Gulladuff: More Heat Than Light
UPDATE: SINN FEIN issues statement calling for a cover-up.
Wednesday night in Gulladuff, South Derry, Gerry Adams, Danny Morrison and Bik McFarlane met with some members of some of the families of the 1981 hunger strikers. Anyone having any hopes of Sinn Fein supporting and honestly participating in a Truth and Reconciliation Commission should just go home now. It was a complete farce from beginning to end. Goons from West Belfast patrolled the parking lot and guarded the door to the community hall. When former Hunger Striker Gerard Hodgins, and Jimmy Dempsey, a former prisoner and father of John Dempsey, the 16 year old boy who died in the riots that occurred at the death of Joe McDonnell, and who is buried in the republican plot alongside McDonnell, along with a representative for the O’Hara and Devine families, asked to participate in the meeting, Danny Morrison forcibly closed the door on them, snarling that they were not wanted, that they had had their chance at the Gasyard Debate to speak to the families and if the families chose not to attend then, it did not mean that he had to allow them into the hall now. When it was pointed out that the representative was there at the request of two of the families, he stated he would go back and ask the families if entry would be permitted. He then locked them out.
Not long after, Bobby Storey, who had nothing to do with the hunger strike, came out and confronted the trio, insulting Gerard Hodgins under his breath by claiming he was in the Continuity IRA and making allegations about the recent break-in at his home. He clapped Dempsey on the back and turned on a sweeter tone, saying he was sorry about his son but he had no right to be there. Hodgins stated he wanted to make clear that he was not in the CIRA, that such allegations were spurious, and was Storey the source of them for the Andersonstown News. Storey rudely snapped, “I’m not talking to you,” and went on attempting to pacify Dempsey. Hodgins responded, “But I am talking to you,” whereby Storey whipped round, pointed his finger directly at Hodgins and said, “See you? I will speak to you at a time and place of my choosing.” This was a clear threat, which Hodgins underlined by asking incredulously, “Are you threatening me?” Realising he had gone too far, Storey made his excuses to Dempsey and was let back into the hall. Dempsey was clearly unhappy at being locked out of a meeting he felt, as his son’s death was a direct result of Joe McDonnells’, he had every right to be at, to ask, did his son have to die? If the outside leadership at the time had accepted the Mountain Climber offer, and Joe McDonnell had not died, nor would have young John Dempsey.
Yet Bobby Storey, a man who had nothing to do with the hunger strike and who had just threatened a hunger striker, had the doors unlocked for him.
And that was only the fireworks outside the meeting. Inside, it got worse.With an inauspicious start, Adams introduced the meeting referring to “conspiracy theories by anti Sinn Fein elements” and drawing a comparison to conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Michael Collins, one of which alleges he was set up and shot by his own IRA men.
All the inconsistencies in the press to date were only amplified at the meeting. Attempts to clarify points or challenge previous statements were met with indignant fits of pique, such as Morrison claiming he would never sit in the same room with Richard O’Rawe, “the man who accused me of murdering 6 hunger strikers!”, or Gerry Adams repeatedly asking, “Do you think I am telling the truth, yes or no?”
Bik McFarlane also kept to the discredited nonsense that it was the hunger strikers who rejected the offer, despite evidence that the hunger strikers were never told the details of the offer. He and Morrison claimed that all the hunger strikers (including Lynch and Devine) were told about the Mountain Climber offer and had refused, saying it was not enough. McFarlane then denied he ever had the the “Tá go leor ann” conversation with O’Rawe based on that claim, saying, “How could I? After hearing the men reject the offer put to them?” This notion does not jibe with any of the historical records and accounts of that time period.
Bik McFarlane claimed that he was always saying “I agree with you” in Irish to Richard, in a pathetic attempt to explain away the prisoners coming forward who overheard the conversation between himself and O’Rawe accepting the Mountain Climber offer. He was explaining that the prisoners who heard that conversation were mixing up the numerous conversations he had with O’Rawe in which he agreed with what O’Rawe was saying. This of course moves further still from his starting position of never having had any such conversation with O’Rawe, to now having had so many, he and other prisoners would be unable to keep track of them.
The ICJP and Mountain Climber offers were conflated in an attempt to obscure the outside rejection of the Mountain Climber offer. PRO statements, statements which were written at the behest of Adams, were repeatedly presented as if they reflected the private comms between the prison leadership and the outside. None of the private comms referring to the Mountain Climber, which O’Rawe had given Adams in 1986, were produced.
O’Rawe was demonised in the meeting, called a liar, painted as the villain and ascribed nefarious motives for pursuing the truth. Some families’ representatives were characterised as ‘anti-GFA’ and those who had attended the Gasyard debate, many of whom were former blanketmen, were derided as ‘yahoos’. A dubious motion was attempted to get the families to agree to a joint statement that would say they were all agreed any probing into the past should cease. They ‘had enough’, ‘old wounds had opened up’, and O’Rawe ‘should stop’,’ he was ‘only after money for books’; Danny Morrison fanned the flames of the attacks on O’Rawe’s character, keeping them going whenever they appeared to peter out. He mentioned O’Rawe’s taking him to court ‘over things I said during an RTE interview’, described how no matter how often he would meet O’Rawe, he never mentioned the relevations. A meeting on the hunger strike was turned into a manipulative back stabbing session. The Sunday Times and Republican Network for Unity were in for kickings as well. The proposed joint statement was objected to and not supported by all. A suggestion that the families meet with O’Rawe and others was knocked back. It was put forward that one of the families approach O’Rawe to tell him to ‘back off’ and ask for a response. No motions proposed were passed; the meeting was becoming very emotional and many family members were close to tears.
Adams, McFarlane and Morrison were asked would they cooperate with an independent inquiry; the answer was a resounding “NO.”
After an hour and a half of hectoring, emotional manipulation, browbeating and more lies, Mickey Og Devine left early, visibly upset. He was disgusted with what he felt was nothing more than a sham, and with all the shouting and deflection when points were raised that challenged the platform. Other family members were also emotionally distraught when the meeting ended not long after he left.
Last weekend in New York, Gerry Adams waxed nostalgic about the peace process, noting how long it took to get from the start of the process to where Sinn Fein are today. He made observations about all the people – ‘the naysayers and begrudgers’ – who were against the peace process, who did not think it would work, and who did not want Sinn Fein to participate in such. Yet, he proudly claimed, Sinn Fein persevered.
Some Slugger readers will recall, in 1996, prior to the Good Friday negotiations, the image of Adams and McGuinness standing outside locked gates, begging civil servants for access to the British talks going on without them. Now Sinn Fein locks out republicans from their ‘private’ Widgery on their own actions during the Hunger Strike. A widgery in which they absolve themselves of any and all wrongdoing and condemn those who seek only the truth, putting figurative nailbombs into the pockets of anyone who dared challenge them.
The hypocrisy of allowing Bobby Storey, party enforcer, to stand menacingly at the back of the hall with his arms folded, glaring at anyone who didn’t pay homage to Dear Leader, while barring entry to a former hunger striker, the father of a young Fian killed as a result of Joe McDonnell’s death, and representatives requested by families is staggering.
However long it takes from being locked out of a SF widgery until finally achieving a full independent inquiry, with the ability to challenge all views openly and forthrightly in order to ascertain what exactly did happen and why, with or without an official Truth and Reconciliation Commission, those seeking the truth of what happened in July 1981, will persevere, just as Sinn Fein did, despite the naysayers and begrudgers who would rather bury the truth, or present a whitewash as fait accompli. No one is asking for another Bloody Sunday type inquiry – but a Widgery is unacceptable.
In using the families to hide behind the skirts of, it must be remembered that Sinn Fein has not had a problem with disrespecting and going against families of hunger strikers’ wishes when it suits them. Slugger has already noted the Sands family withdrawal of support for the Bobby Sands Trust, of which Morrison, McFarlane and Adams are on the board, because they were deeply unhappy with what they felt was the abuse of their relative. In addition, the Sands family were also vocal about their displeasure with the Denis O’Hearn biography of Bobby Sands, “Nothing But An Unfinished Song”. This did not, however, stop Sinn Fein, through Eoin O’Broin’s Left Republican Review, from publishing the book in conjunction with Pluto Press, nor launching the book across the country and supporting the children’s edition of the biography, which was co-written with Laurence McKeown. Sinn Fein was so ecstatic about that book they wanted it introduced into school curriculum. The Sands’ family position on the book, and indeed, the gross abuse of Bobby Sands’ image by the party, means absolutely nothing to Sinn Fein.
If we support the right of O’Hearn, as a historian, to write a biography of a noted historical figure, and the right of former prisoners McKeown and Elliott to contribute to an adaptation for children, while also endorsing its use in schools, despite the express wishes of the family; then it follows that we must support O’Rawe’s book as well.
This therefore becomes an issue of freedom of speech; for if families are to hold history hostage to their emotions, nothing would be written. If families are to be manipulated by politicians who wish to bury the truth of history, and people are then expected, via emotional blackmail, to defer to “the families’ wishes”, nothing would be written but the politicians’ lies. Families may express their disapproval but that will not and should not stop history from being probed, challenged, written, and read.
Clearly, ‘private’ meetings are not sufficient to address public concerns about important issues such as the hunger strikes, which had a massive impact on society beyond a handful of family members. Enough information and evidence is now out in the public domain that needs answered elsewhere from Diplock courts. Blanketmen have the right to ask their leaders of the time for a public and truthful accounting of what they did and why, without it being reduced to a browbeating exercise in deflection. The republican community at large is deeply scarred by the hunger strike and they too deserve the truth. Beyond that, the unionist community also has a right to know was the hunger strike prolonged for the promotion of Sinn Fein, as that impacts their own history greatly as well. The truth can’t be disappeared, no matter how many attempts to bury it are made.
Somehow, the bodies keep being found.
Appendix:
Father and son Jimmy and John Dempsey, as written about by Gerry Adams. Jimmy Dempsey was denied entry and locked out of the meeting in Gulladuff.
An Phoblacht, 15 May 2003
Remembering Fian John Dempsey
Within hours of the death on hunger strike of Joe McDonnell, the British Army shot dead 16-year-old Fian John Dempsey. He and two comrades were on active service when they come under fire from a squad of British soldiers at the Falls Road bus depot in Belfast.
John Dempsey died later in the Royal Victoria Hospital. Last week, on Monday 5 May, republicans from the Turf Lodge area of West Belfast unveiled a plaque at the Falls Bus Depot near the spot where he was killed.
As a tribute to the young republican, we reprint an edited version of an article written by Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams, using the pen name Brownie, in which he outlined the political and social conditions that influenced the thinking of young nationalists and led them into the struggle for national liberation.Until the morning of last Wednesday week, Fian John Dempsey, aged 16, lived in one of the grey houses which sprawl on either side of the Monagh Road in Turf Lodge.
His family, a week after his death, are now like so many other families, trying to pick up the pieces – in the heart-rending vacuum which is always created by sudden death, especially by the death of one so young and cheerful as John.
At the wake on Thursday week he looks only twelve years old, his body laid in an open coffin flanked by a guard of honour from Na Fianna Éireann.
Hardened by many funerals, by too many sudden deaths, yet one is riveted to the spot unable to grasp the logic, the divine wisdom, the insanity, which tightened a British soldier’s trigger finger and produced yet another corpse.
“He’s so young, ” exclaimed those who call to pay their respects. “Jesus, he’s only a child.”
All night, neighbours, friends and relatives call. All with the same reaction.
But young people call also, shifting uncomfortably in adult company, but strangely unshocked – not visibly at any rate – by what they see in the sad living room of the Dempsey home.
Just a tightening of young faces as they gaze silently at John’s remains, a hardening of eyes, and then silently out again to stand in small groups at the street corner. None of the awkward handshakes and mumbled “I’m sorry for your troubles”.
They understand better than most the logic which directed the British Army rifle at John, and, having understood, they pay their respects and move outside – to wait.
John’s mother, Theresa, sits comforted by friends, while her husband Jimmy stands, a gaunt figure at the head of his son’s coffin, gently stroking John’s head. Jimmy shakes hands with Dal Delaney – both fathers of dead patriots (the latter of Dee Delaney killed in a premature bomb explosion in Belfast in January 1980).
Many of Jimmy’s prison comrades come to the house. He spent six years in Long Kesh as a political prisoner, and soon talk turns to the Kesh, but not like at an adult wake where ‘craic’ flows non-stop.
At least, not in the living room, where the youthful figure in the coffin brings one sharply back from what has passed to what lies ahead, from what has been done, to what still remains to be done.
The next morning, the slow sad procession to the chapel on a bright warm summer morning; and after Mass, the girl piper heralding our passing as we make our way, once again, to Milltown. Down from the heights of Turf Lodge, past the spot where John was murdered, and by the British Army barracks, through the open gates of the cemetery, to the republican plot, where two open graves – one for Joe McDonnell – await our arrival.
John left school at Easter. He played hurling and football for Gort Na Mona and soccer for Corpus Christi, and like his father and his many uncles he was a keep fit enthusiast with an interest in body building.
He joined Na Fianna Éireann in October 1980 and like many young people from Turf Lodge, was subjected to regular harassment by British soldiers.
Wreaths are laid before we leave for Lenadoon and the funeral of Joe McDonnell.
John Dempsey’s funeral, a smaller and in many ways a sadder ceremony than Joe’s, is a stark reminder that for the first time in contemporary Irish history, the struggle has crossed the generation gap.
When Joe McDonnell was first interned in 1972, John Dempsey was a mere seven years old. Yet they were to die and be buried in the same republican plot, within hours of each other, in the service of a common cause and against the same enemy.
As Jimmy Dempsey said of his son, “John has joined the elite. He died for the freedom of his country.”
(A tribute by Brownie) first published in AP/RN 18/7/81
Marcella Sands on record about Denis O’Hearn’s biography of her brother, Bobby:
In response to an article headlined ‘New Book is First Study of Bobby Sands’, which appeared in a recent edition of the Andersonstown News, I wish to put the record straight.
According to the article, the author of the book, Denis O’Hearn, “thanks the hunger striker’s sister Marcella for her help with the book.” This suggests that I had “helped” or participated in some way in the compilation of this book and, therefore, endorsed it. This is misleading and untrue.
I wish to state categorically that neither I, nor any of my family, helped Mr O’Hearn with his book in any way, nor does my family endorse the book. Indeed, the opposite would be the case as his book contains numerous factual inaccuracies.
Denis O’Hearn’s acknowledgment of the family’s position:
[Part of the article could give] the mistaken idea that the Sands family participated in the research for the book. This is not so. I met Marcella Sands when I was beginning my research and she told me that the family did not feel that they could participate because they were writing their own memoirs and it would create a conflict of interest if they also helped me. I respected their decision and on numerous occasions when people asked me, I made it clear that Bobby’s immediate family was not participating.
Earlier on Slugger:
Gerry Adams to meet Hunger Strikers Families; Inquiry Sought Families of the hunger strikers call for a public inquiry; Adams arranges meeting
“This is a huge opportunity and I feel there’s a potential here to end this” Bik McFarlane miraculously recovers his memory and completely backtracks on every denial he had made previously, while also making up new, contradictory details never before mentioned
“I will not be attending and will not send a representative” Gerry Adams refuses to attend public meeting about the hunger strikes; extremely revealing discussion in the comments section
1981 Hunger Strike Truth Commission Includes text of British document of July offer and transcript of Willie Gallagher’s speech at the Derry meeting
The Truth is a Heartbreaking Thing Initial summary of Derry meeting
Upcoming Debate: “What is the Truth Behind the Hunger Strike?” Announcement of public meeting and note of Radio Foyle debate between Raymond McCartney and Richard O’Rawe (also discussed on The Pensive Quill: A Shifting Narrative)
When in a hole… Contrasts between Danny Morrison’s position and previously published accounts of the time
What were the hunger strikers told? Questions emerge that cast doubt on what the hunger strikers knew when about what negotiations were being conducted on their behalf by the Adams subcommittee.
“Let’s have the whole truth” – Danny Morrison and Richard O’Rawe statements
Did Thatcher Kill All 10 or Only 4? – contains statements and interview excerpts
Links and background:
1986 excerpt from interview with John Blelloch, Mi5, by Padraig O’Malley (Bobby Sands Trust website)
“The Blelloch Interview”, Anthony McIntyre
Sunday 5 April 09:
‘Adams Complicit Over Hunger Strikers?’
NIO Documents on Sunday Times website
“The Thatcher Intervention”, Anthony McIntyre
- IRSP Statement in response to NIO documents
Monday, 6 April 09:
Irish News: Hunger Strike deal ‘must be disclosed’
Irish Times: SF denies claims on hunger strike deaths
Radio Foyle, The Morning Programme (link lasts a week): Willie Gallagher, IRSP and Danny Morrison, begins @ 8 mins
- Response from Kevin McQuillan to comments made by Danny Morrison in the Radio Foyle interview; scroll down a bit.
Tuesday, 7 April 09:
Irish News: Morrison rubbishes renewed claims of Hunger Strike deal
Bobby Sands Trust: Documents Still Withheld
Previously on Slugger:
O’Rawe’s account confirmed: Hunger Strikers Allowed To Die (28 March 08)
Eamon McCann verifies Richard O’Rawe’s account of the 1981 hunger strike in which he alleges that six of the hunger strikers need not have died as the prisoners had agreed to accept an offer from the Mountainclimber, only to be over-ruled by Gerry Adams.
Hunger Strike Controversy Has Not Gone Away, You Know (17 April 08)
Many background links
O’Rawe and the Derry Journal (18 April 08)
Crucial question still unanswered
Blanketmen, by Richard O’Rawe
Danny Morrison
Jim Gibney
O’Rawe response to Gibney
Brendan McFarlane
Brendan Hughes
Interview with Richard O’Rawe
Further reading:
Irish News: Allegations of a rejected deal spark fury among republicans (1 March 2005)
Irish News: Was my father’s death PR exercise? (1 March 2005)
Irish News: Monsignor Faul regrets his ‘late intervention’ (1 March 2005)
Irish News: Hunger strikers’ lives not sacrificed — family (2 March 2005)
Daily Ireland: Hunger Strikers Story Brought to Book, Danny Morrison (2 March 2005)
Irish News: Hunger strikers’ deaths must be fully explained, says author (3 March 2005)
The Guardian: Hunger strike claims rile H-block veterans (4 March 2005)
Daily Ireland: McFarlane denies Hunger Strike deal was struck (4 March 2005)
Irish Times: Hunger strikers wanted more than vague promises, Danny Morrison (5 March 2005)
The Village: H-Block Hypocrisy (12 March 2005)
The Village: For the cause or caucus, Hugh Logue (ICJP) reviews O’Rawe’s Blanketmen (19 March 2005)
The amount of raw truth in that post is astonishing. Brilliant stuff.
Thank you very much for this. My own experience is that Bobby Storey is not an easy man to argue with and that when he tells you to shut your mouth, that’s what you do.
The amount of raw truth in that post is astonishing. Brilliant stuff.
Yeah, I think I’ll wait for a slighty more impartial report of what actually happened. Unsubstantiated descriptions such as ” Goons from West Belfast patrolled the parking lot” don’t provide the objectivity I hanker after.
Dec,
With the possible exception of Mick, I don’t think any blogger on slugger could be or should be described as objective.
Sorry for going off topic.
Rusty
I am sorry but, frankly, what did you expect? “Truth” and “Justice” are sometimes just words bandied about for political effect.
Did those who were members of ‘the Movement’ for all those years really swallow all the propaganda and believe they were working for a democratic organisation?
It was a terrorist organisation designed to force its will on people by murder and intimidation. Now that it has lost the war but gained some nice suits, credit cards and salaries, that culture still prevails …but turned inwards on those who might dissent, question, hold the leadership to account or even just ask them to explain.
At heart what they are really afraid to admit is that it was all in vain – that it could never succeed and that it ended in complete utter failure. That is too terrible a truth to contemplate.
Dec
If you ever think you will get objectivity on this one, good luck
Rusty Nail,
Many thanks for this comprehensive post. You obviously put a lot of time and effort into this and I truly appreciate it.
It’s posts such as yours that serve as a chilling reminder of the mindset of many charged with running the Assembly and other institutions.
This is one of the finest (and most quote-worthy) lines I’m ever read on Slugger:
“If families are to be manipulated by politicians who wish to bury the truth of history, and people are then expected, via emotional blackmail, to defer to ‘the families’ wishes’, nothing would be written but the politicians’ lies.”
To which I can only say: Amen.
Is anyone surprised that they stayed close to form?
Good write up Rusty.
Dec, ‘goons’ security men or minders call them what you want but you can rest assured they were there.( Adams couldn’t even attend Bap McGreevy’s funeral without them!).The behaviour of
‘Big’ Bob Storey is no surprise as from personal experience,both from inside and outside jail,I can attest to the scale of this guy’s arrogance and contempt ( matched only by his lack of intellect) for those he would deem to be below him.This is an excellent post clearly defined for me by it’s ‘ring of truth’
A fantastic read and indeed quite shocking.
I’ve always known that SF were just a ramshackled collection of misfits murders druggies thickos and never achieving hanger-ons, and that the “heavies” of this organisation are generally thick street trash or localised scum protecting illegal financial investments for their close family only.
However what I didn’t know was just how easy they can get away with it in Nationalist/Republican areas without local communities raising hell, perhaps nationalist in these areas don’t have the balls that republican posters on Slugger are for ever bragging about.
But again a brilliant post and big tipping of the hat to Rusty
Fantastic post. Truely illuminating and great reportage. Thanks Rusty.
By this incredibly defensive body language Adams and company just acknowledged that they are covering up a very ugly lie involving the hunger strike.
Adams and company are now acknowleging that their tenure at the leadership position of Sinn Fein has been one thousand percent illegitimate. That includes McGuinness since he played a leading role in this cover-up.
It it time for Adams and McGuinness to resign or be thrown out of power for this horrendous crime against six of the hunger strikers, their families and children, and other innocent victims.
oracle
“However what I didn’t know was just how easy they can get away with it in Nationalist/Republican areas without local communities raising hell, perhaps nationalist in these areas don’t have the balls that republican posters on Slugger are for ever bragging about”
They just topped the European poll – nationalists obviously dont care who speaks for them.
As I said a couple of weeks back SF topping the Eureopean poll was a greater indication of the weakness in Irish nationalism than it was of unionism
The chickens were never supposed to come home to roost for the Sinn Fein leadership.
The lies and intimidation were supposed to take care of everything.
Yet, there are plenty of litle chicken feathers hurling about.
Reality check time: none of the hunger strikers were killed by Adams or the Brits.
They may have been brave, but they killed themselves.
The truth is the most damning thing in the world, bar none.
It is time to constitute a Brehon Court and put the current Sinn Fein leadership on trial charged with the murder of six hunger strikers.
Oracle.
if that was the case do you really think nationalists would vote in their hundteds of thousands if that was the case?…your unsubstantiated drivel does ot ring true in the real world.
Not fooled.
Rusty,
re. “Bik McFarlane also kept to the discredited nonsense that it was the hunger strikers who rejected the offer, despite evidence that the hunger strikers were never told the details of the offer. He and Morrison claimed that all the hunger strikers (including Lynch and Devine) were told about the Mountain Climber offer and had refused, saying it was not enough. ”
How many of the hunger strikers and negotiators who are still alive agree with the “discredited nonsense” and how many disagree?
Can someone please explain to me how the shinners continue to threaten individuals and armed groups (CIRA,RIRA) when they don`t have an army or guns!
Am I missing something, did they or didn`t they decommission?
Has is a brain dead moron like Storey able to throw his considerable weight about?
Last sentence should read
How is a brain dead moron like Storey able to throw his considerable weight about?
Thanks, Rusty, for a powerful and succinct account of the meeting. It’s a pity that the FOI Act only applies to state organisations.
Harry Murray told me on several occasions he had heard from reliable sources on “his side of the family,” Adams and McGuinness have been Brits for years.
Paisley knew this that is why he did the deal!
We have all been conned
Rusty,
You provided the greatest service to peace with justice in NI in ages!!
There is nothing like transparency!
KEVIN MULGREW,
People have suspected that about McGuinness for years. I hope that is not the case with Adams. I hope Adams is just out of his league playing the Fidel Castro bit. But a lie is a lie.
bobby storey intelligence officer or head of intelligence ,what a laugh tells one a lot about whats left in the republician movement,they are fucked
I know some of the sands family and i know they absolutely detest adams for how he used the name of bobby sands over the years for his own personal gain.Allegedly adams has been very worried for the past few years about things that were about to come out about him.
Dear Rusty Nail,
This was ostensibly a meeting between the families of hunger strikers and a number of people who were members of Sinn Fein’s leadership during the hunger strikes. Your blog suggests that you were there. Is that the case, and if so, can I ask in what capacity you attended this meeting?
An Englishman Writes
“Can someone please explain to me how the shinners continue to threaten individuals and armed groups (CIRA,RIRA) when they don`t have an army or guns!”
Decommissioning agreement allowed for short arms to be kept for ‘internal security’ purposes.
Rusty,
Do you know if any resolution was eventually put to the meeting, as clearly this seems to have been what the SF leadership group involved intended; and where does this matter go from here.
It seems to me if SF failed to extract from the families a pledge of support for Mr Adams,etc, it will make it difficult for SF to put this matter to bed, let alone push it out into the long grass, Mr Adams favorite way of dealing with contentious matters.
He is unlikely to call for an independent inquiry worthy of the name. But an independent enquiry there must be, fortunatly history has a pointer here with the Dewey Commission and Russell Tribunal. Out of the two the Dewey Commission seems to me to lay down the best marker, as its head’s John Dewey’s politics were a million miles from that of Leon Trotsky. This was important as the Commission of Inquiry was called into being to look into the charges made against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials.
The charges were so grave and as Trotsky new he could not get a fair trial in Moscow he had no other avenue but to go before an independent commission.
I believe such a commission is the only option open to those of us who wish to find the truth about how the hunger strikes ended etc. and any offers the British made to the PIRA A/C. As it is becoming increasingly clear we are light years away from a north of Ireland Truth, Justice and Reconciliation commission, and as I wrote above SF under Gerry Adams will not become involved in setting up any enquiry they do not control.
Rusty — powerful stuff. A very interesting read.
Do your sources go beyond Hodgins, Dempsey, and Devine?
Bobby Storey — what’s up with that? The fact that the SF leadership still needs him speaks volumes.
Great job Rusty. You laid everything out in hopes people could understand the issue. Sadly, some still don’t “get it.”
There needs to be a body set up..that most Republicans can accept..to get to the truth. That’s all anyone wants. O’Rawe has put himself in the public..time after time. And yet..Adams and the other SinnFeiners..refuse to do so. So who is afraid of the truth??
some seem to think Storey is doing his ‘job’ properly…. http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2002/10/13/story521096528.asp
Rusty,
this issue rests on 2 differnet versions of a number of conversation or whether these conversations took place.
Is it possible to state how many people who were a party to these conversations/alleged conversations beleive the SF version and how many dont?
MyTuppenceWorth, that article was written before the little matter of Dennis Donaldson and his connection to Castlereagh came to light, so the actual mastermind of that raid was likely to be Shinner handlers, not Shinners.
Rusty
Great article. We are indebted to you for going into the nest of the beast and taking the risks to get the story.
It wasn’t just the unionists who suffered politically because Adams was using the hunger strikers to generate sufficient political power to take his party into politics. It was mainly the SDLP who suffered as a result of the hunger strikers when Sinn Fein criminality came to town and we had the attacks on election workers, SDLP homes and cars, etc and a general unpleasantness surrounding elections caused by that intimidation and bullying that obviously went on at the meeting in Gulladuff.
We didn’t mind the competition for votes as long as we had a level playing field. But the using of the hunger sttrikers as martyrs for Sinn Fein made a level playing field difficult to establish. It’s been like that ever since and now we see light at the end of the tunnel. I will not forget your sacrifice in searching for the truth for I know that the Truth will set you free from any allegiance to the endless evil of Adams et al and all their hollow lies they used in order to use young Catholic republicans for their purposes.
John,
“Sinn Fein criminality came to town and we had the attacks on election workers, SDLP homes and cars”
No love lost then between SF and the SDLP! A dark period in the history of Irish Nationalism.
Your comment set me to wondering whether the SDLP will claw back their support anytime soon, and oust SF from the top position in the Nationalist electorate. I have a funny feeling they will, and that that day is not too distant.
These are not the best of times for Sinn Féin. To read Mark’s post (and its many links) is to understand that their days as top dog are numbered. We can but hope….
To read Mark’s post = To read Rusty’s post
Allegedly the RA are just on ‘standby’ and have never given up many weapons.After the GFA a lot went to live in southern england for some reason and spain.
Hey come on now we’re now many posts into the thread and nobody has blamed it all on the British yet.
Slugger standards seem to be falling.
Dave,
I know the date of the article and the date of Castlereagh.
I also know that the article told of many incidents other than the raid on Castlereagh which would show Storey to be a “good republican” in the eyes of those who would use such a phrase. Care to comment on any of these rather than nitpicking on irrelevant dates ?
scan Son walks out of Sinn Fein hunger strike event.
Thanks for such needed and comprehensive coverage; the links to previous coverage and SF prevarication over the O’Hearn bio only add to the “unfinished” story. Let’s hope, not in vain, that this story has “legs” beyond this forum and grassroots investigatory efforts. Maith thú.
“We didn’t mind the competition for votes as long as we had a level playing field. But the using of the hunger sttrikers as martyrs for Sinn Fein made ”
What about the IRSP? Remember Sinn Fein opposed their candidates in Dublin because they were not absentionists. Also, the hunger strike ended in 1981. How come no historians have done a proper study on it yet?
For waht dies the sons of Roisin? Or of the INLA to be more precise?
How the Brits must laugh every time McGuinness opens his uneducated mouth.
I think a little bit of perspective would be useful here. Firstly, Rusty Nail did not report on the meeting – he gave his very obviously biased IMPRESSION of what he thought went on. Secondly, if the British had something as explosive as this to use against the Provisional Alliance, do you not think they would have used it to great effect immediately after the Hunger Strikes.Are maybe they have waited until now! People in this country love to be told what they want to hear, to recieve ‘confirmation’ of what they already ‘knew’. And lastly, any involvement that Father Faul had, must be judged against his virulent anti-Republicanism, where he saw them as rivals for the hearts and minds of the Catholic youth. I will never that the Hunger Strikers were coldly allowed to die to gain votes. I also believe that the Provo Army Council was very opposed to the strike in the first place.
I think a little bit of perspective would be useful here.
A very subjective perspective. Shall we ignore the contempraneous documents that have come to light, and the others who have come forward to support O’Rawe. This is not simply a matter of O’Rawe’s word for it anymore. It has been established now that O’Rawe’s version is supported by other evidence, but lets ignore it, and embrace Pancho’s subjective perspective aka Sinn Feinn version, and close everything down.
In other words Pancho lets do as the beardy one sez….
Panchos Horse…If the Brits wanted to destroy the Adamsite party they would only have to withdraw funding for all their so called ‘community groups’ knowing they would fall apart soon after. Instead they started funding these groups since the 1980s through ACE schemes knowing that eventually they would as they now do control that party through a major part of it’s finances.
The Brits were never going to admit publicly that they negotiated with PIRA. In fact that was why they were using the ICJP to cover the Mountain Climber initiative.
Pancho’s Horse
I will never (sic) that the Hunger Strikers were coldly allowed to die to gain votes.
What about the letter in yesterday’s Irish News from ex-blanketman Joe McNulty who quoted a comm in David Beresford’s book Ten Dead Men.
“The climate now is ripe to make significant progress and establish a firm base down here (free state) which is a necessity for future development and success in the final analysis. To allow opportunities to slip by (opportunities which may not present themselves again) would be a grave mistake.”
This comm was dated July 26 1981 and at this stage six hunger strikers had already dies, with four on hunger strike.
This is the proof that Bik was like a Fagin figure who was sacrificing his boys while keeping himself safe in order to create a sympathy vote for Sinn Fein. Talk about taking advantage of the desperation of the prisoners.
I don’t know O’Rawe. I don’t know how reliable he is. Why did he wait so long before speaking up? Did it need a book? What contemporaneous documents? Who came forward to support him? Why did they wait so long? Can you not just disagree with somebody without attributing ulterior motives? Why does everything have to be a grand conspiracy? And, Dixie, I don’t think that ICJP would be happy to accept that they were being used by anybody.
By the way the comm above was from Bik to Gerry Adams
John, I think that it would be very dangerous to make judgements on the strength of anybody’s ‘comms’. Yourself being a fine case in point.