Irish Republican News: Archives

September 27, 2010

Parades agreement collapses

The Protestant Orange Order has refused to back new laws to deal with sectarian marches in the North of Ireland, ensuring the controversial Parades Commission will remain in place for at least another marching season.

McGeough suffers heart attack

The trial of Gerry McGeough has been postponed after he became ill and required immediate heart surgery.

Cowen is international joke

The world’s most-famous chat show star has dubbed 26-County Taoiseach Brian Cowen a “drunken moron” following his infamous “hoarse” interview on morning radio in Ireland.

Grenade attack claimed

A booby-trap device left at a PSNI base in Crumlin village earlier this month has been claimed by the breakaway IRA group using the name Oglaigh na hEireann.

New leader for old Labour

The views on Ireland of the British Labour Party’s new leader, Ed Miliband, remain a mystery despite his election to the post at the weekend.

Republicans blamed as Lenihan flees unemployed

A Junior minister was allegedly told to leave the studios of Ireland’s state broadcaster, RTE, over fears that republicans were among a group of unemployed audience members of Pat Kenny’s Frontline programme.

The Murder of Volunteer Diarmuid O’Neill - 14 Years On

On September 23 1996, IRA volunteer Diarmuid O’Neill was shot dead during an arrest operation by armed members of the Metropolitan Police in Hammersmith, London, England.

Wright Inquiry and State collusion

Last week’s finding that there had been no State collusion in the killing of Billy Wright said more about the unwillingness of the British authorities to come clean about their own role than about the circumstances of Mr. Wright’s death.

September 24, 2010

Political transformation underway

A socialist is likely to become the next 26-County Taoiseach according to a new poll, which shows a further decline in support for the Fianna Fail-Green Party coalition.

Prisoner beaten for refusing strip-search

A “brutal assault and ritual humiliation” has been inflicted on republican prisoner Brendan Conway before a court appearance.

Direct action halts pipeline work

Shell Oil was forced to suspend work on the proposed new Corrib pipeline route in north Mayo yesterday when two Shell to Sea campaigners boarded one of the drilling rigs.

UUP elects hardliner as leader

Tom Elliott, a 46-year-old Assembly member for Fermanagh-South Tyrone, has been elected the new leader of the Ulster Unionist Party to succeed Reg Empey.

Loyalists target GAA flags

A controversy has erupted in the North after loyalists were filmed taking down County Down flags in south Belfast ahead of the All-Ireland senior football final last week.

Armstrong remains identified

The daughter of Charlie Armstrong, one of the conflict’s so-called ‘Disappeared’, has thanked those who provided the information that helped locate her father’s remains.

Tom Williams

IRA Volunteer Tom Williams was hanged at age 19 by the British in September 1942, 68 years ago this month, for his part in a gun battle with the RUC which left one RUC man dead.

Anti-Catholic prejudice encouraged during Pope’s visit

You would have thought the Pope represented a doctrine based on evil rather than one based on Christianity.

September 20, 2010

‘Dissidents underestimated’ - MI5

The chief of British military intelligence has accepted his organisation has underestimated the capacity of the breakaway IRA groups.

Cowen walks a tightrope

The 26-County Prime Minister Brian Cowen has insisted he retains the full support of his Fianna Fail parliamentary party despite calls by some members for a meeting to discuss his leadership.

UDA receiving ‘secret’ Stormont payouts

Claims last week that a secret fund has been set up to channel money to certain loyalist organisations have still not been denied by Six County officials

Murder bid on Antrim home

A sectarian murder attempt took place on the home of a vulnerable Catholic family in Rasharkin, County Antrim in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Bill of Rights ignored

The London and Dublin governments should sponsor a process between the parties in the Six Counties to bring forward a Bill of Rights for the North, the head of the North’s Human Rights Commission has said.

Sinn Fein ‘think in’ underway

The Dublin government is being brought “screaming before the courts” by Sinn Fein on the issue of the three outstanding by-elections, according to the party’s Dail leader Caoimhghin O Caolain.

Sinn Fein plans 26-County strategy

The opening address to Sinn Fein’s ‘think-in’ ahead of the resumption of the Dublin parliament next month, by the Sinn Fein Dail leader Caoimhghin O Caolain.

Occupied Ireland - No change

Much has changed since the days of ‘81 in the occupied six counties in the North of Ireland.

September 16, 2010

Cowen shamed

The 26 County Taoiseach Brian Cowen has been forced to apologise for a Tuesday morning radio interview that embarrassed his Fianna Fail party and generated widespread negative international commentary.

UVF murder OK - IMC

British military intelligence has said no sanctions should be placed on the UVF despite the unionist paramilitary group murdering a man while supposedly on “ceasefire”.

No surprises in Wright collusion inquiry

Incompetence by prison warders and not state collusion created conditions which led to the killing of Billy Wright, the inquiry into his murder has found.

Intentions of armed groups in media focus

A number of hidden cameras found in trees overlooking the headquarters of British military intelligence in Ireland may have been planted by a republican armed group, according to reports.

More evidence of old cover-ups emerge

New evidence has emerged of attempts by the old Stormont regime and the British Army to prevent British soldiers who shot innocent Irish civilians in the early years of the conflict being tried for murder.

‘Bitter’ unionists get election court hearing

Ulster Unionists were accused of “sour grapes” at a court hearing in Tyrone over attempts by Unionist unity candidate Rodney Connor, who lost out by four votes, to declare void Sinn Fein’s victory in the Westminster election in May.

The Inside Story: the INLA execution of “King Rat”

An account of the Irish National Liberation Army operation to execute Loyalist Volunteer Force leader Wright on the morning of 27th of December 1997.

Peace comes dropping slow

The Middle East peace talks, which formally opened in Washington on Thursday, have been given one year. It’s a tall order.

September 14, 2010

Billy Wright Inquiry finds no collusion

The Billy Wright Inquiry has found there was no collusion by the British state in the murder by the republican INLA (Irish National Liberation Army) of the unionist paramilitary leader in Long Kesh 13 years ago.

Dail fiddles as economy burns

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams has called for the Dublin parliament to be reconvened immediately to discuss the banking crisis and soaring unemployment.

Report due on death of Billy Wright

A 700-Page report into the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) execution of unionist paramilitary leader Billy ‘King Rat’ Wright is to be published later today.

Internees bring legal action against Britain

Hundreds of nationalists interned without trial almost 40 years ago are to launch a multi-million pound legal action against the British governmen

Landmark ruling for ‘Bik’ McFarlane

The 26-County state been ordered by the European Court of Human Rights to pay compensation to senior republican Brendan ‘Bik’ McFarlane for the extraordinary decade-long delay in bringing him to trial.

McGeough seeks to halt trial

A prominent republican charged with an IRA action almost 30 years ago has said a leading Sinn Fein politician told him he would not face prosecution.

Paisley to protest against Pope

Aging unionist firebrand Ian Paisley is to lead a 60-strong delegation to Scotland to protest over Pope Benedict’s visit to Britain.

The speeches of the Manchester Martyrs

The rescue of Colonel Kelly and Captain Deasy while they were being conveyed to Salford gaol, near Manchester (September 18th, 1867), is one of the most stirring episodes of the Fenian movement.

Organising the fightback against the Tory assault

The attack on the welfare state in the Six Counties is out in the open.

September 9, 2010

Calling the PSNI to account

A Derry priest has said he is shocked by accusations of harassment against the PSNI police made by republican families in the city.

UDA blamed for school bomb

A UDA gang is believed to have planted the pipe bomb at a largely Catholic primary school in County Antrim on Monday which was found by an eight-year-old

Claudy controversy continues

The North’s Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has said he was in the IRA in Derry city in 1972 but did not know who carried out the Claudy bomb attack, and still doesn’t know.

Stormont faces budget showdown

Sinn Fein’s Six-County Ministers have refused to comply with British and DUP requests to identify areas to target public spending cuts in their departments at Stormont.

Appeal to Ballymurphy soldier

Families of eleven people killed by the British army in Ballymurphy nearly 40 years ago have revealed that they have been contacted by one of the British soldiers involved in the shootings.

New setback for Dublin and Monaghan bomb victims

The High Court has dismissed a claim by survivors of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings that the handling of parts of a report complied by the Commission of Investigation into the atrocities amounted to a breach of the State’s human rights obligations.

Eta opens opportunity for armed struggle to end

It will not come as a surprise to the leadership of Eta or the political leaders of the banned Herri Batasuna - the party closest to Eta - that the Spanish government’s response to the ceasefire announcement was insulting and offensive.

Ardoyne riots

This summer’s Belfast riots must have been the most anticipated for some time, being widely predicted throughout politics and the media.

September 6, 2010

Basque ceasefire rejected

The Spanish authorities today defied international peace appeals and said they will maintain their bloody conflict with Basque armed group ETA, which is fighting to win independence for a Basque state northeast of Spain.

Boy escapes injury as loyalists attack schools

A serious sectarian bombing campaign is targeting Catholics in the town of Antrim.

State is ‘facing ruin’ - poll

A large majority of the people of the 26 Counties believe the state is headed for bankruptcy, according to a new opinion poll.

Dublin protest derails Blair spin machine

Several hundred people took to the streets of Dublin on Saturday to demonstrate against the presence of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the capital.

Republican seriously ill in Lithuanian prison

Irish republican prisoner Michael Campbell, who has been held in Lukiskes prison in Lithuania since early 2008, has now contracted malaria at the jail.

Massacre gun was given by police, probe finds

A report into the 1992 murders of five Catholics in a south Belfast bookmakers has revealed one of the guns used by the UDA had been handed back to the gang by the RUC (now PSNI) police.

Blair is a lifer in the prison of his dark past

Tony Blair's bloody legacy has made it impossible for him to go unguarded anywhere in the world.

Facing up to the reality of an economic nightmare

As the country grinds to a halt, we should maintain some sense of decency and call a halt to the Anglo rescue.

September 2, 2010

A view to a kill

British soldiers watched as a pro-British death squad murdered a Catholic teenager in west Belfast, a report by the police’s Historical Enquiries Team (HET) has found.

Blair recounts Good Friday triumph

In his memoirs, ‘A Journey’, published yesterday, the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he took “horrendous” chances and stretched the truth “past breaking point” as he dealt with unionists and republicans deadlocked over talks to restore devolved powers.