A former British military medical assistant has told the inquest into the Ballymurphy Massacre that a senior figure in the British Army asked him to plant bullets on two innocent civilians he had treated. It is thought to be one of the first incidents of British Crown Forces in Ireland attempting to falsely portray civilians as combatants.
The inquest is looking into the killings of ten people in the Ballymurphy area of west Belfast in August 1971 as Crown Forces sought to seize control of the area during the introduction of internment without trial.
Nigel Mumford was serving as a first-aid medic at a temporary British Army base at Henry Taggart Hall.
Speaking via videolink from an unknown location, Mumford said an ‘officer’ he did not recognise asked him to plant bullets on the clothes of the victims. He told Belfast Coroner’s Court that he refused to do it and that the bullets were not planted.
Mr Mumford also said he did not report the officer at the time. Asked why, he said he did not want to negatively impact his career.
“It takes a brave man to go up against an officer in the British Army,” he said.
Mr Mumford also told the inquest that he had watched a moment when soldiers opened fire on people.
The witness said he saw an officer known as ‘Lieutenant M42’ take six or seven soldiers outside the base. He said that with the permission of ‘Major M45’, the lieutenant shouted “some warnings” at what he said was a crowd of rioters, and then ordered his men to open fire on the crowd and “shoot to kill”.
The former corporal described a “fusillade of shots” for about a minute. He said he did not see the victims, and was only told that the group had “scattered” as some fell wounded or dead.
As victims were brought in, he described a number of attempts at giving first aid, admitting to frustration that his poor medical training prevented him from saving lives.
During his descriptions the families of those who died were clearly very upset.
He also observed the body of Joan Connolly being brought into the base. He told the court that a doctor present took photographs of her injuries, which he said was for training purposes.
In a discussion on the culture of the Parachute Regiment, he agreed that at times rubber bullets had been doctored with nails by other soldiers before being fired.
He also described the treatment of men arrested and interned who he said were tied up, hooded, and pushed around.
He said the internees had bags placed over their heads and their hands tied behind their back, and said they were made to believe they were going to be pushed off a table and hung. But he denied it was torture.
“It was to put the fear of God into them,” he said. “You use Paras to fight wars…” he said. “Not as cheap policemen.”
An extraordinary incident involving Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has forced the Dublin government to confirm that heavily armed members of the British Crown Forces are routinely making incursions into all areas of the 26 Counties without any checks or controls.
It has emerged that there was a security scare at Garda HQ in the Phoenix Park in Dublin late last month involving Harris and several armed PSNI moving in unmarked PSNI jeep. The ‘bomb-proof’ jeep was badly damaged when it was struck and flipped upwards by a security barrier raised as it attempted to enter the base without warning.
The Garda Press Office has been engaged in a damage limitation exercise since news of the incident emerged last weekend, almost two weeks after the incident on March 25th.
Insider accounts said the jeep was ‘flung up into the air’ when a garda at the gate of Garda HQ, responding to the threat of an unknown northern-registered vehicle entering at speed, activated an emergency security barrier which ‘rammed’ the bottom of the jeep, which was ‘flung up into the air’.
Panicked gardai rushed out of Phoenix Park thinking there was a bomb on board. “Gardaí thought there was a bomb scare because the barrier is only used when there’s a security threat,” the Daily Mirror reported.
The jeep was said to have been written off as a result of the impact.
The Garda Press Office later blamed a faulty bollard for the impact, which it said occurred when the armoured PSNI vehicle was moving “at walking pace”.
In almost identical statements, both the Gardaí and the PSNI described the incident as “normal procedure”. But their attempts to minimise the incident only added urgency o the questions.
Chief among these is the revelation that members of the PSNI, including those with a past involvement in collusion, have been allowed to carry loaded weapons throughout the 26 Counties since 2013, despite the illegality of doing so.
Harris was controversially appointed by Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan in September last year. He previously served as the head of PSNI/RUC Special Branch where his actions served to cover up that force’s collusion with loyalist paramilitaries.
It also emerged that Harris prefers to use a PSNI unit rather than Gardaí as personal security, dispensing with his own Garda Emergency Response Unit (ERU) vehicle which normally is assigned for his protection.
Dermot Ahern, who was minister for justice from 2009 to 2011, said he was never aware of the PSNI being permitted to carry firearms across Ireland during his time at the department.
He also said that every time he travelled to the North his Garda driver would be disarmed by PSNI before they crossed over the Border. After they crossed, the PSNI would insist “every time” that he transfer to their vehicle for the onward journey.
The PSNI’s expanding role in 26 County policing has angered rank-and-file members of the Garda who see it as a denigration of the function of the highly trained ERU which is responsible for the commissioner’s safety.
Harris has been accused of treating Garda HQ as a sub-office of PSNI HQ in east Belfast. He has also been accused of treating the post of Garda Commissioner as a stepping stone as he prepares to apply for the role of the next Chief Constable in the Six Counties.
Previously Harris generated controversy over his links to loyalists after he backed Garda protection for a masked loyalist gang who have been carrying out illegal evictions in the 26 Counties.
On Monday, John O’Brien, retired Garda chief superintendent and former national head of Interpol and Europol, said the latest incident raised serious questions about the judgment of the commissioner, who has suffered bereavement and trauma during the conflict.
“It is not standard operating procedure, the usual way that we do things, that an armed escort from the PSNI would travel to Garda headquarters to protect the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána,” he said.
“The officers concerned have no authority to carry firearms,” he said, and there would be “huge issues” if the PSNI opened fire.
Mr O’Brien raised the possibility the PSNI involved could have been targeted by an IRA unit on their return journey.
“If some incident goes down, what are the rules of engagement? The bottom line is that the Gardaí and the Defence Forces are the only service permitted to carry firearms in this jurisdiction,” he said.
“What happened with Drew Harris and his car calls his judgment into question very strongly unless there is a reasonable explanation for it.”
April 12, 2019 Dear friends in the Lord, This Sunday is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. Will you accompany Jesus as He enters Jerusalem? Christ crucified is the greatest preacher ever. His passion, death, and resurrection is the most effective pulpit ever. This Holy Week, He invites you to walk with Him. Monday, April 15, is Reconciliation Monday, a tradition in the Archdiocese of New York, the Diocese of Brooklyn, and the Diocese of Rockville Centre. All parishes will be open and priests available to hear confessions from 3:00 to 9:00 p.m. If it’s been awhile and you need a little refresher on the “how-to’s” of going to confession, that’s OK! There is no time like Lent to get back in the habit of participating in this beautiful sacrament. Second, you can find a good overview on preparing for the sacrament here, and you can always tell the priest you need a little help, and he’ll be glad to guide you. Additionally, many parishes will be praying the Stations of the Cross during Holy Week – a wonderful way to unite through prayer across our 10 counties – and all parishes will have special services for the Triduum, the three great days of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday that culminate in the Easter Vigil on Saturday night and Easter Sunday Masses. Make a special effort to participate as we commemorate the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Our Lord. I will remember you in my prayers, that you may have a blessed Holy Week, and a joyous Easter. Faithfully in Christ, Timothy Michael Cardinal DolanArchbishop of New York
Britain’s exit from the European Union, Brexit, due March 29th was delayed as Westminster vetoed Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal with the EU. Multiple parliamentary defeats made May ask the EU for an extension. No one knows what will happen next. Had Britain accepted May’s withdrawal deal with the EU nations, Brexit could have gone ahead on May 22nd. Brexit could go ahead without any deal on April 12th or Britain could ask for more time and even renegotiations. Exiting after May 22nd, would require Britain to elect candidates to the European Parliament. Britain could also cancel Brexit by revoking their Article 50 withdrawal notice.
May survived a no-confidence vote within her own party two months ago, after pledging to step down before the next British election or further Brexit negotiations. Alternative Brexit plan were voted down in “indicative votes.” May’s defeats in Parliament have prompted renewed pressure to replace her now.
Meanwhile Brexit chaos continues to threaten economic disaster for Ireland. The EU and May negotiated a 599 page Withdrawal Agreement, including a “backstop” to avoid a disastrous hard border across Ireland. Brexiteers within Prime Minister Theresa May’s Tory Party, joined with the DUP, to oppose the “backstop” or safety net that would only begin if a full trade agreement was not reached by the end of 2020.
No deal Brexit would make the six counties Europe’s land border with Britain, requiring customs, tariff and immigration checks. The EU invited the north to remain in the customs union, with customs, immigration controls etc beginning in the Irish sea, (meaning at entry points into England, Scotland or Wales). This favored position would benefit the north. However the DUP rejected the backstop proposals as a “backstab” denouncing even preferences for the north as a slippery slope towards a united Ireland.
B-Token prosecution for Bloody Sunday as Bradley says crown force killings were not crimes-
Only one British trooper will be prosecuted for 13 murdered and 15 wounded by British troops on Bloody Sunday. Up to 18 troopers were expected to be charged. The trooper, identified only as British “Soldier F”, was charged with the murders of James Wray and William McKinney and the attempted murders of Patrick O’Donnell, Joseph Friel, Joe Mahon and Michael Quinn. The families of the other victims were described as “heartbroken” and “devastated.” Derry author Eamon McCann renewed his charge that no officers, or commanders were charged for murder or cover-up.
The announcement came days after Karen Bradley, Britain’s six county administrator told Westminster that fewer than 10% of conflict killings were at the hands of the British Army or Royal Ulster Constabulary and these killings “were not crimes. They were people acting under orders and under instruction and fulfilling their duty in a dignified andappropriate way”.
James Wray’s brother Liam said that while his family was relieved, he was “very saddened for the other Bloody Sunday families who have not got justice here and whose hearts must be broken”.
On Bloody Sunday, January 28, 1972,the British Army paratroop regiment responsible for the August 9-11 “Ballymurphy Massacre” opened fire on a civil rights march against Internment without charge or trial. It convinced many civil rights supporters that a regime which answered civil rights marchers with bullets would never give justice. The killings were judicially whitewashed by the Widgery Tribunal but after decades and the Saville Inquiry, Prime Minister David Cameron admitted that the killings were “unjustified and unjustifiable.” However only one token prosecution has been initiated. Meanwhile former British troopers are planning protests against any prosecutions and flags have appeared in Carrickfergus and other loyalist heartlands supporting the paratroopers and British “Soldier F.”
C-Finucane Supreme Court victory-
Britain’s Supreme Court ruled that the crown failed to carry out any effective investigation as required by European law into the state’s involvement in the murder of civil rights lawyer Pat Finucane. The De Silva inquiry where Judge Desmond de Silva reviewed written reports instead of calling and hearing witnesses, did not satisfy the crown’s obligations to protect the right to life under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. They ruled that there had never been any state investigation which could establish the key facts or the guilt of those responsible for the murder.
Pat Finucane was a Belfast civil rights lawyer, who represented Bobby Sands and also testified in American political asylum cases for Sean Mackin and was scheduled to testify for Gabriel Megahey. Because of his success in British non-jury Diplock Courts,he received threats from the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Republicans who requested him as counsel were told that they should ask for someone who would be alive to finish the case. British MP Douglas Hogg threatened him under privilege in Parliament.
On February 12,1989,loyalists entered Pat’s home and murdered him in front of his wife and children. Republicans realized that British crown forces were involved but the British crown denied any complicity and their Ambassador accused me personally of being a “scurrilous liar” for briefing members of Congress about collusion in the murder and getting a Congressional protest letter. The Ambassador said the crown “would never stoop to such methods”. It has since been proven that British agents were in fact directly involved.
The family campaigned for a full public inquiry and Pat’s murder was included in the Cory Report as part of the Good Friday negotiations. Finally in 2004, the British Secretary for the north promised a public inquiry in a parliamentary statement. Prime Minister David Cameron invited the family to London but announced the Da Silva review instead of the expected public inquiry.
D-Loughinisland Film Journalists interrogated by Constabulary-
Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey the prominent Belfast journalists who produced the documentary “NO STONE UNTURNED” were brought in for interrogation by constabulary in what is viewed as a further attempt to silence and intimidate anyone who investigates collusion by British crown forces. Six victims in Loughinisland were murdered while watching Ireland play Italy in a World Cup soccer match in 1994. The film names and shows the murderers, and reveals that besides evidence available from the car, weapons, and clothing the wife of one of the gunmen had telephoned and written confessing her involvement and naming the gunmen. Despite everything, no one was ever charged. The two journalists were arrested last August and charged with stealing documents. They were forced to appear and be interrogated in an attempt to make them to name confidential sources.
Patrick Corrigan of Amnesty International said “when police are arresting journalists who have investigated police collusion in the killing of civilians, rather than the killers and those who helped them get away with murder, people everywhere should be worried”.
MALACHY MCALLISTER DEPORTATION FIGHT
Malachy McAllister’s fight against deportation is still at a critical point. He is an example of Britain’s policy of making political points with Irish victims. Malachy has multiple grounds which should entitle him to legal permanent residence under American law. He is a prominent AOH member, key member of the National FFAI Committee, and respected member of the Irish-American community. He was a political prisoner decades ago in a war that is long over.
Malachy is a pawn in an old British game of criminalization. The British think they can brand anyone who dares oppose them as a criminal. That was true of the patriots they shot in 1916. That was true of George Washington who himself said to the “Patriots of Ireland” in 1788 “had I failed the scaffold would have been my doom.”It was true of Bobby Sands and the Hunger Strikers who suffered torture and death rather than be masqueraded as criminals for Margaret Thatcher.
The British want America to brand Malachy a criminal by deporting him. The human cost to Malachy and his children does not matter to Britain. The AOH, led by our National President Jim McKay, Treasurer Sean Pender, Immigration Chair Dan Dennehy and FFAI, together with other Irish American organizations are fighting back. Already a Call to Action, answered by state chairs in Texas and South Carolina, has gotten important support.
Things are moving quickly. The AOH-LAOH will need to respond quickly and I urge everyone to check the national web site, FFAI updates respond to Calls for Action. We have to win for Malachy and his family!
MARK THOMPSON BOOK LAUNCH TOUR
Mark Thompson and Professor Mark McGovern are launching a new book COLLUSION- COUNTERINSURGENCY in NORTHERN IRELAND in April and are planning to do an American launch from June 1st to June 10th.
This groundbreaking book will put the lie to the claim that Britain forces were responsible for only about only 10% of the north’s killings and expose how they armed, directed, paid and protected their loyalist agents to carry out hundreds of killings then denied any blame.
They have asked AOH help to plan and organize this tour.
I have a personal interest in the book because my close friend Liam Ryan, who lived near me in the Bronx and was murdered at the Battery Bar in Ardboe, (a site visited during the FFAI tour) is one of the cases of collusion included in the book. I am asking for your ideas and help to set up the most effective schedule for them including book launch venues-political support-colleges-embassy receptions etc along with events where we can bring in people and help defer expenses.
EASTER COMMEMORATIONS AND DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
A century ago representatives elected in the 32 county election of 1918, assembled as a National Parliament in 1919, and voted Ireland’s Declaration of Independence. An important theme for this year’s Easter Commemorations is the mandate the Irish people gave to the Easter Rising and 1916 Proclamation first by their votes in the British controlled general election and second by ratifying 1916 in the Declaration of Independence. The British instead of recognizing the democratic will of the Irish people responded with Black and Tan terror and ultimately partition. Speakers are encouraged to include the Declaration of Independence and its historic import in all Easter Commemorations.
FFAI TOUR-CHRISTMAS APPEAL
Anyone who doubts the importance of the AOH-LAOH to people in the north should read the full FFAI tour report in the upcoming Hibernian Digest, or speak to any of the 37 Hibernians who attended. We were met by leading figures in Belfast, Derry, Tyrone and Dublin. They met us because they regard us as their voice, as our National President says the “voice of the Irish in America.”
They count on us to put pressure on the British, to highlight injustice and for our donations to key groups. The reception we received is a credit to each member of the AOH-LAOH who works on FFAI or contributed to the Christmas Appeal. Your work matters and is deeply appreciated!
FFAI MONTHLY BULLETIN
After getting behind because of the Christmas Appeal and FFAI tour, I am trying to get the FFAI Bulletins back on a monthly schedule. I held this to include the latest news on Brexit. Please check for the monthly FFAI Bulletin on the New York State and National AOH web sites. We want to give you monthly updates on key events in the north with short analysis and explanation.
reading the latest book in the historiography of the Provisional IRA.
Sweeping statements are fun to make, but less fun to read.
A week or so after A Broad Church was available for purchase, author Gearóid Ó Faoleán gave interviews about his work to a variety of sources, discussing his findings and how he hoped the book will find an audience.
Unsurprisingly, certain people got very excited by this on Twitter. Ulster Unionist MLA Doug Beattie even told the News Letter “This book will help address the selective amnesia at play in the Republic regarding its role during the Troubles. For decades the IRA was able to mount cross border raids almost at will, and murder hundreds of people as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign of border protestants. The Republic was also the source of numerous arms dumps and training camps. It is also a fact that the 30 year IRA campaign could not have been sustained had there not been support – both overt and tacit – from a significant section of the population there.
The most uncomfortable aspect of the past for the Dublin Authorities is the extent to which the IRA received support and assistance from the political class, elements of the judiciary and sections of the police. The media and Dublin Government are quick to rush to judgement regarding claims of collusion between the British State and loyalist gangs, but are nowhere to be seen when it comes to an honest appraisal of the role played by the Dublin Government, its state actors and some of citizens in facilitating the activities of the IRA.
Leaving aside the irony of his own party’s links with the UVF, both with it’s inception (Gusty Spence could be heard claiming that party members unhappy with Terence O’Neill had a hand in the formation of the UVF) and in recent news it’s interesting how he seems to happily accept that various incarnations of the Dail had a hand in supporting the IRA (in spite of Section 31, the ‘Heavy Gang’, the McCarthyite attitudes that took over in the media coverage of the conflict and the fact that people could be jailed on the word of a senior Garda). It’s amazing how history can be discarded by some when it doesn’t fit their narrative (and if he can deliver proof regarding the “ethnic cleansing” claim, that would be great as well).
Anyone (and I mean anyone) with a half decent knowledge of the conflict will tell you that of course the south was important to the IRA (why do you think there was a decree from GHQ about not shooting Gardai) and that of course people helped out. It’s a large country with a big population, so it shouldn’t come as a shock that people from different social and economic strata’s did give a hand to the IRA. Is this any different from members of the unionist establishment and community doing the same thing with the various loyalist paramilitaries?
While it has been documented in a variety of tomes throughout the years, Ó Faoleán’s book is the first one (to my knowledge) to focus exclusively on the importance of the south and the role it played in the development of the Provisionals. In many ways, it’s a perfect companion piece to Patrick Mulroe’s highly recommended ‘Bombs, Bullets and the Border’ but the wider focus allows Ó Faoleán to examine the broader culture clashes that could exist between the cities and the countryside.
Beginning by noting how the attacks on the civil rights marches awakened nationalist sympathies in the south (furthered by the burnings of August 1969, leading to the biggest population displacement since WWII), Ó Faoleán then discusses how the split of 1969 impacted on the south, and how these units were quick to aid fellow units in the north, either through bomb making, robberies and organising camps.
What emerges is a picture that is nowhere near as clean cut as some unionist commentators would like it to be. A mixture of sympathy towards northern nationalists, Saturday night republican tendencies and a government watching the situation across the border deteriorate moment by moment led to a situation where the fledging Provisional IRA could assemble and organise in the south with little hassle from the authorities.
Interviews with various members further this image, with one bitterly remarking that certain people would help you out in some way (be it harbouring OTR’s etc) but would not turn out and vote for them, or even publicly show support. Here, Ó Faoleán demonstrates how (ultimately) the support for the campaign was merely superficial. The old north/south divide showing itself again.
The vicious circle of the ‘Heavy Gang’ and how they were protected by Section 31 makes for deeply disturbing reading. The accounts of various republicans beaten and tortured by them could have come straight from accounts from Castlereagh in the same period. And the fact that Conor Cruise O’Brien could openly support such brutality and censorship, yet consider himself a liberal and free speech advocate, is breath taking. Just as evil as the paedophile priests.
What was interesting to read was the role Brian Stack (later murdered by the IRA) played in the beating of prisoners in Portlaoise, and how he was openly despised not only by republicans, but also his own staff. Little details like that are often left out of media coverage. I wonder why.
Oddly, when discussing the role of the Irish media, there is no direct discussion of the self censorship that journalists imposed upon themselves for fear of being seen as ‘fellow travellers’, nor the school of Irish revisionism practised by the likes of Kevin Myers and Ruth Dudley Edwards (which arguably began after the Dublin/Monaghan bombings). Both of these were just as important as the likes of Section 31 and Garda brutality in terms of stifling potential support for the IRA in the south and created a culture of self loathing, which carries on today (look at how the centenary for the Easter Rising was discussed in the mainstream Irish media).
Nor is there any mention of the conditions that the underfunded and overstretched Garda were forced to work under. The Garda oral history (cited by Mulroe) has numerous statements from former members about how the pressure to crack down on republicans lead to the rise of the criminal underworld (notably, the likes of Martin Cahill, John Gilligan and Gerry Hutch all started off in this period as bank robbers). And while there’s nothing specifically in writing it’s easy to envisage that, with both republicans and criminals running circles around them, disillusioned and disaffected Garda could often turn a blind eye to republicans, seeing them as the lesser of two evils.
Anyone hoping for evidence that the south and the IRA were in each other’s pocket will be bitterly disappointed. What emerges is a lot more complex, but is made clear that the sympathy only went so far. However, if the book is read alongside ‘Bombs, Bullets and the Border’, then the reader is given an overview of an aspect of our recent history that is often discussed, but rarely given the proper contextualisation.
Something the likes of Doug Beattie won’t take into account.
Gearóid Ó Faoleán, 2019. A Broad Church: The Provisional IRA in the Republic of Ireland 1969-1980. Merrion Press ISBN-13: 978-1785372452
⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer forMetal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland.
