Irish Republican News: Archives

January 27, 2022

A wound that isn’t healed

The Irish President, Micheal D Higgins, Taoiseach Michael Martin, and former British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn are among those set to take part in events this weekend to mark the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

Para fans out to hurt families of Bloody Sunday victims

Flags of the British Army regiment responsible for Bloody Sunday have been flown in loyalist areas of Derry ahead of the 50th anniversary of the massacre.

Taoiseach ignores collusion report

The Dublin government is being condemned for its failure to respond to the recent collusion report by the Police Ombudsman, which found damning evidence of British Crown Force involvement in the murder of 19 Irish citizens.

Fate of Stormont tied to Assembly election

As polls show it is on the cusp of becoming the largest party at the Belfast Assembly, Sinn Féin has called on the unionist parties to make it clear if they will take part in the Stormont Executive alongside a Sinn Féin First Minister.

PSNI harass senior Lasair Dhearg figures

Two leading members of the Lasair Dhearg organisation were followed for several hours by the PSNI in Belfast city centre before being subjected to a forced stop and search this week.

Republican monument rededicated in Derry

Several hundred people attended a Sinn Fein ceremony in the Creggan in Derry on Sunday afternoon for a rededication of the local monument to fallen IRA Volunteers.

All of Derry was injured

Survivors of Bloody Sunday recall their experiences that day, by Martha McClelland (first published in 1997).

A defusion of anger

How the Bloody Sunday killings set off an unprecedented wave of protests in the 26 Counties - and prompted words but no action from the government, by Jack Madden.

January 20, 2022

Vindication, but what next?

A self-censored report by the Police Ombudsman has played down what it described only as ‘collusive behaviour’ and ‘collusive activity’ by the Crown Forces in the murders of 19 civilians by the North West UDA between 1988 and 1994.

Bizarre end to Easter commemoration trial

Republican activists Dee Fennell and Patrick McGrath have been acquitted of all charges related to an “illegal” Easter commemoration in 2019 after their political persecution ended in an abrupt manner.

Election ‘Jeffreymander’ fails; IRSP to run first candidate

A Tory attempt to throw DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson a political lifeline with the temporary restoration of ‘double jobbing’ has failed in the face of the united opposition of the other Assembly parties.

Pipe bomb attack in County Antrim

The South Antrim UDA have been blamed locally for a pipe bomb which caused a major alert in a nationalist area of the county this week.

Crimes of Garda ‘Heavy Gang’ exposed

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Justice Martin Kenny has called for an apology by the state and a full independent inquiry into the policing and judicial system in the 26 Counties following an exposé of the Garda ‘Heavy Gang’ in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Permission granted for ‘destruction’ at Rising site

There has been an angry reaction to the issuance of planning permission by Dublin City Council for the redevelopment of an area of the city that was a key rebel stronghold during the 1916 Rising against British rule.

Bloody Sunday – There is no British justice

The 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday massacre takes place later this month, and the city of Derry is hosting two programmes of events to commemorate the 14 who were killed by British soldiers and address the continuing refusal of the British authorities to offer truth and justice for the victims.

Why I didn’t celebrate treaty that divided our country

Political representatives and other dignitaries took part in an official state ceremony at Dublin Castle to mark the centenary of the start of the withdrawal of British forces from the 26 Counties, 100 years ago this week. Aontú leader Peader Tóibín on why he didn’t take part.

January 13, 2022

Tory upheaval complicates Brexit talks

Deepening chaos at the top of the Conservative government in London has increased uncertainty ahead of key talks on the north of Ireland.

‘Bullyboy’ tactics of Gardaí at commemoration

Gardaí police set upon republicans in County Monaghan this week as a commemoration was taking place in honour of Fergal O’Hanlon.

Dangerous ‘dog whistles’ as election looms

The DUP’s endorsement of a loyalist rant against nationalist activists who “dominate professional vocations” has set the scene for a polarising and bitter Stormont Assembly election campaign.

Torture victim sues over treatment

The last man to receive the death penalty in the Six Counties has begun an action against the British government for using torture to extract a false confession from him.

Stakeknife handler linked to Kenyan slaughter

A British soldier who handled ‘Stakeknife’, an infamous IRA informer, also gave spy tips to east African wildlife rangers whose shoot-to-kill anti-poaching policy killed dozens of innocent Kenyans, it has emerged.

Pogues man is staunch republican – biographer

Interviewed for his upcoming authorised biography, Pogues singer Shane MacGowan said that the conflict in the north of Ireland “has preoccupied (his) mind since childhood”.

Jack Clafferty

An obituary written by Aisling Claffery for her father, a draughtsman who produced memorable images connected with the conflict in the north of Ireland.

The Treaty debate

A historical account of the parliamentary debate on the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, 100 years ago this week which presaged the outbreak of the Irish Civil War, by Des Dalton.

January 6, 2022

A sign of broken promises

There were celebrations for Irish speakers on New Year’s Day as the Irish language became an official language of the European Union, but it has piled on pressure for the implementation of rights for speakers in the north of Ireland.

‘I thought sectarian attacks were a thing of the past’

A 16-year-old boy was attacked on Wednesday by a number of youths in the Lower Oldpark area of Belfast in an anti-Catholic hate crime.

Condemnation of Tory/DUP axis of destruction

Brexiteers are endangering the North of Ireland because of their hard ideological beliefs, according to the man who was Britain’s chief negotiator during the Irish peace process.

Activists taking action on housing

Economic data has revealed that some 300,000 people in the 26 Counties are facing impoverishment as a direct result of the housing crisis there.

Family of Bloody Sunday survivor remember ‘great mother’

Nearly 50 years after their mother was shot on Bloody Sunday, the family of Peggy Deery have said it feels like it happened “yesterday”.

New Year Statements 2022

A round-up of the statements issued by republican organisations to mark the New Year.

Deaf ears and blind eyes fuelled rage we felt for years

Commentator Joe Brolly has addressed the southern establishment’s selfish response to the conflict in the north.

2022 will bring north’s disappearance closer

Unionists’ bad faith, bad behaviour and seditious lawlessness demonstrate the truth of Enoch Powell’s conclusion that there is no halfway house between full integration into the UK and a united Ireland.