Irish Republican News: Archives

January 30, 2019

Nurses strike over pay inequality

Some 40,000 nurses have gone on strike in the 26 Counties over salary scales that are believed to be the lowest among paid workers in Ireland with degree status.

January 26, 2019

A century of armed struggle

A spectacular bomb attack at Derry courthouse last weekend followed by a series of hoaxes appears designed to deliver a message about the continuing ability of the ‘new IRA’ to carry on its armed campaign.

Varadkar in u-turn on Brexit militarisation, Good Friday Agreement

The 26 County Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has admitted that British soldiers could return to the border through Ireland in the event of a crash Brexit in March. He also said that in such an event, Britain would have to reach a new deal with the 26 County state in order to honour its obligations under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

Dáil passes Bill to ban Israeli settlement products

A bill to outlaw trade in goods from Israeli settlements in Palestine has been passed by the lower house of the Dublin parliament, a major step on its journey into law.

Call for end to prosecution delays after massacre suspect dies

The family of one of those killed on Bloody Sunday has called for a final decision to be made about prosecutions after one of the British Army paratroopers who carried out the 1972 massacre died this week.

Prisoners fight for right to use Irish language

A republican prisoner who is appealing his conviction is also taking a legal action against the 26 County state in defense of his right to use the Irish language after the Special Criminal Court in Dublin refused to provide a transcript of proceedings in the Irish language.

Dan McGandy remembered

The first casualty of the Irish War of Independence on the IRA side was Volunteer Dan McGandy, who died 100 years ago this week.

Time to realise the promise of the revolutionary generation

Last weekend, an official state commemoration of the First Dail took place in the Mansion House in Dublin. Addressing the audience, Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald said that “we have before us the opportunity to build a new and united Ireland”.

The march for justice

The context for this years’s Bloody Sunday March.

January 19, 2019

Car bomb explodes in Derry; no injuries reported

Derry city courthouse has been apparently targeted tonight in a car bomb attack. The shock bombing in Bishop Street is being linked to the ‘new IRA’, its first such attack in years.

British military reinforcements for Brexit

Plans are in train to send British Army Reservists to the north of Ireland to deal with the consequences of a crash Brexit at the end of March.

New movement aiming for 100 cumainn after SF split

A new republican and pro-life political party being set up by former Sinn Fein politician Peadar Toibin is set to become a significant force in Irish politics after founding over 20 cumainn [branches] across Ireland, including six in the north.

Derry unites for justice despite hate campaign

Flags of the British Army’s infamous Parachute Regiment have once again been erected by loyalists in County Derry in an attempt to inflame tensions ahead of a march for justice on the anniversary of the Paras’ Bloody Sunday massacre.

Anti-eviction activist ‘is political prisoner’

One of the most prominent anti-eviction activists in Ireland, Ben Gilroy, has been given a three month jail term in Mountjoy prison.

Symbolic renaming of former RUC stronghold

The site of the former Andersonstown RUC barracks in west Belfast has been renamed Groves Reilly Corner, in honour of Clara Reilly and her late friend, plastic bullet victim Emma Groves.

Recruitment bid subject of official complaint

A 21-year-old republican man has lodged a complaint with the Police Ombudsman after Special Branch PSNI police tried to recruit him as an informer during a trip to England.

Soloheadbeg, the start of the war

One hundred years this week, on a quiet Tipperary roadway, the first nationalist revolt against the British Empire last century was started by a small band of armed men from townlands and villages -- Donohill, Solohead and Hollyford -- in the vicinity of Tipperary Town. The Soloheadbeg ambush shook British rule in Ireland.

Unionism’s new slogan should be ‘Ourselves Alone’

It must be a disconcerting time to be a Unionist. The very fabric of the UK is fraying at the edges at an alarming rate. Scots were a mere five percentage points from backing independence in 2014, while Brexit represents the biggest centrifugal force in the history of the British state.

January 16, 2019

May clings to power, seeks compromise with opposition

With the continuing support of the DUP, Theresa May has defeated a vote of no confidence in her Tory government at Westminster by 325 votes to 306, less than 24 hours after she failed to win parliamentary approval for her Brexit deal by a historic margin.

January 15, 2019

Tories faces no confidence vote after MPs reject Brexit deal

British Prime Minister Theresa May has tonight lost a motion in the House of Commons on Britain’s deal on withdrawal from the European Union by a large margin of 432 votes to 202.

January 14, 2019

British PM admits hard Brexit would accelerate Irish unity

Britain’s departure from the European Union without a deal would make a united Ireland and the break-up of the United Kingdom more likely, Theresa May has told MPs.

January 12, 2019

Judge ‘protects his paymasters’

A coroner has somehow found no evidence of collusion in the notorious murder of a nationalist pensioner who was shot dead by loyalists as her home was being actively surveilled by the British Army.

Good Friday Agreement may not survive - SF

The 1998 Good Friday peace agreement could become unsalvageable, Sinn Fein has said, as Brexit and other unresolved issues continue to shutter the institutions which were set up under the agreement.

‘Dirty War’ general to face court action over torture

Former senior British Army General Frank Kitson is one of several high profile British establishment figures facing legal action brought by two members of the group known as the Hooded Men.

Unease as UDA group expands

The South East Antrim UDA have been holding families to ransom, it has emerged, as the growing loyalist paramilitary group continues to flex its muscles.

Council funding of loyalists continues despite scandal

Belfast City Council has agreed to set aside half a million pounds for a controversial bonfire scheme which will see funds again directed to groups with links to loyalist paramilitaries.

Race hate attacks on asylum centres

A suspected arson attack at a centre for asylum seekers is the second in six weeks and has provoked fears of a violent campaign by the extreme right in the 26 Counties.

Declarations of the First Dáil

On 21 January 1919, 100 years ago this week, the first meeting of the parliament of the revolutionary, all-Ireland Irish Republic took place.

Sir Reginald washes his hands

More than three and a half years - yes, three and a half years! - after the conclusion of all the evidence in the inquest into the murder of Roseanne Mallon, Sir Reginald Weir sat down in Nisi Prius court in Belfast city centre and declared he could find neither direct nor indirect evidence of collusion between the loyalist killers and any state agency in the case.

January 5, 2019

MI5 ‘tampered with Enniskillen bomb’ - STATE PAPERS

British intelligence knew in advance about the Enniskillen bombing of 1987 and altered the timing to kill civilians and create a “massive backlash” against the IRA, according to an anonymous letter by an MI5 agent, written 30 years ago and declassified this week in Dublin.

Shoot-to-kill cover-up had tacit support of Dublin

The Dublin government secretly reassured the British in 1988 it would not take a case to the European Court of Human Rights over the SAS ambush and summary execution of three unarmed IRA Volunteers in Gibraltar.

PSNI prepare for a hard Brexit

A thousand additional police from England and Scotland are to be trained for conflict in Ireland as part of preparations for the remilitarisation of the border, it has emerged.

Varadkar defends vulture funds

The 26 County Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has backed vulture funds who have bought distressed mortgages and are pursuing evictions despite protests against the violent eviction of a Roscommon County family last month.

British reaction to Adams’s first visa to US was extreme

The significance of Bill Clinton’s decision to grant former Sinn Fein leader’s Gerry Adams a visa is laid bare in state papers which reveal that the British government was shaken by the move.

‘You are now entering Free Derry’ - Liam Hillen’s legacy

The safe arrival of a major civil rights march into Derry, after it had come under repeated attack by the B-Specials, inspired Liam Hillen to write one of the most famous slogans of the conflict. Liam passed away this week, almost 50 years to the day after those historic events.

Papers reveal bickering, manipulation

We publish a round-up of the state papers declassified at the turn of the year by the Dublin and London governments, dating from 1988 and 1994. Please note that, as usual, some papers have not been released for reasons of ‘state security’.

New Year statements 2019

A round-up of statements issued at the turn of the year by the leaders and leaderships of Sinn Fein and republican organisations.