Joe Brolly

Started by randomtask, July 31, 2011, 05:28:31 PM

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Jim Bob

Quote from: Rawhide on November 05, 2017, 11:54:40 AM
Quote from: Jim Bob on November 05, 2017, 10:04:40 AM
Quote from: hardstation on November 05, 2017, 12:14:52 AM
Quote from: Jim Bob on November 04, 2017, 11:59:35 PM
Quote from: hardstation on November 04, 2017, 10:46:47 PM
Quote from: Jim Bob on November 04, 2017, 10:41:36 PM
Gross exaggeration there. If  loyalists want to attack GAA members they don't need a speech from Brolly or McNulty to encourage them.
Nonsense. The loose and unfounded claim that Mr Heffron would be nearly certain that people he played with passed on his details to others gives loyalists all the reason they need to connect Creggan GAC with dissident republicanism. That is a dangerous thing to say.

Loyalists have long regarded GAA members as legimste targets and have carried out attacks and even murder eg Sean Brown from Bellaghey. They don't need quotes from any newspaper article in 2017 to justify another one. They would do it anyway
You are deluded. Every now and again, there are tit for tat attacks on GAA clubs & Orange Halls. By your logic, one has no effect on the other. While loyalism has a hatred for GAA, which has been shown in many forms over the  years, during more peaceful times  we have largely fallen off their radar. Splashing this horseshit across the front pages of our media paints the picture of GAA - IRA at play. A tag that our association had lost, by and large. You tell me, Creggan Kickhams GAC is as safe tonight as it was this time last week?

Loyalists will attack's any GAA club at any time be it Creggan or anywhere else. No GAA club is safe at any time though we just have to get on with things. Nothing deluded about that.

Naive at worst, foolish at best. This non balanced reporting will only help fuel those types thinking, it certainly will have helped reinforce their philosophies.

You obviously haven't grown up through the troubles

T Fearon

Suzanne Breen also made the very valid point,that this controversy,fuelled principally by Brolly,will deter many Catholics from even considering joining the PSNI in the future.

Tony Baloney

Quote from: Jim Bob on November 05, 2017, 12:07:59 PM
Quote from: Rawhide on November 05, 2017, 11:54:40 AM
Quote from: Jim Bob on November 05, 2017, 10:04:40 AM
Quote from: hardstation on November 05, 2017, 12:14:52 AM
Quote from: Jim Bob on November 04, 2017, 11:59:35 PM
Quote from: hardstation on November 04, 2017, 10:46:47 PM
Quote from: Jim Bob on November 04, 2017, 10:41:36 PM
Gross exaggeration there. If  loyalists want to attack GAA members they don't need a speech from Brolly or McNulty to encourage them.
Nonsense. The loose and unfounded claim that Mr Heffron would be nearly certain that people he played with passed on his details to others gives loyalists all the reason they need to connect Creggan GAC with dissident republicanism. That is a dangerous thing to say.

Loyalists have long regarded GAA members as legimste targets and have carried out attacks and even murder eg Sean Brown from Bellaghey. They don't need quotes from any newspaper article in 2017 to justify another one. They would do it anyway
You are deluded. Every now and again, there are tit for tat attacks on GAA clubs & Orange Halls. By your logic, one has no effect on the other. While loyalism has a hatred for GAA, which has been shown in many forms over the  years, during more peaceful times  we have largely fallen off their radar. Splashing this horseshit across the front pages of our media paints the picture of GAA - IRA at play. A tag that our association had lost, by and large. You tell me, Creggan Kickhams GAC is as safe tonight as it was this time last week?

Loyalists will attack's any GAA club at any time be it Creggan or anywhere else. No GAA club is safe at any time though we just have to get on with things. Nothing deluded about that.

Naive at worst, foolish at best. This non balanced reporting will only help fuel those types thinking, it certainly will have helped reinforce their philosophies.

You obviously haven't grown up through the troubles
And you're still trying to pretend life in 2017 is the same as 1977, 87 or even 97. Hardstation correctly pulled you on this shite earlier. If you have the stats to suggest that the number of attacks on GAA clubs is the same now as 20 years ago feel free to post them on here.

imtommygunn

There are a couple of areas - ahoghill springs to mind - where the areas they are in mean they are under a wee bit of a threat at all times. However , thankfully, this is in the minority these days. Moy had an attack the other year too? Generally there aren't particularly many though. It really is nothing like what it used to be where you had the likes of what happened in bellaghy to sean brown happening.

The threat to gaa clubs is really no greater than the threat to orange halls in mainly nationalist areas. It is idiots without much backing who do these things on either side.

The psni are not perfect but are better. Having the parades commission make them stop the banned orange parades go down roads has "normalised" them a bit due to making them unpopular on "the other side" too. Still a bit to go but there is not the stigma there once was. Forgetting one individual club you have to remember it is not that long ago police up here were not allowed to play gaa - by the gaa.

Jim Bob

Quote from: Tony Baloney on November 05, 2017, 12:54:34 PM
Quote from: Jim Bob on November 05, 2017, 12:07:59 PM
Quote from: Rawhide on November 05, 2017, 11:54:40 AM
Quote from: Jim Bob on November 05, 2017, 10:04:40 AM
Quote from: hardstation on November 05, 2017, 12:14:52 AM
Quote from: Jim Bob on November 04, 2017, 11:59:35 PM
Quote from: hardstation on November 04, 2017, 10:46:47 PM
Quote from: Jim Bob on November 04, 2017, 10:41:36 PM
Gross exaggeration there. If  loyalists want to attack GAA members they don't need a speech from Brolly or McNulty to encourage them.
Nonsense. The loose and unfounded claim that Mr Heffron would be nearly certain that people he played with passed on his details to others gives loyalists all the reason they need to connect Creggan GAC with dissident republicanism. That is a dangerous thing to say.

Loyalists have long regarded GAA members as legimste targets and have carried out attacks and even murder eg Sean Brown from Bellaghey. They don't need quotes from any newspaper article in 2017 to justify another one. They would do it anyway
You are deluded. Every now and again, there are tit for tat attacks on GAA clubs & Orange Halls. By your logic, one has no effect on the other. While loyalism has a hatred for GAA, which has been shown in many forms over the  years, during more peaceful times  we have largely fallen off their radar. Splashing this horseshit across the front pages of our media paints the picture of GAA - IRA at play. A tag that our association had lost, by and large. You tell me, Creggan Kickhams GAC is as safe tonight as it was this time last week?

Loyalists will attack's any GAA club at any time be it Creggan or anywhere else. No GAA club is safe at any time though we just have to get on with things. Nothing deluded about that.

Naive at worst, foolish at best. This non balanced reporting will only help fuel those types thinking, it certainly will have helped reinforce their philosophies.

You obviously haven't grown up through the troubles
And you're still trying to pretend life in 2017 is the same as 1977, 87 or even 97. Hardstation correctly pulled you on this shite earlier. If you have the stats to suggest that the number of attacks on GAA clubs is the same now as 20 years ago feel free to post them on here.

You haven't much faith in The station's debating abilities when you feel you have to interject on his behalf. Away and help the Mrs plan tomorrow's lessons  ;)


trileacman

Fantasy Rugby World Cup Champion 2011,
Fantasy 6 Nations Champion 2014

tothetop03

I wonder can Joe interview the Mentioned PSNI GAA team trainer Mr Tucker and ask why he mentally tortured the family's of the young men who where shot dead in the Clonoe CHAPEL car park in 1992 one of them a playing member of my own club.... 


Kickham csc

Quote from: imtommygunn on November 05, 2017, 01:20:44 PM
There are a couple of areas - ahoghill springs to mind - where the areas they are in mean they are under a wee bit of a threat at all times. However , thankfully, this is in the minority these days. Moy had an attack the other year too? Generally there aren't particularly many though. It really is nothing like what it used to be where you had the likes of what happened in bellaghy to sean brown happening.

The threat to gaa clubs is really no greater than the threat to orange halls in mainly nationalist areas. It is idiots without much backing who do these things on either side.

The psni are not perfect but are better. Having the parades commission make them stop the banned orange parades go down roads has "normalised" them a bit due to making them unpopular on "the other side" too. Still a bit to go but there is not the stigma there once was. Forgetting one individual club you have to remember it is not that long ago police up here were not allowed to play gaa - by the gaa.

Ahoghil, Portglenone, Tir Na nOg, Creggan, Antrim, Aldrgrove, Aghagallan, Ballymena, St Endas are clubs that are exposed to loyalist violence.

We have had nails spread on the football field,  and more recently, advertising banners stolen that were put on the bomb fire in Randalstown on 12th night.

Also Sean Brown's body was dumped in our area, in an area that would indicate local (and police involvement)

So for Creggan, the threat of violence is real and apparently has increase due to last weeks BS

give her dixie

Officers 'should be disciplined' over Heffron attack failings

Police Ombudsman says there was a failure to help detectives investigating the blast

Fri, Dec 18, 2015,
 
Four Police Service of Northern Ireland police intelligence officers should be disciplined for their failure to pass on information about a bomb attack on a colleague, a watchdog has recommended.

Constable Peadar Heffron suffered serious injuries when the undercar booby trap device was detonated near Randalstown in Co Antrim five years ago.

Even though there was insufficient evidence to support an allegation that the attack could have been prevented, Police Ombudsman Dr Michael Maguire said there was a failure to help detectives investigating the blast.

Four officers, two detective superintendents and two detective sergeants, from the PSNI's C3 unit should be disciplined, the Ombudsman said.

"I acknowledge that the information the detectives sought did not lead to significant new evidence," Dr Maguire said.

"Despite this, the delay in waiting to asses this information lost momentum for the investigation.

"Police policy requires that investigators are provided with intelligence at the earliest opportunity.

"They are the people best placed to develop lines of enquiry that may translate into evidence, which could otherwise be lost by delay.

"This case demonstrates clear shortcoming in this regard."

Constable Heffron, a catholic and fluent Irish speaker, lost a leg as a result of the dissident republican explosion and now uses a wheelchair.

He had been on his way to work at Woodbourne police station in west Belfast when the bomb exploded about a mile from his home on Milltown Road in Randalstown on January 8th, 2010.

The ombudsman's investigation was launched after a complaint from a man who claimed police had been warned of the likelihood of an attack at "Milltown" several weeks earlier.

Investigators spoke with the informant, who said he had receive a text message about the impending attack and passed it to police.

He did not save the texts and did not have any other notes or records from the time, it was noted.

But, to the best of his memory, the informant claimed his message read: "Attack on police officers- Milltown — urgent," the Ombudsman's office revealed.

Although he believed the "Milltown" mentioned in the original text was in west Belfast, he did not specify this to police.

The informant alleged that following the attack on Constable Heffron, police revealed to him they had "missed out on Randalstown" when checking areas known as Milltown.

But the Police Ombudsman investigators also spoke to the police officer responsible for handling the intelligence.
He said he had recorded the content of the text verbatim before deleting it.

The officer said the text specified Milltown in Andersonstown, west Belfast, and that he had issued a warning to all police in the area.
He rejected claims police had said they "missed out on Randalstown".

Instead, the officer claimed it was the informant who had made contact to apologise for incorrectly interpreting "Milltown" as the area in west Belfast.

Having considered other documentation the ombudsman concluded that on the balance of probabilities, police were told the impending attack was to be in Belfast, not Randalstown.

But during the course of their investigation, ombudsman staff became concerned that detectives were not getting the help they needed from PSNI's C3 branch which has primary responsibility for receiving and managing intelligence.

A number of senior police officers within the unit, including several superintendents were interviewed.

Two officers said they had supplied information to the detectives within weeks of the attack while another said he believed information had been provided.

Dr Maguire said C3 has been unable to provide any documentation or other evidence to confirm that detectives received the information they had been requesting.

He concluded that a delay of more than two years in providing detectives with information, and to then make it available a matter of weeks after hearing of his involvement, was not acceptable.

Anne Connolly, chair of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, which oversees the PSNI, described the report as "disturbing reading".
She said: "There are serious questions arising from the conclusions, and specifically in relation to the arrangements for the sharing of intelligence, which the board will want to discuss with the chief constable.

"The wider public will find it hard to understand the failings in this case and the board will be seeking assurance from the chief constable that actions have been taken to address all the shortcomings identified."

Chief constable George Hamilton and his deputy Drew Harris are expected to be questioned about the ombudsman's findings at a specially convened Policing Board meeting next week.

PSNI deputy chief Constable Drew Harris said the report had been given careful and serious consideration.

He said: "I have consulted with colleagues in Crime Operations Department which is responsible for the management of intelligence and conducting investigations into serious crime.

"I welcome the ombudsman's conclusion that a complaint which alleged police had been provided with information which, if acted upon, could have prevented the attack on constable Heffron, is not substantiated.

"In relation to an additional conclusion that officers in Intelligence Branch did not supply investigating detectives from Serious Crime Branch with the information they sought, the Police Service view is that this line of enquiry was pursued and belatedly closed down but that it was not directly related to the attempted murder of constable Heffron.

"However, the Police Service is receptive to any learning which can be gleaned from such reports. There was an administrative failing in this case in which the line of enquiry was not processed as quickly as it should have been.

"This issue has been addressed and resolved by a number of measures including the establishment of secure means of passing material from Intelligence Branch to Serious Crime Branch.

"It is our view that all credible lines of enquiry in this investigation, which is still open, have been pursued. I would continue to appeal for anyone with information about the bomb attack in Randalstown on January 8 2010 to come forward."

He added: "The ombudsman recommended disciplinary sanctions against four officers. I have agreed there is a requirement for disciplinary sanctions in this case. Having reviewed the full circumstances of this investigation, I decided on an appropriate sanction for each of the detective superintendents. Disciplinary sanctions in respect of the Detective Sergeants are currently being considered."

Constable Heffron is continuing to re-build his life after the terror attack and has requested privacy, he said

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/officers-should-be-disciplined-over-heffron-attack-failings-1.2471009
next stop, September 10, for number 4......

MoChara

Quote from: Owen Brannigan on November 05, 2017, 07:14:12 PM
Joe sets out his challenges to GAA members and Creggan GAC:

https://www.independent.ie/sport/columnists/joe-brolly/joe-brolly-all-of-us-in-the-gaa-in-the-six-counties-have-been-part-of-a-culture-of-silence-of-cowardice-36290151.html

Jesus if only we had Joe in 2002 to let us know the Peelers had actually started to change. Joe vision is 20/20 in hindsight.

general_lee

Quote from: MoChara on November 06, 2017, 09:29:54 AM
Quote from: Owen Brannigan on November 05, 2017, 07:14:12 PM
Joe sets out his challenges to GAA members and Creggan GAC:

https://www.independent.ie/sport/columnists/joe-brolly/joe-brolly-all-of-us-in-the-gaa-in-the-six-counties-have-been-part-of-a-culture-of-silence-of-cowardice-36290151.html

Jesus if only we had Joe in 2002 to let us know the Peelers had actually started to change. Joe vision is 20/20 in hindsight.
x2. I wonder if back in 2002 and some young sur from dungiven wanted to sign up would Joe be telling the rest of the lads to wise up and support this cub.  ::)

Applesisapples

Quote from: BennyCake on November 03, 2017, 03:59:03 PM
Quote from: Applesisapples on November 03, 2017, 10:43:25 AM
Quote from: stephenite on November 03, 2017, 08:56:29 AM
Great lads altogether were Sinn Fein/IRA. A man who approved strapping an innocent to a tractor bomb ended up as Ulster Education minister, and ran for President of Ireland.
Fcuk sake lads 20+ years on and we are still raking over this sort of shit. SF abandoned that position on legitimate atrgets at least 20 years ago, dissidents have been quite rightly denounced as traitors. What came out of the piece on the view last night is that some nationalists will never accept the PSNI and that is a pathetic position to take. We need to get to the situation where PSNI officers can live in the communities they serve. We also need more representation from the catholic community at least up to 45%. Finally Joe Brolly is right, Kickhams need to make their peace with Peadar, for the clubs' sake and for his, if that involves an apology for the actions/inactions of their members, perceived or real then it is imo a price worth paying.

Is it really? Try telling that to the relatives of Loughinisland victims, among many others.
I feel for the families of Loughinisland and other victims of state collusion. I am not saying don't investigate but you do have to move on and accept that the PSNI is a change for the better and a work in progress. Like the divided community it represents it will have a diversity of membership. you can't complain about the makeup of the organisation and do nothing about it. But irrespective of your politics there were rights and wrongs on both sides, injuries and hurt on both sides we need to move on.

Applesisapples

Quote from: Owen Brannigan on November 05, 2017, 07:14:12 PM
Joe sets out his challenges to GAA members and Creggan GAC:

https://www.independent.ie/sport/columnists/joe-brolly/joe-brolly-all-of-us-in-the-gaa-in-the-six-counties-have-been-part-of-a-culture-of-silence-of-cowardice-36290151.html
Joe nails it again. Kickham CC has stated that we don't know the facts and Brolly's article is one sided. Of course it is because its Peadar Hefforn's view from where he is now. He admits to some bitterness. But how can you have all the facts if the club doesn't speak openly from its perspective. Their statement as Brolly says is self serving and does not address the issues that the article raised.