Irish Republican News: Archives

July 29, 2017

PSNI’s Glenanne cover-up fails

In a dramatic vindication for the grieving families, the High Court in Belfast has accepted that the PSNI wrecked an investigation into collusion by Britain in the notorious Glenanne Gang, which was responsible for killing 130 Catholics.

Finucane family granted appeal to Supreme Court

The widow of murdered defence lawyer Pat Finucane has been granted permission to take her bid for a public inquiry into his death to the highest court in England.

Orange disorders exposed

There is a growing media focus on the Orange Order in the north of Ireland after reports that the secretive anti-Catholic organisation has a violent initiation ritual known as ‘riding the goat’, and that its members were told not to use the phrase ‘Rest in Peace’ as it is too Catholic.

‘Defiant’ Varadkar will not advance new electronic border

There are indications that the Dublin government may be waking up to the risks involved in reinforcing the partition of Ireland after it rejected the prospect of a new economic border to impose Brexit.

Tories evasive as questions hang over new DUP role

The British government may be planning to supplant the power-sharing Executive at Stormont with the ‘consultative committee’ set up as part of the deal with the Democratic Unionists to prop up the Tory government at Westminster, it has been warned.

Loyalists seeking confrontation with marches

Loyalists marched through a mixed community in south Belfast on Friday night in a show of strength in tribute to notorious UDA paramilitaries linked to a string of sectarian atrocities.

The RUC and its deadly legacy in Sri Lanka

A Tamil widow who says 10 of her relatives were massacred by Sri Lanka’s police in 1986 has lodged a complaint with the Police Ombudsman in the North after links from the RUC (now PSNI) to the country’s security forces emerged.

IRA membership charges on the increase

Over the last few months I think we have all noticed the upsurge in IRA membership charges facing Republicans in the 26 Counties, it seems every other day someone is up in the Special Criminal Court.

July 22, 2017

Orange Order not shamed by hate fiesta

The Orange Order has refused to apologise after photographs emerged of supporters in Scotland wearing bizarre and shocking costumes expressing racist and sectarian hate.

Politics as usual as Irish unity seen in reach

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams TD has said that Micheal Martin “needs to get serious about a United Ireland” following the Fianna Fail leader’s refusal to support the establishment of a parliamentary committee on Irish Unity.

Extraditions opposed

A third attempt to extradite Liam Campbell to Lithuania is being opposed over the nature of the prison conditions in the country.

Adams challenges internment-related convictions

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has launched a legal bid to overturn two historical convictions for attempting to escape from Long Kesh internment camp.

Call for big turnout for Tony Taylor

Nationalist and republican groups are coming together this weekend to again demand freedom for imprisoned Irish activist Tony Taylor.

Fears for republican held with criminals

Protests are being organised on behalf of a republican prisoner who is being kept in isolation among the general criminal cohort at Maghaberry jail.

Is radical republicanism making a comeback?

Is the stage now set for the politics that once informed an entire movement in the North to re-emerge?

July 15, 2017

Sickening sectarianism

The Democratic Unionist Party has caused a furore by issuing conflicting statements about the burning of a coffin effigy of the late Sinn Fein leader Martin McGuinness on a loyalist bonfire in east Belfast on Tuesday.

No trouble at Twelfth parades

The height of the Protestant marching season passed more quietly than recent years as Orangemen and bandsmen largely respected the rulings of the Parades Commission, which adjudicates on the routes of contentious parades.

Varadkar opposes unity referendum

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams has expressed his surprise at remarks made by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, during an interview with Time Magazine, in which he says that he is ‘very much opposed’ to a referendum on Irish reunification.

Council erects UDA flags

Links between local councils and loyalist paramilitary groups continue to grow with the erection in north Down of banners carrying the motto of infamous UDA death squads.

Spooks seek informers in Tyrone

Saoradh, the new republican political party, has alleged that British military intelligence (MI5) has been targeting Irish republicans in County Tyrone, in attempts to recruit British agents and informers.

Legal challenge to Tory/DUP pact

An agreement between unionists and the Conservative Party at the Westminster parliament is set to be challenged in the courts.

Modernising internment

A look at the evolution of internment, from a speech delivered by National PRO of Republican Network for Unity, Nathan Stuart, at a picket organised by the Anti-Internment Group For Ireland (AIGI).

Orange Order can no longer claim ownership of the north

It has been a long slow painful process and of course it’s not completed yet. However Orangemen can no longer march where they want or where they aren’t wanted.

July 12, 2017

Bonfire chaos reaches new level, says fire service

Last night saw an almost 50% increase in bonfire-related emergency callouts since last year as state-funded loyalist ‘Eleventh Night’ blazes damaged property and threatened lives across the North.

July 8, 2017

Culture of hate

Stung by criticism that it has conspired in loyalist paramilitary crime, Belfast city councillors have now attempted to limit the size of four ‘Eleventh Night’ bonfires, despite having previously funded and supported the infamously sectarian displays.

System fights back after jury’s ‘not guilty’ verdict

The outcome of the Jobstown trial is causing chaos for the political establishment in Dublin after an attempted frame-up failed to jail a sitting TD and other left-wing activists.

EU insists on Brexit border controls

There are concerns that the European Union is ready to sacrifice Ireland in its Brexit negotiations after EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier declared that a “frictionless” EU border across Ireland is not possible following Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.