Anthony McIntyre's Blog, page 1177

Your Belief, Not Mine

From Atheist Republic a piece by  Lizmari M. Collazo addressing religious nonsense.
I was a believer for 30 some years of my life. I've been catholic, presbyterian, fundamentalist non-denominational creationist... I've been a lot of things. I am now an atheist.

It's been a long journey of self awareness and introspection. And I am at peace where I am, and with what I understand about life and living. I've lost loved ones both as a believer, and as a non-believer.

But I've come to a point where I find it challenging relating to many believers because they speak to us atheists as if we had never heard of their god or ever read their bible, or ever studied the proper apologetical arguments for their faith, or the problem of evil, or that we never realized we could be comforted by their beliefs, or the words of Jesus, or the Psalms, or that we're somehow angry at their god, or that we have poor character because we gave up and didn't try hard enough, or that we were never true believers to begin with, or anything else. (Otherwise, you know, we'd convert right away!)
As if we had made a sloppy, poorly thought choice -- when if I have ever scrutinized anything deeply... it was leaving my beliefs. And it was painful -- not because I was "hurt" by a god, but because I didn't want to leave faith, and it was Not easy. It was a security blanket from which I did not wish to part, and it took a Lot of scrutinizing and study.

But all of this is kind of like someone demanding you not just like and love their favorite flavor of ice cream, but declare it's the only flavor, and the best flavor, ever... If only you'd try it (but those other 3000 times you tried it do not count.)

Imagine if someone accused a Christian and said the only reason they don't believe in Mohammed, or Vishnu, or Wotan, or Thor, is because they are angry at them, or once got hurt by them, or are rebellious, etc? Yeah. It's exactly like that. Like accusing someone of being angry at Santa because he didn't bring them presents, and then you proceeded to comfort them with "He had a reason, and he works in mysterious ways... and you'll get a much better present next year..." It's only a serious and sacred belief to you, and not to me. But I guess that makes people feel like they need to shine a personal light on why They believe, or if they are strong enough believers or not, and so they begin nagging the rest of us. Some will claim that they simply care, and need to save us desperately... but they conveniently forget they don't wield the same amount of disrespect for people who are already a part of a different religion. Just to us atheists, who I guess they might think are a blank slate for their carving.

Even as I say these words, already someone out there is thinking I'm angry, and bitter... and wishing and hoping one day I'll find the 'true peace of Jesus' or Really know or understand, one day.

No -- let me decipher that for you: What you are Really thinking to yourself is "What do They know that I don't know, that made them leave their faith? I had better strengthen My faith, and put Their experience down, because it can't possibly have any validity to reality... Their decision hurts the strength of my own choice, so I had better downplay their choice, and just claim they're doing it wrong. They just don't know what they're doing -- that's it."

There, I fixed it for you. And yes, belief is a frail thing. That's why the Bible spends So Much  language attacking reason, attacking doubt, attacking relying on your own mind. It makes you doubt your own self and your own senses... 'If you don't believe, you're a bad person... or you're foolish...' or even more conveniently, 'God has confused man's wisdom, so he thinks crazy things are wisdom.'

The big problem is, of course, that this makes faith unfalsifiable. "Believe, because you can't tell it's not real anyway, because I've confounded your reason, anyway." Of course, why give anyone the ability to reason and doubt and discern, when supposedly all that is foolish anyway, right? Oh no, it's a test... it's 'mysterious ways' -- except, all of this is not exclusive proof for your religion, but proof of Every unfalsifiable belief, and every religion, so it makes all of it irredeemable.



Follow Atheist Republic on Twitter @AtheistRepublic

Lost Souls, Lost Causes & Los Insurgentes

Sean Mallory casts his sceptical eye over events at home and in foreign countries such as England, the US and Spain. 

In response to two DUP politicians forced to flee a meeting in Derry concerning £12.5m worth of cuts to health services in the North West, Arlene Foster hit out at the angry crowd's behaviour as
“fascist society rather than a democratic society”....which when we look back at how the democratic and anti-fascist DUP dealt with David Trimble, Giant's Causeway, fracking, Red Sky, NAMA, funding for the Brexit referendum, RHI and the Tory bung, to name but a paltry few, we can wholly appreciate what she means!

Reporting on America's worst mass murder, the Las Vegas shooting, the Belfast Telegraph, never short of quality journalism, managed to unearth two citizens from Norn Iron, from under a restaurant table, who willingly shared their experience of the shooting or as it turned out, lack off.

Oddly, a British state whose citizens uncannily seem to turn up in most natural and unnatural global catastrophes these days.

They related how they escaped unharmed but not unscathed, and described how lucky they were even though they weren’t at the Country and Western festival at all but in a restaurant much further down the Strip during the attack...phew...a story akin to the passenger who could have frozen to death or drowned when they missed the Titanic sailing and therefore wasn’t on the ship when it went down – but just like the couple in Vegas they thought that they would never see their kids again.....until they went home that is!

Gary Middleton, DUP MLA for Foyle and a very vocal supporter of Foster, made a slam dunk of a lie when he claimed that 25% of his clients calling in to his office were Nationalists from the Bogside and the Creggan. A person's religious background has no bearing on Gary's perception of them. Which kind of explains his membership of the DUP and not a party like the Greens.

Beating him to the gong for the biggest lie 2017, an unnamed Linfield fan who apparently criticising the singing of sectarian and racist songs by the Rangers fans in amongst them at the Challenge Cup in Scotland, finished off his criticism with these words about his fellow Linfield supporters, “Many of them wouldn’t even know the words of the songs......”

Songs such as those mocking Bobby Sands, Rule Britannia and I was born under a Union Jack and of course The Billy Boys....

Robin Newton, speaker of the empty Stormont Assembly, and a role that exemplified his non-partisanship when he refused to allow questions on the DUP's role and allocation of funding for UDA controlled community projects, was revealed as an advisor on one of these UDA run committees. Newton, still receiving his salary amounting to £87,000 + per annum, circumvented the concern in age old DUP tradition by simply denying any disreputable and unethical behaviour or wrong doing. Especially when he abused his position as Speaker to deny questions being raised in the Assembly on the matter as it directly involved himself in the murky affair. Arlene's hubris display for Robin maintaining the party line of ‘no surrender’, was a joy to behold.

James Brokenshire, the hapless Secretary of State for Norn Iron and DUP lackey, and never one to backtrack, continued to draw lines in the sand on the parties involved in the Stormont talks, even after the talks had finished.

Brokenshire, something of an expert in deadlines, spoke of his conviction (nothing criminal mind you, just a profound belief like a child's belief in Santa Claus) that a deal could be reached by the end of the month but warned the parties involved that if not, then he would be compelled by his ministerial position to draw another line in the sand and he wasn’t having any of it. Shortly after, the security guard told him they had all gone home and could he leave as he wanted to lock up .... the match was on.

Elsewhere

Theresa May, back from her calamitous Tory conference, and her band of Brexiteers continue to turn on each other with contradicting statements on the current state of Brexit negotiations. But generally all in all agree that it is going swimmingly irrespective of the whispers. Theresa, fighting for her political life since the disastrous general election, has quietly implored the EU negotiators lead by Barnier and Juncker to throw her a life line. It has been alleged that she was overheard saying: for fucks sake you froggie bastards better cut me some slack here or you’ll have that fuck’n rubber head Johnson to deal with.
Juncker’s response was to point out that he wasn’t French. Barnier enquired as to what ‘froggies’ were.
Bookies have since drastically cut her odds on being deposed as party leader.

President Trump continued to explain the world through the eyes of Stevie Wonder by denying his own words to the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson killed in Niger. An attack that still remains unexplained as to what American soldiers were doing there.

President Trump, never one to allow reality to tint his vision, having reportedly expressed his condolences in a rather frank and candid manner, and flawed in compassion and sincerity, denied such but only to have his denial flung back in his face by White House staff who confirmed the reported conversation. In true Trump fashion he still denied it.

After weeks of speculation and much fascist antagonism, Carles ‘the heckle’ Puigdemont, once president of the Spanish province of Catalan and pro-independence agitator and his los insurgentes or Insurrectos, has become the most wanted man in Spanish history after declaring Catalan's independence from Spain and after a democratically run referendum too.
An announcement of independence like that of Masoud Barzani and the Kurdish declaration of independence, was unilaterally denounced worldwide by democratically elected States.

A declaration having initially been joyously and rapturously received in the provincial parliament, quickly turned to a satire as Madrid issued arrest warrants for rebellion against Carles and his amigos. Hastily packed Gucci luggage cases thrown in to the back of a Mark IV Cortina and a break for the geographical border saw Carlos and the lads flee the province to Brazil...eh,no......Porto Rico....no, not there....the Domimican Republic....no....but to the heart of the EU, Brussels. A city renowned for harbouring rebels and revolutionaries.

At a carefully convened press conference Carles has stated that he cannot return to Spain as he fears for his life especially since he faces 30 years behind bars. Although, he did state that he is willing to recognise Madrid's call for elections in December as long as they are fair....good luck with that one Carles!



Sean Mallory is a Tyrone republican and TPQ columnist

Radio Free Eireann Broadcasting 11 November 2017

Martin Galvin with details of this weekend's broadcast from Radio Free Eireann.
Radio Free Eireann will broadcast this Saturday November 11th on wbai 99.5 FM and wbai.org.at 12 noon-1pm New York time or 5pm-6pm Irish time or anytime after the program on wbai.org/archives.

Author, political commentator and former Republican political prisoner Anthony McIntyre  will cover the latest on the Stormont talks breakdown, prospects of direct British rule, possible Statute of Limitations on British Army murders, and Theresa May's sinking leadership.

Prominent Republican Dominic Og McGlinchey will discuss the Heffron controversy and why Catholics who join the constabulary are still regarded with hostility by the nationalist community.

John McDonagh Will Give Us The Latest On His One Man Show, Off The Meter: On The Record, now Extended At The Irish Repertory Theatre.
John McDonagh and Martin Galvin co- host.

Radio Free Eireann is heard Saturdays at 12 Noon New York time on wbai 99.5 FM and wbai.org.

It can be heard at wbai.org in Ireland from 5pm to 6pm or anytime after the program concludes on wbai.org/archives. 

Gabriel Mackle Interned

Statement by Republican Sinn Féin on the arrest of Gabriel Mackle.
They were acting on an order from the British Secretary of State for the Six Counties revoking Gabriel’s licence.

This is effectively internment and is based solely on Gabriel Mackle’s political beliefs. He is at present being held in Banbridge RUC/PSNI barracks and will be brought to Maghaberry prison in the morning.

Gabriel Mackle is being interned for no other reason than his adherence to his Republican beliefs. The British Government are once more using internment to silence opposition to their continued occupation and partition of Ireland.

Republican Sinn Féin calls for the immediate release of political internee Gabriel Mackle.

Fitz In Fantasy Land

Thomas Fitzgerald’s review of Out of the Ashes by Robert W White appeared in the October issue of the Dublin Review of Books and is available here. Professor White’s response to that review appears below. Readers are invited to read both pieces to make up their minds on the issues involved.


 Dear editors,
In his review of Out of the Ashes: An Oral History of the Provisional Irish Republican Movement (Social Movements versus Terrorism), Thomas Fitzgerald unfairly damages my reputation as a scholar and undermines the book’s message by suggesting that I consider the ongoing violence of anti-Good Friday Agreement Republicans to be “legitimate”.
He actually praises my argument that “through talking to ‘terrorists’ or non-state insurgents it is easier to understand or evaluate their point of view, rather than simply denouncing and demonising it” and then hypocritically condemns me for presenting the perspective of anti-GFA Republicans.
In reality, Out of the Ashes is unique and important because it presents oral histories from Provisional and anti-GFA Irish Republicans. Fitzgerald describes the end of my chapter on anti-GFA Republicans as “overtly emotional and inappropriate”. He complains that I describe “Wolfe Tone, Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, Patrick Pearse, and so on” as people who “cannot be co-opted” and then quote from Patrick Pearse’s famous statement, “Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.” Thus:

Is White suggesting that the only solution in Northern Ireland is a return to violence, or that violence is inevitable? Certainly the sentiments he expressed could give succour to those who take this position.

It is up to the reader to decide whether they consider this to be a socially responsible attitude for any historian/sociologist to take. Fitzgerald conveniently ignores the context of my presentation. The final paragraph of that chapter shows that some Irish Republicans are remarkably committed to their beliefs. I quote an oral history from John Hunt, who was born in 1920, interned by the de Valera government in 1940, and, at ninety-six years of age, spoke at a Republican Sinn Féin event associated with the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising. Hunt’s remarks outside of the GPO included a quotation from Pearse’s famous oration in 1915 over the grave of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, “the fools, the fools, the fools! — they have left us our Fenian dead.”

After quoting Hunt’s remarks, I wrote that Ireland is filled with people the authorities consider “dangerous” because of their unending commitment to physical force — “Wolfe Tone, Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, Patrick Pearse, Bobby Sands, Mairéad Farrell and Ruairí Ó Brádaigh” (emphasis added). After noting that the authorities can minimize but not eliminate the threat of violence, I completed the Pearse quotation — “while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.”
By leaving out the references to Bobby Sands, Mairéad Farrell, and Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, Fitzgerald conveniently avoids the influence that Pearse and his ilk have on more contemporary activists. When Fitzgerald asks, “Is White suggesting that the only solution in Northern Ireland is a return to violence, or that violence is inevitable?”, he is either painfully naïve and clueless or simply finds it easy to sidestep inconvenient facts.
Table 5 of Out of the Ashes shows that violence never ended in Northern Ireland; hence, a chapter on anti-GFA Republicans. I don’t know if continued violence is inevitable. I do know that in the past few years Patrick Pearse’s famous oration has been quoted many times by many people. Fitzgerald cutely draws on the punk band Stiff Little Fingers to write that “Pearse’s words were from ‘another time, and another place’”. Can we just assume that everyone believes this, including all those anti-GFA Republicans who refuse to go away? No. If the many different people who have quoted Patrick Pearse these last few years did not explicitly state that his oration was from another time and place, were they socially irresponsible? Put another way: It’s not my fault that most of nationalist Ireland spent most of 2016 celebrating the lives and actions of Patrick Pearse and his comrades. Fitzgerald’s attack on my reputation contributes to an intellectual climate that complemented Section 31 censorship of the Provisionals. With some exceptions, Irish historians, political scientists, and sociologists left it to journalists to investigate a long-term, high-profile conflict in their own back yard. Why? Because they risked condemnation from people like Thomas Fitzgerald. This is not new. In this “Decade of Centenaries”, Irish scholars have published excellent work on the 1916-23 era. However, I wonder if there is so much room for research on that era because it was safer for scholars of that time and place to focus on the Fenians, the Land War, and so on. In 1976, J. Bowyer Bell wrote that when:

the present Troubles began, contemporary Ireland had been ignored by academics, especially Irish academics, except in matters of literature … for many felt that writing seriously about the Irish present only exacerbated old quarrels.

Scholars have every right to pursue an interest in events of one thousand years ago, one hundred years ago, or yesterday. At the same time, something is lost if we wait until all of the actors have died before we write about them. Many sociologists and political scientists study collective behavior and social movements. And there is a wellknown relationship between the state’s response to dissent and recruitment to protest —sometimes repression leads to more protest, sometimes it reduces protest. Something is bringing recruits to anti-GFA organizations. An Irish social scientist might use oral histories to investigate the influence that the Terrorism Act (2006) and the use of “internment by remand” to silence people like Martin Corey, Stephen Murney, and Tony Taylor have had on recruitment. That probably won’t happen. Why risk being labeled a fellow-traveler, an advocate of violence, or socially irresponsible? If the climate had been more open for Irish social scientists to fully engage with the conflict in Ireland between 1969 and 2005, then perhaps we would be that much closer to a just and lasting peace.
Out of the Ashes is not an apology for political violence, by anyone. The book, and my scholarship in general, is an attempt to help all of us better understand why people engage in small group political violence. That is socially responsible, as readers will see.
Sincerely,
Robert White

Questions To Be Answered

Daniel Bradley shares his thoughts on Bloody Sunday and the Ballymurphy massacre. 
In 1969 nationalist  men and women in the Bogside decided enough was enough and they marched for civil rights, they had enough of being treated as second class. 

The battle of the Bogside lasted for three days and three nights and they were victorious. That victorious they were able to paint on the gable wall YOU ARE NOW ENTERING FREE DERRY.

At the time the Official IRA had checkpoints on the Lecky road and the RUC were not allowed into the Bog or Creggan. This situation  became embarrassing for the British government all over the world.

The unionists were not happy, and they were knocking on the British government’s door 24/7 to change the situation.  

The Provisional IRA did so in 1969 when it broke away from what became known as the Official IRA. There were ideological differences, but the main motivation was that the Provisionals felt that not enough had been done to protect Catholic communities in Northern Ireland.

Again, the British government was under pressure from the Unionists, so it had to act and act quickly which the they did and infiltrated the Provisional IRA and using top IRA officers by becoming informers. Using this intelligence they took a step ahead.  

The Ballymurphy Massacre was a series of incidents involving the killing of eleven civilians by the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment of the British Army in Ballymurphy, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The killings happened between 9 and 11 August 1971, during Operation Demetrius. The shootings have also been called Belfast Bloody Sunday, a reference to another massacre of civilians by the same battalion a few months later.
As you can see they used trained killers who were taught daily shoot to kill guerrilla warfare, this was to stir up Belfast people to allow the Provisional IRA to get bigger, but they were to go another step.


Bloody Sunday (1972) - Wikipedia

Bloody Sunday – sometimes called the Bogside Massacre – was an incident on 30 January 1972 in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland, when British soldiers ...

After Bloody Sunday again people reacted well over 2000 people in Derry joined the Provisional IRA.

This regiment was sent in to kill innocent people to provoke the nationalist people and the republicans so that they would get up in arms and fight back. And by using the two top IRA informers Derry and Belfast gave the British government the ability to make their next move and that includes killing innocent people and unionists.

You would be aware of MI5 involvement in the Omagh bombing.

Let me take you back to Bloody Friday, the 21st July 1972, where a bomb blasted Belfast.

Maybe people should look up in google Folklore, Northern Ireland Contingency Planning, Operation Folklore. Which began on the 24th July 1972, 3 days after Bloody Friday, but yet I can take you back to the 10th July 1972 where Mr Whitelaw signed at a secret meeting a document which was relevant to Operation Motorman 31st July 1972, originally called Operation Carcan, which would have included Operation Folklore.

The 1st battalion of the parachute regiment as I shared trained daily.

But an ordinary soldier of the army would have been trained from 6 months to a year to go into a built up area like Northern Ireland. That was confirmed at the Manus Deery inquest, and being an ex. Irish army soldier myself I know that this training would have been essential for the ordinary soldier.

So after Bloody Sunday these soldiers were trained to attack  Northern Ireland on the 31st July 1972, and for the 6 months the British army intelligence communicated with the  British government and Mr Whitelaw signed everything off. 

I can also confirm that documents that I have state that the British army were at war with the IRA and therefore I believe there are questions to be asked to both the Provisional IRA and the British government concerning Operation Folklore.

Also online the An Phoblacht tells the same story Brits proposed giving Army carte blanche- 1973 state papers :Operation Folklore, so why would they put 1973 when they knew it was the 24th July 1972. I believe both parties must answer to what I have shared.
 
Did The British Government Deliberately Cause The Deaths Of Ballymurphy And Bloody Sunday To Create Operation Motorman?



Daniel Bradley is a Derry justice campaigner.

Gerry Conlon's Unknown Truth

Martin Galvin reviews the latest book by Richard O'Rawe for the Irish Echo.

In Guildford there's four
That were picked up and tortured
And framed by the law
And the filth got promotion
But they're still doing time
For being Irish in the wrong place
And at the wrong time (Pogues - Streets of Sorrow)

Once we thought of Gerry Conlon, the 'Guildford Four' and the 'Birmingham Six', as Irish pawns imprisoned by merciless British officials, who knew they were innocent. Later we thought of Gerry Conlon as Daniel Day-Lewis, fist raised in triumph outside the Old Bailey, as portrayed In the Name of the Father.
Now Richard O'Rawe's book In the Name of the Son: The Gerry Conlon Story reveals that the Belfast man fought a heretofore unknown battle. Walking free from a British prison did not free him from traumatic terrors and nightmares brought about by the terrible injustice he suffered. Money, celebrity and Hollywood fueled his demons. Eventually they drove him to depression, drugs and homelessness.

Gerry Conlon's battle and eventual triumph over these psychological wounds, seem as heroic and dramatic as his battle against imprisonment on a British frame-up. How he came to fight that battle, by fighting for others he identified as victims of injustice, is an uplifting tale of an indomitable Irish spirit.

Richard O'Rawe is uniquely positioned to tell this story. Growing up alongside Gerry Conlon in Belfast, the two were lifelong friends. He also knows British prison brutality firsthand, as a former H-Block Blanketman and important figure in the 1981 Hunger Strike.

His book begins with a foreword by actor Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean, Donnie Brasco et al.) Depp carries a wallet with the word 'Saoirse' gifted to him by Gerry Conlon, who he describes as "a man I would have taken a bullet for".

O'Rawe recounts how Gerry Conlon, a hippie who left Belfast to get away from the war that O'Rawe and others were fighting, became a symbol of the injustice Conlon thought he left behind.

In 1974, IRA Volunteers strike in Guildford and Woolwich. The British cannot find who did it. Conlon's friend Paul Hill, is picked up, beaten, and names his friends Gerry Conlon, Patrick Armstrong, Carol Richardson and Conlon's relations the Maguires. Conlon is picked up and tortured until he makes a false confession. The British arrest his aunt, uncle, young cousins and Conlon's father Giuseppe, who came to England to help his son. All get convicted and sentenced to the cheers of English tabloid headlines. 
In December 1975 after more attacks, the IRA unit members are captured. They immediately proclaim the total innocence of the "Guilford Four" and "Maguire Seven". They use their own trial to demand release of those wrongly imprisoned. The British decide not to admit an embarrassing mistake. Conlon is not released until 1989. His father has died in prison. His aunt's family have served lengthy sentences.

These events are familiar to readers, although O'Rawe has uncovered shocking details about how the British doctored their own forensic expert reports to drop sections which conclusively proved the "Guildford Four" innocent.

However In the Name of the Son O'Rawe weaves together the story of Conlon's journey through Washington, Hollywood, fame and celebrities, then downwards into drugs and living rough on the street. It is the story of Conlon's eventual rise and triumph by fighting for other victims of injustice.

This book holds special interest for Irish activists, especially in America. One of the heroes of Conlon's story is the late Sandy Boyer, who along with John McDonagh hosted the weekly Radio Free Eireann program. Sandy's recurring role as a strategist, and adviser is deservedly heralded. Conlon recognized that American pressure was Britain's most vulnerable point, and came to America to fight for the "Birmingham Six" "Craigavon Two" and an array of others.

I happened to see Gerry Conlon in one of his many battles against injustice. During the Irish political deportee cases of the 1990s, Gerry Conlon came to New York as a witness for Gabriel Megahey. Testifying that constables wanted him to link Mr. Megahey to the charges, Conlon said "if I had even met Mr. Megahey, they would have made it the Guildford Five." While not included in the book, it was enough for me to recognize how truly Richard O'Rawe captured Gerry Conlon's ability to overcome what had been done to him by standing between others and the sort of injustice he suffered.

Martin Galvin is a US Attorney-At-Law.

Water Committee’s Many Unanswered Questions

More From James Quigley on the water charges controversy.

In my last article I asked should the chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water, Senator Pádraig Ó Céidigh have ensured that each session of the committee was included in all committee reports. I said that that question was put to him and that we did not receive a reply from him. It turns out my article wasn't wholly accurate.



Michael Mooney, Communities for Ireland’s 9.4 reminded me that he wrote twice to Mr Ó Céidigh in August this year and he received not one but two replies. Neither reply, however, was directly from the chairman himself. Rather they were sent indirectly through the committee secretary, Tom Sheridan. (see all letter below)

Michael pointed out that in a second email he informed the secretary that he was annoyed that Mr Ó Céidigh did not reply personally, in the first place. Hence the secretary's second reply.

However, apart from the etiquette question, what Mr Sheridan's replies in fact does is point out that both he and the Chairman Mr Ó Céidigh are in agreement.



This answer speaks for itself. The responsibility is now laid squarely on the members themselves and puts the onus on them to give us an explanation, firstly whether they agree with the committee secretary or not and secondly, If they agree and it would be amazing if they didn’t, then, they have to explain why they did not include any mention of February 15th session and in particular the 9.4 Exemption in any report. Did they replace the 9.4 Exemption or Ireland's ‘Established Practice’ with excessive charges and metering?

One of the reasons we dwell on this is because we have not got an adequate explanation to date from anyone. We have to determine who was responsible for setting the agenda for any of the committee’s reports. This is a highly significant line of questioning. Depending on the Oireachtas member's explanation, their answer will shed light on procedures and in particular why there was a total omission of what we believe to be the central and most significant session of the whole committee, namely February 15th session.

Not only does it question the bona fides of those who professed to be acting in the interest of the majority of Irish people opposing Irish Water, water charges and metering but it has the potential to question the administration of the committee itself and by extension the farcical end result. This by the way includes Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, Solidarity/PBP, Independents and Senators.

Original query from Michael Mooney

Dear Mr O’Ceidigh,

I am aware that you were appointed independent Chairman of the Oireachtas Comittee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water in Ireland which is now disbanded. I followed this with great interest but it ended with some disillusionment.

I understood that it would be an independent chairman’s responsibility to record and report on all significant contributions to the committee and as a result of this I have a query.

During the meetings which were both held in private and public you obtained input from senior counsels. These were Matthias Kelly and Conleth Bradley who are regarded as experts in European Environmental Law. You permitted their input, as you believed or stated that it would be of the ‘utmost importance’ following some objection from Colm Brophy TD. These people were invited by Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail to contribute their legal opinion on Ireland’s compliance with the European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive (WFD). Their contribution extended over at least one full session around mid-February 2017. In their legal opinion, they confirmed that Ireland was in compliance due to a practice already established of paying for water. This established practice forms an exemption which leaves Ireland in compliance with the EU WFD via Section 9, item 4 or as commonly referred to Exemption 9.4. This is a significant piece of information and my query is;

“Why was this omitted from the confidential draft report that you furnished?

I look forward to an urgent reply on this matter. Please confirm receipt of this upon arrival and advise if you can reply within 7 days and maximum 14 days.


First letter from Oireachtas secretary

25 August, 2017

Dear Mr Mooney,

I refer to your recent message to Senator Pádraig Ó Céidigh regarding the Report of the Joint Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services.

In the course of its deliberations, the Joint Committee considered extensive information from a large number of stakeholders (received both in writing and in oral evidence at meetings), regarding a range of matters relating to its brief. Transcripts of the meetings of the Joint Committee along with a large amount of other information are available on the webpage of the Joint Committee at the website of the Houses of the Oireachtas (www.oireachtas.ie).

It was not the objective of the Report of the Joint Committee to re-produce all of the information that was considered. The content of the Report, which is mainly comprised of the Joint Committee’s recommendations, was agreed in detail by the Members over a number of meetings and approved by them in the normal manner.

The Joint Committee ceased to exist following the conclusion of its work at its final meeting on 11 April of this year, and the subsequent submission of its Report.

Yours sincerely,

Tom Sheridan
Committee Secretariat



Second letter from Oireachtas secretary

28 August, 2017

Dear Mr Mooney,

Joint Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services

I refer to your message to Senator Pádraig Ó Céidigh dated 20 August regarding the above matter, to my reply of 25 August, and to your subsequent message.

I replied to your message to Senator Ó Céidigh as the person who was the Clerk to the Joint Committee during its deliberations. This is consistent with normal practice.

Having considered both of your messages, Senator Ó Céidigh does not wish to add anything to my earlier reply.

Please contact me if you have any further queries regarding this matter.

Yours sincerely,
Tom Sheridan, Clerk


James Quigley is an anti-water charge activist who writes @ Buncrana Together.


Follow Buncrana Together on Twitter @buncranatogethr    

Patriot Or Traitor?

Dominic Óg McGlinchey, delivers a sober take on the fate of Peadar Heffron whose situation has been at the centre of a public controversy this week. There are times in life when one should know to hold one’s tongue. Surely this was the case last week when Joe Brolly took it upon himself to raise the plight of Peadar Heffron currently living in exile from his native parish as a direct result of joining a British paramilitary police force in the occupied six counties.
Joe who supposedly loves the Gaelic sporting culture has now endangered the lives of many club members along the shores of lough Neagh. It’s not as if they hadn’t seen enough murder at the hands of loyalist death squads at the behest of those who shared the uniform which young Peadar came to wear. One does not need to look too far for the tell-tale signs that those who killed Bellaghy GAA chairman Sean Brown used these very roads and hinterlands to make good their escape during that particular sectarian murder.
British security services have been turning on and off this murder tap for many years. The people of the area stretching from Staffordstown all the way to Mid Ulster knows this only too well. This countryside is littered with family names, Davys, Gallaghers, O’Hagans, Caseys, Stratherns, Ryans, Browns and many, many more who suffered as direct result of this campaign. This campaign also led to communities living in absolute fear. Citizens within these communities were shunned in pubs and social clubs for being seen to be friendly with republicans and in turn might have seen you being targeted for murder.
Special credit must go to Mr Brolly for giving loyalists the information, which usually comes from the mouth of the very reverend William Mc Crea, alleging that members of the Creggan community might be complicit in the attack on Constable Heffron. We only know too well that those loyalists during the sectarian fest of the summer will need little or no excuse to kick some poor Gael to death for wearing a Creggan football top. Will Joe attend the house and carry the coffin? Will he offer his apology to the family for his loose allegations?
Creggan GAA are a wonderful club built in a community who are no strangers to the violence of loyalists or the police. The tradition of Irish nationalism stretches right the way back to the young men who left Cargin and Creggan to go and fight for Irish freedom in the GPO in 1916. There members and former members have had family die as a direct result of the occupation of Ireland by the British.
Peadar Heffron grew up in a republican community with many of his family being very active in republican politics. He had numerous friends who became prominent members of the republican movement. He also has family who are at the very top of the republican leadership within Sinn Fein. Peadar attended Irish republican folk nights along with his friends and cousins, banging bottles and singing songs in Cargin club and other locations. He also attended family weddings in which prominent members of the Movement where present and who report orders having been sent down that Peadar was not to be touched at the function because he had joined the police. Bear in mind that this happened long before Sinn Fein endorsed policing.

People who now sit and selectively review the past through rose tinted glasses would need to look at what happened 15 years or more ago through the lens of the people who were actually there. What it looked like to the naked eye was that this man had betrayed community, a way of life and a tradition going back hundreds of years. In their search for redemption they might also stumble across a truth that they might not be able to handle. What we have known for years is that the British government have been complicit in the killing of its own citizens in the northern state. Their DNA is imprinted on countless killings. They also have been up to their necks in killings carried out by republicans using agents as proxies to carry out the dirty work.

The story of Peadar Heffron makes for sorry reading like many other stories that have been told across this island since the occupation of our country. A blind man in a storm can see what happened. Are people’s memories so short that they don’t see it every time; Kitson type strategies are alive and well.
When Joe and Peadar meet up for dinner at Christmas they might well put a little thought into current and past strategies by British intelligence services in the North, places like Kenya and the middle east. They might also ask who pushed a young easy led lad with an ego as big as a house to allow himself not only to join the police but to be prominent in the promotion of the Irish language and Gaelic Football within the force. That all said, the biggest question that stands out is who gave him the go-ahead to move home to an area in which republican activity persisted. Bearing in mind that his home where the device went off was only a few miles from where an attack took place on the British Army less than a year before which resulted in the only loss by the occupying colonial military since the Provisional ceasefire. British Intelligence are all over this. The spider's web has been well spun. One just has to look closely enough.

Dominic Óg McGlinchey is a republican commentator. 

Patriot OrTraitor?

Dominic Óg McGlinchey, delivers a sober take on the fate of Peadar Heffron whose situation has been at the centre of a public controversy this week. There are times in life when one should know to hold one’s tongue. Surely this was the case last week when Joe Brolly took it upon himself to raise the plight of Peadar Heffron currently living in exile from his native parish as a direct result of joining a British paramilitary police force in the occupied six counties.
Joe who supposedly loves the Gaelic sporting culture has now endangered the lives of many club members along the shores of lough Neagh. It’s not as if they hadn’t seen enough murder at the hands of loyalist death squads at the behest of those who shared the uniform which young Peadar came to wear. One does not need to look too far for the tell-tale signs that those who killed Bellaghy GAA chairman Sean Brown used these very roads and hinterlands to make good their escape during that particular sectarian murder.
British security services have been turning on and off this murder tap for many years. The people of the area stretching from Staffordstown all the way to Mid Ulster knows this only too well. This countryside is littered with family names, Davys, Gallaghers, O’Hagans, Caseys, Stratherns, Ryans, Browns and many, many more who suffered as direct result of this campaign. This campaign also led to communities living in absolute fear. Citizens within these communities were shunned in pubs and social clubs for being seen to be friendly with republicans and in turn might have seen you being targeted for murder.
Special credit must go to Mr Brolly for giving loyalists the information, which usually comes from the mouth of the very reverend William Mc Crea, alleging that members of the Creggan community might be complicit in the attack on Constable Heffron. We only know too well that those loyalists during the sectarian fest of the summer will need little or no excuse to kick some poor Gael to death for wearing a Creggan football top. Will Joe attend the house and carry the coffin? Will he offer his apology to the family for his loose allegations?
Creggan GAA are a wonderful club built in a community who are no strangers to the violence of loyalists or the police. The tradition of Irish nationalism stretches right the way back to the young men who left Cargin and Creggan to go and fight for Irish freedom in the GPO in 1916. There members and former members have had family die as a direct result of the occupation of Ireland by the British.
Peadar Heffron grew up in a republican community with many of his family being very active in republican politics. He had numerous friends who became prominent members of the republican movement. He also has family who are at the very top of the republican leadership within Sinn Fein. Peadar attended Irish republican folk nights along with his friends and cousins, banging bottles and singing songs in Cargin club and other locations. He also attended family weddings in which prominent members of the Movement where present and who report orders having been sent down that Peadar was not to be touched at the function because he had joined the police. Bear in mind that this happened long before Sinn Fein endorsed policing.

People who now sit and selectively review the past through rose tinted glasses would need to look at what happened 15 years or more ago through the lens of the people who were actually there. What it looked like to the naked eye was that this man had betrayed community, a way of life and a tradition going back hundreds of years. In their search for redemption they might also stumble across a truth that they might not be able to handle. What we have known for years is that the British government have been complicit in the killing of its own citizens in the northern state. Their DNA is imprinted on countless killings. They also have been up to their necks in killings carried out by republicans using agents as proxies to carry out the dirty work.

The story of Peadar Heffron makes for sorry reading like many other stories that have been told across this island since the occupation of our country. A blind man in a storm can see what happened. Are people’s memories so short that they don’t see it every time; Kitson type strategies are alive and well.
When Joe and Peadar meet up for dinner at Christmas they might well put a little thought into current and past strategies by British intelligence services in the North, places like Kenya and the middle east. They might also ask who pushed a young easy led lad with an ego as big as a house to allow himself not only to join the police but to be prominent in the promotion of the Irish language and Gaelic Football within the force. That all said, the biggest question that stands out is who gave him the go-ahead to move home to an area in which republican activity persisted. Bearing in mind that his home where the device went off was only a few miles from where an attack took place on the British Army less than a year before which resulted in the only loss by the occupying colonial military since the Provisional ceasefire. British Intelligence are all over this. The spider's web has been well spun. One just has to look closely enough.

Dominic Óg McGlinchey is a republican commentator.