No. 467 JANUARY 1983

; .ti

F O U N D E D 1939

Organ of the Connolly Association

^lOCRAl

Fitzgerald back at his tritks ON E of Garret Fitzgerald's first announcements after forming his coalition government was

that he intends to resume his "crusade" to get rid of Articles 2 and 3 from the Irish constitution.

These claim the whole island of Ireland as the territory of the Republic, and are a fundamental principle of Irish nationalism.

The dire significance of this proposed t reachery is tha t Ire-land 's official reason for main-

. t a in ing neut ra l i ty and s taying euts ide NATO is tha t one of the NATO countries occupies I r ish t e r r i t o ry and NATO guarantees t h e borders at present possessed by its members .

RICHER Fitzgerald 's announcement can

only m e a n tha t he is hell-bent on joining t h e war-bloc and his backers will happily b a r t e r Irish t e r r i to ry for the sake of the mi l i ta ry contracts on which they hope to get r icher t h a n they are already.

That Labour , which is com-mi t ted to neutral i ty , should join a coalition wi th such a •policy i l lustrates wha t politi-cians wil l do when the i r back-

sides are i tching f o r the plush seats of office.

Of course, a r e f e r e n d u m will be necessary. T h e government m a y not win it. Tha t move-men t s like the I r i sh Sovereignty Movement and o the r s will moun t vigorous opposi t ion there is no reason to doubt . P ressu re wi th in the T r a d e Union move-ment , a l ready g rave ly dissatis-fied with F i n e Gae l influence in the ranks of L a b o u r parl ia-mentar ians, m a y compel Spr ing to pull out t h e r u g f r o m under Fitzgerald. -But nobody yet knows what specious a rgumen t s will be used to get the re fe ren-d u m through.

HELL LATER The most l ikely wil l be a

"li t t le revision" of t h e constitu-t ion which the o r d i n a r y voter

UNIONIST leadars, Including two former Cabinet ministers are

admitting that the six oountles are finished as a separate entity and that a united Ireland Is coming, possibly before the eighties are out.

This is disclosed by Professor John Wliyte of Queens University, Belfast, who gives three reason* for tlMir gloom—the new polloy of the British Labour Party,, the collapse e» six-county Industry and the fact that within a few years Catholics

p w d a t l i * H m c * n t t h * He supported the idea proposed

by John Hume of a conference to map out the broad features of a new united Ireland. • T may not be lost upon the very • conservative trade unionists of the six-oountlee, that a purely econ-omist Labour movement, unable to think of life without tho British conneotlon, will have little to con-tribute to such a debate and is l|ks-ly to reoelve little consideration for working olass Interests.

The last stage of tho tragedy of •rrors might work itself out In tho form of a UnJonltt-flne Gael 'coali-tion and a . Labour movement without a policy.

will find difficult to m a k e his mind u p over, b u t will contain the v i ta l sell-out clauses. If the two proposit ions were f r e e beer and roast ing in hell, t he re would be voters w h o would t a k e the bee r and see about t h e roast ing later .

All observers agree tha t th is is the mos t dangerously react-ionary government the count ry has seen since 1948, and the utmost vigilance wil l be re-quired.

"I would like to, through the Irish Democrat, convey my thanks to all thosfe members of the Irish community who voted Labour in the recent Peckham by-election.

You can rest assured of my support for a United Ireland and for the abolition of the Prevention of Terrorism Act in this country."

She r ecen t ly asked the Secre-t a ry of S t a t e for Nor thern Ire-land how m a n y rounds of plastic bullets had been fired in the last six months , and what were the results?

The Min is te r stated tha t 370 rounds had been fired, and three

BOOK THE DATE

Lobby Parliament for

ofTerror/smJkt t . - w —

people were "believed to be' ' i n ju red by them.

Under pressure t h e Minister admi t ted that two soldiers had b e e n prosecuted, tr ied and acqui t ted .

M r Canavan pointed out tha t 14 people, half of t h e m children had been killed or in ju red and accused the Minister of " tu rn ing a bl ind eye."

SPONSORS ^ M O N G those who have spon-

sored the conferences being held by the Connolly Association in prepara t ion for the lobby of Parl i -m e n t on February 16th. a re the fol-lowing:

Syd Bidwell (Southa l l ) , Ron Brown (Leithi, Tom Cox (Tooting), H a r r i e t Harman ( P e c k h a m ) , Allan R o b e r t s (Bootle), J o h n Tilley (Lambeth) , James L a m o n d (Old-h a m East) , Kevin M c N a m a r a (Hull, Central) , Robe r t P a r r y (Liverpool Scotland Exchange) , E rn i e Roberts (Hackney N.), S t a n T h o r n e (Preston Sou th ) , Dennis C a n a v a n (Stirlingshire, W.), Reg Race (Wood Green) , Alber t St^I-lard (St Pancras N ), Albert Rob-erts (Normanton), Martin Flan-nery (Sheffield, Hillsbro'), Lord Broclcway and K e n Livingstone (GLC) .

FALKLANDS •-If R Tam Dalyell, that "bonnie ^ ^ fighter" against imperialism in the Falkl&nds, has, in his new book "One Man's Falklands," pointed to the connection between tfle Falk-lands and the British occupation of the six counties. . ~ •

By convincing the Unionists that they are safe, the Falklands ad-venture has "placed the possibility Of' compromise in Northern Ireland farther off than ever."

HARRIET HARMAN, M P. (Peckham)

NEW MEMBER'S PLEDGE TO IRISH

U A R R I E T Harman, whose victory in the Peckham by-elec-• tion did so much to revive Labour's hopes of forming the next government, despite the massive electoral gerrymander now in progress, has sent a message to the Irish community in London.

FOUNDED 1939

Organ of the Connolly Association

DEMOCRAT No. 467 JANUARY 1983 30p

IRELAND HARRIET HARMAN, MP. (Peckham)

NEW MEMBER'S

SELL-OUT Fitzgerald back at his tricks

ONE of Garret Fitzgerald's first announcem ents after forming his coalition government was that he intends to resume his "crusade" to get rid of Articles 2 and 3 from the Irish

constitution. These claim the whole island of Ireland as the territory of the

Republic, and are a fundamental principle of Irish nationalism. The dire significance of this

proposed t reachery is that Ire-land's official reason for main-

. t a in ing neu t ra l i ty and s taying outside N A T O is tha t one of the NATO countr ies occupies Ir ish t e r r i to ry and NATO guarantees the borders at present possessed by its members .

RICHER FitzgeralcTs announcement can

only m e a n tha t he is hell-bent ©n joining t h e war-bloc and his backers will happily ba r t e r Irish t e r r i t o ry for the sake of the mi l i t a ry contracts on which they hope to get richer t han they are a l ready.

That Labour , which is com-mit ted to neutra l i ty , should join a coalition with such a policy i l lus t ra tes wha t politi-cians will do when their back-

sides are i tching for the plush seats of office.

Of course, a r e f e r e n d u m will be necessary. T h e government may not w i n it. That move-ments like the I r i sh Sovereignty Movement and others will mount vigorous opposit ion there is no reason to doubt . P ressure wi thin the T r a d e Union move-ment , a l ready g rave ly dissatis-fied with F i n e Gae l influence in the ranks of Labour parl ia-mentar ians , m a y compel Spr ing to pull out the r u g f rom unde r Fitzgerald. .But nobody yet knows what specious a rguments will be used to get the referen-dum through.

HELL LATER The most l ike ly will be a

"li t t le revision" of t h e constitu-t ion which the o rd inary voter

PLEDGE TO IRISH IJARRIET Harman, whose victory in the PecMiam by-elec-* tion did so much to revive Labour's hopes of forming the next government, despite the massive electoral gerrymander now in progress, has sent a message to the Irish community in London.

will find difficult to m a k e his mind u p over, b u t wil l conta in t h e vi tal sell-out clauses. If the two propositions were f r e e beer and roasting in hel l , t h e r e would be voters w h o w o u l d t a k e t h e beer and see abou t t h e roas t ing later.

All observers agree t h a t th is is t h e most dangerous ly react -ionary government t h e c o u n t r y h a s seen since 1948, a n d t h e u tmos t vigilance wi l l be re-quired.

"I would like to, through the Irish Democrat, convey my thanks to all thosfe members of the Irish community who voted Labour in the recent Peckham by-election.

You can rest assured of my support for a United Ireland and for the abolition of the Prevention of Terrorism Act in this country."

She recen t ly asked the Secre-t a ry of S ta te for N o r t h e r n Ire-land how many rounds of plastic bullets had been fired in the last six months , and wha t w e r e the results?

The Minis ter s tated tha t 370 rounds had been fired, and three

Partition is finished UNIONIST leaders, including two

former Cabinet ministers are admitting that the six counties are finished as a separate entity and that a united Ireland Is coming, possibly before the eighties are out.

This is disclosed by Profeesor John Whyte of Queens University, Belfast, who gives three reason* for their gloom—the new policy of the British Labour Party,, the collapse • I six-county Industry and the faot that within a few years Catholloe Will comprise 55 per cent of the Imputat ion.

Ho supported the idea proposed

by John Hume of a conference to map out the broad features of a new united Ireland.

IT may not be lost upon the very conservative trade unionists of

the six-counties, that a purely econ-omist Labour movement, unable to think of life without the British connection, will have little to con-tribute to such a debate and Is like-ly to receive little consideration for working class Interests.

The last stage of the tragedy of errors might work Itself out In the form of a Unionist-Fine Gael coali-tion and a Labour movement without a policy.

BOOK THE DATE

Lobby Parliament br

people were "believed to be' ' in jured by them.

Under pressure the Minister admit ted tha t two soldiers had been prosecuted, tr ied and acquitted.

Mr Canavan pointed out tha t 14 people, half of them children had been killed or in ju red and accused the Minis ter of " tu rn ing a blind eye."

SPONSORS i

MONG those who have spon-- sored the conferences being

held by the Connolly Association in prepara t ion for t h e lobby of Par l i -m e n t on February 16th, are the fol-lowing:

Syd Bidwell (Southal l ) , Ron Brown (Leith), T o m Cox (Tooting), Har r i e t H a r m a n (Peckham) , Allan Rober ts (Bootle), J o h n Tilley (Lambeth) , James- Lamond (Old-h a m Eas t ) , Kevin M c N a m a r a (Hull, Cent ra l ) , Rober t P a r r y (Liverpool Scot land Exchange) , Ern ie Rober ts (Hackney N.), S t a n T h o m e (Pres ton South) , Dennis Canavan (Stir l ingshire, _ W.), Reg Race (Wood Green ) , Albert Sta l -la rd (St P a n c r a s N.), Albert Rob-e r t s (Normanton) , M a r t i n F lan-n e r y (Sheffield, Hillsbro') , Lord Brockway a n d K e n Livingstone (GLC).

FALKLANDS "Vf R Tam Dalyell, that "bonnie

fighter'' against imperialism in the Falkiands, has, in his new book "One Man's Falkiands," pointed to the connection between tlie Falk-lands and the British occupation of the six-counties.--- - -C -

By convincing the Unionists that they aresafe, the Falkiands ad-

• venture ha* "placed the possibility of'compromise in Northern, Ireland

- farther off -than ever."

THE IRISH DEMOCRAT January 1983

983? Prospects and dangers

' j ' H K g r e a t issue of o u r t i m e s . 1 p.-ueo or war. domina ted 1982

.1.1 no previous year. Pres ident Keauan and Premier T h a t c h e r ex-posed themselves as war-mongers a> nt'vei before, but the most d s -asi rolls government in recent Eng-lish h:stor\ was able to throw dust in the evfs ot Europe's most illiter-ate electorate bv waving the Union .)aek ami .sending half t h e fleet ha l fway across the world for a terri tory they didn't want a n d was no use to them anywav. T h e s e are

the people .'.Iio make up anti-Iri.sh jokes!

But you can ' t t'col all the people ill the t ime. T h e BBC puts i 's war-

propaganda dutifully into each news bulletin T h e man who shot tilt- Pope ha.i been promised early release if he implicates those t h e CIA want implicated A Tory M P [ir Boyson tells the World Ton igh t ' tiiat tile young men of Eng land should be prepared to give the i r lives in a war against Russia.

But Maggie Tha tche r is not giving her life. She has a nice safe bunker in Nor th Wales. Not. of couise, tha t this will necessarily save her It is to be hoped tha t it is safer t han tiie bunker in Glam-organ tha t was closed a s a lire risk1

And a great peace movement is growing th roughout the world composed of ordinary people who do not see whv they should be ob-li terated to keep the wheels of the a rmament s indus t ry tu rn ing For tha t ' s what it 's all for

At present it looks as if war on t h e Pentagon 's p lans i is scheduled for 1986 or 1987 T h e trouble is they have to keep postponing it a s t h e prospective victims raise objec tions.

Reagan s Congress h a s tu rned agains t him. T h e Catholic Church is against him. whence the cry t h a t the KGB tried to murder the Pope.

Tony Benn once more on target • ' j ' H F . loot cause of the violence

* lies m Parti t ion, because this has denied tin- r igh ts of t h e I r i sh people to self-determinat ion," said Tony Benn. MP, in t h e recent H o i s e of Commons deba te on the renewal of Six-County ant i - tervoris t k'Mislat .on.

"Par t i t ion has failed, as increas-ing lu mbe r s of Brit ish people a re coming to realise." said Tony Benn. He had been a member of the Labour adminis t ra t ion which in 19Gy. a f t e r some hear t -searching, h a d sent the troops to take over f rom the police in Nor thern Ire-land But tha t policy had failed

LONDON IRISH CONFERENCE

THE GLC Ethnic Minorities Committee has recently feeen

meeting representatives f rom Irish community, cultural and political organisations in London to discuss how the needs of the Ir ish com-munity in London can be best served.

As a result of these discuss.a'.'.s a n Ad-hoc s teer ing commit tee i.i.s teen set up. consisting of represen-ta t ives of Irish organisa t ions ::t London. Th i s committee has take., on t he responsibility of oraan:s: :vi a one-day conference ot all Irish groups in London. The coufeve.i " will be held in the New Year .if the Ir ish Cen t re in Camden, th • da te h a s yet to be finalised.

Every bona fide Irish organisa-t ion in London will be invited t> send a vot ing delegate to the c ferenee. Th i s means t ha t gro like t h e Connol lv Association. Ir and the Ir ish National Council l>e ent i t led to send a dele? l i om each of their I.o:i branches . T h e Federat ion o; I Societies. G A A Council of County Associations, C o m h a Ceol teon Ei reann, Conradh Gael1.:e e t c . will be enti t led send de lega tes f rom each of ti a f f i l i a ted societies,'clubs.

>!i-L1T1 >

V'll i f e

i-m ris.\

it a s r.a to

too The t roops could not solve t he problem because their prime pur-p o s e was t o e n f o r c e par t i t ion a n d parti t ion itself was the problem.

U K Benn concluded tha t t he r e ' was no successful policy they

could decide for Northern I re land, because they should not be there a t all m the first place He said t h a t tiie invi ta t ion to Sinn Fein f r o m GLC leader Ken Livingstone had caused a grea te r furore t han m a n y of the incidents of bloodshed in re-cent years. But, he asked. " I s it tha t we c a n never talk to t e r ro r -i s t s ? ' ^ long list of terrorists have gone on to become politicians a n d s ta tesmen — Menachem Begin. Jomo K e n y a t t a . Hast ings Banda . Robert Mugaae . Said Mr B e n n :

I ' p H I S will be the first t ime tr.at ' spor t ing, cultural welfare ar'.d

polit ical groups will have h a d th" oppor tun i ty to discuss and p r e en ' their ideas in a unified forum

Ti: • conference will be divided into five sepa ra t e sessions wi th ,i dif ferent c h a i r m a n for each en? T h e sessions will deaf wi th : Wel-fare. Educat ion and Cul ture ; T h e EEC and the Irish communi ty .-::<! t he political aspirat ions of the Irish communi ty . The tinal session will be open to the delegates. T h e organ ise rs of the conference hope t h a t a g rea te r Irish dimension to the GLC will arise f rom t h e meet-ing

•These a rgumen t s do not hold water."

Terror ism is politics car r ied on by other means, he said. H e re-called tha t Home Secretary Will iam Whitelaw had brought one of the Sinn Fein members to Bri ta in when h e was Northern I re land Secretary.

He said the cur ren t Labour P a r t y policy of seekihg a uni ted Ire-land by consensus was a great im-provement on wha t had gone be-fore. They were beginning to erode t h e Unionist veto, he said. T h e y mus t be clear t ha t Br i ta in mus t wi thdraw f rom Nor thern Ireland. T h e only quest ion was how a n d when. He said the re would be an amnesty T h e r e always was a n amnesty a f te r such disputes.

i Kissinger admits they'll never be able to prove it>. And t h e peace movement is growing in I re land It is becoming plain tha t while talk-ing neut ra l i ty governments have been wiring up the west of Ireland to fit into NATO plans if neutra-lity is finally abandoned. This is the p r imary a im of Fitzgerald 's policy and CND may soon become the most important movement in Ireland

T h e Br i t i sh Tories a r e getti.ig desperate in the six count ies where J o h n H u m e h a s accused them of adopting a new "shoot t o kill" policy. T h e r e is even- prospect tliat t he provisionals will c ap tu re Gerry Fi t t ' s seat in West Belfast . _No Dub-lin government could m a k e a n open deal with NATO while t h e si tuat ion remains w h a t it is in t h e nor th . Hence Fi tzgerald 's promised effort to unship t h e six count ies find m a i n t a i n par t i t ion for ever.

The issues t ha t came to t h e for? in 1982 will loom larger t h a n ever in 1983. O n e problem is t h e Re-publicans' lack of a policy for the twenty-six counties. I t c a n n o t iust be dismissed a s ano the r imperialist s t a te when t h e imperial is ts have to go to such lengths to control it.

T h e emergence of Mr Andropov (despite t he fact t ha t we do not like his f o r m e r t rade i seems to in-dicate a new flexibility a n d imag-inat ion in Soviet policy. He is de-scribed as t he "first intel lectual since Len in" to come to t h e head in Russia.

I t is ridiculous to say t h a t Russia is s t ronger t h a n America and his peace ini t ia t ives will expose Reagan as t h e homicidal m a n i a c of modern politics. If Andropov can come to a n accommodat ion with China, and establ ish a m o d u s viv-endi in Afghan i s t an a n d Poland, then t he world will be a safer place. We c a n see both prospects and dange r s in 1983, but we do not enter it t rembl ing wilth terror .

Goodwill!-But they won't get out / iONNOLL-V Association members " J a n e T i t o . Roger Kelly a n d Noel Gordon were present at t he Irish Nat ic r . i l Council fo rum a t the Ir ish Club, Eacon Square, Lon-don. on Frid.av. 3rd December, which was addressed bv Mr Clive Soley. La.c ' .r MP for Hammersmi th North and a - p u t y shadow spokes-m a n on Nor the rn Ireland.

Mr Soley re-affirmed his par ty ' s commi tment to a United I re land by consent , but warned tha t conces-sions would have to be made by NationaJiots u j f l Unionists on both islands.

In referri t x to the Labour Pa r ty ' s policy document on Northern Ire-land he said "To try and force one million suppor te r s of the Union into i United I re land against the i r v i l l

would be a political disaster," but at the .sar.'.-. '..:r.e. he added, "the const i tu t ional guarantee must not tie used a.s i veto to prevent politi-cal progress "

A I R Soley outlined a number of • ' measure - tha t a future Labour

Gove rnmen t might implement. He suggested > development of t he Anglo-Irish talks initiated by Char les H a u j h e y and Marga re t Tha tche r , cut added, t h a t m y f u t u r e taL;> should not be veiled in secrecy. He advocated a com-mi tment bv Duolin and Westmin-ster on joint ci t izenship r ights a n d favoured t h " sett ing up of an all-I r e l a n d economic development council. He suggested t ha t t he harmonisa t ion of economic, politi-cal a n d socia l inst i tut ions would open the way to greater co-opera-tion between Nationalists and Unionists. O n a point of contro-versy lie gave backing to G a r r e t Fitzgerald's, proposals for a n all-Ireland police force and judicial system, and he added, tlifft a

f u t u r e Labour G o v e r n m e n t m i g h t well work towards t h e crea t ion of the Nordic Council as an example. In relation to a devolved Assembly fo r Northern I re land, Mr Soley said: "Devolved government for Nor thern I re land should include an All-Ire-l and perspective in t h e fo rm of a par l iamenta ry t ier ." A I R Soley c a m e under r igorous

questioning f r o m t h e floor. Many in the audience felt t h a t Br i t a in should dec lare i ts in tent ion of withdrawing f r o m I re land . T h e r e was strong cr i t ic ism of Mr Don Concannon, MP, especially over his a t t i tude to the h u n g e r s t r ikes and his stance on plast ic bullets.

In responding to a quest ion from Mr Noel Gordon, Mr Soley s ta ted tha t he did not believe t h a t ire-land 's s t ra tegic position was a sig-nif icant f ac to r today, or t h a t the Republic s mi l i t a ry neut ra l i ty was cent ra l to Brit ish and Nato thinking.

Whilst Mr Soley may have found it difficult t o convince his audience t ha t a f u t u r e Labour Government might achieve the reunificat ion of Ireland by consent , he did point out some of the positive steps taken by his par ty on the issue of plastic bullets and the Prevention of Ter ror i sm Act.

Northampton lectures A N adult educat ion course re-' ranged by t h e N o r t h a m p t o n

Connolly Association a n d spon-sored by the Universi ty of Leices-t e r has .iust completed 12 meetings. T h e course was held a t the Uni-versi ty Centre, Nor thampton .

Twelve students, seven I r ish and Ave English spen t a to ta l of 24 h o u r s viewing video tapes of "The Troubles" in N o r t h e r n I r e l and a n d discussing the problems of th i s s t r i f e torn area.

T h e last mee t ing was devoted ent irely to analys is and proposals f o r ending the confl ict which was seen a.s a cont inuat ion of I re land ' s s t ruggle for na t iona l independence.

All present agreed t h a t t h e con-flict could only end w h e n the Br i t i sh Government , which was seen as suppor t ing a minori ty, changed policy a s it did in Rhodesia .

A change of policy was vital.

Par t i t ion itself was seen as a colonial compromise and it was now essent ia l t h a t the Bri t ish Government announce a phased wi thdrawal f r o m Nor thern I re land. Only t h e n would the unionist minor i ty have cause to re-discover their I r i shness .

All agreed t h a t the process of education should cont inue as there was a genera l lack of unders tand-ing in th is vital area of current Bri t ish politics.

Educat ional es tabl i shments in the Nor thamptonsh i r e and Leicester-shire a reas can avail themselves of this course by contact ing e i ther Dr J o h n Hof fman , D e p a r t m e n t of Politics, Universi ty of Leicester or P e t e r Mulligan, N o r t h a m p t o n Connolly Association, 61 Meshaw Crescent, Abington Vale, North-amp ton NN3 3NG.

Video ma te r i a l was supplied by T h a m e s Television.

That other terrorism

' T H E Bri t ish security forces con-t inue to "terrorise" the I r i sh

community in Britain. Th i s is accompanied by a campaign of ridicule by the media.

The Prevent ion of Terror ism Act is a prime f ac to r in this campa ign against the I r i sh community. Many persons have bee . u c i a n . J a num-ber of t imes is the police m a frenzy of emot ion round up t h e usual known political activists. O n e person h a s been detained t e n times wi thout any charges being brought aga ins t him. One man on being released f r o m detention and a f t e r receiving intensive interroga-tion was t a k e n s t ra ight to a men-tal home. E u g e n e Smyth aged 38, of N o r t h a m p t o n who has been men-tally dis turbed since his last inter-rogat ion h a s committed suicide. T h e coroner was informed by t h e police t h a t h e h a s now been eliminated f r o m their enquiries. r P O date 5,510 persons have been - detained, interrogated, f inger-

printed, and photographed by t h e British securi ty forces. Most of t h e m were "de ta ined" a t sea and air ports so t h a t many people now fear t ravell ing to Ireland lest t hey "go missing" fo r a week as has hap-pened on m a n y occasions. Many have lost t he i r jobs a f te r being ar-rested and deta ined. The vast ma-jority later proved to be innocent of any cr ime a n d were later re-leased wi th n o apologies or com-pensation.

Only 96 were in fact charged under t he P.T.A. which has been renewed since 1974. Of those 12 were later acqui t ted : eight got a suspended s e n t e n c e ; two got an absolute or condit ional discharge ; the charges were dropped in t h r e e cases. Twenty-six were charged wi th receiving money for wha t t h e police considered acts connected with terror ism.

Four teen were charged wi th withholding in fo rmat ion ; 22 with r e fusa l to produce documentat ion Others were cha rged with fai l ing to complete an embarka t ion card, fai l-ing to comply wi th an exclusion order etc. T w e n t y persons received in excess of five years imprison-m e n t for te r ro r i s t type activities but this could have easily been ac-commodated u n d e r other legisla-tion.

An addi t ional 21 persons were charged wi th t h e all embracing "conspiracy to commit an offence" in o ther words no t having done it but having t h o u g h t about it. After " in te r roga t ion" a n d in some cases a f t e r their h o m e s have been searched a n ex t ra 275 were charged with other offences not related to t h e purpose of t h e initial arrest . It should be unders tood t h a t most police endeavour to jus t i fy an arres t (and re la ted "ac t ions) after the event h a s taken place. Thus the high n u m b e r of "other offences".

Two hundred a n d fifty-seven per-sons were "excluded" from Grea t Bri ta in , resu l t ing in loss of work and in many cases the break-up of families. Two h u n d r e d and twenty-seven persons were re turned by the force of law t o the war zone of Nor the rn I r e l and . Thirty-seven per-sons were likewise deported to the Republic of I re land . A number of people outside t h e United Kingdom were also "excluded".

Of t he 5,510 persons arrested, 3,918 were de ta ined at air or sea ports . T h e h ighes t number of de-tent ions occurred in the police a reas of Liverpool (1,290), London (1,200) and D u m f r i e s and Galloway (1,095). Those together accounted for almost two- th i rds of all deten-tions. All in fo rmat ion compiled is computerised a n d if the person con-cerned is f rom Northern I re land t h e in fo rmat ion is passed to t h e army computer there. Relat ions a re visited a n d information is periodically updated The Home OfHce have r e fused to delete t h e "records" of innocent persons de-tained.

Pete* M u l l i g a n

<1 January 1983

EEC-Britain's disastrous years Seience and Technology

1 J O T H Bri ta in and I re land have been in the EEC now for 10

years. Is there any cause for cele-brat ion? Will the pro-Market camp get the f lags out or keep quiet? W h a t was promised a n d w h a t h a s actually happened in t he period t h a t s tar ted with Pr ime Minister Hea th s igning the Accession to the Trea ty of Rome?

Would you no t agree t h a t t he fol-lowing forecast of the s t a t e of af-f a i r s in Br i t a in has come about? Who in f ac t made the forecas t?

"The inevitable result would be serious d a m a g e to our economy, a run on t h e pound, r a m p a n t infla-tion, fa l l ing living s t a n d a r d s and massive unemployment ."

I t was t h e pro-Marketeers ' t h r e a t in 1975 if we lef t the EEC. Bri t -t a in did not leave the Communi ty and is, to say the least, in t h e sort of |mess described. P e r h a p s the. pro-Market c a m p would like to ex-pla in what went wrong.

• Before Br i ta in went in to t he EEC the re was p lenty of advice f rom

<very inf luent ia l quar ters . T h i s in-cluded t he Foreign Office a n d such people as Lord Stokes t h e n head of British Leyland. In 1971 h e said "the sooner we are in the Common Marke t t h e be t te r . . . As Br i t a in ' s biggest single exporting company, British Leyland welcomes the pros-pect of en t ry in to t he C o m m o n Market . We feel sure t h a t it will be good fo r Bri ta in, good f o r Eur-ope and par t icular ly good f o r Bri t -i sh indus t ry and ourselves . . . Imagine our opportuni t ies when the tariff bar r ie rs a re removed a n d we can compete on equal t e r m s ! "

MTHE tariff barr iers a re down * but unfor tuna te ly so is Br i t i sh

Leyland a long with m u c h of Br i ta in ' s industry . Bri t ish Leyland in fac t went bust and h a s been bailed out wi th huge subsidies by t h e government ever since. Also B L h a s slipped from- about t h e 23rd la rges t company in the EEC in 1976 to the 45th in 1982. T h e pro-c a m p will p ro te s t and say "i t 's no t t h e EEC old boy it 's the recession," b u t then d i sappear when you point ou t t h a t t h e compet i tors of BL such as Renau l t have risen u p the league table to 8th place. F i a t have r i sen rapidly f r o m nowhere t o 6th p lace and Volkswagen to 9 th place i n t h i s EEC company league table. All done on "equal te rms" of course. Perhaps* t h e pro-kidders could ex-p la in why, fo r instance, t he reces-s ion should sor t out BL for a rough r i d e r a the r t h a n Fiat , R e n a u l t or Volkswagen.

T h e biggest misleading promise of a l l appeared in t h e government ' s own p a m p h l e t r ecommending a vote a t t h e 1975 R e f e r e n d u m in f a v o u r of t he EEC. You will re-m e m b e r t h a t Roy Jenk ins was H o m e Secretary a t the time, l a t e r became Pres iden t of the Commis-sion and t h e n leader of the Social Democra t ic P a r t y whose m a j o r pol-icy is ful l suppor t for t h e EEC. T h e pamphle t s t a ted categorical ly t h a t "No i m p o r t a n t new policy can b e decided in Brussels o r any-•where else wi thou t t h e consen t of a Br i t i sh Minister , answerable to a B r i t i s h government and Bri t i sh Pa r l i amen t . "

by JOHN BOYD

Since then not only have thous-a n d s of laws and pet ty regula t ions e m a n a t i n g f rom Brussels become law in Britain but also m a j o r pol-icy decisions, affect ing whole indus-t r i e s and the country ' s economy, h a v e become effective wi th t h e as-s e n t of Minister, government or Par l i amen t . 1982 saw the end of t h e use of the veto in Council of Minis te r s meetings. Decisions a re now taken against t h e wishes of min i s t e r s and the i r governments . A qual i ta t ive change h a s now t a k e n p lace within t he EEC which, in ef-fect , passes not only considerable power to the unelected Commission bu t h a n d s over large a reas of n a -t i o n a l sovereignty f r o m govern-m e n t s a n d pa r l i amen t s to Brus -sels. T h i s was forecas t by t h e an t i -Marke tee r s and denied vigorously by t h e Yes' brigade.

i r p H E transi t ion to the new posi-* t ion has gone near ly un-

heeded. Pe rhaps t h i s i s reason e n o u g h for the pro-Marketeers t o keep t h e flags locked away, t h e y ' a r e n o t really sure which flag to wave—the Union J a c k or t h e EEC flag. E i ther would d raw u n w a n t e d a t t e n t i o n to the rea l s i tuat ion.

T h e New Year is a t rad i t iona l t i m e for taking stock of the s i tua-t ion however hard or pa in fu l t h a t m a y be. I t is wisest to be real is-tic i n order to decide w h a t n e e d s t o be done next. T h e indus t r i a l bas i s of the EEC is well under way a n d big strides in th i s direction a re be ing m a d e under cover of t h e so ca l led economic crisis. Make no mis take , t h e object is to push Bri t -t a i n ' s indus t r ies to one side. At t h e s a m e t i m e t h e political s t r c tu re of the EEC has been deepened dur ing 1982. Th i s followed wha t appeared to be a series of unre la ted de-cisions which in isolation look fa i r ly innocent b u t in to ta l con-sol idate f u r t h e r t he supers ta te or " f e d e r a l " s t ruc ture of t h e EEC. Next o n t h e agenda will be an -o t h e r a t t e m p t to achieve a un i fo rm m o n e t a r y system. Only Bri ta in , a s t h e c e n t r e of the Ster l ing economic

sphere, is hold ing back f rom th i s consolidation. Any move in this direction m u s t be vigorously resis-ted.

Al though th i s appra isa l appears to paint a g r im picture f rom the point of view of those lorces op-posed to the EEC all the dates set for each s tage towards t he complete consolidation of t he Community have long been passed. This is precisely because the opposition to the EEC is so strong. Even though the whole subject is ig-nored or misrepresented by the news m e d i a a n d polit icians in general t h e ma jo r i t y of the people in Bri ta in a r e opposed to the EEC as shown by Brussels 's own opinion poll.

. r r « I S br ings us to t h e point -*- where we can list t he activities

t h a t need to be carr ied ou t in or-der to ex t r ica te Br i ta in f r o m the EEC. One i s a n exposure of the advice offered by the very same people who took us in to t he Com-mon Market . They a re now say-ing t h a t we m u s t m a k e our indus-tries "more competi t ive," ' 'use u p to da t e m a n n i n g methods ," "rationalise indus t ry , " a long with other ins t ruct ions . A n e a t smoke-screen to ac t a s a cover for their policy of f u l l suppor t for the EEC whilst letting Britain ro t wi th in it.

The m a j o r issue facing Bri tain, a f t e r keeping t h e peace, is member-ship of the EEC. Ge t t ing Br i ta in out of the C o m m o n Marke t would in fact he lp keep t h e peace as well a s put Br i t a in back on to t h e road to economic recovery and stability. The urgent need to a t t a i n Br i ta in ' s withdrawal, wh ich is t h e policy of the bulk of t h e Labour Movemeht, is a clear poli t ical lead and a cam-paign in o rder to p u t th i s policy in-to effect. Discussions a n d meet-ings are requi red t o clearly explain t he real n a t u r e of the ETC and the ca tas t rophic consequences for Britain, a l ready upon us. T h e feel-ing for w i thd rawa l h a s a wide basis already a n d is wai t ing for such a lead. T h e campa ign would be the correct expression of the na -tional feeling mid br ing about a considerable measu re of desper-ately needed uni ty and a t t a inab le aspirat ions for wide sections of people th roughou t Br i ta in .

SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL

Bob Fairley's funeral yHE sudden death of Bob

Fairley on Saturday, Decem-ber 18th, removes from the scene one of the few surviving foundation members of the Con-nolly Association.

Born into a highly respected Pratestant family in Dromore, Co. Down (his brother was a teacher and his sister a highly regarded local historian) Bob Fairley left for the United States as a young man and became a skilled engineer. It was this trade he plied when he came to England.

A staunch trade unionist, he

became one of the national trustees of the AJJEW.

His funeral just before Christmas was attended by many leading figures in the La-bour movement. George An-thony was to have delivered the oration but was delayed in traffic. The speech was given by Colin Middleton of Hackney Trades Council. Among the mourners was Bob Wright of the AUEW, Jack Wyman and Alf Bender. A nephew came from Ireland.

The Connolly Association was represented by Miss Jane Tate (EC member), Peter Mallon and Michael Brennan.

"DEFENCE OF THE IRISH" against- insult, discrimination and repression

LONDON 5 FEBRUARY, 1983

2 pm - 5 pm

CONWAY HALL, Red Lion Square WC1

Speakers include

KEN LIVINGSTONE

PHILLIP RENDELL

and others

LIVERPOOL 5 FEBRUARY, 1983

2 pm - 5 pm

AUEW ROOMS, 32 Mount Pleasant

R | \ H E R E a re somet imes useful -1- t h ings to be learned by consid-

er ing how th ings work in the Uni-ted Sta tes For example, on De-cember 9 in the Financia l Times t he re was a re fe rence to an ar t ic le in P ravda by a Leningrad econo-mis t (previously unknown to Wes-te rn observers i point ing out the re-lative advan tages possessed by-small firms, or a t least small pro-duct ion units, in s i tua t ions where t h e key fac tor is flexibility in the innovat ion process. Soviet factor-ies tend to be const ructed on a large scale, under the influence of economic th inking which h a s been rendered obsolete by various new-technologies. T h e average produc-t ion un i t of the typical US-based mul t ina t iona l is about one t e n t h t he size of i t s Soviet counte rpar t T h e concept 'small is beaut i fu l ' is ga in ing ground.

"I N looking a t t h e indust r ia l de-velopment quest ion f r o m a n

Ir i sh angle, it makes sense there-fo re to consider, f o r example, t h e dynamics of t he indus t r ia l devel-opment process of the S t a t e of Georgia in the 'USA.

Georgia in t h e 40s was a back-w a r d agr icul tura l State, producing pr imar i ly cotton, with a poulat ion of about four million and a non-descr ipt capital, At lan ta , w i th about half a million. I t had a bad image with N o r t h e r n liberals, and indeed investors, in t h a t Civil W a r a t t i tudes persisted and the re was a civil r igh t s problem f o r t h e black population. Small towns were t ry ing to a t t r a c t Nor the rn in-dus t ry on the bas is of cheap labour, while the capi ta l was pr imari ly a dis tr ibut ion centre, at the junc t ion of four railroads.

T h e r e was a S ta te College of Technology, which t ra ined good un-de rg radua t e engineers, the best of whom went to work in New Eng-land or California, being thereby lost to the Georg ian economy.

T h u s far , t he paral lel with Ire-land should be obvious.

A f t e r World W a r Two, a small g roup of young graduates , led by Glen P. Robinson who had had some war t ime mil i tary electronics experience, set up a firm called Scientif ic Atlanta, wi th the objec-tive of m a n u f a c t u r i n g electronic devices. (The development model in mind was the f amous Route 128, round Boston, where a galaxy of high-technology firms, now house-hold names , had set themselves up a s spin-offs f r o m Massachuse t t s In s t i t u t e of Technology >.

By 1970 they were making 25m dol lars in sales, a n d spending am in research and development in the local College. But the re developed an in te rna l rumpus over conflict of in teres t ; the college held t ha t i ts job w a s to teach, no t to do com-mercia l R & D .

(This is now generally conceded to be a false conflict; there is ten-sion between the objectives, but it is creat ive tension t h a t c a n be managed) .

I n t he case of the Georgia Col-lege, t he appa ren t conflict was re-solved by import ing a new Head, Dr J . M. Pet t i t , who h a d been a t Stanford , California, occupying the succession of t h e f a m o u s Terman, t h e doyen of the electrical engin-eer ing profession. P e t t i t expanded t h e g r a d u a t e R < t o D programme, and set up, in loose association with t he College, t he Georgia Ins t i tu te of Technology to t ake on the con-t rac t R & D work provided by local enterpr ises such a s t h a t of Glen Robinson. T h e turnover of the In-s t i tu te h a s grown f r o m 6m in 1971 to 400m dollars in 1981, leaving G I T in t h e same league a s MIT.

T h e envi ronment being the USA, some of th is R & D is of course

t f unded by the mili tary, bu t t he lat-ter by no means domina te the scene. T h e key dynamic is t he mu-tual re in forcement of College R & D a n d local industry .

W h y consider th i s classical capi-tal is t success story in t h e Irish Democra t in J a n u a r y 1983?

R. H. W. JOHNSTON

Well. I had the oppor tun i ty of listening to Dr Pettit and Glen Rob-inson m Dublin on December 1, a t a semina r presided over by M a r k Hely-Hutchinson. who was Manag-ing Director of Guinness, is cur -rently Chief Executive of t h e B a n k of I re land, and is a lso C h a i r m a n of the European Research In s t i t u t e of Ireland, which is a spin-off f r o m the Georgia Ins t i tu te of T e c h -nology and is located a t Plassey near Limerick, on the N I H E cam-pus.

According to Mr Hely-Hutchin-son. due to IDA pressure and t h e catalyt ic work of the Nat iona l Board for Science and Technology, some 15 firms in Ireland th i s yea r have set up R & D facilities, em-ploying 33 people. He set out to de-molish t h e myth that R & D w a s only for large firms; small firms having a h igh R & D c o m m i t m e n t were t h e weal th and job genera-tors. We are now back on common ground wi th our Leningrad econ-omist.

One t e n d s to forget, however, t h a t m u c h of the electronics boom depends on Mexican m i g r a n t la-bour in Sil icon Valley ( I a m in-debted to Frances Ruane, of T O D Dept. of Economics, for t h i s point,, which s h e brought out in a r e c e n t seminar a t the Economic and Social Research Ins t i tu te ) ; also on f e m a l e labour in Hong Kong and Korea , assembling the c h i p ' un i t s u n d e r microscopes.

I t will be interest ing to see if t h e Georgia dynamics works in I re land . T h e paral lel is close; G I T looks to the total US market while ERI I is looking to the total i wes te rn ) European market . They a r e al-ready commit ted to a biomass pro-ject involving French and G r e e k inputs .

Also, by providing R & I) to lo-cal I r ish-based mul t ina t ional pro-duct ion u n i t s (which they can do with some credibi l i ty^ t he local m a n a g e m e n t s of the la t ter can in-crease t he i r credibility wi th h e a d office, coming up with new prod-ucts to replace declining ones, etc.

Development models under a glo-bal cap i ta l i s t system canno t avoid hav ing an imperialist or neo-colonialist dimension.

T h e propor t ion of low-grade as-sembly work in Ireland is, h i g h but if t h e R & D dimension de-velops, t h e former should decline. T h e control of t h e strategy of t h e R & D however is likely to r e m a i n wi th t he mult inat ionals .

Maire Comerford RIP.

4 S if enough decent people h a d no t died a l ready in 1982, jus t

before C h r i s t m a s came t h e news of the sudden d e a t h of t h a t r emark-able woman Mai re Comerford.

Born in Wexford of the well-known E s m o n d family, s h e be-came acutely conscious of her I r i shness when as a girl she lived for a t ime in London.

Her con tac t with pa r l i amenta r -ians t a u g h t her the full i n t e rna -t ional ism of t h e Ir ish struggle. S h e was sympathe t ic to the r is ing in 1916 and played a t ro jan p a r t in the civil war along with such women a s She i la Humphreys.

At immense economic sacrifice to herself she kept the l amp of re-publ icanism sh in ing to the end of he r days. S h e was a truly magni f i -cent woman.

i_ S ^ w i s s ^ , . . ^ U M •

4 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT J a n u a r y 1 9 8 3

CLIMBING O N LABOURS BACK I (i.H-l this induced Labour • i.j lciit :t mio government for t he

: mie m 'l,i yours Garre t Fitz-. :.iki h;is to:,r to t h e years in ot-(.••:• 11 ten(i u! him. unless Labour re-• •!! nt the hairshu't policies of a I Ciael dominated a d m m i s t r a -

in Labour and Fine Gael be-t hem will ruin the country ."

• F ianna Fail leader Char les H i ;j tley We hope that won't -11j>|)en. but undoubtedly this new <' !.•:.!ion makes a bad day for the ! Labour movement

l.i'.oour got four ministr ies out of ••;:.•<•!». Dick Spr ing is in c h a r g e

housing. Barry Desmond of : i -..It h ;,nd Social Welfare. L iam f l u .magh of l abour Relat ions and F lunk Cluskey ol Commerce and T • .ri.>n» I'liese arc spending de-

• ment.s. which will be hard hit ibacks as Fine Gael seeks to

o . ' id ice the Government ' s books. • • purse s t r ings and economic"

; • uuM l ies remain 111 safe conserva-Fme Gael h a n d s T h e Labour

.. ,i do not know what they a re in

•J'HL-: Coalit ion deal con ta ins some • sops for Labour. The re is to

T lna r sa mbaile. a oinsigh1

Back home, you fool ! ' O bhi me. bhi c innte! Cliai theas

coicis th ia r . 1OI1 I was. I was Mile' I spent a for tn ight therei .

Ce'n sort saoire a bin aga t? What kind of a holiday had you? > Ni ra ibh cailleadli ar bith air. ach

i nidai an-daor . ill was okay, but ' lungs a re so dear

N'acli bhfu i l siad daor anseo fein? Aren't they dear here too?i Nil sioad chomh dona anseo

...iiriie. (They ' re not as bad here. • •.'•ally '

An dheacha igh tu ag aon rheih th iar? (Did you go to any c 'ilidhc back home? i

Colli? 'gCuirfe Dia an t-adh ort. en ehcili? Disco, a dhiabhail ,

•:.,((' a bhionn anois ann ! .IVilidhe? What ceilidhc. God love jii? It'.- discos now. you divil. all

d M'"sii Discos'.' 1 mBaile 1 bhfad Siar'.'

: i.scis In Bally Far-Back? . O nil Haile I bhFad Siar aim

•a-#s mo. ta an ait sin chomh suas-!iim-data le 1 ondair. loin anois ' O tlit s no Bally F a r Back any

more, it s as up-to-date as London n •> -,v11

Go sabhala Dia sinn. nacli loma •r sail saol? (God save us. doesn't

luV change? i D ' fhead la ra. a dheirfiuir .

d ' f l icadfa nil (You can say that , -islcr. you can say t ha t ! )

D. Mac A

be .i lax on high-priced houses owned D.v the very rich. T h e r e is to be a National Development Corpor-at ion ; > sponsor new indust r ies a l though with Fine Gael ' s John Bru'.on in charge ol it. it will not be radically innovatory There is to be a rent t r ibunal to fix private r en t s and Sister S tan i laus ' s "Com-bat Poverty Agency" is to be re-vived. But Labour could have got these things anyway by s taying out of government and suppor t ing a minority adminis t ra t ion . It would not th in have to carry t he collec-tive responsibility for all t he unpop-ular things this new Coali t ion will do. It is lunatic for Labour to go into government now But as be-fore. the appeal of the "meres and perks" proved too s t rong

Small wonder the T r a d e Unions strongly opposed ano the r Coalition. But the t rades unions have much less mlluence on the Ir ish Labour Pa r ty than their Br i t i sh counter-pa r t s have on Bri t ish Labour

'I here is no I r ish equivalent ot t i je block vote T h e sums ol money the Ir ish unions give the

The speaker claimed that the 1980s were likely to be the most difficult years which Irish soc-iety had faced since the 1930s. The combination of rising popu-lation, deepening economic de-pression leading to enormous problems in creating employ-ment, together with the con-tinuing problem of Northern Ireland and its implications for

Livingstone r | i H R E E cheers f rom the Ir ish

communi ty for the Grea te r London Council 's decision to with-draw advert ising f r o m the "Evening S t a n d a r d " because of a vicious and racial is t ant i - I r i sh car toon.

T h e "Evening S t a n d a r d " cartoon by .JAK' showed a m a n walking past a huge cinema poster advertis-ing 'The Ul t imate in Psychopath ic Horror T h e I r i s h - f e a t u r i n g the IRA the INLA. the UVF, UDA etc. ei There was a picture of mad. ape-like figures, s t r a igh t f r o m 19th cen tu ry Punch, b rand i sh ing knives and hacksaws a t one ano the r .

T h e "Evening S t a n d a r d " gets £100.000 worth of adver t i s ing each year f rom the GLC. T h e Labour Councillors who proposed the mo-

I r i sh Labour Par ty are less t h a n the money it gets f rom the I r i sh G o v e r n m e n t in allowances to op-position leaders. Ol the 1.400 dele-gates at the Limerick Conference which approved the Coalition deal the affi l iated union delegates n u m -bered less t h a n 200. Even so, 522 voted aga ins t Coa lmon as agains t 84fi who voted for. Labour in Dub-lin was mainly against Coalition, but Labour support has been de-clining in Dublin for years just be-cause of pro-coalition policies. Dublin was overborne by the n u m -erically stronger pro-coalition Labour T.D.s with their blocs of de legates f rom rural areas.

T H E Coalition par t ies say they a r e in favour of ma in ta in ing

I r i sh mi l i ta ry neutral i ty . For t h a t a t least , much thanks . P e r h a p s Labour ' s good position on th is m a t -ter—it suppor t s insert ing neut ra l i ty in to t he Const i tut ion will temper F i tzgera ld ' s EEC NATO Tr i l a t e ra l Commission enthusiasm. On t h e Nor th t he Coalition par t ies t a lk about t he need for "devolved insti-

Irish society as a whole, had created a social crisis in Ireland of a kind which had not been experienced since 1922.

J^HE solutions to the social crisis which had been tried

since the 1920s n o longer seemed capable of containing, let alone solving, the current crisis, North or South. The emi-gration "solution", the export of potential discontent, was no longer possible. The solution to Ireland's social crisis would have to be found at home, by the Irish people themselves.

There could be no assumption either that, because political re-alignment seemed logical or "natural", it was therefore in-evitable. Neither could there be any complacent assumption that the democratic institutions of the State would survive the social crisis of the early eighties intact.

In foreign policy, O Tuathaigh said that Ireland's refusal to be-come part of any military alliance had been one of the most outstanding manifestations o f , and justifications for, our political sovereignty since the

jacks JAK tion said this advert is ing should be wi thd rawn until t h e paper apolo-gised to the Ir ish communi ty . T h e Council 's Minorities Commit tee decided al so to re fer t he ad to t h e Attorney General a s being "likely to st ir up racial h a t r e d " and there-fore illegal under the Public Order Act.

T h e Tories on the Council of course voted against any th ing be-ing done -The car toon is offensive, deeply offensive" one Tory council-lor said. • But the f ac t is t h a t t he principle of f ree speech is more impor tan t . "

" I don' t believe in f r ee speech for racial is ts ," said GLC leader Ken Livingstone.

tu t ions" (does tha t mean pressing the SDLP to take par t in t he As-sembly? ' . seeking "realistic, honest and positive dialogue" with t he Bri t ish Government (does t h a t mean t ry ing to be even nicer to Mrs T h a t c h e r ? ) a n d reviewing the I r i sh Const i tu t ion so as to remove obs-tacles to North-South unders tand-ing (does t h a t mean ano the r Fitz-gerald c r u s a d e against Articles 2 and 3 wi th the i r claim to na t iona l sovereignty? i

Labour 's weakness on the na t ion-al question h a s filled many Labour-ites with a n irrat ional a n i m u s aga ins t F i a n n a Fail—even though t h a t is t h e party most I r i sh workers vote for. Labour periodi-cally places Fine Gael in govern-ment and F i a n n a Fail in opposi-tion. T h e n F i anna Fai l sweeps back in to government again, wi th i ts hold upon i ts working-class vote consolidated. Only a republican, nat ional ly minded party of labour could provide real opposition to the capitalist par t ies and t a k e i ts working-class support away f r o m F i a n n a Fai l .

foundation of the State. But, he said, there was need for a better informed public opinion in order to ensure that we retained our neutrality and, further, that we maintained an unaligned posi-tion in international affairs, at the United Nations and else-where.

CASTRO ON IRISH UNITY r 1UBAN Pres iden t Fidel Castro ^ spoke u p in favour of a united I re land w h e n he stopped over at S h a n n o n on his way to Mr Brezh-nev's f u n e r a l in Moscow.

He said t h a t one day the whole is land would be united in peace. He said he h a d argued the point with t he Br i t i sh delegation a t the last I n t e r -Pa r l i amen ta ry Union meet-ing in H a v a n a when he expressed cri t icism of the i r rigid a t t i tude to wards t h e H-Block hunger-strikers.

"Some people thought I did wrong when I called the Irish hun-ger-str ikers patr iots ." he said. But as f a r as I a m concerned whoever f ights for h i s ideals or for his or her home land is a patriot and there is no doubt about it and it is with those I express my sympathy."

T T E h a d told the British tha t they should no t be rigid or inflex-

ible when t h e lives of men could be saved. " I t is no t right tha t they should have let them die due to in-t ransigence. I do not want to mingle in t he se affairs, but. f r om a human i ty po in t of view I am con-cerned, a n d our people suffered qui te a lot when these men died af-ter showing conviction and cour-age."

T h e Cuban leader said "I favour ai peaceful and harmonious solu-tion to t h e I r i sh problem, for I consider I r e land one single coun-try, one single homeland, and my desire is t h a t one day this en t i re island will be united in peace."

During ills s tay a t Shannon Cas-tro indicated a preference for I r ish over Scotch whiskey and he sen t a large box of Cuban cigars to the then Taoiseach, Mr Haughey, as a gesture of goodwill.

SUSTENTATION FUND

OOH! Ah! Ow! T h e fund is

down this month. The staff w i l l be l i v ing on mackerel after al l . That 's if there are any left af te r the EEC have had their bi te.

Christmas e m p t i e s the pockets^ and the January sales make holes in them. But politics have to be paid for just the same. Let's have a bumper January and put back the lav-ender into Lavender Hi l l . Our thanks to:

P. Horgan £4.30, 'Red Lion' £1, R. Doyle £4 , D . Deighan £8.13, T. Donaghy £5 , M . Dug-gan £2 , M. Greene £12, M . Walker £1, D. Starrs 80p, L . Daly £5, South London CA £57, J. Hanrahan 20p, J. Dor-rington 20p, I. L inehan 60p, T . O'Connell £3 , R. Fair ly £10, G. Fitzsimmons £2, D. Giddens £3, M . M c G u i r e £4, H. Robson £5, P . Chambers £6, 0 . Cahn £10, M . Grainger £5, G. Fitzsimmons £2.50, J. Wyl ie £4, M. Brennan £1, J. Peddle £1.90, A . Donaghy £5, J. Nolan £5, M . Keane £6, friends in Centra l London £3.10, in South London £19.24,

T O T A L : £196.97.

BUY IRISH' ILLEGAL CALL IRELAND'S "Buy Irish" campaign

has been declared Illegal by th« EEC, in particular those aspects funded directly by the Irish Gov* ernment.

This latest attack by the EEC Court on the rights of a sovereign government has caused much con-cern among those seeking to en-courage home sales of Irish prod-ucts.

The EEC judges have ruled that the sales campaign discriminated against Importers of goods from other EEC member-States and was against the Rome Treaty.

IN defending its case, the Irish

Government said that the canv-paign aimed to persuade people to buy Irish goods; it did not compel consumers to buy them. The EEC judges ruled that nonetheless the Irish Government's backing for Irish products amounted to dls-crimination against products from other EEC countries.

The Irish Goods Council, which was set up by the Government to run the "Buy Irish" campaign, has responded by switching the finan-cing of its promotions campaign from the government to the l.oooor so members who have links with the Council. These members — mainly shops and manufacturing firms — will henceforth finance the "Buy Irish" effort.

EEC rules reflect the interests of the multinational firms and S' iter-national capital.

XMAS BALLOT r p H E results of C h r i s t m a s Draw J - 1982 are as follows: F i r s t prize

£150 (03809), J . Egan , Leeds; second prize £50 < 09172>. Mar t in Ashe-Jones, Wolverhampton ; con-sola t ion prizes £5 each (00163), -J. Walsh , Stockwell. L o n d o n SW9; (048671, M. Granger . London E7; 103494), A. Donaghy . Boreham-wood; (10123), R. I n sch . London SE27; (10240i. J o h n Faulkner , Bromley; (11275), P. Walshe, Kil-bv n , London NW6; (06878) J. Mc-Bride, London SW4; (14135), Anon (sold a t social where d raw was m a d e ) ; (07114). Dylan Jones , Har-lech; (04830). Beth. Alfies Market , Marylebone.

Threat to Irish Sovereignty Galway Lecturers warning ••rfUI•: concept of p o p u l a r >over -

e i g n l y enshrined in the Hash Constitution had become more and more divorced from tin- realities of Irish life in re-cent years," claimed Gea'o.d O T^athaigh, Lecturer in History at UC(i, speaking at the Tenth Anniversary Meeting of the Irish Sovereignty Movement in Dub-lin in mid-December.

() l'ualhaigh, who was speak-ing to a seminar on the theme >i "Irish Politics in the 1980s"

said that, in particular, the mea-sure of economic sovereignty now enjoyed by the Irish State <as extremely limited.

Economic sovereignty did not

AGALLAMH BEIRTE J I ELLO. a Mhaire! Raibh tu ' ' t h i a r don Nollaig? (Hello.

Mary! Were you back from Christ-inas? i

O Dia duit. a Nora! (God with " in. Nora! Back where?)

mean, as it was often mis-takenly taken to mean, mere old - fashioned protectionism. What it meant, simply, was the ability to decide and to control, to the maximum extent possible, the economic conditions under which the people in this State live.

f)URING the past decade the full implications of Ire-

land's membership of the EEC and the serious deterioration in the State's finances, had com-bined to reduce drastically the effective control which Irish governments could exercise over economic developments within the State. As for the notion of popular sovereignty in the eco-nomic sphere, O Tuathaigh stated that the number of people in Ireland who have any in-fluence whatever on the econo-mic and social conditions in which they work and live was pathetically small.

January 1983 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT 5

SIX COUNTIES COG NUCLEAR WAR MACHINE

T H E Six Counties have been moulded over the years by British mi l i tary planners to form a strategic part of N A T O ' s nuclear

war fighting machine. Dotted around the province are several key installations for anti-aircraft and anti-submarine warfare . Although there are no nuclear weapons currently sited in the North, it is understood that such weapons would be deployed in at least one site there in "times of tension."

T H I S S I T E is the g i an t under -ground s torage facil i ty b e n e a t h BENBRADAGH MOUNTAIN, two miles no th -eas t of Dungiven in Co. Derry. T h i s ha rdened bunker com-plex was built dur ing t h e 1950s to s tore convent ional warsh ip a m m u n -ition and torpedoes for t h e Uni ted S ta tes Navy. I t is more t h a n likely t h a t B e n b r a d a g h will be used to s tore nuc lear warheads — atomic dep th cha rges carr ied by Sea K i n g an t i - submar ine war fa re (ASW) helicopters— to service BALLY-KELLY A I R F I E L D which lies j u s t t en miles to t h e n o r t h between Derry a n d Limavady.

S i tua ted on the eas te rn b a n k of Lough Foyle, Ballykelly airf ield is well equipped with ground ap-proach r a d a r and long runways . I t is also one of Br i ta in ' s airf ields which have been specially h a r d e n e d to survive nuc lear a t t ack wi th t h e ins ta l la t ion of fort if ied " p a n s " fo r pro tec t ing a i rc ra f t .

Ballykelly is nominal ly unde r t h e control of t he Army, no t t h e Royal Air Force—hence i ts official name , Shackle ton Barracks . However, a s well a s hous ing an a rmy i n f a n t r y bat ta l ion, it also plays hos t to a n Army Air Corps squadron a n d to and R A F m a i n t e n a n c e crew. Sea King hel icopters also appea r regu-larly for exercises a t t h e base. All th i s sugges ts t h a t Ballykelly h a s been ear -marked as a key ins ta l la -t ion for an t i - submar ine w a r f a r e in t h e no r th -eas t Atlant ic .

T h e Sea King helicopters, which opera te as long-range sea rescue c r a f t in peace-t ime ( they flew to I re land f r o m Cornwall a f t e r t h e Whiddy I s l and and F a s t n e t Race disas ters) , have a war t ime role as submar ine destroyers. I n f o r m a t i o n t h a t ASW Sea Kings are equipped wi th nuclear dep th charges was officially confi rmed in early 1980.

I n t h i s role t he Sea Kings a r e operated f rom the RAF bases a t St . Mawgan in Cornwall, Boulmer in Nor thumber land , Valley in Wales and Lossiemouth, on t h e Moray F i r th , 30 miles east of Inverness , in Scotland. F r o m Ballykelly on Lough Foyle t he r ange of t h e Sea K i n g s would be extended roughly 100 miles f u r t h e r west out into t h e At lant ic t h a n they could reach f r o m Lossie-m o u t h in eas te rn Scotland.

As Ballykelly itself would be un-suitable for s toring t h e nuc lear dep th charges, it is more t h a n likely t h a t Benbradagh will be chosen for th i s role. T h e nuclear w a r h e a d s would probably be flown to Bally-kelly by C130 Hercules t r anspor t p lanes and conveyed by road to t he underg round s torage complex.

j j i R O M 1962 to 1978 B e n b r a d a g h hosted a super-powered very

low f requency (VLF) radio s ta t ion used to communica te wi th sub-

merged NATO nuc lea r submarines in the nor th-eas t At lant ic . This stat ion operated in t a n d e m with an-other a t CLOONEY P A R K in the Waterside a r ea of Der ry <;ity which eavesdropped on r ad io messages f rom Soviet submar ine s off the I r ish coast. F o u r yea r s ago t h e funct ions of bo th s ta t ions , which were under the con t ro l of the US, were t r ans fe r red to two new bases in Scotland, a t T h u r s o o n the nor-thern coast and Edzell nea r Dun-dee.

The B e n b r a d a g h s ta t ion was dis-mantled. However, Clooney Park is still in operat ion, t h i s t ime under Brit ish control . T w o o the r eaves-dropping faci l i t ies a t ISLAND HILL, overlooking S t rangfo rd Lough, Comber town, Co. Down, and at G I L N A H I R K , n e a r t he east-ern outskir ts of Bel fas t , a re held on reserve s ta tus . I n f o r m a t i o n f rom Clooney P a r k is fed back to Bri tain to be deciphered by ana lys t s a t Chel tenham, home of Government Communicat ions Headquar te r s (GCHQ), recent ly t h e subjec t of a major spy scandal .

As well a s us ing Pos t Office tele-phone lines, t h e Min i s t ry of De-fence operates a special VHF radio link to relay Clooney P a r k ' s signals to Britain. Messages a r e beamed f rom Clooney P a r k to a s ta t ion at CROMKILL on t h e Ballymena-An-tr im road beside t h e M2 roundabout — f r o m he re i t is beamed via SHANE'S HILL on t h e Bal lymena road above L a r n e t o Por tpa t r ick in Scotland and in to Br i t a in ' s defence communicat ions ne twork .

Despite t h e s ignif icance of the ant i - submar ine w a r f a r e installa-tions in t he Nor th , t h e m a i n target of a Soviet a t t a c k is a lmos t certain-ly the giant advance warn ing radar at BISHOP'S COURT, a few miles east of Downpatr ick. T h e installa-tion, contructed in t h e 1950's, was originally sited a t K i l l a rd Point, three miles to t h e eas t ; it was sub-sequently moved to i t s present lo-cation, fo rmer ly a n R A F airfield, and its highly sophis t ica ted radar equipment moved underg round to reinforced concre te b u n k e r s situa-ted between the two r u n w a y s of the old airfield. *

Bishop's Cour t is one of seven radar s ta t ions in t h e Uni ted King-dom Air Defence G r o u n d Environ-ment (UKADGE) system, whose funct ion is to a l e r t t h e ' Bri t ish and US forces of a n a t t ack by Soviet bombers or missi les so t h a t they can l aunch an a i rborne coun-ter-attack. Bishop 's Cour t is one of seven such U K A D G E r a d a sta-tions—five of these a r e on the British south eas t coas ts and the other is on the n o r t h e r n t ip of the Shetland Is lands .

Informat ion f r o m t h e UKADGE radar is fed to t h r e e control and command cen t res f r o m which any

BRENDAN MUNNELLY

GIVES FACTS BEHIND THE OCCUPATION

f u t u r e war in the skies will be dir-ected. T h e s e are : Mili tary Air Traff ic Opera t ions a t West Dray-ton in west London, which is co-located wi th t he civilian air t raff ic nerve c e n t r e (it is here t h a t M o u n t Gabr ie l ' s s ignals were sen t ) ; t h e R A F Air St r ike Command H Q a t High Wycombe in Buck ingham-shire; a n d t h e Supreme HQ Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Bel-gium.

T h e Bishop 's Court r a d a r s ignal is passed on to London via Br i t i sh Telecom's microwave network, which also carr ies telephone, telex a n d television signals. As micro-wave rad io signals can only t rave l so-called "l ine of s ight" pa ths , t h e re lay s t a t ions a re usually composed of h igh la t t ice steel towers, o f t e n cons t ruc ted on hilltop sites 30 or more miles apa r t .

T h e Bishop 's Court signal is re-layed back to British m a i n l a n d along t h e following route; f r o m t h e U K A D G E r a d a r to STANDING S T O N E S HILL, on the wes tern ou t -skir ts of Be l f a s t ; f rom here via u n -derground cable nor thwards ac ross Divis M o u n t a i n to BALLYGOMAR-T I N ; a n d t h e n across the N o r t h e r n C h a n n e l to Por tpa t r ick in Sco t land .

Al legat ions t h a t the Bishop ' s Cour t s ignal is sometimes re layed via t h e "neu t r a l " Republic a n d i ts t e lecommunica t ions system h a v e never been officially denied desp i te pers is tent enquiries. This a l t e r n a -tive rou te is a s follows: Bishop ' s Cour t — S tand ing Stones Hil l — DEAD MAN'S HILL, half way be-tween K e a d y and Bessbrook in S o u t h A r m a g h — MOUNT ORIEL, n e a r Collon in South Co. Lou th — CAPPAGH, n e a r Enfield in Co. M e a t h — DAME COURT a n d AN-D R E W ST. in t he centre of Dubl in city, f r o m where it is beamed on to Wales and so to London,

" O R I T I S H mil i tary p lanners a r e J -* now upgrad ing their a d v a n c e w a r n i n g r a d a r system. T h e over-all p lan — code-named SSINS, Secure Survivable In tegra ted Net-work Sys tem — is centred a r o u n d the development of new c o m p a c t mobile r a d a r s tat ions which c a n be t r a n s p o r t e d wi th the m i n i m u m of delay to new sites—thus they can-no t be pre- targeted by the Soviets as can fixed r a d a r installations. Al-ready these mobile radars, known as Marte l los and built by Marcon i Ltd., have arrived at Bishop ' s Court .

Two of t he dispersal sites in t h e Nor th a re known to be a t T O R R HEAD, n e a r Ballycastle in n o r t h Co. Ant r im, and at SAN ANGELO airfield n e a r Enniskillen in Co. Fe r -m a n a g h . T h i s airfield was regular ly used by t h e US during the las t war , a n d sample r a d a r tests would be readi ly avai lable since its civi l ian g round r a d a r h a s been used by t h e Br i t i sh Army.

I n March 1981 Br i t i sh Telecom be-gan work on extending i ts micro-wave ne twork westwards to Derry. T h e new system was described as superfluous in t e rms of civilian telephone traffic. " I t doesn' t make sense. We already have extensive cable capaci ty to Bel fas t — more t h a n enough to hand le any pre-dicted expansion of civilian te lephones traffic s a i d o n e engineer ( "Sunday Tribune," 15/3/81). Presumably the new link is to enable t he new martel los to be speedily plugged into t he telecom-munica t ions system and its signal to be fed back to the mili tary com-m a n d centres .

T h r e e new microwave stat ions are involved: one a t Derry 's CUSTOM HOUSE SQUARE, another a t S H E R R I F ' S MOUNTAIN, three miles west of Derry n e a r the Done-gal border, and a th i rd a t MUL-LAGHMORE MOUNTAIN in the Sperrins, nea r Draperstown. T h r o u g h these s ta t ions Derry will be linked to t he Ball.vgomartin s ta t ion in west Belfast .

I T is also highly probable t h a t a i rpor t s in the North—part icu-

larly ALDERGROVE and SYDEN-HAM, outs ide Belfast—will be used as dispersal sites for RAF fighters whose mission will be to intercept Soviet bombers flying over the nor th-eas t Atlantic. Using the Six Counties as a jump-off base, RAF Lightn ing and F-4 Phan toms , soon to be joined by the new Tornado a i rcraf t , would have the dual goal of defending the convoys f rom the U S , br inging weaponry and per-sonnel to suppor t NATO in Europe, and protect ing UK defence installa-tions f r o m a t tack .

There have also been repor ts of an underground bunker complex in South Armagh , capable of speedy conversion for use as an anti-air-c r a f t rocket silo. T h e new bunker, which was const ructed in late 1981, will be l inked by tunne l to CROSS-MAGLEN and FORKHILL, five miles apar t . A Bri t ish Army spokesman described the under-ground complex as "protection against a possible rocket a t tack by the Provisional IRA" ("Sunday World," 18/10/81). However, the sheer scale of the bunker complex —involving m o n t h s of midnight fer ry ing in of tons of mixed con-crete by lorry, and the delivery by helicopter of huge, pre-stressed concrete beams — suggests other-wise.

As with the rest of t he UK, ron-t ingency p lans exist in the Nor th to whisk away top mil i tary person-nel and civil se rvants to the safety of underg round bunkers in t he event of a doomsday situation. Ac-cording to t he Nor the rn Ireland

Office, the province will be divided i n t o four admins t ra t ive a reas in t ime of nuclear a t tack , each r u n by a n area controller who will be t he chief executive of the local Hea l th Board.

/ ) N E of these four regional con-v trol bunkers is believed to be in Belfast 's exclusive UPPER MA-LONE AREA a t MOUNT EDEN PARK, where a large windowless building is listed in t he city's s t ree t directory as a "civil defence ma in control. ' ' Another such bunker is understood to be at the headquar -t e r s of the Royal Observer Corps a t MAGHERALAVE ROAD in LIS-BURN. which is s i tuated a d j a c e n t to Thiepval Barracks, a sprawl ing Br i t i sh Army base. T h e Royal Ob-server Corps is a volunteer body, answerable to the Home Office in London, which will moni tor the s t r eng th and locations of nuclear a t tack , and the intensi ty of fallout.

BBC Northern I re land is also prepared for World W a r III . Be-side the junction of the Ml a n d t h e Al to Dublin a t LISNAGAR-VEY s tands a red brick building which houses the province 's ma in radio t ransmit te r . Some t ime ago t h e building was fitted wi th 400-gal lon water t a n k s on i ts roof and steel-lined opera t ing rooms in i ts cellars.

T h e main control and command bunker will be at t h e nor th -eas t co rne r of ARMAGH city, under G o u c h Army Barracks. Buil t in the l a te 1950's, and known in doomsday j a rgon as an RSG, or Regional Sea t of Government, t h e A r m a g h bun-ker will house t he Secre tary of Sta te , together wi th top mil i tary and civil staff. I t is f r om here t h a t the post-nuclear Nor th will be ruled.

According to an "Ir ish T imes" (31 10/81) report, experts predict t h a t : "at the very least, t h e Rus-s i ans will launch mult iple nuclear warheads, each delivering 150-kilo-t o n nuclear bombs a t six t a r g e t s in Nor the rn Ireland." These would be: Ballykelly airfield, B e n b r a d a g h Mounta in weapons store, Bishop ' s Cour t radar, Armagh city (home of t h e RSG), and Belfas t ' s a irports , Aldergrove and Sydenham.

Those six 150-kiloton bombs would have the killing power of nea r l y 50 Hiroshimas — in o ther words, they could kill ten million people. So it doesn' t look like Sec-r e t a r y of State, J im Prior, and h is Bunke r Government in Armagh, will have too many people le f t out-side to govern.

(Reprinted from Disarmament Today, 2 Aod Aluinne, St Lukes, Cork City).

6 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT January 1983

BRIAN BOY MAGEE

| A .1 Hi:.;: . : .*'>' Magee— \ ' v - Koyhan Ban

t • . in-i! i'l did ha; , \

I ' . ! • : i",: I - • : ;ii y st i l l T1-

At <• :iv :hrmu-.h !h«' U>u)>:i -l !u iv

Tha: marked w hero «M.r homcs'.ead stood,

iV!\ mo the r >\\ ing by hor hair . Ami my brothers he m their

b l o n d .

J), the creeping told of t h e night The pitiless wolves came

(low n • Sent eh troops from tha t Castle

g r i m Guarding ' Knockfergus Town;

And t h e y hacked and lashed and hewed

With musket and rope and sword,

Till my murdered kin lay thick In pools by the S laugh te r Ford

1 have vowed hy the pride of m y sires—

By m y mother 's wander ing ghos t -

By my kinsfolks' shat tered bones

Hur led on the cruel coast By the swee t dead face of my

love And the wound in he r gent le

b reas t— To fol low tha t murderous band,

A s leuth-hound who knows no rest .

IRELAND OVER ALL | R L L A N D , Ireland tore the wide world, [Ireland, Ireland over all!

When we fight we'll fight for Ireland, answer only Ireland's call, Plain and mountain, rock and ocean, from the Shannon to the sea, Ireland, Ireland, 'fore the wide world, Ireland one and Ireland free !

Ireland's land and Ireland's nation, Ireland 's faith and hope and s o n g ,

Irishmen wi l l yet redeem them from the foreign t ryrant throng; Ireland's homes and Ireland's hillsides shall be freed f rom slavery, Ireland. Ireland, 'fore the wide world, Ireland one and Ireland free!

Unity and r ight and freedom for our Irish fatherland, Strive we all, we may secure them, strive we all wi th heart and

hand. Be our aim then God defending, right, eternal l iberty! Ireland, Ireland, 'fore the wide world, Ireland one and Ireland free!

EAMONN CEANNT

\ fough t by my fa the r ' s suk \ And when we were fighting

so re "We s a w a hue of the i r steel

With our shrieking women before.

T h e redcoa ts drove t h e m on To t h e verge of the Gobbhis

g rey , H u r r i e d them God' the sight,

A s t h e sea foamed up fo r its p r e y '

<t\ tall were the Gobbms elitls And s h a r p wine the rocks, my

w o e ! And . t e n d e r the limbs that met

Such te r r ib le death below. M o t h e r and babe and maid.

T h e y clutched at the empty a i r

With eyeba l l s widened in f r igh t That h o u r of despair.

(Sleep soft in your heaving bed, O l i t t le fa i r love of my heart!

T h e b i t t e r oath 1 have sworn Shal l be of my life a part .

And f o r every piteous prayer You p rayed on your way to

die . May I h e a r an enemy plead

While 1 laugh and deny ).

In the d a w n that was gold and red ,

Aye. red as the blood-choked s t r e a m ,

1 crept to the perilous bl ink— G r e a t Chris t ! was the night a

d r e a m ? In all t h e Island of Gloom

1 only had life that day -Death-covered the green hill

s ides And tossed in the Bay.

TORRAMH AN BHAIRILLE V^CEOLFAD teas tas ar shloi te Bhaile Mhc Oda mhaisuil

m h u i n t e Treoin do ch leach tas gach lo g a n lagahd or thu, ol gan cheasna

gan chuinse; l.eonta l a n n a m h a r ceoimhar g r e a n m h a r comhach taeh calma

cuntaeh. Is is mor an t -a i t eas go deo bhe i th eatar thu ar t ho r r amh an

bhan ille a dhiughh.

Iltor ni t a i sc i thear leo go dearl 'a : in or na in earra ni chumhdaid, Aeh mor ehuid beathuisee is beo i r in aisce gan speois da scaipeadh

ar an ndu tha igh ; An dearoil ma thagann gan Ion 'na spaga do gheobhaidh an easca

gan cun ta s l.e hoi gan bacadh go bord n a maidne a r tho r ramh an bhairi l le a

dhuigadh.

Fona d t e a r m a i n n deonach t a r ra ing id foirne dal la gan suile 'S is leor do bhaca igh gan t r eo i r go tapaidh 'na dhoid gan bata go

siulaid; Nil stroinse dea lbh on gCobh go Caiseal na fos i bh fea ran tas

Dhubhaga in Nach seoltar sealed 'na geombai r i dtigh l abha i rne ar t ho r rah an

bhairi l le a dhilugadh.

MARY FROM DUNGLOE Q THEN fare thee well sweet Donegal, the Rosses and Gweedore,

I'm crossing the main ocean where the foaming billows roar, It breaks my heart from you to part, where I spent many happy

days-Farewell to kind relations, for I'm bound for Americay.

Oh, my love is tall and handsome and her age is scarce eighteen. She far excells all other fair maids when she trips o'er the green; Her lovely neck and shouldrs are fairer than the snow-Till the day I die I'll ne'er deny my Mary from Dungloe.

If I was at home in sweet Dungloe a letter I would write, Kind thoughts would fill my bosom for Ma ry me delight; 'Tis in her father's garden the fairest violets grow, And 'twas there I came to court the maid, my Mary from Dungloe.

Ah then, Mary, you're my heart's delight, my pride and only care, It was your cruel father would not let me stray there, But absence makes the heart grow fond and when I'm o'er the

main May the Lord proteot my darling girl till I return again.

And I wish I was in sweet Dungloe and seated on the grass, And by my side a bottle of wine and on my knee a lass. I'd call for liquour of the best and I'd pay before I'd go, And I'd roll my Mary in my arms in the town of sweet Dungloe.

I shall go to Fe i l im O Neill With my s o r r o w f u l tale and

crave A blue-bright b l ade of Spain,

In the r anks of his soldiers brave.

And God grant m e the s trength to wield

That shining avenger well When the Gael shal l sweep his

foe Through the y a w n i n g gates of

hell!!

I am Brian Boy Magee And by m y creed is a creed of

hate! Love, peace I have cast aside,

But vengeance, vengenance I wait

Till I pay back the four-fold debt

For the hor rors I wi tnessed there.

When my bro thers moaned in their blood

And my m o t h e r swung by her hair.

THE GARTAN MOTHER'S LULLABY

Sleep, O babe. for the red bee hums The silent twil ight 's fall. Aobheall f r o m the Grey Rock comes To w r a p the world in thrall . A leanbhan o, my child, my joy, My love and heart ' s desire; The chickets sing you lullaby, Beside the dying fire.

Dusk isdrawn. and the Green Man's ihorn Is wrea thed in rings of joy: Siobhra sails his boat till morn Upon the s t a r ry bog. A leanbhan o, the paly moon, Hath br imm'd her cups in dew And weeps to hear the sad sleep tune I sing. O love to you.

Sleep, O babe, for the red bee hums, The silent twil ight 's fal l . Ao ibhear f r o m the Grey Rock comes To w r a p the world in thral l . A leanbhan o. my child, my joy, My love and hear t ' s desire, The crickets sing you lullaby, Beside the dying fire.

Joseph Campbel l

PAT O'DONNELL (Sung to fJie uir of 'The Boston Burglar', this street-ballad commem-orates the man who killed Carey, the informer who betrayed the 'Invincible!;' responsible for the Phoenix Park assassinations in 1882)

name Is Pat O'Donnell and I come from Donegal, l am, you know, a venomous foe to traitors one and all.

For the shooting of James Carey I was tried in London town, And now upon the gallows high my life I must lay down.

I sailed on board the ship Melrose in August, 'eighty-three Before l landed In Capetown it came well known to mej When l saw he was James Carey we had angry words and blows, The villain, he tried to take my life on board the ship Melrose.

I stood up to defend myself and fight before I'd die, A pocket pistol I drew forth and at him I let fly; I gave him the second revolver, boys, which pierced him through

the heart And let him have the third one, boys, before we did depart.

Carey's wife and son came Into the cabin where he lay, And saw him lying in all his gore, which filled her with dismay. ' 0 Donnell, you shot my husband," Mrs Carey now did cry, "Oh, yes! I did, In self-defence, madam," then said I.

The captain had me handcuffed and in irons firmly bound-He handed me over as a Fenian when we landed in Capetown. I was then brought back to London until my trial came on, And the prosecution witnesses were Carey's wife and son.

To all the evidence they swore, I said It was a lie, But the jury found me guilty, and the judge made his reply: "You'll never more see Erin's shore, O'Donnell, you must die On the twenty-first December, upon the gallows high."

I wish I was a free man, and could live another year, I'd' make all those Informers fly before my eyes with fear; St Patrick banished the serpents from our blessed and holy ground I'd make them fly before my eyes like a hare before the hound.

Here's a health unto old Donegal, the place where I was born, Likewise the United States, for them I hold no scorn; Unto the Virgin Mary on my bended knees I call To pray for poor O'Donnell from the town of Donegal.

Good Christians all, on you I call, this Is my dying d a y -I am an honest Irishman, kind Christians for me pray; My grave is ready open, and I'm ready for to die, May the Lord have mercy on my soul while In my grave I lie.

FAMOUS SHAMUS Me name is Shamus, I 'm a w f u l famous I 'm the apple of me mother ' s eye, I 've sang a fair tune since I was a gossoon, A n d I used to kiss the girls and m a k e t h e m cry, B u t w h e n the lights go down in London, I long to see the old t own again, I 'm off to Galway to do it m y way, Look out girls. I 'm on the move again.

C H O R U S

Will you miss me?, Say you'll miss me, Hug me round t h e neck and kiss me, You're a good girl, b u t you know girl, When you've gotta go, you've gotta go girl.

Look there goes Shamus, he's a w f u l famous, T h e ladies all declare fo r miles around, He 's a swinger and a f a i r old singer, You could hear h im f r o m t h e Btfsh in Kent i sh Town, So tonight 's me last n igh t in London, O n e more for the road arid then, I 'm off to Galway to do it my way, So look out I 'm on t h e m o v e again.

Pr in ted by k ind permission of LEE I.YNCH who composed the song a n d whose record ing of it is so popular .

January 1983 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT 7

ON NATIONALISM "Nationalism and the State", by

John Breuilly. Manchester University Press, £25). rl lS is a very comprehensive and ambitious book on nation-

alism and the state. It covers the rise of the nation state in Europe. Then considerable space Is given to national movements In the Middle East, India and the rest of Africa.

I suppose the author's style is the result of a swing away from ro-mantic history. If the latter is all heart Mr Breuilly must be attemp-ting to be all head. But of course If you go too far in taking the human interest out of history, the result becomes very tedious to read especially if the reader tends to be concerned with the struggles of ordinary people, whether they are artisans, working class, small farmers, shop keepers, rural wor-kers or small tradesmen.

The extreme cult of objectivity leads to a suspicion that the writer is more interested In whether this or that theory Is correct than whether the particular struggle Is successful or not.

National struggles are about get-ting more to eat, more security, keeping disease at bay, keeping the baby alive more than two years al-so making sure there is a market for crops and cattle. Those who engage in national struggle want security and stability and a voice In the government of their own country. Mr Breuilly has wan-dered too far away from these basic facts. The distance ho has wandered Is shown by his constant use of the extraordinary jargon much beloved by modern sociolo-gists. Here Is a sample.

"Because of the constraints of strategic assumptions before 1956 and the settler presence, the collab-orator system could not be expan-ded to provide national institutions In which Africans could act effec-tively. Deprived of means of either opposing or taking over Klkuyu politicians, the first nationalists moved away from the co-ordination of oppositional factions, both Kikuyu and non-Klkuyu, to the mobilisation of popular support"

Surely It would be possible to say this in plain English?

In tfye Index there are five refer-ences to Ireland. The following Is breathtaking In Its understatement.

"The politics of compromise hardly describe the character of British Government in Ireland. An English national idea had Implicit Implications of subordination for those who are not offered or did not wish to define themselves as Eng-lish within the British Isles." Why not call English Government in Ireland just "Robbery with Vio-lence."

On page 288 he says "Unionism was as much a negative response to Irish nationalism as a positive com-mitment. It was a movement not only of land-owning and business elites but a genuinely popular com-munal movement."

So was fascism In Germany—fed on anti-semitism just as orangelsm was and Is fed on anti-Catholicism. But Unionism was also led and dir-ected by the English upper class and aristocracy to defeat not only Home Rule but also the movement In England for reform, socialism and against war.

The author's sources are Bew, Patterson and Gibbon the Unionist apologists and Robert Kee the " Two Nationlst"

On page 306 the author says . . working class community sup-

port for Ulster Unionism oannot be understood simply In terms of manipulation from abovej" Mr

"Ireland and the British Labour Movement", by Alex Wood, preface by Sandy Smeaton ; discussion pamphlet (Labour Co-ordinating Committee (Scotland), 20pp, 80p).

^ H E R E is good mater ia l in this pamphle t and since it is

issued for discussion it should be discussed. The author is clear on a number of points which give many Brit ish Labour people much puzzlement. For example, he gives facts to prove the cont inuing discrimination against Catholics in the six counties. He sees par t i t ion as blatant imperial ism blocking the self-determinat ion of the Irish people as a whole. He stigmatizes the Orange Order as reactionary, and rejects out of hand the absurd claim of the "two nations theorists ' ' to make a nationali ty out of a religion.

He advocates a British wi th-drawal as he considers it im-possible for Br i ta in to "impose the de-sectarianisation of the six counties." He castigates Irish Labour fo r sweeping the part i t i ton issue under the car-pet. Nor does he let Brit ish Labour otf l ightly. He says "Orange supremacis t ideas dominate not only the t rade unions in the six counties but are accepted as normal in sec-tions of the Bri t ish Labour Pa r ty ; And he voices the posi-tion of genuine in ternat ional ism when he says: "Only the Irish people as a whole can de termine their own 'solution' ." In o ther words, end the part i t ion.

WHY DE Mr Wood has made a real

a t t empt to tackle important issues but some of his emphases are open to question. The Orange Order is made the centre of the problem. "Troops out now and let the Irish people tackle the Orangemen. ' ' To a rgumen t s tha t this is an in-vitat ion to civil w a r he replies there is civil w a r already. But are not the Ir ish people as a whole ent i t led to a say in whe the r and when they must par t ic ipate in w h a t would un-doubtedly be a n e w confronta-tion? We don' t w a n t a Belgian Congo done on us!

Again the au tho r subscribes to the opinion tha t "Britain would joyfu l ly sur render its embarrass ing and costly state-let." Where is the evidence for this ex t r ao rd ina ry statement? Britain might give away the .north if she got the south in r e tu rn for it. But that 's an-other mat te r . In the nineteenth century when Bri ta in 's mili tary pa ramountcy w a s secure the main Brit ish in teres t in Ireland was economic and political. Mr Wood is still l iving in the older days. In the new world of the run-up to world wa r three Bri tain holds the six counties, and t r ies to control the twenty-six, because of the mi l i tary situa-tion in the nor th-east Atlantic. The Ir ish quest ion is a mili tary question and the struggle for Irish independence is part of

the s t ruggle for world peace. A lot of people cannot see this. ' j ^ H E pamphle t is also m a r r e d

by leftist chauvinism. "Troops out now" is a chauvi-nist slogan because it fails to provide for consultation of the Ir ish government . (I hasten to add tha t the slogan "troops ou t " is qui te unobject ionable) . Why is Mr Wood blind to the r ights of the government in I re land? He doesn ' t seem to like it. He calls it the "Free State" govern-ment . Inst i tut ions should be given the names they g ive themselves . And here is the lef-t ism. He th inks the Civil Rights movemen t failed through lack of a "socialist programme." I t was t hen perceived as a "green Tories" movement . Nothing is f u r t h e r f r o m historical t ru th , i t did not fail. It made impor tan t gains, including the exposure of Br i t i sh imperialism throughout the world. But nothing did it more ha rm than the mouthings of the "socialist" windbags and the adven tur i sm of the crack-pots of "People 's Democracy."

Mr Wood thinks that "socia-l i s t s" . should "vigorously a t tack the confessional na ture of t h e 26-county constitution." The const i tu t ion of the Republic is not "confessional." The so-called religious clauses w e r e t aken out of it ten years ago. Mr Wood is out of date. And again, how does he know tha t I r ish socialists may not ( r ight ly or wrong ly) at tack what he

DUBLIN? calls the "lack of civil r ights in the south' '" And on what basis does he claim the right of a Scottish socialist to under take this task for t hem"

Any wri ter in Britain, while he is entitled to views on Irish all' airs should put in the fore-front British responsibility. As a result of placing the Orange Order at the cent re of his an-alysis. and implying that the fa i lure to tackle it is an Irish one. he lets England off t h e hook, and the general effect of his pamphlet is to give it a "Hibernian" tinge. And by nis mistaken belief tha t Bri tain wants to get out he th rows away the winning slogan, the declaration of intent to co-op-erate with the Irish in ending part i t ion and mak ing possible a united independent republic.

There are one or two minor errors, probably the errors of his sources. He th inks Lloyd George was opposed to parti-tion in 1919. He does not men-tion the wri t ten assurance of parti t ion given to Carson in 1916. He rightly objects to call-ing the six counties "Ulster" but in the same paragraph he re-fers to Britain as the "mam-land." The mainland of both islands is Europe which is a good place to get out of. Still we mustn ' t be carping. Mr Wood has done some hard th inkuig and his work must be taken seriously.

Foicreanach.

SHELL, SEA, SHELL Hardy Irish Annual "Shell, Sea Shell", by Liam

Lynch (Wolfhound Press, £7.50 hardback, 175pp).

"The Cloud of Desolation", by Sam Baneham (Wolfhound Press, £8 hardback, 302pp).

BOTH these books are first novels, both trace events springing

from war. There all resemblance ends. ,

Shell, Sea Shell is a superb piece of writing, a real tour de force. It

Breuilly Is shy of using the term Orange Order or Orangei^m.

Of course manipulation would not be possible without existing relig-ious differences, hence the republi-can slogan of "Unity of Protestant and Catholic." Hero again the au-thor shows his lack of interest in the struggles of ordinary people. If he was interested in*'their welfare he would see the benefits of de-feating orange anti-democratic forces. Incidentally the word demo-cratic must have fallen into bad odour among modern academic his-torians. It is not mentioned once In relation to Irish affairs.

The author's use of the word pop-ular is revealing. Hitter's war alms were popular In Germany untl the tide began to turn at Stalingrad. Even Thatcher's Falkland cam-paign enjoyed some popularity un-til news of the English deaths be-gan to filter through.

Finally the author tries to deny what he calls "political legitimacy" to Irish Nationalism, claiming It is "natural" only. Presumably this refers to geography and unity of territory.

This playing with words is only to mystify the misguided studenas who go in for academic history, politics or sociology instead of science.

All the struggles by United Irish-men, Repeal of the Union, the Fenians, Land' League were politi-cal struggles as Is the present vio-lent and non-violent .struggle for unity and independence.

It is obvious the author has no (knowledge df genuine republican history. All hie sources are union-ist and two. nationist, which amounts to the same thing.

n G. Curran

is as concentrated as a lyric poem. The story follows Anna, a Jew, from childhood to death. We fol-low with a clarity born of detach-ment the five epochs of her life: her stuffy bourgeoise pre-war home in Holland, the obscene stampede to be one of the few to escape when the Nazis overrun Holland, the bleakness of life with a dreary couple in war time London, the move to a comfortable but corrupt English country family and finally her attempt to find peace after dis-aster in the West of Ireland. If it sometimes seems that th i i girl at-tracted an Improbable amount of misfortune, we should remember that misfortune, like success, is habit forming. Mr Lynch has de-picted these five very different settings as clearly as if each were the only world In wtilch he himself ever lived. There are two passages of high comedy, one with a glorious cockney matriarch during the blitz, the other a row conducted between mistress and maid during an ex-pensive and turgid funeral.

I found this book profoundly sat-isfying In its acceptance of human-kind and In Its awareness of beauty.

<

The Cloud of Desolation is a post atomic war Brave New World. The Utopians live a dessicated and clin-ical life of boring aridity urtder the earth's crust. The only recogniz-ably human being about them is their rat race power struggles, which are indeeJ all too familiar. One of them achieves permission to go out and research the despised Overlanders, beings like ourselves but exhausted and impoverished by the superhuman labours needed to survive In a fission poisoned earth. He manages to inveigle tw^ Over- • landers to return with him only to find that their trust in him is be-trayed and he himself has been un-fitted for a return to the mental tyranny of Utopia.

At first I found this book slow but It gathered momentum and by the end I was Involved In the lives of these unfortunate beings, the possible victims of our possible failure to campaign fiercely enough to save our planet fr6m atomic suioido.

"MacMillan History of Litera-ture : Anglo-Irish Literature" by A. Norman Jeffares (Gill & MacMillan, £14, 349pp, 16 plates).

•v*HIS book Is like the curate's egg — good in parts. One of

the bad things about it is its title. It should surely more properly be called an "History of Irish Litera-ture in English." AnS | 0" | rlsh does convey, to me at any rate, a sense of ascendancy, of the exercise ol English power in Ireland, of a sad people condemned to fee English In Ireland and Irish in England. The Idea of such a writer as Myles na gCopaleen who wrote with equal excellence in Irish and English be-ing called Anglo-Irish Is to stretch the term beyond the limits of use-fulness.

Irish literature changes radically from century to century. From the Norman Conquest to the 17th cen-tury such English writing as there is, was done by people who regarded themselves as English people living in Ireland.

The treatment of the 17th and 18th centuries is by far the most satisfactory part of this book. The canvas is not too crowded for a sense of proportion to emerge and I would guess that this is the per-iod with which jeffares has the most sympathy, It Is after all truly Anglo-Irish.

By the 19th century the term An-glo-Irish literature is already ques-tionable. Even those practitioners of writing like Maria Edgeworth who were of English stock were so Infected by the Irlshness of the world In which they lived that their works should surely be considered as Irish; She was, after all, tHe originator of the regional novel. This section of the book Is also very interesting, it is full of In-formation new at any rate to the reviewer, such as the Influenc* the now largely forgotten Writer

Charles Maturin had on other European writers of his day.

As with the 17th and 18th cen-turies the author retains an histori-cal sense of development. Irish writers, such as Carleton and Man-gan, were to emerge writing in Eng-lish in this century. What a shame It is that so little of this 19th cen-tury writing is currently in print. Apart from Lever and Lover how many Irish 19th century novelists have you on your shelf? I know 4 have very few. Now that Irerand is producing a sturdy crop of pub-lishers, why do they not make available to us some of the master-plecee of yesteryear?

With the 20th century Jeflares Is far less successful. It Is notori-ously dangerous to evaluate the living and those scarcely cold In their graves, but some of his assess-ments seem extraordinary to me. He says of Esther Waters: "This Balzacian story tells how an obeo>-sion with racehourses ruins ser-vants as well as masters," surely Esther Waters Is above all a su-perb treatment of that hardy Irish annual the unmarried mother. Ho praises James Piunkett's Farewell Companions (a disappointing book if ever there was one) above Strumpet City. How he could say of Flann O'Brien's Hard Life and-The Dalkey File that they lacked the fine originality of his earlier work I do not know. Jeffares is plain ungrateful for O'Brien's ex-uberant Imagination. He breath-lessly runs through the obscurest of writers without mentioning John McGathern who wrote one book which became a cause celebre< "Darkness" and another which Is a truly fine novel: "The Barracks" of Richard Power who, In his traglr cally short life, gave us two fino novels "The Land of Youth" and "The Hungry Grass."

A. Norman Jeflares gives the reader a useful chronological table of dates, authors, titles and histoiie events from 432 to 1981, a good in-dex and bibliography of feeeks about literature and history. Not a faultless book but a useful one.

P. O F

8 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT January 1983

BY NORE AND CORRIB J)ctcr Vlullitjim's

pccpshow

r j R IT ISM intelligence officers i " " Ulster used homosexual loyal-

ist politicians in the early seven-ties to gather information about extreme Protestant groups because they did not trust the integri ty ol the R.U.C. Special Branc' Joss Caldwell, former Unionist MP, com-mitted suicide and John McKcague — prominent Unionist and Orange Lodge member was murdered.

Both were being investigated for homosexual offences in relation to the Kincora boys' home. A cur-rent inquiry by Sir G. Terry, Chief Constable of Sussex, wil l shortly be handed to James Prior. I t is now widely assumed that Prior's pre-vious pledge to hold a judicial in-quiry will not now be honoured.

SUNDAY TIMES. SIEGE The Official Unionist

Party office in Glengall Street is guarded by police carrying sub-machine guns. The surrounding streets are covered by closed cir-cuit television cameras monitored by a doorman. The building is regularly occupied by the party feader Mr J. Molyneaux and the Rev M. Smyth M.P. Grand Master of the Orange Lodge.—G U ARDI AN.

"More than 80 000 people are estimated to have left the province since 1972 in response to both the economic difficulties and the politi-cal situation . . . he (Prior) was depressed at the degree to which the province had become dependent en public spending, which accounts tor more than 70 per cent of G.N.P. Northern Ireland now receives over two billion pounds a year in net transfers from the United King-dom."—Fl NANCIAL TIMES.

T H E Liberal peer Lord Avebury " has taken up the case of Irish

polit ical prisoners in British jai ls who have complained that they are being forcibly given addictive bar-biturates and injected wi th the painful drug Paraldehyde. Alastalr Logan, the solicitor representing che of the prisoners, has stated that psychiatric drugs are now forcibly administered to non - conforming and politically-conscious prisoners in Brit ish jails, "on an extensive scale". He also claims to have pre-sented evidence to the Secretary of State that "on four separate occa-sions, politically-conscious, non-conforming prisoners were com-mitted to mental institutions with-in days of completing their sen-tences." Newry-born Eddie Byrne, who is serving a 14-year sentence for conspiracy to cause explosions lias complained that he is con-t inual ly threatened by prison staff because of his efforts to highl ight forcible drugging. Byrne says he f irst encountered psychiatric drugs in February 1977 when he was taken to Parkhurst prison after an incident at neighbouring Albany prison and forcibly administered an unknown drug.

"A short time later I develop* / a state of convulsions and passer) • into unconsciousness on the cell floor. When I regained conscious-ness I found myself strapped to a prison bed. Staff Informed ma that tr is was for my own safety. Later < slept for 72 hours when the drug wore off." He claims that he and other political prisoners are being administered the major tranquil-lizers Depoxal and Paraldehyde and the addictive drug Tuinal.

Printed by Ripley Printers Ltd (TO). Nottingham Road, Ripley, Berbjra, «nd published by Connolly Publi-cations Ltd, at 111 Lavender Hill, London s w n .

Jill i\ cession h<is caught up 11h Kilkenny with the regi>-

'ered unemployment /igures go-mg Ironi some seventy-odd in 1he ( ity'a labour exchange to • lose on ten times that number in the space oj a couple of years—Fieldcrest, that massive new /lop, accounting for most oj the jobless. There is some-thing very poignant about a grand new project which held out so much hope as this going bust, as they say, after only a i ouple of years.

Many people—not all of them with connections in the area, even—had returned from Bri-tain and from farther afield to work at Fieldcrest and now, with heavy mortgages to pay off and no means of doing so, such people must be bitterly regretting their move. Two years ago—less, that I think of it now—the atmosphere in Kil-kenny was very different and over a pint in the popular Marble City Bar with a Bally-joyle man who had returned• to Kilkenny after being twenty-odd years here in Britain, we dis-cussed the many heartening changes we had seen come over the place. My friend was taking home a very acceptable wage indeed as a groundsman in the new American towelling factory and he had no regrets at all at the time barring, naturally enough, that he missed the many friends he hud made here in the English Midlands. But he had been unemployed for some time in England in any case—had walked the streets of London, in fact, in the hopeless pursuit of a job—and on balance he was very satisfied that he had made the move home.

This year I was struck by the many little signs and portents of harder times. There were men standing at a street corner in greater numbers than 1 re-member since the bad old days of the early nineteen-fifties and there was a steady stream of men and women making their way across the town to "sign on". "Signing on" or register-ing as unemployed is a twice-weekly affair now unless I mis-take and even at that the place gets pretty crowded; it was a daily chore in my dole-days thirty-odd years ago, Monday to Saturday. . . . I began my New Year 1951 by signing on! But things have changed an awful lot since then and Ireland has seen an unprecedented, if all too brief, period of prosperity. In 1951 when I, along with thousands more, left home to take a job in Britain farmwork-ers often drew as little as thirty shillings a week (plus keep) and work was often brutally hard, especially on the building—men who worked on the Kennyswell new council house project in the late 'forties will tell you of the long hours . and compulsory overtime, the unremitting hard nature of the work; no dumpers, JCBs or ready-mixed concrete; no tea-breqks beyond the dinner break and very -little real pro-tection against the whims of the employer. (The men working "direct labour" on the portion of the scheme which the council

BY DONALL MacAMHLAIGH

built fared a lot better—and the houses built direct are wearing a great deal better, too !) But in ore machinery means less jobs, of course ("You're as bad burned as scalded, Danny," as one un-employed building worker said to me when I was at home there in October) and the position now is that all too often there isn't even work for the ma-chines.

J^HE biggest difference between then and now, of course, is

that then Britain was crying out for Irish labour—hospitals, pub-lic transport, construction, agri-culture, they all wanted Paddy and Biddy, and Paddy and Biddy responded as people will always when they have no work, no prospects, and a better living beckons. Daily on your run across to the "Labour" you met someone who was "off over" in a day or two, their words were so familiar that you knew what to expect before they spoke them at all: "Ah sure there's nothing here, boy, what would be keeping you ?"

What indeed, if there was an alternative and there was, in-deed. "Any useless yoke at all can get. n job in England it seems," a publican's wife said one day to me as I confided my intention of making the move; and 1 agreed a mite uncomfort-ably not quite knowing how to take the remark . . .

But the best of men can't get work in Britain now, never mind the "useless yokes." If there were full employment in Britain now, and if the Irish were to be as welcome here as they used to be in the "Never-had-it-so-good" days of thirty or *u'en(y years ago, I suppose they'd be streaming across from Dun Laoire, Rosslare or where-ever—or would they ? For there is no denying, I think, that a lot of the young people of Ire-land today are not so keen to emigrate as their parents' gen-eration was; the bright city lights that so attracted people in rural Ireland a generation ago have lost a lot of their lustre and, given half a chance at all, I think the flow would be in the westwards direction. We know from what happened in the early 1970s that the Irish will go home if they see any chances whatever of making out reasonably well.

Quite a number of Britons must have joined them in that movement, too, to judge from the numbers of them you meet in Ireland these days, ei'ther working for someone else or in business in some small way on their own behalf. Five years ago English brickies re get-ting a far higher rate pir uiou-sand than they could hope to get anywhere in Britain and unless the report is exaggerated —I'm relying« o n something I heard in Radio Eireann the

other day—some bricklayers are even now averaging ten pounds an hour in Mary Horan's per-haps not-quite-so-green and not-quite-so-pleasant land . . .

A man can't visit Ireland and not talk of the pint; it can cost anything from 96p upwards now (I wouldn't like to venture into an expensive hotel lounge and call for a pint of Arthur G) and some publicans find that there is little point in opening in the morning at all. The Irish always tended to go for their gargle late at night (by British stan-dards anyway—I have seen men come into Strokestown, Co Ros-common, pubs as late as half-eleven at night and call for a drink) and now that the money is tighter they tend to go even later still.

£ SURPRISINGLY large num-ber of Irishmen (and women)

seem to drink lager now—sur-prisingly, in my view, because Guinness is an excellent drink even if there is not much in the way of choice of beers over there—and I suppose the time must come—if the world en-dures (Mercy Ronnie, Comrade Andropov and Maggie T!) — when beer and Guinness drink-ers will be in the min <rity and lager will rule supreme Or will it ? The experts have oeen con-founded before in their fore-cast—look at what happened to the Guinness Light!

For many years after coming to Britain I longecl for the good old pint of Guinness hut of late years T seem to. prefer the beer (real ale, I mean—a pint of Shepherd Neames, say, or Lon-don Pride, or Marston's Pedi-gree) to the native Irish brew. But real ale is only beginning

' to make an impression on the Irish market and that only in the Dublin area — Smithwicks, alas, is onfy a poor shadow of the old pint of "nacheral" they once brewed and I don't really believe that the Guinness is what it was. (Is it true, 1 once asked a man who had owned a pub in Dublin for over thirty years, is it true that the Guin-ness was so strong that when you left your glass on the counter it tended to stick there ? "It did," replied my man, "but that's because they usen't to wipe the counter clean!" A libel, no doubt, on the hygienic standards of Irish pub-keepers but in fact that particular ex-publican did not go along with the idea at all that the brew was all that much better in our fathers' time!

But drink is a luxury ("You can say that <i?,ain," 1 hear the poor man handing out his punt for a pint say) and a lot of people think we'd be no worse at all without it. If there are as many people in dim straits as Kilkenny's Sitter Stjtaislaus maintains then t h e c o u n t r y is in a bad way indeed. The farmers are screaming blue hell how ;

they want a wage freeze for PA YE workers but more money themselves. There's farmers and farmers, as the fellow said; some of them are as remote from their neighbours in terms of well-being as human beings engaged in the same occupation could be but, according to one Limerickman whom I met on the way back from Ireland, in dreary Rugby station in the wee small hours as a matter of fact, there are farmers milking forty cows and drawing the dole! Exaggeration ? That I don't know but it seems that some-one is going to have to make sacrifices in Ireland and I can't see too many volunteers. The gap widens between poor a n d rich all the time and the rich are determined not to become a whit poorer, it seems.

QALWAY appeared to me, when I got off the train there

of a wet and squally afternoon in late October, to be full of well-groomed young business executives; the train was full coming down from Dublin (£20.50 return) and for all the talk of recession it seems to me that almost everyone is well dressed and apparently fairly prosperous. How long will it take, of recession, before the signs become as apparent as they were twenty-five or thirty years ago when you saw pov-erty in all its naked ugliness ?

A Connemara friend with whom I made the return journey by car thought it wouldn't be all that long . . . "Feicfidh tu carrannai ag lobhadh sa gharrai, ceal airgid lena gcoinneail ar an mbothar." (You'll see cars rot-ting in the gardens for want of money to keep them on the road) was his opinion however right or wrong he may turn out to be.

A month or so before this I read of teenagers being "hung over" from drink in a populous Connemara parish, on Mondays, and in a parish not too many miles from there last year it was said that secondary school pupils were "bad after beer" on Monday mornings. . . .

If all this is true and not a gross exaggeration, where does the money come from or how can teenagers drink enough to make them hung over next day when the pint costs a pound note, near as dammit ? Or leave the beer alone, bad as it may be for youngsters, but what about the "Drugs in Dun Chaoin" re-ports we heard some time ago ? Or the use of heroin by young-sters in Dublin, an all too com-mon occurrence ?

Is everything going to pot as people of earlier generations have feared? Are the police ioing their job, or is it even

possible for them to do it properly the way things are now ? 1 think I spoke in my last piece about Gardai Siochana lounging about in O'Connell Street with their hands in their pockets so I won't labour the point now. But there's a /of that is wrong with dear Qid Mary Horan these days and Jt gives me no joy to say that. Maybe next month I'll find Bum-mat more cheerful to say.