The Cedar Lounge Revolution

Informers September 4, 2017

From Archon of the Southern Star and many thanks to the person who forwarded it…

Last week, an Irish spy drowned in a swimming pool, having choked on his own alcohol-induced vomit. He was Seán Ó Callaghan, a Tralee man who publicly confessed to murdering a close friend, John Corcoran, by putting a pistol to his head and blowing his brains over a Kerry field.

Mr Corcoran was also a spy, although a low ranking one – more of a part-time snitch than a super-grass, tasked to report on IRA tittle-tattle in Cork city. Both were on the Special Branch payroll, although Corcoran was not aware that his comrade, O’Callaghan, was an informer.

In the scale of political importance, Corcoran didn’t feature highly. O’Callaghan did!

Of course informers always have been part and parcel of Irish history and the two men followed a long line of scoundrels for whom basic moral qualities were abnormal and alien. People such as ‘The Sham Squire’ who betrayed Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Or the Fenian informer, James Carey. Then there was West Cork’s Mrs Lindsay and, more recently, the late Denis Donaldson and dangerous double agent Freddie Scappaticci who denies that he went by the codename Stakeknife.

Curiously, Ireland doesn’t like spies and traditionally has shunned lowlifes that give information to an enemy. But, in the case of Sean O’Callaghan, it must be said that he enjoyed double-crossing, particularly if there was money in it.

During his long career as an IRA informer, he sang like a canary; first to the Gardaí, then to MI5 and MI6 and finally to the press. He even wrote a book about his antics that netted him €170,000!

That aside, the most shocking aspect of his treachery was the cold-blooded assassination of his fellow-spy, John Corcoran, on March 22nd, 1985 and his later assertion (which had some credibility) that he had been acting on behalf of the Irish State.

Worse still, because references were made to collusion by State agencies in the execution, an impression was created that something right and necessary had taken place.

It was an impression enhanced by a Garda reluctance to interview O’Callaghan in relation to the killing. The impunity that he seemed to enjoy in turn contributed to the perception that his handlers approved of the atrocity that he carried out.

The background is the following: in the 1980s O’Callaghan was the chief Garda informant within the IRA. In 1984, he was the person who tipped the authorities off about the attempted importation of arms on the Marita Ann. He also claimed to be OC of the IRA’s Southern Command and that he attended Army Council meetings.

His garda handlers took O’Callaghan very seriously, considering him an invaluable aide who could obtain secret and confidential information relating to the IRA. However, some were not so sure, seeing in him a kind of dangerously loony Walter Mitty type.

His golden moment came when, thanks to his spying, the Marita Ann trawler was intercepted off the Kerry coast by the Naval Service on September 29th, 1984, and found to be carrying seven tonnes of arms.
His secret watch on the actions and words of his comrades proved to be fruitful. Among those on board was Martin Ferris who went on to become a Kerry TD for Sinn Féin.

But, after British newspapers reported that a garda informer within the IRA in Munster was responsible for tipping off the authorities, apprehension grew that an IRA investigation would uncover the role O’Callaghan played in the capture of the Marita Ann.

For instance, O’Callaghan was one of the last people to speak to Martin Ferris before the vessel sailed from Fenit pier to collect its cargo in America.

Consequently, O’Callaghan came to the conclusion that the best way to protect his cover was to kill John Corcoran, which would give the impression that the Corkman had been the mole. Shockingly, O’Callaghan’s Garda handlers may have shared his vile point of view.

Vincent Browne in Magill magazine (Christmas 1997) pulled no punches as to what went on. He wrote that the gardaí allowed Corcoran to be killed by another IRA informer and stated bluntly that the authorities refused to investigate his murder.

He quoted a garda with comprehensive knowledge of the Corcoran affair who said: ‘it was well known within the gardaí that someone had been sacrificed for the greater good.’

At around the same time a story was spread in Belfast that Corcoran had been in cahoots with a Cork garda detective whose plan was to entrap IRA members in bogus crime.

Even more astonishing is the fact that, in 1998, O’Callaghan publicly admitted his involvement in the murder and that he repeated the admission in newspaper interviews in 1993 and 1994.

Astonishing too is that the gardaí had no interest in O’Callaghan as a murder suspect. They didn’t pick him up or interview him. The lack of police interest prompted Browne to write that the gardaí were trying to protect the identity of one of their prime informers (O’Callaghan).

It seemed that in the eyes of the State, John Corcoran didn’t count for very much, either in life or death.

The then Minister for Justice, John O’Donoghue, stung by Browne’s persistent criticism, sought a full report on all aspects of the case from the Garda authorities. But the report was never made public.

John Bruton also maintained a veil of silence over the murder. And that has been the official response down to the present day.

Was that the end of the story? No. In 1988, O’Callaghan, wearing only a pair of trousers, handed himself over to the British police and admitted three murders, including that of John Corcoran. He was sentenced to over 500 years in jail but, remarkably, served only eight. While in jail, he tried to commit suicide on at least two occasions.

On release, O’Callaghan was exploited by a bunch of Dublin neo-unionists who convinced him that he had experienced a Road to Damascus conversion. They used him as a tool to attack Sinn Féin and, for a while, he was the darling of the Indo/Sindo media, spouting fantasies about wanting ‘to sabotage violent and criminal plans.’
In time, the wretched man will be forgotten. Nonetheless, he still has admirers, such as the Fine Gael MEP Brian Hayes.

Last week, Hayes said this: ‘One of the reasons the IRA were ultimately defeated was because from top and bottom they were thankfully infiltrated by informers. Sean O’Callaghan was one such informer, someone who exposed them for what they were.

‘He ultimately defeated them. And in helping to expose their fascist campaign we all owe him gratitude.’

Hayes did not refer to the murders O’Callaghan committed nor to Vincent Browne’s allegation that the gardaí might have been accomplices in one of them. One wonders why?

The wisdom of this crowd: No poll this weekend… but, if there were one? September 4, 2017

Here’s a thought experiment. The Summer is fairly sparse in relation to polls. This is irritating for a range of reasons, not least of which is the idea that only parliamentary politics is political activity worth its name and that when the TDs and Senators decamp somehow everyone is on a break whereas, of course, the government and state and activity continues. Polls also have their problems, reducing everything to a transitory popularity contest.

But in advance of the next, which I guess must be about a fortnight or so away, any predications? Same old same old or upticks for parties? Has anything much happened in terms of events that might impact on party polling.

Brexit and the environment. September 4, 2017

Want to be depressed? Check this out. A Guardian podcast on ‘How will Brexit affect the environment?’ as part of its Brexit means podcast series.

To see how environmental regulation is likely to be gutted (and the ability of citizens to sue government, removed as a right which the EU pushed by the British government as part of its repeal legislation) is extremely troubling.

Air quality alone is one huge area where there is deep concern. There’s a feeling that without the EU there to goad the UK government (and indeed all national governments) into assessing infringements deregulation will see increasing issues. And the current situation is that transparency in terms of information about – say – air quality where it is important to report the situation to the EU, may be whittled away because the UK government won’t require reporting to the same stringent standards. Or as was put ‘we talk about whether we’re going to be good or bad about the environment, we don’t talk about whether we are going to be blind’.

Some intriguing points, that EU legislation has been adopted by many third countries in order to sell into the EU, so that there’s no getting away from it under the rubric of ‘free trade’ and this has been ignored by Brexiteers.

One has to wonder at the ignorance of those who pushed the Brexit line – were they unaware of this, did they not understand the ramifications or just didn’t care?

And one last thought, one commentator notes that the future shape looks likely to be a wholesale deconstruction of monitoring and enforcement mechanisms. What are matters going to look like in five or ten or fifteen years times. The point was made before EEC membership the UK was regarded as the ‘dirty man of Europe’ and this was considerably ameliorated by membership of the EU.

Left Archive: The Workers’ Party, Regional Party Development Proposals, Workers’ Party, c1990 September 4, 2017

To download the above please click on the following link. WP REGIONAL 1990?

Please click here to go the Left Archive.

This document, eight pages long contains a number of proposals for developing and growing the Workers’ Party. It notes that:

…the Greater Dublin area has a population of over 1 million representing approximately one third of the population of the State. It has the greatest concentration of PAYE workers, unemployed, students and working class families on the island and inevitably has the greatest potential for the development of the WP. Already we have three Dáil Deputies elected in the Region, six City Councillors and three County Councillors (with one County Councillor being a member of Dun Laoghaire Borough Council). In recent Dáil elections we secured 36,828 votes, or 7.5% of the total valid poll.

The document considers a range of areas, from branch officerships (‘all officerships must be filled and all work functions undertaken as efficiently as possible’), Constituency Councils, Workers’ party Youth, Women Officers, Party Finance and Administration, Recruitment and the Irish People publication.

It also notes the centrality of Party Campaigns as ‘the key to expansion and growth’.

Stupid Media Statements September 3, 2017

With the Sindo no longer publishing much of its content online on the day, there is an opportunity for a thread where people can discuss stupid media statements from a wider range of sources, and not just from a Sunday. Contributions welcome.

Your commute? September 3, 2017

A telling snapshot of change in this society and economy in the latest figures from the CSO on foot of the last census. This time on transport. A couple really caught my eye:

One in 10 commuters, almost 200,000 people, spent an hour or more commuting to work last year, an increase of almost 31 per cent, or 50,000 people in five years.

This breaks down as 32.3% (less than 15 minutes), 28.8% (Less than 30 mins but greater than 15), 17.3% (less than 45 mins but greater than 30), 5.9% (less than 60 mins but greater than 45), 6% (less than 90 mins but greater than 60), 2.3% (90 minutes and over) with 7.4 not stated.

I guess I’m actually a bit surprised that 60% or so are less than 30 minutes from work (I am myself about thirty or so minutes, depends on the traffic, usually a few minutes less, sometimes more)- though that’s a national figure so that may not reflect the situation in urban centres. But clearly some people are pulling very heavy travel times. I know of one person who trains in from the midlands, jumps onto a bike at Connolly and then is away to Crumlin. That’s a long haul. And two hours a day seems far far too much. What, though, is the option being presented?

Meanwhile:

Cyclists commuting to work increased by 43 per cent on five years earlier.

And:

Two thirds of all commuting cyclists in Ireland were in Dublin city and the suburbs, with 38,870 cycling to work. This compares with just 2,330 who cycled to work in Cork and its suburbs.

But what about this?

The commuting population is far less active, however, than 30 years ago. The number of commuters who cycled or walked accounted for 22 per cent in 1986 but just 12 per cent in 2016.

I can, as a cyclist, agree that the situation in Dublin in terms of cycling has become hugely more crowded in recent years, and even months compared to five or ten years ago. In fact travel times on the bicycle into work in the morning are slightly up compared to even a year ago. That said I take a certain comfort in numbers.

So where do others stand on this? What’s your commutes like?

Policing? September 2, 2017

Impressive to see the way some of the people in this responded very carefully but tenaciously to prevent (albeit not entirely successfully) an unlawful arrest of a nurse in the US by a policeman. But seeing this it is not difficult to envisage different circumstances and ultimately outcomes where police would use such an approach where people didn’t have such support.

Labour law September 2, 2017

Does anybody know what section 18(2) of the Organisation of Working Time Act means, exactly?

If an employer does not require an employee to whom this section applies to work for the employer in a week referred to in subsection (1)—

(a) in a case falling within paragraph (a) of that subsection, at least 25 per cent. of the contract hours, or

(b) in a case falling within paragraph (b) or (c) of that subsection where work of the type which the employee is required to make himself or herself available to do has been done for the employer in that week, at least 25 per cent. of the hours for which such work has been done in that week,

then the employee shall, subject to the provisions of this section, be entitled—

(i) in case the employee has not been required to work for the employer at all in that week, to be paid by the employer the pay he or she would have received if he or she had worked for the employer in that week whichever of the following is less, namely—

(I) the percentage of hours referred to in paragraph (a) or (b), as the case may be, or

(II) 15 hours,

or

(ii) in case the employee has been required to work for the employer in that week less than the percentage of hours referred to in paragraph (a) or (b), as the case may be (and that percentage of hours is less than 15 hours), to have his or her pay for that week calculated on the basis that he or she worked for the employer in that week the percentage of hours referred to in paragraph (a) or (b), as the case may be.

It relies on section 18(1), but that doesn’t actually help:

18.—(1) This section applies to an employee whose contract of employment operates to require the employee to make himself or herself available to work for the employer in a week—

(a) a certain number of hours (“the contract hours”), or

(b) as and when the employer requires him or her to do so, or

(c) both a certain number of hours and otherwise as and when the employer requires him or her to do so,

and the said requirement is not one that is held to arise by virtue only of the fact, if such be the case, of the employer having engaged the employee to do work of a casual nature for him or her on occasions prior to the said week (whether or not the number of those occasions or the circumstances otherwise touching the said engagement of the employee are such as to give rise to a reasonable expectation on his or her part that he or she would be required by the employer to do work for the employer in the said week).

Full act (51-page PDF) here: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1997/act/20/enacted/en/pdf

Another list of classic cult SF films September 2, 2017

I like this and thanks to JM for forwarding the link. Managed to get my hands on the Omega Man (based on Richard Matheson’s peerless I Am Legend) for next to nothing second hand recently. Afraid to watch it since I haven’t seen it since – perhaps, the 1970s.

Speaking of books for children.. September 2, 2017

Selfishness and humans is always of interest. Selfishness and children is always of interest too. And this study is tailor-made for thoughts about that…

…according to new research from the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE)…those children [in a study] who were read the book with human characters became more generous, while “in contrast, there was no difference in generosity between children who read the book with anthropomorphised animal characters and the control book; both groups showed a decrease in sharing behaviour,” they write.

Granted this is but a single study and it would be interesting to see this applied to older age groups – the children were four to six years of age. Having seen at first hand the huge emotional impact of Charlotte’s Web (the film which is mentioned in the piece) on children a little older I would wonder if those six or under have a different level or form of empathy.

They mention the Gruffalo, but my take on that was that that story was extremely effective at telling kids how to lie creatively (and in fairness to save ones own skin)!