In this issue
01/27/2012
1. 24 hour protest fast by Republican prisoners
2. Republican POW denied release to attend father�s funeral
3. Rioting erupts in Derry following RUC raids
4. Martin McGuinness afraid of debate on Scottish independence debate
5. Cork protest in support of Republican POWs
6. Protest outside Craigavon court
7. No welcome for Crown Forces in Galway
8. No honour should be given to Margaret Thatcher by UCC Fine Gael
9. Duffy released, Shivers convicted in Massareene trial
10. Hooded men support Bloody Sunday march
11. Bloody Sunday relatives want Paras 'hunted down like Nazis'
12. Martin McGuinness prepared to meet Queen in future
13. Sell-off of 26-County State assets
14. The numbers that sum up modern smalltown Ireland
15. Emigration in Ireland not �a free choice of lifestyle�
16. Kilmihil�s missing generation
17. The detention of IRA veteran Marian Price harks back to internment
18. Hunger-striker's daughter denounces Provisionals
19. The Boston College IRA tapes controversy -- a reply to Niall O�Dowd
20. US judge finds no basis to stop release of IRA interviews
21. Free Marian Price and Martin Corey: PFC
22. Israel passes law tantamount to internment
1. 24 hour protest fast by Republican prisoners
IN A statement on January 22, Geraldine McNamara, PRO, Republican Sinn Fein, said that the Republican POWs in Maghaberry Jail were to commence a 24-hour-fast on January 23, 2012 in protest of the decision by David Ford and the Prison Administration in the Occupied Six Counties to refuse compassionate parole for POW Damien McKenna to attend his father�s funeral on Thursday, January 19.
Damien applied for compassionate parole to attend his father�s funeral in Lurgan on January 19 and was refused on the grounds that he is a protesting prisoner. Damien, along with his comrades in Maghaberry prison, is engaged in a protest against strip-searching and in defence of the historic right of Republican prisoners to political status.
All these issues could have easily been resolved Geraldine McNamara said and �would have been resolved but for the fact that the prisoners are political prisoners and like their comrades of 30 years ago who died on hunger strike, the British establishment in Ireland will do everything in its power to break the prisoners both mentally and physically.
�Being allowed parole to go to a family member�s funeral is a basic human right and should not be denied to anyone. The prisoners saw no option but to go on a protest solidarity fast with Damien to highlight this inhuman decision.
�Republican Sinn Féin asks that everyone concerned with Human Rights abuses and prisoner welfare support this action�.
2. Republican POW denied release to attend father�s funeral
THE POW Department, Republican Sinn Féin, said in a statement on January 18 that the decision of the Stormont Justice Department to deny a Republican prisoner compassionate parole to attend his father�s funeral exposed the inhumanity of the British Prison service when dealing with Republican prisoners.
Spokesperson Josephine Hayden continued: �Damien McKenna of Lurgan applied for compassionate parole to attend his father�s funeral in Lurgan on January 19 and was refused on the grounds that he is a protesting prisoner. Damien, along with his comrades in Maghaberry prison, is engaged in a protest against strip-searching and in defence of the historic right of Republican prisoners to political status.
�Once more the real face of British rule in Ireland shows itself. Britain and their hirelings have learned nothing over the course of centuries of occupation. Thirty-one years after the brutality of the H-Blocks and the hunger strikes of 1981 yet another group of Irish Republican prisoners are being brutalised by a prison system designed to break the spirit of resistance. Irish history teaches us it will have the opposite effect and will instead galvanise the spirits of the POWs in their struggle for a free Ireland.
�Our thoughts and sympathies are with Damien McKenna and his family in their sad loss.�
3. Rioting erupts in Derry following RUC raids
A CROWD of around 30 attacked the RUC/PSNI on January 23 with stones, bottles, petrol and paint bombs at Cromore Gardens and Lislane Drive in the Creggan area of Derry city shortly after 6pm. Rioting lasted until 10pm when the RUC/PSNI moved out of the area having finished their searches in Kildrum Gardens.
It is believed that some members of the Creggan community were angry over RUC/PSNI searches of a home which they say started at 3pm and lasted until 10pm � seven hours in total. Raids were said to have been made on the homes of a pensioner, the wife of a POW who is recovering from cancer, and the parents of a newborn child.
In another raid a six-week-old child was removed from his home; and when refused use of the toilet, RUC/PSNI officers threatened to �piss all over the house�, although not before spitting all over the kitchen.
Local Provo Councillor and Deputy Mayor Kevin Campbell condemned the riot saying �The police were there to do a job.� What short memories they have - the more things change, the more they stay the same. The conduct of the British police has not changed since the day before, on and after Bloody Sunday; it is still despicable. But the conduct of the provos has changed � they were easily bought and have accepted the colonial outfit.
4. Martin McGuinness afraid of debate on Scottish independence debate
GERALDINE McNamara, PRO, Republican Sinn Féin, said on January 23 that Martin McGuinness showed his true colours when he said �Northern Irish (sic) politicians should avoid getting involved in the debate over independence for Scotland and that the debate should not be allowed to cause division in the region.�
She said: �Why is Martin Mcguinness afraid to debate Scottish independence? Is it because it will show very clearly how his own party have given up the cause of Irish independence and sold out the ideals of those who fought for Irish freedom.
�While the Scottish people are looking at ways of breaking the connection with England Martin McGuinness and the Provisionals have, since 1986, gone down the road of copper-fastening England�s hold on the Occupied Six Counties.
�They now uphold British rule in Ireland and are Crown ministers in Stormont, and encourage Irish people to join the RUC/PSNI. He is willing to meet his Queen Elizabeth II and do whatever it takes to oppress Republicans who oppose British rule in Ireland and will not sell out Ireland�s cause like he did.
�Speaking about the Scottish independence debate he said �This is an issue which could be used to create divisions in this house [Stormont] or even in our Executive or even between the First Minister and myself. What happens elsewhere has to be a matter primarily for the people concerned and my attitude to it is we would be best advised to stay clear of it.�
�Many people with Scottish connections fought for Ireland�s freedom, not least James Connolly who gave his life in 1916. Now as we fast approach the centenary of his death, Ireland still remains under the British yoke.
�Martin McGuinness shows clearly that his loyalty is to the British government and not those who seek Irish or Scottish independence.�
5. Cork protest in support of Republican POWs
ON Saturday, January 21 a public protest took place at Daunt Square, Cork City. The protest was organised by the Prisoner Solidarity Group, Cork City.
The Prisoner Solidarity Group is an independent group which opposes internment by Section 30 in the 26 Counties, or internment by remand in the Occupied Six Counties, and calls for the repatriation of Republican prisoners held overseas. They intend to organise regular protests in solidarity with all Republican prisoners to highlight the ongoing struggle in Maghaberry prison.
Among the various groups attending was Republican Sinn Féin. The protest called for the implementation of the August 2010 agreement which has yet to be implemented by the Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS).
Since the closure of the notorious H-Blocks, Maghaberry prison has become the destination of Republicans who have been interned, �held on remand� (internment) or imprisoned as a result of their opposition to the British presence in Ireland.
Republican Sinn Féin distributed leaflets to members of the public highlighting this injustice and the ongoing censorship by the British and their two puppet partition states in the Twenty-Six and Six Counties.
6. Protest outside Craigavon court
Members and supporters of Republican Sinn Féin held a picket outside Craigavon Court, Co Armagh on November 10 and 12 as the trial began of 15 people charged with taking part in what the RUC/PSNI claim was an �illegal parade�.
The parade, which took place on January 23, 2011, demanded the release of political hostage Martin Corey held without charge or trial for over 18 months. Martin is currently awaiting a judicial review of his illegal detention.
Thise charges include Republican Sinn Fein President Des Dalton and Vice-President Fearghal Moore along with many other members.
In a statement on January 7, Republican Sinn Féin described the prosecutions as an attack on the right to publicly express a political opinion.
"In the Middle East people are being applauded for coming out on to the streets to demand political change but in the Occupied Six Counties Irish people are being prosecuted by the British state for doing the same thing. The prosecution of people for participating in a protest march - held on January 23 last to call for the release of veteran Lurgan Republican Martin Corey who has been held without trial in Maghaberry prison since April 2010 - is clearly an attempt to force Irish Republicans off the streets and to silence anyone who refuses to accept British occupation.
"Not for the first time Irish Republicans find themselves before a British Court for upholding the principle of "the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland" and in defiance of laws designed to silence the voice of protest. This political trial puts the political reality of the Six-County state under the spotlight and shows it to be still fundamentally undemocratic."
The trial will recommence on March 8.
Trouble, but not the troubles
Alex Thomson, Chief Correspondent Channel Four News blog:
Outside the main door of Court Number 1 in Craigavon it�s like a throwback to the old days of Crumlin Road Courthouse in Belfast.
Inches away from each other, the police and defendants. The guardians of the state and the Republicans who would see it done away with for their United Ireland.
The old green police uniforms and flak jackets of the RUC long gone, in favour of the modern whites and blacks of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Equally, the Republicans� Celtic shirts have also changed with the years.
The defendants � and there are 15 or so of them, are largely from Republican Sinn Fein which still believes in fighting for a united Ireland � with force if need be.
And yet the issue before District Judge Bates is hardly the stuff of the Troubles; bombing, gun attacks and so forth.
Bizarrely it is utterly mundane. However, the British state � busily cutting so many other aspects of public life � seems to be throwing everything at this weird case.
No. These would-be Republican revolutionaries stand charged with nothing more than holding a peaceful protest march a year ago.
Not much happened, some music and a few score Republicans marching around the streets of Lurgan to protest at the treatment of one of their prisoners.
Their crime is not seeking prior permission from the authorities of a state they do not recognise, to walk the streets and hold their placards.
Because they don�t recognise the jurisdiction of the British state, they were not about to seek permission.
So, charged under Parades Legislation designed to govern marches of a more Orange hue then green, this bizarre case unfolds.
Lawyers, at least 13 police officers called as witnesses and half-a-dozen defence lawyers � the latter openly amazed that the British state is bothering.
Republican Sinn Fein�s President and Vice-President sit in the dock. It�s too small to accommodate all the others.
The cost must run to hundreds of thousands of pounds already and the state has yet to finish its case.
Why bother? Upholding the law is all well and good but, if guilty, many of these defendants will likely refuse to pay any fines.
Therefore short prison terms and martyr-creation and yet more expense for a hard-pressed state appear the only outcomes.
7. No welcome for Crown Forces in Galway
REPUBLICAN Sinn Féin Gaillimh wish to bring to the attention of the public a shameful PR stunt by British Crown Forces and facilitated by the College Football Association of Ireland.
On Tuesday, January 24 in Terryland Park, a soccer match was played between the 26-County army and the British Royal Air Force, and on January 26 at 12pm the Colleges FAI will play the same British Royal Air Force at Drom, Co Galway, in what is termed a �friendly�, set up by the Free State Army.
Republican Sinn Féin wish to state that there is nothing �friendly� about the British Royal Air Force or any of the British Crown Forces. The British Royal Air Force have murdered thousands of innocent men, women and children in the illegal wars that are currently taking place in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The British Royal Air Force is a branch of the British Crown Forces which is currently occupying a number of countries including part of our own. These PR stunts are taking place while our countrymen are on dirty protest in Maghaberry Jail in Co Antrim.
Republican Sinn Féin calls on all Republicans and the public to oppose these attempts at normalisation by attending our protest at Drom at 11.30am on the Thursday January 26.
8. No honour should be given to Margaret Thatcher by UCC Fine Gael
�THE DECISION by the student Fine Gael members in UCC to consider Margaret Thatcher as an honorary life member is an insult to those who suffered and lost their lives during Maggie�s reign of terror� said Geraldine McNamara, National PRO, Republican Sinn Féin on January 17.
�Any self-respecting Irish person who knows anything about Irish history or the hunger strikes during 1981 would feel nothing but contempt for the Iron Lady as she became known because of her inhumanity towards others.
�Those who suffered included the Welsh miners and the people from the north of England where she found little support because of the austerity measures towards the working classes which included the Poll tax.
�Little funding was given to towns like Liverpool and Manchester during her reign and at that time there were riots in many areas such as Mossside and Toxteth because of the poverty endured by the inhabitants there. In the mining towns and villages people were starved into submission because they went on strike for a just wage and decent working conditions. Many lost their lives during this time; many were imprisoned because they stood by the unions.
�During the Malvinas war she again showed contempt for human life and many sailors lost their lives when the ship the General Belgrano was torpedoed in international waters.
Margaret Thatcher should be seen as a war criminal and nothing else. Her age and time distance does not exonerate her. No honour should be bestowed upon her. �
9. Colin Duffy released, Brian Shivers convicted in Massareene trial
The case of the two men charged with the killing of two British soldiers at the gates of Massereene barracks in Antrim on March 7, 2009, saw one released and one convicted of the killings.
Brian Shivers was found guilty at Antrim Crown Court on January 20 while Colin Duffy was freed by the court.
British Army sappers Patrick Azimkar, 21, from London, and Mark Quinsey, 23, from Birmingham were shot dead as they collected a pizza from outside the barracks. Two delivery men were injured
Judge Anthony Hart told the court that in the case of Colin Duffy he considerd �that there is insufficient evidence to satisfy me beyond reasonable doubt that whatever Duffy may have done when he wore the latex glove, or touched the seatbelt buckle, meant that he was preparing the car in some way for this murderous attack. And I therefore find him not guilty.�
The Diplock non-jury trial lasted six weeks. It ended just before Christmas and Justice Hart took four weeks to consider his verdicts. The soldiers from the 38 Engineer Regiment were about to begin a tour of duty in Afghanistan when they were killed.
Brian Shivers was told in 2008 that he had five or six years to live with cystic fibrosis.
He was allowed bail because of his illness but Cilin Duffy spent almost three years on remand in Maghaberry jail. He appeared in court with long hair and a beard to his chest as the Republican prisoners on protest are not shaving or cutting their hair.
Shivers�s father Pat was a plasterer from Toomebridge, Co Derry. His father, a civil rights activist, was one of 12 internees known as �the hooded men�. In August 1971, they were stripped naked, dressed in boiler suits, forced to stand in a search position, beaten, subjected to white noise, and deprived of food, water and sleep for eight days.
In a case supported by the 26-County government, the European Court of Human Rights found the British government guilty of �inhuman and degrading treatment�.
10. Hooded men support Bloody Sunday march
THE following statement was released by some of the men who were tortured by the British State following their arrest on August 9, 1971. These men became known as �The Hooded Men�, and their torture is described by John McGuffin in his book �The Guineapigs� (1974, 1981). It can be read at: http://www.irishresistancebooks.com/guineapigs/guineapigs.htm
�Forty years ago the Stormont government banned the Civil Rights march scheduled to take place in Derry on January 30, 1972. The ban was unsuccessful, but the British Tory government followed through its counter-insurgency strategy, which began with the introduction of internment in 1971, by shooting down peaceful marchers who came out on the streets in defiance of state terror. Today, another Tory government and its middle-management in Stormont denies human and civil rights by upholding internment while also trying, by some rather desperate means, to prevent people from marching again in defence of these rights. On January 29, we, as former Long Kesh internees, will join the march that will mark the fortieth anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Derry. We will march under a banner calling for an end to internment in 2012, and our numbers will include survivors of the �hooded treatment�, who were tortured in August 1971. We now call on every ex-internee and ex-prisoner who reads this letter to join us and help carry our banner.
�People are now being held without trial in the Six Counties at the whim of an English Secretary of State. This present-day internment is the same in all but name as that introduced in August 1971, and is the same type of repression that people marched against so bravely in January 1972. We oppose internment no matter how the British decide to implement it � whether via the �suspension of license�, the denial of pardons, the use of non-jury courts and the gamut of other repressive legislation at their disposal. We will march in defence of human rights, in protest against present-day internment and in opposition to the torture that continues to be practiced by the British state in Ireland and abroad. In doing so, we will salute the memory of the brave men, women and children who once marched for our freedom and who were murdered, wounded and brutalised by the British army on the streets of Derry forty years ago. We will also remember our friends who died prematurely as a result of the torture - Pat Shivers from Toomebridge, Mickey Montgomery from Derry and Seán McKenna from Newry.
�The march that took place on January 30, 1972, was a protest against internment and torture � crimes that were employed by the British state to terrorise the population of the six counties. All of the demands raised by the popular Civil Rights Movement, which the Bloody Sunday massacre was designed to destroy, remain unfulfilled. Today, the right to decent housing and jobs is denied to young people across Ireland, while the uninhibited use of stop and search powers targets not just adults but even children on their way to and from school. Along with widespread [RUC]/PSNI brutality during arrests, raids and other, more �routine� incidences of harassment, these abuses underline the six counties� enduring status and notoriety as a police state.
�The order to commit mass murder was issued in Derry just as it was to deal with every other popular anti-colonial insurgency against British rule. These repressive policies remain central to British state strategy today: internment is still taking place in Ireland, while prisoners in Maghaberry jail are, on a daily basis, subjected to strip-search torture. These human rights abuses do not end here: through their army and intelligence agencies, the British continue to torture prisoners abroad, both in British-occupied territory and on behalf of dictator-clients like Muammar Gadaffi via practices such as �rendition�, abduction and outright murder.
�Let no individual or political party imagine that they are the exclusive owners of the Bloody Sunday march. The people of Derry mobilised in January 1972 in a courageous, brilliant and popular protest against internment, and in defence of universal human rights. Their bravery continues to inspire people across the world, and their example will always have a truly global resonance; therefore, we believe that the fortieth anniversary Bloody Sunday march should take place, because human rights and civil rights are still being denied by the British state and its agents in Stormont.
�We call on everybody who believes in these basic and universal rights to join the march and show their opposition to the continuation of repression, internment and torture, wherever it may occur. In doing so, we will all mark the fortieth anniversary of Bloody Sunday and inspire the world again by declaring that no apology from any British government will ever be acceptable while they and their allies continue to terrorise those who stand up against oppression and believe in freedom. By coming on this march, we will help build a great and enduring monument to the memory of all of those who died protesting against internment and defending all of our civil rights.
Francie McGuigan, Belfast
11.Bloody Sunday relatives want Paras �hunted down like Nazi war criminals�
IN an interview with Suzanne Breen in the Sunday World newspaper on January 22, 2012 relatives of the Bloody Sunday victims said they want the British paratroopers who murdered their loved ones tracked down and prosecuted �like Nazi war criminals�.
They are furious that a full 19 months after the Saville report was published none of the soldiers responsible have been charged.
Next Sunday, January 29, marks the 40th anniversary of the atrocity which sent shockwaves around the world. Some relatives of those who died now claim the £200 million Saville inquiry was a waste of time.
Kate Nash, whose teenage brother Willie was killed, said: �All Saville did is make lawyers on both sides rich. It was no triumph for us. Saville found the paras guilty of murdering 14 innocent civilians yet nobody has been prosecuted. We want those responsible for the slaughter in the dock, and next Sunday we'll be marching to demand justice for our loved ones.�
The planned march to the iconic nationalist landmark of Free Derry Corner has deeply divided the Bloody Sunday families. While some like the Nash sisters support the demonstration, many others believe the days of taking to the streets to commemorate the dead are over.
Willie Nash (19), the younger brother of Irish Olympic boxer Charlie Nash, was shot dead as he went to help another victim. Kate said: �It wasn't enough for the soldiers to murder my wee brother.
�They mutilated his body and stole from him. A ring was taken from his finger and a cross and chain from his neck. They robbed money from his pocket too. The soldiers shot Willie in the chest and kidneys.
�Then, they dragged him along the ground by the roots of his hair. When we got Willie back, his hair was literally standing on its ends. There were marks all over his body. His mouth was half-open and his teeth were covered in blood.�
Accusing the paras of war crimes, Kate said: �Nazi war criminals are still hunted down no matter how old or ill they are. They're even carried into court on stretchers.
�There are double standards here. Our loved ones deserve the same justice. Fourteen innocent people were gunned down in cold blood. David Cameron's nice words of apology mean nothing without prosecutions.�
Kate told the Sunday World how, in the hours after the shooting, soldiers and policemen taunted her brother Charlie: �On our way to the morgue, we were stopped at an Army checkpoint.
�They knew Charlie from the boxing and started to goad him about Willie being dead. Even though he was a boxer, Charlie was a lovely, gentle fellow who never got into fights. But hearing insults about Willie before his body was cold was too much. We had to grab Charlie and hold him back.�
Kate described the horrific scene in the morgue: �The dead bodies were all lying there. Charlie had to pull sheet after sheet off each corpse until he found Willie. It was an awful experience for him.�
A policeman in the morgue then taunted the grieving boxer that his family had one less member now. �The priest restrained Charlie at that point,� his sister recalled.
Kate revealed how Bloody Sunday had wrecked her family. Her father Alex, who was on the march too, saw his son being shot. He ran out to help Willie. Alex was also shot but survived.
�Somebody said to my mother, �At least you've got your husband� and she replied, �I'd rather have my son�," recalled Kate. �It was a mother's natural reaction. She blamed daddy because he survived and he blamed himself too. He'd say, �Why wasn't it me? I've lived my life� which was nonsense because he was only 51.�
The Bloody Sunday paras were later awarded medals by the Queen and their commander Col Derek Wilford received an OBE.
Linda Nash, Kate's sister, said: �After Saville, all honours should have been immediately stripped from these men. The fact they weren't is a huge insult to the dead and we won't rest until it happens.�
Next weekend's march will be led by women relatives of Bloody Sunday victims carrying wreaths. Behind them, others will hold black flags. No politicians will address the rally. The only speakers will be those who lost loved ones. The event will close with the singing of the civil rights' anthem, �We Shall Overcome�.
Many Blood Sunday relatives are against the march, including John Kelly whose 17-year-old brother Michael was murdered. �The vast majority of families believe the annual march has served its purpose,� Kelly said.
�Our campaign has achieved its goals. We've highlighted the lies and injustice carried out by the British Army and government. We are commemorating Bloody Sunday but at a memorial service next weekend at the monument to the dead.�
Liam Wray, whose 22-year-old brother Jim was killed, will address the march. He said David Cameron's apology was �only five per cent� of what should have happened.
�I want the soldier who murdered my brother charged � to recognise Jim's humanity. But if he admitted his guilt in court, I'd see no point in jailing him. Too much focus has been on the soldiers.
�Where justice hasn't been done is regarding the politicians who sent the soldiers out and then defended them, the forensic scientists and the civil-servants who took part in the cover-up � all these people have escaped censure.�
Wray claimed the annual march is �a beacon of light� to those oppressed by �armies across the world in Afghanistan, Palestine and Iraq�. He added: �While there's breath in my body, I'll be marching.�
Mickey Bridge, a steward at the demonstration 40 years ago, was among the 14 people injured. He'll also take part in next weekend's march. �Bloody Sunday was state-sponsored murder and the rest is waffle,� he said.
�The prosecution service have the Saville report. I can't understand the delay. The evidence is there. Were it anybody but British soldiers we wouldn't be waiting 19 months later. People would have been immediately charged.�
Damien �Bubbles� Donaghey, then a 15-year-old teenager, was the first person to be shot on Bloody Sunday. He spent seven months in hospital recovering. A leg injury still gives him terrible pain and he's due to undergo further surgery later this year.
�At the Saville inquiry, Soldier �A� who shot me didn't even have the guts to look me in the face. He hasn't been prosecuted but that's not the worst. Soldier �F� who killed four people and wounded four more hasn't been charged either,� Donaghey said.
But he's most angry that senior Army officers escaped blame in Saville: �Everything was lumped on one officer, Col Wilford, and nine squaddies. They were just �bad apples�.
�The military and political establishment who took key decisions � and are even more guilty � got off the hook. Next Sunday, it's important we remember that.�
-- Suzanne Breen, Sunday World, January 23, 2012
12. Martin McGuinness prepared to meet Queen in future
MARTIN McGuinness, Provisional Sinn deputy first minister at Stormont said on January 22 that the visit by the Queen of England last year made an impact on him and he would not rule out a meeting with the British Queen in the future.
McGuinness attended a meeting at St James's Palace in London to promote Northern Ireland (sic) last week. He said: "I've made it clear that the visit of Queen Elizabeth of Britain to the south was something that we looked at with considerable interest.
�I think the fact that she was prepared to recognise the importance of the Irish language, that she was prepared to stand in a very dignified way to honour those patriots who struggled in 1916 to bring about a free and independent 32-County Irish Republic, that made an impact upon me. So that's an issue that I will ponder, and I wouldn't rule anything out.�
During the autumn's 26-County presidential election campaign, McGuinness said he would be prepared to meet all heads of state "without exception" if he was elected as the Republic's head of state.
13. Sell-off of 26-County State assets
THE 26-County Administration was called upon to honour a pre-election pledge to retain assets under the responsibility of the State forestry agency Coillte amid more speculation about the sell-off of State assets.
The State�s shares in Aer Lingus, ESB, Eirgrid, Coillte, Bord Gais and Bord na Mona are all being considered in light of the need to raise revenue under the bailout agreement with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
The Irish Times reported on January 21 that the sell-off of stakes in Aer Lingus, Coillte, Dublin Port, and Bord Gáis are being considered under a list of assets drawn up by an inter-departmental group.
This list forms the basis of current discussions with the Troika � EU, IMF, ECB � officials who are in Dublin assessing the implementation of Ireland�s rescue package.
The Troika has long pushed for a sell-off of ?5 billion worth of State assets while the programme for government stated a goal to raise ?2 billion through a sell-off �when market conditions are right�. It has already agreed to sell-off a minority stake in ESB.
Sinn Féin�s spokesperson on Natural Resources Martin Ferris today called on the government to honour a pre-election pledge that Coillte and its land would not be sold off.
�Spokespersons for both the current government parties, including the current Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney, joined me in rejecting any such sell off,� Ferris said.
�I am therefore calling on them to honour their election pledge that Coillte, nor any of its land and forestry assets, would not be sold off. Such a sale to private interests would represent a shameful auction of a valuable and under-utilised natural resource.
�It would also of course fly in the face of the government�s own stated objective of retaining Coillte lands as part of a new public energy company.�
The sale of the government�s stake in Aer Lingus has been long mooted but the government has sought to play down a fire sale of any asset in order to get the best price for it.
The government has previously said it would not sell its 25 per cent stake in the airline for less than ?1 per share � valuing it at over ?130 million in total.
On January 17 reports in the media indicated that the State�s stake in Aer Lingus is one of the assets earmarked for sale to raise revenue as part of the EU/IMF bailout agreement.
According to the Irish Times, the 25% share in Aer Lingus � valued at less than ?100 million � has been included in a list of recommended assets for sale by an interdepartmental group established by the government.
The group�s report was discussed with Troika officials in Dublin on January 19 for the �fifth review of the government�s adherence to the rescue package deal�.
Demonstrators protesting at the handing over of ?1.25m by the state assembled outside the Department of Finance and at the old Anglo Bank building in Dublin on Wednesday January 25. Some of them �cemented� their hands into barrels so they could not bbe easily removed.
14. The numbers that sum up modern smalltown Ireland
HERE are the lotto numbers � 42, 3, 9, 39,11, 37 .
In a town I know quite well, these are the numbers that are resonating this week. Not because some local octogenarian who spends ?10 a week on her lucky dip has won some obscene amount of money. No, the number resonates the opposite of joy. These are the numbers that represent the new reality in small towns like the one I am referring to.
42 � That is the number of young men, men alone, who have left the parish for Australia...since Christmas. The New Year is but a fortnight old and already the heart and soul of that town has been ripped out. The local sports teams are devastated. They do not know if they will be able to field this year, well, field a competitive team anyway. There will always be young lads coming through, but to take 42 out of the available pick, then you are left with no hope. Indeed, the only hope is that every parish across the county is losing the same number of young people.
3 �That is the number of major businesses that closed...since this day last week. Businesses that had been in the town for generations, two, three generations. Businesses that gave to the town as well as benefited from it. Businesses which knew good times over the past decade when young people, flush with cash, opted to eat out every day rather than cook at home in their plush apartments which have sprung up over the place. Gone, doors shut, staff let go.
9 � That is the number of people who have taken their own lives in the general area over the last four or five years. Five of that number were since last summer. Families are left numbed by it all. Not knowing what to say. Friends are left shocked, wondering whether they fulfilled their duties. People look at each other, struggling to find the words.
37 � The number of families locally who each month wave good-bye to a father or mother as he/she flies out of Knock Airport to commute to work on the building sites of London. Young children find themselves growing up in a country that has changed, in a household that has changed. Young children who knew comfort and security but who are beginning to realise that not all is like it used to be.
11 � The number of months it has been since a property sold in that town.
39 � That is roughly the number of houses in the town in which electricity does not shine a light at night. My source tells me that this is the number of families who got their heat this winter from gas lamps bought in the local discount supermarket, which by last week had sold out as the families continue to buy them to see if they can get through the month of January without succumbing to the cold, which thankfully did not come this year. They have all had to stop paying their ESB bills, gas bills, so that mouths can be fed.
Did I mistakenly omit the bonus number. No, I didn�t. That�s just it. There isn�t any bonus number for small town Ireland.
15. Emigration in Ireland not �a free choice of lifestyle�
MICHAEL Noonan, 26-County minister for finance, said on January 19 that most emigration by young Irish people is a �free choice of lifestyle� and played down the impact of the country�s unemployment rate on people moving abroad.
�It�s a small island. A lot of people want to get off the island,� the Dublin Finance Minister told the media at a briefing on the fifth quarterly review of Ireland�s bailout programme by the Troika of the European Commission, ECB and IMF.
He pointed to the experience of his own family saying that three of his five children are living abroad and that in their case it was a lifestyle choice to move away from Ireland.
The country�s unemployment rate is currently 14.3 per cent with over 180,000 classified as long-term claimants on the Live Register. A recent survey found that four-in-ten people saw no future for themselves in Ireland.
Noonan said that unemployment was not driving emigration: �It�s not being driven by unemployment at home, it�s being driven by a desire to see another part of the world and live there.�
Figures published last December showed that over 76,000 people had left the country in the year to April 2011 � an increase of nearly 17 per cent � with over half of those being Irish.
�There are always young people coming and going from Ireland,� Noonan also said while adding that the country needed to ensure that people leaving were well enough educated to seek employment abroad.
�What we have to make sure is that our young people have the best possible education, right up to third level,� he said.
16. Kilmihil�s missing generation
A RECENT survey in Kilmihil has revealed that at least 87 people have emigrated from the West Clare parish inside the last two years. The vast majority of the recent emigrants are aged between 20 and 30.
Gerry Johnson, one of the local people who put the figures together, has said the deluge of emigrants from the community has led to Kilmihil losing a generation of people. He maintains the current crisis is worse than emigration figures from the parish in the 1980s.
�We�re missing a generation in Kilmihil now. That generation is gone. We�ve the younger people and the older ones like myself. But we�ve nothing in between.
�That�s basically what�s happening in Kilmihil. I think its way worse than in the 1980s. Things weren�t as bad here as they are now. It�s lasting so long this time and there�s no sign of it getting better,� Gerry commented.
�My own son, Neil, is 30 years of age and he�s just come home from Australia. He was going out socialising recently and I asked him who was he meeting? He said �I�ve no one to meet�. It�s that age group from 20 to 30 that have left. They�re the age group that make things happen. They get involved in every activity that�s happening in the parish,� he added.
Approximately 50% of the recent emigrants from Kilmihil now live in Australia while the remainder are based around the globe in England and other parts of Europe, the US, Canada, South Korea and New Zealand.
The collapse of the construction industry is a major factor in the high emigration figures from the parish although a sizeable percentage of the emigrants are female. In recent weeks, it has emerged that the Kilmihil ladies senior football team may have to re-grade to intermediate, such is the impact of emigration on their playing numbers.
Prior to investigating how many people had left the parish, Gerry said he believed the figure was significantly smaller than it is.
�We had no idea. If someone had asked me �how many were gone?�, I�d have said probably 15 or 20 people gone from Kilmihil was the maximum. I couldn�t believe it. We�ve 16 male footballers lost and there are 10 of those senior players who played in either 2010 or 2011.
�To come up with a figure of almost 90 people who have left Kilmihil is shocking. We�re only talking about 2010 and 2011. It�s frightening stuff. It�s been devastating for the whole parish. It�s across the board devastation.�
Some entire families have emigrated, while Gerry is also fearful that the figure of confirmed emigrants from Kilmihil may rise beyond 87.
�We�re going to put these findings out to the broader community in Kilmihil and find out the real figures. This is only going to get worse. There�s two or three families I can think of where there�s six plus of that family emigrated. That�s an unbelievable statistic.
�When we did the calculation around Kilmihil to find out how many were gone, it was really frightening,� he concluded.
Ironically, the population of Kilmihil village rose by 8.3%, according to preliminary 2011 census figures. According to those figures, 627 people lived in the village when the census was conducted.
-- Peter O'Connell, Clare Champion newspaper.
17. The detention of IRA veteran Marian Price harks back to internment
WRITING in The Guardian on January 18, 2012 Éamonn McCann says that the �detention of IRA veteran Marian Price harks back to internment�:
THE facts around Price's detention suggest she is being held not for any crime, but from a belief the state is better off without her
Today, parole commissioners for Northern Ireland will decide whether to order the release of the IRA veteran Marian Price from Maghaberry prison. The 57-year-old has been held since last May, when the Northern Ireland secretary, Owen Patterson, signed an order revoking her licence.
Her detention has been a scandal. Price has been effectively held in solitary as the only female in the high-security prison, charged with encouraging support for an illegal organisation. The charge arose from an Easter Rising commemoration in Derry organised by the 32-county sovereignty movement � widely regarded as the political voice of the Real IRA � during which she held up the script from which a masked man read the Real IRA's "Easter message".
Price was one of nine IRA volunteers sentenced to life for planting four bombs in London, including one at the Old Bailey, in March 1973. Around 180 people were injured, mainly by flying glass. One man died from a heart attack. The bombing party included Gerry Kelly, now a Sinn Féin minister at Stormont, and Price's older sister, Dolours.
Price was freed in 1980 suffering from tuberculosis and anorexia and weighing around five stone. Her lawyers insist that her release was based on a royal pardon, which would mean that Patterson had no legal power to order her detention. His intervention amounted to an egregious abuse reminiscent of internment, they say. However, Patterson's lawyers say that �extensive searches� have failed to locate the crucial document. A copy destroyed in 2010, they have told the parole commissioners, turns out to have been the only copy that existed, so its exact terms cannot be established. But, they add, the �surrounding circumstances� of 1980 suggest that Price was not pardoned but conditionally released.
Many are surprised that British authorities have not been able to come up with a stronger case. Price's lawyers, Kevin Winters and Co, told the commissioners in a submission on 4 January: �It is difficult to fathom how, even exercising a modicum of care, this document was destroyed without someone, before destruction, ensuring that the original (or at least another copy) was still in existence ? There is certainly a foundation for suggesting that the document may (and we can put it no higher) have been deliberately 'buried' given the embarrassment it might cause.�
In court in Derry two days after her detention last year, despite strenuous prosecution objections, she was granted bail, then immediately rearrested under an order signed the previous evening. Her bail application had thus been made meaningless by Patterson's advance arrangement to trump the court's decision if it went against the state's wishes.
In the high-security jail where she is being held, Price was further charged last July with �providing property for the purposes of terrorism� � connected to the trial for the killing of two soldiers outside Massereene barracks in Antrim in March 2009.
Price had been questioned for two days about this allegation in November 2009 and released without charge. There was no change in circumstances in the interim and no new evidence offered. Again, over the objections of the state, she was given bail and, again, returned to prison. It seems at the least a reasonable suspicion that the new charge was designed to pre-empt the planned challenge to Patterson's authority.
On Monday [January 16], Price appeared at Belfast magistrates court on the same charge and was returned for trial. Again, despite bail having been given on the charge in July, she was taken back to prison.
The facts of Price's detention, taken together, suggest she is being held indefinitely not because there is evidence that she is guilty of serious crime, but because the Northern Ireland Office believes the state is better off with her out of the way � that, in everyday language, she is in internment. We thought we were done with that in Northern Ireland. Marian Price should be freed forthwith.
-- Éamonn McCann, The Guardian, January 18, 2012.
18. Hunger-striker's daughter denounces Provisionals
IN an interview with Suzanne Breen for the Sunday World newspaper on January 15, daughter of H-Block hunger-striker Mickey Devine from Derry attacked the Provisional leadership, saying her father �died for nothing�.
Louise Devine says she's �sickened� that the party top brass allegedly rejected a secret British offer which could have saved the last six hunger-strikers' lives � including her father's.
The claim that a substantial British proposal was on the table � first made by ex-Blanketman Richard O'Rawe � was confirmed by recently released British state papers.
Louise Devine is now demanding an urgent meeting with Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and other key Republicans who ran the hunger-strike from the outside.
"I want answers. I'm asking them to meet me face-to-face. They owe me that at the very least," she told the Sunday World newspaper on January 15.
�I was just five-years-old when I watched my daddy die in agony in a H-Block slum.
�I sat on his bed and he couldn't even see me and my brother because he was blind. I remember the tears running down his face as we left him for the last time."�
The Devines are the first family of a dead hunger-striker to denounce the Sinn Féin leadership following recent revelations.
�There's now a mountain of evidence backing Richard O'Rawe's claim that the British made an offer effectively granting four of the prisoners' five demands and that this offer was accepted by the IRA's prison leadership but rejected by the outside leadership,� Louise says.
�Had the British proposal been accepted, my father would be alive today. Instead he spent 60 agonising days as his body wasted away on hunger-strike.
�He died for nothing because the British were already willing to meet nearly all the prisoners' demands.�
[Provisional] Sinn Féin strongly denies allegations an offer existed which could have saved the men's lives and it unnecessarily prolonged the hunger-strike for electoral gain.
But Louise (35) says she's �beyond anger� at those republicans who reportedly rejected the offer: �How do they live with themselves?
�They knew the suffering the hunger-strikers endured and the filth and squalor in which they lived. They're cold, heartless men.�
Mickey Devine, a 27-year-old father of two � know as 'Red Mickey' because of his bright red hair and left-wing politics � was the last of the 10 hunger-strikers to die.
Louise claims [Provisional] Sinn Féin didn't inform her father, nor the INLA of which he was a member, of the secret British offer. �Had daddy known, he would have ended his hunger-strike.
�He was a young man with two children he adored and less than two years left to serve in jail. He'd everything to live for.�
Mother-of-five Louise stresses she's �very proud� of her father and his sacrifice: �He died for his comrades. But the knowledge that he didn't need to is destroying me.�
She's calling for an independent public inquiry into the hunger-strike: �[Provisional] Sinn Féin demands inquiries into everything that suits them. Let's see if they agree to this.�
Louise was just five months' old when her father was arrested for arms' possession in 1977. �As a baby, the prison officers searched my nappy on visits to Long Kesh.
�When I was older, I hated visiting the jail. The screws were very aggressive to Blanketmen's children.� Louise's parents' marriage broke up when her father was in prison but she and her brother continued seeing him.
�When he was on the dirty protest, I was afraid of him at first," she admits. "Here was this skinny, smelly man with a beard wearing an old army blanket � and people told me he was my daddy.
�I cried and threw a tantrum, refusing to sit on his knee during one visit, and he looked so sad.�
But Louise says her father did everything possible to reach out to her and her brother, Michael Óg: �He couldn't buy us presents in jail so he made us hankies. They were all he could give us.�
She breaks down in tears as she shows the Sunday World one hankie. On it, her father has drawn Mickey Mouse, Tom and Jerry, the Seven Dwarfs and other cartoon characters.
�To Louise and Michael from Daddy," Mickey Devine has lovingly written.�
Another hankie shows her father and his comrades with faces like monkeys. �Despite everything he was suffering, he was trying to make his kids laugh. He loved us that much,� Louise says.
She remembers, in graphic detail, visiting her dying father in the prison hospital. She was only five-years-old and her brother was eight.
�Daddy was lying in bed, covered in bed sores, and in terrible pain. I climbed onto the bed to be near him and my Aunt Margaret said, 'Get down, you'll hurt him.'
�But daddy said in this wee weak voice you could hardly hear, 'She's all right, let her be.' He was just delighted I wasn't scared of him anymore. He held me close and I was so happy.�
But Louise is riddled with guilt too: �I remember somebody feeling sorry for me and giving me a bag of cheese and onion crisps when I was on the bus going to the jail.
�I visited daddy stinking of those crisps. How selfish that was of me when he was starving.
�The prison authorities kept a bowl of fruit by his bed. I longed for the big red shiny apple. I knew not to take it but I feel guilty for even wanting it.�
Her last visit to her dying father was heart-breaking: �Daddy's organs were collapsing. There was a terrible smell of his rotting flesh as his body broke down.
�He was blind so he couldn't see me or my brother. We sat beside him and he was told, �Michael is on your left and Louise is on your right'� He held our hands and then he reached up and felt the shape of our faces.
�I remember his cold, skinny hand on my flesh. He mumbled words to us which I couldn't understand. He was drifting in and out of consciousness. His eyes were half open. As we left, tears streamed down his face.
�Michael and I should have been allowed to stay with him to the end. At his wake, I wouldn't leave his coffin.�
The children were woken at 8am on August 20 1981 to be told that their father was dead. They were terrified as the INLA fired shots over his coffin. At the graveside, they threw red roses on his coffin.
The rest of Louise's childhood was �hell�, she says: �Michael and I were bullied at school. 'Your daddy rubbed shit on his cell wall', 'Your da starved himself to death', other kids shouted.
�We'd come home crying and not go back to school for a week.� On her birthday, first communion and Christmas, she'd envy other children �with their intact families and perfect lives�.
Mickey Devine's own life � even before prison � was tragic. When he was 11, his father died of leukaemia. A few years later, he came home to find his mother dead from a massive brain tumour.
�Daddy had no family,� says Louise. �I've five children. My wee boy Caolan is the image of his grandfather with his red hair and sense of humour. I just want daddy here now to be part of my family. But we've been robbed of him and he's been robbed of us.�
-- Suzanne Breen, Sunday World, January 15, 2012.
19. The Boston College IRA tapes controversy -- a reply to Niall O�Dowd
Editor�s Note (Irish Central): Niall O�Dowd�s Periscope column recently criticised the handling of the IRA interviews for the Boston College archives which are now being sought by Northern Ireland (sic) authorities. Here, journalist Ed Moloney and academic and activist Anthony McIntyre, who conducted those interviews, give their side of the story.
THERE is clear evidence that Niall O�Dowd does not know �full well� the background to Boston College�s Belfast Project. And on the basis of not knowing �full well� he pumps out a piece riddled with errors. What evidence O�Dowd has found is as clear as the mud he seeks to sling.
This is somewhat unfortunate because for a while Niall O�Dowd strongly opposed the British government�s efforts to invade Boston College�s oral history archive. Now he has opted to say nothing about the British and instead seeks to exonerate Boston College and the American courts. All in the dubious service of blaming the researcher and project director.
Quoting from a �Boston College affidavit�, which was not in fact a Boston College affidavit, O�Dowd writes:
�Prior to the commencement of the project, Robert K O�Neill, the Burns librarian (where the tapes were to be housed) cautioned Moloney that although he had not spoken yet with Boston College�s counsel, the library could not guarantee the confidentiality of the interviews in the face of a court order.�
The striking aspect of this and other parts of his May 2000 fax to Ed Moloney - which O�Dowd fails to cite - is that it is clearly O�Neill�s preliminary judgement of the legal situation. For instance, he went on to say: �Nevertheless, the First Amendment to our Constitution is greatly cherished here, and I suspect the courts would look upon these interviews as privileged information.� Our need for firm guarantees was one reason why the project was not started in the summer of 2000 but was delayed a further eight months. We required very specific assurances and we waited until we got them. When Boston College finally came back with those assurances, which it later provided separately to the loyalist side of the project, the green light was given.
And what were the loyalists assured? We were not directly involved in their deliberations but some of their number had face-to-face meetings with senior college staff in Belfast and in their own words, these representatives of Boston College:
... from day one, gave guarantees that were directly related to the interest this material would have from the PSNI. (BC staff)?gave these guarantees formally as official representatives of BC and did so putting on the line the integrity of this unrivalled Irish Studies collection in this illustrious academic institution. At every meeting subsequently, discussion centred around how the project was coming along and every time that discussion touched upon how none of this could have happened without the iron clad guarantees that predicated the whole thing.
O�Dowd then proceeds to cite Boston College spokesperson Jack Dunn�s assertion that �an agreement was signed between Boston College and Ed Moloney that stated that each interviewee is to be given a contract guaranteeing confidentiality to the extent that American law allows.�
While this is not in dispute, it seems to be a late in the day fallback position adopted by Boston College to shift the blame onto to other shoulders. Their position when the court case began last May was substantially different. As the Boston-based lawyer Ted Folkman points out at Letters Blogatory: �in its motion to quash the subpoena, Boston College did not suggest that the promise of confidentiality was a promise only to the extent permitted by American law�.
That aside, one would expect the contract drawn up by Boston College to have this health warning, if that indeed is what it was, written clearly and unambiguously into the confidentiality contract. So what exactly did this donor agreement say?
The donor agreement signed by interviewees stated:
�Access to the tapes and transcripts shall be restricted until after my death except in those cases where I have provided prior written approval for their use following consultation with the Burns Librarian, Boston College. Due to the sensitivity of content, the ultimate power of release shall rest with me. After my death the Bums Librarian of Boston College may exercise such power exclusively.�
There was no caveat in the contract drawn up by Boston College�s attorneys stating that the type of confidentiality it guaranteed would not withstand a court order. Clearly BC�s legal opinion was that it was unnecessary. Otherwise why not insert the caveat if the type of confidentiality stipulated in the contract in any way clashed with American law?�
O�Dowd goes on to approvingly cite Jack Dunn of Boston College who argued that his �good friends in Ireland seem to lack a fundamental understanding of the American legal process.�
That is true. We are not lawyers. Boston College has its own law school and legal counsel yet for all of that it seems not to have understood the American legal process. When we, who �did not understand� American law, warned Boston College that a second subpoena could be imminent, we were told that would not happen. And the reason given later: �?practiced lawyers ? people who were formally schooled in international law� had ruled out that eventuality. A second subpoena duly arrived. So much for Boston College�s knowledge of American law.
Furthermore, in a September 2011 email a Boston College official said in respect of the subpoena �the action of the PSNI Special Crimes Division was totally unexpected.� A very definitive statement. But how could it be �totally unexpected� if Boston College�s position is that it always felt the archive might not withstand a court order? Boston College was �totally� surprised because the PSNI action flew �totally� in the face of its own legal counsel.
O�Dowd further argues that we are now �defending the indefensible.� How is protecting the interviewees who took part in this project indefensible? Is he suggesting that we should have abandoned them?
Finally, Niall O�Dowd repeats a hoary old canard when he states that the interviewees were all opponents of Gerry Adams. How on earth would he know? Does he know who we interviewed? Of course not. The project was designed to increase knowledge of republican history and interviewees were chosen for their knowledge not their biases. Ultimately, if the archive survives and is eventually made available the public will judge for itself the academic integrity of the project.
-- Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre,
-- Published in the online Irish Central news outlet, Thursday, January 19, 2012.
20. US judge finds no basis to stop release of IRA interviews
A FEDERAL judge ruled on January 24 that the two men who conducted research and interviews for Boston College�s oral history project on the Troubles had no legal standing to challenge the release of some of the taped recordings of former IRA members.
Ed Moloney, the journalist and author who directed the so-called Belfast Project, and Anthony McIntyre, the writer and former IRA prisoner who interviewed 26 former IRA members for it, had argued that release of the interviews would endanger the lives of McIntyre and his family, who live in Drogheda, and those interviewed.
They also argued that US attorney general Eric Holder had improperly allowed the US justice department to seek the tapes on behalf of British authorities without regard to the political damage the disclosures could have on the peace process.
During a special sitting of the US District Court, held coincidentally at Boston College Law School, Judge William Young said the mutual legal assistance treaty between the US and UK did not allow for such intervention.
�On the merits, I find the attorney general has acted appropriately . . . under this treaty,� the judge said.
James Cotter, one of the attorneys representing Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre, told the judge they had hoped he would allow the case to go forward so they could put witnesses on the stand to show the threat posed to �the free flow of information�. Among those hoping to testify were academics worried about the future of oral history projects.
Anthony McIntyre�s wife, Carrie Twomey, who is American, attended the hearing but did not testify as the arguments were limited to lawyers. Ms Twomey spent the last week lobbying congressional leaders to pressure the US government to drop the case, which it took at the request of the RUC/PSNI investigating the 1972 IRA murder and secret burial of Jean McConville, a Belfast mother-of-10.
While the Moloney and McIntyre legal challenge suffered a setback, it made political progress. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, asking her to revoke the British request for the Boston College tapes.
�I am obviously concerned about the impact it may have on the continued success of the Northern Ireland peace process,� he wrote. �It is possible that some former parties to the conflict may perceive the effort by the UK authorities to obtain this information as contravening the spirit of the Good Friday accords.�
There was no immediate response from Mrs Clinton�s office.
Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre said they would appeal Judge Young�s finding that they had no legal standing, along with the rest of the case, before the US First Circuit Court of Appeals.
In a statement released last night, researchers Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre said: �This afternoon�s judgment in Boston comes as no surprise. However, we will appeal Judge Young�s decision, along with the rest of our case, which will be heard in the US Court of Appeals in March when we expect a much more positive outcome.�
The researchers say they welcome Judge Young�s remarks about the Belfast Project, quoting him as saying: �I�ve read thousands of pages of the transcripts. This was a bona fide academic exercise of considerable intellectual merit.�
Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre describe the judge�s comments as �the answer to those of our critics in Ireland who have labelled the Belfast Project �an anti-Adams exercise�.�
He added: �They have not read the interviews � Judge Young has.�
21. Free Marian Price and Martin Corey: PFC
The Pat Finucane Centre (PFC) is arguing for the release of Belfast woman Marian Price and Lurgan man Martin Corey from Maghaberry jail on the basis that both are effectively interned without trial - contrary to all domestic and international human rights standards.
Ms. Price was sent to jail last May by an order of the British Northern Ireland (sic) Secretary, Owen Paterson, after holding a script for a masked representative of the "Real IRA" to read at a 32 County Sovereignty Movement Easter commemoration.
Paterson has revoked the licence releasing her almost 30 years earlier from a life sentence for the 1973 IRA bombing of the Old Bailey. Her lawyers say she was freed from that sentence on the basis of a royal pardon which supersedes Paterson's powers and which, anyhow, appears to have been shredded.
Ms. Price, aged 57, who is seriously unwell and in constant pain, has now spent eight months in Maghaberry, in solitary confinement, not having been convicted of any crime. We are currently awaiting news from the Independent Parole Commissioners about her possible release.
Similarly, the PFC is concerned at the continued detention of Lurgan man, Martin Corey, aged 61, who also remains behind bars - also without being tried or convicted of any crime.
Convicted of a double murder in December 1973, he was sentenced to life imprisonment at the age of 19, spending the next 19 years in jail before his release, on licence, in June 1992.
On 16 April 2010 he was taken back into custody, the only reason so far given that he is a "security risk" citing allegations that he is a dissident republican. His legal team have described this "evidence" as "closed material".
Corey has begun a judicial review against the Independent Parole Commissioners on the basis of the alleged secrecy surrounding the reasons, citing a lack of detail on the evidence used which makes it impossible for him to appeal.
His solicitor says the European Court of Human Rights and the House of Lords have both made it clear that details must be given in such circumstances. A full hearing is due in March.
The PFC's view is that the politics of both prisoners are irrelevant, that their rights are being ignored and both should be released forthwith. Anyone who shares this view is encouraged to write to Owen Paterson at Stormont.
23. Israel passes law tantamount to internment
In a statement on January 12, Geraldine McNamara PRO of Republican Sinn
Fein said that it is an affront to humanity that the Israeli parliament has passed the �Prevention of Infiltration Law�, which mandates the automatic detention of anyone,
including asylum-seekers, who enters Israel without permission.
This law allows for detention without trail or internment without trial as we know it for people from many countries who could be considered by Israel to be hostile.
This law criminalises refugees and asylum seekers and they can be detained indefinitely.
Families can be detained including children she said.
People from Islamic countries are especially targeted by this law which flies in the face of human rights and is against international law on the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers Geraldine said.
The 1951 Refugee Convention was drawn up following World War II in the wake of mass forced displacement of Jewish and other war refugees fleeing persecution.
Considering most Israeli�s come from a background where they sought refuge in other countries including the present Israeli state this law can be deemed nothing more that sectarian and racist.
Many Irish people have experienced the effects of internment without trial and what it is like to live in a sectarian state in the occupied six counties, this internment and occupation continues today and at present Martin Corey and Marian Price are detained indefinitely without trail without even a valid reason for their internment.
This action by Israel must be highlighted and its injustice told to the world Geraldine said.
Remember when we stand idly by against injustice we cannot expect anyone to stand by us when injustice comes our way.
