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The spin is making me dizzy

Wont be long until ireland is free




Sinn Fein MP Pat Doherty has lobbied for money for a loyalist flute band.

He wrote to the Arts Council backing funding for Castlederg Young Loyalist Flute Band.

The band's website includes sections on IRA atrocities, the controversial B Specials and lyrics to songs, including one glorifying UVF terrorist Brian Robinson who murdered a Catholic.

The band is linked to a lodge within the Orange Order.

Tensions
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I am not naïve but this application for new instruments was worth endorsing."

Pat Doherty
Sinn Fein MP
In his letter of support for £5,000, Mr Doherty wrote that the band had reached out to "all sections of the community."

The BBC obtained the letter, written on House of Commons notepaper in June 2011, as part of a Freedom of Information request on political lobbying in support of band funding applications.

He wrote: "I have had quite a bit of inter-action with the band and can unequivocally state they have made a huge contribution in helping to resolve community tensions in Castlederg."

Mr Doherty told the BBC he was not aware of the contents of the band's website, but it was "in transition."

He said: "I am not naïve but this application for new instruments was worth endorsing."

Mr Doherty was asked to write the letter by a third party.

A spokesman for the band said they were "a bit taken aback" to learn the Sinn Fein MP had lobbied for money for them.

Denied
He said: "We are not ashamed of who we are. Four of our members were murdered by the IRA."

But, like Mr Doherty, the spokesman pointed out that the band had participated in cross-border, folk and traditional music events, including those organised under the banner of European peace funding.

The application that Mr Doherty supported was turned down.

But it has just been awarded a £4,800 grant following a separate application, which the Arts Council said was successful as the band had signed up to community relations criteria.

The documentation released to the BBC also revealed a Sinn Fein councillor's backing for funding for another band from the "pro-Unionist marching" tradition.

Cookstown councillor Ciaran McElhone wrote to the Arts Council last October after Drumnacross flute band was denied funding.

According to his correspondence, the band's name had been used on a BEBO site whose content was deemed offensive.

But Cllr McElhone said the band neither commissioned nor condoned the site and the use of its name had been unauthorised.

He said he wanted the Arts Council to reconsider, saying also that the band was "uncontroversial among the Nationalist community."

Some people in SF were in the IRA. Shocker alright there Saffron.

A decade ago ?

5 to 8 years before the IRA surrendered for their 30 pieces in Stormont, according to the article. Again, shocker of a story 

Fixed that for you.

If the IRA were not defeated as you state Nally, then why did they surrender? Why did they surrender their arms as part of the terms of this surrender. And if they didn't surrender then where is their 32 county republic?

It was some defeat for the Brits, the North still in the Union, IRA out of action and decommissioned their weapons, unity further away than ever and Sinn Fein administering British rule in Stormont.

One in four IRA members were informers Smithwick tribunal told



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18521165

20 June 2012 Last updated at 19:12 Share this pageEmailPrint
One in four in IRA members were informers Smithwick Tribunal told

One in four IRA members, including some in the highest echelons, were informers, a tribunal has been told.

Former garda Owen Corrigan said the RUC and the Army paid "endless sums of money" for poor quality information.

He claimed that the British government were putting such pressure on the security services that they were "grateful for any tittle tattle".

The Smithwick Tribunal is investigating alleged Garda collusion in the IRA murder of two senior RUC officers.

Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan were shot dead in an ambush in south Armagh in March 1989 as they returned from a meeting in Dundalk Garda station.

At the tribunal on Wednesday, Mr Corrigan, a retired detective sergeant from Dundalk, said the informers congregated at night in the town and travelled to Northern Ireland the following day.

He said they would tell on each other as "they had no sense of loyalty".

Mr Corrigan said he had information that the "execution" of the two officers had been planned months in advance and involved a considerable number of people, yet he had not received any hint in advance that the murders were to take place.

Allegations have been made that Mr Corrigan himself colluded with the IRA in the murders of the officers.

But on Tuesday, Mr Corrigan rejected any suggestion he may have been a double agent working for the IRA.

During Wednesday's hearing, Mr Corrigan, said informers had leaked his name because he was a "thorn in their side".-

He also dismissed claims from security journalist and author Chris Ryder that he had sought payment for potential stories, when he met him in the 1970s.

Mr Corrigan said it was "a scurrilous slur" on his good name. He then claimed that Mr Ryder was a member of MI5 - a claim the journalist has denied.

The former garda was questioned by the tribunal about an RUC intelligence document which named him in 1985 as someone who was passing information to the provisionals.

The source of that document was grain smuggler John McAnulty, who was later tortured and murdered by the IRA.

Mr Corrigan pointed out that although the intelligence had been graded as "believable" by the RUC officers who compiled it, their boss, with whom he had a good working relationship had dismissed it as rumour and gossip.

The tribunal continues on Friday.

Chief Supt Breen and Supt Buchanan were the most senior RUC members to be murdered during the Troubles.

We don't throw the money in the bin when they give us it

We pay our taxes so why the f**k should we bin it?

And the Ministry of Defence are thankful of it.

How is the gold coast Brit MacIlroy doing ?

How is Sands keeping these days?

[I don't think you'd find too many who wouldn't condemn what happened and the way it was subsequently dealt with. What else is there to say]

I don't think you'd find too many who wouldn't condemn what happened and the way it was subsequently dealt with. What else is there to say.
I didn't see this thread until this morning and didn't have any plans to contribute to it when I saw how the discussion had followed. It has really shown certain people up.

Obviously you will bring the same standards to every troubles related thread? Of course. When the next HET finding comes out about some "volunteer" shot by the Brits you will bring the same even handed approach. Or the next time a finding reports that an innocent Catholic was killed you will not be apoplectic and want answers? I was half expecting some poems from Glens Abu on this thread or maybe a Sinn Fein statement from their website. He must be busy.

Was it a war? Just when it suits seemingly.

[Lies]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17152390

The father of a schoolboy killed when he triggered a bomb in Londonderry in 1973 has said he is glad republicans have admitted full responsibility.
Gordon Gallagher, 9, died when the device exploded in his Creggan garden.
His parents called on deputy first minister Martin McGuinness to get to the truth about what happened.

In a statement, republicans accepted full responsibility. Gordon's father said he was glad they accepted that they, not the Army, were to blame.
The statement, released through the campaign group, the Pat Finucane Centre in Derry said: "Republicans fully accept their responsibility for the death of Gordon and apologise to the parents and family of Gordon Gallagher for the pain and grief caused.
"Republicans remain truly remorseful and profoundly sorry for the circumstances that led to Gordon's death."

Billy Gallagher said: "I accept the IRA's responsibility for the murder of Gordon - even though it came through a third party and they didn't speak to me directly.
"This has opened the door for further investigation - I want to know who did it and why. I am glad they take full responsibility and accept that they were to blame and no one else was (the Army).
"This will help to make sure that everyone else knows the IRA were to blame for Gordon's death, even though I always knew that."

Lies
Gordon Gallagher had been playing 'Cowboys and Indians' in the garden with his younger brother when he tripped on the bomb which had been left there.
He died in hospital from his injuries.
At the time, the IRA admitted to the family that a device had been left in the garden. However, it claimed the detonator was added by soldiers.

Mr Gallagher said IRA members came to his home to admit leaving the bomb in his garden.
"Two boys came and lied about it at the start. They told me their unit put the bomb there, but no detonator, that the Army must have come back and put a detonator - it's ridiculous.
"Shock or no shock, I never believed that for a second. One of the men who came to tell me the lies, about two or three weeks after it, his wife arrived at my door and she apologised.
"She said: 'We're sorry about your son but these things happen in war.'
"I said: 'Sure my son wasn't at war, he was only nine years of age.'
"I chased them from my door."

Following the family's appeal to Martin McGuinness earlier this week, republicans released a statement via the Pat Finucane centre.

"Because of the potential danger to the community the IRA made the decision to notify the RUC/British Army through an anonymous phone call - this clearly indicated the location at the rear gardens behind Melmore/Leenan gardens," the statement said.
"Following the phone call the immediate district was then saturated by British troops. The IRA, believing that the British Army had discovered the device during the course of their search, withdrew from the area believing the British Army would have cleared the area and rendered the device safe.
"The IRA felt that if they had moved back to retrieve the device given that the British Army now heavily saturated the area they would be captured or shot. The following morning young Gordon went out to play in his garden and accidentally triggered the explosive device."

I see this is the shit the republicans are selling now, streets named after Bobbie Sands as some sort of achievement. I suppose you need to sell something, the war was lost, the Brits are still in charge, unification is not happening any time soon, Sinn Fein are administering Tory cuts. But there is a street in Eritrea named after Bobbie Sands so all is right with the world. Laughable.

Hearing rumours that he is to be released,anyone know if this is true?

As if u are bothered, obviously you have to pretend because the Palestinians are a republican hobby horse.

Thank god for those Sinn Fein (Official sponsors of the Queens Jubilee) and those press releases, we're would we be without them?

AO, there's no winking about it. The simple fact is the glove wasn't in the car when it was inspected in the immediate aftermath, in fact there is no record of the glove until weeks later, conveniently after Duffy's house had been raided. The "DNA evidence" was a joke, nothing more than a pile of stats pulled out of some bluffers hole. The fact that even a Diplock judge wouldn't convict speaks volumes, though that still won't stop many others making insinuations that Collie was responsible for this.

Just on the news Chivers found guilty.

"Dr Perlin's primary degree was in Chemistry and he has Doctorates in Mathematics and Computer Science, as well as a degree in Medicine"

He could well still be bluffing but he seems decently qualified?

Not in Provo land. A republican has never been rightfully convicted of a crime in their world.

Some of you Provos better make your way and find Danny Morrison, he has tied himself up in knots with his lying ! Ha ha

Crawl back under your rock, loyalist scum. Happy New Year!

You go back to your shack in Armagh.