Irish Republican News: Archives

June 30, 2022

McGurk’s Bar report quashed after seven year fight

A deceptive police report into the McGurk’s Bar bomb atrocity is to be quashed in its entirety, concluding a titanic legal battle between victims of the atrocity and the PSNI.

‘Epic’ power grab seen in London’s unilateral actions

The British government’s proposed Bill of Rights has been described as a “power grab on an epic scale” that will violate the Good Friday Agreement’s basic human rights guarantees.

Inquest exposes murder as legacy fight continues in London

A Derry mother was shot dead by a British soldier in her back garden in circumstances which were “unjustified”, a coroner has ruled.

Shocking sectarian attack ignored by PSNI

A Catholic man who fled his east Belfast home with his injured partner after being attacked by a loyalist mob has described the PSNI as a “disgrace” after they ignored their pleas for help for over an hour.

British ruling class faces new resistance

Irish republican socialist James Connolly is back in vogue in Britain amid increasing signs of a new political awakening there.

Republican prisoner challenges strip searches

A republican prisoner has won High Court permission to challenge strip searches inflicted on him before and after attending a hospital appointment.

The start of the Irish Civil War

The Irish Civil War began a century ago this week with an attack on republicans at the Four Courts in Dublin, the centre of the Irish judicial system.

Goalposts being moved as unionism slides into minority

Naturally all the responses to the British government’s anti-protocol bill have emphasised the plans to enable British ministers to ditch pretty well anything and everything in the protocol they want except three sections, Articles 2, 3 and 11.

June 23, 2022

Peace under sustained attack

With plans well advanced in London for a hard border through Ireland and a blanket amnesty for British war crimes, there is a consensus among nationalists that the 1998 Good Friday Agreement is under unprecedented attack.

Prominent republican interned

The chairman of Saoradh in Derry has been summarily jailed by order of the British Direct Ruler Brandon Lewis.

Activist arrested as British Navy ignores Irish neutrality

A former councillor has been arrested in Cork after challenging the presence of a British Navy warship.

Sectarian tensions mount ahead of ‘Twelfth’

There are fears of trouble at a flashpoint in north Belfast in the coming weeks after the letters KAT, which means ‘Kill All Taigs’, were scrawled close to a notorious bonfire site.

Name added to bomb memorial

The name of baby Martha O’Neill has been added to a memorial to mark the British and loyalist bombings of Dublin in 1974.

Assange extradition move condemned

Sinn Féin has condemned the decision by the British Home Secretary Priti Patel to proceed with the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to the US.

The Wolfe Tone commemoration of 1922

A hundred years ago this week, a group of leading republicans visited Bodenstown churchyard to hear a stirring oration by Liam Mellows over the grave of the father of Irish republicanism, where supporters of Irish freedom now pay homage every year.

Sinn Féin address at Bodenstown

The full text of remarks By First Minister-Designate, Michelle O’Neill, at Sinn Féin’s Wolfe Tone Commemoration, in Bodenstown, County Kildare on Sunday, 19 June.

June 16, 2022

Irvine arrest highlights new collusion fears

A notorious UVF paramilitary figure was on a peace scholarship backed by the Dublin government when it is alleged he was involved in a dramatic hoax car bomb attack on its Foreign Affairs Minister, Simon Coveney.

EU, US move to defend agreements as Brexit undone

The European Commission has begun two new legal proceedings against Britain after it introduced legislation to override the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement in regard to the north of Ireland, and resumed another challenge it had previously paused.

Statements forced from innocent teens - report

After a lifelong justice campaign, a report has finally confirmed that the RUC forced false confessions from the ‘Derry Four’ in 1979.

British govt attempted to undermine Bloody Sunday Inquiry

British officials expressed “grave concerns” over sensitive documents linked to Bloody Sunday falling into the hands of lawyers acting for relatives of the dead, it has been revealed.

Gardaí evict activists as housing crisis deepens

Gardaí police this week forced entry to an abandoned homeless shelter to evict activists seeking to tackle a crisis which has now prompted the involvement the Irish President, Michael D Higgins.

Justice campaigns ‘up against the clock’

Relatives of nine of those killed by the British Army in Ballymurphy, west Belfast are to receive “significant” undisclosed damages as part of settlements reached in their civil actions.

Building a new Scotland

The Scottish government has set a date of October 2023 for a second independence referendum. In a forward to a series of papers, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has begun to set out the arguments in favour of independence for Scotland.

Confronting sectarianism

We need a new legal definition of sectarianism entrenched in law with legal sanctions and robust incitement to hatred provisions.

June 13, 2022

Johnson rips up Brexit Protocol

Legislation has been published by the British government this evening which overrides the post-Brexit trade arrangements for Ireland and severely breaches both the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and international law.

June 9, 2022

‘Ban the Orange Order’

A wave of revulsion at chanting about the murder of a young Catholic bride on her honeymoon has brought pressure for the Orange Order to be treated alongside other racist and supremacist groups.

Mayhem feared as Tories turn against Johnson

The peace process in Ireland could be sabotaged by Boris Johnson’s desperate attempts to regain the support of far-right backbenchers after he narrowly survived a no-confidence vote of Tory MPs.

Legacy bill ‘hopelessly incompatible with human rights’

High-level protests are continuing over legislation currently being fast-tacked through Westminster to shut down investigations and provide an amnesty for Britain’s war criminals in Ireland.

Sinn Féin honours Queen of England

Sinn Féin vice president Michelle O’Neill has expressed her respect and admiration for the Queen of England as her party denounced criticism from nationalists and republicans with the message “the haters are not the future”.

Coroner ‘startled’ by British failure to reply on files

A coroner examining the death of a man shot during a prison break has expressed concern at the ongoing failure by the Attorney General in London to respond to a request for files related to the case.

BBC insults in coverage of Jubilee

The Irish tricolour flag was used in a live televised video montage to represent countries under British rule at Buckingham Palace on Saturday.

‘The Banner of the Patriots’

An exhibition centred on a unique banner has opened in Kilmainham Gaol Museum in Dublin.

Vile song about a woman’s strangulation is a new low

Sectarianism met misogyny on the outskirts of an east Belfast Orange hall last weekend, and what unfolded far surpassed the worst stereotype some regularly complain their opponents foist upon them.

June 1, 2022

Unionists object to reminder of colonial past

Unionist indignation at the public use of the word ‘planter’ by visiting US politician Richard Neal has highlighted their denial of the history of settler colonisation in the north of Ireland.

Stormont Assembly again fails to elect new speaker

Questions are being raised over the future of the Stormont Assembly after unionists once again blocked the installation of an Assembly Speaker and a First Minister.

Gun attack points to loyalist infighting

There are reports that a loyalist feud may have reignited in north Belfast following the attempted murder of an associate of a prominent loyalist.

Polls show boost for Sinn Féin, Irish unity

An opinion poll has shown support for Sinn Féin in the 26 Counties has surpassed the combined vote of the two main government parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, for the first time.

Marley family to get day in court

The family of assassinated Belfast republican Larry Marley have described a High Court date as a boost to the family’s campaign for justice.

False narrative for killing faces court challenge

Relatives of an IRA Volunteer shot dead by a British soldier in west Belfast more than 50 years ago are suing the British Ministry of Defence over the false claim that he was throwing a weapon.

Centenary of Border battle

Last weekend marked the centenary of a Donegal-Fermanagh border battle, part of the doomed ‘Northern Offensive’ campaign said to have been encouraged by Michael Collins to unite supporters and opponents of the Anglo-Irish Treaty to challenge the partition of Ireland it helped to bring about.

We are being short-changed by game-playing Brexiteers

Boris Johnson's government are pursuing an anti-Agreement agenda which is disingenuously wrapped up in pro-Agreement rhetoric, writes First Minister-designate Michelle O’Neill.