Having just bought a fleet of 15 top-spec black Audi A6 for ministers at around €80k a pop, along with committing to around €200k a year a pop for three Garda drivers, govt is now buying a new €50m jet.
http://seachranaidhe-irishandproud.blogspot.com/2022/08/dup-being-allowed-to-scatter-good.html
It is a near certainty that the Irish Government has files which show that Joseph Mains, the Warden of Kincora, brought a number of boys to Lord Louis Mountbatten’s castle in the Republic of Ireland for sexual abuse. One of the boys killed himself a few months later.
Last December Taoiseach Leo Varadkar had to slap down Priti Patel, now serving as Britain’s Home Secretary, when she threatened the Republic with food shortages if the Irish Government did not drop demands for the Irish backstop. Varadkar reminded Patel of the starvation that had engulfed Ireland in the 19th century and said he hoped she would think more carefully about what she said in the future.
If Britain tries to bully the Republic over Brexit, or deploy dirty tricks, Dublin could retaliate by releasing damaging information which its police force holds about Lord Mountbatten.
If Britain does not get what it wants out of the forthcoming Brexit negotiations with the EU, Anglo-Irish relations could deteriorate again. However, the Irish Government may hold a file which could be used to severely embarrass the British Establishment if Johnson decides to play a heavy hand, e.g. by deploying the army of dirty trick experts in MI5 and MI6 at his disposal.
Boris Johnson deems her a suitable person to serve as Home Secretary. As such, she is now in political control of MI5.
Last August Village published an article revealing that a boy abused by Lord Louis Mountbatten in August of 1977 committed suicide a few months later. He had been taken by car to Classiebawn, Mountbatten’s castle in the Republic of Ireland from Kincora Boys’ Home in Belfast. The man responsible for trafficking him was Joseph Mains, the Warden of Kincora, also a paedophile.
Mains was a British agent and an asset of both MI5 (Home Office) and MI6 (Foreign Office). Mains had to cross the Irish Border to get to Classiebawn.
Village also revealed that the British historian Andrew Lownie had sought the Garda file on the assassination of Mountbatten in August of 1979 while preparing a book on the Mountbattens. Lownie was rebuffed politely. His book has since become an international bestseller and was listed by the Daily Mail as one of the best biographies of 2019.
Lownie’s book contained interviews with two other boys who were abused by Mountbatten.
They emailed Lownie on 7 October 2019 stating that files ‘generated during the course of a criminal investigation’ are considered confidential and hence they would not be releasing them. It is significant that they did not deny that the logs still exist.
Lownie responded by pointing out that the logs he was looking for related to August 1977, i.e. two years prior to Mountbatten’s assassination. There could not have been an investigation of a ‘criminal’ nature in 1977 into an assassination that did not take place until 1979.
The Gardai did not – and clearly have no intention of – releasing the logs.
The Mains’ log (or indeed logs) are political dynamite, even forty years on, especially with the Royal Family reeling from the Prince Andrew-Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
Boris Johnson should be told in no uncertain terms that MI5 and MI6 are despised in the Republic and it would be folly to unleash them to spy on, bully or coerce the Irish government during Brexit negotiations; most particularly, they should not use their influence in the media – on either side of the Irish Sea – to besmirch Irish politicians. Village has evidence that one of the most senior media figures in Ireland was an ally of MI6. That particular individual (who gave money to Dr Martin O’Donoghue which the latter used to attempt to bribe two Cabinet ministers – Sean Doherty and Ray MacSharry in the 1980s) has faded from the scene but it is unlikely he was not replaced. Village has referred to him in the past as the ‘Paymaster’.
The money was to be made available by ‘The Paymaster’, an MI6 asset in the Republic if the two ministers agreed. Both men rejected the inducement. A copy of the transcript of the attempt by O’Donoghue to bribe MacSharry emerged in 1983. It ended O’Donoghue’s political career save for some work he did for Des O’Malley’s Progressive Democrats.
British spies and their agents are also blamed by all and sundry in Ireland for the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974 which led to the death of 33 people; the atrocious Miami Showband massacre; the egregious assassination of the solicitor Patrick Finucane in 1989; and a multitude of other acts of violence and dirty tricks.
The Irish Government has traditionally viewed the British Embassy as a ‘nest of spies’. The most senior of politicians have never doubted that MI5 and MI6 recruited a host of treacherous agents inside the Gardai and the Irish civil service to let London know what they were doing.
Taoiseach Jack Lynch was convinced his administration was being betrayed by a traitor to PM Edward Heath’s government and asked Chief Superintendent John Fleming of the Special Branch to root out what he – Lynch – described as a ‘spy in the camp’. Lynch later alluded to the possibility British agents bombed Dublin in 1972 (a separate attack to the Dublin and Monaghan massacre).
Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave once told one of his ministers ‘Never trust the Brits’ before he set off to an EEC meeting.
There is a mountain of evidence that they did. Also view organisations such as The British-Irish Association as an MI5/6 intelligence gathering operation.
Haughey forbade his ministers from attending the British-Irish Association, an institution he believed was an MI5/6 intelligence gathering operation.
Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds, told British PM John Major not to listen to MI5 whom he distrusted and that he – Reynolds – would keep him straight about what was really happening in Ireland.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was angered at Britain’s refusal to release the files it held on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.
Meanwhile, GCHQ intrudes upon the privacy of Irish politicians and senior civil servants on a daily basis by tapping phones and intercepting emails and texts.
Even Garret FitzGerald, perhaps the most pro-British taoiseach of them all, admitted that he was aware that his phone might be tapped, something he presumably bristled at. FitzGerald was so embarrassed by his relationship with an MI6 asset called Brian Crozier that he made no mention of him in his otherwise extraordinarily comprehensive biographies, All in a Life and Just Garret. Crozier’s links to MI6 were made public decades ago. FitzGerald was an avid attendee of the British-Irish Association which Haughey so despised.
Bearing this sordid background in mind, the possibility that the Joe Mains’ logs almost certainly still exist and, if leaked, could severely damage the British Royal Family, should keep Johnson, Patel, MI5 and MI6 on their best behaviour during the ongoing Brexit process. If Fianna Fail returns to power next year, Micheal Martin will undoubtedly ask to see the file.
One person who would be most displeased if the Classiebawn logs were to be leaked is Garda Commissioner Drew Harris. Harris is a former RUC Special Branch officer who worked extensively with MI5 before he took over the Irish police.
To date, he has not intervened to have the logs of Mains’ visit to Classiebawn in August of 1977 extracted from the main file, copied and sent to Lownie. Instead, on 7 November the Gardai reverted to Lownie saying: ‘I wish to inform you that all such security logs form part of the Garda Investigation File, and for the reasons outlined in email of 7th October 2019 will not be released’.
Lownie is still pressing the Gardai for the logs.
Harris will presumably ensure that they do not disappear from the Mountbatten file.
If there are any British moles inside the Irish civil service, Drew is quite possibly the best man to root them out as he knows quite a lot about how his former colleagues in MI5 – who run the traitors – operate.
With many thanks to the: Village Magazine and Joseph de Burca for the original story
Albert Reynolds, Andrew Lownie, Charles Haughey, Garret FitzGerald, Jack Lynch, JOhn Major, Joseph Mains, kincora, Leo Varadkar, Louis Mountbatten, mi5, mi6
Theresa May has written to an Irish-American group in the US Congress, which expressed concerns about Brexit and protecting the Good Friday Agreement (GFA).
The US politicians contacted the prime minister and Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Leo Varadkar last month.
The 40-strong committee said it was clear some British politicians had “little knowledge” of the importance of the agreement.
The peace deal signed in 1998.
The agreement, also referred to as the Belfast Agreement, helped end decades of violence in Northern Ireland.
It also enshrined the birthright of all people in Northern Ireland to be recognised as Irish, British or both – but some human rights groups have said a no-deal Brexit could threaten those rights.
What is the Good Friday Agreement?
Brexit: Does the Irish peace accord rule out a hard border?
Good Friday Agreement – 20 years on
Republican congressman James T Walsh, who co-chairs the Protecting the Good Friday Agreement ad hoc committee in the US, has now published the letter he received from Mrs May.
Media captionThe Good Friday Agreement: A brief guide
In it, the prime minister said the government’s commitment to the 1998 agreement remains “steadfast – to the principles it embodies, the political institutions it seeks to establish and the rights that it guarantees”.
“No government that I lead will ever take risks with the hard won relative peace and stability that these agreements have established,” she added.
The US Congress group had expressed concerns about recent votes in the House of Commons, where the government’s Brexit deal was rejected because of the Irish border backstop: the insurance policy to maintain an open border unless and until another solution is found.
But the prime minister said: “While I appreciate the concerns expressed over the recent vote, the commitments we have set out remain unaffected.”
‘Irish America’
Mrs May also said the Northern Ireland Secretary, Karen Bradley, would welcome a discussion with a delegation from the United States when she is in Washington later this month.
Bruce Morrison, the other co-chair of the congressional committee, said he would be happy to meet Mrs Bradley.
“Brexit has taken the oxygen out the politics of Northern Ireland and any fall off in support for the Good Friday Agreement would only make matters worse,” he added.
The committee also said if there is a no-deal Brexit, “Irish America would work closely with its allies” in congress to shore up the Good Friday Agreement in any future trade negotiations between the United States and Great
With many thanks to: BBCNI for the original story
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, has told the Irish Parliament that the UK and Ireland must honour the Good Friday Agreement and honour their commitment not to have a hard border.
After Brexit, the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic would become the only land border between the UK and the European Union. If there wasn’t a deep enough trade deal between the UK and the EU, it would likely mean checks on goods which cross it.
That’s where the backstop comes in – an insurance policy to avoid new inspections or infrastructure at the border – after Brexit.
It’s a key part of Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement – but a major reason why it suffered an historic defeat in the Commons.
She’s under pressure to change it, but all sides say this can’t come at the expense of Ireland’s historic peace accord.
What is the Good Friday Agreement?
Also known as the Belfast Agreement, it is the deal that is widely seen as marking the effective end of Northern Ireland’s “Troubles”.
It established a devolved power-sharing administration, and created new institutions for cross-border cooperation and structures for improved relations between the British and Irish governments.
It was approved by referendums in Northern Ireland and Ireland in 1998 and was subsequently incorporated into British and Irish constitutional law and other areas of legislation.
What does the Good Friday Agreement say about a hard border?
A lot less than you might think. The only place in which it alludes to infrastructure at the border is in the section on security.
During the Troubles there were heavily fortified army barracks, police stations and watchtowers along the border. They were frequently attacked by Republican paramilitaries.
Part of the peace deal involved the UK government agreeing to a process of removing those installations in what became known as “demilitarisation”.
The agreement states that “the development of a peaceful environment… can and should mean a normalisation of security arrangements and practices.”
The government committed to “as early a return as possible to normal security arrangements in Northern Ireland, consistent with the level of threat”.
That included “the removal of security installations”. That is as far as the text goes.
There is no explicit commitment to never harden the border, and there is nothing about customs posts or regulatory controls.
What about commitments in the agreement made by the two governments?
The agreement contains a commitment by the British and Irish governments to develop “close cooperation between their countries as friendly neighbours and as partners in the European Union” – of course, there was no inkling back in 1998 that the UK would vote to leave the EU 18 years later.
But there are no specific commitments about what that should involve in regard to the border.
The cross-border strand of the agreement lays out 12 areas of cooperation, which are overseen by the North-South Ministerial Council (NSMC).
It could be argued that a hard border would makes that strand of the agreement more difficult to operate.
Additionally, a section on economic issues states that, pending devolution, the British government should progress a regional development strategy that tackles “the problems of a divided society and social cohesion in urban, rural and border areas”.
It could be argued that a hard border would conflict with the spirit of that part of the agreement but again there is no specific prohibition.
Has this been legally tested?
No. The Good Friday Agreement featured in some of the Article 50 litigation, including the Gina Miller case, but the issue of a hard border was not addressed.
In his ruling in a 2016 case at Belfast High Court, Mr Justice Maguire suggested it was premature to assess how Brexit would affect the peace accord.
He said: “While the wind of change may be about to blow, the precise direction in which it will blow cannot yet be determined so there is a level of uncertainty, as is evident from discussion about, for example, how Northern Ireland’s land boundary with Ireland will be affected by actual withdrawal by the United Kingdom from the EU.”
What has the Irish government been saying?
Leo Varadkar has asserted that if there’s a no-deal Brexit, the UK would still have to accept full regulatory and customs alignment in Northern Ireland as part of its obligations under the Good Friday Agreement.
Irish ministers have tended to focus more on the “spirit” argument rather than making specific legal claims.
For example, last year Foreign Minister Simon Coveney wrote that the agreement had removed “physical and emotional” barriers between communities in Ireland.
He described “the genius” of the agreement as providing a framework for “all of the relationships on our two islands – between communities in Northern Ireland, between north and south on the island of Ireland, and across the Irish Sea.”
What exactly is the ‘spirit’ of the Agreement?
That is open to interpretation but is widely understood to be a spirit of non-violence, consent and partnership.
Theresa May’s 2018 White Paper on the future relationship with the EU (the Chequers plan) spoke of the need to honour “the letter and the spirit” of the Agreement.
However it doesn’t elaborate on what that “spirit” might be.
Katy Hayward, Reader in Sociology at Queen’s University Belfast, says that while a hard border does not in itself challenge the agreement it’s “fair to say” the assumption behind the Good Friday Agreement was one of “closer integration”.
“Avoiding a hard border has been put at the heart of this process as a priority for both the UK and EU because they recognise the symbolism of the current openness of the border.”
Her research has involved a large-scale study of views on Brexit from local communities in one border region.
She found that people living in that area see what happens at the border as being “a bellwether for the quality of peace”.
“They see the increasing openness of the border in the past two decades – and the economic and social benefits of that – as being entirely a consequence of the 1998 Agreement.
“This is why, to add any restriction or friction to what people currently take for granted when crossing the border is seen in their minds as a sign that the peace process is going backwards, and that the 1998 Agreement is being undone.”
What do others say?
Northern Ireland’s Chief Constable, George Hamilton, has repeatedly said that a hard border would be damaging for the wider peace process.
He has said that any new border infrastructure would be seen as “fair game” for attack by dissident republicans.
In an interview last year, he also put the border in the context of the Good Friday Agreement.
“If you put up significant physical infrastructure at a border, which is the subject of contention politically, you are re-emphasising the context and the causes of the conflict,” he said.
“So, that creates tensions and challenges and questions around people’s identity, which in some ways the Good Friday Agreement helped to deal with.”
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and some Brexit-supporting Conservative MPs say the issue of a hard border need not arise as they believe it can be overcome by a range of administrative and technical measures.
The DUP also says the real threat to the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement is the imposition of the backstop.
Sinn Fein has said any hard border in Ireland will lead to further calls for a referendum on Irish unification and is pushing for a border poll to be held in Northern Ireland if there is a no-deal Brexit.
With many thanks to: BBC News for the original story
The Taoiseach has said that in the event of a no-deal Brexit the UK would have to accept full regulatory and customs alignment in Northern Ireland if it were to honour its obligations under the Good Friday Agreement.
Speaking in Davos, Leo Varadkar also said that the UK could struggle to negotiate free trade deals elsewhere around the world if the Irish border question remained unresolved.
He said: “The United Kingdom would have a responsibility to abide by WTO rules and both the UK and Ireland would have responsibilities to honour the Good Friday Agreement and the peace process.
“So I think we would end up in a situation where EU and Ireland and the UK would have to come together, and in order to honour our commitment to the people of Ireland that there be no hard border, we would have to agree on full alignment on customs and regulations, so after a period of chaos we would perhaps end up where we are now, with a very similar deal.
“The United Kingdom in a no-deal scenario will face enormous difficulties.
“In a no-deal scenario Ireland will still be in the single market, and will still be part of all those trade deals which come with being part of Europe, the trade deal with Japan, the trade deal with Canada, the trade deal with Korea, the trade deal with Singapore.
“In a no-deal scenario, the UK won’t have any trade deals with anyone, and I think it will be very difficult for them to conclude any trade deals with the question of the Irish border unresolved. Given we have a solution on the table already, let’s ratify that.”
With many thanks to: RTÉ News for the original story.
The Tory politician, who has not been named but is described as a grandee of the party, was quoted in a report by BBC Newsnight political editor Nicholas Watt.
The MP went on to criticise the negotiating tactics of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, telling the BBC “we simply cannot allow the Irish to treat us like this”.
Described as a “one-time moderniser” in the report, the unidentified MP also expressed frustration at Ireland’s continued influence over the EU and the pressure this has put on the UK during the withdrawal negotiations.
“This simply cannot stand. The Irish really should know their place,” the Conservative minister concludes.
The comments come just a few short days after former Troy MP Priti Patel attracted widespread criticism for her suggestion that the UKS use the threat of food shortages in Ireland to help persuade the EU to drop the Irish backstop.
Patel’s comments were viewed as particularly insensitive in light of the Great Famine, which was exacerbated by UK trade policy at the time and resulted in the deaths of millions.
BORIS JOHNSON has also called on Theresa May to renegotiate her Brexit deal with Brussels and remove the “appalling constraints” of the Irish backstop.
Johnson made the comments in a column for the Daily Telegraph in which he called on the Prime Minister to “finally show some steel and determination” when it came to negotiations.
“We don’t want the appalling constraints of the Irish backstop,” Johnson said.
“With their instinctive feeling for the realities of power, MPs can see how the backstop works as a trap – forcing us to choose between the effective break-up of the Union with Northern Ireland and the wholesale subjection of the UK to Brussels.”
With many thanks to: Jack Beresford and The Irish Post for the original posting.
The DUP MP Ian Paisley Jr urged people in Northern Ireland to apply for an Irish passport after the EU referendum.
People born in Northern Ireland who carry Irish passports could have more rights after Brexit than those who carry British passports, legal experts have claimed.
The Irish border deal struck between the EU and the UK last week will allow at least 500,000 out of the 1.8 million population of the region to continue to be treated as EU citizens even though they were born in the UK.
This group, technically foreign passport holders in a UK jurisdiction, will be treated as naturalised but will also have a suite of rights associated with being an EU citizen, including freedom of movement rights to travel, work and settle in another member state.
“The British in Northern Ireland who do not also opt for Irish citizenship would be worse off after Brexit,” said Dagmar Schiek, professor of law at Queen’s University Belfast.
Main points of agreement between UK and EU in Brexit deal
The agreement, which could prompt challenges among other EU citizens in the UK who have fewer rights, has its roots in the conflicts of Ireland’s past.
It in effect locks up and extends the provisions in the Good Friday agreement, which allows anyone born in the region a birthright to identify as Irish, British or both. They can carry either passport or both.
About a quarter of the population identify as Irish, about half as British and another quarter as “Northern Irish”, according to the 2011 census.
The rights of the Irish are being cemented in the deal to ensure they have full legal status in Northern Ireland even if they are deemed foreign EU citizens in a UK jurisdiction post-Brexit.
But it will mean this group of people born in the UK will have extended rights. After Brexit they will be free to travel, work and settle in the rest of the EU under freedom of movement rules, says Schiek.
The Irish government has said it expects those citizens will also be able to apply for the Erasmus university exchange programme, which could be closed to British citizens in the rest of the UK.
The Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, hailed the deal as a great benefit to the Irish. “Irish citizens born in Northern Ireland … will have more rights than someone born in Sheffield or London,” he told RTÉ News the day the deal was struck in Brussels.
The advantages of carrying both passports, whatever the adopted identity, have not been lost on the region. After the EU referendum last year, the Democratic Unionist party MP Ian Paisley Jr advised people in the region to get Irish passports.
“My advice is if you are entitled to a second passport then take one. I sign off lots of applications for constituents,” he tweeted to a voter.
Ireland’s leaders say deal shows Britain is edging towards soft Brexit
Legal experts say there are precedents for special status for a class of citizens in Cyprus. “Turkish Cypriots are EU citizens but they live in an area where EU law does not apply. It means they can exercise their rights when they are in the rest of the EU,” said Nikos Skoutaris, a lecturer in EU law at the University of East Anglia.
Schiek believes the Irish deal has the potential to go further than Cyprus and give Irish citizens a package of rights even if they have not moved country.
“The agreement means that Irish citizens continue to be EU citizens and avail of freedom of movement if they live in Northern Ireland after withdrawal. If they are in Northern Ireland they will be treated as if they are an EU citizen who has already moved because Northern Ireland will be a third country,” said Schiek.
If her interpretation is correct, it has the potential to include full family reunification rights allowing Irish citizens in Northern Ireland to have third-country spouses or dependents live with them without immigration barriers.
This notion is likely to be challenged and is currently being tested in Northern Ireland after the Home Office refused an American man’s application for a residence card to live and work in Northern Ireland, after his Derry-born wife applied for the visa as an Irish national.
Emma DeSouza, who refused to apply as a British national, won her case in November but the Home Office is appealing.
The Department for Exiting the EU said more work was to be done on the rights of EU citizens in the UK and until the final deal on the UK’s relationship with the EU was complete there would not be a clear sense of what British citizens in Britain or Northern Ireland would have in the EU in future.
But it confirmed that “Irish citizens would have additional rights if they travelled to other member states, but would not have additional rights relating to their lives in the UK”.
This article was amended on 17 December 2017. The original photograph showed Ian Paisley, the former first minister of Northern Ireland who died in 2014, not his son Ian Paisley Jr.
With many thanks to: The Guardian for the origional story
A prominent Armagh republican, Gabriel Mackle, has been interned on the orders of the British Direct Ruler James Brokenshire.
From Tandragee, he was imprisoned in April 2014 on IRA charges at the high security Maghaberry jail, where he was assaulted while resisting the punitive prison regime. On Thursday night, he was seized by the RUC/PSNI at his home and brought to Banbridge RUC/PSNI base before being brought back to Maghaberry.
His ‘release licence’ has been terminated by the British government for reasons not yet disclosed. Last weekend, Mr Mackle took part in the annual Edentubber commemoration organised by Republican Sinn Fein in County Louth where he delivered an oration.
His lawyer Fearghal Shiels said he intends to fight his detention.
“He strenuously denies having breached any conditions of his license and his return to custody shall be vigorously challenged through the courts,” he said.
RSF president Des Dalton described Mackle’s reincarceration as politically-motivated internment. He called for his immediate release.
“Gabriel Mackle is being interned for no other reason than his adherence to his republican beliefs,” he said.
“The British government are once more using internment to silence opposition to their continued occupation and partition of Ireland.”
600 DAYS BEHIND BARS
Meanwhile, there have been calls for the release of another internee, Derry man Tony Taylor, as he reached the 600th day of his detention without trial.
His wife has spoken of how her family have been “living in a nightmare” since her husband’s arrest 600 days ago last Tuesday.
Lorraine Taylor reiterated calls for her husband to be released or given a fair hearing. Mrs Taylor has also appealed to the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, to intervene in light of his government taking action to help secure the release of another Irish citizen, Ibrahim Halawa, in a separate case in Egypt.
A ‘closed hearing’ was held in May this year, which included ‘secret evidence’ from MI5, after which a decision was again taken to refuse Mr Taylor’s release. No fresh charges have been put to him in a case which Sinn Fein has branded “an affront to human rights.”
Lorraine Taylor said: “600 days now and we are coming up to another Christmas and it’s not fair. My children need their daddy home. A family should all be together at Christmas time.
“Every day we are living a nightmare. He is missing out on so much. He has missed the wain’s formal. We love him and we miss him every day.
“It is 600 days and all we are asking for is a fair trial; a fair hearing in an open court so Tony can prove his innocence.”
Mr Taylor’s family and supporters are currently awaiting the results of an appeal against a decision not to award him Legal Aid in respect of a Judicial Review.
Mrs Taylor said that she wanted to thank the people of Derry and all those from right across the political and campaigning spectrum who have helped highlight her husband’s case and raised human rights concerns over his continued detention.
“The support we have received has been amazing from the people of Derry and all the different groups. They cannot all be wrong,” she said.
She also said Mr Varadkar could help put pressure over her husband’s case. Representatives from the ‘Free Tony Taylor’ campaign earlier this month handed over a letter to Mr Varadkar welcoming Mr Halawa’s release and urging him to raise Mr Taylor’s case, while the Taoiseach was visiting Derry.
“We welcome the release of Ibrahim Halawa and we are asking if he can do the same for Tony.”
With many thanks to: Irish Republican News for the original story.
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