Damn your concessions

Tony Taylor, Gabriel Mackle & Neil Hegarty – Three Irish republican prisoners among dozens but what do they have in common? Today they are all victims of internment! Some might say oh they had their “licences revoked” that isn’t internment, they obviously did something wrong, broke their conditions; sure they don’t just throw you in jail for nothing! Well to those people I say this - Yes they have had their licences revoked, but ask yourselves why? Is there is a reason? Is it good enough in 2017 to have men thrown in Jail and not give an explanation? Is putting a man in jail after a sentence served and not giving a reason, not internment? To me, it is absolutely internment. In the case of Tony Taylor who has now been in Jail for nearly 2 years, no acceptable reason has been forthcoming, citing a generic “risk to security” is not a reason, it is an assumption and not a fact, it is not a strong enough assumption to take away someone’s liberty. The same goes for Gabrie

Why do we hate Bono & Geldof? I have mentioned before in my blog that Ireland is suffering from National Stockholm syndrome and that there is an inferiority complex issue, no one illustrates my point more adequately than the much maligned and Irish hate figure Bob Geldof. Irish people get outraged at Geldof; his continual revisionism is downright offensive to some people. Geldof is an attention seeker, a side effect of dealing with a major inferiority complex, paradoxically people who suffer with an inferiority complex often times manifest symptoms of a superiority complex which would explain his arrogance. For me I think Bob Geldof exemplifies perfectly the phenomena known as “Cultural Cringe” Cultural Cringe is an internalised inferiority complex which causes people to dismiss their own culture as inferior to the cultures of other countries. Bob Geldof has certainly shown this in abundance. His handing back the freedom of Dublin, due to his outrage at sharing s

Today, as in years past, we again gather to pay tribute to the memory of five republicans, who made the ultimate sacrifice here in Edentubber, as a result of a premature explosion on this lonely mountainside in the early hours of Monday, 11th November, 1957. While later tragedies would sadly eclipse it in number, at the time this would be the single biggest loss of life incurred by the IRA since the bitter counter-revolution of 1922 – 23.  A newspaper at the time, the Newry Reporter, would describe a sad and devastating scene in the aftermath of the explosion: “As the early morning mists cleared from the rocky defile abounding in that area, the grim gaunt evidence of the earlier hours was visible. The blast was heard over 5 miles away. Little remained of the building, but a heap of scattered rubble. A small portion of one wall was still standing. Wood splinters and masonry and parts of shattered furniture littered fields up to 150 yards away. Four Thompson sub-machine guns and am

Shampoppy! So having a casual look through Facebook, as you do on a cold Tuesday night, I couldn’t help but see the interest in Leo Varadkar and his sporting a glitzy Shampoppy in Leinster house today. For those of you who don’t know, the leader of the Freestate today donned on his lapel a red poppy which commemorates the British Army but to “paddy” it up a bit, it was surrounded by a Shamrock! Why is this alarming? Well for many people they still live in the days when even the Freestate wouldn’t be so obvious or offensive to the people of Ireland as to commemorate an Army that has murdered, tortured, harassed and mutilated its people. The idea floating about now is to try and rehabilitate the British army and to get the general public to accept a notion that “our men” died in its ranks and so, therefore, we should commemorate. Even PSF in later years have attended British Army commemorations and who can forget the image of Alex Maskey laying a wreath at a British Army ceno

Transcript below of the oration I delivered for the 100th Anniversary commemoration on the death of Irish Patriot Thomas Ashe. Oration was delivered in Duleek, Co. Meath on 23rd September 2017 Today is the 100th Anniversary of the death of the great Irish Patriot Thomas Ashe, he was only 32 years old when he died on Hungerstrike. Please see below the transcript of the oration I gave in memory of him at the 100th Anniversary commemoration, organised by Duleek Hunger Strike monument committee. The First Republican hunger-striker! That is how Thomas Ashe is remembered by Republicans today, he does not just stand out in Irish history as being the first hunger striker to die; he was so much more than that. Thomas was born on 12th January, 1885, the seventh of ten children to Gregory and Ellen Ashe. Thomas was born in another period of upheaval in Ireland, as the land agitation across the country threatened British rule. He grew up in the townland of Kinnard, near Dingle in Kerry.

Tout, informer, snitch, rat, grass and I am sure there are more terms used, all have the same meaning in Ireland, someone who gives information to the British forces, some of these people may be involved themselves in the acts they inform on, they may work closely with the people they will one day see imprisoned, or worse killed. Some may be just local snoops, 50p touts as they are known In Armagh, and they give anything ranging from very valuable information, such as surveying the movements of someone of interest to the Police, to informing that someone had an argument with their wife. Then we have what is known as the super-grass, this is an informer on speed! The Super grass is generally someone who is involved with those they inform on, someone who has been around a while and is trusted; they are not your commoner garden 50p tout. What makes them “super” is the sizable numbers of people they implicate, the trials that follow are usually show trials, with the super grass divul

Linda Nash and Helen Deery are now facing their third night sleeping on a floor in the Museum of Free Derry. Linda and Helen are both Derry women, both of whom are pensioners, both lost family members at the hands of the British Army, and both are fiercely opposed to their brothers names being listed in the museum alongside the British Army and RUC. It's simple for me and only right that we should support them. The museum has attempted to pass over the objections claiming it's just a chronology of everyone who died in Derry during the Troubles, while that could be plausible and surely will be believed by the gulpins who tend to believe anything for an easy life it's clear cut, just like the wall in Glasnevin, which lists volunteers of the Irish Republic alongside those who died defending the British Empire that it is most certainly a memorial. Over the last 20 years an upsurge in the normalisation of British rule has been rightly nauseating. The British Army and RUC ca

Book Review - By their Valour  The preface sets out the agenda of the entire book very well, giving a clear understanding to the reader of why this subject matter is so important and further the authors explain that this book was written in the spirit of recording history not setting out who are the heroines and villains. In Ireland with our different political leanings we have a tendency towards understanding and reading our own history and researching the merits of our own ideological heroes. Whilst not preachy or saccharine this book encourages us to examine the lives of women from our own tradition and also those who would most certainly be our political opposites and if not using too strong a language our sworn enemies. The book covers the last 100 years or so of female political figures in Irish history. Starting in 1911, charting events through the 1913 lockout, 1916 and beyond it gives us information and background on many key Republican women most of which you wi