Category Archives: Misc

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Yesterday.

In the Dáil.

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams, under Standing Order 46 (1), made a personal explanation to the Dáil in relation to the shooting of Brian Stack.

Father-of-three Mr Stack was aged 48 and the chief prison officer in Portlaoise prison when he was shot in the neck on March 25th, 1983, after attending a boxing match in the National Stadium.

He died 18 months after the shooting which left him paralysed and with severe brain damage.

During this address in the Dáil yesterday, Mr Adams said:

“For the record, I will again set out the sequence of events and my efforts to assist the family of Brian Stack. Austin Stack approached me in 2013 seeking acknowledgment for what happened to his father.

I met Austin on a number of occasions over the course of the following months, mostly on my own. Austin and his brother Oliver made it clear to me, personally and said publicly, that they were not looking for people to go to jail. They wanted acknowledgement and they wanted closure.

There is a note of that initial meeting, and I am releasing that today.

The computer stamp shows that this note was typed into the computer on 16 May, seven days after the first meeting with the family. Austin Stack speaks of his commitment to restorative justice processes. I believe him.

I told the Stack brothers that I could help only on the basis of confidentiality. This was the same basis on which I have tried to help other families. Both Austin and Oliver agreed to respect the confidential nature of the process we were going to try to put in place.

Without that commitment, I could never have pursued the meeting they were seeking, which took place later that summer.

The brothers were given a statement at that meeting by a former IRA leader. That statement was made available publicly by the Stack family. The statement acknowledged that the IRA was responsible for their father’s death, that it regretted it took so long to clarify this for them, that the shooting of Brian Stack was not authorised by the IRA leadership, and that the person who gave the instruction was disciplined.

The statement expressed sorrow for the pain and hurt the Stack family suffered.

Following the meeting, the family acknowledged that the process “has provided us with some answers that three separate Garda investigations failed to deliver. We would like to thank Deputy Adams for the role he has played in facilitating this outcome”.

Since then, the position of Austin Stack has changed.

In 2013, Austin gave me the names of four people whom he believed might have information on the case. He told me that he had been given these names by journalistic and Garda sources.

Austin denies giving me names. Why on earth would I say that I received the names from him if I did not?Continue reading →

bride

The bride literally can’t drive.

Sarah Neville writes:

On tonight’s Don’t Tell The Bride, Dublin bride Tracey must face her biggest fear on the way to her wedding ceremony… driving a car! Dressed in her white gown and veil, Bride Tracey is surprised when a driving instructor arrives on her doorstep and she finds out she’ll be driving herself to the ceremony. There’s only one problem – she ‘literally’ can’t drive!

*swerve*

Don’t Tell The Bride at  9.35pm on RTÉ2.

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Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald; Enda Kenny meeting Sgt Maurice McCabe during the local and European elections in May 2014

You may recall the recent protected disclosures made by Garda whistleblowers to the Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald.

They were reportedly sent by Sgt Maurice McCabe and Supt Dave Taylor, former head of the Garda Press Office – with Supt Taylor stating he was instrumental in the campaign to discredit Sgt McCabe.

He’s also claimed both former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan and the current Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan knew about the campaign.

You may also recall how Ms Fitzgerald appointed Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill to review these disclosures.

Further to this…

Last night, the Ms Fitzgerald released a statement stating she had received the report from Justice O’Neill.

She said:

The Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, Frances Fitzgerald TD, today received the Report of Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill of his Review relating to two protected disclosures which were made to her by members of An Garda Síochána in early October.

Mr Justice O’Neill was asked to review the allegations of wrongdoing contained in the disclosures, to make any inquiries with persons or bodies that he considered appropriate in relation to the review and to report to the Tánaiste on the conclusion of the review, including any recommendations which he may consider necessary in relation to any further action which may be appropriate and warranted to address the allegations.

The Report sets out in detail the allegations contained in the protected disclosures. I

n view of the nature of those allegations and the fact that third parties are mentioned the Report is being referred to the Attorney General for her advice on how to proceed, including the question of what material might properly be put in the public domain, having regard to the rights of all concerned.

The Tánaiste is very grateful to Mr Justice O’Neill for carrying out this work so expeditiously and presenting his Report, which will form the basis for ensuring that the protected disclosures are properly addressed.

When the advice from the Attorney General is received, the Tánaiste will bring forward proposals to Government to this end. The Tánaiste is not in a position to make any further comment at this time.

Hmmm.

Statement on the Report of Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill of his Review relating to two Protected Disclosures (Department of Justice)

Previously: ‘Word Came Down From The Top That He Be Crushed’ 

‘They Tried To Blame Maurice For Everything. It Was Bullshit’

Rollingnews

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From top: The Ministry of Truth in ‘1984‘ (1956); Dan Boyle

With so many of George Orwell’s predictions having come to pass, have we any hope of bringing about a more sane, more just World?

Dan Boyle writes:

In 1948 George Orwell wrote his dystopian novel ‘1984’, the title of which was a slight re-ordering of the year when he was writing his work.

Written as a prophetic warning on the dangers of authoritarianism, I suspect he would now be saddened at how many of his fears have come to be realised. How distant the World has become detached from his cherished ideals of social democracy.

Big Brother has become very very real. An all pervasive surveillance, as revealed through the whistleblowing of Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, has seen the commodification of personal information to the extent that unseen, distant forces now know more about of us than we often know about ourselves.

The extent of how much information on the individual has been accumulated now means the fear that exists for many, is that it is not the direct fear of exposure most are afraid of, but the awareness that those who have acquired this information get to decide the context in which it is set thus controlling its interpretation.

Our post factual World is sadly being being mirrored in Orwell’s concepts of Newspeak and the Ministry of Truth. Words are weapons manipulated by their authors to distort far more than to inform.

Truth has become divisible. It deliberately is being attributed as lacking in depth. This truth by its nature can never be fixed and must ever be transient. Truth in this cheapened form has become a currency.

Even when prognosticating on the geopolitical World of 1984 Orwell seemed fairly on the money. He envisioned three superpowers of Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. Oceania being the US and its European vassal states, with Britain designated as Airstrip One. Eurasia was Russia with its Eastern European satellites. Orwell was most impressive in predicting the superpower status of China as Eastasia, particularly as Mao Tse Tung had yet to take power there in 1948.

Among the scarier of predictions Orwell made on these superpowers was on the fluidity of their interactions with each other. Wars of convenience would be constantly fought between them with ever shifting alliances. This seems a fairly close approximation of what’s happening at the moment in Syria and in Yemen.

Of course these wars became deniable when their theatres and the alliances fighting them changed.

With so many of Orwell’s predicaions having come to pass, have we any hope of bringing about a more sane, more just World? The unquenchably hopeful idiot in me wants to get Orwell to ghost write a utopian novel pointing a better way ahead. Come in 2061 your time is now.

Help rid us of infotainment. Gives us back our real time information. Let us be able to think again on the basis of facts that are proven not supposed. Give us some truth.

If it isn’t asking too much maybe we could return to a World where knowledge is gained through reading books, rather than by watching YouTube videos.

Orwell wrote most of 1984 on a remote island off the coast of Scotland. Perhaps an island off the coast of Ireland could be the place in which the antidote to 1984 can be written?

Dan Boyle is a former Green Party TD and Senator. Follow Dan on Twitter: @sendboyle

Pic: MGM

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Current and former employees of Independent News and Media (INM) and their supporters demonstrating against significant pension cuts at INM in Dublin on Monday

As a great-granddaughter of William Martin Murphy – founder of Independent News & Media (INM) – I and many of his relatives are shocked and disgusted at the behaviour of the board of INM in reference to the pension debacle.

Murphy was a fair and honest man and would never have taken away his workers’ pension rights. As a country we seem to have lost decency in a lot of business behaviour.

Ann Young,
Newcastle,
Co Wicklow.

INM pension scandal (The Irish Times letters page)

Previously: A Curtain Fall

Rollingnews