scarface
10-10-2007, 06:18 PM
Irish Republican Information Service (no. 122)
In this issue:
1. Death of Dan Keating
2. Provos take seats on Magherafelt policing board
3. O'Loan might not probe shoot-to-kill controversy
4. Campbell facing censure for remarks during Irish debate
5. Family of man killed by PSNI plan legal action
6. McAllister family to face deportation soon
7. Four pilots suspended in Belfast dispute
8. Windscale fire fallout double initial estimates
9. 9/11 has led to an erosion of human rights, law professor tells conference
10. Cuba marks Guevara anniversary
1. DEATH OF DAN KEATING
THE death occurred on October 2 of the Patron of Republican Sinn Féin Dan Keating (105), Ballygamboon, Castlemaine Co Kerry. He was the last surviving veteran of the 1916-23 period.
Dan Keating first joined the Republican Movement in December 1916 when he became a member of Na Fianna Eireann. In 1918 he joined the Irish Republican Army and played an active role in the Black and Tan war in his native Co Kerry. Opposed to the Treaty of Surrender he took part in the fight against Free State forces in Limerick in 1922.
Following his capture by Free State forces in Co Tipperary he was imprisoned in Portlaoise prison and the Curragh internment camp. This was the first of many periods of imprisonment which Dan Keating was to endure because of his Republican activities.
Dan Keating remained an active Republican throughout the 1920s and 30s; he also was on active service in England in 1939/40 during the IRA’s S Plan campaign. On his return to Ireland Dan Keating was interned in the Curragh once again by the 26-County state until 1944.
Dan Keating was to work in Dublin as a barman from 1944 until 1978 when he retired and returned to Co Kerry. In 2004 he was made Patron of Republican Sinn Féin, he was regular attender of Republican Sinn Féin Ard-Fheisanna up to and including last year.
In a statement following the news of Dan Keating’s death Republican Sinn Féin President Ruairí Ó Brádaigh said: “One of the last, if not the last IRA Veteran of the Black and Tan war, he was Patron of Republican Sinn Féin to the very day of his death and an inspiration to all true Republicans.”
A large crowd attended his removal from Tralee to Kiltallagh Church, near Castlemaine Co Kerry on October 4. Dan Keating was buried on October 5 in Kiltallagh cemetery, his coffin, draped in the National Flag and bearing a beret and gloves was carried by a Republican Colour party to his final resting place.
A large crowd attended the funeral with people travelling from all over Ireland. Amongst those in attendance were Republican Sinn Féin President Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, RSF Vice President Des Dalton. All-Ireland winning and legendary Kerry footballer Mick O’Connell was also in attendance. Speaking on TG4 he spoke of Dan Keating’s “nobility.”
Ceremonies at the graveside were chaired by George Rice, Tralee. Wreaths were laid on behalf of the Republican Movement, Republican Prisoners, the National Graves Association as well as Cork Republican Sinn Féin and Republican Veteran and comrade of Dan Keating, Billy McKee, Belfast.
In his oration the President of Republican Sinn Féin Ruairí Ó Brádaigh said: “We stand by Dan Keating s grave in all humility, for this was an Irishman and a Kerryman who gave more than 90 years of service to the All-Ireland Republic of 1916 and the First) All-Ireland) Da il. But we are fiercely proud of his long lifetime of service.
For more than four score and ten years since he first took the Oath of Allegiance to that Republic, Dan fought in defence of it, stood by it and adhered faithfully to it until his death last October 2 at the great age of 105 years. He was an inspiration to succeeding generations of Republicans, never deviating from the hard road of service and suffering, striving to place All Ireland and its future in the hands of the Irish people.
Uinseann Mac Eoin, in his book The IRA in the Twilight Years1923-48, published in 1997, gives us a glimpse of Dan Keating:
A man who has travelled to almost every All-Ireland final in Croke Park and whose fighting goes back into Tan times.
“Tall and spare, at more than 90 years of age he is not stooped, carrying himself with an easy grace; his face soft, not weather beaten. Yet he has spent much of his life standing, having been a barman, in a string of public houses in Dublin; for a number of years in London, and then back again in Dublin, two cities that are well known to him.”
Dan joined Fianna Eireann at the end of1916 and went on two years later to enrol in the ranks of the Irish Republican Army, first with Kerry No 1 Brigade, and later with Kerry No 2 under its Brigade OC, John Joe Rice. His combat duty included the highly successful ambush of British forces in his native Castlemaine in1921. Later he saw service in the Castleisland ambush where casualties were also inflicted on the occupation forces, but four of his Volunteer comrades were also killed in action.
Following the Treaty of Surrender, Dan fought against Free State forces in Limerick and Tipperary before being captured and interned in Portlaoise jail and later in Tintown Camp on the Curragh.
Released in 1924, he was back in harness in the Republican Cause.
He endured several short terms of imprisonment in the 1930s, before going to England to take part in the 1939-40 Sabotage Campaign there. He soldiered alongside Seán McNeela of Mayo, JJ Reynolds of Leitrim and Richard Goss of Dundalk.
Back in Ireland, Dan was interned without trial at the Curragh 1940-44. A Republican leader whom he met at that time and respected greatly was George Plant of Tipperary. The re-organisation of the Republican Movement afterwards was long and difficult. Larry Grogan of Drogheda, Frank Driver of Kildare and Mick McCarthy of Cork were men he looked up to.
When he retired from work and settled in his native Co Kerry in 1978, Dan threw himself into local Republican activity. In 2004, he was elected by the Ard-Fheis of Republican Sinn Féin to be its Patron. This was in succession to Comdt-Gen Tom Maguire of Mayo, Michael Flannery of Tipperary and New York and George Harrison of Mayo and New York.
Dan Keating attended and spoke at Ard-Fheiseanna, gave interviews to newspapers, and on radio. He was at all times very clear as to what was required: Ireland was one country, one nation and one people. The English government had no right to be in any part of Ireland; they must go and then the Irish people, acting as a unit, would decide their own future. He accepted that this would be best resolved through a four-province federation, as proposed by Republican Sinn Féin, under one over-arching national parliament.
When he was chosen as Munster Honoree at the annual dinner of CABHAIR (the Prisoners Dependants Fund organisers) some years ago the citation included the following:
‘Dan’ s other great interest is Gaelic games, and indeed between football and hurling he has attended over 138 All-Ireland senior finals, including replays, which must be a record in itself. He now resides at Ballygamboon, Castlemaine.
‘During his long, healthy and adventurous lifetime, Dan has seen many splits and deviations from Republican principles, but he had remained loyal and true, and there is no more fitting recipient of this honour than this noble son of Kerry.’
Dan Keating regarded the so-called peace process as a surrender process and would not accept any British government presence in Ireland, regardless of how it was presented to the Irish people.
Long may his ideals live in the hearts of the Kerry people he loved and the Irish people to whom he gave a lifetime of service.
Ar Dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.
2. PROVOS TAKE SEATS ON MAGHERAFELT POLICING BOARD
PROVO collaboration was stepped up as Provisional members joined the British District Policing Partnership (DPP) for the first time on October 8.
Four of the organisation’s Magherafelt councillors became the first Provos to take seats on the local British colonial policing bodies when the town's DPP met. Three of them, Sean Kerr, Ian Milne and Peter Bateson are former r prisoners. They were joined by, Sean McPeake.
The move comes just six months after Assembly members Alex Maskey, Daithi McKay and Martina Anderson joined the British colonial Policing Board.
3. O'LOAN MIGHT NOT PROBE SHOOT-TO-KILL CONTROVERSY
BRITISH Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan told a Coroner's Court on October 9 that she may not have the legal powers to investigate controversial 'shoot-to-kill' murders.
Six-County Senior Coroner John Leckey officially opened the inquests of six men killed in the controversial ‘shoot-to-kill’ deaths 25 years ago.
IRA memebrs Gervaise McKerr, Sean Burns and Eugene Toman were shot dead by an undercover RUC unit near Lurgan in November 1982.
Weeks later teenager Michael Tighe was shot dead at a farm shed near Lurgan.
The following month INLA men Seamus Grew and Roddy Carroll were shot dead in similar circumstances near Lurgan. All were unarmed when killed.
Three RUC men were later cleared of the INLA mens' murders but one member admitted that he had been ordered to lie under oath.
Greater Manchester deputy chief constable John Stalker was asked to investigate the 'shoot-to-kill' allegations after a public outcry.
However Stalker was dramatically suspended from duty shortly before he was due to deliver a damning report into the deaths.
He was later cleared of all charges but never returned to the Six-Counties. West Yorkshire deputy chief constable Colin Sampson took over the 'shoot-to-kill' investigation, however neither man's reports was ever made public.
In 1994 John Leckey abandoned the original 'shoot-to-kill' inquests after he was refused access to the Stalker/Sampson reports.
In 2001 the European Court of Human Rights found that the British government had failed to properly investigate the McKerr, Burns and Toman killings and ordered it to re-open the cases.
However the dead men's families took further legal action in 2004 to force a proper investigation.
In July British Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan was asked to reinvestigate the killing after European Union ministers had raised concerns that the British government had failed to ‘achieve concrete and visible progress’ in the cases.
However when John Leckey opened the ‘shoot-to-kill’ inquests British police ombudsman lawyers told the court that Nuala O'Loan may have no legal powers to investigate the murders.
Nuala O'Loan's lawyers told the court that there may be a “jurisdictional issue as to whether the Police Ombudsman has statutory powers to investigate the deaths”.
The ombudsman's legal representative told John Leckey that Nuala O'Loan has no statutory powers to investigate the deaths because of the previous Stalker and Sampson reports. It has also now emerged that neither John Leckey or Nuala O'Loan have received copies of the full Stalker report.
Confirming that it is still unclear whether it has the legal grounds to investigate the ‘shoot-to-kill’ deaths, an ombudsman spokesman said: “Before any investigation can be undertaken by this office we would need to establish the legal grounds for it. Those grounds will depend on what has previously been investigated and any prior criminal or disciplinary action.”
Relatives for Justice Spokesman Mark Thompson, whose group supports the 'shoot-to-kill' families, welcomed new coroner's powers compelling witnesses to cooperate with inquests.
“The inquest will now have the power to compel witnesses, including for the first time members of the British army and RUC responsible for shooting people dead, to give evidence irrelevant of whether or not they have retired from the police or military, something that has been a consistent failing of the police ombudsman,” he said.
“It is the intentions of the families to ensure that effective and transparent accountability with regard to the killings of their loved ones is achieved during these inquests.”
John Stalker says the family of Michael Tighe is entitled to know the truth about his death.
In his 1988 book on the affair, John Stalker expressed the hope that one day the family of Michael Tighe would learn exactly how and why the 17-year-old died in a hail of RUC bullets. “The family are entitled to know the truth. But after 25 years the truth is going to be hard to find,” John Stalker said.
4. CAMPBELL FACING CENSURE FOR REMARKS DURING IRISH DEBATE
A DUP MLA is facing censure by the Stormont Assembly over derogatory comments he made about the Irish language.
During a Stormont debate on minority language funding, East Derry MP Gregory Campbell said: “Were I a satirist, I might begin my question to the Minister with the words, ‘Cora my Yogi Bear, a can Coca Colya’.”
The gibberish – a clear attack on minority languages – has angered Irish language groups. Forbairt Feirste Director, Jake Mac Siacais, described the comments as “deeply offensive”.
He said: “It is reprehensible that these deeply offensive comments were not challenged by the Speaker of the House, Mr Campbell’s DUP colleague William Hay.
“I have written to Mr Hay quoting the relevant section of the Good Friday Agreement that stresses the importance of respect, understanding and tolerance of linguistic diversity.
“Gregory Campbell is clearly in breach of this and should face some sort of disciplinary action.”
5. FAMILY OF MAN KILLED BY RUC/PSNI PLAN LEGAL ACTION
THE family of a man killed by the RUC/ PSNI criticised the force on October 4 for allowing its members to avoid possible disciplinary action through retirement.
An uncle of Neil McConville - shot dead outside Lisburn in April 2003 - said the family was "disappointed" in the British Police Ombudsman's report on the killing issued on October 4.
Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan cleared the RUC/PSNI who shot the 21-year-old.
But she expressed “grave concern” about other aspects of the case - saying the operation that led to the killing was “poorly managed by senior officers” and employed a "high-risk strategy".
Neil McConville's family is now preparing to take legal action against the RUC/PSNI.
Nuala O'Loan's report also said that one of the RUC/PSNI's most senior officers tried to block her investigators from getting access to intelligence material about the shooting.
And when they were allowed to see it - more than six weeks after the shooting - a piece of intelligence which was “critical to the investigation” had been wiped from an RUC/PSNI computer.
She also revealed that several senior RUC/PSNI members who may have been subject to discipline retired before her investigation could be completed.
Neil McConville, from Bleary, Co Down, was shot three times behind the wheel of a Vauxhall Cavalier.
The RUC/PSNI stopped the car because they suspected his passenger; David Somers - who had been involved in the plot to murder David Barnes in north Belfast weeks earlier - was preparing to shoot a man. An unloaded sawn-off shotgun was found in the car.
Nuala O'Loan said she had “no criticism” of the RUC/PSNI member who fired the fatal shots, but she criticised several other RUC/PSNI members, including an Assistant Chief Constable she accused of trying to stop her investigators from getting access to intelligence about the RUC/PSNI operation.
Barney McConville, Neil's uncle, said the release of the report was "very difficult" for the family.
“A lot of it we knew about already," he said. "But our main problem is the way PSNI officers played the Ombudsman.
“The Ombudsman has failed to deliver an adequate report because the PSNI haven't co-operated fully with her.
“They turned the investigation into a farce. It took two- and-a-half years to interview one officer. That's totally unacceptable.
“This whole issue of retirement before investigation just stinks. It's hard for us to accept that people may have set out to frustrate this investigation and they can still retire with their pensions.
“It's a tactic that's happened before and something should be done about it.”
Mark Thompson, director of group Relatives for Justice, said a review of the British police Ombudsman's powers must address the “loophole” that puts retired RUC/PSNI members beyond her remit.
6. McALLISTER FAMILY TO FACE DEPORTATION SOON
MALACHY McAllister, 50, a former political prisoner in the Six-Counties could be back in Ireland within two weeks if he receives an expected deportation order from the US Department of Homeland Security.
The father of four, who fled Belfast in 1988 after the Loyalist Red Hand Commando death squad came within inches of killing his family, hopes the politicians in his home state of New Jersey will support his campaign to stay in the U.S.
Ominous postings on loyalist internet sites recently underline that the threat to his safety has not diminished.
McAllister said on October 2, “Obviously loyalist websites are paying very close attention to what’s going on and that’s very concerning given that we’ve been out of Ireland for so long. It seems that when you’re a high profile target the threat never leaves you. My concern now is that if there were to be a breakdown in the peace agreement then someone like myself will be defenceless.”
Asked what immediate steps could halt or postpone a deportation order, Malachy McAllister replied, “The position is we need a senator to introduce a private bill to hold off the imminent deportation by the Department of Homeland Security. If that’s not done then we’re in danger of being deported.”
US Senators are notoriously reluctant to introduce private bills, but McAllister argues that his is a very unique case.
“We’re at a crunch stage where this can actually split us up as a family. Two of my children will also face deportation orders. The last time my youngest children were in Ireland they were both infants. That was 19 years ago,” he said.
“They’re American citizens now, they’ve been brought up here, they’ve been educated here, and they still go to school here. Any one with any common sense will ask what will the administration accomplish by sending this family back to the land where they once fled for their lives?”
Attorney Éamonn Doran, who is representing the McAllisters, said, “We are still lobbying intensely with New Jersey senators and particularly Senator Frank Lau-
tenberg to request that the Senate introduce private legislation on Malachy’s behalf because that’s the only device that is going to allow him and his children to remain here in the United States. Apart from that he really is only here at the greatest goodwill of the Department of Home-land Security. And we expect that goodwill is going to be exhausted soon.”
Currently the Mc-Allister family could be removed any day, in response to what’s called a bag and baggage letter instructing them to surrender to the US Bureau of Immigration and Customs enforcement, with their bags packed, on a given date.
Says Dornan, “It’s crucial that a private bill is introduced in the Senate as soon as possible. Our understanding is that once it is admitted the Department of Home-land Security will respect the procedure and allow it to run its course through the senate sub committee.”
Éamonn Dornan suggested that interested members of the public in New Jersey should call Senator Lautenberg, or their local congressperson, urging him to pursue a private bill on behalf of the family. To contact Lautenberg call 973-39-8700.
Added Éamonn Dornan, “It’s our opinion that the senator has as much support as he needs from the third circuit court of appeals whereby Judge Maryann Trump Barry had begged the attorney general to provide some humanitarian relief for the family.
“The decision found the courts didn’t have any legislative tools and didn’t have any recourse and so they put the ball firmly back in the political arena. The judicial route is now over, the solution to this situation will be political.”
7. FOUR PILOTS SUSPENDED IN BELFAST DISPUTE
FOUR pilots have been suspended in their dispute with Aer Lingus management on the new Belfast hub.
The suspensions follow the refusal by pilots to co-operate with an October 9 deadline to begin training new staff for the Belfast operation.
30 other pilots who had an optional extra duty of training new recruits are now resigning from that function.
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A spokesman for Aer Lingus said the pilots were appointed to the role as instructors and the company would not accept partial resignation of responsibilities.
Pilots are objecting to some of the terms and conditions for the new staff. The new pilots will not enjoy they same employment terms as those in the 26-Counties.
The Irish Airline Pilots Association has said it wants to hold further talks on the issue.
If pilots refuse to help recruit new staff they face suspension. The association representing pilots met on October 9 to decide on their official position.
8. WINDSCALE FIRE FALLOUT DOUBLE INITIAL ESTIMATES
NEW research which suggests the amount of nuclear debris released during a fire at Windscale in 1957, was up to twice the volume previously thought, was raised by 26-County Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern when he met British foreign secretary David Miliband on October 8.
The fire - Britain's worst nuclear accident - resulted in a cloud of radioactivity across northern England, travelling as far south as London and on into northern Europe.
The research carried out by John Garland, formerly of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, and Richard Wakeford, a visiting professor at the University of Manchester, suggests radioactive debris may have been as much as twice that initially thought. Moreover, it caused some 240 more cancers across Britain and northern Europe than had been originally estimated. The research was published in the current edition of Atmospheric Environment.
Dundalk, was the nearest Irish town to the the Windscale plant. Cancer rates and birth defects were some 12 per cent above the national average in the years immediately after the fire. However, a body of scientific opinion has always held that the radioactive discharge from the fire had been blown away from Ireland by the prevailing wind.
Meanwhile, in Co Louth a group which took legal action against British Nuclear Fuels and the 26-County State for more than a decade, has continued to dispute what it calls “the majority scientific view” that the Windscale fire did not affect Ireland.
Ollan Herr, Constance Shortt, Mary Kavanagh and Mark Dearey spent 11 years attempting to sue British Nuclear Fuels - and the 26-County State - maintaining that higher than average numbers of cancer clusters and birth defects in Co Louth were directly attributable to the fire in Windscale in 1957.
The group had its costs indemnified by the Leinster House assembly in the late 1990s, even though the 26-County administration was a defendant in the case.
Ollan Herr insisted that the group's scientific research has shown there was “something in the sea off the north Leinster coast which was corresponding to more cancers and higher birth problems than anything recorded in the west coast, the south coast or even the south Leinster coast”.
The new research would, he said, add support to his group's arguments.
“It is a bit like greenhouse gases, it takes time for people to believe what is happening.”
Prof Peter Mitchell, author of another study carried out by UCD, told the RTÉ television news that while the outer edge of the cloud may have just reached the east coast, a 2005 study found that that no radioactive materials made it to the northeast of Ireland.
The British authorities are at an early stage in planning for the extraction of 15 tonnes of damaged fuel rods, left in place after the 1957 fire which burned for two days.
The project is expected to cost €722 million (£500 million).
9. 9/11 HAS LED TO AN EROSION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, LAW PROFESSOR TELLS CONFERENCE
SECURITY measures in the “post 9/11” years have contributed to a backlash against human rights and equality issues, according to Canadian law professor and international human rights expert Kathleen Mahoney.
In Canada's case, about “25 years of gains” have been lost, as all areas of human rights have been “sacrificed to the ‘higher’ right of security”, she said on October 6. Prof Mahoney, keynote speaker at an NUI Galway conference on equality, law and the Constitution, said that equality issues had undoubtedly also been affected. In her view, “9/11 could be the Darth Vador factor” which was never expressly stated in court judgments.
Canada's chief justice had defined equality as the “most difficult right”, but when the Canadian charter of rights and freedoms was passed into law in 1982, it constitutionalised the “most wide-ranging equality provisions in the world,” she said.
In the current political climate, she was concerned about a loss of vision in relation to section 15 of the charter. This section defines every individual as equal before the law and under the law, with the right to equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination, based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.
An attempt by the Canadian supreme court to bring clarity to section 15 in 1998 by using the standards of human dignity had not helped, Prof Mahoney said. The rationale of human dignity was “so malleable” that it could be used in a very positive or a very negative way, and could allow subconscious biases to influence judgments.
Prof Mahoney, who has been decorated for her research, practice, and activism on internationally critical human rights issues, is a mother of five children and has been a professor at the University of Calgary for 25 years.
Three years ago she wrote a report examining the Canadian government's response to the claims of Aboriginal residential school survivors.
During the research for this, she visited Ireland to study the 26-County State's response to abuse victims who had been resident in industrial schools. On her recommendation as chief negotiator, every survivor of an industrial school in Canada has been allocated reparations.
10. CUBA MARKS GUEVARA ANNIVERSARY
ON October 9 Cuba paid tribute to Ernesto “Che” Guevara, 40 years after he was captured and shot by the CIA operatives in Bolivia.
The man he helped to power in Cuba's 1959 revolution, Fidel Castro, was too ill to attend a memorial rally at the mausoleum where Guevara's remains were placed when they were dug up from an unmarked Bolivian grave in 1997.
Students hold banners with the image of the late revolutionary leader Che Guevara at a ceremony in Cuba.
Republican Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle member Josephine Hayden, along with comrades from Dublin, attended the ceremonies in honour of Che Guevara and addressed those assembled in the Irish language.
Fidel Castro instead marked the anniversary in a newspaper column that was read out at the rally, saying the Argentine-born doctor sowed the seeds of social conscience in Latin America and the world.
“I halt in my day-to-day combat to bow my head, with respect and gratitude, before the exceptional fighter who fell 40 years ago,” he wrote.
Guevara (39) was captured by CIA-backed Bolivian soldiers on October 8th, 1967, and was shot the next day in a schoolhouse. His body was put on display in a hospital laundry room and later buried in an unmarked grave.
About 10,000 Cuban workers and students gathered yesterday before a bronze statue of Guevara carrying a rifle in Santa Clara, the city in central Cuba that Guevara "liberated" in 1958 in the decisive battle of the Cuban revolution.
Guevara remains a national hero in Cuba, remembered for promoting unpaid voluntary work by toiling on building sites or hauling sacks of sugar. He still appears on banknotes cutting sugar cane in the fields.
He was central bank governor and industry minister in the early years of the Cuban revolution, but he left Cuba in 1966 to start a new anti-US rebellion in the jungle of eastern Bolivia, hoping to create “two, three, many Vietnams” in Latin America.
Spanish state arrest Batasuna leadership
SPANISH police arrested 23 leading members of Batasuna, the banned political wing of the Basque group Eta, further inflaming tensions in the Basque country.
The arrests of almost the entire alleged leadership of the Batasuna was described as “a declaration of war” by Basque nationalists, who took to the streets in protest.
The raid on October 4 on a clandestine meeting in the Basque town of Segura was the latest move in a four-month clampdown against Basque separatists that has already led to the imprisonment of Arnaldo Ortegi, Batasuna's leader.
Batasuna, which means “unity”, was outlawed as a political party five years ago by the Spanish state in a wave of repression, in a four decade-long struggle for an independent Basque country.
Batasuna represents about 15% of the electorate in the Basque Country.
The issue is set to dominate the Spanish general election next March and both Batasuna and the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), which runs the Basque country regional government, said the arrests were politically motivated.
“It seems very suspicious that the courts always act at crucial points for politics,” said Joseba Azkarraga, the Basque country administration's justice minister.
ENDS
In this issue:
1. Death of Dan Keating
2. Provos take seats on Magherafelt policing board
3. O'Loan might not probe shoot-to-kill controversy
4. Campbell facing censure for remarks during Irish debate
5. Family of man killed by PSNI plan legal action
6. McAllister family to face deportation soon
7. Four pilots suspended in Belfast dispute
8. Windscale fire fallout double initial estimates
9. 9/11 has led to an erosion of human rights, law professor tells conference
10. Cuba marks Guevara anniversary
1. DEATH OF DAN KEATING
THE death occurred on October 2 of the Patron of Republican Sinn Féin Dan Keating (105), Ballygamboon, Castlemaine Co Kerry. He was the last surviving veteran of the 1916-23 period.
Dan Keating first joined the Republican Movement in December 1916 when he became a member of Na Fianna Eireann. In 1918 he joined the Irish Republican Army and played an active role in the Black and Tan war in his native Co Kerry. Opposed to the Treaty of Surrender he took part in the fight against Free State forces in Limerick in 1922.
Following his capture by Free State forces in Co Tipperary he was imprisoned in Portlaoise prison and the Curragh internment camp. This was the first of many periods of imprisonment which Dan Keating was to endure because of his Republican activities.
Dan Keating remained an active Republican throughout the 1920s and 30s; he also was on active service in England in 1939/40 during the IRA’s S Plan campaign. On his return to Ireland Dan Keating was interned in the Curragh once again by the 26-County state until 1944.
Dan Keating was to work in Dublin as a barman from 1944 until 1978 when he retired and returned to Co Kerry. In 2004 he was made Patron of Republican Sinn Féin, he was regular attender of Republican Sinn Féin Ard-Fheisanna up to and including last year.
In a statement following the news of Dan Keating’s death Republican Sinn Féin President Ruairí Ó Brádaigh said: “One of the last, if not the last IRA Veteran of the Black and Tan war, he was Patron of Republican Sinn Féin to the very day of his death and an inspiration to all true Republicans.”
A large crowd attended his removal from Tralee to Kiltallagh Church, near Castlemaine Co Kerry on October 4. Dan Keating was buried on October 5 in Kiltallagh cemetery, his coffin, draped in the National Flag and bearing a beret and gloves was carried by a Republican Colour party to his final resting place.
A large crowd attended the funeral with people travelling from all over Ireland. Amongst those in attendance were Republican Sinn Féin President Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, RSF Vice President Des Dalton. All-Ireland winning and legendary Kerry footballer Mick O’Connell was also in attendance. Speaking on TG4 he spoke of Dan Keating’s “nobility.”
Ceremonies at the graveside were chaired by George Rice, Tralee. Wreaths were laid on behalf of the Republican Movement, Republican Prisoners, the National Graves Association as well as Cork Republican Sinn Féin and Republican Veteran and comrade of Dan Keating, Billy McKee, Belfast.
In his oration the President of Republican Sinn Féin Ruairí Ó Brádaigh said: “We stand by Dan Keating s grave in all humility, for this was an Irishman and a Kerryman who gave more than 90 years of service to the All-Ireland Republic of 1916 and the First) All-Ireland) Da il. But we are fiercely proud of his long lifetime of service.
For more than four score and ten years since he first took the Oath of Allegiance to that Republic, Dan fought in defence of it, stood by it and adhered faithfully to it until his death last October 2 at the great age of 105 years. He was an inspiration to succeeding generations of Republicans, never deviating from the hard road of service and suffering, striving to place All Ireland and its future in the hands of the Irish people.
Uinseann Mac Eoin, in his book The IRA in the Twilight Years1923-48, published in 1997, gives us a glimpse of Dan Keating:
A man who has travelled to almost every All-Ireland final in Croke Park and whose fighting goes back into Tan times.
“Tall and spare, at more than 90 years of age he is not stooped, carrying himself with an easy grace; his face soft, not weather beaten. Yet he has spent much of his life standing, having been a barman, in a string of public houses in Dublin; for a number of years in London, and then back again in Dublin, two cities that are well known to him.”
Dan joined Fianna Eireann at the end of1916 and went on two years later to enrol in the ranks of the Irish Republican Army, first with Kerry No 1 Brigade, and later with Kerry No 2 under its Brigade OC, John Joe Rice. His combat duty included the highly successful ambush of British forces in his native Castlemaine in1921. Later he saw service in the Castleisland ambush where casualties were also inflicted on the occupation forces, but four of his Volunteer comrades were also killed in action.
Following the Treaty of Surrender, Dan fought against Free State forces in Limerick and Tipperary before being captured and interned in Portlaoise jail and later in Tintown Camp on the Curragh.
Released in 1924, he was back in harness in the Republican Cause.
He endured several short terms of imprisonment in the 1930s, before going to England to take part in the 1939-40 Sabotage Campaign there. He soldiered alongside Seán McNeela of Mayo, JJ Reynolds of Leitrim and Richard Goss of Dundalk.
Back in Ireland, Dan was interned without trial at the Curragh 1940-44. A Republican leader whom he met at that time and respected greatly was George Plant of Tipperary. The re-organisation of the Republican Movement afterwards was long and difficult. Larry Grogan of Drogheda, Frank Driver of Kildare and Mick McCarthy of Cork were men he looked up to.
When he retired from work and settled in his native Co Kerry in 1978, Dan threw himself into local Republican activity. In 2004, he was elected by the Ard-Fheis of Republican Sinn Féin to be its Patron. This was in succession to Comdt-Gen Tom Maguire of Mayo, Michael Flannery of Tipperary and New York and George Harrison of Mayo and New York.
Dan Keating attended and spoke at Ard-Fheiseanna, gave interviews to newspapers, and on radio. He was at all times very clear as to what was required: Ireland was one country, one nation and one people. The English government had no right to be in any part of Ireland; they must go and then the Irish people, acting as a unit, would decide their own future. He accepted that this would be best resolved through a four-province federation, as proposed by Republican Sinn Féin, under one over-arching national parliament.
When he was chosen as Munster Honoree at the annual dinner of CABHAIR (the Prisoners Dependants Fund organisers) some years ago the citation included the following:
‘Dan’ s other great interest is Gaelic games, and indeed between football and hurling he has attended over 138 All-Ireland senior finals, including replays, which must be a record in itself. He now resides at Ballygamboon, Castlemaine.
‘During his long, healthy and adventurous lifetime, Dan has seen many splits and deviations from Republican principles, but he had remained loyal and true, and there is no more fitting recipient of this honour than this noble son of Kerry.’
Dan Keating regarded the so-called peace process as a surrender process and would not accept any British government presence in Ireland, regardless of how it was presented to the Irish people.
Long may his ideals live in the hearts of the Kerry people he loved and the Irish people to whom he gave a lifetime of service.
Ar Dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.
2. PROVOS TAKE SEATS ON MAGHERAFELT POLICING BOARD
PROVO collaboration was stepped up as Provisional members joined the British District Policing Partnership (DPP) for the first time on October 8.
Four of the organisation’s Magherafelt councillors became the first Provos to take seats on the local British colonial policing bodies when the town's DPP met. Three of them, Sean Kerr, Ian Milne and Peter Bateson are former r prisoners. They were joined by, Sean McPeake.
The move comes just six months after Assembly members Alex Maskey, Daithi McKay and Martina Anderson joined the British colonial Policing Board.
3. O'LOAN MIGHT NOT PROBE SHOOT-TO-KILL CONTROVERSY
BRITISH Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan told a Coroner's Court on October 9 that she may not have the legal powers to investigate controversial 'shoot-to-kill' murders.
Six-County Senior Coroner John Leckey officially opened the inquests of six men killed in the controversial ‘shoot-to-kill’ deaths 25 years ago.
IRA memebrs Gervaise McKerr, Sean Burns and Eugene Toman were shot dead by an undercover RUC unit near Lurgan in November 1982.
Weeks later teenager Michael Tighe was shot dead at a farm shed near Lurgan.
The following month INLA men Seamus Grew and Roddy Carroll were shot dead in similar circumstances near Lurgan. All were unarmed when killed.
Three RUC men were later cleared of the INLA mens' murders but one member admitted that he had been ordered to lie under oath.
Greater Manchester deputy chief constable John Stalker was asked to investigate the 'shoot-to-kill' allegations after a public outcry.
However Stalker was dramatically suspended from duty shortly before he was due to deliver a damning report into the deaths.
He was later cleared of all charges but never returned to the Six-Counties. West Yorkshire deputy chief constable Colin Sampson took over the 'shoot-to-kill' investigation, however neither man's reports was ever made public.
In 1994 John Leckey abandoned the original 'shoot-to-kill' inquests after he was refused access to the Stalker/Sampson reports.
In 2001 the European Court of Human Rights found that the British government had failed to properly investigate the McKerr, Burns and Toman killings and ordered it to re-open the cases.
However the dead men's families took further legal action in 2004 to force a proper investigation.
In July British Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan was asked to reinvestigate the killing after European Union ministers had raised concerns that the British government had failed to ‘achieve concrete and visible progress’ in the cases.
However when John Leckey opened the ‘shoot-to-kill’ inquests British police ombudsman lawyers told the court that Nuala O'Loan may have no legal powers to investigate the murders.
Nuala O'Loan's lawyers told the court that there may be a “jurisdictional issue as to whether the Police Ombudsman has statutory powers to investigate the deaths”.
The ombudsman's legal representative told John Leckey that Nuala O'Loan has no statutory powers to investigate the deaths because of the previous Stalker and Sampson reports. It has also now emerged that neither John Leckey or Nuala O'Loan have received copies of the full Stalker report.
Confirming that it is still unclear whether it has the legal grounds to investigate the ‘shoot-to-kill’ deaths, an ombudsman spokesman said: “Before any investigation can be undertaken by this office we would need to establish the legal grounds for it. Those grounds will depend on what has previously been investigated and any prior criminal or disciplinary action.”
Relatives for Justice Spokesman Mark Thompson, whose group supports the 'shoot-to-kill' families, welcomed new coroner's powers compelling witnesses to cooperate with inquests.
“The inquest will now have the power to compel witnesses, including for the first time members of the British army and RUC responsible for shooting people dead, to give evidence irrelevant of whether or not they have retired from the police or military, something that has been a consistent failing of the police ombudsman,” he said.
“It is the intentions of the families to ensure that effective and transparent accountability with regard to the killings of their loved ones is achieved during these inquests.”
John Stalker says the family of Michael Tighe is entitled to know the truth about his death.
In his 1988 book on the affair, John Stalker expressed the hope that one day the family of Michael Tighe would learn exactly how and why the 17-year-old died in a hail of RUC bullets. “The family are entitled to know the truth. But after 25 years the truth is going to be hard to find,” John Stalker said.
4. CAMPBELL FACING CENSURE FOR REMARKS DURING IRISH DEBATE
A DUP MLA is facing censure by the Stormont Assembly over derogatory comments he made about the Irish language.
During a Stormont debate on minority language funding, East Derry MP Gregory Campbell said: “Were I a satirist, I might begin my question to the Minister with the words, ‘Cora my Yogi Bear, a can Coca Colya’.”
The gibberish – a clear attack on minority languages – has angered Irish language groups. Forbairt Feirste Director, Jake Mac Siacais, described the comments as “deeply offensive”.
He said: “It is reprehensible that these deeply offensive comments were not challenged by the Speaker of the House, Mr Campbell’s DUP colleague William Hay.
“I have written to Mr Hay quoting the relevant section of the Good Friday Agreement that stresses the importance of respect, understanding and tolerance of linguistic diversity.
“Gregory Campbell is clearly in breach of this and should face some sort of disciplinary action.”
5. FAMILY OF MAN KILLED BY RUC/PSNI PLAN LEGAL ACTION
THE family of a man killed by the RUC/ PSNI criticised the force on October 4 for allowing its members to avoid possible disciplinary action through retirement.
An uncle of Neil McConville - shot dead outside Lisburn in April 2003 - said the family was "disappointed" in the British Police Ombudsman's report on the killing issued on October 4.
Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan cleared the RUC/PSNI who shot the 21-year-old.
But she expressed “grave concern” about other aspects of the case - saying the operation that led to the killing was “poorly managed by senior officers” and employed a "high-risk strategy".
Neil McConville's family is now preparing to take legal action against the RUC/PSNI.
Nuala O'Loan's report also said that one of the RUC/PSNI's most senior officers tried to block her investigators from getting access to intelligence material about the shooting.
And when they were allowed to see it - more than six weeks after the shooting - a piece of intelligence which was “critical to the investigation” had been wiped from an RUC/PSNI computer.
She also revealed that several senior RUC/PSNI members who may have been subject to discipline retired before her investigation could be completed.
Neil McConville, from Bleary, Co Down, was shot three times behind the wheel of a Vauxhall Cavalier.
The RUC/PSNI stopped the car because they suspected his passenger; David Somers - who had been involved in the plot to murder David Barnes in north Belfast weeks earlier - was preparing to shoot a man. An unloaded sawn-off shotgun was found in the car.
Nuala O'Loan said she had “no criticism” of the RUC/PSNI member who fired the fatal shots, but she criticised several other RUC/PSNI members, including an Assistant Chief Constable she accused of trying to stop her investigators from getting access to intelligence about the RUC/PSNI operation.
Barney McConville, Neil's uncle, said the release of the report was "very difficult" for the family.
“A lot of it we knew about already," he said. "But our main problem is the way PSNI officers played the Ombudsman.
“The Ombudsman has failed to deliver an adequate report because the PSNI haven't co-operated fully with her.
“They turned the investigation into a farce. It took two- and-a-half years to interview one officer. That's totally unacceptable.
“This whole issue of retirement before investigation just stinks. It's hard for us to accept that people may have set out to frustrate this investigation and they can still retire with their pensions.
“It's a tactic that's happened before and something should be done about it.”
Mark Thompson, director of group Relatives for Justice, said a review of the British police Ombudsman's powers must address the “loophole” that puts retired RUC/PSNI members beyond her remit.
6. McALLISTER FAMILY TO FACE DEPORTATION SOON
MALACHY McAllister, 50, a former political prisoner in the Six-Counties could be back in Ireland within two weeks if he receives an expected deportation order from the US Department of Homeland Security.
The father of four, who fled Belfast in 1988 after the Loyalist Red Hand Commando death squad came within inches of killing his family, hopes the politicians in his home state of New Jersey will support his campaign to stay in the U.S.
Ominous postings on loyalist internet sites recently underline that the threat to his safety has not diminished.
McAllister said on October 2, “Obviously loyalist websites are paying very close attention to what’s going on and that’s very concerning given that we’ve been out of Ireland for so long. It seems that when you’re a high profile target the threat never leaves you. My concern now is that if there were to be a breakdown in the peace agreement then someone like myself will be defenceless.”
Asked what immediate steps could halt or postpone a deportation order, Malachy McAllister replied, “The position is we need a senator to introduce a private bill to hold off the imminent deportation by the Department of Homeland Security. If that’s not done then we’re in danger of being deported.”
US Senators are notoriously reluctant to introduce private bills, but McAllister argues that his is a very unique case.
“We’re at a crunch stage where this can actually split us up as a family. Two of my children will also face deportation orders. The last time my youngest children were in Ireland they were both infants. That was 19 years ago,” he said.
“They’re American citizens now, they’ve been brought up here, they’ve been educated here, and they still go to school here. Any one with any common sense will ask what will the administration accomplish by sending this family back to the land where they once fled for their lives?”
Attorney Éamonn Doran, who is representing the McAllisters, said, “We are still lobbying intensely with New Jersey senators and particularly Senator Frank Lau-
tenberg to request that the Senate introduce private legislation on Malachy’s behalf because that’s the only device that is going to allow him and his children to remain here in the United States. Apart from that he really is only here at the greatest goodwill of the Department of Home-land Security. And we expect that goodwill is going to be exhausted soon.”
Currently the Mc-Allister family could be removed any day, in response to what’s called a bag and baggage letter instructing them to surrender to the US Bureau of Immigration and Customs enforcement, with their bags packed, on a given date.
Says Dornan, “It’s crucial that a private bill is introduced in the Senate as soon as possible. Our understanding is that once it is admitted the Department of Home-land Security will respect the procedure and allow it to run its course through the senate sub committee.”
Éamonn Dornan suggested that interested members of the public in New Jersey should call Senator Lautenberg, or their local congressperson, urging him to pursue a private bill on behalf of the family. To contact Lautenberg call 973-39-8700.
Added Éamonn Dornan, “It’s our opinion that the senator has as much support as he needs from the third circuit court of appeals whereby Judge Maryann Trump Barry had begged the attorney general to provide some humanitarian relief for the family.
“The decision found the courts didn’t have any legislative tools and didn’t have any recourse and so they put the ball firmly back in the political arena. The judicial route is now over, the solution to this situation will be political.”
7. FOUR PILOTS SUSPENDED IN BELFAST DISPUTE
FOUR pilots have been suspended in their dispute with Aer Lingus management on the new Belfast hub.
The suspensions follow the refusal by pilots to co-operate with an October 9 deadline to begin training new staff for the Belfast operation.
30 other pilots who had an optional extra duty of training new recruits are now resigning from that function.
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A spokesman for Aer Lingus said the pilots were appointed to the role as instructors and the company would not accept partial resignation of responsibilities.
Pilots are objecting to some of the terms and conditions for the new staff. The new pilots will not enjoy they same employment terms as those in the 26-Counties.
The Irish Airline Pilots Association has said it wants to hold further talks on the issue.
If pilots refuse to help recruit new staff they face suspension. The association representing pilots met on October 9 to decide on their official position.
8. WINDSCALE FIRE FALLOUT DOUBLE INITIAL ESTIMATES
NEW research which suggests the amount of nuclear debris released during a fire at Windscale in 1957, was up to twice the volume previously thought, was raised by 26-County Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern when he met British foreign secretary David Miliband on October 8.
The fire - Britain's worst nuclear accident - resulted in a cloud of radioactivity across northern England, travelling as far south as London and on into northern Europe.
The research carried out by John Garland, formerly of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, and Richard Wakeford, a visiting professor at the University of Manchester, suggests radioactive debris may have been as much as twice that initially thought. Moreover, it caused some 240 more cancers across Britain and northern Europe than had been originally estimated. The research was published in the current edition of Atmospheric Environment.
Dundalk, was the nearest Irish town to the the Windscale plant. Cancer rates and birth defects were some 12 per cent above the national average in the years immediately after the fire. However, a body of scientific opinion has always held that the radioactive discharge from the fire had been blown away from Ireland by the prevailing wind.
Meanwhile, in Co Louth a group which took legal action against British Nuclear Fuels and the 26-County State for more than a decade, has continued to dispute what it calls “the majority scientific view” that the Windscale fire did not affect Ireland.
Ollan Herr, Constance Shortt, Mary Kavanagh and Mark Dearey spent 11 years attempting to sue British Nuclear Fuels - and the 26-County State - maintaining that higher than average numbers of cancer clusters and birth defects in Co Louth were directly attributable to the fire in Windscale in 1957.
The group had its costs indemnified by the Leinster House assembly in the late 1990s, even though the 26-County administration was a defendant in the case.
Ollan Herr insisted that the group's scientific research has shown there was “something in the sea off the north Leinster coast which was corresponding to more cancers and higher birth problems than anything recorded in the west coast, the south coast or even the south Leinster coast”.
The new research would, he said, add support to his group's arguments.
“It is a bit like greenhouse gases, it takes time for people to believe what is happening.”
Prof Peter Mitchell, author of another study carried out by UCD, told the RTÉ television news that while the outer edge of the cloud may have just reached the east coast, a 2005 study found that that no radioactive materials made it to the northeast of Ireland.
The British authorities are at an early stage in planning for the extraction of 15 tonnes of damaged fuel rods, left in place after the 1957 fire which burned for two days.
The project is expected to cost €722 million (£500 million).
9. 9/11 HAS LED TO AN EROSION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, LAW PROFESSOR TELLS CONFERENCE
SECURITY measures in the “post 9/11” years have contributed to a backlash against human rights and equality issues, according to Canadian law professor and international human rights expert Kathleen Mahoney.
In Canada's case, about “25 years of gains” have been lost, as all areas of human rights have been “sacrificed to the ‘higher’ right of security”, she said on October 6. Prof Mahoney, keynote speaker at an NUI Galway conference on equality, law and the Constitution, said that equality issues had undoubtedly also been affected. In her view, “9/11 could be the Darth Vador factor” which was never expressly stated in court judgments.
Canada's chief justice had defined equality as the “most difficult right”, but when the Canadian charter of rights and freedoms was passed into law in 1982, it constitutionalised the “most wide-ranging equality provisions in the world,” she said.
In the current political climate, she was concerned about a loss of vision in relation to section 15 of the charter. This section defines every individual as equal before the law and under the law, with the right to equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination, based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.
An attempt by the Canadian supreme court to bring clarity to section 15 in 1998 by using the standards of human dignity had not helped, Prof Mahoney said. The rationale of human dignity was “so malleable” that it could be used in a very positive or a very negative way, and could allow subconscious biases to influence judgments.
Prof Mahoney, who has been decorated for her research, practice, and activism on internationally critical human rights issues, is a mother of five children and has been a professor at the University of Calgary for 25 years.
Three years ago she wrote a report examining the Canadian government's response to the claims of Aboriginal residential school survivors.
During the research for this, she visited Ireland to study the 26-County State's response to abuse victims who had been resident in industrial schools. On her recommendation as chief negotiator, every survivor of an industrial school in Canada has been allocated reparations.
10. CUBA MARKS GUEVARA ANNIVERSARY
ON October 9 Cuba paid tribute to Ernesto “Che” Guevara, 40 years after he was captured and shot by the CIA operatives in Bolivia.
The man he helped to power in Cuba's 1959 revolution, Fidel Castro, was too ill to attend a memorial rally at the mausoleum where Guevara's remains were placed when they were dug up from an unmarked Bolivian grave in 1997.
Students hold banners with the image of the late revolutionary leader Che Guevara at a ceremony in Cuba.
Republican Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle member Josephine Hayden, along with comrades from Dublin, attended the ceremonies in honour of Che Guevara and addressed those assembled in the Irish language.
Fidel Castro instead marked the anniversary in a newspaper column that was read out at the rally, saying the Argentine-born doctor sowed the seeds of social conscience in Latin America and the world.
“I halt in my day-to-day combat to bow my head, with respect and gratitude, before the exceptional fighter who fell 40 years ago,” he wrote.
Guevara (39) was captured by CIA-backed Bolivian soldiers on October 8th, 1967, and was shot the next day in a schoolhouse. His body was put on display in a hospital laundry room and later buried in an unmarked grave.
About 10,000 Cuban workers and students gathered yesterday before a bronze statue of Guevara carrying a rifle in Santa Clara, the city in central Cuba that Guevara "liberated" in 1958 in the decisive battle of the Cuban revolution.
Guevara remains a national hero in Cuba, remembered for promoting unpaid voluntary work by toiling on building sites or hauling sacks of sugar. He still appears on banknotes cutting sugar cane in the fields.
He was central bank governor and industry minister in the early years of the Cuban revolution, but he left Cuba in 1966 to start a new anti-US rebellion in the jungle of eastern Bolivia, hoping to create “two, three, many Vietnams” in Latin America.
Spanish state arrest Batasuna leadership
SPANISH police arrested 23 leading members of Batasuna, the banned political wing of the Basque group Eta, further inflaming tensions in the Basque country.
The arrests of almost the entire alleged leadership of the Batasuna was described as “a declaration of war” by Basque nationalists, who took to the streets in protest.
The raid on October 4 on a clandestine meeting in the Basque town of Segura was the latest move in a four-month clampdown against Basque separatists that has already led to the imprisonment of Arnaldo Ortegi, Batasuna's leader.
Batasuna, which means “unity”, was outlawed as a political party five years ago by the Spanish state in a wave of repression, in a four decade-long struggle for an independent Basque country.
Batasuna represents about 15% of the electorate in the Basque Country.
The issue is set to dominate the Spanish general election next March and both Batasuna and the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), which runs the Basque country regional government, said the arrests were politically motivated.
“It seems very suspicious that the courts always act at crucial points for politics,” said Joseba Azkarraga, the Basque country administration's justice minister.
ENDS