Posted by Jim on April 22, 2018
Christopher Owens reviews a collection of short stories.
A good short story collection should be something that can be dipped into at leisure and enjoyed in isolation. The best ones, however, have a flow and rhyme to them that connect all the stories, no matter how disparate the writing style, and make the reader feel they’re reading a proper novel.
There are examples of such a thing: The Informers by Bret Easton Ellis, War All the Time by Charles Bukowski, Dubliners, Metamorphosis and Other Stories. It’s an art form in itself, and a highly underrated one.
So this collection, first published in 2014, has the capability of joining the illustrious ranks of the ones above, because each story is set in a different part of the city. Going from the historical battlefield of the Falls Road, through to the leafy suburbs of Dundonald and the grim, decaying streets of the Shore Road, there is a lot of scope here for the writers to explore.
On top of that, you have the term ‘noir’ and all the usual connotations. A lot of people just think it means ‘dark’, but it’s so much more than that. The best noir conjures up an amoral world where supposed heroes are more corrupt than the supposed bad guys and cynicism runs through every page.
The introduction sets the tone pretty well:
Few European cities have had as disturbed and violent a history as Belfast over the last half-century. For much of that time the Troubles (1968-1998) dominated life in Ireland’s second largest city, and during the darkest days of the conflict – in the 1970s and 1980s – riots, bombings and indiscriminate shootings were tragically commonplace. Reflecting a city still divided, ‘Belfast Noir’ serves as a record of a city transitioning to normalcy, or perhaps as a warning that underneath the fragile peace darker forces still lurk.
Fertile ground for the creative mind, certainly. But does Belfast Noir stand up to this hyperbole?
Truthfully, it does and it doesn’t.
When it does, it’s less about the plots and more about the atmosphere on display. Take Lucy Caldwell’s brilliantly twisted ‘Poison’, where a young woman has a chance sighting in a bar that triggers memories of past liaisons as a school girl. When you’re reading it, you find yourself sucked into the listless suburbs that remained untouched by the violence, but always had a certain tension regardless.
The perfect example is the legendary Eoin McNamee’s inclusion, ‘Corpse Flowers’, the most enjoyable and striking piece in this collection. Written in the form of a report, switching from CCTV camera to press conferences, it’s an engrossing search for a murderer written in that distinctive McNamee style. A mix of the gritty, the esoteric and an awareness of how the past suffocates the present. It’s intoxicating.
Take this for example:
You could see tramlines in the car park surface. The grid lines of long-gone streets. Men in belted coats standing at intersections, drab-suited kapos. Cold War phantoms. Letting you know you’d come under their remit. Their ghost authority.
Retreading hallowed ground does that to the mind, and McNamee’s ability to tap into this section of our subconscious marks him out as a genuinely unique Irish writer.
Gerard Brennan’s ‘Ligature’ is an ambitious attempt to tell a tale from the perspective of a teenage girl in Hydebank Young Offenders Centre. It doesn’t work in places, due to the narrative being a bit too linear for this sort of person, but it manages to pull together for the chilling denouement.
Other stories do a decent job, but don’t connect in the same way. Garbhan Downey’s ‘Die Like a Rat’, if included in another anthology, could be considered an amusing and persuasive piece about the power that woman can exude over men. Here, it feels like an outtake from a Guy Ritchie movie.
Likewise, ‘Rosie Grant’s Fingers’ (written by Claire McGowan). Maybe if expanded into a longer tale and included elsewhere, it could be seen as enjoyable pot boiler material. Here, it feels incongruous and the local references quite laboured.
The most puzzling inclusion (and certainly the weakest story) is Ruth Dudley Edwards’ tale ‘Taking it Serious.’ On it’s own merit, it’s a well crafted story with an ending that somehow reminded me of the ending for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. However, despite it having virtually nothing to do with noir, what really irritates is her heavy handed metaphors (an autistic teenager involved in dissident republicanism and an “in the closet” former Provo who can’t bring himself to admit his former organisation were defeated).
Of course, anyone who is aware of her writings will know of her political leanings, and it’s certainly not uncommon for a writer crafting a story (be it a short one or a novel) to include some of these views in the plot. But metaphors of this ilk should be subtle, not bludgeoning.
In conclusion, it’s a good collection that threatens to be great but falls short. Someone needs to take this format and write the ultimate short story collection about Belfast. We live in a fascinating time, always in a state of becoming but never actually being. Imagine someone taking that setting, throwing in the clipped prose of James M. Cain and the arcane worldview of Neil Gaiman.
That would be the greatest short story collection ever.
Belfast Noir edited by Adrian McKinty and Stuart Neville. Akashic. ISBN-13: 978-1617752919
Posted by Jim on
Immigrant support groups in the US have reported a big increase in deportations
Brian O’Donovan. Washington Correspondent
RTE. Dublin. Thursday, April 19, 2018
The Government estimates that there are around 10,000 Irish undocumented migrants living in the United States.
Immigrant support groups in the US have reported a big increase in deportations over the last year since Donald Trump took office.
For many of the undocumented, day-to-day life involves constantly looking over your shoulder hoping to avoid arrest.
Washington Correspondent Brian O’Donovan travelled to Boston and met members of Ireland’s undocumented migrant community.
At the Irish Pastoral Centre in Dorchester, Boston, we met Stephen and Alan. Those are not their real names. They don’t want their identities to be revealed for fear of deportation.
Both men are builders and we met them at lunchtime on a weekday. They were in their work clothes and were doing a construction job in the area. They work hard, they pay their taxes, they both have families and they drop their children to school every day, but Stephen and Alan live in constant fear of being arrested by the immigration authorities.
Stephen has been living in Boston for 11 years. He tells me: “You’re driving around, dreading being pulled over by a police officer but I have to take the risk to provide for my family.”
Alan, who has been in the US for six years, has had a similar experience and says: “You go to work, you wear your seat belt, you don’t talk on the phone while driving. You’re constantly thinking what if there’s a police car behind you? What if he pulls you over or what if someone crashes into you?”
Stephen and Alan say there is a sense of fear among the Irish undocumented community, particularly when there is a visit to the neighbourhood from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, better known as ICE.
They both describe how text messages are sent between friends when ICE agents are in the area and the place becomes a ghost town. Everyone goes underground. The bars are empty and people stay home from work for fear of being caught.
And they are not being paranoid. Kieran O’Sullivan is an immigration counsellor with the Irish Pastoral Centre in Dorchester. He works with undocumented migrants and has seen a big increase in arrests and deportations over the last year.
“People are afraid,” he tells me. “They’re living their lives looking over their shoulders. I spoke to one woman who, when she goes home every night, locks the doors, pulls the shades and won’t answer the door to anyone in case it’s an immigration agent. I’ve had several detentions in the past few months. These are hard working people with US citizen children and these children are crying to their mothers at home asking where Dad is. I know where Dad is, he’s in prison.”
Despite having to be on your guard constantly, Stephen and Alan both say they would rather stay in the US than return home. “Work-wise, it’s great,” Stephen says. “I’ve my own business. Work and money are plentiful. Why would I go home? There’s nothing for me at home right now.”
Stephen does admit, however, that the hardest part of being an undocumented migrant is not being able to leave the US even for short visits home. He recalls getting a call two years ago telling him his father had died.
“That was the worst phone call I ever got in my life. I was ready to come home but my mother talked me out of it. It was a tough decision for me, not being able to bury my own father.”
The Irish Government is working on a reciprocal arrangement with the US government which would put the undocumented Irish on the path to citizenship in exchange for visas for American people who want to live in Ireland.
During last month’s St Patrick’s Day meeting between the US president and the Taoiseach, Mr Trump was said to be supportive of the idea.
But undocumented migrants such as Stephen say they have heard these kinds of promises before. “I’m not getting my hopes up,” he tells me.
“I’d love just to be able to go home for a week to see family and friends. I have an 11-month-old son now. I’d love to be able to bring him to Ireland and show him where I’m from.”
Posted by Jim on April 21, 2018
Prisoner support groups have accused the Maghaberry administration of
again targeting the families of republican political prisoners.
Cogus said a visit by the grandparents of one prisoner was stopped
because of the behaviour of the jail’s sniffer dog.
Connor Hughes’s grandparents, who are aged seventy-five and seventy-six,
were refused entry to visit him because the dog sat down on them as they
were going through the routine search procedures prior to the visit.
Prison warders told the elderly couple that this indicated that they had
come into contact with ‘contraband’ (drugs or other substances).
“They where given two options, either take a closed visit or not to see
Connor at all,” Cogus said. “Distraught and confused they chose a closed
[glass-partitioned] visit unaware of the PoWs long standing policy
regarding not attending closed visits.
“Connor was made aware of this while waiting in the visits area and told
the screws that neither he or his grandparents would be attending the
closed visit.”
Mr Hughes asked why the jail administration had not shown some
understanding as both where elderly and would have not been in contact
with drugs or other ‘contraband’.
“Unfortunately both of his grandparents are deeply distressed as a
result of this incident,” Cogus said.
“In the past there have been numerous cases of PoWs families being
refused visits of ‘drug dogs’, whose behaviour is clearly dictated by
their screw handler at the tug of a lead.
“Cogus are in no doubt that the absurd allegation of being in contact
with illicit substances is unfounded. Unfortunately the behaviour of the
jail administration as seen in the past and confirmed in the present,
that neither the young children nor the elderly are on the outside of
their sphere of targeting.”
Another prisoner support group, the Irish Republican Prisoners’ Welfare
Association, said the father of one republican prisoner had been refused
transfer to the same wing as his son at Maghaberry — before being
transferred to a different prison entirely.
Shane Stevenson’s father, Laurence, was being held at Maghaberry in
regard to a number of charges which the IRPWA said he had accumulated
“due to constant British Crown Force harassment”.
He applied to be transferred to Roe 4 alongside his son, but instead was
transferred to Magilligan, 73 miles away.
“The families’ only contact with him was on visits and it quickly
transpired that he was in a bad way as they were withholding his much
needed heart medication and refusing to bring his meals to his cell,”
the IRPWA said.
“Concerned family members contacted his solicitor and a legal was
arranged to check on his well-being.
“Family members arrived for a visit to be told that Laurence wasn’t in
Maghaberry but had been transferred to Magilligan. No prior notice had
been given to family members nor his solicitor who had been due to see
him.”
The IRPWA condemned the transfer which now sees the family having to
split themselves between two prisons to visit their family members.
“Laurence would not be in jail were it not for the persistent house
raids and stop and searches carried out by the British Crown Forces and
the petty charges he accumulated,” they said.
“Your right to family life does not stop when you are incarcerated, and
Laurence should have been housed, if only for a short while, with his
son on the republican landing, especially considering his poor health
and complex medical needs.”
Posted by Jim on
The following is a speech delivered earlier this month by Peter A Rogers
at the independent republican Easter commemoration in Duleek, County
Meath.
A cairde, is deas a bheith anseo chun labhairt an trathnona seo.
It’s an honour and a privilege to have been asked to speak here today.
I’m going to begin with a quote from the late great, Ruairi O Bradaigh:
“What Is Irish Republicanism? To the Republican Movement which maintains
direct organisational continuity from Fenian times, through the Irish
Republican Brotherhood, past 1916 and the First Dail Eireann to the
present day, Republicanism in Ireland has a very strict, yet extremely
comprehensive meaning.In a strict sense, an Irish Republican was one who
gave allegiance to the 32-County Republic of Easter 1916 and who denied
the right of the British government to rule here. With the establishment
of the First Dail Eireann in 1919 as the government of that Republic its
supporters were Republicans, just as those who opposed the setting up
here of two partition States – Six-County and 26- County – in 1921 and
1922.The ‘Treaty’ States, both North and South subservient economically
to Britain, suppressed the All-Ireland Dail which was the embodiment of
the Republic. For the Republican Movement then, a Republican today is
one who rejects the two Partition States in Ireland and gives his
allegiance to and seeks to restore the 32-County Republic of Easter
Week.”
Therefore, the many Irish patriots named here in the Duleek Hunger
Strike Memorial Garden believed in and were of similar mindset to what
is included in that quote. This is what they stood for, and most
importantly this is what they died for.
I believe Irish Republicanism is at one of the most critical junctures
of our time. We must, as a collective, make ourselves and our beliefs
more relevant to the Irish people, if we’re to progress our agenda over
the next few years. This coming December, marks the centenary of the
historic 1918 General Election, which gave the democratic mandate, by
the Irish people, to the all-Ireland Republic proclaimed on Easter Week
1916. That election set in place the constitutional legitimacy and
claimed Irish Sovereignty for the Irish people like never before. We, as
Republicans must ensure that it also marks a significant effort to see
that the true Irish Republic is restored. We must formulate a campaign
of action, that can unite as many Republican groups as possible towards
that end, and at the same time break Britain’s long-running
“Normalisation Strategy” in a partitioned Ireland.
While this move will be extremely challenging, it would be good news for
the Republican cause going forward, helping to accelerate the prospect
of a permanent end to British rule, but this alone will not be enough to
realise our core objectives. The all-Ireland Republic will not come
about simply as a result of this or born out of demographic change in
the North. The situation facing us all, will, demand renewed struggle
and a major stepping-up of the promotion of the Republican agenda, on a
countrywide basis. The Republic must be taken by Republicans, because
history shows, the British and our domestic enemies will not agree to
its restoration without some resistance.
The establishments of both States on this island, have become extremely
comfortable with the status quo, it suits their agenda. We must also
illustrate that continuing British rule in the North is not the only
major issue in the Ireland of 2018. The Partition of Ireland that has
been in place since 1922, with its unjustifiable claims to our national
territory is an usurpation of the democratic process and a violation of
the Irish people’s national rights. Partition must be ended and new
all-Ireland constitutional arrangements put in place, which secures all
our people’s democratic entitlements. The 26-County State also exists in
complete defiance of the 1918 General Election, this Southern 26-County
State survives while claiming to draw its constitutional line of
authority from the 1916 Rising and the all-Ireland General Election of
1918. This couldn’t be further from the truth as it most certainly does
not.
Its alleged authority originates from Britain’s Government of Ireland
Act 1920, through the sitting of the House of Commons of Southern
Ireland formed under this British Act, which actually ratified the
Treaty in 1922, and certainly not from the 1918 General Election. The
reality was, although the Second Dail Eireann did pass an “illegitimate”
Resolution regarding the Treaty, it never had the authority to ratify
that document. So this again has been another lie peddled by the Free
State for almost one hundred years.
This pretence has been going on now for almost a century, and the
promotion of this line of deceit was most obvious during the 1916
Centenary celebrations in 2016, across the 26-Counties. It’s this line
of illegitimate authority that the Free State fear most will be exposed,
which in turn would expose the true fraudulent nature of its existence
since 1922. We Republicans, will have ample opportunity to again expose
the true illegitimate nature of the 26-County State, with the upcoming
centenary of the birth of the First Dail Eireann in January 2019, and
most importantly, with whom the true line of legitimacy of the true all-
Ireland Republic lies today. As Ruairi stated in his quote, all of us
who believe in giving no credence to the two “partitionist parliaments”
created by Britain are true inheritors, so we must continue to act as
the custodians of the true all-Ireland Republic, until it is restored,
and also to defend its right to exist at every opportunity.
We must not allow the Irish people to continue to be deceived, it is
vital that we Republicans tackle these falsehoods at every opportunity
over the coming years. The Volunteers named in this garden were not
deceived. They knew and understood that this so-called ‘Republic of
Ireland’ was not the Irish Republic that so many have fought and died
for. They most certainly did not die for a 32-county expanded Free State
either. Nor did they die that we might live in the New so-called “Agreed
Ireland” now being advocated as being the best option for the future, by
many of the constitutional establishment here in the South, including
the Provos.
All these men named here, died for the Irish Republic and a complete end
to British rule in Ireland. Every Irish Republican, no matter what group
they support, must stand, not only as the custodians, but also the
promoters of the true all-Ireland Republic, proclaimed in the 1916
Proclamation and ratified by the First Dail Eireann. Our continued
efforts must be to bring an end to the usurp of that Republic, and those
of us who follow in this mould, must remain steadfast and adamant in its
pursuit. We must formulate our demands, under a common banner, that a
Third Dail Eireann, proceed from the people, in a re-constituted true
all-Ireland Republic. This remains the Republican position and should be
the bedrock of all our efforts to restore complete Irish sovereignty.
When I spoke earlier of constitutional arrangements being put in place,
we don’t mean amalgamating a corrupt Northern State with a corrupt
Southern State in order to make One-Super-Corrupt-State for the Irish
people, with direct British involvement. With Britain leaving the
European Union and by it doing so, again, highlights the worst vestiges
of Partition, it is imperative – now more than ever – that we organise
to ensure the failed Six-County State is finally disbanded, and along
with it, this sham 26-County State, and that the true all-Ireland
Republic is restored, based on the 1916 Proclamation.
This is the challenge ahead, as we head towards the centenary of the
1918 Election, much remains to be done. Republicans need to set out
clear parameters as to what should constitute a United Ireland, which in
turn, will keep pressure on those within political circles most likely
to determine such changes, should the time arrive. As Brexit and the
demographic change in the North appears to be speeding-up a new dynamic
towards Irish Unity, Republicans must be ready with a robust “plan of
action” to promote our Republican agenda, in what will be a period of
extreme importance. Ultimately, for us Republicans, any Republic to
emerge from the re-unification of our country must be in line with the
1916 Proclamation, proceeding from there and not the engineered
constitutional process employed by the British government since 1921 to
usurp the Republic. This will be a major issue as the British government
and its agents plan for a revised capacity for the Good Friday
Agreement, if a Nationalist majority emerges within the Six-Counties.
This is an arrangement they are already working towards, the emerging
so-called ‘Agreed Ireland’, if not stopped by Republicans, will agree a
role for the British government in our country’s affairs going forward,
enforcing a further violation of Irish sovereignty. So the bottom line
for Irish Republicans must be, that any future United Ireland must be a
Sovereign Independent Country, founded on the right of the Irish people
to determine its own affairs, freely, and without any external
impediment.
We must therefore be ready to face these critical challenges, we must
formulate our own preferred political society for the Ireland we
envisage in the event of our country’s re-unification. We must likewise
set out a blueprint that determines how this will be achieved based on
Republican principles. Irish society at the moment, both North and
South, is open to change. Most importantly, I believe it is open to
Republican ideas, because of the failure of the status quo to solve our
country’s problems for almost a century.
Unfortunately because of the path taken by our former comrades in the
Provisionals, what is most absent at this juncture, is the leadership
and direction that has traditionally come from Republicanism.
Unfortunately if we don’t act quickly, public opinion could easily be
steered towards the emerging “Agreed Ireland” agenda. We must be
extremely alert to these dangers. We must develop a comprehensive
position that sets out the specifics as to how a ‘United Ireland’ will
be agreed and by whom. If this is not forthcoming, we are on the road to
another doomed settlement:
The Good Friday Agreement Number Two – the all-Ireland version.
It is an Independent Sovereign Irish Republic that we strive towards,
not some useless reform of the status quo, nor do we want, what one
might call, a more tolerable version of two Partition States, nor Irish
Unity under an extended version of the 26-county vindictive Free State.
We are out for the Republic, the same Irish Republic whose flame burned
strong in the hearts of these heroes named here at this Memorial Garden.
These Volunteers knew and understood when they joined the Republican
Movement that their allegiance was to the 1916 Proclamation and the
all-Ireland Republic. We, also seek the install a constitution for the
true all-Ireland Republic in the image and legitimate line of that
timeless document. Like all those martyred Patriots who have gone before
us, we uphold the right of the whole island of Ireland to be a Sovereign
Independent State. Nothing less is acceptable.
Posted by Jim on
Sean McNeela and Tony D’Arcy died on hunger strike against the
criminalisation of republican prisoners at St Bricin’s Military
Hospital in Dublin, 78 years ago this week.
When Sean Russell became Chief of Staff of the IRA in 1938, he
immediately appointed Sean McNeela as OC (Officer in Command) England
and Tony Darcy as OC of the Western Command.
After a few months of tense activity preparing for the forthcoming
bombing campaign, Sean McNeela was arrested and sentenced to nine months
imprisonment. He returned to Ireland in 1939 and was appointed Director
of Publicity and started to produce a weekly internal newspaper called
War News. Sean was arrested three weeks later with members of the IRA’s
Radio Broadcast Staff and imprisoned in Mountjoy Jail. He was OC of the
prisoners from February 1940 and shared a cell with Tony Darcy, who had
been arrested at a GHQ meeting in 40 Parnell Square in Dublin. Darcy was
serving a three-month sentence for refusing to either account for his
movements or give his name and address when he was arrested.
A crisis developed in the prison when Nicky Doherty, of Julianstown,
County Meath, was sentenced to five years penal servitude. Instead of
being transferred to Arbour Hill (where other republican prisoners had
political status), he was lodged in the criminal section of Mountjoy.
Sean, as OC of republican prisoners, met the governor of the jail and
requested that Nicky be transferred to Arbour Hill on the grounds that
he was a political prisoner. The request was ignored.
Sean and his prison council met to consider the situation: it was
decided they would go on hunger strike until the demand was accepted.
Four men volunteered to go on hunger strike with McNeela and Darcy. They
were Tomas Mac Curtain, Cork (only son of the martyred Lord Mayor); Jack
Plunkett, Dublin (son of Count Plunkett and brother of Joseph Mary
Plunkett); Tommy Grogan, Drogheda, County Louth; and Michael Traynor,
Belfast (later Ard-Runai of Sinn Fein).
Seven days after the commencement of the hunger strike, Special Branch
officers came to take Sean to Collins Barracks for trial before the
Special Court. Sean refused to go. They told him they’d take him by
force. A hasty meeting of the prison council was held to decide on how
to resist.
Barricades were hastily erected in the D Wing of the jail. Beds, tables
and mattresses were piled on top of each other and general preparations
were made to resist the removal of Sean, their OC.
A large contingent of the Gardai arrived, together with the Special
Branch at full strength. The Gardai charged the barricades with batons;
the Special Branch men kept to the rear and looked on while the Gardai
were forced to retire by prisoners armed with chair legs.
The most effective weapon possessed by the prisoners was a quantity of
lime, liquefied by some Mayo men and flung in the faces of the charging
Gardai. It was reminiscent of the evictions of the Land League days.
Finally, the fire hydrants were brought into use and the force of the
water from the hoses broke down everything before them. The barricade
was toppled and the prisoners, drenched to the skin, could not resist
the pressure of the water; they were forced to take cover in the cells.
Tony Darcy and Sean McNeela got into a cell and closed the door. After a
few minutes it was burst open and in rushed about five Gardai. Tony,
standing under the window facing the door, raised his hand but was
silenced by a blow of a baton across the face that felled him senseless.
Sean was beaten across the cell. Blood teemed from his face and head.
These wounds on Sean and Tony never healed until they died.
Sean was taken away that evening and tried and sentenced by the Special
Court. He was charged with “conspiracy to usurp a function of
government” and sentenced to two years. He had been running a pirate
radio station when arrested.
On the eve of St Patrick’s Day, all six hunger strikers were removed to
St Bricin’s Military Hospital.
On the 54th night of the strike, Tony Darcy cried out, “Sean, I’m
dying”. Sean replied, “I’m coming, Tony”. The other prisoners appealed
to Sean not to get out of bed as he was very weak and they felt it would
kill him but Tony’s cry pierced Sean’s heart and he got up and staggered
across the room to his friend and comrade.
Later that night, Tony was taken out to a private ward. The IRA
Volunteer from Headford, County Galway, died the following night.
The day following Tony’s removal from the ward, Sean’s uncle, Mick
Kilroy, a Fianna Fail TD, came to see him.
Alas, he didn’t come to give a kinsman’s help, but attacked Sean for
“daring to embarrass de Valera” the “heaven-sent leader” by such action
and demanded that he give up his hunger strike at once. Sean ordered him
out of the room.
The next day, 19 April, Sean McNeela, IRA Volunteer from Ballycroy,
County Mayo, died.
The strike had been called off the day before by the IRA’s GHQ but word
had not got into the prison in time to save Sean.