Posted by Jim on August 23, 2015
Over 500 files had been made available to historians in Belfast this
week as part of the declassification of government files dating from the
mid-1980s.
Some 150 files have been largely opened but with some material redacted
(partially censored), while 108 files have been “fully closed” for a
further 56 years (completely censored). The bulk of those files relate
to prison matters or what the British government termed “civil
disobedience” or security matters.
One key file opened in Belfast claimed Margaret Thatcher signed the
Anglo-Irish Agreement in part because she wanted to go down in history
as the person who solved both the problems of Ireland and Rhodesia (now
Zimbabwe).
Robert Andrews, the most senior civil servant in the British
government’s Northern Ireland Office (NIO), wrote in 1985 of Thatcher’s
personal motivation in pressing ahead with the agreement.
In the memo, Andrews set out the background to the Anglo-Irish Agreement
as it was just weeks away from being signed.
It provides a uniquely candid contemporaneous view of the reasons why
Thatcher signed the agreement with Dublin which infuriated both
unionists and republicans.
Andrew said that in 1983, the British government concluded that the
IRA’s armed campaign and a deteriorating economic situation requiring
heavy spending “could not be allowed to continue” and that a “major
effort” should be made to resolve the problem. He added: “The Irish
government under Dr FitzGerald were worried about the alienation of the
minority in the North and the rise of Sinn Fein and were ready to
co-operate in seeking solutions.”
The detailed memo then turned to Mrs Thatcher’s close personal
involvement in the process, and the influence of the previous 26 County
Taoiseach, Charles Haughey.
“The Prime Minister is attracted by the idea of going down in history as
the person who solved both the Rhodesian and the Irish problems (an idea
suggested to her by Mr Haughey); but she does not want to be accused by
the unionists (with whom her sympathies instinctively lie) of a sell-out
to Dublin.”
He said British officials wanted an agreement “for its own sake” because
a failure to reach agreement would cause serious problems in their
relations with the USA “and lead to increased support for NORAID [the
Irish Northern Aid Committee]”.
However, he noted that Thatcher did not want to be accused of a
sell-out to Dublin by the unionists “with whom her sympathies
instinctively lie”. Ultimately, Andrew, who had Thatcher’s support,
said the 1985 deal had to be crafted to encourage nationalists to
support British political institutions and the Crown forces but without
alienating unionists or involving an “unworkable” degree of
“interference” by Dublin in the North’s affairs.
Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald “had a genuine desire to make an historic
contribution to resolving the Irish problem”, he said, but that unionist
hostility would be significant.
However, he went on: “On the other hand, the consequences of not
[underlined] having an agreement would be extremely serious.
“The main plank of our present policy would have collapsed and the
collapse would be a body blow for [Sinn Fein’s nationalist rivals, the
SDLP], who have placed all their faith in the Anglo-Irish talks.
“It would be a gift for Sinn Fein who would regard it as proof that
political means produce nothing and that violence is the only answer.
“Unionists on the other hand would be triumphal and in no mood for
concessions to the minority.”
Concluding that a deal had to be done, he said that “I believe we are
now too far committed to draw back”.
WARNING OVER IRISH
But just after the agreement was signed, British officials found
themselves quickly struggling with the new dispensation.
One note from the NIO claimed that using the Irish language in an
official capacity in the Six Counties could lead to “rabid” behaviour.
The NIO warned against “sentimentalising” the value of Irish language
and culture. One official complained: “The conventional pluralism of
Northern Ireland public policy will be shattered and we shall end up
with two rabidly British and rabidly Irish communities … I see no
reason to believe that there is any route to internal harmony which does
not involve wider, indeed post-national identities.”
NIO officials said the views of the Dublin government on the issue were
“reactionary”, meaning regressive.
“It is only the UK which is in a position to take a properly
comprehensive view and it really cannot do so if we sentimentalise about
the value of Irish language and culture.
“The reality – and a very good thing too – is that Ireland and Britain
are both sharers in mid-Atlantic society.
“It is always possible for the Robin Flowers (an English poet who
translated poetry from Irish) of this world to love romantic Ireland
dead and gone. But it would be disastrous if that spirit played any part
in UK public policy-making.”
‘FOREIGN LANGUAGE’
The files also contain a complaint by the prominent human rights
campaigner and prison chaplain Monsignor Raymond Murray that he had been
ordered to stop using Irish during a pastoral visit to Long Kesh Prison
in 1985.
On November 22 1985 – just a week after the signing of the Anglo-Irish
Agreement – the then Fr Murray complained to the then British Direct
Ruler Tom King about the incident.
When Fr Murray protested that he regarded the ban on Irish “as an
infringement of freedom of conscience and cultural rights”, he was
informed that the prison governor had instructed that his visit “must
not be conducted in a foreign language”.
The priest asked King to confirm whether visits in Irish were
permissible and, if so, to make this clear to the staff. “Otherwise”, he
added, “it leaves the situation open to accusations of pure bigotry
against Catholics.” The files do not record any direct response on the
issue.
Posted by Jim on
from The Road to Rebellion by Mike McCormack
In 1911, near 26,000 families lived in Dublin’s inner-city tenements; 20,000 in former apartments divided into one room flats. They died in great numbers from cholera, typhus, influenza and TB. Requests for improvements to unsanitary conditions were ignored by the Dublin Corporation since 16 of its members owned tenements in the slums and actively prevented enforcement of regulations against their properties. Other counties were just as bad as low wages forced workers to the cheap life in the slums to which those fortunate enough to have jobs returned, after putting in 17-hour days.
Early attempts at organizing labor unions had been made by James Connolly in 1896, but with limited success since workers were so intimidated by management. In 1903, Connolly accepted an invitation to work with the American labor movement and emigrated, ending up in Troy, NY. Then in 1908, along came Big Jim Larkin. He began to harvest the seeds Connolly had sewn, organizing all workers, Protestant and Catholic, regardless of trade, into one large Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU). Meanwhile, in America, Connolly was involved in the International Workers of the World promoting the idea of one union for all workers allowing the use of sympathy strikes to empower action. He published a newspaper aimed at the Irish in America’s labor market and included articles on events in Ireland. Noting Larkin’s struggle, he soon realized that Ireland was where his heart had always been and he returned in 1910. He settled in Belfast to help Larkin organize his union along the lines of the IWW. In a year’s time, Connolly moved his family to Dublin and, with Larkin and William O’Brien, helped to organize the Irish Trade Union Congress and Labor Party. They were able to secure wage increases for some workers, but the idea of one giant union was beginning to worry employers. By 1913, 30,000 workers had signed up making the General Worker’s union Ireland’s largest.
Enter William Martin Murphy – an example of how an Irish Catholic could succeed by working within the system of the oppressor. He owned the Dublin Tramway System as well as the largest newspaper, department store and hotel. He claimed that he was not against craft unions, but opposed Larkin’s idea where workers would control everything, even the government. The union’s success was from sympathy strikes because when all workers belonged to one union, it was easy to get strikers to walk off related jobs. In 1912, more than 400 nervous employers responded to Murphy’s call to form the Dublin Employers’ Federation Ltd. (DEF) to break Larkin’s Union by refusing to recognize the ITGWU. Murphy demanded that his workers reapply for their jobs and a condition of acceptance was a pledge to shun the union. This act of challenging the worker’s right to organize provoked the greatest labor struggle in the history of western Europe. Larkin and Connolly saw this as a death threat to their union and knew that they had to act! They called a walkout by Murphy’s tram workers on 26 August 1913 – the first day of the Dublin horse show! The workers walked off the job and Murphy fired them all! He brought in scab labor protected by the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP).
A strike is a weapon to gain concessions, but this strike sought no concessions, it was a matter of self-defense. Clashes between workers and police-protected scabs broke out in various places during which police baton-charged the workers. A warrant was issued for Larkin’s arrest claiming he incited the riots. Larkin promised to address his followers the next day from the balcony of Murphy’s hotel. On 31 August, police surrounded the hotel and allowed no one to enter except one elderly clergyman. It was Larkin! Disguised by the great patriot and Abbey Theater actress, Helena Molony, Larkin appeared on the balcony, pulled off a fake beard and addressed the huge crowd to wild cheers. Police forced their way up to the balcony and arrested Larkin. Then they baton-charged the crowd, killing two and injuring hundreds. Larkin called for sympathy strikes against all parts of Murphy’s DEF and the merchants fired all members of Larkin’s union and replaced them with scabs and unemployed workers from England! This preposterous act became known as the Great Dublin Lockout. By 29 September, more than 25,000 workers were locked out of their jobs. With the help of Countess Markievicz, Larkin set up food kitchens at union headquarters in Liberty Hall to feed the striking workers families and the AOH in America sent more than a $1,000. ($25,000. today) to striking members of the AOH American Alliance.
Then, Connolly met Jack White, a disaffected former British Army officer, who proposed the creation of a worker’s militia to protect picket lines from assaults by the DMP and gangs in the pay of the employers. The notion of a Citizen Army, drilled by White, was enthusiastically accepted as White stated, to put manners on the police. In 1913, the Countess helped White form the Irish Citizen Army which would become a far more significant force than either of them ever planned. The Citizen Army drilled and trained at Liberty Hall and even purchased uniforms and arms to alert the DMP that they could no longer attack workers with impunity. However, despite the assistance provided to the union, as winter winds began to blast the tenements, it was evident that they could not sustain the fight and starving workers began to drift back to work on the employers’ terms. In January 1914, Larkin conceded, we are beaten. But they had achieved something more significant. They opposed Murphy’s attempt to destroy the union and in that they succeeded. Plus they had created a fighting force in the Citizen Army that would soon join with the IRB, Irish Volunteers, Hibernian Rifles, Cumann na mBan and Fianna Eireann to become the Irish Republican Army and strike for Ireland’s freedom on Easter Monday, 1916.
Posted by Jim on August 22, 2015
By Sean Bresnahan
Maghaberry is an injustice that undermines the very fabric of our
society, no man or woman should be subject to what goes on in this
hideous place. It should be an international outrage but instead is for
the most part ignored by those with the power to effect change, those
who have bought into the new establishment in Ireland.
Whether for good or bad, for right or wrong, they’ve bought into it all.
And the ‘all’ in question does not just equate to power-sharing, the
equality agenda or any other ‘positive’ relating to the ‘new
dispensation’, it also involves Diplock Courts, internment, secret
evidence, political policing and the torturing of Irish political
prisoners – prisoners such as Gavin Coyle, who has recently entered his
fourth year in solitary confinement.
By any definition that amounts to torture. 23 hours a day on your own is
mental torture. Those who sit in a government at Stormont that permit
this need to examine their conscience. For years they’ve trotted out the
bogus line ‘Raymond McCartney’s working on this behind the scenes’. Well
what has he achieved?
Raymond and his party would do well to remember how this approach was
rejected by none other than themselves when trotted out by the Catholic
Hierarchy and the SDLP during the Blanket Protest. If it was considered
an unacceptable line 30 years ago then how can it be seen as any
different today? It is a token line and a token approach, a point best
illustrated by the fact there is no change we can point to that suggests
this argument has any merit.
Gavin Coyle is over 4 years in solitary confinement and will no doubt
see out his time in the same condition. That this doesn’t register with
the powers-that-be, with those who claim to represent us, speaks volumes
about their participation in the British system. They told us they were
going in to create meaningful change but it seems the only thing
changing is their bank balance.
There is a responsibility on those who participate in this system, and
legitimise it by their presence at the heart of its institutions, to
ensure the brutality ongoing at Maghaberry is given no place or quarter
in this society, the beatings, the abuse, the horror has to stop. It has
no place in our country today – it never had.
If what goes on behind those gates were carried out in some dictatorship
no doubt we’d hear the great and the good speak out, it would be
condemned vociferously and rightly so. But not here, not in our own
country, not when it is done to and on our own. Why do we never hear
this alluded to by our politicians, why is this brushed under the
carpet, why do they not want us to know what is being done in our name?
The time for action is long past, those in positions of authority, who
have achieved high office on the back of a mandate given them by the
Irish people, can no longer sit back as though this were not happening.
They can no longer watch on through covered eyes in the hope this will
just go away. And they have to take responsibility for the situation,
why else have they been elected if not to do so?
Whether we agree or not with the politics of those held in this gaol
there is a basic onus, common to us all, as right-thinking men and
women, that abuse of human rights not be tolerated. Human rights are
sacrosanct. Silence equals complicity, toleration equates to association
and facilitation. Who would honestly want to facilitate and be
associated with this?
* Sean Bresnahan is a founding member of the Thomas Ashe Society in
Omagh and current PRO of the 1916 Societies
Posted by Jim on
The failure of the British Ministry of Defence to trace any of the
British soldiers present at the time of the 1971 Ballymurphy Massacre
has infuriated the families of the victims.
British defence officials claimed they had “not yet been successful” in
tracing any of the dozens of paratroopers present in Ballymurphy in
August 1971 when 11 people lost their lives.
A letter sent to the families of the victims read: “Forty seven letters
have been sent out to individuals and responses are awaited.” They also
claimed they have been unable to “uncover any records within its
control” to understand the operation.
Ten people were shot dead in the area in the three days after internment
was introduced, among them a priest and a mother-of-eight. An 11th
person died of a heart attack following a confrontation involving a
soldier.
Adding to the sense of farce, the letter from the British Ministry of
Defence went on to state that the “member of staff assigned to
Ballymurphy has been reassigned to another inquest temporarily” and that
the PSNI had advised that its resources for the legacy inquest process
“are finite.”
However Eileen McKeown, whose father Joseph Corr was one of the 11
victims, said the soldiers’ names were on a list handed to the coroner
in the original inquests in 1972.
She added: “We know for fact that the now scrapped HET (Historical
Enquiries Team) has traced soldiers from these lists which would have
been handed in at each inquest. We believe that Chief Constable George
Hamilton is ignoring the families just like all his predecessors.”
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams expressed his “deep concern and anger”
after being shown a copy of the letter.
Mr Adams said the matter deserved “the urgent attention” of Taoiseach
Enda Kenny.
He added: “The deliberate withholding of resources and the failure to
speedily identify the soldiers present in Ballymurphy is evidence of a
British government and MoD deliberately frustrating the families
efforts.”
HIU DOUBTS
Relatives of the Ballymurphy victims have also expressed concern at
developments in the setting up of the new Historical Investigations
Unit (HIU), which is supposed to take on outstanding cases from the
Police Ombudsman and the HET.
Proposals for the HIU were revealed as part of the Stormont House
Agreement last December. Talks between the Stormont parties about
legislation to set up the independent body have continued in recent
weeks, and a ‘Director Designate’ could be named shortly to head the
body.
Janet Donnelly, whose father Joseph Murphy was one of those shot dead by
the British army, attended a recent workshop on the HIU.
She believes no member of the British Crown forces, past or present,
should be given a role in the body, about which little has yet been
revealed.
“Where would the independence be?” she said. “Where would the trust be?
There would be no trust.”
“I was not the only person with that opinion, a lot of people feel the
same way and I think victims and families should be asked what they want
and it has to be totally independent.”
Posted by Jim on August 21, 2015
from The Road to Rebellion by Mike McCormack
As the American Irish and their Irish-American sons and daughters coalesced into a wage-earning community of Diaporadoes, organizations like the Ancient Order of Hibernians were formed in 1836 from early Ribbon societies to defend Catholic values. They also nursed a dream of an independent Ireland and maintained links with their Ribbon mentors. In the 1850s, several Ribbon groups in Ireland adopted the AOH name and facing extreme anti-Catholic bias, became effectively a green version of the Orange Order. While still supporting Irish freedom, they became more religious-oriented than the militant Irish republican groups around them. However, in America many Hibernians maintained dual membership in the Fenian Society which had sprung from the AOH Emmet Monument Society. These organizations remained allies as the American AOH raised funds and political awareness to support Irish independence and the Fenian successor, Clan na Gael, supported a military approach in union with the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). The AOH also created a military sub-committee called the Hibernian Rifles to drill and train and serve as a protective honor guard for AOH functions.
The AOH in Ireland eventually became a political force supporting the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) and Home Rule (a peaceful attempt at limited self-government under the Crown) while the AOH in America grew as a benevolent, but more nationalist society. Administrative and conceptual differences emerged and in 1886 the Order split between the AOH Board of Erin (BOE) and the AOH in America. A number of divisions in Ireland, more militant than the BOE leadership, confirmed affiliation with the American AOH calling themselves the AOH American Alliance (AA). Around 1907 a split occurred between the BOE and AA over registration as a Friendly Society of the British Empire. The BOE continued to support Redmond’s IPP while the AA and the AOH in America remained allied with Clan Na Gael and the IRB indicating that the split was clearly between physical force and constitutional nationalists. The American AOH was also regarded as being less sectarian as it had opened membership to more than native-born Irish so that Irish-American sons could join and limited honorary membership was offered to benefactors. John J. Walsh of the Irish Volunteers in Cork commented on the two Hibernian groups in Ireland saying, They were in opposition on many matters, but the AA was the more national.
AA National Director John Joseph Scollan, noting that the American AOH provided for a military sub-committee, organized a Hibernian Rifles company in each Irish division. He wrote, I started a unit in each division and succeeded in getting about 20 men to join in each. These were all highly selected men. At this time the total number of members of the divisions (in Dublin) were 80, 100 and 150, approximately. The first recruiting ads appeared in James Connolly’s newspaper The Worker on 22 November 1913. It stated that membership was open to all Catholic Irishmen of good character however, Scollan claimed that the Hibernian Rifles was non-sectarian and that its constitution did not bar anyone from joining. It was a semi-public organization open to all religions. The AA national board was supposed to be in command of the Hibernian Rifles but Scollan, as Commandant, directed and controlled the force which consisted of a ranking system of riflemen, captain, vice commandant and commandant. Each company selected its own officers. J.J. Walsh was made Vice Commandant and other officers were Captains Breslin, Garret and Sean Millroy. Sympathetic Irish ex-British soldiers provided instruction in foot drill and military training in the Hibernian Hall at 28 North Frederick St.
Recruitment was from AA Divisions and ads in their newspaper The Hibernian which was published weekly from June 1915 until April 1916 with a national circulation of about 2,500 copies. The Hibernian also serialized a ‘Roll of Honor’ listing those who had been killed, wounded, imprisoned, deported or served with exclusion orders for republican activity. The paper also carried notices for the Irish Volunteers. The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) kept intelligence files on members of the Order and the DMP applied to the attorney general to have the paper suppressed since it was not registered in accordance with Newspapers Libel and Registration act of 1881.
With the rise of the unionist Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), Scollan detected a feeling abroad that something of a counteraction should take place and this resulted in recruiting for our units becoming much easier. By late 1913 the Hibernian Rifle units had been established in Armagh, Belfast, Castlebar, Cork, Dingle and Dundalk, each with a membership of 30 or 35 from existing AA Division. During the 1913 lockout the Hibernian Rifles sided with the striking workers as many members belonged to Connolly and Larkins’s union. Even those AA who were not part of the Union raised money for the strikers. The BOE and Catholic bishops both actively condemned the strike and supported the employers. Scollan applied to the AOH in America to support the strikers and received more than a $1,000. ($25,000. today). This money was used to augment the strike pay of Hibernian Rifles members of the union ensuring strong ties with Connolly’s Citizen Army.
After Redmond split the Volunteers by offering them to the British Army to fight in WWI, the Irish Volunteers were free from the influence of the IPP and the BOE Hibernians. As a result the Hibernian Rifles and Citizen Army developed a new attitude toward the IRB-dominated Irish Volunteers and all three groups were united in anti-recruiting activity, attending parades and public meetings organized by Connolly, the IRB and the Irish Volunteers.
Initially the Hibernian Rifles had no arms, but after the formation of the UVF, Scollan wrote to the AOH in America seeking arms. He recorded, They did not supply any and we received a supply of American Military text books. However, in 1914, with money from America, they soon found a source of arms. Scollan wrote, There was a division of Enniskillen Fusiliers based in Dollymount and from them we were able to purchase about one hundred rifles. Notoriously underpaid British soldiers gladly sold their arms as they would be issued new ones. The Brits would see those rifles again during the Easter Rising – in the arms of Hibernians and aimed at them.