The police were acting on 14 extradition warrants supplied by British police (RUC). He was brought before Dublin District Court on the same day where extradition proceedings began. McNally was remanded in custody until May 1.

McNally had been living openly in Sligo following court rulings in the 26 Counties that prevented the extradition of two other of the 38 Long Kesh escapees. The Supreme Court in Dublin refused to extradite Dermot Finucane and James Pius Clarke in March 1990 on the grounds that the offences were political.
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Federal Judge Philip Williams had found that Pearson’s role in the 1975 IRA bombing of an RUC barracks in Clogher, Co Tyrone, for which he spent 12 years in Long Kesh prison, was a political act and against an oppressive arm of the British government.

Pearson (45) is a carpenter who resides about 30 miles north of New York city. His wife and daughter are both American citizens. When he entered the US in 1988 he told US officials that he was imprisoned for a political offence.

The Immigration Naturalisation Service (INS) had recommended to the court that Pearson should not be granted asylum because he was a “terrorist”. Until now the INS has just had persuasive powers in court with the court making the final decision, However with the court’s ruling against it in the Pearson case, the INS is seeking a change in the law to give it greater power to deny asylum.
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In Shannon the homes of Joe Steward, Peter Flanagan, Bridget Makowski and Rose Campbell were among those raided. A spokesperson for the local Republican Sinn Féin Terence McSwiney Cumann in Shannon said: “It’s a disgrace trying to get children ready for school and armed men in your house. We thought we left all that behind us when we had to leave our homes in the Six Counties over the RUC raids. We condemn this harassment and will continue to work for a British withdrawal and a 32-County Federal Ireland – Éire Nua.”
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Boasting that, like Michael Collins, they would accept “an interim settlement, a bit like Collins’ ‘stepping stones’ to freedom” the Provisionals also warned that any Republicans who opposed their deal with Britain would “go to the wall”. Election fever has certainly gripped the Provos who are promising their voters “equality” and “a future as equals”. However, should anyone raise the issue of the All-Ireland Republic then it seems they will receive “rough” treatment traditionally associated with the British State.

Meanwhile, a wooden plaque is adorning the window of the Provisional Arts shop on the Falls Road in Belfast. It features a photograph of the arch-traitor himself and reads “In memory of Michael Collins”. Inside the shop punters can buy posters of Collins and even mugs featuring the Big Fella. According to one Provisional, the plaque is there because “we can identify with him”, apparently because “we might have to deal with anybody who opposes us like he did”.
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John Gilraine of the Liam Mellows Cumann which organised the event chaired the proceedings. A wreath was laid on behalf of the Republican Movement by Bertie McCormack and a floral tribute laid on behalf of the family. A decade of the rosary was recited as Gaeilge by Gobnait Duignan and a lament was played by Muireann on the concertina.Amhrán na bhFiann was then sung by all in attendance.
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“We are not telling people to vote; we are not telling them not to vote. What we are asking them is that whenever they come in contact with those who once claimed to be abstentionists that they tell them they accept the British parliament and participate in it at their peril; that if they do so they may well find themselves opposed by principled abstentionists.

“Constitutional reformism will not be allowed to swamp the historic Irish revolutionary movement.”

In the run-up to the election Republican Sinn Féin asked voters to call upon their elected representatives to abstain from the English parliament.

Ruairí Ó Brádaigh told the press conference that the organisation would not be standing candidates or endorsing any other political groupings in the Westminster election to a British parliament. He was joined by former Six-County councillors and representatives from the nine counties of Ulster at the press conference. Ruairí Ó Brádaigh announced plans for tens of thousands of leaflets, produced by the organisation’s Comhairle Uladh (Ulster Executive), to be distributed by Republican Sinn Féin before polling day on May 1.

Headed ‘Irish elected representatives should reject Westminster’ the leaflet states that events at Garvaghy Road, Drumcree and Derry in 1996 showed the contempt that the British and their Unionist allies have for ‘constitutional nationalists’ and those who dilute their opposition to British rule.

The text of the leaflet follows:

The Westminster election to a British parliament on May 1 in the Six Occupied Counties will not be contested by any organisation committed to the historic Republican goal of a British withdrawal from Ireland.

The question must be asked by every nationalist: What has been got from the English parliament in Westminster? The answer is NOTHING. We ask all voters in the Six Occupied Counties to call upon their elected representatives to abstain from the English parliament.

Irish people have been taking seats at Westminster since the Act of Union in 1800. Over that entire period no British parliament allowed Irish nationalist MPs to hold a balance of power and loosen the imperialist grip on our country. AND IT NEVER WILL.

Sinn Féin and the Republican Movement were established earlier this century to draw power away from, and deny legitimacy to, the British parliament. Instead it aimed to establish Irish democracy and independence for the whole island free from British rule.

Those who agree to sit in Westminster are accepting the British claim to rule in part of Ireland. They are also delivering their constituents to the seat of power which has waged war on Irish nationalists for generations. Entering Westminster is a badge of slavery and those who do so are treated as such by the British establishment.

Drumcree, Garvaghy Road and Derry, 1996 have shown the contempt that the British and their unionist allies have for ‘constitutional nationalists’ and those who dilute their opposition to British rule.

Nothing has changed in this regard and a vote for any of these parties in this election will not stop the oppression, raids and harassment of the nationalist people by British Crown Forces.

Nationalists should also ask these parties to spell out what was in the secret Hume/Adams Document? Was it the same formula that John Hume offered the Republican leader Dáithí Ó Conaill in 1972 (and rejected by the Republican Movement at the time), ie a merger with the SDLP to become one big constitutional nationalist party? That is not the road to Irish freedom.

The litany of failure under British rule has lengthened since the last Westminster election: the Stormont talks and the Forum have as little to offer nationalists as the Framework Document, the Downing Street Declaration, the Anglo-Irish Agreement, Sunningdale and Stormont for 52 years had before them. The only way forward is to give your support to the three historic demands of the Republican Movement, still demanded in 1997 by Republican Sinn Féin:

1. A public declaration of intent by the British government to leave Ireland;
2. An amnesty for all political prisoners;
3. A New Ireland negotiated by the Irish people themselves.

Nothing less can deliver peace with justice for Ireland.

Bí linn agus cabhraigí linn.
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He, with his wife Annette and daughter Niamh had checked in at Shannon Airport that afternoon to spend a fortnight’s holiday in Florida when he was told he was refused admission.

No reason was given. His passport visa was cancelled and he was told to call at the US Embassy in Dublin if he wanted to find out why. He has never been sentenced by the Special Non-jury Court.

As a result of this action the return tickets for all three of the family have been forfeited without compensation.

On the same evening the US Administration entered an appeal against a court decision not to extradite Brian Pearson of Tyrone from America to the British government. This was done within an hour of the deadline for such appeals.

Seven other families settled in the US for many years face disruption if cases for such extraditions are proceeded with. Also in Sligo the previous day Dermot McNally (39), father of two children, was arrested for extradition to the Six Counties on a charge of escaping from Long Kesh in 1983.

The refusal of entry to Des Long indicates a hardening in the US Administration’s attitude to Republican Sinn Féin. Spokespersons for the Republican Sinn Féin alternative peace process of a Four-Province Federal Ireland free of British rule have already been denied access to the American Administration, media and public.

Republican Sinn Féin President, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh is still denied admittance to the US after 23 years of refusal. Des Long visited the US several times in recent years on publicity tours in lieu of the President.

Now he too is banned.

Irish-American activists have long protested against this situation. The most recent move will only strengthen their determination to put pressure on Senators and Congress persons in this regard.
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When General Maguire died in his native Co Mayo on July 5, 1993 at the great age of 101, he was the last general officer of the IRA of 1921 and the last surviving and faithful deputy of the revolutionary All-Ireland Dáil of that year.

The author, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, thanked all involved in the editing, production and printing of the book. “Anyone seeking to gain an understanding of the basic Republican position should read this book,” he said.

Writer and broadcaster Nollaig Ó Gadhra and historian Dr Brian P Murphy spoke at the launching and ranged widely over the man, the revolutionary period and drew parallels with today’s events.

Dr Seán Maguire, son of Tom Maguire, travelled with a contingent from Mayo for the launch and spoke with great feeling about his father, the man and the patriot.

Michael McManus, Fermanagh, reminded those present that Tom Maguire’s ancestors had travelled from that county to fight on the Irish side at the Battle of Aughrim in Co Galway, 1691.

Launches in Mayo, Roscommon and Galway were being finalised as we went to press. Copies of Dílseacht can be ordered through the post costing £6 paperback (including postage in Ireland) and £10 hardback (including postage in Ireland). Orders should be sent to Irish Freedom Press at 223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1.
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