It was co-incidental that I (and several others) were writing about the fact that the IRA is now defunct, when the killing of Kevin McGuigan occurred. His death was seized on by the media, who declared that it was the work of the IRA, in response to the killing of Gerard ‘Jock’ Davison some months ago. The First Minister made a speech declaring that if investigations were to prove that this was the work of the IRA, there would be serious repercussions.
The violent death of anyone for any reason is a tragedy, so we need to be careful we’re not using the death of someone to engage in point-scoring. Needless to say that hasn’t prevented a number of unionists from emulating the First Minister. “We suspected it all along!” they cry. “Now we know why we didn’t get the photographic evidence of decommissioning that Ian Paisley asked for. Fr Alec Reid and the Rev Harold Good were either gullible fools or lying through their teeth when they said they had witnessed IRA decommissioning.”
Do you think the IRA are about to re-commence their campaign of violence? Do unionist politicians think so? I’m going to go out on a limb and say No. The very fact that mainstream republicans have abandoned violence has made them the object of opprobrium from dissident republicans. They’re helping run the British state. They’ve sold out.This is a cul-de-sac we’ve been led into.
So here’s the thing: why would Sinn Féin endure these taunts, why would they endure the open contempt of the DUP, why would they work tirelessly to develop the party electorally, if all this was nothing but an elaborate smokescreen while they prepared to go back to war? Which would, of course, immediately undo more than twenty years of tireless political work.
The media tell me that Kevin McGuigan’s death was in revenge for the killing of Gerard Davison. That may be true or may not: I have no evidence either way. A lot of people insist that of course it was, but not as many can produce evidence that supports the charge. And while a lot of unionists say “I told you so” and that the IRA is bristling with weaponry and biding its time to recommence the killing, none of them that I’ve heard offer a shred of evidence that this is so.
It’s my guess – and yes, it’s only a guess – that when this period is looked back on in future times, people will wonder why we didn’t see the undercurrents swirling beneath the surface of events. There was a time when we were told every victim on Bloody Sunday was carrying a weapon of some sort; there was a time when we were told the Dublin-Monaghan bombings were the sole work of the UVF. There was a time when we were told that the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four were murderous animals. Looking back, we wonder how we could have been so gullible. When these days are looked back on in thirty years time, it’s possible that the killing of Gerard Davison and Kevin McGuigan will be shown as a lot more than tit-for-tat killings within the IRA. That it’ll be revealed as a curtain-raiser for a new IRA campaign I very much doubt.
Let’s not forget that the British MoD recectly admitted that it has, as yet, been unsuccessful in tracing any ciphered soldiers involved in the Ballymurphy murders in August 1971. Now you have to be pretty gullible to believe that.
Justice delayed is Justice denied, and I think we can all agree the British Government is in the business of trying to deny Justice when it comes to the murderous, terrorist actions of its Army and agents. Needless to say the whole community stands behind the Ballymurphy families in their pursuit of Justice and Truth.
i don’t know who or why Jock Davidson or Kevin McGuigan where killed but there is a lot of noise about it from the unionist and the unionist media and i include the irish news in that to the effect the the writings of Allison Morris this morning are quite disgusting, reminds me a lot of what went on during the early 70s plenty of finger pointing but no real evidence.
So who is to gain from these deaths certainly not Sinn Fein , how where the PSNI able to tell Kevin McGuigan that his life was in danger from the so called IRA who told them if so lets hear from them as to where he/she was told and by whom, we are told that all the arrests made are former members of the provisional IRA.
lets hear who the so called hoods are who are running around the north masquerading as the IRA when most republicans in fact know that they are most likely working for the British and the PSNI
So lets see what do the Sinn Fein party have to gain from this the answer is nothing , but what do the British and Kenny Irish government have to gain, looking at the opinion polls in the south quite a lot, as they go hiding behind perceived republican violence , and look across the floor of the Dail pointing fingers again at Gerry Adams.
as i said at the top of this article republicans have nothing to gain from this and who ever is behind these killings are in my humble opinion enemies of the republican movement and of the country / peace process
It’s been obvious and ironic since the Good Friday Agreement that the most destabilizing action that the IRA could have taken against Unionism was to stand down.
They haven’t handled the ‘peace’ very well it’s a foreign country to them and it has sent them into a state of confusion stoking their insecurity and paranoia to new heights.
I think the PIRA’s campaign gave Unionism many benefits and cards to play. They could, for example, continue to reject equality with Catholics and what better excuse than to point to PIRA violence? All the while ignoring UVF/UDA violence, of course…
I was in the City some months ago watching aTrade Union March which was being harassed by Unionist flag protestors. An American tourist and his wife asked me what the protest was about.
The only answer was this. ” I explained that I had lived with these people for 74 years and I still did not understand them” They just smiled but it is true
Unionist/Loyalist protestors also held a protest at the Anti-Internment parade that was due (but was stopped) to enter Royal Avenue. Why? Why protest against a parade that isn’t even in or near a Unionist area? Or as Unionists would say themselves “Why come out to be offended?”. Well Judes No.1 fan Willie Frazer came all the way up from Armagh with his UDR flag just to be offended.
Now Unionist protestors are due to hold another protest, this time at the Republican Henry Joy Parade later this month. Why? why protest against this parade? Reality is the only reason their protesting is for the sake of protesting and by the fact its a Republican parade. Again this is coming from those who demand respect/tolerance for Orange “Culture” from people their protesting against for no good reason…
Even for him, the First Minister had taken hypocrisy to a new level. I wonder why the lack of outcry from Dublin. Or do I? It beggars belief when just a few weeks ago, we saw pictures of masked men in front of signs calling for the crucifixion of “taigs” Cue the silence from the first minister and the rest of the DUP delegation. I hope history will look back on this and say how could this go unchallenged?
The slantpoint of view in the mainstream media which you accurately capture today, Esteemed Blogmeister, was also to be heard on RTE Radio this morning. By the earful.
It came from an unexpected source, The Dave Fanning Show and it was provided by his guest.
Barry ‘Chucklehead’ Devlin (for it was he !) was on the smug side of the microphone to plug his latest showbizzy whizz. Fanning, the host, surprisingly enough, is a fan. And for once this particular host who holds himself in high regard was out-smugged.
‘The Bloody Irish !’ (note the exclamation mark !!) is this particular Horslip’s first venture into musical theatre. Which doesn’t actually mean what it says on the tintawn: for the modest author writes neither the script nor does he indeed, compose the tunes.
So, what exactly is it that Chucklehead does do? Why, that which he does best of all: promotion. And in an age of Selfies this is not to be altogether discounted.
The show takes as its subject, the Seven Days of Easter 16 and while the words are those of the Magnified Seven the tunes are drawn from the Seven Hundred Years of Oppression (alleged). The narrator, Chucklehead revealed, is – after a suitable silent pause which was filled in by the more imaginative of the listeners by a roll of drums and a blast of the trumpets- (gulp) General Maxwell, the militant who flattened the city.
(Fingers crossed an OBE will recognise the crafty decision to omit all reference to the Silver Hammer of the same General).
The author/composer found it difficult, when asked, to describe which musical genre his show slotted into. Perkie’s inner classifier would tentatively suggest: The Higher Crass of Ardboe.
The lakeside parish of which Chuklehead is a native, one imagines, previously suggested the title of his first showbizzy whizz: it is but a short gallop from Lough Neigh to Horslips.
One thing which ‘The Bloody Irish !’ is NOT, according to Chucklehead, is:
-An evening with the Wolfe Tones.
Thereby retaining all the cred he might otherwise have been in jeopardy of losing on the mainstream streets of the Cahillophat. For, under no circumstances is Chucklehead to be confused with one of the (gulp) Chuckyheads.
As anybody who has ever heard him in his not infrequent guest appearances on these ‘What it says in the Papers’ review programmes. Chucklehead, with his carefully cultivated Norniron tones (despite many a long year domiciled in the Free Southern Stateen) is one of the go-to guests on the DOBland media. Especially whenever there’s been a bit of a ri-ra which might call for a touch of the Dearg Dooms for the Chuckyheads by the Accent Authentic.
‘The Bloody Irish !’ is not destined for the Irish market. Cen fath, a Chloiginn Sclogaile / Why, pray, Chucklehead?
-Och, I don’t want to be stoned in the streets !
Tell us more, Iconoclast, tell us more.
Seems like there’s to be a special behind-closed-doors performance where only the Great Washed and Blowdried are to be invited, on Liffeyside tonight. To be fillumed by a Stateside TV crew for showing Coast to Coast later in the year in the Land of Uncle Sam.
This is intended to serve as a horslip d’oeuvre to whet the appetite of the theatre going folk. in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Ex-Braves. Who will,it is hoped, throng the auditoria and put their posteriors on the plush seats from The Great White Way to Moose Droppings, Idaho. The project may even do an off-Broadway try out in the Projects.
But, hang on a mo, Chucklehead. Soft, a word or two, before you go.
The Land of Uncle Sam is not exactly noted for, erm, playacting the iconoclast when it comes to such trivial matters as, say, the War of Independence and the sacrifices of G.I. Joe. Not least in Moose Droppings, Idaho which you namechecked so, erm, iconoclastically.
Quick as a shot it was – like cowdung of a slean !- clarification time from Chucklehead:
-‘The Bloody Irish !’ is not what you might call ….irreverent. The title indeed might even been considered a tad ironic.
A tad, mind. GRMA, neverthless for clarifiying that point, Chucklehead. It shows a sensitive understanding of such recondite notions as self-respect, patriotism, distant drums and, erm, cash-flow.
No doubt,the anything but dafty Chucklehead’s inner crafty is acutely aware that Music City, USA does not do the Stateside version of shoneenism. Take a short stroll through Nashville, Tn and one is not long discovering that Nationalism is number one on the city which straddles the banks of the Cumberland.
Hang around the stadium of the local gridiron team, the Tennessee Titans, and one is as liable to hear at halftime a Greeting from the Troops in Afghanistan as one is to hear ‘Folsom Prison’ over the intercom. J. Cash, patriot, would have been genetically incapable of dissing Kilmainham by parodying it with a ‘Fulsome Prison’.
For these reasons one does not anticipate seeing ‘The Bloody Irish !’ being deported to The Bloody Foreland (no exclamation mark) in the near furore.
PS It is rumoured that Chucklehead, who has been critically acclaimed as being as self-congratulatory as a a Claddagh Ring, was compelled to lay down his bass guitar and take to the ‘authoring’ of musical theatre. This is because his selfie addiction to patting himself on the back led to his guitar arm being more often than not in a sling. And not of the Singapore variety.
But, one stresses, this is still a resident in the realm of rumour.
That’s what I love about this blog the complete and utter inability to answer the salient question without using whataboutery.
Take a bow everybody you deserve it!
“That’s what I love about this blog the complete and utter inability to answer the salient question without using whataboutery”
Neill your on your way to winning that Olympic Gold medal in Hypocrisy. Keep It up!
I am only an apprentice in comparison to you Ryan
Point out my hypocrisy Neill. This should be interesting….
You ask me to condemn Cromwells killings in the 1640`s almost over 400 years ago and are curiously silent about condemning the IRA`s killing campaign just over 20 years ago go figure…..
Did a technical glitch obliterate earlier posts or am I losing the plot?
I hope not.
Losing the plot!
Jude
You state that no-one including yourself knows what happened and yet you clearly imply something in your last paragraph; “a lot more than tit for tat killings”.
Have you any evidence to back it up or is it just the dogs in the street?
I won’t press you on why Sinn Fein might return to war when they were supposedly never at war, as I suppose it was a slip of the tongue.
Good to hear your tiny fingers pattering again, gio…My implication is based on past experience of the reporting of violence – or misreporting. One grows cynical, one does…
Jude
Far from tiny sadly. I have the hands of a farmer like my da!
On the subject, I have to say you are a terrible man for shooting the messenger. The reporting of these killings, accurate or otherwise, cannot change the actual facts.
So it is either tit for tat revenge or it is not, and you seem to be suggesting it is not. Why?
I would have thought, given the circumstances, that revenge by former brothers in arms would at least be a line of enquiry worth looking into.
Can you give us a few examples of the recent misreporting of violence?
Gio Sinn Fein were obviously at war. The state and loyalists declared war on them (an the nationalist community). That does not mean they were armed combatants, they weren’t. It doesn’t atke much intelligence to work that out. Political parties have a different MO than armed groups.
Guns are never far away from the surface in Belfast, unfortunately, I don`t know who killed these two men all I know is their deaths were wrong and they were pointless. Their families will mourn them and the rest of us will simply roll our eyes or try to make political capital out of them, Peter Robinson and the Unionists who are mouthing their outrage take hypocrisy to a new level, a level so far away it is in a different world. Don`t forget the UDA/UVF have (still) not gone away you know. Web sites like The Pensive Quill and Slugger will put the boot into the shinners, again for purely political reasons.
Jude, you admit to being cynical today, so if I can join you for a few thoughts:
Peter Robinson has ‘warned’ of repercussions if the killing of Kevin McGuigan is declared by the PSNI to be the work of the Provos (who don’t really exist!).
With our Executive in such readiness to collapse due to disagreement over welfare reform, would that be such a significant threat?
Possibly the ‘consequences’ he was thinking about will turn out to be that he will then refuse to collapse the Executive!
Where would that leave us all – we would then, despite our better instincts, have to keep it on life support indefinitely.
Would David Cameron, in such circumstances, force us to accept the £mns (which he says he doesn’t have) and we would be telling him: ‘No Dave, that’s far too much money you’re giving us. We know you can’t afford it’.
The murder of these two men was wrong and will achieve nothing. A lot of people will use their deaths, particularly the media, to score cheap points, all the while they ignore two families who are grieving and mourning. Do I know why these two men were murdered? Obviously not. But, like everyone else, I have my opinion. Do I believe this is the PIRA in someway moving back to a campaign of violence? Of course not. Do I believe the PIRA is defunct, non-existent and dead in the water? Of course not, far from it. But just because I believe the PIRA still exist doesn’t mean I believe they are active, they are obviously not active.
Put it this way, the UVF/UDA are still VERY active in drug dealing, criminality, murder, sectarian intimidation, racist/sectarian attacks, etc I also believe, as does Martin McGuinness and others, that the UVF was involved in the Loyalist Fleg protests in December 2012 and afterwards. Of course we haven’t heard a peep from political Unionism about these facts but when there’s suspicion that the PIRA might be active, political Unionism is banging a large lambeg drum and crying to the high heavens. The Hypocrisy is amazing….
Spot on, do these unionist politicians (I nearly said leaders there…) realise just how daft they sound when they fulminate about the IRA?
I’ve been away and off-line for some time.
I come back to this ” First Minister Peter Robinson is to hold talks about the potential exclusion of Sinn Féin from the Northern Ireland Assembly after police said members of the Provisional IRA may be involved in a revenge killing”.
http://www.u.tv/News/2015/08/20/DUP-to-discuss-SF-exclusion-after-PIRA-murder-link-43407?
Is it simply the hysteria of a man who, aware deep down of his inaptitude for love, felt the self-deluding need to simulate it?”
― Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
These whole events are to say the least getting more surreal by the hour never mind the day. We have arrests in the “Greater Belfast” area, we have searches in the “Greater Belfast” area, we have two weapons found in the “Greater Belfast” area. Now maybe im a cynic but anytime i was arrested the RUC gleefully informed media not just of my name but my location when arrested and for good measure exactly what i was arrested for, thats the first strange bit. Now the next strange bit is the “two weapons”. A man is charged today with possessing one weapon, wheres the second one ?? thats the second strange bit. Finally the last strange bit, Gerry Kelly and the RUC agree that it was this recently heard of AAD who murdered KmcG, then why were most if not all of those detained by the RUC members of Gerry Kellys party ?? Stranger than fiction one might say.
John Murphy
Jude , I was wondering had someone noticed the stink that seems to be travelling from Hollywood Co Down and I don’t mean from the sewage works there , It appears to be filtering over toward Knock PSNI HQ, and what a disgusting odour that’s reeking around the whole place. The price of peace I suppose.
The death of Mr McGuigan shouldn’t come as any great shock if one had been following the Sunday rags etc? After all since jock Davidson was killed, these outlets had been hinting constantly that someone was going to suffer for this. According to their ‘sources’ friends of Mr Davidson were blaming a certain family for his death. Now if ‘the dogs in the street knew’ and the mangy dogs in the Sunday rags knew then it would be safe to assume the PSNI knew? So I wonder did the police of this state take any steps to prevent a citizen from being killed ie did they increase patrols around Mr McGuigans house at all? If they didn’t then they should be challenged as to why not. Did they turn a blind eye? Would turning a blind eye be labelled as ‘collusion’? If Mr McGuigan had been shot by loyalists there would have been legitimate questions as to why the state didn’t do more to protect him, after all everyone seemed to know he was to be targeted. The RUC could have been afforded the excuse during the troubles of not being able to prevent every death that occurred at that time. They could’ve argued that there was a war going on; every innocuous claim had to be treated with care in case of ambush; they were not welcome in most nationalists areas etc etc. They would’ve also argued that they were stretched due to the high threat from paramilitaries. But in this day and age those excuses don’t stand up to scrutiny. The PSNI are not stretched due to the threat from paramilitaries. They are welcomed by former foes into places that were once hostile etc. So the big question for me is not whether the IRA has gone away but has collusion gone away?