IRISH REPUBLICAN INFORMATION SERVICE (no. 53)

IRISH REPUBLICAN INFORMATION SERVICE (no. 53)
Teach Dáithí Ó Conaill, 223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1,
Ireland
Phone: +353-1-872 9747; FAX: +353-1-872 9757; e-mail:
saoirse@iol.ie
Date: 7 Feabhra / February 2006
Internet resources maintained by SAOIRSE-Irish Freedom

http://saoirse.rr.nu

Irish Republican Information Service
THE body styling itself 'Limerick Republican
Information Service' is not connected with the Irish
Republican Information Service (IRIS), 223 Parnell
Street, Dublin 1, email saoirse@iol.ie and has not
been authorised either by IRIS or by the body that
sponsors IRIS, Republican Sinn Fein. Therefore it is
totally unauthorised and should be regarded as such.

In this issue:
1. Continuity IRA's attack barracks in Tyrone
2. RPAG rejects miniscule proposals for Maghaberry
prisoners
3. Statement from Republican prisoners, E3, Portlaoise
4. RSF to hold demonstration against loyalist march
5. Ó Brádaigh book launch announced
6. Loyalists blamed for blast bomb on family
7. School targeted in Belfast
8. Sport urged to support Dorrian family
9. Rossport 5 withdraw from State 'talks process'
10. Five-year GMO potato experiment near Tara
11. Focus Ireland publishes plan to 'make home a
reality'
12. Prisoners to get postal vote
13. Auction of 1916-1922 historical documents, letters
etc
14. First woman president of Chile
15. Amnesty report on Guantanamo Bay

1. CONTINUITY IRA'S ATTACK BARRACKS IN TYRONE

IN a report carried in a national newspaper on
February 1 it was stated that a bomb planted by
Republicans in Tyrone failed to explode.

A caller to the paper, representing the Continuity
Irish Republican Army's East Tyrone Brigade, said the
group had launched a bomb attack on Coalisland
RUC/PSNI Military Barracks on January 30. He said the
bomb had failed to go off.

On January 31 Coalisland was the focus of a massive
Crown Forces operation throughout the day. The area
around the barracks in the middle of the small town
was cordoned of and the British army bomb squad moving
in and out of the barracks. The area was swamped with
the RUC and British Army.

Using a recognised codeword, the caller said the
package had a live detonator and a battery.

British  Crown Forces said they had failed to recover
the device, but after the news paper article said they
were examining council vehicles in case a street
sweeper had picked up the bomb.

A bomb was found on February 3 in a hijacked car left
outside Antrim Road RUC/PSNI station in north Belfast.
It was found after a six-hour operation in which the
British army carried out several controlled explosions
which damaged a number of properties.  No-one was
injured, as residents had been moved to safety. Police
said the car had been hijacked on January 26.

The Continuity IRA claimed responsibility for
explosive devices left at the RUC/PSNI barracks on the
Antrim Road in north Belfast and at Carrigfergus
Castle on the Antrim coast.

2. RPAG REJECTS MINISCULE PROPOSALS FOR MAGHABERRY
PRISONERS

IN A statement on February 5 the PRO of the Republican
Prisoners' Action Group (RPAG) said they rejected "the
minimal nature of the recent proposals outlined by the
Six County Prisons' Minister, Shaun Woodward". These
follow a recent internal review of the existing
prisoners' 'Compact' and the segregated regime
operating in Maghaberry Gaol.

The statement continued: "Woodward's proposals seek to
reward those 'who exhibit good behaviour' and accept
voluntary drug testing. As the RPAG has previously
pointed out, no Republican prisoner has ever been
found to be in possession of drugs. Furthermore this
carrot and stick approach clearly seeks to reward
prisoners who are prepared to accept criminalisation
as demanded under the terms of the 1998 Stormont
Agreement.

"Segregated prisoners are forced to endure a much more
restrictive regime than those who fall under the terms
of the integrated regime - despite the fact that
segregation was introduced to safeguard prisoners
against attack. In October 1999 a Republican POW was
scalded by Loyalist inmates whilst being held in
integrated conditions.

"The proposed changes to the current policy on
controlled movement of prisoners are negligible and
excessive lockdowns are set to continue. On a bad day
prisoners may be locked up for at least 22 1/2 hours -
with every second day being a bad day. On a bad Sunday
prisoners are locked up from 11:45a.m. until 2:15p.m.
the next day (p.85 of Review).

"Whilst proposing a slight reduction in the frequency
of rub down searches, there are no plans to cease
degrading strip-searches of inmates. The right of a
prisoner to be present during cell searches is also to
be denied, rendering the procedure open to abuse by
the screws.

"The recommendation that local councillors
representing political organisations be allowed
occasional visits penalises Republican prisoners and
their political representatives as they are prevented
from contesting council seats due to the political
test oath introduced in May, 1989.

"It is clear that the inhumane conditions outlined by
Msgr Faul - in response to a submission from the RPAG
- are set to continue in Maghaberry. We call on
everyone to support the demands of Republican POWs in
Maghaberry, including their rights to education,
adequate medical treatment, free association, open
family visits and an end to humiliating
strip-searching."

3. STATEMENT FROM REPUBLICAN PRISONERS, E3, PORTLAOISE

THE following statement was released to IRIS on
February 5 from the Republican POWs aligned to the
Continuity IRA who are currently housed as guests on
E3 Landing, Portlaoise prison.

"Republican POWs regardless of when or where they have
been incarcerated have always conducted themselves
with the dignity befitting their status and such is
the case on E3 Landing.

"To be housed on E3 all prisoners must adherÿe to a
strict set of rules regarding their conduct. Failure
to comply with these rules warrants dismissal from the
landing.
"Only the highest of standards are expected and
received from the prisoners, none of whom would find
themselves in prison were it not for the political
situation on this island.

"There is not now nor has there ever been a case where
any prisoner on E3 has sought to be segregated from
others. All the POWs on E3 are united on these issues
and we, the CIRA POWs, have taken this unprecedented
step of releasing this one-off statement to counter
recent malicious reports in the media which has tried
and failed to sow division among those who continue
the struggle for a united Ireland.

"Although there may be political differences both
groups live in harmony with each other on the
landing."
- OC
CIRA prisoners
E3 Landing
Portlaoise prison

4. RSF TO HOLD DEMONSTRATION AGAINST LOYALIST MARCH

REPUBLICAN Sinn Féin, who were the first to speak out
against the staging of a Loyalist march in Dublin
announced that they will be assembling at the Parnell
monument at the top of O'Connell St at 12 noon on
February 25.

RSF Vice President Des Dalton said they were doing so
to show solidarity with the beleaguered nationalist
people of the Six Counties as well as to oppose the
staging of sectarian marches. "This march is offensive
to all who oppose sectarianism, bigotry and racism.
Those who are organising this march represent the same
people who have burned homes, schools and churches
across the Six Counties.

"They represent groups who have murdered innocent
uninvolved people as a matter of policy simply because
of their religion. They speak about tolerance, yet
when was a nationalist parade of any kind, cultural or
political been allowed to take place in Portadown or
East Belfast? Many nationalist communities are afraid
to even display GAA club or county colours in case of
loyalist attack." He said. "We are calling on all of
our members and supporters as well as all who oppose
this march to join us on February 25."

5. Ó BRÁDAIGH BOOK LAUNCH ANNOUNCED

THE much anticipated biography of Republican Sinn Féin
President Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, "Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, the
life and politics of an Irish Revolutionary"; by US
academic Robert W. White, will be launched in Ireland
on April 12 in Dublin. (More details later)

6. LOYALISTS BLAMED FOR BLAST BOMB ON FAMILY

A DERRY man whose family home was targeted in an
overnight blast bomb attack on February 3 said he
believes loyalists were responsible.

James Poole, who has lived in his house at Benview in
Coshquin for 45 years, said his wife's nerves were
shattered since the midnight attack when the bedroom
window was blown in by the blast.

Their 10-year-old daughter Ruth was asleep in the back
of the house, near the border with Donegal, when the
bomb exploded. None of the family was injured in the
incident.

He said: "I'm just shocked. I was in the front room
watching the TV. I'd just taken the wife down a water
bottle when there was a bright orange flash and then a
bang. The windows were put in and then I saw a bolt on
the floor.

"These people are all cowards. They came at night so
as not to be seen. I've lived here for 45 years. I've
been threatened by loyalists in the past, in August or
September, one came up to the house and hit me a slap
in the mouth.

"I'm not prepared to say why but it's just a dispute
with somebody and they've gotten loyalists involved
somehow." James Poole told how his wife was partially
protected by curtains when the bedroom window
shattered. Two large chunks of masonry were taken out
of the wall.

A neighbour who was wakened by the blast said: "I was
in bed and I just heard a loud bang. It was a scary
experience. I didn't know what it was. "There has been
quite a lot of activity here ever since."

7. SCHOOL TARGETED IN BELFAST

A BOMB was found in a hijacked car left outside Antrim
Road police station in north Belfast on February 3.

It was found after a six-hour operation involving
several controlled explosions which damaged a number
of properties.

No one was injured, as residents had been moved to
safety. The car was hijacked on January 26.

Meanwhile, more than 700 pupils at St Colm's High
School, Twinbrook, were sent home on January 27 when a
pipe with wires on it was discovered close to the
front gates.

School principal at St Colm's High, Imelda Jordan,
commended staff and pupils for their swift response
and condemned those responsible.

"The children's parents sent them to school today
believing they would be in our care and kept safe
throughout the school day, I wasn't able to do that,"
she said.

"I had to send 700 children home without transport and
without being able to contact their parents."

The device was later declared an elaborate hoax.

8. SPORT URGED TO SUPPORT DORRIAN FAMILY

ONE of the biggest soccer clubs in the Six Counties
clubs called on sports teams across the Six Counties
to support the family of murdered Bangor woman Lisa
Dorrian on February 4.

It is believed there may have been Loyalist
involvement in her murder, however unlike the case of
Robert McCartney there has been little or no media
focus on the case.

Girls from Linfield's junior team will display a
banner saying "Sport in Northern Ireland Says Bring
Lisa Home" at the team's league clash with Ards in
Bangor.

The team's senior players will stand behind the
display before kick-off as a show of solidarity with
the heartbroken family and Junior Blues co-ordinator
Andrew Conn wants other teams to do the same.

He said: "I'm hoping other teams will follow our lead.
I want others, the Ulster rugby team, GAA teams, motor
bikers, anyone, to do the same too. I'll take the
banner to any team who would be willing to display it;
I think it is the least we can all do.

"I just think the whole country should be getting
behind this family. I've looked at the website and
read messages from the thousands of people who support
them and as far as I'm concerned, this is the least we
can do.

"The tragedy upsets me deeply, I have a seven-year-old
daughter and I sincerely hope that 18 years down the
line, I won't have to face the living hell the
Dorrians are going through." Speaking on behalf of the
family, Lisa's sister Joanne said they were touched by
the gesture.

"We think it's great that Linfield have come on board
and offered their support," she said. The family will
also be handing out the blue campaign ribbons to the
supporters as they enter the grounds."

9. ROSSPORT 5 WITHDRAW FROM STATE 'TALKS PROCESS'

THE five Rossport men who spent 94 days in prison last
year because of their opposition to the Shell/Statoil
Corrib gas field  withdrew from the 26-County state
sponsored talks process on February 1  because of
interference from the 26-County Communications, Marine
and Natural Resources Minister, Noel Dempsey.

The five, Michael O Seighin, Willie Corduff, Brendan
Philbin, Vincent and Phillip McGrath said that a clear
discrepancy has emerged between the 26-County Minister
and the appointed mediator Peter Cassells, former ICTU
General Secretary. The five men called on Noel Dempsey
to stop interfering and "redefining the process agreed
by Shell and ourselves."

Responding to a statement made by Noel Dempsey on
Midwest Radio that he never intended mediation to take
place solely between the five men and Shell, the group
referred to serval statements made by the 26-County
Minister in Leinster House last year, which contradict
this. Peter Cassells meanwhile said he is "very keen"
to clarify any confusion over his role.

Peter Cassells said his understanding of mediation
involved a number of elements, including formal
mediation between Shell and the Rossport five and
mediation with several other non-consenting
landowners, including Brid McGarry and Monica Muller.
The Rossport five said that Peter Cassells had
confirmed to them in informal discussions that
mediation was "to be a process between the Rossport
five and Shell. It now transpires that Minister
Dempsey mislead us and the Dáil (sic) as to the true
nature of what he understood mediation to mean", they
said.

The Rossport Five and some of their friends will be in
Doolin, Co Clare on February 11 to play music with
local musicians at the Russell Cultural Centre, Doolin
and to talk to the local and wider community of North
Clare and beyond about their ongoing fight against
Shell and the Dublin Government

10. FIVE-YEAR GMO POTATO EXPERIMENT NEAR TARA

IT was reported on January 29 that the German company
BASF Plant Science GmbH (an affiliate of the giant
transnational chemicals and drugs company BASF) has
notified the EPA of its intention to deliberately
release GMO potatoes into the environment 9km south of
the Hill of Tara, on a 2 Ha plot at Arodstown,
Summerhill, Co. Meath.

The site is located 2km north of the R156 road between
Dunboyne and Summerhill (approx. OS grid reference: N
885 500). If given the go-ahead, this would be the
first Irish release of GMO crops since protestors
ended Monsanto's GMO beet trials in 1998.
The notification submitted by BASF does not appear to
include plans for any environmental impact assessment.
Farmers, environmental groups and consumers have
expressed total opposition to this unwanted experiment
which would terminate Ireland's economically valuable
GM-free status. The deadline for related public
submissions to the EPA is 5pm on 22 February 2006.

11. FOCUS IRELAND PUBLISHES PLAN TO 'MAKE HOME A
REALITY'

THE charity for the homeless, Focus Ireland, have
published a five-year programme 'to tackle
shortcomings in services for the homeless'. Their
strategy is to 'make home a reality for 2,000
households by 2010.

Declan Jones, Chief executive of Focus Ireland, said
there were 48,000 households on local authority
housing waiting lists. "While private-sector housing
development continues to thrive with an estimated
71,000 private units built in 2004, there was a
decline of 21.6% in the provision of social housing,"
he said.

The key objectives of the plan will be a) to expand
the charity's capacity to help homeless households by
300 households in Dublin city; b) to develop
additional units in Dublin and Waterford; c) to
develop early intervention measures such as "Young
Persons Residential Hub" in Dublin, to support young
people who have been, or are at risk of becoming,
homeless; d) to develop its educational programmes for
people leaving prison and cement links with the
Probation and Welfare Services; e) to double its
community settlement team providing support too more
households settling into new homes.

They hope to raise €37 million for the strategy which
they say will cost in the region of €200 million -
most of which will be provided by the State.

12. PRISONERS TO GET POSTAL VOTE

IT was reported in January that legislation is being
prepared to allow all prisoners in jails in the
26-Counties to have a postal vote. The legislation is
being drafted to comply with a ruling by the European
Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and is expected to
be in place in time for the next general election.

The issue came to the fore in October 2005 when a
prisoner serving a life sentence in England, John
Hirst, challenged the British government over his
inability to vote while imprisoned. The European Court
of Human Rights ruled that the British Government had
violated a prisoner's right by refusing him the
facility to vote in an election.

A confusing situation exists in the 26-Counties in
relation to prisoners' voting. While they always had
the right to vote the authorities never provided the
facilities for them to vote - the authorities were
under no obligation to provide them with those
facilities.
To further confuse the issue, in 2001 when a Dublin
prisoner challenged the 26-County Administration over
the same issue the Supreme Court ruled that 'while
prisoners were detained in accordance with the law,
some of their constitutional rights, including the
right to exercise the franchise, were necessarily
suspended'. Now however the State will be obliged to
provide the facilities if the legislation is passed.

13. AUCTION OF 1916-1922 HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS, LETTERS
ETC

AN auction to be held during Easter Week in April by
McAdam's/Mealy's auctioneers will include a letter
written by Seán Mac Diarmada on the eve of his
execution on May 12, 1916.

The one-page letter is to the father of Volunteer
Edward Daly who was executed on May 4 and was his
brother-in-law. In it he writes: "I expect in a few
hours to join Tom and the other heroes in a better
world. I have been sentenced to a soldier's death to
be shot tomorrow morning. We die that the Irish nation
may live...Let present day place hunters condemn our
actions as they will, posterity will judge us right."

The letter in the possession of a Donegal man and is
expected to fetch in the region of  €15,000 - €20,000.

For auction also is an essay by Michael Collins,
Ancient and Modern Warfare, written in 1904 (when he
was 14) and was given to one of his teachers after
Collins's death. He was shot in an ambush at Beal na
mBlath in 1922. It is expected to fetch between
€30,000 - €40,000.

A letter written by Thomas Francis Meagher from
Richmond Jail in 1849 on the eve of his transportation
to Tasmania is expected to fetch between €3,000 -
€5,000. Thomas Francis Meagher had been found guilty
of treason and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and
quartered but the sentence was commuted to life
imprisonment in Tasmania. At his trial he addressed
the court: "My Lord, this is our first offence, but
not our last. If you will be easy with us this once,
we promise, on our word as gentlemen, to try better
next time."

He escaped from Tasmania in 1852 and made his way to
New York where he founded the newspaper The Irish
News. He commanded the Regiment of the Wild Gees on
the Union side in the American Civil war and later
served as the Governor of Montana.   

Papers from the 1880-1916 period relating to Tom
Clarke (the first signatory of the 1916 Proclamation)
is also going under the hammer - some of the letters
are written by Tom Clarke including the one written
from Kilmainham to his wife Kathleen before his
execution and others written earlier from prisons in
England and Ireland.

A copy of the 1916 Proclamation is also expected to be
auctioned. Two Proclamations were sold last year. One
made €200,000, the other almost €400,000.

14. FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT OF CHILE

MICHELLE Bachelet was elected President of Chile on
January 15 last. She is only the second woman to
become president of a country in South America, Janet
Jagen became President of Guyana in 1997. A socialist
agnostic public health doctor, and a separated mother
of three, she defeated the conservative billionaire
Sebastian Pinera in the presidential election.

She campaigned for Salvador Allende in 1970 and her
father, who was an air force general, was tortured to
death by the pinochet military after the brutal coup
in 1973.

She continued to work with victims of Pinochet's
regime but was betrayed by an informer and she and her
mother were arrested and beaten. After her release she
went into exile in Germany for five years. On her
return she qualified as a doctor while continuing to
build the socialist party.

Michelle Bachelet was appointed health minister in
2000 and within three months had cut waiting queues at
public hospitals by 80%. She was later appointed
defence minister in a move which caused disquiet among
the praetorian armed forces.

In her victory speech she said: "My presence here is a
symbol of a more open and tolerant Chile ... I was a
victim of hate and I have spent my life trying to turn
that hatred around." She also promised to crack down
on the erosion of the rights of the workers while
basic services have been privatized.

However economic change will not be easy. Chile has
the highest economic growth rate in south america and
is firmly embedded in inside the global capitalist
empire, having signed a free trade agreement with the
us.

Michelle Bachelet has promised that half of her
cabinet posts will be filled by women and to shrink
the gap between rich and poor. In Chile one in two
women suffer domestic violence and earn only
two-thirds the wages a man earns for the same work.
Michelle Bachelet claims she is 'continuity and
change'.

15. AMNESTY REPORT ON GUANTANAMO BAY

AMNESTY International, in a new report issued on
February 6 on the impact of Guantanamo Bay on the
detainees and their families, calls for the closure of
the centre in Cuba where they say thousands of people
around the world are condemned to a life of suffering
and stigmatisation.

The report also states that dozens of the 500
detainees are still on hunger strike - despite being
forcibly fed through nasal tubes. They also claim that
suicide attempts are numerous. The secretary general
of Amnesty's Irish section, Colm Ó Cuanacháin, said
the hunger strikers are asking for no more than their
rights under international law as they have not been
charged, tried or convicted.

The report quotes from a statement to his lawyer by
hunger striker Shaker Aamer: 'I am dying here every
day, mentally and physically. This is happening to all
of us here. We have been ignored, locked up in the
middle of the ocean for four years. Rather than
humiliate myself.... I would just like to die quietly
by myself."

Nine of those detained are no longer considered 'enemy
combatants'.

Some families have received no communication from
Guantanamo and do not know where their imprisoned
relatives are or even if they are alive. Even after
they are released some of them face harassment and are
stigmatized as terrorists - even though they had never
been charged with 'terrorists offences'. Fatima
Tekeava, mother of Russian detainee Rasul Kudayev,
said her son returned from Guantanamo with his health
ruined and that he is still being watched.

An analysis by the Washington based National Journal
of legal documents concerning 132 detainees found that
more than half are not accused of taking part in
hostilities against the US or its allies and most were
not picked up in Afghanistan but in Pakistan.
Shortly before Christmas Congress passed a measure
eliminating habeas corpus rights for all Guantanamo
detainees.

Amnesty has called on the US to publish a list of all
detainees in Guantanamo and elsewhere; to try or
release Guantanamo detainees; to close it; to open all
US detention facilities to independent scrutiny and to
investigate all allegations of torture and
ill-treatment of detainees.

ENDS