NEWS FROM SAOIRSE (freedom). The Voice of the Irish Republican Movement. Republican Sinn Féin http://rsf.ie 223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1 229 Falls Road, Belfast

On the 21st day of the trial of Colm Murphy (49), Co Louth, who is charged with conspiring to cause an explosion, the Special Court heard evidence from two experts, Dr John Peter French and Kim Harry Hughes, who examined the notes of Colm Murphy’s interrogation. Murphy had been interrogated 15 times by three teams of two Special Branch members each at Monaghan Garda barracks in February 1999.

The court heard that notes of an interrogation carried out by Det Liam Donnelly and Det John Fahy on February 22, 1999 were subjected to a test by Det Geraldine Butler, a prosecution witness who had not been called by the prosecution. The notes were made of up two pages of foolscap paper; the first page was written on both sides and the second page was written on one side. The notes had been written by Det Donnelly and signed by Det Fahy and were alleged to give a record of what Colm Murphy had said during interrogation.

Det Butler’s professional opinion was that page three of the notes had been rewritten after the interrogation was over.

The reason that page three had to be rewritten after the interrogation was because it contained a reference to a family relationship between Colm Murphy’s wife and another woman whose brother was alleged to be associated with a person who Gardai believed was involved in the Omagh bombing of August 1998. The notes recorded that Colm Murphy had confirmed this family relationship.

In actual fact the relationship did not exist. Sometime after the interrogation Det Donnelly realised he had written an obvious falsehood into the falsified notes. In order to try to make the notes stand up he was obliged to rewrite them to remove the error. The re-written version was then signed by Det Fahy to confirm their authenticity.

The judges said that Dets Fahy and Donnelly had been involved in “persistent lying on oath”; their conduct was “outrageous”; it “tainted the prosecution and had consequences which extended beyond the interview notes”; they were “discredited witnesses” and their evidence was inadmissible.

Despite these damning indictments of Garda conduct in the case – falsifying interrogation notes and then re-writing them again afterwards when they realised they had made a mistake – the court felt there was no evidence to suggest that any other Gardaí were involved. The interrogation notes of Fahy and Donnelly were ruled inadmissible but the notes of the other teams of detectives were allowed to stand as evidence.

In a case where the main evidence against an accused is what he is alleged to have said during interrogation, as contained in the interrogation notes written by detectives, such gross misconduct and falsification of notes by detectives should lead to the whole case being thrown out.

The trial was later suspended until January 11 next due to the illness of one of the three trial judges, Mary O’Halloran.
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Just the day before Cowen’s statement, the ‘National Forum on Europe’ was addressed by a Danish MEP, Jens-Peter Bonde said the exact opposite. “There is no need to ratify the Treaty of Nice. What is needed to provide for enlargement can be put in the accession treaties.” He said he believed future historians would regard the Irish No vote as “the healthy warning would lead prime ministers and presidents to realise that the next treaty should be produced in a different, more transparent and involving way”. And maybe it could have come to be viewed in that light if the Dublin administration had had the courage to stand over the referendum result in Brussels.

On the same day, Roger Cole of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance, speaking at the Forum, addressed the real concerns which led to the defeat of Nice. Speaking of the “desire of the elite to destroy neutrality” he called for a protocol to exclude the 26 Counties from the European Army, also known as the Rapid Reaction Force.

The defeat of Nice has also led to demands from establishment figures for the overturning of the McKenna Judgement, the 1995 Supreme Court Judgement which ruled that the State should give equal funding to both sides of a referendum question. In actual fact that Judgement has already been neatly side-stepped by the Dublin administration by means of the Referendum Commission which ensures the No side is represented by people who are only playing the ‘devils advocate’ rather than being genuinely opposed to the Government proposition.

Concerns voiced by the Dublin administration about low voter turn-outs are laughable. How many people are going to turn out to vote at referendums if it emerges that the electorate are in fact not allowed to give the ‘wrong answer’?
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The Princess Vanya from Africa, bound for the Auginish Alumina plant at Askeaton, Co Limerick and carrying a crew of 26 – two Greeks and 24 Philippinos – ran aground between Kilcredaun Point, Co Clare and Beal Point, Co Kerry.

The bulk carrier had a cargo of bauxite as well as 1,305 tons of heavy fuel oil and 96 tons of diesel oil. Republican Sinn Féin’s Limerick spokesperson Joe Lynch, a former seaman with Irish Shipping, warned that when a vessel ran aground like this there was every chance that the ship would break up and the resultant oil spillage would cause a major environmental disaster.

Joe Lynch again (see November SAOIRSE) called for the establishment of a high-powered shipping safety inspectorate to ensure that foreign ships trading in Irish waters are complying with the latest international safety standards. He further stated that we were lucky on this occasion but we cannot rely on luck alone if we are to avoid disasters in the future.

The Princess Vanya has now been refloated and Michael Walsh, spokesperson for the port admitted that on this occasion a pollution disaster has been avoided.
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The proceedings were chaired by Ard Chomhairle member Des Dalton, Athy. Wreaths were laid on behalf of Kildare and Wexford Republican Sinn Féin. A decade of the Rosary was recited by Kitty Hawkins and the 1916 proclamation was read by Ibhar Hawkins.

In the course of his oration Gerald Crilly, Armagh described the Provisionals’ decision to decommission as “disgraceful”. He went on to say: “The only fighting the Provos will be doing will be in the uniform of the RUC. It is time for the Provos to drop the names of Sinn Féin and IRA. Members of Sinn Féin will never administer British rule in Ireland, and I call on those who do to cease using our name for their own benefit.”
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Web layout by SAOIRSE -- Irish Freedom December 13, 2001 Send links, events notifications, articles, comments etc, to the editor at: saoirse@iol.ie.