Irish Republican Info Svc #240 9/16/98 =========== Posted to multiple newsgroups and lists =========== ===== Redistribute *only* with full header and signature! ===== Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit IRISH REPUBLICAN INFORMATION SERVICE (no. 240) Teach Daithi O Conaill 223 Parnell Street Dublin 1, Ireland Phone: +353-1-872-9747; FAX: +353-1-872-9757; e-mail: saoirse@iol.ie September 16, 1998 Internet resources maintained by SAOIRSE - Irish Freedom: http://iol.ie/~saoirse/rsflinks.htm CALL ON CLINTON TO RELEASE THREE MEN PRIOR to the arrival of US President Bill Clinton in Belfast on September 5, the mother of one of three Long Kesh escapees made an emotional plea that he release the men from their "prison hell" in a high security jail in the United States. "Free our sons", pleaded Andersonstown woman, Bridie Kirby whose son Terry, along with two other former IRA members from Belfast, Kevin Barry Artt and Pol Brennan is in prison awaiting extradition to occupied Ireland. "The British government has released the soldier killers of Peter McBride so there can be no reason now for keeping our sons behind bars when they have committed no crime in America. She said there's no reason "why these men who have been so supportive of the peace process should be forced to endure a prison hell." Despite this, she said the British government is still actively seeking the extradition of "these young men." The three Belfastmen took part in the spectacular escape from Long Kesh Concentration Camp in 1983. They soon made their way to the US to rebuild their lives and have been described as models of the community. The British have doggedly pursued them since. In the early '90s they were arrested bythe FBI and are now being detained in Pleasanton Federal prison in Dublin, California awaitingextradition charge. "Terence was seventeen when he was interned", explained Bridie Kirby. "The British came for him, as they promised to do, on his seventeenth birthday. He is now 42 and he's spent most of the years in between in prison." His American born wife Colleen was pregnant when Terry Kirby was arrested in 1994. Saying it is time the British let the issue go and release the men and let them continue to make a life for themselves and their families she asked Clinton to "intercede for Terry, Pol and Kevin Barry." INFORMER'S HOUSE BURNT DOWN "An act of God?", inquired some, with a gleam in their eyes. Whether it was the result of faulty electric's or human dexterity did not seem to enter their equations. The south Armagh residence of Provo informer, Eamon Collins was completely gutted in an early morning blaze on September 4. He and his young son had just finished putting the finishing touches to the recently renovated house two days earlier, bur had not yet moved in. The two storey building situated at Lowes Lane on the Newry to Camlough road became engulfed in flames at around 2.30pm. =46ire appliances from Newry and Warrenpoint were brought in to quell the inferno. They spent two hours bringing the blaze under control. The poor man had spent large amounts from his savings which he acquired from part-time jobs in the media and Crown Forces welfare payments in order to renovate the house. Like any social welfare payments of course, the supplicant is required to furnish information on previous employment. Eamon Collins duly obliged with details of his job in the Provos. He even supplied them with information on the work practices of some of his Provo colleagues. This "go to blazes" messages with its "holy smoke" hilarity does not augur well for informers' welfare rights. Having to beg for more handouts from the Brits would indeed be humiliating. But then the Brits might just increase their payments in the Informers Disabled Personality Pension. We would advise our readers not to laugh at Collins' predicament. Informers are known for their bouts of paranoia and wild uncontrolled guffaws might send the poor man over the edge. STAND-OFF IN CRUMLIN VILLAGE "A NUMBER of bandsmen locked themselves inside the private property of Crumlin Orange Hall. Periodically bandsmen appeared in the grounds of playing times", said a spokesperson for the British colonial police. She was replying to claims of vicious RUC attacks on residents of Crumlin village, Co Antrim on September 5. "In the interests of preserving public order, officers entered the grounds and dispersed the crowd", she said. The "number" referred to in the above verbiage was actually several hundred. On Saturday morning hoards of loyalist boardsmen secretly descended on the mainly nationalist village. In the early afternoon they emerged from the Orange Hall, and cheered on by a sizeable group of colleagues the band began playing offensive sectarian tunes within earshot oflocal residents. The RUC made no effort to dispense the Orange crowd as every half hour the band would parade around the small ground, with their supporters haranguing the local community. Residents had called off a counter demonstration following a decision by Britain's Parades Commission toban the parade. Realising the RUC were doing nothing to relieve the situation and having endured the din of these Orange supremacists for a lengthy period, residents began to assemble on the mainstreet in protest. Shortly after 8PM, a stand-off ensued between the loyalists and the inhabitants of the village, with the RUC attempting to move the protesters. Between these outbreaks of crown force thuggery, the bandsmen let it be known via their allies in the RUC that they wished to lay a wreath in memory of the Omagh victims at the village War Memorial. This was shortly after 9PM. Realising this was a ploy to enable the boardsmen to march through the village, residents rejected it. They said no such gesture was forthcoming following the murder of Crumlin student Ciaran Heffron. Ciaran Heffron (22) was shot dead as he walked home a Friday night drink with friends in the village on April 26 last. With locals still feeling the shock of this young Antrim man' s murder, the band played on and the RUC continued to lay into the protesting residents. At long last when it appeared there would be no end to the stand-off, the band left the hall and began their departure, shortly after 11PM. Locals have denounced the RUC for allowing the bandsmen to congregate in the village in such large numbers despite the Parades Commission ruling preventing the Crumlin Young Loyalists Flute Band (CYLFB) from holding a band contest in the village and claim the RUC by allowing the loyalists through a road-block had attempted to humiliate the people of Crumlin. A spokesperson for Crumlin Concerned Residents Group said the RUC made no effort to disperse the loyalists, but instead where very "heavy-handed" with members of the public at the scene. She said that at no time did residents retaliate despite provocation from loyalist bandsmen. Having endured this day-long torment, the inhabitants of Crumlin scored a victory by preventing Orange supremacists from marching on their village and showed great courage and discipline in their protest. Two residents were arrested during the turbulence. Not one loyalist was taken to the RUC barracks. Spokesman for the loyalist CYLFB, Mark Harbinson gloated; "The police said they would not let the Crumlin band into the village. We have proved them wrong and made it to our own Orange Hall, quietly and with dignity." He said loyalists had "drawn a line in the sand" and he bemoaned the fact loyalists were prevented from what he called "walking through our village, which we have done for the last 18 years." "Where is our parity of esteem?" he asked. GRANARD AND BALLINALEE 1798 CEREMONIES RELATIVES of members of the North Longford IRA Flying Column 1920-21 were among the attendance at ceremonies in Granard and Ballinalee to honour the bicentenary of 1798 on Sunday, September 6th. Both ceremonies were under the auspices of the Co Longford Easter Commemoration Committee and Councillor Se=B7n Lynch presided on each occasion. Tomas Mac Ruairi, Kenagh recited a decade of the Rosary in Irish following which a minute's silence was observed in honour of those 1798 martyrs who were of the Church of Ireland and Presbyterian faiths. Wreaths were laid beribboned in the colours of the French and Irish Tricolours by Stephen Fulham, Mostrim and Bernard Casey, Ohill, Drumlish. A colour party bearing the Irish National Flag, the French Tricolour and the Irish Flag of 1798 - a gold harp with the words "Erin go Brach" on a green background =F1 stood at attention throughout the ceremonies. Mary Ward, Donegal, a Vice-President of Republican Sinn Fein, gave the oration in both places. Speaking at Ballinalee, the Chairperson, Sean Lynch, said they stood on historic ground at the entrance to 'Bully's Acre' where the English forces hanged and buried 143 Croppy prisoners after the Battle of Ballinamuck. Many of these were members of the Longford Militia who went over to the Irish and French forces at Castlebar and fought heroically at Ballinamuck. Ballinalee village was also the place where Thomas Ashe delivered a speech in 1917 which resulted in his imprisonment and death on hunger strike. In addition, the Volunteers of the Irish Republican Army gave a good account of themselves when they defended Ballinalee from the British forces which had burned Granard in 1920. Mary Ward, in the course of her oration said that the Co Longford United Irishmen rose on September 5 , 1798 in order to open the road to Dublin for the Franco-Irish forces advancing from Castlebar, Co Mayo. The Longford men were acting under orders from Belfast and took Edgeworthstown before attacking the English garrison at Granard. They were led by Pat O'Farrell, Ballinree, Willie O'Keeffe, Ballinlough and the O'Connell brothers Hans and Alexander Denniston of Clonbroney and Alex Cromie, a Church of Ireland man from Granard. They fought bravely an English garrison reinforced from Cavan and were defeated, losing 150 men in battle. The Moat of Granard and the area around the present Garda barracks were the scenes of the fiercest fighting. Two hundred years later English forces still held Six Counties and the permanent peace we all desired so dearly would continue to elude us until the British government disengaged finally from Ireland. FERMANAGH SECTARIAN PICKET BLOCKS NATIONALIST WORKERS UNIONIST politicians in County Fermanagh have backed the sectarian picket on a local primary school which has prevented two Catholic women from taking up their posts in the canteen. Ulster Unionist party Councillor, Harold Andrews acted as spokesperson for the loyalist protesters who blocked the gates of Aghadrumsee Primary school on September 7 and 8 last. Two Protestant women who retired from the school canteen were replaced by two Catholic women but they were banned from the building by placard-waving parents. The women were appointed on merit by the British appointed Western Education and Library Board. Aghadrumsee school cater for the mainly Protestant townland but the school canteen also provides dinners for two other primary schools in the area, both of which are predominantly attended by Catholic pupils. The head cook at the school is a Catholic and recently appointed, but was not refused entry. The two retired Protestant workers have been recalled to provide cover for their two Catholic replacements. Unionist Councillor Harold Andrews claimed the two newly-appointed women are "not from the area" but it is believed they are from the nearby village of Maguiresbridge. The picket was lifted to allow talks to take place between the school board and the WELB, but Cllr Andrews said they would resume if they were not happy with the outcome. His fellow UUP Councillor Cecil Noble also backed the picket. Noble was recently nominated to the board of the British-run Housing Executive in the Six Counties by the Unionist-dominated 'Northern Ireland Housing Council'. All three nominees of this body to the 10-member Housing Executive Board are Unionists and will almost definitely take up their positions. Ironically, Noble is also a member of the Western Education and Library Board which appointed the Catholic cooks. Meanwhile, the Irish News on September 10 reported that another school cook in a Belfast primary school had been forced out of her job earlier this year by loyalist threats. Geraldine McGuigan had been employed for 13 years as a cook and supervisor at the Wheatfield Primary School in Alliance Road, Belfast. She received a threatening call from a person claiming to be from the UVF on March 4 this year. The caller said: "This is a Protestant area, you are a Taig. We know your address. Get out of this area." The UVF caller told her where she lived. She has been off work since then suffering from depression and stress. Her husband, Daniel, told the Irish News: "I think it's disgusting. My wife felt a part ofthat school, she the children going through the school, she knew their families. Pupils came back to see her. Then suddenly she was singled out because of her religion." -end- Please circulate the information in IRIS and credit us if reprinting. We welcome your comments and ideas. 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