeill - a prominent member of the Irish Volunteers - lived in
 Howth at that time and the task of collecting the arms from the yacht
 Chota was assigned to MacNeill to organise. MacNeill appraoched the
 owner of a local fishing boat - Peter McLoughlin - and requested his
 co-operation. Enthusiastic co-operation was assured by Peter, who owned
 a 35-foot fishing boat called the Nugget. This vessel was the first
 Howth fishing boat to be fitted with an engine.

 "On the night the Chota was due at a pre-arranged position outside the
 Kish Bank, the Nugget sailed from Howth crewed by three brothers of
 Peter, James who was skipper, Nicholas and William, and Michael Moore.
 Also on board were a number of MacNeill's men to supervise the transfer
 of weapons. On the votage to the Kish Bank a stowaway was discovered. He
 was a young schoolboy whose name was Edward Moore.

 "The arms were safely transferred to the Nugget by the fishermen and
 landed on Kilcoole Strand before dawn, where they were taken in charge
 by Cathal Bruagha and Sean T.O'Kelly with a unit of Volunteers. The boat
 was taken out to sea then and a day's fishing was done before it
 returned to Howth."

 Meanwhile lying off Lambay Island outside Howth in the Asgard Childers
 and his companions Mary Spring Rice and Mary Osgood had awaited Darrell
 Figgis' `all ready' signal. With no sign of it and having passed through
 a naval review in Spithead and encountered the British warship HMS
 Froward Childers decided to proceed regardless.

 As the Asgard came alongside within a minute of its planned time the
 main body of Volunteers came down to the pier at the double. Not a
 moment was wasted. The O'Rahilly said:

 `Twenty minutes sufficed to discharge her cargo; as many motor-cars flew
 with the ammunition to pre-arranged caches; and for the first time in a
 century 1,000 Irishmen with guns on their shoulders marched on Dublin
 town."

 The police and coastguard attempted to interfere, but the sight of
 rifles made them back off. They weren't to know that they weren't
 loaded.

 The Volunteers and Fianna headed back into Dublin in military formation,
 passing armed policemen in Raheny, bypassing a military blockade against
 them in Clontarf. The military, Kings Own Scottish Borderers and Dublin
 Metropolitan Police under Assistant Commissioner Harrel rushed in front
 of them again. With bayonets drawn they declared the march "an illegal
 assembly".

 Bulmer Hobson at the head of the Volunteers confronted them and said
 they couldn't have the weapons they were demanding and that they would
 continue to march. Harrel ordered his men to disarm the Volunteers and a
 number charge the Volunteer ranks. A hand-to-hand fight followed and a
 number of shots were fired. A few Volunteers received bayonet wounds
 before order was restored on the pretext of a parley with Harrel.

 While Thomas McDonagh and Darrell Figgis remonstrated with him Hobson
 gave the order to disperse from the rear, and each to bring their rifle
 home with them. Thus the parade dissolved before Harrel realised what
 was happening.

 He marched his men towards the city and made several vain attempts to
 intercept the homeward bound Volunteers. A hostile crowd gathered behind
 them and jeered and threw stones at them all the way to Bachelor's Walk.
 Here Major Haig ordered his soldiers to fire at the crowd. Four died and
 38 were injured despite what a later Royal Commission said: "that no
 occasion had actually arisen for using loaded firearms."

 Public indignation at the firing on an unarmed crowd was increased by
 the British prime minister's statement that he was sure that the
 military would be found blameless. At the massive funerals for the dead
 of Batchelor's Walk the Volunteers in full military attire and armed,
 marched to the graveyard and a salute was fired over the graves.


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>>>>>> Analysis: The Twelfth


 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 A resident's analysis of events in Ardoyne this week.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------


 Greater Ardoyne has once again experienced the negative and violent
 Twelfth when the RUC/PSNI invade the entire area in their thousands to
 enable two Anti-Catholic, Anti-Nationalist and Anti-Republican Orange
 Order marches through our community. The night before witnessed the
 'traditional' 11th of July Bonfires in Protestant/Unionist and Loyalist
 areas across North Belfast in which the Irish national flag, effigies of
 Republican Patriots, White Coffins and even a large Statue of the Virgin
 Mary were placed in prominent view and set fire to commemorate the
 'Glorious Twelfth'. At the corner of the Upper Crumlin Road, between the
 Nationalist/Republican Ardoyne and Ligoniel areas this year. A large
 bonfire menacingly sits adorned with a chilling sign; 'Fuck Ardoyne -
 SCUM'.

 The Parades Commission had already announced it's determinations in
 respect of granting the two Orange parades permission to march through
 Ardoyne on the Twelfth. One in the morning and another in the afternoon.
 'The afternoon parade would have to march back up the Crumlin Road
 before 4pm, or not march at all'. In response to the determination, the
 North/West Belfast Parades Forum, applied for a Judicial Review of the
 determination, which they lost. The Orange Order and a number of
 Unionist Politicians issued media statements; threatening trouble and
 violence if their march time was not changed.

 The North Belfast MP, Nigel Dodds said the Parades Commission had put
 the Police in an "extraordinarily difficult" position. "They [Parades
 Commission] issue their determinations and they issue calls for calm but
 they don't explain anywhere why they did what they did. North Belfast
 MLA Nelson McCausland said: "We will have to wait to find out if we have
 enough time left for a full judicial review given the parade is taking
 place on Thursday." DUP Policing Board member Jonathan Craig said the
 ruling from the Commission would further stretch the PSNI.

 "I am aware that senior officers are concerned about enforcing the
 latest ridiculous judgments of the Parades Commission. The Orange Order
 said; 'the determination would not give them enough time to take part in
 festivities in the south of the city'.

 Around 100 Loyalists protested at the junction of the Woodvale Rd and
 Twaddell Avenue against the determination. The effect of the statements
 and protests seriously increased tensions in Greater Ardoyne and
 surrounding areas, people began fearing another Drumcree-Style standoff.
 The focus of the media in the run-up to the Twelfth had been on the
 apparent inconvenience to the Orange Order by having to be back through
 Ardoyne, Mountainview and the Dales by 4pm. Were was the concern about
 the serious inconvenience that local residents would have to face as a
 result of unwanted Loyal Order parades?

 The huge number of heavily-armed RUC/PSNI Personnel and armoured
 Land-Rovers surrounding and in the Greater Ardoyne area throughout the
 day creates it's own problems because not only has the Unionist Police
 been directly and indirectly responsible for a number of deaths of
 Ardoyne residents. They were also behind orchestrating decades of
 oppression, arrests, internments, beatings and political imprisonment of
 hundreds of local people. The fact that they continue to 'Police' in the
 same political manner, in spite of the so-called Peace Process gives
 most residents serious causes for concern. Issues which cannot be
 separated from over 8,000 residents being hemmed into their
 homes/community by a Military-Style Curfews forcing unwanted sectarian
 marches through Ardoyne six times each year. The other massive problem
 is that the Twelfth is a Public Holiday, when everyone in the Greater
 Ardoyne area is off Work, Training Schemes, Colleges and Schools. With
 holidaying Teenagers, Students, Workers and Younger Residents enjoying
 long-deserved breaks and chilling. Those who can afford to usually leave
 the area to holiday elsewhere. These secterian parades cause untold
 damage to the local populace who for much of the other 364 days of the
 year who are peaceful.

 Within seconds of arriving at the junction of the Woodvale Rd/Twaddle
 Avenue, dozens of Loyalist well-wishers greeted jubilant Orangemen and
 Bandsmen. The parade continued to the West Belfast Orange Hall, prior to
 joining the main Belfast demonstration travelling to the field at
 Barnett's Demesne for a wider celebration of Protestant/Unionist and
 Loyalist culture. To commemorates the victory of Dutch King,
 (Protestant) William III over the English Monarch, (Catholic) James II
 in 1690, a battle fought on Irish soil which decided the future of
 Britain, Ireland and most of Europe for centuries to come. Even after
 the Orange parade had left, the heavy presence of the RUC/PSNI remained
 in and around Ardoyne. Apparently, the above battle had accomplished
 'Civil and Religious Liberty For All'. but in the context of the Greater
 Ardoyne community, we didn't warrant it!

 Between 3 and 4pm, around 15 Orangemen from the Ballysillan and Ligoniel
 Lodges left the field and were bussed the five miles back to the
 Woodvale. Where they disembarked to hundreds of cheering Loyalists to
 walk the contentious part of the Crumlin Road and through the Ardoyne
 community. As the parade passed through Ardoyne, the RUC/PSNI mobilised
 a huge security operation, which closed the road to everyone apart from
 them and the Orange marchers, effectively hemming in local people. This
 particular parade proved yet again to the people of Ardoyne and beyond
 that the Order and Political Police wanted to antagonise local
 residents. Sadly, a number of young people began stoning the Cops and
 burnt a car belonging to a local man.

 Within an hour, over two thousand local residents and supporters
 attended a brief Rally organised by the Greater Ardoyne Residents
 Collective (GARC) in Ardoyne Avenue. Where they were notified that GARC
 intended to march around Ardoyne and onto the contested part of the
 Upper Crumlin Rd before re-entering Brompton Pk and dispersing in
 Ardoyne Avenue. The march was to demonstrate opposition to the unwelcome
 parades and to assert local rights and freedoms. In numerous statements
 and leaflets including a Public Meeting held the week before, GARC had
 appealed for calm, no rioting and a peaceful march.

 A number of GARC representatives then went to the scene and with a
 megaphone appealed for the violence to cease, in order that our planned
 peaceful protest could proceed.

 The Parades Commission had ruled that GARC could march on the Crumlin
 Road but when the parade reached the junction of Estorial Park and the
 Ardoyne Rd, a large line of RUC/PSNI personnel and armoured Land-Rovers
 blocked the way. A senior member of the British Police informed GARC
 that his members could not guarantee the safety of the marches. A local
 Solicitor and key GARC members remonstrated about the need to march and
 the Commission's determination.

 After legal arguments, the GARC march was 'allowed' to proceed
 unhindered on its planned route. During the confusion, some local and
 West Belfast criminals including, some State Agents and Informers who
 regularly ruin their own communities sneaked into the march as it made
 its way down the Ardoyne Road from Estorial Park. The RUC/PSNI then
 notified GARC that the march would be 'fully protected' from Loylists
 gathered at the Twaddell/Woodvale junction. However, it soon became
 clear that was not to be as the Policing Operation was totally
 inadequate to defend marchers from the hundreds, if not thousands, of
 Loyalists who had gathered. As the head of the parade entered Brompton
 Park, it's middle was attacked with missiles as varied as Sticks,
 Bottles, Fireworks, Scaffolding Poles and even a set of step ladders
 taken from a Photographer.

 To their credit, GARC's stewards and others managed to get marchers, the
 majority of who behaved with dignity in the face of a premeditated
 attack orchestrated by visible UDA and UVF members. Some local hoods
 retaliated in kind, which is really regrettable but given their hatred
 towards community activism was not surprising. The same group repeatedly
 attacked RUC/PSNI lines long after GARC appealed to everyone to follow
 them to the arranged dispersal point in Ardoyne Avenue, half a mile
 away. Predictably, the small number of rioters grew at the top of
 Brompton Park until a large crowd engaged in serious trouble against the
 unchanged RUC, who responded with Plastic Bullets, Water Cannon and
 Baton Charges to snatch those rioting. Republicans also fired a number
 of live rounds at the RUC/PSNI towards midnight and no-one was was hurt.
 I cannot condemn the rioting as when a teenager myself, I regularly got
 involved in the same type of behaviour, however I will say that most of
 it was unwarranted and should have ended when asked to do so by
 Community Activists. As rioting only takes the focus away from the real
 issue that causes the problem, those who insist on marching where they
 are clearly not welcome. Likewise, as a former Combatant I can't be
 hypocritical and challenge whoever fired at the British Police. As they
 can speak for themselves and usually do, suffice to say that armed
 attacks such as these are inevitable given the huge RUC/PSNI operation
 mounted in Ardoyne. They are also predictable as Partition and British
 Occupation remains in Ireland.

 Over the past few days, the Greater Ardoyne community has returned to
 it's normal peaceful self. Although, the RUC/PSNI have raided a number
 of homes and arrested some residents in connection with the riots and
 shooting incident. Strange how Loyalists attacked Republicans on Black
 Mountain recently with hammers, iron bars and hatchets. Incredibly,
 those responsible photographed themselves immediately afterwards and
 posted the photo on a number of Social Media Websites, but weeks later
 none have had their homes raided, property seized or charged and
 appeared in Court? Large numbers of RUC/PSNI are still evident on the
 streets as they attempt to lift those responsible.

 The challenge for everyone in Greater Ardoyne and neighbouring Loyalist
 areas is to end the annual manifestation of sectarianism and violence.
 From my point of view, only an end to the six remaining Loyal Order
 parades through Ardoyne will help it stop. However, I am more than
 willing to meet, talk and debate with anyone including the Loyal Orders,
 Unionists, Loyalists, Community Leaders, Clergy and Politicians at any
 time to find a way forward. The question is, will they take this offer
 up, as the Orange Order did in Crumlin Village or will they hide away,
 hoping that a 'resolution' can be found without the approval of the
 Greater Ardoyne community...Only time will tell?