     IRISH NEWS ROUND-UP
     http://irlnet.com/rmlist/
     
     Weekend 31 Jan/1 Feb, 1998
    

1.   McAliskey decision shelved?
2.   New call for bomb files
3.   Feature: The Wexford Republic's Mighty Wave
4.   Book review: Lagan enclave
5.   Urgent action required for H-Block 3
6.   Blair visit to DC marked by vigil and fast 
     
_______________________________________________________________
     
     
>>>> McAliskey decision shelved?
     
     
     Irish civil rights leader and former Member of
     Parliament Bernadette McAliskey said this weekend that
     she feared the British government would not now move to
     release her daughter Roisin in the light of the
     announcement of a new inquiry into Bloody Sunday.
     
     On 2 January, a British magistrate ordered that Roisin
     be extradited to Germany in connction with an IRA
     attack on a British Army base in Osnabruck in 1996.  
     An appeal against the extradition order is being
     made on the basis of extensive evidence proving that
     Roisin was in the North of Ireland at the
     time the German extradition warrant claims she was in
     Germany preparing for the attack.
     
     Roisin's mother, who was at the civil rights march
     attacked by British troops on Bloody Sunday, said that
     despite the announcement on Thursday of a new inquiry
     into the murder of 14 civilians on that day in Derry in
     1972, nothing  had changed.
     
     "Twenty six years ago we marched against internment,
     special powers and the state.  Half my lifetime ago
     there I was coming down that hill full of myself, and
     Roisin six months old.
     
     "Nothing has changed - and my six-month old baby is now
     a woman with her own eight month baby in a British
     hospital awaiting extradition."
     
     Roisin is being treated in a psychiatric hospital
     in London for post-traumatic stress caused by her
     imprisonment while pregnant in a maximum security
     prison unit. If sent to Germany, Roisin is likely to
     spend the next two years in prison separated from her
     baby daughter without even coming to trial.
     
     Last week, the legal bar to British Home Secretary Jack
     Straw making his decision expired. He can now order
     Roisin's extradition at any time. Straw has appointed a
     Home Office psychiatrist to examine Roisin in the
     psychiatric hospital where she is recovering from the
     trauma of her interrogation, detention and
     imprisonment. The hospital's psychiatrists, the leading
     experts on post-traumatic stress disorder, have
     certified that the extradition could cause permanent
     emotional and psychological damage to Roisin.
     
     Straw will undoubtedly wait for the Home Office
     psychiatrist's report before making his final ruling.
     To date, that psychiatrist hasn't made any contact with
     the hospital or made an appointment to examine Roisin.
     
     It is widely thought, however, that the whole Home
     Office psychiatric examination is just a charade, and
     that Jack Straw will make his ruling on purely
     political grounds.
     
     Roisin mother has expressed satisfaction with the
     British government's decision for a new investigation
     into Bloody Sunday, but said that "I don't want to wait
     twenty-six years for justice for my daughter, Roisin."
     
     McAliskey stated that "Since I was on the speaker's
     platform when the British paratroopers opened fire on
     Bloody Sunday I am pleased that the British government
     has finally afforded at least a measure of justice to
     the families of the men who were killed that day."
     
     But I don't want to wait another twenty-six years for
     justice for my daughter, Roisin."  McAliskey feared the
     announcement could mean further delays in ending the
     nightmare for her daughter, the focus of an
     international human rights campaign.
     
     "We had expected to get the good or bad news by the end
     of January," she said. "I expect they'll drag their
     feet now until those who are upset by the Bloody Sunday
     move settle down."
     
     
     NO CASE
     
     Roisin was working for the Irish World Citizen
     Organization, with headquarters in Dungannon,
     throughout the time she is supposed to have been in
     Germany. This is substantiated by time sheets and the
     testimony of her supervisors.
     
     The German government has no eyewitness identification
     evidence against Roisin. Its only supposed witness
     retracted his identification on German television. When
     three other witnesses were shown photos of Roisin
     McAliskey, photos taken while she was being
     interrogated by the RUC, the witnesses categorically
     denied that she was the woman they had seen
     
     Last week, Irish television broadcast an interview with
     Mr. Beckermann, the witness who had the most contact
     with the group of young Irish who are suspected of the
     attack on the British base. He drove them to the
     village and drove them back from the pub after they had
     had too much to drink to drive safely. He said that he
     had been interviewed by German police the day before
     they issued the extradition warrant. When shown the
     photos of Roisin, he had said this could not possibly
     be the woman he had seen. He could definitely recognize
     that woman's photo, he had said, but this was not it.
     
     And speaking for the first time to the Irish or British
     media, Roisin's German lawyer said on January 19 that
     the German authorities did not even know of the existence of
     Roisin for more than five months after the attack on
     the British army base in Germany which now forms the
     basis of their extradition process against her.
     
     Elka Nell told RTE Radio One that she does not want
     witnesses from the Six Counties who can provide an
     alibi for Roisin McAliskey to be interviewed by the RUC
     police there. Instead she hopes they will travel to
     Germany and give evidence to the proceedings there. She
     said she did not trust the RUC, who she believed had
     initiated and encouraged the German police (BKA) to
     issue an extradition warrant against Roisin McAliskey
     four months after the attack on Osnabruck British army
     barracks.
    

_______________________________________________________________


>>>> New call for bomb files


     Sinn Fein TD Caoimhghin O Caolain yesterday demanded
     the publication of government files on the 1974
     atrocity which caused the single biggest loss of life
     in the troubles.
     
     The Cavan/Monaghan TD said he wanted Irish justice
     minister John O'Donoghue and Britain's governor in
     Ireland Mo Mowlam to open the files on the Dublin and
     Monaghan bombings of May 1974, which killed 33 people.
     
     Mr O Caolain said that, in the wake of the inquiry into
     Bloody Sunday, information on who the authorities
     believe was behind the attack should be unveiled.
     
     "Evidence points to the involvement of the British
     military intelligence agents in the bombings, but the
     cover-up continues to this day."

_______________________________________________________________

     
>>>> Feature: The Wexford Republic's Mighty Wave
     
     
     ----------------------------------------------
     Fionntn O Silleabhin looks at the 1798 Rebellion in
     Wexford which led the way in that revolutionary year
     ----------------------------------------------
     
     
     
     
     1998 sees a 'mighty wave' of activity 'sweeping o'er
     the land' of County Wexford. Over 400 commemorative
     events have been planned across the county which was
     most involved in the rebellion of 1798. And it was
     there that the short lived 'Wexford Republic' was
     established in the summer of that year.
     
     Wexford was one of many counties in a broad crescent
     outside Dublin where, as part of a nationwide plan of
     campaign, government reinforcements were to have been
     prevented from reaching the capital  which was in
     effect the nerve centre of the rebellion.
     
     Contrary to many revisionist interpretations it was not
     a 'sectarian', 'spontaneous', 'agrarian', 'peasant', or
     'disorganised' affair. Rather it was the result of a
     highly politicised, disciplined and well organised
     revolutionary movement in the South East in the 1790s
     based on the Republican principles of the 'Rights of
     Man', the American Declaration of Independence and the
     French Revolution.
     
     Throughout County Wexford, many had cropped their hair
     in solidarity with their comrades in France, leading to
     the term 'croppies'. Such people were easy targets for
     the North Cork Militias' notorious policy of
     'pitchcapping' in the Gorey and Ferns area in the
     spring of '98.
     
     Orange Lodges were very active and numerous in the
     North of the County, but there were sharp divisions
     between the Conservative wing of Protestanism led by
     Ely and Ogle and the liberal wing, led by men such as
     Bagenal Harvey, John Colclough and Cornelius Grogan.
     The latter would later join their Catholic neighbours
     in the insurrection which would see up to 20
     Protestants in leadership roles in the Wexford United
     Irish movement.
     
     Martial law had been declared nationwide on 30 March
     and during the week preceding the rising over 30
     Catholic Yeomen, whose loyalty was questioned, were
     shot on Dunlavin Green, County Wicklow on 24 May. The
     following day, 28 prisoners were executed in the ball
     alley at Carnew on the Wexford border.
     
     The arrival of the notorious North Cork Militia in the
     county finally goaded the people to such a point that
     the priests could no longer pull back their
     congregations. (Approximately 77 of the 88 Catholic
     priests were pro-loyalist and rebel priests such as Fr
     John Murphy or Fr Mogue Kearns were described as the
     'faeces of the church' by Bishop Caulfield.)
     
     On the eve of the rising, the command structure of the
     United Irishmen had been thrown into disarray with the
     arrest of Protestant leader Anthony Perry. Breaking
     under two days of torture at Gorey, he revealed the
     names of the leaders. The government could now see how
     broad-based the movement was and was extremely worried.
     
     On 26 May, John Hay arrived with a despatch from the
     United Irishmen in Dublin, giving the signal to begin.
     Around the same time, the Camolin Cavalry had burned
     170 homes as well as Fr John Murphy's chapel at
     Boolavogue. In the raids for arms on loyalist homes
     which now became a priority, a government magistrate
     named Bookey was killed by a group led by the
     previously reluctant Fr Murphy. That evening, 26 May,
     the heather was set ablaze around the Harrow as a
     signal for rebellion. The Wexford rising had begun.
     
     The rebellion met with a string of early successes. On
     Whit Sunday, 27 May, 106 members of the North Cork
     Militia were annihilated on Oulart Hill  a stunning
     achievement for non-professional fighting men. Led by
     Edward Roche of Shelmalier, this ignited a series of
     rapid victories which gave the rebels control of almost
     the entire county. On 28 May, Enniscorthy was captured
     by a 6000 strong group of rebels under the leadership
     of Fr Michael Murphy and 18 year old Miles Byrne of
     Monaseed. Two days later, Wexford town fell, which led
     to the establishment of Ireland's first republic.
     
     This experiment in representative government, which was
     almost obliterated from historical record, expressed
     the democratic dimension and the modernity of the
     United Irish project. Lasting over three weeks under a
     leadership council of four Catholics and four
     Protestants, it had a senate of 500 people including
     two from each parish. This was to represent the broad
     public support for the republic and administer the
     county under existing war time conditions. With its
     committee of public safety, passwords, printing press
     for proclamations. rationing arrangements for food,
     district committee and even a rebel navy, it was a
     substantial achievement amidst the hurly burly of a
     fully-fledged rebellion.
     
     After taking control of Wexford town, the rebels then
     held a Council of War on Windmill Hill, splitting the
     army into three divisions, under the overall command of
     Bagenal Harvey with the plan to advance on Dublin and
     Munster simultaneously.
     
     However, casualties began to mount with 250 rebels lost
     trying to take Bunclody and many others at the Battle
     of Tubberneering as the pikemen prepared to take Gorey.
     
     5 June saw the most tragic losses when an army of
     10-15,000 under the command of Bagenal Harvey and John
     Kelly from Kilanne tried to take New Ross. With few
     weapons or experienced leaders, between 6-7000 rebels
     were killed and in one of the government's worst war
     crimes a makeshift hospital full of wounded rebels was
     burned by government forces. After the battle, Colonel
     Robert Crawford praised the valour of the United
     Ireland saying "he had never seen troops attack with
     more enthusiasm than the rebels did".
     
     7 June saw a change to a more militant leadership.
     Edward Roche's proclamation on that day exhorted Irish
     people to 'not let a difference in religious sentiments
     cause difference among the people' and in a rousing
     speech asked the question, 'what power can resist men
     fighting for their liberty?'.
     
     Following the capture of Gorey, the rebels met with
     strong resistance at Arklow. Lacking leadership, and
     with government forces well dug in, they were forced to
     retreat south, with over 500 casualties.
     
     Having failed to spread rebellion beyond the County
     borders, they prepared for a last major stand as
     government forces under General Lake had encircled the
     county. The spot chosen was Vinegar Hill overlooking
     the town of Enniscorthy. Here, between 1020,000 men,
     women and children gathered. Poorly armed with pikes
     they were no match for an equivalent number of
     government forces who had almost surrounded the hill
     and who possessed 400 coachloads of ammunition and 20
     pieces of artillery.
     
     General Lake spurned the idea of negotiation.
     Annihiliation was his sole aim. In a rousing and
     emotional speech, Fr John Murphy reflected on the
     previous month's display of 'valour, faith and
     patriotism', of the 'God-given right to be free' and
     insisted that 'the road we have taken is the road we
     must follow'. 500 died in the ensuing battle. However,
     most rebels managed to escape through 'Needham's Gap'
     after which a massacre of civilians took place, as well
     as the now familiar policy of rape of women camp
     followers by the Dunbartonshire Regiment  policy
     decisions which were sanctioned at the highest level.
     
     In all, the Wexford Republic had fought 21 battles and
     nationwide casualties numbered between 20-30,000 with a
     maximum of 3,000 inflicted by the rebels.
     
     In the North of the county, the more militant
     leadership proposed to embark on a strategy of
     guerrilla warfare to continue the struggle and hold out
     in the mountains of North Wexford/South Wicklow in the
     hope of an anticipated landing by the French. In the
     'war of the flea' approach, they went on to attack the
     Ancient Britons at Ballyellis on 29 June and Hunblys
     Highlanders at Ballyvillen on 2 July. The
     strategy taken on Croghin mountain also involved
     crossing Ireland and linking up with their comrades in
     Ulster. By Bastille Day (14 July), they had managed to
     reach County Louth. Other units had reached the
     midlands. On this day a last stand was made at
     Ballyboghill in North County Dublin which resulted in
     many casualties.
     
     After 50 days, the rebels were finally beaten as Lake's
     forces tracked them down. Leaders such as Garrett
     Byrne, Kyan, Roche and Fitzgerald managed to reach the
     sanctuary of the Wicklow mountains. Fr John Murphy
     reached the midlands with a force of 2000, only to be
     captured and hanged at Tullow. In the 'White terror'
     which followed the rising the 'Black mob' terrorised
     Wexford in a hunt for suspected sympathies.
     
     Many leaders such as Bagenal Harvey, John Colclough,
     John Kelly and Anthony Perry were executed. Fitzgerald,
     Garrett Byrne and Wicklow's Michael Dwyer were exiled
     and Miles Byrne the 18 year old rebel leader from
     Monaseed escaped to France where he played a prominent
     role in the Napolenoic wars of Europe and wrote his
     memoirs of '98 in the 1850s. With the experience of a
     veteran field commander and a sense of objectivity over
     time and distance, he noted the 'bravery', 'loyalty',
     'discipline', 'cohesion' and 'non-sectarian' approach
     of his former comrades but was critical of the
     'gentlemanly nature' of the rebel approach, believing
     them to have been 'too willing to negotiate', accept
     government 'protections' and 'non existent government
     good faith'. He also lamented the failure of the
     leaders to largely move from a conventional to
     guerrilla warfare strategy.
     
     According to acclaimed Wexford '98 historian, Daniel
     Gahan, 'in the end, this failure may well have been
     their undoing'.
     
     However, as poet Seamus Heaney put it in 'Requiem for
     the Croppies'  'the barley grew up from the graves'
     and the spirit of '98 lived on, with many Wexford
     people giving their lives for Irish freedom over the
     past 200 years right up to the tragic deaths of
     Volunteers George Keegan and Patrick Parle at
     Edentubber during the border campaign and Gorey man,
     Volunteer Ed O'Brien in London, in 1996.
     
     Coinciding with Volunteer Ed O'Brien's 2nd anniversary
     and in commemoration of '98 Republicans will again be
     addressed on Vinegar Hill  this time by Sinn Fin
     President, Gerry Adams MP on Sunday 22 February.
     
     
_______________________________________________________________

     
>>>> Book review: Lagan enclave
     
     
     A History of Conflict in the Short Strand
     1886 - 1997
     Published by The Ballymacarrett Research Group
     
     
     
     Over the past two years The Ballymacarrett Research
     Group (BRG) has been engaged in extensive research
     which has resulted in a book on the history of the
     Short Strand area of Belfast. Set in Ballymacarrett,
     just east of the Lagan, the district has been to the
     fore in the bitter legacy of conflict that has besieged
     Belfast since 1886.
     
     The book is an invaluable record of an area that has
     both contributed and suffered in conflict since it
     became established as St Matthew's parish in 1872.
     
     During the period of 1920-1922 the area was often
     described in the press as 'the most dangerous in
     Belfast', a comment borne out by the fact that
     seventy-six men, women and children from both
     communities died in this two year period in
     Ballymacarrett, thirty-two of whom were parishioners of
     St Matthew's.
     
     The BRG has for the first time documented the daily
     onslaught through which people had to live. These
     chapters alone provide an invaluable base of research
     for any person interested in Irish history. Also
     covered is the 1922 IRA offensive carried out by the
     'regular' IRA forces in the North with the full backing
     of the provisional government in Dublin.
     
     The 1930s covers the reorganisation of the IRA in
     Belfast, and the part played by IRA Volunteers from the
     Short Strand. Once again BRG has made the effort to
     record the overall situation in the 1930s in relation
     to socialism, and have included the role played by men
     in Belfast, and especially Ballymacarrett, in the
     Spanish Civil War; another aspect of history
     unfortunately overlooked.
     
     From internment in the 1930s and 1940s to the all-out
     conflict in the 1970s, the Short Strand has been to the
     fore. It was the ''Battle of St. Matthew's' in June
     1970 that saw the 'Provisional' IRA on the streets of
     Belfast for the first time. Even this now famous
     all-night gun battle is being covered in detail for the
     first time. It was to lead to the ''Falls Road Curfew'
     of July 1970.
     
     Throughout the seventies, which the book covers in
     detail, the Short Strand witnessed many gun and bomb
     attacks, and unfortunately many deaths. In 1972 alone,
     18 people were killed around the district, including 8
     IRA volunteers. Up unto the ceasefire period of 1994
     Mountpottinger RUC Barracks was one of the most
     attacked RUC stations in Belfast. The area's closely
     knit community also suffered from sectarian killings,
     yet it has endured rebuilding and growth. It is worth
     noting that the first Belfast IRA Volunteer to die,
     which was in 1916 in Kerry, was born in the Short
     Strand district. The social factor is entwined
     throughout, making the book appealing to anyone with an
     interest in Irish history.
     
     
_______________________________________________________________

      NOTICES
      
_______________________________________________________________
     
     
>>>> Urgent action required for H-Block 3
     
     
     A sign-on letter is being circulated in Congress
     calling on President Clinton to grant bail to the
     H-Block 3 in San Francisco, three Irish political
     prisoners held without bail in California pending
     extradition to a British jail in the north of Ireland.
     
     Kevin Barry Artt, Pol Brennan and Terry Kirby need your
     help.
     
     Call your local member of Congress and ask him / her to
     sign on to the letter
     
     The letter is being circulated by the following
     Congresspeople Representative Jim Walsh, Chair,
     Congressional Friends of Ireland The Co-Chairs of the
     Ad-Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs: Representative Ben
     Gilman, Representative Peter King, Representative
     Richard Neal, Representative Tom Manton
     
     Tell Your Congressperson to contact one of the above
     offices about signing on to the letter in support of
     the H-Block 3
     
     TELL THE WHITE HOUSE THAT YOU SUPPORT
     THE RECOMMENDATIONS
     IN THE
     CONGRESSIONAL LETTER
     
     President Bill Clinton
     The White House
     Washington, DC 20500
     Tel: (202) 456-1414  --  Fax: (202) 456-2461
     email: president@whitehouse.gov
     
     TIME IS CRITICAL
     
     THE PRESIDENT NEEDS TO HEAR FROM YOU BEFORE
     TONY BLAIR
     ARRIVES ON WEDNESDAY 4 FEBRUARY 1998
     
_______________________________________________________________
     
     
>>>> Blair visit to DC marked by vigil and fast 
     
     
     During the last month Nationalist communities in the north of Ireland
     have been terrorized by the stepped-up systematic killing spree by
     loyalist paramilitary gangs.
     
     In recent weeks, eight innocent people were killed, keeping with the
     loyalist motto "Any Catholic will do."
     
     Gerry Coleman, Director of the Political Education Department for
     Irish Northern Aid said "The sectarian slaughter of innocent people
     is nothing new.  It is a product of an undemocratic and artificial
     statelet that must go."
     
     British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, will be visiting Washington, DC
     on February 3-5.  Beginning at 7:00 p.m. on February 2, Irish
     Northern Aid will sponsor a 24-hour vigil and fast outside of the
     British Embassy.  The vigil will have nationwide participation.  The
     final hour will include a Candlelight Remembrance Ceremony while
     participants observe a minute of silence for the murdered victims
     during this recent phase of the 'peace process.'
     
     It is time for all peoples to recognize the horrors that are
     continuing unabated in Ireland.  It is time for justice and a
     legitimate peace process.
     
     Contact: paddyn@erols.com



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