Posted by Jim on July 30, 2017
Irish News Editorial. Belfast. Saturday, July 29, 2017
The High Court ruling by Mr. Justice Seamus Treacy yesterday was not only an indictment of the PSNI’s approach to a case involving allegations of collusion and murder on an enormous scale but also a vindication of bereaved relatives who have fought long and hard for answers.
It is a significant judgment which once again places the spotlight on the investigation of legacy killings and raises questions about the police service’s commitment to ensuring the full truth about historic cases is finally revealed.
The notorious ‘Glenanne Gang’ operated during the 1970s and 1980s and are believed to be responsible for around 130 sectarian murders, including the Miami Showband massacre and many other atrocities.
Crucially, this UVF group also contained members of the RUC and UDR and allegations of security-force collusion go to the heart of this disturbing case.
As we know, families have long been frustrated in their attempts to discover the full circumstances of how relatives died and the extent of the collusion between police officers, serving soldiers and loyalist paramilitaries.
Many murders, particularly from the early years of the Troubles, were inadequately investigated at the time and although it was not perfect, the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) set up by Hugh Orde was at least a process that allowed for the reopening of cases and any available information provided to relatives.
The HET investigation into the activities of the Glenanne Gang was 80 per cent completed when the PSNI decided to halt the team’s work.
This decision was sharply criticized by Mr. Justice Treacy yesterday who ruled that the police failure to conduct an overarching examination of the extent of state collusion with the Glenanne Gang was “fundamentally inconsistent” with its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.
The judge was particularly scathing about former chief constable Matt Baggott and expressed “very grave concern” at decisions apparently taken by him to “dismantle and abandon” long held principles.
“There is a real risk that this will fuel in the minds of the families the fear that the state has resiled from its public commitments because it is not genuinely committed to addressing the unresolved concerns that the families have of state involvement,” the judge said.
Given that bereaved families have experienced so many setbacks, delays and barriers in their search for the truth, yesterday’s legal victory came as something of a surprise.
There was no hiding the delight that many felt at this judgment but it is also intolerable that people who have suffered so much have to fight so hard for a proper investigation into more than 100 murders.
It is clear the families will not give up but the onus is on the state to fulfil its obligations to the truth.
Fr. Sean Mc Manus
Posted by Jim on July 28, 2017
Greetings LAOH & AOH,
Prayer service for Freddie Crockett,
On Sunday Division #35 will be having a prayer service at Marine Park Funeral Home at 7:30 p.m. I will be conducting the ritual that is in the Blue Book.
I ask all officer’s & members to please join me and wear your office jewel & bring a sash if you have one thank you.
Eddie V.
President
Posted by Jim on July 27, 2017
Martin O’Donoghue (NUI, Galway) argues for a four nations approach to the history of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, to understand its rise and fall, and connection to major historical movements
Although best known today as an Irish diaspora organisation in North America, the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) was a major nationalist organisation on the island of Ireland in the early twentieth century. The major stem of the organisation was the AOH-BOE, controlled by the Board of Erin (BOE) which ran the Order in Ireland and Great Britain. It was this organisation which provided an organisational bulwark to the home rule movement on both sides of the Irish Sea and offers an important lens through which to view the decline of home rule in a four nations context.
Devlin’s leadership
In 1905, the Irish Party MP Joe Devlin became the Order’s President. Under his guidance and that of National Secretary John Dillon Nugent (later an MP himself), the AOH-BOE quickly spread throughout northern Irish counties and Scotland, expansion in both areas apparently aided by the remnants of Ribbonism and an easing of the Catholic hierarchy’s hostility to the organisation.[1] The Order provided an organisational boost for home rule and it was closely associated with the Irish Party from this point. Widespread growth in the rest of Ireland accelerated after the introduction of National Health Insurance Act in 1911 made the AOH an ‘approved society’. Its insurance section grew exponentially from this point although ‘private’ membership also remained high.
While the United Irish League (primarily an agrarian organisation in Ireland) also spread throughout the UK, the AOH had a number of significant features across the four nations. In Ireland, the AOH-BOE was interlinked with the Irish Party; it counted MPs and councillors among its members and enjoyed voting rights at selection conventions for parliamentary candidates. Hibernian activities in Scotland were given special coverage in the Order’s monthly Hibernian Journal under the heading ‘St. Mungo’s Chimes’. The Scottish Order was distinctive in that its Ladies’ Auxiliary was first established there and remained more vibrant than in the other nations.
Hibernianism has been documented in Wales from an early stage, but the AOH-BOE in the early twentieth century was small.[2] England was home to considerably more Hibernians, but the organisation was certainly less proportionally significant than was the case in Scotland. In August 1917, the Hibernian Journal printed membership figures which recorded 10,933 ‘private members’ in Scotland out of a total membership of 50,866. There were just 2,793 such members in England whiles Wales could only boast 547 Hibernians, all in Glamorgan.[3] In England, divisions were organised chiefly in centres of Irish population although numbers were particularly high in the north-east as 1,300 members were reported in Durham. In Scotland, membership density was greatest in western regions such as Renfrew, Dumbarton, Lanark and Glasgow.
Decline
The Order was set to enjoy a prominent role in a Home Rule Ireland; however, the years from 1914 onwards saw it go into an unprecedented decline from which the Order would never recover on this side of the Atlantic.
The 1916 Rising and its aftermath caused enormous damage to the home rule movement generally. While Devlin and John Redmond succeeded in convincing a conference of Ulster nationalists on 23 June to accept temporary exclusion of six northern counties from a proposed home rule settlement, fissures in northern nationalism were opened as the AOH and the Irish Party were increasingly challenged; a number of divisions published resolutions disapproving of the decision. While the whole scheme soon collapsed, the AOH was left to defend its actions, emphasising that Redmond had only agreed to temporary partition.[4]
As decline set in, the nexus of Hibernian and Irish Party interest meant that leaving the party almost necessarily meant leaving the Order. Enlistment in the British Army had already damaged membership, especially in Britain. This had serious knock-on effects for the Order in falling contributions and the risk of further claims on its funds after the war.
Although the Order had been accused of violence against suffragists in 1912, as Diane Urquhart has shown, the AOH was perhaps the most significant home rule organisation for women’s activism in the 1918 general election campaign.[5] The Order’s Ladies’ Auxiliary updated electoral registers and canvassed, especially for Devlin who defeated Éamon de Valera in West Belfast.[6] However, the Irish Party was swept aside by Sinn Féin in December 1918 and the AOH was left on the wrong side of nationalist politics.
Conclusion
Despite the variation in membership across the different countries, in-depth analysis of the AOH from four nations perspective promises a crucial aid to understanding home rule and diaspora politics in the period. The Order had some concerns which were peculiar to it in each of the countries and its social activities and Catholic ethos helped it to survive for many years. However, the overarching association with home rule proved disastrous in this period as the Irish Party collapsed and Irish nationalist politics transformed at home and in Britain.
Posted by Jim on
An Official Communication
from the Uniformed Firefighters Association
#40 of 2017
REMEMBER TO VOTE & VOTE NO TO NYS CON CON
Voter Registration Deadlines. September 12, 2017 State and Local Primary deadlines. Mail registration (NY Election Law Section 5-210(3)). Application must be postmarked no later than August 18th and received by a board of elections no later than August 23rd to be eligible to vote in the Primary. NYS Voter registration page can be found at http://www.elections.ny.gov/votingregister.html. Reminder to vote NO for the NYS Con Con. Please visit the UFA website at http://www.ufanyc.org/con_con.