[bluebear]

McDowell attacks IRA and 'vomit-making' Sinn Fein allies

By Fionnán Sheahan and Chris Parkin

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell yesterday launched a blistering attack on the IRA and their "vomit-making" Sinn Féin political allies over the abduction of a Republican dissident in Belfast.

As Sinn Féin rejected police claims the IRA was responsible for the incident, the Minister for Justice made the latest in a series of stinging attacks on the Republican movement.

"I am strongly of the view that the Provisional movement and that's Sinn Féin, by the way, we are not just talking about the [IRA's] Army Council is trying to have it both ways.

"It is trying to have a private army, a private police force and to pretend it is on a sort of military ceasefire, and having the equivalent of police state within the state itself," he said.


Speaking on Today FM about Friday night's kidnapping of prominent dissident Republican Bobby Tohill foiled by the Police Service of Northern Ireland Minister McDowell said the seriousness of the incident cannot be over-estimated and is not isolated.

"Sinn Féin and the IRA have been effectively running large areas of Northern Ireland on the basis of punishment beatings as they are called, which are in fact mutilation and torture of young men," he said.

Describing Sinn Féin and the IRA as two sides of the one coin, Mr McDowell said they are brass-necked and engage in stomach-turning hypocrisy, but paramilitarism had to end full stop.

"Breaking people's legs, while at the same time going into Dáil Éireann and making speeches about human rights is vomit-making," he said.

Yet while six people are now being questioned by police in connection with the abduction, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams attempted to play down the PSNI claims and Martin McGuinness said he doesn't believe the IRA was involved in the abduction.

Hitting out at PSNI chief constable Hugh Orde, Mr Adams said there have been similar claims about the IRA before which were proven without to be foundation.

"But Hugh Orde's speedy allegation follows a pattern going back to the old RUC which was also quick to point the finger at Republicans while turning a blind eye to others," he said.

[bluebear]

Ulster News Letter
www.icnorthernireland.co.uk
Sinn Fein Makes Me Sick

Feb 23 2004




By Karen Quinn



SINN Fein was described yesterday as the "vomit-making" political ally of the IRA.



The blistering attack from Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell comes as DUP leader Ian Paisley said that he would challenge the Secretary of State to give a ruling on the IRA's "so-called" ceasefire as politicians gather at Stormont for all-party talks.

As Chief Constable Hugh Orde confirmed that the Provisional IRA was behind the abduction of prominent dissident republican Bobby Tohill, Paul Murphy faces demands for Sinn Fein's immediate expulsion from the peace process talks.

Mr Paisley said that Friday night's kidnap operation was a timely reminder of the fact that Sinn Fein/IRA were not fit to serve in the government of Northern Ireland.

Speaking on Irish radio, Mr Mc-Dowell - a long-standing critic of the IRA - said: "This is not a question of using the language of Ian Paisley - this is the language of Michael McDowell. This is the language of every democrat in this society."

He said: "I am strongly of the view that the Provisional movement - and that's Sinn Fein, by the way, we are not just talking about the (IRA's) army council - is trying to have it both ways.

"It is trying to have a private army, a private police force and to pretend it is on a sort of military ceasefire, and having the equivalent of a police state within the state itself.

"That is what is going on, and it is very, very serious. It is not just confined to that incident in Belfast. "You don't have to be Einstein to work out that a very serious crime was in contemplation.

"The seriousness of that incident cannot be over-estimated. And it is not isolated.

"Sinn Fein and the IRA have been effectively running large areas of Northern Ireland on the basis of punishment beatings, as they are called, which are in fact mutilation and torture of young men.

"Breaking people's legs, while at the same time going into Dail Eireann and making speeches about human rights is vomit-making.

"This time a year ago, it was my understanding that they were preparing to stop all paramilitarism.

"The IRA and the Provisional movement - and that includes Sinn Fein, they are two sides of the same coin - are insatiable in making demands about everybody else.

"They are brass-necked, talking constantly in public about human rights but, at the same time, they engage in this stomach-turning hypocrisy that people who they are closely associated with can go and break people's legs when it suits them.

"They are also engaging in major criminal activity here in this state (the Republic).

"Very senior people in the Provisionals are orchestrating serious crime. And those are facts, not fantasies on my part.

"The army council of the IRA has point-blank refused to give up its criminality, its thuggery, its torture and has on occasions authorised operations that bear all the signs of a murder in the making.

"Paramilitarism must end, full stop."

Mr Paisley said: "It is clear the IRA remains a fully armed and active terror machine that has no intention of leaving its violent, murderous and criminal activities behind.

"No words can disguise the fact that Sinn Fein/IRA want to continue with the twin tactics of the ballot box by day and terror tactics by night.

UUP leader David Trimble said the Chief Constable had confirmed something that was fairly obvious. "This abduction underlined the ongoing problem of paramilitarism in society," he said.



"The republican political leadership needs to make it clear as to where it stands and where the republican movement as a whole stands on such activity."

West Belfast SDLP MLA Alex Attwood repeated Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's statement that there could be "no halfway house between violence and democracy".

"The republican movement has travelled far in recent years, but they have clearly not travelled all the way," he said.

"Whether it is exiling, punishment attacks, recruitment, organised criminal activity and all the rest, the republican movement must now travel all the way without any delay. There is no basis for a private army and we all need to see this," he said.

However, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams rounded on critics, saying: "There have been such claims about the IRA before. They have proven to be without foundation.

"But Hugh Orde's speedy allegation follows a pattern going back to the old RUC which was also quick to point the finger at republicans while turning a blind eye to others. "What value the rights of those arrested? What chance that they will receive a fair hearing?

"Our position is clear. Last October I reiterated our commitment to democratic and peaceful politics. That remains my position and the endeavour and the focus of Sinn Fein."

Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness said no organisation - including the IRA - should be involved in anything that undermined the Northern Ireland peace process.

And he stressed that the IRA were innocent of last week's kidnapping of Mr Tohill "until such time as it can be proved that they were involved".

k.quinn@newsletter.co.uk

[Admin-SI]

News Letter

www.icnorthernireland.co.uk

Don't Vote For 'Nazi' Sinn Fein - McDowell Mar 8 2004



IRISH Justice Minister Michael McDowell has likened Sinn Fein to the Nazis.

Mr McDowell warned the people of Ireland not to do as those in Germany had when they voted for the Nazis in the 1930s.

The Minister said people should not vote for those who dealt in politics and violence in June's European and council elections.

"When it comes to the next election, we shouldn't do what the people of Germany did in the 1930s when they elected to office people that liked having it both ways - the brown shirts and the Nazis which were a threat to democracy," he said.

Mr McDowell said the IRA was heavily involved in organised crime in Dublin and its Army Council and Sinn Fein were aware of this.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern sparked controversy last week when he said he had always assumed Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams was a member of the IRA.

Mr McDowell stepped into the row by questioning Mr Adams' consistent denials of having played any role in the organisation.

"I don't believe the man and I don't know why he makes these statements," Mr McDowell told a newspaper.

"My family is as committed to the national movement as Gerry Adams' family ever was and have achieved far more for Ireland and the Irish Republic and given more than the Adams family ever has."

Sinn Fein described Mr McDowell's comments as a "desperate and irrational attempt by an ignorant and arrogant individual to keep himself in the headlines.

"Sinn Fein, however, will not be deflected from our political agenda," a party spokesman said.

"We will continue to represent those who want real change in Irish society, not the self-serving and greedy elite represented by Michael McDowell and the Progressive Democrats."

[Admin-SI]

IRA told to pay victims compensation
Mar 27 2004

http://ickent.icnetw...-name_page.html


The IRA should pay compensation to the victims of terrorist crime, the Progressive Democrat annual conference has urged.

Delegates from the junior party in the Irish coalition government unanimously backed a motion calling for republicans to pay a 'peace dividend'.

John Kenny, who will contest the South Inner City constituency in June's local elections, insisted the IRA must commit themselves fully to peace as he proposed the motion.

"It is now time for the IRA to pay the state back what they owe," he told the conference in Killarney.

"Gerry Adams needs to decide if he wants to follow in the footsteps of Eamon de Valera or in the footsteps of Tony Soprano.

"The 2002 report by the House of Commons Committee on Northern Ireland, 'The Financing of Terrorism', estimated that the IRA had an annual income of 12 million euro (£8.4 million), where is it?

"It's surely not being spent on holiday homes for the VIPs of Sinn Fein in Donegal?

"It is time for the IRA to announce peace, it is time for them to pay the peace dividend and this money should be used to compensate the families of victims of their reign of terror."

Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell, the party's president, also launched a scathing attack on the IRA and Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, who has denied being a member of the organisation.

"I stand here in front of the national flag of our state," he told delegates to rapturous applause. And I want to say this, true republicans don't speak in mumbled voices through balaclavas. True republicans don't break drug addicts' legs with baseball bats. True republicans don't finance their political campaigns by organising major crime. True republicans don't shoot car thieves in their ankles and knees, true republicans couldn't plant bombs to kill civilians at Enniskillen, at Omagh, at the Le Mon Hotel, at Manchester, Birmingham or Canary Wharf. No true republican could have looked through binoculars at children playing on a boat in Mullaghmore Bay before deliberately blowing them to pieces. And no true republican could lie and lie again about his involvement with a movement which brought all those things about."

[Scotch-Arsh]

Visited a site ulsterloyalists.co.uk I saw the sinn Fein oath,very disturbing

[Kilsally]

http://www.newslette....uk/story/10312
The Mere Existence Of The IRA Is A Crime, Says Bruton
Thursday 15th April 2004

FORMER Irish premier John Bruton has backed Dublin ministerial attacks on the continued presence of the IRA.

Mr Bruton, echoing views expressed by current Justice Minister Michael Mc-Dowell, also claimed that the mere existence of the IRA is a crime.

Mr Bruton, head of government in Dublin for three years from 1994, said questions about Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams ever being a member of the IRA or about the IRA's involvement in crime were "beside the point".

He said: "These are interesting, but secondary issues. The primary issue is the fact that the IRA exist at all, and the fact that its continued existence is supported by a political party, Sinn Fein, which has seats in the Dail.

"Quite literally, the mere existence of the IRA is a crime. It is specifically forbidden by both the Constitution and our laws.

"Its existence is an affront to the authority of our state, and a standing insult to the real Irish army.

"The foundation of any democratic order is an acceptance that the democratic authorities of the state have a monopoly in the use of force.

"Sinn Fein and the IRA reject that and that is not tolerable in a democracy."

Mr Bruton said the appearance of people in military uniform at Sinn Fein Easter Rising anniversary events earlier this week was "something that would not be tolerated in a normal European democracy".

"The IRA is a mafia. It works in secret, is accountable to no one, and uses violence."

[Kilsally]

Irish Independent - Ireland`s biggest selling newspaper

Sunday 11th April 2004

http://www.unison.ie...&issue_id=10715

Catch the Sinn Fein Easter extravaganza at a monument near you

YOU'VE missed the 1981 Hunger Strike Perpetual Trophy five-a-side soccer tournament on Good Friday in Eamonn Ceannt Park in Crumlin, but it may not be too late for you to do your Easter duty. If you hurry, you might yet be in time to join a cluster of republicans gathering in a nearby park to march to a monument. You've probably cut it a bit fine to get to Achill to listen to Caitriona Ruane at 10am at Dookinella Church, but she'll be in the Square at Kilkelly at 3pm to lead you to the local memorial.

For those of you who don't know Caitriona, she used to run the West Belfast Festival and made much (for grant and propaganda purposes) of not being in SF. Then she became (still not SF) cheerleader (sorry, spokesperson) for the three nature-lovers stranded in Colombia. (Where does the cash come from for all those lawyers and observers, not to speak of her 17 trips on behalf of the Bring Them Home campaign? Surely not SF.)

Having achieved a high profile, our Caitriona at last saw the light and joined SF. A week before the assembly elections were announced, the hardworking sitting candidate, Martin Cunningham, was instructed by the party hierarchy to step down and Caitriona was selected and won the South Down assembly seat Cunningham had thought was his.Now SF human rights spokesperson, Caitriona is a bit of a comedian. Her 'Rights for All' document is a hoot: everyone, it tells us, has the right to life, to freedom of expression, not to be tortured, not to be deprived of freedom arbitrarily and so on and so on. While it's humorous enough for SF to be producing such a document when it allows no dissent within the party and the IRA (who deprived around 1,800 people of their right to life) are still busy mutilating and intimidating and even occasionally abducting and killing, to launch it with head IRA honcho Martin McGuinness as the guest of honour suggests a touch of comic genius.

Aengus O Snodaigh TD and Bairbre de Bruin were also in that photo shoot and you might be able to catch one of them today. Aengus will be in Ashbourne at the Thomas Ashe Monument at 11.45am: like all his colleagues, he will of course be quoting from P O'Neill's Easter Whinge about how everything's the fault of the British Government, the Irish Government, the securocrats, the unionists and the loyalists. Oh, yes, and like Pee, he'll be sending "solidarity greetings to imprisoned comrades" (that's the killers of Garda Jerry McCabe, in case you're wondering), but he may add a few words of his own. He's been a bit exercised, has Aengus, about the disgrace of spending over €60,000 on guarding "Charles Windsor".

How soon they forget. The Irish Government was a bit embarrassed when in 1979 Charles Windsor's great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten, was murdered by the IRA off the Sligo coast with his daughter's octogenarian mother-in-law, his 14-year-old grandson and a 15-year-old boatboy. The thing is, if people didn't want to kill him - and there are ex-Provos who do - Charles Windsor would be delighted to look after himself.

Or you could parade behind Bairbre de Bruin this afternoon to the Roddy McCorley Monument. You're in for a treat. I heard the lady in action one Easter at the Crossmaglen commemoration (high point was when in berets and sunglasses the young bloods of the IRA led the march up the steps of the church 10 minutes after mass had begun and played Amhran na bhFiann loudly to remind the priest who was boss); used as my companion and I were to scurrilous anti-police propaganda from people whose friends had murdered 273 of them, the sheer viciousness of her rhetoric and delivery chilled our blood. Not a pleasant experience, but she is - how do I put it? - more arresting than Caoimhghin O Caolain TD is likely to be at the Liam Mellowes Statue in Galway.

Ah, but you might want to see the big boys. McGuinness will be wowing the faithful in Carrickmore this afternoon - speaking of human rights, no doubt - but at 1.30pm Gerry Adams will be marching from the Garden of Remembrance to Glasnevin Cemetery, where he will, no doubt, dilate once more on the need to turn 16 Moore Street into a national monument.

Surely some mistake, Gerry? I know your history is shaky, but do you really want a monument to the place where Patrick Pearse and his comrades surrendered - after only five days - because they were "desirous of preventing further slaughter of the civil population"? Do you really want us reminded that what took them five days took you and your pals 30 years, during which you killed civilians right, life and centre in pubs and shops and tearooms and bus stations? And blamed everyone else.

Ruth Dudley Edwards

[Kilsally]

Dissident march was illegal, say police
'Why was it allowed on council property?'

By William Allen
bustel@belfasttelegraph.co.uk

13 April 2004
POLICE in Londonderry today confirmed that a dissident republican march held in the city yesterday was illegal.

As revealed by the Telegraph, relatives of victims of the Omagh bomb yesterday voiced outrage at the plans by the 32 County Sovereignty Movement to stage the rally in Derry.

The organisation, which is linked to the Real IRA, held Easter commemorations at Derry's city cemetery yesterday, where Old Bailey bomber Marian Price was the main speaker.

Earlier, several hundred dissident republicans, including a masked colour party, marched to the cemetery from the Creggan area, defying instructions from police at the scene that the parade was illegal.

At the graveyard, a statement from the Real IRA, who were behind the 1998 Omagh bomb, as well as the 2002 murder of David Caldwell at a Territorial Army base in Derry, was read out.

A PSNI spokesman said today that the march passed off without serious incident.

He said: "A file is currently being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Parades Commission."

The Derry event was one of only two such rallies on either side of the border, the other being in Dublin, where the main speaker was former Omagh councillor Francis Mackey, chairman of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement.

Stanley McCombe, whose wife died in the Omagh bomb, yesterday condemned the Derry event and asked why it was allowed to take place on council-owned property.

Mr McCombe said: "I am horrified and outraged that this has been allowed to happen and only 30 miles from Omagh.

"This is the political wing of the cowardly b.........s who murdered my wife and inflicted so much grief on other families in Omagh."

[Kilsally]

http://www.irishexam...story.asp?j=133
13 April 2004

Sinn Féin deny McDowell claims of criminal activities
By Mary Dundon, Political Reporter

SINN FÉIN yesterday strongly rejected Justice Minister Micheal McDowell’s claims that they were not true Republicans and were involved in organised crime.

The minister said over the weekend that the methods, attitudes and characteristics of Sinn Féin and the Provisional IRA are not Republican. However, Sinn Féin chairperson Mitchel McLaughlin said they were tired of hearing allegation after allegation without any evidence being produced.

“We are proud to be Irish Republicans and will not be criminalised by the Irish Government or anyone else,” he said.

The Sinn Féin chairperson said that people are aware that the attacks on his party have increased now that the local and European elections are looming.

A Sinn Féin spokesman said: “This is just the usual diatribe from Mr McDowell and no amount of electioneering or grandstanding can alter the reality that Republicans have been the driving force behind the peace process.”

The Justice Minister also accused Sinn Féin of engaging in crime in the State and involvement in smuggling, racketeering and blackmail.

A Sinn Féin spokesman called on Mr McDowell to produce concrete evidence that their party or the Republican movement were involved in organised crime. “Mr McDowell is abusing his position to make these accusations without any back-up evidence.”

The Justice Minister also accused the Provisional Republican movement of not signing up fully to the Good Friday Agreement in their refusal to say there is no further use for paramilitarism.

Sinn Féin TD Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said serious questions must be asked of the Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Cowen for allowing Mr McDowell to take such a leading role in the peace process.

“When his electoral play-acting is over, the serious work of the peace process will have to continue,” added Deputy Ó Caolaín.

When challenged before about his claims that the Republican movement is involved in criminal activity in the South, Mr McDowell has said he cannot comment in detail on confidential information he has received from the security forces.

[Kilsally]

IRA accuses UUP of 'bad faith'


The IRA says there is justifiable anger in republican circles

The IRA has published an Easter message in which it accuses the Ulster Unionist Party and the two governments of acting in bad faith.

It said there was little prospect of progress until the two governments, particularly the British Government, fulfilled commitments the IRA says were made last October.

The statement, carried in this week's edition of Republican News, said the IRA had consistently demonstrated its commitment to making progress.

There is little new in the statement, in which the IRA blamed others for the current deadlock and said it had honoured its commitments by allowing decommissioning and agreeing a scheme to put arms completely and verifiably beyond use.

The IRA said there was justifiable anger in republican circles directed at the governments and the Ulster Unionists for trying to "move the political goalposts" and it accused them of failing to honour commitments.

In a clear reference to the Irish justice minister, Michael McDowell, the IRA said some Irish politicians were attempting to demonise republicans for electoral reasons.

The political institutions in Northern Ireland were suspended in October 2002 amid allegations of IRA intelligence-gathering in the Stormont government.

[Kilsally]

Irish Examiner
15/04/04
Bruton joins pre-election attacks on Sinn Féin

http://www.irishexam...dL11Zs5FWAE.asp

By Michael O'Farrell, Political Reporter
FORMER Taoiseach John Bruton last night joined the pre-election attacks on Sinn Féin by claiming its alleged military wing was responsible for more deaths than the Mafia.
In possibly the strongest attack yet on the party, Mr Bruton said the very existence of the IRA was an affront to the authority of the State.

“We have seen how the Mafia ate away at the heart of Italian democracy, until a few brave magistrates took them on. The IRA is a Mafia. It works in secret, is accountable to no one, and uses violence. The only difference is that the Mafia killed proportionately far less people than did the IRA,” said Mr Bruton.

Mr Bruton said speculation on whether Gerry Adams was an IRA member or not only served to distract from the real issue.

“The primary issue is the fact that the IRA exist at all, and the fact that its continued existence is supported by a political party, Sinn Féin, which has seats in the Dáil,” he said. “Quite literally, the mere existence of the IRA is a crime. It is specifically forbidden by both the Constitution and our laws. The foundation of any democratic order is an acceptance that the democratic authorities of the state have a monopoly in the use of force. Sinn Féin and the IRA reject that and that is not tolerable in a democracy.”

In particular, Mr Bruton singled out the weekend’s Easter rising commemorations by republican supporters as intolerable in a modern democracy. “People appearing in military uniform, in military array, at Sinn Féin celebrations over the Easter weekend is something that would not be tolerated in a normal European democracy,” he said.

Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said the attack on his party was pointless. “Deputy Bruton continues to engage in competition with Minister McDowell for the prize of Sinn Féin-basher of the week. It is all quite futile. Both of them know that the IRA cannot be wished away. They also know that no party has done more than Sinn Féin to ensure that the peace process succeeds and that armed force in Irish politics becomes a thing of the past. . .

“Deputy Bruton should leave it to those actually engaged in the peace process to deal with the major difficulties we all face, rather than returning to a failed anti-republican agenda,” said Mr Ó Caoláin

[Kilsally]

12 April 2004

Sinn Fein and IRA not real Republicans, says McDowell
By Mary Dundon, Political Reporter
http://www.irishexam.../story.asp?j=47

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell launched a blistering attack on Sinn Féin and the Provisional IRA yesterday, accusing them of not being real Republicans like the men who died in 1916.

Speaking on the 88th anniversary of the Easter Rising, Mr McDowell said it was probably the spark that lit the republican fire. But methods, attitudes and characteristics of the Provisional movement today are not republican, said Mr McDowell.

“Let’s be clear about what they actually are — it is an armed movement with a political wing,” the Justice Minister said.

He accused the Provisional movement of engaging in crime in the State, smuggling, racketeering and blackmail to fund itself — something the Republicans of 1916 never did.

“The Republicans of 1916 did not take out youngsters and break their legs with baseball bats.

“They did not shoot people in knee joints.

“They did not organise crime in Dublin city using common criminals and extorting money from them,” Mr McDowell told RTÉ.

He said there was no parallel between the situation which the republicans then and now find themselves because the Irish Republic had since been established by the Irish people.

Mr McDowell accused the Provisional Republican movement of not signing up fully to the Good Friday Agreement.

“Although you talk about its full implementation at the Sinn Fein level, you never hear the IRA saying that the principle to majority consent in Northern Ireland is valid — a cornerstone to that agreement,” he said.

A major obstacle to the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement is the refusal of the Provisional movement in its entirety to unambiguously say that there is no further room for paramilitarism, the Justice Minister said.

Sinn Féin strongly rejected Mr McDowell’s claims.

[Kilsally]

'Provisionals have little in common with 1916 rebels'
http://www.unison.ie...&issue_id=10716


THE so-called Republican Movement is engaged in smuggling, racketeering and blackmail, and their claims of kinship with the patriots who rose in arms in 1916 amount to "drivel", Justice Minister Michael McDowell said yesterday.

In another strong attack on Sinn Fein/IRA the Minister said the Republican Movement has as much right to claim a direct tradition from the Easter Rising as inhabitants of Kilkenny have to assert their links to the Confederation of 1649.

The Provisional gangs who attacked juveniles with baseball bats or shot away the kneecaps of victims were the very antithesis of the guiding spirit behind the original rebels of the GPO, said Michael McDowell.

"I don't consider what they are doing as Republican," Mr McDowell said, emphasising the clash between the actions of the Provisionals and true Republic principles of justice, inclusiveness and tolerance.

"The modern Irish state is the republic. There is only one republic, and it was established by the Irish people."

Mr McDowell, whose grandfather Eoin MacNeill attempted to countermand the Easter Rising as nominal leader of the Irish Volunteers, said the Republican Movement had never signed up fully to the Good Friday Agreement.

They were silent about the fundamental principle of consent, despite the fact that it had been backed by all the people of the island, north and south, as part of the peacemaking package.

Six years on, the Provisionals had not completely disarmed, as they had been expected to do within two years.

Meanwhile Labour party Euro candidate in Leinster, Peter Cassells, said he believed it was time to stop exploiting Easter commemorations for partisan political purposes.

Senan Molony
Political Correspondent

[Admin-SI]

Sunday Independent
18th April 2004

http://www.unison.ie...&issue_id=10748


IRA bastard armies are a bloody, treasonous Mafia

LAST week, Estonians and Slovenians were in Dublin to learn how to make the most of EU membership. The BBC reported that Kristiina Ojuland, the Foreign Minister of Estonia, "believes that if the Estonian people have a dream of where they would like to be in 10 years' time, in terms of wealth and peaceful surroundings, then they dream of following Ireland's example."

She should have been here last Sunday, when out strutted supporters of three illegitimate Oglaigh na hEireanns (Volunteers of Ireland) to honour various people who have tried - and in some cases are still trying - to overthrow democracies by violence. (The legitimate Oglaigh na hEireann, for those of you who get a bit confused, are the Irish army and our other defence forces, which win plaudits around the world keeping the peace in awful places. Funnily enough, they get quite upset about the bastard Oglaighs being allowed to use the term unchallenged.)

The Number One bastard Oglaigh is, of course, the Provos, whose members and apologists were to be found the length and breadth of the island last Sunday. In many villages all that happened was that a handful of the lads laid a wreath before piling into a couple of cars and dashing off to the next terrorist memorial, but there were many much bigger events.

The one in Ballinlough in Co Meath starred Mr Spectacular himself, Brian Keenan, the man who brought us shiploads of arms from Libya and who, before aligning himself with the "peace process", was the nearest thing the Provos had to Osama Bin Laden.

"The IRA, and the present-day republicans, will not forget their objective," Keenan told an audience of about 50. "And that is freedom in this country. If the British army and the police, and all their death squads, can arm, train, reinforce and bring in electronic devices, more troops, more helicopters and more guns, well, they shouldn't be surprised if the IRA won't go away. And long may it continue."

Right. So the Number One bastard Oglaigh - the one that murdered more than 1,800 over the past few decades - will be staying around for the foreseeable future.

Francie Mackey, chairman of the 32 County Sovereignty Committee, the Real IRA's political front, was in Arbour Hill explaining that "Irish people have never been found wanting when it comes to challenging the foreign occupier - [and] republicans in the great Fenian tradition must again organise and be prepared for the right moment to present itself."

Great. The Number Two bastard Oglaigh, the one that brought us Omagh, is readying itself for the next opportunity.

In Milltown Cemetery in Belfast, Fergal Moore of Republican Sinn Fein was more direct. The Irish News reported that he "recalled the words of republican Maire Drumm who had said the slogan "up the IRA" should be replaced with "join the IRA". Mr Moore echoed her calls by adding: "Join the Continuity IRA".

So the Number Three bastard Oglaigh, which does a modest amount of bombing and shooting and killing for Ireland, is recruiting.

Not that CIRA think they're Number Three. They may be the smallest and the poorest private army but theologically, they're top dollar. Republican nutters believe that political sovereignty derives from the Second Dail, which owing to the civil war never met to hand over formally to its successors.

When what became Republican Sinn Fein split from the Provos in 1986 over their decision to take seats in the Dail, Tom Maguire, last survivor of the Second Dail, announced that political legitimacy had now passed from the Provos to RSF. So, to purists, Ruari O Bradaigh is Taoiseach and CIRA are the true Oglaigh na hEireann. And I'm Victoria Beckham.

Many of us who are not purists and who think the Irish Republic is a functioning democracy deserving of the allegiance of its citizens, are pretty alarmed that the Government tolerates three private armies all claiming to be legitimate and swanking around unchallenged in paramilitary gear.

The most distinguished of us is ex-Taoiseach John Bruton. In a shockingly under-reported press statement last week, he said that - rather than focusing on secondary issues like Gerry Adams's disputed membership of the IRA or what can be proven about the IRA's criminal activities - we should be concentrating on "the primary issue - the fact that the IRA exist at all, and the fact that its continued existence is supported by a political party, Sinn Fein, which has seats in the Dail.

"Quite literally," he went on, "the mere existence of the IRA is a crime. It is specifically forbidden by both the Constitution and our laws. "Its existence is an affront to the authority of our state, and a standing insult to the real Irish army. The foundation of any democratic order is an acceptance that the democratic authorities of the state have a monopoly in the use of force.

"Sinn Fein and the IRA reject that and that is not tolerable in a democracy. People appearing in military uniform, in military array, at Sinn Fein celebrations over the Easter weekend is something that would not be tolerated in a normal European democracy."

He's right. Anyone who supports a bastard Oglaigh is actually committing treason. Yet Ireland - the success story of the EU - not only tolerates such treachery, but votes traitors into the Dail.

For anyone thinking all this is a bit arcane, Bruton's last paragraph hit the point home:

"I profoundly believe that democracy is something that can be taken for granted in no European state. We have seen how the Mafia ate away at the heart of Italian democracy, until a few brave magistrates took them on. The IRA is a Mafia. It works in secret, is accountable to no one, and uses violence.

"The only difference is that the Mafia killed proportionately far less people than did the IRA."

We have a cancer at our heart. It calls itself Oglaigh na hEireann and does so with impunity.

I doubt if this is where Estonia wants to be in 10 years.

Ruth Dudley Edwards

[Kilsally]

PDs make dummy run in Sinn Fein garb
http://www.unison.ie...&issue_id=10910
SINN FEIN merchandise, including an IRA t-shirt and a black ski-hat embroidered with the phrase 'Tiocfaidh Ár Lá', has provided the PDs with ammunition in the run-up to the elections.

Progressive Democrat TD Fiona O'Malley has called on Sinn Fein candidates to "stop the hypocrisy and wear your own clothes" rather than "slick designer suits" out on the hustings.

However, the stunt was dismissed as an "election gimmick" by Sinn Fein TD Aengus O Snodaigh, who said: "The Sinn Fein shop has been open for a number of years and people can come and go."

The PDs yesterday dressed up a dummy in the Sinn Fein official clothing and paraded it on Dublin's Stephen's Green for a photoshoot.

"This is what an honest Sinn Fein candidate would look like. Instead we are getting designer-look campaign posters," explained Ms O'Malley.

The items had been purchased by her colleague, Roscommon councillor Hugh Lynn, who paid a trip to the official Sinn Fein shop and purchased some €60 of merchandise which included an IRA Undefeated T-Shirt, a black windcheater embroidered with the 'Tiocfaidh Ár Lá' logo and a 'Sniper at Work' lapel pin.

He also purchased a CD entitled 'Stuff Your Commission' - of which the lyrics include the chorus: "No semtex nor our guns will you ever get from us, You can stick your decommission up your a**."

Cllr Lynn said he had been 'shocked' by the inflammatory nature of the items on sale.

Sinn Fein TD, Aengus O Snodaigh said the dressing up of the dummy had been a 'gimmick' designed to clash with the launch of their campaign for a No vote in the referendum on citizenship.

Nicola Anderson

[Kilsally]

22/05/04
McDowell warns SF candidates

http://www.irishexam...adLjt5C321I.asp

By Mary Dundon, Political Reporter
JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell warned Sinn Féin local election candidates yesterday that they will have no say in the future policing of the State as long as they still support the IRA.
Local councillors will be given a say in policing policy under new laws to be introduced by the minister later this year.

Mr McDowell said he had documentary evidence to show that the Sinn Féin members regard themselves as subservient to the IRA. And all branches of the republican movement, including Sinn Féin, regard the IRA Army Council as the legitimate government of this State, he added.

"There is no room for ambiguity either Sinn Féin candidates support the institutions of this State and regard An Garda Síochána as the legitimate policing authority or they have no business seeking election," he said.

He called on Sinn Féin councillors to repudiate the claim that legal authority in the State rests with the IRA Army Council.

Sinn Féin South European election candidate David Cullinane did not respond to Mr McDowell's claims but said that the minister is becoming increasingly desperate.

"The Progressive Democrats could not field one European election candidate and only a small number of local election candidates in Cork Sinn Féin will fight this election on its record in the peace process and delivering for local communities," Mr Cullinane added. Mr McDowell made his comments on Sinn Féin at the launch of the Progressive Democrats' local election campaign in Cork.

The party's seven candidates in Cork city and county include: Máirín Quill, Teresa O'Brien, Dave Buckley, Michael Burns, Maggie Egerton, Peter Merrrigan and Gerry Kelleher.

Mr McDowell praised the pilot scheme set up by Cork gardaí, city council and local business to tackle street crime and violence.

The local partnership has reduced street crime by a third in the first year. "I would like to pay tribute to Chief Superintendent Ray McAndrew and everyone involved in the partnership for restoring peace to the streets," Mr McDowell said.

The new Garda Síochána Bill provides for similar local partnerships to be set up across the country. "I am confident that where Cork leads the way others will follow," he added.

The bill will also include the setting up of joint policing committees with local representatives. Councillors will have powers to make recommendations about policing matters but gardaí will also have a right to make recommendations to local authorities about how they can reduce crime

[Admin-SI]

irish independent 25th May
McDowell vows 'no IRA deal' to McCabe widow

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell is to give a personal assurance to Anne McCabe, the widow of the detective garda murdered by the Provisional IRA, that she will be consulted in advance if the Government is contemplating an early release for his killers.

But an early release will be totally dependent on an end to all paramilitarism and will not be offered as an inducement to the IRA to disband.

The assurance will be included in a letter being sent this week by the minister to Mrs McCabe, who will be guaranteed that a release cannot be sanctioned without the survivor of the gun attack, Det Garda Ben O'Sullivan, and herself knowing in advance of the reasons for the move.

The letter is being sent following separate meetings between Mr McDowell and delegations from the Garda Representative Association and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors in the wake of claims the Government had offered a deal to the republican movement last year.

The letter will also make it clear that the killers will never qualify for early release under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement and the Cabinet has been briefed on its likely contents by Mr McDowell.

The minister will tell Mrs McCabe that in the context of the peace process, a major element of pain for the law-abiding communities in both jurisdictions has been the release of prisoners North and South, including murderers.

He will argue that the Good Friday Agreement would not have been signed if it had not contained commitments by the two governments on prisoner releases, similar to peace settlements in other parts of the world.

He will point out that the 1998 agreement has resulted in the saving of innumerable lives since then and the real chance for people on this island to live their lives no longer under the shadow of a conflict that had bedevilled generations.

Last week Mr McDowell dismissed claims by Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams that he and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern had a one-to-one understanding that all IRA prisoners would be released under the terms of the agreement.

He also told the Garda associations that the issue of their release would not arise for some time as there was still much work to be done before the peace process could be finalised.

The offer made last year to Sinn Fein is also believed to have included a guarantee that two men still being sought by the gardai for the murder of Det Gda Jerry McCabe in Adare, Co Limerick, in 1996, will be allowed to return home as part of a separate concession to terrorists "on the run".

Mr McCabe was fatally wounded during a botched robbery on a post office van.

Four men convicted for the killing, including top IRA man Pearse McCauley, are currently serving sentences in Castlerea Prison.

Tom Brady
Security Editor

http://www.unison.ie...&issue_id=10913

[Admin-SI]

Standing up to the Provos and by the true Republic

http://www.unison.ie...&issue_id=10911
OVER a number of months I have repeatedly drawn public attention to the continuing paramilitarism of the Provisional movement, a movement which consists of two component parts, the IRA and its political front, Sinn Fein. I have spoken about the clear and unambiguous threat from the IRA to democracy and the link between the IRA's threat to democracy and the political strategy being followed by Sinn Fein.

On each occasion, I was challenged by a number of sources. Predictably, Sinn Fein accused me of electioneering and of being hostile to the "peace process".

There was a remarkable contrast between the response to my statements and the manner in which the same message was received when it was incorporated in the recent report of the International Monitoring Commission. The IMC was not accused by any independent commentator of electioneering or of hostility to the peace process. They were not asked to "put up or shut up".

The truth of its analysis was readily and rightly accepted.

Quite simply, the IRA is an elaborate organised crime network whose members are, in the view of the IMC (and in my own view) "active and in a high state of readiness". The IMC reported that IRA members had been undertaking training in the first part of this year. As the IMC put it: "In addition to its involvement in other criminal activities, PIRA is engaged in the use of serious violence which we believe is under the control of its most senior leadership, whose members must therefore bear responsibility for it."

To understand the real nature of the Provisional movement and the real relationship of the IRA with Sinn Fein, it is only necessary to have access to what the Provisionals believe.

Documents recovered from the Provisionals reveal that all members of the IRA are required to learn and to subscribe to a simple but deep-seated ideological proposition: "The Provisional Army Council and its successors were the inheritors of the First and Second Dail as a Provisional Government."

Volunteers are inducted on the basis of accepting the following: "This belief, this ethical fact, should and must give moral strength to all volunteers and all members of every branch of the Republican Movement. The IRA, its leadership, is the lawful Government of the Irish Republic, all other parliaments or assemblies claiming the right to speak for and to pass laws on behalf of the Irish people are illegal assemblies, puppet governments of a foreign power, and willing tools of occupying forces.

Volunteers must firmly believe without doubt and without reservation that, as members of the IRA, all orders issued by the Army Authority and all actions directed by the Army Authority are the legal orders and lawful actions of the Government of the Irish Republic."

In a liberal democracy, people are entitled to hold private and arcane theories about history and political legitimacy. There may very well be, for all we know, a small cluster of people who intellectually regard themselves as the sole and legitimate heirs of Robert Emmet's rebellion; or of the Catholic Confederation of Kilkenny or of the last High King of Ireland. We can live with such theories in a liberal democracy.

But we cannot live with a massive criminal organisation which kills, tortures and plunders, and to which elected politicians owe secret allegiance, and in respect of whose activities some even take part in their direction.

While the Provisionals have relaxed their previous ban on seeking election to parliaments and assemblies, the fundamental position of the Provisionals - including Sinn Fein - remains that the lawful and legitimate power of government of the Irish people is vested in the IRA and not elsewhere.

This explains completely the relationship between Sinn Fein and the IRA. It is a relationship of complete subservience, ideologically and factually. The public leadership of Sinn Fein and the rank and file are a "branch of the Republican Movement", obliged to accept without reserve and inward equivocation that the Army Council of the Provisional IRA is now the sole and authoritative source of legal and political power on this island.

So, far from moving from paramilitarism to exclusively democratic politics, the Provisional IRA and Sinn Fein at present appear to believe that the IRA must remain in existence; must not be wound up; and must function as the continuing repository of political legitimacy until the establishment of an "all-Ireland socialist republic" at which point the Army Council, having held an Army convention, would formally pass its authority to the functioning government of that socialist republic.

In 2003, the Irish Government was led to believe that it was the short-term intention of the Provisionals to hold the requisite Army conventions to end IRA paramilitarism. Subsequent events, as catalogued in the IMC report and as brought by me to the attention of the Irish people, demonstrate a radical inability on the part of the Provisionals to end paramilitarism. There cannot be devolved government in Northern Ireland if one of the parties to the Good Friday Agreement seeking inclusion in government not merely believes intellectually in, but is fundamentally politically committed to, the continuation of IRA paramilitarism.

There cannot be any question of the restoration of the Good Friday Agreement institutions on the basis that one party exercising executive power will take political direction from a group of people who are actively directing paramilitarism.

There cannot be a full implementation of the reform of the PSNI if one party either abstains from participating in the police board because it regards the PSNI as illegitimate or, alternatively, takes its place on the board while simultaneously asserting the right of the IRA to exercise paramilitary powers of policing within its community.

If you sometimes wonder at the breath-taking, brass-necked refusal of Sinn Fein members to query, to criticise, or to condemn any action of the IRA, the true explanation lies in the subservient relationship of Sinn Fein with the IRA in Provisional ideology.

Instead of facing up to the challenge of the Good Friday Agreement, the Provisionals have engaged in an ever-intensifying propaganda war in which they cast themselves both as victims and as courageous peacemakers, taking risks and making sacrifices for the cause of Ireland. As part of that propaganda war, the Provisionals portray the present impasse as being the fault of others which they are working energetically to overcome.

Those of us, the great majority, who aspire to Irish unity must now set about the Herculean task of reconciling nationalism and unionism, in a new dispensation based on tolerance and mutual respect. That is now the true vocation of Republicans on this island. Those of us who voted overwhelmingly to accept the principle of consent enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement - a principle which has never been accepted by the Provisionals - must build a new Republican ethic, one which makes a reality of our tricolour, an ethic which would command the respect of Tone, Emmet, Davis, Pearse, Collins and de Valera.

They are the great and authentic figures of historic Republicanism, not the deluded and destructive extremists who call themselves Republican but who act in a manner which would shame and sicken the signatories to the 1916 Proclamation who said: "We place the cause of the Irish Republic under the protection of the Most High God, Whose blessing we invoke upon our arms and we pray that no-one who serves that cause will dishonour it by cowardice, inhumanity or rapine."

The real issue that must now be addressed is the absolute necessity to bring paramilitarism to a decisive, unambiguous and irreversible end. There is little reality in thinking that the IRA will "go back to war". Since the atrocities at the Twin Towers and Madrid, it is abundantly clear that the Provisionals, as a movement, would face immediate extinguishment if they were to seriously attempt such a course. A second Canary Wharf would blow the Provisional movement itself to smithereens.

And they know that.

On that basis, the people of both parts of this island must stand up to the lies, deceits, propaganda, and stratagems of the Provisional movement. There is no room for the Army Council in Ireland's future. There is no room in democratic representative institutions, North or South, for those who do the bidding of the Army Council, and who cannot or will not operate independently of it. There is no way forward, North or South, for politicians with an agenda based on the existence, legitimacy, or continuity of the IRA. Those of us who are Republican, who know the meaning of the term, must stand by the Republic which we have created, not the monster of the Provisionals' ideology.

In short, the Irish people are confronted by a massive, sustained deception which we must face down, or pay a heavy price for the destruction of democratic values.

It is not only democratically elected politicians who must stand by the Republic - that is also the duty of the other organs of our democracy, particularly our media who have shown that they can be effective and courageous in defence of our democracy when they really want to be.

It is a duty also cast on every single citizen who, as a citizen, owes a fundamental political duty of loyalty to the State, a State which has one Army, one police force, one system of justice, one parliament, one Government and which acknowledges one source of political legitimacy - the free and democratic sovereign will of the Irish people and the democratic institutions created by, and answerable to, the Irishpeople.

Michael McDowell is Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, and PD president.

Michael McDowell

[Admin-SI]

IRA man defects from SF to Euro hopeful Barrett

http://www.unison.ie...&issue_id=10911
EOGHAN WILLIAMS

THE anti-abortion European election candidate Justin Barrett is being backed by a convicted IRA gun-runner and former Sinn Fein national executive member.

Gerry McGeough, who has defected from Gerry Adams's party, joins disaffected former Fianna Fail and Fine Gael supporters who have also switched to the Barrett camp.

Mr McGeough, Sinn Fein's national organiser during the first Nice referendum, says he is fed up with the party's current leadership and the prevalence of "ceasefire soldiers".

He shares Mr Barrett's strong Catholic convictions, Euro scepticism and likens a "deluge" of immigrants to the Protestant plantation of 300 years ago.

If the Independent does well in next month's election, sources close to Mr Barrett say he will seek to form a political party with Mr McGeough and others whom he believes have become disillusioned with mainstream parties.

Mr Barrett, a former member of Young Fine Gael with a privileged upbringing, says he can see why people might think it strange that he has joined forces with McGeough.

"We are from totally different backgrounds but that doesn't mean we can't both see that a vast swathe of the Irish population feels disenfranchised and that the main parties are ignoring some of the biggest issues on the doorstep," Mr Barrett said.

Mr McGeough believes Sinn Fein is ignoring key issues from pro-life to anti-European sentiment. He says "well-placed republicans" in Waterford, Cork and Co Down have turned their back on the party in recent years.

"We believe that Sinn Fein doesn't stand for anything other than the latest politically-correct fad.

"I am still an Irish republican in that I believe the British should get out of Ireland. I'm also a practicing Catholic and I don't agree with Sinn Fein's pro-abortion policy. I find that the party is now dominated by radical gender feminists. No Irish patriot or nationalist could possibly work along with that or tolerate it in any shape or form.

"It's a party which doesn't want to know old-style republicans. If you've played your part in the military campaign, if you have been a prisoner of war, you are almost an embarrassment. We have nouveau Sinn Fein populated with ceasefire soldiers, political opportunists and rejects from other parties who are being fast-tracked to the top at the expense of countless old republicans," McGeough said.

Mr McGeough says he supports Mr Barrett's "Catholic patriotism".

On top of his own European election aspirations, Mr Barrett is campaigning for a 'Yes' vote in the citizenship referendum. He is critical of the way government and Fine Gael are fighting the referendum campaign, saying once-loyal FF and FG party workers are defecting to his side.

Mr Barrett believes Bertie Ahern's party is being dominated by Mary Harney's Progressive Democrats and in particular by Justice Minister Michael McDowell.

"The fact is the incentives for immigrants to come here are putting lives at risk. Pregnant immigrants are presenting in Irish hospitals at the last possible moment without medical histories.

"The fact is the PD tail is wagging the Fianna Fail dog and people are getting fed up with it," Mr Barrett said.

Mr McGeough also believes the Government parties are failing to tackle immigration.

The convicted IRA gun-runner, who spent four years in a German detention centre and three in various American prisons, said: "I have nothing against people moving to our country. I have travelled abroad quite a bit myself. I don't want to be labelled a racist. My wife is a foreign immigrant and I welcome new blood into the country but there's a difference between that and being deluged by scam-mongers."

Mr McGeough believes Irish patriotism may not be best served by large-scale immigration. A Trinity College history graduate, he was a vice-principal of Bruce College until last November when he was removed following a complaint from a parent about his IRA past.

[Ulster Gael]

WHAT A DESPERADO,
It is quite clear to see that Michael Mc Dowell and his PD's are losing out to the increasing vote for Sinn Fein.This is the motivation behind his recent anti-Sinn Fein rantings.Mc Dowell is also presently regarded as a politician on the make,with clear designs to take the leadership of the PD's from Mary Harney.His headline grabbing sermons are cutting no ice with the Irish electorate,all opinion polls indicating that the major established parties such as Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are about to loose out to Sinn Fein,Labour and the Green Party.
What this means to Michael Mc Dowell,is that come the next general election,his PD's are unlikely to be in a position to form part of a coalition government,as they presently do.Instead of making futile attacks on Sinn Fein he should put his energies into correcting the failings of the present government which he is part of.He could turn his attention to the prison system,mental health and race issues.All of which should be topics of concern for him as the Minister for Justice,considering that Amnesty International has just released a report lambasting his government for failing to provide basic human rights with regard to these issues.
And just for the record everybody knows that the IRA campaign is over,even though there are those that for their own selfish reasons wish it wasn't.
Ulster Gael.