Irish Republican News: Archives

October 31, 2020

Clashes as anger mounts over policing

There has been sporadic unrest in Derry over three days as a provocative Crown Force operation took place in the area of Racecourse Road, Greenhaw Road, Glengalliagh Road and Fern Road.

‘Lies and failure’ over killing of 13-year-old

New evidence has emerged in the murder of 13-year-old Martha Campbell in Belfast in 1972, which puts a British Army unit in the area and shooting at the time she was shot and killed.

SF Senator steps down amid new grants scandal

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald accepted the resignation of party Senator Elisha McCallion as a new financial scandal erupted in the North this week.

PPS defends its own in Stakeknife case

A decision of the North’s Public Prosecution Service (PPS) not to prosecute one of their own members for perjury relating to the ‘Stakeknife’ double-agent has come as no surprise, according to legal representatives of his victims.

Detailed study launched on use of plastic bullets in North

‘Plastic Justice’, an extensive report on the history, legacy and the deadly impact of the plastic bullet in the north of Ireland, was launched by Relatives for Justice last weekend.

‘Guerrilla’ campaign draws attention to British occupation

Lasair Dhearg activists said they have carried out a “new guerilla marketing strategy” throughout Belfast to highlight the ongoing British occupation of the north of Ireland.

The 1980 H-Block hunger strike

Irish political prisoners confined in the infamous H-Blocks of Long Kesh commenced a hunger strike on October 27, 1980, 40 years ago this week.

Kevin Barry

Kevin Barry was hanged at the age of 18 by the British in Mountjoy Jail on 1 November 1920, 100 years ago this week. He was the first republican to be executed by the British after the 1916 Rising, but his martyrdom inspired the republican side in the War of Independence.

October 27, 2020

US Action Alert: Stop plans for a hard border

This weeks marks the 40th anniversary of the start of the 1980 hunger strike in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh, as well as the centenary of the death on hunger strike of Terence MacSwiney, the Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork. It is also an important week for the Irish cause in 2020. That is because it is now widely believed that the British government has delayed key Brexit negotiations until after the US Presidential election.

October 23, 2020

Fury at homes abuse cover-up

An adoption rights activist born in one of Ireland’s notorious ‘mother and baby’ homes has described a move to seal records about the institutions for thirty years as a denial of justice.

Martin ‘not interested’ in Irish Unity

A refusal by Micheál Martin to say if a border poll will ever take place and a statement that Irish reunification is not a priority has put the Taoiseach at odds with a broad swathe of Irish public opinion, including his own party.

DUP Minister reaches new low

A deeply-rooted prejudice of DUP minister Edwin Poots emerged in scandalous fashion this week when he issued a series of bigoted remarks in connection with Covid-19, peaking with the incredible claim that they weren’t sectarian as “most Sinn Féin leaders don’t attend the Catholic Church on a regular basis”.

MI5 infiltration of Craigavon 2 campaign prompts legal action

Lawyers representing two men jailed in a miscarriage of justice say there are new grounds for their convictions to be deemed unsafe due to the sinister involvement of MI5 double agent Dennis McFadden.

Family urge letter writer to come forward

The family of a County Tyrone man murdered by loyalists 30 years ago has called for an independent investigation to be carried out after receiving an anonymous letter containing significant new information.

US election campaign echoes in Ireland

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has outlined how he will work with Irish-America and Ireland if he is elected US president.

Terence MacSwiney

Terence MacSwiney, an Irish playwright, author and Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork, died 100 years ago this week in a hunger strike strike which brought the Irish Republican campaign to worldwide attention.

Fool me once

When Boris Johnson tells you that his government is determined to defend the Good Friday Agreement – don’t believe a word of it.

October 19, 2020

Micheál Martin confirms new lockdown

After weeks of vacillation and infighting, the Dublin government has responded to inexorably rising levels of the coronavirus in Ireland with a stringent, six-week ‘level 5’ lockdown.

October 16, 2020

Scotland pushing at the door

Post-Brexit Europe will see a border between Scotland and England if the result of the latest poll, which found 58% of Scots now support independence, is borne out in a referendum.

Consequences of partitioned public health become clear

The failure to agree a joint all-island strategy on tackling the Covid-19 pandemic has led to a blame game on both sides of the border as the numbers of new cases and deaths have once again spiralled upwards.

Protest at new British spy towers

Large-scale surveillance installations used by British forces to spy on the nationalist population in the north of Ireland are the focus of a new campaign by republican activists.

New information on killings ignored by PSNI

A year after a breakthrough documentary was broadcast on the case, the father of two brothers killed by loyalists almost 30 years ago has confirmed that the PSNI failed to take any action on the new information.

Former death row prisoner tortured into ‘confession’ takes case

A Belfast man has begun a High Court action over the British Army’s use of torture techniques to extract a false confession used to secure a death sentence against him at trial.

Partition ‘celebration’ plans get slow handclap

A forum set up by the British government to look at how to mark next year’s ‘Centenary of Northern Ireland’ is being boycotted by nationalists and republicans. The Centenary Forum was announced by British prime minister Boris Johnson during a visit to Ireland in August.

Joe O’Connor

Amid calls for the legacy investigation into the actions of British agents inside the Provisional IRA to be expanded, the 32 County Sovereignty Movement recall the brutal ambush twenty years ago this week of 26-year-old Joe O’Connor.

A frightening direction

The attempt to close the book on Bloody Sunday is an insult to the victims’ families and to the rule of law. It is a stark indication of where this British government is headed, writes former British soldier Richard Rudkin.

October 9, 2020

Tories back death squads, condemn human rights lawyers

An attack on human rights lawyers by the British Prime Minister has been described as “appalling” and “ shameful”.

Loyalists shoot grandmother, stone schoolbus

A 61-year-old woman has been left fighting for her life after a unionist paramilitary gun attack in Coleraine, County Derry. Sally Cummings is in a critical condition in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast after being struck in the head by one of eight shots.

Glenanne Gang member linked to shocking new death threat

A member of the notorious ‘Glenanne Gang’ death squad is being investigated after a shocking death threat was made against Aontú councillor Denise Mullen, the daughter of a man previously murdered by the gang.

Brexit a reality as Gardaí move to harden border

An armed Garda support unit is to be permanently deployed to the border in a decision which appears to confirm plans for a cross-border remilitarisation of the area.

Bank protest over frozen accounts

Political activists in Derry occupied the local branch of the Santander bank in an action over the freezing of bank accounts and welfare benefits of those targeted by the PSNI.

Amnesty take on case of murdered 12-year-old

Amnesty International is helping organise a campaign for justice for Majella O’Hare, a girl who was shot in the back on her way to church by a British soldier and then ‘treated like a piece of meat’, according to an eyewitness.

Seán Treacy

The dramatic death took place 100 years ago this week of a revolutionary who became synonymous with Ireland’s fight for independence.

The search for truth

Majella O’Hare was just 12 years of age when she was shot twice in the back by a British paratrooper on her way to Mass in Whitecross, County Armagh, on August 16, 1976.

October 2, 2020

A legacy wiped from the map

The house of the O’Rahilly, a famous historical landmark once home to the 1916 Easter Rising leader Michael Joseph O’Rahilly, was tragically and deliberately demolished in the early hours of Tuesday morning, September 29.

Panel finds historic torture of republican prisoners

An independent inquiry report into the mistreatment of PoWs in the H-Blocks and Armagh Women’s Jail in the period between 1976 and 1981 has exposed the systematic abuse and torture of prisoners during the prison protests.

SF meeting with Charles angers Bloody Sunday families

Sinn Féin has come in for stinging criticism for its meeting this week with Prince Charles, the head of the British Army’s Parachute Regiment, less than 24 hours after it was announced that no further charges will be brought over the Bloody Sunday massacre.

‘All bets are off’ in hard border scenario

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has said the “erratic” and “dangerous” Boris Johnson cannot be trusted on Brexit. She said Johnson has forfeited credibility by unpicking the Withdrawal Agreement, negotiated earlier this year, and now cannot be believed when he says he wants a trade deal.