Citizen Or Slave?

Tonight The Pensive Quill features guest writer Sean Doyle commenting on the Austerity Treaty.

The government wants us to vote yes on the fiscal treaty to enable us to another bailout if required to continue servicing the massive banks and private debts that has been unjustly and undemocratically foisted on the ordinary citizens of Ireland.

The government of Fine Gael and Labour and their predecessors of Fianna Fail and the Greens over the past 5 years have more than adequately proven their commitment to corporate Europe through devastating cuts that have visually reaped havoc throughout Irish society and has decimated and impoverished families throughout the country.

Their desired yes vote will no doubt enshrine impoverishment in our constitution. It is obvious we cannot and should not carry the debts of bankers and speculators that was fostered and designed in corporate Europe by reckless greed to maximise profits shifting investment from manufacturing service and goods to the more lucrative financial markets and a significant increase in the extension of credit and the deregulation of banking.

Worrying Silence

Tonight The Pensive Quill features guest writer Nuala Perry. In a piece written for the Andersonstown News the former political prisoner calls for an increase in support for the interned Marian Price. 

On Sunday, May 27 a march will take place on the Falls Road highlighting the continuing and unjust imprisonment of veteran republican Marian Price. The outcome of this march should not be dictated by those who have chosen to turn a blind eye, but rather by those who believe what is happening to Marian is totally wrong and therefore feel compelled to come out of their homes in support of her plight.

There is a serious dearth of ex-republican prisoners coming out on to the streets to identify and empathise with Marian’s cause. There is also a worrying silence from the many ex-prisoners’ groups, groups who have quite recently threatened to impeach the British Government for the very offences currently being visited on Marian Price.

British Viceroy Interning Irish Citizens

Tonight The Pensive Quill carries a letter from the Family and Friends of Brendan Hughes group expressing its concern at the internment of Marian Price and Martin Corey. It appeared in the Irish News on 21/05/2012

A chara,

Clearly, the British Secretary of State, Owen Paterson does not understand the fundamentals of Irish history. If he did, he would know that the interning of Irish citizens by British viceroys is anathema to all Irish people and he would appreciate that the introduction of internment has failed in the past and has exacerbated the political situation rather than cured it.  
 
It is against the re-introduction of internment that we, the Family and Friends of Brendan Hughes, wish to register our support for the campaign to free the internees, Marian Price and Martin Corey.

Tuition, Protest and Bill 78: A View from Quebec

Tonight The Pensive Quill carries a letter written by written by many of Quebec’s leading historians in protest against a a Quebec government bill which would impose restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly. It was submitted by André Poulin and translated by Tom Peace.

At the end of last week, the Quebec government tabled Bill 78 in an effort to end the months of protest over planned hikes to university tuition. The bill sets restrictions on the freedom of assembly and expression, requiring those in protests over 50 people to ascertain that the protest has been officially sanctioned by police and government officials.  The bill also holds student associations, unions and their leaders accountable for the actions of their membership. The biggest problem with the law, like most draconian measures, is that it is vague in its definition of illegal activity and harsh on punishment.  Not surprisingly, countless groups – including some that disagree with the tuition-based protest – have voiced their opposition to it, culminating in a mass demonstration on Tuesday in Montreal.  Below is a translated version of an open letter, written by many of Quebec’s leading historians in reaction to the government’s bill.  It is followed by brief summaries of the posts related to this issue published by our francophone partner site, HistoireEngagee.ca.

Here is the letter:

Autism does not respect class, creed, colour or the Irish border

Former Blanket columnist Dr John Coulter is challenging any of Ireland’s top media presenters to spend a few weeks with his family helping to care for his severely autistic teenage son so they can fully understand the disorder.

I really need top BBC broadcast shock-jock Stephen Nolan to spend a few weeks caring for my severely autistic teenage son. If TV investigative legend Louis Theroux can make a heart-rendering and compulsive-viewing documentary about people in America with autism and their carers, then maybe Big Steve would take up my gauntlet of a month at the Coulters. And if Big Steve can’t spend the week at the Castle Coulter’s Autism Chaos, then maybe top Southern presenters Pat Kenny or Ryan Tubridy could take up the challenge. Louis’ show hit the nail on the head about the plight of carers who have to cope 24/7 with the challenges posed by their autistic relatives.

The Assembly once succeeded in getting the North’s first Autism Bill passed, but its supposed boost for sufferers and their carers was lost in the political wrangling and point-scoring among the parties. I wish Louis had made his show in the North. With hard-hitting cuts about to slash the health budget, many carers feel those with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) will be relegated to the bottom of the cash heap.

An Appeal For Help

Today The Pensive Quill carries an appeal from guest writer Martin Óg Meehan. He and a group of republican colleagues have commited to making right the grave of IRA volunteer Joseph O'Connor, desecrated in a recent attack.

A chairde,

I'm writing to you regarding the recent destruction of Volunteer Joe O'Connor's grave in Belfast. The destruction has caused untold damage not only to the grave, but also to the entire O'Connor Clann as well as, the wider Republican community in the city.

The killing of Joe-Joe in 2000 as well as, constant attacks on family members homes and now the destruction of his grave, is the latest in a long line of crimes against the O'Connor family. A number of Republicans and I have met with the O'Conor Clann since the incident and they have given us permission to act on their behalf to have the grave restored.

This & That: Take 9

 The Betty Boo Room

It is heartening to see that sometimes memory is stronger than forgetting. Marian Price does not figure prominently in the minds of all her former colleagues from the heady days of armed struggle. They seem to think subversive republicanism is infectious and if they don’t quarantine their memories from it, they might just catch it. Not recommended for those who want to sit suited and booted at Stormont with their new found right honourable friends.

Still, as has been demonstrated by recent campaigning and letter writing some of those who went through Armagh Gaol as republican political prisoners have memories which are not just as short. They have no interest in managing Britain’s affairs in Ireland and have been to the fore in raising the profile of their fellow former prisoner, interned because the British rule the roost and can do pretty much as they like.

New On-line Republican Discussion Forum

Today The Pensive Quill carries a plug from guest writer Alex McGuigan a Belfast socialist republican for a new republican discussion forum

A new on-line Irish Republican discussion forum has been launched this week which looks very promising.

Unlike another well known forum which has featured regularly in the media, for all the wrong reasons, this new forum is not a Provisional Sinn Fein asset and has a decidedly non-partisan administration and moderation team made up of grassroots members from a variety of anti-establishment Republican parties and independents.

The new discussion forum's web address is: http://s13.zetaboards.com/irishrepublicans/index/

Hansen Wrong

Alan Hansen’s is a judgement I always gave weight to. Measured but steely when required his view always had a pulling power which could drag an opponent over the line as if in a tug of war competition. But this time he is wrong, hopelessly so. On the sacking of Kenny Dalglish as manager of Liverpool, a club once captained by Hansen, he said that he felt sadness that his fellow Scot ‘did not get the chance I believe he deserved.’

How many chances did he want for Dalglish? As coach he had available to him an expensive array of individuals many of whom he brought to the club. The task of making a team out of them fell to him and he failed.  He failed every time his motley lot stepped out on the pitch and did everything but play good soccer.

Marian Price should be released immediately.

Today The Pensive Quill features guest writer Mick Hall who blogs at Organized Rage. Here he takes issue with the ongoing internment of the Irish republican political prisoner Marian Price.

After the British Viceroy in Ireland Owen Paterson revoked her licence last year, Irish republican Marian Price has now been held without trial for over a year. Never mind from day one this decision was surrounded in controversy as the British government were unable to provide the license claiming it has been lost. This is not a small matter as her lawyers claim it no longer stands having been revoked, expressing his concern Daniel Holder, Deputy Director of the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) had this to say about Marian Prices case:

The case of Marian Price is particularly striking, as on the same day a Judge released her on bail in May 2011, a government Minister returned her to prison. There are other due process issues in relation to this case, not least the fact she was given a pardon under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy. The NIO claims this document only related to Marian Price’s fixed term and not life sentence for which a licence applied. Her family contest that the pardon related to both, and hence believe that the NIO had no licence to revoke. It would seem a relatively simple matter for the NIO to produce the document to settle the matter. However, apparently the pardon and all copies of it have gone ‘missing.’ Given that it could possibly change a decision as to whether a person is deprived of their liberty, one would think an investigation would have taken place as to how and when the information disappeared. CAJ has been told that the NIO have decided not to investigate this on the grounds that the pardon is ‘not relevant’ to this case.

Vote Yo

Sinn Fein has without doubt something to say about austerity and the economic woes that beset the country. But as always with the party, it is hard to believe that it believes what it says. This scepticism is particularly pronounced when its leader is speaking. During the course of a lengthy television debate on Sunday evening Labour Party leader and Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore dismissed him as a liar. Well used to having that said both about him and to him the Adams response was something to the effect of ‘you better watch yourself Eamon.’ Akin to his ‘don’t get smart Sharon’ threat to a Northern journalist, he seems oblivious to the suggestion that what works in the backstreets of Belfast is unlikely to succeed in a Dublin TV station.  A natural bully, the Sinn Fein leader was left in no doubt by Gilmore that a resort to the heavy handed would make no headway either.

It would be reassuring if the case that Adams represented were to trump the one articulated by Gilmore. There is no question that the austerity package being defended by Gilmore will work. But who it works for is a more important question. Certainly not the poorest, the most vulnerable, the unemployed, the almost homeless, the already homeless, the debt ridden, the sick. There is a category of people in the here and now who will not feel the strangulation of austerity. Sure it will work for them. But far too many people are scraping by outside that category.

Secularocrats Undermine Priest Process

A priest was driving along and became upset when he ran over a frog. He stopped and was surprised to find the frog alive. Taking it home he revived the frog with a warm bath and some fly soup. Then the frog was tired so he popped it into bed. The frog needed a kiss to get off to sleep so the priest delivered a small peck on the cheek. In an instant the frog transformed into an eleven year old boy.

And that your honour is the case for the defence.

Some explanations like that of the priest and the frog just don’t ring plausible. This has probably drawn more attention to the Pomeroy Parish Porn show than it merits. Alright, few would envy Martin McVeigh caught in the predicament in which he has found himself. Who wants their personal thoughts exposed? That’s why he wanted his kept private, for fear of embarrassment or accusatory declamation from the Pharisees and exclusion by them from the temple. It’s also why privacy is valued in our society although legitimate arguments about where the boundaries should be will always feature in our discourse on the matter.

Enlightened

Today The Pensive Quill features a review of a television show by guest writer Carrie Twomey

 A new television show I enjoy watching is Laura Dern's Enlightened, currently showing on Sky. It's a strange little show, only a half hour long, with Dern as the main character who is frighteningly off-balance and, as one of her workplace friends called her, angry. Her character, Amy, is both repulsive and someone who you root for, in the main because Dern is so good at conveying how hard this woman is struggling to deal with her life and its disappointments.

Amy really is angry, very angry, and we are watching a woman who has already had a nervous breakdown teetering on the edge of having another one. She knows she isn't 'cured' but she is trying so hard to use what she learned on her recent therapy 'retreat' and apply it to her life - and it isn't quite working. At least, not how it's supposed to work in the New Age incense-and-crystal-holistic-food-centered-and-one-with-life way the self help books she uses as her new bible tell her it should. Instead, because she is trying so hard, each episode we are treated to watching her struggle to understand herself and the people around her; our, and her, reward is each step she takes brings her closer towards accepting herself for who she is.

The King is Dead

Fenway Sports Group (FSG) and Liverpool Football Club announce that Kenny Dalglish is to leave his post today as Manager after having his contract terminated. After a careful and deliberative review of the season, the Club came to the decision that a change was appropriate. It is not a decision that was reached lightly or hastily. The search for a new Manager will begin immediately – Statement from Liverpool FC

Kenny Dalglish has been given the boot by the owners of Liverpool FC. It was a long time coming. Ronnie Whelan who vociferously lobbied to get rid of Rafa Benitez two years ago and who played alongside Dalglish in the good Liverpool sides of the 1980s, was a few evenings back predicting that his former teammate would stay in place and start the new season as boss. He added however that Dalglish knew himself that he had to deliver if he was to have a realistic chance of being there at the season’s end.

Covertly Interned by Britain

Today The Pensive Quill features a letter by Hugh Brady and Thomas Dixie Elliott that first appeared in the Newry Times on 5/05/2012

Dear Editor,

‘I am standing on the threshold of another trembling world. May God have mercy on my soul.’ Bobby Sands March 1st 1981.

On the 5th May, 31 years ago, Bobby stepped beyond that threshold. In the months that followed nine brave men followed him. Long Kesh was their battleground, a place where they took a courageous stand against injustice.

The Living and the Dead both have key roles to Play

Tonight The Pensive Quill features guest writer Dr John Coulter, a former Blanket columnist with an article that originally appeared in the Tribune Magazine on 6/05/2012


With the peace process holding, the living seem destined to spend the future fighting over the dead. The next four years will see a host of centenary commemorations. Already Northern Ireland is capitalising on the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic on its maiden voyage with the loss of more than 1,500 people. What other land would celebrate the deaths of hundreds in the freezing Atlantic waters in 1912? The ship which sank has boosted Ireland’s tourism potential in the teeth of an economic recession.

More worrying are the commemorations planned to mark the formations of many of the militias which emerged a century ago as the Home Rule crisis gripped Ireland. First off the mark will be Unionists, who plan a huge rally in Belfast later this month to mark the centenary of the Balmoral Review. This was an event in 1912 when Unionism’s anti-Home Rule champion, Edward Carson, held a review of thousands of armed members of his newly formed Ulster Volunteer Force. A year later, nationalists responded by launching the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army. Had it not been for the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, Ireland was set for a bloody sectarian conflict between Unionists and nationalists.

Incarceration Predicament

Today The Pensive Quill carries a statement from guest writer Gerry McGeough released on 5/11/12

A Cairde,

May I begin by extending my warmest greetings and deepest gratitude to you all for the wonderful support and solidarity you have shown and continue to show, towards my family and I at this difficult time in out lives. You have no idea how much this means to us may God bestow bountiful blessings upon you and all your loved ones.

Keeping in mind that practically every word I say or write is closely monitored by British Intelligence functionaries, you will appreciate that I am somewhat restricted in how I express myself at present. I hope you will bear with me and understand the limitations that have been imposed upon me.

On Bail in Jail

We do not support putting people away in prison because of intelligence or because of some political point of view and we are convinced that she has been detained without trial because of that by the secretary of state  ...  She doesn't even have her own counsel to represent her in relation to the intelligence report. They appoint a counsel, an outside barrister, to represent her on that - her own defence counsel can't even look at the intelligence report. How is that due process? Alban Maginness

A discussion yesterday on BBC’s The Politics Show, illustrated just how voluble the public discourse around the ongoing detention of Marian Price has become. To the extent that there is a discourse rather than the issue being suffocated under a blanket of silence, is the outcome of persistent campaigning by people with no power pushing the issue right under the noses of the powerful.  Included amongst them are many former prisoners who are determined that British injustice will be confronted whenever it shows its ugly face.

Beyond Making Muted Representations

Today The Pensive Quill features a letter by guest writer Martin Galvin. It appeared in the Irish News 9/05/2012 and raises the isue of Gerry McGeough's imprisonment.


A chara

G McGee claims in his (21 APRIL) polemic against Gerry McGeough that “anyone can be convicted for actions prior to 1998.” Perhaps he could explain to the families and friends of victims of Bloody Sunday, the Ballymurphy Massacre, Nora McCabe, Majella O’Hare and a long list more, when “anyone” in the British Army or RUC will be convicted for any of these “unjustified and unjustifiable killings”. Perhaps he could explain to Sam Marshall’s family among others why anyone alleging collusion by crown forces seems to be stonewalled.

Perhaps Republicans should unite in anger against what increasingly appears to be an undeclared policy of selective immunity for line of duty killings by British Army or RUC constabulary, instead of dividing over apparent selective prosecutions of Republicans.

Snatching Victory from the Jaws of Defeat

This piece almost had the title Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory. Manchester City left it late, very late. They took their supporters to the precipice of disaster and despair where nothing other than the plunge beckoned, only to haul them back from the brink at the very last second. For the past three weeks the championship had been theirs for the taking. Yet with only minutes remaining they were trailing 2-1 at home to relegation candidates, QPR. It seemed City had blown it and faced being labelled chokers for having bottled it at the last minute. A team that can’t rise to the occasion when it must is not championship material. The boxer Jack Dempsey once said that ‘a champion is someone who gets up when he can't.’ City proved their championship mettle when they got up from the dead.

Travesty of Justice and a Disgrace

Today The Pensive Quill features a letter on the ongoing imprisonment of Marian Price. It was written by Marie Flynn, Kate Mc Kinney and Eve Brady, former republican political prisoners in Armagh Gaol. An edited version of this letter originally appeared in the Irish News on 5/05/2012

Marian Price is a 57 year old woman and a mother. Marian suffers from chronic ill health conditions and despite recommendations by medical professionals to have her transferred to an outside hospital she remains in a prison cell. She is NOT receiving adequate healthcare.

Marian Price is the victim of wilful neglect, psychological torture, internment, and political vindictiveness and should be freed immediately.

Public Persecution Service

A book might be written on the injustice of the just - Pauline Kael

The less than gratifying response of the British state’s leading prosecutor in Ireland to the judicious stance taken by a Derry judge in the case of Marian Price et al has further reinforced a vindictive trend in Britain’s Northern Irish policy. It also underscores the need for society not to take its watchful eye off an area most certain to produce abuses if left to its own devices and self regulation. Unwilling to allow the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) to play footloose and fancy free with people’s liberty while reaffirming the principle that everyone was entitled to a fair trial within a reasonable time frame the judge, Barney McElhome, decided that he, not the PPS, would decide how long a case would be dragged out.

Terrified by the thought that law enforcement and its associated agencies might not always be able to bulldoze the rights of citizens out of its way the DUP sprang out of the traps and pointed the finger at the PPS, accusing it of having put the ball into its own net. The DUP know the score. The PPS plays for the British team and own goals are simply not permissible. It is there to do a job and the DUP expects it to do no less.  Paul Girvan who heads up the justice committee at Stormont cited Thursday’s judgement:

The judge has made it clear he's putting the blame with the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) for not having the proper papers ready and I think it's for the director of the PPS now to come forward and to explain why his organisation didn't have those papers ready.

No Royal Beacon On Cavehill – McArt’s Fort

Today The Pensive Quill carries an appeal from the No Royal Beacon at McArts Fort Cavehill Campaign Group.

Recently Belfast City Council votes to allocate £56,000 in ratepayer's money to celebrate the Diamond jubilee of the British Queen. In addition, another £48,000 was due to be made available to communities and youth groups to organise their own Jubilee events. Both these funding initiatives received the full backing of Sinn Féin and the DUP.

As part of of the official council-run celebrations, there is a plan to light a large beacon on the top of the Cave hill on Monday 4th of June and beam the images back to a live audience at Buckingham Palace via the BBC.

Cavehill is intrinsically linked to the history and development of the struggle for Irish freedom, as McArt's Fort at the peak of the Cavehill is the birthplace of modern day republicanism. It was here in 1795 that Theobold Wolfe Tone, Henry Joy McCracken and others formed the UnitedIrishmen and made a solemn oath to break the connection with England and to unite Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter under the common name of Irishman.

Disorder in the Court

Marian Price and three co-accused yesterday saw charges against them thrown out of a Northern Irish court by the judge, Barney McElholm. He expressed some disquiet at the length of time it had taken the prosecution to complete the papers necessary for the British crown to proceed with its case against the accused. Prolonged remands, as in this case, are a throwback to the days of conveyor belt justice when people could be held on remand for as long as three years before being brought to trial. It was a legal weapon used by the British state for keeping political opponents off the streets and was colloquially known as ‘internment by remand.’ Then it was the exception that people got bail. So, by keeping any trial on the long finger the British could prolong deprivation of liberty.

A year after charges were first preferred in the case, Marian Price along with three Derry men were due a Preliminary Enquiry. For the most part these are legal formalities whereby a judge assesses if there is a prima facie case against the accused and the onus is on the prosecution to present some evidence that will persuade the judge to allow the case to go to trial. Otherwise, the court has the option of dismissal.

Carrie Twomey Letter to Senator Lugar, forwarded to Department of Justice and State Department

Congressional Action, Senator Lugar Letter

This letter was forwarded by Senator Lugar to the Department of Justice and the State Department with a request for a response to the issues raised. 

January 18, 2012

The Honorable Richard Lugar
306 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1401 

Dear Senator Lugar, 

My name is Carrie Twomey. I am writing to you regarding the Boston College subpoena case, which involves an oral history collection housed in the Burns Library at Boston College. The ‘Belfast Project’ oral history is a series of interviews conducted with former republican and loyalist paramilitary members, collected between 2001 and 2006, in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA). It was an academic, historical project created to allow future generations to better understand what drives people to conflict and is a valuable archive that should be protected. Interviews were given on the basis of strict confidentiality promised by Boston College. The contents of the archive were only to be released after the death of an interviewee, unless written permission from that interviewee was given. The Attorney General, under the US-UK Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), has issued subpoenas for specified materials on behalf of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). No attempt has been made by the PSNI to get the information which it seeks on subpoena, information which is in the public domain, by utilizing their own domestic law enforcement methods. 

McGeough Family Benefit - May 19, 2012

Tonight The Pensive Quill features guest writer Helen McClafferty detailing an upcoming event in support of the family of republican political prisoner Gerry McGeough


Gerry McGeough of the Brantry, County Tyrone was jailed on February 18, 2011, for resisting British rule during the time of the 1981 Hunger Strike, thirty-one years ago! His wife and four young children need your help.

Few patriots played as wide-ranging and prominent role as has Republican, Tyrone County AOH President, author and activist Gerry McGeough. He joined Sinn Fein in 1975 and was a key campaigner for the Hunger Strikers, helping elect Bobby Sands MP.

The British charge that Gerry McGeough was also an active IRA Volunteer, seriously wounded in an engagement with armed UDR in June 1981 near Aughnacloy.

The Final Ibrox Disaster.

Today The Pensive Quill features guest writer Larry Hughes, sharing his thoughts on the decline, or demise, of Glasgow Rangers.

As another season of SPL ‘football’ comes to a close it has been remarkable for just about everything except, once again, the football. Bullets and bombs in the post combined with death threats and physical assault by opposing fans seemed to be keeping the Celtic manager in his job. For his part Neil Lennon seemed determined to project the image cultivated by ‘Punch’ of the stereotypical Celt, knuckle dragging, scruffy, uncouth and unable to look an interviewer directly in the eye as he answered questions through his teeth. Roll out Ally McCoist of Rangers next in his Saville Row suit and clean cut and direct demeanor and presto, ‘Punch’ had it right all along.

So, it would appear to be business as usual in the world of Scottish football? Well not quite. Whilst Celtic were collecting a lesser treble last night (than the one they unbelievably squandered on the pitch) at the Scottish football awards, where players Mulgrew and Forrest along with manager Lennon swept the boards, a ‘bomb’ exploded at Ibrox which blew open a hole that could prove bigger than the one in the side of the Titanic and just as difficult to fill.  The hole in Rangers FC finances may lead to a very dark and bottomless interior and the Strathclyde police are now peering into it.

A Modest Proposal For the English FA.

There is a measure of consistency to the English national soccer team. The FA coach selectors having determined that the team will win nothing have selected a new coach who will ensure that there will be no pleasant surprises along the way. At least in these days of austerity something has to be sacrificed so why not the hefty fee certain to be incurred were the FA to buy Harry Redknapp of Spurs out of his current contract?

Not that Hodgson is a bad manager. He has been in charge of 18 clubs in a career spanning three and a half decades. But when presented with a real challenge, some might say an impossible one - making a silk purse out of the sow’s ear that is Liverpool FC - he failed, and was forced to walk the plank mid season. Who was the last Liverpool coach that happened to?  Redknapp may have fared no better had he took the reins at Anfield but the fact is he didn’t and therefore was not tested and found out.

A Policy of Laissez Faire or Guardian of the Rule of Law?

Today The Pensive Quill features an article by guest writer Michael Brentnall who is Chairperson of the Irish Law & Democracy Committee (ILDC) a Human Rights campaign group set up by a number of law students in Queens University in 2010.

The recent case involving the Attorney General, John Larkin QC and Peter Hain in regard to the latter's memoirs commenting on the judicial decision during his time in office has raised a number of issues. However, the outstanding issue in this matter concerns what constitutes legal intervention by the Attorney General?

The role of the Attorney General is outlined on the website of the 'Office of the Attorney General for Northern Ireland'. It states the role of the Attorney General as the 'Guardian of the Rule of law', who has a responsibility to:

represent the public interest and ensure that all persons, institutions and entities, public and private, including the State itself, are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with fundamental human rights.

Righting a Grave Injustice

Tonight The Pensive Quill carries a letter written by guest writer Nuala Perry. It originally appeared in edited form in the Irish News on 3/05/20112.

In recent times I have read quite a bit about Coiste na n-Iarchimi  proposals to have the British Government indicted for the suffering and carnage caused to many Irish people and their families during internment.

Last year on the fortieth anniversary of internment a representative of this group claimed. ‘We intend to force the British Government to acknowledge the injustice of internment and the effects that imprisonment without trial had on individuals concerned and the community as a whole.’

If this group are truly sincere about righting such a grave injustice, why then, do they remain so muted when it comes to a more recent British injustice, the internment of Marian Price?

Chris Bray: Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, Attorneys at Law

Boston College appellate brief, May 3, pg. 12:

The assurances of confidentiality were documented when the interviews were concluded. Each interviewee was given a form to donate his or her interview materials to the Burns Library at Boston College on the express condition that the materials would not be disclosed, absent the interviewee’s permission, until after his or her death.

Very same brief, pg. 7:

Boston College was aware that Dolours Price herself had already disclosed her involvement in the Belfast Project and provided much of the information about her role in the IRA and the disappearances of individuals, including Jean McConville, in public interviews, which indicated that she was not seeking to protect the confidentiality of her Belfast Project interviews.

The "express condition" requiring direct permission for disclosure on one page becomes an implied waiver, inferred through vaguely sourced newspaper stories, on another. All interviewees were assured their interviews would be protected until and unless they contacted us and said not to protect them anymore, but then we read some stuff in a newspaper and so we guess this one interviewee gives up the confidentiality of her interviews.

Continue Reading

Rendezvous in Rome

When the mountain refused to come to Darragh MacIntyre, he went to it. When he reached it he out scaled Mount Arrogant and shone a light down upon it. It was not a pretty sight. The men hiding behind the burning bush these days have one commandment: ‘silence.’ As much as they would love to command MacIntyre to shut up he was not some abused child who could be terrified into silence by stern faced interrogators in black compelling him to swear on some holy book.

Brendan Boland was the 14 year old victim of one of many serial rapists operating within Church ranks when Church authorities decided that the best way of neutralising him was to isolate him from the security of his father, put him in a room with men who were colleagues of the priest who had raped him, outnumbering him with interrogators.  I remember when I was questioned by the RUC in 1974 I chanced my arm and asked for a parent to be to be present. I was amazed when they acceded to my request without hesitation. Seems even they had more concern for Catholic teenagers than the Church.

Statement by Gerry McGeough, May 3, 2012, Maghaberry Prison

Today The Pensive Quill features a statement from guest writer Gerry McGeough

Through my incarceration and ongoing political persecution the British are sending a stark message to Irish Catholics.  That message is an old one.  It is ‘Croppies Lie Down’.

What the British/Unionist establishment is, in effect saying, is that the IRA lost the war and Sinn Fein bungled the peace.  We are in total control now and we will do what we like.  For ‘Croppies’ there will be no future, only vengeance and retribution for the past.

Wembley Woe

Yesterday I relented and ended up watching the FA Cup final. I took my six year old son along to the pub, plied him with sweets and soft drinks, and myself with pints. I then listened to him cheer as Liverpool predictably went under for the umpteenth time this season. He likes Manchester United but on the day wanted to see Chelsea win. ‘I hate Liverpool’ is what he tells me. At times I do too. Anyway, an evening out with him was a joy not to be foregone just because of the anticipated lack of quality on screen.

The outcome was pretty much as expected. It would have seemed unfair for Chelsea to have lost on the day given the spirit the team has shown over the distance when their opponents fumbled and faltered at every opportunity.  At least the game was settled in open play and the satisfaction to be derived from victory by Chelsea supporters was not diminished by the grafting on of a penalty shootout, the result of which often fails to reflect the ebb and flow that preceded it on the field of play.

Ed Moloney: Boston College’s Shameful Sham Appeal

As Chris Bray writes here, Boston College has lodged its plea with the First Circuit Appeal court and he points out that the college have unceremoniously dumped Dolours Price, choosing to interpret two controversial newspaper articles in the Irish News and Sunday Life back in February 2010 as evidence that she had relinquished her protection of confidentiality and therefore any need for Boston College to resist the PSNI/Department of Justice subpoenas seeking her interviews.

UPDATE – I am informed that legally this might be a controversial and invalid claim for Boston College to have made. I will update more when the situation clarifies.

UPDATED AGAIN – Chris Bray has addressed the issue of the legal standing of Boston College’s claim that Dolours Price relinquished her protection of confidentiality when she allegedly gave an interview to the Irish News in Belfast in February 2010. He effectively concludes that Boston College’s claim is spurious. You can read his piece here.

Legacy and its Creators

We will always remember May the 5th. How could it be otherwise? We remember it even more poignantly when, unlike today, it falls on a Tuesday. The phrase will forever resonate in our minds: Tuesday the 5th of May. 31 years ago this very day Bobby Sands lost his life on hunger strike having endured 66 days without nutrition. His journey was not for the faint hearted. After he had completed it and people could be in no doubt what lay in front of them, volunteers from the INLA and the IRA stepped forward to tread the same path, to meet the same fate, refusing to blink as the steamroller of Brutal Britain moved to crush their lives, but never their spirits. They may not be heroes in the eyes of their enemies but even adversaries cannot doubt their courage. Margaret Thatcher admitted as much in her autobiography when she spoke of admiring the bravery of Bobby Sands.

The hunger strikers proved victorious by July. That victory was concealed from them so that they would feel compelled to stride onward in pursuit of a victory they already had. Knowledge of their victory was denied them not by British intransigence, which they broke, but by the nefarious Committee who ran the hunger strike on the outside, always with their own political and literary careers in mind and never the interests of the dying men. Four hunger strikers were done in by the British alone, while six others were finished off by the British in tandem with the Committee which danced a murderous two step with its supposed foes. The Conservatives and the Committee, marching to the beat of different drums but in the end rendering the same tune. The men whose souls were purchased sacrificed the men whose souls were not.

Chris Bray: BC Files Appellate Brief in Belfast Project Case

First Circuit

 

Here’s the brief Boston College filed today in its appeal of a portion of the Belfast Project subpoenas. I have limited time to write about this, because a dissertation is calling my name, but it seems to me there are some extremely strong arguments here. Unfortunately, those strong arguments appear alongside some tendentious and untenable representations of fact.

See especially the extraordinary footnote on pg. 7, which suggests that Dolours Price waived the confidentiality of her interview materials by speaking to a reporter about the murder of Jean McConville and about the fact that she had done interviews with academic researchers. Price’s public statements, the brief argues, “indicated that she was not seeking to protect the confidentiality of her Belfast Project interviews.” Boston College is claiming that human subjects can waive research confidentiality indirectly and informally, not just by directly and explicitly notifying researchers and archivists that they no longer wish to have research materials protected from disclosure. That’s a hell of a claim, and you can expect to see it attacked by other academic researchers.

Bc Brief May 3 2012

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Donegal Diversion: Church Men At Rape

I don’t believe a week went by in West Donegal where you hadn’t a child or a number of children sexually abused . It’s horrendous. Anywhere you look around here which is so hard to fathom: by-roads, side roads, churches, schools – the abuse here was something unbelievable, unbelievable. And the fact that nobody in the public spoke out about this after the total carnage here - Retired Garda Martin Ridge

Darragh MacIntyre is a terrier when it comes to his journalistic work. When he gets his teeth into something he gnaws until he bites through. What he did to the Northern Ireland Prison Service over its handling of vulnerable prisoners, he repeated in his latest output for the BBC, This World: The Shame of the Catholic Church. He took a chunky bit out of what remains of the credibility of the less than venerable institution in Ireland. From Donegal to Rome he pursued the men of god, as elusive as they were evasive, in a search of justice for their victims. Diversion signs did little to deter this indefatigable reporter.

And diversion it surely was. For over three decades nothing was done by the Catholic Church to prevent the odious rapist Eugene Greene preying on the young of Raphoe. This Christian gentleman went about his abuse business aided by his Church who, when he was rumbled, moved him on to new pastures where he could preach his gospel of rape again.

A Broad 'Prisoner Solidarity Movement'?

Today The Pensive Quill features guest writer Johnny McGrath arguing for a more proactive approach to the current prison crisis. The author of the piece is an activist with the Prisoners’ Solidarity Group, Cork.

Is the time not ripe for a broad 'Prisoner Solidarity Committee' to be formed? Made up of Representatives of all P.O.W. representative groups, IRPWA, Cogús, F+F Group, Cabhair, IRSP, Éirígi as well as active groups and ex-pows groups, like Duleek independent republicans, PSG, Friends of Marian (Dublin), Teach na Fáilte etc. Forgive me if I have left anyone out) and including someone from a neutral standpoint like Independent Workers Union (I.W.U.). There are at present pickets, protests, white line pickets, marches, car convoys happening in Various parts of the country like Cork, Dublin, Duleek, Dundalk, Derry, Strabane, Belfast, Newry, Lurgan etc etc.

The lack of coordination and the variety of groups and organisations campaigning separately for the same issue can be off putting for those outside the world of Republicanism and on  the left. A united broad campaign could generate a lot more support.

Fulham?

John McEnroe coined the angry expression, perhaps to avoid an expletive on the manicured lawns of Wimbledon, to vent it: you cannot be serious. Fulham? Up until Tuesday night the men from Craven Cottage had never won at Anfield despite having taken to the field there a total of thirty times.  Now that has been put right for the Londoners and wrong for the Scousers courtesy of a 1-0 win. Fulham didn’t even have to score the only goal of the game that secured their famous victory.  Liverpool’s Martin Skrtel did that for them.

It just gets worse and worse. If Liverpool fail to win the FA Cup this weekend, and failure is their stock-in-trade these days, then Dalglish’s future as coach must be in doubt. If not, the club’s future in top flight football will certainly be. When did a worse Liverpool side ever turn out in the club colours? Does the oldest person on Merseyside remember a side poorer than this one?

Bold Initiative Would Help Heal Republican Divisions

Tonight The Pensive Quill carries a letter from guest writer Richard O’Rawe that appeared in yesterday’s Irish News.

A chara,

During the prison protests and hunger strikes of the late 1970s and early 80s, we protesting prisoners, and our republican leaders on the outside, constantly appealed to the SDLP to pull out of the local council chambers in support of our five demands. The SDLP refused to countenance such a move and consequently, the party were pilloried and criticised at every opportunity. 

It is now generally accepted that the prison protests and the hunger strikes were the catalysts for Sinn Fein’s incursion into constitutional politics.  It could also be argued that the SDLP’s inertia during this period of protest and mass-mobilization seriously damaged the standing of the party among many nationalists who may not have been natural Sinn Fein supporters.

Pat Kenny interviews Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin

Fianna Fáil considers its options with Sinn Féin. Here The Pensive Quill features a recent interview with party leader Micheál Martin, on the Today programme with Pat Kenny show.


Pat Kenny interviews Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin
RTÉ Radio
Today with Pat Kenny
Monday 30 April 2012
Pat Kenny (PK) interviews Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin (MM).

Pat Kenny (PK): Are Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil perfect bedfellows for a future coalition or even a merger?

Well that seems to be the view of former deputy leader Éamon Ó Cuív when he said in an interview with The Connacht Tribune that both parties come from the same tradition and are therefore more compatible than a partnership with either Fine Gael or Labour. 

I'm joined from the Cork studio by the leader of Fianna Fáil, Micheál Martin. 

PK: Micheál Martin, good morning!

Micheál Martin (MM): Good Morning, Pat.

PK: You must be tempted to use that old phrase: “rid me of this turbulent priest!”

MM: Not at all.

I think people in politics are free to articulate their positions and indeed to articulate what their particular beliefs and thoughts are.

I wouldn't share Éamon Ó Cuív's analysis at all in relation to Sinn Féin.

I don't see Sinn Féin as a Republican party in the first instance.

Their actions, not just in the past but even up to present day, are the very antithesis of what Republicanism should mean.

Chris Bray: Guessing Games

On Thursday, Boston College owes the First Circuit a brief that will lay out the basis for their appeal of the district court's order to turn over Belfast Project interview materials to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston. Because of some bad timing, the lawyers working on that brief are stuck with an unfortunate guessing game: The same court has already heard argument in another appeal regarding many of the same subpoenaed materials, but the court has not announced its decision in that case.

Remember that in its April hearing, the court brushed aside the government's efforts to limit the issues before the court, insisting that Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Healy Smith address a set of constitutional challenges raised against the subpoenas by the lawyers for Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre, BC's Belfast Project researchers. Asked if the First Amendment protects the confidentiality of academic research, Smith responded that there "is not a recognized privilege that would protect someone from giving evidence absent a strong countervailing interest -- constitutional, common-law, or statutory privilege."

That's the heart of the position that BC will need to attack if it wishes to kill any part of these subpoenas, and the university's lawyers have to frame their argument without knowing what the court thinks of a set of issues it has probably already considered.

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Feeble Speech

The following is an unpublished piece that was submitted to Index on Censorship but did not make it for publication.

A couple of weeks back the British columnist Stephen Glover laced his Independent niche - with polemical musings on Roy Greenslade, a columnist at the Guardian and Professor of Journalism at City University. The fire in the belly of Glover was ignited by Greenslade having earlier attacked his own Guardian colleague Henry McDonald -  who, in the eyes of Geeenslade, had erred grievously by making an inaccurate assertion in a news report on a killing in Northern Ireland. McDonald rushed his fences and wrongly claimed that the killing of a West Belfast man had been the work of ‘republican paramilitaries’ from the dissident camp. This sort of mistake while not without precedent in journalistic coverage of Northern Irish affairs, nevertheless spurred the pen of Greenslade into action. Writers are invariably pricked about something so Greenslade in having a go was doing little other than beating a well trodden path.