Letters

A ‘house’For all The Irish People

I fully endorse the principles of Republican Sinn Féin, but Sinn Féin itself must not confine the Movement to a specific political policy, it must become “a rainbow”, which can encompass all who are dedicated to the unity of Ireland but who may not share a specific political policy.

I do not agree with the establishment of the Provisionals, or the antics of its leaders, but please, let us not make the mistakes of the Civil War parties and allow the Movement to be divided by our enemies. Republican Sinn Féin must not become a replica of its enemies’ tactics, but become a house into which all Irish people can enter, with one goal uniting them, ie a united Ireland.

If Sinn Féin confines itself to a specific political dogma, then it automatically alienates the very people it wishes to convert to its principles.
LIAM Ó CONAIRE
London
Contents

Message To Provisionals

May I through the press say to Gerry Adams and the rest of the Provos “You cannot freeze a pot of boiling water that sits on a well-ignited Republican flame”.
GEARÓID Ó CASAIDE
Sasana
Contents

Ballyseedy: A view From Kerry

Pat Butler has done what no politician or historian over the past 75 years has done, that is to show on screen the documentary proof that what happened at Ballyseedy was premeditated State murder. While most of the programme concentrated on Ballyseedy itself, I felt the interrogation centre at Ballymullen Barracks, where Nelligan and his cohorts, who would make their counterparts in Castlereagh look like choirboys, needed closer scrutiny. There was only a fleeting mention of the men who faced the firing squad at Ballymullen and the prisoners, some of whom never walked again due to spinal damage after the club-hammer interrogation.

Also, Neligan was kept in the Free State army and lived into old age, whereas O’Daly and others were dumped out after going back to Dublin. The corrupt Leinster House regime was seen for what it was and still is, with Mulcahy lying through his teeth, but sure what is different today, he would be proud of its occupants there now. The time of screening was also a bit late as a lot of young people would be in bed.

Now to come to my final point, censorship is alive and well in Kerry all the time. On the Wednesday morning before the programme, Radio Kerry announced that there would be a panel to discuss Ballyseedy on air the following morning.

So this writer, being a spokesperson for the Ballyseedy Memorial Committee, went to the radio station and enquired how to get on the panel. I was told by researcher Ms Spain that the panel consisted of two historians and one politician, namely, Billy Leen, Provo councillor in Tralee.

When I told her there was no one to air the Republican point of view she told me if I was put in there would be an overbalance and other political parties would kick up. I asked her where were the representatives of the other Leinster House parties, as usually for air-time they queue for it, was it that Ballyseedy was too embarrassing for them to come on? All she would offer me was a phone-in when the show was on air.

My comment on Ballyseedy was carried on the air, but the question I put to the only politician on the programme, concerning the State executions of Republicans in the 1940s, was not mentioned.
MATT LEEN
Republican Sinn Féin Tralee
Contents

Support Home Industry

Overseas industrialists are drawn to Ireland for its skilled workforce and advantageous tax regime. These tax benefits will disappear as the convergence with Europe becomes ever closer. Should these overseas companies then suffer a catastrophic failure in their own hemisphere their first actions will be rationalisation of overseas operations and to retreat home.

To protect against the vagaries of these conditions it is more important than ever before to totally support locally owned businesses and the indigenous industries within Ireland itself, thereby creating a cushion against the volatile economies over which we have no control and whose aspirations are far from the Republican ideal.
DES O'LEARY Dún Laoghaire
Contents

Meaningful Negotiations Required For just Resolution

It would appear when entering a British parliament you are required to leave your principles at the door.

If Tony Blair’s government really desire to go down in history as a courageous far-reaching government it should enter into meaningful negotiations and discussion as to its future in the Occupies Six Counties.

That august journal the Daily Telegraph acknowledges in its November 6 issue that the present talks are doomed to failure. It is time to deal with the real agenda for a just and lasting peaceful resolution of the many years of conflict. The people of all Ireland must demand, and deserve, no less.
P McGRATH
England
Contents

Jobs for The Leinster House Clique

The present weekly wage for a member of Leinster House (a TD) is £715. A member of the State Senate is presently paid £446 a week. The ‘Buckley’ increase in the two examples listed (ie £22 and £21 respectively) are not necessary when one is on the wage mentioned.

In short, the politicians in Leinster House can live comfortably on their present wage and have no justifiable case to make in seeking more.
JOHN HORAN
PRO, Comhairle Ceantair Átha Cliath Republican Sinn Féin
Contents

Poff and Barrett Memorial

A collection was carried out in 1968 by the people of Currow, Killarney to erect a memorial in their memory. A committee was formed, called the Poff and Barrett Memorial Committee. The fund was placed in a bank in Castleisland in 1968. On March 26, 1997 the Poff and Barrett Committee signed over the fund to the NGA members of the Poff and Barrett Committee.

Work has started on the above memorial. The work is being carried out by O’Reilly Brothers, Castleisland, the same monument firm who recently carried out restoration work on Bodenstown Churchyard, the burial place of Wolfe Tone. It is hoped that the unveiling of the Poff and Barrett Memorial will take place in March 1998.

As Kerry representative of the National Graves Association I would like to thank Mr John O’Connor, Droimulton, Currow for giving the NGA a free site for the Poff and Barrett Memorial. One of the men, Barrett, was the owner of the place where the memorial will be erected before he was murdered and Poff’s mother was also born on the same farm.

I wish through your paper to thank the people of Kerry who helped the Association to carry out restoration on the Ballykissane Pike Memorial, Killorglin where four Republicans were drowned when they took a wrong turn in 1916. One of the men was Con Keating, Cahersiveen, and the Cahersiveen football field is named after him.
JOHN HOULIHAN
Kerry Representative National Graves Association
Killarney, Co Kerry
Contents