Republican News · Thursday 24 January 2002

Dogs of war

A Chairde,

Last Friday in Roslea, a 16-year-old girl was walking her small dog past the barracks as a policeman was taking in the bin. The RUC German Shepherd dog (used for crowd control) attacked the pup and ripped the pup to pieces; the RUC could do nothing but watch.

These dogs were used in Armagh against young activists under the control of the RUC. The RUC dog seems to have more control than the RUC. What happens if next time there is only a small child? Who will stop the dog, the RUC?

Paul Mc Mahon
Clones
Co. Monaghan

Paul Williams, fact and fantasy

A Chairde,

election is around the corner and it is going to be a dirty one - make no mistake. The media will play its part, with 'Independent' journalists doing their employer's bidding. Paul Williams in the Independent Group's Sunday World had a go at me last week in the middle of a long diatribe about how politicians use crime to get votes. It didn't occur to him that newspapers use crime to sell newspapers. Newspapers profit from crime by sensationalising it, hyping the fear factor, and doing little to identify its causes.

Paul Williams does not think much of working class people. He thinks that working class areas produce our "criminal class". Not so, they only produce the majority of the prisoners in our jails. The rich are under-represented in our jails - about the only place in society where they have not taken all the best seats.

The so-called criminal class is not confined to the working class. Members of the criminal class higher up the pecking order either don't go to jail or don't spend much time there. The people who steal most of the money and who cause most of the harm in society are the rich members of the upper class. They may be the subject of a Tribunal or two. After all the corruption has been exposed, a scapegoat or two might end up in the Joy. But they do not populate the jails to the same extent as people from poor backgrounds.

In addition, socially harmful behavior in working class areas does not get the same attention from the authorities it would get, were it happening in upper middle class areas. This is the type of inequality that produces and reinforces crime.

Paul Williams has contempt for working class people and what goes on in working class areas. He cannot get basic facts straight. That is because he does not check them. In the middle of his long cynical diatribe about crime, he wrote:

"Kehoe's gang are so cocky, they openly advise people to come to them, and not to the Gardaí, for help if they've been victims of crime." What rubbish. Leaving aside the insulting reference to my many supporters as "cronies" and as part of a "gang", people who know me in Cabra and surrounding areas know that this is a total fabrication. The rest of Williams' short anti-Cabra diatribe is sheer gibberish, written by someone with an axe to grind and papers to sell. I have met and worked with local Gardaí of the highest rank on numerous occasions on issues of concern to the local community. At all times I have directed people with concerns about criminal behavior to the Gardaí.

Paul Williams writes for sensation. Unlike Veronica Guerin, he does not let the facts get in the way of a good story - or in this case a non-story. As I said, there is an election around the corner. Paul Williams, as an employee of one of the richest people in Irish society, is doing his master's bidding in attacking a party with radical policies - that will tackle the inequality that is the real cause of criminal behavior and that rewards the already rich, while punishing the poor.

Despite this, I am still willing to talk to Paul Williams about issues that concern the local community, should he ever bother to pick up the the telephone to check his 'facts'. Or maybe he still thinks his opinions too precious to be contaminated by accurate information. Deciding whether to abide by the basic tenets of the NUJ Code of Conduct on checking allegations is his choice and his alone.

Cllr Nicky Kehoe,
Sinn Fein,
Dublin 7