Received via email from Dawn Michele Duarte
[Republicanarmy]
6 May 2008

At a recent meeting the 32CSM in Britain have made a decision to re launch itself under the auspices of the recently formed Gaughan/Stagg cumann.

Both Vols. Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg joined a hunger strike begun by other IRA Volunteers, such as Marian and Dolores Price in Brixton and their comrades Hugh Feeny and Gerry Kelly, demanding repatriation to Ireland.

Michael Gaughan suffered force feeding, he endured this brutal procedure seventeen times in the course of his hungerstrike. The last time was on the 2nd June, the night before his death. On the 3rd June, 1974, he died from injuries suffered when food lodged in a lung punctured by a feeding tube. He had been on hungerstrike 67 days. He was 24 years old.

Frank suffered force feeding for 70 days. Following Michael Gaughan's death, negotiations were begun and the hunger strike was called off. But the talks were deemed a ruse by Frank Stagg and his supporters to halt the strike and prevent further highly publicised deaths.

Instead of meeting the demands, the authorities moved Frank to a solitary confinement punishment cell, where he remained under 23-hour lockdown. He was allowed no furniture, radio, newspapers or cigarettes, and prevented from sleeping by a bright light in his cell day and night.

In Wakefield Prison, on 14 December 1975, Frank Stagg began his fourth and final hunger strike, with the demand again for repatriation. Frank battled against starvation for 62 days before he died on 12 February 1976. He last request was "to be buried next to my republican colleagues and my comrade, Michael Gaughan".

Michael Gaughan left a final message for his comrades and his country:

"I die proudly for my country and in the hope that my death will be sufficient to obtain the demands of my comrades. Let there be no bitterness on my behalf, but a determination to achieve the new Ireland for which I gladly die. My loyalty and confidence is to the IRA and let those of you who are left carry on the work and finish the fight."

We, the republican movement in Britain, acknowledge Vol Gaughan's message, we who are left will carry on the work and finish the fight

The Gaughan/Stagg Cumann.
32CSM Britain
www.32csm.info

Londonderry Sentinel
7 May 2008

DERRY is set to become a focal point for a new tourism initiative launched by the Orange Order.
The Williamite Trail follows the 1690 route of King William and his Army both before and after the historic Battle of the Boyne.
The route begins in Northern Ireland in Londonderry, the location for the longest siege in British military history and
a major influence on the Williamite period.
The map then follows William and his army after he landed at Carrickfergus and travelled southwards through what is now Northern Ireland, stopping in Belfast, Hillsborough, Loughbrickland and Scarva, before moving towards the Battle of the Boyne, near Drogheda.
It was here that King William and his army of 36,000 met his father-in-law James 2nd and his 25,000 troops in the last known battle where two Kings were on the ground and involved in the fighting.
The battle was the decisive encounter in a war that was primarily about the attempt by James 2nd to regain the throne of England and Scotland.
In the Republic of Ireland, the trail takes in the Battle of Aughrim and Limerick where the treaty was signed that ended the Williamite Wars.
The tourist trail ends in Kinsale where King William's army, led by the Duke of Marlborough, advanced on Charles Fort and took control of it following a 13 day siege.
The Orange Order's Education Officer David Scott said the institution had high hopes for the Williamite Trail.
"We believe that the Williamite Trail will be an important addition to the tourist literature that is available.
"We have been working with the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and Tourism Ireland to seek advice on developing the history surrounding the Orange Order in such a way as to appeal to visitors."

Belfast Telegraph
8 May 2008

If you click on the following link, you can download in .pdf form the complete results of their survey of the public's views on devolution and related issues.

'One year on from Stormont's return, the Belfast Telegraph has taken the temperature of life in Northern Ireland; the issues that matter to you, what you think of the Executive, and your views on the future.

Some of the results are surprising, some would have been expected, but all of them will have an impact on how Northern Ireland is run.

The poll was conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Belfast Telegraph during April. Ipsos MORI carried out 1,000 interviews among a representative sample of Northern Ireland population.

To achieve a representative sample, quotas were put in place for age, gender and employment status. The fieldwork was conducted by a team from Ipsos MORI's telephone research centre between 18 April 2008 and 27 April 2008.

The telephone numbers were generated using random digit dialling (RDD).'

COMPLETE RESULTS: Click here to download .pdf

Belfast Media
North Belfast News
BY ALANA FEARON

Plans for a new victims' group spearheaded by two of North Belfast's most prominent community figures were last night mired in controversy as established groups warned against an “unnecessary duplication” of services.



Already struggling for limited resources, victims' groups serving the North Belfast area urged Raymond McCord and Fr Aidan Troy to rethink their plans to set up a new North Belfast-based victims' support group.

The announcement this week by Mr McCord that he had “set the wheels in motion” for a six-member “truly representative, cross-community” victims' group has left long-established groups baffled as to what the Shore Road man thinks he can add to victim support.

Incensed by what he claimed was an inference that current groups are not doing their jobs properly, Relatives For Justice (RFJ) spokesman Mark Thompson said North Belfast had “more than enough” services.

“I have to say I was completely surprised when I heard that Raymond and Fr Troy were in talks about a new victims' group,” Mark said.

“North Belfast is serviced by four top-class victims' organisations all working together and doing a sterling job and I fail to see what Mr McCord feels he can add.

Two decades

“Between the four groups we have dedicated more than two decades to victim support and with resources already stretched to the limit, a duplication of services will do more harm than good.”

But Mr McCord, whose son Raymond was murdered in 1997 by UVF men working for RUC Special Branch, said his group was not about criticising other victims' groups or “filling gaps”.

Adamant that he would continue with his plans despite opposition, Mr McCord said his victims' group would give victims “somewhere else to seek help”.

Experiences

“This group is not about undermining other groups or attacking them for something they have or have not done, this is about giving victims a say, a chance and another alternative,” he said.

“We want to use our personal experiences to help all those in similar situations.

“When we get up and running I believe people will come to us in confidence because we will be independent, completely representative and cross-community.”

Echoing RFJ’s concerns about unnecessary duplications, Alan McBride, Director of the WAVE Trauma Centre, urged Mr McCord to “look very carefully” at whether there was a gap in victims' support services.

With RFJ, WAVE, the Shankill Stress and Support Clinic and Survivors of Trauma all doing fine work, Alan said there was an ample number of community groups reaching out to victims across the divide.

Role

“Perhaps there could be some role for Raymond's group as a pressure or lobby group, but I would urge him to look very closely to see if there is a hole that needs plugged,” he said.

“He has done so much for his own cause and that of others and for that I have great respect for him, but a duplication of services is not the way forward.”

Defending Mr McCord's “vision”, Fr Troy said there was no question of duplication and that the new group would not in any way overshadow established support groups.

Early stages

“I must stress that we are in the very early stages and everything is still up in the air,” the Holy Cross priest said.

“We need to get together formally and see where exactly we could be needed and what we could add to existing services.

“All we want to do is to work together and have a positive impact.”
*

By Tom Brady Security Editor
Irish Independent
Friday May 09 2008

Gardai have smashed a bomb supply line between terrorists and Dublin crime gangs.

The breakthrough was made yesterday after a major garda anti-terrorist operation resulted in the arrest of a key dissident republican suspect.

Detectives also recovered a pipebomb, which was ready to be sold to criminals and uncovered a hiding place being used by the manufacturers to store their potentially lethal home-made devices.

The discovery of the device led to a five-hour security alert involving an Army bomb disposal team on rough ground off the Pigeon House Road in the Irishtown area of Dublin's south inner city.

Gardai believe more devices may have been hidden in the area and the scene, which is near a playground, has been sealed off.

A further search for bombs will be carried out there this morning.

The suspect, who is in his late 20s, is from the Pearse Street area and is well known to anti-terrorist officers as an active dissident republican supporter.

Operation

He was arrested following an operation involving members of the Emergency Response Unit and Special Branch detectives.

The suspect was "not co-operative" when he was confronted by gardai and after failing to surrender himself to detectives he was hit by a charge from a non-lethal Taser gun.

He was struck in the body by the projectile, which penetrates the skin and temporarily disables the suspect to allow him to be arrested.

The man was taken to Blackrock garda station and detained under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.

He later complained of feeling unwell and was taken to hospital for medical treatment but discharged shortly afterwards and brought back to Blackrock.

He can be held without charge for up to 72 hours.

Anti-terrorist officers believe the suspect was linked in the past to the Continuity IRA group but during recent activities had been working with the INLA to sell homemade explosive devices to crime gangs across the capital.

They think the suspect may have been one of the makers of the devices, which had been used increasingly by criminals as part of gang feuds, to settle grievances with rivals, or to intimidate figures targeted for extortion campaigns.

Gardai moved onto the rough ground at Pigeon House Road around lunchtime and after making the arrest decided to seek the help of an Army ordnance officer.

A bomb disposal team remained at the scene for more than five hours as the device was located and made safe without having to set off a controlled explosion.

A team of garda ballistics experts were also at the scene.

- Tom Brady Security Editor

By Allison Morris
Irish News
**Via Newshound
08/05/08

The chairwoman of a District Policing Partnership has called for mediation between rival loyalist factions to prevent further violence in a Co Antrim town before a “serious tragedy” takes place.

DUP councillor May Beattie said women and children are being caught up in the violence which has blighted Carrickfergus since a stand-off between warring UDA factions last July resulted in a police officer being shot in the back.

Over the last week property and cars have been attacked in the Sunnylands estate.

Car windows were smashed and paint thrown at a house in the Sunningdale area on Monday. Four young children aged between 10 and two were at home at the time.

The Irish News revealed last week that charges have been dropped against all of those arrested in connection with the UDA-linked violence.

The Public Prosecution Service said the reason for not proceeding with cases was “evidential”.

A number of the men who were facing charges had been bailed to addresses outside the Co Antrim town since October last year.

Following the decisions not to prosecute they have all returned home, triggering further tensions in the area.

Two weeks ago a shotgun was fired at the front door of a home in the Castlemara estate.

In one particular incident a headless cat was also left on the doorstep of a house in the loyalist estate.

Ms Beattie said she was deeply concerned by the ongoing violence.

“I have been in regular contact with police and as the chair of the local district policing partnership will continue to raise my concerns at a senior level,” she said.

“As far as I’m concerned these people are all residents of my

borough and deserve to be treated with the same respect as anyone else.

“There are mothers, grandmothers and small children all caught up in this.

“Every effort must be taken to bring it to an end. I’m no mediator, but that is what is needed at this time.

“My real concern would be if things continue as they have been, sooner or later we are going to have a real tragedy on our hands.”

Tensions have been high in the coastal town since a stand-off between members of the mainstream UDA and the breakaway south-east Antrim ‘brigade’ last July.

Previous attempts at mediation have broken down.

“Police in Carrickfergus are investigating an incident at Sunningdale Crescent on Monday May 5,” a police spokesman said.

“At approximately 11.46pm police received a report of a paint bomb thrown at a house. Enquiries into this incident are ongoing.”

Irish Times
08/05/2008

Colm Murphy has been further remanded by the Special Criminal Court pending the outcome of his legal challenge to a retrial on charges connected with the Omagh bomb.

Mr Murphy’s solicitor Michael Finucane told the court that the Supreme Court has yet to hear an appeal against an earlier High Court decision which refused an application to halt the retrial.

Mr Murphy (54), a building contractor and publican with an address at Jordan’s Corner, Ravensdale, Co Louth, was freed on bail in 2005 after the Court of Criminal Appeal quashed his conviction for conspiracy offences connected with the Real IRA bombing in 1998.

The attack killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, and injured more than 300 people.

Mr Murphy was jailed for 14 years by the Special Criminal Court in January 2002 for his alleged role in the Omagh bomb. He was the first person to be convicted in either the Republic or Northern Ireland in connection with the bombing.

The Court of Criminal Appeal overturned the conviction in January 2005 and ordered a retrial after finding that the court of trial had failed to give proper regard to altered Garda interview notes and that there had been “an invasion of the presumption of innocence” in its judgment.

During a twent-five day trial in 2001 and 2002, Mr Murphy had pleaded not guilty to conspiring in Dundalk with another person not before the court to cause an explosion in the State or elsewhere between August 13th and 16th, 1998.

The court remanded him on continuing bail until October when the case will be mentioned again.

An Phoblacht
8 May 2008



On Monday, 5 May, the 27th anniversary of the death of republican Hunger Striker Bobby Sands, over 200 people attended a white line picket in memory of the 1981 Hunger Strike leader and former MP for Fermanagh/South Tyrone in his home area of Twinbrook in Belfast. The demonstration on the Stewartstown Road was organised by Colin Sinn Féin and coincided with the launch of a new Sinn Féin cumann in the area – the Rooney/Farrell/Sands Cumann.











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